Henry Hollyday (219)

Henry Hollyday (9 March 1725–11 November 1789) was a public officeholder, slave holder, and businessman, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born in Talbot County, Maryland, Hollyday spent almost all his years living on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. At fourteen, he traveled to Philadelphia to apprentice at William Allen’s counting house, but once he returned, he called Maryland home for the remainder of his life. Hollyday’s family’s status helped secure him public office positions beginning with an appointment as Maryland’s Deputy Navy Officer, Deputy Collector, and Deputy Receiver of Seamen’s Wages of Oxford’s port in 1746. He continued to secure new positions that steadily increased his income, especially his appointment in 1747 as Sheriff of Queen Anne’s County (a position previously held by his brother). By 1752 he was the Commissary General for Talbot County. Hollyday’s fortune rose exponentially with the inheritance of his patrimony after the death of his mother in 1755. With these funds he paid for the construction of a new estate and plantation, Ratcliffe Manor, near Easton, MD. Once established there he increased his enslaved labor pool and began his agricultural business in earnest. Over the next twenty years he watched over business operations and performed the socially expected duties for family, church and government, including sitting on the Assembly in 1765-66. His tenure as a public officeholder, however, came to an end during the American Revolution when he refused to swear allegiance to the new government. Though not a Tory, legislative retribution arrived all the same in the form of heavy taxation that brought the unfamiliar spectre of financial stress. He and his fortune weathered the storm quite well enough: upon his death, he owned some 3,119 acres, counted 131 enslaved men, women, and children at Ratcliffe Manor, while his personal property was valued at £18,431. (PI)