Christian Cartledge, wife of Charles Polke, Indian Trader of the Potomac
by Christie Ann (Hill) Russell


The original text of this article appeared in the Knox County Indiana Genealogical Society quarterly publication, The Northwest Trail Tracer, Vol. XVIV, Number 1, March 1998. It was revised February, 2001.
Of interest to descendants of Charles Polke, the Indian Trader, is research that has brought to light the identity of his wife, Christian. From the original Register of Marriages, First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, 1701-1746, pg. 8, Department of History Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Philadelphia, comes the marriage record dated, 8-4-1734,1 Charles Pulcke and Christian Cartlidge.. Rev. Jedediah Andrews was the minister at that time. The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia was located between Bank Street and Market Street in what is now called the "Olde City" section. It was surrounded by fine sycamore trees and was known as the "Buttonwood Church".2 Credit must be given to Helen Pollock Chaney who was the first to locate the marriage record in the Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, Vol. IX, pp. 12 and 57.3

Christian Cartledge was the daughter of Edmund and Ann (Richardson) Lane Cartledge. Her paternal grandfather, also Edmund Cartledge,4 came from Ridings in the county of Darby, England and settled in Upper Darby township, Delaware County [later Chester County] Pennsylvania in 1682. He and his wife, Mary Need, were Quakers "received on certificate from" Brake/Breath House Monthly Meeting, County of Darby, England to Darby Monthly Meeting.5 At the time of his death in 1703, Edmund owned land in Darby and Plymouth townships as well as Philadelphia. He is buried in the Darby Friends Burying Ground, Darby, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He and his wife were the parents of: John, Mary, and Edmund. John married Elizabeth Bartram and Mary married Jacob Trego.

In 1718 both sons of Edmund and Mary Cartledge were found on tax assessment rolls. Edmund was the collector of taxes in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The two brothers were among the few Quakers who embarked in Indian trade. John and Edmund Cartledge are mentioned as fur traders for James Logan. John kept the trading post at Conestoga for James Logan. The two brothers traveled down Little Owens and Owens Creek to what is now Stulls Ford of the Monocacy River in Maryland, a route which became known as "Cartledges Old Road".6 John died in 1726. By 1733, Edmund was a taxable in "Monocasie Hundred", of Frederick County, Maryland. In 1737 he established a trading post on 200 acres named in the deed as "Hickory Tavern" located near Sharpsburg in present day Washington County, Maryland [formerly Frederick Co. originally Prince George’s County]. It was located between Conegochiege and Anteatum. In 1738 he owned land at "Antietam Level", now the site of Fort Ritchie.

Christian’s mother, Ann Richardson, was the daughter of Samuel Richardson, "the first Alderman of Philadelphia, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Provincial Councillor, and with the exception of Samuel Carpenter, the richest man in the city, owning all of the ground on the north side of Market Street from Second Street to the Delaware River and was a Quaker. He arrived in Philadelphia by way of Jamaica in 1687 from London. The children of Samuel Richardson and his wife, Eleanor, were: Ann, Joseph, Mary and Elizabeth. Ann married first Edward Lane who owned seventy-five hundred acres on the Perkiomen River, where he built a mill and tavern and founded St. James Episcopal Church. By him she had seven children named in his Will dated not long before his death in March 1710. The children were: William, Samuel, James, Elizabeth, Christian, Eleanor and Anne.7 Sometime before the death of Ann’s father, Samuel Richardson, in 1719, it is believed that Christian Lane must have died as she is not named in her grandfather’s [Samuel Richardson’s] will.8 Provisions were made for Ann’s six surviving children by Edward Lane and her three children by Edmund Cartledge. It is probable that Ann and Edmund married by 1711-12. Assuming that Christian was approximately eighteen when she married Charles Polke in 1734, she was probably born about 1716 and was undoubtedly named for her deceased half-sister.

Ann Richardson’s only brother, Joseph, collected down to the time of his death, the ground rents upon the property [north side of Market Street from Second Street to the Delaware River] which had been devised to him by his father."9 Ann’s sister, Mary, married William Hudson, tanner and Mayor of Philadelphia, her sister, Elizabeth, married Abraham Bickley, a wealthy merchant who owned a warehouse at the Port of Philadelphia. Bickley’s warehouse on the Delaware is found on an old map of the city of Philadelphia.10 . An excellent article entitled, "Charles Polke: Indian Trader of the Potomac, 1703-1753, by John G. Kester, appears in the Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. 90, 4, Winter 1995, pgs. 447-465. In his article, Mr. Kester describes with fresh detail the geographic movement and historic context of Charles Polke’s life as an Indian Trader in the dense untraveled forests of Maryland. It is learned that Charles Polke and his brother, William, probably having received an advance of their inheritance, left Somerset County, Eastern Shore of Maryland, sometime following the death of their mother in 1720. They went together to the vicinity of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. By 1724-1726 Charles Polke’s name appears on the tax assessment list for Conestoga Township in Chester County Pennsylvania which became part of Lancaster County in 1729. It is further learned that, "one of the well established trails leading further west was the ‘Conestoga Path’, an Indian trail which began near Carlisle at the Susquehannock Indian village of Conestoga. From there it descended to the Susquehanna River, then southwesterly through York County, Pennsylvania, and then down to Maryland, fording the Monocacy River near Frederick and, proceeding westward along the Potomac."11

It was in the Indian trade that Edmund Cartledge and Charles Polke must have met. In 1733 Edmund Cartledge was appointed a justice of the peace in Maryland. By the time of his marriage to Christian, Charles was listed as an Indian trader in Maryland. When Edmund Cartledge died in 1740, [Col] Thomas Cresap was named the administrator of his will. For a year the administrators were seeking Charles Polke who was thought to be in possession of some of the effects of the deceased, Edmund Cartledge. Charles appeared to testify in court on May 12, 1741 stating the only effects in his possession were an old saddle and old gun which had been brought to his house after the death of the deceased. Two witnesses supported the claims of Charles and the case was discontinued.

Charles Polke was one of the petitioners seeking the creation of Frederick County Maryland through a division of Prince George’s County October 16, 1742. George Washington, a youth of fifteen, was in the company of surveyors for Lord Fairfax, when he recorded in his journal his over night stop at Charles Polke’s on March 20, 1749:
Sonday 20th finding y. River not much abated we in y. Evening Swam our horses over and carried them to Charles Polks in Maryland for pasturage til y. next morning. Monday 21st We sent over in a Canoe and travell’d up Maryland side all y. Day in a Continued Rain to Collo Cresaps right against y. mouth of y. South Branch about 40 miles from Polks I believe y. Worst Road that ever was trod by Man or Beast.12

Charles Polke was appointed to oversee construction of a road from Fifteen-Mile Creek to Great Tonoloway Creek and was appointed three years later a constable for Linton Hundred of Frederick County Maryland. During many absences when Charles was away on his trading expeditions, Christian was left to carry on the business at the Trading Post, give directions to travelers passing through, and manage a household of young children. Diary entries made by Moravian missionaries and other travelers describe the North Bend trading post location [now Hancock, Maryland] as a busy and at times rowdy establishment.13

In the spring of 1753, Charles Polke died leaving Christian and six minor children aged seven to seventeen. Named as executors of his Will were his wife, Christian, and Ralph Matson probably a neighbor. Due to the remote location, hostile conditions, and the fact that Christian was left alone with six minor children to raise, it is believed that Christian and Ralph Matson married by 1754. During the French and Indian War which began in 1755, attacks were made on frontier families by Indians being stirred up by the French to discourage the settling of the western waters. The Maryland Gazzette, Annapolis March 11, 1756 gave an account of an Indian raid reported from Frederick County:
"Thursday, 4 March 1756: Two boys near Lawrence Wilson’s in Frederick County, were killed and scalped by the Indians. A son of Mr. Lynn’s was found killed and scalped. Mr. Lynn and three more of his family are missing. Ralph Matson’s house, about a half a mile from Stoddert’s Fort, was burnt on Tuesday last week. Some sheep which were in a pen near the house, the Indians flung in the fire alive, others they killed and some they scalped. On the 11th of March 1756, a letter from Isaac Baker at Conocochegue says that on their march to Toonaloways, about 5 miles this side of Stoddert’s Fort, they found John Myers’ house in flames. Up the road they found Mr. Hynes, killed and scalped. Ralph Matson’s house, within a mile of Stoddert’s Fort, was burnt down. Stoddert’s Fort was on alert for being attacked. They then went to Combes’ Fort where there were two men trying to protect over forty women and children...The people at Combes’ Fort intend leaving there and going to Stoddert’s Fort".14

A sworn statement at Linton Hundred December 2, 1765 by Thomas Polk, one of Christian’s sons, names Christian Matson in the household of Ralph Matson. A deed in Washington Co., Maryland dated 3 March 1779--Christian Matson and Edmond Polk (Christian's son) to George Brent 100 acres along Potomac River- L250. This would indicate she had later married Ralph Matson after the death of Charles Polke.

Ralph Matson may have had a son named Ralph from a previous marriage or he and Christian may have had a son who was so named as a brother by Thomas Polke in his Will in Nelson Co. Ky. dated Sept. 15, 1804. Thomas Polke left "to brothers Edmond and Charles Polke; Ralph Matson and sister, Sarah Piety, five shilling each".15

It is not known when or where Christian died or is buried. Her sons, Charles, the Indian Fighter, Thomas, Edmund, and daughter, Sarah Piety [Sarah had married Austin Piety] as well as some of the Matsons migrated on flatboats down the Ohio River to Kentucky settling in that state and moving into Indiana.

In the Revolutionary War, Captain Charles Polke, Thomas Polke, and Ralph Matson are listed among the men who served under General George Rogers Clark’s Illinois Regiment of Virginia from what is now Kentucky.16 Captain Charles Polke and Thomas Polke served in a company of Militia Commanded by Col. William Lewis. Captain Charles Pollock was issued a black horse with the brand "CP" for 20 days in the 1782 expedition against the Indians. Ralph Matson served in the Jefferson County, Virginia (later the state of Kentucky), Militia under the command of Capt. Aquilla Whitaker, May-June and Oct.-Nov. 1782.

In January 1784, Jefferson County Virginia (Kentucky)was divided into two distinct counties by the Salt River and the part lying south of the said river was called Nelson. In Nelson County, Virginia Minute Book Records, years 1785-1787, " CHARLES POLKE gent be appointed to take the list of tythables within the bounds of his Militia Company."17 By 1792 Nelson County, Kentucky included all or part of the present Kentucky counties of Nelson, Marion, Larue, Hardin, Breckinridge, Hancock, Daviess, Ohio, Grayson, Taylor, Meade, Henderson, McLean, Butler, Edmonson, Adair, Hart, Green, Casey, Anderson, Spencer, Bullitt. Nelson County Tax Records 1792-1794 from Gabriel Cox District show that during that time Charles Polke, Sr. paid taxes on as many as 6 horses, 14 head of cattle, 440 acres; Sarah Piety 2 cattle; Edmund Polke 5 horses, 19 cattle, 500 acres; Thomas Polke 4 blacks [slaves], 5 horses, 27 cattle, 200 acres; Thomas Piety 6 horses, 27 cattle, 200 acres; Charles Polke, Jr. 1 horse, 13 cattle, 140 acres; Thomas Polke, Jr. 2 horses.18

The descendants of Charles and Christian (Cartledge) Polk continued to press westward with successive generations as pioneers founding new settlements on the Frontier.

ENDNOTES
1. Until 1752, the calendar year began with March; therefore the date of their marriage [8th month, 4th day] was October 4, 1734.
2. History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Vol II, by J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, 1884, pgs. 1263-1264.
3. Helen Pollock Chaney letter, January 13, 1977, Rochester, New York, on file in the Genealogy Division, Indiana State Library, MS. Pam. 929.2, P No. 1. The Pennsylvania Archives record of marriages spells the groom’s name as “Pulke” and Christian’s name as Christine.
4. In this branch of the Polk family, Edmund/Edmond is frequently found as a given name among the men and Christian/Christiana/Christina among the women. A 5th great granddaughter to Christian Cartledge and 6th great granddaughter to Ann Richardson, this researcher’s parents shared this tradition when they chose to name their daughter Christie Ann.
5. Index to [Pennsylvania] Quaker Meeting Records, Vol. 2, part 12, William Wade Hinshaw, Darby Monthly Meeting established in 1682 [Upper Darby Township, Darby], Delaware County by Chester Monthly Meeting., pg 40.
6. Grace L. Tracey and John P. Dern, Pioneers of Old Monocacy, The Early Settlement of Frederick County, Maryland 1721-1743, Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc, Baltimore 1987, pg.13-14.
7. From an article by Rev. A.J. Barrow, Rector, St. James P.E. Church at Evansburg, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, October 28, 1894 in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 19, 1895, pgs 87-91.
8. From an article by Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker entitled “Joseph Richardson’s Road”, in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 35, 1911, pgs. 41-50.
9. “Joseph Richardson’s Road”, Pennypacker;
10. “A Plan of the City of Philadelphia, the Capital of Pennsylvania” by Benjamin Easburn, Surveyor General: 1776. London. The Polk Warehouse/Wharf today would be located where Pier 2North is found.
11. Kester, Charles Polke
12. T.J.C Williams, History of Frederick County Maryland, Vol. I, 1910, pg. 21, also found in The Diaries of George Washington 1748-1799, edited by John C. Fitzpatrick, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1925..
13. Kester, Charles Polke, Indian Trader of the Potomac, pgs.450-452.
14. Williams, History of Frederick County Maryland, Vol. 2.
15. Helen M. Sole, Polkes In Maryland & Kentucky, Northwest Trail Tracer, March 1992 , pg. 7-9. His will dated Sept 15, 1804 and proved 9 Nov 1807, Nelson Co. Ky (Bk A-1014) .
16. George Rogers Clark and His Men Military Records, 1778-1784, compiled by Marger y Heberling Harding, Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, 1981.
17. Residents of Nelson County Virginia (now Kentucky) Recorded in Tithable and Tax Lists, Vol I. compiled by Margaret Johnston Schroeder and Carl Schroeder, 1988, Bardstown, Ky., vi.
18. Residents of Nelson County Kentucky (Formerly Virginia) Recorded in Tax Lists, Vol. II, compiled by Margaret Johnston Schroeder and Carl Schroeder, 1989, Bardstown, Ky., pgs. 40-41,79-80, 102.