The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-10-31
LETTER OF JAMES TRIMBLE.

Agreeably to my promise year ago, |
present through thee to the Historical So
cety of Delaware, one of the two antique
chairs remaining among the effects of my
brother, the late Joseph Trimble, which
authentic tradition in our family shows to
have once comprised part of the furniture
of the private study of Daniel Defoe.-
Their history has been a household subject
among us from the earliest periods of my
recollection.
In the year 1905 there lived in the city
of London widow lady of the name of
Maxwell. a sister Of Daniel Defoe, who
had at that time an only daughter five
years old, named after herself Elizabeth
They were members Of the Society of
Friends and attended a meeting, designated
by the singular name of the "Bull and
Month";" which has often been mentioned
in the early annals of the Society.
Daniel Defoe was almost continually
harassed in consequence of his persistent
writing on the exciting subjects of the
times, and during the greater part of his
life his sister house afforded him and his
family refuge from the clutches of his
pecuniary and political assailants. A small
room in the rear of the building was fitted
up for his individual accommodation, from
which masked battery he sent his barb
ed shafts with impunity. These circum-
stances continued till the year IT'S, when
Elizabeth Maxwell, a young lady educated
under the personal instruction of her ncle
Daniel, contracted matrimonial engage
ment which was peremptorily broken off
by her mother. The event caused an alien
alton from all her friends, and she embraced
a private opportunity to sail for America,
STIMULATING with the captain to be sold on
bar him, hpr
passage.
Accordingly, in the A utumn of that year,
she and a number of others were offered
for sale in Philadelphia. My great great
grandfather Andrew job, happening at that
time in the city, bought her for term of
years, and carried her with him to Cecil
county, Maryland, where i'll 1904 he had
taken up tract of land, now including
the blue Ball |" tavern, seven miles north
of Elkton.
Coming now within the range of recorded
history, we find that in the year 1925
| Elizabeth Maxwell became the wife of
Thomas Job, son of Andrew. Being now
happily settled, she wrote to her mother
and uncle giving them the first information
of what had become of her.
In due time an answer came from her
uncle, stating that her mother was dead
to her mother furniture accrued to her by
will if she was ever found alive. Accom-
plnying this letter was an inventory of the
goods sent, and special attention solicited
| to the preservation of such articles as he
had used in his private study as they had
descended to the family from their Flemish
ancestors ''who had sought refuge under
the ;rgs of Elizabeth from the tyranny of
Philippe" and apologizing for the condi-
ton of a certain rocking chair and two
others the wicker seats of which he had
worn out and replaced with wooden ones.
This and other letters subsequently re-
ceived were carefully preserved by Eliza
/ beth till her death, which occurred on the
| the 9TH of 9th mo-, 1882. | have converSed
with number of her grand children, who
well remember those letters, but after ex-
| hausting all available means, | have been
unable to discover any trace of them since
| Thomas and Elizabeth Job, on the marriage
of their son Archibald, about the year 1850,
| removed to a small house on the premises
| and Daniel d. job, his son, who died at an
advanced age in 1888, well remembered by
| the older inhabitants of Cecil county, grew
up comparatively at the feet of his grand
mother. She delighted to have him with
| her. filling his mind with "reminiscences of
/ her early life, how she FUSED to bother her
uncle meddling with his papers until she
was finally expelled the dormtory."
My mother being a sister to this latter
! Daniel, threw me much into his company
towards the later period of his life. He
retained vivid recollection on the accounts
narrated by his grandmother, and from him
and others | have obtained the facts of the
present history. He spoke of his grand
mother as a "little old yellow looking
woman fond of flowers, and retaining
her activity of mind and body till near the
close of her time. The generation immedi-
ately preceding me knew Thomas job and
bis wife we'll often seeing them at Friends
meeting in East Nottingham.
The two chairs i'll question were among
the goods inherited by my mother (who
died in 1907 and are the only remaining
relics of the furniture that came from
England, as above stated, and | have reason
to believe are now, Notwithstanding their