After the marriage of Sarah Daniel, daughter of William Daniel and his first wife, William deeded² land to his “son-in-law James Lindsay” on 16 February 1719/20. In Essex County at this time, it was typical that the wife of the grantor of a deed also released her dower rights to the land in the deed to avoid future legal claims against the land. No release of dower rights accompanied this deed. It is also significant that this transaction was a deed of gift, involving no money, so it seems likely that if William Daniel’s wife was alive, she would also have been named as one of the grantors in the deed. This, plus the fact that no children are attributed to William Daniel and his first wife after about 1715-1717, suggests that she was deceased by early 1719, probably before the age of 40. Many decades later, James Lindsay mentions this land and "Mr. William Daniel", in his will.

William Daniel would have been about 40 years old when he made the deed of gift to his son-in-law in 1719/20 and lived for another 45 years, dying around December 1764. He also had several minor children by early 1719, so it seems likely that he would have remarried not too long after the death of his first wife.

William Daniel and James Lindsay of Essex County both bought land in King & Queen County on the same day in 1726 from Joseph Berry. Daniel and Lindsay witnessed each other’s deeds³. William Daniel and James Lindsay lived on the border of Essex and King and Queen Counties, but were of Essex County. William Daniel owned land in both⁴ counties before 1726. For the first time, in the 1726 deed, William Daniel signed his name in a primary record as a witness to the deed for James Lindsay. This suggests that William had learned to read and write as he had made his mark in previous deeds and as recently as 1721.

This is significant because, in 1727, William and Rozannah Daniell witnessed a deed⁵ in Essex County from Katherine and Elenor Proverb to William Pemberton. The land in the deed was bounded by Peumansend Creek where William Daniel had resided since 1708, when he purchased land from Thomas Tinsley. William and Rozannah both signed their names to this deed. This deed suggests that William Daniel had remarried but the deed alone is not sufficient to prove that this is William Daniel 1680-1765. That proof can be found in a series of court orders and a land patent in Caroline County, which was created in 1728 from parts of Essex, King & Queen and King Williams counties and where William Daniel resided from 1728-1765.

Court orders around the estate of Henry Bell and his wife Esther, in Caroline County, provide part of this proof. On 9 May 1740 two orders⁶ in Caroline County court order books recorded:

“On the petition of Esther Bell and her taking the oath appointed by Law to be taken by administrators, certificate is granted her for obtaining letters of administration of the estate of her late husband Henry Bell decd, who with John Griffin, Wm Blanton & James Lindsey her Security acknowledged their bond for the same.

Ordered that William Daniel, William Daniel Jur., Samuel Haws, Wm. Pemberton or any two of them being first sworn before a Justice of the Peace for this county do appraise the estate of Henry Bell decd in money and return their proceedings to the next court.“

Typically, other land owners in the vicinity of the deceased were tasked with inventorying and appraising their estate so it is a good way to identify some of the neighbors of a deceased person.

Samuel Haws (Hawes) was the father-in-law of William Daniel Sr.’s son, Elijah. William Blanton and William Daniel Sr. were long time neighbors and partners in at least one land transaction in 1758. Blanton also witnessed the will of Moses Daniel, son of William Daniel Sr., in 1745.

Then, on 30 July 1742, in Virginia Land Patent Book 20 it is recorded that William Pemberton and Easter (Esther) Bell were granted 83 acres in Caroline County by Mr. Secretary Carter, bounded by Thomas Tinsely and adjoining a patent of Katherine and Elenor Proverb⁷. This Thomas Tinsley was probably a son or grandson of the man who sold land to William Daniel in 1708.

These records prove that the same William Pemberton who made the deed witnessed by William and Rozannah Daniel in 1726 was later a long-time neighbor of the Daniel, Lindsay and related families. Short of a primary record of the marriage of William and Rozannah, which does not exist, this is likely the best proof to be found of William Daniel’s remarriage after the death of his first wife.

It is not too remarkable that William Daniel would have learned to read and write in his 40s since he was a businessman, a plantation owner, carpenter and owner of a grist mill. It could also be that his new partner, Rozannah, may have influenced or assisted in his attainment of literacy.

Rozannah was probably deceased by 1741, when William Daniel “the Elder” made a deed⁸ to his son William Daniel “the Younger” in Caroline County, VA as there was no release of dower rights mentioned in the court order book entry. All records, excepting court order books and some later land tax lists in Caroline were burned during the Civil War.

The name Rozannah was not used by the descendants of William Daniel, further supporting that this was a later marriage for him. No unaccounted for Daniel men or women appear in remaining Caroline County records which suggests that William and Rozannah did not have children. That being said, a woman named Phoebe, who married Thomas Jackson is often assigned as a descendant of William Daniel 1680-1765. Phoebe had three minor children when Thomas Jackson died in the late 1740s. Jackson was closely associated with the Daniel family. Later, Joshua Lindsay, nephew of James Lindsay, became the guardian of the children of Thomas and Phoebe Jackson, suggesting that he had married Phoebe. Joshua Lindsay was also closely associated with the Daniel family. On the same day in 1765, on the same page of the court order book, when the will of "William Daniell the Elder" was presented for probate by William Daniell Junr. and Thomas Daniell, John Jackson, orphan of Thomas Jackson, chose William Daniell as his guardian. This suggests that John Jackson may have been relying on William Daniel 1680-1765 for support, possibly due to a close familial relationship.

Nothing further is known about Rozannah, her maiden name, marital status when she married William Daniel 1680-1765, details of her death, etc. It is fortunate that she appears in a single record which enables us to create even a semblance of a biography for her and validate her existence.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________