My Relationship : 8th Great Grandfather
Birth: ABT. 1696, Albemarle County, Virginia
Death: ABT. 1758
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The earliest known ancestor of the Key family of Albemarle count,Virginia is
John Key, Sr., who removed to Albemarle county from Spotsylvania county,
Virginia. Nothing definite is know of him before his appearance in
Spotsylvania county records in 1727, but it may be conjectured that he had
previously resided elsewhere in the area, for he availed himself of the land
bounty given to encourage settlement of Spotsylvania county. Since John Key,
Sr. named his eldest son Martin, It has been suggested that he was the son of
Martin Key of New Kent county,Virginia, who recived in 1690, a confirmation
grant at St. Johns Parish of 489 acres of land previously given him by his
grandfather, MajorMartin Palmer and John Humes.This grant adjoinrd Martin Key
land inPamunkey Neck, where Major Martin Palmer also lived. Major Martin
Palmerwas born about 1625, in England, and came to Virginia about 1653,
withhis wife, Mary. After Marys death, he married three more times, and
diedabout 1708, leaving a son Martin Jr. It is interesting to note thatColonel
John Waller, on whose land John Key, Sr., was living in 1727, wasa former
resident of Pamunkey Neck, where both he and Martin Palmer, Jr.,were officials
of King William county, Virginia, and that the latterwitnessed one of Colonel
Wallers Delaware Town deeds in 1707. An earlierKey in New Kent County, was
John Key, who was granted 370 acres of landon the northeast side of Mattaponi
River in 1674, for transporting JohnKey (perhaps himself), Edmund Key, and
five others. The entire destruction of the records of New Kent and King and
Queen counties, and the destruction of a large part of the records of King
William county,has precluded further research in this section of Virginia.
There weremany Keys in the 1600s Virginia, and the origin of the Key family
mayhave been other than in New Kent county, prehaps even in one of the
othercolonies, but no better evidence than the above circumstantial
fragmentshas been discovered. The earliest written accounts of traditional
Keyfamily orgin are dated no earlier than the latter part of the
nineteenthcentury, and the records vary so much with each other and with
historythat they are of little valve. One of the most widespread of
thetraditions is that the Key family is descended from a Martin Key ofEngland
and his wife, a younger sister of Lady Jane Grey. According toreliable
history, the youngest Grey sister, Lady Mary, married ThomasKeys, of Esquire,
of county Kent, but died without issue. Keyes by aprevious marriage had
serveral children, but none of the knowndescendants of these are on record as
having come to America. A traditionof kinship to Francis Scott Key is
apparently unfounded as are thefollowing accounts: that John Key Sr., was
descended from Thomas andMartha Key, of Warwick River, Virginia; that John
Key, Sr., was the sonof John Key or Kay who came to Philadelphia with William
Penn; that JohnKey, Sr., or his son Martin came to Virginia as a agent of the
LondonCompany; and that Martin Key came to Manhattan Island from Wales.
In1727, John Key Sr. was living on Colonel John Wallers land at St.
GeorgesParish, Spotsylvania county Virginia and the next year he patented
350acres of land on a branch of the North Anna River, adjoining the land
ofColonel Waller and James Taylor III. In 1729 , John Key, Sr.,
RichardHickman, Edwin Hickman Thomas Graves, Dennett Abney Jr., and
AbrahamAbney were granted 12,000 acres of land at the mouth of Mechunk Creek
inGoochland (now Fluvanna) county, Virginia. In 1731, John Key Sr. sold
hisspotsylvania patent to Henry Lewis and also that same year he made bondas
guardian to James Lee orphan of John Lee, with Zachery Taylor assecurity The
last record of John Key Sr., in Spotsylvania was in 1732,when he patnted 400
acres of land in what is now Albemarle countyVirginia. This patent supposedly
in Hanover county but some of it lay inwhat was then Goochland county Virginia
he probably moved to his newpatent soon after 1732, for there is a reference
to "Key West" in apatent of 1734. Key West was the home of John Keys Sr., and
was locatedeast of the Rivanna River, about a mile and a half before it forks.
Ithas been said that John Key Sr., also built a nearby house, known todayas
Windle Knowe, as a kind of gentlemens lodge but there are conflictingstories
about the building which cannot be reconciled. By 1731 John KeySr., had
patented over 1,77 acre in what is now Albemarle county Virginiamost of it
lying between the Rivanna River and southwest mountain in the region northwest
of the present city of Charlottesville some of the deedsof John Key Sr., vary
somewhat in regard ro residence and occupation butusually he is styled as a
planter first of Spotsyvania, and later at Goochland (Albemarle after 1744)
counties. An unidentified John Key wasgranted two 6,000 acres tracts with
Richard Clough and John Hagland inGoochland county, on the south Fork of the
James River at Buffalo Creekin Nelson county and at Pedlar River in Amherst
county, in 1738. In 1731,Martha Tandy Key acknowledged her dower in
Spotsylvania county deed.Martha, Tandy Key was perhaps related to Roger Tandys
son William, and John Key Sr., owned adjoining land in Albemarle county. The
only early Albemarle county order book which aahas been preservrd contains
serveralreferences to John Key Sr., among which in 1745 are his appointment as
asurveyor of a road from his mill on Keys mill creek or swamp (now Red
BudCreek) to secretary Ford and his commission as an Ensign in the
countyMilitia little is known of the last year of John Key Sr. In 1758
hedisposed of probably the last of his patented land in the southwestmountain
region including his "Madson House and Plantation". in 1758 JohnKey Sr. gave
430 acres of land to George Key, a planter of Fredericksville Parish Louisa
county Virginia who witnessed two deeds from John Key Sr. to Martin Key in
1769 while living at Bedford countyVirginia. George Key sold the 430 acres
tracts.