USA > Maryland > Maryland's colonial Eastern Shore ; historical sketches of counties and of some notable structures > Part 9
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The western half of the "Walnut Grove" house was built soon after 1685, I think, and by County Judge Solomon Wright, who married Miss Anne Hynson. Solomon Wright came to Maryland in 1673 with his brother, Nathaniel. In 1677 they were joined by their brother, Charles. Nathaniel built that yellow-washed brick house yet standing on the farm known as "Tully's Reserve." Charles built the "White Marsh" house, now owned and inhabited by Spencer Wright. Those three houses are yet in good condition. They are among the oldest in the county. Which of them is oldest? "Walnut Grove," I think, for Solomon Wright was the oldest brother and "Walnut Grove" was the first patented of the properties involved and had been taken up even earlier by Thomas Hynson, his father-in-law.
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Solomon Wright had caused it to be resurveyed under the name of "Worplesdon" in 1685 and he there resided. I think that it is the oldest house in the county.
Then there is "Melfield House," the old Earle homestead, now owned by the widow of William B. Earle. Built by Judge James Tilghman, father-in-law of that able and Christian gentleman, Rich- ard Tilghman Earle, born June 23, 1767. (Chief Judge of the upper Eastern Shore Circuit Court, and consequently a member of the State Court of Appeals), it has since continued to be a most hospitable and Christian home. Never was it a better center of neighborhood influence than under the mastership of the judge's son, the late and venerable Samuel Thomas Earle, grandfather of the publisher of this book. Beginning with the polished and able Judge Earle, "Melfield House" is closely knit with good and generous living, while the land on which it stands carries further back such happy associations, for it had long pertained to another fine Maryland influence, the Tilghman family, of which the mother of Judge Earle was a gracious member. The present occupant is that kindly and active gentleman, William B. Earle, great-grandson of Judge Richard Tilghman Earle.
And there is "The Hermitage," the beautiful cradle of the Tilghman family in this country. Taken up in 1659 it has received loving care from each of its successive owners; but none of them has equaled the splendid and effective devotion of its present owner, Miss Susan Frisby Williams. But as a great-granddaughter of that elegant gen- tleman and dashing soldier, the gallant Gen. Otho Holland Williams, of "The Maryland Line," and as a representative of the Tilghman family as well, her success is easily to be understood, for she is indeed "to the manor born." And many are the good and neighborly deeds she has done in the county and elsewhere.
Another family homestead is "Blakeford," patented as "Coursey's Neck" in 1658 by William DeCourcy, who, with his brother John, patented "Cheston-on-Wye" in the same year. Then, also, his elder brother, sometime Secretary of the Province, Henry DeCourcy, was given by Lord Baltimore "Coursey's Neck," which passed to William, and "My Lord's Gift," which he retained, and which is to the south of the present "Blakeford" and just across Coursey's Creek, now known as Queenstown Creek. Passing from the DeCourcys to the
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Blakes, who had it resurveyed as "Blake's Fort," it was occupied for a while during the Revolution by Judge Solomon Wright of the Court of Appeals, (1778-92). His mother had been Mary DeCourcy. "Blakeford" was reacquired by the son of Judge Solomon Wright and mary Sarah DeCourcy of "Cheston on Wye," Governor Robert Wright, Revolutionary soldier, United States Senator, member of Congress and Circuit Judge. He was great-grandfather of the present owner, DeCourcy Wright Thom.
"Bloomingdale," devised by that well-known character, Miss Sallie Harris, to her cousin, the chivalrous and elegant scholar, reformer and gentleman, Severn Teackle Wallis, is another notable estate. But it is now owned by Hiram G. Dudley.
I have named but a few of the well-known estates of old Queen Anne's. I wish I could mention each on the long list of them. Only two more can I take room for: the spacious old red brick "Pratt House," now used as the County Almshouse, and the well-known "Old Point" house on Kent Island, built in 1722 by one of the Cockey family, some of whose members have owned it ever since.
And of old churches: there is ancient "Old Wye," perhaps one of the oldest church buildings in Maryland; and St. Luke's, ancient, too, at Church Hill.
Not only these old estates and churches are vocal with illustra- tive doings of the folk of old Queen Anne's County which was chris- tened after "good Queen Anne." Around and about Kent Island from 1634 through 1645 waged the Claiborne-Calvert struggle, and the efforts to suppress treason on the Eastern Shore during the Revolu- tionary struggle centered around Queenstown, the county-seat, whence Judge Solomon Wright. already mentioned, acting by authority of the convention as a "special Judge to try Treasons," attended to that work when not serving as a member of the Revolutionary Con- ventions in Annapolis. Meanwhile, Matthew Tilghman, born at "The Hermitage," was leading all the patriotic forces of the Province as president of those conventions, and as chairman of the Committee of Safety.
And literature and arms have shed their luster on the old county. Who can forget the trenchant speeches and brilliant writings in prose and verse of the gifted Severn Teackle Wallis? And the clever writ-
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ings of Frederic Emory, born at "Bloomfield," now owned by Col. John H. Evans, and deceased at "Blackbeard," were good and numer- ous, whether in newspaper or in novel or as Secretary of the Pan- American Board in Washington. Nor can I forbear to mention that quiet gentleman and accomplished scholar, William Hand Browne, born at "Bachelor's Hope" and deceased in Baltimore, where he had long successfully filled the chair of history at Johns Hopkins Uni- versity. More extended histories of Maryland there are than his, but none surpass it in accuracy and in fine, full grasp of the spirit of our State's development.
There remains to me to mention the most illustrious of Queen Anne's soldiers, Gen. William Hemsley Emory, U.S. Army. He was born at "Poplar Grove" and died in Washington. Intending to follow his State and having to return from Maryland to his Western com- mand, he left his resignation at the beginning of the Civil War in the hands of a brother whom he requested to forward it to official head- quarters in Washington should Maryland secede. Misled as to that secession, the brother sent the resignation forward. The Secretary of War caused Emory to report to him under arrest and to explain his continuance in command of Federal troops. With much difficulty he assuaged the official's anger. Emory often distinguished himself in the Civil War. He was favorably considered as a possible com- mander-in-chief. Secretary of War Stanton opposed his nomination to that great office and vigorously asseverated that the record of his proffered resignation should forever bar him from the commander- ship-in-chief. Such are a few of our worthies.
But I have too long lingered in the telling of the story of the county I love so well. Is the Eastern Shore the modern Eden so often mentioned in the kindly badinage of the day? Who shall say us nay ? But this I can avouch, that in fulness of opportunities to be availed of at most moderate prices, there is no portion of that laughing region which more than Queen Anne's County deserves the title of "The Promised Land."
Det. com.
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THE HERMITAGE
GRANT 1659
R ICHARD TILGHMAN, an eminent surgeon of London and grandson of William Tilghman, the elder, emigrated to Mary- land in 1660. By a patent granted to him January 17, 1659, he came into possession of a manor on Chester River, where he settled and called his residence "Tilghman's Hermitage."
While the original grant to Richard Tilghman, the immigrant from Cecilius Calvert called for 400 acres, "The Hermitage" was extended to cover many times that area. From an old map in the possession of Miss Williams, made in the days when Richard Cooke Tilghman occupied "The Hermitage," the adjacent lands were occu- pied by the several branches of the Tilghman family, as follows:
"Waverley," by William Cooke Tilghman; "Greenwood," by Henry Cooke Tilghman; "Piney Point," by James Cooke Tilghman; "Oakleigh," by John Charles Tilghman.
"The Hermitage" may properly be referred to as the show-place of Queen Anne's County. As you enter the estate the drive up to the mansion passes for about a mile through an avenue of enormous pines; the Chester River appears in the distance through the vista.
A gracefully curved cinder road shaded by giants of the forest
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guides you to the mansion. At "The Hermitage" once lived Matthew Tilghman, chairman of the Council of Safety, (1775), and a Delegate in the Continental Congress.
The present owner, Miss Susan Williams, is a direct descendant of the immigrant, being of the seventh generation in the female line, her great-grandmother, Mrs. William Cooke, formerly Elizabeth Tilghman, having been the sister of Richard Tilghman V, commonly called "the Colonel," who adopted as his heir her son upon condition that he would add Tilghman to his name, Colonel Tilghman's only son, Richard VI, having predeceased his father one year. Hence Richard Cooke, (the Colonel's nephew), became first of the branch to be known henceforth as the Cooke-Tilghmans. Miss Williams' grand- mother was a sister of Richard Cooke Tilghman, and the peculiarity of the double coincidence lies in the fact that, whereas the inheritance of "The Hermitage" came to this branch through a female, so by a strange irony of fate the line becomes extinct through the single blessedness of a female.
Within a few feet of the front porch of "The Hermitage" is the Tilghman family burying ground, in which the large marble slabs are shaded by weeping willows. In this beautifully kept resting place of the dead are buried Dr. Richard Tilghman, the immigrant, and a long line of descendants.
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7
READBOURNE
BUILT ABOUT 1731
T HE Chester River, which ranks with the Choptank and the Miles in size and picturesqueness, washes the shores of Kent and Queen Anne's Counties. Opposite Hail Point, where the Chester makes a sharp bend and flows northerly, is Queenstown Creek. On the Queen Anne's side of the river there are many noted estates visible from a boat going up the river. "Blakeford," "The Hermitage," "Reed's Creek," "Recovery," "Winton" and "Conquest" are passed before Deep Point is reached. Here the Chester River narrows down to about a mile in width. Just above Deep Point is "Indiantown," one of the Emory homes, and it is claimed to have been the location of an Indian village. About two miles above this point, situated on a ridge which runs parallel with and overlooks Chester River, is "Read- bourne," which was the Hollyday homestead in Queen Anne's for many generations.
The original grant of "Readbourne" plantation was to George Read in 1659, and it is thought the name was taken from the first owner. Records state that he died without heirs and, after being
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several times transferred, the plantation was bought by Col. James Hollyday, (son of Col. Thomas Hollyday and Mary Truman, of Eng- land), who had it resurveyed in 1682. The acreage is not given, but it is supposed to have been 2,000, and included several of the farms lying adjacent. In 1733 Col. James Hollyday with his wife, Sarah Covington Lloyd, (widow of Edward Lloyd, of "Wye House," and formerly the beautiful Sarah Covington), came to this estate from Talbot County to make it their home and built about 173 1 the main part of the present mansion. The family story goes that Colonel Hollyday went to England for materials for building and furnishing the new house, while Mrs. Hollyday remained on the plantation with her family to supervise the building, having herself planned it after consulting with Lord Baltimore.
The original building is colonial in architecture and finish, with very large wainscoted hall and rooms. It has at various times been added to and altered, but the main part is still the same that made a home through 168 years for seven generations of the Hollyday family. Brick foundations of smaller buildings can be traced in the lawn and are probably those of the kitchen and dairy, which were connected by covered ways with the dwelling. There still remain ruins of one of these buildings, known as the "Old Store," supposed to be those of a storehouse for supplies ordered from England, which had to be gotten in quantity because of the infrequent opportunity. In the old wall which probably inclosed the riverside lawn are bricks of English pattern, which, like those in the upper walls of the original building, are traditionally supposed to have been brought from abroad by Colonel Hollyday. Less than half of one side of the lawn wall is now standing.
The last of the Hollyday family to own and live at "Readbourne" was the late Richard Hollyday, whose daughter, Margaret, married Dr. James Bordley, Jr., of Baltimore, who was the second President of the Eastern Shore Society of Baltimore City. In 1903 "Read- bourne" was sold to John M. Perry, of Queen Anne's County, a mem- ber of the State Roads Commission under Governor Goldsborough. Mr. and Mrs. Perry make "Readbourne" their summer home.
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OLD POINT
BUILT 1722
K ENT Island! What a wealth of legendary lore and of interesting historical stories have been told of this old island, the place of the first settlement made in the State of Maryland!
Like a flash the mention of Kent Island brings Claiborne and his endeavors to your mind. And with him come visions of a host of Indians in canoes with beaver and otter skins, of squaws with papooses. The pipe of peace, the stories told by the Indians about the big game of the forests and about the "Mother of Waters"-the Chesapeake. You see the barges of the Proprietary approach the island to subdue Claiborne's insubordination, at which time the flag of the Baltimores was first flown aloft on a military errand. These and countless other incidents pass in quick succession as you recall from the past the colonial days of old Kent Island.
In 1639 a court was held in Kent Fort. In 1640, 1,000 acres, called "Kent Fort Manor," was surveyed for Giles Brent. Upon the building of a tobacco warehouse on Coxe's Creek and the establishing
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of a town in 1684 by Act of the Colonial Assembly on that branch of Eastern Bay that part of the island became thickly settled.
Among the first settlers here were the Eareckson, Carvil, Kemp, Legg, Tolson, Cockey, Stevens, Weedon, Denny, Bright, Skinner, Chew, Cray, Bryan, Winchester, Wright, White, Price, Thompson, Sadler (now spelled Sudler), Ringgold, Goodhand and Osborne families and many others that have died out.
One of the early settlers, Capt. Edward Cockey, whose house is still standing and now the home of William Tristram Stevens, took up, 1685, a large tract of land on Coxe's Creek. It is said that his first wife, Miss Ball, was the sister of Gen. George Washington's mother, but from this marriage there was no issue. He married, secondly the widow Harris (nee Ringgold), and from this union all the Cockeys of the Eastern Shore are descended. Their son, John Cockey, a captain in the British Army, who resigned his commission at the time of the American Revolution, married Miss Sudler. He built "Old Point" in 1722, this date being set in one of the gables of this very oldest of the Kent Island colonial houses. This home is now owned by John Cockey. a direct descendant of Capt. Edward Cockey. Thus it will be seen that "Old Point" has been in this family for 230 years.
Close to the "Old Point" property Matthew Read had surveyed for him "Batts' Neck," which property descended to Joseph Sudler and was left by him to his wife, in whose possession it was in 1742, as shown by the rent rolls of that year.
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BLAKEFORD PATENTED 1658
O VERLOOKING the broadest part of Chester River through a grove of stately forest trees, well placed on a spacious lawn, is "Blakeford." This noted homestead of Queen Anne's is situated directly on Chester River and Queenstown Creek and is owned by W. H. DeCourcy Wright Thom, of Baltimore and Queen Anne's County.
The special interest of these old places on the Eastern Shore is their individualities and the manner of the first ownership of "Blake- ford" is of unusual note. Secretary of the Province Henry DeCourcy had proved staunch and loyal during certain disturbances in the Province and had also effected a certain treaty with the Susquehannah Indians of the Iroquois Confederacy. In recognition, Charles, third Lord Baltimore, gave to Henry DeCourcy as much land shown on a certain map as he could cover with his thumb. The extreme tip of the thumb covered that part of the present "Blakeford" which was called "Courcy's Neck," the rest of it covered "My Lord's Gift," stretching from the entrance of Queenstown harbor to the south. Retaining "My Lord's Gift," Henry DeCourcy allowed his brother, William, to patent "Courcy's Neck." William retained it until he.
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sold it to the Blakes upon acquiring from his brother, John DeCourcy, his half of "Cheston-on-Wye," which they had taken up together.
The Blake of that day had "Courcy's Neck" and two other tracts resurveyed under the name of "Blake's Fort." That militant-sounding title came from the yet existing old earthworks fortification on the Chester River side of the southwesternmost extension of "Blakeford," as the name became through popular usage, because between it and "My Lord's Gift," just across the harbor entrance, there was at low tide an available ford. The old fort was used in Indian times, in Revolutionary days and during the War of 1812.
During part of the War of the Revolution Judge Solomon Wright, (1717-1792), son of County Judge Solomon Wright and Mary DeCourcy, discharged from "Blakeford," so favorably near Queens- town, then the county-seat, his duties as "special Judge to try Treasons on the Eastern Shore." He was a member of the Conven- tions of Maryland; a signer of the original Declaration of Freemen of Maryland, and a Judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland from its creation in 1778 till he died in 1792. He left a very large landed estate. His son, Robert, fourteenth Governor of Maryland, (1806- 1809), twice re-elected, was born November 20, 1752, and died at "Blakeford," September 7, 1826. He first practiced law in Chester- town and afterward in Queenstown. He was a private in Captain Kent's company of Minute Men. After serving in the Maryland Legislature he was elected United States Senator in 1801, and resigned in 1806, when elected Governor. He was a Representative in the Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Seventeenth Con- gresses. In 1823 he became Associate Judge of the Second District. His wife was a distant cousin, Sarah DeCourcy, of "Cheston-on-Wye."
The next Wright to own "Blakeford" was his son, W. H. De- Courcy Wright, born at "Blakeford," September 9, 1795; died in Baltimore, March 25, 1864. His earlier, and much of his later, life was spent at his dearly-loved "Blakeford." He was appointed United States Consul at Rio de Janeiro in 1825, and so served for many successive years. His daughter, Clintonia Wright, widow of Captain William May, U.S. Navy, and afterward wife of Governor Philip Francis Thomas, succeeded him at "Blakeford." It is now in the keeping of his grandson, W. H. DeCourcy Wright Thom.
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WALNUT GROVE
BUILT 1681-85
REED'S CREEK
BUILT 1775
O N the peninsula which bears the name of Wright's Neck and washed by the confluent Reed's and Grove Creeks, tributaries of Chester River, are two delightfully situated homesteads of the Wright family-"Walnut Grove" and "Reed's Creek." These old houses are located on the land which was patented by Solomon Wright in 1685. That land had been originally taken up by his father-in-law, Thomas Hynson, but Solomon Wright had it resur- veyed in 1685 as "Worplesdon."
Solomon Wright was born in England in 1655 and died in Mary- land in 1717. He married Anne Hynson. Records show that when he died he was possessed of 2,000 acres of land and had been one of the leading men of his county and Province, having served as a Justice of the County Court in 1707 and 1708, as vestryman and warden of St. Paul's Parish in 1608, and as a member of the Assembly at Annap- olis from Kent and Queen Anne's Counties from 1708 to 1715.
"The Walnut Grove" house is undoubtedly the oldest house in the county, it having been built between 1681 and 1685. While it is very
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quaint and odd on the outside the interior is beautifully finished. This building with its farm descended to Solomon Wright's eldest son, Thomas Hynson Wright, (1688-1747), and came down through suc- cessive generations of his Wright descendants to the late Thomas Wright, by whose widow, now Mrs. William McKenney, Sr., it is held.
The "Reed's Creek" house, which is situated near the end of the Wright's Neck peninsula, and from which there is an extended view over Reed's Creek and Chester River, was built by Col. Thomas Wright about 1775. The disturbances of the time seriously affected the fortunes of Col. Thomas Wright. In addition to being commandant of a military regiment of Queen Anne's County in 1776 he held the following offices: Delegate to the Provincial Conventions of 1774- 76: member of the Committee of Correspondence, 1774, and a signer of the Association of the Freemen of Maryland of 1775. At the death of Colonel Wright his son and namesake inherited the property and lived there until his death in 1835. He was succeeded as master of "Reed's Creek" by his sixth child and fourth son, Richard Alexander Wright. At the present time "Reed's Creek" is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Wright, of Centerville, who are representatives of its first owners in Maryland history and in whose hands a revival of its old-time family characteristics may be expected.
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BLOOMINGDALE
PATENTED 1665
A BEAUTIFUL tributary of the Chesapeake Bay which attracted many of the early settlers is the Wye River. After passing Bennett's Point, upon entering "The Wye," and the long and his- torical peninsula of the Bennett estate, this river separates and forms a "Y." The south prong, known as "Front Wye," and the north prong, known as "Back Wye," bound the north and south sides of Bordley's or Paca's Island. On the north prong are some noted estates, among which are "Wye," "Wye Island" and "Cheston-on- Wye." At the head of the northeast branch of "Back Wye" is sit- uated one of the finest brick colonial residences in Queen Anne's County, "Bloomingdale." This property was orginally patented by Capt. Robert Morris under the name of "Mount Mill" by letters patent issued on June 7, 1665.
In 1684 the tract was acquired by Jacob Seth, who added to the property by purchase, making it two miles square. Jacob Seth occu- pied the property until his death in 1698, and by his will devised it to his son, John, with a provision that if John died without descen-
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dants it should go to his son, Charles. John died before reaching maturity and the property was occupied by Charles until his death in 1737. Jacob Seth married, in 1676, Barbara Beckwith, a daughter of Capt. George Beckwith and Frances Harvey. They resided on a tract of land on the Patuxent River in St. Mary's County which had been granted to Nicholas Harvey, the father of Frances Beckwith. Nicholas Harvey came into the Province with Leonard Calvert in 1634. Charles Seth by will devised the property to his sons, John, James, Charles and Jacob. Jacob, by subsequent purchases, became the owner of the whole tract, and at his death it went to his oldest son and heir-at-law, Thomas Johnings Seth, who died about 1820 without descendants, and the property was sold by a trustee in chan- cery to Edward Harris, whose heirs, Mary and Sallie Harris, became the owners of this estate at his death and rechristened it "Blooming- dale." Sallie, the surviving sister, willed it to her cousin, Severn Teackle Wallis, and he to his nephew, who sold it to Hiram G. Dudley of Baltimore City, the present owner.
There are several very old buildings on the property of brick construction, notably the miller's house. The present residence was reconstructed in 1792, during the ownership of Thomas Johnings Seth. The mill on the property during the ownership of the Seths was known as "Seth's Mill," and later, after the estate passed from the hands of the Seth family, it has been known as the "Sallie Harris Mill."
Paca's Island was the home of Governor William Paca, a native of Harford, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and an eminent Maryland jurist, who died at "Wye Hall" in 1799. The two Governors of Maryland elected from Queen Anne's were Robert Wright, (12 November, 1806-6 May, 1809); and William Grason, (7 January, 1839-3 January, 1842), the latter being the first Maryland Chief Executive chosen by popular vote under the amended Constitution of 1838, in succession to Veazey. James Butcher, (6 May, 1800-9 June, 1809), is the third Queen Anne's countian in the list of Governors.
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