USA > Delaware > Colonial mansions of Maryland and Delaware > Part 11
USA > Maryland > Colonial mansions of Maryland and Delaware > Part 11
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The children of Priscilla Dorsey and Alexander Contee Hanson were many, but only one lived to maturity, Charles Grosvenor Hanson, named for his paternal uncle, Charles Grosvenor, member of Con- gress from New York. He married Annie Maria Worthington, and had children: John Worthington Hanson, Murray Hanson, Grosvenor Hanson, Nannie Hanson, and Florence Hanson. These five constitute the present-day circle of this beautiful old home.
Belmont, like other colonial Maryland mansions, con- sists of a central building with wings. The centre build- ing is traversed by a hallway running from front to
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back, and the wings are connected with the main body of the house. The downstairs rooms and the hall are beautifully panelled with oak from floor to ceiling, and so hard is this wood to-day that it resists all but the sturdiest saws, as carpenters have learned to their cost when they have had slight alterations to the house to effect. In the right wing is the kitchen; in the left wing . is the ball-room, an octagonal apartment, generous in size, panelled in oak and with a large open fireplace. The second floor is occupied by sleeping rooms.
The entrance is a graceful Georgian portico. At the back of the house is a broad and comfortable veranda overlooking the old garden, of which there remains a box-hedge, believed to have been planted when the mansion was built, and now over twenty feet in height; such a Gargantuan box-hedge is rarely to be seen! The ground on which the house is placed is terraced, and the view from front or sides is still as delectable as when Mordecai Moore arose in the early morning and saw that the land whereon he had struck his camp was filled with beauty. About half a mile behind the house on the crest of a hill is the " God's half acre," where lie the bones of the successive generations that have been sheltered within Belmont's walls.
Alexander Contee Hanson, the first Hanson to live at Belmont, is a conspicuous figure in Maryland annals. Firm in his convictions, fluent in speech, of fine address and manner, he was the representative of his state for
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many years in the United States Senate. He was a friend of Henry Clay, who was often his guest at Belmont. Among the Belmont papers is a letter from Hanson to his wife, asking her to have six pairs of slippers for himself and guests, among whom was Clay, when they arrived from Washington. It was the custom for the men of that time to wear only great boots, and in the evening they wished to be comfortable and would put on as light gear as they could. The chair in which Clay loved to sit at Belmont is still kept in his favourite place before the fire, and the great table in the dining- room, around which he and other distinguished guests were wont to gather, is still in use and still maintains the same generous hospitality.
Sometimes, on dark, windy nights, in the old house you hear the Belmont ghost. At least once a winter does it come. You are sitting, let us say, before the open fire in which Clay delighted, you hear the wind lonesomely without, and suddenly there is the sound of horses' hoofs and jangling harness; many horses evi- dently, and the harness and wheels seem to creak and rumble more heavily than harness and wheels of nowa- days. You start to the door, but you hear the rustle of other feet ahead of you on the same errand, though you see no one. The door opens, and there is the scraping of feet as people come in. You are now standing up in alarm.
" What is it? " you ask.
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"Oh, that is just some of the forefathers coming home from Annapolis in the coach and six."
You hear the sound of wheels driving away around the house towards the stables, the creak of harness and clatter of hoofs. The rest is silence. This is the Bel- mont ghost.
The Hanson family is traced to Roger de Rastrick who, in 1251, was seated at Rastrick in the County of Halifax, England. The family name of to-day origi- nated in 1330, when John de Rastrick of the seventh generation from the founder assumed the name Han- son, a diminutive of Henry's son, and signed himself John Hanson to a deed in 1337.
John Hanson, of London, of the fifteenth genera- tion, while making a summer tour of Sweden fell in love with and married Margaret Vasa, granddaughter of Gustavus Vasa, and connection of the famous Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden. He had a son who was reared by the latter, at a suitable age entered the army, served with credit, rose to the rank of colonel, and fell at Luetzen, November 16, 1632, with his sovereign, whom he was attempting to defend. This son left four chil- dren: Andrew, Randall or Randolph, William, and John, who were taken under the immediate protection of the royal family of Sweden, and in August, 1642, were sent to the New World in the care of Col. John Printz, Governor of New Sweden, on the Delaware. The family in this country has given many strong men,
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especially during the days which led up to, and con- cluded, the Revolution.
Of the four sons above mentioned, Andrew, the eldest, settled on Kent Island, Maryland, in 1653, and died there in 1655, leaving a wife and five children: Hans, Frederick, Katherine, Margaret, and a posthu- mous child, Barbara.
Randolph, the second of the four, was a bold and ambitious man, according to the chronicles of the day. He went to St. Mary's, the seat of the government of Maryland, to carve out his fortunes with his sword, and was a conspicuous figure in those troublous times. His daughter Barbara married Thomas Hatton, Gentleman, a grandnephew of Sir Christopher Hatton, of Hatton Hall, England, Lord High Chancellor of England and famous courtier of the circle of Queen Elizabeth.
William, the third son, accompanied Randolph to St. Mary's, but returned to Kent Island, where he died in 1684, leaving only his "loving wife Alice."
Colonel John, the youngest son, removed to Mary- land in 1653, and, after a short sojourn on Kent Island, went to St. Mary's. Finally, about 1656, he settled in Charles County, where he lived until his death. In his will, dated December 12, 1713, he styles himself "a planter of Charles County," and mentions seven chil- dren, forming a lusty line of descent-Robert, Benja- min, Mary (the wife of the Rev. William Maconchie), Anne, Sarah, John, and Samuel.
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BELMONT
Of these, Robert had children: Samuel, William, Dorothy, Mary, Sarah, Violetta, and Benjamin. Dorothy married Richard Harrison. Mary married John Briscoe. Samuel became the father of John Hanson, progenitor of the branch of the family con- nected with Belmont, and of Samuel-revolutionary patriots both Judge Walter, William, Elizabeth, Charity, Jane, and Chloe. Elizabeth married Benjamin Douglas, who was buried at Equality, an estate owned by his son-in-law, David Stone, a lineal descendant of William Stone, Governor of Maryland, 1649-1654.
John Hanson, son of Samuel, born in Charles County, Maryland, in 1715, was president of the Con- tinental Congress, which assembled in Philadelphia during the Revolution, and is sometimes spoken of as the " first President of the United States," as his title was "President of the United States in Congress assembled." His statue has been placed by Maryland in Statuary Hall, in the Capitol at Washington, D. C., as one of her two sons whose names are most cherished. He married Jane Contee, and had children: Alexander Contee; Samuel, surgeon of Washington's Life Guards, killed while fighting at Fort Washington; Catherine Contee, who married Philip Alexander, of Virginia; Jane, who married John Thomas, of Maryland; and Elizabeth.
Alexander Contee Hanson was born in Annapolis, October 22, 1749. He was educated at the College of
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Philadelphia, studied law in Annapolis, and started for England to be ordained for the ministry of the Prot- estant Episcopal Church, but was wrecked, rescued and taken to Philadelphia, where he became assistant pri- vate secretary to General Washington, his first cousin (Robert Hanson Harrison, of Virginia) being chief secretary. After two months in this post, his health forsook him, and he was obliged to resign. He visited Washington at headquarters just after the battle of Brandywine, and was present when the two armies were separated by a violent shower of rain. He accompanied Washington to a farmhouse, and, being still in poor health, was obliged to accept Washington's offer of his bed for the night. Alexander Hamilton curled up in one corner of the room on the floor, and afterwards Hanson would good-naturedly remark that he "never saw a man look so much like a cat." In 1784, he was appointed with Samuel Chase to digest the laws of Maryland from 1763, and this work, a monument to his memory, is known as " Hanson's Laws." He was a delegate in 1788 to the convention which ratified the federal constitution, and declined a federal judgeship to become Chancellor of Maryland. He married Rebecca Howard of Annapolis, and left children: Charles Wallace, who married Rebecca Ridgely, eldest daughter of Governor Charles Ridgely, of Hampton, and had no issue; Alexander Contee, who married Pris- cilla Dorsey, of Belmont; and Mary Jane, who married
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Peabody Grosvenor, Member of Congress from New York.
Alexander Contee Hanson, Jr., was born at his father's home in Annapolis, February 27, 1786. He was educated at St. John's College, Annapolis, at that time under the direction of John McDowell, who be- came provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and while yet in his sixteenth year had gone through all of the branches taught at his school except French, for which he conceived an aversion he never overcame, owing to the shocking deeds done by the Jacobins of France as recorded in the "Bloody Buoy," compiled and pub- lished by William Cobbett, bookseller of Philadephia, and other like tracts of that period. He became a con- tributor to the press of the day, and at length edited the Federal Republican, of Baltimore, in which he de- nounced the federal administration. Violent strictures of those in authority not being so amiably received by the populace of that time as this, the people of the city sacked his printing plant. After a temporary suspen- sion, the journal was reissued, July 27, 1812, simulta- neously in Baltimore and Georgetown, D. C. This led to another attack upon the newspaper office on July 28, 1812, and an armed collision between those who de- fended the establishment and those who attacked it. Mr. Hanson and his friends surrendered to the city authorities under promise of protection. The murder- ous attack by the mob on the jail in which they were
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confined is a matter of Baltimore history. Mr. Hanson was left for dead, but recovered after a painful illness. In 1813 he was elected to Congress, where he served from May 24 of that year to January 2, 1817, when he took his seat in the Senate in place of Robert Goodloe Harper, resigned. He was returned for the next term, and was a senator until his death, at Belmont, May 23, 1819. He was a man of many friendships and entertained lavishly. His runaway marriage with Pris- cilla Dorsey has already been recounted.
Jane Contee Hanson (daughter of John, the presi- dent of the Continental Congress, and Jane Contee) married Dr. Philip Thomas, delegate from Frederick County to the Maryland convention of 1774. Their son, John Hanson Thomas, born in Frederick, 1779, died 1815, married (October 5, 1809) at Honeywood, Berke- ley County, Virginia, Mary Isham Colston, a descendant of William Brewster, who came over in the Mayflower with the Plymouth colony in 1620, and was the first elder of that settlement. She was, also, a descendant of Henry Isham, of England, colonist to Virginia in 1675. Their son, John Hanson Thomas the second, of Freder- ick, Maryland, born in 1813, died in 1881, married Annie Campbell Gordon, of Virginia. Of this union came Mr. Douglas Hamilton Thomas, of Baltimore, who married Alice Lee Whitridge, Basil Gordon Thomas, John Hanson Thomas the third, Raleigh Colston Thomas, Nannie Gordon Thomas, Mary Ran-
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dolph Thomas, and John Marshall Thomas (whose son is John Gregg Thomas, and whose daughter is Natalie Contee Thomas).
Of the marriage of Douglas Hamilton Thomas and Alice Lee Whitridge was born Douglas N. Thomas, of Baltimore, who married Bessie Chadwick; John Hanson Thomas, of Baltimore; and Alice Lee Thomas.
Samuel Hanson, brother of John Hanson, the revolutionary patriot, had the following children : Samuel, who married May Kay, daughter of John and Elizabeth Kay, of New Jersey; John Contee; Capt. Thomas Hawkins, who married Rebecca, daughter of Walter and Mary Grafton Dulany; Sarah, who married Dr. William Beane, of Upper Marlboro; Elizabeth, who married Addison; Eleanor, who married General Chap- man; Mildred, who married Dr. William Baker; Chloe, who married Gen. George Lee, son of Governor Thomas Sim Lee and nephew of Richard Henry Lee, the signer; Anne, who married Nicholas Lingan, brother of Gen. James Maccubbin Lingan.
Of the union of Samuel the third and May Kay came Samuel the fourth, who settled in Kentucky and was the father of Gen. Roger Weightman Hanson, who fell mortally wounded at the battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and the Honourable Richard Hickman Han- son, of Paris, Kentucky; Isaac Kay, who married Maria Storer; Maria, who married Daniel Sheffy; Louisa Serena, who married Gen. Roger Chew Weightman.
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MOUNT AIRY CROOME, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND CALVERT-DUVALL
N a grove of great oaks in southern Maryland is a royal old homestead deep in colourful memories of the past. This is Mount Airy, the Calvert mansion, near Croome, Prince George's County, Mary- land, the seat of the descendants of Lord Baltimore in the United States. A popular picnic point for automobile parties from Washington now, the place has sheltered many notable people and has been the scene of many a brilliant social gathering. Here Washington's stepson, George Parke Custis, found his bride, Eleanor Calvert, and lived out the brief span of his life. Here, too, Washington was a frequent visitor even before the Revolution-it is not a long day's journey from Mount Vernon.
Standing before the door of the old home, we can imagine the great coaches of our great-grandfathers, requiring four or six horses to move them-and un- comfortable then-lumbering up through the long aisle of high trees and discharging their polite and elegant freight; for Mount Airy was a centre of hospitality of the old Maryland order where a guest came at his will and stayed for a day, or weeks, as he chose. What an
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alluring gossip of picturesque figures might the house chat in its old man's tone if it could!
In the halls of the old home the romantic figure of Eleanor Calvert, the bride of young Custis, can be pictured. She was a great horsewoman, and frequently hunted over the country-side. Glimpses of her beauty have been preserved in miniatures and in an old painting which, until a few years ago, hung at Mount Airy. Dur- ing Washington's occupancy of the White House she was a frequent visitor, and there is a painting of Mrs. Washington in which Eleanor is shown, a beautiful figure, to the elder woman's right.
We may not see her young husband so clearly through the mists of time. A delicate gentleman, he lived only five years after his marriage, and died at the age of twenty-eight years, leaving four children. He was married February 3, 1774, in the parlour of Mount Airy. A glimpse of him we have in the following letter written by Washington to the boy's tutor: "I will allow you an extra sixty dollars for your pains with Parke. I want you to be good to him for he is a most promising lad, the last of his family, and will have a large fortune at maturity. I wish to make him a useful man." He was buried in the family lot at Mount Airy.
Eleanor was married a second time to Dr. David Stuart, of Virginia, and went to this sister state of Maryland to live, thus passing from our scene.
Of the builder of Mount Airy we do not know very
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much. At his death he was described in the following terms in the Maryland Journal and Advertiser, January 15, 1788: " A gentleman whose Benevolence of Heart and many other exalted Virtues justly endeared him to his Relations and a numerous and respectable Acquaint- ance, who have sustained an irreparable loss by his death."
There is mystery concerning a great part of Benedict Calvert's life. That he was a son of Charles Calvert, fifth Lord Baltimore, is well known, but who his mother was, or where he was born, has never been recorded. As a young man he was sent to Annapolis to the home of Dr. George Steuart, of that city, with a tutor, Onorio Razolini. We find him addressed by his father in the following fashion in a letter, dated February 7, 1745:
DEAR CHILD :
You will by this Opportunity receive Duplicates of a Com- mission with the proper Instructions from ye proper Offices Appointing you Collector of Patuxent in ye Room of Rousby, deceased, and I make no doubt but you will do Your Utmost to Execute it to the Utmost of your Power, and I must desire you will get ye most able to Aid and Assist you, and I hope you will Endeavor to get Mr. Jennings to help you and that You'll give him such Encouragement as may make it worth his while.
I desire you will Consult with Mr. Bladen and Mr. Tasker. I shall Omit no Opportunity of doing all in my Power to show how much I am
Your Affectionate
Father,
BALTIMORE.
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Somewhat later we find that His Lordship writes:
" Pray do not think of Marrying till you hear from me hav- ing some things to Propose to you, much for your Advantage, and believe me I will never force Your Inclination, Only Propose what I think will make you most Happy, Afterwards Leave it to Your own Determination."
That a wife was chosen to suit the lordly, far-away parent, is shown by a letter from him in 1748 to Razol- ini, the tutor, expressing approval of his son's intended venture upon matrimony. About the same time he wrote to the young man himself, telling him to take in charge certain lands on the Patuxent which he designed for him. On April 21 of that year, Benedict was married to Elizabeth Calvert, his distant cousin, daughter of Charles Calvert, Governor of Maryland from 1720 to 1727. The ceremony was performed by the Reverend John Gordon, rector of St. Anne's Parislı, Annapolis, in the presence of Mr. Onorio Razolini, Mrs. Elizabeth Razolini and Miss Ariana Brice, and is thus recorded in the Maryland Gazette for April 27, 1748: "Last Thursday the Honourable Benedict Calvert, Esq., Collector of His Majesty's customs for Patuxent District, etc., was married to Miss Elizabeth Calvert, only surviving Daughter of the late Honourable Charles Calvert, Esq., deceased, former Governor of this province."
Before his marriage, young Calvert had entered upon his duties as collector of the Port of Patuxent and
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had taken up his residence upon the lands on that river given to him by his father. It was not until three years after his marriage that he acquired full title to the Mount Airy property, and then it was by transfer through an intermediary, Ignatius Digges, Esq., as is witnessed by the following deed, one of the records of the Provincial Court for the Western Shore, in the Land Record office at Annapolis:
This indenture made the third day of June, 1751, between Ignatius Digges, of Prince George's County, in the Province of Maryland, Gentleman, of the one part and Benedict Calvert of the City of Annapolis and Province aforesaid of the other part. Whereas, by indentures of lease and release bearing date respectively on or about the Seventeenth and Eighteenth days of February, 1745, made between Samuel Hyde, late of London, Merchant by the name of Samuel Hyde of Rood Lane, London, Merchant, of the one part and Charles, Lord Baltimore, of the other part, he the said Samuel Hyde did grant and confirm unto him the said Charles, Lord Baltimore, all that Plantation called "His Lordship's Kindness " containing by estimation Six Thousand, Seven Hundred acres of land, and also all that other Plantation called and known by the name of the several tracts containing by Estimation, Two thousand Five hundred Acres, --- unto the said Charles, Lord Baltimore, his heirs and assigns, forever. And whereas, the aforesaid two tracts of land were on the twenty-ninth day of June, 1750, by the direction of the said Charles, Lord Baltimore, sett up to Publick Vendue by Auction at which sale the said Ignatius Digges was the highest bidder at Seven Hundred and Sixty Pounds, Sterling, for the first mentioned tract and at Seven Hundred and Ten Pounds, Sterling, for the last mentioned tract. Now this indenture Witnesseth that the said Ignatius Digges in consideration of One
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MOUNT AIRY
Thousand, Four Hundred and Seventy Pounds (being the total of the aforesaid sums of money) Doth grant and confirm unto the said Benedict Calvert all those above-mentioned Plantations, all which premises are in Prince George's County on a River called Patuxen, in the Proprietary of Maryland, on the continent of America, and are part of certain Land and Premises released and conveyed by Henry Darnall, late of Prince George's County in Maryland aforesaid, to John Hyde, deceased, the father of a- certain Samuel Hyde, late of London, Merchant, deceased, to- gether with all Messuages etc., unto him the said Benedict Calvert, his heirs and assigns forever.
In witness whereof the partys to these presents have hereunto interchangeably set their hands and seals the day and year firest above written.
Signed and sealed in the presence of Chas. Hammond and Sam. Chamberlaine.
In 1751, Benedict Calvert commenced to build Mount Airy and completed it without interruption. Here he lived until his death in 1788. He was buried under the chancel of St. Thomas' Church, Croome, Prince George's County, which he had helped to found and support. Ten years later he was followed to the grave by his wife. At the outbreak of the Revolution, he had given up his post of Collector of Customs of Patuxent, and his latter years were years of leisure.
At the death of its builder, Mount Airy was left to his wife, on her death to go to the oldest living son, Edward Henry, born November 7, 1766, married March 1, 1796, and died July 12, 1846. Edward Henry (Calvert) left the estate to his widow, who died March
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26, 1857, and by her will the property, now shrunk to about a thousand acres, was to be divided among her children. Two of these children, however, Cecilius Baltimore and Eleanora Adela, bought out the interest of all of the other children, and made it their home until they died; the former, March 13, 1901, and the latter, July 15, 1902, aged ninety-five and eighty-one years, respectively. These were the last Calvert owners. After the death of " old Miss Eleanor " the home and furnish- ings were sold at auction, the house being purchased February, 1903, by Mrs. Tillie R. Duvall, its present occupant. The property was described in the auction- eer's catalogue in the following terms:
This beautiful old place now contains about eight hundred and twenty acres of fine grazing, or farming land, well watered by natural springs, having a beautiful lake containing about ten acres, well stocked with fish. About two hundred acres of the land is covered with a natural growth of old oaks and other choice varieties of native trees.
Death in a tragic shape was the portion of the last of the Calverts of Mount Airy. Miss Eleanor Calvert was accustomed to use an old-fashioned oil lamp, which her relatives warned her was not safe. One night it turned over in her hand as she was descending the steps, spilled oil over her clothing and set it ablaze. The old lady died from the injuries. She was beloved and re- spected by her neighbours, and was very fond of chil- dren. During her later years she kept the old house full
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of little ones-her nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great- nephews and little cousins, even to the third and fourth generation.
Six years after the marriage of Eleanor Calvert to George Parke Custis, another brilliant wedding took place in the little parlour of Mount Airy. It was that of Elizabeth, a younger daughter, who was wed, June 15, 1780, to Dr. Charles Steuart, of Annapolis, son of that Dr. George Steuart in whose home Benedict Calvert lived. In Mount Airy, too, was celebrated Eleanor's second marriage.
The children of Benedict Calvert, the founder, and his wife Elizabeth, were: Rebecca, who died in infancy; Eleanor, who married first, February 3, 1774, George Parke Custis, stepson of George Washington, second, 1783, Dr. David Stuart, of Virginia; Charles, who re- mained unmarried; Elizabeth, who married, June 15, 1780, Dr. Charles Steuart, of Annapolis, Maryland; Edward Henry, who married, March 1, 1796, Elizabeth Biscoe, daughter of George and Araminta Carroll Biscoe; George, who married, June 11, 1799, Rosalie Eugenia Stier, daughter of Henri Joseph and Marie Louise Stier, of Antwerp, Belgium; Philip, Leonard, Cecilius, Robert, John, William, and Ariana. Of this last seven, the first four died in youth; the last three did not marry.
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