Debbie Hall Daugherty - Apr 1, 2010

ALLENDER SYBERT
7107 Sheffield Road
Baltimore, MD 21212

March 29, 2010

Ms. Deborah Hall Daugherty
14582 Marsh View Dr.
Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
[sent by e-mail]

Dear Ms. Daugherty:

Williamson families

I made a search of Maryland colonial records and did not find any record that would identify the parents of Elizabeth Williamson, who married John Hall on 22 December 1763. There were Williamson families in several parts of Maryland, especially in the counties of Kent, Calvert and Baltimore. My report of 17 November 2009 included information on several Williamsons in Baltimore County.

Anne Arundel County
John Williamson and Jane Weatherbourn were married on 12 August 1713 in All Hallows Parish, Anne Arundel County.

Calvert County
John Williamson and Mary Rurk were married on 21 Aug 1709 in Christ Church Parish, Calvert County. James Williamson of Calvert County left a will dated 23 Mar 1768, proved 17 Feb 1769 which named his wife Elizabeth, his children Henry, Charles, James, Bazil, Alexander, Compton, and Elizabeth Chesley; and his grandchildren James Williamson, son of Compton; Richard Williamson; Margaret Williamson, daughter of Bazil; and Mary Williamson (Prerog. Wills 37:265).

Kent County
Alexander Williamson of Kent County left a will proved on 11 Aug 1760 which named his sons Alexander and James, his daughters Ann, Henrietta and Rebecca, his nephew John Williamson and his late brother James Williamson (Md. Prerogative Wills 31:39). George Williamson of Kent County left a will dated 29 Dec 1768, proved 1 Jun 1771, naming his wife Rachel and his children George, John, Rachel, Hannah and Sarah (Prerog. Wills 38:301).

Queen Anne’s and Kent Counties
From the register of St. Luke’s Parish, Queen Anne’s County: John Williamson and Elizabeth Holt were married on 3 May 1738; Elizabeth, daughter of John and Elizabeth Williamson, b. 22 March 1741, bapt. 31 Mar 1741. John and Elizabeth Williamson later moved to Kent County, Maryland, where John Williamson left a will dated 24 Nov 1761, proved 31 Oct 1765, by which he left his entire estate to his wife Elizabeth during her life; after her death it was to be sold and the proceeds equally divided among his (unnamed) children (Prerog. Wills 33:413). The inventory of his estate, filed by his executrix Elizabeth Williamson on 12 Mar 1767, listed Richard Gresham, Jr., and Sarah Williamson as next of kin (Prerog. Inventories 91:250). An additional inventory, filed on 18 Mar 1767, named Richard Gresham, Jr., and Mary Williamson as next of kin (Prerog. Inventories 91:252). The administration account, filed on 22 Aug 1767, did not name his children (Prerog. Accounts 59:29).

Elizabeth Williamson, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Williamson, who was born in 1741, would have been 22 years old when John Hall and Elizabeth Williamson were married in Baltimore County on 22 Dec 1763. I have not found any record which would identify the Elizabeth Williamson who married John Hall as the Elizabeth Williamson of Queen Anne’s and Kent counties, and the distance between Kent and Baltimore counties, which are located on opposite sides of Chesapeake Bay, would seem to make it unlikely that they were the same person.

John Hall signatures

I made another search for original signatures of John Hall and was unable to locate any which I could identify as his. I did not find any original Baltimore County court records which were signed by John Hall. The Maryland State Papers, a large collection of original documents from the Revolutionary War era at the Maryland State Archives, includes a few signatures of persons named John Hall, but none was signed as “John Hall of Joshua,” and they did not contain any information to identify him as such. In addition, all were dated in the 1780s, after your John Hall left Maryland for the Carolinas, so it is unlikely that any of the signatures were his.

Father of Joshua Hall

In one of your messages you mentioned that you had found a statement in an online source that Joshua Hall’s father was a John Hall who married a Rawlins. There was a John Hall in Baltimore County who died in 1718 leaving a will which mentioned his uncle John Rawlins, but the will did not mention a wife of children, so it appears unlikely that he left children. The will of John Hall, dated 24 January 1717/8, proved 7 July 1718, provided that he was to be buried at the discretion of “my honored mother,” and left to his honored mother Jane Nouell “my cattle that I have at my uncle’s Mr. John Rawlins.” The will was witnessed by Jere Downes, Charles Baker and Caleb Hewitt (Baltimore Co. Wills 1:133). No inventory or administration accounts of his estate are on file in Baltimore County.

R. Edward Chapman, in the pages of his typescript genealogy, “Descendants of Joshua Hall of Wales and Baltimore County, Maryland,” which I sent to you some time ago, places the John Hall who died in 1718 as a brother of Joshua Hall and a son of a supposed John Hall (1672-1756), who married Jane Rawlins. Mr. Chapman did not supply any documentation for those assertions, and I have not found any evidence to support them. The information which you saw online may have been copied from Mr. Chapman’s typescript. Genealogical writings which do not cite sources for their statements should not be assumed to be credible.

As to the dates of birth and death of Joshua Hall, I have not found any record of his birth. His will was dated 8 April 1782 and proved on 10 April 1782 (Baltimore Co. Wills 3:481), so we can safely conclude that he died on the eighth, ninth or tenth of April 1782. Mr. Chapman’s typescript, on page 1 dated 05 Dec 1988, states that Joshua Hall was “born about 1708” but gives no evidence for that statement. On the same page he wrote that Joshua Hall died on 28 Jan 1782 and his will was probated 28 Apr 1782. Both of those dates are clearly incorrect. On the following two pages he quoted part of Joshua Hall’s will and gave the correct dates of the will and its proving.