Capt., navy rank Thomas HERBERT^{[1, 2, 3]}

c.1755 - 1799

• Name	Thomas HERBERT
  	Thomas came to be known as "Silverfist" due to the silver device that he wore in place of his left hand that had been lost, either as the result of an accident or in battle.
  Title	Capt., navy rank
  Prefix	Capt., navy rank
  Birth	c.1755	Virginia Colony
  Gender	Male
  intestate	Thomas died intestate.
  	No administration of his estate has been found in Norfolk County records.
  never married	Thomas never married and left no children.
  REVW	Virginia State Navy
  	He held the rank of captain in the Virginia State Navy by the end of the War.
  Death	1 May 1799	Portsmouth, Norfolk Co, VA   [4]
  	According to information presented on Revolutionary War Bounty Land Warrant claims submitted to the Virginia Land Office in 1833 and in 1854, Thomas died on 1 May 1799.
  Person ID	I620	mason
  Last Modified	22 Jul 2026

  
  

  Father	John HERBERT,   b. c. 1718, Norfolk Co, Virginia Colony d. 1761 (Age 43 years)
  Mother	Judith CURLE,   b. After 15 Feb 1721/2   d. 1779 (Age 56 years)
  Marriage	c. 1746  [2, 3, 5]
  	Capt. Thomas Herbert's Norfolk County will of 17 Jun 1749 named John and Judith's eldest child, Margaret and alluded to a second child in his son John's family that had been conceived, but had yet to be born. Using this knowledge and applying the generally accepted rule of thumb that prior to 1850 a couples's first child arrived within a year of marriage and subsequent births usually occured at two year intervals thereafter [the intervals grew slightly as a woman aged], John and Judith's marriage date may be estimated as c. 1746.
  Family ID	F45	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  1777 Now, Liberty went off to France under Thomas Herbert, The brig arrived in Nantes, unloaded 105 hogsheads of tobacco and 7,000 staves, and set out for some privateering in England's front yard. he took prizes, but he was maimed again in the process when one of his guns was dismounted by an enemy ball and broke his knee.

  
  

• Sources

  [S5392] Robert Armistead Stewart, Stewart, The History of Virginia's Navy of the Revolution, ((1934, Rpt. Baltimore, MD: GPC, Inc, 1993)), p. 201. [S4744] will / Herbert, Judith [dated 1779]. [S4745] Elizabeth City Co, VA [Loose] Wills Volumes 1-3 (Nos. 1-396), 1701-1859, item 119 & Deeds & Wills "E", 1758-1764, pp. 252-254. [S4668] Thomas Herbert file no. 62.852, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files, ((Washington: National Archives)). [S169] Charles Fleming McIntosh, compiler, McIntosh, Brief Abstracts of Norfolk County Wills 1710 - 1753, ((1922, Rpt. Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press, 1982)), pp. 227-228: Thomas Herbert will., ISBN 0-89308-324-0.