I think it is pretty clear that John Cecil was the son of William Cecil. The big mystery
is who William's parents were. See the notes from my webpages below:
According to Elise Greenup Jourdan, nothing has been determined to date regarding his
ancestors. He does appear to be connected to the Catholic Cissell's in SMC, MD. He had
some education as he could write his name. He lived with Dr. Richard Pile in 1706/1707, a
member of PGC, MD gentry. He was Protestant and bound his children to a Protestant family.
There are no indications he owned land. He stated that it was his wife's deathbed
request that the children be bound to Mr. Mareen Duvall-probably because his wife knew him
to be unwilling or incapable of caring for the children. Duvall researchers have not come
up with any blood or marriage link between the Cecil and Duvall families. It was said he
was known to associate with disreputable characters. Dr. Pile does not seem to be a very
nice man either. William did have servants, a horse and nice things. By mid 1700's he
appears to have been living with a grandchild in Frederick Co, MD
from Elise Jourdan's book:
"Greenup Witten Cecil" (Gateway Press 1989) regarding our William:
"..There were at least two distinct lines of Maryland Cecils: The Catholic Cecils of
St. Mary's County and the Protestant Cecils of Prince George's County. William
Cecil, ancestor of at least part of the line which intermarried with the Witten and
Greenup lines, was a Protestant. These Cecils all came from England where Cecil was not an
unusual name and some Cecils were quite prominent and close to the crown. Sir Thomas
Cecil, the London Engraver, was given a vast tract of land in Maryland for making the
first map of the colony in 1638. His landholdings in St. Mary's County were managed by
his son, John Cecil, who is believed to have married a Calvert..." From p. 224 of her
book.
In March of 1697/98 as recorded in the annals of Prince George's County, a William
Cecil (Sessell) "...by the request of my wife as she lay upon her deathbed"
disposed of his children John, age 7, Phillip, age 5 and Susan, age 2, to Mareen Duval
(the Elder) and his wife. Also: "March 1697/8 Court. To the Commissioners of PGCo.
These are to humbly Sattisfie you that William Sessell, by the request of my wife as she
lay upon her deathbed, I have disposed of my children to Marreen Douall (Duvall) and his
heirs, till they are of age. John Sessell, aged seven years the 24th of December last
past, Phillip Sessell aged 5 years the 28th day of this instant and Susan Sessell aged 2
years of Jan. last. These are humbly to request your Lordships to bind these Ch. This Ct.
to the aforesaid Douall (Duvall) and his heirs to the age of 21 and the girle to the age
of 16 as witness my hand and Seale the day and year above written.
/s/William Sessell
Wit. Alex Beall, Solomon /X/ Simpson
Proposed parents of William:
1. John CECIL(b.1620) who m.c.1638 in VA Mary (______). This is unproven, and the William
who was the son of John (b.1620) died c.1744, so the link to the Prince George's
Cecils to the St. Mary's Cecil's is unlikely.
2. John CECIL(b.c.1635 d.6-Jun 1698) who m.c.1664 Mary SHIRCLIFF. This John was the son or
Sir Thomas and Susan (Oxenbridge) CECIL. Is this the same John as the prior one.
Our William Cecil (or Sessell) appears in Prince George's County and later Frederick
County (created from PGC) on several occasions from 1697 to 1749. This William was a
witness in a trial in PGC in March of 1706, donated 50 pounds of tobacco to Queen
Anne's Parish (Anglican) in 1708, and was involved in other court documents in 1710,
1714 and 1729. He witnessed wills in 1731 and 1732. His estate was probated in 1749, and
grandchildren Thomas, Sabret and Samuel were administrators. These grandchildren are sons
of John and Elizabeth (Sollars) Cecil.
Both William Cecil and William Cissell had sons named John. John Cecil married Elizabeth
Sollars, who survived him at his death in 1759 per his will. John Cissell married an
Elizabeth also, but this John died in 1742, and his widow married one Charles Neale.
We haven't a shred of evidence about who William Cecil married, what he did, or where
he came from. (Lots of IDEAS but no proof!! )
Sysop <minpin(a)netpuppy.net> wrote:
Hello!
I am working on this line of my tree, and have run into some
difficulty verify some information.
I show the parents of Benjamim Sollers Cecil as Samuel W.
Cecil and Rebecca White. Samuel's parents are listed as John
Cecil and Elizabeth Sollers.
From there, the gedcoms split into two directions: some saying
the next link is John Cecil and Mary Calvert, taking the line
eventually up to the Lord Burleigh. Others show a William
Cecil as his father, with a possible John as his grandfather.
These gedcoms stop here, saying only that John was born in
England.
Has anyone made a definative call on this? Or do opinions vary?
Thank you so much in advance!
John
==== CECIL Mailing List ====
See also the rootsweb surname list CISSELL-L(a)rootsweb.com and the archives which can be
found at:
http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=CECIL
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