The book "The Ark and the Dove Adventurers" ed. by George Ely Russell and Donna Valley Russell [2005] was put out by the "Society of the Ark and the Dove," Maryland's version of the "Mayflower Society." Two ships - the "Ark" and the "Dove" left the Isle of Wight in the fall of 1633 and arrived in Virginia in March 1634. The ships sailed up the Chesapeake and into the Potomac River and on March 25, 1634 - the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary - [9 months to the day before Christmas] - took possession of Maryland for Lord Baltimore. The "adventurers" landed on St. Clement's Island, just off shore in the Potomac River. A large wooden cross was erected on the island. Father Andrew White, S. J. celebrated the first Mass in the English colonies on the island that day. Today, March 25th is a civil holiday - "Maryland Day" - as well as a Roman Catholic religious holiday. Until the calendar was changed in 1752, March 25th was also "New Year's Day" on the "Old Style" calendar.      One of the servants who came over with a Catholic gentleman, Thomas Greene, Esq. from Kent, was Anam Benum, born ca. 1617. This servant was in his late teens. He finished his term in January 1637/38 and received land in Mattapanient [Mattapany] Hundred on the Patuxent River. This is the area today were Patuxent River NAS is located, if any of you are familiar w/ current military aircraft testing.      Benum ran himself into debt and fled the colony about 1639. The fact he went north is indicated in that one of his creditors sent a legal document in 1643 to both the authorities in New Netherland and New England informing them of Benum's debt. He shows up in the records of Gravesend in 1648, where he received lot # 20. In 1651, he is a sponsor at a baptism at the New Amsterdam Dutch Church.      Not only did he run off from his debts in Maryland, he got a married woman in Gravesend to leave her husband & move in with him. In 1656/57, George Baldwin of Gravesend divorced his wife Abigail because she had gone off w/ Benum/Benam & had a child by him. Abigail returned to Warwick, Rhode Island.      In 1660, Benum got land in Flatlands and by 1666 was in Newtown [now in Queens County]. He died in Maspeth Kills shortly before 9 November 1670. By that time, he had a wife named Alice.      Anam Benum and Mrs. Abigail Baldwin of Gravesend had one illegitimate son, George Baldwin, born ca. 1656 in Gravesend. He married ca. 1678 Mary Ellison, daughter of Thomas of Hempstead.      As "George Baldwin alias Benham" he was in Huntington by 1680/81. By 1683/84, he was in Hempstead. He died in January or February 1730/31 at Hempstead, Queens County. His will was proved on 25 February 1730/31.      The books says, p. 18:  "George and Mary (Ellison) Baldwin's twelve children and many descendants are identified in Seversmith's "Colonial Families of Long Island" 198-210, and will not be repeated here."      So, if you trace back to this George Baldwin & Mary Ellison, you have an interesting connection to Maryland "Ark & Dove."      The Sunday nearest March 25th is celebrated here in St. Mary's with various commemorative events, including a special Mass at St. Ignatius Church, St. Inigoes. This Jesuit church, built in 1785, is the successor to Lord Baltimore's "Brick Chapel" at St. Mary's City, now being reconstructed. The chapel at St. Mary's City, the largest church of any denomination in the English colonies in the 1680s/1690s, was demolished about 1705 by the new Protestant government that overthrew Lord Baltimore in 1689. Demolishing the church was part of the new government's goal "To Prevent the Growth of Popery."      There are events at Historic St. Mary's City, the St. Clement's Island-Potomac River Museum, as well as the special Mass at the historic Jesuit church at St. Inigoes.      Whether or not you connect to this early Hempstead family, it's worth a trip down here to see the history here.