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Elizabeth Lightfoot[1]

Female Est 1750 - 1781  (~ 31 years)


Personal Information    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Elizabeth Lightfoot 
    Born Est 1750  Charles City Co., Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Died 27 Jul 1781  Halifax County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Carrington - Mildendo Cemetery Halifax County Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I15744  My Reynolds Line
    Last Modified 14 Oct 2018 

    Father William Lightfoot,   b. 1722, York Co., Virginia Colony Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1764, Colonial Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 42 years) 
    Mother Mildred Anne Howell,   b. Est 1725, Virginia Colony Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft 1764, York Co., Colonial Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 40 years) 
    Family ID F5555  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Y  [2
    Last Modified 14 Oct 2018 
    Family ID F5554  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 2 Isaac Coles,   b. 25 Feb 1747, Richmond, Henrico Co., Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 3 Jun 1813, Chatham, Pittsylvania County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 66 years) 
    Children 
     1. Isaac Howell Coles, II,   b. 12 Dec 1777, Hanover, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 9 Sep 1820, Halifax County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 42 years)
    Last Modified 14 Oct 2018 
    Family ID F7730  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Sources 
    1. [S32] Find-A-Grave.com, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=47208052&PIpi=98840208.
      Isaac Coles is buried in Pittsylvania County, Virginia on the Chalk Level Road north east of Chatham.
      Elizabeth Lightfoot Coles
      Birth: unknown, Charles City County, Virginia
      Death: Jul. 27, 1781, Halifax County, Virginia
      Parents:
      William Lightfoot (1722 - 1764)
      Spouse:
      Isaac Coles (1747 - 1813)
      Children:
      John Coles (1772 - 1796)
      Isaac Howell Coles (1777 - 1820)
      Lightfoot Coles (1780 - 1781)
      Siblings:
      William Lightfoot (____ - 1809)
      Elizabeth Lightfoot Coles (____ - 1781)
      Francis Lightfoot (1747 - 1748)
      Mildred Lightfoot Coles (1752 - 1799)
      1st wife of Col. Isaac Coles, daughter of Mr. William & Mrs. Mildred Howell Lightfoot of "Tedington" & sister to Mrs. Mildred Lightfoot Coles. She had three children.

    2. [S150] Photograph, https://www.facebook.com/groups/pcvaph16/?multi_permalinks=1922498411392580¬if_id=1539427131881337¬if_t=group_highlights.
      Isaac Winston Coles (Oct 9, 1845 - March 18, 1864). Son of Robert Thompson Coles and Eliza Fearn Patton. Grandson of Col. Isaac Coles & Catharine Thompson and Dr. James Dodderidge Patton & Mary Fearn. Lived at The Oaks, which was built by his father and the current home of Henry and Margaret Hurt. Family moved to northeast Alabama in December of 1845 and later settled in Huntsville following the death of his father in 1850. The Winston name was the maiden name of his great grandmother, Mary Ann Winston Coles (Mrs. John Coles I) who was the aunt of Patrick Henry and great aunt of Dolley Payne Madison.

    3. [S150] Photograph, http://www.victorianvilla.com/sims-mitchell/local/coles/isaac/sler/.
      Portrait of Catherine Thompson (Mrs. Isaac) Coles, by John Ramage.

      Notes
      The portrait of Edward Coles is from Portrait and Biographical Album of Champaign County, Illinois, Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1887 (see associated article, and a further biographical sketch hosted by Illinois Periodicals Online).
      Apparently author Wharton is incorrect in her statement concerning Edward Coles' position as secretary to Jefferson. According to Nocholas Gordon, The Man Who Freed His Slaves: A Narrative of the Life of Edward Coles, Isaac Coles was secretary to Presidents Jefferson and Madison from 1805-1809; and Edward Coles was secretary to President Madison from 1810 to 1815. (Research assistance was provided by Melly Scofield.)
      The miniature portraits by John Ramage (see biography, which includes his portrait of Elbridge Gerry) of Mrs. Isaac Coles and her sister Mrs. Elbridge Gerry are from Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, Social Life in the Early Republic, J. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1902, facing p. 65. The same images are also found facing p. 200 of Maud Carter Clement, The History of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, 1929. Mrs. Clement states that the Thompson sisters were English, and notes that their brother Jacob Thompson was a member of the Queen's Guard. The names Elbridge Gerry and Jacob Thompson have been given to male offspring in the Coles family of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, down to the present era.
      On p. 201 of her History (see previous note), Mrs. Clement observes that ?when the question of slavery came before Congress, Col. [Isaac] Coles of Virginia voted to abolish the practice of slavery, while his brother-in-law Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts voted to retain the same.?
      Dolley Madison's mother Mary Coles Payne was a double-first-cousin of both the abovementioned Col. Coles brothers of Virginia: Col. John Coles of Albemarle County, and Col. Isaac Coles of Halifax and Pittsylvania Counties. The double-first-cousin relationship occurred because brothers William Coles (Mary's father) and John Coles (Col. John and Col. Isaac's father) had married sisters Lucy Winston and Mary Ann Winston. A third Winston sister Sarah married John Henry, and thus their son the patriot Patrick Henry was also a first cousin of Mary Coles Payne, Col. Isaac Coles, and Col. John Coles. (See a Winston and Coles genealogical website.) Edward Coles (mentioned in the Wharton text above), secretary to Jefferson and Madison and governor of Illinois, was a son of Col. John Coles of Albemarle County, and thus a brother of Sally, Emily, and Eliza.
      A third Coles brother (of Col. Isaac and Col. John), Walter, married Mildred Lightfoot, and therefore their children were also Dolley's double-second-cousins. Among them was Sarah ?Sally? Coles (not to be confused with her above-mentioned first cousin Sally), who married James Bruce of Halifax County. Their son James Coles Bruce expanded his father's home into the famed Greek Revival edifice Berry Hill along the Dan River in Halifax County. When Sarah Coles Bruce died, her husband married Elvira Cabell Henry, widow of Patrick Henry, Jr. (Sarah Coles Bruce's second cousin). James and Elvira Henry Bruce had a son Charles Bruce (therefore half-brother of James Coles Bruce) who built the also well-known Gothic ?castle? Staunton Hill along the Staunton River in Charlotte County. (See further discussion of the Bruces and Berry Hill.)
      Many of the given names of the Coles family are used in multiple generations, and multiple times within the same generation, a practice not uncommon for the era, but leading to many temporary puzzles for the modern researcher.
      The Dolley Madison Project at the University of Virginia discusses the various family relationships of individuals appearing in Madison White House documents; for example, Isaac Coles is listed as Dolley Madison's uncle. The designation ?uncle? is not necessarily in error, as it is often colloquially used in recognition of the fact that a double-first-cousin relationship is genetically similar to that of a sibling.
      Maud Carter Clement's ?Antrim Parish, Halifax County 1752-1767? seems to call into question author Whartons' assertion regarding the ?first? Episcopal Church in Halifax County.
      For more regarding Mrs. Madison, see ?Dolley Payne Madison: A Belle of a Washington Hostess?.
      Further information regarding Col. Isaac Coles is found in an article about Coles Ferry. Four of the homes of the children of Isaac and Catherine Coles still exist in Pittsylvania County: The Oaks (home of son Dr. Robert Coles) in Chatham; The Columns (its early portion was the home of daughter Mary Coles Whittle) in Chatham; Coles Hill (home of son Walter Coles) east of Chatham; and Elkhorn (home of son Jacob Thompson Coles) east of Chatham.
      Editorial notes are by Henry Mitchell.
      Research assistance was provided by Sarah E. Mitchell.
      Digital formatting is by Jonathan Mitchell.