Evening star., 1937-08-08
GRAVEYARD LINK IN HISTORY
Area Probably Last Resting Place of Some Prominent Citizens
Of Montgomery County-Wel-Kept Garden in Present
Condtion-Early Takoma Park.

tifying and caring for the graves
Of some Of his early ancestors.
Mr.. Davis is not an old man, or
for this reason we might attribute
his great reverence for the dead. but
to him caring for this sacred plot
Is matter Of sentiment. aroused,
perhaps. by the fact that he inherited
the one-quarter acre of ground, upon
which also stands his home, from
an uncle. who stipulated that this
particular piece Of land should always
remain in the family.
According to Mr.. Davis, in all
there are about l25 persons buried
in this plot, and this includes his
great-grandfather and great-grand-
mother, Hezekiah Davis and wife.
At an early date the farm here
about, which must have been Of con-
siderable acreage, was known as the
Cecil Plantation, having been inherited
by Anna Cecil, who, according to the
family Bible, married James Davis,
May S, 1899, and Scharf, in his His
tory Of Western Maryland" prac-
tically substantiates this in his Mont
gomery County records, where he
records the issuing Of marriage
license to James Davis and Anney
Cisell, April rs, 1899.
The parents of Anna Cecil, who
was born July II, ITS, were. Gabriel
and Mary Cecil, and beside Anna, the
children of the latter included: Sam
uel Cecil, born October 4, 1852;
Eleanor Cecil, born April 10, 1854;
John Cecil, born October 9, 1857;
James Cecil, born February 8, 1859;
William Cecil, January 81, 1851;
Mary Cecil, born January cl, 1853;
Jemima Cecil, born November rs,
1855; Thomas Cecil, born March 90
177l, and Anna, who married James
Davis.
THE age Of this burial plot there
apparently being no records to
90 by) is believed to run back at least
as far as 1874. and that the Cecil
family lived somewhere in this neigh
borhood at that time. Indeed, not
long since, James A. Davis, who lives
on the place, found a confirmation
certificate issued to Mary Cecil during
the year mentioned, by the then rector
of st. Paul's Church, more generally
known as Rock Creek Church, and
she was probably. the mother Of
Gabriel Cecil, who was the father
Of Anna, who married James Davis.
This certificate is now one OF the
priced relics in the library Of the
Washington Cathedral
The family name, Cecil is very
old one in Maryland history. and the
writer was able to pick up at random
the name of Joshua Cecil. who is men,
toned as living in Calvert County
as early as 1895, though it is likely
the family was among the pioneer
settlers, for there was known friend
ship between the Calverts and the
Cecils before the charter of Maryland
was issued to George Calvert. the
then Lord Baltimore, June 20, 1882.
The friendship between these two
families is said to have been increased
when Sir Robert Cecil, Queen Eliza
beth's principal secretary of state,
later recommended George Calvert as
clerk Of the Privy Council of King
James, and though George Calvert
never came to America, having died
before the execution OF the patent to
Maryland, named in honor of Queen
Henrietta Maria, yet his son, Cecil
Calvert-undoubtedly named in honor
Of his friend, Sir Robert Cecil-did