USA > Maryland > Anne Arundel County > A history of Anne Arundel County in Maryland : adapted for use in the schools of the county > Part 18
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5. In addition to the judicial processes of the Circuit Court in the county, the administration of law is furthered by the offices of justices of the peace wlio adjudicate minor cases ; by the sheriff and his deputies, who arrest and apprehend criminals ; by constables, who have powers of arrest ; by the Orphans' Court, that settles the administration of estates and which probates wills ; by the register of wills, who is the recorder of the Orphans' Court ; by the clerk of the Circuit Court, who records the legal papers and process of the Court, and provides for the record- ing of deeds and the muniments of titles. The details of the duties of these several officers would require an inquiry into the elements of civil government which is not within the province of this history.
6. Anne Arundel is essentially an educational centre as well as a repository of historic events. Amongst the educational institutions of the county, besides its public schools, St. John's, the School of Application and the Naval Academy, is the College of Redemptorists, located at Annapolis. This school is part of a system of three colleges for the education of young men for the Catholic ministry. The order of Redemptorists, under which the college is governed, was established at Annapolis in 1853. Rev. Gabriel Rumpler and Brothers Paul and John, together with Mr. John Himmelheber, arrived at Annapolis on the 16th of March, and were the forerunners of this order that has educated many for the priesthood and built
PARAGRAPH 4. (a) In what Board is the local government of Anne Arundel placed? (b) Can you give some of the powers of this Board?
PARAGRAPH 5. (a) Where else beside the Circuit Court are the judicial processes in the county placed ?
PARAGRAPH 6. (a) Of what is Anne Arundel essentially a centre? (b) What four educational institutions are located in Annapolis?
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The Residence of Judge Nicholas Brewer, who endangered his life in the niob of 1847, to save the passengers of the Steamer Jewess.
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A Room in the Marchand Mansion, the colonial home of Major Edward Dorsey, and supposed to be the place where the Legislature met in February, 1694.
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up a large and devoted congregation. The College is located upon the colonial home of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. This handsome property was the gift to the order of Redemptiorists by Mrs. Emily McTavish, a descendent of the illus- trious patriot.
7. The materials and resources of Anne Arundel for fiction and history have not been, neglected. The first volume, relating to Annapolis, was published by William Eddis, in London, in 1792. Eddis was the English Collector of the Port of Annapolis immediately preceding the Revolutionary War, and his letters, cover- ing a period of several years at this interesting epoch give delightful pictures of Annapolitan life under the colonial government. The next work of history was the " Annals of Annapolis," by David Ridgely, published in 1840. This book was a fine addition to the historic capital of Maryland. In 1886, Elihn S. Riley, pub- lished the " Ancient City," a history of Annapolis. Two novels have many of their scenes laid in Anne Arundel-Lucy Arnold and Richard Carvel. The city of Annap- olis and the Naval Academy have and still form the basis of many articles in the press, periodicals and magazines of the times.
8. Anne Arundel, from its settlement, has been a focal point of historic and political interest. The smoke of every hamlet of the colony rose from altars where the fires of freedom burned with a pure and unadulterated ray. Their beams pro- claimed the dawn of the day of civil and religious liberty. Throughout the colonial period, Annapolis, the centre of this interest, increased in its commercial and political importance, and the culture, ability and patrotism of its people made it famous throughout the colonies, and not unknown in Europe. The elegance of the life, the opulence of the people, and the wisdom of the leaders of public thought and action are seen in the statutes and laws of the State, in their deeds in the field and on the forum, and stand attested by the monuments of their architeet- ural ability, their opulence and their precision for the artistic in the elegant homes and stately structures that still mutely proclaim the glory of the golden age of Annapolitan history. Of this magnificent and patriotic ante-Revolutionary period there yet remain our grand old State House, with its peerless history; the resi- dences of Paca, Carroll and Chase, triple signers of the Declaration of Indepen- dence ; the capacious old Ball-Room where Washington often daneed, and the barber shop where "old Caton," shaved the sage of Mount Vernon the day he was here to resign his military commission ; the studio of Charles Wilson Peale, the artist to whom Washington gave sittings for fourteen portraits; the Peggy Stenart House ; the ancient Episcopal reetory ; the Harwood House ; the home and printing office of Jonas Green, the colonial proprietor of the Maryland Gazette; the Ridont residence ; Reverdy Johnson's birthplace ; William Pinkney's home ; St. John's
PARAGRAPH 7. (a) What materials and resources in Anne Arundel have not been neglected? (b) What books have been written about or their scenes laid partly in Anne Arundel?
PARAGRAPH 8. (a) Of what has Anne Arundel been since its settlement? (b) Can you name some of the reasons that caused this political and historic importance ?
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College, the Alma Mater of Francis Scott Key; Mann's Hotel, where Washington was entertained when at Annapolis ; and Acton, the sole representative, in its capa- cious environments, of the ancient regime.
9. The illustrious past of the county, the examples of virtue, integrity and patriotism, the superior character of its leading people who have colored the page of history, is a legacy that the fathers have left their children, that should inspire the descendants of the patriots and noble men who have written the annals of Anne Arundel in the past, to emulate the distinguished acts of their sires as occasion affords them opportunity, ever remembering that the virtuous performance of civic duties ; the individual honesty of the private citizen ; the industrions acquisition of knowledge; the conscientious nse of talents, and a high sense of personal responsi- bility to the Creator of the universe are the only sources of real private good and substantial public exaltation.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOURTH.
A GALAXY OF ILLUSTRIOUS CITIZENS OF ANNE ARUNDEL.
CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON,
1. Was born at Annapolis, Maryland, September 20, 1737. In 1745, he was taken to the College of English Jesuits at St. Omer, France, where he remained six years, and then was sent to the Jesuit College at Rheims. After one year's study of civil law at Bourges, he went to Paris, studied two more years, and began the law in the Temple. At 27 years of age, he returned to America, and, at the breaking ont of the Revolutionary War, was considered the richest man in America, being worth $2,000,000. Although, by the illiberal laws of that period, he was robbed of the priv- ilege of the elective franchise, because he was a Catholic, he ardently espoused the American cause, and began his opposition to the arbitrary measures of the Pro- prietary Government, by publishing in the Maryland Gazette, a series of articles under the signature of " The First Citizen," against the right of the Governor of Maryland, to regulate fees by proclamation. In 1775, he was made a member of the first com- mittee of observation established at Annapolis, and during the same year he was elected a delegate to the Provincial Convention. In February, 1776, he was sent to Canada, by Congress, to induce the people of that province to unite with the States. He returned to Philadelphia, in June, and found the Declaration of Independence under discussion. The delegates from Maryland were hampered by instructions "to
PARAGRAPH 9. (a) What should the legacy left by the fathers inspire their descendants to do? PARAGRAPHS 1 to 10. (a) Can you name a number of distinguished Americans who were born or lived in Anne Arundel?
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disavow in the most solemn manner all design in the colonies of independence." He repaired to Annapolis immediately, and, with the assistance of Judge Samuel Chase, on the 28th of June, succeeded in having these instructions withdrawn and the delegates left free to join in the Declaration of Independence. On August 2d, the Declaration was formally signed. As Mr. Carroll wrote his name, a member observed, " Here go a few millions," and added, "however, there are several Charles Carrolls, the British will not know which one it is." Carroll immediately added, " of Carrollton," and was ever afterwards known by that cognomen. He was placed by Congress in the Board of War. In 1776, he helped to draft the Constitution for Maryland, and was the same year a member of the State Senate. In 1777, he was again a delegate to Congress. In 1781, and 1786, he was a Senator of Maryland, and in 1788, was chosen a United States Senator, to which office he was again elected in 1797. In 1799, he was one of the Commissioners to adjust the boundary line between Maryland and Virginia. On July 4, 1828, then, in his 90th year, Mr. Carroll, in the presence of an immense concourse of people, and, attended by impos- ing civic ceremonies, laid the corner-stone of that important Maryland enterprise- the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Toward the last of his life, Mr. Carroll removed to Baltimore-the author has it by tradition-because the city fathers here offended him by making the taxes too high. November 14, 1832, Mr. Carroll died, the last of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
WILLIAM PINKNEY
2. Was born at Annapolis, Md., March 17, 1764. His family was a branch of the South Carolina Pinkneys, who early settled at Annapolis. He studied medi- cine, but left that for the law, and was admitted to the bar in 1786. In 1788, he was a delegate to the Convention which ratified the constitution of the United States, and he subsequently held various State offices as member of the House of Delegates, Senate and the Council. In 1796, he was sent to London, as Commis- sioner, under the Jay treaty, remaining abroad until 1804. In 1805, he became Attorney-General of Maryland. In 1806, he was sent as Minister extraordinary to England to treat, in conjunction with Monroe, with the British Government, and was resident Minister from 1807 to 1811, when he was appointed Attorney-General of the United States, which office he held two years. He commanded a volunteer corps in the war of 1812, and was severely wounded in the battle of Bladensburg. In 1815, he was elected a member of Congress, and in 1816, was appointed Minister to Russia, and Special Minister to Naples. In 1818, he returned home, and, in 1819, was elected a United States Senator. He died February 22, 1822. Tradition says at thirteen he stood guard as a soldier in the Revolutionary fortifications around Annapolis.
PARAGRAPH 1. (a) Name some of the leading events in the life of Charles Carroll, of Car- rollton ?
PARAGRAPH 2. (a) Name some in the life of William Pinkney?
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REVERDY JOHNSON
3. Was born at Annapolis, Maryland, May 21, 1796. He was educated at St. John's College, and, at the age of 17, began the study of law in Prince George's county, in the office of his father, who was the Chief Justice of the Judicial District of which that county formed a part. In 1815, he was admitted to the bar, and by way of encouragement to all who do not achieve success at once, be it written, he made a lamentable failure in his first speech in Court. In 1817, he removed to Balti- more, and devoted much of his time to arguing cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, where he won renown as a profound student of the legal profession, not only in America, but, his fame reaching Europe, he was called to argue before the French tribunals. In conjunction with Mr. Thomas Harris, he reported the decisions of the Maryland Court of Appeals, known as "Harris and Johnson's Reports," (7 vols. 1820-27). In 1821, he was elected a State Senator, and re-elected in 1825. In 1845, he was chosen United States Senator, which office he resigned in 1849, on being appointed by President Taylor, Attorney-General of the United States. In 1861, he was a member of the Peace Convention in Washington, which tried to prevent the Civil War. In 1862, he was again elected to the United States Senate, and was a member from 1863 to 1868. In June of the latter year, he was appointed Minister to England, where he negotiated a treaty for the settle- ment of the Alabama claims. This treaty was rejected by the Senate. He was recalled in 1869. During the entire Civil War, when many illegal acts were com- mitted under the plea of " military necessity," Reverdy Johnson, whilst an ardent supporter of the Union, eloquently raised his voice against every usurpation of the military power. On the evening of February 10, 1876, when in his 80th year, with a mind yet undimmed by mental incapacity, and a body that gave promise of many years of usefulness, he met with a fatal accident at Annapolis. He was at a social gathering at the Executive Mansion, John Lee Carroll, being then Governor and host. Mr. Johnson started to go out the main doorway. He was offered assistance but refused it. Passing down the granite steps of the front porch, he turned to the left of the entrance and fell into a paved area, five feet below, where he was found shortly afterward in an unconscious state. He expired soon after being discovered. He died almost within a stone's throw of the house in which he was born, and well nigh under the shadow of his alma mater. The terms of the Johnson treaty, that the Senate rejected, were ultimately agreed upon by England and America.
JOHN D. GODMAN
4. Was born at Annapolis, December 20, 1794. He was apprenticed to a printer in Baltimore, but, at the age of twenty, enlisted in the Navy and was present at the defence of Fort MeHenry. After the war he studied medicine and practiced until 1821, when he became professor in the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati, and commenced there the Western Quarterly Reporter. In 1822, he removed to
PARAGRAPH 3. (a) Name some in the life of Reverdy Johnson?
PARAGRAPH 4. (a) Who was John D. Godman?
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" ACTON."
Built in 1762 with brick brought from England. It is on one of the first traet of land granted at Annapolis, being surveyed in 1651. It is now the home of Pay Director James D. Murray, U. S. Navy.
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" MIDDLETON HOTEL." Tradition makes General Washington one of its guests.
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Philadelphia, and devoted himself to the science of Anatomy, of which he became in 1826, a professor in Rutger's Medical School, New York. He prepared the Zoological articles for the " Encyclopedia Americana " up to the end of the letter C. His principal work was " American Natural History." He died at Germantown, Pa .. April 17, 1830.
STEWART HOLLAND.
5. By one aet this man made his name immortal. He was born at Annapolis. September 24, 1854, found him a member of the engineering department of the Steamer Arctic, that, with hundreds of passengers, was sinking in mid-ocean, from the effects of a collision. " Abont two hours after the Arctic was struck, the firing of the gun," said the third mate of the Arctic, "attracted my attention, and I recollect when I saw Stewart, it struck me as remarkably strange that he alone of all belonging to the engineering body should be here. He must have had a good chance to go in the chief engineer's boat and be saved ; but he did not, it seems, make the slightest exertion to save himself whilst there was duty to be done on shipboard. I recollect that, about an hour before the ship sunk, I was hurriedly searching for spikes to make a raft with. I had just passed through the saloon. On the sofa were men who had fainted, and there were many of them too ; the ladies were in little groups, clasped together, strangely quiet, and resigned. As I came out again, the scene that presented itself was one that I hope never to see again. Here and there were strong, stout men on their knees in the attitude of prayer, and others, who, when spoken to, were immovable and stupefied. In the midst of this scene, Stewart came minning up to me, crying : 'Donan, my powder is out; I want more. Give me the key.' 'Never mind the key,' I replied, 'take an axe and break open the door?' He snatched one close beside me, and down into the ship's hold he dived, and I went over the ship's side to my raft. I recollect distinctly his appearance as once more he hailed me from the deck, the right side of his face was black with powder, and when he spoke, his face seemed to me to be lighted up with a quaint smile." So the gallant yonth continued to fire " the minute gun " that booming over the sea might catch the ear of some passing vessel and bring relief to the perishing. As the ship, which carried three hundred people with it to watery graves, went down, Stewart Holland was seen " in the very act of firing as the vessel disappeared below the waters." A lot was donated in Washington, where he lived at the time of the disaster, and money subscribed to build him a monument, but the funds were embezzled by the trustee.
CHARLES WILSON PEALE,
6. The eminent American painter, spent much of his life in Annapolis. He was born April 16, 1741. Peale had a checkered career. He was first a saddler and harness-maker, then watch and clock tinker, and in their order, silver-smith, painter, modeller, taxidermist, dentist and lecturer. In 1770, he visited England,
PARAGRAPH 5. (a) What heroic act did Stewart Holland perform?
PARAGRAPH 6. (a) Who was Charles Wilson Peale?
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and for several years, was a pupil of West. Returning home he settled first in Annapolis and then in Philadelphia, and acquired celebrity as a portrait painter. Among his works were several portraits of Washington, and a series forming the nucleus of a national portrait gallery. He commanded a company of volunteers in the battles of Trenton and Germantown, and also served in the Pennsylvania Legis- lature. About 1785, he commenced a collection of natural curiosities in Philadel- phia, founding "Peale's Museum," in which he lectured on natural history. He aided in founding the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
LIEUTENANT JAMES BOOTH LOCKWOOD, U. S. A.,
7. Was born at Annapolis, Maryland, October 9, 1852, and died at Cape Sabine, Smith's Sound, April 9, 1884. To Lieutenant Lockwood belongs the dis- tinetion of having attained, during the Greely Expedition, the point nearest to either pole, than ever reached by any human being. It was on Lockwood's Island in north latitude, 80 24; longitude 44 5.
DANIEL DULANY.
8. A history of Annapolis would be incomplete without a biographical sketch of Daniel. Dulany who, under the non de plume of Antilon, carried on the memora- ble newspaper controversy in 1773, with Carroll, of Carrollton, the "First Citizen" of that literary prologue of the American Revolution. Daniel Dulany, son of Daniel Dulany, was born at Annapolis, July, 1721, and was educated at Eton and at Clara Hall, Cambridge, England. He entered the Temple, and, returning to the colonies, was admitted to the bar in 1747. Mr. McMahon, of this brilliant man, says : "For many years before the downfall of the Proprietary Government, he confessedly was without a rival in this colony, as a lawyer, a scholar, and an orator, and, we may safely regard the assertion that. in the high and varied accomplishments which constitute these, he has had amongst the sons of Maryland but one equal and no superior. We admit that tradition is a magnifier, and that men even through its medium and the obscurity of half a century, like objects in a misty morning, loom largely in the distance, yet with regard to Mr. Dulany, there is no room for illusion. 'You may tell Hercules by foot, says the proverb; and this truth is as just when applied to the proportions of the mind, as to those of the body. The legal arguments and opinions of Mr. Dulany that yet remain to us, bear the impress of abilities too commanding, and of learning too profound, to admit of question. Had we but these fragments, like the remains of splendor which linger around some of the ruins of antiquity, they would be enough for admiration. Yet they fall very short of furnishing just conceptions of the character and accomplish- ments of his mind. We have higher attestations of these in the testimony of contemporaries. For many years before the Revolution, he was regarded as
PARAGRAPH 7. (a) What did Lieut. James Booth Lockwood accomplish?
PARAGRAPH S. (a) Who was Daniel Dulany? (b) Can you name some of the leading events in his history?
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an oracle of the law. It was the constant practice of the courts of the Province to submit to his opinion every question of difficulty which came before them, and so infallible were his opinions considered, that he who hoped to reverse them, was regarded as 'hoping against hope.' Nor was his professional reputa- tion limited to the colony. I have been credibly informed that he was occa- sionally consulted from England upon questions of magnitude, and that, in the southern counties of Virginia, adjacent to Maryland, it was not unfrequent to withdraw questions from their courts and even from the Chancellor of England, to submit them to his award. Thus unrivalled in professional learning, according to the representations of his cotemporaries, he added to it all the power of the orator, the accomplishments of the scholar, to the graces of the person the suavity of the gentleman. Mr. Pinkney himself, the wonder of the age, who saw but the setting splendor of Mr. Dulany's talent, is reported to have said of him, that even amongst such men as Fox, Pitt, and Sheridan, he had not found his superior. Whatever were the errors of his course during the Revolution, I have never heard them ascribed, either to opposition to rights of America, or to a servile submission to the views of the ministry ; and I have been credibly informed, that he adhered throughout life, to the principles advanced by him in opposition to the Stamp Act. The conjecture may be hazarded that had he not been thrown into collision with the leaders of the Revolution in this State, by the proclamation controversy, and thus involved in discussion with them, which excited high resentment on both sides and kept him at a distance from them until the Revolution began, he would, most probably, have been found by their side, in support of the measures that led it." Mr. Dulany was Secretary of the Province when he conducted the famous contro- versy with Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. He was also a member of the Upper House under the proprietary government. The political differences of the Revolu- tion survived its conclusion. Mr. Dulany held no public office after it, and the brilliancy of his talents displayed alone in the forum of provincial conrts, did not shed its effulgence in national councils, and his fame, reflected from the humble pedestal of State history, has not depicted to the nation the phenominal propor- tions of his intellect. Such was the iron heel of public opinion upon the political fortunes of a man, " whose opinions were thought to have moulded those of William Pitt, by whom they were publicly noticed with great honor." These opinions, (which were published October 14, 1765, and which looked to " a legal, orderly, and prudent resentment " to be expressed against the Stamp Act " in a zealons and vigorons industry,") widely prevailed in America. This course was urged until that time might come, "when redress may be obtained." Mr. Dulany died in Baltimore, March 19, 1797, aged 75 years and 8 months, and was buried in St. Paul Cemetery, corner Lombard and Fremont streets, Baltimore. From Dulany's pamphlet " Considerations," Pitt took his arguments to defend America in his great speech in Parliament in 1766 for the repeal of the Stamp Act.
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THOMAS JOHNSON.
9. Thomas Johnson, born in Calvert County, made his fame and spent most of his public life in Annapolis. He was a member of the Maryland Legislature ; then of the First Continental Congress, and it was upon his suggestion made June 9th, 1775, and, on his nomination, proposed, June 15th, 1775, that General Washington was selected as the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental army. Johnson was upon most of the important Committees of Congress, and his voice was oftener heard in debate than that of any other member of Congress. He remained in Congress until November 9th, 1776, when Congress appointed him a Brigadier General of the Frederick militia, and he marched with them to the aid of Wash- ington in the Jerseys. While in the field he was elected the first Governor of Maryland chosen by the people. He was inaugurated March 27, 1777. He was twice elected Governor, and during his administration many martial measures were passed. When the Union had been established, President Washington offered Mr. Johnson the office of Chief Justice of the United States. This honor Johnson declined. The last publie act of Gov. Johnson was to deliver in 1800 a eulogy upon Washington. Gov. Johnson died in Frederick County, October 26, 1819, being nearly 87 years of age.
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