The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1889-08-30
--"garrulously given

what tales il could tell 1t looked out,
monarch OF the forest, even then, upon the
frall pinnance of the adventurous Smith
when, two hundred and eighty years ago, ht
, coasted along this very shore. No such deli
cate and refined lOve-scenes, MS the poet
laureate 30 beautifully depicts beneath
his talking oak" may ever hav
been enacted at the foot of this one
! but the dusky Susquehannock maiden ant
her young brave in all the pride ofwar-pain
and feathers, have doubtless held their part
ing tryst and plighled anew their troth be
meath its bOughs.
| Over the front door hung the sword an(
pistols Of Major Henry Hall, the father tn,
present owners, and n gallant dragon office
Ot 1912, who served with distinction il
I Canada and on the lakes.
MIR. Hall was kind enough to let me brn.
away, for examination and historical use
many inter- sting old family papeIs-not only
wills, indenlures and Northumberland 0
which bear dates of more than two hundred
| years ago. but also letters to his grandfather
from some of Marylund's most distinguished
revolutionary officers who irequented here a
leisure times during the war, among then
! Gen. John Eager Howard and Gen. Otho Ii
| Williams likewise letters from Bishop White
written during his school days, and from
| Benjamin Rumsey, of the Council of Safety
ut Annapolis, aud delegate in the Conlinen
tai Congress, who resided at Joppa.
| But more valuable than any, is complete
copy of the "Minu;es of Proceedings of the
evolutionary Committee of Hartford coun
ty." The original disappeared few years
since, after extracts from it had been publish
ed in the county papers, and is probably lost
beyond recovery. 1t would make Qf coulG
be rec0yered) together with those in posses
sion of Mr.. f. w. Baker, and others in The
County Clerks Office, which were lately pub
lished in Tile -tgis, perhaps the most com
plete original county record of revolutionary
proceedings 10 be found in the State. How
ever, we may he thankful that there is copy
OF these Minutes, and, indeed, two copies nov
AS | have transcribed, for the Society, al
that part of it not already published in The
county papers, and shall present it in due
time.
must hy no means neglect to explain how
Mr.. Halls copy came to be made Some
where about 1851 Il think it was) the late
Mrs Sophia McHenry interested herself very
much in the building of the Presbyterian
church in Bel Air, indeed, am not sure thai
she was not the originator of the project, as
she certainly was the main dependence in it,
execution, both in contributing and in col.
Letting funds. Among those to whom she
applied was the late George w. Hall, ESD
Now, the Hall family had perhaps done more
than any other in the county towards achiev'
ing our independence, and IL is not at all sur
prsing that Mr. Hall should embrace this op.
portunity to secure copy OF the above-nam'
ed manuscript, at the same time that he was
aiding good work. Accordingly he told
the lady that if she would transcribe it for
L. hn G,,A H.. I.nl
dollars for the use OF the church. She, OF
course, accepted the generous offer, for, in
doing so, she would secure not only her
church, but the cause for which her heroic
father, Col. Nathaniel Ramsay, poured out
his blood on the desperate field of Monmouth
and saved the patr oil army-as Washington
himself has testified. TO her it was, no
doubt, labor of love. 1t was by this simple
negotiation, so honorable to both PARTIES,
that our precious revolutionary record was
saved to u.s. Still we cannot but regret the
loss of the original.
In this connection it may not be amiss TO
relate another incident in the erection of the
church. as told me by Mr.. Hall, and since con-
trmed by others, and quite too good to be
lost. Col Ramsay McHenry about that time
had the extraordinary temerity to lay a
wager of several hundred dollars with that
veteran Of the bar, Ohio Scott, Esq, on some
! point of law. 1t is needless to say which
won-the able lawyer or the accomplished
farmer. But the Colonel being 10th to sur.
render the point without some sort of quail
fication, demur, or protest, (more no doubt,
from pride of opinion than from fear of the
pecuniary loss) offered to pay the bet, pro-
vided Mr.. Scott would pass the amount over
for the use oft church. The latter, with
characteristic generosity, at once accepted
the offer, and the money went into the
church treasury.