March 1732, Maryland

Mattawoman Creek, off the Upper Potomac

March 29, 1732- A land transfer involving my fifth great granduncle, George Hardy:

Enrolled at request of George Hardy 29 Mar 1732:
Indenture, 29 Mar 1732; Between Ignatius Gardner, planter, and George Hardy, planter; for £70 and 2300# tobacco; a tract called Gardner's Meadow on Mattawoman main branch; bounded by land of Jeremiah Suell called Convenience and land taken up by James Gambell now belonging to Gabriel Burnham, Jr. in right of his wife; containing 266 acres; also part of a tract called Refuse on Tinker's Branch; containing 200 acres; /s/ Ignatius Gardner; wit. John Beall, Jr., Peter Dent; ack. 29 Mar 17 by Ignatius Gardner and Anne his wife
Prince George's Land Records 1730-1733 - Liber Q, Page 426.

Mattawoman appears on Capt. John Smith’s circa-1608 map as Mataughquamend, an Algonquian compound translated as “where one goes pleasantly.”
Mattawoman Creek was named for the Mattawoman Indians who had a fort and town in this locality.They were one of many sub-tribes of the Piscataway-Conoy culture that had been predominant in what is now Southern Maryland. Hunters and fishermen for the most part, the Mattawomans and their fellow Piscataways had a similar culture to other groups in the region—the Delawares, Nanticokes and Powhatans, for instance—and they spoke a dialect of the widespread Algonquian language. Like their neighbors, they also had frequent run-ins with tribes from the north, specifically the Susquehannocks, Iroquois and Senecas. And in the late 17th-century, it was one of these conflicts that brought the Mattawomans' demise—helped along, no doubt, by the insults of the European invasion, namely smallpox.
In 1670, Governor Charles Calvert presented to the Mattawoman king, Maquata, a medal with the likeness of his father, Cecilius, second Lord Baltimore, on one side and a map of Maryland on the other.

Related articles

• 1732, Maryland (wildrhodes.blogspot.com)
• Captain John Smith (time.com)