The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1894-02-02
HARTFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

The Hartford Historical Society held its regu-
lar quarterly meeting in the Court House, last
Saturday. Rev. E. a. Colburn, President
was in the chair, with Mr.. Albert 2. Silver
Secretary.
DR.. George w. Archer read an interesting
paper entitled "a Lost Chapter in the History
of the Abingdon Academy" 1t is sequel to
the ''IIistory of Abingdon Academy" which
he read before the Society in July last.
Dr. Archer also presented the following do
nations
From Mrs. Caroline A. Hall: Three day
books kept at Hartford Town (now Bush y one
by Aquila Hall, from October, 1862 to Deceni-
Der same year; one by ''Hall, Gilbert & Hail."
(Aquila Hall, Michael Gilbert and Thomas
HalD from May, 1714, to March, ITS and one
by colbert and Thomas Hail." from May,
several hundred persons who lived in the re-
gion surrounding the old county -seat more
than hundred years ago, when it enjoyed
considerable trade and commerce
Two fragments OF bricks which picked up
on the site of the old Court house at Bush,
which was the county seat from 1774 until
1873. The building, which was supposed to
have been originally erected for tavern, was,
/ believe, burned down about forty years ago.
The Revolutionary Committee during the
three years of its existence met within its
walls, exception very rare occasions, MET in
their chambers at Hartford Town. as their
"Minutes" sometimes express it, in rather
grandiose phrase-whch, however, the gran
deur of their cause may well excuse. Of their
seventy meetings, from first to last, it is prob
able that not more than a half-doZen were
held elsewhere. Hence, even SO unsightly an
object as brickbat from that now desolate
spot calls wildly up proud recolections that
can never be forgotten.
fragment of brick which | recently I'M
carthed from the ruins of Cokesbury College.
1t evidently formed part of the ''water-table''
of the building, and is rounded off into more
seemly shape than the proyerbially ugly brick
bat But, even though it were gold, it would
not equal in value-in the nobler sense at least
| the unsghtly fragment which | have Just
| presented from the ruins of that old Court
| House, where our local leaders of rs so often
met in freedoms cause. And as these are
| pre-eminenty days Of memorials" | would
suggest that modest shaft, or tablet-even
of granite, if nothing worthier Of the occasion
can be afforded-be there placed, to tell the
stranger who travels that old road, along
which Washington and all the founders of the
| great Republic were wont to pass, that here
! once stood our temple of Liberty
From Mrs. J. II. c. Watts: 1.-The Official
| Catalogue of Revolutionary Relics recently
exhibited in Baltimore in aid Of the Revolu-
| tionary monument fund 1t contains list of
| some interesting uOCuIuenIS OI lately u0
earthed in our Court House.
| From Henry e. Wilson: Two fragments of
| tile, which, for many years, formed the floor
| of kitchen attached to a dwelling house near
Emmorton. The buildings, which were of
| brick, were torn down some twenty years ago
by the late Lee Magness, who erected the
| present frame dwelling ON the exact site and
| some of the tiles of the kitchen floor were
| saved. The tract on which the house stands
was taken up by the emigrant, Thomas Bond.
| an English Quaker, who, with his brothers,
came over about the beginning of the 18th
century He settled there in l7O5 and built
| house where the present one stands, lived
there for many years, and died there in 1856
| the spot Of his burial being still pointed out
! very near the house under an old pear tree
\ and there are numerous graves around it for
Mr. Magness could remember when the grave
| stones were still standing, though they have
all since disappeared, and the leveling pillow
has destroyed all trace Of the graves them
selves.
| Mr.. Magness, some fifty or sixty years ago,
often heard his father, James Magness, then u
| young man, who lived there, say that the tiles,
| which measured about IL by "a inches, and II
| inches in thickness, were brought from Eng
| land and landed at Old Baltimore, on Bush
river, and that the building was erected by
one of the Bond family. So that it was prob
able that the first Thomas Bond was the
builder of that very house and kitchen.
effect that in the days of incubation for
smallpox, during the latter part of the 18th
century, this house was used as hospital for
that purpose-persons who were inocuated
being at once quarantined there until all dam
ger of communicating the dreaded disease to
| Others had passed. Rev. Mr.. Handy, an Epis-
| copal minister, once occupied it. At an
other time, the tiled floor prevented a gen
| era confiagaration. a man, Brown, who lived
| there was at times crazy, and on one occasion,
| being left alone, the freak seized him of kind
| ling fire in the kitchen fire place, which was
| of the good old time dimensions, and of throw
ing upon it everything that he could lay hold
| of about the house: furniture, books, clothing
all went to feed the flames and delight the
maniac and these being exhausted, he topped
| the funeral pyre with all the cats and kittens
| about the premises. When discovered, many
| burning fragments were strewn upon the floor,
| and the tiles were all that saved the building
| from destruction.
| last. though by no means least, have the
extremely God fortune to be able to present
| to the Society all those valuable Revolutionary
| documents, of which gave a detailed account
| in paper read at our meeting of last April,
| and which had been shortly before discovered
| in an UNEMPLOYED nook of the Court House
Judge Walters and Clerk Forwood have just
| now informed me that we could have them to
| place among our archives.
Mr.. Henry Wilson Archer exhibited some
half-dozen photographs of interesting places
and objects in the county, taken recently by
| himself. Among them were two views OF
| Shandy Hail. in Bush River Neck, built in
| 170l or 1902, of stone brought from the island
of Malta as ballast one of great oak, at the
same place, so called 200 years ago, and proba-
bly, now the largest of its kind in the State one
| of the house in Bel Air once occupied by the
great orator William Pinkney; one of Sion
| Hill, the residence OF Commodore Rodgers.
Mr. Archer offered to take views of any inter
esting places in the county which the Society
would designate. to be donated to them.