1A-F: Frances Guthrie
Guthrie Family Group 1A · Branch F · The Next Generation
Frances Guthrie
Christ Church Parish, Middlesex County, Virginia
and Caswell County, North Carolina
Frances Guthrie, daughter of William Guthrie and Frances Wilbourn, was born on 21 September 1737 and baptized on 2 October 1737 in Christ Church Parish, Middlesex County, Virginia. The parish entry records her family name as Guthery.
She married first John Berry, and later Griffin Tuggle on 10 January 1779. Her brother Benjamin’s 1780 will names her as Frances Tuggle and identifies her son John Berry by her earlier marriage, connecting the Guthrie, Berry, and Tuggle families.
Her later story continues in North Carolina. Her 1819 will abstract and surviving Caswell County estate papers preserve family connections and details of her household, land, and the people she held in slavery. Together, these records provide a fuller picture of Frances’s life and the family she left behind.
Family at a Glance
Frances Guthrie
- Parents
- William Guthrie & Frances Wilbourn
- Birth & Baptism
- Born 21 September 1737; baptized 2 October 1737, Christ Church Parish, Middlesex County, Virginia. Recorded as Frances Guthery.
- Married Names & Later Home
- Frances Berry, then Frances Tuggle. Her later estate records are in Caswell County, North Carolina.
- Death & Burial
- Died after 2 August and by 14 October 1819. Her burial place has not been identified.
John Berry
- First Husband
- Their marriage is supported by Benjamin Guthrie’s identification of John Berry as the son of his sister Frances “by John Berry.” The marriage date has not been established.
- Parents & Birth
- Not established. A possible parish identification is discussed in the evidence notes.
- Children
- William Berry and John Berry are associated with this marriage. The younger John’s parentage is explicitly stated in Benjamin’s will.
- Death & Burial
- Dates and places have not been established.
Griffin Tuggle
- Second Husband
- Married Frances Berry on 10 January 1779, Christ Church Parish, Middlesex County, Virginia.
- Parents, Birth & Baptism
- Son of John and Catherine Tuggle. Born 5 August 1737; baptized 28 August 1737 in the same parish.
- Earlier Family
- His first wife’s name is unknown. Published Tuggle family history associates son Nicholas with that earlier marriage.
- Death & Burial
- Died by July Court 1807, when his estate inventory was returned in Caswell County, North Carolina. Burial place unknown.
Two marriages · John Berry: date unconfirmed
Griffin Tuggle: 10 January 1779
The family records connect Frances with the Berry, Tuggle, and Paschal families. Benjamin Guthrie’s 1780 will supplies a direct link to her first marriage. Her own 1819 will abstract names William Berry and Anna/Anne Paschal, together with granddaughters Elizabeth and Frances Paschal.
Children & Family Connections
The table includes Frances’s sons and the children associated with Griffin’s family. No child has been securely identified as born to Frances and Griffin together.
| Name | Relationship | Family Record |
|---|---|---|
| William Berry | Son of Frances Associated with her first marriage |
Named as Frances’s son and an executor in her 1819 will abstract. He also signed Griffin Tuggle’s estate inventory as executor in 1807. |
| John BerryThe younger John | Son of Frances & John Berry | Explicitly identified in Benjamin Guthrie’s will of 22 February 1780. His later life has not been established; his absence from Frances’s 1819 will abstract does not erase this earlier relationship evidence. |
| Nicholas Tuggle | Stepson Griffin’s earlier family |
Placed in Griffin’s first marriage by published family history. Reportedly married Susannah (Michelborough) Abbott in 1777 and had children. |
| Anna / Anne PaschalAlso associated with the Tuggle surname | Named as daughter Biological or step relationship unresolved |
Frances’s will abstract calls her a daughter and names Elizabeth Paschal and Frances Paschal as granddaughters. Her husband’s given name and her place in the Berry–Tuggle family require further evidence. |
Sources: The Parish Register of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va., from 1653 to 1812 (1897), pp. 145 and 171; Benjamin Guthrie’s will, Middlesex Will Book F, pp. 179–180; Frances Tuggle will abstract, printed p. 39, citing Caswell Will Book H, p. 283; Frances’s inventory, H:300; Griffin’s inventory, E:353; Vivian S. Tuggle, The Tuggle Family of Virginia (1970), as cited in the retained family research. See Explore the Records for the source guide.
Family Evidence NotesParish entries, the Berry children, Anne Paschal’s relationship, and the estate dates.
The parish evidence. The 1897 printed transcription, p. 145, records Frances’s birth and baptism and names her parents as William and Frances Guthery. It also records Griffin’s birth and baptism as the son of John and Catherine Tuggle. The maiden surnames Wilbourn and Nicholls come from the wider family research, not these birth entries. Page 171 records the marriage of Griffin Tuggle and Frances Berry on 10 January 1779.
John Berry’s identity. The first marriage is reported as about 1759, but its date remains unsourced. The parish child of Thomas and Anne Berry has not been securely linked to Frances’s husband. His proposed birth and death dates, and a possible Revolutionary War identification, remain research leads.
The Berry sons. Benjamin’s will explicitly identifies the younger John as his sister Frances’s son by John Berry. It also names William Berry, without stating his parentage in that clause. Frances’s own will abstract identifies William as her son. William’s reported 1775 birth requires separate support, and his service as Griffin’s executor does not make him Griffin’s biological son.
Anna or Anne Paschal. The supplied abstract uses both forms of her name and calls her Frances’s daughter. Family research has also called her Anne Tuggle and estimated her birth at about 1763. If correct, that birth predates Frances and Griffin’s marriage, but it does not decide whether Anne was Griffin’s daughter by his first wife or Frances’s daughter from her Berry marriage. The original wills and records identifying Anne’s parents are needed to resolve the relationship.
The “two children” wording. Frances’s will abstract names William Berry and Anne Paschal as her only two children. This abbreviated account must be read alongside Benjamin’s earlier, explicit identification of John Berry. It does not establish that Frances had only two children throughout her lifetime, nor does it supply John’s death date. Her original will has not yet been inspected.
Griffin’s earlier family and North Carolina home. The Tuggle Family of Virginia places Nicholas in Griffin’s first marriage and cites John Tuggle’s 1759 reference to grandson Nicholas. The retained account of Griffin’s will identifies Frances and stepson William Berry as executors and describes Griffin as a resident of Chatham County. That will, cited at Caswell E:322, remains to be checked in the original. His reviewed estate inventory was returned in Caswell at July Court 1807.
Frances’s death interval. Her will abstract is dated 2 August 1819 under October Court 1819. Her original inventory was taken on 14 October 1819, establishing her death after the will date and by the inventory date. The inventory and sale were returned at January Court 1820; that later court return is not her death date.
A separate Frances Guthrie. The 1781 marriage of a Frances Guthrie to Alexander Bristow is not assigned to this woman, who is documented as Frances Tuggle in the later family and estate records.
Historical Highlights
From Tidewater Virginia to a North Carolina Household
Frances’s story begins in Christ Church Parish, where her birth and baptism were recorded in the autumn of 1737. The same parish register records the birth of Griffin Tuggle that summer and their marriage more than forty years later.
Her brother Benjamin’s will supplies a personal connection between her two marriages. In 1780, he left shoe buckles and sleeve buttons to his sister Frances Tuggle and separately named her son John Berry by her earlier marriage. These small bequests preserve family relationships across the changing surnames in her records.
The later North Carolina estate papers reveal more of the household around her. Land, livestock, a loom, books, furniture, and farm tools appear in the records. William Berry’s work as executor for Griffin and later for Frances connects the Berry and Tuggle generations through the settlement of both estates.
People Named in the Estate
Frances’s inventory identifies an enslaved man named Jim and an unnamed enslaved woman. The subsequent sale records an unnamed enslaved boy purchased by Ezekiel Paschal and an unnamed enslaved woman purchased by John Paschal. The surviving entries document their presence and sale but leave much of their lives unrecorded.
The inventory calls Jim a man; the sale lists a boy without a name. Those descriptions are preserved separately because the records reviewed do not establish that they refer to the same person.
Family Timeline
| Date | Recorded event or research lead |
|---|---|
| Sep–Oct 1737 | Birth and baptism in Middlesex Frances, daughter of William and Frances Guthery, was born on 21 September and baptized on 2 October 1737 in Christ Church Parish. Source: The Parish Register of Christ Church (1897), printed p. 145. |
| 10 Jan 1779 | Frances Berry marries Griffin Tuggle The parish register records their marriage under these names, marking the beginning of Frances’s second marriage. Source: printed parish register, p. 171. |
| 22 Feb 1780 | A brother remembers Frances and her son Benjamin Guthrie names his sister Frances Tuggle and explicitly identifies John Berry as her son by John Berry. His will preserves the link between her Guthrie birth family and Berry marriage. Source: Benjamin Guthrie’s will, Middlesex Will Book F, pp. 179–180; proved 28 February 1780. |
| Oct 1781 | A reported wartime contribution The published Tuggle family account reports a Middlesex militia allowance of £3 and 10 shillings to Griffin for supplies furnished. This places his reported wartime contribution within the family’s Virginia years. Published-history reference: Vivian S. Tuggle, The Tuggle Family of Virginia (1970), as cited in the family research; the underlying militia entry remains to be examined. |
| July Court 1807 | Griffin’s inventory is returned His Caswell County estate inventory lists 100 acres, two unnamed enslaved people, livestock, tools, books, and household goods. William Berry signs as executor. Griffin had died by this court term. Source: original inventory and return, Caswell County, North Carolina, Will Book E, p. 353. |
| 2 Aug 1819 | Frances makes her will The supplied abstract names William Berry, Anna/Anne Paschal, and granddaughters Elizabeth and Frances Paschal. It identifies Jethro Brown and son William Berry as executors. Source: published will abstract, printed p. 39, citing Caswell Will Book H, p. 283, under October Court 1819. The original will remains unreviewed. |
| 14 Oct 1819 | Her estate is inventoried Jethro Brown and William Berry inventory Frances’s estate, including 100 acres, Jim and an unnamed enslaved woman, livestock, household furnishings, and tools. Frances had died by this date. Source: original inventory, dated 14 October 1819; recorded in Caswell Will Book H, p. 300. |
| 11 Nov 1819 | The estate sale records family and neighbors Berry and Paschal purchasers appear among the buyers of household and farm property. John Chapman purchases the tract of land. The sale also records the enslaved boy and woman purchased by Ezekiel and John Paschal. Source: original sale papers and dated wrapper; recorded in Caswell Will Book H, p. 308. |
| Jan Court 1820 | The inventory and sale reach the court record The returns record the estate proceedings completed the previous autumn. This court date belongs to the administration of Frances’s estate, not to her death. Sources: court endorsements on the inventory and sale papers, Caswell Will Book H, pp. 300 and 308. |
Reading the Timeline CarefullyMigration, published family history, personal property, and the estate’s people.
The move to North Carolina. The available references connect the family with Middlesex County in Virginia and later estate proceedings in Caswell County. The retained account of Griffin’s will describes him as a resident of Chatham County, although the will is cited in Caswell Book E, p. 322. His original will and intervening land and tax records would help establish the timing and sequence of these residences. No exact migration date is assigned here.
Griffin’s public life. The published family account also reports that Griffin administered his brother Henry’s estate in 1770. Its October 1781 supply reference is preserved as a published-history lead; the underlying estate and militia entries have not been inspected. A supply allowance does not, by itself, establish military service.
Benjamin’s personal gifts. His will gives shoe buckles and sleeve buttons to Frances, then knee and shoe buckles to her son John Berry. The repeated shoe-buckle wording is retained as written. The document does not specify the metal, so the objects are not described as silver.
Two estates, several unidentified people. Griffin’s 1807 inventory lists two unnamed enslaved people. Frances’s 1819 inventory names Jim and records an unnamed woman, while her sale lists an unnamed boy and woman. No continuous identity has been established across these records. The sale buyers’ surnames provide association clues but do not automatically establish their relationships to Frances.
What the household goods can tell us. The inventories and sale record a loom, books, furniture, agricultural tools, crops, and livestock. They document property associated with the estates; they do not identify who used each object or establish an individual’s occupation or literacy.
The parish dates come from the 1897 printed transcription. Benjamin’s will and the estate inventories and sale papers have been reviewed as manuscript images; Frances’s will is currently represented by a published abstract. Further source details follow in Explore the Records.
Explore the Records
Parish entries, Benjamin Guthrie’s will, and the Tuggle estate papers connect Frances’s Virginia beginnings with her later North Carolina family. The guide below distinguishes the printed parish transcription, published will abstract, and surviving manuscript estate records.
| Record or Source | What It Contributes |
|---|---|
| Christ Church Parish Register1737 and 1779 · Printed pp. 145, 171 | Names Frances’s parents, records her birth and baptism, and records the marriage of Griffin Tuggle and Frances Berry on 10 January 1779. |
| Benjamin Guthrie’s Will22 February 1780 · Middlesex F:179–180 | Names sister Frances Tuggle and explicitly identifies her son John Berry by John Berry. Manuscript images support the family relationship. |
| Griffin Tuggle’s Estate1807 · Caswell E:322, E:353 | The original inventory and its July Court return have been reviewed. The separately cited will at E:322 remains to be examined in the original. |
| Frances Tuggle’s Will Abstract2 August 1819 · Caswell H:283 | Names Berry and Paschal family members, executors, and witnesses. The published abstract appears under October Court 1819; it is not a full transcription of the original will. |
| Frances’s Estate Inventory14 October 1819 · Caswell H:300 | Records land, Jim and an unnamed enslaved woman, livestock, furnishings, and tools. It establishes that Frances had died by this date. |
| Frances’s Estate Sale11 November 1819 · Caswell H:308 | Names purchasers and records transactions involving land, household and farm property, and two unnamed enslaved people. The inventory and sale were returned at January Court 1820. |
Parish Entries: Births, Baptisms & MarriagePrinted register, pp. 145 and 171 · Reading transcriptions
These readings follow the 1897 printed transcription, with abbreviations expanded and punctuation regularized.
Frances Guthery
Frances, daughter of William and Frances Guthery, born the 21st of September, baptized October the 2nd, 1737.
Griffin Tuggle
Griffin, the son of John and Catherine Tuggle, was born August 5th and baptized August 28th, 1737.
The Second Marriage
Griffin Tuggle and Frances Berry married January 10th, 1779.
The birth entries identify the parents by given name and family surname. They do not supply the mothers’ maiden surnames, Wilbourn and Nicholls, which come from the wider family research. Frances’s first marriage to John Berry is supported by Benjamin’s will, rather than by a marriage entry located here.
Source: The Parish Register of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va., from 1653 to 1812 (1897), printed p. 145 / PDF p. 153 and printed p. 171 / PDF p. 179.
Benjamin’s Will: Frances and John Berry22 February 1780 · Middlesex County Will Book F, pp. 179–180
Excerpts from the reading transcription checked against the supplied manuscript images, with punctuation and abbreviations regularized.
Item. I give and bequeath unto my sister Frances Tuggle my shoe buckles and sleeve buttons.
Item. I give unto John Berry, son of my sister Frances by John Berry, my knee and shoe buckles.
These clauses directly identify Frances as Benjamin’s sister and John Berry as her son by John Berry. The will also names William Berry in a conditional clothing bequest, but does not state his parentage in that clause. Frances’s own will abstract later identifies William as her son.
The repeated shoe-buckle bequests are preserved as written. The document does not specify the metal.
The will was proved 28 February 1780. View the FamilySearch will-book reference or the manuscript images at Ancestry. The complete reading transcription appears on Benjamin Guthrie’s page.
Griffin Tuggle: Will Reference & Estate InventoryCaswell Will Book E, pp. 322 and 353 · Two distinct records
The Will Reference
The retained family account describes Griffin as a resident of Chatham County and reports that his will names wife Frances and stepson William Berry as executors. The cited record is Caswell Will Book E, p. 322. Its original wording has not yet been inspected.
The Reviewed Inventory
The original inventory lists 100 acres of land and two unnamed enslaved people, followed by livestock, tobacco, agricultural and woodworking tools, books, beds, and household goods. William Berry signs as executor.
The return at July Court 1807, recorded at E:353, establishes that Griffin had died by that term. It does not supply an exact death date or make William Berry his biological son.
Published Family History
Vivian S. Tuggle’s The Tuggle Family of Virginia: Thomas Tuggle of Middlesex County, Virginia and His Descendants, 1630–1967 (1970) is cited in the family research for Griffin’s earlier marriage and son Nicholas. The retained account also reports his administration of brother Henry’s estate in 1770 and a wartime supply allowance in October 1781. Those references remain leads for comparison with the underlying records.
Inventory images: Ancestry, North Carolina, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1665–1998, Caswell, “Wills and Estate Papers, 1663–1978,” Griffin Tuggle estate papers. The will-book citation and loose estate papers describe related but separate records.
Frances Tuggle’s Will: The Published AbstractWritten 2 August 1819 · October Court 1819 · Caswell H:283
Reading transcription of the supplied published abstract, printed p. 39. Abbreviations are expanded; the abstract’s Anna/Anne variation is retained.
Frances Tuggle — Will — written 2 August 1819. Granddaughters Elizabeth Paschal and Frances Paschal; daughter Anna Paschal; only two children, William Berry and Anne Paschal. Executors: Jethro Brown and son William Berry. Witnesses: David Poyner Jr., David Walker.
The abstract identifies family members but compresses the will’s wording and bequests. Its reference to two children must be read alongside Benjamin’s explicit identification of John Berry in 1780. It does not establish that Frances had only two children during her lifetime or supply John’s death date.
The description of Anna/Anne as a daughter does not, on its own, resolve her biological-versus-step relationship within the Berry–Tuggle family. The Family Evidence Notes explain the competing possibilities.
Source: supplied abstract in the collection Caswell County, NC Will Books, 1777–1843; 1784 Tax List; and Guardians’ Accounts, 1794–1819, printed p. 39, citing Book H, p. 283. The original will-book reference at FamilySearch remains to be examined; this abstract is not presented as its complete text.
Frances’s Inventory & Estate Sale14 October and 11 November 1819 · Selected details from the original papers
Inventory — 14 October 1819
Jethro Brown and William Berry, executors, recorded the estate of Frances Tuggle, deceased. The inventory names an enslaved man, Jim, and records an unnamed enslaved woman.
- Land: one tract containing 100 acres.
- Livestock: two horses, eleven cattle, sixteen sheep, twenty-nine hogs, and fourteen geese.
- Household and working property: beds and furniture, chairs, dishes, kitchen equipment, a cotton wheel and cards, tools, containers, and other household and farm items. The continuation includes a loom, books, crops, leather, and tobacco.
The inventory is recorded at Caswell H:300 and was returned at January Court 1820. These are selected contents, not a complete line-by-line transcription.
Sale — 11 November 1819
The sale papers name Berry and Paschal purchasers among a wider circle of buyers. John Chapman purchased the tract of land for $332.
An unnamed enslaved boy was purchased by Ezekiel Paschal for $770, and an unnamed enslaved woman by John Paschal for $110. The sale does not name the boy, so he has not been identified as Jim. Nor have the unnamed people in Griffin’s 1807 inventory been securely traced into these later entries.
The dated sale wrapper gives 11 November 1819 and the reference H:308. The court endorsement records its return at January Court 1820. A purchaser’s appearance establishes a transaction, not necessarily a family relationship.
Sources: original inventory, continuation, sale papers, wrappers, and court returns in the Frances Tuggle estate papers; Ancestry, North Carolina, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1665–1998, Caswell, “Wills and Estate Papers, 1663–1978.” The will, inventory, sale, and court returns are separate events.
The Guthrie DNA Project
No autosomal participant through Frances’s descendant lines has been identified in the current project summary. Frances did not transmit her father’s Y chromosome, so her descendants cannot represent his direct paternal line through her. Documented descendants may nevertheless contribute to autosomal research and the reconstruction of the Berry, Tuggle, and Paschal connections.
Within the broader Branch F research, the tested North Carolina line of William Guthrie and Mary Magdalene matches Guthrie Family Group 1A. The Middlesex family also shares Christ Church Parish with Branch B. These genetic and geographical connections support studying the branches together while the precise ancestral links and proposed Middlesex-to-North Carolina identification remain under investigation. See the Family Hub for the broader discussion.
Most Wanted DocumentsRecords that could clarify the marriages, descendants, migration, and estate connections.
- The complete original wills. Review Griffin’s will at Caswell E:322 and Frances’s at H:283 for the precise family descriptions, bequests, residence statements, and probate endorsements.
- John Berry’s marriage, estate, and family records. Establish Frances’s first marriage date, her husband’s identity and death, and the later lives of sons William and John.
- Anna/Anne Paschal’s parentage and marriage. A marriage record, deed, probate distribution, or family Bible could distinguish Griffin’s daughter by his first wife from Frances’s daughter by John Berry.
- North Carolina land and migration records. Trace the family’s arrival, the Chatham and Caswell references, and the 100-acre tracts listed in the two estates. Matching acreage alone does not establish that they were the same property.
- Records identifying the enslaved people. Deeds, estate distributions, receipts, and later Paschal records may help identify Jim, the unnamed women, and the boy, and follow their lives beyond these brief entries.
Following Frances’s Family
Frances’s records connect a child baptized in Christ Church Parish with the Berry, Tuggle, and Paschal families of later generations. Her brother’s gifts and the surviving estate papers preserve both family ties and traces of the wider household around her.
If you have a family Bible, marriage entry, deed, probate record, or other source connected with these families, please share its citation and an image when available. Records identifying Jim or the unnamed people in the estate papers are also welcome; each well-identified source can help us follow the people and relationships preserved here.
Researched and curated by Ann Guthrie · Guthrie Genealogy