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THE HOYES OF

MARYLAND

BY

CAPTAIN CHARLES E. HOYE

Member, Maryland Historical Society

First President, Garrett County Historical Society

Good reader, blame not the wrytter for that that is myssing in this Booke is not his faulte. What he hath faounde (???) as nere as possybell he coulde he hath set downe.

         --English Parish Register of 1582. 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR

SANG RUN, MARYLAND

PRESS OF THE SINCELL PRINTING COMPANY

OAKLAND, MARYLAND

1942

 

 

FOREWORD

AS A YOUTH, tho residing in the Hoye settlement in the mountains of Maryland, I was lamentably ignorant of our family history. My interest in the matter began in 1898 while visiting great-uncle Daniel Hoye at Kirksville, Missouri. He and aunt Kate asked many questions about their kinsmen in the East. I regret that I did not ask uncle Dan and others of his generation more questions. At that time I drew a family tree.

The Spanish War took me to Florida. Next year I sailed to the Philippines, and not until my return from the Islands did I take up in earnest the study of our family history.

Fifty years ago we were told that our immigrant ancestor was Paul Hoye of Frog Harbor--father of William Waller, who mightily increased the population of the Sanging Ground. Search of the records revealed that two generations had been forgotten: the immigrant was Paul Hoy of Patuxent River.

At last we followed the trail to Ireland, where we found Hoyes in the neighborhood of Ballycarry. We believe our Scotch-Irish ancestors lived there, in the Valley of the Muttonburn.

Further back the trail is dim, but the names Hoy, Hoey, Hoye, derived from the Norse ha-ey (high isle), indicate descent from old Viking pirates who settled the Orkneys and other Islands.

The labor of gathering the scattered threads of history and of weaving them into this book has been a pleasure to the author. Reader, may its perusal be of some interest and profit to you.

Dedicated to the youth of this and of future generations--descendants of Paul Hoye, Gentleman.

                       CHARLES EDWARD HOYE 
Done at the Sanging Ground 
In the Glades Country 
Of Mary Land 
This 28th February, A. D. 1942. 

I

OUR NORSE ANCESTORS

OUR FAMILY NAME HOY, Hoye--a place name--is derived from the old Norwegian ha-ey, ha meaning "high" and ey "isle"; therefore ha-ey or hoy means "high isle." The Island of Hoy, just off the north coast of Scotland, is the second largest and most lofty of the Orkney group; there are other "high isles" on the Scandinavian coasts, and the word "hoy" appears frequently as place or family name in Scandinavia and the British Isles.

Another indication of our Norse ancestry is the prevailing blond type among our ancestors of whom we have record; even today, mixed as we are, occasionally we find young people among our connections blessed with brilliant red Viking hair.

The ancient Norse song "Rigspula" says of the lady whom the god Heimdall visits:

                     Her eyebrows were light, 
                     her bosom lighter, 
                     her cheek whiter 
                     than the white snow. 

Of her son it says:

                     Light was his hair, 
                     bright were his cheeks, 
                     and sharp his eyes 
                     like the serpent's. 
Such were our ancestors--of fair complexion, light or red hair, blue eyes, a tall strong race--living in the olden times on the rocky coast of Norway, "the Northern Way." Probably their forefathers came from a mountain country of western Asia, the ancient Bactria. The Norse arrived in Scandinavia prior to the second century B. C., after perhaps centuries of fighting their way across Europe.

On this far western shore they found a temperate climate, wooded mountains, little valleys, the fiords--excellent harbors, but the first Norse knew nothing of ships; they could go no further.

According to one of the Norse sagas, Odin 
MYTHOLOGY        was the chief who led them into Europe. A 
                 wise leader and victorious warrior in life, 
when he passed away the people said he was not dead, but had 
returned to Asia from whence he watched over the fortunes of 
his people and sometimes visited them. 
So Odin (AS. Woden, hence Wednesday) became the highest Norse god. He dwells with the gods in Asgard, where he receives in his shining hall, Valhalla, all those who die in battle. This is the Norse heaven, from which the warriors come out every morning to fight with each other until evening, when their wounds heal, and they return to Odin's hall to spend the night feasting and carousing, waited upon by the maidens of the god, the Valkyries.

In Odin we recognize the spirit of the Viking Age: a chieftain--tall, one-eyed, grey-bearded, clad in a blue mantle, armed with spear and shield. He loves war but is also the god of learning: he forfeited one of his eyes for the privilege of drinking at the fountain of wisdom; by great suffering he discovered the runes, the ancient Norse characters found until this day on old grave and temple stones. But our ancestors in Norway had no written language, no books, and their beliefs changed somewhat to suit the time and place. In earlier times it appears that all the dead went to the goddess Hel, who ruled a cold and dreary region called Nifleim, but it was thought that warriors who died in battle deserved a better fate, so the Valkyries selected those who were to die and carried them directly from the field of combat to Valhalla.

Thor (hence Thursday), son of Odin, god of war, hurls his enormous hammer at fleeing giants; the rumble of his cart and the thud of the striking hammer men call thunder. Frigg (Friday), wife of Odin, shields from danger those who call upon her. Freya, goddess of beauty, is our northern Venus: she seeks her lost love, and to her lovers pray.

The gods and goddesses lived happily together until there came among them three powerful maidens, the NORNS or fates. Gold, woman, and witchcraft brought discord. From two trees the gods created man and woman, named Ask and Embla (ash and elm).

The pagan Norse had no priests; the chief for his people and the father in his home exercised the necessary priestly functions.

             Our forefathers lived in Norway more than one 
LIFE IN      thousand years; therefore hundreds of our 
NORWAY       grandparents had their homes in that stern but 
             beautiful land. 
GRANDFATHER NORSE lived in Halogaland on his gaard (farm) in a little valley at the head of a fiord. He had fields of barley, oats and hay, plowed in season by sturdy oxen. Cattle and goats sheltered there in winter and were driven into the mountains to pasture in summer.

Grandfather Norse and his family welcome the visitor in front of the skaale (great hall) which is built of logs, a door in each end and open spaces in the gables, covered with a thin membrane, which serve as windows. The middle of the hall is occupied by open fire places, the smoke escaping thru an opening in the roof; on one side of the room is the "high seat" for the head of the house and ranged around the walls are benches for guests in front of which tables are placed during feasts. Men also sleep upon the benches, while the women sleep in a room at one end of the hall. Weapons and hunting trophies hang upon the walls; the rafters above are black with soot.

Says the "Havamal" in the "Elder Edda":

                   Fire needs he 
                   who enters the house 
                   and is cold about the knees; 
                   food and clothes 
                   the man is in need of 
                   who has journeyed over the mountains. 
It is the time of one of the three great festivals--autumn, winter, spring--and tonight gather at the hall most of the people of the HERRED or hundred--the THANES and KARLS, free men. The pine knot fire lights the great room, while, quoting again the "Rigspula": "Then took Mooir (lady of the house) an embroidered table cloth of white linen, and covered the table, took she then thin loaves of white wheat-bread and put on it. And she set filled dishes and silver plated vessels on the table; and fine ham and roasted fowls; wine was in the can; they drank and talked till the day ended."

We learn more of Grandfather Norse and his times. He had more than one wife; many men had been killed in the wars and polygamy was common. Marriage was usually arranged by the bridegroom with the parents of the bride; men often exchanged wives and divorce was easy. Yet women in Norway were held in high esteem and exerted great influence in their homes; they also often accompanied their husbands to war and sometimes fought as soldiers by their men. When the authority of kings and jarls became more firmly fixed in the land, and wars at home less frequent, the population increased rapidly; many young Norse from necessity or choice sailed away to foreign lands.

              Grandfather Norse had many children. The 
EIRIK OF      farm, the sea, the hall was their school. The 
NORWAY        daughters learned to plant, to weave and the 
              household duties. The sons were taught to run, 
swim, row, sail and to fight; in season they worked in the 
fields and herded the cattle. But most important was their 
training for war; before they could handle the battle ax and 
spear, they pommeled each other with sticks: their bodies became 
strong and hard; they became men early. 
Now it was the rule for a man to divide his estate equally between the sons and to give doweries to his daughters at marriage. But the homestead was not divided. When Eirik (red), the second son, was about eighteen years of age, Grandfather Norse called his family together in the hall and said to them: "My eldest son, who is already married, will inherit my farm. Eirik is now also a man. To him I give his share and he must henceforth fend for himself." Then he gave Eirik a new suit of clothes, silver and gold, his own shield, spear and great battle ax.

At this time wonderful tales were told in Norway of plunder gotten by raiding the people of the islands in the West. So Eirik took his inheritance and joined a party of Vikings (warriors) who were preparing a ship, and when spring came, they sailed away toward the western isles.

Some years passed before the Vikings returned--their ship loaded with loot taken in the western isles. Eirik had so distinguished himself in battle that his companions had given him the nickname Blodox (Bloody-Ax) referring to the heavy ax he wielded so skillfully.

When winter came Eirik Blodox became restless and sailed away to the south of Norway where his mother's people dwelt. Arriving at his cousin's farm at the time of the winter festival he was made welcome, and sat at table in the great hall. During the feast one came to wait upon him--a tall slender girl, with golden hair over her shoulders, the daughter of his host, and Eirik's second cousin. They looked long into each other's eyes, but their spoken greeting was brief. Her name was Frida and she was engaged to marry the eldest son of a man of wealth.

During the week of sports and feasting that followed, Eirik's admiring eyes often met Frida's frank gaze, but they were never alone and few words passed between them. Loving and desiring her, he determined to learn if she cared for him; so one evening as she passed his horn of ale he whispered: "Meet me tomorrow afternoon under the pine tree on yonder peak." She looked into his eyes but did not answer. The next afternoon Eirik climbed the peak which overlooked both fiord and sea. Presently Frida came and met him under the lone pine, and he told her of his love. "But I am promised to another," she said. "No matter, if you love me," he urged. So they talked as lovers talk, even today, and as the sun set, separately they returned to the skaale.

Now Frida's mother, already suspecting that her daughter admired their handsome cousin, noted the girl's absence and saw her return by the peak trail; so she told her husband. Next morning he called Eirik aside; with stern face and harsh voice he said, "Eirik, before this sun sets yonder ship sails north. Therefore I bid you farewell. Carry with you my regards to my cousins, your parents in Halogaland."

Understanding all the brief speech implied, Eirik thanked his host for his hospitality and prepared to depart. But before the ship hoisted sail he contrived to speak with Frida: "When the spring festival comes watch for my ship with the sign of the ax upon the sail. Leave the skaale door unlatched. I will carry you hence." She looked from him toward the fiord and open sea but said nothing.

MARRIAGE BY        Winter passed. At Frida's home the first 
CAPTURE            flowers bloomed as the snow receded; flocks 
                   of geese flew northward. Great preparations 
to celebrate the spring festival had been made. The bridegroom 
had arrived in his ship and tomorrow he would claim his bride. 
After midnight all was still in the hall, for men sleep soundly after eating and drinking well. But the bride did not sleep. Silently she left her bed and watched the fiord below thru an opening between the logs of the wall. Yes, a ship was coming, its sail shining in the moonlight. Frida quickly dressed and made a bundle of her other clothes and dearest treasures.

As Eirik's ship grated gently on the sand, he sprang ashore and hastened to the door of the skaale; it opened at his touch. Lighted by the smoldering fire, he passed the sleeping men on the benches and pushed open the door of the women's apartment. In the dim light there a woman waited. Seizing her with one arm and grasping her bundle, he hurried thru the hall to his waiting companions outside.

Then a woman screamed. Frida's mother sympathized with her daughter's preference for Eirik but she dared not cross her husband. Perhaps at the critical moment she delayed giving the alarm until the elopers were outside the hall, but now all was confusion--running, shouting, arming, orders to man the ships.

Soon both the father's and bridegroom's ships were pursuing the fleeing vessel down the fiord. But Eirik's men at their oars were fresh and wide awake, and his ship on the open sea proved the fastest; as the sun rose over the mountains, the angry father and disappointed bridegroom were left far behind and gave up the hopeless pursuit. Then Eirik at the helm, with his wife "by capture" seated on the deck by his side, steered his vessel toward the Isles of the Western Sea.

NOTE:--In the summer of 1938 the writer and his wife visited Norway,
crossing the North Sea on a new Norwegian motor ship, the
"Vega," from Newcastle, England, to the beautiful city of Bergen,
Norway; thence sailing on the "Finmarken" up the coast to Trondheim,
the ancient capital, and from there by railroad across the
mountains to Ostersund in Sweden. We were impressed by the rugged
beauty of the country; the evidences of stability and well-being of its
people, their progressive government and their frank friendliness.


You shall do well to include Norway in your travels. And whether
or not you visit this land, you will enjoy reading its history.

II

OUR ANCESTORS IN SCOTLAND AND

IRELAND

The whole personality of an individual--his qualities, his character--is determined by birth and environment, by inheritance and education.

                                       --Fridtjof Nansen. 
HOY ISLAND, the Norse Ha-ey, faces the stormy Atlantic; from its heights may be seen the coast of Scotland across Pentland Firth. Long Hope is its harbor and Scapa Flow, where the Germans sank their navy at the close of the World War, is a large bay to the northeast. Hoy's Ward Hill rises to 1,564 feet and high cliffs skirt the northwest coast. Here the detached pillar or stack, called the OLD MAN OF HOY, has always been a well known landmark for sailors; it is said that the "Old Man" once had two legs but one was worn away by the waves.

The Old Man of Hoy Looks out on the sea

Where the tide runs strong and the wave rides free,

He looks on the broad Atlantic sea,

And the Old Man of Hoy

Hath this great joy,

To hear the deep roar of the wide blue ocean,

And to stand unmoved 'mid the sleepless motion,

And to feel o'er his head

The white foam spread

From the wild wave proudly swelling;

And to care no whit

For the storms rude fit,

Where he stands on his old rock-dwelling,

This rare Old Man of Hoy.

The Old Man of Hoy Looks out on the sea

Where the tide runs strong and the wave rides free,

He looks on the broad Atlantic sea,

And the Old Man of Hoy

Hath this great joy,

To think on the pride of the sea-kings old--

Haralds and Ronalds and Sigurds bold--

Whose might was felt

By the cowering celt

When he heard their war-cry yelling.

But the sea-kings are gone,

And he stands alone,

Firm on his old rock-dwelling,

This stout Old Man of Hoy.

                              --JOHN STUART BLACKIE 
                                In "The Orkney Book."

 

       Knowing he dare not now remain in 
THE NORSE ARRIVE      Norway, Eirik steered his ship to 
AT HOY                the "high isle," where he and his 
                      companions had rested while raiding 
during the preceding years. He made this wild island his 
home. 
Years passed. The Norse firmly established themselves in Hoy and all the other islands of Orkney; their sheep and cattle grazed the hills; they fished, farmed and frequently raided the coasts of Britain and Ireland. Many of their sons fell in battle; others settled in the conquered lands--in Ireland, in Scotland.

It was in the time of Earl Sigurd that Olaf, King of Norway,

NOTE:--In the 9th Century the Northmen came in force to Orkney
and displaced the ancient Picts. The Islands became headquarters
for pirate raids on the nearby coasts. Hostile "Danes" first appeared
on the Irish coast in 795; in 839 they defeated the Picts in Scotland.

NOTE:--(1) The first Norse invasion of Britain was in 793,
when they attacked the Island of Lindisfarne, south of Tweedmouth,
Scotland. Simeon of Durham thus describes this raid: "In the same
year of a truth, the pagans from the northern region came with naval
armament to Britain like stinging hornets, and overran the country
in all directions like fierce wolves, plundering, tearing, not only sheep
and oxen, but priests and levites, and choirs of monks and nuns. They
came, as we before said, to the church of Lindisfarne, and laid all
waste with dreadful havoc, trod with unhallowed feet the holy places,
dug up the altars, and carried off all the treasures of the holy church.
Some of the brethren they killed, some they carried off in chains,
many they cast out naked and loaded with insults, some they drowned
in the sea.”

2) "From the fury of the Northmen, deliver us, O Lord."

                      --From an old English Prayer Book. 

(3) ARMS AND CRESTS. Hoy or Hoey of Ireland:

Arms--Argent, three garbs gules, a chief of the last.

Crest--A pheasant proper.

(4) "Irish Pedigree," by O'Hart, says the family descends from
Niall, 48th King of Ulidia, whose son Eochaidh (a knight or horseman
derived from "each," horse) gave the name to the family. The descendants
of Eochaidh took the name of O'h-Eochaidh ("O'h," grandson
of, finally written "O"). After the Norman invasion of Ireland
the Irish were forced to anglicise their names, and O'h-Eochaidh became
O'Heoghy, Hoey, Hoy, Howe, Haugh, etc.

3) Origin of the names of Hoy, Hoe, Hoye, Hoey. (From "Surnames
of the United Kingdom"):

Eng. var. of Hoe. Dweller at a bluf or hill (O.E. ho').

Scand. rel. to Hoy (Orkney), 13th century Haey--the High
Island. (Old Norse ha-r-ey.)

Celtic for the Irish O'h-Eochaidh--descendant of Eochaidh,
horseman.

forced the people of Orkney to accept Christianity, but not until the final defeat of the Pagan Norse by the Irish King Brian in the year 1014 at Clontarf near Dublin, did the inhabitants of Orkney really become Catholic Christians and stop raiding their neighbors.

In the meantime Eirik and Frida lived on their little farm in Hoy while children and grandchildren grew up around them. Scarred in many battles, reckless of his life, yet from every danger on sea and land Eirik Blodox had returned to Hoy and home. So sixty years passed. Frida died. Eirik was old: the skin hung on his bones, his joints were stiff and sore. To his children he said:

"O that I had died in battle in the days of my prime! Then would have I escaped these pains and sorrows; even now I would be in Valhalla with brave companions. Shall I die here in bed and never sit at Odin's great table?"

One evening he asked them to take him to the cliff overlooking the Atlantic; so the whole household rowed their boats up Hoy Sound to the cliffs on the west. Two sturdy grandsons half carried the old man up the steep slope. On the summit he gazed long over the ocean toward the setting sun. Then he said very gently, "Go away a little. I would be alone." And when they had left him, he stood on the edge of the cliff, raised his arms and face toward the sky, as if talking to Odin, then suddenly dropped over the precipice like a withered leaf in autumn. Looking over, the family saw his body on the rocks at the foot of the great stone pillar, but before they could reach the shore a high wave rolled in and carried the remains of Eirik Bloody-axe to rest in the depths.

The sun set red in its place, and silently the company returned to the great hall. As there they mourned that night one said, "Surely Father will sit tonight at Odin's table." "No," said the wise man of the Island, "He cannot enter Valhalla, but his spirit will abide forever in the great stone pillar.”

It is a tradition in the Hoye family 
FROM SCOTLAND TO          of Maryland that our European 
IRELAND                   ancestor came to America from 
                          County Antrim, Ireland. 
We note two distinct racial strains in the Irish, viz. the dark-haired, blue-eyed Celtic stock, and the blond, often redhaired, type of Norse descent; our family name and physical characteristics indicate that we are descended from the latter.

Since the Norse blood in the Scots and Irish came by way of the Orkneys, how did our ancestor come from those islands to northern Ireland? He may have settled in Ireland during the Viking period, the 9th and 10th centuries; many Norse did so, and in time became "more Irish than the Irish"; in 919 many Norse arrived in Ulster. He may have settled in Ireland and later crossed into Scotland. Or he may have come direct from Orkney to Scotland; there have been Hoys in Scotland since very early times. William Hoy, born in Scotland, and his son, William, served in a North Carolina regiment during the American Revolution. In 1938 the writer visited H. Spencer Hoy at his home in Edinburgh; his family came from Inverness.

However, tho family records of this period do not exist, it appears reasonably certain that the Hoy ancestor finally emigrated from Scotland to Ireland before or at the time of the Ulster plantation.

                   In order to understand the times of our 
THE ULSTER         ancestors read the history of Ireland, 
PLANTATION         especially of the six counties known as 
                   "Ulster," now Northern Ireland. We here 
note briefly leading events of the period of special interest 
to us. 
Ireland was nominally under English rule from 1172, the time of King Henry I, but the British yoke was heavy and the Irish were always rebellious. In 1573 the Earl of Essex was appointed Governor General of Ulster; his headquarters were in Carrickfergus Castle on Belfast Lough. Settlers were encouraged to come from England and Scotland, but for thirty years the country was in turmoil and little progress was made. In 1795, O'Neill, the Irish chief, joined the rebellion. He was killed, and his lands, including most of County Antrim, were forfeited to the English Crown. The country was laid waste; the surviving Irish were forced into the mountain bogs and glens. King James I then granted the good lands of Ulster to English and Scotch landlords, who settled them chiefly with tenants from Scotland. This was the Ulster Plantation, beginning in 1606.

The colonists built cabins of sod and saplins, thatched with rushes. The land was ditched; fences of sods and stone were built; grains, flax and potatoes were planted. Later the sod cabins were replaced by small stone houses; orchards were planted, water mills built.

The native Irish were poor cultivators of the soil; they depended largely for their scanty living on their cattle, sheep and pigs. They left behind them only ruined huts and churches.

                              John Dalway landed at Carrickfergus 
DALWAY'S MANOR AT             in 1578, an officer in the 
BALLYHILL                     army of the Earl of Essex. He 
                              married an O'Neill and in 1791 
obtained from his wife's relative, Shane O'Neill, a grant of the 
greater part of Broadisland and Kilroot in County Antrim. His 
title being worthless when the O'Neill lands were confiscated, 
he obtained a new grant for the property in 1606 from King 
James, on condition that he build a castle with a "strong bawne 
about it" for defence. The "bawne" was a stone wall 16 to 23 
feet high with stone turrets at each of its four corners. Within 
this enclosure the people of the neighborhood, with their cattle, 
took refuge from the wild Irish who lived in the bogs and glens 
northward. 
Dalway's Castle was at Ballyhill (now Bellahill), ten miles from Carrickfergus. The Castle was destroyed long ago, but the great walls of the bawne now inclose a dairy.

                             There is a tradition among the 
THE HOY SETTLEMENT           Hoys in County Antrim that 
IN COUNTY ANTRIM             their ancestor came from Scotland 
                             as groom in charge of 
John Dalway's horses, sometime between 1578 and 1606. As a 
groom, most of his duties were at the castle and bawn (barn), 
but in time he leased from Dalway a farm about a half mile 
northeast of the castle on the hill overlooking the Muttonburn 
valley. This farm, or part of it, now belongs to his descendant, 
Isaac Hoy, and the present Hoy home here was probably built 
by the original Scotch settler.

The Muttonburn (burn--creek) flows 
BALLYCARRY         south into Belfast Lough northeast of 
and the            Carrickfergus, draining part of Dalway's 
MUTTONBURN         Manor. From high ground near Ballycarry 
                   the beautiful little valley is in view, a bit 
of the Lough and County Down in the distance. 
During the last century Hoys were numerous in the Muttonburn Valley; so numerous and so devoted to such Christian names as James and John that some of the descendants of William and Alexander Hoy changed their name to "Hay."

BALLYCARRY VILLAGE is on Fort Hill east of the Muttonburn, on the old road from Carrickfergus to Larne. From the village we look eastward across Lough Larne, over Islandmagee and the North Channel to Scotland. Here the Channel is only 20 miles wide and on clear days the whitewashed stone cottages of Scotland are visible. Blackhead and its lighthouse at the entrance of Belfast Lough are nearby. Ships from Belfast to New York and elsewhere pass in plain view.

Ballycarry (from the Irish, meaning "town at the causeway or weir") is on the site of an ancient Irish village. In the village graveyard stand the stone walls of its first church, built about 1622, evidently on the foundations of the earlier Irish Catholic Church.

In 1613 Rev. Edward Brice from Scotland organized a Protestant congregation here, said to be the first Presbyterian congregation in Ireland. There are today two Presbyterian churches in the village--the "Non-Subscribing" (Unitarian) and the Regular. St. John's Templecorran Parish Church (Episcopal) is also nearby. Until recent years each Presbyterian Church maintained a school but now there is only a Government school--a master and two teachers--located in the Non-Subscribing school house.

There are about forty houses in the village, including a Masonic lodge, a post office, an Orange Hall, branch bank, tea room, three stores, and two public houses, almost all on the highway or main street. Some of the houses are of brick and are modern, but most of them are very old stone buildings--slate roofed. Lovely wooded Altfrakyn or Old Mill Glen on the Red Hall estate is nearby, and the "Salt Hole"--a large sink by the road--is pointed out as the hiding place of the wild Scottish Highlanders when they ambushed and defeated the English under Sir John Chichester in 1597. Here Sir John lost his head as well as the battle.

A neat little farmers' cooperative dairy is located at the edge of the village; dairying is the chief occupation of the farmers and most the country around is meadow and pasture: bright green--truly the Emerald Isle! We must not neglect to mention the Irish potato, which thrives in this moist climate and the humble pig which brings home the famous bacon.

The writer spent a week at the Hotel Esplande at Whitehead, watching the people "on holiday" and the ships in and out of Belfast Lough; then three weeks he lived at John McKee's and John Hay's in Ballycarry, roaming the country round about where our ancestors labored, frolicked and fought for one hundred years. Exactly who these ancestors were is a secret buried with them in Ballycarry graves, but in 1938 we found their descendants and their neighbors' descendants on the green hills of Broadisland friendly and hospitable people.

                    The Hoy graves with lettered tombstones 
BALLYCARRY          are on the east side of the old church ruins, 
GRAVEYARD           the tombstones facing east toward Scotland. 
                    Headstones mark the graves of the 
following Hoys: 

    Joseph Hoy, d. Aug. 31, 1835, aged 64. 
    James Hoy, d. July 4, 1880, aged 64. 
    Samuel Hay, d. Jan. 21, 1780, aged 72. 
    James Hay, d. Jan. 10, 1811, aged 64. 
It is probable that the father of Paul, our immigrant ancestor, was a James Hoy; that he died about 1700 and was buried in Ballycarry graveyard in an unmarked grave.

Records of the nobility and of the 
FAMILY RECORDS IN           clergy of Ireland are fairly complete, 
IRELAND                     but for the common folks, 
                            most of whom were poor tenants, 
there are few records of past generations either on tombstones 
or in government offices. Ireland has suffered much in loss of 
records, as well as of lives, in wars and rebellions, the last 
being the Republican rising in Dublin in 1922, when the Four 

Courts and Records offices were dynamited and partially 
burned. In the early days rent rolls were kept by the landlords 
and land leases were not officially recorded. Church records 
of baptisms, marriages, and burials are also either non-existent 
or incomplete. Our records in Maryland are better than the 
Irish records of the same period. 

                             The oldest partial list of the common 
THE HEARTH MONEY             inhabitants of Ulster we 
ROLLS                        found at the Presbyterian Church 
                             House in Belfast. This is the 
Hearthmoney Rolls, a list of those having houses with 
"hearths" with or without chimneys, subject to a tax of two 
shillings per hearth. 
In the Roll for County Antrim, dated 1668-69, when the father of our immigrant ancestor was presumably living, there is no name "Hoy." However there were other spellings of what were doubtless the same name, as follows:

    John and William Howey, Creganee, Magheramorne Parish. 
    James Howey, Faughanvale Parish, Co. Londonderry. 
    Thomas and Arthur Howy, of Co. Antrim. 
    James Howy of Ardigon, in 1668 paid tax--œ5:9:9. 
In this roll there appear eleven householders named "Hay" and "Hayes." We cannot determine definitely whether or not our ancstor appears in the Hearthmoney Roll.

                            This is a list of heads of Protestant 
PROTESTANT HOUSEHOLDERS,    families of 1740, long after 
1740                        our ancestor emigrated to America. 
                            In Co. Antrim it contains no 
"Hoys," but lists Andrew and Arch Howey; also John, David, 
Samuel, and James Hooey. 

           In the Hall of Records, Belfast, an index of Wills 
WILLS      (Dioces of Connor) includes the following: 1769 
           John Hoey, Parish of Templecorran; 1788 James 
Hoey, Ralloo; 1774 Samuel Howey, Carrickfergus; 1807 Samuel 
Hoey, Carrickfergus; 1780 Samuel Howie, Broad Island; 1788 
John Hoy, Belfast; 1740 Patrick Hoy, Ballynure; 1733 William 
Huey, Billy. The preceding in Co. Antrim. Also wills of John 
Howey, Sr., merchant, in 1712, and of John Howey, Jr., both of 

Kilrea, Co. Londonderry. Only the index of these wills exists; 
they were recorded in Dublin but the record was destroyed. 
From the records available we are convinced that the Hoy clan, variously spelled--Hoy, Hay, Hoey, Howey, Hooey--was numerous in County Antrim during the 17th and 18th centuries.

                       Our ancestors lived in County Antrim 
THE SCOTCH-IRISH       for almost a century. Why did 
EMIGRATION             Paul Hoy and thousands of other 
                       Ulstermen emigrate to America 
about the year 1700? To understand we must know something 
of Irish history of this period. 
Tho brave and industrious, the political and economic position of the Ulstermen was not secure. There was always the danger of attack by the Catholic Irish with whom they were rarely on friendly terms. Laws prohibited intermarriage between the two races; in 1607 any Protestant marrying an Irish woman was liable to be hung drawn and quartered. And Ulstermen " . . . rather than turne from English principles would sooner burne, And rather than marry an Irish wife, Would batchellars remain for terme of life."

In 1604 the Governor, Sir Arthur Chickester, wrote that he "found several companies of outlaws and rebels had got together in the county, one party of about six score. I have broken and killed, and hanged above the third man; and so, God be thanked, they are in a reasonable quiet, albeit poor and in great necessity, which makes them outlaws, being driven to steal for want of other substance," their homesteads having been plundered during the war.

                Suddenly the Irish rose in rebellion, fell upon 
REBELLION       the Protestants and "stripped them literally 
OF 1641         to the bone"; many died of the cold. Then outside 
                of a few fortified towns a massacre 
began; neither men, women nor children were spared. This was 
followed by eleven years of guerilla warfare. About half of the 
260,000 Protestants died. 
During this rebellion the Broadisland people, including the Hoys, took refuge within the fortified area of Carrickfergus Castle or in Dalway's bawne, but their homes were laid waste.

Cromwell and his English army landed at Dublin in 1649. When he captured Drogheda, all those found in arms were put to the sword, and of those who surrendered, one of every ten was shot, and the remainder were deported to Barbadoes, as bonded servants. Finally order was restored.

                            In the Civil War of the English 
THE BATTLE OF THE           Parliament against King James II 
BOYNE                       the Catholics in Ireland supported 
                            King James and the Protestants 
the Parliament. In 1689 James laid siege to Derry but 
failed to take it. 
Carrickfergus was held by Catholic troops under the Earl of Antrim until August when General Schromberg landed an English army and the Castle surrendered to him.

In 1690 William of Orange landed at Carrickfergus and marched his army to the River Boyne, where he met and defeated King James in the Battle of the Boyne, celebrated today as the national holiday of North Ireland.

In this war the Ulstermen supported King William of Orange, but their troubles were not ended by his victory. The Parliament at Dublin was controlled by Church of England men and it adopted harsh measures to force all to conform to the established church; Catholics and Protestants were taxed to support it. Presbyterian ministers as well as Catholic priests were jailed and fined. In Antrim and other places the doors of Presbyterian Churches were "nailed up." The Test Act, requiring

NOTE:--Roosevelt in his "Winning of the West" wrote: The
backwoodsmen were Americans by birth and parentage, and of mixed
race, but the dominant strain in their blood was that of the Presbyterian
Irish--the Scotch-Irish as they were often called. . . . It is
doubtful if we have wholly realized the importance of the part played
in our history by that stern and virile people, the Irish whose preachers
taught the creed of Knox and Calvin. These Irish representatives
of the Covenanters were in the west almost what the Puritans were
in the northeast, and more than the Cavaliers were in the south. . . .
They formed the kernel of the distinctively and intensely American
stock who were the pioneers of our people in their march westward. . . .
The Presbyterian Irish were the Protestants of the Protestants;
they detested and despised the Catholics, whom their ancestors
had conquered. . . . They were a truculent and obstinate people,
and gloried in the warlike renown of their forefathers.

all officials to take the Episcopal Communion, prevented good Presbyterians and Catholics from teaching or holding office.

Manufacturing, especially linen and wool, had become an important industry in Ulster, but English tariffs and other restrictions almost ruined the woolen trade. Also the original leases of the confiscated lands, which had been made at low rates to encourage settlers, were expiring and landlords raised the rates as high as possible.

In those years a third of the population of Ulster emigrated to the colonies, most of them landing at Philadelphia where the Quaker Penn had made religion free and land cheap. Others went to Virginia and Maryland. Quoting the "History of the Irish Presbyterian Church" by Hamilton:

"During the troublous times from 1670 to 1680 many families emigrated to America from the North of Ireland, most of whom settled in Maryland and Virginia."

HOY FAMILIES IN COUNTY           In 1938 the writer visited 
ANTRIM TODAY                     the Hoy families in County 
                                 Antrim. 
ISAAC HAY (Hoy) resides at "Beech View," Bellahill, on what is probably the original Hoy farm in Ireland. His house is very old: it is not known who built it or when. The center section of the house is the oldest--perhaps built by the original Scotch settler in the 17th century. It is of stone walls, two feet thick; one story; small four-pane glass windows; low ceilings (originally without ceiling); the roof is still of thatch; floor now cement, originally earth. It has a stone chimney; the open fireplace is now filled by a built-in iron range. In olden times the "settle beds" were arranged around the walls, folded up for seats during the day and let down at night for sleeping. The barn for horses and cows is a continuation of the house and of similar construction.

WILLIAM HOY was the great grandfather of Isaac Hay. His will, dated November 24, 1822, and probated January 11, 1830, mentions his wife, Elizabeth, and children--Thomas, Elizabeth, Kethren, John. His house and land, "granted" (leased) by Noah Dalway, Esq., he bequeathed to his son, Thomas.

THOMAS HOY m. Elizabeth; had children--John, Ellen, William, Sarah.

JOHN HOY, son of Thomas, had 13 children, one of whom was Isaac, who inherited the old homestead.

ALEXANDER HOY (b. 1777, d. 1858) resided on a farm adjoining William Hoy's farm on the south; in 1825 he assigned his lease to William McFerren in exchange for a farm of 14 acres called the "Bullock Walk," also adjoining the William Hoy farm. These farms were then in the Townland of Bella Hill, Parish of Kilroot, Alexander Hoy m. Jane Plumpin and had children--William, Joseph, Charles, Mary, John. John Hay, who m. Susie McAllister Dick, is a grandson of John; he owns the Alx. Hoy farm now called "Cowfield."

Capt. JOSEPH HOY (d. Aug. 31, 1835, aged 64) was presumably a sailor; he resided at Cairn Brock on the east side of the Muttonburn valley. Joseph, William, and Alexander Hoy were probably brothers.

JAMES HOY (d. July 4, 1880, aged 64), a son of Joseph, m. Jane, dau. of William Reade; they resided in the present Hoy home at Port Davey, which Jane Reade inherited from her mother, Isabel Curry. James Hoy was a shoemaker. He had thirteeen children and resided at the water's edge at Port Davey, then a harbor for small trading ships; his sons took to the sea, a family of good sailors but unfortunate.

JOSEPH HOY, son of James, m. Mary Isabel McLarnon. He was captain of a sailing ship in the lumber trade. He and his brother, Moore Getty Hoy, were drowned in the St. Lawrence River. Another brother, John Curry Hoy, was part owner and master of a trading ship. In 1875 on a voyage to the South Seas his ship left Cape Town, S. A., and was never heard of again.

Capt. Joseph Hoy owned and sailed a small coaster which did a considerable trade between Port Davey and the Scottish ports. He was lost with his vessel within sight of his own home.

Joseph Hoy left three children--Jane R., Elizabeth, and John Curry. Jane and Elizabeth and their niece Eileen Hoy reside in the old home at Port Davey near Whitehead.

John Curry Hoy was master of the "Bray Head" which was sunk west of Ireland in 1917 by a German submarine. The crew left the sinking ship in two life boats, one of which was finally rescued, but Capt. Hoy's boat was lost. He left a son, Jack, now a sailor, and a daughter, Elizabeth Eileen.

William Hoy (b. 1849, d. 1918) was a sailor on the American Great Lakes and elsewhere. In 1873 he was a passenger on the S. S. "Atlantic" sailing from Liverpool to New York. There were 794 passengers and a crew of 144 on board. In attempting at night to run into Halifax for coal, the ship crashed upon a sunken reef and most of its life boats were washed away. An officer succeeded in reaching a Iarge rock and fastened a line from the ship. William Hoy reached the rock by the line but noted that many passengers were unable to climb up the rock and fell back into the sea. At great risk of being pulled down and drowned, Hoy stationed himself on the rock and as the passengers came over the line, he pulled them up to safety; when his hands became numb with cold, he seized them with his teeth. He saved many lives. This heroic action is described at length in prose and verse under the title of "An Epic of the Sea," in the "History of Islandmagee."

William Hoy finally settled in New South Wales, Australia, where his descendants still reside. A brother, Samuel Hoy, sailor and gold miner, settled in New Zealand.

THE MUTTON BURN STREAM

By Wm. James Hume

       I remember my young days, for younger I've been; 
       I remember my young days & the Mutton Burn Stream. 
       It's no mark'd in the world's map, it's no there to be seen, 
       It's a wee river in Ulster, "The Mutton Burn Stream." 

       It flows under bridges, takes many's the turn; 
       It turns round the Mill Wheel that grinds the folks corn. 
       It wimples through meadows & leaves the land clean; 
       Draps in Belfast Ocean, The Mutton Burn Stream. 

       The ducks like to swim in it, from morning till e'en; 
       The whiles dirty the water, but tha make themselves clean; 
       I have seen them a diving till their tails scarce was seen, 
       Awoddling in the bottom o' the Mutton Burn Stream. 

       The ladies from 'Carry I oftimes have seen 
       A taking their washing to Mutton Burn Stream. 
       No powder or soaps used, a wallop makes clean; 
       It has great cleansing powers, the Mutton Burn Stream.

It cures all diseases though chronic they've been; 
       It will cure you of fatness, it will cure you of lean. 
       It acts on the liver, the heart, lungs & spleen; 
       It has great curative powers, the Mutton Burn Stream. 

       The secret its out now, long secret its been, 
       How the jaundice was cured by folks near the Stream. 
       They bottled its waters, put in essence Bog-Bean; 
       It soon cured you o' yellows, the Mutton Burn Stream. 

       I used to go parting, at dark when no seen; 
       They aye have good parties round Mutton Burn Stream. 
       Coming home in the morning, all gay and serene, 
       I slip'd & fell into Mutton Burn Stream. 

THE BALLYCARRY MEN

By Wm. Caldwell

    Sure Irish men are gallant men from Cork to Donegall; 
    From Portadown to Dublin Town we sing their praises all. 
    But ask me where we breed the best, I'll have to answer then, 
    The pick of Irish manhood are the Ballycarry men. 

    An Irish man you will find a man wherever you chance to go, 
    A man who never will turn his back either on friend or foe. 
    But over the breadth of Ireland, of valley and hill and glen, 
    There is nothing to hold a card to the Ballycarry men! 

    They may be taught, they can't be bought, 
    For they call their souls their own. 
    They'll stand and fight for a cause that's right, 
    Tho they stand and fight alone. 

    They play the game--a good clean game, 
    For foul is beneath their ken, 
    And win or lose, they are sportsmen still-- 
    The Ballycarry men! 

THE RATH IN THE VALLEY

By Susie McA. Hay

Once upon a time, so I've heard tell, 
  A Rath was in a valley, and fairies there did dwell. 
None dared molest the "Wee folk" who came when moon was clear, 
  And everyone for miles around that Rath did well revere. 

The landlord of the valley came unto the mound; 
  Said he, "By Irish 'freits' I never will be bound; 
That moat doth spoil my field, so to my men I'll say, 
  Go at once to that low field, and clear the Rath away." 

The men obediently went off, with shovel and with spade; 
  Upon that Irish Rath an attack they fiercely made; 
But the truth of all the matter was that they were Irish too, 
  And the fear of Irish fairies did thrill them through and through. 

The first day of their labours, all went very well, 
  And nothing but the sound of spades resounded through the dell, 
And driving off with carts of mould, they did not their work leave, 
  Until above the valley, shone the first faint star of eve. 

Lo, see them the next morning, as to their task them come, 
  From different cots around the vale, a-straggling one by one, 
Scarce wakened from their night's deep sleep, scarce seeing the right 
      path, 
  But from their stupor quickly roused, when near the Fairy Rath. 

The first one who did reach the Rath, to all began to shout, 
  "Oh hurry, hurry, hurry, boys, the fairies have been out." 
And sure enough, around the mound,--this tale is really true-- 
  Were marks of tiny footsteps, as of a fairy shoe. 

The men were seized with horror; their very bones did freeze! 
  And shouts of wild excitement filled the early morning breeze, 
And wafted them right up unto the very mansion house, 
  To where the lordly master was sitting with his spouse. 

"Now what, now what, now what," he called, "is this unearthly row? 
  "What's happened that wild Irish crowd, what are they doing now?" 
"Oh sir," a messenger replied, who came, all pale with fear; 
  "The men won't touch the Rath because the fairies have been here." 

So down unto the valley strode the irate English lord, 
  Said he unto himself, "I'll quell that Irish rabble horde." 
But not a man of all the crowd would ever put a spade 
  Into the Rath, the fairy marks had made them so afraid. 

When some time passed, so I've been told, 
  The work was done by other men, who were by nature bold, 
And had no fear of Little Men, Banshee, or Witche's wail; 
  But still the "fairy shoemarks" stay an ancient country tale. 

The secret of the tale was kept, until 'twas told to me; 
  The solution was quite simple, as you will plainly see; 
A 'divil-of-a-fellow' a-livin' near the bog, 
  Marked all the 'fairy footsteps' with--his little sister's CLOG.

NOTE:--THE RATH IN THE VALLEY was written by Susie E.
McAllister, now Mrs. John Hay, Jr., of Ballycarry. It is based upon
a story told to Miss McAllister by John Hay, Sr., of an incident which
happened in the Muttonburn Valley long ago. The 'divil-of-a-fellow'
was the teller of the story.

RATH: a raised place or mound, probably an ancient Irish burial
mound.

1. PAUL HOY, the immigrant, was born during the last half of the 17th century in County Antrim, Ireland. He named his eldest son James; therefore we infer that his father was James Hoy, probably a tenant farmer near the village of Ballycarry, Ireland.

Paul was reared near the sea. He may have gone to America as a sailor on some ship trading around Chesapeake Bay or he may have emigrated like many of his Scotch-Irish countrymen--seeking political and religious freedom, and better economic conditions. Possibly he came to settle in Col. Beall's colony.

                    About 1655 Col. Ninian Beall emigrated to 
COL. BEALL'S        Maryland, settling between the Patuxent 
COLONY              and the Potomac Rivers. During the following 
                    twenty years he induced about two 
hundred of his Scottish friends to join him. Some of these colonists 
were probably Ulstermen. It is very likely that Paul Hoy 
settled among old friends west of the Patuxent, about 1690. He 
was evidently a young man of pleasing personality, industrious, 
and of steady habits; we have no evidence that he brought any 

NOTE: (1) NOTTINGHAM has an excellent location on the 
west bank of the Patuxent River. In 1683 Col. Thomas Greenfield laid 
out the town. It was long a port of call for sailing vessels from England. 
It had a large tobacco warehouse of which Dorsett Hoye was 
inspector or port officer. In 1745 the population of the town was 2000. 
The old road was a noted race track. In 1814 the British army which 
captured Washington landed below the town at Benedict. Later steamers 
from Baltimore made this port, but in recent years the railroad 
and the highway passed west of old Nottingham, leaving the town 
stranded by its sleepy river. It now has but half a dozen houses, an 
old wharf and the ruins of Governor Bowie's mansion.

2) THE DORSETT FAMILY. John Dorsett, Sr., was an early 
settler on the "Orchard" tract just west of Nottingham. His will (see 
appendix), probated May 9, 1711, mentions his wife Ann, and children, 
Thomas, Frances (wife of Paul Hoy), Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah 
and John. Ann Dorsett's will, probated June 5, 1721, records bequests 
to her children, Elizabeth Boen, Mary, Thomas and Sarah Winser; 
also to grandson Dorsett Hoeys "onne maire cault," and to James 
Hoey "onne cow calfe." 

 

capital with him, but he married one of the five daughters of 
a well-to-do colonial planter. 

                    Paul Hoy married Frances, daughter of 
TWIVER              John and Ann Dorsett of "The Orchard," 
PLANTATION          Prince George's County. In his will (see 
                    appendix) of 1711 John Dorsett bequeathed 
"To my daughter Frances Hoy part of two tracts of land lying 
upwards and northerly from the path commonly called Thomas 
Palmers path & being ye old Plantation commonly called Joseph 
Harrysons being part of a tract called Twiver . . . forever." 
This farm of 93 acres adjoined the Dorsett "Orchard" 
home. It is in the Nottingham District of Prince George's. Paul 
Hoy also owned another part of "Twiver" which he had bought 
of William Paunce. 
We spent several days in 1941 trying to locate the John Dorsett and Paul Hoy settlements and graveyard. The Land Office at Annapolis located the Dorsett "Orchard" tract just west of Nottingham, which is on the "Twiver" tract. But the pioneeer families, except, perhaps, the negroes, have moved elsewhere; the names and locations of most of the original land tracts have been forgotten. There is no trace of the graveyard.

The Hoy and Dorsett farms adjoined; they were in the neighborhood of what is now known as the Fenno place, a mile west of Patuxent River on the old Nottingham-Naylor road. They were thus convenient to the port of Nottingham. When first settled the land here was well wooded, a fertile top soil over the sandy base. Water fowls and fish abounded in the river and creeks. High grade tobacco and corn are still standard crops on the old farms.

This area was Matapani Hundred of Calvert County until 1696, when Prince George's was organized from parts of Charles and Calvert. It was part of St. Paul's Parish, whose first church was built in 1692 at what is now known as Baden, when Col. Thomas Brook, Col. Thomas Hollyday and Samuel Magruder were vestrymen. The early parish records have been lost.

It is probable that Paul and Frances settled on Twiver Plantation when they married. This was their home and the home of their son James. Paul Hoy willed the plantation to

James from whom it passed by inheritance to Paul Hoye II who sold it in 1761 to Thomas Contee, "in consideration of the Sum of ninety three pounds Sterling Lawful money of Great Britain." In 1767 Thomas Contee sold Twiver to John Harrison.

"Harryson's Plantation" had been improved by cleared land, a log house and barn, before it was occupied by the Hoys. Since Paul owned only three adult slaves and his wife but one, the master and his sons must also have worked the farm. They raised corn and wheat for food and tobacco for sale. In accounting for Frances Hoy's estate in 1733 her crop of tobacco was reported as 3354 lbs., valued at œ16 15s. 5d. The place was well stocked with horses, cattle, sheep and ducks. They had a good orchard which provided fruit for drying and for apple butter; the inventory of Frances Hoy's estate listed 75 gallons of "Cyder" on hand. Hard cider was a popular drink in Colonial Maryland.

For those pioneer times the Hoys were in comfortable circumstances. In her will (see appendix) Frances Hoy gratefully says, "God of his infinite Goodness hath helped me with Sundry temporall Goods far Surpassing my Deserts."

The records of Prince George's County are well preserved, but we have found only two references to Paul Hoy, both in the September Term of the County Court of 1705 as follows:

NOTE:--(1) "Orchard" 190 acres, surveyed and patented to
Richard Fowler 24th June 1673--lying in Calvert County on the west
side of Patuxent River, adjoining a tract formerly laid out for George
Collings. Liber No. 17, folio 145. Rent Roll shows John Dorsett in
possession.

(2) "Twiver" 440 acres, surveyed and patented to George Collins
1st August 1673--lying in Calvert County, Beg. at a bounded oak near
or adjoining a parcel of land called Farme, and in line of a parcel of
land called Brookfield &c., by side of a creek called Patuxent Creek
&c. to mouth of a creek called Little Creek &c., from thence east to
Patuxent River &c., adjoining Mansfield. Liber No. 17, folio 464.

3) Lord Baltimore's Rent Roll, 1766-72; Prince George's
County:


 Dorset Hoye, part of "Twiver," 100 a.

œ 0: 4:0

 Paul Hoye, pt. "Apple Hill," "Tweksbury," 100 a

0: 4:0

 Samuel Townshend, pt. "Piscattaway Forest," 109 a.

0: 4:2

 Thomas Dorsett, pt. "Twiver," 228 a.

0: 9:7

 Wm. Deakins, pt. "Twiver," 100 a.

0: 4:0

 Luke Marbury, pt. "Apple Hill," 153 a.

0: 6:2

 James Draine, pt. "Something," 109 a.

2: 2:4

 

"Paul Hoy made Oath to 5 days Attendance in the behalf of Tho Emerfon agt. Ric'd Owens. Ordered that ye said Tho Emerfon pay unto him 30 lbs. of Tobacco pr Day for his said Attendance." Another entry in the same case ordered payment for one day.

In Ireland Paul Hoy belonged to the Presbyterian Church but the Dorsetts were of the Church of England, St. Paul's Parish; two succeeding generations of the Hoyes were Episcopalians.

PAUL HOY'S      Our ancestor's will was signed January 7, 
WILL            1727/8, and probated February 20, 1728. 
                (See appendix.) 
  CHILDREN of PAUL and FRANCES HOYE and BEQUESTS: 
    2.    1  James. To him the home Plantation and negroes. 
    3.    2  Mary. To her Negro Florah. 
    4.    3  Anne. To her eight cows. 
    5.    4  Martha. To her Negro Sarah. 
    6.    5  Dorsett. To him part of "Twifer." 
    7.    6  Isaac. To him part of "Twifer." 
    8.    7  Margaret. To her negro child (unborn). 
Paul Hoy died in January or February, 1728; since three of his children were minors in 1732, he could not have been an old man. He and his wife were buried in their Plantation graveyard which was reserved to the heirs of Paul Hoye when the farm was sold in 1761.

The property bequeathed by the will consisted of two farms and personal effects including five negro slaves, all of which were left in charge of his wife, Frances. Inventory of the estate (see appendix) lists all the servants, stock, furniture, and farming implements of our first American ancestor, valued at œ254:2s 5d English money. In those days tobacco passed for money at the rate of 100 lbs. for 10 shillings; therefore in tobacco the inventory valuation was 50,820 lbs. Frances Hoye's personal property is listed in the appendix following her will. Note that the will was signed "Paule Hoy, his mark." This does not prove that he could not write; wills were frequently signed by a "mark," especially if the testator was very ill at the time.

FRANCES HOY'S WILL was signed by "her mark" in December, 1732, and probated June 2, 1733. One of her daughters had married Charles Bevan, and he was named executor of the will, but James Hoye was the actual executor. In her will Frances does not mention James, due probably to the fact that, as the eldest son, he had already inherited much of his father's property. She probably died in May, 1733.

It will be noted that Paul's surname was written "Hoy," while his wife and sons added "e" to the name.

2. JAMES HOYE, prior to 1734, married Tabitha, daughter of Francis and Mary Marbury, a wealthy neighbor family. (See Marbury.) She was born in 1714 and died Nov. 15, 1761.

CHILD OF JAMES AND TABITHA HOYE:

9. I Paul, born Mar. 26, 1736, died Oct. 13, 1816.

James Hoye had inherited his father's Plantation and in 1734 Tabitha's father willed to her a farm, part of "Tewksbury" and "Apple Hill." The young couple were thus provided with ample land, servants and other property and were well started on a happy wedded life; unfortunately young James died in September, 1737. So we know little of him; to his father he was a trusted and "well beloved" son; he had the discretion and good sense to marry a woman of intelligence and unusual personal charm, a member of one of Maryland's "best" families. They presumably resided at the Hoy home, "Twifer," tho possibly on Tabitha's "Apple Hill." He was buried in the Hoy graveyard near the graves of his parents.

Tabitha Hoye, on Feb. 9, 1738, married William Deakins, a neighbor on the "Twifer" tract, who later resided on Bloomfield Plantation near Bladensburg; they had three sons: Francis, William and Leonard Marbury Deakins. (See Deakins.)

6. DORSETT HOYE was inspector of the tobacco warehouse at Magruder's and at Nottingham. He was a well known

NOTE: ADMINISTRATORS' BONDS RECORDED IN PRINCE
GEORGES COUNTY, MD.:

(1) Frances Hoye, James Hoye, Richard Read and Thomas Dorsett
gave bond, dated Feb. 20, 1727, in the sum of three hundred
pounds, that Frances Hoye and James Hoye, Executors, would honestly
administer the estate of Paul Hoye, deceased. Witnesses--Thos.
Brooke, Wm. Harris.

(2) Thomas Dorsett, John Smith, Walt Brooke, Thos. Hodgkin
gave bond, dated Sept. 13, 1737, in the sum of one hundred pounds,
that they would honestly administer the estate of James Hoye, deceased.

 

and respected citizen of Prince George's County, but we have no record of his family.

7. ISAAC HOYE. We have no record of Isaac further than the bequest to him in his father's will. He probably moved to Virginia.

                              Our ancestor, Paul Hoye II, was 
OTHER HOYES IN                reared in the home of his stepfather, 
COLONIAL MARYLAND             William Deakins. He does 
                              not appear to have kept in contact 
with his uncles and aunts, and their families. So it happens 
that we have no definite records of the descendants of 
Dorsett or Isaac Hoye, but in the early Maryland records we 
find references to Hoyes who may be descendants of Paul 
Hoy I. 

MILITARY SERVICES of Hoys in the Revolution--Maryland:

Cephas Hoy, First Reg., enlisted Jan. 28, 1776; "never joined."

Dorset Hoye, enlisted March 11, 1776; stationed at Annapolis.

Joseph Hoy, Balto. Co., enlisted by Wm. Reily, July 26, 1776.

Patrick Hoy, 7th Reg., discharged Dec. 7, 1779.

Peter Hoy (Hoey), Fred. Co., enl. & passed by Wm. Deakins, Jr., July, 1776.

Thomas Hoy (Hoye), enlisted Apr., 1778, 7th Reg., disc'd Apr., 1781.

Thomas Hoye, 2nd Lieutenant, 1778-79, Militia of Pr. Geo. Co.

EARLY WILLS:

1774--Will of Jacob Hoy, Frederick Co., Md.

1811--Will of Thomas Contee, Pr. Geo. Co.; to Grace Hoye œ12 per annum for life; also a feather bed.

1784--Will of Nicholas Hoy of Fred. Co., probated 1797. Wife, Catherine. Children, Elizabeth, Susannah, Francis. Grist mill, saw mill, etc.

1832-42--Will of John Hoy of Fred. Co. Estate left to brother, Nicholas Hoy.

MARRIAGE LICENSES OF PRINCE GEORGE'S CO., MD.:

Dec. 27, 1784--Cephas Hoye to Sarah Collings; 1786, same to E. Ryon.

NOTE:--THE HOYES OF VIRGINIA are descended from James
and Isaac, brothers, who are said to have moved from Prince George's
Co., Md. James Hoye settled in Goochland Co., Va. Isaac Hoye settled
in Augusta Co., Va. James Hoye, Sr., was twice married. His son,
James (1814-1888), was the father of twelve children, the youngest
of whom was Rev. Walter S. Hoye (b. 1853), whose son, Rev. J.
Mitchel Hoye, resides at Ashland, Va. The Southern Hoyes are very
probably descended from Isaac or Dorsett Hoye, sons of Paul Hoy,
but we have been unable to prove the connection.

 

Apr. 22, 1786--Thomas Hoye to Agnes Scott.

Oct. 14, 1805--Martha Hoye to George Booth.

Dec. 23, 1811--Paul Hoye to Eleanor Ruth Mattingly.

Nov. 15, 1817--John D. Hoye to Mary Griffin.

TOOK "OATH OF FIDELITY" March 20, 1776, in Pr. Geo. Co., Dorsett, Thomas, Cephas, and Sabrit Hoye.

APPOINTED CONSTABLE of Mattapany Hundred, Pr. Geo. Co.:

Thomas Hoye, 1777. Thomas Hoye, Jr., Nov. 22, 1779.

Thomas Dorsett, son of Thomas, Nov. 22, 1779.

VOTERS, FRED. CO.: Paul Hoy, Dec.-Rep.; Nicholas Hoy, Dem.-Rep.

IV

THE GREENE AND MARBURY FAMILIES

            Our earliest ancestor in America was THOMAS 
THOMAS      GREENE, Esq., who arrived in Maryland on the 
GREENE      "Ark," March 25, 1634, with his friend Governor 
            Leonard Calvert and the first Maryland colonists. 
The ships "Ark" and "Dove" sailed from Cowes, England, November 22, 1633. For several days they struggled against tempestuous winds off the coast; the night of the 29th a furious wind split the main sail on the "Ark." "All the Cathoiques fell to prairer, Confessions and vowes, and then the helme being bound up and ship left without sail or government to the winds and waves floated at hull like a dish till God were pleased to take pittie upon her."

During the voyage the passengers sighted several ships which they believed to be filled with "Turkes" (pirates). A short stop was made at Barbadoes Island, where the travelers found the inhabitants in arms because the servants had conspired to kill their masters. "On Christmas Day, wine being given on the 'Ark,' for the celebrity of the day, it was so immoderately taken that the next day 30 sickened of fevers and whereof about a dozen died afterward."

On February 27th the ships arrived in Virginia and "here we staied 8 or 9 daies, not without imminent danger," because the Virginia Council was unfriendly to the new Maryland Colony. They then sailed up the Potomac river, but found the shores lined by hostile Indians who had been incited against the newcomers by the Virginians. Finally on March 25, a landing was made on a small island which they named St. Clements; "they erected a crosse, and with devotion tooke solemne possession of the country."

Governor Calvert made friends of the Indian chiefs, buying one of their villages and the surrounding land, which he paid for with cloth, axes, knives, etc., and there St. Mary's, the first settlement of the Maryland Colony, was built. At St. Mary's Thomas Greene owned Poplar Island of over 1000 acres, which with 500 acres on Kent Island, constituted Bobing Manor. In "Colonial Maryland," by Thomas, his residence at St. Mary's is described as follows:

"Adjacent to the lot and residence of Mistresses Margaret and Mary Brent on the south was the residence of Governor Thomas Greene. It was patented in 1639, and was called at first "Greene's Rest," and later "Saint Ann." "All of these houses stood near the river (St. Mary's), and were located in what is now known as the "Rectory Field." The site of each, as well as the graded slope from the houses to the river, can still clearly be seen. The house of Governor Greene--a two story frame building, with brick gables--was occupied as late as 1820, and its brick chimneys were standing within the recollection of many persons still living."

The early settlers of Maryland were of three classes:

NOTE:--"About 27 miles from St. Clement we sailed into the
mouth of a river, at its mouth are two harbors one of these, which is
more inland, we consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and going
in about a mile from the shore we laid out the place of a City on the
27th day of March, Anno Domini 1634, and named the Towne Saint
Maries."

The Colonists first built a guard house for defense and a store
house. For themselves they found shelter in the huts of the Indians,
who gave up part of their town to them. The Indians mingled freely
with the colonists, who employed many of their women and children
in their families. From them the settlers' wives learned how to prepare
and cook maize. The settlers hunted with the natives, and the
Indians sold the settlers venison and wild turkeys.

 

NOTE:--WHEREAS by commission from the Rt. Hon'ble Cecill
Sd. Pro'pt of the Province of Maryland to ye late Governor Leonard
Calvert, Esq., bearing date ye 18th September 1644 at his Ldp's ...
at St. Maries in the said Province. He the said Leonard Calvert was
authorized in case he should happen to die, or be absent from time to
time out of the said Province to nominate, Elect & Appoint such an
able person inhabiting and residing within the sd Province (as he in
his discretion should make choice of and think fitt) to be Govern'r of
the said Province. These are therefore to publish and declare to all
persons whom it may concerne, that ye sd. Leonard Calvert did by
word of mouth on the ninth day of June 1647 (lying upon his deathbed
yett in perfect memory) nominate & appoint Thomas Greene,
Esq'r one of the councell of this Province to be the Governo'r of the
same; with the same authority and power of Government as he the
said Leonard Calvert was authorized by his Ldp's Commission to conferre
upon him. As by ye oaths of Mrs. Margarett & Mary Brent's
... Frances Anketill & James Linsey (who were all there prsnt with
him at the same time) is averred to be true--Test: ... William Britton,
Clk.
                            --(Land Office Record, Annapolis.)

 

First, "gentlemen adventurers," generally men of means; Thomas Greene belonged to this class. Second, those of small means who paid their own passage, received small tracts of land for themselves and families, and worked their own land. Third, "indentured servants," those who, generally voluntarily, sold their services to a master for a term of years, usually three to ten, to pay their passage across the ocean.

Thomas Greene brought with him several servants and "bought" others later. "Entered by Mr. Thomas Greene the first year, 1633, brought into the Province, Mr. Greene in his own right and two servants, Anam Bonam in his own right, in right of Mr. Fairfax his person as his assignee, Mr. Smith as his assignee and for Thomas Wills in his (Mr. Greene's) own right."

The indenture between Thomas Greene and Hannah Mathews in 1647 calls for more substantial requital for her services, as it names "fifty akers of land and one year's provision according to the custom of the country. She may, however, be acquitted of all obligacon if she pay or cause to be payed Thomas Greene one thousand weight of good merchantable leaf tobacco and caske, and three barrels of goode corn, but she must not dispose of herself in marryage without consent of Thomas Greene."

Governor Leonard Calvert died June 9, 1647, and on his death bed named Thomas Greene as his successor. Greene's term of service as the second Governor of the Province of Maryland was troubled and brief.

In 1648 Lord Baltimore removed Thomas Greene from the governorship and appointed William Stone, a Protestant, as governor. Greene was a Catholic and Royalist, and Baltimore's

NOTE:--PROCLAMATION BY GOVERNOR GREENE:

WHEREAS Charles of blessed Memory King ... is lately deceased.
These are to give Notice to all persons whom it may Concerne,
and in especiall to all and Singular the Inhabitants of this Province
of Maryland, that his eldest son Charles the most renouned Prince of
Wales the undoubted rightful heir to all his father's Dominions is
hereby Proclaimed King Charles the second of England, Scotland,
France and Ireland, defender of the faith. Long live King Charles
the Second.

Given at St. Maries this 15th of November 1649.

Governor Greene on the same day proclaimed a general pardon
to all offenders thruout the Province.

 

object in making the change was probably to allay discontent in the Province, and, in part, to stop the tongues of his enemies, who never wearied representing Maryland as a stronghold of popery.

Thomas Greene then became head of the Governor's Council. He was president of the Council when Mistress Margaret Brent, friend and executrix of Governor Calvert, made her dramatic but unsuccessful appeal to that body:

"Gentlemen, I come to claim a vote in the Assembly. I ventured amongst ye, and no man in the colony hath ventured more; for I staked all I had, and whether I have succeeded or lost, I leave ye to judge.

"Then by one great loss, the questions of your government were forced upon me. Have I met them? Is there a man amongst ye, God knows I say it not boastingly, who could have done ought more?

"Did I not find chaos, rents unpaid, accounts unkept, invasions of savages? Ye have seen my accounts, how they stand! And yet, because I am a woman, forsooth, today I must stand by idly and have not a voice in the framing of your laws, a voice in the making of the regulars which shall govern one who is among the largest landowners. Is this justice? I ask it in the name of the years to come. You have prided yourselves on being the only Colony in the world giving the right to worship God as one wisheth. Yet boast of your liberty and freedom, and are proud that ye lead the way in the right. Lead it in this likewise. Build likewise, grant justice, and let the woman that hath equal risks with you, have equal voice in the government itself, or else your boast is as empty as sound."

In 1649 news from England arrived that King Charles I had been executed and that the commonwealth under Cromwell had been established. Governor Stone was then in Virginia, and Thomas Greene, his appointee as vice-governor, promptly proclaimed Charles II as the lawful sovereign. But Stone hastened back to his Province and set aside Greene's action, which was also repudiated by the Proprietary.

                        The Maryland Assembly in 1649 
THE TOLERATION          passed "An Act Concerning Religion," 
ACT                     which provided "that noe person 
                        within this Province, professing to 
believe in Jesus Christ, shall henceforth bee in any waies 
troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect to his 
or her religion, nor in the free exercise thereof with-in this 
Province . . . ." This famous Act was signed by William 
Stone, Thos. Greene and fifteen other members of Assembly.

It appears that Thomas Greene married 
THE GREENE       Mrs. Ann Cox, a fellow passenger on the 
FAMILY           "Ark," after their arrival in Maryland. 
                 They soon returned to England where 
Thomas and Leonard Greene were born. After the death of his 
wife, about 1637, our ancestor returned to Maryland, leaving 
his young sons in England until 1644. 
Thomas Greene married, secondly, Mrs. Winifred Leybourn, who came to the Province in 1638. They had two sons: Robert and Francis.

Gov. Thomas Greene died in 1651. His widow married Robert Clark in 1652. His will, dated November 18, 1650, is printed

NOTES:--(1) Governor Greene's ancestry has not been definitely
traced. In 1938 the writer was referred in the British Museum,
London, to "England and America," printed by T. R. Marvin & Son,
Boston, 1901, which locates the ancient Greene home in Northamp-tonshire,
England, where, in 1320, Thomas de Greene was Lord of the
Manors of Boughton and Norton, afterwards called Greene's Norton.
From him the family pedigree traces thru Thomas Greene, born in
1292, Sir Henry Greene, who died in 1369, and five generations of
Sir Thomas Greenes to Sir Thomas Greene, who died in 1506, leaving
no male child. In addition to this elder stem of the family there were
offshoots, one of which is a Thomas Greene from whom it is supposed
the Greenes of Dorsetshire and America are descended.

 

(2) A book belonging to Gen. Jesse Green, 1793, quoted in the
Semme's Ms., Maryland Historical Society, states that "Thomas
Green, Depty Gov. of Maryland, was the son of Thomas Green by
Helen Calvert, the youngest daughter of George Calvert, Lord Baron
of Baltimore."

Gen. Green also states that Governor Green's first wife was his
cousin, Winifred Calvert, and his second Catherine Brent, sister of
Margaret and Giles.

Kindred or not--Calverts and Greenes were close friends. The
descendants of Thomas Greene are eligible to membership in The
Society of the Ark and Dove.

(3) LORD BALTIMORE'S RENT ROLL--ST. MARY'S COUNTY,
BOOK 1

 

GREENS INHERITANCE 2400 acres. ye Rents 2:8:0. Sur 1:8:1666
for Leonard Rob't & Francis Greene on the weft side of ye main
frefh or run yt. falls into port Tob'o. or St. Thomas Creek.

    Pofs'n.  800 a Francis Green Edw. Clements 
             800 a Rob't. Green 200 a Fra: Wheeler 
             200 a Tho: Green Son of Leonard 
             200 a Rich'd. Coombs 200 a Ja: Alvey 

(4) GREENS CONTENT 100 acres Ye. Rents 0:4:0. Sur. 27:
Octo'r. 1682 for Leonard Green by Greens Reft at ye. mouth of
Cranny Creek.

Pofs'n. Tho: Green he lives at Pifcattaway.

 

in "Side Lights of Maryland History." He left a large estate--land, servants, cattle, etc., in trust to his "Loveing friends Henry Adams and James Langworth," for the benefit of his wife Winifred, and four sons.

LEONARD GREENE, god-son of Governor Leonard Calvert, inherited a colt from his god-father. One authority says he resided on St. Inigoe's Plantation in Charles County; another makes him a resident on Green's Rest at St. Mary's. He probably owned both. Leonard and his brothers, Robert and Francis, patented "Green's Inheritance," 2400 acres, in Charles County.

Gen. Jesse Green's notes state that Leonard Greene married Catherine Severn, but Leonard's will names his wife Anne, and children Thomas, Winnyfried, Mary, Margaret. His will was dated January 16, 1687, and proved July 4, 1688. His widow, Ann, married (2) Charles Evans, January 10, 1689, in Charles County.

MARY GREENE married Francis Marbury, whose daughter, Tabitha, married James Hoye.

THE MARBURY FAMILY

FRANCIS MARBURY was born in England ca 1663; in a deposition of March 31, 1713, he gave his age as 50 years or thereabouts. He migrated to Maryland between 1680 and 1690 and settled in Prince George's County near Piscataway. In 1698 he surveyed and patented "Marbury's Chance," 200 acres, "on Ackokee Hill adjoining Esquire Calvert's land." He patented other tracts, including "Carrolls Kindness," 94 acres, in 1714, and "Tewksbury," 35 acres, in 1728. In 1699 Wm. Hutchings and Robert Middleton deeded to Francis Marbury "Apple Hill," "beginning at a bounded Red Oak standing on the side of

in "Side Lights of Maryland History." He left a large estate--land, servants, cattle, etc., in trust to his "Loveing friends Henry Adams and James Langworth," for the benefit of his wife Winifred, and four sons.

LEONARD GREENE, god-son of Governor Leonard Calvert, inherited a colt from his god-father. One authority says he resided on St. Inigoe's Plantation in Charles County; another makes him a resident on Green's Rest at St. Mary's. He probably owned both. Leonard and his brothers, Robert and Francis, patented "Green's Inheritance," 2400 acres, in Charles County.

Gen. Jesse Green's notes state that Leonard Greene married Catherine Severn, but Leonard's will names his wife Anne, and children Thomas, Winnyfried, Mary, Margaret. His will was dated January 16, 1687, and proved July 4, 1688. His widow, Ann, married (2) Charles Evans, January 10, 1689, in Charles County.

MARY GREENE married Francis Marbury, whose daughter, Tabitha, married James Hoye.

THE MARBURY FAMILY

FRANCIS MARBURY was born in England ca 1663; in a deposition of March 31, 1713, he gave his age as 50 years or thereabouts. He migrated to Maryland between 1680 and 1690 and settled in Prince George's County near Piscataway. In 1698 he surveyed and patented "Marbury's Chance," 200 acres, "on Ackokee Hill adjoining Esquire Calvert's land." He patented other tracts, including "Carrolls Kindness," 94 acres, in 1714, and "Tewksbury," 35 acres, in 1728. In 1699 Wm. Hutchings and Robert Middleton deeded to Francis Marbury "Apple Hill," "beginning at a bounded Red Oak standing on the side of

NOTE:--(1) In June, 1934, the writer attended at St. Mary's the
tercentenary celebration of the settlement of the Maryland Colony.
Among the events of the celebration was an historical pageant in
which an actor representing Thomas Greene took a prominent part.
William Marbury of Baltimore was President of the Tercentenary
Commission.

(2) The RASKOB-GREENE FAMILY RECORD gives a brief
history of the Thomas Greene family. Mary Greene is the wife of
John Jacob Rascob.

Piscataway maine branch at ye fork of a branch ... 552 acres."

For many years the Francis Marbury home plantation has been known as "Wyoming," which appears to be a part of "Apple Hill" and "St. Luke and Elizabeth." "Wyoming" remains to this day in possession of the family, the present owner being Fendall Marbury, who inherited it from his father.

The plantation house--probably on the site of Francis Marbury's home--stands on the high ground on the west side of Piscataway Creek. It was built about 1750, the lower story of brick, the upper wood. In 1938 the house was reroofed, repaired and modernized, but without altering the original plan.

Francis Marbury was tobacco inspector and a vestryman of St. John's, Broad Creek, Piscataway Parish. He took a prominent part in the affairs of his county, serving as one of the land commissioners of Prince George's and judge of a survey in Charles County.

He married, first, Mary, daughter of Leonard Greene, who died September 11, 1713. On September 14, 1714, at St. John's Church, he married Frances Herd. Eleven children are mentioned in his will, of whom two, William and Susannah, were minors at the time of the first accounting of the estate in 1735-6. Henry appears to have died before his father. All the other children are presumably by Mary Greene.

Frances Marbury died in 1733. He and his wives are doubtless buried in St. John's Churchyard. His will, dated January 11, 1733, was proved January 22, 1733. To his children he made the following bequests:

To Leonard, Negro Tom; 4yds of Broad Cloth; land in Akakeck.

To Susannah, Negro Kate.

To Brabarah (m. Joseph Frazer), nine barrels of Indian corn.

To Mary, Land called "School House," etc.

To Ann, Land called "Mistake."

To Elizabeth (m. Davidson), Dwelling and 99 acres of "Appledore."

To Luke, A copper kettle, etc.

To Lucy, (m. Joseph Hatton), 20 shillings for a ring.

To Tabitha (m. James Hoye), "Tewksbury" and 65 acres of "Applehill."

To his sons, Eusebius, Leonard, Eli, Luke, and William, the residue of "Applehill," also the remainder of his negroes.

"Also my will is what money I shall or now may have in England the same to be applied to my Quit Rents and to no other purpose."

Executors named were his sons, Leonard and Luke.

It appears that LUKE MARBURY, born March 10, 1710, remained on the home plantation, "Wyoming." In the census of 1790 he is listed in Prince George's County as head of family of 8 with 25 slaves. He was a member in 1776 of the first Constitutional Convention of Maryland.

LEONARY MARBURY, born January 31, 1708, owned "Marbury's Chance," 200 acres, patented to Francis Marbury in 1697-8.

               Colket in "The Marbury Ancestry" says: "The 
MARBURY        English ancestry of Francis Marbury has 
ANCESTRY       proved elusive. His prominence and station in 
               life indicate good family connections abroad. 
Certainly he was closely associated with England for in his 
will he refers to 'money I shall or now have in England.' ... 
Further research is still going on and it should not be long 
before his English predecessors can be positively ascertained." 

                         THOMAS MARBURY of County 
THE MARBURYS OF          Bedford seems to have been descended 
BEDFORDSHIRE             from a branch of the Marbury 
                         family in the adjoining county 
of Northampton. He is referred to in the records as "Sergiant 
of ye Queen's Pantry." His will was dated 13 Dec. 1587, and he 
was buried at Old Warden, 15 July 1590. 
JOHN MARBURY, son of Thomas, was buried at Old Warden, 5 September, 1615.

THOMAS MARBURY, of Old Warden, Co. Bedford, gentleman, son of John, was baptized 20 January 1576. He married Elizabeth, dau. of Henry Cave of Ingarsby, and his wife Elizabeth Isham.

EUSEBIUS MARBURY, son of Thomas, bapt. 17 May, 1605; gent. of St. James, Garlick Hithe, London, m. (lic.) 25 April 1636 Frances Quarells of Cotford, Kent. His ancestry

NOTE:--MARBURY'S CATTLE MARK--March Court, 1696-7.
"Francis Marbury desires his marke may be Recorded (viz) An under
hoole on the Right Eare & a Cropp Slitt & under hoole on the Left
Eare.”

 

thru the Caves and Ishams can be eraced to King Edward III.

The name "Eusebius" can be traced for several generations in the Cave and Isham families, but is found only twice among Marburys. Francis Marbury of Maryland named one of his sons "Eusebius," probably for his grandfather, Eusebius Marbury of London.

                         JOHN MARBURY of Cransley, 
THE MARBURYS OF          Co. Northampton, armiger, became 
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE         a sheriff of Northampton, 
                         4 November 1443. His son, WILLIAM 
MARBURY, circa 1448-53, m. Anne Blount. One of their 
thirteen children was ROBERT MARBURY of Co. Lincoln, 
born about 1490. His son, WILLIAM MARBURY, b. ca. 1524, 
m. Agnes Lenton. One of their seven children was Francis. 
REV. FRANCIS MARBURY (1555-1611): "His fearless thinking came to exert a profound influence on the religious philosophy of his time; and his teachings, as expanded and interpreted by his daughter Anne, struck the keynote for religious independence and toleration in New England. . . . Francis Marbury was one among a number of keen thinkers who opposed the religious bigotry of those days (the Elizabethan era). . . . Marbury's philosophy was the philosophy behind the whole Puritan movement, the reform movement which culminated two decades after his death in the migration of thousands of Englishmen to the shores of America."

ANN MARBURY (bapt. 20 July 1591), massacred by Indians, Aug. 1643, in West Chester County, New York, m. in London, 9 Aug. ,1612, William Hutchinson, emigrated to New England in 1634. Anne Hutchinson contended that "by grace ye are saved through faith." She believed in direct communication with God. For preaching such a doctrine, she was excommunicated from the Boston Church. The Marbury sisters, Anne

NOTE:--(1) We are indebted to THE MARBURY ANCESTRY,
by Meredith B. Colket, Jr., for the notes here given on the ancestry
of Francis Marbury of Maryland.

(2) The first parish church of Piscataway Parish (St. John's)
was built in 1699. The present church was built on the same site about
1723. The first Rector of the Parish was Rev. George Tubman who
began his ministry there in 1696
.

and Catherine, were among those leaders who fought for religious freedom, now one of the fundamental guarantees of the American Constitution.

                     ARMS: Sable, a cross engrailed Argent 
THE MARBURYS         between four piles (or sometimes 
OF CHESHIRE          pheons) of the second. CREST: On a 
                     chapeau Gules, turned up Argent and 
semee of plates, a saracen's head in profile, couped proper, 
crined and bearded Sable, round the temples of a wreath 
Gules. The cross and Saracen's head indicates that the knight 
of this family who first assumed this design had fought in one 
of the Crusades in Palestine. 
The surname Marbury goes back to the time of the signing of Magna Charta and was derived from the hamlet of Marbury in Co. Cheshire. It first appears as a surname in the beginning of the reign of Henry III (1220) when Warin Vernon of Shibbrok confirms the hamlet of Merebirie to William de Merebirie. It is difficult to establish the connection of the 15th century Marburys of Co. Northampton with the Marburys of Cheshire but the similiarity of arms indicates that the connection is not distant.

V

PAUL HOYE, GENTLEMAN

Nor does it seem to me that pride of in being come of gentry and of dutiful and upright men is without its value, if we draw from an honorable past nourishment to sustain us in continuing to be what our forefathers were.

                                 --George Washington. 

9. PAUL HOYE, son of James Hoye and Tabitha Marbury, was born March 26, 1736, on Twifer, the old Hoy Plantation in Prince George's County, Maryland. He was contemporary with leading patriots of the American Revolution and founders of our Republic, such as George Washington, born across the Potomac at Bridges Creek in 1732; Charles Carroll, born in Anne Arundel County in 1737, and Daniel Boone, born in Berks Co., Pa., 1734.

His widowed mother married William Deakins before Paul was two years of age and took her son with her to the Deakins home where he was reared with his three half brothers. From the fine character of his mother and the fact that he maintained close and friendly relations thru life with his stepfather and half brothers, we know his boyhood was happy and prepared him to assume his natural position as a gentleman in his native state of Maryland. He attended the school in nearby Nottngham anid possibly King Wiliam's School at Annapolis, now St. John's College.

The excellent portrait of Paul Hoye, reproduced in this book, painted about the time of his marriage, presents a handsome young man in the dress of the colonial period--tall and slender, with abundant reddish-brown wavy hair, side whiskers, blue eyes, Grecian nose and firm chin. This well preserved portrait came down to us thru William W. Hoye and his son Edward. It is now in the possession of Ruth Hoye of Sang Run, Maryland.

               An outstanding event in the life of a man or 
MARRIAGE       woman is marriage. The degree of wisdom 
               used in the selection of a mate largely determines 
the success and happiness of family life. The early Hoyes chose their wives judiciously, women of fine character 
and well-known ancestry, who brought into the family good 
blood and considerable property. 
About 1762, Paul Hoye married Mariam Waller, daughter of George Waller of Stafford, Virginia. The ceremony was performed by the rector of the Church of England at Stafford. Mariam Waller's wedding ring, inscribed, "God's providence is our inheritance," now belongs to Mrs. Mabel Landel.

The Waller home on the south bank of the Potomac was not far from the Hoye plantation in Prince George's: here is the traditional story of the meeting of Paul and Mariam, as related by their granddaughter, Ann Bishop: "Miss Waller was visiting the Dahl family in Prince George's County. One day for dinner the hosts served Maryland fried chicken. After the repast Mariam placed the wishbone over the door, remarking that she would marry the first single man who entered. Someone said that Paul Hoye was expected that afternoon; then, hedging as females do, the lady cried: 'Paul! I will never marry a man named Paul!'" Nevertheless, after our ancestor passed under the wishbone and later proposed, she accepted her fate.

At the time of their marriage, Paul was twenty-six years of age and Mariam twenty-eight. Since men seldom choose brides older than themselves, it is apparent that young Hoye was won by the attractive personality of the Virginia brunette rather than by wishbone magic.

                    In 1761, Paul Hoye "of Prince George's 
EARLY HOME          County" sold Twifer, which he had inherited 
                    from his father, to Thomas Contee for 
œ93. It is probable that he used this money to set up a new 
home, either in Georgetown or on "Brooke Grove" in Frederick 
County. On January 24, 1797, Paul and Mariam Hoye, for a

NOTE:--George Waller bequeathed a tract of land in Stafford 
County, Virginia, bought by him of Daniel Hawkins, to his children, 
two of whom were Mariam and Jane. Jane Waller bought the interests 
of the other heirs, and on the 18th of May, 1780, Paul Hoye and 
his wife, of Montgomery County, Maryland, late Mariam Waller, 
deeded her share to Jane Waller for "a valuable consideration by 
them already received and of the further sum of ten pounds good 
and lawful money.”

consideration of œ157, 10s., deeded to John Arnitt "Brooke 
Grove," which was devised to said Mariam by the last will and 
testament of Mariam Richardson." 
In 1774, Paul Hoye was "of Frederick County," which included Georgetown until 1776 when Montgomery and Washington Counties were cut off from Frederick. Also, during the Revolution, he served in a Montgomery County Militia Company, which indicates that he may have resided in Georgetown. His patent for "Friend's Delight," dated 1786, refers to Paul Hoye as "late of Frederick, now of Washington County." From these records it appears that our ancestor resided with the Deakins family at Nottingham until he married and settled in Georgetown; that about 1781 he moved to "Brooke Grove" in Frederick County and in 1785 settled permanently on his plantation, "Frog Harbor," in Washington County.

                      Paul Hoye's younger brothers attained 
REVOLUTIONARY         high rank in the Revolutionary forces. 
WAR SERVICE           Paul was no less patriotic, but not so 
                      active or prominent as the Deakins 
boys. In Archives of Maryland, Vol. XXI, under date of 12th 
September, 1777, we note: "Commission issued to Paul Hoy, 
first Lieutenant"; also in List of Militia Officers of Maryland, 
Militia of Montgomery County: 

                 Roger Brooks, Captain. 
                 Paul Hoy, 1st Lieutenant. 
                 Will Robertson, 2nd Lieutenant. 
                 John Griffith, Ensign. 

Paul Hoye's sword came down thru the family of his son, William, to Marion Hoye, from whom it is said to have gotten into the possession of a Mrs. Jones, of New Orleans, daughter of John Shatzer.

                    When Paul Hoye was a young man he 
FROG HARBOR         journeyed to the fertile Shenandoah Valley 
PLANTATION          in Western Maryland, then being rapidly 
                    settled. He was so pleased by the 
country that he was not content until he made it his home. He 
became the agent of the Salisbury Company and in 1785 moved 
his family to a farm on Salisbury Run, three miles northeast of Williamsport. He bought 145 acres of land--Lot No. 4 of the 
"Resurvey on Salisbury." In 1792 he added to the farm 88 
acres of "Let Justice Be Done," a tract surveyed for William 
Deakins in 1783, paying Deakins the nominal "consideration" 
of five shillings. 
Our ancestor named his plantation "Frog Harbor" because of the many frogs in Salisbury Run, which flowed in front of his house toward Conocochegue Creek.

                    This farm was doubtless improved by 
FROG HARBOR         some cleared land and buildings before 
MANSION             the Hoyes arrived, but Paul soon built a 
                    two-story log house with a brick chimney 
at either end. There was a great open fireplace in the living 
room and a smaller one for the upstairs bedrooms. The kitchen 
at the opposite end of the house was equipped with a big fireplace, 
with iron pots, spit and other utensils used in the preparation 
of food for a large company. 
Log cabins were built nearby for the negroes and a log barn and stables for the stock were built in the rear. The stone spring house, shown at the left in the illustration, is still in use. The frame addition on the right was probably built by Jacob Fiery after 1816; the old log part of the house was also weatherboarded. In front of the house by the roadside is a row of beautiful maple trees.

The Hoye mansion was built about 1786; it is well preserved and still in use as the farm house. The property now belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wright.

U. S. CENSUS      The first National Census lists "Paul Hoy" 
1790              of Washington County as head of the following 
                  family:

NOTE:--(1) "Salisbury," 4,119 a., surveyod for Hugh Parker in
1750 and patented to him in 1751, being a resurvey on "Salisbury
Plains," etc. Lying in Frederick County, adjoining "Conegochieg
Manor." Resurveyed in 1782 for Francis Deakins from whom Paul
Hoye probably purchased his Frog Harbor farm. Land records of
Washington County for this period have been destroyed. Hugh Parker
was an early store keeper at the mouth of Conocochegue Creek.

(2) April 4, 1781, Paul Hoye and Mary Ann Hoye, his wife, for
œ140, deeded to Jesse Tomlinson "Favi Hills," 194 a., patented to Paul
Hoye Feb. 8, 1786.

Free white males 16 years of age and up

2

 Free white males under 16

1

 Free white females

3

 Slaves

18


The Plantation supported twenty-four persons.

Children of Paul and Mariam Hoye:

   10.    1. Ann, born about 1763, died September, 1825. 
   11.    2. Elizabeth H., b. about 1765, d. about 1845. 
   12.    3. William Waller, b. Aug. 10, 1768, d. Jan. 9, 1836. 
   13.    4. John, b. Aug. 13, 1774, d. June 2, 1849. 
It is probable that a son was named James for the grandfather; if so, he died early.

                        In 1790 Frog Harbor Plantation was 
LIFE ON THE OLD         thriving. The land had been cleared 
PLANTATION              and produced abundant harvests. 
                        House and barns had been built. 
There was plenty of labor at hand. The master of the plantation 
was industrious and a good manager; his wife and daughter 
Ann supervised the spinning, weaving and housework of 
the negro women. 
There was work for all and plenty of the simple comforts of life for white and black. The negroes danced and sang to the music of such ballads as "The Blue-Tailed Fly":

               When I was young I used to wait 
               At Massa's table an' han' de plate, 
               An' pass de bottle when he was dry, 
               An' brush away de blue-tailed fly. 

               Ol' Massa's gone. Oh, let him rest! 
               Dey say all t'ings am for de best. 
               But I can't forgit until I die 
               Ol' Massa an' de blue-tailed fly.

NOTE:--In 1776, Bishop Asbury wrote of Elizabeth Town: "It
seemed as if Satan were the chief ruler there; the people were very
busy in drinking, swearing, etc."

But in 1812 he revisited it (then Hagerstown) and said he
"preached in the neat, new Methodist chapel to about 1000 hearers."

On April 27, 1787, a number of the inhabitants of Washington
County--Episcopalians--met in the Court House in Elizabeth Town
and elected John Stull, Daniel Hughes, Alexander Claggett, Thomas
Sprig, Richard Pindell, N. Rochester, and Elie Williams, vestrymen.
They immediately began the erection of a brick church. Rev. George
Bowers became rector in 1786 at a salary of œ100 per annum. Bishop
Claggett consecrated the new church in 1797.
                         --History of Western Maryland, Scarf.

In those days the farmers of Washington County shipped wheat and salted meat from Williamsport to George Town by flat-bottomed river boats. In 1816 the Hoye farm had 3,076 bushels of wheat on hand; it was well stocked with horses, cattle and hogs. (See inventory.)

Many of the larger farmers operated distilleries in order to convert their grain into whiskey, which was in demand and easily transported. The Hoye distillery had three stills, the largest of 112 gallons capacity.

In politics the Hoye and Deakins families appear to have been Jeffersonian Democrats.

Churches, schools and stores were available in Williamsport and Hagerstown. The Hoyes were doubtless members of St. John's Episcopal Church.

The family physician was Dr. Young, a native of Ireland, who died in Hagerstown in 1838, aged one hundred years. In 1816 John Hoye paid Dr. Young for his services during Paul Hoye's last illness. Among the friends of the Hoye family we note Benjamin Galloway and his wife, Henrietta, of Hagers-town. Tradition tells us of "Aunt" Galloway's visits to Frog Harbor, driving down in her grand coach. Ann Orme Deakins lived for a time in the Hoye home and nursed Ann Hoye in her final illness. Miss Deakins was remembered in terms of affection and by bequests in the wills of Paul and Ann. The Hoye and Deakins families were neighbors in George Town, and after Paul moved to Washington County he often returned to visit his brothers.

NOTE:--Chapter XXX, Laws of Maryland--1787: An act for
opening and Extending a Road from Elizabeth-town, in Washington
County, to Patowmack River, at the Mouth of Conococheague Creek.

Whereas the inhabitants of Washington County, by their petition
to this General Affembly, did set forth, that a numerous concourfe of
people, traveling to and from Philadelphia, and other parts of Pensylvania
to Winchester and other parts of Virginia, as well as great
numbers of inhabitants of faid County are reduced to great trouble
and inconvenience from the badnefs and crookednefs of faid road
from Elizabeth-town to Patowmack, at the mouth of Conococheague
Creek . . . .

Be It Enacted, . . . That the justices of Washington County
Court shall be and are hereby empowered to appoint Henry Shryock,
Richard Pindell and Paul Hoye Commiffioners to lay out a road ...
on as straight a line as the nature of the ground will permit . . .
40 ft. wide . . . .

An event of national interest in 1790 was Washington's visit to Williamsport to inspect a proposed site for the Federal Capital. Our ancestor was one of those present to welcome the President. The Hoye plantation would have been included in the new city had the location at the mouth of Conocochegue Creek been accepted.

Our ancestor was intensely interested in his plantation and in his western lands. Outside of the land records we find few references to him.

                Paul Hoye was a peaceful and law-abiding 
VAN LEAR        citizen. He had extensive business interests 
vs. HOYE        but we find only three references to him in 
                court records. About 1790 a prominent neighbor, 
Mathew Van Lear, who operated a saw mill, filed suit 
against Paul Hoye over the use of the waters of Salisbury Run, 
which appear to have been diverted in the early years of the 
settlement to turn the wheel of a grist mill. Witnesses were 
called by Hoye before the Justices of the Peace. Seventeen 
years later suit over the same water rights is recorded--Paul 
Hoye vs. Mathew Van Lear. This case appears to have gone to 
the Court of Appeals which awarded the plaintiff $150 damages 
and $255.28 costs, paid to Paul Hoye by A. W. Waugh, 
December 1, 1808. 

               Paul Hoye grew to manhood during the years 
WESTERN        of the Indian wars. He was eighteen at the 
LANDS          time of Braddock's defeat near Fort Duquesne. 
               When peace was temporarily restored in 1765, 
colonial interest centered on the conquered lands of the Ohio 
Valley, but settlement was retarded by the danger of renewed 
hostilities with the Indians. Lord Baltimore did not open his 
lands on the western slope of the mountains to settlers until 
1774. Among those who secured "warrants" from Baltimore's 

NOTE:--PAUL HOYE vs. JOHN SIMKINS, Allegany County 
Court, 1794; connects Paul Hoye with the "Sailsbury Company." Exhibit:--"I 
promise to pay Paul Hoye for the use of himself and the 
Sailsbury Company the sum of œ16:9:4, with interest." Signed 3d 
May, 1794, by John Simkins. In court in 1795 Simkins swore he had 
paid, but in 1796 admitted the debt, and the Court ordered him to pay 
the sum claimed, plus 406 lbs. of tobacco, costs, and actual damages 
to Hoye.

 

Land Office in Annapolis in the spring of that year were Paul 
Hoye and Francis Deakins. 

                    May 9, 1774:--"Warrant then granted 
LAND SURVEYS        to Paul Hoy of Frederick County for 
OF 1774             one Thousand Acres of Land he having 
                    paid the sum of fifty Pounds Sterling 
Caution for the same . . . " 
On the warrant are listed as surveyed "Friend's Delight," 256 acres; "Crab Tree Bottom," 112 acres; "Carmel," 341 acres, and "Shawnee War," 291 acres.

The Friend family were pioneer settlers of western Maryland. Charles was the first settler in Washington County about 1732; his brother Nicholas settled on the Virginia bank of the Potomac, and in 1765 three sons of Nicholas--John, Augustine and Charles--"squatted" on the Youghiogheny River. When the Friends came east to visit and trade, Paul Hoye probably talked with them about the lands in "the west"; so in 1774 he and Francis Deakins went to "Friends" on the Youghiogheny and secured their assistance in locating and surveying some of the best lands in the mountains.

               One of the four tracts Paul Hoye had his brother 
FRIEND'S       survey for him was 256 acres on the Youghiogheny, 
DELIGHT        "Beginning at a bounded hickory tree 
               four perches above the mouth of Ginseng Run." 
This was a favorite hunting ground of the Friends, who probably 
already had a cabin there on the old Indian camp ground,

NOTE:--"Our forefathers may well be pardoned for failing to 
see that it was of more importance to have it (the land) owned in 
small lots by active settlers than to have it filled up quickly under a 
system of huge grants to individuals or corporations. Many wise and 
good men honestly believed that they would benefit the country at 
the same time that they enriched themselves by acquiring vast tracts 
of virgin wilderness, and then proceeding to people them. There was 
a rage for land speculation and land companies of every kind. The 
private correspondence of almost all the public men of the period, 
from Washington, Madison and Gouverneur Morris down, is full of 
the subject. Unnumerable people of wealth and influence dreamed of 
acquiring untold wealth in this manner. Almost every man of note 
was actually or potentially a land speculator; and in turn almost 
every prominent pioneer, from Clark and Boone to Shelby and Robertson, 
was either himself one of the speculators or an agent for those 
who were." 
                       --Roosevelt: "Winning of the West.”

 

in which the survey party lodged. According to an old story, when Hoye offered to pay John Friend for his services, Friend declined to accept; then Hoye asked him if he would like to have a hundred acres of the survey. Friend answered, "I would be delighted." So they surveyed off one hundred acres for Friend and named the whole tract "Friend's Delight." In 1786 Paul Hoye finally secured his patent for this tract from the State and in 1789 he deeded 100 acres of it to John Friend, Sr., for the nominal sum of 20 shillings.

The "beginning" hickory was replaced years after the survey by a sandstone slab marked "PH" (Paul Hoye). Friends and Hoyes have owned and have resided on "Friend's Delight" until the present day.

                          In 1777 the General Assembly set 
THE GLEANINGS AND         aside the vacant lands "westward 
OTHER GRANTS              of Fort Cumberland" for Maryland 
                          soldiers in the Continental 
Army. Militiamen were not entitled to this land, but in 1787, 
when the Military Lots were surveyed by Francis Deakins, 
Paul Hoye claimed as a settler four lots adjoining his "Crab 
Tree Bottom" tract. Paul never actually settled there, but he 
had made some improvements--built a cabin, perhaps. 
On the 24th day of April, 1792, Paul Hoye obtained a warrant to resurvey "Crab Tree Bottom," Military Lots 4091-92-93-94 and any vacant contiguous land. John Armstrong made the survey. It included a strip of land down Crab Tree Run and the Youghiogheny Valley about ten miles, 5,144 acres, for which Hoye paid the state for the vacant land œ604. He named the tract "The Gleanings"--the best land left in the Valley. Patent for "The Gleanings" was issued Feb. 28, 1794.

Paul Hoye also patented "Prospect," "White Oak Point," and "Hope" in Maryland, and in Virginia, in 1796, 2,400 acres on the Dry Fork of Cheat River in what is now Tucker County, West Virginia.

In 1798 Wm. Deakins died leaving his large landed estate to his half brother, Paul, and to his brothers, Francis and Leonard. Six years later Francis Deakins died and bequeathed the residue of his estate to Leonard M. Deakins and Paul Hoye. The mountains of Maryland and western Virginia, where almost all of these lands were located, were settling up slowly, so in 1813 the Hoyes were "land poor"; Paul owed the estate of Francis Deakins $2,000. In order to lighten the burden in his declining years and to give his son, John, then in Georgetown, a freer hand, Paul Hoye deeded in 1805 all his interests in the Deakins estates to John Hoye.

                     First Mariam, the devoted wife and 
THE OLD FOLK         mother, died. She was buried in the 
PASS AWAY            peach orchard on the farm. Five years 
                     later Paul was laid beside her and two 
large stone slabs were erected over their graves with the following 
inscriptions: 

IN MEMORY of Mariam Hoye consort of Paul Hoye who departed this life on the 18th of Nov., 1811 in the 78th year of her age.

IN MEMORY of Paul Hoye who was born the 26th March, 1736 and departed this life on the 13th of October, 1816, in the 81st year of his age.

About ten years after the death of Paul, his granddaughter, Ann Hoye Bishop, had the remains and gravestones removed to the Bishop lot in the Smithsburg Cemetery. R. I. P.

                      In 1813 Paul Hoye, being desirous to 
LAST WILL AND         settle his wordly affairs, made his will. 
TESTAMENT             (See appendix.) His first care was to 
                      provide for his grandchildren by bequeathing 
to them, in trust, "The Gleanings" and other lands. 
He confirmed his deed for the Deakins property to John. To 
his daughter, Ann, and to John, in trust for Elizabeth, he devised 
the home farm, his personal estate and various tracts of 
land. 
It will be noted that Paul Hoye left nothing to his son, William Waller, for the reason that he could not trust William with the ownership of any property. Also, it appears that Ann was not satisfied with a provision of the will that upon her death her share of the estate should go to her brother John; so, a few days after signing, Paul added a codicil leaving Ann's share to her absolutely "in fee simple."

The inventory (see Appendix) of Paul Hoye's personal property totaled $6,061.90, and the amount of the sale was $6,567.51.

On December 6, 1816, John and Ann Hoye sold the plantation, 284 acres (except a grave yard 30 feet square), to Jacob Fiery, for $16,817.25, receiving a cash payment and a mortgage on the property until 1821.

Paul Hoye's estate was worth $30,000. When he made his will he owned 10,000 acres of land exclusive of the Deakins lands.

                     Ann Hoye was presumably the eldest 
"AUNT NANCY"         child of Paul and Mariam. She has been 
HOYE                 described as a handsome, steady and dignified, 
                     red-haired woman. She set an 
example of celibacy which has been too often followed by the 
Hoye women. However, she lived a long and useful life taking 
care of her aged parents and helping to manage the home and 
farm at Frog Harbor. 
When her father died she insisted that the farm be sold, saying she feared the negroes might break into the distillery and become unmanageable. She bought her father's silver spoons for $25, his watch for $10, Henny and her four children for $505, and the negro girl, Sue, for $370. She received from her father's estate $6,885 in cash.

After her father's death Ann visited the Deakins family in Georgetown. In 1818 she made her home with her brother, John, in Cumberland, and in 1821 visited the Alexander Smith family at "Smith's Farm" on the Potomac. We note that in 1819 she paid $20 for a saddle; she doubtless rode horseback to visit her brother William, at Crab Tree Bottom.

In March, 1822, John Hoye brought Ann to Hagerstown where she resided in a comfortable apartment over the Hagerstown Bank of which her friend, Elie Beatty, was president. In February, 1822, her niece, Eliza Hoye Drane, visited her there; she sent by Eliza to her brother William's family gifts to the value of $40. Among items of her account in John Hoye's Ledger we note: April 20, 1824--"To cash you wanted to send to Geo. Town and part for Saml Hoye to get things for him--$117." Having plenty of money and no children, Aunt Nancy was liberal with gifts to her favorite relatives and friends--too liberal to please John, who looked after her property. In his account with his sister there is an item dated 1824 of $623.94 followed by the remark: "Which you gave principally to persons who will never thank you for it."

Aunt Nancy Hoye died at Hagerstown in 1825 and rests near her parents with whom she labored faithfully so many years.

                             In sharp contrast to her blonde 
AUNT BETSY OF THE            sister Ann, Paul Hoye's second 
HAUNTED HOUSE                daughter, Elizabeth, seems to 
                             have inherited her dark hair and 
eyes and a willful disposition from another ancestral line--some 
remote Irish mother or from the Virginia Wallers. 
This is her tragic story:

About 1785 Elizabeth Hoye, then a pretty maiden of twenty years, accompanied her father to Georgetown, a place of importance at the head of navigation on the Potomac. Paul had business there with his brothers and Elizabeth had long looked forward to a visit with her Aunt Eleanor Deakins and to an opportunity to mingle in the polished and animated society of the old town.

One afternoon, seated at her window which commanded a good view of the river, Elizabeth observed a trim English merchant ship, propelled by the breeze from Chesapeake, slowly making its way up stream to an anchorage below the Deakins home; she speculated on what goods the vessel might be bringing, the lands it came from and the manner of men aboard. On the last point she had not long to wait for enlightenment.

The merchants of Georgetown, having reestablished amicable trade relations with the Mother Country, were well pleased to receive their goods in safety from the ship at anchor. They gave a ball in honor of the ship's officers. The Deakins family and their guests were among those invited.

Elizabeth met the Englishmen, including the Captain--a tall, sun-tanned man of thirty--jovial, well bred, popular with men, admired by women. She danced with him and even in the stately minuet of those times, the flash of eyes, smiles and touch of hands revealed their mutual attraction. Between dances he talked to her of London and of stormy nights at sea.

Some days later Elizabeth and her aunt were invited to a tea party on board the ship; the gallant Captain asked permission to call at their home. But when Paul learned of the sailor's attention to his daughter, he frowned. "Be on your guard, daughter," he warned, "even if this Red Coat's intentions are honorable, what would you be? A sailor's wife in England among strangers, while he roams the sea and loves a different woman in every port. See him when he calls tomorrow but never again." The next day Elizabeth met the Captain in the parlor under her aunt's watchful eye and tearfully explained to him her father's command. "Perhaps we can find a way."

Early the following morning a slave boy stealthily handed Elizabeth a note: "If you love me, meet me tonight by the willow tree on the river bank when the town clock strikes twelve."

At midnight a maiden, radiant with expectation and excitement, stood in the moonlight at the appointed place, and scarcely had the clock ceased to strike when a row boat grated on the shore. Extending his hand, the Captain gently helped the girl into the boat, then silently rowed down the river and into a secluded cove of Rock Creek. Here the hours passed swiftly while the old, old story was retold . . . Signs of dawn appeared in the eastern sky as the lovers rowed back to the Deakins' landing. "My ship sails at this hour tomorrow," he told her. "Meet me again tonight at twelve. We shall sail away together and be married in London."

Quietly during the day Elizabeth prepared for the final rendezvous but Aunt Eleanor became suspicious and warned her father. That night he watched the house.

As the old clock announced midnight a rowboat touched the shore again and a minute later Elizabeth, in traveling dress, carrying a bag, stepped thru her window to the balcony and descended the stairs to the yard. There stood her angry father: "Woman, what madness this!" He forced her into her room, locked the door and nailed the window. The agony of those hours climaxed at dawn as the broken-hearted girl saw from her barred window the sails of her lover's ship unfurled --saw the vessel glide slowly down the stream on the ebbing tide.

Early that morning Paul put his passively resisting daughter (she ate nothing and spoke to no one) into their coach with her servant and drove to their home in the country. There Elizabeth went straightway to her room and for many days refused to leave it; her spirit broken, her soul locked in that prison room in Georgetown, ever struggling to follow the white sails down the Potomac.

Thirty darkened years passed by. Generations of frogs sang their love ballads in the brook under the windows of Frog Harbor mansion. Living under her father's roof, she never spoke to him and seldom to anyone; her spirit wandered in another world, a world of love and joy, revealed to her one brief week long ago.

The mother died; then the father. The old home was sold. Elizabeth was sent with her slave woman to a little farm in the mountains near William's home. There her brothers built for her a comfortable log house and supplied all her needs.

More long years went by . . . . At the Sainging Ground neighbors tell their grandchildren stories of queer Aunt Betsey of the haunted house; how she tortured her slaves to hear them howl, pinching them with the hot fire tongs; even poking to death with a broom stick a little negro boy who brought her meals to her room; clipping the tongs "to scare the witches away," so the neighbors say. And tales they tell of how she kept her face drawn with turpentine plasters, wearing a mask when she went out--keeping her skin fair and soft as a child's even to the day of her death at eighty . . . waiting all those weary years for a ship to bring the lover who never returned.

NOTE:--In 1824 John McCabe deeded 20 acres of "Friends Delight"
at the Sainging Ground to Elizabeth Hoye. Here John Hoye
built his sister a comfortable two-story log house with a stone chimney
and open fireplaces for both lower and upper stories. This was
that lonely woman's home, with her servants, until, at the advanced
age of four score years, her mind ceased to wander and curious but
sympathetic neighbors carried her body to the Hoye graveyard at
Crab Tree Bottom and buried her near her brother William.

When the writer was a boy fifty years ago, Aunt Betsey Hoye's
home still stood, then unoccupied, and the locale of numerous ghost
stories--"the haunted house"--avoided by the timid at night. And
even today the old folk of the neighborhood tell stories they heard
from their parents of queer Aunt Betsey Hoye and her negro woman
Nell.

VI

THE WALLER FAMILY

By E. P. WALLER

THE WALLER FAMILY, one of the most ancient and distinguished among the English gentry, was founded by Alured de Waller, a Norman, who settled in the county of Kent and died in 1183. From him descended the Wallers of that and other counties. Richard Waller of Groombridge, Kent, distinguished himself very highly at the battle of Agincourt, where he took prisoner the French prince, the Duke of Orleans; and Henry V of England, in honor of his services, added to the ancient arms of the family (which were "sable, three walnut leaves or, between two bendlets ar") the crest--"A walnut tree proper, on the sinister side an escutcheon pendant, charged with the arms of France (three fleurs de lis) with a label of three points" and the motto "Haec fructus virtutis."

Among the other distinguished men of the family were the Parliamentary generals Sir William and Sir Hardress Waller, who were of the Kentish branch, and Edmund Waller, the poet, who was of the Wallers of Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, springing from a younger son of the Groombridge family.

We have three distinct branches of the Virginia family, all of whom are connected but not closely related.

We have the records of a Charles Waller who landed in Virginia on the ship "Abigail" in 1628. A contemporary of his, Edmund Waller was a contestant in a law suit in 1629; still further back was a John Waller who participated in an Indian fight. Later a John Waller patented land in Gloucester County in 1667; while Edmund Waller and his wife Susannah were participants in a law suit in Middlesex County, Virginia, before 1691.

Another Charles Waller of Gloucester and Essex County married Susannah Forest and was probably a son of Edmund, who was born in 1706, died in 1753, and married Ann Tandy.

Another branch of the Virginia family were descended from Colonel John Waller who was born in 1673, emigrated to Virginia and settled first in King & Queen County and afterwards in King William County. When Spotsylvania County was cut off from King William County in 1721, Colonel John Waller was appointed the first clerk of the courts and held the position until his death, when his son Edmund succeeded him.

Judge Benjamin Waller, judge of the Admiralty Court, was a son of Colonel John Waller; there is a large family in Virginia who are descendants of Colonel John Waller which we know as the Spotsylvania County Wallers.

The family to which MARIAM WALLER belonged we know as the Stafford County Wallers, descended from a WILLIAM WALLER who patented land in Virginia in 1669. His son, William Waller (d. 1703) married Elizabeth Allen, daughter of George Allen and his wife Jane. Their son was GEORGE WALLER "of England" (so called because of the fact that as a child he was sent back to England for his education). George Waller of England married his cousin Elizabeth Allen.

George Waller (b. 1703) of England and Elizabeth Allen had ten children, the eldest of whom was Colonel George Waller, who married Ann Winston Carr and moved to Henry County, Virginia--from which point he served as a Colonel in the Revolutionary War.

The other children of George Waller and Elizabeth Allen were: Hannah, William Allen, Elizabeth, Mary, Barsheba, Mariam, Theodocia, Jane, Margaret. Mariam Waller married Paul Hoye.

GO, LOVELY ROSE!

Go, lovely Rose!                       Small is the worth 
Tell her that wastes her time and me   Of beauty from the light retired; 
That now she knows,                    Bid her come forth, 
When I resemble her to thee.           Suffer herself to be desired, 
How sweet and fair she seems to be.    And not blush so to be admired. 

Tell her that's young,                 Then die! that she 
And shuns to have her graces spied,    The common fate of all things rare 
That hadst thou sprung                 May read in thee; 
In deserts, where no men abide,        How small a part of time they share 
Thou must have uncommended died.       That are so wondrous sweet and fair! 
                                                          --Edmund Waller.

NOTE:--(1) George Waller "of England" resided on "Spring
Hill," which adjoins "Concord" on Aquia Creek near Stafford Court
House, Virginia. The old houses at Spring Hill have been destroyed
and the graveyard has almost disappeared.

(2) See "Burke's Landed Gentry of Great Britain," 1906, for the
Waller lineage.

VII

THE DEAKINS FAMILY

                      JOHN DEAKINS was a planter in 
JOHN DEAKINS          Prince George's County, Maryland. He 
                      was probably a son of John Deakins, a 
captain in the British navy, whose ship, the "Worcester," was 
taken from him because he was an Ana-baptist. Or he may 
have been of the Deakyn family of Baglethorpe House, Nottinghamshire, 
England, as indicated by the use of the same 
Christian names--John and William--thru several generations. 
In the Records of Prince George's County, January Court Session of 1696, there is the case of Michael Ashforth vs. John Deakins, referring to a certain note and to tobacco.

In the Court Session of 1698 at Charles Towne, John Deakins recorded "his marke--Cropys & Haple forke on the Right Eare & a Cropp & two slitts in the Left Eare."

Deeds for land are also recorded as follows: 1698--Michael Ashforth to John Deakins, part of "Samsons Delight," 100 acres, "For 4000 lbs. of good tobacco." 1698--William Groome to John Deakins, part of "Calvert Manor" for 200 lbs. of tobacco. 1702--Joshua Cecill to John Deakins, part of "Calvert Manor," 100 acres, "lying on the west side of Pattuxent River." County Rent Rolls show John Deakins in possession of several other tracts from 1694 to 1719.

The CHILDREN of JOHN and MARY DEAKINS were Leonard, William, Elizabeth, Ann and Mary. The children by his second wife, Priscilla, were Richard, John and Joseph.

By HIS WILL John Deakins left to Leonard, personality. To William, Elizabeth Hooker, Ann Taneyhill and Mary Lucas,

NOTE:--THE TEST OATH--Proceedings of the Vestry of St.
Paul's Parish, Prince George's County, June 3, 1729:

We the Subscribers do declare that we do believe that there is
not any transubstantiation in the Sacred Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper or in the Elements of bread and wine at or after the consecration
thereof by any person or persons whatsoever--

Signed by Samuel Magruder, Richard Claggett, Thos. Brooke, Jr.,
D. Dulany, John Orme, Richard Bevan, M. Selby, John Deakins, and
about forty others.

2 shillings, 6 pence, each. He had apparently provided for the older children before making his will. His plantation was in the Mt. Calvert neighborhood near the site of old Charles Towne, first county seat of Prince George's, six miles s.e. of Marlboro.

To his wife, Priscilla, and minor sons he bequeathed his "Dwelling Plantation and all my lands thereunto belonging." Also his personal estate.

The will was signed 9th August, 1743, and probated 20th March, 1744. John Deakins died March 9, 1744.

                 WILLIAM DEAKINS, SR., was buried November 
WILLIAM          22, 1800. He appears to have resided 
DEAKINS, SR.     on a part of "Twifer" in the Hoye 
                 neighborhood of Prince George's County, 
where, on February 9, 1738, he married Tabitha Marbury, 
widow of James Hoye. Later he settled on Bloomfield Plantation 
near Bladensburg. 
    CHILDREN of WILLIAM and TABITHA DEAKINS: 
    (1) Francis, born Nov. 12, 1739, died Oct. 28, 1804. 
    (2) William, born March 12, 1742, died March 3, 1798. 
    (3) Leonard Marbury, born March 9, 1747, died June 28, 1824. 
The Deakins family adhered to the Episcopal Church. The Vestry of St. Paul's Parish, on September 6, 1757, nominated William Deakins for Inspector at the Tobacco Warehouse at Nottingham.

While residing at Bladensburg the family belonged to the Rock Creek Church at George Town, and on April 23, 1764, William Deakins, Sr., was given the liberty of building a pew or gallery in that church. He was elected vestryman in 1772.

William Deakins, Sr., died in 1800. He devised his home plantation of about 242 acres to his son, Leonard M.

NOTE:--(1) CENSUS REPORT of 1790:

Prince George's County--William Deakins, Sr., family 5, slaves 4.

Prince George's County, Leonard Deakins, family 3, slaves 13.

Montgomery County--William Deakins, Jr., family 5, slaves 8.

(2) BLADENSBURG was established as a town in 1742. Before
the Revolution there were ten stores in the town owned mostly by
Scotchmen: they exported annually 1200 to 1500 hogsheads of tobacco.
After the War Bladensburg declined in importance and in 1807
had only about one hundred houses. It is on the Washington-Baltimore
highway.

FRANCIS DEAKINS       Francis Deakins resided in Georgetown. 
1739-1804             He married Eleanor Threlkeld, 
                      a widow. They had no children. 
Col. Deakins was a civil engineer and made many important land surveys in western Maryland. In 1768 he surveyed Lord Baltimore's Manors in what is now Garrett County. For a time he was His Lordship's deputy surveyor for Frederick County, which at that time included all of western Maryland.

In 1786, Deakins, representing the State of Maryland, in conjunction with John Neville of Virginia, laid out the State Road from Western Port to the Virginia line. His most important public service was the survey, in 1787, of the Military Lots "westward of Fort Cumberland." In making the lot survey,

NOTE:--Report of the SURVEY of the MILITARY LOTS:
Dec. the 10th, 1787.

IN COMPLIANCE--with a Resolution of the General Assembly
of the state of Maryland of the 20th day of May 1787 and a Commission
from the Governor and Council to me Directed bearing Date the
11th of June 1787 for the Purpose of Surveying and laying out the
Reserve Lands to the Westward of Fort Cumberland into convenient
Lots of 50 acres each and etc.

I hearby Certify that I have carefully Surveyed for the State
aforesaid 4165 Lots of 50 Acres each lying and being in Washington
County and State aforesaid and on the Manors Reserves and Confiscated
lands to the Westward of Fort Cumberland, as will appear by a
General platt thereof and Certificates numbered in rotation from 1 to
4165 in this Book and another Ledger.
                                (Signed) FRANCIS DEAKINS.

Deakins report of this survey on file in the Hall of Records, Annapolis,
fills two hand written volumes. Two similar volumes, evidently
the original draft, are in possession of a lawyer in Oakland,
Md.

Chapter XLII, ACTS of the MARYLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
1788.

XI. AND, whereas it appears to this general assembly, that ten
assistant surveyors have been employed by the said Francis Deakins
in the execution of the said survey seven hundred and seventy five
days, to wit; Henry Kemp, one hundred and twenty days, Daniel
Cresap, fifty eight days, Laurence Bringle, ninety-eight days, Thomas
Orm, seventy days, John Hooker, ninety-two days, John Lynn, fifteen
days, William Hoye, ninety-two days. BE IT ENACTED, That there
be allowed to each of the said assistants the sum of ten shillings
current money per day.

XVIII. And Be it Inacted: That there be allowed to the said
Francis Deakins, for his trouble in completing the said work, making
out the plats and registering the certificates aforesaid, the sum of
two hundred pounds current money.

he established what became known as the "Deakins Line" --the western boundary of Maryland.

Francis Deakins was a Major in the Continental Army and a Lt. Colonel in the Maryland Militia. He was a Justice of the Peace in 1777. Twice he was a Maryland presidential elector-- in 1796 and 1801; the record does not show for whom he voted but he is said to have supported Jefferson. In 1796, Maryland cast seven votes for Adams and four for Jefferson; in 1800, five for Adams and five for Jefferson. When President Adams visited Washington in 1800, Francis Deakins was chairman of the committee which presented the President an address of welcome to Georgetown.

COL. WILLLIAM DEAKINS, JR.        WILLIAM DEAKINS resided 
1742-1798                         in the Deakins-Threlkeld 
                                  Addition of 
Georgetown. He married Jane Johns; they had no children. 
William Deakins was active and prominent in patenting lands in western Maryland and Virginia, and in the development of the National Capitol. Among public offices he held we note that he was a member of the Montgomery County Court of 1776; Judge of the Orphans' Court; Delegate to the Maryland Convention of 1775 and one of its committee to inquire into the practicability of establishing an arms factory; first Treasurer to the District of Columbia Board of Commissioners; Delegate to the Maryland Constitutional Convention of 1788; Councilman of Georgetown in 1791.

William and Francis Deakins owned the present site of Georgetown College and Convent. In 1796 Mrs. William Deakins donated the lot on which St. John's Church, Georgetown, now

NOTE:--(1) THE GERMAN SETTLEMENT. In 1786 Rev. John
Stough selected a site for a settlement on Deakins lands in Preston
Co., Va. The following year he returned with five families from Frederick,
Md.

In July, 1793, Leonard Deakins and Jonas Hogmire platted the
town of Carmel, now Aurora. Terms of sale of lots: a cash payment
and one silver half dollar payable as quit rent every first day of July
to Francis Deakins.

(2) Francis Deakins' surveyor's compass is now in the Fort Necessity,
Pa., Museum. John Hoye presumably gave it to his nephew,
Samuel Hoye, who took it to Pennsylvania in 1829.

stands. In 1795 William was a vestryman of old Christ's Church near the Navy Yard. In 1789 he was Chairman of the Committee of Managers of a lottery for raising $1,500 for the erection of the new Rock Creek Church.

Among the subscribers to the stock of the first Potomac Canal Company was William Deakins, Jr.,--œ100 (7s. 6d. per dollar). Francis Deakins also subscribed œ100, "common currency of Maryland." George Washington subscribed œ500, "Virginia Currency."

By his will, dated March 2, 1798, William Deakins left half of his landed estate to his brother Francis, and half to his brothers, Leonard M. Deakins and Paul Hoy.

William Deakins died at the early age of fifty-six and was buried at "The Cedars," the home estate of John Cox. In 1889 his remains and those of his wife were reinterred in the Rock Creek Cemetery near those of Francis Deakins. The tombstones bear the following inscriptions:

Sacred To the Memory of Col. Francis Deakins Born on the 12th Nov., 1739 and departed this life on the 28th Oct., 1804, in the 66th year of his Age.

Sacred To the Memory of Col. William Deakins, who died March 3d, 1798. Aged 56 years. In his death his family have lost an unshaken Friend and a Bright Example of Philanthropy, The poor a Liberal Benefactor, The distressed of every class a willing helper, Society one of her Illustrious Ornaments And Georgetown by the Blow has lost her Most industrious Patron. His affectionate connections have Marked the place where his remains are deposited with this Sepulchral stone in order to testify their regard for his worth to perpetuate to posterity the recollection of his virtues. Blessed are the mercyful for they shall obtain mercy.

                          COL. LEONARD M. DEAKINS 
LEONARD MARBURY           succeeded his father on the plantation 
DEAKINS, 1747-1824        near Bladenburg, making 
                          his winter home in Georgetown 
until 1814. He married (1) Ruth Orme.

NOTE:--ANNOUNCEMENT in "The Virginia Gazette," Jan. 14,
1775:

"At a meeting of the Trustees for opening the navigation of Potowmack
River held at George Town December 1, 1774, Thos. Johnson,
Jr., Attorney-at-Law, Wm. Deakins, Adam Stewart, Thos. Johns,
Thos. Richardson, of George Town, merchants; Wm. Ellzy, Robt.
Alexander, Philip Alexander, of Virginia, planters, . . . ordered and
directed . . . to hire fifty slaves to labor in cutting the canals
around the several Falls of Said River." . . .

CHILDREN of LEONARD M. and RUTH ORME DEAKINS: 
    (1) Ann (Nancy) Orme, b. 1785, d. July, 1833. 
    (2) Tabitha Marbury, m. James Cassin. 
On Dec. 20, 1796, he married (2) Deborah Mauduitt, who died Oct. 12, 1846.

    CHILDREN of LEONARD M. and DEBORAH DEAKINS: 
    (1) William Francis, b. Dec. 11, 1799, d. Jan. 28, 1884. 
    (2) Leonard Marbury, b. June 3, 1800, d. April 12, 1812. 
    (3) Francis William, b. Nov. 10, 1803, d. Feb. 20, 1883. 
    (4) Ann Maria, b. Mar. 31, 1805, d. Sept. 10, 1830. Unmarried. 
    (5) Elizabeth Duke, b. 1807, d. Apr. 5, 1828, m. John Heath. 
    (6) Jane Parran, b. 1809, d. Apr. 1, 1863, m. Richard Serpell. 
    (7) Glovina, b. 1811, d. July 20, 1860. Unmarried. 
    (8) Amelia, b. 1813, m. George McLeod of Kentucky. 
    (9) Laura Mauduitt, b. 1820, d. June 17, 1886, m. Ethan A. Jones. 

              The Deakins home at Bladensburg is a comfortable 
DEAKINS       two-story frame house, probably built by 
HALL          William Deakins, Sr., before the year 1800. 
              Leonard M. Deakins devised his home plantation, 
Bloomfield, to his son, William Francis. The last of the 
family to own the place and live there was James R. H. Deakins 
(1840-1923), son of Wm. F. Deakins. The property was then 
bought by J. Frank Rushe, who divided the land into building 
lots, moved the old house to face the street, and repaired it, 
adding a colonial style porch. 
The family cemetery, near the Plantation house, is inclosed by a neat iron fence. It contains tombstones for Col. Leonard M. Deakins, his second wife and eight other members of the family, but none for William Deakins, Sr., or his wife Tabitha, who are doubtless buried there.

                              FRANCIS WILLIAM DEAKINS 
THE DEAKINS FAMILY            (1803-1883) in 1836 married 
IN VIRGINIA                   Christiana Jane Cook and soon 
                              after settled on the Deakins 
property on the east bank of Cheat River where the Northwestern 
Turnpike (U. S. 50) crosses that stream, in Preston County, 
now West Virginia. He was a farmer. There was a producing 
salt well on his property. He willed 1,570 acres of land and 
personal property to his numerous children. Francis W. Deakins, 
his wife (who died Jan. 3, 1889), and several children are 
buried in the farm graveyard

CHILDREN of FRANCIS W. and CHRISTIANA J. DEAKINS: 
    (1) Leonard Marbury, d. Sept. 14, 1912, m. Mary E. Hollis. 
    (2) William Francis, b. March 30, 1838, m. Louise Serpell. 
    (3) Julia L., b. Jan. 14, 1840, d. May 23, 1910, m. John A. Peters. 
    (4) Anna R., b. June 20, 1841, d. Apr. 5, 1904, m. Gabriel Pulliam. 
    (5) Glovina D., b. Jan. 1, 1843, d. Aug. 26, 1929, m. A. S. Fauber. 
    (6) George, b. Oct. 11, 1844, d. June 24, 1928, m. Christiana 
       Goff. 
    (7) Mary V., b. Feb. 22, 1846, d. June 5, 1873. 
    (8) Clara Palmer, b. Apr. 23, 1847, m. J. M. Fauber. 
    (9) Parron, b. Dec. 26, 1849, d. 1938, m. (1) Virginia Hoye; 
       (2) Mamie White. 
    (10) Septimus Clare, b. Jan. 15, 1851. 
    (11) John Byrne, b. Oct. 15, 1852, m. Annie Liles. 

              FRANCIS and WILLIAM DEAKINS early in 
DEAKINS       their lives began speculating in colonial lands in 
ESTATES       western Virginia and Maryland. The land offices 
              of the colonies and later the states encouraged 
speculation by granting patents to large areas at from twenty 
to forty cents per acre. The sole idea of the speculators was to 
hold the land for sale to actual settlers at advanced prices. 
In 1765 "Friendship," 30 acres, in Frederick Co., Maryland, was patented to William Deakins. Large tracts were patented to the Deakins brothers, separately or in partnership, in Virginia near the headwaters of the Potomac and elsewhere. In 1774 they surveyed several tracts in what is now Garrett County, Maryland.

Owning property in and near Georgetown and aided by their father financially, when the City of Washington was founded the Deakins brothers were not slow to engage in speculaton in City building lots--generally successfully, tho Francis

NOTE:--From the HISTORY OF PRESTON CO., W. VA.:

We have observed that the Virginia government was more considerate
of the land speculator than of the actual settler. The most
conspicuous of the early instances of non-residential monopoly was
that of Francis and William Deakins of Maryland. In 1784-9 they
patented 52 tracts in the East Side, making an area of 33,383 acres.
That the actual settlers resented this is expressed by a petition of
1793, in which they state that they had "Forced a settlement upon
the lands in this county at the risque of the lives of themselves and
their families, and thereby became possessed of the equitable right in
the soil, contrary distinguished from the swarms of land jobbers
that traveled through the country making tomahawk improvements,
and selling them before any actual settlement was made thereon.”

is said to have lost $50,000 on some unfortunate deals. Francis Deakins owned part of square No. 118 on the north side of Pennsylvana Avenue, deeded by his executors in 1814 to Benj. S. Forrest for $3,000. As a surveyor, Francis Deakins was in close touch with land development in city and country. Both brothers left extensive landed estates, described in 1805 as lying in Maryland, Virginia, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia.

By his will of 1798 (see Appendix) William Deakins left his lands to his brothers and half brother, Paul Hoy. Six years later Francis Deakins died, leaving most of his estate to Leonard M. Deakins and Paul Hoye. In 1805 Paul Hoye deeded his share of the Deakins property to his son John, who was also the active executor of the Deakins estates.

John Hoye had worked since boyhood in the offices of his uncles and was familiar with their properties and their business methods; by conscientious and efficient administration he secured a considerable income for the heirs; but, due to the opening up of the fertile lands in the Ohio Valley, few of the early speculators in mountain lands realized their hopes of great wealth.

About 1840 a friendly suit was brought in the Preston County, Va., Court to divide the remainder of the estates of William and Francis Deakins between John Hoye and the heirs of Leonard M. Deakins. Buckner Fairfax and George Smith, as a majority of the Commission appointed by the Court, submitted a long report dividing the property; this report was approved by the Court. The land divided included the remainder of 20,000 acres patented to Francis and William Deakins in 1797, lying in Randolph County, Virginia. In this division are listed eleven land patents granted between 1790 and 1800, containing

NOTE:--This deed, recorded in the District of Columbia, illustrates
how land speculators utilized the services of pioneer settlers
in locating lands:

"Whereas a certain Gabriel Friend did enter into a contract with
the said Francis and William Deakins in their lifetimes to locate certain
Virginia land warrants and for which said services the said
Friend was to have a certain part of the land so located by him . . ."
in 1808 Leonard M. Deakins and John Hoye, Executors, for $1.00 (at
the request of Gabriel Friend) deeded to Samuel Ward and Elizabeth
Friend, 100 acres of land in Monongalia Co., Va.

20,000 acres clear of land already sold "in which John Hoye has an interest of 7,500 acres."

Early land records of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia abound in deeds of property to and from the Deakins brothers.

                      William Deakins, Sr., and his three 
DEAKINS FAMILY        sons were active revolutionists. On 
 in the               October 24, 1922, the S. A. R. erected 
REVOLUTION            a marble slab at the grave of William 
                      Deakins, Jr. On that occasion the orator, 
A. C. Clark, "spoke in glowing terms of the work of the 
Deakins family throughout the trying days preceding the revolt 
of the colonists, and said that none did more for the success 
that followed than they." 
During the summer of 1774 the revolutionary committees of Charles and Frederick Counties considered the case of the ship "Mary and Jane" which had arrived in St. Mary's River with two chests of tea for Robert Findlay, a merchant of Bladensburg, and one chest for Robert Peter of Georgetown. These merchants were called before the committees and agreed not to receive the tea, but if it should be delivered, to place it in custody of Thomas Johns, William Deakins, Jr., and Bernard O'Neal. In the autumn of 1774 among the members of the Frederick County Revolutionary Committee were William and Francis Deakins.

At a meeting held in Upper Marlboro in November, 1774, a committee was appointed to carry into execution in Prince George's County the Association of the Continental Congress. William Deakins, Sr., was a member of this committee, which planned to raise ten companies of Militia, two to be organized in the Bladensburg neighborhood.

At Frederick, January 24, 1775, John Hanson, chairman of a revolutionary meeeting, appointed committees to raise $1,333 in that county for the purchase of arms and ammunition. For Georgetown William Deakins, Jr., Thomas Johns and Walter Smith were appointed. It was resolved to empower Thomas Johnson, William Deakins, Jr., Charles Beatty, George Stull and John Swan, or any one of them, to contract in behalf of the Committee of Correspondence for powder and lead; it

was further resolved that fifteen citizens--including William Deakins--represent the County in the proposed Provincial Convention at Annapolis. William Deakins attended the Convention of July 26, 1775.

As one of the "worshipped Justices" of Montgomery County, William Deakins presided at the trials of numbers of persons indicted for "damming Congress, Whigs and rebels," and for wishing success to the King's arms.

Col. William Deakins, Jr., was 2nd Major in Col. John Murdock's Battalion of Maryland Militia, and on Sept. 12, 1777, he was promoted to Lieut. Colonel.

Col. Francis Deakins was commissioned Captain in the Flying Corps, August 14, 1776, and Lieut. Colonel on Sept. 12, 1777. With his command he marched to the front in August, 1776. On August 17 the State Treasurer was ordered to pay Capt. Deakins œ250 for arms and blankets.

Col. Leonard M. Deakins raised a company in the vicinity of Georgetown, of which he became Captain; this company was a part of Griffith's Flying Corps which marched to the front in July, 1776. The Battalion was complimented by Gen. Washington for its services at the battle of Harlem Heights.

NOTE:--(1) Will Deakins Junr to Gov. Lee of Maryland (Md.
Archives, XLV):

                            George Town, September 17 1780 

Sir--Your of the 22nd Ult Inclosing an Extract from the Subscription
made by the General Assembly came safe to hand; Since
which I have applyed to Messrs Cramphin & Bayly the former has
paid his Subscription. Mr Samuel Thomas lives in the neighbourhood
of Mr Burgess and will no doubt call on him for payment. I with pain
Observe the pressing Call for Cash in the Treasury and am sorry to
say I have little or no hopes of procuring either Tobo. or Cash on
Loan altho I have applyed to Many who I thought had it in their
power to Contribute. I will still Continue my Endeavours, and If possible
procure some Assistance when you may Expect to hear from me.

(2) On July 3, 1776, the Maryland Council of Safety ordered payment
of œ69:15 to Leonard Deakins, Captain, Frederick County.

Muster Roll of L. M. Deakins' Company, Sept. 13 to Oct. 12, 1776:

"Return of the Regiment of Foot, in the Service of the United
Colonies, commanded by Col. Griffith, dated September 13, 1776--
Company of Capt. Deakins--Officers Present 4; Sergeants 4; drums
and fifes 2. Rank and file--Present fit for duty 55; sick 17; total 7??
Deserted one."

(3) Letters from Wm. Deakins to the Council of Safety, etc., are
in Maryland Archives, XI and XII.

Congress in 1790 authorized President 
BEGINNINGS OF THE         Washington to locate a Federal 
NATIONAL CAPITAL          District as a capital site at 
                          any point on the Potomac River 
between the Eastern Branch and Conocochegue Creek. 
On October 15, 1790, Washington set out to view the proposed sites. He spent a day inspecting the country between Georgetown and the Eastern Branch, and received there a letter from nine of the property owners--one of whom was William Deakins, Jr.--offering to sell their land to the Government at a reasonable price. He then traveled horseback up the Potomac Valley to Hagerstown, and on October 21 arrived at Williamsport which is at the mouth of Conocochegue Creek. The people of Williamsport petitioned the Maryland General Assembly "to appropriate a district of ten miles square within this county wherein it may please the President to make the location," and before the year closed upwards of $20,000 had been subscribed by the people of the County for the erection of the Federal buildings.

Four proposed locations on the Potomac were mapped, including the Conocochegue site. William Deakins wrote to Washington on November 3, stating that a surveyor was employed to lay down situations at Georgetown. Francis Deakins wrote him on November 12 from the Monocacy River, enclosing a draft which he had prepared "of the lands you viewed about

NOTE:--GEN. O. H. WILLIAMS TO FRANCIS DEAKINS:
                                   Baltimore, 8th November 1790 
Sir

I understand that you intend to furnish the President with a platt
of Lands adjacent to Conocochegue and below its mouth. As it may be
proper to show the limits of Wmsport as well as of the several tracts
I now . . . .

The difficulty of obtaining a general consent of the proprietors
of the Lands, will, probably prevent any voluntary grant for federal
purposes . . . It will be a subject of future regret, unlefs the afsembly
should think it proper to appropriate a diftrict, and within that
diftrict make a grant of (???) acres to be reimbursed by proportional
restitution by his neighbors.

To such an act, I think, no reasonable objection could be made,
seeing that if accepted, the meafure will enhance the value of all the
property and each proprietor will be benefitted in exact proportion to
the value of the property he now holds. . . .
                     I am Sir, Your mts Hble Servant

 

this place." A letter from Otha H. Williams to Francis Deakins says: "I understand that you intend to furnish the President with plats of land adjacent to the Conocochegue." It is clear that Francis Deakins accompanied the President on this journey, as his engineer.

On January 4, 1791, Washington announced his choice of the Eastern Branch site. (For many reasons it is regrettable that Conocochegue was not chosen as the site of the Capital of the United States.) On the same day he entered into a correspondence with Col. William Deakins and Benjamin Stoddert relative to buying the lands needed for the capitol and other public buildings; they were instructed to secure options as private persons. The price to be paid was later fixed at œ25 ($67) per acre. William Deakins was one of nineteen property owners who signed an agreement to sell their land to the Government. On the map showing property owners in the District, he is indicated as owner of a large tract on Goose Creek. Deakins and Stoddert were two of a company which bought 500 acres from John Waring.

Early in 1791 the President appointed a commission to buy land and erect public buildings. William Deakins, Jr., was appointed treasurer to the commission and as compensation was allowed one per cent of all monies paid out by him. He was required to give a bond of œ10,000.

                                   Most of the letters here quoted 
WASHINGTON-DEAKINS                 are among the "Papers of 
CORRESPONDENCE                     George Washington," on file in 
                                   the Library of Congress. 
                  WILLIAM DEAKINS, JR., to WASHINGTON 
                                     George Town, Novr. 3, 1790. 
Sir

The day after you left this place we employed a surveyor to lay down our situations, but it has taken more time than we expected to afsertain the Exact Quantity of land held by each proprietor within the lines laid down. I expect on Sunday or Monday next to hand you the platt and proposals from the holders of the land--

             I am very respectfully Sir 
                           Your obt. servt-- 
                                   WILL DEAKINS JUNR

PRESIDENT WASHINGTON to MEFRS DEAKINS & STODDARD

                          Philadelphia, Feby. 3d 1791 
Gentlemen, In asking your aid in the following case permit me at the same time to ask the most perfect secrecy. . . .

The object of this letter is to ask you to endeavor to purchase these grounds of the owners for the public particularly the second parcel, but as if for yourselves, and to conduct your propositions so as to excite no suspicion that they are on behalf of the public. . . .

I am obliged to add that all the dispatch is requisite which can assist with the success of your operations, and that I shall be glad to hear by post of your progress, and the prospect of the accomplishment of this business in whole or part.--

        I am--Gentm. 
              Yr. Most Obet. Hble. etc. 
                               GO. WASHINGTON 
Under date of Feb'y 17, 1791, the President acknowledges "receipt of your favor of the 9th" and refers to prices for lands, "odd lots in Hamburg," etc.

                              Philadelphia, Feb'y 28th 1791. 
Gentlemen, If you have concluded nothing with Mr. Burn's--nor made him any offer for his land that is not obligatory--I pray you to suspend your negotiations with him until you hear further from me, when reasons will be given for this request.--This request is applied to Burns only--

             With much esteem I am Gentm. 
                  Yr. O.                             G W 
A letter dated Philadelphia, March 2n 1791,, from Washington, notified his agents that "Majr. L'enfant" was going to the site of the Federal City to make surveys, etc.

VIII

WILLIAM WALLER HOYE

The will is a will to live; and its eternal enemy is death. But perhaps it can defeat even death? It can, by the strategy of reproduction. Every normal organism hastens to maturity, to sacrifice itself to the task of reproduction. . . . Reproduction is the ultimate purpose of every organism, and its strongest instinct; for only so can the will conquer death.

                                        --Schopenhauer. 
12. WILLIAM WALLER, elder son of Paul Hoye, was born August 10, 1768, in Frederick County, Maryland. He was named in honor of his grandfather, William Waller, of Virginia.

Wm. W. Hoye married (1) Eleanor, daughter of James Slicer: license issued at Cumberland, Maryland, May 20, 1796; the ceremony was performed by Rev. William Shaw, a noted minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Allegany County.

     Children of William W. Hoye and Eleanor Slicer: 
    14.   1. Ann, b. July 20, 1801, m. Dr. Elijah Bishop. 
    15.   2. Eliza, b. Jan. 10, 1803, m. Geo. W. Drane. 
    16.   3. Mary Ann, b. Oct. 10, 1805, m. Marien Drane. 
    17.   4. John, b. Nov. 5, 1807, m. Elizabeth Craver. 
    18.   5. Samuel, b. Nov. 5, 1807. 
    19.   6. Ellen Slicer, b. July 16, 1812, m. George Pearson. 
             A son, b. prior to 1800, and two other children, b. 
                1808-1812, died in infancy. 
He married (2) in 1814, Mary, daughter of John Rutan. She was born March 7, 1792, and died in 1840.

     Children of William W. Hoye and Mary Rutan: 
    20.   7. David, b. March 12, 1815, m. Elizabeth Friend. 
    21.   8. Tabitha, b. Oct. 17, 1816, m. J. L. Townshend. 
    22.   9. William Waller, b. Feb. 10, 1818, d. Oct. 24, 1825. 
    23.  10. Daniel Jones, b. Sept. 12, 1819, m. Catharine Baker. 
    24.  11. Edward, b. Feb. 17, 1821, m. Almedia S. Hauser. 
    25.  12. Mariah, b. May 10, 1823, m. T. H. Armstrong. 
    26.  13. Catherine, b. Feb. 5, 1825, m. (1) William Ridgeley, 
                 (2) Samuel Engle. 
    27.  14. Eli, b. Nov. 24, 1826, d. July 19, 1844. 
    28.  15. Sarah Jane, b. March 30, 1828, d. April, 1836. 
    29.  16. Elizabeth, b. May 13, 1830, m. Rev. John Philips. 
    30.  17. William Deakins, b. Aug. 13, 1832, d. April, 1836. 
    31.  18. Mariam Drusilla, b. July 24, 1834, m. Hanson Jordan.

All children except the first were born on the Crab Tree Bottom Farm.

William Waller Hoye was probably born in old George Town where he attended school and later studied surveying under his uncle, Francis Deakins. The first record we have of him is in 1787 when he worked as one of ten surveyors under Francis Deakins in the survey of the Military Lots "westward of Fort Cumberland." He was employed ninety-two days at ten shillings per day.

                    In 1787 the General Assembly authorized 
W. W. HOYE IN       the incorporation of the town of Cumberland; 
CUMBERLAND          among thirty-five families then residing 
                    in the town are listed Capt. 
George Calmes, James Slicer and Wm. Hoye. In the same year 
William was a member of a State Commission to evaluate State 
lands--especially the Military Lots upon which settlers had 
"squatted." 
Our young ancestor was pleased with Cumberland and its bright prospects. He probably resided at Walter Slicer's Hotel.

A story of William's early life on the frontier, as told by his daughter, Ellen, is to the effect that on one of his surveying trips in the mountains, he saw a party of Indians on the trail ahead. Not knowing whether they were friendly, he stepped behind a tree until they passed.

NOTE:--CUMBERLAND was a gay and thriving frontier town,
a promising location for a young surveyor or merchant. In 1788 the
State "reserved lands" were allotted to veterans of the Revolution or
offered for sale, and during the succeeding twelve years settlement
of these lands was rapid. The town was laid out in lots by Thomas
Beall of S. in 1785, and in 1789 became the county seat of a new
county--Allegany. It was also the eastern terminus of the old Braddock
Road over which travel and trade passed to and from the Ohio
Valley.

In 1798 hotel dinner rates as fixed by the County Court were:


 A hot dinner for a gentleman with beer or cider

3s. 0d.

 Dinner per servant

1s.10d.

 Lodgings in clean sheets

1s.10d.

 Ditto in sheets before used

6d.

 Hay per night for horse

1s. 6d.

 French brandy per 1/2-pint

6s.10d.

 Whiskey per gill

6d.


There was "considerable County income from fines": 5d. for one
profane oath; œ1, 12s. 6d. for drunkenness and Sabbath breaking.

(In 1798 Maryland Currency in U. S. money: œ1--$2,67.)

 

As late as 1788 a party of Ohio Indians murdered and took prisoner members of the Brain and Powell families at their settlement on Snowy Creek near the Maryland-Virginia boundary.

                    In 1790 William W. Hoye hired a sorrel 
A. FRIEND'S         mare to ride to Clarksburg and the Buchannan 
SORREL MARE         River in Western Virginia, of Augustine 
                    Friend, Sr., who then resided on 
the Cheat River. On the return journey the mare fell sick and 
William left her at the house of John Flanagin who led her to 
Friend's. Six weeks later Hoye went to Friend's house and was 
told that the mare was dead. Hoye then gave Friend a "Bill 
obligatory" for œ15. Still later Hoye was informed that the 
mare had not died at the time stated but that Friend had used 
her until Christmas. Hoye refused to pay the bill. 
Augustine Friend, Jr., son of John, then assigned the "Bill" to McMahon & King, merchants of Cumberland, who brought suit in Allegany County against William W. Hoye. In his sworn statement to the Court on Oct. 21, 1794, Hoye alleged that the "Bill" was obtained from him by fraud; he prayed relief. In the October, 1796, term of Court, Augustine Friend, Sr., testified that his mare died of hard riding and ill usage. Also young Augustine testified that Hoye acknowledged he "rode the mare to death."

The case was postponed until Oct. 15, 1798, when the Court found for the plaintiff and ordered Wm. W. Hoye to pay the "Bill," œ30 damages and 725 pounds of tobacco as costs.

A rough ride and dear! We pity the old sorrel mare.

In 1792 President Washington came to Cumberland and reviewed his troops before he sent them into Pennsylvania to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion. William Hoye marched with his company of Cumberland Militia, but the only story of his experiences in Pennsylvania which has come down to us is of the capture of some chickens from the "Dutch" farmers.

                         Financed by his father in the early 
HOYE & COMPANY,          1790's, William, in partnership with 
MERCHANTS                Samuel Selby III, became a merchant 
                         under the firm name of "Wm.

W. Hoye & Company." Neither partner, however, was adapted 
to mercantile pursuits. Of our ancestor's habits in Cumberland 
we know nothing, but of his later life, Jeremiah Enlow testified: 
"Wm. Hoye was a man that liked to take sprees, which 
lasted a long time, and when on a spree he was every man's 
friend, and he wasted his property on everybody, if he chanced 
to have any." 
Hoye & Company failed. The Court records of Allegany County for 1797-99 contain numerous suits by creditors against Hoye and Selby, "joint merchants," and other suits by them against their debtors. William Hoye lost all his property in Maryland and for œ98 deeded to his father 700 acres of land he owned on the Potomac in Hampshire Co., Va. Ninian Cochran, a creditor, took the negro boy, Harry, age 17, value œ60, in an execution as the property of W. W. Hoye; but Harry belonged to Paul Hoye, who found it necessary to bring suit in 1799 against Cochran in order to recover his slave. Paul also asked œ200 damages; the Court allowed one penny damages and 1,777 lbs. of tobacco, costs.

               In 1796 Wm. W. Hoye and Eleanor Slicer married. 
FIRST          She was "a very pretty woman," daughter 
MARRIAGE       of James Slicer, a prominent citizen of Cumberland. 
               (See Slicer Family.) During the following 
year the Hoye store was closed and it appears that the 
young couple went to Frog Harbor: a court writ of 1797 refers 
to Wm. W. Hoye, "late of Allegany County." Here was William's 
third opportunity--this time as a farmer. Frog Harbor 
plantation was prosperous and Paul Hoye was aging; but William 
did not remain at home where he was needed. Humiliated 
by his failure in business and not in agreement with his father,

NOTE:--Samuel Selby III was a lawyer in Cumberland. In the 
land records of Allegany County (C-87), Selby signed a deed dated 
29th May, 1799, beginning, "Whereas I am indebted to the United 
States as late Collector of the Internal Revenue for Allegany Co., 
Md., and Charles F. Broadhag and George Magruder did enter into 
a Bond as my securitys, In consideration of aforesaid and of their 
being sold as my securities . . . I transfer to them . . ." lots in 
Cumberland and more than 1,000 acres of land. 

Selby was attorney for Paul Hoye in a suit against Charles F. 
Broadhag in 1790 and in another against William Clarke in 1795; it 
appears from a Court order of 1799 that he failed to account to Hoye 
for œ240 and 1,681 lbs. of tobacco collected from the defendants.

he sought a home in the wilderness; there he found his fourth 
opportunity to attain wealth and influence. 

                              At the foot of Ginseng Hill, 
SETTLEMENT AT CRAB            drained by Crab Tree (now 
TREE BOTTOM                   Hoye's) Run, is Crab Tree Bottom, 
                              once largely covered by 
wild crab apple trees, beautiful when blooming and appreciated 
by the pioneers for their small, sour fruit. 
On April 5, 1774, Paul Hoye surveyed 112 acres of this valley; in 1792 he included the "Crab Tree Bottom" survey in "The Gleanings" tract which was patented to him by the State in 1794. "Crab Tree Bottom" was then on the old Indian Path from the Buffalo Marsh to the Sanging Ground Camp on the Youghiogheny River; it is now on an improved road from the village of McHenry to Sang Run.

In 1795 John Friend, Jr., married Elizabeth Ward and settled on the "Friend's Delight" tract two miles from Crab Tree Bottom. They were the first permanent settlers in the neighborhood.

In the spring of 1799 William W. Hoye prepared to settle on his father's land in the mountains of western Maryland. He loaded some furniture, farm implements and supplies on one or two wagons; sent his cattle ahead with a negro; put his wife

NOTE:--SAMPLE LAW SUITS:

1798--William Cochran vs. Hoye & Selby for $178.37, balance
due Cochran Meeker of Baltimore.

1799--Samuel Porter vs. Hoye & Selby, balance due for 2 doz.
fine hats--œ24; 9 felt hats--œ2, 7s. 6d.

1799--Hoye & Selby vs. Walter B. Beall, for debt of œ35, 2s. 9d.

1798--W. W. Hoye vs. William Thistle, for merchandise, œ15.

1798--Beatty & Beall, merchants, vs. W. W. Hoye, for note--
œ20, 16s. 4d.

In 1837, after W. W. Hoye's death, the County Court appointed
S. W. Semmes, trustee, to sell William's real estate for payment of
his debts. Semmes sold "William and Mary," 932 acres, to John Hoye
for $500.

NOTE:--(1) Ginseng (Chinese jen-shen)--a plant which grew
abundantly on Ginseng Hill and vicinity.

(2) Sanging Ground--the vicinity of Ginseng Hill. "Seng or
Sang" Run is a corruption of Ginseng Run.

(3) Youghiogheny--the Indian name meaning "water flowing in
the contrary direction."

 

and baby on a horse; bid good-by to his parents and sisters; mounted his horse and started from the old Frog Harbor home to Cumberland; there the party rested and visited the Slicers. From Cumberland the wagons were driven two days over the rough Braddock and Morgantown Roads to Shelbys Port on the Youghiogheny where their cargo was unloaded and put on pack horses for a half day journey by way of Friend's Fort to Crab Tree Bottom.

Here the old log cabin of 1787 was repaired for the negro family and a new one built with the help of the neighboring Friends. A field was cleared, corn and vegetables planted; hay for the stock was made of the wild glade grass; the hogs fattened on chestnuts and acorns. Wild animals were abundant: bears, deer and turkeys supplied plenty of meat. When winter came the settlers were comfortable and happy, tho the wilderness was not gay Cumberland.

               After living only a few years in the cabin, William 
THE NEW        built a permanent home, the best house in 
HOUSE          the neighborhood at the time. It had two stories 
               --dimensions about 28 ft. by 16 ft.--built of 
hewed oak logs, chinked with plaster, clapboard roofed. There 
was a big stone chimney on the east end with open fireplace 
for cooking and heating. A large living room and a bedroom 
occupied the lower floor while the upper story--lighted by 
small windows and without ceiling--was partitioned into dormitories 
for the girls and boys; later a kitchen and porch were 
added on the south side. Floors were of hand-sawed oak boards, 
one and one-half inches thick. The building faced south on the 
road and was near the old spring which has since been filled 
with stones, the water now reappearing below at the present 
farmhouse spring.

NOTE:--On the Allegany County Roll of 1798 Paul Hoye was
assessed with "The Gleanings" and three other tracts; John Hoye
with 156 acres of "Friend's Delight" and ten Military Lots; Wm. W.
Hoye with "Crab Tree Bottom," 112 acres, but with no personal property.
On the 1804 Roll Paul Hoye was assessed here with the following
personal property: 2 slaves under 8 years--$40; 1 male slave--$120;
1 female slave--$80; 1 horse--$19; 9 cattle--$72; other property--$7;
total--$338. This was property William had in use at Crab
Tree Bottom. Paul started his son with the equipment of a plain
pioneer except that he allowed him two adult slaves.

This is the home where the Hoye children were born and from which the family scattered over the United States. It served as dwelling house and later as a barn for more than one hundred years and was in fair condition when torn down about 1915. The negroes occupied the old cabin; in later years part of them lived in a cabin near the big spring on the east side of the farm. In 1825 Aunt Nancy willed William $200 for the purchase of sheep and a sheep house was built to shelter them near the barn which was north of the residence.

                      In 1799 the Sanging Ground neighborhood 
CENSUS REPORTS        was part of Sandy Creek Hundred, 
  AND                 polling place at Shelby's Port, 
NEW NEIGHBORS         but prior to 1810 it was transferred to 
                      Glades Hundred, District No. 1, voting 
at Ingman's. Before the war of 1812 Wm. W. Hoye, like almost 
all his neighbors, supported the Federalist candidates. His 
only political office was Justice of the Peace. 
In the Census of 1800 William Hoye was listed as head of a family consisting of himself, his wife, son (Paul, who died), two males, 16 to 26 years of age (free farm laborers), and three slaves--total, eight persons. The Census of 1810 accounts for William, his wife, two sons (the twins), and five slaves. His three daughters were with their grandparents.

At the time of the 1820 Census the family consisted of William, his wife, five sons, four daughters, five male and three female slaves, and a woman over forty-five years of age, evidently Elizabeth Hoye, who may have lived with William at that time; she and her slave, Nelly, are apparently included in the family list. Ann was not at home.

Settlers moved into the Hoye neighborhood quite rapidly about the year 1800. Among them were Henry De Witt, Andrew House, and Meshack Browning on Ginseng Run; Captain John Lynn at Cherry Tree Meadows; James Drane at Accident.

NOTE:--Record Book "G," page 488--Allegany Co., Md.

I do hereby certify that on the fourth day of October in the year
1814 appeared William W. Hoy before me the subscriber one of the
justices of the peace of the aforesaid county and took the nesfary
oath to qualify him as a magistrate.

Given under my hand this 4th day of October 1814.
                                            JOHN SIMKINS.

 

Later Singleton Townsend, Jeremiah Enlow and Nathaniel Casteel arrived; Robinson T. Savage settled on Ginseng Hill. Dr. James Brook brought with him a Methodist preacher, John Wirsing, and, about 1811, Dr. James McHenry settled his son, Daniel, at the Buffalo Marsh. The McHenrys were the nearest of the Hoye neighbors. Several of these settlers were men of property who brought their slaves with them.

                           The pioneer settlers of the Hoye 
EDUCATION OF THE           neighborhood were generally young 
HOYE CHILDREN              couples; naturally within a few 
                           years a school for children was 
                           needed. 
The first school was taught in an old cabin on the Hoye farm; William Hoye taught at least one term for which he was paid $30. He was probably the first teacher at the Sanging Ground.

Estate records later show payment of $300 to a teacher named Goulding, as tuition for the Hoye children, John Hoye paid $150 for a master's support in 1820. John and his sister, Ann, also contributed for the construction of a school house at the Sanging Ground.

A fair log school house was built by the people of the neighborhood at Enlow's Cross Roads. It was called the Sang Run Academy. John Johnon was the teacher in 1833. John Hoye sent the best teachers available to Sang Run. William Warren taught there about 1834; his brother James was master for many years. James Warren was a noted old time teacher. His pupils from a distance boarded with him; the attendance at the Academy was large.

Some of the older Hoye children lived at times with their grandparents at Frog Harbor and attended the Williamsport school, and, after 1813, John Hoye generally had one or more of his brother's children at his home where they attended the Allegany County Academy.

The Hoyes were liberal in their support of the Sang Run school. As trustee of the children's estate, John Hoye paid James Warren for tuition $640 from 1840-1844.

LETTER FROM JAMES WARREN TO JOHN HOYE:

                                        Sang Run, April 9, 1840. 
Mr. John Hoye

Dear Sir

I have received Yours of the 29th ultimo. There are four of your Brother's Children viz. Catharine, Eli, Elizabeth, and Mariam all of them are making good improvement in learning and attend school regularly. Eli Does not improve as fast as the others but his Mother says he has learned as much with me in one quarter as he Did to other Teachers in a year. I have received the papers you sent me for which I am much Obliged to you. I wish you to Subscribe for two of the Log Cabin Advocates one for me and one for Mr. Leonard Townshend.

    I shall be at the Whig meeting in Cumberland. 
             I am      Yours sincerely 
                                      JAMES WARREN. 
                In 1812 Eleanor Hoye gave birth to her ninth 
SECOND          child, Ellen. She did not recover; she died 
MARRIAGE        within the week and was buried in the orchard 
                near the grave of her first born. 
Sometime previous to her illness, Eleanor had hired Mary Rutan, daughter of John Rutan of Blooming Rose. Mary was a capable and very attractive young woman, member of a substantial pioneer family of French descent. After Mrs. Hoye's death, Mary remained in the Hoye home, keeping the house in order and caring for the children with the help of "Aunt" Milly and the other servants.

In 1814 Wm. W. Hoye and Mary Rutan were married, a union strongly opposed by William's family, presumably because the bride's family was not of equal financial and social standing with the Hoyes. But so far as we are able to judge this was a fortunate marriage. Mary Rutan retained the love and confidence of her husband and won the respect of her neighbors and servants; thru the years that followed she proved herself a worthy wife and her twelve children were at least equal in character and intelligence to their older half brothers and sisters.

                           Most of the Sanging Ground settlers 
METHODIST CHURCH           were Methodists. Eleanor 
AT SANG RUN                Slicer was probably a member of 
                           that Church in Cumberland. Mary 
Rutan was a member of the earliest Methodist congregation at 

Blooming Rose and most of her children became Methodists. 
At Sang Run prayer and class meetings were first held in the 
settlers' houses; later the Academy school house was used for 
Sabbath school and preaching services. A frame church-school 
house was built in 1853 on the site of the present Methodist 
Church at Sang Run. 

           William Hoye was much interested in the proposed 
C. & O.    Chesapeake and Ohio Canal; the route most favored 
CANAL      passed thru the Deep Creek and Bear Creek 
           glades within a mile of his house. James Shriver of 
Baltimore spent some time in this neighborhood in 1823 and the 
following year published a report, "An Account Relative to the 
Projected Chesapeake and Ohio Canal," in which he included 
a good map of the region, noting that the western Maryland 
portion of his map was the result "of information from a gentleman 
(Wm. Hoy) who has made surveys of most of the lands 
in this quarter." (See W. W. Hoye's Map). He also wrote that 
Mr. Hoy estimated the area of land to be submerged by the 
proposed Deep Creek storage lake to be 3,000 acres. The C. & 
O. Canal was finally built from Georgetown to Cumberland 
only, but in 1925 a dam was built on Deep Creek which stores 
water in a large lake for the hydro-electric plant near the 
mouth of Hoye's Run. 

                When William Hoye settled at Crab Tree Bottom 
THE HOYE        he had with him three of his father's 
NEGROES         slaves, probably Harry, Rhoda and Milly. 
                Harry died in 1825. Rhoda was the mother of 
Maria, George, Jim, Stephen and Tom. Rhoda lived to be very 
old and for years was in poor health; in 1850 the Paul Hoye 
estate paid Marien Drane $45 for boarding her. Milly nursed 
the Hoye children; she was living in 1852, aged seventy-five to 
eighty years. Estate records show $90.84 paid for medicines 
and a doctor, and $103.70 spent "for other necessaries for 

NOTE:--Among the road surveys made by W. W. Hoye were: 

(1) In 1830--Road from the Sanging Ground to the Virginia line. 

(2) 1833--Road from the Virginia line thru Keeler's Glade to 
Gabriel Friend's. 

(3) 1834--Road from Selbysport to Buffalo Run. Paid $4. John 
Hoye, Jr., and David Rutan, chain carriers.

Milly." Henny and her children belonged to Paul Hoye; later 
they were charged to Ann for $505; also Sue for $370. Nancy 
ran away from the Wm. Hoye farm and was never caught. The 
story of her escape is as follows: 
S. Willis Friend operated a "station" on the "underground railroad" for fugitive slaves from the South. He resided on the west slope of Seng Hill. One day several slaves took refuge at his house--among them a young negro who wandered over the hill to the Hoye farm and became acquainted with Nancy.

After hiding the runaways for a few days, Mr. Friend loaded them on his wagon one dark night and drove toward the next "station," but as they passed the Hoye farm, they heard some person running after them. Friend feared he was pursued by a neighbor who caught escaped slaves for the reward but the runner proved to be our Nancy who begged to be taken along with her lover. According to the story, Friend took her in and crossed the Pennsylvania line safely with his passengers.

After the marriage of Tabitha in 1843 the farm was rented and the male slaves were hired out to neighbors, except one who worked for Daniel Hoye, and Stephen, who went to Mt. Airy with Tabitha; for the years 1849-50 Edward Hoye, as trustee of the estate, reported $426 received as the wages of George, Stephen and William.

                John McHenry owned several slaves whom he 
BLACK JIM       freed, then hired for wages. One of McHenry's 
  AND           freed negroes was Susan who had accompanied 
SUSAN           her mistress to Europe; she has been 
                described as "a handsome woman and a fine 
rider; mounted on one of McHenry's horses she would go like 
the wind." Susan married Jim Dorsey, a Hoye slave, and was 
saving her money to buy him when Lincoln's Emancipation 
Proclamation freed all the remaining Hoye servants. 
After the Civil War "Black" Jim, Susan, and their daughter, Sofy, lived on various small farms in the McHenry neighborhood. The writer, when a small boy, was taken by his parents to visit them, a visit remembered because they were the only black people in the neighborhood, all the others having gone to town or to the lowlands. Jim and Susan had another

daughter, who went to Oakland where she became the mother of a "natural" child, an event which "almost killed" her strict parents.

James and Susan Dorsey lived to be quite old. One day Susan "ran after the cows"; she became overheated and died. Jim was grubbing a clearing when he dropped dead. They were buried in the McHenry family graveyard--best remembered of the local negroes.

                      On a warm July day William Hoye sent 
STORIES OF THE        his sons and negro boys to hoe corn in 
NEGROES               a field near Crab Tree Run, but the 
                      boys soon tired of the work and sought 
the cool waters of a swimming hole. Here Mr. Hoye found 
them, and, beginning with the eldest, he impartially thrashed 
white and black. 
Black Jim told a story of one day rambling with David and Edward Hoye and his brothers, George and Steve, over a recently cleared field when they saw a yellow hammer fluttering in distress around its nest in a deadened oak tree. After some bantering, Steve climbed the tree and put his hand into the hollow but jerked it out immediately with a blacksnake holding on to a finger. Said Jim: "You know how feard us colod folks is of snakes. Well dat boy jis froed hisself back an fall on de sod head fust, ni forty foot. He lay dare a minit to ketch 'is bref, den he git up an walk off."

One of the farm fields was known as the "sink field." A few years after this field was cleared a negro was plowing it when the ground sank, dragging down plowman and horses. The man climbed out of the hole but the horses had to be killed. Many loads of stones have been thrown into this "sink" but it can still be seen--the entrance to an unexplored limestone cavern.

NOTE:--In the 1856 record of Case in Equity No. 840, we find
the following testimony relative to the William Hoye negroes:

Jeremiah Enlow: "They were healthy and as industrious as any
blacks I ever saw. They were smart, active, sensible blacks."

William Browning: "They were sprithly, good Negroes; three of
the men were as stout as any men among us."

George Devecmon: "The slave men were worth $500 each. Rody,
the mother, was worth nothing."

 

Ellen Hoye told her children of the excitement caused by the "falling of the stars" (meteors) on November 19, 1833. The negroes thought that the end of the world was at hand and they hastily prepared "to meet their God."

During later years the Dorsey negro cabin was on the farm by the big spring near Crab Tree Run. On holidays the Hoye children often went to this cabin to hear the negroes of the neighborhood play and sing and to see them dance. The place was out of sight and hearing of the white folk houses and on special occasions, when the McHenry, Drane, Brooke, Lynn and Ridgely negroes gathered there, joy was unconfined: the valley rang with music and laughter.

            The old bee makes de honeycomb, 
            The young bee makes de honey; 
            Colored folks plant de cotton an' corn, 
            An' de white folks gits de money. 
                         During William Hoye's time at Crab 
THIRTY-SIX YEARS         Tree Bottom, Western Allegany 
 IN THE                  County became well settled. Indian 
WILDERNESS               paths changed to wagon roads. The 
                         Sang Run Academy filled with 
"scholars," including many young Hoyes. One hundred forty 
acres of the Hoye farm were put under cultivation but it did 
not support the family. William was not a thrifty farmer. N. 
Casteel, a nearby neighbor, said of him: "He would work sometimes 
for two or three days and then would set in the house 
for a month. I never knew him to pay for anything he got." 
John Hoye paid the bills. 
John was kind and generous to his brother but he was often critical of William's work. In 1847, referring to "The Gleanings," John noted in his ledger: "This tract was so badly surveyed by Wm. W. Hoye there will be great loss in the quantity."

Nevertheless John trusted his brother. William attended to the Hoye land business in Western Allegany. The brothers patented lands together; they always maintained friendly business and personal relations.

The father's namesake died, aged seven, and in 
THE GRIM        1836 two more children, Sarah Jane and William 
REAPER          D., were cut down the same day by scarlet 
                fever. While attending school in Cumberland 
in his eighteenth year, Eli was drowned in the Potomac. 
William Hoye had been quite ill in 1831 but he was in comparatively robust health at the age of sixty-five and soon after became the father of his twenty-first child, but in 1836 he became seriously ill. No doctor was available and soon after sunset on January 9, William Waller answered the last call, aged sixty-seven years, four months and twenty-nine days. Two days later his body was buried among his apple trees near the resting place of Eleanor Slicer. His grave was marked by two unlettered limestone slabs just below the present family monument. Singleton Townshend, a near neighbor and dear friend, was with the sick man during his last days. Mr. Townshend wrote John Hoye a detailed account of our ancestor's death. His letter will be found at the end of this chapter.

With financial assistance from Uncle John and the help of David and Daniel, Mary Hoye kept her family together and managed the farm until 1840 when her soul returned to its maker and her body was reverently laid away in the orchard. For two years more Tabitha kept the home going but in 1843 she married. Then the farm was rented and the young children given homes elsewhere.

In 1831 Wm. W. Hoye, "being sick and weak of body," made a will of doubtful legality (see Appendix). At the time of his death the inventory of his personal property amounted to only $256.87 1/2. He died struggling for breath and troubled by the condition in which he left his family. In 1856 Sarah Friend testified: "I heard him say on his death bed, some two hours before his deeath, that, unless John assisted his family, they would suffer very much, but having great confidence in his brother, he felt confident he would do so."

Referring to the Hoye children, Judge Walsh wrote: "Their father was an improvident man, fonder of spending than of grasping and accumulating."

Judge D. H. Friend, indicating that our ancestor had a sense of humor, told us that one day William Hoye, in apparently

great distress, came to John Friend's house at Sang Run and told the Friends that his wife was dying. Mrs. Friend hastily mounted a horse and rode to the Hoye home where she found Mrs. Hoye dyeing woolen yarn for weaving.

Ruth Hoye at Sang Run has an excellent oil portrait on wood of Wm. W. Hoye, painted by an unknown artist when William was a young man in Cumberland. It portrays a handsome, dark-haired man--a face full of intelligence and good humor.

The author is of the opinion that we may learn valuable lessons from the weaknesses of our ancestors, as well as from their virtues. Some of the criticisms of Wm. Hoye are painful to relate but after all now known of his character is written, we are most impressed with the undisputed fact that he was a generous neighbor, an affectionate husband and father, and a kind master. Estates of land and money passed to others, but William Waller Hoye's blood flows on thru the veins of hundreds of worthy American citizens.

W. W. HOYE TO HIS SON-IN-LAW, DR. ELIJAH BISHOP: the following letter is filled with family news and so indicative of the character of the writer that we give it in full as written.

                                   Sang run, March 31--1831 
Dear Sir--

Your of January 17 was a long time before it retch me because of the snow It was so deep all communication between this and Armstrongs post office was cut off letters to me directed to Friends post office retch me mutch quicker than by Armstrongs The letter of Anns which you mention retched this in my absence and Mary Ann mislayed it and I could not answer it

I know nothing of John nor have I ever received a letter from

NOTE:--This letter was written on three pages of a sheet of
strong paper, folded the size of an envelope, sealed with wax, and
addressed on the back, "Mr. Elijah Bishop, Cave Town, Washington
County, Md." It is postmarked "Friends 1st April--12 1/2." "Friends"
was the nearest post office, ten miles away; "Armstrongs," now Oakland,
was fifteen miles distant.

"Mary Ann" Drane, his daughter, resided at Accident. "Old
Silvy" was a Drane slave. "Land left my dear Ann" Bishop was 2,400
acres in Virginia, patented to Paul Hoye. "John and Samuel" were
the wandering twins. "Elinor" was his daughter, Ellen.

The letter is browned by age but legible; it was neatly written
and well composed, but the spelling, grammar and lack of punctuation
are not a credit to a man of William Hoye's educational advantages.
It is a flash illustrating W. W. Hoye's life--careless, jovial, yet
breathing a spirit of deep feeling and desire to please.

 

him since he left this which is 13 months. I accidentally heard from Samuel about 2 weeks since by a friend from Union Town Pensylvania who left Samuel at St. Lewis, Missura on the 1st of February last who says that Samuel had bean 7 or 8 hundred miles up the river above St. Lewis and was to leave that in a few days for Orleans in a trading boat and was to return to St. Lewis Old Silvy is still living and for what I know may never die She looks as likely to live as she did 4 or 5 years back and as fond of whiskey as ever My brother has one or two of Hennys children at Cumberland Whether they lived or live with him I do not know

I have never bean to Virginia yet to run the land left my dear Ann by her aunt I should have went last fawl but my compas was out of order and I sent it to Cumberland and the fellow my brother got to repair her returned her as bad as ever I will now send her to Frederick Town to Mr. Cunningham and get him to have her repaired and on the first of October next if spared I will gow out and run it round and have the lines fresh marked. The land is about 60 or 70 miles from me John will pay the chain barers and find provisions for the hands he has gave me orders on persons who is owing to him to find me chain barers and provisions and may get there and back the best way I can

I should be very glad to see your dear little daughter but I am doubtful I ever shal have the pleasure of having her in my arms I am in a very delicate state of health sum days I feel quite well and again I am not abel to get out of my bead without afsistance particularly before fawling weather

Elinor is well and the rest of the family is well Give my affectionate love to my dear Ann Tell her to kifs her dear daughter for me Adieu my dear Sir May God in his tender mercy guard and protect you and your family threw this world of trouble is the sincear prayer of your sincear and affect father

                                                 W. W. HOYE 
    SINGLETON TOWNSHEND TO JOHN HOYE: 
                                                 Jan. 12th, 1836. 
Dear Sir:

It was at the request of your brother Wm. W. Hoye's family that I hastily ad-dressed a few lines to you on Saturday morning last informing you of his illness and it is again at the request of the family that I have to communicate the painful news that your brother Wm. W. Hoye died on Saturday evening last, about six o'clock. I am perfectly satisfied that he was in his senses till within a few minutes before he breathed his last, tho he became speechless about nine o'clock in the morning of that day growing out of a collection of phlegm collected in the throat and which he was unable to get up on account of his great weakness -- In my letter of Saturday last I mentioned that he had mentioned to me something about some land that stood in his name on the records that was actually yours, and that he intended to make a will, and in that will make a provision for the reconveyance of that land back to you -- Immediately after I sealed up that letter to send to you I went into his room to commence writing his will and requested him to give the outlines of what he wished to

do with his property. First what property he had and how he wanted it disposed of. He commenced but before he got thru--even that part his voice so failed him that I could not understand one word he said and had therefore to stop without finishing it. His communication about your land, with out other important business, he made to me a little before day Saturday morning and stated to me that the reason he made it was that in the event he should die before he could finish his will he wished this fact made known so as to save you all the trouble he could. He also communicated several other things to me that he particularly wished me to make known which are of great importance to some -- And the reason I did not commence his will immediately, he stated to me that he wanted some little time to reflect and to arrange the matter in his mind and that it would save trouble. I then put it off till about sunrise or a little after but it was then too late as it proved tho I did not expect at that time that he would die so soon. He told me he had a will but that he wanted to alter it. That he had cut some of the family off in that will and I am really sorry that he did not live to finish that will I was about to write. As to the will that I suppose he had reference to when he said he had a will, it has been read by me in the presence of the family by their request. That will is dated the 13th of Dec. 1834; in that will he gives to his son David Hoye a roan colt about two years old, and all the rest of his property, that is, all the real property that he owned or had any right to in Allegany Co. in this State, to his wife, as all his personal property of every description, all of which he gave her by that will in fee simple to do with as she may think proper--but this will has but two witnesses to it. The children or rather the first wife's children are very much dissatisfied indeed and have askd me if there is no way to put the will aside. It is my opinion that as it relates to the real estate it is not worth one cent and so I told them because the law, I think, requires three witnesses to sign a will to make it valid for real property. They wish to know of you thru me whether the will so far as it relates to the real property is good or not, there being but two witnesses signing the will.

They are also anxious to know of you if you know of any other will of his in existance and if there is where it is and what is the amount of it. In the one he intended to make on Sat.last he intended to give his wife three tracts of land in this County containing about 1000 acres, some of his personal property and the balance of his property was to have been equally divided among all his children but he failed to do it and I am of the opinion it is settled. She in that will is left his executrix. The limits of this letter will not admit of giving you particulars which I have no doubt you will be glad to hear but if I should ever see you I will then make a statement and at all times be ready to make any communication that you may wish as far as I can, relative to your brother's business and all of what he stated to me about that in which you are interested. I shall expect to hear as soon as it is convenient from you--

             Your obdt. St. 
                                   SINGLETON TOWNSHEND. 
P. S. I forgot to say that your brother was intered on yesterday evening at home in his family burying ground. They intend to have a funeral over him as soon as convenient.

                                                S. Townshend.

IX

THE SLICER AND RUTAN FAMILIES

THE SLICERS are evidently of English origin, early settlers of Maryland. In 1769 William Slicer was a "cabinet and chair maker, a little below the market house in Annapolis." Col. Andrew Slicer was present at the bombardment of Ft. McHenry in 1814.

NATHANIEL SLICER I and his family were listed on August 22, 1776, as resident in Lower Potomac Hundred, Frederick County, as follows: Nathaniel, age 62; James, age 25; Mary, age 12; Nathaniel, age 2; Sarah, age 1 year.

JAMES SLICER settled near Ft. Cumberland about 1785. On the 24th June, 1785, Thomas Beall of Samuel deeded to James Slicer, for œ212:12s., "Limestone Rock," 63 acres, a tract of river bottom land on the Potomac, adjoining Cumberland, which had been patented to Daniel Cresap in 1753. This was the Slicer home, tho they owned property in the town. James Slicer was listed as a resident of Cumberland in 1787, when the town was incorporated. On September 10, 1785, James Slicer purchased Lot No. 26 on Green Street, including a house, for œ80:10s. In 1807 he sold this lot for œ30 to Robert Sinclaire.

In addition to cultivating their small farm, the Slicers very early engaged in the hotel business in Cumberland; they operated Slicer's Tavern, a noted hostelry, for many years. In 1815 Walter Slicer deeded Lot No. 198 at Mechanic and Bedford Sts., with its building, to Dr. John Anderson in payment of a mortgage of $5,000. In 1819 Walter Slicer and Peter Justice erected a large brick building at Bedford and Bank Streets, but mortgaged the property to David Shriver, Jr., and in 1824 it was sold on a Court order to George Hoblitzell for $4,906. Walter Slicer then moved to Flintstone, where he was postmaster and hotel keeper.

NOTE:--"Limestone Rock," 63 acres, surveyed for Daniel Cresap
16th April, 1753, and patented to him 10th August, 1753. Lying in
Frederick County, about 3 ps from a great rock called The Limestone
Rock and about 2 ps from Potomac River on North side of said river
and being in North West corner of this Province.

 

James Slicer was assessed in 1798 with 100 acres of land, slaves, stock, and "plate"--valued at œ344:3:4. In the census of 1800 he was listed as head of a family of seven, with six slaves. In his will, probated February 13, 1808, he named seven children, to each of whom he left a negro slave, except to "Nelly" Hoye, to whom he gave $100; the remainder of his property he bequeathed to his widow for life and after her to his four sons. His wife Mary, and son Walter, were named executors.

James Slicer and his wife are doubtless buried in nearby Rose Hill Cemetery.

Children of James Slicer were: Ann, who married Thomas Cromwell in 1799; Eleanor, m. W. W. Hoye in 1796. Walter, m. (1) Mary Bruce, 1811; (2) Priscilla Beall, 1812. Samuel, m. Jenny Sanford, 1807. Harriet. John, m. Jemima Harvers, 1828. James.

On January 15, 1814, Mary and Walter Slicer, executors of the estate, sold "Resurvey on Limestone Rock" to David Shriver, Jr., for $3,000. This property is now the site of the Kelly Springfield Tire Company plant.

NATHANIEL SLICER, Jr., married Susanna Hoffman. They resided on "Hoffman's Delight" and "Pine Grove," deeded to Nathaniel in 1806 by David Hoffman, Sr. This was the Alm's House property near Cumberland.

JOHN SLICER, son of Nathaniel, married Rachel Frantz in 1824. For some time he was in charge of the County farm, but in 1841 bought the John Rutan farm at Blooming Rose. Jacob Brown wrote:

"There he reared a large and very interesting family. The Slicer mansion was one of much hospitality, a model in social and domestic relations."

During the Civil War John Slicer sold his farm and later

NOTE:--(1) Lowdermilk's History of Cumberland: "A large
hotel building was erected on the north side of Baltimore Street where
the St. Nicholas now stands, known as Slicer's Tavern."

(2) On Feb. 15, 1873, John Slicer, Senr., deeded to his son, William
Slicer, for $6,300, 155 acres of "Cornucopia" at the intersection
of the National Turnpike and Glades Road, Grantsville, including the
Hotel, stables, etc., and excepting a lot and dwelling deeded to his
daughters Susan, Theresa, and Mary. This being the same tract of
land Jacob Brown, trustee, sold to John Slicer in 1870.

 

bought the National Hotel property in Grantsville, where he resided at the time of his death, March 8, 1873, aged about seventy years. He was a Democrat and held many public offices: Delegate in the State Assembly, County Commissioner, Member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1850, and others.

THE RUTAN       MARY RUTAN, daughter of John Rutan of 
FAMILY          the Blooming Rose in Maryland, became the 
                second wife of William Waller Hoye in 1814. 
The history of the Rutan family takes us back to the religious wars and persecutions in France. The Rutans were French Huguenots, the tenets of whose faith were similar to those of the Scotch Presbyterians and English Puritans.

In 1559 the Huguenots, then a strong religious and political minority in France, held their first General Synod in Paris, but under Charles IX occurred the massacre of St. Bartholomew when some 6,000 Huguenots were murdered, followed by a religious-political civil war, until Henry of Navarre renounced Protestantism and became King of France. King Henry then issued the Edict of Nantes, which guaranteed freedom of conscience and of worship to the dissenters, who increased in numbers and became influential in trade and industry. But Louis XIV determined to stamp out forever the Huguenots

NOTE:--(1) Letter from Taton-vassal, Mayor of St. Mihiel,
1936:

. . . A superficial research has permitted me to find at St. Mihiel
the presence of a noble family Rutant, whose members were magistrates
from 1521 to 1641, and especially I find a Ferry Rutant who
was Mayor from 1534, and whose nephew, or rather a descendant,
was exempt from the tax in 1659, "because of his rank of the privileged."

(2) Letter from the Mayor of Metz, dated July 24, 1936:

There are no more members living in Metz. The old parish and
Protestant registers and the state records in our libraries often mention
the family Rutant or Rutan, including the brothers Blaise and
Claude, sons of Claude Rutant. Claude Rutant II--protestant, draper,
father of Judith, Marie, Jean, Daniel, Abraham, Sara.

(3) "History of the Huguenot Emigration to America" says:

"It was probably from the neighborhood of the same town (Metz
in Lorraine) that Abraham Rutan, one of the Huguenot settlers at
New Paltz, escaped to the Palatinate.”

 

Also: "Refugees of the name Ferry Rutan and Blaise Rutan fled
at an earlier day (about 1560) from persecution in St. Mihiel to Metz."

 

nots of France. After some years of persecution and disorder, in 1685 he revoked the Edict of Nantes, saying, "I have forbidden any exercise within my kingdom of the religion men call reformed."

It was during this period--when Huguenot churches were destroyed, private property confiscated, men sentenced to the galleys and prisons, women forced into convents, children taken from their parents and placed in Jesuit schools, mobs and soldiers turned loose on the people who would not be "converted"--that about one million good citizens of France, most of them after terrible risks and hardships, escaped from their native land to neighboring countries and to America.

Such is the European background of the Rutans.

The first family record we have is of Ferry Rutan, mayor of St. Mihiel in 1534. Mob violence first struck at St. Mihiel and the Rutant family fled to Metz, where they established themselves in their various pursuits of good citizenship.

When this mob violence hit the city of Metz the Rutant family escaped with a party of friends to Manheim, Lower Palatinate, Germany. Even there they were harassed by the French so they went to Holland and thence to America, landing at Boston and traveling thence to New York.

The historian of the Rutan family gives the genealogy of the immigrant as follows: (1) Ferey Rutant, Mayor of St. Mihiel in 1534. (2) Claude Rutant I, merchant of St. Mihiel. (3) Claude Rutant II, draper in Metz. (4) Abraham Rutant, born in 1634.

ABRAHAM RUTAN accompanied Abraham Hasbrouk from Manheim to Holland, thence to America. In 1675 Hasbrouk and eleven other French refugees obtained a patent for a large tract of land in Ulster County, New York, south of Kingston, which they settled and named New Paltz. In 1677 Abraham Rutan was living in New Paltz. He married Marie Petilion, a French girl who had crossed the ocean with the Hasbrouk party; the records show that in 1678 she joined the Dutch Reformed Church of New York City.

At New Paltz the settlers built their houses on the village street, as was the custom in France, advisable also for defense from the Indians. Some years later they replaced the log cabins with well built stone houses, such as they had in France. Several of these original settlers' stone houses are still in use as residences in New Paltz; one is the village museum; the old fort of two stories is a tourist or visitors' home.

The church at New Paltz was formed "after the manner and difficult discipline of the Church of Geneva, followers of John Calvin." It was called the Walloon Protestant Church. Services were held in the French language for fifty years; thereafter in Dutch.

Father Abraham and Mother Marie Rutan are buried in the old French Church (Bellville) graveyard at Hackensack in unmarked graves.

Children of Abraham Rutan and Marie Petilion baptized in the New Paltz Church:

    (1) Daniel, baptized Sept. 23, 1683. Godfather, Louys Dubois. 
    (2) Paul, baptized March 20, 1685. Godparents: Hoghe Frere, 
        Agaer Mchel. 
    (3) Davide, baptized Apr. 17, 1688. Godparents: Pier Dygle, 
        Genve Vylar. 
    (4) Ester, baptized May 14, 1690. Godparents: Abraham & Ester 
        Hasbrouk. 
    (5) Pierre, baptized Oct. 24, 1691. Godparents: Pierre Quimer, 
        Ester Hasbrouk. Died, Aug. 5, 1690, a daughter, aged six 
        months. 
The last record we have of Abraham Rutan in the New Paltz Church is in 1695, when he is named godfather of a son of Moses De Grave. After this he is found in New Barbadoes (Hackensack), Bergen County, New Jersey, where in 1699 he bought a tract of land of Thomas Noel. In 1707 he bought a "parcel of land from Bartholomew Feuert, paying five pounds and a more valuable and greater consideration."

At New Barbadoes the family attended the Belville Church; in the records of that church are the following names of children of Abraham and Marie Rutan, but no dates of their births or baptisms are given: (6) Susan; (7) Sara; (8) Maria; (9) Catharina; (10) Abraham; (11) Samuel.

Abraham Rutan's will (see appendix) was signed September 10, 1712, and proved May 19, 1713. Mary Rutan, his widow, made her will February 19, 1713, and it was proved June 12, 1713.

PIERRE (PETER) RUTAN, son of Abraham I, was baptized at New Paltz, N. Y., in 1691. Pieter Rettan married Geestruy Van der Hoef, Nov. 7, 1713. (Hackensack Church Record).

Joseph Frazee and Peter Rutan were among the earliest settlers at New Providence, N. J., in 1736. Peter Rutan of Morris Co., N. J., made his will June 28, 1774; proved Aug. 7, 1774. His son and heir was Abraham. (N. J. Archives). Peter Rutan resided at Elizabethtown, N. J., where he owned lots 28 and 29 of 100 acres each.

ABRAHAM RUTAN II, son of Peter, of Elizabethtown, N. J., owned the eastern half of his father's 200 acre tract. His house was near the spring. His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1788. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church of New Providence.

(Data from "First Settlers of the Pasaic Valley", Littell).

Children of Abraham Rutan II:

    (1) John, b. May 16, 1751. m. Catherine Jones, March 20, 1774. 
    (2) Samuel, b. Sept. 19, 1754. d. Jan. 4, 1840. 
    (3) Peter, b. 1759, d. 1802. 
    (4) Joseph, b. 1769, d. 1809. m. (1) Hannah Baker. 
    (5) Abraham, m. Hannah Shipman, Dec. 25, 1804. 
    (6) Sally, m. Simeon Simpson in 1775. 
    (7) Hannah, d. June 3, 1797, age 36. m. John Cauldwell. 
    (8) Mary, m. Mathias Roll, April 7, 1785. Ohio. 
    (9) Rosannah, m. Parrott in 1786. 
   (10) Martha, m. Moses Camp, Oct. 17, 1787. 
   (11) Charity, m. John Miller. 
   (12) Anna, m. Moses Squire. 
   (13) Elizabeth, m. Abraham Cauldwell in 1797. 
JOHN RUTAN, son of Abraham II, married Catherine Jones of New Jersey in 1774 and "went west". In 1787 he was listed as a settler on Military Lots 3284, 3285, 3286 on the Blooming Rose, two miles south of Selbysport, Maryland. These lots he purchased from the State for six shillings, six pence

NOTE: THE DEMAREST SETTLEMENT. David des Marest,
son of Jean, was born in the Province of Picardy, France, about 1620.
He became a Protestant, fled to Holland and in 1651 moved to Manheim,
Lower Palitinate; but here the Protestants were already threatened
by the Catholic princes, so Des Marest and his co-religionists set
out for America, arriving at New Amsterdam on the ship "Spotted
Cow", April 16, 1663. In 1677 David des Marest purchased of the
Indians a large area of land on the Hackensack River for himself and
companions. Rutan and Des Marest doubtless met in Manheim.
Abraham Rutan, about 1699, moved from New Paltz to the Demarest
colony in New Jersey, where he appears to have resided on the west
bank of the Hackensack River.

for each lot of fifty acres. This land made an excellent stock farm, known in recent years as the Rumbaugh place. The Rutan log house was by the spring on the east side of the Blooming Rose road opposite the present farm house. Most of the neighbors--Coddingtons, Frazees, VanSickle, Savage--were also from New Jersey.

John Rutan was a typical pioneer settler; he had a large family, plenty of land and other very moderate resources. In 1798 he was assessed in Sandy Creek Hundred with 150 acres of land, one horse and seventeen cattle. His children may have attended either the Blooming Rose or Selbysport school. The Rutans were among the first members of the Methodist Congregation at Friend's, nearby. Rutan girls were noted singers in the neighborhood. W. Scott Friend told us that they often sat in the evening on the bluff overlooking the Youghiogheny River and sang hymns heard for miles over the quiet valley.

The Rutans planted a fine apple orchard on the slope above their home; some of the trees still bear fruit; the "Rutan Pippin" is the last of the Rutans on the Blooming Rose. The family graveyard is at the upper side of the orchard. Here stands a modest sandstone monument with a bronze tablet inscribed to the Pioneer settlers, John Rutan and Catherine Jones, 1787, erected by the descendants of Mary Rutan and William W. Hoye, in 1935.

Children of John and Catherine Rutan:

    (1) Sarah, b. Apr. 10, 1775, m(???)Moore. 
    (2) Peter, b. Nov. 18, 1777. Descendants at Arrolton, Ohio. 
    (3) Daniel, b. Aug. 24, 1779. 
    (4) Andria, b. Aug. 24, 1779. 
    (5) David, b. Dec. 22, 1782. m. Esther (???). 
    (6) Anne, b. Dec. 23, 1783. d. Feb. 2, 1787. 
    (7) Isaac, b. Oct. 29, 1788. m. Hannah Pearson, 1809. 
    (8) Mary, b. Mar. 7, 1792. d. 1842. m. Wm. W. Hoye. 
    (9) Catherine, b. Apr. 17, 1794. 
Isaac Rutan died in Maryland, leaving two children.

Daniel Rutan bought 101 acres of "Shepherds Tent" near the Sanging Ground but abandoned it and went West about 1835.

John Rutan died at his home February 7, 1838. His will was probated, March 13, 1839. Witnesses were John Frantz, Stephen P. Rutan, Joseph J. Frantz, and Daniel J. Hoye. David Rutan inherited the home farm upon the death of his mother.

The pioneer, his wife Catherine, and probably Isaac and Anne are buried in the farm graveyard.

David Rutan was Justice of the Peace of his District in 1814. In 1845 he sold the remainder of the Rutan farm, 64 acres, to John Slicer. All the Rutans left Maryland except Mary, who married W. W. Hoye.

NOTE: (1) SAMUEL RUTAN, younger brother of John, was
a Revolutionary soldier who fought at Monmouth and in other battles.
In New Jersey, February 12, 1778, he married Eleanor, daughter of
Jacob Bedell. Their children were Jacob, Sarah, Catherine (Sanders),
Abraham, Elizabeth (Dille), John, Anna and Fannie (Sanders).

Samuel Rutan purchased for 27 pounds, 10 shillings, land from
Price Dille on the waters of Ten Mile Creek in Washington Co., Pa.
Patent to this land was confirmed to Rutan in 1796.

J. Frank Rutan, a great grandson of Samuel, is the best informed
historian of the Rutan family.

(2) JOHN RUTAN of Morristown, N. J., in his will (proved
March 30, 1761) mentions his wife Sarah, four daughters and son,
John. To John he left his "plantation in Hampshire County, Virginia",
which appears to have been a lot on Patterson Creek surveyed
by George Washington and granted by Lord Fairfax in 1748 to John
Rutan. John Rutan, Jr., and others of that settlement, moved to
Westmoreland Co., Pa., prior to 1778. In the census of 1790 Rutan
was listed there as head of a family of six.

X

UNCLE JOHN HOYE

JOHN HOYE, younger son of Paul Hoye, was born in Frederick County, Maryland, August 13, 1774, and died at his home in Cumberland, June 2, 1849, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. He attended the local school at Williamsport and probably completed his education in Georgetown, where his uncles resided.

At an early age John made his home in Georgetown, associated with his uncle Francis Deakins in the land business and in the management of the extensive Deakins properties. In 1798 Francis Deakins inherited half of his brother's lands; when Francis died in 1804, John Hoye became the active executor of his estate. In the following year Paul Hoye deeded to John his interest in the estates of his half brothers; thus John Hoye became part owner and manager of considerable real estate in the District of Columbia and of vast tracts of land in Maryland and Virginia. He was also later administrator of his father's estate and trustee of the estates of his sister Elizabeth, and his brother's children. Fortunately he was well equipped by character and training to assume these heavy responsibilities. He administered the various trusts honestly and efficiently and added considerably to his own fortune.

                    Outside his business activities we know 
HIS LIFE IN         little of John Hoye's life in Georgetown. 
GEORGETOWN          He worked in Francis Deakins' old office 
                    on lot No. 48; he was industrious and attended 
strictly to business. He was a bachelor and probably 
lived with his Uncle Francis until the death of the latter after 
which he boarded with Mr. Graham and with Wm. Crawford. 
He had a negro servant, William Lovely, whom he bought of 
John Boone, in 1808, for $400, and sold to John S. Williams 
when he moved to Cumberland for $521.32. He read extensively 
and accumulated quite a library, buying sixty-eight 
volumes of Francis Deakins' books in 1804, and in 1813 "Refses Incliclopedia", $30.75, and spent $175 for other books. He 
gave liberally to the poor and to causes in which he was 
interested. 
Some of the items in his carefully kept expense account were:


 1805

To Nancy Boyd

$20.

 1806

Subscription to Methodist meeting

10.

 

Cash to French boys who deserted French fleet

5.60

 

Cash to W. W. Hoye

10.

 1807

Paid Dr. Weems--$16. Paid for candy and segars

23.

 

To Robert Peters, Jr., for 12 gal. wine

30.

 

Relief of the poor--$16. Bread for Negro Tom

8.60

 1809

Pd. Wm. Graham, subscription to Coffee House

10.

 

Pd. Brown for hate

6.

 1810

Linen for 3 prs. sheets

35.

 

Pd. J. Lander for shoeing my horse

10.

 

Pd. Mr. O'Neal for Cole--$35. A. Ross, bag coffee

22.70

 1813

Cash pd. for a box to hold maps

7.37


In the District John Hoye also bought and sold real estate on his own account, including a wharf and warehouse purchased in 1811 of Charles F. Broadhag's trustee for $3150; this property he rented for $150 to $100 per annum until 1828. From 1811 to 1829 he owned 21 1/2 shares of the Georgetown-Potomac Bridge Company, valued at $2512. In 1814 he bought of Leonard Harbaugh house No. 5, square 118, in Washington, giving his note in payment for $3000; two years later he sold this property at a profit of $398.91.

He also suffered losses. A note in his Ledger dated 1808, referring to Virginia lands owned in company with Charles Love: "He cheated me out of 3000 acres." Also in 1811-12 he lost $370 in dealing with Benj. Rickets: "The scoundrel became a drunkard and died insolvent."

As late as 1846 John paid to the Washington City Corporation $19.19 taxes on eleven lots valued at $2559.

For many years John Hoye did his banking business with the Bank of Columbia at Georgetown. He owned a small number of shares of stock of the Conocochegue Bank and South Branch Bank. His Ledger records interest collections, 1811-19, $1695, probably on deferred payments for land.

Many trips were necessary to the Maryland and Virginia land offices and to the lands in his charge. For example: March 15, 1806, to Richmond, expenses--$80. Dec. 6, 1806, to Annapolis--$5.75. Aug. 6, 1806, to "the West"--$32.92. Feb. 28, 1807, to the Shenandoah Valley--$10.

John attended to his father's business in Georgetown, i. e., the sale of farm products and purchase of supplies. From 1812-15 purchases for the family charged to Ann Hoye included a barrel of herring--$5.50; a keg of crackers--$1.25; a barrel of sugar--$21.25; all purchased of James Cassin.

Among the few slave deals recorded in John Hoye's Ledger we note under his account with John Rush, Randolph Co., Va., dated Sept. 12, 1812:

"By Nelly a mulatto girl I purchased of him the 4th Dec. 1811, and which I am bound to liberate, and in case of death I leave this memo she is free--$280."

The history of "Nelly", if known, might be interesting. Certainly John Hoye and the Rush family took special interest in her.

In a postscript to his will, dated Feb. 24, 1831, John Rush left to "Nelly Hoye a yellow girl which I have raised", the Tasker lot, No. 1513. In 1842 Eleanor (Nelly), then the wife of James Smith of Preston Co., Va., deeded this lot to Wm. White.

                   Since most of the Deakins and Hoye 
JOHN HOYE IN       lands were in western Maryland and 
CUMBERLAND         western Virginia, John Hoye moved to 
                   Cumberland in 1813. There he had met 
Mary Calmes, daughter of Captain George Calmes, and he soon 
made her his wife. (License issued June 13, 1813.) It was 
arranged to have the wedding at the Calmes mansion in what 
is now Ridgely, West Virgnia, but at the last moment it was 
noted that the marriage license, issued in Maryland, was not 
valid in Virginia; so the principals, minister and witnesses 
boarded a flat boat moored to the River bank below the Calmes 
house, and there the marriage ceremony was performed while 
the guests looked on from the shore. 
John Hoye was thirty-nine and his wife twenty-five years of age when married. They had one child, GEORGE CALMES, who died prior to 1823, an appalling loss to these proud parents, left with no child to inherit their name and fortune. Another severe shock to the family was the death of Eli Hoye, a favorite nephew, who lived with them and was drowned while bathing in the Potomac.

The Hoye Mansion was an imposing brick house on the site of old Fort Cumberland. (See end of this chapter). It was the Hoye home until Mary Hoye's decease in 1875. The Census of 1820 lists John Hoye, his wife, his son, his sister Ann, and five male and five female slaves. The negroes included a coachman, cook, maid and several children of the Dorsey and Robeson families and the daughters of Nelly. During his later years Uncle John usually had one or more of William's children in his home while they attended the town school.

Hospitable, well housed and amply supplied with servants, the Hoyes frequently entertained their friends and visiting officials, especially during the sessions of the Circuit Court. It is related that on one such occasion John rallied his wife for her free use of face powder: "Good Lord, Mary! You look as if you had stuck your head in the flour barrel."

Anna Hoye lived with her great Aunt Mary while attending school in Cumberland. When Anna married Lucian Hendrickson, Aunt Mary gave the couple a splendid reception in the Hoye Mansion.

                   In his "History of Cumberland", Lowdermilk 
CUMBERLAND         states that in 1810 residences were 
ABOUT 1813         built on Rose Hill by Captain David Lynn 
                   and Upton Bruce. "Washington street was 
then a very rough and steep road. There were but four houses 
on the south side, one built by Mr. Deakins and afterwards 
bought by John Hoye; the old Washington headquarters; 
two others. On the north side were the Court House and 
jail, the Clerk's Office and the house built by Roger Perry." 
Slicer's tavern was the first house between Creek and Baltimore 
streets, next to the Cumberland Bank, which was established 
in 1811. 
In 1812 the first newspaper, the Allegany Freeman, Democratic, was published in Cumberland, followed in 1814 by the

NOTE: Lord Baltimore's charter for Maryland made the south
bank of the Potomac the boundary of his colony; therefore, the River
is in Maryland.

 

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