Original watercolor rendition of the Williams Log House 19-21 W Salisbury by Tom Freeman
A few doors south of the Town Hall on the north side of West Salisbury Street is an empty, grassy space beside a parking lot. This space is original lot 52 of the original lot map drawn up by Otho Holland Williams, our town's founder. For almost 200 years, an ancient Georgian-inspired house quietly sat on this lot. It was a two-story, three-bay log dwelling with a one-bay portico overlooking the street atop a stone basement with a walkout at the street level. Lot 52 was one of several town lots first leased by Samuel Porter from Otho Holland Williams in 1788. In 1790 he relinquished most of his leases back to the Williams Family except for Lot 21, the southwest corner of Conococheague and Potomac Streets, where he ran an early inn. Lot 52 remained in the hands of the Williams Family until the Civil War.
Porter made no improvements on his relinquished lots as he released three of them back for just $20.
Porter made no improvements on his relinquished lots as he released three of them back for just $20.
Photo of the Williams house 1978 before demolition
Otho Holland Williams by Charles Willson Peale, the original is displayed at the Society of Cincinnati, Washington DC
After the war, Brigadier General Otho Holland Williams did not return to Washington County, preferring to live and work in Baltimore, where there were more opportunities for a returning war hero. In conjunction with President Washington's developing "Potomack Company" to expand commerce to the western territories, Williams systematically purchased all the land surrounding his old hometown on the Potomac River. Here he laid out a new town over the old Conococheague settlement. He worked closely with his brother Elie, who had stayed in Washington Couty and was elected the first Clerk of the Court in addition to his commodities business.
Elie Williams by Charles Willson Peale. The original is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
One of the conditions for establishing a town was the construction of a warehouse with scales. After posting a bonding to the State of Maryland for £1,000 in June of 1786, Otho and Elie Williams erected a large warehouse on lot 212, providing the weights and seals necessary for inspecting tobacco and other commodities. As the new village called Williams-Port began to emerge, it required a great deal of hands-on attention: employees to man the scales, a leasing agent to show prospective buyers available lots, a collector of rents and recordkeeper, plus the management of the 600-acre Springfield Farm. These duties required time the Williams brothers could not spare with their respective professions.
Elie Williams tried to manage the town's affairs for a few years. However, his commodities business required frequent travel to the western territories, and the Maryland Assembly repeatedly chastised him for delinquencies in submitting reports for the county. As a collector for the port at Baltimore and often in ill health, Otho Holland William was rarely able to travel to his town to sign leases. Both William brothers were very busy men and required overseers to manage the town's affairs.
After lots 52 and 53 were forfeited by Samuel Porter in 1790, they remained the private property of the Williams family until 1864. It is a reasonable deduction that the Williams brothers set aside these two lots and constructed homes on the lots for their employees and agents.
When Otho Holland Williams died in 1794, his four sons and heirs were infants. From 1794 until 1810, executors were responsible for the oversight of the Williams estate, which included Williamsport and Springfield Farm, elegant homes and properties in Baltimore, a large plantation in Frederick County, lots and properties in Cumberland, and land in Kentucky. At the time of his death, Williams's estate was estimated at almost $6 million in today's dollars.
The house in the 1930s. Photo by WPA
Location of the home of Otho Holland Williams home in the late 18th century
An elegant 18th-century Baltimore townhouse comparable to the Williams home
Mary Smith Williams White (1822-1907). Daughter and heir of General Edward Greene Williams and granddaughter of General Otho Holland Williams. At age seven, Mary inherited almost the entirety of Williamsport.
Williams second son, Edward Greene Williams, received his portion of his father's estate in 1810, which included the town of Williams-Port, ferry rights, Springfield Farm, annuities from the town lots, a large warehouse on lot 221, and lots 52 and 53 with existing structures. Edward Greene, or "Ned" Williams was devoted to his inheritance and Williamsport. He made significant improvements to Springfield Farm, was a hands-on landlord to his town, and negotiated a deal with the canal company that transformed his village into a major port along the new canal.
Sadly, Ned Williams died in 1829 and never lived to see the canal completed past Williamsport. His only surviving child and heir, Mary Smith Williams (1822-1907), was to share the estate with her mother, Ann Gilmor-Williams, until her death, then take full control. However, Ann married John Donnell some years later and died in childbirth. The newborn, also named Ann, survived. John Donnell felt his new daughter was entitled to his late wife's half of her former husband's estate and a battle of epic proportions ensued for the next few years between Mary and her stepfather John. The estate of E.G. Williams was worth upwards of $166,000 in the late 1830s, the equivalent of about $6,000,000 today.
The courts ruled in favor of the Donnells and ordered the estate to be divided between the two half-sisters. Ann Donnell received most of the Baltimore properties. Mary Williams was given a fine townhouse in Baltimore, the town of Williamsport with its lucrative annuities, the warehouses at the canal, lots #52 and #53 with structures, and the massive Garden of Eden land holding including Springfield Farm. The court documents clearly show there were existing structures on lots #52 and #53 and that they were the private property of the Williams family.
Mary Smith Williams and her husband J. Campbell White had been raised in the comfortable wealth accumulated by their parents and grandparents. Like many children of privilege, they had no occupation, living on the income and annuities provided by their inheritance. Mary and her husband had an elegant home in downtown Baltimore, and another home estate in Westchester, New York. They considered Springfield Farm a lovely setting to spend summers in the country. In July 1850, the Federal census shows the couple and several young children at Springfield Farm, although their fifteen children were born and baptized in either Baltimore or New York. The White's fortunes were beginning to dwindle by the onset of the Civil War, and they began selling off Mary's inheritance, including parcels, lots, and assets, to continue to finance their lavish lifestyle.
Susan McMacken purchased lot 52 and the aging log house in 1863 for $600. Susan was born in Virginia in about 1813. Not a great deal is known about Susan and her early life, but she was presumably a widow by 1863 and purchased this home after the death of her husband. The 1870 Federal census indicates Susan owned the house, and the real estate was valued at $1500. Her oldest son Samuel, a boatman on the canal, lived next door. The census notes Susan as "keeping house" with two sons in the same household with a cobbler named James Poole and his family. Likely, Poole ran a shop out of the lower level of the house, making and repairing shoes.
In 1875 Susan sold the home to Elizabeth (Ensminger) and George Snyder (1844-1889), a veteran of the Civil War. George passed in 1889 at only 44 years old leaving Elizabeth and his two sons, and five stepchildren. Elizabeth lived in the home until she died in 1910. It remained in the Ensminger Family until 1936 when it was sold to Frank Ardinger. From at least 1910 until demolition in the late 1980s, the home was split and partially used as a tenanted property, ultimately slipping into disrepair over the years. This house was part of the growth of Williamsport from the beginning and held irreplaceable history. Our wood, brick, and stone heritage are essential to our past and future. Williamsport's history is important and should be protected.
