The following article is taken from pages 122-125 of Historic Houses of Kent County, written by Michael Owen Bourne and edited by Eugene Hall Johnstone.
It was published in 1998 by The Historical Society of Kent County, Chestertown, Maryland.
It is reproduced here with the written permission of the publisher. Historic Houses... is a glorious coffee-table sized book loaded with information relevant to genealogical research in Kent County.
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Godlington ManorQuaker Neckc. 1740 Within the confines of present day Kent County,
Godlington Manor is one of seven such named manors to have been patented in
the seventeenth century. Originally a
land grant to Thomas Godlington in 1659, Godlington in its original form
amounted to 1,000 acres. [1]
In 1685, the property was purchased by Thomas Claggett. [2] However, the following year it was
acquired by Michael Miller, a major figure in early Kent County. Miller lived in the lower part of the
county, where he owned Miller’s Purchase (part of Hinchingham) and
Arcadia. (In 1693, he sold a small
part of Arcadia to St. Paul’s Parish where he served as a founding
vestryman.)
After
Miller’s death in 1698, [3]
Godlington Manor descended to his son, Arthur. When Arthur Miller died in 1739, [4] it again passed from father to son, this
time to Arthur Miller, Jr. Although
the property was not improved during the ownership of Michael Miller, it is
uncertain as to whether or not Arthur or his son actually constructed the
first structure which is known today as Godlington Manor. This first house consisted of a 17’ 6” x 22’ 0”, three-bay, one-story, frame house with its large fireplace located on the east wall. The framing was assembled in three bays with large posts and plate which protruded from the face of the interior plaster walls. It served as a one-room dwelling until the 1760s, when a 16’ additional was constructed on the west gable. The addition adjoined the old exterior shiplap wall and was built with a full basement and a paneled wall across the stair, fireplace and closet on the west end. Godlington is
one of four frame houses listed under the name of Arthur Miller, Jr. in the
Tax Assessment of 1783. He owned a
total of 1,100 acres, although eight years earlier he had deeded a part of
Godlington Manor and East Huntington to his daughter, Sarah. In 1799, her son, Samuel Merritt,
inherited Godlington Manor from his grandfather. [5] Upon the death of Sarah Miller Merritt,
those parts of Godlington deeded to her in 1775 were bequeathed to her two
children. Finally, after trading
amongst themselves, Samuel became the sole owner of both Godlington and East
Huntington in 1799. [6] In regard to
the house itself, Samuel Merritt was responsible for its next enlargement and
for several of the refinements which brought the Manor House, more or
less, to the form it exhibits today.
The A roof was removed and a taller, more commodious gambrel
roof was installed. The original
one-room structure was remodeled with the installation of a smaller fireplace
within a wall of paneling which included glazed cabinets and a concealed,
winding stair.
It is
apparent that the new west gable was exposed to the elements for a
short time before a 30’ A roof kitchen wing was added. Constructed with wrought nails, it would
have been built only a few years after the other. The new wing consisted of a pantry and kitchen with large
pyramidal fireplace and a ladder to the space above intended as quarters for
kitchen help. Both downstairs rooms
were lighted by only one small window in each. The last addition to the house was a lean-to constructed off
the pantry which was fitted with storage shelves and a window which had been
reused from its predecessor. |
Samuel Merritt built a fine homeplace at Godlington Manor. It included several outbuildings, a brick stable, a frame hen house and such. Today, only the brick smokehouse and pyramidal roof frame dairy remain. These have been restored in their original locations, west of the house. 
Merritt died
without a will in 1827. Commissioners
were appointed to divide his holdings into four portions of equal value and
allow his heirs to have their choice of farms. [7] It was Arthur Miller Merritt who chose the
homeplace on 443 acres it is he who was probably responsible for the
decorative treatment on the interior walls with vivid colors and stenciled
patterns. 
Arthur Miller
Merritt also most likely constructed the porches which run the full length of
the gambrel section on both sides of the house. Merritt died in 1848 and left five heirs. [8] Seventeen years later, in 1865, Merritt’s
two sons purchased the farm from their three sisters.[9] However, the brothers did not fare well in
the fifteen years to follow and eventually sold it back to their sister, Mary
Elizabeth Merritt Brown, widow of Hiram Brown, in 1880. [10] In 1882, Mary
E. Brown sold the farm to her three children. [11] By 1910, Henry Clay Brown had become the
sole owner of Godlington Manor after a series of transactions amongst his
siblings. [12] [13] Hard times again returned and in 1930 the
farm was sold to the son of Henry’s double first cousin, Hiram Staunton
Brown. [14] [15] Godlington Manor was restored in the early 1980s. The house and lands are now held by granddaughters of Hiram Staunton Brown, the eleventh generation of the family which has owned the manor since the seventeenth century. It is one of only two properties in the county to have descended within a single family over a 300 year period. K-88 
1.
Patents, Lib. 4, fol. 274. |
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