ha-865 monument to bush declaration

HA-865

Monument to Bush Declaration

Architectural Survey File

This is the architectural survey file for this MIHP record. The survey file is organized reverse-

chronological (that is, with the latest material on top). It contains all MIHP inventory forms, National

Register nomination forms, determinations of eligibility (DOE) forms, and accompanying documentation

such as photographs and maps.

Users should be aware that additional undigitized material about this property may be found in on-site

architectural reports, copies of HABS/HAER or other documentation, drawings, and the “vertical files” at

the MHT Library in Crownsville. The vertical files may include newspaper clippings, field notes, draft

versions of forms and architectural reports, photographs, maps, and drawings. Researchers who need a

thorough understanding of this property should plan to visit the MHT Library as part of their research

project; look at the MHT web site (mht.maryland.gov) for details about how to make an appointment.

All material is property of the Maryland Historical Trust.

Last Updated: 01-18-2019

Property Name:

MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY FORM

Monument to the Bush Declaration Inventory Number:

NR Eligible: yes

no

HA-865

Address : Philadel phia Road l_MD 7)

Abingdon

Historic district: yes ,..L no

City: Zip Code: 21009 County: Harford

USGS Quadrangle(s) : Edgewood ---------------------------Property Owner: Maryland State Highway Administration Tax Account ID Number:

Tax Map Parcel Number(s) : Tax Map Number: ----------Project: MD 7 at MD 136 Agency: MOOT State Highway Administration ----------------------Agency Prepared By: Maryland State Highway Administration

Preparer's Name: SHA Consultant Architectural Historian Rebecca Crew Date Prepared: 09/28/2015

Documentation is presented in : Survey and Compliance Files

Preparer's Eligibility Recommendation: Eligibility recommended X Eligibility not recommended

Criteria : A B C D Considerations: A B C D E

Complete if the property is a contributing or non-contributing resource to a NR district/property:

Name of the District/Property:

Inventory Number:

Site visit by MHT Staff yes X no -Eligible: _ yes

Name:

Description of Property and Justification: (Please attach map and photo)

Listed :

Date:

F G

yes

The Monument to the Bush Declaration is located on the north side of Philadelphia Road (MD 7) in the right-of-way adjoining 4002 and 4004 Philaldephia Road in Bush, Harford County, Maryland . The monument consists of a rough-cut rectangular granite base measuring approximately forty inches wide by thirty inches deep on which is attached a brass tablet. The top of the granite base is angled and averages about thirty-six inches high.

The monument is surrounded by four concrete posts, connected by pipes to form protective fences to either side of the monument. One pipe is miss ing from the northeast pair of posts. The posts are highly deteriorated.

A highway marker documenting the site of the Bu·sh Declaration (HA-864) is located southwest of the monument.

The Monument commemorates the signing of a document on March 22, 1775 , that expressed the sentiments of support by the Committee of Harford County for the Continental Congress. The declaration stated , "We, the Committee of Harford County, having most Seriously and maturely Considered the Resolves and Association of the Continental Congress, and the Resolves of the Provincial Convention , do most heartily approve of the same, and as we Esteem ourselves in a more particular manner intrusted by

MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST REVIEW

Eligibility recommended Eligibility not recommended

Criteria: A B C D Considerations: A B C D E F G

MHT Comments:

7 1 ,2./17

Date

NR-ELIGlBILITY REVIEW FORM

HA-865

Page 2

Monument to the Bush Declaration

our Constituents to see them carried into Execution, we do most solemnly pledge ourselves to each other, and to our country, and engage ourselves by every tie held sacred among mankind, to perform the same at the risque of our lives and fortunes."

The Monument's tablet reads: "This Tablet.

Marks the site of the building in which were held the courts of Harford County from its organization in March 1774 until March 1783 . In this house the Committee of Harford County held its meetings before and during the early years of the Revolution . Here, at a meeting held on the 22nd day of March 1775 , the following members of the Committee passed and signed a formal declaration pledging their lives and fortunes to the cause, which, a year later, resulted in the Declaration of Independence."

The plaque then lists the names of the 34 men that signed the Bush Declaration.

Harford County separated from Baltimore County in 1773 and began keeping records in 1774. The courts of Harford County met at Bush Town at this time, but no court house was present. The court met at the property owned by Aquila Hall , on the east side of Bynum's Run. The lot was also known as Adair's Lot, after Hall's former co-owner Robert Adair.

The county seat of Harford County moved to Belair in 1782, and the brick house used as the court house in Harford Town had been taken down by 18 17. ( 1)

According to an 1899 article in the Baltimore Sun, "The existence of the Maryland declaration was unknown until in recent years . About 30 years ago, Capt. A.L. Jarrett and Gen. James J . Archer found strewn about the floor of the old courthouse of Belair some manuscripts related to the revolutionary period ." (2)

Abraham Lingan Jarrett ( 1817-1864), a relative, but not descendant, of Bush declaration signer Richard Dallam, practiced law in Harford County . He served as clerk of the court in the Harford County Circuit Court from 1851 to 1858 and again from 1867 to 1891.(3) As clerk of the court, his office would located in the north wing of the Harford County Court House, one of two brick, fireproof wings added in 1830 to the original 1791 courthouse. (4)

Gen . James J. Archer (I 8 I 7-1864) was a grandson of Dr. John Archer, one of the signers of the Bush Declaration. He studied law, then joined the army and fought in the Mexican War. He returned to Maryland in 1848 and presumably practiced law in Harford County before re-enlisting in the military in 1855. He joined the Confederate Army in 1861, and after taken as a prisoner of war in the Battle of Gettysburg, he died in Richmond in 1864. (5) This would suggest that Jarrett and Archer probably found the declaration between 1851-1855 , prior to the fire in 185 8 that destroyed the central portion of the Harford County Court House. Jarrett, Henry W . Archer (brother of Gen. James J. Archer), and H.D. Gough ( clerk of the County Commissioners) petitioned the Maryland legislature for funds to aid in rebuilding the courthouse. (6) Jarrett, Stevenson Archer (another relative of Gen James J . Archer), and three others were appointed commissioners to contract and superintend construction of the new building. (7)

The Bush Declaration, located in the meeting minute book, survived the courthouse fire , and in 1876, Harford County formed a Revolutionary Association to celebrate the centennial of the American Revolution, and in 1885 , the Historical Society of Harford County was founded . In the last years of the nineteenth century, interest in the Bush Declaration renewed following an address by

MARYLA D HISTORICAL TRUST REVIEW



MHT Comments:

Reviewer, Office of Preservation Services Date

Reviewer, National Register Program Date

NR-ELIGIBILITY REVIEW FORM

HA-865

Page 3

Col. William H. Love to the Colonial Dames. (8)


The Revolutionary Association of Harford County was formed in July 1899, originally intending to make plans to celebrate the I 25th anniversary of the Bush Declaration on March 22, 1900 . Herman Stump served as president, Samuel W . Bradford served as secretary, and 17 other descendents of signers comprised the membership (9) . However, the Association chose to postpone the celebration until July 4, 1900 for the unveiling of the monument to mark the location of the declaration.

On June I, 1900, Gen. Herman Stump, Dr. Geo. W. Archer, Samuel W. Bradford, and Richard Dallam visited Bush for the purposed of locating the spot where the old hall stood in which the Harford Declaration was signed. ( I 0)

On July 4, 1900 , the celebration of commemoration was witnessed by a large crowd gathered at Bush. The ceremony included an opening prayer by Rev, F.D . Finney of Belair Presbyterian Church, welcome address by Herman Stump, a parade to the monument that included the Wilna Comet Band, members of the Maryland National Guard, and Masonic Lodges . Thirteen girls, symbolizing the thirteen colonies, wearing white dresses and blue caps with stars, held onto ropes that lifted the American flag off the face of the monument. The gathering returned to the grove to picnic and to hear recitations, readings, and speeches, before ending in prayer. ( I 1)

In his book, History of Harford County, published in 1901 , historian and judge Walter Preston described inaccurately the Bush Declaration as the first Declaration of Independence made by any representative body in America. ( 12) In reality, it supported resolves passed by other committees .

The legacy of the Bush Declaration continues in Harford County. During the Great Depression, the federal Civil Works Administration funded murals by Marion Butler Ewald depicting the event of the Bush Declaration to were installed in the Harford County Courthouse in Belair. (13) The site of the Bush Declaration received its own highway historical marker in 1963 (see HA-864 ), and a luncheon celebrating the 200th anniversary occurred on March 22, 1975 . (14) The Hereditary Order of the Signers of the Bush Declaration (HOSBD) was founded on June 4, 2004 to honor the Signers of the Bush Declaration and create a genealogical , historical and fraternal organization relating to the Bush Declaration.( 15)

These events and associations relate back to the event of the Bush Declaration itself, and not the Monument to the Bush Declaration. They do not quality the Monument to the Bush Declaration under National Register of Historic Places Criteria Consideration F, for prope1ties primarily commemorative in intent if design, age, tradition, or symbolic value has invested (them) with its own exceptional significance.

The Monument to the Bush Declaration is not eligible under Criterion A, because it was not present during the significant event of the signing of the Bush Declaration, and while the unveiling of the Monument is a well-documented , well-attended event, the unveiling of the Monument did not alter the broad patterns of history in the town of Bush, the county of Harford, or the state of Maryland. The Monument is not eligible under Criterion A. The Monument to the Bush Declaration is associated with persons significant to Harford County and Maryland history, such as Herman Stump and Walter Preston, but they are not primarily known for their association with the Monument to the Bush Declaration; the Monument is not eligible under Criterion B . The Monument to the Bush Declaration lacks distinctive characteristics of monumental sculpture and it does not represent the work of a master of possess high artistic value; rather it is a plain monument devoid of decoration and not eligible for listing under Criterion C. The Monument to the Bush Declaration was not evaluated under Criterion Das part of this assessment.

The surveyed property includes the granite monument and the surrounding area marked by the four concrete posts .




MHT Comments:



NR-ELIGIBILITY REVIEW FORM

HA-865

Page 4

End Notes


(1) See Baltimore County Land Records BB I : 1 I 8 ( 1753 ), and Harford County Land Records HD V: 161 ( I 8 I 0) and HD I : 26 (1817).

(2)"Harford Declaration: First to Announce Independence of Great Britain," The Sun, July 27, 1899, pg. 7 . (3) Archives of Maryland Biographical Series: Abram Lingan Jarrett. Maryland State Archives, Available online at http://msa .maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001500/001560/html/l 560bio.html, accessed October 5, 2015. (4)l'Historic Courthouse ." Clerk's Office, Circuit Court for Harford County, MD. Available online at http ://www.courtsstate.md.us/clerks/harford/courthouse .html , accessed July 23, 2015. (5)C.A. Porter Hopkins, ed . "A Marylander in the Mexican War: Some Letters of J.J. Archer," Maryland Historical Magazine, Volume 54 Issue 4 ( 1959), available online at http://mdhs .mdsa.net/pages/Login.aspx, accessed October 5, 2015. (6)"Local Matters : Serious Fire at Belair." The Sun, February 22, 1858, pg. I. "Local Matters: The Fire at Belair." The Sun, February 24, 1858, pg . I . (7)Walter W. Preston, History of Harford County, Maryland. Baltimore, MD, 190 I ,pg. 82. (8)"First Declaration : Interesting Historical Event To Be Celebrated In Harford," The Sun, September 4, 1899, pg. 7. (9) "Harford Declaration First to Announce Independence of Great Britain ." ( I 0) "Harford Town: The Historic Town at the Head of Bush River." The Sun, June 2, 1900, pg. 8. ( I I) "Exercises of the Day." The Sun, Jul 5, 1900, pg. I 0 . ( 12) Preston, IO I. (13) "Harford County Murals Unveiled: Judge Preston Speaks on Signing of Bush Declaration At Bel Air." The Sun, May 13 , 1934, pg. 14. (14) Arnett, Earl. "A Step Toward Freedom." The Sun, March 17, 1975, pg. Bl. (15) Hereditary Order of the Signers of the Bush Declaration. Avai lable online at http ://www.bushdeclaration.org/, accessed October 13, 2015.



Criteria: A B C D Considerations: A B C D E F

MHT Comments:



G

USGS Topographic Map Monument to Bush Declaration (HA-865) Adjacent 4002 Philadelphia Road , Abingdon (Harford County, Edgewood Quad)

1:12,000+

\ \HA-865

. 'POV~K.A ' , \ A 'r/

)

P.130

Property Tax Map Monument to Bush Declaration (HA-865} Adjacent 4002 Philadelphia Road, Abingdon (Harford County, Edgewood Quad)

/ MAPS-7-P. '-~ \ tMI'

2

P.J80

P.163

1:5,000 +

Project No.: HA504A21

Maryland State Highway Administration Cultural Resources Section

Photo Log

Project Name: MD 7 at MD 136 MIHP No.: HA-865 MIHP Name: Monument to Bush Declaration County: Harford Photographer: Rebecca Crew Date: July 14, 2015 Ink and Paper Combination: Epson UltraChrome pigmented ink/Epson Premium Luster Photo

Paper

CD/DVD: Verbatim, CD-R, Archival Gold

Image File Name Description of View HA-865 2015-07-14 01 View facing northwest towards monument. HA-865 2015-07-14 02 View facing northeast towards monument.

Form 10-300 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR l~o STATE:

st\EEl (Dec. 1968) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE N. R. f\E\.D

COUNTY:

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES ISTO.':ICAL. TRUST MD. H

BOX ANN;.p

1704 INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY

I OLIS, MO, ENTRY NUMBER CATE

2I4PJ1ype all entries - complete applicable sections) I n~ tlJMe<=··· :,,, ·•· .:::.

·•··· •··· COMMON:

/ llVk_ u. m .ev< r ~rL ;1_ l';(A h~ -1-r ANOfj/:;flC~G'J k.~ ~~ t) 6u..I IJ~~ ... u.1l~L Ga1.1 TUl•S leld '" (2. LOCATION I . I

STREE}\J;qt:: ~Jp_ rS) (ff::_. 4 J e1l1 ~1;°' <Ko~~ (I~ CITY OR Trs~ .\ L ( " eosr ~ 15 ~ n<Lf'1l 6<u11 · toe>' STATE

rnJ I CODE I COUNTY:

+f a/l I cJ) J_ I CODE

I I I 13. CLASSIFICATION f

CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS

ACCESSIBLE

(Check One) , TO THE PUBLIC

District D Bui !ding rt: Publi~ D Public Acquisition: dc~pi~ r1'i Yes;) ~

Site D Structure D Private D In Process D Unoccupied D Restricted D

~D Both D Being Considered [J Preservation work Unrestricted D in progress D No: D

PRESENT USE (Check One or More as Appropriate)

Agri cu lturol D Government D Park D Transportation D Comments 0 Commercial D Industrial D Private Residence D Other (Specif~ Educational D Military D Reli>gious D r"\~1. I 1· Entertainment D Museum D Scientific D ~ h /( C. • d\-wt GI - t o"r\

14. OWNER OF PROPERTY I

OWNERS NAME: S~t"2__ fK'oe»ci~ ~m1~Sl~ STREET AND NUMBER:

~ld.~-ltm. S"ti;;;:J .3~0 w I

CITY OR TOWN:

~ a.1-h ~ch.fl_ I STATE: mJ. I CODE

I fs. L.OCAttON Of LEGAL DESCRIPTION

COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF .OE:£0~; ETC' . ~--L . . '

STREET ANO NUMBER: - • £•. •. '. I ! ~ H· . . ,·;_.) -- ~ ._} i ,. . ,~ ._;

·<6 ~ of I - - - . ~ ... ., -CITY OR TOWN: I STA\E ~} .. I CODE

'·. -~ . - .. '·. I ACREAG E APPROXIMATE ACREAGE O~ NOMINATED PROPERTY:

!di· R£:PltESENTATION IN EXJSTING SURVEYS TITLE OF SURVEY:

CATE OF SURVEY: Federal n State D County D Locdl D DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS:

STREET ANO NUMBER'

CITY OR TOWN: 15TATE: I CODE ,__

I

.

Ill

-< > -< fTI

0 0 c z -< -<

fTI z -< "Tl lJ 0 -< ;o z z c "ll s:: "" OJ c fTI lJ "' ,__ m

0 0 ·z > r -< -< fTI

N. R. FIELD SHEET

CONDITION (Check One)

Good D Fair D Deteriorated D Ruins D Unexposed D

INTEGRITY Moved D

DESC~IBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (I

e4~ -4J)J-a~

3o " ~ LLlLJt£l ~ ~oc,._ ab~ 3~'' ;. ~II

~ttNl~J.L ~ a

~-

PERIOD (Check One or More as Appropriate)

Pre-Columbian 0 15th Century 0

16th Century O 17th Century 0

SPECIFIC DATElSl (If Applicable and Known)

AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate)

Aboriginal Education 0 Prehistoric 0 Engineering 0 Historic 0 Industry D

Agriculture 0 Invention 0 Art D Londscape

Commerce D Architecture D Communications D Literature D Conservation D Military D Architecture 0 Music D

18th Century 0 19th Century 0

Political 0 Religion/Phi-

losophy D Science 0 Sculpture D Social/Human-

itarian D Theater D Transportation D

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE (Include Personages, Dates, Events, Etc.)

Urban Planning 0 Other (Specify) 0

N. R. FIELD SHEET

9. t.lAJOR &IBLIOGRAPHICAt. REFERENCES . buitr. c ~: t)n + (f)J_ /1 ~~~ rf '4 (., _, 7 l:Cfl l -- .

10. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES 0

LATITUDE ANO LONGITUDE COORDINATES

DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY DEFINING THE CENTER POINT OF A PROPERTY

R 0 F LESS THAN ONE ACRE

CORNER LATITUDE LONGITUDE LATITUDE LONGITUDE

Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds NW 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . NE 0 . 0 . SE 0 . 0 . SW 9 . 0 .

LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES

STATE: CODE COUNTY CODE

STATE: CODE COUNTY' CODE

STATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE

STATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE

1l. FORM PREPARED BY NAME AND TITLE:

ORGANIZATION • :r .. - IDATE

-· \.

STREET AND NUMBER:

CITY OR TOWN: STATE CODE

12. STATE LIAISON OFFICER CERTIFICAHON NATIONAL REGISTER VERlFICATION

As the designated State Liaison Officer for the Na-

tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law I herebv certify that this property is included in the

89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion National Register.

in the National Register and certify that it has been

evaluated according to the criteria and procerures set

forth by the National Park Service. The recommended Chief, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation

level of significance of this nomination is:

National 0 State 0 Local 0

Date

Name ATTEST:

Title

Keeper of The National Register

Date Date

~ ~

....... I-'-\000 °' ::r ...... rt

0 ('") i:: ~

;:c ~ II> ...... ~ ~ HI 0 0 t:I ~ 0.

;:c Cl) ~

I I-'• rt f.\l

I 11>

r

66 OUR HARFORD HBJUTACB

· v· oi 1·a and the Continental Congress again met in Philadelphia. in lD Uo-n ' G B . . til th b ec May, 1775, and agreed to stop trade with reat ntam un e o J -

tionable Acts-were repealed. . . 1"k Again Bush came into prominence by having as its guests men 1 e

Geor e Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry, as th~y · ~ ed through Harford to Philadelphia. In this Congress our d1s~:w?iied citizen, William Pac~, who was born at Abingdon, together with Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, Jr., Robert Goldsborough, and

Samuel Chase represented Maryland . By the e;rly part oE 1775 almost our entire citizenry had become so

stirred by the national controverSy that a most impor_tant event took place at Bush. Just three days before Patrick Henry made bis well known speech, a committee of thirty-four Harford citizens met at the Bush ~avem an~, after deliberation, signed the famous Bush Declaration, which is quoted m full with its signers in another chapter.

MTHE BUSH DECLARATION" HARFORD TOWN

COUNTY SEAT OF HARFORD COUNTY FROM ITS ORIGIN MARCH. 1774. UNTIL MAR CH. 1783. HER C THE FIRST DECLARATION OF lllDE PE MD EN CE EVER ADOPTED BY AM ORGANIZED BODY OF MEN DU LY ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE WAS PROCLAIMED ON MARCH 22. 1775.

The committee was in no sense just a mass meeting, but its members were duly eJected by the 10,000 inhabitants of Harford County'. ~nd was composed oE prominent men, many of whom are ancestors of csuzens of

today.

COUNTY SEATS 67

Plt.otq b11 OT. Dot1id C. 8"411•

Tablet marking the site of the building In which Court was held 177 4-1783. Bush Declorotlon signed here on Morch 22, 1775.

Just as the former county seats of Old Baltimore and Joppa had served their day, so Bush ceased to be and soon faded into decay. Of all the dweJlings, stores, and inns, only one-the large old coachhouse on Route 7-remains to remind us of the glorious history of 200 years ago.

Scott's Old Fields (Bel Air)

1782-

By the end of the Revolution, the population of Harford had increased to almost 12,000, and the new settlers were beginning to occupy lands in central and northern sections. Consequently, there was demand that the county seat be located somewhere more accessible co the whole population.

On January 22, 1782, an Act was passed by the General Assembly enabling the voters to select a new location for che seat of government. The places named in the Act to be voted for were Harford Town (Bush), Gravelly J Iill, Lower Cross Roads, Ouer Point, and Scott's Old Fields (Bel Air). By the same Act, the justices were authorized to purchase four

HA-865

Photo by Don Cook

ha-865 monument to bush declaration

Documents