Will of John Cross, 1764, Baltimore County, Maryland

There is information in the will of John Cross 1726-1764 of Baltimore County, Maryland that suggests that he was my sixth great grandfather.

His will mentions 8 children and 1 grandson. One of the children was his son William Cross. His grandson Abraham Cross was described in the will as the son of his son William Cross. It is John's grandson Abraham who is the clue that might link my fourth great grandfather William Cross to John Cross as my sixth great grandfather. Namely, Abraham Cross and my fourth great grandfather William Cross were probably brothers, which in turn would mean that my fourth great grandfather William Cross was probably the son of an elder William Cross who was the son of John Cross.

There are no records where the William Cross who was the son of John Cross was referred to as William Cross Sr. There are no records where my fourth great grandfather William Cross was referred to as William Cross Jr. But I find that records for fathers and sons with the same name often did not include the Jr. and Sr. designations. In addition, there is some evidence that the William Cross who was the son of John Cross was sometimes referred to as Brittain Cross. I therefore list him in my genealogy database as William Brittain Cross. It seems likely but not certain that was his actual name. And in the meantime it provides a convenient way to distinguish between the elder William Brittain Cross and the younger William Cross.

The evidence that John Cross's grandson Abraham Cross was the brother of my fourth great grandfather William Cross of Anderson County, Tennessee may be found outside of the John Cross will. Putting two and two together, that would mean that my fourth great grandfather William Cross was the son of William Brittain Cross and the grandson of the John Cross of the 1764 will.

The evidence that Abraham Cross and my fourth great grandfather William Cross were brothers is not as strong as one might like, but the available evidence suggests that is having been brothers is the most likely relationship between the two men. In particular, Abraham Cross and my fourth great grandfather William Cross were two of the Cross family members who moved from Baltimore County, Maryland to what is now Sullivan County, Tennessee sometime after the death of John Cross's son William Brittain Cross. Abraham Cross and my fourth great grandfather William Cross were two of the Cross men who served in the militia of Col. Isaac Shelby during the Revolutionary War. And Abraham Cross was one of the two men in Sullivan County, Tennessee whom my fourth great grandfather William Cross of Anderson County, Tennessee asked for help in obtaining his Revolutionary War pension.

There is a question of why among all of his other grandchildren John Cross singled out Abraham to receive a full child's portion of his estate. I don't know, and I don't think any other Cross researchers know for sure, either.