William Carey ¹

A Margaret Carey patented fifty acres of land, called Carey's Folly, in Worcester County in 1785 (Md. Land Patents, 1C#A, p. 446). She obtained a warrant on 4 July 1774, a certificate of survey on 23 August 1774, and a patent on 28 April 1785. She resurveyed the tract in 1793, as Addition to Carey's Folly, one hundred and twenty-four acres. The land was located as "beginning at a marked red oak standing at the head of a branch making out of the head of dividing creek and on a ridge lying on the east side of the aforesaid branch abut half a mile to the north east of Charles Hayrnan's plantation thence running.........". The reference to Charles Hayman' s plantation places this land near that of Levin Carey's of the third generation, for on 7 December 1764, Charles Hayman (son of William) deeded to Charles Hayman (son of James) land "including the plantation that was Levin Carey's" (Wor, Deeds F, p. 243). The only land of Levin's patented before 1764, that disappeared from the records, was the fifty acres of Carey's Luck Levin gave his son Thomas in 1760. Benson's maps show Carey's Folly in the extreme northwestern section of Worcester County, near the present-day Wicomico County line, and only a few miles south of Levin Carey's holdings near Fruitland. The proximity of Levin Carey's land, with Carey's Folly, leads to the conclusion that Margaret Carey was, most likely, the wife of Levin's son Thomas Carey, born c. 1733 in Worcester County, Maryland, and who died intestate at an early age, apparently leaving the widow, Margaret, with five children. However, later records refer indirectly to a William Carey, Senior, as being Margaret's husband, when Carey's Folly was sold on 24 December 1840, by Margaret Carey's great-grandchildren, reference is made to this land having been the property of their father, David Carey, and before him, his father, William Carey, Junior, (Wor. Deeds GMH #4, p. 45) Since the records show no other William Carey in the area at the time, this could be taken as proof that the father of William Carey Junior was William Carey Senior. And if William Carey Senior was Margaret's husband, it seems assured he was another son of Levin Carey, by his first marriage. Margaret Carey was born a Raglin, as can be shown by her father's will. She is not named in the will itself, but when her father" accounts were settled on 29 October 1770 (Md. Inv. 107, p. 65), Margaret Carey, with one of Michael Ragley's (Raglin) other daughters, was named as next-of-kin. Margaret Carey is shown in Worcester County, by the 1783 tax list (p. 2, #6), with another female and four males in her household. Her taxable property included Carey's Folly, one horse and three black cattle. William Carey Sr. died before 4 July 1774 at Worcester Co, MD.

William married Margaret Raglin, daughter of Michael Raglin and Unknown, about 1760. (Margaret Raglin was born about 1740 and died before 1770 in Worcester Co., MD.)