When We Were Greers, Part X

by Glenn N. Holliman

More on Nicholas Day, my Generation's 8th Great Grandfather
and William the Conqueror!

I thought I had exhausted my notes on the Greers, Days and Taylors in Joppa Town, Maryland when I chanced upon some more materials. Below is information in part from Wally Garchow at Ancestry.com. His work adds to the tapestry we have on our Chesapeake Bay roots.

The date of birth for Nicholas Day is uncertain, anywhere from 1620 to 1635, but he seems to have come from Wales. He died before February 4, 1704/5. Queen Anne would be on the throne of England at that time, and Maryland a colony for 70 odd years. Philadelphia had been founded only a quarter century before, so the British settlement of North America was still unfolding.

In the General Land Office Patents, the Land Commissioner's Office in Annapolis, is a statement that on February 22, 1658, "Nicholas Day, a grown man sells himself into 'slave bondage' for 'ship transportation' to the New World. He along with seven others bound himself to Richard Owens who granted them their freedom and notified his 'Lordship Grace' that they were entitled to 50 acres of land." Our 8th great grandfather evidently was an indentured servant who put in his time, and then began a successful transition to that of a colonial land owner and planter.

June 3, 1693, this great grandfather of ours purchased 200 acres of land along the Gunpowder River, a tract called 'William the Conqueror'. He paid 1200 pounds of tobacco for this extravagantly named acreage near the Gunpowder Falls. A few months later he bought another 150 acres for 300 pounds of tobacco, a piece named 'Lesser Chance'. He held onto this land until his death, when he bequeathed it to Nicholas Jr.

His daughter, Sarah Day - named after her mother - received part of his stock of 'hoggs'. Well, Sarah had married John Greer, Sr. in 1704, and lived on Greer land. Of course, no one knew how troubled Sarah's marriage to John Greer, Sr. (my generation's 7th great grandfather) would be, and that he would be hauled before a parish vestry in Joppa and charged with infidelity. Embarrassing to say the least.

The land 'William the Conqueror'? Purchased eventually by a King family who gave their name to a rural village along the Gunpowder. Google Kingsville, Maryland and 'William the Conqueror' and discover an area map and photographs of more recent colonial buildings. A marker stone with Edward Day's name on it near Highway 1 still stands. Edward Day was a descendant of our Nicholas Day.

The Gunpowder River below the Falls at Joppa Town, Maryland down stream from Kingsville, Maryland. Here the river is silted and marshy just before it flows into the Chesapeake Bay. Photo by the writer 2010.

However, the point of this article to demonstrate a rags to riches story of a great grand father, who evidently arrived as an indentured servant and died a man of some means. This is a prototype example of the America Dream in the life of an ancestor.

For more information and photographs, go to the Greater Kingsville Civic Association, Inc. on the web.

When We Were Greers, Part VI

by Glenn N. Holliman

What do we know of our Day ancestors?

(Continuing the series of ancestral families of G.W. and Frances Wilson Osborne)

Sarah Day, my generation's 7th Great Grand Mother (7th GGM), was born 1686 in Baltimore, Maryland and died March 1758 in same county. She married John Greer, Sr. (7th GGF) March 4, 1704 in Joppa, Maryland at St. John's Episcopal parish. Her father was Nicholas Day (8th GGF), 1635 abt in Wales, England - 1704 in Baltimore, and mother Sarah Lowe (8th GGM). The couple married in 1684 in Baltimore Co., Maryland. Sarah was the daughter of William Lowe. This trail through the woods at Joppa, Maryland leads down to the Gunpowder River. Imagine if you can, wharfs, dray men, live stock and thousands of hogsheads of tobacco being loaded in ocean going cargo ships. Now a grown up river side with only a few monuments to mark the ghost town. Photos October 2010 by the author.

Nicholas Day's father was named also Nicholas Day (9th GGF) and mother was Sarah Cox (9th GGM). The birthplaces of these 9th GGParents are unknown but they married in Maryland.

These ancestors were farmers raising tobacco, and most likely corn and livestock. Their lives centered about the Gunpowder River and the town of Joppa.

In this photo below one observes the silted Gunpowder River. On this site in the first half of the 1700s were wharfs, perhaps as many as a hundred lining the river. This particular location is located precisely in the center of the western edge of Old Joppa. It is difficult to envision what was once here - one of the premier ports of the Western Hemisphere in its day. This is an Eastern ghost town!