I60223: Walter Hanson Stone BRISCOE Dr. (1800

Notes

http://www.sotterley.com/briscoe.htm
"Dr. Walter Hanson Stone Briscoe, born in 1800, was one of four children of William Dent and Sarah Stone Briscoe. He was married in August, 1826 for almost sixty years to Emeline Wellmore Dallam (1809-1887), daughter of John Dallam of Harford County, Maryland. Mrs. Briscoe was described in Dr. Briscoe's will as "true, faithful, and affectionate." He lived at Sotterley Plantation during the Civil War and until his death in 1885. Dr. Briscoe was a medical doctor and traveled by carriage to visit his patients in the surrounding community. His favorite slave, Frank Kane, son of slaves Hillery and Elsa Kane became his coachman and traveled with him on his visits. View the genealogical records found in the Slave Statistics of St. Mary's County on the emancipation of the Kane family and other Briscoe slaves. (This information is provided through the AfriGeneas Slave Date Collection website).Robert Briscoe, an ancestor, came to England with William the Conqueror. Robert's son, Leonard Briscoe of Crofton Hall, Wigton, Cumberland, England had four children. One of them, Dr. John Briscoe I, arrived as one of the Gentlemen Adventurers in 1634 in "The Ark and The Dove" expedition and helped to found Maryland as the third permanent English colony in the New World. We can also trace an interesting lineage of Dr. Briscoe through descendants of Pocahontas and her father, Chief Powhatan, to Dr. Briscoe's relatives, Sarah Ferguson Vaughan and Edward Tayloe Briscoe. Dr. Briscoe came to live at Sotterley because of his marriage to Emeline Dallam, stepdaughter of Thomas Barber, a former owner of Sotterley, who left the Sotterley Manor House and land in his will to Emeline and her half sister, Lydia C. Barber. This will was contingent, first, on Emeline giving Lydia half of Emeline's legacy from her mother. Emeline did this and the two sisters divided the estate. Emeline got, as her share, the Sotterley Manor House and 425 acres. Lydia married a Colonel William Billingsley and they lived on an adjoining property of the same size. Dr. Briscoe was considered to be a prominent man in the affairs of St. Mary's County, serving in many public capacities common to a gentleman of his wealth and status. He served as one of the seven man Levy Court that directed county affairs from 1830-1839 and he was also a prominent democrat and an anti-abolitionist. Dr. Briscoe also served as warden and vestryman of St. Andrews Church from 1829 until his death. Vestry Minutes bespoke his dedication and leadership during those fifty-seven years:"(He was) an earnest and faithful fellow worker...honorably filled the office of vestryman; (his) life was marked by a Christian spirit and conscientious service. (He was a) manifestation of truth and honor who leaves us with the comforting thought of Divine Assistance in the last great day as a "good and faithful servant," March 21, 1886. Dr. Briscoe ran a private school for girls on the property, and many daughters of neighbors and relatives from other counties attended. Miss Mary Blades served as teacher there in the mid-1800s before becoming Principal of St. Mary's Seminary. Dr. Briscoe was committed to education for both boys and girls, and while sons of wealthy planters were usually sent off to boarding schools and colleges, girls were prepared for household and child-rearing responsibilities. Miss Blades, however, taught the girls geography, grammar, and history in addition to reading, penmanship, and simple arithmetic. The students also kept a beautiful garden outside the small classroom in Sotterley's front gatehouse and they amused themselves with music and dancing, a pastime Dr. Briscoe found quite foolish. Dr. and Mrs. Briscoe had thirteen children. One can learn a lot about the life and times of parents by observing the lives and successes of their children. Their first child, Walter Hanson Stone Briscoe, Jr., born in 1827, died at the age of 13 years, three months, and 20 days in 1840. Margaret M. Briscoe was born in 1830 and married Robert Wise. Dr. Henry Briscoe was born in 1832 and married Esther Cottman; he served as a surgeon for the Confederate Army and set up hospitals in several southern states during the Civil War. Chapman Briscoe, born in 1834, married Mary Lord Quarles and also served in the Confederate Army. Samuel Briscoe, born 1836, married Cornelia Dushane Blacklock. Jeannette Eleanor Briscoe Thomas, born 1836, married James Richard Thomas of St. Mary's City and became Principal of St. Mary's Female Seminary from 1872-1881 after which her daughter, Annie Elizabeth Thomas Lilburn, served as Principal from 1881-1895. Rev. James Briscoe, 1838-1904, graduated from the University of Virginia in 1860 and became an ordained priest in 1868. One of his parishes was St. Andrews P.E. Church. He married Anne Sedgwick Huppman in 1872 and Rosa Sands in 1892. His primary residence, after leaving Sotterley, was at Cedarcroft in Baltimore County, Maryland. David S. Briscoe, born 1841, was an attorney in Baltimore; he married Ellen Forbes (Key) Bruce and the wedding ceremony was performed by his brother, Rev. James Briscoe. David also served as Executrix for his father's will. Salie E. Briscoe, born in 1843, received special concessions in her parents' will, including $3500, the piano at Sotterley, her bedroom furniture there, a silver tea set, and 'a home at Sotterley,' because she was unmarried when her parents died. She married Thomas Bond who had been married to her sister, Susan Adelaide, born in 1844, and who later died. John Edward Briscoe, born 1847, was the next child; his profits from his parents' wills were held in trust by the Executrix, his brother, David. A daughter, Mary Ella Briscoe, was born in 1849 to Walter and Emeline, and died in 1875 at age 26, ten years before her father. Lastly, Walter Hanson Stone Briscoe, 1851-1922, was born. Dr. Briscoe left this last son his farm called Half-Pone, as well as farm implements, horses, oxen, yearlings, sows, and shoats. He also inherited his bedroom furniture at Sotterley, the sideboard and mahogany dining table, and sofa and chairs from Sotterley. While at Sotterley, Dr. Briscoe and his wife added a kitchen to the river side of the house off the dining room and tore down the Plater kitchen which was located where the current kitchen is now. The son also converted the Customs Warehouse to stables since the port of entry had been closed. During the first half of the 19th century, farming activities changed little at Sotterley. The crops grown at Sotterley were more diversified in the years before and after the Civil War, with wheat becoming a major focus of production, supplementing tobacco. Union troops during the Civil War commandeered the steamboats, however, and thus disrupted trading along the tidal waterways. Like most of Southern Maryland, Sotterley remained committed to slavery. In 1867, Dr. Briscoe apparently still had 53 slaves at Sotterley, a large number considering that 90% of all Maryland slave holders owned fewer than 15 slaves at that time. Thus Maryland slaves in general tended to be part of extended and separated family groups while slaves at Sotterley may have been a fairly stable community. Only after the war, when slaves were freed, did the use of tenant farmers increase. The state of Maryland never voted to secede from the Union and Southern Maryland was occupied by Union troops for most of the War to protect the northeast entrance into Washington, D.C. One hundred fifty Union soldiers occupied Leonardtown, the county seat, during that time. Two of Dr. Briscoe's sons went to Virginia to serve in the Confederate Army and several Southern Maryland slaves ran away to join Union forces. Fear of slave uprisings and mass escapes caused groups of vigilantes to form to patrol the countryside and, as a holder of many slaves, Dr. Briscoe was involved with these activities. He served as surgeon for the Smallwood Vigilante group in 1861. Dr. Briscoe, then, lived to see the freeing of slaves, the end of plantation life with slave labor, though plantations and planters remained at the center of post-bellum community life. Emeline Briscoe died two years after her husband and Sotterley was bought at auction by her son, the Rev. James Briscoe, who lived at the house. His daughter, Elizabeth Cashner, inherited Sotterley, lived there for a time, and sold it in 1904."

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My Southern Family

Dr. Walter Hanson Stone BRISCOE

1800 - 1885

ID Number: I60223

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Alice GASKINS\GASCOIGNE

1628 - Aug 1702

ID Number: I21527

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William C. MENEFEE

25 Jun 1867 - ____

ID Number: I23897

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Martha Elizabeth PHILPOTT

29 Oct 1799 - 11 Dec 1837

ID Number: I75197

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John William PRIDGEN

1905 - 1963

ID Number: I44302

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Henry Hall WARE

28 Aug 1866 - ____

ID Number: I46672

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Elizabeth WETHERHOLT

11 Jan 1772 - 19 Aug 1835

ID Number: I71876

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Mary E. WRIGHT

2 Aug 1861 - 1 Mar 1881

ID Number: I62593

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