Volume 57, Preface 55 View pdf image (33K) |
Introduction. lv of manorial lands. His name in formal legal documents usually appears simply as Henry Warren, sometimes followed by the designation “gentleman,” without reference to his profession. This is revealed, however, by a chance mention of him in a bill of sale of a horse from Bryan Daley of St. Marys' County to Mark Blomfield of the same place, Daley selling “One Gray Mare with a bald Face and one Wall eye Cropt on the Right eare and Slitt on the left with a Colt Running by her side with two white feete behind the mare haveing beene forthly belonging to Mister Henry Warren Preist” (p. 404). It is said that Henry Warren, also known under the alias Peiham, was a Jesuit priest, who came to Maryland in 1661 and became Superior in 1665. He returned to England in 1676 where he served the Jesuit Oxford mission, dying in Oxford June 7, 1702. He was doubtless a convert to Catholicism, as a brother, William, is said to have been converted to that faith at the age of nineteen. In 1662 and 1663 two prominent Catholics, Thomas Mathews and Cuth- bert Fenwick, conveyed separately three important manors to Henry Warren of St. Inigoes, unquestionably for church purposes and probably as Jesuit hold- ings, although no reference is made to this in the deeds, which were not recorded until 1666. Mathews under date of October 6, 1662, conveyed to Warren all his interest in the manor of St. Thomas, lying in Charles County and contain- ing 4000 acres; and on July 12, 1663, Fenwick conveyed to Warren the manor of St. Inigoes, containing 2000 acres and St. George's Island, both lying in St. Mary's County. The deeds were recorded March 22, 1666. The considera- tion in each instance was “for divers good Causes and Considerations” and in neither instance is Warren given any title or occupation as was usual at this time (pp. 13-14). A few years later at the February, 1669/70, court, Warren by John Morecroft, his attorney, brought suit against George and Robert Good- rick for unlawful entry upon a close in St. Thomas manor and felling his trees, a boundary dispute which was settled by a survey of the land, Warren being reinstated by a writ of possession dated April 17, 1670 (pp. 519-521, 547, 581). On December 2, 1668, William Bretton and his wife Teniperance deeded to Henry Warren two tracts of land in St. Mary's County, Bretton and Bretton's Outlet, containing 850 acres, a neck of land projecting into the Potomac River and bounded on either side by Bretton's Bay and St. Clement's Bay. The con- sideration, 40,000 pounds of tobacco, is, however, specified in this instance. (pp. 384-388). The land lies adjacent to New Town. It is to be noted that the priest acquired within a few years, and in each case from a leading Roman Catholic, Thomas Mathews, Cuthbert Fenwick, and William Bretton, two important manors and one valuable plantation containing in all nearly 8000 acres. It may be added that on August 24, 1686, Henry Warren executed a deed in London, reconveying St. Thomas Manor to Thomas Mathews, St. Inigoes Manor to Cuthbert Fenwick, and an unnamed tract, doubtless Bretton and Bretton's Outlet to William Bretton (Prov. Ct. Deeds FF, 211, 212, 686); and a little later other church holdings were conveyed by Warren to George and Robert Goodrick and to Francis and John Pennington. It was at this time that anti-Catholic feeling again began to surge upward, to be followed in 1688 |
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Volume 57, Preface 55 View pdf image (33K) |
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