Genealogy by Martha

Cross - Love - Culpepper - Herron - Mordecai - Shelby - Cobb

Edwyn Conway (Connaway), I

Male Abt 1620 - Abt 1675  (~ 55 years)


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  • Name Edwyn Conway (Connaway) 
    Suffix
    Born Abt 1620  Wigorn, Worchestershire, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died Abt 1675  Christ Church Parish, Middlesex Co., VA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I10843  MyTree
    Last Modified 29 Aug 2011 

    Family Martha Eltonhead,   b. Lancashire, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Lancaster Co., VA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married Abt 1640  Worchestershire, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. Edwin Conway, II,   b. Abt 1644, Northumberland Co., VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aug 1698, Christ Church Parish, Middlesex Co., VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 54 years)
    +2. Eltonhead Corbin Conway,   b. Abt 1646, Northampton Co., VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 28 Oct 1689, Northampton Co., VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 43 years)
    Last Modified 17 Jul 2017 
    Family ID F5676  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 

    • William And Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine. Vol XII Editor: LYON G. TYLER, M. A., LL. D., Whittet & Shepperson, General Printers.1904.
      Here is a pedigree of the Faquier County Conways. I believe they are related to the West Virginia Conaways further back in England but that connection has not been discovered as yet. I do know that several researchers have tried to “force fit” Thomas, father of John Conaway who married Francina Spann, into the line of Baron John and Mahala Conaway. The problem with that is that the dates don’t work for any of the known progeny of said John and Mahala. In any event the Conways given here were very prominent in the affairs of Virginia and the family ties into the Ball’s, Fleete’s, Jefferson, Lewis and Washington families among others.
      Page 264-267
      CONWAY FAMILY
      First Generation:
      1 Mr. Edwyn Conway I , of county Wigorn, that is county of Worcester, England, came to Virginia, cir. 1640. He appears in Northampton county records, June, 1642 as “Mr. Edwyn Conway, clerke of this com.” In the first grant of land in his name, Oct., 1644, he is recorded as “Edwyn Connaway, of Northampton, Clerke.” He was probably born in Worcestershire, England, cir. 1610; died Lancaster county, Va., 1675. He married (1) 1640( ?), in England, Martha Eltonhead, daughter of Richard Eltonhead, of Lancashire, England. His wife probably came to Virginia in 1652, as she is named with her husband in a patent of that date as “headright.”
      Edwin Conway was the third clerk of Northampton county, Va., Henry Bagnall being the first, and Thomas Cooke the second. He had issue by his first wife:
      1 Edwin I, born circa 1640-44; died 1698.
      2 Eltonhead, married (1) Henry Thacker, (2) William Stanard.

      Second Generation:
      2 Edwin Conway II, of “the county of Lancaster, gent.,” married (1st) Sarah, daughter of Lieut. Col. John Walker, Esq., of Gloucester county, and Sarah his wife, widow of Col. Henry Fleet. He married (2nd) Elizabeth Thompson. His will, dated March 19, 1698, was proved in Richmond county, Sept. 7, 1698. He had issue:
      By Sarah Walker—
      1 Edwin III.
      2 Mary, born Feb. 16, 1686, died Sept. 15, 1730; married (i.) Nov. 11, 1703, John Daingerfield; (ii.) April 16, 1707, Major James Ball.
      3 Francis, born 1697; married 1720 Rebecca Catlett.
      4 Posthumous child, born 1698-’99.

      Third Generation:
      1 Edwin Conway III, born 1681-’82; died Oct. 3, 1763; was a leading man in Lancaster county for many years. He was Lieut.Col. of Militia and burgess from 1710 to 1742, except the year 1720. He was also vestryman for many years of Christ Church and St. Mary’s White Chapel, in Lancaster. He married (1st) Anne Ball in 1704 (daughter of Col. Joseph Ball and Elizabeth Romney his wife), half sister to Mary Ball, the mother of Washington, (2nd) Ann Hack, born 1697, died 28 Aug., 1747, probably daughter of Dr. George and Anna Herman Hack. Col. Conway made his will the 27th of July, 1762, and it was proved in Lancaster county 20 January, 1764. Issue:
      1 Elizabeth, married May 5, 1724, Christopher Garlington,
      2 Anne, married June 10, 1729, Robert Edmonds.
      3 Mary* married Thomas Gaskins.
      4 Agatha, married Oct. 1, 1737, Cuthbert Spann. [This is the connecting link to the West Virginia Conaways - their son Richard's daughter Francina (or Frances Sinah) married John Conaway, father of Thomas of Bean Cove]
      5 Peter, died 1753; married (1st) Betty Spann, (2nd) Betty Lee,
      6 George* died 1754; married 1739 Ann Heath.
      7 Hannah, born 1724; married April 22, 1746, Tunstall Hack.
      8 Milicent, born 1727; died Feb. 2, 1747-’48; married March 28, 1742, James Gordon.

      Fourth Generation:
      3 Mary* Conway married Thomas Gaskins. The will of Thomas Gaskins was ordered to record in Northumberland county, August 8, 1737, but there is no recordation preserved. In various record books, however, in Northumberland county, his wife’s name is given as Mary. In March, 1738, William Eustace, John Shapleigh and Matthew Zuill divided Elizabeth Schrever’s personal estate according to his will, and allotted Mary Gaskins, executrix of Thomas Gaskins, deceased, her part of her deceased husband’s estate. In the records of Lancaster county there is the following deed:
      “I, Edwin Conway, of the county of Lancaster, in consideration of my love to my granddaughter Sarah Ann McAdam, have given and delivered unto Dr. Joseph McAdam, her husband, of the county of Northumberland, three negro slaves, vizt.: Jesse, Sarah and her child Daniel, to have and to hold unto the said Joseph, his heirs and assigns. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and scale, the 16th day of January, Anno Domini 1761. Edwin Conway.
      “Sealed and Delivered in Presence of John Porter, James Kirk, John Degge. Recorded at a court held for Lancaster, 20 February, 1761.”

      Issue of Mary Conway and Thomas Gaskins: Elizabeth, Thomas, Edwin, Sarah Ann, Ann and John Gaskins, named in the will of Elizabeth Schrever, proved in 1738.
      1 Elizabeth, married Col. Richard Hull, who was born April 13, 1717; died in 1776.
      2 Thomas, married probably Sarah Eustace, daughter of Capt. William Eustace and Ann Lee, daughter of Hancock Lee.
      3 Edwin, died without issue in 1748.
      4 Sarah Ann, married (1st) John Pinkard, before 1741, when he received, on account of his wife, her share of her father’s (Thomas Gaskins’) estate. Married (2nd) in July, 1744, Dr. Joseph McAdam (marriage bond in Lancaster county clerk’s office).
      5 Ann, married Capt. William Eustace, son of Capt. William Eustace and Ann Lee (daughter of Hancock Lee). She is called sister “Ann Eustace” in Isaac Lee’s will.
      6 John.

      Fourth Generation:
      6 George Conway, of Wicomico, Va., son of Col. Edwin Conway III, died in 1754. His will was proved June 21, 1754; married in 1739 Ann Heath, born May 9, 1721, daughter of Samuel Heath, of Northumberland county, Va. She married (2nd) Dec. 30, 1764, Travers Downman. Issue:
      1 Agatha, married Isaac Eustace.
      2 Edwin, born 1742; married Sarah Conway McAdam, daughter of Dr. Joseph McAdam and Sarah Ann Gaskins.
      3 George, born 1744.
      4 Peter Hack.
      5 Walker, married Anne Moncure.
      6 Anne.

      Fifth Generation:
      Edwin Conway IV was executor of the estate of his grandfather Col. Edwin Conway. He married Sarah Conway McAdam, daughter of Dr. Joseph McAdam and Sarah Ann Gaskins, and had issue an only daughter Sarah Ann, born Dec. 1, 1763, married July 7, 1783, Col. James Ewell, and died Oct. 31, 1783.

      1 Comment :
      The Farquier County, VA, line was of Thomas Conaway b. 1704 d. 1784 in said county. His brother was John, b. Nov. 26, 1702 d. 1755, who married Francina Spann. The brothers’ father was John Conaway b. Jan. 15, 1673 d. 1727, and his father was Dennis Conaway, b. 1646 d. 1709. They were the Conaways from Northumberland County, Va. Where the Edwin Line was from Lancaster County , VA. I have John Conaway’s(1702) will from Northumberland County. In it is his son, John Spann Conaway, b. Jan. 15, 1738. This is a source of confusion with the Hampshire Conaways. Our John’ (1762-1841) middle name was not ‘Span’. FYI, I am descended from Jeremiah Conaway (1768/69 – 1847), John and Thomas’s brother, son of Thomas Senior.
      (Comment by Vincent DiBernardo - August 22, 2009 )

      Researchers should note that Christ Church Parish, Lancaster County is often confused with Christ Church Parish, Middlesex County, which formed in 1666 on the south side of the Rappahannock River in what was then part of Lancaster County but in 1669 became Middlesex County. Both the vestry book (1663-1767) and the parish register (1653-1812, which recorded baptisms, marriages, and burials) survive. The Library of Virginia offers more information on these two sources and other Middlesex County records.

      Researchers should also note that from 1669 to 1752, two parishes existed in Lancaster County: Christ Church and St. Mary's White Chapel. County records usually identified residents as belonging to one parish or the other. Researchers interested in persons active in St. Mary's White Chapel can find valuable information in the Lancaster County records. They may also contact the church at (804) 462-5908. The graveyard at St. Mary's has a number of colonial markers.