Today, we’ll look at the two Anthony Hollands, likely born a century apart, but who I think are most definitely related.

The Maryland Calendar of Willis, Vol. 3, pages 9-10 contain the abstract of the lengthy, but not completely described, bequests made by Anthony Holland the First, for lack of a better description. This Anthony was apparently married at least twice, as he named three adult sons and one married daughter and then six more children with the dates of their 16th birthdays.

Abstract of Anthony Holland’s will, 1702

There are no clues as to the identity of Anthony’s first wife, but his second was Isabell Parsons, daughter of Thomas Parsons, as described in the will. Isabell pre-deceased her husband, but she lived to inherit part of the “Great Neck” parcel of land from her father.

There were four surviving adult children born to his earlier wife/wives:

Eliza, born about 1672; married to Richard Gott, about 1691, based on the birth of son Richard on 2 May 1692
John, born about 1674; married Ann Spicer, 11 December 1701, Anne Arundel County, MD
Benjamin, born about 1676; married Mary Wilson, 6 January 1703, Anne Arundel County, MD
Anthony, born about 1678; died after his father’s 1702 will

Quagmire Alert #1! How do I know these children were born about these years? I don’t. Others determined their likely years of birth based on when Anthony received his land in 1672.

Anthony’s children with Isabell Parsons were:

Thomas, born 20 January 1686; married Margaret Waters, 3 April 1712, Anne Arundel County, MD; recorded Quaker marriage
Richard, born 1 March 1687; died after his father’s 1702 will. No marriage record has been found for him and he is not mentioned in Benjamin Capell’s 1711 will. He likely died by that time as Thomas, Jacob, Capell and Susannah Holland are all mentioned.

Benjamin Capell Will Abstract, 1711

Jacob, born 2 May 1690; married Margaret Medcalf, 11 Nov 1714, Anne Arundel County, MD
Capell, born 10 June 1692; married Katherine Eldridge, 27 May 1718, Anne Arundel County, MD
Susanna, born 24 April 1694; died after 20 August 1711, when Benjamin Capell’s will was probated and she was mentioned, unmarried at that time;  possibly the Susanna who married John Sunderland, 9 September 1731, Anne Arundel County, MD
Abraham, born 13 June 1698; died after his father’s 1702 will, but probably before April 1715. Abraham inherited the “dwelling plantation” that Anthony Holland purchased from his son-in-law, Richard Gott. Abraham likely died quite young without marrying because Richard Gott left his own will probated on 16 April 1715. In it, his own son, Anthony Gott, inherited land sold to his father-in-law, Anthony Holland and which “came to the testator again by right of wife.” Anthony Holland stated in his will that if any of the six youngest children died, then the survivors/s were to inherit that portion. Also, Benjamin Capell mentioned his siblings Thomas, Jacob, Capell and Susannah in his 1711 will. This is another indication that Abraham had probably died.

What is certain is that Anthony Holland’s trusted executors were Quakers so if Anthony wasn’t a Quaker by birth, he at the very least closely associated with them later in life.

It is also certain that Richard Gott was married to Eliza/Elizabeth by 2 May 1692, the date their son, Richard, was baptized in St. James Parish, Anne Arundel County.

Is this Richard Gott the same Richard Gott who might have been transported to Maryland with Anthony? I don’t know, but my guess would be that this perhaps is a son of the first Richard Gott.

A third certainty is that Anthony Holland served as a juror of inquisition in the Anne Arundel County Chancery Court in 1678-79 so he would have been at least 21 years old at that time. This fact doesn’t help much, but it is the only mention I’ve found of him in other records, aside from land records

Maryland properties were a bit peculiar for the time in that many of the tracts of land were given names. That certainly helps when tracing land ownership. Anthony mentioned numerous tracts in his will – 996 acres on Herring Creek Swamp with names like Holland’s Choice, Goldsborough, Holland’s Range, Locust Neck and Great Neck.

An actual copy of his will would identify which children received which tracts of land, but I haven’t been able to find one.

Quagmire Alert #2 – There is an Anthony Holland in the 1790 and 1800 censuses of Montgomery County, North Carolina. There is also a Richard Holland living four doors away from him in 1800. Anthony is not a typical colonial era given name unless found in a Catholic family. No marriage records have been found for Anthony the First’s sons, Anthony, Richard and Jacob. The 1800 Anthony and Richard would be way too young to be his sons, but could part of this family have migrated to North Carolina and left these descendants?

Now to the second Anthony Holland, whose will was probated in Scott County, Kentucky almost 100 years later.

It was probably this Anthony Holland who recorded a land purchase in Baltimore County, Maryland (BC41/293 and BC43/365), which was named Holland’s Sweep. The 22 acre tract of land was recorded on 8 July 1770, so this Anthony was born no later than 1749 and possibly quite a few years earlier. Anthony Holland and family were still in Anne Arundel County for the 1790 census.

Sometime between the census and 1794, when son Ephraim married in Bourbon County, Kentucky, the Holland clan began its westward migration.

By 1799, they were living in Scott County, Kentucky, which was created from Woodford County, next door to Bourbon County.

There is one problem with the Scott County records. There was a fire and, although records were saved, some pages were burned and thus are incomplete. Anthony’s will is mostly intact. This Anthony was also a widower at the time he wrote his will as no wife is mentioned.

Anthony and his unknown wife/wives had the following children:

Ephraim
Ruth, who married Mr. Plummer
George W.
Anna, unmarried when her father wrote his will
Margaret, who married Shadrach Penn, 23 August 1790 in Baltimore County, Maryland.
Elizabeth, who married Mr. Mosby
Henry
William

Ephraim, George and William were named executors of Anthony’s estate.

The 1800 tax lists of Kentucky, substituting for the lost 1800 census, show Ann, Ephraim, George and William Holland in Scott County. This Ann might be the widow of Anthony, but since Anthony’s daughter Anna apparently didn’t marry, or at least didn’t marry for quite some time, this Ann could conceivably be the daughter.

The only Henry Holland is in Washington County, which was southwest of Scott County with two other counties in between. John Mosby was the only man of that surname in Scott County in 1800, but, next door in Woodford County, there were Edward, John, Nicholas and Robert Mosby plus David, Jesse, John and Robert Mosby in Mercer County, which sat between Woodford and Washington Counties. “Shadrack” Penn was taxed in Scott County with Benjamin and Joseph Penn nearby in Bourbon County.

Ephraim Holland may have been married twice, with the first wife unknown. His son James reported a birth year of 1791 in 1850 and 1792 in 1860, but Ephraim married Nancy Kennedy on 21 May 1794 in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

So, where are we in this mess?

The short version of this story is that one Anthony Holland, born by 1650 and perhaps earlier,  died in Anne Arundel County, Maryland in 1703, leaving ten children by at least two marriages. My husband’s Anthony Holland,  born probably by 1740, migrated to Scott County, Kentucky and died there by June 1799.

The main questions are:

1. How many generations are there between Anthony, who died in 1703 and Anthony who died in 1799?
2. Who was the father of Anthony Holland who died in Kentucky? If he was the son of John, Benjamin or Anthony, there might be two generations between Anthony the First and the later Anthony. However, if he is the son of Thomas, Richard, Capell, Abraham or Jacob, then there might only be one generation in between the two Anthonys.

What would your next step be? Mine is going to be to try to flesh out the families of Anthony the First’s sons. Land records might well help to answer these questions.