Edward Suit of Bladensburg
Edward Suit lived in Bladensburg from circa 1820 until his
death in 1850; the recorded activities of Suit and his family offer some
interesting details about life in Bladensburg in the early 19th
century. Born in 1788 and married in
1809 to Catharine Tolbert/Talbert, Suit served in the Maryland Militia in the
War of 1812, in Captain James Veitch’s Company of Infantry. After the war, Suite farmed land that
adjoined the town of Bladensburg on the east - several parcels of the large
tract, Columbia, that had been amassed by the Lowndes’ family in the late 18th
century. He also purchased several lots
in the town of Bladensburg, including Lots #21, and #22, and it was in his house in town
that he died in August, 1850. [1]
Archival records give us tantalizing bits of information
about Edward Suit’s activities in the 1840s.
On 7 March 1844, Suit purchased all of the “goods, wares and merchandise”
in the store operated by Joshua Selby in the village of Bladensburg, as well as
all of Selby’s household furniture from the same building. The following week Suit entered into a
contract to take on a young African-American boy as an apprentice; this
contract gives us information on the apprentice process. William Beckett and Thomas Clements, both
Justices of the Peace and neighbors of Edward Suit, drew up the contract, which
bound Suit and young James Galloway, according to the Act of the General
Assembly passed in 1839 “for the better regulation of the free negro and
mulatto children in this state.” James, who
was not quite six years of age, was the son of a free Negro woman, Sarah
Galloway, recently deceased. By this
contract, it was the responsibility of Edward Suit that the boy “learn to labor
and all habits of industry after the manner of an apprentice.” And young James
was to “dwell with and serve the said Edward Suit . . . until the first day of
May A.D. 1859 when . . . . [he] . . . .
shall attain the age of twenty-one years.” During all of this time, James was
to faithfully serve his master in all lawful business set to him by Suit, and to
behave himself in an orderly and honest fashion toward Mr. Suit and his family. Suit covenanted to faithfully provide good
and sufficient meat, drink and clothing, lodging and other necessaries “fit and
convenient for such an apprentice.” At
the expiration of his term Suit was to give to his apprentice “two suits of
wearing apparel, one suitable for Sundays and the other for working days.”[2]
Edward Suit did not live to provide the two sets of clothing
to James Galloway – he died at age 62 in 1850.
The 1860 census shows that James Galloway, well after his 21st
birthday, continued to live in Bladensburg with Suit’s family - the widow
Catharine Suit, and her adult son, George Washington Suit. What happened to James Galloway after this
has not yet been discovered – he is not listed in the Bladensburg household of
George W. and Catharine Suit in the 1870 census, and a search of Civil War
troops is beginning.[3]
One more interesting fact about Edward Suit is that he served
as Inspector of Plaster of Paris for the Bladensburg District. Plaster of Paris was an important item in
construction and architectural trim, as well as medical treatment (casts for
broken bones), and concern that it “be of good quality, accurately weighted,
and well coopered” occasioned Acts of
the General Assembly in 1833 and 1834 to appoint an Inspector of Plaster of
Paris in Baltimore. The following year,
the Assembly provided for inspection in Bladensburg, and Edward Suit was appointed
to this post in 1847.[4]
.
[1] Prince George’s County Land Records AB#2:447,
AB#10:483, AB#11:138; Prince George’s County Tax Assessments, 1820-1850; Brown, Helen W., Index of Marriage Licenses, Prince George’s County, Maryland 1777-1886,
Genealogical Publishing, Co. Inc., Baltimore 1973; War of 1812 Pension
Records.
[2] Acts of General Assembly Chapter CLV,
1827; Prince George’s County Deed
JBB#3:378; Federal Census 1850, 1860.
[3]
Prince George’s County Will PC#1:438; Federal Census 1850, 1860; Alexandria
Gazette, 26 August 1850. Obituary.
[4]
Acts of the General Assembly 1832-1834, Journal of the Proceedings of the House of
Delegates of the State of Maryland.
Was Veitch's company at the Battle of Bladensburg?
ReplyDeleteSo, architectural plaster works live on today at the Giannetti Studios just a stones throw away in Brentwood! I guess John and Bob must have known...?