What's in a Name? Atholton

Atholton was named after the post office serving the area (1897-1919) which was likely named for the Athol mansion along the Columbia Pike (Route 29) which was built between 1732 and 1740 as the rectory for Rev. James MacGill (1701-1779). Rev. MacGill was the first minister for Queen Caroline Parish’s Christ Church currently along Oakland Mills Road.  Athol was a prominent area in Scotland near the ancestral home of James MacGill.1,2

Atholton Schools

We hope to learn when the name of Atholton was first used for the area’s schools, but an early School Board record in 1925 (September 5th minutes) refers to the Atholton School (No.7 in District 6) which would have been on the east side of Route 29.  A School Board record from November 1, 1931 refers to “the colored school at Atholton” but no location is given.  Atholton High School was named in 1965 as a replacement for the Harriet Tubman High School.3 Atholton was the original name planned for Harriet Tubman High School in 1949 until the community and its students protested for it to be named the Harriet Tubman High School.4

The area called Atholton was originally named Simpsonville which had its own post-office, on and off, since 1851.5 The name Atholton appeared on the 1907 topographic map along old Guilford Road and the Columbia Turnpike in between Simpsonville and Guilford.6 Atholton received its own post office in 1897 which operated for 3 years and then reopened from 1903 until 1919. 5 Atholton was a named used in the Baltimore Sun starting around August 1898 in both advertisements7 and news articles8.

Atholton Elementary School (1961) is within the land patented as Athol, but Atholton High School (1966) is within Worthington’s Improvement, as was the Atholton Colored School and Harriet Tubman High School.9

Was there slavery on this land?

Rev. James MacGill had a plantation on Athol Enlarged along with about 14 slaves.10 In the 1798 census Athol Enlarged was owned by Rev. James MacGill’s children: Mary, Caroline, Anne and Patrick MacGill.12 Mary enslaved 5 people, Caroline and Anne enslaved 16 people, and Patrick McGill enslaved one.  Based on these records Atholton appears to have been named after a slave plantation as were most Howard County mansions still in existence today. The history and context of the public space names should be made known to show a much richer history of Howard County than we have been shown so far.

Sources

1 1948 by John McGill, The Macgill-McGill Family of Maryland. Source: http://wvancestry.com/ReferenceMaterial/Files/The_MacGill_-_McGill_Family_of_Maryland.pdf

2 Athol – Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties. https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Howard/HO-37.pdf

3 HoCo School Board Minutes. August 10, 1965. p94. https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/hcpssmd/Board.nsf/Public 

4 HoCo School Board Minutes. May 3, 1949. p47. https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/hcpssmd/Board.nsf/Public 

5 Checklist of Maryland Post Offices (2007, by Gordon Katz, formerly on the Smithsonian Postal Museum Website).  https://web.archive.org/web/20130815015051/http://postalmuseum.si.edu/statepostalhistory/Maryland_Post_Offices.pdf

6 1907 Laurel Quadrangle, Maryland. Topography State of Maryland. US Topographic Map, Department of the Interior, State of Maryland Geological Survey. Edition of August 1907.

7 August 6, 1898 Baltimore Sun, page 3. Advertisement for Borders in Atholton.

8 August 27, 1898 Baltimore Sun, page 9. “A Majestic Poplar”.

9Jody Frey. 2017. Updated 2021. Tracing the Settlement of Howard County, MD. Google Earth Maps of the Original Land Patents made using the kml files for Howard County Land Patents at https://jsfecmd.info/FREAK/HoCoFiles.html 

10 October 25, 1779.  Last Will and Testament of Rev. James MacGill.  "Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999, "images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TGB-9NXY?cc=1803986&wc=SNYW-VZC%3A146534401%2C147006901 : 20 May 2014), Anne Arundel > Wills 1817-1828 vol 39 > image 4 of 203; Hall of Records, Annapolis.

11 1798 Federal Direct Tax Anne Arundel County. Maryland State Archives. http://aomol.msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000729/html/index.html