Land records in Albemarle/St. Ann's Parish.
John Abney "the Lost Son"
b. est.1731 Goochland Co., VA
1744: land fell into Albemarle Co., VA
m#1. ca.1752 Alb. Co., VA
1761: land fell into Amherst Co., VA
m#2. ca.1784 Amherst Co., VA
d. bef.30 Sep 1786 Amherst Co., VA
Certainly buried in Amherst Co., VA
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s/o Paul & n.n. Abney. g-s/o Dannett, Sr. & Mary Lee Abney.

h/o Isabella ???? Abney. Children: 1) William 1757, 2)John 1765, 3)Judith (Bullen) 1766, 4)Mary (Brown) 1768, 5)Elizabeth (Holman) 1769, 6) Lucinda (King) 1781 & possibly Nathaniel/Simon*

"I firmly believe John Abney "the Lost Son" had two wives. The birth gap between Simon (ca.1753) and Lucy (ca.1785) is 32 years. Even if John's first wife was only 13 when he married her and had Simon at 14, she would have to have been some 47 years of age when she had Lucy. Not impossible, but unlikely. Moreover, the gap between the births of John Abney [Jr.], RS and Lucy was some 18 years. It is unlikely that the mother of the first seven children stopped having children for 18 years, then miraculously had one at age 47. Hence, there is no doubt in my mind that Lucy was John's daughter from another wife (than John's first seven children)."....per R. Robert Abney
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BODBY, ISABEL. grantee.##
Title Link Land grant 28 May 1790.
Summary Location: Fayette County (Ky.).
Grantee(s): Abney, John and Bodby, Isabel.
Description: 500 acres.
Source: Land Office Grants No. 23, 1790-1791, p. 267 (Reel 89).
Part of the index to the recorded copies of grants issued by the Virginia Land Office. The collection is housed in the Archives at the Library of Virginia.
Other Format Available on microfilm. Virginia State Land Office. Grants A-Z, 1-124, reels 42-190; Virginia State Land Office. Grants 125- , reels 369-.

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*I was searching a newspaper database for Abney and found the following item in The 20 Nov 1779 Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, VA) and in the 3 Jan 1780 Independent Ledger (Boston, Mass): "Williamsburg, Nov. 20-- Charles Knight and Nathaniel Abney of Amelia, were lately taken together with a number of implements for making printing types, in order to counterfeit our treasury notes, and were yesterday committed to the publick jail in this city."
I believe this was Nathaniel Abney "the Loyalist". It appears these men were attempting to destabilize the colonial currency against the crown (England). I have not been able to confirm my suspicion, but I believe he may have been a grandson of Paul Abney (bapt.1699); and son of John Abney/Abner whom I dubbed "the Lost Son" of Albemarle County, Virginia.+

I think that's a "new" ABNEY/ABNER. Obviously a brother of the Paul ABNEY/ABNER who married Rhoda NORMAN. Therefore, I consider Simon a son of Paul ABNEY's (bapt.1699) "Lost Son" John ABNEY/ABNER.++

+From Rootsweb stream between John Brown & R.R. Abney.
++ R.R. Abney's note speaking of Simon Abney.

##...So who was Isabel BODBY? I have not figured it out at this time…but my first thought is it was, perhaps, his grandmother. It may be a clue to John Abney the Lost Son's first wife…but she was NOT the wife. Perhaps she was the mother-in-law of the Lost Son. If she was his mother-in-law, would Isabel Bodby be young enough to apply jointly for a land grant in 1790. Perhaps. She could have been in her 60's or 70's in 179

Suggested edit: Change Paul's wife to (n.n.) (Littlebury?) There is no evidence of Paul ever marrying an Isabella. That error came from a misreading of John, son of Abner...not John, son of Paul.
Contributor: R. Robert Abney Jr. (49189572) •