The Hearn(e) Family of Delmarva

"Immigrants: we get the job done" -- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

In 1907, William T. Hearne of Independence, Missouri, published the revised edition of his Brief History and Genealogy of the Hearne Family. The subitle of the book explains the subject further: From A. D. 1066, when they went from Normandy with William the Conqueror over to England, down to 1680. When William Hearne, the London Merchant came to America, and on down to A. D. 1907. An addendum was published in 1912. The entire book is available on-line at https://www.cragun.com/brian/hearne/history/ thanks to the efforts of Brian Cragun.

William T. Hearne does not actually give many details on the Hearne family from 1066 to 1680. He refers to a "Small book of his genealogy" owned by William the merchant which descended to the merchant's great-grandson, Clement Hearne:

The book of genealogy traced back in an unbroken line to the time of the Conqueror, 1066, to an officer, a standard bearer to the Conqueror, bearing the family name, Hearne. This much-prized little book of genealogy was seen and read by several of my generation of the family, who were much older than I; among them were Mrs. Eveline Allen, a granddaughter of Clement Hearne, and William L. Hearne, a great nephew of Clement Hearne, who then (1836) lived in Delaware and died in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1895. They were both full grown people when they saw the book, and told me how Grandfather Clement prized it and how carefully he kept it, and with what pride he showed and explained it to them. I remember quite well myself the two years I lived with him, though only five and six rears old, of his keeping these old treasure books, in a small book case in the wall, always under lock, with the key in his pocket. His wife died in less than two years after that, and he had to go to live in a room built for him in his son Joseph’s yard. In the meantime Joseph had married his second wife; that rendered both his and his father Clement's life unhappy, and she knew not the value, and perhaps cared not, for these old books of such inestimable worth; hence they were lost or destroyed, except one, which was an invoice book of merchandise carried between London and America.

William T. Hearne supplies a theory as to William the merchant's motive for leaving England:

It is known that two officers in Oliver Cromwell’s Army were named Hearne, and a number of his chaplains were ministers in the Baptist Church. One of these officers was William Hearne of Anglo-Norman descent, born in London, 1627, and was a wealthy merchant, he served as Captain with Cromwell, in all his famous battles, and after the restoration, found it not wholesome or safe to remain in London, hence with his wife, Mary--whom he married in London, a lady of culture and highly educated--he left London and went, in 1660, to St. Christopher’s, in the West India Islands, and opened a large trade in general merchandise from London to these islands, and the colonies on the coast of Maryland and Delaware. On his return trips to London he took large cargoes of Muscovada sugar, as his old ledgers show. In 1681 two of his brothers, Derby and Ebenezer, came with him, and settled in the then Province of Maryland, near what is now the Maryland and Delaware line, but on the Delaware side. Derby settled where what is known now as Theodore Brewington’s Mill, and Ebenezer at the Line Meeting House. The merchant, William, was called by many of the colonists "The Blanket Merchant," because of the large quantities of blankets he handled in his trade, which he continued back and forth between London, the islands and colonies until the spring of 1688, when he settled near his brothers, but on the Maryland side of the line, near the present town of Delmar, in Somerset County, where he built a residence that he occupied till his death.

I'd suggest taking this with a grain of salt. Additional research has been done on the origins of both William and his wife, Mary. See, for example, the article on research by James (Jay) Batson Hearne published 01 Oct 2015 by the Delmar Historical And Art Society, New Information on Hearne Family Origin.

Although William and Mary settled in Somerset County on or near the Wicomico River, it appears that they never obtained official title to the land. It was left to their son Thomas to make the family's claims official, which he seems to have finished doing by 1760. Be aware that Somerset County once encompassed a much larger area than it does now. It included what are now Worchester and Wicomico Counties in Maryland and parts of Sussex County in Delaware. In fact, thanks to overlapping land grants to George Calvert in 1632 and to William Penn in 1681 and 1682, the boundary between Maryland and Delaware (formerly the "Three Lower Counties" of Pennsylvania) was not established until the Mason-Dixon survey (1763-1768).

Researchers should therefore try not to be too upset when locations seem to mysteriously shift counties and even states. For example, in Brief History and Genealogy of the Hearne Family both William Hearne the Blanket Merchant and his son Thomas are described as being "of Somerset County" (pp. 33 and 37). However, Thomas' son Ebenezer is said to have been born "at the original William and Mary Hearne homestead in Worcester County, Maryland, near the town of Delmar, that is situated on the Delaware and Maryland state line" (p. 161).

The following passages describe two adjacent land grants to Thomas Hearne, one for 100 acres and one for 50 acres. The bold formatting is mine:

WE DO Therefore Hereby Grant unto him the said Thomas Hearne all that Tract or Parcel of Land Called Hearne’s Venture, Situate, Lying, and being in Somerset County, back in the Woods from the Wiccocomoco River and near the Head of a Branch of the aforesaid River Commonly Called Chaldwell's Branch, bounded as followeth: Beginning at a Marked Red Oak standing in a Glade about half a Mile to the Eastward of the aforesaid Branch and About an hundred Yards to the Northward of a Brickkill, thence with a line drawn South seventy-two degrees and a half West Forty perches, thence South forty-two degrees West forty-eight perches, thence South twenty-four degrees West thirty-one perches, thence South thirty- seven degrees East forty-two perches, thence South eighty-two degrees East One hundred and fifty-three perches, thence North nineteen degrees West One hundred and’ Twenty-three perches, from thence with a Direct Line to the Place of beginning, Containing and now laid Out for One hundred Acres of Land, more or Less, according to the Certificate of Survey thereof, taken and returned into our Land-Office, bearing Date the twenty-eighth Day of November, Seventeenth hundred and Forty,...

WE DO therefore hereby grant unto him the said Thomas Hearne, Senr. all that Tract or Parcill of Land Called St. Kitts, Scituate, Lying, and being in Somerset County, on the East Side of Chesipike Bay, and Bounded as followeth: Beginning at a Marked Red Oak standing on the North side of the head of Wiccomoco River, back in the woods and on the Westermore side of the said Hearne’s Plantation, thence with a Line drawn South thirty-five degrees West Eighty Perches, thence North fifty-five degrees West one Hundred Perches, thence North thirty-five degeers East Eighty Perches, thence with a Line drawn to the Beginning, Containing and laid out for fifty Acres of Land, More or Less, according to the Certificate of Survey thereof, taken and returned into our Land-Office bearing Date the Eleventh Day of December, Seventeen hundred and fifty-nine,...

Alas, the "marked red oak" is long gone and so is the brick kiln. While the Wicomico River still has many branches, none are now referred to as Caldwell's Branch. However, the head of the river does lie up almost at the modern Maryland-Delaware boundary, near Delmar. In 1888, William Lowder Hearn wrote (bold formatting mine):

My grandfather, Lowder Hearne, had four brothers, Joseph, Ebenezer, Clement and Thomas, whose great-grandfather, William Hearne, born in the city of London, England, came to this country shortly after 1681 and settled in the then colony of Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. Mason and Dixon's Line to settle disputes between Lord Baltimore and William Penn, cut off a portion of the territory previously claimed by the former and assigned it to Penn. In this strip was the home of my ancestry. Mason and Dixon's line is about one mile south of my grandfather's homestead, and consequently in the state of Delaware.

Mary and William had two sons that I know of, William born 24 Sep 1688 and Thomas (mentioned above) born 31 May 1691.

William Hearne died in October 1691. I found the post-death inventory of his goods (Brief History, pp. 39-43) rather unsettling, as I had never previously known that any member of my family owned slaves. Of his wife Mary, it is said only that "she died after him." It's possible that she may have remarried - see New Information on Hearne Family Origin.

William Jr married a woman named Elizabeth and had nine children: "Elijah, Isaac, Jonathan, Samuel, John, Benjamin, Hannah, Mary, who married Freney, and Sarah who married Tindal" (Brief History, p. 45). He died on about 01 Jan 1756.

According to the author of the Brief History, Thomas married Sally Wingate (pp. 43, 103). However, more recent research by family historian Lou Poole suggests that his wife was Sarah Newbold, the daughter of Jane and Thomas Newbold born 01 Nov 1691. Thomas Newbold's will (1712) states, "to my daughter Sarah, wife of Thomas Hearne..."

(See also the mention of Sally Wingate as a supposed daughter of Joseph Cannon born in 1793, 23 years after her supposed next-oldest sibling.)

Thomas and Sarah/Sally had 12 children: George, Ebenezer, Thomas, Elizabeth wife of Isaac Moore, John, Nehemiah, Jemima, Mary wife of Joshua Morgan, Esther wife of Benjamin Vincent, Sarah, Anne and William (Brief History, p. 103). At the time of Thomas's death on 01 Mar 1762, Sarah/Sally and their sons Nehemiah and William were already deceased. More specifically, Sarah Newbold is known to have died before 1739.

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In memory of Janet A Werner, 1931-2015