MySource:Samples 59/(Old) New Kent County, Virginia

King and Queen County was established in 1691 from New Kent County.

The Vineyard

• (132) THE VINEYARD

Harris, Malcolm Hart. Old New Kent County: some account of the planters, plantations, and places in ... (West Point, Virginia: M.H. Harris, c1977), Vol. 1, Page 492.

Robert Baylor Hill (1774-1834), son of Robert Hill and Hannah Garlick, resided at the Vineyard. This place is but a short distance from Bruington Church, and is at the present time the home of Richard Gwathmey.

This was a part of the large tract which his father, Robert Hill, owned, and was probably given to him by his father.

Robert B. Hill married for his first wife, Martha Fleming, daughter of Harry Gaines of Providence, and for his second wife Catherine, daughter of Robert Pollard and Martha Russell his wife of Zoar (Aylett, Virginia), in King William County, Virginia.

There was an only daughter born to the first marriage, Catherine, who married Samuel Peachy Ryland of Norwood.

Martha, the only daughter by the second marriage, married first, James Butler, and second, Col. Alexander Fleet of Melville.

In 1801, Robert Baylor Hill was charged with 322 acres of land, which was the Vineyard plantation. He erected the house which still stands, and is occupied by the present owner, Richard Gwathmey, [Robert Baylor Hill Bible Records, CA Vol. 6, page 65].

The Ryland Family

• (133) THE RYLAND FAMILY

Harris, Malcolm Hart. Old New Kent County: some account of the planters, plantations, and places in ... (West Point, Virginia: M.H. Harris, c1977), Vol. 1, Pages 493-494.

This family traces its origins back to Lancastershire, where the family was domiciled for several generations at Hulton during the 12th century.

A branch of the same family moved into Warwickshire and produced the two early Baptist ministers, father and son, by the name of John Ryland, of Northampton, [Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Vol. 28, page 81. Here is given a brief of the early Rylands and some references to the family in England. This account was written by the late Dr. Garnett Ryland for the Ryland Family Reunion in 1932].

Joseph Ryland, son of Thomas and Mary Ryland of Bearley, Warwickshire, came to Virginia before 1740 and settled in Essex County at a place which is now owned by the Longest (1932), which lies between Hollywood and The Meadow.

Joseph Ryland was married three times, and his third wife survived him, and subsequently moved with her three small children to a place a mile from Upper King and Queen Church.

The son Josiah Ryland was a small boy when his father died in 1772, and in a few years his mother married a second husband, a Mr. Cheek. The other children grew up, married and moved the the Western country, but Josiah remained with his mother.

It is said that when he was twenty-one he built the house at Smithfield, and while nailing on the shingles, he got religion, and soon thereafter became a member of the Baptist Church at King and Queen County, Virginia. His sister Joanna Ryland joined the church at the same time.

At the age of thirty years he married Elizabeth Baylor Anderson, widow of Churchill Anderson, who lived at Shooters Hill. She was a sister of Rev. Robert Baylor Semple, the long time pastor of Bruington Church which he joined, and from that time Bruington Church became the great interest of his lifetime. He was absent from only one business meeting in fifty years, was a deacon for forty-six years, and was superintendent of the building of the present large brick church.

Josiah Ryland, after his marriage to Elizabeth Anderson, purchased the tract of land adjoining Sooters Hill and built the house at Farmington (St. Stephens Church, Virginia), which was his home. After the death of Elizabeth, his wife, who left him with an only son, William Semple Ryland, later of Roseville in King William County, he went with Robert B. Semple to a meeting at Upper King and Queen Church. They were entertained at the home of Captain James Pendleton at Spring Farm, and there met the sister of Mrs. Pendleton, Catherine Peachey, to whom he was later married.

Norwood

• (134) NORWOOD

Harris, Malcolm Hart. Old New Kent County: some account of the planters, plantations, and places in ... (West Point, Virginia: M.H. Harris, c1977), Vol. 1, Page 494.

This was the home of Samuel Peachy Ryland, son of Josiah and Catherine Peachy, his wife, Catherine G. Hill, to whom he was married on 22nd of December 1836, by the Rev. Robert Baylor Semple. This lady lived until March 15, 1881, [Colonial Abstracts, Vol. 6, page 65].

It lies to the west of Farmington (St. Stephens Church, Virginia) and Shooters Hill, and to the south of the road leading from Stevensville to St. Stephens Church, Virginia.