A: Thomas Guthrey & Sarah Oakes
Guthrie Family Group 4 · Branch A
Thomas Guthrey & Sarah Oakes
King William County & Cumberland County, Virginia
View in Guthrie Research Tree →The description of Thomas Guthrey’s 400 acres begins at a Spanish oak on Henry Cary’s boundary. In February 1750/51, Thomas and Elizabeth Harvey conveyed this Cumberland County land to Thomas, a planter of St. John’s Parish in King William County. The oak in the banner recalls that first boundary call.
Sarah appears by name beside Thomas in a 1754 lawsuit and again in 1766, when she relinquished her dower rights. Oakes is the family’s proposed identification for her. The evidence for that name comes from the next generation, especially the will of Thomas’s son Alexander. The eight child pages below follow the family into other Virginia counties, Kentucky, Tennessee and beyond.
The Family at a Glance
Thomas Guthrey
- Birth and occupation
- Born about 1717, an estimate. The Harvey conveyance identifies him as a planter.
- Residence
- St. John’s Parish, King William County, then Southam Parish, Cumberland County. His will names Littleton Parish.
- Estate
- Will signed 6 October 1790. He had died by 22 September 1800, when the court admitted it to probate.
Sarah Oakes
- Name in the records
- Sarah, wife of Thomas Guttery. Her birth surname and parents remain under investigation.
- Residence
- Cumberland County. The July 1766 court entry records her relinquishment of dower in the sale to James Southall.
- Later life
- Her last known appearance is in 1766. Her death date and burial place remain unknown.
Children of Thomas Guthrey
These eight lines make up the Branch A reconstruction. One name in Thomas’s will needs a closer reading. Joseph A. Guthrie transcribed it as Francis and suggested Travis. Whether Sarah was the mother of all eight children remains open.
| Child Page | Birth or Baptism | Marriage & Later Life |
|---|---|---|
| Susannah Guthrey | About 1736, an estimate | Married Robert Moore. Her father left her his large Bible. The Moores settled in Green County, Kentucky. |
| Alexander King Guthrey | About 1738, an estimate | With his first wife, Sarah, held land in Orange County. By August 1798 he was married to Mary Anderson, widow of Edmund Pearce. His will went to probate in July 1817. |
| Travis Guthrey | About 1742, an estimate | Held land in Halifax County by 1773. His wife Anne relinquished dower in 1778. Hill is her proposed surname. Estate administration is reported in 1818. |
| Henry Guthrey | 1740s, estimated | Husband of Patience, also called Patsy. His Cumberland estate was in administration by 1808. A chancery proceeding identifies eleven children. |
| Elizabeth Guthrey | 10 June 1746, reported in the Hunter–Morris Bible | Married David Morris. Their family lived in Louisa County. The Bible gives her death as 28 June 1823. |
| William Guthrey | 16 August 1751, reported family date | Married Rebecca Noel. A Cumberland deed calls him Thomas’s son. His household and estate records connect the Guthrey, Noel, Coleman and Apperson families. |
| Sarah “Sally” Guthrey | 10 May 1752, reported family date | Married Benjamin Coleman, a Baptist minister. Deeds place them in Amherst County before their move to Kentucky. Sally died in 1825. |
| John Guthrey | 1760, Cumberland County, by his own account | The 25 May 1785 Cumberland bond names Betty Ann Allen. John later lived in Halifax County, Virginia. The court there recorded his death on 17 January 1836. |
The children’s households
Susannah and Robert Moore. The family reconstruction includes William, Thomas Guthrey Moore, Sarah, Lucy, Richard, Elizabeth, John and Travis Samuel. The Walker and Chaudoin marriages belong here. Dates and identifications vary among the Moore accounts.
Alexander and Sarah. Alexander’s will follows Susannah Criddle, Benjamin, Alexander, Hannah Maddox, Elizabeth Davis and Sally’s Maddox and Parker family. Benjamin’s pension file preserves a family entry for his birth on 4 August 1764. Alexander’s son Alexander married Martia Wilhoit. Their son Livingston Stapp Guthrie later married his first cousin Hannah Davis, a daughter of Elizabeth Guthrey and Jesse Davis.
Travis and Anne. The reconstruction includes Fanny Milner, Elizabeth Owen, Polly Lane, William, John, Samuel, Sally Clay, Thomas, James, Dennett and Elijah. Travis consented to Fanny’s marriage in 1790 and sold land to Brackett Owen in 1801. The 1815 conveyances help distinguish the adult Samuel from an earlier account of a son dying young. The Lane and Baskerville placements especially need the estate papers.
Henry and Patience. Their children were Elizabeth Cox, Sarah Lewis, Bernard, Ann Wheeler, Walker, Martha, David, Mary “Polly” Chenault, Thomas, Nancy Coleman and Henry Sidney. Thomas, born in 1796, married Catherine Cox and settled in McMinn County, Tennessee. Bernard’s Madison County, Alabama, will named his brother Thomas and provided for his brothers and sisters.
Elizabeth and David Morris. The Bible and estate material identify Samuel, Guthrie, Joshua, Sally, Mary “Polly,” George, Elizabeth and Caroline Matilda. The Hunter marriages and Caroline’s Fackler family help follow the daughters into the next generation.
William and Rebecca Noel. Their family includes John, William “Buck,” Nancy Ann and Sarah Noel. John’s family included Palmore and Ayres marriages. Buck married Elizabeth Coleman. Nancy Ann married first a White and later Gulielmus Coleman Jr. Sarah Noel married James Apperson.
Sarah and Benjamin Coleman. Their children are listed as Daniel, Sally, Elizabeth, Patience, Virgil, Mary “Polly,” Wyatt and Lucy. Their marriages connect the Connell, Gabbard, Reid, Sandidge, Mayfield and McGannon families, among others.
John and Betty Ann Allen. The Virginia family includes Sally King Crews, William, Allen, John, Martha Keeling, Mary Elizabeth Hubbard McCraw, Susan, Rebecca Rowlett, Seaney Tucker, Richard A., Nancy and Frances Woodson Rowlett. An August 1837 Halifax court entry identified twelve adult heirs. Rebecca and Frances belong to successive marriages of Archibald Rowlett.
Historical Highlights
The Harveys’ deed identifies Thomas as a planter of St. John’s Parish in King William County even as he acquired land in Cumberland. Its starting point was a Spanish oak in Henry Cary’s line. Years later, the Southall deed described the home tract on the north fork of Pidy Rock Creek. The two deeds let us follow Thomas from a named parish to the land where he lived.
Two of his children left a record of what a family Bible meant to a household. Susannah Moore received her father’s large Bible under his will. John told the pension court that his father’s Bible had recorded his age and that he had taken an extract. He used it in his account of growing up in Cumberland before moving to Halifax, Virginia.
Family Timeline
- 1750/51On 22 February the Harveys leased the land to Thomas. On 23 February they conveyed the 400 acres to him for £100. The deeds use the old legal year.
- 1754Thomas Guttery and Sarah his wife appear together as plaintiffs in Cumberland County. The parties reached an agreement.
- 1759Alexander King Guthrey of King William County purchased 298 acres on Black Walnut Run in Orange County.
- 1766Thomas sold his dwelling plantation and adjoining land to James Southall. Sarah appeared in court on 28 July to relinquish her dower.
- 1779On 8 September William Dean conveyed about 100 acres on Spider Creek to Travis. The Halifax court ordered the deed recorded on 16 September.
- 1784Thomas conveyed land to his son William, reserving its use for his own lifetime. In July, Elizabeth Oakes made her will.
- 1790–1800Thomas signed his will on 6 October 1790. Samuel Anderson presented it in Cumberland court on 22 September 1800. An estate inventory was returned on 27 October.
Was Thomas Guthrey’s first wife a King?
In a 1949 query, Joseph A. Guthrie asked whether Thomas had married an unnamed daughter of Alexander King about 1735. St. Peter’s Parish in New Kent County records the baptism of Alexander, son of Robert King, on 19 December 1689. Joseph proposed that Thomas and this daughter had a son about 1738 and named him Alexander King Guthrey for his maternal grandfather. The Orange County deed records the son’s full name (Deed Book 13, p. 5). The baptism identifies the older Alexander and his father. Neither record names a daughter who married Thomas.
Where would Elizabeth Oakes fit? Alexander King Guthrey called Elizabeth Oaks his grandmother in his will. Joseph suggested that she might have been Alexander King’s widow, the mother of Thomas’s proposed wife. If she later married an Oakes, her grandson could have borne his grandfather’s King name and known his grandmother as Elizabeth Oakes. Both marriages in this reconstruction still need documentation. Joseph A. Guthrie’s 1949 query · Query excerpt and records on Alexander’s page
Where would Sarah fit? Cumberland records identify Sarah as Thomas’s wife in 1754 and again in 1766, when she relinquished dower. They give her no birth surname. If Thomas had two wives, Sarah could have been his later wife. Whether she and the proposed King daughter were different women remains open. The Sarah named in Elizabeth Oakes’s 1784 will was Alexander Guthrey’s wife, identified as the mother of his daughter Elizabeth.
Joseph’s 1946 book offered an earlier explanation. He suggested that Thomas’s first wife was an Oakes and that she was the mother of Alexander and probably Susannah Moore. Thomas named Alexander an executor and left Susannah his large Bible, but neither shared in the residue of his estate. Joseph acknowledged that both might already have been provided for. His later King proposal concerned Alexander’s name. No record reviewed here gives Susannah the middle name King or establishes that she shared Alexander’s mother. Early Virginia Guthries and Their Kentucky Descendants, pp. 28–29
Elizabeth Oakes’s will and Alexander’s later will also preserve the name of Jack, an enslaved man whom Elizabeth gave to Alexander’s daughter Elizabeth, later Elizabeth Davis. These wills connect the households across generations. A King estate distribution, marriage settlement or deed naming Thomas’s wife as a daughter would establish the missing relationship.
Spider Creek and the Baskerville marriage
The 1779 Dean deed starts at a white oak in Collins’s line and follows Spider Creek to a branch dividing Joseph Collins’s land from Travis’s. It also refers to an earlier deed from Chisum. The description places Travis among identifiable neighboring owners in Halifax County. Halifax Deed Book 11, pp. 336–337 · image 652 of 706, film 007898195
In 1933 Laurence R. Guthrie assigned Patsy Baskerville to the elder Thomas. In 1935 he corrected that placement in a letter to Joseph A. Guthrie, suggesting a grandson or grandnephew. Joseph discusses the Cumberland entries of 4 and 6 December 1793 for Mary or Polly Baskerville, daughter of Richard. Thomas and William Guthrey appear in the bond material.
The younger Thomas, husband of Mary “Polly” Baskerville, is provisionally placed under Travis. Laurence reports that on 12 April 1799 Travis sold 136 acres for £50 to a Thomas Guthrey already living on the tract. The report is an abstract in Appendix, p. 689, note 57 of American Guthrie and Allied Families. The original deed and the buyer’s parentage remain unverified. Book 18, pp. 594–595, records the separate 1801 sale of 50 acres by Travis to Brackett Owen.
In 1803 a Jennings deed used Travis’s line as a boundary. In 1850 Martha A. Guthrey bought 120 acres adjoining the estate of Samuel Guthrey. Both the Baskerville family and Samuel’s family include a Martha A. A later sale identifying the buyer’s spouse or heirs could tell us which woman owned those 120 acres. Halifax chancery case 1837-019 · Thomas’s heirs and widow
Henry and Patience’s family recovered
Patrick Hoggard traced Thomas Guthrey of McMinn County, Tennessee, back through Henry and Patience of Cumberland. The 1809 chancery papers identify Henry’s children. Guardianship records and the later settlement of Bernard’s estate in Madison County, Alabama, let researchers follow siblings who married or moved away. The Tennessee Thomas was born in 1796, after the Baskerville marriage.
Bernard signed his will on 14 July 1822. The Madison County court proved it on 11 November. He provided for his siblings and named Thomas as a brother. The surviving family correspondence also identifies Nancy Coleman among the heirs. Patrick Hoggard’s study and addenda · Cumberland chancery case 1815-005
People named in the estate records
The wills preserve names of people enslaved by these families. Thomas’s will names Violet and Phillis in the provision for Susannah Moore, Amy in the provision for Elizabeth Morris, Bob in the clause for Francis, Peter in Henry’s clause, Sam in William’s, Jack in John’s and Judith in Sarah Coleman’s. The provision for John also required payments to his siblings from Jack’s labor.
Elizabeth Oakes’s will and Alexander’s later account both identify an enslaved man named Jack in the history of Elizabeth Davis’s household. The two families’ references to men named Jack need to be traced individually. Inventories, estate divisions and later deeds may preserve more of these people’s histories.
Explore the Research
DNA and the family lines
Descendants through several sons of Thomas share the GFG4 paternal profile in haplogroup I. The legacy project lists I-M253 and reports I-Y3153 as a confirmed group label. The represented Middlesex family of GFG1A and the William Guthrie family of GFG5 have different paternal profiles in haplogroup R. This distinction matters when evaluating an old account of brothers named Lawrence, Thomas and William. A Y-DNA result identifies a paternal line. Establishing a particular father, wife or generation still requires family records.
| Child line | Y-DNA | Big Y | Autosomal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Susannah Moore | — | — | — |
| Alexander King | 243099 | — | ✓ |
| Travis | 146235, 1023845 | — | ✓ |
| Henry | N91979 | — | ✓ |
| Elizabeth Morris | — | — | ✓ |
| William | 106344, 177763 | — | ✓ |
| Sarah Coleman | — | — | — |
| John | See GFG4B below | — | ✓ |
Participation reflects the reviewed project and AncestryDNA lineages. A check marks a represented autosomal line. A dash means no participation shown for that category in this review. Descendants of daughters can contribute autosomal evidence.
Representative lines and Big Y
Kit 243099 follows Alexander through Benjamin. Travis is represented through James (146235) and William T. (1023845). William’s kits 106344 and 177763 follow his son John through different marriages. Kit N91979 follows Henry Sidney and his son James Henry. The project also records kits 180399 and 1037941 without an established child-line placement here.
Kit 232860 was reported as a GFG4 match. Its older pedigree connects Thomas and Mary Baskerville to the Thomas who married Catherine Cox. Hoggard’s research places Catherine’s husband in Henry and Patience’s family. The submitted lineage needs reconciliation before using this kit to place the Baskerville groom.
The December 2025 haplogroup review reported no established Guthrie Big Y representative for this branch. The public overview reviewed on 6 November 2026 showed Big Y-700 kit 18334 of the Key surname at I-BY51025. It supplies a comparison for deeper paternal ancestry. Its branch-age estimate cannot date a surname change in Thomas’s family. Haplogroup study · Project Y-DNA results · Project SNP results
John’s genetic subgroup and the Georgia branch
Two project kits, 284418 and 835339, represent a Richard A. Guthrey descendant line with Harris/Harrison paternal matches. The project designates this genetic subgroup GFG4B. Further testers through John’s other sons would help locate the point where the paternal lines differ. The subgroup result applies to the tested line.
Geographic Branch B follows William Guthrey and Mary “Polly” Musgrove in Georgia. Kit MK73302, through Robert Musgrove Guthrey, was reported as a GFG4 Y-DNA match. The precise connection to Thomas’s Virginia family remains open. GFG4 genetic subgroups · William and Polly’s Georgia family
Two Virginia identity cases
Gulielmus Coleman Jr. first married Nancy Ann Guthrey, widow White, daughter of William and Rebecca. His second wife, Nancy Guthrey, was a daughter of Henry and Patience. The women were first cousins. The 1812 index calls the first bride Sarah White. William’s estate division and correspondence from Bernard’s heirs support the two marriages. Sarah Howard White, daughter of the first Nancy, married John Stanback Coleman. Buck’s daughter Nancy Turner Guthrie was Gulielmus Jr.’s niece. Coleman and the Nancy Guthreys · Hoggard, Addendum 1 · Addendum 2
John Guthrey and Betty Ann Allen. Their marriage bond belongs to Cumberland County, Virginia. In pension S.8642 John gave his birthplace as Cumberland and his later home as Halifax County, Virginia. The August 1837 court minute reports his death on 17 January 1836, leaving twelve adult heirs and no surviving widow. John Guthrie and Anna Smith, associated with Halifax County, North Carolina, belong to GFG5. The Two Halifaxes · Earlier published comparison
Before Cumberland · the origins question
The Harvey deed gives us a firm starting place in King William County. A published reconstruction takes Thomas back to Edward Guthrie of King and Queen County and, one generation earlier, to John of York and King’s Creek. Family tradition describes that John as English. Land patents and neighboring families can help trace the people involved, but the intervening parent-child relationships remain unproved.
Another account groups Thomas with William and Lawrence or Henry. Sarah Coleman’s will identifies members of her own Cumberland household. The proposed husband Lawrence and his relationship to Thomas still need evidence. Avoid merging these households with John and Elizabeth Baskett’s Middlesex family or assigning Edward a paternal profile from another surname line. Tidewater Virginia families · Lawrence’s tree profile · Sarah Coleman’s tree profile
Reading and sources
Published studies and Virginia research collections
- Laurence R. Guthrie, American Guthrie and Allied Families (1933), pp. 36–39, 50–52, 523–524 and Appendix p. 689, note 57. Open Library · Ancestry edition · Digitized volume
- Joseph A. Guthrie, Early Virginia Guthries and Their Kentucky Descendants (1946), especially pp. 24–32, 42–47 and 55–56. Digitized volume
- Wilmer L. Kerns, Waltons of Old Virginia, chapter 17, the Guthrey or Guthrie family of Cumberland and Buckingham Counties.
- Garland Evans Hopkins, Cumberland County tax petitions. See the 1779 petition for compensation for guarding a prisoner and the 1789 tax petition. Cumberland County reading and resources
- Patrick Hoggard, Thomas Guthrey of McMinn County. Appendix 5 transcribes the Harvey deeds. Appendix 7 examines the Baskerville groom.
Cumberland land · deeds and indexes
Cumberland deed books · catalog 406147.
Harvey to Guttery. Lease and release, 22–23 February 1750/51, Book 1, pp. 289–293, film 007893764. Lease · image 185 · Release · image 184
Brown to Guttery. The legacy abstract describes 86 acres adjoining Thomas on Pidy Rock Creek. Compare the date and folio in the deed. Book 2 index · image 314 · Book 2, p. 509 · image 574
Guttery to Trent. August 1761. Book 3 index · image 8 · Deed image · film 007893765
Southall and Kent. In 1766 Thomas sold two parcels totaling 386 acres to James Southall and acquired 260 acres from Robert and Mary Kent. Book 4 index · both entries · Southall, p. 84 · image 356 · Kent, p. 86 · image 357
Thomas to William. The 1784 deed names William as his son and provides for possession after Thomas’s lifetime. Book 6 index · image 312 · Book 6, p. 217 · image 423
Cumberland court orders · 1749–1786
Court order books, 1749–1904 · catalog 400267. The G indexes below preserve the search path, including terms in which the legacy search found no entry for Thomas.
1749–1762 · film 007893768. G index, images 11–12 · G index, image 195 · Guttery and wife v. Mills and others, p. 191 · image 299 · G index, image 500. Thomas and Sarah’s 1754 suit ended by agreement.
Jones and Trent entries. Trespass proceeding, p. 327 · image 671 · Debt proceeding, p. 480 · image 748 · Trent conveyance, p. 424 · image 720
1762–1767 · film 007837429. G index · image 9 · Jones debt, p. 18 · image 24 · Continuation, p. 100 · image 65 · Continuation, p. 156 · image 93 · Dismissal, p. 214 · image 123.
G index · image 299 · Petition against Jesse Thomas, p. 478 · image 546 · Southall witness allowance, p. 491 · image 552 · Sarah’s dower, p. 264 · image 439. The court allowed Thomas 100 pounds of tobacco for four days’ attendance as a witness.
1767–1774 · film 007893769. G index · image 10 · G index · image 292 · G index · image 592
1774–1786 · film 007893770. G index · image 9 · G index · image 292 · G index · image 591 · Thomas to William proved, p. 127 · image 662. George Baskerville, John Guttrey and John Hill proved the conveyance in August 1784.
Cumberland court and probate · 1786–1807
1786–1792 · film 008358483. G index · image 11 · G index · image 314
1792–1801 · film 008358484. G index · image 12 · G index · image 386 · Continuation · image 387
Thomas’s estate. Will proved and appraisers appointed, p. 398 · image 594 · Inventory returned, p. 401 · image 596. Samuel Anderson presented the will. William Daniel Jr. proved it as a witness.
Alexander’s debt proceedings. Cayce, p. 442 · image 616 · Cayce and Fowler, p. 498 · image 644
1801–1807 · film 008358485. G index · images 12–13 · Executors ordered to settle the account, p. 259 · image 151
Will Book 3 · film 007675921. Index · image 7 · Thomas’s will, p. 153 · image 86 · Thomas’s inventory, p. 156 · image 88 · Henry’s inventory, p. 427 · image 224
Most Wanted Documents
- Sarah’s family. A marriage settlement, inheritance or Bible entry naming her parents, or a record identifying which of Alexander’s parents was Elizabeth Oakes’s child.
- The Baskerville groom. The complete 1799 Travis-to-Thomas deed, a later transfer of the same 136 acres, or estate papers naming the buyer’s father or wife. The Halifax deed indexes have restricted online access. Compare the 1825-017 and 1837-019 chancery files and the Guthrie–Coleman Bible, Library of Virginia accession 53597.
- Two Nancy Guthreys. The original 1812 Coleman bond or return to compare with the Sarah White index entry and the evidence from William’s and Bernard’s estates.
- Francis or Travis. A clear reading of the son’s name in the elder Thomas’s recorded will. Joseph prints Francis and supplies Travis as his own suggested correction.
- Before King William. A contemporary record naming Thomas’s parents or explicitly connecting him with Edward of King and Queen County.
Help Preserve the Virginia Family’s Story
A family Bible supplied John with his birth year. A court clerk preserved Sarah’s given name. A deed recorded who lived on Spider Creek. If your family has a Bible page, deed, letter or estate paper that connects two generations, a full image with its source can help another descendant follow that connection.
Researched & Curated by Ann Guthrie
this is very informative and you have done a lot of research. I am descended from Thomas Guthrie Moore-Henry Moore-Parthena Moore Livingston-Willilam Livingston-Margaret Livngston Russell-Charles Russell Sr-Charles Russell Jr- and me. I had dna test from Ancestry done a couple of months ago. Thank you for sharing!! Jeff Russell, Clinton, Indiana
You are welcome to add your Ancestry (Autosomal DNA) kit to the Guthrie DNA Project if you want an analysis of your Guthrie / Guthrey matches.
Re: Henry Guthrey (b ca1745)
Can anyone tell me what evidence there is for a birth year around 1745, and not, say, a decade later? Someone must have made an educated guess, but I can’t tell based on what.
Henry Guthrey, son of Thomas Guthrey of GFG4, is listed with an estimated DOB of about 1745. Definitely possible that he was born in the 1750s. The DOB range for Thomas Guthrey’s children is about 1736-about 1759. None of the records I have for him reveal a specific age. I don’t have any in-depth research on Henry’s family. There are Chancery Records for his estate: Bernard Guthry v Children of Henry Guthry, which give me the impression that Henry had older children and that Patsy may be a younger wife with a few younger children. The only potential clue I see is the order in which the sons of Thomas Guthrey are identified in his will. Henry is named after Francis and before William. The latter has a known DOB of 16 Aug 1751. Not a certainty, but that could be where the estimate originated. There is also a lot of confusion by people who have misidentified the Henry Guthrey of GFG4 as the Henry Guthrie (b1754) of GFG5 who married Nancy Shackleford.
My grandfather is James White. His mom is Lavern White. He was told his father is James Clarence Guthrie Sr. 1904-1978 born Athens Tenn. Died in TX. He never met him. I don’t know if he is the right person. Do you have information showing that connection?
That information fits what your grandfather shared in his tree, as well as his connection to Guthrie Family Group 4.
Hello! Just found this site and it’s great. I trace mine back to Thomas Guthrie 1717 (father Edward Guthrie > John Guthrie, which apparently that part can’t be proven).
All I know is that my family has been in Virginia since the Guthrie’s came to VA, we’ve always been farmers in Halifax/Campbell counties. 🙂