Married life Mary Surratt

a woodprint depicting surrattsville , surratt home, printed in 1867 in harper s weekly.

the area round tavern officially named surrattsville same year. travelers take branch road (now branch avenue) north washington, d.c.; piscataway road southwest piscataway; or woodyard road northeast upper marlboro. although surrattsville well-known crossroads, community did not amount much: tavern, post office (inside tavern), forge, , dozen or houses (some of them log cabins). john surratt hamlet s first postmaster.

he expanded family s holdings selling off land, paying down debt, , starting new businesses. on next few years, surratt acquired or built carriage house, corn crib, general store, forge, granary, gristmill, stable, tobacco curing house, , wheelwright s shop. family had enough money send 3 children nearby roman catholic boarding schools. isaac , john jr. attended school @ st. thomas manor, , anna enrolled @ academy young ladies (mary s alma mater). family s debts continued mount, however, , john sr. s drinking worsened. john sold 120 acres (49 ha) of land in 1856 pay debts. 1857, surratt had sold 600 acres (240 ha) of family s formerly extensive holdings (which represented half 1,200 acres (4.9 km) had owned). of family s slaves sold pay debts. still, alcoholism worsened. in 1858, mary wrote letter local priest, telling him surratt drunk every single day. in 1860, st. thomas manor school closed, , isaac found work in baltimore, maryland. surratts sold off 100 acres (40 ha) of land, enabled anna remain @ academy young ladies , john jr. enroll @ st. charles college, maryland (a catholic seminary , boarding school in ellicott s mills). couple borrowed money same year against townhouse in washington, dc, , @ point used property collateral $1,000 loan.