Scope and Content Note
The papers of the Galloway-Maxcy-Markoe families span the years 1654-1888, with the bulk of the material falling within the years 1750-1860. The papers consist of correspondence, letterbooks, daybooks, ledgers, waste books, cash and expense records, other accounts books, bills, checks, receipts, invoices, bonds, indentures, agreements, rent rolls, inventories and other lists, wills, petitions, copies of legal briefs, court records, stock certificates, speeches, reports, memoranda, essays, and textbooks. The collection is organized in Correspondence, Business Papers, Letterbooks, Account Books, and Miscellany series.
In 1921, many of the papers of the Galloway, Maxcy and Markoe families were bound in a chronological arrangement without regard to type of material. As a result, the Galloway papers in the Correspondence series consist of a high proportion of accounts, invoices, legal documents, and related material that was segregated from a later acquisition and organized as Business Papers.
The Galloway family papers constitute a rich source of information about economic conditions in Maryland, 1750-1810. Samuel Galloway and his son, John Galloway, of Tulip Hill near West River, were merchants engaged in London and local trade. Correspondence, daybooks, ledgers, and invoices document economic activity involving tobacco, wheat, wine, lumber, livestock, and other merchandise. In addition, John Galloway assumed the management of the business and estate of his brother-in-law, Thomas Ringgold of Chestertown, after the latter's death in 1776. Bonds and indentures, rent rolls, lists of slaves, farm equipment, and household goods, as well as ledgers and account books, reflect this period.
The Galloway papers also include correspondence among family members in Philadelphia and throughout the state of Maryland; two ledgers concerning tax levies in Anne Arundel County, 1764 and 1765; a letterbook, 1718-1719, of Higginson & Bird, a London mercantile firm; and correspondence and accounts relating to the business affairs and estate of Joseph Galloway, a brother of Samuel Galloway, but not the Pennsylvania Loyalist of the same time.
Virgil Maxcy, lawyer, politician, and solicitor of the Treasury Department from 1830 to 1836, was John Galloway's son-in-law. Maxcy's papers consist primarily of correspondence with his wife and daughter, clients, and political associates, and include a large number of letters from John C. Calhoun. Maxcy's position as American chargé d'affaires in Brussels, 1837-1842, is documented, but less fully than his interests in domestic politics. Maxcy's biography of Calhoun is included in the papers as well as a few reports, speeches, and legal briefs.
The correspondence of Francis Markoe reflects his career in the State Department and his position as corresponding secretary of the National Institute for the Promotion of the Sciences. Topics in the letters include foreign affairs and political events of the 1840s and 1850s and activities of the national institute, particularly its mineralogical collections. The papers of the Maxcy and Markoe families also include letters to George W. Hughes, a colonel in the army's corps of topographical engineers and a son-in-law of Maxcy.
Correspondents in the collection in addition to members of the Chew, Cheston, Howard, and Tilghman families include J. J. Albert, Lewis Cass (1782-1866), Lewis Cass, Jr., George Mifflin Dallas, Albert Davy, Daniel Dulany, Peter Force, Alexander Hamilton (1786-1875), David Hoffman, C. J. Ingersoll, J. R. Ingersoll, James Kent, Francis Scott Key, David Lynn, George McDuffie, John Francis Mercer, James Monroe, Joel Roberts Poinsett, Richard Rush, Stephen Steward, Joseph Story, Thomas Swann, Samuel Swartwout, Roger Brooke Taney, Benjamin Tasker (1720-1760), George Washington, and Daniel Webster.