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The Thomas Carrington Bowles of Maryland Mystery Back to The Bowles of Myddelton House Family Tree A strong case has been made for there being an additional child, Thomas Carrington Bowles, who is first heard of in 1758 when he emigrated from England to Maryland and established a Bowles family there which would bear the name Carrington in many subsequent generations to current date. It has been proposed that he was a son of John Bowles and Mary Carrington. In the odd case that a child may have been born to them but was then removed from the family and was not acknowledged by either his father or either of his grandfathers in their Wills there would be only one point that such a child could fit in, around 1728. However the Maryland gives their ancestor a birth date of between 1739 and 1743 which would have been after Mary Carington's death so this is not an acceptable solution. A second theory is that Thomas was the son of John's brother Thomas II' son Thomas III (ca. 1712-1762) (and wife Margaret) who are not on record as having had any children. Thomas III pre-deceased his father in 1762 without providing for any children in his Will. Thomas II died in 1767 and named his daughter Bethia as the principle benefator of his estate. He made no mention of any legitimate heir of his son Thomas III who under English law would have had a better claim to the estate than his daughter Bethia would have unless he was specifically excluded in the Will, which he wasn't. The Will received probate without any delay which makes it clear that Thomas III could not have had a known male heir so this theory is also difficult to accept. The only other possibility for a male Bowles in the Carrington line would be Carington Bowles (1724-1793) who married in 1752, had a daughter Mary in 1753 and whose eldest son and heir, Henry Carington Bowles, was born in 1763. His having a son Thomas Carrington around 1739 to 1743 as a young man in a first but unrecorded marriage or as an illegitimate child is certainly technically possible but if so such an indication has not yet been found. See
Henry Carrington's
Will of 1757 and
Thomas Bolles II Will of 1766 Fortunately, there are also some authentic family historians working on this mystery who are determined to find the real and documented solution. Hopefully that will be forthcoming. The Bowles of Frederic County, Marylandunder construction, this is a huge subject which has unfortunately been put on the backburners.
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This page was last updated 06/19/21