USA > Maryland > Dorchester County > History of Dorchester County, Maryland > Part 26
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William Merine wrote his name as here given in his last will, a copy of which is on file in the office of the Register of Wills at Annapolis; he died in 1767. Of him, the earliest and most complete information is obtainable. He was born prior to 1700; his wife's name has been lost; they had the following children: John, Matthew, Charles, Zorobable, James, David, William, Janet and Easter. The line of de- scent cannot be traced in all its ramifications. The follow- ing have been secured :
Zorobable Marain, as he lapsed into subscribing his name, was born in 1738 and died in 1823; he was a farmer, land owner, and owner of a saw and grist mill near Federalsburg which he inherited from his father who erected the first mill in that locality. He was a man of influence in the commu- nity, and possessed as was his brothers, of great physical strength and self-will; he had knowledge in surveying; his wife was Mary Francis Heyward, daughter of Thomas Hey- ward; they had the following children: William, Anna, Matthew, Mary, Easter, Heyward, Sarah, Rhoda, John and Charles.
From an old memorandum book of 1765, used by Zoro- bable, now in possession of one of his descendants, has been gleaned the following names of persons who were his neigh- bors and contemporaries: John Wilson, Nehemiah Cochm, James Fletcher, Beauchamp Harper, Levin Rolinson, J. Richardson, Jr., Thomas Kilby, William Wheatley, Spencer Waters, James Phillips, John Stokes, Charles Robbins, Nehemiah Beauchamp, Francis Heyward, James Wright, Charles Cannon, Laban Jones, Levi Anderton Brown, James Birckhead, John Smoot, Levin Wright and James Layton.
A few of the entries in the book prove interesting. Hogs ran at large; Zorobable's had this mark-"The mark of hogs belonging to Zorobable Marain is, the right ear cut off and
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THE MARINES
slit on the left ear, hole and long." Another note is this: "Francis Heyward the third, was born in the year 1772." Still another was, "February came on the fifth day of the week. The second fast day is the 11th day of the month." Among his old receipts his name was written invariably Marine; a way used by several of those of his kindred. A curious entry was this one to a workman's credit: "To one month's work at 25s. if all good weather."
The late Col. Jacob Wilson, a prominent countian, who represented it in the Legislature, who was a slave-holder, and during his life a popular citizen; who died without issue about the commencement of our Civil War at an advanced age, remembered Zorobable, he having resided near him in the Fork District; he was in the habit of telling this current story of his time : "Zorobable was having a grist mill repaired near Federalsburg; he rode down to the mill where some workmen had lodged a sill and could not right it; dismount- ing, he walked to where they were and said, "Get away, weaklings;" and putting his shoulder beneath the sill he dis- lodged it and placed it in position; his shirt became imbedded in the flesh of his shoulder, which garment he loosened, and mounting his horse rode off.
William, Zorobable's son, lived on an estate received from his father, known as the "Fisher Farm," near Crotcher's Ferry. He married Mary Fletcher; they had the following children : Fletcher, born in 1788; Levica, Mary, Matthew, William, Sarah, Charles, Zorobable and James.
There is the following paragraph contained in Nelson's History of Baltimore, to be found in the life of ex-Collector of the Port, William M. Marine, who is the great-grandson of William and Mary, which we quote:
"William Merine, farmer, Zorobable's son, was married to Mary Fletcher, who was descended from the New England family to which Grace Fletcher, wife of Daniel Webster belonged. Thomas C. Fletcher, a Union man and ex-War Governor of Missouri, is a native of Dorchester County, Md., and a scion of the old family of that name in that county. In
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370
HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY
a letter to the subject of this sketch fourteenth January, 1896, he wrote: 'I figure it out that your great-grandmother, Mary Fletcher, was the daughter of John Fletcher who was brother to my grandfather Thomas Fletcher. I am a mem- ber of the New England Family Association.'"
Matthew, William's son, was born August 19, 1797, on the "Fisher Farm;" he was married to Nancy Rollins, April 9, 1818. She was the daughter of John Rollins and his wife Mary Mezzick. The given names of John's father and mother were Luke and Leah. Luke's father was Isaac whose father was Jewel, a Huguenot from France, who set- tled in Northwest Fork where his children were born.
Matthew, after marriage resided near Walnut Landing; in early life he tired of farming and abandoned it; he settled in Sharptown when it was a hamlet and gave to it its first boom in growth; he merchandised and was a landed propri- etor, owning the largest fleet of schooners of any one person on the Nanticoke; they ran from Sharptown to Baltimore. He died in 1854. From his union with Nancy, the following children were born: Polly M., Fletcher Elliott, Vashti, who was twiqe married, her first husband being Osborn Adams, her second John Twiford; Nancy E., wife of Major Robin- son; Martha, wife of Henry Rollins; Matthew Washington, William John, Margaret A. and Sarah Jane, wife of Thomas J. Twilley. Polly M., Matthew W. and Margaret A. died before reaching legal age.
Fletcher Elliott, son of Matthew, was born in Sussex County, Del., near the Maryland and Delaware line, March 21, 1821. He married Hester Eleanor Knowles, daughter of William Knowles, of Sussex County, Del. He com- menced life in the service of his father and left it in 1847 to conduct business for himself, merchandising in Vienna until 1854; in the fall of that year he moved to Baltimore, where he conducted business until his death in 1889. It was not as a reliable business man only that he was best known, but for his works of religion and benevolence; an ordained local preacher, having received deacon's and elder's orders
371
THE MARINES
in the Baltimore Conference of the M. E. Church. He was the publisher of The Pioneer, a monthly religious maga- zine, filled with historical researches of events connected with his Church's early history; he also wrote the life of John Her- sey, an evangelist well known half a century ago in Dor- chester County, where his author first met and entertained him at his home in Vienna. A tablet to Fletcher E. Marine's memory and that of his wife is to the left of the pulpit in the Caroline Street M. E. Church in Baltimore, where he preached his last sermon before the Baltimore Local Preach- ers' Association a few months prior to his death.
Fletcher and Hester had children as follows: William Matthew; Louisa Emily, widow of the late John W. Cath- cart; John Fletcher and Thomas Price, both of whom died in infancy; James Hargis, at present (1902) Member of the First Branch City Council of Baltimore; Hester Ann, wife of Joseph T. Flautt; Sarah Jane, wife of Thomas Lerch, and Fletcher Columbus who died in infancy. Ex-Collector of the Port of Baltimore, William M. Marine, was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison as his personal choice for that office; he is widely known in Maryland and in other States as a vigorous campaigner and a patriotic orator. He is engaged in the practice of law in Baltimore, is fond of literature, and is the author of a volume of published poems, entitled "The Battle of North Point and Other Poems." A large part of Nelson's History of Baltimore was written by him, one voluminous contribution being the political his- tory of Baltimore. A paper read by him before the Dela- ware Historical Society at Wilmington has been published by that society as the authentic history of the conflict be- tween the inhabitants of Lewes and the British who bom- barded it in April, 1813. Mr. Marine has traveled exten- sively at home and in Europe and has written numerous letters descriptive of his travels, the most recent ones, lately appearing in The American in reference to a trip made by him to Jamaica.
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372
HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY
Mr. Marine lived in Vienna from 1847 to 1854; he first attended school in that village, Squire Smith being his first preceptor.
William John Marine, son of Matthew, was educated at Dickinson College; studied law under Thomas Y. Walsh and was admitted to the Baltimore Bar in 1856. The same year he moved to Kansas where he remained till the late Civil War when he settled in Missouri, where he edited a newspaper devoted to the cause of the Union. He saw service in a Union Missouri Regiment; he edited the first daily newspaper in Tennessee, published at Chattanooga. He subsequently returned to Maryland and edited a news- paper at Port Tobacco.
This sketch is imperfect and does not comprehend the entire membership of the family. Some of the earliest scions moved West, others died in childhood. There are branches of the family yet extant in the Northwest Fork, which sprang originally from some one of those names heretofore men- tioned, of whom Zorobable Marine, William H. Marine and James Marine are descended from Zorobable, son of William.
The family was once numerous in Sussex County, Del., but is now extinct in name in that locality. In the latter part of 1700 and the early part of 1800, members of the family removed from the Eastern Shore to North Caro- lina and Ohio. Some of the North Carolinians found their way to Indiana, where their descendants are living at the present time, of whom is James Whitcomb Riley, whose mother was Elizabeth Marine; from her he claimed to have received his poetical talent. The late Rev. Abijah Marine, a learned and eloquent divine of the Methodist Church, and the late John C. Merine, one of the distinguished portrait painters of America, and Abijah's uncle, are of the same family.
The religious proclivities of the family have been affected by the various changes which from time to time spread over the peninsula. When George Fox visited the Eastern Shore, under his instrumentality several of them became converts
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373
THE PATTISONS
to his faith; when Francis Asbury planted Methodism in the same locality, on the embers of Quakerism, they gathered in that fold where the most of them have since remained. The records of the Parish of Vienna Episcopal Church con- tains the names of some of them. The historic Methodist Church, Moor's Chapel, in Delaware, planted by Mr. Asbury, had Charles Marine as one of its first trustees; he was a sedate old gentleman and wore Quaker garb, who never took an affront, although belonging to a religion of peace he did not hesitate to use his cane when it became necessary. The family had its representatives in the Revolutionary War. During the late Civil War several of them were in the Federal Army from this State, while those from North Carolina were in the Confederate Army.
PATTISON FAMILY.
(Data from J. S. S.)
Thomas Pattison, the ancestor of this family, came to Maryland in 1671 and settled in Dorchester County, Decem- ber 20, 1671. He proved his right to 400 acres for trans- porting into the province himself, Ann Pattison (his wife), James, Jacob, Priscilla and Ann Pattison (his children) and two servants. (Land Office, Lib. 16, folio 395.) He was appointed April 21, 1688, his Lordship's Attorney for Dor- chester County. (Md. Archives, viii, 30.) He died in 1701, and his wife Ann in 1702. He was, in 1689, Clerk of Dor- chester County Court. They had issue:
I. James Pattison, of whom further.
2. Jacob Pattison.
3. Thomas Pattison, born 1672; died, 1743; married Mary, daughter of Col. St. Leger Codd, and left issue.
4. Priscilla, married 1, Nathaniel Manning; 2, - Taylor.
5. Elizabeth, married John Robson.
6. Ann Pattison.
7. Joan Pattison.
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY
8. Levina Pattison, married, I, Matthew Driver; 2, Moses LeCompte.
9. Sarah Pattison, married John Abbott.
James Pattison, eldest son of Thomas and Ann, lived to an advanced old age. In 1723 he gives his age as 65 years. (Chancery, Lib. P.L., 974.) In 1742-43 he states that he is 80 odd, and in 1746 his age is given as 92 or 93. (Dorchester Co. Rec. Lib. Old 14, 44, 75.) There is a discrepancy here, but it is evident that he must have been born between 1654 and 1658. He died in 1747. By Mary his wife he had issue:
I. John Pattison, born between 1688 and 1694; died 1774, leaving issue.
2. Jacob Pattison, of whom further.
3. William Pattison.
4. Richard Pattison.
5. Thomas Pattison.
6. Ann Pattison, married - Hillen of Calvert County.
7. Elizabeth Pattison.
8. Priscilla Pattison, married - Driver.
Jacob Pattison, son of James and Mary, died in the year 1772. By Sarah, his wife, he had issue:
I. Jeremiah Pattison, of whom further.
2. Jacob Pattison, died unmarried 1776.
3. Richard Pattison.
4. William Pattison.
5. Thomas James Pattison.
6. Nancy Pattison, married James Woolford.
7. Mary Pattison.
8. Priscilla Pattison.
Jeremiah Pattison, son of Jacob and Sarah, died in the year 1814. He married in 1759 Nancy LeCompte, daughter of Moses (4), and had issue as given in his will:
I. Samuel Pattison.
2. James Pattison, born 25th August, 1772; married, I, Elizabeth LeCompte; 2, Mrs. Nancy Vickers; 3, Sallie Wool- ford.
375
.
William
Thos. James
Henry
Thomas
William J.
James and
Elizabeth LeCompte
Ann LeCompte Jeremiah L. and Hooper Anne Elizabeth Margaret W
( Priscilla E. married Caleb L. Shepherd
Richard
Richard
Samuel
William
Jacob Jeremiah and
Nancy Le Compte
Nancy
Jacob
Thomas
Elizabeth
Mary
Margaret
Priscilla
Priscilla
Priscilla
Aurelia
and
Elizabeth
Mary
Ann
Sara
Joan
Levina
Sarab
THE PATTISONS
THOMAS PATTERSON
James and Mary
Jacob and Sarah Ann
Nancy
Rebecca
Mary Caroline married Robin- son W. Cator. Anne Hooper married Rob- ert L. Spilman.
Alecia, unmar- ried.
ANN, his Wife
Priscilla
(Moses L.
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY
3. Henry Pattison.
4. William Pattison.
5. Priscilla Pattison, born 3d March, 1771; died, 30th
June, 1845; married James Hooper.
6. Nancy Pattison.
7. Rebecca Pattison.
8. Margaret Pattison.
9. Aurelia Pattison.
10. Mary Pattison.
II. Sarah Pattison.
NOTES.
Thomas Pattison, Sen., of James' Island, Dorchester County, will proved 10th April, 1701, eldest son James, second son Jacob, youngest son Thomas, eldest daughter Priscilla Manning, second daughter Elizabeth Robson, third daughter Joan, fourth daughter Levina Driver, youngest daughter Sarah, adopted daughter Mary Jacob, wife Ann, Executrix. (Annapolis Wills, Lib. 11, fol. 129.)
Ann Pattison, widow of Thomas Pattison, of Dorchester County, will dated 21st January, 1701, proved 27th February, 1702. Eldest son James Pattison, son Jacob Pattison, daughters Jane and Sarah, daughter Elizabeth Robson, daughter Levina Driver, son Thomas, daughter Priscilla Manning. (Annapolis Wills, Lib. II, fol. 301.)
24th April, 1716. Inventory of Matthew Driver, of Dor- chester County, exhibited. 2d June, 1718, Levina Driver, Administratrix of Matthew Driver, cited to account. (Test : Proc. Lib. 23, fol. 35, 200.)
IIth August, 1731. Moses LeCompte and Levina, his wife, to "our loving son, Matthew Driver, one half ye 'The Grove' on James' Island." (Dor. Co. Record Lib. old 8, fol. 429.)
"The Grove." 150 acres, surveyed 10th January, 1671, for Thomas Pattison. Possessor (1707), Matthew Driver, who married Pattison's daughter. (Dorchester Co. Rent Roll.)
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THE PATTISONS
27th October, 1739. James Pattison, of Dorchester County, planter, and Mary, his wife, to his children, Jacob, Elizabeth, William and Richard Pattison, 100 acres, part of "Armstrong's Quarter," on Taylor's Island; part of "Dover" (except the use of the old plantation, which I give to my daughter, Anne Hellings, of Calvert County); 200 acres, part of "Esquire's Chance," &c., &c. (Dor. Co. Rec. Lib. old 10, fol. 102.)
James Pattison, will dated 7th July, proved 5th March, 1747. To John Pattison 100 acres on James' Island, to William and Richard Pattison 100 acres on same island, wife Mary, daughter Ann, to Elizabeth Pattison, land on Taylor's Island, part of "Armstrong's Folly," to Thomas Pattison 100 acres, part of same tract, to Priscilla Driver, 5 shillings, wife Mary, Executrix. (Annapolis Wills, Lib. 25, fol. 365.)
Jacob Pattison, of Dorchester County, will dated 14th May, proved 24th August, 1772; son Jeremiah Pattison, sons Jacob, Richard, William and Thomas James Pattison; daughters Nancy, Woolford and Mary, Betty, and Priscilla Pattison; wife Sarah and sons Jacob and Richard, Executors. (Annapolis Wills, Lib. 38, fol. 996.)
Jacob Pattison, will dated 21st March, proved 25th June, 1776; my four brothers Jeremiah, Richard, William and Thomas James Pattison, my four sisters Nancy Woolford, and Mary, Elizabeth and Priscilla Pattison, my mother, Sarah Pattison, Executrix. (Annapolis Wills, Lib. 41, fol. 242.)
Jeremiah Pattison, of Dorchester County, will dated 17th January, proved 29th August, 1814; son Samuel, minor son William, son James, son Henry, daughter Priscilla Hooper, residuary legatees are son William and daughters Nancy, Rebecca, Margaret, Aurelia, Mary, and Sarah Pattison; wife and son Henry, Executors. (Dorchester County Wills, Lib. T. H. H., fol. 433.)
380
HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY
2. Mary Caroline Pattison, married Robinson W. Cator, Baltimore.
3. Anne Hooper Pattison, married Robert L. Spilman, Virginia.
4. Alecia Pattison, unmarried.
Jeremiah L. Pattison, married Harriet A. Keene, second wife, March 9, 1853. Their children :
I. Everard K. Pattison, married Fannie Post, Virginia.
2. Margaret Keene Pattison, married Wilbur F. Smith, Baltimore, Md.
JOHN R. PATTISON AND HIS ANCESTRY.
Beginning with Jeremiah Pattison, of the Pattison family of Dorchester County, who married in 1759, Nancy Le- Compte, daughter of Moses LeCompte (4), a lateral branch in their son Samuel Pattison, originates that is traceable to John R. Pattison, above-named.
Samuel Pattison married Anne Skinner. Their children were:
I. John R. Pattison, married, I, Mary A. Borroughs; 2, Emily J. de Vallin.
2. Robert H. Pattison, married Katherine Woolford. (They were the parents of ex-Governor Robert E. Pattison, of Pennsylvania.)
3. Elizabeth Pattison, married Levin H. Stewart.
4. Lenhart Pattison, married Augustus Hooper.
John R. Pattison and Mary A. Borroughs, his first wife, had issue :
I. Annie Timmons.
2. Harriet Toadvine.
3. Samuel S.
4. James B.
5. John R.
John R. Pattison and Emily J. de Vallin, his second wife, had issue, namely :
I. Mary Yates.
2. Hugh D.
381
DR. F. B. PHELPS-THE RICHARDSONS
John R. Pattison, son of John R. and Mary A. Borroughs, his wife, is a direct offspring from three colonial families of Dorchester County, viz: Pattisons, LeComptes and Skin- ners. He is a leading member of the bar at Cambridge in his native county and a local attorney for the Pennsylva- nia Railroad Company. He was elected State's Attorney for Dorchester County in 1887 for four years and was a mem- ber of the House of Delegates of Maryland, sessions 1900 and 1901. At the extra session of the Legislature, held in 1901, he voted against the repeal of the election law which then authorized the use of the emblematic Australian ballot. Mr. Pattison married Miss Lillian Stapleforte; they have no surviving children.
DR. F. P. PHELPS, SR.
Francis P. Phelps, M.D., was born in Sussex County, Del., January 31, 1779. His father, Asahel Phelps, was born in Connecticut, and traced his lineage far back to the early colonial period. He was a Revolutionary soldier and was severely wounded at the battle of Brandywine. Francis P. Phelps graduated in medicine in 1819; settled in Federals- burg, Md., where he practiced medicine until 1833; while living there he was elected a Member of the House of Dele- gates in 1828. After moving to Cambridge, he took more interest in political affairs, and was elected to the House of Delegates in 1839, 1842; to the Senate 1844-48, 1861, and to the House 1867. In 1875, he was again elected to the Senate of Maryland. He died November 18, 1886, in Cambridge, Md.
THE RICHARDSON FAMILY (By Mrs. Hester Dorsey Richardson).
Among the earliest settlers of importance came the Rich- ardsons, of England, and received thousands of acres of land for bringing colonists into the province.
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY
The Land Warrants at Annapolis bear record that between the years 1636 and 1695, patents for ninety thousand one hundred and seventeen acres of land were issued from that office to the various Richardsons who arrived between those years.
The fact that they not only came independently, but also paid the transporting of hundreds of less fortunate settlers, proved them to have been men of wealth and enterprise.
Certain it is that they at once held offices of importance, both civil and military, for as early as 1636, in the records of the earliest Assembly proceedings extant, John Richardson appears as a member of the Assembly or House of Burgesses. The year following he is a Judge of the Provincial Court, held at "Ye Citie of St. Maries," then the capital of the province.
In the year 1669 the following commission was issued to another of the name:
"Charles Calvert, Esq., to Capt. George Richardson, of Talbot County, Greeting. According to the power to me by His Lordship Cecilius Committed, and upon the special trust and confidence I have in your fidelity, circumspection, courage and good conduct, I hereby ordaine, constitute and appoint you Captain under me of all that troop of horse that shall march out of Choptank and St. Michaels River, Talbot County."
A little later, Major Thomas Richardson, of Baltimore County, distinguished himself in the Indian Wars, while his father, William Richardson, of Anne Arundel County, was serving his county as member of the House of Burgesses- the chosen bearer of messages from the English Parliament from the Lower to the Upper House of the Assembly.
This distinguished official, the direct ancestor of the Talbot, Caroline and Dorchester County Richardsons, was the friend of William Penn, who, during his visit to Maryland in 1682, visited the home of William Richardson, on West River, from which, in company with the Lord and Lady Baltimore, with their retinue, they all proceeded to a yearly meeting at Tred-
383
THE RICHARDSONS
haven, in Talbot County. An account of this visit is given by John Richardson, of London, in his Journal published in the year 1700.
William Richardson, of Anne Arundel County, married Elizabeth Talbot, widow of Richard Talbot. She was the daughter of Matthew Scarborough. From this couple are descended many of the most distinguished families of the State, while many of the male descendants emigrated to Virginia and the Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee, where they have filled the highest offices in the gift of the people.
One of William Richardson's grandsons married Isabella de la Chalmes, daughter of the Marquis de la Chalmes, the friend and neighbor of Lord Fairfax, at whose invitation the Marquis came first to this county.
From the grandson who went into Talbot County are descended many of the Eastern Shore Richardsons, particu- larly the Dorchester branch, of which Mr. Albert L. Richard- son, General Manager of The Wheeling Intelligencer, is the present head.
Of the many members of the Talbot-Dorchester family of Richardsons who have filled with honor civil and military posts of trust from earliest times to the present, none have been more illustrious than Col. William Richardson, of the Eastern Shore Battalion of the Flying Camp, of the Maryland Line in the Revolutionary War. He assisted in giving the British their first taste of American bayonets at Harlem, New York, driving them from the field.
In 1776 this distinguished officer was member of the Mary- land Constitutional Convention, and in 1788 a member of the Convention to ratify the Constitution of the United States of America. From 1789 to 1793 he was Presidential Elector in the colleges that elected George Washington President.
Col. William Richardson was born in Talbot County in the year 1730. As a young man he removed to Dorchester County, where he owned large tracts of land in the upper part
384
HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY
of the county. For many years he was Treasurer of the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
In the year 1773, Caroline County was cut off of Dor- chester, after which the Colonel found himself a resident of the new county.
In the year 1776, Col. William Richardson resigned his seat in the Constitutional Convention in favor of Thomas Johnson, of Anne Arundel County, who had refused to serve in the Convention under the instructions of his constituents. Colonel Richardson conveyed one of his farms to Johnson to give him a residence in Caroline and then had the latter returned to the Convention in his place because he considered Johnson's services necessary to the welfare of the people.
Another branch of the Richardsons who owned consider- able land in Dorchester County and who were registered as gentlemen of London, settled first in Talbot County about 1725. These men, Anthony and Thomas Richardson, were uncles of Sir Anthony Bacon, of Glamorganshire, Wales, who lived in Talbot County and acted as guardian to Anthony Richardson's sons, Anthony, Jr., and Thomas Dickinson Richardson, students at Oxford, England.
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