— [Oxon Hill Farm] —
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Panel 1:]
The DeButts Family Comes to Maryland Samuel DeButts was born in Ireland in 1756. He began a career as a doctor in England and there met and married his wife, Mary Welby, in 1785. Samuel's medical practice was difficult, unprofitable, and kept the couple apart for weeks at a time. Like hundreds of thousands of other European families, Samuel and Mary DeButts decided to immigrate to the United States.
They arrived with their two children, Richard and Mary Ann, in 1791. They lived in Baltimore, then Washington County, and for a time with Samuel's brother, John, in St. Mary's County. Mary gave birth to their third child, John Henry, in the United States.
Samuel and Mary had inherited some wealth and land from their families. In the early 1800s, Samuel decided to add to his income by farming on this land while practicing medicine in Washington, D.C. With this comfortable house and productive farm overlooking the Potomac River, the DeButts family established itself in the society of well-to-do families of the Chesapeake.
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Portraits of:] Samuel and Mary DeButts DeButts, 1805.
(Charles Saint Memin, who engraved these portraits, also engraved the likenesses of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.)
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Map of the Chesapeake region with locations of the DeButts Family's homesteads highlighted:]
Baltimore c.1791-1794
Washington County c. 1795-1810
Washington, D.C./Mount Welby 1811-1843
Trent Hall (Home of John DeButts)
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Panel 2:]
Mount WelbyDr. Samuel DeButts, his wife, Mary Welby DeButt, and their three children lived here in the early 1800s. The house and the property were both known as 'Mount Welby' then, in honor of her family.
The basic design of the house is the same as it was nearly two hundred years ago, but many of the details have changed. The drawing at the
right shows how the house likely looked in the DeButts' time.
The grounds still have a few features that might have survived from the time of the DeButts family. Some of the boxwoods that surround the hexagonal building behind you could be 200 years old.
Pieces of the history of Mount Welby and the DeButts family remain to be discovered. One document mentions a family graveyard somewhere on the farm. The grave site is unknown.
Caution: It is unlawful to dig on National Park Service land.
The grounds still have a few features that might have survived from the time of the DeButts family. Some of the boxwoods that surround the hexagonal building behind you could be 200 years old.
Pieces of the history of Mount Welby and the DeButts family remain to be discovered. One document mentions a family graveyard somewhere on the farm. The grave site is unknown.
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Illustration captions:]
Mount Welby was designed in the Georgian style with a central hallway on both floors, flanked by rooms on each side.
If you look closely at the house, you can see that the bricks in the walls show two different patterns. On the north, south and west walls, bricks in the lower sections are laid in a Flemish bond pattern. Most likely, these are the oldest parts of the house. The entire east wall and the upper sections of the other three are laid in a pattern called common bond. No one knows for certain why the walls were rebuilt, but a fire is one possibility.
[Background drawing:] Artist's conception of Mount Welby, early 1800s,
by Barbara S. Mogel.
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