Good Deed for the Week: Abraham Pennington, Indian Trader

Occasionally I like to highlight items of interest I have found in deed books. Today, I present the following good deed:

Warranty Deed

Abraham Pennington to William Cox for £50
160 acres known as "Pambrook"

Cecil County, Maryland

Executed April 13, 1724

Recorded July 7, 1724 in Deed Book 4, page 91

Circuit Court Records of Cecil County, Maryland

In 1724, my 8x-great-grandfather Abraham Pennington sold a 160-acre plantation in Cecil County, Maryland known as "Pambrook" to William Cox for £50. I found the deed recording this transaction while perusing Cecil County's magnificent online records system in the winter of 2018. Several things about it immediately stood out to me.

The two-page 1724 deed from Abraham Pennington to William Cox.

First, Abraham is identified in this deed as "Abraham Pennington of Cecil County in Maryland, Indian Trader." The purchaser, William Cox, is identified as "Province Merchant." Today it would be downright weird to include a person's occupation on a deed, but it was apparently much more common in colonial America. Between 1714 and 1733, Abraham Pennington is identified in five separate deeds in the records of Cecil County. In these deeds, he is recognized respectively as "Indian Trader," "Planter," and "Yeoman." This gives us the impression that Abraham's status in his community was an independent farmer who also engaged in trade with groups of Native Americans.

This is a fascinating fact about my ancestor. It tells me that he was probably very familiar with the Indian tribes in the area, and that he was on good enough terms with them that he conducted trade with them. Although I don't know what he was trading, he likely swapped manufactured goods for furs or skins. When his grandson Jacob Pennington spied on the Cherokee during the American Revolution, did he do so in this familiar guise of second-generation Indian trader? 

A portion of a page of Jacob Pennington's claim to the State of South Carolina to be paid for the 214 days he served as a spy for the American army against British-allied Indians in 1779.

According to the FamilySearch wiki pertaining to Native Americans in Maryland, the Shawnee maintained a presence near the Susquehanna River in Cecil County from the 1690s until the 1730s. This group was likely the source of Abraham's trade, and their departure from the area in the 1730s seems to have coincided with his own departure for Virginia at about the same time.

In recent years, a myth has circulated that Abraham's son or grandson married the daughter of a Cherokee chief. It is important to note, however, that I have never found any documentary evidence that the Pennington family has any Native American ancestry. One particularly interesting examination of these claims was published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2010, when a local group of Native American enthusiasts attempted to use the alleged Pennington Cherokee connection to help earn the status of a Federally-recognized tribal entity. That BIA report can be read in its entirety here, including its in-depth examination of the Pennington claims of Indian descent.

But back to this week's good deed. The land, itself, offers another intriguing mystery. The 160-acre tract is unique in that, similar to the estates of the aristocracy in England at the time, it had a name: "Pambrook." The deed is specifically for, " a certaine parcell or tract of land Situate lying & being in Cecil County and commonly called or known by the Name of Pambrook being the now dwelling Plantation of the said Abraham Pennington." 

Today there is a property known as Pembroke Farm in Cecil County. It is listed on the Maryland Historical Trust. Pembroke Farm is a pleasant two-story farmhouse which is believed to have been built in 1798 by members of the Graham family, some forty years after Abraham Pennington's death in South Carolina. While I can't say for sure that Abraham Pennington's "Pambrook" was the same as the modern Pembroke Farm, the possibility is exciting, and it makes me want to pay a visit to the home one day. I can say for sure that spelling is no issue, and was much more subjective in the 18th century. It is also interesting to note that Abraham sold a separate 160 acres on Saw Creek to a man named John Graham in 1733, after Abraham moved to Virginia.

Abraham moved further south, finally settling in Berkeley County, South Carolina, where he died in 1755. His grandsons became some of the earliest white settlers of Lawrence County, Tennessee, where I was born and raised. The Penningtons established a firm foothold on the Buffalo River near Henryville in Lawrence County by 1818, and their descendants in the area are numerous today.

Good Deed for the Week: David Kerr Takes Care of Mom

Occasionally I like to highlight items of interest I have found in deed books. Today, I present the following good deed:

Warranty Deed

David Kerr to his mother, Nancy Kerr

43 acres on the west side of Rutherford Creek

Maury County, Tennessee

Executed March 17, 1820

Recorded February 24, 1823 in Deed Book K, page 97

Register's Office of Maury County, Tennessee

Deed from David Kerr to his mother Nancy Kerr
Source: FamilySearch

In the spring of 1820, my 4x-great-grandfather David Kerr gave 43 acres of land to his mother, my 5x-great-grandmother Nancy Kerr. That day he also did me a big genealogical favor, because he specifically identified Nancy as his mother in the deed.

The documents I have about Nancy's life could fit on just two or three sheets of paper. Like most women of her era, she left behind a very thin paper trail. I know her husband James died in 1818, and I also have good reason to suspect that he loved her very much.

The reason I think this is that James left almost the entirety of his estate to Nancy with no restrictions or disclaimers. Specifically, he left his "dear and loving wife" the right to remain on his land for her natural life, in addition to a black mare, a saddle and bridle, two milk cows, four head of sheep, half of the hogs, and "one good feather Bed and bed stead and good furniture," a cherry table, all of his chests and trunks, all of the cooking vessels, a cotton wheel and cards, a flax wheel, and a weaving loom with all of its stays and harness, in addition to "all the feathered fouls of every kind." This catalog comprised the bulk of his estate, which he left to her for "her support and comfort until her last expiring breath." 

Although it's hard for modern readers to see great love in a catalog of farm implements and livestock, what James didn't do was limit how his widow could use these things. In a time when many men left their widows a portion of their estate until she either died or remarried, James left it to his widow with no qualifiers. I think he truly cared about providing for her, even after he passed away.

Page one of James Kerr's will

Page two of James Kerr's will

Perhaps it was love that caused him to omit any mention of future marriages. But perhaps he felt free to do this because, while Nancy had the right to remain in the house and on the land for the rest of her life, the title to the land actually went to his son David, ensuring that no greedy second husband would hone in on the inheritance James left to his sons and daughters.

Two years later, it seems that Nancy may have been ready to move. 

David gave "Nancy Kerr his mother" 43 acres, including the "building and spring where Hugh Magill did live." 

It's possible that David was starting a family of his own at the time and needed the extra space. His son James Porter Kerr, probably his oldest, was born around 1822, and a marriage record exists for David Kerr and Sarah Guthrie in the autumn of 1819, albeit inexplicably seventy miles and three counties away. 

The deed from David to his mom Nancy was witnessed by Richard Hill, Samuel Kerr, and John Odil. Samuel Kerr was David's brother and co-executor of his father's will. John Odil was David's brother-in-law; he married David's sister Mary (who was given $3 in James's will). 

Nancy fades from history after this deed was recorded. David went on to have at least six children with Sarah, and died sometime around 1871, at the age of about 74. 

We don't know for sure, but we can assume that Nancy took all of the "feathered fouls" with her when she moved.