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Classification: Query
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Well, there might be a NJ connection. Around the time Rosanna married Carhart as her 2nd
husband, she and her sisters were selling their inherited land. Some of Rosanna's
that had belonged to her husband was sold to one Lewis Davi(d)son, who shortly appears to
have moved to old Cumberland Co. PA, then to Fayette Co. PA.
But most of the sisters' land from their father was sold to Absalom Little. Absolom
and his brother are said by family genealogists to have come to DE maybe ca. 1760 from NJ.
By 1772 Absalom Little had moved to present-day Fayette Co. PA, but he also bought some
land in present Marion Co. WV. There are some land records in Sussex Co. DE in the same
neighborhood, land bought by one John Little, possibly Absalom's father or brother.
It is certainly possible that the Littles, Davi(d)son and Carharts had some connection
prior to the proximity in Sussex Co. DE.
Rosanna (Ferguson) Stafford Carhart's parents were one Charles Ferguson and a dau. of
a John Jones (I'm having a memory lapse, but believe her name was Rebecca and that she
was surnamed 'Higgins' when some of the SXDE land was conveyed). I have not found
any clues to where Charles Ferguson or these Jones' came to Sussex Co. DE from. As
cautionary note, there was another John Jones who died leaving widow and daughter and
property in SXDE before 1705, definitely not the same as the afsd. Rosanna's maternal
grandfather.
The maternal grandfather, John Jones, left daughters, possibly a son or brother named
Griffith/Griffin Jones, and either a son or grandson (outside possibility: maybe one of
each) named Isaac Jones, who ended up with with the Jones lands (some rich land records on
this land details who his children were). Isaac could have been an illegitimate son of
one Anna Crow (apparently widow of a Peter Crow), who appears to have been treated as an
heir of John Jones by those clearly named as Jones children, but her exact relationship is
not specified. Also cautionary: a Phila. merchant named Griffith Jones had some dealings
in SXDE lands in late 1600s and very early 1700s, evidently as one of the agents for the
Penn Proprietary. I have not established any connection between him and either of the
SXDE John Jones' families. There were other Griffith Jones', including one in
Kent Co. MD in mid-1700s; they all could have been named after the wealthy merchant, but
as common as the J!
ones surname is the use of this surname as first name could simply have recurred for other
specific reasons that varied with each instance.
I have no clue as to origin of Rosanna's 1st husband, Jacob Stafford. He likewise
could have had some prior association with the above folks. His principal land holding
was essentially Charles Ferguson's land, which he patented (ca. 1746?) with consent
and quit-claims from most of the Ferguson heirs in the belief that Ferguson's title
was not good. Recall that in the 1720s-1730s there were titles in southern SXDE derived
from Duke of York grants, from Calvert grants based on the MD entitlement, and from Penn
Proprietary grants, some of which conflicted or overlapped when it came down to doing the
actual surveys.
In all of the above, where a place is not specified assume south-central Sussex Co. DE in
the vicinity S and SE of present-day Georgetown, near Indian River.