Edwin CONWAY, born ca 1610 (ID5246)

Edwin CONWAY, of county Wigorn, that is, county of Worcester, England, came to Virginia cir. 1640. He appears in Northampton county records June, 1642, as "Mr. Edwyn Conaway. Clarke of this Com. (pro. Commonwealth), in the Co. of Northampton." In the first grant of land in his name, Oct., 1644, he is recorded as "Edwyn Connaway of Northampton, Clarke." He was pro. b. Worcestershire, England, cir. 1610; d. Lancaster county, Va., 1675; m. (I.) 1640 (?), in England, MARTHA ELTONHEAD, daughter of Richard Eltonhead, of Lancashire, England, Esquire, for whose pedigree see below. His wife pro. came to Virginia in 1652, as she is named, with her husband, in the patent of that date, as a "headright." He pro. m. (II.) in Va., a sister or sister-in-law of John Carter, of Corotoman, 1649. John Carter is not known to have had a sister, but, as will appear under Eltonhead Conway, he made deed in 1656 to his "niece Eltonhead, the Daughter of Edwyn Connaway." This second marriage, if it occurred, may have been to a sister of Anne Glynne, Carter's first wife. (Critic I., 41-43; also Carter Chart of Carter Family.) The problem must be left for future genealogists to solve.

Edwin Conway was the third Clerk of Northampton County, Va., Henry Bagwell being the first, and Thomas Cooke the second Clerk. This is stated on the authority of Thomas J. Upshur, Esq., of that county, who is familiar with the old records at Eastville. He says that Conway's chirography is difficult to decipher, but not so much so as Cooke's. Johnston, in "Old Virginia Clerks," gives Thomas Cooke as the first Clerk, from 1640 to 1646, and makes no mention of the others. Accomack Shire, formed in 1634, was changed to Northampton County March, 1642. When Mr. Conway was made Clerk is not yet know, but he appears frequently as such in the record volumes from 1642 to 1645. If Martha Conway, his wife, came to Virginia first in 1652, it is pro. that Mr. C. moved then to Lancaster Co. He is named in Fenwick's deed of 1654 as of the latter Co., and was executor of Elias Edmonds, Lanc'r Co., 1654, as per Edmonds' will, dat. Mar. 27, 1654, and pro. Lanc'r Co. (Est. Bk. I., 207.)

The first grant of land to persons of the name of Conway, recorded in the Virginia Land Office, is this: "To all," &c. "Whereas," &c. "Now know ye that I, the said Richard Kemp, Esq're, doe with the advice and Consent of the Council of State accordingly give and grant unto Edwyn Conaway, Clarke, five hundred acres of Land Scituate in Northampton County at Hungar's Creeke, bounded Southerly by the said Creeke, easterly by the Lands of Richard Smith, westerly running Down the said Hungar's Creeke, and Northerly extending into the woods, these five hundred acres of Land being due unto the said Conaway for the transportation of ten persons into this Colony whose names are written under this Patent upon the records. To have and to hold, &c., to be held, &c., yielding and paying, &c. Provided," &c. Dated the 8th of October, 1644.

SOURCE: (744M) Descendants of Richard Eltonhead <http://vanygenealogy.com/eltonhead.htm> Diane Cukro <info@vanygenealogy.com> Information downloaded 29 April 2003.