About
Eliza Marlow

The Eliza Marlow Connection with the Guilford Quarry Cemetery

The first headstone we found in 2018 belonged to Eliza Marlow. We found a record for her in MacKenzie’s 1917 Colonial Families of the United States of America (Volume 6) that confirmed Eliza’s birth and death dates that appeared on the headstone (June 28, 1802 to September 18, 1838).  Eliza Marlow was born Eliza Isaac and  in December 1821 married John Carroll from the Guilford area. John and Eliza Carroll had two children (mentioned in John’s 1829 will) – William Henry and Charles before John Carroll died in December 1829. 

At the time of John's death, they lived on the northeast corner of Wincopin Neck on property owned by John G. Proud (see below) with their two children - William Henry and Charles. This property was within an easy walk of the Guilford  Quarry cemetery.  According to an 1830 census, Eliza was living with her two sons both under the age of 5 and a woman between 15 and 20 who was possibly her sister.  She also had two enslaved girls listed in the household.  

On February 18th, 1832, Eliza Carroll remarried to Benjamin Marlow about 2 years after the death of her first husband.  They had two children before she died – George W. Marlow (b. 1833), and Sarah Ellen Marlow (b.1835).

Eliza's Brothers - an Ellicott City Connection

Eliza's brothers, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Zedekiah Moore, and William Andrew Jackson lived in Ellicott City most of their lives. William Andrew Jackson Isaac went mostly by AJ or A. Jackson and became a granite quarrier in Ellicott City. Zedekiah was a stone mason and George was a blacksmith. Their oldest brother, Thomas, was a carpenter like their father and lived in Ellicott City.  He also owned the land that the famous Thomas Isaac log cabin would be built on. They all lived in Ellicott City and owned various amount of land there.

In the 1860 census, Thomas was 55 and listed as a carpenter living with his wife Maria and a Maria J. Jordan who was 11 years old.   Thomas died on June 27, 1887. 

John Carroll's Will

According to his gravestone, Eliza's first husband John died on December 9, 1829. In his will dated December 10, 1829 (he may have died before the will was formalized) he noted the following:

• ask that his "negro man Thomas shall be sold at the discretion of the Executor"...and use that money to pay off any debts. 

• "I will, devise and bequeath unto my beloved wife Eliza Carroll for and during her natural life, she to raise & support my two sons William Henry Carroll and Charles Carroll until they arrive at the age of twenty-one years, unless she should think proper to place them out from home at business or to learn trades before they arrive, respectively, at the age of twenty one years,"

• "and at the death of my said wife Eliza Carroll, I give devise and bequeath all of my estate whatsoever kind or nature it may be whether Real, personal or mixed, to be equally divided between my said two sons, William Henry & Charles, share and share alike to them & their heirs forever." 

• "Whereas I purchased the lot or parcel of land whereon I now reside containing two three and three fourths acres of land...of John G. Proud, for a certain sum on condition that there should not be a grocery, or house of public entertainment established on the same, and whereas I have paid him the amount of the purchase money (twenty-five dollars per acre)...it is my will and desire that he should execute a Deed in fee simple for my two sons William Henry Carroll and Charles Carroll, reserving to my wife Eliza Carroll her life estate in the same subject to the above condition."

• "in case of their mother's death, it is my will and desire that my friend William Moore in such case shall appoint a Guardian for them"

This was witnessed by Eliza's brother George Washington Isaac, Elisha Brown of Samuel and Charles G. Worthington.

William Henry and Charles Carroll

When Eliza’s first husband John died in 1829, his will was very clear that he wanted his two sons to get deed to the land they were living on and that Eliza live there and raise their sons, or have his good friend William Moore become their son’s legal guardian. In 1830, William Henry Carroll and Charles Carroll both under 5 according to the 1830 census, received a deed for their property from the land-owner John G. Proud as promised in exchange for blacksmith work done by John.

The question then became what happened to Eliza and their children. Did they move? When she remarried to Benjamin Marlow just two years later where did they live? What happened after Eliza died? Well, we finally have some answers to this mystery thanks to recently discovered headstones on the cemetery.

It seems that Eliza Carroll stayed on the land when she married Benjamin Marlow and raised her two sons along with the two children she had with Benjamin Marlow. The headstone of M.A. Marlow (May 1837-July 1838), their third child who died just two months before Eliza, indicates they lived there when the child died. Another stone with just the initials of MAM visible may also indicate another Marlow stone.

So what happened to John and Eliza’s children after she died? Well, John’s very good friend William Moore kept his promise to find a guardian for the children and submitted a request to the courts the month after Eliza died, which was approved in December 1838, to have their friend and uncle, David Carroll, be their guardian. Not only were John and David brothers, but they grew up together here which is why David’s infant son, Thomas Lemuel Carroll, is buried in the cemetery. If you recall, Dave Carroll was the Baltimore industrialist that started his career as an apprentice at the Savage Factory starting in 1828 (see excerpts about David Carroll from 1873 book "The Monumental City" below).

What about Eliza and Benjamin's son George? 

George, from information in the 1860 census, ended up living in Guilford and working as a farmer. George and his wife Julia were also raising Mary Lowry who was the daughter of quarryman Amon Lowry who died in 1855. Amon Lowry was a partner of Henry Penny and ran the Guilford quarry in 1850 so there much have been an established relationship among the Marlow family and the Lowry and Penny families. Henry Penny sold some Guilford land to George Marlow and in 1870 and George was listed in the census as a stone cutter. We know they had a relationship to the quarry and we will continue researching to learn more.