AGNES TODD
VERSUS AGNES NALL or PACE
Compiled
by Judy Ware May 2008
©
Judy C. Ware
In the past, there has often been confusion about the last name
of the wife of James Ware I. It’s an
established fact (& undisputed by anyone) that her first name was Agnes, but some have
suggested that her last name was either Nall, Pace, or Todd.
It is my firm belief that the correct maiden name is Todd. My reasons for coming to this conclusion are listed
below.
These are the
references I previously had at my disposal that dealt with this issue.
Reference # 2 Original
long letter of Cornelia Ware Anker (1945) owned
by Jim and Judy Ware. This letter is a goldmine of first-hand, intimate family facts &
remembrances. Cornelia was the daughter of
Sigismund Stribling Ware (son of Josiah William Ware.) She personally transcribed some family letters
(written between 1799 and 1831) that had been passed down to her and then also added her
own memories and recollections of family history. In
reference to James Ware I, she typed: “he married Agness Nall.”
In
going through the entire letter, however, there are many, many typing errors (examples:
juniot instead of junior, Revolltio instead of Revolution, Waraws instead of Ware’s,
and Godd instead of Todd) so it would be easy to see how this entry could be the result of
a typing or transcription error. She admitted
herself that “I have copied these
letters as well as I could; most of them are very hard to read. The penmanship is beautiful,
it is small and, of course, dim with age.” Although
providing an absolutely stunning account of life during her childhood and stories passed
on through the family, there are definite places with errors or lack of current
information.
In
addition to that, Cornelia Ware and Sarah Ware (see reference #565 below) were working on
the family history at exactly the same time (1940’s) and corresponded with each
other. They are the only two sources of the
name “Nall” that I know of - until many years later when I believe their
information was simply assumed to be correct & thus copied.
REFERENCE
# 565 Small
handwritten note kept with old family papers and records – dating back to the late
1960’s. The
writer (Sarah Ware) wrote that she “copied”
this information from a different paper that was found among her mother’s papers. Her handwriting was very shaky and it was written
on just a scrap of paper. Sarah notated that
the last name of Agnes was Nall, but in the margins of Hayden’s book (see reference
#6) she had made several notes to herself years earlier.
Hayden listed no
maiden name for Agnes, but Sarah had penciled in some possibilities. She also wrote, however, that she couldn’t
make out the letters clearly & was only guessing. She
made a similar note at the bottom of this paper (see below) that stated that “where
this was copied was old and worn. Uncertain if
the word is Nolle or Nalle or Noll.”
If you look at this note and
notice how similar the circled word “*Todd” is to the circled word
“Noll” or “Nall” – I feel pretty sure that she confused the two
names.
That
(by itself) might not be convincing enough, but if we look at the overall evidence, I
think a clearer picture emerges. Aside from
the input of Cornelia & Sarah Ware - all of the other early records I found
listed no
known maiden name. See below
Reference
#4 Long hand written chart of Ware
lineage.
This
information was contributed by Mrs. Lewis B. Burton – the wife of the Bishop of
Kentucky. It was typed on parchment paper
(with no date) but the document is fragile and obviously very old. It was included in a box of family records and
letters dating back to the early 1900’s. Mrs.
Burton took her information from old records & Bibles that were in the
possession of Mrs. Jane Ware Martin of Columbia, Georgia.
The original
REFERENCE
# 5 Wares of
This
is a compilation of information that Frances Griffin obtained from the book “Virginia
Genealogies” and mailed to Jim & Judy Ware. Her
address (many years ago) was
REFERENCE
#6
In
Hayden’s book, he gives the history of James Ware I as follows:
“James
Ware – ( born Nov. 15, 1714) resided in Gloucester County,
Virginia and married Agnes _______ (born Dec. 20, 1714).” There was no
last name given. This was an extensive, well
researched, published genealogy & I feel that Hayden would have included the maiden
name of Agnes if he had any source to back him up.
His book is the backbone of most of the Ware genealogy. Every other Ware Family History I’ve
encountered (for this timeframe) uses direct quotes that come straight from his work. In Hayden’s lifetime, he was privy to tons of
first-hand interviews and records that we don’t have available anymore. Obviously, neither the name Nall or Pace were
deemed a possibility for him.
REFERENCE
# 27 Original handwritten lineage page – author unknown; passed down through the
family for many generations. In the lineage
section, it states that “James
Ware of Gloucester County, Virginia (born on Nov. 15, 1714) and his wife Agnes ________(left blank) born on Dec. 20, 1714 had these children:
John, Nicholas, James, Richard, Clara, William, and Edward.”
REFERENCE
# 56 Loose handwritten pages for James Ware I on down to the
1950’s. These papers were among the DAR
research documents submitted by Lena Ware for her daughter in the early 1900’s. Original owned by Jim & Judy Ware. In her work, it lists: “James
Ware (born Nov. 15, 1714) Agnes
Ware (no maiden name listed)
wife of James Ware (born on December 20, 1714)
REFERENCE
# 618 VIRGINIA COUNTY RECORDS - SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY by: W.A. Crozier Deed Book G dated
May 7, 1770.
States
simply that “James
Ware and Agnes, his wife, of
REFERENCE
# 619 Robert
Bolling Batte Papers sponsored by the VIRGINIA State Library Archives Lists the genealogy
of the Ware family – showing no
last name
for Agnes
– wife of James Ware I
Until fairly recently, this was the
only information I personally had for the wife of James Ware I. At least all the birth dates correlated. With the current accessibility of information on
the web though, it is now increasingly easy for false or uncertain information to be
passed along - with no ill intended. I know,
even for myself, that I can make no guarantees that all my data is 100 % correct all of
the time. New facts abound every day! All we
can do is make an honest effort to present what we think we know with what
information we have in front of us at the time. It
is extremely helpful if we can provide documentation or background information with our
findings however. That enables others to judge
the validity of our writings or do further research on their own.
With
that being said, let me further explain the reasons behind my belief that the maiden name
for Agnes Ware was Todd. The only other
references I’ve seen on this subject are as follows:
REFERENCE
# 32 Ware Family History – taken from page 392 of the 1960 Edition of the Wilder
& Connecting Families in the Southeastern United States written by: William
M. Wilder. In this breakdown of the Ware line,
Wilder listed “James
Ware b.1714 married Agnes Pace, Gloucester Co.” Wilder
was one of the true pioneers in genealogy back in the 60’s. He provided some awesome insights. He stated in his work, however, that he was
providing “what
seems to be a possible succession of and a
relationship between the six Ware families that I attempt to record.” In recent
years, information has surfaced that has clearly refuted some of his findings and since he
gives no explanation of where he found the name, it remains unclear as to where the name
“Pace” popped up from.
REFERENCE
# 81 WARE
ANCESTORS by: Frank Fremont Reed Chicago 1987 Book 8, Chapter 1 In this document, Mr. Reed states that “James
Ware I of Gloucester County, Virginia & of Franklin County, Kentucky, son of Edward
Ware by his wife, Elizabeth Garrett of Stratton Major was born 15 Nov 1714 in King &
Queen County, Virginia . . . died in Franklin Co., KY and married in 1735 Agnes Pace, born
24 Dec. 1714 in Gloucester.”
I
believe that (since his work is relatively current) Frank Reed may have done what many did
and assumed that all of Wilder’s information was correct. He does not list a reference. His date is also “off” in that he is the
only source I’ve seen which states
the day
of
the month as the 24th instead of the 20th.
REFERENCE
# 379 Ware
Family History by Wanda Ware Degidio – a very well researched and documented
study on the Wares prior to Josiah. Wanda writes the following in her work: “James
Ware I (15 Nov 1714 VA-Will
written 25 Sep 1790 Woodford Co. KY/Recorded 19 Apr 1796 Franklin Co. KY) m. Agnes Pace
(20 Dec 1714-<25 Sep 1790 (Franklin Co. KY ?)) c1735 at
(Gloucester Co. VA ?). In 1770 lived in Caroline Co. VA, but held Ware Lottery for land
they held in Spotsylvania Co. VA. Moved to KY.
This
Agnes does have the same birthday as the others, but I believe the information originated
in Wilder’s work which Wanda commented on herself in her amazing genealogy. In finding other discrepancies with Wilder’s
charts, she wrote "You
will note the absence of any reference to a son Robert Ware who might be identified with
an American emigrant of that time. This absence would seem to indicate that W.M. Wilder
was incorrect in his assertion that Sir James (brother of Sir John) had a son named
Robert.
Wanda’s
research is beautifully done, but it’s important to note that there were question
marks
placed in that specific section talking about Agnes.
Those
were the only resources I knew of for Agnes until recently.
I did hear from another genealogist (Vicki Cheesman) a
few months ago and she wrote me that her findings were as follows –
“Here
goes: Starting with my great-grandfather
Robert
Payne Ware-Martha Sanders
William
Ware-Susanna Payne (Susanna Harrison first wife)
John
Ware-Ann Harrison
James
L. Ware- Agnes Pace
(previous information regarding Agnes Todd
Hurt)”
Vicki
went on to write that her cousin (who works in genealogy) “had
the wife of James L. Ware as Agnes Todd Hurt. I can
find no other references to her or her parents. He sites
sources and so I figured he knew what he was doing.”
I think
Vicki is absolutely right. I’m not sure
about the “Hurt” part, but it is highly likely that Agnes might have been a
widow at the time of her marriage to James.
Today, however, I came across one
of those pieces of historical data that genealogists live for. A lovely lady named Debbie McArdle scanned some
pages for me from an old family bible that contained a lot of Ware information - bibles
are one of the
most reliable sources you can get. The original
is in the Julia S. Ardery Genealogical Collection,
“James
Ware Sr. born Nov. 15, 1714
Agnes
Todd wife of James Ware Sr. was born Dec. 20, 1714
Children
of James and Agnes Ware . . . etc.”
Not
only is it spelled out nice and clear, but it makes perfect sense that her maiden name was
Todd. So many children born later in the
family carried the Todd name with them as middle names.
One could argue that the reasoning for that is because James Ware II married a lady
named Caty (sometimes spelled Katy) Todd, but it also stands
to reason that Caty & Agnes were probably related in some way. During the generation of James & Caty Ware,
they had two Ware daughters (Mary Todd and Lucy) who married Webb brothers (Isaac &
Charles.) Grant Allen married Thompson
Ware’s daughter Polly, but he also married her sister Kitty when Polly died. Matthew Thompson Scott
married Winny Webb (daughter of Lucy and Isaac Webb) first, but when she died of cholera,
he married her sister Elizabeth (Betsy) Webb Cunningham.
It was her 2nd marriage as well. The
odds of Agnes and Caty Todd having relatives in common are very good!
In
conclusion,
all of the records I’ve seen concerning James Ware I that date back prior
to 1950 mention no maiden name for Agnes Ware.
The first time “Nall” appears is around 1945 when Sarah & Cornelia
Ware were trying to transcribe old letters and (upon close inspection) it is easy to see
how they could have easily misread the faded & scratchy handwriting. It is only in their references (and
subsequent new writings that have relied on their data) where the name Nall appears. Even those 2 references state uncertainty as to the
name, spelling, letters, etc. It was
highlighted as being just a guess.
In the 60’s, Wilder produced
his Ware history and that is the first time (that I know of) that “Pace” was
ever introduced as a maiden name. He wrote
himself that some of his entries were “possibilities” and subject to conjecture. Subsequent writings have often built their
work upon that data though.
Vicki Cheesman’s
cousin apparently has records that authenticate his finding of “Todd” Hurt. The only other reliable record I
find is the original Ware/Webb Family Bible (so kindly provided by Debbie McArdle) that clearly writes the name “Todd” next to
Agnes. All other entries in that bible support
the dates and records for every other member of the family that I have documented. Therefore, I feel safe in believing that we now finally
know the maiden name of Agnes Ware. I want to
thank Vicki Cheesman and Debbie McArdle
for helping to solve the mystery. With
Debbie’s permission, I have copied the page of the bible below so that others may see
the entry. I hope this information is useful
to others.
Judy
Ware
Addendum
*****
After passing my findings along to other genealogists, I was gratified to receive lots of
positive feedback – some emails actually providing further proof.
One
of the genealogists who had put "Pace" as the name sent me the following
note.
"Initially,
I had her as Agnes Todd based on information I received from the DAR (without
specific documentation), but several Ware researchers provided me with
copies of the pages in Wilder's book showing it to be Pace. At that time,
I searched for proof of her Todd surname, but only found proof of her given
name, so I changed it to Pace."
Then I
got another message from a "Pace" source that read: "I
really think you are on the right track, since I have come across the Todd name more
than once in other people's research and through personal interviews. I am so
pleased it all seems to be coming together. I totally agree with you regarding the
Wilder research, which for years was regarded as the definitive. I have found major
problems with some of his later research. Bless his heart, but without the aid
of computers and no real evidence to go on, I think he just made a lot of educated
guesses. I will be switching to your new information and hope that this is only
the tip of the iceberg."
Then
one of the "Nall" camp wrote: "I
confess to being a bit skeptical about the news when I first started reading, but
that final family bible really is convincing, combined with your arguments."
And
one more "Pace" writer actually had this quote still in her
records.
"She
was the daughter of James Ware, Jr., MD and Caty Todd. James
Ware, Jr. was the son of James Ware, MD and his wife Agnes Todd,
Daughter of George Todd. She had
ultimately gone with "Pace" in her writing - deferring to Wilder's work, but
now said "you
can use the above quote as a reference along with your letter to help convince others of
this discovery."
