Raby-Adam

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Adam Raby Sr.
Born 1725? Nansemond Co. VA
Died by Jun 1766? Bertie Co. NC
SPOUSE	CHILDREN
Judith "Judy" Benton m. Sep 30, 1748 Chowan Co. NC b. 1730? ?VA d. ?Nov 1785 ?Bertie Co. NC	Adam (Jr.) b. 1749? ?Bertie Co. NC ?k. by Sep 1777 ?Brandywine PA	Orpha b. 1754? ?Bertie Co. NC d. after 1789?	Ruth b. 1759? ?Bertie Co. NC d. after 1789?
	Luke b. 1761 Bertie Co. NC d. Oct 1789 Bertie Co. NC	Cader b. 1760? ?Bertie Co. NC d. 1825? ?Feliciana Parish LA
An "Adam Rabey" was on the 1704 Quit Rent Rolls of Nansemond Co. VA as having 586 acres .
Nansemond Co. VA was formed in 1646 in Virginia's Tidewater region south of the James River. It was eliminated in 1974. It is near the northeast NC border.
Bertie Co. NC was formed in 1722 from the part of Chowan Precinct that lay west of the Chowan River. See Map of the North Carolina Counties in 1740.
Adam married Judith Benton in Chowan Co. NC. The date of the marriage bond was Sep 30, 1748 [Koestler, Sally's Family Place, website].
In 1757 "Adam Rady" was listed on the Bertie Co. NC tax list with Hannah, a Negro woman, a total of 2 persons taxed, taken by Jon Brown [usgwarchives.com, website].
Will of Adam Raby, Bertie Co., NC, written Oct 5, 1765, probated Jun 1766. Inventory by Adam Raby dated Sep 1766 by [son] Adam Raby [Koestler, Sally's Family Place, website].
Sons Cader and Adam Raby were both privates in a 4th NC Regiment company under Capt. Micajah Lewis that served in battles between Sep 1777 and Jun 1779. Both entered the Continental Army May 6, 1776 but Adam was dropped from the rolls in Sep 1777 and Cader deserted Oct 16, 1777, after the company fought at the Battle of Germantown on Oct 4, 1777 [Roster of NC Troops in the Continental Army, pp. 1145, 1183].
Capt. Micajah Lewis was commissioned a Major in NC in 1779. His unit may have been enlisted from there during 1778-79 [caroloana.com website]. This suggests that Cader and Adam Raby and Ezekiel White were all from there. Only Cader and Ezekiel were at the Battle of Germantown PA on Oct 4, 1777, and both were at the Cumberland Settlement after May 1780, suggesting that they travelled together. After Germantown, the next known battle for Maj. Lewis was Stono Ferry on Jun 20, 1779 near Charleston SC. He helped lead the NC Light Dragoons Regiment [Carolana.com, website].
The Battle of Germantown, about 10 miles northwest of Philadelphia PA, resulted from a surprise attack from the north by Gen. George Washington's army of 10,000 troops. The British led by Gen. William Howe's 9,000 troops successfully fought off the attack primarily by defending themselves inside the well-constructed Benjamin Chew mansion. Washington's army retreated and eventually encamped his army to Valley Forge after suffering. His army had 152 killed, 521 wounded and 438 captured. Washington and his army numbered 12,000 when they arrived at Valley Forge on Dec 19, 1777 and commenced to build what became the fourth largest city in the colonies. Their encampment lasted six months [Valley Forge National Historic Park website].
"Ezkl. White" enlisted May 6, 1776, the same day as the Raby brothers but was discharged May 14, 1779 after serving 3 years [ Roster of NC Troops in the Continental Army, p. 1183]. As a result he received a military land grant (Military Warrant No. 122) of 274 acres in the Stones Creek part of the Cumberland Settlement in Washington Co. NC [NC Land Grants, Book 63 page 74]. The issue date of the grant is 1786 but the Entry Date is missing. Ezekiel may not have immediately settled there but the Cumberland Settlement is possibly where Elizabeth and Cader first met sometime in 1780. Neither Cader nor Ezekiel signed the Cumberland Compact in May 1780, so they may have arrived afterwards but weeks before January 21, 1781 when the whole Holloway family including Cader's wife were already in Natchez.
1878 Painting by Edward Lamson Henry of the Battle of Germantown at the Chews House [Collection at Art Institute of Chicago].
Photo of a recreation of the Battle of Germantown showing British redcoats defending Benjamin Chew's house, also known as "Cliveden" from the assault by George Washington's ragged colonial troops across Germantown Avenue [George M. Holloway photograph].
Daughter Ruth married a James Hayes [Koestler, Sally's Family Place, website].
In Dec 1787,daughter Orpha married Dempsey Harrell who died in Dec 1792, and they had at least three children born between Dec 1787 and 1793. they were named Raby (wife's maiden name), Cader (her brother), and Polley [Koestler, Sally's Family Place, website].
Son Luke married Hester Butler. Widowed in 1789, she married John Robbins on Apr 27, 1793. The estate of Luke Raby on Oct 30, 1789 included 600 acres of land [Koestler, Sally's Family Place, website].
Son Cader arrived with the family of John Holloway, and four slaves (2 adults and two children), a total of 5 people over age 16 and 9 children, on two pirogues in the Grand Gulf area of the Natchez District by Jan 21, 1781. They left the boats in the care of Eleanor "Nelly" Price who owned a Mississippi River dock in Grand Gulf. The town of Grand Gulf no longer exists but was not far from the town of Port Gibson and about 40 miles upriver from Natchez. After being sued on Sep 8, 1781 for nonpayment of supplies, John countersued John Townshend over the loss of the two pirogues [McBee, Natchez Court Records, Book A, p. 8].
Pirogues were flat bottomed boats, that could be propelled by either a paddle like a canoe or a pole in marshes and swamps. Photo of a pirogue circa 1885 (lower boat) displayed at the Grand Gulf Military Park. The pirogue was used on the Mississippi River according to the display's sign. Each one could have held seven people in the Holloway party.
Receipt dated Feb 28, 1781 from "John Townshend" to "John Holoway" submitted with the lawsuit to the Natchez District Court [MDAH, microfilm roll no. 5326, p. 107]. The receipt shows initial charges dated Jan 21, 1781, so the Holloway family had arrived in Grand Gulf in the Natchez District by then.
Son Cader married Elizabeth Holloway by Oct 24, 1781, when her mother, Elizabeth Holloway declared that two cows and two calves belonged to her eldest daughter, "given to her on her marriage with Cady Raby" [McBee, Natchez Court Records, Book A, p. 304].
Soon after her marriage, the father of wife Elizabeth, John Holloway, was shot and scalped by Indians five leagues from the Fort of Natchez in Oct 1781. At the time, he was apparently working as "an overseer" of the plantation of Joshua Howard on Second Creek. Recorded with the Oct 24 inventory of possessions at his death were 2 cows and 2 calves given to his daughter Elizabeth upon her marriage to Cader.
After her husband's death, Elizabeth White Holloway, who was seven months pregnant, was appointed guardian of the six minor children and the "child yet to be born". according to the conveyance in a court proceeding on Oct 24, 1781. Cader and the widow's daughter Elizabeth were mentioned as married in the document. The estate inventory, completed on the same day, included carpenter and plantation tools, animals, and slaves, as well as livestock belonging to daughter Elizabeth and son George. Cader was present for the inventory and signed it (with a mark).
On Jan 11, 1782 "Cader Rabey" was the highest bidder of a piece of land belonging to Bennet Bellu [who went to "Chitz", meaning he absconded from the District by going into Indian land], for $20 [McBee, Natchez Court Records, Book A, p. 10].
In mid-1785, son Cader and Elizabeth Raby were raising a family on St. Catherine's Creek area of Natchez because she said she was living "about nine years ago ... on the same plantation as William Ryan" in a Jun 1794 court deposition relating to a domestic dispute between Ryan and his wife [McBee, Natchez Court Records, pp. 218-9]. This plantation was probably on 200 acres granted to William Ryan four years later on St. Catherine's and Second Creeks, 8 miles from the Fort of Natchez [McBee, Natchez Court Records, p. 441].
Map of the Natchez District as it may have looked between 1779 and 1799.
On Dec 26, 1788 son Cader Raby was one of the buyers of "sundry mares and horses" belonging to John Pickens at the plantation of Josiah Flowers. His "surety" was from Prosper King, brother of Richard King [McBee, Natchez Court Records, Book D, p. 141].
On Feb 14, 1789 Joseph Ford, the [future] father-in-law of wife Elizabeth's brother John Holloway, was surety for "Cady Raby", when Cader was a buyer at a public sale in Natchez of "sundry horses belonging to the partnership of Richard King and John Pickens, deceased" [McBee, Natchez Court Records, Book D, p. 142].
On Sep 10, 1790 the Spanish Govt. granted son Cader Raby at least 250 acres 10 miles NE of the Fort of Natchez [McBee, Natchez Court Records, p. 359].
In a letter dated Mar 2, 1790, from Carlos de Grand-Pré, Natchez to Governor Don Estavan Miro, the amount of tobacco produced in 1790 was reported by growers of Natchez. Son "Cader Raley" reported producing 3,000 pounds of tobacco [MS Dept of Archives & History, website].
A Census Index of heads of households in the Natchez District in 1792 placed each household in one of nine areas within the district. Included in the SC = Santa Catalina [St. Catherine's Creek] area, which later was approximately within Adams and Franklin Counties were: Kedow Rabby (Cader Raby); Alexander and Guillermo Henderson households (Cader's daughter Elizabeth married a Henderson man, and a son of Cader Jr., James (1826-1880), married Melissa Jane Henderson in LA).
The Census of the Natchez District in 1792, translated from the Spanish handwritten records, lists no Raby or Henderson households.
On Jul 13, 1792, Cader Raby and his brother-in-law John Holloway signed an agreement with Manuel Gayoso de Lemos (who became governor of the District on Nov 3, 1787) in Natchez regarding travel by Holloway outside of the district. Cader's son Cader named a son Gayoso Carney Raby in 1826. Translation of the original document handwritten in Spanish.
In Mar 1794, brother-in-law Robert Holloway attested to a land transaction in Natchez court records in which "Cady Raby" was executor of the estate sale [McBee, Book E, p. 320]. On Aug 27, 1796 Robert was a witness to a land claim that involved improvements to the land and houses on Sandy Creek in the Natchez District.
In Oct 1794, son Cader Raby was listed as one of many debtors of Benjamin Monsanto, who lived on St. Catherine's Creek in Natchez, but died in New Orleans. His will was proven Nov 5, 1794. On Nov 12, 1794 a Caleb Owings hired John Girault to "recover 90 bu. of corn, rent due by Cady Raby" [McBee, Book C, p. 113].
Son Cader may have had 5 children, one son and four daughters. On Jan 31, 1795, "Cader Rabey" petitioned the Natchez court to ask for the vacant 400 acres on Sandy Creek so that his family of "7 grown persons" may live without renting . The land was sold by Raby about 6 years later [McBee, Land Claims, Book F, p. 487].
Son Cader, recorded as "Caso Raby", witnessed the marriage of brother-in-law Robert Holloway and Rebecca Wells on Nov 22, 1796 at St. Joseph Church. In the church records, Robert and Rebecca were married "at Natchez", and are identified as Calvinists. Cader's age is given as 36 and his birthplace as "North Carolina" and Robert's parents are recorded as "Jean and Isabella Holloway" [Diocese of Baton Rouge, Catholic Church Records, vol. 2, p. 387].
On Sep 22, 1801, son Cader and Elizabeth Raby sold a tract of 300 arpents (about 250 acres) 10 miles NE of the Fort of Natchez, for $1200. The land was granted by the Spanish Govt. to Raby on Sep 10, 1795 [McBee, Natchez Court Records, p. 359].
St. Helena Parish LA was founded in 1810 (see present day map for location), and borders Mississippi.
SOURCES: Adams Co. Mississippi Genealogy & History Network, "1792 Census for Natchez District (under Spanish Government control)", 2009. Carolana.com website, "The American Revolution in North Carolina", "Capt. Micajah Lewis". Diocese of Baton Rouge Department of Archives, Catholic Church Records, vol. 2 (1770-1803), Baton Rouge LA, p. 387. "Franklin County, MS 1810 Census", abstract from Gillis book, rootsweb website. Koestler, Sally Moore, "Sally's Family Place, Tales of NC Roanoke-Chowan and elsewhere", website. Marriages of Early Natchez Settlers, New Orleans Genesis Vol. 6 no.21, Jan 1967, p 84. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Holloway Succession Records of St. Helena Parish, LA, Greenwood MS, May 1990, Book D, pp. 141, 142. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Land Claims, Greenwood MS, May 1990, Book F, p. 487. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Greenwood MS, 1953, v. 2, pp. 10, 14, 16-17, 218-9, 359, 391, 441, Book A, pp. 10, 304, Book C, p. 113, Book E, p. 320. MS Dept. of Archives & History (MDAH), Jackson MS, rootsweb, Early Mississippians in Spanish Natchez. North Carolina Land Grants, "Ezekiel White", Book 63, p. 74, file no. 214, no entry date, military warrant issue no. 122 recognized Mar 7, 1786 in Davidson Co. TN. "Roster of the North Carolina Troops in the Continental Army", vol 16, 1791, pp. 1145, 1183, in Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, website. Rowland, Dunbar, "1816 Census for Franklin Co. Miss.", taken from The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi,Centennial Edition, 1917, rootsweb website. St. Helena Parish Marriages,website. USGW Archives, 1830 Enumeration Census St. Helena Parish La., submitted by Donald W. Johnson, Aug 1998.