This house on the corner of Freedom Lane is the last one going west on Lafayette Street that is still within the Havre de Grace Historic District. Not surprisingly, Lafayette Street heading west was a dirt road until about the 1930s.

This individual lot was sold by Captain William Ward Virdin (1803-1871) in 1855 to Thomas Anderson, described in the deed as “colored.” The Captain was well known as a property owner in Harford County and from 1836 to 1851 as Captain of the 453-ton “Susquehanna” steamboat with its 1,200 person capacity. The Captain had a son of the same name, Dr. William Ward Virdin (1829-1897), a successful physician in the Lapidum area, who inherited the Captain’s properties upon his death. It is thought that Thomas Anderson most likely built this home soon after buying the small lot from the Captain. In 1866 Thomas bought an adjoining lot from the Bailiff as well as the lot on which 550 Alliance Street is now built. In 1866 Thomas bought an adjoining lot from the Bailiff as well as the lot on which 550 Alliance Street is now built. It is also known through verbal family history that in 1864, Captain Virdin sold a small lot at 506 Revolution Street to Gideon Bosley (1812-1893), of a black family. A descendant of that family has said that he thinks that Gideon Bosley may have worked for the Captain. Considering that the Captain was a man of considerable wealth and owned multiple properties, and had retired in 1851 to the City of Baltimore, it is curious that he sold these small properties in 1855 and 1864 to black families, and begs further research.

When Thomas Anderson died in 1906, his heirs were his two widowed daughters, Harriet S. Brown and Milcah E. Anderson (1830-1918) and they sold this property (as well as 550 Alliance Street) to Alberta Holliday (who may have been the daughter of Milcah Anderson). Alberta owned this home for about 12 years before selling it to John W. and Mary F. Pitt in 1918.

After the death of Mary Pitt, John Pitt sold this home in 1928 to Margaret Susanna Pitt who had relocated to Philadelphia. In 1944 she sold the property to Omer and Catherine Carson and G. Arnold Pfaffenbach, who were in the real estate business. Two years later, they sold it to Arthur Garfield Pevey, but he sold it in 1948 to Fortune “Bo” Sumpter (1922-1987) and Mary Ellen Miller Sumpter (1927-1997). In 1980, Mary Sumpter sold the property to Fortune Sumpter

Fortune Sumpter died in 1987 and by his Will he deeded this property to his living children, Tyrone Darnell Sumpter (1949-2006), Doris W. Sumpter, Frank Lee Sumpter (1945-2013), and Debra S. Dagwan. (Another son, Butch Sumpter died in 1988.) Frank Sumpter was a one-time University of Maryland star who signed with the Washington Redskins in the late 1960s, playing under three well-known coaches Otto Graham, Vince Lombardi, and George Allen.

Tyrone Sumpter and his wife, Sandra Sconion, had a daughter, Terry Sconion, who grew up in this home but says Tyrone lived in Florida all of her life. Sandra Sconion’s brother, and Terry’s Uncle, was Grafton O’Neil Sconion, Jr. (1946-2016), a 1964 graduate of the Havre de Grace Consolidated School and both a U.S. Navy and Army veteran. In 2019, Grafton was inducted into the Havre de Grace High School Hall of Fame for exemplifying the school motto, "Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve," and for making extraordinary contributions to his field. Personally he is remembered as a "giver" and it was said that the countless people whose lives are better as a result of knowing him will “never forget how he made them feel."

In 1990, Fortune Sumpter’s heirs deeded this home to their sibling, Debra Sumpter Dagwan. Debra is married to Ralph Dagwan, a Hyannis, Massachusetts, native. She was teaching in Boston public schools when she met Ralph. Now retired, Debra serves as a Barnstable, MA, town councilor. The original home of her family since the 1940s, this property continues to be owned by Debra Dagwan and may be still be the home of extended Sumpter/Sconion family members.

County Records
Built 1940. 704 sq ft, 2 stories, 1 bath, 3125 sq ft lot.