Pelham Genealogy - Peter Pelham, Jr. of Virginia (1747-1822)

Of all the Pelhams, Peter Pelham, Jr. had a fascinating and varied career. Born May 1, 1747, the first child of Peter and Ann Creese Pelham of Boston, he grew up in Williamsburg, Virginia. His father served as the town's organist and gaoler.

Not much is known of Peter's childhood, but in 1766, at age 19, there is a letter from him to his uncle, John Singleton Copley, written from Barbados. In the letter he compared it to the Garden of Eden. But Peter gave up his Eden and returned to Virginia. He became the clerk of Brunswick County about 1771. It is not known if he had a legal education, but back then (and even today) it was not a requirement to be a clerk of the court. In 1772 he married Parthenia Brown of Southampton County.

During the Revolution, Peter served as Captain of the Buckingham Minutemen. This outfit was ordered disbanded by the state, due to its reduction caused by enlistments in the regul ar army. Peter then became quartermaster of Colonel Marlin's battalion of militia from Brunswick County. Following the war, Peter returned to his duties as clerk of the court.

In 1781 Greensville County was formed from Brunswick. Peter Pelham became its first clerk of the court. "From the manner in which the records were kept," wrote a historian, "he must have been an excellent clerk." In April 1784 he was appointed coroner of the county. Perhaps because of this some of his friends began referring to him as "Dr. Pelham," although he apparently had no medical education. Peter also served as a lieutenant in the Greensville militia and was active in both counties socially and in public affairs.

Peter was raised an Episcopalian. In 1775 Francis Asbury, second bishop of the Methodist Church, came to Brunswick County. Edward Dromgoole, an early Methodist preacher, knew Pelham and Droomgoole's son would marry Peter's daughter. Sometime in this period he was converted to Methodism. In 1792 he helped Mr. Asbury and Mr. Dromgoole in forming Ebeneezer Academy, the first Methodist school in the United States. In 1804 "for the love he hath to the cause of God and the Holy religion of Jesus Christ and for the consideration of One Dollar," Peter Pelham gave a tract of land for future camp meetings and in 1804 Pelham Church was built. Today Pelham Church is the oldest church in Brunswick County, near the hamlet of Freeman, Va.

Along with his religion, Peter developed a strong antipathy toward slavery. In the 1780's Peter freed his slaves. Moving to Ohio, Peter settled in the small town of Union, south of Xenia "to escape the evils of slavery and to worship according to the Methodist plan."

At least some of his children stayed in Ohio. Ann Pelham married Chappell Bonner, son of the founder of Union. She died in 1809. Caroline Pelham married Thomas Davis in 1814 at Union. She bore 14 children. Thomas apparently stayed in Virginia. He married, first, Isabella Dickson in 1799; and second, Hannah Burwell, in 1801. She died, leaving one child, John Burwell Pelham. John Burwell Pelham married Eliza W. Jackson on December 9, 1823. After this, there appear to be no Pelhams in the records of Brunswick County or Greensville County. Two other sons, Jesse Brown and Samuel, I know nothing about.

Peter Pelham, Jr., supposedly returned to Brunswick County in his old age, where he died on August 26, 1822. He was John Pelham's great-uncle.

-- by Peggy Vogtsberger

This article first appeared in Volume 2, No. 1 of The Cannoneer.

Sources:
"Peter Pelham, Jr. of Virginia"-- Douglas Summers Brown (ed.), Historical and Biographical Sketches of Greensville County, Virginia, 1650-1967, (The Riparian Woman's Club, Emporia, Va., 1968).
Augusta B. Fothergill, Marriage Records of Brunswick Count, Virginia, 1730-1852, Fothergill, 1953.
Catharine L. Knorr, Marriage Bonds and Ministers' Returns of Greensville County, Virginia, 1781-1825 (Knorr, 1955).
H.R. McIlwaine (ed.), Journals of the Council of the State of Virginia, Vol. 1 (Richmond, 1931).
Gay Neale, Brunswick County, Virginia, 1720-1975, Whittet & Shepperson, Richmond, 1975).
Notes - Visit to Colonial Williamsburg Collections, Oct. 14, 1982.
F. Johnston, Memorials of Old Virginia Clerks (J.P. Bell & Co., Lynchburg, 1888).
Copley-Pelham Letters; "Personal Notices From the Virginia Gazette," William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 9, No.4 Series I , Apri 1 1901.
"Notes From the Records of Greensville County," William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Series I), July 1913.
Dixie Hammond, Southern Relatives, Vol. II (Yale Printing, San Antonio, TX, 1963); Stuart E. Brown, Jr. and Ann Barton Brown, Carter Hall (Virginia Book Company, Berryville, Va., 1978).
Letter of Dr. W.M. Pritchett to Peggy Vogtsberger, September 23, 1982.