Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Samuel A. Chew (b. circa ? - d. 1843)
MSA SC 5496-002923
Property Owner on Kent Island, Queen Anne's County, Maryland

Biography:

Samuel A. Chew was the son of Samuel Lloyd Chew, who owned land in Queen Anne's, Calvert, and Washington counties.1 His siblings included Bennett (d. circa 1800) and Elizabeth.2 Chew's father died around 1797, and in 1814, he sold over 600 acres of land, Chew's Farm, near Williamsport in Washington County.3 He married Elizabeth Lowman in that county in 1821, and they had at least one child, a son named Lowman.4

Around 1825, Chew inherited the northern half of Kent Fort Manor, the family estate on the southern part of Kent Island in Queen Anne's County.5 The Manor took its name as the former site of William Claiborne's fort. In 1830, Chew sold 461 acres of Kent Fort Manor to Thomas Murphy.

In 1834, the slave Pere Johns escaped from Chew's farm in Queen Anne's County.6 Chew still owned eight slaves in 1840, and records show that other people with the last name of Johns were enslaved by Chew.7 For example, from April 1st through April 10th, 1841, Chew left the slaves Charles Johns and William Johns in the Baltimore City Jail for "safekeeping."8

In 1840, Chew sold another 244 acres to his neighbor, James Bright Jr.9 He bequeathed his remaining holdings of Kent Fort Manor to Lowman Chew.10 Samuel D. Chew died sometime before December 18, 1843.11 The inventory of his estate listed six slaves: Betty, age fifty; Maria, age twenty; Jane, age eighteen; George, age sixteen; James, age seven; and Thomas, age three. The Administrative Accounts noted that James had passed away by December 23, 1843.12

In 1858, his estate's trustees sold Kent Fort Manor to Charles Stewart, who paid nearly $11,000 for its four hundred acres.13 Chew's only heir, his son Lowman, died childless and intestate in 1862.14  J.G. Stong's 1866 map of Kent Island showed Kent Fort Manor, labeled as the residence of Charles Stewart.15
 

1.     QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Wills, Original) Liber SC 7, Folio 26 [MSA C1496-5]. Samuel Chew, July 29, 1786.
1.     Joseph Daniel Sullivan, Selected Cases on Real Property (Chicago, IL: Callahan & Company, 1921) 765.

2.     Stephen K. Williams. Reports of Cases Argued and Decided in the Supreme Court of the United States. Book 18 (Newark, NY: The Lawyers' Co-operative Publishing Company, 1884) 654.

3.     WASHINGTON COUNTY COURT (Land Records, Original) Liber Z, Folio 304 [MSA CE 67-21]. Samuel A. Chew to Elie Beatty, January 13, 1814.

4.     WASHINGTON COUNTY COURT (Marriage Licenses) [MSA C1965-1]. Samuel A. Chew and Elizabeth Lowman, November 28, 1821.
4.     Sullivan 765.

5.     Williams 656.

6.     "200 Reward." Centerville Times 14 June 1834.

7.     U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record) for Saml A. Chew, 1840, Queen Anne's County, District 4, Page 120, 5th from bottom [MSA SM61-115, SCM 4723-2].

8.     BALTIMORE CITY JAIL (Accommodation Docket) MSA C2072-1. Slaves: William Johns and Charles Johns. Slaveholder: Samuel A. Chase. April 1 through 10, 1841.
8.     Joseph Daniel Sullivan, Selected Cases on Real Property (Chicago, IL: Callahan & Company, 1921) 765.

9.     QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY COURT (Land Records) Liber TM 5, Folio 363 [MSA CE 143-35]. Samuel A. Chew to Thomas Murphy,March 6, 1830.
9.     QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY COURT (Land Records) Liber JT 3, Folio 18 [MSA CE 143-39]. Samuel A. Chew to James Bright Jr., January 4, 1840.
9.     Bernard C. Steiner, "Kent Fort Manor," Maryland Historical Magazine 6.3 (1911): 255.

10.   Sullivan 765.
10.   Steiner 255.

11.   QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Inventories) Liber LR 1, Folii 65 and 123, [MSA C1412-33]. Estate of Samuel A. Chew, December 18, 1843.

12.   QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Administration Accounts) Liber LR 1, Folio 120 [MSA C1335-19] Chew Schnebly, administrator of Samuel A. Chew, December 23, 1843.

13.   QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records) 1856-1858, Liber JP 3, Folio 444 [MSA CE 58-3]. John M. Robinson, Trustee of Lowman Chew's Estate, to Mary Ellen Ringgold, March 1, 1872.

14.   Sullivan 765.
14.   Steiner 255.

15.   Queen Anne's County District 4, J. G. Stong's Map of Queen Anne's County, 1866 [MSA SC 5080-1], Courtesy of the Queen Anne's County Historical Society.
 

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