Nathaniel Clagett (b. 1822 - d. 1890)
MSA SC 5496-036145
Property Owner, Rockville District, Montgomery County, Maryland
Biography:
Nathaniel M. Clagett was born in 1822 to John H. Clagett and first wife, Elizabeth Hawkins.1 He had at least one sibling, Emily May, through his father's second marriage to Emily C. Ricketts.2
Nathaniel himself would father of eleven children through three marriages, wedding his first wife, Ellen M. Hawkins, on August 14, 1847. They had one daughter, Attelia M. Clagett, in 1848. Ellen had passed away by 1850, and Clagett married his second wife, Anne E. Clagett, on January 3, 1852. Their five children were Ida Virginia (1852), Joseph (1855), Mary (1856), Travilah (1858), and George (1859). Nathaniel was widowed yet again by 1860, and he married twenty-one-year-old Elizabeth Eleanor Offutt in 1863. He and his third wife had five children: Lilly (1863), Grace (1866), Frederick (1870), Rose (1871), and Nathaniel (1876). By the time that Nathaniel Clagett's ninth child Frederick was born, Attelia and George had moved in with their paternal grandmother Elizabeth and their aunt Susan, who lived on the neighboring farm.3
Nathaniel Clagett's farm stood near Darnestown with the Great Seneca Creek to the west.4 By 1856, the farm encompassed over 173 acres, all part of a tract of land called "Deakins Range."5 In 1860, the farm mainly produced corn, along with smaller quantities of wheat, potatoes, oats, and honey. That year, Clagett's livestock included three dozen pigs and six milk cow.6 By 1870, he had added nearly forty more acres to his farm.7 He also began raising cattle, replacing his honey production with wine-making and fruit orchards. In 1879, Clagett purchased thirteen more acres, this time from a tract called "Springfield."8
Clagett relied mainly on slave labor for his farm's operations. Prior to his large land purchase in 1856, Clagett had three slaves and one white laborer working on his farm.9 He owned ten slaves in 1860,10 including Parker Johnson, who died in prison after helping several slaves escape from James M. Dawson Jr.'s farm.11 Around March 1, 1862, Clagett's slaves Johnson Brown, Almira Smith, and Smith's children John, William, and Charles escaped to Washington D.C. The district had outlawed slavery that year, and Clagett petitioned the U.S. District Court for reimbursement for the fugitive slaves.12 In Montgomery County's 1867 Slave Statistics, in which Unionist slaveholders requested federal reimbursement for slaves, Clagett claimed that he owned eleven slaves at the time of emancipation, although he fraudulently included Parker Johnson in his list.
In 1876, the Baltimore Sun listed Nathaniel Clagett among the
"prominent citizens" who attended Montgomery County's Centennial Celebration.12
He died intestate on April 11, 1890.13
1. MONTGOMERY COUNTY COURT, (Marriage Licenses), 1798-1839, Film Reel: CR 8920, [MSA CM724-1]. John H. Clagett and Elizabeth Hawkins, March 3, 1812.
2. Maryland Marriage Record
for John H. Clagett and Emily C. Ricketts, November 7, 1848, Montgomery
County. Jordan Dodd, Liahona Research, comp. Maryland Marriages, 1655-1850.
www.ancestry.com.
William N.
Hurley Jr. The Ricketts Families (Westminster, MD: Heritage Books,
Inc., 2001) 120.
3. U.S. Census Bureau (MD)
for Nathaniel M. Clagett, 1850, Montgomery County, Rockville District,
Page 47, Line 9 [MSA SM61-142, M 1499-1].
U.S. Census
Bureau (MD) for Nathaniel Clagett, 1860, Montgomery County, District 4,
Page 71, Line 1 [MSA SM61-213, M 7223-1].
U.S. Census
Bureau (MD) for Nathaniel Clagett, 1870, Montgomery County, District 4,
Page 111, Line 37 [MSA SM61-275, M 7256]. Continued on Page 112, Line 37.
U.S. Census
Bureau (MD) for Nathaniel Clagett [mispelled "Cagett"], 1880, Montgomery
County, Darnestown District, District 116, Page 11, Line 38 [MSA SM61-324,
M 4748-2].
4. Montgomery County District 4, Simon J. Martenet, Martenet and Bond's Map of Montgomery County, 1865, Library of Congress, [MSA SC 1213-1-464]. Huntingfield Map Collection.
5. MONTGOMERY COUNTY CIRCUIT
COURT (Land Records), Liber JGH 5, Folio 321, 1855-1857, [MSA CE 63-5].
Susan E. Clagett to Nathaniel Clagett, August 4, 1856.
"Nathaniel
Clagett Farm (Sunrise Farm)."Germantown, Montgomery County, M: 24-31. Maryland
Historical Trust. www.mdihp.net.
6. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, (Census Record, MD), 1860, SM61, Film Reel: M 5167-1, Agriculture, [MSA SM61-222]. N. Clagett, 4th District, Montgomery County, Page 3 ( Page 12 electronic), Line 30.
7. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, (Census Record, MD), 1870, SM61, Film Reel: M 5169-1, Agriculture, [MSA SM61-286]. Nathaniel Clagett, The Fourth District, Montgomery County, Page 9 (Page 295 electronic), Line 34.
8. MONTGOMERY COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records), Liber EBP 9, Folio 385, 1871-1872, [MSA CE 63-19]. Elbert Perry to Nathaniel Clagett, March 28, 1872.
9. U.S. Census Bureau (MD) for Nathaniel M. Clagett, 1850, Montgomery County, Rockville District, Page 47, Line 9 [MSA SM61-142, M 1499-1].
10. U.S. Census Bureau (MD) for Nathaniel Clagett, Slaves, 1860, Montgomery County, District 4, Page 1, Line 28 [MSA SM61-239, M 7230-2].
11. MARYLAND PENITENTIARY, (Prisoner
Record), 1862-1869, [MSA SE65-6]. Parker Johnson, Prisoner Number 5941.
Page 9.
MONTGOMERY
COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, (Marriage Licenses), 1867-1899, [MSA T2490-1]. Joseph
T. Baily, Jr., and Attelia Clagett, May 2, 1871.
12. Emancipation Papers for Nathaniel Clagett (slaveholder). Records of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Relating to Slaves, 1851-1863; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Ancestry.com.
13. "The Centennial Celebration." Baltimore Sun 7 September 1876: 1. Baltimore Sun Historical Archive. Enoch Pratt Free Library.
14. John D. Bowman.
Guide
to Selections from the Montgomery County Sentinel, Maryland, January 1,
1888 - December 30, 1892 (Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2006) 89.
Researched and written by Rachel Frazier, 2010.
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