Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Documents |
Title |
Barroll Collection - MS COLL 5 |
Object ID |
724 |
Scope & Content |
Large collection containing personal and business records belonging to Hope H. Barroll and his family including Morris K. Barroll, J. Leeds Barroll, Capt. Wethered Barroll, etc. Series 1: Three document boxes containing a variety of letters, receipts, historical and genealogical information, and miscellaneous documents Series 2: Letterbooks, Series 3: Account books Series 4: Ledgers/Docket record books Series 5: Personal BookS Related collection: Legal Text Collection The ledgers and letter books contain detailed information about Hope Barroll's legal cases, politics and issues of local concern in Kent County. Items which may have originally belonged with this collection may have been dispersed over the years into other files/collections. BIOGRAPHY: Hopewell Horsey Barroll (1860-1925) was born in Chestertown August 6, 1860, the son of John Leeds Barroll (1830-1866) and Elleaonora Keene Horsey. Hope Barroll was the great grandson of William Barroll (1734-1778), the rector of St. Stephen's Church in North Sassafras Parish until 1777 when he refused to renounce his allegiance to Britain. William (1764-1834), son of William Barroll, was one of the first graduates of Washington College in 1783, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1787, when he began practicing in Chestertown. He represented Kent County in the State legislature. His son, James Edmondson Barroll (1779-1875), attended Washington College and then Yale, and was admitted to the bar in 1811. He was also a well-respected attorney on the Eastern Shore who lived in Hynson-Ringgold House until 1853, when he moved to Baltimore for three years and then retired to his home, Holly Hall, in Cecil County where he died. James E. Barroll's son and Hope Barroll's father, John Leeds Barroll, was valedictorian of St. Mary's College, receiving a prize for oratory, and was admitted to the bar in 1852, after which he came to Chestertown and served as State's Attorney from 1854 to 1856. John Leeds Baroll was editor and publisher of the Kent Conservator. In 1863 he reprinted an article from the St. Mary's Beacon, by James L. Downs which federal officials regarded as treasonous. Gen. Robert C. Schenck ordered a company of the 2nd Regiment Eastern Shore Volunteer Infantry to Chestertown, and Barroll was arrested on April 17 (Downs was arrested as well. In a May 5 letter to the Richmond Enquirer, Barroll and Downs described being held at Baltimore's Fort McHenry and raged about their treatment. "We had not been allowed even a form of a trial, nor officially notified of the charges against us," they wrote. The pair were moved to Harpers Ferry and then marched to Winchester, and finally to Newtown, Virginia. There they were released with a note that read "Guards pass James L. Downs and J. Leeds Barroll through the Federal lines, never again to return, under the penalty of being treated as spies." Barroll returned to Chestertown after the war and was elected to the town commission, but died at age 36, on August. 6, 1866 his son Hope's 6th birthday. His death notice reported that he went to bed that evening "in usual health," and was found dead the next morning. The nature of his death is unknown. Hope Barroll's family's troubles seem to have had a lifelong impact. Physically, he struggled his entire life with the stump of his leg, which was amputated when he was a boy after an accident when he tried to climb on the rear of a stage coach. Nevertheless, he attended St. John's College in Annapolis and Washington College, and studied law at the University of Virginia and with Judge James A. Pearce. He was admitted to the bar in 1883, the fifth generation to practice law on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. In 1888, he married Margaret Spencer Ringgold Wethered, with whom he had 4 children: Lewin Wethered, Morris Keene, Hopewell Horsey and John Wethered.Hope Barroll served as President of the Second National Bank of Chestertown (later the Third National Bank) and the Citizens Bank, and on the Board of Governors of Washington College. He had a large and thriving legal practice and was active in politics as part of the Democratic Party. Barroll's legal practice is well-documented in a collection of his business records housed at the Historical Society of Kent County. Letters, account books, ledgers and dockets from 1883 to 1925 chronicle his day-to-day activities. Personal correspondence reflects his associations with individuals and businesses in Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia and New York, as well as his relationship with his sons. His political activism is also documented, particularly in the years before and after World War I. Some of Barroll's papers were destroyed in a fire at his Byford Court home in the 1910s, as evidenced by the water damage and singed edges of some of the volumes. Still other parts of his collection may have been dispersed among family members, as some documents are known to be in private hands. On September 22, 1925, Hope H. Barroll committed suicide in his office on Court Street. The shocking news could not be hidden and his son discussed his father's state of mind in the Kent News. On the day of his death, Barrolll took care of several business matters, including steps to make sure there was not a run on Citizens Bank, closed the door to his office, drew the blinds and shot himself in the lavatory. The Kent News reported Barroll had been suffering from "the worries of an unbalanced mind and shattered nerves" and ongoing poor health. His son, L. Wethered Barroll, a Baltimore attorney, attributed his mental state to the stress of having two sons in the army and one in the navy during World War I which resulted in a stroke. "Mentally he was never again normal. His condition was similar to that of those who were shell-shocked. During the last six months he had been ill a large part of the time. It is apparent to those close to him that he came to his end when his mind was temporarily unbalanced." Hope Barroll's funeral services were held at his Chestertown home, Byford Court, and he was interred at Shrewsbury Cemetery. Barroll authored the book, Barroll in Great Britain and America, 1854-1910 (Baltimore: J.E. Saumenig & Co, 1910) which contains many additional genealogical details about his family. |
Collection |
Barroll Collection |
People |
Barroll, Hope H. Barroll, Hopewell Barroll, Morris Keene Barroll, Weathered Barroll, William Barroll,J. Leeds Horsey, John P. Lee, Senator Blair Ringgold, Mary C. Sluby, Nicholas Wickes, Simon |
Lexicon category |
8: Communication Artifact |
Lexicon sub-category |
Documentary Artifact |
Search Terms |
Brick making Byford Court Democrats of Chestertown, Maryland Linwood Manor North Sassafras Parish Shrewsbury Episcopal Church Tulip Forest Washington College |
Containers |
Library: Shelving Unit 1 |