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| Born |
15 Jul 1745 |
Henrico Co., Virginia  |
| Died |
1826 |
Poplar Hill, Prince Edward Co., Virginia |
| Buried |
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| Born |
Abt 1750 |
Henrico, Virginia Colony |
| Died |
1829 |
Henrico, Virginia |
| Buried |
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| Spouse |
Agness Morton | F5758 |
| Married |
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| Born |
Abt 1738 |
Powhatan Co., Virginia |
| Died |
1778 |
Henrico Co., Virginia |
| Buried |
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| Spouse |
Sarah 'Sally' Walton | F5759 |
| Married |
8 Feb 1762 |
Swift Creek, Goochland/Cumberland Co., Va |
| Born |
31 Jul 1738 |
Henrico Co., Virginia Colony |
| Died |
14 May 1834 |
Smith Co., Tennessee |
| Buried |
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| Spouse |
Major William Cunningham | F5837 |
| Married |
4 Dec 1793 |
Caswell Co., North Carolina |
| Born |
Abt 1748 |
Chickahominy, Hanover Co., Virginia |
| Died |
1786 |
Alabama |
| Buried |
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| Spouse |
Lt. John Spencer | F5504 |
| Married |
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| Sources |
- [S84] Rootsweb, http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=tsmith&id=I154488.
"Chickahominy Tom" married Frances Anderson, daughter of Henry andPrudence (Stratton) Anderson of Wintopock Creek in what is nowChesterfield County.
Thomas farmed his father's land in southeastern Henrico County and hereached out for new lands in what are now Charlotte and Prince EdwardCounties. In 1746, Thomas and "Frances his wife" sold some land inHenrico County. In 1752, "Thomas Watkins Junr." bought 773 acres "onsouth side of Chickahominy Swamp." He would remain on that land innortheastern Henrico County close to the Bottom's Bridge crossing of theChickahominy for the rest of his life,...
- [S100] Internet Source, http://genealogytrails.com/vir/halifax/historyhalifaxbook_families.html.
LEIGH.
The tradition is that Benjamin Watkins (the youngest brother of Thos. Watkins of Chickahominy), the first clerk of Chesterfield county, an office he held to the end of his life, and a man of genius, though with little education in the schools, cultivated his excellent understanding assiduously and was regarded as an excellent scholar. However much he cultivated his "excellent understanding," he did not comprehend that the course of true love is not to be thwarted even if the parent did not relish the idea of his daughter marrying a poor English clergyman.
The Hon. Benjamin refused to accept the situation until the congregation of the Rev. William Leigh took the matter in hand and built a home and furnished it for the happy young couple; so in spite of father and fate, they started on life?s highway happy and unfettered with life?s financial cares.
The Rev. William Leigh was a royal character, with lion-hearted antecedents, and not to be downed, as his father-in-law soon learned, and repenting him of his course, did the proper thing by his son-in-law and beloved daughter, and all the ambition he could ever have had for his daughter culminated in his two grandsons, Benjamin Watkins Leigh and his brother, Judge William Leigh, who lived in Halifax county. It was said of him that for almost a quarter of a century in which he had been the judge of the Halifax court he had discharged each and every duty with a fidelity and ability equal to any other man in Virginia, and had won by universal consent the title of a "just and upright judge."
He was the friend and adviser of John Randolph of Roanoke, and the sole executor by his will of 1821, and he, with Henry St. George Tucker, were the final executors by the will of 1832.
No character stands out more clearly in this county for acumen, probity and pureness than that of Judge William Leigh, and his descendants would do well to honor his memory by emulating his virtues, for we shall not see his like again.
Two daughters of Thomas Watkins married the two Leighs. Mary Selden Watkins married Benjamin Watkins Leigh (his first wife), and Rebecca Watkins married William Leigh. Their sister, Hannah Cary Watkins, married Dr. John Barksdale, of Halifax. Their children were (1) Thomas W. Barksdale, (2) Alice S. Barksdale, (3) Benjamin Watkins Leigh Barksdale, and (4) Rebecca Barksdale.
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