Champion Migration West:

From England to Kentucky Bend & Beyond

[Note - to aid the reader, names in bold print are direct descendants]

      The Settlement of Jamestown.  The history of our branch of Champion ancestors must start with Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America.  Jamestown was founded near the mouth of the James River in Virginia in May, 1607, a full thirteen years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts.  Captain John Smith became the colony’s leader in September 1608 but in the fall of 1609, he was seriously injured by a gunpowder blast and left for England, never to return to Virginia.  Smith’s departure was followed by the “starving time,” a period of warfare between the colonists and Indians and the deaths of many English men and women from starvation and disease.  Just when the colonists decided to abandon Jamestown in the Spring, 1610, more settlers arrived with supplies from England, eager to find wealth in the New World.  Over the next few years, other ships from England began to trickle in to Virginia and, as early as 1624, ships from the Netherlands also began arriving.  I’ve counted records of 68 ships conveying emigrants to Virginia by 1626.

     Virginia wasn’t the only destination from England.  After the Puritans first settled at Plymouth Rock in 1620, the emigration to New England was also in progress.  The Massachusetts Bay Colony was soon established and settlements in Boston and Salem, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Netherland (later New York) were all established.  During the 1630’s over 20,000 people emigrated to the New England area.

     Champions in America.  Several individuals with the Champion surname began arriving in both Virginia and New England from the England homeland during the 1620‘s and 1630’s.   Pascoe Champion arrived in Virginia in 1621 and may have been the first Champion in the New World.  Richard Champion arrived in Virginia in 1634 and Thomas Champion arrived in New England the same year; Francis Champion and Percival Champion settled in Virginia in 1637; Robert Champion settled at New Haven, Connecticut in 1639; and Henry Champion settled at Saybrook, Massachusetts before 1647.

     Our Branch of Champions.  Our branch of the Champions in the New World was started by Edward Champion, an Englishman who arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in 1635.  He was one of twenty-four individuals transported to Virginia by William Swann, the owner of a fleet of merchant ships who appears to have arranged passage for this group on one of his ships carrying goods and supplies to Virginia.  Swann was to have been paid for the passage by the grant of 1200 acres of land on the south side of the James River but the land was deeded to his son, Thomas Swann of James City County, Virginia in 1638 for the debt due his “late father.” 

     I’ve been unable to find much about Edward Champion prior to his arrival in the New World.  I know he was born at Helston in Cornwall County, England on the second of June, 1602.  Cornwall County is the peninsula jutting into the Atlantic on the southwestern side of England.  I’ve not been able to determine if Edward continued to live in Cornwall County until his departure for the New World.  Edward’s father was George Champion who was born in England in 1580 and died in Cornwell County.  George’s father was also Edward Champion, who was born in 1550 and his father was Richard Campion (the old spelling of Champion) who was born in 1500.  I’ve been able to determine little else about Edward’s ancestors.

     Shortly after Edward arrived in Virginia, he married Elizabeth Atkens at Isle of Wight, Virginia.  We know that Edward and Elizabeth had one son, Edward (who I’ll refer to as Edward Jr.).   After Edward’s death, Elizabeth married Joseph Poole, a planter.  Edward Jr. married Priscilla Moore in 1670 and he and Priscilla had three sons, Edward (who I’ll refer to as Edward III), Orlando and Benjamin, and one daughter, Alice.  Thomas Moore, Priscilla Moore Champion’s father, died in 1696 and his Last Will & Testament contained some interesting facts.  In it, he left a Negro boy slave called Toby to his grandson, Benjamin Champion, and a Negro boy slave called Mingo to Orlando Champion, another grandson.  He also left a Negro woman called Mana to his wife, Elizabeth Moore, and one thousand pounds of tobacco in trust for the sole use of his daughter, Priscilla Champion.  To his granddaughter, Alice Champion, he left “my feather bed and bolster and pillow of blankets, handmade rug, bedstead and curtains as they stand now, called my bed.”  I had no idea that any of my ancestors owned slaves until I saw the contents of this Will!

     We know that Edward Jr. taught school for some period of time prior to 1692 because, in that year, he received ninety-five pounds as payment for his services as schoolmaster in the County of Isle of Wight.  Two of his sons, Edward III and Orlando, sold their lands in Virginia and moved to Chowan County, North Carolina about 1705 or 1706 and most of the Champions of Georgia, Alabama and Texas are their descendants.  Benjamin, the third son of Edward Jr., remained in Virginia and lived on land he had purchased in Lawnes Creek Parish in Surry County.  Incidentally, Surry County adjoins Jamestown City County to the south and Isle of Wight County adjoins Surry County farther south.  All three counties are on the James River.

     Benjamin Champion married Elizabeth Williams of Surry County, Virginia and they had three sons, John, Charles and Benjamin, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Anne and Mary.  I should mention here that Benjamin’s first son, John, is the first of three successive Johns so I’ll refer to this John as “First John” and the next two as “Second John” and “Third John” (not to be confused with Books of the New Testament by the same names).  Benjamin made his Will on April 6, 1735 as follows:

IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN, I, Benjamin Champion of Lawnes Creek Parish in the county of Surry being sick and weak in body but sound in mind and memory, thanks be to God for it, do constitute and ordain this to be my last will and testament and for what temporal estate it hath pleased God to bestow on me I dispose of in form and manner Following, Viz. -

ITEM.  I give and bequeath to my son John my plantation whereon I now live after my wife’s decease and my syder mill after her decease -

I give to my son Charles all my sypruss timber above to horse going out the main swamp.  I likewise give to my son Charles my hand saw and frow and drawing knife and all  my coppers tools and my troopers saddle and arms and my Camblet coat -

I give to my son Benjamin my razor and hone and the rest of my wearing clothes and all my carpenter’s tools -

I give to my daughter Elizabeth my new featherbed and furniture as it stands  and six new pewter dishes and six pewter plates and one iron pot. -

I give to my daughter Anne one new featherbed and furniture as it stands and six new pewter dishes and six pewter plates and one iron pot -

I give to my daughter Mary one new featherbed and furniture and six new pewter dishes and six pewter plates and one iron pot -

I give and bequeath to my son John my shoemaker’s tools and curryng knife and my gun -

I give my whip saw between my two sons Charles and Benjamin -

I give and bequeath to my dear and loving wife all the rest of my estate of what nature so ever, and I do nominate and appoint my dear and loving wife to be my whole and sole executrix of this my last will and testament in witness of all which I’ve hereunto set my hand and seal this sixth day of April in 1735.

                                                 Benjamin Champion  (Seal)

Signed, sealed and published in presence of Charles Binns, Samuel Lancaster, Junior, John Wall

                          At a court held for Surry County

                                     September 17th, 1735

The above mentioned will of Benjamin Champion, deceased, was presented in court by Elizabeth Champion, executrix thereof who made oath thereto and gave bond with security according to law and being proved by the oaths of Charles Binns, Samuel Lancaster, Jun. and John Wall, witnesses thereto the same is ordered to be recorded and is recorded by _________.  (Will Book, 1730-38, pages 314-315)

     John Champion [First John] lived on in Surry County, Virginia, presumably at the home place inherited from his mother upon her death pursuant to his father’s Will.  He married Lucy Hart, daughter of Henry Hart of Surry County, and died in Surry County in 1757.  In his Will dated August 25, 1755, First John left to his “eldest son” William 100 acres of land “being part of the land my father left me,” and to his son Hart he left land “whereon John Grey now lives...land I bought of Robert Savidge.”  To his wife, Lucy, he willed “the plantation whereon I now live during her life and after her decease to my son John” [Second John].  He also bequeathed “to the child my wife now goes with” a sider mill and to each son a Negro slave to be his when he came of age, even specifying a Negro boy for the unborn child.  To each, including the unborn child, he gave the sum of forty shillings.  His wife was to was to administer his will as sole executrix and was to receive the remaining part of his estate and a Negro woman called Fortune. 

     From Virginia to Kentucky.  Second John was born in Surry County in 1749, married Elizabeth Binns, and moved to Cumberland County, North Carolina by the 1790 Census.  John and Elizabeth’s son, John [Third John] was born in Virginia (probably in Surry County) but did not move with his parents to North Carolina.  He eventually migrated west from Virginia to Washington County, Kentucky, where he died in 1811.  Third John’s wife, Mary Polly Cannon, moved to Knox County, Illinois sometime after her husband’s death and died there in 1847.  Third John and Mary had nine children in Kentucky: Ruth, born 1796; Elizabeth, born 1797; Rebecca, born 1799; Mary, born 1801; John, born 1802; Robert, born 1804; Thomas, born 1806; James, born 1808; and Joseph, born 1811.

     From Kentucky to Indiana.  James, next to the youngest of Third John’s children, migrated from Kentucky to Perry County, Indiana where he married Elizabeth V. Langdon on June 22, 1834.  Their second child, Francis A. Champion, was born June 7, 1835 in Perry County.  We know that Francis married Delilah Ann Phillips in 1859 on a Mississippi river boat near present day Caruthersville, Missouri.  She was 15 at the time.  Francis and Delilah had ten children, seven of which died young.  My grandfather,  John Franklin Champion, was the sixth child and was born in 1872; and William B., born 1875.  Francis, who was referred to as Franklin on the 1870 Census, enlisted in the Company F, 26th Indiana Infantry Regiment of the Union Army as a Corporal on August 30, 1861 and received a disability discharge on January 15, 1862.  On January 6, 1880, his widow Delilah filed an application with the Federal Government for a widow’s pension.   For an interesting yet tragic story about Delilah, see Anxious to Get Away From Here page.

     From Indiana to Missouri to Kentucky Bend.  We know that Francis and Delilah and their children moved in 1875 to what is present day Caruthersville, Missouri.  Francis died in 1879 from complications of his Civil War disability.  John Franklin and his younger brother, William, ended up in an orphanage either in Missouri or Indiana.  William was adopted and John Franklin never saw him again. John Franklin worked on a farm while at the orphanage and eventually walked away from and traveled to Kentucky Bend, Kentucky.  For a more detailed account of Kentucky Bend, go to The John Franklin Champion Mystery page.