The following is edited from my father's book: A Branch Of The Sturgill Family, Volume I Decendants of Francis Sturgill Sr. & Rebecca Hash. Barring transcription errors, the wording is his - THS
Our Family Roots
While still an early teenager my paternal grandmother told me that our family name was originally pronounced STOD-JULL. I was very surprised to learn that it had not always been STURGILL. During the years that followed I discovered that it had been spelled many ways, some of them were: Stogdell, Stodgell, Stodgill, Stoagil, Stogil, Stogel, Storgel, Storgil, Sturgin, Sturgeon, Stodghill, Stodghell, Stargil, Stargell, Storgin, Sturgel, and Sturgill. today there are two main branches of the family, these being Sturgill and Stodghill with variations of the spelling of each of these.
By 1650 the black plague had passed and as life in England had become reasonably safe and comfortable, there were few people who were eager or willing to migrate to the new world. The English government realized that their only hope of holding the vast territory they had claimed was to occupy ot before it was occupied by the French or the Spanish. Many scemes were trtied to increase emigration, one of these was the "headright" plan. under this system any english citizen who was willing to pay the transportation cost of an immagrant was given a land grant in the new colonies. The immigrant agreed to a period of servitude to his benefactor, usually seven years, after which he was also granted land. Under such terms James Hurd brough our immigrant ancestor, John Stogdell, from somerset co. England to Rappahannock Co. VA in 1650. John appears on the tax records of that Co. in 1659 where he owned 100 acres of land. This land was located on Piscxataway Creek near the present town of Tappahannock in present Essex county.
The name was spelled STOGDELL in the first Virginia records but in later Orange Co. records it is spelled STODGILL which was probably more nearly the correct spelling as this nabe still exists in England. After 1669 the name was not found again in VA records until 1699 when a John Sodgell still owned the land on Piscataway creek. It is reasonable to assume that the immigrant John was a young man in his early twenties when he came to VA in 1650 and thus born about 1625-30. He could still have been alive in 1699 but it is bellieved that the records from that time on refer to a son, also named John, who continmues to appear in the Rappahannock and Spottsylvania Co. records through 1730. NOTE: Rappahannock was an original county, Essex was formed from Rappahannock in 1692. Spottsylvania was formed from Essex and the original county of King Wm. in 1720. See 'Formation of Counties' for a more complete timeline.
No record has been found to positively identify the wife of the immigrant John Stogdell-Stodgill but there are reasons to believe that she was a FRANKS. Virginia records show that families of this name did live in the same area, and in 1704 John Stodgell recorded a cattle mark for himself and for Daniel Franks to whom he had given a calf. As a calf represented considerable wealth at that time, this gift seems to indicate that there was some family connection. This conclusion is further supported by the fact that the name Daniel came into the Stodgill family in the next generation.
From 1699 through 1730 the names of John and James Stodgill appear in the public records of the southeatern Virginia counties and no name of similar spelling appears in the records of any other english colonies. It is believed that James and John were sons of the immigrant John. There were probably daughters also but no record of them have been found. James last appears in York Co. VA in 1704. His descendants probably crossed the Chesapeak bay and migrated up the eastern shore of VA and MD and on in to NJ where records show that he later owned the land granted to his father John (I). there can bve little doubt that John (II) married Ann Madison who was a sister of Henry, John, and Ambrose Madison (Ambrose Madison was the grandfather of President Madison.) All of the present Sturgill, Stodghill and many other families with similar names are the descendants of John and Ann.
Records of the third generation begin to appear in 1732 with the names of James, John and Daniel Stodgell-Stodgill. These names appear first in the records of Spottsylavania County and later in Essex and Orange counties. These three men owned adjoining property and witnessed several public documents for each other; so there can be little doubt they were brothers. In 1767 Daniel and his son James witnessed the will of Susan Smith of King William county who is believed to have been a sister of Daniel, John, and James.
The will of Henry Madison probated in Essex County in 1734 directs his niece, Francis Madison, daughter of his brother Ambrose Madison, to deed 150 acres to Daniel Stodgill after she becomes of age. In 1754 Tavener Beale and his wife Francis deeded to Daniel Stodghill 150 acres near Swift Run Gap in Orange Co. (now Green Co.) as directed by the will of Ambrose Madison. Daniel, then living in Essex Co., immediately sold this land to William Riddle of Orange Co.
The will of Ambrose Madison probated in Spottsylvania Co. in 1732 was badly faded and torn when seen by the writer in 1942 but there is no doubt that this will did give to James Stodgill 400 acres on the waters of Swift Run creek. The land willed to Daniel and immediately sold (above) adjoined this tract. All of the land in the valley of Swift Run creek to the top of the Blue Ridge mountain was at one time owned by the Madison family. The will of John Madison, brother of Ambrose and James, was not found but it is believed that he also gave James Stodgill 400 acres on Swift Run creek. John Stodgill, brother of James and Daniel Stdgill, was not mentioned in these Madison family wills but he and James both named a son AMBROSE Stodgill. john later settled in Goochland county and may have been given land there, no record of this was found.
Daniel Stodghill and his wife Jean Madison lived out their lives in Essex County VA but their descendants later migrated into Kentucky and further west where this branch of the Sturgill family continues to spell the name Stodghill or a similar variation. James Stodgill and his wife Ann Blackstone moved from Essex Co. to Orange Co. (area now Greene Co.) in 1732 after he inherited the land from Ambrose Madison. In the same year James bought 200 acres of adjoining land from Zacharia Taylor. At the time of his death in 1753 James owned an estate of 1200 acres in several adjoining tracts on the waters of Swift Run creek about seven miles west of the present town of Standardsville, VA. Ann Blackstone Stodgill, wife of James, died there in 1763 and within a few years of her passing all of the children of James and Ann had migrated elsewhere. Several attempts to locate the graves of James and Ann have been made but none of these were successful.
The will of Robert Armstrong recorded in Essex Co. VA in 1708 left a tract of land to his grandaughters Ann and Hannah jointly. For several years it was thought that their name my have been Armstrong also but no proof of this was found. More research in the records of Essex Co. disclosed the fact that the second wife of Argyle Blackstone was Elizabeth Armstrong, daughter of Robert Armstrong, and that Argyle and Elizabeth had daughters anded Ann and Hannah. No marriage record of Ann was found but there is a record of the marriage of Hannah and John Zachary. The records of Spottsylvania Co. show that in 1723 John & Hannah Zachery and James & Ann Stodgill sold the tract of land given to Ann and Hannah by the will of Robert Armstrong. These records leave no doubt that the wife of James Stodgill of Orange (Greeene) Co. VA was Ann blackstone, daughter of Argyle Backstone and Elizabeth Armstrong. John Zachary and Hannah later settled near James and Ann in present Greene Co. and the early Orange Co records show that htey witnessed deeds and other documents for each other and owned adjoining land.
James Stodgill died intestate in 1753 (see inventory of his estate.) He had apparently divided up his estate among his children before his death but no deeds were recorded. After the death of their mother Ann in 1763 the children began to dispose of their shares of the land and each of them individually gauranteed their right to sell the land without contest, these deeds were recorded. By 1790 all the descendants of James and Ann had left Orange Co. and migrated elsewhere.
