The Cecil Whig., 1877-12-15

only nttlnS anu proper tnat Lne 1Ounuer OF
the manor should have the means to enter
tain his friends in manner suited to the
dignity of the position he formerly occu-
pied. At that time, and for century after
wards, as We shall see in the progress of
this history, liquor was considered as one
of the necessaries of life.
On the 9th of September, 1854, Herman
made his will. This will, as stated in it, twas
written with his own hand, signed with his
own hand, and sealed with his own seal, ;"
and proves him to have been a man of much
learning and great ability. The ruling pas
sion of his life, the great object for which
he toiled and strove, appears to have been
to found a family and, by doing this, to
perpetuate his name. When he obtained
his patent more than twenty years before,
for his beautiful and magnificent manor of
Bohemia, he no doubt intended it for the
possession of his eldest son, and expected
no doubt and hoped that, in the ages to
come, his descendants would trace their
descent from him with satisfaction and
pride. He directs, in his will, that his
monument stone--with engraved letters of
him, the first scatter and author of Bohe-
mea Manor, ammo 1660-shall be placed
over his sepucher, which was to be in his
vine yard, upon his manor plantation upon
Bohemia Manor, in Maryland.'
We recently visited the old historic plan
| tation, upon which the manor house once
stood, and upon which the founder of the
manor is buried The plantation is stu
ated few miles above the mouth of the
beautiful Bohemia, where the old ferry
once was and where the bridge of more
modern times is now located. The grace
full swan and gabbling geese are all gone
from the quiet stream. A few ducks were
quietly swimming on the placid surface of
the many-tinted foliage of the forest trees
that grew upon its banks. We found the
ancient stone that Herman ordered in his
will, and read the inscription upon it as
follows:
AV VSTINE RMEN,
oHEMIAN,
THE FIRST FOV NDER.
sEATERoF BOHEMEA MANNER,
An NNO 1861.
His monument stone is slab of oolite,
the kind of stone from which the line stones
along Mason & Dixon's line were wrought.
This kind of stone is very durable, and is
probably better able to resist the action of
the elements than any other kind of stone
The slab is about three feet wide and seven
feet long. No doubt the provision of Her
mans WILL in reference to this stone, was
carried into effect and that it once covered
the place of his sepulcher; but many years
ago Richard Bassett, who was descend
ant of Herman and who was once Governor
of Delaware, erected a vault on the manor
plantation for the safe keeping of the re
mains of his family, and removed this an
cient historic slab from Herman's grave
and converted it into door for the vault.
This vault was erected some distance
from the original burying place upon
the manor plantation, and in it were de-
posted the remains of the members of the
Bassetts and Bayards. The remains of
James A. Bayard, one of the commission
ers that negotiated the treaty of Client,
were deposited in this vault, where they
remained till a few years ago, when Rich
ard H. Bayard had them all removed to an
other vault in the cemetery on the bank of
the B-andywne. This slab, in memory of
Augustine Herman, was then suffered to
lie neglected near the site of the vault, and
by some means was broken into three pieces:
these pieces were gathered up and placed
in the yard of the house on the farm near
the bridge. The bank or ditch around an
inclosure, which is said to have been Her.
mans deer park, is quite plain and is about
three feet high. The view down the Bohe-
mia from where the manor house stood, the
site of which is yet quite plain, is magnfi-
cent and delightful. Bulls mountain and
the hills of Elk Neck loom up many miles
distant, while at the base of the eminence,
upon which the manor house stood, the
waters of the beautiful Bohemia sparkle
in the sun light as they flow onward to min
gle with the waters of the Chesapeake bay.
Owing to the removal of the slab, the place
of Herman's sepulcher, like the place of
the sepulcher Of Moses, is unknown.
The will directs that all and every one of
the inheritors or possessors, Lords of Bohe
mia Manor, shall add to their christian
name and subscribe themselves by their
ancestors name "Augustinc, or forfeit
their inheritance to the next heir He de-
vised his Bohemia Middle Neck to his sec
ond son, Casparus, and his tract called
"Misfortune or the "Three Bohemia
Sisters " he divided among his three daugh
tiers; and, lest the great object which ap-
peared to have been the ruling passion of
his life, should be defeated for want of heirs
male to perpetuate his name, he orders in
his will that, in that case, the custody of
his estate shall be committed "to the Rt.
Honorable Lord and Proprietary and most
Honorable General Assembly, from time
to time sitting in this province of Mary
land for the use, propagation and propriety
of free donature school and college of the
English Protestant Church, with divine
Protestant minister, in free aims and di-
vine service, hospitality and relief of poor
and distressed travellers, ETC., under the
perpetual name of the Augustine Bohemia,
to Gods praise and glory forever"
We cannot close this somewhat lengthy
recital of the doings of the founder of Cecil
county without again referring to the codi-
Gil to his will, which was written upon the
back of it. This codcil was made, as be-
fore stated, on account of the adherence of
his son Ephraim to the Labadie faction.
This curious document, a copy of which is
in the possession of the Historical Society
of Maryland, was evidently written by Her
man oil. at his dictation. No new bequests
are made in the codicil; but edward
Jones, VIM. Dare and Mr.. George Old
field, his loving friends and neighbors, were
jointly and severally appointed overseers