The Amos Gilbert and Anna Maria Louisa (Kirk) Atkinson family,
of Ellicott's Mills, Maryland

by Conrad W. Terrill, 27 Nov. 2022

Note: Some old black-and-white images presented here have been colorized, courtesy of MyHeritage.com.
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  Amos Gilbert Atkinson, the youngest child of Joseph and Rachel (Childs) Atkinson, of Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, was born on April 27th 1806, as recorded on the back of Joseph and Rachel's 1788 marriage certificate. ¹ We know nothing specific of his early life. He may have helped his father in the oil mill at Ellicott's Mills, but older brothers Isaac and Israel were also there to help. He would have attended school at the Quaker schoolhouse on "Mount Unity" (Quaker Hill), just up what is today called Old Columbia Pike and to the left. Today (in 1984, at least) it is a private house. What little remains of the old Quaker cemetery lies nearby, on the near side of the Ellicotts' private cemetery.

  Joseph Atkinson died in 1828, when Amos was 22 years old. He presumably lies buried on Quaker Hill in an unmarked grave. The oil mill continued to be run by others up to the mid-1830's.

    We can assume that Amos served an apprenticeship, for perhaps seven years, as a saddler, since that was his occupation in the 1840's. He would have started this apprenticeship at about age 17, in 1823. He was probably in this business for himself by 1832, perhaps after serving a short time as a journeyman, since Amos Atkinson, age 26, merchant, arrived in New York City on the ship Columbia, from London, on 18 Jan. 1832. We don't know for sure where he started his business, but it was probably in Washington, D.C.

  Amos married on April 5th 1836, to Anna Maria Louisa Kirk, per the record in the family Bible. ³ We don't know where they married, but we have heard from family stories that Anna Maria was excommunicated from her church and ostracized by her family for marrying a Quaker, so it would have been a civil wedding ceremony. Anna Maria was born in D.C., around 1810. We know nothing about her parents, except that they were foreign-born. ⁴

  Their first child, son Robert Mitchel Atkinson, was born June 22nd 1837 in D.C. Son George Edward Atkinson was born August 18th 1838 in Virginia. It could have been that Anna Maria's parents lived in Alexandria, and that she went there for the birth. As of June 1st 1840, per the federal census record for that year, Amos and family were living in Washington, D.C. Anna Maria was of age between 20 and 29; their two young sons were there, and a female slave of age between 36 and 54. (Having a slave was definitely contrary to the order of the Society of Friends!) Amos was employed in Manufacture and Trade.

  In September of 1841 the Baltimore Preparative Meeting, Western District, Society of Friends (Quakers), apparently had just discovered that Amos had married contrary to the order of the Society, and referred the matter to the Baltimore Monthly Meeting, which appointed a committee of two persons to "treat with him." Amos responded:

  "Washington City 1st mo [Jan.] 2nd 1842 Dear friends, Having had my marriage accomplished contrary to the order of our Society and feeling a desire to retain my right of membership, I sincerely hope friends will look over the deviation and retain me among them. Amos G Atkinson"

  The Society accepted this and retained him. This outcome was common in such cases, although most decided to leave the Society.

  Amos and Anna Maria lost two infant children in the early 1840's in Washington: Their son Joseph Ellis died on September 21st 1841 at age one year and 28 days; and daughter Virginia Ellen died on August 1st 1843 at age 3 months and 18 days.

  Amos shows up twice in the Washington D.C. city directories—first in 1843 (Amos G. Atkinson, saddler, on the west side of 7th Street West, between Virginia Avenue and D Street, near D); and second in 1846 (A. G. Atkinson, same address.  This would be 7th St. SW, and D St. SW today, the site of the U.S Department of Homeland Security, atop L'Enfant Plaza Metro station.)

  By early 1848 Amos moved his family back home to Ellicott's Mills (which did not change its name to Ellicott City until 1867). He purchased an Anne Arundel County, Howard District, retailors license on 16 Sept. 1848 for $12.25, good for one year. His capital was given as $100. But earlier that year, on March 13th, he had started serving as Justice of the Peace for Howard District (which became Howard County in 1851), handling about 100 cases a year until April 24th 1851—almost all "Pleas of Debt," with a very few "Pleas of Damage." His docket now resides at the Maryland State Archives. By December 7th 1848 Amos had rejoined the Society of Friends, and started serving a term as one the the five representatives of the Baltimore Monthly Meeting (Stony Run) to the Baltimore Monthly Meeting for the Western District.

  The 1850 federal census, conducted on July 29th of that year, is interesting in that it indicates that Amos and family may have been living in Ellicotts Mills since about 1844, considering that the birth places given for Washington, 6, Charles, 3, and Amos, 5 months, were all Maryland. (The ages given in the census record—8, 6 and 2—were wrong.) D.C. was given for Robert, 12, and George, 10 (actually 13 and 12). Amos, 44, was a saddler still. Perhaps he was still running the saddlery in D.C. and coming home by train on weekends. Or perhaps he had started another saddlery in Ellicotts Mills and someone else was running the D.C. saddlery for him. Maria, age 40, was born in D.C., which could indicate that she was not born in Alexandria or Arlington since they were retroceded to Virginia by Congress in 1846. Robert, George and Washington had attended school within the year, almost certainly at Ellicotts Second School Building, built around 1812 on Court House Road.

  Amos and Anna Maria lost a third child in 1850 shortly after that census enumeration—12-year-old George. As recorded in the family Bible, "Departed this life between 12 and 1 o'clock mid day of the 2nd September 1850 (from falling in the Patapsco River at Ellicotts Mills being drowned)—George Edward son of Amos G. and Anna M L Atkinson / Body recovered 3 weeks after he was lost from belowe Elk[r]idge Landing." As a newspaper account of four days later relates, "The river was very high from the rain of the previous night, and he and his brother (13-year-old Robert) had gone to the wall which supports the bank on the margin of the railroad, close to the bridge to Carroll and Gambrill's Mills. They had amused themselves for some time by catching at the drift wood, when the younger brother fell into the boiling current, and in an instant was out of sight. Although diligent search had been made for his body it had not been recovered at the latest accounts."

  A plea for information, submitted by Israel Silver Atkinson (Amos G.'s brother) and by Charles Alexander Hough (a nephew of Amos G.) to the Baltimore Sun on September 9th, and again the next day, provided a description of George: "Slender and delicate for his age; dark hair; a small scar on the centre of his forehead; two or three dots of Indian ink on his wrist." They suggested, "As the water was high and the current rapid, it is possible that his body may have been carried down into tide water, or it may have lodged along the shores of the Falls. Should it be found it would be an act of the greatest kindness to his afflicted parents ..." His body was recovered on September 23rd, about 6½ miles downstream from Ellicotts Mills, "below the toll bridge, on the Washington turnpike" (now Rte. 1, where it crosses the Potomac, about where it intersects the Harbor Tunnel Thruway.)

  Amos G. died not long thereafter, on the first of February, 1852, "after a lingering illness, which he bore with christian and manly fortitude," at age 45 at Ellicott's Mills, leaving a wife and four children. He had quit his appointment as Justice of the Peace the previous year, perhaps because he was no longer well.

  Within the month, on 21 February, Anna Maria had the three youngest children, Joseph Washington, 7, Charles, almost 5, and Amos Gilbert, 2, baptized at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Ellicott City, by Right Reverend Bernard J. McManus. Anna does not appear to have been enamored of the Quaker church, and was perhaps never a member. She may have been going to St Paul's since arriving in Ellicott's Mills. The eldest son, Robert, does not show up in the St. Paul's baptism records, but he, Washington and Charles all appear in Confirmation and First Communion lists in the 1850's.

  Children of Amos Gilbert and Anna Maria (Kirk) Atkinson: ⁸

  In 1860, per the federal census, Ann M., still age 40 (she hadn't aged at all in the past decade), was now the head of the Atkinson household, with a personal estate valued at $50. Robert, 20, was a laborer, Washington, 14, was a factory hand, Charles was 12, and Amos, 11, was the only one who had attended school in the past year.

  The American Civil War officially began on April 12th, 1861, and lasted unti May 26th, 1865. Maryland, a slave state and a border state, was somewhat sympathetic to the Southern cause, but did not secede. Ninety percent of the 50-some thousand Marylanders who fought in the war fought in the Union Army.

  Robert Atkinson, age 25, enlisted in the Union Army on 22 Aug. 1862 for three years. He enrolled in Baltimore as a Private in Company F of the 1st Regiment Maryland Infantry, receiving one month's advance pay as a recruit. This regiment participated in numerous battles over the course of the war. We have no details on Robert's involvement until the day he was captured by the Confederate Army, June 3rd, 1864, at the Battle of Cold Harbor, near Mechanicsville, Virginia. This was the day of heaviest fighting in a battle fought from May 31st to June 12th. "It was one of the final battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign, and is remembered as one of American history's bloodiest, most lopsided battles. Thousands of Union soldiers were killed or wounded in a hopeless frontal assault against the fortified positions of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army." Grant said of the battle in his Personal Memoirs, "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. ... No advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained."

  Robert was taken prisoner and held at Richmond for five days before being sent to Andersonville, Georgia, the most notorious of the Confederate prisons. He was listed as a deserter in Union Army records until April 28th, 1865, when he was paroled at Jacksonville, Florida. On May 9th he was admitted to a hospital at Hilton Head, South Carolina, sent north from there on May 26th, and discharged from the Army on May 29th.

  A year earlier, on May 23rd, 1864, just before his brother was captured, Washington Atkinson, teamster, age 19, enlisted in the Union Army as a Volunteer for 100 days in Baltimore. He mustered in as a Private in Company H of the 11th Regiment Maryland Infantry on 15 Jun in Baltimore. This regiment had been newly organized that day. Washington's military records describe him as of height 5 feet 6 inches, with a dark complexion and gray eyes, and give his age as 18 (he was actually 19). The regiment served guard duty at Monocacy, near Frederick, Maryland, and at Mt. Airy, Maryland. The Union Army had heard from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad that Confederate Lt. General Jubal A. Early was making a sweeping raid on the city of Washington with 20 to 40 thousand troops in order to divert Union forces and relieve pressure on General Robert E. Lee's army, under siege at Petersburg, Virginia. Two railroad bridges over the Monocacy River, 40 miles west of Baltimore, were particularly important to the Union because they served to provide troops and supplies to the forces in the West. Major General Lew Wallace, then commanding the 11th Regiment, was instructed to save those bridges and slow down the Conferate attack, in order to give the Union time to bring reinforcements to Washington city. The Union was outnumbered two-to-one. Gen. Wallace's main concern was to make sure his regiment maintained a path of retreat. The Confederates managed to destroy the bridges at Monocacy, but this delayed their raid by a day, forcing Gen. Early to abandon his attack, thus saving Washington from destruction. Washington Atkinson, abandoned at Monocacy as his regiment retreated, managed to get back to Baltimore on his own. He reenlisted in the 11th Regiment for a year at Monrovia, Frederick County, on September 21st, 1864. Gen. Wallace, by the way, gained more general fame after the war as the author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, a best-selling novel for many years, which led to a very high-grossing movie in 1959 starring Charlton Heston.

  From the Amos Atkinson family Bible we learn that Georg [sic] Washington Atkinson married Marry [sic] Jane Galven on 1 June 1867. From other records which give Washington's first name as Joseph it seems likely that his first name was hardly ever used. The Bible also tells us that their daughter "Eliseth Ana" was born on 21 June 1868. Mary Jane, daughter of Roger and Elizabeth Galvin, was born around 1847. She and all her brothers and sisters worked in cotton mills as children and as young adults. The family seems to have moved from one mill town to another, alighting in Ellicott's Mills about when Mary Jane was born, since she was baptized at St Paul's around then, and alighting again when Mary Jane's sister Barbara was born, around 1860, since she too was baptized there. Roger himself was baptized there later in the 1860's, perhaps at the time Mary Jane married Washington. Washington never got to see his daughter. He was killed on the railroad near midnight on Saturday, 11 April 1868, two months before Elizabeth Ann was born. Our only record of this is the Amos Atkinson family Bible. Mary Jane moved home with her daughter to her parents, in Laurel, Maryland, and rejoined her siblings as another cotton mill worker.

  Robert married Mary Holt some time between 1865 and 1870, probably in the Canton waterfront district in southeast Baltimore, where Mary had been living and where they lived afterwards. Mary appears to have been a daughter of Josias (Jesse) and Sophia Susannah (Green) Holt (based on the substantial circumstantial evidence of federal census and city directory records). Robert and Mary had children Florence Anna (b. ~1870), Mabel Mary Sophia (~1871), Robert Archibald (~1873) and Emily Anna Maria (b. 1876, d. 1883 of scarlet fever). Robert was a laborer, and turned to cabinet making in the last couple years of his life. He died August 14th, 1887, at age 50, of heart disease. Mary died December 18th that same year, at age about 46. They are buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Charles and Elizabeth Atkinson recall enjoying visits to the Robert Archibald Atkinson family's home on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

  In 1870, per the federal census, Ann M., her age now given as 45 (she was actually about 60) was a seamstress. Charles, 20, was a blacksmith and Amos, 18, was a bar keeper. The household enumerated before Ann's included Right Reverend W. E. Starr, the pastor of St. Paul's Church from 1870 to 1873, so it seems likely that the Atkinsons lived very close to St. Paul's at this time.

  Charles married Elizabeth Ells, daughter of Conrad and Mary (Wolf) Ells, in December of 1871. Their family would grow to include Joseph Matthew (born 1876), Anna Marie (1880), Conrad Aloysius (1883), Mary E. (b. 1887, d. 1895), and William E. (1890). Joseph and Conrad ("Allie") would much later occasionally point in the general direction of the two houses in the middle of the four in "Tongue Row," near the Main Street end of Old Columbia Pike, as they drove their families by, and mention that that was the house in which they were born. No one was ever sure which of the two houses they'd been pointing at. ^13,14 Joseph, when he was a boy, used to help his father take care of the burying ground on Quaker Hill, where their ancestors lay, across the street from Tongue Row. ¹⁴ By 1890 the family had moved to 7 East Fort Avenue (the street leading to Fort McHenry, on Baltimore Harbor) in Baltimore. Elizabeth worked as a dressmaker. Charles was a day laborer early in life, but didn't work much in later years. He suffered from diabetes, as did his son Joe, and Joe's son Eric. ¹⁴

  Anna Marie died "in the 64 year of her age," according to the family Bible, most likely in Ellicott City. She may have been a "Mrs. Atkinson," who died in April of 1878 according to St. Paul's death records. This would place her birth year at around 1814/1815. At this point, Amos Jr. may have moved in with brother Charles and his family, where he was living in 1880 according to that year's federal census. And that is probably where he died, the day after Christmas of 1884, at age 34.

  Charles died 8 Feb. 1918, at age 70, and Elizabeth died 3 Nov. 1931, at age about 78. Both died in Baltimore.

Notes:

Most of the sources for this story (plus additional information) may easily be found in "A records history for the family of Amos Gilbert Atkinson and Anna Maria Louisa Kirk".

Footnotes:

  1. "The Joseph Atkinson && Rachel Child 1788 Marriage Certificate," article by Conrad Terrill, 2007.
  2. View of Ellicotts Mills, MD. / lith. and print by E. Sachse & Co., Baltimore, ca. 1854. Library of Congress: LoC link.
  3. "The Amos Atkinson Family Bible", article by Conrad Terrill, 2007.
  4. See "What we know about the ancestry of Anna Maria Louisa Kirk" to find out where we stand on research concerning Anna Maria Louisa Kirk's ancestry.
  5. This 1887 Sanborn Fire Insurance map shows the location of Joseph Atkinson's oil mill after it was rebuilt, in 1808 or 1809. The mill, labeled "Ellicott City Mills," had changed hand a number of times between 1828 and 1887. Library of Congress: link (image 2, right).
  6. Justice of the Peace Docket, 1848-1851, Amos G. Atkinson; Maryland State Archives, MdHr 20, 367-15 / 1-69-7-38.
  7. From: "Atlas of fifteen miles around Washington, including the county of Montgomery, Maryland," Hopkins, Griffith Morgan, Jr., c. 1878. Library of Congress call number G1275 .H58 1879: LoC link.
  8. A complete family sheet for this family may be found in the document "Family_sheet-Amos_G_Atkinson_family".
  9. "Battle of Cold Harbor," created and published by Kurz & Allison, 24 Dec 1888. Library of Congress reproduction no. LC-DIG-pga-01881, LoC link.
  10. "Andersonville Prison, Ga., August 17, 1864. South east view of stockade", photographed 1864. Library of Congress reproduction number LC-DIG-ppmsca-33768, digital file from original item, LoC link
  11. This picture of Robert Archibald Atkinson was shared with us in 2011 by Carl ("Billy") Tallagsen, who told us that it was Robert M. Atkinson, age 19. (Margaret Atkinson Brady, a granddaughter of Charles Atkinson, had an unlabeled duplicate in her collection. No one in our family knew who it was, although we believed it had to be an Atkinson picture.) It cannot be of Robert M., though, since the Julius Hebbel photographic studio was only at 409 Gay Street from 1889 to about 1901, and Robert M. died in 1887, at age 50. Robert A., however, was 19 years old in 1892.
  12. A Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) picture, "Columbia Pike (Stones Houses), Ellicott City, Howard County, MD," taken by photographer E. H. Pickering in August 1936. Library of Congress call number HABS MD,14-ELLCI,5--1, LoC link.
  13. Interviews of Mary Atkinson Terrill, daughter of Conrad Aloysius Atkinson, from 1982 to 1983.
  14. Interviews of and correspondence with Dorothy Atkinson, widow of Eric Atkinson, in 1983.