Ellicott Family Graveyard

Adjacent to New Elkridge Meeting House Cemetery
Ellicott Mills, Howard Co., MD

Maryland Historical Society Sign: Friends Meeting House And Graveyard

After founding the town of Ellicott Mills in 1772, the Ellicott brothers established this burying ground in 1795 and built the adjacent meeting house in 1800

Directions: Turn onto steep driveway located at 3771 Old Columbia Pike in Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland. Dimensions: about 50' x 50' square. Site's Overall Condition: Good (B). Most stones in fine condition, though a few are hard to read because of erosion. Well-maintained lawn and pretty well organized.

Appearance: single space, enclosed on four sides by stone walls. There is a front black iron gate with a message on the front. Read the sign before entering. Two entrances; one way is to pull up private drive (of the Historic New Elkridge Meeting House, park on pavement near two stones. There is one other way; not sure exactly how to get there, but there's an alleyway type drive-there is room to park. To enter the cemetery; you can go through the gates or you can go to corner of adjacent cemetery and walk on plywood set up as bridge to scale corner of wall.

The sign on the front gate indicated the cemetery's name as "Ellicott Graveyard", though not sure if this is the official name. It explains this is a historic Quaker graveyard. The cemetery is set up in four sections … four stones in the center facing the corners (northeast, southeast, northwest, and southwest), signifying a different individual in the Ellicott family's section. Because of this, I will be dividing the listing by each section. Note there is a mid-section as well which list some of the founding family members, but I've included them in Section 1.

While I was transcribing Section 2, I was working on a double grave for Harry and Charlotte Hoffman. A man came through the gates and explained he was Harry Hoffman, III, I was transcribing his parents. He explained he takes care of the site and has information on this cemetery. I received this extensive information on 7/25/02. He also included plot information through March 1, 2002, which I in turn incorporated into the graveyard listing (the discrepancies are listed).

History of Ellicott City

In 1772, three Quaker brothers from Bucks County, Pennsylvania chose the picturesque wilderness up river from Elk Ridge Landing to establish a flour mill. John, Andrew and Joseph Ellicott founded Ellicott City which became one of the greatest milling and manufacturing towns in the East.

The Ellicott brothers helped revolutionize the area farming. They persuaded farmers to plant wheat instead of tobacco and introduced fertilizer to revitalize the depleted soil. Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was an early influential convert from tobacco to wheat.

The Ellicotts made significant contributions to the area and the era. They built roads, bridges and a wharf in Baltimore, introduced the wagon brake and plaster as a fertilizer, erected iron works, a furnace, rolling mills, schools, a meeting house, stores and houses made from beautiful granite.

In 1791, Andrew Ellicott was commissioned to survey the boundaries for the nation's new capital, Washington, DC. He was joined by a free black man and family friend named Benjamin Banneker. Banneker worked closely with the city designer, L'Enfant. When the Frenchman abandoned the project and returned home, Banneker was able to recreate the designer's plans from memory.

By 1861, Ellicott's Mills was a prosperous farming and manufacturing area, one of the greatest milling and manufacturing towns in the east. In 1867, a city charter was secured and the name was changed to Ellicott City. The only chartered city in the county, Ellicott City lost its charter in 1935 and was designated an historic district by the county in 1973 and today serves as the county seat.

Howard County was very active during the Civil War. The B&O Railroad and the National Road, which ran through the middle of Ellicott City, transported goods for both sides! The railroad and its bridges became prime targets of the Confederate Army. A contingent of Union soldiers were strategically stationed in the Elkridge area to guard the Thomas Viaduct.