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George Beckwith came to Maryland in 1648 as a retainer or servant of Thomas Hatton who was the Secretary of State for the province. He was probably a member of the large Beckwith family of Featherstone Castle, Yorkshire, England of which several branches settled on the northern neck of Virginia and the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
In the book The Beckwiths by Paul Beckwith, George is listed as being the 4th son of Thomas Beckwith and Barbara Milburn and was born 29 Mar 1606 at Featherstone Castle, Yorkshire, ENG. In The Register of Heraldic Maryland Families by Parran, George Beckwith's birth year is listed as 1630. Neither of these books provides documentary evidence of George Beckwiths birth year.
The latter date seems more plausible because it would be more likely that George would have been 18 when he came to Maryland (1648) as a retainer or indentured servant rather than 42 if he were born in 1606. Also, Beckwith married Francis Harvey in 1657 (she was 16-17 at the time) and age 27 for George is a more believable age for this union than 51. As of now, we have no documentary proof of George Beckwiths age.
Francis Harvey was 16 or 17 years old when her guardian, John Dandy, was tried, convicted, and executed for murdering one of his servants. This was the first execution in Maryland. Dandy was also responsible for Francis' estate left by her father Nicholas Harvey which included all of the Manor of St.Joseph's. Another complication was the involvement of Francis Harvey in an incident where it was alleged she had taken some items from the store of one John Milam to the amount of 750 pounds of tobacco. As an orphaned illiterate girl of 16 or 17 Francis was obviously in need of some legal help.
George Beckwith appeared in the record books in 1657 first on behalf of Francis Harvey, and then as her husband.
I have quite a bit of documentation on this family - too much to list here - it seems to me that a 30 year difference in age is a bit much for this marriage. So, who was George Beckwith!
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