Mark Anthony

Mark Anthony "the Immigrant" was born about 1679 in Genoa, Italy and on 27 Mar 1654 in Hanover, Virginia. He was buried after 1731 in St. Paul Parrish.

Parents: not proven: Charles Anthony, Knight. (source1)

Married: Isabelle Hart, born between 1671/1680 in Surry, Virginia., daughter of Joseph Hart and ??? Rush. (source1)

Children include:

1. James Anthony was born about 1702.
2. Joseph Anthony1 was born about 1704.
3. Luke Anthony was born about 1706 in <, New Kent, Virginia>.
4. Mark Anthony, Jr. was born about 1707
5. Thomas was born about 1708
6. Joseph Anthony2 b. 2 May 1713 ALT: 15 Feb 1713 in Henrico, VA and died on 23 Nov 1785 in , Wilkes, GA. He was buried before 1822 in Virginia. He married in 1741 to Elizabeth Ann Clark (1719-1825), daughter of Christopher Clark & Penelope Johnston.
7. John Anthony, Sr. was born in 1715 in , New Kent, Virginia. He died in Nov 1760 in Evington, Bedford, VA

The legend is ...

... that Marcus Antonuis (Mark Anthony) was in school in Greece (or a merchant in Marsceilles France, was a captive among Algerines (or was a stowaway from Greece) and escaped to England (Or America as a stowaway)..and was captured and had his tongue cut out.

But more likely it's ...

• from: Mark Anthony by Dana Huff

The further back one traces a family, the murkier the waters become. If it isn’t poor record-keeping, it’s a courthouse fire. And that’s if it isn’t wishful thinking on the part of another family researcher. Still most legends have some basis in fact. What then, is the basis of the fantastic legend surrounding the emigration of Mark Anthony?

The most traditional version of the narrative is that Mark Anthony was born in about 1670 to a merchant of the same or a similar name in Genoa, Italy. The elder Mark Anthony (or Marcus Antony, as he is sometimes known to researchers, most likely to distinguish him from his son) relocated to the Netherlands for reasons that aren’t clear. He desired his son to be educated in Genoa — an idea that didn’t appeal to the younger Mark Anthony’s adventurous spirit at all. Instead, the young man ran away to sea. He was waylaid by Barbary pirates and enslaved in Algiers. Different versions vary in the details, but most agree that once in Algiers, Mark Anthony either escaped by killing his captor or simply by slipping away. This story was retold for generations, and it seemed especially strong in the Georgia Anthony branch of the family.

Arlene Anthony, a researcher associated with Linda Starr’s Colonial Virginia Connections group, does not believe this wild tale, and I have to admit I don’t either. Her research tends to suggest that the Anthony family were from England, possibly by way of the Iberian peninsula, and that they were either Jewish or Roma. I think it more likely that they were Jewish. Their movements mirror those of Marranos, though without historical documents, it is impossible to know exactly when the family migrated from Italy or the Iberian Peninsula to the Netherlands.

The Georgia account of Mark Anthony’s arrival indicates that he arrived in Virginia after his harrowing adventure before October 3, 1690 and was indentured (possibly to Charles Fleming) for three years in order to pay for his passage. He is one of twenty people listed in an application for a land patent of 1000 acres in New Kent County in 1690. In 1700, he applied for a land grant of 1000 acres — some researchers speculate he returned to Europe and brought back 20 applicants in order to apply for this land grant.

Notes

• 1690-23 Oct. Charles Fleming 1000 acres, New Kent Co. Adj. Andr. Davies on Brs of Machumps Cr
• p. 105 Granted Jno. Fleming and Adr. Davies 20 Apr. 1680 deserted and granted to sd. Fleming by order & c Imp. of 20 peas..Mark Anthony. (CAVALIERS & PIONEERS by Nell Marion)
• Nugent abstract of Va. Land Patents and Grants Vol II
• 1704- Quick Rents (THE QUICK RENTS, NEW KENT CO VA 1704 by Smith p 3) Mark Anthony 190 acres.
• 1707-8 St. Paul's Vestry Records, Hanover Co. Va. Mark Anthony added to list of Tithables.
• 1709-10 Mar. 14. Mark Anthony listed in Princinct 25

Links

• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mysouthernfamily/myff/d004...
• http://www.rytting.net/famhistory/ryttingancestors/aqwg13.htm

Sources

1. [S3240] Georgia Roots by Ms. Gerry Hill on GenCircles.com http://www.gencircles.com/users/gerryinga/2/data/11028
2. The Southerner p 32, Virginia Mag of Hist and Biog Vol 9 p 220
3. History of Albermarle by Woods
4. Virginia Tax Payers 1782-1787
5. Henry Co Va Deed Bk
6. Wilkes Co Ga Tax List 1785-1805
7. The Lineage Book, National Society of Dtrs of Amer Colonist Vol 5 p 252 .
8. Mark Anthony and Descendants available Salt Lake City Ut Family History Library shows Marcus Anthony Father of Mark.

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The following comes from Gladys Anthony"s "The Ancestors and Descendants of William Whitfield Anthony (1851-1911)".

Mark Anthony, son of Marcus Anthony, was sent from Holland to school in Italy when he was seventeen years old. Mark ran away from school, embarked on atrading vessel which was captured by pirates. Mark and other passengers were taken and sold as slaves in Algeria. He was cruelly and brutally treated. He and another captive managed to escape. They persuaded a captain of a British vessel bound for the States to take them aboard. When the vessel landed at a port in Virginia in 1699, Mark Anthony was indentured (sold as a slave to pay for passage) for a period of three years, to a farmer in New Kent County, Virginia.

After the three years, Mark Anthony settled on the upper James River, near the present site of Lynchburg, VA. He established a mill and trading post. In 1703 he married Isabella Hart. They had twelve sons and one daughter. Three of these sons were Joseph, Mark, Jr. and Captain John.

Source of information: ANTHONY FAMILY HISTORY, American Genealogical Research Institute, 1978

THE QUITS RENTS, NEW KENT COUNTY, VA by Smith, p. 3 (Quits rents were tributes paid to the King): "Mark Anthony, 160 acres".

ST. PAUL'S PARISH RECORDS, HANOVER COUNTY, VA, Feb. 1707/08, 14 march 1708/09, 17 Sept. 1711, 21 March 1721.

WILLIAM & MARY QUARTERLY, First Series, Vol. 21, Vol. 8.

ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS OF CATER ADKINS PARKER, 1810-1886 by Judge Robert S. Roddenburg, Jr.

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Mark Anthony was of ethnic Jewish extraction. Y-DNA evidence indicates that his family line was Sephardic from Iberia, probably from Spain in the Andalusia area. In a report from his granddaughter he was called a 'marrano of Amsterdam'. The marranos were Spanish Jews who were forced to convert to the Catholic Church by the Inquisition. Many of them were expelled from Spain in 1492 and dispersed to other places in Europe as well as the Americas (Brazil, Mexico, the Caribbean, etc.). In most cases they were forced to become 'secret Jews', accepting a facade of Christian status. The family track of Mark is not clear because of this. He came to Virginia from England as an indenture to a man by the name of Fleming in 1690. He adopted the religion of the Fleming man, which was Quaker, since Jewish residency in Virginia was illegal, not changed until the Revolution. The Anthony family remained Protestant thereafter, notably Quaker and Baptist. After his indenture he owned a substantial trading post and grist mill and traded horses into New Jersey.

Many researchers have tried to pin down his ancestry, so far with no success (2013). The two principal lines of investigation are in England. There were two substantial Jewish Anthony families in England at the time he was born, even though it was technically illegal. The two families may have been related, but it is not clear. The first was a line of goldsmiths, beginning with a William Anthony and his son Charles. William was invited by the British crown to come to London from Germany during the reigns of the young King Edward, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth I to provide goldsmith services. Charles Anthony became director of the British mint and invented the serrated edging on coins. The other possible line was the family of John Anthony of Exeter, which was involved in maritime shipping. The goldsmith family has descendants who settled in Rhode Island along with Roger Williams. Our Mark Anthony was apparently the son of a banker and so the connection to the goldsmith line is possible. On the other hand, the Exeter maritime family had shipping connections to the Fleming family of Scotland. Mark Anthony came across as an indenture to one of these Fleming men. There are possible connections to either line,or both.