John Stith

This article is about the Virginia colonist. For the science fiction writer, see John E. Stith.

John Stith (fl. 1656–1691) was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and the progenitor of the Stith family, one of the first families of Virginia.

Stith ancestors were likely from the area of Kirkham in Lancashire, England. Stith settled in Charles City County, Virginia sometime after coming to the colony sometime before 1656. He was a merchant, an attorney, and a justice of the peace, and served in the militia as a lieutenant (1656), a captain (1676), and a major (1680). In 1691, Stith was the high sheriff of Charles City County. During Bacon's Rebellion of 1676, Stith was a supporter of Sir William Berkeley.

Stith married Jane Parsons, the widow of Joseph Parsons, and had at least three children:

• John Stith² married Mary Randolph, the daughter of William Randolph, and had three children: William, John³, and Mary. William Stith married Judith Randolph, his first cousin and the daughter of Thomas Randolph (of Tuckahoe), and was the third president of the College of William & Mary. John Stith³ was the great-great-grandfather of Brigadier General of the Confederate States Army Junius Daniel and the great-great-great-grandfather of Armistead C. Gordon. Mary Stith married William Dawson, the second president of the College of William & Mary, and had two children including John Dawson, the father of Congressman William Johnston Dawson.
• Drury Stith married Susannah Bathurst and had at least two children.
• Anne Stith married Robert Bolling (whose first wife, Jane Rolfe, was the granddaughter of Pocahontas) in 1681 and had at least seven children.