William Slade of Anarundell River died in 1675 and bequeathed to son William 200 acres on the south side of the Patapsco River. Robert Barnes states that the William Slade who died in 1731 in Baltimore County can be documented as the William who was a taxable for land on the south side of Patapsco in 1692. And he therefore concludes that the William of Patapsco River was the son of William of Anarundell River and named in his will.

I think the land William inherited was a little north of where his father had lived. The Patapsco River runs through Baltimore, forms Baltimore Harbor and is Baltimore’s main outlet into the Chesapeake Bay. It also forms the boundary between Baltimore and Anne Arundel County, so land south of Patapsco would be in the very northern part of Anne Arundel County.

When William wrote his will, though, he was of Baltimore County. Some Slade family researchers say he was living then near Joppa, MD. Joppa is now in Harford County, but Harford was formed in 1773, so Joppa was in Baltimore County when William wrote his will. How he got from the Patapsco River area to the Joppa area I do not know.

He died long before any Census was taken.

Robert Barnes says about this William: “He was the son of the William who died in 1675. He was a taxable on south side Patapsco in 1692. His will was written 2 Apr 1726 and proved 19 May 1731.....naming...(sons listed elsewhere and daughters) Elizabeth Cockey and Mary Buckingham. Wife Elizabeth.”

In 1702, William Slade acquired some land on Back River (off the north side of Patapsco) in Baltimore County called Windley’s which his son William sold in 1740. I’m guessing what is written Windley’s in the deed book was written Winslow’s in William’s will as that is the land he bequeathed his son William.

William Slade of Baltimore County wrote his will 2 Apr 1726, it proved 19 May 1731. He probably died a little earlier in 1731. As it relates to his land and his sons, he bequeathed Courtice Neck to son Josias, Winslows Ridge to son William, Slade's Camp to son Thomas and then wrote: “And having one son more named Ezekiel and no more land I give him 35 pounds to buy a parcel of land.”

I especially like the part about one son more and no more land.

One of William’s sons was named Josias and he had a daughter named Belinda who married Thomas Talbott, first cousin, I believe, of our ancestor William Talbott.

It is just my guess that William’s first wife may have been named Margaret since that is the name that his son William and possibly his son Thomas gave their first daughters.

How many wives William had, what their names were and which was the mother of which of his children is a bit murky. As well, just when his children were born is unclear.

Some Internet family trees list two wives and six sons -- adding John and Robert, as speculated by Barnes, to the list of sons actually named in William’s will.

I think it is hard to read the language of William’s will -- the part about “having one son more named Ezekial” -- and conclude that there were any other sons not named.

The suggestion seems to be that John and Robert were the oldest sons, born in the late 1600’s to a first wife, and that Josias born 1718 or 1723, William born 1720 or 1725, Thomas born 1726 or 1727 and Ezekial born 1728 or 1729 were of a second wife.

But since William wrote his will in 1726 and named both Thomas and Ezekial in it, clearly those sons were born before that date. And whichever dates are true for his other sons, then consider that the land he was bequeathing to his sons in 1726 when he wrote his will were to sons the oldest of which was age 8. Really? He did say what was to be done if each of his sons were to die without issue, so clearly all were fairly young -- but that young?

I just believe there is a lot more to be learned about William, his wives and his sons. My view is that John and Robert probably weren’t his sons because there was no mention made of them in his will. My view is also that his other sons were, in fact, all young. I believe Ezekial was born in 1723 and was the youngest. William and Josias, based on Barnes, seem to have both reached adulthood in 1738-1740 or so, so I think a 1715-1720 or so birth date is about right for them. So I think William did write his will and bequeathed land to sons who were quite young and, though untypical, simply failed to really make note that the land was to pass to their possession upon their maturity.

One more thing about sons William and Thomas. What is now the State of Maryland started out as a large land grant by the King of England to the Calvert family, of which the family head at any given time was known as the Lord Baltimore. The plan of the Calverts was to create a landed aristocracy on their grant in the new world -- large “manors” each dominated by a manorial lord.

So it was that a 10,000 acre tract of land came to exist, intended as one of those manors, known originally as Lord Baltimore’s Gift -- as it had been a gift from the then present Lord Baltimore (Charles Calvert) to his wife Margaret. When she died in 1731, she willed it to her granddaughter, Charlotte Brerewood, wife of Thomas Brerewood Jr. of Horton, Bucks County, England. Thomas Jr., though, apparently was not a good manager of his own affairs and so his father, Thomas Sr., took control of the land and in the late 1730‘s, and continuing at an even faster pace in the 1740’s, began parceling out sections of this land piece by piece to pay off the debts of his son. In each case he leased the land to tenants for a period of the natural lifetime of, typically, the tenant, his wife and a child. The annual payment was a certain number of pounds of tobacco.

Over time, this original land grant came to be called My Lady’s Manor. It included land in both Baltimore and Harford Counties lying on either side of the line. And I believe two of those land-leases went to Ezekial’s brothers: William and Thomas. In 1742, Thomas Brerewood leased land to William Slade of Baltimore County in one case and Thomas Slade of Anne Arundel County in another. William at the time was 26 years old, his wife Elizabeth 20 and his daughter Margaret 2. Thomas was 25 and his deed mentioned Ann (Bosun?) age 18 years and Margaret age 1. It is possible that Thomas was not yet married and this could be his sister Ann and niece Margaret -- or it could be his wife and daughter. In any event, the fact that both deeds mentioned a young Margaret is the basis for my speculation -- and that’s all it is -- that Margaret was the name of William's wife and mother of his children.

The only mention of Slade in Anne Arundel land records prior to 1740 was the deed of one negro to her son Bosun (?) Thomas Slade and one to her daughter Ann Slade by Elizabeth Slade.

According to Becky, William appears to have been her second husband, her first was Thomas Foster who died in 1711. In his will, William referred to her as “his present wife” which fits my theory that she was his second wife and not the mother of his children.