McCleery's Designs

​Earlier this summer, I was pecking along on the internet, preparing for teaching one of my “Frederick History 201” classes. I wanted to learn a little more detail regarding the history of the Frederick County Courthouse. In particular, I was seeking information on the structure’s architecture and builder by the name of Henry McCleery.

In saying this, I need to make a few clarifications to assist you in figuring out which building  and geographic location I am referring to here. First off, I am talking about the second (of four) courthouses that Frederick County has witnessed being built, and utilized, since the 1750s. The greater locale is within the heart of historic downtown Frederick City.

The particular courthouse in question, and pictured at the top of the story, no longer stands. If it had a gravestone, it would read 1785-1861. We do have its 1862 replacement, but that building is not our present courthouse (#4), which is located on the northwest corner of West Patrick and North Court streets and built in 1982.

Current Frederick County Courthouse

​​We are fortunate to still possess former courthouse (#3) —another example of Frederick's many "adaptive reuse" success stories. Today, this building of Italianate design is in its fifth decade of service as Frederick City Hall and like its predecessor (courthouse #2) is positioned within Court House Square, often called "Court Square" for short. This "public yard" has served as Frederick's  village common, or green, far longer than Baker Park and is sandwiched in between Council and West Church streets to the north and south respectively, and North Court and Record streets to the east and west.

Aerial photograph of Frederick City Hall by Michael Binebrink

So what happened to Frederick's second county courthouse? Well, it burned down in 1861 in the early days of the American Civil War. Some say it could have been an accident, and others say it was arson and an early victim of political protest. Either way, Henry McCleery’s Georgian style masterpiece left us shortly after its 75th anniversary. If anything else, it was certainly more durable and accommodating than our first courthouse, while helping to launch the legal careers of many men of mark including Roger Brooke Taney and Francis Scott Key.

In case you were curious, the first Frederick County Courthouse was built in this same Court Square vicinity after our county's founding in 1748. The Maryland General Assembly ordered that Frederick be the site of the county seat.  On a chosen location on the northwest side of the fledgling village, land would be obtained for the purpose. The order stated:

“That the said three Acres shall be laid out in an exact Square, and staked and well bounded, and that the Courthouse aforesaid shall be built in the Centre of the same Square, and that the Prison or Prisons for the same County shall be built on the South Side of the same Square.”

1782 Samuel DuVall Map (white block left center is the site of Frederick's Court) House Square)

​Construction began in 1750 but was delayed for some time thanks in part to the French & Indian War which led to the confiscation of workers’ wagons for the war effort among other things. Talk about your supply chain issues! Anyway, the project would eventually be completed in 1756 and hosted the legendary Stamp Act Repudiation less than a decade later in November, 1765. Court Square would be the site of a large mock funeral for "the recently expired" Stamp Act, a satiric protest put on by our local “chapter” of the Sons of Liberty.

A depiction of the Stamp Act mock funeral held in Frederick's Courthouse Square on November 30, 1765 (art piece by Richard Schlecht)

​Frederick Town continued to attract a number of talented attorneys and legal minds to work in its courts including Revolutionary War patriots Thomas Johnson, Jr. and John Hanson. The county’s growth naturally necessitated a new courthouse be built, one that could properly accommodate the needs of court business. At the same time, historic records show that the first courthouse and jail (Gaol) were in a shabby state of deterioration. The year was 1785, and that is when the fore-mentioned Henry McCleery enters our story:

“Whereas the Justices and sundry Inhabitants of Frederick County by their petition to the General Assembly have represented, that the Court House and Gaol are at present in a very impaired State—That the former is so much out of repair, that the public papers and Records are not only exposed to be purloined and taken out of the office above Stairs, but to be damaged and defaced by every driving rain and Snow that may happen by penetrating into the Office among the said Records and papers, that the Walls of the said Court House are giving away being Cracked and Chasms made from the foundation to the roof thereof that the Gaol is likewise in a very decayed State and will be insufficient with all the repairs that can be given to secure Criminals.” (Laws, Liber T.B.H. No. A, pp. 46.r)-66, Ms)

Historian Thomas J. Scharf adds to the story in his commentary on the building of the second courthouse in his History of Western Maryland (published in 1882):

“The members of the General Assembly heard this cry of distress and thereupon empowered the justices of the county to levy up to £2,000 current money. They were also granted permission to sell whatever materials in the old courthouse which could not be used in the new building and to add the proceeds to the building fund. By 1787, the outside of the new courthouse was finished, but the interior was not ready and as is usual in these cases, the money had all been expended. It was necessary, therefore, to return to the General Assembly with a second plea, this time for £750 current money. An act authorizing this further levy was passed at the April Session, 1787.

Although it was apparently not finished at the time, the court began sitting in the new courthouse in March 1787. From the time of the razing of the old, and the completion or near completion of the new, courthouse, quarters were secured for the court in the house of Mrs. Rebecca Owen, for which she was allowed thirteen pounds and fifteen shillings at the November Term of 1786.”

The court had appointed a building commission on April 8th, 1785 to supervise the building, and apparently it was this body that employed our subject, Henry McCleery. This man was described by former Court Square resident, historian, politician and international statesman, Charles McCurdy “Mac” Mathias (1922-2010) as "Frederick's little known but highly talented architect” in an article written about his childhood home in the 1950s.

Frederick County's second courthouse within the Sachse 1854 lithograph of Frederick City

​So back to my innocent Google journey from last June. I stumbled upon a particularly evocative entry within search engine results for “McCleery architect” on a site called www.Biblio.com, a privately owned international online marketplace specializing in rare and collectible books. My find was for an online sale entry for actual work books and ledgers belonging to Henry McCleery and his family. These were  billed as “manuscripts having enormous research value, containing, as they do, a copious amount of first hand information about the architectural and building history of Frederick spanning fifty years, 1790-1840.”

Now I had seen references before to some of the McCleery family papers. These reside in repositories such as the Maryland State Historical Society in Baltimore and the Hall of Records in Annapolis. I also have seen that some McCleery papers and sketches are located at the prestigious Winterthur Museum in northern Delaware. 

My attention was certainly gotten in reading the sale's very detailed description. Here’s just the opening stanza:

“OVER 1100 PAGES OF MANUSCRIPT CONSTRUCTION RECORDS AND ACCOUNTS IN THIRTEEN FOLIO VOLUMES OF AN IMPORTANT FREDERICK, MARYLAND, 18th/19th CENTURY IRISH IMMIGRANT ARCHITECT AND MASTER BUILDER, INCLUDING THOSE OF HIS SONS, WHO WERE HIS BUSINESS PARTNERS AND SUCCESSORS, KEPT OVER A PERIOD OF FIFTY YEARS, 1790-1840
BOOK #1. McCLEERY, Henry (1749-1819), Irish-American architect and master builder in Frederick, Maryland, who built most of Frederick's significant structures in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Tall folio ledger book, original flexible boards (worn & soiled), signed on front cover: "Henry McCleery/ his Book/ 1790 January 1st," then again, "Henry McCleery His Book," with dates "1790/1791/1792/1793," and "Alegheny Lotts in this Book 1790 page 20"; over 320 pages of manuscript in 4 sections, crudely side-sewn and bound as one, ca. pp. [76] + [76] + [80] + [90], each section with alphabetical list of clients/customers + 12 simple original sketch plans of buildings with dimensions, written on laid paper with ProPatria watermark. Frederick, Maryland, this volume, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, [1796, 1814-1815, 1821]: Additional volumes described below covering the years 1794, 1800, 1810, 1811, 1821-30, 1830, 1831, 1834-40, 1836, 1840. Thirteen volumes of bound manuscript, tall folios, approximately 1100 pp. Condition is generally used, as would be expected, but very good, as described for each volume. An extraordinary collection of manuscript account books delineating an early American architectural and construction business conducted by Henry McCleery.”

A page from one of Henry McCleery's Workbooks

​This listing contained a treasure-trove of local history! But, alas, my find was nothing more than “a ghost page” as the sale had already been completed by an independent firm by in Sheffield, Massachusetts by the name of Howard S. Mott, Inc. The company is a collector/reseller specializing in early Americana, historical books and magazines, autograph letters, etc. I could find no corresponding date, or any info on the seller, buyer or successful bid. Where are these books residing today?  

I surely hope that these invaluable workbooks made their way back to Frederick, or at least Maryland. If not, maybe they are in the possession of a caring family member or property owner. Odds are they are now owned by a museum or architectural history fan who appreciates their magnificent importance. And if the buyer ever reads this humble blog in the future, please consider sending our Heritage Frederick (the former Historical Society of Frederick County) a copy of the books to help us understand the McCleery built structures, and family, a bit better. No one appreciates their history and historic buildings like Frederick with our much-heralded, 50-block Downtown Frederick Historic District.

Second Frederick County Courthouse designed and built by Henry McCleery (completed 1787)

The Court of Assizes in Dublin, Ireland was the inspiration for McCleery's design for the 2nd Frederick Courthouse

​So, just who is Henry McCleery? Well, in addition to giving Frederick some pretty amazing edifices, he also is responsible for even more descendants, with plenty buried here in Mount Olivet Cemetery including himself.

Henry McCleery plot in Mount Olivet (Area H/Lot 371)

​Henry McCleery is remembered in the annals of our town’s history as an Irish immigrant architect and master carpenter. He settled in Frederick in the late 1760s and conducted a carpentry and building business, one that was carried on after his death in 1819 by three sons, Robert (1788-1840), Andrew (1777-1853) and William (1794-1848). William went to Brookville, Indiana in 1825 to care for his sister-in-law after the death of her husband . A fourth son, Henry (@1783-1822) is buried here in Mount Olivet in an unmarked grave according to our interment records. He doesn't seem to be associated with the building trade, but could have been.

​In 1778, Henry McCleery bought a 39'x 83' lot fronting on Market Street from Charles Beatty, next to the north side of the "Market House", where he apparently had his house, and later bought several adjoining properties as well as other properties in and near Frederick. Of course, the Market House property was enlarged, later in 1874 when the opera house was built, so the location of Henry's house is where the northern section of Brewers Alley now is. This house stayed in the family until 1855, although after 1841 it was occupied by William Beall (whose sister Rebecca had married Robert McCleery).
 
Henry McCleery's will was proved in 1820, leaving everything to his three sons equally including several lots in Frederick and his old construction shop which once fronted on East Second Street, just west of the alley that takes one to Market Space. This was said to be the lot east of his mother-in-law's house (Mary Ritchie) and across the alley from the Old Lutheran Graveyard behind the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Schaeffer Center occupies the majority of the old graveyard today. Interestingly, this location of the McCleery workshop was near the site of the Tory Gaol during the Revolutionary War. 

E 2nd Street at Market Space Alley, former site of the McCleery Shop

Part of Henry McCleery's will in which he leaves his "shop" to his sons

​Buildings of Frederick attributed to McCleery are plenty with his main achievement being the second county courthouse (1785). It was reportedly designed using the Court of Assizes in Dublin, Ireland as a model. Other construction marvels that still stand include the second All Saint's Episcopal Church (1813) on North Court Street and the Frederick Presbyterian Church (1825) on West Second Street. In some accounts, he is revered for designing and building the famed steeple atop Trinity Chapel which would serve home to the town clock built by Frederick Heisley. This is usually attributed to Stephen Steiner, as are the twin spires of the fore-mentioned Evangelical Lutheran, but this could have been McCleery's design or handiwork in partnering with Steiner.

The German Reformed Church's Trinity Chapel on W. Church St

​Henry McCleery was also responsible for producing numerous other taverns and houses here. The former Potts House on the corner of North Court and West Church streets was built by Henry McCleery after being designed by the noted architect Robert Mills who is responsible for many early government buildings of Washington, D.C.

The sale description states that “there are four pages detailing work accomplished in 1821 for the Committee of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Henry McCleery's manuscripts, with voluminous additions by his sons after his death, provide a wealth of previously unknown information about the flourishing business conducted by these architect/master builders, all regarding properties and businesses they served in Frederick County, as well as some in Georgetown. The initial accounts/records are carried over from a previous "folio," whereabouts, if extant, unknown to us. These thirteen volumes containing more than 1100 pages offer an extraordinary amount of descriptive accounting information about the business activities of McCleery and his sons, with names of their many customers, with all jobs priced and described as completed for some of the most distinguished personages of late 18th and early 19th century Frederick.”

I couldn’t garner a great deal of information on the man himself, as most information accompanies histories pertaining to his children and later descendants. Henry McCleery was born in 1749, in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. His father was Andrew McCleery, (1724-1794) and his mother, Martha E Rea (1724-1813). Henry arrived in America in the late 1760s and would marry Martha Ritchie (b. August 5th, 1755) in 1768. Martha was the daughter of William Ritchie (1726-1765) and Mary Beatty Middagh (1732-1818). The union produced nine known children: four sons (Henry, Andrew, Robert, and William) and five daughters (Mary (Knight) (1779-1820) , Zeruiah (Knox) (1783-1839), Susanna (McLanahan) (1786-1848), Frances (Beall) (1791-1852), and Cairissa.

1790 US Census showing Henry McCleery living in Frederick

​I learned that Henry worked his early years in Frederick as a house carpenter and joiner, as listed in some of the early deeds. He is said to have produced the upright cases for grandfather clocks made by John Fessler. I read that he very likely paid someone to take his place in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. His service is noted as making coffins for deceased soldiers. Of course he would be tasked with designing Frederick’s court house just after the end of the conflict that gave him and his countrymen their independence.

An article found while researching for this blog story says that an old hinge had been found on the property of the Old All Saints Burying Ground (by Carroll Creek) sometime after the cemetery’s removal to Mount Olivet in 1913. The hardware resembled that which McCleery used regularly on both the clock cases and coffins he produced. This information came from a lecture given by Joseph W. Urner, a lineal descendant of McCleery, and a fine architect and sculptor in his own right, to the Frederick County Historical Society back in 1950. We have three of this particular gentleman’s sculpted busts in Mount Olivet including those of Roger Brooke Taney, Thomas Johnson, Jr. and Dr. Amon Burgee, and he also was the sculptor of the Alabama State Monument on the Gettysburg Battlefield. Speaking of Thomas Johnson, Urner said in his talk that Henry McCleery was tasked to build a coffin for Maryland’s Revolutionary hero and first elected governor. Both men (McCleery and Johnson) died in the same year of 1819.

Frederick News (May 18, 1950)

​Martha McCleery died on December 12th, 1815, and Henry passed on November 23rd, 1819 at the age of 70. They were both originally buried in the Old English Presbyterian burial ground that once occupied the southwest corner of the intersection between North Bentz Street and West Fourth Street where Dill Avenue begins. The contents of that burial ground were eventually moved to Mount Olivet in the latter part of the 19th century. Our records show that Henry McCleery's grandsons (Perry and Robert) had the bodies of their grandparents (along with several of Henry and Martha's children) disinterred and moved in September of 1863 to the family plot in Mount Olivet's Area H.

Ledger stones marking the graves of Andrew McCleery (left), Henry McCleery (center) and Martha McCleery (right) in Mount Olivets's Area H/Lot 357

​Henry McCleery was undoubtedly a very wealthy man. I have reason to believe that he lived in Georgetown, District of Columbia, after the death of Martha, as this was the place he filed his will in 1818. In his will, he assigns a Georgetown home on Washington Street to son Henry, and it seems as though his eldest son is sick or debilitated and requires "maintenance." I'm thinking that Henry cared for this man, at the time in his late thirties. This same Henry, Jr. would die just a few years later in 1822. His daughter Cairissa never married, and was recipient of his primary home in Frederick Town.

Henry left his daughters large amounts of cash, and  shares in the Bank of Columbia, Farmers Bank of Maryland, Union Bank of Georgetown, and Bank of Baltimore. Other properties and building lots in Frederick were divided amongst his three younger sons as were houses and lots in D.C., along with an importing and exporting company, a shop, and a tavern in Georgetown. He also had shares in the Bank of Columbia, Farmers Bank of Maryland, Union Bank of Georgetown, and Bank of Baltimore.

1751 plat of lots in Georgetown

​Henry McCleery had acquired his lots in the new nation’s capital at the turn of the 19th century and is believed to have constructed one of the earliest surviving homes of Georgetown around 1800 to 1801 with "Adamesque" elements throughout its interior. McCleery purchased the lot from Thomas Beall, a relative through the marriage of his daughter Frances. The Beall family owned major tracts of land in the area and sold them for residential development. Both of these families (McCleerys and Bealls) also connect through the Knight family who I have chronicled in two earlier “Stories in Stone.”
 
A home that McCleery built still stands near an intersection with M Street at 1068 30th Street in Northwest, D.C. near what would become the beginning of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal a few decades later. The street the house fronted was originally called Bridge Street. Changes to this structure were made by the home’s second owner, John Bowie, whose family lived in the house from 1816 to 1847. Bowie was a well-known shipping merchant, who began his own company, Bowie and Kurtz, in 1799. It appears today on many historic home tours of Georgetown.

Henry McCleery House in Georgetown

​The term “Adamesque” had me recalling the John Adams miniseries that first aired on HBO well over a decade ago. In that program, a unique scene included the construction of the White House by slaves under the direction of architect James Hoban. The McCleery House in Georgetown shares many similar features with "the President's Home" and some historians have wondered if Hoban shared his knowledge in the construction of McCleery’s home. It would be interesting to see whether this was simply the architectural genius of our subject who may have influenced Hoban, or vice versa, to be used in the McCleerys’ later ventures. We will likely never know.

Slave labor and construction of this time period is often a missing part of the early building history of our country. They certainly made an important contribution to erecting countless amazing structures that began as humble drawings and designs on paper. The Biblio.com auction listing I found shares glimpses of Frederick’s African American heritage. I was fortunate to find the following in the auction entry writeup:

“Maryland being a slave state, there is much here mentioning named Negro labor, whether slave or free, we don't know, although we do know that the slave population in Frederick was substantial. Building, contracting, carpentry work of all types with different wood such as poplar, ash, chestnut, etc., building houses, making doors, paneled doors, windows, sashes, chimneys, bricks, flooring, joists, shutters, nails, stock locks, boards, scantling, rafters, gutters, etc., etc., also custom furniture making, copious numbers of coffins made to order for children and adults, with some of the more expensive versions described with details of wood, polish, fittings; some for the poor, McCleery apparently having an ongoing contract to provide coffins for those who died in the Poor House, including Negroes.

Included are many renovations, building of complete structures, the buying and selling of various types of lumber and wooden building materials. Accomplished jobs are given full treatment, with names, dates, work accomplished, giving exact accountings of materials used for each task, with prices charged. All four sections begin with a hand-lettered alphabetical index of clients names, be they personal, commercial, or county or state entities. The personal names are sometimes identified with a trade, i.e.: printer, locksmith, "comedian", blacksmith, baker, schoolmaster, butcher, mason, tailor, turner, etc., and some with military titles. Businesses or institutions include the Market House, or Frederick Town Market, of which McCleery seems to have had an official position, mentioning he collected "one Years rent of Room over Market", and "rent of stalls & shambles", signed "Henry McCleery Clerk"; "Christian Dwellings"; the State of Maryland, "federal", the County of Frederick; the Magazine; Court House [built in March 1787; those who would speak there would include John Hanson, Thomas Johnson, Francis Scott Key and Roger Brooke Taney, who appears in these records]; the Poor House [built in 1820, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places]; Lutheran Church, etc.

The initial 52 pages of the first section (1790) have been re-purposed with a child's pen-trials, school writings, notes, scribbles, math sums and writing-over the previous ledger information, most of which is still legible; thankfully the young scholar used blank areas of this section for his or her efforts [probably a young McCleery]. There are about a dozen pinned-in, laid-in, or loose pages of business and personal writings, including materials lists, costs; drawings, plans of buildings and calculation notes. Work for Frederick County included building steps for the Record Room, making doors, benches and tables, a "Pilory (sic) of Locust with Band," and ladder; hanging and leading windows. McCleery also notes his service as a Juror for 5 days, as well as valuing and "laying off", i.e. surveying, properties. Work for Frederick County in 1791 included such things as "new timbers & covering for the South Bridge in Frederick Town…" as well as construction details for the Poor House, ongoing through the years with intermediary David Leavy (or Levy) who often appears in the records as a customer, and whose house (or tavern) McCleery designed and built.

Another notable project was work done on the Market House for butchers, and for various other identified business stalls and their amenities. Occasional bartering is evident, such as using Col. Johnson's "negro" for a project for money and labor trade; to the butcher for a "clock case wild cherry wood to pay on the halph [sic] in cash in 2 weeks and the remainder in truff and tallow…"; and exchanging carpentry work for blacksmithing or masonry. McCleery makes mention of "My own house on 2d Street 48 perches in sellar…By 39,000 Brick laying…", and the Baptist Meeting House."

McCleery’s work on the Market House, today’s site of Brewer’s Alley Restaurant on North Market Street, helped me put the following article in better context. Ironically, this building would be Frederick’s very first City Hall as Mr. McCleery made a lasting contribution to not only Frederick’s beautiful historic skyline, but to the residential, commercial and governmental lifeblood of the community he made his home after emigration.

Frederick News (Sept 4, 1924)

I know I’m simply sharing facsimile text of this incredible Biblio.com auction ad, as I truly I wish I knew the locale of its original contents today. Much like unique architecture that is unfortunately razed over time, I just want to document this incredible information within this blog in case the listing gets deleted from the internet one day. That said, Henry McCleery was atop one of the most respected trades of his day. I’ve read, that during this time, architects and master masons sat at the very top of the professional pantheon—even above physicians, lawyers and politicians.

Henry McCleery had professional and personal associations with the top citizens of both our community and state. Whitman H. Ridgway, in his 2018 work Community Leadership in Maryland, 1790-1840: A Comparative Analysis of Power in Society states:

“The Frederick County decisional elite in the second party era,…numbered seventy-two men…Frederick County's decisional leaders represented the diversity of the community in contrast to the relative uniformity found in the other rural areas…” 

The men who appear in these McCleery manuscripts include Roderick Dorsey, Colonel John McPherson, Dr. Thomas W. Johnson, Richard Potts, Jr., William M. Beall, Jr., etc. The auction ad for McCleery’s manuscripts and workbooks list accounts that “cover his work for just over 100 different named clients in the first volume, and many more in the later volumes, many of whom have multiple entries during the years covered. There are a great many prominent names listed, including a number of patriots who participated in the Revotutionary War, and important politicians, lawyers, judges, prominent members of the Frederick County community, or trades people such as John Adlum, one of several Frederick patriots of the same family with the same name; Col. Baker Johnson (1747-1811), lawyer and Revolutionary War battalion commander who fought at the 1777 Battle of Paoli in the brigade of his brother, Col. James Johnson. He eventually ran Catoctin Furnace in the early 1800's from his manor house named Auburn, which still stands: several long entries, one for August 12th to September, a full-page for work on 4 floors, fully described; the entry for January 6, 1791 is a full-page accounting of work for Baker Johnson, and another August 12th 1791, and more, including a "coffin for your child hing'd and polished shambles."

A page from Henry McCleery's Workbook showing a job done for Baker Johnson

Here is more of a description of the individuals McCleery did work for according to the Biblio.com auction listing:

[Charles] McGragh [i.e. McGrath], "Comedian." McGrath, "the American Tate Wilkinson of that epoch" pirated the comedy The Contrast, the first play by an American to be professionally staged, and played it at Elizabeth-Town (Hagerstown) as early as April 13, 1791, after it had played Frederick, Georgetown, Alexandria, etc. The entry for August 10, 1791, shows McGrath was in Frederick, and paid for "170 feet of boards….1000 12 penny nails…to doing the Seattes…150 Spridgs (springs) for making Doors." This leads us to believe it is possible McGrath was outfitting the semblance of an unkown theatre in Frederick, and not having work done on a dwelling; Col. William Deakins, a Georgetown merchant in the tobacco trade; Col. Thomas Deakins, Revolutionary War officer, surveyor of the Maryland-West Virginia "Deakins" boundary line; John Graham (d. 1833), president of the Frederick County Savings Bank; Catherine Kimball, (1745-1831), many entries for this tavern owner of "the highest-caliber establishment of its kind in Frederick (once frequented by George Washington); Rev. Stephen B[loomer] Balch (1747-1833), Presbyterian minister and educator in Georgetown who graduated from Princeton and served in the Revolutionary War. He founded the second church in Georgetown, the Georgetown Presbyterian Church, often traveled the 40 miles to preach in Frederick where he founded the English Presbyterian Church; Richard Potts (1753-1808), whose house is now part of an architectural walking tour of Frederick, was a politician, U. S. Attorney for Maryland appointed by George Washington, jurist, military aide to the governor of Maryland, Thomas Johnson, with the Maryland line at Valley Forge in 1777, U.S. Representative, U. S. Senator."

Senator Richard Potts (1753-1808)

The former Potts home on the corner of W Church and N Court streets

​"More work was done by the McCleery family firm in designing and building bridges in town and in the county. Pertaining to a  John Winter, printer in Frederick 1791-1800, there exist three entries, the last for "a Wallnut coffin rais'd lid for a Child.” Thomas Johnson, Jr. was a client and Col. John McPherson (abt. 1760-1829), employed McCleery for an extensive amount of work as you may recall that this wealthy citizen built the large townhomes on Council Street known today as the Ross and Mathias mansions. The auction listing rattles off more luminaries of Maryland and Frederick’s past:

Joshua Dorsey (1752-1814), lawyer, sat at one time in the Maryland House of Delegates: 4 1/2 pp. of specs giving a complete description of his new 33 x 35 foot house, three floors and roof; a number of lengthy entries for David Levy [also spelled Leavy by McCleery] (1741-1804), Revolutionary soldier, tavern owner on Patrick Street. With extensive construction account & rough sketches of plans for him, October, 1792 (with Scott, see below); George Murdock, trustee of Frederick College); a number of entries for Isaac Mantz (1759-1826), commissioner of roads; William M[urdock] Beall (1742-1823), Frederick judge, landowner, slave holder; John Ross Key (1754-1821), general officer in the Continental Army, lawyer, judge, father of Francis Scott Key; Abner Ritchie, land speculator; William Ritchie, Clerk of the Frederick County Court, 1779 until 1815; [Henry McCleery married Martha Ritchie, and there are several other Ritchie men named here]; George Scott (before 1742-after 1793), Sheriff of Frederick County (1766-1768), "George Scott Esqr. April 20th 1793, with rough sketch plan and itemization, for large structure "to Joyn to Mr. Leavys house/to Jas. Beatty"; Col. William Beatty, Revolutionary War officer; Benjamin Ogle (1749-1809), George Washington's friend, governor of Maryland (1798-1801). It was he who issued a proclamation after Washington's death setting aside February 11th as a day of mourning, beginning what would become a national precedent; Henry Brothers, tavern owner, with a sketch plan for his house on the corner of today’s West Patrick and South Court streets where the current Frederick Courthouse stands today. Col. Thomas Price (1722-1795), pronounced against the Stamp Act, Revolutionary War officer and later one of the justices of the Frederick County Court; Mountjoy Bayly (1754-1836), Revolutionary War general, large land owner; John Parks (1738-1812), tea merchant; extensive work from May, 1792 to November of that year; and others who served in various Maryland and Pennsylvania military companies, according to Archives of Maryland Records of Maryland Troops Serving in the Continental Service During the War of American Revolution, 1775-1783.

At the end of this first volume there is an undated half-page "Memorandum of an agreement made between Abraham Haff [Jr.] (1769-1813) and Henry McCleery that said Abraham Haff doth engage to deliver scantling of poplar and ash for a house to be built for Benjamin Ogle early next Spring [and seven more lines specifying deliver dates and payment], signed by Haff and McCleery, and witnessed by Susanna Johnson, followed by three more full pages about the projected house, "Mr. Benjamin Ogle's house 31 feet front by 44.'"

I wrote about Abraham Haff in one of these “Stories in Stone” a few years back as he was a prominent member of Frederick's Presbyterian Church to which the McCleery family belonged. Presbyterian minister, Rev. Samuel Knox, served as the first schoolmaster of the Frederick Academy and married Henry McCleery’s daughter Zeruiah. The graves of both can be found in the McCleery family lot in Mount Olivet’s Area H/Lot 357.

Graves of Zeruiah (McCleery) and husband Samuel Knox

The second Presbyterian Church in Frederick built in 1825. The first structure of this congregation was located at the intersection of N. Bentz and Dill Ave

Frederick Academy (aka Frederick College) was built in 1797

​The Mott sale listing states that McCleery had accounts with a number of Frederick women:

“specifying aspects of home-building for the Mrs. Burnes, Cary, Mary Ritchie, Davison, Dyer, Charlton, Cazlister, Catherine Kimball, etc. Also noted are purchases for business: tools, wheelbarrows, hatchets; as well as personal items such as newspapers, coffee, barrels of herring, rum, cloth of various types, "2 tickets in the Washington City Lottery at 7 Dollars ea." Notes are meticulously kept, accounting for labor for himself and working crew, as well as Negro workers who have been lent to him: "…14 Days of your Negros attending masons at my house."

Well if you are still with me, the listing was more like a "history roller-coaster" with non-stop thrilling twists and turns for the Frederick history geek like myself. Coming around the final stretch, highlights of more material within the collection’s next six volumes is highlighted with names very familiar to Frederick and Mount Olivet Cemetery, including my very own. I will explain in a moment!

“Miscellaneous material: A laid-in note from Abner Ritchie requesting his cousin, builder Andrew McCleery, to help a poor man and wife whose daughter had fractured her leg: "…the parents living poor & having but few of the conveniences of life need assistance…the loan of your cot, for the girl to lie on...Dr. Shields & myself have just reduced it…" Dated 1814, repurposing blank pages is a billing summary of 5pp. of a "Bill of Scantling for Joshua Dorsey Esq." which includes small crude drawings of building component details, as well as a side view, side measurements and height plan. Also given are floor by floor details of joist, lath-work, rafters, windows and trim for the project, which is typical throughout the whole book. A further page details a list of "Stuff of ours taken for Dorsey's house" including various timber, nails, planking, chimney pieces and the "costing up" for all. There is also an amusing 27-line piece from December 1814, in which McCleery's describes his and Mr Beall's naiveté regarding buying a horse as they have sold their Chestnut sorrel. "We came to the conclusion last night to get Mr. McLanahan to purchase for us, he being a good judge. We wish him not to go over 100$...The qualities that we would wish him to possess is gentleness & fitness for the Harness…he is intended for our gig…Mr. Beall & myself are both afraid to make the purchase for fear some broken winded or hipshodden animal might be palmed upon us."

The volumes are well used, as is to be expected, but the contents are very legible. In our nearly 50 years of experience, we have never seen anything remotely resembling such a collection of these 18th and early 19th century American architect/builder's records.

VOLUMES 2-13. BOOK #2. McCLEERY, Henry, architect and master builder. Manuscript ledger for the year 1794. Tall folio, unbound, stitching broken, pp. [58]. Frederick, Maryland, January 1st to end of December, 1794. Two leaves, folios 22 and 23, excised. Index from letters Q to Z present here, others preceding excised.

There are 4 pp. of construction and carpentry records for building tavern owner Henry Brothers "new house;" payment made for 1000 acres of land in Kentucky, and for a building lot in George Town; 4 pp. of records for building a house for Benjamin Ogle, "39 by 28 ft. Inside;" 3 pp. on construction work for David Levy; carpentry for Arthur Shaaff Esq. [Frederick lawyer; Francis Scott Key's cousin]; construction and iron work for William Potts; the same for Richard Potts & Andrew Loe; an 11 ft long sign for Christian Rye; work for John McPherson; renting rooms, stalls to butchers; work for Isaac Mantz, George Murdock; State of Maryland; Snider School; buying boards, ending with "Mr. William. Was bound about May for 3 ½ years. I am to pay him £4 year 1795 & £4 year 96 & £4 the time of being free."

BOOK #3. McCLEERY, Henry, architect and master builder. Manuscript ledger for the year 1800. Tall folio, original drab flexible boards, pp. 60, with Index of names, partly covered by newspaper articles and ephemera in a few places. Frederick, Maryland, January to December, 1800. Similar to previous volume with work done for Mantz, Ritchie, Levy, Mountjoy Bayly; 4 full pages for painting carpentry, etc., for Mary Ritchie; 3 full pages for work for Catherine Kimball; the Market House; Col. Baker Johnson, Hugh Reynolds; the Court House; John McPherson. 7 sketches of structures; numerical figures; 2 pages for "Mrs. M[ary] Ritchie's house to be built 2 stories; a house in George Town for Nicholas Hodges on Lot. #9; work on a structure for General Mountjoy Bayly. Somewhat soiled and stained, but very legible. Includes work for Roger Brooke Taney.

BOOK #4. McCLEERY, Henry, architect and master builder. Manuscript ledger for the year 1810. Tall folio, original drab flexible boards (worn), pp. 80, with Index of names. Frederick, Maryland, 1810. Bank information; blacks (presumably slaves) cutting wood; half page for Roger B, Taney for glass, glazing, locks, curtain rods, mending table, etc., as well as a full page on leaf 64 for Taney; the usual work as described previously for members of the Potts, Ritchie, Mantz, McPherson families, and others. Included is Dr. Philip Thomas (1747-1815), a very important Frederick patriot/physician. See, Chris Haugh's long article, Frederick's Physician-Patriot of '76, re: Mount Olivet Cemetery; Lutheran Church; extensive work for Mrs. Lowe's house; Barracks & Arsenal; with 2 wallpaper samples laid in.

That’s right, "Chris Haugh’s long article" on Dr. Philip Thomas, however it pales in comparison to this story and a magnificent auction listing. Nice advertising for me though, thank you! 

BOOK #5. McCLEERY, Henry, architect and master builder. Manuscript ledger for the year 1811. Tall folio, original drab flexible boards (worn), pp. 14. Frederick, Maryland, 1811. 2pp. for "Barracks Account" with two small sketches; purchase of Lot #5 in George Town for Major A. Ritchie; books lent; 3 full pages about building Joab Hunt's three-story house. Volume in rough condition.

Alright, I'm stopping here! What an amazing discovery, one of many I have stumbled upon while writing this blog. Henry’s children did great things as well, and the auction collection also includes workbooks and manuscripts in the hands of Andrew and Robert. I will include that latter part of the listing write-up at the conclusion of this story because I am literally spent from writing this story about Frederick’s original architect extraordinaire. I will leave you with an 1840s portrait of the second county courthouse by artist John J. Markell, and the McCleery's surviving masterpiece on North Court Street of the second All Saints' Episcopal Church. 

John J. Markell's 1842 depiction of the Courthouse cupola fire caused by burning embers from the Tyler House fire on Record Street

The second All Saints' Episcopal Church on N. Court Street

​Henry McCleery’s sons Andrew, Robert and Henry, Jr., are buried in Mount Olivet. Robert is in the greater family plot in Area H, but Henry Jr. is in an unmarked grave within the re-interred bodies from the Old Presbyterian Church and located in Area NN. Daughters of Henry buried here include the previously mentioned Zeruiah Knox, Susanna McLanahan, and Frances Beall.

Grave of Henry's son Robert McCleery (1788-1840) and wife Rebecca (Beall) McCleery (1795-1871) in Area H/Lot 368

Grave of Henry's daughter Susanna McLanahan (1786-1848) in Area H/Lot 357

Grave of Frances (McCleery) Beall in Area F/Lot 55

​If you locate the whereabouts of this McCleery collection of workbooks and manuscripts, please let us know! It’s a window on Frederick’s past like no other, and worth its weight in pure gold. Kudos to the research team at Howard S. Mott, Inc. for their insightful and detailed effort and research, and thanks for helping to educate me so I could tell a much better “Story in Stone” of one of Mount Olivets’s many precious eternal residents.

Henry McCleery grave in Mount Olivet

Greater McCleery Plot in Area H of Mount Olivet with multiple generations represented

​ADDENDUM
The following is the Biblio.com sale description of books 6-13 in the collection offered by Howard S. Mott, Inc. These all come after Henry's death and pertain to the business dealings of his sons.

BOOK #6. McCLEERY, Andrew (1777-1853), Robert (1788-1840), and William R. McCleery (1794-1848), master builders. Tall folio manuscript ledger, disbound, pp. 80. Georgetown and Frederick, Maryland, 1824-1830.

Partly a business ledger; a travel-log; a record of draft legal documents and agreements, especially concerning the leasing of tavern properties in Georgetown for periods of one to three years, with several draft agreements with lessors, covering bake ovens, sheds, stairs, etc.; the business situated on H St., Georgetown, etc.; leases for rooms in Storehouse on the corner of Market Street. Andrew describes a visit: "…Georgetown appeared to look better than on previous visits. They were painting & repairing every thing formerly seemed going to ruin, renting did not seem to be quite so bad. The City improves considerably, but that seemed to fluctuate from one part to another, places that used to be lively quite dull & houses tenantless other parts that had been dull busy & improving….[closing with accounts of banks there]; banking and investment, personal and family information, including: cash accounting ledger, acting as a diary of business activities; travel expenses, wages, rentals, mortgage, fee collection, money-lending, real estate, and auction purchases of land, household goods, clothing, shoes and on several occasions, books, with titles given, and other material, such as considerable tinware, with prices paid. Charitable contributions include Robert Wait at College Hill, DC (eventual co-founder of Wake Institute, which later became Wake Forest University).

Mountain land; vast quantities of wood delivered to McCleery by Frederick Kleinhart; land called "Puzzlesome Corrected."

At the back, in ledger form, is a record of banking at various named institutions during 1823. They include Hagerstown Bank; Bank of Westminster; Bank of Columbia; and Frederick County Bank, giving a good account of the family's financials. Also in the same section are drafts, or copies of legal documents, for deposits made on the Baltimore branch of the Bank of the United States.

One full page, November 2, 1827 to April 19, 1828 is devoted to "Negro Bob." "Negro Bob commenced work at $6 per Month…Novb. 29. Bob lost one day only cut a little wood. 30th. Bob lost one day did nothing at all got his shoes mended. Dec. 17th. Bob lost ½ day did nothing at all said he wanted to get his shoes mended…Feb 7th. Lost one day says he will work in the holiday to make up," etc.

​Entries from July 29 to September 9, 1825, comprise four (4) full pages of a ca. 300-word "Journal of Expenses to New York & Saratoga [and return]," enumerating running totals for a round trip costing $68.97. Steamboats, ferries; lodging at taverns, with their owner's names; crackers; cakes and beer; toll bridges; barbering (several times); "segars;" oysters; "Museum" in Philadelphia; "three glasses lemonade cream of tartar;" "hats for boys;" Sunday, August 10th "Three times at Presbyterian Church; six hymn books; washing; cantaloupes; apples; tobacco; music, etc., etc. A simple entry for Tuesday, August 25th: "William left Saratoga for the West." "William" would be Andrew's brother, who left for Brookville, Indiana, to help their sister, Mary McCleery Knight (1779-1820) build a tavern after her husband died. William didn't return to Frederick, instead he got married in Brookville, and resided there.

BOOK #7. McCLEERY, Andrew (1777-1853) and Robert (1788-1840), master builders. Manuscript ledger for the year 1830. Tall folio, original drab flexible boards, pp. 73, including 3-page Index, with a copious number of names; [leaves 12-19, half of 22, 23-25 & 27 excised]. Frederick, Maryland, 1830.

One hundred and fifty-five entries in the Index, including 12 who are termed "colour'd man," with their names, one of whom was "Romia (Mr. Taney's man),"-Taney didn't own slaves; and two who are termed "colour'd woman." November 22nd, the 23rd and 27th lists charges to William Ogden Niles, printer of the Frederick Town Herald—"Mr. Niles (printer). To putting up a press…To 216 nails for ditto. To making a cherry frame for a roler (sic) for press. To making a box of pigeon holes, carried to book 1831 page 7" [where it is to be found; see ledger #8]. Quantites of hay, molasses, candles, planks, cords of wood sold; rent of Stone House to a number of named Germans; carpentry work, etc.

BOOK #8. McCLEERY, Andrew and Robert, master builders. Manuscript ledger for the year 1831. Tall folio, original drab flexible boards, pp. 120 [5 preliminary leaves excised, as well as leaves 12, 54 & 60]. Frederick, Maryland, 1831.

Builds a coffin for the famous tavern owner, Catherine Kimball; "Mr. Niles' paper the [Frederick Town] Herald commenced the 11th day of Octr. 1830 when [printer] Mr. J. P. Thompson transferred;" John P. Thompson, "the richest printer in Frederick County, was president of the Frederick County Bank."-John Thomas Scharf, The History of Western Maryland: Being a History of Frederick…(1968 edition), p. 537. "June 24th-Friday (Markly (sic) hung to-day)." John Markley murdered, December 29 and 30, 1830, six persons, including two children. Lists many rents to Germans; sales of planks, straw, manure, molasses, carpentry work done; house construction for John P. Thompson, printer, Director, with Roger B. Taney, of The Frederick National County Bank, then it's president in 1833; Negro hire; construction for the Farmers & Mechanics Bank of Frederick; May 26th "Little Black Boy came to work on Monday (Milly Brown's son)…"; bank certificate with sketches; etc.

At the end are seven pages of closely written recipes (several thousand words) for varnish, black varnish, making a drier for painting, to destroy insects in trees, to make punkin oil, polishing furniture, strengthen vinegar, to distill tar, make cement for rock-work, wood cement for coppersmiths, cement for glass-grinders, crop planting ideas, construction and craft techniques; the last two leaves with six examples of decorative scroll work; the last leaf with "Memorandum of Books Lent," etc., etc., etc.

BOOK #9. McCLEERY, Andrew and Robert, master builders. Manuscript ledger for the years 1833-1840. Tall folio, original drab flexible boards, pp. 80. Frederick, Maryland, 1833-1840. Kept over several a period of years as a memorandum/diary.

Many workers mentioned with first names only, presumably Negroes; i.e. ploughing gardens, hauling quantities of manure and hay "to turnpike;" legal contract to buy Capt. Henry Steiner's land called "Tasker's Chance" (now a neighborhood of Frederick City); a copy of a letter threatening Robert McCleery's "own personal welfare" if he does not "discontinue the Protestant [an unrecorded periodical] and ease corrupting the Public mind…P. S. You are an old offender. The Church has therefore marked you on the blacklist…;" "Mr. Schultz had about 20 hands in Mrs. Steiners lot", presumably colored laborers; eviction notices, which is a recurring theme; land surveys; real estate sales; legal notices; indentures; rent figures; sketches of plot plans; sawing rail cuts, hauling wood turnpike lots; land kiln construction in 1840. At the end are eight pages recording cash, checks and bank dividends received, including $203.00 from Wm. B. Tyler "for negro girl."

BOOK #10. McCLEERY, Andrew, master builder. Manuscript ledger for the year 1836. Tall folio, original drab flexible boards, pp. 160. Frederick, Maryland, 1836. Lists of complex carpentry jobs, prices, etc., about 40pp. counted loose at rear. Condition: Binding rough, contents foxed and stained, but legible; some leaves excised.

BOOK #11. McCLEERY, Andrew, master builder. Manuscript of building plans. Tall folio, 9 pp. laid into original drab flexible boards (worn). With 7 full-page drawings, and full page of figures for stone work, brick work, second floor, roof, girders, window and door frames. Frederick, Maryland, undated; early 19th century.

BOOK #12. McCLEERY, Benjamin Beall (1822-1887). Signed Education Manuscript by Henry McCleery's 18-year-old grandson, signed on front cover: "Ledger Dec. 10th 1840. Perry B[eall] McCleery," and again on verso: "Perry Beall McCleery/Frederick City, Dec. 10th/1840." Tall folio, original pictorial illustrated green printed flexible boards, stereotyped by L. Johnson, Philadelphia, approx. 100 pp. Frederick, Maryland, 1840.

Perry Beall McCleery (1822-1887), cashier of the Frederick County National Bank, built a fashionable house in Frederick between 1876 and 1878 which is listed on the National Register. Here are McCleery's youthful educational exercises, covering mathematics, penmanship, accounting; rules for keeping ledgers and journals, examples of poetry, recipes, home preserving, farm planting instructions, etc, using examples from 1805-1820s.

BOOK #13. McCLEERY FAMILY. Circa 1830s ledger completely repurposed as a mid to late 19th century scrapbook filled with newspaper cuttings, and a few pieces of insignificant ephemera. Bound in leather-backed boards (worn). 84478 ABAA-VBF