Maryland 1st Families: James & Hester Smallwood

Couple Wed in 1665 Has Thousands of Living Descendants

Apr 4, 2009 Rosemary E. Bachelor

Descendants of Maryland Lt. Col. James Smallwood are eligible for membership in The Order of the First Families of Maryland, provided they document their lineage.

Lt. Col. Smallwood was a soldier, merchant, attorney and large landowner with a tobacco plantation. He is believed to be the son of Matthew Smallwood (1585-1650) and the former Ann Whittington.

Lt. Col. James Smallwood and his 1665 bride, Hester Evans, were both born in England and married each other in Charles Co., Maryland in 1665. She belongs to the family of the first Evans immigrant to Maryland.

Evans Family a Researcher’s Headache

Much about the first Williams Evans, who was in Maryland by 1650, is shrouded in mists of the past. We don't know if William was accompanied by his English family. Indeed, it is difficult to separate him from a younger William Evans also in Charles County, Maryland, in the 1650s.

We know a Capt. William Evans was appointed by Gov. Josias Fendall in 1658 as officer in charge of all forces between “Wicocomaco River and Poplar Hill exclusively, them to muster Exercise and traine up in the art of Warre.”

Capt. Evans testified as witness in a 1781 conspiracy trial that he was a Protestant, the opposing sides being Catholic versus Protestant. The Protestant defendant--the unfortunate Gov. Fendall--was banished from the colony.

Do Not Trust Evans Data from the Web

William Evans (Sr.?), the immigrant, was born about 1597, married Ann Norris, and is probably the William Evans who died in 1651 in Charles County.

Genealogists are urged not to copy data on the first three generations of Maryland Evans family members from web-based family trees. They are full of contradictory parent-child relationships and such impossible dates as a daughter being born before her mother! Unfortunately, dozens of inexperienced family researchers have copied and proliferated these unproven conclusions.

The following Smallwood line of descent is through Hester Evans, whose birth date and location suggest that she is a daughter of William and Ann Evans. All descendants of James and Hester are eligible for membership in The Order of the First Families of Maryland, provided they can document their line of descent.

Smallwood-Evans Lineage

The following line of descent from Hester Evans and James Smallwood was given to this author in the 1970s by researcher Mary Ann (Ward) Brady, who was born in 1913 at Muncie, Indiana.

  • Hester Evans and James Smallwood.
  • Thomas Smallwood (1675-1734) of Charles Co., Maryland, who wed Lettice Alice Godfrey (1678-1735).
  • Esther Smallwood (ca. 1706-1776) of Charles Co., Maryland; married there ca. 1723, Richard Harrison Sr. (ca. 1696-1734).
  • Richard Harrison Jr. (b. ca. 1726) and married in Charles Co. ca. 1755 his first cousin, Elizabeth, daughter of Pryor Smallwood.
  • Verlinda Harrison (1758-1831) was born in Charles Co., Maryland, and died in Fountain Co., Indiana; in 1778, she married William Ward (1758-1833) in Charles Co. He served three years with the Virginia Continental Line during the Revolutionary War.
  • John Ward (1790-1853) was born in Scott Co., Kentucky, and died in Fountain Co., Indiana. He married Tamer Masterson (1791-1859) of Scott Co.
  • Zachariah Thomas Ward (1813-1881) of Scott Co. married in 1844 in Fountain Co., Harriett Bowman (1825-1869). She was born in Greene Co., TN; both died in Fountain Co.
  • Benjamin Franklin Ward (1861-1948) married in 1883, Mary Ann Newkirk (1860-1946); both were born in Fountain Co. and died at Crawfordsville, Indiana.
  • Jesse Lynn Ward (1883-1975) married in 1912 at Muncie, Indiana, Edith Carmichael (1884-1976). Jesse was born in Fountain Co., Indiana, and died at Toledo, Ohio.[They were parents of Mary Ann (Ward) Brady, who researched this lineage.]

Readers should use data from this lineage—and from all undocumented online lineages—only for clues leading to their own documented pedigree.

(Companion articles are a story giving eligible ancestors for prospective members of The Order of the First Families of Maryland and an article telling how the Calverts made Maryland a unique colony.)

SOURCES:

Lineage researched by Mary Ann (Ward) Brady; Maryland Archives, Vol. 3, pg. 346, Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1636-1667.

The copyright of the article Maryland 1st Families: James & Hester Smallwood in Genealogy is owned by Rosemary E. Bachelor. Permission to republish Maryland 1st Families: James & Hester Smallwood in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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