Category: Uncategorized

Rev. Hezekiah Best Quilt

Rev. Hezekiah Best served as chaplain of the interdenominational Seaman’s Bethel Union Church in Baltimore from 1844 until 1847. (1) When he left, he was presented with a Baltimore album quilt stitched by members of the congregation. Baltimore alb…

Rev. Hezekiah Best served as chaplain of the interdenominational Seaman’s Bethel Union Church in Baltimore from 1844 until 1847. (1)  When he left, he was presented with a Baltimore album quilt stitched by members of the congregation. 

Baltimore album quilts were unique to Maryland and made between the mid 1840s and mid 1860s.  The permanent home of this quilt is Lovely Lane Museum & Archives but it was included in an exhibit at the Maryland Historical Society in 2004.  You can visit the online exhibit here:

http://www.mdhs.org/QuiltPrj/quilthom.html

Where’s the story, you ask? 

On January 19th, 1847, Rev. Hezekiah Best married sea captain Levin Dukes and Susan Tagret/Taggart, parents of Sarah Dukes, most likely in the recently completed structure on Aliceanna Street in Fells Point. (2)  One of the squares of the quilt depicts the facade of the church building.  That’s as close as we are going to get to a picture of the church where our ancestors got married in the very same year that they married.

That’s the story.  And here’s the square and the entire quilt, as well.  The images are from a set of notecards being sold at Lovely Lane.  Let me know if you want a set!  Or contact Lovely Lane directly by emailing  lovlnmus@cavtel.net.

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(1)  Schell, Edwin. “Preacher’s Collection.” Card File. Lovely Lane Museum & Archives (Baltimore, Maryland).

(2) “Married,” The (Baltimore) Sun, 23 January 1847, p. 2, col. 4.

Rev_hezekiah_best_quiltSeamens_bethel_union_church

Darnestown Presbyterian Church

Darnestown Presbyterian Church, founded in 1855, in Montgomery County, Maryland, is where I reckon Lemuel Offutt (great grandfather) met Sarah Dukes (great grandmother.) Their names are only a few pages apart in the church records; he was baptized…

Darnestown Presbyterian Church, founded in 1855, in Montgomery County, Maryland, is where I reckon Lemuel Offutt (great grandfather) met Sarah Dukes (great grandmother.) Their names are only a few pages apart in the church records; he was baptized as an adult on January 1, 1871 and she joined the church on June 7, 1873.(1)

In the cemetery are many Offutts, as well as J. T. Kelley,  guardian to Sarah and her siblings after their father’s death, and Andrew Small,  a Scottish immigrant, who founded an academy that Lemuel attended and where he may have taught school for a while before studying medicine.

I’ve posted a few of the photos I took – the markers for Lemuel’s mother Mary, and his sisters Ella and Rose, one of the old church building and “Offutt Row.”  Rose died at the age of 19 in 1870; she was Lemuel’s older sister by only a year.  It may have been right after her death that that he took up his medical studies.  And of course he named his first daughter Mary Ella. Big name recyclers – those Offutts.

Here’s a link to the church website.  Click on About, then Our History to learn more:

http://www.darnestownpc.org/

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(1) Darnestown Presbyterian Church (Darnestown, Maryland). Register of Pastors, Members, Baptisms and Marriages, Book 1. Montgomery County Historical Society (Rockville, Maryland) Manuscript Collection, Folder 1. Photocopy.

Offutt_row_smRose_sister_of_lemuel_died_187Darnestown_presbyterian_churchElla_sister_of_lemuel_died_190Mary_mother_of_lemuel_died_187

Getting Started

Getting started is important. In the very short time – just over a year – that I have been researching family history, I’ve learned a great deal about many ancestral lines, and become acquainted with some fascinating individuals. I’ve been mildly …

Getting started is important. In the very short time – just over a year – that I have been researching family history, I’ve learned a great deal about many ancestral lines, and become acquainted with some fascinating individuals. I’ve been mildly surprised and pleased; on the other hand, I’ve also been shocked. And, always, I couldn’t wait to share the big news. It’s just more fun that way.

But the news is piling up now. This venue welcomes interested family members  (and maybe others someday) to follow the story lines as the research unfolds. And, hopefully, as my skills expand, each installment will merit at least one sequel. If we have to wait until I am “finished”, you might never learn a thing. No promises about a publication schedule but I’ll do the best I can. Nothing exposes holes in your knowledge or flaws in your thinking more quickly than trying to write a narrative and properly cite your sources. That’s another motivation. 

Dedicated to my sisters, who saw me dipping my toe into the genealogy pool, and pushed me into the deep end. That’s what sisters do.

And to Mom and Dad — sorry I’m a late bloomer.