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On the reorganization of the "Maryland Line" in 1794, in compliance with the Act of Congress, the following officers from Saint Mary's County were elected: Brigadier General John Hanson Briscoe; Lieut. Cols. George Plater and Henry Neale; Majors William Thomas, John Armstrong, William Somerville and Francis Hamersley.2 While the first attempted infringement of the "non importation agreement", of the Maryland Convention was in the arrival in the Saint Mary's River in August, 1774, of the brig, Mary and Tom, from London, with tea, consigned to Robert Findlay and. others (but which, was not unloaded, and was returned),8 Saint Mary's County was the scene of but one actual engagement during the Revolution. In July 1776, Lord Dunmore, with about 300 men in armed galleys, took possession of Saint George's Island. In the engagement with Captain Beall's Company of Militia he was wounded and a mid-shipman on the "Roebuck" was killed. Dunmore's fleet, amounting to about forty sail, was anchored at the mouth of Saint Mary's River. On the 26th of July, Captain Nicholson of the "De- fence", and Major Price, attempted to recapture the Island, but were unsuccessful. Price, however, stationed a battery on "Cherry Field Point" and drove the sloop of war "Fowey" out of the river. Early in August the enemy abandoned the Island, leaving several galleys and some military stores be- hind them.4
The members of the committee from Saint Mary's County appointed by the General Assembly, to draft the famous Res- olutions declarative of the constitutional rights and privi- leges of the people, and also, the instructions for the govern- ment of the members from Maryland of the Stamp Act Con- gress of 1765, and which passed the "Remonstrance to Parlia-
1 Journal Council of Safety, 177, p. 344.
2 Maryland Gazette, June 12, 1794.
' Scharf, 2, pp. 268, 269.
8 Scharf, 2, p. 159.
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ment", were the Hon. Edmund Key and the Hon. Daniel Wolstenholme.1
In 1774, Saint Mary's County raised by private subscrip- tion, for the Maryland "Revolutionary Fund", the sum of £600 sterling, the fifth largest contribution by any county in the State.2 In 1776, an additional sum of £224, I s. and 3 p. in gold was raised, which, while not a gratuity from the county, was an advance, to be redeemed only in paper money of the Continental Congress.
In this connection it should be noted, that in 1780, when the State was without means or credit, and the army without supplies and in danger of dissolution, the Hon. Philip Key, a patriotic son of Saint Mary's, and then a representative in the Legislature of Maryland, furnished to the cause, out of his own private means, the sum of £1500 in money, and 10 hogs- heads of tobacco, the third largest subscription made by any single individual in the State.3
The representatives from Saint Mary's, in the first Gen- eral Assembly held after the Declaration of Independence,
1 Old Kent, p. 253; Scharf, I, p. 538.
2 Scharf, 2, p. 168.
3 Ibid, 2, p. 375.
The earliest local officers of Saint Mary's County were, Thomas Cornwaleys, "Commander ;" James Baldridge "High Sheriff," and John Lewger, "Conservator of the Peace." The judicial powers of the latter, were analogous to those vested in the "County Court" as subsequently established. The first Justices of the County Court, were Wm. Evans, John Abbington, Thos. Matthews, Thos. Dent, Richard Willan, John Lawson, Thos. Turner and Luke Gardner. The first Clerk was Walter Hall, who was in turn succeeded (during the period preceding the establishment of the Royal Government in Maryland) by Nicholas Painter, John Skipwith, John Llewellin and Henry Denton. Vacancies on this bench, during the same period, were filled by the appointment from time to time, of the following Justices: Robert Slye, John Nut- hall, Nicholas Young, John Jarboe, Wm. Bretton, John Vanhockman, Randall Hanson, Wm. Rosewell, Wm. Barton, Wm. Boarman, Richard Lloyd, James Martin, John Warren, Richard Gardiner, Kenelm Chesel- dine, Joshua Doyne, Wm. Langworth, Robert Mason, Wm. Hatton and Robert Carville.
The office of Judge of the Orphans Court was one of responsibility and dignity, and was filled by the leading men in the County. They
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and which formally established, in 1777, the first State Gov- ernment in Maryland, were the Hons. William Thomas, James Jordan, Athanasius Ford, and John Hatton Reid.1 The Sena- tor was the Hon. George Plater. The election-the first in Maryland as a State-was held in Leonardtown, on Novem- ber 25th, for Senate electors and on December 18th, (1776) for members of the House of Delegates, the Judges of election being Major, Henry Tubman, Abraham Barnes, and Hugh Hopewell.ª The representatives from Saint Mary's in the convention which framed the first constitution of the State, were, Hon. George Plater, Ignatius Fenwick, Richard Barnes
were appointed by the Governor. Those who served in Saint Mary's during the half century succeeding the Revolution, were: John Hatton Read, from 1778 to 1780; Thomas Bond, 1778 to 1783, and 1784 to 1787; William Kilgour, 1778 to 1783, and 1784 to 1797; John DeButts, 1779 to 1783, and 1784 to 1797; Ignatius Taylor, 1782 to 1783; Vernon Hebb, 1782 to 1783; Ignatius Fenwick, 1782 to 1786; Hanson Briscoe, 1782 to 1791; John Shanks, 1782 to 1784; John Ireland, 1783 to 1784; Zachary Forrest, 1786 to 1791 ; William Somerville, 1787 to 1803; Edmund Plow- den, 1791 to 1805; Maj. Wm. Thomas, 1797 to 1802; Henry Gardiner, 1802 to 1803; Raphael Neale, 1802 to 1806; Philip Key, 1803 to 1804, and 1808 to 1812; James Egerton, 1804 to 1810; Philip Ford, 1804 to 1805; Thomas Barber, 1804 to 1815; Athanatius Fenwick, 1806 to 1807, and 1820 to 1821 ; Dr. Henry Ashton, 1810 to 1811; Gen. James Thomas, 18II to 1813, and 1819 to 1822; Dr. Joseph Stone, 1812 to 1813, and 1819 to 1835; Zachary Forrest, 1812 to 1813; Henry Gardiner, 1812 to 1814; Luke W. Barber, 1813 to 1820; Col. John Rousby Plater, 1815 to 1816; Henry Neale, 1815 to 1816; John Leigh, 1815 to 1817; James Hopewell, 1816 to 1817; Henry G. S. Key, 1816 to 1819; William B. Scott, 1817 to 1819; George Thomas, 1822 to 1832; John Hanson Bris- coe, 1830 to 1831; Stephen Gough, 1831 to 1835; Cornelius Combs, 1834 to 1835.
The Registers of Wills during the same period were, Jeremiah Jor- dan, 1777 to 1804; James Forrest, 1804 to 1826; E. J. Millard, 1826 to 1834, George Combs, 1834 to 1856. The duties of this office were per- formed, prior to the organization of the State Government, by a Deputy Commissary General. Those who filled the office from the beginning of the last century to the above date, were: James Keech, 1700 to 1706; William Aisquith, 1706 to 1718; John Baker, 1718 to 1723; Thomas Aisquith, 1723 to 1762; Stanton Edwards, 1762 to 1766; Samuel Abell,
1 House Journal, 1777.
2 Ibid.
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and Jeremiah Jordan.1 The representatives in the Convention for the ratification of the Constitution of the United States and of which George Plater was president, were the Hons. George Plater, Richard Barnes, Nicholas L. Sewall, and Charles Chil- ton.2
The first local officers for Saint Mary's County, under the State Government, were, County Lieut. Richard Barnes ;ª Jus- tices of the County Court, Jeremiah Jordan, John Reeder, Jr., Henry Greenfield Sothoron, Richard Barnes, Henry Reeder, Vernon Hebb, Ignatius Taylor, Henry Tubman, Bennet Biscoe, John Shanks, John Hanson Biscoe, John Ireland, Ignatius Fen- wick, Robert Watts, Nickolas L. Sewall, and Robert Arm- strong. The Judges of the Orphan's Court were, Henry Green- field Sothoron, Richard Barnes, Henry Reeder, Vernon Hebb, and John Reeder, Jr .; Sheriff, Jenifer Taylor; Clerk, Daniel Wolstenholme; Register of Wills, Jeremiah Jordan ; Surveyor,
jr., 1766 to 1770; John Allen Thomas, 1770 to 1777. It is regretted that, owing to the destruction of the records, a complete list of the names of the "High Sheriffs" of the County, prior to the Revolution, (when the office lost much of its importance and the name was changed to that of Sheriff only) can not here be furnished, but among them, were: James Baldridge, 1637, (first High Sheriff) ; C. Thorougood, 1641; Edward Parker, 1642; Philip Land, 1649; Nicholas Guyther, 1659; Daniel Clocker, 1660; Richard Willan, 1662; Wm. Evans, 1663; Thos. Dent, 1664; John Lawson, 1665; Nicholas Young, 1666; John Jarboe, 1667; Walter Hall, 1668; Wm. Boarman, 1679; Joshua Doyne, 1684; John Baker; 1686; Garrett VanSweringin, 1687; Robert Carse, 1690; Robert Mason, 1692; John Coade, 1694; Thos. Hatton, 1700; Jas. Hay, 1702; John Coade, 1706; Thos. T. Greenfield, 1720; John Cartright, 1739; Wm. Cartright, 1743; Gilbert Ireland, 1745; Robert Chesley, 1748; M. Lock, 1754; Philip Key, 1755; John Eden, 1760; Jeremiah Jordan, 1766 ;- Watts, 1770; Jenifer Taylor, 1772, and Samuel Abell, 1776.
Among the County clerks during the period embraced between the establishment of the Royal Government in Maryland and the Revolution, and for the succeeding century, were: John Skipwith, John Llewellin, Henry Denton, Richard Ward Key, Benj. Young, Daniel Wolstenholme, Timothy Bowes, James Kilgour, Joseph Harris, Wm. T. Maddox, Jas. T. Blackistone, John A. Comalier.
1 Journal of Convention. 2 Ibid. 3 Scharf, 2, p. 453.
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Jesse Lock ; Coroners, James Mills, Thomas Greenfield, Stephen Tarlton, John Attaway Clark, and Mackelery Hammett.1
At the first constitutional convention for Presidential Electors, 1788, Saint Mary's had two candidates, the Hon. George Plater on the Federalist, and the Hon. Wm. Thomas, Jr., on the Anti-Federalist ticket. The former ticket was triumphantly elected throughout the State.
The representatives in Congress from Saint Mary's have been the Hons. Philip Key in the 2nd; Raphael Neale in the 16th, 17th, and 18th; Clement Dorsey in the 19th, 20th, and 2Ist; J. M. S. Causin in the 28th, and Benjamin G. Harris in the 38th, and 39th.
Presidents of the Senate of Maryland from Saint Mary's, were George Plater, 1781-2-4-5-6 and 7; John Thomas, 1797- 1800; William Thomas, 1806-8-9-10-11-12 and 13; Richard Thomas, 1836-7-8-9-1840-1-2 and 3. Speakers of the House of Delegates, Philip Key, 1795-6; Richard Thomas, 1830-I and 2; William J. Blackistone, 1834-47 ; John F. Dent, 1854.
Saint Mary's has had the honor of two Governors of Maryland under State Government, the Hon. George Plater, elected in 1792, and the Hon. James Thomas, elected in 1832, and re-elected the two succeeding terms.2
1 Scharf, 3, Appendix.
" Scharf, 2, p. 549.
CHAPTER XVI Chronicles of Saint Mary's County
IN the absence of skilled labor, variety of material and effec-
tive mechanical tools and wood working machinery, the houses in Saint Mary's, in early colonial times, were necessarily small and unpretentious. They had outside brick roof chimneys, and many of them brick gables up to the line of the roof plates, above which the ends, like the sides, were usually of frame, constructed of heavy and roughly squared timbers, put together with mortise and tenon, and boarded up with thick plank, sometimes covered with clapboards or shingles. They were generally one and one-half stories high, with steep roof, covered with lapped shingles, which, with the weather boarding, were put on with wrought iron nails. A little later, the gambrel roof and the hipped roof, with deeply sunken mullion and dormer windows became prominent features, and with them came more capacious buildings. A few were con- structed with double roof, with porch running the whole length of the house, and the porch roof being extended up and joined on to the comb of the main roof. The effect of this curious design is exceedingly odd and quaint, what ever may be said in favor of the protection and comfort which it afforded. By the early part of 1700, however, many handsome and state- ly buildings had been erected, some of which still stand and are models of ease and liberality, as well as of the higher order of architecture of that day, and which in their impres- sion of graceful design and handsome finish, are scarcely sur- passed by the more costly country dwellings of modern times.
The whole of Saint Mary's county lying south of Smith's Creek was originally comprised in three large Manors; Saint Michael's, which extended from Point Lookout to a line drawn from Oyster Creek to Deep Creek; Saint Gabriel's, which ex-
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tended from the north side of Saint Michael's Manor to a line drawn from Saint Jerome's Creek to Broad Creek ; Trinity Manor, which extended from the north side of Saint Gabriel's to a line drawn from Trinity (Smith's Creek) to Saint Jerome's Creek.
These Manors were granted to Governor Leonard Calvert in 1639,1 with the right of Court Baron and Court Leet, a right which appears to have been exercised at least once, as shown by the following record: "At a Court Baron held at the Manor at Saint Gabriel, on the 7th of March, 1656, by the Steward of the Manor, one Martin Kirke took of the lady of the Manor in full court, by delivery of the said Stewart, by the rod, according to the custom of said Manor, one message lying in the said Manor, by the yearly rent of and etc., and the said Kirke, having done his fealty was thereof admitted tenant".ª
The mansion house of these manors was located at "Piney Neck", near what is now known as the "Pine", and is re- ferred to as a large frame building with brick foundations and chimneys.3 The first tenants on these manors, of which there is any record, were Thomas Butler on Saint Michaels, Henry James and Martin Kirke on Saint Gabriel, and John Langford and Robert Smith on Trinity.4 In 1707, these Manors, the Piney Neck estate excepted, were owned by the children of George Parker, by inheritance from their mother, the daughter of Gabriel Parrot. They are now divided into numerous farms among which may be mentioned "Calvert's Rest", and the beautiful estate called "Cornfield Harbor". See Ridgely 42.
1 Liber, I, pp. 121, 122.
3 Archives (Pro. Ct.) pp. 189, 321.
2 Bozman, 581.
* Kilty, p. 103.
5 This estate was purchased from the Hon. Wm. Calvert, the only son of Governor Leonard Calvert, by Charles Egerton, Esq., who in 1698 devised it to his eldest son Charles Egerton, who had married Mary, the only daughter of James Neale by his first wife, Elizabeth Cal- vert, the only daughter of William, and grand-daughter of Governor Leonard Calvert. Their grandson, James Egerton, in 1765; devised it to his only son, Charles Calvert Egerton, in the possession of whose descendants it remained for many years.
6 Rent Rolls, Saint Mary's County.
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On the opposite side of Smith's Creek from Trinity Manor was Saint Elizabeth's Manor, which contained two thousand acres and within the limits of which the "Jutland" estate is located. It was granted to Thomas Cornwaleys in 1639, but was subsequently owned by the Hon. Wm. Bladen.1 Adjoin- ing this on the northeast, was Saint Inigoe's Manor (for an account of which see Saint Inigoe's Church), while bordering on it, and Saint Inigoe's Creek, was the estate called "Cross Manor". It contained two thousand acres, and was the home of the Hon. Thomas Cornwaleys, one of the wealthiest, as well as one of the most distinguished men in early Maryland, to whom it was granted in 1639. There is evidence that the old Cornwaleys' house (long occupied by the family of Cap- tain Randolph Jones) was built at a very early date,? and it is probably the oldest brick house to-day in Maryland. Whilst so materially modified, that an accurate description of its original architecture cannot be obtained, the lines separating the old walls from the new, are distinctly marked, and show it to have been a substantial and capacious building.
Mattapany, beautifully located near the mouth of the Patuxent, is historic by reason of having been the residence of Charles, Lord Baltimore, and the place from which many of the Proprietary orders and proclamations were issued, and where one session of the General Assembly, and several meet- ings of the Council were held.3 On it was originally located
1 This was the early home in Maryland of the Hon. William Bladen, member of the House, Clerk of the Council and the first "public printer" of the Province. He was the father of Governor Thomas Bladen, who married Barbara, daughter of Sir Thomas Janssen, and also of Ann, the wife of Col. Benjamine Tasker, Commissary General, Commissioner of the Land Office, member of the Council, and, by virtue of his position as "first in the Council," became Governor of the Prov- ince upon the death of Governor Samuel Ogle. He was the son of Col. Thomas Tasker, member of the House and Treasurer of Maryland, and was the father of Rebecca Tasker, the wife of Daniel Dulaney, and of Elizabeth Tasker, the wife of Christopher Lowndes.
2 Archives (Pro. Ct. 1642) p. 182; Ibid, 1650, p. 306; Scharf, I, p. 149.
3 McMahon, p. 237; Scharf, I, p. 316; Pro. Cl. 1778.
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the Indian village of the Mattapients. Shortly after the land- ing of the Maryland Colonists, King Pantheon presented this plantation to the Jesuits, who established a store-house and missionary station there.1 As a result, however, of the con- flict between Baltimore and the Jesuits in 1641, a formal release was executed to the former, for Mattapany, in com- mon with all other lands in Maryland held by the society, or by other persons for its use.2
In 1663, a special warrant was issued for Mattapany con- taining 1,000 acres, with addition of 200 acres, by the Pro- prietary to Hon. Henry Sewall, Secretary of the Province and member of the Council from August, 1661, to the time of his death, April 1665. On April 20th, 1665, the patent for Matta- pany and addition, was granted to his widow, Jane Sewall, who, in 1666, married Governor Charles Calvert, afterwards Lord Baltimore.4 Governor Calvert erected at Mattapany, a large brick mansion, which was for many years his private residence. The house, says an early writer, was built "for con-
1 McSherry, p. 47; Johnson, p. 56.
2 Brown, p. 55; Johnson, p. 86.
3 See Patent in Land Office.
" Lady Baltimore, (widow of Hon. Henry Sewall, was the daughter of Vincent Lowe and Anne Cavendish of London, and a sister of Col. Vincent Lowe, of Maryland. She had by her first marriage, children- Nicholas, who married Susannah, daughter of Col. William Burgess; Mary, married Col. William Chandler; Anne, married, Ist Col. Benja- min Rozier, and 2nd, Col. Edward Pye; Jane, married Hon. Philip Cal- vert, and Elizabeth, married, Ist, Dr. Jesse Wharton, and, 2nd, Col. William Digges, a member of the Maryland Council and son of Gov- ernor Edward Digges, of Virginia. Colonel Digges was in command at Saint Mary's at the time of its evacuation, in 1689. After that, he located on "Warburton Manor," in Prince George's County, Maryland, nearly opposite Mount Vernon. He left a son, William, a daughter, Jane (who married Col. John Fitzgerald, of Virginia), and grand- children, Charles, George, and Thomas. Through the Sewalls and Digges, there are still many descendants of Lady Jane Baltimore living in the Counties of Southern Maryland.
It may be interesting to note that old "Fort Warburton" stood on a part of Warburton Manor. The land for it was purchased by the United States in 1794, for $3,000. When rebuilt, after it was blown up in 1814, it was called "Fort Washington."
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venience rather than magnificence".1 A fort and magazine were also erected there," and "Brick Hill Point" on the estate, was the place of general rendezvous for the militia, by order of the Council.3 In 1682, an Act was passed making provision for a "sufficient guard to be kept at Mattapany, for the de- fense of the Right Hon. the Lord Proprietary, and with him the magazine and military supplies there"."
When the Maryland Deputies were driven from Saint Mary's City during the Protestant Revolution, they took refuge in the garrison at Mattapany, and it was there that the formal articles of surrender were executed in August, 1689.5 In . 1690, the Proprietary petitioned the Maryland authorities to deliver to him the Mattapany house, plantation and stock, and to render an account of the operation of his Lordship's mill there, located on Gardiner's Creek. This was denied, except as to the stock, upon the ground that, the whole plantation, and all of its appurtenances, had with the garrison, been "surrendered under articles to His Majesty's use"." Two years later, however, by order of Council, the estate was given up and formally placed into the possession of Col. Henry Dar- nall, the agent of the Proprietary."
The last notice of the old Calvert house was in 1773, when it was reported to be in a state of dilapidation and decay. It has long since disappeared, though its foundation and cemented cellar may still be seen. The building was about 60 x 30 feet, with a capacious wing, and stood about 250 yards southward of the present commodious dwelling house of Mattapany. The garrison, the site of which is still discernible, stood about 100 yards nearer the river, and on the river bank in the rear of the present dwelling house, are the remains of an old earthen forti- fication-probably a remnant of the ancient bulwark of defense for Mattapany.
"Mattapany", or "Mattapany Sewall", as it was called, came back into the possession of the Sewalls in 1722, by grant
1 Old Mixon.
2 Scharf, I, p. 316.
3 Archives (Cl. Pro. 1676) p. 31.
4 Ibid, Ass. Pro. 1682, p. 338.
6 Archives (C1. Pro. 1690) p. 182.
5 McMahon, p. 237.
7 Ibid, 1692, p. 31I.
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from the 2nd Charles Lord Baltimore to Nicholas Sewall, son of the original proprietor, and it remained in the family until early in the present century.
Susquehannah, adjoining Mattapany on the east, and situ- ated on the Patuxent, is noted as having been the home of Christopher Rousby, the King's Collector General, who was fatally stabbed in an altercation with Col. George Talbot, a member of the Council and Surveyor General of the Province.1 The Tombstone, a massive marble slab, covering the grave of Colonel Rousby, on this estate, bears the following inscription :
"Here lyeth the Body of Xpher Rousbie esquire, who was taken out of this World by a violent Death received on Board his majesty's ship 'The Quaker Ketch', Capt. Thomas Allen command'r the last day of Oct'r 1684. And alsoe of Mr. John Rousbie, his Brother, who departed this natural Life on board the Ship Baltimore. Being arrived in Patuxent river the first day of February 1685, memento mori".
Susquehannah is otherwise noted as the place at which
1 Talbot was at once arrested, and in spite of the efforts of the Council to have him tried in Maryland, he was carried off to Virginia and delivered up to the rapacious Governor, Lord Howard of Effingham, who treated all the remonstrances of the Marylanders with contempt. Baltimore, anxious that his kinsmen should have, at least, the chance of a fair trial, obtained an order from the Privy Council to have him sent to England. But when the order, dated January 1685, reached Virginia, the bird had flown. In the dead of winter, Talbot's devoted wife, and two brave and faithful retainers, sailed down the bay in a little skiff, and up the Rappahannock to a point near Gloucester, where he was imprisoned. Here they contrived by some devise to effect the release of the prisoner, and carried him off in safety to his distant Manor, Susqueliannah, in Cecil County. The hue and cry was pro- claimed, and so hot was the pursuit, according to local tradition, that Talbot was forced to secret himself in a cave, where he was fed by two trained hawks which brought him wild fowl from the river. How- ever, this may have been, he soon surrendered himself to the authorities, who delivered him to Effingham. The order of the Privy Council being disregarded, he was, in April, 1685, tried and convicted. The Proprietary was, however, not idle in his kinsman's behalf, and obtained from the King a pardon, in time to save his life-Brown, History of Maryland, 146.
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the Council held its meeting July Ist, 1661, and determined upon the famous expedition against the Dutch on the Delaware.1
After the death of Colonel Rousby, Susquehannah reverted
1 On the Calvert side of the Patuxent, and nearly opposite Susque- hanna, is the estate known as Rousby Hall-one of the handsomest, and until the dwelling house was destroyed in the war of 1812, one of the most highly improved places in Southern Maryland. It was the home of Col. John Rousby (possibly a descendant of John Rousby who is buried at Susquehannah) who was the father of Ann, wife of Hon. Edward Lloyd and of the Hon. John Rousby of Rousby Hall, the father of Ann, wife of Gov. George Plater. Col. John Rousby's wife was Barbara, the daughter of Henry and Francis Morgan of Kent County, and the author of the famous narrative of the troubles in Maryland consequent upon the Protestant Revolution. She married secondly Richard Smith of Saint Leonards, Captain of Militia, of Calvert County, Surveyor General 1693, died 1714, son of Richard (and Eleanor) Smith of Calvert County, who came to Maryland in 1649, Attorney General in 1655, and member of the House from 1660 to 1667. Richard and Barbara Smith had sons, Richard, Charles, Somerset and Walter, who have representatives still living in Calvert and Saint Mary's, and daughters Anne, Elizabeth and Barbara, progenitors of the Parker's, Hellens', and Dawkins' of Calvert County. Hon. John Rousby, only son of Col. John Rousby, and the father of Mrs. Plater, died in 1750 at the early age of twenty-three and is buried at Rousby Hall, where his tomb may still be seen.
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