Re: Mary Hodgkin, wife of Thomas Posey
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In reply to:
Mary Hodgkin, wife of Thomas Posey
Ann Gleason 5/22/05
Dear Ann,
I'm a descendant of Thomas Posey and Mary Hodgkin through their daughter Lucretia Posey, who married Abner Winn.
I have a theory about Mary Hodgkin Posey's parents.But I should say right off the bat, I haven't proven it.Perhaps if several of us working on this family can pool our efforts, we can see if we can discover the pieces of evidence we need to prove or disprove this theory.
I strongly suspect that the parents of Mary Hodgkin are Thomas Hodgkin and Lucy Brooke of Prince George Co., MD.Various published sources (and internet sites) place Thomas Hodgkin's birth around 1699 in VA or MD, and say that he d. 25 Aug. 1756 in Prince George Co., MD.He died intestate, which complicates the attempt to identify his heirs.
Lucy Brooke was the daughter of Thomas Brooke and Barbara Dent of Calvert Co., MD.Her date of birth is usually estimated at about 1619, though I've seen various other dates given.
Among the reasons I think it's plausible that Mary Hodgkin Posey is a daughter of Thomas Hodgkin and Lucy Brooke: a known son of this couple is Alexander Contee Hodgkin, who ended up at Porttobacco, where Thomas Posey and Mary Hodgkin were living at the time they left MD.
Thomas Posey and Mary Hodgkin named a daughter Lucretia.I know that Lucretia Posey Winn was also called Lucy from a manuscript written about the Posey family and filed in the GA Archives.
The given name Brooke also runs through the descendants of Thomas Posey and Mary Hodgkin, suggesting to me that there's a Brooke surname not too far back in one of their lineages (and I know it's not from the Posey side).Thomas Posey and Mary Hodgkin named a son John Brooke Posey.Abner Winn and Lucretia Posey named a daughter Lucretia Brooke, which suggests to me that Lucretia Posey may also have had the middle name Brooke.
Thomas Posey and Mary Hodgkin also named their first daughter Jane.Lucy Brooke, who married Thomas Hodgkin, had a sister Jane who married Alexander Contee.
Finally, the dates fit well for Mary Hodgkin Posey to be a daughter of Thomas Hodgkin and Lucy Brooke.Note, too, that the Posey manuscript in the GA Archives says that Mary's mother was left a fairly young widow when her husband, a mariner, died leaving her with several children who were not yet of age.The manuscript also speaks of Mary's family going back and forth from MD to Europe.
There are MD records suggesting that Thomas Hodgkin may have been a mariner's son, and that Thomas Hodgkin was also sent to Europe to be educated.Note that if he did, indeed, die in 1756, and if Mary Hodgkin was his daughter, Mary Hodgkin Posey seems to have been born about 1740, so she would have been 16 when her father died.There is some evidence that two known sons of Thomas Hodgkin and Lucy Brooke, Thomas Brooke Hodgkin and Alexander Contee Hodgkin, were born after 1740, and would definitely have been minors in 1756.
If Mary Hodkin Posey was the daughter of Thomas Hodgkin and Lucy Brooke, there may be land or estate records in MD that show this.Thus far, I haven't been able to find information that proves or disproves this theory, but I think it's worth pursuing, for the reasons I have enumerated above.Will gladly share information about these families with you or anyone else interested in them.