John Awbrey (abt. 1715 - abt. 1743)

Born about 1715 in Westmoreland County, Colony of Virginia, America

Ancestors

Died about 1743 at about age 28 in Prince William County, Colony of Virginia, America

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Cole Aubrey [send private message]

Biography

John Awbrey has Welsh ancestors.

This profile is part of the Awbrey Name Study.

Did not appear to be a favorite of his brother Richard, who in early 1743 willed him 1 Shilling.

John followed in his father's footsteps and became a surveyor and a tobacco inspector. He used his father's contacts and influence to gain several small land grants along the Potomac River in both Maryland and Virginia.

John married Mary and had issue 2 daughters:

1. Frances (Awbrey) Ellis (abt.1740-) m. Phillip Ellis
2. Hanover (Awbrey) Bradley (abt.1742-aft.1767) m. Owen Bradley

John inherited a bulk of land from his father, including the "Big Spring" land near current-day Leesburg.^[1]

He passed a few short years after his father and his wife sold off the lands (including land that is the northern portion of Arlington Cemetery) and remarried and moved to Maryland.

In 1745 Mary sold a parcel of land to George Gregg. There is reference to her new husband John Mills.^[1]

John's daughter would sell the remaining land off by 1763 to John Carlyle.

This would be the end of the Awbrey/Aubrey's presence in the Northern Neck. Between the old relationships that Francis and Henry had built, the Aubrey's lost their foothold on the frontier land grants of the lower Potomac. They were not skilled farmers or ferryman and land speculation had already called some of them south and the rest were soon to be moving west.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Northern Virginia History Notes - Formation of the Town of Leesburg