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A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.
Volume 426, Page 509   View pdf image (33K)
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BIOGRAPHIES KEY

Her brothers were Thomas (1750-1804); James
White (1754-1808); Aquila (1754-1754); Wil-
liam (1756-1818); John (1762-1804); Edward
(1763-?); and Benedict (1771-?). Her sisters were
Charlotte (1758-1838), who married Nathaniel
Ramsay (1741-1817); Mary (1760-?); Martha
(1768-?); and Elizabeth (1770-?). Her cousin
was Susannah Hall (1744- ca. 1770). who mar-
ried first, in 1759, James Heath (?-1766), and
second, John Lee Webster (ca. 1735-1795). CHIL-
DREN. SONS: Philip (1781-?), who married Frances
Putnam; Robert Morris (1787-?); John (1789-
died a minor); Henry Greenfield Sothoron (1790-
1872), who married first, Henrietta Tayloe, and
second, Maria Harris; Edward Hall (?-died a mi-
nor); Upton Scott; Thomas White (ca. 1802-1874),
who married Nancy E. Murphy (1834-1889); and
John Hall (1807-1884), who married Juliet Mal-
inda Reedes. DAUGHTERS: Mary (1782-?), who
married John Barnes; Cecilia Brown (1784-?),
who married in 1804 Henry Ashton; Rebecca So-
thoron (1784-?), who married Charles H. W.
Wharton; Eliza Maynadier (1792-?), who mar-
ried John Scott; Clarissa Bond (1794-died a mi-
nor); Sophia Hall (?-died a minor); Susanna Gar-
diner (?-died a minor); Anna Heath, who married
Richard Smith; and Mary Hall (1803-?), who
married in 1823 John Hanson Briscoe. PRIVATE
CAREER. EDUCATION: attended school in England;
studied law. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Anglican,
King and Queen Parish, St. Mary's County. SO-
CIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Gent., by 1771; Esq. ,
by 1780. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: planter; law-
yer; merchant, by 1779-1787; in partnership with
Uriah Forrest (1746-1805) in 1779. Forrest and
Key owned a schooner. PUBLIC CAREER. LEGIS-
LATIVE SERVICE: Lower House, St. Mary's County,
1773-1774 (Claims 1, Cv), 1779-1780 (Manu-
factories 1; Tax Commissioners 1), 1780-1781
(Manufactories 1), 1782-1783 (Claims 2), 1783
(Grievances; Claims), 1784 (Grievances; Claims),
1785, 1787-1788 (discharged on May 20, 1788,
for "treating" at the election), 1790, 1795
(speaker), 1796 (speaker). LOCAL OFFICE: Com-
mittee of Correspondence, St. Mary's County, in
office 1774. OUT OF STATE SERVICE: representa-
tive, U.S. Congress, 1791-1793. WEALTH DURING
LIFETIME. PERSONAL PROPERTY: 3 slaves inherited
from father, 1755; 4 slaves and £155.0.0 inherited
from grandfather, 1764; 23 slaves, 1790; assessed
value £699.1.8, including 26 slaves and 50 oz.
Plate, 1793; assessed value £720.0.0, including 22
slaves and 16 oz. plate, 1801; assessed value

£566.5.0, including 16 slaves and 16 ounces plate,

1806. LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: inherited 8 tracts
(acreage unknown) in St. Mary's County. SIG-
NIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN FIRST ELEC-
TION AND DEATH: acquired by patent and pur-
chase as much as 2,000 acres in St. Mary's and
Charles counties, 1776-1820, plus partial own-
ership of 2 mills in St. Mary's County, 3 lots in
Baltimore City, and 4 acres in Baltimore County;
probably sold by 1819 all Baltimore City and Bal-
timore County property. WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED:
on January 4, 1820, in St. Mary's County. PER-
SONAL PROPERTY: TEV, $8,711.43 (including 16
slaves); FB, $4,208.95. LAND: as much as 2,900
acres in St. Mary's and Charles counties.

KEY, THOMAS (?-1772). BORN: probably in St.
Mary's County. NATIVE: second generation. RE-
SIDED: in St. Mary's County. FAMILY BACK-
GROUND. FATHER: Philip Key (1696/97-1764).
MOTHER: Susannah Gardiner. STEPMOTHER:
Theodosia Lawrence Humphreys (?-1772).
BROTHERS: Richard Ward (?-1765); Edmund Key
(?-1766); Dr. John (?-1755); Francis (ca. 17317
32-1770); and Philip Barton (?-1756). SISTER:
Susannah Gardiner (1742-1811), who married in
1761 Normand Bruce (?-1811). NEPHEWS: Philip
Key (1750-1820); John Ross Key (1754-1821).
MARRIED by 1770 Jane Llewellyn. CHILDREN. SON.
Edmund (1771-1857), of St. Mary's and Prince
George's counties, an associate judge of the 1st
District Court, 1806-1848, who married first, by
1795, Ruth Anna Potts, and second, Margaret
Johns, daughter of Benjamin Mackall and wife
Christiana Beall. PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION:
literate. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Protestant. His
father was an Anglican and his mother was a
Roman Catholic. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES.
Gent., by 1769. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: prob-
ably planter. PUBLIC CAREER. LEGISLATIVE SERV-
ICE: Lower House, St. Mary's County, 1766
(elected to the 4th session of the 1765-1766 As-
sembly to fill vacancy), 1768-1770, 1771 (elected,
but did not attend). ADDITIONAL COMMENT: He
was first elected to the Lower House to fill a
vacancy caused by the death of his brother, Ed-
mund Key (?-1766). WEALTH DURING LIFETIME.
PERSONAL PROPERTY: inherited in 1764 from his
father £1,356.5.3 gold currency, 33 slaves, and
livestock. LAND AT FIRST ELECTION, more than
1,500 acres in Charles and St. Mary's counties,
plus one-fourth part of a mill and mill lands in
St. Mary's County and 1 lot in Leonardtown (all
inherited from father, 1764). SIGNIFICANT

CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND

509



 

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A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.
Volume 426, Page 509   View pdf image (33K)
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