Crossland, *Grace

I found the following in "Maryland Genealogies" at the Louisville, Ky. Library:

(Correction)

Maternal Ancestry of Sir George Calvert

We feel that in view of Maryland's Tercentenary celebration, it is opportune to correct a false notion, on the part of several historians, concernng the maternal ancestry of Sir George Calvert.

In Foster's Visitation of Yorkshire, 1584--1612, et seg., there appear two conflicting versions with respect to the name of the mother of Sir George Calvert (1579--1632) . On page 500, sub (Calvert of Danby Wiske), the first Lord Baltimore is mentioned as a son of Leonard Calvert and his wife Alice, the daughter of "John Crosland of Crosland." On page 509, (ibid), sub "Crosland of Helmsley, George Calvert is mentioned as a son of Leonard Calvert and wife Grace, a daughter of "Thomas Crosland of Crosland" by -----(daughter) of ----- Hawksworth of Hawksworth." Later writers have adopted the one or the other version as their fancy seems to have dictated. Let us eliminate first the incorrect pedigree.

Thomas Crosland (or, Crossland) , of Crosland Hallin the parish of Almondbury, Yorkshire, died in the year of 1587, on a journey to London and was buried September 2, 1587. He married first (1) Mariana or Marina Hawksworth, the daughter of Walter Hawksworth She was buried at Almondbury in 1565. He married (2) Joanna -----, who died and was buried at Almondbury, July 11, 1575.

Thomas Crossland had issue, nine children as follows: by first wife,Thomas and Anne; by second wife, George, John, Michael, Luke, Grace (born Feb. 8, 1572 / 3) who "married Leonard Calvert of Kipling in
Yorkshire."

From the afore going data, it is obvious that Grace Crossland, who was born in 1573, could not have been the mother of Sir George Calvert (1579--1632), yet could have been a second wife of Leonard Calvert, even though twenty years his junior and, thus step-mother of Sir George Calvert.

Another pedigree is supplied by the clever and zealous Calvert family genealogist, Benedict Leonard Calvert (1700-1732), Oxford graduate, who drew up and wrote with his own hand, a Calvert pedigree in which he mentions the mother of Sir George Calvert as "Alicia, daughter and heiress of John
Crosland of Crosland." (Maryland Historical Magazine II page 369.)

This is the correct pedigree, because of no other grounds could the Calvert descendants have exercised the heraldic privilege of quartering the Calvert and Crossland arms. Further, an "heiress", in the heraldic sense, indicated a daughter of a family in which there are no sons. Where there are several such daughters, all have equal status and are styled "co-heiresses."

Copied by Marguerite W.Ang, a Calvert descendant.