Grretings,
Recently I have been researching in MD in hopes of finding my husband's
line. Unfortunately that has not happened however, a note from Barry
Wetherington to the Rice-L list the other evening caught my attention. I had recently
found the 1722 will of Robert Widdringtone of Christ Church Parish in Calvert
County, MD mentioned by Barry. His message mentioned Sarah Carruthers 1728 md
Benjamin Rice. I knew there was a 1770 indenture in Loudoun County, VA
between James Carruthers and Samuel Cox which mentioned James Rice d. 1740. After
searching the archives of both Carruthers-L and Witherington-L, I noted the
names Cleverly and Gideon were used in these families. I noted the following info
contained in Barry's message to Witherington-L 26 Jul 2000 captioned
"Witherington MD Hall of Records Annapolis Info Table:"
"Lib 15c 1694 p163 4 Dec 1694 Came Nath Dare by Robt Carucille his buroerat
...
answr - granted
p164 Dec 6 1694 Inv exh ...
5 Feb 1694 N Dare by Robt Carville /Carvile ? .. Answer .. To the Libel suit
agst him by Evan...? & his wife Eliz ... also exh of Thms Binkes late of Calv
Co
p181 26 Mar 1695 Elrisco v Na Dare/// This case being ... answer ... parties
appeared & Evan Brice? W/... objections ... agst Nathaniel Dare ... Terms of
Agreement ... promise to ... refrain ... having failed ... promise ... case
to
be ctd.
16 May 1696 Jury Verdict agst Nathaniel Dare favor of Evan Rico?/Rice?
(Many
numbers) 5998# (lbs?) Tobacco (1/2 page discussion)"
I did not find the mention of the 1746 will of Benjamin Rice, Beaufort
County, NC contained in any of the archives and believe it may add something to
the researchers of all of these line. This will was filed with the North
Carolina Office of the Secretary of State rather than at the county level.
Abstracts of these wills can be found in "Abstracts of North Carolina Wills Compiled
From Original and recorded wills in the Office of the Secretary of
State" by
Brian Grimes, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1975.
The abstract
follows:
Rice, Benjamin, Beaufort County
September 12, 1745, June Court, 1746. Sons: Zebulon, Benjamin, James,
Even, Claverly, Ephrim, Hezekiah, Gideon. Wife and Executrix: Mary.
Witnesses: James Humes, Nathaniel Draper, Thomas Willia. Clerk of the Court: John
Forbes.
I certainly hope we will be able to make a connection between the Loudoun
County and MD lines. It will take a lot of digging, but there does appear to
be a connection. This may be hoping for too much, however there was an Evan
Rice who was transported to MD in 1677. This info is contained in Liber 15,
Folio 430 in the MD Land patents. I would appreciate knowing the contents of
this file if anyone has access to the files in Annapolis. Evan is also
mentioned in the "Passengers and Immigration Lists Index" as having immigrated
from
Barbados between 1663-1679.
Martha Rice