OUR STORY - The Descendants of joseph holland

This site is dedicated to the memory of our grandmother, our mother Louise H. Morsell and our grandfather, our father, Thomas H. Morsell.  Louise and Thomas were children of farmers and landowners in Calvert County from the 1930’s.   Louise was a direct and very headstrong woman. She spoke her mind and had no reservation in letting you know her opinion about things.  If you could describe her, it was best said Louise handled her business when it came to land ownership and property management.  Later, we will tell you a story of exactly what that meant involving a land sale her and Thomas made to the Baltimore Gas and Electric (BG&E) in October 1969.

Mother Louise parents and family history is about farming and land ownership.  Mother Louise parents were business minded and savvy with creating something from nothing. The Morsell family, descendants of Thomas Ray who in 1903 purchased over 330 acres of land along both sides of the road on Ponds Wood Road opened a new chapter into the social history of Calvert County.  They were farmers who utilized their lands and provided a food source for many in the community. They farmed and grew corn, potatoes, cabbage, kale and raised livestock from the 1930-1980’s.  While the Holland family was rich in land ownership with Joe Holland being the first and only black man to run a lumber mill in Sunderland, MD.

Mother Louise was one of 12 children of Joseph and Annie (Hall) Holland.  In January 1960, she was gifted land from her father and land parcels were later conveyed to her children along Trouble Lane and Dorothy Drive. Her siblings were also deeded land under the family conveyance along Dorothy Drive and Trouble Lane.  Growing up we saw how Mother Louise desired for her children to own land and build homes on land given to her by her late father Joseph Holland (Papa Joe) who at one time own 1000 acres of land in Calvert County. 

Joseph Holland was the first black to own a lumber mill that was located on Pushaw Station Road, and he would later deliver and source much of the lumber used in building and construction in Calvert County. In 1935, Joseph purchased over 335 acres of land from Zed Smith which would later become part of the Annie Hall Estates as currently reflected today under the Calvert County’s planning and zoning map. 

If you travel today along Pushaw Station Road and refer to the old Herbert Farm and land owned by James Jefferson where new home development is taking place, this land was originally owned by our grandfather, Joseph Holland. Papa Joe sold and exchanged land to others as years passed.  Today, the remaining lands under the Holland family are preserved along Pushaw Station Road, Trouble Lane, and Dorothy Drive.

On October 21, 1969, Thomas and Louise sold over 10 acres of land to the BG&E utility company as part of BGE’s acquisition of the Calvert Cliffs Waugh Chapel electric transmission.  Today, electricity generated from the CC Waugh Chapel Substation reaches homes stretching from Calvert to Anne Arundel County and this was sourced as a result of our family land sale to BGE to further the power line installation. 

Joe Holland was the son of Jamison Holland, who we learned in 2021, ancestors came from the Bissa tribe in the Burkina Faso village of Ghana.  We are forever indebted to our cousin, David Holland who traced our lineage in June 2021, as part of his African Ancestry DNA which also traced the Holland family lineage going back most likely 5 to 6 generations to Ghana.  Our ancestors walked over 170 km from Burkina Faso passing through the Pikworo Slave camp in Paga, Ghana before boarding a slave ship enroute to Annapolis and then sold to a slaveowner in Calvert.  

The Pikworo Slave camp was a slave transit center where slaves were auctioned and later resold in the Salaga market after walking about 150 km south.

David’s visiting the village where our ancestors once lived was most rewarding but also deeply heart wrenching to see the conditions, they were forced to endure during the slave trade.  But knowing where we come from and who we come from gives us the pride, determination, and most importantly perseverance for ANY obstacle. We are truly Warriors!! It is our desire at some point that David share his travels to the mother land so that the next generation also know their history.

Our rich heritage is still what drives our desire to preserve our family land and be proud of who we are.  We are the descendants of Joseph Holland, Louise H. and Thomas H. Morsell and this is our story.