Oddities of the Lincoln assassination

[L Verge]

(11-28-2014 06:49 PM)SSlater Wrote:  

(11-28-2014 05:38 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(11-28-2014 04:12 PM)SSlater Wrote:  

(11-28-2014 09:17 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Herb,

The Calverts (the Lords Baltimore) were the founders of the proprietary colony of Maryland and have a long history dating back generations in English history as well. Their history is all over the place down here! One of their hunting lodges from the early-1700s is still in existence about three miles from Surratt House, and it was from the Calverts that Mr. Surratt bought the original 200+acres of the Surrattsville property. The fact that he never finished paying for that land in the twelve years that he lived here proved very fateful (and fatal) to Mrs. Surratt since paying that debt was one of the reasons she traveled to Surrattsville on April 11 and April 14, 1865.

The Calvert that she was dealing with was the brother of Julia Calvert Stuart, wife of Dr. Richard Stuart - one of the richest men in Virginia at the time of the Civil War. I believe I'm correct that Dr. Stuart was descended directly through the Stuart kings of England. So we have nobility marrying royalty. Julia Calvert and her brother George had grown up in Riversdale, a Calvert mansion that still stands in our county and has been restored for public tours (owned by the same agency that owns Surratt House). Their mother was Rosalie Stier, the daughter of Belgian aristocracy who fled the French Revolution and lived in Maryland until the Reign of Terror was over. After her parents returned home, she kept up a correspondence with them. The letters were obtained about thirty years ago, translated into English, and published. Rosalie and her husband had a large hand in the early politics of our republic. She mentions visits with such folks as Henry Clay and Thomas Jefferson -- although she was not a fan of "Tommy" Jefferson (her words).

If your sister-in-law is related to the Maryland Calverts, that could be a very impressive family chart.

The home of Rosalie Stier in Belguim, was "Cleydael", thus.....

Actually, Cleydael was their summer chateau, but you are correct. And, it was James O. Hall who made the connection after visiting Riversdale, the Calvert home here in Prince George's County. A small painting of the Cleydael in Belgium was hanging on the wall in the library there, and close inspection identified it.

Of course, "our" Cleydael was also a summer residence. Dr. Stuart's family had a much more palatial manor house on the banks of the Potomac, but it was subject to "miasmas" during the summer; so, the family retreated inland a few miles. During the Civil War, those pesky Yankees were also known to take practice shots from their ships as the homes that lay along the rivers in the South. The Stuart home survived and is still lived in today. A nearby home, however, called Barnesfield was destroyed by Yankee firings.

Similar target practice went on along the Rappahannock, and that is why some of the townsfolk of Port Royal had their good items stored in farmers' barns inland -- such as the Garrett tobacco barn.

John, please correct me if my history is rusty.

Geeze! Laurie, I'm the rustiest of us all. Your words look good to me. MIASMAS- That's the school teacher in you. Does it include Milaria?
I would use "at" near the end of PARA. 2 LINE .2, instead of "as".
"Barnesfield" was located just upstream from the 301 Bridge, but that's NEARBY. It is now a picnic area and playground. The Union burned it because the 9th VA. Cav. was housed in the Chapel on the property and they kept shooting at he boats passing by. Lt. R.L.T. Beale in command, Later General Beale. (R.L.T. was Richard Langhorn Turberville) Buried in Montross, VA.
Now you can have a crack at my history, penmanship, spelling etc.

John - I'll let you score one for my typo of "as" instead of "at," and "miasmas" was a very Victorian term that referred to what our ancestors considered bad fogs in the atmosphere that spawned dangerous diseases. And, yes, malaria (note correct spelling) was among those dreaded diseases. I think our score is even now with my typo and your spelling error evening both of us out and miasma having us thinking alike.