Patrick Hamrick
Family Patriarch
PATRICK'S LIFE
September 3, 1739
Robert English aged about Thirty Seven Years Saith That he was well Acquainted with Rodger Day & that he often heard him Acknowledge Patrick Hamrick to be his Cousen & Shipmate and Further Saith that Rodger Day once told him If Patrick Hamrick woud go up where he Lived he would give him Land for his lifetime and Assist him in building he having no other relations in this Country and Further saith [not]. NOTE: The word ‘not’ does not appear in the entry but is assumed based on the wording of the similar deposition that John Champe took from Edward Graham (REF: January 3, 1739/40) and the fact that the entry otherwise seems incomplete.
Robert English signed the document with his ‘RE’ mark.
Sworn to before me this 3d. day of Sept. 1739 John Champe (King George County Deed Book No. 2. p. 300.)
This deposition is one of three aimed at identifying Patrick as Roger Day’s sole remaining heir. (REF: September 5, 1739, January 3, 1739/40 & March 7, 1739/40) Establishing the kinship positioned Patrick to inherit the 260 acre parcel that had belonged to Elizabeth Day (Roger Day’s daughter), who apparently had died and evidently had never married. If she had been married, her husband, their children, or her husband’s kin would have inherited the property. (William Waller Hening. Hening’s Statutes At Large, Vol III, 1684 - 1710. Charlottsville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1969. pp. 372-373.) Although Patrick clearly ended up with the property, there is not a deed or court record that specifically transfers the property to him.
As apparent among King George County records, Robert "English" was Patrick’s brother-in-law; Margaret’s younger brother—"Ingles" and "English" were pronounced the same. (The Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, Volume VII, Hat-Intervacuum. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989. p. 960.) The phrase "he having no other relations in this country" indicates that something had happened to Henry Hanbrugg [Hamrick], presumably Patrick’s younger brother and also Roger Day’s younger cousin. (REF: February 28, 1699/1700 a) Henry’s demise would have had to occur before August 1725 (14 years earlier than this affidavit) because Roger Day had died by that time. (REF: January 7, 1724/25) Obviously, Roger Day’s comments to Robert English would have had to occur before his death.