LACEY Family of Delaware from 1703 Family Sketches: William Baggs Lacey (~1740 - 1773)

 LACEY Family of Delaware from 1703    

Family Sketches: William Baggs Lacey (~1740 - 1773)

                                        William Baggs³ (Robert², John¹) Lacey

William Baggs³ (or Boggs) Lacey, son of Robert² Lacey, was born about 1740. He died before 27 February 1773 when letters of Administration were granted to his wife Betty Lacey. [1] He married Elizabeth (Betty) Harris, daughter of Abraham Harris and Director Dickenson, born 22 May 1754 in Maryland. [2] Elizabeth Harris Lacey married (2) Stephen Mitchell about 1783. [3] She is mentioned in her father’s will as Elizabeth Mitchell (will of Abraham Harris, Sussex Co. Wills Liber E-5 p. 197. 26 June 1798).

 

William Baggs³ Lacey and his wife Betty had one child:

            i.  Director⁴ (born before 1774). Her grandfather Abraham HARRIS was appointed guardian in 1779. [4]  Director⁴ Lacey was lame and unable to take care of herself. [5] No further records.

Upon his father’s death in 1753, William Baggs³ Lacey received 200 acres of land called “Crucked Tract." [5] The name “Baggs” is undoubtedly a family name. According to the inventory of Robert² Lacey’s estate on 12 March 1754 (Orphans’ Court Liber 3 1751-1760, folio 51) William Bagg [sic] Lacey received payment “on present from his uncle Bagg." [7]

The name Bagg[s] or Bogg[s] appears connected with the PARKER family of Virginia. Evidence comes from a will of John Parker of Accomack County, Virginia, 1 January 1755 where he mentions a daughter Ann Lacey (likely wife of John³ Lacey) and another daughter Rachel Bogs (or Bags). [Accomack Wills 1752-1757, p. 261]. There is also a Baggs family in nearby Maryland. Alternatively, the name could refer to the Bagwell family, also in Maryland and Sussex County, Delaware.

After William Baggs³ Lacey’s death, his widow, Betty Lacey and administratrix of his estate, on 28 May 1774, petitioned the Orphans Court of Sussex County to sell his land “being in the County afsd containing by estimation two hundred acres be the same more or less called & known by the name of the ‘Crooked Tract’.” Her claim was that “the said intestate  died considerably indebted to sundry persons for the discharge inventory of the said personal estate and also by the List of  debts due and owing by the said intestate herewith which so far as has already come to your Petitioner’s knowledge.” Betty Lacey wanted a ruling to sell the land “for the payment of the said intestate’s debts and also for the support and maintenance of the said intestate’s child and your Petion^r. [8]

From the original documents, Betty Lacey signed her own name. The Court granted the Order and for Betty Lacey to report the sale of the land to the Court.

As shown in the Orphans Court proceedings of 7 May 1783, Betty Lacey evidently did sell the land called “Cruked Tract” for £50.[9] The land was likely sold to William Baggs³

Lacey’s brother, John³ Lacey, because in 1776 that land was surveyed as part of the estate of John³ Lacey:

On 19 March 1776, 100 acres of land of John³ Lacey was surveyed on the south side of the head of Indian River between Morris’s Mill and the old Cow Bridge including improvements. [10]  This land was re-surveyed 20 March 1776 at the request of John³ Lacey because of an error in the survey of 19 March 1776: Warrants Book C, p. 515-517. [11]

This land is called “Crooked Tract,” which is the same name as the land bequeathed to William Baggs³ Lacey (his brother) by Robert² Lacey by his will of 1753. John³ Lacey, brother of William Baggs³ Lacey, may have ended up with some of Crooked Tract land after William Baggs³ Lacey died in 1774 when his wife Betty wanted to sell lands to pay his debts.

 On 4 August 1779, Abraham Harris, guardian of Director⁴ Lacey, daughter of William Baggs³ Lacey,  asks the Orphans Court to appoint three freeholders to value the land of Director⁴ Lacey (presumably she inherited land when her father died). They valued the land at 40 pounds and noted that there were no structures on the land. Apparently, this land is not the same as the 200-acre “Crooked Tract” parcel that William Baggs³ Lacey inherited from his father. [12]

On 15 June 1783, Stephen Mitchell and his wife Betty (late Betty Lacey) administrators of the estate of William Baggs³ Lacey sell 100 acres of land for £99 called Hogg Quarter in Broadkill Hundred, granted by various conveyances to “Wm Baggs Lacey who died leaving a widow (now Betty Mitchell, adminx) & 1 lame child called Director.” The Orphans Court permits them to sell land (the small part of the whole tract) for maintenance of crippled child & settlement of debts, excepting 1/3 for the widow’s dower. [13]

References 

[1] Delaware, Sussex County, probate records : estate case files, 1680-1925, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/2778558 : accessed 7 July 2021), Folder RG4840.009, William Baggs Lacey, (dec’d) 1773-1783; Delaware, Sussex County, probate records; Case files, Kunsman, John M. - Lank, Levin, RG4545.009, roll 140, 1680-1925; Delaware. Orphans Court, Sussex County, Delaware Public Archives. [Original]; DGS: 104373237; images 221-230.

[2] Coventry parish, Somerset, Maryland computer printout; births or christenings, 1736-1828, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/464995 : accessed 27 August 2021) Betty Harris Birth, 22 May 1754; Coventry Parish Births 1736-1828, image 351.

[3] Delaware, Sussex County, probate records : estate case files, 1700-1956, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/2778558 : accessed 7 July 2021), Folder RG4840.009, William Baggs Lacey, (dec’d) 1774-1784, #6; Delaware, Sussex County, probate records; Case files, Colic, A. - Lafferty, Wm., ca. 1 Jan 1700–31 Dec 1956; Delaware. Orphans Court, Sussex County, Delaware Public Archives. [Original]; DGS: 104017941; images 522-523. Stephen Mitchell and his wife, the late Bettty Lacey widow of William Baggs Lacey petition the Orphans Court to sell land of Wm Baggs Lacey.

[4] Sussex County, Delaware, Orphans' Court records, Liber B #2, p. 283, 290, 368. On 3 August 1779 Abraham Harris was appointed guardian to "Pircilla Lacey," daughter of Wm Baggs Lacey. Her name is also referred to as "Director" or “Directa,” which was the name of Betty Harris' mother.

 [5] Sussex County, Delaware Deed Book N #13 p. 9. In a deed dated 15 June 1783, Stephen Mitchell and Betty his wife (late Betty LACEY) adminrs of Wm Baggs LACEY, states that Wm Baggs Lacey died intestate and left widow Betty and one lame child named Director.

 [6] Sussex County, Delaware Register of Wills, Will of Robert Lacey, Liber B, folios 59-61, “I Give and bequeath unto my Son William Baggs Lacey a Parcel of Land Called Crucked Tract being Two Hundred Acres more or less.”

 [7] Skinner, V.L. Abstracts of the Proceedings of the Orphans' Court of Sussex County, Delaware, Libers 1,2,3,4,A; 1708-1709; 1728-1777, Willow Bend Books, Westminster, MD, 2000., p.75. Orig, Liber 3, folio 51.

[8] Delaware, Sussex County, probate records : estate case files, 1700-1956, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/2778558 : accessed 7 July 2021), Folder RG4840.009, William Baggs Lacey, (dec’d) 1774-1784, #6; Delaware, Sussex County, probate records; Case files, Kollock, A. - Lafferty, Wm., ca. 1 Jan 1700–31 Dec 1956; Delaware. Orphans Court, Sussex County, Delaware Public Archives. [Original]; images 518-519.

 [9] Delaware, Sussex County, Orphans Court Records from 1784-1797, Volume D&E, RG4840, 7 May 1783, Volume D. p. 88, CD, Delaware Genealogical Society, Wilmington, Delaware, 2004; citing Delaware State Archives, Dover, Delaware. Original documents in Delaware, Sussex County, probate records : estate case files, 1700-1956, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/2778558 : accessed 7 July 2021), Folder RG4840.009, William Baggs Lacey, (dec’d) 1774-1784, #6; Delaware, Sussex County, probate records; Case files, Colic, A. - Lafferty, Wm., ca. 1 Jan 1700–31 Dec 1956; Delaware. Orphans Court, Sussex County, Delaware Public Archives. [Original]; DGS: 104017941; images 522-523.

 [10] Land warrants and surveys of Sussex County, Delaware, books A1-W6, browsable images (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/50154 : accessed 4 August 2021), Survey of John Lacey Land, 19 March 1776, Book L1-32, p.517-518.  

 [11] Ibid. This land was re-surveyed 20 March 1776 at the request of John Lacey because of an error in the survey of 19 March 1776: Warrants Book C, p. 515-517. 

 [12] Delaware, Sussex County, Orphans Court Records from 1784-1797, Volume B, RG4840, 3 August 1779, p. 283, 290, 368, CD, Delaware Genealogical Society, Wilimington, Delaware, 2004; citing Delaware State Archives, Dover, Delaware.

 [13] Sussex County, Delaware Deed records, 1693-1886, browsable images, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/296734 : accessed 1 August 2021) Stephen Mitchell and Betty Lacey Mitchell to Robert Watson McCalley, Deed Book N #13, pp. 93. The court deed record image is unreadable but is abstracted in Elaine Hastings Mason & F. Edward Wright, Land records of Sussex County, Delaware 1782-1789, Deed Book N No. 13 (Willow Bend Books, Westminster, Maryland, 2002), p. 13.