Famous & Infamous Family Members of the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries

Through our direct foremother Hannah Welburn (1791 - c. 1851) and her white father/owner Rev. Drummond Welburn Sr. (c. 1763 - 1818) of Horntown, Accomack County, Virginia, we have a number of famous - and sometimes infamous - ancestors and distant blood-related cousins who made their mark in the world during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. This is merely a summary of what makes each noteworthy, not their entire lives.

1) Capt. William Welburn (1762 - 1839) of Horntown, Accomack County, Virginia. William was the older brother of Rev. Drummond Welburn Sr. After Drummond's death in 1818, William protected his niece Hannah despite Virginia law requiring her departure from the state after manumission. At the age of 16, our uncle William enlisted in the 9th Virginia Regiment during the Revolutionary War from 1778 to 1782 and was stationed in Accomack County. Other extended cousins also served during the Revolutionary War.

2) Capt. Thomas Welburne (1648 - 1703) of Oswaldkirk, York, England. Thomas was the great-grandfather of Rev. Drummond Welburn Sr. and Capt. William Welburn. He was a merchant and settled in Accomack County, Virginia. Thomas became the first English owner of the 83-acre Little Fox Island (A155) in the Chesapeake Bay in 1678. From 1699 to 1702, he represented Accomack County in the House of Burgesses, the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. Established in 1619, the House of Burgesses in Jamestown was British America's first democratically elected legislative body. Around 1680, Thomas married our direct foremother Arcadia Toft (c. 1662 - c. 1718), one of the illegitimate daughters of Anne Toft and Col. Edmund Scarburgh II.

3) Col. Edmund Scarburgh II (1617 - 1671) of Greater London, England. Edmund was the 2nd-great-grandfather of Rev. Drummond Welburn Sr. After his father settled in Accomack County, Edmund, his mother Hannah Smith-Mercer, and some of his siblings followed in 1631. Unlike his father and older brother, Edmund was not college educated. After his father died in some debt, Edmund became the head of the household at the age of 17. He took on numerous occupations, some simultaneously: land surveyor, lawyer, maritime shipper, and trader in New Amsterdam to name a few. Starting in 1640, Edmund began acquiring over 30,000 of acres of land through headrights claims to eventually become the largest landowner on the Eastern Shore (DE/MD/VA). In 1656, he claimed headrights for 41 blacks. On his plantations, his indentured servants were engaged in saltmaking, shoemaking, tanning, and other industries. He was elected to the House of Burgesses for Northampton and Accomack Counties periodically from 1643 to 1670. His fellow Burgesses appointed him Speaker of the House for the 1645-1646 term. The Royal Governor of Virginia and Charles II (King of England) appointed Edmund county High Sheriff, county court justice, King's Collector of Quit-Rents (1663), and Surveyor General of Virginia (1665-1670). He taught his business partner and mistress, Anne Toft, how to use the headrights system and made her the wealthiest woman on the Eastern Shore.

4) Sir Charles Scarborough (1615 - 1695) of Greater London, England. Our uncle Charles was the brother of Col. Edmund Scaburgh II and the son of Hannah Smith-Mercer-Scarburgh. When his parents and siblings immigrated to Accomack County, Virginia, Charles remained in England to receive his formal education. He attended St. Paul's School, then Gonville & Caius College. Charles earned a BA in 1637 and a MA in 1640. Afterward, he focused on mathematics and medicine. His MD was awarded in 1646 by Merton College. Charles was an original fellow of the Royal Society. In 1650, he was elected a Fellow of the College of Physicians. King Charles II appointed him his first physician, then knighted him in 1669. Our uncle Charles was also physician to James II, Prince George of Denmark, and William and Mary. In 1676, he published Syllabus Musculorum, a textbook on human dissection. From 1685 to 1687, Charles served as a Member of Parliament for Camelford, Cornwall. His Wikipedia page is here.

5) Lording Barry a.k.a. Lodowick Barry (1580 - 1629) of London, England. Lording was the son of Nicholas Barry and Anne Lording. He was also the maternal uncle of Hannah Smith-Mercer-Scarburgh and the great-uncle of Edmund and Charles. In 1607, Lording invested his inheritance into the Children of the King's Revels Theatre Company at the Whitefriars Theatre in London. As a playwright, he authored two bawdy comedies, Ram Alley (1608) and The Family of Love (1608). Lording was intially jailed in Marshalsea prison for the theater company's debts, but he jumped bailed and headed to Ireland. He dabbled in piracy, which led to his being tried and acquitted in 1610. Later, Lording sailed with Sir Walter Raleigh to Guiana in 1617.

6) Capt. Edmund Scarburgh I (1584 - 1635) of North Walsham, Norfok, England. Edmund was the father of Col. Edmund Scarburgh II and Sir Charles Scarborough. He attended Norwich School and then entered Gonville & Caius College in 1602 at the age of 16. His father's will provided for him to be maintained at one of four "Inns of Court" until he earned the degree of barrister. Edmund immigrated to Virginia without his family in 1621 but sent for them several years later after he chose to settle in Accomack County near Magotha Bay. His knowledge of the law served the county well. Starting in 1830, Edmund served three terms as its representative in the House of Burgesses. When the Accomack County Court was established in January 1633, he was appointed to its first bench of Commissioners (Justices).

7) Anne Toft-Jenifer (1642 -1687) of Godalming, Surrey, England. Our foremother Anne was the youngest child of Humfrey Toft and Anne Jackman. When Anne was about 15 months old, her mother died. The date of her immigration to Virginia is unknown. However, in 1660 at the age of 17, she patented 800 acres of land in Accomack County (A77). In 1662, Anne finalized the transcation in court by purchasing it directly from Tapatiapon (a.k.a Debedeavon) who was the Algonquin ruler of the Eastern Shore's Occohannock region. Anne had first daughter, Arcadia Toft, around 1663. At the same time, Col. Edmund Scarburgh II patented 1450 acres that he also named "Arcadia." The next year, Edmund patented an adjacent 1400 acres, while Anne acquired the nearby 1200 acres for her home base to be called Gargaphia. By 1667, Anne was still unmarried but bore two more daughters - Attlanta and Annabella Toft. In turn, Edmund sold both parts of his "Arcadia" to Anne to enlarge her Gargaphia Plantation. Their 1668 Articles of Agreement allowed Edmund to use and develop Gargaphia during his lifetime with the understanding that it all belonged to her. Anne led the 1670 Accomack County Tithables List with 45 industries including saltmaking, shoemaking, tanning, and an overnight guest house. She frequently sat in on business meetings between Edmund and others. Anne patented land in Virginia, Maryland, and Jamaica totaling 30,000 acres, including Chincoteague Island and the Virginia portion of Assateague Island. After their nearly decade-long affair came to light and Edmund's death in 1671, Anne quickly married Daniel Jenifer. As her husband, he had control over everything that was hers. Daniel repatented land jointly in both their names and began selling off some of her land holdings. However, a total of 5000 acres was set aside for Arcadia, Attlanta, and Annabella's dowries. One year after Edmund died, Anne bore a son - Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer. He is the progenitor of Thomas Stone and a slew of namesakes who helped to establish American independence and served as elected leaders. Two of Anne's daughters, Arcadia Toft-Welburn-Ward and Annabella Toft-Lee-Marshall, are great-grandmothers to Rev. Drummond Welburn Sr. In the 1970s?, Anne's Gargaphia House was moved to Calvert County, Maryland. It is a private residence, but I've seen the exterior in-person. As far as I know, it's still standing.

8) Thomas Stone (1743 - 1787) of Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland. Thomas was the son of David Stone and Elizabeth Jenifer, and the 2nd-great-grandson of Anne Toft and Daniel Jenifer. During the American Revolution, our cousin Thomas was a member of Maryland's Annapolis Convention which repeatedly elected him to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He voted in favor of drafting a declaration before the rest of the Maryland delegation did. Thomas signed the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776. Afterward, he was on the committee that created the Articles of Confederation in 1777 and served in the Maryland Senate from 1777 to 1787. Four months after his wife Margaret's death in 1787, Thomas died of a "broken heart." The National Park Service maintains his home Habre de Venture in Charles County, Maryland. His signature can be viewed here.

9) John Hoskins Stone (1751? - 1804) of Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland. John was the brother of Thomas Stone and the 2nd-great-grandson of Anne Toft and Daniel Jenifer. Like his brother Thomas, John was a member of Maryland's Annapolis Convention. He was the Colonel of the 1st Maryland Regiment and fought in the Battles of Brooklyn, White Plains, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and Stony Point. Our cousin John was wounded at Germantown and Stony Point. Because of this, he resigned his commission on 1 August 1779, although General George Washington intially would not accept the resignation. Afterward, John was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates. Later, he served as the seventh Governor for the State of Maryland from 1794 to 1797.

10) Michael Jenifer Stone (1747 - 1812) of Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland. Michael was the brother of Thomas Stone and John Hoskins Stone, and the 2nd-great-grandson of Anne Toft and Daniel Jenifer. He was in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1781 to 1783 and was a delegate to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1788. Afterward, our cousin Michael served in the first U.S. Congress from 1789 to 1791 as a representative of Maryland's 1st Congressional District.

11) Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer (1723 - 1790) of Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland. Daniel was the uncle of Thomas, John Hoskins, and Michael Jenifer Stone, and the great-grandson of Anne Toft and Daniel Jenifer. He had several positions in Maryland colonial government, including Receiver General for the last two proprietors of Maryland. Daniel was also a merchant trader that handled indentured servant and enslavement contracts. Most notably, he invested in 140 Africans trafficked in 1767 from Gambia on the Lord Ligonier. Among them was Kunta Kinte made famous in Alex Haley's Roots. See the advertisement in the Maryland Gazette here. Daniel was also in the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1782. While attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia alongside his friends James Madison and Benjamin Franklin, Daniel signed the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. His signature can be viewed here.

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Last updated August 4, 2025 at 9:03pm