Figure of the Week

Thomas G. S. Tyler (c.1740-1816) was the son of the previous clerk of the Stafford County court, Henry Tyler (c.1710-1777).  Like his father, Thomas’ penmanship was exceptional. He married Anne Fisher Adie (1756-1818), the daughter of William Adie (1729-1797) of Stafford County, Virginia.  Thomas and Anne were separated after hang a large family of seven children.  Among the Fredericksburg Circuit Court records are several suits involving Thomas G. S. Tyler.  According to one suit, Thomas “took [the] oath of insolvent debtor 180__, having found the management of his own affairs too taxing and believing them better left in other hands.”  Another of the suits records Thomas’ claim that his father-in-law, William Adie, had unfairly deprived him of a tract of land that Adie had promised to Tyler in 1782.  A deposition by Anne (Adie) Tyler stated that her father “wanting confidence in his son in law Tyler but anxious to provide for their mutual support loaned [Anne] and said Tyler four negroes…Not long after the marriage aforesaid this defendant’s husband sold two of the aforesaid negroes without her father’s consent.”  As soon as William Adie learned of this, he took back the other two enslaved along with the land.  Thomas claimed that it was not only unfair for William to have kept the land, but also wrong of him to have conveyed it to someone else.  Thomas apparently never reimbursed his father-in-law for the enslaved people and William bequeathed the property to his daughter.  In the suit of “Ficklen vs Tyler et al,” the will of William Adie was annexed in which he devised his land (Bloomington) and a still to son Benjamin Adie and Tyler’s 120 acres to daughter Anne, along with several enslaved people.  Part of Bloomington is now occupied by Patawomeck Park in Wide Water.