To have and to hold the same unto him the said Ninian Beall, his heirs and assignees forever to be holden of us and our heirs as of our manor of Calverton in free and Common Soccage by fealty only for all manner of services yielding and paying therefor yearly unto us and our heirs at our receipt at the City of St. Maries at the two most usual feasts in the year--at the feast of Annunciacion of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangell by even and equal porcions the rent of one pound eleven shillings and nine pence half penny sterling silver or gold.... Given under our Greater Seal of Armes, this eighteenth day of November, one thousand seven hundred and three, witness our trusty and well beloved Colonel Henry Darnell, keeper of our said Greater Seale in our said Province of Maryland." Colonel Ninian Beall lived a long and interesting life. He had been born in Largo, Fifes Shire, Scotland, in 1625. There he had been an officer in the Scottish-English Army, which fought for the Stuarts' Army against Cromwell; he was made a prisoner at the battle of Dunbar, September 3, 1650, and sentenced to five years servitude in the Barbadoes, West Indies. Many gentlemen were so sentenced as political prisoners and sent out as industrial servants at that time. He was eventually sent to Maryland, where, after completing his term of servitude, he proved his right to 50 acres of land and received many hundreds more for bringing out immigrants and settling there. He held many notable and honorable offices in the colony, and, in 1699, the General Assembly passed an Act of Gratitude for the distinguished Indian services of Colonel Ninian Beall. As he was Commander in Chief of the Provincial Forces in Maryland, he probably visited the garrison at the Falls and so knew this region long before he was granted this tract of the Rock of Dunbarton. He previously had procured 225 acres on the east side of Rock Creek just opposite, called Beall's Levels. Ninian Beall died in 1717 at his home, Fifer Largo, near Upper Marlboro, Maryland. From a description of him in the Records of the Columbia Historical Society: ... "He had a complexion characteristic of his nationality, with an unusually heavy growth of long red hair, and was over six feet in height, powerful in brawn and muscle and phenomenal in physical endurance." He had twelve children, six sons and six daughters. In his will is recorded: "I do give and bequeath unto my son George, my plantation and tract of land called the Rock of Dunbarton, lying and being at Rock Creek, containing four hundred and eight acres, with all the stock thereon, both cattle and hogs, them and their increase, unto my said son, George, and unto his heirs forever.