USA > Maryland > The Day-star of American freedom, or, The birth and early growth of toleration, in the province of Maryland : with a sketch of the colonization upon the Chesapeake and its trobutaries, preceding the removal of the government from St. Mary's to Annapolis > Part 10
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been a member of the Convention which, in 1788, ratified the Constitution of the United States; and John, another brother, and who had been wounded at Long Island, having held the post of governor, in this State, nearly a hundred and fifty years after the date of the commission from the proprietary for the same office, to William, the emigrant. And Frederick, now living at Port Tobacco, and a descendant of the sixth degree, through Michael Jenifer, from the early provincial governor, is one of the commissioners engaged in the grave work of reforming the practice of the courts in Mary- land.
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GOVERNOR GREEN.
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CHAPTER XVIII.
Governor Thomas Green.
GOVERNOR GREEN was one of the pilgrims of 1634,1 and the intimate friend of Governor Calvert. He was a privy councillor, as early as 1639; and for many subsequent years. The two short periods · he held the post of governor are involved in too much obscurity to warrant any important inference, beyond the fact of his sincere attachment to the interests of the royal family at home .? Governor Calvert appointed him, upon his death-bed, simply to supply a vacancy, in 1647.3 Under Governor Stone's appointment, he was also the chief execu- tive, a part of 1649. Of his faith, there is no doubt. One of his children was the namesake and godson of the first governor.4 And, in a trust-deed
1 Lib. A. B. & H., p. 67 ; and Lib. No. 1, p. 41.
" See the proclamation in favor of Charles the Second, in 1649, Bozman, vol. 2, p. 670.
* Bozman, vol. 2, p. 307. See Gov. Calvert's will.
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to Henry Adams and James Langworth, in 1650, he expressly says he is a Roman Catholic; and gives by the same instrument, in testimony of the fact, a token of regard for the Rev. Thomas Cop- ley.1 He was several times married, and lived, it would seem, a short time before his death, in Virginia. He had four sons .? His descendants resided in Charles County, at a period not long before the American Revolution. And some of his posterity' are probably now in the State. We have no reason to doubt he was present, in the Assembly, during all the important proceedings relating to the Toleration Act. ;
1 Lib. No. 1, pp. 188-189.
" See his deed to Messrs. Adams & Langworth. Their names were Thomas, Leonard, Robert, and Francis. He had also a brother named Robert. See Lib. No. 2, p. 444.
' Green's Inheritance was one of the tracts held by them.
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OOL. PRICE.
CHAPTER XIX.
Colonel John Price.
THE year of Colonel John Price's arrival is involved in doubt.1 But in 1639,2 he represented St. Michael's hundred in the General Assembly ; and soon rose to eminence, as a soldier. His ser- vices are the subject of the proprietary's notice ; and as a mark of his merit, he received the com- mission of mustermaster-general of the province, in 164S.' The same year, he was appointed a privy councillor. He was distinguished for his fidelity, during the insurrections and rebellions beginning in 1645. And perhaps to his soldier- like skill ar _ courage, was Governor Calvert chiefly indebted for the recovery of his authority. He also had the command of St. Inigo's Fort, at a
1 Several persons of his name came about the same time.
' Bożman.
3 Bozman, vol. 2, pp. 652.
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very critical period. He was a signer of the Protestant declaration in 1650; one of the chief sufferers, at an advanced stage of his life, under the misrule of the Puritans ; 1 and, as a privy council- lor, at a subsequent period, sat upon the bench of the Provincial Court. He died in 1661. As a soldier, a councillor, and a provincial judge, he sustained the highest character. Judging from his will, he was also a kind master. He bequeathed a token of his benevolence. to each of the six indented white-servants who had lived with him .? He was illiterate ; but nature had given him the best powers of observation and perception. His opinions in council are marked with a candor worthy of the knight; and generally, if not always, on the side of a strict conservatism ;3 short, indeed, yet full of pith, and directly to the point. Those upon the bench are equally brief; but still
1 Lib. No. 3.
' " I give and bequeath," he also says, " unto my loving friend, Mr. William Wilkinson, the sum of 350 pounds of tobacco, for the preaching of my funeral sermon." His daughter was named Ann. See the Will, Lib. No. 1, 1635 to 1674, p. 141.
' Witness his pithy opinion against the revolutionary manœuvre of Gov. Fendall. See Council Proceedings.
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COL. PRICE.
distinguished for their strong and clear sense of justice. The sword, however, and not the pen, was the emblem of his greatest excellence. It was in the garrison and the field, rather than at the council-board, in the march against the Indians more than in the delivery of -judicial decisions, that we find, he was conspicuous. But we have every reason to believe, the part he took in the Assembly of 1649, was in the highest degree honorable to his memory. Of the posterity of this rude and unlettered, but still genuine cavalier of St. George's hundred (for there he resided the latter part of his life), nothing is known beyond the mention of a daughter in his will.
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CHAPTER XX.
Honorable John Pile.
THE Honorable John Pile' was probably a native of Wilts. And his residence upon the Wicomico, in Maryland, granted for "good and acceptable services," consisting of four hundred,? but subsequently of a thousand acres, bore the name of Salisbury.4 It was the home also of his posterity for several generations. Before 1648, he
' The appellation of " Honorable" was given at a very early period, to the members of the Privy Council, and to the Judges of the Provincial Court. The name of Mr. Pile is, in some places upon the Record, spelt Pyle-at others, Pille.
2 Records of the Land Office, Lib. Q., pp. 447-448.
* Rent-Roll for St. Mary's and Charles, vol. 2, fol. 371.
" It is generally called "Sarum "-another name only for the old borough in Wilts, where also, about two miles distant, is the city of " New-Sarum," or Salisbury. In Liber S., 1658 to 1662, "Judgments ?? (see p. 221), the plantation is called " Salisbury." Salisbury was the name also of another tract held by the privy councillor's son. See Joseph's will,; Testamentary Records at Annapolis, Lib. No. II., pp. 64-65.
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HON. MR. PILE.
arrived, with his wife ;1 and under his immediate care, during that year, came also the Tettershalls,? his relations,' professing the same faith,4 and appa- rently from the same English county.6 In 1649
. ' Records of the Land Office, Lib. No. 2, pp. 508-509. Ilis. wife's name is not given ; but it was, no doubt, "Sarah " -- the name borne by his wife, in 1660. See Records of the Court of Appeals, Lib. S., 1658 to 1662, Judgments, p. 221.
' ? Their names were William and Mary. Records of the Land Office, Lib. No. 2, pp. 508-509.
3 The privy councillor frequently calls William Tettershall bis " brother." E. g., see Lib. S., 1658 to 1662, "Judgments," p. 1072. He also calls Lieut. Col. John Jarboe his " brother." Land Office Records, Lib. No. 1, p. 247.
‘ William Tettershall's Will (see Lib. No. 1, 1635 to 1674, among the Testamentary Records in the Register's Office, at Annapolis) contains incontestable evidence of the fact. IIe also calls Lieut. Col. Jarboe (R. Catholic) his " brother."
& William Tettershall (see his will) mentions his brother John, " of Oddstoake, in Wiltshire." It seems also he had two other brothers : Lawrence, who lived at the same place, in Wilts, about 1648; and Peter, who resided at " Chidooch," in Dorchester, Eng- land. See the deed of his nephew, Edmund Smith, of Maryland, to Cuthbert Fenwick, upon the Records of the Land Oflice, Lib. No. 2, p. 439. The Tettershalls of Maryland subsequently lived in Prince George's. The supposition, that the Piles came from Salisbury, in England, is confirmed not only by the preceding facts relating to the Tettershalls, but also by a marriage men- tioned in the history of the Pophams, of Littlecott, in Wilts. About 1640, Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Francis Popham, was married to Sir Gabriel Pile. The residence of Sir Gabriel is not
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and 1650, he sat in the privy council;' but his commission is dated in 1648 .? One of his descen- dants, it is said, became a Roman Catholic clergy- man ; and another a nun.3 Of the sincerity of his own faith, we have the recorded evidence. During the ascendency of the Puritans, at the period of a bitter persecution, he comes forward ; and " confesseth himself in court to be a Roman Catholic "-acknowledging "the Pope's supre- macy."" The time of his death is not known; nor can his will be found. But in 1660, he had three children, whose names were Joseph, Ann, and
stated. But I cannot but think he lived in the same county ; and was a relation of the Piles of Maryland. See Burke's Dictionary of the Landed Gentry, vol. 2, p. 1058. Constance, the daughter of George Tattershall, of Wilts, was married to Wm. Smith. See same authority, Vol. 2, p. 1354. There is no history in that work, of the I'iles of Wilts, nor of any family of the same name.
See certificate prefixed to the Declaratory law of 1050, Records of the Land Office, Lib. No. 3, p. 45.
2 Bozman, vol. 2, p. 650.
' The Testamentary Records also show how fondly attached were the Piles of Maryland to the faith of their forefathers. See, e. g., the will of Joseph, in 1692.
4 The following is the entry upon the Record of the Provincial Court, in the Land Office, for October Terin, in 1655 : "John Pyle confesseth himself, in court, to be a Roman Catholic ; and hath acknowledged the Pope's supremacy." See Lib. No. 3. p. 161.
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Mary.1 His son died in 1692,2 giving Salisbury to Joseph, the only grandson, and leaving Sarah with two other descendants. His grandson, whose will is dated in 1724, divided the family seat . between the five great-grandchildren, Joseph, Bennett, Ann, Elizabeth, and Mary.3 Of Joseph, the privy councillor's great-grandson, there is an entry upon the records, as late as 173S.' At his death, the family, in the male line, it is supposed, became extinct. But there are descendants through several female representatives. It is said, the blood of the privy councillor still flows through the veins of the Brents of Louisiana, the descendants of Robert Brent, of Charles County ; and that it is also represented by the children of Henry J. Carroll, of St. Mary's, in Maryland.
' Records of the Court of Appeals, in the Armory of the State House, Lib. S. 1658 to 1662, Judgments, p. 221.
? Will of Joseph Pile, Lib. No. H., pp. 64-65.
' Will of Joseph, the grandson, Lib. W. B. No. 1, pp. 312-313. The testator also calls John Parnham his " brother."
' He was one of the witnesses to the will of John Parnham, dated in 1738; and in which are mentioned John, Francis, Xave- rius, Ann Maria, and Elizabeth, the children of the testator, and probably the descendants of the privy councillor.
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CHAPTER XXI.
Captain Robert Vaughan.
CAPTAIN VAUGHAN held land upon Kent Island,1 upon Langford's Bay," and upon the Chester River.' One of the tracts taken up by him, was called "Ruerdon," and another "Kimbolton"-the name also of a small town in Huntingdonshire, England. He was one of the Protestant members of the privy council, in 1649 and 1650. In 1638, he held the office of constable" for St. George's hundred, in St. Mary's County-a post, at that time, not below. the dignity of a gentleman. In 1642, he was one of the representatives6 in the General Assembly, from the Isle of Kent. IIe
' Rent Roll for Talbot and Queen Anne's, vol. 2, fol. 299.
" Records of the Land Office, Lib. Q. p. 333.
' Lib. Q., p. 338.
‘ See his signature to the Protestant Declaration.
* Bozman, vol. 2, p. 45.
6 Bozman, vol. 2, p. 215.
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CAPT. VAUGHAN.
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also represented the Island, during many subse- quent sessions of the Legislature. In 1647, he was the commander,1 or viceroy, of Kent. In 1648, he received two commissions from the proprietary- the one investing him with the office of a privy councillor; the other re-appointing him to the post of commander. In the latter, there is a strong testi- mony to his "fidelity, courage," and "wisdom," during the "insurrection" of Capt. Ingle, and his accomplices. About the first of November, during the same year, he was removed from the com- mandership of the Island,3 in consequence of his disrespectful language towards Governor Green; ` but re-instated, upon the offer of an apology. Having become involved in a dispute with the commissioners of the County Court, he asked and received their forgiveness also.4 In 1652, com- plaints were expressed by the inhabitants of the Island. We cannot say what they were. But he
1 Bozman, vol. 2, p. 304. 2 Bozman, vol. 2, pp. 649 and 653.
' Bozman, vol. 2, p. 660-661.
4 See Record of the County Court, at Chestertown, in the Clerk's Office, marked "Court Proceedings " (a fragment only of it remains), and beginning in the year " 1647."
· See Bozman, vol. 2. p 453-454. But Mr. Bozman is mistaken
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was soon afterwards removed from the office of commander, by Richard Bennett, and the other commissioners appointed by Governor Stone. The office he had held, somewhat analogous to that of lieutenant-general, was one of the most honorable within the limits of the province.1 He had exer- cised the power of granting land-warrants; but failed to transmit a copy of his record ?- an omis- sion which nothing could justify, and which we can excuse3 only, upon the supposition then preva-
in supposing Capt. Vaughan was not removed by the commis- sioners. See the preceding "Court Proceedings," at Chestertown, beginning in "1647." The Record does not, indeed, contain the charges or the trial. But we will find there the order of the commissioners displacing Capt. Vaughan.
1 In the commission of 1648 (see Bozman, vol. 2, p. 653), he was clothed with the power of selecting his councillors ; of hold- ing courts, whenever there was a necessity ; of deciding all civil cases " not exceeding " ten pounds sterling ; and of disposing of all criminal enes "determined by any justice of the peace in England," in the "courts of session, not extending to life or member." Some of the carly commissions conferred also a great deal of military and executive authority. See Bozman for a copy of these commissions.
" Bozman, vol. 2, p. 460-463.
' In extenuation of Capt. Vaughan's delinquency, it may be added, that the commander of Anne Arundel also failed to trans- · mit a copy of his proceedings. And even the surveyor-general,
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lent in the province, that the English government ' had resolved to deprive the proprietary of his lawful authority. The power to grant warrants was, therefore, revoked by Governor Stone, the latter part of 1652.1. The date of Capt. Vaughan's death cannot be given. But he left two children : William,' who died in 1684; and Mary, the wife of Major James Ringgold,3 of Huntingfield. Wil-
Robert Clarke, a Roman Catholic, did not make a due return, in 1652, of the certificates from that county, and from Kent.
1 Bozman, vol. 2, p. 463.
' The will of William Vaughan is recorded in Lib. G. See p. 64. He desires his friends to bury him " near ye body of his deceased father ;"' requests Major Ringgold to be the " guardian " to his two little children ; and gives his daughter a tract of 200 acres upon the Island, aud which is still called " Parson's Point ;"' but does not name either of the children-speaking of them, simply, as his "son " and "daughter." He divides the rest of the estate between his wife and two children.
' The following is an extract (see Lib. G., pp. 232-233) from the will of Major Ringgold : "I give and bequeath unto my son, James Ringgold, the plantation I now live on, provided that my son, Thomas Ringgold, shall refuse to set him out 300 acres of land, at the northernmost bounds of 600 acres of land given by my father, Thomas Ringgold, deceased, unto my said son Thomas, before his death. And whereas my son, James Ringgold, is now the heir apparent unto Captain Robert Vaughan, late of Kent County, deceased-being the eldest son of the now only daughter, and heir of him, the said Vaughan-my will and intent is, that in
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liam also left two children, who both died without issue. But the privy councillor was represented by James,' the son of Major Ringgold, and who died upon Kent Island, about 1705, leaving three children .?
case he, the said James, comes to enjoy. the same, that then my aforesaid plantation mentioned in this fourth Article, as also the 300 mentioned in the same Article, be and remain wholly to my son, Thomas Ringgold, and his heirs, for ever." Thomas, it would seem, was the son by a previous marriage. William, John, and Charles, appear to be full brothers of James.
1 The will of James Ringgold, of Kent Island, then a part of Talbot County, is dated in 1704. See Lib. T. B. No. 2, p. 660. He names his three children, Moses, Mary, and James.
" Thomas, the emigrant, and the ancestor of the Ringgolds of Kent Island, of Huntingfield, of Chestertown, and of Fountain- Rock, resided upon the Island, was a cotemporary of Captain Vaughan, and sustained a responsible position upon the bench of the County Court. His son, Major James Ringgold, about 1680, founded New Yarmouth, which stood upon Gray's Inn Creek, and where the courts of the county were once held. For'a period of more than two hundred years, the Ringgolds have been one of the leading families of Maryland. They are distinguished in the bis- tory of our colonization, and of the early provincial commerce upon the Chester. At the period of the American Revolution, they were conspicuous for their patriotism. They have been represented in the Hall of Congress; and upon the field of battle.
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CHAPTER XXII.
The Honorable Robert Clarke.
THE Honorable Robert Clarke arrived within four years1 of the settlement at St. Mary's; and, in the shipment of goods for the Indian trade, he represented a Roman Catholic missionary, as early as 1639.ª The same year, he sat as a freeman in the legislature ;' the following, was a deputy sur- . veyor ;" and in 1649, the surveyor-general of the province.' He was not included in the commis- sion of 1648 for the privy council. But there is
1 One of the records states he came in 1637 ; another, in 1638. See Land Office Records, Lib. No. 1, p. 71; and Lib. No. 2, p. 425.
" The Reverend Thomas Copley. Land Office Records, Lib. No. 2, p. 38.
' An individual, not a delegate. Into some of our early assem- blies, the representative system was but partially introduced. Bozman, vol. 2, p. 103.
‘ Lib. No. 1, p. 72.
" The commission (see Bozman, Vol. 2, p. 339) is dated in 1648 ; but he did not immediately enter the office.
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evidence of the fact, that he sat in that House of the Assembly, in 1649, and in several subsequent " years.1 Many of the certificates signed by this surveyor-general, are still preserved ; and in 1651, he occupied the post of steward (with power to hold the court-baron) of Calverton-a manor of nearly ten thousand acres, at the head of the Wicomico, intended (such was the paternal policy of the feudal proprietary) for a secure "habita- tien" of "six nations " of Indians, who had desired "to put themselves" under the government's "pro- tection." He also, during the ascendency of the Puritans, openly, in court, confessed his faith in
' The documents, in a preceding part of this volume, prove he was a member of the council in 1649. On the 20th of April (O. S.) 1650, he was, for a reason not stated upon the Journal, excused from sitting. See Lib. No. 3, p. 55. In 1654, also, he was a privy councillor See Lib. No. 1, p. 521. In 1648 he was a bur- gest (see Lib. No. 2, pp. 293, 294) and held nine proxies. In 1658 he was a judge of the Provincial Court. Lib. " S. 1638 to 1662, Judgments," p. 15. In 1660 he was again in the council ; but did not sympathize with governor Fendall, in his treachery toward the proprietary.
' The " six nations " who had desired to be under the proprie- tary's protection, and for whom, as copyhold tenants, this manor was intended, bore the names of Mattapanians, Wicomocons, Patoxonts, Lamasconsons, Highahwixons, and Chopticons. See Bozman, vol. 2, p. 673.
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the Roman Catholic Church.1 Upon a previous surrender, at the battle near the Severn, he was taken prisoner by the Puritans ;" and then treated as a rebel. Tried by a "council of war," but saved "by the petitions of the women,"' he was next fined ten thousand pounds of tobacco." Un- able to pay the mulet, he assigned various bills to the amount of three thousand; and surrendered his plantation upon Britton's Bay.' About six months later, in a state of "deep distress," without the means of "subsistence" either for his "chil- dren " or for " himself," he submitted a petition. And the court, composed of Capt. Fuller and other leading Puritans, gave him a temporary possession of the land. In 1657, his bond was
1 " Robert Clarke, Gent., hath openly in court confessed him- self to be a Roman Catholic ; owning the Pope's supremacy." See Proceedings of the Provincial Court, October Term, 1635 ; Land Office Records, Lib. No. 3, p. 156. This was many months after the battle near the Severn.
" Bozman, vol. 2, p. 527 ; and Records of the Land Office, Lib. No. 3, p. 163.
' Bozman, vol. 2, p. 688.
4 Land Office Records, Lib. No. 3, pp. 156 and 157.
· Same Liber, pp. 156, 157.
" The following is the order passed by the court in 1056 :- " Whereas Robert Clarke, Gent., hath petitioned to this court for
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required.1 He never succeeded in reclaiming his fortunes ; and, in his will, dated in 1664, there ap- .pears but little property." His posterity was dis- persed through various parts of the province ; and, in 1686, died his eldest son, John, a resident of St. Mary's County, holding land upon a branch of St. Thomas's Creek,' in Charles County ; and leav- ing John, Robert, Benjamin, and two other chil- dren.' The only marriage of the privy councillor
some relief in his exceeding deep distress, not having any way of subsistence for himself and children ; the court taking it into consideration, have thought fit and ordered that the plantation of the said Clarke, formerly made over unto the public for part of satisfaction of a fine imposed upon the said Clarke for his late rising up in arms and other great crimes at that time committed, be delivered into the hands of him the said Clarke for his present relief, without which he is likely to perish. And further, if the said Clarke should sell the said plantation, that then he is to pay the one half of That it shall be sold for, in part of the said fine, when it shall be demanded." Lib. No. 3, pp. 178, 179.
1 Land Office Records, Lib. No. 3, p. 317 ; and p. 349.
" Hle names his children, John, Robert, Thomas, and Mary. Gives the most of his estate to John ; and half the value of a borse " to the Church." See his will, Testamentary Records at Aunapolis, Lib. No. 1, 1635 to 1674, pp. 217-218.
' Rent-roll for St. Mary's and Charles, vol. 2, fol. 314; and Land Office Records, Lib. No. 6, p. 223.
' See will of John, Lib. G. p. 193. The name of Clarke occurs
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mentioned upon the records, was the one to Jane, the widow1 of Nicholas Causin, the ancestor of the family which held the "Manor of Causin," now represented by the Honorable John M. S. Causin.
. so frequently that it is very difficult to trace the descendants of the privy councillor. But the reader who may be interested in this subject, is referred to the following sources of information, in the Register's Office at Annapolis :- Wills of Thomas, in 1075, Lib. No. 2, p. 247 ; John, Lib. H., p. 48 ; John, Lib. H. p. 177 ; Robert, · Lib. T. B., p. 375; John, Lib. J. C .- W. B., No. 2, Part 2, p. 32 ; Thomas, Lib. W. B., No. 5, p. 375 ; Edward. Lib. W. B., No. 6, p. 8 ; William, Lib. T. B., No. 1, p. 51 ; Thomas, same Liber, p. 280; and Robert, Lib. W. B., No. 1, p. 438. There is also the will, in 1689 (see Lib. T. B., No. 2, p. 727) of Robt. Clarke, “ of the parish of St. Giles, Without Cripple-Gate, London," but who had lived in Maryland, "in the West Indies" (as America was then called) ; and who was probably one of the Hon. Robt. Clarke's descendants. John's, in Lib. H., on p. 48, is dated the 7th of May, 1680, " according to the computation of the Holy Catholic Church."
1 Land Office, Lib. No. 7, p. 132.
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CHAPTER XXIII.
. The Honorable Thomas Hatton.
THE Honorable Thomas Hatton, it would seem, was the son of John Hatton ; and, there is hardly a. doubt, lived at London,1 before his arrival. It is said, his family (which came in 16482) had sprung from that of Sir Christopher Hatton, the lord
1 John Hatton-a brother, I presume, of the secretary-in his will of 1654 (see Records at Annapolis, Lib. No. 1, 1635 to 1674, p. 519) speaks of his " late father, John Hatton ;" of his brothers Thomas, Samuel, and Henry ; and his sisters Sarab, and Susan. The lands left him by his father, he gives his brother Thomas ; and appoints him one of his executors. Most of the family, it seems, lived in En ,and; and the testator, although then on a visit to Maryland, resided at London. The godfather of the secretary's son, Thomas, was " one of the clerks in the Six-Clerks' Office, Chancery Lane," in the same city. See the silver spoon given, about 1650, by the godfather, Thomas Motham, on p. 186, Lib. No. 1, Records of the Land Office.
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