#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 20 Travel: Marie Robinson Wright, Intrepid Explorer

Of all the people I have researched, certainly the most prolific traveler among them was Marie Louise Robinson, the wife of my 3X-great uncle, Hinton Wright. I have previously written about her reprobate husband Hinton and the tragic romance of her daughter Ida.

But, Marie certainly deserves her own story.

Marie's travels started in Newnan GA where she was born in 1853, the ninth of ten children of plantation owner, John Evans Robinson and his wife Sarah Ramey. Marie enjoyed the luxuries of a wealthy lifestyle and was educated at the College Temple in Newnan.

At the age of sixteen, she fell in love with the handsome son of prominent lawyer, William F. Wright, my 3X-great grandfather. Unfortunately, Hinton Wright and Marie's brother Edward quarreled, engaged in a duel (illegally) and Edward died after the fight. Marie and Hinton eloped and married in 1870,  and her family disowned her. As Hinton continued to practice law in Newnan, the couple had two children in quick succession, Ida Dent Wright in 1871 and Albert Spaulding Wright in 1873.

In 1879, Hinton was involved in a bribery scandal that started a long downward trajectory for him; by 1886 Hinton and Marie were divorced.

Chicago World's Fair

So, faced with earning a living for herself and her two children, Marie struck out on a new path.  She approached the editors of the Sunny South, a small literary magazine published in Atlanta, with a proposal that they should hire her to travel through the South soliciting subscriptions. They agreed and she was successful in materially increasing the magazine's circulation, so successful, in fact, that the New York World hired her to travel through the South and write up articles about Southern cities for their publication. In 1892, the World sent her to Mexico and she produced an eight-page descriptive article, for which the Mexican government paid the paper $20,000, the highest price ever paid for a newspaper article at the time. In 1893, the paper sent her to write for an illustrated edition on the Chicago World's Fair.  And again, her writing was spectacularly well-received.

At which point, Marie decided that she didn't need the World any more. "Why should I go on making enormous sums of money for other people?"  She had loved the country of Mexico and already had many contacts there, so in 1895 she decided to go back and explore it on her own, in order to write a more complete description.  She took her daughter Ida along as a companion, her son Albert having died in El Paso TX the previous year. As she noted:

"When, in 1892, I first visited Mexico for the New York World to collect material for their great special illustrated edition, … I realized how meagre is the knowledge of the general public outside of Mexico of the beauty and resources of that fair republic. "

Mexican president Diaz, already an admirer, furnished her with letters of introduction, a military escort, and special trains throughout the country.  Marie and Ida spent a year exploring the country, covering nearly 900 miles and penetrating regions where no other women had traveled. The result was Picturesque Mexico, published in 1897, dedicated to President Diaz, and still considered a standard reference for the country. Marie covered the history of Mexico as well as separate sections on each state and the industries and natural resources of the country.  President Diaz made her an honorary citizen. 

Here is a little sample of Marie's rather flamboyant style:

Mexico, fair Mexico; quaintest and most delightful spot in the whole world. A stranger within thy gates, I know thy hospitality, thy generous whole-souled kindness, thy inestimable character, and the true manly and womanly hearts with whom thy destiny rests. Again and again I have said Adios to thy sapphire skies and snow-crowned hills only to be drawn back by an irresistible impulse, an impulse of love and admiration. And by this impulse am I impelled to tell the world through these pages something of thy unrivalled charms. 

As the title suggests, the book also features hundreds of photographs: towns, natural features, local people and governors of each state. The pictures alone make her book still worth perusing as a fascinating glimpse into the past.

The Mexican government purchased 8000 copies and the government of Costa Rica promptly invited Marie and her daughter to create a similar book for them. 

Marie went on to write books about Brazil (1901), Chile (1904), Bolivia (1907), and Peru (1908), all published in handsome, gilt-edged quarto editions, all laced with illustrations she had gathered from the studios of leading photographers: churches, plantations, trains, llamas, museums, deserts and jungles.  In her travels she crossed South America four times and made a record trip over the Andes in 1904.  She was also one of the first women to write for National Geographic ("The Falls of Igauzu" 1906). 

 By the time of her death in 1914, she was recognized as one of the foremost authorities on Latin America, as the Pan American Union said, "recognized and greeted in every capital of the New World. " She had, the Union noted, "the gift of seeing the bright side of the peoples and countries she visited and of understanding with appreciation their natural and cultured character." 

Marie was elected to numerous learned societies and attended many international exhibitions as a special delegate.

Marie Robinson Wright Buenos Aires 1903

She died in Liberty NY February 1, 1914 at the age of sixty.

In her lifetime, she was held up as a model for women:

And so, tired, weary, young women, do not get discouraged, no matter how dark the outlook. . . . Only keep up courage and determine to do your best to develop the highest qualities of which you are capable, and you cannot fail. (Frances Willard. Occupations for Women. 1897. At the end of her section on Marie Wright.) 

Even to the present day, Marie Robinson Wright's books are highly sought after by those with an interest in Latin America. 

#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 19 Service: Heroic Detective Arthur Scrivener

Arthur Beverly Scrivener, a distant cousin, was born 9 July 1889 in the small farming town of Gore, Frederick County VA, near Winchester and sometimes referred to as Back Creek.  He was part of a branch of the family that moved from Anne Arundel County MD to Frederick County VA about 1790. He was the second of four children of Turner Ashby Scrivener and Emma Bell Lockhart.

Although he grew up on a farm, Arthur moved to the big city and joined the Metropolitan Police in Washington DC by 1912. Even early in his career, he was known for his daring exploits. The Washington newspapers are full of stories about his rescues of women from burning buildings, saving kidnapped children, tracking down bootleggers, and foiling robberies. By 1918, he was a Detective Sergeant, one of the youngest on the force, and had a solid reputation as a crack detective whom his colleagues nicknamed "Sherlock Scrivener."

But by far his most celebrated take-down was the capture of an escaped prisoner in 1920. When Thurman Brown escaped from an Atlanta prison, the Washington police were alerted that he might return to his former haunts in the District. When Brown was cornered by police near Anacostia, he leaped onto the running board of an automobile, stuck his gun in the face of the driver and ordered him to speed away.

When Detective Scrivener saw this, he in turn commandeered a nearby auto and pursued the escaping prisoner. Brown began firing; a bullet pierced the windshield of Scrivener's car, causing him swerve into a tree.  Brown then leaped from his vehicle and ran back to the wounded detective brandishing his pistol and declaring "I've got you now!" Scrivener leaped on the man, who fired again.  The bullet struck the detective's pocket watch (a gift from
his mother), which probably saved his life. Even with two bullet wounds, he
managed to subdue Brown, commandeer a truck, and take the prisoner to the police station.  The local papers raved about Scrivener's "triple nerves of steel" and labeled him a "superman." 
In 1921 he was awarded the Police Hero's Medal for conspicuous bravery.

Unfortunately, the daring detective came to a very sad end.  On October 13, 1926, at the age of 36, Arthur Scrivener was found shot to death outside his home, the night before his wedding.  Only hours before, he had told colleagues he was "the happiest man alive" because of his impending marriage. The only clues to his death were a tie clutched in his hand and a pistol on the ground near his body.

His funeral in Winchester VA was called "unprecedented," as more than 2500 people attended the three-hour long service.  Delegations from the Masons, the Elks, the American Legion, the police department and the courthouse, as well as family and friends, gathered to pay a final tribute before the detective's burial in Mt. Hebron Cemetery.

The mystery of his death was never solved.  The police had two theories: was it murder or was it suicide?  The gun was at one time thought to belong to Scrivener himself, but that was later shown not to be true.  His fiancée claimed that the wedding had been cancelled. On the other hand, there was speculation that he might have been murdered because he was investigating suspicious activity within the DC police department.

The police announced that the detective had staged his suicide to look like a murder. "The most ingenious suicide ever committed." But there were no powder burns on his clothes or hands, and it was difficult to see how he could have shot himself without leaving those traces. His aged mother declared "my boy loved life too well to think of suicide.  He was betrayed by a friend." The coroner's jury convened at the time called his death murder. And that is the notation that went into his official police department record: "murdered by an unknown person."

However, three years after his death, there was still no resolution to the mystery and the District Attorney declared that he would lay the case before a grand jury to "clear it up for all time." After weeks of testimony, the jury's verdict was suicide, but many in the department did not agree with that verdict. Twenty five years later, in 1950, a newspaper in Binghamton NY ran a full page story speculating about Scrivener's death.  And even today, there is a Facebook page devoted to the murder of Detective Scrivener.  Just another little family mystery.

Funeral of Arthur Scrivener 1926

#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 18 Where There's a Will: Advice from Grandfather John Wallis

John Wallis, my 4X-great grandfather, was born at Whitestone Farm, near Sassafras, Kent County MD, 22 July 1775, the oldest son of Lt. Francis Wallis and his wife, Sophia Brooks.  His mother died when he was about ten years old and so he was raised by his step-mother, Elizabeth Smith Wallis and was educated at a boarding school.

On 5 May 1803, he married Sarah Everett Comegys, the daughter of Lt. Jesse Comegys and Mary Everett.  He was raised a Quaker, but when he married, he joined Shrewsbury Parish where he worshipped with his wife. He was a planter and owned several large tracts of land including Sewards Hope, Gleaves Adventure, Partnership, and Agreement, the last two inherited from his father.

Unfortunately, he lost quite a bit of his property when he kindly stood security for friends who failed to meet their obligations. 

Sewards Hope was described as follows in a newspaper advertisement of its sale:

The farm where I reside, within 6 miles of Chestertown and 2 miles of the Chester River, very pleasantly situated.  Arable land, divided into three fields.  The farm contains 220 acres, fifty of which in timber and firewood.  Buildings of brick, roomy and convenient, a brick barn and stable, with every other requisite outbuilding.  A large thriving apple and peach orchard in full bearing and well selected. A garden well supplied with shrubbery and fruits, the walnut, grape, raspberry, strawberry etc. 

John Wallis fought in the War of 1812, serving in Captain George Spry's company and later in Captain Frederick Boyer's Company.

Before departing for the war, John wrote a letter to his children to be read to them in the event of  his death.  The letter names his five eldest children, and he had four more before his eventual death in 1828:
Francis Ludolph Wallis 1804 (my 3X-great grandfather)
Jesse Comegys Wallis 1805
John Adolphus Wallis 1807
Cornelius Comegys Wallis 1809
Benjamin Everett Wallis 1810
Sophia Brooks Wallis 1813
Mary Araminta Wallis 1815
Hugh Henry Wallis 1817
Arthur John Wallis 1820
John Ambrose Wallis 1824

The letter was found with his will at his death.

Here is Grandfather's Wallis's advice:


My very dear children—Francis, Jesse, Cornelius, Benjamin, Sophia. 

It has pleased the Almighty to remove from ye Protection and ye Support, ye Father.  Ye are still blessed with an affectionate and deserving Mother, which is a comfort.  Ye several duties toward ye Mother are strongly pointed out by Nature as the Divine Precepts of the Gospel. Attend my dear Children to every respectful duty to ye Mother, ye country and ye God.  Let ye vocations be assiduously applied in improving ye education by writing, reading, and close study. Carefully avoid becoming too much enamoured with the frivolities of the youth of the present time.  Let yet attention be always engaged about something laudable and praiseworthy and ye my sons, avoid the alluring paths of vice and dissipation as ye would the greatest danger. Make confidants and friends of few.  Always be religiously just, and in all ye dealings, faithful and just.  Cherish always that brotherly love that should exist between brothers and sisters.  Avoid all strife and contention. The little property ye father has been able to leave ye (the wreck of a better fortune lost and wasted for want of early admonition) will give each of ye a tolerable start, which by industry and prudence will increase sufficiently to enable ye to support a family genteelly and become a useful member of society.  It would not last should a course of another kind be either of ye unfortunate lots.  The little ye have, with proper management may make ye a credit to ye Father, ye Mother, and ye Country.  Ye Father has seen a great deal of the world and he found that those that attend but little to it and pursue their own concerns have the most tranquil time of it. 


Ye father earnestly recommends to each of ye, to marry early, to be discreet in ye choice, let that one be near ye own years as to age, of reputation pure and of habits industrious.  Such companions cannot fail to make ye happy.  Avoid as ye would certain destruction, the illicit commune with bad women, it being the groundwork of every other vice, and in the end will lead to destruction of constitution, reputation, and ye property. 


In the commune with the world always be open and deal justly with everyone, take from no one that which is not ye own, but in all cases and at all times keep alive every honourable and just feeling.  Should ye country ever need ye support as a soldier or otherwise, the call is just and ought to be attended, keeping always in view that ye are a citizen thereof and bound as well from duty as honor to give ye support, when required, even unto death.  


These my children are ye Father’s reflections, which he has committed to paper, that each of ye may at all times after he has gone from ye, read them over, weigh them and govern ye selves accordingly.



So may the blessings of the Almighty be always with ye.

Ye Father,



John Wallis

John Wallis died in Kent County 17 July 1828.  The local paper described him as "an intelligent and respectable man and a most valuable and useful citizen."

His wife Sarah Everett Comegys Wallis died 7 November 1830 in Kent County.  Both are buried a the  Comegys-Wallis Burial Ground.

All of the Wallis sons left Kent County and went to Louisiana where they purchased sugar plantations.  Francis and Arthur eventually returned to Maryland and died in Kent County.

The original copy of John Wallis's letter was passed on to his oldest son, Francis, and it has in turn been passed down to the oldest son in succeeding generations.  Unfortunately, I do not know the whereabouts of the original at the present time.  However, because the letter has been copied numerous times, we can still have the benefit of Grandfather Wallis's advice.  Even after more than a hundred years, it is advice still worth contemplating.

#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 16 Air: John McMullan, Vanished into Thin Air

For many years, the only information I had about my 4X-great-grandfather, John McMullan, was a few lines in Across the Years in Prince George's County, the 1947 genealogical Bible penned by the redoubtable Effie Gwynn Bowie, my 2X-great-aunt. According to Aunt Effie, Susan McMullan Keene (my 3X-great-grandmother), was "the daughter of John McMullan (son of Hugh McMullan) of Greensboro, Caroline County, Maryland, and his wife Sarah Tubman, of Richard Tubman IV and Sarah Keene, of Benjamin Keene Sr. "  Aunt Effie was a dogged researcher and I have to assume that she pried that information out of her mother, Marie Louise Keene, and other Keene relatives.

She went on to name Susan's brother, John McMullan and his wife Mary Newton (of Cornwall, England), who lived in Baltimore and had a family burial vault at Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore. 

The only other clue to the McMullans was a large portrait of a handsome woman (affectionately dubbed "Big Mama" by the family) that had hung in my grandfather Frank Scrivener's home as long as I could remember; it had come to him from his mother's home.  According to my uncle, there was at one time a matching portrait of a gentleman, but there was no room for it in my grandparents' house, and my uncle did not know what became of it.  After my grandparents' deaths, the portrait moved to my parents' dining room since they had the only house large enough to accommodate it.  I discovered after some questioning of my grandparents, that portrait was actually Mary Newton McMullan, who died in Baltimore in 1886 and was buried in that Greenmount vault, along with her husband, children, and a few McMullan in-laws. (The matching portrait was probably her husband John.  I do wish I knew what happened to that one.)

In any case, I determined a few years ago to make an effort to discover more about my great-grandfather McMullan.

I started at Greenmount since I knew some of the family were buried there, hoping that perhaps John Sr. had come to Baltimore with his son and was buried with him.  His son Richard (USN) and daughter Ann were there in Greenmount along with John Jr. and his family, but John Sr. was not.

I also scoured 19th-century newspapers from Baltimore.  I found an announcement for John Jr.'s wedding, advertisements for his furniture business, and obituaries for John and his wife and several of their children, but nothing about John Sr.

I decided then to go back to his origins on the Eastern Shore.  I did have some success there when I came across the original Catholic records for St. Joseph Mission in Talbot County.  They showed that John McMullan and Susan Tubman were baptismal sponsors for Susanna Craighton in 1806, probably a niece of Susan, since her sister Sarah married Thomas Creighton. Later, the records showed John and Susan's marriage on 16 May 1808 in Dorchester County, where the Tubman family lived.

I also found John in the probate records of Caroline County as an administrator of the estate of Dennis McMullan in 1806 and inheriting a business from Dennis's estate in 1807. The deposition states that John McMullan taught school near Nine Bridges and that he was  Dennis McMullan's only relation. I infer from this that John's father Hugh McMullan was either dead or was not in America at all.  Dennis may have been an uncle.  I haven't been able to find anything else about him.

In 1814, John entered into some land transactions with his brother-in-law, Richard Tubman (possibly relating to the estate of his father-in-law, Lt. Richard Tubman, who died in 1813.  John sold his property in Caroline County and bought property in Queen Anne's County.  In 1820, John McMullan and his family are in the census in Queen Anne's County: a man aged 26 to 44 (born between 1776 and 1794),  2 boys under the age of 10, a girl under 10 and a girl between 10 and 15. (No clue where his wife was.)

The Church records show a burial for Mrs. McMullan of Kent Island in 1822, and I have assumed that this was Susan Tubman McMullan although I can't be absolutely certain.  No record of a burial for Mr. McMullan.

I also tried researching the Tubman side of this equation, since the Tubmans are a very well-known Eastern Shore family.  Susan Tubman was the daughter of Lt. Richard Tubman (Revolutionary War)  and Ann (Nancy) Travers. (As it turned out, Aunt Effie was a generation off in her genealogy.) Richard and Nancy had children: Sarah, Nancy, Richard, Ann, Susan, John, Charles, and Robert Francis.

The Tubmans married often into the Keene family.  Lt. Richard's mother was Sarah Keene.   His second wife was Polly Keene.  His son, Captain Charles married Emily Keene; his son Dr. Robert Francis married Mary Gaither Keene. And of course, his granddaughter Susan Tubman McMullan married Benjamin Gaither Keene.

There is a large cemetery in Dorchester County where Richard and many others in the family are buried.  I had hopes that I might find Susan or John buried there, but no luck.  My cousin Dan Phelan, also a McMullan descendant,  got permission to photograph the cemetery, and no McMullans.

Dan did turn up one other clue about John, however, a clipping from the Easton MD paper with a story about John McMullan in New York, of all places. He apparently went there in 1828 to claim a runaway slave. The story identifies him as owning property in Queen Anne's County MD. The pastor of St. Peter's Church in New York vouched for his identity, saying he had known him for a number of years.  So John must have visited New York fairly often.

And that is the end of the trail, so far.  I believe that John McMullan was dead by 1835.  Aunt Effie says that his daughter Susan was married that year at Medicine Hill in Talbot County, the home of her guardian, Robert Francis Tubman (also her uncle).  I think he wouldn't have been named her guardian if her parents were still living.

So, to summarize, here's what I know about great-grandfather McMullan:

John McMullan was born probably in Caroline County MD about 1785.  His father Hugh (? but I take Aunt Effie's word on this) was likely from Ireland. I haven't found any trace of him.  John was a school teacher who then inherited a mercantile business from his relative Dennis McMullan.  He married Susan Tubman (both of them Catholics) in Dorchester County MD in 1808, and after the death of his father-in-law, Richard Tubman in 1813, purchased or inherited property in Queen Anne's County, sold his property in Caroline County and moved to Queen Anne's.

John and Susan McMullan had children (and possibly others):
Richard Henry McMullan 1813
Susan Tubman McMullan 1817
John McMullan Jr. 1819
Anna M. McMullan 1820

John McMullan travelled and/or had business in New York by 1828. After that, as far as I can tell, he vanishes into thin air, but is probably dead by 1835.

You would think that a well-to-do land owner would have some kind of probate record, but I haven't found one.  Maybe it's in New York. I haven't given up hope.  Some day I might come across a record that will mention him or his death or at least give me another clue. That is what makes genealogy so much fun to me--there are always more little mysteries to solve.

#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 14 Water: Captain John Adams Webster, Hero of Ft. McHenry

Fort McHenry, as you can see from the picture above, is surrounded on three sides by water.  Built in 1798 on the site of an earlier fort, Fort McHenry had one main job:  to protect the Port of Baltimore.  During the War of 1812, this was a particularly critical function.  Thanks to the alert hearing of  Lt. John Adams Webster (my distant cousin), Fort McHenry was successful in carrying out this job.

Broom's Bloom

John Adams Webster, the son of Samuel Webster and Margaret Adams, was born at Broom's Bloom in Harford County 19 September 1789. At the age of 14, he entered the merchant marine, and at the beginning of the War of 1812, he became a   navy sailing master serving under the famed Captain Joshua Barney, fought at the Battle of Bladensburg, and finally was given charge of Battery Babcock located on the Patapsco River to the west of  Fort McHenry, intended to prevent a rear attack on the Fort.

According to the account in Appleton's Cyclopedia, the battery of six guns was old and dilapidated, the guns were corroded, the carriages rusty, the earthworks defective and the whole place overgrown with briars.  But Lt. Webster whipped it into shape as the British advanced on Baltimore in September 1814.

At daybreak on September 13, the British battery opened fire, but Webster's battery was out of range.  All he could do was stay alert. Around 11 PM, he made his rounds in the pouring rain, ordered his guns loaded and ready for action, and then wrapped himself in a blanket and stretched out on the breastworks.  About midnight, he heard the sound of muffled oars splashing through the water and looked out to see the gleaming lights of British landing barges trying to come around to the rear of Fort McHenry.  He gave the order to fire and the guns at Fort McHenry soon joined the fray.  The action lasted over an hour, but the British finally retreated, and, as every school child knows, at dawn the fort raised the stars and stripes indicating an American victory and inspiring Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner.  (For a more detailed account, see William M. Marine, The British Invasion of Maryland 1812-1815.)

Lt. Webster was wounded during the battle, but remained at his post until the end. For his heroic action, the citizens of Baltimore and later the state of Maryland presented him with inscribed swords, both now housed at the Maryland Historical Society.

"Presented by the State of Maryland to Captain John A. Webster for his gallant defense of the battery committed to his charge during the memorable attack against the city of Baltimore September 14, 1814." 

Six cannon mounted at Riverside Park in Baltimore and Webster Street, named for him in South Baltimore, represent the only memorial to Webster's heroic defense of the city.

In 1816, John Adams Webster married Rachel Biays, with whom he had eleven children.

Mount Adams

President Monroe appointed him a captain in the Revenue Service in 1817, a position he held until his death. In his long career, he commanded a flotilla in the Mexican War and served in Baltimore, Norfolk, New Orleans, and San Francisco among other places.


He retired in 1865 as the most senior officer in the Revenue Service.  He died at his home, Mount Adams in Harford County, on the 4th of July 1877 at the age of 87, one of the last of Baltimore's "Old Defenders."  The flags of Baltimore City Hall and Fort McHenry flew at half-mast to honor him on the day of his funeral.

#52 Ancestors Week 17 Land: Ellen Isham Schutt Pomological Artist

What, you may ask is a pomological artist?  It was a new word for me too.  Pomology is a branch of botany that studies and cultivates fruit.  A pomological artist, therefore, is an artist that specializes in drawing fruit.  And I have one of those in my family.

Francis and Lizzie Schutt

Ellen Isham Schutt (Aunt Nell, my 2X great-aunt really) was the daughter of Francis Granger Schutt and Emily Elizabeth Thomas "Lizzie" Wallis. Francis, a New York businessman, ran a furniture store in Georgetown.   His youngest daughter Nell was born 15 April 1873 in Oak Grove, Arlington County VA, where her father had bought property after the Civil War. The area is now the Cherrydale Historic District.

Indian Bael

From 1904 to 1914, Nell worked for the United States Department of Agriculture as an illustrator.  During this period she painted over 700 watercolors of various fruits and nuts. Her subjects ranged from the common

(apples, hickory nuts) to the then-exotic (bael, custard apple, cashew nuts), and quite a few show fruit damage from mold, insects, and other causes.  Her precise

style resulted in watercolors that at times look more like drawings than paintings. She also modeled some fruit such as apples and pears in wax to demonstrate the effects of long storage and packaging on fruits.

Custard Apple

In 1914-15, Nell worked at the University of California Berkeley doing drawings of apples in a variety of conditions including cold storage, core rot, and moth damage.

(Illustrations: U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705.)

For more examples of Nell's work, see the UC Davis website at https://calisphere.org/collections/19667/. 

In 1909, Nell turned her talents to architecture.  Having seen her father's home go up in flames, she determined to build a fireproof home for herself.  According to my cousin Larry, who heard the story from Nell herself and actually lived in the house briefly as a child, she was a one-woman dynamo.  She had molds made to make concrete blocks on the property, rolled up her sleeves, mixed the concrete, poured the molds, mortared the blocks and built the house.  Well, the degree of her involvement in the actual construction may be somewhat overstated, but the plan for the all-concrete house and the general architecture were definitely hers.  She named the place "Ellenwood,"  after herself. It was an imposing house, with columns in the front and a two-story high front porch. Cousin Larry also remembers that Nell salvaged some four-foot concrete urns left over from the St. Louis World's Fair which she used to adorn her front porch and driveway.  Ellenwood was unfortunately torn down in the 1960's to make way for an expansion of St. Agnes Church, but a little bit of it can be seen in the photo below that shows Thomas Smythe Wallis (second from the left) with his brothers, Francis, Harry and John standing in front of the house. 

After her father's death in 1914, Nell married Walter David Blackburn in Florida, but the marriage ended in divorce.  In 1917, she married her cousin Thomas Smythe Wallis and lived with him at Ellenwood, in the Cherrydale section of Arlington.   Thomas Smythe Wallis was the younger brother of my great-grandmother, Theresa Evalina Wallis (Dama), the 9th of 13 children of Francis Adolphus Wallis and Georgianna Willson. Nell and Tom had no children. 

Nell and her mother were both very interested in genealogy and Nell started the Francis Wallis chapter of the DAR that served the Washington DC area. Cousin Larry remembers a fabulous Wallis family tree drawn to resemble a botanical tree where he could see his own name in one of the tiny branches.  Some of her research still survives at the Maryland Historical Society.  

Thomas Smythe Wallis died in Virginia in 1949.  Nell died in 1955.  They are both buried in Columbia Gardens Cemetery in Arlington VA.