Allen line: Edward Corbin of Baltimore County, dates unknown

This is another of those "I don't know much and some of what I do 'know' I don't quite believe" posts.  Edward Corbin is our ancestor, however, and so I'm writing about the little I know or suspect, hoping that with these bread crumbs someone will someday be able to pick up his trail.  Who knows?  I might even learn more, at some point. 

Some of our ancestors seem to have stayed beneath the radar for almost their whole lives, poking their heads up just long enough for a quick sighting before again disappearing.  Edward Corbin is one of those men.  To make matters worse, he named a son Edward, and many trees on line have confused the two.  So with very little documentation to back this up, here's a brief summary of Edward.

Edward's parents were Nicholas Corbin and (likely) Alice Bryen or Bryan,  He was born probably by 1684, although the year of 1676 is commonly used, with 1678 coming in a close second.  We know he was on the tax rolls, and thus 16 or older, in 1701.  There are church records for St Paul's Episcopal Church, locally known as Old St Paul's Church, with the births of some of the children of Edward and Jane Wilkinson Corbin.  They are believed to have married about 1710.  The church mentioned was in a small village at the time, but is now located (different building, but same plot of land) in downtown Baltimore.  It's believed that Edward and Jane had at least eight children. 

Edward and Jane (daughter of William and Elizabeth Clark Wilkinson) bought and sold land in Baltimore County like it was going out of style.  Most of their holdings seem to have been on the north side of the Patapsco River, although some was south of Gunpowder Falls.  Based on what I've learned about the economy in this time frame through the stories of other ancestors in this location, it is possible, even likely, that the Corbins had slaves, and it's likely that their main crop was tobacco.  I've not yet seen records that would document the slaveholding, and I've only seen one brief mention of tobacco, so don't hold my feet to the fire over this one. 

There don't seem to be land records for Edward after 1750, and I've seen a death date of November 30, 1753 for Edward.  I have also, much more frequently, seen a death date of November 30, 1770.  However, that Edward left a will which survived, and none of the children's names, nor his wife's name, match that of our Edward.  Speculation would say this this younger Edward was either the son or the grandson of our Edward. 

That is what little we know of Edward.  He was a land owner, who apparently turned the 100 acres at Corbin's Hill that he inherited from his father into a much larger estate, not necessarily all in the same location.  He was Anglican in religion.  We don't know whether he was ever called on to serve in the militia, although it's possible.  It's also possible, but pure speculation, that at some point he traveled to England to meet his paternal grandparents or on business, although there is not a shred of evidence to point to that.  There is still so much we don't know.  We need to keep looking! 

The line of descent is:

Edward Corbin-Jane Wilkinson
Mary Jane Corbin-Samuel Lane
Lambert Lane-Nancy Ann Anderson
Nancy Ann Lane-James McCoy
Vincent McCoy-Eleanor Jackson
Nancy McCoy-George Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants

Allen line: John Clark, Immigrant

This is really a love letter and a challenge to a future family historian.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find out more about John Clark.  I have one fact I'm reasonably sure of about the man, and a potential marriage date and name of his wife about which I am less sure.  And as to his birthdate and place, I am thoroughly confused.  So you, someone in the future and whomever you are, are assigned the task of finding out more about this ancestor of ours. 

Every tree that I have looked at gives John's birthdate as about 1606, but there are probably many John Clark's in England that fit that broad description.  There are several dates and places attached to his various trees on Ancestry, but none of them match any other information in the trees.  His wife is believed to have been named Joan.  There are several trees listing a 1620 marriage to John, but this could not be our John if he was born in 1606 or thereabouts. 

One interesting possibility is a record from Hartpury, Gloucester, England from April 30,162, stating that John Clark married Joane Nelme on that date.  I do know that people from Gloucester went to Virginia, so this seems to be a reasonable possibility.  However, his son Abraham is believed to have been born in Weathersfield, Essex, England and that is a long way from Gloucester.  So maybe the Joane Nelme idea isn't as possible as it seems.  We know that John and possible wife Joan had at least two children, Abraham and Ann. 

If the time and location of Abraham's birth is correct, then that would mean John left Virginia no earlier than 1639.  I've not yet found an immigration record that gave me any confidence that this was our John.  The death information I have consistently gives him a death date of 1664 (nothing more specific) in (old) Rappahannock County, Virginia.  This would have been on the Rappahannock river or its tributaries, north of the current city of Richmond. 

That is all that I have been able to locate about John.  There are so many questions, both in England and in Virginia, but I leave them to the future family historian to dig into this untold story, thanking him, her or them in advance.  For now, we only know that he is an ancestor and that he was an immigrant at a time when life was not easy in Virginia.  That is a good reason to honor him.

The line of descent is:

John Clark-Joan
Abraham Clark-Sarah Kinsey
Elizabeth Clark-William Wilkinson
Jane Wilkinson-Edward Corbin
Mary Jane Corbin-Samuel Lane
Lambert Lane-Nancy Ann Anderson
Nancy Ann Lane-James McCoy
Vincent McCoy-Eleanor Jackson
Nancy McCoy-George R Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants

Allen line: Hugh Kinsey 1592-1667

Hugh Kinsey is another one of those "really" ancestors who reminds me that no, I'm not entirely of sturdy New England stock.  This line goes back to early Maryland and before that, Virginia, when the land was being newly explored and settled, relations with native Americans were tense, and life was hard, even though the winters may have been milder than those of much of New England. 

Hugh was baptized February 16, 1592 at Oldhaugh, Cheshire, England.  This is a new location for me, so I tried to Google it and found only other people who were born there.  My best guess is that this was a small farming community and that the reason for leaving here may have been economic. 

Hugh married Margaret Coulton in England (lots of sources say Margaret Johns but that appears to be incorrect) in 1632 and they had six known children together, (one died young) but not until Hugh was middle aged.  Margaret was reportedly baptized in 1611 so Hugh was enough older that he may have had an as yet unlocated first marriage.

Hugh and brother Robert were in Virginia by 1655, settling in Rappahannock and later Lancaster County, Virginia. Hugh was already over 60, and life was hard in the new land.  It gets a little complicated here.  Hugh inherited from his brother Robert in 1656 and mortgaged those 500 acres, later selling them to the mortgagor in London because he couldn't make the payment.  It's not clear why he needed to sell; did he have trouble financially because he had become (or perhaps always was) a Quaker?  A group of Quakers from Lancaster county did emigrate together, to the area on the Patapsco River where Hugh settled.  He brought two of his children over from England in 1662, and about the same time, acquired 100 acres of land along the river.  The 100 acres probably represented headrights,  meaning Hugh had paid the transportation costs and brought new settlers in to the area. 

Hugh is seen as a witness to various land transactions in the 1650's and 1660's, but seems to have not generated much other paperwork.  He did leave a will dated May 6, 1667 in Anne Arundel County, leaving bequests to grandchildren and the estate to his wife, until her death when it was to go to his living children and grandchildren.  I've not located anything saying what the value of the estate was. 

It's likely that Hugh's estate was not large.  As far as we know, he had just the 100 acres, and that was not enough to support a family.  If he was a Quaker, he probably had suffered both religious and economic persecution in Virginia.  But he was free and had had opportunities in the New World that he would never had had in England, and he may have felt that the opportunity was worth the risk, even for an older person.  He contributed to the building of America, and for that I am grateful.

The line of descent is:

Hugh Kinsey-Margaret Coulton
Sarah Kinsey-Abraham Clark
Elizabeth Clark-William Wilkinson
Jane Wilkinson-Edward Corbin
Mary Jane Corbin-Samuel Lane
Lambert Lane-Nancy Anderson
Nancy Ann Lane-William McCoy
Vincent McCoy-Eleanor Jackson
Nancy McCoy-George Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants. 

Allen Line: Nicholas Corbin about 1650-1696, Immigrant

First, I am not joining in the controversy as to the parentage of Immigrant Nicholas.  I know there are those who think it "proven" that his parents are Thomas Corbin and Margaret Goodver, of Halls End, but I don't have any reason to think that is correct.  Nor do I have reason to think it is incorrect.  I am just suspicious that it may have come from Gustave Anjou or one of his comrades, who tried to fit nearly every family they worked on back to a line in England.  If there is better documentation than that, I'd love to see it and see where those lines run,but I'm not ready to go off in that direction at the moment.

So, we believe that Nicholas was born about 1650 in England, possibly in or around Halls End, but possibly in some other location entirely.  He could have been born earlier, but he is listed in 1671 as claiming headrights for himself, his wife Elizabeth, and two daughters.  This means he paid for the passage of his family, himself.  21 would have been young to have married in England, had two daughters, and raised or saved enough money to pay for the passage of four persons.  Perhaps 1640 is a better guesstimate for his age.  (This is just speculation on my part.) 

Sometime before 1677, Nicholas's wife Elizabeth died, and in 1676, Nicholas received a bequest from Lewis Bryan.  He is believed to be the father of Alice, Nicholas's second wife, so Elizabeth was likely to have died prior to 1676.  Nicholas and Edward Corbin were born to Nicholas and Alice, and Nicholas acquired land at this time.  He patented 200 acres in 1680, called "Corbin's Rest" and another 100 acres in 1687, called "Costrell Hill", and the family would have lived at the first site, most likely.  The land he acquired was apprently somewhere along the Patapsco River, in what was then Baltimore County, Maryland, but so fara I've not been able to pinpoint the exact location.

Nicholas was a constable in 1692 and a vestryman in 1693 and 1696, so he had the respect of his neighbors and fellow church-goers.  "Vestryman" indicates that he was a member of the Anglican church, and "vestryman" seems to be similar to a member of the church board in today's language.

Nicholas wrote his will in 1695 and died December 31,1696.  His son Edward received 100 acres of land known as "Corbin's Hill" but it's not clear whether this was the land earlier noted as "Costrell Hill."  He also left land to Thomas Gostwick, his grandson, and left cows to his two daughters.  His wife Alice was left the balance of the estate and was named executor.  His estate was valued at 32 pounds, which was not a large estate at all.  That may explain why Alice remarried to John Barrett within a few years.

Of course I'd like to know more about Nicholas, particularly where he came from and who his parents were.  I'd also like to know more about his life in Maryland.  Were he or his family ever threatened by native Americans, or was he involved in a militia?  Did he have another occupation besides farmer?  Did he have indentured servants to slaves to help him on his land?  Did he raise tobacco?

It seems that no matter how many answers we have, there are always more questions.  Maybe another Corbin descendant will have some of the answers we are lacking.

Our line of descent is:

Nicholas Corbin-Alice Bryan
Edward Corbin-Jane Wilkinson
Mary Jane Corbin- Samuel Lane
Lambert Lane-Nancy Ann Anderson
Nancy Ann Lane-James McCoy
Vincent McCoy-Eleanor Jackson
Nancy McCoy-George R Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants

Allen line: William Wilkinson of Maryland, died 1718

What is it with these people?  Couldn't they just tell us when/where they were born and who their parents were?  It would be so much easier!

William Wilkinson is interesting to me because he was in Maryland early, so would have seen many of the changes that transformed the colony, both religious and cultural, and likely had some encounters with the Native Americans of the area.   There are several William Wilkinson's who emigrated to the area between 1650 and 1682, but we don't know which one was William, or whether he came over several times, or whether one of the earlier William's might have been William's father.

Some sources state that his parents were Thomas Wilkinson and Isabella Cutter, but I am not confident that is correct.  I'd be glad to see some real evidence to convince me, but at this point I am saying his parents are unknown, as is the date of his arrival in Maryland.

We know that he was in Baltimore County by March 5, 1681, when he surveyed 50 acres called Wilkinson's Spring.  The going price of land at that time was 100 pounds of tobacco per 50 acres, so somehow he had acquired enough wealth in the New World to make the purchase, or perhaps he brought enough funds with him to make the purchase.  As land goes, it was a modest purchase but it was probably much more than he would have had in England, had he stayed there (assuming he was from England).   

William married Elizabeth Clark, daughter or at least heir of Abraham and Sarah Kinsey Clark, by 1694 (some sources say 1684) and they had at least one child together, Jane. In 1693, Martha Cage named William as the father of her child.  It seems possible that William was a widow by this time, but that for whatever reason he chose not to marry Martha.  Later he married Tamar Love and had at least four children with her. 

William doesn't seem to appear in court and official records much, but we know he was made an allowance for accommodating the jury for the laying out of an early Baltimore Town in 1693.  He seems to have acquired another tract of land as early as 1694, which may have been called Wilkinson's Folly.

In 1708 William and Tamar conveyed the land known as Wilkinson's Folly to Moses Edwards, so perhaps William was already beginning to wind down his affairs.  He wrote his will on April 21, 1718 and died before June 16, 1718.  He left his dwelling plantation to son Robert, "Cumberland" to his four daughters, and named his wife as executrix.  The estate was inventoried and valued at 162 pounds, 3 shillings, 9 pence.  By the time the estate was finally administered in 1725, his widow and remarried.

So between the lines, we read a story of hard work, sorrow, and at least one poor choice.  We don't know whether he had slaves but if he did it wouldn't have been a large number, given the size of his properties.  He may have had other income than just farming, in order to have an estate of 162 pounds.  We don't know why he decided to go to Maryland, or what religion he practiced.  Maryland was founded by Roman Catholics and religious toleration was practiced early, but later became Puritan and then finally the Anglican church became more or less official by 1690.  So depending on when he came, he could have been of any of those three persuasions, or he could have changed religions based on what seemed best to him.  I'd like to know the answer to that question!  I'd like to know what trouble there was, or wasn't, with the native Americans.  And of course, I'd like to know who his parents are!

The line of descent is:

William Wilkinson-Elizabeth Clark
Jane Wilkinson-Edward Corbin
Mary Jane Corbin-Samuel Lane
Lambert Lane-Nancy Anna Anderson
Nancy Ann Lane-James McCoy
Vincent McCoy-Eleanor Jackson
Nancy McCoy-George R Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendents

Allen line: Abraham Clarke, abt 1630 to 1676

I'm writing about this Allen line ancestor for a couple of reasons.  One is that I think this post will be very short.  The other is that he is one of our few Maryland lines.  Many of our Allen ancestors came through New England, a few came through Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and New York, and a few came through Maryland.

We know very little about Abraham. His parents were John and Joan Clarke, of Weathersfield, Essex, England.  Abraham may have been a single child as the families I have seen on Ancestry and other internet sources do not appear to be correct.  I believe Abraham was older than the trees I've found indicate. He immigrated to Maryland and bought land in 1654.  This tells us that he would have been at least 18 in order to purchase land, and it tells us he apparently came to the New World with a bit of money in his possession. 

Apparently in the New World, he married Sarah Kinsey, daughter of Hugh Kinsey and Margaret Johns in 1667. We have record of only two children, Elizabeth and Mary, who were born to Abraham and Sarah, but there may have been more.  

Abraham made several purchases of land and it appears that at one time he may have owned about 650 acres of land.  When he died in 1676 his estate was valued at 26, 714 pounds of tobacco.  So, he apparently raised tobacco, although it may be that the appraisers valued the inventory in tobacco instead of English monetary values.  There is also reference to a court held by Abraham Clark, the attorney of Lancelott Sockwell, but it isn't clear whether this is our Abraham or not.

Abraham is interesting because he came to Maryland with money, since he apparently was never indentured to anyone.  He would have worked hard to acquire as much land as he did without asserting headrights, and he was in Maryland for about 13 years before he was married.  It looks very much like a picture of a prudent man, based on what we know so far.

I'll keep looking for more information about Abraham.  For now, I am picturing a "farmer" or "plantation owner", possibly an attorney, and probably a member of the established Church of England.  He was a landowner and would therefore have had voting rights, and was probably taxed as well.  There must be more records for him, and I will start searching to fill in the blanks of his life.

The line of descent is

Abraham Clark-Sarah Kinsey
Elizabeth Clark-William Wilkinson
Jane Wilkinson-Edward Corbin
Mary Jane Corbin-Samuel Lane
Lambert Lane-Nancy Anderson
Eleanor Lane-Vincent McCoy
Nancy McCoy-George R Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard/Edith/Vernon/Corinne/Tessora Allen
Their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren