Let’s begin this journey by disproving Hugh Benson’s birth.

He might have been the Hugh Benson born on September 5, 1653 to William Benson in Yorkshire. The timeframe fits, and so does the location for Catholics.

Transcribed; “Hugh Benson, sone to Wm. Benson, the 4 of September.” The year, “53” is recorded at right.

This record is attached to many trees, but it’s incorrect. How do we know that?

Further digging in this church’s records reveals that this child, Hugh Benson, was buried on November 7, 1653, so this is NOT our Hugh Benson unless he came back to life.

And no, there were not multiple Hugh Bensons born to William Benson in this same church, at least not that are indexed.

This is a reminder about getting excited and failing to check further. A name and place does not a match make, no matter how much we want that to be the case. I ws very disappointed, to put it mildly.

There are other Hugh Bensons born about this time in England, but we don’t know which one, if any of those, is ours.

Arrival

The first record we can attribute to our Hugh Benson is his arrival in Maryland which would have taken between two and four months onboard a ship, assuming nothing went wrong.

We know Hugh Benson was transported into the colony of Maryland on February 16, 1671 by Thomas Notley. He was apparently one of 53 “adventurers” and was free by 1682. The fact that Notley describes them as “adventurers” tells us that they weren’t convicts, political prisoners, petty thieves, or perhaps even common indentured servants. Researcher Kent Walker believes that this shipload of men were handpicked by the Catholic gentry because they were known and trusted.

Many ships arrived at St. Clement’s Island at the entrance of St. Clement’s Bay, as did the first settlers in 1634. Blackistone Lighthouse marks the location, along with a cross, today marks the location in the St. Clement’s Island State Park.

While we don’t know the name of the ship that transported Hugh, the St. Mary’s Historic District created a full-sized working replica of the Dove, above, the smaller of two ships that arrived in March of 1634 with settlers, Jesuit missionaries, and indentured servants to establish what would become Maryland. The Calvert family was fulfilling their dream of establishing a safe haven for Catholics who were persecuted in England beginning in the mid-1500s during the rule of Henry VIII. Life as a Catholic became increasingly dangerous in the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

The larger ships looked something like this replica in Amsterdam

Confined on these ships for weeks, mostly below deck, sleeping like cordwood in rows of hammocks, passengers would have been anything but comfortable. I tried a hammock, and not only could I not get in, I barely got out. Let’s just say there was a lot of laughter.

I’m not even going to mention personal hygiene on these ships, because there wasn’t any.

If you were lucky, the water wasn’t contaminated, lasted the length of the voyage, and the food didn’t rot or become spoiled on the way.

Danger loomed everyplace.

The ships, the masts, something going wrong, weather, dysentery, typhoid, falling or being washed overboard, not to mention issues like chronic seasickness.

One had to really, REALLY want to make this journey, or maybe have no choice in the matter.

Some died, some traveled once and never again, but others make a life on the sea.

Thomas Notley, the man who transported Hugh Benson, was a Catholic planter, merchant, and attorney in St. Mary’s County. He was active as a Burgess beginning not long after his arrival in 1662. He lived in St. Clements Hundred, and in St. Mary’s City.

In 1663, Notley purchased 500 acres from Thomas Gerrard and then added another 1800 acres. He built Notley Hall, a manor about 2-3 miles south of what is today, Maddox, Maryland. This may well have been where Hugh Benson spent at least part, if not all of his indenture.

The archives of Maryland report that their council meetings on August 6, 1676 and January 1678 were held at Manahowick’s Neck, meaning Notley’s Manor. Hugh was likely there in 1676, as indentured servants weren’t generally freed for 7 years. During a full council meeting, Notley probably had all of his servants and enslaved people at the location where many people were gathered. Notley would have needed prodigious amounts of food, lodging, and personal services for his many guests.

You can get an idea of what this area looked like by viewing the photos from the Lower Notley Hall Farm event facility, here.

Notley died testate in 1679, with no children. In his estate, he had “11 male slaves, 8 female slaves, 2 male servants, 1 female servant, 10 undetermined slaves, 5 undetermined servants.”

Hugh Benson may have been one of those servants, depending on the length of time he had to serve for his transportation. The normal length of indentured servitude was 7 years, so he might have been freed in 1678. The length of time could have been more or less depending on the contract or specific circumstances.

Dr. Carr summarized her findings about Hugh in her work and reflects that Hugh was free by 1682.

What’s somewhat confusing is Hugh’s marriage and wife, Catherine, whose birth surname is unknown.

It wasn’t common practice for indentured men to marry before arrival. Indentured people generally weren’t allowed to marry during their servitude, either.

However, we know that Hugh had at least two children with his wife, Catherine, before his death in 1687.

Mary Benson was born to Hugh Benson and Catherine sometime after his 1671 immigration, probably between 1673 and 1680, in St. Clement’s Hundred.

It’s thanks to records relating to that daughter, Mary, that we know as much about Hugh Benson as we do.

St. Clement’s Hundred was defined as St. Clements Island and 5 miles into the mainland. St. Clements is where Thomas Notley lived as well as the colonial capital at St. Mary’s City.

This inset from a 1685 map shows the Pamunkey Indian land, Portabaco, Clements Bay and St. Clements Island, and then St. Marys City. Zachia Swamp, spelled Zachkia and noted by its Native name of Pamgayo played a huge role in the lives of the next generation of settlers.

What was going on at that time in Maryland, based on the few existing St. Clements manorial records?

September 1670 – We prsent That the Lord of the Mannor (Thomas Gerard) hath not provided a paire of Stocks, pillory, and Cucking Stoole. Ordered that these Instrumts of Justice be provided by the next Court by a generall contribution throughout the Manor

“Instruments of Justice”

Stocks and pillories were both installed in the public square.

Stocks, as opposed to the pillory, only restrained the legs, and while seated. Stocks were used as both punishment as well as restraint while the accused was awaiting trial. Often people were sentenced to more than a day confined in the stocks, so they would have to soil themselves.

Since part of the point was humiliation, passerbys were encouraged to do whatever came to mind. Fiendish boys would often remove the shoes of the person in the stocks and tickle their feet. Trash and other objects were thrown, and whipping occurred, sometimes to the bottoms of the bare feet.

These stocks remain in Belstone in Dartmoor, England, as a historical marker. Notice that there is no backrest.

A pillory restrains the hands and head while the victim is standing.

Here’s me in a replica pillory in Williamsburg.

Traditional pillories were often elevated on a platform for spectator sport and designed as a torture device. I couldn’t find any historical images that weren’t nauseating and I’m not going to describe what else was done to pilloried people. Humans can be unbelievably cruel and take such perverse pleasure in inflicting cruelty upon others, and watching. I’m amazed what crowds can be convinced to go along with sometimes.

I might be smiling in this photo, but trust me, no one who was there for more than about 5 minutes would have been smiling. If you relaxed your legs, you effectively hung yourself.

What offenses got you sentenced to time in the pillory in colonial America? Public intoxication, blasphemy, fortune telling, arson, and if you were enslaved, escaping or attempting to. The pillory was also a method of disabling someone while others abused, tortured, or murdered, them.

The third “instrument of justice,” the cuckolding stool was used to dunk offenders, primarily women, who were deemed disorderly or “too scoldy,” as indicated by this 1615 ballad:

Then was the Scold herself,
In a wheelbarrow brought,
Stripped naked to the smock,
As in that case she ought:
Neats tongues about her neck
Were hung in open show;
And thus unto the cucking stool
This famous scold did go.

Sadly, many women were immersed for so long that they drown. And yes, people watched for sport.

Eventually, dunking, with or without benefit of a chair, was a test for witchcraft. If you didn’t drown, you were deemed to be in league with the devil, and you were then killed. If you’re thinking to yourself that there was no “win” here, you’d be exactly right.

Yes, unfortunately, there were witchcraft trials in Maryland. Moll Dyer, who died about 1697, was reportedly chased from her home by local townspeople in the winter of 1697 in Leonard’s Town, Maryland, after being accused of witchcraft. It’s thought that Moll was actually a healer, but a flu epidemic during the winter of 1697 led to her being an easy mark for people looking for a scapegoat.

By Dougtone – https://www.flickr.com/photos/7327243@N05/8146403314/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97671645

Moll was found a few days later, dead, frozen to a stone, now named the Moll Dyer’s rock. The rock was rediscovered and transported to the courthouse square several years ago.

You could be a Catholic in Maryland, but don’t even think about being a healer or, Heaven forbid, being “scoldy” or talking back to your husband. So, I wonder if scolding people for not going to church was acceptable. And what about scoldy men?

I think if I lived in early Maryland, I might just get dunked for even asking those questions out loud.

Everyday Life

Reading the transcribed documents in the Maryland archives is quite interesting, not just for witches, but to understand the drumbeat of everyday life.

For example, an October 28, 1672 list of residents, leaseholders, and freeholders shows within St. Clement’s Manor shows Thomas Notley, but not Hugh Benson, which of course, means that Hugh was a servant.

Citizens were mentioned or reprimanded for a variety of offenses in St. Clement’s Hundred, including

• keeping a tippling house
• a man’s dogs injuring another man’s hogs
• creating an affray and shedding blood
• annoying another by keeping hogs, a mare and foal
• selling drink without a license at unlawful rates
• reporting a stray horse
• not showing up for court
• unlawfully cutting timber
• killing a hogg but not sharing with the “lord of the manor”

The next peek we get into the life of Hugh Benson is in 1682, nearly a dozen years after his arrival, when his unnamed daughter is mentioned in the will of Collins Mackenzie.

The Maryland Calendar of wills provides us with this tantalizing tidbit.

Who was Collins Mackenzie, and why did he leave something to the unnamed daughter of Hugh Benson? That daughter had to be quite young. Is there a relationship with either Hugh or his wife, Catherine?

Whatever he left Benson’s daughter had to be tangible, because in Collin’s estate payments, nothing was paid to either Benson or Trench, which, it turns out, was actually James French who was also transported by Notley and indentured to Luke Gardiner on St. Clement’s Island.

There’s Richard Gardner, spelled elsewhere as Gardiner, again.

Because Mackenzie didn’t name a daughter, this also suggests that Hugh Benson only had one daughter, but since it was a nuncupative (spoken) will, he could simply have been very ill and near death.

If that unnamed daughter is Mary Benson, and we have to assume it is, she married Bowling Speake (of Charles County, MD) sometime in the early 1790s and they purchased land from the Gardiner family. How are these families interlaced?

According to a 1741 lawsuit, Richard Gardiner sold land to Hugh Benson of St. Mary’s County, MD, sometime after 1681.

Your Committee further find that the said Richard Crackborne by his Deed bearing date the 17th day of November 1681 did Bargain and Sell the said Tract of Land to Richard Gardiner of Saint Marys County in Fee Your Committee also find that Richard Gardiner and Elizabeth his Wife of St. Marys County aforesaid did Convey to Hugh Benson of the same County Planter 100 Acres Part of the said Tract in Fee [p. 273]

The following paragraph states the location.

Your Committee likewise find that Mary Speake is the reputed Daughter and Heiress at Law of Hugh Benson and that she intermarried (as it is said) with Bowling Speak of Charles County and that the said Bowling Speak and the said Mary his Wife, by their deed Bearing date the 31st of March 1739 did Convey the said Parcell of Land unto the Petitioner Thomas [Spalding] in Fee All which deeds appear to Your Committee to be duly Executed Your Committee further find by the Information of W James Swann a Member of your House that the Land called Crackbornes Purchase mentioned by the Petitioners to be Granted is of greater Value than that Part of the Land the Petitioners pray to be enabled to dispose of called Seamour Town or known by the name of Leonards Town.

Leonard’s Town, now Leonardtown, was part way between Notley Hall and St Mary’s City, so located just about perfectly. Given that Hugh Benson was Thomas Notley’s servant, he probably traveled this route many times between Notley Hall, the docks at Colton’s Point at St. Clement, and St. Mary’s City on behalf of his master. That path runs right through the center of Leondard’s Town. Perhaps Hugh spent the night there on his journey which would have been too distant for one day.

Leonardtown remains small, with quite a bit of land remaining undeveloped.

Leonardtown is charming and quaint today, with its old jail, now serving as a museum and visitor center still standing beside the courthouse. The original jail was apparently across the street.

The cannon in the garden outside is from the original ship, the Ark, one of two that transported the first settlers to Maryland in 1634.

The early bayside settlements like Leonard’s Town were ports, with towns established dockside to enable loading, unloading, and transacting business.

Hugh Benson was a planter, meaning a farmer in the vernacular of the day.

By Sarah Stierch – Flickr: St. Mary’s City, Maryland, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13157964

Historical St. Mary’s City has reconstructed a typical 17th-century planter’s house based on their findings in more than 200 archaeological digs. The home of Hugh and his family probably looked very much like this, with an outside kitchen.

Or, if Hugh was a little more well-do-do, perhaps he built a home with fireplaces, 4 rooms, and two partial stories like 1700s-era St. Mary’s Manor West.

Or, maybe their home looked more like Resurrection Manor, built as early as 1660, but now demolished. Library of Congress photos, here.

This internal photo was taken after Resurrection Manor had survived for nearly 300 years. Fireplaces heated homes which were quite small by comparison to today’s structures. Many, if not most, residences had outside kitchens, but Katherine may have cooked in a fireplace like this, with a grate, cauldron and pothooks, especially in the winter.

By Kathleen Tyler Conklin – Flickr: Leonard Calvert in the State House, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32277068

A period actor playing the role of Leonard Calvert at the colonial statehouse in St. Mary’s City gives us a glimpse into how the people Hugh interacted with would have dressed.

Hugh, of course, was probably dressed in much less opulent attire.

When in St. Mary’s on business for or with Thomas Notley, Hugh may well have worshipped in the Catholic Church built in 1667, reconstructed today.

The original settlers purchased land from the Piscataway Indians with whom they lived and traded peacefully for many years. The Indians befriended and helped the early colonists, being eager to learn more about their advanced methods and metal tools, like guns which made hunting much easier.

I found listings for three Testamentary Proceedings involving Hugh Benson although I have not examined the folios:

• 1682 – St. Mary’s Liber 12B, folio 309
• 1687 – St. Mary’s Liber 13, folio 514 (his estate filed)
• 1687 – St. Mary’s Liber 14, folio 43

Hugh Benson died in 1687 as a relatively young man, under 40, and probably suddenly, given that he had no will. What happened? Was there an accident?

On August 19, 1687, Katherine renounced administration of his estate to Richard Gardiner, who died not long thereafter in England. Gardiner was a fellow Catholic and Burgess.

In Gardiner’s estate proceedings, payment for a debt was received from Hugh Benson. Of course, that could have been an old debt, or given that the settlement was in 1696, that Hugh Benson could have been Hugh’s son.

The second to last mention of Hugh Benson was in 1694, although it could have been retrospectively:

Act for payment and assessing the publick charges of this province Acts of 1694 ch 32: Tobacco is paid: to Hugh Benson two hundred and Seaventy

There is a Hugh Benson who died in Stafford County, VA, unmarried, in November of 1699. There appear to be two Hugh Bensons in Stafford County during this time, as one was noted as a runaway from the service of John Doxsey in 1702.

Hugh Benson leaves us with several mysteries.

Katherine, then a widow, had at least one small child, Mary, to raise, and possibly more.

Katherine Remarries

Catherine or Katherine, widow of Hugh Benson, must have married Thomas Cooper, born around 1650, almost immediately after Hugh’s death. She would have been about 35 years old.

She had at least two more children with Cooper and possibly three.

Katherine was deceased 28 years later, by 1715, when Thomas Cooper made his will. She wasn’t named, and Thomas left all of his property to sons Thomas and Richard Cooper, both real and personal, jointly and equally.

Seems pretty straightforward, right?

Well, this is where things get complicated.

Who are Thomas Spalding and Catherine?

Thomas Cooper, Jr. appears to have been the oldest child. He married Mary Riley about 1712-1713, so he would probably have been born in the 1680s.

When Thomas Cooper Jr. died in 1722, he left, “To cousin — Cooper, 310 A. of “Crackbourn’s Purchase,” now owned with bro. Richard.” Also, “To dau. Katherine, personalty and all lands except dwell. plan. — during life of wife; at her decease, to pass to dau. afsd. She dying without issue, to cousin Thomas and hrs.” I think that 310acres should be 210 acres, but that’s not relevant to this discussion.

Is the Catherine married to Thomas Spalding the daughter of Thomas Cooper Jr., meaning the granddaughter of Hugh Benson’s wife, Katherine? It certainly appears so.  Note the mention, above of Crackbourn’s Purchase.

Catherine Cooper and Thomas Spalding appear to own the original 200 acres (or 210 acres) of Crackbourn’s Purchase in 1741.

By the Committee appointed to enquire into the Facts contained in the Petition of Thomas Spalding and Catherine his Wife June the 6. 1741

Your Committee find on Inspecting the Papers of the Petitioners that the Land called Crackbornes Purchase containing 200 Acres was Granted on the 24th day of October Anno Domini 1659 unto Richard Crackborne Assignee of Walter Peak and Peter Mills Assignees of Paul Simpson in Fee. Your Committee further find that the said Richard Crackborne by his Deed bearing date the 17th day of November 1681 did Bargain and Sell the said Tract of Land to Richard Gardiner of Saint Marys County in Fee Your Committee also find that Richard Gardiner and Elizabeth his Wife of St Marys County aforesaid did Convey to Hugh Benson of the same County Planter 100 Acres Part of the said Tract in Fee [p. 273] Your Committee likewise find that Mary Speake is the reputed Daughter and Heiress at Law of Hugh Benson and that she intermarried (as it is said) with Bowling Speak of Charles County and that the said Bowling Speak and the said Mary his Wife, by their deed Bearing date the 31st of March 1739 did Convey the said Parcell of Land unto the Petitioner Thomas in Fee All which deeds appear to Your Committee to be duly Executed Your Committee further find by the Information of W James Swann a Member of your House that the Land called Crackbornes Purchase mentioned by the Petitioners to be Granted is of greater Value than that Part of the Land the Petitioners pray to be enabled to dispose of called Seamour Town or known by the name of Leonards Town.

Does this suggest that Hugh’s widow, Catherine married her neighbor, Thomas Cooper, who literally lived next door on Crackborne’s Purchase? Meaning that Crackborne’s Purchase, divided at one time into two pieces, has now been reunited?

It certainly looks that way.

Catherine’s daughter Mary Benson who married Bowling Speak sold that tract of land to Catherine’s granddaughter, Katherine, through her deceased son, Thomas Cooper Jr.

Did you get that? It was a mouthful. I had to draw this out, above.

The St. Francis Xavier Cemetery

This also suggests quite strongly that Hugh Benson, Catherine, Thomas Cooper, and probably Thomas Cooper Jr. are all buried together here in the original St. Francis Xavier Cemetery on Newtowne Neck Road, where the original Catholic church was located.

Hugh Benson and Katherine’s daughter, Mary Benson, was born around 1675. Given that Hugh didn’t die until 1687, they assuredly had at least 6 more children, if not more. Those children would have been laid to rest here too, hopefully near their parents’ eternal watch.

The Chesapeake was never far away.

The cemetery is only 400 or 500 feet from the Bay, on either side, bordered by Saint Clements Bay to the left, and Breton Bay to the right. The present-day church, which, along with the restored manor house, originally dated from 1731, is about half a mile south.

The Chesapeake, her moods, her ports, estuaries, swamps and swamp-fevers shaped the lives of the immigrant, Hugh Benson and his wife, Catherine.

The brave and hearty souls who pulled up stakes and left the known for the unknown set the stage for the next many generations of descendants.

Life in Leonard’s Town

My friend, Maree found luscious details in the book, Origins of Clements-Spalding and Allied Families of Maryland and Kentucky.

In this excerpt, we verify that Thomas Spalding married Catharine Cooper, the child of Thomas Cooper, and by inference, his wife Catherine, who was the widow of Hugh Benson.

Thomas Cooper had willed his entire estate to his daughter, Catherine, named for her mother, of course.

However, Catherine Cooper wasn’t her mother’s only child or her only daughter. Mary Benson was Catherine Cooper’s half-sister, the child of Hugh Benson and Catherine. Mary Benson married Bowling Speake, and she too had to convey her portion of Crackburn’s Purchase.

Crackburn was where the mill was located, and where the town of Leonard’s Town, now Leonardtown, was laid out, which ties back to the 1739 deed where Bowling and Mary conveyed that land to Thomas Spalding, of course.

That 1741 court action literally says, “…Part of the Land the Petitioners pray to be enabled to dispose of called Seamour Town or known by the name of Leonards Town.” Mary Benson and her husband Bowling Speake had owned part of what would become Leonard’s Town, thanks to her father, Hugh Benson, who obtained that land about 1681ish.

The history of Leonardtown tells us that Leonard’s Town, an important port, began in the 1650s as “Newtown” or “Newtown Hundred,” but began being called Leonard’s Town shortly thereafter in honor of Leonard Calvert.

In the early years, “court” was held in various private homes in the area, one of which was possibly Hugh Benson’s, given that he owned part of the town.

In 1708, twenty-one years after Hugh Benson died, but seven years before Catherine’s second husband, Thomas Cooper died, a designated courthouse was ordered to be established, and Leonard’s Town was renamed Seymour Town in honor of the then-current governor of Maryland. However, two decades later, in 1728, the name reverted, and Leonard’s Town became the location of official business within the colony. Unfortunately, the St. Mary’s County courthouse burned in 1831, destroying the valuable records within, which is why the paucity of records today. No deeds, no marriage records, nothing.

In 1708, the Mayor of St. Mary’s City also ordered that 50 acres of land at the head of Britton’s Bay be divided into 100 lots, including one for the courthouse. This officially became Seymour Town, then Leonardtown and appears to be, at least in part, the land occupied and mentioned in the Bowling Speake and Mary Benson Speake 1739 deed to Thomas Spalding and Catherine.

Thank goodness that transaction was referred for evaluation because otherwise, we would never have known any of this.

A walking tour of Leonardtown is available, here.

Of course, I can’t discern acreage from this map, but we can see the courthouse location in the center of town. The courthouse was supposed to be on one lot, and lots would have been about half an acre each.

The mill mentioned would have probably been located on Town Run.

Or maybe the mill was on McIntosh Run literally on the other border of Leonardtown.

A small branch runs right through the western side of Leonardtown.

McIntosh Run is where McIntosh Park is located today. I’m guessing it’s a park because it floods. With the original deeds burned in that courthouse fire, there’s no way of really knowing exactly which land Hugh Benson owned.

William Spalding’s 1741 will, he left to his son, Benedict, a tenement of land called Mill Land on which my Water Mill stands.” He also left his “Watermill” to his wife and sons with a lot of land in Leonard’s Town. Judging from this, the mill was someplace within the town limits.

It was here, someplace here, that Hugh Benson lived with Catherine. Their 100 acres was twice the size of the town, and probably somehow abutted it, including part of the town itself.

Given that Hugh was noted as being from St. Clements, I suspect that his land might have been between Breton Bay, meaning Leonardtown, and Saint Clements Bay. We know they attended church just north of Newtowne Neck State Park.

It looks like present-day Maryland 243, Newtowne Neck Road, was the road out of Leonardtown, white, bordered in red above, to the west, so let’s take a drive. It’s 3 miles to Compton and 5 miles to the end of the road.

At one point, just outside town, the road runs right alongside McIntosh Run and crosses a branch.

Most of this area remains heavily treed, swampy, or both, but Society Hill Road splits off of Newtowne Road about halfway to Compton, and you can see the Bay from the end of the road there.

Hugh and Katherine would have glimpsed the bay every time they traveled this road to church.

Higher, farmable land is polka-dotted along the way, carved out of the woodlands.

Generally, the road, in the center of the peninsula, or “neck” as it’s called in the local vernacular, is the highest elevation.

It’s clear why the economy here was focused on trade and ports, not agriculture except for occasional corn fields, a rare orchard, and interspersed patches of tobacco. Animals, mostly hogs, grazed freely in the woodlands.

No matter where you were, the saltwater bay was never far away.

Fresh, non-brackish water had to be at a premium. Settlers needed to be far enough inland to live on a freshwater stream, and not in a swamp, but still close to the port.

There were probably few good options, and the best locations would have been snatched up first by the wealthy proprietors. It’s no wonder that mortality was so high. Yet, this was the land of opportunity, better than the oppression in England if you were Catholic or another “non-conformist” religion.

The Remaining Questions

Of course, there are many questions that remain, but a few stand out.

• Did Hugh and Catherine Benson have two children, Mary and Hugh? Is the Hugh Benson mentioned in 1694 and 1696 their son, Hugh? If so, he would have had to have been born before 1673, which is just after Hugh Benson immigrated and while he was still an indentured servant.

That’s possible, especially if he arrived married, but it’s unlikely. Is there more to this story?

• Are either of the two Hugh Bensons in Virginia the son of Hugh and Catherine? If so, what happened to that child’s land holding given that Hugh died intestate? Why wasn’t a guardian appointed for the child or children? Or did those records burn in the 1831 fire? Was his land relinquished before or when/if he died in Virginia?
• Did Catherine have more than one surviving child with Thomas Cooper?
• According to Thomas Cooper’s will, he had two sons, Thomas Cooper (Jr.) and Richard Cooper. Was Richard also the son of Catherine, or was Thomas married previously? I don’t see anything to indicate that Thomas Cooper Sr. had a previous marriage.

Dr. Carr estimates Richard Cooper’s birth at 1693.

• Did Catherine, Hugh Benson’s widow, and Thomas Cooper have a third child, a daughter named Elizabeth who married James Wheatley? If so, it appears that Wheatley died relatively young and they had no children, unless Elizabeth remarried and disappeared from the records.

If Elizabeth Cooper who married James Wheatley was Katherine’s daughter, are there any descendants living today through all females to the current generation, which can be male? Those living people carry Catherine’s mitochondrial DNA. If that’s you, please reach out. I have a free DNA testing scholarship for you.

If you have answers, any information, or descend from Elizabeth Cooper and James Wheatley, I’d certainly love to hear from you!

Oh yes, and there’s one last burning question. Who was Catherine, wife of Hugh Benson and Thomas Cooper?

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It’s been a year. What a year.

Three years actually.

First, I hope you’re able to gather with family this Thanksgiving, and if not, I hope it’s by your choice.

For the past two holiday seasons, many families didn’t gather. Some did and paid a horrific price.

My immediate family didn’t gather, but groups of my more distant family did, and not everyone survived.

Aside from Covid, a word I shudder to even utter, time took its toll too.

So has the increasing hatefulness and vitrol at play in the US, and perhaps in other places too, which has irrecoverably fractured families.

Additionally, lots of people moved. I’ve actually been shocked how many, especially given that we spent months in the grip of pandemic that killed 6.6 million worldwide and over a million in the US, disabling millions more. Moving was difficult and more challenging than ever given the circumstances – yet more than 15 million households moved in the US alone according to address forwarding orders submitted to the USPS.

On the flip side, home office freed up many people who would not have previously been able to relocate.

Just looking at a handful of my colleagues, of a group of 6 people who work together regularly, four people moved, three across the country, and one person moved across the country twice.

Change

Thanksgiving and holidays have changed for many, and maybe most, families.

Those who’ve moved will need to create new traditions and memories in new surroundings.

No more “over the river and through the woods,” because either grandma doesn’t live there anymore, or many of those chairs at that table are now empty.

There are four forever-empty chairs at my table, and yes, it has been a struggle – and that’s an understatement. If you’re struggling with this situation, regardless of why those places are vacant, let me share some thoughts and suggestions that might help. I welcome yours as well.

• We can’t go back in time.
• Enjoy and cherish the current moments, because they will be memories as soon as they are over.
• Family is who we make it.
• Empty chairs cause tears because the people who filled them enriched our lives. We were fortunate to have had them for however long.
• Having loved deeply means grieving equally as deeply.
• Grief is part of life. (Yea, that sucks!)
• If your chairs are empty because of betrayal or divisiveness, understand that death occurs in many ways.
• Anger is part of grief. It’s OK.
• Time helps.

Sometimes when you’re in so much pain, it’s really difficult to do big things, or anything, so here are some tiny first steps.

“At Least…”

If you’re struggling to be grateful, try flipping that equation and begin a few statements with “At least…”.

• I don’t have cancer.
• I’m not disabled.
• I don’t live in Ukraine.
• My power isn’t out.
• I don’t have 3 feet of snow.

What are you glad that you aren’t? With a little creativity, this could really make you laugh.

“At least I don’t have green ink on my face anymore.”

Your turn!

For a touch of humor, let your phone autofill the words after “At least.”

It’s the Little Things

Sometimes little things make such a big difference.

• Someone helped me lift a heavy thing.
• I love my cat/dog so much.
• That baby at the store smiled at me and melted my heart.
• My family member, even though they aren’t here, is healthy and happy wherever they are on life’s adventure.
• I really enjoy watching the birds at the feeder (or fill in the blank.)
• I’m looking forward to…
• That sunset (or…) is really beautiful.
• I love <favorite musician> singing <favorite song>

Might be a good time to queue up a few YouTube videos and songs and really listen to the lyrics, or simply close your eyes and cherish soothing voices. Maybe have a good cry, but not tears without end. You are not alone.

Let me repeat that.

You are not alone.

Peach Pie

Empty chairs are difficult and painful anytime, especially those “remembrance” days and holidays when the people who once sat there aren’t physically present. Past memories are a mixed blessing.

So wonderful that we have those memories. So heartbreaking at the same time. Sometimes we grieve lost possibilities and potential too – a future that never happened.

Other times, those memories transport their spirits to our heart and they slip in through the darkness.

Sometimes just looking at a peach pie near Thanksgiving makes me cry. But it also makes me laugh remembering Mom’s peach pie antics.

Mom loved peach pie. She became so frail in her last years that she really couldn’t handle days worth of prep for Thanksgiving, although she still desperately wanted to. We found a smorgasbord restaurant that served a wonderful Thanksgiving meal and created a “new” tradition, even though it wasn’t to last long.

On that final Thanksgiving, although of course we didn’t know it was, we arrived at our reservation time.

They seated us at a lovely table with a white tablecloth, set in a traditional, festive way. Mom spied the dessert table. Others of the family headed for the hot food line, but not Mom. Nope, Mom headed directly for dessert.

Hey, when you’re in your 80s, you can eat dessert first.

My brother asked her if she wanted “food’? She slipped right past him and made a beeline for the dessert table. Why waste time on anything else??!

Mom loved desserts, but especially chocolate and peach pie. We took this picture a month later during our last Christmas celebration together.

That Thanksgiving dessert table was full of luscious treats, all served and ready on individual plates, but there were only two slices of peach pie left.

Mom found both of them, retrieved them like buried treasure, and began making her way back through the maze of tables and people, carrying one plate in each hand.

Jim was afraid she’d fall, as she wasn’t terribly steady, so he had gone along to “assist” this tiny but mighty woman who wanted nothing to do with assistance. He tried to carry one of those plates with pie, but she was having none of that.

She sat back down at the table as everyone else arrived with plates piled high with Thanksgiving goodness. Not Mom. She had scored two pieces of peach pie and was happy as a clam with her trophies, beaming like a Cheshire cat.

Jim’s eyes started twinkling, and he reached his fork out to take a bite of the end of Mom’s peach pie.

She threatened to stab him, playfully, with her fork, and exclaimed in her shaky voice, “Don’t you dare.”

We all laughed. I don’t remember if she ever did eat any turkey, but I surely do remember laughing together and the peach pie.

And yes, she did eat both pieces.

Today, Jim and I shared that story with two unsuspecting “victims” who visited to help with something at the house. We all wound up sitting around the table together, eating peach pie, using Mom’s silverware, and laughing out loud. Those chairs weren’t vacant anymore. They were filled with smiles and laughter, seeded by Mom all these years later. Yes, she was with us.

You know, it’s hard to laugh and cry at the same time.

Trust me, we all really needed that. There are empty chairs at all of our tables this year.

I hope you can find a way to fill your heart, maybe around those tears.

Coping Strategies

Let me share with you what I’m doing this week.

• The father of a local family that I met a few months ago has experienced a devastating medical issue. We made food because they can’t be visiting the hospital and preparing food at the same time. They are already in a difficult situation from an accident not even two years ago. I can help them, and I am.
• We invited someone to join us who has recently moved and has no local family. I think we’re adding to the family, actually.
• Instead of cooking in a house that’s, ummm, a disaster right now (don’t ask), we are supporting a local business by purchasing a “heat it up” Thanksgiving turkey meal.
• We are choosing to make “lemonade” out of the situation by having a picnic with paper plates on a folding table, maybe outside. Also, did I mention peach pie?
• I am working with someone to help with their fragile family member.
• I assisted a cousin with a thorny genealogy challenge. Quick and easy for me but made a huge difference to them.
• I submitted a friend’s photos to the new MyHeritage AI tool. They love them and it made them smile. Not just because the photos were wonderful, but because someone cared.

The theme here is that we feel better when we do things for others. It’s not about what “I’m” doing, it’s about doing something beneficial.

There was an old parable growing up on the farm about what to do when things are really crummy, and you’re feeling really sorry for yourself. Dad was not having that. Go over to the other side of the tracks, he said, where they have less than you do, and do something for someone over there. You’ll feel better for a multitude of reasons.

What Can You Do?

I can think of a few ideas, but I’m sure you can think of more.

• What about a food bank or soup kitchen?
• Maybe clean out a closet and donate to a shelter. That’s win-win.
• Volunteer your time at a local animal shelter or rescue facility. They often need in-home fosters too.
• Find a way to help someone feel valued or safe.
• Visit people at nursing homes, specifically those with no family. Dementia patients may not realize you’re not family. To them, their family came to visit, and they will be overjoyed. (I view this as paying it forward or maybe karmic insurance.)

I’m Grateful For…

Looking past the immediate challenges and taking my focus off of empty chairs, I am so incredibly grateful for:

• Special friends who help me by digging into really difficult challenges.
• My sisters-of-heart who are always there. When blood family has walked away, they haven’t.
• My quilt-sisters.
• My wonderful “adopted” family around the world. You know who you are and every one of you is smiling now😊
• My cousins who have become my family of choice.
• My friends who have joined me, or maybe I joined them, side by side, proverbially walking together for awhile on our journeys.
• Seeing a smile on the face of someone who hasn’t seen me for awhile.
• Seeing someone I haven’t seen for awhile. (I can’t wait for RootsTech.)
• Hugs, and people to hug.
• Feeling joy and laughter.
• For those who reach out and have reached out to help me so that I can, in turn, help others too.
• Those who kicked my butt and told me I could. (I might not have been, ahem (clears throat), appropriately grateful in the moment.)

Love is Infinite 

While those chairs will never be filled with the same people again, they don’t have to remain empty either. Neither do our hearts.

• Share
• Notice need and step up
• Listen to music that speaks directly to your heart, lifts you up and makes you smile
• Volunteer
• Raise someone up
• Find your ancestors and celebrate their culture and traditions – Lucia: Light in the Darkness
• Adopt or foster a pet, maybe an older one who has little other chance. They will enrich your life beyond measure, and you are all they have.
• Love
• Watch the magnificence of the sky
• Be the light
• Sing

You see, those chairs aren’t empty, they’re musical – filled by a continuum of love, from the past into the future.

Beings will fill those voids, and love will envelope you, wherever you are in your life’s journey. They are not gone, they are just a different, transformational, form of energy, and you are the sacred steward.

Happy Thanksgiving

Mary Benson was born to Hugh Benson sometime after his 1671 immigration, probably between 1673 and 1678 in St. Clements’s Hundred. Her mother’s name was Catherine.

St. Clement’s Hundred was defined as St. Clements Island and 5 miles into the mainland of present-day Maryland.

Mary was married to Bowling Speake sometime before March 31, 1739, when they conveyed land that she inherited from her father to Thomas Spalding.

Bowling Speak was born in 1674, so it’s likely that Mary was born around the same time. She would have been about 65 years old in 1739.

Were it not for that deed, we would have no link to the identity of Mary’s father.

Archives of Maryland, Volume 42, Assembly Proceedings, May 26-June 22, 1741.
The Lower House. Page 212; Liber L. H. J., Page 272: (Saturday Morning June 6.
1741) By the Committee appointed to enquire into the Facts contained in the Petition of Thomas Spalding and Catherine his Wife June the 6. 1741

Your Committee find on Inspecting the Papers of the Petitioners that the Land called Crackbornes Purchase containing 200 Acres was Granted on the 24th day of October Anno Domini 1659 unto Richard Crackborne Assignee of Walter Peak and Peter Mills Assignees of Paul Simpson in Fee.

Your Committee further find that the said Richard Crackborne by his Deed bearing date the 17th day of November 1681 did Bargain and Sell the said Tract of Land to Richard Gardiner of Saint Marys County in Fee Your Committee also find that Richard Gardiner and Elizabeth his Wife of St. Marys County aforesaid did Convey to Hugh Benson of the same County Planter 100 Acres Part of the said Tract in Fee [p. 273]

Your Committee likewise find that Mary Speake is the reputed Daughter and Heiress at Law of Hugh Benson and that she intermarried (as it is said) with Bowling Speak of Charles County and that the said Bowling Speak and the said Mary his Wife, by their deed Bearing date the 31st of March 1739 did Convey the said Parcell of Land unto the Petitioner Thomas in Fee All which deeds appear to Your Committee to be duly Executed Your Committee further find by the Information of W James Swann a Member of your House that the Land called Crackbornes Purchase mentioned by the Petitioners to be Granted is of greater Value than that Part of the Land the Petitioners pray to be enabled to dispose of called Seamour Town or known by the name of Leonards Town
All which is humbly Submitted to the Consideration of the House
Signed p Order Richard Dorsey Q Com.

On page 252, Crackburns is mentioned again.

And Whereas the Land also lying at the Head of Britains Bay in Saint Marys County called Crackburns Purchase Containing One hundred Acres which he Conceived to be of much more Value than the other and is desirous the same may be settled to the same uses as the aforesaid Part of a Tract of Land…

These records tell us that this land was located at Leonard’s Town, today Leonardtown, at the head of Breton Bay, very close to, if not a part of, St. Clements.

Mary would have grown up here.

It’s possible that Mary and Bowling Speak lived at Crackborne’s Purchase, aka Leonard’s Town, after their marriage which probably occurred sometime between 1795 and 1798.

Mudd’s Rest

In 1708, Bowling and Mary purchased Mudd’s Rest from Barbara Mudd, a daughter of Thomas Mudd. Thomas’s first wife was Juliana Gardiner, daughter of Captain Richard Gardiner, who died in 1674. His second wife was Sarah Boarman. Bowling bought land in Boarman’s Manor and in Zachia Manor from Luke Gardiner, so these families were tightly intermingled. I’ve always wondered if Mary’s mother is a member of these early families but to be very clear, that’s pure speculation.

Unfortunately, early land and lease records are incomplete, and marriage records are nonexistent.

We know that Bowling and Mary had at least three children who were living when Bowling wrote his will in 1750.

Truth be told, they probably had several more children, assuming that they married about the time Mary was 20 years old, so roughly 1795. If she had her last child at age 43, and had one child every 18 months, she would have birthed approximately 15 children. If some babies died at birth, she may have had more.

While they were living in Leonard’s Town, they would have attended the original St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church established in 1661, located where the cemetery is today.

Clearly, Mary buried many children. At least some very likely rest here in tiny graves that are unmarked today, but would have been marked with small wooden crosses at the time.

After Bowling and Mary moved further north, their children were probably buried in the cemetery that became the Original St. Peter’s Cemetery on land owned by Bowling beginning in 1718.

St. Peter’s Church cemetery, then just known as the Upper Zachia chapel, was much closer to where they lived near Bryantown than St. Francis Xavier’s near Leonard’s Town.

It was 27 miles back to St. Xavier but only 6 to St. Peter’s which was then just a cabin surrounded by the cemetery that started with one burial beside the “church,” then grew. The “cabin,” perhaps someone’s home, would have been where services were held. Catholicism was illegal, so there were no official Catholic Churches, nor publicly-known services. Burials would probably have been small and quiet.

Based on the fact that Bowling and Mary purchased Mistake in 1718, where the old cemetery and the present-day church are located – Bowling and Mary’s land was the location where the early clandestine Catholic church was located. It’s also a possibility that the burials of their children were among the first in the early cemetery.

This is undoubtedly where Mary rests too, surrounded by her loved ones, buried on her son’s land.

Mudd’s Rest Location

Bowling and Mary were living in Mudd’s Rest after 1708. Where was Mudd’s Rest?

According to Mudd family researchers, they conclude that Thomas Mudd’s children were born in Port Tobacco, as was Bowling Speake, and that the land included in Mudd’s Rest was included with or near other land owned by Mudd at the southern end of Zachia Swamp, as can be seen here.

I circled this area on the map, above. You can see the southern portion of Zachia Swamp to the left.

This land driving north from Allen’s Fresh in the area where Mudd’s Rest was located is still a combination of forest, woodland, farmland, and modern-day homes. This road parallels and curves along Zachia Swamp to the west.

We don’t know when Bowling and Mary sold Mudd’s Rest, but in 1718, Bowling bought both “The Mistake,” land that would one day be inherited by his two sons, in addition to “Boarman’s Manor,” where he and Mary lived for the rest of their lives.

Boarman Manor

You can see Bowling’s Boarman land on the map above, with a closer view, below. The red pin marks the beginning of his land on Hunter’s Run.

In 1718, Bowling and Mary would have been about 44 years old. They would have had a young family – children from newborn or toddlers to maybe 20 or so. Their son, Thomas of Zachia, would have been 18 or 20 in 1718. Eventually, Thomas and his brother would inherit Mistake.

It looks like Bowling and Mary were trying to provide for their children by purchasing two tracts of land from the Gardiner family.

The Speake family was very closely allied with the Gardiners. I don’t know if that’s because of neighborly proximity, their Catholic faith coupled with the fact that the Gardiner family amassed in excess of 5000 acres of land, or if they were related through Mary’s unidentified mother.

We know almost nothing of Mary’s life on Boarman’s Manor.

Part of their land was tillable, part was forest, and part was swamp.

Archaeological excavations show that the early families interacted with the local Native people who may have lived in a village on their land.

Mary’s children would have grown up roaming the woods and learning to navigate the swamps.

The boys would have hunted and farmed, and the girls would have learned how to spin, weave, probably tend the garden, and of course, cook.

Life in Colonial Maryland

What was life like in Maryland just a few years after settlement in 1634 on St. Clement’s Island? According to the National Register of Historic Places registration for Port Tobacco:

According to contemporary descriptions, most of those lots maintained as private residences or inns and stores with living quarters above were usually fenced with paling or posts and rails for the better properties and wattle or brush fencing for others. Almost all of the lots included a small garden, a detached kitchen, a meat house and one or two smaller outbuildings. Lot sizes were a half-acre or less and a surprising number had as many as 7 or 8 buildings standing on them.

I would wager that this description of the homestead was probably similar for outlying plantations too. The more compact your buildings and homestead footprint, the more tillable land.

One building in Port Tobacco was 18X22 with a brick chimney.

One of the early homes in Port Tobacco known as Chimney House, for obvious reasons.

The largest and most opulent home was 46X34, or just over 1500 square feet. I wonder if inns were larger. Perhaps not, since men were expected to share beds with other male guests.

Within a generation, many of the original families had procured land further away. Port Tobacco was located on a swamp, stiflingly hot and humid in the summer. Waste disposal from both humans and animals was problematic due to the chronically low water table. Stagnant water is unhealthy in many ways.

It’s no wonder that when Bowling didn’t inherit his father’s land in Port Tobacco, he turned to farming. Bowling purchased Mudd’s Rest in 1708, then, described as a planter, bought Boarman’s Manor and Mistake at Zachia Manor in two separate transactions, 3-months apart, in 1718.

In 1743, when Bowling, again described as a planter, sold 250 acres of Mistake, Mary signed a release of dower.

Bowling’s 1750 Will

According to Bowling’s will, prepared in 1750, they had three living children. Bowling also remembered, by name, two grandchildren, although he and Mary unquestionably had several more:

• Son Thomas (of Zachia) Speake to whom Bowling left part of Mistake where Thomas lived. Thomas was born about 1700 and married an unknown woman named Jane. They had 8 living children in 1755, including Edward, below.
• Son William Speake to whom Bowling left part of Mistake with his dwelling place. William was born about 1716 and married Elizabeth Hagan, his sister’s husband’s cousin, and possibly a woman named Mary later in life. In 1779, he sold his portion of Mistake and was living in Frederick County, MD.
• Granddaughter Ann Higdon to whom Bowling left “second choice of my beds an furniture my great chest one Dish & three plates one iron pot & Cattle and Sheep.” What we don’t know and can’t tell from this is which of Bowling’s children Ann Higdon was born to. We also don’t know what happened to Ann.
• Daughter Mary Baggott to whom Bowling left cattle, sheep, one feather bed and furniture and one chest. Mary was born about 1710 and married John Baggott.
• Grandson Edward Speake, son of Thomas Speak, to whom Bowling left “my Dwelling Plantation and also a small tract of land c(alled) the meadow also his first choice of the negroes and the first choice of my beds and fuz”

Men in colonial America didn’t write wills “just in case.” They wrote wills when they believed they were going to need them imminently. This tells us that Bowling was ill in 1750, and by inference, Mary was caring for him.

However, Bowling clearly recovered. In fact, so much so that in 1752, two years later, on March the first, he got himself in trouble.

Trouble!

Catholicism was outlawed in Maryland, and the Speake family was very clearly Catholic. We find Bowling in the court record in the Lower House of the Maryland judicial records:

The Lord Proprietary against Bowlen Speak} The said Bowlen Speak being bound by Recognizance for his Appearance here this Court, to answer of and concerning a Presentment by the Grand Jurors, for the Body of the Province of Maryland, against him found; for that he, on or about the first Day of March last, did, in a public Manner, drink the Pretenders Health, and good Success in his Proceedings; and being demanded whether he is guilty of the Premisses in the Presentment aforesaid mentioned, or not guilty, says he is guilty thereof, and submits to the Court’s Judgment thereon.

Bowling was fined 10 pounds of current money, but didn’t have it, so off to jail he went.

Jail!!!

A historic survey of the Port Tobacco jail site identified CH-172, above, as the historic location.

The old jail was built in the 1860s on the location of an earlier jail, conveniently located behind the 1820s courthouse. In 1727, the county built a courthouse and jail on this 3-acre site adjacent Chandler’s Town that eventually became Port Tobacco.

In 1729, the county surveyor laid out the town. More than 100 lots were arranged along a grid of streets, lanes, and alleys, plus a marketplace. A number of already improved lots were incorporated, including one owned by Mary Speake, the widow of Bowling Speake’s brother, John. Mary, John’s widow, succeeded her husband as an innkeeper.

Although we don’t know exactly where the Speake Inn was located, we do know that John Speake, Bowling’s brother, was the most prosperous innkeeper in Portobacco. On May 12, 1717, for example, while establishing some specific property lines, the commissioners met at the “House of John Speake’s in Portobacco Towne” to inspect land records.

I can just see those men, in their colonial era attire of long-sleeved collared shirts, knee-breeches, long stockings, a waistcoat or vest, and black buckled shoes, wearing their powdered wigs, huddled around a table, with mugs of grog, of course, pouring over parchment papers.

Today, little remains of the original Portobacco Towne of more than 80 homes.

The red arrow points to the location of the jail, behind the courthouse.

I visited a few years ago, but I had no idea at the time that my ancestor was confined in that jail, even if it was for a relatively short time. I should have walked around back.

Today, only the courthouse and three historic homes remain of Port Tobacco.

The other homes lining the market square would probably have resembled these.

Today, the old brick courthouse functions as a museum.

The interior of the courthouse is restored in the style of a colonial courtroom. Bowling would have seen something like this, minus the contemporary people, of course.

Did Mary attend court with Bowling that fateful day? Was she watching? What about their children? Were they sitting with their mother? Women didn’t typically “attend court,” but maybe Mary did anyway.

Did Mary stare out the window at the jail with a sinking feeling as Bowling defiantly and perhaps a little too gleefully, with absolutely no remorse, pronounced that he was, indeed, guilty, and submitted to the court’s judgment thereon?

Did she know what was coming? She knew they didn’t have money to pay, and his fine wasn’t payable in tobacco. Actual coinage was required.

Was Mary frightened for her 72-year-old rather outspoken and unapologetic husband to be remanded to jail?

Were Catholics safe? What if he got into an argument? He clearly had no hesitation when it came to expressing his sentiments about what was, at that time, a highly controversial and political subject. Politics and religion, especially combined, are extremely volatile topics. A 72-year-old man wouldn’t be able to protect himself in jail.

Bowling’s friends pledged security that he would pay his fine and bailed him out, but apparently, the judge, obviously knowing Bowling, was not convinced that he would behave. His friends had to fork over 50 pounds to ensure his good behavior until the next court.

I’d wager that Mary, at home was MUCH harder on him than the judge. Maybe Bowling wished he were back in jail. Or maybe he went to Edward’s house, or Thomas’s, or William’s. Or maybe we went and cleaned the barn. At least until the next court when he had to show up with the money. How would Bowling have raised that money anyway?

Why did Bowling get into trouble?

The Pretender, of course, whose health Bowling was toasting, refers to Charles Edward Stuart, “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” grandson of the deposed King Charles – a Catholic. The 1745 attempt of father and son to reclaim the throne from the Protestant monarchy is known as the Jacobite Rebellion. In other words, Bowling was very publicly proclaiming that he supported overthrowing the British King. Not a good idea.

Given that Bowling’s exclamation was public, and he drank to the Pretender’s health, it’s fairly obvious that he visited the local pub and maybe had a mite too much to drink. So, not only did he probably come home drunk, in his 70s, he also managed to get himself arrested, prosecuted, fined, and jailed.

Yep, I bet Bowling was in one HEAP of trouble with Mary.

I can just hear his children now, “Mom, PLEASE keep him at home!!!!”

Grief

In 1754, Bowling and Mary must have been feeling their age, and they sold part of both Boarman’s Manor and Mistake.

On July 23, 1755, Bowling was still transacting business. He sold 121 acres of land in Mistake to his son, Thomas of Zachia. Ten days later, Thomas wrote his will.

What happened?

As difficult as those early years must have been for Mary, burying three or four times as many children as survived, plus Bowling’s 1752 “indiscretion,” which landed him in “gaol,” 1755 had to have been the worst.

On September 13, two wills were probated, one following the other, on the same day. Mary had lost both Bowling and her son, Thomas of Zachia, between July 23 and early September. For all we know, they could have died within days or even hours of each other.

I can’t even begin to image the grief Mary experienced. It’s hard enough to lose a spouse, but to lose an adult child at the same time would have compounded that immeasurably. Not to mention that Mary had grieving grandchildren as well. Who would take care of them? How would they all survive?

Did William, her surviving son, build the coffins for his father and brother both? Were other people sick too? Were they buried side by side at St. Peter’s?

We know that Mary was living in both 1750 and 1755, because she is named as the executor of Bowling’s will. He described Mary as “my well-beloved wife” and left her life estate in his “dwelling plantation” and the rest of his personal estate. After that, it was to belong to their grandson, Edward Speake.

This bequeath to Edward is quite interesting. Edward was born to Thomas of Zachia about 1727. By 1750, Edward would have been in his early 20s – strong and marriage age.

In 1750, Bowling and Mary would have been in their mid-70s, quite aged for that time and place. I don’t know of course, but I’d wager that Edward was living with Bowling and Mary, or at least on their property, helping them and farming the plantation. Perhaps this bequeath was Bowling’s way of guaranteeing that there was someone nearby to help. After all, his two sons were living up on Mistake, six or seven miles distant.

I’m sure the idea was that Mary would continue to live on their home property and Edward would farm it and take care of things for Mary.

After that, it would be his.

Apparently, Edward didn’t love the farm quite as much as Bowling did.

Mary’s Death

Mary died sometime after Bowling’s estate inventory was filed, although, unfortunately, not detailed, on February 12, 1756. She probably died before June 17, 1758, when Edward sold 17 acres known as Speake’s Meadow adjoining the upper tract of Boarman’s Manor to Philip Edelen for 2000 pounds of tobacco. However, that conveyance may not be an outright sale. The Speak/e/s Family of Southern Maryland book reports that part of the original deed is missing, but it appears that Edward may have mortgaged this land, not sold it outright. The 17 acres remained in Edward’s name until 1769, when it appears in Philip Edelen’s name, suggesting that Edward may have defaulted on the loan.

Not to complicate matters, but It’s possible that Edward was able to take a mortgage on that land even though Mary was still living, since he clearly had a right to it after her death. By 1758, Mary would have been about 83 years old.

Mary may have died before 1758, though, because Edward is shown on the rent rolls for 1756-1758 as owning the 17 acres of Speake’s Meadow. It’s hard to know whether they would have recorded Mary as holder of the life estate, or the person who was actually working the land, paying the taxes and who would be the eventual owner in fee simple.

In 1760, Edward sold the remaining 159 acres of Boarman’s Reserve to Samuel Hanson, complete with “houses, gardens, orchard, fences and other improvements” for another 2000 pounds of crop tobacco. Mary was unquestionably deceased by this time.

I wonder at the disparity of 17 acres for 2000 pounds of tobacco, and 150 acres plus the rest of the farm for the same amount.

Having stood on this land, much of it is woodland and swamp, so perhaps this 17 acres of meadow was quite valuable, comparatively speaking.

No Mitochondrial Lineage

I think the high colonial mortality rate in Maryland, plus the various types of “swamp sickness,” have come home to roost.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mothers to all of their children, but only passed on to the next generation by females.

To find Mary’s mitochondrial DNA, we either need to begin with her own female descendants or those of her mother or sisters.

• Since we don’t know who Mary’s mother is, that avenue is not possible.
• Mary Benson had no known sisters, so we’re striking out there too.
• Mary Benson had one daughter, Mary Speake, her namesake who married John Baggott.
• Mary Speake Baggott may have had more than two surviving children, but the only children we know of are John Bowling Baggott and Samuel Baggott, both living with their father and listed on the rent rolls after Mary’s death.

It’s possible that there are actually female lines, but we need to be able to identify and confirm them.

At this point in time, a Bible or maybe previously unknown letters or a family story is pretty much our only hope of identifying either Mary Benson’s mother, sisters (if she had any,) or additional children of her daughter, Mary Speake Baggot, assuming, of course, that she had more than two children who survived.

If you meet this criterion, please reach out. I have a DNA testing scholarship for you.

Mitochondrial DNA might well be the only remaining key we have available to unlock the identity of Mary Benson’s mother.

_____________________________________________________________

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Thomas Speake of Zachia was born about 1700, the son of Bowling Speake and Mary Benson. He was named after his grandfather, Thomas the Immigrant.

To understand Thomas’s life, we need to tell his story, at least partly, in reverse.

Thomas’s father, Bowling wrote his will on October 20, 1750, but he didn’t pass away for another five years.

Bowling left a life estate to his wife, Mary, but after her death, his plantation was to descend to Edward, Thomas’s son, along with another tract of land. Edward was also to receive first choice of enslaved persons owned by Bowling, and first choice of beds and furniture.

Bowling’s will was quite unusual, given that Bowling’s son, Thomas of Zachia (Edward’s father,) was living, as was Bowling’s other son, William.

Why was Bowling’s grandson Edward his primary heir and not sons Thomas or William? Why not Bowling’s other grandchildren?

Was there friction within the family?

Was Edward living with Bowling, helping his grandparents, perhaps? Bowling would have been 75 or 76. Was Edward a favorite grandchild?

Was Thomas ill? And what about William?

At that time, it was typical for men to marry about age 25, so if Edward was Thomas’s eldest son and was approximately 25 in 1750, and Thomas was 25 when he was born, that puts Thomas’s birth around 1700, or possibly before. Thomas could have been born as late as 1708 if Edward was 21 in 1750, and Thomas was 21 when he was born.

Thomas of Zachia

Bowling’s son, Thomas Speake is called Thomas of Zachia to differentiate him from other men by the same name, including his first cousin. He was listed by that name on the St. Mary’s County, Maryland 1750 rent rolls and that’s also how he refers to himself in his will.

To fully understand what was transpiring, we need to step back a generation.

Bowling Speake’s brother, John had inherited land from Thomas the Immigrant in Port Tobacco that included an inn, giving him the name of John the InnKeeper or InnHolder.

Bowling, on the other hand, not inheriting as the eldest son, had to fend for himself. He purchased, leased, and otherwise farmed various parcels further out, in the Manor of Zachia. These lands were swampy and much less productive than land near and in Port Tobacco. Sacaya, later Zachia was reported to have meant “dense thicket” in the Algonquian-Fox dialect of the Native people who hunted and camped there before white settlers arrived.

In an article about the Alvin family, we discover some interesting information about the lands of Zachia Manor, which would certainly include the Speak lands that abutted those lands.

“The lease was relatively cheap—Zachia Manor had the poorest soil of any of Lord Baltimore’s manors. And Lord Baltimore’s leases were on better terms than private landlords could afford to offer.”

Therefore tenants in Zachia Manor, also known as the Jourden Tract, tended to be relatively poor, and the land comparatively inexpensive.

Added to that, within a few years, the nutrients in the land would be depleted by continuous tobacco growth, requiring more land to produce as much tobacco. With multiple sons inheriting, productivity dropping, and less land available, the next frontier was quite inviting. Maryland was no longer a place of opportunity by the 1770s. There just wasn’t enough land to go around.

Thomas of Zachia was caught up in that transition generation.

Early Years

We know almost nothing of Thomas of Zachia’s early years, other than through his father, Bowling Speake.

We know the family was Catholic, so Thomas would have been baptized by a traveling priest, probably in his own father’s home.

We also know that Thomas inherited some of his father, Bowling’s, land.

Bowling’s Land – It’s Complicated

Over his lifetime, Bowling owned various tracts of land, and had one resurveyed, both losing part of the acreage and gaining adjacent acreage.

I told you it was complicated.

You can read about the Maryland land in detail, here and here. This article only deals with that land that involved Thomas of Zachia.

• In 1718, Bowling bought 220 acres from Luke Gardiner in Charles County called Mistake, located on the northern boundary of Zachia Manor, for 5000 pounds of tobacco.

Thomas would have been 18 or 20 years old, or maybe older when his dad bought that land. Perhaps Bowling bought Mistake with the idea that his son, Thomas would work it. In Bowling’s will, 32 years later, he still lived on his land at Boarman’s Reserve at his death, so there’s no reason to think he ever lived on Mistake.

Part of me can just hear that original landowner, after maybe claiming that land, then having it surveyed and realizing just what he had, saying, “Wow, what a mistake.” And his wife, “Yep, that’s what we’ll call it, the mistake. Maybe you can sell it.”

• In 1735, a resurvey of Mistake increased the size to 572 acres, more than doubling the total, although Bowling lost part of the original tract. Surveying was difficult in swampland.

The St. Peter’s Church 300^th Anniversary book tells us that the land now occupied by St Peter’s Church includes 37 acres of Mistake where the church and school stand and another few acres between St. Peter’s Church Road and Poplar Hill Road where the present-day cemetery is located, pictured below.

• In 1738, Bowling acquired Speaks Meadow which added another 17 acres.
• The 1742 rent roll shows Bowling with a total of 869 acres, of which Mistake was 572 acres.
• In March of 1744, Bowling sold 250 acres of Mistake where he’s described as a planter.

In this drawing contributed years ago by Jerry Draney, the original Mistake is in green, the resurveyed Mistake is in burgundy, and the St. Peter’s Church land is in yellow.

• In February of 1754, Bowling sold 60 acres of Mistake to Philip Edelin and in December, 100 acres of Mistake to James Montgomery which are today still undeveloped swamp.
• On July 23, 1755, Bowling deeded his son, Thomas Speake of Zachia, 125 acres of land that included the home where Thomas was living. Both men were clearly alive at this time.

However, the deed was not recorded until September 20, 1755, a week after Bowling’s will was probated on September 13, 1755. His will left:

• Tract 1 – to Thomas of Zachia, 121 acres (parcels E and F on the map, below, also contributed by Jerry Draney)
• Tract 2 – to William Speake, 202 acres (probably should have been 102), with his dwelling place (parcels C and D on the map)

Unfortunately, this map conflicts with the map, above, and the contributor is deceased. Using the St. Charles County GIS system, I can’t resolve these boundary lines. Typically I can see at least some of the original survey lines, but not this time.

These maps and some other information are from the comprehensive book, The Speak/e/s Family of Southern Maryland, which I highly recommend for any Speak researcher, published by the Speak Family Association, John Morris, Editor. While it doesn’t answer every question, the book provides a HUGE amount of wonderfully organized information.

So, does Thomas of Zachia have a total of 125+121 acres, or does he just have 121 (or 125) acres? Did Bowling simply deed Thomas the land he was going to inherit, or does Thomas actually own two parcels totaling 246 acres?

Thomas of Zachia’s Will

On August 2, 1755, just ten days after that deed was conveyed, Thomas wrote his own will.

Thomas willed his portion of his father’s land, as follows:

• Tract 1 – to Thomas Bowling Speak and John Speak, 120 (sic) acres in Mistake to be divided equally between them the crossways and not the length unless they should so agree. Thomas Bowling was to have first choice. Parcels E and F on the map.
• Tract 2 – to Charles Beckworth Speake and Nicholas Speaks, all the remaining part of that track called Speak’s Enlargement and the remaining part of Mistake containing together 90 acres after the decease of his wife, Jane. That land to be equally divided by a line drawn from Jordon’s Swamp to the opposite line, with Charles having first choice. There is no record of the disposition of this land.

This is clearly more land than Thomas had received in his father’s will. But it’s not equal to what was deeded to him plus what was willed to him. This only totals 210 acres, not 246.

Ironically, both Bowling and Thomas’s wills were probated on the same day, September 13, 1755, so they had died within days, or maybe even hours of each other. It’s likely that both of their deaths occurred after the prior court session, a month earlier.

My assumption was that Bowling deeded his son the land that he wllled to him, but now I don’t think that was the case.

There is no record of Thomas purchasing any land. Bowling deeded Thomas 125 acres and then willed him 121 acres, although Bowling wrote his will in 1750, before he deeded the land to Thomas. That totals 246 acres.

However, a month later, Thomas leaves a total of 210 acres to his heirs.

Something, someplace, is missing. Like 36 acres.

However, this wasn’t Thomas’s first confusing land transaction. Nor Bowling’s.

Marriage

We know that Thomas was married before August 28, 1734, when he and his wife, Jane, conveyed two tracts of land in St. Mary’s County to George Plater. One was called Pope’s and contained 200 acres, and the other was Mount Clipsaw, containing 68 acres and adjoined the first parcel.

Thomas Speake and Jane to George Plater. Liber P.L. #8 p.284-286. Indenture 28 Aug 1724 / recorded 28 Apr 1724 between Thomas Speake of Charles County, planter and Jane his wife to George Plater, Esq. of St. Mary’s Co for 18 lbs 15 shillings current money, tract called Pope’s whereon John Pope formerly dwelt near Potomac River at the mouth of a creek called Baker’s Creek in CC. 200 acres. Also land called Mount Clipsaw, 68 acres which land was conveyed by Thomas George Plater to a certain Barton Smoot of Charles County.

We have no idea where Thomas and Jane obtained this land, but it was located near the Potomac River at the mouth of Baker’s Creek. John Pope had previously lived on Pope’s and, according to the rent rolls, Plater had owned both tracts before that and conveyed them to Barton Smoot in April 1724.

This probably accounts for the persistent rumors that Jane was a Smoot, but to date, there is no evidence to support that. There is no Jane listed in either Barton Smooth’s will, nor that of his father.

You may be noticing a persistent theme that the St. Charles County early property records are incomplete.

The Catholic Church

Thomas and Jane were probably married by a visiting priest in the fledgling mission church on Upper Zacchia Swamp that was founded in 1700. That “church” may very well have been in his own father’s home.

Jesuit Priests from St. Ignatius Church at St. Thomas Manor, 20 miles distant, visited the area occasionally on horseback to minister to the needs of the faithful and would ring a bell that they carried in their saddlebag to announce to everyone within earshot that a priest had arrived, and services would be held.

In 1692, Maryland barred Catholics from all civil rights, establishing the Church of England as the official religion. However, the Upper Zachia Parish was established in 1700, located near the headwaters of Upper Zachia Swamp. In 1704, it became illegal to practice Catholicism openly, so churches were officially closed. Priests then disguised themselves as peddlers, and of course, there was no more bell-ringing to announce services, although chalices disguised as bells were hung from the sides of their horses. Catholics worshiped in small, private chapels or private homes. Religious freedom would not be secured again until 1775.

This chalice, housed at St. Ignatius Church was carried by the priest and would have been used for communion. Bowling and Thomas both would have taken communion from this very cup.

Additionally, the priest from St. Ignatius carried a “relic of the true cross” in a silver and glass case which he wore around his neck. This relic was a piece of wood that is supposed to be part of the cross upon which Christ was crucified that was brought back from the Holy Land during the Crusades.

In the photo, above, I’m holding both, knowing that very likely four generations of my ancestors took communion and drank from this chalice and marveled at this relic.

Church services were held either in a log cabin, or after 1704, in the home of fellow Catholics, such as Bowling.

The original St. Peter’s cemetery is found on Bowling’s land. Many unmarked graves are located in the open, grassy space.

The name of St. Peter’s was conferred after the Revolutionary War when Catholicism could once again be practiced openly.

The land once owned by Bowling, then by his sons, was donated to the Catholic church by Thomas Reeves in 1825, and a church building was built in 1860 where the current St. Peter’s Church stands. However,  Reeve’s Chapel stood across the road from the old cemetery. In 1941, the current St. Peter’s Church was built in the current location, a couple of miles away. The old church, Reeves Chapel, shown in a painting, above, was demolished in 1972.

Thomas Reeves (1753-1825) and his wife, Elizabeth Edelen (1755-1840) are buried in the St. Peter’s Cemetery across the road.

Elizabeth’s parents were Philip Edelen and Jane Gardiner. Bowling sold his Boarman Manor land to Philip Edelen, and Thomas of Zachia’s son, Edward sold the land he inherited from his grandfather to Edelen as well.

It’s worth noting that Bowling purchased his land in Boarman Manor in 1718 from Mary Gardiner, and Mistake on Zachia Swamp in 1718 from Luke Gardiner whose wife was Mary Boarman. This may or may not be significant genealogically. These families were connected one way or another – perhaps only through these purchases, or perhaps more.

It’s certainly possible that the lands of Upper Zachia Swamp, six or seven miles on north of where Bowling lived, was the next location of available, unsettled land.

Zachia, now Zekiah Swamp is the dominant feature of this landscape, and the lives of the people who lived here.

It remains the largest and densest hardwood swamp in Maryland, meandering some 21 miles through Charles and Prince George’s counties.

This very remote area even has its own urban legend – the Goat Man, a strange hairy man-creature with horns who has been “spied” off and on for decades and maybe centuries. He is reported to hack his victims to death while bellowing like Satan.

Clearly, Bowling hadn’t heard that tale before he purchased!

Zachia Manor

In December of 1749, Thomas leased Lot 69 of Zachia Manor, owned by the Lord Proprietor.

According to an old map, this was likely at the northern end, probably close to the land that Bowling purchased, near or even abutting the blue stars.

Lot 69 is not shown on the map, but probably beside or close to Ignatius Baggett.

Zachia Swamp also known as Jourdan’s Swamp or Jordan’s Run, marked with red arrows on this topo map, runs from the St. Peter’s Church at the top, where Bowling, then Thomas owned land, to the Wicomico River at the bottom of the map which then feeds into the Potomac.

Zachia Manor ran right along that swamp. Bourman’s Manor where Thomas may have been born, and where Bowling lived is marked with a red star, and the Zachia Manor/Zachia Swamp land, with blue stars.

Thomas’s three-life lease for Lot 69 meant it was in effect until as long as any of the three people named were alive. In this case, that would be, presumably Thomas, Jane, and John. In 1768, the proprietor conducted a survey of the Manor and indicated that two of the three were still living, Jane, age 54, and John, age 35. Clearly, Jane would have had to have been a decade older to have been married before 1724.

On the 1750 and 1753 rent rolls, Thomas of Zachia is noted with 100 acres, plus 20 acres, of Mistake. In 1754, the parcels were combined.

In 1755, Bowling conveyed 125 acres of Mistake to Thomas where he lived, presumably the land Thomas was already paying taxes on.

Bowling Speake to Thomas Speake. Liber A #1 ½, p.388. 23 Jul 1755 / 20 Sep 1755. Bowling Speake of CC, planter. For the love and affection for my son, Thomas Speake, 125 acres of land being part of a tract of land called Mistake, where said Thomas Speake’s dwelling place now is and at that end of Mistake next to Speake’s Enlargment, lying in CC. Signed Bowling Speake. Wit: Smith Middleton and John Pigion Vincent.

Thomas also received 121 acres of Mistake in his father’s will.

I’ve drawn the approximate location of Thomas’s land based on Jerry’s earlier map. The 121 acres accounted for in Thomas’s will is shown in the red triangle, with Thomas of Zachia’s dwelling place in the top 60 acres chosen by his son, Thomas Bowling Speake.

The bottom 60 acres was inherited by Thomas of Zachia’s son, John.

However, there’s another 90 acres that are included somehow in Mistake and Speak’s Enlargement that I can’t account for. Basil’s original land isn’t entirely accounted for either, so I just don’t know.

I created this spreadsheet to track Basil and Thomas of Zachia’s land, but some transactions are clearly missing. Suffice it to say that Thomas owned another 90 acres of land adjacent the portion of Mistake that he willed to his sons.

It may also be worth noting that Mudd Road is nearby, just west of this land, and was owned by the Mudd Family in the mid-1800s. Dr. Samuel Mudd conspired with John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln’s assassin who became lost in Zachia Swamp after attempting to escape through the Swamp after being treated by Mudd.

If you crossed the swamp behind the Mudd home, you would have been on the land that had belonged to Bowling, then Thomas of Zachia and his brother, John. 

You can view a YouTube video of Zachia Swamp behind the Mudd farm, here.

Bowling bought land from the Mudd family in the early 1700s. These families are all found down by Bourman Manor, and then a few miles further north in Zachia.

Poplar Hill Road, running east to west, Gardiner Road running south, then Piney Church Road running west, then angling north, traverses Bowling’s land and probably Thomas’s. Piney Church Road is now the Gardiner Mine Site and is inaccessible from either end.

This area is still extremely dense and unpopulated, and I really don’t know how Thomas or either of his sons would have been able to eek a living out of this triangle of land. It’s evident from the aerial that some has been cleared and is being farmed today, but not much.

Historical documents indicate that plantations were set out in three-to-ten-acre plots for growing tobacco, the major source of revenue and currency in colonial Maryland. Access to the bay was essential to be able to transport and sell one’s produce.

Perhaps this is why this parcel was named Mistake, although if Thomas enslaved two people, plus a poor pregnant convict, clearly he was engaged in some type of farming that required labor. It’s also evident from his estate inventory that they were living at a subsistence level.

It’s possible that the map reconstruction is incorrect and this portion of Mistake is closer to St. Peter’s Church. Jerry, the individual who did the original map work is deceased now, and his two maps conflict somewhat with one another.

Regardless, we know positively that we are very close.

The Original St. Peter’s Cemetery

One big hint is the location of the original St. Peter’s Cemetery at the intersection of Poplar Hill Road and Gardiner Road.

One thing is for sure – Thomas is assuredly buried here. His father, Bowling probably is as well. Catholics would have wanted to be buried in consecrated ground.

The family would have buried two men within days. Thomas’s mother lost her husband and her son. Thomas’s children, their father, and grandfather. It would have been a time of great sorrow.

The earliest stones here date from the 1820s and the most recent burial was in 2017.

The Original St. Peter’s Cemetery is at the intersection of Gardner Road and Poplar Hill Road, on Bowling’s land.

Thomas’s portion of his father’s land was south on Gardiner Road. Just turn right at this corner.

This was definitely Bowling’s land, but we may not be able to see far enough to view Thomas’s land.

That’s likely Thomas’s land in the distance. I’d love to know where his homestead was located.

Unfortunately, the Google Street View vehicle didn’t drive down those side roads.

Thomas’s Death

It’s unclear whether Bowling or his son, Thomas died first. Their wills were probated the same day. Thomas’s was filed first, which may not mean anything.

We know for sure they were both living in July.

• July 23, 1755 – Bowling deeded land to Thomas
• August 2, 1755 – Thomas of Zachia wrote his will

Thomas was clearly unwell by August 2^nd, just days later. I hope they didn’t infect one another on July 23^rd.

• September 13, 1755 – Wills of both Bowling and Thomas were probated

In the Name of God Amen, I Thomas Speake of Zachia of Charles County in the province of Maryland being weak in body but of perfect sense and memory thanks be to almighty God for it do make & ordain this my last will and testament in Manner & form following:

FIRST my soul unto the hands of God who gave it & my body to the Dirt from whence it was taken to be buried at the Discretion of my Executer herein after named;

Also I give & bequeath to my loving wife Jane Speake my Dwelling plantation on whereon I now live during her natural life together with all that tract or parcel of land called Speakes Enlargement during her natural life also all my personal Estate as negroes crattles & cattle household furniture and plantation utensils of all sorts whatsoever except one Dun Mare;

Also I give & bequeath to my son Edward Speake five English Shillings;

Also I give & bequeath to my two sons Thomas Bowling Speake & John Speake one hundred and twenty acres of land to them & their heirs & assigns forever the said land to begin at the second course or line of a tract of land called Mistake & to run with the courses of the said land as they are laid out for me in the said tract of land called Mistake & at the end of the course next to Jordan Swamp take in part of a tract of land called Speakes Enlargement with one line & from the last end of that line to run with one straight line to their beginning and then to divide it equally between them the cross way & not the length way unless they should so agree & my son Thomas Bowling Speake to have the first choices provided that they nor either of them or any person or persons by or through their means may not disturb or molest my aforesaid wife Jane Speake from occupying and abiding on that part of the said land on which tract of my Dwelling plantation now is;

Also I give and bequeath to my two sons Charles Beckworth Speake & Nicholas Speake all the remaining part of that tract of land called Speakes Enlargement & my remaining tract of that tract called Mistake containing both together ninety acres to them & their heirs and assigns forever after the Decease of my wife Jane Speake to be equally divided between them by a line drawn from Jordan Swamp to the opposite line & my son Charles Beckworth Speake to have first choice;

Also I give to my daughter Elizabeth Ann Mary Smith the wife of Peter Smith that tenement whereon they now live for the space of five years & no longer provided they keep but one labouring hand (as we commonly call it, threon) at one time besides their two own slaves.

Also I give & bequeath all my personal estate aforementioned after the decease of my wife Jane Speake to be equally divided among my two sons Charles Beckworth Speake & Nicholas Speake and my three daughters Elizabeth Ann Mary Smith the wife of Peter Smith, Ann Speake & Eleanor Speake

I do ordain constitute & appoint my said loving wife Jane Speake to be the sole executrix of this my last will & testament. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & affixed my seal the second day of August in the Years of our Lord One Thousand seven hundred & fifty five.

Signed sealed published & declared by the said Thomas Speake to be his last will & testament in the presence of us.

Edwd X Miles
John Baggot
James Smith
Thomas X Speake seal

John Baggott witnessed his will, and Ignatius Baggett leased Lot 67 and 68 of Zachia Manor.

On the back of the foregoing will was endorsed the following probate

To wit: Maryland for 13th September 1755 Edward Miles John Baggot and James Smith the three subscribing witnesses to the within will who being duly and solemnly sworn on the holy Evangelists of almighty God does depose & say that they saw Thomas Speake the Testator sign & seal the within Will and heard him publish & declare the same to be his last will & testament and at the time his so doing was to the best of their appurtunicions of sound & disposing mind & memory and that the severally subscribed as witnesses to the said will in the presence of the Testator and at his Request which probate was taken in the presence of Edward Speakes heir at Law who did no object to the same.

7 1/2 Lides Sworn before Dan. Jenifer DC of Chas.Cty.

[Will Book 29, p. 544]

Thomas signed with an X, although he may have been too ill to sign his name.

It was startling to turn the page and see his father’s will, written into the book the same day.

Thomas only left Edward five shillings, but if you look as Bowling’s will, you’ll see why. Bowling left his grandson a substantial inheritance, and apparently, Thomas knew that. Edward already had his share, so his father remembered him in his will, but left the balance to his other children.

I hate to even ask, but what happened to Thomas’s daughters? Unfortunately, the St. Ignatius Catholic records burned in a church fire, and county marriage records don’t exist until the mid-1800s, so we may never know. The marriage records for Thomas of Zachia’s sons perished too.

Thomas’s Inventory

Fortunately, Thomas’s estate had an inventory, but for some reason, his father’s did not, or at least it wasn’t recorded.

An inventory of Thomas’s estate was taken on February 2, 1756 and included:

• One young negro man
• One old negro man
• One servant woman, a convict, bigg with child 3.25 years due
• One feather bed and sorry? covering, bedstead and ?
• 30 pounds of good feathers
• 45 pounds of old feathers
• One servant’s bed of hen feathers
• One bedstead and some sorry bed covering
• Two mares, four cowes and four yearlings
• Seven yews and 1 yearling a ?
• 12 shoats and 1 sow
• 40 barrels of indian corn
• 4 bushels of corne beens
• 20 bushels of wheat
• 23 pounds of old puter (Pewter)
• 5 pounds of old broken puter
• 1 old gun and hale part of a pair of shoot molor?
• One pr pincher shoe hammer, 3 pegging aules and two lathes
• One pair coopers compasses and small parcels of carpenter tools
• Small parcel of old tin
• Three horn bells, one old box iron and heaters
• One small looking glass, one wore out ?, wore out sifter
• One broken King sever? And a small parcel of stone ware
• Six wore out cape books, some old books
• 1 very small gilt trunk
• Three sides of sole leather and a dog skin
• 513 pounds of corn fed pork
• 17 hogs gutt fatt
• 6 old hundred gallon sider casks
• 8 bushels of oates
• One old frying pan and parcel of planters tooles
• 2 iron wedges and 8 pounds old iron
• The 8^th part of a wore out saine and rope
• 1 large old chest
• Wearing apparel
• A parcel of old lumber
• 1 old tobaco box, three glass bottles,
• 54 pounds pott?
• 3 pounds of wrought iron
• 1 small grind stone and a ? of old ? lanyards

Errors excepted James Keetch, ? Darnall

Some of this document is very difficult to read.

It’s worth noting that there is no Bible, which I found unusual.

The hundred-gallon “sider casks” tell us that Thomas had apple trees and of course, pressed cider. Maybe hard cider.

There’s no tobacco, which suggests his land was planted in corn, beans and wheat. This is very unusual for this region, but tobacco is back-breakingly labor intensive.

There are lots of old, worn-out, and broken items.

Someone was making shoes. Were some of those shoes made out of dog skin?

Cooper and carpentry tools are in evidence too, although it’s impossible to know if those items were for farmstead use or if Thomas and/or his enslaved people were providing these services for neighbors. They might have been making cider casks.

The highest value items are, in order:

• Young negro man – 55 pounds
• Old negro man – 45 pounds
• 40 barrels of Indian Corn – 20 pounds
• Two mares, 4 cowes and 4 yearlings – 14 pounds
• The female servant with more than three years left to serve was only 4 pounds, the same as the feather bed, bedstead and covering or 20 bushels of wheat.

The fact that Thomas owned humans hurts my heart. I wish we knew their names, but they are effectively lost to history.

I’m curious how Thomas came to be the master of a female convict servant. Was she deported while pregnant, or did she become pregnant after arrival?

I hope, really, really hope that the servant’s bed of hen feathers was where this woman slept.

What happened to her and her child? Whose child was it? What was she convicted of, and where?

According to the Journal of American Studies in the article, Convict Runaways in Maryland, 1745-1775:

“The existence of convicts in Virginia and Maryland stemmed from the provisions of the Transportation Act passed by the British parliament in 1718. This stated that felons found guilty of non-capital crimes against property could be transported to America for seven years while the smaller number of criminals convicted on capital charges could have their death sentence commuted to banishment for either fourteen years or life. Between 1718 and 1775, when the traffic ended with the approach of war, more than 90 percent of the 50,000 convicts shipped across the Atlantic from the British Isles were sold by contractors to settlers in the Chesapeake, where there was a continuous demand for cheap, white, bonded labour. Though many convicts were people who had resorted to petty theft in hard times rather than habitual criminals, they were often viewed with jaundiced eyes in the Chesapeake as purveyors of crime, disease and corruption. They also had to endure, along with slaves and indentured servants, the everyday reality of lower-class life in colonial America: the exploitation of unfree labour. It is therefore not surprising that many convicts, like other dependent labourers, tried to free themselves from bondage by escaping from their owners.”

If the woman was convicted for 7 years, she would have arrived in 1752 and become pregnant in Maryland. Indentured servants weren’t allowed to marry, so it’s unlikely that convicts were permitted to marry either. Furthermore, if an indentured servant had a child, years were generally added to their servitude for the “bother” to their master. I wrote about Enforced Bastardry in Colonial America, here.

Of course, this also begs the question of whose child she was carrying.

And did either of them survive?

What happened to those two enslaved men? How old was “old” in this context?

Death in the Chesapeake

I’m fascinated by the fact that Thomas died within days of his father. Is there a story here?

Life expectancy in the Chesapeake was a full decade shorter than in New England.

Why?

The Chesapeake region was swampy and the residents battled malaria, dysentery, and typhoid.

Average life expectancy from 1650-1700 was 41 years, and from 1700-1745 was 43 years.

Both dysentery and typhoid killed fairly quickly. Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease can torture its host for a long period before death, is almost always fatal if untreated, and thrives in the heat. Many people die of complications. Those who survive can become infected again. The cause of malaria wasn’t understood until 1897, having been attributed to “bad air” or miasma. The colonists had no idea why they got sick, nor how to protect themselves.

Of course, malaria is caused by bites of infected mosquitos, but so is yellow fever. The death rate from yellow fever is so high that those not-yet-infected often had to work day and night to bury the dead during an outbreak.

Due to the low water table creating stagnant water, risk of human waste contamination, the cause of both dysentery and typhoid, was significant.

Typhoid was more common in hot months and anyone unfortunate enough to get both typhoid and dysentery at the same time simply wasn’t going to survive. The hallmark of both was “bloody flux” accompanied by fever, often high fever, followed by severe dehydration and systemic organ shutdown.

Nearly half of the indentured servants in the Chesapeake died before finishing their contract. Colonists began to learn that the area was unhealthy, and their children moved toward the Piedmont.

Given that Bowling and Thomas lived six or seven miles apart, they wouldn’t have been sickened by the same contaminated water supply, unless they were visiting with each other. However, smallpox was a recurrent, contagious, epidemic that would affect many people within a region.

We haven’t even mentioned consumption, known as tuberculosis today, but it seems that many people would have died of something else before they had the opportunity to contract a disease that would kill them slowly.

So, what killed Basil at about age 81 years of age, and his son Thomas at about 55, within days of each other, but not the wife of either man?

Spouses share water supplies, so the women would have contracted dysentery or typhoid as well. Of course, they could have survived.

Spouses also shared close living quarters, not to mention drinking water from the same gourd dipper, for example. If one person had something contagious, every other person in the household could be expected to contract it.

My guess would be malaria, also known as ague or marsh fever due to its association with swamps, and because it’s not contagious from person to person.

After all, Bowling and Thomas both lived along the length of Zachia Swamp. They died in the summer. Mosquitos would have been rampant. And their wives didn’t die.

Zekiah Swamp Run is literally the name of the intertwined, braided stream system snaking through Thomas of Zachia’s land.

It’s ironic that his own nickname may hold the clue to his demise.

All things considered, Bowling was exceptionally lucky to live double the local life expectancy of 41 or 43 years, and Thomas outlived that by a decade or so as well.

Such was life in 1755 in Zachia Manor, aka Zachia Swamp.

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