Deed Book 30, pp. 399-401 THIS INDENTURE made the twenty ninth day of August one thousand seven hundred and seventy BETWEEN Sarah Tharp of the Parish of St. Annes and County of Essex Widow of the one part and Muscoe Garnett of the same Parish and County as Gentleman of the other part WHEREAS Thomas Tharpe late of the said __County did in and by his last Will and Testament bearing date the first day of April one thousand seven hundred and sixty seven and now remaining of _____ in the Court of the said County among other things devised as follows.

I lend unto my loving wife Sarah Tharpe all my estate during her life or widowhood for the support and schooling of what so Children I have living with me unmarried at my decease.
2ndly If my said loving wife should marry or depart this life before my youngest Daughter Frances Tharpe comes of age or Marries my Will is my Executors keep the Estate together until my said daughter do come of age or marry In which devise and bequest is the land and plantation whereon this Testator then lived and WHEREAS the said Sarah Tharpe is the only acting Executor the Executors therein named having hitherto declined the burden and Execution thereof - and being minded so to sell and dispose of the said Land or Plantation for a certain sum the better to enable her to support and Educate the Children aforesaid agreeable to the meaning and intention of the Testator, HATH agreed to sell the same to the said Muscoe Garnett for the sum of one hundred and fifty Pounds, being the sum of Twenty Pounds more than the annual rent of the said Lands in the opinion of these _________ Gentlemen by whom the said Sarah Tharpe and Muscoe Garnett for that purpose chosen _______ amount is by when the youngest daughter aforesaid comes of age 21st day of July 1770 and hereto answers to be appropriate to the support & Education of the said Children---

42 V 179: Of the many houses which once belonged to the Garnetts, "Elmwood" alone remains. It was built for James Mercer Garnett, by his father, Muscoe Garnett, just before the Revolution, on lands acquired by the elder Garnett in 1767 (sic) from Thomas Thorp, but embraced within the estate were also the lands which Muscoe Garnett purchased of Bernard Gaines, William and Thomas Ayres and James Rutherford. Entering by the old gate, the road crosses fertile fields and winds upward through woods, past stables which once housed a string of thoroughbreds (for James Mercer Garnett was a member of the Fredericksburg Jockey Club and often had entries in the races), until a two and one-half story brick building, with high pointed gable roof is reached. This once served as an office where the master administered the affairs of the plantation and where the young men of the family slept. A short distance beyond, facing a double row of stately ailanthus trees, planted it is said as a protection against malaria, stands the house itself, with its adjacent kitchen, smoke house and other out buildings, beautifully situated on a hill opposite the site of "Mount Pleasant", about two miles distant and nearer the river. The mansion is of brick, two stories with a basement and attic. The west front overlooking the garden is pierced by twenty windows and two doorways, and reveals the ample proportions of the house. One hundred feet long and thirty feet wide, the house opens into a T-shaped broad central hall, the walls of which were originally panelled. Doors lead off on the right to a music room and to a large drawing-room, always called "The Hall", and on the left to the library and to the dining-room. "The Hall" compares favorably with the finest of Virginia interiors; it runs the full width of the house and is twenty-four feet by nearly thirty feet, with white panelled walls, a beautifully carved frieze, a ceiling once frescoed, a deep pink marble mantel, and doorways surmounted by richly ornamented broken pediments, while the doors and wainscoating are of natural walnut. Shelves of books collected by several generations - many rare volumes in French, German and English - line the sides of the library, which is panelled in curly maple, and above the great fireplace is an oil painting of a Madonna. Here also is a marble bust of Mr. James Mercer Garnett's brother-in-law, Charles Fenton Mercer, long a member of Congress. A wide staircase to the left of the main hall, a space now occupied by a pantry, originally connected the two floors, but was removed when Muscoe Russell Hunter Garnett altered the house in 1856-7, the stairs being then placed in a tower addition and finally becoming a spiral to the attic.

Revolutionary War Records, Vol. I, Virginia Gaius Marcus Brumbaugh, 1967 Brig "Mosquitto", VA State Navy (Caroline Co., VA)
PRISONERS TAKEN BY THE BRITISH FROM THE "MUSKITO" The VA Gazette, Williamsburg, Nov. 27, 1778:
A list of men that were taken prisoners by the British, belonging to the 1st VA. regiment taken on board the Muskito, and part of whom were pressed on board King's shipsto wage war, lists William Thorp.
shipyard on the :
A History of Caroline Co., VA. T. E. Campbell, 1954, pp. 270-74:

THE WAR AT SEA - THE LIBERTY AND THE MOSQUITO

After the soldiers who served under Gen. Woodford at Great Bridge the next Caroline men to see action against the enemy were sailors and marines. To keep the sea lanes open and to prevent the stoppage of imports from abroad was essential to the success of the patriots' cause. Besides, armed ships on the high seas brought in British merchantmen as prizes of war, whose cargoes increased the colonist stocks of critical materials they needed. Scores of Caroline men worked overtime at Frazier's lower Mattapony and at Fielding Lewis' shipyard in Fredericksburg to build these ships.

Henry Lyburn of Port Royal, captain and joint owner with James Dunlop of the illfated "Olive" which was seized, while attempting to enter the port of Port Royal with a cargo of British goods, by Captain Richard Taylor upon orders of the Committee of Safety, turned patriot after the Declaration of Independence and piloted the newly-built ships through the treacherous waters of the Mattapony and the upper Rappahannock to the open sea. Caroline furnished many men to man and command these vessels. George Catlett got his first taste of war as a lieutenant in the marines aboard the "Pocahontas", Thomas Chandler, Sr. served as a lieutenant first on the "Northampton" and later on the Patriot", Robert Conway as captain of the "Adventure", Rodham Kenner, as an officer on the "Proctor" and the "Dragon", Thomas Landrum II, a Port Royal physician, as surgeon's mate on the "Tartar" and the "Tempest", Christopher Tompkins as a lieutenant on the "Henry", and Richard Taylor, who had already won renown as a sea captain under the Committee of Safety, commanded a squadron from his flagship, the "Hornet". But the two ships of which the records reveal the most information on which Caroline men served were the "Liberty" and the "Mosquito". The log for the "Liberty" was as ignoble as the log of the other, the "Mosquito" was glorious. The government of the new Commonweath of Virginia sent the "Liberty", which was a large man-of-war with eighteen guns, to Baltimore in August 1776, to be outfitted for the protection of the York River. Thomas Lilly of Gloucester, was captain of the vessel and John Royston, steward, Thomas Coleman, pilot, and John Chick, gunner, all of Caroline, among the crew. Royston kept a diary and the information set forth in this paragraph is from his record. Lilly was unfit to be a commanding officer, and among other things he forced the officers and enlisted men to dine together and sleep in the same quarters. In a short time the enlisted men lost all respect for their superiors and the officers were unable to keep them from disgraceful conduct ashore. This revel continued until all the money gave out and when Lilly failed to get funds from Virginia to meet the ship's payroll over half the crew deserted. With only half crew and without funds conditions aboard the ship went from bad to worse. In the end Royston reports that he was forced to sell his clothes to pay his washwoman. The "Liberty" was never outfitted to serve as a man-of-war. The "Mosquito" was outfitted in Portsmouth in the Summer of 1776 for a cruise into the West Indies to prey on British commerce. Governor Henry ordered Maj. Alexander Dick, of Fredericksburg, a son of Charles Dick, the Fredericksburg and Caroline merchant, and brother of the Rev. Archibald Dick, rector of St. Margaret's Parish to recruit marines to form the military force on this voyage. Dick picked the company of twenty-five commanded by Capt. George Catlett of Port Royal, for the mission. All of Catlett's company were Caroline men. They included Thomas Chandler, Jr. and Roger Quarles, lieutenants, William Coleman, chief petty officer, and Anthony and Nicholas Dixon, Reuben and William Chandler, James Quarles, Larkin Farish, Jesse Hipkins, Francis Pickett, Reuben Brooks, George gett, Benjamin Tankersley and three Dishman brothers, two of whose names were James and William. This outfit left Port Royal on December 4, 1776, and went aboard the "Mosquito" at Urbanna a few days later. In addition to the numerous marines, several sailors on the ship were from Caroline. They included Henry Rains, Moses Stanley, William Mitchell and William Thorp (previously cited VA Gazette article, states he was under command of Maj. Alexander Dick & Capt.George Catlett, of 1st VA regiment - NOT a sailor). Stanley kept a diary which was published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register and the Dishmans wrote a series of letters to their sister, Mrs. Sarah Beazley, of Caroline, which have been preserved. The author drew the information about the voyage of the "Mosquito" and what happened to her crew from these sources along with the applications for land bounties from servicemen in the Revolution. The cruise of the "Mosquito" began auspiciously enough. She reached the West Indies without mishap and captured the British merchantman, "Snow John", laden with clothes, beef, bacon,candles and flour, worth 80,000 livres, off Antigua. The men aboard were elated. They figured that their shares of the spoils were worth sixty louis each. But Capt. Collier, the commander of the ship, refused to let them enjoy their good fortune. He put in at Guadeloupe, but instead of selling the booty there engaged a Frenchman, M. Souliez, to transport it to Martinique where the market was better, while the crew got the "Mosquito" ready to continue the voyage. A Dominican privateer seized M. Souliez's sloop with the booty aboard while it was on the seas between Guadeloupe and Martinique, and although Collier protested he was unable to get redress. The "Mosquito" sailed from Guadeloupe with a saddened crew. Back at sea misfortune struck again and smallpox broke out on board. Captain Collier turned the ship about and returned to Guadeloupe to inoculate every man in his crew. William Dishman wrote his sister, Mrs. Beazley in Caroline, that the inoculation did no great harm, as was often the case, but much time was lost while the men convalesced. This delay proved the "Mosquito's" undoing. The British found out where she was and sent the "Ariadne", a twenty-gun man-of-war to blockade Guadeloupe. But when his men were again in shape the American commander decided to try to run this blockade. Moses Stanley reports that it was a futile gesture. The "Mosquito" was soon overhauled by the larger and heavier armed British ship. The surrender took place on June 4, 1777. The British promptly divided their American officer and enlisted men prisoners. The enlisted men were incarcerated in Bridgetown, Barbados jail, and the officers sent on to Fortune prison, at Gosport, near Plymouth.(Note: Gosport is actually near Portsmouth. JDT) on the south coast of England. Officers and men, alike, suffered from many indignities. The British forced Francis Pickett, Reuben Brooks and William Chandler, although they were marines and not seamen, to serve as sailors on British ships, where at least two of them were seized with fever and died from a lack of necessities. The Dishman brothers were more fortunate. The Frenchman, M.Souliez, came to their rescue. He managed to smuggle clothes to them in the Bridgetown jail which they used as a disguise to escape to Jamaica. After a long wait on that island a Dutch merchant let them work their way to Philadelphia on one of his vessels. They reached their destination the night the whole city was illuminated to celebrate the signing of the treaty of military alliance between France and the American colonies. After seven months at Bridgetown, according to Moses Stanley, all the remaining American marines and seamen were transported to Gosport. In Fortune jail with the officers, William Thorp furnished the wherewithall for him and George Catlett to bribe a jailor and escape. Once outside the prison they stole a small boat and crossed the English channel to France. Thorp's fate after this escapade is not of record. But Catlett did not get back to Virginia until the Spring of 1781. After he got home he declared "that his feelings against the British were so violent from the treatment he received while in jail that he would never leave the service so long as there was a chance of fighting" and immediately left for the front. He was true to his word because he was one of the Caroline men at the surrender of Cornwallis to Washington at Yorktown. Catlett and Thorp's flight caused other Americans locked up in Fortune prison to try to escape. Led by Will iam Mitchell, a group succeeded in undermining the prison walls, seizing a vessel and crossing the channel to France, where they joined John Paul Jones, and finished the war as members of his crew. With the second successful flight the British became wary of the Americans and offered all who remained, pardons if they agreed to take the oath of allegiance to the king. Upon hearing of this offer the Americans replied "Damn King George, and his pardon, too". The remaining Americans apparently remained locked up for the rest of the war. During this period Moses Stanley completed his "A Yankee Privateersman in Prison in England", referred to above.
William Thorpe was born ca 1745--1750; m. ca 1782-84, Elizabeth Starr, b. England ca 1753-1754.
There is a tradition she was kidnapped in England and brought to America and sold for tobacco. She was his second wife, as their descendants saw there were stepsons, William and Henry, and a stepdaughter Mary. Their known children were Elizabeth and Fleming.

William Thorpe left a will in Franklin Co., VA., probated April 1794. Recorded in WB 1, p. 94, dated 21 Jan. 1794. Beneficiaries: wife, Mary; three children: William, Elizabeth and Polly, etc.
Will of William Thorp/e, Franklin Co., VA, April 1794, WB 1, pp. 94, 95, 98,99, 166, 230, 231, 269, 270:
Leaves entire estate, real and personal, to wife, Mary. "At her decease" all is to be divided equally, among "my three children". The daughters to receive their share after reaching the age of 25. The only other bequest, is "five pounds current" to Sarah Star, on her arriving to the age of 18 years. According to estate accounts, Sally Star was paid five pounds in 1803. In 1805, when the estate was settled, Capt. David Barton was still guardian for William's three children. Early Settlers of Lee Co., VA, Anne Wynn Laningham
(NOTE: This was xeroxed and sent to me. There was no page given, and I have been unable to locate a copy of the book. At any rate, there is no primary or secondary documentation cited, other than for the actual will. Citation for the balance of the estate documents is omitted. It is possible that the Elizabeth Star, mentioned by Laningham, aided (either, willingly or unwillingly) Wm. Thorp/e and George Catlett in their escape from Gosport, and came to Virginia. The Sarah/Sally Star, who was left five pounds in William's will, could be her daughter. This is purely conjecture.)

Occupation: Farmer Cooper. Have been unable to locate will or property division. He owned 320 acres in Callaway Co., MO., according to 1842 tax list. Owned property in Platte Co., MO., per 1844 map. "The Cornstalk Militia of KY., 1792- 1811", by G. Glenn Clift (KHS - 1982 reprint), p. 42, lists Thorpe, Zach as an Ensign in 7th REg., July 9, 1798. This was the 2nd Brigade, 1st Div.. He received land grant in New Madrid Dist., MO., 11 Dec. 1805 (about 400 acres), but all was handled through a power of attorney, and there is no indication he ever lived on this property. Not in 1850 MO census. It's possible that he and Mourning moved to Kansas, as did Josiah and Nancy.