Jarvis Greene - Parent Problem

THIS we "know". His widow migrated to Illinois Territory [Menard County] with the family of his brother George Green. When GG died he was buried in Menard County. Jarvis was likewise buried in Menard County [most probably exhumed from a Kentucky battlefield grave, and reinterred in Illinois at some later time]. The coincidence of Menard County buried for both George and Jarvis is remarkable. Thoughts anyone?

BURIED Sugar Point Cemetery, Claypool, Menard County, Illinois, USA
DOB 1750 NC
DIED August 19, 1781 [age 31]
Fayette, KY [Casualty of the Revolutionary War][Battle of Blue Lick]

BUMP - this matter has returned to public attention because of serious messing with the Mirey Creek Justices.

We actually *don't* have formal birth or baptismal records for Jarvis Green(e), and it has merely been *assumed* that he was born in North Carolina - apparently because he moved there and married there. But where else would he have obtained lands in Mirey Creek, VA, but from a family living there? *His* family, perhaps?

There has been so much mis-information out there on this family. I am descended from George Green who was married to Mary Justice. Mary's father was John Justice and her mother was Mary Atkinson. Her brother William Justice, sold them the land on Harpkin Creek with the mill on it. Their daughter met George Green on a trip to visit her cousins who were about the same age. They were daughters of Justinian Justice who had moved there from Goochland Co. The relationship is proven in Justinian's will. There is no connection to anyone named Moore. Mary Fraeme was Mary Green's g-grandmother. This line is from William Justice and Mary Fraeme's son, John who named his sons John and Justinian. The first Justinian was their uncle. My DNA proves the relationships. Jarvis was George Green's son. He inherited the land that was later contested in court, proving that he was George's son. Jarvis had a son out of wedlock and his girlfriend died. He left the baby with his aunt and uncle, Elizabeth Turley and Simeon Justice, and moved to Tyron County not far from his fathers land.

Where is "Harpkin Creek", and what is its current name? (Had no luck on a Web search.)

There most certainly was a George Green who married a Mary Justice whose mother was Mary MOORE - *that* lot of Justices came down from Plymouth County, Massachusetts, and everybody is always getting them mixed up with the Charles City County Justices. (Mary Moore was an Irish immigrant, and apparently some of her Moore relatives moved down to south-central Virginia ahead of time, probably prompting Mary and husband to follow along.) There are baptismal certificates, land records, wills, etc. to show that these Justices are NOT the same lot as the Charles City County ones.

The situation has been further muddled by bogus attempts to connect Jarvis Green with the Rhode Island Greenes (no known relationship) and with a Native American family that supposedly included a "George William Green" (relationship, if any, highly obscure).

Of course, "Georrge" and "Green" are both very common names, and there could easily have been a dozen of them.

Unless both families had a Simeon who married an Elizabeth Turley, there appears to be some confusion in the upper reaches.

Children of John1 Justice and Mary Moore all born at Halifax, Plymouth County, MASSACHUSETTS, were as follows:

i. Mary born 27 Jul 1729; married George Green.

ii. John, born 21 Jun 1731; married Mary Sloan.

iii. Simeon, born 15 Jul 1735; married Elizabeth Turley.

iv. Thomas born 3 May 1737.

v. Alice; born 31 May 1739.

vi. Elizabeth; born 8 Apr 1741.

4. vii. William, born [after] 1742; married Margaret (--?--). [Probably born in Virginia.]

The following will belongs to John Justice of Massachusetts:

"HALIFAX COUNTY WILL BOOK 0 pp 206 17 JULY 1766 HALIFAX COUNTY IN THE PROVINCE OF VIRGINIA MARCH THE 11TH 1765 IN THE NAME OF GOD THE LAST WILL OF JOHN JUSTICE SENR. BEING IN HEALTH AND OF SOUND MEMORY THANKS BE TO GOD ALMIGHTY AND CALLING TO REMEMBERENCE THE ONSARTIN ASTATE OF THIS TRANSATORY LIFE AND THAT ALL FLESH MUST YIELD TO DAYTH I DO DECLARE THIS TO BE MY LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT IN FORM AND MANNER REVOKING AND ANNULLING BY THESE PRESENTS ALL AND EVERY TESTEMENT AND TESTEMENTS AND WILL & WILLS HERETOFORE BY ME MADE & DECLARED EITHER BY WORD OR IN WRITING AND THIS IS TO BE TAKEN BY THESE PRESENTS THAT I JOHN JUSTICE SENIOR GIVE AND BEQUAVATH UNTO MY BELOVED WIFE MARY ALL MY GOODS AND CHATTELS AND ALL MOVABLES THAT I AM IN POSSESSION OF ON HARPIN CREEK AS LONG AS SHE REMAINS MY WIDOW LIKEWISE UNTO MY SON EZRA JUSTICE THREE HUNDRED ACRES OF LAND AND A MILL ON IT WHICH IS THE HOME PLAS. LIKEWISE TO MY SON WILLIAM JUSTICE ONE HUNDRED ACRES OF LAND LYING ON PIGG RIVER LIKEWISE UNTO MY SON JOHN JUSTICE FIVE SHILLINGS UNTO MY SON SIMEON JUSTICE FIVE SHILLINGS AND UNTO MY SON THOMAS JUSTICE FIVE SHILLINGS AND UNTO MY DAUGHTER MARY WIFE OF GEORGE GREEN FIVE SHILLINGS LIKEWISE TO MY DAUGHTER ALICE WIFE TO THOMAS WATSON FIVE SHILLINGS. SIGNED JOHN JUSTICE. SIGNED SEALED AND DELIVERED IN THE PRESENCE OF WILLIAM WILCHEN, WILLIAM (HIS X )ADKINSON, JOHN WILCHEN" http://pikecounty.potterflats.com/justice.htm

This dude John Justice, of Charles City & Augusta appears to be much of the cause of confusion - he's more or less documentable to the Charles City County Justices, but he pulled up stakes and moved *northwest* (not south) into Augusta County on the wild Virginia frontier. No documentary proof of a wife or child(ren) has ever been found, and all records of him disappear just about the time (1754) the "French and Indian War" started.

According to the results at the Justice Y-DNA project at Familytreedna.com (https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Justice?iframe=ycolorized), there may be a relationship between the Massachusetts and Virginia Justices, but it isn't close and it isn't recent. There are enough similarities to suggest a common ancestor somewhere well back into the Middle Ages - say, somewhere around the reign of Bad King John, if not earlier.

There was a typo in my message. It should have been Harpin Creek. It is located in the northwest corner of Pittsylvania county and is just west of the town of Greta. It flows into the Pigg River. Harpin Creek and the mill are mentioned in John Justices will that you posted. That property was gifted to John Justice in 1749 just a few months after William Atkinson had purchased it. This was usually done for a daughter and her husband by the father. I'm not sure if I have A match to the Atkinson since there were so few who had tested but I do have very strong evidence of a match to John Justice.

I have only found one reference to a John who lived in Augusta county and no proof that he was the same John. If he was he did not live there for long as he is not mentioned again. There is overwhelming proof of John being the grandson of William Justice and Mary Fraeme. In the will of Justinian he mentions John and their father and mother. Justinian had moved to Brunswick Co when it was still part part of Lunenburg. George Green lived near him. Mary Justice and George were married there around 1746. They lived there until the mid 1750's when he purchased the property adjoining that of his brother-in-law, Thomas on Mirey Creek in Halifax County.

The only children of George and Mary that I know for sure are Jemima, Gerves (Jarvis) and James. George who enlisted in Tyron was not connected as I found his pension application and he says the enlisted at Tyron but says he was born in a county in east Virginia and lived there all of his life as I recall.

My ggg-grandfather, Thomas Green, lived in Pittsylvania just down the road from John Justice. He lived with Thomas Turley, Elizabeth Justice and her children. It appears that he had lived there from birth. Simeon Justice and Jarvis Green both died in 1783. Thomas' wife, Amy Keesee also lived near Thomas Turley and John Justice.

When Jarvis Green sold the land he had inherited from his dad in 1771, his mother, Mary Justice Green, did not sign dower rights which meant she was already dead. It appears that George died in 1769, according to references to him in deeds, etc.

There is overwhelming proof that the John Justice who lived on Harpin Creek in Halifax County *came from Massachusetts*. There is a one-to-one match for *every single child* he names in that will, and the baptismal records are *all* in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. The marriage record for John Justice and Mary Moore is also in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, and they are named as the parents of those children. It doesn't get that exact unless they *are* the same.

What seems to have happened is that the Justinian Justice family passed through Lunenburg County on its way to North Carolina (as is often the case, the next generation moved on). They may have *heard of* the other Justices and made the natural assumption that they were long-lost cousins, or later researchers may have made (many DID make) that assumption. But the "cousinship", if it existed, must have been much farther back than any of them thought. (See Y-DNA results.)

Later generations of the Harpin/Mirey Creek Justices moved on, too, most (but not all) of them to Pike County, Kentucky.

There *is* a paper trail connecting the John Justice who lived (briefly) in Augusta County back to Charles City County - this was all researched out when trying to disentangle the numerous Justices. But as noted there is no record of *that* John Justice after May 1754.

Why a family would pull up stakes and move from Massachusetts to the Virginia frontier is a good question - but Plymouth County, MA had been long settled by then, and maybe the best land was all taken. (One reason why next generations kept moving on, everywhere.) Or maybe John just had itchy feet, and Mary's relatives sent glowing reports of the "virgin" lands they had settled (there were several Moore families in the immediate Mirey/Harpin Creek neighborhood).

We don't have *hard* proof of the children of William Justice of Kittawon and Mary Frame, but there is strong circumstantial evidence for two sons, John and Justinian, and weak circumstantial evidence for a third son, Ralph (who would probably have been the youngest, as he indentured himself out to the Eastern Shore to make his own way in the world). There are also assumptions for a fourth son(? or daughter?), "Francis Foster Justice" (a middle name is *highly* unlikely at that period) and a daughter "Mary Justice", but no real evidence for either one.

John and Justinian are hard to disentangle because both of them inconsiderately married women named Mary. (So did Ralph, but he was over on the Eastern Shore by then.)

Justinian had one known son, Justinian Jr., who married a Priscilla Brown and had a spate of children, some of whom (including a short-lived Justinian III) began spreading out south and west to Lunenburg County and thence to North Carolina.

John had one known son, the John who (apparently) moved west to Augusta County, probably another son, Silvanus (if he wasn't Justinian's), who moved to North Carolina, and *maybe* a daughter Mary who allegedly married someone named Moore (evidence for her existence, let alone marriage, is lacking).

Where everybody goes wrong is ASS-uming that John Justice II of Charles City County was the same person as John Justice of Harpin Creek - which is not possible, because John Justice moved to Harpin Creek from Massachusetts with wife and family solidly documented IN Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts John Justice's parents are unknown, and some researchers guess him as a first generation immigrant from England, which would still further distance him from the Charles City line.

Maven, I didn't mean to start an argument with you. Where is the proof that the John Justice of Pittsylvania was the same one as the one from Mass, other than having some children with the same names (which was quite common back then). Isreal was not necessary shortened to
Ezra. And Else and Alice are not the same name, even if there might have been a spelling error.
John Justice who lived in Pittsylvania was the grandson of William Justice and Mary Fraeme and the son of John. Justinian, the son of W & M never left Charles city nor did his children, at least for a few years. But his nephew, Justinian moved to Brunswick Co after their grandfather died.

Have you heard the story of why John and Mary left Mass? Mary apparently got in a knock down, drag out fight with another lady from the church and injured her. The leaders of the church made Mary stand in front of the congregation and apologize to them. The church did still kick them out though. Not long after that they sold their land and disappeared. I'm not sure what year that was.

All of that is in the church records.

John, the grandson of William, inherited the land that William and Mary lived on after his mother passed away, because his dad was the oldest son but he had already died. John lived there for about 10 years taking care of his mother before she died. His uncle Justinian was not eligible to inherite based on old English law, nor was his brother Justinian. Only the oldest son inherited unless the father explicitly mentioned it in his will. If there was no will, only the oldest received anything.

Jarvis Green inherited his father, George Green's land in Halifax Co, Virginia when he died in 1769. After the estate was settled in 1771, Jarvis sold it to Francis Arnold. Arnold sold it a few years later. After Jarvis died at the creek in Kentucky the heirs( Sarah and family) received a letter regarding a law suit that challenged the original sale. It's a long story but this guy could not get a clear deed. Sarah and her children had to sign off on it to get it settled. I can tell you more if you or anyone is interested. I have researched this family for thirty years.

Oh dear - we went through SO much trouble getting all the various Justices sorted out - again and again and again. There are too many of them, too many names are too similar, and too many people jump to the conclusion that A = B.

I had my hands full just getting *Ralph* sorted out from his brothers, and he's quite well documented on the Eastern Shore (as are his descendants, thank you Moody K. Miles!). http://espl-genealogy.org/MilesFiles/site/index.htm

So, at least we have Jarvis Green(e) and (some of) his siblings firmly attached to George Green and Mary Justice - this was a weak link originally. As to who Mary's parents were, that's what all the "discussion" is about.

Birth records for children of John Justice of Hanover, MA and Mary Moore of Ireland, in Halifax, Plymouth County, MA:
Mary - 27 Jul 1729
John (Jr.) - 21 Jun 1731
Simeon - 15 Jul 1735
Thomas - 3 May 1737
Alice - 31 May 1739
Elizabeth - 8 Apr 1741
William - 3 March 1743 (Gregorian?)

There are two differences between this list and the will: Elizabeth isn't mentioned in it, and Ezra, who *is* mentioned, isn't listed. ("Israel" is, I suspect, a slopover from somewhere else, possibly a later generation or a different family.)

Alice is spelled "correctly" in the baptismal record and in her father's will, and is only "Else" in the "Vital Records" list. ("Alice" as a name has been spelled in many different ways, including with an E, and has even been conflated with "Agnes" and "Anne"! Spelling was much looser before Dr. Sam: Johnson in England and Noah Webster in America got down to work.

Considering that *both* Mary *and* John got into fights in their community (both with one "Atwood", and I wonder what that person did to get them riled up!), that may have been yet another motive to pick up and go elsewhere.

Between the *very* close match in names and the proximity of three Moore families in the Harpin Creek area, it looks very much as though that's where they pulled out to.

A relatively easy route would have been to take ship to Philadelphia, and then beat feet overland to the head of the Shenandoah Valley and points south. A fellow named Jost Hite had blazed that trail down to what became Winchester, VA, circa 1731, and many others followed.

Alternatively, they may have disembarked at Norfolk and hiked west through the Tidewater.

Some Pittsylvania neighbors, the Hanbys, came south from New Jersey to North Carolina, made their way inland, and then moved north again - so that was yet another option. (These Hanbys originated on the Eastern Shore of Virginia but were a wandering lot.)

This must have been about when the Justice family decided to leave Massachusetts:

!Plymouth Co, MA Deeds 1741-1745 FHLfilm#558826
vol 37, pg 179
16 Apr 1743 John JUSTICE of Halifax, Plymouth Co, Massachusetts to
Ignatius CUSHING of same.
£800 for all my homestead wheron I now dwell, being 260 acres bounding Great
Cedar Swamp, containing all that I bought of David CURTIS in Halifax and lying on
the Herring River. . . . . .
Witnesses: Noah CUSHING & David HATCH
9 Apr 1743 Mary M JUSTICE, wife of John Justice, doth relinquish her right of
dower.
Witnesses: Thomas CROADE & Priscilla CROADE

First record of *a* John Justice in south-central Virginia:
!Entry Record Book 1737-1770 (Land entries in the present Virginia Counties of
Halifax, Pittsylvania, Henry, Franklin & Patrick) FHLbook
1747 William ATKINSON
20p for 50 acres of land including his grist mill on Harping Creek,
Transferred to John JUSTICE by order of William ATKINSON
(recorded in Lunenburg Co, VA)

This entry gives John Justice's trade (and also his namesake son's):
!Halifax Co, VA Deed Books 1759-1767 FHLbook
Jun 1762 John JUSTICE of Halifax Co, blacksmith to John JUSTICE Jr of same, blacksmith.
£5 for 100 acres on Harping Creek, part of a greater tract of 400 acres & 8000 rods,
below the mill which said 100 acres is laid off by a dividing line agreed upon by said parties,
and noted by marked trees at the lower end of said tract. All houses, buildings, trees. . . .
Witnesses: John SLONE, Henry McDANIEL & John SLONE
recorded 17 Jun 1762

Somebody researched the Halifax/Pittsylvania VA Moores, and sure enough they started out in Massachusetts *too*:

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/MOORE/2007-01/1168212460
Patrick Moore of Lunenburg County

Patrick Moore, born 1681, possibly in Ulster, Ireland, patented land in Brunswick County by 1747 on Miry Creek. This land would become first Lunenburg and then Halifax County in 1752. However, Patrick would never see these events as he died in 1750 in Lunenburg County.

We first find Patrick in Scituate, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts where they appear to have arrived between 1722 and 1724. Patrick's children were all born in Ireland, but some of his grandchildren were born in Massachusetts and baptized in the Anglican church in 1724, although the notes for both the first and second churches of Scituate indicate they were Congregational when formed in 1635 and 1728, respectively. Patrick's daughter Mary married John Justice there in 1728. This church is today the Unitarian Church in Newell, Massachusetts.

It is entirely possible that this Moore family was from County Antrim, Ulster Province, Ireland. The area of Halifax Co, Virginia that they lived was also called Antrim parish. County Antrim has more Moores than any other County in Ireland. It is also quite possible that this family is actually Ulster Scots (Scotch-Irish) and originally from Scotland.

Plymouth Co., Massachusetts during the early 1700s was not hospitable to those that were actually Irish (Catholic) primarily because of the high density population of those that were English, but was hospitable to those that were Ulster Scots (Scotch-Irish). The great Scotch-Irish migration began in 1717, although most were Presbyterian. It seems highly unlikely that John Justice who married Patrick Moore's daughter Mary would have married anyone that was Irish (Catholic), being that he was likely from England and has been documented being a member of The Church of England.

. . . . . . .

Patrick Moore had many sons and 1 documented daughter, and those sons patented large tracts of land in what would become Lunenburg, Halifax and Pittsylvania Counties in Virginia. Over the next 2 or 3 generations, it would become almost impossible to keep track of all of the descendants, especially because the same names were used in every generation. Migration to Virginia was not a one time event either, as we find a Revolutionary War desertion notice for a John Moore of Halifax County who was born in Maryland in 1749.

Patrick's children were as follows:

*Robert born 1703 in Ireland, patented land before 1743 on Polecat
Creek, married Mary about 1722 in Massachusetts and died in 1796. Robert had at least three sons, Hugh, Henry and Joseph, and probably Edward and James as well.

*William born in 1705 in Ireland. In 1724, his son Thomas Moore
bap/chr November 29, 1724 Scituate, Plymouth Co, Massachusetts, son of "William Moore, a stranger from Ireland".

*John born 1707 in Ireland, died after 1779, married Agnes about 1730
probably in Scituate Massachusetts. His children John and Mary were baptized in the church there in 1731 and 1733. He had one other known child, Alexander, but there were probably more children. His son John died in Person Co., NC in 1794.

*Mary was born about 1709 in Ireland and died in 1792 in Pittsylvania
Co. [VA.] She married John Justice and they lived on Miry Creek. In the 1790s they bought land on Harpin Creek as well. They had children Mary "Nancy", John, Simeon, Thomas, Ailsey, Elizabeth, William and Ezra.

*Hugh, the prominent long-time Gentleman justice and sheriff in
Halifax County was born about 1711 in Ireland, probably married Martha Wall (daughter of Burgess Wall) about 1740 in Brunswick County. By 1741 he appears in the records in Lunenburg County. In 1748, he began to amass a great amount of land on Birches, Toby and Miry Creeks near and on the Dan River. On July 9, 1760 he wrote his will having been in apparent good health previously. By the August 21st court session, he was dead and his will probated. His widow, Martha would remarry in July 1761 to John Bates who was dead by 1770 and in 1788 she marries John Lawson.

Hugh and Martha had son John born 1744-1749 married Mary Frances Hemphill about 1771 and died in 1796. Son Alexander born about 1757 married Martha and died in 1848 in Caswell Co., NC. Daughter Mary "Polly"
married Humphrey Hendricks and died before 1787. Humphrey remarried and this family went to Oglethorpe Co., Georgia before his death in 1816. Other Moore descendants from Pittsylvania County from William Moore who died in
1786 also went to Oglethorpe County in this timeframe. Hugh's daughter Anne married John Hurt Hendricks and was dead before 1818. Hugh leaves 400 acres in his will to Joseph Terry as well, without stating a relationship. Was Joseph Terry's wife Judith related to Hugh? The end of Hugh's will has been torn away in the record book.

*Alexander born about 1713 in Ireland was in Orange Co., NC selling
land to John Boyd by 1767. He married Marion before 1752 and had at least two children, Robert and Rachel.

*Joseph born about 1715 in Ireland died before 1785 in the Ninety-Six
district of SC which later became Spartanburg. He married Ruth about 1739 and had at last 5 children, Robert "Bert" or "Burton", Joseph, John, Patrick and Jane. Robert is a Revolutionary War veteran and states that he was born in Halifax Co. in 1755 or 1756 and moved to SC (after 1763 and) before the Revolutionary War.

William Atkinson was also known as Atkins and Adkins, and seems to have come to the Pig River area about 1745 from Henrico County, VA (vicinity of what is now Richmond, the state capital), by way of Goochland County. He did have a daughter Mary, but she wasn't born until 1735. He also had a son of the same name, and it isn't always clear which of them was involved in which transactions.

The 1747 land deal with John Justice appears to have been purely a business transaction, as a (small) sum of money is mentioned and there are no further comments in the record.

Reasons for finding references to George "William" Green(e) and Mary "Nancy" Justice appear to involve confusion with a completely different George (or William) Green George William Greene, for whom Cherokee/Shawnee heritage has been claimed. He was married to, and divorced from, a woman named Mary, said to have been of *a* Justice family (she was not the daughter of John Justice of Harpin Creek, though), and then married a woman named Nancy (while Mary ex-Green married a Thomas Potter, Jr.)

Nobody seems to have made much of the point that John Justice, Mary Moore, and family lived in the town of Halifax in Plymouth County, MA, and then settled in what became Halifax County, VA (and Pittsylvania County just after John's time). It's an odd coincidence - unless John had some input into selecting the county name, in which case it's *not* a coincidence..

Maven, It's so nice to find someone else who has researched the Justice families as much as I have. This puzzle has driven me nut for so many years. I never studied William Justice and Mary Fraeme's son Ralph since he was not my direct line and he never moved west, I did study Justinian so that I could sort out who was who and discovered that he had stayed east as well. I have two books with old court records of Charles City County and they are just full of info. I do know that John's son Justinian was the same one who had moved to what was at the time Brunswick County but is now Lunenburg. I know that he was John's son because he mentions his mother Mary Wade in his will. I can't remember the date of the will but think it was in the 1750's or early 60's
The reason that I kept mentioning the Green's is because the original question was regarding Jarvis's parents. Since Mary Justice and George Green married in what was Brunswick Co at the time. it seems to link Mary to her uncle Justinian. It was common for people, especially young girls, to go for a visit to their cousins house and stay for several weeks. I believe that tis how she met George. Since they married there and lived there for several years before moving to Halifax County, they may have lived with Justinian for a while before George was able to purchase his first land in what had become Lunenburg in 1753. He sells this land a few years later after he had already purchased the land on Mirey Creek in Halifax Co. It has to be the same person since the deed refers to him and "George Green of Halifax County", and also because the new property was right next to that of his brother-in-law, Thomas. John Justice also owned land there but apparently never lived on it. He bought and sold a lot of land in Halifax co.
I think the deed that names him and his son as blacksmiths is because there was another John Justice who was a shoemaker according to other court records and censuses.
My Thomas Green's oldest daughter married a man named Hezekiah Balch Moore who family as originally from Massachusetts but his father, Joseph movde to Roane County, Tn about 1705.

Maven, which of John Justice's children are you descended from? We may never know for sure which John Justice he was but I intend to keep researching. I'm 76 now and not in very good health so I guess I need to get on it. The reason that I finally decided he was the one from Charles City County is because of the deed from William Atkinson. I have seen the same thing for so many of my ancestor where the father sold land to his daughter's husband for a small sum not nearly as much as the land was worth. Many times it was several years after the marriage, Also, I don't seem to have any DNA link to any Moore's but I do have a couple of "cousins" who were descended from the Atkinson family from Charles City County.
When I was a member of the DAR I learned that if you don't have some sort of legal documentation, such as a deed, will, court record, census, etc. there is no proof of who a person was. Now I look for as much documentation as I can before putting someone in my tree.
I have many ancestors who were from Pittsylvania county on both sides. Also a lot from Goochland and Henrico. Recently I have been working on my Barnard's from Massachusetts and found an old letter from my ggg-grandfather that had been saved and was being sold at auction. It had been saved because his family was very well known. His gg-grandfather was the minister at the Salem witch trials. That had been one of my "brick walls" and I was so thrilled to find it and finally find more of my ancestors.
Hopefully one of us can find the link for our Justices.

I think I'm actually connected to Ralph, though I haven't worked out the exact details. Accomack/Northampton is the kind of place where everybody is related to everybody else in one degree or another (and sometimes several degrees at once). The Hanbys I mentioned are collaterals of my direct line - they left, my direct ancestors stayed put till after the Civil War. Long complicated story there too.

If Mary Atkinson wasn't born until 1735, she cannot possibly have been the mother of John Justice's children and is very unlikely to have been his wife at all, at least not based on that 1747 land transaction (47 - 35 = 12). People were starting to wise up to the fact that selling preteens into wife husbandry was an absolutely dreadful idea.

I think a little digging would probably turn up some other Atkinson/Atkins/Adkins connections to explain the cousin-ness. That lot have been under-researched because of the name difficulties.

To believe that John Justice of Charles City was John Justice of Harpin Creek, one starts to run into the necessity for him to have been in two places at once for years at a time. Doesn't work.

The Moore-Justice gestalt *does* fit known migration patterns - family/neighbors/friends leaving one place and showing up in another in the same close proximity. In earlier years it was very rare for people to move about between colonies, but by the mid-18th century it was becoming fairly common.

One thing you CANNOT trust is family trees from the Internet, or even from books. Once a bit of Bad Information gets out there, it is copied and recopied ad nauseam until somebody has to toss out the whole pile and start from scratch from primary documents.