About Mary Anne Chew
Mary Chew was born in 1736 at Anne Arundel County, Maryland, into one of Maryland's most prominent families. She was the daughter of Samuel and Henrietta Lloyd Chew, and a direct descendant of John Chew, who arrived at Jamestown in 1622 on the ship Charitie. The book, Historic Families of America, says of the Chews: "They belong to that remarkable group of families which, founded in the Southern Colonies by ancestors of excellent birth and breeding, assumed at once a position of social and public consequence, and subsequent generations, by the merits and character of their members, as well as by influential alliances, steadily maintained and strengthened their original prestige."
Mary Chew married William Paca on May 26, 1763. She was a girl of considerable wealth, and their marriage ensured his position among the Maryland gentry. William was a young lawyer who had just been elected a member of the Maryland Provincial Assembly. Mary gave birth to three children, but only one child survived to adulthood, a son named John born March 17, 1771.
William Paca House
Mary Chew was described as "an amiable and most agreeable young lady of this City, with a very considerable fortune." Part of her wealth went toward the building of their five-part Georgian mansion with extensive gardens in Annapolis. Four days after their wedding, the Pacas purchased two lots in Annapolis and soon began building their new home. Constructed between 1763 and 1765, the estate is known chiefly for its elegant grounds, including five terraces, a fish-shaped pond, and a wilderness garden. The Paca Garden covers two acres behind the home.
There are no known portraits of Mary Chew Paca.