This area of my website lays out the research I've been conducting on the Broady family off and on for the last 20 years, mostly since 1990.

Most information commonly seen on the Southern Maryland Broadys came from an unpublished family history compiled by the Rev. William Cowan Broady around 1915-16. He based his work on visits to Broady relatives over the course of the previous 30 or 40 years, as well as his knowledge of his own Blount Co., Tennessee, branch of the family. His account covers only the descendants of his great-grandfather, Joseph Broady (c1763-1835).

In his compilation, Rev. Broady claims that the Broadys were Scotch-Irish from Ulster, and that they first came to Maryland in the pre-revolutionary period. While some his early information on the Broadys was dimmed by the passage of time, by and large his information has proved to be confirmed by the original records that I've consulted over the last several years.

I've conducted most of my research in St. Mary's Co. and Charles Co., Maryland, and Henry Co. and Franklin Co., Virginia, and to a lesser extent in Grainger Co, Tennessee, and Washington Co. and Barren Co., Kentucky. I've uncovered information on not only the Joseph Broady line, but on the line of his probable elder brother John Broady, who eventually established himself in Franklin Co., Virginia. I've also found information on John and Joseph's probable father, Thomas Broady, as well as a few other Broadys living during the 1700's in Southern Maryland.

The name has also at times been confused with the surname Brad(e)y, and even the surname Broad(a)way.

Records on the Broadys while they were in Southern Maryland are very scant. There is no known record of any Broady ever owning land, so it is safe to assume that they were either farm laborers or tenant farmers. A few records indicate that while in Maryland they were, like most non-Catholics, considered members of their neighborhood Anglican parish. With one notable exception, they all seem to have lived quietly and respectably, and this respectability enabled them by the revolutionary period to be seen intermarrying with land-owning families. During the two decades following the revolution, these few, obscure Southern Maryland Broadys had all departed Maryland for opportunities elsewhere.

The earliest Southern Maryland Broady that I've found in records is James Broady. He was referenced by name only in a few Charles Co. records from 1733 through 1735. The other persons mentioned in the records owned land in Charles Co. southeast of Bryantown near the St. Mary's county line, suggesting James lived in that area. After a gap of over 20 years, James Broady Sr. or James Broady Jr. were referenced in St. Mary's Co. records from 1758 to 1767. During this time they may have worked as farm laborers for Mr. David Dick of Upper Resurrection Hundred (the northeastern part of St. Mary's Co.). The elder James Broady probably died sometime during the following ten years, for from 1776 through 1790, only the younger James Broady (without the "Jr.") appeared in St. Mary's Co. records, still apparently in the Upper Resurrection Hundred area. I haven't found any indications of what became of this younger James Broady or his descendants.

Thomas Broady and Joseph Broady (not the above mentioned Joseph), appeared in St. Mary's Co. records in the early 1750's. Thomas was referenced once in 1751, and Joseph was referenced in 1753 (as "Brady") and 1754 (as "Broadway"). The other persons mentioned in these records suggest that Thomas and Joseph at the time resided in Chaptico Hundred (the northwest part of St. Mary's Co., bordering Upper Resurrection Hundred to the west), in an area probably just southwest of the former Cool Springs (now Charlotte Hall). Although Thomas and Joseph were probably of an appropriate age to be the sons of the above mentioned James, and lived in proximity to him, no other evidence I know of suggests such a relationship. Following the 1754 record, in which Joseph had a serious run-in with the law, he appeared in no further Southern Maryland records, and, as far as I've been able to determine, vanished without a trace.

I've found no further records referring to a Thomas Broady until 1778, when Thomas Broady and John Broady as residents of Bryantown Hundred in Charles Co. begin appearing in records. Since an Elizabeth Broady was married to John Farrand in the same area in 1772, Thomas (who due to a lack of other candidates is by default probably her father) was likely already there by this earlier time. Although this is not necessarily the same Thomas as in the 1751 record, the year of 1751 appears to be consistent with early manhood for the Thomas living later in Bryantown Hundred. Thomas remained in Bryantown Hundred until administration of his intestate estate was granted to John Broady (no relationship given) in 1790.

John Broady, as administrator of Thomas' estate, was probably Thomas' eldest son. Consistent with that, John named his eldest son Thomas. In 1778, John married Elizabeth Davis (one of the few surviving Southern Maryland marriage records). John remained in Charles Co. through at least 1798, when he appeared on the federal tax assessment list as the occupant of land owned by John Moran, Jr. By 1800, John had moved to an area of northeast Henry Co. and southeast Franklin Co., Virginia, where a large number of Charles Co. families had removed, including John's probable brother Joseph (he had already departed Franklin Co. around 1796) and his wife's probable brother Williamson Davis. After spending his first two years in Henry Co., John then spent the remainder of his life in the Snow Creek area of Franklin Co., acquiring land in 1807. He died in 1828. John's descendants in Franklin Co., through his youngest son Williamson, by the late 1800's had adopted the spelling of "Brodie". Two of John's sons, Thomas and John, established themselves in Barren Co, Kentucky, and another son, Richard, married in Washington Co, Kentucky.

I've never actually found any Charles Co. references to Thomas' probable younger son Joseph Broady (Joseph also named his eldest son Thomas). Joseph's wife Jane Dent, however, was almost certainly from Newport West Hundred of Charles Co., which bordered Bryantown Hundred just to the south. Joseph and Jane probably left Charles Co. shortly after their marriage about 1785 (no record exists). They first went to northeast Henry Co. to join Jane's probable brother Walter Dent and other Charles Co. families. In late 1787, both Joseph and Walter bought tracts of land in the Chestnut Creek area of southeast Franklin Co., joining Walter and Jane's probable brother Samuel who had probably moved to the same vicinity earlier in the year. Soon two more of Jane's probable siblings also moved into the area. John Dent came by 1790, and Mary McGregor with her husband Walter McGregor came by 1793. Joseph sold off his land and about 1796 moved from Franklin Co. to Grainger Co., Tennessee. The aforementioned John Dent probably joined him there the next year. After Joseph's wife Jane died in 1807, he remarried in 1808 to Mary McFadden. About 1811, Joseph moved on to Washington Co., Kentucky, where he remained until moving on to Scott Co., Indiana, about 1818-19. In Scott Co., his second wife also died, and he remarried a widow Sparks. He died in Scott Co. in 1835.