USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume I > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
Your affectionate Brother, EDWARD LLOYD.
I am to attend the Gov. as soon as weather permits.
April 30, 1756, Thomas Ringgold writes :-
Since you think a scrawl from me worth the postage I will drop a line now by way of Bristol. I observe you resolve to stay another year, and I think you judge right, and hope it will answer all your purposes. The attendance of Westminster must be a great advantage, and when at the Temple your studies must be much more entertaining and improv- ing, being abstracted from all family and worldly concerns and use.
Shurely when you hear Murray you are not disappointed, he certainly speaks very well. Your resolution is prudent for another reason, you are out of the continual fears and alarms we undergo here on account of the Indians. We have not yet forgot since the old Indian war of Dorset to exaggerate matters and multiply fears, though we have now much more reason to fear.
Notwithstanding the danger we are in, we are just in the old strain. Courtiers contending for power and proprietary advantages. Patriots warm with zeal, and so I fear they'll continue. They have been sitting ever since the 20th February and nothing done. A bill was sent up to raise 40 thousand pounds several times and returned with negative, and nothing is likely to be done.
The Province is in the same state of defence as when you left it, where the fault lies I can't judge, but I think both sides to blame. I would have our Assembly protest and resolve, and waive all points for the present, raise the money, and make a good militia law, and put ourselves in a good posture of defence. I hope they will raise the money some way or other before they rise. I fear we shall have a bloody war and we have the seat of it. We hear 7 Regiments more are coming over under the general command of Lord Loudon, pray God grant him success and an honorable peace.
We have been much fermented this winter in our Province and Pennsyl- vania by the Recruiting Officers enlisting our servants, which we think a very arbitrary and unjustifiable step, and a great violation of our property. Pray let me know what's thought of it at home. I don't doubt the matter will be represented. As to business in the law, it is
56
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
much divided between young & old hands. You can't conceive how scarce Tobacco is. I don't think we shall export 10 Thousand hhds with both the remains of the old and the new crop. We have a fine prospect for a harvest, and a great appearance of industry in the people, were it not for the calamities of war I should be in hopes of plenty's being restored. As Montgomery will sail soon, I will write more fully. Hope I shall tell you our Assembly has done something, and hope to have the pleasure by and by of acquainting you of the success of our troops. The New England men go out this campaign determined to have Crown Point.
June 5, 1756, Thomas Ringgold says :-
Montgomery being near sailing, I set down to give you the best testimonial of my kind remembrance to you. I wrote you a short line by way of Bristol lately, wherein I told you I had received yr Favr of the 5th of January, for which I am much obliged. The reflection of ye Earth Quake and especially at Lisbon, is Terrible. Man! what is he? Why should we think much of ourselves, or the world, when liable to such a variety of woes? I have the pleasure to tell you that I am not a sufferer in the fatal catastrophy, though I believe many at Philadelphia are. I deal chiefly at home, don't haste to get rich, and by that don't Risque much, it seems to me to be the shurer way to get rich, tho' perhaps ye former may be something longer. I take a view of my affairs once a year, and find them rather better, therefore am con- tent with a little at home, without the slavery of attending County Courts, and can give you a glass of good old Madeira when I once have the pleasure of seeing you again.
Your old Cecil friends, much want to see you, and much your assist- ance, I believe, for from such lawyers they pray deliverance. Last March Court there was no sitting day. Ye over Elk Justices wou'd not or cou'd not get over. Col. Veazy neglected, and Bayard was not of the Quorum, and so the Court Fell.
The Assembly sitting, the Charles Town people set about a petition for Removal of the Court House to their Town, Ye Head of Elkers to have it there, the Sassafras neckers to continue it still on the ponds of Avon. The pistols flew about, and council was engaged on all sides, and after a debate of a whole day, it is still settled and fixed on the old spott, but Peter Bayard is to build a famous Tavern there, wherein you are to be entertained even with cheese, cakes and custards, so he promised ye Assembly.
Charles Gordon has lost his wife, poor Ben Pearce is no more, Will Bordley is married to Sally Pearce, Matt Bordley has lost his wife, and we tell Julia she must look out again, and since we are in the family, let me tell you Stephen is Attorney General and Naval Officer of Annapo- lis. So flys away burning glowing Patriotism! Dulany is at present out, talks of being in the Lower House again. Some say true patriotism or at least a moderate zeal for right, and the good of ye country, keeps
57
HON. JAMES HOLLYDAY, JR.
him out, others they have not come up to his price. So it goes amongst the great, but I suppose I need not tell you these things, being near ye Fountain you hear how the streams of Honour etc. issue forth. However James let me take the Freedom to tell you one thing, that is that yr Fortune and your personal abilities will be fully sufficient to put you above the paltry dependence waiting on the best of their officers. If they are rode as represented, as mean as my business is, I wou'd not give it with my liberty & Freedom for the very best of them at their pleasure. The solid satisfaction, the self approved consciousness, arising from true and real patriotism, from a life well spent in rectitude and real service of the country, must be worth much more than the mistaken tinsel Honour, attending what we call, our high stations here.
Our Assembly set three months, are now risen, have raised at last, with much to do, forty thousand pounds. 'tis by an excise on strong liqueurs, a land Tax, and many small duties, amongst the rest a Tax on old Bachelors! so take care and fix soon after you come in, or you'll be mulcted for your inactivity. Indeed a man who does not marry where there's so many good girls want Husbands as with us, deserves to pay. They splitt about a Militia law, and threw out the bill framed which was a very good one, so that for want of it we shall still be in a very bad posture of defence. But I hope we shall be more quiet than we have been. Our Provinces, publishing large re- wards for scalpes, induced wood men to go out, and they have had some skirmishes with the Indians, killed some and drove off the rest, and 'tis said they begin to sue for peace, hope we shall be at peace with them again.
Our forces to the Northward are doing nothing, suppose they are waiting for Lord Loudon. I wish for an honourable peace that's best. If we have a war, believe it will be a bloody one. The King of Prussia seems to be the balance master. I don't understand Politicks, but I don't like his Treaty with us, will not the preventing the Russians from entering Europe make ye French easy on that side, and enable them to bend all their strength to the sea and against us? I long to see you, as does many of y" Friends, but I think you quite right in not hurrying away too soon, and doubt not yr making the best use of yr time.
Mr. Hollyday remained in London pursuing his studies at the Temple until 1758, when he returned to "Readbourne," his Maryland home in Queen Anne's County. He qualified in the Provincial Courts, and resuming the practice of his profession soon ranked among the first lawyers in the colony. As a statesman he appears to have had the con- fidence of his constituents, but having a repugnance to holding any position in public life, it was only after earnest solicitations, and during very critical periods in the history of the colony, that he could be induced to serve in any office whatever. When the appeals came he did not
58
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
hesitate to sacrifice feelings, ease, and comfort, but cheerfully and willingly gave his best energies to the service of his country.
On September 7, 1758, his half brother Col. Lloyd from "Wye House" wrote to him at "Readbourne:"-
I hear from all quarters that the people of Queen Anne's all agree to choose you one of their representatives. It may be somewhat incon- venient to you to act in that station, yet I hope and believe that you have so much of the spirit of Patriotism in you that you will not refuse your good offices, at this so critical a time to your country.
Mr. Hollyday obeyed the call of his country, and served in the Lower House of Assembly from 1758 to about 1770.
We are informed by his friend Mr. Anderson (a wealthy London banker, and connected with the family by his marriage with Miss Rebecca C. Lloyd), that Mr. Hollyday was appointed by Lord Baltimore one of the Councillors, and a member of the Upper House, and his letter of congratulation written from London on April 29, 1765, reads thus:
I wish you joy of your seat in the Council, as Mr. Calvert desires me to keep it secret I don't alter your direction, he behaved very gen- teelly on the occasion. I doubt not you will write to my Lord, and return him thanks, which many have omitted to do, which is not right. Should you and I live until anything worth while drops, you stand as fair for it as any.
The Assembly convened on September 23, 1765, and the Stamp Act was the first subject that engaged the attention of that body, and on the second day of its session they appointed commissioners to the Stamp Act Congress, to be held in New York, and a committee to draft their instructions. Mr. Hollyday was of that committee, also Thomas Johnson, of Anne Arundel, John Goldsborough, of Talbot, and others. The English Parliament being satisfied that force alone could carry the Stamp Act into effect, it was repealed on March 11, 1766. The spirit of arbitrary power, however, had not yet departed from the colonial policy of England. It slept, soon to awake, and it awoke only to con- summate the liberties of the colonists.
"On July 2, 1767," says McMahon, "an act was passed imposing new duties on paper, glass, in all its varieties, and generally on all articles of most necessary consumption, especially on tea, the duties to take effect after the 20th of November ensuing. As if to impart to it new features of oppression this Act was accompanied by others about the same period, whose objects entitled them to rank as its fellows." The
59
HON. JAMES HOLLYDAY, JR.
Maryland Assembly was not convened, after the passage of this ob- noxious bill, until the 24th of May following, and on the 8th of June of that year (1768) the Lower House appointed a committee "consisting of gentlemen distinguished for their abilities, and attachment to the cause of the colonists, to draft a petition to the King remonstrating against the late impositions, and Mr. Hollyday was one of the number appointed, also Matthew Tilghman of Talbot County, and Thomas Ringgold, of Kent. Remonstrances and invectives of the most exciting character were let loose upon these Acts from every quarter of the country, which led to a partial rescinding of the duty Act, but still leaving a tax on tea.
The controversy with the mother country thus mitigated, was renewed with increased vigor in May, 1773, caused by an Act of Parliament allowing the East India Company a drawback upon teas exported to America, which resulted in war, and terminated in the independence of the colonies and the confederation of sovereign States.
"In 1692," says McMahon, "the Church of England became the established Church of the Colonies, and provision was made for the support of her clergy by the imposition of a poll tax of 40 pounds of To- bacco on the taxable property of each parishioner, to be collected by the sheriff, and paid over to 'those appointed to serve in the sacred ministry of the same.'" And again:
In 1763 an Act was passed reducing the tax to 30 pounds, at which it continued until 1770, when the disagreement of the two Houses (of the Assembly) permitted the Act of 1763 to expire, and that of 1702, which had fixed the tax at 40 pounds, was held to be revived.
The people of Maryland were greatly excited by these measures, called "the Vestry Acts," and Mr. Hollyday, and others equally inter- ested in matters concerning the church, took a prominent part in the dis- cussions arising therefrom, which though purely technical were intensely bitter on both sides. McMahon says:
The abilities of the most distinguished lawyers in the colony were enlisted, and rarely has the discussion of any legal question exhibited more learning and talent. The opinions of Mr. Hollyday and Mr. Dulany sustaining the validity of the Act, and those of Mr. Paca and Mr. Chase in opposition to it, have been preserved and are remarkable for their ingenious views and profound investigations.
In 1772, Rev. Hugh Neill, Rector of St. Paul's Parish, Queen Anne's County, wrote to Mr. Hollyday in the following words :-
60
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
Sir: Enclosed you have Mr. Cook's opinion delivered to Rev. Mr. McGill. I have had it carefully transcribed for your use. Mr. Dulany is of the opinion that there are not so many respectable authorities on the other side as Mr. Cook imagines. Among the many subsequent laws that have been quoted either in print or elsewhere as a confirma- tion of the Law of 1702 for the establishment of religion, I find one omitted which I think as cogent as any of them, viz., the law for estab- lishing Charles Town. If a law may be trampled upon that has been so repeatedly confirmed, intervowen with the Constitution, and under which all the Vestries in the Province for seventy years have acted on, we may bid a final adieu to all Law, as each of the Acts of this Province may undergo the same fate and be abrogated not by the Legislature, but by the voice of clamour and faction. Dear sir, you will pardon me if I tell you that your country calls aloud for your integrity and abilities at the enshewing election. It is to be hoped that you will sacri- fice your private tranquillity to the public good, and once more repre- sent the good people of Queen Anne's.
I am with due regard Your most obedient humble servant, HUGH NEILL.
To this letter Mr. Hollyday sent on Aug. 1, 1772, the following reply :-
Sir: Inclosed is my opinion of the two questions upon the Act of 1702. Whether the Act is in force? and whether the Sheriff can exe- cute for the 40 per poll? It has been delayed longer than I expected it would be when I saw you. I had then some business on hand which I was obliged to give the first despatch to, which with the interruptions I have met with prevented my sitting down to the subject until Tues- day last, since when I have been pretty closely employed with it.
My sentiments in point of Law as to the claim of the clergy you have pretty fully in the enclosed. My opinion of the success of a suit agt. a sheriff you already know. I would not undertake to give you any assurance on that Head.
I presume it is not expected that I should send copies of this opinion to Messrs. Keen and Alpin, but that you will of course communicate it to them.
I must not conclude without taking note of the undeserved compli- ment you are pleased to pay me in the conclusion of your letter, but I desire you will be assured that it is my fixed Resolution to engage no more in the Business of Assembly.
I am sir yr most obedient servt. JAS. HOLLYDAY.
Mr. Hollyday did not long adhere to his "fixed resolution," for when the oppressions of America roused her virtuous sons to vindicate her injured rights, he was among the first to espouse her cause, and, sacri- ficing domestic ease and every home comfort that wealth afforded, he
61
HON. JAMES HOLLYDAY, JR.
hastened to discharge the important duties of a member of the Conven- tion and Council of Safety, and performed them with credit to himself and honor to his country.
In the Journal of the Conventions of 1774, '75, and '76, we find a record of his services, and learn that Mr. Hollyday was a leading spirit in that galaxy of brilliant minds :-
In July, 1775, Mr. Hollyday was appointed by ballot one of eight persons elected from the Eastern shore of Maryland on the Council of Safety for the Province.
Dec. 29th, 1775, chairman of the Committee (elected by ballot) to prepare a draft of instruction for the deputies representing this Province in Congress.
Jan. 9th, 1776, elected by ballot chairman of a Committee "to pre- pare and report a scheme for the emission of bills of credit to defray the expenses of defending this Province."
Jan. 18th, 1776. "It was ordered that James Hollyday, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and Gustavus Scott Esqr., revise the Journal and proceedings of this Convention, and direct what part shall be pub- lished."
May 10th, 1776. "Mr. Hollyday was elected by ballot chairman of the Committee to examine the papers laid before the Convention by the Council of Safety, relative to the conduct of the said Samuel Pur- viance Jr., and report the charge arising thereon."
May 24th, 1776. "Mr. Hollyday was elected one of that celebrated Committee which politely invited the last Colonial Governor his Excel- lency Robert Eden Esqr. 'to vacate,' and was also chairman of the Committee appointed to consider a memorial from the officers of the battalion of regulars stationed at Annapolis."
May 25th, 1776. "Mr. Hollyday was elected one of a Committee to prepare a passport for his Excellency Governor Eden, and to draft a letter to the Committee of Safety of Virginia, and received orders to assist Jeremiah Townley Chase in revising the Journal of the pro- ceedings of this Convention."
June 21st, 1776. "A letter from the President of the Congress to- gether with resolutions of the 1st, 3rd, and 4th of June being laid before the Convention and read, 'ordered that the same be referred to a Com- mittee to report their opinion thereon,' and Messrs. Hollyday S. Chase, T. Johnson, Goldsborough, and Plater were elected by ballot a com- mittee for that purpose."
July 2nd, 1776. On reading a resolution of the Virginia Convention of the 31st May last, Resolved that a Committee be appointed to report proper resolutions in answer to the same, and Mr. Hollyday was one of the five gentlemen appointed.
This record is sufficient proof of the favor and good-will of the people towards Mr. Hollyday, and of their high appreciation of his talents as
62
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
a statesman, and of his character as "an honorable man," also of their confidence in his ability to act in all these positions of trust.
That he was "not without honor among his own people" we learn from a letter written by his relative, Mr. Michael Earle, to his kinsman, Mr. Ringgold, in which he says (referring to the appointment of a Coun- cil of Safety) "I hope Mr. Hollyday will be one that will serve. I wish you could get every man as able."
The following letter declining the office of Chancellor will be read with interest, as giving even greater evidence of the high estimation in which Mr. Hollyday was held, and of his preference for private life :-
QUEEN ANNE's Co., 8th April, 1777.
To the Honorable Nicholas Thomas, Speaker of the House of Delegates, Annapolis.
Sir: Yesterday evening your letter dated the 3rd of the present month was delivered to me little after 6 o'lk. The messenger who brought it informed me that he has been waiting from 10 o'lk at which time I was rode out, and did not return until about 6. I will not conceal from you Sir, that having been told some time ago that the H. of Dele- gates had been pleased to recommend me for the office of Chancellor, and that it was thought their recommendation would be concurred with by the Senate, I had taken my resolution on the subject before the receipt of your letter. I have ever thought the task of judging to be among the hardest and Severest Duties, and I am the more unqualified for this particular Department as my practice in my profession has been altogether in the Courts of Law. It is my wish to spend the remainder of my days in Retirement from busy life, and in the exercise of such offices of Humanity as the Circle of my own neighbourhood may fur- nish occasion for, and in this wish I am not without hopes of being in- dulged. I really Sir feel that I am every day growing less fit for the discharge of any kind of public Duty. For these reasons I am obliged to decline the acceptance of this very honourable appointment, and desire that it may be considered in the light of an explicit refusal, if this should be thought necessary. If I imagined that under these circumstances my attendance at Annapolis was expected, I would immediately wait upon the Government, tho' my state of health at present is not very good.
I cannot conclude Sir, without expressing my grateful sense of the high distinction shown me by the honorable Bodies who have concurred in, and the obliging manner in which you have been pleased to com- municate this appointment.
I am with very true Esteem and Respect Sir, yr most obedt and very humble Servt
JA. HOLLYDAY.
63
HON. JAMES HOLLYDAY, JR.
We learn from a letter written to Mr. Thomas Dockery, of North Carolina, February 11, 1779, that Mr. Hollyday not only retired from public life, but eventually abandoned (doubtless for good reasons) his profession as a lawyer, having
left thewrangling of the Bar and am in no other character than that of a plain Farmer, who is seldom out of sight of the smoke of his own chimney, happy enough, indeed, in this, were I conscious that I deserved the encomiums your partial Friendship has so lavishly bestowed on me.
Mr. Hollyday never married, and from his letters to his nieces, Mazey and Sally Anderson, we judge that his heart was never touched by la belle passion. There is a tradition that he was rarely seen to smile, but once indulged in immoderate laughter, which greatly alarmed his friends. This great depression of spirits can, in a measure, be accounted for in the irreparable loss of his mother, to whom he was devotedly attached. The affection he bore to his only brother, Harry Hollyday, of 'Ratcliffe Manor,"2 breathes in every line we read from his pen, and his brother's children, and those of this half-sister, Mrs. William Ander- son, of London, were constant recipients of the favors his great wealth enabled him to offer them. He led a happy bachelor life at 'Read- bourne,' keeping open house, and giving a hearty welcome and shelter to any relative who was not so blest as himself in this world's goods. -(Genealogical Notes of the Chamberlaine Family of Maryland.)
The prominent part Mr. Hollyday took in the discussions of the vestry acts leads us to suppose that he was a member in the congregation of St. Paul's, the parish church, and from the record of the past we have every reason to believe that, like St. Barnabas of old, he "was a good man," and that he was "accepted in the Beloved," when, November 5,
.
2 Henry Hollyday (born March 9, 1725; died November 11, 1789) was also a member of the Maryland Assembly, and in September, 1765, was appointed by that body one of the committee which drafted the Resolves giving some solemn and explicit declaration of their feelings against the Stamp Act, such action being rendered peculiarly necessary by the attempts to misrepresent the Mary- land people in England. "Pre-eminent amongst all the legislative declarations of the Colonies," says McMahon, "for the lofty and dignified tone of their remonstrances, and for the entire unanimity with which they were adopted, these resolves form one of the proudest portions of our history."
James, son of Henry Hollyday, served in both branches of the Assembly, and was a member of the Maryland Convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States. Since that time each Constitutional Convention of Mary- land has included a member of the family, viz., that of 1851, William M. Holly- day (grandson of Henry through his son Henry), that of 1864, George S. Holly- day (grandson of Henry through his son James), and that of 1867, Richard C. Hollyday, brother of William M. Hollyday.
64
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
1786, "he was gathered to his forefathers" and "entered into life eternal." The following notice of his death appeared in the Baltimore ยท Advertiser of November 10, 1786 :-
"On Sunday last departed this life in Queen Anne's County, on the Eastern Shore of this State, the Hon. James Hollyday, Esq., a gentle- man of distinguished abilities and virtue as a lawyer and a statesmen, and of the most amiable and benevolent disposition. He represented Queen Anne's County for many years, with honour to himself and advantage to his country, and was one of the framers of our most excel- lent Constitution.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.