Holbrook line: George Bussey 1622-1668

George Bussey is one of our earlier Virginia immigrants.  He arrived in Virginia in 1635, at the age of about 13.  He was counted as a headright for Richard Bennett, as was at least one other Bussey on the same ship, Elizabeth.  I haven't been able to trace information about Elizabeth but I am thinking she was likely a sister, perhaps an older sister.  (Of course, it's possible she was his mother, or an aunt, or cousin.)  At any rate, we know that George would have had to serve an indentureship for Richard or for someone else who paid Richard passage money.  As a minor, George probably had to serve until he was 21 years of age.  There is a possibility that Richard was some kind of relative to both George and Elizabeth but that has not yet been pin-pointed to my satisfaction.

The mere fact that George was alive to marry Anne Keene, daughter of Henry and Anne Halle Keene, in about 1649 shows that he was a special kind of man.  He likely worked in tobacco fields for much if not all of his indentureship, but somehow he managed to avoid attacks by the native Americans, diseases carried by both humans and insects (think malaria, for one), accidents, starvation, drownings, and all of the other causes of death that killed so many of the early arrivals in Virginia.  He was, as the phrase goes, of "hardy pioneer stock." 

We don't know anything for sure about George's early life.  The strongest family history I've found about him thinks he or his ancestors came from Heydour, a small village in Lincolnshire, England.  There were undoubtedly Busseys there up until 70 years or so before George was born, but there the trail goes cold.  It would be nice to be able to connect the missing generations, because the de Busseys were an old family, possibly having come over with the Norman Conquest of our ancestor William the Conqueror.  But we don't yet have the missing proof, so whether, or how, our George connects to this family is purely speculation right now. 

We also don't know what prompted George to leave Virginia and go to Maryland to live.  The move was apparently made about 1653, and his four sons were born in short succession, soon after.  There may also have been an infant, who died within a few weeks or months.  George purchased land in Maryland and probably started tobacco farming on his own.  Whether he left Virginia because land was cheaper in Maryland, or whether he left because of religious differences, we don't know. 

We also don't know why George died in 1688, at the age of approximately 46.  Did he die of overwork, or of one of the fevers that was so common, or from some other cause?  He lived on the "frontier" of the time so it could have been wild animals, or native Americans.  We know he lived long enough to write a will, but I've only seen an abstract of that.  

George is another ancestor that I'd love to spend more time investigating, simply because I don't know that much about life in Virginia and Maryland during that time period.  Why did George come to America?  What religion was he?  Why did he go to Maryland, and did he have friends or relatives there?  What were his dreams for his children?  Did he have unfulfilled dreams for himself?  Was he glad he came to America? 

I don't know whether George was glad he came to America, but I certainly am glad he did so!  He became our ancestor, and that's a reason to celebrate his life. 

The line of descent is:

George Bussey-Anne Keene
George Bussey-Anne Williams
Edward Bussey-Martha Evans
Edward Bussey-Mary widow of Edward Pendergrass
Sarah Bussey-Benjamin Amos
Elizabeth Amos-Robert 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

A personal note:  This is blog post number 500.  Almost all of them have been about ancestors in the Allen, Holbrook, Beeks, or Harshbarger lines.  I haven't run out of ancestors to write about for the Holbrooks yet, and I sure haven't run out of brick walls on any of the lines.  So I hope to be writing more posts, but as of now I can't even speculate whether it will be 20 more, or 200 more, or even more than that.  I'm just along for the ride, in a way!  Hope you're enjoying the trip, too.  

Holbrook line: Edward Armstrong Immigrant 1630-1698

This is not the blog post I intended to write.  I intended to write about Gregory Armstrong, who lived in Plymouth Colony and married the widow of a man who was hanged by the authorities.  However, the more I looked at Gregory Armstrong's life, what little I could find did not mesh with him being the father of Edward Armstrong.  So I'm writing about Edward, who apparently came from a different place and went to a different place than Gregory did. 

We don't know much about Edward.  We believe he was born about 1630, possibly in northern Ireland or in the borderlands of Scotland and England.  We know he arrived in Maryland in 1666, and we assume this was his first trip across the ocean.  At this point, we don't know whether he arrived as a free person or as an indentured servant, or as a convict.  We also don't know whether he came because of political or economic reasons, and we don't know where his marriage took place.

We do know that he eventually acquired land, because he left it to his son Edward and his heirs, when our subject died in late 1697 or very early 1698 (will was probated January 12, 1698).  At the time of his death, he lived at Island Creek, Calvert County, Maryland and his land was known as "Rich Neck."  He left sons Charles and John the residue of his estate, at the age of 21.  The executors were Edward and John, along with son in law Derby Hernley(seen elsewhere as Henly).  Richard Holmes was to have charge of son Charles during his minority.  Witnesses were Jos. Dawkins and Thos Howe.  .

From the will, we can guess that his wife Susan had died (some trees give her date of death as 1697).  We don't know why Anne Armstrong, their daughter, was omitted from the will but perhaps she had been given her inheritance at the time of her marriage. (Anne survived her husband and married Obadiah Evans.) 

There's so much to learn about Edward.  I'd love to know where his origins were, who his parents were, his religion, why he came to America and his status when he arrived, and I'd love to know how he met and married his wife.  If someone has been working on Edward and knows or has educated guesses to any of these questions, or simply knows more about Edward, I'd love to hear from them!

The line of descent is:

Edward Armstrong-Susan

Anne Armstrong-Obediah Evans

Martha Evans-Edward Bussey

Edward Bussey-Mary, widow of Edward Pendergrass

Sarah Bussey-Benjamin Amos

Elizabeth Amos-Robert Amos

Martha Amos-Peter Black

Elizabeth Black-Isaac Hetrick

Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook, Richard Allen

Their descendants