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Captain Berry's Will
Prince George's County, Maryland, summer 1784 - three years after Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, six months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, and one year after the Montgolfier brothers' demonstration of their first balloon.[ 1 ] The depositions were made in Upper Marlboro, the County's seat and one of its two towns, near its eastern edge. Captain Berry lived on the east side of the Eastern Branch (now the Anacostia) of the Potomac five or six miles downstream from Bladensburg, the County's other town. Most of the other characters lived in the neighborhood, which is now in the District of Columbia. The land that was then all marshes, woodland, farmland, and a few hamlets is now city and suburb, and I-295 runs over it. More than half the population of Prince George’s County were slaves, and they constituted about two-thirds of the personal property of the free. All but the poorest of the free had some taxable personal property, and some who had nothing else had a slave or two. But most of the property, personal and real, was held by “the few.” All the plate (that is, silverware) was owned by about one-fourth of the free, and thirty per cent of the land was held by fewer than fifty people who owned at least 1000 acres apiece and who, with their families, constituted less than three per cent of the free population.[ 2 ] Lois Green Carr sums up this world thus: "A ruling class conscious of its role was coming into being. . . . Minor officeholding and jury service were becoming even more closely tied to landowning than before, at the same time" as land was owned by an ever smaller part of the population. Edward Papenfuse, she continues, estimated that by the time of the American Revolution the heads of about half the households in Prince George's County leased their lands.[ 3 ] The Revolution was over in 1783, and independence had been won, but it had not been paid for. Maryland "was bankrupt from the great debts incurred during the war. It was not meeting its obligations to pay its soldiers. . . . its citizens frequently petition[ed] for relief from payment of taxes. . . ." Officers trying to confiscate property for non-payment of taxes "were resisted, sometimes violently. " One petition in 1784 declared that even most of the wealthy were unable to pay debts and taxes. [ 4 ] Gregory A. Stiverson cites letters of 1782 and 1783 from Samuel Chew and John Ridout, rich residents of Anne Arundel County, complaining about taxes. [ 5 ] Still the rich were speculating in Western lands, and the landless were moving towards them. Among these few were Captain Berry, at least three of his brothers, his brother-in-law, and a man close to the Berrys, Colonel Joshua Beall. Fifteen years earlier one of the richest of the few was Captain Berry's father, Jeremiah. He was probably descended from James and Elizabeth Berry, who were in Virginia by 1633, the year before Maryland was founded. Along with a number of other Puritans, they left Virginia about 1650 to escape the strict religious conformity enforced by Governor Berkeley. The Berrys settled on the Western Shore of Chesapeake Bay and were rich enough to take up land both there and on the Eastern Shore. Jeremiah inherited half a lot in Marlboro and 1240 acres elsewhere in the County. When he died, in April 1769, he held the half-lot, over 4000 acres elsewhere in the County, and 1300 acres in Frederick County. [ 6 ] The personal property he bequeathed his wife, Mary, included "negroes ... horses hoggs black cattle & sheep and all the household furniture with plate etc." appraised at £179.2.0. [ 7 ] |
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