Scope and Content Note
The papers of the Rumsey family of Cecil County, Maryland, span the years 1661-1907, with the bulk of the material from 1700 to 1799. The collection consists of correspondence among family members; wills; surveys, deeds, plats, and other documents relating to land ownership (including a “manufacturing hall” for “Rumsey's mills,” 1742); personal and business financial accounts; contracts and other legal documents (one of these includes a signature of Francis Scott Key, probably in his capacity as attorney); sermons; and notes on family history. Family members represented include Anna, Benjamin, Charles, John, John Jr., Julia, Margarett, Nathan, Nathaniel, Sabina, Susan, Thomas, and William. Birth and death dates are unknown, and names are repeated across the generations. Also included as correspondents or subjects of correspondence are members of the Bayard, Bordley, Boyer, Brinkle, Everitt, Pearce, Rigbie, and Wright families. Correspondence among family members concerns health and sickness, travel, weather, family news, business, and politics. Places mentioned include Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Maryland; Georgetown, Maryland; Wilmington, Delaware; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Of note are correspondence and accounts, 1775-1777, of a Philadelphia merchant shipping company, Hodges, Bayard and Company, that worked with Nathaniel Rumsey, and Benjamin Rumsey. A letter, July 27, 1775, from Hodges, Bayard instructs the captain of the Concord traveling to Dunkirk, France, to search out markets for the cargo it carried and purchase goods, including gunpowder, saltpeter, arms, and textiles. Another, February 3, 1776, from Colonel Bayard to Nathaniel Rumsey, describes a contract between Congress and the company for arms. (For this contract see Secret Committee Minutes of Proceedings, February 13, 1776, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789, 3:251-252. See also Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, February 6, 1776, for its use of Hodges, Bayard for arms purchases, in Peter Force, American Archives, 4:1566.)
Also of note is a license to keep a billiard table, in French and English, issued to Théophile Askin by the Province of Quebec, May 23, 1872. Its connection to the Rumsey family is unknown.