Mrs. Juliana Paca (b. 1783 - d. 1861)
MSA SC 5496-29983
Property Owner, Queen Anne's County, Maryland
Julianna Paca
Biography:
Juliana C. Tilghman (also spelled Julianna) was born on December 6, 1783 to Major Richard Tilghman and his second wife, Mary Tilghman.1 On June 21, 1800, Juliana's aunt Anna Maria Chew sold her slaves and land on Turkey Point, Cecil County, for one dollar. Juliana also owned Palmer's or Watson (later Garrett) Island in the Susquehanna River.2
She married John Philemon Paca on October 23, 1800.3 Paca was the son of William B. Paca, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a Maryland governer.4 Juliana and her husband lived on Wye Island in Queen Anne's County, where she had inherited the Wye Plantation. John also inherited Wye Hall from his father, who had owned the other half of the island.5 The census recorded 117 slaves on their Wye Island property in 1800, and 100 slaves in 1810.6 The Pacas had at least seven children: William Bennett (b. circa 1801), Edward Tilghman (b. circa 1812), John Philemon (d. 1835), and Anna Maria Chew.7
In 1886, Frederic Emory wrote about the Fourth of July celebrations of 1808 (pg. 379):
Another Fourth of July celebration was held about the same time on the banks of the Chester River by Captain Richard I. Jones' troop of cavalry "and a considerable number of respectable farmers." A "genteel and copious entertainment" was provided by Capt. Jones and among the toasts was one to Mrs. Paca, "the generous donor of our elegant stand of colours for which the troop return their grateful acknowledgements."8The 1820 census listed 170 slaves on the Pacas's farm in Queen Anne's County. In 1832, John and Juliana Paca sold four acres of her land in Cecil County for $564, for the construction of the Turkey Point Lighthouse.9 In 1840, the census recorded the Pacas as owning 147 slaves.10 John Philemon Paca died that year at the age of sixty-nine.11
Shortly after his death, Juliana moved to Cecil County to live on her Turkey Point farm, which she described as her "home estate" when she wrote her will in 1842.12 However, she had returned to Queen Anne's County by 1850, living with her son Edward T. The 1860 census for Queen Anne's County listed Juliana Paca as seventy-four years old, and the head of the household with real estate valued at $50,000. The 1860 slave schedule showed her as owning thirty-four slaves. Her son, William B. Paca, owned 138 slaves in the 1860 slave schedule.
When Juliana wrote her will in 1842, she split the Wye Plantation between her sons William B. and Edward T., a decision that later led to bloodshed within the family. She also bequeathed William B. all of her slaves on Wye Island. She bequeathed Edward T. most of her property on Turkey Neck, Cecil County, along with the slaves. She also willed one third of the property to her grandson John C. Paca. She also mentioned land that she owned in Kent County, "called Bloomy Neck," and in Allegany County, called "Bucks Bones." Her late husband had received the property from his father.13
Her son, Edward T., died in 1842, and Juliana amended her will. She amended it again in 1858, due to debts that had to be paid first. In 1860, she sold all of her real estate, personal property, and slaves in Kent County, as well as her land in Allegany County, to J.P.C. Davidson.14 J.P.C. Davidson was likely Dr. James Davidson, the father of Philemon Davidson. Juliana passed away on February 13, 1861.15 She was buried at the Wye Mills Cemetery.16
On June 15, 1861, the Cecil Democrat reported that eleven
of Juliana’s slaves had escaped from her Turkey Point farm in Cecil
County.17 The newspaper article suggested that "they took a
boat and proceeded to the Susquehanna, and thence up the Canal to Pennsylvania."
Completed in 1840, the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal ran twenty-six miles
into Philadelphia, ending in Wrightsville.18 However, in a notice
entitled "Stampede of Slaves," the Cecil Whig reported that the
slaves were believed to be hiding on Watson's Island, the island that Juliana
had owned in the mouth of the Susquehanna.19 The fugitives may
have timed their escape with Juliana's death. Runaway ads at the Maryland
State Archives show that slaves often escaped during weekends and holidays,
as well as after a slaveholder's death, when the household was in confusion.
In 1865, the Baltimore Sun reported that Juliana's son William B. Paca, along with his sons Tilghman C. and James P., murdered John P. Paca and Alfred Jones. John P. Paca was the son of Edward T. Paca, making him William B.'s nephew. The article described William's two sons as "non compos mentis" (not of sound mind). The murder resulted from a dispute over the late Edward T. Paca's portion of the estate on Wye Island, which he had inherited from his mother Juliana. John P. Paca and Alfred Jones were shot while digging post holes for a fence.20
According to Maryland, A New Guide to the Old Line State,
William Paca and three of his sons, including two who were mentally ill, were indicted for murder but acquitted. William Paca's family was ostracized from society, and he died shortly thereafter. Two of his sons committed suicide; a daughter died of accidental poisoning; his wife and the rest of their children were confined to mental institutions.21Wye Hall burned down in 1879, through a fire that workmen accidentally set during roof repairs. The Baltimore Sun article referred to the island as both Wye Island and Paca Island.22
1. Dr. Christopher Johnston,
"The Tilghman Famly," Part 2, Maryland Historical Magazine 1.4 (December
1906), 376.
1.
Hester Dorsey Richardson,
Side-Lights on Maryland History: With Sketches
of Early Maryland Families (Baltimore, MD: Williams and Wilkins Company,
1913) 200.
1.
CHANCERY COURT (Chancery Papers) [MSA S512-23]. James Redman vs. Henrietta
Paca, Ann N. Paca, John P. Paca, and Juliana C. Paca, Partition to sell
Hindmans Estate Resurveyed, July 14, 1836, Talbot County, Case No. 10697.
2. QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY
REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills), Liber STH 1, Folio 196 [CR 56-1, MSA CM869-14].
Juliana Paca, July 20, 1842. Probated April 23, 1861.
2.
Cecil County District 5, Simon J. Martenet, Map of Cecil County, 1858,
Library of Congress, MSA SC 1213-1-462.
2.
Cecil County District 7, Simon J. Martenet, Map of Cecil County, 1858,
Library of Congress, MSA SC 1213-1-462.
2.
C. Milton Wright, Our Harford Heritage: A History of Harford County,
Maryland (Published by the author, 1967) 17.
3. Johnston 376.
4. Richardson 200.
4.
Alice Norris Parran, Register of Maryland's Heraldic Families: Period
from 1634, March 25th to March 25th, l935, Tercentenary of the Founding
of Maryland (Baltimore, Md.: 4.
H.G. Roebuck & Son, 1938) 285.
5. Earl Arnett, Robert J. Brugger, and Edward C. Papenfuse, Maryland: A New Guide to the Old Line State (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999) 171.
6. U.S. Census Bureau (Census
Record, MD) for John P. Paca, 1800, Queen Anne's County, district not stated,
Page 364, 10th line from bottom [MSA SM61-35, SCM 2056-5].
6. U.S.
Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for John P. Paca, 1810, Queen Anne's
County, district not stated, Page 56, Line 9 [MSA SM61-55, SCM 2061-2].
7. QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY
REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills), Liber STH 1, Folio 196 [CR 56-1, MSA CM869-14].
Juliana Paca, July 20, 1842. Probated April 23, 1861.
7. "The
Tragedy in Queen Anne's County,"
Baltimore Sun 13 March 1865: 1.
7. The
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, and Beth Carver Wees, English,
Irish, & Scottish Silver at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
( New York, NY: Hudson Hills 7.
Press, Inc., 1997) 313.
7. Stephen
Frederick Tillman, Tilghman-Tillman Family, 1225-1945 (Ann Arbor,
MI: Edwards Brothers, Inc., 1946) 94.
7. Mary
Bourke Emory, Colonial Families and Their Descendants (Baltimore,
MD: Press of the Sun Printing Office, 1900) 198.
8. Frederic Emory, Queen Anne's County, Maryland (Baltimore, MD, Maryland Historical Society, 1950.)
9. "Turkey Point Lighthouse (Elk Point Lighthouse)," CE-195, Chesapeake Isle. Inventory of Historic Properties, Maryland Historic Trust. www.mdihp.net.
10. U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for John P. Paca, 1840, Queen Anne's County, District 4, Page 124, Line 14 [MSA SM61-115, SCM 4723-2].
11. Maryland State Art Collection: Paintings [MSA SC 4680-12-0012], John Philemon Paca, watercolor on ivory.
12. QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills), Liber STH 1, Folio 196 [CR 56-1, MSA CM869-14]. Juliana Paca, July 20, 1842. Probated April 23, 1861.
13. ALLEGANY COUNTY COURT (Land Records), [MSA CE 77-31] Liber 6, Folio 379, Juliana Paca to Stephen McKinley, April 27, 1851.
14. ALLEGANY COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records), [MSA CE 78-12] Liber 19, Folio 201, Juliana Paca to J.P.C. Davidson, June 25, 1860.
15. Tillman
96.
15. QUEEN
ANNE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills), Liber STH 1, Folio 196 [CR 56-1,
MSA CM869-14]. Juliana Paca, July 20, 1842. Probated April 23, 1861.
16. "Juliana Tilghman Paca," Wye Hills Cemetery. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=11139923&PIpi=1842978.
17. "Runaways." Cecil Democrat 1861 March 15.
18. Susan Q. Stranahan, Susquehanna, River of Dreams (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993) 64-65.
19. Jere Garrett,
Muffled
Drums and Mustard Spoons: Cecil County, Maryland, 1860-1865 (Shippenburg,
PA: Biedel Printing House, 1996)
41.
19. Cecil County
District 7, Simon J. Martenet, Map of Cecil County, 1858, Library of Congress,
MSA SC 1213-1-462.
20. "The
Tragedy in Queen Anne's County."
Baltimore Sun 13 March 1865: 1.
20. "Another
Account of the Tragedy in Queen Anne's County, Md."
Baltimore Sun
17 March 1865: 4.
21. Arnett, et al, 171.
22. "The
Burning of Wye Hall." Baltimore Sun 7 February 1879: 1.
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