Thomas Deaton Sr. was born in 1679 in England.  Nineteen years later, in 1698, he married Mary
Corrington, and in 1701 he came to Virginia with a party of 21 other immigrants, leaving Mary
behind.  She arrived two years later.  Their passage to America was provided by the British
Crown.   Mr. Anthony Winston was granted 1,079 acres in Virginia for transporting Thomas and
his group, and Mr. Thomas Merriweather was granted 1,081 acres in return for bringing Mary and
21 other immigrants.

By 1736, Thomas and Mary were farming in Henrico County Virginia.  Thomas was listed in the
1760 Virginia Census in Bristol Parish of the same county, where he died in 1761.   These
references are found in Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia, Legal Patents and Grants.
One of the oldest political subdivisions in Virginia, Henrico was the scene of the second settlement
in the colony and was established in 1634 as one of the eight original shires or counties. Its first
boundaries incorporated an area from which 10 Virginia counties were later formed in whole or in
part, as well as the cities of Richmond, Charlottesville, and Colonial Heights. The county was
named for Henry, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of King James I of England.

Thomas and Mary had nine children, eight boys and one girl, all of whom were born in around the
present town of Deatonville, Virginia, in what later became Amelia County. Deatonville is East of
Farmville, Virginia on state road 616.  Farmville is located in central Virginia, approximately half
way between Lynchburg and Petersburg.