Click the envelopes above to access the corresponding section of letters you wish to read.   Please leave your comments and questions by clicking the contact button. I am sure to receive the message and get back to you just as soon as I can.

To return to the Delozier Geneology web site, click here.

Historical Archive

The history of how the papers of Otho Holland Williams came to be transcribed is a story in and of itself, but that story sidelines the focus of our interest in them. In short, the papers of General Williams came to the Maryland Historical Society as a gift from his estate. Specificallly, the use of the word “papers” means, in actuality, over 1200 pieces of manuscripts and original letters, as well as calendar correspondence kept by General Williams and his family over a period of time from 1744 to even after his death in 1794. Of the 1200 pieces from this collection, forty-seven (47) include the mention or actual handwritten correspondence of DANIEL DELOZIER. The original papers are now bound on steel shelves in the fireproof section of Maryland Historical Society vaults and were transcribed back in 1939 by a generous initiative by the Committee of Historical Source Materials (a sub-committee of the Maryland Historical Society). The online manuscripts, and all eight parts, may be read in full at the Maryland Historical Society.

Otho Holland Williams: An American Patriot

Who was Otho Holland Williams? Otho Holland Williams was born March 1, 1749 in Prince George’s County, Maryland. When he was eighteen or nineteen years old, he moved himself to Baltimore. But then in 1774, he moved to Frederick and there settled into business.

With the Revolutionary War at hand, he joined Thomas Price of Frederick and banded with a company of riflemen. As Lietenent of this company, they marched all the way to Boston. Soon after their battle there, Price became wounded, promoting Williams to Captain. Then, just as the Declaration of Independence was to be signed, he found himself being “ commissioned as a major in Stephenson's Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment, and in that capacity led his men against Fort Washington on the Hudson in November 1776. There he was wounded by the Hessians and made prisoner.”* While in prison he was again promoted to Colonel of the Sixth Maryland Regiment. In 1778, he was freed from prison, however never recovered physically from the time he spent there. “Sometime after Monmouth, he was transferred to the Southern Department, where General Heratio Gates, commander-in-chief, made him deputy adjutant general. When General Nathanael Greene succeeded Gates, he trusted Williams as Gates had done and made him adjutant general. Williams served efficiently and brilliantly at Guilford Court House, Hobkirk Hill and Eutaw. On May 9, 1782, he was made brigadier general .”* After the fight, Williams returned to Baltimore and “ was appointed by the Governor and Council as naval officer for the Port of Baltimore, a position that was worth at least a thousand guineas to him. At this time he resigned from the army, for he could not be a collector of revenue unless he did so. When the federal government was set up in 1789, the position of naval officer under the state government was abolished, and President Washington appointed Williams as collector of the Port of Baltimore. The office was essentially the same as the naval office, though it carried with it, Williams thought, more work and less money. The collectorship he retained until he died.” *

And we know from historical documentation that our Daniel Delozier was first Deputy Collector at Port Baltimore (1786-1793), later becomming Inspector Surveyor (1793-?Feb. 1794). General Williams' (who was first Naval Officer then became Collector at Port Baltimore) expresses in his letters to and about Delozier, a strong reliance on the abilities and judgements of Delozier. As you read these letters, one can sense the dedicative spirit in which Delozier served and his keen sense to report the issues at hand to his superior, Otho Holland Williams, who travelled extensively.

In addition, “The Otho Holland Williams Papers have a sweep of interest even for one not interested at all in the man whose name they bear. A great many of the letters, especially those from William Smith, member of Congress and Williams' father-in-law, and from Elie Williams, his brother, show the struggles which attended the setting up of the federal government, sometimes in most homely detail. Many of them tell about the controversy over the location of the seat of government and the entirely practical politics played in connection with the assumption of state debts. There are long eye-witness accounts of the battles of Monmouth and Eutaw Springs and Hobkirk Hill. There are a dozen or so letters from the Polish patriot, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, who, besides being a good military engineer, had an eye for the pretty girls and a way of dealing with them. Scattered through the letters are incidents that show, most often unconsciously, how life was lived in Baltimore and in Western Maryland when the largest city in the state had a population of loss than eight thousand and the houses had no numbers on them. They reveal a great deal about the treatment of disease as it was practiced by the best physicians in the country at the end of the eighteenth century. One of Williams' physicians, Dr. Thomas of Frederick, was also his familiar friend, and the letters between them are full of detail. Important for their descriptions of events and characters well known in American history, the Williams papers are even more valuable in showing the career of a man who was a gentleman, business man and soldier. Even in an era that saw George Washington, Otho Holland Williams was a notable man.”*

Names Emerge

And it is from these manuscripts that our DANIEL DELOZIER comes to light. For among the papers of Otho Holland Williams were correspondence from Daniel (Port Baltimore Inspector). These letters are still in existance in his own words and in his own hand. Let me say for reference, that the complete Otho Holland Williams papers are available for reading online and are divided into eight complete parts thanks to the efforts of the Maryland Historical Society and the text conversion efforts of Apex Data Services. While this site is intended to highlight the mention and correspondence of Daniel Delozier (we find him first in Part III of the transcribed documents), I will also offer the names mentioned in each of the eight sections of manuscripts in the case this would benefit your study.Also, I would ask you to consider this newest section of the Delozier Genealogy web site to be a work in progress. Offering this content, complete with narratives explaining the letters, is a painstakenly slow process. Below are the section breakdowns and their content. Please use the envelopes across the top of this page to navigate.

NOTE: The letters on this site were copied and pasted directly from the online transcriptions of the Maryland Historical Society. No parts were altered or spellings changed. What you read is how it was transcribed.

* Otho Holland Willaims Papers, Maryland Historical Society, Part I