Colonel Aquila Hall (1727-1779)

Colonel Aquila Hall of Sophia’s Dairy, was a son of Aquila Hall and Johanna Kemp, a grandson of Captain John Hall of Cranberry in lower Harford County (then Baltimore County).  He married Sophia White, daughter of Colonel Thomas White, in 1750 at St. George’s Parish (Spesutie Church) in Perryman, Maryland.

Aquila Hall was the most prominent citizen of Harford County before and during the American Revolution.  In 1761 he served as a member of the Committee of Observation for Baltimore County, then in 1762 he was high sheriff of Baltimore County.  The next year he was elected to the House of Delegates, in 1768 he built the mansion called Sophia’s Dairy which still stands near Riverside in Belcamp, Harford Co., Maryland.  In 1773, he had the rank of Lt. Col. of Baltimore County and also a delegate to the Maryland Assembly.  In 1775 he served as a member of the Committee of Correspondence for Harford County.  It was here in Harford County that he organized a company of militia, and on March 22, 1775 was the first signer of the famous Bush Declaration.  In 1776 he was Colonel of two battalions, then the following year was selected as County Lieutenant of Harford County and was the first Justice of the Orphan’s Court of Harford County.

The last record of Col. Aquila Hall in public life was in the meeting of the court at Bush on March 23, 1779, at which he was present as one of the Lords Justices.  He died in April, 1779 at age 52, leaving a wife and nine children: Thomas Hall, James White Hall, William Hall, John Hall, Edward Hall, Charlotte Hall, Mary Hall, Sophia Hall, and Martha Hall.  His wife, Sophia, died in 1785m age 54 years.  Today it still remains a mystery of the actual final resting place of the Colonel and his widow.