Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/57

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

35

Colonel John Page. The line of descent is traced from Governor Uigges through his son. Colonel Dudley Digges (Belfield, York, 1665-1710) councillor and auditor general, married Susannah Cole. His son. Colonel Cole Digges (Belfield, York, 1692-1744) president of the council, married Elizabeth Power. His son, Colonel Dudley Digges (York county, 1728-90) burgess and coun- cillor, married Elizabeth Wormley (his name is on a pew in Bruton church). His daughter, Lucy Digges, married John Strat- ton their daughter, Anne Gertrude Stratton, married Dr. Jacob Parker ; their daughter, Sarah Andrews Parker, married Dr. George Littleton Upshur.

Their son, John Nottingham Upshur, M. D., married Lucy Tucker Whittle (see for- ward). Their only son, Francis Whittle Up- shur (see forward).

An interesting genealogical study is the tracing back of the line of descent of Gov- •ernor Edward Digges, through centuries of English history to Alfred the Great, King of England ; through a long line of kingly ancestors. English and French, including the Saxon kings, Philip III. and Philip IV. of France, and Kings Henry H., John, Henry HI., Edward I., Edward II., and Ed- ward HI., of England.

On the Upshur side, Dr. Upshur descends from one of the two traditional brothers, John and Arthur Upshur, who fled from their home in Essex, England, to escape the persecutions of their stepmother. They separated at the Cape of Virginia, John set- tling in Essex county, Virginia, Arthur, set- tling in 1637, in the plantation of Accomac, which in 1642 became the county of North- ampton. The tombstones of these two men on the eastern shore of Virginia are said to be fairly decipherable yet. x-\ descendant, Thomas Upshur, was later made a free bur- gess in Virginia.

Another line of maternal descent is from Henry Bagwell, the emigrant, clerk of the -court and first clerk of the plantations of Ackawmacke. He married Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Stratton, who at the time of her second marriage had a son, Thomas, and a daughter. Elizabeth. He had sons Thomas and Henry, and one of his grandsons married Elizabeth Eyre, a descendant of Thomas Eyre, the emigrant, who married the eldest daughter of Captain John Savage, by his iirst wife, Ann Elkington. Captain John

was a son of Ensign Thomas Savage, who came over with Captains John Smith and

Newport, and was left as hostage

with Powhatan for the Indian Namontack, whom Captain Newport took to England with him.

Although the Scarburg line, in connection with the Upshur family, Tabitha Scarburg Hill married Edmund Curtiss ; he was brought over from Ireland by his uncle, John Curtiss. She wa5 known on the rec- ords of Accomac county as "Madam Hill," as was also her mother during the last years of her life. She was a woman of great business capacity, and managed a large estate with marked ability. This Scarburg ancestor was almost as important a man in his generation as was his son in his day. He was a member of the first court of the plan- tation of Accomac in 1632, also for several courts following. He was the father of Charles Scarburg.

Colonel Edmund Scarburg, who died in 1 67 1, was the surveyor general of Virginia, and commander-in-chief of the inhabitants of the eastern Virginia shore, with the rank of colonel. Henry Eustis, on the Eustis side, was bequeathed a part of the Chinco- teague Islands. He married Tabitha Scar- burg Curtiss, daughter of Edmund Curtiss, son of Thomas Curtiss, of Ireland, the brother of Major General John Curtiss.

The Thorowgood, another line of mater- nal descent, of which the emigrant, John Michael Thorowgood, Sr., came to Virginia from Holland and was doubtless of Hugue- not descent. Captain Adam Thorowgood, who came to Virginia in 162 1, occupied an enviable position among the colonists on account of being a brother of John Thorow- good, of Kensington, who was knighted in 1630, held among other positions that of gen- tleman of the bed chamber, and stood very high at court. In one of the patents granted Adam Thorowgood, No. 179, it is stated that it was granted at the special recom- mendation of his majesty and a number of the members of the honorable Privy Council. He was a burgess in 1629, member of the council of state in 1637, and in the same year was presiding justice of Lower Norfolk, moving to the latter locality in 1634 from Hickotan, now Hampton, Virginia.

Dr. George Littleton Upshur, son of a Virginia merchant, was born in Northamp- ton, \^irginia, became a noted doctor of