He was born in the county of Prince George's, in March, 1749. His parentage was highly respectable, his ancestors emi grating from Wales, and he being of the second generation after their settlement in Maryland. Had his days been wholly passed in the enjoyment of peace, his in?uence would not have been lost. He would still have left to his friends the same invaluable legacy of a good name, but it was his fortune to deserve and gain a wider celebrity. He was his father's oldest son, and in the year succeeding his birth, his home was changed to the mouth of the Conococheague Creek, in Frederick, near Washington county. In that beau tiful region of country, watered by the stream that lends its name to the valley, were spent the few short years of his boy hood. There he learned to love the aspect of fields and groves.