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. < BACK TO BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ISAAC WEBSTER SAMUEL WEBSTER RICHARD WEBSTER THE WEBSTER FAMILY is one of the oldest in Harford, and has furnished of its members some of the most distinguished men in the county, among these being ISAAC, SAMUEL and RICHARD above named, Captain John A. Webster, of the war of 1812 fame, and the late Col. Edwin H. Webster, a distinguished lawyer, president of the Maryland Senate, colonel of the Seventh Maryland Regiment, which he organized, member of Congress and twice Collector of the Port of Baltimore.  As the scope of this book does not reach past the year of 1812, it is with Isaac, Samuel and Richard that this sketch is especially to deal.  The Webster family is of English and Scotch origin, the first to cross the ocean being John, who settled in Virginia, and was known as John of Roanoke; Isaac, who was the progenitor of the present Webster family here; Samuel and Michael.  There are patents now in possession of the family for land in this county, bearing date in the seventeenth century.  The original representatives of the Websters in this county were of diversified religious belief, some being Quakers and others Episcopalians, many of the present generation being Presbyterians and Methodists.  The family coat of arms is a swan feeding its young.  A very old seal showing this crest is now in possession of the family.      John Webster was born in 1670, and lived to be eighty-five years of age.  His will, dated in1751, is recorded in the old Will Records of Baltimore County.  A son John had died before the testator, and in the latter's will he provides for his children as follows:  Sarah, Michael, Samuel, Aliceanna and the Isaac above named.      Samuel, the son of John, was born in 1710, and married Elizabeth Dallam.  He was a prominent man in his day and held the important and lucrative office of tobacco inspector at Joppa, then one of the principal ports of the State.  Samuel's son, Richard, was born Apr. 7th, 1741, on the family homestead near Calvary, in Harford County, and he died in the old stone family residence.  He was twice married, his first wife being a daughter of William Lester.  Of this union there were three children: John, Samuel and Richard, the latter being the father of Mr. James Webster, now living in the county.  His second wife was Phoebe, daughter of George Smith, of Chester County, Pennsylvania, whose children were:  George, Elizabeth, William W., Sarah, Isaac, Wesley, Henry and Phoebe.  Henry was the father of Col. Edwin H. Webster and of Mr. William Webster, who now resides on the home place.      Isaac, the  son of John, was a leading man in the county before and at the time of the Revolution.  He was a member of wealth and position.  His daughter, Aliceanna, married John Bond, of Baltimore Town, who was also a member of the Bush River Company.  Aliceanna Bond, daughter of John Bond and Aliceanna Webster, his wife, on May 30th, 1767, married Thomas Kell at Fell's Point, Baltimore.  They moved shortly afterwards to Kellville, Harford County, which was their home for the remainder of their lives.  The issue of this marriage were:      Alice Kell June 2nd, 1768.      Elizabeth Kell, July 10th, 1769.      Pamelia Kell August 5th, 1770.      John Bond Kell, July 16th, 1771.      Thomas Kell, September 22nd, 1772.      Isaac Kell, August 17th, 1774.      Wesley Kell     }      Aliceanna Kell,} Twins, June, 1776.      William Kell, April 20th, 1777.      Nathan Kell, December 28th, 1778.      Aliceanna Kell, Aug. 15th, 1780.      Elizabeth Kell, Oct. 26th, 1781      Elizabeth Kell, May 26th, 1783.      Ann Kell, April, 25th, 1785.      Harriet Ann Kell, May 23rd, 1786.      The Thomas Kell, born Sept. 27th, 1772, was Judge, Clerk of the Court in Baltimore, and the only native of Harford who was ever Attorney General of the State of Maryland.   The latter's daughter, Elizabeth, on November 10th, 1835, married Augustus W. Bradford, who was born in Bel Air, on January 9th, 1806, and was Governor of Maryland during the Civil War.      A portion of the house in which Governor Bradford was born is now standing and is part of the residence of his son, Mr. Samuel Webster Bradford, on Main street, Bel Air. Source: History of Harford Co., Maryland - by Walter W. Preston, A. M. Bel Air, Maryland - 1901 - Page 230 COL. IGNATIUS WHEELER. A very prominent man in Harford county in Revolutionary times was Col. Ignatius Wheeler, who lived on his estate called Deer Park, near the present Ady Postoffice, in the Fifth election district. He was first lieutenant of Company No. 16 of Harford militia, the other officers of which were William Webb, captain; William Fisher, Jr., second lieutenant; John Webb, Jr., ensign.      Besides Deer Park, which is a large tract, Colonel Wheeler owned the fertile estate called Belle Farm, comprising a large part of the present Pylesivlle section, one of the finest portions of the county, now as well as in early days.      A large portion of Belle Farm is now owned by the Jenkins and McAtee families, who are direct descendants of Colonel Wheeler, and the estate has thus remained in the Wheeler heirs.      The farm called Garden Spot, belonging to the late Joshua Rutledge, near the Rocks of Deer Creek, belonged to Colonel Wheeler, who was an ancestor of Mr. Rutledge.      In the Maryland Legislature for the sessions 1786 and 1787, Colonel Wheeler was one of the delegates from Harford county.      He died on his estate of Deer Park in August, 1793, and his will, dated July 13 of that year, is recorded in the office of the Register of Wills of Harford County in Liber A. J. No. $, folio 217.      His children were: Monica, who married Jacob Rutledge, whose descendants now living in Harford county are Rutledges, Stephensons and Hollands. John W. Rutledge and Ignatius Rutledge were her sons. Treacy (or Teresa), who married Capt. Henry McAtee, from whom are sprung the present McAtee, Richardson and Raphel families in Harford county, and also Streetts.      Henriette, who remained single.      Mary Ann (Polly), who married Samuel Brown, who, after the death of Mary, married her sister Elizabeth.      From Elizabeth are descended the present Jenkins family in Harford and Baltimore counties, Elizabeth's daughter Ann Maria having married Ignatius Jenkins, of Dulaney's Valley, Baltimore county.      Bennet was the progenitor of the present Wheeler family in Harford county. Ignatius never married. Frank Wheeler was the ancestor of the Wheeler family in Baltimore county, and of Adys and Burkes in Harford and Baltimore counties. By Colonel Wheeler's will his brother Joseph and John Lee Gibson, who had married Colonel Wheeler's sister, were left executors and trustees. John Lee Gibson was the first clerk of the Circuit Court for Harford County (not counting Alex Lawson). Colonel Wheeler lies buried at St. Ignatius Church, Hickory.* Source: History of Harford Co., Maryland - by Walter W. Preston, A. M. Bel Air, Maryland - 1901 - Page  224 COL. THOMAS WHITE.  Born in London in 1704, of good parentage, Thomas White lost his father at the age of four years.  He attended a grammar school at St. Albans, near London, but in1720, at the age of sixteen, he sailed for Maryland.  It is said that he was of the retinue of Charles Calvert, who came out in that year to become governor of the province.      He was apprenticed to a Mr. Stokes to be taught for the profession of law, and the usual fee of one hundred guineas was paid for him.  Young White accordingly became a lawyer, but was soon appointed deputy surveyor general for Baltimore county, then comprising also Harford.  This was an office of great importance in those times, a position Washington held in his early days Virginia.      Colonel White became the authority on titles in his county and his certificate was regarded as law.  He married Sophia, daughter of Capt. John Hall, of Cranberry.  The latter was born in 1658 and in the year 1694 purchased certain tracts of land from Michael Judd, Edward Boothby and others, making a tract of 1k,539 acres, which he that year had laid out and surveyed and which he called "Cranberry," being mainly on Bush River.      Capt. John Hall's wife was Martha Gouldsmith, nee Beadle whom he married July 18, 1693, and who died in 1720.  They had seven children.  Captain Hall died in August, 1737, and by his will he devised to his children large tracts of land, among which were six children large tracts of land, among which were six hundred acres on Deer Creek; Taylor's Good Hope, four hundred acres; Timber Nest, four hundred and seventy acres; Cranberry, lying west of Mill run, and Jericho, one thousand acres; Harman's Swantown, two hundred acres; The Enlargement and Old Quarter, seven hundred acres; New Quarter, six hundred acres.       To his daughter Sophia, wife of Col. Thomas White, he devised a tract of land called Sophia's Dairy, which is what is now known as the Dairy Farm; part of Hall's Plains and Simmon's Neglect.  Colonel White, therefore, through his wife, was the proprietor of large tracts of land, which he added to by the purchase and patent of others, among which were the following tracts:  Ah Ah Indeed, Ah Ah the Cow Pasture, Edinburgh, Abbott's Forest, Constantinople, Antrim, Kilkenny, Londonderry, Eaton's Addition, Eaton's Second Addition, Gay's Favor, Hathaway's Hazard, Chance, Rumney Royal, Hammond's Hope, Paradise, Leigh of Leighton, Royal Exchange, Simmond's Neglect, Neighbor's Affinity, Attaway's Trust, Constant Friendship, Harrison's Resolution, etc., etc.  These tracts were all large, Ah Ah Indeed, for instance, contained eight hundred and twenty-five acres.  In 1777 Colonel White's taxable real estate in Harford county alone, comprised seen thousand acres.  The tracts called Ah Ah, just west of Abingdon, have a ghost story connected with them, and children and the colored population to this day have a dread of Ha Ha branch, which crosses the Philadelphia road between Abingdon and Van Bibber.  This neighborhood is said to be the haunt of a spectre which at times gives utterances to a blood-curdling "ha ha."  The fear of this ghost is as great in this generation as it was two hundred years ago.      By order of the justices of Baltimore county, in 1728, Colonel White made a survey and plat of Bynum's run from its mouth to its spring head, in order to find the direct course, and from thence to run and blaze that direct course.      Patents to Colonel White:      1734, Sokmon's Song, fifty acres, on east side of Bush river.      1736, St. Martin's Ludgate, two hundred and eighty acres.  His London birthplace is here evidenced as two of the most prominent points in London are Ludgate Hill and the Church of St. Martin's, in the Fields.      1738, The Royal Exchange, four hundred and eighty acres, on Swan creek.      1746, Montreal, two thousand seven hundred and twenty-five acres.      1747, Ah Ha at the Venture, or Hathaway's Hazard, one hundred and eighty-three acres.      Colonel White and Sophia, his wife, had three children.  Sophia, born May 8, 1731, being the only one of three who married and left descendants.  She married her cousin, Aquila Hall, she and her husband each being grandchildren of Capt. John Hall, of Cranberry.  Colonel White's residence was on the Dairy Farm, between the present large brick house and the river, and the remains of this house can yet be found.  Aquila Hall built the present Dairy Farm house in 1768.  This is one of the largest in the county, even now, and while without ornamentation, is a handsome and imposing structure with a very large hall.      Colonel White was a vestryman of Spesutia Church.  He has a large number of descendants now living in Harford, many of them occupying land acquired by him.      In 1745 he removed to Philadelphia, and in May, 1747, married the second time, the name of his wife being Esther Newman.  William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania and the first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, was the son of this marriage, Mary, who became the wife of Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, the great financier, signer of the Declaration of Independence and United States Senator from Pennsylvania.      Colonel White was a vestryman of Spesutia Church. tained his interests in Harford and died at the Dairy, Sept. 29, 1779, where he was buried.  His remains, together with those of Sophia, his wife, were removed in 1877 to Spesutia Church, where they were reinterred in the presence of about sixty of Colonel White's decendants.* -------------- * Meeting of descendants of Col. Thomas White.     Source: History of Harford Co., Maryland - by Walter W. Preston, A. M. Bel Air, Maryland - 1901 - Page 202   NOTES: * Mr. P. H. Rutledge, a descendant of Col. Wheeler, assisted in the preparation of the above.