USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume I > Part 62
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11 This book written with great care by the hand of Mr. Chamberlaine was transmitted from father to son until it reached Mr. James Lloyd Chamberlaine, a grand-son, now (1887) a citizen of Baltimore; who with a proper estimate of its value, and of the dangers of destruction incident to its possession by a private individual, has presented it to the Maryland Historical Society, in whose pos- session it now is.
12 This characterization is by Mr. John Bozmas Kerr, a grandson of the lady.
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THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
who was at one time or another a teacher of the ancient languages in the Pennsylvania University, and Professor in St. Johns College, Mary- land. After such preparatory instruction as was necessary to secure his admission to college, the father so far relaxed in his rigid churchmanship, as to enter his son at Princeton, believing him to be sufficiently grounded in the principles of his own church as to be in no danger from the Calvan- istic theology of that celebrated school, then as now under Presbyterian influence.18 It was intended that he should be qualified for the sacred calling of the ministry, but the dearly cherished wishes of his father were disappointed by the conscientious objections of the son to the assump- tion of such sacred obligations as were imposed upon those taking holy orders. For this defeat of plans for his son's advancement the father himself was largely responsible, for the high estimate which he had always placed and had taught his children to place upon the ministerial character and dignity had rendered the standard of fitness for priestly function so high as to be unattainable by men possessing the ordi- nary frailties of human nature and unendowed with supernatural graces. A conviction, therefore, in the mind of his son, of his unworthi- ness, strengthened as it probably was by an unwillingness to abandon certain social pleasures to which he was addicted and to surrender certain social accomplishments in which he was versed, innocent in themselves, but popularly thought to be forbidden to clerics, drove him from a voca- tion for which he had both the moral and intellectual qualifications. This defeat of parental intentions had the further effect of preventing his preparation for any other of the liberal professions. After the death of his father, from an unfortunate belief that he was unfitted for any thing higher, and that he was under the control of irresistible circum- stances, too often the plea of inertness, he lapsed into the condition of a farmer, and assuming, in connection with an afflicted brother, the man- agement of Bonfield estate, he there spent the remainder of his days in the pursuits and pleasures of a country gentleman, presenting the most remarkable example of useless expense, misspent time, fruitless labor, unapplied acquisitions and wasted ability this county has known.
Mr. James Lloyd Chamberlaine inherited from his father his religion and his politics, but in the transmission the zealotry of the former was
13 Mr. Samuel Chamberlaine is said to have refused the liberal offer of an English kinsman to receive his son into his family and to defray the whole cost of his education; but as this kinsman had given expression to certain sentiments upon the subject of religion in correspondence with those of Tom Paine, Mr. Chamberlaine indignantly refused to expose his son to the contamination of such maleficent opinions.
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SAMUEL CHAMBERLAINE, JR.
subdued into a calm preference for the tenets and forms of the Episco- pal Church, and the animosities of the latter softened into a rational condemnation of the policies of the Democratic party: though it must be confessed that the detestation of the father for Mr. Jefferson lost little of its bitterness in the mind or mouth of the son, one of whose pleasures and mayhap duties, it was to curse the memory of this great party leader, as it were, with bell, book and candle, as the embodiment of all political iniquity.14 Although his mind was well stored with the principles of constitutional government, although he was well read in the history of free nations, and although he was thoroughly informed of the course and tendencies of American parties he never manifested any desire to employ these advantages for his own advancement or the good of his country. He was either absolutely without political ambition or he recoiled from the squabbles and the squalor of partisanship. He never held any office, nor is it known that he ever aspired to hold one of an elective character. His high Federal position possibly excluded him from candidacy which was given then as now not to the most fitting but the most available. He took a keen interest however in public affairs, and never vacated his duties as a citizen of a republic, voting with the Federal or Whig party as the representatives of conservative opinion.
In early life Mr. James Lloyd Chamberlaine possessed a gaiety of disposition which displayed itself in an indulgence, always within the
14 A gentleman of this county, still living, relates that once when a youth of ten years of age he was visiting 'Bonfield' as the school companion and guest of a son of the family, he was held as by a spell for many hours, until the early sum- mer morning was dawning, by the conversation of this accomplished gentleman upon politics, to which a casual reference to Mr. Jefferson had given the cue. For the first time in his life this youth had a man of culture to converse with him as to one capable of comprehending something more than the trivial puerilities of the domestic circle or the simple pedagogic lessons of the school room. Al- though all but the general drift of this conversation has been forgotten, which was in the direction of severe condemnation of Jefferson for his hostility to Wash- ington and for his radical democracy, the impression has not been lost, nor is the sense of gratified pride and conscious mental enlargement, that was aroused by the notice of so intelligent person, and the implication of a capacity to apprehend and appreciate.
"High erected thoughts seated in the heart of courtesy." This gentleman further relates, that when his father who was an earnest Democrat, heard of this conversation and its tenor, he was at first indignant at what he deemed an inva- sion of his parental province, and an attempt to tamper with opinions which he had been instilling; but at last he was pacified by a perception of the compliment paid to his son, and he then thanked Mr. Chamberlainc for flattering civility. But that son never became a Democrat.
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THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
bounds of a rigorous propriety, in those pleasures which are peculiar to youth. His "passionate love of music, and exquisite skill on the violin, together with his unequalled social wit" gave him a hearty wel- come in every circle capable of appreciating such accomplishments. With advancing years his ebullient vivacity and crackling humor sub- sided into a still but cordial sociability that warmed and cheered like wine the hearts of all within its sphere. In his domestic life, considerate for the claims and forbearing of the faults of those dependent upon him, affectionate to and solicitous for the welfare of his children, watchful and provident that all should enjoy peace and comfort.
On the 18th of May Mr. James Lloyd Chamberlaine married his cousin Anna Maria Hammond, the daughter of Mr. Nicholas Hammond and his second wife Rebecca Hollyday, daughter of Henry Hollyday of "Ratcliffe." By this marriage he became the father of a large family many of whom are still living, but as yet no grandson is born to per- petuate his name and imitate his virtues. He died as before mentioned Jan. 15, 1844, and is buried at Bonfield. Following a notice of his death in the Easton Gazette of Jan. 20, 1844, were these lines probably written by his nephew, Mr. John Bozman Kerr:
Though aloof from public station, in which he was well qualified through early training and diligent research in subsequent life to distinguish himself, this gentleman had earned, without seeking it, a reputation throughout the community that the most ambitious might do well to emulate. He united in an eminent degree the qualities of a strong mind with wit and social eloquence, and presented an example of a character that the younger men of our day are bound to transmit un- impaired, as a distinctive one-the Eastern Shore gentleman. Mr. Chamberlaine was a graduate of Princeton College and among compeers and immediate associates may be found not a few of the eminent men whose names have become "familiar as household words" on both shores of Maryland. Devotedly attached to the church (Protestant Episcopal) in communion with which he lived, and firm in his political opinions (those of the Washington School), with sternness of integrity character- izing his every action, no one from among us, could have departed more generally respected and beloved. His remains were deposited within the family burial ground, east of the homestead, on Thursday, the 18th, amid a concourse of his neighbors and friends.
The Board of Trustees of the Maryland Agricultural Society for the Eastern Shore, of which respectable body he was a member, passed a series of resolutions of condolence and sympathy with the family. The oblivious waves of time will soon submerge the memory of this excellent
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JOHN COATS
man but of characters in this county more deserving than his of a post- humous existence in the minds of men, there have been not many.
Returning now to the subject of this memoir it remains to be said that Mr. Samuel Chamberlaine of "Bonfield" died May 30th, 1811, and was interred at his homestead in a burial ground first opened to receive his remains, but now containing those of many children and grandchildren. His wife long survived him, dying in 1832, at the home of her son, Mr. Henry Chamberlaine in Cecil county, where her body lies. No portrait or other representation of Mr. Chamberlaine is possessed by any member of his family, and as there is no one living who ever saw him that has any recollection of his personal appearance, of this as an index of character or as a matter of curious interest we must forever remain in ignorance.
JOHN COATS, M.D. 1751-1810
FIRST GRAND MASTER OF MASONS IN MARYLAND
Brother John Coats was born in the city of Philadelphia on the 11th of July, 1751. His parents, who are thought to have been Friends, or Quakers, were people in apparently comfortable, if not affluent, circum- stances; for they were able to give their son not only the advantages of a good academic and professional education, but after their death a handsome patrimony. He received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the celebrated school established by Shippin, in the city of Phila- delphia, and had entered upon the practice of his profession in his native place just before the commencement of hostilities in the war of the Revolution. He enlisted in the service of his country, whether as an officer or private is not known. It was his fortune to be one of that devoted band that followed Arnold into Canada, in 1775, and to share with that army all the hardships, fatigues and dangers of the remark- able march through the wilderness of the North to join Montgomery beneath the walls of Quebec. He was one of those to follow their leaders in the desperate assault upon that city and fortifications, to witness the death of his chief in command and to be severely wounded while scaling the ramparts. In this campaign he had for a fellow-soldier, Aaron Burr. (We have seen recently a copy of a correspondence between him and Burr, written in 1802, when the latter was Vice-President of the United States, in which reference is made to the dangers and hardships through which they passed in the march through the wilderness.) Neither
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THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
the wounds he received nor the mortification of the defeat of this enter- prise, deterred Brother Coats from again embarking in the cause of his country. His devotion seemed to glow with redoubled warmth, and after recuperating his health and strength he undertook the task of re- cruiting a company. And it is said that with an entire unselfishness, a trait which seems to have marked every important act of his life, he devoted his whole patrimony to the enlisting and equipping a body of soldiers, and in command of these he joined the main army under Wash- ington. How long he continued his connections with the army or in what particular engagements he participated is not certainly known. That he bore himself honorably and creditably is attested by the fact, that almost to the end of his life he enjoyed the esteem and friendship of many of the officers whose acquaintance and intimacy he had formed while in the military service of his country.
Authentic records show that Brother Coats was again settled in Phila- delphia in the year 1779, and practicing his profession.
He was made a Mason in the Old Lodge, No. 3, in Philadelphia, about the year 1755. This Lodge was at that time under the "Moderns." The Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania under the "Ancients" was organized in 1764; but it is said the records were "either mislaid or carried away by some enemies to the Royal Art during the confusion of the War." The earliest of them in possession of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania commence in the year 1779. We are therefore unable to trace the Masonic career of Brother Coats during the early years of that Grand Lodge. In the year named, 1779, Grand Master Ball appointed him his Deputy; a position he continued to hold even after he took up his residence in Maryland. His name figures conspicuously in the records of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and it would appear that while none excelled him in zeal in the cause of Masonry, few were his equals in a knowledge of the rituals and ceremonies. Thoroughly de- voted to its principles, he was as thoroughly devoted to its practices. In that which he so loved and enjoyed it was ever his desire that others should participate. He thus became an apostle of Masonry, spending time and labor in founding new; confirming weak; instructing ignorant; and correcting erring Lodges.
In the proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania under date February 10th, 1780, is the following:
This Grand Lodge was called at the desire of our Worthy Deputy Grand Master Bro. John Coats, who after a proper and affectionate address to the Brethren, acquainted them that he was under the painful necessity
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JOHN COATS
of removinginto another State, at a distance from the seat of this Grand Lodge, but that wherever he might settle, he would at all times exert his utmost endeavors to serve the cause of Masonry and every Brother in particular.
The Grand Lodge expressed affectionate regret at parting with their Deputy Grand Master, "from whose great learning and knowledge in the Masonic Art; and his zeal to promote the same, the Royal Craft has received great benefit."
Brother Coats was residing temporarily in Maryland as early as 1773. On the 16th September of that year he received a Warrant from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, for Lodge No. 17, Queenstown, Queen Anne County, and of which he was for several years the Master.
In April, of the year 1780, he received from the same Grand Lodge a Warrant to hold a Lodge at Cambridge, and subsequently we find him presenting the petition for a Lodge at Talbot Court House, and we doubt not that most of the Lodges at that period on the Eastern Shore, were organized through his instrumentality.
The part he took in the organization of the Grand Lodge of Maryland is shown in the proceedings published in another part of this work. The estimation in which he was held by the Brethren of this jurisdiction is fully attested by the fact that he held the position of Grand Master from 1787 until 1793, with the exception of an interval of one year. In 1794 the Grand Lodge determined to hold its sessions in Baltimore in- stead of Easton. The inconvenience of attending in this city to a person of impaired health as Brother Coats was at this time, determined him to decline a further re-election.
We have seen the resolutions adopted by the Grand Lodge upon learn- ing his determination not to suffer his name to be again used. He is said to have been a man of excellent natural abilities which had been improved by a liberal education, of pleasing address, fine sensibility, impulsive disposition, and possessed of a heart that responded to the most generous feelings of humanity; but he was unstable in purpose, without worldly prudence, and of weak moral stamina. One who re- members him well, says, that in personal appearance he was of short stature, thick set and portly in habit, with dark but florid complexion; his manner was sedate and his movements deliberate, walking habitually with his head lowered and with his hands behind his back.
He died November 30th, 1810, with few friends, but without an enemy except himself. He was buried, at his own request, in the com- mon burial ground of the town of Easton-a burial ground in which he
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THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
had been chiefly instrumental in securing for strangers, and for which he paid largely from his own slender means.
Brother Coats was married June 22nd, 1779, to Susannah Murray. By this lady, who died September 15th, 1804, several children were born to him, two daughters and one son, but one of whom, a daughter, sur- vived him. His son John H. Coats was a lieutenant in the United States Navy, and died in 1807 in the twenty-first year of his age. It is not known whether there are any descendants of the second generation living. Such was the character and career of our first Grand Master, whose remains, after eighteen years of neglect, the Brethren determined to remove from the common burial ground, where they lay unmarked by the simplest stone, to a more favorable site, and erect a suitable monument over them, commemorative of the services he had rendered to the fraternity.
On Wednesday, the 23rd of July, 1828, this pious duty of removal was performed, the monument having been previously erected by Coats Lodge, No. 76, at Easton, assisted by the Grand Lodge and by numerous visiting brethren. At an early hour the brethren assembled and marched in procession to the burial ground, where the remains had been taken up by a committee of the brethren and placed in a handsome coffin. Masonic Grand Honors were given on arriving at the place, and the procession returned to the Episcopal Church when, after appropriate services and a sermon delivered by the Rev. Timothy Clowes of Ches- tertown, the procession marched to the burial ground, when the remains of Maryland's first Grand Master were a second time deposited with the usual solemn and appropriate ceremonies.
The monument was erected in the Protestant Episcopal grave-yard. It was designed and executed by Brother Wm. Steuart of Baltimore, then Deputy Grand Master. It is a simple obelisk of marble upon a base about twelve feet high, and bears this inscription:
To the Memory of DOCTOR JOHN COATS, First Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Maryland This monument is erected by his Brethren of Coats Lodge No. 76, A. L. 5828.
579
NICHOLAS HAMMOND, 3D
NICHOLAS HAMMOND 3D
1758-1830
DEPUTY GRAND MASTER
Nicholas Hammond 3rd, was of an ancient English family, born May 26, 1758, in the Island of Jersey, from which his grandfather Nicholas Hammond, Sr., had emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1730, and had married in Philadelphia, in 1732, a widow Wyncoop, whose maiden name was Mary Dyer, the granddaughter of Mary Dyer the Quaker martyr. This noted woman emigrated with her husband James Dyer from England in 1657, and settled in Rhode Island. Mrs. Dyer, believing that she had "a call from God to preach the Gospel," gave great offense to the people of Boston for persisting, in spite of threats, to perform the duties of her vocation. She was frequently admonished, and once imprisoned and sentenced to death for witchcraft, but by the interposition of her son, her life was spared, and she was expelled from the city. On her return, a year afterward, she was again imprisoned and sentenced to death, and her friends had no power to save her. She was hung with two others from the limb of an old elm tree on Boston Common June 1, 1660 "for testifying against the bloody law of the Puritans." There was no martyr in the days of the Inquisition more faithful to her God and her principles than this heroic and faithful woman. The tree on which she suffered martyrdom was (when prejudices were removed by time), ten- derly cared for by the Bostonians. The authorities had it enclosed with an iron railing and the falling branches supported by props. In a severe wind storm, on February 2, 1876, this old tree was uprooted, and as it fell crowds rushed to preserve a relic of it. Of Mary Dyer's many descend- ants but few are willing to acknowledge as an ancestress one who suffered at the hangman's hands and yet their name is legion, and are included among the first families of Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania; the Hammonds, Hollydays, Chamberlains and McLanes of Maryland; the Milligans, Bradfords and Ridgelys of Delaware; and the Georges and Wyncoops of Pennsylvania. The Dyers are today among the most prominent families of Rhode Island.
Mary Dyer's letters to the General Court in Boston may be found in William Sewell's History of the People called Quakers, page 266. He says of her:
by the style of her letters and her undaunted courage it appears that she had indeed some extraordinary qualities. I find, also, that she was
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THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
their design, and its economy was marked by order and rigid system. St. Aubins has, for several years past, been the homestead of Colonel Henry Hollyday, Jr.
Although a man of great gravity of deportment, sober and reserved, Mr. Hammond was not without a love of humor, and not a few anecdotes are preserved by tradition of his indulgence in jocular sallies. These had a certain grimness which gave to them an unusual zest. . Other amusing anecdotes are told of him illustrating his most characteristic trait, namely, his love of order and system in every act of his daily life. These must be omitted in this brief sketch.
His religious connections were with the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church of America; but though devout, he was neither bigot nor zealot-indeed, his religion was rather a matter of correct conduct than of dogma or feeling.
Brother Hammond was a delegate from Lodge No. 29 (afterwards No. 6) to the Convention that organized the Grand Lodge. In 1789 he was elected Junior Grand Warden, and in the following year he was elected Senior Grand Warden. In 1791 he was elected Deputy Grand Master, to which position he was annually re-elected until the year 1794. While in occupancy of this position he issued a dispensation for the formation of Concordia Lodge No. 13, the first lodge formed in Balti- more under the Grand Lodge of Maryland.
Brother Hammond was twice married, first, in 1780, to his cousin, Miss Sarah George of Philadelphia, who died childless in 1787. Secondly, in 1792, to Miss Rebecca Hollyday, daughter of Henry Hollyday of Ratcliffe by whom three children were born to him, namely, Dr. Nicholas Hammond, Anna Maria, wife of James Lloyd Chamberlaine, of Bon- field, and Rebecca Hollyday, wife of the Rev. Robert William Golds- borough. Each of these left children, who represent the virtues of their most worthy ancestor.
Brother Hammond, after a long life of usefulness and honor, died November 11, 1830, and was buried at Ratcliffe, the seat of the Holly- days. The memory of no parent is more venerated than his, by his descendants; and if this memory be no longer preserved by the people in general of his county, it is not too much to say, the impress of his strong, masculine, reproachless character has not been lost upon the present generation, that may not know from what source that impress has come.
GOVERNOR PHILIP FRANCIS THOMAS
583
GOVERNOR PHILIP FRANCIS THOMAS
GOVERNOR PHILIP FRANCIS THOMAS
1810-1890
Philip Francis Thomas was born at Easton, Talbot County, Md., on September 12, 1810. His father, Dr. Tristram Thomas was long the leading practicing physician in Talbot County. Through his maternal line, his mother having been Maria Francis, he was of most distinguished ancestry. He was a descendant of Philip Francis, who was mayor of Plymouth, England, in 1644, whose grandson, the Very Rev. John Francis, D.D., Dean of Lismore, in 1722, and rector of St. Mary's church, Dublin, married Miss Tench, and had children, viz., Tench Francis, who emigrated to Maryland; Richard Francis, an eminent lawyer and author of the "Maxims in Equity," and Rev. Philip Francis, D.D., whose son was the celebrated Sir Philip Francis, K.G.C.B., the reputed author of the "Letters of Junius."
Tench Francis, the eldest son of the Very Rev. John Francis, D.D., and Miss Tench, received a learned and legal education in England, and came to America about the year 1720 and settled in Talbot County, Md. While acting as the attorney for Lord Baltimore in Kent, he married, in 1724, Elizabeth Turbutt, daughter of Hon. Foster Turbutt, of Talbot. In 1734 he was a member of the House of Burgesses. He afterwards removed to Philadelphia. In 1744 he was appointed Attor- ney-General of Pennsylvania and held that position until 1752. He was an eminent lawyer, and according to Franklin's Gazette, August 24, 1758, served in his several offices "with the highest reputation."
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