Miss Mary Blades
Teacher at Dr. Briscoe's School
(1814 - 1846)

Mary Blades was born in 1814 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. She came to St. Mary's County in the 1840s, initially as the tutor for Dr. and Mrs. Briscoe's children. In 1846, the St. Mary's Seminary (the predecessor of St. Mary's College of Maryland) was founded, and Miss Blades was offered a teaching job, which she declined due to the low salary. At about the same time, Dr. Briscoe established a boarding school on Sotterley property with Mary Blades as teacher. The census indicates that Mary Blades was still a resident of Sotterley in 1850, and 7 of Dr. Briscoe's children and 4 boarders were attending the school.

It was usual in Antebellum Maryland for children to learn the practical knowledge necessary to perform the skills they would use in adulthood. Boys would learn how to handle an axe, shoot, fish, and farm. Girls were prepared for household and child-rearing responsibilities. Rudimentary schooling at home was limited to reading, writing, and simple arithmetic. Those children who were more fortunate had the family means to attend schools abroad, or engage tutors at home. For wealthy planters, plantation schools were common. Educational endeavors were usually reserved for the young men in the family, as it was considered frivolous to educate young women. Dr. Walter Hanson Stone Briscoe, who owned Sotterley during the Civil War, believed strongly in educating his sons and daughters and hired Miss Mary Blades as teacher.

Miss Blades would teach the usual geography, grammar, and history to young girls (as young as ten) who would come from Calvert and Charles Counties. But it has also been said that Miss Blades would often talk about interesting books she had been given to read by the rector of the local Parish. Mrs. Kate Thomas, who attended the school, remembers maintaining a beautiful garden outside the small classroom in Sotterley's front yard. She also recalls one of her classmates, a Miss Susie Harris, who learned to play the comb, and dance the very popular steps of the day. The girls had quite a lot of fun amusing themselves with music and dancing, a pastime Dr. Briscoe found foolish.

In September of 1852, amongst great religious controversy and scandal at the St. Mary's Female Seminary, Mary Blades, an Episcopalian, was offered and accepted the position of Principal of the School. She resigned less than a year later and the school closed shortly thereafter until 1858. In September 1858, Miss Blades returned to the position of Principal, serving under the newly elected President of the Board, Col. Chapman Billingsly, Sotterley's illustrious neighbor.

In a book written by Maria Briscoe Croker about the Sotterley School, Mary is described as "a martinet in the classroom who possessed remarkable charm for the opposite sex". She had many suitors during her years at Sotterley, including the Revs. Hawkins and Buck, "eminent divines of the Episcopal Church", but Mary was nearly fifty before offering her hand in marriage.

Mary Blades left St. Mary's Female Seminary in 1860 to marry Col. Richard Miles of Baltimore, a devout Roman Catholic. Mary converted to Catholicism, and the two were married at the home of the Archbishop of Baltimore. Colonel and Mrs. Miles settled into married life at Rose Hill Farm outside of Leonardtown. Rose Hill Farm was given to the Sisters of Charity for the establishment of a school just before Mary's death.

Mary Blades died January 17, l886, and is buried at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Bushwood.