The Processioners of 1795

The Processioners of 1795 - Provided by Gail M. Walczyk

The Processioners of 1795:

PROCESSIONS: The official record

In 1795/96 there were 17 Districts in St. George Parish and 13 Districts in Accomack Parish for a total of 30 Districts. The business of processioning was initiated by a court order that specified the boundaries of each procession district and appointed individuals as processioners (Processioners Returns):

At a Court held in Accomack County
September the second 1795
Present
Thomas Bayly, John Teackle Sen^rJohn S. Ker & John Teackle Jun^r Gen^t

In Obedience to an act of assembly &c The Court proceeded to lay off the Districts under the processioning Law as follows to wit:

St. George Parish

1st First District - From the Line of Accomack Parish to Bowmans Branch and to Wallops Road. Thomas Cropper, Richard Jacobs & Levin Copes Processioners.

2nd From Bowmans Branch to Walkers Branch and so up to the said middle road. Levin Walker, Jacob Bird, & Mathias Outten Processioners.

3rd From Walkers Branch to Burtons Branch and up to the Middle Road aforesaid. William Floyd, William Parramore & Thos Garrison Processioners

4th From Burtons Branch to Nocks Branch including the white marsh. George Taylor, John Walker Jun^r & Zerobable Chandler processioners

5th From Nocks Branch to Mears' Branch including the Lands of Ezekiel Ashby. Richard Read, George Coleburn & Kendal Beech Processioners.

6th From Mears' Branch to Richard Savage's Branch to include the Lands of Robert Savage. Archabald Garrison, Arthur Roberts Junr & James Ashby Senr Processioners.

7th From Richard Savage's Branch to the Line of Northampton. Peter Savage, Charles Richardson & Joshua Turner Processioners.

8th From the north bounds of Edmund Scarburgh's lands to Stringer's Branch and from thence to the line of Northampton. Christopher Satchell, William Mears, son of John and Armstead Mears Processioners.

9th From Edmund Scarburgh's lands aforesaid to include Craddock Neck to the south side of Andua to the Lands formerly belonging to Major Andrews. John Wilkins, George Ker & Severn Kellam Processioners.

10th From the head of Andua including Pungoteague Neck to Revell's Branch and up to Welburns. Elijah Handcock, Zorobable Hornsby & Sam^l Trader Processioners.

11th From Revell's Branch to Tinley's Mill including Slutkill Neck and up the middle road. John Arlington, Sol^o Smith & Stephen Warrington Processioners.

12th From Tinley's Mill between the forks of Onancock up to the middle road. Edmund Wise, Garret Topping & Tully Snead Processioners.

13th From Onancock to Deep Creek and bounded on the East by the road leading from Port Scarburgh to Deep Creek Mill and down to the bayside. John Revell, Samuel Waples & Charles Snead Processioners.

14th From Onancock to the Middle Road & up to Deep Creek Branch Westerly on the road leading from Port Scarburgh to Deep Creek Mill. James Bonwell, William Bell & Robert Snead Processioners.

15th From Deep Creek Branch to Doctor Fisher's from thence down Jones Line to Deep Creek road including the Lands on the bayside. Robinson Custis, Mitchell Chandler & Tho^s Aimes Processioners.

16th From Jones Line to the head of Hunting Creek Branch the South prong and so up the said Branch to the Court House road including the Court yard. Tho^s Waters, Francis Aires & Will^m Drummond Processioners.

17th From the head of Hunting Creek Branch to the line of the Parish and up to the Court House road. Henry Custis, Johannis Watson & Tho^s Hickman Processioners.

Accomack Parish

First District - From the line of Maryland to Rules Mill Branch & up that Branch the line between William Warrington & William Patterson to Wallops Road along the said road to the Maryland line aforesaid. William Welburn, George Marshall, & Drummond Welburn Processioners.

Second District - All the Lands of Chincoteague, Popes & Assateague Islands. Joshua Whealton, John Lewis & Zadock Sheperd Processioners.

3rd Between Rules Mill Branch & Mifflins Mill Branch to Wallops Road at Oak Hall and up said road between Warrington & Patterson James Gillet, Isaac Marshall & John Bowles Processioners.

4th Between Mifflins Mill Branch & Assawoman Creek and up said Creek and Branch by Assawoman Church up to Wallops Road to the line between Bartholomew Taylor & Thomas Mathews and along said road to Oak Hall also all the lands on Wallops Island. David Watts, William Ewell & George Whittington Processioners.

5th Between Assawoman Branch & Kigatank Branch and up that Branch to Wallops Road there along said road to the line between Thomas Mathews & Bartholomew Taylor, Southey Grinnalds, John Poulson & John Finney Processioners.

6th Between Kigatank Branch & Onion's Branch and up said Branch to Wallops Road and along said road to Kigatank Branch. William Wise, Abel Teackle & Rich^d R. Savage Processioners.

7th Between Onion's Branch & the line of the Parish and along the said line to Onion's Branch. Parker Barnes, George Bundick & John Parker Processioners.

8th Between [-----] Cree k and Back Creek on the bayside and up Back Creek Branch to the line between John Gootee & William Miles and along their line to Wallops Road and along said road to the line of the Parish. William Stran, Charles Bagwell & Woney Rew Processioners.

9th Between Back Creek and Guilford Creek & up said Creek [-----] the North Branch thereof to Wallops Road including Elias Bell's land and along Wallops Road to the line between Rodger Miles & William Warner, George Warner, Isaiah Hickman & Hampton Hickman Processioners.

10th Between the North Fork of Guilford Creek & Massongo Creek and along said Creek & Branch to Wallops Road and along said road to the North side of Guilford Creek. Isaac Warner, John Howard & William Lewis Lucas Processioners.

Eleventh - Between Messongo and Crooked Creek and up Crooked Creek on the South Branch thereof to Wallops Road and along said road to Messongo Creek including the Masons lands. Elijah Welburn, Jos Silverthorn & W^m S. [-----] Processioners.

12th Between Crooked Creek and Ewamus Creek up to Wallops Road and along the said road to the line between William Mathews Jun^r & Joseph Mathews Sen^r. William Selby Jun^r, George Bunting & Dixon Hall Processioners.

13th All the lands of the North side of Ewamus Creek Branch up to Wallops Road and along the said road to the line of Maryland inclusive. Joseph Feddeman, Isaac Boston & William Warrington Processioners.

The court then went on to state:

Ordered that the persons so appointed as processioners shall on or before the last day of March procession all the lands within the aforesaid Districts respectively and on or before the said day return to the Court an account of every persons land they shall procession and of the persons present at the same and what lands in their precinct they shall fail to procession and the particular reasons of such failure. And it is further ordered that the freeholders in each District shall attend the processioners in the precincts in which they reside respectively and the processioners shall advertize at two of the most public places within their precincts of the times & places of their processioning and make it known that the freeholders aforesaid are bound to attend the processioners aforesd in manner aforesd under the penalty of fifteen Dollars in order that no freeholder may pretend ignorance.

Followed by:

The Processioners returns are as follows to wit: ...

At the end of the of the procession entry it reads:

The following allowances were made to the processioners respectively by Order of Court for the days were employed in performing the business of Processioning to be paid out of the Depositum in the Sheriff's hands when collected to wit:

Each processioner received .50 for each day he processioned. It went on to list the number of days each processioner spent processioning and the amount of money they received for a total of $220.40. It was then recorded by the Clerk of the Court.

Source:

Walczyk, Gail M. Accomack County Processioners Returns 1796 - 1816 for Accomack and St. George's Parishes. Coram NY: Peter's Row, 2004.