John Ivey

(c1650s – 1693)

Virtually every printed genealogy of the Thomas and Ann Ivey family identifies John Ivey of Lower Norfolk County as their son.  This conclusion was apparently based on his presence in the same geographic area, though he lived at the opposite corner of the county.  In fact, there is not a single record connecting him in any way to the family or descendants of Thomas Ivey and Ann Argent.  He is conspicuously missing from the records identifying Thomas Ivey’s children.  He is not mentioned in the 7 March 1663/4 court record identifying the sons of Thomas Ivey [1], nor is he mentioned as a son in the later sale of Thomas Ivey’s land.[2]   The earliest mention of any John Ivey is nearly twenty years after Thomas Ivey’s death when a patent to Laurence Robinson in neighboring Nansemond County was issued 23 March 1671/2 for importation of 25 persons, among them a “John Ivy”.[3]  That we later find our John Ivey located near the Nansemond border suggests this may have been the same person.[4]   

There is no other record of a John Ivey for another eleven years, by which time he was married and living in the western part of the county several miles from the descendants of Thomas Ivey.  On 25 June 1683 William and Mary Dafnell [or Davenall] made a deed of gift to their daughter Mary Ivy, wife of John Ivy.[5]   In 1665 William Dafnell had patented 150 acres on Goose Creek in the far western part of Norfolk County, just a mile or two from the Nansemond County line.     

John Ivey’s will, dated 24 May 1693 and proved 17 July 1693, names his wife Mary and bequeaths a cow to each of four minor children named John, Thomas, Mary and Elizabeth.[6]   The will does not mention any land, and is signed by his mark.   Note that his inability to sign his name and his apparent lack of land further distance him from Thomas Ivey’s children.  The will specifies that the sons were to receive their bequests at the age of 21 and the daughters at the age of 16 or at their marriage.  It further mentions funding for “the schooling of my children”, implying that the children were not only minors but perhaps all quite young.  Thus the 1683 gift may have been occasioned by his marriage to Mary Dafnell.

His wife Mary is identified in some published genealogies as the “Mary Ivee” named as a daughter in the 1707 will of John Joyce, but this is clearly not the case.[7]  Mary Joyce was actually the wife of Thomas Ivey, son of George Ivey.

Rather, John Ivey’s wife was Mary Dafnell [or Davenall] the daughter of William and Mary Dafnell.  As mentioned above, William and Mary Dafnell made a deed of gift to Mary Ivy, wife of John Ivy, in 1683.  William Dafnell’s nuncupative will, proved on 1 October 1686, left a lamb to his granddaughter Mary Ivey, the daughter of Mary Ivey.[8]  The will also specified that property left to the widow Mary Dafnell was to be divided among their children at her death, the four children being Elizabeth, wife of Edward Outlaw, Sarah Pucknell (who witnessed John Ivey’s will), Mary Ivy, and William Dafnell Jr.  Mary Ivey, John Ivey’s widow, had remarried to Nathaniel Ludgall by 16 September 1696, when a suit by the four heirs of William Dafnell included Nathaniel Ludgall and wife.[9]  As Mary Ludgall, she gave consent for the marriage of her daughter Elizabeth Ivey in 1706.[10]  Nathaniel Ludgall’s will, dated 4 February 1717/8 and proved on 20 November 1719, gives to his wife Mary “two iron pots which was her own by her former husband John Ivey.”[11]   On 17 May 1720, William Dafnell Jr. of Chowan County, North Carolina deeded land in Norfolk County to John and Sarah Ivey, describing John Ivey as the son of his sister Mary Davenall.[12]  Further, John and Thomas Ivey, probably the same persons as the sons of John and Mary Ivey, witnessed a power of attorney by Edward Outlaw (husband of Elizabeth Dafnell) of Chowan County in 1727, which Thomas Ivey proved in the Norfolk court the following year.[13] 

1.      John Ivey  (c1685 - 1752)  He was under 21, probably by several years, at the time of his father’s will in 1693 and probably lived with his mother and Nathaniel Ludgall until he was of age.  He appears to have remained in the far western part of Norfolk County.  The first mention of him is the deed to him and his wife Sarah by his uncle William Dafnell in 1720 (see above).  He was perhaps the John Ivey who, with Thomas Ivey, witnessed Edward Outlaw’s power of attorney in 1727.[14]  Since Thomas Ivey proved the power of attorney in Norfolk’s court, it is probable that both were residents of Norfolk in 1727.  Probably the same John Ivey appears in the tithables lists in the western precinct of Norfolk County in 1730, 1736, 1750 and 1751, listed as a “cripple” and exempt from tax.[15]  Given this location and his wife’s name, he seems to be the same John Ivey of the western branch precinct who left a will in Norfolk County dated 1 November 1749 and proved 21 February 1752.[16]  The will names his wife Sarah and children William, Lemuel, John, Charity Slatter, Patience Foreman, and Keziah Ives.   His widow was left “my former dwelling house which my son John now dwells in” and John Ivey was left “all my lands”.

1.1.   William Ivey   (c1725? – aft1761)  His father left him “my house that is on the south side of the road” in his will, and he purchased land in the western branch precinct in 1757.[17]  William Ivey appears in the tithables in the western branch precinct in 1750, 1751, 1753 (as a constable), 1754, 1757,  and 1759.   In 1761 he was still in the same precinct, which was by then Portsmouth parish.  There are no tithables lists again until 1767 and later, when he no longer appears.  He apparently either died or left the area in the interim.  It is not clear to me if he had any children, but one is very tentatively conjectured. 

1.1.1. Samuel Ivey (c1760 - ?)  He initially appears on the 1778 tithables list of the western branch precinct, suggesting that he is likely a son of either William Ivey or one of his brothers. He is probably the same Samuel Ivey who married Ann Carney, daughter of William Carney, on 21 March 1784.[18]  He does not appear in the tax lists of 1789 or later, suggesting he either died or left the area.  He may be the Samuel Ivey on the 1790 census of Pitt County, North Carolina. Some of his Carney in-laws had moved into Pitt County at about the same time.

1.2.   John Ivey (c1720 – 1792)  His father’s will left most of his land to John Ivey.  This land was referenced in a 1752 deed as being at the head of the Western Branch in the Great Dismal Swamp.[19]  John Ivey continued to live in the western precinct of southern Norfolk, buying additional land there from John Taylor in 1753 with brother-in-law Robert Ives a witness.[20]  He was in the Portsmouth parish tithables in 1750, 1751 (as constable), 1752, 1767 (with John Smith), 1768, 1770, 1771, 1773 (with a second John Ivey), and 1778.  He moved to Duplin County, North Carolina sometime after 1786 where he left a will dated and proved in 1792.[21]  The will named wife Leah, daughter Mary Carr and grandson Demcy Carr (son of Samuel Carr and Mary his wife),  grandson Jesse Brown and granddaughter Sarah Harrod (daughter of David Brown and Patience his wife, both deceased), daughter Sarah Parker, and daughter Charity Smith.  It also named “my niece” Elizabeth, the daughter of Lemuel Ivey, deceased, of Norfolk County, Virginia as a legatee.  No sons were mentioned in the will.  His wife was apparently the same Leah Ivey who witnessed the will of John Ives in 1777 in Norfolk County.

1.3.   Lemuel Ivey  (c1754? – by1792)  Both his father’s will and his brother John Ivey’s will identify him as a son of John Ivey.  He was probably a younger son, as he does not appear in the tithables in the Western Branch district until 1771, when he is a single tithable without land.  In 1773 he is listed with James Smith, and in 1777 he and his mother both witnessed the will of her brother John Ives.  He was deceased by the time of John Ivey’s will in 1792, which names Lemuel’s daughter Elizabeth as a legatee.  Samuel Stafford posted bond as guardian of Elizabeth Ivey, “orphan of Lemuel Ivy” on 20 February 1792.[22]  Perhaps his son was the Samuel Stafford who married Elizabeth Ivey by bond dated 21 February 1792.[23]

1.4.   Charity Ivey   Her father’s will gave five pounds to “my Daughter Charity Slatter” and five shillings to “my son in law Luke Slatter.” 

1.5.   Keziah Ivey  (c1720? - ?)  She was “Keziah Ives” when her father wrote his will in 1749, but had apparently first been married to a Johnson.  Robert Ives, son of Timothy Ives of Norfolk County, married a Keziah Johnson in 1746, and his will of 31 January 1764 names his wife Keziah and children Robert, John, Rachel, Keziah, and “daughter-in-law” Tamer Powell, wife of Joshua Powell.[24]  The 1777 will of John Ives, his son,  mentions his mother Keziah Ives and brother Robert Ives, and was witnessed by both Lemuel Ivey and Leah Ivey.[25]

1.6.   Patience Ivey   She was “Patience Foreman” in her father’s will.  Her husband may have been Richard Foreman.

2.      Thomas Ivey  (c1685 – c1755?)  He was a minor in 1693.  As mentioned above, he may have been the Thomas Ivey who witnessed Edward Outlaw’s power of attorney in 1727 and proved it in the Norfolk court on 17 May 1728.[26]  He is not shown in the 1730 tithables, but may be the Thomas Ivey on the tithables lists for the western precinct of southern Norfolk County in 1736, 1750, and 1754.  He is not on the tithables 1757 or thereafter.  Since he must have been in his 70s by then, it seems likely he died, but no record of his death was found.  If he had children, they are unknown.

3.      Mary Ivey  (by1686 - ?)  She was bequeathed a lamb by William Dafnell’s 1686 will.  As the only child mentioned in that will, it could be she was the eldest child.  She was still under 16 and unmarried in 1693 when her father made his will.  There is no further record of her. 

4.      Elizabeth Ivey  (c1687 - ?)  She was under 16 when her father made his will in 1693.  She must have been born after October 1685, for she married John Browne by bond dated 5 October 1706 as the “daughter of Mary Ludgall, who consents.”[27]  He was perhaps the same John Browne who was executor of the Edward Browne to whom her mother Mary Dafnell had remarried.