USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume I > Part 17
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It was through her instrumentality and probably at her sole expense, with the approval of her Protestant husband, that the Romish chapel at Doncaster or Wyetown, was built-the first place of worship for the people of this obedience ever erected in this county, and long the only one. In 1693 we find that she-then a widow for the second time- was appointed executrix of John Londey, a Jesuit priest, probably in charge of this chapel, who bequeathed to her one-half his estate, and the other half
unto the proper use and behoof and the upholding and benefit of ye Roman Catholic Chappell, built at ye mouth of Wye River.
This chapel long since disappeared, and for years its very existence was forgotten; but the memory of the fair and gentle lady, its founder and patroness, is still fresh and fragrant as the flowers that bloom upon the site of this early shrine. The town itself has perished and the plow share, as it turns a richer soil within the fertile fields of Wyetown farm, reveals the only signs of the former existence there of a mart and place
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where men did congregate to hail the last arrival from the great world beyond the seas, or to speed the departing ship that carried their for- tunes in her swelling sides. Mrs. Lloyd long survived her husband, but dying she was buried at Wye House, where over her remains was erected by Richard Bennett, her son, a tomb, now much shattered, which bears or bore this inscription beneath the arms of the Lloyds, quartered with those of the Neals:
HENRIETTA MARIA LLOYD, Shee who now takes her rest within this tomb, Had Rachells face and Leas fruitful womb, Abigails wisdom, Lydeas faithful heart, With Marthas care and Marys better part. Who died the 21st day of May [Anno] Dom. 1697 aged 50 years - months 23 days To whose memory Richard Bennett dedicates this tomb.
Below the inscription is a shield embracing mortuary emblems. This lady must have possessed personal charms and mental qualities of unusual excellence to justify such eulogium, even though inscribed by the partiality of filial affection. Maternity is the glory of woman. Who, standing by the tomb of Henrietta Maria Lloyd, will say the poorest praise this epitaph bestows is that she was a fruitful mother? Who that knows how fondly and proudly a numerous progeny in several generations have loved to link her name with theirs, in repetitive instances, and call her mother, but must believe she was endowed with peculiarly strong or amiable traits of character to have so impressed her descendants, and to have caused her memory to be so greatly honored above that of most women in purely private station.
On the 17th day of Dec. 1670 a commission was issued by Governor Charles Calvert, to these gentlemen as Justices of the Peace for Talbot county viz .: Richard Woolman, William Coursey, Philemon Lloyd, Thomas South, Seth Foster, Thomas Hynson, Philip Stevenson, James Ringold, William Hambleton, Jonathan Sybery, Richard Gorsuch, Ed- ward Roe and John Wells. The four persons first named were to be Justices of the Quorum, without one of whom no court could be held.16 This honorable and responsible office he held until his death, the last
16 The form of the Commission may be found in the clerk's office of this county, in Liber B. B., No. 2. Pagination irregular.
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court at which he made his appearance having been that of Feb. 17th, 1684-5.
In the year 1670 commissions were issued for a general election through- out the Province. Proclamation having been made by the sheriff, the election was accordingly held on the 17th of January, 1670-1, when four Burgesses or Delegates were chosen to represent the freemen of this county in the General Assembly, the Justices of the Court acting as Judges of election. These gentlemen were returned: Richard Wool- man, Philemon Lloyd, Joseph Wicks and William Hambleton. Mr. Lloyd continued to be returned at each succeeding election until his death. In 1681 he was honored by being made the Speaker of the Lower House.
But the most notable if not the most useful service rendered by Col. Philemon Lloyd to the province of Maryland was the negotiation of a treaty of peace with the Iroquois or Five Nations, inhabiting what is now the State of New York. These tribes had made frequent irruptions into Maryland and Virginia, weakening or destroying the tribes of In- dians intervening, and inflicting great suffering upon the whites seated in out-lying and exposed situations. In 1678 Col. William Coursey, in this county, which at this date embraced the territory of Queen Anne's had been sent by the Lord Proprietary to Albany for the purpose of negotiating a treaty of amity with the Five Nations, and he also acted for the neighboring province of Virginia. The treaty then formed had been disregarded, and bands of Iroquois continued to infest the northern and western settlements, committing murders and barbarities upon the friendly Indians, "Christians," and carrying off or destroying much property. It was determined by the Maryland authorities again to send an embassy to these northern tribes to seek redress for the injuries already inflicted, and secure a more binding or effectual treaty of peace. Accordingly the Governor and Council of Maryland appointed Col. Henry Coursey and Col. Philemon Lloyd, Commissioners for the Pro- prietary to treat with the confederate Iroquois, at Albany, in New York, in behalf of the people of both Maryland and Virginia. It would appear that these gentlemen made three fruitless journeys to the appoint- ed place of meeting and it was not until Aug. 1682, that they were successful in securing the attendance of the chiefs of the tribes. Nego- tiations were held at the Court House, commencing on the 3d of the month and continuing to the 13th. They were opened with the presenta- tion of certain "propositions" by Cols. Coursey and Lloyd to the chiefs of the Senecas, who returned their answer denying that the wrongs had
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been committed by any of their tribe. Similar propositions were made on the following day to the Mohawks, Onondagas, the Oneidas and the Cayugas, and in reply the Mohawks acknowledged that wrongs had been committed by some of their tribe,
for our Indians have been drunk in their capacity, void of understand- ing and out of their senses when they committeed the evil in your country.
The Mohawks answered also for the Onondagas. The Oneidas and Cayugas answered: "the evils done by our young Indians in your coun- try by killing and plundering we do not allow of; it is against our will and are sorry." The Indians then presented belts of peak as a pledge of their fidelity, and as an evidence of their desire for peace and amity. On the day following, the 5th, further preparations were made by the Commissioners, that compensation to the extent of 500 beaver skins should be given for the depredations committed, and that the chief of the band that had perpetrated the murders, known to be of the tribe of the Onondagas, be surrendered to the authorities of Maryland. To these propositions it was answered by the Onondagas that the chiefs committing the murders had been killed, and by all the tribes, except the Senecas, that were willing to contribute their proportionable parts of the beaver skins in the summer following; and as a token of their willingness they each delivered at once a few pelts. Agents were ap- pointed by the Commissioners to receive the "beavers" which were to be paid in the following year at the governor's house in Albany. The Commissioners then said
will for this time throw a cover over the blood that has been spilt, to hide it from our eyes upon the condition that for the future you keep your Indians out of our country for doing the like evil to us or any of our neighboring Indians,
and any violation of this condition to be followed by an uncovering of "the blood that had been spilt" and the commencement of war; that the tribes
should recall all their parties which are gone into Virginia and Mary- land against the Christians and the Piscatoway Indians, or any other of our neighboring Indians; and that they reveal the name of the Chris- tian who had stirred them up to make war on the Piscataway Indians and promised to deliver them up to you.
The answers of the Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks were substantially the same, and they agreed to all that was demanded,
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giving, but with reluctance, the name "Jacob Young, " as that of the man who instigated them to make war on the Piscataways. Presents were given and received frequently during the conference, which was concluded, apparently to the satisfaction of each of the contracting parties.17
After twelve or fifteen years had passed since the restoration of royal authority in England, and the Proprietary rule in Maryland, there was a revival here similar to that which had taken place there, of a jealousy, hatred and fear of the Roman Catholics. Lord Baltimore was suspected of entertaining a purpose of effecting in his Palatinate what the King and his brother were suspected of planning for the realm at large, the suppression of Protestantism and the institution of Romanism. These malicious and ill-founded suspicions were instigated by a reprobate Anglican clergyman named Coode, and it is probable they would have secured lodgment in the minds of none but for alarming reports received from the mother country. Of the panic which was set up in England by the alleged "Popish Plot" and its attendant circumstances, there were those in this distant land, who professed to feel the tremors, and to apprehend the horrors. There may even have been those who were willing to see visited upon their fellow colonists some of those penalties for differing from them in religious opinion which were suffered by sus- pected Romanists at home. But Col. Philemon Lloyd, though the son of a Puritan father, and a member of the church of England, enter- tained no such sentiments in regard to the Lord Proprietary and his co- religionists, for we find him in May, 1682, uniting with many others of the same religious persuasion, or, as they call themselves, Protestants, in a declaration as to their perfect freedom in the enjoyment and prac- tice of their religion, as to the impartiality of the Lord Proprietary in the distribution of offices, without any respect or regard to the religion of those appointed, and as to the falsehood of those scandalous and malicious aspersions which inveterate malignant turbulent spirits have cast upon his Lordship and his government. This act of Col. Lloyd indicates that religious and political prejudices-at this time they were one-had not obtunded his fine sense of honor, or his obligations of justice and gratitude to the Lord Proprietary.18
But if we were not informed by this "remonstrance declaration,"
17 For a more particular account of this treaty, which has received little at- tention from Maryland historians, see "Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York,' Vol. III. pages 321-328.
18 Scharf's Hist. Md., Vol. 1, page 289.
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as it is called, of the religious belief and practice of Col. Lloyd, his will written in the very same month and year, May 1682, with its codicil written just before his death, May 1685, would furnish even fuller attestation. After directing that his children should be educated accord- ing to their condition in life he said:
I will that my children be brought up in ye Protestant religion and carried to such and such church or churches where it is preached and to no other, during their minority and until such years of discretion as may render them best capable to judge what is most consonant to ye good will of Almighty God, unto which, pray God of his mercy to direct them.
As if exceedingly solicitous for the religious welfare of his children he adds in a codicil written three years after his will:
Whereas by my said last will I left it in charge of my overseers [execu- tors] those innamed, to cause my children to be brought up in ye Protestant religion, in which religion I would still have them continue, yet least my meaning and intent therein should be mistaken and dis- orders will [arise] not forseen between my wife and overseers af'd. that I make it my only request to her by obligations of a loving husband to see my will therein performed and yat ye said overseers put her in mind thereoff, and so God's will be done.19
It is very evident from the will and especially from the codicil, that the education of his children in the Protestant faith was a matter of solicitude. It is also evident that he was not without apprehension, notwithstanding his affection for his wife, that her devotion to her own church, and the influences of her spiritual directors, would prompt her to a disregard of his injunctions in this particular; and so, while he charged her to be remembering her obligations to obey, he also en- joined upon his executors to remind her of her duty should she seem oblivious to its requirements. There is reason to believe his wishes were faithfully observed, for no Lloyd of Wye, has ever been an adherent of the church of Rome.20
19 It may well enough to note that one of the witnesses to the will was the Rev. James Clayland, one of the first ministers of the church of England that came to this county.
20 It would be surprising if a mother of such amiable traits and deep piety as Madam Lloyd's, should not have impressed some of her children with her religious opinions, in spite of the stated preachings of Parson Clayland, or Parson Lilling- ston; so there is a tradition, which at least has the support of plausibility, that the second Philemon Lloyd had inclinations towards the Roman Catholic Church.
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The political opinions of Col. Philemon Lloyd are inferable from his religious convictions, for with him as with others of his day, the two were correlative, if not coincident. His mind being dominated by the latter, from them the former took their direction. He lived long enough to feel the first breathings of that storm which shaking the very founda- tions of the English constitution, drove the Steuarts from the throne, and wafted in William of Orange; but he did not live to see the "glorious revolution " as it was called, of 1688, which would have gladdened his heart. He was a friend of the Proprietary, and though Baltimore was a Romanist he defended his rights and prerogatives; but there is sub- stantial reason for believing he was a Whig in politics as he was a Protes- tant in religion; on the contrary, his widow, in after years, was suspected of being a Jacobite, for in 1689 a band of "Associators in arms for the defense of the Protestant religion," headed by one Sweatnam, a neighbor, visited her planatation on Wye and removed the arms that were in her possession21 under a pretext that they were to be used for defense against the Indians.
Col. Philemon Lloyd's life was a very brief one, but he lived long enough to serve his country usefully, and to become the father of a large number of children, who intermarrying with prominent and influential families of Maryland and the adjoining provinces, have now representa- tives in almost every part of this country, who trace with becoming pride their descent from the earnest churchman, the upright judge, the wise legislator and the skillful Indian diplomatist, Col. Philemon Lloyd (I), of Wye. He was buried at Wye House, where a tomb was erected to his memory bearing this inscription.
Here Lies Interred the body of COL. PHILEMON LLOYD, the son of E. Lloyd and Alice his wife, who died the 22nd of June 1685, in the 39th year of his age leav- ing three sons and seven daughters all by his be- loved wife Henrietta Maria. "No more than this the father says, But leaves his life to speak his praise."22
21 Scharf's Hist. Md. Vol. 1, page 323.
22 Genealogical notes of the Chamberlaines family, page 34.
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EDWARD LLOYD (II) THE PRESIDENT
1670-1718
When Edward Lloyd (I), the Puritan, died in the city of London, in the year 1695, at an advanced age, he devised the plantation that was his home when in Maryland, but then in the occupancy of his widowed daughter-in-law Henrietta Maria (Neal, Bennett) Lloyd, relict of his son Philemon (I) to his eldest grand-son Edward (II). It is of this Edward Lloyd, the second of the name, that it is now proposed to recite the life-story as far as very imperfect records and doubtful tradition have preserved the incidents. He was born Feb. 7th, 1670, and probably at Wye House, the residence of his father Philemon (I) the Indian Com- missioner. He was but fifteen years of age at the death of his father, and therefore his early education devolved upon his mother, that lady upon whose tomb-stone, filial affection has inscribed, with questionable propriety, that she had "Abigail's wisdom." His first lesson in "good letters" may have been received from one of those teachers who were often brought from the transport ships, as indentured servants; but as it was the custom of the day for people of condition to send their sons to the old country for their education, and as his grandfather was a wealthy merchant of London, it is greatly probable Edward Lloyd (II) received his academic and perhaps a professional training in the schools and inns of court of the metropolis. He may have taken his seat upon a form at Eton or Harrow, and even matriculated at one of the great universities. It is very certain his education was such, however and wherever acquired, as to qualify him for the highest stations in the province.
The first authentic information we have of Ed. Lloyd (II), after he had attained his majority is of his having been commissioned, Jan. 16th, 1697, by Governor Francis Nicholson one of the Worshipful Commis- sioners and Justices of the Peace. He is spoken of as Colonel, so that he had received the acolade of provincial knighthood before he had been invested with the judicial ermine. He was also named in the Com- mission as one of the Quorum, a fact that seems to indicate that he was versed in the law. He continued to hold his seat upon the bench until Aug. 19th, 1701.23 Soon after, in 1702, he was made one of the Govern-
23 The names of his associates upon the bench at the first court he attended, held Aug. 17th, 1697, were Capt. James Murphy, Mr. Richard Tilghman, Mr.
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or's Council, and as such he was still qualified to act as a County Justice and preside in court when present; but he does not seem to have exer- cised this right.
In the year 1697 the General Assembly was dissolved by proclamation of the Governor, and writs were issued, Jan. 11th, 1698, for a new election of Delegates, at which Col. Lloyd was chosen to be one to represent the freemen of Talbot, the Upper House or Council being composed of the appointees of the Governor. His associate delegates were Col. Thomas Smithson (who was made Speaker of the House), Mr. Richard Tilghman and Mr. Will. Hemsley. The last named gentleman died in 1699, and a brother of Mr. Lloyd, Philemon (II) was chosen in his place. During the time of Mr. Lloyd's service in the Lower House the most important measure that occupied its attention was the establishing of the Church of England as the church of the province. In 1692 Maryland had been made a Royal province, and Baltimore deprived of his Palat- inate rights. The bill for the establishment of the English church, first passed in 1694, had met with more than one mishap, and was not finally approved by royal assent, until 1702. It encountered most stringent opposition from two classes of citizens, the Roman Catholics and the Quakers, the last of whom were numerous and influential in this county. Whether this bill had Col. Lloyd's approval is doubtful, for he could not have been unmindful of the people of his excellent mother's faith,24 and the Friends were too strong to have their protests disregarded by a politic statesman.
On the 16th of March, 1702, about the date of the accession to the throne of "good Queen Anne," Mr. Lloyd was called from the Lower House of Assembly to a seat in the Council, which constituted the Upper
William Hemsley, Mr. Hugh Sherwood, Mr. Thomas Robins, Jr., Mr. Richard Carter, Mr. John Coppedge, Mr. John Needles, Mr. Robt. Macklin, Mr. Matthew Smith, and Mr. Edward James. The three first named, with Col. Lloyd, were of the Quorum, without one of whom present no court could be held.
24 Mr. John Bozman Kerr, upon what ground or authority it is not known, ex- cept the doubtful one he suggests, says of Col. Lloyd: "He was at heart a Roman Catholic. Had he acknowledged it openly, it would have done him injury, no doubt, politically, at this time. I judge from the perfect confidence between his good mother and himself." This is almost certainly erroneous, for Col. Lloyd could not, as an honorable man, have held office, when it was forbidden by law for a Catholic to do so. Mr. Kerr does injustice to him by an implied impeach- ment of his sincerity or frankness. It is probable he was Puritan as Paptist, for his father had enjoined, by his will, that he should be educated a Protestant, and that may have meant educated in disregard of both Popery and Prelacy.
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House,25 by Governor Blackiston. In 1708 he was raised to the military rank of Major General of the Maryland Militia. Governor Seymour, who in 1704 succeeded Blackiston, dying in 1709, General Lloyd, at this date President of the Council, became, as such de facto Governor of the Province; and this honorable position was held by him until the appoint- ment by King George I, of Mr. Hart, in 1714. The fact that five years elapsed between the death of Gov. Seymour and the appointment of Gov. Hart, during which interim Gen. Lloyd was acting by virtue of his election as President of the Council, may justly be taken as evidence that his official duties were discharged with satisfaction to both the authorities in England and the people of the Province. The period of his occupancy of the executive chair of the commonwealth was one of peace, if it was not one of great prosperity. Maryland now being under royal protection, as it had been since 1692, the old contests be- tween the Proprietary and the people were unknown, and even the acerbity of religious controversy had greatly subsided by reason of the hopelessness of any effort to overthrow the established order. The legis- lation effected under President Lloyd indicates that there was little political interest and activity, either because there was a lack of evils to be redressed or from an unconsciousness of their existence. The truth is, the conversion of Maryland into a royal province had given peace but it had produced stagnation; and this had reacted upon the prosperity of the colony, which had sensibly declined. The period of the administration of President Lloyd is marked by no important events; but it may be esteemed happy, according to the dictum of the philosopher, because it has no history. President Lloyd's authority as chief executive, terminated with the arrival of Gov. Hart, May 29th, 1714. Soon after the government of his province, his private rights never having been infringed, was restored to the Lord Proprietary, Benedict Leonard Calvert, who almost immediately dying, his title and rights devolved upon his infant son Charles Calvert. Governor Hart was re-commissioned, and Genl. Lloyd retained his position in the Council-a position which he continued to hold until his death in 1718-19.26
25 McMahon in Hist. of Md., Vol. i, p. 267, says that after Gov. Blackiston returned to England, in consequence of feeble health, the "Government devolved upon Col. Edward Lloyd, the President of the Council, in whose hands it remained, until the arrival of Governor Seymour in the spring of 1704." This is probably erroneous. See Scharf, Vol. i, p. 367, and McSherry, p. 389, also Bacon's Laws.
26 In a record of the meeting of a council in 1716, Mr. Ed. Lloyd's name did not appear.
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Of President Lloyd's personal character nothing whatever is known, and as little of his habits and pursuits. His elevation to some of the highest positions in the provincial government must be taken as evidence of ability and of honest repute. He was a man of affairs as well as poli- tician, and added to the fortune inherited from his grandfather and father. His home was at Wye House, but his public duties required his frequent and long attendance at Annapolis. On the first of Febru- ary, 1703, he married Miss Sarah Covington, of Somerset county, Md. Family tradition has preserved or invented an interesting story of his courtship and marriage. It was the custom of the Friends or Quakers to hold their yearly or half yearly meetings at the "Great Meeting House at Third Haven"-that is at the meeting house still standing but un- used near the town of Easton, a celebration of the bicentennial of the erection of which was made in the past year. To these meetings not only Friends from every portion of the Eastern and Western Shores resorted, but many persons of other communions and many more who acknowledged no religious connection. Nor were all who assembled moved by pious motives. Booths were erected for the sale of trumpery of one kind or another and especially for the sale of liquors. Horse racing and other rough country sports were indulged in by the ungodly; and of course where there was an assemblage of young people of both sexes there was much coquetry and serious courting. It is related that among the "visiting friends" from Somerset (of whom it may be said incidentally that they belonged to one of the very earliest of the Quaker societies formed in America) was a beautiful Quakeress, Sarah Covington, who came to the meeting from her distant home, seated on a pillion behind her father, and dressed in the simple garb of her people, which rendered her charms more pleasing by contrast with its plainness. The two young Lloyds, Philemon (II) and Edward (II) had ridden over from Wye House, to meet their acquaintances, participate in any sport that was passing and to witness whatever might be done by the Quakers in their exercises, or by the worldly people assembled for amusement, as if at a fair or merry making. They were both attracted by the great beauty of the young woman from Somerset, and each resolved to pay his addresses; but each concealed his purposes from the other.
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