Willcox Family Genealogy

Tales of the Willcox family of Charles City County, Virginia

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A New But Rocky Chapter for Littleberry

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The need and desire for a helpmate was probably weighing on Littleberry alongside the grief.  He found that mate in Mrs. Martha Hudson, whom he wed on February 22, 1828.1  She was the widow of Thomas Hudson, a wealthy businessman in Halifax.  He owned a mill, land (even islands in the Roanoke River!) and many slaves.  He died in 1825 and left the majority of his estate to Martha.2  Before the marriage, Littleberry and Martha entered into a legal agreement with a trustee who was to handle all of the property owned by Martha.  After the marriage, the trustee was to provide profits from the property to Littleberry upon request for his and Martha’s use.  It was also agreed that Martha would have the power during the marriage to make a last will and testament disposing of her property at her pleasure. 

It was not long before more of Littleberry’s children began marrying and starting their own lives.  Willis married Mary Gee Mitchell3 of Halifax County (widow of Hutchins Mitchell)4 in 1829.  Robert moved to Maury County, Tennessee, and married Jane Davies Wallis in 1830.5  Major had also moved out as he was listed as his own household in the Halifax County 1830 census.6 Susan married Thomas W. Watts of Halifax County in 1831.7

Littleberry and Martha had not been married very long before trouble began. In 1835, Martha left Littleberry and moved in with Mrs. Shine (probably her niece, Mary Shine).  In 1836, Martha filed a petition against Littleberry in the Halifax County Court of Equity.  In the petition, she stated that she could not live in peace with Littleberry due to his “ill treatment of her.”  Because she could not live with him, she felt that she was entitled to a portion of the profits from her property for her maintenance and support.  She alleged that Littleberry had provided little in the way of support since their separation.  Martha also alleged that Littleberry was planning to take her slaves out of state and/or sell them against her wishes.

Littleberry refuted all of her claims.  He stated that she left him without any reasonable cause, not because of his ill treatment but because of the influence of others who were using her for their own purposes.  He also stated that he was not “bound to furnish her with any support, while she was living apart from him; but insisted that he had, nevertheless, from time to time, supplied her wants as far and as fully as he could prevail upon her to make them known.”

The court found in favor of Martha on all counts.  Littleberry filed for an appeal and was denied.  He appealed to the Supreme Court of North Carolina who took his case and reversed the lower court’s decision.  They did not find evidence of ill treatment of Martha.  They also did not agree that Martha should have her own portion of the profits from her property.   However, Littleberry was restrained from removing the slaves or causing them to be removed beyond the jurisdiction of the court.

It is unknown if Martha reconciled with Littleberry.  The Supreme Court case was decided in June 18408 and it appears that she may have been back in the home at least long enough to be counted for the U.S. census in October 1840.9

While Littleberry was dealing with marital and legal troubles, he lost another brother and gained a daughter-in-law.  Littleberry’s oldest brother, Hamlin, died at the age of 72 in 183710  in Charles City County, Virginia.  Hamlin was a wealthy planter and landowner. He left a wife and four grown sons who inherited all of his estate.11  Just prior to that, Littleberry’s son, Thomas, married Martha Temperance Alston Shell in Franklin County, North Carolina, in 1836.12  Martha was Thomas’ first cousin and the widow of Thomas E. Shell.13

By 1840, Littleberry was 74 years old and all of his children had left the home.  His farming operation must have still been going strong because the 1840 census reported that he had 34 slaves.14  The 1840s brought the loss of many of Littleberry’s family members.  His oldest daughter, Elizabeth, died in Halifax County in 1844.  According to her obituary in The Weekly Standard (Raleigh, North Carolina), Elizabeth died “after a most painful and distressing illness of several months.” She was 45 years old and had not remarried.15 In 1846, Littleberry’s oldest sister, Mary, died in Petersburg, Virginia, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. George W. Stainback.  She was 81 years old.16  That same year, Littleberry’s son, James, married Margaret Mosely in Dallas County, Alabama.17  Littleberry’s wife, Martha, died March 17, 1849, “at an advanced age.”18  Her will dated September 20, 1845, did not include any bequests for Littleberry.19 We do not know if they reconciled and were living together or if she was still separated from him.  According to the inventory of her estate, there was property in the possession of Littleberry including household and kitchen furniture that he “refused to surrender to the Executor.”20

In a few weeks, after finishing Littleberry’s story, I will post a more thorough summary of this court case.

(See posts in chronological order)

  1. “North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-2011,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-X399-H3Y : accessed 29 June 2026) > Halifax > Marriage bonds, 1800-1900, vol M-Z > image 2033 of 2406, Littlj [Littleberry] Willcox and Martha H….son, 21 February 1828; citing North Carolina State Archives Division of Archives and History. ↩︎
  2. Gammon, David, B., Abstracts Of Wills Halifax County, North Carolina, 1825 – 1854 (n.p., 1989), 3. ↩︎
  3. “North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-2011,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-X399-DS3 : accessed 29 June 2026) > Halifax > Marriage bonds, 1800-1900, vol M-Z > image 2035 of 2406, Willis A. Willcox and Mary Mitchell, 22 May 1829; citing North Carolina State Archives Division of Archives and History. ↩︎
  4. “North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-2011,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-X399-XDQ : accessed 29 June 2026) > Halifax > Marriage bonds, 1800-1900, vol M-Z > image 296 of 2406, H(utchins) Mitchel and May R. Gee, 11 February 1821; citing county archives, Tennessee. ↩︎
  5. “Tennessee, U.S., Marriage Records, 1780-2002,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1169 : accessed 8 July 2026) > Maury > 1808-1867 > image 97 of 661, Robert J. Wilcox and Jane Wallis, 4 March 1830; citing Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, TN. ↩︎
  6. 1830 U.S. Census, Halifax County, North Carolina, Regiment 2, page 334a (penned), line 23, Major A. Wilcox; imaged, “1830 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8058/ : accessed 10 July 2026). ↩︎
  7. “North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-2011,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-X399-SHP : accessed 29 June 2026) > Halifax > Marriage bonds, 1800-1900, vol M-Z > image 1799 of 2406, Thomas W. Watts and Susan H. Willcox, 6 September 1831; citing North Carolina State Archives Division of Archives and History. ↩︎
  8. Iredell, James, Reports of cases in equity argued and determined in the Supreme Court of North Carolina, Vol. I (Raleigh, NC: Turner and Hughes, 1841), 36-44; digitized at HathiTrust (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044078614013/ : accessed 10 July 2026). ↩︎
  9. 1840 U.S. Census, Halifax County, North Carolina, no township, page 1 (stamped), line 21, Littleberry Wilcox; imaged, “1840 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8057/ : accessed 10 July 2026). ↩︎
  10. “Hamlin Wilcox Family Bible Records,” entry for Hamlin Willcox, database with images, 3 of 5, North Carolina Digital Collections (https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/hamlin-wilcox-family-bible-records/1340884?item=1340888/ : accessed 10 July 2026); citing Bible Records. State Archives of North Carolina. ↩︎
  11. Charles City County, Virginia, “Will book, No. 4, 1833-1845,” 259-63, Hamlin Willcox, 17 October 1837; imaged “Will books, 1789-1878; general index to wills and fiduciary accounts, 1789-1954,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99PH-RSL4: accessed 29 June 2026) > Will book, Vol. 3-4 1824-1845 > image 430-2 of 586; citing Charles City County Court, Virginia. ↩︎
  12. Franklin County, North Carolina Marriage Bonds (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1943) 183, Thomas Willcox and Martha Shell, 27 February 1836; imaged “North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-2011,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60548/ : accessed 10 July 2026) > Franklin > Marriage Bonds – Abstracts (1789 – 1868) > image 218 of 275. ↩︎
  13. “North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-2011,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-X399-F6L : accessed 29 June 2026) > Halifax > Marriage bonds, 1800-1900, vol M-Z > image 1418 of 2406, Thos. E. Shell and Martha T. Alston, 29 September 1824; citing county archives, Tennessee. ↩︎
  14. 1840 U.S. Census, Halifax County, North Carolina, Halifax, page 1, line 21, Littleberry Wilcox. ↩︎
  15. “Obituary: Elizabeth W. Alston,” The Weekly Standard, Raleigh, North Carolina, 14 February 1844, page 3, column 5; imaged, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/171985187/ : accessed 10 July 2026). ↩︎
  16. “Obituary: Mrs. Mary Cocke Drinkard,” The Republican, Petersburg, Virginia, 4 September 1846, page 3, column 2; imaged, Virginia Chronicle (https://www.virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=REP18460904.1.3 : accessed 10 July 2026). ↩︎
  17. “Alabama, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1805-1967,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61365 : accessed 8 July 2026) Dallas > 1818-1938 > image 162 of 292, James. W. Willcox and Margret A. Mosley, 10 November 1846; citing Dallas County Court, Selma, Alabama. ↩︎
  18. “Died: Mrs. Martha Wilcox,” The Weekly Standard, Raleigh, North Carolina, 28 March 1849, page 3, column 4; imaged, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/56964336/ : accessed 10 July 2026). ↩︎
  19. “North Carolina, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9061 : accessed 8 July 2026) > Halifax > Wills, Vol 4-5, 1825-1867 > image 299 of 579, Martha Willcox, 20 September 1845; citing Halifax County, North Carolina, County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, “Record of Wills Vol. 4, 1825-1854,” 275. ↩︎
  20. Halifax County, North Carolina, “Record of Estates, 1843-1849,” 514, Martha Willcox, August 1849; imaged “Records of estates : inventories and accounts, 1828-1862,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99G4-S9SK-2: accessed 29 June 2026) > Records of estates 1843-1849 > image 320 of 339; citing Halifax County, North Carolina, Superior Court. ↩︎

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