#52Ancestors 2019 Week 12: Lt. John Scrivener in the War of 1812

#52 Ancestors 2019 Week 12: Lt. John Scrivener in the War of 1812

Since this week's prompt is "12," I thought of the War of 1812 and the heroic service of my 4X great grandfather, Lt. John Scrivener.

John Scrivener, the oldest son of Francis Scrivener and his first wife (name unknown), was born about 1780 in Anne Arundel County MD. He married Eliza Smith Boswell in Prince George's County MD in 1817 and had 12 children with her.

During the War of 1812, John Scrivener served in the 2nd Regiment, Maryland Militia, in the company of Captain Thomas Simmons.  Also in this company were John's brother, Francis Scrivener, as well as Joseph Harrison, William Ward, Francis Whittington, Charles Whittington, John A. Whittington, Thomas Whittington, Benjamin Whittington, Samuel Wood of William, William P. Hardesty, and Samuel Stevens.

During the summer of 1814, the company was called out several times because of British ships in Herring Bay (which meant they were headed toward Baltimore.)  The Congressional Record shows one specific engagement in which John Scrivener played a prominent role:

This case is one of peculiar hardship, and I take the liberty to mention the circumstance without consulting Mr. Scrivener, who is a man of very respectable standing in society, remarkable for his piety and goodness—he has a wife and twelve children.  

The fortification was made on his land, being a small embankment about three feet high.  At the time the enemy made their attack on Town Point, Capt. Simmons and Capt. Tillard with most of their officers and men were on duty in Baltimore for the defense of that city.  The command at Town Point devolved on Lt. Scrivener, who with the few men left of Capt. Simmons and Capt. Tillard’s company were stationed there.  The British approached the fortification in their barges in such an overwhelming force that all the men but some 6 or 8 retreated.  The battle commenced –the station was gallantly defended by Lt. Scrivener—his cannon was well plied—and when the match gave out, in his zeal to repel the enemy, he laid the pan of a musket on the touch hole of the cannon and fired her in that way—standing near the gun carriage the recoil of the gun ran over his foot—they were compelled to retreat through an open field, nearly half a mile, all the while exposed to the fire of a fleet of barges.  All the men could run, but poor Scrivener, who hobbled away as best he could with his lacerated foot, the blood running over the top of his shoe almost at every step.

Lt. Scrivener survived that encounter, having done his best to keep the British away from Baltimore. 

In October 1814, the British burned Lt. Scrivener's house and outhouses because they had been used as soldiers' barracks.  At about the same time, several of his slaves ran away with the British.  John Scrivener later filed a claim for compensation for the run-away slaves and received $560. (See John Scrivener Biography at the Maryland State Archives.)

John Scrivener died in Anne Arundel County MD in 1849.

The map below shows the location of this encounter.

#52 Ancestors 2019 Week 13 In the Paper: The Death of Ellen Larrimore

#52Ancestors 2019 Week 13 In the Paper: The Death of Ellen Larrimore

The Stevens Family and the Larrimore Family were connected by marriage numerous times.  Sorting out the various relationships is sometimes confusing.  In the case of Mary Ellen Stevens Larrimore, I got an assist from an unexpected newspaper source.

The first time I found a Stevens-Larrimore connection, it took me a while to recognize it.  I had long searched for the family name of Samuel Stevens' wife, Margaret.  Finally, I found a death certificate for her daughter, Rachel Stevens Phibbons, who died in Annapolis MD in 1927, late enough that her parents' names were included in the death certificate.  Unfortunately, the mother's maiden name didn't ring any bells.  It looked like Limemore.  But eventually, I decided that it had to be Larrimore.

Samuel Stevens' brother, John Stevens, (both sons of William Stevens and Lavinia Whittington), also married a Larrimore, Margaret's sister, Fanny.  So two Stevens brothers married two Larrimore sisters.

John and Fanny's son, Joseph R. Stevens, also married a Larrimore, his cousin, Ellen Catherine Lavinia Larrimore, in 1871.

This marriage led me to yet another Stevens-Larrimore marriage.  Ellen Larrimore appeared in the 1850 Census of Anne Arundel County in the household of James and Ellen Larrimore. James Larrimore married Mary Ellen Stevens in Anne Arundel County in 1833.

The Baltimore Sun reported the death of Mrs. Ellen Larrimore in a single line in 1882 in a list of other deaths that week, no details.  But, unexpectedly, her name also showed up in the German-language newspaper in Baltimore, the Deutsche Correspondent, and after using Google translate, I was able to find the details of her death.

Translated from the Deutsche Correspondent Baltimore MD 14 September 1882:
Yesterday morning, Mrs. Ellen Larrimore of 173 Conway St. In the attempt to open the blinds of the second-floor windows, fell down, and injured herself so dangerously that the poor, unconscious woman died. Mrs. Larrimore had been a widow, fourteen years, seventy-six years old. She lived with a widowed daughter and had her share of income so that the assumption of suicide was completely ruled out. The deceased woman leaves behind two daughters and a son, all married.

Ellen's birth family was identified through the will of her sister, Susan Stevens Tinges, who left property to her sister Ellen Larrimore and her brother Francis Stevens.

So, this would be the third child of William and Lavinia Stevens that married into the family of James and Mary Larrimore.  John Stevens married Fanny Larrimore about 1823; Samuel Stevens married Margaret Larrimore about 1825; Mary Ellen Stevens married James Larrimore in 1833.

The Larrimore name carried through several more generations: John and Fanny Stevens' daughter named Fannie Larrimore Stevens Younger and her daughter Fannie Larrimore Younger.