USA > Maryland > Anne Arundel County > The founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland. A genealogical and biographical review from wills, deeds and church records > Part 24
USA > Maryland > Howard County > The founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland. A genealogical and biographical review from wills, deeds and church records > Part 24
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Other pastimes of that period, were the races. On 30th of May, 1745, "a race was held at John Conners, about seven miles south of London Town, near West River. A purse of £10 for the best horse, open to all, except "Old Ranter" and "Limber Sides," three heats over two miles."
In 1746, the gentlemen of the " Ancient South River Club," to express their loyalty to his Majesty on the success of the inimitable Duke of Cumberland's obtaining a complete victory over the Pre-
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tender, appointed a grand entertainment to be given at their club house, on Thursday next. The birthday of George II was observed here, October 29, 1746, "by firing cannon and drinking loyal healths."
In 1752, the "Beggars Farce" was at the new Theatre by per- mission of President Tasker. A lottery under Benjamin Tasker, Jr., George Stewart and Walter Dulany was organized for purchasing a town clock.
A French writer of this period who saw the capital city, thus records it. "In that very inconsiderable town standing at the mouth of the Severn, where it falls into the bay, at least three-fourths of the buildings may be styled elegant and grand. Female luxury exceeds anything known in the Province of France. A French hair- dresser is a man of importance among them, and it is said, that a certain dame here, hires one of the craft for a thousand crowns a year. The State House is a very beautiful building, I think the most so, of any I have seen in America."
GOVERNOR TASKER.
Upon the death of Governor Ogle, the office devolved upon his father-in-law, Hon. Benjamin Tasker, by virtue of his Presidency of the Council, which position he had held since 1744. We get a glimpse of him in his correspondence with Lord Baltimore as President of the Council, in which he declared: "The Assembly is now at a con- clusion, but as to the real services, they have done, they might as well have stayed at home. They have prepared an address, offering your Lordship two-sixth pence per hogshead on all tobacco to be exported, but have not agreed to make good any number of hogs- heads, but the surest way would be to let the country farmers make good such a sum as can be agreed upon and leave them to find a way to raise it."
Letters upon encroachments upon the Potomac; under the grant of Lord Fairfax; upon leases, copper ore, patents of land, Spanish gold, remittances and rents make up the scope of Colonel Tasker's voluminous correspondence.
Lord Baltimore, in reply, lamented the death of Governor Ogle, but congratulated himself in having so able a representative to take his place; acknowledged the rights of the President of the Council to assume the government upon the death of the Governor.
As President of the Council, Colonel Tasker made a digest of the Provincial laws and even after Governor Sharpe had arrived Colonel Tasker was placed in charge of the private correspondence and affairs of the Proprietary.
His son, Benjamin Tasker, Jr., was appointed by Governor Sharpe, Commissioner to secure the assistance of "The Six Nations." This commission resulted in the Confederacy of 1752-a union of colonial interests for defense about a quarter of a century before the Declaration of Independence.
Both of these distinguished men lie buried at St. Anne's.
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GOVERNOR HORATIO SHARPE.
On August 11, 1753, Horatio Sharpe, Esquire, Governor of the Province, arrived in the ship Molly, from London. He was a member of an able English family. His brother in England secured for him, soon after his arrival, an important military appointment as com- mander of the Colonial Forces. Governor Sharpe entered upon a momentous period. The French and Indian war was at hand; the House of Delegates insisted on taxing the Lord Proprietor's estates and denying his right to ordinary licenses. The Stamp Act following the war, was another grevious complaint. It was altogether a trying ordeal for the Governor, who had to be impartial toward the Crown, the Lord Proprietor and the people, as well as to protect the Province from a common enemy. But he was equal to the occasion.
Meeting General Braddock at Frederick, he there built Fort Frederick. Braddock's advance and defeat created a panic in the Province. Many fled to Baltimore, where women and children were embarked on vessels to be sent to Virginia.
Ordering out the militia and calling for volunteers, Governor Sharpe, assisted by Captain Henry Ridgely and Captain Alexander Beall with two companies of thirty men each, went to the front. The people of Annapolis began to fortify the town. Ninety-five Marylanders, joined by South Carolinians, under the cover of bushes and trees, kept at bay a fierce Indian attack at Fort Duquesne. The English were defeated, but the Marylanders covered their retreat, losing twenty-four out of ninety-five men engaged. The Indians could not withstand our provincials. Governor Sharpe, in sympathy with the joy that filled the colony over the bravery of our Mary- land forces, appointed a public thanksgiving, and the Assembly appropriated a fund for the defenders.
It is a peculiar incident in the history of the State, that the dying interest of the last unpopular Proprietor should be so ably and efficiently sustained by two such popular governors as Sharpe and Eden.
The clergy tendered Governor Sharpe their grateful acknowl- edgements "for his amiable virtues, both in public and private char- acter." The Lower House acknowledged "it is our opinion that his own inclination led him very much toward that desirable object"- the good of the Province. Kent County, St. Mary's and Frederick County all sent him addresses complimentary and approving. Gov- ernor Sharpe's able correspondence covers three volumes of the Mary- land Archives. He was a bachelor, yet he built a homestead that still bears testimony to the magnificence of our colonial archi- tecture. In 1763, by Legislative act, Governor Sharpe purchased from the vestry of St. Margaret's Parish, the "White Hall" estate, which had been left to the church by Colonel Charles Greenberry. In 1764 the vestry, headed by William West, gave a power-of- attorney to John Merriken to convey to Horatio Sharpe their tract known as "White Hall." This tract had descended to Colonel
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Charles Greenberry from Colonel Nicholas Greenberry, who had secured it from Colonel William Fuller, of Virginia, the son of its first surveyor, Captain William Fuller, hero of the Severn. Governor Sharpe resided in "White Hall" mansion. When he retired from the office of Governor, his secretary, John Ridout, of England, held it and by the will of Governor Sharpe, through his trustees, Benjamin Ogle and Dr. Upton Scott, it was transferred by deed to John Ridout. Governor Sharpe's full-length portrait is upon its walls, and the bed on which he rested is still among its relics. "White Hall" has passed to Mrs. Story, wife of Captain Story, U. S. A.
GOVERNOR ROBERT EDEN.
Governor Robert Eden was the last Proprietary Governor. He came in 1769. It was in the lovely month of June. The guns of the battery gave him welcome. He was a gentleman "easy of access, courteous to all, and fascinating by his accomplishments." Mr. William Eddis, to whom we are indebted for much of our most interesting bits of gossip, came in 1769 to take the position of English Collector of Customs. His pen records are still extant and valuable. Of Governor Eden he wrote, "The Governor is returned to a land of trouble. To stem the popular torrent will require all his faculties. Hitherto his conduct has secured to him a well-merited popularity -and I can assert that he conducts himself in his arduous depart- ment with an invariable attention to the interests of his royal master, and the essential welfare of the Province over which he has the honor to preside." That this sentiment was shared by the Assembly of Maryland was clearly manifest when it refused to subject Governor Eden to the indignity of arrest as demanded by General Charles Lee, the Englishman, then in charge of the American Army. In face of the clamors of the Whig Club of Baltimore, the latter felt he could trust the Convention of Maryland which had solemnly pledged his safe departure.
The foundation stone of the present State House was laid by Governor Eden in 1772. On his striking the stone with a mallet there was a clap of thunder, although a cloud could not be seen. This building is the third upon the same site. The appropriation was £7,500 sterling. Its building committee were Daniel Dulany, Thomas Johnson, John Hall, William Paca, Charles Carroll, Barrister, Lance- lot Jacques and Charles Wallace. In 1773 it was covered with a copper roof, which during the gale of 1775 was blown off. The dome, so much admired by all critics, was added after the Revolution.
Governor Eden bought of Edmund Jennings the historic man- sion, long the Governor's mansion of our State Governors. He added its wings.
Mr. David Ridgely, the State Librarian and author of " Annals of Annapolis" in 1841, thus describes Governor Eden's mansion: " This edifice has a handsome court and garden extending,with the exception of an intervening lot, to the water's edge. From the
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portico, looking to the garden, a fine prospect regales the vision. The building consists of two stories and presents an extensive front; there are on the lower floor, a large room on each side of the hall as you enter and several smaller ones; the saloon, on the same floor, is nearly the length of the house. On each side of the edifice are com- modious kitchens, carriage house and stables, with spacious lots. Towards the water, the building rises in the middle in a turreted shape. It stands detached from other structures, and is altogether a delightful and suitable mansion for the Chief Magistrate of our State." At the outbreak of the Revolution Governor Eden's prop- erty was confiscated. This mansion was held for our Governors until 1866, when it was sold to the Naval Academy and became the Library Hall. It was intended for the residence of the Superintend- ent, but was condemned and torn down in 1901. The same act of 1866 located our present Gubernatorial mansion on its quintangular lot, fronting on State House Circle. Upon this lot stood the resi- dence of Mr. Absalom Ridgely and his son, Dr. John Ridgely, surgeon of U. S. Ship Philadelphia, captured in the harbor of Tripoli in 1804. It was built by the grandfather of General George H. Stuart.
In social circles Governor Eden was a favorite. When the controversy concerning "officer's fees" was at its height during his administration the hostility was directed more against the members of the Upper House than against the Governor. The two great debaters and writers upon that controversy were Daniel Dulany and Charles Carroll, of "Carrollton," under assumed names of " Antillon" and "First Citizen." Full copies of that discussion are now on record at the State Library, Annapolis. In it Charles Carroll, then unknown, just returned from his studies in Europe, took the popular side and received the public thanks of the Lower House of the Assembly. He contended that the government of Maryland had for years been held by one family, viz: Tasker, Ogle, Bladen and Dulany. The latter's father-in-law, Benjamin Tasker, had been President of the Council for a number of years. Dulany, the writer, was a brother- in-law of Benjamin Tasker, Jr., who was also of the Council and at the same time Secretary of the Province. The office of Commissary- General and Secretary were almost hereditary in the Dulany family. Colonel Tasker, Sr., was Commissary-General between the two Dulany's, father and son, and at the time of the discussion in 1773, Walter Dulany held the place while his cousin was Secretary. Mrs. Daniel Dulany's mother, wife of Benjamin Tasker, was a Bladen, and Governor Robert Eden, last in line, while he married Lord Baltimore's daughter, had also connected himself with the Bladens, as this lady was a niece of Governor Bladen's wife.
The "Independent Whigs" in a letter to "The First Citizen," declared, "We thank you for the sentiments which you have spoken with honest freedom. We had long waited for a man of abilities to step forth and tell our dozing ministers the evils they have brought upon the community. While we admire your intrepidity in the attack, permit us to applaud that calm and sturdy temper which so
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precisely marks and distinguishes your excellent performance. Go on, sir, and assert the rights of your country; every friend of liberty will be a friend to you. Malice may rage and raw heads and bloody bones may clatter and rattle, but the honest heart, bold in the cause of freedom feels no alarm."
Carroll's exposure of the "Proclamation" was seen in the next election in Annapolis, when a tumultuous crowd with sound of muffled drums, bore the proclamation in a coffin, and with a grave- digger, marched to its burial; a committee was appointed to thank "The First Citizen."
COUNCIL OF SAFETY.
Two governments were now in Annapolis-Governor Eden and the Council of Safety .- Fearing the action of the Assembly, Eden continued by prorogation, to keep down the voice of the people, but the people of Anne Arundel sent out an invitation for committees from the several counties to meet at Annapolis for forming non-im- portation associations, a full meeting was the result. It was resolved not to import any of the dutiable goods; to exclude a list of merchan- dise summing up a hundred articles; while this agreement was being signed came the news that only tea would be taxed, but the com- mittees appointed at Annapolis unanimously resolved to stand by their former declaration. Closely following came the Congress of all delegates.
When the Council of Safety took charge of the State of Mary- land Governor Eden was notified that the time for his departure had arrived, and after its members had taken an affectionate leave of their late Supreme Magistrate, he was conducted to a barge with every mark of respect due his elevated station he had so worthily filled. He reached the vessel amid the booming of cannon. In 1783 ex-Governor Eden returned to America to secure the restitution of his property. There was some criticism of his action, but after an inter- view with Governor Paca, matters were adjusted. He died soon after his arrival in a house now owned by the Sisters of Notre Dame on Shipwright Street. This house was the homestead of Dr. Upton Scott, a rich citizen of Annapolis. It now attracts more visitors than any other in Annapolis by having been made the imaginary home of "Richard Carvel," of Revolutionary days. The house commands a beautiful view of the creek into which entered the St. Mary forces, and also the opposite neck upon which was gained the Battle of the Severn. Just east of it stands the Carroll mansion, upon "Carroll Green"," all now in the grounds of the Catholic orders of the city.
"Governor Eden was buried," says Mr. Ridgely in his Annals of Annapolis, "under the pulpit of the Episcopal church on the north side of the Severn, within two or three miles of the city."
"This church was some years since burned down" Mr. Riley adds. "I have tried by diligent inquiry to locate this church. The nearest approach to the truth is found in the fact that on the farm
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of Mrs. Winchester, near the track of the Annapolis and Baltimore Short Line Railroad, is an ancient graveyard, the site of an Episcopal church that was burned down about a hundred years ago. There is a grave in the cemetery marked by a cross of bricks, and the tradition is that an English lord lies buried here. It would not take many repetitions of oral history to change an English governor to an English lord."
Mrs. Helen Stuart Ridgely in her "Old Brick Churches," locates the early Church of Westminster Parish on "Severn Heights." My own researches show a deed from John Hammond, whose estate was on the Severn, for 200 square feet upon "Deep Creeke," for building a church for Westminster Parish in 1695. The only consideration was " the love he bore his neighbors." In 1707-8 the parish of West- minster obtained a deed for "two acres on the south side of the Magothy River, adjoining a town called Westminster Towne." The tract was "Luck," granted to Mary Garner, mother of Edward Gibbs, to whom it descended and by whom it was sold, to Charles Green- berry, principal vestryman and his brothers, John Peasly, Philip Jones, Thomas Cockey, John Ingram and Richard Torrell." Its communion silver dates from 1713, the year of Colonel Charles Green- berry's death. His will left a liberal provision for maintaining a minister. His estate "White Hall," was left to his widow, to descend to Westminster Parish. This was still later the estate of Governor Sharpe, who granted it to his secretary, John Ridout, of England, whose burial notice reads, "Be it remembered that John Ridout, Esquire, a native of Dorset, England, departed this life 7th October 1797, and was buried at 'White Hall,' the ceremony being solemn- ized by the Rev. Ralph Higginbotham, of St. Anne's Parish." Another record reads, "Rachel Ridout, wife of Horatio Ridout and daughter of Robert Goldsborough, of Cambridge, Maryland, departed this life 17th of June, 1811, and was buried at 'White Hall,' in this Parish, the funeral ceremony being solemnized by the Rev. Robert Welsh, of the Methodist Society. Entered by Horatio Ridout, Register."
"Mary Ridout, daughter of Governor Samuel Ogle, and wife of John Ridout, died at 'White Hall,' August, 1808." Ann Ogle, wife of Governor Samuel, was buried at "White Hall" in 1817.
We get a view of some church officials in 1706 from the records of St. Anne's Church.
On Easter Monday, April 19, 1756, at the parish church, there were present Dr. Richard Tootell, Mr. Thomas Beale Dorsey, Mr. Robert Swan, Mr. James Maccubin and Mr. William Roberts, of the vestry, and sundry parishioners, who went through the usual vestry election and selected Mr. Lancelot Jaques and Mr. Richard Mackubin church wardens to fill the expired terms of Messrs. Thornton and Woodward. Mr. Alexander Warfield, son of Richard, and Dr. George Stewart were made vestrymen in the place of Dr. Tootell and Mr. Dorsey. At that meeting of the vestry the following list of bachelors was returned to the vestry, to be taxed for the support of the church:
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Those possessing £100 and less than £300, were Mr. Rezin Gaither, at Mrs. Elizabeth Gaithers, at the head of the Severn; Mr. Emanuel Marriott, at his father's, Mr. Joseph Marriott; Mr. Caleb Davis, at Mr. Philip Hammond's. Those possessing over £300 were Mr. Zach- ariah Hood; Charles Carroll, barrister; Mr. William Gaither, at the head of the Severn; Mr. Charles Hammond, son of Philip. The Register also added that His Excellency Horatio Sharpe and Rev. John MacPherson were bachelors, but he did not count them.
After qualifying according to law the vestry proceeded to nom- inate and recommend the following persons for Inspectors of tobacco for the ensuing year, viz: Mr. Moses Mackubin and Mr. Richard Mac- kubin for the port of Annapolis, Mr. Augustine Gambrill, Mr, Joseph Sewell, Mr. Richard Warfield, Jr., and Mr. John Hall for Indian Landing. It was then ordered that the tobacco in the hands of the Sheriff, belonging to the vestry, be sold at public vendue, on Wednesday next and that the Register set up notices for the same. The tobacco sold at sixteen-ninth pence per hundred.
Mr. Alexander Warfield was ordered, in 1758, to have a window cut in the chapel at the expense of the vestry and to see that the stones in the aisles were relaid.
At the outbreak of the Revolution, St. Anne's Church had become quite dilapidated, but it still held a communion plate of solid silver, made by Francis Garthorne, engraved with the arms of Wil- liam III. This is still a cherished memorial in the present magnifi- cent building, which is the third upon its historic site. It also has two Bibles, the gifts of General John Hammond, its vestryman of 1704 and Mrs. Henrietta Maria Dorsey, wife of Captain Edward. Its stone font is the work of Rinehart. Its burial ground is now occupied by the city streets, but in its capacious circle, now enclosed by an iron railing, we may still read some records of historic interest. "Here lieth Rebecca, wife of Daniel Dulany, fourth daughter of Colonel Walter Smith;" "Margaret Carroll, relict of Charles Carroll, (barrister) of Annapolis and daughter of Matthew Tilghman-born 1742, died 1817." "Henry Ridgely, died 1700;" General John Hammond, 1707; Nicholas Gassaway, 1711. Upon a slab of white marble with a griffin rampant, surrounded by fleur de-lis, the following inscription is preserved:
"Here lieth interred the body of Mr. Amos Garrett, of the city of Annapolis, in Anne Arundel County, in the Province of Maryland, merchant, son of Mr. James and Mrs. Sarah Garrett, late of St. Olive Street, Southwork, then in the Kingdom of England, now a part of Great Britain, who departed this life on March 8, 1727, Aetatis 56."
The bell given by Queen Anne was destroyed in the fire of 1858. The present building dates from the same year. Its north grounds have elevated memorials, also, to William Bladen, who died 1718, aged forty-eight; to Benjamin Tasker, Jr., late Secretary of Mary- land, who died 1760, in his thirty-ninth year and to Hon. Benjamin Tasker, Sr., President of the Council, who died 1768, aged seventy- eight.
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St. James Parish, Herring Creek, noted further on "Old Brick Churches," discarded its brick church of 1718 and rebuilt one in 1760, which is still standing. It is nearly square, with a hip-roof, like that on the present All Hallows, which dates from 1722, but while the latter is open inside to the roof, St. James has a vaulted ceiling spanning and slanting off at the ends to harmonize with the confor- mation outside. There are two aisles and three sections of square pews with doors. The windows with their deep embrasures are rounded at the top and in most of them the small panes are preserved. There are two stained glass windows in the chancel and the corners near it are boxed off into vestry-room and choir, which necessary contrivances mar the effect of the otherwise perfect interior; they, - moreover, hide the tablets containing the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, which, with the Ten Commandments covering the space between the chancel windows, were probably procured with the legacy of £10 given in 1723, by the wife of William Locke, Esq., "toward adorning the Altar of St. James with Creed, Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments."
William Locke also gave money for a silver basin or baptismal font, which is now one of the four pieces, of which the church plate consists. It bears the date of 1732, and also the donor, with the word " Armigeri" after it.
The alms basin was the gift of the rector, Rev. Henry Hall, who died in 1723. The other pieces look as if they might be of earlier date. The records also show that whipping posts and stocks were then in order.
Rev. Henry Hall lies in St. James church-yard, under a hori- zontal slab mounted on a brick foundation. Another slab, flat to the ground, is in honor of Hon. Seth Biggs, Esq., who died 1708, aged fifty-five years.
KING WILLIAM'S SCHOOL, NOW ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE.
The first dates from 1696; the second from 1785. The trustees of the first were Governor Francis Nicholson, Hon. Sir Thomas Lawrence, Colonel George Robothan, Colonel Charles Hutchins, Colonel John Addison, Rev. Divine, Mr. Peregrine Coney, Mr. John Hewitt, Mr. Robert Smith, Kenelym Cheseldyne, Henry Coursey, Edward Dorsey, Thomas Ennals, Thomas Tasker, Francis Jenkins, William Dent, Thomas Smith, Edward Boothy, John Thompson and John Bigger, gentlemen.
It stood upon a lot given by Governor Nicholson, on the south side of the State House, the spot of the. DeKalb Statue. It gave the name to School Street. It was completed in 1701. The earliest rector was Rev. Edward Butler, rector of St. Anne's and master of the free school in Annapolis. Its records are meager, but William Pinkney was educated there.
In 1785, the property of King William's School was conveyed to St. John's College. Among the list was a number of "quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore," which still remain in the library
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of St. John's. Governor Eden, early after his arrival, strongly recommended an institution of learning which would preclude the necessity for crossing the ocean to obtain an education. Governor Bladen's unfinished residence was selected as its site. The war intervened, but at its close the Legislature passed a wise and public- spirited act of incorporation, granting, if located in Annapolis, four acres purchased by Governor Bladen, from Stephen Bordley, for his public residence. The sum of £1,750 annually and forever was granted as a donation. A committee of the Board of Visitors, viz: James Brice, Charles Wallace, Richard Sprigg, Thomas Hyde and Thomas Harwood, announced in 1789, the appointment of John McDowell, A.M., Professor of Mathematics. His name to-day, is perpetuated in McDowell Hall. In 1806, the Legislature repealed its charter in the face of an eloquent appeal from William Pinkney, in which he said: "The day which witnessed the degradation of St. John's College would prove the darkest day Maryland has known."
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