Map of the general area

At present, we know of two tracts of land that Henry owned in his lifetime: a 200 acre grant that he received in 1673 and sold in 1680;  and a 435-acre parcel that he acquired in 1694 and still owned at his death in 1701. We don't know where he was between 1680 and 1694; apparently still in Henrico County, since his name appears in the records during this time period.  Farmers often had an economic reason to move periodically. Tobacco farming depletes the soil much faster than other crops; tobacco farmers could get luxuriant crops for three or four years, and then the crop yield went downhill fast. Planters could restore the soil by first planting corn and then letting the land lie fallow (Williams), but in the meantime they needed to find some new land if they wanted to have a cash crop. Some plots were sold or simply abandoned.

The 1673 grant	The Falling Creek land
Maps by Bannister

Surveys from this time period are difficult to read and they don't use precise coordinates, so we can't identify the exact location of Henry's land. But there are clues that point toward some specific areas.  The maps at left show the estimated location of these parcels, and the available evidence indicates that these maps are pretty accurate. 

There are similarities in place names that complicate the issue. The 1673 grant indicates that the northwest corner of Henry's land was at the head of Cole-something.  There is a small creek in the area called Coles Run whose head is half a mile from the river, so it's compatible with the description in the grant.  But there's stronger evidence that the 1673 grant was north of Cornelius Creek. There is a plantation called Coulsons in this area, and it's likely that the word in the grant is Colesons. 

Surveys conducted for other people in 1688 and 1692 mention Henry's land, and they are not compatible with the Coles Run location.   Bannister assumed that they were talking about the 1673 parcel, and the other maps on this page assume it too. But it's rather odd that the surveyors are still calling it Henry's land 8 to 12 years after he sold it. We can't rule out the possibility that they're talking about a different parcel that Henry owned between 1680 and 1694.  It's also possible that Henry sold the land because he needed to raise some cash, but continued to live there as a tenant until he had the means to buy some new land. He sold the 1673 grant to John Pleasants, a big landowner who lived on Curles Neck and obviously wasn't planning to personally farm Henry's land.

Cornelius Creek area

The surveys for others include one conducted for a land grant to Nicholas Marsh on October 20, 1688, and subsequently regranted to Thomas Cocke on April 29, 1693. This survey mentions easily-identifiable Cornelius Creek and the hard-to-identify "head of Barrow".  The second survey, for a land grant to Giles Webb on April 29, 1692, regranted to Bartholemew Fowler on October 29, 1696, and ultimately sold back to Giles Webb in 1698, talks about the middle run between Colsons and Deep Bottom, progressing to the head of Barrow-land. "Barrow" can be a generic term meaning a hill, but it was also the name of a plantation adjoining Rowland Place's land and a 100-acre parcel of land called Coulsons whose owners included John Pleasants (Rootsweb, Genealogy.com, JSTOR). The Deep Bottom mentioned in this survey is clearly not the area around Deep Bottom State Park near Curles Neck, and the location of this "different" Deep Bottom can not be identified.
 

General area map (repeat)	Division among the heirs

The Falling Creek land. On October 26, 1694 John Broadnax received a grant of 435 acres that had previously been granted to Charles Douglas. Ten days later he sold this land to Henry Trent for "a valuable consideration already in hand".  Unfortunately the document doesn't tell us what that consideration was.  This was the only land that Henry owned when he died in 1701, and his will divided the land equally between his sons. William had first pick, and he chose the parcel that had the "manor house" on it. The others drew lots to determine their share. 

The land was surveyed in 1705 during the process of dividing it among the heirs.  The surveyor's map didn't draw everything to quite the same scale, but it's still recognizable as the same parcel when the different shares are pieced together into a single map.

Henry Sherman is only known to have owned two parcels of land: the 378 acres that his wife inherited from her first husband Isaac Hutchins (sometimes spelled Hutchings), and the 228 acre grant that he got in 1673. The land on the general area map labeled A, B, and C was formerly known as Warwick.  Area A is the approximate location of Isaac Hutchins' land, which came into Henry Sherman's hands when he married Hutchins' widow; Area B is Peter Lee, whose name is mentioned in the 1673 grant; Area C is the location of Sherman's 1673 grant.

Bannister wrote an article about the Warwick area, as well as creating the closeup map. His map shows the lands of Hutchins and Peter Lee, and the unlabeled white space below Lee became Henry Sherman's land in 1673. 

The 378 acres in Area A reportedly ended up in the hands of Christopher Branch (husband of Henry Sherman's daughter Ann). There was a mysterious transaction around 1714 where Elizabeth Sherman Trent and her second husband Henry Gee somehow recovered 60 acres from Christopher Branch and then traded this land to William Byrd (JSTOR, Geesnmore). It's not clear how Branch got this land, but it's apparently in the area marked C.

Falling Creek inheritance	Tomahawk Creek land

William's first land acquisition was the 109 acres (or 120 acres, depending on which surveyor you believe) on Falling Creek that he inherited from his father in 1701, when William was about 17 years old. Henry's will divided the land equally between the four sons but gave William the first choice of the parcels, and he chose the one that had the house on it. See the article section on Henry the Immigrant's land for a map of the general area. 

On May 1, 1736, William was the witness to a transaction where Henry Cary bought 600 acres from Isaiah Burton, from the massive 17,653 acre Tullit survey (more info in the Henry the Immigrant section above).  On the same day, and on the same page of the record books, William bought 300 acres of land from Henry Cary. It is not clear whether this 300 acres was half of the land that Cary just bought from Burton, or if it was a separate parcel. There isn't enough information in the semi-legible deeds to determine the precise location of either parcel; but it looks like the land that Cary bought may have been on Pocoshock Creek, and the land that William bought may have been on Michaux Branch aka Michauk Creek. These creeks are not close to each other.

The Henrico deeds from 1737-1744 can not be located online, but there are other legal documents suggesting that William may have sold some or all of his land in 1739. In July 1739 he acknowledged a deed to Alexander Trent, and another deed to Francis Walker. It's possible that the deed to Alexander was for William's inherited land, keeping it in the family. It's not clear whether this was William's son Alexander, or his nephew Alexander 2 who inherited the Falling Creek plot next to William.

In September 1739 there was an apparent land exchange between William and Francis Flournoy, since William acknowledged a deed to Flournoy and Flournoy simultaneously acknowledged a deed to William. It's not clear what Flournoy received, but William acquired 400 acres on Tomahawk Creek. He sold 218 acres of this land to Stephen Watkins in 1745, leaving 182 acres in William's hands.   In November 1739 William acknowledged a deed to Henry Cary, which may or may not have involved some of this acreage.

In September 1746 William bought 150 acres on the west side of Tomahawk Creek from John Welch, close to the land on the east side of Tomahawk that he previously acquired from Flournoy.

William disposed of all his land in his lifetime. As of 1746, he apparently owned 182 acres on the east side of Tomahawk Creek and 150 acres on the west side of Tomahawk, for a total of 332 acres.  Subsequent records show that he gave 75 acres each to two of his sons.  The deeds to his sons are even less descriptive than usual, but it sounds like all the land that he gave to them may have been on the east side of Tomahawk, leaving 32 acres unaccounted for. Some of this discrepancy may have been sloppy recordkeeping, since new surveys or deeds don't always agree with the previous records. William may have gotten more than 400 acres to begin with, or the acreage sold to Watkins may have been less than the 218 acres stated on the deed.

In November 1757 he gave 75 acres to William Junior. The deed says that the land joins Flournoys line, but Flournoy owned land on both sides of Tomahawk Creek so this isn't very illuminating. It says that the line goes up an unnamed branch, and the only branch in this area is Trabues Branch on the east side of Tomahawk. The survey creates a new line dividing the lands of William Junior and William Senior.  William Junior sold this land to his brother Benjamin in June 1761, and the deed says it adjoins the lands of Mr Watkins and William Senior.  Stephen Watkins bought the northernmost part of William Senior's original plot, so it sounds like the plot that belonged first to William Junior and then to Benjamin was a slice between the lands of Watkins and William Senior.

In April 1762 William senior gave the 75 acres that he was living on to his son Henry, on condition that William Senior continued to have free use of the plantation during his life.

It's not clear what happened to the 150 acres that William bought from John Welch.

On April 5, 1748, John Trent received a land grant for 221 acres on the head branches of Nammiseen Creek (now called Namozine Creek) (Virginia Land Office Patents No. 26, 1747-1748, p. 401 (Reel 24) Library of Virginia; better copy on FamilySearch).  The head of the creek is in the lower left corner of the map. 

It's significant that John is described as a resident of Albemarle County in this unrecorded deed.  This suggests that he is the same John Trent who was in Albemarle with Henry of Amherst in the 1747-1760 time period. See Marsh Part 3 and Part 4 for John's appearances in Albemarle. He was recorded there in 1747 and in 1750 when he had 334 acres surveyed on Rockfish Creek.  The grant for this land wasn't issued until 1760, shortly after John's death in Albemarle County. 

The Amelia lists of tithables, 1736-1782 shows the following records for Trent in the relevant time period:

• 1740 John Trent on Abraham Cocke's list, below Deep Creek Img 78, last column near the top
• 1744 John Trent on Charles Irby's list, below Deep Creek and above Cellar Creek Img 130 next to last column
• 1749-1750 It has been said that John Trent was reported in Raleigh Parish below Flatt and Nibbs Creeks, and William Trent was taxed in Nottoway Parish; but I can't find them on the 1749 tax list or the 1750 tax list
• 1751-1752 It's said that John Trent was reported in Raleigh Parish between Flatt and Nibbs Creek; but the tax lists are hard to read and the information is questionable, so I didn't look for him. There's no rumor of William during this time period.
• 1753 William Trent on Charles Irby's list in the lower end of Nottoway Parish Img 331. Note that John Trent was reported on Charles Irby's list in 1744; they may have been living on the land that John patented and later sold to William.  In 1753, John Trent is reported on Abraham Talley's list below Cellar Creek Img 348 first column near top. This is not necessarily the same John Trent who sold land to William.
• 1755-1756 There are rumors of William in the lower end of Nottoway Parish in 1755, but his name was not found on the list. It's rumored that John was in Raleigh Parish in 1756, but I didn't look for him.

It's hard to tell whether John lived continuously in Albemarle from 1747 onward, or if he made sporadic appearances in both counties through the mid-1750s.  The Albemarle tax lists for the relevant period aren't available. If there were two John Trents - one living Amelia and one in Albemarle - then it's possible that one of them was the father of the family and the other was his son.

Who is this William Trent? We wouldn't expect to find William the son of Henry the Immigrant in Amelia County, since he was living in Chesterfield County, and that's probably where his son William Junior was too.  It seems more likely that this is the William Trent who married Sarah Bryant.  William/Bryant and Henry of Amherst both have Group 2 Y-DNA, and they are the earliest known members of this group.  John of Albemarle's Y-DNA has not been established, but the records show that he had connections to both Henry of Amherst and William of Amelia, and that Henry of Amherst had connections to the Bryant family.  The first definite sighting of William/Bryant doesn't come until 1780, when there are records of him and his adult children in Henry county.  

Henry's first land grant in this area was in 1746, when it was still part of Goochland county, and there were several more Trent land grants in this area after it became part of Albemarle county.  Abraham Childers had three land grants in this area from 1753-1756. They could have made contact earlier than this; the land grant process was slow, and it wasn't unusual for people to occupy the land before they officially received title to it. John Trent died in 1760, and Abraham Childers was one of the appraisers for John's estate inventory (Albemarle Will Book #2 1752-1785 p. 72 FamilySearch Image 48).  Henry Trent moved to Amherst county sometime between 1760 and 1763. There is no further record of the Trent land in Albemarle; we don't know what Henry did with it.

Rockfish Creek and Bremo (Bremore) Creek end just after they run off the edge of the map.  The Hardware River and Slate River go on for miles, but the land grants were very close to the James (Fluvanna) River.

The Albemarle land grants:

Henry Trent moved to Amherst county sometime between 1760 and 1763. There is no record of what happened to his Albemarle county lands. He acquired several parcels in Amherst county.

Area map	Closeup view

In November 1820, Frederick's wife Lydia ordered a survey of 20 acres on Indian Creek in Tazewell County. There are two Indian Creeks in the area, and it's not clear which creek was involved or exactly where the land was. Lydia had somehow acquired a treasury warrant giving her the right to 20 acres, but it doesn't look like she completed the process and actually became the land owner. The family's location seems to have been very unsettled at this time, with Frederick appearing on the 1820 Cabell County tax list but not the federal census for the county, and Lydia possibly appearing on the 1820 Pike KY census. It may not have been a good time for the family to acquire land in Tazewell County.

Logan county land grants

Frederick's sons and grandsons had numerous land transactions in Logan County, primarily on Gilbert Creek and Horsepen Creek. The location of land grants is shown on the map at left, and there were also a number of land purchases. Humphrey, Eli (Senior), and Frederick (Junior) are Frederick's sons. Smith, Alexander and Eli (Junior) are Humphrey's sons; Eli was called Junior because there was an older Eli Trent in the area - it didn't mean that he was the older Eli's son. The children of Frederick Junior and Eli Senior had very few land transactions in this county, and they are not reported in this article. Neither is Humphrey's daughter Clarissa and her husband Madison Ellis.

Microfilms of the Logan County land books for 1824-1902 are available online at FamilySearch. This is a real estate tax list that shows the property owners. These records don't always seem to be entirely in sync with the records for land grants, purchases and sales, but they are a useful indicator of Trent land ownership in the county. The list below cuts off at 1875, the year in which the last of the Trent landowners moved out of Logan County. Their land ownership in Logan continued for some time afterward, but it no longer told us anything about where they lived. There were no Trents in the Logan County land records for 1824-1829, but they had a continuous presence in all subsequent years (links to 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833, 1834, 1835, 1836, 1837, 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847, 1848, 1849, 1850, 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858, 1859, 1860). A secondary district that started reporting in 1853 had records of Trents for two years (1853, 1854); after 1854, no Trents were reported in multiple districts until the state adopted reporting by township around 1865.

Records are unavailable for 1861-1864, probably because there was a Civil War going on and West Virginia abruptly became a separate state in the middle of it. 1866 is too faded to read, although the name Trent is barely visible. Humphrey Trent had died by March 1866.

From 1867 onwards, the records were reported by township, with Trents regularly appearing in two townships. Tridelphia Township: 1867, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875. Magnolia Township: 1867, 1868 too faded to read, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875.

A summary of their landholdings:

John Trent of Tazewell County 1759-1824. See the Original Documents article to view the original property documents and transcriptions of the relevant text. 

Area map	Closeup view

General area map (repeat)

Other land grants. There are rumors of a 1662 land grant issued to Henry Trent. But no documentation has been found, and there are details in the claim that match the 1673 grant. It appears to be the result of confusion about the date of the 1673 grant.

A James Trent is mentioned in a 1694 grant giving 89 acres to William Carter near Fones Cliffs on the Rappahannock River. He has no known relationship to any of the Y-DNA project groups.  His will lists only daughters (Genealogy.com) so we'll never know what his Y haplotype was.

Counties of interest

Manakin Town. A 1744 tithables list for Manakin Town (aka King William Parish) lists Henry Trent and Jno. C'k (probably John Cocke) on the same line.  The clues point toward this being Henry 3 (of the Henry 1> Henry 2> Henry 3 line) and not Henry of Amherst. Both Henrys were in the general vicinity at the time, but Henry 3 has a known family relationship with the Cockes and Henry of Amherst does not. John Cocke was the half brother of Alexander 2 (of the Henry 1> Alexander 1> Alexander 2 line) through their thrice-married mother Obedience Branch, whose husbands were John Cocke (died 1699), Alexander Trent 1 (died 1703), and Thomas Turpin (died 1724).

Manakin Town was originally established in 1700 as a Huguenot settlement on the frontier with a 10,000-acre land grant from the English crown.  This grant let the English feel that they were charitable to French Protestant refugees, while also creating a human shield between the English settlers and the local indigenous tribes. The settlers were all French up to 1714, but 24% of the free population had English names in 1720, and this percentage went up to 44% in 1738.  By the time of the 1744 census, Manakin Town had obviously lost its character as a distinctly French community. By 1750 the original village had ceased to exist, and its exact location is currently unknown. (Tobias)