Holbrook line: Charles Gorsuch Jr. 1687-1747

A funny thing happens on the way to writing a blog post sometimes.  I find that I don't trust the information I have, and a little bit of digging shows the reason why.  I find conflicting information, or proof that my information is wrong, and sometimes I find a bit of drama in the genealogy world. 

I found what I now believe is an error in my information about Charles Gorsuch Jr's marriage(s).  But let's start at the beginning.  Charles Gorsuch was born in 1686 or 1687 in Baltimore County, Maryland, to Charles and Sarah Cole Gorusch.  He was one of at least four children, and he grew up pretty much where Baltimore is now situated.  In fact, his father is credited with helping found the town of Baltimore.  At the time, of course, it was just a very small village, but the harbor was growing in response to the need of planters to ship their goods, especially tobacco.

Charles grew up and married, possibly about 1712, to a woman associated with the name of Rogers.   She may have died in childbirth, leaving Charles with three young children;s John, William and Hannah probably would not remember their mother. 

Charles soon married his second wife, Sarah Cole, who was his mother's niece.  They had eight children together, so the family was approaching "good-sized", even for that day.  Charles seems to have been a planter, also, although there is not a lot of evidence to support that statement.  His first seven children with Sarah were baptized at St Paul's Parish, Baltimore County.  The last daughter, Rachel, was likely born after Charles and Sarah had moved to Western Run. 

Charles died before June 17, 1748, when an inventory was filed by Sarah, showing a personal estate of 314 pounds, 12 shillings, and 6 pence.  There is a note in the estate papers that John, William, and Hannah, wife of Thomas Stansbury, had received their share in the life time of the deceased, so this final estate was to be divided between the eight children, after (I'm assuming here, I haven't found the papers to read them myself) taking care of Sarah.  His inventory includes one Negro man, one Negro woman, and immediately after that, "a parcel of new goods", all valued about the same.  Most of the inventory is for farm animals, implements, and crops.  There is one entry for "gunns" but I found nothing for books.  The feeling I have is that this was not a rich household, but that there was enough to go around, as far as dishes and furniture go.  He had quite a bit of wool and woolen goods, and some tobacco, so this was a working farm. 

I need to do some more digging, to figure out what land he still owned when he died, and where it came from.  I'd like to verify that he was not a Quaker-there seems to be some confusion about that in the records.  His children by Sarah were baptized at St Paul's.  She was not a Quaker, then, so it seems that Charles would not have been, either, or he would have been disowned.  I'd also like to know whether Charles ever served in the militia, and whether he went on any military expeditions.  If he could summarize his life in just two or three sentences, what would he have thought was remarkable about his life?  And most of all, I'd like to know who his first wife was.  She is our ancestor, after all!

The line of descent is

Charles Gorsuch-unknown
Hannah Gorsuch-Thomas Stansbury
Rachel Stansbury-Alexis Lemmon
Sarah Lemmon-Abraham Hetrick
Isaac Hetrick-Elizabeth Black
Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: Charles Gorsuch, Immigrant

I've written before of Charles's mother, Anne Lovelace Gorsuch, and a bit about his father, John Gorsuch.  I wrote about Anne because after all, she is a "gateway" ancestor with ties that go way back into history, and I mentioned John because, even though he didn't live to come to America (killed just after England's Civil War "ended"), he of course had great influence on his family's life. 

Now I'd like to look at the life of one of their children, Charles.  He was born about August 25, 1642, in Walkern, Hertfordshire, England, where his father was the rector.  He was just a wee lad, about five years old, when his father was killed.  How unsettling that must have been!  Fortunately, his parents were better off financially than many in the area, and there was enough money that the family could immigrate to Virginia.  They arrived about 1652, and it may have been that his transportation was paid for by Thomas Hoane, as he claimed headrights, and Charles may actually have served as an indentured servant, unless Thomas paid for the transportation out of the goodness of his heart.  At any rate, at age 15 in 1657, he appointed his older brother, Richard, as his guardian, which was legally required for an "infant". 

Some of Charles's siblings moved to Maryland but Charles remained in Virginia until about 1660 (note the choosing of his brother as guardian in 1657.)  He may have had to stay, if he was indentured, or it may have been his choice.  However, he was in Maryland by 1661 when land was surveyed for him in what later became part of Baltimore, Md.  In fact, the land makes up part of Fort McHenry, but before the Fort, there was a town called Whetstone Point, founded in 1706, and this is Charles's original land.

Charles was a Quaker, likely converted in Virginia and left for Maryland when the Colony cracked down on religious freedom there.   We may be missing records, or Charles may have worked for a long time to both start his home and find a wife.  Neither was an easy task in early Maryland.  He eventually married Sarah Cole, daughter of Thomas (William?) Cole and Priscilla, who were his neighbors. 

There are five more entries in "Settlers of Maryland" by Peter Wilson Coldham, that also appear to be our Charles Gorsuch, all in Baltimore County.  If he owned all of these at the same time, he owned about 825 acres at the time of his death.  The acquisition of so many acres indicates that he likely was growing tobacco. 

Charles and Sarah had four sons together-John, Robert, Thomas, and Charles Jr, not necessarily in that order.  Sarah died about 1690 and Charles on June 27, 1716 (may be a court record date?).  I found a court record showing an inventory but it is not available on line that I have found.  I would certainly love to see it.  It might answer some questions, or prove my assumption about tobacco farming to be incorrect.  I wonder if he was still a Quaker when he died?  And I wonder a lot of other things, too.  How educated was he?  Did he hold any kind of political office?  If he was a Quaker, what was his relation with native Americans?  Oh, the mysteries!

The line of descend it:

Charles Gorsuch-Sarah Cole
Charles Gorsuch-Sarah Cole (two different Sarah Cole's, but they may be related)
Hannah Gorsuch-Thomas Stansbury
Rachel Stansbury-Alexis Lemmon
Sarah Lemmon-Abraham Hetrick
Isaac Hetrick-Elizabeth Black
Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants