John Millbank and Mary Barlow
Mary Barlow was a granddaughter of the early Germanna pioneer, Christopher Barlow. Though the spelling as Barlow is English, the name was originally more like Purlur in German, but evolved toward a known English name. This is a common practice.
On 10 April 1773, at about her sixteenth birthday, Mary married John Millbank in Culpeper Co., VA. Their first child, Eleanor, was born 16 April 1774. Mary was confirmed at the Hebron Church (known then as the German Evangelical Lutheran Church) on Easter Sunday in 1776 as Mary Millbanks (on a few occasions, marriage preceded confirmation). Two more children were baptized in the church, Elizabeth born on 27 April 1777 and Charles born on 26 May 1778.
It is believed that John Millbank may be the John Millbank tried for robbery at Old Bailey in London and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to transportation for life. He was brought to America aboard the ship Scarsdale. In similar cases, the person is sold as an indentured servant to pay the transportation costs.
The appearance of men under the sentence of transportation for life was not unusual. George Hume, well known in the Germanna community, arrived under such a condition. He was a second cousin of Alexander Spotswood and several of his descendants married Germanna people.
Returning to the Millbanks, in 1784 John Millbank bought 87 acres of land from Henry Samuel Delph in the forks of the Rapidan and Robinson Rivers, though he sold it the next year to Henry Blankenbaker. Another land transaction occurred in 1786. In the 1787 tax list, John Millbank owned four horses, two cows and no slaves.
John and Mary moved to Scott Co., KY ca 1806. He appears on the tax list with property on Eagle Creek in 1808. Records were lost in the courthouse fire of 1837. He was on the 1810 and 1820 census in Scott Co.
The will of John Millbank was proved 17 March 1828. The date and place of death of Mary are undetermined. She was living in 1836 when she applied for a pension. She was named in the will of her brother, Joseph, written in Pendleton Co., KY in 1845 and probated in Boone Co., KY in 1849.
Mary applied for a pension in Scott Co. in 1836, saying her husband was a "salir on Virginia line" during the Revolution. No military record was found and the pension was denied. Perhaps John had been a sailor as his three companions at the Old Bailey trail were seamen.
Research on this story was by Ellie Caroland on behalf of William Sherman. One reference book which she mentions is Peter Wilson Coldham, " English Convicts in Colonial America: Middlesex, 1617-1775 " published at New Orleans by Plyanthos in 1974.
Extensions of the Millbank story would be welcomed.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.