Maryland Historical Magazine, 1960, Volume 55, Issue No. 4

Maryland Historical Magazine, 1960, Volume 55, Issue No. 4

MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE VOL. 55, No. 4 DECEMBER, i960 CONTENTS PAGE George Calvert: His Yorkshire Boyhood ]ames W. Foster 261 Constitutional Reform and Election Statistics in Maryland, 1790-1812 /. R. Vole 275 The Causes of the Maryland Revolution of 1689 Michael G. Kammen 293 Old Quaker Burying Ground, "West River /. Reaney Kelly 334 John Ferdinand Dalziel Smith: Loyalist Harold Hancock 346 Sidelights 359 Letter of Francis Scott Key ed. by Franklin R. Mullaly Excerpts from Two Pinkney Letter Books ed. by Dorothy Brown Reviews of Recent Books 371 Cappon, ed.. The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Corre- spondence between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams, by Charles A. Barker Labaree, ed., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, by Curtis Carroll Davis Hall, Benjamin Franklin and Polly Baker: The History of a Literary Deception, by Ellen Hart Smith Hamilton, Braddock's Defeat: The Journal of Captain Cholmelefs Batman, ... by Milton W. Hamilton Sears, George Washington and the French Revolution, by Ellen Hart Smith Parham, ed., ATy Odyssey: Experiences of a Young Refugee from Two Revolutions ... by Frank F. White, Jr. Powers, ed., The Maryland Postal History Catalog . ., by H. Findlay French Gray et al, The Historian's Handbook: A Key to the Study and Writing of History, by Frank F. White, Jr. Ferguson and Ferguson, The Piscataway Indians of Southern Maryland, by Frederic Matthew Stiner Notes and Queries 380 Contributors 383 Annual Subscription to the Magazine, $4.00. Each issue $1.00. The Magazine assumes no responsibility for statements or opinions expressed in its pages. Richard Walsh, Editor C. A. Porter Hopkins, Asst. Editor Published quarterly by the Maryland Historical Society, 201 W. Monument Street, Baltimore 1, Md. Second-class postage paid at Baltimore, Md. ANNOUNCING NEW PUBLICATIONS OF THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY Early Explorations of the Chesapeake Bay by GILBERT BYRON. A pamphlet of 22 pp. with maps, illustra- tions, discussion questions and bibliography. High school level. $1.00 each, discount to schools. Delivery extra. Three new Wheeler Leaflets on Maryland History, in the Maryland Grows with the Nation Series: 12-A Canals in Maryland, 6 pp. 12-B The National Road, 8 pp. 12-C The Baltimore Clippper, 6 pp. Plentifully illustrated. Sixth grade and above. 10^ each, discount to schools. Delivery extra. COMING IN 1961 Maryland in the Civil War by HAROLD R. MANAKEE, assistant director, Maryland Histor- ical Society. About 150 pp., board covers, maps, illustrations and bibliography. Ninth grade and above. Price to be announced. Seven new Wheeler Leaflets on Maryland History in a new Maryland in the Civil War Series: No. 15 John Brown's Raid No. 16 Maryland, A Divided State No. 17 Bloodshed in Baltimore No. 18 "Maryland, My Maryland!" No. 19 Civil War Engagements in Maryland No. 20 Prison Camps in Maryland No. 21 The Assassination of President Lincoln MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE A Quarterly Volume 55 DECEMBER, I960 Number 4 GEORGE CALVERT: HIS YORKSHIRE BOYHOOD* By JAMES W. FOSTER I LOVE Richmondshire with all my heart and it warms me when you talk of it, as cold a country as it is," wrote Sir George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, from London to a fellow York- shireman, Sir Thomas Wentworth.1 Characteristic of the writer was this tribute to the land of his birth, a countryside of no small charm, abruptly steep in the west but for the most part gently rolling, watered by numerous streams and generally well cultivated. Among the many villages of stone and brick there is but one town. Richmond with its great ruined Norman castle upon the cliff beside the Swale River dominates most of the district. Dominant, too, has been the role of Richmond in the history and legendry of the North Riding. * Copyright I960, James W. Foster. The individuals and institutions to whom the author is indebted are too numerous by far to mention in limited space. Full acknowledgment will be made to them in the final publication to which this paper is preliminary. It is a pleasant duty, however, to thank certain generous donors for grants without which a study of the life of Sir George Calvert could not have been undertaken, namely, the American 261 262 MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE Westwardly rises the broken plateau of the Pennines, 2,000 to 2,500 feet high, cut along the eastern face by cascading streams, many of them cataracts which drop through wild, rocky glens to reach the open country below. These are the renowned Yorkshire dales. Emerging from one of these gorges, Swaledale, the River Swale after skirting Richmond's bluffs flows many miles in a twisting southeastward course through the central Yorkshire plain to join the Ure above the city of York. Thence their united waters run through the stone walled channel within the ancient city, ulti- mately entering the Ouse to reach the North Sea. In the great plain of the North Riding, gracious in summer sunshine, yet severe under fogs or storms from the not far distant sea, there stands beside the Swale some seven miles below Richmond a brick and stone mansion of Jacobean architecture called Kiplin Hall. Here once stood the house that in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries was the home of Leonard Calvert, gentleman. The Calverts had been known for generations in Yorkshire, and families of that name were established in each of the three ridings, though they may not all have descended from a single stock.2 They were thought by some to have derived from the migration of Flemish weavers attracted to Yorkshire at an early period when the county had become famous for wool growing. In the parch- ment letters patent, issued in 1622 by Sir Richard St. George, Philosophical Society, Penrose Fund; Mr. Jacob France, a vice-president of the Maryland Historical Society; and the President, Senator George L. Radcliffe and the Council of the Society whose constant support has been invaluable. Acknowl- edgments of particular assistance in this chapter are made in the appropriate notes. Much of my interest in this theme arose from finding the notes of the late Charles W. Bump, (1872-1908) a journalist and scholar of Baltimore who in 1901 made an extended investigation of Calvert sources in England. His death, before he could put his findings in narrative form, resulted in complete eclipse of his work. His extensive notes at the Maryland Historical Society have been of great value. Finally, I have been privileged to have the interest and counsel of Professor Wallace Notestein, emeritus professor of English history at Yale Uni- versity, whose published writings and unrivalled knowledge of seventeenth century England are widely known—J. W. F. better of Sept. 12, 1630, Strafford Papers, 12, f. 136, Sheffield City Libraries, by the kind permission of Earl Fitzwilliam. 2 Wills, Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, York, hereafter cited "" Borth- wick"; also Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series, IV (1888), XIV (1893), XIX (1895), XXII (1897), XXIV (1898), XXVI (1899); North Riding Record Society, Quarter Sessions, Records I, II, (1884); Yorkshire Parish Register Society, Publications, XLII, XLIII (1911-1912). See also Administrations in Appendixes of each volume. Other series consulted are Surtees Society, Publi- cations, vols. XXVI, CII, CX; Thoresby Society, Publications, vol. XIX. GEORGE CALVERT: HIS YORKSHIRE BOYHOOD 263 Norroy King of Arms, confirming to Sir George Calvert the gold and black Calvert device which today appears in the seal and flag of Maryland, it is recited that Richard Verstegan, an antiquary of Antwerp, had sent evidence that Sir George was descended from the noble and ancient family of Calverts of Flanders " where they have lived long in great honor." 3 Admitting that research standards were less exacting then than now, and even that the Norroy King of Arms may have put his best foot forward to please a courtier high in royal favor, one cannot dismiss a claim accepted by Calvert and undoubtedly by his contemporaries. The case may be rested by saying that the Calverts of Kiplin believed themselves of Flemish extraction.4 If we may trust the evidence of wills and inventories, the many Calverts of Yorkshire in the sixteenth century were tenant farmers, husbandmen, in some instances yeomen of standing, and as in the case of Leonard of Kiplin, gentlemen, when that term signified superior social position. Though most of them bequeathed farm animals, feather beds, and small sums of money to their loved one, it is interesting to see provision sometimes made for the education of a younger son.6 The Calvert name is associated with Kiplin as early as 1570 when "" Jenkyn alias John Calvert de Kypling " was involved in a legal proceeding, the full record of which is now lost.6 He was possibly a near relative of John Calvert of Oulcotes, Parish of Arncliffe, some 25 miles to the west, who died in 1565 naming a Leonard Calvert as one of the supervisors of his will.7 John of Oulcotes had a son Christopher, a name, as we shall see, borne by another son of Leonard Calvert of Kiplin. Oulcotes, atop the Pennine Ridge and beyond the border of the North Riding, in the West Riding, was the place of residence of many Calverts. We may surmise that it was from thence the Kiplin branch derived. 3 Confirmation of arms to Sir George Calvert, Dec. 3, 1622. Calvert Paper No. HYz, Maryland Historical Society. 4 Modern scholars, however, contend that the origin of the name is calf herd, descriptive of the occupation in mediaeval times of certain farm retainers. This may well be so; or it may apply to some of the Calverts and not to all. P. H. Reaney, A Dictionary of British Surnames (London, 1958) ; correspondence with Dr.

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