Mistaken in Maryland

The Mark of Richard Johns on a piece of pottery from Angelica Knoll in Maryland (Note: He was a Quaker rather than a Catholic)

By Bob Ferris

I might have, once or twice, when I first moved to Maryland called Johns Hopkins University incorrectly John Hopkins thinking it titled after a person named John rather than someone named Johns Hopkins honoring the melding of two early Quaker families in Maryland.  I was corrected and learned.  Fancy that.  Then I filed away this information until I started looking at the collection of ancestors that I had in Maryland--many of them from the Society of Friends or Quakers.

This took me to Richard Johns, Elizabeth Kensey (Kinsey) and a place called Angelica Knoll.  The Johns were very active Quakers, but at the same time not strict in all their beliefs and practices.  Richard Johns (1) was devout enough to help establish a Friends Meeting House (1,2,3) near their home called the Clifts or Cliffs close to Calvert Cliffs which was visited by Quaker Founder George Fox.  Yet Richard consumed hard cider and brandy as well as having an extensive library.  Richard also did not dress drably as others of the sect did.

Initials on a "bodkin" found at Angelica Knoll that likely belonged to Margaret Johns (Is could be Js.) 

Elizabeth and Richard also had children which made the Clifts and Angelica Knoll something of a familial epicenter of sorts.  Why a family epicenter?  Well, Richard and Elizabeth (1) had two daughters, Pricilla and Margaret.  Pricilla married Robert Roberts (the elder) who went north from Maryland and is an ancestor of my father William Ramsay Ferris.  Pricilla married into a line that eventually connected with the Canbys (1,2) and my great-grandmother Caroline Johnston Canby who many of us knew as Nana.  Nana remained a Quaker and in this light it is interesting that she married into so military a family as the Ramsays.

And Margaret Johns married Gerard Hopkins who are ancestors on my mother's side.  The Hopkins' line moved west appropriately marrying into the West family and eventually connecting to the Settles family in Pike County, Missouri.   My mother was born Mary Robb Settles.

The Descendants of Pricilla and Margaret Johns reunited in a single family after more than three centuries (Front Row (L-R): William Ramsay Ferris and Mary Robb Ferris [Settles]. Rear Row (L-R) William Ramsay Ferris Jr, Mary [Gales] Ferris Siebert, Caroline Robb Hall [Ferris], Robert Morris Ferris.) 

As both my parents had ancestors on the Mayflower their families had nearly 400 years to mix and create common ancestors. It is interesting given this time and opportunity that Richard and Elizabeth Johns seem to be my parents' only common ancestors on this continent.  (There may be more, but I have not found them.)

Johns Hopkins

Of note in the beginning context are Margaret and Gerard (Gerrard) Hopkins.  This couple celebrated both their families by naming one of their sons Johns Hopkins.   That first Johns Hopkins also had a grandson of the same name born in Crofton, Maryland in 1795 who attended the Anne Arundel Free School in nearby Davidsonville, Maryland for a time (1807-1809).   Johns Hopkins was an astute businessman and investor who became very, very rich and was able to retire at the age of 52.

That later Johns Hopkins ended life childless having fallen deeply in love with his first cousin Elizabeth who he was forbidden by their religion and custom to marry.   In fact, neither of them ever wed and John Hopkins took his money--some seven million dollars--and put these funds and others towards Johns Hopkins University and the hospital that also bears his name as well as an orphanage specifically for children of color.   This latter action is of significance as Johns Hopkins' family owned slaves which they released in 1807 and Johns Hopkins was a prominent Abolitionist.

“...slavery was perfectly acceptable provided that slave owners attended to the spiritual and material needs of those they enslaved.” On Quaker attitudes towards slavery in Slavery in Colonial America, 1619-1776 by Betty Wood

My sense is that we cannot heap praise on Johns Hopkins for his actions and attitudes without at the same time acknowledging that many of our ancestors, including those of a Quaker or "friendly" persuasion like the Johns, Chews and Galloways in Maryland, owned slaves.  They were not alone as something like 70% of Quakers owned slaves near the turn of the 18th century.   And, yes, the Quakers were among the first in the Colonies to push back on the practice reducing ownerships to 10% by the mid-1700s and very early on joining the Abolitionist cause.  But they were owners regardless of how benignly they treated those removed from their homes in Africa and elsewhere.  And perhaps while we argue for all to model Johns Hopkins' philanthropy and tolerance we should also offer up a certain openness to discuss this other difficult topic as well.  Seems like all these actions are need now more than ever.