We have traced our ancestry to the immigrant John Lantthorpe, who immigrated to America as an indentured servant in 1679. We have processed information into our files for 1107 descendants of John, including spouses, of which almost 400 of them are also descendants of John Daniel & Kizzie Comer Littrell. John Daniel Littrell is the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of John Lantthorpe.
The first known immigrant to America was this John Lantthorpe, born in about 1647 and died about 1718.
On May 30th, 1679 John was 'transported' along with eight (8) other indentured servants by Benjamin Hatcher and John Milner to their plantation on the James River in Henrico County, Virginia.
It would seem that Benjamin Hatcher and John Milner sold John Lantthorp's service to William Hatcher, son of Benjamin, as shown in a deposition made in court in 1680, Thomas Burton, Jr., age 16 testified he saw:
"Jno. Lantroppe strike a piece out of the head of Mr. Robert Woodson's canoe with an axe, and that ye deponent hear Mr. William Hatcher order ye said Lanthroppe and his other servants to split all ye canoes they found in the swamp."
The destruction of the canoes was evidently taken to discourage or stop poachers of fish or game on Hatcher's property.
It is not known when John Lantthrope fulfilled his period of indenture, but it appears to have been before 1714 which is when we find his first 'known' transactions as a free man (barring transgression, extensions of the original contract, or new contracts it is most probable that John gained his freedom long before this time):
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1714 On 19 November a survey of 125 acres, South side of Second Swamp was made for John Lowthrop by Robert Boiling, Surveyor. This property was willed to his son John.
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1714 John (1) is on the tax list for this year.
Most references point to the family being invested in the Second Swamp area. From several documents we know that John and his descendants settled in the Second Swamp area of Henrico County, Virginia. Henrico County would be sub-divided over the years into Prince George and Henrico, then Prince George into Prince George and Dinwiddie Counties. Dinwiddie County is where his descendants are found in 1812… still in the Second Swamp area.
From John's Will we know his children and wife's name was Margaret (maiden name unknown).
John died between 9 Jan. 1718 and 10 Mar. 1718. John, the immigrant, would have been 31 or 32 years of age when he arrived in this country in 1679, and 70 to 71 years of age at his death.
We do not know when John married or to whom, except her first name was Margaret.
1718 -John Lannthrope's Last Will and Testament (punctuation, spelling and grammar are kept as much as possible in their original form, but for clarity some spacing has been added)
In the Name Of God Amen I John Lanthrop of Prince George County Do make and Design this my Last Will and Testament in manner and form following that is to say First I bequeath by soul unto the hands of Almighty God believing remission of Sinns and everlasting Life by the merritts death and passion of Jesus Christ Lord and only Saviour.
Item. I give and bequeath unto my son Joseph Lanthrop all my Land on the North Side of Second Swamp to him and his heirs for ever, and to my son John all my land, the sough side of second swamp to him and his heirs forever -
Item. I do so desire that my Daughters shall have the privelege of tending ground on the plantation where on I now Live, keeping all things in repair, as Long as they keep themselves single
Item. the Bed where on I Lye I give to my Loving wife Margaret, and all the furniture belonging to it, but no more of beding, and but her third of the Land if she marries.
Item. I give and bequeath unto my Daughter Elizabeth one cow and calfe, and to my Daughter Mary and my Daughter Ann one cow and Calfe, and one sow and four piggs between them both,
Item. I give to my son Joseph one red Heifer with a white face and one — boor belonging to the black sow.
Item. I give the first fold that my Mair brings to my son John , and the old horse and mair I give for the use of the plantation amongst them all, as long as they Live all together, but my son John shall be free at Seventeen if his mother marries again, but if she remains my Widow she shall serve till he is one and twenty.
Item. I give and bequeath all the rest of my Beds and Bedding betwist my six children namely Mary and Ann and Francis and John and Margaret and Isabell them six children and to my wife to them do I give all moveables when the debts are paid, and my son John if he be unruly, I give unto my son Joseph all powere to give him correction. And I do desire that in Dividing the movables that they choose to or three men to Divide it amongst themselves, this my Last Will and Testament whereunto I set my hand and seal this 9th day of January 1718.
Moses Beck
Andrew (his mark) A B Beck
Henry (his mark) H L Ledbetter
(Seald w" red wax)At a court held at Merchants Hope for the County of Prince George on the second Tuesday in March being the tenth day of the said month Anno Dom 1718
On 10 Dec. 1718 the Will and Testement of John Lanthrop Dec'd was presented in court by Margaret the relict and Joseph the son of the said Dec'd and there being no executors appointed therein the said - Margaret and Joseph made oath thereto, and it being proved by the oaths of Moses Beck, Andrew Beck and Henry Ledbetter witnesses thereto to be the Last Will of the said John Lanthrop Dec'd is by order of the court truly recorded and certificate is granted the said Margaret and Joseph Lanthrop for obtaining letters of Administration with the said will and next in due -?-
Test Wm Hamlin Cl Cur
We have currently completed research on our Ancestral Family Line for the Landtroop Family. The maternal ancestors of our John Daniel Littrell. While we will return to all families eventually we beleive that we have collected as much as we currently can on this family, in fact we find ourselves with an amount of new material that has placed us in a position that we cannot process all of the new information without delay all other work. This is part of an ongoing cycle: research, processing, organizing, integration of new information, presenting and then publishing information; the ultimate goal being publication, we must sometimes cut off or delay some processes to get to publication. It much like doing a lot of laundry: wash, rinse, repeat… dry, fold, and putaway, sometimes you have to do it in segments inorder to complete it all. GlennDL
Landtroop-Luttrell Page / Landtroop Family Page
What's the difference? John Daniel Littrell’s grandmother was a Landtroop who’s ancestors go back to Virginia in the 1600s.
- So whenever we have information or articles on Landtroops that are the direct ancestors of John (and their immediate family) we will label them with the “Landtroop-Luttrell” tag.
- Whenever we have information or articles on any other Landtroops, not direct ancestors of John Littrell, we will label them with the “Landtroop Family Page” tag.
The labels, called “Index Labels” can be found under the article/post title or in the Table of contents section in the sidebars of the website. Use these labels to list and isolate multiple articles/post by those labels.
