Thomas and Edna

“Because I was born in the South, I’m a Southerner. If I had been born anyplace else, I would just be a human being. –Clyde Edgerton

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Thomas Henry Nottingham was born on 10 January 1836 in Northampton County, Virginia. His parents were Edward and Henrietta Jacob Nottingham. Edward was a farmer and his ancestry leads back to Richard Nottingham, born in Hearne England and moved to the Virginia Colony around 1651. Henrietta’s family, the Jacobs, also date back to the 1600s in Colonial Virginia. Thomas had an older brother, Edward, and a younger sister, Amanda, who died when she was 2 years old.

I don’t have a picture of Edna; she lived a short life. Like Thomas, Edna Fitchett was born in Northampton County Virginia about 5 years later in 1841. Her parents were Thomas and Lucy Nottingham Fitchett. Yes, her mother was a part of the Nottingham family. Thomas Henry and Edna were probably third cousins. The Eastern Shore of Virginia was a close knit group and the families often inter-married. Edna’s father died when she was just two years old and she and her mother moved in with some of her Nottingham relatives.

Thomas Henry and Edna married on 18 February 1860 when she was just 19. They lived in Eastville Virginia where Thomas took up farming. Their first child was born later that year, Edward Fitchett Nottingham, my great grandfather. Seven years later they added a daughter, Edna. Sadly, two years after little Edna was born, Edna Senior died of what they called consumption. Today it is known as tuberculosis. She died on the 10th of March, 1869.

Surely life was difficult for Thomas with two young children to raise on his own and he quickly remarried. On 12 October 1870, he married Peggy Joanna Nottingham, and yes, that was her maiden name as well as married name, but I don’t believe they were close relations. The name Nottingham is somewhat unique to the Eastern Shore, but very common there. Jennings C. Wise in his book, "The Early History of the Eastern Shore," published in 1911, speaks of the Nottingham Family as follows:

"After a hundred and fifty years of association with the social and political life of the Eastern Shore, the Nottingham family continues today (1911) to be one of the most prominent families on the peninsula. Yet the name is practically unknown elsewhere in America. So numerous are the branches of this ancient family, that one can make no mistake by addressing an Eastern Shoreman, if a gentleman, by that name, for if it not his name, it will probably be that of a near relative; and if he happens not to be a gentleman, he will be flattered."

In 1872, Thomas' father acquired the house and plantation known as Vaucluse. The property was given to Thomas Henry and his wife Peggy when Edward died in 1883. The plantation is a complex, two-story, ell-shaped brick and frame structure with a gable roof. Attached to the house is a 1 1/2-story quarter kitchen with brick ends. The brickended section of the house was built about 1784, with the addition to the house added in 1829. The annex connecting the house with the old kitchen was probably added in 1889. It was the home of Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur (1790-1844) who died in the USS Princeton disaster of 1844. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

The 1880 Census shows the four of them as a family unit, with step mother Peggy, but four years later Thomas Henry died on 12 August, 1884. His children were 23 and 17 years old.

Their Children

Edward Fitchett Nottingham, my great grandfather, was born on 18 December 1860, in Eastville Virginia. His parents were 24 and 19 years old. On 5 January, 1885, Edward married Margaret Harmanson, the daughter of James R. Harmanson, who was killed in the Civil War, and his wife Tabitha. The wedding took place less than a year after his father died. They lived in a beautiful home in Eastville and went on to have four children: Thomas Henry 1888-1964, Margaret Harmanson (my grandmother) 1894-1992, Quinton Gore 1896-1975, and Rose Harmanson 1900-1906.

Edward's wife Margaret died on 2 August, 1922, at the age of 63. Edward married again on 9 October, 1923, to Helen Marie Yerger, in Berks County Pennsylvania. She was 22 and he was 62. They lived together in Eastville until Edward died on 30 April, 1947, and was buried with his first wife, Margaret, at the Christ Church Cemetery.

Edward has the distinct honor of being my only great grandparent in which I do not have a photograph. The search continues...

Thomas Henry

Margaret

Quinton

Their second, and last, child was Edna A. Nottingham. She is sometimes referred to as "Mannie" for reasons unknown, perhaps the A stands for Amanda. Thomas Henry did have a baby sister named Amanda, that died very young. His daughter Edna was born on 14 July 1867, in Eastville Virginia. The last record we see of Edna, was that she attended her brother's wedding in 1885. After that the trail grows cold, however we do know from family knowledge that she died young, never being married nor having any children.

Edna A. Nottingham

Thomas Savage Story

Extras

One of Thomas Henry's ancestors was Thomas Savage, a colorful character that lived with the Indian Chief Powhatan and his daughter Pocahontas. He was also considered the first settler because he was the first to own land on the Eastern Shore. The land would come to be known as "Savage Creek" which is still there today. Learn more about this story here.

Margaret Nottingham riding her horse at their Eastville Virginia home.