George Smith 1639-1704 Immigrant

Some of our ancestors are relatively easy to find; some like to play hide and seek.  And some seem to have clones, just to confuse us.  So, I think I'm tracking George Smith of Maryland, but perhaps I'm wrong.  So, here goes...

Many sites show that George's parents are Richard Smith and Elizabeth Halford, and give a birth date and location for George as February of 1639, in Shepshed, Leicestershire, England.  I found a birth record for that date for George Smith, but it shows his parents as Richard Smith and Margery.  Since Richard Smith and Elizabeth Halford seem to have ended up in Connecticut, I'm not convinced that Richard and Elizabeth are correct.  Let's go with Richard and Margery for now. 

The first thing we know of George is that he is shows up in Maryland in 1663.  If our 1639 date is correct, he would be about 24 years old, and he may or may not be the George Smith who married Anne Webster in 1656 in Leicestershire, England.  If this is our couple, he would have been 17 and she just fourteen, so I have my doubts.  He is reported to have had two sons with Anne, Richard and George, before she died in 1675, possibly in Cecil County, Maryland.    George waited about 20 years before marrying Hannah, possibly Hannah Freeborne, in 1694 in Baltimore, Maryland.  He and Hannah had at least two children, William and Selina, with time between the two children for another who may not have lived long (my speculation, no documentation for that).

We see only bits and pieces of George Smith in Maryland.  He may be the man who was elected vestryman of St Georges Parish, Baltimore County, in 1692.  This would have been his church and tithing area.  His tax district was the Spesutia Huntred and in 1692 he was taxed on three males, himself and also Joseph Lee and John Howard.  They were possibly indentured servants, but their term of service was up, or sold to others, by 1695 when George Smith was taxed on George Smith Junior and one slave.  (He may well have had more slaves, especially younger than 16, or women.  It seems not unreasonable to wonder whether he had a slave family under his control by this time.) 

That is all I could find about George Smith until his death April 20, 1704.  I haven't yet found a will or inventory that I feel confident belongs to our George, although surely either a will, or an inventory, or both, should have been prepared.  Someone important enough to be a vestryman, and to "own" a slave, would have wanted to make sure his property was passed on to his family.  I'll keep looking for that. 

I don't really think I have a grasp of this man or his life at all.  Did he fight in any battles, serve in the militia, hold any offices other than that of vestryman?  Was he of low economic status, or did he have at least some goods to leave his family?  We know from the term "vestryman" that he was of the Church of England, which leads one to wonder how his birth family fared during the English Civil War.  He would have lived in England through the reign of Oliver Cromwell, and then the Restoration of Charles II.  How did those experiences influence his thinking?  This man generates questions, but the answers are sadly lacking. 

Our line of descent is:

George Smith-Hannah Freeborne
Selina Smith-Robert Clarke
Hannah Clarke-James Amos
Robert Amos-Martha McComas
Robert Amos-Elizabeth Amos (yes, cousins)
Martha Amos-Peter Black
Elizabeth Black-Isaac Hetrick
Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants