MDSTMARY-L Archives

Archiver > MDSTMARY > 2007-02 > 1171028706


From: "Dobricky, John" <>
Subject: Re: [MDSTMARY] Raley and Dawson families in St Mary's County MD
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 08:45:06 -0500


Hi. I am so glad you posted. I lost your telephone number and my
answering machine craashed and ate your messages. As you know, my
mother was Mary Pearle Raley and her father, Robert Clement Raley, Sr.,
was the brother of the John Francis Raley you are researching. This
means that my great-grandparents were John William Raley and his second
wife, Elizabeth Theresa Cecil/Cissell. John William Raley's first wife
was Mary Jane Mattingly. They seem to have had two children. One was
Zachariah T. Raley and the other died as an infant. After the death of
Mary Jane (Mattingly) Raley, John William Raley married (2) Elizabeth
Cecil/Cissell (daughter of John B. Cissell (b. circa 1803) and Mary Ann
Wheeler).

John William Raley (b. 1834) was the son of John B. Raley (b. 1803 and
d. 1879 in SMC) and his second wife, Ann Thompson. After a lot of
discussion with our guru Linda Davis Reno, the most likely parents for
Ann (Thompson) Raley are/were John Basil Thompson II (b. 1770 and d.
1819 in SMC) and (probably his second wife) Anastasia Wathen.

John B. Raley (b. 1803 and d. 1879) married (1) Maria Thompson, (2) Ann
Thompson, (3) Jane (Drury) Radford, and (4) Catherine (Kate) Alvey. I
believe he had children by each wife.

John B. Raley (b. 1803 and d. 1879) was the son of Zachariah Raley and
Ann (Nancy) Wilkinson. Ann (Nancy) (Wilkinson) Raley was the daughter
of William Wilkinson and Ann Thomas. Ann (Thomas) Wilkinson was the
daughter of Mark Thomas I.

Zachariah Raley was the son of, I believe, John Raley (b. 1735) and,
probably, either Ann Joy or Henrietta __________. The wife of John
Raley was probably a daughter of Ignatius Joy I.

Things get a little more complicated at this point. I strongly believe
John Raley (b. 1735) was the grandson mentioned in the Will of (another)
John Raley in 1765 in SMC. I believe the son of John Raley (d. 1765)was
the John Raley who died in SMC circa 1745. This John Raley (d. circa
1745) married Mary ________. Mary ________ Raley married (2) Lazarus
Ross. (Many researchers (for example, Norma Lundgren) have this John
RALEY listed as John BALEY in their databases because of a transcription
error.)

John Raley (d. circa 1745 in SMC) who married Mary _________ (above) was
a completely different man than the John Raley (d. 1743 in SMC) who
married Mary (Heard) Hopewell (Widow of Francis Hopewell). Of course,
since these two men had the same name and married women with the same
given name--and had the nerve to die at almost the same time--there has
been a lot of confusion here.

Since I haven't yet really focused on the Raleys in my own research, I
don't know much about the ancestry of John Raley (d. 1765) in SMC.

This branch of the Raley family possessed/owned "The Vineyard" in SMC
for more than 200 years. This farm was part of Beaverdam Manor in SMC.
Zachariah Raley (father of John B. Raley above) was the last of my
direct ancestors to own the farm.

I don't have my files at my office but I have lists of children, etc.,
for almost all of the individuals I have mentioned if you would like
them.

Linda, I know you are out there. Please correct any mistakes I have
made in the above information that I have written from memory.

And, to everyone, as a very wise woman (our Linda) once wrote, "this is
what I think and sometimes thoughts are not fact." I do the best I can.
John Dobricky

-----Original Message-----
From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of Charles W Russell
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 4:51 PM
To:
Subject: [MDSTMARY] Raley and Dawson families in St Mary's County MD

Hi
I am tracing the following couple:
John Francis Raley b 2/1869 d 1/1939 and Lucy Robert (Birdie) Dawson b
9/1872 d 1945.
If you are willing to share information, please let me know.
Thanks
Charlie Russell

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