December 27th

December 27, 2009- Happy Birthday to my son, Michael Saul, born December 27, 1972.

Also on this Date:

December 27, 1636-  Elizabeth Baset born in Wales. (Elizabeth is Michael's 9th great grandmother.)

December 27, 1762- Valentine Miller is born to Christian and Mary Miller in Neersville, Loudoun County, Virginia. (Valentine Miller is Michael's 5th great grandfather.)

December 27, 1785- Elizabeth Knott is born to John Basil Knott and Mary Drury Knott in Maryland. (Elizabeth Knott is Michael's 4th great grandmother.)

December 27, 1858- Sebastian Worland dies in Liberty Township, Shelby County, Indiana. (Sebastian Worland is the 3rd great grandfather of Michael Saul.)

1739 Maryland

August 21, 1739- Deed of Gift. Recorded Aug 21, 1739. I, Sarah Robey of Charles County, hereby make over to William Robey, son of Benjamin Robey of Charles County, planter (after my death) 1 feather bed and furniture, 1 silk rug, 1 blanket, and 1 pair of sheets, together with a bedstead and hide and cord. And also I hereby make over to Victoria Robey, daughter of the above mentioned Benjamin Robey, 1 4-gallon pot and pot hooks after my death. Signed Aug 18, 1739 - Sarah (H her mark) Robey. Wit - Walter Hanson, Thomas Troughear, John Hanson Jr.

(Sarah Hines Luckett is my 6th great grandmother, she was the wife of John Robey II. Benjamin Robey was their son, and William and Victoria were their grandchildren.
John Hanson Jr. was Sarah's half-brother. Walter was her nephew.)

Charles County Revisited (Images of America)

1739 Pennsylvania

1739- Joseph Burson and wife Mary Rachel Potts move to Buckingham in Plumstead Township, Buck's County, Pennsylvania, where they reside for 12 years.
(Mary Rachel Potts is my 6th great grand aunt.)

1740 To the Inhabitants of Maryland, Virginia...Concerning their Negroes

REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD To the Inhabitants of Maryland, Virginia, North and South-Carolina,  Concerning their Negroes.

I must inform you in the meekness and Gentleness of Christ that I think God has a Quarrel with you for your Abuse of and Cruelty to the poor Negroes. Whether it be lawful for Christians to buy Slaves, and thereby encourage the Nations from whom they are bought to be at perpetual War with each other, I shall not take upon me to determine. Sure I am it is sinful, when bought, to use them as bad, nay worse, than as though they were Brutes, and whatever particular Exceptions there may be (as I would charitably hope there are some) I fear the Generality of you that own Negroes are liable to such a Charge; for your Slaves, I believe, work as hard if not harder than the Horses whereon you ride. . . .

 . . [God] does not reject the Prayer of the poor and destitute, nor disregard the Cry of the meanest Negroes! The Blood of them spilt for these many Years in your respective Provinces will ascend up to Heaven against you. I wish I could say it would speak better Things than the Blood of Abel. But this is not all ⎯ Enslaving or misusing their Bodies would, comparatively speaking, be an inconsiderable Evil, was proper Care taken of their Souls. But I have great reason to believe that most of you, on Purpose, keep your Negroes ignorant of Christianity; or otherwise, why are they permitted thro’ your provinces openly to profane the Lord’s Day by their Dancing, Piping and such like? I know the general Pretense for this Neglect of their Souls is That teaching them Christianity would make them proud, and consequently unwilling to submit to Slavery: But what a dreadful Reflection is this in your Holy Religion? What blasphemous Notions must those that make such an Objection have of the Precepts of Christianity? . .

But I challenge the whole World to produce a single Instance of a Negro’s being made a thorough Christian, and thereby made a worse Servant. It cannot be. ⎯ But farther, if teaching Slaves Christianity has such a bad Influence upon their Lives, why are you generally desirous of having your Children taught? Think you they are any way better by Nature than the poor Negroes? No, in no wise. Blacks are just as much, and no more, conceived and born in Sin, as White Men are. Both, if born and bred up here, I am persuaded, are naturally capable of the same Improvement. ⎯ And as for the grown Negroes, I am apt to think, whenever the Gospel is preach’d with Power amongst them, that many will be brought effectually home to God.

1740 Pennsylvania

1740- Jonathan Conard born to Anthony Conard and Sarah Hatfield in Germantown, Pennsylvania.

(Jonathan Conard is my 5th great grand uncle.)

1740- The Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania petition colonial officials to address the "Great Wrong We Receive in Our Lands" by the Walking Purchase of 1737 that had tricked them into ceding more land than they had anticipated.


The descendants of John Conard of Loudoun county, Virginia,

1740 Maryland

1740- Joseph Newton, son of Clement Newton, born in St. Mary's, Maryland.

(Joseph Newton is my 4th great grand uncle.)

William Hardy, paternal grandfather of Verlinda Hardy, dies in Prince George's County, Maryland.

(William Hardy is my 5th great grandfather.)

Will of William Hardy

Hardey, William, planter, Prince George's Co., 8th Aug., 1740; 16th Aug., 1740.
To sons George, ex., Benjamin, Solomon, William, Henry, daus. Rachel, Elizabeth and Mary Ann, entire estate.
Testator desires that George take 4 young. child, under his care.
Mary Ann to be raised by Elizabeth Hogging.
William to be of age at testator's death.

Overseers: Bro. George and Peter Hogging.
Test: William Hardey, George Hardey, Ann Burgess. 22. 222.

Another Family Document: Charles County, Maryland

Charles County Land Records, 1733-1743; Book O#2, Page 466.
At the request of Sarah Robey of Charles County, widow, the following deed was recorded this Aug 18, 1740.
 We, the undersigned subscribers, for the natural love we have for our mother, Sarah Robey, widow, and for sundry other good causes, do give our part of the goods and chattels which fell to us by the death of our brother, Peter Roby, late of Charles County, deceased, to said Sarah Roby, widow, after his debts are paid by the administrator. Signed Dec 22, 1738 - John Roby Sr, Richard Roby, Elizabeth Henley, Jno (IW his mark) Warnall, Ralph Roby, Thomas Roby, Saml (+ his mark) Roby, William Roby, Geo: Gibbens, Michael Hinds (M his mark) Roby.

(Sarah Hines Luckett, wife of John Robey II, is my 6th great grandmother.)


A Primary Source History of the Colony of Maryland (Primary Sources of the Thirteen Colonies and the Lost Colony)

1740 Virginia

March 5, 1740- Elizabeth Potts born to David Potts and Ann Roberts in Loudoun County, Virginia.

(Elizabeth Potts is my 5th great grandmother.)

1741 Maryland

1741- Thomas Newton, Sr., dies in St. Mary's County, Maryland.

(Thomas Newton is my 6th great grandfather.)

December 6, 1741-

Thomas Newton, Senior. Nuncupative Will:

The Last Will of Thomas Newton, St. Mary's County SS December ye 6th 1741:

Then came James Brown, and Lidia Raley and made Oath On the holy Evangels of Almighty God that they heard Thomas Newton Senor the fourteenth Day of this instant December Lying then very sick and sick as to die who departed this life the fifth of this instant, say and declare that he gave to his son Thomas Newton all his wearing Cloaths and six hundred pounds of Tobacco, and to Elanor Leake he gave one Bed and furniture, and to his grand son Joseph Newton one white heffer and to his Grandson Clement Newton one heffer and his Daughter in Law Elizabeth Newton two hundred pounds of Tobacco due to him from Walter Davis or thirteen yards and halfe of fine White Linen in his Chist, and to his wife, Catherine Newton, two hundred and twenty pound of Tobacco, due him from the widow Hesler and her sons Excepting thirty of said Tobacco he gave to John Henning and to his wife Catherine and his son Clement he gave one Young horse between them ~~~ The Day and year above Said came James Brown and Ledia Raley and made Oath on the holy Evangels of Almighty God that they heard the said Thomas Newton Declare the foregoing as his Last Will, and at the time of his sodoing he was to the best of their knowledge, and apprehension of sound, and disposing mind and memory Sworn to before me~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tho Aisquith Depty Comiss ry of St. Marys County
The Deceased Widow has made her Election, and Takes her thirds
Certified by me Tho: Aisquith Depty Comissry of St Marys Coty


1741- Rachel Livers, mother of Verlinda Hardy, born to Arnold Livers and Mary Anne Drane in Prince George's County, Maryland.

(Rachel Livers is my 4th great grandmother.)



Maryland Calendar of Wills 1738-1743

Is this my Great Grandmother?

I recently recieved this picture from a distant cousin, Jerry Sanner. He believes that it was taken in 1909, and that the central seated figure may be my great grandmother, Estella Lucinda Randall.

He has tentatively identified the individuals as (L-R):

• Chris Johnston b. 1897 age 12, This would be the younger brother of my grandmother, Rosella Johnston, and the son of Estella and her first husband, Aaron C. Johnston.
• Reuben Hower b. 1858 age 50/52 (he d. in 1919), this would be Estella's second husband.
• Estella (Randall) [Johnson] Hower b. 1866 age 42 (she died in 1916), my great grandmother.
• Clarabelle (Johnston) Byzewski b. 1886 age 22, my grandmother's older sister.
• Margaret Hower b. 1906 age 2.5, my grandmother's young half-sister.
• Joseph Byzewski, husband to Clarabelle.

Rosella would not appear as she had married Alfred Leslie Worland in 1908.
Any help verifying this photo would be greatly appreciated. The family lived in Minnesota.

1742 Maryland

1742- A son, Clement Newton, is born to Clement Newton in St. Mary's, Maryland.

(Clement Newton is my 4th great grand uncle.)

Thomas Newton marries Susannah Howard in St. Mary's, Maryland.

(Thomas Newton is my 5th great grand uncle.)

1742 RENT ROLL - 1642-1753 Rent Rolls Charles County MD Hundred - Piccawaxen or William & Mary: Rent Roll page/Sequence: 457-538: ROBYS RANGE: 256 acres; Possession of - 256 Acres - Robey, Thomas: Originally so called, Re-surveyed for Thomas Roby, 31 Aug 1742, beginning at a bounded white oak standing ona a ["] of a hill in the plantation of John Worland, the beginning of said tract.

(John Worland III is my 4th great grandfather. Thomas Robey and John Worland III were 1st cousins. Their common ancestors are John Robey II and Sarah Hines Luckett. Thomas Robey and I are 1st cousins 6 times removed.)

Mary Ann Drane, wife of Arnold Livers, dies in Frederick's County, Maryland.

(Mary Ann Drane is my 5th great grandmother.)

1742 Pennsylvania

1742- Elizabeth Conard is born to Anthony Conard and Sarah Hatfield in Gwynedd Township, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

(Elizabeth Conard is my 5th great grand aunt.)

1742 Bavaria, Germany

January 12, 1742- Mary Catherine Ernst is born in Bavaria, Germany.

(Mary Catherine Ernst is my 4th great grandmother.)

1743 Maryland

1743- Arnold Newton is born to Thomas Newton and Susannah Howard in St. Mary's, Maryland.

(Arnold Newton and I are 1st cousins 6 times removed. Our common ancestors are Katherine and Thomas Newton.)

1743 Pennsylvania

January 8, 1743- Ezekial Potts is born to David Potts and Ann Roberts in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He would serve as a private in the 5th Virginia Regiment in 1776.

(Ezekiel Potts is my 5th great grand uncle.)

1744 Words of an Onondaga Chief

You who are so wise must know that different nations have different conception of things. You will not therefore take it amiss if our ideas of the white man's kind of education happens not to be the same as yours. We have had some experience of it.

Several of our young people were brought up in your colleges. They were instructed in all your sciences; but, when they came back to us, they were all bad runners, ignorant of every means of living in the woods, unable to bear either cold or hunger. They didn't know how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy. They spoke our language imperfectly.

They were therefore unfit to be hunters, warriors, or counsellors; they were good for nothing.
We are, however, not the less obliged for your kind offer, though we decline accepting it. To show our gratefulness, if the gentleman of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we will take great care with their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them.

Canassatego - Treaty of Lancaster

Lancaster Treaty of 1744

June 1744- Native-American chiefs of the Six Nations relinquish by treaty all claims to land in Maryland colony. Assembly purchases last Indian land claims in Maryland.

Lancaster, June 29, 1744

 Chief Canassatego spoke as follows:

Brethren,

YESTERDAY you spoke to us concerning the Lands on this Side Potowmack River, and as we have deliberately considered what you said to us on that Matter, we are now very ready to settle the Bounds of such Lands, and release our Right and Claim thereto.


WE are willing to renounce all Right to Lord Baltimore of all those Lands lying two Miles above the uppermost Fort of Potowmack or Cohongoruton River, near which Thomas Cressap has a hunting or trading Cabin, by a Northline, to the Bounds of Pennsylvania. But in case such Limits shall not include every Settlement or Inhabitant of Maryland, then such other Lines and Courses, from the said two Miles above the Forks, to the outermost Inhabitants or Settlements, as shall include every Settlement and Inhabitant in Maryland, and from thence, by a North-line, to the Bounds of Pennsylvania, shall be the Limits. And further, If any People already have, or shall settle beyond the Lands now described and bounded, they shall enjoy the same free from any Disturbance whatever, and we do, and shall accept these People for our Brethren, and as such always treat them.


WE earnestly desire to live with you as Brethren, and hope you will show us all Brotherly Kindness; in Token whereof, we present you with a Belt of Wampum.


In payment, the Iroquois Nation received: Four Pieces of Strowds, Two Hundred Shirts, Three Pieces Half-Thicks, Three Pieces Duffle Blankets, Forty Seven Guns, One Pound Vermillion, One Thousand Flints, Four Dozen Jews Harps, One Dozen Boxes, One Hundred Two Quarters Bar-Lead, Two Quarters Shot, and Two Half Barrels of Gun-Powder.

"We know our lands have now become more valuable. The white people think we do not know their value; but we know that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone."
-Canassatego


The proceedings of the treaty can be read here, Lancaster Treaty. It is fascinating reading as you watch the cultures collide.

1744 Maryland

June 15, 1744- Frances Decalus Drury is born to John Drury and Susannah Hayden in St. Mary's, Maryland.

(Frances Decalus Drury is my 4th great grand aunt.)

1744- Anne Newton, daughter of Clement Newton, is born in St. Mary's, Maryland.

(Anne Newton is my 4th great grand aunt.)

1744- John Worland III marries in Charles County, Maryland. This could have been his marriage to Rebecca, although other sources claim this marriage was to another unnamed first spouse.

(John Worland III is my 4th great grandfather.)

1744- John Knott marries Elizabeth Skeen in St. Mary's, Maryland.

(John Knott is my 5th great grandfather.)

1744 Pennsylvania

1744- Elizabeth Thomas is born in Germantown, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

1745 Virginia

1745- Mary Russell is born in Hillsborough, Virginia.

(Mary Russell is my 5th great grandmother.)

1745- Fairfax Monthly Meeting of Friends is established.

The Friends Meeting took the name Fairfax in 1745, honoring the county it was in at the time, though Loudoun County would be carved out of Fairfax 12 years later.


Meetings for worship could be held anywhere and were often held in members homes. They might be called indulged meetings or particular meetings. They were usually held on First-days (first day of the week) and sometimes one was held during the week. No preacher or leader was used, as the oral ministry of any member could be given. Sometimes the entire meeting was given over to the silent communion of worship.

Monthly Meetings were business meetings where official records were kept of births, deaths, and marriages, and of the work of committees who were charged with the welfare of the membership. There were separate monthly meetings for men and women. While Quakers gave women much more equal status than was usual in the early days of America - the men's meetings took care of Quaker business in their interaction with the outside world, while the women's meetings had the task of maintaining discipline within the ranks of the female members of the Quakers. Meetings were presided over by Elders, assisted by Overseers who had oversight of such things as taking care of the needy. Quaker ministers had a calling from God and were often called to travel so they did not preside over meetings. Elders actually had oversight over ministers that they did not overstep the bounds of proper Quaker behavior. The traveling ministers fulfilled somewhat the same function as traveling minstrels in Europe in that they were also carriers of news.