by Linda Jesmok

I traced the Mauldin line back to my 4x great-grandfather, easy peasy. Then, I ran into the 3 (or 4) Francis Mauldins. They do seem to be related, but not necessarily in direct line.

Family trees on Ancestry and FamilySearch were speculative (fiction), and the only clear thing was that no one had spent any time charting the chronology of documents and the geographical locations (Maryland or Virginia?) for each Francis, including determining if there were 3 or 4 of them. I was ready to throw in the towel and resign myself to be happy with six “recent” generations—the material couldn’t have been more mixed up.

THEN…I found three shelves of Maryland material in the NVGS Library! The earliest mention of Francis Mauldin was 1636!! There were Mauldins everywhere!!! I collected dates and events and documents, and I tried to group them for each of the lives of a putative Francis. By this time, I was pretty sure there were four of them.

I was easily distracted by the first and second Francis—Francis I arrived in Maryland from London in 1636 with wife #1 and his daughter, and shortly had Francis II. Wife #1 died, and Francis I married wife #2. Then he died, and wife #2 farmed out Francis II as an apprentice carpenter, who was adopted by his master. Then, wife #2 had second thoughts (maybe to do with inheritance rights), and she and her new husband #2 arranged to kidnap Francis II from his new home. So much information was available because the master carpenter sued Francis II’s stepmother for reimbursement of his upkeep as an apprentice. Nothing like a legal record for historic probity…Soap opera, anyone?

Further research revealed evidence of a third Francis, documented in a book of successful Atlantic crossings from the British Isles. After several successful sea voyages, in 1680, 1683, and 1684, “Major” Francis (III) settled in Cecil County, Maryland. His son, “Captain” Francis (IV) was the father of the well-documented line in my family tree that I had traced back to his son, Henry Laban Mauldin, who left Maryland for the Carolinas.

Finally, I decided to test whether I had enough information to tie the two batches together. Well, no.

At this point, there doesn’t seem to be any link (property deeds, heirs in wills) between Francis II and Francis III, nor have I located a credible date of death for Francis II or date of birth for Francis III. The proliferation of Francis Mauldins in Maryland is alluring, and I’m sorry to let go of the early date and the spectacular story, but at least I’ve added two other generations to my line, and I’ve located a gap to probe. Francis III will henceforth be known as Major Francis Mauldin Sr. and Francis IV will be known as Captain Francis Mauldin Jr. The next step is to flesh out the families and property in the olden times, to see if I can clarify the missing data.

Wish me luck!