Evening Star Newspaper, January 3, 1932, Page 70

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY 3, 6 1932. Marshall Hdll and Its Famous Mansion BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR. MONG the many old nearby mansions which will prove especially inter- esting to the visitor to the Nation's Capital during the fast-appronch- ing Bicentennial, none will date farther back into history than the Marshall home at Marshall Hall, Md., almost opposite Mount Vernon, where lived the first President’s friend and supporter, Thomas Han- son Marshall a captain in the Continental Army. There & no certainty as to the exact age of the mansion, which may even daie back %o 1690, or esrlier. Willlam Marshall, we are told, purchased in 1673 200 acres of land here- about from the emperor of the Piscataway, or Conoy, Indians, and that this part of the for- mer’s estate descended to his son, William, and that the latter's third son, Thomas Marshall, was born within its walls in 1604, a fact sub- stantiated, it is said, by the family Bible. Naturally, there .is no one alive today who can remember so far back, but there are many people with us today who recall visits to the place as a Summer resort, and remember the old mansion housesfor at least half a century, and who only knew it then as an ancient dwelling, close by which was a small burial plot with a limited number of headstones tell- ing the story of its early owners, with whom were largely buried the facts regarding the mansion and the history of the people who once lived there in the style of lords and barons. The dancing pavilion had a smooth floor, snd the music was in keeping with the good reputation of the place, the proprietor of which for many years was Col. Joseph A. McKibbin who died July 1, 1896. These were the days when every steamboat that passed Mount Ver- non tolled its bell in honor of the Father of his Country, who sleeps beside his_consort in a sacred tomb on th2 estate wh®h was in life so near and dear to his heart. On ves- sels carrying bands of music it was also cus- tomary to play, in pascing the national shrine, “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” or some other fitting piece, but a few years ago when the writer went down the Potomae, the vessel did not even salute. Perhaps this was due to care- lessness, for it would hardly be conceivable to believe patriotism is dying out. HIS reminds me of the songs we used to sing on the excursion boat on the way beck home. Fifty years ago the boats were not lighted with electricity as they are today, and consequently the decks were not so bright, and as we gathered in a group in one end of the boat, where everybody looked the same, someone would start to sing: “I saw the ship go round the bend, good-by, my lover, good-by,” and soon everybody on the ship would be sing- ing some familiar strain, such as, “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Old Black Joe,” “Old Folks at Home,” “White wings they never grow weary, they carry me cheerily over the sea—as the words to “White Wings” ran—at that period & new and popular piece. “In the Gloaming,” still popular, was one of the favorites, as was ‘“Neita Juanita.” *I Wander Today O'er the Hills, Maggie,” was never omitted, and usually there were “America,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “The Star Spangled Banner,” “Empty Is the Cradle, Baby’s Gone,” another new piece at that time; “Larboard Watch,” “Little Church in the Wild- wood,” and, as the boat was nearing the dock, you could almost always depend on ‘“Home, Sweet Home,” or “Home again, home again, From a foreign shore, But, oh, it fills my soul with joy To meet my friends once more, For here I dropped the party tear To cross the ocean’s foam But now I'm once again with those Who kindly greet me home.” A very beautiful sentiment even today, par- ticularly for those who have returned to Wash- ington to spend the holiday season with their relatives and friends. Saluting Mount Vernon was by no means a ocustom confined to the period of half a cen- tary ago, but originated during the lifetime of Gen. Washington, when armed merchantmen sailing from Alexandria always saluted when passing this historic home on their way to meet the enemy, during the maritime war with PFrance. Upon these occasions, on the report ot the first gun, the general would leave his Mbrary, and, taking a position on the portico that fronts the river, remain there uncovered until the firing ceased. Still other occasions are recorded at an early date when similar marks of veneration were ac- corded the master of Mount Vernon while he was living and could appreciate them. One particular salute, we are told * * * “was an bhomage of the heart, for it was paid by an old companion in arms, while its echoes called up the memories of the past: A small vessel would Excursion Resort on Potomac Made Contribu- tions to History in Its Earlier Days—Once Owned by Piscataway Indians— W ar- burton, Now Fort Washington, and Its Association With Mount Vernon. An old mansion at Warburton, now Fort Washington, opposite Mount Vernon. be seen to skim along the bosom of the Po- tomac; nearing the shore, the little craft furled her sails, let go her anchor, and discharged a small piece of ordnance, then a boat put off and pulled to the shore, and soon a messenger appeared, bearing a fine rock or drum fish, with the compliments of Benjamin Grimes, who re- sided some fifty miles down the river, nd who was a gallant officer of the Life Guard in the War of the Revolution.” HAT Marshall Hall and Mount Vernon were closely approached by British vessels during the American Revolution, there is no doubt, for an inciden! connected with one of these visits up the Potomac was the cause of a severe rebuke administered by the general, the circumstances being as follows: “While the British were in the Potomac, they sent a flag on shore to Mount Vernon (his private estate) requiring a supply of fresh pro- visions. Refusals of such demands were often followed by burning the houses and other prop- erty near the river. To prevent this catastro- phe, the person intrusted with the management of the estate went on board with the flag, and, carrying a supply of provisions, requested that the buildings and improvements might be spared. For this he received a severe repri- mand in a letter to him, in which the general observed ‘that it would have been a less painful circumstance to me to have heard that, in consequence of your non-compliance with the request of the British, they had burnt my house, and laid my plantation in ruins. You ought to have considered yourself as my repre- sentative, and should have reflected on the bad example of communicating with the enemy, and making & voluntary offer of refreshment to them, with a view to prevent a conflagra- tion.” " When an old-timer’s mind is turned to early excursion places, such as Marshall Hall, he naturally thinks of the old steamboats, their captains, the scenery along the river 50 and more years ago, and the water resorts of more or less note, some of which are not even known to the younger generation, but which in their fathers’ time afforded the greatest amount of enjoyment; such, for instance, as Analostan Island, Custis Springs, Notley Hall, Fort Foote, and Fort Washington, both used by the Sunday schools; River View, Mount Vernon Springs and Glymont, in the upper part of the river. They did not all flourish at the same time. An early view of Fort Washington, Indeed, Custis Springs was & popular place when some of our grandmothers were girls and wore hoopskirts, did their hair up in water- falls, danced the minuet and took a night- liner for home—at 10 p.m.—before the days of horsecars, and when the Avenue and other main thoroughfares were unpaved and too dusty to walk on in dry weather and too muddy when the streets were wet. NLY & limited few recall these conditions while thousands still remember the old Marshall Hall and the merry-go-round, the dolls we did and did not knock down, and above all the organ that was usually set to play one tune and kept that one up through- out the day when the dance music was not going on. It is remarkable what an impres- sion things will make upon some people’s minds, for the writer still recalls this organ which for years never failed to play, “Say boys, what really do you mean, when you wink the other eye, when you wink the other eye?” Yes, music hath charms, but to hear a piece like this played all day surely becomes monotonous, and the bare thought of it 'is quite likely to carry one back to his early manhood, and that beastly organ at Marshall Hall. But the ladies of the Daughters of the American Revolution of Maryland did not have Marshall Hall in mind as an excursion place when they paid their visit there on October 13 last. It was to place upon it a marker to perpetuate the history of the old mansion and the farm which once surrcunded it, which passed from generation to generation for more than 150 years, or until the#period of the Civil War, when all but the sacred cemetery changed hands, this being reserved to the descendants of the first white owner of the estate. According to Minnie Kendall Lowther, who has written entertainingly of Mount Vernon and Marshall Hall, and who had a large part in having the tablet placed on the bullding, we find that: “Thomas Hanson Marshall of the third generation of the mansion was the outstanding master, since he was a contemporary with Gen. Washington at Mount Vernon. He brought his bride to Marshall Hall in 1756. Gen. Wash- ington brought his bride to Mount Vernon three years”later, and they lived side by side until the death of Gen. Washington in 1799. Thomas Hanson Marshall lived on for two years before he was laid in the cemetery here.” HE ewercises at the unveiling of a8 communicated to the wri Lowther, must have been very in cially to one who likes to dream the present custodian, pulled the cords that unveiled the marker, which reads: ‘“This mansion was built by William Marshall II about 1690, a half century earlier than Mount Vernon. William Marshall I obtained title to this tract of 200 acres of John Ackel- ahama, the emperor of the Piscataway Indians, Por six generations Marshall Hall passed from father to son—a period of 176 years. From 1756 to 1801 Capt. Thomas Hanson Marshall of the American Revolution, neighbor and life~ time friend of Gen. Washington of Mount Vernon, was master of the mansion.” A Maryland State fiag, the gift of Gov. Albert Ritchie for use at the mansion, was presented by David C. Winebrenner, secretary of state of Maryland, and Miss Lowther, his« torlan of the place, accepted the flag on be= half of the mansion with a speech. It is hard to realize the great style in which its owners once lived. John Hanson Marshall was no doubt wealthy and lived as did the Southern colonial planters of means. By 1790 we might assume that some of his children had married and moved to their own homes, and still we find him at that date with a wife, one son under 16 years of age, two daughters, and 49 slaves, which indicates that his farms must have been well taken care of, and that he had plenty of servants to row him across the river to visit neighbor Washington and te attend him when he called on his friends, and to look after the dogs when the master was in pursuit of bears, deer and foxes, when that part of the country abounded with wild game, HIS neighborhood is easily traceable back to the Piscataway or Conoy Indians, wha are believed to have had their main village on the site of Fort Washington, just to the north, and there are still residents of the vicinity who claim descent from them. The Conoys; as they are generally ethnologically called, were on this site many years before 1634, when Lord Baltimore’s colonists first settled in Maryland. “They were, however,” so we are told “so harassed by the Conestoga that a few years later they abane doned their country and moved farther up the Potomac. They, then rapidly decreasing, were in 1673 assigned a tract on that stream, which Streeter thinks may have been near the site of Washington, D. C. The Conestoga, when driven from their own country by the Iroquois in 1675, again invaded the territory of the Conoy and forced that tribe to retire up the Potomac and into Pennsylvani gradual migration, unless it took place at & much later period, for Baron Graffenried, while searching for a reported silver mine in 1711, found them on the Maryland side of the Poto= mac about 50 miles above Washington, and made a treaty of friendship with them.” However, when Gov. Leonard Calvert and & few chosen men first came up the Potomac; and after several stops arrived at Piscataway Creek, they found the surrounding heights cove ered with Indians to the number of about 500, in hostile array. Being convinced that the mission of the colonists was a peaceful one, a conference then took place, Henry Fleet, who had been captured 13 years before and held @ prisoner since then, acting as interpreter, In this connection it is related that: “Shortly after the arrival of Gov. Calver$ and his party at Piscataway Creek the Indian chief fell ill, and 40 conjurors or medicine men in vain tried every remedy within their powers when one of Gov. Calvert's party, a Father White, by permission of the chief administered some medicine to him and caused him to be freely bled; the treatment was successful, the invalid began to improve and was soon ree stored to perfect health. The chieftain, thoughy would not bid Calvert and his men either 80 or stay, but told him ‘he might use his own discretion.” Gov. Calvert, not overpleased -with the dubiousness of his welcome, thought prudence was the better policy, and deeming it unwise to settle so far up (150 miles) the Potomac, after having by various presents pere suaded the chief of the Piscataways to allow Henry Fleet to accompany them, returned foe his co-patriots, who wecre awaiting him a$ Blackistones Island.” N excellent description of the Piscataway Indians, written in 1635 by Father White, tells us: “The natives are very tall and well propor- tioned; their skin is naturally rather dark, and they make it uglier by staining it, generally with red paint mixed with oil, to keep off the mosquitoes, thinking more of their owh come fort than of appearances. They disfigure their countenances with other colors, too, painting them in various and truly hidesus and fright« ful ways, either a dark blue above the nose and red below, or the reverse. And as they live almost to extremo cld age without having beards, they counterfeit them with paint by drawing lines of various colors from the exe tremities of the lips to the ears. “They generally have black hair, which they carry round in a knot to the left ear and fasten with a band, adding s:m= ornament which ig in estimation amorg them. Scme of them wear on their foreheads the figure of a fish made of copper. They adorn their necks with glass beads strung on threadlike necklaces, though these beads are getting to be less valued among them and less useful for trade. They L4