52 Ancestors: #48 - Peter WYANT

Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued a challenge:  write one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor.  It can be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem – anything that focuses on one ancestor.

My 4X great grandfather Peter WYANT certainly had an interesting introduction to life in the colony of Virginia.  He was born around 1763 in Germany and came to the British colonies as a Hessian soldier.  The Hessians, so named for the Hesse region in Germany, were hired by the British to fight against the colonists in their war for independence. 

Peter was captured after the Battle of Saratoga, but he managed to escape from the American guards in February of 1781 when the prisoners were being marched from their prison barracks near Charlottesville to the Shenandoah Valley.  Some family stories also say that he had changed his way of thinking and actually sided with the Americans.  At any rate, he managed to settle safely in Albemarle County where he married Mary BURRAS. 

Peter and Mary began their rather large family in Albemarle, but later they moved into nearby Rockingham County in an area known as Beldor.  This community sits just below the Skyline Drive. 

from Google Maps

Satellite view of Beldor Road

Wyant house is the structure in the middle of the image in the deep curve.  The house is no longer standing.  The spring house is the small grey structure in the lower center, below the house. 

The Wyant homeplace stood as late as October of 2013 when it burned to the ground.  However, the springhouse still stands.  During recent renovations, names and dates from the 1700s were found on the inside logs.

Wyant springhouse
photo courtesy of Jan Hensley

While “Wyant” is the spelling my line uses, there are numerous variations including a similar “Wiant” and “Wynant” as well as more German spellings including Weigandt, Weigant, Weyhant, Weygant, and Weiggert.

THREE GENERATIONS:

Peter WYANT ( 1763 Germany – Nov 1838 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Mary BURRAS ( 1767 Germany – About 1840 Rockingham Co, VA ) 1782 Albemarle Co, VA

1. Catherine WYANT ( 1785 Albemarle Co, VA – 1839 ) & David CONLEY (1781 Rockingham Co, VA – 1812 Rockingham Co, VA )  20 Mar 1804 Albemarle Co, VA

2. Elizabeth WYANT ( 1787 Albemarle Co, VA  – 27 Nov 1872 Walkers Creek, Giles, VA ) & John MEADOWS  (1775 – 1848 Giles Co, VA )  18 Mar 1806 Albemarle Co, VA

3. Susannah WYANT ( 1789 Albemarle Co, VA – 1870 Greene Co, VA ) & Thomas SHIFFLETT (1784 – 01 Feb 1881 Greene Co, VA )  13 Feb 1807 Rockingham Co, VA

4. Mary WYANT ( 1790 Albemarle Co, VA – 01 Nov 1839 Rockingham Co, VA ) & James MEADOWS (1786 Rockingham Co, VA – 1844 Rockingham Co, VA )  22 Jun 1809 Albemarle Co, VA

5. JOHN WYANT ( 02 Feb 1795 Albemarle Co, VA – 04 Jan 1880 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Elizabeth Moyer BAUGHER  (12 Sep 1795 Rockingham Co, VA – 03 Apr 1878 Rockingham Co, VA ) 11 Mar 1818 Rockingham Co, VA

6. Peter Burras WYANT ( 31 May 1796 Albemarle Co, VA – 28 Oct 1886 Talcott, Summers, WV ) & Sarah “Sallie” MEADOWS (13 Jul 1805 Monroe Co, VA – 22 Jan 1881 Summers, WV )  25 May 1821 Monroe Co, VA now WV

7. Frederick WYANT ( 1797 Albemarle Co, VA – 1875 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Elizabeth BURNS (1810 – 23 Sep 1868 Rockingham Co, VA )   01 Apr 1838

8. Frances “Fannie” WYANT ( 1799 Albemarle Co, VA – After 1880 ) & Leonard DAVIS JR.  (1795 Albemarle Co, VA – Before 1840 Rockingham Co, VA  ) 21 Mar 1820 Orange, VA

• Mitchell DAVIS ( 4 Sep 1820 Rockingham Co, VA - 22 Apr 1892 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Martha Ann WILLSON (10 Jun 1832 Rockbridge Co, VA - 1 Dec 1905 Rockingham Co, VA )24 Aug 1846 Rockbridge, Virginia
• William Franklin DAVIS ( 1822 Rockingham Co, VA - 1905 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Ardena J. WYANT ( 1828 Virginia – 1890 Virginia) 23 Dec 1844 Albemarle, VA
• Elijah DAVIS ( Dec 1825 Rockingham Co, VA - After 1900 ) & Barbara Ann SHIFLETT ( June 1827 - )
• Mary Ann DAVIS ( 1828 Rockingham Co, VA - After 1900 ) & Joseph WOOD ( 1836 Rockingham Co, VA – 1870 Rockingham Co, VA)  27 Sep 1858 Rockingham Co, VA ; common law wife to George HERRING
• Rebecca Ann DAVIS  (1833 Greene Co, VA -  15 Aug 1922 in Yancy, VA) & James K. CRAWFORD (22 Jan 1845 – 7 Sep 1921 Yancy, VA) 7 Feb 1878 Rockingham Co, VA
• Sarah F. DAVIS ( Feb 1834 Rockingham Co, VA -  2 Feb 1913 Rockingham Co, VA)

9. William WYANT ( 10 Jul 1800 Rockingham Co, VA – 03 Aug 1897 Rockingham Co, VA )

10. Nancy WYANT ( 1802 Rockingham Co, VA – 27 Nov 1872 Monroe, WV ) & Timothy CONNELL (1802 – 1864 )  07 Mar 1822 Rockingham Co, VA

11. Millie WYANT ( 02 May 1803 Rockingham Co, VA – 29 Apr 1880 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Edmund SHIFLETT  (05 May 1798 Rockingham Co, VA – About 1850 Rockingham Co, VA ) 13 Sep 1822 Rockingham Co, VA

12. David WYANT ( 20 Sep 1805 Rockingham Co, VA – 14 Jul 1882 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Elizabeth LAWSON (20 Jun 1805 Rockingham Co, VA – 06 Feb 1890 Rockingham Co, VA )  05 Dec 1826 Rockingham Co, VA

13. Ann WYANT ( 1806 Rockingham Co, VA – 01 Apr 1862 Upshur, WV ) & Obediah CRAWFORD (1806 Rockingham Co, VA – 10 Dec 1877 Upshur , WV )  16 Jun 1825 Rockingham Co, VA

SOURCE:

Moore, Robert. "A Family's Historical Memory... of a Hessian Ancestor."Cenantuas Blog. N.p., 31 Aug. 2008. Web. 25 Nov. 2014. <https://cenantua.wordpress.com/2008/08/31/a-familys-historical-memory-of-a-hessian-ancestor/>.

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.