Captain George Athy [ of Galway and Maryland ] and His Descendants

3 11 -TAJ- ^ ^ CAPTAIN GEORGE ATHY [ OF GALWAY AND MARYLAND ] AND HIS DESCENDANTS, A GUIDE TO THE FIRST SIX GENERATIONS OF THE ATHY - ATHEY - ATHA - ATHON FAMILY IN AMERICA, THIRD EDITION 1999 LAWRENCE F. ATHY, JR. 3834 OVERBROOK LANE HOUSTON, TX 77027-4038 p m ^ts-r 713-622-1480 -t^S/OPft ^27,273 mi FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY 35 WORTH WEST TEMPLE SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84150 TH6. FAIR OF Mm One. day. CLA I went to the. Fain of. Athy, I Aaw an old pe.ttlc.oat hanyiny to d/iy. I took my old b/iitcheA and hung, them newiby to keep the. oJLd petticoat waturu /hisi Aony waA Auny in the. pub A of. the. eaAteJui pant ol County Salway, Ineland, to the. tune. be£teJi known OA "HaAte. to the. WeAdiny. ' TN $324-7/ -cc- CONTENTS PREFACE 1 FORWARD 3 THE ATHY FAMILY OF GALWAY 5 WEST TO MARYLAND 9 CHARLES COUNTY, MARYLAND 11 LIFE BEGINS AT FORTY 13 PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND 15 BROTHER JOHN 17 HIS THREE SONS 19 DESCENDANTS OF #2 JOHN ATHY (2) 21 DESCENDANTS OF #3 THOMAS ATHY (2) 23 DESCENDANTS OF #4 GEORGE ATHY, JR. (2) 25 CONCLUSIONS 33 LINEAGE 47 NAME INDEX, PART "A" 156 NAME INDEX, PART "B" 166 FIGURES 1 Athy Coat of Arms iv 2 Athy Castle, Galway v 3 Athy-Martin Wedding Stone & Merchant's Mark of John Athy vi 4 Door and Window from Residence of John Athy vii 5 Door and Window from Residence of John Athy viii 5A Map Showing Towns of Galway, Oranmore, and Athy in Ireland — 4 5B Spanish Arch, City Wall, and St. Nicholas's Collegiate Church 8 6 Citie of Galwaye 1610 10 7 St. John's Church at Broad Creek 12 8 Map of Athy Land Tracts in Maryland 18 9 Lady, Merchant, and Soldier - ca. 1640 22 9A Basil and Margaret Athy Secure Their Land 31 10 Inventory - Captain George Athey 32 11 Flag of the Militia, Prince George's Co., Md. 34 12 Athy Land Tracts in Maryland 35 13 Planter and Wife - ca. 1690 36 14 /32/ Ethylda Athy Leach (4) 37 15 /491/ Elisha Atha (6) and Wife, Luverna 38 16 /185a/ Elijah Basil Athy (5) and His Homestead 39 17 /702/ Daniel Basil Athy (6), etc. 40 18 /713/ David Gusler, Jr. (6), etc. 41 19 Surveys 42 20 Surveys 43 21 "Deed of Guift" to George Athy, Jr. 44 22 "Jno. Athy's Aprasl Bill" 45 23 3rd Virginia Regiment, 1776 54 23A Sarah Athy and George Athy, Jr., Depositions 57 24 3rd Virginia Regiment, 1777 61 25 Map of Broad Creek Property Owners 72 26A The Tribes of Galway - Athy 132 26B The Tribes of Galway Continued - Athy - Martin 139 27 Peter Robinson's Advertisement in Maryland Gazette 156 -III- ATHY COAT OF ARMS OF THE ATHY TRIBE OF GALWAY Figure 1 -iv- ATHY CASTLE - GALWAY, IRELAND Figure 2 -v- (a) ATHY - MARTIN Wedding Stone, 163? A.D. (b) Merchant's Mark of John Athy, 1577 A.D. Figure 3 -vi- DOOR AND WINDOW FROM RESIDENCE OF JOHN ATHY, 1577 A.D FIGURE 4 •vi 1 - l!! ll U l_?S5WSKn5____»f»m^_w™™^___^_r_ KSPPmlfi yMf imMmtmMSm Poo^AY To TMt ATHY "Tflee OP Gno^A*11 FAMIUV HOUC CtOuxtvaxxf Figure 5 -Vlll- PREFACE Let me introduce myself. I am the son of Lawrence F. Athy (8), son of Mervin Elijah Athy (7), son of /702/ Daniel Basil Athy (6), all of Williams County, Ohio. I was nearly fourteen years old in 1940 when Daniel died at the age of 93, remember him well, and was fascinated by his stories about frontier life before the Civil War. His two most prized possessions seemed to have been a large claw from a bear that he had killed when he was a young man and a copy of Genealogy of the Athey Family in America 1642-1932, by Dr. C. E. Athey, that had been given to him by my father. Daniel was disappointed that our immediate family was unknown to Dr. C. E. Athy at the time of publication. Dr. C. E. Athey did us a great service when he wrote his book in that he published not only his own work but also that of many other members of various branches of the Athy-Athey-Atha family, mostly right, partly wrong, and very little with proofs. His book is our greatest family treasure. It was reprinted in 1997 by Higginson Book Co. of Salem, Mass.. In 1971 I was contacted by Thomas Whitfield Athey, III, who was searching for information to be used in his book, The Descendants of Henry Athey of Maryland, South Carolina, and Alabama, which was published in 1972 and 1994. His excellent book lists over 1000 descendants of the gentleman that I list as /45/ Henry Athey (4). I have taken information on Henry's children and grandchildren directly from Whit's book. Whit put me in touch with Paul T. Davis, III, who had done extensive research on the early Athy-Athey-Atha generations and in 1972 published in newsletter form extensive information on the first four generation of the family with documentation for the first three generations. His work was under the title The Athey Family Genealogy. Paul did such excellent work that it only made sense for me to start with his work, make changes and additions using the same lineage numbers, and then add a sixth generation. Paul, we owe you our thanks. Paul referred me to Mrs. Gladys Lott, who in turn was so kind as to provide me with information that proved that my /702/ Daniel Basil Athy (6) was a son of /185a/ Elijah Basil Athy (5), thought to be a son of /71/ Basil Athy (4), son of /19/ Corporal John Athy (3). Someone had submitted to Dr. C. E. Athey a family list for /71/ Basil Athy (4) which he published and which has subsequently proven to be completely in error. At a dead end, I became discouraged in 1975 and lost interest. Then in 1979 my cousin Patricia Braun, of Williams County, Ohio, put me in contact with Mrs. Gladys Donson, also of Williams County, great granddaughter of /713/ David Gusler, Jr. (6). Gladys had proven that our /71/ Basil Athy (4) was indeed the son of /19/ Corporal John Athy (3) and had done extensive work on Basil's descendants. Gladys is an excellent genealogist and has been my constant inspiration and best critic. She has also done much work on the ancestors of Sarah Foster Athy, wife of /19/ Corporal John Athy (3), and on the family of Sarah Marsh, formerly thought to have been the second wife of /l/ Captain George Athy (1). She has demonstrated that there is no proof that Sarah Athy was of the Marsh family. We really don't know who Sarah was. -1- In 1980 I discovered that Fern I. Bauer of Springfield, Ohio, had published the History of the John and Frances Rue Athey (Athy) Family 1637-1980. This John is /175/ John Athey, III, (5). I have taken from this excellent book information on John's descendants. Fern has also done all of us an additional valuable service. Within the same cover of the book described above, she has reprinted Dr. C. E. Athey's book in its entirety - a beautiful job. I have compiled in this book basic genealogical information on the first six generations of the family in America from the sources described above, from information sent to me by many other family members, and from my own research. These listings are offered without supporting evidence and can only be considered probable relationships. Thus each individual might use such information as a guide to help him prove his own lineage. On the other hand, much of the information has been proven previously or could be proven by information in my files or those of other researchers. I want to thank those who have supplied me information on their families but will not list names for fear that I might omit someone. You may ask why I use the spelling "Athy" rather than "Athey" as has always been used previously. I have what I feel are five good reasons as follows: [1] For rather obvious reasons, I am absolutely prejudiced in favor of the spelling "Athy". [2] No self respecting Irishman would have used any spelling other than "Athy" (assuming that he could spell at all and were asked). [3] Although the spelling "Athy" was common in England in the early 1600's, it had become rare by 1700 certainly for political reasons. Any English Protestant priest or civil servant would always use the spellings "Athey", "Athay", "Athie", "Atthea", etc. and would hesitate to use the Irish Catholic spelling "Athy". [4] Control of the Province of Maryland passed from Catholics to Protestants in 1691. Before that time the Catholic spelling predominated in official records; and afterwards, the Protestant spellings are most common. [5] In a letter to my father dated November 24, 1933, Dr. C. E. Athey stated the following: "Now relative to your history, you sign yourself Athy. The very first to come did the same, George Athy, as all of them did until about 100 years ago. In fact I found a deed, Thomas Athy, while his wife signed as Martha Athey. All of those of the Revolution are known as Athy, and the family back in Ireland never have changed, but the majority now sign Athey." Since the Church of England became the official religion of the Province of Maryland in 1691 and all office holders were subsequently required to take an oath supporting the Church, we would expect to find and do find the English spellings in all church and civil records from that time until the Revolutionary War even though, as Dr.

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