When We Were Greers, Part VIII

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Troubled Marriage of John, Sr. and Sarah Day Greer

My generation's 7th great grandfather, John Greer, Sr. was born about 1688 along the Gunpowder River in Joppa, Maryland. He married Sarah Day, b 1686 in Baltimore County, at St. John's Parish, March 4, 1704.

John Greer, Sr. inherited the 75 acres that Arthur Taylor had given James Greer and Anne Taylor, and seems to have traded this land and others, buying and selling acreage around the Joppa area, a land speculator if you will. For example, in 1718, he sold land which stood above Nicholas Day's plantation and near to an Indian cabin. An interesting tidbit of history has made it through the centuries - in 1738 John Sr. was bitten by a rattle snake above the mouth of the Long Green River.

St. John's Episcopal Parish moved several times in its history. Both John Greer, Sr. and John Greer, Jr. would be married in the parish. As Joppa Town deteriorated, Edward Day, a descendant of our Day ancestors, built a new St. John's. Ironically, another set of my 7th GGPs were married at St. John's - Samuel and Mary Harrod Stansbury on April 1, 1761. All you Stansberys, please make a mental note. We can trace the Stansbery line from Maryland to Tennessee and beyond.

He was evidently snake bit in marriage also. According to vestry books in Baltimore County, our John Greer Sr. found himself admonished for co-habitating unlawfully with one Chloe Jones. While no date is given, he claims to have married Cleo. They had four children, evidently born out of wedlock.

My generation's 7th GGM, Sarah, went to live with a son, Aquilla at the Chilimara Plantation in Maryland, and later she remarried one Obadiah Pritchett. We are not sure when Sarah died - sources differ but her name is on no legal deed releases after 1747. Greer family compilations put her death between 1742 and 1747.

John Greer, Sr. with his second family of children immigrated west and south. They were living in Onslow County, North Carolina in 1752 when John died at the age of 72. One source states there were debts and the four new, minor children, were bound out to pay off his debts after his death.

The will states he left twelve pence sterling to his six sons and three daughters. However, to John Greer, Jr. (my generation's 6 GGF), Sr. left his Negro man, Jack, and two hunting guns. John Sr. may have been a gunsmith, as he left his gun stock tools and all tools to his 'Dearly Beloved Wife Cloe Greer', who was also the executrix. This court was held at Johnston on the New River in Onslow County July 1752. This is the first time human slavery emerges in a direct ancestral will of the Greers.

(Most of the above was taken from Genealogy.com under the name of John G. Greer. Sources include land, rent and court records in Baltimore County, Maryland. The Greer family history, starting on the Gunpowder River in Maryland has been well researched. Google the names, and one can spend many hours sorting through the materials. Beware, as is normal in genealogy, not all dates and names agree.)