William Battle was born in 1682 in Pasquotank County, North Carolina. He was a son of immigrants from England, John and Elizabeth Battle. With the death of his father in about 1690, William was orphaned, and before 26 Feb 1694 he migrated to Nansemond County, Virginia under the guardianship of Lawrence and Mary Mageo (860).
On 26 Feb 1694, Richard Pope was arrested to answer a suit by Lawrence Mageo and his wife Mary, guardians of William Battle, son and heir of John Battle deceased, in a plea of trespass (860; 1030, Pages 131–132).
William Battle and Sarah Hunter married in Nansemond County, Virginia in about 1702 (576; 861, Page 130). William was about 20 years old, and Sarah Hunter was about age 18 years. Sarah Hunter was likely a daughter of William Hunter. The Hunter family were among settlers who immigrated, together with the John and Elizabeth Battle family, to America from Yorkshire, England.
William Battle appears on a 1704 Nansemond County, Virginia Tax List for Quit Rents on 800 acres (862, Page 438).
William Battle and Sarah (Hunter) Battle are known to have had at least five children: William Battle, Jr., born in about 1707; John Battle, born on 30 Apr 1709; Mary Battle, born in about 1723; Elisha Battle, born on 9 Jan 1723; and Sarah Battle. All children of William and Sarah Battle were likely born in Nansemond County, Virginia. Little is known about Sarah Battle; she may have died young.
On 27 Apr 1728, William Battle purchased land in Bertie County, North Carolina from James Williamson (377, Page 172). According to the deed, William Battle was a resident of Nansemond County, Virginia at the time of his purchase. He was likely living in Nansemond County on 27 Mar 1744, when at a Vestry it was ordered that “Henry Wright and Peter Butler in presence of the Inhabitants procession all the Bounds of Land, from Jernagans Bridge runn to Speights Runn So up to William Battles …” (575, Page 4).
William Battle died in Nansemond County, Virginia in 1749 at age 67 years (377, Page 172).
Notes and Comments
A law suit documents the guardianship of William Battle (860). On 26 Feb 1694, Richard Pope was arrested to answer a suit by Lawrence Mageo and Mary his wife, guardians of William Battle and a son and heir of John Battle deceased, in a plea of trespass.
The boundary between the Virginia and North Carolina colonies was resurveyed in 1728. After the resurvey, land acquired by William Battle in Nansemond County, Virginia was all within North Carolina.
Sources
377. Virginia Sanders Mylius.“The Battle Family & Descendants.” Our Southern Cousins, Birmingham, Alabama, 2009. (PDF file on file.)
URL: http://www.oursoutherncousins.com/
575. Hall, Wilmer L. (Ed.). The Vestry Book of the Upper Parish: Nansemond County, Virginia 1743–1793. Library Board of Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia, Division of Purchase and Printing, Richmond, Virginia, 1949. (PDF file on file.)
576. Marriage of William Battle and Sarah Hunter. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560–1900. Source number: 23944.003. (Database: Ancestry.com)
860. Petition in a Suite Against Rich Pope for Trespass. Minutes of the General Court of North Carolina, House of Thomas White, 26 Nov 1694. Volume 1, Page 432. Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, University Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
URL: http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr01-0206
861. Boddie, John Bennett. “Hunter of Nansemond County.” Historical Southern Families. Volume VII. Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii, 1963. Page 130. (Images: Ancestry.com.)
862. Virginia Tax Records: from the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the William and Mary College Quarterly, and Tyler’s Quarterly. Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, Maryland, 1983. Page 438. (Images: Ancestry.com.)
1030. Boddie, John B. Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia: A History of the County of Isle of Wight, Virginia, During the Seventeenth Century, Including Abstracts of the County Records. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1973. (Images: Ancestry.com. Image on file.)