USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume I > Part 38
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At another public meeting held at Easton May 3rd, 1796, for the pur- pose of declaring the sense of the people of the county upon the subject of Jay's treaty, which was then exciting much angry feeling, Col. Ban- ning was one of thirteen gentlemen, who represented whatever was most respectable for purity of character, political intelligence, or social dis- tinction, appointed to draft a series of resolutions approving the treaty and urging its fair and honorable execution. Col. Banning was there- fore recognized as a decided Federalist, at a time when parties were in process of formation.
He is represented as having been fond of the social pleasures, given to hospitality, and forming strong personal attachments. He was not averse from some ostentatious display in his mode of life, but his pride was not accompanied with offensive disdain for those whose modes of life were plainer and simpler. He had no enemies where all seemed friends. In his home he was accustomed to maintain some old English customs long after they had ceased to be observed by his neighbors. The yule or Christmas log blazed upon his hearth while he lived, and though perhaps it was not brought home with all those ancient rites of jollity that were once observed, it was punctiliously prepared and deposed in his capacious fireplace by his servants, who, while it burned, were required to do no more than the most necessary work of the farm or plantation. The stirrup cup was always proffered to the de- parting guest, and the family still preserves the ample glass in which this social viaticum was prepared and presented. His house was garnished as some or encumbered as others would now say with curiosities gathered from all parts of the world during his numerous voyages or presented by his sea-faring friends. He was a man of good natural abilities, and these he had cultivated by reading the best authors. He collected a not inconsiderable library, which he bequeathed to his children. He was fond of using his pen as his journal attests, and we may readily believe if he had lived in the present time he would have in- dulged his disposition to speculation upon political and social subjects and his propensity to write upon them by frequent contributions to the public prints, if not by the production of something of more permanent and sustained a character. His private affairs were managed with order and discretion, so much so that he was enabled to accumulate a hand- some fortune in lands and negroes, the first of which, distributed among his three children, gave to them independence and the ability to main- tain a style of living corresponding to their social position. The last, as will presently be shown, were emancipated, with conditions that attest his feelings of humanity as well as his sense of justice.
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Col. Banning died Dec. 23rd, 1798, at his seat, which he called the Isthmus, now owned by Mr. James Easter, and there he is buried; but no stone marks his grave though his will indicates he was not indifferent to such tokens of filial respect and affection.
Reference has already been made to Col. Banning's will, a curious as well as a valuable document. This will, singular for its great length alone, filling twenty-two large folio pages as recorded, contains not only his wishes given with great minuteness with regard to the disposition of his property, but also his reflections upon certain topics that are hardly expected to be introduced in a formal paper of this kind. Very evidently it is olographic, and was written at various times during several successive years, as though its preparation had been a pleasure which he wished to prolong, and it was clearly intended, of itself, to be a kind of literary legacy to his descendants, to remote generations. A few extracts from it may not be unwelcome, or at least they will furnish a fitting conclusion to this biographical sketch of one of Talbot's worthies.
By an Act of Assembly of 1782, which was an extension of the Act of 1773 of similar tenor, owners of entailed estates were empowered to cut or annul the entailments by simple deeds of conveyance. Col. Banning seems to have entertained doubts as to the wisdom of this law. After making certain provisions to secure to his children the property he devised to them and their heirs, he says:
I do not mean, neither would I have it to be construed, that I intend in any of the foregoing devises to debar courtesies to husbands or dower to wives according to the law of the land. From the present law and opinions entails seem of little avail, and believe that the most competent judges are opposed to the idea of perpetuity of lands in the hands of par- ticular persons. It therefore might have the appearance of singularity to risk an opinion to the contrary: but when we reflect upon various snares and allurements that are strewed in the paths of unwary youth, with a view to inveigle them out of their property, gives me, I must con- fess, the strongest reasons to doubt the justice of the policy and the law, and have ever held that whatever is morally wrong could never be reconciled by political reasonings; and surely every violence and infringement of the express words of a last will and testament deserves the epithet. And besides, it is a direct violation of our boasted liberty of disposing of our property in the manner most agreeable to ourselves. However, as I find myself rambling into matters of mere speculation, shall only observe, that what I have done by way of entail may per- chance hereafter secure a home for some yet unknown relative: and as the chief of my property was acquired by a long and perilous sea service, it is but natural to suppose that my feelings revolt at the idea of the same, hereafter, idlely (sic) and foolishly squandered away. And
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although, as I observed before, that the law may countenance the alienation of states tail, yet the simple and unhappy victim is ever after treated with scorn and contempt, shunned by their acquaintance, deserted by their friends, abandoned by all, left at last to drag out a miserable life, loaded with remorse, and full (though too late) of repentance. I could wish to impress these horrors so powerfully on young minds that they might never be forgot-at least, I have done my part by show- ing the rocks, and it remains with them only to avoid the danger.
A subject that towards the end of the last century and at the beginning of the present, engaged the earnest attention not only of the most com- passionate but the most calculating and politic minds was the emanci- pation of the slaves: and all know how nearly, and, it may be added, how unfortunately Maryland failed to enact laws for the accomplish- ment of this wise and beneficent object. Col. Banning, who with an admirable candor confesses to have been a participant in the introduc- tion of African slaves into this State, at a time when the moral, economi- cal and political character of the act was not clearly appreciated, nor its consequences apprehended, shared at the time indicated with many of the most enlightened and benevolent citizens in the fundamental principle of the right of men to liberty; and the following extract from his will will serve to record his advocacy of that principle and the method he adopted to carry it into practical execution as far as it lay in his power.
Since the late contest with Great Britain, our mother country, for liberty, I believe it hath led most Americans seriously to reflect on the impropriety of our conduct in holding others, at the same time, in the most abject bondage, that were clamoring for liberty. I mean negroes, and hope the period not far remote before, first in part, then totally, slavery will be abolished, and that the wrongs of this unfortunate and much injured people may at length be redressed. And as those of mine have been brought up under my own eye, and may say, daily fed by my own hand, and to which I may also add, though with regret, that I brought most of them, or their ancestors, from Africa, their native coun- try, the justice of such traffic, at the time, seemed not in the least to have been considered-with this further inducement also to claim my com- miseration and protection, that they have generally behaved with great honesty and faithfulness so as to interest my gratitude and friend- ship in their favor-and do most sincerely felicitate my county on the legislature repealing that most absurd and arbitrary law prohibiting the disposal of our property as we please, I allude to that of giving freedom to negroes by last will and testament. And now only it re- mains for a more enlightened period to follow the laudable example of our Northern fellow citizens to complete the work and to erase the inspection of future generations those horrid laws for shooting of negroes
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and cutting off their ears, and for offences too, that would not now risque the life of a cat. But notwithstanding the savage and barbarous dis- position which marked the darkened age giving birth to them, I must now in justice to my countrymen and with infinite pleasure to myself freely and with truth declare that the humane and benevolent treatment of that class of people for some years past stand first among our great re- forms and improvements. With these sentiments (and which senti- ments no man would dare to have published 40 years ago), it would seem strange and inconsistent, not in some degree to alleviate the situa- tion of those negroes, which chance or fortune hath placed in my power. My will therefore is &c. He proceeds to manumit and set free at his death six old servants, and provides for them comfortable support upon his home plantation and at the expense of his son Robert. The remain- der of the servants were, all, to be free at certain specified ages, and so was their issue. Certain of the younger boys were to be taught trades of the carpenter, but were to become free. He further directs that if any of his slaves should desire to be taught trades they should be so taught, but were to serve a short term of years in compensation for such instruction. He provides that if any of his heirs should abuse or ill treat any of the slaves, while in servitude, they should be deprived of the services of such slaves. He further says: "So much do I feel myself interested in the future welfare and happiness of my negroes, there issue and offspring, forever hereafter, in having every part and clause herein relative to them, strictly and literally fulfilled and complied with, that should any, claiming hereunder, attempt to evade or counteract my will, not only in respect to my negroes, but in all things relative thereto, I do absolutely hereby revoke and disannul (sic) every part and clause herein made in favor of such, and that all property by them possessed in consequence hereof pass in reversion, as if he had died." In this will, there are many other curious provisions, but as they illus- trate no phase of society or opinion they need not be here quoted. His fondness for the observance of old customs is exhibited in the following: "I give and bequeath to my much beloved niece, Mrs. Catharine Chew, (daughter of his brother Anthony), of Philadelphia, a gold enamel mourn- ing ring, and though such mementoes have in the revolution of cus- toms, like many other things pretty well gone out of fashion, yet I flatter myself she will accept of it merely for my sake."
Col. Banning left three children, Robert, Freeborn and Clementina. Robert his eldest son and principal heir was born at the Isthmus Jan. 16th, 1776. Receiving such education as was at that time to be obtained in the county, he early became the assistant of his father in his discharge of the duties of the Custom House, and in 1795, was appointed "Inspector of the Revenue for the several ports within the District of Oxford," by Gen. Washington, whose commission dated Feb. 3rd is still pre- served by a member of the family as a valued memorial and almost
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sacred relic. After the death of his father in 1798 he was appointed Collector by President Adams, a post which he held until removed by Mr. Jefferson in 1804. He was an active politician of the old and repu- table school, identifying himself with the Federal and then the Whig party. He represented this county in the lower house of General Assembly in 1812, 1816, 1817, 1825, and 1826, and was a candidate for the place of delegate in other years when his party was in minority. He was also at one time Collector of taxes. He commanded a company of dragoons in the war of 1812 and 1815, and performed most efficient service, when the county was threatened at various points by the enemy then in control of the Bay, and committing depredations along its shores. He was for many years a vestryman of Saint Michaels' parish and a trustee of the poor of the county. He was one of the earliest members of the Maryland Agricultural Society, and having been chosen a trustee of that association, he remained such, long after it had lost its original character and had become a dining club of most respectable gentlemen-in fact, until his death. As a member of this club and a bonvivant he was well known in the county for his luxurious entertain- ments, to which the hearty good will and geniality of the host gave that fine zest which even his superlative cuisine could not impart. He was a great sportsman with the rod and gun. In early life fowling divided his affection with fishing; but when, by reason of age, he could no longer bear the exposure incident to the former, he became quite a devotee to the "gentle craft," the recreation of the contemplative man, as old Walton hath it. He was urbane in manners, guileless in character and amiable in disposition. He cherished old friendships, and harbored no enmities. After leading a long and happy life, such as is the lot of but few, content with himself, and enjoying and deserving the respect and affection of neighbors and kinsmen, he died Sept. 17th, 1845, and was buried near his honored father. It is worthy of being noted, at least as a curious incident, that being prostrated by a stroke of paralysis he was visited by an intimate associate, Mr. Samuel T. Kennard, of Easton, who a few minutes after taking the hand of his departing friend, was stricken down by the same affection, and the two died in the same house within a few hours of each other, and the funeral services of both were solemn- ized at the same time. Mr. Banning left a numerous family; to his youngest daughter, Miss Mary E. Banning, the writer is indebted for those extracts from her grandfather's day book, which make up the great- er part of this contribution, and for other assistance in compiling this memoir, this lady inheriting from her father a fondness for the pleas-
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ures of the forest and field, but in her case it is manifested in her devotion to the study of Botany, in one department of which, the most difficult and neglected, mycology, she is recognized as scientific authority. The second son, who according to family traditions, received the name of Freeborn, because his birth occurred soon after the assumption of freedom by the State of Maryland, namely in 1777, for a short time in youth served in the British Navy, but subsequently secured a place in the navy of the United States, and acted as Lieutenant under Capt. Henry Geddes, whose daughter he married. His place of residence was Bailey's Neck, and after an interval of many years his grandson, Mr James Latimer Banning, son of Henry Banning, Esq., banker of Wilming- ton, Del., has returned to take possession of the old homestead, thus restoring to the county a name that had entirely disappeared. Mr. Freeborn Banning died in 1826. The third child of Col. Banning was Clementina, who marrying Mr. - Hopkins of this county, has descendants living within the State, of the second, third and fourth generations.
HON. JOHN DICKINSON 1732-1808
Primo inter paucos, dein propalam in vuguls, pro cunctatore segnem, pro cauto timidum, affingens vicina virtutibus vitia, compellabat LIVY.
Of the family stocks that were transplanted from the ancient nursery of old England to this new soil of Talbot, in Maryland, one of the most vigorous was that of the Dickinsons. From this stock, here taking root, has sprung numerous scions, some of which, under favoring conditions, have developed greatness, symmetry and worth of such an order as to have drawn to them the admiration of their own and later times; while others growing to no eminence, perhaps through their having been planted with less advantageous environments than their congeners that flourished in the grand forest of public life, have become, as it were, but the hum- bler shrubs whose modest charms have adorned, or whose hidden virtues have enriched the social and domestic close. This family has presented many examples of superior intelligence, of purity of char- acter, and of extensive usefulness, but its most prominent member, and the one that has illustrated all its excellencies, was the Hon. John Dickin- son, the wise statesman and the unselfish patriot of Revolutionary memory. Of him it may also be said that he was unquestionably
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the most considerable personage born in Talbot county, as he was one among the most eminent men born in America. One of his biographers thus speaks of him:
Mr. Dickinson deserves to be ranked among the most distinguished men of the age in which he lived. Whether we consider the extent of his participation in producing the Revolutionary war, and urging it to a prosperous termination, the steadiness of purpose which directed his path, the inflexible spirit with which he adhered to the cause amidst the numerous discouragements which beset his career, the lustre which his admirable compositions shed upon his country, his accomplishments as a scholar, the purity of his character and elevation as an orator and a statesman, an exalted station must be assigned to him in the highest rank of our most illustrious countrymen.1
Of the man who is thus eulogized, and who with all abatements for his hesitancy during the early period of the controversy with the mother country, which preceded the Declaration of Independence, is deserving of such eulogium, it is now proposed to give a brief account; and although the subject deserves and invites a more extended and elab- orated biography, the fact that he spent far the greater part of his long and full life in the neighboring commonwealths of Delaware and Penn- sylvania must serve as a justification of the brevity and exility of the following sketch of his career.
The author of this contribution had proceeded thus far, and even farther, in the preparation of a memoir of Mr. Dickinson, when, through seeking information of his subject from members of the family, he was brought into correspondence with Wharton Dickinson, Esq., of Scranton, Pennsylvania, a grandson of General Philemon Dickinson, distinguished in the war of the Revolution, and therefore a great nephew of the Hon. John Dickinson. Mr. Wharton Dickinson has been for some years engaged in searching into the history of his family, with a view, probably, of preparing an extended and critical biography of his distin- guished uncle, and hardly less distinguished grandfather. With a courtesy for which he cannot be sufficiently thanked he kindly and promptly consented to furnish the writer with all the information that he possessed of the subject of this contribution; and he has increased the obligation under which he has placed the writer, by contributing the promised information, not in the form of disjointed memoranda, but embodied in a connected memoir so excellent in itself that there is
1 National Portrait Gallery-a biography by T. A. B., said to be Sally Norris Dickinson.
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no need to modify it in any particular except one, which does not affect its value as a historical document, presently to be noted. It is there- fore, virtually, published entire, with Mr. Wharton Dickinson's consent, and to him is wholly due the credit for the collection and collation of the materials for their orderly arrangement and for their lucid expres- sion of presentation. It will be perceived that he has purposely avoided elaboration of his statements and all rhetorical refinements of style, being content to relate with simplicity, directness and fullness the story of his kinsman's life. There is very good ground for claiming that this is the most correct, complete and comprehensive biography of Mr. Dickin- son that has ever been prepared. One cannot but admire that temper- ateness of praise which its author has shown in speaking of his distin- guished relative, when a little extravagance of eulogium might have been pardoned to family pride, and justified by the merit of the subject. However, in this case, the plain truth simply told is the best panegyric, both in matter and form, of one whose life was so full of worthy deeds and noble words,-words which in fact were deeds.
The importance of ancestral records has never been undervalued in these contributions which deal so largely with private and family history; nor has the pride which leads to their collection and preserva- tion been derided, though it is very possible the value of these records may be exaggerated by their possessors, and pride of birth may become ridiculous in those who have inherited nothing from their forefathers but their names or perhaps their acres. But such records and such pride have their uses. These uses, however, will not be subserved by making these biographical papers the registers of pedigrees or the minis- ters to a vanity founded upon them. Of their preparation it was never a part of the scheme, to trace descents and tabulate lineages-to tell over Et nati natorum et qui nascentur ab illis. To follow the laby- rinthine intricacies of genealogies, often without the clue of a single thread of truth to guide the wanderer amidst the mazes in which he is soon involved, would have required an amount of labor quite appalling, and have drawn out these papers to a length almost interminable. It is therefore due to Mr. Wharton Dickinson to say that the family gene- sis as given in his memoir is merely an abstract of that furnished by him, full, minute, authentic and evidently prepared with so much care and labor as to be a guaranty of its accuracy. But as it is chiefly interesting to those who claim connection with the original stock the greater part, with his expressed approbation, has been omitted from this paper. It may be, and very properly, included in that more elaborate biography
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of his great kinsman, which, it is believed, he has in contemplation, or in that of his ancestor, General Philemon Dickinson, of honored memory.
The family of the Talbot Dickinsons, of which there are branches in many of the states of the Union, traces its descent, in the male line, from (I) William Dickinson (tempora Henry VIII) through (II) Richard, (III) Symon, (IV) Charles, to (V) Walter, the emigrant and founder in America, all of Bradly, Staffordshire, England. It claims by the marriage of Symon (III) with Catharine Dudley to share in the blood of the Plantagenets, through Edward III of that royal house. Charles Dickinson (IV) removed from Bradly to London in 1620, where he married and entered into a mercantile business. Dying in 1653 or 4, he left three sons, all of whom came to America and settled in Virginia. These were Walter (V) from whom the Talbot Dickinsons derive, Henry from whom the Virginia Dickinsons, and John from whom the Pennsylvania Dickinsons (those of them not of the Talbot branch) have descended.2 Walter Dickinson (V) with whom alone we have any concern, born in 1620, with the brothers just named came to Vir- ginia in 1654, and settled on the Rappahannock in Lancaster county where he took up land under patent, and married the daughter of one of his neighbors. In 1659 he patented land in Maryland at North Point at the mouth of the Patapsco, in Anne Arundel county (Baltimore coun- ty was organized in the same year) to which he removed with his family. Apparently he remained at North Point a very short time, removing to Talbot at an unknown date. He purchased land upon Reeds Creek in close proximity of the land which became the seat of the family many years and has continued to be, of one branch, to the present time. Later he received land by patent in Kent county, Delaware. Dying in 1681, Walter Dickinson (V) left four children of whom William was the eldest and heir. He was born in Virginia, December, 1658, before the removal of his father from that province, but grew up to manhood in this county where he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Howell Powell, a wealthy and prominent member of the Society of Friends, and a resi- dent of his neighborhood.3 He became a merchant and planter-then a common union of avocations-and amassed wealth. Dying in 1707
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