m 795 acres of land within our
Province....

[Illustration: REV. JAMES McVEAN (See Chapter XI)]

We do therefore grant unto him the said Ninian Beall all that tract
or parcell of land called Rock of Dunbarton, lying in the said
County, beginning at the Southwest corner Tree, of a tract of land
taken for Robert Mason standing by Potomack River side at the mouth
of Rock Creek....

To have and to hold the same unto him the said Ninian Beall, his
heirs and assignees forever to be holden of us and our heirs as of
our manor of Calverton in free and Common Soccage by fealty only
for all manner of services yielding and paying therefor yearly unto
us and our heirs at our receipt at the City of St. Maries at the
two most usual feasts in the year--at the feast of Annunciacion
of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangell by even
and equal porcions the rent of one pound eleven shillings and nine
pence half penny sterling silver or gold....

Given under our Greater Seal of Armes, this eighteenth day of
November, one thousand seven hundred and three, witness our trusty
and well beloved Colonel Henry Darnell, keeper of our said Greater
Seale in our said Province of Maryland."

Colonel Ninian Beall lived a long and interesting life. He had been born
in Largo, Fifes Shire, Scotland, in 1625. There he had been an officer
in the Scottish-English Army, which fought for the Stuarts' Army against
Cromwell; he was made a prisoner at the battle of Dunbar, September 3,
1650, and sentenced to five years servitude in the Barbadoes, West
Indies. Many gentlemen were so sentenced as political prisoners and sent
out as industrial servants at that time. He was eventually sent to
Maryland, where, after completing his term of servitude, he proved his
right to 50 acres of land and received many hundreds more for bringing
out immigrants and settling there.

He held many notable and honorable offices in the colony, and, in 1699,
the General Assembly passed an Act of Gratitude for the distinguished
Indian services of Colonel Ninian Beall.

As he was Commander in Chief of the Provincial Forces in Maryland, he
probably visited the garrison at the Falls and so knew this region long
before he was granted this tract of the Rock of Dunbarton. He previously
had procured 225 acres on the east side of Rock Creek just opposite,
called Beall's Levels.

Ninian Beall died i