John Vassall of St Elizabeth

'20a JOHN VASSALL m. May 16, 1776, Elizabeth Brooks, and had one dau., Valeria, who was born Aug. 12, 1778, and d. and was bur. Jan. 26, 1779- John Vassall d. in 1779 ; he was the last male descendant of 10 John Vassall. He devised to his wife all that part of Luana called Pond Penn, with the household furniture and effects and certain slaves and their increase for her life ; he bequeathed to his near relation, Edward Dennis, of St. Elizabeth, £1,000; he bequeathed to his aunt, Margaret Stone, of Westmorland, widow (she was the widow of Theodore Stone, who was the first of the name to come to Jamaica), to his aunt, Bonella Bowen, and to Margaret Wallace, of St. Elizabeth, to Hugh White, to Jane Senior and Margaret Rowe, the daus. of Christopher Senior, £50 each ; to Anne Williams, £100 ; to his mother-in-law, Deborah Brooks, an annuity of £100 ; to his dearly beloved wife, Elizabeth Vassall, his good friends and relations, Hugh White, of Westmorland, and Peter Campbell, of Hanover, all those four parcels of land lying to the north-east of Y.S. (Wye Esse) Estate, in trust for sale, for the benefit of his estate, and in trust for his dau. Valeria in fee ; and in case of her death in trust for 32 Lewis Vassall with remainder over in tail for 33 Florentius Vassall. His wife and his friends Hugh White and Peter Campbell were appointed guardians of the persons and estate of Valeria his dau., and Lewis and Florentius Vassall for the purposes of his will, which was dated Nov. 20, 1778, and proved Aug. 9, 1779.'

John Vassall of St Elizabeth, Esquire. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1780. Slave-ownership at probate: 240 of whom 124 were listed as male and 116 as female. 4 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £21630.65 Jamaican currency of which £17195 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £328.79 currency debts and £27.3 currency plate.

John Vassall was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 2181 acres of land in St Elizabeth.

John's widow Elizabeth nee Brooks married John Vanheelen, in St Elizabeth in 1781. Vanheelen died in 1793 and she married again, to Captain John Mabell Cooper, in 1798.

John Vassall and his Descendants https://archive.org/stream/johnvassallhisde00cald/johnvassallhisde00cald_djvu.txt [accessed 15/02/2017].

Trevor Burnard, Database of Jamaican inventories, 1674-1784.

'A List of landholders in the Island of Jamaica together with the number of acres each person possessed taken from the quit rent books in the year 1754', TNA CO 142/31 transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/1754lead.htm.

See separate entry for John Vanheelen.

We are grateful to Paul Hitchings for his assistance with compiling this entry.