The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1933-03-23
THE LEADER OF A MOVE
MENT IMPORTANT IN
MARYLAND'S HISTORY
By H. D. w. ROSS, in the Baltimore
Sunday Sun.

ever, is listed among Maryland'S his
toric notables. 1t is not that he has
been overlooked completely; no his
tory of the Colonial era can be either
accurate or complete without mention
of the part he played in it. But
Coode has not been regarded as no.
table character; the movement with
which he was associated has been, and
is, an unpopular one and his own
temperament, in his later years, did
not enhance his chances of being list
ed among the immortals.
The Orange Revolution of 1889
which unseated the Calvert proprie-
tors and turned Maryland into Roy
al Province, was the event which es-
tablished Goodies reputation in his
own time for posterity. Most his
torians regard the revolution as an
unfortunate occurrence, inspired by re-
ligious bigotry and productive only OF
a quarter century of royal rule which
they compare unfavorably with the
benevolent leadership of the propri-
etors. Since they take this view of
the Orange movement itself, it follows
inevitably that the historians have
had no very high opinion of its leader
John Coode.
DR.. Henry J. Berkeley, of Baltimore,
a Maryland historian who has made
an exhaustive study of the available
contemporary records, is convinced
that the Maryland colonists of the
1905 had good reason to be dissatis-
fed with the Calverts. There may
have been no basis for the current be-
lief that the Jesuits, at Calvert in
stigation, were conspiring with the
French and Indians to bring whole
sale slaughter of Protestants. But
DR.. Berkeley believes there was real
ground for complaint that the pro-
prietors were not taking adequate
SGSpo " pIOlCSI CIiC AiOhIASLo
the Indians, and the evidence which he
has assembled supports the charge
that nepotism was rampant in the
colony-that Catholics and friends
and relatives of the Calverts held
nearly all the important offices and
that official Incompetence and corrup-
ton were not entirely absent.
But whether or not it is agreed
that the cause which he espoused was
lust, Coode seems deserving Of credit
for the manner in which the revolu-
ton was carried out. When the
bloodIess Orange Revolution of Mary
land is contrasted with the bloody
Bacon Rebellion in neighboring Vir-
ginia, some praise should be accord
ed its leader. And Goodies record of
public service, both before and after
the revolt, should be considered in any
appraisal of the man in his historical
setting. DR.. Berkeley holds this view
and to support it he presents the life
story of John Coode as his own re-
searches have revealed it.
##*
Before his rise to the leadership OF
the anti-Calvert movement John
Coode had had varied career. He
was born in England, presumably
in the Shire of Cornwall, for only
there in the rather unusual name to
be found. Exact knowledge of his
early years is lacking, but it is be-
lieved that he attended Sidney Col
lege, Cambridge, matriculating there
in 1912. In any event, he is known
to have been ordained deacon in the
Anglican Church by the Bishop OF
Exeter and to have served in the par
ish of Pennryn before his departure
for Maryland. Just why he left Eng
land is a matter of conjecture, but
there were rumors that he had been
involved in some difficulty with his
superiors and that the circumstances
made it advisable for him to seek a
new start in a new field.
In 1850 he was living in the little
hamlet of St. George, a few miles
west of st. Mary's City on the Po-
tomac river. He was about Is years
old at the time and it is probable that
he served as assistant to the venerable
Parson Jennings, who officiated at st.
George. But if he did resume his
clerical duties when he first came to
America he did not continue for long
as a clergyman. In 1865 he married
Susan Gerard, daughter of one OF
the colony's most influential citizens,
and the couple moved to Chaptico
Hundred, where Thomas Gerard had
established a glebe and an Anglican
church, although he was Catholic
himself. Coode almost certainly did
not serve as priest Of this parish, for
he appears on the records as a vestry
man, a position he occupied during his
lifetime.
At Chaptico, Coode soon established
himself as a merchant, operating
river boats which carried on an active