An American Family History

James Maxwell

Marylandwas established with religious freedom for Catholics. The colonial economy was based on tobacco cultivated by Africans who had been enslaved.

James Maxwell was probably born in the mid 1630s in England. He was a planter who immigrated to Maryland in 1658 .

His wife was named Mary and he brought her to America about 1659 and they settled in Maryland.

James and Mary's son, James Maxwell, was born about 1661.

On November 1, 1667, James bought 200 acres west of the Chesapeake Bay and south of Herring Creek from William Parker.

James, Sr. died before February 10, 1669/70, when his estate was probated He died with at least 200 acres and a personal estate of 22,087 pounds of tobacco.

After his death, Mary married Patrick Hall, of Anne Arundel County. He was the executor of James' estate. James' daughter (and heir) was Mary Hall Everett (d. 1698). She married Henry Everett.

Patrick Hall bought the 300 acres of Gowry Banks in the Herring Creek Hundred (near Friendship, Maryland) from Thomas Ford in 1677, and sold it the next year to William Powell.

Patrick Hall patented 150 acres of Hall’s Park on October 10, 1671. It was located in Calvert County on the east side of the Patuxent River. Hall’s Park was next to Hall’s Hills which patented by Richard Hall, a Quaker, in 1666, based, in part, on his reward for transporting Colonel Ninian Beall (1625) into Maryland. Ninan was Richard's indentured servant.

Patrick died in 1678 and Mary married John Spencer.

A land patent is an exclusive land grant made by the government. The certificate that grants the land rights is also called first-title deed and final certificate. In the United States, all land can be traced back to the original land patent.

Planter is an archaic term for a settler. Plantation was a method of colonization where settlers were "planted" abroad. A plantation is also the kind of large farm that was the economical basis of many American Colonies and owners of these farms were also called planters.

Ninian Beall (1625-1717)

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from Abstracts of the Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court by V. L. Skinner, V. L. Skinner, Jr.

Court Session 1683
2 May. John Spencer (AA) exhibited that Patrick Hall had married the widow of James Maxwell (AA) who died intestate, & petitioner married Mary widow of said Hall. Said Mary died afterwards leaving a son James Maxwell & a daughter Mary Hall. Said James will be of age in November, & said Mary Hall married Henry Everitt (AA). Per George Parker (g), said Spencer was summoned to render accounts of said James Maxwell & said Patrick Hall.

from Ancestral Records and Portraits, Volume 1 by Colonial Dames of America.

James Maxwell settled in Anne Arundel County, Md. He died that year, leaving one child, and a widow who afterwards married Patrick Hall. (Testamentary Proceedings, Ann Arundel Co., Md. Vol. X, fol. 326.)

Colonial Maryland used the headright system to encourage settlement. Land was granted to anyone who would pay fthe transportation costs of a laborer.

From A History of Calvert County, Maryland by Charles Francis Stein, Baltimore, Maryland.

One of the important early Quaker settlers in Calvert County was Richard Hall. He settled at a large estate called Hall's Hills, situated near the mouth of Hall's Creek. Richard Hall was a member of the Lower House of the Assembly, beginning in 1666, and to have held that office he must have departed from the principles of his faith at least to the extent of taking the oath of office.

His daughter Rebecca married Walter Smith, the second son of Attorney-General Richard Smith. Richard Hall gave or sold his son-in-law Hall's Craft, a large estate near Lower Marlboro. Walter Smith and his descendants were among the most important men in the upper County, holding many offices throughout the Colonial period."

. . .Hall's Hills, the property of the early Quaker, Richard Hall, was in the northern part of the County. Here Ninian Beall had served out his period of indentured service. Hall's Hills was in 1733 possessed by Richard Hall, of the third generation of his family, and by the widow of Elisha Hall. These plantations of the Halls together had a total of twenty-one slaves.

. . .There are two families of Hall in Southern Maryland. The Halls of Anne Arundel County are descendants of Reverend Henry Hall of St. James Church at Herring Creek. The Halls of Calvert County are descendants of Richard Hall, who was established in Calvert County in 1663.

Early Quakers were persecuted. In the Massachusetts Bay colony, Friends were banished on pain of death.

Baltimore County Rent Roll
Scotts Hopewell, 500 acr Sur the 7 Novemb 1696 for Daniell Scott begining at a bounded red oak stand by a sPcell of Land formerly taken up by James Maxwell and now posesed byDaniell Scott rent per anum 1..0..0

Cattle were vital to a household and an important legacy.
Unweaned cattle are calves.
Female cattle are heifers and cows (had a calf).
Male cattle are steers (castrated) and bulls.
Oxen are trained draft animals and are often castrated adult male cattle.

Seals were used to authenticate documents and men were expected to have a personal die. Records in deed books are copies and signatures are usually in the clerk’s handwriting. The clerk drew a circle around the word “seal” to indicate that the original document was sealed.

Information on Henry Everett courtesy Ron Cofiell.

Henry Everet was transported to Maryland in 1679 (Maryland State Archives website: "Supplement to Early Settlers Query" by Dr. Carson Gibb, citing Patents WC2, p. 101).

from Prerogative Court (Wills, Original), Box E, folder 26, Accession No.: 1330-7-/32, Maryland State Archives, No.: S540-7
In the name of god Amen
I Henery Everett of the County of Ann arrundell in the province of Maryland being in perfect health and memory __?__ and praise bee to the Lord doe make this my Last will and testament in maner and form following

Imprimis I give & bequeath my soule unto almighty god my Creator hopeing he will give me full pardon & full remission of all my sinns and my body unto the earth from whence it came there to bee buried in a Christian and Decent maner

2ly I give & bequeath unto my Eldest sister ? fifteene pound
sterling to bee paid out of the money given me in my grandfathers will

3ly I give & bequeath unto my sister Thomazin Everett twenty one pound sterling to bee paid alsoe out of the foresaid money Given by my grandfather

4ly I give & bequeath unto my Kinswoman Thomazin Dunn fifteen pound sterling to bee paid alsoe out of the foresd. money given by my grandfather which foresaid money is now in the hands & possession of my uncle Peter Everett Living in St. Edmonds Bovey [parish of Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England]. and if this money bee not paid according to my will then my will & desire is and alsoe doe give full power to ? Ensor upon ? an Inn: Called by the name of the white hart in Bilston [Bildeston] in Suffolk for the payment of the foresaid money.

5ly I give & bequeath unto Humphry Chilcott the son of James Chilcott one pid heiffer about to yeare ould marked ? Edward Griffith’s ? ? ? the said Griffiths cattle I give unto the said Humphry ? & her ?

6ly I give & bequeath unto my Lo: friend James Chilcott fiftie Acres of Land out of a dower out of Land called by the name of Bell parke lying in Calvert County
for his one life his wife
Ann Chilcotts life
& his sonn (James) Chilcotts life for all these three there lives unto the Longer liver of them

7ly I give & bequeath unto John Groome the son of Ffrancis Groome a hei[ffer?] [part of page missing] ? ? and her ? marked of the foresaid Ffrancis his [part of page missing]

8ly and Lastly I give and bequeath unto my Loveing wife Mary [part of page missing] rest of my Estate both personall and real in this Countrey & [part of page missing] shee and her heirs for ever Lawfully begoten of her Boddy and [part of page missing]

die without Issue then I give & bequeath my foresaid Estate [part of page missing] & ? unto my sister Thomazin Everett to shee & her heirs [part of page missing] Lawfully begotten of her Boddy

and if shee should die without issue [part of page missing] I give & bequeath unto my brother in Law James Maxfeild my ? [part of page missing] Estate Boath personall & real unto him & and his heirs for ever.

and farther I doe impower my Lov. wife Mary Everett to receive Eightie one pound sterling of my uncle Peter Everett for the payment of the foresaid money or to ? Ensor upon the foresaid white Harte Inn in Bilston when shee pleaseth.

and farther I doe desire my Lov. friends James Chilcott And James Maxfeild & my executors in trust to see this my will performed this is & beeing my Last will & testament as Wittness my hand & seale this Eleventh day of Ffebruary in the yeare of our Lord 1683/84
Signed sealed & delivered
In the presents of
Ffrancis Groome
Henry Everett [seal]

Robert [his RH mark] Hawkins
Daniell Collett

August ye 14- 1686
Then Came before me Robert Hawkins and Daniel Collett two of ye wittnesses to ye within mentioned will & made oath that they saw ye within named Henery Everett deceased Sign Seal & deliver the within written will & further say not in testimony whereof I have hereunto Subscribed.
Thomas Tench

On 28 April 1686 Capt. Henry Hanslap, in court on behalf of Mary Everett, showed that John [should be Henry] Everett made his last will and testament, and therein appointed James Chilcott and James Maxfeild executors in trust; also, that Mary Everett prayed that administration of her husband’s estate be granted to her (Prerogative Court Testamentary Proceedings, Liber 13, folio 327, Location: 01/12/02/038, MSA No.: S529-23). The court granted her request.

On 5 May 1686, James Maxwell exhibited Henry Everett's will, stating that Everett

… did in his life time make his last will and testament in writing and thereof made James Chilcott and James Maxfeild Executors and that the said James Chilcott is since dec’d., and for that the sd. Maxfeild is the surviving Executor … (ibid., folio 338).

American colonists continued to use British monetary units, namely the pound, shilling and pence for which £1 (or li) equalled 20s and 1s equalled 12d. In 1792 the dollar was established as the basic unit of currency.

The use of the term ye to mean the derives from Early Modern English, in which the was written "þe," employing the Old English letter thorn: "þ."

Ye is also the plural of thou.

Rent rolls were lists of landowners showing whether they had paid their annual quit-rents to the Crown. A quick-rent was a feudal remnant and was paid by a freeholder in lieu of services that might otherwise have been required.

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tuller.roberta@gmail.com
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