A Legend of the Chesapeake -The Landholders' Assistant & A Visit to St. Mary's

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A Legend of the Chesapeake
by John P. Kennedy
article from "Southern Literary Messenger, A Magazine Devoted To Literature,
Science and Art" VolXXIV-11  March, 1857.


The Second Link- The Landholders' Assistant

Many years elapsed, during which the tradition remained in this unsatisfactory
state, and I had given up all hope of further elucidation of it, when an
accidental discovery brought me once more upon the track of inquiry.  There
was published in this city in the year 1808, a book whose title was certainly
as little adapted to awaken the attention of one in quest of a picturesque
legend as a Treatise on Algebra.  It was called "The Landholders' Assistant",
and was intended, as its name imported, to assist that lucky portion of
mankind who possess the soil of Maryland in their pursuit of knowledge
touching the mysteries of patents, warrants and surveys, and such like
learning necessary to getting land or keeping what they had. The character and
style of this book, in its exterior aspect, was as unpromising as its title.
It was printed by Messrs. Dobbin & Murphy, on rather dark paper, in a muddy
type such as neither the Mr. Dobbin nor Mr. Murphy of this day would allow to
bear his imprimatur - though in 1808, I doubt not, it was considered a very
creditable piece of Baltimore typography. 

It fell into my hands by a purchase at auction, some twenty years after I had
abandoned the Legend of the Cave and the Hawks as a hopeless quest. In running
over its contents, I found that a Col. George Talbot was once the Surveyor
General of Maryland; and, in two short marginal notes, (the substance of which
I afterwards found in Chalmer's Annals),it was said "that he was noted in the
province for the murder committed by him on Christopher Rousby, Collector of
the Customs" -the second note adding that this was done on board a vessel in
Patuxent river, and that Talbot was conveyed for trial to Virginia, from
whence he made his escape, and after being retaken, and (as the author
expressed his belief) tried and convicted, was finally pardoned by King James
the Second.

The Third Link
A Visit to St. Mary's - Rousby House - The Negro Guide - The Tomb of
Christopher Rousby

On Drum Point, the southern headland of the Patuxent, at its entances into the
Chesapeake Bay, there was, and perhaps still is, the residence of the Carroll
family, whose ancestors occupied the estate for many generations.  The
dwelling house was a comfortable wooden building of the style and character of
the present day, with all the appurtenances proper to a convenient and
pleasant country homestead.  But immediately in its neighborhood - so near
that it might be said to be almost within the curtilage of the dwelling -
stood an old brick ruin, of what had apparently been a substantial mansion
house.  Such a monument of the past as this, of course, attracted our
attention, and, upon inquiry, we were told that it was once, a long time ago,
the family home of the Rousby's, The ancestory of the present occupants of the
estate; that several generations of this family, dating back to the early days
of the province, had resided in it; and that when it had fallen into decay,
the modern building was erected, and the old one suffered to crumble into the
condition in which we was it.  

I could easily understand and appreciate the sentiment that preserved it 
untouched as part and parcel in the family assoications of the place, and 
as a relic of the olden time which no one was willing to disturb.  The 
mention of the name of the Rousby's,  here on the Patuxent river, was a 
sudden and vivid remembrancer to me of the old story of Talbot, and gave 
new encouragement to an almost abandoned hope of solving this mystery.  

Within a short distance of this spot - perhaps not a mile from Drum Point - 
there is a small creek which opens into the river and bears the name
of Mattapony.  In early times there was a notable fort here, and connected
with it a stately mansion, built by Charles Calvert, Lord Baltimore, for his
own occasional residence. The fort and mansion are often mentioned in the
provincial records as the place where the Council sometimes met to transact
business; and, accordingly, many public acts are dated from Mattapony.

Calvert was doubltess attracted to this spot by the pleasant scenery of the
headland that here looks out upon the noble water view of the Chesapeake, and
by its breezy position as agreeable refuge from the heat of summer.  Our party
therefore determined to set out upon a search for some relics of the mansion
and fort; and as an auxiliary in this enterprise we engaged, as a guide, an
old negro, who claimed to be both the Solomon and the Methusalah  of the
plantation.  He was a wrinkled, wise-looking old fellow, with a watery eye and
a grizzled head, and might, perhaps, have been about eighty; but, from his own
account he left us to infer that he was not much behind the great patriarch of
Scripture, whose years are described as nine hundred and three score and
fifteen.

Finding that he was native to the estate and had lived here all his life, we
interrogated him as to the object of our pursuit.  Now, amongst all the
Solomons of this world, there is not one so consciously impressed with the
profundity of his wisdom and the intensity of his knowledge as one of these
veterans of an old family estate upon shich he has spent his life.  He is an
aristocrat of the most uncompromising stamp, and has a contemptuous disdain
and intolerance for every form of democracy.  Poor white people have not the
slightest chance of his good opinion.  The pedigree and history of his
master's family possess an epic dignity in his imagination; and the liberty he
takes with facts concerning them amounts to a grand poetical hyperbole.  He
represents their wealth in times past to have amounted to something of a
fabulous superfluity, and the munificence so unbounded, that he stares at you
in describing it, as if its excess astonished himself.  

When we now questioned our venerable conductor, to learn what he could tell 
us of the old Proprietary mansion, he said, in his way, he "membered it, as 
if it was built only yesterday; he was fetch up up so near it, that he could 
see it now, as if it was standing before him; if he could'nt point out where 
it stood, it was time for him to give up.  It was a mighty grand brick house",
-laying an emphasis on brick, as a special point in his notion of its 
grandeur; and then he added with all the gravity of which is very solemn 
visage was susceptible, that "old master Baltimore, who built it, was a real 
fine gentleman.  He knowed him so well.  He never gave any thing but gold 
to the servants for tending on him.

Bless you! he would'nt even think of silver! Many a time has he given me a
guinea for waiting on him."  This account of old master Baltimore and his
magnificent contempt of silver, and the intimacy of our Patriarch with him,
rather startled us, and I began to fear that the story of the house might turn
out be as big a lie as the acquintance with the Lord Proprietary - for master
Baltimore had then been dead just one hundred and twenty -one years.  But we
went on with him, and were pleasantly disapointed when he brought us on a hill
that sloped down to the Mattapony, and there traced out for us, by the
depression of the earth, the visible lines of an old foundation of a large
bulding, the former existence of which was further demonstrated by some
scattered remains of the old imported brick of the edifice, which were
imbedded in the soil.  This spot had a fine outlook upon the Bay, and every
advantage of position to recommend its choice for a domestic establishment.

We could find nothing to indicate the old Fort, except the commanding
character of the hill with reference to the river, which might warrant a
conjecture as to its location.  I believe that the house was included within
the ramparts of the fortification, as I perceive in some of the old records
that the fortification itself was called the Mattapony House, Which was once
bleaguered and taken by Captian John Coode and Colonel Jowles.  After we had
examined all that was to be seen here, our next point of interest was a grave-
yard, which, we had been informed by some of the household at Mrs. Carroll's,
had been preserved upon the estate from a very early period.  Our old gossip
professed to know all about this, from its very first establishment.  It was
in another direction from the mansion house, about a mile distant, on the
margin of an inlet from the Bay, called Harper's Creek; and thither we
accordingly went. 

[Continued in Chesapeake3.txt]