USA > Delaware > Colonial mansions of Maryland and Delaware > Part 3
USA > Maryland > Colonial mansions of Maryland and Delaware > Part 3
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William Pinkney, son of Ninian, became fifth Bishop of Maryland of the Episcopal Church. He was born in the old house we have been studying. His nephew and namesake, the late United States Senator, William Pinkney Whyte, carried the name to distinction in recent years.
Ninian Pinkney, Jr., born in the Hammond House in 1811, became medical director of the United States Army, married Mary Sherwood, and died in 1871. Mary Amelia Pinkney, the only daughter of this occupant of the Hammond House, died unmarried.
In 1811, Mr. Pinkney sold his home to Chief Justice Jeremiah Townley Chase, who bought it for his daughter, Frances Catherine Townley Chase, wife of Richard Lockerman, a descendant of the Maryland branch of the old Knickerbocker family of Loockermans, whose name so largely figures in the early annals of New York City. One child was born of this union, Hester Ann Lockerman, named for her maternal aunt, Hester Ann Chase, who in 1847 bought the Chase House. This daughter inherited the Hammond House and married the late Judge William Harwood. She had two daughters and one son; Lucy Matilda, Hester Ann, and
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Richard Lockerman Harwood. The son died childless. Over his grave in the burying ground at Cemetery Creek, Annapolis, is the simple inscription: " Richard Lockerman Harwood, a Confederate soldier of Mary- land Cavalry, only son of Mrs. Hester Ann Harwood." Lucy Matilda Harwood died unmarried. Miss Hester Ann Harwood, the sole survivor of this generation of the family, is the present owner of the Harwood House. She makes her home in the left, or northeast wing, the rest of the house being leased to Rear Admiral Garst, U. S. N., retired, and his family, which consists of his wife and a young daughter.
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Judge William Harwood, father of Miss Hester Harwood, was an ardent sympathizer with the Con- federate cause during the "late unpleasantness," and remained for long thoroughly unreconstructed. He was a teacher in a school in Baltimore during, and for some years after, the war and would not use the train between Annapolis, his home, and that city as in order to do so he would be compelled to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, but every week tramped the thirty miles to Baltimore and back. He was greatly beloved in Annapolis.
The Harwood family is one of much distinction in Maryland, and its branches have gone into Pennsylvania and southern states, one of the members of the Penn- sylvania branch being Dr. James Harwood Closson, of Germantown. It springs from Richard Harwood,
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THE HAMMOND, OR HARWOOD, HOUSE
of " Hooker's Purchase," Anne Arundel County, Mary- land, who was the son of Thomas, of Streatley, Berk- shire County, England. Richard, son of this Richard, married Anne Watkins, born 1737, and had nine sons and two daughters, among whom were Colonel Richard, of "South River battalion," who married Margaret Hall; and Thomas, first Treasurer of the Western Shore of Maryland, under the Council of Safety of 1776. The son of Colonel Richard, of "South River battalion," was Henry Hall Harwood, who married Elizabeth Lloyd, and purchased the Chase House. So the Harwood name has been closely associated with two of Maryland's most beautiful colonial survivals. Thomas, Treasurer of the Western Shore of Maryland, had a son, Richard, who married a Miss Callahan, and became the father of William Harwood, who married Hester Ann Lockerman and thus comes into this chapter.
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THE PACA HOUSE ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND
PACA-SCHAAF-NETH-BLAND-KENNEDY-SWANN
ROBABLY none of the old home- steads of Annapolis is more fa- miliar to the general public than the Paca House, of late years used as a hotel. A superb ex- ample of solid, tasteful colonial building, it stands on Prince George Street, south of Maryland Avenue and half a city block away from the old Major Dorsey home, which was built well before the beginning of the eighteenth century. Across an open space at the rear may be seen the back of the Hammond House and the roof of the Chase Home for the aged. Next door is the Brice mansion.
The Paca House was built in 1763 by William Paca, ardent stirrer in the revolutionary turmoil and signer of the Declaration. It is of the conventional type of a Maryland colonial home of elegance in that it con- sists of a central building with wings; and its general aspect is that of simplicity, dignity, and mass. It is exceedingly large, being only rivalled in size by its neighbors, the Brice and Chase Houses. The brickwork is good, and the walls, five feet thick at the foundations, are as impregnable to the assaults of the elements to-day as when they first were built.
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THE PACA HOUSE
The interior of the house is not characterized by that elaboration of ornament that distinguishes some other Annapolis homes, but the window-casings and shutters of the parlor are very beautifully carved in a simple floral design. The house has a wide hall through the middle and the staircase is situated at the back of the hall, leading off to the left beneath an arch. The attic or third-story stairway has a very intricate balustrade of white rails set in a sort of a zigzag design that is very novel though not greatly attractive.
One of the most notable features of the homestead in its youth was the garden in the rear which ran down to a little stream of water making in from the harbour only a hundred yards or so away. " My Ladye's Bower " it was called, and it is inevitably recalled first in connection with the old house when old residents of the ancient city send their thoughts back to times be- fore the hand of change could be so plainly seen as now. It contained a summer house, a miniature lake, a fountain, a wharf, and a staunch bateau. In this the master of the house was accustomed to be rowed by half a dozen blacks in livery when he paid state visits to his neighbors on the Severn or one of the nearby streams which were the chief means of communication from house to house in those days.
Many years ago the garden fell into decay, and when the property passed into the possession of the hotel company which at present owns it the last vestiges
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COLONIAL MANSIONS OF MARYLAND
of this fairy-land of flowers and quaint box-walks were destroyed, the very bricks which formed its boundary walls being broken apart and carried around to the front of the house, where they were relaid to make a new approach to the stately mansion.
Much of the beauty of this old garden, tradition asserts, was due to the care with which it was tended by the first mistress of the old home, Mary Chew Paca,- daughter of Samuel and Henrietta Maria Lloyd Chew -for whom the house was built. She it was who laid it out and it was her delight to spend her leisure hours in its familiar little nooks and corners.
She was of that distinguished family which has set its mark in four states. John Chew, the first of his name in this country, came to Virginia in the Sea Flower, in 1622, settled in Jamestown, and became a member of the House of Burgesses. Samuel Chew, his son-of "Herrington," on Herring Creek, Anne Arundel County, Maryland-was Lord Baltimore's " well-beloved Samuel Chew, Esq." In 1669 he was sworn in as one of the justices of the chancery and provincial courts, and until his death in 1676 was a member of the House of Assembly. His son, Samuel, married Henrietta Maria Lloyd and his granddaughter, Mary, married William Paca.
Samuel Chew, of Maidstone, near Annapolis, Maryland, son of Benjamin, son of Samuel, removed to Dover, Delaware, and was father of that famous
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THE PACA HOUSE
Benjamin Chew, who, in turn, moved to Pennsylvania and built Cliveden, that beautiful homestead of German- town, Philadelphia, around which the battle of German- town was fought and about whose social frivolities- in which figured such conspicuous lights as Major André-many a tradition is current.
William Paca, builder of the Paca House, and who deserves and has received far more study than this memoir can give, was born in Harford County, Mary- land, October 31, 1740. His father was John Paca; his mother, Elizabeth Smith Paca. The name is Italian in origin, family tradition asserts, and there is a touch of the Roman in the features and olive skin of the Signer as they appear in his portraits. Elizabeth Smith, wife of John Paca, father of William, was a daughter of that " pretty Betty Martin " with whose name an old nursery rhyme is so free. It runs as follows:
Pretty Betty Martin, Tip-toe! Tip-toe ! Pretty Betty Martin, Tip-toe fine !
Pretty Betty Martin, Tip-toe! Tip-toe ! Couldn't find a husband To suit her mind !
The story is that "Pretty Betty Martin " was born in England and when she came to this country, a young
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COLONIAL MANSIONS OF MARYLAND
woman, had so many suitors on the ship in which she made the voyage that she could not choose among them, so, consequently, rejected all. It has been said that she was a niece of the Duke of Marlborough, but even this reflected effulgence of glory can add little to her fame as the heroine of the jingle just quoted.
Her son was educated at Philadelphia under the tuition of Reverend William Smith, D.D., and, after he acquired all of the polite accomplishments and knowl- edge deemed necessary to a gentleman, was sent to Annapolis, Maryland, to read law in the office of his father's friend, Stephen Bordley, Esquire, one of the great lights of the early days of the Maryland bar. In 1761 he was licensed to practise law and in 1764 was admitted to the bar. At this time Annapolis was at its gayest as a social capital and was already begin- ning to work itself up to that fever pitch of feeling against the mother country which marked the days just before the outbreak of the War of Independence. Young Paca became a member of the Sons of Liberty, and one of his exploits-of a somewhat later period of his life-was to head a mob which hung on a gibbet and buried in a coffin the proclamation enforcing the Stamp Act issued by Governor Eden, the last Proprietary executive of Maryland, while meantime in the harbour minute guns were fired from a schooner owned by him. He was a delegate to the Continental Assembly in 1774 where, against the instructions of his constituents, he
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GARVEL HALL HOTEL
THE PACA HOUSE 1763
THE PACA HOUSE
continually advocated the ratification of a declaration of independence from Great Britain, and two years later was a signer of the immortal proclamation of American liberty. In 1778 he was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Maryland; in 1782-1784 and 1786- 1788, Governor of Maryland; and in 1789, by appoint- ment from President Washington, Judge of the United States District Court for Maryland. Washington was urged to appoint another man, but replied that if it had not been for Paca and others like him there would have been no United States and that he deserved the place. He died, October 27, 1799, at the home of his son, John Philemon Paca, of Wye House, Wye Island, Talbot County, Maryland. Here in a grove of trees not far from the site of the house his body was committed to the earth.
On the day of its organization in Maryland, No- vember 21, 1783, the Society of the Cincinnati, of Maryland, passed the following resolution:
Resolved, that as a testimony of the satisfaction we feel in the opportunity we enjoy of returning to our respective stations in the general class of the community and of recommenc- ing our civil occupations under a government which we have aided to establish and which we all approve and will endeavor to maintain ; and in consideration of the abilities, merit, patriot- ism of His Excellency, Governor Paca, this society direct that the Secretary-General Williams wait on His Excellency and in- form him that this society do themselves the honor to consider him as an honorary member.
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COLONIAL MANSIONS OF MARYLAND
He was the same day elected a delegate to the general society and a year later vice-president of the Maryland society.
In 1789, shortly after the conclusion of his second term as Governor of Maryland, Paca sold his home in Annapolis to Arthur Schaaf who, in turn, disposed of it to Louis Neth, a rich merchant of Annapolis, the owner of Primrose, another beautiful colonial home about five miles out of the ancient city which he used as a country place. In 1827 the house was occupied by Chancellor Theodoric Bland, and then, for a number of years, by Dr. S. D. Kennedy, a beloved physician of Annapolis. From his family it passed to Mrs. Richard Swann, who sold it to the company which at present holds its title.
The old homestead saw its most brilliant days during the occupancy of its first master and mistress. Annapo- lis was at the brightest point of its history then and Governor Paca was endowed with that precious gift of personal magnetism which draws together and stimu- lates congenial spirits. The mansion held many a de- lightful and notable gathering at this time.
Before the Revolution Washington as a visitor to Annapolis spent many hours as a guest of Mr. Paca- when neither had yet been singled out for the honors of the world-and in 1783, when the latter was Governor of Maryland, his hospitable home sheltered many members of the Continental Congress which assembled
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THE PACA HOUSE
in Annapolis to witness the great leader resign his com- mission as Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the United States. Chairs from the house were taken to the beautiful old Senate chamber in the capitol of Maryland for the use of the delegates and are repre- sented in some paintings of the historic ceremony in which they figured.
A rather quaint tribute to Governor Paca was found among some papers in Wye Hall, Wye Island, Maryland, in 1888, and was then reproduced in Lippin- cott's Magazine. It was an address from a student's club of budding lawyers which Governor Paca had been instrumental in forming in Annapolis, and a passage from it is as follows:
When a man in the tranquility (sic) and leisure of private life employs part of his time in the improvement of the rising generation, we readily acknowledge the justice of his claim to the thanks of every considerate mind. But when we behold the Supreme Magistrate of a State, with all the cares of government on his hands, devoting his short intervals of repose to the instruction of Youth, by his knowledge and experience pointing out to them the path to Virtue and Glory, the most inattentive must admire such conduct and acknowledge it to be far above the reach of panegyric.
Of the union of William Paca and Mary Chew were born: John Philemon Paca, of Wye House, Wye Is- land, Maryland, who married Julianna Tilghman; and a daughter who married Consul Roubelle, of France,
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COLONIAL MANSIONS OF MARYLAND
joint ruler of that country with Napoleon Bonaparte. A son of Consul Roubelle and his Maryland wife bore such a striking likeness to the accepted type of the Christ that he was often called upon by artists to sit for paintings of Our Saviour.
A descendant of Governor Paca is John Philemon Paca, of Baltimore.
THE BRICE HOUSE ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND BRICE-STEPHEN-MARTIN-ROBB
N the Brice House, Annapolis, we may see one of the most magnifi- cent wedding presents in the his- tory of colonial times, the gift of Thomas Jenings, cousin of Sarah Jenings-that strange figure of English history, first Duchess of Marlborough-to Juliana Jenings on her marriage in 1745 to Col. James Brice, son of John and Sarah Frisby Brice. It is at the intersection of East and Prince George Streets, Annapolis, facing toward the harbor, which it can easily see over the heads of about a city block of little modern houses, and its next door neighbor is the Paca mansion whose garden its own garden formerly adjoined. In the last decade the property was purchased by the proprietors of the hotel in the old homestead built by Governor William Paca, and the thorough renovation given it at that time by its new owners -- including, especially, the new paint-re- vealed charms in the old mansion (tumble-down in the hands of its last owner ) not hitherto suspected by any of its acquaintances of this generation. It is now an annex of the adjacent hotel, but has been rented in its entirety for a home by Dr. Paul Quatrebeau, whose family consists of his wife-a very charming hostess in this
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COLONIAL MANSIONS OF MARYLAND
old house-and a young son. The house is of the con- ventional Maryland classic style with centre building and wings, and is famous for its size, beauty of pro- portion, and elaboration of both exterior and interior architectural detail.
The present approach to the house from East Street is, as shown in photographs, of modern con- struction, the old walk having extended directly from the front door, by way of a terrace, to the pavement, and having a very small stoop to the steps. One of the great beauties of the house is to be seen above the centre doorway in a wonderfully-carved window, whose graceful floral design has excited much enthusiastic admiration.
The interior of the house is rich in carving, plaster work, wrought brass and rare and costly woods used with great skill and in profusion. The stairway is of San Domingo mahogany richened to a lustrous black by the passage of the years, and the pilasters and banisters are light and graceful in design. The latches of the doors inside the house are of very beautifully worked metal. Perhaps the most beautiful single feature of the inner part of the mansion is the state drawing-room, which leads off to the rear from the square hallway upon which the front door opens. In this regal apartment may be found, in especial, a fire- place very generally copied and admired. The fire space is framed with most elaborate and delicate carvings,
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MANTEL IN DRAWING-ROOM OF BRICE HOUSE
THE BRICE HOUSE
and above is a mantel which in turn supports a finely proportioned plaster panel enclosed with carv- ings. The cornice of the room is noteworthy for its carving, and the room as a whole is conspicuous for its dignity, spaciousness, and grace, being a worthy setting for the many brilliant social gatherings which it has held, often having, as an honored guest, George Wash- ington, on his frequent visits to Annapolis before the Revolution.
This magnificent mansion was built about 1740. We have the following record of the Jenings family in Maryland, written by James Frisby Brice, a son of this Colonel James, and as quoted by J. D. Warfield in his admirable " Founders of Howard and Anne Arundel Counties : "
Thomas Jenings, my grandfather, was born in England. The place and time of his birth are not known to us; nor do we know the Christian names of his father and mother. The former died when he was quite young. He was a cousin to the Duchess of Marlborough (the first), whose name was Sarah Jenings. He came to this country when nineteen years of age. My brother, Thomas J. Brice, found in the Executive Chamber (Annapolis) a record of his commission as Attorney-General of the state, about the year 1773.
He studied law in England with Mr. James Best, and at his request named a son and daughter for Mr. and Mrs. Best who left them legacies. Elizabeth Jenings was a celebrated beauty. She became Mrs. Hodges of Baltimore. We are related to the family of Edmund Jenings, Secretary of the Province, through his marriage to my great-grandmother, Arian, mother of Sarah Frisby.
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COLONIAL MANSIONS OF MARYLAND
Edmund Jenings and wife went to London, where she died. He returned and died in 1757. Their son, Edmund Jenings, remained in England, and wrote to his half-sister, Sarah (Frisby) Brice, for information of the family.
Col. James Brice, a gallant soldier, who was the first master of the Brice House, left a note-book with maps of the battles in which he fought in the Revolution. He had two sons: Thomas Jenings and James Frisby Brice (whose notes we have just read), and a daughter, Juliana Jenings, who married Judge John Stephen of Bladensburg, Maryland, who was the son of the Rever- end Stephen of St. Mary's, St. Mary's County, Maryland.
Thomas Jenings Brice, eldest son of Colonel James, was the next occupant of the Brice mansion, and in con- nection with his name there must be brought up the black pall of tragedy. He was a man of great generos- ity, and made large provision for his household servants in his will. It is thought that one of them gained knowl- edge of the will's contents and was overwrought thereby, for one morning the lord of the old home was found dead-murdered, while he was asleep, by a blow on the head from a hammer. Suspicion has always rested on the household servants-though nothing definite was ever proved. Mr. Brice was a bachelor, and at his death the property became the home of his brother, eventually to descend to Nicholas Carroll Stephen, of Bladensburg, Maryland, and Charles W. Stephen,
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THE BRICE HOUSE
of Baltimore, who in 1873 jointly sold the mansion and its ground to Thomas Ennals Martin, Mayor of Annapolis for several terms, from whom it was inherited by his daughter, Mrs. Louise Martin Robb, by whom, in October, 1911, it was disposed of, with the land out- lying, to its present owners.
Juliana Jenings Brice, who married Judge Stephen, had eight sons, only one of whom, Nicholas Carroll, had issue. Benjamin D. Stephen, John Stephen, and Mrs. Juliana Jenings Diendonne, of Bladensburg, Mary- land, were his heirs.
The Brice family, long conspicuous in Maryland, and now seated in Pennsylvania, as well as in its parent state, originated with Capt. John Brice, who came from Hampshire, England. Let us read, again, in War- field's valuable work:
From a copy held by Nicholas Brice of Philadelphia, made from Judge Nicholas Brice's record, the following is taken by permission of Mrs. Edith Marden Ridout, of the Severn:
" Captain John Brice came from Hampshire, England. He is recorded as gentleman, merchant, planter, member of the House of Burgesses, Justice of the Peace, and Captain of the Severn Hundred. He married Sarah, widow of Captain John Worthington. His crest and coat of arms, a lion's head, are still extant.
" Captain Brice was guardian for the Worthington heirs, and extended the estate. One son and two daughters were the issue of his marriage to Mrs. Worthington: Ann, who married Vachel Denton; Rachel, who married Philip Hammond, the 4 49
COLONIAL MANSIONS OF MARYLAND
Annapolis merchant; and John Brice, Jr., Judge of the Provincial Court, who married Sarah Frisby, daughter of James and Ariana (Vanderheyden ) Frisby."
Unquestionably the most magnificent colonial home in Annapolis, the entertainments given at the Brice House before the Revolution were of a royal character, and it was an inspiring centre for that quaint, gay life which made the little capital conspicuous socially in the colonial annals of the country, and of which we have such enchanting glimpses in the old homes of Annapolis. Just what were this life and spirit? Whatever we may read or say about these conditions is applicable to the Brice House.
The Abbé Rodin, of France, who visited the colonies just prior to the outbreak of the Revolution, and on his return home wrote such interesting memoirs of his trip in his "Nouveau Voyage dans l'Amérique," after speaking of the elegance of Maryland plantation homes, says of the life in Annapolis:
There appears to be more wealth and luxury in Annapolis than in any other city which I have visited in this country. The extravagance of the women here surpasses that of our own provinces ; a French hair-dresser is a man of great im- portance; one lady here pays her coiffeur a salary of a thousand crowns.
A gifted modern writer, Sidney George Fisher, look- ing through the years has written of the life in An-
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THE BRICE HOUSE 1740
THE BRICE HOUSE
napolis prior to the Revolution in the following terms in " Colonial Men, Women and Manners: "*
In the harbor of Annapolis in plain sight from most of the houses, lay vessels from all parts of the world, for the little town had its commercial day before the rise of Baltimore. The houses were in the most perfect forms of the colonial archi-" tecture. . . . The men and women, who, like the rest of the Maryland gentry, ordered champagne from Europe by the cask, and madeira by the pipe, also dressed expensively in the latest English fashions, and French travellers said that they had seldom seen such clothes outside of Paris. They had French barbers, negro slaves in livery, and drove light carriages, -an extremely rare indulgence in colonial times. The clubs got up excursions, picnics, and fishing parties. Balls were given on all the great English anniversaries, and the birthday of the proprietor and saints' days were used as excuses.
They gambled, of course, after the universal custom of the times, flirted, or pretended to flirt, like the modern Mary- lander, discussed the last vessels from England, the prospects of the tobacco crop, and the quarrels of the proprietors and the crown. Visitors were frequent from the northern and southern colonies. In spring the wealthy people departed for their manors or country places in great coaches of light yellow color with Venetian windows and projecting lamps.
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