A few weeks ago, while reading Seton's 3rd grade history text The Catholic Faith Comes to the Americas Will and I stumbled across something interesting. Apparently, after the Maryland Colony's Toleration Act of 1649 was passed, a Virginia Protestant named William Claiborne led military attacks into Maryland. He hated Catholics and captured Father White, SJ. The priest was put in chains and sent back to England.
Well, that struck my interest, especially because I have a cousin named A. Claiborne. We pulled out the huge geneology charts that everyone in the family were given as gifts one year for Christmas (great for looking for baby names) and ah-ha, found old William (1600-1677). I looked him up in Wikipedia and in the on-line Encyclopedia Britannica, but struck paydirt when I spoke to a pleasant girl also named Katherine at The Virginia Historical Society. She directed me to several promising titles I could request over inter-library loan: Virginia Venturer, A Historical Biography of William Claiborne and Papists and Puritans in Early Maryland (a doctoral dissertation). Well, the library called yesterday so I am eager to begin reading to see what I can find.
This reminds me of doing research for a paper in my History of Virginia class in college. I spent hours scrolling through microfilm rolls to find census records and Civil War paybooks. My finished paper was bound at Kinkos and given as gifts to all the aunties for Christmas that year. I somehow don't think they would be as keen to receive a story of how old anti-Catholic William Claiborne is likely rolling over in his grave due to some of his decendants converting to the Catholic faith.
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