The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1891-02-06
miscellaneous.

miscellaneous.
HISTORY OF ST. GEORGES PARISH.
BY DIR. G. W. ARCHER.
NO. VI.
In February, 1772, four couples were sum-
moned for unlawful cohabitation," but the
result is not recorded. In November "the
vestry petition for 10 per poll"
Here follows, in full, "the Oaths of Abjur-
alton, Supremacy and Reconsideration"
with the autograph signatures appended of
all the vestrymen, church wardens and in
spectors. down to 1774. Of these, only one,
"John Pribble, church-warden," makes his
mark.
In the distribution of seats mot dated, but
probably for ITO leach mans contribution
or amount of taxes was considered" The
following, however, were special assignments:
mo. 1" is assigned "to the Reetors for the
time being; mo. 2, TO Rev. Andrew Len.
drum for his family; mo. 26, for Over.
seers, their wives and single taxes" "No.
35 for Strangers, Captains of ships, &c"
Among the pew-holders named is DIR. Henry
Stevenson, very prominent man Of the
time, who, with his brother John-also q
doctor, but afterwards an enterprising mer-
chaDt-had come to the province from the
North of Ireland in 1745. He married Miss
Frances Stokes, of Bush River Neck, Sis
ter of Mrs. DIR. Stenhouse, already mentioned,
and, like her sister, she inherited several hun
dred acres of fine land on the Bay shore,
where DR.. Stevenson probably resided after
bis marriage, the estate being known by
many, even at this day, as the stevenson
Farm"
The career of DR.. Henry Stevenson and
DR.. Stenhouse ran strikingly parallel. They
both came from the North of Ireland about
the same time, though not in any way con-
nected, so far as appears. Both came to the
Hartford portion of Baltimore county. They
married sisters and lived on contiguous plan
tations. Both went afterwards to Baltimore
where they practiced their profession. When
the war of independence broke out, they
both espoused the Tory side and were order
ed from the province. Both returned after
peace was established. DR.. Stevenson was q
remarkable man, deserving more than pass
ing notice, the more especially, as but few of
the present generation in this county ever
heard his name. With naturally strong in
tellect he was highly educated, and his rank
as physician was equal to any Of his day.
Benevolence was the strong trait in his char
acter. This it WAS which prompted him, in
1863, when the province had been ravaged
year after year with that loathsome disease,
smallpox, to convert his fine residence near
Baltimore into an inoculating hospital, free
to all, to maintain it for many years at his
own expense and to give it his personal at
tention. "a noble act" says recent histor-
ian, "worthy of honorable commemoration
now, of man whose genius was equal to
his generosity"
DR.. Stevenson removed to Baltimore at
some time prior to 1868, being mentioned in
that year as one of the founders of the first
Presbyterian Church in that town. On be-
ing expelled from the province, as before
stated, he went to New York and entered
the British army as surgeon, which position
he held until 1886, when he returned, reopen
ed his hospital, resumed the practice OF his
profession, and died there in 1914, at the
great age of ninety-three. His toryism does
not seem to have brought any permanent
odium upon himself or his family. The good
he khad already done had, in the estimation
of the community, outweighed the evil, and
henceforth for twenty-seven years, eschewing
the evil and practicing the good alone, he
was fully restored to the love of his old
friends and the confidence of the public. One
of his sons married daughter OF Gen. Sam.
Smith, the hero of Fort Miiffln, and after his
death his widow married nephew of Presi-
dent Jefferson. One of his granddaughter
married Gov Thomas King Carroll.
Very soon after Mr.. Lendrum's death, Rev.
Mr.. Edmiston sometimes written Edmond
sonl was induced into the parish. He was
educated at Philadelphia College (now the
University of Pa) and was ordained in Eng
land in 1857 by the Bishop of Lincoln. In
that year he is on record as curate of St.
James, in Anne Arundel county, under the
notorious rector, Rev. Bennett Allen, who
was orse-Whipped in the streets of Annapo-
lis by one of the Dulanys, left the province
for England in 1776 on account of his ex-
treme toryism, and few years later chal-
lenged to duel and killed the brother of the
man who had horse whipped him, who had
also fled to England from the wrath of the
patriots Mr. Edmiston, however, despite
the unsavory example set him by his super
ior, seems to have been worthy minister.
His charge of St. Georges must have been
very brief, since we learn from Rev. Ethan
Aliens MSS. that in 1771 he was rector of
st. Thomas, in Baltimore county, and after
wards of st. Anne's in Annapolis, where he
remained until 1775, when he, too, fell from
his high estate by conduct flagrantly unpa-
triotic, and was driven from the church and
the province. He went to England, but re-
turning during the war, was arrested by
order of the Assembly He at one time own
ed tract in Hartford county, called Drunk
ards Harbor," though it is to be hoped not
named by his Reverence on aDchoring there.
He also had q tract of 300 acres on Octoraro
Creek, in Cecil county, which was seized in
1882 for confscation; but the Assembly pass
ed an act giving all his property that should
remain after his very heavy Indebtedness was
k-l l, .,nI oh
who were loyal to the patriot cause. From
the fact that Mr.. Edmiston was educated at
Philadelphia College, we may fairly infer that
he was either a native of America, or that he
came over at an early age Hence his politi.
cal course was the less excusable.
At the outbreak of the revolution there
were forty-five parishes in the province, of
which about twenty-eight were vacated by
rectors who espoused the cause OF the mother
country where they were born. Of the entire
number in the province, only twenty-five
were returned as having taken the required
oaths to the new State Government form
ed in 1777. Many even of these were much
less than lf.hearted in the patriot cause,
and were jealousy watched by their parish
toner's, who naturally suspected that the vital
question of bread and meat had determined
their choice. The rector of parish in
Prince Georges county, Rev. Mr. Boucher,
was, however, not one of this half hearted
kind. but an ultra tory, and trief sketch of
his course may serve to illustrate the excit-
ing scenes which were enacted in some parts
of the province, though it must be owned
that this was an extreme perhaps an unex-
ampled, case of the church militant, but not
triumphant.
When Mr.. Bouchers parishioners tried to
get rid of him, he defed them, and for several
months, in 1775, he officiated in the pulpit
with pair of loaded pistols lying beside the
Bible, having given notice that he would
shoot down any one who should attempt to
suppress him by force. Matters were at last
brought to a crisis when, upon reaching the
church EARNED as usually on an occasion of
fasting and prayer, he was told that his
Curate, a good patriot, was already holding
forth in his stead. When informed that
his services were not wanted, he replied that
he would either preach or die in the attempt.
Making his way into the church doubly
armed, with his pistol in one hand and his
sermon in the other, he attempted to reach
the pulpit, collaring the leader of the people,
and with cooked pistol at his head, threaten
ing to blow his brains out if any of his fol
lowers laid hands on him. But 1t was like