Harry Dorsey Gough: The Founder of Perry Hall
by David Marks
Historian, Perry Hall Improvement Association
More than any other person, Harry Dorsey Gough dominated life in Perry Hall during the
early history of the community. He owned most of the land, controlled local commerce, and
built the mansion, high atop one of the town's steepest hills, which would give the
community its identity. By almost any measure, Harry Dorsey Gough must be thought of as
the founder of Perry Hall.
Harry Dorsey Gough (pronounced like "rough") was born on January 28th, 1745
in Annapolis. His family was steeped in aristocracy, social status, and wealth. Thomas
Gough, his father, was from a wealthy English family, had immigrated to Maryland by 1745,
and built a house a mile from Patapsco Ferry. His mother was Sophia Gough, daughter of the
wealthy Caleb Dorsey of Hockley, on the Severn River. Harry Dorsey Gough was their only
child.
In 1771, at the age of twenty-six, Gough married Prudence, the daughter of John Carnan
and the sister of Charles Ridgely, a future governor. Prudence Carnan was eighteen years
old. Between them, the Gough and Ridgely families would dominate county politics and
commerce for a half-century.
In 1770, Gough began acquiring thousands of acres of land extending for three miles on
both sides of present-day Belair Road. By 1775, shortly after the death of Corbin Lee,
Gough had purchased "the Adventure," including the mansion which Lee was
constructing before his death. Gough renamed his estate "Perry Hall," after his
family's castle in Staffordshire, England. He was living in Perry Hall Mansion in 1774
when his horse, Garrick, won thirty pounds for Gough at a race in Joppa. A record of that
race identifies the winner as "Harry Dorsey Gough of Perry Hall."
In March of 1776, Gough met Francis Asbury, an early leader of the Methodist Church in
America. They became good friends, and later that year, the young minister converted Gough
and his wife to Methodism. It was a defining moment in Gough's life. The sportsman and
gentleman-farmer, who loved entertainment and his country estate, became a devout
Methodist, more contemplative and deliberative in his actions. Gough actively supported
the young Methodist movement, generously donating his wealth and property for the cause.
In 1808, Asbury would write that "Mr. Gough had inherited a large estate from a
relation in England, and having the means, he indulged his taste for gardening and the
expensive embellishment of his country seat, Perry Hall, which was always open to
visitors, especially those who feared God."
As the American Revolution approached, Methodists joined with Quakers and Dunkers to
oppose the conflict on moral grounds. By this time, Harry Dorsey Gough's allegiance to the
faith was unyielding. He refused to sign the Association of Freemen of Maryland, which
asserted American independence from Great Britain. By refusing to declare allegiance to
the United States of America, Gough became a "nonassociator," joining British
loyalists and other pacifists who opposed the war. Although he objected to the American
Revolution mainly on religious principles, Gough's family holdings in Great Britain would
have compelled him to side with those opposing separation from England.
Gough was less consistent on the issue of slavery. Although methodists were active in
the abolitionist movement, Gough was one of the largest slave holders in Baltimore County,
owning 51 slaves in 1798. Through slavery, Gough was able to establish a business empire
virtually unequalled in Baltimore County. According to tax records, his 1783 estate was
valued at over 3,000 pounds, making him the wealthiest nonassociator surveyed in Baltimore
County. In 1786, he was elected president of the Association of Tradesmen and Manufactures
in Baltimore, which was charged with improving Maryland's rural economy.
While Gough opposed separation from England, he obviously had a stake in what form of
government would take shape after the United States won independence from Great Britain in
1783. For that reason, Gough became active in the Federalist cause, which supported the
proposed United States Constitution. The Constitution promised a strong federal government
capable of protecting American trade from foreign competition. For merchants like Gough,
the Constitution seemed absolutely necessary to guarantee the continued dominance of the
upper class.
Gough ran as an unsuccessful Federalist candidate to the Constitutional convention in
1788. Years later, when the Antifederalist vote was splintered among several factions,
Gough was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, serving from 1790 to 1793.
During his later life, Harry Dorsey Gough became active in numerous philanthropic
causes. By 1806, he was serving on the board of trustees for St. Peter's School, a home
for orphans in Baltimore. Gough had previously served on a commission, chartered by the
Maryland General Assembly in 1773, to provide the state with its first Alms House, where
poor families could receive shelter and food. Gough's humanitarian efforts were well-known
throughout northeastern Baltimore County, where he regularly attended Methodist services
and donated the funds to construct Camp Chapel church.
Harry Dorsey Gough's early life was marked by privilege and aristocratic embellishment.
His later life was dedicated to public service, philanthropy, and the flourishing
Methodist church. It seems only appropriate that Francis Asbury, who had converted Gough
(and was the first bishop of the American Methodist Church), was at his side as he lay
dying at the Perry Hall Mansion in 1808. His wife survived him by fourteen years. The
Gough estate was inherited by Harry Dorsey Gough Carroll, their grandson, and remained in
the family until 1875.
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