My 7X-great grandfather, Henry Childs, was born in Amersham, a village in Hertfordshire (now Buckinghamshire), just north of London, in 1652, just about the time that Anne Arundel County was founded in the Province of Maryland.
In 1671, in Hertfordshire, he married Ann Ball, the daughter of Henry Ball, in a Quaker ceremony, and proceeded to raise a family of ten children with her, (including my 6X-great grandmother, Mary Childs, who married Richard Lewin in 1705 at the West River Meeting of Friends).
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| Henry Child Marriage Bond 1671 |
By 1672, Quakers were harassed and persecuted in England and looked for more favorable reception in the New World. George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, personally opened the first general meeting of all Friends in the Province of Maryland at West River in Anne Arundel County. The Old Quaker Burying Ground still stands in West River as testament to the strong Quaker influence in the region. The list of prominent Quakers and the 17th-century founders of Anne Arundel County are virtually identical: Chew, Galloway, Harrison, Thomas, Birkhead, Johns. (And by the way, our elusive relative,
Benjamin Scrivener, Sheriff of Anne Arundel County, was apparently also a Quaker in the 1680's.)
Henry Childs was a Quaker and a well-known writer and speaker among the Friends and was a close friend of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. In 1681 and again in 1687, Henry purchased 500 acres of land in Pennsylvania from his friend William Penn, a total of 1000 acres in the Bucks County area. Accompanied by his young son, Cephas, Henry came to Pennsylvania in 1693 and placed his son with a family in Philadelphia where he learned the carpenter's trade. Henry then returned to England. Several loving letters from Henry to Cephas still survive.
1738 letter from Henry Child to his son Cephas, from Herring Creek in Anne Arundel County, Maryland:
Ye22d of 3 mo., 1738.
Dear Child: — I thought I might have had a line from thee by some at our yearly meeting. I should be glad to hear what family thou hast, and how things prosper with thee. I desire thou mayest seek the Lord above all, that His wisdom may guide thee in all thy undertakings, that His name and truth may be honored by thee, that His blessings and mercies may be with thee, through the great mercy of the Lord. I and my family are in health, and thy sisters and their families. I gave thee account of thy brother's departure† in my last letter to thee; so with love to thee and thy wife and friends, in the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ, I rest thy loving father,
HENRY CHILD
Henry's wife Ann died in England in 1696. In 1702, Henry Child, "lately from England," presented a certificate to the West River Meeting for himself and "divers of his children," showing unity with the Friends. In 1715, about the time of Cephas' marriage, Henry gave the Pennsylvania property to his son Cephas. After moving to Anne Arundel County, Henry bought several properties including 100 acres of "Smithfield," 50 acres of "Sanetly," and "Smith's Delight." Henry Childs wrote his will in 1731, naming his sons Henry and Cephas and daughters Sarah, Ruth, and Rachel as well as several grandchildren. He died in Anne Arundel County in 1740.
The Childs family prospered in Anne Arundel County. So much so that the name Henry Childs proliferated, sometimes to the point of confusion. It seemed that every descendant of Henry wanted to honor Grandfather Childs with a namesake. At some points, it was essential that anyone named Henry Childs in Anne Arundel County had to have a second identifier in order to know which one was meant, such as "Henry Childs of Samuel".
First of all, Henry had a son, Henry Childs Jr. born 25 October 1684 in England. Henry Jr. married Margaret Preston, the daughter of John and Mary Preston of Anne Arundel County MD in 1709 at the West River Friends Meeting. Henry Childs Jr. predeceased his father, dying in Anne Arundel County in 1736.
Henry and Margaret had a son Henry Childs III in 1721.
Henry Childs III married Jemima Pottenger, the daughter of Samuel Pottenger and Elizabeth Tyler of Prince George's County MD about 1743.
Jemima and Henry had a son Henry Childs IV ca. 1760.
But that was not all the Henrys.
1730: Henry Childs, the son of John and Sarah Childs.
1750: Henry Childs, the son of Cephas and Susanna Childs. This Henry married into the Scrivener family, Mary in 1770 and Sarah in 1771.
1772: Henry Childs, the son of Samuel and Sarah Childs.
1786: Henry Childs, the son of Cephas Childs and Ann Welsh.
1797: Henry Childs, son of Joseph Childs and Eleanor Soper.
1800: Henry Childs, the son of William Childs and Mary Willett.
Plus a few more Henry Childses from the family of Cephas up in Pennsylvania.
And it doesn't stop there, because a lot of daughters also wanted to name their sons for Grandfather Henry.
1748: Elizabeth Childs, the daughter of Henry and Margaret, married John Sanders and named her son Henry Childs Sanders.
1780: Elizabeth Childs, the daughter of Henry and Jemima Childs, married Jonathan Simmons and named her son Henry Childs Simmons.
ca. 1780: William Drury and Elizabeth Ijams named their son Henry Childs Drury.
I have not yet come across a Henry Childs Scrivener, but it could still be possible.
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