Broyhill Family History

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William Broughill Jr.
1735??-1808?
William Broughill Jr. was dragged into the Court Orders on Aug. 11, 1758, when Charles Story brought suit against him for back debts. His father agreed to be responsible for the debt in the event that William Jr. lost the case. Interestingly, that same day, Edmond Taylor brought a suit against Benjamin Lankford in debt and William Sr. also guaranteed his performance.
     William Jr. was living in Caroline County when his son James was born in April of 1761.  He was still in Caroline on Oct. 12, 1765, when he acknowledged a debt to Colin and William Dunlop and Company, Plaintiff, as did his brother John. He does not appear in the Caroline County Court Orders for 1766 and 1767.
     By 1771, he was living on the south branch of Bruck Creek, New Plantation, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, because on November 9th of that year, he sold 100 acres on Bruck Creek to John East.  The deed was recorded and names his wife as Sarah. No record has been found as to how this property was obtained. According to Steve White, a Virginia attorney who often performs title searches, early settlers often conveyed land through hand written deeds, which often were not recorded. On March 27, 1772, John East filed suit against William Broyhill in Halifax County.  This case has not been researched, but may have involved the land that William sold him the previous year.  The resulting court record is the first documented use of the "Broyhill" spelling.
     William Jr. was apparently the father of James Broughill, but it is not known how many other children he may have fathered. The only clue lies in the Halifax Tax Lists. The one for 1783 lists James Braughill as head of a household containing 5 whites and 0 blacks. Yet the one for 1785 lists William Broy with 7 whites and 0 blacks. Apparently in 1783, William Jr. was not at the homestead when the Tax List was taken, so James, being the eldest son, was listed as the head of household, which probably consisted of James, his mother, and James' three siblings. William Jr. had returned home to be listed as head of household in 1785. James married that year, so the household probably consisted of William Jr., his wife, James, James' wife Rebecca and James' three siblings. Who were the siblings? This is discussed in Chapter 5, The Bray Connection.
James and William were certainly not wealthy. The 1787 State Census shows that James had two horses and three cattle; William had one horse and five cattle. The 1785 Tax Lists shows that they had one dwelling and two other buildings. William Jr. may have returned to Caroline after his father's death in 1789, perhaps to help settle his estate.  The 1791 "Nunn versus Broughills" case denotes more than one Broyhill. Could they have been John and William Jr. and possibly their sisters, if any. If William did visit Caroline, he returned to Halifax in 1802, because he acknowledged a deed before the Court that year.  In 1806, William transferred his land on Childrey Creek to his son James.
     Assuming he was born around 1738, William Jr., was 68 years old in 1806.  He does not appear in the indexes to later Halifax and Pittsylvania estate records. His son James moved to Wilkes County, North Carolina around 1807. Although it is possible that William went with him, no record of him has been found in Wilkes County, nor does he appear in Mitchell's Index to North Carolina Wills. Caroline Court Orders show that a William Broughill was exempted from the county and Poor Tax Levy in 1802, which was 13 years after the 1789 death of William Sr. This could be William Broughill Jr., who returned home to Caroline. He is not listed on the 1810 Virginia Tax Lists, published to replace the missing 1810 Census, so he probably died between 1806 and 1810.