William Nottingham was born 26 June 1752 in Wellingore, Lincolnshire, England and died 8 April 1799 in Duncan's Run, Bath Co, VA.1
On 8 December 1767, William Nottingham and Thomas Hudson stole seven bushels of coal. On 15 December 1767, they were convicted of stealing the coal and sentenced to transportation to the American Colonies. In January 1768 both William and Thomas boarded the Neptune ship to Virginia in Middlesex, England.2
From "The Old Bailey Proceedings," Harvester Microform, for the City of London; County of Middlesex, Number I, part II, covers and page 29, 30 and 39 which shows; Case # 71, 72. (Mr.) William Nottingham and Thomas Hudson were indicted for stealing seven bushels of coals, value 5 s. The property of Powers Fitzer and Christopher Woodham, Dec. 8. {Year 1767 based on the dates listed in the court files}
John Argent statement: I am a waterman; last Tuesday, morning, a little after the clock struck two, I saw the two prisoners on board a barge belonging to Powers Fitzer and Christopher Woodham, loaded with coals, they were handing great coals out; we went and took them, and brought them on shore, they had upwards of seven bushels in their boat.
Powers Fitzer statement: The craft upon which the prisoners were taken, belong to me and Christopher Woodham.
Barnard Watts statement: I saw the two prisoners handing great coals out of the craft; I was with Argent, and helped to secure them.
The prisoners in their defense said, they had assisted a bargeman with his barge, and he had given them the large coals.
Both Guilty. T.
. . . . The trials being ended, the court proceeded to give judgment as follows: . . . Transportation for 7 years, 43. . . . William Nottingham, Thomas Hudson, . . ."3
WILL OF WILLIAM NOTTINGHAM:
"In the name god. Amen. I William Nottingham of the County of Bath being sick and weak in body but of sound mind and disposing memory for which, I thank God, and calling to mind the uncertainty of human life and desirous to dispose of all such worldly estate as it hath pleaseth Gold to bless me with, I give and bequeath the same in manner following that is to say after the payment of all just debts and funeral expenses I give to my wife Susannah Nottingham one third of the lands on which I now live the term of her natural life and one mare and two cows and to have her choice of them and all the House and furniture, and all my other perishable property I desire to be sold and equally divided amongst all my children, James except, which I leave to him the signed James Nottingham twenty pounds and I further desire that the executors hereafter named, to settle, with my sons Jacob, William and James there just dividend of the Estate as soon as it may become Dure and the land, to be equally divided, amongst all my Children, James excepted, and lastly, I hereby constitute and appoint my friend, George Poage executor of this my last will and Testament hear by revoking all other former wills or testaments by me heretofore made In Witness where of I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my Seale this fifth of April, in the year of our lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety nine.
Sign Seal published, and, declared, as the last will and testament of the above William Nottingham in presence of us:
Jim Warrick
Jacob Gillaspie
John Heischer
/SS/ William - his X mark Nottingham4
There is also a legend in various branches of the Nottingham family that tells that William and Susannah were forced to leave England because Susannah, who was wandering and hungry, picked up a pigeon from the roadside and ate it. This constituted a violation of an ordinance, perhaps the crime of poaching, and the couple were either unwilling or unable to pay the fine and were driven out of the country.5 William's transportation due to coal theft, which is well documented, seems to prove this story to be a fiction; yet how it got started, and how it spread so widely through the family is unknown.
William T. Price, in his book Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County, WV says only of William that he was a native of England and that his wife was of Irish descent.6
He married Susannah O'Brien. She was born in England about 1756 and died 4 June 1833 in Pocahontas Co, WV.7
Their children were:
Washington Jacob Nottingham (born about 1776; died 19 August 1839 in Grove's Creek, Clay Co, WV); married Elizabeth Ann Galford8
Their children were:9
Naomi S. Nottingham (born 1810); married Thomas Lamb 7 June 1832
Susan B. Nottingham (born 1813; died 19 February 1859 in Braxton Co, VA); married James McLaughlin 7 June 1832
William Washington Nottingham (born 1814; died 25 March 1854 in Braxton Co, VA); married Elizabeth J. Hicks
Jacob W. Nottingham (born 1818; died after 1860 in Woodstock, McHenry Co, IL); married Mary L. Chestnut 8 August 1844
Elizabeth Ann Nottingham (born 5 November 1821; died 19 April 1907); married Joseph G. Chestnut 2 August 1846
James B. Nottingham (born 1824; died 25 February 1886 in Clay Co, WV); married Catherine Nicholas
Andrew Jackson Nottingham (born 24 April 1826; died 30 October 1905 in Braxton Co, WV); married Cynthia Hamrick 8 August 1849, married Elizabeth Workman 7 November 1869
John Stuart Nottingham (born 18 December 1833; died 15 December 1887 in Strange Creek, Braxton Co, WV); married Mary M. Fox 2 August 1855
Nancy Caroline Nottingham (born 1835)
William Nottingham Jr. (born 5 November 1778 in Dunmore, Bath Co, VA)10
James O'Brien Nottingham (born 7 October 1780; died in Jonesville, Lee Co, VA); married Elizabeth Waddell about 181011
Their children were:12
James Nottingham (born 1810 in Lee Co, VA)
Isaac Nottingham (born 1813 in Lee Co, VA)
Lavina Nottingham (born 1813 in Lee Co, VA); married John Dickerson
Susan Carter Nottingham (born 1815 in Lee Co, VA); married Thomas Cox
Lucinda Nottingham (born 1817 in Lee Co, VA); married John St. John
Mary Elizabeth Nottingham (born 1819 in Lee Co, VA); married James Byrd Colson, Lorenzo Arnold (?)
Amanda F. Nottingham (born 1821 in Lee Co, VA); married Wellington Smith
William D. Nottingham (born 1823 in Lee Co, VA); married Minerva Dulaney 1 September 1846
George Haynes Nottingham (born 15 March 1825 in Lee County, VA; died 3 April 1901); married Martha A. Sloane 25 December 1849
Thomas Nottingham (born 1827 in Lee Co, VA)
Elizabeth Nottingham (born 1829 in Lee Co, VA); married James Coalson
Jacob Nottingham (born 1831 in Lee Co, VA)
Sampson Nottingham (born 15 July 1786; died 23 September 1850 in Pocahontas Co, WV); married Rachel E. Slayton 21 February 182813
Their children were:14
James Nottingham (born 1830 in Pocahontas Co, VA; died 4 January 1847)
William Jackson Nottingham (born 22 December 1832 in Pocahontas Co, VA; died 26 September 1864 in Winchester, VA); married Elvira Jane Simmons 21 August 1854
Susan O'Brien Nottingham (born 1834 in Pocahontas Co, VA; died 1895 in Wood Co, WV); married Andrew H. Stephenson
Martha Elizabeth Nottingham (born 1836 in Pocahontas Co, VA; died 1895 in OK); married William Kingsworth
George Washington Nottingham (born 15 June 1843 in Pocahontas Co, VA; died 24 February 1923 in Elm Grove Township, Payne Co, OK); married Mary Moyers
John Michael Nottingham (born about 1845 in Pocahontas Co, VA; died after 2 March 1895 in Maple City, Cowley, KS); married Melinda Josephine Killingsworth 7 February 1867 in Wood Co, WV
Daniel Morgan Nottingham (born 1848 in Pocahontas Co, VA; died 1861 in Lewis Co, VA)
Margaret J. Nottingham (born May 1850 in Pocahontas Co, VA)
George Nottingham (born 21 November 1788; died 9 August 1840 in St. Marys, OH); married Susannah Collins 18 September 182115
Their children were:16
John Nottingham (born 8 August 1822 in Pocahontas Co, VA; died 1919)
Rosannah Nottingham (born March 1824 in Pocahontas Co, VA); married William Barrington
William Nottingham (born 5 July 1826 in Pocahontas Co, VA; died 24 April 1918 in Mercer Co, OH); married Sarah Ann Nickel 10 April 1856 in Mercer Co, OH
Martha Jane Nottingham (born 16 February 1829 in Pocahontas Co, VA); married Ezra Bigelow
Rowena Nottingham (born 1 January 1831 in Pocahontas Co, VA); married Samuel Murlin Drury 10 March 1853
Morgan Jacob Nottingham (born 21 July 1833 in Pocahontas Co, VA; died 1 September 1907 in Oxford, Sumner Co, KS); married Katherine, married 2nd Caroline Underwood 2 June 1852 in Vinton, Benton Co, IA
George Marshall Nottingham (born 29 July 1835 in Pocahontas Co, VA; died 30 May 1863 on the hospital boat "Mary Ann," Vicksburg, MS); married Amanda Nickel 12 September 1857 in Mercer Co, OH
Elizabeth Ann Nottingham (born 13 August 1838); married George W. Thomas 28 November 1858
Elizabeth Nottingham (born about 1790); married ?, married 2nd Robert Gregory 16 May 183617
Her children with first husband were:18
Margaret Nottingham (born 1814 in Bath Co, VA; died 18 May 1848); married Otho Gum
Nancy Nottingham (born about 1817 in Bath Co, VA); married John J. Tracy 12 January 1832 in Pocahontas Co, VA
Her children with Robert Gregory were:19
William Given Gregory
Joseph Gregory
Adam Gregory
Nancy Gregory
Jane Gregory
Elizabeth Gregory
Isabella Gregory
Mary Gregory
1Nottingham GedCom by Merne Nottingham, 904 Silver Spur Road #370, Rolling Hills Estates, CA, USA 90274 <Merne@aol.com>
2Ibid.
3Family History Library Catalog 06 Jul 1999 on 12 microfilm reels; 35 mm. Original records held at the Harvard University Library and the Guildhall Library in London. Each microfilm reel contains several volumes. Includes name index at the end of each volume. Dec. 1767 to Nov. 1771; British Film Area 1482840; quoted by Merne Nottingham in Nottingham GedCom (see http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:77165&id=I0802)
4Bath County, VA Will Book #1, page 142
5Nottingham GedCom by Merne Nottingham, 904 Silver Spur Road #370, Rolling Hills Estates, CA, USA 90274 <Merne@aol.com>
6Price, William T. Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County, WV. Price Brothers Publishers, Marlinton, WV, 1901 (reprinted by McClain Printing Company, Parsons, WV, 1963); p. 526.
7Nottingham GedCom by Merne Nottingham, 904 Silver Spur Road #370, Rolling Hills Estates, CA, USA 90274 <Merne@aol.com>
8Ibid.
9Ibid.
10Ibid.
11Ibid.
12Ibid.
13Ibid.
14Ibid.
15Ibid.
16Ibid.
17Ibid.
18Ibid.
19Ibid.
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