BIOGRAPHIES FROM:
HISTORY OF
HARFORD COUNTY, MARYLAND
FROM 1608
(The YEAR of SMITH's EXPEDITION)
TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR OF 1812
BY
WALTER W. PRESTON, A. M.
BEL AIR, MARYLAND
1901
Press of Sun Book Office
Baltimore, Md.
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SAMUEL
CALWELL, was born in Harford (then Baltimore) county,
of Irish and Scotch parentage, and was a resident of Bush
River Lower Hundred, at that time one of the largest
districts in the county. He married Ann Richardson,
whose family was a prominent one locally, and lived for many
years on a farm called the Grove, on Winter's run, near the
present Almshouse, a part of this land being now in the
possession of Mr. George Steigler His life
seems to have been a quiet and uneventful one, as few
reminiscences have been handed down to his descendants.
In February, 1775, he was elected a member of the
Committee of Harford County to represent, with nine other
members, the Bush River Lower Hundred, and was present at
Harford Town on March 22, 1755, when he signed the memorable
declaration of that date. Samuel Calwell
survived that interesting event about twenty-five years and
died in the year 1800.
One of his sons, James Calwell, migrated to
Virginia, and was the founder and owner of the Greenbrier
White Sulphur Springs, which he conducted for many
years, helping to make it one of the most celebrated summer
resorts in the United States, and some of his descendants
are still living there.
Another son, William, established himself as a
merchant in Bel Air, and died in the early part of the last
century.
A third son, Thomas, removed to Baltimore and
established large and successful flour mills there.
The last named was the father of sixteen children, some of
whose descendants are still living in Baltimore and Harford
counties and in other states. A grandson, Joseph
Cushing Calwell, a retired merchant, is living in
Brooklyn, N. Y.; another grandson, William G. Wetherall,
whose father's family settled in Harford over a century ago,
is a prominent iron merchant of Baltimore city, and James
S. Calwell, a member of the bar of Baltimore, whose
summer home is in Harford, is another grandson, whose
children by his marriage with the daughter and only child of
the late Daniel Scott, and his wife, Cordelia
Scott (nee Norris), are descendants of three signers of
the Harford declaration, that noble band of patriots who
risked their lives and fortunes that they and their
posterity might enjoy constitutional government, viz:
Samuel Calwell, Daniel Scott and Benjamin Bradford
Norris.
Source:
History of Harford Co., Maryland - by Walter W. Preston, A. M. Bel
Air, Maryland - 1901 - Page |
REV.
JOHN COLEMAN. An early settler in Harford
county was Rev. John Coleman, a Protestant Episcopal
clergyman and a soldier of the Revolutionary War. He
was usually known as "Parson" Coleman, and many
traditions of him still remain among descendants of his
former parishioners in Baltimore and Harford counties.
He was a native of Dinwiddie county, Va., and studied for
the ministry under the supervision of Rev. Devereux
Jarrett, of that county and State, whose autobiography,
in the shape of letters addressed to Rev. Mr. Coleman,
was published by the latter after the death of Mr.
Jarrett. Mr. Coleman was ready for
ordination into the ministry at the time, or shortly after
the breaking out of the War of Independence. His
clerical intentions, however, did not prevent his taking
part with his fellow-countrymen in that struggle, and he and
a brother accordingly joined the patriotic forces.
They chanced to be serving under Gen. Anthony Wayne,
in Chester county, Pa., when that terrible massacre was
perpetrated near what was known as Paoli Tavern, on the
Lancaster road. In giving an account of the affair,
Lossing, in his book of the Revolution, says in
substance:
"Gen. Wayne lay encamped with fifteen hundred
men and two cannon in a secluded spot on the night of
September 20, 1777. The British General Howe,
at the time occupying Philadelphia, was informed by a Tory
of the situation, and sent Gen. Grey with a large
force to surprise the camp at midnight and slaughter the
patriot forces. The night proved to be dark and
stormy, and our forces were taken completely unawares and
butchered by the bayonet, no quarter under orders of the
Commander Grey being shown to those denominated
rebels. A Hessian sergeant afterwards said: "We killed
three hundred of the reels with the bayonet. I stuck
them myself like so many pigs until the blood ran out of the
touch hole of my musket.' 'Remember Paoli!' was after this
adopted as a war cry by Wayne's forces on many a
field, where the massacre was in part at least avenged.
The subject of this sketch fortuitously escaped death
on the occasion referred to, but his brother was among the
slain. Mr. Coleman, after the war, went to
England, and was there ordained for the ministry. He
came shortly afterwards to Maryland, and was pastor for a
number of years at Trinity Church, near Long Green Valley,
and the Manor Church (St. James), and also at St. Thomas'
Church, Garrison Forest, all in Baltimore county. He
afterwards removed to Harford, having in the meanwhile
married Pleasance Goodwin, a niece of Gen. Charles
Ridgely, of Hampton. This gentleman presented to
the newly married couple a valuable farm of about three
hundred acres, now divided into several properties, situated
near Watervale, about three miles west of Bel Air, purchased
from Lemuel Howard, whereon Parson Coleman
lived with his family until his death, in the year 1816.
It was during his ministry in this parish that Christ Church
(Rock Spring) was built in the year 1805, and he became its
first rector, and so remained during the balance of his
life. Six children were born to him, but the only
daughter, Rebecca Ridgely, was the only child that
survived to years of maturity. She married Capt.
John Yellott, of Dulaney's Valley, Baltimore county, and
was the mother of Mary Anderson, wife of Rev. John
Anderson, Elizabeth Maynadier, with of Henry G.
Maynadier, Jeremiah, John, George, Coleman and
Washington Yellott. Of these only Hon. George
Yellott, of Towson, lately chief judge of the Third
Judicial Circuit, survives. The descendants of others,
however, still remain in Baltimore and Harford counties,
among whom are Hon. Gen. Y. Maynadier, of Harford;
Major John I. Yellott, and George W. Yellott, of
Baltimore county, and Mrs. E. L. F. Hardcastle, of
Talbot county.
Source:
History of Harford Co., Maryland - by Walter W. Preston, A. M. Bel
Air, Maryland - 1901 - Page 212 |
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