I will attempt on these pages to start documenting some of the records concerning Thomas Vernon Sr. of Caldwell Settlement, Cub Creek, Virginia and his descendants.
As on my other pages, I will list the source of the information I post. Please be aware that I have done very very little research on the Vernon line myself as I have been too busy with my other lines. So almost everything posted here was originally posted by the Vernon Family Association of America (VFAA), a once thriving confederation of Vernon family history researchers that unfortunately disbanded in 1984.
According to the VFAA, in 1682 three brothers with their wives: Thomas and Elizabeth Vernon, Randall and Sarah (Bradshaw) Vernon and Robert and Elinor (Minshall) Vernon, emigrated from the Quaker community in Cheshire England to William Penn's colony in North America.
The Vernon brothers purchased over 1800 acres of adjoining land in the Penn grant (Nether Providence), in March 1681. Robert and Elinor settled on a tract of 350 acres "which extended from Ridley Creek to Upper Providence line, its eastern boundary being the Providence Road. On this tract was the main stem of Vernon Run, almost all of that part of Media Borough in Nether Providence is located on the original Vernon estate.
The Vernons were not very young when they moved their families to William Penn's Colony in the Americas. Robert was born in 1642 and died ca 1709-1710 (his wife Elinor died in 1720); Randall was born ca 1640 and lived to 1725 (Randall's wife Sarah preceded him in death in 1718). Their brother Thomas presumeably would have been born around 1638.
Robert and Elinor had at least five children: John (1679-1731), Jacob (1680-1741), Issac (ca1682-1757), Rebecca (ca1684-1745) and Thomas (ca1686-unkn). In 1710 Thomas was disowned at the Providence Meeting, Chester County, Pennsylvania for "his vain and evil conversation (way of life) as that of drinking to excess, loose company keeping, cursing, swearing and lying." No other mention of Robert and Elinor's youngest son has been found as yet.
In 1747, mention of a Thomas Vernon is found at Caldwell Settlement, Cub Creek, Virginia. It is possible he is a son or grandson of one of the three Vernon brothers who emigrated to Penn's Colony in 1682. It is also quite possible that this Thomas Vernon is from a completely different family, perhaps even immigrating from Scotland or Ireland where the Vernon name was also in existence. No records have been found yet that prove Thomas's origins one way or the other. It should be pointed out, however, that Thomas and Mary, his wife, gave their children the same first names as were used by the three immigrant brothers. Of course, that is not proof of anything.
Source for all of the above: Vernon Vignettes, published by Vernon Family Association of America 1969-1984.
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