The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-11-24
GHOsrLY COLONIAL ROMANCE.

that name and a member of the gen.
era1 assembly of Maryland, received
from London land grant of 1000
acres lying on the south shore of the
Patuxent, then in Calvert and now
in st. Mary's county.
He was a bluff old soldier, who
had fought in the wars in Flanders,
writes PAU Beckwith, in the Balti-
more San. He was commissioned by
Lord Baltimore's captain to prevent
the encroachment of the Indians upon
the new settlements. He built him
self home in beautiful cove at the
mouth of Town Creek, on sloping
hill overlooking the Patuxent river
and Chesapeake Bay. The bricks
he used were imported as ballast
from the mother country. Here he
married and lived, respected by all
for many years. He served the prov
ince in the general assembly, and at
his house the courts met. He had
one child, a daughter Frances, who,
growing to womanhood, was wooed
and won by newcomer to the colony,
George Beckwith, gentleman and
planter, as stated in the old records
at Annapolis.
George Beckwith, who had emf
grated to the province but shortly be-
fore, was the scion of one of the old
est and most prominent families of
Yorkshire, England. 1t was love
match, and it was the custom of the
lovers, in the cleaning of the even
ing, to sit beneath the spreading elm
on the slope of the hill overhanging
the bay. They had four children,
son and three daughters, whose de-
scendants are to be found in Mary
land and other states at the present
time. Urgent business recalled Beck
with to Yorkshire in 1915, and the
family, friends, neighbors and work
men of the plantation all congregated
at the landing place to bid the hus-
band, father, friend and master god
speed.
The vessel, with sails ready set,
lay at anchor in the ofing. The
small boat, manned by four robust
slaves of the plantation, with oars
raised, waiting the last word. AS
the godspeed were all said, the hus-
band, taking his wife in his arms,
said in loud voice so that all could
hear: "Do not weep, sweetheart,
for, living or dead, shall come back
to you.
Months passed away and no word
came from the husband and father.
The disconsolate wife and mother at
dusk each evening took her seat be-
meath the elm and expectantly waited
the return of her beloved. AS days
passed visible change took place,
and gradually she became more frail,
and at last was laid away in the little
graveyard few rods up the hill.
1t was not long before slight and
misty figure was seen, dressed all IN
somber black, seated beneath the elm
on the lawn on moonlight nights,
gazing out into the dim distance of
the bay, and as darkness drew on it
would slowly vanish. Whence she
came and whittier she went none
knew-possibly back to her resting
place in the little graveyard on the
hill. Months had rolled into two
years when, on a bright moonlight
night, the lights of large ship were
seen entering the Patuxent. More
and more distinct became the form of
a majestic ship of the sea, with every
sail in place, of ghostly whiteness.
The news soon spread from planta-
ton to plantation, and many persons
assembled at the landing place, ex-
pecting the sad homecoming of the
husband and father. The ship came
to anchor with all her sails still to
the wind-so unseemly an act that a
shudder passed over the onlookers.
A small boat was seen to leave the
vessel, but with only one figure, a
tall man wrapped in long mantle
and his broad -brimmed hat, fastened
with a single black feather, drawn
| upon his forehead. Motionless the
| cavalier stood, until, approaching the
landing place, the pale, handsome
features of Beckwith were distinctly
seen by all.
An awful stiffness fell upon the
visitors at the wharf. None was pre-
pared to tell him of the death of his
wife. A gentle wind from the di-
rection of the mansion on the hill
was felt, and all, involuntarily turn
ing in that direction, saw approach
ing the figure of his wife. The fig
ure of the husband and father sprane
upon the landing and, clasping his
ghostly wife in his arms, in loud
voice said "As promised, sweet
heart, living or dead, I have return
ed" and as the startled onlookers
looked again, cavalier, lady, boat,
and vessel had all disappeared. II
was shortly afterward learned from
an incoming vessel that George Beck
with had died in London the yea
before.
In the long $50 years that hav'
followed the two figures of cavalie
and lady have frequently been sect
standing beneath the elm, tree, al
ways in somber black, their eyes al
ways directed toward the path way o
incoming vessels.
The plantation passed into othe
hands, and the old brick house, long
since in ruins, was, about 1858, clear
ed away, and the then owner com
menced to build modern home upol
the old foundations. Hardly ha
the framework been placed NJ
weatherboarded than strange noise
were heard. The building was aban
! doned and the house is still empty
There is an old tradition in the fami
" that never will the old plantation
home be inhabited until a descendan
of George and Frances Beckwith be
|