People

Susanna Warfield was born in 1797 and lived through most of the 19th century. 

She was a musician and poet and slave owner, who complained about her slaves in her diary. She referred to them as servants and rented them out to families in Baltimore. She eventually developed mixed emotions about slavery.

She was very religious and dedicated herself to St. Barnabas church. She was also frustrated and lonely and probably a very unhappy person. 

She never married. Her grave is hidden away in Eldersburg in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church. She left behind a collection of diaries, which are under the care of the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore. 

In 1966, in the Sykesville Herald, a woman named Lynn Marcus, who read the diaries, wrote a story about Susanna. You can read it in the May 12, 1966 issue, if you can somehow find that. 

You can also read the article in a book put out by the Friends of Old Trinity Cemetery. The book is called: "Bringing Our History to Life: The History and Restoration of Holy Trinity Cemetery."

Susanna lived in a large estate called Groveland, which she eventually came to own. In her will she gave the land to the Maryland Diocese of the Episcopal church for the building of a school for boys. She also left $10,000 for the project. 

They named the school Warfield College, which is why there's a College Avenue in Sykesville. It was actually more of a high school and only lasted eight years. Eventually Wade Warfield purchased the buildings and the land in 1906 and lived there with his family. 

Much of it would later be destroyed by fire and that which survived is still out there not far from Elba furnace and the railroad tracks and slowly and surely crumbling.