Loudoun County is part of Northern Neck of Virginia.
Settling of the Loudoun area began between 1725 and 1730. Settlers came from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.
A yeoman was a man who owned and cultivated a small farm. He belonged to the class below the gentry or land owners. A husbandman was a free tenant farmer. The social status of a husbandman was below that of a yeoman.
Henry Oxley was born on May 11, 1699 in Chesterfield, Burlington County, New Jersey. His father may have been Henry Oxley. It is impossible to tell from early records which Henry Oxley in New Jersey did what.
He married Mary Everett in 1722 in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Their children and life together are described in detail in the section on Henry Oxley and Mary Everett.
On June 3, 1732 his bond (or possibly his father's) was included in the inventory of the estate of Daniel Howell.
In 1736 Henry Oxley recorded a stray steer. In 1748 he recorded a stray black mare. Also in 1748 he was a witness to Benjamin Still's estate inventory.
In 1749 he was the administrator of his sister-in-law, Hannah Van Gelder's estate. He was called yeoman.
In 1756 he recorded three sheep, two rams and an ewe.
On September 14, 1762, Henry Oxley bought 1,200 acres from John Hough for 200£. This transaction was a "lease & release" where the land was leased for one year for one peppercorn and the second year was sold for the full 200£.
In 1763, Henry testified for Giles Stephens in a fraud case in Loudoun County.
In 1776, Henry Oxley appeared on the list of communicants of the Ketocin Baptist Church.
He died on March 17, 1777 in Loudoun County, Virginia. He was buried on his lands in Loudoun County which was later owned by the Dyer Gum family. The cemetery is on Route 15 near Leesburg, Virginia.It was described in an article was published in the Loudoun Times, on October 14, 1920.
In a clump of brush and surrounded by a few trees there is an old graveyard near Lucketts on the western part of the farm now owned by Mr. Dyer Gum. The graveyard is perhaps one of the oldest in this county judging by the inscriptions on the few remaining tombstones, which were made out of branch rock slabs and rudely carved.
Henry Oxley's Tombstone
This burying spot was the graveyard of the Oxley family a family now extinct in this County so far as we can far as we can learn, for on the remaining stones we find these inscriptions:
Henry Oxley. Born 1699, Died 1777
Catherine Oxley, Born Sept. 14, 1743, Died July-1780
Violet Oxley, Born, March 24, 1730,
Died May 1774;
R. Oxley, Aged 52, Died 1771.
These graves now lie close beside a new-cut road leading to Stumptown by a parallel route to the Point of Rocks road, and it be interesting to know something of the history of these early settlers.
Hunterdon County was originally part of Burlington County, West Jersey. It was set off from Burlington County on March 11, 1714. It included Amwell, Hopewell, and Maidenhead Townships.
Horse Terms Foal: less than 1 year old Yearling: between 1 & 2 Colt: male under 4 Filly: female under 4 Mare: female over 4 Gelding:castrated male
Stallion: non-castrated male over 4
New Jersey's first permanent European settlement was in 1660.
