| Notes |
- It is generally accepted that this William Churchill was the Virginia
immigrant who came to America in 1672 at the age of 22. Other accounts
place his arival in America as early as 1669. In any event, he was known
tohave been a resident of Middlesex Co., VA as early as 1674 as records
there indicate that at that time he was employed as a deputy sheriff for
that county. Numerous other records concerning William Churchill indicate
that he acquired large amounts of land in and around Middlesex Co., VA, as
well as personally serving in a number of social and political positions
in that same county. On such record in April of 1678 indicates that
William Churchill was appointed a true and laful attorney for George Reese
although this may gave been more of a "power of attorney" position rather
than one of a practicing lawyer. On March 9, 1684 William purchased 600
acres of Middlesex Co., VA land form Patrick Miller. On June 2, 1684 at a
vestry meeting held at the home of Richard Robinson, William Churchill,
along with William Daniel, was appointed vestryman to Christ Church Parish
in Middlesex Co., VA. In November of that same year the vestry ordered
that William Churchill, Church Warden, be paid 2,758 pounds of tobacco for
repairs done to the Lower Chappell according to his account. Further, the
vestry records show that in 1688 the church vestry ordered that William
Churchill be paid for the money due for building a stable below the Lower
Precinct although at this time the work was not finished. It was further
ordered that tobacco be deposited in William Churchill's hands until the
work was concluded. This amounted to 1,958 pounds of tobacco. William
continued to purchase more valuable land when on March 19, 1686 he bought
208 acres in Middlesex Co., VA from Charles Curtis, as well as an
additional 302 acres from same on February 1, 1689. One of William's most
important land transactions was teh securement of 1,000 acres in Middlesex
Co., VA from Ralph Wormeley, Walter Whittaker, and Christopher Robinson on
January 29, 1696. This tract of land, situated on the north side of the
Piankatank River, was a portionof the 1688 estate settlement of Richard
Perrott, who had received it as a patent in 1665 which was earlier a land
grant to John Matrum in 1642. This 1,000 acres eventually became known as
the "Wilton" tract as "Wilton" would be built there some 65 years later by
William Churchill, his grandson. This "Wilton" plantation would remain in
the Churchill family for the next 150 years. By the year 1700 William had
established himself as one of Virginia's most prominent and successful
planters and merchants, continuing the family tradition of building the
family fortune in addition to establishing a reputation for public sercie.
On January 12, 1705 William purchased from Sir Jeffers Jefferies, an
alderman of London, England, 2,502 acres of land in Richmond Co., VA
(formely Rappahannock Co.). This Richmond County tract was situated in
the Parish of Sittingbourn on the north side of the Rappahannock River.
On April 20 of that same year, William was appointed by the English
government as a member of the Virginia Council. At the time of his
appointment, William was already a member of the Virginia House of
Burgesses, to which he had first become a member in 1704. At his
appointment to the Council, he was 55 years of age. It is recorded in
William Byrd's diary that in Virginia's capital, Williamsburg, in 1709
William Churchill was the object of practical jokes. William Byrd wrote:
"We drank some of Will Robinson's cider till we were very merry and then
went to the coffeehouse and pulled poor Colonel Churchill out of bed."
And, "We were very merry and in that condition went to the coffeehouse and
again distrubed Colonel Churchill." In William Churchill's will he wrote
this about his burial: "without any great doeings Saveing a funerall
Sermon to Admonish the Liveing upon these words, 'Set thine house in Order
for thou shalt dye and not Live.'"
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1649 - 
