John Sutton

Under the will of John Sutton of Clarendon Jamaica made in 1750 and proved 11/01/1751 [the probate shows 11/01/1750, presumably Old Style], after monetary legacies totalling £1100 currency and manumitting an enslaved woman named Obing and her 'mulatto' son George (to whom he left £50 p.a currency), he left his entire estate to his godson and 'nephew' [in fact great-nephew] Henry Dawkins [II]. Research by James Dawkins suggests that the Dawkins family gained the Sutton's estate through a combination of purchase and inheritance under John Sutton's will.

John Sutton was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 4232 acres of land in Clarendon and 229 acres of land in Vere, total 4461 acres. This may be the estate of John Sutton deceased, although not listed as such.

John Sutton of Clarendon, Esquire. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1751. Slave-ownership at probate: 348 of whom 173 were listed as male and 175 as female. 63 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £17343.5 Jamaican currency of which £11353 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £0 currency debts and £372 currency plate.

PROB 11/785/122; MS181. Copy of Jamaica title Deeds, 1671-1750, Vol.9, Indenture for the Sale of Land from John Sutton to Henry Dawkins, (May, 1743), Lib: 116, Fol.131, p.101-102; MSS.D.D.Dawkins., C43, Bundle 3: II 5/7, The Will of John Sutton, 1750, (Oxford: Bodleian Library); MS.D.D.Dawkins., C.43, [Jamaica II, 1-5], II, 5/10, bundle 19, Abstract of Title of Henry Dawkins Esq. to Estates in Jamaica Devised to him by his Great Uncle John Sutton Esqr, (Oxford: Bodleian Library), cited in James Dawkins, 'Visiting Lucky Valley, Longville and Sutton’s Plantations in Clarendon, Jamaica', 09/11/2105 https://lbsatucl.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/visiting-lucky-valley-longville-and-suttons-plantations-in-clarendon-jamaica/ [accessed 12/02/2018].

'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.

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