An American Family History

Robert Wilson and Mary Douglas were married April 1, 1740, in Charles County, Maryland.

A Robert Wilson lived near present day Emmitsburg on the 100 acre Wilson's Fancy. In 1741 "a part of the Manor Monocacy Road was described as the road from "Robert Wilson's to his Lordship's Manor." It was surveyed for Robert Wilson in 1742 and patented by Elizabeth Wilson. In 1751, Elizabeth sold Wilson's Fancy. This is probably a different Robert Wilson. Emmitsburg is now in Frederick County. It is in northeast Maryland.

Margaret Wilson was born about 1741.

Nathan Wilson 1745

Elizabeth Wilson was born about 1747

In 1748 Frederick County was created from parts of Prince George's and Baltimore Counties.

James Wilson was born in 1751.

Euphon (Euphene) Wilson Claggett was born about 1752

Martha Wilson Ricketts was born March 15, 1760.

Robert Wilson was born 1762

Jane Wilson Ricketts was born about 1763.

Susannah Wilson Ricketts was born about 1767.

Three of their daughters married into the Ricketts family.

Jane married Nathan Ricketts about 1772.

A Robert, John and James Wilson enlisted on July 13, 1776 and served in Captain Leonard Deakins Company, Colonel John Murdock's Maryland regiment of the Flying Camp and were in the Battle of White Plains in New York. Robert would have been about 56. The company was made up of residents of the Georgetown area. Georgetown is in western Maryland.

In 1776, parts of Frederick County became Montgomery County. Montgomery County is just north of Georgetown.

In 1777, James married in the Sugarloaf Hundred of Montgomery County, Maryland. The Sugarloaf Hundred was in the Barnesville area, midway between Georgetown and Hagersville.

Robert Wilson signed the 1778 Fidelity Oath in Montgomery County, Maryland.

In 1781, James moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania where he remained for the rest of his life.

Assessment of 1783: Robert Willson, Linganore Hundred and Sugarloaf Hundred, 1783, Montgomery County,

About 1786 Susannah married Robert Ricketts. At first they lived in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.

Martha married Thomas Ricketts about 1790 in Montgomery, Maryland.

Mary died on June 27, 1790 in Montgomery County, Maryland.

In 1790 the Robert Wilson household in Montgomery County included:

Males - 16 and over: 2
Females: 3

In 1790, the Nathan Rickets household was in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. The same census page listed Richard and Edward Rickets and William, George, David, James, and Robert Wilson.

Martha married Thomas Ricketts about 1790 in Montgomery County.

Euphon and Ninian moved to Fayette County, Kentucky.

Robert, Jr. married Eleanor Shekell in 1792 in Montgomery County. They remained in Montgomery County.

Robert, Sr. died on August 18, 1794 in Montgomery County. He was buried in Monocacy Cemetery, Beallsville, Montgomery County, Maryland.

In about 1797, Martha and Thomas moved to Jessamine County, Kentucky.

In 1803, Jane and Nathan moved to Indiana.

About 1805 Susannah and Robert moved to Dearborn County, Indiana

About 1715 English, Scottish and German settlers found their way to the Montgomery County, Maryland area. It was officially established from Charles, Prince George's, and Frederick counties in 1776.

The Flying Camp was an American military formation used during the second half of 1776. It was a mobile, strategic reserve of 10,000 men. The men recruited for the Flying Camp were militiamen from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.

Barree Township, Pennsylvania was formed in 1767 and was originally part of of Cumberland County, then it became part of Bedford County until 1787 when it became part of Huntingdon County.

from The History of Emmitsburg East of Flat Run & the Families Who Called It Home by Michael Hillman

By most accounts, Robert and Elizabeth [?] Wilson were the family to settle in the Flat Run area of eastern Emmitsburg. Sometime prior to 1733, they emigrated to the area, choosing for their homestead, land that lay in a gently slopping valley on both sides of Flat Run. The soil was rich from years of seasonal flooding, and with Flat Run providing a reliable source of clean fresh water year round, the Wilson’s had all any frontier family could ever hope for. Being alone in the woods, the Wilson’s never felt the need to acquire a deed for their land, which they called Wilson’s Fancy. Things began to change however in 1742, when the neighborhood began to get "crowded." In 1751, several years after Robert's death, his wife, Elizabeth, sold Wilson’s Fancy to William Porter.

from The Real History of Emmitsburg's Founding

Robert and Mary Wilson, whose land now encompasses Silo Hill and Emmit Gardens, named their land Wilson’s Fancy.

from A History of the National Capital, Volume 1 by Wilhelmus Bogart Bryan

One of the battalions of Frederick County raised in 1776 was officered largely by residents in and about Georgetown. The colonel was John Murdock, the lieutenant colonel, Thomas Johns, the first major, William Brooke, and the second major, William Deakins, Jr.

According to the Assembly Proceedings, May 24-June 22,1768 The assembly "read and referred . . .the Petitions of Peter Roby Presley Cochiell, Mark Lattimer, George Lovely, John Tallmage, Robert Wilson, Catharine McDonal, George Waple, John
Wade, Grace Pilkington, William Hudson, John Lammond, Matthew Barnes, Joseph Nalley, John Lucket, Henry Miles, Elisha Harbin, Cornelius Maddox, Thomas Nalley, and John Gilmore
Languishing Prisoners in Charles County Goal. . ."