Beeks line: William Jump 1632-1709 Immigrant

I love writing about the immigrants that have been found in the Beeks line.  They came to New England, New Netherlands, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, that I know of so far, and all of the branches are totally interesting to me.  Thomas Jump is one of the early Maryland immigrants, and of course, not much is known of him.

It appears that he was born about 1632 in England, and that his parents may have been Thomas Jumpe and Anne Drayton.  I haven't found any documentation linking William to Thomas yet, but it may be out there and I just haven't located it.  His birthplace is given as possibly Beckley, Northamptonshire, England. (It must have been a small village or parish, as it is not mentioned on the wikipedia page about Northamptonshire.)

We know almost nothing of his life until he arrived in Maryland.  It is possible that he had a first wife in England, Elizabeth Wheat, but nothing more is known of this possible marriage or of any children, as far as I can tell.  He appears in Dorchester county, Maryland in 1664 with a land grant of 100 acres.   The land was on the east side of Chesapeake Bay, on the Little Choptank River, bounded on the west side by Hudson Creek.  He is mentioned in records of Dorchester, Caroline, and Talbot County, which pretty well gives us his location, as Dorchester shares it's northern border with both Caroline and Talbot. 

If there was a wife who traveled to Maryland with William, she died early, because William married Rebecca, possibly Chesmore, probably not long after he arrived there.  Rebecca is generally given a birth date of 1636 but again, I know of no documentation for this, nor for speculation that her father's name may have been George.  William and Rebecca had at least four children, Thomas, Margaret, William and Elizabeth.  Various dates of birth are given for them but it is likely that they were born between 1665 and 1680. 

William was a carpenter by trade, which would have been a needed skill in the colony.  He also acquired additional land, so we can consider him a farmer.  We need to consider the possibility that he owned slaves, because it appears that he owned about 500 acres at one time, far too much for him to cultivate with just the aid of his family.  He is listed as a "planter," in 1701.  However, his will does not bequeath, nor even mention, slaves so he may have had tenants or some other way of farming his land.  Perhaps his inventory, if it could be found, would provide more information. 

His will was written on March 21, 1709 and it is believed that he died shortly after that.   He bequeathed 300 acres of land to Thomas, 50 acres to Elizabeth "Feay", the remaining amount of "Jump's Chance" and all his other lands to William, and included Margaret with the three above named who were to divide his (personalty?) estate.  There is no mention of Rebecca so she must have died earlier.  It is interesting that by this time he was of Queen Annes County, which is north of the previously mentioned counties but still on the east side of Chesapeake Bay.  Was he living with one of his children, or had he moved earlier? 

This isn't much information for a man who apparently lived forty-five years or more in early Maryland.  I'd love to know if he served in the military, what relations were with nearby Indians, what religion he practiced, and if he ever missed his home in England.  I'd love to know how he got that land cultivated, and whether he raised tobacco (probably).  Also, what was his diet?  Did he eat out of the abundance of Chesapeake bay, or did he eat a typical farmer's diet? 

There's always more to know.

The line of descent is:

William Jump-Rebecca possibly Chesmore
Elizabeth Jump-George Fee
George Fee-Parnell Lakin
Eizabeth Fee-Joseph Lakin
Mary Lakin-John Simpson Aldridge Sr.
John Simpson Aldridge Jr.-Lucinda Wheeler
Darlington Aldridge-Leah Folsom
Harvey Homer Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham
Gretta Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendents

Beeks line: George Fee 1675-abt 1730

It may be that George Fee born about 1675 is the original immigrant to Maryland, or he may have been born in Maryland.  At any rate, he is believed to be the son of George Fee and Rebecca possibly Parnell.  The Fee family was from County Fermanagh, Ireland, but in turn they may have been immigrants to Ireland from Scotland, about the year 1600.  There may be some connection to Donald Fee, who is said to have bought in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.  Donald's sons, Donald and George also fought with him.  (I haven't researched this yet so although it is on most Fee trees on the internet, take it with a grain of salt.)

Whether it was because they were on the losing side of the battle, or because of other economic reasons, the Fee family emigrated to Maryland sometime in the late 1600's.  Under the theory above, our George would have been born in Ireland and not Maryland, but this is not proved.  The first George was a clothier, someone who made or sold clothes or cloth, which would have been a needed product on the Maryland frontier.  Our George is listed as a planter in Talbot and Dorchester County, Maryland and also in Kent County, Delaware.  It appears that the first land was received from his father in law (actually it was willed to his wife) and from there various purchases and sales were made.  

George Fee married Elizabeth Jump, daughter of William Jump and Rebecca possibly Chesmore, probably about 1701.  They had six known children, George, Thomas, Elizabeth, William, Mary, and Rebecca, and possibly more.  George is believed to have died about 1730, and I have no record of Elizabeth's death.

That is as much as I know about George right now, so obviously there is a good deal more digging to do.  I wanted to get this much written down, though, because I think the older George's history could be fascinating, and I certainly want to know more about this George.  What stories did he hear as he was growing up? Did he hear about his father and his grandfather's experiences in the Battle of the Boyne, or was this something that wasn't talked about?  When and where was he born, and when did he die?  Did he leave a will?  What other stories will his records tell?

I found much of this information at jmoule.com/Ball family website.  If someone has documentation for any of the missing information, I'd love it if you'd share!

The line of descent:

George Fee-Elizabeth Jump
George Fee-Parnell Lakin
Elizabeth Fee-Joseph Lakin
Mary Lakin-John Simpson Aldridge
John Simpson Aldridge Jr.-Lucinda Wheeler
Darlington Aldridge-Leah Folsom
Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham
Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendents