USA > Washington DC > Historic graves of Maryland and the District of Columbia : with the inscriptions appearing on the tombstones in most of the counties of the state and in Washington and Georgetown > Part 2
USA > Maryland > Historic graves of Maryland and the District of Columbia : with the inscriptions appearing on the tombstones in most of the counties of the state and in Washington and Georgetown > Part 2
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It appears that the monument to the above was erected by the "Honourable the General Assembly of Maryland" as a testimonial of respect to the memory of the deceased.
The Bordleys lie in a family vault. Thomas, the progenitor of the family in Maryland, was attorney-general of the Province from 1715 to 1726. He was born in Yorkshire, England, about the year 1682 and came to Annapolis about the year 1694, with an elder brother, the Rev. Stephen Bord- ley, who in 1697 was duly installed as second rector of St.
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Historic Graves of Maryland
Paul's Parish, Kent county. Thomas studied law and was considered to be the first lawyer of his day. He married, first, Rachel Beard of Annapolis, who died in 1722. Four of their children lived to maturity-Stephen, William, Elizabeth and John. On September 1, 1723, he married, secondly, the Widow Frisby. Their sons were named respectively Thomas, Matthias and John Beale, the last of whom was born in February, 1726, old style, four months after his father's death, which occurred while on a visit to England for his health. A portrait painted by Gustavus Hesselius before he sailed, represents him as thin and pallid and dressed in gown and wig.
Although the gift of land made by Elizabeth Bordley was conveyed to the vestry of St. Anne's parish, its old name of St. Anne's cemetery has been lost through its incorpora- tion of late years with graveyards of other denominations. It is now more popularly known as the "City Cemetery."
Clustered about the doorway and sides of St. Anne's church, Annapolis, are to be found several ancient tombs of the tabular kind, placed there in recent years to insure their preservation, also others erected in the year 1826, to replace the original ones that had occupied the same spot at a much earlier period. To the right is that of Maj. John Hammond, one of the commissioners appointed in 1694 "to survey and lay out the said town into lots, streets and lanes." It stood formerly in a field at the head of "Ham- mond's Creek," an estuary of the Severn river, about three miles from Annapolis. Amos Garrett's tomb occupies a corresponding position to the left, while those of Henry Ridgely and Nicholas Gassaway complete the number of the first group. The inscriptions read as follows:
Here lieth interred the body of Major General John Hammond who departed this life the twenty-fourth day of November 1707 in the sixty- fourth year of his age.
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Anne Arundel County
Here lieth interred the body of Mr. Amos Garrett of the City of Annapolis in Anne Arundel County of the Province of Maryland, Merchant. Son of Mr. James and Mrs. Sarah Garrett late of St. Olives Street, Southwark then in the Kingdom of England now a part of Great Britain who departed this life March 8th 1707. Atatis 56.
Here Lyeth the body of Mr. Henry Ridgely who was borne the 3rd of October 1669 and departed this life on ye 19th day of March 1699-1700.
Here Lyeth Interred The Body of Nicholas Gassaway Son of Coll Nicholas Gassaway who Departed This Life The 10 Day of March Anno Domini 1699, And In The 31 Year of His Age.
In the second group appear the following:
Here lies the remains of Rebecca late wife of Daniel Dulany of Annapolis and fourth daughter of Colonel Walter Smith. She faithfully and dili- gently discharged her duty in all relations of Daughter and Wife, Mother, Friend and Neighbor. She was virtuous and charitable. She lived an unblemished life and died universally lamented the 18th of March 1737 Aged 40 years. (Coat of Arms.)
Sacred to the Memory of Margaret Carroll Relict of Charles Carroll and daughter of Matthew Tilghman. She was born on the 13th day of Jan. 1742 and died on the 14th day of March A. D. 1817.
In Memory of Benjamin Tasker Jun. Esq late Secretary of Maryland Who died on the 17 Oct 1760 in the 39th year of his age.
In Memory of William Bladen Esq. Who died the 9th of August Anno Domini 1718 in the 48th year of his Age.
Here are deposited the remains of the Honourable Benjamin Tasker who departed this life the 19th of June A. D. 1768 in the 78th year of his Age, which though of a constitution naturally weak and tender, he at- tained through the efficiency of an exemplary temperance. At the time of his decease he was President of the Council a station he had occupied for thirty-two years. The offices of Agent and receiver general and judge of the prerogative Court he successively exercised. Such were his qualities, his probity, equanimity, candor, benevolence, that no one was more re- spected more beloved. So diffusive and pure his humanity, so singular the influence of his deportment that he was no one's enemy nor any one his.
These tombs are erected in the year 1826 in the place of the original ones, which have decayed, by the liberality and filial affection of Mrs. Ann Dulany of the City of London, still longer to perpetuate the memory of those of her respected ancestors whose remains are deposited beneath them.
Several years ago it was proposed to have the Greenberry tombs transferred from the Greenberry's Point farm to the
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Historic Graves of Maryland
same shelter, but here an unexpected difficulty arose, and one that had its humorous side.
The "Farm," having had its ups and downs (like most of the old estates), had finally passed into the hands of a worthy farmer, who provided the "Ancient City" with milk. Being approached about the removal of the stones, he offered no objection, but his wife opposed it vigorously. Upon being questioned as to the motive of her refusal, she answered that the stones were bought with the place, and she did not in- tend to part with them as they were her's and "company" for her! She then explained that people came from all parts of the United States to visit them and she evidently appre- ciated the social intercourse thus provided her in her se- clusion. As no descendant of the former chancellor and "acting" Governor has appeared to dispute her right, the stones, which are not thought to mark the graves of the de- parted, have been allowed to remain, though a movement has been set on foot to inclose them where they are, in order to protect their crumbling surfaces from the greed of merci- less relic hunters.
Col. Nicholas Greenberry was also one of the commis- sioners appointed for the laying out of Anne Arundel Town. This community, originally designated as the "Town at Procter's," received the name of Annapolis in 1695, when its life as a naval station began.
The inscriptions on the stones read:
Here lieth Interred The Body of Colln Nicholas Greenberry Esqr Who departed this Life The 17 Day of December 1697 Aetatis Suae 70.
Here Lieth Interred The Body of Mrs. Ann Greenberry Wh Departed This Life The 27th Day of April 1698. Aetatis Suae 50.
London Lyes interred the Roger New[man] born at in Talbot County in . . 25 years and . The 14 of 1704.
In Roger Newman's will, dated June 14, 1704, and pro- bated June 28, he appointed his friend, Charles Greenberry,
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Anne Arundel County
his executor. This trust, for reasons best known to himself, the latter declined, and yet we find Newman's tomb, or at least what remains of it, near those of Greenberry's parents.
Tradition says that the old meetinghouse of the Puritan settlers stood somewhere hereabouts-on Greenberry's Point, in fact-and was accessible by water to those who lived miles apart by land. It is possible that a graveyard surrounded this meetinghouse. However that may be, these tombs, which no longer cover the dust of those whose names they bear, form an interesting group to speculate. about.
At the top of the Newman slab, otherwise much broken, is an elaborate escutcheon still distinct. Strange to say it combines the Bennett coat-of-arms with that of the Lloyds- the three demi-lions of the one and the lion rampant of the other. In Heraldry in America, Zieber gives these arms as " on the tomb of Newberry, 1704, near the Greenberry tombs." This, of course, is a mistake. It might not be un- reasonable to suppose that a fine slab, such as the Newman stone undoubtedly was, had survived the Puritan graveyard of the earlier period, and that it had simply been recut with Roger Newman's name, when a stone was needed to mark his burial place. Knowing as we do how closely the names of Lloyd and Bennett were associated with the arrival of the Puritans in Maryland, it would not be irrational to infer that this escutcheon pointed to the union of the two families in previous times, and that this stone had covered the remains of some relative of an earlier generation, buried near the old meetinghouse on Greenberry's Point. In fact, unless it be known to the contrary, it might have been originally devoted to the memory of Richard Bennett, the first husband of Henrietta Maria Neale of revered memory, the commis- sioner's son who was drowned while quite a young man. The date of the third Richard's birth is given as September 16,
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Historic Graves of Maryland
1667, which, if our inferences be correct, would approximate the age of the Newman stone.
Newman's friend, Charles Greenberry, appears to have been the owner of "Whitehall," afterwards the home of Governor Sharpe; for upon his death, in 1713, he left it to the church. Whether it was ever used as the glebe of St. Margaret's, Westminster, or was turned to money for the use of the parish, cannot be ascertained now; but the present graveyard at "Whitehall" dates from the time of Governor Sharpe's ownership. Nearly a century and a half ago the first interment took place there. It was that of an indentured servant, name unknown, whose only monument is the beau- tiful carving in the hall and adjoining rooms of the mansion. His pathetic history has been handed down as one of the legends of the place. Transported to this country as a con- vict, though innocent, he served his term in creating these forms of beauty, which were completed just before his death. The proof of his innocence came only in time to gladden his last hours. By his side lies a faithful old gardener-a re- demptioner also.
Governor Sharpe returned to England just before the Revolution and the estate passed into the hands of his secre- tary, John Ridout. The first family grave is that of Meliora Ogle, youngest daughter of John and Mary Ridout, born August 14, 1780, and died July 11, 1781. A kindly letter of condolence written at the time by Governor Sharpe to his former secretary, is characteristic of the loyal friendship borne by him through life. On October 7, 1797, John Ridout himself was laid in the same ground, but having witnessed even at this early day the frequent mutilation of family grave- yards, especially that on the neighboring estate of Green- berry's Point, he positively directed that no tombstones be erected on his or other graves at "Whitehall," an order re- ligiously obeyed by four generations. This, of course, ob-
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Anne Arundel County
scures the identity of individual graves. However, the in- terment of direct descendants only, besides a few family connections, has kept the names in memory by a simple arrangement of family groups. St. Margaret's, Westminster, Parish Register adds also to our knowledge of who is buried there, as the following extract shows:
"Be it remembered that John Ridout, Esquire, a native of Dorset, in England, departed this life on the seventh day of October, Anno Domini 1797 and was buried at Whitehall in this Parish, the funeral ceremony being solemnized by the Rev. Ralph Higgenbottom of St. Ann's Parish. And Mary Ridout (his relict), Daughter of Samuel Ogle Es- quire and Ann his wife, departed this Life in the month of Aug. 1808 and was buried at 'Whitehall.'"
On the shore of South river, on his old plantation of "Brampton," lie presumedly the remains of John Macubin, or Mackubin, the original owner of the land in 1658, and the founder of the family in Maryland. John Mackubin died in 1685, and, dividing his property among his five sons (each one of whom apparently elected to spell his name differently, as their signatures appear William Macubin, Samuel Mac- kieubin, Zachariah Maccubbin and Moses McCubbin, in old parchment deeds in the possession of their various descend- ants), left this the homestead to his oldest son John Macku- bin. The old graveyard lies in the middle of a ploughed field on the farm now belonging to Mr. Thomas Gaither, beyond "Three Oaks," and though intact and unmolested at the last visit of the chairman of the Memorial Committee, it was uninclosed and overgrown with trees and brambles and bore no sign of having once served as a graveyard, save the oblong holes or indentations which mark the graves of those buried there. The tenant on the place bore witness that there were old stones there within his memory, but they were carried away and used in the foundations of some neighboring houses.
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Historic Graves of Maryland
On the other side of Annapolis, across the Severn river and on the road to "Whitehall," lies "Bellefield," once the home of James Mackubin, grandson of John Mackubin, and whose wife, the beautiful Martha Rolle, was distinguished by General Washington's selection to open the magnificent ball given in his honor at the State House on the night of December 23, 1783, after his resignation as Commander-in- Chief of the Revolutionary army. The graveyard at " Belle- field" is in fairly good preservation and bears the following inscriptions on stones still erect and in good condition :
To the memory of James Mackubin who departed this life on the 31st day of August 1834 in the 75 years of his age "He lived respected and died lamented."
In memory of Martha Mackubin who departed this life on the 11th day of November 1823 in the 63 year of her age.
Two smaller stones are to the memory of their sons who died in early manhood, and are inscribed :
James Mackubin died on the 19th of April 1816 aged 30 years.
Frederick Mackubin died on the 30th of January 1816 aged 28 years.
Frederick was killed by a fall from his horse.
In memory of Charlotte Sudler who departed this life on the 2nd. of May 1825 in the 41 year of her age.
Wm. M. Sudler died Feb. 18th 1813 aged 22 months and 7 days.
The oldest stone in the little inclosure is the only other on which the inscription is legible, and indeed this, like most of the oldest stones that have come down to us, is the best preserved. It is to the memory of Capt. Thomas Home- wood, and there is a tradition that "Whitehall," which joins, together with "Bellefield" was once called "Homewood's Lot."
Here lyeth interred the Body of Captain Thomas Homewood late of this Parish who departed this life May 19th in the year of our Lord 1739 in the 35 years of his age.
" Bellefield" was also at one time the home of John Hesse- lius, the portrait painter, who has left in Maryland so many
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Anne Arundel County
good examples of his work. He was born in 1728, died April 9, 1778, and was buried at "Bellefield " in an unmarked grave.
Another interesting cluster of graves is to be found on a farm belonging to the late General Steuart. It retains the name of Mt. Stewart, differently spelled, being after that of a former owner, Anthony Stewart, whom we shall have oc- casion to mention later. Here remain in a fairly good state of preservation the Burgess tombs. Col. William Burgess, who lived here in the seventeenth century, took an active part in the life of the period, holding among other offices, that of councillor, and having also served as deputy governor and as general of the military forces of the Province.
As he married three times, he left a number of descendants, some of whom are interested in having these tombs removed from the field where heretofore they have been carefully protected to the more certain shelter of St. Anne's at Annapo- lis. Colonel Burgess married, first, Miss Elizabeth Robins, daughter of Edward Robins of Accomac county, Va., sec- ondly, Mrs. Sophia Ewen, widow of Maj. Richard Ewen of Anne Arundel county, who left children, and, thirdly, Ur- sula, who survived him and became the wife of Mordacai Moore. Madame Ursula Moore died December 12, 1700, and was buried by the side of her first husband.
Among the old Maryland wills, two testators mention the children of Col. William Burgess: George Puddington makes George, William, Susanna and Edward legatees, while Nicholas Painter leaves property to Charles, William, Ben- jamin, Joseph, Elizabeth and Anne.
Susanna is also mentioned by Susan Billingsly in her will made December 7, 1663. As this lady, the widow of James Billingsly, alludes also to her brothers Richard and John Ewen, the sequence of names would lead one to suppose that family loyalty had gone. so far as to cause the widow Ewen
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Historic Graves of Maryland
to name her daughter by her Burgess marriage after her first husband's sister.
The inscription on Colonel Burgess' tomb is :
Here lyeth ye body of Wm. Burgess Esq who departed this life on ye 24 day of Janu Anno Domini 1686 Aged about 64 yrs. Leaving his dear beloved wife Ursuhla & Eleven children viz: seven sons and four daughters and 8 grandchildren. In his life time he was a member of His Lordships Counsell of Estate, One of his Lordships deputy Governours a Justice of ye High Provincial Court Collon of a Regiment of the trained Guards and sometime Generall of all the Military forces of this Province. His loving wife Ursulah his Execut. in testimony of her true respect and due regard to the worthy deserts of her dear departed husband, hath erected this Me- morial.
On the tombs of his son, William, and his daughter, Anne, are the following inscriptions :
Here lyeth the Body of William Burgess the eldest son that coll. William Burgess had by his Dear and Loveing wife Ursella, he departed this life the 28th Day of June in the year of his age, Anno Domini 1698.
Here lyeth Interred ye Body of Anne the wife of Thomas Sparrow daughter of William Burgess and Ursulla his wife, who was born on Thursday the 7th of Oct. 1680 Married on Tuesday ye 8th June 1697 Sickened the 25th day of ye same month and dyed on Sunday ye 25 of July 1697. This stone is erected as a Lasting Memorial of the person above Mentioned, by her surviving husband Mr. Thomas Sparrow.
In a field some distance from the imposing mansion at "Belvoir," which stands about seven miles from Annapolis, is a plain upright slab bearing simply these words:
Mrs. Ann Arnold Key Died Jan. 5th, 1811 Aged 84 years.
Until a few years ago tradition made this lady the mother of Francis Scott Key of "Star Spangled Banner" fame. To rectify the mistake a block of white marble placed there through the efforts of the Memorial Committee of the Mary- land Society of the Colonial Dames of America, in co-opera- tion with three of Mrs. Key's descendants, now establishes her identity as the poet's grandmother. She was the wife of Francis Key, clerk of Cecil county, and daughter of John Ross, who arrived in Maryland about the year 1721, and
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Anne Arundel County
held a succession of important public offices until his death in 1766. Her mother was Alicia Arnold, the granddaughter of Rev. Thomas Knipe, Prebendary of Westminster, and headmaster of Westminster School, who is buried in the Abbey. Through the letters of her great-aunt, Helen Wolse- ley Sprat, directed to "Madame Alicia Ross at her house at Annapolis in Maryland, in the West Indies," her maternal ancestry is preserved. It includes names of interesting per- sonages figuring in the stirring events of that day. Mrs. Sprat herself was the wife of the Bishop of Rochester, of whom Macaulay says: "He was indeed a great master of language and possessed at once the eloquence of the preacher, the controversialist and the historian." About him the pages of history are not silent, and so we shall pass on to persons more intimately associated with the subject in hand. To quote from my Lady Rochester's correspondence we have the following: "I hear send you your great-grandfather's [picture] In Littel; he was Colon'll Devereux Wolseley, he was third son of Sr Thomas Wolseley of Wolseley's Bridge in the County of Stafford, Knight. My mother, his wife and your great-grandmother always wore it by her side and gave me it when she died. She was Elizabeth Zouch, third daugh- ter and Co-heiress of Sr John Zouch of Codnor Castle in the Co. of Darby, Knight."
This same Sir John Zouche was in 1631 one of the "com- missioners" for the better plantations of Virginia. He was, moreover, brother-in-law of Vincent Lowe, a name not only well known in the archives of Maryland, but, also, as that of the father-in-law of Charles, third Lord Baltimore. In every turn the allusions in this correspondence bring one in touch with families descending from the same source, who have contributed not only to the making of our history, but to the social life of the Province and thence to that of the state.
Thus are we able to link with the name of Mrs. Key's
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Historic Graves of Maryland
grandson, our immortal bard, those of Calvert, Sewall, Rozier, Chandler, Pye, Brooke, Wharton, Whettenhall and many others, whose family ramifications might form a volume by themselves.
Mrs. Ann Arnold Key was well known in her day, and by the community in which she lived. She was not simply the mother, or grandmother, or daughter, or granddaughter of " somebody." When her home at Carpenter's Point near Chestertown was destroyed by fire, she insisted upon return- ing into the burning house to rescue some servants, supposed to be left there, and lost her eyesight from the injuries then received. A letter from her daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth May- nadier, gives the particulars of her last days, showing that she was entirely sensible of her approaching dissolution, was entirely composed, said but little, but now and then began to repeat some of the hymns that had been her solace and delight, for many years past. In this she but carried out the tradition of the women of her race, for from Anne Wolseley Knipe, down, to use an expression of Madame Helen Wolseley Sprat, they were " such good women."
It is said that "Belvoir," where Mrs. Key and her May- nadier grandchildren are buried, was once the home of her father, John Ross. At all events her sister Elizabeth, who had married Upton Scott of Annapolis, lived there with her a part of the time, which will account for a tradition of the latter's ownership.
Near her grave is a small stone with this inscription :
In memory of the infant daughters of Henry and Elizabeth Maynadier, one who died on the 19th day of September 1780 the other on the 2nd. day of December 1783.
The lot was inclosed in the year 1900 by a pipe and post fence at the expense of the Maryland Society of the Colo- nial Dames of America.
"Belvoir" is beautifully situated, and from a slight ele-
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Anne Arundel County
vation across the lawn a fine view of the Chesapeake may be had. It is easy to picture to ourselves the days of the past when the Ross, Key, Scott and Maynadier connections came here to enjoy the hospitality of the fine old mansion and to be fanned by refreshing breezes from the "Mother of Waters."
Nearer by several miles to Annapolis than "Belvoir," and reached by a slight deviation from the same road, lies the old Ridgely-Worthington estate that has been divided into several holdings owned or leased by small farmers.
The old family graveyard has been more than usually abused, and one may say in this case, profaned, in that a rough cellarless cottage was built on the site some twenty years ago over the actual graves, many of the footstones still remaining upright in the ground and visible under the floor of the house. The oldest and best preserved of the gravestones was a gray granite slab to the memory of Henry Ridgely, the second of his name. This full length stone served as a step to the cottage porch at the time of the visit of the ladies of the Memorial Committee and had been broken in two places by wagons driving over it. The in- scription, however, was in good preservation and also the skull and cross bones carved inside a circle at the top.
In view of its being a seventeenth century stone and, to the memory of a man distinguished alike for his own per- sonal services and as the son and namesake of one of the earliest founders of the county, an honored Councillor of the Province, it was decided to make an effort to remove the tombstone for preservation in the churchyard of St. Anne's in Annapolis. This was ultimately accomplished in the year 1899 with the pecuniary assistance of several of his descend- ants.
The only other stones in this graveyard on which the in- scriptions are not obliterated by time or abuse are two in white marble of much later date, erected in memory of Beale
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Historic Graves of Maryland
M. Worthington and his wife Elizabeth, who was the grand- daughter of Henry Ridgely II. The inscriptions read:
In Memory of Beale M. Worthington Died December 22nd 1824 in the 40th year of his age.
In memory of Elizabeth R. Relict of Beale M. Worthington who de- parted this life April 22nd 1837 in the 52nd year of her age.
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