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John Smith (abt. 1640 - 1707)

John "of Mattapany" Smith
Born about in Scotlandmap
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married after Aug 1682 (to Sep 1707) in Calvert, Marylandmap
Died at about age 67 in Brooke Wood, Mattapany Hundred, Prince Georges Co., Province of Marylandmap
Problems/Questions Profile managers: Beth Golden private message [send private message] and Linda Franks private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 27 Oct 2011
This page has been accessed 1,236 times.

Contents

Biography

Preface

For more details on the below information, please contact Beth Golden.

c. 1630 Birth

John Smith was likely born around 1640. His maternal nephew was John Bowie who was born in 1688 Carnock, Fife, Scotland. Based on this, our John Smith may be the same as the John Smith who was baptized 12 February 1636 in Newburn, Fife, the son of Andrew Smith or Webster, as Newburn is just a few miles from Carnock.[1] Or the John Smith, baptized 3 Nov 1629 in Kirkcaldy, Fife with parents Alexander Smith and Margaret Hutchin.[2]

1653-1660 Immigration

It is unknown when and to where John of Mattapany came to America. Two possibilities were found and now disproved. 1) John arrived in Maryland with Col. Ninian Beall. Suggestively, Colonel Ninian Beall, a friend of John, was born in Largo, Fife in 1625 and arrived in the Colony of Maryland about 1652 from Barbados.[3] [No proof that Ninian Beall came to MD from Barbados] He is attributed to bringing 200 Scottish with him to Maryland, including Reverend Nathaniel Taylor, in 1690. Since John of Mattapany was already a land owner in 1690, he did not come with this group. The second possibility was that he was transported by 1685 to St. Mary's County by Thomas Gerard. However further research indicates that the John Smith who was in service to Thomas Gerard was not John of Mattapany Smith.[4]

John of Mattapany Smith may be the same man as the John Smith, transported by Edward Dobson in 1653, along with others including Daniell Mackall and John Powell, 2 surnames that may be connected to Jane Mackall Prather Smith (abt. 1645 - bef. 1713), the woman known to previous researchers as "Lyle Jane Mackay."[5]

1660 Occupation

John was a tobacco planter and merchant until his death.

Possible First Family

It seems likely that John had a wife prior to Jane Mackall Prather. A possibility is Margaret Q. Hunt, widow of Francis Hunt.[6] This is a possibility because of a later marital connection. The grandson of Jonathan Prather, Phillip Gittings Prather, married Catherine Hunt.[7] However, no children from this possible first marriage are listed in John's Last Will and Testament.

1682 Marriage to Jane

John Smith and Jane Mackall Prather (widow of Jonathan Prather) were married on 24 August 1682 in Calvert, Maryland, British America. [8] Jane's parents have not been confidently established, but her father was very likely one of the sons of Robert Maccall (abt. 1600 - abt. 1650) of Edinburgh, Scotland. She died on 7 Dec 1713 at the age of 78 at Brooke Wood Plantation, Prince George's, Maryland, British America. The marriage was late in both of their lives and they had no children. John's step-children can be found under Jonathan Prather's profile.

by 1686 Land Ownership

Previous researchers have listed John and family living in Brookefield, Mattapany Landing, Prince George's. However a closer look at land records revealed that they actually lived in Brooke Wood, 2 parcels of land which were part of Brookefield from Thomas Brooke.[9]

Prior to this acquisition, John owned many properties, several of which are listed in his Last Will and Testament bequests: Thorpland, Hopeyard, Hope's Addition, and a lot in Nottingham Town. Please see a full and accurate transcription of John's Last Will done by Sharon J. Doliante[10] It had been thought that John may have owned land in St. Mary's, Charles and Calvert counties as early as 1670. However further research indicates that these properties did not belong to John of Mattapany: In St. Mary's County: THE HOPE 1616, SMITH'S PURCHASE and SMITH'S RESERVE 1670, SMITH'S ADDICON [Addition] 1671, (THE) ADDITION 1674, CHURCHOVER 1675, COVENTRY 1676. In Charles County: SMITH'S CHANCE 1686. In Calvert County: BROOKS ADVENTURE 1706.

His properties in Prince George's County, Maryland in 1696 when the county was formed were identified by Louise Joyner Hienton.[11] Orphan's Gift, Smith's Pasture, Smith's Green, Turrell Green, and Friendships are in addition to those mentioned in his Last Will.

Slave Ownership

John owned African slaves. Although no one should ever own someone, with the size of his properties, and the custom of the times, he needed assistance to maintain his crops and household. We do know from his Will that he owned several enslaved persons and servants.

  • Slaves listed in will: 1 unnamed, Charles, Lamboo, Dick, Sambo, Pegg, Cooke, Jerrie, David, and Nick
  • Servants listed in will: “Scotch boy” Robert Maconaugh, Betty Gard, Jane Gallary, Thomas Daniel, and George Dunbar

1702 Civic Duty

Later in life, John was known as and referred to himself as John of Mattapany to distinguish himself from at least one other man living in the same area at the same time. "Only one man refused to serve. In 1702 the name of John Smith was in the commission of the peace (authorization that the men named were to act as justices or commissioners of the peace). John Smith, a planter of Mattapany Hundred, was called in, but protested that he wasn't fit to hold this office as he wasn't able to get on a horse without help, and he thought another John Smith was meant anyway. His protest was accepted and a new commission was issued."[12]

1704 Religion

In 1692, the Colony of Maryland enacted a law that required all churches to be Church of England (Anglican/Episcopalian). Because of this the Presbyterian Church was not yet established in the colonies, John and many others worshiped at Anglican/Episcopalian churches in early Maryland. He joined the Patuxent Presbyterian Church when it was formed in 1704[13] and in his Will, John gave 20 pounds Sterling to Rev. Nathaniel Taylor of this church.

September 1707 Death

John died at the age of 77 at Brooke Wood, Mattapany Hundred, Prince George's, Maryland, after 3 Sep 1707 when he signed his Last Will and Testament and before 23 September 1707 when his Will was presented to the Court.[14] [15]

An inventory was done and appraised by William Joseph and Roger Brooke at a value of £469.12.8. The estate final settlement occurred in 1709 at Mattapany Landing, Prince George's, Maryland, British America which included payments received from men in England.[16] This may be why some have thought he was born in England. However, being a wealthy planter and merchant, he would have had business connections in England. His Probate was final in 1709 with debt payments received from merchants in England.

Another reference for John's life as cited by Linda Franks is the book, Prater Prather Prator Praytor In America 1620-1800 1-5 Generations, Vol. II, John W. Prather, Jr. , 1994. Residence 1684 "Leith" Or "Half-Pone" On Patuxent River, Prince George's Co., MD, Will dated 23 Dep 1707, Death, Estate 3 Nov 1709 Prince George's Co., MD Acct's Inventories & Accts, Liber 30, F. 235, Hall Of Records. However this is not for John of Mattapany Smith [17]

Research Notes

What was the relationship of John Smith with Ninian Beall?

In 1688 Ninian Beall gave land called Orphan's Gift to John Smith. [18]

Charles &c
  • To All Persons to whom these presents shall come Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting
  • Know Ye that for and in consideracon That John Smith of Calvert County in Our said Province of Maryland hath due unto him by an assignment from Major Ninian Beale of Calvert County afsd of
  • one Entire Warrant for five hundred acres Granted the said Major Ninian Beale the thirteenth Day of August One Thousand Six hundred Eighty Eight as appears Upon Record . . .
  • Wee Doe Therefore hereby Grant unto him the said John Smith all that Tract or parcel of Land Called Orphans Gift lyeing in Calvert County On the West side of Patuxent River in the forke of Western Branch of the said River on the North Side of The Beaver Dam Branch and The North side of a parcel of Land called St. Andrews now in the possession of the said Beale and Beginning at the Northeast bounded white oake of the said Land for the Length of one hundred & sixty perches Then South to thee first Bounded tree Containing and now Laid out for five hundred Acres more or Less according to the Certificate off survey Thereof Taken and Returned into the Land Office at the City of St Maryes Bearing Date the two and twentyth Day off August one Thousand six hundred Eighty Eight
  • . . .Given . . . The Sixth Day of May. . .One Thousand Six hundred Eighty nine.

This raises the question of why John Smith (Smith-22641) was "due" this land transfer from Ninian? Was John an indentured servant? Did he provide some service to Ninian, perhaps transportation of people? 500 acres is quite a bit of property so something very worthy occurred.

Possible responses to the question include:

  • In line one, the "patent date" of "1668" MUST be in error, because it's spelled out in the penultimate line of the patent as 1688, and the warrant had been granted just nine days earlier, on 13 August 1688. This is the shortest time gap I have ever seen between the granting of a warrant and the issuance of a patent. That fact suggests that Ninian must have had his ducks in a row in advance on this transaction, with the survey had probably been already prepared and ready to go, before he secured the warrant; either that, or the August 13 date was intended to reference the date of the assignment of the Warrant rather than its issuance.
  • In any event, it's clear that the Warrant had been issued to Ninian, and then at some point in the next few days he assigned his right to receive the covering patent for the land to John Smith. The original basis for Ninian's right to the land could have been his military service, but if not that, then it would have almost certainly been found in his having paid for the transportation of some people from the old country. Probably they were ten in number, as the typical headright acreage amount was fifty acres for each person brought into the colony. No price is specified in the document for any payment by John Smith in connection with the assignment.
  • That's not absolute proof of a gift or sale one way or the other. However, the general sense of the document suggests that Ninian assigned his rights to this tract as a gift to John Smith, who was an orphan. (Even a 50 year old man who had had lost his father before turning 21 would be considered an "orphan" for such purposes.) The fact that Ninian chose to install John Smith immediately next door to Ninian's own tract of "St. Andrews" (a name heavy with meaning for Ninian's own Scots origins), suggests that Ninian felt some degree of affection for Smith, either because of a blood relationship of some sort, or because Ninian had known John Smith's father in Scotland.
  • There was no shortage of orphans at the time; in addition to normal mortality, thousands of Scottish men of an age to have been John Smith's father were slaughtered at Dunbar, Inverkeithing and Worcestor, among others. If the senior Mr. Smith had been a military buddy of Ninian Beale, the willingness of the latter to bring John to Maryland and set him up on an adjoining farm makes perfect sense.
  • I am thinking, in particular, of the John Smyth who was chr. 24 Nov. 1638 in St. Andrews, son of Thomas and Isobell (Turbane) Smyth. If, as is popularly imagined, Ninian Bell / Beall spent his formative years in St. Andrews, he would have known this family.
  • That said, there is also the Johnne Smyth chr. 22 Feb 1635 at Edinburgh, son of Johnne & Janet (Hunter) Smyth. I rather think that this John of Edinburgh was the beneficiary of Ninian Beale's attention, because he had a kid brother Niniane Smyth, chr. 26 Sept 1637. This is the only Ninian Smith to appear in the Old Parish Register database for the entire 17th century.

This first child of Johnne & Janet (Hunter) Smyth was Janet, chr. 22 April 1627; then came John and Ninian's older brothers Thomas (chr 11 Oct 1629) and Alexander (chr. 12 Oct 1632). Finally, John and Ninian had a baby sister Issobell, chr. 6 September 1640. After that, it seems that no more children were born to this couple.

  • Normally I might not make too much of given names, but here all or nearly all of the given names of this Smyth family also appear in earliest generation of the Beall clan in St. Andrews and Maryland.

Sources

  1. "Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XYZG-W92  : 11 February 2020), John Smith, 1636. accessed 29 March 2020
  2. "Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XY83-PQR  : 11 February 2020), John Smith, 1629.
  3. Mackenzie, George Norbury, and Nelson Osgood Rhoades, editors. Colonial Families of the United States, p. 57ff
  4. St. Mary's Families; St. Marys County Manors. Basford http://teachertech.rice.edu/Participants/dawsonm/SMC/articles_files/manor_historySEP2.htm accessed 4 April 2020
  5. Nugent. Cavaliers and Pioneers; abstracts of Virginia land patents and grants, 1623-1800; Richmond, Press of the Dietz Print Co., 1934. https://archive.org/details/cavalierspioneer00nuge
  6. Hunt, Margaret Q 67 widow of Francis Hunt, married John Smith prior to 1658 (7 fol. 464); Skordas, Gust. The Early Settlers of Maryland, Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Printing Co., Inc., 1974. as cited in Notebook - Maryland No. 1, 8 November 2017. http://dedpepl.blogspot.com/2017/11/notebook-maryland-no-1.html accessed 28 March 2020
  7. Publishing, Yates. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
  8. Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004), Source number: 415.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: PDL. States date as 1680
  9. Recorded: 18 October 1700, Vol. A, p. 215
  10. Doliante, Sharon J., Maryland and Virginia Colonials: Genealogies of Some Colonial Families : Families of Bacon, Beall, Beasley, Cheney, Duckett, Dunbar, Ellyson, Elmore, Graves, Heydon, Howard, Jacob, Morris, Nuthall, Odell, Peerce, Reeder, Ridgley, Prather, Sprigg, Wesson, Williams, and Collateral Kin; Genealogical Publishing Com, 1991. Volume 2, Chapter 17 Prather-Prater, pp. 706 – 707. accessed 29 March 2020
  11. "Map Location" refers to maps done by Louise Joyner Hienton. http://sites.rootsweb.com/~mdpgeorg/text/1696-land-recs.txt and http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdpgeorg/text/1696-land.htm#map accessed 23 March 2020
  12. Hienton Louise Joyner, Prince George's Heritage (Hyattsville, MD: Maryland Historical Society, 1972), pp 13, 18, 19, 93, 157 online http://www.karenandmike.biz/graphics/bryan/PG%20Co%20History%20hienton.pdf; accessed 21 March 2020
  13. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Taylor-35906 cited within William Hunter McLean. Alexander Beall -- 1649-1744 -- of Maryland: One Line of Descent in America. Fort Worth: Fort Worth Genealogical Society, 1977, pp 10-14. accessed 28 March 2020. See for the interesting history of the church and Rev. Taylor.
  14. Ancestry.com, Maryland, Calendar of Wills, 1635-1743 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1998), Volume: III, Wills from 1703 to 1713 and Ancestry.com, Maryland, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1777 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015), Will books; Author: Maryland. Prerogative Court; Probate Place: Maryland.
  15. "1707 Will of John Smith – Prince George’s County, Maryland" Kentucky Kindred Genealogical Research on October 11, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/5986bw5v
  16. Marshall, Mike, Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland Virginia's Northern Neck https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/ accessed 23 March 2020
  17. Source: #S291
  18. ORPHAN'S GIFT; Owner: Smith, John: Patent Date: 22 Aug 1668: Ref: L 22 F 427 (Liber WD, ff. 28-9): Hienton Map Location: U-8
  • http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=my-update&id=I25221
  • Source: S11 International Genealogical Index(R) Author: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Publication: Copyright (c) 1980, 2002 Date: 2 Dec 2005
  • Source: S219 Abbreviation: Maryland & Virginia Colonials, Genealogies of Some Colonial Families, by Sharon Doliante, 1991. Title: Maryland & Virginia Colonials, Genealogies of Some Colonial Families, by Sharon Doliante, 1991. Page: 651
  • Source: S291 Prater Prather Prator Praytor In America 1620-1800 1-5 Generations, Vol. II, John W. Prather, Jr. , 1994.

FSLINK

FSLINK https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&person=M7NK-TKC

Acknowledgements

  • WikiTree profile Smith-22641 created through the import of Kuehn Family File.ged on Oct 26, 2011 by Timothy Kuehn.
  • Smith-68122 was created by Linda DeFrees through the import of Julia Ann Empson.ged on Jul 23, 2014
  • Beth Golden updated profile beginning 30 March 2020 through 11 September 2020




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Comments: 21

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It looks like this profile needs some updates regarding the name of his wife. It refers to her throughout as the old "Lyle Jane Mackay," instead of Jane Mackall. I am happy to do the updates if the profile managers agree.
posted by Ashley Jones JD
Thanks Ashley, if you'd insert Jane Mackay's wikilink Jane (Mackall) Smith (abt.1645-bef.1713) after the 3 instances of Lyle Jane that would be super!
posted by Beth (Brown) Golden
All done. Hopefully I got the formatting right. I'm always a bit scared making changes on excellent profiles like this one. :) Thanks for all your hard work here and on Jane, Beth!
posted by Ashley Jones JD
Super! Thank you Ashley! Looks great. And thanks for your compliments. I had much fun sorting out Jane Mackay and telling her story - along with her husbands and families.
posted by Beth (Brown) Golden
Ashley, I see that we're distant, direct cousins. Nice! What's fun is that you connect to both my dad's ancestors with Jane and the Prather family AND my mom's Turney family! Such a small world! :-)
posted by Beth (Brown) Golden
We are! More distantly on my mom's side, but several times on my dad's Prater side, assuming some of the connections are right. But I know you know how tricky sourcing can be in the early southern US. :) I do see a couple familiar surnames on your mom's side, but wikitree isn't showing the connection for me.  :(
posted by Ashley Jones JD
Always fun to meet a new cousin, especially when the connections show just how small the world is! :-) I'm remembering a Gilley/Turney marriage from when I ran our Relationship Finder, but I don't remember the details...
posted by Beth (Brown) Golden
Thanks so much for finding and bringing this to my attention!
posted by Beth (Brown) Golden
There is also information about this man in he book "Lucas Genealogy" by Annabelle Kemp, 1955. Noland 588
posted by Linda (Noland) Layman
Thanks! Does the reference to John Smith of Mattapany include anything new? If so, would you please add it in response here?
posted by Beth (Brown) Golden
Regarding Orphan's Gift : if John named this land, he may have done so for the children of his wife, Jane and deceased father, Jonathan Prather. John Smith gave Orphan's Gift to them in his Last Will. It appears that Ninian Beall did not own land known as Orphan's Gift [see Space:Ninian_Beall:_General_Property_and_Life_Documents] so it is quite possible that John Smith named this 500 acres received from Beall as Orphan's Gift.

UPDATED 11 June 2021 Hope this helps! According to my extensive research done in 2020

1. John did not reside at Orphan's Gift.

2. Ninian Beall's major transport of 200 Scots to MD occurred in 1690, well after John Smith began living in MD.

3. Ninian Beall transferred other properties to John, including The Friendships [source: Mackenzie, George Norbury, and Nelson Osgood Rhoades, editors. Colonial Families of the United States, p. 57ff and Genealogy: A Weekly Journal of American Ancestry, Volumes 11-15]

4. The forenames mentioned for the Smyth family in Edinburgh are very common given names in Scotland during that time so in my opinion it is coincidental that they're also used with the Bell/Beall families.

5. The average age of death for men in this area during this time was 40-45 years. So a birth year of 1635 - 1640 may be incorrect. He died in 1707 which would make his birth about 1667 at the very latest as he owned land in Maryland by 1688.

6. John Smith's nephew was John Bowie, born in Scotland and transported by Smith to MD in 1705. John Bowie's parents may have been John Bowie and Margaret Ker, who married in 1658, Carnock, Fife, Scotland. There is also a speculative connection between this Ker family and records for Scottish Covenantors and may indicate the Smith family resided in/near Carnock.

posted by Beth (Brown) Golden
edited by Beth (Brown) Golden
I added in as a research note a synopsis of the discussion of "Orphan's Gift" on Ninian Beall's profile, including a crosslink toggle between the two profiles for ease of looking back and forth.
posted by Jack Day
Further analysis of John Smith's Last Will and land records shows that name for the property where John and Jane lived at the end of their lives was Brooke Wood, 2 parcels of the land known as Brookes Field which were sold to John by Thomas Brooke and wife Barbara in 1700 for 100 British pounds. The Brooke Brothers, Thomas and Robert, both sold land to John Smith, Robert in Collington Hundred and Thomas in Mattapany Hundred. All of these lands include their surname Brooke and depending on the source are spelled differently - either as one word or as 2 separate words.

Also, the Brooke.... properties owned by John Smith were bequeathed to his nephew John Bowie upon Jane's death. Satisfyingly, the property in Collington Hundred, a part of Robert Brooke's Brookewood, also known as Frienshipp, stayed in the family through the 1850's when it was owned by the Eversfield family. Note: there is a plantation known as Brookwood, located at 12807 Duley Station Road, Upper Marlborough, MD, which was built about 1850 by the Eversfield family and is listed on the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties (PG:86A-4) https://mht.maryland.gov/mihp/MIHPCard.aspx?MIHPNo=PG%3a86A-4 accessed 12 July 2020. Fielder Bowie, grandson of John Bowie, married Elizabeth Claggett Eversfield about 1765. Brookwood may have been named in honor of the plantation owned by John and Jane Smith and subsequently by John Bowie, or this Brookwood may actually be the land originally granted to John Bowie by his uncle, John Smith in his Last Will of 1707 and the Eversfield family improved the property. [cross-posted under McKay-479]

posted by Beth (Brown) Golden
Beth! Absolutely terrific job! I do not know how to do all the fancy notations. Written quite well and backed up, plus giving references to other contributors. Bravo!
posted by Linda (DeFrees) Franks
thanks so much, Frankie! It was my pleasure to explore John of Mattapany Smith. I did a little more researching since the original post and have updated a few things to reflect the new info.
posted by Beth (Brown) Golden
Hi Frankie, I'm fleshing out John Smith's life to see what can be found, especially as it pertains to his 2nd wife, Jane Mackay Prather. Would you like me to send what I've found or just update this profile? Thanks!
posted by Beth (Brown) Golden
Just to let others know, I'm still working on the facts regarding John Smith. The more I find, the more questions I need to try to answer. Hope to have it done within a few days. Thanks for being patient!
posted by Beth (Brown) Golden
Smith-22641 and Smith-68122 appear to represent the same person because: Looks like there a match.
posted by Kenneth Shelton