I work on colonial Maryland families and have been working on Samuel Magruder for over a month; at the moment I'm working on his children before returning to boil down the great mass of material on his profile into something shorter and more coherent.
No birth or baptism records have been found for his children. His children are named in his will, written in 1710, Five of his sons are referred to as "when they reach the age of 16", so we know they were minors at the time of the will and born sometime between 1694 and 1710. Three daughters are listed, by their maiden names. The daughters are to receive "personalty," not real estate.
My question is this: does the will give us any clue as to the relative age of the daughters? Since they were not referred to as "when they reach the age of 16" can we assume they were over 16? Or does that qualifier only refer to sons, or only to the receipt of real estate? Some genealogies show daughter Elinor born around 1692 and others show her born around 1705. Looking just at the will, is there any clue as to which date would be more likely than the other?
(A profile of Nehemiah Wade, the man Elinor married, shows them married in 1727, and a 22 year old born in 1705 (and age 5 when her father's will was written in 1710) is more suitable for a first marriage than a 35 year old born in 1692. But at this moment I'm trying to focus just on the will!)
