Ninian Beall was an immigrant from Scotland who started his life in America as an indentured servant and ended up as a major landowner and merchant. In 1675 he was one of those poor inland farmers who took part in Bacon's Rebellion. Almost three decades later, he bought the site of the future Woodley as part of a 795-acre tract to which he gave the name "The Rock of Dumbarton." It was on the Potomac River where Georgetown would eventually be established that he built a tobacco warehouse, a gristmill, and an iron foundry. Ninian Beall is the ancestor of Jessica Eidson. He at one time owned the land which became Garrison's Landing, now the Town of Bladensburg.
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