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Gen. William Smallwood
b.1732
Facts and Events
About Gen. William Smallwood
Maj. Gen. William Smallwood never married and lived with his mother, Priscilla Heaberd Smallwood, until her death in 1783. Find-a-Grave
Estate Inventory
- Charles County, Maryland, Inventories,1791-1797; Page 180. Major General William Smallwood - Inventory. Late of CC, decd. Jun 5, 1792.
- Negro men: Yatly (about 50 yrs old), Peter (about 50).
- Negro boys; Ben (about 14), Will (about 13), Jem (about 10), Harry (about fir).
- Negro woman Moll (about 30 & boy child Harlin, 10 months).
- Negro woman Jude (about 27, & child Maria, 6 months old).
- Negro girls: Nancy (about 9 yrs old), Trecy (about 5), Clary (about 4).
- Negro men; Charles (about 30), Frank (about 27, an apprentice to a carpenter), Jem (about 35), Nace (about 20, a blacksmith).
- Negro boys: Will (about 12), Emanuel (12).
- Negro women: Nan (about 40), Alice (is).
- Negro man Charles (30) .
- Total amount: 2511.18.9.
- Signed - G. Dent, Will Jones.
- Kindred: R't Leiper, W.S. Grayson.
- Creditors: Rob Fergusson for self & Henderson Fergusson & Gibson, Thomas Nelson.
- CC, Oct 29, 1793. Then came Priscilla Heabeard Smallwood, administratrix, & made oath.
- Certified by John Muschett, Registrar of Wills.
- Charles County, Maryland, Inventories,1791-1797; Page 184. Major Gen' William Smallwood - Additional Inventory. Late of CC, decd. Jul 7, 1792.
- Negro man Nace (about 30 yrs old).
- Total amount: 75.0.0.
- CC, Oct 29, 1793. Then came Priscilla Heabeard Smallwood, administratrix, and made oath.
- Certified by John Muschett, Registrar of Wills.
- Charles County Maryland Administration Accounts, 1791-1798, {Abstract by Mike Marshall}; Page 251.
- Major General William Smallwood- Addl A/C; £2162.11.3-1/4 £3642.0.8-3/4 Apr 28 1795
- Sureties: none listed
- Received from: estate in the state of Virginia
- Payments to: Yates & Petty, George Cato, Charles Carrol, Thos H. Ridgate, John Dixon (cryer), F&S Green (advertising), Alexander Doyle (advertising), Goddart & Angell (advertising), Edward Maddox, James Ratcliff, Jacob Ware, :Henry Nicholls, Levi Scott, Gerard B. Causin, Simon Smith, Robert Ferguson, Robert Lawson, Findlay & Co., Allen Martin, Jos Brawner, Henderson & Fergusson, Eleanor Travison, Edward Hobart, Francis B. Franklin
- Balance Accountable: £2716.17.8
- Administrator: Doctor John Courts and Priscilla Heaberd {Courts}. his wife
References
- Find A Grave.
William Smallwood
Birth 1732
Death 14 Feb 1792 (aged 59–60)
Marbury, Charles County, Maryland, USA
Burial
Smallwood State Park
Marbury, Charles County, Maryland, USA
Revolutionary War Army Officer, Maryland Governor. Smallwood was educated in England and Maryland and became a tobacco farmer and merchant. He was elected to Maryland's colonial legislature in 1760, serving until 1775. At the start of the Revolution he commanded the first Maryland battalion to join the Continental Army. Smallwood's unit saw action at the Battle of Long Island, where a rearguard action of Maryland and Delaware soldiers prevented the destruction of the Army. At the Battle of White Plains Smallwood was wounded and received promotion to Brigadier General. From 1776 to 1780 he alternated between service with the Continental Army and tours of duty with the Maryland militia. In early 1780 Smallwood and his Maryland troops were assigned to the Carolinas, where they took part in the Battle of Camden. During the Carolinas campaign Smallwood received promotion to Major General. Following the Revolution, Smallwood returned to his Charles County plantation. In 1785 he was elected Governor, serving until 1788 and playing an important part in Maryland's ratification of the US Constitution. In 1791 Smallwood was elected to the State Senate and served as Senate President. His home, Smallwood's Retreat, is now part of a state park named in his honor, and a memorial stands at the bottom of the hill below his house.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20677498/william-smallwood
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- GLEANINGS FROM THE VESTRY BOOK.
August 20, 1791. "Ordered that Genial Smallwood prepare and prefer a petition to the General Assembly at their next meeting on behalf of the Parishioners of Durham Parish, to pass an Act authorizing the Inhabitants of said Parish to meet and choose a Vestry for the present year, and that he solicit the representatives from this county to advocate the same in the Assembly."(See page 9)
This was the last Vestry meeting attended by General Smallwood, who died during the month of February, 1792.
A few words concerning this distingushed patriot cannot be out of place here. He was, not only the most famous citizen of Charles County, during the Revolutionary ere, but also Maryland's greatest soldier. William Smallwood was the last male representative of a Maryland family that was always prominent in colonial history. His grandfather, Major James Smallwood, settled in Charles county at an early date, being a delegate to the General Assembly in 1696. His father, Bayne Smallwood, Esq., was both a merchant and a planter upon a large scale, and filled the various offices of justice of the peace, and member of the House of Delegates for a number of years. His mother was a Miss Priscilla Heaheard, of Virginia, a lady of family and fortune. Bayne Smallwood died before the Revolution , Priscilla Smallwood survived until 1783. William Smallwood was sent at an early age to England to be educated. (See Society of Seventy-Six Publications, Edited by T. Balch, vol.IV.)
He never married and lived with his mother until her death. The family estate is called "Mattawoman" in a letter which he wrote to Gov.Paca in 1784. I have visited the "old Smallwood mansion" in the Chicamuxon district. It is a well built brick house, one story and a half high, with a tall steep roof having dormer windows on each side. There are four rooms and a hall on each floor. The Smallwoods had a road cut from their place down to Durham Church which is known to this day as "Smallwood's Church road." There are hazy traditions that the General used to drive down to Church in great state, attended to by colored flunkies and outriders. All this style may have been an imitation of his illustrious friend, General George Washington, who corresponded with Gen. Smallwood and (it is said) occasionally visited him here. Of William Smallwood's gallant services, during the Revolution, we cannot write here. Suffice it to say that he was the Commander of the Maryland Forces and came out of the was "covered with glory." He was elected Governor of Maryland in 1785, and his portrait hangs in the Governor's room at the State House in Annapolis. The General died in 1792. He was buried a few rods from his front door. Efforts have recently been made to have the State Assembly make an appropriation to erect a monument over his remains, which it is hoped will soon be successful, as his grave has a neglected appearance that does little credit to the State which he served so well both as soldier and statesman.
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