Michal M. Farmer, William Sims

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1. William1Sims was born, say 1655,[3] place unknown. The names of his parents haven’t been proven. William Sims made his will 18 December 1710 in James City County, Virginia. A copy of the first page of his will was attached to two pages of a lawsuit found loose in the back of Louisa County, Virginia, Deed Book B.[4] William Sims probably married twice. He probably married first, circa 1677, wife’s name unknown. She probably died in 1687 in Bruton Parish, Virginia.[5] He probably married second, circa 1687, in James City County, Virginia, to Frances ——. She died after 1734, St. Peter’s Parish, Virginia, when she baptized a negro named Joseph.[6]

Wm. Simes paid quit rents in James City County, Virginia, in 1704, on 650 acres.[7] On 2 November 1705, William Simms was granted 450 acres in New Kent County, Virginia, escheated from John Stevens, decd., by inquisition under John Lightfoot, Esqr., eschr. &c.[8]

Frances Sims had negroes born and baptized in St. Peter’s Parish, Virginia: Aress, a negro boy of Frans. Sims, born 30 May 1727; Sarah, a negro of Frances Sims baptized 20 July 1729; and Joseph, a negro of Frances Sims, 1734.[9]

[3] This date is calculated from the few records surviving for William Sims and the surviving records of his seven sons.

[4] Rosalie Edith Davis, Louisa County, Virginia, Deed Books A & B, 1742-1759 (Bellevue, Washington, 1976), p. 150.

[5] John Vogt, Bruton Parish, Virginia, Register 1662-1797 (Athens, Georgia: New Papyrus Publishing Co., 2004), p. 73. 1687, folio 22: _____ the wife of William Syms Buried. No name or exact date was recorded.

[6] C. G. Chamberlayne, The Vestry Book and Register of St. Peter’s Parish, New Kent and James City Counties, Virginia, 1684-1786 (Richmond: The Library Board, 1937), p. 491.

[7] Virginia Tax Records From The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, William and Mary Quarterly, and Tyler’s Quarterly (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983), p. 480. Virginia Quit Rent Rolls, 1704, The Rent Roll of the Land in James City County, 1704.

[8] Nell Marion Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, Volume Three: 1695-1732 (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1979), p. 104. Patent Book 9, p. 713.

[9] Chamberlayne, The Vestry Book and Register of St. Peter’s Parish, New Kent and James City Counties, Virginia, 1684-1786, p. 491, 492, and 513.

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