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 59
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 59
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with live coals above and underneath, whence they came forth golden in color. These were not raised with baking powder nor as hard as stone, but light, beautiful and wholesome." (From one of Mr. W. T. Riggs' contributions upon the days of good eating.)
Country life consisted then, as now, in social gatherings, horse- back parties, sledding parties, surprise parties, sometimes covering long distances, but always ending in a social dance, card party and supper.
Every extensive plantation was in itself a storehouse of supplies, and the chief pleasure of the planter was in entertaining. The wealth of the province was then chiefly in the country, and, up to the Revo- lution, the fashions of the plantation were true types of social life in the province. Of that life we gather from portraits, still extant, the elegant dress, of the lords and ladies of the manor, and from their wills come good views of the accumulated wealth in many of their homes.
City life was then but a. repetition of the styles of the plantation. From Hon. John P. Kennedy we have a humorous view of the styles in Baltimore just subsequent to the Revolution, from which the fol- lowing quotation is taken:
"Market street (now Baltimore street) had shot like a snake out of a toy box up as high as Congress Hall, with its variegated range of low-browed, hip-roofed houses, standing forward and back of the line like an ill-dressed regiment.
"Some houses were painted blue, some yellow, some white, and here and there a more pretending mansion of brick, with windows after the pattern of a multiplication table, square and many-paned, and great wastes of walls between the stories; some with court-yards in front, and trees in whose shade truant boys and ragged negroes 'skyed coppers' and played marbles.
"This avenue was enlivened with matrons and damsels, some with looped skirts, some in brocade luxuriantly displayed over hoops, with comely bodies supported by stays disclosing perilous waists and with sleeves that clung to the arm as far as the elbow, where they were lost in ruffles that stood off like feathers on a bantam. And then such faces, so rosy, spirited and sharp, with hair drawn over a cushion tight enough to lift the eyebrow into a rounder curve, giving pungent supercilious expression to the countenance, and curls that fell in cataracts upon the shoulders. Then they stepped away with such a mincing gait, in shoes of many colors, with formidable points at the toes and high tottering heels delicately cut in wood, and in towering peaked hats garnished with feathers that swayed aristo- cratically backward and forward at each step as if they took pride in the stately pace of the wearer.
"In the train of these groups came the gallants, who upheld the chivalry of the age, cavaliers of the old school, full of starch and pow- der, most of them the iron gentlemen of the Revolution, with leather faces, old campaigners renowned for long stories-not long enough rom the camp to lose their military brusquerie and dare-devil swag-
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ger; proper roystering blades who had not long ago got out of har- ness and begun to affect the elegancies of civil life, all in three-cor- nered cocked hats and powdered hair and cues, and light-colored coats with narrow capes, long backs and pockets on each hip; small clothes and striped stockings, shoes with great buckles, and long steel watchchains, suspended on agate seals in the likeness of the old sounding-boards above pulpits.
"It was a sight worth seeing when one of these weather-beaten gallants accosted a lady. There was a bow which required the width of the pavement, a scrape of the foot and the cane thrust with a flourish under the left arm and projecting behind in a parallel line with the cue. And nothing could be more piquant than the lady's re- turn of the salutation, in a courtesy that brought her, with bridled chin and a most winning glance, half way to the ground."
Having now traversed the upper section of Anne Arundel and noted the chief settlements that had been made whilst still a part of the mother county, attention will be directed to the efforts made to secure better accommodations for this settlement.
Nearly a century and a-half had passed since the surveyors had first marked out the advance of settlement. Those old settlers had all passed into an unwritten history. Several generations of their descendants had rolled their tobacco to Elk Ridge Landing; had subdued forests; built magnificent homes, and had passed with their fathers to the great beyond-and still there was no place, short of Annapolis, for the transaction of legal business. At length, in 1838, a progressive man was sent to the Legislature. Dr. William W. Watkins, son of Colonel Gassaway Watkins, presented and ably de- fended the following bill, which now forms Chapter XXII of the Laws of 1838:
" An Act for the establishment of a municipal jurisdiction over a part of Anne Arundel County and to alter and change the Constitu- tion of the State, as far as may be necessary, to effect the same.
"Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary- land, That after the confirmation of this Act there shall be estab- lished in Anne Arundel a district included within the following boun- daries, to wit:
" Beginning for the same at the intersection of the west shore of Deep Run, with the southern shore of Patapsco River, at or near Ellicott's Furnace (Relay), and running thence southerly with said Deep Run until it reaches the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and thence with said railroad, and including the same, until it reaches the southwestern line of Anne Arundel on the Big Patuxent River, and thence with said river and the lines of said county until it intersects the northwestern point of said county, and running thence with the lines of Carroll and Baltimore Counties to the place of beginning, as above mentioned; and that the said district shall be called Howard District of Anne Arundel County.
"Section 2. And be it enacted, That to aid in administering justice and providing for the peculiar wants and necessities in civil
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and political matters of the people of said district, there shall, from time to time, as occasion may require, be appointed or elected therein, as the case may be, a Register of Wills, a Sheriff and a Clerk of the Court, to be established therein, which said officers shall have the same qualifications, hold their offices by the same tenure and be ap- pointed or elected therein in the same manner with similar officers in the several counties of this State.
"Section 3. And be it further enacted, That upon the con- firmation of this Act, it shall be the duty of the Executive of this State to issue writs for the election of a Sheriff by the people of said district within thirty days thereafter, who shall serve until the time of the next general election of this State, and the citizens of Anne Arundel County, now inhabitants of the Fourth Election District thereof and residing in said Howard District, shall, until otherwise provided by law, vote at all elections at the Fifth and Sixth Elec- tion Districts of Anne Arundel County as now established by law, in all their future elections and until regulated by law according to the Constitution of the State.
"Section 4. And be it further enacted, That upon the confirma- tion of this act a court shall be established and styled the Court of Howard District of Anne Arundel County; that the judge of the Third Judicial District of the State shall be judge thereof, and pre- sentments, indictments, suits and actions at law may be removed to and from the Court of Howard District of Anne Arundel County in the same manner as if it were one of the County Courts of the State.
"Section 5. And be it further enacted, That if this Act shall be confirmed by the General Assembly after the next election of Delegates, at the first regular session after such new election accord- ing to the Constitution and form of government, that in such case this alteration and amendment of the Constitution and form of gov- ernment shall constitute and be valid as a part thereof, and every- thing therein contained repugnant to or inconsistent with this Act be repealed and abolished.
"Section 6. And be it further enacted, That all charges and expenses growing out of the subdivision of Anne Arundel County shall be assessed solely on the property within Howard District."
Chapter 55, Acts of 1839, provides that the seat of justice in Howard District be selected by the voters of the district; judges to make returns and to certify the selection of the seat and to publish the same.
Chapter 60, Acts of 1839, authorized the judge to administer the oath to the clerk, and the ratification of said election of clerk, pro- vided such returns be made and filed with said clerk within three days after his qualification; that the State Librarian be authorized to fur- nish certain laws for the use of the Court and Orphans' Court of How- ard District.
Chapter 98, passed March 4, 1840, provides for the election of Commissioners in the same manner and by the same persons who hold the election for delegates to the General Assembly. The Com-
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missioners to lay off the district into three election districts; to desig- nate the place in which to hold elections; to deliver to the clerk of Anne Arundel County a description in writing, under their hands and seals, of boundaries and numbers of each, and the place where the election is to be held, to be recorded respectively; to cause copies of said description to be published and set up. Voters qualified to vote for delegates to vote at their respective places, for one person resident of such district. Commissioners to remain in office one year; to have all the power and subject to the same liabilities as Commissioners of Anne Arundel County; to appoint consta- bles and tax collectors as in Anne Arundel to appoint nine Commissioners of Public Schools, and not exceeding eighteen persons who, with the Commissioners, to be inspectors, and said bodies to act as in Anne Arundel; the same laws to be in force as in Anne Arundel. Two-fifths of the tax levied in Anne Arundel for the purpose of colonization to be paid by Howard District and three-fifths by Anne Arundel. The Commissioners to fix upon the sites for public buildings; to purchase land not exceeding in cost $20,000, and not to levy more than $4,000 any one year; to borrow money not more than $4,000 in any one year to be due; no compensa- tion except per diem.
To provide suitable buildings for the Court purposes until the erection of proper buildings. The Governor to appoint coroners, and the district judge to appoint electors.
All deeds of land lying in, after the appointment and qualifica- tion of the Clerk, to be recorded by said Clerk.
The laws of the State in regard to wills, after the appointment of Register, to apply to said district. The Commissioners of Anne Arundel to levy, including Howard District, a sum sufficient to defray all liabilities up to the time of passing this Act. The sessions of the Court to be held on the second Monday of March and third Monday in September. Ellicott's Mills was chosen.
Howard District existed for a decade. At the Constitutional Convention of 1851, Judge Thomas Beale Dorsey, of Howard District, a delegate thereof, on January 29, 1851, presented the petition of James Sykes and others, praying that Howard District of Anne Arun- del be made a separate county to be called Howard County. The petition having been read, Mr. Dorsey moved its reference to the Committee upon Representation. Mr. Bowie moved its reference to a select committee, which was adopted. The committee was Messrs. Dorsey, Bowie, Smith, Harbine and Ricaud. Mr. Dorsey spoke in favor of the petitioners. The report of the committee, through its chairman, reads: "That part of Anne Arundel County, called Howard District, is hereby erected into a new county, to be called Howard County; the inhabitants thereof shall have, hold and enjoy all such rights and privileges as are held and enjoyed by the inhabitants of the other counties in this State; and its civil and municipal officers shall continue in office until their successors shall have been elected or appointed, and shall have qualified as such; and all rights, powers
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and obligations incident to Howard District of Anne Arundel shall attach to Howard County." This report having been read, Mr. Dorsey moved it be printed and made the order of the day for Wednesday next. Mr. Sellman, from Anne Arundel, stated that no objection had reached him from any citizen of Anne Arundel.
When the appointed day had come Mr. Dorsey called for his re- port; it was, however, postponed under a motion of Mr.Merrick, of Charles County, for the report on legislation. On Friday, March 7, 1851, Mr. Dorsey again called for his report, when it was adopted. At an election held Wednesday, November 5, 1851, Thomas Brice Hobbs was returned by the judges of election as Register of Wills for Howard County and was duly commissioned as such, having paid the tax fixed by law upon said commission. A contest was carried to the Legislature, when the House of Delegates decided that a tie existed between said Thomas B. Hobbs and Thomas Jenkins and is- sued a warrant for an election to fill the office. On the 7th of April following said election resulted in the return of Mr. Thomas B. Hobbs, who was commissioned without a demand for his commission tax by order of the Assembly
By Act, Chapter 110, the Treasurer of the County was ordered to be chosen by the people.
Dr. William W. Watkins was elected the first State Senator of Howard.
By Act, Chapter 364, George B. Dobbin was appointed Visitor from Howard County to the Maryland Hospital and John K. Longwell for the new county of Carroll.
The first voting place in Howard was the " Old Election House," on the "Old Rolling Road," which divides the third and fifth. It still stands under a hill just west of the Tyson Mansion, which was built about the time of the organization of the county. This once splendid estate, upon which one hundred thousand dollars were ex- pended in its equipment, bears a name which reads the same both ways. It was the invention of General Tyson, now adopted for the neighboring post-office of Glenelg.
General Joseph Tyson served under President Tyler as Assistant Postmaster-General and as Commissary-General of the United States Army. He was also president of a mining company. His son, Henry H. Tyson, was a member of the Maryland Legislature in 1877. Tyson's Manor house has been the scene of the most brilliant enter- tainments in Howard. This estate is now held by Mr. Knox.
Upon that same rolling road, leading toward Elk Ridge, is "Car- rollton Hall" or "Folly Quarter," upon which another one hundred thousand dollars were spent.
In connection with Doughoregan Manor, an excellent review of this home has been given from the Baltimore "Sun," of December 20, 1900.
The first statistical correspondent of Howard County for the Department of Washington, under Horace Capron, Commissioner of
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Agriculture, was Dr. Horatio Lawrence. He was assisted by Hon. James Morris, Judge H. O. Devries, Hon. John R. Clarke and Aaron Chadwick.
Dr. Lawrence was a descendant of Sir. Robert Lawrence, of Ashton Hall, Lancashire, England; knighted during the Crusades. His grandson James married Matilda Washington. Dr. Lawrence lies buried in the Friends' Cemetery at Sandy Spring. His son, Daw- son Laurence, was the chief actor in getting up an excellent map of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, in 1870, to which I am indebted for some data and locations of estates. From him also, comes the curious genealogical note concerning an old Howard County school- mate, "Thomas Peddicord, son of Jasper, oldest son and his grand- father's oldest grandson, was born in November and married Rebecca; Washington A. Peddicord, son of Thomas, oldest son and his grand- father's oldest grandson, was born in November and married Re- becca; Thomas J. Peddicord, son of Washington, oldest son and his grandfather's oldest grandson, was born in November and married Rebecca."
Mr. Thomas J. Peddicord left Howard in early manhood and is now a prominent lawyer of Washington County.
THOMAS BRICE WORTHINGTON HOBBS.
Thomas Brice Worthington Hobbs, the first Register of Wills of Howard County, at an advanced age, now resides in Baltimore.
There was a contest over his first election, and it was again placed before the people, who confirmed his election by an increased majority. Mr. Hobbs is an intelligent, genial gentleman of dignified bearing and pleasant address. His record was most excellent. He was succeeded by Mr. Ely Peddicord, whose successor was Benjamin Dorsey, who died in office.
Hon. Edwin Warfield, now Governor, followed Mr. Dorsey, and his successors were Messrs. Maclin, Scaggs and Marlow.
Mr. Hobbs is the son of Peregrine Hobbs by his wife, Mary (Howard) Hobbs. Mr. Peregrine Hobbs was in the War of 1812. His father, Thomas Hobbs, was the surveyor who took up the large estate extending to the east of the Westminister road from Cooks- ville to Glenwood. A further history of this surveyor will be found elsewhere in the history of Howard County.
EDWIN PARSONS HAYDEN.
Edwin Parsons Hayden, first Clerk of Howard County Court, 1847-1850, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, August 7, 1811. He was the son of Horace H. Hayden, M. D., an eminent geologist of Baltimore and a Founder and President of the Baltimore Dental College. Dr. Hayden was a soldier in the War of 1812, serving in the battle of North Point, 1814, and as Assistant Surgeon in the Military Hospital. His father, Adjutant Thomas Hayden, Continental line, served through the Revolutionary War. The original ancestor, Wil-
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liam Hayden, of Connecticut, was a soldier, and the first one to receive honorable mention for gallantry in the Indian Wars of New England. He received land in 1642 for his services, which land, as well as his sword, the family still own after 260 years. Edwin Parsons Hayden was educated at Baltimore College and studied law at Yale College, where he was a classmate of Governor Thomas Watkins Ligon, of Howard County, during the years 1831 and 1832. In 1832 he was admitted to the bar in Baltimore and continued his studies under Hugh Davy Evans, L. L. D., of that city. In 1836, he moved to his farm at Catonsville and began the practice of law at Ellicott's Mills, where he located in 1840, building the handsome stone residence at "Oak Lawn," near the Court House. This home his family occupied until it was sold in the seventies to Henry A. Wooten, Esq., whose widow now lives there. Mr. Hayden is described by one of his con- temporaries as "a lawyer of more than ordinary ability, a successful pleader at the hustings and a decided Whig. He was a man of hand- some features, pleasing manners and an easy and graceful speaker." He was nominated by the Whig party for the Legislature of Mary- land in 1846, and in October, 1846, was elected by a large Demo- cratic vote. He took his seat in the House of Delegates and served until March 10, 1847, when he was appointed by the Governor to the office of Clerk of Howard County Court for the usual term of six years. He was a member of the Howard County Dragoons, Charles Carroll, Captain, and a communicant of St. Peter's Protestant Epis- copal Church. He died of congestion of the lungs, May 10, 1850, aged thirty-nine, leaving his widow and six children. One of his sons, Charles L., served in the United States Army in 1861, and another, Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden, served in the Confederate States Army, 1861-1865. He is now Secretary and Librarian of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania; member of the Southern Historical Society and Pennsylvania His- torical Society.
Rev. Mr. Hayden is the author of "Virginia Genealogist," most accurate in data and most comprehensive in scope and material. He is also the author of a sketch of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, and a history of "The Massacre of Wyoming." He resides at Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, and has charge of a church in addition to his editorial labors.
Another son of Mr. Edwin Parson Hayden" is a prominent mer- chant of Baltimore.
WORTHINGTON.
Dr. William Henry Worthington, successor to Mr. Hayden, was born January 30, 1812, died January 5, 1886; was twice married- first, to Mary Ann Jones Dorsey; second, Ellen Dall Cooke. He was son of Thomas Worthington and Eliza (Baldwin) Worthington, he was born at his paternal home, situated near the locality known as "Rising Sun," in Anne Arundel County. His parents both died, leaving him and one daughter, Achsah, very young children.
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Achsah-Rinaldo Warfield Dorsey, and they had one son, Joshua Worthington Dorsey, whose mother died leaving him about two years old. Rinaldo Warfield Dorsey afterwards married Margaret Ann Stockwell, by whom he had Christiana Wilton Dorsey, who mar- ried Lieutenant Edwin S. Jacob, United States Navy.
Dr. Charles Griffith Worthington became guardian for his brother Thomas's children, and with him William Henry Worthington studied medicine. He graduated at the Maryland University at the age of twenty-one. Inherited from his uncle, Brice Worthington, the old homestead, situated on Middle branch of Patuxent River, adjoin- ing "Montpelier." The old homestead was known at that time as "White Hall;" in later years the name was changed to "Glenburnie." A part of this same property now belongs to Joshua Worthington Dorsey, known as "Wild Wood." In 1858 William Henry Worth- ington sold the old home, reserving the graveyard, with a right of way to it, for the benefit of any of the family who might care to be buried there. Up to that time, 1858, there were five generations buried there, and many of the inscriptions on the old tombstones were scarcely legible. After the sale of the place William Henry Worthington went to Ellicott City with the intention of moving there, thence to St. Paul, Minnesota. He spent the winter of 1858 in St. Paul; made some investments in town property; but on his return changed his mind about taking his family there, thinking the climate too severe to be endured by women tenderly raised. From early manhood, to and up to the time he left the old home, he was a member of Christ Church, Queen Caroline Parish, holding the posi- tion of vestryman, warden, register and delegate to the convention of the Diocese. While a resident of Ellicott City he was a member of St. Peters' Church, holding like positions. He was County Commis- sioner at the time Howard district became Howard County, and was one of the committee appointed to select the site and direct the building of the Court House in Ellicott City, then known as Ellicott's Mills. He was appointed Clerk of the County Court by Governor Philip Frances Thomas to fill an unexpired term, at the expiration of which term he was elected by the people for the usual term of six years. He afterwards held a position in the Custom House, Balti- more, during the administration of James Buchanan. In 1885 he was obliged, on account of failing health, to give up the practice of medicine, and he then moved to Baltimore, where he died.
JUDGE ISAAC THOMAS JONES.
Born in 1838, Judge Jones, of Howard, is just in the prime of his judicial career. Cares rest lightly upon his genial life. He is a com- bined son of both Anne Arundel and Howard. His progenitor lived upon the Patuxent, near Queen Anne, in Prince George's. By his wife, who was Miss Knighton, of Anne Arundel, he had sons-Isaac, Edward, Henry and Samuel.
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Isaac Jones-Miss Hopkins, of the Gerrard Hopkins family, and their issue were, Edward, Elizabeth, Henry, Samuel and Sarah, Re- becca, Mary and Richard Jones.
Edward Jones resided upon the road leading from Owingsville to Mt. Pleasant, on the Patuxent. He married Miss Croxall, a de- scendant daughter of Richard Croxall, by the sister of James Carroll, of All Hallows Parish. She was a great-granddaughter of Robert Morris. The issue of her marriage to Edward Jones is our present Judge Isaac Thomas Jones, Mary Elizabeth, Augusta, Ida E., Anna M. and Arthur L. Jones.
Judge Jones married Mary, daughter of Richard Gambrill by Miss Iglehart, daughter of Richard Iglehart, of the neighborhood of Atholton, Howard. Mrs. Jones is a sister of Mr. Stephen Gambrill, of Laurel. Judge Jones removed to Howard in 1864, was elected a mem- ber of the Legislature in 1868; was chosen Judge of Howard District, in 1882, and re-elected fifteen years later, in 1897, without opposition. In 1899 he was made Chief Judge of Fifth District and Judge of the Court of Appeals. His Howard County estate is near the Old Brick Church. A granite quarry of excellent stone has recently been devel- oped upon it. Mr. Samuel Jones, the merchant of Annapolis, who bears a striking likeness to Judge Jones, is the son of Henry Jones, an uncle of the Judge.
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