"You drive a hard bargain!"

Years ago my family and I lived in an old historic house. Located in the Mount Victoria area of Newburg, Maryland, propped on a hill overlooking the Wicomico River, it is called the Hard Bargain House. Built in approximately 1792, the house features Federal-style architecture constructed in a three stepped roofline, also described as a telescopic design. Currently it is a part of 362 acre estate with a working farm and fox hunting territory.[1]Also featured on the property is a very old family cemetery. The cemetery is in a very poor state and if unaware of it it goes easily unnoticed. There are 7 graves, all of which are from the Harris family. The head of the family was Nathan Harris (1785-1842) who was laid to rest next to his wife, Mary Clagett (1802-1845). Among the tombs are Mary’s father, Horatio Clagett (1770-1837), and the Harris children, Morgan Harris (1835-1856), John Gwynn Harris (1837-1862), Thomas Harris II (1840-1855), and Elizabeth P Harris (1841-1842).

It was this little forgotten family graveyard that inspired my research of the Harris family. I began with a simple internet search of the house. I was able to track the ownership of the house and its land over the course of its existence. Next I moved my attention to the family. I was able to make some basic connections through Ancestry.com and other genealogical digital databases. I expanded my search to include the archives of local libraries. I was able to find genealogical data through family bibles, genealogical surveys, and county records. As the information mounted I became acutely aware of how tremendously significant this family was to the history of Southern Maryland. Their reach was enormous stretching into boarding counties, like St. Mary’s County, Prince George’s County, and even crossing state boundaries into Virginia.

Born in approximately 1630 Thomas, the first of the American Harris’, made his journey to Maryland from Worcestershire, England some time shortly before August 30, 1650. In the Public Land Notes of 1635-1655 Thomas is recorded demanding 300 acres for the transportation of himself, his wife, and his servant.[2]The land they were granted was located in the William and Mary Parish, later known as the Harris Lot, and now known as Picowaxen, Charles County. Soon after Thomas and his wife, Anne, had a son, also named Thomas. Thomas junior married into the Pope family, which is well known throughout Southern Maryland. Thomas and his wife, Mary, had at least 4 children, one of which was also named Thomas. Thomas III married Martha Sansbury and together they had at least 5 children. Fast-forward to Nathan Harris (Thomas III was his great-grandfather). Nathan Harris was a 6th generation Charles Countian. (The family was much more expansive than the information provided here.) Their family blended with other notable families of Southern Maryland. Smoot, Key, Stonestreet, Maddox, and Chapman to name a few.

The Harris family was known for its active participation in the community. Many of its members took up positions in public service such as doctors, lawyers, delegates, and soldiers.

The Harris family rose to great heights quickly after it planted itself in colonial America. At the peak of their reign as Southern Maryland elites, between the families, they owned thousands of acers of land. They were heavyweights in the tobacco industry. Harris children were well educated and given the best of the best. Harris descendants had grand estates scattered throughout the Southern Maryland landscape, Hard Bargain House included. But their rise and great achievements were built entirely on the backs of slaves. Their success was strictly dependent on free labor. Throughout their reign they owned hundreds and hundreds of men, women, and children.

Harris wills are peppered with language of slavery. “I bequeath to my son, Thomas Gwynn Harris, my Negro man Tom…” The slave inventories of 1850 and 1860 show the hundreds of slaves held as property by Harris descendants. At the Hard Bargain House alone there were at least 30 slaves held at once working the fields. It should come as no surprise that the Harris’ were pro-Confederacy. Maryland was a slave holding boarder state. The state was deeply divided with the South entrenched in the agrarian culture and the North heavily invested in business and trading. Several of the Harris men either were Confederate soldiers or officers, or directly aided in the rebellion. One Harris son, Benjamin Gwinn Harris (1805-1895), with an active and successful political career, harbored 2 Confederate soldiers. He was tried and found guilty, and sentenced to three years imprisonment, which was later remitted by President Johnson.[3]After the war the Harris family was on a slow decline never to rise again. Tracts of land were sold, estates were dismantled, and houses were either abandoned or sold.

The Harris name is forgotten, which brings me full circle to the neglected little cemetery. There on the grounds of the Hard Bargain House the little cemetery is in full decay. The grave stones have shifted, faded, and cracked. Some stones are barely legible. But, interestingly, as you walk from the graves towards the house, along the wood line there are several depressions in the ground, about grave length and width, and each have large stones at the head and feet of the depressions. I remember them distinctly. While I could be entirely wrong in my surmising, I believe that these depressions could be the graves of the Harris slaves. And even if my conclusion is wrong, it gave me pause to know somewhere on the land just under my feet were the interred bodies of the Harris slaves. The Hard Bargain House remains as a memorial to the Harris family regardless of their neglected graves, but nowhere is there a trace of the lives that built the Harris fortune.

Side Story: How the House got its Name

I have a heard of two stories of how the Hard Bargain House got its name. The first begins with the marriage of Gwynn Harris and Kitty Root. For reasons unknown Gwynn’s brother Tom held great animosity towards Kitty and was against the marriage. Nevertheless, the two were married. Afterwards, the grudge plagued the brothers’ relationship. While Tom made no efforts to accept Kitty into the family, Kitty made many efforts to patch their history.

On the anniversary of their marriage the family gathered at the family home, Mt. Tirzah. An invitation was extended to Tom regardless of the disdain he had for Kitty. Most of the guests had arrived, but Tom, and they all were on pins and needles in anticipation of Tom’s arrival. Would he come, or would he not? Eventually Tom arrived. Gwynn and Kitty met him at the door where he warmly greeted his brother, curtly greeted Kitty, and disappeared into the crowd.

The celebration was lavish with copious amounts of food and wine. Later in the evening, Gwynn flushed and happy found Tom. And presented him with a grand proposal for all to witness. If Tom were to wholeheartedly accept Kitty and do away with his animosity towards her, Gwynn would buy him a plantation and build for him a house as great as Mt. Tirzah. Tom immediately accepted and jumped to find Kitty. When he did he begged for her forgiveness, to which she accepted, and he embraced her in a tender hug. The celebration ended on a doubly festive note.

The next morning the two brothers, recovering from their evening, strolled the grounds. Tom reminded Gwynn of his promise. To which Gwynn expressed his happiness that his wife and brother had put their differences behind them, and agreed to the promise he made the night before. Gwinn told his brother, “You drive a hard bargain!” To which Tom replied, “And you, Gwynn, to kiss Kitty, who, if you’ll forgive my frankness, is anything but an attractive lady, was no easy bargain. When completed, that is what I’ll call my estate—“Hard Bargain!”

The second story I have heard also involves two brothers, whose names I have since forgotten. For the story’s sake we will call them Thomas and John. It is said that one brother, Thomas build a fine house on the hill overlooking the Wicomico. One day, he and his brother, John started a game of cards. Thomas, out of money to wage, bet his new house for he was sure his hand was a winner. Thomas lost the hand and his house to his brother John. A few years later John offered to sell the house back to Thomas. Thomas accepted the offer and is reported to have said, “It is a hard bargain to have to buy your house twice!”

Bibliography:

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress - Retro Member details. Accessed February 20, 2020. https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=H000232.

“Land Notes 1635-1655.” Maryland Historical Magazine, 1913.

Rivoire, J. Richard. Maryland Historic Trust. Maryland Historic Trust. US Department of the Interior NPS. Accessed February 20, 2020.

https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Charles/CH-41.pdf.

1. [1] J. Richard Rivoire, Maryland Historic Trust, Maryland Historic Trust (US Department of the Interior NPS), accessed February 20, 2020, https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Charles/CH-41.pdf) [2] “Land Notes 1635-1655,” Maryland Historical Magazine, 1913, pp. 257-270, p.260) [3] Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress - Retro Member details, accessed February 20, 2020, https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=H000232)