Charity (Unknown) Cheney (abt. 1632 - abt. 1667)

Born about 1632 in England or Virginia

Wife of Richard Cheney Sr. — married 1650 in Anne Arundel County, Province of Maryland

Descendants

Died about 1667 at about age 35 in South River, Anne Arundel County, Province of Maryland

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Biography

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.

1632 Birth

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.

1651 Marriage to Richard Cheyney

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.

1652 Immigration to Maryland

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]

1667 Death of Charity

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.

Children

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.

1. Elizabeth Cheney, b. 30 Oct 1652, South River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, d. Aft 1726, Anne Arundel County, Maryland ^[6] Elizabeth, b. 1652, married William Ijams ^[3]
2. Richard Cheney. Marshall estimates his birth as 1649, but as discussed above, it must be assumed that all children were born after 1652, so estimate his birth as 1654. Born All Hallows Parish, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, d. 6 Dec 1704, Anne Arundel County, Maryland ^[6] Richard, b. abt 1654, "the elder", married Mary ^[3]
3. Anne Cheney, b. 1661, South River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, d. 29 Apr 1730, Anne Arundel County, Maryland ^[6] Anne, b. abt 1661, married John Jacob. ^[3]
4. Mary Cheney, b. Abt 1668, South River, Anne Arundel County. ^[6] Mentioned in father's will. ^[3]

Research Notes

Was Charity Named Wood?

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.

Who was Richard Cheney married to in 1674?

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.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Gust Skordas. The Early Settlers of Maryland. Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Pub. Co., 1968 . p. 88, Citing Liber Q, folio 74
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Sharon J. Doliante. Maryland and Virginia Colonials : Genealogies of Some Colonial Families. Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Co., ©1991. [Clearfield Publishing, 1998, 2000. Reprinted in 2 vols. (orig. 1 v.)] Volume 1, p. 105.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5} Doliante, p., 108
4. ↑ F. Edward Wright. Anne Arundel County Church Records ofe the 17th and 18th Centuries. Westminster, Maryland: Family Line Publications. No date. Page 2
5. ↑ Gary Ramsey Wells. "Chaney Lineage." Personal individual genealogy. " Note: I found the lineage on this site very hard to follow and quite a few errors in dates. - TF. Note 2: Geocities is a defunct website. However, this page is archived on the Internet Archive "Wayback Machine."
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4} Mike Marshall. Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia's Northern Neck Counties. Profile for Charity Wood Accessed 26 March 2022 jhd
7. ↑ Doliante, p. 107

See also:

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104496647/mary-charity-cheney

• Source: S33

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.

• Source: S34

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.

• Source: S7 Find A Grave: Memorial #104496647 Mary Charity Cheney . Note: The memorial page here gives her name as "Mary Charity (Wood) Cheney," along with other "facts" unsupported by credible evidence. No photo.

• Source: S1774 Personal Individual Genealogy. Ulrich Family Tree Links. Ron Ulrich. Note: This is a very extensive genealogy which, unfortunately, does not cite its sources. IMPORTANT NOTE: This source was cited on one of the profiles merged into this one, which gave, Mary Charity Wood, b. abt 1625 in England, m. 1647 in South River Hundred, Anne Arundel, MD, d. bef 1669, Anne Arundel, father Ezekiel Woodward. This website gives Charity Wood, b. abt 1630, England, m. bef 1649, South River Hundred, Anne Arundel, d. bef 1668, Anne Arundel, no parents given.

• Source: S-277766635 Ancestry Family Trees: Tree #1, Tree #2. User submitted. Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network.

• http://records.ancestry.com/charity_records.ashx?pid=12505731

Acknowledgments

• WikiTree profile UNKNOWN-301 created through the import of mcdougle 2010-06-30.ged on 01 July 2010 by David McDougle. See the Changes page for the details of edits by David and others.
• WikiTree profile Wood-3122 created through the import of Foster-Volkenant.ged on May 31, 2011 by Terry Foster. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Terry and others.
• WikiTree profile Cheney-404 created through the import of Hummel_Goerl_Cecil_Miller Fami(3).ged on Jun 12, 2011 by Angela Hummel. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Angela and others.
• WikiTree profile Woodward-711 created through the import of My Family File.ged on Aug 31, 2011 by Jane Entwisle. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Jane and others.
• WikiTree profile Woodward-1049 created through the import of Remus Wikitree.ged on Feb 12, 2012 by Fred Remus. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Fred and others.
• WikiTree profile Wood-6120 created through the import of Erin Dunshee_s Family Tree.ged on Sep 23, 2012 by Erin Stover. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Erin and others.
• WikiTree profile Wood-7523 created through the import of Duckett Family.ged on Apr 4, 2013 by Catherine Rivera. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Catherine and others.
• WikiTree profile Surname unknown-5 was created through the import of DanStoneGEDCOM.ged on Jul 1, 2014 by Dan Stone. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Dan and others.
• WikiTree profile Cheney-1453 was created through the import of Peisen Family Tree_9.26.14.ged on Sep 26, 2014 by Conan Peisen. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Conan and others.