Land Use History of Adkins Arboretum
> 1834 Map of Queen Anne's, Talbot, Caroline, and Dorchester counties showing area soil types. Approximate location of Adkins Arboretum marked in yellow. Alexander, J. H, and Wm. Mcneir Print, 1835. Image courtesy Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress, 2002620766.
Timeline | A brief look at the land use history of the Arboretum in the time leading up to and during the activity of the Underground Railroad.
1763
Powell Cox, planter of Talbot County, purchases the land, then called ‘Betts Range.’ (1) Cox’s birth, recorded in the Third Haven Monthly Meeting Birth records, likely identifies him as a Quaker. (2)
> Third Haven Creek Meeting Records: Births. Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, PA; US Quaker Meeting Records 1681-1935. Image courtesy Ancestry.
1773
Powell Cox, sells to Daniel Cox.
1776
Ann, Daniel Cox’s daughter, marries William Hopper and brings the land into their marriage. Hopper was a third-generation Queen Anne’s County native, farmer, and merchant—who claimed people as property during his lifetime. (3)
1805
Henry Downes, Jr. purchases the land. Downes was a third-generation farmer who enslaved and manumitted people during the later part of his life. (4)
1816
Henry Downes, Jr. dies and the land is transferred to his great-granddaughter Caroline Sellers (and husband Wade Hampton).
1837
Sellers and Hampton sell to John Green, a farmer of Caroline County.
1844
John and Rebecca Green die.
1844-1866
Foster Green, John and Rebecca’s son, farms the land and takes care of his younger siblings. (5) The 1860 Census lists Jane Hicks, a 15-year-old free Black woman, among the members of the Green household. (6)
> United States Census (Free Schedule), 1860, Foster Green. Image courtesy FamilySearch.
Footnotes
1. Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court Deed Records; Lieber RTF, Folio 357*
2. Ancestry.com. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681–1935 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. US Quaker Meeting Records 1681–1935. Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; Quaker Meeting Records: Maryland, Talbot, Third Haven Month Meeting, Births.
3. Edward C. Papenfuse, et al. A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635–1789, Vol 1: A–H, p 461–462. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979, 1985)
4. Edward C. Papenfuse, et al. A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635–1789, Vol 1: A–H, p 280–281. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979, 1985).
5. Caroline County Circuit Court Chancery Docket Liber JWT 3, Folio 51, Case #5, Chancery Record, Lieber 6, Folio 124.*
6. "United States Census (Free Schedule), 1860," database with images, FamilySearch. Foster Green, 1860.
*Sources were compiled from the paper Adkins Arboretum History Project by Arboretum volunteer Ginger Page Howell, 2000.