John & Eleanor Glasson

[hawkeye]

I'm trying to find the Cornish roots of my American Glasson family.  I've been able to trace John & Eleanor Glasson to Charles County, Maryland.  They were in North America by the early 1700's.  I am fairly certain that they (or at least John) came from Cornwall, but don't know where or when.  I don't know Eleanor's maiden name or if they were married in England or America.  I'm guessing Eleanor was born between 1680 and 1700.  Less sure about John's birth.  There may have been a connection with a family called Philbert or Philpott, but I don't know if the connection is to John or Eleanor. Any suggestions?

[Cornish Terrier]

This might be quite a tricky problem to solve.

I think the best way to begin might be for you to tell us a little of what you know about that early part of the family. Names of children with, if known, order of birth might give some clues and if you know the occupation of John Glasson it might also be of some help.
We will also be dealing with a period in Cornwall where records can be very difficult as well so the more you are able to tell us the better.

CT

[hawkeye]

I'm not sure it will ever be possible to know for sure, but I'd like to be able to say, "I suspect my ancestors came from ______ and maybe John was the son of _______ Glasson." Right now I don't have a clue.

Unfortunately, I don't know much that's helpful. I can trace my Glasson ancestors with some degree of certainty back to Joseph and Sarah Glasson in North Carolina in the 1760's. Before that, I have a strong suspicion, supported by some evidence, that they came to North Carolina from Maryland and that Joseph's parents were John and Eleanor Glasson.

I know that John and his wife Eleanor lived in Charles County, Maryland, not far from Washington DC. They were there at least by 1718 when John appears in the probate records. He was appointed as the administrator of the estate of George Tate in 1726. John died on March 4, 1727. John Philburt is listed as "nearest relation". (There are both Phiburts and Philpots in Charles County at the time. Spelling was extremely variable and it's possible that Philburt and Philpot is actually the same name.) Eleanor and their three minor children survived him. The names of the children are not listed, but I suspect that they are John, Jr., James and Joseph, born in that order. The probate record also says that John had "no other relations". That would suggest that he did not emigrate with his parents, so probably was an adult at the time of arrival in North America.

The probate inventory for John makes it clear that he was a farmer. The estate was valued at £107 28sh 8p, which would have made him moderately prosperous by the standards of the time. That suggests to me that he had been in Charles County for long enough to be pretty well established. Charles County was the edge of British settlement at that time. There were only about 4,000 settlers in the whole county in 1720. Eleanor remarried shortly after John's death. Her second husband was John Hunter. The Hunters relocated, with my ancestor Joseph, to Orange County, North Carolina about 1763. The farmed in that area and in Chatham County. There is some indication that wagon making was a family trade.

My grandfather knew that the family came from England somewhere, but didn't know more than that. I had a Y chromosome DNA test done a few years back which strongly suggested a Cornish connection, which is not surprising.

My guess is that John was born about 1695 (give or take ten years) somewhere in Cornwall. I'd guess he came from a farming family (maybe with a history of wagon making) and that he married Eleanor before he emigrated. I'd also guess that the children were born in North America. All of that may well be wrong. Does any of that help?