USA > Maryland > Baltimore County > The Garrison Church; sketches of the history of St. Thomas' Parish, Garrison Forest, Baltimore County, Maryland, 1742-1852 > Part 8
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These two vestrymen and wardens, life-long friends, devoted alike to the old church, entered into
ffinis. 125
their rest, with but a brief interval between the times of their departure. They had lived to see the church enlarged and beautified, and with their heart and soul alive to all its interests they continued to the end in its service, "in the communion of the Catholic Church ; in the confidence of a certain faith ; in the comfort of a reasonable, religious and holy hope; and in perfect charity with the world."
"We bless the holy Name for aff the servants departed this life in the faith and fear : BescecBing EBee to give us grace so to follow their good cramples, that with them we may Be partakers of the Heavenly Kings com Erant this. O father, for Jesus Christ's Gate, our only Mediator and Govocate. Bmen."
Mart 111 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
OF
V'ESTRYMEN, WARDENS AND OTHERS CONNECTED WITH ST. THOMAS' PARISH.
РАНОТВЕ ЛАЗІНЯЛЯДО18
A
FRIENDLY
CHARACTER
OFTHELATE
Rcvd THOMAS CRADOCK,
Rector of St. THOMAS's Baltimore County, MARYLIN D.
Who departed this LIFF, May 7, 1770, in the Fifty Second Year of his Age.
H E wis univerfally allowed to be a fineere Chriftian, a polibed Scholar, an ele- gant and perfu ifive Preacher, a tender Parent, and an affectionate Hufband ; and though for many Years by the Will of Providence he was render'd incapable of po forming the commun Offices of Lite, he feldom omitted his Duty as a Minutter of the etablith'd Church, and by his CHARLEY, Puis, BENEVOLENCE, and HOSPITALITY, he had the rare Fehcity of rendering Hunfelf acceptable to thefe of a different Communion with himself, and to every other Person who had the Pleafure of his Acquaintance ; nor was he lefs fostanite in his domertne Hipping .. Confeious to Hinnielf of his own Integrity, he never fulpect. ! that of Others, and firmly perfunded of the great Importance of a virtuous Lite, he met Death with that c .Im Refignation, that pleading Tranquility fo effentially necenfury in the CHRISTIAN, the Sonotip, and the GENTLEMAN : If he h à any l'aults, they were trivial, when put in competition with lus Virtues.
Printed by THOMAS WORRALL, No. 99, Byi.p'gate without.
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The Gists."
As early as 1684 Charles, absolute lord and proprietor of Maryland, granted to Richard Gist a large tract of land now known as Cole's Cares, Green Spring, &c. His father, Chris- toplier Gist, was of English descent and settled on the south branch of the Patapsco in 1682, his wife, Edith Cromwell, being, it is said, a grand-daughter of the Protector. Richard was surveyor of the Western Shore, one of the commissioners for laying off Baltimore Town and presiding magistrate in 1736. He married Zipporah Murray and had four daughters and three sons, Christopher, Thomas and Nathaniel.
It was this Christopher who, in 1743, sold the site for the church. Because of his knowledge of the country on the Ohio and his skill in dealing with the Indians he was chosen to accompany Washington on his mission in 1753, and it is from his journal that all historians derive their account of the expe- dition. He married Sarah, daughter of Joshua and Joanna ()'Carroll Howard, and with three sons, Nathaniel, Thomas and Richard, was with Braddock on the fatal field of Monongahela. For his services he received from the king a grant of 12,000 acres in Kentucky. Thomas was taken prisoner, and was with the Indians in Canada for fifteen or sixteen years. After his release he lived with his father on his grant in Kentucky and became a man of legal fame. Richard married and settled in South Carolina, and was killed at the battle of King's Mount- ain. He has descendants still living in that state. Gen. Nathaniel Gist married Judith Cary Bell, of Virginia. He was a colonel in the Virginia Line during the Revolution and died early in the present century. at an advanced age, leaving two sons, Henry Cary and Thomas Cecil. His eldest daughter, Sarah Howard, married Hon. Jesse Bledsoe, United States Sen- ator from Kentucky, and a distinguished jurist. Nancy married
(1) This sketch is largely taken from a pamphlet, entitled The Gist Family " coth tiled by Mi Chas. T Cockey. 1\$5.
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Col. Nathaniel Hart, a brother of Mrs. Henry Clay. Elizabeth Violetta Howard married F. P. Blair and became the mother of IIon. Montgomery Blair and F. P. Blair, Jr. The fifth daughter married Benjamin Gratz, of Lexington.
Thomas, son of Richard and Zipporah Murray Gist, mar- ried in 1735 Susanna, daughter of John Cockey. Their house stood in the hollow west from the pike south of where Mr. W. Checkley Shaw now lives (1898). He was a member of the Committee of Observation in 1774 and was elected Colonel of the Soldiers' Delight Battalion, but there is no record of his having been in active service. He had two daughters, and five sons, John, Thomas, Gen. Mordecai Gist, one of the most noted soldiers of the Revolution, Richard, Joshua and David.
Mordecai Gist was engaged in business in Baltimore at the outbreak of the war. He was a member of the Non-importation Committee in 1774, and captain of the Independent Cadets, which he organized. In 1776 he was made major of Smallwood's First Maryland Regiment, and commanded it at the famous battle of Long Island in the absence of its colonel and lieutenant-colonel, who were attending a court martial in New York. He rose to the rank of brigadier-general, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis. At the close of the Revolution he removed to South Carolina, where he died in 1792. His first wife, Cecil Carnan, is buried with her child in St. Thomas' Churchyard. He had a son, Independence, by his second wife, Mary Sterrett, and a son, States, by his third wife, Mrs. Cattell, of South Carolina.
Joshua Gist was one of the early settlers of Carroll County. During the administration of John Adams an excise duty was laid on stills. This created what was known as the Whiskey Insurrection, and the excitement extended to what is now Carroll County, and a band of whiskey adherents marched to Westminster and set up a liberty pole. The citizens be- came alarmed and sent for Colonel Joshua Gist, who then commanded a regiment of militia, and was known to be a brave and fearless man. Mounting his horse he rode into town, and, drawing his sword, ordered the insurrectionists to cut down the pole. He then placed his foot upon it and ordered them to cut
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it in pieces. " Now, go home !" was the final command. Ile died in 1839, aged ninety-one years, and was buried in the Gist family graveyard in Carroll County.
David Gist, the youngest son of Thomas and Susan, married Miss Hammond, and it is said eventually removed to Kentucky. He had one son, Thomas Hammond, who lived on the site of the old house at MeDonogh School, married Juha A. M. Hammond, and died in 1832. His daughter, Thomasina, was born the fol- lowing April, and in 1834 Mrs. Gist became the wife of Lewis C leoin. Thomasina had a most eventful, adventurous life. It is a long story.
-K. C.
The howards.(1)
The Howards were living in what is now St. Thomas' Parish as far back as 1692. Joshua Howard, the emigrant, was from the vicinity of Manchester, where at Monmouth's Rebellion the people turned out loyally to support James II. Though very young, he joined them and marched with them to London. Monmouth having been defeated and captured, they were dis- banded, but dreading his father's displeasure should he return home, Howard soon after left England and came to America. Obtaining a grant of land he settled in the " Forest," about a mile above the present village of Pikesville. Little is known of him subsequently, except that he married Joanna O'Carroll from Ireland, and had a number of children-Francis, Cornelius, Edmund, Violetta, Sarah, Mary and Elizabeth.
Francis, the oldest, went beyond the seas, probably to Eng- land, and, though mentioned in his father's will, afterwards disappeared from the knowledge or tradition of the family.
Cornelius inherited " Howard's Square " and married Ruth Eager.
Edmund also married and left descendants.
Violetta, Sarah and Mary married William, Christopher and Nathaniel Gist, and Elizabeth Howard became the wife of Wil- liam Welles. She had two suitors, and one day in crossing a stream she lost her seat and fell into the water. The favored
" This information as to the Howards is given by Mr. James Mellenry Howard
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suitor made for land, but Mr. Welles plunged boldly in and rescued her, and she very wisely married him.
Joshua Howard died in 1738, and with his wife is buried on the old place, the stones which mark their graves being still visible above the surface of the ground as late as 1848.
Cornelius, the second son of Joshua Howard, was the first church warden when St. Thomas' Parish was organized, and a vestryman for many years. He was born about the year 1706; and married Ruth, daughter of John Eager, on the twenty-fourth of January, 1738 Her brother, George, having been lost at sea, she became sole heiress of the Eager property, which the growth of the town made every year more valuable, and upon which a large part of Baltimore is now built. Mr. Howard also acquired many additional acres in the county and consolidated the tracts under a larger patent called Rosland.
He and his wife lived and died on the old place now owned by Mr. Graves, but he took a prominent share in the develop- ment of the town, and added to it in 1765 "that part south of Saratoga Street, between Forest (now Charles) and Liberty, in- cluding Conway and Barre Streets.
A diary says that in 1812 an old house which belonged to Mr. Howard stood opposite the Hanover Market, and that his barn and stables covered the site of the market, the farm extending towards Spring Gardens. When the French Acadians first found refuge in the town in 1756 he allowed them to sleep in his barnyard which they covered over with hay and straw.
Cornelius Howard died on the fourteenth of June, 1777, and was "the only prominent man connected with the earliest history of Baltimore who died during the Revolutionary War."
Mrs. Howard survived him a number of years.
COLONEL JOHN EAGER HOWARD.
Colonel John Eager Howard, one of the most conspicuous heroes of the Revolution, was born on the fourth of June, 1752, at the old house the ruins of which are still sten. He was a member of St. Thomas' Vestry in 1775 and 1776, a member of the County Committee of Observation and of the committee to license suits at law. His first commission was that of captain in the Soldiers' Delight Battalion of the Flying Camp. He was
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with Washington at White Plains, at Monmouth, Camden, Guil- ford, Hobkirk's Hill and Eutaw, and the hero of Cowpens, where he seized the critical moment and turned the fortunes of the day. At one time he held in his hands the swords of seven British officers whom he had taken prisoners. Congress voted him thanks and a medal for his services.
After the close of the war he married Margaret Chew, daughter of Benjamin Chew, of Philadelphia, and removed to Baltimore Town. He was honored by being three times elected Governor of the State and twice represented Maryland in the United States Senate. Washington offered him a seat in his Cabi- net as Secretary of War. He died on the twelfth day of October, 1827. and few men have been more truly mourned and lamented.
The Howard property extended over the pike, its lines run- ning zigzag with the Lyons, and there was a road across to " Rosland " which turned in the north side of the lane leading to Mr C. Lyon Rogers.
CORNELIUS HOWARD.
Cornelius Howard, the younger, was born December 6, 1754. and lived where the Myers now own, his house forming part of that occupied by them. Unlike the rest of his family he was a Tory and maintained these sentiments to the end of his life, having to pay double taxes for years for his opinions. But, though in a hotbed of Whigs, he, strange to say, kept the good will of his neighbors, and no bitter feeling seems to have been engendered against him.
He was a man of high character, with strong convictions of right, truthful and exact to a fault. He possessed the confi- dence of the community, many differences being submitted to his judgment, and he would go any number of miles to settle a dispute. Mr. Howard was elected a member of the House of Delegates in 1793, and later served with great satisfaction as Judge of the Orphans' Court.
He and his sister, Mrs. Elder, became Methodists, probably owing to the depressed state of the church.
lle died a bachelor February 12, 1844, having reached the age of ninety. His great nephew, Mr George H. Elder, lived with him and took the place of a son.
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Mrs. Lyon asked him one day why he did not marry. Mr. Howard did not answer her, but in the course of a few days en- closed her some newspaper clippings of a divorce suit.
JAMES HOWARD.
James Howard, a younger son of Cornelius and Ruth, was born on the eighth of July, 1757, and was known as "Jimmy " Howard. He lived at the old home place, and Miss Nancy Ash- min kept house for him. He was for a number of years an active and efficient vestryman, and at one time treasurer of the church. Ile was also a delegate to the Diocesan Conventions, an i acted as secretary to the convention in 1787.
Hle espoused the Revolutionary cause, and held a lieuten- ant's commission in one of the companies which were raised. He died unmarried on the eleventh of June, 1806.
He was very fond of his dog and gun. Upon one occasion he had a beef killed, and leaving directions for it to be cut up and put away, went off ducking. On his return the beef hung as he had left it, his dog keeping guard and refusing to allow it to be touched. His horse was trained with munch care, and at the word of command would drop in the road as if dead. Some gentlemen wanted to bet Mr. Howard that they conld ride the horse past him. He said they had better try before betting. General Stricker mounted, but when the horse reached Mr. Howard, it obeyed his command to lie down.
The horse dropped in the road one day to the great conster- nation of some laborers who rushed to his assistance with water in their hats to revive him, when suddenly, at a word from his master, he bounded up and away.
For years Mr. Howard was a martyr to the gout, and when unable to walk he would shoot from horseback, the horse stand- ing perfectly still while the dogs retrieved the game, and rearing up, handed it to him.
-K. C.
The Owings.
The earliest trace of the Owens and Owings in Maryland is found in the Land Records at Annapolis, where grants of land
1
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are recorded to Richard Owens (1654), "Smith's Neck," 100 acres, near South River, to John Owens ( 1670), " Owens' Pur- chase," 200 acres, Charles County; John Owens ( 1673), " Swan's Point," on Gunpowder River, Baltimore County, 100 acres; Col. Thomas Taylor in behalf of Ann Owens, widow of Richard Owens, merchant (1684), 315 acres, "Smith's Neck," near South River.
In 1688 there is an assignment of land by William Little to Richard Owings, 384 acres, Elk Ridge, between the Patuxent and Patapsco Rivers, " Locust Thicket."
October 10, 1694. A grant of land unto Richard Owings, of Anne Arundel County, 450 acres, called "Owings' Adven- ture," on north side of Patapsco River.
Samuel Owings, whose name appears in the earliest record of St. Thomas' Parish, was the son of Richard and Rachel ( Beale or Bale) Owings, and was born April 1, 1702, in a little house, part stone and part log, two rooms below and two above, located in " Green Spring Punch," in the Green Spring Valley. (This cottage was occupied from 1700 until 1870 by successive genera- tions of Owings, the house being enlarged from time to time. It passed in 1870 into the hands of the ' Ashland Iron Company.")
January 1, 1729. "Samuel Owings was marryed to Urath Randall, daughter to Thomas and Hannah Randall." Urath Randall was born January 1, 1713, and was married on her sixteenth birthday. The family record as contained in Urath Randall's Bible is a model of exactness. It tells not only the date, but also the hour and the day of the week when each of the eleven children was born. Bale, May 19, 1731; Samuel. August 17, 1733: Rachel, May 2, 1736; Urath, June 26, 1738; Thomas, October 18, 1740; Hannah, April 17, 1743, died Jann- ary 2, 1745; Christopher, February 16, 1744; Richard, August 26, 1746, died September 28, 1747; Richard, July 16, 1749: Hannah, January 27. 1750; Rebekah, October 21, 1746. Urath married Benjamin F. Lawrence; Thomas married Ruth Law- rence; Rebekah married Joshua A. Howard; Hannah married William Cockey (son of William and Constant ( Ashman) Cockey), who died leaving one child, Ruth; she afterwards mar- ried Capt. John Stone; by this second marriage she had five children, one of whom ( Martha) married Samuel Stump.
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Samuel Owings was one of the commissioners under the et of Assembly of 1742 to select and purchase the site of St. Thomas' Church, and to receive subscriptions toward building it. He was one of his majesty's justices for the county. He was vestryman 1750-52 and registrar 1753-57. He died April 6, 1775.
Samuel Owings, Jr., the second son of Sammel and Urath Owings (born August 17, 1733), married Deborah Lynch, dlaugliter of William and Elinor Lynch, of " Pomona," October 6. 1765. They went to live in a small stone and frame house which is still standing as a part of the house now ( 1898) owned and occupied by Mrs. Wells, one-half mile west of Owings' Mills. Mr. Owings afterward built a brick dwelling, a part of the house now (1898) owned by Mr. E. Lynn Painter. He called the place Ulm, the letters of which U. 1 .. M. stood for "Upper, " " Lower " and " Middle " Mills, three mills which he owned; the present " Eureka" flour mill, a plaster mill (now transformed into a dwelling and owned by Mis. Har mon), and a grist mill now owned by Mr. E. Lynn Painter, The stamp of these mills was U. L. M. During the Revolution the magistrates were ordered to seize all the wheat for food for the army. John Moale went to Sam Owings, who called his atten- tion to the fine bran in his barn. Mr. Moale ran his cane through the bran and struck boards, under which it seems Mr. Owings had his wheat concealed. He was suspected of a lean- ing towards the Tories. He also erected another brick grist mill, which, in 1848, was torn down and the material used to build the house in which Mr. John Reese now lives. In his day the facilities of transportation were not great, and Mr. Owings must have been a man of immense energy to accomplish the Securing of large quantities of wheat and shipping the flour. There are twenty-nine grants of land recorded in his name, aggregating 13,891 acres. These grants extend through Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Frederick Counties, much of the land being immediately around Frederick. He also owned a ship- ping house in Baltimore Town. This Samuel Owings gave the ground (four acres) where the rectory now stands, and afterward sold the vestry thirty acres more at $20 per acre. He was ves- tryman 1792-1803. He died in 1803.
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His children were: William, born May 5, 1767, and mar- ried Ann Halderman; Urath, born February 22, 1769, married John Cromwell, December 6, 1787; Samuel, born April 3, 1770, married Ruth Cockey, March 22, 1791; Eleanor, born February 7, 1772, married Thomas Moale, March 21, 1793, died October 25, 1853; Sarah, born December 25, 1773. married James Win- chester, March 21, 1793; Rebecca, born January 12, 1776; Deborah, born November 14, 1777, married Peter Hoffman, May 16, 1799; Frances, born September 30, 1779, married Robert North Moale, July 2, 1801; Rachel, born August 27, 1781, died October 19, 1782; Mary, born March 27, 1784, married Richard Cromwell, February 6, 1800; Ann, born December 20, 1785, mar- ried George Winchester; Beale, born November, 1791, married Iileanora Magruder.
Samuel Owings (3d), born April 3, 1770, married Ruth Cockey, his cousin, March 22, 1791. He inherited from his grandfather, Samuel Owings (Ist), the old homestead, ' Green Spring Punch." They had thirteen children, six of whom lived; Deborah married Henry Stevenson, Hannah married Wil- liam Ballard, Urath married Edward A. Ccckey, William Lynch married Sophia North Moale, James Winchester married Maria Jones, Charles Ridgely married Nora Small.
This home, as can be imagined, was full of life and social enjoyment. The story is told that there was a club of men met there who voted a knife to Samuel Owings as the handsomest man, with the instructions to give it to the first man he met whom he thought handsomer than himself, but he never found the man. There was also a knife voted to the ugliest member of the club with similar instructions, but he disposed of the knife in a few days.
There is another story: In 1830 when the railroad was in process of construction through the Green Spring Valley, Mr. George Winchester, who was president of the company, fre- quently visited the work. Oa one occasion when it was very cold the workmen opened a cavity in the quarry, now owned by Mrs. S. M. Shoemaker, and found some torpid snakes. Mr. Winchester carried several of these snakes in his handkerchief to Mrs. Owings, where he was invited to dine, and placed them on the hearth before an open fire in the dining-room. During
13.S
the dinner, " Phil," the waiter boy, kept his eye on these snakes. Presently he said to his mistress, "Missus, dem snakes is a moovin' !" then " Missus, dey is crawlin' !" " My goodness, Missus, one's just gone under de table !" and Phil escaped into the yard, followed by the family.
There is a story about a walnut tree said to have been planted by Urath Randall before she married Samuel Owings ( ist ). The tree grew until it measured in circumference thirty-two feet and east a shade at noontide of 120 feet. Frequently the family took their meals under this great tree. It was blown down about 1888, when one of the grandchildren of Samuel secured a log of the largest limb, measuring twenty inches in diameter and eight feet long, had it sawed into boards, which he divided among his children as a memento of that which had afforded so much pleasure and comfort for his ancestors.
In the time of Samuel Owings (3d) farmers had a hominy mor tar made of a large oak log about three feet in length with a funnel- shaped hole in one end, made by burning and boring as large as the size of the log would permit. Its proper place was in the corner of the kitchen. The firstborn of Samuel and Ruth was Deb- orah, so named for her grandmother. While the mother was attending to household duties, Debbie, as she was known in the family, was placed in the hominy mortar for safety, and thus did her crowing. Later this little girl was known by her family relations as Aunt Debbie, her neighbors knew her as Miss Deb- bie, until later in life she became Mrs. Henry Stevenson. As the Samaritan of the county around, she could be seen almost every afternoon and if necessity required it, at other times, on her thoroughbred mahogany bay mare (Diamond ), with her little basket hung upon the pommel of her saddle containing comforts for the poor, the sick and the needy. To her and her dear friend in this work, Miss Sarah Nicholas, the success of St. Thomas' Church is largely indebted.
Samuel Owings( 3d) was vestryman from 1799 until 1824. -C. T. C.
Che Carnans.
The Carnans were from Reading, Berks, England. We first
RESIDENCE OF CHARLES CARNAN, ATAMASCO.
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hear of Christopher Carnan in Philadelphia in the winter of 1749. when he is mentioned in Watson's Anuals as one of the man- agers of the " Assembly Balls." He is spoken of elsewhere as well known in Baltimore, when he married on the thirteenth of June, 1751, Elizabeth North, the oldest daughter of Capt. Robert North, who "preferred him poor and handsome to the richest man in the Province." They received 1,500 guineas on their wedding day, and went on a trip to England, where Mrs. Car- nan was received by her family. Their oldlest son, Charles, was born on the voyage home.
Captain North had given to his daughter Elizabeth the place now owned by Capt. Wilson C. Nicholas, one-half of a tract of land which he bought from the Gists in 1745, and Chris- topher Carnan built the old house which, in 1898, stands intact. llis initials cut on one of the boards can still be deciphered.
His children were Charles, born June 20, 1752. and Robert North, born August 8, 1756.
His tombstone bears the following inscription :
CHRISTOPHER CARNAN,
WHO LIVED AND DIED AN HONEST MAN, ON THE 30TH OF DECEMBER, 1769. AGED 39 YEARS.
He was most probably the brother of Cecil Carnan, the first wife of Gen. Mordecai Gist, and of John Carnau, from whom the Ridgelys, of " Hampton," are descended.
Cecil Carnan's epitaph reads:
TO THE MEMORY OF
CECIL GIST,
DAUGHTER OF CHARLES AND PRUDENCE CARNAN,
OF LONDON, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE THE IST DAY OF JULY. 1770. AGED 28.
.
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In corded Nature in the jaime at youthful bloom List Ham the salt andhearing ties of life. And sendet Battle of daughter, sister mother, wile Ve thorning fait in het sont kuching chaus sures she was whatever you tender hearts can say. More than caredda se moses Holdet just of thenight On Page of Milton > verse - eses Light & att well lamented shade I can proceed no male ;
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