Tracy Family Tales

In the previous tale I gave the ancestral lineage for the paternal side of Nancy Ann Price's father, Veazey Price. We don't know much about her mother's side, the Bartons, but the maternal ancestors of Veazey Price are well documented. John Veazey Veazey Price is a descendent of John Veazey, born in Essex, England, in 1647. They are said to be from an English family of Norman descent. The name "Veazey" could derive from a plant known as vetch in English or vesce in French. The lands where the plant grew came to be known as the "Veacey" lands. The name itself has many spellings including Veazey, Veasey, Veasie, Vesey, Veazie and Vezey.  John Veazey was granted a tract of land in 1670 bordering the Bohemia and Elk Rivers in what is now Cecil County. This land later became known as "Veazey's Neck" and sat adjacent to "Veazey's Cove". This, along with subsequent land patents, would become the family's ancestral home and is sti...

In the previous tale we identified the mother of Jesse Tracy as Nancy Ann Price and determined that she was born in Maryland before migrating to Kentucky with her family. Let's now explore the Price ancestry of Nancy Ann Price.  William Price The first of the Price ancestors to arrive in the New World was William Price. He was born about 1630 in  Wales and it appears that he arrived in the colonial Province of Maryland in 1653, based on surviving immigration lists. He settled in what was then the northern part of Kent County (founded 1642) “south of the Bohemian River and east of the Elk River” (Crain) and became a planter.  As you can see from the map below, at that time Kent County included almost the entire eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The colony itself did not, at least officially, extend much beyond where William Price established his home.  Approximate location of William Price's settlement in the 1650s Historically, Maryland was settled as a safe ...

In the previous tale we located Bazzle Tracy in Waynetown, Indiana, in the 1880s. We discovered that his parents, thanks to the reporting of Hiram W. Beckwith, were John and Nancy Tracy, and that both were born in Maryland. First we shall turn our attention over to the mother, Nancy Tracy, before we attempt to unravel the mystery of John. Hiram W. Beckwith also tells us, in his biographical sketch of Bazzle Tracy, that Bazzle is married to Elizabeth Price. Elizabeth was born in Fleming County, Kentucky. In the 1880 US Census, she, like Bazzle, also identifies Maryland as the birth place for both her mother and father. Unlike her husband, the census taker indicated that Elizabeth can both read and write (so she may have been Beckwith's correspondent and source for his information).  His wife (Elizabeth Price) was born May 8, 1804, and is a member of the New Light church. They were married March 14, 1822, and have eleven children. Beckwith writes that Bazzle and Elizabeth’s first bo...