USA > Maryland > The founders of Maryland as portrayed in manuscripts, provinical records and early documents > Part 5
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Daniel Clocker.2
A.D. 1637.
Charles Maynard.
Stephen Gray.
Ann Wiggin.
Alice Moreman.
Francis Shirley.
A. D. 1639.
Nicholas Gwyther.5
William Freak.
Edmund Jaques.
Morris Freeman.
Richard Farmer. Jeremiah Coote,
Edmund Deering.
Martha Jackson.
- George, a tailor.
A.D. 1640.
William Durford.
Henry Brooke.
Edward Matthews. Hannah Ford.
George, a Smith.
1 Assemblyman in 163S.
" Signer of Protestant Declaration in 1648.
3 Married in 1639 to John Hollis.
'Married in 1639 to Francis Gray, carpenter, who was in Assem- bly, of 1638.
" Sheriff of St. Mary County.
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CORNWALLIS SERVANTS.
A.D. 1641.
Francis Anthill. Edward Ward.
Richard Harvey.1
Robert King.
Charles Rawlinson.
Mary Phillips.
Richard Harris.
John Wheatley.
Thomas Harrison. Wheatley's wife. A.D. 1642.
Thomas Rockwood. Elizabeth Batte.
John Rockwood.
A.D. 1646.
Magdalene Wittle.
A.D. 1651.
Robert Curtis. John Maylande.
William Sinckleare. John Eston.
Thomas Frisell. Sarah Lindle.
William Wells.
In another memorandum he mentions the follow- ing persons :
A.D. 1633-34.
John Hallowes. Roger Walter.
John Holden. Roger Morgan.
Josias, drowned.
A.D. 1635.
William Penshoot. Richard Brown.
Richard Cole. Richard Brock.
John Medley .?
In a memorial to the Assembly of Maryland Corn-
' A tailor.
' In Legislature A.D., 1647.
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THE FOUNDERS OF MARYLAND.
wallis uses this language: " It is well known, he hath at his great cost and charges, from the first plant- ing of this Province for the space of twenty-eight years, been one of the greatest propagators and increasers thereof, by the yearly transportation of servants, whereof divers have been of very good rank and quality, towards whom and the rest he hath always been so careful to discharge a good conscience, in the true performance of his promise and obligations, that he was never taxed with any breach thereof, though it is also well known and he doth truly aver it, that the charge of so great a family, as he hath always main- tained was never defrayed by their labor."1
He appears now to be making arrangements for building on the point of the Potomac, above Potopaco. A contract was made on November 23, 1652, with Cornelius Canada brickmaker, and former servant of Governor Green, to deliver thirty-six thousand sound, well burned bricks, before a certain day in June, 1653, and another twenty-four thousand before the 24th of June, 1654.2
In 1654, he again visited England, and before he re- turned, was married to a young maiden, Penelope, daughter of John Wiseman of Middle Temple, and Tyrrels, in county Essex.3 The marriage probably
1 Annapolis Manuscripts.
' Private Correspondence . of Jane, Lady Cornwallis, 1613-1664. London, 1842.
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CORNWALLIS POSTERITY.
took place in 1657, his wife at that time being twenty- one years of age.
In 1658 he appears in Maryland with his young wife, and early in 1659, left, never to return. His affairs in the Province, were entrusted to an attorney, and he began to be designated as a " merchant of London."
In Norfolk County, England, there is a place called Maryland Point, named by a retired American mer- chant who built a house there, and that person is sup- posed to have been Thomas Cornwallis of Burnham Thorpe, the best and wisest of the founders of Mary- land. He died in 1676 at the age of seventy-two, leaving a widow forty years of age, by whom he had four sons and six daughters.
His second son Thomas born in 1662, just after his mother's return from Maryland, was a clergyman of the Church of England, and died in 1731, Rector of a parish in Suffolk.
A son of the Suffolk Rector, William, born in 1708, also became a clergyman and died in 1746, Rector of Chelmondester, Suffolk.
William's son, William, born in 1751, followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and became Rector of Wittersham and Elam, Kent. His wife Mary was a woman of piety and culture, and published " Observations on the canonical Scriptures," the last edition of which was published in 1828, in four volumes.
His daughter Caroline Frances, was a Greek and
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THE FOUNDERS OF MARYLAND.
Hebrew scholar, poetess, brilliant writer, and friend of Sismondi. She wrote the article on Wycliffe and his Times, in the Westminster Review of July 1854, and on the Capabilities and Disabilities of Woman, in January 1857, and was the authoress of Pericles, a tale of Athens, a Prize Essay on Juvenile Delinquency, and a series of valuable works on physiology, Greek philosophy, and the development of Christian doctrine and practice, published as Small Books on Great Subjects.1
She died unmarried in 1858, the last descendant of Thomas, the second son of the prudent Commissioner of Maryland.
1 Letters of Caroline Frances Cornwallis, London, 1864.
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JEROME HAWLEY, COMMISSIONER.
JEROME Hawley was the joint commissioner with Cornwallis, in settling the Province of Maryland. He was the son of James Hawley of Brentford near London, and seems when a young man to have had some connection with the trial of the dissolute wife of the Earl of Somerset, for conspiring to poison the poet Sir Thomas Overbury, the nephew of the person after whom Palmer's Island, in the Susquehanna, was named. Among the British State Papers, there is an order to the commissioners in the Overbury Case, from King James, dated November 25, 1615, directing that "Jerome son of James Hawley now close prisoner in the Gate House, be released, on condition of his not going farther than his father's house at Brentford.1
About this time, Jerome Hawley reported that Sir John Leeds and wife declared, that the King " was unwieldy, could not unlock a door, but might jump out of the window," and Lady Leeds further said, she would speak treason, because the King said "most women were atheists or papists."2
1 Green State Papers.
? Green State Papers.
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THE FOUNDERS OF MARYLAND.
After the accession of Charles the First to the throne, he was one of the sewers or superintendent of the ban- quets of Queen Henrietta Maria.
His brother Henry, by the influence of the Puritan Earl of Warwick, became Governor of Barbadoes in 1636, and while he was visiting England in 1638 another brother, William, acted as Deputy.1
After Cornwallis killed some of the Virginians in Maryland waters, Jerome Hawley immediately sailed for England to defend the action of his fellow com- missioner, and in June 1635 arrived in London, and appeared before the Privy Council. He remained there for a long period, and on the 27th of June 1636, pro- posed to meet the King at Court, on the next Sunday, to make some proposals relative to the tobacco trade, and on the 4th of August, an order was issued to the Governor and Council of Virginia, that all tobacco should be consigned to London in English ships, and duly inspected. Early the next year, Jerome Hawley was appointed to receive the annual rent of twelve pence, upon every fifty acres of land granted in Virginia, and was made Treasurer of the Colony. Arriving at Jamestown he took the oath of allegiance, and entered upon his duties.
On February 26, 1638, one George Reade writes to his brother, a clerk of Secretary Windebank : " Mr.
1 Sainsbury Papers.
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JAMES HAWLEY'S LETTER.
Hawley has not proved the man he took him for, hav- ing neither given auy satisfaction for money, received of him, nor brought him any servants."
In the summer of 1638 Treasurer Hawley died, and Thomas Cornwallis was the administrator of his estate. From the account of administration rendered ou April 20, 1639, it is evident that Hawley was poor. His brother William, removed from Barbadoes, and in 1650, was one of the signers of the Protestant Declara- tion. The following letter of James, another brother of Jerome living at Brentford has been preserved,1 addressed to Captain William Hawley.
" Loving Brother: I received lately a letter from you dated the 26th of February last, by which, to un- derstand of your good health doth much gladden me. 'As concerning your intent for Maryland I do like well of it, and do herewith send you the copy of writings betwixt my brother Jerome deceased, and myself from which will appear a large sum of money to be due unto me, from him, which by virtue of my power of attorney, I do authorize you to receive in my behalf.
" Upon the decease of my brother Jerome, one Corn- wallis did seize upon his estate, pretending that he was indebted unto him, but I am informed it was only a doubtful pretence, to defraud me.
" If by your means, anything may be gotten, I will
I Annapolis Manuscripts.
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THE FOUNDERS OF MARYLAND.
assist you for the present. My brother Henry, hath promised to procure a letter from my Lord Baltimore, in your behalf, which will be much to your advantage. As concerning the Statute, I send you only a copy thereof at present, but if it will be useful to you, you may have the original sent unto you, when you require it. You must pretend your own right as next heir to brother Jerome, as well as my interest, for indeed there is only one daughter of his, before you, which is at Brabant, and mindeth not the same.
So with my hearty desire of your good prosperity and welfare, at present cease, resting ever
Your loving brother, JAMES HAWLEY.
Brentford, Co. Middlesex, 30th of July, 1649.
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أو السوي لم
RELIGION IN THE PROVINCE, UNTIL THE EXECUTION OF CHARLES THE FIRST.
ON the 29th of October, 1632, in consequence of a rumor that persons were on board, who had scruples of conscience against the oath of allegiance, Edward Hawkins, a Searcher of London, visited the Ark and the Dove, and administered the following Oath, to all whom he found.
"I do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify, and declare in my conscience, before God and the world;
"That our Sovereign Lord, King Charles, is lawful and rightful King of this realm, and of all other his Majesty's dominions and countrie, and that the Pope neither of himself, nor by any authority by the Church, or See of Rome, or by any other means with any other, hath any power or authority to depose the King, or to dispose of any of his Majesty's Kingdoms or dominions ; or to authorize any foreign Prince, to invade or annoy him or his countries ; or to discharge any of his subjects of their allegiance, and obedience to his Majesty; or to give license or leave to any of them to bear arms, raise tumults, or to offer any violence or hurt, to his
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الكـ
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THE FOUNDERS OF MARYLAND.
Majesty's royal person, state, or government, or to any of his Majesty's subjects within his Majesty's domains.
" And I do swear from my heart, that notwithstand. ing any declaration, or sentence of excommunication, or deprivation, made or granted by the Pope, or his suc- cessors, or by any authority derived, or pretended to be derived from him, or his See, against the said King, his heir or successors, or any absolution of the said subjects from their obedience, I will bear faith and true allegiance to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my power, against all conspiracies and attempts whatso- ever, which shall be made against his or their persons, their crown and dignity, by reason or color of any such sentence, or declaration, or otherwise; and will do my best endeavor to disclose and make known unto his Majesty, his heirs and successors, all treasons, or traitorous conspiracies, which I shall know or hear of, to be against him or any of them.
" And I do further swear, that I do from my heart, abhor, detest, and abjure, as impious and heretical, this damnable doctrine and position ; that, Princes which be excommunicated or deprived by the Pope, may be deposed or murthered by their subjects, or any other whatsoever.
" And I do believe, and in conscience am resolved, that neither the Pope, nor any person whatsoever, hath power to absolve me of this Oath, or any part thereof,
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DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND.
which I acknowledge by good and full authority to be lawfully ministered unto me, and do renounce all par- dons, and dispensations to the contrary. And all these things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear, according to these express words by me spoke, and according to the plain, and common sense and understanding of the same words, without any equi- vocation or mental evasion, or secret reservation whatsoever. And I do make this recognition and ac- knowledgment heartily, willingly, and truly upon the true faith of a Christian : So help me God."
After this oath was taken, the vessels proceeded to the Isle of Wight, when Father White and others who had not taken the oath, had an opportunity to come aboard. White, in his Journal, published by the Maryland Historical Society, thus describes the sail- ing of Lord Baltimore's colony, for America.
" On the twenty-second of November, in the year 1633, being St. Cecilia's day, we set sail from Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, with a gentle east wind blowing. And after committing the principal parts of the ship to the protection of God especially, and of His most Holy Mother, and St. Ignatius, we sailed on a little way be- tween the two shores, and the wind failing us, we stopped opposite Yarmouth Castle, which is near the southern end of the same island.
" Here we were received with a cheerful salute of artillery. Yet we were not without apprehension, for
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THE FOUNDERS OF MARYLAND.
the sailors were murmuring among themselves, saying that they were expecting a messenger with letters from London, and from this it seemed as if they were even contriving to delay us. But God brought their plans to confusion, for that very night a favorable but strong wind arose, and a French cutter, which had put into the same harbor with us, being forced to set sail, came near running into our pinnace. The latter, therefore, to avoid being run down, having cut away and lost an anchor, set sail without delay, and since it was danger- ous to drift about in that place, made haste to get further out to sea. And so, that we might not lose sight of our pinnace, we determined to follow. Thus the designs of the sailors who were plotting against us, were frustrated. This happened on the 23d of No- vember, St. Clement's day."
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Father White also states, that "if you except the usual sea-sickness, no one was attacked by any disease, until the festival of the nativity of our Lord.
" In order that the day might be better kept, wine was given out, and those who drank of it too freely were seized the next day with a fever, and of these not long afterwards, about twelve died, of whom two were Catholics."
Newport, the commander of the first expedition for the settlement of Virginia, planted a cross1 near the
Newport's Relation.
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JESUIT MISSIONARIES.
Falls of James River, suitably inscribed, and took pos- session of the country in the name of Christ, and King James. The Maryland colonists claimed the region, between the Potomac and Atlantic, in March 1634, with similar ceremonies.
During the year 1635, the Jesuit Mission near Saint Mary, was composed of Father White, Altham alias Gravener, Thomas Gervase, and John Knowles, lay-assistant.1 Like the Jesuits of Canada, engaging in trade and farming, as a means of support, they employed many servants.2
On the 11th of December, 1635, the Privy Council of England considered a charge, that Francis Rabnett of Maryland, a servant of a brother of Sir John Win- ter, had declared "that it" was lawful and meritorious
1 In the catalogue of Clerkenwell College, 1627, in the Camden Society Publications are the following names :
Johannes Gravenerius. Thomas Gervasii. Philippus Fisherus [alias Musket].
? In the Annapolis Land Records there is the following list of ser- vants of Mr. Andrew White and Altham for 1633-4:
Thos. Statham, Robert Simpson, Mary Jennings,
Matthias Sousa, John Hilliard, Robert Shirley,
M. Rogers, John Hill,
Christopher Carnock,
Jolin Bryant, Wm. Ashmore, Rich'd Lusthead,
Mich. Hervey, Robt. Edwards,
Thos. Charinton,
Wm. Edwyn, Thos. Grimston,
Rich'd Duke,
H'y Bishop, Thos. Hatch,
John Thomson,
John Thornton, Lewis Fremonds,
John Hollis,
Rich'd Cole, John Elkin,
Thos. Hodges.
Rich'd Nevill or Nicholl,
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THE FOUNDERS OF MARYLAND.
to · kill a heretic king." Commissioner Hawley, who was present at the discussion, was asked if he had ever declared that "he was come to plant in Mary- land the Romish religion." He " utterly denied " that he had ever made that statement.1
Before or during the year 1637, came Fathers Fer- dinand Pulton,2 Thomas Copley,3 and lay-brother Walter Morley.
Copley was the grandson of Thomas Copley, who fled to Paris during Queen Elizabeth's reign, and was knighted by the King of France. His father, William, married Margareta Prideaux, who had been educated under her aunt, a Prioress at Louvain. Among the records of the Province of Maryland, at Annapolis, is the following warrant of Charles the First.
" Whereas Thomas Copley gentleman, an alien born, is a recusant, and may be subject to be troubled for his religion, and forasmuch we are well satisfied of the conditions and qualities of the said Thomas Copley and of his loyalty and obedience towards us we do
' State Papers.
2 On Nov. 30, 1638, applied for land due by conditions of plantation, for transporting
Walter Morley, Richard Disney, and Charles, the Welshman.
3 On August 8, 1637, Mr. Thomas Copley and Mr. John Knolls transported.
Robert Kadger, Luke Gardner,
Walter King,
Thos. Davison, Thos. Motham, George White,
Richard Cox, John Martin, John Tue.
Robert Sedgrave, Jas. Compton,
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FATHER COPLEY.
hereby will and require you, and every of you whom it may concern, to permit and further the said Thomas Copley freely and quietly to attend in any place, and to go about and follow his occupation, without molest- ing or troubling him, by any means whatsoever for matters of religion, or the persons and places of those unto whom he shall resort, and this shall be your warrant in his behalf.
" Give, under our signet, at our Palace at Westmins- ter, the 10th day of December, in the 10th year of our reign."
Among the Land Office memoranda is the follow- ing : " Thomas Copley Esq., demandeth 4000 acres of land, due by conditions of plantations, for transporting into this Province himself and twenty able men, at his own charge to plant and inhabit, in the year 1637."
A few months later, it is recorded that there has been " shipped in the St. Margaret, for Thomas Cop- ley Esq., cloth, hatchets, knives, hoes, to trade with the Indians for beaver.
On November 30th of this year, also came John Lewger the first Secretary of the Province, who had been a fellow student of Cecil, Lord Baltimore, at Oxford, and after graduation a clergyman of the Church of England. Becoming a member of the Church of Rome, he was made Secretary of the Colony. and exercised great influence.1 Soon after his arrival
1 See page 69.
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there was a revival of religion, which the Jesuit Relation of 1638 alludes to, in these words :
" Four fathers gave their attention to this Mission, with one assistant in temporal affairs; and he, indeed, after enduring severe toils for the space of five years, with the greatest patience, humility, and ardent love chanced to be seized by the disease prevailing at the time, and happily exchanged this wretched life, for an immortal one.
" He was also shortly followed by one of the Fathers, who was young indeed, but on account of his remarka- ble qualities of mind, evidently of great promise. He had scarcely spent two months in this mission, when to the great grief of all of us, he was carried off by the common sickness prevailing in the Colony, from which no one of the three preceding priests had escaped un- harmed, yet we have not ceased to labor to the best of our ability among the neighboring people.
" And though the rulers of this Colony have not yet allowed us to dwell among the savages, both on account of the prevailing sickness and also because of the hostile disposition yet we hope that one of us will shortly secure a station among the barbarians.
" Meanwhile, we devote ourselves more zealously to the English, and since there are Protestants as well as Catholics in the Colony, we have labored for both and God has blessed our labors. Foramong the Protestants, nearly all who have come from England in this year,
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PROTESTANTS CONVERTED.
1638, and many others have been converted to the faith, together with four servants, and five mechanics whom we hired for a month, and have in the meantime won to God *
" The sick and the dying, who have been very nu- merous this year and who dwelt far apart we have assisted in every way so that not even a single one has died without the sacraments. We have buried very many and baptized various persons. And although there are not wanting frequent occasions of dissension, yet none of any importance has arisen here in the last nine months, which we have not immediately allayed."
It was in July of this year, that William Lewis1 was fined for his contemptuous speeches concerning the clergy of the Church of England. Robert Sedgrave,2 one of the servants transported by Father Copley, drew up the following complaint, to be signed by the free- men and then presented to the Governor and Council.
" This is to give you notice of the abuses and scan- dalous reproaches which God and his ministers do daily suffer by William Lewis of St. Marie's, who saith that our ministers, are ministers of the Divell, and that our books are made by the instruments of the Divell, and further saith, that those servants which are
1 William Lewis in Nov., 1638, married Ursula Gifford. He was in the fight against the friends of Parliament in the spring of 1655 and executed for treason. Ilis widow in 1657 married a George Guttridge. 2 Sedgrave, Duke, and others hired by the Jesuits were Protest- ants.
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THE FOUNDERS OF MARYLAND.
under his charge shall not keep nor read any book which doth appertain to our religion, within the house of the said William Lewis, to the great discomfort of those poor bondmen which are under his subjection, especially in this heathen country, where no godly minister is to teach and instruct ignorant people in the grounds of religion. And as for people which cometh unto the said Lewis, or otherwise to pass the week, the said Lewis taketh occasion to call them into his chamber, and there laboureth with all vehemency, craft, and subtlety to delude ignorant persons.
" Therefore we beseech you, brethren in our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus, that you who have power, that you will do in what lieth in you, to have these absurd abuses and the ridiculous crimes to be re- claimed, and that God and his ministers may not be so heinously trodden down by such ignominious speeches," etc.
It was in the year 1638, that the first Maryland Assembly met, whose proceedings have been preserved. The persons present, or voting by proxy, were ninety, of whom twelve were Roman Catholics, including the Jesuits White, Altham, and Copley. In 1639, the Jesuit Mission consisted of Father John Brock, alias Morgan, Superior, Philip Fisher, alias Musket, Thomas Copley1 and John Gravener, and in a letter one of
1 John Gee, in Foot out of the Snare, published in 1624, mentions Father Fisher alias Musket, and Copley and Poulton. He writes,
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INDIAN CHIEF'S DREAM.
them states : "This year twelve heretics in all, wearied of former errors, have returned to favor with God and the Church."
Missions were begun among the Indians, and Father White visited Piscataway on the Potomac not many miles below Washington, where the Chief Tayac united with the Church of Rome. The Jesuit Relation states that the Chief had a wonderful vision :
" That his father, deceased some time before, ap- peared to be present before his eyes, accompanied by a god of a black color, whom he worshipped beseech- ing him that he would not desert him.
" At a short distance a most hideous demon, with a certain Snow, an obstinate heretic from England : and at length in another part the Governor of the Colony and Father White appeared, a god also being his com- panion, but much more beautiful, who excelled the unstained snow in whiteness, seeming gently to beckon the King to him. From that time he treated both the Governor and Father with the greatest affection."
Justinian Snow was one of the founders of Maryland,
"Father Musket a secular priest lodging over against St. Andrew's church, Holborn, a frequent preacher and one that hath much concourse of people to his chamber."
In Rushworth, vol. Iv, pp. 44, 68, it is mentioned that Fisher for a time was in Newgate Prison, but by the influence of Secretary Win- debank was released and harbored until he found an opportunity to go to America.
Gee alludes to " Father Copley Junior one that hath newly taken orders, and come from beyond seas."
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THE FOUNDERS OF MARYLAND.
and Lord Baltimore's factor in the Indian trade. A brother Abel was clerk in the Chancery Office, London, and Marmaduke, another, came afterwards to the Pro- vince, and both he and Justinian, in 1638, were mem- bers of the Assembly.
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