Evening star., 1919-12-28
HE big red brick house and
Its ample garden at the north
east corner Of IL street and

interesting persons who have lived
there is far from being finished. The
history of the simplest plot of ground
In the city of Washington goes back
10 time when the site of this pop
plous and splendid city was a part of
the Wilderness that stretched away to
the north and west from the little
settlements which English, Scotch and
Irish pioneers had set up along the
lower reaches of the Potomac river.
1T was, as everybody in this region
should know, and which probably
everybody does know part of the
"prOvince and plantations of Mary
land"
After the settlement of the city of
st. Mary in 1884, which was two
years after King Charles ! had made
a grant under the name of Maryland
to Cecilius Lord Baltimore, the taxi
Ing up of wild land by purchase from
the government of the province or by
grant because of some service done
The province proceeded rapidly. The
taking up of wild land far outran the
northward course of settlement. 1t
was one phase ofspeculation. Men
took patents to these lands, not TO
live on them and to put them under
cultivation but to sell in whole or in
part to other spectators or to men
who wanted to settle on them. Gem
orally, grants covering land now
within the District of Columbia We're
taken up before settlers had pushed
more than few miles north of the
plantations along the St. Marys river
or Port Tobacco creek, and most Of
the land in the District of Columbia.
and perhaps all of it, was under
patent while Mattawoman creek or
Piscataway creek marked the north
ern limits of the plantations.
Every parcel of land in Washington
and, of course, the very lot you are
living on-goes back to one of these
grants. 1t is always a subject of in
terest-or at least so it seems to the
Rambler-to trace a piece Of the his
toric soil of Washington back to the
first man who claimed 1t or obtained
it perhaps without having seen it,
and back to the first man who set up
4 habitation on it and turned it from
NlIueTncSS lntO CulllNdleu ldUu. III
doing this a man may contrve TO
write long story about a small
piece of land.
X X X
When, how and by whom the farm
carved out of the wilderness was first
surveyed or "subdivided' into build
ing lots and when and where the first
house was built on that land are
things which the Rambler feels to be
Of interest, but it is not always pos
sible to ascertain all those facts. In
his previous stories of the square
bounded by IL, l and 10th streets and
Connecticut avenue he wrote that the
first house in that square was built
between 1924 and 1929 by Thomas
Swami, who was at that time United
States district attorney for the Dis
trict of Columbia. That house passed
TO the ownership of Daniel Webster
in 1914 and became the property of
w. w. Corcoran in 1S49. 1t is now
the residence of Mr.. Corcoran's
grandson, william Corcoran Eustis.
1t has been written by Wilhelrnus
Bogardus Bryan that Mr.. Corcoran
renlarged and remodeled' the old
"Swann- w bster" house. The preGent
mansion bears no likeness TO the old
er house, but the theory of the Ram
bier is that part OF the walls of the
first house built on that square form
a. part Of the present structure.
AS man needs abundant space
IN which to tell the story Of simple
lot of ground, It stands to reason
that he needs more in which to tell
the story of great old house in the
heart of the city and of the interest
ing and distinguished persons who
have dwelt in it. That is the Ram
bler's apology. If you insist on having
one, for turning back and resuming
the story of the Corcoran mansion.
The narrative last Sunday closed with
few facts relating to the life of Mr..
- Corcoran, which the Rambler found
in a public document. and which facts
had been taken from an autobio-
graphic sketch wriytten by Mr.. Corco-
ran 1878. In the Library of Congress
and no doubt also in the Washington
Public Library, is a heavy. full-slze
hook called "a Grandfather's Legacy"
and the Introduction to this book is