Elizabeth De Coursey, of Queen Anne's County, MD, who married Edward Veazey of "Cherry Grove" (1730-1784), Cecil County, MD. is a descendant of this family but I haven't found the connection yet. One of their children was Thomas Ward Veazey, who became Governor of Maryland in 1836. He was grandson of Colonel John Veazey Jr. (1705-1777) and Rebecca Ward (1705-1761), great grandosn of Colonel John Ward (1666-1747) and his wife, Alice (d. 1752).

The Courcys were in Maryland as early as 1654 and perhaps earlier, as in that year "Henry Coursey, Clark" examined certain papers concerning Claiborne and his partners.

This clerk of the Provincial Council was a prominent man in the early history of the Province. He was chief Judge of Kent County and a fighter as well. He was at the Battle of the Severn in the interest of Lord Baltimore in 1655. He and Dr. Luke Barber were sent by Governor Stone as a kind of flag of truce to Governor Fuller and the Puritans. The year following when the Dutch ambassadors from the South River came to consult the Maryland authorities they were entertained at the home of Colonel Coursey. Augustine Hermann was the chief of the ambassadors of the Dutch. We find Colonel Henry Coursey covering himself with honor and eliciting commendation of the Governor and Assembly in his transactions with the Five Nations at a congress in Albany, New York, in the year 1677.

Of Colonel Henry Coursey of Cheston-on-Wye, the tradition regarding the land called My Lord's Gift, which is one of the fine ancestral estates of the De Courcys, now in possession of a female line of descent, says that in consideration of the valuable services rendered to the government by Henry Coursey, particularly those in regard to a treaty he had recently made with the Iroquois Indians, the Governor offered to give him "as much land as he could cover with his hand" upon a map spread out before them. Selecting a point on Queenstown Creek, he placed his thumb on the map and drawing a line around his outspread hand, surrounded what proved to be around 1600 acres of land, and being patented in his Lordship's name was known ever afterward as My Lord's Gift.

In the year 1656 Governor Josias Fendall had bestowed upon Colonel Henry Coursey 1000 acres, probably in recognition of his services at Providence the year before. In the year 1682 this important gentleman is present as one of the council at the interview between Lord Baltimore and William Penn at the house of Colonel Thomas Tailler.

It must be known that his two brothers were also filling high offices in the Province, even though not figuring so conspicuously as the head of the family.

In 1657 John Coursey, gentleman, was sheriff of the county of the Isle of Kent, while William Coursey, Gent., was sheriff of the county of "Calverton".

That the De Courcy men had a high sense of honor we can judge from the action of Edward, son of William Coursey, 3d, of Cheston-on-Wye. This Edward Coursey entered the revolutionary army when but seventeen years of age, was captured at the battle of Long Island and remained a prisoner two years. When he returned he found his estate greatly damaged through the one who had taken charge, the young man himself being an orphan. He declined to accept any pay for his services in the war, holding that he had served his country purely from patriotic motives.

Later in life his son suggested to the Captain that at some future time he would himself claim a pension for his father's services, whereupon the brave old veteran calmly took his commission out of his desk and, tearing it into pieces, threw it in the open fire, declaring that no heir of his should benefit by the services his duty had called him to perform in behalf of his country.

In his will Captain Edward Coursey this addresses his sons regarding their name, which from the time of the first settlers was invariable written Coursey.

"As from the respectable and public manner in which it cannot be believed that nay necessity of concealment induced them to alter the original spelling of the family name, I am led to believe the change took place from the antipathy which sometimes existed betwixt the subjects of Great Britain and France, and probably with them at this time, and that they intended thereby to efface the mark of their FRench descent, etc. Therefore I request and advise both my sons to resume the ancient manner of spelling their family name, viz., De Courcy, and to use that signature in all future transactions."

The spelling has prevailed in the Maryland family ever since. As they have always claimed their descent from the Earl of Ulster and Lord Kingsale, their indifference to the lapsing of their claim to the title in no wise established in their minds the claims of the one who received the title and estates upon the death of the old Earl Gerald. The estates of the De Courcys have covered many thousands of acres.

Hester Dorsey Richardson, Sidelights on Maryland History with sketches of early Maryland families (Cambridge, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1967), Vol II, pages 81-84, MD 975.2 R.