Trumpington family papers

Collection

Identifier: MS-0052

Staff Only

Trumpington family papers

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Scope and Contents Note

This collection contains materials from the Smyth, Young, Willson, and Strong families that have resided at Trumpington Manor for over three centuries. Much of the collection is the correspondence of Anna Young of Washington D.C. who married into the Willson family at Trumpington. Much of the later material was compiled by Mildred Strong, including the research on the Smyth family.

This collection contains four series: Young family papers; Willson family papers; Smyth family papers; and Miscellaneous materials, 1840-1943.

Dates

Creation: 1742-1950

Access restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Publication rights

This license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. CC BY-NC-ND includes the following elements:

BY: credit must be given to the creator. NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted. ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.

All requests to reproduce materials from this collection must be submitted to Washington College Archives & Special Collections and approved by the Trumpington Heritage Trust.

Biographical Information

Anna Young Willson (1819-1900) was born November 14th in Georgetown, D.C. to Benjamin Hall Young, III (approx. 1784-1851) and Anne Charlotte Manning (1802- ). She had several brothers: Alexander X. Young (approx. 1819-1863); Benjamin Young (approx. 1820-1905); Notley Young (approx. 1819- ); and Wilfred (William) Young (approx. 1926-1898). The Young family patriarch Notley Rosier Young (1738-1802) owned much of the land along the Potomac that makes up the National Mall today. This prime D.C. real estate was the subject of several disputes within the larger Young family. Notley also owned one of the largest populations of enslaved people in the area. Alexander served as a surgeon in the United States Army during the Civil War while Benjamin served with the Confederacy. Wilfred married Elizabeth Ann Boarman (1832- ) in 1847. The Youngs were Catholics, a minority in the area. There is little known about Charlotte Manning, and it appears that Anna and her brothers became wards to other family members even before their father’s accidental drowning. Anna was educated in a convent school and corresponding with her cousin Julia R. Compton, a teacher in Georgetown. She later went to work for another Catholic family the Willsons on the Eastern Shore. On October 3, 1842, she married Richard Bennett Willson (1817-1901).

Richard Bennett Willson was born to Thomas B. Willson (1778-1859) and Anna Maria Smyth Willson (1784-1823). He and Anna had seven children: Julia R. Compton Ringgold (1854-1935); Wilfred Manning Willson; Thomas Bennett Willson; Richard Bennett Willson; Notley Oswald Willson; Horace Augustine Willson; and Peter Casanave Willson. They resided at the family home, Trumpington Manor in Rock Hall, Maryland. Julia married James Cruikshank Ringgold (1857-1901) and they had Maryann Isabell Willson (1886-1977). One of Maryann’s children was Mildred Neale “Millie” Willson Strong (1920-2021) she resided at Trumpington till her death at the age of 101.

Extent

3 Cubic Feet (6 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Physical and technical access restrictions

Due to the fragility of the materials it is requested that researchers use the Digital Archive

Custodial history

This collection belongs to the Trumpington Heritage Trust. The Trust must approve all requests regarding the collection's use outside research.

Existence of copies

A strictly chronological listing of a portion of this collection can be found in the Maryland Hall of Records inventory dated 1981, documents copied onto microfilm.