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Thomas Dudley is the earliest known ancestor of the Dudley family that is found in 18th century Amelia County, Virginia. This family appears to have origins in Caroline County, Virginia and probably are linked to one of the Dudley families found in Virginia’s Tidewater region. This family intermarried with the Knight, Lea, Jeter, and Sneed families. The Sneed family of Granville and Person Counties in North Carolina have been researched in detail. This family stems from the marriage of Capt. Samuel Sneed and Jane Dudley and are sketched elsewhere on this website.

Little is known of Thomas Dudley and only a few records can be attributed to him in Amelia County. Deeds in Amelia, lead us to a dead end in Caroline County, Virginia where nearly all records have been lost to war and fire. I am the first person to identify Thomas Dudley as an ancestor. This is in part due to mistakes made in early family histories that drew from very limited original sources such as public records and depended heavily on either published works of dubious historical accuracy or on family oral history which has proven to be inaccurate. The primary work the Dudley family is summarized in the 1943 work on the Gooch family complied by Evelena Gooch Singleton. Her work appears to have established much of the misinformation on the Dudley family as well as the Gooch family of Granville County; neither families were of her direct descent. Many of these errors are the result of misidentifying two different men by the same name as one. A good example of this is her confusion of William Dudley (a son of Thomas of Amelia) with a William Dudley of NC. She also places William’s sisters (Jane Sneed, Mary Jeter, and Elizabeth Lea) as his daughters, when William’s will clearly states them as his sisters.

The primary confusion made in these histories is the identification of Jane Dudley (Thomas’ daughter) as having married Joseph Gooch, rather than Samuel Sneed. Many genealogies claim that Samuel Sneed and Joseph Gooch married sisters Ruth and Jane Dudley. However, the numerous records left by Joseph Gooch in Amelia County, Virginia and in Granville County, North Carolina, as well as, the numerous records left by Samuel Sneed in North Carolina, clearly indicate that Joseph married a woman named “Rachel” and I have found no records to support her family maiden name as “Dudley” or otherwise. On the other hand, records in Amelia and Nottoway Counties in Virginia and in North Carolina clearly identify Samuel’s wife as Jane Dudley, daughter of Thomas. There are no records to support the fact that Samuel Sneed married a woman named Ruth or that Thomas Dudley had a daughter named “Ruth.”

I will avoid going through a complicated explanation of the possible reasons that the Dudley/Sneed/Gooch confusions could have occurred, since the proof of Jane’s lineage is fairly straight forward. Jane (Dudley) Sneed is named in her brother, William Dudley’s, will of 1799. William died without issue, but leaving a widow Rachel. He left part of his estate in his wife outright and the balance in trust for her use, but upon her death the estate would be divided among the children of his sisters: Jane Sneed, Mary Jeter, and Elizabeth Lea. Granville County, NC records show transactions between the Sneeds and William Dudley’s estate clearly indicating that this is the correct Sneed family. Early in Amelia County, marriage records provide us with additional evidence to establish Thomas Dudley as the father of William, Jane, Mary, & Elizabeth. Thomas Dudley is specifically named as the father of Elizabeth who marries Andrew Lea in 1769. On the same bond, Jane Sneed signs as a witness. Jane Sneed is also found on the marriage bond as a witness. The connections established by the Amelia County marriage record along with the will of William Dudley provide us with the confirmation we need to positively identify Thomas Dudley as the father of these people.

Thomas Dudley’s earliest origins can be traced to Carolina County, Virginia by evidence of his first deed in Amelia County, which calls him "of Caroline". The loss of the majority of Caroline County's records in the American Civil War bring us to a dead end in Caroline County. However, the few records that survive for Caroline county indicate that a “Thomas Dudley” lived in that county during the 18th century and also indicates the residence of other Dudley families that may be relations. Most of these surviving records are only indices to the original records now lost and do not themselves provide positive identification of Thomas Dudley.

Thomas' first deed in Amelia was registered in 1768 and records the purchase, for the price of £250, 400 acres on the north side of the Great Nottoway River in Amelia County [ref: Amelia DB 10, pg. 133, Burks to Dudley, 25 Jan 1768]. This deed is witnessed by William Dudley, who we presume is Thomas’ son who left a will in Nottoway County in 1799. Records show that there was another Thomas Dudley in this region who signed his name “Jr.” in the public records and is found as a witness on deeds. It is assumed that Thomas Dudley Jr. is a son or at least close kin of Thomas Sr., due to marriage of the younger Thomas to Milley Lea. The 1770 will of Milley’s father William Lea is witnessed by Thomas Dudley “Jr.” The 1768 deed is attributed to the Thomas Dudley Sr., since it is not signed “Jr.” Witnessing this deed is William Lea, whose daughter and son married the son and daughter of Thomas Dudley, further suggesting the identification as the senior Dudley. It is interesting to note that William Lea left detailed records showing he and his wife Rachel Ambrose came from Drysdale Parish in King & Queen County, Virginia which borders Caroline County.

In 1778, another deed is found for a Thomas Dudley when he purchased an additional 400 acres in Amelia for £250 from Ralph Shelton of Henry county; the land was located on the lower side of Snales Creek and the north side of the Great Nottoway [ref: Amelia DB 15, pg 34, 28 Nov 1778]. It is not clear that this deed can be attributed to Thomas Sr., as neither “Jr.” or “Sr.” is used in the deed. The dropping of the Sr/Jr was probably due to the fact that one of the men had died by 1774, so the use of these terms was probably no longer required to identify the individual. This deed and the 1768 deed are the only two deeds found to date for any “Thomas Dudley” in Amelia.

There is evidence of the probate for at least one of the Thomas Dudleys in Amelia County. An 1774 inventory of the estate of Thomas Dudley is found in Amelia County records [ref: Amelia County Will Book 2, page 122-123]. Neither Jr. or Sr. are affixed to the name of the deceased and no heirs are named. With the existence of the 1778 deed, at least one of the men was alive after the inventory was taken, but little else can be found to associate the inventory with the father or the son. Thomas Dudley Jr. is likely to be the same man named in a deed dated 1772 between the Walton family and Josiah Ellington in Brunswick County, Virginia. It seems equally probable that the estate could have been for either man. Secondhand sources indicated Thomas Dudley Jr.’s wife remarried to a Mr. Elliott by 1787 and the absence of Thomas or his heirs in the will of William Dudley of Nottoway all point to the fact that Thomas junior probably died young without heirs. The modest size of the estate inventoried in 1774 suggests that perhaps this is the son’s and not the father’s.