William Thomas (1758-1813)
MSA SC 3520-1582
Biography
Born: 1758, at Deep Falls, in St. Mary's County.
Native: fifth generation.
Resided: Deep Falls, near Chaptico, St. Mary's County; De La Brooke Manor, on the Patuxent River, St. Mary's County.
Died: August 1, 1813 at his residence in St. Mary's County
Family Background
Father: William Thomas (1714-1795).
Mother: Elizabeth Reeves (ca. 1714-1808).
Brothers: John; George (?-1789); James (?-1781), who died in British captivity during the Revolutionary War.
Sisters: Elizabeth (?- by 1808), who married William Courts (1753-1792).
Married: Catherine Brooke Boarman (1760-1812), heiress of De La Brooke, in 1782. She was the daughter of Richard Boarman. Her mother may have been Mary Brook or Anne Gardiner.
Children
Sons: Dr. James (1785-1845), governor of Maryland, 1833-1836, who married Eliza Courts (1798-1851), his first cousin; George (1791-1856), who married Mary Tubman (ca. 1790-1870); Dr. William (1793-1849), who married first, Elizabeth Tubman (Mary Tubman's sister), and married second, Elizabeth Lansdale; Dr. Richard (1797-1849), who married Jane Wallace Armstrong (1789-1871).
Daughters: Matilda, who married George Brent of Charles County; Anne (1798-1862), who married Hon. Thompson Mason of Loudoun County, Virginia; Catherine, who married William D. Merrick of Charles County.
Private Career
Education: literate.
Religious Affiliation: Episcopalian, All Faiths Parish, St. Mary's County.
Social Status and Activities: Mason, entered at St. Columbia Lodge No. 10, March 1795; formed Hiram Lodge No. 27, Leonardtown, August 1798; Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, 1799-1800.
Public Career
Legislative Service: House of Delegates, St. Mary's County, 1791-1793, 1795-1797; Speaker of the House, 1797; Senate, Western Shore, 1804-1813; President of the Senate, 1806-1810, 1812-1813.
Local Office: justice, St. Mary's County, commissioned 1794; judge, St. Mary's County Court, 1802-1804; justice, St. Mary's County Levy Court, 1799-1800; Commissioner of the Tax, St. Mary's County; judge, St. Mary's County Orphans Court, 1797, 1801.
Military Service: Adjutant, 25th Battalion of Militia, 5 October 1776; 2nd lieutenant, Upper Battalion, St. Mary's County Militia, John Thomas's Co., 1777; 1st lieutenant, Upper Battalion, St. Mary's County Militia, Francis Millard's Co., 1779
Wealth During Lifetime
Personal Property: 42 enslaved people, 1798.
Land at First Election: 500 acres bought form brother, George, 1789 (Bushford Manor, St. Mary's County).
Significant Changes in Land Between First Election and Death: include sold 200 acres (Bushford Manor, St. Mary's County) to father, 1791; purchased 598 acres in St. Mary's County from father, 1791; inherited 200 acres (Bushford Manor, St. Mary's County) from father, 1795; owned 1,867 acres in St. Mary's County in 1798.
Wealth at Death
Personal Property: inventory $23,564, including 89 enslaved people; large library.
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