Mertz Genealogy - Person Sheet
Mertz Genealogy - Person Sheet
Name7G GF John Wiley 
Spouses
Parent-Proof notes for 7G GF John Wiley
I have no idea the name of his father or from whence he came. Nor do I know his birth or death date.
My Comments notes for 7G GF John Wiley
What I do know is that there was a man named John Willy who was listed multiple times in the records of St James Parish, Anne Arundel County. Per the records, he married Martha Carr on 10 Apr 1701 and had a son William in 1699, a son John born 10 Apr 1701 (the same exact date they supposedly married) and then sons Luke born 15 Feb 1704 and William born 15 Nov 1708.
Clearly, some of those dates are simply wrong but I think the conclusion that John and Martha were the parents of sons John, Luke and William is nonetheless correct. My best reconstruction of these events would be that John and Martha did marry 10 Apr 1701, their son John was born maybe 1702 or so, the later births of sons Luke and William are correct as reported and the earlier birth of William is simply one rather large typo.
Now I am always cautious to not leap to what I consider an all too oft-made mistake in genealogy. Just because there was a man in Anne Arundel County named Luke Willy, how can we be sure he was the same man named Luke Wiley of Baltimore County? It is not the spelling difference that concerns me, it is that there might well have been multiple persons with the same (or similar) name. So I always start with the assumption that they were two different men and then I look for something the two men have in common, the link that proves that they were one and the same man all along.
In this case, one connecting link is that Luke Wiley of Baltimore County was said to be about age 36 in Jul 1742. If his 15 Feb 1704 birth was really 15 Feb 1704/1705, that would make him 37 in Jul 1742 and that’s close enough for me. But also, John and Luke Wiley together patented Sign of the Panther in Baltimore County in 1734. Later both John and Luke leased land on My Ladys Manor. And they baptized children in overlapping years at the same Baltimore parish. It just has the feel of two brothers who moved to Baltimore County and stayed close once there. No document calls them brothers, but that seems a plausible theory to me and so I believe that the men I have come to know as John and Luke Wiley of Baltimore County were none other than John and Luke Willy, sons of John and Martha, of Anne Arundel County.
Clearly, some of those dates are simply wrong but I think the conclusion that John and Martha were the parents of sons John, Luke and William is nonetheless correct. My best reconstruction of these events would be that John and Martha did marry 10 Apr 1701, their son John was born maybe 1702 or so, the later births of sons Luke and William are correct as reported and the earlier birth of William is simply one rather large typo.
Now I am always cautious to not leap to what I consider an all too oft-made mistake in genealogy. Just because there was a man in Anne Arundel County named Luke Willy, how can we be sure he was the same man named Luke Wiley of Baltimore County? It is not the spelling difference that concerns me, it is that there might well have been multiple persons with the same (or similar) name. So I always start with the assumption that they were two different men and then I look for something the two men have in common, the link that proves that they were one and the same man all along.
In this case, one connecting link is that Luke Wiley of Baltimore County was said to be about age 36 in Jul 1742. If his 15 Feb 1704 birth was really 15 Feb 1704/1705, that would make him 37 in Jul 1742 and that’s close enough for me. But also, John and Luke Wiley together patented Sign of the Panther in Baltimore County in 1734. Later both John and Luke leased land on My Ladys Manor. And they baptized children in overlapping years at the same Baltimore parish. It just has the feel of two brothers who moved to Baltimore County and stayed close once there. No document calls them brothers, but that seems a plausible theory to me and so I believe that the men I have come to know as John and Luke Wiley of Baltimore County were none other than John and Luke Willy, sons of John and Martha, of Anne Arundel County.
Parent-Proof notes for Martha (Spouse 1)
I don’t know who her parents were or her maiden name. I do know she was the widow of Walter Carr who died in Anne Arundel County in 1699 leaving a widow Martha who by 1701 was married to John Willy who administered the estate.