USA > Maryland > Chronicles of colonial Maryland, with illustrations > Part 32
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Many historians have done Major Truman the-perhaps uninten- tional-injustice of simply recording the fact of his attainder and con- viction. But it is due to him that it be said, that the proceedings in his
" Ist H. & J., Maryland Reports, p. 316.
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exceptional attractiveness.1 It was, in its early history, the home of the Jowles family-a family which, though now ex- tinct in name, at least in Southern Maryland, was one of great distinction in the colonial annals of the State-but it subse- quently, through intermarriage, came into the possession of
case indicate that he was largely the victim of policy, growing out of a desire to pacify the Indians, as well as a narrow construction of the terms of his commission. The testimony shows that Major Truman, at first, warmly protested against the act, and only yielded when he found the Virginia Commanders, as well as the soldiers, keen for what they be- lieved to be a summary act of justice, and when he thought further op- position useless, or, in the language of the reply of the Lower to the Upper House, when it was the result of "the unanimous consent of the Virginians, and the general impetuosity of the whole field, as well Mary- landers as Virginians, upon the sight of the christians murdered,"
and the "very Indians that were there killed being proved to be mur- derers, both of them and several others," and further, when the act be- came a necessity to prevent a mutiny of the whole army. But the Upper House thought differently, and insisted that if Truman escaped lightly it would "not give any satisfaction to the heathens, with whom the public faith had been broke, and until such actions are in a more public manner disowned the Indians may take notice thereof." * * * "It is not to be expected that any faith or credit will be given to any treaties we shall have with them, which in this dangerous juncture of affairs, the country will stand in need of."-(Archives, Ass. Pro. 1676) pp. 475-481, 485-493, 500-504.) That the Susquehannoughs held the Virginia, and not Maryland forces responsible for the occurrence, is fully attested by the fact that when they attempted to seek revenge, their whole aim was directed at Virginia, and resulted in the famous Bacon's rebellion.
1 The "Plains" formerly embraced within its domain, the estates of "Chesley's Hill" and "Orphans' Gift," and in the old family grave- yard there, may be found tombstones bearing the following early in- scriptions :
"Here lies Interred the body of Colonel Henry Peregrine Jowles, who departed this life the 31st day of March, 1720, in the 49th year of his age."
"Here lies Interred the body of Mr. John Forbes, who departed this life the 26th day of January, 1737, in the 37th year of his age."
"Here lies interred the body of Mary Sothoron, wife of Henry Greenfield Sothoron, only child of Major Zachariah Bond. Born the 14th day of January, 1736, and died the IIth of October, 1763, Aged 26 years."
"Under this tomb is deposited the remains of John Forbes, who
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the Sothorons, and for many generations has been their inter- esting homestead. The dwelling house-a capacious brick building, and erected, it is said, prior to the Revolution, by the Hon. Henry Greenfield Sothoron-is a unique and impos- ing specimen of colonial architecture. This old mansion still bears the scars of war, inflicted upon it in 1812, in a conflict between the British fleet and the Maryland militia stationed there, in the attempt on the part of the latter to prevent the fleet from going further up the river.
On the opposite side of the Patuxent, and forming an interesting historical, as well as a picturesque feature of the landscape, and which can be seen from the Saint Mary's side of the river, may be mentioned Point Patience, once under consideration as the site of Maryland's Capital; the house of Richard Preston, the seat of government under the Puritan reign in Maryland; Saint Leonard's Creek, famous as the scene of the heroism and exploits of Commodore Barney ; Brome's Island, near Saint Leonard's noted as the place se- lected for the execution of the first capital punishment in Maryland; Calverton, but shortly afterward called "Battle Town", on Battle Creek, laid out as the first county seat of Calvert County, and which it continued to be until 1725, when the county seat was removed to William's Old Fields, called
was born on the 19th day of March, 1757. He departed this life on the 31st day of Dec. 1804, in the 48th year of his age. He was a good man."
"Maria Forbes, born 1803, died 1805."
At "Chesley's Hill" is a stone bearing the following: "This monu- ment is erected to the memory of John Chesley of Saint Mary's County, who died December the 5th, 1767, in the 64th year of his age. He was magistrate of said County upwards of 30 years, during several of which he presided as judge of the Court, and always distinguished himself for ability and uprightness.
"Beneath this stone the cold remains are laid, Of one who has the debt of nature paid, Truth as she passes drops the silent tear, Laments the Husband, Parent, Friend, Duty and love have thus inscribed his name. But virtue ranks it in the Book of Fame."
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Prince Frederic after 1728. Near Battle Town is the handsome Taney homestead, the seat of that distinguished family for many generations, and the birth-place of the illustrious Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, while separated from it by Battle Creek, is Brooke Place Manor, in later life the home of Gov- ernor Robert Brooke.1
Among the places of interest lying between the Patuxent and Wicomico rivers, should be noted "Forrest Hall", "Hilly Lee", "Indian Town", "Hamburg", and "Luckland", the latter, formerly a large estate, embracing among others, the beautiful homestead of Mr. John A. Barber.2
"Deep Falls", the Thomas homestead, is situated near village of Chaptico. In the proprietary grant, dated March 26th, 1680, it was called "Wales", but when the improve- ment, known as "the falls", was completed, the name was changed to the one it bears to-day. The present mansion was erected by Major William Thomas, about 1745. It is, in ap- pearance, an English country dwelling house, and, while its builder aimed at massive simplicity, rather than architectural display, it is of graceful and pleasing design and finish. It is a large, double, two-story frame building, with brick founda- tions and brick gables to the upper line of the first story, when the brick work branches into two large outside chimneys at each gable end of the house. It is sixty feet long and forty
1 Archives (Ass. Pro. 1662) p. 435; Bozman, 2, p. 205; Annals of Annapolis, p. 46; Memoirs Com .- Barney, pp. 256, 257; Archives (Test Pro. 1657) p. 545; Ibid, Cl. Pro. 1669, p. 47; Ibid, Ass. Pro. 1682, p. 280 ; Act, 1725, C. II; Act, 1728, C. 17; Memoirs R. B. Taney, p. 20.
2 Dr. Luke Barber, the progenitor of the Barber family in Southern Maryland, came to Maryland in 1654, distinguished himself in the battle of the Severn, and for his bravery on that occasion, and his fidelity to the Proprietary throughout the Puritan rule in Maryland, he, together with Major Thomas Truman, William Barton and others, was made the subject of a special donation, each receiving one thousand acres of land, by order of Baltimore. In 1656, he was appointed a member of the Privy Council, and the following year, was promoted to the office of Deputy Governor of the Province, acting in the absence of Governor Fendall. He died before 1671. His widow married John Bloomfield, of Saint Mary's City.
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feet deep, with wide piazzas, front and back, running the whole length of the house, and supported by handsome, mas- sive pillars.
On a line with the front of the house, is a long corridor, with a capacious wing, one and a-half stories high, and which constitutes the culinary department. The hall, as distinguished from a mere passage, is a feature that does not exist, it is believed, in any other colonial house in Saint Mary's. It is a large, well finished, square room, and is flanked on one side by a parlor, on the other by a dining-room, separated from it by a partition consisting of a series of folding doors, and in the rear by a long passage, running at right angles, into which it opens, and through which entrance is obtained to the back porch, by a door immediately opposite the front door, and the archway between the hall and the passage. The stairway is in the passage. Its sides are carved, with maple newel posts and rosewood top, surmounted with an ivory knob, rosewood rail, and bird's-eye maple balustrade, the two latter extending around the corridors above.
In front, is the entrance to the house, through a gently ascending avenue, about forty yards wide and three hundred yards long, lined on each side with a row of ornamental trees, with a background of cone-shaped cedars. In the rear, are five falls, or terraces, each one hundred feet long and ten feet deep, which lead to a plateau below. About two and a-half acres of this plateau is the garden. It is Queen Anne in design, is artistically laid off, and, at one time, was highly ornamented with fine specimens of shrubbery and flowers. On the right and left of the house, is a broad lawn of about three acres, made picturesque by its gentle undulations, and its rich and varied foliage. "Deep Falls" is one of the few places in Saint Mary's, which is still in the family of its origi- nal proprietor, and the old graveyard there, dedicated to family burial more than a century and a half ago, contains within its sacred limits, the successive generations that have lived and passed away.
"Basford Manor", or "Basford", as now called, sit-
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uated near Chaptico, was granted to Dr. Thomas Gerrard, in March, 1650.1 It was bounded as follows: "On the South with the Manor of Saint Clement's, on the west with the Wic- cocomoco River, on the north with a bay called Chapticon Bay, on the east with a line drawn southeast from a marked oak standing in a marsh, near the said bay, called Tapster's Marsh, unto the first fountain of Tommahkockin, or the fresh creek running into Saint Clement's Bay", and was laid out for fifteen hundred acres, but by a re-survey it was found to con- tain a much larger area. The annual quit-rent was fifteen bushels of corn. This manor was sold by Dr. Gerrard to Governor Thomas Notley, who, in 1678, laid off 300 acres of it as the "Manor Lodge", named it "Bachelor's Hope", and placed it in the possession of Colonel Benjamin Rozer,2 a member of the Council when Governor of the Province, and who married Ann Sewall, step-daughter of Lord Baltimore. Governor Notley sold "Basford Manor" to Lord Baltimore, who conveyed "Bachelor's Hope" to Joshua Doyne, the re- mainder of the manor being subsequently divided up and sold as follows: 100 acres to James Mills, 100 to Notley Gold- smith, 100 to Michael Goldsmith, 100 to John Goldsmith, 100 to John Reeves, 104 to Nathaniel Truman Greenfield, 200 to Benjamin Moulton, 200 to Edward Turner, 200 to John Smith, 69 to Samuel Maddox, 150 to John Maddox, 277 to John Eden.3
The manor house, a frame building with brick gables and chimneys, one and a-half stories high, and steep gambrel roof, while unpretentious in exterior design, contained a great deal of handsome interior decoration, consisting of elaborate wood- carving. It occupied a commanding position on the Wicomico River. This old monument of colonial times, stood almost unchanged until a few years ago, when it was destroyed by fire. The road passing through "Bachelor's Hope" is still known as the manor road. In 1773, the manor house at
1 See Patent, Liber A. B. L. H. p. 166, Land Office.
2 Rent Rolls, Saint Mary's and Charles County, I, p. 4I.
3 Rent rolls, Saint Mary's County, I, Manors, p. 29.
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Bashford, and about three hundred acres of the manor, came into the possession of Major William Thomas, Sr.,1 and it continued to be owned by his descendants until late in the present century, when it was disposed of, and that part of the manor known as "Bachelor's Hope", purchased in its stead.
"Notley Hall", on the Wicomico, and adjoining "Bash- ford Manor", was the home of Governor Thomas Notley. He sold it to Lord Baltimore, who owned it for many years. Baltimore was deprived of the use of it after the Protestant Revolution, in Maryland, but it was restored to him in 1692, by order of the Council .? Nothing remains, it is to be re- gretted, of the old Notley house, save a few broken yellow bricks, a brick under-ground passage-way, which led from the cellar to the river, about fifty yards below, to mark the spot on which it stood.
"Notley Hall" is frequently mentioned in the early provincial records, and is a place of historic interest, as well as of rare and exceptional beauty. It may be interesting to note that among the references which the early records make to this old estate, is one of a visit to Lady Baltimore, at "Not- ley Hall", in 1683, by Mrs. Doyne, of "Bachelor's Hope".3
"Saint Clement's Manor" was granted, in November, 1639, to "Thomas Gerrard, Gent", for many years a member of the Council, and one of the most prominent men in the Province. It contained, at first, Saint Clement's Island and the neck of land lying between the Potomac River, Saint Clement's Bay, and a line drawn from Saint Patrick's to Saint Katherine's Creek, in all about 1030 acres. In June, 1642, a second patent was obtained for the manor, by which it was extended over to the Wicomico River, and was made to em- brace all the land which lay between the "Potomack River", the "Wicocomoco River", Saint Clement's Bay", "Ger- rard's Creek", and "Tomaquoakin Creek", and a line drawn from the head of "Gerrard's Creek", 460 perches, to a Span-
1 Deed, John Goldsmith to William Thomas, Land Office; will, William Thomas, Saint Mary's County.
2 Archives (Cl. Pro. 1692) p. 311. 3 Ibid, 1683, p. 183.
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ish oak, "marked with twelve notches, standing on the head of Tomaquoakin run, or fresh creek", as well, also, as the island of "Saint Clement's, Saint Katherine's, and Saint Margaret's",1 containing, as was supposed, 6,000 acres, but in reality embracing 11,400 acres.2
Saint Clement's was erected into a manor, Mr. Gerrard made lord of the manor, and vested with all the royalties and privileges usually belonging to manors in England, among them the right of Court Baron and Court Leet. It is worthy of note, that Saint Clement's has passed into history as the only one of the old Maryland manors whose records, to any material extent, have survived the ravages of time. The records, written in quaint old English, of the Courts Baron and Courts Leet, held on Saint Clement's, between 1659 and 1672, have been preserved. They are in the Maryland Historical Society, and may be found herein printed in full in Chapter VIII, "The Judicial System of Colonial Maryland".
Among the older estates carved out of Saint Clement's Manor, may be mentioned "Longworth Point", the Blackiston homestead, and the residence of Nehemiah Blackiston when President of the Council, in 1690; "Saint John", the Gardi- ner homestead; "Little Hackley", the Shanks homestead; "Bluff Point", the Coade homestead; "Mattapany", the Cheseldine homestead,3 and "Bushwood", the Slye home- stead. At the latter place, then the home of Robert Slye,
1 See Patents in Land Office.
2 The Proprietary "quittrent" for Saint Clement's was at the rate of one shilling per annum for every fifty acres. The following interest- ing receipt has been preserved by the Maryland Historical Society :
"March 8th 1659. Received then of Thomas Gerrard of St. Clem- ent's manor, the full summe of sixty pounds in full discharge of ten years rent ended at Christmas 1659 [for St. Clement's manor], the said being paid in Tob., at two pence per pound.
" I say received by me, Phillip Calvert, Trer. "Witness William Ffuller, Ri. Even."
3 Kenelm Cheseldine and John Coade were, perhaps, the most prominent leaders in the Protestant Revolution of 1688, and were both rewarded for their services in that connection. This preferment, and the subsequent history of the two men materially reflect upon the
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Speaker of the Lower House of Assembly in 1658, the Council of Maryland met, in 1659.1 "Bushwood" occupies a pictur- esque position on the commanding elevation overlooking the Wicomico. The house, a capacious brick building with two large wings and four-sided roof, capped with balustrade ob- servatory, is strikingly imposing, and presents a charming specimen of colonial architecture. It at one time contained a great deal of handsomely-chiseled wood interior decorations, much after the design of those at "Sotterly", and said to have been the work of the same artistic hand, but this has, in recent years, been largely removed. Bushwood in 1669, passed from Robert to his son and heir Capt.Gerard Slye, and from him to his son George, who in 1773 devised it to his nephew Edmond Plowden. On this, then very large estate, and near what is now known as "Bushwood Wharf", was located the once promising port and town of Wicomico".2
On what part of "Saint Clement's Manor" the manor house stood has not been definitely ascertained, but it is believed to have been that part of it called "Brambly". Certain it is, that his son, Justinian, who was left in charge of the manor when Dr. Gerrard took up his residence in Virginia, and to whom he afterwards devised the greater part of it, lived there. In his will, dated 1685, he speaks of it as "my now dwelling house and plantation" on said manor called Brambly,3 and as early as 1664, Dr. Gerrard himself referred to it as "Gerrard's
question as to whether the real motive which prompted the move was re- gard for the public weal and in the interest of religion, as was alleged, or was in fact, a design to overthrow the Proprietary and entrench themselves in power. It has been well said in this connection, that "in times of revolution, men will rise to power, in whose mouths the alleged causes of revolution are but the watch-words to denote a party, or the calls to lure it on; and whose hearts have never joined the service of the lip. But, as naturally as the muddy particles which float upon it denote the perturbed stream, does the elevation of such men indicate
1 Archives (C1. Pro. 1690) p. 206; Ibid, 1659, p. 383; will, Luke Gar- diner ; will, John Coade; 4th H. & McH. Maryland Reports, p. 179,. Ist Ibid, p. 153.
Act, 1688, C. 6.
3 Will Record, Annapolis.
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Brambly",1 which, in connection with the further fact that Brambly appears to have been the name of the Gerrard home- stead in England,2 gives both color and strength to the theory that the beautiful and splendid estate of that name, on Saint Clement's Manor, was also the seat of Dr. Gerrard, the first proprietor and lord of the manor.
Of the style or character of the manor house at Saint Clement's, nothing is known, but it is highly probable that it was built of brick, as Dr. Gerrard employed a brick-maker on the manor, in 1643,8 and which, it may be added, is the earli- est reference the records furnish of brick making in Maryland. Saint Clement's Manor is also historical by reason of the fact that it was the spot on which the notorious rebellion of Gov- ernor Josiah Fendall was enacted. The details of this tragedy are given in Chapter III, "The First Capital", but it should here be noted, that the Legislature, through which this nefa- rious scheme was to be carried out, met for the purpose at the residence of Mr. Gerrard, on Saint Clement's Manor. The
the over-excitement of the movement, and diminish the force of its alle- gations against those at whom the revolution is aimed."-(McMahon, p. 238.) Sheseldine was made Speaker of the Protestant Convention, which assembled immediately after the close of the revolution, and also of the first Assembly convened under the Royal Government, in 1692. he was also appointed Commissary General of the Province, from which office he was dismissed, in 1697, "for carelessness and negligence in office."-(Cl. Pro., H. D., Part 2d, p. 539.) What applied to him in office, seems to have developed in the case of his only son, Kenelm Cheseldine, into "carelessness and negligence" in morals .- (See Ist H. & McH. Maryland Reports, p. 103; 4th Ibid, p. 314; 2 Bland, p. 76.) After the Revolution, Coade was made a Colonel of the militia, and also Receiver of Customs for the Potomac District, and, at the same time, was "asserting that religion was a trick, reviling the Apostles, denying the divinity of the Christian religion, and alleging that all morals worth having were contained in Cicero's offices." For this grossly blasphemous conduct, he was dismissed from office, and was presented by the grand jury of Saint Mary's County, for "atheism and blasphemy."-See Liber H. D. Part 2d, pp. 393-397.
1 Ist H. & McH. Maryland Reports, p. 112.
2 Tombstone of Thomas T. Greenfield, at Trent Hall.
3 Archives (Cl. Pro. 1643) p. 213.
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second day of the session, it adjourned to a house owned by Mr. Robert Slye, at Wicomico, before mentioned, and it was there that independence was formally proclaimed, and that Fendall issued his famous proclamation as Governor of the little Republic of Maryland.1
As the active friend and ally of Fendall, in this conspir- acy, Mr. Gerrard was tried, convicted, and sentenced to ban- ishment, and confiscation of Saint Clement's Manor, and his other property in Maryland. The sentence, however, was commuted, and the order of confiscation dismissed, but he was politically disfranchised and prohibited forever from again hold- ing public office .? After this Mr. Gerrard moved across the Potomac into Virginia (leaving Saint Clement's in charge of his son, Justinian Gerrard), where he, in 1670, with John Lee, Henry Corbin, and Isaac Allerton, erected a "banquetting house" at the corner of their respective lands.3 In his will, dated 1672, he requested to be buried in Maryland by the side of his wife, Susanna, who was probably buried on Saint Clem- ent's Manor. Mr. Gerrard was himself a Roman Catholic, but his wife, as well as a large number of the freeholders and tenants on Saint Clement's were Protestants,4 and a Protest- ant church was erected there, on Saint Paul's Creek, as early as 1642.5
After the death of Mr. Gerrard, information reached the Proprietary that Saint Clement's contained a much larger area of land than was set forth in the patent. A re-survey of the
1 Ibid, Ass. and Cl. Pro. 1659.
2 Ibid, Cl. Pro. 1660, p. 402.
" Meade's Virginia, 2, p. 146.
5 Who Were the Early Settlers of Maryland.
4 Day Star, p. 58. .
Dr. Thomas Gerrard married, Ist, Susannah Snow, sister of Jus- tinian and Abel Snow, and 2nd, Rose Tucker, widow of John Tucker, of Virginia, who died in 1671. She left children by her first marriage- Sarah, who married - Blakiston, and Rose, who married William Fitzhugh of Virginia .- (Virginia Historical Society, Vol. I, No. 3, January, 1894, p. 269.) Dr. Gerrard died in December, 1673, leaving by his first marriage, sons Justinian, Thomas, and John, and daughters Su- sannah, who married Ist, Robert Slye, and 2d, John Coade; Elizabeth, who married Nehemiah Blackiston, and Mary, and a grandson, Gerrard
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manor was ordered, by which it was ascertained to contain II,400 acres, being 4,500 acres more than Mr. Gerrard had been paying the "annual quit-rent" upon.
A scieri facias was issued against Mr. Justinian Gerrard, his son and heir-at-law, and in 1678, the Provincial Court decided that the patent had been "unduly and illegally ob- tained", and ordered it to be cancelled. A new patent was, however, issued to Mr. Justinian Gerrard for the manor, with a "quit-rent" based on the correct acreage. Saint Clement's Manor was, in 1710, purchased by Charles Carroll, and the last official notice we have of it as a manor, is to be found in the celebrated case of Carrall and Llewellin, in 1750, over that part of it embraced within the limits of the estate called Brambly.4
Near Saint Clement's Manor, but not a part of it, was "Bushwood Lodge", noted as the early homestead of the Key family in Maryland," and was at one time distinguished for the high character of its improvement. The mansion house, erected, it is said, about 1730, by Philip Key-the progenitor of the family in Maryland, a lawyer of first rank, and a mem- ber of the Privy Council-enjoys the reputation of having been one of the handsomest houses at that time in the Prov- ince. The parlor walls, tradition says, were made of alternate panels of carved wood and mirror. It was destroyed by fire early in the present century, the house now there being the second to occupy the place of the original.3
Peyton .- (See his will, Will Record, Annapolis.) His sons Justinian and Thomas both died without issue. John, his third son, left issue, Susannah, who died unmarried, and John, whose widow Jane, married Richard Llewellin, father of John Llewellin, of Brambly .- (Paper in possession of the Author, submitted to Thomas Stone, before 1750, for legal opinion as to heirs-at-law of Dr. Gerrard.)
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