East New Market

Notable People and Families

Waggaman Family


Henry WaggamanHenry Waggaman was born in 1753, the son of Captain Henry Waggaman and Mary Woolford of Somerset County, Maryland.  Charles Wilson Peale painted a portrait of Henry Waggaman around 1774.  The painting is owned by the Maryland Historical Society.  On 3 May 1780 in Dorchester County, Henry Waggaman married Sarah Ennalls, the daughter of Thomas Ennalls and Mary Sulivane.  Mary Sulivane was a daughter of two of the earliest residents of New Market, Daniel Sulivane and Sarah Anderton.  Henry and Sarah Waggaman had seven children.  Four lived to adulthood. 

President John Tyler(1) Thomas Ennalls Waggaman was born 20 February 1782.  He married Martha Jefferson Tyler the sister of President John Tyler (1841-1845) and daughter of Virginia Governor John Tyler.  Thomas was a highly educated and successful merchant in Nashville, Tennessee.  Thomas and Martha Waggaman had children, John H., Major George, Granville, Floyd, and Sarah.  Thomas died in 1832.  Martha died in 1855.  They are buried at the Tyler family burial ground in Charles City County, Virginia.

(2) Eliza Waggaman was born in 1784.  She did not marry.  She died 6  July 1866 and is buried at Christ Church cemetery in Cambridge, Maryland.

Senator George A. Waggaman(3) George Augustus Waggaman was born in Caroline County, Maryland in 1782.  He served in the War of 1812 under General Andrew Jackson at New Orleans and eventually settled in Louisiana.  He married Marie Camille Arnoult in Louisiana.  Mr. Waggaman was an attorney, a judge, the secretary of state of Louisiana 1830-1832, and U.S. Senator from 1831 to 1835.   George and Marie Waggaman had 2 daughters and a son.  He was involved in a duel with the Mayor of New Orleans in 1843 and died from his injuries.  Marie died in 1876.

(4) Henry Pierpoint Waggaman was born 28 December 1785 in Dorchester County.  A short biography in the "Medical Annals of Maryland 1799-1899" states he attended medical lectures in Philadelphia in 1808 & 1809 to become a doctor.  The 8 January 1811 issue of the Republic Star newspaper of Easton, Maryland reports that the Reverend Kemp conducted the marriage of Henry P. Waggaman to Miss Eliza Cropper on 27 December 1810.  Elizabeth Sydreham Cropper was the widow of Dr. Cooper and the daughter of Dr. John Sydreham Cropper and Catherine Smoot (daughter of Captain John Smoot and Elizabeth Douglas).

By 1812, Dr. Henry P. Waggaman was practicing medicine and living in the house built by James B. Sulivane now known as the Edmondson House.   Dr. Henry P. Waggaman and Eliza C. Waggaman had 5 children, all of whom were born in East New Market. 

(1) Sarah Catherine Waggaman - married Samuel H. Page of Wiscasset, Maine on 24 July 1834 in Washington, DC
(2) John C Waggaman was born in East New Market in 1816.  He married Mary E (possibly Woodward) and moved to Pennsylvania.  They had at least three children Iris (b. 1844), George (b. 1846), and Sampson (b. 1848).   John C Waggaman was a teacher and living in Carlisle, Pennsylvania when his mother wrote a letter to him in 1839.
(3) Virginia Waggaman - In 1837 she was living in East New Market when she sent a letter to her brother John.  She married Albert G. Leary on 9 June 1840 in Dorchester County
(4) Henry Pierpoint Waggaman -
(?) Another researcher reports a daughter Eliza C Waggaman who was born 1825 and married Thomas Bayne in 1842 in Talbot County.  She is not mentioned in her grandfather, John Cropper's 1834 Will. 

The Waggaman's saw the importance of educating their children.  When the New Market Academy was incorporated in 1819, Henry P. Waggaman was one of eight Trustees.  During the 1820 Census, Henry P. Waggaman and his wife were age 26-44 and living in East New Market with their children 1 male age 0-9 and 2 females age 0-9. 

A military assignment list indicates that Henry P. Waggaman died before 1824.  During the 1830 Census, Eliza Waggaman was listed in District 8 in Dorchester County.  This may be was area where her father John Cropper lived.  At the time Eliza was age 30-40 with two children, 1 male age 5-10 and 1 female age 10-15, and 2 female slaves.

In the early 1830s, Eliza's father John Cropper bought a house and lot in East New Market from John Williams for $500.  The house was either a large brick store house or a house that has now been moved and may be the Waggaman House.  At the time of the purchase the house was occupied by St. George E. Roberts, who was in charge of the New Market Academy.  An 1837 deed explains that the deed was not recorded, but the property was sold before the following key people died - grantee John Cropper (d. bef. 1834), his son Zadock Cropper, and grantor John Williams.  The 1837 deed transfers the property to John Cropper's daughter Eliza C. Waggaman, and the assignee of his son Zadock Cropper who is Samuel Lecompte.  At the time, the house was occupied by Dr. Zadock Rosse.  In an 1839 deed Samuel Lecompte transfers his interest in the property to Eliza C. Waggaman.  Another 1839 deed indicates Dr. Zadock Rosse was still living at this location.  Eliza Waggaman sold the property to Anthony Manning in 1842.  With careful observation one can still see a brick foundation near the sidewalk to the immediate north of the New Market House.  The Waggaman House was this brick structure or another structure was moved after 1936 to a location on the south side of Academy Street west of Creamery Road. 

It is not clear whether the Waggaman family ever lived in the Waggaman House.  In 1838, a trustee of the estate of Charles Pritchard, deceased, was appointed to sell the Edmondson House to Eliza C. Waggaman.  The deed states Eliza C. Waggaman now resides in the 2-story brick house built by Dr. James Sulivane.  Henry P. Waggaman and family had lived there in 1812 and may have lived there at various intervals prior to Eliza buying the house.  During the 1840 Census, Eliza Waggaman was age 40-49 and living without her family, but with 3 slaves in East New Market.  Eliza C. Waggaman sold the house to William V.M. Edmondson in 1840.  During the 1850 Census Eliza C Waggaman (age 62) can be found living with the Sulivane family in Dorchester County.

A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.

WAGGAMAN, HENRY (1753-1809). BORN: in 1753 in Monie Hundred, Somerset County.
NATIVE: second generation.
RESIDED: maintained residences at "Monie," at the head of Great Monie Creek, Monie Hundred, Somerset County, until at least 1788, and at "Fairview," Upper District, Dorchester County, from ca. 1785 until death.

FAMILY BACKGROUND.
FATHER: Henry Waggaman (?-ca. 1761).
MOTHER: Mary Woolford (?-1780).
BROTHERS: John Elliott (?-by 1767); William Elliott; and George (?-by 1801).
SISTERS: Sarah; Elizabeth; and Mary (?-1760).
FIRST COUSIN: Levin Wilson (1735-1791).
MARRIED on May 3, 1780, Sarah (1761-1842), daughter of Thomas Ennalls (?-by 1783) and wife Mary Sulivane. Sarah was the niece of Daniel Sulivane (1745/46-1799); Henry Ennalls (ca. 1741-by 1788); and Margaret Ennalls (?-by 1795), who married William Maynadier (1747-1795).
CHILDREN.
SONS: Thomas Ennalls (1782-1832), who married Martha Jefferson, daughter of Judge John Tyler (1747-1813), a governor of Virginia, and his wife Mary Armistead;
Henry (1784-1784); George Augustus (1790-1843), a lawyer of Caroline County, and a U.S. Senator from Louisiana, 1831-1835; and Dr. Henry Pierpont (1785-by 1848), who attended
medical lectures at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1808-1809, and who married the widow of
Dr. Cooper of Dorchester County.
ADDITIONAL COMMENT: son Thomas's wife, Martha Jefferson Tyler, was the sister of John Tyler (1790-1862), president of the U.S., 1841-1845.
DAUGHTER. Elizabeth (1784-1866).

PRIVATE CAREER.
EDUCATION: educated by a Presbyterian minister as directed in his father's will.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: although brought up in the Presbyterian faith, Waggaman appears in Somerset Parish (Anglican), Somerset County, as a pewholder in 1773 and as a member of Great Choptank Parish, Dorchester County, at death.
SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Esq., by 1788.
OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: planter by 1775; attorney by 1786.
PUBLIC CAREER. LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: 3rd Convention, Somerset County, 1774; Lower House, Somerset County, 1781-1782 (Grievances 2; Manufactories 2), Dorchester County, 1785, Somerset County, 1788, Dorchester County, 1793.
OTHER STATE OFFICE: Constitution Ratification Convention, Somerset County, 1788.
LOCAL OFFICES. trustee, Washington Academy, Somerset County, 1779; justice, Orphans' Court, Somerset County, appointed 1791.
STANDS ON PUBLIC/PRIVATE ISSUES: subscriber to Washington College, 1782-1783;
manumitted 2 slaves between 1794 and 1803.

WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. PERSONAL PROPERTY:  assessed value £508.0.0, including 14 slaves and 13 oz. plate, 1783; 30 slaves, 1800.
LAND AT FIRST ELECTION, inherited at least 2,163 acres in Somerset County from his father. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH: inherited ca. 504 acres in Somerset County from his mother, 1780; wife probably inherited ca. 945 acres in Dorchester County, ca. 1783; purchased at least 80 acres in Dorchester County in 1786 and sold this acreage between 1798 and 1807; sold at least 2,374 acres in Somerset County to his brother George Waggaman, 1781-1793; George died intestate by 1801 and through inheritance and purchase Henry reacquired this and additional acreage his brother had owned in Somerset County totaling 2,833 acres plus lots 1 and 14 in Princess Anne Town; patented 82 acres in Dorchester County in 1802 and sold this acreage in 1807; sold at least 2,022 acres in Somerset county and lots 1 and 14 in Princess Anne Town, 1802-1809.
WEALTH AT DEATH.
DIED: on May 26, 1809, at "Fairview" plantation near Cambridge, Dorchester County; buried in graveyard of Christ Church, Great Choptank Parish, Cambridge, Dorchester County. LAND, at least 2,049 acres in Somerset and Dorchester counties.