We know from very early colonial land records that the wife of Hendreck Enloes was named Christian, later clarified to Christiana.

Some people say her name was Christiana Wright presumably of a different Wright family than that of William Wright of Somerset County. Hendrick named a Christian Wright in his will but it most certainly was not his wife, nor was it his yet-to-be-born granddaughter who would be named Christiana Enloes and who would eventually marry Thomas Wright.

It may be a clue that his wife’s maiden name was Wright, but how does anyone know that? Where’s the evidence?

I am showing this man as the son of Joris Kindlosson and Fijtgen Hendrecks though I really have strong doubts about that. It is not that I am unable to prove that Hendrick was their son, my problem is I am unable to prove -- or find even the slightest hint of evidence -- that that couple even existed.

In 2013 or so, I did the bulk of my work on my maternal grandfather’s ancestors, including the Enloes family, the progenitor of which was Hendrick Enloes. I was reasonably content with the knowledge that Hendrick had a son Abraham and that Abraham died in 1709 with a pregnant wife and that unborn child was none other than Christiana Enloes who married Thomas Wright in 1735.

I had Hendrick’s will and some knowledge of the names of his children but didn’t pay a lot of attention to his children other than, of course, Abraham.

In 2019, I came to re-visit this family when I heard from Katie Rennie who knew a lot about Hendrick’s daughters and had found a 1729 deed whereby Henry Enloes of Kent County, heir of Hendrick had signed a quitclaim or release to an heir of the man who had acquired land from Hendrick — the quitclaim saying that he, Henry, had no right or claim on the land as Hendrick’s heir. Katie was wondering who Henry was, possibly the son of Hendrick.

So I did more research and discussed the possibilities with Katie and here is an updated profile of Hendrick Enloes.

The earliest mention of Hendrick in America may be the reference in the quitclaim that Henry had surveyed for him Sawyers Choice in 1661.

He was a deponent in 1670 and said he was 38 years old, implying a birth about 1632.

He wrote his will in 1702 and it proved May 1708. He named wife Elizabeth, son Abraham and daughters Margret and Hester (both of whom he referred to as surname Enloes though clearly both were already married. He also mentioned a deceased son John who had surviving heirs. Finally he mentioned Henry Galloway and Christiana Wright.

Working with Katie, I came to understand that daughter Margaret married first William Galloway who died in 1705 and then married James Durham. And daughter Hester married first John Fuller who died by 1700 and she then fairly soon thereafter married John Peters who died within just a few years and she finally married William Wright.

I believe Hendrick also had a son Henry who pre-deceased him and died without issue. The reason I think there was a son Henry

Here are some issues contributing to my current state of confusion.

1.  There's a thing called Maryland Calendar of Wills which sort of abstracts all those old wills and it has Hendrick Enloes 10 Dec 1707 (i.e the date will was written) and 18 May 1708 (will proved).  Then we have Robert Barnes who states those exact same dates.

I'm attaching Hendrick's will.  That date of 1702 couldn't possibly be read as 1707 by someone.  It's a 2.

Now I will say, with my German ancestors of Pennsylvania, they would write their will in German and the registrar would translate and transcribe the will in English into the official big book of wills (in the registrar's handwriting).  So there was this guy who said "I leave such and such to my nine children" and then named seven children.  Turns out the registrar (of long ago) had made a transcription error and skipped the names of two children.  We wrote the then current registrar of that county and asked for the real will which he got for us -- and it named nine children.

So is this the real will or did some clerk "copy" it and mis-date it?  Or did the Calendar get it wrong (a typo) and Barnes copied from them?  Unless I see some plausible theory of how it was 1707 not 1702, I believe 1702.  

That Ronald Cofiell write-up I sent you about Hester's three marriages says Hester married William Wright in maybe 1703 or so and Christian Wright in Hendrick's will was born before 1707 which he says is the date of the will.  He wrote that in 2006.

Then I found this when googling.

https://theenlowtree.weebly.com/uploads/7/8/0/9/7809965/hendricks_enloes.pdf

Note the Person Note on page 1 where this same Colfiell in 2015 says the will was written in 1702.

2.  It of course is curious that Hendrick referred to both daughters as Enloes, not by their married name.  Is it possible that on 10 Dec 1702, both of them were between marriages?  Their name technically would have been their deceased husband's name but maybe old Hendrick didn't totally get that. 

But who is Christiana Wright in his 1702 will?

3.  Now that I know who John Fuller was (Hester's first husband), the deeds surrounding Swallow Fork make more sense.  Hendrick conveyed the land to John Fuller (presumably then his son-in-law) in 1682 and then in 1687, Fuller conveyed it to Henry Enloes Jr.  and I would say it just has the feel that Henry was his brother-in-law.  

So I think there were two Henry's (maybe more).  And I think Henry, son of Hendrick, was born say, early 1660's or so and I think he died before Hendrick wrote his will.  Hendrick's sons did not have much in the way of life expectancy.  Both John and Henry (I think) not only pre-deceased their father, my Abraham died in 1709.  

So who was the Henry in 1729?  My guess is son of John.  

And we're back to Swallow Fork.  My theory is Henry Jr. bought it in 1687 and then died before John.  Then in some way the land of Henry Jr. went to his brother John when Henry Jr. died without issue.  

And then it is said Swallow Fork was listed on some rent roll in about 1705 and said to be held by John Leakins (who had married John Enloes‘ widow) “in right of Inloes Orphans.”  And then in 1724, Henry Enloes conveyed Swallow Fork to Bloys Wright.

I think this Henry -- and also the Henry on that quitclaim/release -- was John's son.

This leaves unanswered the question of why just Henry had to execute the quit claim?

4.  William Wright keeps coming up in connection with this family.  I know you think maybe there was another daughter who had died but I think Hendrick would have left a shilling to her heirs in that case, like he did to John's heirs.  I think I agree with Colfiell that Wm Wright was Hester's third husband.  Somehow Hester's second husband died at such a time as she then had time to marry third Wrght and have Christiana by 10 Dec 1702.

Obviously there's a lot of guesswork and "it feels like" in here.  It really is a wonderful puzzle, isn't it?

Robert Barnes covers the Enloes family based on wills and church records and they are covered in his Baltimore County Families. Here is his biography (a little edited by me) of Hendrick. “Hendrick Enloes, progenitor, was in Baltimore County by 6 Jun 1674 when he was naturalized as a Dutchman. He married by 5 Nov 1679 Christian who survived him. He took up lands: Dutch Neck, Tryangle Neck, Swallow Fork (in May 1683), The Oblong and Low Lands and conveyed with wife Christian Inloes Loyne to John Boring in Nov 1679 and Swallow Fork to John Fuller in Aug 1682. His will named wife Christian, son Abraham, the heirs of his son John, daughters Hester and Margaret, also Christian Wright and Henry Galma.”

I agree with most of this biography and can even expand on some of the points Barnes made:

Hendrick’s naturalization is worthy of more comment than Barnes provided. It was recorded in the Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland. Hendrick was one of several dozen men naturalized that day, from many different countries, by that one act. The place each man was from was clearly stated and for Henry Enloes it said “under the Dominions of the States General of the United Provinces” -- meaning the Netherlands.

That doesn’t put to rest that the family might not previously have originated in Scotland, but that is hearsay while there is strong, direct evidence in support of the contention that Henry was Dutch.

Obviously, despite the way Barnes phrased it, Henry was present in Maryland much earlier than 1674. In fact, he was present by Nov 1664 when John Collett (who I suspect was another ancestor of ours) conveyed 300 acre Elk Neck to Henry and a partner.

And in 1670 he was a deponent and said he was age 38 at the time, from which we learn his approximate birth date.

The reference that Hendrick was married by 5 Nov 1679 to Christian is based on the deed executed on that date whereby Henry and wife Christian conveyed land to John Boring. Our Abraham was born in 1678 so we can conclude with reasonable certainty that his mother was Christiana, as her name was (more accurately?) given on a 1702 deed.

Barnes does not acknowledge her maiden name, but some say that she was Christiana Wright -- no known or stated relationship to our Wright ancestors. This is an example perhaps of how mistakes get made but you can sort of see their origin. I suspect she was not Christiana Wright and the mis-identification resulted from the fact that Henry mentioned Christian Wright -- who he referred to as female -- in his will. Obviously he would not have referred to his wife by her maiden name in his will so he was most certainly referring to someone else who may or may not have had anything to do with his wife. Hendrick did not indicate his relationship, if any, to Christian Wright or Henry Galma.

Abraham, his only surviving son, was the main beneficiary of Hendrick’s will. It was he who received two tracts of one hundred acres each named the Treangall and Dutch Neck and a tract of 30 acres called Enloes Meddow. To the heirs of his son John (presumably deceased) and to daughters Hester and Margaret -- he left only cash.

Barnes lists Swallow Fork as land that Hendrick took up in 1683 and sold in 1682 -- quite a trick. There is also much more to the Swallow Fork story than he tells (see below).

From his will, clearly Hendrick had a son John who pre-deceased him but there was also a man known as Henry Jr. who I’m not sure has been properly identified by descendants and the problem may be that there were two younger men named Henry Enloes and they have been confused with each other.

One or the other, perhaps both, of the younger Henry’s are connected to the tract of land called Swallow Fork. I think Barnes’ statement that Hendrick took it up in May 1683 was a typo and was a reference to a patent in May 1673. And there is that reference to Henry selling it to John Fuller on 28 Aug 1682. I couldn’t find the documents behind either of those supposed transactions, no matter. What I did find and everyone agrees on is that in 1687 John Fuller conveyed Swallow Fork to Henry Enloes Jr.

And then it is said Swallow Fork was listed on some rent roll in about 1705 and said to be held by John Leakins (who had married John Enloes‘ widow) “in right of Inloes Orphans.” And then in 1724, Henry Enloes conveyed Swallow Fork to Bloys Wright. It would have been nice had Henry detailed the way he came to possess Swallow Fork in that deed, they sometimes do, but no such luck in this case.

So who was Henry Jr.? The conventional thinking of people on the Internet -- in this case people who I will acknowledge are truly thinking things through and not just making things up -- is that Henry Jr. was the son of John. That he bought the land from John Fuller, then for some reason conveyed it to his father John, then inherited it or otherwise acquired it back from his father’s estate and finally sold it to Bloys Wright.

The problem with this theory is that I do not see how John could have had a son old enough in 1687 to have been the buyer of property. I assume the deposition wherein Henry Sr. said he was age 38 in 1670 is more or less accurate. So he was born in about 1632, let’s say had son John in 1652 (though it was probably later) and John had a son he named Henry -- and who could then have been called Henry Jr. (just the way things worked back then) -- in 1672. So that son was only 17 in 1687 -- meaning the time frame of things has to be compressed even further for it to work. I have encountered similar scenarios in other families I have researched where to believe some set of events you have to believe two successive generations were born when the father was 18 or 19. Usually it turns out the compressed timeframe was not what happened.

Besides there is the issue of why did Henry Jr. then convey the land to his father John -- sure it’s possible but I can’t recall seeing it happen anywhere else.

Isn’t a better theory that there were two Henry Jr.’s? One was another son of Henry Sr. and died not too long after acquiring Swallow Fork, without heirs, and the land passed to his brother John who then possibly had a son Henry who it later passed to and he was the Henry who sold it to Bloys Wright. I just made that up, only to fit what I consider the facts better than the prevailing theory. I don’t know the truth of the matter and I wouldn’t really care about it at all except that Bloys Wright was our ancestor and so it is his later ownership of the property that makes this whole story of interest to me.

This grandson of Hendrick’s named Henry is important to this story in another way. According to the Internet, Hendrick lived first in Kent County, Maryland on the eastern shore and some also have him in Delaware before coming to Baltimore County. But his association with Kent County appears repeatedly. Many people show St. Paul’s Parish as the birthplace of all of Hendrick’s children.

This is an example of an Internet myth, but one where at least I can understand the erroneous basis. The younger Henry, who we know married Mary, did indeed live in Kent County, Maryland -- clearly having moved there in about 1724 -- perhaps selling Swallow Fork just before leaving.

Church records of St. Paul’s Parish in Kent County show that Henry Enloes and wife Mary baptized six children there in the 1720’s and 1730’s -- named Benjamin, Henry, Mary, Abraham, Jacob and Elizabeth. Some of those names are also the names of Hendrick’s children, so you can see how the mistaken identity occurred. But shouldn’t the dates of those baptisms have immediately exposed the myth?