#52 Ancestors 2024 Week 7 Immigration: Part 2 Immigrant Ancestors Maternal Line

 

In this blog, I am continuing to look at my immigrant ancestors, this time focusing on those from my mother's family. 

1.  Summers

The immigrant ancestor of my Summers family was John Summers, my 7x-great grandfather, who was transported to Maryland from England in 1671.  That probably puts his birth about 1650. By 1672, he was paying ground rent on 120 acres of land called "Pitchcroft" in Calvert County (now Prince George's County), Maryland. A few years later, he married Rebecca (possibly a Dent) and had three children with her: William, John (my 6x-great grandfather), and Sarah. In 1680, John claimed 50 acres of land, having completed his indentured service. John Summers died in Prince George's County MD in November 1705, leaving his estate to his wife, Rebecca and naming his three children in the will. 

2. Gwynn

The immigrant ancestor of this line may have been Hooper Gwynn, my 5x-great grandfather on both my paternal and maternal lines.  He is as far back as I have been able to trace this line.  He was in Prince George's County MD in the 1730's as a School Master and Court Scrivener, indicating that he was an educated man. A man of this name married in Yorkshire, England in 1725.  It's an uncommon name and odds are it is the same person or at least a close relative, but I really can't be sure if the man was born in England (or Wales, since Gwynn is definitely of Welsh origin) or was born in Maryland to immigrant parents.  Hooper Gwinn died in Fairfax County VA about 1759.  He had one son that can be documented: Bennett Gwynn, my 4x-great grandfather on both sides of my family. I have written more about Hooper and the Gwynns here. (With thanks to Effie Gwynn Bowie, Across the Years in Prince George's County.)

3. Hill

The immigrant ancestor of my Hill family was Clement Hill, Jr., my 6x-great grandfather, born 24 February 1670 at Compton Bassett, Wiltshire, England. He came to Maryland in 1693 and stayed with his uncle, Clement Hill Sr., who was a prominent figure in the Province, a member of the Lower House of the Assembly and a member of the Privy Council. In 1696, Clement Hill Jr. married Ann Darnall, the daughter of Col. Henry Darnall. In 1699, he purchased 748 acres of land in Prince George's County MD on the west side of the Patuxent River and built his home there, which he named Compton Bassett, after his home in England. Clement Hill Jr. was the Surveyor General of Maryland. Clement and Ann Hill had five children, including my 5x-great grandfather, Henry Darnall Hill.  Clement Hill died in Prince George's County MD in August 1743. (With thanks to Effie Gwynn Bowie. Across the Years in Prince George's County, Maryland.)

4. Childs

The immigrant ancestor of my Childs line was Henry Childs, my 7x-great grandfather, about whom I have previously written. Henry was born in Amersham, Hertfordshire, England about 1652. He married Ann Ball in 1671 and had ten children with her: Benjamin, Sarah, Mary, Ann, Henry Jr. (my 6x-great grandfather), Ruth, Rachel, Cephas, John, and William.  In 1687, Henry purchased 500 acres of land from William Penn, a fellow Quaker, land which he later gave to his son, Cephas. Henry moved to West River, Anne Arundel County MD where he and his family joined the local Friends Meeting. He died in Anne Arundel County in 1740, leaving his various properties to his children. 

5.  Sasscer

According to family tradition, the Sasscers came from France, but other sources say the Sassers originated in Westphalia/Saxony/Germany and migrated to England after the Norman Conquest in 1066.  The earliest person I have found in my line of Sasscers is Roger John Sarcer/Sasser/Sasscer, my 6x-great grandfather, who may or may not have emigrated from Europe.  A Benjamin Sawcer was found on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 1671, but I do not know how or if he is connected to Roger.  Roger John Sasser purchased 300 acres of land in Prince George's County MD called "Sarcer's Green" in 1713, so he was probably born in the late 1600's. He later settled near what is now Brandywine, where he purchased additional land. In 1737, Roger deeded "Sasser's Green" to his son John, my 5x-great grandfather. Roger died in Prince George's County MD in 1752.  (With thanks to Lieze Sasscer Moffett, The Sasscer Family of Maryland.)

6.  Gibbons

The earliest Gibbons ancestor I have found is Thomas Gibbons, my 6x-great grandfather.  Thomas, age 14, was in Charles County MD in 1685 when he was presented in court as a servant to William Barton.  So Thomas was born about 1671.  He may have been born in Maryland, or transported to Maryland by William Barton as an indentured servant.  By 1697, Thomas, a planter, was in Prince George's County MD and purchased 100 acres of "Barton's Hope" from William Barton. In 1704, he made further purchases of "Smith's Green" and "Brookefield" in Prince George's County. By that year, Thomas had married Elizabeth (MNU, but possibly Turner). Thomas and Elizabeth had children: George, Turner (my 5x-great grandfather), Christiana (who married my 5x-great grandfather, John Sasscer), and Thomas. Thomas Gibbons died in Prince George's County in 1711, leaving his various properties to his children. 

7. Wallis

The probable immigrant ancestor of my Wallis line is Henry Wallis, my 8X-great grandfather, born about 1650 in England or Scotland. About 1685, Henry petitioned the Lord Proprietor to obtain title to the tract "Boothbies Fortune" in Kent County MD. He probably died in Kent County MD, or he may have gone back to England.  Unfortunately, no other record has been found for Henry.  Henry's son Samuel Wallis, my 7x-great grandfather, was possibly born in England or Scotland and was said to have come to Maryland about 1700 along with William Comegys, another of my 8x-great grandfathers. Samuel married Anne, the widow of William Pearce in 1703/4 in Cecil County MD. He died in Kent County MD about May 1724 and his estate was administered by his wife, Anne. Samuel was an Episcopalian and longtime vestryman of Shrewsbury Parish.  He served in the lower house of the Maryland legislature and owned considerable property on the Eastern Shore, including Boothbies Fortune, presumably inherited from his father, Henry. He bought several properties jointly with William Comegys. Samuel and Anne had seven children, including my 6x-great grandfather, John Wallis. (With Thanks to Guy Wallis, The Wallis Family of Kent County, Maryland.)

8.  Willson

The immigrant ancestor of this Willson family was John Willson, my 7x-great grandfather, born 10 January 1690 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Willson came to Maryland in 1731 and settled on the Wye River at "Greenwood," along with his wife, Elizabeth, and young son Thomas. Willson was a staunch Catholic and engaged in many business dealings with his wealthy Catholic neighbor, Richard Bennett III, who was considered one of the richest men on the continent. Richard Bennett was godfather to Willson's son, Thomas Bennett Willson, and paid for his medical studies in Edinburgh, starting a line of four generations of doctors in the Willson family.  John Willson died in Queen Anne's County MD about 1728. (With thanks to Thomas Joseph Peterson. Catholics in Colonial Delmarva.)

This exercise has reminded me of the relative scarcity of documents for the 17th and early 18th centuries and how fortunate I am that Maryland has a fairly good collection of probate, court and land records from that period.

#52 Ancestors 2022 Week 24 Popular Name: Everywhere a Henry Childs

 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).

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.