#52 Ancestors 2021 Week 28 Transportation: Five Generations of Road Builders

 My family has roadbuilding in its genes.  For the last five generations, my family has been involved in building and maintaining Maryland's roads.  

Well, technically, it probably goes further back than that.  While much early transportation was done on the waterways, Maryland passed its first public roads law in 1666, ordering county commissioners to make roads passable for foot and horse traffic.  Overseers were appointed in each county and county residents were required to contribute either tobacco or labor toward road maintenance.  I'm sure my ancestors were included in that aspect of road construction.

However, county labor and tax levies were very soon unequal to the demand and road travel, according to contemporary accounts, remained pretty much a harrowing experience throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.  Agitation for better roads came particularly from farmers anxious to get their crops more easily to market and their grain more easily to the mill.  The introduction of the automobile in the early 1900's only increased the demand for better roads.  

Maryland responded in 1898 by asking the State Geologic and Economic Survey to investigate the condition of roads throughout the state and the cost of improving them. In 1908, after seeing the enormous cost of maintaining roads, Maryland established the State Roads Commission to construct, improve and maintain a State system of roads and highways, funded in part by registration fees from those pesky automobiles. 

Maryland Highways ca. 1924

And here is where my family enters the road building picture.  Roads Commission field offices were established in the counties around the state.  My great-grandfather, John Marshall Dent, known as Marshall, (and in the family as Poppa Dent) was hired to help with the investigation of the need for roads and by the 1920's was appointed to run the field office in St. Mary's County.  

Marshall was born in 1873 in Georgia, where his father John Marshall Dent Sr. (known in the family as Big Poppa) had fled to fight for the confederacy during the Civil War.  The family later returned to St. Mary's County and raised ten children there, Marshall being the oldest son.  

Marshall was always a tinkerer and worked as a machinist, ran a lumber mill, and by 1920 was managing a garage. According to my Uncle Jack, Marshall's grandson, Marshall could fix anything and was often consulted by automobile owners about their car troubles. So, he was an excellent choice to work with the State Roads Commission to identify where the county needed new or improved roads. In fact, his work with the State Roads Commission led him to meet his future wife, Mary Turner, as he explored the need for roads in Calvert County.  They married in 1898. 

About 1920, my grandfather, Frank Philip Scrivener Jr., was discharged from the Navy after serving in WWI and was looking for work.  His mother, Louise Gwynn Scrivener, was a noted civic activist who served on numerous government commissions and managed to pull strings with Governor Albert Ritchie to get her son a job with the State Roads Commission.

Young Frank (shown here with his father Frank Sr.) was charged with travelling around the state to visit the various field offices and collect information about where roads needed to be built or enhanced. 

Frank's job had the side benefit of introducing him to Marshall Dent and eventually to Marshall's daughter, Elizabeth, whom Frank married in 1924. (And who would have thought the State Roads Commission could be such a hotbed of romance?) His state job kept him working through the Great Depression and he served the State Roads Commission for 46 years until his retirement in 1968. 

After a series of construction and maintenance posts, in 1931, he was made the maintenance engineer for state roads, and  in 1964 was named Assistant Chief Engineer for Maintenance and Operations.  For more than 30 years, Frank was responsible for the maintenance of Maryland's 4300-mile highway system as well as the equipment necessary to do that maintenance. Among his innovations, he was responsible for the first radio communications system in state roads vehicles and for the development of a prison labor system that kept the roads operating during the labor shortage of WWII.  

A registered professional engineer, Frank earned a national reputation in his field, serving in leadership positions in the Maryland Association of Engineers, the American Association of State Highway Officials and the American Road Builders Association. 

Meanwhile, Frank's oldest son, my father, Frank Philip Scrivener III, born in Baltimore in 1925, also became involved in road-building but from a more hands-on perspective.  After serving in the Army during WWII, and attending Loyola College on the GI Bill, Frank III went to work for E. Stewart Mitchell Asphalt Company in Baltimore.  That's him on the right below with a Mitchell truck.

One of his first jobs was  paving the tarmac and runways for the 3300-acre Friendship Airport outside his home town. (That's a lot of asphalt!) Later, Frank managed to convince the Army that his specialized skills would be more valuable in the US than overseas and he travelled around the country for the government supervising the paving of airport runways as far away as Michigan and South Carolina, a deal worked out to prevent him being recalled to Army service and sent to Korea. 

Friendship Airport 1950

In 1958, Frank had the opportunity to join Tom and Bill Baldwin to form Reliable Asphalt Company in Anne Arundel County MD.  He served as its President until 1978 when Reliable Asphalt became a division of Reliable Contracting. He then served as General Manager of Reliable Contracting until his retirement in 1989.

Dad spent a lot of his time in his green Reliable pick-up truck, travelling around the state to inspect various paving jobs. Driving around was one of his favorite pastimes. As a special treat, or maybe because we were driving Mom crazy and she wanted us out of the house, one or more of us kids would sometimes get to ride with him. I can still remember the pungent smell of fresh asphalt and coming home covered in dust (from the unpaved part of the roads) with asphalt stuck to my shoes (big no-no!) from the newly-paved part of the road.  Dad's favorite jobs were when he got install a tennis court; that was his specialty.  He was a nationally-ranked player and spent almost all his free time with a racquet in his hand. Of course, he built himself a court in our back yard. 

Like his father, Frank was a leader in his field, serving as President of the Maryland Asphalt Association and a board member of the National Asphalt Pavement Association.  

Quite a few of the Scrivener young men got one of their first jobs at Reliable thanks to my Dad.  Even I worked at Reliable in my teens weighing trucks at the asphalt plant and doing office work.  My brother, Robert Keene Scrivener, however, followed more directly in Dad's footsteps and went to work full-time for Reliable after graduating from college. 

Rob has been with Reliable for over 40 years now and serves as Vice President and Chief Operations Officers for the Plants, Paving and Trucking Operations. Like Dad, Rob has served in leadership roles in the Maryland Asphalt Association, the Maryland Transportation Builders and Materials Association and the National Asphalt Pavement Association.  

Rob's sons Bryan and Nathan have continued the road-building tradition for a fifth generation, working at  Reliable as Vice-President of the Southern Division (Charles County) and Director of the Quality Control Lab, respectively. 

#52 Ancestors 2021 Week 13 Music: Joseph Hiskey, Baltimore Piano Maker

 Keyboard instruments have been around in Europe since at least the 14th century.  The harpsichord was much favored by Queen Elizabeth, who was acutally quite a talented performer. 

But it was not until 1709 that Bartolemeo Christofori of Padua developed the instrument that made music by striking strings with a soft hammer producing soft or loud tones depending on the pressure--the piano-forte (meaning soft-loud). This was the instrument upon which Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven composed their piano music. 

Cristofori piano at the Metropolitan Museum

By the 18th century,  the building of cases for these instruments was a well-recognized art.  The cases were elaborately designed often by prominent artists, full of inlaid wood and gilt decoration.

In America, the art got off to a slow start, mainly because so few people could afford the instruments, and those who could afford them often looked with suspicion on local products, preferring the prestige of imported goods. After the War of 1812, however, business picked up because the economic depression in Europe brought a flood of craftsmen to America. 

Joseph Hiskey (the 6X-great-grandfather of my grandchildren Henry and Harper Agee) was one of those craftsmen, landing in Baltimore in December 1816.  Hiskey was born in Vienna in 1783, the son of Joachim and Ludmilla Hiskey.  By 1818, he was listed as a piano maker in the Baltimore Directory. 

In 1824, he married Helen Geisenderffer, with whom he had three daughters: Josephine, Mary, and Helena, and a son John Joseph.  (Josephine later married Sea Captain William Hamlen and became the 5X-great-grandmother of my grandchildren.)  Joseph's wife Helen died shortly after the birth of her third daughter and Joseph married her sister Elizabeth in 1831 and had five more children with her.  Elizabeth died in 1844 and Joseph died in 1850.  Both are buried in Baltimore's Green Mount Cemetery along with several of their children.  

Joseph Hiskey was among the first instrument makers in Baltimore and it was substantially due to his work that Baltimore became a hub for piano manufacture, fame later heightened by the work of William Knabe. Establishing himself first at Water Street and then moving to various locations in the city, Hiskey finally settled in a small workshop on Light Street.  

Before coming to Baltimore, Hiskey had worked as an apprentice to European artisans and had been thoroughly educated in the fundamentals of pianoforte construction.  As an artist, he strove for perfection and while his business was never noted for size and quantity of output, his skill and attention to detail earned him an enviable reputation and a good living for his large family. 

This ad, appearing in Baltimore in 1822, indicates Hiskey's desire to compete with Europe:

Joseph Hisky thanked patrons of his pianoforte manufacturing establishment. . . for the encouragment since beginning here.  He has worked in some best European factories and spared no pains to make his output superior to any other in this country and equal to best produced in London, Paris, Vienna; grand, upright, grand square and other varieties of piano.

Joseph Hiskey's pianos were quite different in style from the spindly early instruments as this one from about 1840 illustrates (currently located at the National Museum of American History).

This square piano was made by Joseph Hisky in Baltimore, Maryland about 1843. Hisky was a Viennese piano maker who became one of the earliest piano manufacturers in Baltimore. The nameboard on this piano is inscribed “Joseph Hisky / from Vienne / Baltimore.” This piano is serial number 9629 and has a compass of FF-f4, Viennese action, single-strings FF-C, double-strings C#-b2, triple-strings c3-f4, tuning pins in the front, 4 pedals: bassoon, dampers, moderator, and Janissary (drum and bells), an iron string plate frame, and a mahogany case.

Here is a later Hiskey ad  (1838) from the Baltimore Sun that emphasizes his pride in his skills. 

SUPERIOR PIANO FORTES. JOSEPH HISKEY No 5 South Calvert street, Baltimore, respectfully invites his friends and the ladies in particular, to call and see his assortment of splendid PIANOS. They are of various patterns, and in a variety of scarce and choice wood. In addition to MAHOGANY, there are ZEBRA, ROSE and WALNUT. Such a variety cannot otherwise than please. Many of them have six octaves and a half. The wood of all is well seasoned, and the workmanship superior, and the tones not exceeded by any made in this country or elsewhere, as proved by the approbation of most of the first professors of music in this city. My terms will be liberal, and as usual I warrant the Instruments. 

The piano maker was apparently a stubborn and independent sort as this story suggests. Once when he was shipping a number of his hand-made instruments to South America, a broker tried to convince him to buy insurance on the lot in case the ship went down on route. The old German is reported to have replied in somewhat broken English that if the ship went down, he would simply make some more pianos.  The ship, by the way, did go down and Hiskey suffered a rather significant loss.  However, he never did succumb to the pleas of the insurance brokers.

Sadly, none of Hiskey's children followed him into his craft and at this death, his inventory of pianos was put up for sale. Only a few of Hiskey's creations survive today, including the one shown above at the National Museum of American History.  

#52 Ancestors 2021 Week 11 Fortune: Great-Uncle Elijah and the Ouija Board

 Elijah Jefferson Bond, the fourth child of Judge William Bond and Charlotte Howard Richardson, was born in Bel Air, Harford County MD, 23 January 1846.  He attended public schools in Anne Arundel County MD and was a veteran of the Confederate Army, as were his brothers, Frank and Arthur Bond. (It is through Frank Bond and his daughter Harriet that I am related.)  He graduated from the University of Maryland Law School in 1872 and opened a law practice in Baltimore.  In 1874, he married Mary Peters and by 1876, they had a son William.  

This sober background might not seem like fertile ground for the invention of a divination tool that has fascinated folks for more than a hundred years, but there it is.  Great Uncle Elijah was the man who, in 1891, patented a "talking board" under the name of Ouija, "a magical device that could answer questions about the past, present and future with marvelous accuracy. " 

The Ouija Board grew out of  19th-Century-America's fascination with spiritualism or the belief that the dead can communicate with the living. The Civil War, with its thousands of deaths, only encouraged the phenomenon as bereaved families longed to connect with their loved ones. However, the methods used to make this connection were frustratingly slow.  Calling out the alphabet and waiting for a spirit to knock at the right letter, for example, took forever to get any message through.

In the late 1880's, spiritualist camps in Ohio started using a "talking board" with letters and a planchette that moved around the board to speed up the communication process. In 1890, Charles Kennard of Baltimore pulled together several businessmen, including Elijah and his friends William Maupin and  Washington Bowie, to form the Kennard Novelty Company to commercialize the previously homemade device and exclusively manufacture and sell the board.  None of the men were particularly drawn to spiritualism, but they did see a good business opportunity. 

However, it wasn't the "Ouija" yet.  

In some popular belief, the name came from the French and German words for "yes,"  "oui" and "ja," But, according to Ouija's historian, Robert Murch, it was the board itself that came up with the name, with the help of Elijah's sister-in-law, Helen Peters, who was judged to be a strong medium.  Sitting around the table with Helen, the Kennard company men asked the board what it wanted to be called.  "Ouija" came through.  Helen said it meant "Good Luck."

The next step was to get a patent on the device, which meant proving to the patent office that it actually worked. So, Elijah brought Helen with him to Washington to file for the patent.  The patent officer said he would grant the patent if the board correctly spelled out his name, which presumably was not known to Elijah or Helen. They all sat down and communed with the spirits and the planchette correctly spelled out the name.  The shaken patent officer granted them the patent on February 10, 1891 for a new "toy or game." Elijah also got the Canadian patent the following month. 

The Ouija was definitely a money-maker.  By 1892, Kennard had two factories in Baltimore, two in New York, two in Chicago and one in London.  By 1893, Elijah had sold his share in the company. Some companies tried to launch rival products, but none had the success and longevity of the Ouija Board. 

Elijah died in Baltimore in 1921, having generated several other patents for steam engines and the like, but none as interesting as his first one.

He was buried in an unmarked grave in Green Mount Cemetery.  And there he lay, unknown, until 2007. when Robert Murch, after much effort, discovered his resting place and was finally given permission to erect a memorial for Bond, by his great-nephew, Walter Dent (to whom I am also related.) Murch created a unique memorial with the traditional names and dates on one side and a replica of Bond's most famous patent on the other.

#52 Ancestors 2021 Week 22, Military: Great Uncle William Bruce and the Maryland 400

 Many Marylanders have heard their state referred to as "The Old Line State," but quite a few of them don't really know what that means. 

The name comes from a valiant group of Maryland soldiers in the Revolutionary War.  In 1776, the British sent the largest armada in history (450 ships and 10,000 troops) across the Atlantic with the intent of putting an end to the American Revolution by crushing Washington and his band of colonial rebels. On the morning of August 27th, British forces surrounded the Continental Army in Brooklyn Heights and backed them up against the East River, where their armada of frigates was waiting to capture them if they tried to retreat. General Washington decided that his best option was to evacuate his army across the East River to safety in lower Manhattan.  But they needed time to gather enough boats to move the troops.  

Colonel William Stirling offered 400 militia men of the 1st Maryland Regiment, led by Major Mordecai Gist, for what was basically a suicide mission to hold off the British while the rest of the army escaped.  The Maryland men, vastly outnumbered, attacked the huge British force six times across marshy ground and distracted them long enough for Washington to move the rest of his army to safety. After the final attack, the remaining troops attempted to follow.  More than 250 were killed and another 100 were captured, just about wiping out the regiment.  Only a few dozen made it back to the American lines. 

General Washington, watching the battle, said "Good God.  What brave fellows I must lose today."

This group, known afterward as The Maryland 400 (or the Old Line) led to Maryland's nickname and cemented the state's reputation as the home of incredibly brave and skilled soldiers. 

While I don't have any direct ancestors who were part of this group, I do have several great uncles, including two brothers--William and John Bruce--who participated in the Battle of Long Island. A third brother, Robert, was also a soldier in the Revolution, but not part of this battle. 

William Bruce ca. 1780

William (1752), John (1750) and Robert (1745) Bruce were the sons of Charles Bruce and Jane Yates of
Charles County MD, born at the home plantation, "Good for Little." (Their sister, Elizabeth Bruce, wife of Major Jonathan Yates, was my 5X great-grandmother.) William took an early lead in the movement for American independence by joining one of the Committees of Correspondence in 1774.

Originating from gentry stock but not yet having established their own wealth, the Bruce brothers did not initially receive commissions as officers and instead enlisted in the Maryland fighting force as noncommissioned officers. Volunteering in July 1775, Robert was given the rank of corporal in the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment, while his brothers William and John received the rank of sergeant and corporal, respectively, in Colonel William Smallwood's First Maryland Regiment.  

As a noncommissioned officer in the Ninth Company, a mobile and light infantry company of troops from western Maryland under the direction of Captain George Stricker, William Bruce’s military role was primarily based on direct conflict with the enemy. Like all noncommissioned officers, Bruce's chances of being promoted to an officer's rank and attaining a position among the military elite depended on both his performance in battle and ability to recruit. With the arrival of the British Navy in New York in the summer of 1776, Bruce was given his first opportunity to prove his worth. 

William Bruce’s Ninth Company was part of the attack on the dug-in British forces. Over the course of the battle, the Marylanders lost 256 men killed or captured, and the five companies that made this final stand lost between sixty and eighty percent of their troops. William Bruce’s Ninth Company lost more than half its men, and he was the only one of its four sergeants to make it off the battlefield. However, their action allowed for the successful escape of Washington’s remaining Continental forces across the East River into Manhattan. With their blood, Bruce’s comrades purchased a precious hour which saved the Continental Army from utter annihilation.

After the battle, the 256 dead were buried in a mass grave, exact location not known.  In 1895, the Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution erected a monument to the Maryland 400 in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. 

William Bruce remained in the Continental Army until 1783, when the unit was disbanded.  His brother John left in 1777 and returned to Charles County. William received a commission as a second lieutenant in the First Maryland Regiment in December 1776, and was made a first lieutenant on June 10, 1777. In the spring of 1780, Bruce once again received a promotion, and was commissioned as a captain, in command of a company. He fought with Major Thomas Lancaster Lansdale's company at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. 

After the war, William returned to Charles County, married, and had two sons and four daughters.  Although he received two hundred acres of bounty land in western Maryland, he considered it rocky and not good for cultivation and so never claimed the land. He purchased land in Charles County, but was never really successful financially as a planter.  

As one of the founding members of the Society of the Cincinnati, (the nation's oldest patriotic organization) Bruce hoped to reinforce the degree of group solidarity he had known while serving in the army as well as preserving the memory of the Revolution.

At his death in 1825, the Maryland Gazette published this eulogy:

Another soldier of the Revolution gone!

On Wednesday, the 26th ultimo. Colonel WILLIAM BRUCE, departed this life, at his residence in Charles county. He was in the 73d year of his age, and, during his long and varied life, there was no one action, the remembrance of which could embitter his parting hour, or stain the cheek of his surviving family with shame.

He entered the Army of the Revolution in the spring of the year '76, as a private, fought through the whole war, and finally came out a Captain in the 1st Maryland regiment. From these trying scenes of hardship, hunger, and bloodshed, he returned to the quietude and duties of private life, and, as he had been a brave soldier, so be became an excellent citizen. In his domestic relations, as husband, father, and master. he was affectionate, indulgent, and humane; as a nelghbour, urbane and friendly; as a citizen, frank and patriotic. and as a man, strictly and sternly honest.

This tribute is paid by one who bad been early taught to reverence Col. Bruce, and the sentiments it expresses will find an echo in the bosom of all who knew him.

The Maryland 400 represented the cream of the Maryland Line, which had a reputation of being among the best of the Continental Army. Because of the long service of the high quality regiments, George Washington, according to tradition, referred to the Maryland units as his "Old Line," giving Maryland one of its nicknames as "The Old Line State."

The bayonet on the coat of arms of the 175th Infantry Regiment is representative of its introduction to American arms at the Battle of Long Island by the Maryland Line in 1776, the use of which became famed throughout the War. It is also symbolic of the Maryland 400.

For more information see: Finding the Maryland 400 at Finding the Maryland 400 | A Maryland State Archives research project (wordpress.com) 

#52 Ancestors 2021 Week 1 Beginnings: My Royal Ancestors Part II

Thomas Howard

 So, genealogy fans, following Cousin Eleanor's proposed lineage for our family, we left off last time at Sir Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Surrey (1443-1524).  As a young man, Thomas entered the service of King Edward IV as a "henchman" i.e. loyal supporter and in 1478, Edward knighted him. 

At Edward's death, Thomas supported Richard III's claim to the throne and carried the Sword of State at Richard's coronation and was rewarded with the Earldom of Surrey.  When Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth (along with Thomas's father, who was also a loyal supporter), Thomas was arrested and thrown in the tower.  But a couple of years later, the new king, Henry Tudor (Henry VII), restored his earldom and eventually Thomas became one of the king's most trusted advisors. That seems to be a thing with kings and nobility, a lot of on-again, off-again relationships, depending on who is in power and who wants to be in power. Doesn't do a lot for building trust.  

James IV

Thomas was involved in the negotiations for the marriage of Catherine of Aragon to Prince Arthur and escorted the king's daughter Margaret to Scotland for her marriage to King James IV.  

Thomas was the executor of Henry VII's will and played a prominent role in the coronation of Henry VIII. While Henry VIII was off fighting in France, the Scots took the opportunity to attack England, and Thomas was instrumental in their defeat at the Battle of Flodden, killing the Scots King James IV.  See Above.  (Further example of that on-again, off-again thing.  Apparently even marrying the king's sister doesn't really guarantee anything.)  

As a reward, Thomas was made Duke of Norfolk and added a snarky little detail to his coat of arms showing the lion of Scotland pierced with an arrow.  Way to rub it in.

Amazingly enough, Thomas lived to a ripe old age, dying in 1524 at age 82, one of the richest and most powerful peers in England. 

Somewhere in the midst of all that activity, Thomas managed to marry, twice, and through these marriage became the grandfather of both Ann Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of Henry VIII's six wives.  It is through his son Edmund Howard that our family line continues. 

Edmund Howard

Edmund (1478-1539) was the third son of Thomas and his first wife, Elizabeth Tilney.  Naturally enough, he spent his early years hanging around at court and helped organize the jousts for the wedding of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Although he got some royal posts, his biographers generally characterize him as "a spendthrift who soon dissipated his first wife's lands in Kent and Hampshire and fled abroad to avoid his creditors, leaving his numerous children to be brought up by relatives."  

Sigh!  I guess all the ancestors can't be heroic. In any case, Edmund's first wife was Joyce Culpepper, with whom he had three sons and three daughters, including Catherine Howard, who became Queen a year or so after her father's death. Our family is supposed to descend from Catherine's sister Margaret Howard (1515-1572), who married Sir Thomas Arundel of Wardour Castle. 

Arms of Arundel

Thomas Arundel began his career in the household of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII's right-hand man, and was a contemporary of Thomas Cromwell. He held a number of administrative positions in Henry's court, including being a commissioner for the dissolution of the monasteries, which allowed to acquire quite a few properties belonging to the religious houses. Unfortunately for Thomas, he ended up on the wrong side of the power struggle after Henry VIII's death and was arrested, convicted and beheaded on charges of attempting to overthrow the government in 1552.  However, the crown eventually restored his property to his son, Matthew Arundel, through whom our family line continues. Phew!

Sir Matthew Arundel (1532-1598) held several administrative posts including Sheriff and was twice a member of Parliament, but for the most part, he kept to his estates in the west country, perhaps having learned a lesson about the dangers of hanging around at court. In 1559, her married Margaret Willoughby and they had several children, the eldest of whom was Thomas Arundel (1560-1639), through whom our family was said to continue. 

According to his biographers, Thomas was "gifted and scholarly," but seemed to find court life rather boring.  Eventually his father gave him the funds to go off and fight the Turks, where he was apparently very successful.  He was named a Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1595 and became known as "the Valiant."  However, as they say, no good deed goes unpunished.  His foreign title made him very unpopular both with his father and with Queen Elizabeth, who had him imprisoned, saying "I would not have a sheep branded with another man's mark." At various times, Thomas was suspected of Catholic espionage and of participation in the Gunpowder Plot. He managed to gain favor with King James I, who created him Baron Arundel of Wardour. In 1605, Thomas was part of a venture to found a colony in Virginia. Later, he engaged in acrimonious religious disputes with his bishop and died in 1639.

Thomas married twice and through his second marriage to Ann Phillipson, our line is said to continue. Unfortunately, here is where Cousin Eleanor's research makes a wrong turn.  To be fair, she isn't the only one who made this wrong turn. 

Thomas and Ann had a son Matthew born about 1609.  For many years, genealogists, including Maryland's own premier researcher, Harry Wright Newman, theorized that this Matthew Arundel emigrated to Virginia where he took the name Matthew Howard. It was an interesting assumption given Thomas's efforts at colonization. In 1939, though, another researcher turned up definitive proof that this was not the case.  Thomas's son Matthew died in 1620 and was buried in London without ever crossing the Atlantic. Newman later updated his work in Anne Arundel Gentry to reflect this new information and thus deprive us of a direct link to this family. 

Ann Arundel, Lady Baltimore

However, all is not lost for my family line.  One of the daughters of Thomas Arundel and Ann Phillipson was Ann Arundel 1615-1649 (yes, THAT Ann Arundel!).  Ann married Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore. Although she herself never set foot in the New World, she is definitely the namesake of Anne Arundel County MD.  

And our family is definitely related to the Calverts.  Cecil's father, George Calvert, is my 9th great-grandfather. His son Leonard is my 8th great grandfather.  So Cecil and Ann are 8th great aunt and uncle respectively.

Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore

9X Grandfather George Calvert

  

So, for this line at least, I'm not a direct descendant of royalty, but I am at least a distant cousin.  However, Cousin Eleanor traced another line of descent from King Edward I through the Brooke family, which I will pursue in another entry.  

#52 Ancestors 2021, Week 1, Beginnings: My Royal Lineage

 

As a child, long before I had any formal notion of genealogy, I was fascinated by a large chart that hung in the stairwell of Grandmother Summers' house.  It was decorated with colorful shields across the top and showed a long hand-written list of our family's descent from famous kings including Alfred the Great and Charlemagne, ending with a tiny list of my grandparents' children. I don't know what happened to the original after my grandmother's death, but at some point, someone made copies of the chart, shrunken in size and in black and white, and I do have a copy of that.  So, I've decided to explore some of those royal connections.

I'm not sure who did this work originally.  My best guess is that the author was my grandmother's cousin, Eleanor Brooke Perrie.  Cousin Eleanor, as she was known in the family, was very into family history, especially if it connected to royalty.  This chart seems like something she would have done. So, I'm not vouching for the accuracy of the lineage, just enjoying the interesting possibilities.

Edward I

The main lineage on this chart begins with Edward I of England (1239-1307), who, according to Cousin Eleanor, would have been my too-many-greats-to-count grandfather.  He was the son of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence and named because of his father's devotion to Edward the Confessor. He was also called Edward Longshanks because of his unusual height and "the Hammer of the Scots"  because of his fierce wars against his neighbor to the north. Edward has a mixed record as king.  He is credited with establishing Parliament as a permanent institution and reforming much of English law.  On the other hand, he is criticized for his cruel treatment of the Welsh and Scots and for expelling Jews from the kingdom in 1290.  He was said to be feared and respected rather than loved by his people. 

In 1254, 15-year-old Edward made a political marriage with 13-year-old Eleanor of Castile. They had at least 14 children before Eleanor's death in 1290.  For purposes of this lineage, however, the important one is the 8th and youngest daughter, Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (1282-1316).  

Humphrey

Elizabeth's first marriage to John of Holland lasted only a year or so and was childless.  My family is apparently descended from her second marriage to Humphrey de Bohun, the 4th Earl of Hereford (1276-1322), whom Elizabeth married in 1302. Under his father-in-law, Humphrey took part in several campaigns against the Scots.  Humphrey was apparently well-educated, a book collector and a scholar and he saw to it that all his children, including his daughters, received an education in the classics.  

Even though he was the brother-in-law of King Edward II, Humphrey, like the other barons, was insistent that the king keep to the provisions of the Magna Carta and when Edward II began to exert what they considered excessive power, the barons revolted.  Humphrey died in one battle of rebellion in Yorkshire in 1322.

Isabella, the She-Wolf

Humphrey and Elizabeth had at least ten children, including twins Edward and William.  William de Bohun (1312-1360), became the first Earl of Northampton in 1337. King Edward II, who would have been William's uncle, was overthrown in 1326 by the machinations of his Queen, Isabella (also known as the She-Wolf of France) and her lover, Roger Mortimer, an English baron. Mortimer himself was overthrown a few years later by Edward III with help from his cousin William de Bohun.  (Isn't family history exciting? Never know which relative will want to assassinate you, especially if you happen to be king.) William's assistance earned him the Earldom and he became a lifelong friend and confidante of Edward III. In addition to his skill as a warrior, William was a renowned diplomat who negotiated several treaties with France and was appointed Admiral of the Northern Seas in 1352. 

William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton, married Elizabeth de Badlesmere and had a daughter with her, Elizabeth de Bohun (1350-1385), from whom my family line continues. 

She married Richard Fitzalan (1346-1397), the 4th Earl of Arundel. At the coronation of Richard II, Richard Fitzalan carried the crown. But Fitzalan had a kind of on-again, off-again relationship with Richard II.  In 1387, the Earl was one of the leaders of a rebellion against Richard and Richard never really forgave him for that. In 1397, the king had Richard Fitzalan arrested and imprisoned for his opposition.  He was beheaded later that year. 

Arundel (in red) and Mowbray (white collar) meet with Richard II

Richard Fitzalan  and Elizabeth de Bohun had seven children, including Elizabeth Fitzalan (1366-1425), who married five times.  My family appears to descend from her second marriage to Thomas Mowbray (1366-1399), the first Duke of Norfolk. He was also caught up in the nobility's power struggle with Richard II and died in exile in Venice of the plague. He had also managed to quarrel with Henry of Bolingbroke (later Henry IV) which resulted in the loss of his title of Duke of Norfolk, although the family did retain his other titles.  

Mowbray Arms

As an aside, Mowbray's quarrel with Henry Bolingbroke and his subsequent banishment appear in the first act of Shakespeare's Richard II.  Thomas Mowbray prophetically replies to King Richard's : Lions make leopards tame." [reference to their respective coats of arms] with the retort, "yea, but not to change his spots." Mowbray's death in exile is announced later in the play by the Bishop of Carlisle.  

Thomas Mowbray and Elizabeth Fitzalan had two sons and three daughters, including Margaret Mowbray (1391-1459), from whom my family descends. Margaret married Robert Howard (1398-1436), about whom I know very little.  However, they were the parents of John Howard (1425-1485) in whom my family line continues. You may remember above that Thomas Mowbray lost the title of Duke of Norfolk.  His grandson, John Howard, was given the title again after he supported Richard III's usurpation of his brother Edward's throne (and also managed the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower. You remember that story!) 

The title of Duke of Norfolk is a big deal, considered the premier dukedom in the kingdom and also includes the title of Earl of Arundel.  The seat of the dukedom is at Arundel Castle in West Sussex. Since John Howard's accession in 1483, the title has stayed in the Howard family. 

Arundel Castle (2017)

John Howard was a staunch adherent of the House of York during the War of the Roses and was knighted by King Edward IV in 1461 and became part of the royal household as the King's carver.  By 1468, he had advanced to Treasurer of the Royal Household. In 1483, John Howard carried the royal banner at the funeral of Edward IV.  As mentioned above, Howard supported Richard III's ascension to power and was rewarded with the powerful dukedom.  He carried the crown at Richard III's coronation. He died with his friend and patron, Richard III, at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. 

About 1442, John married Catherine Moleyn and had two sons and four daughters with her.  His eldest and only surviving son, Thomas Howard, (1443-1524) is the ancestor of my family.  

Thomas, the second Duke of Norfolk and also the Earl of Surrey, was also the grandfather of both Ann Boleyn and Catherine Howard, the second and fifth wives respectively of Henry VIII.  He served four Kings: Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII, and Henry VIII. 

And that is about all the royal intrigue I can handle for today, so I will leave Thomas's career as courtier, diplomat and soldier as well as the rest of the line for another entry.  

Isn't it fun to connect yourself to all that far away history?  To Be Continued. 

  

#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 39 Should Be a Movie: Anos Walker and Frankie Peters, Romeo and Juliet in the Wilds of Virginia

 Charles Walker was born about 1745 and lived in Orange County VA.  He was a member of the crew that helped George Washington survey his property on the far side of the Alleghany mountains before the American Revolution.  His surveying compass is still passed down in his family.  

After the war, Charles, like many former soldiers, looked to migrate westward beyond the mountains.  In 1782, Charles and his wife Margaret Peters along with Margaret's brothers John and Christian Peters, left the Valley of Virginia and traveled west eventually settling in the Shenandoah Valley on the east side of the New River near the present-day town of Narrows in Giles County VA.  John Peters settled a short distance up the river. 

 As the map shows, they were right on the border of VA and present-day West Virginia.

On that trek across the mountains was baby Chrispi Anos Walker, the son of Charles and Margaret Walker and the 4X-great grandfather of my sons.  He was born in Rockingham County VA 14 March 1782.  He was known in the family as Anos. Like many other young people at the time, Anos was illiterate, but was determined to improve this deficiency by getting an education.  Eventually he became very good with figures, was an able speaker and loved to debate. 

Now Anos was engaged to marry his cousin, Frances Jane (Frankie) Peters, the youngest child of his uncle John Peters, mentioned above.  However, Frankie's parents were vehemently opposed to the marriage, in part because of the close kinship, and kept her under watch.  Anos was forbidden to come to their  home.

Frankie, however, was determined to escape the watchful eye of her family and slip away undetected. Anos managed to get a message to her informing her of a certain time when he would be at his parents' house with a marriage license and a preacher.  

Just after daybreak on the morning of April 11, 1810, 16-year-old Frankie slipped away from her home and started running toward the Walker home. 

Her absence was soon observed, however, and two of her brothers (She had five older brothers.) started chasing her.  She had a lead though and arrived breathless at the Walker home.  She rushed through the doorway shouting "Now or Never!!"

Her sudden arrival at that early hour took Anos by surprise, but hearing the urgency in Frankie's voice, he sprang out of bed, roused the preacher and was married forthwith in his nightshirt. The two brothers arrived too late to prevent the marriage and eventually the family was reconciled to the newlyweds. 

Chrispianos Walker served in the War of 1812, volunteering into the 4th Regiment of the Virginia Militia at Giles County Courthouse.  He served as the Orderly Sergeant of his company. 

Anos and Frankie later moved to Mercer County and raised a family of eleven children. Anos was a very competent surveyor and served as a justice of the peace for Mercer County. In 1837, he was appointed a commissioner to survey a site for the new county courthouse.  

By 1852, Anos and Frankie were living at Devil's Fork in the newly formed Wyoming County. Anos Walker died in 1876.  After her husband's death, Frankie went to live with her daughter Valerie and  died at her daughter's home at the age of 90 in 1884.