This claim may one day become important relative to YDNA testing since any male descendants of her sons would have the YDNA of Thomas. A reader of the official records may well misinterpret the name of the woman in Baltimore County Families 1659-1759 - and thus the names of the children mentioned in the claim. Thanks to Brenda Emery who figured out the complex sentences from Baltimore Co. Familes 1659-1759, p10
1714/15 & 1717 Thomas Felps named as father of children Baltimore County Families 1659-1759, p10
Brenda Emery concludes from the
following sections of Baltimore CO Families 1659-1759: This
states that Mary daughter of John Arden and Sarah names Thomas Felps as father
of her children in Mar 1714-15 and Nov 1717. Sarah Strawbridge was the mother
of this Mary. Sarah was married to Joseph Strawbridge (second husband, first
husband was John Arden)) and Mary was named as Joseph Strawbridge's heir in
1714 but she would have been his step-daughter, not his daughter. Mary appears
to be the daughter of John Arden and was not a Strawbridge at all. The name is
Mary not Sarah She was not a Strawbridge, she was an Arden who later
married a Pritchard
Text of the paragraph from the Baltimore Co Families which has been incorrectly interpreted in naming Sarah rather than Mary:
"ARDEN, JOHN (1), came to Baltimore Co 1676 and d. c.1694; m. Sarah (?) by April 1679; left a will, 21 Nov. 1692 - 20 April 1694 naming ch. John, Alice, Samuel, and Richard, tracts 220 a. Walton's Neck, 50 a. Ardington, and 300 a. Bachelor'.5 Delight; wife Sarah to have dower rights; estate. inv. on 17 Sept. 1696 and val. at E 59.5.0 plus 3.0; admin. on 17 Sept. 1696 by extx. Sarah now wife of Joseph Strawbridge; had iss.: poss. SUSANNA; JOHN; ALICE; RACHEL; SAMUEL; Mary (in 1714 named as the heir of Joseph Strawbridge), in March 1714/5 and Nov. 1717 she named Thomas Felps as the father of her children." The claim does not apply to Sarah, but instead to Mary. Note that the children of Strawbridge are in all caps as done by the abstractor, Mary is not in caps, confirming that she was not an issue of Strawbridge. This is substantiated by the Joseph Strawbridge record below naming daughter Mary Harding(Arden).
Source records for the above: Baltimore Co Families 1659-1759 with primary sources listed as:
1; Baltimore co Records, Admin Accounts, HR LIBER 1
21:602 Baltimore co Records, Admin Accounts, HR LIBER IS#B p. 602;
22:204; Baltimore co Records, Admin Accounts, HR LIBER IS#IA p. 204
102; Land records of BC 1679 and 1680 MHM 30 (1935), 271-272
121; Maryland Calendar of WIlls Vol II
206-13A:149 Maryland Inventories and Accounts, HR Vol 13A; p149
388; 507) The Early Settlers of Maryland: An Index of Names of Immigrants Compiled from Records of Land Patents, 1633-1680, in the Hall of Records, Annapolis, MD p507 Skordas, Gust
Sarah Strawbridge died by about 1699 per her will of 30 March 1699 Baltimore Co Families 1659-1759 (L@L:178) named Mary...
STRAWBRIDGE, JOSEPH, was in Baltimore Co. 1692 as :taxable in n. side Patapsco; m. by Aug. 1694 Sarah, admix. of John Arden of Balto. Co.; his est. was inv. 7 July 1699, with that of his w. Sarah, and val. at E 27.14.0, appraised by William Wilkinson and Robuck Lynch; Sarah Strawbridge d. leaving a will,30 March 1699 - 10 April 1699, naming daus. Susanna Strawbridge, Mary Harding (i.e., Arden), and Samuel Harding (Arden); also Ann Reeves and Sarah's former husb. John Arden, with Nicholas Haile as exec.; admin. bond was posted 7 July 1699 by said Haile with William Wilkinson and Robuck Lynch; estate was admin. 28 Sept. 1705 and again in 1714; dec. left dau.: SUSANNA Source: Baltimore Co Families 1659-1759 (1-7; 2:213; 13: 424; 20:285)- 48:134; 138)
Deed reported by Brenda Emery showing
Mary's relationships:: 23 Jun 1721;
Baltimore Co., Maryland Deed Records Vol. 1 by John Davis, pg. 279; Herbert &
Mary Pritchard, of Baltimore Co., Maryland to Richard Gist, merchant, of same,
L32, formerly belonging to John Arden, deceased father of said Mary
Pritchard. Signed Herbert Pritchard and Mary (x)
Pritchard. Wit: Jonathan Hanson, George Walker, Luke Raven and John
Dorsey