WHO NAMED AND BUILT THE OTWELL HOUSE IN OXFORD, MARYLAND?

There is some helpful information in the following source...

“MARYLANDS COLONIAL EASTER SHORE: HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF COUNTIES AND OF SOME NOTABLE STRUCTURES”

By: Swepson Earle and Percy G. Skirven

Printed in 1916

https://ia902600.us.archive.org/24/items/marylandscolonia00earlrich/marylandscolonia00earlrich.pdf


Continuation of information about the OTWELL HOUSE text from page 41...


There is another image of this house taken in 1936, at the Library of Congress

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/hhh.md0756.photos.084835p/


The house looks in good shape, and there is a dog standing in the front yard, so it appears to be lived in at the time of this image.

Here is an image from 1936 of the other side of the house. As you can see there was a large porch on it.


Below is the Otwell House today, restored. Where the large porch was in the above image, now seems to be the front door of the current restored house.


At Wikipedia is says...

"Otwell is a historic home at Oxford, Talbot County, Maryland. It is a brick house composed of two major parts, the first constructed around 1720–1730, and the other part around 1800–1810.

The earliest portion of the building consists of the westerly gambrel roofed structure with a "T"-shaped plan. At the base of the "T" are appended three small sections with varying roof lines, constructed in the first decade of the 19th century. The interior retains the original floor plan but the decorative detailing was extensively restored following a fire in 1958.[2]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otwell_(Oxford,_Maryland)

AFTER MUCH RESEARCH AND MANY SEARCHES, I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO FIND ANY RELIABLE SOURCE TELLING WHY WILLIAM TAYLOR NAMED THE PROPERTY HE HAD SURVEYED IN 1659 "OTWELL". 

Some people have suggested that he named the property after his mother's maiden name, but her maiden name was NOT "Otwell".

I contacted the Blackwater Regional Library, and they forwarded my questions on to another person. This is what they told me via email...

___________________________________________________________________________________

 Hi,

The patent of Ottwell plantation for 500 a's [acres] was attributed to William Taylor in 1659. The plantation was sold several times before becoming the property of the Goldsborough Family by will in the 1720s, the real builders of the present house. The name might be explained by the fact that William Taylor transported several people, among them somebody by the name of Ottwell Baswell (Ottwell being the first name).
Hope this will answer your question even if it doesn't help you with your family search.

Sincerely,

Monique Gordy

Maryland Room Volunteer 

___________________________________________________________________________________

That reply doesn't make sense to me, but that is where the trail ends. As far as anyone can tell, there is really no definitive answer why the property was named "Otwell". The mystery continues, but it seems that the OTWELL HOUSE was NOT built by, nor named after, any Otwell, despite the rumors being passed down through different branches of the Otwell family tree.


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