#52 Ancestors 2022 Week 45 Ghost Story: Abel Huntington Lee, the Man who Died Twice

 My distant cousin, Abel Huntington Lee, was born in Lyme CT in 1812, the grandson of Revolutionary War patriot Captain Elisha Lee and the son of John Murdock Lee and Anne Beckwith. 

In 1841 in Baltimore MD, Abel married Maria Louisa Weems, the daughter of Captain Elijah Weems and Mary Ann Shaw.  Abel and Maria had six daughters: Anna, Florence, Laura, Nina, Emma, and Rosalie, and one son: William Huntington Lee between 1843 and 1856.

Abel worked as a coach builder and painter, living first in Calvert County MD and later moving to Washington DC, where his skills were apparently very well regarded.  He had a shop on K street in the northwest part of the city. 

With the start of the Civil War, Abel was anxious to serve his country.  According to an 1896 account in the Washington Post, Abel was, in appearance, "one of those enigmas of humanity, apparently so delicate in health as to make one wonder how he was able to walk much less than to perform a man’s share of labor, and no one would suppose for an instant that he would be able to perform military or any other service for the government."  However, he applied to the Union commander to work as a spy since he believed his knowledge of southern Maryland and those who might be in sympathy with the rebellion could be used to Union advantage. The Union general thanked him for his offer and said they would get back to him if they needed him.

But Abel was not willing to be brushed off so easily and decided to do some spying on his own.  He was convinced that people in Southern Maryland were aiding in keeping open a mail route to and from the confederacy and that much of the contraband mail came through Washington DC.  He was determined to learn the details of the business and the agents behind it. After about two weeks of investigating, he was able to locate the confederate post office in DC and convey the information to the Union Army, which seized the location and captured a number of contraband letters and papers. 

This investigation gave him credibility and he was assigned to work with the Navy and the Potomac flotilla.  In August of 1861, he headed for Leonardtown in St. Mary's County, quite confident that he would be able to break up the entire clandestine route for confederate communications. Dressed in his working clothes and carrying his painting tools, he excited little suspicion as he travelled through Southern Maryland. However, he was betrayed by an erstwhile family friend and captured by the Confederate forces, who decided that he should be hung on the spot.  

His captors gave him a chance to say a few last words, and here his quick wit was able to save him from death by hanging.  Taking note of his slight build, Abel joked that “Gentlemen, if you hang me, you want to do it properly, break my neck; don’t you? Well, you had better wait till you can get a fifty-six pound weight to tie to my heels.”  That got a laugh from the Confederates and, admiring his pluck,  they decided to postpone the hanging and took him instead to the county jail in Henrico VA.  

Unfortunately, his family received a letter about Christmas in 1861 informing them that Abel had been hanged and so spent the Christmas season mourning the ignominious death of their husband and father. 

A year later in December of 1862, a number of exchanged prisoners were returned to Washington, Lee among them, and his family must have rejoiced at his miraculous return from the dead. 

Their joy was short-lived. After 16 months in Confederate prisons, Lee was so ill that he died about six months after his return in July 1863.  He was buried in Congressional Cemetery. 

Abel's wife Maria had great difficulty in obtaining a pension for her husband's service since he was not officially enlisted in either the Army or the Navy.  However, after some years of effort, Congress passed a special act in 1884 authorizing a pension for Maria of $28.40 a month.  

Maria Weems Lee died in Washington DC in 1903. 

Abel Huntington Lee was a man determined to serve his country and he paid the ultimate price for his devotion. His last words, according to his obituary: "I have endeavored to do my duty to my God and to my country, which is as dear to me as my life." 

#52 Ancestors 2022 Week 7 Landed: Francis Scrivener

 Of all the ancestors in the Scrivener line, my 4X-great grandfather, Francis Scrivener, was the largest landowner.  

Francis Scrivener, the third son of John Scrivener and Mary Lewin, was born about 1742 in Anne Arundel County MD.  This is the first appearance of the name Francis in the Scrivener family, and I have not been able to discover if Francis might have been named for some relative.  His older brothers Richard and John appear to have been named for their maternal and paternal grandfathers respectively, a very common naming pattern.   His younger brother, William, appears to have been named for his father's brother.  But Francis is an outlier.  Possibly he was named for a neighbor who was a family friend. However, I think that Francis may have been the source for the naming of his great-grandson, Frank Philip Scrivener. 

In any case, Francis's father John drowned in the Patuxent River in 1757 when Francis was still a teenager.  His older brother Richard died unmarried in 1762 and his older brother John died at about the same time leaving a wife and a daughter, Mary Scrivener. Thus Francis was left to take responsibility for his widowed mother and his handicapped younger brother.  In 1771 Francis deeded to his mother 127 acres of his Carter Bennett property for her lifetime, with the proviso that his brother William would be able to live on the property without rent for his lifetime.  Mary Scrivener died in 1772 with Francis as the executor of her estate. William died in 1797, living with Francis for the remainder of his life.

Although there doesn't seem to be a written record of his marriage, Francis was apparently married about 1770, in his late 20's.  By the census of 1776, he appears in St. James Parish with a woman and four girls (Mary, Ann, Elizabeth, and Sarah) as well as sixteen slaves in his household.  His neighbors were Samuel Chew, Lewis Scrivener (a cousin) and Morgan Jones.

Francis's three sons, John (my 3X-great grandfather), George, and Francis Jr., were born between 1776 and 1783. The Assessment of 1783 shows Francis Scrivener with 415 acres of Carter Bennett valued at $550. His household consisted of 4 white males and 5 white females, but only 1 white male was between the ages of 15 and 50, Francis himself. He was also assessed for 24 enslaved people. The 1790 Census of Anne Arundel County shows Francis's household as 3 white males under 16 (John, George, and Francis), 3 white males over 16 (Francis and his brother William and ?), and 5 white females (his wife, and daughters Mary, Ann, Elizabeth and Sarah).

I have not been able to identify Francis's first wife positively, but I suspect that she was Elizabeth Simmons, the daughter of Francis's neighbor, George Simmons.  I base this in part on the common naming pattern that a second son would be named for his maternal grandfather.  And George Simmons did have a daughter Elizabeth who was the right age to be Francis's wife and was unmarried when George wrote his will in 1764. The name George does not appear elsewhere in the Scrivener line up to this point.  Circumstantial, I know, but that's the best I've got until some heretofore hidden record of marriage turns up. 

In any case, his first wife and the mother of his children was dead by 1794 when Francis married for the second time to the already twice-widowed Eleanor Ward Lewin Robinson, the daughter of Quakers Robert and Elizabeth Ward of Anne Arundel County. Eleanor had two children by her marriage to Francis's cousin Richard Lewin: Eleanor and Richard.  She and Francis had no children. Eleanor died in 1802.

During the years between 1769 and 1796, Francis amassed several large tracts of land, all near Herring Bay and the present-day village of Friendship in southern Anne Arundel County.

* Carter Bennett 430 acres acquired in several different purchases

* Evans Purchase 200 acres

* Wells and West Wells 100 acres

* Kirketon's Choice 160 acres (whose history I have previously described)

In addition, Francis received several special warrants to resurvey his holdings in 1783 and 1793 to include additional vacant land adjoining the property, adding another 230 acres. 

Francis Scrivener died in 1797 at about 55 years of age, leaving a will that named all seven of his children. His inventory shows an estate valued at about L2600, including 26 slaves ranging in age from five to fifty years.  His household goods included four feather beds, two pine tables, a dozen "winsor" chairs and six two-armed chairs, a half dozen knives and forks, a spy glass, 950 gallons of cider and some shoemaker's tools.  His livestock included 26 cows, four yoke of oxen, 23 hogs and nine horses.  In other words, quite a sizeable estate. (Compare to his father's estate forty years earlier valued at L650.)  Francis's oldest son John and his son-in-law John Whittington were the executors of the estate. 

To his oldest son, John, he left his dwelling plantation at Carter Bennett as well as Wells and West Wells. To his son George he left two tracts--Kirketon's Choice and Evans Purchase.  To his other children he left slaves.

However, it was many years before Francis's estate was finally settled because a suit was brought by Joseph Camden, the husband of Francis's niece, Mary Scrivener, claiming that Francis had never given his brother William his fair share of his parents' estate.  William, who died in 1797, was described in the court record as "a simpleton incapable of managing his own affairs." William was unmarried and had lived with his brother since their mother's death.  

The case must have kept southern Anne Arundel County entertained for years as both sides took dozens of depositions from the Scriveners' neighbors testifying to Francis's treatment of his brother.  Some claimed that William was treated like a laborer and was afraid of his brother, while others claimed that William was treated as a beloved family member and never forced to work. 

In the end, the court decided William was entitled to a greater share of his mother's estate and that share was eventually distributed to his Camden nieces and nephews in 1808, and to Francis's children, all of whom were still living, as shown below. 

Elizabeth Scrivener married married John Whittington in 1797. Three children: Mary, Charles, and Samuel.

Mary Scrivener married Jack Wood in 1809.  No children.

Sarah Scrivener married William Ward in 1800.  Daughter Sarah.

Ann Scrivener married Henry Dowell in 1796.  Children: Francis, Henry, Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, George Washington, Elijah, John, and Richard. 

John Scrivener married Eliza Smith Boswell in 1817. Children: John, Sarah, Samuel, Elizabeth, William Boswell, Sydney, Francis, James, Priscilla, Maria Louise, Emily Augusta, and Rose Matilda.

George Scrivener married Lurana Childs in 1805, married Mary Ann Childs in 1807.  No children.

Francis Scrivener married Ellen about 1810.  Children: Samuel, Thomas, Ellen, James, and Henry.  This is the origin of the Calvert County branch of the family. 

Francis's son John ended up acquiring more of the Carter Bennett property through purchases in the early 1800's.  His son George got into financial difficulties and lost his inherited properties, but was bailed out by his brother John who purchased his brother's tracts.