Evening star., 1902-08-08
OLD MELWOOD PARK
COLONIAL MANSION ON THE
MARLBORO PIKE.
Romantic Courtship and Wedding
There One Hundred and Thirty
Years Ago.
Written for The Evening Star.

| Written for The Evening Star
The news of the recent death at Need
| wood Forest. near Frederick, Md. OF
! Thomas Sim Lee, aged eighty-four. grand
son of one of the colonial governors of
Maryland, calls up an interesting history
| of the romantic wooing and wedding of his
grandfather 130 years ago, at what is now a
| decayed old mansion on the road leading
| from this city to Marlboro.
| Among a number of old letters which
have come to light during the past century
is one which in spite of torn parchment and
faded ink still exhales a breath of ro-
| nance. Thomas Sim Lee although only
! twenty years of age, had nothing but his
| pleasing address and distinguished name to
! recommend him to the favor of Miss Mary
| Dlggs, only child of Ignatius Diggs of Mel
wood Park. He was a grandson of Philip
| Lee of Virginia, who crossed over into
Maryland and became the founder of that
branch of the family known as the Mary
land Lees. Mr.. Diggs, a wealthy proprietor
| OF Prince Georges county, Md, was owner
of a superb estate and countless slaves,
| and lived in princely style among the
| southern gentry of the period.
| His household modelled on those of
| England ard he was al-powerful with his
| numerous dependents, to whom he admins
| tered justice, and ii was not surprising
| that young Lee, the favored lover of his
| dear Mollie, without fortune patrimony,
| should have been frowned upon by her
| father. Besides. Mr.. Diggs was ardent
Catholic, a friend of Lord Baltimore, and
| bitterly opposed to the union of his daugh-
| ter with one not of the same faith. He OBJ
| tanned from her a promise not to marry
! without his consent. and consequently a
frultleSS courtShip ensued. In the mean
| while Lees guardian, Governor Robert
! Eaton of the colony. died, and Lee threw up
| the clerkship Of Frederick county which
| he had inherited from his father and
sailed for England. While there he OBJ
! tanned a position on the East India Com
| pany, and although the future appeared
| golden the prospect of a more distant sepa-
ration from the object of his affection made
! him hesitate, and, sailing for America, he
| determined to try his fortune once more
| with Miss Diggs. To the surprise and con-
| sternation of the household he arrived al
| MelWood and was again refused.
Endured Reproaches.
1t seems he was reproached by the angry
| father for intimating to her that he would
| marry without his consent, as he left i'm
mediately for Marlboro. the county town
of Melwood Park. and wrote the following
| letter:
UPPER MARLBORO. August ,. 1771.
Mr.. Diggs-Sir: l have without design
told you an untruth which l now acknowl-
edge. / do not wish to deceive you and
| wish all who have interested themselves In
the affairs Of your daughter and myself had
the same candor. Your refusal of consent
| for me to marry Miss Dggs and your great
| hurry in leaving threw me into such confu-
sion that / was deprived of utterance. You
told me she had promised not to marry
| without your consent, and instead OF my
saying that she had told me of such a
promise l said 1 never asked her to marry
me against your consent. l honestly con-
| feSs that l asked her to marry me without
| your consent. and in justice to her l now
| inform you that she has repeatedly and de-
terminedly refused.
THO. SIM LEE"
Whether this ingenious confession or the
| force of true love finally overcame the
| fathers heart is not known, but he sent
| for Lee, who promised solemnly and sacred
| ly that the children should be educated In
| the faith of their mother, when Mr.. Diggs
| presented them to each other in the parlor
| of Melwood Park mansion, saying: Mary
will not marry without my consent. ! can
not force her to marry another, therefore
| you may have her"
| This was August s. It'll and they were
| married the 27th of October, Ill, at Mel
wood Park mansion, the festivities lasting
! over three days. Lee was made governor
| Of Maryland IN 1879 and reelected three
times, but declined a third time on account
OF his wife's wishes. as the season at An
napolis was a heavy drain on their income
| which was royalty spent.
Friend Of Washington.
He was a great friend of General Wash
ington. After marrying he moved to west
ern Maryland, fifteen miles from Frederick,
bought largely in farm land and called his
| place "Needwood Forest" After his gov
| ernorship he established a winter home I'm
Georgetown D. C. He had a daughter, Miss
| Eliza Lee, who presided over her fathers
| house in Georgetown for eleven years after
| the death of her mother and afterward
married Mr.. Outerbridge Horsey of Della
| ware, and they both settled on the Need
| wood farm. Mrs. Lee died In 1905 and in
volume Of Thomas a Kempis given to
| her by Prince Galitzn, a Russian convert,
known throughout the country as Father
| Smith, Lee wrote: THE gift OF Rev. Mr.
| Smith to Mary Lee. 17Ss, passed by the
| ever to be lamented death of my wife TO
Lee ' ~ iiNS g.
He had Joined the Catholic Church some
years before his wifes death, having made
a VOW to do so when she was dangerously
| i'll, and he built In the vicinity a church
named St. Mary's In honor of his compan-
lon of thirty years Of married life. He
died in 1919, aged seventy-four, leaving four
sons and two daughters, among whom the
estate of Melwood Park, In Prince Georges
county, was divided after being sold, the
estate of Needwood Forest having been left
by him to his elder daughter Eliza Lees
children and those of Charles Carroll of
Carrollton afterward incermarried and all
had large families, and Needwood Forest is
still possessed by the Lee family, as shown
by the death there Of the descendant above
mentioned.
Melwood Park Lands.
Melwood Park consisted OF several large
farms and was, indeed. a spacious manor
extending almost to the limits Of Marlboro
1t passed into other hands and was finally
sold to the Humphreys, now residents of
Washington. who held it until about ten
Whan II " Enbdiyi1a5 Nd al
for garden and dairy purposes. The man.
sion, of which large portion is still stand
ing, is about 81 xmiles from Marlboro on
the road leading thence to Washington,
stood well in from the highway and was ap-
proa ched by a drive f1anked on both sides
by immense cherry trees, from Which the
place was locally known as Cherry Walk"
The trees have long since borne their last