The Carrington family established itself first along Willis Creek in what became Cumberland County and later formed an influential branch in Charlotte County. Through marriages with the Mayo, Read, Cabell, Venable, Bernard, Sims, and Watkins families, its descendants became prominent in Virginia’s legal, political, military, and educational life.
The following account brings together the Carrington family references scattered throughout William Henry Foote’s Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical, Second Series, arranging them by generation and family relationship.
Paul Carrington and the Barbados Family
Foote begins the family line with Paul Carrington and his wife, whom he describes as belonging to the Heningham family. They emigrated from Ireland to Barbados and settled at Bridgetown.
Paul died early in the eighteenth century, leaving his widow with a numerous family of young children. Their youngest child was George Carrington, founder of the Virginia branch described by Foote.
George Carrington and Anne Mayo
About 1727 George Carrington came from Barbados to Virginia in the company of Joseph Mayo, a Barbados merchant. Mayo purchased and occupied the ancient seat of Powhatan near the falls of the James River, and George worked for him as a storekeeper for several years.
About 1732, when George was in his twenty-first year, he married Anne Mayo, the eldest daughter of Joseph Mayo’s brother William Mayo. Anne was in her twentieth year. William Mayo had settled in Goochland County.
George and Anne established their home on Willis Creek, in the part of Goochland County that later became Cumberland County. They had eleven children:
- Paul Carrington, born March 5, 1733; died June 22, 1818.
- William Carrington, born November 17, 1735; died in infancy.
- George Carrington, born March 15, 1737; died October 9, 1784.
- William Carrington, born December 22, 1739; died August 20, 1757.
- Joseph Carrington, born February 6, 1741; died April 4, 1802.
- Nathaniel Carrington, born February 8, 1743; died in November 1803.
- Heningham Carrington, born December 4, 1746; married a Mr. Bernard; died January 24, 1810.
- Edward Carrington, born February 11, 1748; died October 28, 1810.
- Hannah Carrington, born March 28, 1751; married a Mr. Cabell and became the mother of Judge William H. Cabell; died August 7, 1817.
- Mayo Carrington, born April 1, 1753; died December 28, 1805.
- Mary Carrington, born January 9, 1759; married a Mr. Watkins. Foote does not give her death date.
George and Anne Carrington both died in February 1785. Their descendants formed numerous Carrington branches in Virginia, while their daughters connected the family with several other prominent Virginia lines.
Paul Carrington and Margaret Read
Paul Carrington, the eldest child of George and Anne Carrington, entered the office of Colonel Clement Read of Lunenburg County as a young man. On October 1, 1755, he married Read’s daughter Margaret Read.
Paul and Margaret made their home in the portion of Lunenburg County that became Charlotte County. They had five children named by Foote:
- Mary Carrington.
- George Carrington.
- Anne Carrington, who married her cousin William Cabell.
- Clement Carrington.
- Paul Carrington, who became a judge of the General Court of Virginia and died January 8, 1816.
Margaret Read Carrington died on May 1, 1766. Foote remembered her as a woman of great virtue.
Elsewhere in the same account, Foote states that Nathaniel Venable married a cousin who was a daughter of Paul Carrington, but he does not identify her. This reference should not be treated as a sixth daughter without additional evidence.
Paul Carrington and Priscilla Sims
On March 6, 1792, Paul Carrington married Priscilla Sims. He was in his fifty-eighth year. Foote identifies six children of this marriage, including two who died during infancy:
- Henry Carrington.
- An unnamed child who died in infancy.
- An unnamed child who died in infancy.
- Letitia Carrington.
- Martha Carrington.
- Robert Carrington.
Public Service of Paul Carrington
Paul Carrington served on the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sydney College and remained connected with the institution for many years. Foote also praised his service during the Revolutionary era as that of an honorable and high-minded man.
Paul died on June 22, 1818. From this Charlotte County household descended additional branches of the Carrington family associated with Virginia’s courts, legislature, military service, and educational institutions.
Genealogical Notes
Foote describes the wife of the immigrant Paul Carrington only as belonging to the Heningham family. Carrington family research cited by the Library of Virginia identifies George Carrington’s mother more fully as Henningham Codrington Carrington, the second wife of Dr. Paul Carrington. Researchers should consult the underlying family Bible and Carrington family papers before choosing between these presentations.
Foote’s spelling Cabel has been modernized to Cabell throughout this account. William Cabell married Anne Carrington, while Hannah Carrington married into another generation of the Cabell family and became the mother of William H. Cabell.
Foote prints Hannah Carrington’s birth as March 28, 1757, and her death as August 27, 1817. Cabell family records give the dates as March 28, 1751, and August 7, 1817. Those corrected dates have been used here and also place Hannah properly before Mayo Carrington in the birth order.
Foote dates Edward Carrington’s birth to February 11, 1748. Modern biographical references commonly render the date as February 11, 1749. The difference may reflect the treatment of dates before the 1752 British calendar reform, and researchers should consult the Carrington family Bible transcription for the form used in the original record.
Foote gives January 18, 1816, as the death date of the younger Paul Carrington. Virginia legislative and biographical records give January 8, 1816, which has been used here.
Foote’s explicit list names five children of Paul Carrington and Margaret Read: Mary, George, Anne, Clement, and Paul. His separate statement that Nathaniel Venable married a daughter of Paul Carrington does not name the woman and should not be converted into an additional child without corroboration. Other genealogical sources identify Mary Scott Carrington as the wife of Samuel Woodson Venable, illustrating the need to distinguish Nathaniel and Samuel Venable.
Both Paul Carrington and his son Paul Carrington served in Virginia’s judiciary. The elder Paul became a judge of the General Court and Court of Appeals; the younger Paul also served as a judge of the General Court. Records referring simply to “Judge Paul Carrington” must therefore be dated and compared with residence and officeholding information before being assigned to either man.
George and Anne Carrington settled on Willis Creek while the area belonged to Goochland County. Cumberland County was formed from Goochland County in 1749. Paul and Margaret Carrington’s Charlotte County residence likewise originated in Lunenburg County before Charlotte County was formed in 1764, making both predecessor jurisdictions important to Carrington research.
Source
This family genealogy was compiled from references appearing throughout William Henry Foote’s Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical. Foote’s scattered biographical, family, church, and settlement references have been brought together here and arranged by generation to make the genealogical relationships easier to follow.
Foote, William Henry. Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical. Second Series. Second edition, revised. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1856. Available online at AccessGenealogy, Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical. Accessed 10 August 2026.