Lavinia Cannon and Lowder Hearn

Lowder Hearn, the eldest child of Priscilla Fooks and Ebenezer Hearne, was born 05 Apr 1753 at the Ebenezer Hearne homestead in Little Creek Hundred, Sussex Co., Delaware, about ten miles east of Laurel. His grandson William Lowder Hearn wrote in 1888:

My grandfather, Lowder Hearne, had four brothers, Joseph, Ebenezer, Clement and Thomas,... My grandfather was persuaded to and did drop the final "e" in our name, the other four brothers and their descendants still retaining it. My grandfather and all of his sons, to the end of their lives, left off the final "e." I did not learn the fact till long afterwards, or I would have resumed the "e" as most of my children have done.

-- Brief History and Genealogy of the Hearne Family, p. 223

Lowder's father Ebenezer died intestate in 1785. Lowder's granddaughter Harriet Cannon recounted:

The law of Delaware was then that a committee of three men should be appointed to value the land of an intestate, and the oldest male heir had the right of acceptance of his father’s land, and the second son the second right. and so on. Lowder, being the oldest male heir, accepted the farm known by the name of "Bow Back," just one mile nearer Laurel than where he was born.

-- Brief History, p. 176

"In early life," Lowder married Lavinia Cannon, the seventh child of Joseph Cannon born 24 Jan 1762. (Lavinia's younger sister, Keziah Cannon, married Lowder's younger brother Clement Hearne.) Harriet Cannon notes that Lowder and Lavinia "were successful in accumulating real estate, slaves, and personal property" (p. 177). They had five daughters and five sons (p. 178):

• Priscilla, born 16 Nov 1779, married John Ward;
• Nancy, born 01 Sep 1781, married Fooks;
• George, born 03 Jul 1783, died December 6, 1845;
• Sally, born 18 Jul 1785, married Fooks;
• Joseph, born 18 Feb 1788;
• Thomas, born 16 Jan 1790;
• Ebenezer, born 10 Mar 1792;
• Betsy, born 10 Feb 1795, married Fooks;
• William N., born 09 Dec 1798, died 1816; and
• Mary K., born 02 Dec 1804, married Henry Bacon, died 1883.

The three middle sisters, Nancy, Sally and Betsy - granddaughters of Priscilla Fooks - married three brothers, Jonathan, James and Thomas Fooks (p. 225). According to Fooks Family by Herbert C Fooks published in 1953, the three brothers were the sons of Violetta Tyndall and Daniel Fook(e)s. Daniel was the son of Benjamin Fook(e)s, who was the son of Thomas Fooks/Fookes/Fowkes who moved to Maryland from Accomac, Virginia. As far as I know, none of Thomas' daughters were named Priscilla, although he did have a granddaughter Priscilla through his son Jonathan. There were certainly many other Fooks/Fookes/Fowkes families at that time in Virginia, Maryland and, presumably, Delaware. I was unable to map out a relationship (if one exists) between Daniel Fooks and Priscilla Fooks Hearne.

Lowder died 29 Nov 1809. Like his father, he died intestate, and the home farm "Bow Back" went to his oldest son George (p. 177). Lavinia died in 1822. Both she and Lowder are buried on the home farm.