Evening Star Newspaper, December 7, 1930, Page 92

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €, DECEMBER 7, 1930. Old Georgetown and Early Settlers Ninian Beall Patented “Rock of Dumbarton” and George Gordon Owned Part of “Knave’s-Disappointment”— Corcoran, - Riggs, Peabody and Linthicum Among - Financiers Whose Fortunes Began in That . " Section—Some Cabinet Officers. BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR. OR some years after the selection of the Potomac site for the National . Capital Georgetcwn had to be de- . pended upon to a large extent by the infant city for most everything, since it took some time to put Washington in a position to supply even a part of its own " needs, while the city to the west of Rock Creek, on the contrary, had been in existence . for many years and was a place of consider- - able commercial importance, as things were regarded a hundred and thirty or forty years moeorgew‘m was certainly one of the earliest . eities In Frederick County, Md., of which it . was a part until 1776, when Montgomery County was formed, and undoubtedly its ex- - gellent harbor was recognized years before it - even assumed the semblance of a town or vil- : l.!'!e‘he first settler of any place is naturally of much _interest, though in. ever so many in- stances it is difficult to place the credit just . where it is due. However, if the record is - straight the real first settlers of what is now . Georgetown were Col. Ninian Beall and George . Gordon, with. any advantages .there may be going to the former, whe obtained a patent for - the “Rock of Dumbarton” in 1703 and pitched his tent, so we are informed, in the wilderness about at a point where is now the northeast corner of N and Thirtieth streets, these streets prior to the adoption of the present system of naming streets being known as Gay and Wash- ington, respectively. > George Gordon, the other early settler, prob- ably first made his appearance in or around Georgetown abcut 1734, the year he became . the owner of a part of “Knave's Disappoint- ment,” a . tract of about 300 acres, originally patented to James Smith, and which after - that date went by the name of George Gor- don’s “Rock Creek Piantation.” - BY 1751 there evidently was quite a number of persons uving.west of Rock Creek, for - in that year we find those settled there peti- tioning the Legislature of Maryland to estab- * lish a town in this vicinity, the request being granted, according to provincial act, on May 15, 1751, Henry Wright Crabb, John Needham, John Clagett, James Perry and David Lynn, * commissioners, being authorized to-lay out and erect & town on the Potomac River, above the - mouth of Rock Creek, in Frederick County, Md., specifying the land to be used for this purpose as that- belonging to George Gordon and George Beall, “where it shall appear to them”—the commissioners—“to be most con- venient—and to survey the same into eighty Jots, to be erected into a town, and to be called Georgetown.” Except for the fact that in such cases it was . customary to appoint certain officers, we might suspect that the commissioners anticipated serious trouble in carrying out the law, for we find them appointing, to start with, Alexander Beall as clerk and surveyor and Josiah Beall coroner. But, so far as we know, the only disagreement that took place at that time was the refusal of Messrs. Beall and Gordon to sell the part of their property taken for the town for the 280 pounds awarded by the commis- s'‘oners, and in consequence the coroner. was directed to summon a jury of 17 to assess the _ value of the property to be taken, which was accordingly done by William Pritchett, Nigjan Magruder, Nicholas Baker, James Beall, Na- thaniel Magruder, Charles Clagett, Thomas . Clagett. James Holman, Charles Jones, Zacha- riah Magruder, James Wallace, Basil Beall, . Willam Willlams, Alexander Magruder, Wil- lJiam Wallace and John Magruder, son of Alexarder. George Gordon finally agreed to accept the “ terms and selected for his own lots 48 and 52, a privilege granted to himself and George Beall, and the latter subsequently accepted the ~ same terms under protest, in which he said: *If I must part with my property by force “ I had better save a little than be totally de- molished. Rather than have none, I accept these lJots—Nos. 72 -and 79—said to be Mr. * Hendersen’s and Mr. Edmonston’s. But I do hereby protest and declare that my acceptance of the said lots, which is by force, shall not - debar me frcm future redress from the com- - missioners or others if I can have the rights of a British subject. God save King George! “March 7, 1752, GEORGE BEALL.” Some writers on Georgetown assume that the place was named after George Gordon and George Beall, while others believe it was named : for George II. King of Great Britain. There was an carlier Georgetown in Kent County, Md., no doubt named for this King, and the chances are that our own Georgetown was also pamed for this monarch. . Col Ninian Beall, who cobtained a pa’ent for the “Rock of Dumbarton,”in 1703, 'was born in Scotl .ind 1n 1625 and died in Maryland in 1717. THOMAS BLOOMER BAILCH, in his “Remi- niscences,” published by Henry Polkinhorn in 1859, tells us that Ninian Beall was born in or near Largo, and also makes the following remarks about that early Maryland pioneer: “In the previous lecture some doubts were expressed whether Col. Ninian Beall, who owned a part of the land on which our town was built, had emigrated to Maryland from * the shire of Fife, in Scotland, or frcm Dumbar- ton. A close inspection of all the associations connected with his memory has convinced me that no doubt of the fact ought longer to exist. He was probably born in or near the town of Largo. This was the place out of which the celebrated Alexander Selkirk escaped and went to sea, and where relics of him are shown to this day. He became monarch of Juan Fer- % Monument and tomb of William Wirt. Attorney General of the United States, 1817-1829, in Congressional Cemetery. nandez, the comrade of goats and cats, for more than four years, and his adventures have been wrought up into an inimitable romance by De Foe, who lived in the reign of William, Prince of Orange. No shire in Scotland has produced more distinguished men than Fife, of whom Dr. Chalmers, Adam Smith and Wilkie the artist may serve as specimens. Loch Leven is 1ts principal ornament in the way of natural scenery, and its comparatively soft features hive been described by Bruce, who was born near its margin. A castle on an island in the northwest of the Loch was for a time the prison of Mary, Queen of Scotland. Ninian Beall was fonder of land than of the sea, for he seems to have sét down a kind of Mc- Gregor foot on the soil of Maryland. His son George was not exempt from the same pen- chant for what is called terra firma. In all probab’lity that son was our first settler and occupied to cur town the same relation which Boone occupies to portions of Kentucky or Penn to Philadelphia. “It may not be amiss here to mention that for a long time a tradition was rife in our town, and in some parts of Maryland, that Ninian Beall was concerned in the murder of Sharpe, the Archbishop of St. Andrews. The lecturer has handled the sword which he is said to have used on that dramatic occasion. The circumstances which led to this murder have been stated by many historians. The archbishcp himself had been a noforious per- secutor, 'as well as traitor to the religious party with whom he had once acted. He had yielded to the temptation of money and per- sonal advancement. 'I‘H! first attempt on his life was made in 1662. but it failed, and then he applied the koot and thumb screws to extort confessions from those suspected of complicity in the at- tempt. But on a bright morning in May, 1679, he started from 8t. Andrews for Glasgow, ac- companied by his daughter. His carriage was chased and overtaken ‘on Magus Moor by nine hersemen, two of whom held his daughter while the others dispatched their victim. The Arch- An old view of the home of Benjamin Stoddert, at Prospect avenue and Thirty-fourth street. bishop begged for his life, but the perpetrators of the deed were inexorable. His monument in tion. - He was a brave champion in fréeedom and a friend to constitu- . .This was evinced in the demand on Maryland to place herself crown of William and Mary. It is possible, however, that he may have left Fife- time that Sharpe was put-to might have relinquished his hot prosecution which Charles in Scotland. In this way suspicion may have been engendered, and that whelmed as well as a layman, or a king as well as his humblest subject. James I of Scotland and William the Silent, as well as the Admi- rable Chrichton, were assassinated. Nor are we willing, out of the very numerous incidents of history, to select the death of Sharpe as the most pathetic of them all, though we may con- demn the deed as fanatical and atrocious. ““George Beall, the son of Ninian, was the immediate progenitor of George and Thomas Beall, who were respectable inhabitants of Georgetown. Ninian, being a friend of the Hanoverian succession, probably gave name to his son from this fact. George of George died in 1805 and was buried in the family cemetery, which is nearly opposite to the house now oc- cupied by Dr. Riley. He was a man of rather limited education, but his head was stocked with plain common sense. He opposed the rotundity of the earth, thought a knowledge of accounts and the art of surveying much more useful than Latin or Greek, and his reading was confined to Josephus, Cook's Voyages, Morse’s Gazetteer, the Bible and all the news- papers he could collect. H2 married a Magruder. The clan of the McGregors had been rather turbulent in the highlands of Scot- land, but the Magruders behaved very well after their removal to Maryland, about the middle of the seventeenth century. They were outlawed by the English Government in 1633. Sir Walter Scott, who was well posted up in all the traditions of Scotland, states that Rob Roy McGregor became involved in debt, and that he sold his estate, near Loch Lomond, upon condition of its reverting when it could be re- deemed. Rob carried the amount of the re- demption money to the purchaser, who evaded the contract. McGregor then intercepted the agents who were sent to receive the rents and took away the money. This, we apprehend, was not a mortal sin. It is unnecessary to say any- thing about the descendants of Col. George Beall, except in connection with eur town. His son, Thomas Brooke, was at one time president of the Farmers and Mechanics’ Bank, and died in 1820. In 1782 his eldest daughter was mar- ried to Rev. Dr. Balch, once pastor of the Presbyterian' Church, on Bridge street, who is introduced into these reminiscences by special request from many of our citizens. “THOMAB BEALL, brother of George, made one of the additions to the corporate limits of this town. Seventy-five years ago he built a house on the heights called' Dumbarton, and died in the Fall of 1819. He married an Orme, and the Ormes were either from Cumberland or Staffordshire, in England. He had two daughters, one of whom married a great-nephew of Gen. Washington, and the other Maj. John Peter, who was once Mayor of Georgetown. His seat, Dumbarton, is at present the property of the Hon. Jesse D. Bright, a Senator of the United States from Indiana. Dumbarton was once the abode of a remarkable young lady, Miss Eleanor Washington, who is every way worthy of ‘a place in this lecture. Of fine, com-~ manding countenance, with mathematical pow- ers rarely equaled and seldom surpassed—and " they blended with a taste for the arts—her .early decease inspired general sympathy in & wide circle of friends. She sleeps in the pensive .grounds of Oak Hill, and for her fine a - Smith of our town. The biography of Smith ought to be read by all young ladies wi aspire to mental improvement, for she was - only a wonderful algebraist, but she. made admirable translation of the Book of Job the Hebrew into her vernacular tongue. Tnlnedl.theumudermdunOrmehph lies mentioned have quite a number of de- scendants living in and around Washington, and in 1910 Caleb Clarke Magruder, jr., a descendant of the Magruders and Ninian Beall, prevailed upon the local Society of Colonial Wars, of which he was, and probably still is, a member, to erect & memorial boulder to the memory of the last-mentioned, which today stands in the churchyard of St. John's Episcopal Church, O and Potomac streets northwest. And the fole lowing is copied from the beautiful bronze marker which forms a part of the memorial: “Colonel Ninian Beall. ’ Born Scotland, 1625. Died Maryland, 1717, Patentee of Rock of Dumbarton. : Member of the House of Burgesses. Commander-in-Chief of Provincial Forces of Maryland. ‘ In Grateful Recognition of His Services ‘Upon All Incursions and Disturbances of Neigh- boring Indians,’ the Maryland Assembly of 1699 Passed ‘An Act of Gratuity.’ This Memorial Is Erected by the Society of Colonial Wars in the District of Columbia, 1910.” - Balch, the younger, tells us that Ninian Beall was “probably buried at Fife Largo, one of -his farms on the Eastern Branch, in sight of Wash= ington,” and, further, that he survived to the extreme age of 107 years, but, according to the Colonial Wars tablet, his age at death was Jjust 92. 2 C. C. Magruder, jr., before referred to, in his interesting account of his ancestor, tells us that: “Ninian Beall was born in Largo, Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1625. He was a loyal Scot and cornet under the banner of Leslie, who was routed by Cromwell and Monk at the battle Dunbar in 1650. : “Taken prisoner ‘there, he was transported to Barbados, and thence to Maryland, where ‘he settled in Calvert County about 1655, certain): as early as 1658. 1 “A victim of the fortunes of war, he was sentenced to five years in bondage—an honor- able servitude—and that he performed its re- quirements honestly and faithfully is evidenced by the provincial records of January 16, 1667, reading: . ‘Then came Ninian Beall of Calvert County, planter, and proved right to 50 acres of land for his time service, performed wi Richard Hall of same county.’” t SP!:AKING of his family, Mr. Magruder tells us: “His wife was Ruth Moore, daughter of Rich- ard and Jane Moore, a barrister of Calvert County. She died between 1699 and 1704. “Traditionally, Col. Beall was the father of 12 children. He mentions but three of them in his will, by which he devised about 2,800 acres of land. Undoubtedly he had previously ‘con= veyed property to other sons and daughters upon their reaching age or marrying. * * .* “The most acceptable list of his issue includes John; Thomas, died, unmarried, in England; Ninian, married Elizabeth ; Capt. Charles, married Mary ; Col. George, married Elizabeth Brooke; Sarah, married Capt. Samuel Magruder; Hester, married Col. Joseph Bel$; Jane, married Col. Archibald Edmonstone; Mary, married Andrew Hambleton; Margery, married (firstly) Thomas Sprigg, 3d, and (see«_ ondly) Col. Joseph Belt, her sister Hester)s