Montgomery County sentinel., 1956-11-01
NetU Rockville Recreation
Area Has Long History

middling soil. 1t would appear
from this that Diggs had a ten
ant farmer on Burgundy" as
there is nothing to indicate that
Djggs or any member of his fam.
lily lived on it. Ignatius himself
lived at Melwood Park, a mag
nificent estate in Prince Georges
County. He had one daughter,
Mary, who was sought in mar
riage by a young man named
Thomas Sim Lee, a cousin of
sRichard Henry Lee of Virginia,
famous in the Revolution. Diggs
did not approve of Lee because
he was a Protestant and far from
wealthy. Finally Lee agreed that
his children could follow the
faith of their mother, so Ignatius
Diggs relented and his daughter
Mary was married on October 81,
1771 to Thomas Sim Lee.
Six years later, after active par
ticipation in the American Re
volution, Thomas Sim Lee be-
came governor of Maryland. Mrs,
Lee worked for the cause of lib
erty also and for her efforts at
raising money, received a letter
from General Washington dated
October II, 1880, thanking her
and the patriotic ladies of Mary
land, and saying the funds they
had raised would be spent to buy
shirts and stocks (black) for
troops in the Southern Army.
After retiring from active poll
tical life, Governor and Mrs, Lee
lived at Needwood near Frederick,
with a winter home in George
town. 1t is obvious that they did
not occupy Mrs. Lees property of
Burgundy" as a home. The
Lees had six children, to one of
whom, William, fell possession of
Burgundy" His heirs in 1913
conveyed 38 acres of Burgundy"
to Richard Johns Bowie of whom
later.
MILL LAND
Two years after William Pot
tenger received his Patent to
Easy Come By" and while the
present site of GlenVieW was very
much in the wilderness, another
Patent issued to Edward Dawson
and Edward Dawson, jr. for 214
acres which they called mill
Land This tract began at a
bounded white oak near the head
of a glade on the west side of a
small branch of Rock Creek.
Here Edward Dawson built a
water mill near the main
branch of Rock Creek" There
must have been grain-producing
farms in the area if a mill was
needed But the venture may not
have been profitable, for in 1871
the Edward DaWsons described
as planters) leased the property
for seven years to William
Young. Under the terms of the
lease, the Dawsons were to keep
what houses are now on said
plantation in good repair and ten
antable." d" Young was to make
use of what bark he thinks is
proper for tanning hides" and to
make use of what timber Young
has occasion for, not wasting or
making way with any. This was
to cost Young 600 pounds of
tobacco a year and at the end of
the seven years he was to leave
the plantation with good tight
fence.
Before the lease expired, Ed
ward Dawson sold Mill Land"
to Thomas Williams. This was
in 1874 and presumably Williams
lived on the place or near it, for
he and his sons were closely as
sociated with the area for many
years. Thomas Williams in 1888
offered two acres to Prince
Georges Parish for building a
chanel. This was done and the
building was occupied for many
wears until a new church Christ
Church, was built in Rockville.
At that time the site of the for
mer Chapel became a cemetery
and is used today as Rockville
Union Cemetery.
Two sons of Thomas Williams,
William and Elisha, were well
known in local circles. 1t was
on some Of their land that Rock
vile was later located; in fact,
the town was called Williamsburg
in its early days.
MIL Land" descended from
Thomas Williams TO his son Will
liam Williams who married Bar
bara Owen. They must have
been proud of the Owen name,
for they included it in the names
Of most Of their children: Thomas
Owen Williams, Elizabeth Owen
Williams, Elisha Owen Williams.
Edward Owen Williams, etc. The
elder Williams died in 1863. d.
recting that Mill Land" on Rock
Crank ba cold If tttac act,ttfvoJ