USA > Maryland > Harford County > History of Harford County, Maryland : from 1608 (the year of Smith's expedition) to the close of the War of 1812 > Part 13
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The subject of this sketch fortuitously escaped death on the occasion referred to, but his brother was among the slain. Mr. Coleman, after the war, went to England, and was there ordained for the ministry. He came shortly afterwards to Maryland, and was pastor for a number of years at Trinity Church, near Long Green Valley, and the Manor Church (St. James), and also at St. Thomas' Church, Garrison Forest, all in Baltimore county. He afterwards removed to Har- ford, having in the meanwhile married Pleas- ance Goodwin, a niece of Gen. Charles Ridgely, of Hampton. This gentleman presented to the newly married couple a valuable farm of about three hundred
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acres, now divided into several properties, situated near Watervale, about three miles west of Bel Air, purchased from Lemuel Howard, whereon Parson Coleman lived with his family until his death, in the year 1816. It was during his ministry in this parish that Christ Church (Rock Spring) was built in the year 1805, and he became its first rector, and so re- mained during the balance of his life. Six children were born to him, but the only daughter, Rebecca Ridgely, was the only child that survived to years of maturity. She married Capt. John Yellott, of Dulaney's Valley, Baltimore county, and was the mother of Mary Ander- son, wife of Rev. John Anderson; Elizabeth Mayna- dier, wife of Henry G. Maynadier, Jeremiah, John, George, Coleman and Washington Yellott. Of these only Hon. Gorge Yellott, of Towson, lately chief judge of the Third Judicial Circuit, survives. The descend- ants of others, however, still remain in Baltimore and Harford counties, among whom are Hon. Geo. Y. May- nadier, of Harford; Major John I. Yellott, and Geo. W. Yellott, of Baltimore county, and Mrs. E. L. F. Hard- castle, of Talbot county."
WILLIAM BRADFORD.
William Bradford, Sr., was of English ancestry, his family having come originally from Yorkshire, where Bradfords bearing the same family arms were found upon the Manor of that name, in the reign of Henry III. He was the son of William Bradford and Elizabeth Lightbody, who came to Maryland early in the eight- eenth century, and settled upon land at the head of Bush river. His father was one of the early school- masters of the colony. He was commissioned by the
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Bishop of London to teach on the plantations and be- came later on a soldier in the Colonial Army with the rank of captain.
The subject of this sketch was born in 1739 at his father's home place, on Bynum's Run, just across which lived his near neighbor, Aquila Hall. He obtained a good education under his father's tuition, and he also received an early training in the doctrine of the Christian religion, in which his family had for genera- tions been more or less conspicuous. His father had been registrar, clerk and vestryman in St. John's Par- ish, and he succeeded him as a member of the same vestry. His paternal grandfather was John Bradford, a merchant of London, whose brother, Samuel Brad- ford, was Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westmin- ster, and his paternal grandmother was Mary Skin- ner, daughter of Matthew Skinner, M. D., of London, and a granddaughter of Robert Skinner, Bishop of Bristol. Several of his ancestors had also been closely connected in an official way with St. Ann's Parish, London. His paternal great grandfather, William Bradford, was a parish officer therein during the great plague of 1665, and of whom it is recorded that "so conscientious was he in the performance of his duties that he remained in London, giving his per- sonal attention to the sick and dying, though he re- moved his family to Islington."
The latter's only children were, as stated above, John and Samuel, and a daughter Hannah, who married Joseph Presbury, of London, and whose son, James Presbury, came to Maryland and settled near his cousin, William Bradford. He was the ancestor of the Presbury family of Maryland.
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William Bradford, Sr., became a pronounced pa- triot, as did also his only brother, George Bradford. Both he and his brother were elected members of the Harford Committee of 1775, the latter of whom would, no doubt, have been a signer, too, of Harford's "Decla- ration of Independence" had he been present at the time.
The "senior" which William Bradford suffixed to his name when he signed the declaration, and which was something unusual for him to do, was to designate him from his nephew of the same name, who was also an ardent patriot and a lieutenant in Capt. Alexander Lawson Smith's Company of Fort Washington fame. It was an earnest of the intense responsibility which he assumed, when he so solemnly pledged himself to the sacred cause of his country. In September, 1775, he organized Company No. 13 of Harford minute men, and was its captain. He was married in 1764 to Sarah McComas, to whom were born eleven children, one of whom, Samuel Bradford, married Jane Bond, and lived for many years in Bel Air. Samuel was the father of Augustus W. Bradford, Governor of Maryland during the Civil War.
William Bradford lived adjoining his brother upon a tract containing about three hundred acres, called "Lit- tleton," where he died in 1794.
JOHN STUMP, OF STAFFORD.
John Stump and Mary, his wife, were Prussians of wealth and culture, who came to Maryland about the year 1700. The name of his European ancestors is said to have been spelled Stumpf. John Stump was a cousin of Baron Friederich von der Trenck, the
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younger of the two famous kinsman of that name, who figured conspicuously during the reign of Frederick the Great. John Stump purchased a large tract of land near the present town of Perryville, in Cecil county, where he died in 1747, having divided his property by will between his only surviving children, John and Henry. In that year, or in the next, Henry Stump re- moved to the valley of Deer Creek, in Harford county, then part of Baltimore county, where he had purchased a farm. He married Rachel Perkins, by whom he had several children, and many of his descendants are liv- ing in Harford and Cecil counties. He was the ances- tor of the Honorable John H. Price, once judge of the judicial circuit composed of Baltimore, Cecil and Har- ford counties; of the Hon. Henry Stump, formerly judge of the Criminal Court of Baltimore city, and of the latter's nephew, the Hon. Frederick Stump, recently a judge of the Second Judicial Circuit. John Stump married Hannah, daughter of William Husbands, a de- scendant on the female side of Augustine Herman, (whence the name of Herman in the Stump family), of Bohemia Manor. In 1796 he, too, removed to Har- ford, having sold his own property, and that in- herited by his wife, consisting of several farms. He died in 1797, leaving three children -- Hannah, who mar- ried her cousin, John Stump, son of Henry, above men- tioned; Herman, who married Elizabeth Dallam, and John. Elizabeth Dallam subsequently married Abra- ham Jarrett, and was the mother of Capt. A. Lirngan Jarrett, for many years clerk of the Circuit Court for Harford county. John was born April 19, 1753, and married October 3, 1779, Cassandra, daughter of Henry Wilson, a Quaker of much influence, who was
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noted for his patriotic zeal during the Revolution. Henry, the brother of Cassandra, was a member of the Committee of Observation of his native county, and was conspicuous in collecting and forwarding supplies for the relief of the people of Boston during its blockade by the British squadron. He and John Archer, M. B., several of whose descendants subsequently inter-mar- ried with the Stump family, were chosen in November, 1776, by popular vote, "electors of a Senate of Har- ford county," and were also members of the Provincial Convention. John Stump, after acquiring by his indus- try and enterprise, an estate which was at that time probably the largest in the State, died at his residence, "Stafford," near the mouth of Deer Creek, in 1816, leaving each of his eight children wealthy. He was in business, and had mills at Stafford, Rock Run and Bush, in Harford county, and at Alexandria, in Vir- ginia. He was probably the leading merchant and manufacturer of his day in the State. He signed in 1776 the Association of the Freemen of Maryland. John Stump's partners in business were his brother Herman Stump, John Wilson, Samuel Carter and John Thomas Ricketts. John Stump built several vessels at Rock Run and Havre de Grace, and shipped flour and other things directly from the Susquehanna to Eng- land. His son, John Wilson, besides being engaged in agricultural pursuits, was at the head of an extensive commercial firm in Baltimore city, having as his part- ner Hon. James W. Williams, who married his sister, and who, in 1841, represented in Congress Harford and Cecil counties. Mr. John W. Stump, whilst re- turning on one of his vessels from France, in 1814,when the British fleet was in Chesapeake bay, barely escaped
"THE HOMESTEAD," NEAR BEL AIR, BUILT BY WILLIAM SMITHSON, 1774
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capture, and reached the city of Baltimore in time to participate in its defence as aide to Gen. Stricker. On January 13, 1814, he married Sarah, daughter of Col. James Biays, a large shipping merchant of Baltimore, who owned many vessels, and aided materially in build- ing up the commerce of the city. John W. Stump was the father of Hon. Herman Stump, President of the Maryland Senate, member of Congress and Commis- sioner-General of Immigration. Colonel Biays com- manded the cavalry at the battle of North Point, and in the official reports of that battle was highly com- mended for his efficiency. There now reside in Har- ford county many descendants of John Stump, of Staf- ford, among whom are Stumps, Lees, Archers, Con- stables, Smithsons. Ann, daughter of John Stump, of Stafford, was the mother of Hon. Henry W. Archer.
WILLIAM SMITHSON.
A large land owner and venerated judge and citizen was William Smithson, who was born in the year 1745. He built and for thirty-five years occupied his residence, which is now called the Farnandis Homestead, near Bel Air, and died there January 17, 1809. The house was built by him in 1774, the year of the formation of the county, and compares favorably now with the best of our modern dwellings. William Smithson, although a man of wealth, was an ardent friend of liberty, and advocated that cause in the Revolution. We find his name subscribed to the Bush declaration of March, 1775, and he was one of the first of the Lord's Justices of the county. On the adoption of the new judiciary system he became one of the three judges of the Cir- cuit Court for Harford county, and occupied a seat in
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the old courthouse in Bel Air, his colleagues being Henry Ridgely and Benedict Edward Hall.
William Smithson owned the large tract of land near Bel Air, now designated as the "Homestead" farm. On his death in 1809, leaving no children, after making provision for his widow, he devised his land to his niece Elizabeth, wife of Col. Harry Dorsey, and to her brother William, both of whom were the children of the testator's brother Daniel, and both of whom had been reared in the home of their uncle William. Elizabeth's share of the land was entailed by the will to her daugh- ter Mary, who became the wife of William Farnandis, and the mother of Hon. Henry D. Farnandis, recently deceased. Mrs. Mary Farnandis' death antedated that of her distinguished son Henry only about twelve years, and both of them are well remembered for their hospitality, courtesy and unswerving fidelity to their friends. This latter quality seems to have been a char- acteristic of the family, and was pre-eminent in Mr. Henry D. Farnandis, whose memory will ever be cher- ished by the bar of his county, of which he was its brightest ornament.
Elizabeth Dorsey had but one daughter, the Mary Farnandis above stated.
William Smithson, Jr., has a number of descendants at present residing in Harford county, among whom are the Smithsons, Forwoods, Websters, Govers, Bonds and Bulls. Mr. William S. Forwood, Jr., clerk of the Circuit Court for Harford County, is his great grandson. Besides the "Homestead," William Smith- son, Sr., owned land between Bel Air and the Catholic Church at Hickory, which he had bought of Thomas Pycraft Presbury.
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His will, admitted to probate January 25, 1809, was witnessed by John Guyton, Joseph Robinson and John Reardon. The testator's wife Elizabeth, and his son- in-law, Henry Dorsey, were named as executors.
His long and honorable official career shows the esti- mation in which he was held by the public, and he died full of years and honors.
Just outside the southeasterly limits of Belair, and along the division line between the Fulford and Home- stead farms, is the old graveyard of the Smithson and Farnandis families. After diligent search the head- stone over the grave of William Smithson was found, nearly sunk in the ground and quite hidden by the weeds and grass. On the tomb is this inscription :
IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM SMITHSON, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE JANUARY 17, 1809, AGED 64 YEARS.
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AQUILA HALL.
Aquila Hall was born in Harford, then Baltimore county, January 10, 1727. He was a son of Aquila, who was the youngest son of John Hall, of Cranberry, and was one of the most prominent of all the men of Harford in the early days. In 1763 he was elected to the House of Delegates to represent Baltimore county, his colleagues being Charles Ridgely, Thomas C. Deye and Walter Tolley. In 1762 he was sheriff of Balti- more county. Aquila Hall is the second in the list of commissioners named by the Act of Assembly for the
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formation of Harford county. By virtue of the Dedi- mus indorsed on the commission for forming the new county, he administered the oaths to his fellow-justices on the first day of the organization of the county government, March 22, 1774, his colleagues on the bench being Thomas Bond, Jeremiah Sheredine, Bene- dict Edward Hall, William Webb and Aquila Paca.
The first court for the county was held in a house at Harford Town, or Bush, owned by him and occupied by Thomas Miller, who was named as sheriff of the county.
In the famous Bush declaration of March, 1775, the name of Aquila Hall is the first on the list. He was zealous in the cause of his country in the Revolution, and on September 9, 1775, organized a military com- pany, of which he was elected captain, with Samuel Griffith, first lieutenant; Jacob Forwood, second lieu- tenant, and John Chancey, ensign.
On June 11, 1774, he presided over a meeting at Bush, at which resolutions were passed expressing sympathy with Boston in her tax troubles, and at which a committee was appointed to meet the commit- tees of other counties in this province to consult and agree on the most effectual means to preserve our con- stitutional rights and liberties, etc.
By the State Convention, which convened December 7, 1775, resolutions were passed January 1, 1776, look- ing to the formation of a proper military force for the State, and for the Upper Battalion of Harford, Aquila Hall was named as colonel, with John Love as lieu- tenant-colonel; Josias Carvil Hall, first major ; Dr. John Archer, second major, and Richard Dallam, quar- termaster.
THE DAIRY FARM HOUSE, BUILT BY AQUILA HALL, 1768
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
The General Assembly on June 29, 1777, selected lieutenants for the various counties, and Aquila Hall was named for Harford.
The last record of Aquila Hall in public life is to be found in the meeting of the court at Bush, March 23, 1779, at which time he was present as one of the Lords Justices. He died in April, 1779, leaving the following children, viz : Thomas Hall, James White Hall, William Hall, John Hall, Edward Hall, Charlotte Hall, Mary Hall, Sophia Hall and Martha Hall.
His wife was his first cousin, Sophia, daughter of Col. Thomas White, whom he married February 14, 1750, and who died in 1785, aged fifty-four years.
Aquila Hall built the large brick house at "Sophia's Dairy" in 1768.
WILLIAM MORGAN.
William Morgan was born in 1744 near the Trappe Church, in Harford county, and was the son of Edward Morgan, who had come to that section three years previously. Part of the house in which William was born is still standing. He married Cassandra Lee, a Quakeress, daughter of James Lee, and was the father of nine children, viz: Elizabeth, who married Thos. S. Chew; Sarah, who married Joseph Hopkins; Cas- sandra, wife of Zaccheus O. Bond; Edward Morgan ; Elliner, who married John Hopkins; James L. Mor- gan; Mary, the wife of Ephraim Hopkins; Martha, who remained single, and Margaret, also unmarried. William Morgan owned large tracts of land on Deer Creek, among his lands being "Simmon's Choice," "Simmon's Neglect," "Freeland's Mount," "Planters'
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Paradise," part of "Arabia Petrea," "Miller's At- tempt." He died in November, 1795, at the age of fifty-one years.
William Morgan was a man of great prominence in his day, and his career shows the public estimation in which he was held. The archives of Maryland show that he was commissioned a captain in the Revolution. He was also a signer of the Bush declaration of March, 1775. His will is recorded in the office of the Register of Wills at Bel Air, and his signature is as bold and clear as on the day it was signed-November 5, 1795. The executors named in his will were his brother, Robert Morgan, and Edward Prigg. The personal estate, as exhibited in the Orphans' Court, was about twenty thousand dollars, which, with his large landed interest, indicates that he was a rich man. A number of his descendants now reside in Harford, and are all peo- ple of influence and prominence.
COL. IGNATIUS WHEELER.
A very prominent man in Harford county in Revo- lutionary times was Col. Ignatius Wheeler, who lived on his estate called Deer Park, near the present Ady Postoffice, in the Fifth election district.
He was first lieutenant of Company No. 16 of Har- ford militia, the other officers of which were William Webb, captain ; William Fisher, Jr., second lieutenant ; John Webb, Jr., ensign.
Besides Deer Park, which is a large tract, Colonel Wheeler owned the fertile estate called Belle Farm, comprising a large part of the present Pylesville sec- tion, one of the finest portions of the county, now as well as in early days.
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
A large portion of Belle Farm is now owned by the Jenkins and McAtee families, who are direct descend- ants of Colonel Wheeler, and the estate has thus re- mained in the Wheeler heirs.
The farm called Garden Spot, belonging to the late Joshua Rutledge, near the Rocks of Deer Creek, be- longed to Colonel Wheeler, who was an ancestor of Mr. Rutledge.
In the Maryland Legislature for the sessions 1786 and 1787, Colonel Wheeler was one of the delegates from Harford county.
He died on liis estate of Deer Park in August, 1793, and his will, dated July 13 of that year, is recorded in the office of the Register of Wills of Harford County in Liber A. J. No. R., folio 217.
His children were : Monica, who married Jacob Rut- ledge, whose descendants now living in Harford county are Rutledges, Stephensons and Hollands. John W. Rutledge and Ignatius Rutledge were her sons.
Treacy (or Teresa), who married Capt. Henry McAtee, from whom are sprung the present McAtee, Richardson and Raphel families in Harford county, and also Streetts.
Henriette, who remained single.
Mary Ann (Polly), who married Samuel Brown, who, after the death of Mary, married her sister Eliza- beth.
From Elizabeth are descended the present Jenkins family in Harford and Baltimore counties, Elizabeth's daughter Ann Maria having married Ignatius Jenkins, of Dulaney's Valley, Baltimore county.
Bennet was the progenitor of the present Wheeler family in Harford county.
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Ignatius never married.
Frank Wheeler was the ancestor of the Wheeler family in Baltimore county, and of Adys and Burkes in Harford and Baltimore counties. By Colonel Wheeler's will his brother Joseph and John Lee Gib- son, who had married Colonel Wheeler's sister, were left executors and trustees.
John Lee Gibson was the first clerk of the Circuit Court for Harford County (not counting Alex. Law- son).
Colonel Wheeler lies buried at St. Ignatius Church, Hickory .*
COL. JOHN STREETT.
The Streett family is one of the oldest in Harford county. Three brothers-David, Thomas and John- came to America from London early in the eighteenth century. One, John, went to Philadelphia; David set- tled on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and Thomas in Harford (then Baltimore) county, Maryland.
Rev. Nicholas Streett, who was born in London in 1603, the year of the death of Queen Elizabeth, and who came to America in 1637-8 and settled at Taunton, Mass., and afterwards became a distinguished theolo- gian, is said to have been of the same family as the Harford County Streetts.
Thomas Streett, before the Revolution, took out a patent for seven hundred acres of land above the Rocks of Deer Creek, called Streett's Hunting Ground, part of which is yet in the possession of his descendants.
Thomas Streett was residing on this property in 1774, at the time of the foundation of the county.
*Mr. P. H. Rutledge, a descendant of Col. Wheeler, assisted in the prepa- ration of the above.
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
Besides a large number of the name now in Harford many other prominent families here are descended from Thomas Streett. Among them are Williams, Fendal, Waters, Bell, Gladden, Baldwin, Glenn, Whiteford, Cairnes, Amos, Den Bow, Bevard, St. Clair, Holmes and many others.
Col. John Streett was born in the year 1762 in what is now Marshall's district of Harford county, where he died in the year 1837. His wife's name was Martha St. Clair. He was an extensive farmer, owning more than three thousand acres. He was also a successful business man and was prominent in the politics of the county, serving twelve times consecutively in the Mary- land Legislature as a representative from Harford.
At the time of the British attack upon Baltimore, in September, 1814, a call was made for troops from the surrounding country. Colonel Streett marched with his cavalry command from Harford county to the de- fence of that city, and served with the brigade of cav- alry at North Point. In his command as officers were Capt. Clem Butler and Capt. McAtee, and several of Colonel Streett's sons also served under him.
The children of Col. John Streett were :
James, born August 22, 1789.
Mary, who married Henry Amos.
John, born 1791.
William.
Shadrach.
Thomas, who married Catherine Merryman.
St. Clair, born 1798, who married Miss Jarrett.
Dr. Abraham J., born in 1800; married Elizabeth Streett.
Charlotte, who married Silas Baldwin.
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HISTORY OF HARFORD COUNTY.
DANIEL SCOTT.
Daniel Scott was a native of Harford, being one of the seven children of Aquila Scott, whose an- cestors for generations had been planters and large landowners in Baltimore and Harford counties, one of them having given the land to Baltimore county on which the first courthouse at Joppa was built, and when Harford was established and the new county seat was chosen at Scott's Oldfields, now Bel Air, the subject of the present sketch conveyed to the county the ground upon which the courthouse and jail are still standing.
He was the surveyor of the county and was elected a member of the Committee of Harford from Bush River Lower Hundred, and was one of the signers of Harford's famous declaration.
Daniel Scott died about the year 1828, leaving an only child, Otho Scott, who became the leading mem- ber of the bar of Harford county and one of the most distinguished lawyers in Maryland.
The latter, in 1860, codified the Laws of Maryland, condensing into two volumes all the varied and un- skillfully framed laws passed in the State since its foundation. The Code of 1860 stands as a monument to his memory, many leading lawyers pronouncing it the best code ever produced. It is peculiarly appropri- ate that his portrtait now adorns the courtroom at Bel Air, which was the theatre of many of his achievements.
It is a singular fact that a majority of the descend- ants of the signers of the Harford declaration still live in their native county, many on the very farms worked for generations by their ancestors, and the late Daniel
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Scott was a conspicuous example of this, he having re- sided on the same land which had been in his family for more than two centuries. This continued posses- sion and occupancy of the land speaks volumes for the healthfulness and beauty of Harford and attests the love of the descendants for the land of their illustrious ancestors.
SAMUEL CALWELL.
Samuel Calwell was born in Harford (then Balti- more) county, of Irish and Scotch parentage, and was a resident of Bush River Lower Hundred, at that time one of the largest districts in the county. He married Ann Richardson, whose family was a prominent one locally, and lived for many years on a farm called the Grove, on Winter's run, near the present Almshouse, a part of this land being now in the possession of Mr. George Steigler. His life seems to have been a quiet and uneventful one, as few reminiscences have been handed down to his descendants.
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