Moseley

The Moseleys are another important branch of the Peyton Townes family tree, including several great grandparents. Members of the Moseley family were great grandparents of Peyton Townes through several paths including marriages between Moseleys and Giles.

Among other connections, Peyton's great grandmother Frances Moseley Branch was also a first cousin of  her husband Capt. William Branch Giles Jr. His father Gov. William Giles was the brother of Frances's grandmother Amey Giles the wife of Benjamin Moseley.

William Moseley and his wife Susannah Burnet were the early emigrants who established the Moseleys in Virginia. They became a prominent family in early Virginia. Many were successful in business and leaders in civic affairs.

William Moseley was born in England in 1605. His origins and parents are unclear, although one theory is that he came from an ancient and wealthy famously.

He was born in England and moved to Delft and Rotterdam Holland. Tradition says that William was a Royalist Cavalier who fled to Holland to escape the  Parliamentarian Roundhead in the civil wars of England. Susannah was also English, and was reported to be  extremely shrewd and business-savvy. Her father Ralph Burnet was a draper in London.

William was a goldsmith and a trader in other commodities, He was a member of the Honorable Company of Merchant Adventurers, an international trading company.

In 1649, the Moseleys went  to Virginia as part of the Cavalier emigration. They  apparently arrived in ostentatious style bringing two sons, a retinue of servants and others, a  Coat-of-Arms, and 20 paintings including family portraits, as well as  gold and jewelry. It is said that he traded jewelry for cattle after his arrival.

They settled in Lower Norfolk Co. VA. William acquired 550 acres  in 1650 and established an estate known as Greenwich and later as Rolleston.

He became a Justice in Lower Norfolk County in 1650 a position he held until his death in 1655.