Yet another profile that needs a little TLC...(17th century colonial Maryland)

Question

Is there any more proof that this guy, John Haley, as the son of minor aristocrat Jerome Haley Esq (abt.1580-abt.1638) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree? His alleged son, Dr. Clement Haly, is supposed to be my 9th great-grandfather, with his daughter Elizabeth Eleanor (Haley) Clary (1687-1728) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree being my 8th etc. Clement seems to be a pretty well-documented guy all things considered, but his alleged dad, not nearly as much...

Comments

A number of sources claim that Jerome died with no surviving male issue. The only child who has a remote mention is the daughter said to be in Brabant, perhaps as an Abbess, certainly not born there as the profile claims.

Answer 1

There are quite a lot of colonial Maryland records available. This and the following items (there are quite many, I didn't look at them all) are for Jerome Hawley, esquire, who died in Maryland in 1638. The records mention William Hawley, wife Elinor, and others. No one named John Haley/Hawley that I could see.

https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5000/sc5094/001000/001910/html/sc5094-1910-01.html

You can search from here:

http://speccol.msa.maryland.gov/carr/

Comments

His Dr. Lois Green Carr, Men's Career Files MSA SC 5094 Image No: sc5094-1910-01 file only lists a probable stepson as heir...

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That was a son of his 2nd wife, who has been accused by some of attempting to cheat the true heir, a daughter. Who had to contend with Cornwallis for the spoils.

Some Say that Jerome Hawley made a Will in 1633 before leaving England. I haven't found it, but I am not the best Will-Finder.

The best way to search for English Wills is The National Archives: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Ancestry.co.uk also has Wills indexed, and it can be easier to find them there.

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Jerome's will names brother William Hawley of Grossmont, Monmouth, esquire
Wife Elinor
Brother James, of New Brenford, Middx, gent
William Hawley; Arthur  Dodington, groom of the Privy Chamber; Lewis Hele, of Inner Temple, esq, as executors

Thomas Cornwaleys, esquire, was made administrator because the executors were "in remote parts from this Province and without our jurisdiction"

https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5000/sc5094/001000/001910/html/sc5094-1910-02.html
https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5000/sc5094/001000/001910/html/sc5094-1910-11.html

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There isn't any John Haley or Hawley in the Carr collection linked above, but there is one mentioned in Dr Carson Gibb's

http://earlysettlers.msa.maryland.gov/

John Haley (Whaley) or Halley
Transported from Virginia by 1665
In Maryland by 1663
Transported 1674

So I wonder if this is the John Haley being searched for here, who got linked erroneously to Jerome. This guy sounds like he is probably not an esquire with friends in high places.

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But that isn't his actual Will. Is it supposed to be the one he made in 1633, in England? To see some accounts, Cornwallis obtained administration by fraud.

A lawsuit TNA https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5779638  Hawley v Cornwallis claims Jerome died intestate. 

Short title: Hawley v Cornwallis.

Plaintiffs: James Hawley.

Defendants: Thomas Cornwallis, administrator [the estate and debts] of Jerome Hawley in Maryland, America.

Subject: estate of Jerome Hawley, brother of James, who died intestate in Maryland in 1638, after journeying to Virginia in 1636 on the ship the Black George of Portsmouth, using James's money to equip himself with goods to trade for tobacco.

Another suit - TNA https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5780328   mentions that Jerome's widow refused administration 

Short title: Hawley v Cornwallis.

Plaintiffs: James Hawley.

Defendants: Thomas Cornwallis.

Subject: estate of Jerome Hawley, who died in Maryland, America, and whose widow refused administration; Cornwallis took on the administration in August 1638 as the greatest creditor, and paid off local debts, but his letters of administration did not cover debts in England: Cornwallis believes Jerome was defrauding James (mentions Gabriel Hawley and James Neale in Virginia).

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This source, p. 228, https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Flowering_of_the_Maryland_Palatinate/O7HhW59OFDgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Jerome+Hawley%22+Will&pg=PA228&printsec=frontcover  states that the executors of Jerome's 1633 Will were William Hawley, Arthur Dodington, and Lewis Hele.  It also cites a letter from James Hawley stating that Jerome left only one daughter to inherit. With a footnote discrediting the claim that Clement Halley was his descendant.

I would like to find p. 227 of this work, which Google has declined to show.

But on p.229, it states that a daughter had filed a claim to the estate.  ETA: according to Betham, both daughters Judith and Susanna survived to adulthood, and Judith married a William de Bricq of Nuremburgh. She could well have been the daughter filing the claim.

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Probably the only thing that points to Dr. Clement Haly's father having some social status is Clement was a prosperous landowner and planter. I admit I'm far from an expert on social class in early colonial Maryland though...

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I think we have a consensus here, and in the comment by L Felix on the other thread, that John Haley should be removed from parents Jerome and Judith.

If a son John existed and attained the age of marriage, Jerome's brother James would have mentioned him as the heir, not a daughter.

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OK, just removed him from Jerome and Judith.

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I added a Research Note.