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North and South
Stories and Genealogy of Theodore Charles Anderson and Sara Carlene Shuttleworth
The Rifleman
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Henry de Shuttleworth
This story starts over 800 years ago with a peasant Anglo-Saxon farmer named Henry, and follows his descendants through the English aristocracy to the back woods of West Virginia and Kentucky.
Henry was born in about 1195 in Hapton in a northwestern part of England now known as Lancashire. His family was of solid Anglo-Saxon stock, which had established a farm on the banks of the River Calder and surrounded it with a strong fence of pointed logs. The farm became known as “Shuttleworth”, because the pointed logs looked like the shuttles used by weavers and “worth” which means enclosure in old English.
When he grew up, Henry became known as Henry de Shuttleworth (Sara’s 21st Great Grandfather).
The Shuttleworth farm prospered and, after a few hundred years, the family built a large house that became known as Shuttleworth Hall.
Shuttleworth Hall as it appears today
In 1329, Henry’s great-grandson, also a Henry, was granted the Shuttleworth coat of arms, with three weavers’ shuttles.
The sprawling rolling hills near Shuttleworth Hall and the surrounding Pendle Forest where the king's deer grazed, eventually became the location of the Royal Ightenhill Manor of King Edward II.
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The Lookout Tower
Around the time that King Edward II visited the area in 1323, a four-story square tower with walls eight feet thick was built at the western end of Ightenhill Manor, near the river, in an area known as Gawthrope. The tower served as a lookout for invading Scots.
In 1388, Ughtred de Shuttleworth (1331-1389) (the 3rd Great Grandson of the original Henry de Shuttleworth (Sara’s 16th Great Grandfather) acquired 25 and a half acres of land on the southern banks of the River Calder in what had been part of the King’s Ightenhill Manor, including the lands surrounding the lookout tower.
As the Shuttleworths grew in numbers and families, they began to spread out all around the original farm in Hapton; first north into Padiham, Crossbank, Cornfield, Whalley, and Clitheroe; then south to Winewall, Burnley, Altham, and later north-east into nearby Yorkshire, mainly to the Wakefield and Forcett areas where many Shuttleworth families lived.
Map of the Padiham Area
But as respectable as the Shuttleworth name was in Ughtred's time, a series of fortunate marriages by his descendents over the next 200 years helped to make them one of the pre-eminent families of the area.
Perhaps one of the most important of these was the marriage of Hugh Shuttleworth (1515-1569) (Sara’s 11th Great Grandfather) to Anne Grimshaw (1515-1587) on October 26, 1540. The Grimshaws were a very important family in Lancashire in the 16th Century and became even more so as time went on.
The wealth and landholdings of the Shuttleworth family had increased so much they were even asked to lend money to Queen Elizabeth I in 1588 and 1597.
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Sir Richard Shuttleworth
Within six generations, Ughtred's direct descendent, Sir Richard Shuttleworth (1551-1599) (Sara’s 10th Great Granduncle) was a wealthy and successful London barrister who in 1584 had been made a Sergeant-at-Law, an English barrister of the highest rank. He was also made the Chief Justice of Chester in 1589.
His wealth and the prestige of the Shuttleworth family increased even more with his acquisition of estates at Inskip in Lancashire, Barbon in Cumbria and Forcett in Yorkshire.
Late in his life, he married Lady Margaret Legh Barton (1555-?), the widow of Sir Robert Barton, of Smithills in Barton, Lancashire
The Leghs were a prominent and wealthy English Family. They had won, on the battlefields of France during the Hundred Years War, the land on which Lyme Park, Cheshire now stands. Sir Peter Legh II fought at Agincourt; his great grandson at Flodden.
Lyme Park became the Legh's principal seat in the mid-16th century when Sir Piers Legh VII (1514-1589) built the core of the present house. The Leghs were strong supporters of the Stuart cause (James II was entertained at Lyme in 1676), were involved in plots to restore the Stuart monarchy and consequently suffered arrest because of their beliefs and actions.
Often kept in London by his Parliamentary duties and regularly on circuit in Cheshire, Sir Richard could not have spent much time in Lancashire, and less at Gawthorpe. When he married Lady Margaret he decided to live on her property at Smithills in Barton, probably because it was closer to London.
His life style changed little by his inheritance of the Shuttleworth estates around Gawthorpe on his father Hugh’s death in 1596. Smithills remained the business center of his affairs. All of his agents lived there including his youngest brother Thomas Shuttleworth (the Bookkeeper) (1555-1593) (Sara’s 10th Great Grandfather), who managed all of his estates and kept the books.
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Since Sir Richard and Lady Margaret had no children, Smithills reverted back to the Barton family upon his death in 1599 and Gawthorpe passed to his brother, the Reverend Lawrence Shuttleworth, a man in his early fifties at that time.
For seventeen years Lawrence had been the Rector of Whichford in Warwickshire. Although he remained in the Church, and died and was buried at Whichford eight or nine years later, much of his time must have been diverted from his priesthood to managing the Shuttleworth estates. His clerical training stood him in good stead, for the Gawthorpe and Smithills accounts he kept were much more detailed and accurate than those of his younger brother Thomas.
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Gawthrope Hall
Despite the huge increase in the family's fortunes and the addition of lands all around Gawthorpe, the major landmark on the property was still the old lookout tower. After Sir Richard inherited the Gawthorpe estates on the death of his father Hugh in 1596, he began making plans to convert the old tower into a residence by adding a large building around it.
He hired Robert Smythson, the architect of Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire and Longleat Hall in Wiltshire, to design his new home. Unfortunately, Sir Richard died in November 1599 before he could carry out his plans, but his younger brother, the Reverend Lawrence Shuttleworth, who laid the foundation stone of Gawthorpe Hall on August 26, 1600, continued the project.
For nearly two years, the exterior of the new hall was built using sandstone quarried in Padiham and incorporating the old tower, which was increased in from four to five stories and can be seen rising up from the center of the structure.
After the exterior was completed in mid 1602, it took another four years to fit out and furnish the interior. Finally, near the end of 1606, Gawthorpe Hall was complete.
Gawthrope Hall as it appears today
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Although Sir Richard did not live to see the culmination of his vision, he was not forgotten within its walls. In 1605, two Yorkshire plasterers, Francis and Thomas Gunby, created an ornate plasterwork frieze in the dining room (repurposed in 1816 as the drawing room) that included plaster figures of Sir Richard and his wife Lady Margaret, which alternate with half-human and animal figures. Amazingly, the frieze is still in excellent condition today, 400 years after it was created.
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Colonel Richard Shuttleworth
Although the new Hall was finally finished by the end of 1608, the Reverend Lawrence never actually lived there. He died in Whichford in February of that year. Like his brother before him, Lawrence didn't have any children, so Gawthorpe Hall passed on to his eldest nephew, Colonel Richard1 Shuttleworth (1582-1668) (Sara’s 9th Great Granduncle) who was the first official resident of the Hall and also one of the most celebrated early members of the Shuttleworth family.
Colonel Richard (1587-1668) lived at Gawthorpe Hall for more than 60 years. He married twice, first to Fleetwood Barton (1582-1614) by whom he had two children. His second wife was Judith Thorpe (1591-?) by whom he had another 8 children.
During that time, he served as High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1618 and 1638, was elected a Member of Parliament for Preston in 1641. Most significantly, he was made a Colonel of the Parliamentary Army when the English Civil War started in 1642.
Richard's responsibility during the war was to defend northeast Lancashire from the royalists, which meant that Gawthorpe Hall soon became a meeting place for local parliamentarian leaders and forces. During the war, Colonel Richard won a critical victory over the royalists when 400 of his men defeated 4,000 royalist troops at Read Bridge. In the process, he may also have saved Gawthorpe from possible capture and destruction, as the royalist troops had been advancing toward Padiham at the time.
Despite fighting against the royalists in the Civil War, Richard continued to thrive after the Restoration and left his substantial estates to his eldest grandson, another Richard3 Shuttleworth (1644-1681) (Sara’s 2nd cousin 9 times removed), who had been brought up in Yorkshire.
When the this Richard3 died young at the age of only 36, his son, yet another Richard4 Shuttleworth (1666-1687) (Sara’s 3rd cousin 8 times removed) inherited Gawthorpe Hall.
Richard4 seemed to have a promising future when he inherited the Hall in 1681. He married Catherine Clerke a young heiress in 1682 and was knighted by King Charles II at Windsor on June 15, 1684, the second of his family to be so honored, so he became Sir Richard4.
But tragedy struck in 1687 when his father-in-law died, followed only weeks later by Sir Richard4 himself, both deaths occurring at Gawthorpe.
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The Kay-Shuttleworths
For three generations, the Shuttleworth family lived elsewhere until, finally, in early 1816; Robert Shuttleworth (1784-1818) made Gawthorpe Hall his home.
In November of 1816, Robert married Janet Majoribanks (1792-1855) the daughter of a Scottish Baron. Her Grandfather, Major Majoribanks, was at the Battle of Eutaw Springs in 1781 on the British side where Ted's ancestors James Black and Joseph Augustus Black, and Sara's 4th Great Grandfather Benjamin Austin Washburn
fought on the American Side (visit Revolution in the South). She bore him a daughter, named Janet Shuttleworth, in late 1817. It seemed that prosperity and a happy family would again fill Gawthorpe Hall. Sadly, tragedy struck the Shuttleworth family in March 1818 when Robert died following a carriage accident.
The infant Janet, now heiress to Gawthorpe, was brought up in the south of England, but returned to Gawthorpe after her marriage to Dr. James Phillips Kay, a renowned English educationalist, in 1842. Janet's new husband added the Shuttleworth name and arms to his own, thus changing his surname to Kay-Shuttleworth.
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The couple set to work refurbishing Gawthorpe Hall.
In April 1849, James commissioned Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament, to carefully restore the Hall following its original style. James also restored the grounds to more consistently conform to the Elizabethan style. The north parterre is probably very similar today to what it was when he created it in 1851.
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Just as James and Janet were renewing Gawthorpe Hall to its former glory, so were the Kay-Shuttleworths breathing new life into it. Already a member of high society, the family’s status was further elevated on December 22, 1849, when James was made a Baron.
In March 1850, (now Sir) James and Lady Janet played host to Charlotte Bront, who had published "Jane Eyre" only three years before.
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Lord Shuttleworth
The story of Gawthorpe Hall seemed to have come full circle following the death of Janet in 1872, when her eldest son, Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth (1844-?) (Sara’s 9th cousin twice removed), named for his 14th century ancestor, inherited his mother's estates.
It was during the Victorian-era that Ughtred lived at Gawthorpe Hall with his wife and six children. He had a thriving political career. He served as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Hastings from 1869 to 1880 and for Clitheroe from 1885 to 1902. He was elevated to the peerage as Baron Shuttleworth (the 1st Lord of Shuttleworth) for his political services.
Between 1908 and 1928, he was Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire and it was in this capacity that he entertained King George V and Queen Mary at Gawthorpe Hall in 1913.
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WW-I and WW-II
Lord Ughtred's seeming good fortune up to the time of the royal visit, the following years saw great tragedy for his family. In 1917, both of Ughtred's sons were killed in action during the First World War, with each leaving behind a young family. Following these two tragedies, Lord Ughtred retired to his estate in Barbon, where he died, blind and bedridden, at the age of 95 in 1939.
Barely a year after becoming the 2nd Lord of Shuttleworth, Ughtred's eldest grandson Lord Richard Kay-Shuttleworth was killed in the Second World War. His younger brother succeeded him, but he too died in WWII in 1942.
The title then passed to a cousin, Lord Charles Kay-Shuttleworth, who became the 4th Lord of Shuttleworth and came to live at Gawthorpe Hall following the end of the war.
Lord Charles had been badly injured in the war, suffering the loss of one leg and the paralayzation of another, and, after marrying in 1947, it was decided that the house was not a practical environment considering his disabilities.
The family moved to Leck Hall near Kirkby Lonsdale in Cumbria and left Gawthorpe Hall in the care of Sir Charles' aunt, Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth.
The daughter of Lord Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth, Rachel was born in 1886 and had lived most of her life at Gawthorpe. She was also the last member of the family to live at the Hall and she died there in 1967.
Just five years later, in 1972, Lord Charles passed ownership of Gawthorpe Hall and the surrounding lands in Lancashire to the National Trust of England and Leck Hall officially became the Shuttleworth family seat.
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Coming to America
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But that’s not the end of the story. In England, starting from the middle Ages and continuing until today, the first son and heir inherits almost everything. But what happens to the third son of the third son of the third son, who didn’t have much prospect of inheriting anything?
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One of those a long way down the inheritance line was a certain Thomas1 Shuttleworth (1643-1704) (Sara’s 7th Great Grandfather), born 35 years after Gawthrope Hall was completed.
We call him Thomas1 because, as near as we can figure out, he was the first Shuttleworth of Sara’s line to come to the Americas.
Thomas1 was the 2nd son of Thomas (1613-?) who was the 1st son of John (1567-?) who was the 4th son of Thomas(the Bookkeeper) (1555-1593), younger brother of Sir Richard Shuttleworth (1582-1688) (the one who did all the bookkeeping for Sir Richard’s estates and died before Gawthrope Hall was started).
Thomas1 was born in Crossbank in 1643. Crossbank is on the River Calder, and as its name implies, is situated across the riverbank from Padiham, probably not the best part of town in those days.
Thomas1’s father died in 1660 and left all that he had to his 1st son John Shuttleworth (1640-?). Since his older brother had inherited almost everything, Thomas1 decided to strike out on his own and immigrated to the American Colonies winding up in Maryland in 1661 when he was 19 years old.
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The Tobacco Boom
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Trading a comfortable life in England for the rough conditions of Colonial Maryland was not as wild a thing to do as it might seem.
When Sir Francis Drake returned to England from the New World in 1573, he had with him two plants never before seen in Europe: the potato and tobacco. At first the potato was seen as a dirty bulb and possibly poisonous and didn’t catch on, but tobacco was accepted with wonder and amazement.
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Everyone started using it: smoking it, snorting it, chewing it, or using it for medicinal purposes. They just couldn’t get enough of it. The demand was so great that it caused a tobacco frenzy during the mid 17th Century.
Since tobacco grew like a weed in the warm, moist climate of Maryland and Virginia, it rapidly became their major cash crop. The financial rewards were so great that thousands of Englishmen left the “Mother Country” in hopes of making their fortune in the Colonies growing tobacco.
A tobacco plant took almost all year to grow. The season started in February when the seeds were planted, which would take the rest of the summer to grow and were harvested in the late fall.
Once the crop was harvested, the only thing left to do was to get it to market; however, the ships from England only came to Maryland once a year. They arrived in the fall as the tobacco crop was being harvested and stayed through the winter to finish all of their trading. In the spring, they sailed back to England with their holds full of tobacco leafs.
Since tobacco was harvested only once a year and since there was very little coinage or paper money available in the Colonies, tobacco itself became the medium of exchange during the year from one crop to the next.
Merchants kept accounts in "pounds of tobacco." Courts assessed taxes and fines in tobacco. Government officials were paid in tobacco as well. What this means to us today is that very detailed records were kept in Maryland and Virginia, at least during the early Colonial period. This is how researchers have been able to determine when Thomas1 arrived, when he was married and where he lived, and who most of his children were.
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The Thomas Shuttleworth Line in America
Evidently, young Thomas1 did inherit money because; as soon as he got to Maryland he purchased a plantation in Charles County, near Port Tobacco, and became a very successful tobacco planter. He married Elizabeth Harrison (1650-1704) in 1668. He had a son Edward and four daughters, Mary, Lydia and 2 unknown females.
Mary Shuttleworth (1672-?) married Edward Rookwood who came from a well known family of early Maryland tobacco plantation owners.
Lydia Shuttleworth (1680-1749) married twice, first to Richard Robins (?-1704) by whom she bore 2 daughters. Her second husband was John Posey, Jr. (1685-1759). One of her grandsons from that union became a Major General in the American Revolution and was a favorite of General Washington (visit Revolution in the South).
Edward Shuttleworth (1670-?) married and had a son named Thomas2 Shuttleworth. The name of Edward’s wife is unknown. Thomas2, in his turn, had 2 sons, John and Philip (the Rifleman).
Nothing is known about Thomas2 or of his son John, except that they both stayed in Charles County, Maryland. But there is a family story about how Philip got his nickname, “the Rifleman”.
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The Rifleman
It was during the French-Indian War of 1754-55 involving Braddock’s expedition to West Virginia and the Battle of Monongahela that were failed British attempts to capture the French Fort of Duquesne in the summer of 1755. The expedition takes its name from General Edward Braddock, who led the British forces and died in the effort. Braddock's defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela was a major setback for the British in the early stages of this war with France.
The story goes like this:
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"In disorderly retreat after the battle, eleven riflemen with Braddock's Army lost their way and ended up on the banks of the Monongahela River. These men are listed as Reuben Cox, Garrett and Tobias Decker, David Morgan, Nathaniel Springer, John Ice, Henry Falls, Samuel Bingaman, John Carter, Philip Lowe and Philip Shuttleworth.
The group stopped near where Morgantown, WV now stands. They remained there for the winter, hunting and trapping until spring. Philip Shuttleworth went back home to Charles County, Maryland in early April of 1756.
He re-crossed the mountains with his wife and family two years later in the spring of 1758 and went back to the camp on the Monongahela at the mouth of a creek that today is known as Decker Creek, named for the Decker family, which was still living there."
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Philip(the Rifleman) Shuttleworth and his wife (whose name hasn’t been found) located near the Little Falls on the Monongahela, on land still owned by his descendants well into the 20th Century.
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Following Daniel Boone to Kentucky
John Shuttleworth (1725-?), the great grandson of Thomas1 seems to have had three children, Anne, Joseph and Allen, all of whom seem to have been born in Charles County, MD. His wife is unknown.
Anne Shuttleworth married Richard Witherington about 1777 in Charles County. The Witheringtons were a wealthy Maryland family and are well documented. It is through their records that John’s name and that of his father were discovered.
Joseph Shuttleworth married Mary Hughes in 1788. They moved to Bibb, Alabama where they too are well documented.
Allen Shuttleworth (1770-1831) (Sara’s 3rd Great Grandfather) married Anne Witherington, Richard’s youngest sister, on February 9, 1792 in Charles County, Maryland. Allen made many land deals in Maryland leaving a long paper trail.
Taking Daniel Boone’s trail across the Cumberland Gap Allen and Anne moved to Kentucky sometime around 1795 where they had two children, John Thomas and Mary Eleanor (1800-?).
John Thomas Shuttleworth (1798-1854) (Sara’s 2nd Great Grandfather) married Selaney Carr (1808-1884) in Union County, KY. They moved to Morganfield, KY where John Fielding Shuttleworth (1831-1862) (Sara’s Great Grandfather) was born on August 31, 1831.
He married Elizabeth Southerland (1842-1919). Their son, Jesse Thomas Shuttleworth (1875-1959) (Sara’s Grandfather), was born in Henderson, KY on August 2, 1875. There is a family story about how Jesse got his name. Paw-Paw, as he was called by his grandchildren always said that he was named after the famous robber Jesse James.
As he told it, he was about a year old and hadn't been named yet. In those days, the custom in Kentucky was not to name a new born right away but to wait a while. The parents really wanted to select a good strong name that matched the events of the times and/or the personality of the namesake.
One day a man named Jesse together with several hungry, tired and dirty companions rode into the Shuttleworth’s small farm on the Kentucky side the Ohio River and asked to trade their run-ragged horses for some of Sara’s Great Grandfather's fresh ones.
Sara’s Great Grandmother, Elizabeth Southerland Shuttleworth fed them and the man named Jesse sat by the old cook stove and played with her young baby boy who as yet had no name.
It was this stranger’s kindness to the family and her baby that convinced Elizabeth to name her son after him. That man turned out to be Jesse James, the outlaw. So that is how Paw-Paw got the name Jesse, at least so his story goes.
Jesse married Annye Mae Sandefur (1875-?) in 1899. Their son, Thomas Henderson Shuttleworth (1905-1983) (Sara’s father), was born in Henderson on January 16, 1905.
Thomas Henderson Shuttleworth married Eloise Dorothy Thompson (1905-1981) (Sara’s Mother) (visit Prophetstown).
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Tune "Greensleeves
The introductory tune used on this page is "Greensleeves".
There is a long standing debate over whether England's King Henry VIII did, in fact, write "Greensleeves," one of the most celebrated, and certainly most frequently performed, love songs ever written.
It's doubtful. We will never know for sure.
This much we do know: Henry VIII was well educated and thought of himself as quite the Renaissance man. He played several instruments including organ, harp, and virginals, so he certainly could have picked out the melody. We have a love letter written by him to Anne Boleyn which displays an eloquence (and impatience) that leads one to believe he could have written the song's lyrics.
Lines from this letter such as "struck by the dart of love" sound a bit trite, but it shows he probably knew a decent metaphor when he heard one. Most likely the tune already existed and Henry simply added his own lyrics since this was a perfectly acceptable practice in those days.
Henry no doubt thought of himself as a latter day troubadour wooing his lady love. But, as Anne was to find out, like some other troubadours of olde, Henry was a fickle lover and quickly moved on to the next muse.
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References:
The Winston Churchill Connection
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Thomas Shuttleworth and Anne Lever had a son Richard1 who married Fleetwood Barton in 1612.
Colonel Richard1 Shuttleworth and Fleetwood Barton had a son Richard2 who married Jane Kirke in 1642.
Richard2 Shuttleworth and Jane Kirke had a son Richard3 who married Margaret Tempest in 1664.
Richard3 Shuttleworth and Margaret Tempest had a son Richard4 who married Catherine Clerke in 1682.
Sir Richard4 Shuttleworth and Catherine Clerke had a son Richard5 who married Emma Tempest in 1712.
Richard5 Shuttleworth and Emma Tempest had a daughter Frances1 who married John Tempest in 1738.
John Tempest and Frances1 Shuttleworth had a daughter Frances2 who married Sir Henry1 Vane. Sir Henry1 Vane added Tempest to his surname upon inheriting the Tempest estates so he became Sir Henry1 Vane-Tempest.
Sir Henry1 Vane-Tempest and Frances2 Tempest had a son Henry2 who married Anne Catherine MacDonnell, Countess of Antrim.
Sir Henry2 Vane-Tempest and Countess Anne Catherine MacDonnell had a daughter Frances3 Anne Emily who married Charles William Stewart, the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, who added Vane-Tempest to his surname, becoming Vane-Tempest-Stewart.
Sir Charles William Vane-Tempest-Stewart and Frances3 Anne Emily Vane-Tempest had a daughter Frances4 Anne Emily who married Sir John Winston Spencer-Churchill, the 7th Duke of Marlborough.
Sir John Winston Spencer-Churchill and Lady Frances4 Anne Emily Vane-Tempest-Stewart who had a son Randolph Henry who married an American from Brooklyn, Jeanette Jerome.
Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill and Jeannette Jerome had a son Winston Leonard who is better known as Winston Churchill.
Thus, Thomas Shuttleworth and Anne Lever are the 10th great grandparents of Winston Churchill thus making Sara his 11th cousin!
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Many Shuttleworths were born and raised in Yorkshire. One of those was Fleetwood Shuttleworth (1677-1733) who was born in Forcette. She was the daughter of Nicholas Shuttleworth (1584-?) who was the 2nd son of Thomas Shuttleworth (1555-1596). It was Thomas’ 1st son, Sir Richard, who started construction of Gawthorpe Hall in 1598.
Fleetwood became part of the English Aristocracy by becoming the second wife of Sir Henry Belasye in 1696. She is buried in Westminster Abby. A massive brass wall plaque marks her tomb with the following inscription:
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In this chapel lies interred Sir Henry Belasye of Brancepeth Castle in the County of Palatine of Durham, Lieutenant General of the forces in Flanders under William III, sometime Governor of Galway in Ireland and afterward of Berwick Upon Tweed, lineally descended from Rowland Belasye of Belasye in the County of Durham, son of Belasious – one of the Norman Generals who came into England with William the Conqueror and was knighted by him.
He married first, Dorothy, daughter of Tobias Jenkyn Esq. Of Grimston and widow of Robert Benton Esq. Of Wrenthorpe, both in the County of York, and by her had issue, Mary, Thomas and Elizabeth all whom be survived.
By his second wife Fleetwood, daughter of Nicolas Shuttleworth Esq., second son of Thomas Shuttleworth Esq. Of Gawthorpe in the County Palatine of Lancashire, he had William, his heir and Margaret, who died in her infancy.
He died the 16th of Dec. 1717 in the 70th year of his age. Near to him are buried his two ladies and Mary his eldest daughter. Also Mrs. Bridget Belasye, wife of William Belasye Esq., only daughter and heiress of Rupert Bittingsley Esq., who died the 28th of July, 1735 in the 21st year of her age, leaving an only daughter.
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- http://www.grimshaworigin.org/WebPages/ShutGawt.htm
- "VA/WA Shuttleworth Search" by Anna Lee Robe-Terry, 2001
- Mason-Dixon Line
In Colonial times, the Province of Maryland was larger than it is today, originally including some of present day Pennsylvania. Although the Mason-Dixon Line is most commonly associated with the division between the northern and southern (free and slave, respectively) states during the 1860s and American Civil War, the line was actually delineated in the mid-1700s to settle a property dispute. The two surveyors who mapped the line, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, will always be known for their famous boundary.
In 1632, King Charles I of England gave the first Lord Baltimore, George Calvert, the colony of Maryland. Fifty years later, in 1682, King Charles II gave William Penn the territory to the north, which later became Pennsylvania. A year later, Charles II gave Penn land on the Delmarva Peninsula (the peninsula that includes the eastern portion of modern Maryland and all of Delaware).
The description of the boundaries in the grants to Calvert and Penn did not match and there was a great deal of confusion as to where the boundary (supposedly along 40 degrees north) really lay.
The Calvert and Penn families took the matter to the British court and England's chief justice declared in 1750 that the boundary between southern Pennsylvania and northern Maryland should lie 15 miles south of Philadelphia. A decade later, the two families agreed on the compromise and set out to have the new boundary surveyed. Unfortunately, colonial surveyors were no match for the difficult job and two experts from England had to be recruited.
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon arrived in Philadelphia in November 1763. Mason was an astronomer who had worked at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and Dixon was a renowned surveyor. The two had worked together as a team prior to their assignment to the colonies.
After arriving in Philadelphia, their first task was to determine the exact absolute location of Philadelphia. From there, they began to survey the north-south line that divided the Delmarva Peninsula into the Calvert and Penn properties. Only after the Delmarva portion of the line had been completed did the duo move to mark the east-west running line between Pennsylvania and Maryland.
They precisely established the point fifteen miles south of Philadelphia and since the beginning of their line was west of Philadelphia, they had to begin their measurement to the east of the beginning of their line. They erected a limestone benchmark at their point of origin.
Travel and surveying in the rugged "west" was difficult and slow going. The surveyors had to deal with many different hazards, one of the most dangerous of which was the indigenous Native Americans living in the region.
The duo did have Native American guides although once the survey team reached a point 36 miles east of the end point of the boundary, their guides told them not to travel any farther. Hostile Indians kept the survey from reaching its end goal. Thus, on October 9, 1767, almost four years after they began their surveying, the 233 mile-long Mason-Dixon Line had (almost) been completely surveyed.
Over fifty years later, the boundary between the two states came into the spotlight with the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The Compromise established a boundary between the slave states of the south and the free states of the north (however its separation of Maryland and Delaware is a bit confusing since Delaware was a slave state that stayed in the Union). This boundary became referred to as the Mason-Dixon line because it began in the east along the Mason-Dixon line and headed westward to the Ohio River and along the Ohio to its mouth at the Mississippi River and then west along 36 degrees 30 minutes North.
The Mason-Dixon Line was very symbolic in the minds of the people of the young nation struggling over slavery and the names of the two surveyors who created it will evermore be associated with that struggle and its geographic association.
Note the location of St. Mary’s County in the map below. Charles County is just to the north of it.
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This page and all genealogical data contained on it are Copyrighted © 2007
by Theodore C. Anderson
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