might finde trying to make their escape from that horrid hole. I finding the knight fair spent was determined at last to try as i had done before, and if thay sholde see me before i got of the joists to jump down amongst them and run out by them if i could. Hearing them all still below, I caim down the side of the wall & seeing them all lay still, walked out of the door, turned the corner as quick as i could, hearing noboddey hail me maid the best of my way down to the river on my hands and knees, which I thought the safest way. Finding no centenal in my way thought it best to return again and get a rail from the barn that I might convay my self safe across the River, which was neer a mile wide, and bring my clothes with me, which i did and got safe the second time to the Shore whair I intended to strip of my clothes, but before i had got my hunting shurt, wast coat and boddey shirt of, I heard a pattroleing Partie that was close after me. I then ran doun into the water and as soon as i had got a little distance from the Shore strip'd of my clothes and steared for the niest point of woods, on the opesite shore, whare I arived with the loss of my gun and bayonet, cartuch box on the Iland; and on my passage hat, a linning wast coat shoes and the Silver spoon that I had got on the Iland. I had no knapsack with me or i must have lost it with the others. I was very onwell for sum time after, but thank God i am well at preasent, nothing new with us at presant the Generals air manovering a little: the Enemy came up the day before yesterday as if they had a minde to cross Schoolkill but finding us redy for them, beat the Retreet and marched of, an that knight thay moved up the river and we are following of them. I hope that we shall be able to give an account that will be favorable of them yet. thay payed deer for the ground thay got the other day. if thay buy all the ground they get as deer as thay did that thay will not be able to pay for much of our land. I rest contented and trust in providence, hopeing whilste we do our duty that we shall succeede in the ende, and hope if I survive

this campaign to spende sum happy hours with you all again. Pleas to let me have a sheet or two from you when opportunity serves as you cannot say that I have not set the example by giveing you a full account of General Sullivan's excurtion on Staten Iland and my escape. No more at present, but you must divide this between you and John Willmott' as i think it may serve you both if you air moderate. I must beg that you let noboddey else see it as i have not time to coppey it. Pleas to remember me to Mamma2 and all my brothers and sisters and to all my relatives and friends that think it worth their while to inquire. . . . Polly 3 shall expect that

thay will.... that I may partake.

I remain youre Sinceer Friend untill death

Wm. Willmott.

PS. Had you been in the Barn I would lay a hundred pound you would not a thought of Billy Ogg's house.1

[To Mr. Benjamin Talbott,

Baltimore County, Md.]

1John Wilmot, eldest brother of William, and head of the family upon the father's death in 1773.

The widow Sarah (Merryman) Wilmot, who died in 1781. The father, Robert Wilmot, Sr., died in 1773.

Probably a reference to his youngest sister Mary ("Polly") Wilmot, a child of about six or seven years of age at this time. She became the wife of Thomas Gittings, of Balto. County. The dotted spaces indicate portions of the text of the letter that have been mutilated.

4

The reference is to an amusing, but very embarrassing incident that occurred during a house party at "Billy" Ogg's house, in Baltimore County. After that affair, any allusion to Billy Ogg's house" would invariably call forth laughter from the limited circle who were acquainted with the circumstances. (F. B. C.)

HON. NICHOLAS THOMAS.

RICHARD HENRY SPENCER.

Among the patriotic citizens of the Province of Maryland, just before and during the Revolutionary War, few were more prominent or more conspicuous for their loyalty and devotion to the cause of the Colonies than Nicholas Thomas. As he left no descendants, never having married, a memory of him has almost faded away, yet he was a man of importance and ability in his day, and deserving of more consideration than has been accorded him. Like many of Maryland's worthy sons his services in the founding of the State and of the Republic have had no other recognition than a casual mention by the annalist.

Nicholas Thomas was born in Talbot County, Maryland, about 1737, the son of Hon. William Thomas, Jr., a leading citizen of that county, for more than twenty years one of "Ye Worshipful the Commissioners and Justices of the Peace," and a member of the Lower House of Assembly of the Province, 1738-1748.

His ancestors were of Welsh origin, but the branch of the family from which he was descended, not long after the Norman Conquest, removed to England, where Tristram Thomas was living at Sundrish, County Kent, in 1639. He is thought to have been either the son or the grandson of the Rev. Tristram Thomas, Rector of Alfold Parish, County Surrey, in 1559. (Manning and Bray's History of Surrey, 1814). There was also a Rev. Nicholas Thomas, Rector of Stoke Parish, Surrey, 1447-1452, who was probably a member of the same family.

Tristram Thomas of Sundrish, Kent, in his will dated 21 March, 1639 (Mrs. Hester Dorsey Richardson's Gleanings in

England, 1908), mentions his wife, Elizabeth, his eldest son Edmund, to whom he left his landed estate in the Parishes of Sundrish, Cheveninge and Seven-Oaks, his son Tristram, who married about 1628, Margaret, the only daughter of the Rev. Jeffrey Amherst, Rector of Horsemonden, Kent, the ancestor of the Lords Amherst and of General Sir Jeffrey Amherst, to whom the French surrendered Montreal, and with it all Canada, in 1760 (Brydges Collins' Peerage, Vol. 8, 1812); his sons Christopher, the emigrant, Richard, Leonard and Edward, his grandsons Tristram and Edmund, and his daughters Elizabeth Austen, widow, of Horsemonden, Anne, Sarah and Mary Thomas.

Christopher Thomas, the third son, born in Kent, England, in 1609, embarked 15 May 1635, and arrived in Virginia the same year, leaving his only son and child Tristram Thomas in England. Later he was employed by Thomas Butler and came with him to the Province of Maryland, and in 1637 and 1638, represented the Isle of Kent in the Lower House of Assembly. He afterwards left the Province and married for his second wife, Elizabeth Higgins, a widow with two daughters whom he brought to Maryland and three servants in 1664, demanded land, and had surveyed 18 April 1665, "Barbadoes Hall," three hundred and fifty acres on the south side of Chester River, on Corsica Creek. He died 25 March 1670.

His only son Tristram Thomas by his first wife, born in England, married Anne Coursey, whose brothers Henry and William, and sister Juliana Coursey had emigrated to Maryland in 1653 and 1661. At the instance of his brother-in-law William Coursey, Tristram Thomas, with his wife Anne and their three sons Thomas, Christopher and Tristram, came to Maryland in 1666, and settled on Wye River, Talbot County. He was Commissioner to improve trade in Talbot County, with Colonel George Robotham in 1685, and died in 1686. Besides the three sons he brought with him from England, he left the following children born in Maryland, William, Juliana, Stephen, Elizabeth, Anne and Martha Thomas.

His fourth son William Thomas, born 18 October 1669, married in 1690, Jane Riddell, daughter of Walter Riddell. He was High Sheriff of Talbot County in 1735, and died 1 April 1740, leaving two sons William, Jr., and Tristram, two other sons Nicholas and Edward having both died in 1716, and three daughters Anne, wife of William Martin, Elizabeth and Juliana Thomas, his daughter Jane having predeceased him.

Hon. William Thomas, Jr., the eldest son, of "Anderton," Talbot County, born 15 May 1705, married 11 May 1732, Elizabeth Allen, daughter of Rev. John Allen and Mary Lowe, daughter of Colonel Nicholas Lowe. He died 10 April 1767, leaving a daughter Mary, wife of Nicholas Goldsborough, and four sons, John Allen, a member of the Provincial Convention of 1775, and Captain of the 5th Independent Company of Maryland Regular Troops in the Revolutionary War, William, Nicholas, the subject of this memoir, and James Thomas whose grandson General Allen Thomas, was a distinguished officer in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and Minister to Venezuela, 1893-1897, under the administration of President Cleveland.

Tristram Thomas, the second son, of "Roadley," Talbot County, born 23 January 1709, married in January 1765, Elizabeth Martin, daughter of Thomas Martin and Elizabeth Goldsborough, youngest daughter of Nicholas 2nd and Elizabeth (Sargeant) Goldsborough. He was one of "Ye Worshipful the Commissioners and Justices of the Peace," 1749-1765, and died 17 July 1769, leaving three young children, William, Elizabeth who married in 1801, Henry Martin of "Walnut Grove," Talbot County, whose youngest daughter Anna Matilda Martin married in 1829, Henry Spencer of the same county, and Dr. Tristram Thomas who married in 1809, Maria Francis, only daughter of Philip Francis, first cousin of Sir Philip Francis, the reputed author of the "Letters of Junius." His son Hon. Philip Francis Thomas was Governor of Maryland,