Richard Wyatt

Richard Wyatt was born in Caroline County, Virginia, on the Wyatt estate known as Plain Dealing, located on the North Anna River, five or six miles from its junction with the South Anna. In old papers and letters, Plain Dealing is spoken of as the ancestral seat of the Wyatts. No doubt earlier members of this branch lived in this locality before Caroline county was formed

Richard married Amey Chiles, who was descended from our ancestor, Captain Walter Chiles the Immigrant, an early Jamestown settler and member of the House of Burgesses in Virginia. There is a story about the Wyatt family coat of arms, of which the Wyatts had a painting: it comprised a line of boars’ heads on a shield, with a unicorn at the top. Shortly before the Revolutionary War, Richard became incensed at the treatment of Virginia by the British. He tore the Coat of Arms from the wall, hacked it out of the frame with a sword, and threw it on the blazing logs in the fireplace. His oldest daughter, Nancy, retrieved the painting before it was destroyed. This story is reported in “A History of Caroline County” by Marshall Wingfield.

We recently found corroboration of the tale in a letter written many years later, in 1865, by a Mullins great uncle, Judge David Walker of Fayetteville. Judge Walker served as President of the Arkansas Secession Convention in 1861, and later as Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Judge Walker wrote that the coat of arms painting was kept by Nancy Wyatt, and hung in the home of Nancy and her husband, Colonel Anthony New. Judge Walker recalls seeing the painting of the Coat of Arms as a child, in the New home, located near Walker’s grandparents, James Hawkins and Lucy Wyatt.

The coat of arms painting was eventually lost (to fire!), but not before a family member made a sketch of the painting: Richard Ware Wyatt, Richard Wyatt’s grandson, drew a sketch of the coat of arms in a journal he kept during a horseback journey he took through the American Midwest in the summer of 1830. A copy of Richard’s sketch, and a transcription of his entire journal, are contained in the Archives.

The following is proof of Richard Wyatt as a qualifying ancestor for the SAR, and proof of the Mullins family lineage through Richard Wyatt.

Qualifying Service For The Sons Of The American Revolution

Richard Wyatt Sr. of Caroline County supported the American Revolution with his delivery of 630 pounds of bacon “for use of the Army” [1]. Richard Wyatt Sr. had a son, Richard Wyatt Jr., brother of Lucy Wyatt of the Mullins family lineage. Thus, the designation “Senr.” in Abercrombie after Richard Wyatt’s name confirms that this Richard Wyatt was the father of Lucy, not her brother.

Lucy Wyatt, Daughter Of Richard Wyatt And Amy Chiles

The fact that James Hawkins’s wife’s name was Lucy is established by his will [2] and that Lucy’s maiden name was Wyatt is established by her tombstone inscription in the Hawkins cemetery [3]. Lucy’s tombstone is inscribed in her maiden name. She died in 1847, 45 years after her husband’s death, which might account for her survivors having used her maiden name.

The following are buried in the Hawkins cemetery [4]:

• James Hawkins and Lucy Wyatt, as well as 6 of their 8 children: Richard, James, Mary, Emily, Edmond, and John.

Martin L. Hawkins and his wife Jane Walker Hawkins left Kentucky around 1832 after the death of Jane’s father, William Walker. Martin died of pneumonia in Carroll County, AR, where he was a medical examiner.

Two sources provide evidence that Lucy Wyatt, wife of James Hawkins, was the daughter of Richard Wyatt.

• Document 1 – In a court document filed in Logan County, KY, on June 20, 1805, Walter Wyatt and Lucy Hawkins appoint their brother, Richard Wyatt, Jr. of Louisa County, VA, to act as executor for their deceased father’s estate [5]. Their father is not mentioned by name, but the fact that their brother is Richard Wyatt Jr. establishes that Lucy, Walter, and Richard’s father was Richard Wyatt.

  Note another connection: James Hawkins appointed Walter Wyatt one of his will’s executors in 1801 [6], confirming that Lucy’s brother Walter lived in Logan County.

• Document 2 – A record survives of the family Bible of the Wyatt family of Plain Dealing, Caroline, VA [7]. The Bible recorded Richard Wyatt and wife Amy Chiles, and lists their children including Lucy, whose entry reads, “Lucy, marrd. James Hawkins.”

  The Bible also records Lucy’s brother Walter. His second wife is recorded as “Mrs. Bliss of Kentucky”, confirming that Walter had moved to Kentucky, as noted in Document 1 above, filed in Logan Co. KY.

Documentation Of Birth, Marriage, And Death Dates/Places

Richard Wyatt’s birth and death dates are recorded in the Wyatt family Bible [8].

The date of marriage between Richard Wyatt and Amy Chiles is recorded in two places, slightly differently:

• November 7, 1752, in the Wyatt family Bible [9], and
• November 17, 1752, in Davis [10].

The birth and death dates of Amy Chiles are not known.

© 2013 W. Mullins