LACEY Family of Delaware from 1703: John Lacey (~1682 - ~1710)

  LACEY Family of Delaware from 1703  

Family Sketches: John Lacey (~1682 - ~1710)

The Lacey family name goes back to the earliest days of Sussex County, Delaware when the County was a Province of the State of Pennsylvania. The Lacey family congregated initially around the areas of Indian River Hundred, the town of Lewes and Dagsboro Hundred. Land was bought and sold around Indian River in Sussex County. Some branches of the Lacey family from Delaware settled in West Virginia and later Ohio around the 1820s. The Lacey family that connects to the Rogers family of Kent County, Delaware in the 1870s came from the Indian River Hundred area of Sussex County.

 

The Lacey family in America may have originated in Virginia as the Lacey name appears in colonial Virginia records in Surry County and Isle of Wight County. The Lacey family may have had connections with the Parker, Anderson, and Baggs (or Boggs) families of Accomack County, Virginia, just south of Sussex County, Delaware. The first known mention of the Lacey family in the Delaware records comes from the purchase of land in Indian River Hundred by a John Lacey in 1703. His son, Robert Lacey, may have married into the Parker family of Accomack County, Virginia. He divided his land holdings that he purchased to his sons: John, Robert, Parker, and William Baggs Lacey

 

Sallie M. Lacey, the daughter of Thomas T. Lacey and Clarissa Ann Moore married Asa Clark Rogers, Sr., son of Hezekiah Rogers and Harriet Clark of Saratoga County, NY. The Rogers family moved into the Kent County area of Delaware during the 1860s. Thomas T. Lacey was the son of Zadock B. Lacey and Mary Hopkins of Sussex County. He moved to the Frederica, Delaware region of Kent County around 1850 as a “waterman” and worked in the shipbuilding trade in Frederica. Thomas Lacey helped build the 3^rd Frederica M-E Church, was an elder, trustee, and teacher in the Church, was a Collector for the Town of Frederica, was part-owner of shipbuilding firm and was elected Sheriff of Kent County for two years. 

 

The series of blogs on the Lacey family of Delaware are updated sketches of known Lacey's. 

John¹ LACEY

John LACEY was born say 1682 and may have come from Virginia [there appears to be some connections between the Lacey family of Delaware and families in Accomack County, Virginia]. He died about 1710. [1]

John Lacey married Sarah BURTON about 1706, probably in Sussex Co., Delaware. [2] She is the daughter of Robert Burton and Catherine Cotton[?] and is named as a daughter in Robert Burton’s probate of 16 October 1725. [3] She married (2) Robert Prettyman about 1710 as she is named as Robert Prettyman’s wife in his will of 1720 along with her children,  Robert and Elizabeth Lassey [sic]. [4] Sarah Burton Lacey Prettyman also married (3) Anderson Parker by 16 Dec 1731. [5]

John Lacey first appears in the Sussex County, Delaware records through his deed of 1 February 1703 when he purchased 200 acres of land, “being the One Moyety of Four Hundred Acres Scituate and being in the said County of Sussex on the North Side of the Indian River and East Side of Swan Creek” in Sussex County from Richard Ward. [6] At this time John Lacey is a “Plantor” from Sussex County.

Deed of Richard Ward to John Lacey of Sussex Co., Delaware for 200 acres of land (Deed Book C-2, p.89-92, 1703)  

 

Children John and Sarah (Burton) Lacey:

Robert, b. say 1706, d. between 13 March 1753 and 15 June 1753. [7]  He m. Bridget Ayliff (?). He is mentioned in Robert Prettyman’s will as a son of John Lacey. On 13 May 1729 he received his share of his father’s estate from his mother Sarah Burton Lacey Prettyman. [8]

ii Elizabeth, b. say 1706.  She is mentioned in Robert Prettyman’s will as a daughter of John Lacey. She was alive on 26 February 1728/9 when she received her share of her father’s estate from her mother Sarah Burton Lacey Prettyman. [9]

Account of Robert and Elizabeth Lacey receiving legacy of father John Lacey from their mother Sarah Prittyman, 1728/9. Orphan's Court, A, p.7.

References 

[1]Hatcher, Patricia Law, 2000. Were the daughters of Robert Burton of Sussex County, Delaware really the daughters of Comfort (Bagwell) Leatherbury, TAG, p. 256-257, October 2000. John Lacey’s wife, Sarah Burton, married (2) Robert Prettyman about 1710.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Sussex County, Delaware, Register of Wills, Will of Robert Burton Sussex Co. 16 Sep. 1724, Probated 16 Oct. 1725 Wills Liber A: 184-186 [folios 187-190], pp 242-242. Daughter is named Sarah Prettyman. See also Hatcher (2000); Robert Burton’s wife was Catherine, but may not have been Catherine Cotton (p. 256).

[4] Sussex County, Delaware, Register of Wills, Will of Robert Prettyman made 13 July 1720/1, probated 1 Aug 1721, p. 99, Register of Wills, Liber A, folios 154-155. Names son-in-law Robert Lassey [sic] and daughter-in-law Elizabeth Lassey [sic] as children of his wife Sarah.

[5]  Hatcher, Patricia Law, 2000,  p. 257. 

[6] Sussex County, Delaware, Deed Book C-2, pp. 89-92. See also Horle, Craig W., ed. “Records of the Courts of Sussex County, Delaware 1677-1710, Volume II: 1690-1710”, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA. 1991. “Richard Ward Of This County of Sussex, Carpent(e)r, Appeared in Open Court And Acknowledged and Made Over unto John Lacey, His Heirs and Assigns According to Law Two Hundred Acres of Land, being the One Moyety of Four Hundred Acres Scituate and being in the said County of Sussex on the North Side of the Indian River and East Side of Swan Creek, According to the Concerns of A Conveyance delivered in Open Court bearing the date First Day of Febr(ary) Ano Domi(ni) 1703(/4)”

[7] Sussex County, Delaware, Register of Wills, Liber B, folios 59-61. Robert Lacey's will was made March 13, 1753 and probated June 15, 1753. His occupation was given as "Farmer" and his son John Lacey and wife Bridget were made executors of his estate. He names sons John, Parker, Robert, and William Baggs Lacey; daughters Amey, Ann, Sarah, Bridget and Jemima, and Betty Morris [Betty=Elizabeth m. William MORRIS].  Witnesses were Henry Draper, Thomas and Rachel Sirmane. 

[8] Sussex County, Delaware, Orphan's Court dockets and minute dockets, 1728-1802, browsable images, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/43210 : accessed 3 August, 2021. Account of Robert and Elizabeth Lacey, Liber A, p. 7. On February 26, 1728/9, “Received of my mother Sarah Pritteman my portion of estate of my father John Lacey by Elizabeth Lacey”. On May 13, 1729, “Received from my mother Sarah Pritteman my portion of estate of my father John Lacey by Rob^t Lacey” 

[9] Ibid.