Isaac

compiled and copyright by MJP Grundy, 2002
Nicotiana tabacum, from Chambers's Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People
(Phila.: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1885), 9:462.

This page explores what little information I've been able to discover about Rebecca Isaac, twice married, but with few solidly documented facts about her family of birth. I am hopeful that readers may be able to help me fill in some of the missing information about her and her ancestors. If you have documentation, I would be very grateful if you would e mail me at kwg at po.cwru.edu, substituting the familiar @ for "at".

Potential Parentage

There is some uncertainty as to the parents, let alone the grandparents of our Rebecca Isaac. There was a Richard Isaack and his wife Elizabeth (SHARPP) of Lincolnshire, England. Their children included Joseph, born about 1642, and Rebecca who was born about 1645.[1] But I have not yet found proof that this is our Rebecca. In fact, a plethora of websites name this Rebecca, or her daughter, as the wife of Charles WALKER.

One source claims that an Edward Isaac emigrated to Maryland in 1665.[2] But another source reports that Edward and his brother Joseph were officers in the English Army sent to the colonies in charge of Scottish prisoners of war, with orders to sell them as indentured servants. One of the prisoners was Ninian BEALE, sold to Richard HALL. Presumably it was this Captain Edward Isaac who purchased "Plum Point", consisting of 400 acres on Upper Clifts. He married Jane SUTTON and had a son, Sutton Isaac and several daughters. He died in 1689. Jane married next Charles RYE of Dorchester County.[3]

There were several Isaacs living in colonial Maryland. A Joseph Isaac signed his will in Calvert County on 29 December 1688. It was probated on 23 February 1688/9. In it he mentioned his sisters Elizabeth and Rebecca to each of whom he bequeathed a "first mare colt," and his brother James to whom he left 2,000 pounds of tobacco. No mention of a brother Edward, who presumably died a few months after Joseph. Joseph mentioned four children: Richard, Joseph, Rebecca, and Elizabeth, and a son-in-law Joseph Brown (who could have been a step-son), and James Clifford. But the children all seemed to be minors. Richard was to receive 100 acres when he turned twenty-one and to get a gun at the age of sixteen. Joseph also was to get a gun at age sixteen, and to choose his own guardian. He mentioned one unnamed daughter, to whom he left 4,000 pounds of tobacco to be given to her on her day of marriage. He gave his wife Margaret the usual one third share plus the remainder of the tobacco and cattle. Unlike many other wills of planters of the period, Joseph listed livestock: more than 14 head of cattle, one mare, three colts, and a sow. The only household goods mentioned were a feather bed and bolster each for daughters Elizabeth and Rebecca.[4] The difficulty with this will is that there is no proof that Edward's sister Rebecca is the Rebecca Isaac from whom we are descended. Rebecca was already twice married and once widowed by the time this Joseph Isaac made his will in 1688/9. His daughter Rebecca seemed to be still a minor. Web sites claim that the Rebecca Isaac, daughter of Joseph and Margaret (BROWN) married Charles WALKER. Whether or not this Joseph Isaac was both the brother of Edward and the man who settled in Prince George's County is not known. By 1682 there was a Joseph Isaac who was a planter in Calvert County.[5]

My best guess is that the family we are looking for consisted of the brothers Captain Edward Isaac and Joseph Isaac, with a sister Rebecca. The names are suggestive, but unfortunately they do not constitute proof.

First Proved Generation

So we start again with what we do know. A Rebecca Isaac was transported to Maryland in 1670.[6] Whether or not this woman was ours, is unclear. It seems a little unusual that a servant girl should have married the son of a Lord of the Manor. But perhaps her humble beginning is the reason we are unable to find more information about her. Whatever her background, our Rebecca Isaac¹ married John BROOKE, born on 20 September 1640, son of Robert Brooke. She was, then, the half-sister-in-law of our Thomas Brooke and his wife Elinor (HATTON). Apparently there is a document in the Inventories and Accounts of the Prerogative Court of Maryland that identifies the Rebecca who married John Brooke "by 1677" as the "sister of Edward Isaac of CV Co." [www.md.archives.state.md.us/msa/stagser/S1500; the file is INAC 4:238, and I look forward someday to being able to check it out personally.]

John died in 1677, leaving her a wealthy widow, either childless or with two children whose names we do not know.[7] Rebecca next married Thomas TASKER in about 1678. He had been transported to Maryland as an apprentice or indentured servant about 1668, and was free by 1673. What his circumstances were that enabled him to marry such a wealthy widow and rise rapidly into upper class circles, is unknown. We can speculate that both came from respectable but impoverished families in England. Perhaps their common background created a bond.

At the time of the "Glorious Revolution", Thomas joined John COODE's faction that seized control of the Province.[8] Rebecca's former in-laws, the Brookes family, generally had been loyal supporters of the Proprietary. We do not know to what degree the Taskers were included in Brookes' family gatherings. It may have depended on whether or not Rebecca and John had had any surviving children. But one thing is clear, Rebecca's daughter by Thomas Tasker married the grandson of John Brooke's older half-brother. Any animosity engendered by the political passions around the Glorious Revolution did not seem to affect later generations.

Rebecca and both her husbands appear to have been Anglicans, although some members of the Brookes family converted to Roman Catholicism.

Children of Thomas and Rebecca (Isaac) Brooke Tasker (order uncertain, may be incomplete):[9]

1. Thomas Tasker², d. ca. 1696 in England, while he was still a youth, presumably sent there to school.


2. John Tasker, d. 1711, res. Calvert County; m. Elinor BROOKE, daughter of Thomas Brooke (ca. 1659-1730/1 who served in the Maryland legislature); John served on All Saints' Parish Vestry in 1705. Elinor m (2) Charles Sewall (d. 1742) of Eltonhead Manor, St. Mary's Co.[10] The fathers of both Thomas Brooke and Charles Sewall were Roman Catholic; Thomas became Anglican. John inherited "The Ordinary" from his father.


3. Benjamin Tasker, b. ca. 1690; d. 19 June 1768; m. 31 July 1711 Ann BLADEN, daughter of William (1670-1718). Both Benjamin and his father-in-law served in the Maryland legislature. Benjamin's obituary was in the Maryland Gazette of 23 June 1768. He inherited a great deal of real estate from his father, and became immensely wealthy investing in iron mines.[11]


4. Elizabeth Tasker, b. 1686; d. 10 Feb. 1706/7; m. 1701 Thomas ADDISON (1679-1727), a member of the Maryland legislature. She inherited from her father the 500 acre "Tasker's Camp" and the personalty that had been her mother's. Elizabeth and Thomas had two daughters, Rebecca Tasker Addision, and Eleanor Addison

To continue the story of this family, go to the Tasker and Brookepages.

If you have additions or corrections to this web page, I would be delighted to hear from you. Contact me via e mail at kwg "at" po.cwru.edu just substituting the familiar "@" for "at".

See some other colonial Maryland families that link one way or another to Rebecca Isaac:
Addison,  Bale,  Brooke,  Browne,  Dent,  Dorsey,  Ely,   Hall,  Hatton,  Holliday,  Howard,  Molton,  Norwood,  Owings,  Randall,  Ridgely,  Sim,  Smith,  Stone,  Tasker.  Warfield.  and Wilkinson. 

Go to the index of Other Lines that are included in this website (not all of them have been posted yet).

Go to the Paxson home page.

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Notes

The full bibliographical citation is given the first time a source is mentioned, but is not repeated each time that source is cited. Scroll up til you find the first mention and there you will find the complete citation.

1. I've gotten my notes scrambled. This and the next footnote have been inadvertently merged, and I need to go back and sort them out. In the meantime, here are the 3 sources: information from Karl Edler, Accokeek, Md., 8 Nov. 1997; Gust Skordas, The Early Settlers of Maryland: An Index to Names of Immigrants Compiled from Records of Land Patents, 1633-1680, in the Hall of Records, Annapolis, Maryland (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1968) 251, citing Liber 9, folio 229; and Charles Francis Stein, A History of Calvert County Maryland, 3rd. ed. (Balt.: published by the author in cooperation with the Calvert County Historical Society, 1976), 277.



2. I've gotten my notes scrambled. This and the previous footnote have been inadvertently merged, and I need to go back and sort them out. In the meantime, here are the 3 sources: information from Karl Edler, Accokeek, Md., 8 Nov. 1997; Gust Skordas, The Early Settlers of Maryland: An Index to Names of Immigrants Compiled from Records of Land Patents, 1633-1680, in the Hall of Records, Annapolis, Maryland (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1968) 251, citing Liber 9, folio 229; and Charles Francis Stein, A History of Calvert County Maryland, 3rd. ed. (Balt.: published by the author in cooperation with the Calvert County Historical Society, 1976), 277.



3. In his will signed 23 Dec. 1708 and pr. 2 July 1709 Charles Rye left 500 acre "Betty's Delight" to be divided equally between his wife Jane's eldest sons Sutton and Edward; his wife Jane was to get half the residue. Jane Baldwin, comp. and ed., The Maryland Calendar of Wills, (Baltimore: Kohn & Pollock, Publishers, 1904), 3:146.



4. Raymond B. Clark, Jr. and Sara Seth Clark, comps., Calvert County, Maryland, Wills, 1654-1700 (St. Michael's, Md.: Raymond B. Clark, Jr., 1974), 42-43, citing Liber 6, folio 53-54; Baldwin, The Maryland Calendar of Wills, 2:43.



5. Stein, A History of Calvert County Maryland, 277; Peter Wilson Coldham, Settlers of Maryland, 5 vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1995-96), 1:91.



6. Skordas, The Early Settlers of Maryland, 62, citing Liber 16, folio 87.



7. Edward C. Papenfuse, Alan F. Day, David W. Jordan, and Gregory A. Stiverson, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979) 2 vols., on 1:171 says there was no issue, but on 2:802 it says John's two orphans were raised by Rebecca's second husband, Thomas Tasker. George Norbury MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States of America: in which is given the history, genealogy and armorial bearings of colonial families who settled in the American colonies from the time of the settlement of Jamestown, 13th May, 1607, to the Battle of Lexington, 19th April, 1775, 6 vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1996; originally pub. 1912), 1:42, says there was no known issue.



8. A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 2:802.



9. A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 2:802.



10. For more on John, see Christopher Johnston, "Tasker Family", in Maryland Genealogies from the Maryland Historical Magazine: A Consolidation of Articles from the Maryland Historical Magazine, indexed by Thomas L. Hollowick, 2 vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1980), 2:425-26.



11. For more on Benjamin, see Johnston, "Tasker Family", in Maryland Genealogies from the Maryland Historical Magazine, 2:426.

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If you have additions or corrections to this web page, I would be delighted to hear from you. Contact me via e mail at kwg "at" po.cwru.edu just substituting the familiar "@" for "at".

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