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A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.
Volume 426, Page 488   View pdf image (33K)
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JEN BIOGRAPHIES

tion to his surviving son and daughter, was Mrs.
Sebilla Goucher, a widow, of England. PRIVATE
CAREER. EDUCATION: admitted to Middle Tem-
ple, London, May 23, 1715. RELIGIOUS AFFILIA-
TION: Anglican; St. Anne's Parish, Anne Arundel
County. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Esq., by
1725; Hon., by 1746. Member of a prominent
Virginia family; married well; attained high social
and political position in Maryland. OCCUPA-
TIONAL PROFILE: officeholder; lawyer; admitted
to the English bar May 19, 1721; Anne Arundel
and Prince George's County courts in August 1723;
Provincial Court in September 1723; Court of
Chancery by February 1723/24; Charles and Bal-
timore County courts in March 1723/24; fined for
non-attendance at the Charles County Court, but
the fine was remitted in August 1724; again fined
for non-attendance at the Charles County Court
in March 1725/26; refused to take the new attor-
ney's oath before the Prince George's County
Court, November 1725, but accepted the oath
and was again sworn in before the Prince George's
County Court in June 1726. Stephen Bordley (ca.
1710-1764) described Jennings as the "most em-
inent practising attorney in Maryland" in a letter
dated August 30, 1729. Jennings was also a part-
ner with Richard Snowden and others in an iron-
works, furnace, and forge on the Patuxent River,
ca. 1735-1749. PUBLIC CAREER. LEGISLATIVE
SERVICE: Lower House, Annapolis, 1728-1731
(Laws 1-5); Upper House, 1732/33-1734 (ap-
pointed before the 2nd session of the 1732-1734
Assembly), 1734/35-1737, 1738, 1739-1741, 1742-
1744, 1745, 1745/46-1748, 1749-1751, 1751-1752
(left Maryland before the 3rd session of the 1751-
1754 Assembly). OTHER PROVINCIAL OFFICES:
Council, 1732-1753 (qualified October 21, 1732;
left Maryland ca. September 1753 and went to
England; resignation noted December 1754);
deputy secretary, 1733-1753; judge of the Land
Office, 1733-1738; collector of Patuxent, 1744-
1745. LOCAL OFFICE: St. Anne's Parish Vestry,
Anne Arundel County, elected 1728. WEALTH

DURING LIFETIME. LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: One-
half interest in 1 lot in Annapolis; however his
wife owned at least 160 acres in Anne Arundel
County, 5 lots in Annapolis, and ca. 250 acres in
Cecil County in her own name, plus a one-third
interest in ca. 3,380 acres in Cecil and Kent coun-
ties, which was the real property of her two pre-
vious husbands. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND

BETWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH: Sold his

interest in the Annapolis lot in 1729. In 1733 Ar-
iana gave him 8 lots (4 acres) in Annapolis. The

following year she deeded her 160 acres in Anne
Arundel County to him, plus 1,000 acres in Kent
County which she had acquired in 1731 by fore-
closing on a three-year mortgage after one year
of non-payment by the mortgagor. Jennings pur-
chased 400 acres in Anne Arundel County in the
late 1730s, and an additional 203 acres in Anne
Arundel County, plus 5.25 acres and 1 lot in An-
napolis, in 1743. He sold the 1,000-acre tract in
Kent County in 1747. That year and in 1753 he
transferred his life interest in the Frisby land and
his late wife's 250 acres in Cecil County to her
Frisby heirs. The Bordley property in Kent County
had gone to the heirs of Thomas Bordley (ca. 1683-
1726) in the mid 1730s. While in London, shortly
before his death, Jennings sold his 5.25 acres and
1 lot in Annapolis. WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED: in
March 1756 in Bath, England. PERSONAL PROP-
ERTY: TEV in Maryland, £428.6.5 sterling, £816.9.1
current money, 3,850 pounds of tobacco (includ-
ing 14 slaves); FB, estate overpaid £64.19.1 cur-
rent money and 350 pounds of tobacco, including
over £700.0.0 sterling paid to Edmund Jennings,
Jr. from his legacy apparently prior to his father's
death. LAND: 723 acres in Anne Arundel County,
plus 4 acres (8 lots) in Annapolis.

JENNINGS, THOMAS (ca. 1736-1796). BORN:
ca. 1736, probably in England. IMMIGRATED:
probably from England ca. 1759 as a free adult.
RESIDED: probably in Annapolis, at least after
1772; in the Paca House, Prince George Street,
Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, 1780 until
death. MARRIED Juliana. CHILDREN. SONS: Thomas,
alive in 1800; George, alive in 1797; William, who
married on October 17, 1796, Elizabeth Ann
MacGill; John, a minor in 1797; Daniel, a minor
in 1797; Horner, a minor in 1797; and Horatio,
a minor in 1797. DAUGHTERS: Anne, who married
on October 30, 1783, Nicholas (Maccubbin) Car-
roll (1750/51-1812); Juliana (ca. 1764-?), who
married on May 23, 1781, James Brice (1746-
1801); and Elizabeth, who married on October
13, 1808, Benjamin Hodges. PRIVATE CAREER. ED-
UCATION: studied law in England with James Best.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Anglican, St. Anne's
Parish, Anne Arundel County; held pew 59. SO-
CIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Gent. , by 1770; Esq. ,
by 1773; on March 1, 1786, he was elected a mem-
ber of the Board of St. John's College by the
visitors of the Annapolis school, served until death;
"poet laureate" of the Homony Club. ADDI-
TIONAL COMMENT: In August 1775 Jennings re-
quested permission from the Council to go to

488



 

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A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.
Volume 426, Page 488   View pdf image (33K)
 Jump to  
  << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>


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