"Wyoming" - Dorsey, Howard, and Wyoming Rolls

Wyoming... not the state, but the Howard County country home ("farm") of Ben and Jane Howard who inherited his father Col John Eager Howard's mansion "Belvidere" in Baltimore to use during the winter. "Waverly" his brother Gov. George Howard's home, was a few miles west of "Wyoming." They lived in Howard County from at least 1842 to 1845 then sold it to a Dorsey. It is gone and only a few mentions remain.


Several Dorseys lived in "Wyoming" (?off St. John's Lane north of Rt 40, Ellicott City). Capt John Worthington Dorsey (1751-1823) was listed as living there when he built "Mount Hebron" for his son Judge Thomas Beale Dorsey about 1808.

Benjamin Chew Howard (1791-1872) lived there with his wife Jane Grant (Gilmor) Howard (1801-1890) and family for a few years in the early 1840s. Ben was the son of Howard County namesake John Eager Howard and brother of county resident Gov. George Howard of "Waverly" (post, recipe HERE) He graduated from Princeton, then law school, was a captain during the War of 1812, lawyer, politician including US House of Representatives. As Reporter of the Supreme Court 1843-1861 he wrote the yearly books on their findings.

In 1842 Ben received a letter addressed to "Wyoming" about the Supreme Court position. Their daughter "Jane Howard of Wyoming" attended the Patapsco Female Institute from 1842-43. Charles Howard addressed a letter to his brother Ben at "Wyoming" Ellicott Mills in 1843. His nephew John Howard McHenry listed his cousin in his journal as "Sophy H of Wyoming" attending his dinner in 1844. Eight years later they both went to Italy with their aunt and her children. Sophia died in Rome.

While determining if he would take the position with the Supreme Court or be a judge in Baltimore, he wrote pages of Pros & Cons. Some that related to "Wyoming" - “To sell the farm and pay Glenn with it” “To move the furniture from Wyoming or buy new” “To put another story on the house –" “To spend 1000 in improving house & outhouse"

Jane (Gilmor) Howard (1801-1890) daughter of a wealthy merchant, went to a boarding school in Philadelphia, married Ben in 1818, had ten children (three died young), president of group that raised the equivilent of $2.3 million for starving Southerners in 1866 HERE and made a successful fundraising cookbook - Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen, by Mrs. BC Howard. Baltimore: 1873 (post, recipe HERE )

Wyoming Rolls
One quart of flour, and one table-spoonful of lard. Make up over night, like other rolls. In the morning, work in a table-spoonful of butter. The rolls must then be made out, and put to lighten on a sheet of iron, an inch apart.

Wyoming was sold in 1845. Reuben Meriweather Dorsey (1796-1880), a wealthy farmer who lived at nearby "Arcadia" wrote that he paid the "monstrous price" of $20,000 ($800,000 in 2022) for his uncle JWD's old home in October 1845. In the 1850 census he had about 55 slaves.

Sarah 'Sally' Meriweather Dorsey (1824-1854), Reuben's eldest daughter, married Dr. Samuel Owings Rogers (1824-1854) and had several children listed as born at "Wyoming" - John Gough Rogers (1849-1926) and Reuben Dorsey Rogers (1851-1925). More on Reuben Rogers in post HERE

Josephine Dorsey (1831-1881), another daughter of Reuben, m. 1852 Anthony Morris Johnson (1820-1891) owned "Wyoming" and had many children. AM Johnson on the 1860 map upper left over large letter O, just above Reuben Dorsey's farm.

Recipes and info HERE

Early cooking in Ellicott City (hearth cooking, bake oven, wood stove, more) HERE

Image, Ben - Maryland Center for History and Culture. Jane - Harpers 1882 Wyoming ?1857 map


©2022 Patricia Bixler Reber
Forgotten history of Ellicott City & Howard County MD