BIOGRAPHIES FROM:
HISTORY OF
HARFORD COUNTY, MARYLAND
FROM 1608
(The YEAR of SMITH's EXPEDITION)
TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR OF 1812
BY
WALTER W. PRESTON, A. M.
BEL AIR, MARYLAND
1901
Press of Sun Book Office
Baltimore, Md.
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DANIEL
SCOTT was a native of Harford, being one of the seven
children of Aquila Scott, whose ancestors for
generations had been planters and large landowners in
Baltimore and Harford counties, one of them having given the
land to Baltimore county on which the first courthouse at
Joppa was built, and when Harford was established and the
new county seat was chosen at Scott's Oldfields, now
Bel Air, the subject of the present sketch conveyed to the
county the ground upon which the courthouse and jail are
still standing.
He was the surveyor of the county and was elected a
member of the Committee of Harford from Bush River Lower
Hundred, and was one of the signers of Harford's famous
declaration.
Daniel Scott died about the year 1828, leaving
an only child, Otho Scott, who became the leading
member of the bar of Harford county and one of the most
distinguished lawyers in Maryland.
The latter, in 1860, codified the Laws of Maryland,
condensing into two volumes all the varied and unskillfully
framed laws passed in the State since its foundation.
The Code of 1860 stands as a monument to his memory, many
leading lawyers pronouncing it the best code ever produced.
It is peculiarly appropriate that his portrait now adorns
the courtroom at Bel Air, which was the theatre of many of
his achievements.
It is a singular fact that a majority of the
descendants of the signers of the Harford declaration still
live in their native county, many of the very farms worked
for generations by their ancestors, and the late Daniel
Scott was a conspicuous example of this, he having
resided on the same land which had been in the family for
more than two centuries. This continued possession and
occupancy of the land speaks volumes for the healthfulness
and beauty of Harford and attests the love of the
descendants for the land of their illustrious ancestors.
Source:
History of Harford Co., Maryland - by Walter W. Preston, A. M. Bel
Air, Maryland - 1901 - Page 228 |
WILLIAM
SMITHSON. A large land owner and venerated
judge and citizen was William Smithson, who was born
in the year 1745. He built and for thirty-five years
occupied his residence, which is now called the Farnandis
Homestead, near Bel Air, and died there Jan. 17, 1809.
The house was built by him in 1774, the year of the
formation of the county, and compares favorably now with the
best of our modern buildings. William Smithson,
although a man of wealth, was an ardent friend of liberty,
and advocated that cause in the Revolution. We find
his name subscribed to the Bush declaration of March, 1775,
and he was one of the first of the Lord's Justices of the
county. On the adoption of the new judiciary system he
became one of the three judges of the Circuit Court for
Harford county, and occupied a seat in the old courthouse in
Bel Air, his colleagues being Henry Ridgely and
Benedict Edward Hall.
William Smithson owned the large tract of land near
Bel Air, now designated as the "Homestead" farm. On
his death in 1809, leaving no children, after making
provision for his widow, he devised his land to his niece
Elizabeth, wife of Col. Harry Dorsey, and to her
brother William, both of whom were the children of
the testator's brother Daniel, and both of whom had
been reared in the home of their uncle William.
Elizabeth's share of the land was entailed by the will
to her daughter Mary, who became the wife of
William Farnandis, and the mother of Hon. Henry D.
Farnandis, recently deceased. Mrs. Mary
Farnandis' death antedated that of her distinguished son
Henry only about twelve years, and both of them are
well remembered for their hospitality, courtesy and
unswerving fidelity to their friends. This latter
quality seems to have been a characteristic of the family,
and was pre-eminent in Mr. Henry D. Farnandis, whose
memory will ever be cherished by the bar of his county, of
which he was its brightest ornament.
Elizabeth Dorsey had but one daughter, the
Mary Farnandis above stated.
William Smithson, Jr., has a number of
descendants at present residing in Harford county, among
whom are the Smithsons, Forwoods, Websters, Govers, Bonds
and Bulls. Mr. William S. Forwood, Jr., clerk
of the Circuit Court for Harford County, is his great
grandson. Besides the "Homestead," William
Smithson, Sr., owned land between Bel Air and the
Catholic Church at Hickory, which he had bought of Thomas
Pycraft Presbury.
His will, admitted to probate Jan. 25, 1809, was
witnessed by John Guyton, Joseph Robinson, and
John Reardon. The testator's wife Elizabeth,
and his son-in-law, Henry Dorsey, were named as
executors.
Just outside the southeasterly limits of Belair, and
along the division line between the Fulford and
Homestead farms, is the old graveyard of the Smithson
and Farnandis families. After diligent search
the headstone over the grave of William Smithson was
found, nearly sunk in the ground and quite hidden by the
weeds and grass. On the tomb is this inscription:
IN MEMORY
OF
WILLIAM SMITHSON
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE JANUARY 17, 1809,
AGED 64 YEARS.
Source:
History of Harford Co., Maryland - by Walter W. Preston, A. M. Bel
Air, Maryland - 1901 - Page 219 |
COL.
JOHN STREETT. The Street family is one
of the oldest in Harford county. Three brothers -
David, Thomas and John - came to America from
London early in the eighteenth century. One, John,
went to Philadelphia; David settled on the Eastern
Shore of Maryland, and Thomas in Harford (then
Baltimore) county, Maryland.
Rev. Nicholas Street, who was born in London in
1603, the year of the death of Queen Elizabeth, and
who came to America in 1637-8 and settled at Taunton, Mass.,
and afterwards became a distinguished theologian, is said to
have been of the same family as the Harford County
Streetts.
Thomas Streett, before the Revolution, took out
a patent for seven hundred acres of land above the Rocks of
Deer Creek, called Streett's Hunting Ground, part of
which is yet in the possession of his descendants.
Thomas Streett was residing on this property in
1774, at the time of the foundation of the county.
Besides a large number of the name now in Harford many other
prominent families here are descended from Thomas Streett.
Among them are Williams, Fendal, Waters, Bell, Gladden,
Baldwin, Glenn, Whiteford, CAirnes, Amos, Den Bow, Bevard,
St. Clair, Holmes and many others.
Col. John Streett was born in the year 1762 in
what is now Marshall's district of Harford county, where he
died in the year 1837. His wife's name was Martha
St. Clair. He was an extensive farmer, owning more
than three thousand acres. He was also a successful
business man and was prominent in the politics of the
county, serving twelve times consecutively in the Maryland
Legislature as a representative from Harford.
At the time of the British attack upon Baltimore, in
September, 1814, a call was made for troops from the
surrounding country. Colonel treett marched
with his cavalry command from Harford county to the defence
of that city,and served with the brigade of cavalry at North
Point. In this command as officers were Capt. Clem
Butler and Capt. McAtee, and several of
Colonel Streett's sons also served under him.
The children of Col. John Streett were:
James, born August 22, 1789.
Mary, who married Henry Amos.
John, born 1791.
William
Shadrach.
Thomas, who married Catherine Marryman.
St. Clair, born 1798, who married Miss Jarrett.
Dr. Abraham J., born in 1800; married Elizabeth
Streett.
Charlotte, who married Silas Baldwin.
Source:
History of Harford Co., Maryland - by Walter W. Preston, A. M. Bel
Air, Maryland - 1901 - Page 226 |
| JOHN
STUMP, OF STRATFORD. John
Stump and Mary, his wife, were Prussians of wealth and
culture, who came to Maryland about the year 1700. The
name of his European ancestors is said to have been spelled
Stumpf. John Stump was a cousin of
Baron Friederich von der Trenck, the younger of the two
famous kinsman of that name, who figured conspicuously
during the reign of Frederick the Great.
John Stump purchased a large tract of land near the
present town of Perryville, in Cecil county, where he died
in 1747, having divided his property by will between his
only surviving children, John and Henry. In
that year, or in the next, Henry Stump removed to the
valley of Deer Creek, in Harford county, then part of
Baltimore county, where he had purchased a farm. He
married Rachel Perkins, by whom he had several
children, and many of his descendants are living in Harford
and Cecil counties. He was the ancestor of the
Honorable John H. Price, once judge of the judicial
circuit composed of Baltimore, Cecil and Harford counties;
of the Hon. Henry Stump, formerly judge of the
Criminal Court of Baltimore city, and of the latter's
nephew, the Hon. Frederick Stump, recently a judge of
the Second Judicial Circuit. John Stump married
Hannah, daughter of William Husbands, a
descendant on the female side of Augustine Herman,
(whence the name of Herman in the Stump family),
of Bohemia Manor. In 1796 he, too, moved to Harford ,
having sold his own property, and that inherited by his
wife, consisting of several farms. He died in 1797,
leaving three children - Hannah, who married her
cousin, John Stump, son of Henry, above
mentioned; Herman, who married Elizabeth Dallam,
and John. Elizabeth Dallam subsequently married
Abraham Jarrett, and was the mother of Capt. A.
Lirngan Jarrett for many years clerk of the Circuit
Court for Harford county. John was born
Apr. 19, 1753, and married Oct. 3, 1779, Cassandra,
daughter of Henry Wilson, a Quaker of much influence,
who was noted for his patriotic zeal during the Revolution.
Henry, the brother of Cassandra, was a member
of the Committee of Observation of his native county, and
was conspicuous in collecting and forwarding supplies for
the relief of the people of Boston during its blockade by
the British squadron. He and John Archer, M.
B., several of whose descendants subsequently inter-married
with the Stump family, were chosen in November, 1776,
by popular vote, "elector of a Senate of Harford county,"
and were also members of the Provincial Convention.
John Stump, after acquiring by his industry and
enterprise, an estate, which was at that time probably the
largest in the State, died at his residence, "Stafford,"
near the mouth of Deer Creek, in1816, leaving each of his
eight children wealthy. He was in business, and had
mills at Stafford, Rock Run and Bush, in Harford county, and
at Alexandria, in Virginia. He was probably the
leading merchant and manufacturer of his day in the State.
He signed in 1776 the Association of the Freemen of
Maryland. John Stump's partners in business
were his brother Herman Stump, John Wilson, Samuel
Carter, and John Thomas Ricketts. John
Stump built several vessels at Rock Run and Havre de
Grace, and shipped flour and other things directly from the
Susquehanna to England. His son, John Wilson,
besides being engaged in agricultural pursuits, was at the
head of an extensive commercial firm in Baltimore city,
having as his partner Hon. James W. Williams, who
married his sister, and who, in 1841, represented Congress
Harford and Cecil counties. Mr. John W. Stump,
whilst returning on one of his vessels from France, in 1814,
when the British fleet was in Chesapeake bay, barely escaped
capture, and reached the city of Baltimore
in time to participate in its defence as aid of Gen.
Stricker. On Jan. 13, 1814, he married Sarah,
daughter of Col. James Biays, a large shipping
merchant of Baltimore, who owned many vessels, and aided
materially in building up the commerce of the city.
John W. Stump was the father of Hon. Herman Stump,
President of the Maryland Senate, member of Congress and
Commissioner-General of Immigration. Colonel Bias
commanded the cavalry at the battle of North Point, and in
the official reports of that battle was highly commended for
his efficiency. There now reside in Harford, among
whom are Stumps, Lees, Archers, Constables, Smithsons.
Ann, daughter of John Stump, of Stafford, was the
mother of Hon. Henry W. Archer.
Source:
History of Harford Co., Maryland - by Walter W. Preston, A. M. Bel
Air, Maryland - 1901 - Page 216 |
|
