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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 2001-11 > 1006892511


From: "Clagett, Brice" <>
Subject: Beall/Magruder
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 15:21:51 -0500


Nat Taylor's comments on Magruder are right on the mark, and I
fully agree with them.

As to the wives of Samuel Magruder and John Pottenger: it is true
that Sarah Bell and Mary Bell were transported to Maryland, though
it seems unlikely that they were sisters since Mary came in 1660
and Sarah not till 1675. While it is possible that they were
relatives of Col. Ninean Beall, the notion that they were his
nieces is pure guesswork. Mary Bells/Bealls came to Maryland in
Ninean's wake, and the relationships are mostly unknown. The idea
that Samuel Magruder's wife Sarah was nee Beall probably
originated with Samuel's having named a son Ninean Magruder, but
that falls far short of proof. (Ninean is a not-uncommon Scots
saint's name; Col. Ninean Beall was the most prominent Scots
settler in Maryland and a close neighbor, and presumably friend,
of the Magruders.) The idea that John Pottenger's wife Mary was
nee Beall depends wholly on the assumption that Samuel Magruder
married Sarah Beall, the known fact that Samuel Magruder and John
Pottenger were brothers-in-law, and the speculation that Sarah and
Mary Beall were sisters.

I have concluded that John Pottenger's wife was in fact Mary
Mullikin, daughter of James and Mary Mullikin, Scots settlers in
Calvert Co., Md. The evidence is circumstantial but, in my
opinion, conclusive. This has not yet been published, but will be.

It follows that John Pottenger and Samuel Magruder were not
brothers-in-law through their wives or through a marriage of
Pottenger to Magruder's sister. By a process of elimination it
would appear that Magruder married Pottenger's sister. And indeed
John Pottenger had a sister Sarah, baptized at Lambourn,
Berkshire, on April 28, 1659, with no burial or marriage recorded
for her there. I conclude that she came to Maryland with her
brother and married Samuel Magruder.

I guess this is a bit off-topic; my only excuse is that it
responds to a question asked of me.

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