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Maryland Manual, 1955-56
Volume 166, Page 16   View pdf image (33K)
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16 MARYLAND MANUAL

Nations—Senecas and Iroquois. Later history records raids
by other tribes of Indians, accompanied by violence and
massacres, generally in western Maryland.

The "Ark" and the "Dove"

The Maryland colony was planned by the first Lord
Baltimore—George Calvert, a Yorkshireman whose devo-
tion to James I had first made him Secretary of State, later
Baron of Baltimore (1624), and finally given him a grant
of land for a colony in Newfoundland. This cold territory
Calvert called "Avalon" or "Ferryland"; but intense cold
and invading French made the territory untenable. In 1627
Lord Baltimore attempted to live in Avalon with his family;
then he left for the warmer climate of Virginia. His inten-
tion was "to plant himself to the southward," but on his
return to England, Lord Baltimore persuaded Charles I,
James' successor, to give him a charter of his own composi-
tion. On presentation to the King, blanks were left for the
name of the colony and the date. It is said that Charles
filled in the name Terra Mariae to honor his queen, Hen-
rietta Maria.

Before June 20, 1632, when the charter was dated,
George, the first Lord Baltimore, died and was succeeded
by his son, Cecil. The second Lord Baltimore organized the
expedition to Maryland in two vessels, the Ark of 360 tons,
and the Dove of 60 tons. Assisting him was the Jesuit
priest, Father Andrew White, for Cecil, as his father had
been since 1624, was a Roman Catholic, gather White,
with two members of the Calvert family (not including the
Proprietor), sailed from Cowes on the Isle of Wight on
November 22, 1633. How many took passage and how
many were Catholics we do not know. We do know that
one hundred and twenty-eight took the oath of supremacy
which Catholics normally refused to accept. However, the
Ark alone was twice the size of the Mayflower, which had
carried over one hundred passengers.

January 1634 saw the two vessels at the Barbados where
they delayed for twenty days. On February 24th Leonard
Calvert, as lieutenant-general, put in at Point Comfort,
Virginia. The first stop within the limits placed by the
charter—"from Watkin's Point unto that part . . . which
lieth under the fortieth degree of north latitude"—was at
St. Clement's Island. The celebration of Mass here on An-
nunciation Day has fixed for tradition March 25th as the
date of arrival of Maryland's first settlers, as well as the
name, St. Mary's City. Some time after that the Yoaco-

 

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Maryland Manual, 1955-56
Volume 166, Page 16   View pdf image (33K)
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