Passage Creek, Shenandoah County, Virginia is a tributary of the North Fork of the Shenandoah.
East Tennessee is part of Appalachia. At the end of the French and Indian War, colonists began drifting into the area. In 1769, they first settled along the Watauga River. During the Revolution, the Overmountain Men defeated British loyalists at the Battle of Kings Mountain. The State of Franklin was formed in the 1780s, but never admitted to the Union.
A tithable was a person for whom a head tax was to be paid. The definition varies over time and place, but generally included members of the potentially productive labor force.
A poll tax is a tax levied on every poll. The definition of a poll also varied, but was generally a man of legal age.
Samuel Odell was born about 1690 in New York
He married Abigail Barton in New York.
His children included: Caleb Odell (about 1725)
John Odell
Mary Odell
Abigail died about 1735.
In 1744, the Samuel Odell family settled in the Shenandoah Valley on Passage Creek near Powell's Fort. They lived below Riverton among the MacKays, Jobes, and Whitsons on the south bank of the Shenandoah River. He deposed in a sworn statement along with others, that
they removed from Pennsylvania and the Jerseys to this Colony [Virginia] and settled their land at great expense and trouble and considerably improved them, and hope to be quited.
In 1749 Samuel was one of the first justices of Frederick County.
In 1753 he was on the Lord Fairfax tract of land in Dunsmore County, now Shenandoah County, but previously Augusta and Frederick Counties.
He was a captain of the militia during the French and Indian War under Lt. Col. Lord Fairfax and Major John Hite.
On September 2, 1755, Samuel Odell was Captain of Foot and in September he was one of the officers present at a court martial in Fairfax County.
Samuel Odell appeared on the July 24, 1758 poll taken for Colonel George Washington.
A 1771 court decree enumerated Frederick County landholders in the following sequence: . . . Jonathan Denton, John Denton, Caleb Odell, William Wood, Francis McFell, Robert Combs and Job Combs.
In 1774, Samuel Odell and his wife second wife, Elizabeth, transferred a tract of land.
On September 2, 1775 Samuel Odell was made captain in Frederick County. He was on the Romney and Winchester County payrolls in 1775.
Samuel Odell's will was dated 1780. He named his wife Elizabeth and their children: James, Samuel, Caleb, Elijah, Jeremiah, Benjamin, and Jonathan.
In 1783 tax list of Shenandoah County listed Samuel Odell's widow and her sons James and Jonathan.
Shenandoah County, Virginia was established in 1772. It was originally Dunmore County.
The French and Indian War lasted from 1754 to 1763 and was the North American phase of the Seven Years' War.
George Washington ( 1731/32 – 1799) was the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and first president of the United States (1789–1797).
Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virgina, Book 24,
page 294
Calvert Anderson vs. Samuel O'dale (Odell).
Debt. 23d June, 1746.
Writ dated 12th February, 1745-6.
Letter dated 16th May, 1744, from defendant to plaintiff.
page 433
John Givins petitions that he be relieved as constable and one of three be put in his stead, viz, Thomas Story, James Craig, Joshua Stickleman. John Davis, same, and nominates Barnibee Eagon, or Samuel Odle, or Joshua Job.
A plaintiff (plt, plte, plt) or orator is the person who brings a case against another.
A defendant (def tf) is a person accused of a crime or someone challenged in a civil case.
from Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, Volume II 1742-1775 by Gertrude E. Gray, pages 68 and 170:
H-313 Samuel Odell of Frederick Co.
200 acres. in Augusta Co.
Surv. Robert Rutherford 7 April 1752 ,
on Passage Cr. near Powels Fort.
Grant not completed.
