USA > Maryland > Chronicles of colonial Maryland, with illustrations > Part 31
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The following romantic incident in the life of Mrs. Plater is handed down by those who vouch for its truth. Mrs. Rousby her mother, noted alike for her beauty, dignity, position and wealth, became a widow at the age of twenty, her only child being then an infant. Among her many suitors was Col. William Fitzhugh of Virginia. His position and fortune were good, but the fair widow of Rousby Hall was inflexible. Colonel Fitzhugh, however, who had served under Admiral Vernon at Carthegena, was not to be subdued and continued to press his suit. On one occasion having paid a visit to Mrs. Rousby, and on leaving the house to take his boat, the nurse appeared, bearing in her arms the in- fant heiress of Rousby Hall. Snatching the child from the nurse's arms, and unheeding the cries of the baby, the desperate soldier-lover sprang into his boat and ordered his men to push from the shore. When some distance out in the Patuxent, he held the child over the water, threatening to drown it if its mother did not relent and agree to become his wife. The mother half frantic, stood upon the river bank while her mad lover held her innocent child between sky and water. Believing that the threat would be executed she yielded and sealed her fate, by becoming shortly afterwards Mrs. Col. William Fitzhugh, and the baby that was not drowned became the wife of Gov. George Plater.
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to the Proprietary, and, in 1700 it was granted to Richard Smith. This patent was executed by Mary Darnall,1 the wife of Colonel Henry Darnall, the agent of the Proprietary, and is one of the very few instances in which such authority was exercised by a woman in Maryland. Shortly afterward it became the property of a branch of the Maryland, Carroll family, and for many generations continued to be their attrac- tive homestead.
Cedar Point, at the mouth of the Patuxent, and adjoining Susquehannah, was the Sewall estate. It was granted by Lord Baltimore, in 1676 to Nicholas Sewall, his step-son, in whose family it remained until a very recent date.2
These three estates, Mattapany, Susquehannah, and Cedar Point, originally occupied nearly the whole of that fertile and beautiful plateau bordering on the mouth of the Patuxent.
Above Mattapany, and near Town Creek on the Patuxent was Saint Joseph's Manor, containing 1350 acres. It belonged to the Edloes,8 and consequently to the Platers." On Abbing-
1 See patent in Land Office.
2 Major Nicholas Sewall, Secretary of Maryland in 1683, member of Council from 1684 to 1689, and son of Hon. Henry Sewall, of "Matta- pany," married Susannah, daughter of Hon. William Burgess, of Anne Arundell County. They left sons Charles and Henry. The latter's widow, Elizabeth, in 1728, married Hon. Wm. Lee of the Council, father of Thomas, the father of Governor Thomas Sim Lee. Nicholas, son of Henry and Elizabeth Sewall, married Miss Darnall of "Poplar Hill," Prince George County. Among the more prominent of the Sewalls of later times, were Hon. Nicholas Lewis Sewall of "Cedar Point," mem- ber of convention for ratification of the constitution of the United States, and Robert Darnall Sewall of "Poplar Hill." The last named estate is a part of the once famous and beautiful plantation in Prince George's County, known as the "Woodyard," and the home of Col. Henry Darnall, who came to Maryland in 1665, his brother John Darn- all, having located at Portland Manor, Anne Arundel County. Eleanor, daughter of Col. Henry Darnall, married Clement Hill. Archbishop Carroll's mother, Eleanor Brooke Darnall was of the "Woodyard," as was also Mary, the wife of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Robert Darnall, grandson of Col. Henry Darnall, lost all of this magnificent estate except "Poplar Hill"-about 800 acres-and which came into pos- session of the Sewall's through the marriage above mentioned.
3 Patent in Land Office.
4 Will, George Plater, 1751.
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ton Creek, on this Manor, the port of Saint Joseph's was erected in 1688.
Between Town Creek and Cuckolds Creek was "Resurrec- tion Manor". It was patented, in 1650, to Thomas Corn- waleys.1 Shortly afterwards it came into possession of the Plowden family, where it remained for several generations.2 On this Manor, two sessions of the Privy Council were held, the one on December 12th, 1659, the other, June 27th, 1662.ยช "Satterly", now called Sotterly, on the Patuxent, oppo- site Saint Leonards Creek, was the Plater homestead. It is beautifully located and highly improved. The house, built about 1730, is a handsome model of antique architecture. It is in the shape of the letter "Z", is one and a half stories high with steep gambrall roof, surmounted by a cupola and penetrated by triangular capped dormer windows. It is a frame building with brick foundations, brick gables, brick porches and flagstone colonnade. A secret brick arch-way leads from the cellar to the foot of the hill below the house. The rooms are capacious, with ceilings of medium height on the lower floor, and hipped and low on the upper floor. The main hall, library, and original dining room, are furnished in hand- somely panneled wood from the ceiling to the floor. The parlor is finished entirely in wood, both ceiling and side walls, artistically paneled and elaborately carved. The shell carvings forming the ceilings of the parlor alcoves are especi- ally unique and handsome. The window frames are of walnut and the door solid mahogany, swung on solid brass strap hinges extending about two feet across the door. This room presents one of the finest specimens of colonial interior finish and decoration to be found in Maryland. The stairway is also of mahogany, with grooved rail, and balustrade and newel post of an ingenius device of filigree work. A tradition in the Plater family is that the work on the parlor and stair-way was done by a mechanic named Bowen, who was one of the "King's seven year convicts", transported to Maryland, pur-
1 Patent in Land Office.
? Will of George, Edmund and Henrietta Plowden.
8 Archives (Cl. Pro.) p. 381, 460.
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chased by the Hon. George Plater and liberated in consid- eration of his masterly workmanship at Sotterly. In the front yard formerly stood two small square buildings, with cone shaped roofs. The one stood at the garden gate and was used as a wine and smoking room ; the other stood immediately opposite, and was used as the office of the Collector and Naval Officer of the Patuxent District. The former of these is now at the foot of the yard, opposite the old "Gate Lodge"; the other is in the barn yard, flanked by a series of sheds and used as a granary. Near the centre of the garden, and about thirty yards from the house, still stands in good preservation, a relic of the olden times-the Sotterly sun dial. A capacious brick stable and carriage house bears the date of its erection-1734, carved in the brick.
Sotterly was originally a part of "Fenwick's Manor". It was purchased from it by the Hon. James Bowles, contained 2000 acres and was for many years known as "Bowles' Separa- tion". Its present name, after the Plater homestead in Eng- land, as well as many of its architectural beauties, it owes to its subsequent owners-the Platers-in whose possession it came by intermarriage with the widow of Mr. Bowles.1
1 Of the marriage of the Hon. George Plater, father of Governor Plater, in the Maryland Gazette of June 16th, 1729, the following notice appeared : "On Thursday last the Hon. George Plater was married to Mrs. Rebecca Bowles, relict of James Bowles, Esq., a gentlewoman of considerable fortune."
Mrs. Rebecca Bowles was the daughter of Col. Thomas Addison and Elizabeth, his wife, the daughter of Thomas Tasker, treasurer of Maryland. James Bowles, her first husband, who died January, 1727, was a member of the Council of Maryland, and son of Tobias Bowles, of London. Their children were Eleanor, who married, Ist, William, son of Governor Sir William Gooch, and married, 2nd, Warner Lewis, both of Virginia; Mary and Jane Bowles, one of whom married Wil- liam, son of Henry and Martha (Burwell) Armistead of Virginia.
Hon. George Plater died June 17th, 1755, his wife having died be- fore 1751. They left children-Governor George, Ann, Elizabeth, and Re- becca Plater, who married, in 1744, Col. John Taylor, of Mount Airy, Virginia, and who died in 1787, leaving children : Elizabeth, married, in 1767, Edward Lloyd, father of Governor Edward Lloyd, of Maryland; Rebecca married, in 1769, Francis Lightfoot Lee, "the signer"; Eleanor
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For more than a century, Sotterly was conspicuous as the homestead of this family-than which none other, perhaps, was more closely identified with the history of Maryland, both as a colony and as a State. The Hon. George Plater was a member of the Assembly and Attorney General of Maryland as early as 1691, and from 1692 to 1720, was the Collector of Customs for the Patuxent. His son, George Plater, was for many years a member of the Council, and was Naval Officer of the Patuxent, and, from 1746 to 1755, was Secretary of the Province. His son, George Plater, was a member of the House of Delegates in 1758; Naval Officer of the Patuxent, from 1767 to 1774; Judge of the Provincial Court, from 1771 to 1773: Member of the Council, in 1773 and 1774; Member of the Council of Safety of Maryland, in 1776; Member of the Constitutional Convention of Maryland, in 1776; Member of the Senate of Maryland and President of that body, in 1784;
married, in 1772, Ralph Wormly; Ann, married, in 1773, Thomas Lomax; Mary, married, in 1776, Mann Page; Catherine, married, in 1780, Landon Carter ; Jane, married, in 1791, Robert Beverly; Sarah, married, in 1799, Col. William Augustine Washington (all of Virginia) ; John, born 1771, married 1792, Anne, daughter of Governor Benjamin Ogle, of Maryland, died 1828, leaving many children, among them Henry Tayloe, of Alabama, and Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, of Washington, D. C.
Governor George Plater, only son of Hon. George Plater, and heir of Sotterly, was born in 1736, and was educated at William and Mary's College. In 1760 he visited England, where he was introduced by let- ters from Governor Horatio Sharpe. He seems to have made an agree- able impression while there upon Lord Baltimore, who shortly after indicated to Governor Sharpe his desire to have him associated "in the affairs of the Province," and with which he soon became so prominently connected. He married Ann Rousby, the only child of Colonel John Rousby, of the once famous and beautiful estate on the Calvert side of the Patuxent, known as "Rousby Hall." Mrs. Plater enjoys the reputation of having been a woman possessed of rare personal beauty and stately elegance. Her rich patrimony, added to the already large estate of her husband, enabled the occupants of Sotterly to live in courtly style and in full keeping with their distinguished position, as is clearly attested by the will of Governor Plater and the inventory of his estate. Governor George and Ann Rousby Plater left two daughters, Ann and Rebecca (whose fame for beauty and accomplishments have
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Delegate to the Continental Congress, from 1788 to 1791; Member of the Convention for the ratification of the Constitu- tion of the United States, and President of that body in 1788; Presidential Elector, in 1789, and Governor of Maryland, in I792.
Besides being so closely identified with Maryland in her struggle for independence and in laying the foundations of free government, his name conspicuously appears upon the pages of
lived to the present day), and three sons, George, Thomas, and John Rousby Plater. Ann Plater married the distinguished jurist and states- man, Philip Barton Key, and Rebecca married General Uriah Forrest, of the Maryland line; George, eldest son of Governor George Plater and heir of Sotterly, married Ist, March 9th, 1795, Cecilia B. Bond, of "Southampton," and 2nd, March 22nd, 1798, Elizabeth Somerville. He died in 1802, leaving by his first marriage, George, who inherited Sotterly and lost it, and by his second, Ann Elizabeth Plater, who married her cousin, John Rousby Plater. Judge John Rousby, second son of Governor George Plater, married Elizabeth Tuttle, of Annapolis, Maryland. He died in 1832, leaving children-I, Elizabeth, who married May 5th, 1818, Stephen Gough, and left issue, Elizabeth A., Stephen, Sophia, Mary, Louise, Georgiana, and John Rousby Gough; 2, Dr. William, who married, Ist, Mrs. McEldeny, by whom he had one son, William, and 2nd, Louise Hobbie, by whom he had children, John Rousby, Mayhew, married Alice Bland, and Louisa Plater; 3, Sophia, married William G. Ridgely, nephew of Hon. Charles Ridgely, of Hampton, and had issue, Elizabeth, Thomas, Louise, Emily, William, Ann Key, and Sophia Matilda Ridgely; 4, John Rousby, married, Ist, November 3rd, 1816, his cousin, Anne Plater, who died without issue, and 2nd, Matilda Edmonson, by whom he had issue, John Rousby and Charlotte Plater, the latter being the wife of General E. Law Rodgers, of Baltimore.
Thomas, the third son of Governor George Plater, inherited the famous estate, "Rousby Hall," and sold it. He represented his dis- trict in Congress 1801 to 1805. His daughter, Ann Plater, was another noted beauty of the family, and of whom many reminiscences still sur- vive. She became the wife of Major George Peter, of Montgomery County, distinguished in the military service in 1812-a belle and a hero of ye olden time.
Early in the present century, Sotterly passed out of the Plater fam- ily, and since then, the mansion house and a small portion (about 400 acres) of the once vast domain of Sotterly, has been in the possession of the family of Dr. Walter Hanson Stone Briscoe.
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his country's history, during a period of half a century, in nearly every important move made by her people. He died at Annapolis, February 10th, 1792. His remains "attended by the Council and State officials, were taken the next day, by way of South River, to Sotterly", where he is buried in what is now an open field, and without even a simple slab to mark the last resting place of a son of Maryland, whose state- manship and zeal are so closely interwoven with her govern- ment, and whose whole life, from the dawn of early manhood to the grave, was conspicuous for disinterested devotion and distinguished service to the State and to the Nation. Oh ! Spirit of Liberty, where sleeps your thunder !
His sons were-George, a colonel in the Maryland line, Thomas, a member of Congress from Maryland, from 1801 to 1805 ; and Judge John Rousby Plater, who was the Presidential Elector in 1797; in 1812, and for several terms thereafter, he was a member of the House of Delegates of Maryland, and from 1823 to the time of his death, 1832, filled with distinc- tion and honor, the position of Associate Judge of the First Judicial District of Maryland.
Below De La Brooke, and separated from it by Cat Creek, was "Fenwick's Manor", granted in 1651, to Mr. Cuthbert Fenwick, prominent in the early councils of the Province, and the progenitor of a long line of descendants, distinguished both in Church and State. The manor extended down the Patuxent as far as Saint Cuthbert's (Cuckold's) Creek, and that part of it bordering on this creek still retains its original name-Saint Cuthbert's.
The manor house, it is said, stood on the site occupied by the residence of the late Joseph Forrest. This house was referred to as early as 1659, in the famous proceedings against Edward Prescott, for "hanging a witch", in which Colonel John Washington, of Virginia, the great-grandfather of Gen- eral George Washington, was the principal witness. "He will be called", says the summons of Washington, "uppon his tryal the 4th or 5th day of Octobr next, at the Court to bee held then att the Patuxent, near Mr. Fenwick's house". In this connection it may be interesting to note that Colonel
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Washington, in reply to this summons, wrote that he would be unable to attend court on the days named "because then, God willing, I intend to gette my yowng sonne baptized. All the Company & Gossips being allready invited". The pro- ceedings also show that at the trial of the case, no witnesses appearing, the prisoner was acquitted.1
Nearing the manor house of Fenwick's Manor, stood "Fen- wick's Mill", long since disappeared, though the outlines of the old mill dam were plainly visible within the recollection of many persons still living, and near the mouth of Cole's Creek stood one of the public warehouses of the Province, known as "Cole's Inspection". There was on the manor, also, "Fenwick's Tavern", a part of which is still standing and constitutes a portion of the dwelling house on the estate of Mr. James T. King.2
De La Brooke, on the Patuxent, was settled in 1650, by "Robert Brooke, Esq., arrived out of England on the 29th ascendency of the Cromwell party in Maryland, was President of the Council and, as such, Governor of the Province.3 In the
1 Record of this case is printed in full in Brown's History, pp. 84-86,
2 On the north side of, and close to the road leading from Oakville to Forrest Wharf (presumably on that part of Fenwick's Manor which was the estate of Henry Lowe), may still be found an old tombstone bearing the following inscription: "Here Lyeth interred the Body of Susannah Maria Lowe, Late wife of Henry Lowe, of the family of the Bennetts, who departed this life the 28th day of July 1714 In the 48th year of her Age." Mrs. Susannah Maria Lowe was no less a personage than the daughter of Richard Bennett and his wife, Henrietta Maria Neale, the daughter of Captain James Neale. She married, Ist, John Darnall, and had a daughter, Henrietta Maria Darnall. She married, 2nd, Colonel Henry Lowe, who died in 1717. They left children-Eliza- beth, who married Henry Darnall, of Portland Manor; Bennett, Thomas, Dorothy, who married Francis Hall; Mary, who married Ed- ward Neale; Nicholas, Ann, Susannah, and Henry Lowe. Susannah Lowe married Charles Digges, and their daughter married Governor Thomas Sim Lee, the grandfather of Mary Digges Lee, mother of Governor John Lee Carroll.
3 Robert Brooke was the son of Thomas Brooke, of Whitechurch, England, and Susan Foster, his wife, the daughter of Sir Thomas Fos- ter, and sister of Sir Thomas Foster, Jr., Lord Chief Justice of Eng-
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written memorandum which he left of his family, he says: "Robert Brooke, Esq., arrived out of England on the 29th day of June, 1650, in the 48th year of his age, with his wife and ten children". "He was the first that did seat the Patuxent, about twenty miles up the river, at De La Brooke.1 Besides his own family, he brought at his own cost and charge, twenty-eight other persons.
The settlement was erected into a county, called Charles, and Mr. Brooke made its Commander. De La Brooke, con- taining two thousand acres, which formed the chief seat of the Brooke colony, was erected into a manor, with the right of Court Baron and Court Leet, and his oldest son, Baker Brooke, made lord of the manor.2
The house of De La Brooke stood about a mile from the river, on the brow of the hill, and about fifty yards north of the road leading from the present De La Brooke House to the Three-Notched Road. It was a commanding situation-the broad plains below; the river, with its curves, creeks, coves,
land. He married, Ist, Mary, daughter of Thomas Baker, of London, and 2nd, Mary, daughter of Roger Mainwaring, Dean of Worcester, and Bishop of Saint David's. Robert Brooke was commissioned, by Lord Baltimore, Commander of Charles County, and a member of the Privy Council, before he left England, in 1650. Why he subsequently united with Cromwell's Commissioners for the reduction of Maryland, is a question upon which but little light has been thrown. It has been suggested that he was actuated by the belief that by accepting a position in the Cromwell Council he could the better serve and protect Balti- more's interests in the Province, but the latter did not so understand it, for he was quick in retribution, deposing him both as Councilor and Commander. The facts rather point to the conclusion that his religious sympathies were with the Cromwell party, and hence his attitude. Historians, generally, have assumed that he was a Roman Catholic, though Bozman says he was a "Puritan," and Allen, that he was a "High Church Protestant." Certain it is, that he stood very high in the confidence of the Cromwell' party, in fact, as President of its Council, was practically made its leader; and his son, Thomas Brooke, was a member of the Council under the Royal Government in Maryland, as well as one of the first Vestrymen of Saint Paul's Parish, Calvert County.
1 Memoirs of R. B. Taney, p. 25. 2 See Patent in Land Office.
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and islands, giving it a land and water view most imposing and picturesque. It was a brick building, about thirty by forty feet, one and one-half stories high, with steep roof and dormer windows. The rooms on the lower floor were hand- somely wainscoted, and the parlor was also embellished with massive wooden cornice and frieze, on which were carved in relief, roses and other floral designs. The house was de- stroyed about sixty years ago, but it still stands in the rec- ollection of many persons familiar with its quaint architec- ture and handsome finish. A mass of moss-covered bricks and an excavation still mark the spot where, for nearly two hundred years, stood the first manor house on the Patuxent. De La Brooke is otherwise noted as the place at which the Coun- cil, with Governor Charles Calvert, met on July 19th, 1662.
The lower part of De-la Brooke manor, subsequently came into the possession of Henry Queen, John Ford and John Francis Taney; the mansion house and the upper part of the manor in Richard Boarman,1 and later in his daughter, Catherine Brooke Boarman, wife of Major William Thomas, and a descendant of Baker Brooke, the first lord of the manor, and his wife Ann, the daughter of Governor Leonard Calvert.
Adjoining De-la Broke, is Cremona, and, while a more modern estate, perhaps, than those embraced in the period under consideration, it should be mentioned because of its singular beauty, both in its picturesque location, and in the imposing and hospitable appearance of its attractive mansion.
Higher up the river, is the fine estate known as "Trent Hall"." It was granted, in 1658, to Major Thomas Truman,
1 Rent Rolls.
2 On this old estate is the Truman and Greenfield grave-yard, noted as containing probably the oldest tombstones in Maryland. The earliest of them are to the memory of General James Truman, "who died the 7th day of August, 1672, being aged fifty years"; "Nathaniel Truman, Gent," who "died the 4th of March, 1678"; Thomas Truman, "who died the 6th of December, Anno. 1685. Aged sixty years. The memory of the just is Blessed. Prov. ye Ioch & ye 7 vrse"; Mary, "wife and relict of Thomas Truman, Esq., who died the 6th of July, Anno. 1686,
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a member of the Privy Council.1 When first granted it was called "Trent Neck", and contained six hundred acres, but in 1705, under a re-survey for his nephew, Thomas Truman Greenfield, it was enlarged to two thousand, three hundred and fifty-four acres.2
The "Plains", at first called "Orphans' Gift", situated on the Patuxent, above "Trent Hall", is an old estate of
Aged fifty-two years"; Thomas Truman Greenfield, "who departed this life December 10th, 1733, in the fifty-first year of his age"; Walter Greenfield, "son of Colonel Thomas Truman Greenfield, and Anne his wife, who departed this life on the 28th of May, 1739, in the fourteenth year of his age. A Dutiful Son; the Glory of his Mother"; Captain Thomas Truman Greenfield, "son of Colonel Thomas Truman Green- field and Susanna, daughter of Kenelm Cheseldyne and granddaughter of Thomas Gerrard, Esq., of Bromley in Lancashire, who died 29th of November, in the 23rd year of his age, A. D. 1744."
1 Major Thomas Truman commanded the Maryland militia in the joint attack made by Maryland and Virginia, in 1763, upon the Indians on account of a number of murders alleged to have been committed by them, the Virginia forces being led by Colonel John Washington, Colonel Mason, and Major Alderton. On reaching the fort of the Sus- quehannoughs, Major Truman summoned their chiefs to a parley, and after receiving assurances that it was not they, but the Senecas, who had committed the outrages, expressed himself as satisfied with the truth of that statement. Thus assured, the chiefs returned to the colonial camp the next day, by which time the Virginia militia had arrived. They were again interrogated as to the affair, with the result that Colonel Washing- ton, and a large number of soldiers in both companies, became con- vinced, it would seem, that at least five of the Indians then before them, were guilty, and urged that they be at once killed. Truman protested, but it appears, ultimately yielded, and the five were taken out and toma- hawked. For this offense, Major Truman was arraigned before the Lower House, where articles of impeachment were brought against him, and the General Assembly convicted him of violating his instructions and commission. The two houses, however, being unable to agree upon the penalty-the Upper House insisting upon the death penalty, and the Lower House, upon a pecuniary fine only-he escaped punishment alto- gether, but the Proprietary dismissed him from the Council.
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