Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-23

Congress from North Carolina. to Miss
Anna, daughter of Francis S. (Scott!
Key of Georgetown.
BY the Rev. Mr. Claxton, Mr.. Aler.
lex NJ. Megregor to Miss Martha Potts
third daughter of Judge Key @.
Prince Georges County.
The Rambler picks from his letters
this, which was received a few hours
after the letter from James F. Du-
hamel, published last Sunday:
''At your request l am writing to
correct a statement in your very in
teresting article on the Smallwood
family. but not with the slightest de-
gree of anger or indignation. No, in
deed You admitted you were only
guessing and might be wrong. ] am
not any too well posted myself about
this matter, but / do know this:
woodward was not the estate of the
Sewells and is not on the road to Sur
rattsville. But, as the children say,
your guess was quite warm for the
Sewells married into the family that
owned woodward. So it was very nat
ural you associated them in your
memory. woodward. on the way to
Upper Marlboro, is only miles from
that village and is off the main road
east about miles. 1t was built by
Col. Henry Darnall in 1892, the same
year Annapolis was made the capital
of Maryland. Col. Henry Darnall, be-
ing State official. must have moved
from his former home in St Marys
County to be more convenient to the
new capital. Col. Henry's grave Is at
the woodward. woodward adjoins an
other of Col. Henry'S estates. known
in that day as His Lordship's Kind
ness but afterward changed to Pop
lar Hin II nj fhfc hoo t,fi yNla
that the Sewells lived. They obtained
it by marrying into the Darnall fam
lily. The Poplar Hill house was built
about 1875 for Col. Henry's grandson
or great-grandson, also named Henry,
who married the niece and ward of
the Earl of Shrewsbury. Along the
line a certain Robert Darnall. who
had come into Poplar Hill and had no
sons, left it to his sisters son, Robert
Darnan Sewell, his sister having mar
ried Col. Nicholas Sewell. Thus II
was held for several generations by
the Sewell family. until again there
was no male heir and a daughter in
herited it. She married into the Dain-
gerfield family. 1t is still in possess
sion of the Daingerfields.
THE woodward was not kept In the
family like Poplar Hill. but was sold
about 1861. 1 do not know who
owned 1t Ut Jne time zen. SmalIWOOQ
visited there. Col. Richard West
owned it in 1912 and for many years
but I think he did not buy
1t as early as 1861. woodward burned
down about 40 years ago. A house
was built out of the old bricks.
Not long ago some one wrote an
article in The Star stating that the
old Brent estate out on the Brookville
pike had originally been Col Henry
Darnalfs and that he named 1t Joseph
Park. 1 can find no record Of Col.
Henry having owned that land or of
any such estate as Joseph Park. An
0ther man writing a history of Tako-
ma Park stated that the tract includ-
ing Takoma Park, known as Girls
Portion, was granted to William Parks
n 1883. The records at Annapolis
show that Girls Portion was granted
by Lord Baltimore to Col. Henry OAR
hall in 1881. Darnall held 1t until his
1eath, when it went to his beloved
Charles Carroll I'LL. So
now the man William Parks gets into
I at all / can't see. Apologizing for
he length of my letter and thanking
you for many enjoyable articles.
Yours sincerely,
FLORENCE B. CULVER"