Purchase of “The Neck”
navigational marker for merchants and other river travelers. (John Smith’s 1612 Map of Virginia/Public Domain)
The early history of the Kennons in Virginia is sketchy at best. Some facts are well known and documented, such as the marriage of Richard Kennon to Elizabeth Worsham, and Richard’s purchase of the land known then as “the Neck.”
Anecdotal references to Richard may be found in a variety of places, but to date no consolidated work has been completed that accurately describes Richard’s origins and early life.
Richard married Elizabeth Worsham in 1675, and later purchased “the Neck” in 1677, as noted in the work “Colonial Wills of Henrico County, Virginia 1677-1737,” by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, 1976, page 8.
“1677 October 19―Henrico County: Christopher Robinson, son and heir of Christopher Robinson of Bristol Parish, deceased, sold to Richard Kennon of Bermuda Hundred, a tract of land called the ‘Neck,’ bounded by the land formerly sold to said Kennon, the lands of Nicholas Dixon, Joseph Worsham and on Appomattox and Swift Creek. Attest: William Sloane, Nathaniel Tatum, Jr., Henry Robinson.”
Will of Richard Kennon
As recorded in the Henrico County Will Book, pg 651:
To son William, all that plantation and tract called Roxdale lying on the James River and all my mill and land thereto belonging at Pucketts in Bristol Parish and my ½ acre land and housing at Bermuda Hundred
To loving wife Elisabeth, all land I now live on called The Neck, and all that tract called The Quarter, lying on Swift Creek
To daughter Judith, one young female negro
All the rest to wife and she is to be executrix
Dated 6 Aug. 1694
Wit: Geo. Robinson, John Piggott, Nich. Dison
Recorded 20 Aug. 1696
(ref: “Colonial Wills of Henrico County, Virginia, Part One, 1654-1737, Abstracted & Compiled by Benjamin B. Weisiger III)