Cornelius Maddox is regularly described by genealogists as having arrived in Maryland in 1680, based on a 9 July 1680 claim made by the merchant John Reddich/Redich/Reddick for transporting Cornelius and 19 other “transportees” (Maryland Patents Liber WC2, Folio 199, 9 July 1680).  However, John Reddich’s claim is likely an aggregation of these 20 transportees’ obligations.  These 20 transportees almost certainly did not arrive together on 9 July 1680.  Instead, the transportees probably arrived in the years before 1680, based on typical claim patterns at the time (“The Five George Masons: Patriots and Planters of Virginia and Maryland.”  Copeland, Pamela and MacMaster, Richard.  University Press of Virginia: Charlottesville, 1975. pp. 10&23.).

John Reddich was exercising the Colonial headright system, which rewarded sponsors of immigrants’ travel into the Colonies by providing 50 acres for each transportee’s arrival.  By claiming 20 headrights, including his own name, Reddich would have earned a 1,000 acre land grant from the Maryland Calverts.

The year 1680 would have been one of the worst times to arrive in the Maryland Colony.  The Colony was dealing with Catholic-Protestant upheaval, Indian territorial fights, and – most important for a merchant like Cornelius – a tobacco market recession.