Line 14.1, Elizabeth Talbott Preston Lawrence Galloway, The Daughter of Friends

Elizabeth was the product of a Quaker father and a mother raised in the Puritan belief system. Elizabeth was also a product of a colony fractured and formed by its multitude of Christian sects. Founded as an oasis for the English Catholics persecuted under the Tutor and then early Stuart reigns, Maryland became a haven for many persecuted Christian sects from England and France. Elizabeth was raised with parents from two such sects.

Elizabeth Talbot was born about 1625 in England.

Married 1. James Preston, 2. Lawrence, son of Lawrence and 3. Richard Galloway on 10 December 1686 at the West River Meeting House in Anne Ardunel Co., MD

The children of James Preston and Elizabeth Talbott were:

      1. Rebecca Preston

The children of Benjamin Lawrence and Elizabeth Talbott were:

2.      Benjamin Lawrence born 13 May 1677, married Rachel Moriarte. He died 29 December 1719 in Baltimore, Maryland

3.      Elizabeth Lawrence born 25 February 1678/79. She married John Gassaway. She died 09 December 1700 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland

4.      Lucy Lawrence born 1680 in West River, Anne Arundel Co. Maryland. She married John Belt.

The children of

5.      Elizabeth Galloway

6.      Richard Galloway married Sophia Richardson

Died 05 March 1690/91; her body was probably reburied on 15 January 1701/02 in All Hallow Parish, Anne Arundel Co., MD

Since wives in the Seventeenth Century usually followed their husband’s religious beliefs, Elizabeth Talbot was more then likely raised as a Quaker. I tried to find church information on her three husbands. I wasn’t able find any on James Preston, but Benjamin Lawrence was most likely a Quaker as was her third husband, Richard Galloway who after died was buried in Friends Burying Ground, West River, Anne Arundel Co., Maryland. We can pretty much figure that Elizabeth remained a Quaker throughout her life. Richard and Elizabeth were married at the West River Meeting House, which could very well have been a Quaker “Meeting House.”

Elizabeth married three times. Her first husband was James Preston, the son of Richard Preston. His father's will states that if he return from England alive he was to inherit Barren Island and sole use of the dwelling plantation on the “patzxent” until his nephew, Samuel Preston came of age. James never returned to England. He died in 1673/4, leaving his “estate, real and person” to his wife and young daughter, Rebecca. We don’t know what happened to Rebecca as this is the last known record for her. She probably died young.

The widow Preston married as her second husband Benjamin Lawrence. Benjamin Lawrence was the son of another Benjamin Lawrence, who had come as a young man to Virginia in the 1660s. He was given land in Maryland “for transporting himself” and his family (consisting of his wife, Ann Lawrence, and sons Benjamin Lawrence and Nehemiah) to that colony. By his death in 1685, Benjamin Lawrence was land wealthy and left a good inheritance to his wife and children. I have no proof that Benjamin was a Quaker, but unless Elizabeth took up the faith again after his death, it is a good bet that he at some point of his life became a Quaker as well.

Elizabeth’s third husband continued the Southern Quaker link in the family, which as mentioned makes me believe that Elizabeth was a Friend her whole life. She and Richard Galloway had two children, a daughter named Elizabeth and a son named Richard who was also a Quaker. Interestingly enough, Richard Galloway  house remains standing and is listed on National Register Listings in Maryland. A picture and details about the house can be found on the National Register’s web-site. Elizabeth probably never lived in the house as it was completed in the year she died. It is also interesting to note that Elizabeth was reburied almost eleven years after her death in All Hallow Parish, Anne Arundel County.  The reason behind this change of burial place is unknown. She more then likely had been buried beside or near her third husband and daughter in the Quaker burial place first and moved to the All Hallow Parish cemetery eleven years later. After her daughter, Elizabeth Lawrence died and was buried at All Hallow Parish, the family may have felt the elder Elizabeth needed to be closer to her daughter in death.

***SOURCES***

1.  http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/8058/lawrence.htm "Descendants of Benjamin Lawrence and Ann Ascomb}

2.  http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdannear/firstfam/ "Talbot"

3. "Early Families of Southern Maryland, Vol. 2" The Lawrence Family

4.  Anne Arundel Gentry, Vol. 1, Gassaway Family

5.  Early Families of Southern Maryland, Vol. 3, "Galloway"

6.   http://thecityobserver.org/scarborough/index-scar.htm "Scarborough - Ewen - Richardson - Carroll - Current - Petticoat" by P L Chadwick