1776, Charles Parish, York County Virginia … Margaret J Golden Rogers (1705-1781) may not feel well and prepares her last will and testament (LWT^[1]York County, Virginia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1900), or maybe she just thinks it is time (age 71) … her husband Capt James Rogers died back in 1744 and all four of her children died by age 22. She has only a grandson left: Edmund Cross … AND she has four GOLDEN siblings that she names in her LWT, signed on 15 Jun 1776 at Charles Parish, York, VA … she would go on to live until 26 May 1781.

>> In her LWT, she names her Golden siblings: brother John and sisters Ann Golden Worley, Elizabeth and Lydia Golden. All we know about these Goldens comes from this LWT … these Goldens are in their probable 50s and 60s as to age, or older. Margaret Golden was born 1705, so in 1776 she was 71 and she lived until 1781: age 76.

!! No known genealogy trees for these Goldens. Only this LWT seems to document existance of this Golden family in Virginia. Nearby lives (also without descendant trees):

— Thomas Golden married in 8 Jan 1708^[2]The date of 12 Jan 1708 is also given. Although married in 1708 the record was indexed and included in marriages of 1785-1940; loose records. Source: FHL Film Number 873777; Virginia, Select … Continue reading to Elizabeth Goar/Gore (c1692-c1766)^[3]Some genealogies reference Eliza/Elizabeth’s death as 1 May 1709. However, there is a 5 Nov 1710 christening record for a daughter named Mary Golder daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Golder: 5 … Continue reading Elizabeth’s parents are listed in genealogies as Joseph Joshua Gore II (1673–1726) and Mary Allison (1671–1708) of Christchurch, Middlesex, Virginia … Women could marry as young as ages 12-14. Elizabeth was about age 16. There is no birth or death date given in the known family genealogies referencing years of birth or death for Thomas Golden; men rarely married before age 21 so Thomas would probably have been born before 1683-84.

… Six (6) atDNA matches are known to exist between our Golden family and the Goar/Gore family. ^[4]All matches are on the relevant Golden parent side; a Samuel Golden (b1770) descendant has one match, and three Nathaniel Greene Golden (b1783) descendants have five matches direct lineage Gore … Continue reading

… travel between York(town) and Christchurch is a short trip (39 miles) as far as distance. Any actual kindred connection between the the Middlesex and York counties Golden families is unknown.

BIG THANK YOU to Carole Alessi for finding Margaret Golden Rogers’ LWT … and Thank You to the 1776 LWT writer as the beautiful penmanship is crystal clear and easily readable still today in 2024 … as long as you read cursive.