1A-G: Nicholas Guthrie
Guthrie Family Group 1A · Branch G · Child Page
Nicholas Guthrie
Amherst County, Virginia · From family ward to guardian
Nicholas Guthrie, son of William Guthrie and Elizabeth Wingfield, appears first among the children placed under his mother’s guardianship in 1825. By 1832, he had become guardian of four younger siblings: Sally, Laurence P., Oliver, and Elizabeth.
His story survives in guardianship bonds, a lost-pocketbook advertisement, a census household, and a court notice. The last of these identifies him as living outside Virginia in December 1849. His later home and the identity of his own family remain open parts of the story.
Family at a Glance
Nicholas Guthrie
- Parents
- William Guthrie & Elizabeth Wingfield.
- Birth
- Estimated 1804–1811, Virginia, probably Amherst County. This is a working range rather than a recorded birth date.
- Family Responsibilities
- A ward of his mother in 1825; guardian of Sally, Laurence P., Oliver, and Elizabeth Guthrie in 1832.
- Occupation
- Unknown.
- Marriage
- A 21 November 1836 marriage of Nicholas Guthrie and Esther M. Franklin in Campbell County, Virginia, is a candidate record. The groom’s identity remains to be established.
- Children
- No children have yet been identified. This does not establish that Nicholas was childless.
- Residence
- Amherst County records through 1840; described as a nonresident of Virginia in a court order dated 3 December 1849.
- Death & Burial
- Unknown. The 1849 court reference extends his record trail beyond the earlier “after 1840” notation.
Esther M. Franklin: A Candidate Marriage
The family research preserves a Campbell County marriage dated 21 November 1836 for a Nicholas Guthrie and Esther M. Franklin. The supplied research notes expressly mark it as a possible match requiring verification.
Esther’s parents, birth, later residence, death, and children have not been established for this family. The original marriage documents and a connected later household would help determine whether this groom was the Amherst County Nicholas.
Family Evidence Note
The guardianship abstracts anchor Nicholas within William and Elizabeth’s family. In the 1832 bond, Nathan Guthrie is a surety; the four wards are Sally, Laurence P., Oliver, and Elizabeth.
The 1840 census gives age groups, not the names or relationships of everyone in the household. Its adults cannot all be assigned to Nicholas’s siblings or to a wife. The supplied extraction includes no free children under twenty, but it cannot settle whether he had children elsewhere or later.
Historical Highlights
Family obligations and a life beyond Amherst
Nicholas’s changing place in the family is visible in two guardianship bonds. In 1825, his mother Elizabeth acted for him and three siblings following their father’s death. Seven years later, Nicholas undertook that responsibility for four younger members of the family.
A December 1832 newspaper advertisement adds a personal detail: Nicholas had lost a pocketbook containing money and financial papers. He asked that it be returned to the newspaper office and cautioned the parties named in the bonds to make payment only to him. One entry mentions Campbell Franklin as a guardian, preserving another connection within the family’s financial affairs.
The 1840 Amherst household included eight free people and six enslaved people, according to the retained census extraction. The enslaved individuals are not named in that extraction; identifying them is part of the unfinished record work.
By December 1849, an Amherst court notice described Nicholas as living outside Virginia. His brother Nathan was the plaintiff, and Nicholas and William Kent were defendants. The surviving notice gives the next procedural step, but the case papers are needed to explain the dispute and locate Nicholas more precisely.
Family Timeline
| Date | Event & Evidence |
|---|---|
| 1804–1811 Estimated | Birth in VirginiaThe working estimate places Nicholas’s birth in Virginia, probably Amherst County.Source: Guthrie family research; no exact birth record established. |
| 19 Sep 1825 | Elizabeth becomes his guardianThe bond abstract names Nicholas, Lucy, Nathan, and Susan as orphans of William Guthrie, with Elizabeth Guthrie as guardian.Source: Amherst County Will Book 6, p. 619; retained guardianship abstract. |
| 17 Nov 1828 | Family estate administrationA retained reference places Nicholas among the signers of an estate bond following Elizabeth’s death, alongside Campbell Franklin, Thomas Franklin, and John Guthrie.Source lead: Amherst County Will Book 7, pp. 187–190; original entries remain to be checked. |
| 21 Mar 1832 | Guardian of four younger siblingsNicholas becomes guardian of Sally, Laurence P., Oliver, and Elizabeth Guthrie. Nathan appears on the bond as a surety.Source: Amherst County Will Book 8, p. 187; retained guardianship abstract. |
| 13 Dec 1832 | A lost pocketbookA notice signed by Nicholas lists the lost financial papers and requests the pocketbook’s return to the newspaper office.Source: Lynchburg Virginian, 13 December 1832, vol. 11, issue 34, p. 4; archived clipping. |
| 21 Nov 1836 Candidate | Marriage to Esther M. Franklin?A Campbell County marriage names a Nicholas Guthrie and Esther M. Franklin. Its connection to this family is unconfirmed.Source lead: marriage entry retained in the family research and marked as a possible match. |
| 1840 | An Amherst householdThe retained census extraction lists eight free adults and six enslaved people in Nicholas Guthrie’s household.Source: 1840 U.S. census, Amherst County, Virginia; household extraction preserved on the legacy page. |
| 3 Dec 1849 | Outside VirginiaIn Nathan Guthrie’s suit against Nicholas Guthrie and William Kent, the court orders publication after receiving evidence that Nicholas is not an inhabitant of Virginia.Source: Amherst chancery order, 3 December 1849; archived newspaper notice transcribed below. |
| 1850 Candidate | A Missouri census leadThe supplied research notes flag a Nicholas Guthrie entry in District 15, Carroll County, Missouri, as a possible match. A connection to the Amherst man has not been demonstrated.Source lead: supplied research screenshot; original household and identity need verification. |
Explore the Records
Guardianship abstracts establish Nicholas’s family responsibilities. The newspaper clippings add his own public notice and the court’s statement of his nonresidence. Estate references and candidate records provide the next avenues for research.
1825 & 1832 · From Ward to Guardian
19 September 1825: The retained abstract from Amherst County Will Book 6, p. 619, names Elizabeth Guthrie, James S. Lamkin, William Turner, and Daniel Day in a bond for Elizabeth as guardian of Nicholas, Lucy, Nathan, and Susan Guthrie, orphans of William Guthrie.
21 March 1832: The retained abstract from Will Book 8, p. 187, names Nicholas Guthrie, Thomas Wingfield, and Nathan Guthrie in Nicholas’s bond as guardian of Sally, Laurence P., Oliver, and Elizabeth Guthrie, orphans of William Guthrie.
A surname to check: The supplied research screenshot reads “Thos. Wingfield,” while the legacy resource list calls the same surety “Thomas Dinglefield.” The manuscript is needed to resolve the difference.
Sources: supplied guardianship abstracts and legacy record references. These are summaries of the retained abstracts, not new transcriptions of the original manuscript pages. See “Locating the Original Volumes” below.
1828 & 1840 · Family Estate References
- 17 March 1828: A further Elizabeth Guthrie guardianship reference appears in Amherst County Will Book 7, pp. 145–146. Check the named wards and the terms of this bond against the 1825 entries.
- 17 November 1828: Amherst County Will Book 7, pp. 187–190, contains references to William Guthrie’s estate left unadministered by Elizabeth, deceased, and to Elizabeth’s own estate. The legacy description names Campbell Franklin, Thomas Franklin, John Guthrie, and Nicholas Guthrie as signers associated with the administration bond.
- January 1840: Franklin County Will Book 5, p. 178, records a division of John Wingfield’s estate that includes the heirs of Elizabeth Guthrie. The full entry should be checked for the individual heirs and their shares.
These volume-and-page references are retained research leads. The original entries have not been newly verified for this page; they should not be read as proof of a particular distribution to Nicholas.
1832 · “Pocket Book Lost”
Nicholas advertised the loss of a pocketbook containing money and several bonds. The itemized list includes a reference to C. Franklin as guardian of L. Guthrie. Some names and figures are difficult to read in the available image, so the financial list is summarized rather than reconstructed.
Transcribed closing passage:
The above persons are cautioned not to pay the above mentioned bonds to any other than the subscriber. The finder will confer a favor by leaving the book, with its contents at this office.
NICHOLAS GUTHRIE.
The notice preserves business and family associations. Losing the pocketbook does not, by itself, establish how Nicholas managed his guardianship responsibilities.
Source: “Pocket Book Lost,” Lynchburg Virginian, Thursday, 13 December 1832, vol. 11, issue 34, p. 4, as identified with the archived clipping. Line breaks have been normalized in the excerpt.
1840 · The Amherst Census Household
The legacy page preserves the following extraction for Nicholas Guthrie’s household in Amherst County, Virginia:
- One free male aged 20–29.
- Two free males aged 30–39.
- Four free females aged 20–29.
- One free female aged 40–49.
- Six enslaved people, without ages or names supplied in the extraction.
This totals fourteen people: eight free and six enslaved. The extraction does not identify which male age category contains Nicholas, nor does it establish the other free residents’ relationships to him.
Reviewing the original schedule will allow its column readings to be checked. Estate, deed, and court records may help recover the names and family connections of the enslaved individuals counted here.
Source: 1840 U.S. census, Amherst County, Virginia, Nicholas Guthrie household; extraction retained from the legacy page. A schedule page number has not been established here.
1849 · Nathan Guthrie v. Nicholas Guthrie & William Kent
The notice records an order made at rules on 3 December 1849 in the Amherst County Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery. It names Nathan Guthrie as plaintiff and Nicholas Guthrie and William Kent as defendants.
Transcription:
Virginia:
AT Rules held in the Clerk’s Office of the Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery, for the County of Amherst, on Monday, the 3rd day of December, 1849.
Nathan Guthrie, Plaintiff,
against
Nicholas Guthrie and William Kent, Defendants.IN CHANCERY.
The defendant Nicholas Guthrie, not having entered his appearance and given security according to the Act of Assembly and the Rules of this Court, and it appearing by satisfactory evidence that he is not an inhabitant of this Commonwealth: It is ordered, That the said defendant do appear here on the first Monday in March next, and answer the bill of the plaintiff; and that a copy of this order be forthwith inserted in some newspaper published in the town of Lynchburg, for two months successively, and posted at the front door of the Court House of this county.
A copy—Teste.
ROBERT TINSLEY, Cl’k.
Dec 20—w2m
What it establishes: Nicholas was named in the suit and identified to the court as a nonresident of Virginia. The requested appearance was on the first Monday in March 1850. The notice does not tell us where he lived, whether he appeared, what the underlying claim was, or how the case ended.
Source: archived newspaper clipping headed “Virginia,” Amherst court order dated 3 December 1849, attested by Robert Tinsley. The crop ends “Dec 20—w2m” and contains no issue masthead. The legacy page lists Lynchburg Virginian publication references for 31 December 1849, 10 and 17 January 1850, and 11 February 1850. Those issue references remain to be checked and are not separate events in Nicholas’s life. Line-end hyphens have been joined in the transcription.
Two Identity Leads · The 1836 Marriage & 1850 Missouri Census
Campbell County, Virginia, 21 November 1836: Obtain the original marriage entry and any surviving bond, consent, or minister’s return for Nicholas Guthrie and Esther M. Franklin. Compare the groom’s associates, residence, and other identifying details with the Amherst family.
District 15, Carroll County, Missouri, 1850: The supplied research screenshot marks this census entry as a possible match but does not show its household names or ages. The full schedule is needed before those details can be added to Nicholas’s story.
The 1849 notice makes an out-of-state search appropriate, but it does not name Missouri. A record connecting the Missouri man to Amherst relatives, property, or the chancery suit would be especially useful.
Locating the Original Volumes
The Library of Virginia’s Amherst County microfilm guide supplies the following starting points:
- Will Book 6, 1818–1827: Library of Virginia reel 19. Start with p. 619 and the related family bonds on pp. 619–621.
- Will Books 7 and 8: Library of Virginia reel 20. Relevant references are Book 7, pp. 145–146 and 187–190, and Book 8, p. 187.
- Chancery Orders No. 3, 1849–1855: Listed on Library of Virginia reel 36. Search the order book around the December 1849 proceeding and then pursue any surviving case papers under Nathan Guthrie, Nicholas Guthrie, and William Kent.
These are Library of Virginia reel references, not FamilySearch film numbers. The catalog identifies the volumes; it does not establish a case-file number or confirm that the full Guthrie suit has been located.
DNA & the Wider Guthrie Family
The family’s GFG1A connection is supported by John William Guthrie’s line, with its GFG1A modal Y-DNA and matching Augusta County, Virginia locations.
No descendant line through Nicholas has yet been identified for this page. His brother’s evidence supports the wider family placement; it is not a test result from a Nicholas descendant.
| Descendant Line | Guthrie Y-DNA | Big-Y | Autosomal DNA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholas Guthrie Descendants not yet identified | — | — | — |
A dash means participation has not been established for this page. It does not mean that no descendant has tested.
Most Wanted: Nicholas’s Missing Connections
- The complete chancery suit: Locate the bill, answers, exhibits, and final order in Nathan Guthrie’s case against Nicholas Guthrie and William Kent. Look for Nicholas’s residence and the nature of his interest in the dispute.
- Original guardianship records: Verify the abstracts and the disputed 1832 surety surname; seek later guardian accounts or settlements naming the wards.
- The marriage connection: Determine whether the 1836 Campbell County groom was this Nicholas and, if so, identify Esther’s family and their children.
- A documented later home: Examine the 1850 Carroll County candidate and connect any later records to the Amherst man through relatives, associates, or property.
- The people in the 1840 household: Check the original census and associated estate records for the free residents and the six enslaved individuals.
- Death, burial, and descendants: Find a probate record, obituary, cemetery record, Bible entry, or family correspondence that carries Nicholas’s story beyond the 1849 notice.
Keep the Story Growing
Help Build the Family Story
Nicholas’s records follow him from his mother’s care into responsibility for younger siblings, then beyond Virginia. A marriage document, a court exhibit, or a record from his later home may connect those surviving fragments to a fuller family history.
If Nicholas or Esther appears in your family papers, please share what you have found. Complete record images, dates, locations, and source details are especially helpful. Questions, corrections, and family recollections are welcome.
Researched and curated by Ann Guthrie · Guthrie Genealogy