| State | Maryland |
|---|---|
| County (Primary) | Somerset |
| Other Counties | Sussex, Kent, Talbot, Worcester |
| Family Name | Puckham |
| Family History Notes | 1. John1 Puckham, born say 1660, was an Indian who married Anthony Johnson's granddaughter, Joan Johnson, in Stepney Parish, Somerset County, Maryland, on 25 January 1682/3: John Puckham an Indian baptised by John Huett minister on 25th day of January one thouseand six hundred eighty two And the said John Puckham & Jone Johnson negro were married by the said minister ye 25th February Anno Do./ Maryland. Clayton Torrence surmised that John may have been from the Monie Indian Town which was not far from the home of Joan Johnson's likely father, John1 Johnson of Wicomico Creek [Torrence, Old Somerset]. And Thomas Davidson suggested that the name Puckham may have been derived from the Nanticoke Indian village of Puckamee which then existed in northern Somerset County [Davidson, Free Blacks, 32]. John Puckham may have been deceased on 13 June 1699 when Joan Puckham bound her sons John and Richard as apprentices in Somerset County court [Judicial Record 1698-1701, 162]. Their children were 2 i. ?Abraham, born say 1685. ii. John2, born 1 December 1686, bound apprentice by his mother on 13 June 1699. iii. ?Susannah, born say 1688, admitted in Somerset County court that she had an illegitimate child by John Candley in 1706 and by Anthony Smith in 1708 [Judicial Record 1705-6, 302; 1707-11, 100, 133]. She was probably identical to Sue Puccum whose illegitimate child by Thomas Britt was baptized in St. Anne's Parish, Anne Arundel County on 28 February 1719/20 [Wright, Anne Arundel County Church Records, 86]. He may have been identical to the Thomas Britt who was the servant of Captain Tunstall of Somerset County on 10 August 1708 when his age was adjudged at fifteen years [Judicial Record 1707-11, 133]. 3 iv. Richard1, born 10 March 1690. 2. Abraham Puckham, born say 1685, was taxable in the Wicomico Hundred, Somerset County household of Jacob Crouch in 1723 and 1724 [List of Taxables]. In March 1723/4 Elizabeth Crouch, administrator of Robert Crouch, sued Abraham in Somerset County court for two pounds, six shillings which he had owed since December 1718. He was taxable in the household of Giles Boushaw in Wicomico Hundred in 1725, in the Monie Hundred household of Philip Covington in 1727, and in his own household in Manokin Hundred in 1728. In November 1729 his wife, Honor Norgate, the servant of Philip Covington, and he, called "husband of aforesaid Honour," sued Covington for her freedom dues. And in 1730 they were sued by Covington [Judicial Record 1729-30, 205]. Abraham was not taxable in 1731, so he and his wife may have left the county that year. In the March 1742 session of the Dorchester County court he and his wife Margaret were accused of stealing a parcel of thread from Elizabeth Proctor, and in June 1743 he was sued by Carr apparently in a case for debt that was agreed to by both parties before coming to trial [Judicial Records 1740-3, 237-8]. He owed the Dorchester County estate of Colonel Joseph Ennalls 9 pounds, 2 shillings on 19 March 1760 [Prerogative Inventories 76:200]. 3. Richard1 Puckham, born 10 March 1690, was bound apprentice to Benjamin Colman in Somerset County court on 13 June 1699 by his mother, Joan Puckham [Judicial Records 1698-1701, 162]. He was taxable in the Wicomico Hundred, Somerset County household of Reverend Alexander Adams in 1723 and 1724. Reverend Adams was the minister of Stepney Parish. Richard was taxable in Wicomico in his own household from 1727 to 1734, in Manokin Hundred in 1736 and taxable in Monie Hundred in 1738 and 1739 with (his son?) John Puckham. He was head of a Manokin Hundred household with (his sons?) John, Richard, Matthew, Solomon, and David from 1744 until 1754. He probably died before 1756 when (his sons?) Saul/ Solomon and David were taxable in the Monie Hundred household of Mary Puckham. In 1759 (his children?) Priscilla, David, Matthew, and Solomon were taxables in the Manokin Hundred household of Mary Puckham. Mary may have been his widow or his daughter Mary. Richard was the father of i. Mary, born say 1721, daughter of Richard Puckham "of Manokin," fined by the Somerset County court in 1742 for bearing a bastard child [Judicial Record 1742-4, 160]. She was head of a household with John Puckham in Nanticoke Hundred in 1740, in Manokin Hundred in 1743, and in 1746 she was head of a Manokin Hundred household with Richard Puckham - although not taxable herself. She rented a lot and house in Somerset County from George Wilson on 5 January 1746/7 [Land Records X:225]. ii. John3, born say 1723, first taxable in the Monie Hundred household of (his father?) Richard in 1739, taxable in John Bell's Manokin Hundred household in 1746, taxable in his father's Manokin household in 1748 and taxable in William Polk's household in 1753. 4 iii. Richard2, born say 1725. iv. Matthew, born say 1734, first taxable in Manokin Hundred in 1750, received a patent for 30 acres on the east side of Princess Anne Town in 1762. He and Richard Puckham sold this land to Charles Redding on 2 April 1771 and Matthew sold 50 acres to Charles Redding for 5 shillings on 17 January 1764. He was a taxable "free Negro" in Dover Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, in 1781 and 1782 and taxable with his brother Richard in Broadkill Hundred, Sussex County, in 1784 and 1790. He may have married Eleanor Durham, the Eleanor Puckham who witnessed the 9 April 1788 Kent County will of John Durham [WB M-1, fol. 171]. v. Solomon, born about 1735, taxable in the Manokin household of (his father?) Richard Puckham in 1751. In August 1762 he was called a planter when Ephraim Wilson brought a successful suit against him for a 4 pound debt for a bay mare Solomon purchased from Wilson in November 1760. On 21 March 1769 William Giddes sued Solomon and (his brother?) Matthew, carpenters, in Somerset County court for a twenty-six pound, fifteen shillings debt, and on 19 November 1771 Wilson Heath sued them for a four pound, five shillings debt [Judicial Records 1760-3, 166b-167; 1769-72, 11-2, 31-2, 261, 264]. vi. David, born say 1737, first taxable in 1754. He was called "David Pucham, planter" on 19 March 1771 when William Pollett sued him in Somerset County court for a one pound, nineteen shilling debt [Judicial Record 1769-72, 173-4]. vii. Priscilla, born say 1743, taxable in Mary Puckham's household in 1759. On 16 June 1767 and 15 August 1769 she confessed to the Somerset County court that she had illegitimate children (by a free person) and was fined three pounds by the court for each offense [Judicial Record 1766-7, 51, 145; 1769-72, 66]. 5. Richard2 Puckham, born say 1725, was taxable in the Manokin Hundred, Somerset County household of Henry Ballard in 1743 and 1744, in John Bell's household in 1748, and in his father's household in 1749 and head of his own household in 1759. In 1762 he received a patent for 192 acres in Somerset County. On 20 August 1767 he sold a mare and two cows to John Anderson to pay a debt he owed William Polk, and he sold a mare, a cow and a bull to George Miles on 8 January 1771. He and his wife Ann mortgaged 117 acres of their land to William Miles on 28 February 1769 and sold 75 acres to Levi Lankford on 21 June 1772. William Giddes sued him for a four pound, ten shillings debt on 20 June 1769 [Judicial Record 1769-72, 32, 209]. He was taxable in Broadkill Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware, in 1774 and taxable with his brother Matthew in Broadkill Hundred from 1784 to 1788, crossed off the list in 1789 [RG 2535, 1780-1796]. He was renting 135 acres in Broadkill Hundred on 5 September 1787 when the sheriff sold it to pay a judgment against the estate of the owner, Nicholas Little, deceased [Mason, Land Records of Sussex County, 78]. Nicholas Little sued him for debt in Sussex County court in February 1790 [DSA, RG 4815.006, frame 38]. He may have been the father of i. Stephen, born say 1758, enlisted in Colonel David Hall's Company in the Delaware Regiment on 3 February 1776 and was listed in the muster in the barracks at Lewes Town on 11 April 1776 [Public Archives Commission, Delaware, 43-5]. ii. George, born say 1766, taxable in Little Creek Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, in 1788 and 1789 and head of a Wicomico Hundred, Somerset County household of 5 "other free" in 1800 [MD:480] and 5 "free colored" in 1820 [MD:120]. iii. Levin, born say 1768, taxable in Little Creek Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, in 1788 and 1789 and taxable in Little Creek Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware, in 1790. He was head of a Somerset County household of 3 "other free" and a white woman over forty-five in 1810 [MD:257] and 4 "free colored" in 1820 [MD:120]. He was assessed on 40 acres in Wicomico and Nanticoke Hundreds, Somerset County, in 1813 and 1814 [Assessment Records 1813-16]. iv. Ephraim, born say 1769, taxable in Little Creek Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, in 1789. v. John4, born say 1770, a delinquent taxable in Little Creek Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware, in 1790, head of a Nanticoke Hundred, Somerset County household of 3 "other free" and a white woman in 1810 [MD:257]. On 9 April 1804 he purchased 32 acres in Somerset County on the west side of Dividing Creek and the main road leading to Stephen's Ferry at the head of Wicomico River near Turkey Pen Ridge and sold this land on 16 January 1808. Other members of the family were i. Iby, born say 1745-50, head of a Talbot County, Maryland household of 11 "other free" in 1790 [MD:116]. ii. Lemuel H., born after 1775, head of a Worcester County household of 3 "free colored" in 1830. |
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[Author (if known)], Free Black Families of Colonial Delmarva (abstracted by Paul Heinegg), [Date (if known)], Enduring Connections: Exploring Delmarva’s Black History, Nabb Research Center, Salisbury University.
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