Dunagan, Georgia

Darline Dunagan Scruggs

This is an 1899 map showing Dunagan, Hall County, Georgia. It is here that Joseph and Joshua Dunagan brought the first group of white settlers. Shortly after their arrival, Ezekiel and Isaiah came with the second group of settlers. Ezekiel stayed and raised his family in this same area. At the time of his death in 1836, he owned three thousand acres. Ezekiel’s descendants remained on his land and built a community that was known as Dunagan, Georgia. The Dunagan community can be seen on this map located under the “A” in the word “HALL”.

Source:  http://mydunaganrootsandbranches.com/2014/01/24/dunagan-georgia/

The Scottish and Irish Slave Trade and the Dunagan Family

I have ancestors on my 3rd great grandmother's (Lucinda Beall m. Joseph Ellis Dunagan of Hall County) family side, Col. Ninian Beall who served with the Scottish Army which was defeated by General Cromwell in 1650 at the Battle of Dunbar. Col. Ninian Beall and what was left of his regiment were taken prisoner and later sold into slavery to Barbados Planters in the West Indies. He somehow escaped and ended up in Maryland, becoming a planter himself, developing a large plantation where Georgetown is located today. In the 1970s his grave in Georgetown was excavated and relocated but they discovered that Ninian Beall was 6'7" and had red hair. He lived to be 92 years old and was a devoted elder of the Presbyterian church. This may be where I get my height. DNA is a mystery to me and it's like rolling the dice. What is most interesting about this history I have learned is that I am a descendant of slaves.

There were many white Irish and Scottish who came as slaves; vast human cargo transported on tall British ships bound for the Americas. They were shipped by the hundreds of thousands and included men, women, and even the youngest of children. England was emptying their prisons.

Whenever they rebelled or even disobeyed an order, they were punished in the harshest ways. Slave owners would hang their human property by their hands and set their hands or feet on fire as one form of punishment. They were burned alive and had their heads placed on pikes in the marketplace as a warning to other captives.

We don’t really need to go through all of the gory details, do we? We know all too well the atrocities of the African slave trade.

But, are we talking about African slavery? King James II and Charles I also led a continued effort to enslave the Irish. Britain’s famed Oliver Cromwell furthered this practice of dehumanizing one’s next door neighbor.

The Irish slave trade began when James II sold 30,000 Irish prisoners as slaves to the New World. His Proclamation of 1625 required Irish political prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West Indies. By the mid 1600s, the Irish were the main slaves sold to Antigua and Montserrat. At that time, 70% of the total population of Montserrat were Irish slaves.

Ireland quickly became the biggest source of human livestock for English merchants. The majority of the early slaves to the New World were actually white.

From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish were killed by the English and another 300,000 were sold as slaves. Ireland’s population fell from about 1,500,000 to 600,000 in one single decade. Families were ripped apart as the British did not allow Irish dads to take their wives and children with them across the Atlantic. This led to a helpless population of homeless women and children. Britain’s solution was to auction them off as well.

During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14 were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England. In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women and children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to the highest bidder. In 1656, Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be taken to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers.

Many people today will avoid calling the Irish slaves what they truly were: Slaves. They’ll come up with terms like “Indentured Servants” to describe what occurred to the Irish. However, in most cases from the 17th and 18th centuries, Irish slaves were nothing more than human cattle.

As an example, the African slave trade was just beginning during this same period. It is well recorded that African slaves, not tainted with the stain of the hated Catholic theology and more expensive to purchase, were often treated far better than their Irish counterparts.

African slaves were very expensive during the late 1600s (50 Sterling). Irish slaves came cheap (no more than 5 Sterling). If a planter whipped or branded or beat an Irish slave to death, it was never a crime. A death was a monetary setback, but far cheaper than killing a more expensive African. The English masters quickly began breeding the Irish women for both their own personal pleasure and for greater profit. Children of slaves were themselves slaves, which increased the size of the master’s free workforce. Even if an Irish woman somehow obtained her freedom, her kids would remain slaves of her master. Thus, Irish moms, even with this new found emancipation, would seldom abandon their kids and would remain in servitude.

In time, the English thought of a better way to use these women (in many cases, girls as young as 12) to increase their market share: The settlers began to breed Irish women and girls with African men to produce slaves with a distinct complexion. These new “mulatto” slaves brought a higher price than Irish livestock and, likewise, enabled the settlers to save money rather than purchase new African slaves. This practice of interbreeding Irish females with African men went on for several decades and was so widespread that, in 1681, legislation was passed “forbidding the practice of mating Irish slave women to African slave men for the purpose of producing slaves for sale.” In short, it was stopped only because it interfered with the profits of a large slave transport company.

England continued to ship tens of thousands of Irish slaves for more than a century. Records state that, after the 1798 Irish Rebellion, thousands of Irish slaves were sold to both America and Australia. There were horrible abuses of both African and Irish captives. One British ship even dumped 1,302 slaves into the Atlantic Ocean so that the crew would have plenty of food to eat.

There is little question that the Irish experienced the horrors of slavery as much (if not more in the 17th Century) as the Africans did. There is, also, very little question that those brown, tanned faces you witness in your travels to the West Indies are very likely a combination of African and Irish ancestry. In 1839, Britain finally decided on it’s own to end it’s participation in Satan’s highway to hell and stopped transporting slaves. While their decision did not stop pirates from doing what they desired, the new law slowly concluded THIS chapter of nightmarish Irish misery.

But, if anyone, black or white, believes that slavery was only an African experience, then they’ve got it completely wrong.

Irish slavery is a subject worth remembering, not erasing from our memories.

But, where are our public (and PRIVATE) schools???? Where are the history books? Why is it so seldom discussed?

Do the memories of hundreds of thousands of Irish victims merit more than a mention from an unknown writer?

Or is their story to be one that their English pirates intended: To (unlike the African book) have the Irish story utterly and completely disappear as if it never happened.

None of the Irish victims ever made it back to their homeland to describe their ordeal. These are the lost slaves; the ones that time and biased history books conveniently forgot.


Source: "The Irish Slave Trade – The Forgotten “White” Slaves" by Don Jordan, Michael Walsh

Dunagan Reunion 2013

This was our fourth year to host the annual Dunagan Reunion for the gathering of Ezekiel and Lydia Ann Brown Dunagan’s descendants. I found that this year I was really looking forward to seeing the familiar faces of my new-found cousins. We have a real sense of family that has developed over these four years. My cousin Brad Dunagan overheard two of our little ones discussing, with astonishment, how many people they were related to. I think it is wonderful that they can come out and know that they belong to a family much bigger than the one they live with.

We began our Saturday at Dunagan’s Chapel located in east Hall County, Georgia. This is the area that Ezekiel and his family lived. It was known as Dunagan, Georgia back then. At the time of his death in 1836, Ezekiel owned over three thousand acres there. We still have Dunagan’s living on parts of his land today. This is also where Ezekiel and Lydia’s graves are located. We visited the gravesite and returned to the church to discuss and share information on our family and its history.

On Sunday we gathered at the Paul E Bolding Post of the American Legion in Gainesville, Hall, Georgia. This is year we honored our family members who labored to develop, defend, and serve this great nation of ours. We have had Dunagan’s and allied family members serve our nation in every conflict since the Revolutionary War to present date. We have also had judges, mayors, congressmen, senators, and governors in our proud lineage.

Reverand Roger L. Dunagan of Lumpkin County, Georgia offered a prayer and blessing on the food, after which we shared a delicious southern pulled pork barbecue with banana pudding for dessert. In addition to good food, and great company, we had music provided by Brad and Mike Dunagan’s band, Longstreet Station.

We had family members traveling from many states to attend this year. Thanks to each of you, near and far, who attended this year’s Dunagan Family Reunion. We are looking forward seeing you all and more next year.

Darline Dunagan Scruggs

Ezekiel Dunagan and Lydia Ann Brown Dunagan's Final Resting Place Preserved

Ezekiel Dunagan (1771-1836) was buried alongside his wife, Lydia Ann Brown Dunagan, on their estate located in east Hall County, Gainesville, Georgia. Ezekiel was a veteran of the War of 1812, The Creek Indian Wars and a member of the Georgia Militia, first stationed at Ft. Early, Jackson County Georgia, in the mid 1790s until 1814.  He was listed as a spy, which probably was a reference to him being a scout for the fort. Ezekiel was my 4th great grandfather and had 19 children, with descendants today in almost every state of the U. S. The original gravesite was marked only by the large natural stones on either side of the current granite grave marker. The landscape timbers are temporary until a decision is made to use either metal(black iron) fence enclosure or stone pavers. We needed something to contain the crushed marble stone so I used landscape timbers. Thanks to all those who helped with this preservation project.

Location:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=34.301254,-83.718795&num=1&t=h&z=20

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FAMILY BIBLE MARRIAGE RECORDS - WILLIAM ANDREW DUNAGAN

From the family Bible of William Andrew and Martha Meldonia "Mellie" Cochran Dunagan

Click on to enlarge

MY PATRIOT FOREFATHERS

by Darline Dunagan Scruggs
Posted: June 30, 2013 http://mydunaganrootsandbranches.com

During the 1830’s my ancestor’s continued to be actively engaged in the building and establishing of Hall County Georgia. It had been sixty years since Joshua Dunagan and his brother Joseph Dunagan (my fifth great grandfather) had brought the first group of white settlers into what is now known as Hall County Georgia. The site of their settlement was located near present day Gillsville and was known as Stonethrow. It was a remote frontier located in hostile Indian Territory and even though it has grown and prospered in those sixty years it still remained a remote area that required much from those who lived here during the 1830’s.

The occupation and livelihood of most of its population was chiefly agricultural. Life was hard and laborious work was required to survive and prosper. Social life was largely limited to church and church related social events. Occasional special events would find themselves on the calendar from time to time.

One such special event of the year was the celebration and observance of Independence Day. Hall County citizens gathered to enjoy good food, good company, and hear political speeches orated by the citizens and special guest. The first Fourth of July celebration recorded in Hall County was in the year 1833. The celebration began at the square at 11 o’clock with a procession headed by Major General Bates, his staff, and the officers of the day. They were escorted by the Gainesville Hussars to the Baptist Church where the many citizens were gathered. Reverend Parks addressed the group, followed by a reading of the Declaration of Independence by David C. Neal, Esq., after which an oration was given by Mr. James W. Jones.

The celebration continued into the afternoon with much of the activity held at the Limestone Springs. Limestone Springs was located at what we know today as the intersection of Green Street Circle and Thompson Bridge Road (named so because of the original covered bridges built by Andrew Thompson’s sons).
The dinner, which was prepared by Mr. Joseph Frederick, was enjoyed by the Gentlemen at the Springs. Presiding over the program was a Mr. Rueben Thornton and his assistant Madison R. Mitchel. Formal toasts were offered followed by volunteer toasts from the gathered guest.

There were many “Volunteer Toasts” given that day but for purpose of interest, I am only quoting those pertaining to the Dunagan family.

“By Joseph Dunnagan Esq. – ‘May that patriotism that animated the Heroes of the Revolution be perpetuated in the hearts of their descendants, and may peace and good will abound among every portion of our Citizens, from Main [sic] to Misourie [sic].’ “
“By Joseph Dunnagan Esq. – ‘The protective system; originally advocated by some Southern men, and now strange to tell, the same men are the foremost to advocate unconstitutional measures to get rid of.’ “.
“By Mr. B. Dunnagan – ‘Detested be every…pendant such as the palmetto flag, with all that rally round them, but let all true hearted Americans rally round our star spangle banner emblem of our Union, and long may it wave o’er the land of the free and home of the brave.’ “.

The Independence Day festivities were the spotlight of the political season, the following account is of the 1840 celebration in Hall County Georgia. The celebration began that morning with an assemblage of the citizens at the Court House and a walk to the Academy Spring, where they heard a reading of the Declaration of Independence by Joseph Dunagan and a speech by T. C. Hackett. Keeping with tradition, they partook of an appetizing meal prepared by Wiley Sledge. The preset toasts were once again delivered followed by the volunteer toasts. As said before, many toasts were given that day, but I will quote those only from the Dunagan family.

“By James McClesky [husband of Anna Dunagan], a revolutionary war soldier, May the Lord, with the breath of his mouth, destroy that evil spirit that is now about to enter into the hearts of some of the offspring of our noble soldiers, who fought and bled under the flag of the U.S. and declared themselves independent of Great Britain on this ever memorable day.”
“By James McCleskey – Georgia; On the first Monday in November, she will load her big gun with Democratic principles, wadded with Republicanism, and leveling it at Federalism, will blow Wm. H. Harrison sky high.”
“By Benjamin Dunagan – Maj. Croghan; who so bravely defended Fort Stevenson, contrary to orders of cowardly commander. May he ever be esteemed by the American people as a hero and patriot.”
“By Jas. R. Dunagan – A strict construction of Federal constitution is the sheet anchor of this Government.”

The Dunagan’s of Hall County Georgia have been actively involved in the community and its government since their arrival here in 1790’s. That tradition continues even today.
May we always remember the great men from whom we came and do honor to them as they did us. I pay tribute to my grandfathers and those whom have fought to build and preserve this great nation of ours.

Joseph Dunagan – He came into Georgia about 1790 and built Dunagan or Donnegan Station in old Franklin County Georgia. A leader among the settlers, he and his brother Joshua lead the settlers into Indian territory where they established the first settlement known as Stonethrow.

Ezekiel Dunagan – A pioneer and founding settler of Hall County, Georgia and a veteran of the War of 1812. Ezekiel served as a spy during the war and his name can be found on the roster hanging in the Georgia State Archives.

Joseph Ellis Dunagan – “Old Constitution” a Georgia State Senator representing Hall County for 23 years and a valiant and staunch defender of the Constitutions of the United States and Georgia.

John Franklin Dunagan – A Civil War Veteran who was also taken prisoner during the war.

Joseph Alexander Dunagan – Born in 1862 while his father was fighting in the Civil War, he was too old to fight in WWI. He came from patriotic men and he raised patriot men.

Lester Commie Dunagan – A proud American who was a veteran of WWI

Lester Commie Dunagan Jr. – My father, who fought bravely in WWII and continued his service to his country for the remainder of his life. Serving as First Sergeant in the Georgia National Guard till retirement, serving as State Commander of the Paul E Bolding Post of the American Legion and serving as State Commander of the Georgia American Legion, he was the most patriotic man I have ever known.

Matthew L. Scruggs- Continuing the tradition is my son who served in the United States Air Force and the Air National Guard with a tour in Iraq.

This is just one line of the great defenders of freedom from which I descend. I am honored to able to trace my roots back to the beginning of our Great Nation and say those were my ancestors. It is to them and men like them that we owe our freedom!

*Information on the Fourth of July Celebration was taken from newspaper microfilm found in the Hall County Library and was transcribed as written.*

COL. NINIAN BEALL

Col. Ninian Beall
Born Feb 28 1625 Largo Fifeshire Scotland
Died Jan. 15, 1717 Bacon hall Plantation, Maryland

According to Deborah Dunagan's research, I am related to Ninian Beall through the following line:   Ninian - Thomas - John - Samuel - Amelia Jane Beall; then Amelia Jane Beall married Thaddeus Beall, my 5th great grandfather (maternal), and Thaddeus came down from Josiah who was Samuel's brother. In the day it was quite common for 1st cousins to marry and I noticed the Beall family line did it quite often. Below is some research I found that appears to be well sourced and I found the story of Col. Ninian Beall extremely fascinating. Col. Ninian Beall was an unusually tall man measuring 6' 7" in height with bright red hair.

Ninian Beall was in the Royalist Scottish Army. He was one of 10,000 Scottish prisoners taken by Oliver Cromwell at Dunbar on September 3, 1650. Tradition has it that he was among those shipped to the Barbados and from there brought to Maryland as an indentured servant. He remained nominally an indentured servant, for five years during which time he won the esteem and respect of the colonists.


He had married in Scotland and had two sons, Thomas and John. Wrenched from his family by the disaster at Dunbar, Ninian was never again reunited with them, though the sons probably came to America at a later date.


Ninian Beall became an important person in the Colony of Maryland. He was the chief military officer in Calvert County, a large land holder, including tracts where Georgetown, Washington, D. C., is located. It was named for his son, George, not for George Washington. Under Ninian's supervision, 200 Presbyterians from Scotland were settled along the Potomac in Prince Georges County. He gave a parcel of land for their church, shrewdly appointing his sons and sons-in-law trustees thereof. In 1707, he gave a silver Communion Service to the congregation, parts of which are still in the possession of the Hyattsville Presbyterian Church, descendant of that of New Scotland.


The Maryland conservatives and ruling class were confronted first with the liberalism of the Puritans and Dissenters who overthrew the Council and the House of Delegates in 1654, but regained their established mode of living by the defeat of Puritanism in England and the return of the House of Stuart to the throne. Later, the liberalism of Coode, Beall, Jowles, Blakistone, and others, leftists of that day, overthrew the Proprietary Government of Lord Baltimore in 1689 and brought a new social and economic order to Maryland. The decline of seigniory therefore was imminent under the semi-radicalism, mingled with intolerance of Coode and his accomplices, yet negro slavery did as much as any visible force to abolish the manorial system of have it fade from the social fabric of 18th century Maryland.


[From Seigiory in Early Maryland, published in 1949, by the Descendants of Lords of the Maryland Manors.]


Although Ninian Beall is said to have come from Fifeshire, my own researches incline to the Stirlingshire idea, in which was situated the Parish of St. Ninian. In Stirlingshire we find the Rock of Dumbarton, the name given by Ninian Beall to one of his Maryland estates, while one of the earliest to his patents was for a tract called Ringan. The saintly personage from whom our Scotch Indian fighter took his name was Ninian, or Ringan.


The battle of Dunbar, in which Ninian Beall is reputed to have fought against Cromwell, was the first meeting of the opposing armies in Stirling. Cromwell sought the advantage of the coast, with its shipping, while Leslie, with his army, of which Ninian Beall was probably a leading spirit, was on the Hill of Doon above him. Down this hill of doom, rather, Leslie led his army to capture the wily Cromwell, whom he believed to have been delivered into his hands, but the rout at Dunbar is a matter of history and the escape of many of the adherents of the faith to the peaceful province of religious freedom is well known. In a land deed executed by Ninian Beall in 1667 he introduces a vein of wit and jollity not expected in a sober Scotch Presbyterian self-exiled from his country. In this recorded deed he refers to himself as "of me the said Ringing Bell," probably his nickname. He signed the deed "Ninian Bell." He arrived in the Province soon after the year 1650, some students of his life saying by way of Barbadoes and others direct from Scotland. He perpetuated the association and events of his life in the names given his lands, Soldier's Fortune, Fife Enlarged, Ringan, Rock of Dumbarton and others, while Bachelor's Choice was not appropriate after his marriage to Ruth Moore, of Calvert County, aged about sixteen.


The fact that he soon became a leader in the military affairs of the Province indicates that he had experience in these matters. In the year 1676, he was commissioned lieutenant of Lord Baltimore's "yacht or vessel of warr called the Loyall Charles of Maryland," of which the famous John Coode was commander. He took an active part in the revolution of 1689, led by Coode, who, it is said, called Major Ninian Beall his "Argyll," after the great Scotch Covenantor. While this revolution resulted disastrously for some of the leaders, he was appointed by the first Royal Governor to the high post of honor of Chief Military Officer for Calvert County. In the year 1689 the Assembly had reappointed Ninian Beall as major of the Calvert County militia, and in 1690 he was one of the twenty-five commissioners for regulating affairs in Maryland until the next meeting of the Assembly. In 1692 Ninian Beall was appointed High Sheriff of Calvert County. The year following he designated colonel. It is apparent that he was a great and efficient leader in the provincial army. In 1697 we find him one of the board of commissioners to treat with the Indians. Like our later military genius, General Washington, Colonel Ninian Beall was a surveyor, filling the office of Deputy Surveyor of Charles County in the year 1684, and later, during which time he continued his military services against the Indians. A fact not unworthy of notice is the intermarriage of a descendant of our Maryland "Argyll" and of the brother of the illustrious George. An act passed by the Assembly in the year 1699 reads: "An act of gratitude to Colonel Ninian Beall." This unusual recognition of service to his government is a high tribute to his efficient and untiring loyalty. The act in part refers to Colonel Beall's "valuable services upon all incentives and disturbances of neighboring Indians and though now grown very aged and less able to perform, yet continues his resolution even beyond his ability to do like service at this juncture of affairs, etc. Therefore, be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of this present General Assembly and the authority of the same, etc., that 75 pounds sterling be applied to the purchase of three serviceable negroes in recognition of Colonel Beall's services, etc."


In this same year he had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Rangers. In the year 1696 Colonel Ninian Beall had taken the oath as member of the House of Burgesses for Calvert County. He was also the first representative elected from Prince George's.


But it must not be imagined that this doughty Indian fighter knew nothing of the peaceful side of life. Certain it is that he served the church as loyally as he did the State, but from his own religious standpoint.


As member of the Assembly in 1699 he signed the petition to King William III for the establishment of the Church of England in Maryland, although he was a Presbyterian elder, and five years later gave half an acre of land in Prince George's County, to Nathaniel Taylor, the eminent Scotch divine, for "ye erecting and building of a house for ye service of Almighty God, that parcel of land being a part of a tract called ye Meadows, lying on ye western branch of the Patuxent River in Prince George's County."


It is therefore evident the Colonel Beall never renounced his Presbyterian faith, but simply wished to aid in the establishment of a Protestant as opposed to a Catholic supremacy. Ninian Beall, in his deed of gift for the site of an early Presbyterian Church in Maryland, made a number of is kinsman trustees. These were Ninian Beall, Jr., Thomas Beall, Sr., and Thomas Beall, Jr., James Beall, Charles Beall, Alexander Beall, Archibald Edmonston, William Offutt and others.


Colonel Ninian Beall is supposed to be the person referred to by Thomas Wilson, the Quaker preacher, who, writing of his trip through Maryland in 1691, says: "As we were traveling we met two men, one of whom being an ancient comely man kindly invited us to his house, where we stayed two nights and had a meeting, though he was an elder among the Presbyterians. He also lent a boat to go over the Potomac River."


Dr. Briggs, in the "American Presbyterian" says, "the Presbyterians on the Patuxent were kept together by their godly elder Col. Ninian Beall, from the time of Mathew Hill until the arrival of Nathaniel Taylor, who, it is said came over with a congregation of Scots from Fifeshire in 1690."

Colonel Ninian Beall lived to be ninety-two years of age. That he was a man of rare breadth of vision his charity to all men bears witness.


He was buried on his home plantation and when in recent years his remains were dug up, owing to the growth of Georgetown where his home was situated, it was found that he was six feet seven inches tall, and his Scotch red hair had retained all of its fiery hue.


That Ninian Beall was a man of wealth is shown by the large estates devised in his will to his children and grandchildren, many thousands of acres of Maryland's most fertile soil being left to his heirs.


His son, Colonel George Beall, inherited a part of the tract granted to Colonel Ninian Beall, by the name of Rock of Dumbarton, which had been bestowed by Charles Lord Baltimore "as of our manor of Calverton in free and common soccage by fealty only for all manner of service," etc. Georgetown was built on a large part of this tract.

Its second proprietor, Colonel George Beall, married Elizabeth Brooke, the daughter of Colonel Thomas Brooke and his second wife, Barbara Dent, and the great-granddaughter of Robert Brooke, of De la Brooke, and his wife, Mary Baker.

Ninian Beall, Jr., son of Colonel Ninian, was dead at the time of his father's death in 1717. He had married Elizabeth Magruder, by whom he left a son, Samuel, and a daughter, Mary, largely provided for in their grandfather's will who directed that they be carefully brought up and "have that education suitable to their estate."


Two of Colonel Ninian Beall's daughters married Magruders, another married a Belt and a third an Edmonston. Most of the alliances of his children and grandchildren were with the Scotch who had settled in that part of Prince George's County called New Scotland. Among so many notable lines of descent it is difficult to discriminate in the favor of any, hence the choice must be given to that branch which has a national interest by reason of the marriage of Eliza Beall, great-granddaughter of Colonel Ninial Beall, to Colonel George Corbin Washington, a son of William Augustine Washington and his wife Jane (Washington) Washington, who was also his cousin, being the daughter of John Augustine Washington, brother of General George Washington, while her husband was a son of Augustine Washington, the older half-brother of the first President of the United States. Although born in Virginia (Westmoreland County), Colonel Washington, who married Eliza Beall, adopted Maryland as his home and represented the Montgomery County district in three successive terms of Congress. He died in Georgetown in the year 1854.


[From Side-lights on Maryland History with Sketches of Early Maryland Families by Hester Dorsey Richardson, copyrighted 1913.]



Ninian Beall held a commission as cornet in the Scotch-English Army, raised to resist Cromwell. He fought in the battle of Dunbar, 3rd September, 1650, against Cromwell, and was made prisoner at that battle and sentenced to five years servitude. He was sent with 150 other Scotsmen to Barbadoes, West Indies. About 1652 they appeared in the Province of Maryland. Ninian Beall served his five years with Richard Hall, a planter of Calvert Co.


In the Maryland Land Office Records of 1658, there is a record of Ninian Beall making a land transfer in Calvert County, Maryland. It seems that these military prisoners were entitled to 50 acres of public land after completing service. By the inexperienced reader the servitude of Colonel Ninian Beall for five years under Richard Hall, on account of fighting against Cromwell, may be rated as a disgrace. This humiliation of servitude which came to him not on account of crime, but through the fortunes of war, was an honor. The principle for which he fought finally triumphed in the overthrow of Cromwell. His servitude was a halo of martyrdom for a principle which was honorable. Although he had many chances to escape from servitude after reaching Maryland, yet we find the instincts of a gentleman and soldier prompted him to not only honorably and gracefully submit to the fortunes of war, but at the same time, by so doing, he gained the respect and confidence of the people of Maryland to such a degree that they showered continuos honors upon him to the day of his death.


Ninian Beall's military ability in the Scotch-English Army seems to have been made good use of in the Province of Maryland, as shown by the following notations:

1668: Records at Annapolis, dated 31st October 1668, call him Lieut. Ninian Beall.

1676: Commissioned Lieut. of Lord Baltimore's "Yacht of War, Loyal Charles of Maryland, John Goade Commander."

1684: Deputy Surveyor of Charles County.

1688: Appointed Chief Military Officer of Calvert County.

1689: Appointed Major of Calvert County Militia by the Assembly.

1692: Appointed High Sheriff of Calvert County.

1694: Appointed Colonel of Militia by the Assembly 30th July, 1694.

1697: Appointed on a Commission by the Assembly to treat with the Indians.

1679-1701: Was a member of the General Assembly.

1699: The General Assembly passed an "Act of Gratitude" for "the distinguished Indian services of Colonel Ninian Beall."

Col. Beall's signal defeat and destruction of the great Susquehannah Tribe of Indians caused him to be recognized as an Indian fighter of ability. Many official papers written by Col. Beall and on file in the Provincial Records show that he was a man of broad experience, great mental capacity, undoubted integrity, perfect moral courage, and of good education. His signatures to official papers are bold and free. As he signed his will by witnessed mark, that would indicate that he must have been in a very feeble condition of body at the time, for he was 92 years old. He figures in many land transfers. It is estimated that he owned about 4000 acres.

He seems to have identified himself with the Presbyterian Church of Maryland before 1690. During that year, 200 Presbyterian immigrants came over from Scotland under his supervision. He located them along the Potomac River and called the settlement New Scotland. These immigrants brought with them Rev. Nathaniel Taylor. There is recorded at Upper Marlboro, a deed of gift from Colonel Ninian Beall to Reverend Taylor of land in Upper Marlboro upon which to build a church. In 1707, Colonel Ninian Beall presented the above church a costly silver communion set, made in London. A portion of this silver communion set is now in the Presbyterian Church at Hyattsville, Maryland.


Colonel Beall's will was dated 15th January 1717 and was probated 28th February, 1717. Colonel Beall was buried on his Rock of Dumbarton Plantation, at a point now Gay Street, Georgetown, D.C. When his body was removed, his skeleton was found to be perfect and measured six feet seven inches, and his hair had grown long and retained its youthful color of red.


[From Colonial Families of the United States of America, Volume II, edited by George Norbury Mackenzie, LL.B.