314 – Till Death Do Us Part

Mark Jarvis
A poor woman in childbirth being watched by her husband – Engraving by J. J. Frilley, 1827

In 17th-century Maryland, disease, childbirth, and the harsh conditions of frontier living claimed lives early and often.

Charity Cheney, wife of Richard, was an unfortunate victim.

Charity Cheney

Charity Cheney died sometime between 1661 and 1668. Charity was about age 48 when she died. The cause of death may have been childbirth. We don’t know where Charity was buried.

Mortality

  • Life for early Chesapeake settlers in the American wilderness was characterized by harsh conditions and high mortality rates.
  • Diseases such as malaria, dysentery, and typhoid took a heavy toll on the population.
  • Half the people born in early Virginia and Maryland did not live to the age of 20.
  • Even among those who survived infancy, women rarely lived to 40, and men to 50.
American Life in the 17th Century – American History Central

Once widowed, the surviving spouse often remarried very soon.

Richard Cheney married Eleanor

True to statistics, Richard Cheney soon married again. We don’t know the family or background of Eleanor Cheney. Eleanor may have been about age 18 when she married Richard Cheney. Richard was in his early fifties.

Richard and Eleanor Cheney had seven children in the years from 1669 to 1684. Richard and Eleanor are our 8th great-grandparents.

Charles Cheney, born 1673, is our ancestor. He’s our 7th great-grandfather.

Richard and Eleanor Cheney family

Parish register – All Hallows Church

All Hallows Church parish register began in 1692. However, many parishioners asked the priest to record their family events that had taken place before 1692.

In a genealogical stroke of luck, we find the birth dates of Richard and Eleanor Cheney’s children, whose births ranges from 1669 to 1684. They were recorded just as the register began in 1692, as they are on Page 8.

All Hallows Parish Register – ca 1692

Anglican Church

The 1692 Protestant Revolution in Maryland saw a revolt against Catholics and the Calvert family’s rule. This led to the establishment of a Protestant government, the outlawing of Catholicism, and the end of Maryland’s early religious toleration. 

In 1692, the Church of England became the official church of Maryland. With the Anglican Church now official, parishes like All Hallows began formalizing their records and rebuilding their structures.

In Anne Arundel County, four parishes were established – All Hallows, St. Anne’s, St. James’, and St. Margaret’s. Each parish was to record the births, marriages, and deaths of the inhabitants.

All Hallows Parish and Church

A church building had been built around 1680. It was likely an earthfast wood-post structure, like the Cheney home on Cheney Hill.

The original church building became the All Hallows Church, the official parish church of the Church of England.

The locations of the church and churchyard cemetery aren’t known, but were probably just a few miles from Cheney Hill.

Wherever its location, this first church is where the Cheneys life events were recorded after 1692. They were baptized, married, and buried here.

A later church

By the 1720s, the original church needed replacement.

Whereas the vestry-men, church-wardens, and other inhabitants of All-hallows Parish, in Anne Arundel County, have, by their petition to this General Assembly, set forth, that their Parish Church is so decayed and ancient, that is dangerous to be therein…

Maryland State Archives – MSA 1916:462

The Assembly called for the collection of funds (in tobacco) to build a new “brick church” in 1729.

In October of 1729, the General Assembly of Maryland assessed a tax of 20,000 pounds of tobacco to build “The Brick Church.” 

The History of All Hallows Parish – https://allhallowsparish.org/who-we-are/history/
All Hallows Church – “The Brick Church”

The Brick Church was completed in 1733. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been restored from fire damage numerous times since, but is still in use today.

The Brick Church was about three miles from the Cheney homestead.

From the death of Charity to Richard’s marriage to Eleanor to the birth of Charles Cheney, the family’s story continued—etched into parish registers, land records, and the soil of South River Hundred.

The establishment of All Hallows Church marked a new chapter not just for the colony, but for the Cheneys. Baptisms, marriages, and burials would be recorded here for generations.

In the next post, we’ll explore the legacy of Richard and Eleanor Cheney.

Timeline

Sources:

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