Cecil County, Maryland Wills 1777-1810 Briefly abstracted by John W. McCoy © 2010 ([email protected]) Due to the importance of Cecil Co. as a jumping-off point for migrations into Virginia, the Carolinas, Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, etc., and also because we found so many contradictory statements about particular wills from this county, we decided to abstract the early will books, attempting to get all of the heirs, and all of the dates. With this information, the genealogist will be able to find the full text on the microfilms. We happened to start with the Family History Library microfilm that has books ―CC 3‖ to ―FF 6‖. The wills contain much additional information about slaves. Many are mentioned by name, and there are a few whose parents are named as well. We have not attempted to extract this information. Some of the wills express confusion about whether the testators were living in Chester Co., PA or Cecil Co., MD, because of the boundary disputes of that period. We only list locations when there is specific information. Some individuals are identified as Quakers in these records. This happens most often when they appear as witnesses who ―affirm‖ rather than ―swear‖ to the authenticity of a will. Original spellings are used (barring typographical errors in the abstracts!), but names are frequently spelled in different ways in the same record. Alternate spellings attested within a given probate are shown in parentheses. When we have guessed, through internal evidence or otherwise, the modern equivalent of a particular spelling, we show that in parentheses with an equal sign: Mevey (=McVey). Names that could not be read with certainty are indicated with a question mark. When the day of a month is not indicated, it is represented with a double question mark: ?? dec 1805. In wills written by Quakers, months are usually indicated (even when the name of the month is not idolatrous) as ―first month‖, ―tenth month‖, etc. The point of reference for this style of dates, at least from the 1770’s forward, is January, as shown in such constructions as ―third month commonly called March‖ (book EE 5, probate 95). Book ―CC 3‖, 177 pp., containing 63 numbered probates (FHL microfilm #0013868). The following pages were missed on the microfilm: 165-166, 169-170, and 173-174. 1. Rebecca Armstrong (p. 1), 04 apr 1777, son Caleb, daughter Martha (