I9798: Sarah Amanda ALVIS (Oct 1878

Notes

"THE NAME AND FAMILY OF MOTHERSHEAD - The Media Research Bureau Washington D.C. The name of Mothershead is derived from the residence of its first bearers at Mottershead, in Cheshire, England. The name is composed of the ancient Saxon personal name of MODHERE, which means "courageous army", and HEVED or HEAD, a shortened form of Headland. In ancient English and early American records the name appears in the various spellings of; Modhereshead, Modhershead, Mottersheved, Mottresheved, Mottershad, Mottershet, Mottershedde, Mottershead, Motherset, Mothersead, Mothershet , Mothershed, Mothershead, and others. Of these, the forms using the H in the first half of the name are almost entirely American, the last mentioned spelling being that most frequently in evidence in America in modern times.

According to family historians, one Edward, son of Gamylor Gamul, of Mottram, County Chester, gave to his son, William, the lands of Mottesheved, in Mottram, in twelfth or thirteenth century. This son was called William de Mottershead, and descendants were the Mottershed of Mottram.

The earliest definite records of the name in England include those of Robert de Mottresheved, who was living in Cheshire as early as 1303;
those of Richard de Mottershead, of Mottram, A.D. 1337, who was probably the father by his wife Margery of a son of the same name " Richard", whose son, Edmund Mottershead, was living in Mottram in 1394;
those of John de Mottershead, of Motram, in 1415;
those of Edmund de Mottershead, of Mottram, in 1437;
those of John de Mottershead , of Mottram, 1443; and
those of Richard de Mottershead, of Mottram, i n 1445.

A record, dated 1517, mentions the brothers Geoffrey, Nicholas , John, and Ralph Motterhead of Mottram, of whom the first (Geoffrey) was the father of at least two sons, John and Thomas

(1). Thomas(1) Motters head, of Mottram, probably son of Geoffrey, was living in the year 1580 and was the father of three sons, Geoffrey, Thomas(2), and Hugh.

Of these, Thomas(2) married Mary Wyche, of Alderly, in Cheshire, and had issue by her of a son named Thomas(3). The last was the father by his wife Martha of a son, Adam Mottershead, who died without issue, as well as another son, Samuel Mottershead, of Macclesfield, Cheshire, and three daughters, Mary, Joan and Martha.

Joseph Mottershead, a descendant of the ancient Cheshire line, was resident ??odley, near Stockport, about the year 1680. He had a son named Joseph, who made his home at Manchester, England, and was first married to Elizabeth Bennet, of the County of Chester, who died 1718. To this union were two daughters Elizabeth and Sarah, as well as a son who died without progeny. By his second wife, the Widow Margaret (nee Hallowes ) Gaskel, whom he married in 1720. Joseph had no further issue.

The first of the family to come to America was Samuel Mothershead, who was living at Appomattox, in Westmoreland Co., Virginia in 1652. The records of his immediate family are not in evidence, but it is probably that he was the progenitor of most, if not all, of the families of the name in the South. This is the more probable since all of the early Mothersheads were residents of Westmorland County, Virginia.

Record has been found John Mothershead, Westmoreland Co., who was forty-six years of age in the year 1707 (bn 1661); of Brooks Mothershead who died in Westmoreland Co., abt.,1717; of Alvin Mothershead who appears as witness to a power of attorney in the same county in 1718; and of John Mothershead, of Westmoreland Co., Virginia, whose will is dated Nov. 13, 1730, recorded May 20, 1731 circuit court Westmoreland Co. Virginia. This will mentions his wife Elizabeth and seven children, Nathaniel, George, Christopher, John(2), Elizabeth , Ann, and Alvin. It also mentions his grandsons; John(3) and Brooks Mothershead, of whom the former was the sons of the second John of this line. John(2 ) Mothershead, son of John(1) and Elizabeth, died abt., 1741. By his wife Ann he was the father of Ann, Elizabeth, Charles, William, John(3), Sarah and Mary. Of the last-mentioned brothers, it seems highly probable that Charles died in 1756, without male progeny; that William died in 1746, since the will of one William Mohershead bearing that date, mentions his brothers, Charles and John, and his sister Sarah Mothershead; and that John died between 1748 and 1750, leaving a daughter named Mary and wife named Sarah. The Will of the last mentioned John also mentions his brother, Charles Mothershead, of Westmoreland County.

Christopher Mothershead, son of John and Elizabeth, mentioned above, died in Westmorland co., Virginia abt., 1745. He mentions in his Will, of that date, his Wife Elenor " and the child that she goes with"; his daughter Sarah , and his son Christopher. The will of this Christopher, dated 1746, mentions Nathaniel Mothershed (unidentified) and Christopher Mothershed (orphan).

In the year 1752 one Nathaniel Mothershead, of Westmoreland County, Va. appears in a list of voters for Burgeses. Other records of the name in Virginia in the eighteenth century include those of Nathaniel Mothershed; who was married in the year 1772 to Mary Minor; those of John Mothershead, who married Sucky or Sukey Barras in 1788; and those of Humphrey Poe Mothershed, who died about 1792; mentioning in his will of that date, his mother, Penelope Mothershead, and George and John Mothershead, possibly his brothers.

Another Nathaniel Mothershead, who was born in Orange County, Va. in 1754, was married in 1781 to Ruth Burt or Birt, by whom he had twelve children. This branch of the family removed at an early date to Scott County, Ky., where the father died in 1834. The twelve children of Nathaniel and Ruth were Elizabeth, Hannah, Alvin, Joseph, Tahuha, Sarah , Ruth, Nathaniel Jr., Moses BB., Barsilla, Mary, and John Leland Mothershead. According to family historians, several of the before-mentioned children of Nathaniel and Ruth (nee Burt or Birt) Mothershead have been distinguished as Professors, two have been ministers to foreign countries, a knd one a candidate for the office of vice-president. The chief characteristics of the family, as a whole, seem to have been determination of purpose, resourcefulness, and the ability to make friends. Sargent Nathaniel Mothershead, who served with the Virginia Revolutionary forces, was evidently the only member of the family to aid in the fight of the American colonies for freedom from English rule. This was the before-mentioned Nathaniel (b. 1754 ), of Orange County, Va., who later removed to Kentucky. Possible there were two of the same name in the Virginia Revolutionary forces, but this point has not been definitely determined.

William, Richard, Edmund, John, Thomas, Joseph, Samuel, Nathaniel, Christopher, George and Charles are some of the Musculine Christian names favored by the family for it progeny.

The coat of arms borne by the ancient English family of Mottershed (a) d. from which the Mothersheads of America are undoubtedly descended, is described in heraldic terms as folllows (Burke, Encyc lopaedia of Heraldry, 1944) :

Arme .- -'' Sable, on a chevorn argent, between three crosses crosslet or, as many quatrefoils gules.''
Crest.- - ''The stump of a tree proper, a branch vert issuing from the dexter side,''

BIBLIOGRAPHY Harrison. Surnames of the United Kingdom. Vol. 2 1918. Bardsley. English and Welsh Surname. 1901. Hareian Society. Hunter's Familise Minorum Gentium. 1894. Fothergill, Wills of Westmoreland County, Virginia, 16 54-1 800. 1925.

William and Mary Quarterly. Vol.11, 1902-1903 Virginia Magazine of History and Biorgraphy. 1918.
1921 D. Morton. The Mortons and Their Kin. Vol.2. 1920.
Gwatimey. Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution.
1938. Burke. Encdyclopadia of Heraldry.
1844. Burk. General Armory. 1884." ^[S3124]

My Southern Family

Sarah Amanda ALVIS

Oct 1878 - ____

ID Number: I9798

Sources

Frances ANDERSON

ABT 1792 - ____

ID Number: I39867

Notes

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ELIZABETH BOUGHTON Countess of Devon

____ - ____

ID Number: I95083

Notes

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Wanda Lee DUNCAN

Sara Catherine GUERRANT

ABT 1850 - ____

ID Number: I105070

Notes

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ROGER HEREFORD Esq. of Sufton

1507 - 23 Jul 1561

ID Number: I55788

Sources

Rudolphus S. HIGGINBOTHAM

1854 - AFT 1880

ID Number: I41413

Notes

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ROBERT MONTGOMERY of Braidstone

ABT 1470 - ____

ID Number: I78563

Notes

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Zachariah MOTHERSHEAD "the Immigrant"

ABT 1604 - 1638

ID Number: I87846

Notes

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Moise TRABUE

11 Jan 1712 - BEF 1724

ID Number: I531

Notes

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Henry WATKINS

1702 - ABT 1714

ID Number: I32130

Sources

Joseph Edward WRIGHT

ABT 1870 - ____

ID Number: I7428

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