Migrating to America
During the Reformation, many separated from the Catholic Church. In England, a series of penal laws were passed against active Catholics. Gradually, Catholic emigration to the New World took shape. George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore found support in Charles I whose Catholic Queen, Henrietta Maria, was sympathetic. Driven by profit yet envisioning coexistence, Calvert uniquely pledged loyalty to both crown and the pope.
_______________________________
The region surrounding the Chesapeake Bay witnessed dramatic changes in the seventeenth century. The English invaded the area, wrestled control of the territory from its aboriginal inhabitants, and wreaked havoc among those inhabitants.
Our Ancestors
Thomas Francis Greene, 1610-1652
Passenger on the Ark, 2nd Proprietary Governor of Maryland
Anne Gerrard Cox, abt. 1610-abt. 1638
Gentlewoman passenger on the Ark
Charles Maynard, 1625-1665
Indentured servant, tobacco planter
Robert Cole Sr., c.1628-c.1663
Tobacco planter, accounts document seventeenth century Colonial Maryland
Francis Hayden, 1628-1694
Progenitor of the Maryland Haydens
Arnold Livers, 1669-1751
Page of the backstairs, indentured servant, tailor, yeoman, merchant, treasonous activist, landowner
Page of the backstairs, indentured servant, tailor, yeomen, merchant, treasonous activist, landowner
Top to bottom:
The First Landing of Leonard Calvert in Maryland by David Acheson Woodward, circa 1865-1870.
Portrait of Thomas Greene.
Greene family coat of arms.
Artist rendering of the Ark in sail.
St. Mary's City townlands, 1640-47. The tract map is based on original surveys superimposed on a recent topographical map created from aerial surveys.
The Honorable Thomas Francis Greene, 1610-1652
2nd Proprietary Governor of Maryland
Joseph Ferdinand Hayden's direct ancestor (9 generations)
Thomas Greene is one of the most interesting characters in early Maryland. Born in Bobbing, Kent, England, his father was created Knight Bachelor of the Realm by James I in 1622. A passenger on the Ark, he was one of “twenty gentlemen of very good fashion.” He was heavily invested in the adventure, so its success was more than of casual interest. He was considered a moderate Catholic, a Royalist, supporter of the Stuart dynasty, and good friend of Governor Leonard Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore’s brother and first Proprietary Governor of Maryland.
On arriving in Maryland, Greene married Mistress Ann Gerard Cox a widow who was among the few gentlewomen on the Ark. The marriage is celebrated as the first Christian marriage on Maryland soil. She died within a few years and he married Mistress Winifred Seybourne (Seaborne) who arrived in Maryland in 1638.
Initially, Greene was granted a large manor of 10,000 acres but allowed it to revert to the state because of the heavy taxation applied to the land. In turn Greene was granted a manor on Popely and Kent islands and over time received other land grants. One of which was called “Green’s Inheritance” and “Green’s Rest” within St. Mary’s City’s boundaries.
As his status implied, he was extremely active in the political affairs of the Province. When the Maryland legislature became representative and the Upper House of Privy Council developed, he was one of the first to be appointed by the Lord Proprietary. It was comparable to having been assigned to the British House of
Lords. Greene was also appointed one
of the Justices of the Provincial Court
at its inception. In 1647 Greene was
appointed to the governorship by his
friend and the colony’s first governor,
Leonard Calvert, only hours before
Calvert’s death. He was by this point
one of the few early settlers who
was still active in leadership. His term
of office lasted until 1649 when
Lord Baltimore commissioned
Captain William Stone of Virginia to
be Governor to appease the growing
number of Protestants in the Colony.
Following his removal, Greene served
as Deputy Governor under Stone. In 1649 while Stone was in Virginia, Greene declared Maryland in support of the Catholic King Charles and contributing to a severe reaction from the British Parliament. Stone quickly returned and retracted the declaration. Parliament awarded a Protestant Council to oversee the colony removing any remaining Catholics on the Council. In 1654 the Council quickly rescinded the “Maryland Toleration Act” which had guaranteed religious freedom in the colony and banned open worship.
By the time of his death, Greene was criticized by the radical elements which were then gaining strength in the Province—particularly from the Puritans who had been driven out of Virginia but had found refuge in Maryland under Lord Baltimore. Baltimore was trying to navigate the growing anger of Parliament in London. Green died in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. Thomas Greene's children::
By Anne Cox:
Thomas Greene, 1635-1665
Leonard Greene, 1637-1688
By Winifred Seybourne:
Robert Greene, 1646-1716
Francis Green, 1648-1707
Greene declared maryland's support of the catholic king Charles and unleased a severe reaction from the british parliament.
Top to bottom:
The mouth of the St. George River today. Thomas Greene and Anne Cox were married in 1634 on the banks of the St. George River.
1984 US postcard's stamp depicting the sailing of Ark and the Dove.
2023 reproduction of the Dove in dock at St. Mary's City, Maryland.
Mistress Anne Gerard (widow Cox), abt. 1610-abt. 1638
Gentlewoman passenger on the Ark
Joseph Ferdinand Hayden's direct ancestor (9 generations)
When reviewing a list of passengers on the Ark and Dove, almost no women are mentioned. It is possible there were families and/or servants on that first voyage, given that each person brought into province earned 50 acres of land for the person who brought them. It is doubtful they would want to make the trip a second time, knowing the daily privations of seventeenth-century seafaring. They faced boredom, lived in cramped quarters below deck, and slept on thin, straw-filled mattresses with scant privacy. One could bathe only with
saltwater, and certainly
personal discomfort and
dirty linen weighed less in
the balance than the
danger of being washed
overboard when relieving
oneself or dumping
chamber pots.
Meals of salted meat, hard biscuits, and dried peas
made one wish for fresh
water. On Christmas Day men and women on the Ark let themselves go by drinking some Canary Island wine with dinner. Thirty people fell sick; twelve died.
Anne Gerrard Cox is the only recognized woman of gentle birth who is known to have been on that first voyage. “Mistress” was a title of courtesy used at the time to address a mature, unmarried woman capable of managing her own affairs. We can assume she traveled with at least one handmaiden, though we have no record of the fact.
Thomas Greene and Anne were wed in 1634 on the banks of the St. George River. Their marriage was considered to have been the first Christian marriage in Maryland.
In 1633 while still in England, Lord Baltimore awarded Anne 500 acres of land as a special grant. On arriving, as a lady of estates in her own right and the first “gentlewoman” in Maryland her success required courage to bear the difficulties and inconveniences of this New World. She was described by Father Andrew White, a Jesuit priest, also on the Ark, as “…given to much prayer, and most anxious for the salvation of her neighbors—a perfect example…with all for her notable examples, ample, especially of charity to the sick, as well as of other virtues.”
Anne died within a few years of having arrived in Maryland. Thomas Green and Anne Cox children:
Thomas Greene, 1635-1665
Leonard Greene, 1637-1688
Personal Discomfort and dirty laundry was less important than the danger of being washed overboard
Top to bottom:
An indentured servant's work could be grueling. Here two men work in what appears to be processing iron ore.
Example of an indentured servant contract.
Map showing location of "Maynard's Comfort." Note: Francis Hayden's land, "Small Hopes" is nearby but did not exist until the 1670s.
Charles Maynard, 1625-1665
Twelve year old indentured servant, tobacco planter
Joseph Ferdinand Hayden's great, great uncle's father-in-law's great great grandfather
Charles Maynard came to Maryland in 1637 as an indentured servant to Cuthbert Fenwick. Fenwick was one of the original passengers on The Ark and the Dove. Maynard was twelve years old at the time of his arrival. When he completed his service in 1649, he was patented 100 acres of land on St. Clement’s Bay.
For many years the majority of the white population emigrating to the providence of Maryland were termed “servants,” a term somewhat similar to our use of the word “employee.” Such a person would agree to work for a certain number of years in exchange for transportation to the colony. The average indentured servant was a respectable young person desiring a better life in the New World but lacking the means for the costly sea voyage. The Lord Proprietor needed to populate his province and so devised the “servant system” to supply the means for the voyage. When a servant completed his or her time of service they would be entitled to fifty acres of land.
Maynard's 1649 patent states that Charles Maynard, Planter, performed his services to Cuthbert Fenwick and was entitled to 50 acres. Fenwick gave Maynard an additional 50 acres he had earned for bringing him into the country. Maynard later received 400 additional acres in two separate patents by the Lord Proprietor from lands of deceased individuals citing “in consideration of faithful service” with the expectation of “like acceptable service for the future.” Maynard settled on St. Clements Bay in the New Town Hundred calling his home Maynard’s Comfort.
Maynard's Comfort,
situated Clement's
Bay where highways #242
and #234 intersect at
today's round-about,
became the property of
John Rapiere (d1687/8)
through his marriage to Charles and Ann Maynard's daughter, Elizabeth. The land was passed down through several generations of Rapiers to Captain Richard James Rapier (1744-1817) who we will discuss in the Colonial Period. Charles Maynard and his wife, Ann, children’s include:
Agnes
Elizabeth
Charles (aft. 1661-)
maynard's comfort was located where today's highways#242 and #234 intersect.
Top to bottom:
Detail of early American ledger.
Replica of panel posted in original St. Francis Xavier church, the oldest Catholic Church in continuous operation within the original thirteen colonies. The title of the poster reads "Ad preptuam rei memoriam," a Latin phrase meaning "for a perpetual memory of the thing." It signifies a document created to preserve an significant event for lasting remembrance. It is signed by Robert Cole and two of the men who managed his affairs once Cole left for England.
Existing structure demonstrating location and size of original St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church.
Book published by the University of North Carolina Press providing a unique view of Robert Cole's farm and 17th century Chesapeake life and history.
Robert Cole Sr., c. 1628-c. 1663
Maryland tobacco planter, seventeenth century accounts of Chesapeake colonial economy
Joseph Ferdinand Hayden's direct ancestor (8 generations); Henrietta (Cole) Hayden's (1754-1837) great, great grandfather
In 1652 Robert Cole Sr. (c.1628-c.1662) arrived in Maryland with his wife, Rebecca, four children and two servants. Cole appears to have been prosperous in England--the son of a land owner occupying the top third of the economic wealth structure, almost certainly Catholic, and must have received a formal education based on the fluent English used in his will and inventory of goods. Likely he sold land in England to fund the trip and their Catholic faith determined their Maryland destination. As a successful tobacco planter, within ten years of Cole’s arrival his estate in Maryland was worth four times the value in land, servants and money.
We don't know why, but by the end of those ten years he returned to England. In preparation, Cole made elaborate arrangements for his children and the management of his estate. He created a detailed inventory of his possessions and wrote a will. His wife, Rebecca, must have died during this process because she is mentioned in the inventory but not the will. At his departure Cole left two stepchildren and five children of his own. Two children had died. His step-daughter, Anne Knott, had left the household before his departure. Not yet sixteen in a woman-short world the pressure to marry early was strong. He charged two of his Maryland neighbors, Luke Gardiner, William Evans, and a cousin, Henry Hanckes,
to care for his children and property,
then left. By September of 1663 he
was dead, circumstances unknown.
Gardiner kept meticulous records
of income and expenditures on the
Cole plantation for nearly twelve
years. From these records we know the composition of the family over those years, the number and terms of the servants, what was produced for sale on the plantation, and what was purchased to keep it functioning. The records end with a list of the property left to distribute among the children in 1673. These records allow historians and researchers today to reconstruct how plantations were run and what an early American family's life would have been like through the years of the Cole children's minority.
This is the unique and tremendous value of the Robert Cole Sr. story. He distinguished himself through his selection of support for his family and his death. The accounts kept by Gardiner on Cole’s behalf provide more insight into the domestic economy of a seventeenth century plantation than do any other single set of documents yet discovered from the period. When combined with bits and pieces of evidence drawn from a variety of sources and interpreted with the help of some educated guess-work, the accounts reveal a lot about daily activities in colonial Maryland. Their survival elevates Robert Cole, his family, and his farm to a central place in the history of the Chesapeake colonies in the seventeenth century. Children Included:
Anne Knott (1625-1651)
Francis Knott (1649-1705)
Robert Cole Jr. (1652-1695)
Mary Cole, (1654-
William Cole (1655-1683)
Edward Cole (1657-1718)
Elizabeth Cole (1659-1670)
by september 1663 cole was dead. Circumstances unknown.
Above, Top to bottom:
Detail of Francis Hayden's will.
Jennifer (Hayden) Patterson, her parents, Sharon and Dennis Hayden, and Paige Patterson standing in "Heydon Chapel" in St. Mary's parish church in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Francis Hayden was baptized in the original church in Watford, but much was lost during the bombings of WWII. "Heydon chapel" is original to the building.
Map showing Hayden's Small Hopes in southern Maryland. Note: Maynard's Comfort is nearby showing ownership of both Maynard and Rapier land. It appears the families grew up together from these earliest generations until their arrival in Kentucky.
Right:
Hayden English Ancestry as provided by Arizona's United States Senator Carl Hayden. Francis Hayden (with the double asterisks) is the Maryland Hayden.
Francis Hayden, 1628-1694
Progenitor of the Hayden family of St. Mary's County, MD
Joseph Ferdinand Hayden's direct ancestor (7 generations)
Francis Hayden (also spelled Haydon, Heyden, Heydon) was the progenitor of the Hayden family of St. Mary's County, Maryland. In early Colonial America, many of the early settlers had little education or were unable to write even their own names. The clerk recording the various documents spelled names as they sounded phonetically.
Hayden was a native of England.
His birth is registered in the parish
church of St. Mary’s of Watford,
Hertfordshire, England on
August 14, 1628.
Francis Hayden emigrated to
America in the 1660s. He is first
found in deeds & wills (1:298) for
Westmoreland County, Virginia on March 8, 1665-6 as a planter for having sold 500 acres of 1,000 acres he co-owned. And again in 1666 in Westmoreland county, Virginia Hayden received another 1,000 acres for transporting 20 persons into the province. Other land transactions can be found for Hayden in Virginia through 1671. He must have been a man of some means.
Hayden married Thomasin Butler (1630-1702) while still in Virginia. Arriving in Maryland sometime prior to 1675, Hayden, accompanied by his wife, and two daughters, leased land called “Small Hopes.” After residing in Maryland for two years which was the required waiting time for such transactions, Francis Hayden claimed 200 acres of land for transporting himself, Thomasin, and two daughters, into the province of Maryland. Per Lord Baltimore, each person brought into Maryland (free or indentured) was entitled to 50 acres for the leader who brought them. Indentured servants claimed their 50 acres once the indenture was complete. His son, William, was born in St. Mary’s County in 1675.
Other than land transactions, we have few details of Hayden's life in Maryland. Francis Hayden died in 1697 leaving all his property to his wife, Thomasin. Five years later, Thomasin died. She left “Small Hopes” to her son, William, formerly called “Newington” near St. Clements Bay.
Children of Francis Hayden and Thomasin (Butler) Hayden were:
Mary (Hayden) Reeder (b 1665- aft 1717, St. Clements Hundred)
Penelope (Hayden) Allman (before 1670-after 1696, St. Clements Hundred)
William H. (1674-1734, St. Clements Hundred)
francis hayden is the progenitor of the hayden family in st. mary's county, maryland.
Top to bottom:
A contemporary view of land that at one time was owned by Arnold Livers, called Arnold's Delight in present day Frederick County, Maryland. At the time of Livers death, Arnolds Delight consisted of 1,649 acres. It sits just above Camp David. The photo is taken from the National Shrine Grotto of our Lady of Lourdes at Mount St. Mary's University.
Livers likely learned his tailoring skills while a Page of the Backstairs to the Stuart King in exile, James II.
Map of Arnold Livers amassed lands at the time of his death in 1751.
Theresa Hayden and Janice Wheeler standing under a covered bridge which now stands in the middle of what was Arnold's Delight. The bridge did not exist in Livers day.
Gravestone of Jocoba Clementina, Arnold Livers eldest daughter. She inherited a portion of Arnold's Delight. Jacoba was the 2nd wife of William Elder Sr. The immaculately cared for Elder family cemetery exists today just north of land that was Arnold's Delight.
Arnold Livers, 1669-1751
Raised in the exiled King's household; indentured servant,
tailor, yeoman, merchant, treasonous activist, landowner
Joseph Ferdinand Hayden's direct ancestor (6 generations)
Arnold Livers was born in Flanders, Belgium of English parentage and grew up and worked within the royal household--rising to become Page of the Backstairs, a trusted position with personal access to the exiled King of England, James II. Livers also had minor military responsibilities and went to England from Flanders in support of James II on the King's return to England, leaving a wife and two children. After only four years on the throne, James II attempted to prosecute seven Anglican bishops and a large-scale purge of Parliament. He failed and was forced to escape to France. With the fall of the Stuart family, Livers fought to the final days in defense of James II, then fled England for his life (still in uniform) as James II's realm ended. His uniform's buttons and buckles are still in the possession of family members today.
Livers arrived in Maryland between 1688 and the 1690s, transported by Col. Henry Darnall, Deputy Governor of Maryland and a Catholic who himself was later removed from office by an army of Puritans who were successful at outlawing Catholicism. At the time, Livers was identified as an indentured servant—his trade being that of a tailor. It was normal for people with trades to take advantage of indentured servitude to transport themselves to a new
way of life. Or could it have been
a ruse? If the most powerful
government in the world at the
time was looking for you, how better
to hide than as an indentured
servant? Over his lifetime, Maryland
documents refer to Livers as a
yeoman (a British title for an
attendant in the service of a
nobleman of royalty), an indentured
servant, a merchant which may be
referring to his tailoring, his ongoing contracting of other indentured servants, and a gentleman. His agreement with Darnall was for 4-6 years which is an unusually short time. Likely he learned tailoring while in the household of the King and these abilities quickly satisfied his servitude allowing him to become a man with property.
Liver's story in the New World is in many ways typical of many others but in other ways unique. The romance lies in his ability to make a fresh start as an ordinary citizen. Yet he remained an active "papist" openly supporting (and secretly financing) "Bonnie Prince Charlie's" hoped for accession to the throne. Along with many others, it was at this time that Livers was charged with treasonous speech and activities. The charges were eventually relaxed, but cycles of intense persecution chipped away at Catholics legal rights.
Once in Maryland, Livers was notified his first wife had died. He married his first American wife, Helen Gordon, 1684-1718, in 1704. On his behalf she traveled to Europe to bring back his two sons by his previous marriage. It was still thought to be too dangerous for Livers to return to either Flanders or England. After the death of his second wife, he married Mary Ann Drane, 1702-1742, in 1721.
By 1721 Livers had indentured servants of his own. There are several court records at this time indicating an indentured servant’s “runaway time” and physical harm to his wife. Court records show the servant received 20 lashes on his bare back.
By his death Livers amassed large tracts of land across Prince Georges and Frederick counties in Maryland providing his offspring with generous land ownership. Clearly Arnold Livers was a man of ambition and drive. By the time of his death, he had amassed a small fortune in land across multiple counties in what is now the state of Maryland. Seemingly undaunted by the trials he faced, Livers continually searched for new means to better his station, showed courage, strength in his beliefs, and a dedication to family life. Arnold Livers children:
1st wife in Flanders:
John Livers, 1686 (England)
2nd wife, Helen Gordon, 1684-1718:
Father Arnold Livers IJ. 1705-1767
Jacoba Livers, 1717-1807
James Livers, 1718-1785
3rd wife, Mary Ann Drane, 1702-1742
Anthony Livers, 1734-1820
Arnold Livers, 1736-1777
Robert Livers, 1738-1785
Mary Ann Livers, 1739-1825
how better to hide from the most powerful government in the world at that time than as an indentured servant?