Say what? Yep – you read that correctly. My parents are 8th cousins – once removed. For my family and cousins following along, this means my father and my maternal grandmother were 8th cousins. That makes my mother my father’s 8th cousin – once removed – and makes me my mother’s 9th cousin. Lastly, that makes me my own 9th cousin – once removed.
It is confusing I know. 1st cousins share a grandparent, 2nd cousins share a great grandparent and so on. The “removed” part accounts for generational difference. In my case, my father is 10 generations from their common pair of ancestors while it is 11 generations for my mother. Therefore, my mother and father are eighth cousins – once removed.
Don’t laugh too hard – if you knew your own family tree back 400 years, it would very likely include cousin marriages!
Randall Holt and Mary Bayly
My parents both descend from Randall Holt I (c.1606 – c.1640s) and Mary Bayly (c. 1605 – c. 1640s). Randall Holt arrived in Virginia in 1620 aboard the ship George as an indentured servant.[1] He served Dr. John Pott, the colony’s physician and later Governor, who had come to Virginia on the same ship as young Randall Holt. The two may have been related. Mary Bayly arrived sometime before May 1616 with her father John Bayly (her mother is unknown) who paid their own way to Virginia. Randall was about 13 and Mary at most 11 when they landed in Virginia. There were probably fewer than 1,500 non-natives here at that time. John and Mary Bayly were both Ancient Planters meaning they paid their own way, were in Virginia before May 1616 and remained at least three years. Ancient planters received the first land patents given to colonists.[2]
Randall and Mary both survived the 22 March 1622 attack by Native Americans at several of the settlements along the James River up to present day Richmond in which some 25% of the white population – or nearly 350 colonists – were killed. Randall was likely with Dr. Pott at James City, which was spared from attack by a timely warning to the Governor. Mary Bayly’s whereabouts are not known although she may have also been at James City during the attack. Her father John is listed among the dead at James City since the attack in a census taken in February 1623.[3]
The same census lists Randall Holt as living “At James Cittie and within the Corporation thereof” with Dr. Pott, his wife Elizabeth and five other servants.[4] The following year’s census taken on 23 January 1624, includes “Randall Holt, aged 18, [arrived] in the George 1620.” Randall Holt is listed among the eight men included in the Muster of Doctor Pott’s Men in the Maine. Also known the Governor’s land, the Maine was located just west of Jamestown Island. The list notes that “The rest of his servants [Dr. Pott’s], provisions, ammunition &ct., at James Cittie” and Dr. Pott and his wife Elizabeth are listed there with other servants.[5]
While Randall Holt may have been related to Dr. Pott, it does not mean he had it easy or was content as a servant. On 20 March 1625, the court ordered that “upon his petition preferred in Court shall serve and remain with Doctor Pott his Master until Christmas next come twelve months.” When his indenture was completed, the court ordered that Doctor Pott “deliver up his Indentures and make him free and to give [him] one suit of aparell from head to foot and three barrels of corn.”[6]
We do not know exactly when Randall Holt received his new suit of clothes and his three barrels of corn, but it wasn’t long before he set his sights on Mary Bayly. They were married about 1628. Fortunately, for Randall, Mary Bayly just happened to be the sole heir to her late father John Bayly’s Virginia estate that included 490 acres on Hog Island on the south side of the James River across from Jamestown. Randall Holt I would patent additional acreage in 1636 (400 acres) and 1639 (400 acres) – both tracks noted being along Lower Chippoakes Creek.[7] Randall and Mary would both be dead by the early 1640s.
Randall Holt II
Their only known child is a son named Randall Holt II (c.1629–c.1679) who married Elizabeth Hansford, daughter of John Hansford of York County and widow of Christian Wilson. Randall Holt II took out a patent for 710 acres on 1 August 1643 where he was described as “Sonn & Lawfull heire of Mary Bayly, late of Hogg Island, sole daughter and heire of John Bayly of the said Island.” Hogg Island amounted to 700 acres then – Mary’s 490 acre grant in 1619 contained provision that once surveyed if there was less acreage than 490 she would get the balance elsewhere and if it were more she could purchase it. Randall Holt II was claiming the difference through the headright system as his grandfather John Bayley transported five people into the colony aboard the ship William and Thomas in 1618.[8]
Randall II and Elizabeth (Hansford) Holt had several children including sons named John Holt and William Holt. My mother is a descendant of eldest son John Holt and my father is a descendant of William Holt. In my father’s case, the said William Holt had a grandson also named William Holt who married Rebecca Price. I am a descendant of this couple through three different paths due to later cousin marriages.
We will further explore the Holt family in future blog posts.
[1] Hotten, John Camden. Original Lists of Persons of Quality 1600-1700, p. 221
[2] http://www.ancient-planters.org/
[3] Hotten, John Camden. Original Lists of Persons of Quality 1600-1700, p. 191.
[4] Ibid, p. 171. He is listed as Randall Howlett; however, it is evident that this is Randall Holt.
[5] Hotten, John Camden. Original Lists of Persons of Quality 1600-1700, p. 223
[6] Dorman, John Frederick. Adventurers of Purse and Person Virginia 1607-1624/5 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Fourth Edition, 2005), Vol. II, p. 311
[7] Nugent, Nell Marion. Cavaliers & Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, Vol. 1 1623-1666, pp. 48, 111
[8] Nugent, Nell Marion. Cavaliers & Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, Vol. 1 1623-1666, p. 143.
A Son of Virginia 
Interesting! I need to figure out what relation I am to myself! My dad’s mother was sister to my mom’s grandmother. You’re right about the cousin marriages in our past! Folks didn’t get around too much in those days.
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