RALEIGH – I’ve been writing a column about North Carolina politics and politicians for nearly 25 years. During that time, I’ve had occasion to criticize the policies of four different governors – Jim Martin, Jim Hunt, Mike Easley, and now Beverly Perdue.
None has seen fit to order me flogged. An ancestor of mine, William Pendley, wasn’t so lucky.
I recently began research on a book to be published privately later this year about the ancestry of my father, Harold Hood. A native of Lenoir in Caldwell County, my dad has deep roots in the North Carolina mountains. Most of his family arrived in what are now Caldwell, Burke, Wilkes, Ashe, and Watauga counties during the 18th century. While the Hood line was originally Dutch and Scandinavian, my father’s other ancestors were primarily Scots-Irish, along with English and a smattering of French, German, Italian, and Cherokee.
Most of my dad’s English progenitors arrived in the New World before 1700. In what might be considered a sign of things to come, many of them were getting away from authority figures they didn’t like. My father’s ancestry includes Puritans escaping religious persecution to settle in New England, Cavaliers escaping Puritan persecution to settle in Virginia, and assorted malcontents escaping political enemies to settle in the mid-Atlantic colonies.
One of these was William Pendley – although, technically speaking, he wasn’t fleeing his own enemies. He was fleeing those of his master, Walter Broadhurst.
Broadhurst was the young scion of a wealthy Catholic family in Shropshire, England. Seeking freedom and fortune in the New World, Broadhurst arrived in Baltimore in 1639 with two servants in tow. Pendley, or Pinley as it was also spelled, was one of them. Although poor enough to have to sell his services in exchange for passage, Pendley appears to have been literate and intellectually curious. During several years of service to Broadhurst and another prominent Maryland citizen, Dr. Thomas Gerard, Pendley occasionally even acted as an attorney handling some local legal and land disputes.
The 1640s was a tumultuous time in Maryland politics. Lord Leonard Calvert, a Catholic and the first proprietary governor of the colony, had originally tried to rule Maryland with an iron fist, but provoked a response from the population and had to yield authority to a colonial assembly. As the English Civil War approached, Calvert attempted to keep Maryland neutral. It didn’t work. A Protestant revolt forced Calvert, his family, and his religious and political allies to flee to Virginia for a couple of years.
Pendley, my 9th great grandfather, was among them. He was married by then and at least one of his children was born in Northampton County, Virginia. Records show that he spent several years in Virginia, performing legal services and serving on juries.
Lord Calvert returned to power in Maryland in 1646, then died a year later. On his death bed, Calvert appointed Thomas Greene as his successor. But Greene’s tenure lasted less than a year. The next governor, the Protestant William Stone, was less to William Pendley’s liking, it seems.
It seems that in early 1649, Pendley gave a speech at the home of a certain John Hallowes at which he reviled Gov. Stone and his policies. Pendley said he regretted returning to Maryland in support of the government, that he’d rather have stayed in Virginia, and indeed that he’d rather “have gathered oysters for a living” than do any service for the governor.
Pendley was arrested and charged with sedition. A Maryland court convicted him and sentenced him to be imprisoned and whipped with 20 lashes. Within a few weeks, Pendley was dead at the young age of 30 – most likely as a result of his flogging by the colonial authorities.
According to my preliminary findings, there were many other opinionated troublemakers in my family tree. One 9th great grandfather, John Tully, was one of colonial America’s first newspaper publishers. And several Quaker ancestors espoused and advanced the cause of abolition, one provoking a major court case in Virginia over the right to liberate slaves.
As far as I can tell, however, only one of them – William Pendley – was beaten to death for expressing his opinion. Puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation.