Nelson, John (b. 1794, d. 18 JAN 1860)

Note: John Nelson attended the College of William and Mary, graduating in 1811, and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1813.

John Nelson was elected to Congress from Frederick County, Maryland, at the age of twenty-five (the constitutional minimum) and after serving a term he moved to Baltimore and lived there the rest of his life. In the words of T. J. C. Williams in his History of Frederick County, Maryland, "In Baltimore he soon established himself as a great lawyer--one of the greatest that the Maryland bar has ever produced. He was always brief and clear in his statements scarcely ever making a speech longer than half an hour."

In 1826 he was elected to the Maryland Senate, serving until 1829. He was elected again in 1830, but did not serve. In 1831 he was appointed chargé d'affaires to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and in 1835 he was appointed by President Andrew Jackson as Minister to that country.

In 1843 he was named United States Attorney General by President John Tyler and served until the end of Tyler's term in 1845. In 1844 he served briefly--six days--as ad interim Secretary of State, a position that put him next in succession to the President, under the law then in effect, as there was no sitting vice president.

On his death Reverdy Johnson, Senator from Maryland and United States Minister to Great Britain, said of John Nelson that "I have heard more eloquence, more brilliant imagery, more power of amplification and more affluence of learning, but I do not think that in force of analysis, clearness of arrangement, perspicuity of statement, simplicity of language, closeness of logic and concentration of thought I have ever seen him much, if at all, excelled."

Before the United States Supreme Court, on January 20th, 1860, the then Attorney General, Jeremiah S. Black, said that "It was here that he won what he valued more than anything else, the character of a great lawyer. You can testify to the industry with which he prepared his cases, to his large intellectual resources, to his extensive learning, to his uniform politeness with the court, and to his never-failing frankness in his intercourse with the bar. From July, 1843, until March, 1845, he was in the public service of the United States as their attorney-general. I know whereof I affirm when I say that he left behind him on the records of that department enduring evidence that he was not only a man of great ability, but a most upright, honest, and virtuous officer."

He died at his home on Mt. Vernon Place, Baltimore.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: T.J.C. Williams
Title: T. J. C. Williams, History of Frederick County, Maryland Regional Publi
shing Company
Baltimore, Maryland, 1967 (a reprint of the 1910 original)
ishing Company
Baltimore, Maryland, 1967 (a reprint of the 1910 original).

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: CD
Title: William C. Marye, Colonial Dames ancestor chart, prepared for Margaret M
. Steele, Jan. 3, 1916
. Steele, Jan. 3, 1916
. Steele, Jan. 3, 1916.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Eisenberg
Title: Gerson G. Eisenberg, Marylanders Who Served the Nation: A BIographical D
ictionary of (Annapolis, Maryland: Maryland State Archives, 1992)
ictionary of
ictionary of. Annapolis, Maryland: Maryland State Archives, 1992.

Given Name: John

Death: 18 JAN 1860 Baltimore, Maryland

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Born in Whitehaven, County Cumberland, England, Henry Steele emigrated to Dorchester County, Maryland, at a young age as he purchased some lots in Vienna, Maryland, jointly with Colonel John Henry , in 1749.

He appears to have been a wealthy man when he arrived in this country and there are extant letters from him to his agent in his native Whitehaven regarding the collection of rents and other business matters, including an iron warehouse. He certainly became a much richer one after his emigration. He was a partner of John Henry in a mercantile enterprise as well as accumulating very considerable acreage. By 1763 he owned 2,621 acres in Dorchester County and owned ninety-one slaves in 1776, a very large number. By the time of his death he owned 8,697 acres in Dorchester County, including the section of Dorchester County called Steele's Neck and many farms on the Chickanacomigo River, extending from Vienna to Salem. He also owned the large tract of land known as the Indian Town Purchase.

He was elected to the Maryland Assembly in 1763, and served again in 1768-1770, 1771, 1774, and 1777. He served as a justice in Dorchester County from 1757 until at least 1777, when he was appointed a justice of the Orphan's Court.

At his estate, near Vienna, on the Nanticoke River in Dorchester County, he built "one of the largest and most pretentious houses " in the county. He was buried on this estate but his remains were moved, over a century later, to the Cemetery of Christ Church in Salisbury, Maryland.

At his death his personal property was appraised at £4788/15/0, including eighty-six slaves and 345 ounces of plate.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Jones
Title: Elias Jones, Revised History of Dorchester County (Baltimore, Maryland: T
he Read-Taylor Press, 1925)
he Read-Taylor Press, 1925.

Page: pp. 458-467.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Papenfuse
Title: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland L
egislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985)
egislature, 1635-1789
egislature, 1635-1789. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: MHS Steele File
Title: Transcript of Steele family Bible records, on file at the Maryland Hist
orical Society, MS 761.
orical Society, MS 761.
orical Society, MS 761.

Given Name: Henry

Death: 10 FEB 1782 Dorchester County, Maryland

Change: Date: 28 Feb 2003

Note: In the Bible that originally belonged to Col. John Rider, the grandfather of Anne Billings, is written the following, aparently on Apr 21 1856, by the transcriber of the records therein, R. H. Winder: "Anne Steele, relict of the last mentioned Henry Steele, departed this life, aged 52 years 3 mos. 9 days, . . . Her life, it is added in the Prayer Book, was passed in the exemplary practice of Piety, enlivened with the social virtues of wife, parent, friend and mistress--in each of which relations the benevolence and complacenty of an unaffected Christian Spirit were equally conspicuous."

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Papenfuse
Title: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland L
egislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985)
egislature, 1635-1789
egislature, 1635-1789. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985.

Given Name: Anne

Death: 29 APR 1788

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Barnes
Title: Barnes

Page: p. 407.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: MHS Steele File
Title: Transcript of Steele family Bible records, on file at the Maryland Hist
orical Society, MS 761.
orical Society, MS 761.
orical Society, MS 761.

Given Name: James

Death: 14 SEP 1747

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Papenfuse
Title: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland L
egislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985)
egislature, 1635-1789
egislature, 1635-1789. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: MHS Steele File
Title: Transcript of Steele family Bible records, on file at the Maryland Hist
orical Society, MS 761.
orical Society, MS 761.
orical Society, MS 761.

Given Name: Anne

Death: 1756

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Papenfuse
Title: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland L
egislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985)
egislature, 1635-1789
egislature, 1635-1789. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985.

Given Name: John Rider

Death: 1772

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Thomas Nevett was a merchant. He served as Chief Justice of the Dorchester County Court.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Papenfuse
Title: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland L
egislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985)
egislature, 1635-1789
egislature, 1635-1789. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985.

Given Name: Thomas

Death: 10 FEB 1748/49

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Papenfuse
Title: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland L
egislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985)
egislature, 1635-1789
egislature, 1635-1789. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: MHS Steele File
Title: Transcript of Steele family Bible records, on file at the Maryland Hist
orical Society, MS 761.
orical Society, MS 761.
orical Society, MS 761.

Given Name: Sarah

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Orphaned as a baby, when both his parents died at sea, Colonel John Rider was raised by his maternal grandparents. His grandfather, in his will, appointed Thomas Hicks to be his guardian until he was eighteen.

Rider inherited a very considerable estate from his grandfather, including 3,948 acres of land in Dorchester County as well as 600 more from his guardian, whose daughter he married. Towards the end of his life (he died of pleurisy and had suffered from gout for more than twenty years) he deeded twenty-three slaves as well as plate and all his books to some of his children. But his personal estate still amounted to over two thousand pounds, including twenty-two slaves and he held 8,028 acres of land in Dorchester County at his death.

He served in the lower house of the legislature from 1719 to 1721/2 and again from 1725 to 1727. he served in the upper house from 1729 to 1731, 1732 to 1734, and from 1734/5 to 1737. he was appointed to the upper house in 1738 and 1739 but did not attend, probably due to illness. He served on the Governor's Council from 1729 until his death. He served as a justice in Dorchester County from 1708 until at least 1731, as well as public school commissioner in 1723.

He was appointed a captain of militia by 1708 and held the rank of colonel by 1728.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Papenfuse
Title: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland L
egislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985)
egislature, 1635-1789
egislature, 1635-1789. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985.

Page: pp. 680-681.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: MHS Steele File
Title: Transcript of Steele family Bible records, on file at the Maryland Hist
orical Society, MS 761.
orical Society, MS 761.
orical Society, MS 761.

Given Name: John

Death: BEF 16 FEB 1739/40

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Papenfuse
Title: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland L
egislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985)
egislature, 1635-1789
egislature, 1635-1789. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Pr
ess, 1979, 1985.

Given Name: Anne

Death: 12 JAN 1733

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: William Meade Pegram was commissioned a Captain by the Confederate Secretary of War, Judah P. Benjamin, in January, 1862, in the recruiting service. He resigned this commission in order to serve in the "Black Horse" light Virginia Cavalry. He had three horses shot out from under him before being wounded at Brandy Station, Jun 9 1863, the greatest cavalry engagement of the war. He served as an aide to the Adjutant General of the Cavalry Corps, J. E. B. Stuart, and is mentioned in Douglas Southall Freeman's Lee's Lieutenants. "Down the road there rode rapidly toward the battalion a courier who drew rein and called for the commanding officer. Major Haskell stepped forward. As good luck would have it, the courier was a fine young Baltimore boy of the distinguished name of Pegram." He was promoted to Major before the war's end.

After the war, Major Pegram was in the insurance business in Baltimore. He wrote several volumes of poetry, the best known of which is Past-Times. One of his poems was the "Official Opening Hymn" at the Jamestown Exposition held to honor the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of Jamestown on Apr 26 1907. He is listed in Shepherd's Representative Authors of Maryland (1911). He had a considerable reputation as a poet in his day, and Shepherd says that "Some of the poems which Major Pegram has given the world have overleaped sectional or local limitations and won national fame." But to this ear, at least, his poetry now seems the worst form of Victorian verse, moralizing and pompous.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Pegram
Title: Samuel William Simmons, The Pegrams of Virginia and Descendants 1688-19
84 (1985)
84
84. 1985.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: CD
Title: William C. Marye, Colonial Dames ancestor chart, prepared for Margaret M
. Steele, Jan. 3, 1916
. Steele, Jan. 3, 1916
. Steele, Jan. 3, 1916.

Given Name: William Meade

Death: 12 JAN 1921 Baltimore, Maryland

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: CD
Title: William C. Marye, Colonial Dames ancestor chart, prepared for Margaret M
. Steele, Jan. 3, 1916
. Steele, Jan. 3, 1916
. Steele, Jan. 3, 1916.

Given Name: Margaret

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Francis West Alricks was a successful merchant in Baltimore, where he was a member of the City Council. He resigned in 1862, along with a majority of other members, under federal pressure.

His death came about because he fell off his porch. According to the Baltimore Sun of Sunday, Oct 10, 1871, "On Wednesday last F. W. Alricks, a well-known retired merchant of this city, living on the Frederick road, about five miles from the city, fell backwards from the portico of his dwelling, about ten feet to the ground, and sustained terrible injuries, his scalp being torn from his head, his right arm broken and spine injured. Drs. Magill and Allan P. Smith attended him. In spite of his injuries they supposed him in a fair way to recover, but on Sunday evening he became suddenly worse, and died yesterday."

Given Name: Francis West

Death: 9 OCT 1871

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Marye
Title: William B. Marye, Chart prepared for Margaret Steele for her applicatio
n to the Colonial Dames
n to the Colonial Dames
n to the Colonial Dames.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Baltimore Sun
Title: Baltimore Sun

Page: Sunday, Apr. 8, 1895, p. 4.

Given Name: Mary Elizabeth

Death: 6 APR 1895

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Thomas Whittemore was a husbandman in West Cambridge all his life and does not appear to have been much of a financial success, being on the receiving end of a fair number of lawsuits. For instance, he was sued on September 14th, 1781, for 120 pounds by the estate of Increase Sumner, having failed to pay off that debt incurred some years earlier.

Although not a success himself financially, he apparently instilled a will to success among his sons, many of whom prospered greatly. His son Amos invented a piece of cotton milling machinery, the patent for which he sold for $150,000, a very sizeable fortune by the standards of the day.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Whittemore
Title: Bradford Adams Whittemore and Edgar Whittemore, The Whittemore Family i
n America (NEHGR Vols. 106, 107, 108)
n America
n America. NEHGR Vols. 106, 107, 108.

Given Name: Thomas

Death: 5 OCT 1799 West Cambridge, Massachusetts

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Whittemore
Title: Bradford Adams Whittemore and Edgar Whittemore, The Whittemore Family i
n America (NEHGR Vols. 106, 107, 108)
n America
n America. NEHGR Vols. 106, 107, 108.

Given Name: Anna

Death: 17 JAN 1816 West Cambridge, Massachusetts

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Little is known of Ezekial Tileston and his wife Mehetable. His obituary as it appeared in the Boston Centeniel reads, in full, "Died in Boston, on Sunday morning, April 26, 1799, Mr. Ezekial Tilestone formerly of Dorchester. The funeral will be from his house in Middle Street."

Given Name: Ezekiel

Death: 26 APR 1799 Boston, Massachusetts

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Mehetable Hill lived with her first husband on the Upper Road in Dorchester. She was admitted with him to full communion on Dec 21 1756.

Given Name: Mehetable

Death: 17 SEP 1820 Boston, Massachusetts

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: William Torrey was a prosperous baker in Boston, as evidenced by newspaper reports of the great fire of March 20, 1760, in which it was reported that his losses exceeded eight hundred pounds. But the fire ruined him and his estate was insolvent at the time of its distribution in 1777. He died of smallpox in the plague that swept the city in 1769.

He served as Assessor in Boston and lived in the house that his father had built in Tannery Lane.

His son Ebenzer became exceedingly prosperous, leaving an estate of more than $100,000 at his death in 1818, a sizeable fortune for that time.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Torrey
Title: Torrey family Bible

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Alden
Title: Woodworth-Barnes, Esther Littleford, Mayflower Families Through Five Ge
nerations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass., D
ecember 1620.
Vol 16, Part 1: Family of John Alden (New York: General Society of Mayf
lower Descendants, 1999)
nerations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass., D
ecember 1620.
Vol 16, Part 1: Family of John Alden
nerations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass., D
ecember 1620.
Vol 16, Part 1: Family of John Alden. New York: General Society of Mayf
lower Descendants, 1999.

Given Name: William

Death: 4 AUG 1769 Boston, Massachusetts

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Alden
Title: Woodworth-Barnes, Esther Littleford, Mayflower Families Through Five Ge
nerations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass., D
ecember 1620.
Vol 16, Part 1: Family of John Alden (New York: General Society of Mayf
lower Descendants, 1999)
nerations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass., D
ecember 1620.
Vol 16, Part 1: Family of John Alden
nerations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass., D
ecember 1620.
Vol 16, Part 1: Family of John Alden. New York: General Society of Mayf
lower Descendants, 1999.

Given Name: Bethia

Death: AFT 29 JUN 1770

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003