Individual Details

This Noel by legend is supposed to have served as an officer in the Dinwiddie militia.
Most of the records of Dinwiddie Co were destroyed but I found the following abstracts from 1789 and 1790:
Henry Spain, Major; Noel Waddill and Braddock Goodwyn, Captains, Robert Williams and Joseph Goodwyn Jr, Lieutenants; of the militia of this county, severally took the oath required by the Militia Law & also took the oaths to the United States, agreeable to an Act of Congress.

Listed in a Dinwiddie Co Tax Roll, 1782, Personal Property:
Noel Waddle; 1 free male tithe, 1 Negro tithe, 1 horse
Also a James Geddy listed two men with his entry: William Waddle and Peter Jones. There were 3 free male tithes, 16 slaves, 6 horses, 24 cows

I doubt this is the correct man.


He was said to later have been a school teacher in South Carolina, connected with the Willington School, founded in 1804 by a Dr. Moses Waddell. I'm not sure about this - the Noel Waddills I find in SC are not in this part of the state.

An online inquiry revealed that Moses Waddell, founder of the Wilmington School in Willington, McCormick Co, SC was born in Rowan Co NC 29 Jul 1770 and died in Athens, Georgia 21 Jul 1840. His father had emigrated from Ireland. There would seem to be no connection to the Waddills of Virginia.

Apparently unknown to Cabell there was a marriage for a Moses Waddill - to Elizabeth W. Pleasants on 14 Mar 1800, in Halifax Co VA. The online biography of Moses Waddill did state that his first wife was Catherine Calhoun, sister of John C. Calhoun, and his second wife was Elizabeth W. Pleasants of Virginia.

Father	Richard Waddill (1725 - 1806)
Sibling	Nathaniel Waddill ( - 1835)
Sibling	Richard Waddill (1760 - 1836)