JOHN HARRISON SURRATT’S ANCESTORS
The Surratts were early settlers in Maryland, but where they came from and when they came is
uncertain. Variants of the name appear in France today, and it is generally assumed that the
family originated in the area of France which lies close to the Spanish border.
Early records indicate that Surratts were apparently living in the Mattapony Hundred of Calvert
County, Maryland, when that portion was taken to form part of the new Prince George’s County
when it was created in 1696. That area today lies in southern Prince George’s County near an
area referred to as “Horsehead,” near Baden. Joseph Surratt, the great-great-grandfather of the
man who built that would become Surratt House Museum, died in the Mattapony Hundred about
the first of February of 1715. The inventory of his effects indicates that he made a scratchy living
as a farmer. Aside from the usual household items and a few farm animals, he left 517 pounds of
tobacco and “13 barrells of Indean Corne.”
His son, Joseph Surratt, owned some fifty acres of land known as “Thomas Inheritance,” which
straddled the county line between Prince George’s and Charles Counties, just off the old
Horsehead Road leading from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church south into Charles County. He is
listed in 1733 as “taxable” in Mattapony Hundred. He and his wife, Mary, subsequently deeded
this land over to their son, Alphonsus Surratt, on March 10, 1767....
In late 1784 or early 1785, Alphonsus Surratt and his wife, Ann, moved their family up-country
and settled on Oxon Run in what was then Oxon Hundred. It is believed that they came to work
the Neale family estate, “Foxhall,” and, perhaps, to operate the grist mill on Oxon Run....The
Surratts and Neales may be have been kin....
The Surratts were in Oxon Hundred when the 1790 census of Prince George's County was
taken. “Francis” (i.e., Alphonsus) was listed as the head of the household with a wife, seven boys,
and one girl. In fact, he was the only adult male Surratt listed in the entire state of Maryland.
When the 1800 census was taken, however, Ann Surratt was listed as the head of the
household, so Alphonsus must have died before 1800. Ann and her children, all listed as under
20 years of age, are listed as living next to Sarah Neil (Neale).
After Alphonsus died, the family apparently came upon hard times. The boys decided to sell off
the old Surratt place below Horsehead to a neighbor, Caleb Thomas. Four of the Surratt boys,
Josiah, Dickerson, Nathaniel, and John made a deed for it on March 10, 1803, and received
$226. A second deed to this property was made on January 8, 1810, and signed by Henry B. and
Samuel Surratt. Mr. Thomas paid them 28 pounds, 5 shillings, “Maryland money.” The mother,
Ann Surratt, is not mentioned in either of these transactions, nor the seventh son, whose name
we do not know.
In 1814, at least three of the Surratt boys were still in the Washington area. Nathaniel, John,
and Samuel are recorded as having served in the War of 1812--Nathaniel and John with
Maryland units, and Samuel in a District of Columbia unit.
An extensive search of marriage records from 1700 to 1840 and on has been made. The oddity
is that only two Surratt marriages listed before 1840 have been found: a girl, Susanna Surratt,
married Henry Dickinson about 1720 (per an old church record); and Sarah Surratt, daughter of
Alphonsus and Ann Surratt, was married to Richard Banks in the District of Columbia on May 30,
1813. Descendants of the Banks-Surratt marriage have not been found. Keep this scanty record
of marriages in mind; it is an oddity that will turn into something of a mystery a bit later.
After the War of 1812, somewhere between 1815 and 1820, the Surratts pulled up stakes and
left the area. Apparently they went west by the usual route in those days--across to the Ohio
River and down it. Samuel Surratt dropped off at Washington, Pennsylvania, where he ran a
public house. On March 9, 1819, he married Miss Isabella Huston.... Samuel died in Washington,
Pennsylvania, on December 17, 1829, at the age of 51. His granddaughter, Bell Seaman, would
later conduct a lively correspondence with her distant cousins, Anna and John Surratt, during the
1860s. In December of 1863, Anna visited the family of Joseph Surratt (a son of Samuel) at
Steubenville, Ohio. Anna's grandfather Surratt (whose name is unknown to us) and Samuel
Surratt of Washington, Pennsylvania, were brothers.
There is further evidence of later Surratts. Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Surratt once told Army
investigators that one of her husband's relatives was a captain in the Confederate army. Her son,
John, in writing to cousin Bell Seamon on August 1, 1864, asked, “Have you heard anything of
the Rebel Captain? I have not heard from him in some time.” It is difficult to identify this “Rebel
Captain” with certainty, but he could have been Capt. Malkijah Surratt, 2nd Regt., Miss. Vols.,
who lived in Tishomingo County, Mississippi. So far as can be found, he was the only Captain
Surratt in the whole Confederate army. It is reasonably certain that one of the Surratt boys settled
in Tennessee and another in Illinois. Today, the name Surratt can be found in North Carolina,
Texas, California, and other states.
The point is, not one of the seven sons of Alphonsus and Ann Surratt was left in Prince George's
County or the District of Columbia when the 1820 census was taken. But there was one Surratt
left--a boy of about 7 years old--named John Harrison Surratt. About this little boy there is a
mystery.
Most of the Neale estate, “Foxhall,” where the Surratts had worked after they moved from the
Horsehead area, had come into the control of Richard Neale, who was born about 1770-1772.
He was a bachelor and, belatedly, looked upon woman and found her fair! On June 10, 1813,
when he was over 40, he took a bride at Christ Episocpal Church, Washington. She was the
daughter of a neighbor out on Oxon Run, Sarah Talbot, aged 21. When the 1820 census of
Prince George's County was taken, this couple had a little boy with them, listed as under 10.
They raised this boy and ultimately gave him everything they owned. The boy was John Harrison
Surratt. Based on the census returns of 1850 and 1860, John H. Surratt was born early in 1813.
All of the Surratts were gone from the area. How did it happen that they left behind a small boy?
Clearly this boy's grandafther was Alphonsus Surratt and his grandmother was Ann Surratt. But
who were his parents? No Surratt boy is listed as being married in the District of Columbia after
the District started keeping records in 1811. The excellent records in Prince George's County,
going further back, do not show such a marriage. There are several possible answers.
- The marriage was in the District of Columbia before 1811 and no church record has been
found.
- The marriage was in some jurisdiction other than the District of Columbia or Prince George's
County (such as Charles County, or in nearby Virigina) and no record was found.
- The parents were not married.
The most logical explanation is that the marriage was in the District of Columbia before 1811 and
that no church record survived. It could be speculated (admittedly with no grounds for doing so)
that Sarah Talbot was John H. Surratt’s REAL mother. The question remains a mystery. Who
were John Harrison Surratt’s parents?
This informaton is derived from “The Story of Mrs. Mary Surratt: A Lecture Delivered Before the Docents of the Surratt House,” August 1977. Return to The Surratt Family Tree.
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