USA > Delaware > Colonial mansions of Maryland and Delaware > Part 10
USA > Maryland > Colonial mansions of Maryland and Delaware > Part 10
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bodices, a gauze coat, 1 flowered satin party coat, 4 party coats, 4 pairs of shoes and 1 pair of galoches, silk and worsted stock- ings, 2 head dresses, a box of handkerchiefs, 3 pictures, a parcel of neck lace, 1 diamond ring, 1 mourning ring, 4 stone rings, 3 rings and a pair of earrings, 2 pictures, a little box of cash, a flowered " satting " morning gowne, a long scarfe lyned with velvet, a parcel of silver lace and footings, 2 pairs stays, 1 black scarfe, 1 parcel of beads and silver cross and snuff-box, 1 gowne and party coats, 1 silk petticoat with silver fringe, 1 silk mourn- ing gowne, 1 riding gowne, 1 sable tippet and strings, 2 short aprons, girdle and mask, etc.
In her will Madam Lloyd disposed of an unusually large estate, and it is interesting to note among her effects " the great wrought silver dish " which she left to her three daughters.
Undoubtedly one of the prettiest romances asso- ciated with Wye House is that of the two brothers, Edward Lloyd, the Second, and Philemon, who were rivals for the beautiful Sarah Covington, a winsome Quaker maiden. According to the tale, Sarah Coving- ton, mounted on a pillion behind her father, rode into Tred Haven to attend that notable yearly meeting to which came William Penn, Lord and Lady Baltimore, and others of note. The two dashing cavaliers from Wye House, seeing the Quaker maiden from Somerset for the first time, fell desperately in love with her.
At the close of the meeting, without acquainting each other of their intentions, the young cavaliers rode hard and fast by different routes into the neighbouring county, meeting at the fair Quaker's gate. Guessing
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each other's secret, they agreed that he who had seen her first should first have the privilege of seeking to win her. Philemon, it appears, had seen her upon first entering the meeting-house, but Edward had seen her on the way to the meeting-house, and of him the Quaker maid's father had inquired the road. Whereupon Philemon mounted his horse and rode away, while Edward entered the Covington home and in due course married the fair Sarah.
Sarah Covington, after the death of Edward Lloyd, married Col. James Hollyday, and was first mistress of the mansion known as Readbourne in Queen Anne County. Philemon Lloyd was Deputy Secretary of the province in the year 1709. He was also a member of the Council and was a man of great prominence and influence in his day.
Each Edward Lloyd, seven of whom have been masters of Wye House, in succeeding to the great ancestral estates of Wye, fell heir to offices of public trust and honor, and we find in this distinguished family three governors, councillors, burgesses, members of Assembly, presidential electors, captains and colonels in colonial and revolutionary times.
Edward Lloyd, the Fourth, was a conspicuous patriot through the entire revolutionary period. He was a member of the Provincial Conventions in 1775 and 1776. He was chosen by the convention of 1775 a member of the commission of safety of the Eastern
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Shore. In 1780, he was a delegate to the lower house of Assembly, and in 1781-1786 and 1791 was elected to the State Senate. In 1783-1784, he was delegate from Maryland to the Continental Congress, and in 1788 was a member of the State Convention to ratify the Federal Constitution.
His son Edward was a member of Congress from 1806 to 1809, in which latter year he became Governor of Maryland. He was also a presidential elector in 1812, and cast his vote for Madison. From 1816 to 1826, in which year he resigned, he served in the United States Senate. His successors have continued to live the life of wealthy country gentlemen, but have ever responded to the call for public service, in the discharge of which they have reflected credit upon their family name, and upon the State of Maryland.
With Wye House is connected the name of that strange historic character, Fred Douglass. This mulatto boy, the illegitimate son of a white man of con- siderable learning and a coloured woman who was owned by a sailing master in the employ of Governor Lloyd, was born at St. Michael's. Until he was eight years of age this Fred Douglass was much at Wye, and played not only with the little pickaninnies there, but frequently with the governor's son, Daniel.
When about nine years of age, the boy, who had accompanied his master on a trip to Baltimore, ran away and was lost sight of for years, until he turned up
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in the person of Fred Douglass, a well-educated and travelled man of the world. He was said to have been the first coloured man who was ever dined by Queen Victoria, an honour which was later accorded to Booker T. Washington. He was also entertained at the White House by President Cleveland, although in so doing the President was severely censured. Douglass was at one time Minister to Hayti, and later became Marshal of the District of Columbia.
About 1881, the old man was moved to visit the scenes of his childhood. In company with several custom officers from Baltimore, he one day journeyed to Wye, and in the absence of Col. Edward Lloyd was shown over the estate by the colonel's son Howard. Although he was but a child when he had last visited Wye, he recalled by name many of the points, creeks, bayous, which had even then been forgotten by the boatmen around St. Michaels.
It is said that the venerable old negro, apparently oblivious of his companions, fell to musing in a negro dialect: "Dar," he said, "is war me and Mars Dan useter trap rabbits."
Some years later Mr. Howard Lloyd, riding to Philadelphia, noticed the aged figure of Fred Douglass in the fore part of the car. Before reaching his destina- tion, Mr. Lloyd went forward to speak to him. At first Douglass seemed not to recognize Mr. Lloyd and greeted him with a cold stare.
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" I don't believe you recognize me, Marshal."
The marshal paused, looked at him keenly, then jumping to his feet, hat in hand, he exclaimed, " Yes, I do; it is Mr. Howard Lloyd."
Douglass begged to be allowed to hold the watch of the former governor which the great-grandson wore at the time of the meeting. Speaking of this distinguished son of Maryland, Douglass said: "How well I remem- ber him, stately old gentleman, moving about the farm in that quiet, dignified way of his, with his high hat and cane. I remember when the governor imported a bull of special breed and went out one day to inspect the animal. As he moved across the pasture, the bull glared at him with lowered head, but the governor, not scenting trouble, went on. Presently, with a roar, the animal made for the old gentleman. That," said Douglass, " was the only time I ever saw the governor act in an undignified manner, his hat went one way, his cane another, while the governor made for the fence."
Letters found in possession of John Brown impli- cated Douglass to a certain extent. Governor Wise of Virginia made a requisition on President Buchanan for the person of " Frederick Douglass, a negro man, supposed now to be in Michigan, charged with murder, robbery and inciting servile insurrection in the State of Virginia." Douglass went to Canada and then to England, and upon his return to America the matter had been lost sight of.
READBOURNE QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND HOLLYDAY-PERRY
N ascending the Chester River, which forms the dividing line be- tween Kent and Queen Anne's Counties on Maryland's famous Eastern Shore, one passes through a section not only of great fertility, and compelling natural beauty, but of rich historic memories. There is something in the very atmosphere that makes one sensible of the fact that he breathes an air laden with the fra- grance of a bygone age before he has seen tangible earnest of the fact. Long before reaching Indian Town-with its frequent discovery of arrow heads, tomahawks, bits of pottery in a more or less excellent state of preservation, and the numerous ridges where once stood the wigwams of proud Indian chieftains- one's thoughts stray back to those stirring days of fierce struggle between the all-conquering white man and the savage aborigine; to a later period when stately man- sions supplanted rude log-cabins, and the crude struggle for mere subsistence gave way to a life of luxury and ease; and when the " call to arms," which to preceding generations had been the signal to fight for one's hearth and home, for the preservation of life, now meant no
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more than to trip it gracefully, " on light, fantastic toe," across the gleaming ball-room floor with " milady," to the stately measures of the minuet.
Readbourne is on the Queen Anne's side of the Chester River and takes its name from George Read, the original owner, who received his grant in 1659. The exact size of the plantation is unknown but is supposed to have been in the neighbourhood of two thousand acres, and included several of the farms lying on either side of the river. In 1733, James Hollyday with his wife, Sarah Covington Lloyd (widow of Edward Lloyd of Wye House, and formerly the famous beauty, Sarah Covington) came to this estate from Talbot County, and here built the beautiful homestead which is the subject of this chapter.
The main part of the house is of English brick, and Hollyday, himself, is said to have gone to Eng- land to purchase the materials while his fair partner remained at home to superintend the building, which she had planned with the aid of the then Lord Balti- more, her husband's intimate friend. At the death of his father, James, the eldest son, a colonial lawyer and statesman of great eminence, inherited the home, but he died a bachelor and Readbourne went to his nephew, James, son of Henry Hollyday, at Ratcliffe, and Anna Maria Robins. This James married Susanna Tilgh- man, and the homestead passed in a direct line through
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their descendants to the late Richard Hollyday, the last of the family to live there. The present owner is Mr. John Perry, and Readbourne is now occupied by the Perrys as their summer home.
The original building was colonial in design and finish, with large wainscoted halls and rooms. There . have been various additions and alterations, but the main part has been substantially unchanged by the successive generations which have called it home. One of the chief beauties of the house is a gracefully wind- ing stairway on which, no doubt, many a coquettish damosel lingered to waft a coveted kiss from her delicate finger-tips to some amorous swain below. There are about the place the foundations of many small buildings, probably kitchen, dairy, etc., which were connected with the main building. One of these ruins is known as the " Old Store " and, in all likelihood, was a storehouse for supplies ordered from England which, owing to infrequent opportunity, had to be imported in large quantities. The garden, like many another of its kind, is terraced down to the river. There are the re- mains of an old wall of English brick which enclosed the river-side lawn.
The family graveyard, as was the custom at that time, is in full sight of the house, where the quick might be ever conscious of the presence of the dead. This proximity of graveyard to dwelling house is a custom
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difficult to understand at this late date, but it was, none the less, a custom almost universally observed. The grave of the first Hollyday of Readbourne is marked with a large flat stone engraved with the family coat of arms and the following elaborate inscription:
Here lies the body of Colonel James Hollyday, who departed this life, on the eighth day of October, 1747, aged 52 years.
" He was for many years one of His Lordship's Council, and in public and private life always supported the character of a worthy gentleman and a good Christian."
Readbourne was made famous by the lavish hospi- tality of its fair first mistress, and was the rendezvous for belles and beaux of the surrounding country. Judg- ing from her portrait-now in the possession of Col. Henry Hollyday, Jr., of St. Aubin near Easton, Tal- bot County, Maryland-she was a woman of rare beauty, and one can readily credit the many tales that still obtain of her charm and fascinating personality.
In her will, probated in 1775, she disposed with great scrupulousness of a large estate, and the docu- ment contains frequent references to that antique in- stitution, " a mourning ring."
" To my daughters-in-law, Anne Lloyd and Anna Maria Hollyday, to each of them, a Mourning Ring.
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"I give to my son-in-law, William Anderson, a Mourning Ring.
" For as much as my dear children Edward Lloyd, Richard Lloyd and Rebecca Anderson are settled in the world in good circumstances that it can not be thought that they stand in need of any assistance from me, I give to each of my said children a Mourning Ring. .
This will is one of the records of Queen Anne's County, Maryland.
BELMONT HOWARD COUNTY, MARYLAND DORSEY-HANSON
ELMONT, the ancient stronghold of the Dorseys and Hansons, situ- ated on a high hill commanding a view of twenty miles of open country on three sides, is about ten miles west of Baltimore as the crow flies, in the highlands of the Patapsco River, an exceedingly beautiful estuary of Chesapeake Bay, whose deep-valleyed, winding course was the path of many an early settler in Maryland to the back reaches of the province. Indeed, Belmont was built when the tide of settlement was still flowing from the water-crevices of Maryland to the hills in the west, and when hostile Indians were still to be encountered. Measured by the standards of the day in which it was erected, Belmont lies a day's journey by horseback north of Annapolis on the Elk Ridge post-road, and about half a day's journey to the east of that hustling, growing, shipping and fishing centre, "Baltemore Towne." Annapolis was just entering upon that period of commercial and social splendour which was to make it the " Athens of America," as its pre-revolutionary visitors affectionately dubbed it.
We, through the eyes of history, may look back and see, about the year 1730, one of those peculiar little
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surveying parties which went out from Annapolis re- peatedly about this period in the history of Maryland to locate desirable stretches of land in the back country of the state not yet covered by patents, or otherwise encumbered. There is little to compare them to now- adays, except gold-seeking parties, only the former prospected for humble earth instead of regal metal; a difference in chemistry, that's all. This especial party was in charge of a certain Mordecai Moore, a surveyor of good reputation, and was to head north beyond Elk Ridge to the untouched parts of wild Baltimore County, now one of the most industrious farming sections of Maryland.
The configuration of the land in Maryland just north of Annapolis is rather peculiar and is historically of some little interest. For about twenty miles due north of the little capital it continues in a sort of spiny ridge even to-day thickly wooded, and then turns sharply (about where is the present-day thriving city of Laurel) to the east, to the valley of the Patapsco, the two sides of this angle being about equal in length.
Because of the greater height of this land above its surroundings, it became a favourite place for home sites with the early settlers. From the abundance of a certain species of game to be found in its woods it gained the name of "Elk Ridge," so that eventually the little city which grew up at its Patapsco River terminus was known as " Elk Ridge Landing."
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There are few records of Mordecai Moore, surveyor, and he did not make a lasting imprint in the life of the colony. Yet he founded well for others to build upon. Our little surveying party under his direction was en- camped one autumn morning on the heights above the Patapsco River when its leader arose early, before any- one else was astir. The mists were rising from the river, and the land sloped away from his feet to a generous horizon on three sides, while behind was a little hill which would protect one from the northwest winds. It was an ideal site for a home, and Mordecai Moore was not slow to realize this fact. " Here will I build me a house," he said to his soul; and, after he had wakened his companions and the sun had climbed up into the sky, he set himself to survey a tract of land which included more than ten thousand acres centring at the point whereon he had his camp. This tract he named in his patent papers, approved, in due course, by the pro- prietary, " Moore's morning choice." Here, not many years later, Belmont was erected, on the site of Moore's morning camp.
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We do not find that our early morning surveyor long held on to the tract of land which his enterprise had gotten him. About the year 1735 he sold it to rich Caleb Dorsey, of Annapolis, by whom it was given to his son, Caleb, the large-hearted iron-maker of Maryland annals, who, in 1738, built thereon the beautiful home to which he took his young bride, Priscilla Hill, of West River.
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BELMONT
Over the doorway of Belmont to-day we may see a wooden tablet set in the stone bearing the initials, quaintly carved, " C. P. D." (which stand for " Caleb " and " Priscilla " (Hill) "Dorsey ") and " 1738," the date of the erection of the house.
This marriage of Caleb Dorsey's had a romantic basis. Like most men, young and old, of his day, Caleb was an ardent fox-hunter, and in this but followed his father who, at Hockley-in-the-Hole, often hallooed on the hounds. The foxes of that day were all red foxes, the grey variety not being abundant at any time in Maryland. One winter a grey fox appeared on Elk Ridge, having come from Canada, maybe. He received a greeting from the hard-living, open-air people of the neighbourhood, which would have satisfied the most captious animal, and was acclaimed the prize of the country-side. Strong men wrought through long days to kill him, and it became a point of honor with the people of the neighbourhood to see who should have the coveted trophy of his brush.
One day young Caleb Dorsey was out with his hounds, when he started this famous grey fox. The chase, though it had a happy conclusion from young Caleb's standpoint-being successful in its object- led him from early morning till late afternoon far down in a distant southerly part of the state of which he knew little. The marks of land around him he did not know, the trails were not familiar to him, and he was about to.
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make up his mind to a night in the woods, when down a little lane rode a beautiful young lady. She was about to ride by when she spied the grey fox brush on his saddle.
" How may I get to ' Hockley ' above Annapolis?" asked the youth.
"I don't know," replied the maid (so the story runs), " but if you keep down this lane for half a mile and turn to the left you will come to a house where they may direct you."
This was her own father's home and she knew, the story goes, that this fiery old gentleman would never let the boy go home that night until he had heard the whole story of the destruction of the fox. So it turned out. Old Mr. Hill no sooner saw the young man with the grey-fox tail than he immediately wished to hear all of the circumstances of the hunt.
" Go home to-night? Why no; impossible! It is too far; the trail is choked up. I would not think of letting you go home to-night! ! ! Boys " (turning to the house servants), "take this gentleman's horse and hounds to the stables. Do you see that brush he has?"
To tell the truth, so our chronicles run, young Dor- sey was not unwilling to stay, and wished to continue his acquaintance with the fair lady of the lane. The even- ing was begun with tales of fox-hunting, and after this topic had been exhausted the old gentleman put a handkerchief over his face and went to sleep; when the
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latest gossip of Annapolis, the possibility of a theatre being opened in that metropolis, the routs, and the newest fashions, and such other subjects had the floor.
Caleb did not go home the next day, or the next, though he did finally leave after he had told that fox tale until even the old gentleman would not listen to it. - Gossip began to say that he found a great many foxes in the neighbourhood of West River to hunt. " No," replied wise ones, " he is not hunting foxes there; he is hunting dear!" As we know, he was successful in the hunt. He secured " Moore's morning choice " from his father, built Belmont, took up his life there with the fair Priscilla, and became that solid man of affairs which he has been written in Maryland's history.
Caleb Dorsey inherited a large fortune from his father, but it was very greatly increased through his development of the iron ore resources in the neighbour- hood of Belmont. With his brother, Edward, he built a foundry at Avalon, on the Patapsco, near his house, and the ruins of this foundry may still be seen at the little post-office station there which has taken its name from the mill. Farther south he built a second and larger foundry, which he called Hockley in honour of his boyhood home, and a third nearer Belmont.
The Patapsco River, upon which each of these mills depended for shipping its product, was more navigable in that day than it is now. The cutting of the forests, for one thing, has allowed the river to fill up so that,
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where a hundred years ago it supported a full-rigged schooner, it is to-day but a burbling shallows. Ships could then come up to the foot of the hill on which Belmont is situated, and here grew up the thriving little seaport town of Elkridge Landing.
It is a strange story, this of the growth and fall of Elkridge Landing. There are still people in Elkridge Landing who can remember when ships could come up the river to its wharves, and when the river had an open channel ten feet deep from there to the bay. It was created a port of entry of the province, and not only carried away Caleb's iron manufactures, but tobacco in great quantities. The tobacco was rolled in casks by long strings of slaves down the old "Rolling Road," still in use from the northern part of the state. Next to Annapolis, it was one of the most important shipping points in the colony. With the filling up of the river, however, its glory departed and to-day it is a dreaming country village with high-pitched, old-time roofs, great chimneys that know now only a thin wisp of smoke, and houses with traditions of visits of Washington and Lafayette, with no hint of ships or things that " go down to the sea."
A delightful company filled old Belmont when it was young, and in those exciting times prior to the outbreak of the Revolution, many a stormy gathering was sheltered within its walls. The Dorseys were strong in the colonial cause, and many of the cannon used by
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American troops against the British were cast at Caleb Dorsey's iron-works. Washington was a guest not in- frequently at Belmont, and it is probable that the sage Benjamin Franklin was also, as we know that he visited Elkridge Landing.
The children of Caleb and Priscilla Hill Dorsey included three sons (Edward, Henry Hill and Samuel) and six daughters (Mary, Milcah, Rebecca, Priscilla, Peggy Hill and Elinor). Edward married his cousin, Elizabeth Dorsey, daughter of Col. John Dorsey and Mary Hammond, his wife, and was the inheritor of Belmont. Henry Hill married Eliza Goodwin; Samuel married Margaret Sprigg (in this line of descent is Mrs. Handy, of Richmond) ; Mary married Dr. Michael Pue (a descendant is W. Ventress Pue, of Texas) ; Milcah married William Goodwin; Rebecca married Captain Charles Ridgely, of Hampton; Priscilla married Charles Carnan Ridgely; Peggy Hill married William Buchanan; and Elinor died unmarried.
Edward Dorsey, next owner of Belmont, was popu- larly known as " Iron-head Ned." A strong-fisted, big- hearted man, he ran his father's mills in partnership with his brother Samuel. He had one son and three daughters. Hammond Dorsey married Elizabeth Pickering, of Massachusetts, and built a fine brick homestead, still to be seen, near the post-office of Relay. Mary married Daniel Murray, of Annapolis, whose sister, Annie Murray, became the wife of Gen. John
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Mason, of Virginia. Caroline married Johnston Donaldson; and Priscilla, who inherited Belmont, married Alexander Contee Hanson, whose descendants hold the old homestead.
The marriage of Priscilla Dorsey and Alexander Contee Hanson was an elopement. The girl was living with guardians in Baltimore, who would not give their consent to the match. With the temper inherited from her father aroused, she went to Annapolis with the man she loved and was there married. The elopement was not without its excitement, as the carriage in which the pair was making the trip broke a wheel pin. Had it not been for the extraordinary foresight of the pro- spective groom who had provided for just such a con- tingency, the marriage would inevitably have been postponed.
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