Harford Legacy Farm Commemorative Book

Harford Legacy Farm | 50

Old Bay Farm est. 1919 - Havre de Grace, MD

Current Owners: Mary - Dulaney James Original Purchaser: E. Roy James Current Acreage: 127 Current Agricultural Products or Services: corn and soybeans Preserved

The farm has a remarkable history under the ownership of the James family written about by my father in his book “The History of the Old Bay Farm”. In his book he was able to trace the farm’s history (with help from two schools) back to a land grant circa 1666 – 1672, called “The Stop”, which broke into several parcels and by the middle of the 18th century Old Bay Farm was a portion of a large plantation known as “Brothers Lott”. My father was able to include all the prior owners of the farm from 1758 to 1919 when my grandfather E. Roy James bought it. He consists of the ownership by Frederick Lee Cobourn and Michael H. Fahey, Trustees for the benefit of creditors 1932 – 1936, and the subsequent ownership by my father starting in 1936 at the young age of 22. The James family reclaimed the farm at auction when my grandfather, Daddy Roy, had only a quarter in his pocket.

Starting around 1930, James’ financial fortunes were plunging down. They lost Old Bay Farm, several other farms, and Daddy Roy’s contracting business. A friend of the family had purchased Old Bay and let Daddy Roy continue to farm it. When the friend of the family later defaulted on the farm, the Trustees did not want to take possession, and no one came forward at that fateful auction in 1936, other than Daddy Roy and my father. For the next 20 years until their deaths, my grandparents, my father, and his