John Warfield
John Warfield was born in 1674 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, the eldest son of Capt. Richard Warfield and Elinor Browne. His father had come into Maryland in 1662 and seated himself in the woods west of Crownsville, with land reaching down to Round Bay of the Severn.
In 1696 he married Ruth Gaither. "In 1696, John married Ruth Gaither, oldest daughter of John Gaither, of South River," J. D. Warfield wrote in his 1905 history of the county's families. The All Hallows Parish register gives the date as 16 February 1696/7. Dates before 25 March were written with two years in this period, because the legal year began on that day, so 1696/7 is February 1697 by the modern count.
Their children were Richard, born in 1697, John in 1700, Benjamin in 1702 and Alexander in 1704. Eleanor came in 1705, Ruth in 1707 and Mary in 1709. The 1905 history adds two more sons, Edward and Philip. "Their sons ... all of whom located upon the frontier out-posts, in Howard," it says, meaning the upper part of the county that later became Howard County.
His father made his will on 10 January 1703/4 and died within a month. "To son John and hrs., 'Warfield's Plains' and 180 A., 'Warfield's Forest,'" the will reads in its printed abstract, and it named John and his brother Richard as executors. That year the sons resurveyed Warfield's Range and increased it to fifteen hundred acres. A resurvey remeasured a tract and could take in vacant land along its edges, which is how a holding grew without a new grant.
"John, his oldest son, lived upon 'Warfield's Plains,'" the 1905 history says, "the homestead of which still stands just opposite Baldwin Memorial Church, half-way between Waterbury and Indian Landing." Warfield's Plains extended up to Millersville, and Warfield's Forest lay near Indian Landing.
On Warfield's Range stood a log house that survived into the twentieth century. A photograph of it is captioned "Warfield's Range, 150 acres gift from Richard Warfield I to daughter Rachel and husband George Yates (1703), original part built in 1696 by Richard and John Warfield." Rachel was John's sister. The building date is the caption's own.
In 1709/10 he witnessed the will of Thomas Crutchley, a neighbour. The witnesses signed as "Rich'd Warfield, Alex. Warfield, Jno. Warfield, Ruth Warfield": John, his wife Ruth and two of his brothers.
He died in July 1718 without a will. "John Warfield, like his father, passed his life in developing his estate, but died in early manhood, 1718, before completing his surveys and transfers," the history says. He was about forty four. His daughter Eleanor had been baptized that year, at thirteen, and she died the next. His widow Ruth filed an account of his personal estate on 5 June 1719, a little over £552. He was buried at All Hallows.
Because he died intestate, his land went whole to his eldest son, Richard. Richard deeded it to his brothers.
Sources
If John Warfield is in your family, start your own tree.
Cite: Heirology, "John Warfield (1674-1718)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/john-warfield-1674-1718-4fe1af.