Rebecca Summers

It's been asserted that a Rebecca Dent who married John Summers, from the Summers family that settled in Calvert County, is in fact Mary Dent. Proof of this seems to hinge on who was the subsequent owner of land located along the runways of today's Andrews Air Force Base (called "Ashman's Freehold"), as this land was left to Mary in Thomas Dent's will. To date, no one has posted online whether or not this parcel was in fact owned by the Summers family.

Until that, and/or other evidence is brought forward supporting this claim, Rebecca Summers nee Dent and Mary Dent will be maintained as separate profiles. Location of Mary:

Mary Dent

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From SUMMERS-L Archives on Ancestry (webcached Jan 18, 2013):

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://archive...

From: David Summers

• To: SUMMERS-L@rootsweb.com
• Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 3:03 PM
• Subject: Re: [SUMMERS] Rebecca and/or Mary (DENT) SUMMERS

Dave,

I have done a little more research. It appears that John and Rebecca's son named Dent married Mary Ann Claggett. maybe this is some help.

Dave Summers

"David R. Heinz" <drh2u@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hello all,

I am sending this query to both the DENT & SUMMERS lists.

There was a Rebecca DENT (c.1660 - c.1710) who married John SUMMERS (c.1650 -1705). John immigrated from England (c.1670) and settled in Calvert County (later called Prince George's), Maryland, where he married Rebecca DENT and had 4 children (William, John, Sarah, and Lucy). John died circa. 1705, leaving his estate to his wife Rebecca. It is believed that Rebecca then remarried one Henry Mackbee. Amongst subsequent SUMMERS generations, the first and middle name DENT is frequently used in apparent recognition of the DENT ancestry of this SUMMERS family.

A researcher named James R. Bradley has this and other information on his website (http://jamesrbradley.com/summers.htm), and hopefully a copy of this message will reach him through this list, or his email address of Jim@JamesRBradley.com

In the same time frame and same area we have Capt. John DENT (c.1640's - 1712) who immigrated from England (c.1658) and resided in Charles County and later St. Mary's Counties, Maryland. He married Mary HATCH and amongst their 9 children was Mary DENT, who, being the fifth child was likely born in the mid to late 1660's. In the will of Capt. John (written 1711 and proved 1712) he mentioned his daughter Mary, and she was bequeathed "Ashman's Freehold". It appears that Ashman's Freehold was 150 acres surveyed in 1666 and initially owned by Richard Ashman. So, apparently Capt. John acquired this property sometime after the 1666 survey, and willed it to his daughter. After the writing of John's will, there is no further references found of his daughter Mary.

This information was found in the excellent website of Leon Wilde (http://members.aol.com/lewilde76/genmain/dent.html), and hopefully a copy of this message will reach him through this list or his email address of LEWilde76@aol.com

It is unlikely, although possible, that Rebecca and Mary are one and the same person. If they are one and the same, it would provide the link between the Summers and Dents that has been elusive. The only possible way that I can imagine connecting Rebecca to Mary and this Dent family would be to determine the ownership transfers of Ashman's Freehold. If acquired by Mary from her father's will, how was it subsequently disposed of??? If Rebecca and Mary are one and the same, and if Ashman's Freehold was not disposed of otherwise, the ownership would have passed to Rebecca's second husband (Henry Mackbee) and then to his heirs. Would anyone on these lists have knowledge of, or access to, the records of Ashman's Freehold and its ownership???

If Rebecca is separate from the family of Capt. John DENT, what other DENT family could she have been descended from?

Any thoughts, or proof, or evidence regarding either Rebecca or Mary would be appreciated. Anyone following up on this query, please copy both the DENT and the SUMMERS lists.

I will look forward to hearing more,

Dave drh2u@yahoo.com