Lloyd papers

The Lloyd family settled in Maryland in the 17th century when Edward Lloyd I (c. 1650–c. 1695) came to America and built the first Wye House on the Wye River. He married Alice Crouch and they had a son in 1646 named Philemon I (1646–1685). In 1668 Edward Lloyd I returned to London and left his Maryland assets to Philemon I, who married Henrietta Maria Bennett. Their eldest son was Edward Lloyd II (1670–1718) who inherited the Lloyd fortune and married Sarah Covington.

The third son of Edward Lloyd I was Edward Lloyd III (1711–1770) who was known as the Councillor. After Edward Lloyd II died, Sarah Covington remarried James Hollyday, who taught Edward Lloyd III about legal matters. He was a delegate to the lower house of the General Assembly, appointed to the Governor’s Council and held a seat in the Upper House. The French and Indian War, the Maryland–Pennsylvania boundary dispute and the implementation of the Stamp Act were all occurring at the same time he was pursuing his political career. As a result he held the unenviable positions of representing the Lord Proprietary and being the Receiver General even though he sympathized with the populace. In 1739 he married Ann Rousby and they had four children.

The eldest son of Edward Lloyd III and Ann Rousby was Edward Lloyd IV (1744–1796). He managed the Lloyd fortune and was active in Maryland politics. From 1771 to 1776 he served in the lower house of the General Assembly. He held a seat on the Assembly’s Executive Council from 1777–1779 and served as a State Senator for the Eastern Shore from 1781–1791. He also served as a delegate to the Congress of the United States in 1783 and 1784. He was one of Talbot County’s representatives at the Constitutional Convention of 1788. During his lifetime Wye House was burned in 1781 and he had it rebuilt during the following years. In 1767 he married Elizabeth Tayloe (1750–1825) of “Mount Airey,” Virginia and they had seven children.

Edward Lloyd V (1779–1834) was the only son of Edward Lloyd IV and Elizabeth Tayloe. At the time of his death he was the wealthiest of the Lloyds of Wye. He was deeply involved in politics and many of his efforts were directed toward reducing suffrage restrictions and reforming the judicial system. He served as a Democratic–Republican delegate to the General Assembly, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, as Senator and was later elected as Governor of Maryland. In addition to his political activities Edward Lloyd V was also active in agriculture. He was the largest wheat grower in Maryland, assisted in the formation of the Farmers’ Bank of Maryland and served on the Board of Directors of its Easton branch. In 1797 he married Sally Scott Murray (1775–1854), the daughter of Dr. James Murray of Annapolis. They had a loving marriage as is evident from the letters that Sally Scott Murray wrote about Edward Lloyd V upon his death. They had seven children and they were also the guardians of James M. Nicholson. Upon her death Sally freed several enslaved persons. Edward Lloyd VI (1798–1861) was the eldest son of Edward Lloyd V and Sally Scott Murray. Instead of receiving a scholarly education as his ancestors did, he received agricultural and plantation management training through an apprenticeship. By receiving that training he was able to handle problems resulting from industrialization, soil exhaustion, cyclical depressions and population fluctuations. While many of his neighbors went bankrupt, Edward Lloyd VI prospered. However, his resources were depleted from bad investments in lands in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi and also by Maryland’s “direct tax.” He served as a Presidential Elector for Martin Van Buren in 1836 and 1840 and in 1850 he was elected to the Maryland Senate. In 1824 he married Alicia McBlair (1806–1838). They had four children and were the guardians of J. Murray and Charles T. Lloyd.

The Lloyds were one of the largest landholders and enslavers on the Eastern Shore. For several generations the family relied on a substantial enslaved workforce to build their fortune by raising livestock and growing tobacco, corn, and wheat. African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass (c. 1817 or 1818–1895) was enslaved on the Wye House plantation for a period during his youth. In his autobiography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" he wrote about the harsh conditions he observed on the plantation.