The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1893-11-10

and another to have been whipped for refus-
ing to aid the Sheriff in arresting him." The
| historian of "The Early Friends in Maryland
says that "Thurston returned, to give much
trouble to the authorities, as well as to the
Friends. by whom he was finally disowned."
In 1860 relief came to this peaceable sect in
Maryland in the form of Fendall's deposition
and disgrace. The precise date of Thurston' s
return to the province-this time as perma-
nent settlers not known But it was at
least as early as 1863, for in that year he
bought large tract of land on DELPHI Creek,
in Bush River Neck ; and in the course of ten
or twelve years more, he obtained by patent
and purchased some half-dozen other tracts,
several of them at the head of Bush river and
IA thousand-acre tract near the mouth of Deer
Creek. He also obtained a patent for a tract
Of 300 acres near Bel Air on Bynum's Run.
In 1856 ''in the name of the greatest part OF
the county," he petitioned the provincial
Council for the removal of the county seat
from Old Baltimore, on the east bank OF
Bush river, to the mouth of Winters Run, ION
the path from the Potomack to the Susque-
HANNA" which is now the Old Post Road
urging many good reasons for the removal 20
the point designated. AS, however, he had
himself acquired several tracts in that vicinity,
and had disposed of all his land near Old Bal
timore, his motives are fairly open to suspi-
cion of self-interest.
In 1858 he was chosen delegate to the AS
Sembly for Baltimore county and on the Or
gani2ation of the House, he being Quaker,
(the only one in the body itwould seem, was al
lowed to affirm, instead of taking the prescrib-
ed oath. He was reelected in 1890; and in
the following year was one of the twenty two
members who addressed the king as ''Our
Most Gracious Sovereign, Saviour and Re
deemer''-language which certainly must
have shocked all good Quakers.
About this time he was appointed "Com
mander of the Military Forces in Baltimore
councy; - and henceforth until his death he
was known as Colonel Thurston.' In 1892,
however, he was superseded in this office by
the appointment, in bis stead, of Capt. Thos.
Richardson-probably the ancestor of the
family of that name now in this county. But
when the latter proceeded to possess himself
of the public property appertaining to the of
fee, Thurston, instead of turning it over to
him rs the law required, poured upon him,
and all concerned, such dreadful torrent of
abuse as to deter him from his purpose. For
this ''unruly and disorderly behaviour
Thurston was summoned to trial at st. Mary's;
but before the proceedings had fairly begun,
news of the great victory gained by the Kings
navy over that of the French caused him and
all other accused persons to be sci free al
once. in accordance with the custom of that
day.
Is it any wonder that ''the Quak ers disown-
ed him % From that time he seems to have
sunk into obscurity. There is no record even
of his death though in certain legal docu-
ments there is indirect proof that he died in
1902 By the same kind of evidence it is
shown that his place of residence was On one
of his plantations at the head of Bush river and
not far from the mouth of James Run.
so far as appears, his only children were
Thomas and Elizabeth. The former seems t.
have been without the first rudiments of all
education, since, in witnessing will in 170S,
instead of signing his name, he made his
mark. He died in IT'S.
Elizabeth was thrice married; first to George
Skipwith, of Anne Arundel county second
to John Valley, of Baltimore county, anu
third to Charles Rumsey, probably of Cecil
county.
1t is not likely that any of the descendants
of Thomas Thurston, Jr., now reside in this
it is not even known that he ever
married. 1t is supposed, however, that Skip
with Coale, Quaker, whose mother was a
Skipwith, and who lived on lower Deer Creek
during the Revolution, was descendant of
Elizabeth Thurston and her first husband;
and possibly also a descendant of Friend Coale
who shared Thurston's prosecutions in Talbot,
In 1858