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Disputed Origin: What her date or place of birth was, her family name at birth, or who her parents were is not supported by any solid sources. More research is needed.
There are no credible primary records showing Charity's birth or family name. She was probably born in England; unsourced secondary material shows her variously from Middlesex, Exeter, or Devonshire, England, born from 1625 to 1634. This must be taken as clues only for additional research.
All sources agree her name was Charity. Some unsourced material shows her given name as Mary Charity. In different accounts, her maiden name is variously given as Wood, Woodward, Woodwards, Woodman, Ryan or Unknown.. None of these should be considered reliable!
Birth Year Estimation
Charity's marriage year is calaculated as 1651. If she were aged 19 at the time, her birth year might have been 1632. Such estimates are highly speculative and useful primarily for placing a person in the right time and place.
Richard Cheyney married his wife Charity prior to their 1652 immigration since they both appear in land grants based on their immigration. [1]
Their oldest daughter Elizabeth gave a deposition in 1725 stating that she was then aged 74, which would place her birth in 1651. [2] One must assume she was actually born after her parents' 1652 arrival, otherwise Richard would have been entitled to another 50 acres on her behalf.
Some writers give the birthdate of their oldest daughter Elizabeth as 30 October 1652. While no documentation for this has been found, it is a likely date given Elizabeth's later testimony about her age.
If the October, 1652 birthdate for the eldest child is correct, the marriage of Charity and Richard would likely have taken place in late 1651.
Skordas shows Richard Cheyney receiving property in 1658 as an immigrant, and Charity Cheyney receiving the same property in 1650 as an immigrant. The 1650 date was probably also intended to be 1658. This is not necessarily their date of immigration. Maryland had a civil war between Puritans and Catholics in the early 1650's, and no records were kept or land patents issued during that period. It is probable that Richard and Charity were already settled in Anne Arundel County, and then, when the civil war was over, received an official patent in 1658 for their land from Lord Baltimore. [1]
The record shows that Richard Cheyney and Charity, his wife, arrived in Maryland by 1658, receiving 50 acres of land on each account for transporting themselves into the province. Doliante notes that from this it may be deduced that (1) they arrived after June 20, 1652, since prior to that the acreage allotted was 100 acres per person, and (2) they arrived without children, since they would also have been awarded acreage on the children's account. [2]
The property award does not state where Cheyney immigrated from. However, they settled in the South River area of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, which was settled starting in 1649 by Puritans who had been expelled from Virginia. Doliante notes that this suggests that the Cheyneys too migrated from Virginia, but there is no proof of this. [2]
On January 9, 1685/6 Richard Chenie Senr of Anne Arundel County in the province of Maryland planter and Elinor his wife sold an additional 100 acres of "Cheney's Resolution" to his son-in-law John Jacob. [3] Since Richard hads become married to Elinor by this time, it may be assumed that Charity's death occurred prior to 1685.
In fact, Richard and his wife Elinor are shown in the All Hallows Parish records as the parents of several children, the earliest of whom, Thomas, was born 1 March 1669. [4] From this it may be deduced that Richard and Elinor were married no later than 1668, and that Charity had died in, say, 1667, leaving Richard with small children to care for.
Gary Wells indicates she is buried in the cemetery of All Hallows Church in Anne Arundel County. [5] If so, she would be one of the earliest, since Parish records for All Hallows began to be kept on March 1, 1669. Its current address is 3600 Solomon's Island Road, Edgewater, Maryland 21037.
Sharon Doliante shows Richard and Charity as the parents of Elizabeth, Richard, Mary, and Anne. [3] Marshall shows the same four. [6] Each adds parfticular details concerning the children.
Richard Cheney's wife Charity is frequently but without documentation given a full name and parents in popular genealogies.
Find a Grave
There is a memorial page for her on Find A Grave: Memorial #104496647. Note: The memorial page here gives her name as "Mary Charity (Wood) Cheney", also indicating her burial at this cemetery. There is, however, a great deal of dubious information on that page which is unsupported by any credible source.
Find a Grave states she was born in 1625 in St. Petroch, Exeter, Devon, England. Mary was the daughter of Ezekiel Humphrey Wood (1607-1628).
Find a Grave also has a site for her father Ezekiel Humphrey Wood: Find A Grave: Memorial #131209386 which shows "Mary Charity Wood" as a daughter. No source is provided for this information.
On March 1, 1674, "Richard Cheney the Elder of South River in Anne Arundell County in the province of Maryland planter" gave 400 acres each of the tract "Cheney's Resolution" to his daughters Ann and Elizabeth and their husbands John Jacob and William Ijams, respectively. Relinquishment of lands required the wife's consent, but both documents read "with the Consent of [blank] my wife..." [7]
Given the birth of Thmas Cheney to Richard and Elinor in 1669, it should be assumed that the missing wife's name in this document is that of Elinor.
See also:
Elise Greenup Jourdan. Early Families of Southern Maryland. Westminster, Maryland : Family Line Publications, [Willow Bend Books, Heritage Books], 1993-<2001 >. v. <1-10 >. v. 4, p. 240. Book cited on Pitard.net.
Harry Wright Newman. Anne Arundel Gentry: A Genealogical History of Some Early Families of Anne Arundel County, Maryland. . Delaware: Colonial Roots, 2003 [Rpt.], v. 1, p. 291. Book cited on Pitard.net. This site shows no maiden name/parents, dates. Publication notes: The first, single volume "Anne Arundel Gentry" was published 1933 by Lord Baltimore Press, Baltimore, Maryland. A revised and expanded 3 volume edition was published by the author, 1970-1979. The Colonial Roots edition is a reprint of that 3 volume set.
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[Do you know Charity's family name?] | C > Cheney > Charity (Unknown) Cheney
Categories: Anne Arundel County, Province of Maryland | Richard Cheney Legend
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104496647/mary-charity-cheney
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104496647/mary-charity-cheney
You will notice that the Find-a-grave site is already discussed on this profile under "Research Notes". People who have already spent a lot of time on research and summarized that under Research Notes appreciate it when people read the whole profile!
edited by Jack Day