The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1878-10-19
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
THE DULANY FAMILY.
BY J. NJ. woRTHINGToN.

Messrs. Editors Having read with pleasure
the able and interesting letters published recently
in your columns upon Dulany's Valley and the
family of that name and being convinced that 1t
is due the writer of those letters the descendants
of the family and all who are interested in the his
tory of their native State that the following facts
relating to the Dulanys should be known, the
writer submits the following subject to such cor
rections as the better informed may add.
1t was the writer's pleasure and may be profit
If knowledge is proft-in infancy to wander
among tomb stones in church yards, and try to
decipher with his then limited knowledge OF
photography and chronology their names and
dates and he is not ashamed to confess that after
q quarter of a century of a busy, practical lie,
with few roses and many thOrns, his interest in
them is still undated, and if in time he should be
the humble instrument of rescuing from oblivion
one hOnored name and giving it place in histo-
ry his reward will be all he could desire ana more
than he expects.
Probably the first tomb stone that excited his
infant mind as to the past and future, was that OF
Mrs. Rebecca Dulany, in st. Anne's church yard,
Annapolis, bearing the date 1742. She was the
daughter mot merely of ga lawyer named Smith OF
one of the lower counties, "-oh! shades OF the
elder and younger Dulany that so little should be
known of the wife of such father and the mother
of such son y of Mr.. Walter Smith, of the An
napolis bar q gentleman of ability, wealth and
position, born in Anne Arundel county, so revered
and honored by some of his descendants at least,
that their children bear his name not only near
the waters of the Chesapeake but even to the dls-
tant seas of China and Japan, to the seventh and
eighth generation of descent. Rebecca Dulany,
nee Smith, has been likewise held in remembrance
in several branches of the family.
Daniel Duany, the elder, Mcmahon says, was
admitted to the bar 171O from that period his
career was one of uninterrupted honor and useful
ness For nearly forty years he held the first
place in the confidence of the proprietors and the
affections of the people, He filled the various Of
fees of Attorney General, Judge of the Admiralty,
Commissary General, Agent and Receiver General
and Councillor, the latter of which he held under
the administrations of Governors Bladen, Ogle and
Sharpe He was also for several years member OF
the Lower House in which he was distinguished
as leader of the country party in the controversy
about the extension of the English statutes
Daniel Dulany, the younger, was educated in
England, was admitted to the bar at Annapolis
I747. In 1857 was appointed to the Council, 176l
was made Secretary of the Province, which offices
he held until the Revolution. For many years he
stood confessedly in the colony without rival as
a LAWYER scholar and an orator, and had amongst
the sons of Maryland but equal and no superior
For many years before the Revolution he was re-
garded as an oracle of the law. 1t was the prac-
tce of the courts of the colonies to submit to his
OPINION all questions Vi uluiCuilyJ oO
were his opinions considered that he who hoped
to reverse them was regarded as "hOping against
hope" He was consulted from England upon
some questions of magnitude. In the mother
counties of Virginia it was not unfrequent to with
draw questions from their courts and even from
the Chancellor of England, to submit them to his
award. Thus unrivalled in professional learning
he added to it all the power of the orator. the ac
complishments of the scholar, the graces of the
L. skrvn f kha nantla Mr
Pinkney, himself the wonder OF his age, who saw
but the setting splendor Of Mr.. Dulany's talents
| is reputed to have said of him that even amongst
| such men as Fox, Pitt and Sheridan he had moi
| found his superior. Speaking of the action Of
MARYLAND in regard to the stamp act, McMahor
says her transactions prove that they exhibit 9
| character and unanimity of opposition that ii
without parallel in the history of any colony
Conspicuous amongst all the essays of that day il
opposition to the stamp act is one to the honor o
which Maryland lays claim as the production o
| her most distinguished son. 1t came from the pei
| of one whose name was q tower of strength Abil
tiles that defed competition, learning that ranged
with eagle flight over every science, accomplish
ments that fascinated and gentleness that soOthe'
even envy, all conspired to render Daniel Dulan.
| the fit advocate of such q cause. His celebrates
essay was published at Annapolis October 14th
| 1885, He advised the colonies to manufacture 70
themselves. Let the manufactures of America b
the symbol of dignity, the badge of virtue, and
will soon break the letters of distress. A carmen
of linsey -woolsey when made the distinction O
real patriotism is more honorable and attractive Q
respect and generation than all the pageantry an
| the robes and the plumes and the diadem of a
emperor without it.
The very name of Daniel Dulany is now amo:
forgotten in his native State where century ag
the unquestiOned supremacy of his talents va
the mother Of a Marylander who has been com
pared with Pitt, Camden and Chatham, should nc
be forgotten, but her memory kept green as tn
sod in the church-yard where she and her deccend
ants worshipped for more than a century.