Evening star., 1925-08-16

Mauduit who departed this life the
7th of September, 1749, aged so years
and months"
ensburg on the land of DR.. David
Ross; at Broad Creek on the land of
x x X x
4 FTER the creation of Bladensburg
named for Thomas Bladen,
proprietary governor, 17421747-the
Rambler has not found a reference to
Bladensburg in the Maryland statutes
until 1873. That reference is in an
act for The regulatin of the staple
of tobacco and for prevention of
frauds in his majesty's customs" The
act gives a list of places at which pub
lie warehouses be kept for inspection
of tobacco and under the head of
Prince Georges county is this: I'm
Prince Georges county: At Queen
Anne Town on the PatuXent River:
at Upper Marlborough on the land of
Thomas Sim Lee: at Nottingham on
the land of James Russell; on the
land of Alexander Magruder; at Blad
Enoch Magruder; at Piscataway on
the land of John Hawkins Jun
The house at Blandensburg which
belonged to DR.. David Ross is stand
ing. About so years ago il was
bought by Samuel X. Lee. a colored
man who came TO Bladensburg from
the Pohick neighborhood in Virginia
and whose family took its name from
the Lees of Leesylvania on Neabsco
Creek. DR.. David Ross died between
1913 and 1879, for in the latter year
the Legislature passed an act ITO en-
eXecutriX of DR.. David Ross, de-
ceased" The Ross family owned the
Ross house-a red brick house bow
cred in the trees on the north side
of Sand street-until after the Civil
War. In Green Hill Cemetery. Blad-
>ensburg, is a tall monument inscribed:
William Ross died April 16, 1928.
Harriet Ross died April "A. 1854
Madeline Ross died April Il. 1865,
Robert T. Ross died February %
1901, Sarah Ross died November 6,
1888. Maria Louisa Ross Thompson
died October 26. 1896 When the
Rambler was in that cemetery last
time-1922-he wrote: Below the
name and death date of Maria Louisa
Ross Thompson is an uninscribed
space. on the marble monument and
at that side Of the shaft is new
grave"
There is a plausible tradition. and
one of the few traditions the Rambler
believes, that Gen. Ross, British COM
mander. and his staff ate a meal in
the Ross house before the beginning
of the battle of Bladensburg August
25. 1914. There is also another story
that several English soldiers died of
wounds in the Ross house and were
buried in the garden. That story was
told the Rambler about 1898 by an old
man who said he had it from his
father who lived in Bladensburg in
1914.
RLADENSBURG is associated with
several famous men. William
Writ was born in an inn which his
father kept in Bladensburg, but the
site of the building is not known, or
at least it has never been satisfacto-
rily identified to the Rambler. If you
are we'll read, you know of William
Writ. He was an eminent lawyer and
President Jefferson appointed him one
of the counsel in the prosecution of
Aaron Burr. President Monroe ap-
appointed him Attorney General of the
United States and he held that office
under the administration of President
John Quincy Adams. He was a can
didate for the Presidency in 1882 on
the anti-Masonic ticket, Amos ELL
maker of Pennsylvania, being the
candidate for Vice President.
Another prominent man associated
with Bladensburg was Rev. William
Pinkney, known better as Bishop
Pinkney. In the Spring of 1886
William Pinkney, a young minister,
20 years old-WaS called to the par
ishes of st. Matthew and Zion, in
Prince Georges and Montgomery Coun-
ties, after refusing a chaplaincy in the
Navy. The minister's territory cover
ed the northern part of Prince
Georges County and the southern
part of Montgomery. 1t extended
from Bladensburg northwest toward
Rockville, north to Laurel and Me-