Nicholas Gassaway

During our recent travels in April and May of 2026, my wife Nancy was researching her Calvert forebears, a project she hopes eventually to turn into a book. Given that her and my ancestors were closely associated in early colonial Maryland, I found plenty of opportunities to explore my own genealogical heritage, discovering that three of my 9th great grandfathers served in the colonial assembly during the 17th century. One of these was Colonel Nicholas Gassaway, who was born in 1634 and died in 1691 or 92. As noted previously, Gassaway represented Anne Arundel County in what was briefly called the Protestant Associators' Convention from 1689 until his death two years later. This was in the years immediately following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which overthrew the Stuart monarchs in the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. As a Protestant, he was evidently part of the leadership which took over the colony after the Catholic Lords Baltimore had been deprived of their proprietorship.

Baltimore

During our recent mid-Atlantic sojourn, Nancy and I first visited Baltimore, the site of the Maryland Center for History and Culture, formerly known as the Maryland Historical Society, founded in 1844. I was there for only one night and part of one day, as I had to proceed to Alexandria, Virginia, for my board meeting. Our hotel was the century-old Lord Baltimore Hotel, one of whose hallways is graced by portraits of the six Lords Baltimore, the first five of whom are Nancy’s direct ancestors. Here are some photographs I took of the city.

This, of course, is the Lord Baltimore Hotel, which opened for business near the end of 1928. 

Benedict Swingate Calvert (before 1727-1788)

Benedict Swingate Calvert

Benedict Swingate Calvert is my wife's 4th great grandfather and my own generation's 7th cousin 7 times removed. Nancy has done a considerable amount of research into his life and times. What follows reflects this research. During our recent travels, we visited more than one site associated with Benedict, who was born in England, moved to Annapolis as a child, eventually presided over a stately home in Upper Marlboro known as Mt. Airy Mansion, and is buried in St. Thomas Church in Croom, Maryland. Benedict was a common name amongst the Calverts, so this particular Benedict is usually referenced by his second name Swingate to distinguish him from his relatives.

Benedict was fathered by Charles Calvert, the 5th Lord Baltimore sometime before 1727. His gravestone lists his birth year as 1722, although he was likely born several years later. The identity of Benedict's mother is uncertain, although there is more than one theory concerning his maternal parentage, two of which tie him to the reigning house of Hanover in Great Britain.* If one of these connections is proven, it would be remarkable given that the Calverts were largely Jacobites and, a few generations earlier, included the Stuart monarchs themselves. Benedict was a loyalist during the War for Independence, although he was also a personal friend of George Washington, a fact which appears to have protected him and his property from confiscation by Patriots. Benedict's daughter Eleanor, who is buried next to him in St. Thomas Church, married Washington's stepson John Park Custis at Mt. Airy Mansion in 1774, although their marriage sadly ended seven years later with Custis's death.

The Maryland State Houses

During our recent travels, my wife and I revisited Historic St. Mary's City, the first colonial capital of Maryland between 1634 and 1695. We were there for the first time during our honeymoon three decades ago. Since then a lot of work has been done to excavate the archaeological sites and even to rebuild some of the buildings that once stood there. To our delight, our distinguished hosts, Dr. Henry Miller and Ruth Mitchell, treated us as honoured guests and devoted an entire morning to us, guiding us through the most important places that had once served the early English colonists. Nancy and I were most favourably impressed by what is being done to bring Maryland's history alive for a 21st-century public. Indeed, while we were there, we saw a group of school children touring the site. I rather imagine that these constitute a large portion of the visitors.

Mid-Atlantic sojourn

My wife and I have recently returned from a visit to the mid-Atlantic states, where we both had ancestors prominent in their communities during the colonial era. Our travels combined more than one purpose. First, it has been thirty years since we were married, and this trip was something of a second honeymoon. Second, I was participating in the semiannual board meeting of the Center for Public Justice just outside of Washington, DC. And third, my wife, Dr. Nancy Calvert-Koyzis, undertook research in Baltimore and Annapolis, exploring the activities of her ancestors, the Barons of Baltimore, who founded Maryland in 1634. During our travels I discovered previously unknown history of my own ancestors, who, as it turned out, were closely associated with, and possibly opposed to, the Calverts during the late 17th century.

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine

In 1908, John Fox, Jr. (1862-1919), wrote his best-selling book, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, a romance novel set in the Appalachian region amid two fictional feuding families, the Tollivers and the Falins. Outsider John Hale wants to transform the area by mining the coal and bringing prosperity to the community and to himself, but he finds himself falling for the young and lovely June Tolliver, complicating his ambitions. 

Fox was born in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where Nelson and Lucy Jane Hyder and family were living at the time the book was published. During our honeymoon, my wife and I visited John Fox's house, which is now a museum. We also attended a stage version of the novel performed at the Barbara Polly Theater in Big Stone Gap.

In 1913 Harry Carroll (1892-1962) and Ballard MacDonald (1882-1935) wrote a popular song based on the novel. It was sung in the recording posted below by Albert Campbell (1872-1947) and Henry Burr (1882-1941). Although the novel was set in Kentucky, the song brings the action to "The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia," located somewhat to the east of Big Stone Gap. The girl's name is June in the song. June was also the name of one of Nelson and Lucy Jane's younger daughters (1916-2001), who was born in Michigan on the first day of June.

The Beans of Tennessee, Virginia, and Scotland

Russell Bean's headstone

My generation's 2nd great-grandmother, Mary Hyder Shepherd (1844-1925), was the daughter of Jacob Hyder (1814-1881) and Elizabeth Bean (1812-before 1868). We know rather a lot about her Hyder ancestors going back to the American War of Independence and to 16th-century Germany.

Mary's mother's family has origins extending back to the first European settlements of Tennessee and before that to 17th-century Inverness, Scotland. Elizabeth's father was named William Russell Bean, or Russell Bean (1769-1829), and her mother was Rosamond Robertson (1770-1850), reputed to be "the first white child born in Tennessee."

Sam Jack Hyder (1892-1970)

I recently corresponded online with someone I've known for slightly more than twenty years. He lives in Carter County, Tennessee, where our Hyder ancestors took up residence sometime after arriving in America. I mentioned that my forebears had come from there, and he told me that Milligan University, formerly Milligan College, located near Johnson City, has a Hyder Auditorium and a Hyder House. Figuring that these were likely named for a distant cousin, I did a little research and learned that a Professor Sam Jack Hyder (1892-1970) taught mathematics at Milligan and appears to have made a singular impact on the university, which not only named two campus sites for him, but also issues an award in his name to faculty. Sam and his wife, Mary Ellen Thomas Hyder (1892-1984) are pictured here in 1915.

Using Find a Grave for reference, I discovered that Sam's parents were Nathaniel Henry Hyder (1847-1935) and Mary Isabell Williams Hyder (1851-1921). Nathaniel's parents were Samuel Washington Hyder (1817-1897) and Lavicia Elizabeth Edens Hyder (1824-1870). Samuel's parents were Michael Hyder II (1767-1861) and Sarah Eisenberg Zimmerman Hyder (1780-1865), from whom our line of the family is also descended. Michael's father was also named Michael and fought in the War for Independence. His parents, Hans Michael Hyder and Katherine Chasteen Hyder sailed from Germany to America by way of Rotterdam and Philadelphia in 1729. This makes Sam my second cousin three times removed.

Incidentally, Milligan University is a Christian university in the Restorationist (Stone-Campbell) tradition of the Christian Churches, Disciples of Christ, and the Churches of Christ. Sam's great-uncle Jacob Hyder (1814-1881), my third great-grandfather, was a trustee of the Union Church of Christ, located in nearby Washington County, in 1876. That two members of the extended Hyder family were associated with the Churches of Christ suggests that others might have been as well, but I've not found concrete evidence of this.