Martin Key (1715 – 1791), was born in King William, Virginia to John and Martha Ann Tandy Key, and had at least three wives and twelve children. They moved to property on the Rivanna River, neighboring Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, in Fluvanna County, Virginia in the 1770’s and became the county’s first sheriff in 1777. In Thomas Jefferson’s account books, it shows that Thomas Jefferson often bought corn, oats, and fowl from Martin’s widow and their children from 1792 to 1804 after Martin’s death in 1791.
Martin Key actively purchased land between the southwest mountains to the Rivanna River and from Edgemont on Barboursville Road to the bend of the river below the Free Bridge, in Albemarle County, Virginia, acquiring an estate of 1,350 acres which he patented also making him one of the first vestrymen of Fluvanna Parish.
On this land, Martin Key was a planter and regrettably a large slave owner, amassing up to 60 slaves at one time in 1782. Reverend Francis Asbury visited Martin Key’s home several times while riding the Methodist circuit in Virginia. However, in 1785, another Methodist bishop, Reverend Thomas Coke, found Martin Key inhospitable and was severely critical of him as Martin strongly opposed abolitionism.
Even though by 1782, Martin had 60 slaves alone, by 1810, Martin’s children accumulated nearly 200 slaves:
Thomas Key (1749 – 1821), is registered in Albemarle County, Virginia’s 1810 Census alongside his wife, three sons, three daughters, and nineteen slaves. Thomas Key was a Captain in Colonel LeRoy Hammond’s Lower Ninety-Sixth District Regiment of South Carolina in the Revolutionary War where they attacked and defeated a party of Tories under the command of Captain Clark. He is believed to have had two wives, Frances Garrett and Elizabeth Scott, who was most likely listed as the aforementioned wife in the 1810 Census since she is also mentioned in his will of 1820. His sons were Robert, Joshua, and Polly and his daughters were Catherine, Lucy, and Elizabeth. Of the nineteen slaves, three were named Titus, Amy, and Malinda, since they were left to his wife Elizabeth with $2,500 in the 1820 will as property alongside any children they bore.
Joshua Key (1757 – 1840), is registered in Albemarle County, Virginia’s 1810 Census alongside his six children, one with their spouse and infant daughter, and twenty-six slaves. His wife, Elizabeth Ellis, is not listed in the 1810 Census since she passed away around 1782.
John Key (1758 – 1860), is registered in Albemarle County, Virginia’s 1810 Census alongside his son John Key, his wife, and their infant daughter, and thirty-five slaves.
Jesse Key (1766 – 1826), is registered in Albemarle County, Virginia’s 1810 Census alongside his wife Eliza Tullock and their five slaves.
Walter Key (1770 – 1835), is registered in Albemarle County, Virginia’s 1810 Census alongside his wife and possibly a brother and 113 slaves.
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