University of Virginia Library

HAMNER.

Tradition relates, that the immigrant Hamner bore the
name of Nicholas, that he came from Wales and settled in
Middlesex County, and that he had six or seven sons. Three
of them fixed their homes in Albemarle. The first who
appears on the records was William. In 1759 he bought
from Thomas Fitzpatrick nearly five hundred acres on the
south fork of Hardware, not far from Jumping Hill. The
same year he obtained a patent for nearly two hundred acres
on the north fork of Hardware, and acquired near by upwards
of seven hundred more, all of which he sold in 1782

to Colonel John Old. In 1777 he purchased from Dr. James
Hopkins about fifteen hundred acres on the waters of Totier.
He died in 1785. He and his wife Elizabeth had eleven
children, Jeremiah, Turner, Richardson, Henley, Samuel,
Mildred, the wife of Jacob Moon, Elizabeth, the wife of
Thomas Fitzpatrick, Mary, the wife of a Perry, Susan, the
wife of Reuben Turner, Rebecca, the wife of James Turner,
and the wife of David Strange. Jeremiah and Henley lived
in the Biscuit Run valley, Turner at the mouth of Eppes
Creek, Samuel near Jumping Hill, Jacob Moon, the Turners
and Strange on Totier, though the Turners soon removed to
Amherst. Jeremiah married Rebecca, daughter of Castleton
Harper, and died in 1815. Most of his children emigrated
to Georgia and Alabama, but his daughter Mary remained
in Albemarle as the first wife of Samuel Barksdale. Samuel,
who died in 1817, married, it is believed, a Morris, probably
a daughter of Hugh Rice Morris, of the Totier region, and
his children were William, Elizabeth, the wife of Rice Garland,
Henley, Morris, Samuel, Jane, the wife of a Thomas,
and Rhoda, the wife of James Nimmo. William died in
1831, and his children were John T., Jesse B., Susan, the
wife of a Rice, Martha, the wife of Jacob Waltman, Austin
and Samuel, who emigrated to Tennessee, and William,
Morris and Samuel married sisters named Lucas, and about
the beginning of the century removed to Charlotte County.
The latter was the father of James G. and Thomas L., ministers
in the Presbyterian Church.

The second of the brothers was Robert, who died in 1750.
In 1772 his son Nicholas conveyed to William Hamner
two hundred and seventy acres at the mouth of Eppes Creek,
which had been devised to him by his father. In 1784 he
purchased land north of Glendower, which is still the residence
of his grandson. In 1794 he was associated in business
with Samuel Dyer at Warren, where he died soon after. His
wife was Agnes, daughter of Giles Tompkins, and his children
Susan, the wife of John L. Cobb, of Bedford, and
mother of Nicholas Hamner Cobb, a former Chaplain of the
University, and the first Episcopal Bishop of Alabama, Nicholas,

who married Mary, daughter of Edward Garland,
Edmund, who married Charlotte, daughter of Manoah Clarkson,
James, who married Isabel Maxwell, Elizabeth, the wife
of a Scruggs, of Buckingham, and Nancy, the wife of Samuel
Childress.

The third of the brothers is believed to have been John,
who lived in the Biscuit Run valley, and first appears as a
purchaser of land in 1778. He married Mary, daughter of
Charles and Rachel Wingfield, and his children were Charles
W., of Buckingham, from whom descended James and Wade
Hamner, of Lynchburg, John, who married Susan Fretwell,
Francis, who married Sarah Eubank, Thomas, who married
Maria, daughter of Edward Garland, and removed to Lewis
County, West Virginia, Mary and Susan, the wives respectively
of Meekins and John B. Carr, who emigrated to Dickson
County, Tennessee, Elizabeth, the wife of Samuel S. Gay,
and Sarah, the wife of David Gentry.