John Proctor 

Early Settler of Kanawha County

     I'm going to start with something controversial; John Proctor wasn't 105 years old when he died and he probably wasn't a Revolutionary War soldier.

     Truthfully, I'm a little sad to actually put those words to print because just like everyone else who descends from him, I'm a little in love with the story. I mean, how fascinating it is to have an ancestor that lived to be 105 years old and bravely faced the hardships of emigrating to the untamed parts of the west all the while refusing to apply for his pension out of pride.

     The records tell of different story.  

     John Proctor was actually born closer to 1764. This date is based on a court record in 1820 where he clearly stated in a deposition that he was 56 years old. Coincidentally, this deposition is part of the pension application of Thomas Hudnall, who he later claimed to have served with. In his deposition for Thomas Hudnall, he claims that he "saw" Thomas Hudnall in his uniform trying to recruit others to join. He makes no mention of having served alongside him in the war.  Conveniently, after Thomas Hudnall (and everyone else) had died he filed his application and claimed that he served in the same regiment as Thomas Hudnall.  Also, in his pension application, he refers to one Edward Riley as his stepfather, but they also say that Edward Riley was a fellow soldier (Edward Riley the soldier was younger than John Proctor, which would likely be a little too young to be his stepfather). I think it's important to note that even though we have accepted that John was a soldier in the American Revolution, he was not accepted as one at the time. His pension application was denied because he did not have enough evidence to support his claim. He had no discharge papers, no proof of his age and no firsthand accounts of his service. This certainly isn't proof that he didn't serve in the war because he could have joined up as a fifteen or a sixteen-year-old boy, that was also common, but why wouldn't he mention it in Thomas Hudnalls application? There is another contemporary source record to back up this theory. The 1830 census infers that his age is between 60 and 69, which clearly puts his birth between 1761 and 1770.

   

  If we move John's timeline a little, it may make finding his parents a little easier and maybe it will make his relationship with Edward Riley make more sense.   

The records below are some of the earliest I can find that almost definitely relate to our John Proctor.

      *Fauquier County Court records, May Term 1780

"Ordered that the churchwardens of Leeds Parish bind John Proctor to John Lathey (Athey?) to learn the trade of a shoemaker"

     *Fauquier County marriage records 

"John Proctor and Elizabeth Hudnall Dec 21, 1786, by George King"

(makes more sense that he was 22 instead of 35 at the time of his first marriage)

     *Fauquier County Court records March term 1790

"On the motion of John Athey to quash the execution sued out against him by John Proctor over-ruled"

*Fauquier County personal property tax record. He shows up in the digest in 1788 and is recorded until at least 1794 after which time he moved to Kanawha County.

There are a couple of different stories in John Proctor's pension application. 

In his own words: He was born in Stafford Va on Feb 10, 1751/52.

In his son's words: He was an orphan stowaway from England, and he was apprenticed to a shoemaker in 'Norwalk' who agreed to pay his passage.

We know from the records posted above that he was bound to a shoemaker in Fauquier County but if he was "of age" then he would have bound himself, it would be unusual to be bound by churchwardens and not be a minor. Also, if he came here by himself without parents, how did Edward Riley become his stepfather? It makes it really hard to trace his family when his pension is obviously filled with so many untruths.

We are unlikely to find his parents if we don't start looking at the actual records instead of the glorious story we have been handed.