The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-05-16

allowed her to take his name. 1t is sup
; posed that their life was happy one,
for he learned to love the woman who
lost the world to gain him, and when, as
he supposed, on his deathbed, realizing
the wrong he had done her, he did what
he could to right it. On February 5,
1772, Richard Maitland made will, max
ing Mary McAdam and their two child
rem, and one yet unborn, his sole heirs.
The will is now on record in the surro-
gates office. He was seriously ill and
supposed to be on his deathded. He
fingered along, however, and, in the fol-
lowing July, appears to have married
Mary McAdam. The ceremony was per-
formed by the Rev. DIR. Ogilvie, CT Trim
ity church. Three days afterward he
died.
Poor Mary McAdam, or Mrs. Maitland,
as she was then called, left penniless and
friendless with three young children, led
a miserable existance from that time.
Her love had made her an outcast from
home and the society of the colony. FL
nally, she moved to New Barbadose,
village in southern New Jersey, where
she lived with some relatives. The Matt
land family in Scotland knew of the ALI.
ance their son had formed, and of his
ath-bed repentance; but for years they
refused or neglected to recognize her
claims. While the British troops were
in New Jersey during the revolution, one
of Sir Richard Maitland's brothers, who
was an officer under CORVALLIS, was
stationed in New Barbados, and there
learned the story of his brothers doings.
He recognized the wronged woman as
his rightful sister-in-law, settled her
comfortably in New York in a little cot
tage just above the Trinity property, on
Rector street, and took her eldest son
Patrick, or Peter, as he is called in his
fathers will, to Scotland with him. He
was made one of the family at Thirle-
stane Castle, and his relatives educated
him at one Of the English universities.
The boy afterward went to India, pros
pered and married. 1t is from him that
Sir Frederick Henry Maitland, the pre-
sumptive heir at present to the estates,
is descended.
No one knows how the widow and the
other two children Jared after the depar-
ture of the eldest boy for England. Dill
igent investigation by the lawyers result
ed in the opinion that she died about
1892 and was buried in Trinity church
yard. Her tomb is supposed to be under
the fiat, crumbling marble stone that lies
few yards to the east of the resting
place of Alexander Hamilton. There is
NO record either OF her marriage or her
burial among the Trinity books, as most
of the papers of that period were Destroy
ed by fire. The tomb, however, was
opened last February by party of
searchers, headed by Mr.. F. w. Whit
ridge, of the law firm of Whitridge &
Cary, who has charge of the case in
America, in the hope that some clue
might be got from the coffin-plate. Every
thing had crumbled almost to dust, how
ever, and broke apart as soon as touched.
The next step was to find DR.. Ogilvie's
diary; but though his book of births and
baptisms has been secured, no record can
be found of the marriages he performed.
1t had never been supposed that tie
Maitland estates and title would have to
seek so far into the collateral branches
of the house for an owner, and, whatever
they may nave thought of the legitimacy
of Sir Richards marriage, they have
never discussed it in public. The curse
Of the Church people, when their prop
erty was confscated by the Crown GEN.
turtles ago, that it should not descend
from father and son, seems to have fol-
lowed the Maitland estates, for they have
gone from one branch to another with
each generation.
1t will rest with Sir James Maitland,
the contestant, to prove the illegitimacy
of Sir Richard S descendants. The COM
: mon law of England was supposed to
prevail in the colonies, excepting certain
Dutch settlements in New York and
New Jersey. There is no record to show
that it was changed in New York city,
however. If it was not, the issue of the
unfortunate couple is illegitimate; but,
as the marriage was recognized by the
family in Scotland, and is recorded in
the "Peerage," the lawyers do not be-
ieve that it will be set aside. 1t will be
argued before the Committee on Privil-
cges of the House of Lords by the Attor-
ney General on one side and the Solicitor
General on tho other, and great array
of legal talent. A great deal Of money
has already been spent in New York city
in hunting up evidence and tracing Mary
McAdam's children.
ANOTHER ROMANTIC CHAPTER FROM LIFE
t The decision in the casce will be the
j more interesting because it is the second
: of it's kind ever tried. The first was that
of Sheldon against Patrick, and which
/ pended for years in the House of Lords.
e One of the Sheddons came to New York
f towards the close of Eighteenth Century,
). and lived for twenty years with a woman
: named Ann Mason. Two days before
e his death he married her, and wrote te
e his brother in Scotland: 81 have this
f day married Ann Mason, and made her
: an honest woman" The uncle did not
S get this letter, but in some other way
K learned of his brothers marriage, and
had the oldest boy, then years of age
j brought to Edinburgh, and at once en-
: tered suit in the childs name to deter
e mine it's legitimacy. The decision wa!
e against him. The boy, however, wa.
S kept in ignorance Of his parentage, and
S sent to India where he attainedhis ma
i jority. He prospered there, married and
/. returned to Edinburgh to spend his old
:, days. While hunting over some old rub
l. Dish in the offices of the East India com
h pany, in which he was interested, he
p found letter addressed to himself from
v the sister in America of whom he haC
o never heard. 1t lad been written TWEEN
S ty years previously. Further search
brought from the musty files the letter
: his father had written on his dying-bed
o The uncle was dead, but another suit wa
o brought for the reversal of the decision