My cousin, Mary "Molly" Ogle, born 3 March 1746 in London, England, came from a politically prominent family. (Our common ancestor is Thomas Forster of Northumberland, England). Both her father, Samuel Ogle, her grandfather, Benjamin Tasker, and her brother, Benjamin Ogle, were Governors of Maryland. Molly herself could have married a Governor as well, but she chose otherwise.
In August 1753, Sharpe was appointed Governor of the Maryland colony, replacing Mary's father, Samuel Ogle, who died the previous year. Governor Sharpe brought with him to the colony his 21-year-old secretary, John Ridout.
The bachelor governor's parties and entertainments were legendary in Annapolis, such as this celebration of Lord Baltimore's 23rd birthday in 1754, as described by the Maryland Gazette:
His Excellency the Governor made an elegant entertainment at his own house at dinner for a great number of ladies and gentlemen. In the afternoon, Public Healths were drunk, the great guns firing at each Health, and in the evening, His Excellency gave a public ball where all the loyal Healths were repeated. . . . There was a large bonfire made in the Common. . . and the greatest part of the town was beautifully illuminated.
Not that Governor Sharpe's term was all about parties. He did his best to fortify the state for the French and Indian War, building Fort Cumberland in the western part of the state and set up the survey to determine the state's boundaries that eventually resulted in the Mason-Dixon line. He also warned the British government (to no avail) of the dire consequences of passing the Stamp Act.
In the early 1760's, Sharpe built himself a country estate just outside Annapolis--Whitehall, where he planned to entertain his many friends and colleagues, including George Washington and George Mason. He also wanted to make it a home for the woman he hoped to marry: Mary Ogle.
Designed by Joseph Horatio Anderson, who also designed the Maryland State House, Whitehall is the pinnacle of Georgian architecture, with its giant portico and Corinthian columns set in a 1000-acre estate overlooking the water.
Unfortunately for Governor Sharpe, Molly had other ideas and in 1764 married instead the Governor's secretary, John Ridout. I can't help but wonder if this wasn't a little Cyrano-like situation. Did Sharpe send Ridout with messages to Molly during his courtship? I don't have a portrait of Ridout, but, at 34 he was considerably younger than the 46-year-old Governor. To 18-year-old Molly that might have been a very big difference. In any case, the studious Ridout, an Oxford scholar with expertise in Greek and Latin, won Molly's hand and settled with her at a house he had built on Duke of Gloucester Street in Annapolis.
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| Ridout House |
Governor Sharpe seemed to take his loss in stride, and, in fact, during Sharpe's nearly sixteen-year term as governor, he took every opportunity to advance his secretary's prospects. Ridout served as a probate judge, member of the Maryland Council and Naval Officer of the Port of Annapolis in addition to his secretarial duties.
However, Sharpe never married. He retreated to his country estate where his biographer says that he spent as much time as he possibly could, especially after he was replaced as Governor in 1769.
"His Garden was his passion, and seeds and scions of trees and rare shrubs and flowers to beautify it were sent for from Holland and England and France."
He remained good friends the Ridouts and was a frequent guest at their home with a room set aside for him known as "Colonel Sharpe's room," whenever he chose to stay in town. When he returned to England in 1773, he left his affairs in charge of John Ridout. The American Revolution intervened, and Sharpe never returned to Maryland. He kept up an extensive correspondence with John Ridout, often expressing his sorrow over the events in America. He died in England in 1790 at age 72. He left a ring inscribed: "with affectionate and loving remembrance to John Ridout, my valued and faithful friend in public and in private."
Ridout managed to save Whitehall from confiscation during the Revolution by doing some exchanges of property. Later, Governor Sharpe instructed Ridout to sell Whitehall, and Ridout sold it to his brother-in-law, Benjamin Ogle who, in turn, sold it back to Ridout a few days later. So Molly did end up living at Whitehall after all, just not the way Governor Sharpe intended. Whitehall remained in the Ridout family for more than 100 years. Both Molly and John were buried there, along with Molly's mother.
John Ridout kept up friendships on both sides of the Revolution and managed to maintain a neutral position. Ridout's mother-in-law Ann Tasker Ogle had sailed to England with Governor Sharpe and her grandson Samuel Ridout who attended school at Harrow. John Ridout had the opportunity to take his family to England in 1776 but chose to remain in Maryland and took the Oath of Allegiance to Maryland in 1778. His family rode out the early days of the war at Whitehall, but later retreated to his property in western Maryland.
In December 1783, Molly Ridout was a witness to George's Washington's resignation, standing in the gallery of the Old Senate Chamber in the Maryland State House. She described the scene in a letter to her mother who was still in England:
"the General seemed so much affected himself that everybody felt for him, he addressed Congress in a short Speech but very affecting many tears were shed...I think the World never produced a greater man & very few so good."
John Ridout and Mary Ogle had four children:
Dr. Samuel Ridout (1765) who married Mary Addison. He later became mayor of Annapolis.
Ann Ogle Ridout (1767) who married John Gibson.
Horatio Sharpe Ridout (1769) who married first Rachel Goldsborough and second Ann Weems.
Meliora Ogle Ridout (1780) died in infancy.
John Ridout died at Whitehall in 1797 at the age of 65. Molly Ridout died at Whitehall in 1808 at age 62.
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