A History of Printing in Colonial Maryland

It is probable that of the several Thomas Sparrows who figure in Mary-
land records, that one with whom this narrative is concerned was born
about the year 1746,¹ the son of Thomas Sparrow, Gent., of Annapolis, the
codicil of whose will,² probated in 1753, appointed Walter and Daniel Du-
lany, Jr., and Jonas Green as his executors, and more specifically named
Daniel Dulany as the sole guardian of his son. The Dulanys declined to act
as executors, a refusal which probably, on the part of Daniel, included also
the declination of the post of guardian to the young Thomas. Green seems
to have acted alone as executor of the will,³ and from the fact that the
bonds between Sparrow and the Greens remained close ever afterwards,
one concludes that he assumed as well the guardianship of the orphan. One
loses sight of the boy, however, during his adolescence, so that it may not
be said with certainty where or how he was engaged, but he reappears on
December 13, 1764, when in a land sale advertisement in the Maryland
Gazette for that day, he informs those whom the fact concerns that he is to
be found "at Mr. Green's in Annapolis." It was about this time, too, that he
began the work in engraving, always in conjunction with the Green press,
which is associated with his name.

There is reason to believe that Sparrow had spent the intervening years
learning the art of gold and silver-smithing in the city of Philadelphia, for
on March 21, 1765, an advertisement in the Maryland Gazette asserted that
"Thomas Sparrow Goldsmith and Jeweller From Philadelphia Has Just
open'd Shop near St. Ann's Church in South-East Street Annapolis Mary-
land," and that in this shop were to be made "all Sorts of Gold and Silver
Work," a claim which was fully justified by the long list of specific articles
which followed. The advertisement was headed by a woodcut of a coffee
urn, which as the familiar signature attests, had been engraved by the smith
himself, "T. Sparrow." Curiously enough, only one example of Sparrow's
craftsmanship in the precious metals remains, although he continued to
practise his trade certainly as late as August of the year 1767.⁴ He is re-
membered chiefly because of a few specimens which have been preserved
of his goldsmith's subsidiary art of engraving.

^IIn Chancery Record, 1774-1784, v. 13, folio 480, Thomas Sparrow in February 1782 deposes that he is 36
yean old or thereabouts. Ms. in Land Office, Annapolis.

² Maryland Wills, v. 28, Liber D. D. 7, p. 435, 1751-54. Ms. in Land Office, Annapolis.

³On March 8, 1753, Jonas Green advertised in the Maryland Gazette that all claims against the estate of
Thomas Sparrow, late of Annapolis, should be brought to him for settlement. No other executors were mentioned.

⁴ The author's attention was called to Sparrow's establishment in Annapolis as a gold and silversmith by Mr.
Howard Sill of Baltimore, the result of whose studies of the lives and work of the Maryland silversmiths is to
be published in a notably beautiful and interesting book. Mr. Sill has in his collection of book-plates the Richard
Sprigg and Gabriel Duvall plates, those very rare examples of Sparrow's work in this department of the engrav-
er's art. Sparrow's last advertisement as a goldsmith appears in the Maryland Gazette for August 13, 1767.

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