Chancy (Chancey, Chansy), Edmund (Edmond)

d. ca. 1677

Edmund (Edmond) Chancy (Chancey, Chansy), council member in North Carolina, came to the colony before September 1670 and settled in Pasquotank Precinct. He was a member of the council in 1672 and died in or before 1677. Little more is known about his life.

In his will, Chancy named Valentine Bird trustee of his estate and custodian of his children; Bird died soon after Chancy's death, and his widow, Margaret Bird, settled the Chancy estate which was appraised at about £226. The estate was later placed in the custody of Matthias Towler, who was appointed guardian for Chancy's orphans.

Chancy left three or perhaps four children, apparently already motherless. Hannah, who seems to have been the eldest, married Thomas Burnsby (Bonsby, Burnby) in 1684. Edmund, Jr. (called Edward in some records), was about fourteen at the time of Hannah's marriage. He requested that his new brother-in-law be made his guardian, and the court complied. Edmund himself was married by September 1703 to a woman named Sarah. A third Chancy orphan was William, who married Deborah Simons, daughter of Jeremiah Simons, in February 1700/1701. An Elizabeth Chancy, who married Samuel Nicholson in about 1688, probably was a daughter of Edmund Chancy, Sr., but has not been positively identified as such. Edmund, Jr., William, and Elizabeth were Quakers; Hannah appears not to have belonged to that faith.