William2 Howerton/Overton (probably John1), whose birth is placed before 1750 because his son Beverly was born no later than 1771. William's only known wife was Bathsheba [—?—], seemingly the Bathsheba Perry named on 23 October 1784 in a baptismal entry at Saint James Northam Parish, Goochland County, as the mother of a son by "Will: Howarton."69 This supposition is reinforced by the fact that William, on 1 July 1800, executed a deed of trust in favor of his wife and children, to be held by John3 Overton (George2).70 Such trust deeds were frequently executed by men whose marriages could not be formalized for one reason or another and whose dependents, therefore, would not be their legal heirs.
William's residence in Spotsylvania can be documented almost continually from 1783 until 1801. As William Howerton or Overton, he was assessed a tithe and personal-property taxes in Spotsylvania County between 1783 and 1800, with an unexplained hiatus in the years 1788 and 1789. His only land purchase on record is that of 23 October 1786, at which time he paid a token £5 for 100 acres deeded to him by his proposed father John Howerton.71 On 6 January 1801 he (but not Bathsheba) sold for £12 a tract of 60 acres to Beverly Overton, whom he called "my son:72 The acquisition of that land cannot be traced in Spotsylvania's deed records, and no entry for it is found on the county's tax rolls. By the last document on record for him, dated 8 October 1801, he and Bathsheba sold the 100-acre tract he had purchased in 1786.73 Witnesses to this deed were Beverly and John Overton.
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Overton-1890
