The common ancestor of the "English Mayburys" was a skilled ironworker, John Maybury (ca1540-1618), who worked in Sussex, Staffordshire, Monmouthshire, Hampshire and Shropshire. At least three of his sons were "hammermen" or "forgemen", as were most in the next several generations in England. In 1657 the first Maybury went to Londonderry in Ireland where he established a furnace and forge near Kilrea. In 1671, another Maybury went to southwest Ireland to work in the iron industry of County Kerry.

By 1700 economic conditions were changing and the English iron industry began to look to the American Colonies as a source of bar iron. Likewise, many English iron workers looked to America to find work. We have reason to believe that the first Maybury iron worker in America was Thomas Maybury "blacksmith", who received a grant of land in Newton Townstead in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1716. We are not sure of all the locations where he worked but to know that he was hired in 1742 to build a bloomery for William Vestal and others on the Shenandoah River in Frederick County, Virginia. Not only did Thomas Maybury head a dynasty of ironmasters in his own family but he had other Maybury cousins who were also ironworkers in America. The following are his direct descendants:

• Thomas Maybury (ca1710-1747), known as "the ironmaster" who built Green Lane Forge in Philadelphia (now Montgomery) County.
• William Maybury (ca1734-1764) - ran the Green Lane Forge, after the death of his father, Thomas.
• Charles Maybury, (died 1787), son of William Maybury. Charles is named as a forgeman in Berks County tax records.
• Thomas Maybury III, married Rebecca Warder in 1766; he purchased Green Lane Forge from the estate of his brother, William and owned it until his own death in 1797. He was also active in other ironworks in New Jersey. When he died Green Lane Forge passed to his sons, William and Willoughby who ran it until 1813. Early in the Rev. War he was at the Carlisle Iron Works in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania for the government. Later he operated the Andover Furnace in New Jersey which was taken over by the Continental Congress, when its Loyalist owners refused to provide iron for the patriots. He was also at the Bastso and Taunton Ironworks in New Jersey during the Revolution. Thomas Maybury III died in Apr/May 1797 in Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania.
• William Maybury (1760-1820) ran the Green Lane Forge with his brother, Willoughby until 1813 when their brother, Thomas IV purchased Willoughby's share.
• Willoughby Maybury ran the Green Lane Forge with his brother, William, until 1813 when their brother, Thomas Maybury IV bought Willoughby's share. Willoughby Maybury then moved to Fredrick County, Maryland where he and Thomas Maybury IV bought Catoctin Furnace. Green Lane Forge passed out of the family in 1814 when William Maybury and Thomas Maybury IV sold it.
• Thomas Maybury IV was born about 1780-85; he and his brother, Willoughby bought the Catoctin Furnace (pictured at right) in in Frederick County, Maryland in 1811. Thomas Maybury IV went into business with William Weaver, buying the Union Forge and the Etna and Retreat Furnaces in Virginia. About 1815 he married a widow, Eleanor Brooke (nee Musgrave). When the Thomas' partnership with Weaver was disolved in 1836, he bought the Gibraltar Forge with his brother-in-law, Thomas Jolly. He also built a new blast furnace which he named the Vesuvius. About 1838 he moved to Louisa County where he built the Victoria Furnace. Then, in July 1840, just Victoria was put into blast, Thomas Maybury IV died.

In addition to these direct descendants, there were a number of other Maybury ironworkers whose relationship to Thomas Maybury is yet to be determined. Most of those listed below were in America before 1750:

• Francis Maybury, Sr., hammerman, was working at Principio Forge in Cecil County, Maryland (pictured at right) at least as early as 1734. Little else is known about him except that he and his son, Francis Maybury, Jr., were both still living in Cecil County in 1755. One of them was still working at Principio in 1759).
• Francis Maybury, Jr., hammerman, was married 11 May 1736 Rose Irwin (d/o James Irwin) in Cecil County, Maryland.
• Capt. Beriah Maybury, son of Francis Maybury, Jr., (1737-1799) married 1. Elizabeth Inch (d/o John and Jane Inch) in Cecil County, Maryland; married 2. 12 Oct 1794 Mary Moufy?; died Jul/Aug 1799. Beriah is said to have served as Capt. in the Rev. War from MD; he is known to have lived in Annapolis where he owned several tracts of land and also owned and operated an iron foundry in Maryland.
• William Mayberry (ca1688-1765), a blacksmith, came to Marblehead, Massachusetts about 1730 from Ballomoney in County Antrim, Ireland. He married Bathsheba Dennis in 1714 in Ireland. He later settled near Windham, which in 1820 became part of the new state of Maine.
• William Mayberry, Sr. (ca1738-18__)was a soldier in the War for American Independence, serving from Pennsylvania. He described himself in his pension application as "a refiner of iron".
• George Mayberry, was probably a son or younger brother of the above William Mayberry. He married Rebecca Pennybacker, a daughter of Dirk Pennybacker, an ironmaster originally from Pennsylvania. Pennybacker and Mayberry are associated with Columbia Furnace in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.
• Sylvanus Mayberry The given name Silvanus (or Sylvanus) is important both because it is unusual and because it points us to a specific branch of the Maybury family in England. John Amstfield has identified five Silvanus Mayberrys. One of our goals is to sort out their relationships:
  • Silvanus I, died 1759
  • Silvanus II, died circa 1802 in Philadelphia
  • Silvanus III, born 1754; died about 1816 Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. He had a son, William (born 1789) who was also a forgeman.
  • Silvanus IV, from Justinian Mayberry family, Frederick County, Maryland
  • Silvanus V, (1817-1883) in Cumberland County, PA circa 1840-1880, forgeman; may be buried in Harrisburg, Dauphin County,Pennsylvania
  One of these Sylvanus Mayberrys was an iron worker is shown by an account book for New Pine Forges in Berks County which contains a heading, "Accout of Pigg Iron sent to Hopewell Forge anno 1745, since Silvanus Maybury came to work." New Pine Forge is near Hereford Forge in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Another Sylvanus Mayberry was connected to the Mayberrys in Shenandoah County, Virginia shortly after 1800.
• Jonathan Maybury owned Fountain furnace, built about 1812 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and Mt. Vernon Furnace in Fayette County. The photo at right shows what remains of Fountain Furnace.


• Richard Maubray (sic) is yet another of the early iron worker Mayburys. The records of records of St. Gabriel’s Church in Amity Township, Berks County name a daughter Jean baptized 10-4-1765 to Richard and Jean Maubray at Glasgow Forge. This seems to indicate that Richard was related to Glasgow Forge in nearby Montgomery County.
• And there are still other Mayburys/Mayberrys in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina who were involved in the iron business and who were related in some way to Thomas Maybury who seems to have been the first of the Maybury ironworkers to come to America.

February 2009