Dear Steve and the List: I hope this answer will help you and possibly others who are interested in Cecil County Pennington origins. The Teagues were in Cecil County very early as evidenced by a deed to Abraham: Vol II, p.284: 14 May 1714 from William Teague of Baltimore county, planter, to Abraham Pennington. 160 acres taken up by Edward Teague, William's father. Saw Branch running into Hunago Creek on the east side of the Susquehenna River. Wit: Hans Steelman, Henry Hollingsworth. This appears to be the property Abraham resold in 1733/4: Vol. V, p. 16: Abram, late of Cecil county, now of Colony of Vergenia, yeoman, 160 acres for 50 pounds sterling money of Great Britain to John Graham. In the presence of John Blacke, Eliz. Jackson and Jane McAnyer. 29 Jan 1733/4. I have seen a number of Isabellas in the Pennington ancestry in England and one in AA county, I believe. I think there was one on the immigrant list. But, all of these records are out of my sight right at the moment. I don't want to lead you astray. I'm going to have to dig a little bit, and it will take me a few days. I've gotten a new foster kid, and I expect the next few days will be in an uproar around here. These are troubled kids, and I'm new at it. So please bear with me on Isabella! The land records for Abraham indicate that he was nowhere near the Sassafras bunch that Henry is the progenitor of. To me this may indicate he wasn't a direct part of Henry's clan, although it does not rule out being relatives. Abraham and John (usually appended "of North East") lived in the northwestern (this makes it confusing!) area of Cecil County next to what is now Harford County. Abraham is also noted as Indian Trader in one deed and this area is where the Susquehenna tribe originally lived and traded. He went on into Frederick County, MD and then into Frederick Co., VA. Maybe you know all that. John of North East's will left money to his brother Abraham. I am working on some theories about John and Abraham's parentage. John didn't have any male children for us to look to for given names, but he did administer an estate for a Thomas Pennington and I have wondered if this was his father, because he is referred to as John Jr. You may or not know, but a great deal of the Cecil Co. information has been put into the LDS Ancestral file. I don't know where the people have gotten the information, and some of it is VERY SUSPECT. I don't want to put anybody down by saying they haven't researched it, but some of it is DOWNRIGHT WRONG. Once some of these things start happening it is hard to weed "the probables" from the "I put this down because I read it in XYZ's family history and took it as gospel." There is quite a bit of LDS Ancestral file information on the people you're interested in. I must emphasize that I haven't researched the Abraham line, or the Teague line, and cannot comment on the overall accuracy or thoroughness. I have copied Cecil County things about both, which have appeared in the Cecil County records, which the above deed is a part of. IF I WERE YOU, and trying to establish a correct genealogy, I would ONLY put in my own files what is supported by a fact, and I would make sure to reference the fact. In this case, the above deed supplies Edward as the father of Wiliam Teague, if it turns out that an Isabella Pennington did marry William Teague, then you've got another generation to add there. The first thing I must say about the genealogy in the ancestral file (Henry is denoted NKZ6-G3 as the progenitor) is that SO FAR AS I KNOW, nothing has ever been unearthed which establishes Henry as the father of Abraham. SO FAR AS I KNOW the only commonality proved is that there was a Henry and Abraham in Cecil County. As I stated above, one lived in the NW corner of Cecil County and the Henry patents were along the Sassafras at the southernmost part of Cecil County. ALSO, I am not so sure that the first Henry was the one who was there in the Abraham time frame. RATHER, I believe the Henry who died with a will in 1702 is the son of the Henry shown on the LDS chart as the progenitor. I call this son, HENRY (B). I call Henry the Progenitor, HENRY (A). SO FAR AS I KNOW he exists mainly in Cecil County by inference. In 1671 in the BALTIMORE COUNTY RECORDS (TR #R.A. folio 64) Richard LECKE (sometimes LEAKE) conveyed The Happy Harbour, containing 400 acres, to Henry Pennington (I use the generic 2 n's for all who are clearly established as Pennington.) (The earliest Cecil County records are contained in both KENT and BALTIMORE Counties.) In 1680 Henry (I believe HENRY A) patented "Pennyworth," (Cert. 71 acres; Liber 21, f342; Patent 71 acres, Lib 22, f10.) SO FAR AS I KNOW, these are the only two Cecil County records for HENRY A. The document which establishes a HENRY (A) and a HENRY (B) is the will of John Pennington, {Cecil Will Book 6, (LL6, F355)} proved 28 Feb 1699. I term him JOHN (K). You may be surprised that he is not accorded "(A)" status, BUT BECAUSE I BELIEVE he had no children, and has no status as an ancestor, he is lowest on my labelling totem. However, his will is extremely valuable. As a preface, I must say that FROM JOHN'S WILL, I BELIEVE JOHN (K) WAS A SON OF HENRY (A) and PROBABLY eldest son. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT HE INHERITED BECAUSE HENRY (A) HAD NO WILL and the property came automatically to him as esdest son. The supporting factors are that he is deeding property -- which we know from the previous deeds belonged to HENRY (A) -- to his brothers and "cozen." These are named: BROTHER HENRY, "Happy Harbour" cont. 400 A. Brother ROBERT, 50A, a parcel laid out for Jarvis Morgan. Brother THOMAS, a parcel from Silvanias Folly and Buntington. To "COZEN" JOHN, son of Henry Pennington, "Pennyworth." Temporal estate to be divided between Robert and Henry. THIS WILL GIVES US THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION: HENRY A: (by inference) 1. JOHN (K) d. ca. Feb 1699 with a will 2. HENRY (B) (a) "Cozen" JOHN (B) (I have labelled JOHN OF NORTH EAST AS JOHN(A) 3. ROBERT (A) 4. THOMAS (A) The other inferences, or likely conclusions we can draw from this will is that John was not married and he had no children. Neither is mentioned in the will. Also not mentioned in the will are: Abraham, Rebecka, William, or Rachel, who are attributed in the LDS Ancestral file as children of HENRY A. Of course, not every relative is mentioned in a will, but I BELIEVE THERE IS one son omitted from this will who SHOULD be listed as a child. I believe he was not included because it would not serve the goals of property ownership passing on to another male with children. This is FRANCIS PENNINGTON, who was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, and who appears in many records in ST. MARY'S COUNTY. He obtained a great deal of property on behalf of the Church in St. Mary's County. We must remember that Maryland was founded by the Catholic Calvert family so that Catholics would have a haven of safety in the New World, which they did not have in England. Additionally, the Calverts provided that other persons seeking religious freedom might worship as they wished in Maryland. The Chartering of Maryland was undertaken by George Calvert, who died just prior to the Charter being granted, and so it was to his son Cecilius, 2nd Baron Baltimore, the charter was finally issued in 1632. Originally George Calvert had wanted to call his colony "Avalon," (he'd tried previously in the Carolinas) which had religious significance, but the name finally settled upon was "Maria's Land," or "Mariland." In 1634, sailing in two ships, "The Ark" and "The Dove," Cecilius' brother Leonard Calvert brought the first "Planters," to "plant" or found the colony and the principles the Calverts espoused. The Act of Toleration passed in 1649 brought other religious "non-conformists" who sought true religious freedom. That true freedom of religion was soon stifled, and the Anglican Church reinstalled as the state church in 1689. The only other colony which approached this true freedom of worship would be William Penn in 1681 when his charter was granted for Pennsylvania. While I sneaked away two weeks ago to some urbanity,I copied all the Pennington references in "A Maryland Calendar of Wills." In Vol. 5, (T.P. 10, 210) Derry, John, Innholder, St. Mary's City, 2nd Dec 1677. On the 13th June 1678 Francis Pennington, et al, 36 years of age, gave testimony. This calculates Francis' birth at ca. 1642, AND IF HE WAS INDEED ONE OF HENRY'S (A) CHILDREN, then Henry (A) can be placed as being born ca. 1620. ADDITIONALLY, IF Francis is a child, and John, Henry, Robert, and Thomas were his brothers, then we have approximate birth years for them as well. If John was oldest, perhaps we can place his birth date ca. 1641. Since he died either late 1698 or early 1699 this is a legitimate age frame for him. From other deeds I have of St. Mary's County which indicate Francis was securing land for the Catholic Church, I also found references to JOHN PENNINGTON in the same records. I BELIEVE THAT JOHN WAS ALSO A PRIEST, AND HE WAS THE OLDEST SON OF HENRY (A), died in 1699 with the will above. There is mention of Francis in several of the wills shown in St. Mary's County in the "Maryland Calendar of Wills," and I found one reference to John. I have found one other tremendously significant reference to Francis in Cecil County. This is in the probate papers of HENRY (B), who died with a will in 1702. HENRY's (B) Cecil will (L11, F262) proved 1702: Grants to wife Elizabeth authority to make over to Robert Pennington "Happy Harbour, providing that Robert makes over "Buntington." To son Henry 100 acres of tract called "Buntington," the whole tract containing by estimate 150 acres. To son Richard, the remaining 50 acres of "Buntington." He leaves cows, horses and other chattel to his son John (the "cozen"). The will is dated 21 Oct 1701. In an administration of this estate in 1702, p. 103, Elizabeth Pennington, John ATTKEY, John STOPE are listed as administrators. Then something very interesting. Witnesses sign: "In presence of us: FRANCIS PENNINGTON and Henry WARD. Then the administrators, Elisabeth (h.m.); John ATTHIER; John STOOP. Another thing is that the Cecil county properties have been referred to as if they were transferred whole, and it is not so, as evidenced by the land record indentures which I have abstracted, and the RENT ROLLS, some of which I have abstracted. I also have a copy of the "Land Patents of Cecil County," published by Family Line Publishing in Westminster, MD. This gives the Patent name, number of acres and the references to surveys and certificates. These documents desperately need to be examined and photocopies made of them. They are original documents! At the time I photocopied the resurvey of Buntington, it cost me over $5.00. I do not know what they charge now. Because of the expense I have only photocopied this one survey, but it establishes that Henry Jr. was the son of Robert Pennington, not Henry (B) Pennington. Copying these records would be a worthy project of PRA. We have got to learn to look at the big picture on these families, and not pluck out a fact here and there. Maybe the only thing that will come out of this is that I will begin seeing new references to Henry A. Pennington, a Henry B. Pennington, a John K. Pennington and will see that Francis Pennington sailed on the Ark, and Abraham Pennington the Dove. Or perhaps this will stimulate some individual interest and cooperative research, which is badly needed on these families. I hope that this analysis, which is a tiny pinpoint of information regarding Cecil County, MD will invite other commentary. The E-Mail List is a limited medium, and not conduicive to passing on a great deal of information. I hope I haven't clogged anyone's mailbox, but I felt it was important to establish some of this. Your Cousin, Carolyn