Burklow Orphan Lines - 7

Orphan lines, by definition, can be any lines with ancestral OR descendancy connection problems. They will invariably lack hard evidentiary documentation such as bibles, church or probate records to complete the link in either direction.

Abell Van Burkelow(c1690-p1730) of Cecil Co.,MD.

CHRONOLOGY OF COINCIDENTAL OR LINKABLE EVENTS:

1. ABELL VAN BURKELOW appears in records of Cecil Co.,MD as the son of Herman Van Burkelow. Herman had married Margaret (believed ABELL) circa 1690, and was registered as being naturalized in Cecil Co.,MD on 18 Oct 1694.

2. ABELL VAN BURKELOW is baptized 30 Sep 1711 as an adult in the Bensalem Dutch Church, Bucks Co.,PA. Mrs. John Spell's research suggest his father, Herman(b.c1665) joined a Labadist movement much like brother, Reynier(b.1659), in the 1680's or 1690's. If age 18-21 when he was baptised, it would put Abell's birthyear as between 1690 and 1693. Abell's 1711 baptism in the DR Church would intimate either his father's change in churches occurred after 1711, and not in the 1680's or 1690's as Mrs. Spell claims, or, Herman's son, Abell, rejected his father's Labadist leanings and had himself christened in the family's traditional Dutch Reformed system as soon as he reached adulthood.

3. ABELL VAN BURKELOW, despite being baptised in the Dutch Reformed Church, follows his father to Bohemia Manor, Cecil Co.,MD., and marries there 7 Jun 1715, Catherine Herman, daughter of Casperus A. Herman.

4. ABELL VAN BURKELOW is listed as both a lawyer and a local sheriff in 1717.

5. ABELL VAN BURKELOW, has five children baptised at St. Stephen's Parish Church, Bohemia Manor, the first(Catherine) on 22 Mar 1717, and the last(William), 18 Aug 1728.

6. HERMAN VAN BURKELOW, signs his will on 2 Dec 1728, and dies by 15 Mar 1729, the date his will is probated in Cecil Co.,MD.

7. ABELL VAN BURKELOW, disappears from Cecil County records soon after his father's death, suggesting he's also died, or has left the county.

EVALUATING ANCESTRY PROBABILITIES:

Without further evidence of Abell's whereabouts, or the traceable marriages of his five known children, the lineage of Herman Harmanus Van Burkelow through his only son, Abell, seems to end abruptly about 1729. The marriages of Burkelow women in Queen Annes Co.,MD. in 1752 and 1757 don't offer much help because their Christian names don't match either of Abell's two known daughters. Queen Annes County's proximity to the Delaware Burkelows and its location along a major route from Kent Co.,Delaware to Washington D.C. through Sudlarsville provides greater probability the two Burkelow women belong to the Delaware group, descendants of Reynier Harmense van Burkelow.