October 21, 2022
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on descendants of the Jamestown settlers, focusing more deeply on the lineage of William Roane Aylett (1833-1900). Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue with my “Jamestown Descendants: Who’s Who” series and explore more of the Aylett family tree and their connections to the Jamestown Colony and royal lines.
To recap: My last story, “Jamestown Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 13,” covered Colonel William Roane Aylett, great grandson of Patrick Henry and his first wife Sarah Shelton. In that article I told some of the stories of Aylett’s life, especially his service in the Civil War, and began to explore his fascinating lineage. Today I’m going to dive more deeply into that lineage.
Aylett’s ancestor John West (son of Sir Thomas West, 2nd Baron de La Warr, and Lady Ann Knollys) served as the colonial governor of Virginia and a member of the House of Burgesses.
Lady Ann Knollys (daughter of Lady Katherine Carey and Sir Francis Knollys) is the granddaughter of Mary Boleyn – who had an affair with King Henry VIII before he married her sister Anne.
Mary married Sir William Carey/Cary, but historians speculate that Mary was still bedding the king after her marriage, and her first-born daughter Lady Katherine may have been sired by the king and not Sir William. (Read my “English Royalty, Boleyn Lineage, and Jamestown Connections.)
John West married Ann (purported daughter of the early colonial governor of Virginia, Sir George Percy, son of Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, and Lady Catherine Neville) and had a son, Colonel John West, who married Unity Croshaw (daughter of Jamestown’s Captain Joseph Croshaw, who lived at “Poplar Spring”).
John and Unity’s son, Captain Nathaniel West of “West Point,” a member of the House of Burgesses, married Martha, nee Woodward (widow of the Hon. Gideon Macon, an attorney and secretary to Governor William Berkeley of the Jamestown Colony).
Nathaniel and Martha’s daughter, Unity West, married the Hon. Captain William Dandridge of “Elsing Green,” King William County, Virginia (brother of John Dandridge of New Kent County, who was the father of Martha Dandridge, widow of John Custis and wife of General George Washington).
Washington was a distant cousin of Queen Elizabeth II through the Earl of Strathmore, giving him the blood lines of the Plantagenets and Sir Henry “Hotspur” Percy. One of his ancestors also had a fling with the king – the famed beauty Bessie Blount, notorious mistress to King Henry VIII. (Read more at “Jamestown Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 3,” and Part 4.”)
Also, Washington’s half-brother, Augustine Jr., married Ann Aylett (daughter of William Aylett and Anne Ashton). William Aylett had three other daughters: two married into the Lee family and one married a Booth.
To return to the lineage and bring it back to the beginning with William Aylett: William Dandridge and Unity West had Martha West Dandridge, who married Philip Aylett of “Fairfield” and King William County. This Philip is the half-brother of the above William Aylett.
I found a newsclip from the Montgomery Advertiser on Aylett genealogy, and it provided more information.
This article reported:
John Aylett, son of Sir Benjamin Aylett, of Essex, England, settled in King William County, Va., in 1656. His descendant Philip Aylett married Martha Dandridge, who is buried at Fairfield, the old Aylett homestead in King William County. Her monument bears the inscription: “Here lies interred the body of Martha Aylett, wife of Philip Aylett and daughter of the Hon. William Dandridge and Unity [West] Dandridge, who died the 25th of April, 1746, in the twenty-sixth year of her age, and left behind her two daughters and two sons, viz: Unity, William, Anne and John Aylett.”
This Unity Dandridge was a Miss West, a descendant of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk [Thomas Howard], who fought at Flodden Field. Martha Dandridge, the wife of Philip Aylett, was through her father the cousin of that Martha Dandridge who became the wife of George Washington.
William Aylett, son of Philip Aylett and his wife Unity West, married in 1766 Mary Macon, daughter of Col. James Macon [son of Gideon Macon and Martha Woodward, who later married Captain Nathaniel West] and his wife, Elizabeth Moore [a descendant of Jamestown’s John Moore and Thomas Bernard], daughter of Augustine Moore of “Chelsea,” King William County; died at Yorktown, Va., at his post of duty, 1781. He was a colonel in the Revolutionary War.
You can read more on this family and their royal ties at Fairfield Gravesite
Their son, Colonel Philip Aylett, married Elizabeth Betsy Henry (daughter of Patrick Henry and his first wife Sarah Shelton). Patrick Henry descends from Jamestown’s Cornelius Dabney and Colonel Francis Moryson/Morrison, Governor of Virginia.
Philip and Betsy’s son, Philip Aylett Jr., married Judith Page Waller. Their son was William Roane Aylett, with whom this article began.
Philip and Betsy had other children, including a daughter, Sarah Shelton Aylett, who married Rev. William Spotswood Fontaine (son of William Winston Fontaine and Martha Hale Dandridge).
William and Sarah’s daughter, Sarah Spotswood Fontaine, married Henry Sampson.
I found an obituary of Mrs. Sarah Sampson in the Greensboro Daily News, dated 30 May 1935, that sums up the potent pedigree of these family lines.
This article reported:
Mrs. Sarah Fontaine Sampson, who died here Saturday, was the nearest living blood kin to Patrick Henry – his great-great granddaughter. She was descendant of two colonial governors – Governors [Alexander] Spotswood and John West, of Virginia, and was a member of the D. A. R. [Daughters of the American Revolution], Colonial Dames, and Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors. She was a Magna Charta Dame through her descent from the Earl of Hereford.
Just before her death she was invited to join the Americans of Royal Descent and Daughters of Charlemagne. She was a member of the Three Arts Club of New York City. At one time she was president of the literary division of the Forum Club, of Galveston, Texas, and had served as the recording secretary of the U. D. C. [United Daughters of the Confederacy] for the state of Texas. She unveiled the bust of Patrick Henry in the Hall of Fame. She was a woman noted for her broad culture and learning.
For the last 15 years she had been a teacher of art and dramatics at Pineland College, where she died in her 87th year Saturday.
To be continued…
Note: Just as an online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, helped tell the lineage of Jamestown descendant William Roane Aylett, they can tell you stories about your ancestors that can’t be found anywhere else. Come look today and see what you can discover!
Note on the header image: a portrait of William Roane Aylett (1833-1900). Courtesy of Trevor Caboor, a descendant of the Aylett family in Tennessee.
Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial.
Related Articles:
Melissa, Excellent article. A nice web of family ties and marriages. Good stuff!
Thank you, Elizabeth! I just turned in another story with more connections to these lines! Helen Keller…so stay tuned!
Nathaniel Hutchins was a captain under George Washington in the Revolutionary War. What do your records show, please? I also have in my family information that a Hutchins was a part of the Royal Family. Perhaps as a servant? P.S. I have traced back to Nathaniel on my maternal side.
Hi Janice. Thanks for sharing and I will email you.