James, I believe it was I who raised the question of William Pace being a member of the Continental Congress. Below are 2 website links which list William Pace from Maryland as being a member of the Congress. They both seem to use the same sources for that information. After posting my question about William some time ago, it was readily answered that William Paca was the member of the Congress and a signer of the Dec. of Independence. I studied the signatures in that document and it indeed appears to be Paca, not Pace. That was the end of my quest to link the Paces to that famous document and I must admit that I felt a little silly for asking the question to begin with. However, with your posting, I no longer feel quite so silly, since it seems that a definitive answer is unknown by more than just me. After all, wasn't there a William Pace in Washington's Honor Guard? John Pace http://www.constitution.org/bcp/res_non-import.htm ¹ The Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress ² Source: Prepared by Gerald Murphy (The Cleveland Free-Net - aa300) Distributed by the Cybercasting Services Division of the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN). Permission is hereby granted to download, reprint, and/or otherwise redistribute this file, provided appropriate point of origin credit is given to the preparer(s) and the National Public Telecomputing Network. ³ Source: The Constitutions of the Several And Independent States of America, American State Papers, printed for J. Stockdale, London, 1783 http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/politics/resolves.cfm ¹ The Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress ² Source: Prepared by Gerald Murphy (The Cleveland Free-Net - aa300) Distributed by the Cybercasting Services Division of the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN). Permission is hereby granted to download, reprint, and/or otherwise redistribute this file, provided appropriate point of origin credit is given to the preparer(s) and the National Public Telecomputing Network. ³ Source: The Constitutions of the Several And Independent States of America, American State Papers, printed for J. Stockdale, London, 1783 ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Pace" <jrpace62@yahoo.com> To: <PACE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:46 AM Subject: [PACE-L] re: More on the Subject of William H Paca > > > > > > Back in March 2003, on this web-site, questions were raised regarding > William H. Paca, signer of the Declaration of Independence. I suppose it > is the similarity in the names Paca and Pace that engendered the interest > in the Paca name. There is the question of whether the name Paca can be > related to Pace or more likely Pacey. It is shown below that a conclusive > answer to this question cannot now be given. > I am developing some family history or genealogies of individuals who are > connected to my direct line through cousins and/or their marriages. Such > information adds to the knowledge of the social and economic status of > ancestors, particularly if such relationships involve historical figures. > After all, even if one can place the dates of birth, death, marriage, and > perhaps a few deeds, still not much is really known about a said ancestor. > All of these results fit neatly into my genealogy data base. Thus, this > is the basis of my interest in the Pacas. > My great-grandmother, Mary Etta Lee, married James Hardy Pace (1860 - > 1954). James Lee (1704 - 1778) of Harford Co., MD was Mary's 2nd > great-grandfather. James's daughter Margaret Lee (1732 - Aft. Mar 30, > 1762) married John Paca, Jr. (Apr 14, 1725 - Bef. Feb 1758). John Paca, > the younger, was a cousin of William H. Paca, signer of the Declaration of > Independence. Margaret's grandfather was a Quaker, and Margaret, too, is > said to be a Quaker in the will of her husband, John. John's father, > Aquila Paca, was also a Quaker. The common ancestor of William and John > Jr. is Robert Paca, their great-grandfather. Robert Paca, of Anne Arundel > Co., is presumably the immigrant, although there is no record of him > having come into Maryland. Below I suggest a possible connection between > Robert and immigrants from Virginia. > Biographies of William Paca, the Signer, are available in many places. I > choose to quote from an early work given below: > Ref: Warfield, J. D., "The Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, > Maryland, A Genealogical and Biographical Review from wills, deeds, and > church records," Orig. Pub., Baltimore, 1905, reprinted, Baltimore, > Regional Pub. Co., 1967, pp. 235-237. > > "Under: BIOGRAPHIES OF THE FOUNDERS OF ANN ARUNDEL CO. > GOVERNOR WILLIAM PACA > > > > William Paca, signer of the Declaration and third Governor of Maryland > was born October 31, 1740, at "Wye Hall," Harford County, Maryland. He was > the second son of John Paca; Bachelor of Arts from a college in > Philadelphia in 1758, he was admitted to Middle Temple, London, after > which he studied law with Stephen Bordley. He was admitted to the bar in > 1764. Early in life he was sent to the Legislature, was a delegate to the > Continental Congress in 1774 - 1778, was appointed upon the Committee of > Correspondence in 1774, was in the Council of Safety in 1775. On August 2, > 1776, he affixed his signature tot he Declaration of Independence; on > August 17, 1776 was elected on the Committee "to prepare a declaration and > charter of rights and form a government for Maryland." Upon the > organization of the State he was elected to its first Senate. ....... > > ..... His wife was Mary Chew, daughter of Samuel and Henrietta Maria > (Lloyd) Chew." > Only one of William's children, John Philemon Paca, survived to > adulthood. His portrait shows an aristocratic personage. If he had > descendants, then they are eligible to join the Jamestown Society through > descent from John Chew, of Jamestown, York Co., VA and Anne Arundel Co., > MD. > J. D. Warfield, the author of the above selection probably belongs to the > family of Bessie Wallis Warfield, the Duchess of Windsor. I have a descent > for Wallis Warfield from John Dorsey (abt. 1619 - 1659) and Matthew Howard > (1609 - bef. 1659). John Dorsey, Matthew Howard, John Chew, possibly > William Paca's great-grandfather Robert, and others were religious > Dissenters, who around 1649 moved from Virginia to Anne Arundel Co. They > were Puritans and some Quakers. There they founded the town of Providence, > later renamed Annapolis. Robert Paca was a resident of Anne Arundel Co. > before about 1667. I have an interest in John Chew, John Dorsey and > Matthew Howard as they are in my ancestry through the Lee line. > > > There is a problem in Maryland genealogy. The ancestries of most of these > Puritan-Quaker founders remain a mystery. Numerous attempts have been made > to show noble or royal ancestry of Howard and Dorsey. The results are > ambiguous at best. It is ironic that numerous Americans, including me, > work hard to show their descent from the Plantagenet kings of England, > while Bessie Warfield Simpson worked her way into the Saxe-Coburg - > Windsor royalty by marrying King Edward VIII, and yet no one can show her > English ancestry. That is, the ancestry of Matthew Howard and John Dorsey > remain a mystery. The problem may be deeper than just a lack of > information. It may involve the political situation in Colonial Maryland, > the Irish question in Boston, the dark ominous clouds hanging over Europe > in the 30's and 40's, or even perhaps the Immigration reform bill now > stalled in Congress. So if Robert Paca, the immigrant, was among the group > of Dissidents from Virginia or elsewhere who settled > in Anne Arundel Co., MD, then tracing his ancestry will involve the same > problems that are involved the Dorsey/Darcy-Howard problems. > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call > rates. > > > ==== PACE Mailing List ==== > Help this list grow - tell other Pace researchers about it. > Also, the Pace Society of America home page is located at: > http://www.pacesociety.org - check it out! > >

Going back in time, I have seen various spelling of the surname Pace, but most of these are just different phonetic renderings and would sound the same when spoken. Paca, on the other hand, would be pronounced with two syllables and just doesn't fit in with the other monosyllabic spellings of the name. I know nothing of the individuals being discussed, but I would use this significant pronunciation difference as a basis for doubting a connection between the surnames Pace and Paca. (Unless there was some conscious attempt to Anglicize the name Paca and make it sound more American, such as happened with a lot of Germanic surnames). I can accept Pacey or Pasey as more likely to be related to Pace since a person whose native tongue is one of the Latin languages (Portuguese, at least) would likely pronounce the name Pace with two syllables. Taking this pronunciation back to the written word might well result in the spellings of Pacey or Pasey. Just some observations based more on phonetics than on genealogy. Joe Anderson ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Mr John Pace" <pjohndeb@verizon.net> To: PACE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PACE-L] re: More on the Subject of William H Paca Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:59:06 -0500 James, I believe it was I who raised the question of William Pace being a member of the Continental Congress. Below are 2 website links which list William Pace from Maryland as being a member of the Congress. They both seem to use the same sources for that information. After posting my question about William some time ago, it was readily answered that William Paca was the member of the Congress and a signer of the Dec. of Independence. I studied the signatures in that document and it indeed appears to be Paca, not Pace. That was the end of my quest to link the Paces to that famous document and I must admit that I felt a little silly for asking the question to begin with. However, with your posting, I no longer feel quite so silly, since it seems that a definitive answer is unknown by more than just me. After all, wasn't there a William Pace in Washington's Honor Guard? John Pace