The Mosby Family:
Grandparents and Ancestors:
Col. Mosby's parents and wife
John Singleton Mosby's grandfather, Rev. James Wren McLaurine, was the rector of the Episcopalian parish of St. James, Southham.
Mosby was born at his maternal grandparents' home, Edgemont, in Powhatan County. (Note: Edgemont has been restored by Mr. Warren West and is occasionally open by appointment)
His maternal grandmother was the former Catherine Winston Steger.
The Stegers were apparently German and a fairly recent arrival in America as Catherine Steger's father's first name was Hans. (Note: was he perhaps a Hessian soldier? Or were they just Shenandoah Valley / Piedmont Germans from the Great Wagon Road migration? If you know, please e-mail us.)
- The
Rev. McLaurine was a second-generation American, his
father Robert McLaurine, also a clergyman having
emigrated from Scotland to Virginia in the 1750's. He
settled in Cumberland county and married Elizabeth
Blakeley, who had been born in Williamsburg.
The Mosby family also had roots in Powhatan county. Col. Mosby's father had been born there, as had his paternal grandfather, John H. Mosby, with his paternal grandmother, Jane Ware having been born in neighboring Goochland County. One of his great-uncles was the local militia commander in Powhatan County during the Revolutionary War (General Littleberry Mosby) and another (Lt. Wade Mosby) was a Revolutionary War cavalry hero of considerably local reknown, and the both their legacies were early childhood influences on the future partisan leader.
His earliest Mosby ancestor was probably Richard Mosby, who married Judith Parsons and settled in Henrico County sometime in the 1680's. Their son, Edward, married Sarah Woodson, daughter of Col. Robert Woodson, and granddaughter of Dr. John Woodson, one of the earliest Jamestown settlers, arriving in 1619 as the surgeon of Sir George Yeardley's company. He settled at Flowerdew Hundred and was killed in the 1644 Opechancanoe uprising. Dr. Woodson's many descendants include Dolley Madison and Jesse James.
The Woodsons were leading Quakers and Edward Mosby became a Quaker when he married Sarah. However, he had a rebellious streak and eventually died out of commmunion with his Quaker bretheren. If one believed in heredity as a determinant of character, certainly some of this rebellious streak manifested itself generation later in John Singleton Mosby.
The family of John Singleton Mosby: - Parents
- Siblings
- Wife
- Children
Links to other sites with information relevant to this section:
Bob Juch's genealogy website - descendants of Dr. Jon Woodson
Ancestors of Col Mosby (from CSA officers genealogy site)
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