Charles Canaday (abt. 1715 - 1746)

Born about 1715 in Maryland [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Phoebe (Beals) Sumner — married 1740 (to 1745) in Prince George's County, Maryland

Descendants

Died 29 Sep 1746 at about age 31 in Monocacy, Prince George's County, Maryland

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Rachel Trout [send private message] and Brittany Moore [send private message]

Note: Although a potential Alternate Family Group has been identified, Charles remains attached to this line since widespread genealogy sites most commonly link him so, and it is where most descendants will first search for him. Please do not detach, instead, see Alternate Family Group notes in Research Notes. Thank you.

Biography

Charles was a Friend (Quaker)

Charles was born about 1716. He passed away about 1745.

Research Notes

Birthdate: Unknown - c1715/6 is a common estimate, based on unidentified sources, but Charles may have been born earlier.

Birthplace: probably Maryland, but unproven: Tradition states Charles' residence at time of marriage was reportedly Prince George's County suggesting he was born in Maryland, although this birthplace is unsourced. Charles's particular lineage heralds a Quaker tradition, and it is believed his line migrated to Maryland pre-1700 from England.

Parents:

"Internet lore" of unknown origins claims Charles was the third of at least five children born to John Cannaday and Elizabeth Douge of Kent County, Maryland. ^[1] This lore is disputed by some researchers. (see Alternate Family Group in research notes below).

Married: Phebe Beals, c1740 based on the BD of their son John (b 1741).

• Phebe was a birthright Quaker, daughter of John Beals II & Sarah Bowater, of Monocacy Valley, Prince George's, Maryland (part of which became Frederick Co. in 1748). The Beals family were originally of Nottingham, Chester County, Pennsylvania where Phebe was born.

Charles' and Phebe's only known children^[2]:

1. John b. 1741
2. Charles II b. 1744

There are NO other children in Quaker records attributed to Charles. (After his untimely death, his wife remarried (c1746) and had many more children with her second husband prior to removing to NC, all of whom are included in Quaker records.^[2])

Residence:

While the Canaday's are found in Quaker records for New Garden (NC) and Hopewell (VA), they lived in Maryland. Many members of the Hopewell MM in Opechan, Frederick, VA, and those of Fairfax (VA) MM were residing in Monocacy River Valley, MD. Some report Charles and Phebe may have removed to Virginia prior to the birth of son Charles II; while possible, sources for this are missing or inconclusive.

Death: c1745, probably in Monocacy Valley, Prince George's, Maryland.

Alt: Commonly repeated lore states Charles died in 1745 during the "Indian Wars," allegedly buried "on the field" in Loudon County, Virginia. It is not known from where this lore derives.

• The loosely phrased term "Indian Wars" widely refers to a historical timeframe known as the French and Indian Wars (1754 -1763), for which there is no record of service by nor subsequent related land grants awarded to Charles, his heirs, or any member of the Canaday family in connection with this war, nor is Charles mentioned in records of Colonial service prior to Virginia's first provincial regiment mustered in 1754.
• Notably, Loudon County, which did not exist in 1745, is a misnomer for the earlier formed Fairfax County, from which Loudon sprang c1757.^[3]

Given the misaligned dates and lack of evidence, it is not possible Charles died during the "Indian Wars."

• While he may have met his demise during a local skirmish in Fairfax County, Virginia in 1745, the storyline surrounding his death is not sourced by those repeating it as factual.
• Additionally, the claim is somewhat unusual given Charles was a Quaker; known for disavowing armed campaigns, Friends were generally disowned by their religious community if they participated in organized warfare. Early Quaker records show no indications Charles Canaday was ever disowned.

Lineage Disputes

There is additional conflict with this line in that evidence suggests Charles's alleged parents died in Kent, Maryland in Dec 1704, both buried on Dec. 29, 1704 ^[4]; married only three years prior to their deaths (possibly of pestilent disease), unless Charles' birth year is grossly under-estimated by twelve to fourteen years, this couple cannot be his birth parents.

Alternate Family Group

Charles of this profile is believed by some chroniclers to be the same person as Charles Canaday, son of John Canaday of Sassafras, MD. As seen by the above record, it seems apparent Charles has regularly been placed in the wrong family group. Recent research of a Quaker Canaday family in Cecil County now points to Charles as being he who inherited his father's estate in Sassafras, Maryland in 1716 ^[5][6]:

Name: Jno. Canada[y]

Occupation: Planter

Will Date: 5 Jan 1716/17

Will Place: Sassafras, Cecil, Maryland, British America

Probate Date: 31 Jan 1716/17

Text: "Canada, Jno., planter, Sassafrax, Cecil Co., 5th Jan., 1716-7; 31st Jan., 1716-7. To son Charles and dau. Mary, entire estate, real and personal.

Executor: Francis Collins. Test: Margarett Sappington, Peter Wombell, Rowland Jones. 14. 344."

Original Source Name: Land Office

Original Source Location: Annapolis, Maryland, USA

Original Source Series: Will books

Original Source Book: 14

Original Source Page: 344

For consideration: This interpretation is based on close evaluation of actual records, incl. John Canaday's will wherein he intimates his Quakerism, and historical events such as Protestant disruption of religious diversity in Maryland, growing disharmony between the Church of England and various dissenter groups in Maryland, and resultant localized migration patterns by Maryland Quakers. Since neither Canaday family group is fully verifiable due to missing birth records for Charles, descendants have the opportunity to pursue further research and decide for themselves whether this grouping is viable.

Sources

1. ↑ No actual sources for any children born to John Cannaday and Elizabeth Douge of Kent County, Maryland have ever been located.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} New Garden MM Men's Mtg minutes, hand-written transcript. Guilford College; Greensboro, North Carolina; Men's Minutes, 1783-1800; Collection: North Carolina Yearly Meeting Minutes. Ancestry.com. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014 (note: mentions Charles (posthumously) as father of John and Charles
3. ↑ History of Loudon County Virginia. Loudon County Government, 2021. loudoun.gov. https://www.loudoun.gov/174/History
4. ↑ St Paul Parish Records, Kent, Maryland. Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore. Family Search. familysearch.org. Record. page 252 line 17
5. ↑ Maryland, U.S., Calendar of Wills, 1635-1743. Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1998.
6. ↑ Cotton, Jane Baldwin. Maryland Calendar of Wills. Volume: IV, Wills from 1713 to 1720. Baltimore, MD: Kohn & Pollock, Inc., 1928. Hathi Trust, 2020. hathitrust.org. p99

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Canaday-44 created through the import of Shurtliff Family.ged on Jun 20, 2011 by Mark Shurtliff.

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82764978/charles-canaday