These sketches were written primarily to trace the paternal ancestry of Mary Wainwright who was born in Somerset County, Maryland, May 11, 1818. She married, November 15, 1837, William Underwood Roberts. They became the parents of a family of six sons and five daughters, all of whom were born at Jesterville and lived to mature years. Mary Wainwright Roberts had, at the time of her death, October 11, 1904, at the age of eighty-six years, more than eighty living descendants. Her ancestry involves, besides her Wainwright forebears, the Cannons, the Bloyces, the Evanses, the Streets, the Rices, and others about whom something is said in this sketch, as well as several other ancient Somerset families.