Robert Bennet FLEET was born in Virginia, 16 Aug 1874, and died in Oakland, Alameda, CA on 11 Oct 1956. According to the California Death Index his mother was a RYLAND.
The 1920 Fed. census lists him as age 45 living in Oakland, Alameda Co., CA with his wife, Carrie A., and son, Robert L..
I seek additional information about the lives of these three and, particularly, the parents of Robert B.Fleet.

Robert Bennett Fleet was the son of Christopher Brown Fleet & Nannie Ryland, Christopher b oct 1845 Va, Nannie b apr 1844 Va, Christopher was s/o Alexander Fleet & Sarah Brown Tomlin, Sarah was a widow,
Mickey

Many thanks for the reply. Your information fits with the 1880 VA census Soundex citing a son named Bennett age 5 in the household of Christopher B. Fleet of Newtown, King and Queen County, VA. I believe Nannie's legal name was Joanne Bagby Ryland.

My ggggrandfather, Dr. Christopher Bennett Fleet (1796-1845), was older brother to Col. Alexander Fleet. According to my records, Col. Alex married twice: 1. Elizabeth Pollard and 2. Martha Ann Hill. Several sources cite Martha Ann as mother of Christopher Bennett, son of Col. Alex.

Actually, Sarah Browne Tomlin (1776-1818) was the wife of Capt. William Christopher Fleet (1757-1833). Dr. Christopher and Colonel Alexander were her first two, of 14 total, children. Sarah had married Tomlin but was widowed quite young. I do not believe there were any offspring.

Are you related in any way to the above "cast of characters?" Sorting out all the Fleets of King and Queen County, Virginia is an awesome task!

I think so but not quite sure how, my earlyest Fleet was a Littleton Fleet, i can place him in Calvert Co, MD, in 1791, then he showes up in Winchester, Frederick Co, Va. where he marries a Margaret Puller and starts his family, I am thinking Littleton might be decended from one of Henry Fleet's
3 brothers that settled in Maryland, still working on that,
Mickey

Carole, you're absolutely right about Nannie Ryland being Joanne Bagby Ryland. But her husband was Christopher Bennett Fleet, I believe. He was born 28 Oct 1845 and died 1 Apr 1925. She was born 14 Apr 1844 at 'Marlborough' and died 27 Dec 1926. She was the daughter of Joseph Ryland 1813-1872 and Priscilla Courtney Bagby 1818-1888.

Christopher Browne Fleet was their son.

Neither one was the C. B. Fleet who gave the world Fleet's Phospho-Soda. That was Charles Browne Fleet

Walter,
Thank you for the clarification. I can't help but mention that Charles Browne Fleet of the C.B. Fleet Pharmaceutical family was a son of Dr. Christopher Bennett Fleet. I am descended form Dr. Fleet's first wife, Mary Ann McKim. Charles Browne was a son from Dr. Fleet's second marriage to Lucy Ann Semple. My sister, Barbara, whose middle name is Fleet, is a registered nurse and she took all kinds of bed-pan ribbing during her time in nursing school. The young ladies thought it very funny that she had the same name as the well-known "Fleet's Enema" preparation. Once married, my sister substituted her maiden name, Jackson, and solved that problem for good.

Hi Carole,

I may have gotten just a little confused among all the C. B. Fleets. Maybe I need straightening out.

The Fleet and Ryland families are certainly intertwined. Over on the Ryland boards, the counterpart to this Fleet board, we have a dozen or so messages with Fleet family information. I haven't done original research on the Fleets, so all my data is second-hand. I rely a lot on Eric Fleet's comprehensive work, and others too.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. I think the Dr. Christopher Bennett Fleet who was the father of Christopher Browne Fleet, the pharmacist, was born in 1796. He married Mary Ann McKim and Lucy Semple, as you say.

But the Christopher Bennett Fleet who married Joanne Bagby ("Nannie") Ryland was born 28 Oct 1845. One of their children was Christopher Browne Fleet.

Charles Browne Fleet is on our chart as the spouse of Emma Burruss, who was descendant of Joseph Ryland (1716-1772) who is supposedly the original Ryland emigrant to Virginia. They had two sons named Charles who died very young. One of them was Charles Bennett Fleet.

I can't figure out whether you are among the descendants of Joseph Ryland. I think probably not through the Fleets, but maybe if you also relate to the Pendletons. . . .

Cheers! -- Walter
Admin, Ryland List/Boards on RootsWeb

Walter,
I agree heartily; it is confusing when names keep repeating, from generation to generation and between families that intermarried as much as did the Fleets, Bagbys and Rylands.
I think you have it just right. To my knowledge, I am not directly related to any Rylands. My line goes from 3great-grandfather, Dr. Christopher Bennett Fleet (1796-1845) to his son by Mary Ann McKim, Dr. William Theophilus Fleet (1821-1899). Dr. William Theophilus who married Maria Susan Bagby, was a half-brother to Charles Browne Fleet (1843-1916 - son of Lucy Ann Semple and Dr. Christopher Bennett Fleet.) Dr. William T. and Maria Susan Fleet lived at "Erin" in King and Queen County.
My great-grandfather, William Hamilton Fleet (1854-1920) married Nellie I. Shepard and became a prosperous importer of furs in New York City after moving north in the mid-1870s. His son, William Hamilton Theophilus Fleet (1888-1943) carried on the family business. My mother, Shirley Heath Fleet Jackson, is his daughter.
With all due respect to Eric Fleet, his website is not particularly accurate regarding the details of my line of Fleets.

I have found Dr. Bathurst Browne Bagby's "Recollections" published by the Tidewater Review, West Point, VA, 1950 to be most helpful in sorting our Fleets and Bagbys. I have also relied heavily on Beverley Fleet' s excellent Virginia Colonial Abstracts, not to mention Betsy Fleet's "Green Mount" volumes

Charles Brown and his wife Priscilla Brooke of MD had Bennett Browne (who migrated to Essex Co., VA and married Mary Hill, a daughter of Leonard Hill, in 1775). Bennett and Mary (Hill) Browne's daughter Sarah Browne married William Christopher Fleet (he had previously been married to a Miss Tomlin, apparently), and some "Fleet descendants" of this couple had "Bennett" and/or "Brown/Browne" as a given first or middle name. Bennett Browne (died around the late-1780s in Essex Co., VA and left a will) received his given name because Pricilla Brooke's grandaunt (a Miss Neale) married Richard Bennett, Jr., who was a son of Colonial Governor Richard Bennett, Sr. of Virginia.

It appears that a sister of William Christopher Fleet named Ann Nancy Fleet married Christopher Tompkins. Their apparent daughter Ann Fleet Tompkins married Charles Browne, and Charles (born 1777) was apparently the known son with that given name of Bennett and Mary (Hill) Browne. This Charles Browne fathered a son named Christopher Tompkins Browne/Brown, and Christopher married a Juliet Garnett. One of Christopher's children was named Ann Temple Nannie Brown. The name "Temple" apparently came from the Ann Temple who was one of the two wives of William Fleet, Jr., who was a son of William Fleet, Sr, and his wife Sarah Ann Jones. The other wife of William Fleet, Jr. was Susannah Walker.

Comments/questions?