Person:William Vestal (1)

Estate Record

• Vestal, William. Estate appraised by Elizabeth Vestal, admx. [Abstracts of Wills, Inventories, and Administration Accounts of Frederick County, Virginia, 1743-1800, by J. Estelle Stewart King, pg. 1]. [Note: this record appears to be undated, but the neighboring records on pg. 1 are in 1743-1748].

About William Vestal

He settled on Brandywine Creek, four miles from West Chester, PA. This farmland was described in several accounts as some of the finest in the land and was inherited by William when his widowed mother died. He sold his place and moved south about 1729 to VA with his half-brother John. In Morris's history of the Shenandoah Valley on page 58 he states that "Willian and John Vestal made settlement, at a very early date, in Frederick Co. Virginia at Vestal's Gap, on the Shenandoah River, about six miles east of Charles Town. While they were building a stone house they were attacked by Indians and driven across the Shenandoah to the mountains. When they returned one of them brought a yellowish stone from across the river, which marks the point where they left off building in consequence of the attack. This house still stands." Audie Vestal Hamilton visited the property that is now owned by Dr. Lee Elliot and is part of a beautiful horse farm where the house and barn remains. The house had been empty for about 50 years. William was probably not a member of the Friends Society, as it seems his wife Elizabeth for several sessions appears as under discipline and was probably due to a marriage out of meeting. It is believed that he joined the church to prevent her from being disowned. The disownment did not occur. He was deceased by 4 March 1745 when his wife Elizabeth Vestal was named Administratrix of the William Vestal's estate. In the biography of William Vassall/Vesstal written by Audie Vestal Hamilton William died in 1745 at Vestal Gap near the present town of Charles Town, WV.

William Vestal (Jr.) of Westown township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, was a constable at Burlington. In August of 1692, he was appointed guardian of the children of his wife, Elizabeth Mercer Woodard Vesta's children from her first marriage to John Woodard. William Vestal (Jr.) paid taxes in 1693 in the Birmingham township in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Records show that William Vestal (Jr.) settled in Brandywine Creek, four miles from West Chester, Pennsylvania. William Vestal (Jr.) sold this place and moved "south" to North Carolina around 1729. Church records at the Concord Monthly Meeting stated that "William Brinton [was] appointed to assist women to prepare a certificate for Elizabeth Vestal to Hopewell Monthly Meeting where she moved several years since'." Elizabeth Vestal and sons William and Thomas were received at Cane Creek, North Carolina from Hopewell, Virginia, on October 7, 1751. Some three months later, Elizabeth Vestal's son James Vestal appeared in the records of the Cane Creek.

In the Women's Minutes of a 1717 Concord Monthly Meeting, Elizabeth Mercer Woodard Vestal appears to have been "under discipline" for an unstated offense. On July 9, 1717, George Pierce and Moses Kay were appointed to assist the women Friends in preparing testimony against Elizabeth Vestal. An acknowledgment was received that Elizabeth Vestal had married "out of the meeting" or Friends.

The Vestal records arranged by Avis Gordin Vestal corrects and supplements earlier Vestal accounts. In summary, the Vestal family was from Pennsylvania from 1683 until 1729, when William Vestal (Jr.) moved to Virginia. From 1729-1751, William Vestal (Jr.) Was in Frederick County, Virginia. This territory later became Jefferson County, West Virginia.

The oldest child of William and Elizabeth Vestal was only a few years old when they left Virginia. All but the youngest child of the couple were grown when William and Elizabeth Vestal moved to North Carolina. John Vestal, a son, remained in Virginia.

William Vestal who moved to Virginia in 1729, died in Virginia in 1746, some five years before his widow took some of the Vestal children to North Carolina. An inventory of William Vestal's estate is on file in Frederick County Virginia in 1746. An inventory of John Vestal's estate (son of William Vestal (Jr.) was dated 1776.

Among the Friends who settled in what is now Jefferson County, West Virginia, were the Vestals. The Vestal land lay on the west bank of the Shenandoah River, about seven miles south of Harper's Ferry. The records of Frederick County show that William Vestal, in partnership with John Traden, Richard Stevenson and Daniel Bumet entered into an agreement with Thomas Mayberry on May 10, 1742 to build a "Bloomery" for making bar iron upon the plantation of William Vestal.

After the French and Indian War, the Vestals moved to North Carolina and the bloomery passed to other owners, but continued in operation until the Civil War. The ruins of this furnace were discovered standing in 1937 by Mr. and Mrs. Clarence L. Vestal of Park Ridge, Illinois. The district around the old bloomery was known as the bloomery neighborhood. A paper entitled "Lost Treasures" written by Miss Mallana Johnson, a teacher at Fairmont school, gave the history of the furnace.

William Vestal Jr. left no will, but Book 1 at Winchester, Virginia, contains copies of probate papers and the appointment of his widow Elizabeth as administrix for which she have a bond of 1,000 Pounds, the currency of Virginia in 1745. An inventory of William Vestal Jr.'s estate was listed showing tools, clothing, livestock, and household furnishing. No real property was shown. His estate was not settled for a number of years after his death. On August 11, 1750 When Elizabeth Vestal was preparing to move to North Carolina, she granted Steven Emory a Power of Attorney.(Book of Deeds, No.2, pages 154-55, Fredrick County, Virginia, Winchester, Virginia.)

William Vestall, Jr., was raised in Chester Co., Pennsylvania. His family were originally friends from the Newark Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania. (C-836) According to Gilbert Cope in writing the will for Joseph Woodward of Goshen, he mentioned that William was married more than once. However, only one marriage has been found for him to date, that of Elizabeth Mercer. They originally settled on Brandywine Creek, four miles from West Chester. William was listed as living in Bradford Twp., Chester Co., PA in tax lists from 1715-1726. (C-2251g)His wife, Elizabeth Mercer, was a Quaker. William had apparently become a Quaker by the 2nd Month 5th day, 1729, when he requested a certificate of removal to North Carolina from the Center Meeting House. William moved to Baltimore Co., MD instead after conveying his farm of 174 acres on May 10, 1729 in Bradford Twp., Chester Co., PA. The deed for this land did not have it's title confirmed until Aug. 10,1735. William is listed as a carpenter in this record. (C-959) William then purchased 150 acres of land from Patrick Ruark in 1729 which was part of the Hazard track on Swam Creek, Baltimore Co., MD. He sold this land to Joseph Hall on Dec. 27, 1736. He was listed as living in Orange Co., Virginia in the deed records of 1736. He had purchased 275 acres in Orange Co., VA on Oct. 3, 1734. This territory later became Frederick County. (C-826)Elizabeth Vestal requested a certificate of transfer from the Concord Quarterly meeting to the Hopewell monthly meeting in Frederick Co., VA (now Jefferson Co., WV) on Sept 7, 1737. Most of the Quaker records for that meeting were destroyed by fire for the first 23 year period in 1759. "J.E. Norris in his HISTORY OF THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY, p.58 states, "William and John Vestal made a settlement at a very early date at Vestal's Gap on the Shenandoah River in Frederick Co., Va. (about 6 miles east of Charles Town). While they were building a stone house they were attacked by Indians and driven across the river to the mountains. When they returned one of them brought a yellowish stone from across the river, which marked the point where they left off building in consequence of the attack. This house still stands but the inscription on one end has been partly obliterated, which has given rise to a dispute as to the name being Vest, Vesta, or Vestal. The author (Norris) has found in the 'List of Surveys made by George Washington for Lord Fairfax' the name three times occurring Vestall."Minnie Speer Boone in OUR FAMILY HERITAGE, p. 63-64, states "On May 10, 1742 a contract was entered into between Thomas Mayberry, William Vestal, John Traden, Richardson Stevenson, and Daniel Burnett for the construction of an iron bloomery for the making of bar iron on the plantation of William Vestal. This contract was recorded in 1744." Quoting Earl H. Davis, 1940, she adds, "This iron bloomery is said to have been the first one erected east of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia (one mile east of what is now Mechanicsville, West Virginia). It was located 7 miles south of Harper's Ferry. It was in operation until after the Civil War. Upon the death of William Vestal in 1745 this land and the Vestal interest in the Bloomery were apparently taken over by his son John. When the land passed out of the Vestal family is not known. One source says that it was after the French and Indian Wars when the family moved to North Carolina. (C-158) The property is now owned by Mr. Ward Funkhouser of Hagerstown, Md. The remains of the old furnace are still standing. The top of each fire place has bars of iron, plates of rusty iron are still firmly holding the stone structure-above one of the fireplaces a cedar tree of good size is growing. The district around the Bloomery is known as "The Bloomery Neighborhood." (C-176)William Vestal did not write a will. His death probably occured early in 1745. An inventory of his estate was filed in 1746. No property was listed, but instead tools, clothing, livestock and household furnishings. (C-811) His wife, Elizabeth, was named administratrix. She had a bond of 1000 pounds Virginia Currency. No children were listed. (C-845a, 869)

1.   Audie Vestal Hamilton. William Vassall/Vestal.
2.   J. E. Morris. History of the Shennandoah Valley.
3.   Frederick Co., VA Will Book 1, p. 168 Bk 2 p. 154, 192.