YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
MARYLAND 1661-1861

COMPILED PRINCIPALLY FROM THE
LITERARY RELICS
OF THE LATE
SAMUEL ALEXANDEE HAEEISON, A.M., M.D.
BY HIS SON-IN-LAW
OSWALD TILGHMAN
<«»
EASTON, MD.

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME II

BALTIMORE
WILLIAMS & WILKINS COMPANY
MDCCCCXV

COPYRIGHT. 1915, BY
OSWALD TILGHMAN
EASTON, MD.

FIST

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DEDICATION
To the memory of Talbot's local annalist, the late
SAMUEL ALEXANDER HARRISON,
AM., M.D.,
and to the many descendants of the Worthies of
Talbot, scattered, as they are, throughout the United
States and in foreign lands, these Memoirs are
respectfully dedicated.
It is the earnest hope of the compiler of these
pages that a thoughtful perusal of them may inspire
in their readers a sincere desire to emulate the
virtues of the early Worthies of Talbot, for love of
ancestors and veneration for their memories ennoble
a people who cherish them.
OSWALD TILGHMAN.

PREFACE
It is a reproach to Talbot County that no one has, heretofore, ever
seriously and earnestly attempted the task, dutiful, profitable and plea
sing as it is, of the recovery and preservation from the oblivion into which
they have fallen, or are falling, of the memories of those incidents that
illustrate, and of those characters that adorn, our local annals. We owe
it to this beautiful county of ours, to which we are all attached by so
many ties of affection and interest, that we should revive and per
petuate recollections of all that has transpired upon this, our natal soil,
and of all those worthies, who by their labors in the several depart
ments of life, have made it the pleasant abode that it is for us, and
shall be for those coming after us.
That narrow patriotism, which limits itself to the county, state or
section, is not to be encouraged, if it excludes or weakens that broader
patriotism that embraces the whole nation; but a love of one's immediate
home lies at the foundation of this broader love of country, of which
one of the chief duties and obligations is the keeping alive those local
traditions of events and persons which strengthen that love of country,
and which serve, in a very appreciable degree, as materials for its gen
eral history. A study of our local history may not be the noblest
occupation of the mind; there may be grander subjects for contempla
tion than the petty occurrences of a vicinage, or the careers of the
respectable mediocrities of a county. There may be matters of inves
tigation more profitable, perhaps, than neighborhood antiquities and
family genealogies, but let it not be supposed that these are so insignifi
cant as to be unworthy of attention. Be assured that he who will give
up a portion of the time which is dissipated in less useful occupations,
to these pursuits, will, at least, find this advantage, that he is laying
the very best foundation for the study of the larger and more momentous
history of his country. Indeed, no one can thoroughly investigate the
annals of his own county without becoming well grounded in general
history; nay more, without making a most fitting preparation for the
study of the very philosophy of all history, for such is the concatenation
and relation of events in all times and places, that the social move
ments in one county, or section of a country, at any period, can hardly
be comprehended without a knowledge of the progress of society in
other countries; and it is from the correlation and coordination of such

VI PREFACE
minutia that the science of history is evolved. But beside the obliga
tions of patriotic duty, and beside the solicitations of intellectual profit,
there is a further inducement to pursue a study of our local history
and that is, the pleasures which such a study affords. This study min
isters in some indirect but very positive way to that strongest of in
stincts — a love of life; for it, as it were, prolongs our consciousness
backwards, gives us a kind of reminiscence of all the past and enables
us to live over again the years that have flown by. An ancient Latin
poet has truly said "Hoc est vivere bis, vita posse priori frui" (This it
is twice to live, to be able to enjoy the life of the past). He who be
comes thoroughly possessed with the spirit of historical and anti
quarian research, particularly research into local history and antiquities,
feels himself insensibly carried back into the times, and transported
to the places to which his research relates. The dead revive, occupy
their old homes, frequent their old haunts, display their old garbs, prac
tice their old follies, vent their old passions, or exhibit their old virtues.
The whole drama of the dead past is reenacted with all its cast of
characters, with all its scenery and appointments, just as the drama
of the living-present is now placed upon the stage. What play in the
mimic theatre can equal this in vividness, in its realism, in its absorbing
interest? He who makes himself a spectator truly lives a double life —
a life in the past, and a life in the present, and his years though not
multiplied in number, are surely increased in capacity. George Eliot,
in her fascinating novel Romola, expresses her reverence for the de
parted, who have left us examples of right living, when she makes blind
Bardo say to his daughter Romola, when she had finished reading to
him from one of his favorite classics. "It is true, Romola. It is a true
conception of the poet: for what is that grosser, narrower light by which
men behold merely the petty scene around them, compared with that
far-stretching, lasting light which spreads over centuries of thought,
and over the life of nations, and makes clear to us the minds of the
immortals, who have reaped the great harvest and left us to glean in
their furrows? For me, Romola, even when I could see, it was with
the great dead that I lived; while the living often seemed to me mere
spectres — shadows dispossessed of true feeling and intelligence."
If, good Reader, the perusal of this History of Talbot County should
inspire you with an earnest desire to know more of this beautiful county
of ours, so dear to us all, to know more of its political contests, its
religious conflicts and changes, its progress in education, its industrial
mutations and development, its social phases, its advancement in cilvili-

PREFACE VU
zation and refinement, and finally of its notable citizens who laid the
foundation for all the prosperity of the present, then the years of labor
and of patient research expended upon this work by its author and its
compiler will not have been spent in vain.
OSWALD TILGHMAN.
Easton, Maryland, 1914.

CONTENTS

PAGE

The Founding of Talbot  1
The Hundred  5
The Publick Roads  8
Post Routes in Early Colonial Days  9
Election Districts  10
Ferries Kept in Talbot in Colonial Days  11
Earliest Land Grants in Talbot  11
Talbot's First Public School  13
First Admiral of the Maryland Province  15
How Elections Were Conducted in Provincial Times  16
List of Talbot Burgesses in the Provincial Assembly  17
Mails Carried by the County Sheriffs in Early Days  19
Colors of the Militia of Talbot County Provincial Times  20
Clerks of Talbot County Court from 1662 to 1915  21
The Commissaries General and Registers of Wills of Talbot County from
1692 to 1915  21
The First Agricultural Society in Talbot  22
The Indians in Talbot County  30
The Passing of the Nanticokes  33
An Incident at Troths Fortune, Trial of Poh Poh Caquis  35
The Stamp Act in Talbot  40
The Revolution in Talbot  48
An Incident of the Revolution in Talbot  133
List of Slave Holders in Talbot in 1790 who owned Ten or More Slaves.. . . 138
The War of 1812-15 in Talbot  141
General LaFayette and the People of Talbot  191
The Court House  200
The Story of Perdita  246
Old Parish Lines in Talbot County  271
Old Chester and Wye Churches  274
White Marsh Church, Saint Peter's Parish  285
The Old Chapel at Kings Creek  291
The Old Brick Church on Harrison Street, Easton  294
Methodism in Talbot  297
Saints and Shrines of Early Methodism in Bayside  302
Episcopal Churches in St. Michaels, the Old Church and the New  311
Earliest Catholic Churches in Talbot County  313
Origin of Talbot Geographical Names  316
Third Haven  321
The Town and Port of Oxford  332
The Town of Saint Michaels  375
Jacob Gibson's Bank  415
ix

X CONTENTS PAGE
Jacob Gibson's Prank  425
The Schools of Talbot  435
Early Schools and School Masters  443
Quaker Schools  .•  450
The Talbot County Free School  457
The Charity Working School of Parson Bacon  477
The Poor House  496
A Cargo of Convicts  514
The Friends or Quakers  521
The Islands of Talbot  531

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT
Talbot County was named for Grace Talbot, the wife of Sir Robert
Talbot, by her brother, Caecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore,
and the first Proprietary of the Province of Maryland.
This county was originally more than three times its present size, as
it embraced the whole of Queen Anne's, all of Caroline, east of the Chop-
tank River, and the southeast part of Kent County, including all that
territory between the head waters of the Choptank and Chester Rivers,
extending eastward to the Delaware line.
The first settlement of white people on the Eastern Shore of the Chesa
peake Bay was on Kent Island. Captain William Clayborne having
established a trading post at the southern extremity of this island in
1631, under a grant from Charles I to trade with the Indians along the
shores of this bay, which he had pvreiously explored.
When Lord Baltimore's colonists settled at Saint Maries near the
mouth of the Potomac River in 1634, they claimed, in the name of the
Lord Proprietary, authority over Kent Island, including Clayborne's
little trading settlement, and the contest for its possession and control
led to numerous conflicts between Clayborne and Lord Baltimore,
even after the report and order of the Committee of Trade and Planta
tions, which, on the 4th of April 1638, had decided in favor of Lord
Baltimore's claims. To show the authority of Lord Baltimore over
this territory a commission was issued to John Langford as Sheriff for
the Isle of Kent, on the 7th of February 1637-38 (Md. Arch., 1, 361;
3, 62). The establishment of the shrievalty usually implies the exist
ence of a county, and this date has been adopted as the date of the
erection of Kent County.
In the commission appointing Richard Thompson and William Lud-
dington commissioners on the 2nd day of August, 1642 (Md. Arch.,
3, 105), the territory is spoken of as the "Isle and County of Kent."
This is apparently the first definite calling of Kent County as such.
Prior to the establishment of Baltimore County in 1659, and Talbot
County in 1661, the scattered inhabitants living along the Eastern Shore
of the bay apparently transacted their business either at Kent Island
or at St. Mary's City.
With the erection of these two new counties, the jurisdiction of Kent
appears to have been limited to that part of the Eastern Shore about
1

2 HISTORY OP TALBOT COUNTY
Eastern Bay, while Talbot exercised jurisdiction over the growing set
tlements about the mouth of the Choptank. No exact limits then
separating these two counties can be given, as the order or act by which
Talbot County was erected, has never been found. The first sugges
tion of Talbot's western limits are found in the proclamations of the
Governor appointing landing places for vessels during the years 1667
to 1669. From these it would appear that the northwestern boundary
of Talbot passed along the eastern shore of the Front Wye northward
to the head of Harris Mill Branch, and thence down Tanyard Branch,
and possibly, up Langford's Bay toward Worton Creek on the bay shore.
To the west of this line would be Kent County with its county court
held on Kent Island until 1686, when it moved to New Yarmouth on
Grays-Inn Creek. To the east would be Talbot to the eastern limits
of the province. The earliest reference to the founding of Talbot ap
pears in the temporary appointment of Mr. Moyses Stagwell, as Sheriff
of Talbot County, February 18, 1661-62, upon which date there were
also appointed commissioners (Md. Arch., 1, 425; 3, 448). Richard
Woolman was the first Burgess from Talbot in the Provincial Assembly
in 1662. The only exception to this generalization that Eastern Bay
was the dividing line, appears to be with regard to Poplar Island, which
originally contained 1000 acres, and was joined to Kent County accord
ing to the following enactment passed the 24th of September, 1657 (Md.
Arch., 1, 361).
It is enacted and declared in the name of his highness the Lord Pro
tector of England, etc., and by the Authority of this present General
Assembly, That the Island commonly called Poplars Island lying near
unto the Island of Kent be adjoyned unto the County of Kent, and
from thence forth be of all persons so accounted and taken to be . . .
Subsequently, by proclamation recorded in the Kent County Land
Records, Liber A No. 1, p. 54, and dated June 21, 1671. "The north
east side of Chester, as far as the bounds of Talbot County were formerly
on that side," was added to Kent County, "as also Poplars Island, and
do hereby require that the Sheriff of Talbot County presume not to
recover any quitt rents from the inhabitants living and residing upon
the places above specified, they being within the County of Kent."
From this, it is evident, that Poplar Island had become a part of
Talbot County in 1661 upon the erection of this county.
The first sharp statements of the boundary line between Talbot and
Kent, occur in the Act passed May 22, 1695, which enacted

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT 3
That from and after the twenty-third day of April next (1696), after
the ends of this present sessions of Assembly, the Island of Kent shall
be added to and made part of Talbot County and deemed, reputed and
taken as part thereof, and that part of Talbot County lying on the
north side of Corsecia Creek running up the main eastern branch to
the head thereof and thence with a course drawn east to the outside of
the province shall be the Southerly bounds of the County of Kent, and
on the north by the County of Cecil, any Law, Statute or usage hereto
fore to the contrary notwithstanding. By this Act Kent Island,
which had given the name to the County was removed from its juris
diction to Talbot, while what is now the northern half of Queen Anne's
County was taken away from Talbot and given to Kent. Baltimore
County which was erected in 1659, only two years before Talbot, ex
tended around the head of the Chesapeake Bay and as far south as the
north east branch of Chester river, across which branch a ferry con
nected East Baltimore County with Talbot County. In proof of the
assertion that Talbot County did extend beyond the head waters of
Chester River, reference is here made to a deed from Mathew Tilghman
Warde and Mable Warde, his wife, (who lived at Rich Neck Manor
now (1912), the handsome country-seat of Henry H. Pearson, Jr.), to
John Salter of Kent County dated June 16, 17Q1 recorded in Liber 9
Folio 126, one of the Land Record books of Kent County, "for all that
tract of land called 'Ward Oake,' formerly granted to Mathew Warde
by letters patent under the great seale of this Province of Maryland,
bearing date 5th day of January 1672, situate lying and being formerly
in Talbot County now in Kent Co. and on the north side of Chester River
containing four hundred acres of land, more or less."
In 1706, when Talbot had enjoyed but 45 years of existence, nearly
one-half of her then remaining territory was taken from her and given
to the newly created county of Queen Anne's. The General Assembly
of 1706 enacted a law entitled, '
An act for the dividing and regulating several counties on the Eastern
Shore of this province, and constituting a county by the name of Queen
Anne's County, within the same province. When this law was enacted
there had been already erected on the Eastern Shore the Counties of
Cecil in 1674. Kent, 1637, Talbot, 1661; Dorchester, 1669, and Som
erset in 1668. The latter two embraced all the territory south of the
Choptank river, while the first three covered the territory north of this
river. By the law of 1706 the region between the Sassafras on the north
and the Choptank on the south was divided into three counties, the'
third being the new county of Queen Anne's. This law reads as follows:
"From and after the said first of May, 1707, the Island called Kent
Island, and all of the land on the south side of Chester river, to a branch
called Sewell's Branch, the said branch to the head thereof, and thence
with an east line to the extent of this province and bounded on the

4 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
south with Talbot County to Tuckahoe bridge and from thence with
Tuckahoe creek and Choptank river to the mouth of a branch falling
into the river, called or known by the name of White Marble Branch
and from thence with a northeast line to the extent of this province,
shall be and is hereby constituted, founded and incorporated into a
county of this province by the name of Queen Anne's County and to
have and enjoy all right, benefits, privileges equal with the other coun
ties of this Province.
The eastern limits of the province of Maryland remained undefined
and unsettled during the years of controversy between the proprietors
of Maryland and those of Pennsylvania, who had acquired control of
Delaware, until the chancery decision of 1750, and no line was run to
indicate its location until a decade later when the local surveyors, who
immediately preceded Mason and Dixon, cut a vista along the boundary
fine, as it now is, in their efforts to establish a true tangent line. The
boundary was not marked until 1765, when Mason and Dixon erected
the well known monuments which had been imported from England.
The Act of 1706, chapter 3, for the formation of Queen Annes County
defines with precision the boundaries of Talbot, which have continued
unchanged for over two hundred years. It enacts, "That the bounds
of Talbot County shall contain Sharps Island, Choptank Island and all
the land on the north side of the Great Choptank River, and extend
itself up the said river to Tuckahoe Bridge, and from thence in a straight
fine to the mill formerly called Sweatman's Mill and thence down the
south side of Wye River to its mouth and thence down the bay to the
place of beginning, including Poplar Island and Bruffs Island."
After 67 years of existence Queen Anne's was compelled, in 1774, to
surrender up* about one-half of her territory, which she had acquired
from Talbot and Dorchester to the newly organized county of Caroline.
This county was named after Caroline Calvert, sister of Frederick, the
last Lord Baltimore, and wife of Sir Robert Eden the last colonial Gov
ernor of the Province of Maryland. The uncertainty as to the eastern
boundary of the province and the consequent doubt of the validity of
titles granted by the Lords Baltimore restrained the early settlers from
devoting themselves to the clearing and improving of tracts within the
disputed territory, hence the land along the eastern bounds of the
province were the last to be settled upon. During the session of 1773
the question of erecting a new county for facilitating the transaction
of business in this newly opened country was considered, and the General
Assembly, on November 16 of that year, passed the following Act.

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT 5
Whereas, a considerable body of the inhabitants of Dorchester and
Queen Anne's counties, by their petition to this General Assembly,
have prayed that an Act may be passed for a division of the said coun
ties, and for erecting a new one out of parts thereof; And whereas it
appears to this General Assembly, that the erecting of a new county
out of such parts of Dorchester and Queen Anne's will conduce greatly
to the ease and convenience of the people thereof: Be it therefore
enacted, by the right honorable, the Lord Proprietary by and with the
advice and consent of the Governor and the Upper and Lower Houses
of Assembly, and the authority of the same. That after the Monday
of the second Tuesday in March next such parts of the aforesaid two
counties of Dorchester and Queen Anne's as are contained within the
bounds and limits following to-wit: Beginning at a point on the north
side of the mouth of Hunting Creek in Dorchester County, and from
thence running up and with the said creek to the main road at James
Murray's Mill, thence by that road by Saint Mary's White Chapel
Parish Church to the northwest fork bridge, thence with the main road
(that leads to Cannon's Ferry) to Nanticoke river, thence with said
river to and with 'the exterior limits of the aforesaid county of Dor
chester to the exterior limits of Queen Anne's County to intersect the
main road that leads from the Beaver-dam caus-way to Dovertown,
in Kent County upon Delaware, thence with the said road to the Long
Marsh, thence with the said marsh and stream of the branch of Tucka
hoe creek to Tuckahoe bridge, thence with the said creek to Great
Choptank river and with the said river to the first beginning at the
mouth of Hunting Creek, shall be and is hereby erected into a new
county by the name of Caroline County.
THE HUNDRED
¦ On the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in Talbot County, there is an
election district which for many years has borne a name, whose origin
has been a mystery to most of the inhabitants, viz., the district of Bay
Hundred. The name of this county subdivision is all that survives of
an institution which dates back to the very beginning of the history of the
State, so says Dr. Lewis W. Wilhelm in his admirable paper on the "Local
Institutions of Maryland" published by Johns Hopkins University in
1885. The first civil divisions of the infant settlement were called hundreds.
Before the county, the town, the manor or the parish were instituted
or erected the hundred had been adopted by the freemen of the province
as the territorial division most suitable to them in their peculiar iso
lation in the New World. It is an interesting coincidence that the colo
nists of Maryland were led to adopt an institution identical, at least in
name, with the institution first framed by bdnds of Angles and Saxons

6 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
upon their arrival in old England, a thousand years before. The hun
dreds in Maryland were in origin a geographical division, and so they
continued to remain. A personal hundred, as an association of a hundred
families or a hundred soldiers, was unknown in the history of this prov
ince. It was not until writs were issued, in legal form and through
regular officers to the freemen, to meet in regular assembly, that the
necessity was felt for the separation of the province into civil districta
of some kind. These original election districts were called hundreds.
Kent Island before it became the Isle of Kent County was a hundred of
St. Mary's County. After the province was divided into counties,
writs of election were no longer issued to the constables of each hundred,
but to the sheriffs of the several counties ; but the hundreds still continued
to be used as polling places. It is probable that the deputies were still
chosen by hundreds and not by counties.
The court proceedings in the early land records of Talbot disclose
the fact, that in 1696 just before that part of Talbot County, lying
north of Corsica or Coursey's Creek, was given to Kent County, there
were nine Hundreds in Talbot County, named as follows:
1. Treadhaven Hundred;
2. Bolenbroke Hundred;
3. Mill Hundred.
4. Tuckahoe Hundred;
5. Worrell Hundred;
6. Bay Hundred;
7. Island Hundred;
8. Lower Kent Island Hundred;
9. Chester Hundred.
After Talbot County was reduced to the present limit by the erection
of Queen Anne's County, in 1707, it contained but seven hundreds, viz.,
1. Island Hundred;
2. Tuckahoe Hundred;
3. Kingscreek Hundred;
4. Bolenbroke Hundred;
5. Thirdhaven Hundred;
6. Mill Hundred;
7. Bay Hundred.
An Act of Assembly of the Province of Maryland passed at the
session of 1715 "For the appointment of Constables and what relates
to their office, and ascertaining what persons are taxable," required,
"That the Justices of Peace in every respective county of this Prov-

THE FOUNDING QF TALBOT 7
ince, at the first county Court held after Michaelmas, shall appoint
constables in each Hundred of their respective counties," (here follows
the oath to be taken by such constables).
That every Constable shall, on or before the twentieth day of June in
every year respectively, repair in person, to every House or Habitation
within his Hundred and there require of the Master, Mistress, Dame or
other chief Person of the Family, a true list from under their hands, of
all their taxable persons, distinctly to be named; they and every of
them have within their respective Families, out of which List the said
Constable shall make two fair Lists, under his Hand, and one he shall
send to the Sheriff of the County, and the other he shall present to the
next County Court to be set up.
On November 25, 1682, William Penn, the Proprietary of Penn
sylvania, who, through the Duke of York claimed title to the three
Lower Counties which later became the State of Delaware, wrote to
the magistrates of Sussex County as follows:
By the Proprietary and Governor of Pennsilvania and the Teritorys
thereunto belonging:
Having duly Considered the present State of your County to the end
that all obstructions to the due improvement thereof may be removed
and reasonable encouragement given to invite planters to settle amongst
you; I do think fitt to order and appoint as follows: That you, in
open Court shall receive all peticons from time to time that may be made
by such persons as design to take up Land among you and that you
grant them a Warrant to the Surveyor to admeasure the same pro
vided always that you exceed not three hundred acres to a master of a
family, nor a hundred acres to a single person, at one single penny per
acre of value thereof in the produce of the country.
That you endeavor to seal the lands that shall hereafter be taken up
in the way of townships as three thousand acres amongst tenn familys,
if single persons one thousand acres.
The suggestion of Penn in this letter as to the division of lands among
ten families is in accordance with the Old English custom of dividing
land among ten families — assuming that each family with its servants
was ten in number — making one hundred, and from which fact the
title Hundred was originally derived, and this suggestion of Penn's is
is doubtless the reason why the term obtained in this State — (Scharf's
History of Delaware, Vol. II, page 1203). . :

8 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
FIRST PUBLICK ROADS
The first law for the laying out and marking of public roads in Talbot
County before there were any wheeled vehicle in use was passed
At a Session of Assembly, begun and held at the town and Port of
Annapolis, in Ann-Arundel County, the Fifth day of September in the
third year of the Reign of our Sovereign, Lady ANNE, by the Grace of
God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Queen, Defender of
the Faith, etc., and in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred
and Four, entitled, An Act for the marking of High-ways, and making
the heads of Rivers, Creeks, Branches and Swamps, passable for horse
and foot.
Whereas, it is thought convenient, and very much for the benefit
of the inhabitants of this Province that roads and paths be marked and
the heads of Rivers, Creeks, and Branches be made passable.
Be it enacted, by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the
advice and consent of her Majesty's Governor, Council and Assembly
of this Province, and the authority of the same,
That all Publick and main roads be hereafter cleared and well grubbed
fit for travelling, twenty foot wide; and good and substantial bridges
made over all heads of Rivers, Creeks, Branches and Swamps, where
need shall require, at the discretion of the Justices of the County Courts,
and for the better ascertaining what is or shall be deemed publick roads.
Be it likewise enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that the Justices of
the County Courts shall set down and ascertain in their Records, once
every year, What are the publick roads of their respective counties, and
appoint overseers of the same; and that no person whatsoever shall
alter or change any such publick road, without the leave of license of
the Governor and Council, or Justices of the County Courts upon Penalty
of Five Hundred Pounds of Tobarcco. And that all the roads that lead
to any Ferries, Court House of any County, or to any church, or leading
through any county to the Port of Annapolis, shall be marked on both
sides the road with two notches; if the road lead to Annapolis. The
road that leads there at the leaving of the other road shall be marked
on the face of a tree in a smooth place cut for that purpose, with the
letters A. A. set on with a pair of marking irons, and coloured, and so
with two notches all along the road; and where at any place it leaves
any other road, it shall be again distinguished with the mark aforesaid
on the face of the tree with a pair of marking irons, and coloured as
aforesaid; and any road on the Eastern Shore in Talbot County, that
leads to the Port of "William-Stadt," (Oxford) at the entering into
the same, and upon parting with, or dividing from any other road, shall
be marked on the face of a tree in a smooth place, cut for that purpose,
with the letter W. and so with two notches all along the road; and
the roads that lead to any Court House, shall have two notches on the
trees on both sides of the road, as aforesaid; and another notch at a
distance above the other two. And any road that leads to a Church

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT 9
shall be marked at the entrance into the same, and at the leaving any
other road, with a slip, cut down the face of the tree near the ground;
and any road leading to a Ferry, and dividing from the other Publick
Roads, shall be marked with three notches of equal distance at the
entrance into the same. And these rules and methods the several Jus
tices of the County Courts, shall from time to time, give in charge of
the overseers of the highways, by them to be appointed for that purpose,
who are likewise enjoyned carefully and strictly to observe and perform
the same, under the penalty aforesaid. And where any Road shall
lead through any plantation or old Fields;
Be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, by and with the Advice and
consent aforesaid, That the several and respective overseers within
the several and respective Precincts, do set up Posts, so many as may
be perceived from one to the other, which posts shall be marked and
notched according to the place they lead to, as before in this Act, for
the Marking and Notching of roads have been appointed; and that the
posts of all gates through which any such road shall lead, as aforesaid,
be marked and notches as aforesaid; under the penalty aforesaid, any
thing in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding. And the said over
seers, shall from time to time, as often as occasion shall require, fall all
dead trees on each side of all main roads where limbs hang over, to
prevent any damage that may happen by falling on Travellers.
Note. — At this date, 1704, Annapolis and William-Stadt, (Oxford)
were then the two most important towns in the Province.
POST ROUTES IN EARLY COLONIAL DAYS
The following Act of the Assembly of the Province of Maryland,
passed fifty-two years after the founding of Talbot, shows the uncer
tainty of our mail facilities in early days.
At a Sessions of Assembly begun and held at the city of Annapolis,
in the County of Ann-Arundel, the twenty-seventh Day of October in
the Eleventh year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lady Anne, Queen of
Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c, Annoq.
Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirteen, the Honourable
Edward Lloyd, Esq., being President of her Majesty's Council of the
Province aforesaid; were enacted the Laws following, viz. : An Act for
the more speedy conveying publick Letters and Pacquets of this Province,
and defraying the charge thereof, and to prevent the Abuses of breaking
open and concealing any Letters whatsoever.
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with
the Advice and Consent of her Majesty's President, Council and Assem
bly of this Province, and the Authority of the same, That the Sheriff
of each respective County is hereby Enjoyned and Commanded to take
Care of all Publick Letters and Pacquets and expeditiously convey them
according to their respective Directions to the next Sheriff or Under-

10 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Sheriff of the next adjacent County. And for the Encouragement of
the several respective Sheriffs, and their Diligence in conveying such
Public Letters and Pacquets, that they may be allowed the several
Sums hereafter expressed, to be laid in the Public Levy of this Province
(that is to say) To the Sheriff of Ann-Arundel, Fifteen Hundred Pounds
of Tobacco who is hereby obliged to convey all such Letters and Pacquets
as are directed and must go over to the Eastern Shore to Kent Island and
there to be delivered to the Sheriff of Queen Anne's County or his Deputy.
He in turn delivered the mail matter to the Sheriff or under-Sheriff
of Talbot County who received 800 pounds of tobacco per annum from
the county. Heavy penalties were imposed for opening either public
or private letters unauthorized. ELECTION DISTRICTS
1799 Chap. 50: Commission appointed to divide Talbot County
into four election districts.
1852 Chap. 258: Erects new election district (No. 5) out of second
election district, the line to be as follows:
Beginning at the mouth of Harris' Creek and running with Baid creek
to the head thereof, thence with the division line between the lands
of James Dawson and William Lowe, thence with said line until it inter
sects the division line between the lands of William Hambleton and said
Lowe, thence with said fine until it reaches the head of a cove or creek
called Emerson's Creek, and with said Creek until it reaches Miles
River and thence with the river and bay including Tilghman's, Poplar,
and Sharp's Islands to the mouth of said Harris' Creek.
1876 Chap. 154: County Commissioners authorized to divide
election districts into election precincts.
1892 Chap. 572: Changes boundary line between third and first
election districts to be as follows:
Beginning at the mouth of Trippe's Creek and running up Trippe's
Creek and the north branch thereof, thence with said north branch of
Trippe's Creek to a point at or near the residence of Mrs. James P.
Hambleton, known as Waterloo, from thence nearly east with the road
leading from the said Mrs. Hambleton's residence to a point on the
public road from Hambleton to Dover Bridge at or near Iveytown
colored church. Thence with said road until it intersects the present
dividing fine between Easton and Trappe Districts, then following the
line as now laid to the Choptank river.
Since 1852 Talbot County has continued to be divided into five
election districts, as follows, 1st Easton, 2d Saint Michaels, 3rd Trappe,
4th Chapel, 5th Bay Hundred.

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT 11
FERRIES KEPT IN TALBOT IN COLONIAL DAYS
1760, Nov. 12, Court sits, present:
Mr. Risdon Bozman, Mr. Robert Goldsborough,
Mr. John Goldsborough, Mr. Edward Oldham,
Mr. William Thomas, Mr. Tristram Thomas.
Ordered that if Deborah Nicols doth not keep sufficient boat and
hands to transport the inhabitants of this County from Barker's Land
ing to Hog Island or from Hog Island to Barker's Landing, and give a
good attendance to the said ferry that her allowance next November
Court shall be reduced to one-half. (Allowance of 4000 lbs. tobacco
per year.)
Ordered that Thomas Bruff doth not keep sufficient boat and hands
to transport the inhabitants of this County over Miles River ferry from
Bruffs Landing to Barrows Landing, and from Barrows Landing to
Bruffs Landing again, and give a good attendance at the said ferry,
that his allowance next November Court shall be reduced to one-half.
(Allowance 6000 lbs. tobacco per year.)
Ordered that Rigby Foster doth keep a sufficient boat and hands to
transport the inhabitants of this County with their horses and carriages
over Chancellors Point ferry as often as they shall have occasion and
persons living out of the County at the following rates: Footman 4d;
horse and chaise and persons riding in it 2S6d and every person enlisted
in his Majesty's service without fee or reward; shall be allowed at the
rate of 6000 lbs. tobacco per year.
The Court agrees with Elizabeth Skinner that if she will keep a good
boat fit for such use and transport the inhabitants of the County, their
horses and carriages, over Oxford ferry from the town point to her Land
ing as often as they shall have occasion and persons living out of the
County at the following rates: man and horse, 9d; foot, 4d; horse and
chaise and persons riding therein 2S, and any persons enlisted in his
majesty's service without fee or reward, shall be allowed at the rate of
4900 lbs. tobacco per year. In later years, as the population in Talbot
and the other countiesi ncreased, other ferries were established. As early
as 1690 one was in operation between Cloras Point inTalbot and Castle
Haven in Dorchester County across the Choptank River. "Salary
paid was 4000 lbs. of tobacco, in casks."
EARLIEST LAND GRANTS IN TALBOT
Lord Baltimore issued grants of land in Talbot County prior to 1661,
when Talbot County was founded, as appears by the records in the
Land office in Annapolis as follows:
Salter's Marsh — 100 acres, surveyed October 13, 1658, for John
Salter Grange — 150 acres, surveyed October 15, 1658, for William Granger

12 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Morgan St. Michael— 300 acres, surveyed October 19, 1658, for
Henry Morgan
Wades Point-^00 acres, surveyed October 19, 1658, for Zachary
Wade Hatton— 500 acres, surveyed October 19, 1658, for William Hatton.
Scotts Close — 200 acres, surveyed November 5, 1658, for James
Scott Linton — 600 acres, surveyed November 5, 1658, for Edward Lloyd
Harbor Rouse — 100 acres, surveyed July 26, 1659, for Anthony
Griffin Pickburn— 200 acres, surveyed July 26, 1659, for Nicholas Pickard
Hemersly — 400 acres surveyed July 26, 1659, for Thomas Emerson
Williston — 224 acres surveyed July 28, 1659, for William Champ
Kirkham — 350 acres surveyed July 29, 1659, for Martin Kirk
Martingham — 200 acres, surveyed July 28, 1659, for William Hamble
ton Mile End — 400 acres, surveyed July 28, 1659, for Thomas Miles
Choptank Island — 1200 acres, surveyed August 11, 1659, for Seth
Foster Cudlington — 400 acres, surveyed August 11, 1659, for Cuthbert
Phelps Hir-Dir-Lloyd — 3050 acres, surveyed August 11, 1659, for Edward
Lloyd, Esq.
Readly — 800 acres, surveyed August 11, 1659, for Thomas Read
Plimhimmon — 600 acres, surveyed August 15, 1659,for Henry Morgan,
Anderton — 600 acres, surveyed August 15, 1659, for John Anderton
Ottwell — 500 acres, surveyed August 15, 1659, for William Taylor
Turner's Point — 400 acres, surveyed August 15, 1659, for William
Turner, Grafton Manor — 1000 acres, surveyed August 20, 1659, for John
Harris Summerton — 200 acres, surveyed August 20, 1659, for Thomas Sey
mour Marshy Point — 700 acres, surveyed August 23, 1659, for James
Adams Canterbury Mannour — 1000 acres, surveyed August 23, 1659, for
Richard Tilghman
Eastwood — 300 acres, surveyed August 24, 1659, for Robert Jones
Tilghman's Fortune — 1000 acres, surveyed August 24, 1659, for
Samuel Tilghman
Ratcliffe Mannour — 800 acres, surveyed August 25, 1659, for Cap
tain Robert Morris
Woolsey or Chancellor Point — 1000 acres, surveyed August 25, 1659,
for Philip Calvert, Esq.
Todd-Upon-Dirwan — 400 acres, surveyed August 30, 1659, for
Thomas Todd
Hopkins Point— 800 acres, surveyed August 25, 1659, for Robert
Hopkins

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT 13
Jennings Hope — 1000 acres surveyed January 31, 1660, for Richard
Jennings Job's Content — 1000 acres, surveyed January 31, 1660, for Job Nutt
Meersgate — 300 acres, surveyed June 24, 1659, for William Hemsley
Patrick's Choice — 200 acres, surveyed March 30, 1663, for Patrick
Mullican ComeWhitton — 200 acres, surveyed January 4, 1694, for Wm. Dick
inson The following large tracts were laid out between 1665 and 1672 :
Chestnut Bay — 1000 acres for Peter Sharp
Scarborough — 1400 acres for William Corwin
Cooks Hope — 1000 acres for Miles Cook
Lowes Ramble — 1440 acres for Nicholas Lowe
Hemsley's Arcadia — 1030 acres for William Hemsley
Sayer's Forrest — 2250 acres for Major Peter Sayer.
Note. — Four of the above tracts only have never passed out of posses
sion of the male descendants of the original grantees. They are:
"Linton" surveyed for Edward Lloyd;
"Martingham" surveyed for William Hambleton;
"Patrick's Choice" surveyed for Patrick Mullikin;
"Come Whitton" surveyed for William Dickinson.
TALBOT'S FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL
The first law for the establishment of one Public School in each County
in the Province of Maryland passed by the Assembly in 1723 was en
titled, "An Act for the encouragement of Learning, and Erectmg Schools
in the several Counties within this Province."
Whereas, the preceding Assemblies for some years past, have had
much at heart the absolute necessity they have lain under, in regard
both to duty and interest, to make the best provision in their power for
the liberal and pious education of the youth of this province, and im
proving the natural abilities and acuteness, (Which seems not to be
inferior to any), so as to be fitted for the discharge of their duties in
the several stations and employments they may be called to and employed
in, either in regard to Church or State, and for that end laid an imposi
tion on sundry commodities exported out of, and others imported into
this Province, and other fines, for the raising a fund for the erecting
and supporting a good school in each County within this province,
which has succeeded with such desired effect that it is now thought
necessary, and it is prayed that it may be enacted.
And be it enacted by the Lord Proprietor, by and with the advice
and consent of his Lordship's Governor, and the Upper and Lower

14 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Houses of Assembly, and the authority of the same, that in some con
venient time after the end of this present session of Assembly, there shall
(for the ends above mentioned), be erected one school in each County
within this Province at the most convenient -places, as near the center
of the County as may be, and as may be most convenient for the board
ing of children, at the discretion of the visitors, or the major part of them,
that are hereafter nominated, appointed and empowered by this Act in
each County.
Be it therefore enacted, by the authority, advice and consent afore
said, that for the time being, the seven several persons hereafter named
for each County, be and are hereby nominated and appointed, and
named visitors, and are empowered with full and sufficient authority
for discharging the several offices, duties and trusts, reposed in and re
quired of them by this Act, within the several and respective Counties
wherein they reside.
For Talbot County, Reverend Mr. Henry Nichols, Col. Mathew Tilgh
man Ward, Robert Ungle, Esq., Mr. Robert Goldsborough, Mr. Wil
liam Clayton, Mr. John Oldham and Mr. Thomas Bozman. For
Queen Anne County, the Reverend Mr. Christopher Wilkinson, Phile
mon Lloyd, Esq., Richard Tilghman, Esq., Mr. James Earle, Mr. Wil
liam Turbutt, Mr. Augustine Thompson and Mr. Edward Wright.
And be it further enacted, that the visitors (for the time being) of
each school, being qualified, as aforesaid, be and are hereby authorized
and directed with all convenient speed, to purchase one hundred acres
or more of land, for the use of such school, having a special regard to
its convenieney, that it may be, as near as possible in such place of the
County as is before directed for the erecting of schools, by this Act;
the which land, when so purchased, the visitors are to assign such part
of it as they shall see meet, not to exceed one moiety thereof, to be built
upon, and cleared (if not before built on and cleared) for the convenieney
of making corn and grain, and for pasturage, for the encoragement
use and benefit of the Master of such school, for the time being; the
other moiety whereof is to be preserved in woodland ground, and no
other use made thereof by such Master, without the license and direction
of the said visitors, than what may be absolutely necessary for fire-wood
and the repairing of the houses and fences already built and made, on
such other moiety thereof; that no Master be permitted, either by
himself, or any other person, on any pretence whatsoever to plant any
tobacco on such land or plantation; and the visitors of the several schools
as aforesaid, are further empowered and directed, in case that there shall

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT 15
not be sufficient building upon any such land at the time of making
a purchase thereof, for a dwelling house and necessary for the Master,
and for keeping a school therein, and ground cleared sufficient for the
use aforesaid, that then they shall, with all possible speed, agree with
such workmen and laborers, in the best manner they can, that will under
take the necessary buildings and improvements upon such lands for the
use aforementioned, and the visitors aforesaid are likewise hereby di
rected to take all proper methods for the encouraging good school mas
ters, that shall be members of the Church of England, and of pious and
exemplary lives and conversations and capable of teaching well the
Grammar, good writing and the Mathematicks, if such can conveniently
be got; and that they allow every such Master for his encouragement
for the present (beside the benefit and use of his plantation) the sum of
Twenty Pounds per annum, and to take such other measures or make
such other agreements, from time to time, for the future, as the circum
stances will admit of, as may give due encouragement to one or more
Masters, and be necessary and useful for the improving and perpetuat
ing such school.
And further, the Visitors of every school, after it shall be erected are
hereby required to meet there at least four times a year to inspect into
and consider of, and direct the necessary affairs thereof.
And be it further enacted, that every person by this Act appointed
as a Visitor of the County schools, or that shall hereafter be nominated
and appointed as such, pursuant to the directors hereof, that shall will
fully refuse or delay to take upon him the said office, shall forfeit and
pay for every such refusal or delay, the sum of Five Hundred Pounds
of Tobacco, for the use of the School of that County where such offense
shall be committed; to be recovered in his Lordship's name or at the
Visitor's suit, before the Justices of the County Court, by Bill, Plaints
or information, whereen no Essoyn, Protection, or Wager of Law shall
be allowed." FIRST ADMIRAL OF THE MARYLAND PROVINCE
Cecilius, Absolute Proprietary of the Province of Maryland and
Avalon, Lord Baron of Baltimore &c.
To our right Trusty and Well beloved Josias ffendall, Esq., our
Lieutenant of our Province of Maryland and to the rest of our Councill
and others our officers and people there (to) whome these presents may
come, Greeting.
Know yee that we doe hereby Constitute authorize and appoint our
trusty and well beloved Samuel Tilghman of London, Mariner, to be

16 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
our Admiral of our said Province of Maryland under us and our Lieuten
ant of our said Province for the time being and will and require that he
use and Enjoy the powers dignities Privileges benefits and Immunityes
of right due and belonging to him as Admirall of our said Province
under us and our Lieutenant there for the time being. All which powers,
benefits and Priviledges aforesaid Wee doe hereby declare shall be En
joyed by the said Samuell Tilghman till wee or our heires shall Signifie
under our hands and seales our or theire pleasure to the contrary.
Given under our hand and greater Seale at Armes the 15 day of
July in the 27 yeare of our Dominion over the said Province of Maryland
in the yeare of our Lord 1658.
This Admiral Samuel Tilghman, was commander of the ship Golden
Fortune, in which he made several cruises between London, England,
and Oxford, Maryland. He patented in January 1759 a tract of 1000
acres of land at the head of the Tredavon river, called Tilghman's For
tune. He never settled permanently in America. His1 first cousin
Dr. Richard Tilghman came to Maryland from London with his family
in the ship Elizabeth and Mary in 1661. He patented in 1659 a tract
on the Tredavon river of 1000 acres called Canterbury Manor.
HOW ELECTIONS WERE CONDUCTED IN PROVINCIAL TIMES
At a Court of the right Honorable CHARLES, absolute Lord and
Proprietary of the Province of Maryland and Avalon Lord Baron of
Baltimore, &c, held for Talbot county in the Court House near Pitts
his Bridge in the County afd. the Twenty Seventh day of August, Anno
Domini, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Twenty and Eight, by
virtue of a Writ of the same Lord Proprietary to Nicholas Lowe, Esq.:
High Sheriff of the County afd. to elect Four Delegates and Deputies
to serve for ye said County in the General Assembly of this Province
before the same Lord Proprietary his Justices of the Peace for the County
afd. of whom were Present:
Mr. Nicholas Goldsborough,
Mr. Daniel Sherwood,
The Worshipful: Mr. George Robins, and
Mr. Risdon Bozman, Tench Francis, Clk:
Thereupon the same Sheriff maketh publick Proclamation thereby
giving notice to all freemen of the said County who have within the same
County a freehold of fifty acres of land or who are residents and have
a visible estate of Forty pounds sterling at the least thereby requiring
them to appear at said County Court house the tenth day of September
next ensuing to elect and choose four Deputies and Delegates to serve
for the said County in the General Assembly of this Province.

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT 17
Whereupon the Court Adjourns to the same Tenth day of September
At which said Tenth day of September, the Justices of Talbot County
afd. to-wit: Robert Goldsborough, Esq.,
Mr. Nicholas Goldsborough,
Mr. Daniel Sherwood, and
Mr. Risdon Bozman,
Again here come and as a Court for the cause afd. Sit, and the
Freeholders and residents of the said County do elect and choose:
James Hollyday,
George Robins,
Samuel Chamberlaine and
John Edmondson of Talbot County, afd, Gentlemen,
to serve as Deputies and Delegates for the County afd. in the said
General Assembly according to the Act of Assembly in such case lately
made and provided.
LIST OF TALBOT BURGESSES IN THE PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY
Talbot County was represented in the Provincial assembly by the
following Burgesses;
Lieut. Col. Richard Woolman, 1661-'69-'71-'74.
William Coursey, 1666.
William Hamilton, 1666.
William Hambleton, 1669-71-74.
Daniel Clark, 1669.
Philemon Lloyd 1671-74-'81-'82 (died 1685).
Joseph Weeks, 1669-71-74.
John Edmondson, 1681.
John Rousby, 1682-85.
George Robotham, 1685-86.
Hon. Robert Smith, 1694, speaker.
Col. Henry Coursey, 1694-'95 (died 1695).
William Hemsley, 1695-'97.
Nicholas Lowe, 1694-'95, 1707-'ll.
Major Thomas Smithson, 1694-1711,
William Coursey, 1696.
Edward Lloyd, 1698-1702 (when removed to council).
Philemon Lloyd, Jr., 1700-'03.
Henry Coursey, 1704-'06 (died 1706).
Robert Goldsborough, 1704-1707.
Richard Tilghman, 1698-'01, 1701-'02.

18 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Robert Ungle, 1708-1727 (speaker).
Thomas Robins, 1708-'09-'12.
Lieut. Col. Matthew Tilghman Ward, (speaker) 1712-'16.
James Lloyd, 1712-22 (when removed to council).
Thomas Emerson, 1717.
Foster Turbutt, 1715-'16.
Thomas Edmondson, 1718-'19 (died 1719).
William Clayton, 1719-'20-'21.
Daniel Sherwood, 1722-'24.
John Oldham, 1722-'24.
Thomas Bozman, 1724 (Deputy Commissary, '25-'30).
Benjamin Pemberton, 1725-'27.
Samuel Chamberlaine, 1728-31.
George Robins, 1728-31.
Col. James HoUyday, 1725-'31.
Nicholas Goldsborough, 1732-50 (continuously).
Edward Needles, 1732-'37.
Perry Benson, 1732-'33.
John Edmondson Jr., 1728-'37.
Tench Francis, 1734-'37.
Edward Lloyd, 1738-'41.
Robert Lloyd, 1738-'50.
WiUiam Thomas 1738-'48.
Edward Oldham, 1749-'53-'57.
John Goldsborough, 1742-70.
Pollard Edmondson, 1751-66.
Matthew Tilghman, 1751-'57, 1767-76.
WUliam Thomas, 1761-'63.
James Edge, 1754-'56.
Samuel Bowman, 1760.
Woolman Gibson, 1758-'60.
James Tilghman, 1761-'63.
Henry Hollyday, 1764-'66.
James Dickinson, 1767-70.
Nicholas Thomas, 1767-76.
James Lloyd Chamberlaine, 1771-76.
Edward Lloyd, 1771-76.
The last session of the General Assembly under the Proprietary
Government commenced 23rd March 1774, and ended 19th of April
1774. On June 2nd 1774 General Assembly prorogued to 24th October
1774, by Governor Eden, who continued to prorogue the Assembly,

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT 19
from month to month, till June 12th 1776, when Governor Eden issued
his Proclamation dissolving the General Assembly. Writs of election
were issued, returnable on the 25th of July 1776. The Provincial Con
vention of Freemen then in session in Annapolis Resolved, June 25th,
1776. That the said writs be not obeyed, and that no election be made
in consequence thereof. Extract from minutes.
So ended the Proprietary Government. Governor Eden took his
departure in the ship Fowey, for England. The Convention of Freemen,
presided over by <cthe Patriarch of the Colony," Matthew Tilghman, as
the historian McMahon calls him, had virtually assumed the reins of
Government in 1774.
MAILS CARRIED BY THE COUNTY SHERIFFS IN EARLY DAYS
The uncertainty of mail facilities in Talbot County more than half
a century after this county was established is evidenced by the follow
ing act of the Provincial Assembly.
At a session of Assembly begun and held at the City of Annapolis,
in the County of Ann-Arundel, the twenty-seventh day of October,
in the Eleventh year of the reign of our Sovereign Lady ANNE, Queen
of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. Annoq-
Domini, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirteen; The Honourable
Edward Lloyd, Esq., being President of her Majesty's Council of the
Province aforesaid, were enacted the laws following, viz.:
An Act for the more speedy conveying publick letters and pacquets
of this Province, and defraying the charge thereof, and to prevent
abuses of breaking open and concealing any letters whatsoever.
For as much as several of the inhabitants of this Province have been
formerly subject to great and manifest inconveniences; by pressing
of horses (under pretext of carrying and conveying publick letters and
pacquets). For prevention whereof, and that due care may be taken
for the future, that all publick letters and pacquets, relating to her
Majesty's or the publick service of this Province, be securely and expe
ditiously conveyed, according to the directions the Delegates of this
present General Assembly do pray that it may be enacted.
And be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and
with the advice and consent of her Majesty's President, Council and
Assembly of this Province and the authority of the same, That the
sheriff of each respective county, is hereby enjoyned and commanded
to take care of all publick letters and pacquets, and expeditiously con
vey them according to their respective directions to the next Sheriff
or Under-Sheriff of the next adjacent County.
And for the encouragement of the several and respective sheriffs
and their diligence in conveying such publick letters and pacquets,

20 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
that they may be allowed the several sums hereafter expressed, to be
laid in the Pubfick Levy of this Province, (that is to say) To the Sheriff
Ann-Arundel Fifteen Hundred Pounds of Tobacco, who is hereby obliged
to convey all such letters and pacquets as are directed and must go over
to the Eastern Shore to Kent Island,. and there to be delivered to the
Sheriff of Queen Anne County, or his Deputy. The Sheriff of Queen
Anne County Fourteen Hundred Pounds of tobacco, who is hereby also
obliged to convey all such letters and pacquets as are directed to the City
of Annapolis, to the said City. To the Sheriff of Cecil County, One
Thousand pounds of tobacco, who is also obliged to convey all such
letters and pacquets as are directed to the Northward, to the Town of
New Castle on Delaware. To the Sheriff of Talbot County Eight Hun
dred pounds of tobacco, etc., and to the Sheriff of Baltimore County,
Six Hundred pounds of tobacco, which said several sums of tobacco
shall be annually allowed and paid to the sheriffs aforesaid; in considera
tion whereof the sheriffs of the said several and respective Counties
shall defray all such charges as shall recrue by reason of conveying such
letters or pacquets, any former Law, usage or custom to the contrary
notwithstanding. If any such letter is stopped twenty-four hours
longer than it reasonably need be (respect being had to the wind and
weather), the High Sheriff shall forfeit the sum of Two Thousand pounds
of tobacco in cask, the one Moiety thereof to our Sovereign Lady the
Queen, her heirs and successors for the support of this Province, the
other Moiety to him or them who will sue for the same. Every person
presuming to take and open the seal or seals of any letter or letters what
soever not being unto him or them directed, not having special license
so to do from the person to whom the same is directed, shall upon due
conviction thereof, suffer imprisonment of her, his or their bodies for
and during the space of six days, without bail or mainprize and forfeit
the sum of Five pounds sterling, the one moyety to her Majesty, her
heirs and successors for the support of Government, the other moyety
to him or them that shall inform or sue for the same.
THE COLORS OF THE MILITIA OF TALBOT COUNTY IN
PROVINCIAL TIMES
During the reign of William and Mary, after the Protestant revolu
tion, Francis Nicholson was commissioned the second Royal Governor
of Maryland. His council re-organized the militia of this Province
in 1695, and authorized certain distinctive colors for each of the then
ten counties of Maryland, as follows: For Kent, blue; Saint Mary's, red;
Anne Arundel, white; Calvert, yellow; Charles, bronze; Baltimore,
green; Talbot, purple; Somerset, jack flag; Dorchester, buff; Cecil crim
son. Prior to this date the colors of the Calverts, the Lords Balti
more, sable and or, black and gold, were the only colors used by the
militia of the entire Province of Maryland. The different counties
having no distinctive colors, one from the others.

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT 21
CLERKS OF TALBOT COUNTY COURT FROM 1662 TO 1915
John Morgan  1662 to 1664
Thomas Vaughan  1664 to 1668
William Hemsley  1668 to 1684
Thomas Impey  1684 to 1686
Nicholas Lowe  1686 to 1689
John Lewellin  1689 to 1692
John Valliant  1692 to 1696
Thomas Lawrence  1696 to 1699
Robert Finley  1699 to 1704
Foster Turbutt.  1704 to 1720
Philip Feddeman  1720 to 1726
Tench Francis  1726 to 1734
Thomas Bullen  1734 to 1738
John Leeds  1738 to 1777
Richard Skinner  1777 to 1785
Benjamin Stevens  1785 to 1794
William Stoddert Bond  1794 to 1801
Jacob Loockerman  1801 to 1835
James Parrott  1835 to 1851
Samuel T.'Hopkins  •  1851 to 1867
John Baggs  '  1867 to 1873
J. Frank Turner  1873 to 1884
Thomas Hughlett  1884 to 1896
Wilfred Bateman  1896 to 1897
Francis G. Wrightson  1897 to 1915
DEPUTY COMMISSARIES GENERAL AND REGISTERS OF WILLS OF
TALBOT COUNTY FROM 1692 TO 1915
William Finney,
Edward Mann,
Nicholas Lowe,
John Rawlings r  1692 to 1699
Robert Goldsborough,
Samuel Withers,
Thomas Smithson
Robert Finley.  1699 to 1713
Foster Turbutt. . . :  1713 to 1723
Thomas Bozman  1723 to 1731

22 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
John Bozman  1731 to 1736
Tench Francis  1736 to 1738
Thomas Bullen  1738 to 1751
Jeremiah Nicols  1751 to 1754
Henry Hollyday  1754
Daniel Maynadier  1754 to 1758
William Tilghman  1758 to 1771
John Bracco  1771 to 1785 ¦
John Gibson, Jr  1787 to 1792
James Price  1792 to 1845
John H. Harris  1845 to 1851
John Donovan  1851 to 1858
Nicholas Rice  1858 to 1862
Tilghman N. Chance  1862 to 1864
John Goldsborough  1864 to 1868
Tilghman N. Chance  1868 to 1878
Charles R. Mulliken  1878 to 1879
Edward H. Roe  1879 to 1897
Charles R. Wooters  1897 to 1915
THE FIRST AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY IN TALBOT
The first decade of the 19th century, or at farthest the first 15 or
20 years of the century, constituted a period of the greatest prog
ress and prosperity this county had enjoyed, since the national inde
pendence. Our best men — men with large brains and stout hearts,
men of courage, men of confidence and hope — had not been drained off
to the cities, to the South, and to the West, leaving us with only those
of small heads and lax mental fibre. Enterprises of "great pith and
moment" were undertaken, from which we now would shrink. Adven
tures were made in business which would now appall. This is not said
as by one who is accustomed to exaggerate the merit of our fathers—
by no laudator temporis acti: but by one who has more than once in
these contributions to our local annals given his reasons for his opinions,
in the numerous instances which he has presented of the industrial
activity of the period referred to. It was during this time that our
ship-building interest was most prosperous. It was during this time
that a company to engage in general manufacturing was organized.
It was during this time that our citizens took an active part in the con
struction of the canal between the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays.

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT " 23
It was during this time that steamboats were built by our capital to
run upon our waters, one of the first of which was built under the direc
tion and subsequently commanded by a man of Talbot. It was during
this time that our bank was organized and went into successful opera
tion. And finally it was during this time that agriculture received its
first and greatest impulse, and that the first Agricultural Society was
founded in the county, probably the first in the State, and certainly
among the first in the United States.
The earliest intimation that is discoverable of a wish on the part of
any number of our farmers to associate themselves together for their
mutual benefit is contained in an article published in the Republican
Star of May 28, 1805, signed Agricola. Our forefathers, who loved
to shine in the public prints, always affected classicisms, and when they
adopted a pseudonyme, it was that of some Greek or Roman worthy.
This article is fairly well written, and recommended the formation of
an Agricultural Society, on these grounds, and in these words.
The manner in which such a society would be productive of good
effects, would be, that by farmers forming themselves into an association,
their minds would be more particularly and ardently devoted to hus
bandry and rural economy; premiums would be given for the suggestion
of the best systems, and the greatest practical productions; an emula
tion would be excited, which is always the parent of excellence in any
thing, and agriculture, instead of being deemed an inferior, low bred
and degraded pursuit, would rise in the public estimation, and become
a science that would command the attention, the genious and talents
of the age; a great source of useful information and delightful amuse
ment would be opened by a correspondence with other agricultural
societies, and the intimate alliance between philosophy and agriculture,
would afford an ample field for mental exertion; that the frequent
interchange of sentiments and opinions, and a free communication of
practical experiments and knowledge would also be advantageous, for
accurate observation will convince us that there is scarcely a farmer
in the county who does not adopt some useful plan, in something or
other, although in general he may make use of very bad ones.
It would be difficult, even at this day to add anything to this state
ment of the benefits that result from the formation of Agricultural
Societies. It may be well to say that "Agricola," whose proper name
we have no means at this day of determining, but which was probably
that of some one of the officers of the Society, hereafter to be men
tioned, states incidentally that certain improvements in agriculture
are of recent introduction— Rotation of crops, the extended use of clover,
and the employment of Plaster of Paris as a fertilizer — and he men-

24 . HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
tions the culture of tobacco as having been chiefly instrumental in pro
ducing that exhaustion of the soil, which these improvements were at
that time measurably remedying.
This communication was followed June 18, 1805, by one from "A
Farmer" in commendation of the proposition of "Agricola," in which
he refers to Agricultural Societies in New York and elsewhere as having
resulted in the inauguration of improvements in husbandry, the bene
fits of which have "surpassed expectations." "Farmer" also states that
the "laudable design of 'Agricola' meets with the approbation of every
one in the county interested in agriculture." In the issue of July 9,
"Agricola" appears in a card
proposing a meeting of those gentlemen who advocate the measure,
of establishing an Agricultural Society, on Friday the 19th of this month
at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, at the Court House in Easton.
In accordance with this proposition a number of gentlemen did assem
ble at the place and on the day designated, of whom these names are
recorded.
William Hayward, James Goldsborough,
Henry Hollyday, George R. Hayward,
Robert Moore, John Harwood,
Lloyd Nicols, Edward Roberts,
Bennett Wheeler, Nicholas Hammond,
Wm. B. Smyth, Samuel Abbott.
Robt. H. Goldsborough,
William Hayward, Esq., was chosen President of the meeting and
Robt. H. Goldsborough, Secretary. The following resolutions were
presented and adopted:
Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that a Society, formed
on liberal principles, for the promotion and improvement of agriculture
in this and the neighboring counties, will be highly useful, and tend to
increase the value of lands, and the general interest of the inhabitants.
Resolved, That the plan of such a society be forthwith prepared, to
be submitted to the gentlemen now present, and such others as may
choose to attend, at a meeting to be held for the purpose of raising the
same, on Tuesday, the 20th day of August next, in the afternoon, at
the Court House, in Easton; and that the said plan shall comprehend
a form of constitution and express in general terms the objects to be
proposed by the Society: and
Resolved, That a committee be now appointed to prepare the same,
and that they make a report thereof at the said meeting.

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT 25
In conformity with one of these resolutions three gentlemen were
appomted to draft the constitution of an Agricultural Society, and to
present it to a meeting to be held at the time and place designated by
Nicholas Hammond, Robt. H. Goldsborough, Henry Hollyday, George
R. Hayward, Robert Moore.
The meeting for organization seems not to have assembled until
Monday the 9th of September, 1805. On this day the committee upon
the articles of association and constitution presented its report, which
was adopted, and the persons then present subscribed their names to
the articles, and thereby became members of the institution. The
society then proceeded to elect permanent officers by ballot, and upon
counting the votes "it appeared" that these gentlemen were duly elected
to hold the several posts of honor:
President— Nicholas Hammond.
Vice-President — William Hayward.
Secretary — Robt. H. Goldsborough.
Treasure]: — Robert Moore.
Standing Committee — Henry Hollyday, R. H. Goldsborough, En-
nalls Martin, George R. Hayward, Nich. Hammond.
After the transaction of other business, the proceedings of this meet
ing and the constitution of the society were directed to be published
in the Star "for the information of citizens of the Eastern Shore," and
the society adjourned to the second Tuesday in October.
The following is an abstract of the constitution which was adopted
at the meeting of September 9, 1805.
Art. I. The association shall be styled A Society for the Promo
tion of Agriculture and Rural Economy for the Eastern Shore
of Maryland.
Art. II. The great end of the present institution being the improve
ment of Agriculture in this and the neighboring counties, in all its
branches, every communication that shall relate to systems of husbandry
— rotations of crops in grass and grain — the nature, qualities and kinds
of soil — the improvement of every kind of soil by manures, and the
fit application of these to different soils — the cultivation of all sorts
of grain and grasses and their suitableness to different soils and systems
— the construction of ploughs and other implements of husbandry —
improved methods of raising and ameliorating the breed of horses,
cattle, sheep, swine, and relieving them from disorders to which they
are subject — the improvement of soils by particular cultivation, and
the employment of peas, beans and other pulses — the practicability of
raising to advantage cabbages, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, beets and
other roots, as winter food for cattle, sheep and swine — the substitu-

26 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
tion of hedges for wooden fences, and the methods of raising sets and
planting them for use — the general advantages of drains and ditches
as a means of improving lands and crops, of benefiting the public high
ways and of advancing the health of the inhabitants — the cultivation
of flax, hemp, hops and cotton, and the proper care of wool, bark, tim
ber and hides, as connected with some of the arts and manufacture —
the rearing and management of fruit trees to supply the absence for
those which are daily diminishing — the methods of preventing and
destroying insects which are found to be injurious to the farmer — and
in general, every communication which shall relate in any way to these
subjects, or others connected with the department of Agriculture and
rural economy in any degree, shall be considered as a proper object of
the Institution, and shall always receive a merited attention from
members. Art. III. The membership of the Society shall be those who have
subscribed to the articles of association, and all those who shall be sub
sequently elected in the manner provided by Art. IV.
Art. IV. The officers of the Society to be a President, a V. President,
a Secretary and a Treasurer, and they shall be elected to serve one year.
Art. V. This article defines the duties of President and V. President
— to preside at meetings, and lay communications before the society.
Art. VI. This article prescribes the duties of the Secretary — to
record minutes of the meetings, to conduct correspondence — receive
communications for presentation to the Society, and to make any pub
lications that may be 'required or ordered to be made.
Art. VII. This article prescribes the duties of the Treasurer — to
take charge of the funds of the Society, and keep an account of the
same — to make disbursements of money upon order of the President,
and submit his accounts to the Society. The Treasurer might be
required to give bond.
Art. VIII. Each member to pay the sum of two dollars annually,
in half yearly installments; and the fund thus formed to be used in
defraying ordinary expenses, and paying for such medals and other
premiums, to be procured, as shall be assigned to those whose ingenuity,
discoveries or useful industry shall entitle them to reward.
Art IX. The members to be elected by ballot, a majority of votes
being sufficient to entitle the applicant to admission.
Art. X. This article provides for the formation of branch societies
in the neighboring counties on the E. Shore, which should be called
District Societies. These associated societies might be formed when
ever and wherever ten persons should subscribe to the articles of associa
tion, and the Secretaries of them were to be appointed by the parent
society in Talbot. The Secretaries must communicate to the parent
society, the proceedings of the District Societies, "and in general make
themselves the organs of preserving a due connection between the
societies of the Districts and the subscribers in this county."
Art. XI. A standing committee to be appointed each year, of five
members, whose duty it should be "to prepare for the press such trans
actions of the Society as may merit publication."

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT 27
Art. XII. Any member might withdraw at pleasure upon giving
due notice of his intention and paying his dues.
Art. XIII. Honorary members might be elected from among resi
dents of the E. Shore, "whose talents and character may add to the
respectability and usefulness of the Society.
Art. XIV. The stated meetings of the Society were required to be
held on the second Monday of March, June, September and December.
Other meetings as often as necessary.
Art. XV. The first meeting of the Society should be held on the
second Monday of September, when the officers and standing com
mittee should be chosen.
While it may be a little ungracious to attempt to deprive any of the
members of the committee of the honor of framing this constitution,
as perhaps each of them participated in its construction, it may not be
much amiss to say that it is not difficult to recognize in its provisions
the eminent good sense of Nicholas Hammond, and in its phraseology
the facile pen of Robert H. Goldsborough. Unfortunately we do not
possess a record of the names of the original members of this first Agri
cultural Society further than have been already given. It is probable,
however, that it drew into its circle most of the large and more intelli
gent farmers of the county. Its meetings were held in the Court House
at Easton and the first of these, after the meeting of organization, of
which there is any record, was that held March 29, 1806. There is
evidence of a third meeting in June of the same year, when the follow
ing preamble and resolutions were framed, and ordered to be printed:
Whereas the progress and improvement of agriculture depend very
much upon the reasonable prices of labor, and it is thought advisable
to take the sense of the members of this Society and other persons
interested in so important a subject, and to recommend a fair plan for
promoting it: It is therefore ordered, That the Farmers of Talbot
county be invited to attend a special meeting of this society, to be held
on Tuesday next, the 17th inst., to consider upon this point, and to
determine upon the prices they will think it just and reasonable to recom
mend on engaging laborers in Hay Harvest, Wheat Harvest, and other
services of Husbandry. By order. Robt. Hy. Goldsborough, Secy.
From this it would appear that the question of labor was the ques
tion of the time in 1806, as well as in 1875, and that the same complaints
were made then as now, of the disproportion between the prices paid
for the work done upon the farm and the returns for the products on
the same.
Besides this publication, we have no other extant emanating from this
society; nor indeed is there evidence that this society maintained an

28 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
existence for any great length of time. The date of its demise is no
where recorded. The fact of the existence at all, even for ever so short
a time, of such an association, at so early a date, is extremely interesting
of itself and when the purposes of the society, as set forth in the II arti
cle of its constitution, are considered, we must regard its foundation
as an evidence, not only of a pervasive interest in the improvement of
agriculture, a something which might be expected in a community
deriving its support so largely from the products of the soil, but also
of the intelligence with which all matters relating to rural economy
were regarded by those actively engaged in the pursuits of husbandry.
Here we have proof that however much we may have improved in the
practice or art of farming, we have advanced but little in the theory,
and that our forefathers of seventy years ago had actually anticipated
us, at least in thought, in almost everything that leads to the ameliora
tion of the soil, and profitable management of land.
After the extinction of the society, the organization of which has
now been given, there is no evidence of any farther attempt to form
another with similar object, until the year 1818 (not 1823, as has been
stated with some authority), when the Agricultural Society of the
State of Maryland was established, which had its branches upon the
Eastern and Western Shores, and of which the "Board of Trustees of
the Agricultural Society for the E. Shore" is the surviving representa
tive. Of this an account will hereafter be given.
The plan for the organization of a separate agricultural society for
the Eastern Shore originated in the year 1818 and was stimulated by
a published address issued on March 30, 1819, over the signature of
Edward Lloyd, Nicholas Hammond, Tench Tilghman, Robert Moore,
and Edward Needles Hambleton, advocating the establishing of agri
cultural societies in every county in the state.
The first agricultural fair or cattle show, as it was then called, was
held in Easton, November 8, 1822, under the auspices of the Maryland
Agricultural Society. At a meeting held in Easton, November 25,
1823, the amendment to the constitution of the Maryland Agricultural
Society, providing for separate Boards of twelve trustees, one for the
Western Shore, and one for the Eastern Shore, was adopted, and the
Board of Trustees of the Agricultural Society for the Eastern Shore,
was instituted by the election of the following gentlemen, to wit: Nicho
las Hammond, President; Samuel T. Kennard, Secretary; Edward
Lloyd, Samuel Stevens, Tench Tilghman, Perry Benson, Robert Moore,
Robert H. Goldsborough, Daniel Martin, Thomas Hayward, Henry

THE FOUNDING OF TALBOT 29
Hollyday and Samuel Reardon. Meetings of this Board were held
from time to time in the Court House in Easton, A very successful
cattle show was held in Easton in the autumn of 1824, which was at
tended by an unusually large crowd of visitors which had been attracted
by a notice in the local newspapers to the effect that the premiums
awarded at this fair were to be presented by the hand of the Marquis
de La Fayette, who was then in America, revisiting the scenes of his
Revolutionary victories. Great preparations had been made to enter
tain this distinguished character, but other engagements prevented
his attendance, hence Talbot was never honored with his presence.
The first meeting of the Board of Agriculture for the Eastern Shore
that was held at the residence of any of its members, met at "Wheat-
lands," in Miles River Neck, the residence of General Perry Benson,
on December 1, 1825, when Nicholas Hammond was reelected presi
dent, and Samuel T. Kennard, secretary. At this meeting Col. Edward
Lloyd resigned his membership on account of declining health, and
Purser Samuel Hambleton, U. S. Navy, was elected in his stead.
This ancient and honorable Board of Agriculture, consisting of twelve
members, has enjoyed a continuous existence for almost a century.
It has long been the time honored custom of this Board to meet monthly
at the residence of one of its members to discuss agricultural topics
and to enjoy a good Maryland dinner. The records of the Board dis
close the fact that its efforts towards improvements in agriculture
from time to time by the introduction of improved farming implements
and labor-saving machinery, of pure grain and grass seeds, in the
judicious use of lime and commercial fertilizers, and the rearing of
improved breeds of cattle, horses, sheep and hogs, have been a source
of great benefit and profit to the farmers of Talbot County. The
Presidents of this Board have been:
Nicholas Hammond, of Saint Aubins.
Robert H. Goldsborough, of Myrtle Grove.
Samuel Hambleton, of Perry Cabin.
Samuel Stevens, of Compton.
Nicholas Goldsborough, of Otwell.
Kennedy R. Owen, of Marengo.
Matthew Tilghman Goldsborough, of Ellenboro.
Edward Lloyd VII, of Wye House.
Matthew Tilghman Goldsborough of Otwell.

THE INDIANS IN TALBOT COUNTY
Although prior to 1652, there were many Indian settlements, as still
indicated by their banks of oyster shells, on points along the shores of
the Choptank, Chester and Tred Avon rivers, it was in this year, being
eight years prior to the founding of Talbot county, that a treaty was
made with them, which is the first of which any record has been pre
served and by which all of their lands on the Eastern Shore, north of
the Choptank river, were ceded to the English.
This treaty was made at the river Severn, where the city of Annapolis
was later located, and, tradition says, it was held under the old tulip-
popular tree, still standing on the campus of St. John's College. This
treaty may be found, at length, in the appendix to Bozman's History
of Maryland, in which it is stated a blank occurs in the first article. A
critical examination of the old council book will, however, convince
any person familiar with the peculiar chirography of that time, that
there is no blank in it, and that the word that Bozman says, in another
place, is illegible, is in reality the word trees. The first article is as
follows: Article of peace and friendship treated and agreed upon the 5th day
of July, 1652, between the English nation in the province of Maryland,
on the one part, and the Indian nation of Susquesahanough on the
other part, as followeth:
First, that the English nation shall have, hold and enjoy to them,
their heirs and assigns, forever, all the land lying from the Patuxent
river unto Palmer's Island, on the Western side of the Bay of Chesepiake,
and from Choptank river to the north east branch which lyes to the
northward of Elks river, on the Eastern side of the said baye, with all
the islands, rivers, creeks, tres, fish, fowle, deer, elke, and whatsoever
else to the same belonging, excepting the Isle of Kent and Palmer's
Island, which belong to Capt. Clayborne. But, never the less it shall
be lawful for the aforesaid English or Indians to build a house or forte
for trade or any such like use or occasion at any tyme upon Palmers'
Island. The treaty further stipulated for the return of fugitives escaping
from either of the contracting parties, and provided that when the
Indians desired to visit the English they should come by water and not
by land, and not more than eight or ten of them at one time, and that
each party, when visiting the other, should carry with them and exhibit
30

THE INDIANS IN TALBOT COUNTY 31
the token, which they appear to have mutually exchanged with each
other, so that they could be recognized and entertained. And after
pledging the contracting parties to a perpetual peace, which was to en
dure for ever, to the end of the world, provided that if it should so hap
pen that either party should grow weary of the peace, and desired to
go to war, they should give twenty days' notice by sending in and deliv
ering up this writing.
This treaty was signed by Richard Bennet, Edward Lloyd, Thomas
Marsh, Capt. William Fuller and Leonard Strong, commissioners on
the part of the English, and on the part of the Indians by "Sawahegeh,
treasurer, Auroghtaregh, Scarhuhadig, Ruthehoagh and Nathheldi-
anch, war captains and Councillors of Susquesahanough," and was wit
nessed by William Lawson and Jaf er, or Jasper Peter, the last individual
signing it for the Swedish Government. This Peter was probably an
Indian trader from the Swedish settlement at Christina, (now Wil
mington, Del.).
The reader will notice that Kent and Palmer's Island are said to be
long to Captain Clayborne. The facts being that at this time the Gov
ernment of Maryland was in the hands of his friends and that he had
re-entered and taken possession of these two islands a short time before
the treaty was made. We learn from Hansons "Old Kent" that "in
consequence of dangers arising from the hostility of the 'Salvages,'
Capt. Giles Brent, Esq., one of the Counsil, was commissioned, Feb. 3,
1639, o. s. to be Commander of the Isle of Kent," with military powers.
This was for special and temporary purposes. He remained on the Isle,
in commission, but a few months, for it appears that on the 14th of
August, 1640, William Braithwayte was acknowledged by the Governor,
Commander of the Isle, and "Gyles Brent, Gent" as "the treasurer of
our province."
The Indians had again become so hostile that the Governor on the
10th day of July, 1641, issued his proclamation prohibiting all persons
whatsoever "to harbour or entertain any Indian" under pain of the
penalty of martial law, and declaring it "lawful to any inhabitant what
soever of the Isle of Kent to shoot, wound or kill any Indian whatso
ever coming upon the said Island."
Is it any wonder then that the poor Indian became desperate. Neces
sity lent them obstinancy. Despair lent them courage. Their only
resource was the scalping knife. The Susquehannahs lived in Cecil
county, the Matapeakes principally in Kent and upper Talbot. The
Chester River was lined with their settlements, where many Indian re-

32 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
mains still exist, on the Emory Farm, called Indian Town, while the
shores of the Tred Avon and Choptank rivers were occupied by the
Choptank Indians. These two last mentioned tribes, though at first
peaceably inclined towards the white settlers, became later fierce and
warlike. They, however, dwindled rapidly away, and scarcely a men
tion of them appears in history.
About the year 1689, 28 years after the laying out of Talbot County,
Mr. John Hawkins, for many years Judge of the Provincial Court,
who lived at Queenstown on Chester River (1680-1717), long one of the
chief shipping ports of Talbot County was appointed to head a com
mission to the Indians for the Eastern Shore. The other members of
this commission, all of Talbot County, were John Stanley, Clement
Sales, William Dickinson, William Stevens and William Bealey. The
Nanticoke Indians had been committing many depredations along the
shores of Talbot County, on the Choptank, the Saint Michaels and the
Chester Rivers, and these gentlemen had been appointed to treat with
the Indians and if necessary to reduce them by force.
Here is their Report to the Governor and Provincial Council:
REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS TO THE INDIANS, AUGUST YE 23RD, 1689
These may acquaint you that we whose names are underwritten have
according to request bin and treated with ye Indians, and doe find 'em
to be very civill and kind, and desire nothing but peace and quietness,
"butt yt in part through ye instigation of bad people, and chiefly doe
instance Andrew Gray, that ye English in one moon would cut them
all off; likewise concerning an Indian woman w'ch they say was killed
by Cornelius Mulrain's wife, for w'ch they have expected some satis
factory answer, concerning which as yett, they have not received.
And yt ye sd. Cornelius, since their departure, offered great abuse in
robbing them of their cannons, corn, mattar, bowles and basketts, and
they say, their chests have bin broke open, and since they have bin
gone out ye sd Gray hath bin with 'em and threatened them if they
would not come home, he would get a Party of men and fetch 'em by
force. Likewise they say that they haven ten Indians w'ch went be
tween Oxford Town and Coll. Lowe's and that their time of return is
elapsed and are not satisfied what is become of 'em, whereof all these
things being computed together hath seized them with feare, butt that
they are very joyfull att our coming, and were taking up their goods
to return to their habitations.

THE INDIANS IN TALBOT COUNTY 33
THE PASSING OF THE NANTICOKES
In Heckwelder's "History of the Indian nations who once inhabited
Pennsylvania and the neighboring states," published by the Pennsyl
vania Historical Society, 1876, he says, concerning the Nanticokes —
The Delawares say that this nation has sprung from the same stock
with them, and the fact was acknowledged by White, one of their chiefs,
whom I have personally known.
They call the Delawares their grandfathers. I shall relate the his
tory of the Nanticokes, as I had it from the mouth of White himself:
"Every Indian being at liberty to pursue what occupation he pleases,
White's ancestors, after the Lenapi came into their country, preferred
seeking a livelihood by fishing and trapping along the rivers and bays,
to pursuing wild game in the forests; they therefore detached them
selves and sought the most convenient places for their purpose. In
process of time they became very numerous, partly by natural increase,
and partly in consequence of being joined by a number of the Lenape,
and spread themselves over a large tract of country and divided into.
separate bodies. The main branch of the Nanticokes proper were
then living on what is now called the Eastern Shore of Maryland. At
length the white people crowded so much upon them that they were
obliged to seek another abode, and as their grandfather, the Delaware,
was himself retreating back in consequence of the great influx of the
whites, they took the advice of the Mengroe (Mingo's), and bent their
course to the large flats of the Wyoming, where they settled them
selves, in sight of the Shawanos town, while others settled higher up
the river, even as high as Chemenk, (Shenango) and Shummunk, to
which places they emigrated at the beginning of the French war."
White's tribe resided there until the beginning of the Revolutionary
war, when they went off to a place nearer to the British, whose part
they had taken, and whose standard they joined. White himself had
joined the Christian Indians, Sheekschequon, several years previous
to the war and remained with them.
"Nothing," said White, "had equalled the decline of his tribe since
the white people had come into the country." They were destroyed, in
part by disorders they brought with them, by the smallpox and by the
free use of spirituous liquors to which great numbers fell victims. The
emigration of the Nanticokes from Maryland was well known to the
Society of the United Brethren."
The Nanticoke, the Choptank and Matapeake Indians, descend-

34 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ants of the Delawares, were first seen along the bay shores of Talbot
County by Captain John Smith and his exploring party from Virginia
in 1608, and later by Clayboume and his trading party four or five
years before Lord Baltimore's Colonists landed at Saint Mary's, near
the mouth of the St. Mary's river. They had a peculiar and sacred
respect for their dead. The corpse was buried for some months and
then exhumed and the bones carefully cleaned and placed in an "Os-
uary," called man-to-kump, (Manito) with the locative tennination
or rather signification, "place of the mystery or spirit." When their
tribes moved from one place to another they carried the bones of their
dead with them. When they emigrated, about the middle of the 18th
century and settled in northern Pennsylvania, they carried their sacred
relics with them, in bags on their backs, and buried them near the pres
ent site of Towanda. The Indian name Towandaunk literally mean
ing "where we bury our dead."
To avoid any possible difficulty in trading with the Indians, a privi
lege was granted every white inhabitant of Dorset county to trade with
them, without license, only at Captain Henry Trippe's house, in 1680.
Previously the Governor had issued special licenses to individual traders,
who could go to the Indian camps and there trade, often selling them
guns and ammunition, in violation of the trading regulations, which
caused much trouble between the colonists and the native Indians.

AN INCIDENT AT TEOTH'S FORTUNE
Trial of Poh Poh Caquis
Interesting Story in Quaint Records of Old Times
One of the oldest Quaker homesteads in Talbot County is that
known as "Troth's Fortune" four miles east of Easton, and fronting
on the Choptank river, about a mile above the ancient town of Dover.
This tract of land, originally containing 400 acres, was surveyed for
William Troth, a prominent Quaker settler, August 15, 1676, and
upon it he built the quaint old colonial hip-roofed brick dwelling that
is still standing. It has withstood the storms of over 200 winters and
is still in a fair state of preservation.
It was in this house that an Indian made a savage, violent attack
upon its master, who fortunately dodged the ball fired at him by
the Indian, and as the latter fled he carried with him a load of buck
shot from Troth's old flintlock musket.
This incident led to the trial of the Indian, after his capture and re
covery from his wounds. The particulars of which may be found
at length in Volume 17 of the archives of Maryland. The follow
ing extracts therefrom form a most interesting chapter in the early
colonial history of Talbot County, from which some idea may be had
of the hardships that the early pioneers upon this prosperous penin
sula were called upon to endure. The unpronounceable names of the
great men of the Indians, who were present at the trial, lends an addi
tional interest to the proceedings as printed in the archives of Maryland.
The ancient record reads:
At a Council held at the City of St. Maries the 22d Day of March
Anno Dmi: 1683:
The Rt. honble the Lord propry
The honble Coll Thomas Tailler
Coll Vincent Lowe
Mr. John Darnall
Coll William Burges Present.
At which tyme was returne made, read, and ordered to be entred
in the Councul booke, the tryall of Poh Poh Caquis an Eastern Shore
Indian with the proceedings and judgment thereupon made by the
35

36 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
honble Coll Henry Coursey, and Coll Philemon Lloyd by vertue of
his Lspps Commission to them directed the 15th Day of ffebruary
Anno Dmi. 1683:
Poh Poh Caquis Indian his tryall.
March the 5th 1683:
At a Court held at the Court house in Wye River in Talbot County
by the honble Henry Coursey Esqr and Coll Philemon Lloyd by ver
tue of a Special! Commission to them directed from the Rt. honble
the Lord Propry Empowering them Examine and trye Poh Poh Caquis,
an Indian of the Eastern Shore, Subject to Ahatsawap of Assateague.
The honble Henry Coursey Esqr.
The honble Coll Philemon Lloyd King Abaco and King Tequassino
being present and severall greate men of the Indians viz: Wasatt-
naham, Weenakaman, Cha Cha Pohosse Yehock Cannab Catani Pa
Canab Dewaqua. Commission published.
The Court made knowne to the Indians the power committed to
them from his Lsp for tryall of the prisoner Poh Poh Caquis; and in
what ill part his Lsp takes it that one of their Indians for whom he had
soe many acts of ffriendship, and been lately soe successfull as to take
off their greate enemies the Senniquos, should notwithstanding attempt
such a vulany to the breach of the peace.
Wm. Troths Information agt Poh Poh Caquis.
That about the Eighteenth day of December came an Indian to my
house about two of the clock in the afternoone, I being not at present
in the house, the said Indian pretended to be a cold, my wife bid him
goe to the fire, and there he was about an houre, by this time my wife
sent for me in, and when I came into the house, the said Indian came
out of the other house, wher he had been sitting by the fire, and look'd
upon me, but said not a word to me nor I to him, but straightway
returned to the fire again, I went into the house where he was sitting
by the fire with his Gunn standing by him; I spoke to him and said
how is it Ketop? Howan pamen kees, he replied Delaware, I said
to him from whence came you? he replied from Delaware; John Shepard
sitting by the fire, he said he tells me he is a Delaware Indian, and that
there is two hundred Senniquox Indians hard by; pish, doest thou
believe him what he talks of; for he lyes; The Indian makes answer
he did not lye, for I should see them by and by, I made answer I would
not see them if I could help it, but he said I should, and forthwith
falls a hollowing in the Interim, before I could speak any more words
to him, comes to the Doore Thomas Bussey, I turned me about to
speake to the said Thomas; while my back was toward the Indian
the said Indian made ready his gunn; I presently turned about again
and seeing the muzzle of the gunn towards me, I endeavoured to gett
hold of it, but before I could she went off, and with the bending of
my body to gett hold of the said gunn, the shott mist me, and when
he saw he had done noe execution, he took to his Tomahawke, and

AN INCIDENT AT TROTH'S FORTUNE 37
followed me about Eight or Tenn yards; and when I saw he followed
me I called for my Gunn; and as soone as he heard me call for my
gunn he rann, and when he was about thirty yards from me I discharged
my gunn at his &ca
Court ordered the Interpreter to ask the Indian why the Prisoner
deneyed his nation.
Prisoner Replyed he was drunk and know not what he did.
Court ordered the Interpreter to ask the prisoner what defense
he could make for himself.
Prisoner said he was drunk, otherwise he would not have shott at
Wm Troth, or have done any mischiefe.
Court told the Prisoner that it was the English Law, that if a drunken
man committed murder when he was drunk, he must Suffer death,
and that if drunkenness would excuse a man from doeing mischiefe,
then the English might make themselves drunk, & kill the Indians.
King Ababco said that an English man shott at three Indian boyes
but they came home and not hurt, soe tooke noe notice.
Court said the English was not informed, if they had the English
man should have suffered as the Law prescribes in such case.
Court ordered the Interpreter to tell them that we can remember
several! miscarriages of their Indians, for which they have not been
punished, but we came hot here to call to mind old differences rather
expect they should be forgott on both sides; but now we have taken
this prisoner in the fact, and he ought to Suffer, desire to know whither
what they have said be to justifie the prisoner, if soe we would con
sider what further to say to them.
Indians replyed they could not justifie the prisoner, neither did they
come to excuse him.
Court ordered the Interpreter to tell the Indians that is the custome
of Christian Nations, that if peace is broken, he that doth it must
surely die, and this Indian prisoner by the Law deserves death, but the
English not desirous to exercise the rigour of the Lawe.
Judgment to be whipped.
Court Gives Judgment that Poh Poh Caquis the Indian prisonr
be carried to the whipping post, and have twenty Lashes laid on his
bare back, and after that he be again brought to the barr.
Court ordered the Interpreter to tell the Indians that it will be
great Satisfaction to his Lspp to make it appeare to him that they doe
in noe waies countenance the villanous act of the Prisoner, if they will
command one of their owne Subjects to execute the sentence.
Indians after some small reasoning, the command one of their greate
men (viz.) Wewohquap to execute it.
The Indian Prisoner again brought to the barr.
Court ordered the Interpreter to tell the Indians that it is the cus
tom of the English, that after punishment they must putt in security
not to act the like again or any such fike mischiefe, and ask them what
they will prescribe to secure this prisoner from revenge, or doeing
any more mischiefs to the English for the future.

38 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Indians. King Ababco, and King Tequassino engage their words
for the prisoners good behavior forever hereafter, and Ababco told
the prisoner he may be thankfull was soe favourable and kind to him.
Court ordered the Interpreter to tell them that this passing then-
word is not sufficient, for that he may notwithstanding doe further
mischiefe, we desire to know what custody they will keepe him in,
that they may make of acting the like again.
Indians said they did not know how to secure him.
Court proposed as the safest way as well for them as his Lsp: and
the English, to transport him into some part beyond the Sea, as a vil
lain not fitt to be trusted here, without danger of haveing the peace
broke. Indians. They cann say noe more then Ahatsawop had said for
merly that they left it to his Lsp; if it be his Lsps: will to transport
him, they will say noe more in it; but desire they may be disobleiged
from their words, and that we would looke to keepe the prisoner safe.
Judgment to be banished.
Court give Judgmt that the prisoner be banished into some remote
part beyond the Sea, where his lordship shall appoint.
Court ffurther order that the Sheriff take him into safe custody
and with convenient speed deliver him to the high Sheriff of St. Maries
County. Vera Copia p Tho: Impey Clk:
The "court house in Wye River" referred to in the above was located
at the ancient town of Doncaster, near Bruff's Island, in Miles River
Neck. Coll. Philemon Lloyd's homestead, Wye House, adjoins
Doncaster. William Troth was appointed in 1694, press master for Bowling-
brook Hundred, Talbot County, under an act of Assembly requiring
the County Commissioners "to appoint honest and substantial men
of their counties for every hundred to be Press Masters for the year
ensuing, that, if occasion requires, they and no others shall impress
victuals or other things given them in charge to press, etc. This office
was probably considered more of a civil than of a military nature, as
it was the outcome of legislation intended to protect the people against
unjust military exactions.
That portion of the "Troth Fortune" estate upon which stands
the Troth homestead is now (1915) owned by General Joseph Bruff
Seth, the present Mayor of Easton, who has recently planted an apple
orchard on his farm of over 8,000 trees.
Among the early Quaker familes into which the Troths intermarried

AN INCIDENT AT TROTH'S FORTUNE 39
were those of the Berrys, Prestons, Stevens, Powells, Kemps, Dickin
sons, Skillingtons, Sherwoods, Bartletts, Johns, Jenkins and Oldhams.
J. Eugene Troth of Camden, N. J., is a member of the Society of the
Cincinnati of Maryland, as the representative of his ancestor, Captain
Edward Oldham, of the Maryland Line in the American revolution,
his mother, Narcissa Julia Oldham, having been a grand-daughter of
Captain Edward Oldham, a descendant of William Troth, above
referred to.

THE "STAMP ACT" IN TALBOT
It is a matter of regret to every one who takes an interest in our local
annals that we possess so few memorials of events that preceded our
revolutionary trouble, and of those that transpired during our war of
Independence. Newspapers, those repositories so invaluable to the
local historian or annalist, had not begun to be published within our
bounds nor did they begin until 1790, when the Maryland Herald first
appeared. The journals printed within the Province, prior to the war,
numbering only two, the Maryland Gazette, of Annapolis, dating from
1745, and the Maryland Journal, of Baltimore dating from 1773, gave
little space to what occurred in the distant sections of the province,
and noticed only what transpired within their own precinct as it were,
or what was of most general interest. The other public sources of local
information, our Court and Church records, are almost entirely silent
upon politics, confining themselves, the one to matters relating to
the adniinistration of justice, and the other to affairs ecclesiastical.
Reading them, one ignorant of history would suppose the current of
society from 1765 to 1782 was hardly disturbed by a ripple, much less
broken into furious rapids by a great political revolution, and bloody
war. To be sure, the formation of our State Constitution in 1776,
which brought about a change and re-organization of our Courts, was
noted in our county records, yet only, obscurely: for this change was so
accordant with the demands of the growing commonwealth and so
necessary for the ends of justice, that it seemed to be the result rather
of a natural transition than of a violent catastrophe, so noiselessly did
the old system of judicature merge into the new. As for the church,
but for the interruption of the collection of its legal dues, caused by the
new form of government, the historical student would hardly learn
from the record of her vestries, anything more of our political affairs
than that she had passed from condition of humiliating vassalage to
the Provincial government, to a state of noble dependence upon the
loving bounty of her children, In short, our public records say almost
nothing of events within this county that antedated, or were coincident
with our Revolutionary war. Of private memoranda of this stirring
period in our history, there exists almost if not absolutely none. Not a
private journal nor collection of letters can be found. The papers of
that gentleman who was most prominent and active in Talbot anterior
40

THE STAMP ACT IN TALBOT 41
to and during the war, Mr. Matthew Tilghman, of Bay-Side, were de
stroyed, it is thought, by fire when the house at "The Hermitage,"
Queen Anne county, was burned, not many years ago. Had this dis
tinguished gentleman's papers been preserved, they no doubt would
have elucidated those obscurities in our political affairs which now, it
is to be feared, must ever remain in darkness. Such being the case.
every memorandum relating to these times in our county that may be
discovered, is cherished, by the annalist and antiquary, as a precious
memorial; and what would be regarded as quite insignificant, if our
historical treasures were richer, is now looked upon as invaluable.
Recently there have fallen into the hands of the writer two documents
relatmg to that extremely interesting period in our history, the time of
the passage of the "Stamp Act." The first was found among the pro
ceedings of the Court, in a book of Civil Judgments from Aug. 1765
to 1768, now in the Clerk's office of Talbot county. For the other
the writer is indebted to the courtesy of Oswald Tilghman, Esq., great
great grand-son of the gentleman mentioned above, who discovered it
in a bound volume of old pamphlets among which was a single number
of Carey's Museum — that for July, 1788, in which it was printed prob
ably for the first time. These documents derived from such diverse
sources, have a very- natural connection. The first is the expression of
the sentiments of the highest civil tribunal in the county, while the second
is a declaration of the sentiments of the body of freemen assembled
in public meeting, upon a subject then intently engaging the attention
of the people of America. There is little doubt that the account of the
refusal of our Court to comply with the Act, and that of the meeting
of our citizens, reached the hands of the ministry and the King together,
and that they had their weight, small it might be, in detenmning the
subsequent action of Parliament. They served to show to the ruling
powers in England, as they still show to us, that the fires of patriotic
indignation glowed with no less ardor down in this remote and secluded
corner of his Majesty's dominions than they did in Virginia or Massa
chusetts, and that the detestation of the odious "Stamp Act," in as
much as it was expressed in pretty much the same words, and shown in
almost precisely the same manner, was as hearty here as in centres of
political influence or the great marts of commerce.
The observant reader, will not fail to notice that the resolutions of
the public meeting reveal a condition of feeling closely resembling that
which existed during our recent troubles. The intolerance of the
majority in 1765 is quite as conspicuous as that manifested in any meet-

42 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ing of Unionists in the North or of Secessionists in the South, in 1861.
And this majority was ready to visit the same kind of punishments
upon the minority, as were threatened to be visited in more recent times.
We have canonized our revolutionary forefathers, but these documents
plainly show they were possessed of the same frailties as we their children
are, and that they are no more entitled to poUtical saintship than many
a blatant Rebel or Union shrieker, of more modern date, to make use
of the epithets the opposing parties applied to each other. With a
change of a few words the fifth resolution might have been adopted
at some of the political meetings of one or the other side in 1861 or 1862.
It must be remembered, however, that social ostracism, with which
this resolution threatens the agents of the British Government, had a
significance and a weight, that do not belong to it now. The persons
who were appointed stamp agents by the Crown, were generally men of
character and good position, and for them to be banished from society,
particularly from the polite society of a community essentially aristo
cratic in its structure, as ours was in Talbot in 1765, was a penalty few
of their condition were prepared to encounter. On the contrary in our
democratic society of the present day, in which there is either an actual
approximation to equality or less regard paid to social distinctions,
often arbitrary or conventional, to be excluded from intercourse with any
clique or coterie on account of political differences is only a matter of
amusement to any man of good repute and true independence, or at
worst it is only an inconvenience which is shared by the excluding as
well as the excluded.
It will be remembered, or those who do not remember may refresh
their recollection by consulting any manual of American history, that
in 1765 the famous "Stamp Act" was passed by the British Parliament.
By this act every legal document, newspaper, pamphlet, &c, was re
quired to pay a stamp tax, which varied in amount from three pence
to a guinea. The inhabitants of the American Colonies objected not
to the amount of the tax but to the political principle in obedience to
which the tax was laid. Probably at no period in our whole history,
was there more feeling aroused, than at the time when the passage of
this obnoxious act was announced in America. Legislatures, that of
this province included, passed resolutions of condemnation, and indig
nation meetings of the citizens were held in many of the provinces, those
of Virginia and Massachusetts being notable for the warmth of the
expressions of reprobation of the taxing a free people without repre
sentation. A Congress, composed of delegates from nine of the thirteen

THE "STAMP ACT IN TALBOT 43
colonies, of which Maryland was one, assembled at New York in October
1765, which drew up a declaration of rights and grievances for pre
sentation to Parliament and the King. This was the precursor of that
other and greater declaration of July, 1776, and the Union then born,
developed into that "more perfect" and glorious Union of 1788. The
act was to go into operation November 1, 1765. Before that day had
arrived the packages containing the stamps that had been sent over for
distribution among the Crown's agents, were seized in some of the
ports, and their contents destroyed. Those intended for distribution
in Maryland arrived at New Castle, Delaware, but by request of Gover
nor Horatio Sharpe, they were retained on board the ship, and never
reached their destination. The agents themselves were warned that
their life and property were endangered if they attempted to enforce
the law. Before Nov. 1st had arrived every agent had either resigned
his post, or had fled from the country. The story of Zachary Hood,
the stamp agent for the province of Maryland, who was burned in effigy
at Annapolis, his house torn down, and he himself compelled to flee to
New York, is familiar to all. It was just about this time that the Court
of Talbot county met — namely on the 1st Tuesday in November 1765 —
and of its proceedings we have this record :
NOVEMBER
"At a County Court of the Right Honourable Frederick Lord &
Prop'ry of the Province of Maryland & Avalon. Lord Baron of Balti
more, held for Talbot County, at the Court House in the same County,
the 1st Tuesday in November Anno Dom. Seventeen Hundred and Sixty-
five, before the same Lord Prop'ry his Justices of the Peace for the
County af'd., of whom were present
Major Risdon Bozman,
Mr. Jno. Goldsborough,
Mr. Robt. Goldsborough,
Mr. William Thomas,
Mr. Jonathan Nicols,
Mr. Tristram Thomas &
Mr. Jacob Hindman
Justices.
John Bozman — Sheriff,
John Leeds — Clerk.
The Justices aforesaid taking into consideration An Act of Parlia-'
ment lately made, entitled An Act for granting and applying certain
Stamp duties, and other duties in the British Colonies and planta
tions in America, towards further defraying the expenses of defending,

The Worshipful

44 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
protecting and securing (?) the same and for amending such parts of
the several acts of Parliament relating to the trade and revenues of
the s'd colonies and plantations, as direct the manner of deternuhing
and recovering the penalties and forfeitures therein mentioned, and
finding it impossible at this time to comply with the said Act, ad
journed their court until the 1st Tuesday in March, seventeen hundred,
and sixty-six.
At which s'd first Tuesday in March, seventeen hundred, and sixty-
six, the Justices above mentioned (having since the adjournment of
the former court taken into consideration the mischievous consequences
that might arise from proceeding to do business in the manner pre
scribed by the above mentioned Act of Parliament, and as it would
be highly penal to do anything contrary to the directions of the Act)
would not open nor hold any Court.
Between the time of the adjournment of the Court in November,
1765, and its meeting again in March, 1766, public sentiment inthe
county had been clearly and emphatically expressed. This may in
some measure account for the phrase, "mischievous consequences
that might arise from proceeding to business" in the above recital.
The Court was unwilling to place itself between two fires — popular
indignation, and legal penalties. It therefore, wisely adjourned.
The expression of the sentiments of the people of our county respect
ing the execution of the "Stamp Act," was made at a public meeting
of the freemen, which doubtless had been advertised, by posting notices
at the Court House door and at the Churches, as was customary at
that time, before the introduction of newspapers. We are fortunate
in finding, as above related, an account of the proceedings of this meet
ing in Carey's Museum, for July 1788, to which it was probably furnished
by some former resident of the county, then having his home in Phila
delphia, who had been present at the meeting and had preserved a copy
of the spirited resolutions, then passed:
Resolutions of the Freemen of Talbot Co.
Maryland,
November 25, 1765
The Freemen of Talbot County assembled at the Court House of
said County, do in the most solemn manner declare to the world:
I. That they bear faith and true allegiance to his Majesty King
George III.
II. That they are most affectionately and zealously attached to
his person and family; and are fully determined, to the utmost of their

THE STAMP ACT IN TALBOT 45
power, to maintain and support his crown and dignity and the suc
cession as by law established; and do with the greatest cheerfulness
submit to his government according to the known and just principles
of British Constitution: and do unanimously resolve:
i. That under the Royal Charter granted to this Province, they
and their ancestors have long enjoyed, and they think themselves
entitled to enjoy, all the rights of British Subjects.
n. That they consider the trial by jury, and the privilege of being
taxed only with their consent, given by their legal representatives in
assembly, as the principal foundation, and main source of all their
liberties. in. That by the Act of Parliament lately passed, for raising stamp
duties in America, should it take place, both of these invaluable privi
leges enjoyed in their full extent, by their fellow subjects in Great
Britain, would be torn from them; and that therefore the same is,
in their opinion, unconstitutional, invasive of their just rights, and
tending to excite disaffection in the breast of every American subject.
rv. That they will at the risk of their lives and fortunes endeavor
by all lawful ways and means, to preserve and transmit to their pos
terity their rights and liberties, in as full and ample a manner as they
received the same from their ancestors ; and will not by any act of theirs
countenance or encourage the execution or effect of the said Stamp Act.
v. That they will detest, abhor, and hold in the utmost contempt,
all and every person or persons who shall meanly accept of any em
ployment or office relating to the Stamp Act; or shall take any shel
ter or advantage under the same; and all and every Stamp-pimp, in
former or favorer of the said Act; and that they will have no com
munication with any such persons, except it be to upbraid them with
their baseness.
And in testimony of this their fixed and unalterable resolution, they
have this day erected a gibbet, twenty feet high, before the Court House
door, and hung in chains thereon the effigy of a stamp informer, there
to remain in terrorem, till the Stamp Act shall be repealed.
Unfortunately we have no record of the names of the officers of this
meeting, nor of any of those who attended it. At the date, beside the
Justices whose names are mentioned as being present at the court that
met in November, these gentlemen also were of the commission of the
peace: Edward Oldham, James Dickinson and James Lloyd. That
their names were not recorded is not evidence they were supporters of
the Crown and parliament, in their arbitrary course towards America.

46 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
These gentlemen constituted the Grand Jury at the same term of
the Court: William Sharp, John Sherwood 3rd
Dan'l Sherwood John Dawson
Chris'r Birkhead Will Elston
John Mullikin John S. Hopkins
Grundy Parrot Ric'h Austin
Thomas Delahay William Vickers
John Catrup James Morton
John Carey Will Beswtck
Rich'd Skinner Francis Baker
John Bracco
These gentlemen were members of the General Assembly of the
State, from Talbot County, in 1765:
Upper House.
Sam'l Chamberlaine Edward Lloyd
Lower House.
Pollard Edmondson Woolman Gibson
John Goldsborough Henry Hollyday
The Assembly of which these gentlemen were members was that
same assembly, referred to above, that met on the 23d of September,
1765, after frequent prorogations of the Governor, and which appointed
the delegates to the Congress to be held in New York in October of the
same year. These delegates were Mr. Edw'd Tilghman of Queen
Anne's, Mr. Thomas Ringold of Kent, and Mr. William Murdock of
Prince George's. They received instructions in the form of a series
of resolutions, remarkable for their temperateness, dignity, and firm
ness, that were reported by a committee, of which four were from the
Eastern Shore, and of these, two were from Talbot, namely, Mr. John
Goldsborough and Mr. Henry Hollyday.
The names of all these persons here mentioned are those of persons
of some consideration and weight in the county, and of those who would
be likely to participate in a meeting of freemen for the assertion of their
rights and privileges. We have no assurance that they all were oppo
nents of the measures of the British ministry for at least one among them,
when the rupture occurred in 1776, espoused the cause of the King,
and between him and his near neighbor in the Bayside, Matthew
Tilghman, tradition says, there was many a tournament of argument.

THE 'STAMP ACT" IN TALBOT 47
In them Congress and King were championed in the lists of Talbot.
John Leeds, the Clerk of the county, was a Tory, but a man of the
utmost sincerity of conviction, of the highest social position, of elegant
culture in letters, and of conspicuous scientific attainments. It is not
improbable, however, that every man, whose name is here mentioned,
even John Leeds was an opponent of the Stamp Act, for there was a
notable unanimity of sentiment upon this subject throughout the
province — a greater than in the year of Independence. But besides
those who are here mentioned there were doubtless many others who
attended this meeting, whose names nowhere appear on record. There
were heroes in Greece before Agamemnon, who had no Homer to cata
logue their names and recite their deeds; so there were patriots in Talbot
who will be forever unknown in that there was no historian to record
their devotion to their county.
It is almost useless to say the Stamp Act which arrested the oper
ation of our courts, and caused such ebullient indignation among the
freemen of Talbot, and which, indeed, came so near precipitating the
Revolution ten years before it actually broke out, was repealed by
Parliament, in March, 1766; but our county justices did not know that,
when they met in this month, and declared it would be attended with
mischievous consequences to proceed to business while an act was in
force which would nullify many of these proceedings unless complied
with, which they for conscience could not do. The act of repeal was
coupled with this fortunate or unfortunate declaration, that the Royal
Government still held the right "to bind the colonies in all cases what
soever." We all know to what this led ten years after. We do not
know to what it shall lead in a future which to the thoughtful mind is
certainly not altogether bright.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT
Quantum distat ab Inacho
Codrus, pro patria non timidus men,
N arras, et genus Mad
Et pugnata sacro bella sub Ilio.
—Horace, Car. III., 19, 1-4.
The philosophic study of nations has been concomitant with that of
nature. The broader view which modern science has been enabled to
take through the vast extension of physical exploration, modem history
has been qualified to obtain through a more thorough scrutiny of the
movements of political societies. The great law which physicists,
in every department, have been able to discover as operative, and have
formulated, namely, that there is no change without antecedent and
efficient cause, and that changes are not paroxysmal but regular, soci
ologists have also discovered and formulated, namely, that changes
in states and nations are never without antecedent and efficient causes
working with regularity as well as potency. If nature has her earth
quakes, her cataclysms, her cyclones and tornadoes, the scientists
no longer look upon them as accidents in the working of the machinery
of the world, much less do they regard them as the purposed interven
tions of the Great Engineer — with reverence be it spoken — but as the
orderly result of causes acting through immeasurable time and space,
regular and certain, if not, at the present, calculable and prognosticable.
So if organized society has its riots, tumults, insurrections, rebellions,
revolutions, the social philosopher, or philosophic historian, is impelled
to study them on their remote or efficient causes, with an assurance
that these are governed by a law permanent, regular, and possibly
subject to the moral calculus of probabilities. That there are no acci
dents to be recorded in the history of nature or of nations, is the conclu
sion that has been reached by the investigation of the highest science
in physics or politics. The American Revolution, one of the most
important events that has occurred within the memory of man, whether
as giving expression to a principle of civil government, or as far-reaching
in its results, was not a sudden outbreak of patriotic passion, but the
resultant of political and social force which had been in operation from
the very settlement of the colonies, and their organization into orderly
governments — to go no farther backward in the history of English
48

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 49
liberty. In the province of Maryland the spirit of the Revolution was
betrayed in the very earliest years of its history in the firm "protests of
its House of Burgesses against the claimed prerogative of the Lord
Proprietary to frame and present laws to the General Assembly for its
ratification — that is to say that the initiative of legislation as well as
the veto upon legislation should rest with Lord Baltimore, or his imme
diate representatives in the province. Later, and from time to time,
other evidences of the growth of the democratic idea of self government
were presented, so that at the coming in of the period to which this
contribution relates, the fundamental principles upon which the Rev
olution was based had very thoroughly pervaded the minds of the
people of Maryland, or the minds of those who gave expression and
direction to public sentiment in this province. It is therefore difficult
to determine what shall be regarded as the date of the beginning of the
Revolutionary period. Nevertheless there is a consentaneity of agree
ment among historians that the time of the organized resistance by the
American Colonies to the passage and enforcement of the Stamp Act
shall be regarded as epochal. So in this attempt to recover from the
oblivion into which they have fallen, and to record for memorial preser
vation the occurrences of the great struggle for independence, as they
came to pass in this county of Talbot, the relation shall commence
with the incidents connected with this notable event in our history
as a nation.
It is a part of the familiar knowledge of the American citizen that
after the close of the war, which terminated with the conquest of Can
ada and with a vast charge upon the treasury of the conquering party,
the subject of taxing the colonies had engaged the attention of the
British ministry. After much consideration, notwithstanding repeated
protests from the provinces and opposition from the friends of the col
onists in Parliament, it was at last determined that an attempt should
be made to raise the revenue by the imposition of a tax upon all legal
documents and upon all public journals that should be issued in the
provinces. The law as passed with the consent of both houses of Par
liament, and the assent of the King, given by commission, was known
as the Stamp Act, it bearing the date of March 22nd, 1765. As soon
as intelligence was received in America of its passage, the public indigna
tion was expressed sometimes in terms of loyalty and respect, at other
times by words and acts that were significant of neither, but as indica
tive of the growth of the spirit of independence and rebellion. It does
not come within the scope of this contribution to give an account, how-

50 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ever brief, of the important occurrences, to which the passage of this
act gave origin in the several provinces or even in the province of Mary
land. For such an account the reader is referred to books of national or
State history. Only what was thought, said and done here in Talbot,
with reference to this act, can receive attention. It is much to be re
gretted that there are so few records that can serve to reveal the opinions
and conduct of the people of this county at this crisis. These few,
however, indicate that here was felt the same indignation and displeasure,
here was expressed the same condemnation, here was shown the same
spirit of resistance that was felt, expressed and shown in every part of
the American colonies affected by the stipulations of this act. It was
provided that the act should not go into effect until the first day of
November. It is not known that there was any public demonstration
within this county of condemnation of and resistance to the law before
this date; but there is every probability that the people with the ex- ,
ception of a few office holders were in sympathy with such demonstra
tions as were made elsewhere. On the 23rd of September, after many
prorogations by the Governor, dating from 1763, the General Assembly
was called together at Annapolis, and the most important subject that
was to engage its attention was this one of the Stamp Act. The mem
bers of this Assembly from Talbot for the Lower House were Mr.
Pollard Edmondson, Mr. John Goldsborough, Mr. Woolman Gibson
and Mr. Henry Hollyday.
In the Upper House, or Governor's Council, there were two members
from Talbot, the Hon. Sam'l Chamberlaine and the Hon. Edward Lloyd.
All of these were gentlemen of the very first respectability, whether
regard be had to social position, wealth, intelligence or character. Upon
the day following the assembling of the Lower House a letter was read
from the Legislature of Massachusetts suggesting and advising the
meeting of a Congress of Deputies from each of the colonies, for the
consideration of measures to be taken under the circumstances brought
about by this act of Parliament. There appears to have been a perfect
unanimity in the Lower House, and it was agreed, without a dissenting
voice to appoint delegates to the proposed Congress. The Governor
and Council gave their approbation to the measure, and money was ap
propriated to defray the expenses of the three delegates who were
Messrs. Edward Tilghman, of Queen Anne, Thomas Ringgold of
Kent, and William Murdock, of Prince George counties. A committee
was appointed to prepare instructions for the delegation, and of this

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 51
committee Mr. John Goldsborough of Talbot, was one.1 This gentle
man was also a member of the committee subsequently "appointed to
draw up resolves, declarative of the constitutional rights and privileges
of the freemen of the province." The names of Mr. Henry Hollyday
and Mr. John Goldsborough appear on the minutes of the Assembly
as of the committee to draft a reply to a communication of the Governor
relative to the disposition of the stamps, should they arrive in the
province before the reassembling of the legislature then about to be
prorogued until the first of November. The House by this committee
declined offering any advice upon so new a subject, without having
received instructions from their constituents. The Congress which
assembled in New York on the 7th of October, 1765, was the first of
those deliberative bodies which laid the foundation of the American
Union, and for this will be ever memorable.
Few and meagre as are the records of events occurring in the county
during the Revolutionary era two or three have been preserved and
brought to light, which are of a most interesting, if not important
character, as illustrating the condition of affairs in Talbot at the period
when the Stamp Act was under discussion. Capt. Jeremiah Banning,2
in his journal thus speaks of the arrival of Zachary Hood, the Stamp
distributor. His ship the Layton, from London, arrived at Oxford,
on Sunday, the 18th of August, 1765. "The ship soon after anchoring
was crowded with gentlemen, anxious to hear the news from England,
as the politics in that country were at that time very interesting to the
Americans; but more particularly did they wish to know whether
the Stamp master had come over in the Layton, as intelligence to that
effect had reached Maryland before the ship arrived. They found that
they had not been misinformed, for Zachary Hood, Esq., a native
of the Western Shore, who had been commissioned in England to dis
tribute or issue the stamps in Maryland, was then actually on board
the Layton. Mr. Hood was threatened with immediate destruction.
However he took an opportunity of making his escape and fled to
'Mr. John Goldsborough, of "Four Square," was the son of the first Robt.
Goldsborough, of "Ashby;" born Oct. 12, 1711, and died January 18th, 1788.
He was a member of the General Assembly from 1744 to 1765. He was High
Sheriff of the county from 1736 to 1739. He was one of the Justices of the county
court from 1743 to 1745, and again from 1752 to and after the reorganization of the
Courts under the State Constitution in 1776.
1 A memoir of this very respectable gentleman, chiefly autobiographical, has
been prepared and will be immediately printed.

The Worshipful

52 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Annapolis. * * * It was unknown to the commander of the Layton,
when his ship left London that his passenger bore such an odious com
mission, or he certainly would not have received him on board." Of
Mr. Hood's treatment in Annapolis the books of history gave full and
sufficient accounts. Of the manner in which the people of Talbot vented
their indignation against him, at a subsequent date, will presently appear.
Among the records of the court of Talbot county, in a volume of civil
judgments, may be found the following minute.3
November.— At a Court of the Right Honourable Frederick, Lord
and Prop'ry of the Province of Maryland and Avalon, Lord Baron of
Baltimore, held for Talbot county, at the Court House, in the same
county, the first Tuesday in November, Anno. Dom. Seventeen Hundred
and Sixty Five, before the same Prop'ry, his Justices of the Peace, for
the county afd, of whom were present,
' Major Risdon Bozman,
Mr. John Goldsborough,
Mr. Robt. Goldsborough,
Mr. William Thomas,
Mr. Jonathan Nicols,
Mr. Tristram Thomas,
, Mr. Jacob Hindman, Justices.4
John Bozman, Sheriff; John Leeds, Clerk.
The Justices aforesaid taking into consideration an act of Parliament,
lately made, entitled An Act for granting and applying certain Stamp
duties and other duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in Amer
ica, towards further defraying the expenses of defending, protecting and
securing the same, and for amending such parts of the several Acts of
Parliament relating to the trade and revenues of the s'd colonies and
plantations, as direct the manner of determining and recovering the
penalties and forfeitures therein mentioned, and finding it impossible
at this time to comply with the said act, adjourned their court until the
1st Tuesday in March, seventeen hundred and seventy-six.
At which s'd first Tuesday in March, seventeen hundred and sixty-six,
the Justices above mentioned (having since the adjournment of the
former Court taken into consideration the mischievous consequences
5 In a communication of the writer to the Easton Star of November 25th, 1873,
entitled "The Stamp Act in Talbot" this record was embraced. The substance
of that communication is now republished in its proper connection with or relative
to other Revolutionary incidents occurring in this county, in order that this con
tribution to our local annals may be in itself complete, as far as possible.
' It may be well enough to note that besides those persons named in the text
as Justices, Mr. Edward Oldham, Mr. James Dickinson, and Mr. James Lloyd were
of the commission. The absence of their names is not significant of difference of
sentiment.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 53
that might arise from proceeding to do business in the manner prescribed
by the above mentioned Act of Parliament, and as it would be highly
penal to do anything contrary to the directions of the act), would not
open nor hold any Court.
The prudent action of the Justices is easily explicable. As all legal
papers were required to have a stamp affixed, any attempt to proceed
with the business of the Court would have been immediately estopped
by the absence of the impress or mark necessary to give validity to its
writs. Stamps could not have been procured, even if there had been a
willingness to use them, for the Stamp agent, Mr. Hood, had been
driven from the Province by the people of Annapolis, and no stamps
had been received at the date of the first adjournment, and though re
ceived at the date of the last, there was no one to distribute them.
Soon after the adjournment of the Court in March, 1776, the obnoxious
Act was repealed by Parliament, so that when it again assembled it
was able to proceed with its business without fear either of incurring
popular indignation by consenting to use the stamps or of invalidating
its own processes by refusing to use them.
A few days after the adjournment of the Court in November, 1765,
as above noticed, there was a public meeting of the citizens of the county
held at Talbot Court House for the purpose of giving some formal ex
pression of their sentiments upon the subject that was then engrossing
the minds of all thoughtful men. Of the proceedings of this meeting
we have the following account taken from Carey's Museum, published
at Philadelphia, in the July number of 1788, where doubtless some patri
otic citizen of Talbot had secured its insertion:
RESOLUTIONS THE FREEMEN OF TALBOT CO., MARYLAND,
NOVEMBER 25, 1765
The Freemen of Talbot County assembled at the Court House of said
County do in the most solemn manner declare to the world: .
I. That they bear faith and true allegiance to his Majesty, King
George III.
II. That they, are most affectionately and zealously attached to his
person and family; and are fully determined, to the utmost of their
power, to maintain and support his crown and dignity, and the succession
as by law established; and do with the greatest cheerfulness submit to
his government according to the known and just principles of the
British constitution; and do unanimously resolve:
I. That under the Royal Charter granted to this Province, they and
their ancestors have long enjoyed, and they think themselves entitled
to enjoy, all the rights of British subjects.

54 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
II. That they consider the trial by jury, and the privilege of being
taxed only with their consent, given by their legal representatives in
Assembly as the principal foundation, and main source of all their
liberties. III. That by the Act of Parliament, lately passed, for raising stamp
duties in America, should it take place, both of these invaluable privileges,
enjoyed in their full extent by their fellow subjects in Great Britain,
would be torn from them ; and that therefore the same is, in their opinion,
unconstitutional, invasive of their just rights, and tending to excite dis
affection in the breast of every American subject.
IV. That they will at the risk of their lives and fortunes endeavor,
by all lawful ways and means, to preserve and transmit to their posterity
their rights and liberties in as full and ample a manner as they received
them from their ancestors; and will not by any act of theirs countenance
or encourage the execution or effect of the same Stamp Act.
V. That they will detest, abhor and hold in the utmost contempt,
all and every person or persons who shall meanly accept of any employ
ment or office relating to the Stamp Act; or shall take any shelter or
advantage under the same; and all and every stamp pimp, informer or
favorer of the said act; and that they will have no communication with
any such persons, except it be to upbraid them with their baseness.
And in testimony of this their fixed and unalterable resolution they
have this day erected a gibbet, twenty feet high, before the Court
House door, and hung in chains thereon the effigy of a stamp informer,
there to remain in terrorem, till the Stamp Act shall be repealed.5
In thus assembling in public meeting, in passing patriotic resolutions,
and in hanging in effigy a stamp agent, the people of Talbot were but
following their own impulses, though they were doing nothing more
than had been done elsewhere in the province and in the neighboring
provinces. Mr. Zachariah Hood, who had been commissioned as dis
tributor of the stamps in Maryland, had fled before the indignant
citizens of Annapolis as he had done upon his first arrival before the
enraged citizens of Oxford, and had taken refuge in New York where
he was quickly compelled by the Sons of Liberty to resign his office
November 28, 1765. No other agent was ever appointed nor were the
s These resolutions appear also in Scharf's History of Maryland, vol. i, pp.
543-544, apparently copied from the old Maryland Gazette. They have there
this addendum: "After the above declaration publicly read and assented to by
every person present, the effigy hung up, etc., the gentlemen of the County ad
journed to a Tavern, where the King, the Royal family and other loyal healths
were drunk, everything concluding with the utmost decency and good order."
Captain Banning, however, relates an additional incident of a very painful char
acter. He states in his journal that the man who was employed in making the
effigy, which seems to have been of wood, accidently cut himself with his axe, and
died of the wound.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 55
stamps ever allowed to be landed upon Maryland soil. On the 18th
of March, 1766, the King signed the bill for the repeal of the obnoxious
act, and on the 22d of May the intelligence was received at the seat of
government. Universal joy pervaded the province' as the news spread
from county to county, which was expressed by public demonstrations
of a significant if not imposing character. Unhappily nothing is known
of what occurred in Talbot upon this happy occasion. Only a few of
the more thoughtful of the people of Maryland saw in that right which
was reserved in the act of repeal "to bind the colonies in all cases
whatsoever" the serpent's egg from which was to come further trouble
with the mother country. It should be noted that in the resolutions
of the Talbot meeting nothing is said of colonial independence, though
this subject was elsewhere discussed. Maryland long hesitated to
sever the ties which bound her to the throne, and these resolutions re
flected her loyalty and the conservatism which she manifested quite up
to the time when she finally gained her own consent to declare for in
dependence. The agitation that had been aroused and the indignation that had
been provoked throughout the colonies by the Stamp Act had scarcely
subsided, and the rejoicing over its repeal had not yet ceased when the
old fears were awakened by the announcement of the adoption by
Parliament, in July, 1767, of certain measures for their taxation by an
imposition of duties upon imports. Although Talbot was not largely
engaged in trade, as far at least as to importations, and therefore the
burden of these taxes would have been light and indirect, her citizens
were not slow in expressing their opposition to their imposition, for they
saw that the principle for which they had been contending was again
violated. In the discussion which arose, and the public press, where-
ever such an agency existed, teamed, as it is said, with essays upon
Colonial rights, called forth by this ' 'Duty Act," a native of Talbot
county, although at that time a citizen of the Delaware counties of
Pennsylvania took a leading and most influential part. This was Mr.
John Dickinson, the author of the Farmer's Letters — a series of papers
which was probably more effectual than any other agencies in awakening
the public mind throughout the colonies to an appreciation of the dan
gerous tendency of these measures of the British government, and in
arousing a determined opposition to their perpetuation. The Gen
eral Assembly was called together in May, 1768, and before it was laid
a circular from the General Court, or Legislature of Massachusetts,
in which the measures of the British government were condemned, and

56 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
an appeal to the people of Maryland to unite with those of that common
wealth in a petition to the King for redress was made. The Assembly
of Maryland heartily concurred and appointed a committee to prepare
such a petition. One of this committee was Mr. Matthew Tilghman,
a citizen of Talbot, who now for the first time appeared in the lists as
the champion of the colonial rights of his fellow-citizens, but who was,
ever after, among the most conspicuous leaders in every patriotic move
ment within his native Province and State.6 This petition which
need not be presented here, had no more effect upon the King and bis
ministers than many others of similar tenor; and the obnoxious statutes
were allowed to remain in force. Finding that appeals to the throne
had no effect, the colonists adopted the old expedient of association.
They bound themselves by solemn pledges neither to import nor use
articles of foreign production or manufacture as long as the acts remained
unrepealed. By concert, committees were selected in each county of
Maryland whose duty it was to see that the articles of the Association
were not violated. That for the county of Talbot, the members of
which are not known, seems to have been more than ordinarily earnest
in the enforcement of the agreement entered into by the Associators.
The effect of the refusal of the Americans to use the articles of importa
tion subject to this duty, was, first, seriously to impair trade and,
secondly, to induce Parliament in 1770 to modify the law so far as to
remove the import upon all articles except tea. This exception was made
that the ministry might continue to assert the right of the home govern
ment to impose taxes upon commerce. After the modification of the
law the merchants of New York, who were associators, began to relax
in their observance of the terms of the agreement. They were followed
not long after by those of Boston and Philadelphia, and at last, as will
6 The gentlemen associated with Mr. Tilghman in the Lower House of Assem
bly, and who with him were elected Dec. 15th, 1767, were John Goldsborough,
James Dickinson, and Nicholas Thomas, Esquires. In the Upper House, or Gov
ernor's Council, the Honorables Samuel Chamberlaine and Edward Lloyd, both
of Talbot, continued to hold their seats. Of Mr. Tilghman, who though not a
native was for a long time a resident of this county at Tilghman's or Ward's
Point, otherwise "Rich Neck," in Bay Side, a brief memoir was prepared by the
writer and printed in the Easton Star of May 18th, 1875. This sketch of his life,
which was the first ever published, was very imperfect, for reasons which need not
here be mentioned. But a fuller and more accurate biography, and one which,
it is hoped, will be more worthy of this Talbot statesman and patriot, it is the pur
pose of the writer to prepare at an early day, as new materials have been collected,
and a clearer apprehension of his services to Maryland and the United States has
been acquired.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 57
presently be seen, by those of Baltimore also. But the citizens of the
counties of Maryland insisted that the obligations of the association
were binding until all taxes — that upon tea as well as those upon other
articles of importation, should be abolished, and until the principle for
which they were contending was virtually acknowledged and accepted
by the home government. When the intelfigence reached Talbot of
the defection of the New York merchants, much indignation was felt,
and this had expression in a series of denunciatory resolutions passed
by a meeting of the citizens of the county, called by the committee of
inspection, and held at the Court House, August 10, 1770:
I. Resolved, That the non-importation agreement is a measure
well calculated to prevent luxury, promote industry and to secure re
dress of American grievances; and the firm and steady adherence to it
will, in all probability, produce these salutary effects.
II. Resolved, That the partial repeal of the American revenue
Act, is. rather a banter on our understanding or a trap to ensnare us
than an argument to induce us to depart from the non-importing
scheme. III. Resolved, That an acquiescence in the Act retaining the duty
on tea would be a tacit acknowledgment of the right of Parliament
to tax the people of America, and would probably terminate in the
absolute slavery of these colonies.
IV. Resolved, That to pursue and promote the happiness of the
community, by making our own private interest give way to the public
advantage, is noble and honourable, and the duty of every friend and
lover of his country.
V. Resolved, That the conduct of the prevailing faction in New
York, who from a low and pitiful view of their own particular interest,
have violated their engagements to their country, engagements entered
into with deliberation and unanimity, is scandalous, sordid and infamous,
as being manifestly founded in a vicious selfishness, and tending to
weaken the union of the colonies, to wound the public character of
America, to dishearten its friends and to strengthen the hands of a
corrupt and offensive ministry, the enemy that threatens to make us
lick the dust at their feet.
VI. Resolved. That as a proof of our detestation and abhorrence
of the step lately taken by that prevailing faction, we will renounce
and break off all commercial connection, dealings and intercourse,
with the Province of New York, until they shall either retract their
error, or the act retaining the duty on tea be repealed. And we do most
earnestly invite, implore and obtest, all the friends of their country and
of liberty, by all that is valuable and dear to them, to continue firm in
their adherence to the non-importation agreement to break off and desist
from all commercial communication and intercourse with the people of
New York, and to stand determined to mark all false brethren, and

58 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
particularly the wretched authors of the present vile defection with con
tempt and disgrace; that they may be branded as the betrayers of their
country, be despised of the people and become a hissing among the
nations.7 The merchants of Baltimore, after the northern towns had practically
withdrawn from the non importation agreement, found it inexpedient
±o continue their adherence, and advised the holding a general convention
at Annapolis to deliberate as to what steps should be taken under the
existing circumstances to relieve them from the disabilities which they
were suffering by reason of the disaffection of New York, Boston,
Philadelphia and other northern ports. At this convention the Com
mittee of Inspection from Talbot was present. The result of its deliber
ations was the passage of resolutions denouncing the course of the mer
chants and traders of Baltimore, and entreating and conjuring the people
of America "by all the sacred rights of freemen to join as one man in
the rejection of all foreign superfluities until the total repeal of the
injurious and oppressive Revenue Act takes place."8 It is too well
known to be more than referred to, in passing, that the war of the
Revolution was but a vindication of the principle asserted by this con
vention at Annapolis and by the public meeting at Talbot Court House.
In order to introduce a pleasant episode of the political history of
the times, it is necessary to revert to the year preceding these events,
1769. In this year Robert Eden, Esq., who had been appomted, was
installed Governor of the Province. Governor Sharpe for sixteen
years filled the chair of the chief executive officer of the Lord Proprie
tary, with great acceptability to the people of Maryland. It has been
pointed out that those questions which were at the very foundation
of the subsequent great revolt, were discussed during the last years of
his official incumbency. Although our historians give no intimation
that such was the fact, yet it is not improbable that he was at heart
in sympathy with that spirit of colonial independence which was then
appearing, notwithstanding he, in his public declarations, maintained the
proprietary rights and defended the royal pretensions. The following
address gives countenance to this surmise, for it is hardly probable
that the Justices of Talbot County, who were men from the people,
would have spoken to him and of him in so complimentary a tone,
had they not been assured of his secret sympathy with their own opinions
and aspirations. But this is inferential only.
7 Scharf's History of Maryland, Vol. II, p. 119.
8 Maryland Gazette, Nov. 1, 1770. Scharf's History of Maryland.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 59
To Horatio Sharpe, Esq.,
late Governor of Maryland.
Sir: The Right Honourable, the Lord Proprietary of this Province,
having been pleased to appoint his Excellency Robert Eden, Esq., a
near relation of his Lordship, to succeed you in this Government, permit
us, sir, on taking leave of you as our Governor, gratefully to acknowledge
the mildness and equity of your administration, and the Benefits and
Happiness which have flowed from it to the people of this Province.
Ever since you have presided over us, we have observed with Pleasure,
your steady care to have the Laws duly executed, and justice impartially
administered, and that a desire to promote the good of this province
hath been the ruling motive of all your actions. Such motives and such
actions, worthy of those that are appointed to rule, must render your
memory dear to a grateful people.
Your public virtues impressed us with Esteem and Reverence for
the Magistrate, whilst your social virtues impressed us with the warmest
affection for the man, and must now give you the heart-felt Pleasure of
being followed into your retirement by the prayers and Blessings of a
people you made happy. But virtue like yours will not be suffered to
remain long sequestered from the world, and happy will the favored
people be, over whom his Majesty shall hereafter appoint you to preside.
Signed, Risdon Bozman,
Robert Goldsborough,
James Dickinson,
John Goldsborough,
Edward Oldham,
Jonathan Nicols,
William Martin.
Talbot Court House,
May 24th, 1774.
To this address Gov. Sharpe made a suitable reply on the 24th June,
1769, which need not here be inserted. 9
As occurring during the revolutionary period, and as promotive of
the revolutionary movements, the controversy respecting the "Vestry
Act" which sprang up in the year 1770 and continued through several
years, might be noticed, but there is no extant evidence that the storm
which was aroused in this province by the Proclamation of Gov. Eden
gained any force from Talbot where there were few dissenters, except
the quiet Quakers, and Roman Catholics, and whose people faithful and
attached to the church as established by law, had always paid their
church rates ungrudgingly, whether they were 40 or 30 pounds of tobacco
9 From the Gilmor papers in the possession of the Maryland Historical Society.
This address and the reply were, for the first time, printed in the Easton Star of
Dec. 24th, 1872.

50 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
per poll. There is no doubt, however, that the seeds of discontent
which had been sown by the methods of appointing the clergy to the
parishes, and the exaction of rates from all, whether of the English com
munion or not, had begun to germinate under the influence of the warm
discussions of the time — upon the question whether the expiration of
an Act of Assembly by limitation did or did not leave in force a prior
act for which it was intended to be substituted. As indirectly con
nected with this question of church rates, and as bearing upon the causes
of the Revolution, may be mentioned the appearance in the county
of the ministers of Mr. Wesley and the introduction by them of a form
of religion democratic in its spirit and methods.
The public agitation caused by the proclamation of the Governor
establishing fees of office, and by the attempted restoration of the law
of 1702 respecting the support of the clergy, had scarcely subsided
under the influence of measures of compromise, when it was again aroused
by a renewal of the attempt of the'British ministry to enforce the claim,
which never had been abandoned, of taxing America. Although all
imposts had been abolished except that on tea, this remained and efforts
were made to collect it through the agency of the East India Company,
in whose hands immense amounts of this article had accumulated by
reason of the refusal of the American colonists to receive it. The story
of the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor need not here be repeated;
nor even that of a similar destruction of the tea and the ship trans
porting it, in the harbor at Annapolis. The first of these occurrences
took place in Dec, 1773, and led to the adoption by the British Parlia
ment in March, 1774, of what is known as the Boston Port Bill. This
was followed by other punitive measures. These acts aroused the great
est indignation throughout the American colonies, and sympathy with
their brethren of Boston was expressed in addresses couched in the most
glowing language, and adopted at enthusiastic meetings of the citizens
of almost every section. Among the very earliest of these meetings
held in Maryland was that which convened in this county, the proceed
ings of which taken from the Maryland Gazette were as follows:
Alarmed at the present situation of America and impressed with the
most tender feelings for the distresses of their brethren and fellow sub
jects in Boston, a number of gentlemen having met at this place, took
into their serious consideration the part they ought to act as friends
of liberty and the general interests of mankind. *¦
To preserve the rights and to secure the property of the subject, they
apprehend is the end of government. But when those rights are invaded
— when the mode prescribed by the laws for the punishment of offences

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 61
and obtaining justice is disregarded and spurned— when without being
heard in their defence, force is employed and the severest penalties in
flicted; the people, they clearly perceive, have a right not only to com
plain, but likewise to exert their utmost endeavors to prevent the effect
of such measures as may be adopted by a weak and corrupt ministry to
destroy their liberties, to deprive them of their property and rob them
of their dearest birthright as Britons.
Impressed with the warmest zeal for and loyalty to their most gracious
sovereign, and with the most sincere affection for their fellow subjects
in Great Britain, they have determined calmly and steadily to unite with
their fellow subjects in pursuing every legal and constitutional measure
to avert the evils threatened by the late act of Parliament for shutting
up the port of Boston; to support the common rights of America, and
to promote that union and harmony between the mother county and
the colonies, on which the preservation of both must finally depend.
Unfortunately no record is preserved of the officers and active members
of this meeting, which marks the beginning of the Revolution in the
stricter sense. It is probable that there was a committee of correspond
ence appointed at this meeeting as was done at a similar meeting held
a few days after in the neighboring county of Queen Anne, and as was
done at like assemblages elsewhere within the province.10 The object
of these committees was the forming of a body within each county that
should have a quasi official character, give guidance to any political
movements, and hold communication with bodies of the same kind
wherever they had been organized throughout the colonies. These
soon gave place, as will presently be shown, to the committees of observa
tion regularly elected by the people with defined duties. At this meet
ing or at one held subsequently, of which there is no record, the follow
ing gentlemen who doubtless were also of the committee of correspond
ence were appointed a committee to attend a general meeting of like
committees of the several counties of the province, which assembled
on the 22nd of June 1774, at Annapolis, and " continued by adjournment
from day to day until the 25th of the same month:11
Mr. Matthew Tilghman,
Mr. Edward Lloyd,
Mr. Nicholas Thomas,
Mr. Robert Goldsborough, 4th.
10 It would seem this meeting in Talbot, was the first of those held in Maryland.
Those for Baltimore and Annapolis being held on the 25th of May, that for Queen
Anne on the 30th, and that for Kent on the 2nd of June, 1774. Scharf's Hist.
Md., vol. ii, pp. 144-149.
11 From the Maryland Journal of July 2nd, 1774.

62 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
The Convention upon its assembling called Mr. Matthew Tilghman
to the chair — a position in which he was frequently placed in these revo
lutionary conventions. On this occasion he was chosen to preside over
a body, probably the most respectable that had ever convened in Mary
land, composed of gentlemen distinguished in the Province for their
intelligence, moral worth, social standing and wealth. The delegates
from Talbot represented not only the political sentiments, but the best
elements of the character of her people. A series of resolutions were
passed by this convention, in which were embodied recommendations
to the several colonies to break off all commercial intercourse with
Great Britain until the repeal of the obnoxious acts, from a time to be
named by a general congress of deputies, which, it was suggested, should
assemble at the city of Philadelphia in the following September, and to
which Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, Jr., Robert Goldsborough
[of Dorchester], William Paca, and Samuel Chase, Esquires, or any two
or more of them should be deputies of the province of Maryland. It was
also recommended that collections be taken up in each of the counties
"for the relief of the distressed inhabitants of Boston." It will be seen
that Talbot has the honor of sending a member, and the principal mem
ber, or chairman of the delegation, to what may be called the first of the
Continental Congresses. Whether she contributed to the relief of the
wants of the Bostonians is not known, but that she did may be inferred
from her liberality in 1760 upon the occasion of the great fire in the town
of Boston, when from her citizens was collected for the sufferers a little
more than two hundred and thirty-three pounds, the largest amount
contributed by any county of the province.12
The congress, known as the Carpenter's Hall Congress, assembled
on the 5th of Sept. at Philadelphia, and a few days after its organization
Mr. Tilghman took his seat, a worthy compeer of Washington and other
illustrious men who were members of that body. It does not appear
that he took any active part in the debates, but nothing is hazarded
by saying that his opinions upon the subjects discussed received that
weight to which they were entitled by reason of the maturity of his
judgment, and his practical experience in political affairs. But another
scion of Talbot held a conspicuous place in this body, namely "Fanner"
'- In the Maryland Gazette of July 3d, 1760, it is stated that "An honourable
and compassionate gentleman" of Talbot contributed 50 guineas. Although
the name of this gentleman escaped mention, it may be said the credit of making
this lies between the Hon. Samuel Chamberlaine, and the Hon. Edward Lloyd,
both of whom were at the time members of the Governor's Council.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 63
John Dickinson, who had been elected after the meeting of the congress,
as a delegate from Pennsylvania. His unquestioned devotion to his
country, coupled with his conceded abilities, gave weight to his counsels
of moderation, which caused him to be selected to draft the petition to
the King for the redress of the grievances of the colonies represented.
To the same hand is attributed the elaborate "address to the inhabitants
of Canada," urging them to unite their fortunes with those of the people
of the other colonies. One of the two gentlemen appointed by the con
gress to draft a "Declaration of Colonial Rights," was the Hon. Robert
Goldsborough, a member of the Talbot family of that name. His
career was one of great distinction, but further notice of him is precluded
by the accident of his birth in Dorchester county. To give force to the
articles of the "Declaration of Rights," an "American Association"
was formed similar in character to those colonial and county associa
tions that originated during the period of the controversy respecting
the Stamp Act, and the Revenue Act. The articles of this association
pledged "the associators to an entire commercial non-intercourse with
Great Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies, and the non-consumption
of tea and British goods."13 Among other provisions of this association
was one for the appointment in every county, city and town of a com
mittee to detect violations of the terms of this obligation. To the arti
cles of this association Mr. Matthew Tilghman, with his fellow members
of the congress from Maryland affixed their names, and upon his return
to Talbot he was active in securing the appointment of the committee
of observation of that county, he himself becoming one of the council
of safety, which was so efficient in preventing the infringement of the
provision for non commercial intercourse with the mother country
and some of its dependencies, as will presently be shown. The first
continental congress adjourned on the 20th October, 1774, and at a
"Provincial Meeting of Deputies, chosen by the several counties of
Maryland, held at the city of Annapolis, November the 21st, 1774,"
Mr. Tilghman again being in the chair, a report was made by the dele
gates to that congress of its proceedings which were approved; and
it was resolved that "every member will and every person ought, strictly
and inviolably to observe and carry into execution the association
15 It is noticeable that the associators especially denounced the slave trade,
and pledged themselves to abstain from trading with those engaged in it. One
historian declares "The signature of the association by the members of con
gress, may be considered as the commencement of the American Union." Hil-
dreth, vol. iii, page 46.

64 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
agreed on by the said continental congress." The meeting adjourned
to Dec. 8th, 1774, when it again assembled and placed Mr. John Hall
in the chair. The thanks of the convention were given to the deputies
in the late continental congress for the faithful discharge of their impor
tant trust. The further proceedings of this convention make a part of
the general history of the province or State, and need not be particular
ized; but it may be well enough to mention that among other recommen
dations was one that "each county should raise by subscription, or in
such voluntary manner as they may think proper," certain specified
sums of money, amounting in all to ten thousand pounds, for the pur
chase of arms and ammunition for each county. The sum assigned
to Talbot was four hundred pounds, which, doubtless, was readily con
tributed though no record has been preserved of the names of the
contributors. It is known that companies of militia were raised within
the county, organized and equipped. It was resolved to appoint a
committee of correspondence for the province, and of this committee
Mr. Matthew Tilghman was one, and the chairman, having such prom
inent gentlemen for his coadjutors as John Hall, Sam'l Chase, Thomas
Johnson, Jr., Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Charles Carroll, barrister,
and William Paca, Esquires. The convention also unanimously passed
the resolution l' that the Hon. Matthew Tilghman and Thomas Johnson,
Jr., Robert Goldsborough, William Paca, Samuel Chase, John Hall and
Thomas Stone, Esquires, or any three or more of them to be deputies
to represent this province in the next continental congress, &c. It is
barely necessary to note that many of these gentlemen, including the
chairman from Talbot, continued to be members of congress until
that ever memorable one assembled which passed the declaration of
independence. The convention adjourned to meet April 24th, 1775.
Early in this year meetings were held in the several counties of the
province by which the proceedings of both Congress and the provincial
Convention were ratified by the popular voice, and at which Committees
of Observation were appointed to secure the observance of the articles
of Association, and also Committees of Correspondence. Unfortunately
no record has been preserved of the proceedings of the meeting held
at Talbot Court House, but that such a meeting was held, passed resolu
tions and appointed committees is absolutely certain. The moderation
which had been shown by the conventions was hardly felt by the people.
There was a growing feeling in favor of independence, and this was mani
fested bv signs that were not to be mistaken. Armies were collected,
military associations formed, those suspected of being disaffected were

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 65
subjected to annoyances, and sometimes personal injury, freedom of
expression of opinion, if that opinion seemed opposed to the popular
feeling, was abridged, and in short every sign that portends revolution
was prevented. That no collision between hostile forces occurred is
owing to the character of the provincial government, which required
the presence in Maryland of no royal troops. In truth a revolution in
civil affairs had been virtually accomplished, for the Governor was
powerless, the General Assembly was prorogued indefinitely, the Con
ventions were the legislative authority which was obeyed, and the
committees appointed by a popular vote were the actual executive in
the several counties.
The appointment of Committees of Observation seems to have been
a spontaneous movement upon the part of the people, for which there was
no other authority than the requirements of the emergency. The
number of members was indefinite, and they were chosen by resolutions
passed at public meetings composed of those who were entitled to vote
for delegates to the General Assembly. There does not appear to have
been regular polls held, but the meetings were similar to the political
meetings of the present, when the sentiments of the participants were
given by acclaim or a show of hands. No record of the meeting at
Talbot Court House has been preserved, as before noted, but the names
of a considerable number of the committee that was chosen have been
recovered from one source or another, and are here given, namely:
James Hindman, Thomas Martin, Jr.,
Dr. Moses Allen, Samuel Sharpe,
John Stevens, Rev. John Gordon,
John Cochran, James Lloyd Chamberlaine,
Nathaniel Cooper, John Bracco,
John Gibson, Charles Troupe,
Jacob Hindman, Robert Wilson,
Dr. John Troupe, Nicholas Thomas,
Francis Baker, Thomas Harrison,
William Hindman, William Hambleton,
Robt. Loyd Nicols, Hugh Rice,
Samuel Thomas, Richard Skinner.
Thomas Ray,
To these it would be very safe to add the names of those gentlemen,
not already mentioned, who had seats in the Convention. Mr. Edward
Lloyd, Mr. Pollard Edmundson, Mr. Matthew Tilghman, and Mr.

66 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Robert Goldsborough, 4th of the name. This committee appears to
have entered upon its duty with great diligence, and though the records
of its proceedings have in a great measure disappeared, a few dis
jointed memoranda remain, and these it is proposed to present. They
have been derived from the files of the Maryland Gazette, in the State
Library at Annapolis, and from Force's American Archives, published
by the Congress of the United States.
A meeting of the Committee of Observation for Talbot county, being
requested by Mr. Charles CroOkshanks, on Tuesday, the 21st March,
1775, the following gentlemen did accordingly meet at Mr. Brascup's
Tavern, viz. : — James Hindman, Dr. Moses Allen, John Stevens, John
Cochran, Nath. Cooper, John Gibson, Jacob Hindman, Francis Baker,
William Hindman, Robt. Lloyd Nicols, Saml. Thomas, Thomas Ray,
Thomas Martin, Jr., Samuel Sharpe, Dr. John Troupe.
Mr. Crookshanks thereupon made the following report: That the
ship Baltimore, James Longmair captain, consigned to himself by
Messrs. Spiers French & Company, had arrived the evening before with
two bales of goods on board; which, as would appear by letters he was
ready to produce from the said gentlemen, had been shipped at Glasgow,
Nov. 10th, 1774, and were part of a cargo, intended to have been sent
by a former ship; that the said Longmuir came by way of Rotterdam,
and had been detained by the ice which had protracted his voyage.
The committee, upon examination being satisfied with the truth
of the above report, were of opinion that no imputation ought to be
thrown upon the said company of an intention to contravene the non
importation agreement entered into by the colonies; as it was not possi
ble for them to receive an account of the proceedings of the continental
congress, at the time of the shipping of the said goods; and as Mr.
Crookshanks voluntarily proposed and solemnly plighted his honor,
that the said bales should not be landed, but sent back in the same
bottom, the committee were much pleased with his readiness to comply
with the resolution of the continental congress, accepted the proposal
and Resolved unanimously that the said goods be sent back to Glasgow
in the same ship without landing. Charles Troupe,
Sec'ypro. temp.14
At a meeting of the Committee of Observation for Talbot County,
on the 23d of May, 1775, at the Court House in the said county, the
Rev. Mr. John Gordan in the chair, a letter from the Committee of
Observation in Baltimore town, bearing date May 20th, 1775, and signi
fying that the ship Johnston, belonging to Mr. Gildart, of Liverpool, was
loaded with salt and dry goods by the house of Messrs. Ashton, and
bound for the Chesapeake Bay, was read; in consequence whereof a
deputation, consisting of eleven gentlemen, was appointed to wait
" Maryland Gazette, April 6th, 1775.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 67
on Mr. James Braddock,15 agent and storekeeper for Mr. Gildart, owner
of the said ship Johnston, to advise bim of the information received,
to request him to give a satisfactory account, and statement of all goods
now in his hands, and not to assist or countenance, directly or indirectly,
the landing of any goods from the ship, or in any way to promote the
sale thereof. On the whole, the deputation had it in charge to require
an answer from Mr. Braddock as to the part he meant to act upon this
occasion, and to report the same to the Committee on Tuesday, the 30th
inst., on which day they agreed to meet, unless the deputation should
think it necessary to call the Committee sooner, in which case they
were requested to give public notice.
On the 30th inst. the Committee as above mentioned, met according
to appointment, when the deputation aforesaid appeared and reported
that they went to Mr. Braddock's store, but not finding him at home,
they left a copy of the letter from the Committee of Baltimore town,
together with a copy of the order of this Committee, to be delivered to
him when he should return. In consequence from this Mr. Braddock
appeared before the Committee and informed them "that he did not
expect the ship Johnston shortly to arrive in Miles River, but that he had
no advice nor had any reason to believe (except from the aforesaid letter
from the Baltimore town Committee) that the said ship would bring
either dry goods or salt." Mr. Braddock did likewise, at the same
time, voluntarily enter into the following engagement and promise:
"that the said ship Johnston, or any other vessel, having on board any
goods or merchandize, prohibited by the American Association, shall
come addressed to him, or to any other agent or factor of Mr. Gildart,
he will, in such an event, neither directly nor indirectly receive nor assist
in landing, storing or selling the said goods or merchandize; but that,
on the contrary, he will, immediately and forthwith, give notice of the
arrival of said ship or other vessel to the above mentioned deputation,
or to some four of them (who are appointed to go on board of each ship
or vessel, and to examine the papers, viz. : the manifest, the cockets and
log book) ; and that he would give directions for the immediate return
of such ship or vessel addressed to him, without breaking bulk." Mr.
Braddock delivered, at the same time, to the Committee an inventory
of the goods he has now on hand, with which they declared themselves
satisfied for the present.
On the same day, information being made to the Committee, that Mr.
Brascup, tavern keeper at Talbot Court House, had on Tuesday, the 23d
day of May, served up lamb at his table, he was accordingly called before
the Committee to give an account of his conduct, and upon his inform
ing them that he had not purchased more than two or three lambs, which
had been assured were yeaned before the 1st of January, and on his
promise that he would not, for the future, purchase any more lambs,
without a certificate from the seller that they had been yeaned, either
" Mr. James Braddock was a merchant at St. Michaels, where a square of
ground bears his name to this day.

68 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
before the first day of January, or after the first of May, the Committee
were satisfied and dismissed Mr. Brascup.
Ordered that the above proceedings be published in the Maryland
Gazette. Signed by order of the Committee. Robert WrLSON,
CI, pro temp."
As explanatory of the action of the Committee in the case of Mr.
Brascup, it should be stated that the convention of the 8th of December,
1774, unanimously
Resolved, That, to increase our flocks of sheep, and thereby promote
the woolen manufacture in this province, no person ought to kill any
lamb, dropt before the first day of May yearly, or other sheep, after
the first day of January next, under four years of age.
The following continues the recital of the affair of the ship Johnston:
The Committee of Observation for Talbot County desire you to pub
lish the following piece of intelligence: On Monday, the 26th June, the
ship Johnston, Captain Jones, from and belonging to Mr. James Gildart,
of Liverpool, was spoke within Chesapeake Bay, by Capt. Harding, of
the schooner Endeavor, when Captain Jones informed Captain Harding
that he was from Liverpool, and had on board a quantity of salt. Cap
tain Jones being asked whether he had anything more on board, answered
yes, he had a few dry goods. On being further asked how Mr. Gildart
(who was well apprized of the Association) would venture to send such
articles to America? Captain Jones replied, that three generals and
twenty thousand soldiers had been ordered to America some time
before the goods are shipped, and that it was not doubted but that
all would be quiet by the time they should arrive. Captain Jones en
quired of Captain Harding whether he thought he could land his salt
and goods in Georgia; but the next day he came with the ship into the
Eastern Bay, landed some servants he had on board, and soon after
steered down the bay.
The public are cautioned to be upon the watch, and look out for the
ship Johnston, as there is reason to suspect she is still hovering in some
part of the bay, and will attempt to land her goods, if she can find a
convenient opportunity, notwithstanding the Captains' inquiry whether
it was practicable to land them in Georgia.17
The Committee of Observation continued to follow up this matter
of the ship Johnston, as we learn from the following:
" Maryland Gazette, June 8th, 1775.
17 Maryland Gazette, July 13, 1775. As explaining Capt. Jones' inquiry, it may
be stated that not till March 1775, did this colony of Georgia appoint delegates
to Congress, and not till July of the same year did a committee assemble to ratify
the acts of Congress.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 69
At a meeting of the Committee of Observation for Talbot county on
Friday, the 7th July, 1775, James Lloyd Chamberlaine in the chair,
Messrs. Thomas Harrison, William Hamilton [Hambleton], Richard
Skinner and Hugh Rice, four of the gentlemen deputed to go on board
the ship Johnston, and examine her papers and log book, appear and
report. That on notice from Mr. James Braddock, agent and factor
for Messrs. James Gildart and John Gawith & Company, of Liverpool,
merchants, on the night of the 27th of June last, they did in the morning
of the 28th get on board the said ship Johnston, then lying in the Western
Bay, waiting the return of her boat sent for the said deputation, and did
examine her manifest, cocket and log book, by which they found she
had on board salt, fourteen convicts, two indentured servants and dry
goods as in the annexed schedule, said by Mr. Braddock to be shipped
by Mr. James Gildart, on account of the above mentioned Gildart,
Gawith & Company, and did give orders for her immediate return,
permitting her, however, to lay at Hampton road in Virginia, to take in
recruit of bread and water. They further report that Mr. Braddock
applied to them for leave to land the convicts and servants; to which
they replied, that they could see nothing in the proceedings of Congress
relative to convicts or servants, and therefore could give no directions
with regard to their being landed, but told him if he chose to do it, it
must be at his own risk. On which Mr. Braddock did land the said
convicts and servants, when they (the deputation) came on shore,
alleging in his justification that servants had a few days before been
landed at Annapolis and Baltimore towns, and were there advertised for
sale. They further say that they charged Captain Jones of the said ship
Johnston, to return immediately to the port of Liverpool without break
ing bulk, which he the said Captain assured them he would do ; and when
they left him, he stood down the bay. The deputation also say, that
Mr. Braddock in their hearing told the said Captain that he must pro
ceed immediately on his return as aforesaid. One of the deputation
further saith, he overheard the Captain, in private conversation with
Mr. Braddock, remonstrate that he could not land salt at Liverpool;
to which Mr. Braddock replied they might do as they would with it,
but that he (the Captain) must immediately carry it back to the place
from whence it came.
It is the unanimous opinion of this Committee that the said Messrs.
James Gildart & Gawith, by sending the said goods to be landed in
America, have been guilty of a breach of the 5th resolve of the American
Association, viz. : That if any merchant residing in Great Britain or
Ireland, shall directly or indirectly ship any goods, wares or merchandize
for America, in order to break the said non importation agreement, or
in any manner to contravene the same, on such unworthy conduct being
well attested, it ought to be made public, and on the same being soon
done, we will not henceforth have any commercial connection with such
merchants. Resolved, therefore, for ourselves and our constituents, that we
will from henceforth break off all commercial connection with the said

70 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Messrs. James Gildart and John Gawith, and each of them, their agents,
factors or storekeepers.
Resolved, also, that agreeable to a determination of the Provincial
Convention, in December last, no gentleman of the law ought hence
forward to bring a suit whatever for the said Messrs. James Gildart
and John Gawith, or for either of their agents, factors, managers or
storekeepers, as such.
The proceedings of the several Provincial Conventions were read and
unanimously approved of.
Ordered that the proceedings of this day be immediately made public
and printed in the Maryland Gazette. Signed by order,
John Bracco,
Clerk pro temp.
Following this recital was "A schedule of the goods on board the
Johnston, Captain Jones, taken June 28th, 1775," but as this possesses
no particular interest, it is omitted.18
It may be well to note here that Mr. Gildart did not fare as favorably
from the people of Anne Arundel as from those of Talbot county; for
a ship of his, the Totness, Capt. Harding of Liverpool, a few days after
the events just related, was burned by the citizens of Anne Arundel
while off the mouth of West river, bound for Baltimore.19- It was
owing doubtless to acts like this that the Convention then in session
passed ordinances limiting the powers and number of members of the
Committees of Observation and instituting Councils of Safety to which
was delegated supervisory authority over those Committees.
Before the time arrived for the assembling of the Convention in April,
1775, the battles of Concord and Lexington had been fought, and the
whole country was aflame with the intelligence, communicated with
the utmost rapidity to the Committees of Correspondence in the several
provinces and counties. The idea of independence which had been
entertained by the more ardent and impulsive began to possess the minds
of the most unimpassioned and thoughtful. The Convention meeting
under circumstances calculated to encourage the idea, nevertheless
instructed its Delegates in Congress to use their efforts to secure "a
happy reconciliation of the differences between the mother country
and the British Colonies in North America upon the firm basis of con
stitutional freedom," and "not to proceed to the last extremity unless
in their judgments they shall be convinced that such a measure is
18 Maryland Gazette, July 13th, 1775.
1 » Maryland Gazette, July 20th, 1775.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 71
indisputably necessary for the safety and preservation of our liberties
and privileges." The gentlemen who were to represent the province
in the next Congress were men of large wealth and social prominence
and were therefore inclined to that conservatism which those having
much at risk are disposed to indulge in in times of civil commotion.
It is therefore altogether probable that their own sentiments were the
same as those of the convention as expressed in its resolves, if indeed
they may not have inspired that body with their own feelings and
opinions.20 The sum of six hundred pounds was ordered to be collected
by subscription under the direction of the Committees of Observation in
the several counties, to defray the expenses of the delegates to the ap
proaching congress, who were to be the same as those already appointed.
Of this sum Talbot was asked to contribute twenty-four pounds.
On the 10th of May, 1775, the second continental congress met at
Philadelphia. This congress is memorable for two circumstances —
its notable indecision upon the subject of independency, and for its hav
ing appointed Washington to be commander-in-chief of any forces that
might be raised. In truth a majority of the delegates were not in a true
sense the leaders of the people who were far in advance of them, as is
usual in periods of civil commotion. This majority still indulged the
fancy that a reconciliation with the mother country might be effected
and advocated a second humble petition to the King. Of this majority
Mr. John Dickinson was one. How the Maryland delegation stood
affected is not positively known, but in compliance with the instructions
of the Convention, it is probable they still favored the employment of
expostulation and pacific insistance upon the rights of the colonies.
There was a minority however who saw no hope of conciliation, and that
nothing remained but either submission or forcible resistance to the
British government. Events however were bringing their unanswerable
logic to bear upon this hesitating body whose minds were divided by
allegiance to their king and devotion to their own country. War had
actually begun. Lexington and Concord had been fought, and won.
Ticonderoga, only a few hours before the meeting of Congress, had fallen.
Information of the dispatch of forces to America for the subjugation
of the insurgents of New England had been received. Measures of
defense were therefore forced upon the same men who were voting for a
20 Sam'l Chase and Matthew Tilghman were regarded as the most advanced
of the Maryland delegation upon the subject of independency, and particularly
the former, who, to employ the locution of the late rebellion was a shrieker,
not for union but severance.

72 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
petition to an angry king and obstinate ministry. Troops were ordered
to be mustered and a principal officer was to be chosen. Washington
was nominated by Thomas Johnson, of Maryland, and this incomparable
man upon whom praise has long been exhasted was chosen commander-
in-chief. In all these measures Talbot took her part through her ven
erated and trusted son, Matthew Tilghman, whose weight of character
was felt in the deliberations of Congress, if his eloquence was not heard
in the debates.
Before the Maryland Convention had assembled on the 26th of July,
1775, of which, as at the former meetings, Mr. Tilghman was the chair
man, the battle of Bunker Hill had been' fought, and the question
whether the colonies should and would resist by force of arms had been
definitely settled. This convention is memorable for its having formed
the "Association of the Freemen of Maryland," for the measures it
adopted for the civil government of the province during the suspension
of the provincial authority, and for the means it devised for arming a
force for service in the field. For the details concerning each of these,
reference must be made to general histories of the State. It must suffice
in this brief account to say that the Associators pledged themselves to
each other and to America that they would to the utmost of then-
power "promote and support the present opposition, carrying on, as
well by arms, as by continental association, restraining our commerce."
They further agreed, in order that "zeal unrestrained" might not be
productive of anarchy and confusion, that they would support the civil
power as far as might be consistent with the present plan of opposition,
and to protect from injury all persons except those adjudged worthy of
punishment by the civil magistrate, the continental congress, our
convention, council of safety or committees of observation. It was
provided that the names of all persons who refused to subscribe the arti
cles of Association, should be reported to the convention.21 By resolu
tion of the convention forty companies of minute men were ordered to
be enrolled and officered, of which companies Talbot was to furnish one.
The convention then proceeded to institute a kind of civil government,
21 An original subscription paper, having the articles of the Association of
Freemen of Maryland as a caption, now framed and hanging in the Governor's
room at Annapolis, of which photographic copies were circulated, bears the names
of these associators belonging to Talbot. Mr. Matthew Tilghman heads the list,
in which are found the names of James Lloyd Chamberlaine, Nicholas Thomas,
which four were delegates to the convention. Then follow the names of Peregrine
Tilghman, William Hindman, Richard Tilghman, Jr., James Benson, Francis
Baker. \

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 73
by the election of a Council of Safety, for the province at large, possessing,
however, two sections empowered to sit separately, one for the Eastern
and the other for the Western Shore; and by ordering that there should
be chosen by the electors of each county a Committee of Observation,
whose duties it should be to " carry into execution the Association, and
Resolves of the Continental Congress, and Conventions of this province,"
so far as the same relate to the commercial opposition to the measures
of the British ministry. These committees also were authorized and
empowered to cause any person reasonably suspected of attempts to
produce disunion among the inhabitants in their opposition, to be
apprehended and sent for trial before the Council of Safety for the
shore upon which the offense was committed. The number of persons
constituting this Committee of Observation varied with the number of
the inhabitants of each of the counties. It consisted in Talbot of six
teen members. The number of members in the Council of Safety was
also sixteen — eight from each shore. By resolution of the convention
these gentlemen were chosen to be of this Council of Safety, which had
for the time supreme power in the commonwealth:
For the Eastern Shore: The Hon. Matthew Tilghman,
John Beal Bordley, Edward Lloyd,
Robert Goldsborough, Thomas Smyth,
James Hollyday, Henry Hooper,
Richard Lloyd, Esquires
For the Western Shore: The Hon Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer,
Thomas Johnston, Jr., Saumel Chase,
William Paca, Robert Alexander,
Charles Carroll, barrister, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton,
Thomas Stone, Esquires.
Of these two were from Talbot, viz. : The Hon. Matthew Tilghman
and Edward Lloyd, Esquire. In conformity with an order of the Con
vention, the electors of Talbot, that is to say, the freeholders and other
freemen having a visible estate of forty pounds sterling, or qualified by
law to vote for burgesses, assembled at the Court House, and under the
inspection of three or more delegates of that county to the Convention,
acting as judges, proceeded to elect sixteen discreet and sensible per
sons, from those entitled to vote, to be the Committee of Observation

74 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
for the county. It has already been mentioned that Committees of
Observation had been chosen in the several counties, and that this had
been done by a spontaneous movement of the people, having no authority
in law nor even in the orders of a revolutionary convention. There is
no doubt that the resolution directing the election by a popular vote,
conducted under certain conditions prescribed, was intended to give
to these Committees of Observation a kind of legal status, and to
bring them under a kind of legal control. The result of this election
has nowhere been recorded, and therefore we remain in ignorance of the
names of the gentlemen who were selected for this responsible position.
There is a reasonable probability however that in selecting the sixteen
committeemen for Talbot, gentlemen who had been already acting in
this capacity were chosen by the electors. The only name that is men
tioned in any record thus far recovered is that of Mr. Nicholas Thomas,
who in March, 1776, is mentioned as being the chairman of Committee
of Observation for Talbot.
But, to return to the proceedings of the Convention of July, 1775.
Having ordered the raising of a military force, it became necessary to
provide the means of defraying the expense of maintaining it; and to
this end it was determined to issue bills of credit. After taking pre
cautions against the forging of such bills as should be emitted, a com
mittee of sixteen gentlemen, eight from each shore was appointed to
sign them. Of the eight for the Eastern Shore, the whole were taken
from this county doubtless as a matter of mere convenience. These were
Robert Lloyd Nicols, Peregrine Tilghman,
Samuel Sharp, William Perry,
Richard Tilghman, Jr., Jeremiah Banning,
James Hindman, Joseph Bruff ,
Esquires,
gentlemen of well-known probity and well established character. Mr.
William Hindman, also of this county, and later, a member of Con
gress, was appointed Treasurer for this shore and gave bond payable
to Matthew Tilghman, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Charles Carroll,
of Carrollton and Edward Lloyd, Esquires, two of whom it will be per
ceived being residents of Talbot. It would seem from a resolution of
the Convention, that Mr. Edward Lloyd was custodian of the arms and
ammunition for this county, as he was ordered to deliver a sufficient
number and quantity for one company of minute men. Before ad
journment upon the 14th of August, these gentlemen were chosen to

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 75
represent the province in continental congress three or more being en
titled to serve: Hon. Matthew Tilghman, and Thomas Johnson, Jun.,
Robert Goldsborough, William Paca, Sam'l Chase, Thomas Stone and
Jno. Hall, Esquires. Provision was made for the choosing by the free
men of the province of five delegates to "any provincial convention to
be held for this province, within one year, then next following."
The provincial convention assembled December 7th, 1775. In the
meantime, a new election as provided by the convention of July, 1775,
had taken place, which resulted in choosing of the same gentlemen
who had represented the county heretofore with the addition of Mr.
Francis Baker. Mr. Matthew Tilghman was again unanimously elected
chairman, or as this officer is called, for the first time president of the
convention. It would seem that the Committee of Observation had
not been remiss in enforcing the orders of the Continental Congress as
embodied in the articles of association, for they gave information of a
breach of those articles by a member of their own body, who had also
been elected a member of the convention, Mr. Francis Baker. This
gentleman appeared before the convention,
acknowledged his offence, and expressed great contrition and sorrow
for the same, and prayed a remission of the penalty annexed by Congress
to his crime, that he might not be declared an enemy to America, but
be permitted to enjoy the rights of a member of this community, on
such terms and conditions as this convention may think proper to impose ;
and promised a strict compliance with all continental and provincial
resolutions. The convention then
Resolved, that the seat of Francis Baker be vacated, and that the
electors of Talbot county elect another person as a member and com
mittee man for that county, in the room and place of the said Francis
Baker, * * * : that the said Baker not offering himself for
any office of trust, his offence be not published, nor any proceedings had
against him.
In what manner Mr. Baker violated the articles of association is not
known, but in all probability he imported or bought goods of British
manufacture. There is no evidence that he was wanting in patriotic
feeling, as he seems to have enjoyed the confidence of his fellow citizens
to such an extent as to have secured his election as a member of the very
committee that presented him for punishment, and of the very con
vention that imposed the punishment upon him. The election that had
been ordered of a delegate to take Mr. Baker's place resulted in the

76 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
choosing of Mr. Edward Lloyd, who took his seat in the convention
January 8, 1776. On the 13th of May Mr. Baker presented a memorial
to the convention, "praying a remission of the sentence pronounced
against him at the last session of convention, which forbids him to
offer himself for any office of trust;" but this petition was rejected.
At a later date he presented a similar petition to which a favorable
response was given by the convention. Nothing more is known of him,
but one annalist speaks of him, upon what authority he does not state,
but probably that of family tradition, as "a blatant demagogue, full of
wise saws and idle doubts about trusting rich landed proprietors."2*
If this characterization may be accepted, Mr. Baker was elected to the
convention as the representative of the small farmers, tradesmen and
mechanics, between whom and the large planters there subsisted a
jealousy, which asserted itself more plainly and positively as the war
progressed, and yet more plainly and positively after its close.
Returning from this digression, it may be well enough to note the
appointment of Mr. James Lloyd Chamberlaine, by the convention of
December, 1775, as a member of a committee to consider the memorial
of the court and the petition of the frontier inhabitants of Frederick
county and also of the committee:
to examine and report the returns of the Committees of Observation of
persons in the several counties in the province who have subscribed
or neglected to subscribe the Association directed by the last Convention .
This subscription or non-subscription was the test of the political
position to those to whom it was applied. Mr. James Benson was made
the supervisor for this county of the manufacture of crude saltpetre, an
article the domestic production of which the convention wished to
encourage. The same convention, in January, 1776, resolved that the Province
should immediately be placed in the best state of defense, and to this
end it was ordered that a body of troops should be raised, eight com
panies of which should be formed into a battalion to be commanded by
Genl. Smallwood, and the remainder into independent companies com
manded by their respective captains. These troops might be, as they
really were, called regulars of the Province, and formed the nucleus of
the afterwards famous Maryland line, of the continental service. No
company of Talbot was a part of the battalion. Upon going into an
22 Hon. John Bozman Kerr in his biography, yet unpublished, of Daniel Carroll,
"the Commissioner," of Rock Creek.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 77
election of officers the convention selected Mr. James Hindman to be the
captain of the independent company to be raised in Talbot, Mr. Wil
liam Goldsborough to be the First Lieutenant, Mr. Archibald Anderson
to be the Second Lieutenant and Mr. Edward Hindman to be the Third
Lieutenant. Of the same company Mr. William Frazier was Ensign,
but not chosen by the convention. As these were the first soldiers of
whom we know anything, who embarked in the war of independence,
a brief notice of them is in place. Capt. James Hindman was a son of
Jacob Hindman of this county and a brother of the Hon. William
Hindman. He was born April 1st, 1741, and was probably a native of
Dorchester county. His company was ordered to join the main army
under Washington, and took part in the battle of Long Island and those
that followed. Later be became Lieut. Colonel of the 5th Battalion
of Regulars. Resigning in 1777, he went into the civil service of the
State having been made Treasurer of the Eastern Shore after the resigna
tion of his brother William in that year, and was elected to the Legis
lature for four years in succession from 1780 to 1783. In 1786 he was
chosen a member of the Executive Council of the State. After the war
he was engaged in farming, but subsequently moved to the city of
Baltimore where he became a merchant and died Feb. 17, 1830 aged
eighty-nine years. Lieutenant Goldsborough bom June 2, 1759 was
a native of Talbot county, was the son of Mr. John Goldsborough, of
Oxford Neck, and a brother of Capt. Greenbury Goldsborough. Little
is known of him. Although elected, he seems not to have accepted a
commission of Lieutenant at this time, probably on account of his youth,
for at the date of the organization of Capt. Hindman's company he could
scarcely have been seventeen years of age. Lieutenant Anderson was
chosen in his stead to be first Lieutenant. But in 1780 or 81 he was
commissioned and going into service, probably served through the south
ern campaign, and was honorably discharged at the disbanding of the
army in 1783. On the occasion of Shays' rebellion in Massachusetts
when it was anticipated that a quota of troops would be demanded
of Maryland, Lieutenant Goldsborough offered his services to the Gov
ernor of the State, and asked a commission.23 He was a member of the
Society of the Cincinnati, and died unmarried Dec. 22, 1794. Of
Lieut. Archibald Anderson less is known than of Lieut. Goldsborough.
Of the place and date of his birth and of his parentage we are in entire
ignorance. It is known however that he participated in the battles
of Long Island and those that succeeded in that campaign, and with
" Copy of Lieut. Goldsborough's letter is in possession of the writer.

78 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Washington in the Jerseys, fought at Brandywine and Germantown,
was with the Maryland line in the South under Gates and Green, dis
tinguished himself at Camden, and died bravely on the field at Guilford,
March 15th, 1781, with the rank of major. Lieut. Edward Hindman
was a native of Talbot, and brother of Capt. Hindman. He also par
ticipated in the battles in which his company was engaged, and in 1777,
when there was a reorganization of the troops, he was appointed captain
in the third battalion of regulars, of which Mordecai Gist was made the
colonel. Nothing more is known of Lieutenant Hindman. Of Ensign
Frazier absolutely nothing has been recorded, as far as has been discov
ered. The company of Capt. Hindman, after its enrollment and equip
ment was, at the instance of Mr. Nicholas Thomas, chairman of the
Committee of Observation for the county, for a time stationed at Oxford,
the people of which town, then the most important in Talbot, were not
too patriotic to avail themselves of the opportunity afforded to exact
extortionate rates for the use of houses to be occupied as barracks for
the soldiers, of which excessive prices the Council of Safety, in March,
1776, made public complaint. There is little doubt that the object
of stationing this company at Oxford was to overawe the disaffected,
and to enforce the orders of the Committee of Observation and of the
Council of Safety. As will presently be shown, it was soon ordered to
join the army of Washington, and it participated actively in the cam
paign of 1776. But the convention took other steps for the defense
of the Province.
The Committees of Observation in the several counties had already
organized with more or less thoroughness the militia of Maryland, but
the convention resolved to give a greater completeness to what had been
done, and ordered that '' every able bodied effective freeman (with cer
tain specified exceptions), should enroll himself in some company of
militia," under a penalty if he should refuse or neglect to do so. The
Province was divided into military districts or brigades, each of which
was to have one brigadier general, one quarter master, and one adjutant.
Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne and Talbot made one district, and Mr. James
Lloyd Chamberlaine, of Talbot, was elected the Brigadier General,
and made the fourth in rank. The troops of each county were formed
into battalions, and the battalion of Talbot had these gentlemen as
its officers: Christopher Birkhead, Colonel; Peregrine Tilghman,
Lieut. Colonel; Jeremiah Banning, First Major; Robert Lloyd Nicols,
Second Major; and Nicholas Thomas, Quarter Master. Col. Birk-

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 79
head was the fourth in rank of the colonels of the several counties. But
as the companies that were organized in the county were sufficiently
numerous to form two battalions the convention at the instance of the
Committee of Observation, in May, 1776,
Resolved that the Fourth Battalion of militia in said county be com
posed of the companies of the Captains Joseph Bruff, Jacob Gibson,
Nathaniel Cooper, John Dougherty, James Lloyd, Samuel Abbot, Thom
as Gordon, and Greenbury Goldsborough ; and that the companies of
the Captains James Benson, Henry Banning, John Rolle, William Ham
bleton, William Webb Haddaway and Nicholas Martin, in said county
from the Thirty-Eighth Battalion.24
From a knowledge of the places of residence of these officers it is evi
dent the fourth battalion was formed in the upper part of the county,
that part bordering on Choptank river, while the thirty-eighth battalion
was formed exclusively in what is known as Bayside. The name of
the Colonel commanding this 38th battalion had not been preserved;
though it may have been that Col. Hugh Birkhead, who resided in the
section of the county from which it was drawn, was placed over it, while
another person may have been appointed to the colonelcy of the 4th
Battalion. As privateering had been authorized of Congress (March, 1776),
the private armed vessels were fitting out within the province of Mary
land for the capture of British shipping, it became necessary to organ
ize a "Court of Admiralty for the trial of such seizures and captures
as are or may be made," which was accordingly done May 25th, 1776,
and Mr. William Hayward of Talbot, but then recently of Somerset
county, was appomted Judge of this Court of Admiralty.25 This posi
tion he held for a very brief period and then resigned. It should be
remembered, however, that anterior to this date, there had been a
2* One of the companies of the 38th Battalion, which was enrolled from the cit
izens living near the Royal Oak, was called the "Hearts of Oak" and this name
was retained by a military organization at that place down to times within the
recollection of many still living.
!t Judge William Hayward was a native of Somerset where his family had long
been settled, and is still represented. Marrying in Talbot in 1760, the daughter
of Geo. Robins, Esq., he made this county his home. He had been one of the
delegates to represent his native county in the General Assembly of the Province.
In 1771 he was one of the judges of the Provincial Court, and in 1776, as noticed
in the text, a member of the Council of Safety, for the Eastern Shore. He died at
Locust Grove, his residence in Bailey's Neck, in the year 1791, leaving descendants
some of whose children are still living in this county, much respected.

80 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
court of the same name in this Province, and with somewhat similar
jurisdiction. On the same day Mr. Robert Lloyd Nicols of Talbot was elected pay.
master of the troops on the Eastern Shore, and Mr. Edward Lloyd of
the same county presented a petition, with others, to be relieved of
a fine for his failure to enroll himself in' the militia. In electing the mem
bers in the Council of Safety for the year 1776, but one gentleman from
Talbot, Mr. William Hayward, was chosen, and the number was lim
ited to four.
On the 7th of May, 1776, it was recorded that the convention, which
had convened on the day previous, ordered the
proceedings of the Committee of Observation for Talbot county, against
Alexander Wickham should be read and laid upon the table;
and upon a second reading, on the same day, of
the representation of the committee of Talbot county of the case of
Alexander Wickham, ordered, that the said Alexander Wickham be
committed to the custody of a guard, to be appointed by Col. William
Smallwood, until the convention shall take order in the premises, and
that the guard from the independent company, commanded by Captain
Hindman, be discharged of the said Alexander Wickham.26
It is worthy of being noticed that these Conventions though revolu
tionary in their character, that is having no authority in law, took
precautions that the powers assumed by the Committees of Observation
in the several counties, or delegated to them by the Conventions, should
not be abused; and accordingly they required that persons arrested
by the Committees should first have their cases examined by the Coun
cils of Safety and then, if the charges were of a grave character, the
accused were sent before the supreme power of the Province, the Con
vention itself, for final judgment. This Alexander Wickham of this
county upon information lodged by Mr. Samuel Sharpe of the Com
mittee of Observation of that county, was arrested by a detachment
from the independent company of Capt. Hindman, and lodged in the
jail at Talbot Court House to await the action of the Council of Safety,
which was accustomed to meet at different places upon this Shore,
but mostly in this county as being central. On the 8th of March,
1776, Wickham wrote to the Council from his prison, complaining of
his long confinement and demanding a statement of the charges laid
against him, of the character of which he professed to be ignorant.
" Proceedings of the Conventions, of date.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 81
On the 12th of the same month the Council of Safety wrote to the
Committee of Observation, for Talbot, saying that Wickham had been
arrested
as a person inimical to the liberties of the country, and as suspected of
being on his way to Lord Dunmore, and requiring that the Committee
should inquire into the truth of the charges, as the witnesses were upon
the Eastern Shore.27
Wickham, as has been shown, was sent to Annapolis under the guard
of a detachment of Capt. Hindman's company, and on the 9th of May
his case was called up in Convention for adjudication. On the 13th
of May,
on considering the representation of the Committee of Talbot county,
in the case of Alexander Wickham, it was Resolved, That he be dis
charged, being a person too insignificant and contemptible for further
notice of this Convention.
Of this man nothing more is known. This case is interesting as show
ing the care that was exercised by the conventions, which were the
supreme authority in the province, and were restrained by no law but
such as they saw fit to impose upon themselves, in protecting accused
and suspected persons from personal wrong through popular passion,
or the hasty or ill-advised action of the Committees of Safety or Councils
of Safety. It is also indicative of the strength of the patriot party,
in that it could afford to make insignificance a sufficient shield from pun
ishment for an offender.
It may not be amiss to refer briefly to another case of alleged toryism,
although the accused was not a citizen of Talbot, and though the story
of his arrest and trial will here be a little out of chronological sequence.
One Isaac Atkinson28 was arrested late in the year 1775 in Somerset
county, and was arraigned before the Council of Safety, sitting at Ches-
tertown, Kent county, November 17th of that year, being accused of
27 American Archives, 4th series, vol. iv., p. 185. It is hardly necessary to
say that the reference to Lord Dunmore was based upon the invasion by that Brit
ish General of the counties in the lower part of this peninsula, in both Maryland
and Virginia, where he was disseminating the seeds of disaffection, giving coun
tenance and assistance to the tories of that region, and actually organizing bodies
of partisans for cooperation with his own regular forces. These tories, though
from time to time repressed, gave trouble throughout the continuance of the war.
28 There is no ground for believing that this Isaac Atkinson was in any way
connected with the estimable Quaker family which bears this patronymic in this
county.

82 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
being engaged in raising a company, contrary to the resolves of Con
gress and the Convention. The Council ordered that he be transferred
to the Committee of Observation for Talbot county, to be held by it,
until the Council of Safety for the Eastern Shore should assemble in
that county November 30th, instant. On the day appointed the Coun
cil did meet at Talbot Court House, as Easton was then called, when
the following gentlemen were present, namely: James Hollyday, Rich
ard Lloyd, Edward Lloyd, Thomas Smyth and Henry Hooper, Esquires.
Mr. William Hindman qualified as Clerk of the Council. Isaac Atkin
son, who had been delivered by the Committee of Observation of Kent
to the Committee of Observation of Talbot, was brought before the
Council, and after due examination was convicted of the offense charged
against him. On the next day, December 1, the following sentence was
pronounced :
Ordered that the Sheriff of Talbot county receive into custody the
body of Isaac Adkinson, to be by the said Sheriff closely imprisoned in
the house of him, the said Sheriff, and in his custody until the 16th day
of this instant, December, unless the Convention shall sooner rise, then
until the rising of the next Convention.29
On the 12th of December the Convention ordered
that the Committee of Observation in Talbot county be requested imme
diately to send Isaac Atkinson under guard of four militia men of that
county to this Convention ; and that the Sheriff of Talbot county deliver
the said Atkinson to such guard.
On the 18th of December he was brought before the Convention,
the proceedings of the Eastern Shore branch of the Council of Safety
were read, and the accused was asked what he had to say in mitigation
of his offense. He expressed great sorrow and penitence, declared he
never intended to injure his native country, America, and was ready to
give security for his future good behavior. He was then reprimanded
by the President, who said the Convention view him " as a man guilty
of a crime of a heinous nature against his country, which was and is
entitled to his aid and assistance:" but that * * * considering
his penitence and contrition, and that a numerous family must suffer
by a continuance of his imprisonment, it had thought proper to mitigate
his punishment. Atkinson was required to give bond in the sum of
one thousand pounds for his good behavior, and after complying with
29 American Archives, 4th series, vol. iii., where may be found a long account
of Atkinson's tory expressions and conduct, and the depositions of the witnesses
against him.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 83
such requisition he was discharged. He seems to have recanted his
former confessions, and to have forfeited his bond, for on the 31st of
August, 1776, the petition of Samuel Sharpe was preferred to the
Convention, in which it was averred that he, Sharpe, had become surety
for the good behavior of Atkinson, on a bond of the Hon. Matthew
Tilghman, for the sum of one thousand pounds; but that Atkinson had
since fled from the State and joined the enemies thereof and was then
assisting the British fleet and army in waging war against the United
States. He asks that the bond be "put in suit," and that the estate
of Atkinson, which then was wasting, should be placed in the care, of some
suitable person. Whereupon, the Convention ordered that William
Hayward, Esquire, of Talbot county, should take into his custody the
real and personal estate of the said Isaac Atkinson, and account for the
same to that body. Of Atkinson nothing more is or need be known, for
he seems to have been equally devoid of honorable and patriotic impulses.
How far tory sentiments prevailed in Talbot county, will probably
never be known. No records have been hitherto discovered that indi
cate the existence of any considerable number of disaffected persons.
Certainly, there never was open, much less organized resistance to the
revolutionary or state governments such as was manifested in the
neighboring counties of Queen Anne and Dorchester, not to mention
the troubled districts of Somerset and Worcester. If there was any
toryism here it was of a very mild and timid character. Patriotic senti
ment so largely prevailed that it suppressed any expression of loyalism.
The very name of tory became a reproach early in the contest, even if
antipathy to this designation may not be traced much further back,
even to the time when the term, as a designation to a party, originated.
If there were persons in Talbot who entertained opinions or cherished
feelings which, if expressed or shown, would have entitled them to
this designation, they were careful to disguise or conceal their real
thoughts from their cotemporaries, and have left no records to guide
those,. coming after them, who are able to judge their motives with more
candor and leniency. With the lapse of more than a century the
reprobation which used to be visited upon those entertaining royalist or
monarchical views, has almost entirely subsided, and their memories
are no longer reproached as formerly for the firmness with which they
maintained their allegiance to a king who was thought to have been
divinely appointed to reign over them and to a government acknowl
edged to be the best in the world, and one under which they had enjoyed
prosperity and happiness. We have learned that the differences be
tween the loyalist and the patriot were not only honest differences,

84 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
but were such as had a foundation in right and reason and in some of
the best impulses of the heart. Indeed the change in many minds on
this subject has gone so far that there are not a few who now think it
had been better, notwithstanding the wonderful material development
of the country, if the sentiments of the minority had been adopted and
those of the majority in the Revolutionary contest had been discarded.
Those who lived through the late war of the Rebellion, and are old
enough to have participated in its passions, have learned to question
the judgments that are formed in the tumult of a political revolution
and the mental conflicts of civil dissentions. Those who were in the
minority, in any community, north or south, and worse still in those
communities which were neither north nor south, know, from a very
bitter experience,' how their sentiments were misconstrued, their motives
misrepresented, and their actions misjudged by the majority. With
this softening of the hardness of the condemnation, this mitigation of
the severity of the sentences which it was the custom to pronounce
against tories, and even upon their children for generations after them,
there has come a diminished reluctance upon the part of their descend
ants to acknowledge the royalist opinions of their ancestors — a loss
of that shame which at an earlier period would have deterred them
from an open avowal: so that at the present no sensibility is wounded
by a reference to the loyal sympathies of those whose conception of
their interests, public and private, or whose sense of duty as obedient
subjects of the crown, led them to oppose the course of the patriots of
the Revolution. As a matter of fact, we know that some of the most
intelligent men, and those having the largest interests at stake and whose
love for the native country could not be doubted, opposed if not openly
and actively, at least without concealment and quietly, those violent
measures which resulted in the separation of the colonies from the
mother country. It is a matter of record that up to the time of the
declaration of independence and even after, there were gentlemen in
this county in every way entitled to the confidence of their fellow
citizens who regarded a severance of the ties which bound the colony
of Maryland to the government of Great Britain as ill advised, pre
cipitate and possibly disastrous to the liberties, the prosperity and the
happiness of that colony. If they were mistaken, it was an honest
error, which some now think, does not impeach even their judgment,
much less their sincerity. But these men were not tories, in the appro-
brious sense of being in alliance with, aiding and abetting the enemy of
their country, in his efforts to subjugate it by military force.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 85
It is a matter of historical notoriety that for a long time after the
subject had become a matter of public discussion, and after a desire for
extreme measures for its accomplishment had possessed the popular
mind, there was a great reluctance felt by many of this province, par
ticularly but not exclusively among those belonging to wealthier and
more intelligent classes or gentry, as they may be called, to dissolve
their political connection with Great Britain. There was really a strong
and sincere attachment to the king, and a deep seated admiration of the
form of government under which they had long lived and prospered — an
admiration founded not solely upon the power and glory of. the great
empire of which they made a part, but also upon an intelligent appre
ciation of the guarantees afforded by the British constitution of the
liberties of the subject. This attachment was very slow in dissolving,
and this admiration was never entirely effaced in some minds even after
the king had shown his obstinate persistence in the support of arbitrary
measures, and the ministry its reckless disregard of colonial rights and, as
some thought, of the British constitution itself. When however the
idea of independency had acquired preponderance those who opposed
the clothing it with action, were gradually silenced by the employment
of all those means which we of these latter days know by experience
to be so effectual in crushing out opposition to the will of the majority.
Upon those who could be made to feel the weight of such punishment
and few there were insensible to such an infliction, social proscription
was visited; upon others whose livelihood depended upon the favor of
the community, upon professional men, "traders and workmen, threatened
withdrawal of patronage was inflicted. Privation of official position
under the government and disabilities for holding such places, impended
over those who refused to subscribe to certain conditions imposed by
the conventions and congress. Apprehensions of confiscation hung
over those who were possessed of property, and later triple taxes were
imposed on non jurors. Arrest and imprisonment could be escaped
only by great discretion on the part of the suspected, or those known
to be disaffected, and even personal injury may at times have been
inflicted upon those whom an excited populace thought not sufficiently
enthusiastic in the patriot cause, or had been lending aid and comfort
to the enemy. Whatever may have been the numbers of the disaffected,
the war had scarcely begun before all open expression of opposition
had been silenced, if unanimity had not been secured, by the means
indicated and by that other powerful moral force by which in times
of popular commotion the minority gravitates by almost imperceptible

86 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
degrees to the majority. Besides, it must not be forgotten, that war
when once begun tends to draw to its support the doubtful and waver
ing, and even the hostile: especially so when the war pretends to be
waged in the defense of the rights and liberties of those who were hesi
tating as to its expediency or who were condemning its inauguration.
To side with his country even when not in the right is the natural im
pulse of the patriotic citizen.
Loyalty in this county did not assume the open, defiant, aggressive
form of what is known and stigmatized as toryism. It was of the
milder form that had its representatives, first, in the non-associators,
and lastly in the non-jurors, — that is to say, in those men who at the
outbreak of the troubles refused to subscribe the articles of association,
and after the organization of the State government, those who declined
to take the prescribed oaths. As indicating the motives of some of
the non-jurors, probably the least sincere of them, and the sentiments
entertained towards them by the leaders of opinion, an extract from a
letter of Robert Goldsborough, Esq., of this county, who was a member
of the lower house of assembly in 1778, the date of its writing, may here
find place. The letter was addressed to the Hon. James Hollyday.
* * * There were, during the course of the session, applications
from more than two hundred non-jurors, praying that they might now
be permitted to take the oath, and stand in statu quo. Various were
the reasons set forth for not having taken it in time. Scruples of
conscience, misconception of the nature of the obligation imposed by it,
misinformation from others, and anathemas thundered out by Romish
priests against such as should take it. But none of these was thought
worthy of our attention; but our leaders said that as these people
have given us evidence of their inimicality, we are determined to
make them feel the weight of our offended zeal. We even went so far
as to assert that these (that is, the non-jurors), are the men who have in
volved us in the present war, and that they would even now rejoice at
the total subjugation of America. Our leaders seem to think that if the
non-jurors behave themselves well in the future, and will, at the conclu
sion of the war, come with their petitions in their hands to the bar of the
house and pray relief, they will, most of them, find grace and favour;
but till the end of the war all applications will be in vain. A bill has
passed for the relief of some non-jurors who petitioned and made it
appear that they were prevented by sickness and inability to take the
oath in time, but even these cases were minutely inquired into." It is
not evident that Mr. Goldsborough approved of the rigid enforcement
of the laws against this class of citizens; nor that he condemned it.s0
*° The writer is indebted to Geo. T. Hollyday for a copy of this letter, no part
of which has ever before been published.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 87
Both the non-associator and the non-juror were placed under legal
disabilities and penal forfeitures, from which many sought to be relieved,
and from which all sooner or later were relieved, except some specifically
mentioned. For this reason, and other reasons that have already been
suggested, but few of the names of those who opposed the patriot move
ments and favored the maintenance of the old order of things have been
recovered from the obscurity with which their possessors, after the
results of the war had been achieved, wished them to be concealed, and
from which no one has since been anxious to withdraw them. A very
natural chagrin that their forebodings of disaster to the colonies had
not been realized, and an equally natural fear that they would suffer
reproach for their opinions, may have caused them to keep their secret
so sacredly that now, when justice to their motives may be done, and
when the impeachment of their judgment has been molified, if not
entirely withdrawn, their names cannot be recorded. During the con
tinuance of the war a discreet silence concealed the secret royalist, and
after its conclusion an indulgent toleration, or what was better, a reviv
ing neighborly kindliness prevented their private sentiments from being
dragged to light for their mortification, annoyance and possible injury.
A few names of the non-associators and non-jurors of Talbot have
survived. Except that of Wickham, who was a tory in the offensive
sense of the term, which has been preserved in the minutes of the con-.
vention, like the poet's grubs and worms preserved in amber, these
names belonged to the more conspicuous persons of their class, some of
whom may here be mentioned without danger of wounding the sensibility
of anyone.
[It was intended here to present brief biographical notices of the
leading non-jurors of this county, and those notices were actually pre
pared for publication; but it was determined, on reflection, to omit
these, lest the sensibilities of descendents or kinsmen should be wounded
by a reference to the political sentiments of ancestors or family con
nections. But no loss is incurred by this omission, for each of these
persons will be noticed in other connections.31]
Returning from this long digression the first event to be noted is the
assembling, on the first of June, 1776, of the delegates of the several
counties of the Province. The same gentlemen who represented Talbot
in the previous convention represented the county in this, viz. : Messrs.
31 While Mr. Tilghman was in attendance on congress during the last session
of the convention, his son-in-law, Mr. Charles Carroll, the barrister, presided
in his stead.

88 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Matthew Tilghman, Nicholas Thomas, Pollard Edmundson, Edward
Lloyd and James Lloyd Chamberlaine. On calling the convention
to order, Mr. Matthew Tilghman was again chosen President, he having
been recalled from attendance on Congress, that he might give his
counsel and advice upon the momentous subject which was to engage
the attention of the convention, whether Maryland should assent to
the declaration of the independence of the American Colonies. It is
a familiar fact to everyone at all versed in American history, that at
the beginning of the controversy between the colonies and the mother
country, the idea of independence had not acquired any root in the
minds of the people in general. It cannot be said that the seeds had
not been sown. As the controversy progressed, and especially after
it had been referred to the arbitriment of arms, under the influence of
the heats that were generated by the conflict, those seeds began to
germinate, the plant began to grow, and soon it acquired vigor. Still
there was extreme reluctance upon the part of the colonists, and nowhere
in America was this reluctance more strongly felt than in Maryland,
and nowhere in Maryland than in the county of Talbot, to sever the
political bonds, which though strengthened by those of interest and
affection, were now stretched to the utmost tension yet were holding
the complaining and recalcitrant children to the side of the obstinate
arbitrary and selfish but beloved parent. The convention had fre
quently expressed by its instructions to its delegates in Congress, and
otherwise, its reluctance to sever the connection with the mother coun
try; but there is very good ground for believing that however well it
may have represented the sentiments of the people in the beginning,
at the date of the events now under review it did not properly reflect
the opinions of a majority in the commonwealth upon the subject of
independency, but of a minority, influential to be sure, by reason of
its intelligence and wealth, but prudent to timidity because of those
very qualitites which made it influential.
On the seventh of June, 1776, a memorable day in American annals
it was moved in Congress by a delegate of Virginia "that the United
Colonies are and ought to be, free and independent states; and that
the political connection with Great Britain is and ought to be dissolved."
On the following day the debates upon this measure, whose objects were
of "stupendous magnitude " as declared by John Adams,commenced,andit
wascontinued until the tenth of themonth. There is no recorded evidence
that the delegates from Maryland participated in this debate. A post
ponement of the vote upon the question was determined by a majority

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 89
of the states, for three weeks in order that a greater unanimity might
be secured, by allowing the delegates of those colonies which had instruc
ted their representatives in Congress, to consult their constituents,
Messrs. Tilghman, Stone and Rogers wrote to the Council of Safety,
advising that the Convention be called together, but that before its
assemblage measures should be taken "to collect the opinion of the
people at large."32 The Council of Safety recommended to the Com
mittees of Observation in the several counties "to collect the sense of
the Province on the subject of Independence." This was accomplished
by holding public meetings, and fortunately there has been preserved
a record of the proceedings of that which was held in this county, at
least so far as the address to the delegates in the Convention.33 This is
as follows :
To the Honorable Matthew Tilghman, Esq., James Lloyd Chamberlaine,
Edward Lloyd, Nicholas Thomas, and Pollard Edmondson, Esquires,
representatives for Talbot County, in Convention now sitting, the
Address of part of the Freemen of the said County;
Gentlemen: The vast importance of the dispute now subsisting
between Great Britain and the North American Colonies; the fatal
consequences that must attend the mismanagement of that dispute,
and the effects they must inevitably have on us in common with the
neighboring governments, sufficiently justify us your constituents in
laying our sentiments before you on the present occasion respecting
the measures taken for carrying into execution the plan proposed for
the preservation of our liberties, now in the most imminent danger.
We therefore in virtue of that right which the constituent hath in his
representative or deputy take leave to express to you our great concern
and sorrow that we cannot approve the measures pursued in the last
session of the Convention. We have seen with grief and astonishment
the Convention of Maryland in matters of the utmost importance
resolving in direct opposition to that honourable Congress. We also
have seen it, in our opinion, profusely lavishing the public money at a
time when the constituents are labouring under every burthen which
the imagination can conceive, without money, without trade, or any
possible means of procuring either. We likewise view its instructions
to our delegates in Congress, of the 18th of January and the 21st of
May last, as tending in direct terms to a breach of that confidential
harmony so happily, before that, subsisting among the United Colonies
and which are in common with every colonist embarked in the cause of
liberty, beheld as our greatest glory, and the only source of protection.
Its resolves in opposition to those in Congress of the 15th of May declar-
32 Scharf's History Md., vol. ii, p. 226.
33 Maryland Gazette, February 4, 1776.

90 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ing it to be necessary that the exercise of any kind of authority under
the Crown of Great Britain should be totally suppressed and all the
powers of government exerted under the authority of the people, to be
a direct breach of the Continental Union, and to have a tendency to
introduce anarchy and confusion by setting up and continuing two
opposite authorities at the same time binding on the good people of
this province. We look upon the rule of voting in Convention by
counties to be dangerous, as productive of influence which may be used
to rule the determinations and resolves of the house by a minority of
twenty-seven members, who in such case, may have all the effects of
majority. We consider our present mode of government by Conven
tions and Committees as insufficient to accomplish the end for which
it was instituted; and dangerous so far as it unites the legislative and
executive powers in nearly the same persons, which is the true definition
of tyranny. We would by no means insinuate that the Convention
hath any intention of using its power to that purpose, and hopewe
shall not be so understood by you; but it is proper to guard against
probable evil, where the liberties of mankind are concerned. We have
seen with sorrow of heart, the king of Great Britain inexorably deter
mined upon the ruin of our liberties. We view the Parliament as lost
to all sense of justice and humanity, attached to and governed by a
corrupt and wicked ministry who are intending the ruin of their infat
uated master, or determined to make his government absolute, and
erect a tyranny over his dominions, of which they expect to have the
direction. We have seen all the petitions of the Congress treated with
contempt; an act of Parliament declaring our resistence to actual vio
lence to be rebellion; excluding us from the protection of the Crown,
and compelling such of the colonists as shall be taken prisoners to fight
against their country; the treaties of the King of Great Britain with
the European provinces, for engaging foreign mercenaries to aid the
forces of that kingdom in their attempts to subdue the Americans, or
cut their throats; and by his answer to the address of the Lord Mayor,
Aldermen and Council of the city of London, he manifested such a
determined resolution to effect the destruction of American freedom,
that we cannot entertain the most distant expectations of a reconciliation
on reasonable terms. This being the case we look upon all lukewarm
backwardness in the Convention of this Province, in the common cause
of America, and every opposition to the resolves of Congress calculated
for our safety and general security (as we are convinced that of the 15th
of May above mentioned was) to be the most dangerous tendency, and
that it will naturally induce the ministry to look on this Province as
friendly to their measures, and in all probability bring their forces
among us, by which we shall have our country made the seat of war,
and experience all its horrors. Possessed with these sentiments, we
in the most earnest terms request your attention to the following instruc
tions, viz :
First. That you use your utmost influence that the instructions given
by Convention to our delegates in Congress, before mentioned, be

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 91
rescinded, and that they may be entrusted by the present Convention
to concur and co-operate with the delegates of the other United Colonies,
in forming such further compacts between the said Colonies, concluding
such treaties with foreign kingdoms, and in adopting such other measures
as shall be judged necessary for pre moting the liberty, safety and interest
of America, and defeating the schemes and machinations of our enemies
the King, Parliament and Ministry and Great Britain.
Second. That you use the same influence to induce the Convention
to comply with the resolves of Congress of the i5th of May last, in
exerting all the powers of government under authority of the people
of this Province, by forming a constitution adequate to that purpose;
and in case the present Convention shall decline that task, that you
promote and procure a resolve to determine their power at the end of
the present session, and order an election for members to compose a
new Convention, for the purpose of forming such constitution.
Third. That you use your endeavors to procure a different mode of
voting in Convention, that the method may be by the members each
voting separately, as was formerly practised in Assembly; that in all
questions of importance when the house divides, the yeas and nays be
constantly taken and published with the proceedings for the information
of the public respecting the behavior of their representatives.
Fourth. That you use your utmost endeavors to put a stop to the
executing the writs of election, we understand are already issued in the
name of the Proprietary or by the authority of the King of Great Britain,
as no fair elections can be held, or the people legally represented under
the present circumstances of this Province, for reasons too obvious to
require being mentioned.
Fifth. That you use your endeavors and influence to have the mem
bers of the Council of Safety appointed from among the delegates in
Convention only, they being duly elected by the people and are the
source of all power.
Sixth. That you endeavor to procure a resolve of Convention to
prevent any undue influence being used at elections by military officers
over the men they command, a danger which may possibly arise from
attachment natural enough in the soldier to his commander.
Seventh. That you move for and promote a reasonable regulation to
enable debtors to pay off their creditors in country produce, especially
in the case of rents and interest due on obligations or otherwise and
also the public levies now due.
Eighth. That you endeavor to procure a resolve of Convention to
exclude all officers, civil or military, from holding seats in Convention
or Congress after appointment to each office, until rechosen, and to
exclude all members of Congress from a seat in the Convention.
Ninth. That you endeavor to reduce the enormous allowance of £15
per week, given to our delegates in Congress, this being a time when
strict economy is necessary; and also reduce the allowance of members
in Convention to a sum adequate to their necessary expense, as we are
persuaded you will agree with us in opinion that the present state of
this Province will by no means admit of profusion.

92 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
There is little doubt that the conservative sentiments which the
convention had hitherto entertained, and had shown by its instructions
to its delegates in congress upon the question of independency were very
materially changed by the course that events had taken and by the
intercourse of the members with their several constituencies, which
were unquestionably in advance of their representatives. The instruc
tions they received from the public meetings held in some of the counties.
if not in all, similar in tenor to those of the freemen of Talbot, were not
the expressions of public opinion only, but of the private views of many
of the very men they had the appearance of directing. There is very
good ground for believing that Mr. Matthew Tilghman was one of those
who early favored the sundering of the political bonds which attached
the colonies to England, and he in connection with Mr. William Hay
ward, of the Committee of Safety, engineered the very meeting that
instructed him. When the convention, therefore, assembled on the
21st of June, among its very first acts was the passage of a formal resolu
tion recalling the delegates in congress, sitting in Philadelphia, all of
whom were members of the convention also, that they might report
as to the condition of the affairs of the United Colonies in general, give
their counsel as to what should be the course of Maryland in the great
crisis now at hand, and to receive instructions from the convention upon
the momentous question of declaring for independence when it should
again be called up in congress, where it had been postponed until such
instructions could be obtained after a full interchange of opinions
among the members of the convention, the question whether Maryland
should cast her vote for independence or should continue to hold her
position of conciliation and expectancy, on the 28th of June came to a
vote, when it was resolved unanimously that the previous instructions
to the deputies in congress should be recalled, and that "they be author
ized and empowered to concur with the other united colonies, or a
majority of them in declaring the united colonies free and independent
states."34 Information was immediately sent to the leaders of the
movement for independence in congress, and deputies from Maryland
soon followed the information and on the ever memorable second of
July, 1776, the final vote was taken, when Maryland enrolled herself
with the majority. Four of her deputies signed the Declaration of
Independence, in the absence of the rest, and have thus secured the
34 For more particular accounts of these important events, recourse must be
had to the proceedings of the conventions of Maryland and to the general histories
of the State and of the United States.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 93
veneration of posterity to the remotest generations, and an immortality
of memory compared with which that of other great names in our coun
try's history will be transient and fleeting. The explanation of the
absence of one name from this scroll of fame that of Matthew Tilghman,
— the name of him who has been called by the most eloquent historian
of the State, the patriarch of Maryland, and to whom may be assigned
without dispute the place of prince of her patriots, is explained by the
fact that he was retained at Annapolis as President of the convention,
whose action was largely influenced by his persuasions. But if he was
debarred by this duty from the honor of affixing his name to the great
Declaration, ''his name led all the rest" upon that lesser "Declaration
of the Delegates of Maryland " made on the sixth of July, by the body
over which he presided.35 Another of the worthies of Talbot, who was
a member of this celebrated congress of 1776 has escaped the celebrity
that justly attaches to every signer of that great charter, John Dickin
son who represented Pennsylvania, to the last opposed independency.
When, however, he saw so large a portion of his fellow members were
determined upon taking this irrevocable step, he had the grace, in com
pany with another distinguished gentleman of the same state, who has
a connection with Talbot, Mr. Robert Morris, to withdraw from con
gress, and thus to permit a majority of the delegation to cast the vote
of the colony for the resolution of July 2nd, and thus secured its final
passage. Notwithstanding his avowed and open opposition to this
measure, an opposition founded upon wholly disinterested and
thoroughly conscientious motives, not a shadow of doubt rests upon the
purity of his patriotism, or his ardent devotion to the interests of his
country. He gave evidence of these feelings when he shouldered his
musket and took his place in the ranks among the humblest of his coun
trymen, to repel the enemy.36
Having taken the decisive steps of instructing the deputies of Mary
land in congress upon the subject of mdependency, without waiting
the result of the vote in congress, the convention in Maryland on the
second of July, ordered that a new convention should be "elected for
"This Declaration was ordered to be entered upon the journal of the conven
tion and it was accordingly entered on the day mentioned in the text; but Mr.
Scharf has discovered that the original copy bears the date of the 3rd of July,
that is the day after the Resolution of Congress was passed, and the day before
the Declaration was formally published, at Philadelphia.
3' Actually, when the Declaration was signed in August, John Dickinson was in
the field at Elizabeth, N. J., with his regiment.

94 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
the express purpose of forming a new government, by authority of the
people," that should take the place not only of the old provincial and
proprietary government, which was thus abrogated in form as it long
had been in fact, but also the revolutionary and provisional government,
which since the year 1774 had been conducted with the imperfect machin
ery of Committees of Observation, Councils of Safety and Conventions
of Delegates. Provisions for holding the elections of delegates, in the
several counties of the new State, were made and judges of election were
named. Those nominated for Talbot were "John Goldsborough,
Henry Banning and William Perry, Esquires, or any one or two of them,"
and they were instructed to hold the election on the first day of the
following August.37 The election was accordingly held, and resulted in
the choosing of Pollard Edmondson, John Gibson, Matthew Tilghman,
and James Lloyd Chamberlaine, Esquires, as delegates to the first
constitutional convention of Maryland which assembled Aug. 14th
and organized by the unanimous election of the Hon. Matthew Tilgh
man as President. It should be mentioned that on the 4th of July
when Deputies to represent the colony in congress were elected, Mr.
Tilghman was one of those then chosen, as he had been from the first.
As illustrating the temper of the people, it may not be amiss, before
concluding this account of civil affairs of this period of the Revolu
tion, to refer to a trifling incident, but one which was long remembered
against the persons engaged. Governor Eden had continued to enjoy
the respect of the people of the colony and the personal regard of many
who possessed his acquaintance; and though he had opposed the revolu
tionary measures which had been instituted he had not forfeited that
respect, nor that regard. His presence, however, in the Colony was
thought by the Convention to be unfavorable to the patriot cause, so
he was politely requested to withdraw, and permitted to embark on
board the ship of war Fowey, Captain Montague. The Captain appears
to have violated the agreement, or "truce," under which he had been
permitted to come up the bay for the reception of the Governor and his
effects. When this was discovered the Convention forbade the carry
ing on board any of the property of the Governor, and ordered that all
communication with the ship should cease. To carry out this Order
detachments of the militia were stationed at convenient posts while the
ship Defence with her tender was made to follow the Fowey down the
"Under the colonial regime the judges of election were the justices of the
county courts.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 95
Bay to prevent depredation. While on her way down the Bay, the
Fowey anchored at the mouth of the Choptank, and while there, four
of the citizens of Talbot, gentlemen of respectability and undoubted
fidelity to the patriot cause, sent on board the ship as a present to
Governor Eden, and as a testimonial of their personal friendship,
twelve sheep, three lambs and seven shoats. This coming to the knowl
edge of the Committee of Observation, Capt. James HinHmqn m com
mand of the independent company at Oxford, was ordered to arrest
Messrs. James Dickenson, William Thomas, John Stevens and Nicholas
Martin, as being persons violating the order of the Convention for
bidding communication with the ship Fowey. These gentlemen were
ordered to appear before the Convention, and accordingly did appear
on the 2nd July, when,upon hearing their explanation of the affair, viz. :
that the present was made to Gov. Eden before they knew of the violation
of the truce, it was declared to be, "the opinion of this Convention that
the said gentlemen were in no degree criminal in going on board the
Fowey, with such live stock, and that they be discharged."
In order that the military record may be brought up to the date of
this civil record of affairs in Talbot county, it is now necessary to revert
to the time of the assembling of the June convention. Congress by a
resolution passed on the third of this month, in view of the exigencies
of the army under the command of Washington, requested the provinces
to raise a force, to be called a "flying camp;" and Maryland agreed to
furnish thirty-four hundred and five men to this force, "to act with the
militia of Pennsylvania and Delaware in the middle department, that
is to say, from this province to New York inclusive." Of the companies
to constitute this flying camp of Maryland militia, Talbot was required
to furnish one, and on the 29th of the month the convention entered
upon the election of the officers to command the several companies.
The gentlemen selected for the Talbot company were, Greenbury Golds
borough, as Captain; Woolman Gibson, of John, as First Lieutenant;
John Thomas, Jr., as Second Lieutenant, and Perry Benson of James,
as Ensign.38 Doct. John Hindman of Talbot was appointed, August 17th
surgeon to the Eastern Shore Battalion of the flying camp. As the
38 This gentleman was that Perry Benson who later became General Benson,
and of whom an extended memoir has been already published in these contribu
tions as one of the Worthies of Talbot. Doct. John Hindman was the son of
Mr. Jacob Hindman and brother of Col. James Hindman. He was born in Dor
chester Co., but grew up in Talbot. He was the father of Col. Jacob Hindman
who distinguished himself in the war of 1812-15 upon the Niagara frontier.

96 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
emergency was urgent, because of the expected appearance of the enemy
upon the coast in the vicinity of New York where the American army
lay; and as there was delay in recruiting from the militia the number
required for the company which was to make a part of the flying camp,
the convention on the 6th of July, the last day of the session, ordered
"that the independent companies stationed in Talbot, Kent, Queen
Anne's and Saint Mary's counties immediately proceed to Philadelphia,
and put themselves under the command of Col. Smallwood." In com
pliance with these orders Capt. Hindman prepared to proceed to the
place of rendezvous, whence the companies were to march to Philadel
phia. Under the date of July 16, his letter, addressed to the Council
of Safety says: "I shall set off tomorrow morning early for Head of Elk
and shall make the best of my way to Philadelphia as fast as possible."
But before leaving Oxford his orders were countermanded and he was
required to proceed to Annapolis with his company, where the authorities
were apprehending a visit from Lord Dunmore, whose fleet was in the
lower Bay. This fear was not realized, and the Talbot company after
remaining at the seat of government for a short time joined the main
army, as had been originally commanded. After the withdrawal of
Capt. Hindman from Oxford, Capt. Nicholas Martin, on the twentieth
of July, offered to the Council of Safety to station his militia company
at that place, saying that it was much exposed. It is not known that
his offer was accepted, but later the company of Capt. Greenbury
Goldsborough appears to have been placed at that point. Besides the
independent companies from the Eastern Shore there were seven com
panies of the battalion of the militia sent forward to join the commander
in chief. Whether a company for this service was recruited by Capt.
Greenbury Goldsborough in Talbot, and whether that company was
one of the battalion, there is no record. Capt. Hindman's company
consisted of one hundred men, and these were counted as a part of the
quota of the county which was required to form the flying camp. The
officers of the battalion were Col. William Richardson, of Caroline county,
Lieut. Col. Joseph Earle of Queen Anne, Adjutant, Robert Campbell of
 and Major William Hopewell, of  . Arriving at headquar
ters the Maryland forces all under Colonel Smallwood's immediate com
mand, were placed in the brigade of General Lord Sterling, where they
were associated with Delaware and Pennsylvania troops. On the eighth
of July the British forces arriving from Halifax, under the command of
39 American Archives, v series, vol. 1, p. 465.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 97
General Howe and his brother Admiral Howe, took possession of Staten
Island in the mouth of New York Bay, and after an unsuccessful attempt
to open negotiations with the commander in chief, and to sow disaffec
tion among the people by the circulation of a pacific proclamation, a large
force was crossed over to Long Island under Gen'l Clinton, for the pur
pose of attacking the American army there entrenched for the defence
of New York City. This was on the twenty-second day of August.
The enemy immediately advanced and the disastrous battle of Long
Island ensued, in which the Maryland troops, though defeated, acquitted
themselves with such distinction as to have called forth the plaudits of
the commander in chief. It is not the purpose of this contribution to
give the details of this battle. They may be read in any work upon
the general history of the country, but the following letter, never before
published, may be welcomed, though it adds nothing to our previous
knowledge of this engagement. It was written by Mr. Edward Tilgh
man, the distinguished jurist, of Queen Anne's County, and addressed
to Mr. James Holliday, of the same county, and formerly a member of
the convention. Wye, 3rd Sept., 1776.
gjr: * * * * probabiy jt may be new to you that a copy of a
letter from T. T.40 dated Wednesday even, Head Quarters, Long Island,
was brought down by the post on Sunday. I had a sight of a copy,
and took off the substance of part. "Lord Sterling, Gen'l Sullivan,
Col. Miller (a word is here illegible) Atlee and Major Bird, missing."
(Sullivan, my son says, killed.) "Three companies of Smallwood's
Battalion were left surrounded and fighting with great bravery. No
troops on earth ever behaved better than Smallwood's and Hazlett's
battalions. They supported a retreat with the greatest regularity
against a very superior force. We saw them make several charges in the
open field in which they always made the British troops give way. Col.
Grant killed his watch and had come in. Deserters and prisoners,
say 500 of the enemy were lost in killed and wounded." T. T. does
not believe it. T. T. was not out of the lines. My son was in the
heat. Fortunately a lad near him having his arm broke by a grape
shot in a canonade of two hours from two field pieces, Lord Sterling
ordered my son off to bring up the surgeons and dressing &c, by which
mean, with a good deal of management, and through considerable
danger, he escaped unhurt. Ld. Sterling, he says, was soon after attacked
by one of the cols [columns?] of the enemy, which my son saw in con
siderable numbers pouring down from the woods on the hills, when our
people had flattered themselves they would be able to defeat them with
10 This was Lieut. Col. Tench Tilghman, aide de camp of Gen'l. Washington,
and a native of this county.

98 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ease. Ld. Sterling made a proper disposition to retreat and behaved
with great gallantry, but is killed or taken. Gen'l Sullivan killed.
The enemy advanced furiously to our lines from whence they received
so hot a fire as obliged them to retreat out of cannon shot. In this
affair both sides have lost many men — no saying which has suffered most.
I am, sir, your very humble servant, E. Tilghman.
To the courage and firmness of the troops under Colonel Smallwood
in this engagement there are many extant testimonials, but none of them
is more hearty than that of Colonel Tilghman himself, who witnessed
their behavior in the field, and as a Marylander felt a very natural pride
in their conduct. He said in a letter to his father of Sept. third: "The
behavior of the southern troops in the late action has shamed the north-
em people. They confess themselves unequal to them in officers and
discipline. No regular troops ever made a more gallant resistance
than Smallwood's regiment. If others had behaved as well, if General
Howe had obtained a victory at all, it would have been dearly bought."
Of the conduct of the men of Talbot we know but little from any authen
tic contemporary source; and unfortunately that little is not in the
form of unqualified encomium, but rather of defence against certain
imputations of their courage and steadiness under fire. A letter, too
long and discursive for insertion, of Capt. James Hindman, bearing the
date of October 12, 1776, has been preserved, in which he refers to
aspersions that had been cast upon his company by Captain Stone,
who was in command of one of the Western Shore companies. The
following is an extract from this letter, from which it will be seen that
he very warmly resents the imputations cast upon his company, and
claims that his command displayed as much bravery as any other body
of men that was engaged during the day. To substantiate these claims
he appeals to Colonel Smallwood himself.
I am very sorry to hear from my brother that a report is spread
among Capt. Stone's friends that my company the day we engaged
on Long Island behaved ill. I gave him by the earliest, opportunity
as true a statement of the whole affair as I could recollect, which, he
informs me he showed to Mr. Chamberlaine, and which I believe the
officers under me can aver to the truth of, as can the officers under
Capt. Stone. I cannot judge him guilty of writing anything of the
kind. * * Such aspersions are base and ungenerous, and not giving
men a fair chance of vindicating themselves. I have the vanity to
think the company I have the honor to command have behaved them
selves as well as any in the service, notwithstanding the dark insinuations
that have been thrown out to their prejudice."

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 99
Captain Hindman's company lost three men in this engagement
whose names history has not recorded. Among the wounded was the
First Lieut. Archibald Anderson, whom his captain recommended for
promotion. Although there is little authentic information respecting the partici
pation of the Talbot troops in those engagements which succeeded the
disastrous battle of Long Island, where the Marylanders bore off the
chief honors of all that were won, there is little doubt that the men of
this county shared in whatever credit was gained or whatever humilia
tion was suffered by the affairs at Harlem Heights and White Plains.
Of the conduct of the Maryland troops at Harlem Heights, we have
this account from the pen of Col. Tench Tilghman whose words are
more worthy of being quoted that those of any other person, because he
was a son of Talbot. In a letter to his father of September 19, he says:
The General finding that they [that is Colonel Knowlton and Major
Leitch, who had been sent to capture a detachment of the enemy on
the 16th] wanted support, ordered out a part of Colonel Griffith's and
part of Colonel Richardson's Maryland regiments. These troops
though young charged with as much bravery as I can conceive. They
gave two fires and then marched right forward, which drove the enemy
from the woods into a buckwheat field, from whence they retreated.
The General fearing (as we afterwards found) that a large body was
coming to support them, sent me over to bring off our men. They gave
a hurra, and left the field in good order. We had about forty wounded
and a very few killed.
Again, while the American army was holding its position at White
Plains, in expectancy of a general engagement with the enemy under
General Howe, the regiment of Colonel Smallwood, into which all the
Maryland troops had been incorporated, distinguished itself in the
defence of Chatteron Hill, a fortified position which the British general
thought it necessary to possess before he should make his attack upon
the American lines. After a determined resistance, the brunt of which
seems to have been borne by Smallwood's men, the position was aban
doned by Gen. McDougal, the American commander, who made good
his retreat, and joined the main army. Of the Maryland regiment
forty-six were killed and wounded, including Col. Smallwood himself
and Captains Scott and Bracco — the last of whom belonged to a family
well known and long resident in this county. Of this affair Col. Tilgh
man in a letter to his father of the thirty-first October says :

100 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
"Our troops made as good a stand as could be expected, and did not
quit the grounds till they came to push bayonets. We lost about one
hundred killed and wounded. Smallwood's regiment suffered most.—
He himself is wounded in the hand and hip but not badly. Captains
Bracco and Scott killed."
After Washington had crossed the Hudson, the Maryland troops,
sadly decimated by the casualities of battle and by sickness, having
been placed, during the temporary and enforced retirement of Col.
Smallwood and who had been wounded, under the command of Major
Gist, followed the fortunes of the main army in its retreat across the
Jerseys. Their conduct was always such as to reflect credit upon their
State, and was sometimes distinguished above that of their associates in
arms. There are no means, however, of learning anything of the behavior
of the men of Talbot; but when honors are to be distributed for firm
ness and bravery upon the field of battle, and when praises are to be
bestowed for fortitude upon the march, or patient endurance of hard
ships in the camp, probably better tests of soldierly qualities than
conduct in the presence of the enemy, we may justly claim for them,
if not a greater, at least an equal share with their compatriots. The
militia that had constituted the flying camp of Maryland having enlisted
to serve until the first of December, the Convention appointed four
Commissioners, of whom James Lloyd Chamberlaine of this- county
was one, to repair to the camps on the Jerseys and New York for the
purpose of ascertaining what officers and men of the regular troops
or of the flying camps "were willing to engage in the service of the
United States during the war, and to organize such as were willing to
enlist into companies and battalions upon the basis of the previous
organizations." This was done in furtherance of the wishes of Congress
and the Commander in Chief, who saw the army melting away under
the systems of short service and the employment of militia. It is
stated, apparently with authority, that the independent companies,
including, it is presumable, that of Captain James Hindman of Talbot
re-enlisted for three years in the Continental service.41 The militia in
great part returned home after the expiration of the term of enlistment.
The army, including those Maryland troops that continued in the
service, after the reassuring battles of Trenton and Princeton, in which
they appear to have participated, went into winter quarters, and before
the opening of another campaign were differently disposed under the
41 Scharf's Hist. Md., vol. ii, p. 290.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 101
new arrangement as authorized by the Convention, and as directed by
its Commissioners, a more particular reference to which will presently
be made.
As almost every incident of this period, however trifling in itself, has,
a degree of interest, two or three items may be here noted, as they are
connected with military affairs in this county. On the 13th of July,
1776, the Council of Safety ordered that all the live stock upon Tilgh-
man's, Sharp's, and Poplar islands, except so much of it as was neces
sary for tillage, should be removed beyond the reach of the enemy,
whose fleet was in the lower bay. On the 22nd of that month Mr.
Matthew Tilghman requested of the Council that a vessel be purchased
and commissioned to defend such parts of the county lying upon the
Bay as were exposed to depredations by the enemy. The Council
replied that it could not furnish boats for the defence of every exposed
point, but that it would do what it could for the protection of the prop
erty of the citizens of Talbot. It advised Mr. Tilghman to sell the
stock upon his island. One of the needs of the military service was
gun flints, and search was made for the proper stone from which to
form them. On the twenty-seventh July, Messrs. Sam'l Chase and
Charles Carroll of Carrollton wrote to the Council of Safety that flint
stones were to be found in Choptank and Wye Rivers, they having been
brought into those rivers as ballast of ships. Another letter speaks of
flint stones being found near Emerson's, now Wye Landing.42 On the
twenty-fourth of October, 1776, William Webb Haddaway was com
missioned as First Major of the 38th Battalion of Militia, and on the
twenty-ninth commissions were issued by the Council of Safety to
Edward Markland as Lieutenant and Richard Coward as master of the
schooner Dolphin, an armed vessel, probably a privateer. The names
these officers who were residents of Oxford or its vicinity, would indi
cate that the Dolphin sailed from that port, but this is merely conjectural.
Having followed the current of military affairs to the end of the
memorable year of 1776, it is now necessary to return and follow that
of the political to the same date. It has already been noted that an
election had been ordered to be held for delegates to a new Convention,
the principal duty of which was to be the framing of a constitution and
form of government for Maryland, which the previous Convention had
declared to be an independent State; that the election had been held,
41 But a few years ago lumps of chalk were to be found in the back creek at
Oxford, brought there as ballast in colonial times.

102 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
the delegates chosen, and the Convention organized August 14, 1776,
by the choosing the Hon. Matthew Tilghman as its President. The
first steps that were taken by this Convention were with reference to
military affairs, but on the seventeenth the main business was brought
up, and a committee was chosen by ballot "to prepare a declaration
and charter of rights and a form of government for this State." The
gentlemen selected were probably the most eminent men of their day
in Maryland, of those that had espoused the patriot cause. The Com
mittee consisted of the Hon. Matthew Tilghman, Charles Carroll, the
barrister, William Paca, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, George Plater,
Samuel Chase, and Robert Goldsborough, Esquires. Mr. Chase and
Mr. Carroll, the barrister, having received instructions from their
constituents which they were unable to obey, being, as they thought,
"incompatible with good government and the public peace and happi
ness," resigned their seats in the Convention, and therefore in the
Committee. Thomas Johnson and Robert T. Hooe were elected in
their place in the Committee. Mr. Chase was subsequently re-elected
to a seat in the Convention. It was by the Committee thus constituted,
with the venerable member from Talbot as its chairman, that the
admirable Bill of Rights and Constitution were originally framed; the
first of which has remained to the present time essentially unchanged.
and the last of which has hardly been improved by any alterations and
additions that subsequent revisions and so-called reforms have made
in its substance. This great charter will continue to be, as it is now,
a monument to perpetuate the political wisdom of the statesmen by
whom it was constructed, and of the names inscribed upon it, Talbot is
honored and proud that the name of her chief citizen stands first.4'
What farther part the delegates from Talbot took in the formation
of the state constitution, there are no means of knowing. The pro
ceedings of the Convention as they have been preserved, are meagre,
and contain with reference to this subject little more than the record
of votes on a few questions. It may be well enough to notice here that
the delegates of this county seem not to have shared in the vindictive
43 Not as a matter of importance, but as indicating how heavily the burthen
of the war was weighing upon the people of Talbot, it may be mentioned that
they sent in a petition to the Convention that they might be relieved from a tax
which had been imposed on them in 1775, at their own request, for the purchase
of land and the building a house thereon for the reception of the poor. A portion
of this tax had been collected by the Sheriff. This was ordered to be paid to
the Trustees of the Poor, but the uncollected tax was remitted.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 103
feelings which animated the minds of others of the Convention against
those persons who refused to sign the articles of Association, and did
not sign them before July 4th past; for upon a motion of Mr. Chase
that an article be inserted in the Constitution forbidding such persons
from holding offices of profit or trust unless qualified by Act of Assem
bly, Mr. Gibson, the only member from Talbot present and voting,
voted in the negative. The Constitution was finally agreed to Novem
ber 7, 1776, and under it elections were held for delegates to the first
General Assembly of the State of Maryland on Wednesday, the eight
eenth of December, and for elections for the Senate on Monday the
twenty-fifth November. These gentlemen were named as the judges
of election in Talbot: John Goldsborough, William Perry and John
Bracco, Esquires. The elections were accordingly held and resulted in
the choosing John Gibson, James Benson, Henry Banning and Edward
Lloyd, Esquires, as members of the Lower House of Assembly for Tal
bot. On the ninth of December the state electoral college assembled
at Annapolis and chose fifteen state senators, six of whom were of the
Eastern and nine of the Western Shore. The Senators of the Eastern
Shore were the Hon. Matthew Tilghman of this county, and Messrs.
Joseph Nicholson, Robert Goldsborough, Thomas Wright, James
Tilghman and Samuel Wilson. Before adjourning the Convention
made provision for the issue of bills of credit to defray the extraordinary
expenses attendant upon the war. These bills were really what we
now call national currency, or vulgarily greenbacks. As a protection
against dishonesty upon the part of the printer of these bills, a commit
tee of supervisors was appointed, whose duty it should be to give an
immediate oversight to the printing of the bills and to have the custody
of the plates from which they were stricken, until these plates should be
returned to the Convention, or, during its recess, to the Council of
Safety. A commission was appomted to sign the bills, of which ten
members were of the Western Shore, and eight of the Eastern. Of these
from this shore, all or most of them belonged to Talbot, and they were
as follows: Richard Tilghman, William Perry, Samuel Sharp, Joseph
Bruff, Samuel Edmondson, Alexander Irvine, Charles Edward Irvine
and Thomas Dawson. The bills after they had been properly printed,
numbered and signed, were delivered to the treasurers for each of the
Shores (William Hindman being the treasurer of the Eastern and Thomas
Harwood of the Western Shore), who were required to give bond, the
latter to Daniel of Saint Thomas Jenifer and Charles Carroll, the barris
ter, and the former to the Hon. Matthew Tilghman, Edward Lloyd,

104 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
and James Lloyd Chamberlaine, Esquires. On the tenth November
the Hon. Matthew Tilghman, and Thomas Johnson, Jr., William Paca,
Thomas Stone, Samuel Chase, Benjamin Rumsey, and Charles Carroll
(barrister) Esquires, were appointed delegates to represent the State
in Congress until the meeting of the General Assembly. It would
seem that the conservative element was still predominant in this Con
vention and that there still lingered a hope and a wish for reconciliation
with the mother country, for coupled with instructions for the prose
cution of the war given to these delegates was this remarkable precept:
"And the said delegates, or any three or more of them, are hereby
authorized and empowered, notwithstanding any measures heretofore
taken, to concur with Congress, or a majority of them, in accommo
dating our unhappy differences with Great Britain, on such terms
as the Congress, or a majority of them shall think proper." In truth
at the time when these instructions were issued there was great des
pondency prevailing throughout the United States, and some of the
most sanguine were losing heart under repeated defeats of the army.
On the same day, the following gentlemen were chosen to be the Council
of Safety, the last ones to hold that responsible office: John Hall, George
Plater, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Brice Beal Worthington, Charles
Grahame, Esquires, of the Western Shore and Joseph Nicholson, Nicho
las Thomas, of Talbot, William Rumsey, and James Tilghman, Esquires
of the Eastern Shore. On the following day, 11th November, this
Convention adjourned to meet on the — inst., or upon the call of the
Council of Safety; but it assembled no more, and early in the following
year the new State government under the constitution was organized
and went into full operation. The Committees of Observation and the
Council of Safety dissolved, and the Provisional government ceased in
Maryland. The experience of the last campaign had served to confirm the Com
mander in Chief in his often expressed opinion that the war could not
be successfully conducted by the employment of troops whose term of
service was generally so brief that they could not be brought to the
state of discipline necessary to give them firmness in the field. Congress
had also arrived at the same conclusion, though long hesitating to
encourage the enlistment of an army for a long term, from an appre
hension that such an army might be turned against the very power that
created it. The colonies shared these feelings, and they discovered
» McSherry's Hist. Md., p. 384, and Scharf's Hist. Md., 868.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 105
the futility of trusting to temporary levies. Accordingly we find that
in September, Congress made a requisition for regulars of which Mary
land was required to furnish eight battalions. On the ninth of October
the Convention resolved "to use its utmost endeavors to raise the
eight battalions required (including the troops already raised and in
the service of the United States), as soon as possible." Commissioners,
as has been noted, were appointed to go to the camps for the purpose of
learning how many men then in the field could be induced to enlist
under the continental plan, namely for the war. Before the adjourn
ment of the Convention it empowered the Council of Safety "to take
and pursue all measures that they may think necessary and proper for
raising, completing and equipping the eight battalions" for the conti
nental service. Before the opening of the campaign of 1777, in accord
ance with the orders of Congress and the Convention, the Maryland
troops were reorganized and what became known as the "Maryland
Line" was formed, old officers as far as possible being retained. There
appears actually to have been but seven battalions — Capt. James
Hindman of the independent company of Talbot became Lieut. Colonel
of the fifth battalion, with William Richardson as his colonel. In this
battalion also we find Perry Benson, who now in the rank of first lieuten
ant, subsequently during the war rose to the rank of captain, and is
remembered as General Benson, of the Maryland militia in the war of
1812. In the same battalion and company with Benson was Jonathan
Gibson, as second lieutenant, who also rose to be captain and died soon
after the close of the war. In the second battalion Archibald Anderson
had command of a company with Thomas Price as his colonel. He was
originally first lieutenant in Captain Hindman's independent company,
rose to the rank of major, and died bravely upon the field of battle, at
Cowpens as has been mentioned. Edward Hindman, a brother of
Colonel Hindman, was made captain of a company in the third battalion,
Colonel Mordecai Gist. These are the only names of officers belonging
to Talbot, that can be found in the rolls of March 27, 1777. These
seven battalions were placed under the command of Gen. William
Smallwood. From this time onward, until the close of the war, it is impossible
to distinguish the military services of the men of Talbot, or of any other
county of the State, from those of their companies in arms. There is
no evidence that the recruits of each county were enrolled in the same
company, nor that they were even placed in the same battalion. They
were probably distributed according to the needs of the different organi-

106 • HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
zations. It has already been noted that the officers from this county
were variously distributed in several of the battalions. Whatever honor,
therefore, was acquired by the Maryland line, and undoubtedly this
was great, it is not always possible to divide it, with due regard to their
just deserts, among the several divisions of that line, regiments and
companies; on the contrary every part is entitled to wear the laurels
won by the conduct of the whole. Sometimes, it is true, the historic
muse peering through shadowy obscurities of shifting camp fires, the
dust of marches and countermarches, and the smoke of battle, has been
able to distinguish certain bodies, large and small, of Maryland troops
commanded by officers whom this county may claim as her own peculiar
sons, and has noted down upon her commemorative tablets the names
of those that have shown unusual endurance in the midst of hardship
and privation, or conspicuous firmness in presence of danger. But
these names are few, whether of officers or their commands; and of the
humbler soldiers that went from these our borders, the vast majority
have gone down to undistinguished graves, so that the most industrious
annalist, thus far, has not been able to rescue their memoirs from ob
livion: illacrimabiles urguentur ignotique longa node.
Before the opening of the campaign of 1777 it became necessary
to move a body of troops into the lower part of this peninsula for the
purpose of bringing into subjection the tories of Sussex County, Del
aware, and of Worcester and Somerset Counties, Maryland, who were
in open insurrection against the State authorities and in league with
the enemy. These troops, a portion of the Maryland levies, marched
into the disaffected district under Col. Gist, but were soon joined by
General Smallwood, who broke up, in a measure, the treasonable organ
izations, by arresting the ring leaders, whom he sent to jail, and by
requiring the others to take an oath of allegiance, or in case of refusal
to be also imprisoned. But the pressing requirements of the Command
er in Chief, rendered it necessary that these troops should join the main
army. Their place was taken by Col. Richardson's battalion, which
probably contained more of the men of Talbot than any other, as it
seems to have been recruited chiefly upon the Eastern Shore. Com
missioners were sent into the troubled counties to act in connection
with the military officers, and under their direction, the stringent orders
of Congress, were carried into effect. Dangerous persons were required
to remove from the counties of their residence to some remote situation,
military organizations were dissolved and disarmed, some of the more
turbulent members were arrested, others compelled to take refuge

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 107
with the enemy, and a stringent oath of allegiance was required of all
the suspected who remained at home. Before this insurrection had been
entirely quelled the new Legislature had met and had passed most
rigorous acts "to prevent the growth of toryism." At a later date there
was an outbreak of the royalists in Caroline and Dorchester counties
which was promptly subdued. In 1778 one Cheney Clows headed an
insurrection in Queen Anne's county, for the suppression of which it
was necessary to call out the militia. There was no evidence whatever
that, at any time during the war of the Revolution, there was any overt
act of treason in the county of Talbot, or any concerted movements of
persons disaffected to the patriot cause. As great an unanimity pre
vailed here as in any county of the Province or State.
The main army under General Washington, which had been in winter
quarters at Morristown or its vicinity, spent the spring and early sum
mer months in filling its depleted ranks, in perfecting its reorganization,
and in watching the movements of the enemy whose designs were not
clearly revealed. The approach of the army of Burgoyne from Canada,
apparently for the purpose of forming a junction with General Howe, and
cutting off all communication with New York and the New England
States, determined the Commander in Chief to move his army towards
the north; but after a portion, including Sullivan's division, embracing
the Marylanders, had crossed the Hudson, these troops were recalled,
as intelligence had been received that the British army had been em
barked on board ships and transports and has sailed towards the south,
its destiny being as yet not fully known. But on the 22nd August the
division under Gen'l Sullivan, containing the Marylanders under Small-
wood and Debore, attacked Staten Island, then held by a body of
royal Americans. The result was not happy, Smallwood lost many
men, and Sullivan did not escape censure. Before this affair, however,
information was received that the British fleet was in the mouth of the
Delaware Bay, and it became known that Philadelphia was the objective
point of attack, but whether by the Delaware of the Chesapeake was
not known till later, when the fleet was reported as entering the latter
bay, and steering toward the north. As soon as the purposes of the
enemy became apparent, appeals were made by Congress for the assem
bling of the militia of Maryland, as well as Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
and Delaware, for co-operation with the regular forces for the defence
of Philadelphia. Two thousand men were asked of this State, of whom
the Eastern Shore should supply seven hundred and fifty, and they were
to assemble in Georgetown in Kent county as soon as possible. For

108 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
the purpose of hastening the assemblmg and organizing of these
men, Gen'l Smallwood and Colonel Gist were sent_ there regular
from the regular army, the one to the Western and the other to the
Eastern Shore. Richardson's battalion, which had been disciplining
the tories of the Peninsula to loyal ways, was to be united with the
militia from this shore. The militia from the Western Shore was re
quired to assemble towards the head of the Bay, as it soon became
evident that the enemy intended to make a landing at the head of Elk
River and march toward Philadelphia. Richardson's battalion of
Eastern Shore men had anticipated this movement, and by impressing
the horses, wagons and carts of the people of the vicinity, they had
succeeded in removing beyond the reach of the enemy the greater part
of the public stores that had been there accumulated for the use of the
main army. The presence of the British fleet in the Chesapeake had
created great alarm among the planters seated along its shores, and in
conformity with the advice of Congress as well as with the dictates of
private interest they had removed much of their live stock, grain, and
household valuables into the interior.45 The militia from the Eastern
Shore were very slow in assemblmg, owing it would appear, more to
want of arms, than actual reluctance to meet the dangers and encounter
the hardships of a campaign. There is an obscure record which inti
mates that a company recruited in Talbot and commanded by Capt.
Gibson, marched as far as Middletown, Delaware, but was unable to
join the main army in time to participate in the battle at Brandywine.
It would not be within the scope of this paper to give an account,
however brief, of the operations of the opposing armies in the campaign
which, commencing with the battle of the Brandywine46 was illustrated
by that of Germantown, and closed with the skirmish at Edge Hill.
This belongs to general history. It is sufficient here to say that the
Maryland troops participated in almost every conflict, generally with
4S On the 27th of Aug. General Howe issued another of his proclamations, under
a belief that there was a large body of the disaffected in the section he was now
invading. This was addressed to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, the lower
counties of the Delaware, and the counties upon the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
About as little, if indeed as much effect, was produced by this, as by his others.
It is said this proclamation was read by Mr. William Hindman at the door of
Talbot Courthouse, and for this he was censured by the politicians in after years,
as smacking of Toryism.
" There is a tradition pretty well substantiated that a Talbot soldier, Lieut.
Perry Benson, supported Gen'l Lafayette from the field after he had been wounded
at Brandywine.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 109
great credit to themselves, but sometimes, unfortunately, their reputa
tion was blurred by conduct on the field of which no Marylander can
be proud. But it must be said in extenuation that they were only the
raw militia whose firmness was the subject of humiliating comment.
It is presumable that the Talbot companie's were engaged, and they are
entitled to share in whatever honors were reaped in this campaign, and
justice requires that they should divide whatever reproach was incurred.
The main army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. The Mary
land militia returned to their homes, but Smallwood's regulars faring
better than their compatriots in arms, were comfortably quartered in
and around Wilmington.
While the soldiers of Maryland were thus engaged in vindicating the
rights to independent existence, her statesmen were exercising that right
by the enactment of laws for the carrying into practical effect the
provisions of the Constitution which had been framed the previous year,
with admirable wisdom. The first session of the first General Assembly
of the new State commenced on the 5th of February and ended on the
20th of April, 1777. On the 13th of the month first named, Mr. Thomas
Johnson was chosen Governor by the joint vote of the two houses, was
inaugurated with much ceremony, and proclaimed on the 21st. Mr.
Matthew Tilghman received one vote, but he had previously been
elected the president of the first Senate of Maryland, a position which
he continued to hold until 1786, when he retired from public service.
In the first Executive Council of the State elected on the 14th of Febru
ary, 1777, Mr. Edward Lloyd of this county had a seat. He was again
elected in October of the same year a member of the second Council,
and again in 1778, a member of the third Council, when also Col. James
Hindman, who had previously resigned his post in the army, was chosen
a member of the same honorable body. On the first Monday in October,
1777, there was held the second election under the Constitution for
members of the Lower House of Assembly, when Messrs. Nicholas
Thomas, Howes Goldsborough, James Benson and John Gibson were
made the delegates from Talbot, and upon the meeting of the Legisla
ture, Mr. Nicholas Thomas was chosen speaker of the house of which he
was a member. But while the Assembly was thus engaged in inaugur
ating the new government — getting its machinery into place and in
order for tihe regular working of the engine of state — it was not less
diligent in providing for the army, upon the success of which, the con
tinued existence of that government depended. During the sessions
of 1777 and 1778, provisions were made for maintaining the proper

HO HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
quota of troops of the State in the field,47 by voluntary enlistment, for
which bounties were offered, and by compulsory draughts. Those men
who were already in the service had their comfort and welfare looked
after and provided with supplies of clothing and blankets. Facilities
were afforded for the operations of the army of the United States, by
the authorizing of forcible seizure of means of transportation whenever
they were required by the exigencies of the service. At the October
session of 1778, an act for the relief of disabled and maimed officers and
soldiers, marines and seamen was passed. Extraordinary powers were
conferred upon the Governor and Council, for the protection of the
State, and the promotion of the efficiency of the military forces, whether
in the line or in the militia; and for the execution of their orders, as
well as the resolutions of the Assembly, an officer hitherto unknown,
who bore the title of "Lieutenant of the County," was appointed for
each of the counties. On the 29th June, 1777, Col. Christopher Birk-
head was selected by the Legislature as the Lieutenant of Talbot county.
Active operations in the field commenced with the evacuation of
Philadelphia by the British army in June, 1778, and with its march
through New Jersey towards New York under Gen'l Clinton, who had
superseded Gen'l Howe. He was quickly followed by Washington, who
coming up with the enemy at Monmouth, gave battle, the result of
which, though not decisive, was most honorable to the American Arms.
Here the Maryland line acquired new distinction for its firmness in
the presence of the enemy is clearly attributable much of the success
that was achieved. Whether men of Talbot are entitled to any of the
honors won upon this day cannot be determined. None of their names
are legible on the scroll of fame. But in this battle there was a native
of Talbot, though a citizen of New Jersey, and bearing a commission
of Brigadier General of the militia of the State who acquitted himself
most creditably, and has received honorable mention by historians.
This was General Philemon Dickinson, the brother of the Hon. John
Dickinson, a gentleman who, if he did not possess the intellectual
culture and abilities of the statesman, his kinsman, was a man of greater
decision of character. The county of his birth should be proud of the
honor his career reflects upon it. After the battle of Monmouth, the
British Army moved towards the north followed by the American forces.
The subsequent operations of this year were not such as call for any
47 In March, 1778, it was ordered that 2902 troops should be raised either by
voluntary enlistment or by draft. Of these, 1057 were required of the Eastern
Shore counties, 105 being the quota of Talbot.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 111
notice in this contribution. It may be well to mention, however, that
it was during 1788 that treaties were formed with France, by which
that country was pledged to give material assistance to t,he Americans
in their struggle — an event of the utmost importance in our national
history. The French fleet arrived in the Delaware soon after the
departure of the British, upon their evacuation of Philadelphia. The
presence of the French relieved the people of Maryland, residing along
the shores of the Chesapeake and its tributaries, of much of the maraud
ing to which they had been subject both from British vessels and priva
teers fitted out by the loyalists. Early in December the army went into
winter quarters, the Marylanders building huts for their protection at
Middlebrook, which was made the headquarters of the commander-in-
chief. During the winter the authorities of Maryland were actively engaged
in filling up the ranks of the Maryland line, and furnishing soldiers in
camp with those necessaries which the inclement season, and their
generally destitute condition demanded. The operations of the main
army in the year consisted rather in watching the movements of the
enemy than in any "enterprises of pith and moment," and the cam
paign was upon the whole without consequences of importance to either
party. In the capture of Stony Point by General Wayne, one of the
most creditable affairs of the war, Maryland troops participated, behav
ing with a gallantry at least equal to that of their fellow soldiers of the
other States. In May of this year a detachment from the British squad
ron that lay in New York harbor, having on board marines and soldiers,
entered the mouth of the Chesapeake and ravaged portions of Virginia.
Great alarm was communicated to the people of Maryland who were
exposed to the depredations of this force which was expected to ascend
the Bay and lay waste the counties along its shores. None was more
exposed to depredations and injury from a naval enemy than Talbot,
her geographical formation and position being such as to permit incur
sions from the fleet into almost every part of her territory. The Gov
ernor of the State ordered the militia in all the tidewater counties to
hold themselves in readiness to repel the invaders and General Gist,
who in former years had commanded the troops of this class drawn
from this section, was sent from the main army to take charge of the
defences of the State. This detachment from the fleet of the enemy,
however, after being pretty well glutted with the pillage and plunder
of some of the Virginia counties, returned to New York, and joined the
squadron, without further prosecuting what appears to have been a

112 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
mere marauding expedition. These alarms of the people along the
shores of the Chesapeake were frequent during the war, which required
the militia of this and other counties similarly situated to be constantly
upon the alert — a condition of things which however annoying served
to keep alive the military spirit among the people, and to this cause
may be attributed in great degree the ability and willingness which
Maryland exhibited to keep her full quota of troops in the field and even
to furnish recruits to the lines of other States less infused with the spirit
of warlike resistance.
In October of 1778 a general election was held, at which Messrs.
Robert Goldsborough, Thomas Sherwood, Howes Goldsborough and
John Stevens were chosen delegates to the lower house of assembly,
which with the senate, met on the 26th of the same month and year,
and again in March and July of the following year. One of the most
important acts of this Legislature was that entitled an "Act to estab
lish select vestries." No part of the social system in this State was
more profoundly deranged by the organism of the Revolution than that
which discharged the functions of religion. The church of England was
really a part of the government. It was the established church of the
Province. The parishes were civil divisions of the territory. The
incumbents of those parishes were the appointees of the Lord Proprie
tary, or his Governors. The stipends of these appointees were derived
from annual levies, collected as all other levies, by the sheriffs of the
counties and paid over to the vestries, of which the rectors were the
principal vestrymen, ex-officio. The vestries were really civil officers
elected by the qualified voters of the parishes, not only having the tem
poralities of the church in hand but also the morality of their constitu
ents in a certain degree, under their censorship. By the adoption of
the constitution in 1776 all this machinery was laid aside. The selection
of the ministers was left to the vestries. These vestries no longer having
a legal status, the pay of the clergy from the public fund ceased, and,
in general, affairs ecclesiastical were placed in a condition of chaos.
It is to be noted, however, that the Commissioners and Justices of the
Peace for the county continued to levy the usual church rate of forty
pounds of tobacco per poll up to the time of the adoption of the con
stitution, and the incumbents of the parishes, who were associators,
or willing to take the prescribed oaths, were allowed to receive their
usual stipends up to November, 1777, after which time these entirely
ceased, and the clergy became dependent for support upon the benevo
lence of their several congregations, and the income from the glebes

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 113
with which some of the parishes were endowed. The object of the " Act
to establish select vestries" was to give to the vestries such legal status
as the changed condition of affairs allowed. Many of the clergy of the
established church of the province were royalists in sentiment. Some
had abandoned the parishes, others had been dispossessed, before the
adoption of the constitution; and, when the "Act for the better security
of the government" was passed in 1777, which forbid anyone "to
preach or teach the gospel"48 who refused to take the prescribed oaths
of allegiance to the State, yet others, who had up to this time exercised
their functions, were debarred from the pulpits. The people of Talbot
were fortunate in having in the two parishes which included much the
greater part of the county clergymen of undoubted loyalty to the patriot
cause, the Rev. John Gordon of Saint Michael's parish and the Rev.
Jacob Henderson Hindman of Saint Peter's parish, one of whom at
least was a member of the Committee of Observation for the county, a
body composed of no others but men of approved fidelity to the cause.49
Besides having ministers in entire sympathy with them upon political
subjects, the vestries held glebes, in each of the parishes and other
properties, which yielded an income for the partial support of the rec
tors, each of whom possessed also private means of no inconsiderable
amounts. Under these favorable circumstances, therefore, the people
of the county did not suffer a deprivation of their ecclesiastical privileges.
After the resignation of Mr. Hindman in 1779 St. Peter's parish was
forced to be content with such ministrations as could be given by Mr.
Thomas Gordon, as layreader, until another regularly ordained clergy
man could be induced to accept the small pay which the parish was able
to afford. This clergyman who was prevailed upon to accept the parish
was the Rev. John Bowie, who, though a non-juror, was accused of
toryism while in his parish in Worcester, from which he was removed
by the order of the convention, was, in the year 1780, accepted as rector,
he partially supporting himself by teaching a school.
In this connection it is proper to mention that the Methodists had
begun their inroads upon territory that had been regarded as the peculiar
domain of the church, at or about the time of the outbreak of the Revolu-
48 Passed at the Oct. session 1777, Chap. XX, Sec. seventeen.
4* Among the names given in this contribution of members of the Com. of Obser
vation appear those of the Rev. John Gordon and Jacob Hindman. The Rev.
Ethan Allen, who is not to be implicitly relied upon, says this Jacob Hindman
was the Rev. Jacob Henderson Hindman, and there is nothing to contradict this
statement.

114 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
tion. Their ministers were generally among the suspected as many of
them were Englishmen, and were supposed to follow Mr. Wesley in his
politics as in his dogmatics. One preacher, named Rodda was detected
in Kent of Queen Anne's in circulating Howe's proclamation, and he was
driven from his circuit by the exasperated people, and compelled to take
refuge on board the British fleet. In 1778 Rev. Joseph Hartley was ar
rested in Queen Anne's county, and again, in 1779, in Talbot county.
Here he was confined in jail where he remained three months, but was
finally released on bail In 1780 Freeborn Garrettson, a native American
was confined in jail in Cambridge. In the year 1782, an act was passed,
entitled "An Act to relieve non-jurors from certain disabilities" in which
was embodied a provision "that no person of the sect, society or profes
sion of the people called Methodists, shall be fined for preaching the gos
pel without taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by the 'Act for the
better security of the government;' unless it shall appear that such
Methodist, by his actions and conduct hath manifested a disposition
inimical to the present government." Whatever jealousy may have
existed in the earlier years of the revolutionary period of the Methodist
preachers, the converts to that system became in the end the most
ardent patriots, for to the warmth of patriotism was added the heats
of religious antagonism to the church which, in the minds of most, was
identified with English authority.
The Quakers, the only other religious body within the county of any
considerable numerical power, were non-combatants, and objected
on religious principle to the employment of militia force, even for resist
ance to similar force on the part of the British government. But no
where does there exist any evidence that these people, the State of Mary
land, or in Talbot county, which was one of their strongholds, were not
in thorough sympathy with the patriot cause, a sympathy which was
strengthened by their opposition to the church establishment. Their
brethren in Philadelphia had suffered from their open antagonism to
this cause, so far that several had been hung as tories.
This whole subject will be treated of more at large, when opportunity
shall be found to give an account of Religion in Talbot.
Returning, now, from this disgression, to the current of events, it
may be noted here that a petition presented to the State authorities and
signed by the officers of the Maryland line for more adequate provisions
for their support while in the service, the great depreciation of the cur
rency having rendered their pay insufficient to defray their actual
expenses, or supply their actual needs, had the names of two officers of

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 115
this county attached, Major Archibald Anderson and Capt. Jono-
than Gibson. To this petition the assembly responded favorably by
ordering in July, 1779, that the officers should be furnished with certain
clothing and rations of provisions, irrespective of the cost of the articles
supplied. This was better than any extra allowance of the money of
the country which had an unsettled value.
Again in October of this year, the annual election for members of the
House of Delegates was held when Messrs. Henry Banning, John Gibson,
Richard Johns and Christopher Birkhead were chosen to represent the
people of Talbot in the General Assembly. Evidently the conserva
tive element had been eliminated. Upon the meeting of this body in
November, the term of service of Governor Johnson having expired,
it proceeded to the election of his successor. The choice of the members
of the two houses was divided between Mr. Edward Lloyd, of this
county and Mr. Thomas Sim Lee of Prince George, but it ultimately
fell upon the latter, who became the second governor under the State
constitution. In the Executive Council, chosen in 1779, and in those of
the succeeding years to 1786, Talbot had no member. The Hon.
Matthew Tilghman, as has been noted, continued to be one of the sena
tors who were not then as now representatives of the counties, but
elected from the State at large. The authorities, executive and legis
lative, continued to feel~&nd exhibit the same interest in the progress of
the war, as those of previous years. To maintain the quota of men in
the field, additional levies were made, each county being required to fur
nish its due proportion. Where voluntary enlistment was not effectual
in procuring the required number, the militia of each county was divided
into as many classes as the county was required to furnish recruits, and
each of these classes was required to "furnish a recruit, to take up a
deserter or pay the bounty" necessary to secure a recruit, which bounty
was not to exceed fifteen pounds in each hundred pounds of the assessed
property of the class. The act, of which this was one of the provisions,
stated that the levy for the State was fourteen hundred men. This same
assembly passed other acts for maintaining the number and efficiency
of the forces in the field which need not be enumerated. The finances
of the State, at this time were in a deplorable condition owing to the
enormous depreciation of the paper issues, both Continental and State,
received much of its attention and the more, that this condition fur
nished the greatest embarrassment in the prosecution of the war which
was the supreme interest. One of the devises fallen upon to relieve the
public treasury was the solicitation of voluntary contributions from

116 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
citizens of the State. A list of contributors, chiefly members of the
General Assembly, shows the following names of citizens of Talbot, with
the amount agreed to be paid affixed: Matthew Tilghman, 4 hogs
head tobacco; Henry Banning, 1 hogshead tobacco and 200 pounds paper
money; John Gibson, 1 hogshead tobacco; Christopher Birkhead, 1
hogshead tobacco; William (?James) Hindman, 2 hogsheads tobacco.50
Resuming now the thread of the narrative of the operations of the
army, as far as they relate to the troops of Maryland, and therefore
of the men of Talbot, the first movement to be noted is the detachment
of the Maryland line from the main body and its transference to the
army of the south. It was marched to the head of Elk, where it was
embarked on board transports, which had been impressed for this serv
ice, and conveyed down the Bay to Petersburg, Virginia, whence it
was marched to join the army then under the command of Gen'l Gates.
The Marylanders were under Gen'l De Kalb, with Smallwood and Gist
as generals of brigade.
The first encounter with the enemy was at Camden, South Carolina,
on the 16th August, 1780, where the American army received such a
disastrous reverse, but whence the Marylanders carried off so many
honors, though leaving great numbers of their dead upon the field."
In this battle three officers belonging to Talbot, were certainly present.
Major Archibald Anderson, Capt. Perry Benson and Capt. Jonathan
Gibson. Of Major Anderson's behavior in again and again rallying
the first brigade, to which he belonged, after it had been made to recede
by overwhelming numbers, which the enemy was able to bring against
this body after the disgraceful retreat of the North Carolina militia,
and of his great activity in rallying the fugitives so as to present a bold
front to the triumphant enemy, and thus save the army from utter
destruction, history has made fitting mention, and he has thus received
a part of the meed to which he is entitled. Of Benson in this engage
ment we know nothing more than that he was present, and his intrepid
ity of conduct upon other occasions gives us assurance that upon this
his bravery and firmness did not desert him. The records of the battle
mention the wounding of a Capt. Gibson. Without possessing an abso
lute certainty that this was Capt. Jonathan Gibson of Talbot, there is a
strong probability that it was. If so his wound must have been slight, for
Capt. Jonathan Gibson participated actively, as is of record, in immedi-
so Scharf's Hist. Md., vol. ii, p. 375.
61 The pride of every Marylander in the troops of his State is justified by the
universal testimony of all historians of this battle.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 117
ately subsequent affairs. As is well known Gen'l De Kalb was mor
tally wounded, and dying testified in moving terms to the exemplary
conduct of the troops under his command in presenting a firm opposi
tion to a superior force when abandoned by the rest of the army. The
losses in this battle of the Maryland line had been so great that a reor
ganization became necessary, and the troops were arranged in one
regiment under Col. Otho Holland Williams, and two battalions under
Majors Archibald Anderson and Hardman. The supernumerary officers
returned to Maryland to assist in recruiting the depleted ranks, and
among those was General Gist who was enabled, before the end of the
year in some measure to supply the places of the missing. It does not
appear that Maryland troops participated in the memorable fight at
Kings Mountain, where a severe blow was delivered to the enemy.
No other conflict of the opposing armies occurred during 1780 in the
South. With the most impressive episode of the whole war, the capture
and execution of Andre, Talbot is connected through an officer, who
after the war married here and became a citizen of this county. This
was Captain, afterwards Col. John Hughes of Harford county, who was
in command of the guard having this amiable but unfortunate gentle
man in charge after his arrest. A warm attachment sprang up between
these two soldiers. Capt. Hughes did everything in his power to render
Major Andre comfortable during his confinement, furnishing from his
own scanty resources those conveniences of which the prisoner felt the
need; and it is said that among the mementoes of him, which are still
preserved in the tower of London, are the comb, brush and towels
marked "John Hughes," which were used by him while awaiting the
result of his trial. It is also said Major Andre before starting to the
place of execution placed in the hands of his devoted friend a minia
ture of his former betrothed, and a letter to her, with the request that
he would forward them to her in England which request was faithfully
complied with. Leaning on Capt. Hughes's arm Andre walked to the
gallows, and for him this friend performed the last sad duty of bandag
ing his eyes with a scarf taken from his own person.82
During the year 1780, as in years previous the Chesapeake Bay was
infested by marauders which the gallies and barges belonging to the
" Genealogical notes of the Chamberlaine family by Hon. J. B. Kerr, p. 46.
Hanson's "Old Kent," p. 55. This story is given as current tradition relates it,
and as it is told in family history; but the writer of this contribution has not been
able to verify it, and there are parts of it which are indubitably untrue. Col.
Hughes lived at Lombardy in Miles River Neck.

118 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
State never had been entirely able to expel. These were chiefly tories
from the lower part of the peninsula. They committed many depreda
tions, and carried their outrages to the extent of taking life. They were
much encouraged in their piratical adventures by the entrance of the
British into the Bay in the latter part of the year, under General Leslie.
The following letter of the Hon. Matthew Tilghman to the Governor
of the State gives an account of the capture of some of these marauders
by a citizen of the Bayside of this county. Talbot County, Sept. 2, 1780.
Sir:— The bearer, Col. William Webb Haddaway, waits on you with
two prisoners captured in a small boat which to'ther day was taken from
his landing together with his own boat. This was done on the morning
of the 31st of last month. The Colonel immediately assembled a num
ber of spirited young fellows who cheerfully joined him, fitting them
selves out with arms and what ammunition they could muster, and
in a small row boat pursued, and in about twenty-four hours came up
with and re-took the hindmost boat. The other belonging to the
Colonel was entirely out of their reach. His was really a spirited exer
tion. It does honor to the State and deserves the highest applause.
I really wish it may be in your Excellency's and Council's power to
enable these brave men to do more. I am satisfied, if it was possible
to furnish a vessel of force, the same persons who have shown so much
alacrity, activity and bravery on this occasion would do a great deal
towards routing these disturbers of our peace and regaining the property
which must be of the greatest consequence to many unhappy sufferers;
and if a vessel can be got, the Colonel, I am convinced, will be able to
get as many men as will be sufficient to man her. I am persuaded you
will afford him every encouragement and assistance in your power, and
I am with the greatest respect, your excellency's most obedient and most
humble servant, Mat. Tilghman.5'
Again in October of 1780 there was an election for delegates to the
Lower House of Assembly, when the following gentlemen were returned
from Talbot: Messrs. James Hindman, Nicholas Martin, James Lloyd
Chamberlaine, and Edward Lloyd. The Legislature assembled soon
after the election. One of the first measures to engage its attention was
the providing for the defence of the State from the enemy who, under
General Leslie, had on the 16th of October sailed from New York with
a large force and had entered the lower Chesapeake, and taken posses
sion of Norfolk and Portsmouth. In ignorance of the ulterior design
of the British commander, but believing that he would not confine him-
53 For this letter, never before published, the writer is indebted to Col. J. T.
Scharf.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 119
self to the Virginia waters, and the counties bordering thereon, but
extend his inroads into Maryland passed an act "to embody a number
of select militia, and for immediately putting this State in a proper
posture of defence." By this act twenty thousand men, twelve thou
sand from the Western and eight thousand from the Eastern Shore
were to be selected armed and equipped.54 They were to be volun
teers, to serve until December 10, 1781. In addition, an "Act for the
defence of the Bay" requiring the equipment of "four large barges,
fitted with sails and oars, armed with swivels, and carrying each at least
twenty-five men; one galley armed with two 18 and two 9 pounders
and swivels; one sloop or schooner capable of carrying ten 4 pounders."
A troop of horse was ordered to be raised for the protection of Somerset
and Worcester counties where the tories continued to give much trouble.
All the inhabitants of the islands below Hoopers straits, with their
property, were removed to the main, and the seizure of all their vessels,
boats and canoes was authorized. While the Chesapeake was thus in
command, as it were, of the British, and communication between the
Eastern and Western Shores precarious, it was deemed necessary to
adopt some expedient by which the orders of the government at Annap
olis should have effective execution on the opposite side of the Bay,
and therefore it was resolved by the Legislature that "five of the prin
cipal gentlemen of the Eastern Shore are constituted a special council,
any three of whom on actual invasion of the enemy, or when the State
is imminently threatened with an invasion, may exercise, on the Eastern
shore, during such occasion, all the powers vested in the executive,"
with certain restrictions that need not here be specified. Of this special
committee Mr. Matthew Tilghman was one.55 In December, Gen'l
Leslie, who had been ordered to reinforce Cornwallis in the south, was
succeeded by Arnold, the traitor, who in January entered the Chesa
peake with fifty sail and a land force of fifteen hundred men. Of the
depredations and devastations of Arnold general history gives such
full account as to impart additional blackness to a character which had
been sufficiently dark without those shades which his deeds in Virginia
contributed to its portraiture. Never thoroughly trusted after his
treason, Arnold was superseded in March, 1781, by General Philips,
who brought reinforcements with the evident purpose to make the lodg-
54 This is the number as stated in Hanson's Laws, but it is so large that doubt
is thrown upon the statement.
ss Hanson's Laws, 1780, Chap. XXVII, manuscript memoir of Hon. Matthew
Tilghman, by his daughter Ann Maria Tilghman.

120 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ment which had been secured in Virginia permanent and to render that
State the centre of military operations.
Reverting for a moment to matters of a civil or political nature, it is
proper here to note the passage by the Legislature of 1780-81 of an act
to ratify the Articles of Confederation — a step which this State had
long hesitated to take because of her unwillingness to relinquish to
certain other States the lands of western territories, which she claimed
and wisely claimed, should be held as the common property of the States
confederating. Her final accession to the plan — she being the last
to yield her objections — caused that great charter to become the funda
mental law of the nascent nation, and gave consistence, form and per
petuity to an union which up to this time had been a political abstraction
without definition, cohesion or stability. The delegates in Congress
were directed to subscribe to the Articles, and this was accordingly
done on the first of March, 1781, by Messrs. Daniel Carroll and John
Hanson. Another act of importance was finally passed, after much
and warm discussion. This was an "act to seize, confiscate and appro
priate all British property within this State." Under the title British
property was claimed the property not only of residents of Great Britain,
but of those Americans who adhered to the royal cause. It is to be
noted that the Honorable Matthew Tilghman and William Hindman,
both of whom at the date of this act were members of the State Sen
ate, opposed its passage. Under the operations of this bill, the county
records indicate that certain lands in Talbot belonging to English mer
chants, trading in the Chesapeake, having their stores and factors at
various points, were sold by the commissioners under this act. Among
those whose property was seized aaid sold in this county was Mr. Mathias
Gale of the firm of Gale & Ponsonly of London, who held land near
Kingston. A part of Turkey Neck, in the same vicinage was sold to
William Merchant, and the proceeds of the sale paid in part to General
Smallwood for the purpose of promoting recruiting, and the remainder
to the Treasurer of the Western Shore. Another act repealed the tax
upon resident non-jurors, whose refusal to take the oath did not proceed
from disaffection to the State government.
After the disastrous battle of Camden, where the Maryland line had
suffered such a terrible depletion, the authorities of the State used every
possible exertion, and adopted almost every expedient to fill the ranks.
Early in the year 1781 active operations were resumed by the opposing
armies in the South, if it can be said they had been suspended by a
southern winter which admits of campaigning throughout the year.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 121
A portion of the Maryland troops were placed under General Morgan,
having as their immediate commander Col. John Eager Howard. On
the 17th of January they encountered the enemy, and then was fought
the glorious battle of Cowpens, in which the men of Maryland acquired
such honors as an hundred years have not dimmed. In achieving this
victory, it is stated, upon good authority56 that Captain Perry Benson
participated. Again on the 15th of March at Guilford Court House
the Marylanders, who really composed the greater part of the regulars
in General Greene's army, defeated the enemy, and maintained that
distinction which they had heretofore won; but among those who laid
down their lives upon the field of battle was Major Archibald Anderson,
of this county, the same officer who had behaved so creditably at Cam
den. It is to be regretted that so little is known of this capable officer
and brave man. Diligent effort has been made to discover traces of
him before the war. Nothing has been thus far learned of his parentage
or the date or place of his birth. That he was a citizen of Talbot has
been claimed because he early enlisted in a company recruited in this
county. His case affords a conspicuous instance of the neglect of Mary
landers to perpetuate the memories of those who have served her in
the council or in the field. Captain James Hindman, recommending
him for promotion for his conduct at the battle of Long Island, said:
"Lieut. Anderson is as good an officer as any in the Maryland service,
and I have no doubt when his character is inquired into, you will find
I say no more of him than he deserves." A letter written from camp
two days after the battle of Guilford C. H., thus speaks of him: "Major
Anderson and Ensign Nelson are amongst the slain. Both were brave
and both are justly lamented. Anderson was an excellent officer, but
I regret his loss equally as a friend, for he was possessed of the most
endearing social virtues."67 At Guilford, Benson also fought, as doubt
less did other men of Talbot "to fame unknown." "This battle," as
remarked by Bancroft, "transformed the American army into pur
suers, the British into fugitives." Again on the 25th of April, at Hob
Kirk's Hill in South Carolina, near the old battleground of Camden,
the Marylanders were brought into the conflict with the enemy, and
" Biographical sketch of General Perry Benson, by the Hon. R. H. Golds
borough, published In the Easton Gazette of Oct., 1827. It is here stated explicitly
that Benson was present at Cowpens and Guilford, and this statement was doubt
less founded upon information imparted by Benson himself.
" American Archives, 5 series, vol. iii, Scharf's Hist. Md., vol. ii., p. 416.
Taken from the Maryland Journal of April 3, 1781.

122 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
after maintaining for a while their old prestige, were, through some
blundering compelled to leave the field, and thus convert what at one
time promised to be a great victory into an indecisive battle. In this
affair Captain Benson was conspicuous for the part he took in the move
ments preliminary to the engagement of the main forces. The following
account of his conduct is taken from the biographical sketch of him,
before referred to, and as to the facts related, was probably derived
either from Benson himself or from one who accompanied Benson to
the war at Hob Kirk's Hill and Ninety-Six "he gathered laurels which
the blighting touch of time cannot destroy." In the first of these two
last mentioned engagements he commanded the picket guard, con
sisting of about one hundred and twenty men. On the part of the Amer
ican army this day was devoted to foraging and to those other duties of
the camp, which it is absolutely necessary at times to perform; and
although every precautionary step was taken which the prudence and
vigilance of the commanding general deemed proper, dispersed as must
have been the army at the time, and engaged in their various employ
ments, it could not have been prepared at a moment's warning to repel
the attack the enemy were about to make. The dauntless and firm
hero, Captain Benson, knowing the situation of the American army,
and feeling the importance of the station he occupied, taking counsel
of his patriotism and his valor, immediately determined with his little
band to receive the shock of the whole British force, and if possible, to
check its advance, until the American army might have time to form
and meet the enemy. He communicated his brave resolve to his sol
diers, and calmly and patiently awaited the approach of the hostile army.
When fairly within the range of his muskets, he opened a fire so galling
and so deadly, as to throw confusion into the British columns, who
believing, from the reception they met with, that they had encountered
not a picket guard, but the whole American army, attempted tb display
into line of battle. The "intrepid Captain Benson" as a historian of
the Revolution has termed him, when he had fired six rounds, and lost
in killed and wounded all but thirty-three of his brave soldiers, and the
enemy within thirty yards, and not till then, gave orders for a retreat.
But for the gallantry of this exploit, unparalleled, we suspect, in the
annals of warfare, the whole American army might, perhaps, have fallen
an easy prey to the enemy.68 In the books of general history as well as
58 Biographical sketch of General Benson by Hon. Robt. H. Goldsborough.
A more temperate account of Benson's part in this action is given in the Memoir
of Gen. Benson, prepared by the author of this contribution, and published in
the Easton Star of Jan. 14, 1879.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 123
those of the State, the command of the pickets, which retarded the
advance of the British General Rawdon, is said to have belonged to
Kirkwood of Delaware. Unless Capt. Kirkwood ranked Benson, it
will be perceived that there is a conflict of testimony as to the claims
of each of these brave men for having secured, by bis firmness, the
necessary time to enable General Greene to form his army in line of
battle to meet the advancing foe. But it would seem that General
Greene himself has settled this matter by his stating in his orders of
the day, issued immediately after the battle, that the pickets were under
Captains Benson and Morgan. On the 22d of May General Greene
commenced the siege of Fort Ninety-Six, which was the only place,
except Wilmington and Charleston, then held by the enemy in the
Carolinas. It was determined to attempt to capture the place by
assault, and to "Maryland and Virginia troops was assigned the dan
gerous and honorable duty of carrying this desperate attempt into
execution on the left, while other troops were to a like attempt on the
right. Of the part taken by Captain Benson in this affair a detailed
and particular account has been given in the memoir of him, by the
author of this contribution, already mentioned. Scant justice has
been done him by historians, and the claims he has made have never
received the consideration they seem to merit. Here this brave man
was terribly wounded, and though he for a long time hovered between
life and death, he finally rallied sufficiently to return home, and before
he was again fitted to take the field, active hostilities had ceased. A
letter of Capt. Jonathan Gibson to the father of Capt. Perry Benson,
written after the battle, indicates that he too, was a participant in the
assault. The failure at Ninety-Six was followed in September, by the
battle of Eutaw Springs, where the Marylanders, under Col. Otho
Holland Williams, retrieved whatever reputation they had lost, and
won additional laurels. Here Capt. Gibson, the same that has been
so often mentioned, while engaged in this hotly contested field, received
the- decoration of an honorable wound. The southern army afterwards
invested Charlestown, S. C, and finally caused its evacuation on the
14th of December, 1781.
While these events were occurring in the South, the enemy was con
centrating a force in Virginia, at the mouth of the Chesapeake, with
a view, as stated above, of making that State the seat of the most
important military operations. Gen. Cornwallis, after the battle at
Guilford Court House, when Greene marched into South Carolina,
moved northward to Virginia, and forming a junction with the forces

124 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
there, assumed chief command. The British having command of the
bay, sent out or authorized marauding parties which kept the people
along its shores and those of its tributaries in a state of continual alarm.
While a regular invasion was anticipated, a system of petty naval war
fare, no better than piracy, was maintained with the sanction of the
British commanders. This was really more distressing to the people
than if an organized fleet and army had closed the ports and occupied
the towns. Small armed vessels and boats scoured the bay, seizing or
burning any craft that came in their way. From time to time the
crews, which were generally made up of tories, landed at various points,
plundered the plantations of everything of value that could be removed,
and sometimes carried their outrages so far as to fire the buildings, and
even to hang the owners. Besides other property of the planters many
slaves were taken away. Talbot, by reason of her great coast line,
was particularly exposed, and suffered much from these marauding
expeditions. On the eighth of November, 1780, one of them proceeded
up the Choptank river as far as Castle-Haven in Dorchester county,
and there took possession of a vessel called the Mayflower. The party
engaged then attempted to land at Benoni's point in this county, for the
purpose of pillaging the farm house there, but were promptly met by
the Talbot militia, under Major Jeremiah Banning, and driven off
without their booty. It was thought they lost one man in this attempt.61
It is not unlikely that this party was the same that destroyed the resi
dence of Mr. John Henry, a distinguished citizen of Dorchester county.
This or another party took possession of Choptank island, at the mouth
of the river of the same name, then belonging to the Hon. Matthew
Tilghman, and robbed it of everything of value they could carry off,
and doubtless they would have visited his home at Ward's point, or
Rich-Neck, if they had not been deceived as to the probable amount of
spoil to be obtained from a house of such modest proportions as that
which one of the richest men of the county occupied, or if they had
known so eminent a patriot's property was so near and so exposed.
On Tuesday night, March 13, 1781, a party of these marauders went
up Wye river, and after robbing the residence of the Hon. Edward Lloyd
at Wye House of a large amount of valuables, set fire to the mansion,
" From the Journal or Day Book of Col. Jeremiah Banning, extracts from
which have been kindly furnished by his granddaughter, Miss Mary E. Banning,
now of Baltimore, but late of this county— a lady whose original researches in
cryptogamic botany have given her an established reputation among students
of that department of natural science.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 125
which was burned to the ground, with all its valuable contents.60 This
same party visited Wye Island, and plundered the plantation of Mr.
Boardley. Without doubt others suffered in the loss of property as
much in proportion to their wealth as Mr. Tilghman and Mr. Lloyd.
The measures ordered by the legislature to be taken for the protection
of the tide water counties, by the enlistment of a select body of militia
volunteers, and the equipment of a miniature fleet, has already been
noted. Before the barges and other vessels of the State navy could be
commissioned or made ready, such had been the alarm in Talbot, and
such the extent of the plundering, the farmers and planters seated along
Wye and St. Michaels Rivers and the southern shore of the Eastern bay
determined to equip a barge and a boat at their own expense for their
protection. The following subscription paper was circulated, and
received the signatures that are appended:
Whereas, the enemy have fitted out a number of small vessels to
ravage and plunder our Farms and Plantations which lie on the water
and have lately plundered many of our countrymen and burnt and de
stroyed their houses, threatening the like destruction wherever they
shall be able to effect it with security; and whereas from the present
exhausted state of the Public Treasury Government cannot immediately
give that protection to every individual, which is become necessary,
from the cruel and savage mode in which the war is now carried on
against us; and whereas a water defence is the best and most effectual
way of preventing those surprises, depredations and ragaves, and
individuals have built and offered boats for such purposes; We the
subscribers do agree to support and maintain the barge Experiment and
* * * boat * * * for two months, and man the same with
twenty men exclusive of necessary officers; the said boat and barge
to be stationed in the Eastern Bay and to cruise occasionally between
Kent Point and the Hon. Matthew Tilghman's island; and we agree to
pay all charges and expenses in proportion to the several assessments of
our property lying in the counties where we respectfully reside.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands, Talbot county, May
2nd, 1781: Thomas Ray, Robert Pickering, Wm. Dawson, Sam'l
Benson, Richard Parrott, Joseph Hartley, Wm. (?Woolman)
Gibson, J. Gibson, L. R. Skinner, Hugh Rice, William Tilghman,
L. (James?) Benson, John Dawson, Eliza Hindman, Ann Maxwell,
*° A memorandum still in existence states that there were taken from Wye
House, among other things of value, 336 ounces of plate, £800 in cash gold and sil
ver, £181 of new State money, jewelry, watches, and much personal clothing.
At the same time eight negro slaves were carried off. The authority upon which
the statement is here made that the Wye House was burned is the Hon. John
Bozman Kerr, who was not often at fault in his relation to facts; yet the writer
has never been able to verify this, which he states explicitly.

126 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Harriet Collister, Robert Newcomb, James Darrow, James Earle
Denny, James Keitly, Thomas Tibets, Thomas Applegarth, Henry
Tibets, Thomas Barrow, John Nesmith, James Tilghman, James
Hewes, William Watts, Francis Morling, James Baker, J. S. Gibson,
Matthew Tilghman, Edward Lloyd, William Lloyd, William Hems
ley, William Paca, Peregrine Tilghman, Robert Goldsborough, Wil
liam Hindman, James Hindman, Robert Goldsborough, Jr., Eliz.
Maxwell, William Goldsborough, Mary Ann Goldsborough, Mary
Ann Turbutt Goldsborough, Howes Goldsborough, William Lavelle
(or Savelle).61
Unfortunately no record reveals the names of the officers and crews
of the volunteer naval force.
At a later date the vessels and barges of the State had been equipped
and sent out to intercept the marauders, and drive them from the upper
part of the bay at least. The special council of the Eastern Shore by the
first of August had succeeded in getting ready for service three barges
and had sent them on a cruise. The following extract from a letter to
the Hon. Matthew Tilghman dated Aug. 3, 1781, addressed to his
daughter, Miss Ann Maria, who subsequently became the wife of Col.
Tench Tilghman, and who at the date of its writing was visiting her
sister, the wife of the Hon. Charles Carroll, the barrister, at Mount
Clare, Baltimore county, on the Western Shore.
* * * * I am vexed with myself for missing the opportunity of
our Barges to Annapolis, of boasting of the doings of the Eastern Shore,
I won't say of the council. Our three barges having been fully manned
and well fitted out, and the commodore having in form received his
instructions, sealed up and not to be opened until they all met at Sharpe's
island, put out on his cruise last Saturday evening. On Monday they
fell in with two barges and a whale boat — the barges, one commanded
by Robinson that robbed my island, the other by McMullen that hung
up Harry Gale, and the whale boat by Whaland.62 McMullen was
taken, and the other two put to flight, and on Wednesday morning
the commodore with his captured barge and two small boats retaken,
" The author of this contribution is indebted to the kindness of Col. J. Thos.
Scharf for copies of three of these subscription papers, which enable him to give
a more complete list of the subscribers than Col. Scharf has inserted in his his
tory. He must have been in possession of a fourth. All the subscribers as far
as they are known were of Talbot county except Mr. Paca, who was part owner of
Wye Island, belonging to Queen Anne's county.
82 This Whaland was a notorious partisan privateer and after having given much
trouble, destroyed a large amount of property and kept the shores of the bay in a
state of apprehension of his visits. He was finally killed in 1783, after a desper
ate fight with the Maryland barges.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 127
which were prizes taken by the barges, came in triumph to the ferry,
[probably Haddaway 's ferry, on Bayside]. The novelty drew numbers
all day. The event has given general joy, and if we cannot flatter our
selves with peace, we begin to think we have a chance of remaining
safe from the plunders that have of late infested us. The great barge
is also fitted out, and commissions gone down, and by this time I expect
Walley, with his 24-pounder is on a cruise. The barge, Mr. Polk says,
bears the 24-pounder well, and it has been fired several times. We will
not attack the British fleet, but as for any thing else we shall make
nothing of 'em. The commodore has taken a recruit of provisions and
stores, and is gone off for Annapolis with the prisoners, and then pro
ceeds down the bay to cruise till Wednesday or Thursday next, when
we are to have a meeting of the council. The commanders are all to
attend, and I expect some grand expedition will be formed. You'll
show this to Charles (Carroll). I think it is nearly as pompous as he
could write.63
It is barely necessary to say that the barges to which Mr. Tilghman
refers fitted out by that special Council of principal men, who as has been
noted, were appointed to act upon the Eastern Shore in the very con
tingency that had come to pass, namely, the possession of the Bay by the
naval force of the enemy; and these barges were a part of those which
had been authorized to be equipped by the legislature. Although the
names of some of the commanders of them have been preserved, it is
not evident that any belonged to Talbot men, yet it is morally certain
that some of the captains were of this county, so many of whose citizens
"followed the water," and had been deprived of their vocation by the
privateers, British and tory. The activity of the flotilla, taken in con
nection with the arrival, in September, 1781, of the French squadron
under De Grasse, in the mouth of the Chesapeake, and the momentous
military events that soon after occurred, served in great measure to
relieve the people of the tidewater counties, for a time, at least, from the
visits of the marauders. But the withdrawal of the French fleet, after
the surrender of Cornwallis was the signal for the renewal of their
depredations, which were continued through the year 1782 and 1783
down to the time indeed of the declaration of peace, even as late as the
19th of February of the last named year five barges and a sloop were
cruising in the Eastern Bay and about Poplar island, bent upon an
expedition of plunder and incendiarism. The continuance of these
outrages rendered necessary a provision for additional vessels for patrol-
" The original of this letter is in the possession of Col. Oswald Tilghman, the
g-g-g-son of the writer.

128 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ing the Bay, in which duty the authorities of Virginia, whose State was
suffering in the like manner and degree, were requested to co-operate;
and after the suspension of hostilities, on the part of the armies, these
mauraders continuing their nefarious operations, the attention of Gen.
Washington was called to their violations of the preliminaries of peace,
that he might learn from the British commanders whether they were
committed with their sanction. However, by the rigorous operations
of the Maryland captains these expeditions which had all the charac
teristics of piracy, were finally arrested, after the most notorious of the
leaders, Whaland, had been killed in a desperate fight, in which sixty-
five out of seventy-five of his men were either killed or wounded.84
It is necessary to retrace our steps and return to the operations of
the field. In the month of January, 1781, a detachment, from the main
army at the north, was quietly marched to the head of Elk, and thence
around the head of the Bay to Baltimore, whence these troops, under
Gen'l Lafayette, proceeded to Virginia to confront the army of Corn-
wallis, whose evident purpose was first the subjugation of that State,
and then of Maryland. In September of the same year, the commander
in chief, himself, with the allied number of Americans and French passed
into Virginia from the north, a part by way of the Elk, and the Bay,
and another part marching through Baltimore and Annapolis. Large
numbers of recruits were furnished by Maryland, and she was called
upon to supply immense quantities of provisions for the forces that were
concentrating in Virginia preparatory to an. attempt to capture the
army of Cornwallis which had occupied a position near Yorktown, on
the York river. Each county of the State was required to supply a
certain number of beef cattle; Talbot's quota was placed at three hun
dred and fifty head, which, it was ordered, should be collected, at the
head of Miles river, where also the quota of Queen Anne's county was
to be sent for shipment to the seat of war.65 For the transportation of
troops and supplies vessels of all kinds and wagons and horses were
impressed. Everything betokened a state of emergency; everyone
felt that events of the greatest moment were impending. The troops
from the north having safely landed at Williamsburg in the latter part of
the month of September, a junction was quickly formed with those
under Lafayette, and those from the French fleet of De Grasse under
Rochambeau. Yorktown, where the British army had entrenched itself,
" Scharf's Hist. Md., vol. ii, p. 486.
!S Col. James Hindman and Mr. Nicholas Goldsborough were deputy com
missioners for purchasers in Talbot.

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 129
was immediately invested by the allied army, while the fleet cut off all
hope of retreat. On the eighteenth of October Lord Cornwallis capit
ulated, and on the following day, ever memorable in the history of
America, he formally surrendered. This was virtually the end of the
war of the Revolution, for although subsequent to this date there were
military movements of some importance, no engagements of armies
occurred. The glorious news of the capitulation were at once trans
mitted to Congress then sitting in Philadelphia. The person selected
to bear this intelligence was that one of Gen'l Washington's military
family for whom he had always shown the highest regard, Lieut. Col.
Tilghman; that gentleman who has been so often mentioned in this
contribution, as an honor to this his native county. Charged with
despatches, he took a vessel in York river, sailed up the Bay to Annapolis,
thence crossing to Rock Hall in Kent county, rode over land to Phila
delphia, arriving in that city on the 23rd of the month, late at night.
This ride of Col. Tilghman's has recently been made the theme of a
poet, who, under a patriotic glamour, said in it something romantic
or picturesque which was not visible to the rider himself, as the follow
ing letter from him to General Washington, giving a very prosaic account
of his journey will sufficiently attest: Philadelphia, 27th Oct., 1781.
Sir: — I arrived at this place early Wednesday morning, although I
lost one whole night's run by the stupidity of the skipper, who got over
upon Tangier shoals, and was a whole day crossing, in a calm, from
Annapolis to Rock Hall. The wind left us entirely on Sunday evening,
thirty miles below Annapolis. I found that a letter from Count De
Grasse to Governor Lee, dated the 18th, had gone forward to Congress,
in which the Count informed the Governor that Cornwallis had sur
rendered. This made me the more anxious to reach Philadelphia, as
I knew both Congress and the public would be uneasy at not receiving
dispatches from you. I was not wrong in my conjecture for some really
began to doubt the matter. The fatigue of the journey brought back
my intermittent fever, with which I have been confined almost ever
since I came to town. I shall set out, as soon as I am well enough, for
Chestertown. I beg you to be assured that I am with the utmost
sincerity, your excellency's &c. Tench Tilghman.66
The story of Tilghman's arousing President McKean in the middle
of the night in order to deliver the intelligence he was commissioned
to bear; of bis awakening the slumbering citizens by the vigor of his
" Spark's correspondence of the Revolution.

130 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
knocks at the President's door; of his threatened arrest by the watch
men, as a disturber of the peace; of their proclaiming through the streets
after learning the news, the capture of Cornwallis, as they cried the
hour; of the impromptu illumination of the city — all this has been so
often told that need not here be repeated. But a reference to it is
allowable because through the principal actor in this scene, Talbot is
connected with one of the most important events in our national history.
It is proper to mention that Maryland troops are not without the honor
which is due for a participation in the memorable occurrences at York-
town. It is necessary to interrupt this account of military operations to
note certain political events of importance. In September, 1781, the
electors, who had been elected to choose the State Senators, met at
Annapolis and chose these gentlemen of the Eastern Shore, namely:
Messrs. Matthew Tilghman, John Henry, Robert Goldsborough,
William Hindman, Josiah Polk and Edward Lloyd. Of these three
were from Talbot, Messrs. Tilghman, Lloyd and Hindman, two from
Dorchester, Messrs. Goldsborough and Henry, and one from Somerset,
Mr. Polk. In October a general election was held, when the following
gentlemen were returned as delegates to the General Assembly from
Talbot, namely: Messrs. John Gibson, James Hindman, Howes Golds
borough and William Maynadier. The executive council which was
elected upon the meeting of the legislature contained no member from
Talbot. In 1782 Messrs. Hugh Sherwood, John Roberts, James Hind
man and Woolman Gibson, Jr., were elected delegates, and in 1783
Messrs. James Hindman, 'John Roberts, Woolman Gibson, Jr., and
Edward Harris were the chosen delegates. The comity was not repre
sented in the executive council in either year. At the first session of
the Assembly elected in 1782 the Hon. William Paca was chosen Gover
nor of the State, his competitor being Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer.
In 1783 Mr. Edward Lloyd of this county was chosen one of the dele
gates to Congress, and he continued to hold this honorable position in
1784. Notwithstanding the happy success of the allied armies at Yorktown,
peace was by no means assured. Preparations for the continued prose
cution of the war were made both by Congress and the State authorities.
While the northern troops went into winter quarters in New York and
New Jersey reinforcements were sent to General Greene in the south
who still kept the field. The French troops under General Rocham-
beau remained in Virginia near Williamsburg. General Greene con-

THE REVOLUTION IN TALBOT 131
tinued his military operations in South Carolina and Georgia during the
year 1782, which though no important battles were fought, resulted in
causing the enemy to evacuate Savannah on the 11th of July, and
Charleston on the 14th of December of that year. But before the last
occurrence, namely, on the 30th of November, a preliminary treaty of
peace had been signed between England and America.67
This intelligence was received throughout the country with mani
festations of the utmost joy. The only contemporary record of the
manner in which peace was hailed in Talbot is that given by Col. Ban
ning in his journal, which is in these words : March 27th, 1783.
Had information from Mr. Perry Benson that peace was confirmed.
Hope it is so, hearing much firing at Annapolis and some small arms at
Oxford, between 8 and 9 o'clock at night. My heart is happy with
hope. March 28th, 1783.
Post brought news that on Monday, 24th March the Triumph (a
French cutter) Capt. D. Queene, from Cadiz, in 36 days, brought the
very agreeable news to Philadelphia of a general peace having taken
place.68 The cessation of hostilities was formally announced by the
Hon. Robt. R. Livingston, the President of Congress, to the governors
of the States, on the 12th of April, and in accordance with a recom
mendation of the same body, Governor Paca issued his official proclam
ation to the same effect, and appomted Thursday the 24th of April
as a day for public rejoicings. What form these rejoicings assumed in
this county must be left to the imagination to conjecture. Some bon
fires may have been kindled, some discharges of musketry in the absence
of cannon may have been heard, some patriotic toasts may have been
drunk; but there is little doubt that the profoundest feeling that was
awakened was one of devout thankfulness for the return of peace with
independence, and this feeling had expression in religious services and
patriotic discourses from the pulpits. On the 25th the Governor ad
dressed a letter to the sheriffs of the counties congratulating the good
67 Nothing probably more strikingly marks the changes effected by time than
a comparison of the rapidity with which intelligence was transmitted in 1782 and
in 1882. Col. Jere. Banning notes in his Journal, under the date January 12,
1783: "First, heard certainly that Charles Town was evacuated by the British;"
and under the date of Feb. 11, 1783, "Received first hint, via Baltimore, via West
Indies, of a peace between America and England." This last news was not con
firmed, however, until March 27th, according to his record.
a Col. Banning evidently did not mean "a general peace," a peace between
the contending European powers — England, France and Spain — for the treaty
of peace between these was not signed until Sept. 3.

132 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
people "upon the glorious event. * * * which their virtuous
exertions have so greatly contributed to bring about" and desiring those
officers to make a public announcement of it by readmg on an appointed
day his proclamation. The day selected by the sheriff of Talbot, Mr.
John Needles, was the 13th of May, when, we have the authority of
Col. Banning for saying the "Proclamation of cessation of hostilities
was published at Talbot Court House." Later he adds: "Nov. 19th,
1783, news of definitive treaty being signed 3rd Sept. last between
America and Great Britain came to hand."
Thus closed this great act, in the drama of our national existence.

SOLOMON' BARROTT

Drummkh Bov at the B vttt.e or Cow pens. The Last Surviving Continental
Soldier of thk Mahvi.anu Line in the American Revolction
Died in Easton, Md., Dec i'i, 1S51, i.v His SSth Year

AN INCIDENT OF THE KEVOLUTION
IN TALBOT
Any incident which serves to illustrate the times of our Revolution
must be exceedingly trivial which does not possess a value with the his
torian and an interest with the patriotic citizen. It is believed that
the occurrence now about to be related for the first time in print is not
entirely without those qualities to justify its recital.
Among the archives of the State, now deposited with the Maryland
Historical Society of Baltimore, may be found a book of "Letters,"
numbered 13, and entitled " Communications to the Maryland Council."
The Council referred to was the "Council of Safety," that revolutionary
body with which was lodged the control of the commonwealth after the
deposition of the Provincial and before the institution of the State
government. It need scarcely be noted that non-importation acts had been passed
by the Provincial Congress which had cut off the supply of those articles
of luxury or necessity for which the colonies were dependent upon the
mother country — among which was salt. It will be remembered that
in 1775 the "Committee of Observation" of this county of Talbot had
forbidden the landing of a ship-load of this necessary, which had arrived
in Miles river from Liverpool and was consigned to Mr. Braddock a
merchant of St. Michaels. It was under the pressure of want caused
by these acts of non-importation that the unlawful deed about to be
related was committed.
The principal actor in the affair appears to have been Mr. Jeremiah
Colston, whose nephews Mr. James and Mr. Henry Colston resided in
the vicinity of the place of its occurrence. Mr. Jeremiah Colston
was the grandson of James and Elizabeth Colston, who were the foun
ders of the family in Maryland, and the son of James and Alice Colston,
of Clay's Hope, Ferry Neck. He was born March 10th, 1750, and died
Sept. 12th, 1800. The seat of this family is still owned by a descendant
Dr. E. M. Hardcastle, whose mother was the daughter of Henry Colston
and sister of that amiable man and useful citizen, the late Mr. Morris
Orem Colston, who for many years represented this county in the Legis
lature of the State and held other honorable and responsible positions.
Mr. James Lloyd Chamberlaine, to whom the salt belonged which was
removed by the party headed by Mr. Colston, was the son of Saml.
133

134 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Chamberlaine, Esq., of "Bonfield," who was the son of the Hon. Saml.
Chamberlaine, of " Plaindealing," the first of the name in Maryland.
Mr. James LI. Chamberlaine at the date of this occurrence resided at
"Peach Blossom," an estate into the possession of which he came by
marriage with a Miss Robins, a great heiress. He differed with his
worthy father in political sentiment during the Revolution; espousing
the cause of the Colonies. He was made a Brig. Gen. of the. Maryland
militia, and took an active part in the conduct of civil affairs during the
great conflict. Though not a merchant, he made commercial adven
tures, and this may account for the possession of salt. Thomas Cham
berlaine, then the owner of " Plain-Dealing," and a minor, was the son
of a gentleman of the same name, and in after life a merchant, as was
his father before him.
We are in entire ignorance of the sequel of this affair. It is probable
Mr. Chamberlaine was fully compensated for his salt, and that Mr.
Colston with his party were exonerated from blame on the plea that
what he had done was done under pressure of extreme necessity.
The papers appended are sufficiently explicit without further explana
tion. It is proper to say, the writer is indebted to the courtesy and
kindness of Mr. James Lloyd Chamberlaine, of Baltimore, son of James
Lloyd Chamberlaine of "Bonfield," but not a descendant of Gen. James
Lloyd Chamberlaine of Revolutionary memory, for a copy of the origi
nal documents now in the vaults of the Md. Hist. Society, and this
copy is used by the printer, without change, literal or verbal:
James Laroy of Caroline county confesseth that on Friday evening
last one John Bush came to the House of John Cooper and got a horse
from Cooper as he was informed and that Bush asked Cooper if he would
send after salt, and that Cooper agreed to send, and asked him if he
would go and that he agreed to go, that about three hours after moon
up a company collected and called for him (Laroy) upon which he joined
them, that there were in the company Jere Colson, James Dwiggons,
Solomon Engle, James Smith, son of Michael, Thomas Curtis, Nathan
Wheatly, David Morgin, Thomas Cooper, Aaron Cooper, Levin Mar
tingale, Samuel Martingale, John Cheesely, Daniel Bayner, James
Hix son of James, John Bush, and John Russum all of the county afore
said — That Colson, Dwiggons, James Smith, . Samuel Martingale,
Nathan Wheatly, James Hicks and Aaron Cooper had guns. That
Colson as he understood was the first proposer of the scheme and had
the command of the company, that in a little time after he joined the
company they marched down and when opposite Mrs. Nicols's in Tal
bot county, they turned out of the road and marched through the
woods by a path that leads to another road, and then proceeded down .

AN INCIDENT OF THE REVOLUTION 135
to where Mr. Milward lives, when several of the company went up
to the House, but he stayed [a some while with his men or crew] and
then also went up to the House, when he heard Colson ask Mr. Mil-
ward if there was any salt there for sale, to which Mr. Milward answered
that the salt that was there was not his, nor had orders to sell any —
that Colson then asked who kept the key of the House and Mr. Milward
answered that it was kept by his wife upon which several of the com
pany walked into the dwelling House, but as he did not go in knows
not what conversation happened there, that in a little time after they
went into the House he observed them coining out and Mrs. Milward
with them with the key in her hand and they with Mrs. Milward went
to the House where the Salt was stored and Mrs. Milward agreed, to
open the door when the people (or at least) most of them went into
the House and got as he thinks 17 Bushels of Salt — that the Salt was
measured by a negro man belonging to the plantation as he understood —
that he paid to Colson 15 shillings for a Bushel of the salt, and believes
the rest of the Co. paid him at the same rate for the salt they got — that
they returned home by the way that they came out, and that none of
the Guns were charged but one, and. that one, was ordered by Colson to
be drawn whilst they were marching thro' the wood from Mrs. Nicols'
and further sayeth not.
This Confession was made before me the subscriber on this 30th day
of Dec. 1776. William Hayward.
William Milward of Talbot county being duly sworn deposeth and
saith that —
He went to live at plain dealing in the Spring of the year 1774 and his
wife was employed to take charge of the house, as housekeeper, at the
time there was a quantity of salt in a house the key of which was deliv
ered into his wife's care he saw the salt himself and supposes that it
might be less than one hundred Bus. and the whole family were sup-
plyed with salt from that heap and he believes they consumed about
twelve Bus. per annum.
Wm. Milward the deponent further saith that in January in the year
1775 he did receive five hundred and fourteen Bush, of salt from Mr.
James LI. Chamberlaine and put it into the house above mentioned at
plaindealing and that between the month of October and Christmas of
the same year he the deponent did measure and sell all the salt out of
the afores'd house which he received, as before mentioned at three
shillings per Bush. And that at the time while that salt was measuring
and selling James LI. Chamberlaine afores'd did caution the deponent
not to mix the new received salt which was his with the old salt that
was before in the house as that did not belong to him but to Tommy
Chamberlaine minor.
And the deponent further saith that the family at plaindealing used
out of the aforesaid salt nearly at the rate of twelve Bush, per Annum
untill the 28th day of December in the year 1776 when a number of
men armed with guns and clubs came about eight o'clock in the morn-

136 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ing and enquired for him the deponent who immediately went out to
them and enquiring their business, was told by one of them who appeared
to be their leader that they heard there was a quantity of salt there that
their business was to buy some of it for which they would pay— The
deponent told them that he had very little salt that the salt which was
there was for the use of the family and not at his disposal nor even
under his care he advised them to speak to Mr. Chamberlaine which
when they objected to he offered to send to him. Chamberlaine himself
to which they answered that they would not wait so long, they some
of them swore that they knew the key was kept there that salt they would
have and if the key was not delivered to them they would break the
door they then asked the deponent's wife for the key and she refused
to deliver it to them, upon which refusal some of them said it would be
the worse if the key was not delivered at the same time the most active
said: Come along, come along, we have talked long enough, let us
be doing, or nearly the same words — At which they all of them went to
the door of the house where the salt lay (except Jeremiah Colson who
appeared to be their leader and who continued still to press for the key
that they might not be under the necessity as he said of breaking the
door) some picked up large stones others shook the door and some
seemed to stand as sentinels with guns in their hands.
The deponent's wife being allarmed and fearing that other mischief
might be done ran to the door and told Jere Colson that she would open
the door and show the salt upon which he Jere Coloson called out to the
others to stop and the deponent's wife opened the do or and Jere Coloson
with most of the others went into the house where the salt lay the depon
ent being unwell returned into the house but saw them carry several
baggs away —
The deponent further saith that in about an hour his wife came into
the house and brought a tally board which she said she kept to know
what they carried away, and immediately after came in Jere Coloson
with his followers and offered to pay for the salt which the deponent
refused to Take still alledging as at first that he could not dispose of
the salt, but they counted the money among them and laid it upon the
Table and the deponent did then count it and after they had gone he
put it away — The deponent saith that by his wife's tally they took 17$
Bushels of salt and they left with him thirty-five Dollars in paper
money —
Sworn to this 30 day of December 1776 before Wm. Hayward.
Sir — When I Returned home the other Evening and found you had
Bin waiting Some Time to talk over This Dark afare which I must
Confess has Every Appearance of Rapin and Voilance But Worthy Sir
when you Consider that this was InTirely an Act of Neede and not
Charge and that not perhaps a man concerned had a jill of salt In
his family for afornite youl In some measure Excuse it for my own
part I Dont Believe a man on Earth has a greater avertion to mobs and
voilances Than myself and a few months Back thought Nothing could

AN INCIDENT OF THE REVOLUTION 137
have drove me Into it and I verely beleve it to be the Case with the whole
and as to aplying to you for the salt I Confess we ought But ware By
many InDividuals which you had Refused to sell To them for seven
teen persons to aply after this wold have pervented our geting any
and that we cold no Longer Do without — And that we passed Mr.
Hindman who they say had a greater quantity and went to that place
it Being Defenceless I did not know he had a Bushel nor that any
person on the Estern Shore had such a quantity as you had Whoever
if the money we Left is not satisfactory we think ourselves Bound By
Everything to give you your price and will when Requiered and hope
when you Consider Colely on the matter youl not Indeavor to Drive us
to any further accts of Rashness and am sorry it fell on you who from
my Knowledge of yr family I shall allways Treet with Esteem and
Respect. I am Sir you very Humb Servant
Jere Colston
Tho I am considered as a
princable in the afare
I Declare myself not.
Deer 30th 1776.
To the Hon James LI Chamberlaine, Brig. Gen. Talbot Co.

LIST OF SLAVE HOLDEKS IN TALBOT
IN 1790
WHO OWNED TEN OR MORE SLAVES
The first Census of the United States, taken in the year 1790, gives
the names of the head of each family, and among other data, in Mary
land, is given the number of slaves owned by each head of family. The
following is a list of residents of Talbot County who owned ten or more
negro slaves in the year 1790.

Aldern, Rebecca  11
Allen, Moses  10
Bracco, John  25
Banning, Jere  29
Bowie, John  25
Bullet, Thomas  10
Barwick, William  10
Bordley, Mary  20
Botton, John  11
Bewley, Ann  18
Bromwell, Edward, Jr  17
Browning, Elizabeth  14
Birckhead, Henrietta  21
Callender, Andrew  10
Chamberlaine, Henrietta  60
Cox, Daniel Powell  22
Chamberlaine, Samuel  76
Clark, William  11
Corkran, John  15
Catrip, William  15
Clark, Arthur  11
Cain, Daniel  80
Caulk, John  14
Dougherty, John  13
Dawson, William  16
Dawson, Impey  26

Dickinson, Samuel  28
Duling, John  10
Elbert, John  19
Edmondson, Pollard  40
Fiddeman, Ann  11
Ferguson, James  13
Ferguson, William  19
Gibson, John  13
Gibson, Elizabeth  16
Grant, Thomas  11
Gibson, Wollman  18
Goldsborough, James  17
Goldsborough, Sarah  14
Gordon, Mary  37
Gardiner, Charles  13
Gibson, Jacob  12
Goldsborough, Thomas  13
Goldsborough, Howes  37
Goldsborough, Mary Ann  22
Goldsborough, Robert  41
Goldsborough, William  22
Hollyday, Ann  78
Hendrix, Edward  25
Harwood, John  12
Hughley, Woolman  12
Hambleton, William  12

138

LIST OF SLAVE HOLDERS IN TALBOT IN 1790

139

Haddaway, William Webb  10
Hindman, William  61
Harris, Joseph  ' . . 13
Haskins, Joseph  10
Hambleton, William  16
Hardcastle, John  22
Harris, Thomas  10
Hindman, John  16
Hayward, William  28
Harrison, John W  17
Hayward, William  62
Jones, Robert  10
Jones, John  15
Johnson, Henry  22
Jenkins, Thomas  13
Johns, Richard  19
Jenkins, Walter  15
Johnson, Randolph  10
Kerr, David  10
Kemp, Benjamin  14
Kemp, Alice  17
Lloyd, James  18
Lurty, Elizabeth  17
Lavill, William  10
Lamdin, Wrightson  11
Lamdin, Robert  14
Lowe, James  11
Lamdin, William  . 16
Lloyd, Edward  305
Nabb, Charles  14
Nicolls, Robert D  24
Nicolls, Henry  30
Newcome, Robert  15
Manadier, William  23
McCallum, Alexander  10
Martin, Robert  13
Martin, Henry  14
Martin, Mary  27
Martin, Tristram  13

Oldham, Ann  11
Perry, William  35
Price, Joseph  10
Pickering, Robert  16
Perry, William  14
Parratt, Perry  12
Porter, Philemon  34
Register, Samuel  18
Roberts, John  20
Rigby, Philip  10
Rolle, Robert  11
Rolle, John  18
Skinner, Andrew  12
Stanfield, Richard  11
Sewell, Bazill  14
Sharp, Margaret  11
Sherwood, Thomas  15
Stevens, John  15
Shannhan, John  19
Sherwood, Philemon  12
Sherwood, Samuel  10
Seth, Thomas M  12
Stevens, Samuel  10
Singleton, John  30
Sherwood, Elizabeth  15
Sears, William  28
Turner, Edward  11
Thomas, John  16
Turner, Joseph  17
Turner, John  29
Tydings, Richard  11
Tilghman, Lloyd  66
Tilghman, Ann  59
Tenant, Samuel  10
Tilghman, Richard  15
Tilghman, Peregrine  73
Thomas, James  14
Thomas, Rachel  30
Thomas, William  14

140 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Trippe, Richard  30 Weyman, Thomas  10
Vickers, Sarah  15 Willson, James  lg
Webb, Peter  10
Note: The next to the largest slave holder in Talbot County in 1790
was Daniel Cain. He shortly afterwards sold his lands in Chapel Dis
trict and removed to Queen Anne's County and lived and died at Cain's
Cross-Roads, which still perpetuates his name.

THE WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT
BEING A CONTRIBUTION TO THE MILITARY ANNALS OF THAT COUNTY
To those who see in the marshalling of great armies in the field or
the assembling of great fleets upon the sea; in their evolutions and ma
noeuvres; in their victories or their defeats; in their ravaging of coun
tries and their destruction of cities; in "the pride, the pomp and the
circumstance of glorious war," the only interesting and important
materials of history: and to those who regard generals and admirals
and other captains of high rank; their characters and conduct; their
triumphs and reverses; their greatnesses and their weaknesses; their
inspiriting word and their fortifying port, as only worthy of historic
commemoration, the annals of this county must appear singularly barren
and unattractive. No large armies, hostile or friendly, have ever invaded
or defended our peaceful homes; no great commanders,military or naval,
have ever scourged or shielded our quiet borders; no field of ours has ever
been enriched by a foeman's blood or rendered glorious by a patriot's
death. No sailor or soldier of national repute of high rank first drew
breath from our halcyon air, though there have been some, not unknown
to fame, who found in Talbot a pleasant retreat when the toils and
dangers of the war were over, and an honoring recognition from her
people of meritorious services to their country. But though her annals
have not been thus illustrated by great deeds of war performed, or by
great men of war performing their parts of invader or defender upon her
narrow stage, they, are not entirely . devoid of such embellishments.
Talbot has not wholly escaped the alarms and the devastation, nor
missed entirely the glories of war. To be sure the former were not of
the most terrific and destructive kind, nor were the latter the most
effulgent. Some petty Hengists or Horsas, Indian or English, have
at times ravaged her coasts. She has given birth to brave men who,
if not heroes, have done heroic deeds, deeds that are worthy of record,
although they have not won the notice of the historic muse. Indeed
it may be said that this county had its birth in the throes prematurely
induced by war, for unquestionably the first settlers upon the main
were Claiborne's people driven from their homes upon Kent Island by
the partisans of Lord Baltimore. If the marauding and murdering
expeditions of the savage Nantikoes of the southern part of the penin
sula, or of the yet more savage Susquehannocks towards the north,
141

142 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
can be called war, then Talbot suffered some of the evils resulting from
these, and acquired something of credit for repelling them. As for the
Indians on her own soil, by whatsoever name they may be designated,
they had, years before the coming in of Europeans, been "made women
of," or completely subjugated by the ferocious and gigantic neighbors
of the north, so that the people of Talbot never suffered any trouble
from this source. Being far removed from the principal seat of the old
French and Indian war her borders were not harassed by these foes,
though it is possible tne shores of the bay within her limits were troubled
by French cruisers, who as war was then conducted were little better
than pirates. But by the public records we are informed that Talbot
sent a company of two hundred men, in 1757, to garrison one of the
forts upon the frontier. This fort was Fort Cumberland, concerning
which much is said in our pre-revolutionary history. Unfortunately
that history has failed to record the name of the brave captain of this
militia company which made a part of Captain Dagworthy's1 force
that was sent to protect and defend this remote military post; but it
has been more kind to Captain Pritchard who commanding a mer
chant ship, built at Oxford, and sailing out of that port in 1744 beat
off a French privateer that attacked him with superior force, though
at the cost of his own life. In the war of the Revolution this county
was not called upon to suffer from the presence of the enemy except
as he appeared as marauding parties sent out from the fleet of the enemy
within the Chesapeake bay, which carried off much property, Col.
Edward Lloyd, the great-grand-father of the worthy gentleman now
living of the same name being one of the principal sufferers. Some of
the citizens whose estates were most exposed to these depredations
built, equipped and manned at their own expense the barge Experiment,
to cruise in the Eastern Bay and check the operations of these plunderers
and house burners.2 Talbot also furnished her full quota to the Mary
land line, and the names Hindman, Hughes, Gibson, Goldsborough
1 Captain Dagworthy was from Somerset, though not a native of that county.
2 The following names are attached to a subscription paper, a copy of which
is in the possession of the writer, for the purpose designated: Matthew Tilgh
man, William Paca, Edward Lloyd, Peregrine Tilghman, William Lloyd, William
Hemsley, Robert Goldsborough, William Hindman, James Hindman, Robt. Golds
borough, Junior, James Baker, J. S. Gibson, William Goldsborough, William
Lavelle, (?) Mary Ann Goldsborough, Mary Ann Turbutt Goldsborough, Eliza
beth Maxwell, Howes Goldsborough, Thomas Ray, Robert Pickering, William
Dawson, Samuel Benson, Richard Parrott, Joseph Hartley, William Gibson,
J. Gibson, L. R. Skinner, Hugh Rice, William Tilghman.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 143
and Benson, if not that of Anderson, are inscribed upon her roll of
honor, to which must be added that of Col. Tilghman, a native of this
county though a soldier of Pennsylvania. But these men were not
called upon to meet an enemy upon their natal soil, invading their very
homes. With the exception already noted, this county rested in peace
during the troubled years of the revolution, her placid waters undis
turbed by hostile prows, her fields unscarred by the cannon of friend
or foe, her skies unclouded by the smoke of war.3 It was not until the
war of 1812-15, which for long, and it were well had it been longer,
was called "the late war," that it fell to the lot of Talbot to defend
her soil from an organized invading foe. It is the purpose of the con
tribution to her history to relate the circumstances of this invasion
and its repulse, with an accuracy and a particularity of detail that have
never been attempted and were not called for in those general histories
of the State and nation which have noticed the event, but are not
merely allowable to but are demanded of the local annalist.
During the long wars upon the continent of Europe which followed
the great French revolution, much occurred to produce irritation be
tween the principal parties to that war and the people of the United
States. Twice we were on the verge of war with France, and once,
before actual war broke out, with England. Conflicting interests of
the last named and America, coupled with some arbitrary, oppressive
and insulting measures of the British government, at last, resulted in
actual hostilities. On the 18th of June, 1812, after a long and acri
monious discussion by Congress, a formal declaration of war against
3 Periodically there has been an access of the military fever in this county.
In 1794 when troops were called for by Congress to suppress the insurrection in
western Pennsylvania, Captains Coats and Erskine recruited companies in Talbot,
and Lieutenant Colonel Perry Benson, and Major Daniel Powell Cox marched
at the head of a regiment, in part composed of men of this county, into the dis
affected region. Again in 1798 when the course of the French Directory threatened
to interrupt the amicable relations between America and her ancient ally, spirited
addresses were issued here calling upon young men to enlist as soldiers, companies
were formed, and the militia organized in preparation for war. The paroxysm of
1808, referred to in the text, was but prelusive of the well developed attack of
1812. Our body politic was free from febrile symptoms until the war with Mexico
in 1846, when the presence of the military ferment in the blood was betrayed by
the organization of many volunteer companies. The public pulse at this date
was made to beat a little fuller, harder and more frequent under the influence of
the boundary controversy with England; but it was not till 1860-61 that the most
violent exacerbation of the disease took place, induced by the poison of secession
and rebellion, which infected so many of our people.

144 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Great Britain was declared. A measure, the propriety and ex
pediency of which called forth so much intemperateness of expres
sion by the opposing and approving parties, still divides the opinions
of historians according to their party predilections. It is not pro
posed to revive the discussion whether the United States had just
grounds for declaring war, or whether Congress displayed reasonable
prudence in making such declaration in the unprepared condition of
the country for conducting a contest with one of the strongest of nations.
The diversity of sentiment, which, at the time, existed throughout
the whole country, manifested itself in this county. The Federalists,
who represented the conservative opinions of the community, and who
were represented by their opponents as being the allies of the British,
warmly condemned the action of Congress; while the Republicans, or
Democrats, as they were interchangeably called, as earnestly defended.
In the election of 1811 for delegates to the lower house of Assembly,
which must be taken as expressive of the opinions of the people of the
county upon the subject, the Democrats had the majority of votes;
but at the same time the Federalists, as being of the party representing
the larger share of the wealth and intelligence of the county, possessed
an influence calculated to outweigh the numerical superiority of their
opponents. Accordingly we find that at the election of 1812, which
came on after the declaration of war, and also, it must be mentioned,
after certain reverses to our arms, they carried the county by a very
decided majority, electing to the Assembly Messrs. Edward N. Ham
bleton, Jabez Caldwell, Robert Banning and John Seth, thus appar
ently condemning the policy of the administration and the dominant
party. But in 1813 this verdict was reversed, if that may be regarded
as indicative of a change of opinion which may have been really only
an aroused patriotic feeling induced by Perry's and Chauncy's victories,
by the outrages of the enemy upon the Chesapeake, and, more nearly
still, by the successful repulse of the enemy at St. Michaels. In this
year Messrs. John Bennett, Daniel Martin, Jonathan Spencer and Sam
uel Stevens, Jr., Democrats, defenders of the war, and some of them
actual participants in the affair, about to be related, were elected to
the General Assembly, from Talbot. In 1814, however, the Federal
ists were again successful. The people had either returned to their
former convictions of the impolicy of the war, or the humiliation of
the burning of the Capitol of the Nation by an insignificant force of
the enemy, which the orators and writers of the Federal party were
ready enough to attribute to the imbecility of the Democratic admin-

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 145
istration, under Mr. Madison, a humiliation which the previous suc
cess of the Americans at North Point did not serve to dispel, had in
duced them to place their condemnation upon those who were directing
the government and the contest in which the country was engaged.
In this year the same gentlemen who had been elected in 1812 were
again sent to the legislature, except that Mr. Alexander Hands was
substituted for Mr. Robert Banning. It is proper to state for the com
plete understanding of the state of public sentiment, that in 1812 Mr.
Alemby Jump, of Caroline county, a Federalist received a majority of
the votes cast at the election for President in 1812, in this county,
though Col. Edward Lloyd, of Talbot, Democrat was elected by the
electoral district at large. Also it should be said that the Hon. Robert
H. Goldsborough a pronounced Federalist, was, in May, 1813, chosen
United States Senator for Maryland in place of Mr. Reed, whose term
of service had expired on the 4th of March preceding. So much it has
been thought necessary to say of the condition of public opinion or pub
lic feeling in Talbot previous to and during the war of 1812-15, of
which the incidents about to be related made a part. K it should appear
that a greater importance has been given to these incidents than they
deserve, those acquainted with the laws of intellectual optics will know
that their magnitude is only apparent because they are near, and
therefore subtend a larger angle in the historic eye.
A few words respecting military affairs in the county seem to be called
for, in this connection. The want of preparedness for war was one of
the arguments adduced by those who opposed its declaration. Though
the weight of this argument, which depended upon its truth, was fully
acknowledged by the leaders of the war party, they claimed that the
natural bravery of the people and their military enthusiasm would
compensate for the absence of organization and discipline, and that
their patriotism would, from abundant resources, soon supply what
was wanted in accumulated munitions and stores. There really was
some ground for entertaining these flattering views of the situation of the
country. The glories of the Revolution which in the light of its won
derful results in the development of the country, had grown brighter
and brighter, and the honors which were heaped upon the participants,
living and dead, in that great conflict, were as rewards held out to their
successors to invite and encourage them to the renewal of the contest
with their old enemy. The long continuance of the Napoleonic wars
in Europe had served to infuse into the whole civilized world a military
spirit, which longed for the gratification of its impulses. The aggres-

146 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
sions of the chief contending powers, France and England, upon the
rights of neutral America had given much exasperation to our people,
who were in mental condition, ready to resent any injury or insult,
real or imaginary, intentional or inadvertent, by a resort to arms.
In 1798 Talbot shared with the rest of the country, the indignation
which had been aroused by the insults of the French Directory, and the
injuries inflicted by the French cruisers. This indignation was shown
by the prompt organization of military companies, under the inspira
tion of General Benson, who published a most spirited address to the
citizens of Talbot. But it was in 1807 that the military ardor which
had been for years smouldering blazed out with great fury being ren
dered more intense than ever before or since by the attack upon the
United States ship Chesapeake by the British ship Leopard, the cul
mination, as it were, of a long series of outrages upon American ship
ping. Soon after this affair, the whole country was placed under mili
tary organization. A great number of companies were formed and
officers appointed by the Governor and Council of the State. These
companies were united, at least nominally, into regiments and brigades,
and the whole was placed under the command of General Perry Benson,
an officer of the Revolution, whose ardor, age and wounds had not
extinguished.4 Although actual war did not exist, the two nations
4 As many of these companies, formed in 1807 and 1808 retained their organi
zations down to and after the war of 1812-15 and as some of them actually took
part in the military operations of that war, within the county, a few brief memo
randa of them may be presented. There appears to have been two regiments or
parts of regiments in Talbot, the 4th and the 26th, and these apparently were a
part of the 12th brigade of the Maryland Militia, commanded, as above stated
by the venerable General Benson. The colonels of these regiments were Perry
Spencer, of the 4th and William Hayward of the 26th. William Lamdin became
Lieut. Colonel of the 26th in 1808. Solomon Dickenson was commissioned Brigade
Major, and Henry Johnson, William Smith majors of the 4th regiment and Robins
Chamberlaine and William Caulk majors of the 26th regiment. It is believed
Doctors Ennals Martin and Tristram Thomas were chief surgeons, and it is known
that Doctors John Kettle and Joseph Nicols were surgeons' mates. Samuel Stev
ens was Adjutant, and Thomas Perrin Smith was Paymaster of the fourth regi
ment. The Paymaster of the 26th has escaped notice. The first company of
which an account has been transmitted was formed in and around Easton in July,
1807, and of this Charles Gibson was Captain, David Kerr, Jr., First Lieutenant,
and Thomas A. Fisher, Ensign. About the same time a troop of Horse was formed
in the same neighborhood, the officers of which are not known. It was intended
that these companies should make a part of the forces raised under an act of
Congress, and were not to be of the militia. Of the fourth regiment, the companies
had these officers: Capt., William Jordan; Lieut., James Denny, and Ensign,
John Arringdale, in whose stead James Seth was afterwards placed, (n) Capt.,

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 147
occupied a hostile .relation, and were liable at any time to come into
collision. This was calculated to keep alive the military ardor of the
people, and, as a consequence, to perpetuate many of the military
organizations which had been formed. Accordingly when war was
actually declared in June, 1812, the county had a number of companies
enrolled, officered and armed. Many of the other companies formed
in 1807 and 1808 had but a nominal existence, or had become extinct.
Those that took part in the affair at Saint Michael's in 1813 and were
called out at Easton in 1814 will be named in the sequel. Others per
formed duty elsewhere in the county, and doubtless would have given
a good account of themselves if they had been required to confront the
enemy.5 Charles Henrix; Lieut., Parrott Rathell; Ensign Thomas Henrix. (m) Capt.,
James Dudley; Lieut., Stephen Ryner; Ensign, Isaac Parrott; James Parrott
became Ensign in 1808. (iv) Capt., Hugh Martin; Lieut., William Barton;
Ensign, Thomas Harper, (v) Capt., Richard Trippe; Lieut.  ; Ensign,
John Merrick, (vt) Capt., Jabez Caldwell; Lieut., William Bush; Ensign, Lang-
ford Higgins. (vn) Capt., Edward Martin; Lieut., James Clayland; Ensign,
Richard Robinson. In 1808 James Clayland was made Captain and Richard
Robinson, Lieutenant, (viii) Capt., Benjamin Wilmot; Lieut., John Meridith;
Ensign, George Wishart Smith, (rx) Capt., John Edmondson; Lieut., John
Merrick; Ensign, Samuel Paddison. (x) There appears to have been another
company near Trappe, Capt., W. Chapman; Lieut.,  ; Ensign, Solomon
Mullikin. Of the twenty-sixth regiment, the companies had these officers: (i)
Capt., Obediah Garey; Lieut., William Tilghman; Ensign, Samuel Garey, after
wards Wm. Tilghman became Capt., Samuel Garey, Lieut., and Dan'l Townsend,
Ensign, (n) Capt., Thomas Jones; Lieut., John Turner, afterwards John Seth;
Ensign, Samuel Roberts, afterwards Benjamin Benny, (m) Capt., William
Dunn; Lieut., Jonathan Spencer; Ensign, William G. Elbert, (iv) Capt., Josheph
Harrison; Lieut., William Merchant; Ensign, Daniel Feddeman, afterwards
William Merchant became Capt., Daniel Feddeman, Lieut., and Francis Gorsage,
Ensign, (v) Capt., John Dargin; Lieut., William Harrison of James; Ensign,
Joseph Kemp, (vi) Capt., William Caulk; Lieut., Thomas Harrison of William;
Ensign, Joseph Harrison of Joseph, (vn) Capt., Hugh Auld; Lieut"., John Car
roll; Ensign, Robert Collison. (vm) Capt., John Dawson; Lieut., Nicholas
Watts; Ensign, Anthony Banning. The companies thus far indicated were of
Infantry. In 1808 these officers of a Troop of Horse were commissioned : Capt.,
Edward Lloyd; First Lieut., Robert H. Goldsborough; Second Lieut., William
Harrison, Jr. ; Cornet, Edward W. Hambleton. Of this troop John Bennett was
Secretary. In the same year these officers of an Artillery Company were com
missioned: Capt., Samuel Thomas; First Lieut., Clement Vickary; Second
Lieut., Thomas A. Fisher. This list drawn from the public journals of the day
is necessarily imperfect.
6 This armory, which is still standing, but no longer used for the purposes for
which it was originally intended, had just been erected. It was built by the

148 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
After the declaration of war by the United States on the 18th of June,
1812, the British Government declared the ports of this country to be
in a state of blockade. This blockade was not strictly enforced during
the year 1812; but with the beginning of the year following Admiral
Sir John Borlase Warren, commander-in-chief of His British Majesty's
ships and vessels on the American and West India Station, sent detach
ments of his squadron to close effectually the American ports of New
York, and those southward, including those upon the Chesapeake and
Delaware bays. Vice Admiral Cockburn, who, having achieved honor
able distinction in other parts of the world, was destined to win for
himself in this country a detestable notoriety, early in February of the
year 1813 entered the Capes of the Chesapeake and taking possession
of Hampton Roads, thus effectually closed the ports of Norfolk and
Baltimore. Now commenced that system of marauding along the
shores of the bay and its tributaries which have affixed an indelible
stain upon the British arms. For no military nor strategic purpose,
but simply in a spirit of wanton destructiveness, or for the sake of
plunder, expeditions were sent out from the fleet from time to time,
during the whole period of its occupancy of the Chesapeake, to harass
the people, by burning their houses and carrying off their stock,
seizing their trading vessels and kidnapping their negroes. The de
struction and plundering later in the year 1813 of Frenchtown, Havre-
State, and was intended to be a repository for arms for the whole Eastern Shore.
Under an Act of Assembly these gentlemen were appointed Commissioners to
superintend its erection, viz :
General Perry Benson, Captain George Wishart Smith and Captain Benjamin
Wilmot. Contracts for its building were made in 1811, and during this or the following
year it was probably completed. The cannon house attached to the armory was
erected about 1823. In the earlier years of the Province and State there was no
public depository of arms, which were in the keeping of an armorer, who provided
a place, usually his own house. As evidence of the survival of an old custom it
may be stated that the armorer for a long time was a blacksmith. From a very
early date, however, there was a magazine for the storage of arms and ammuni
tion, in the town of Easton. The old building used for this purpose is still in
existence, and stands in the rear of the lot upon which the store of Messrs. Shan-
nahan & Wrightson is built. The date of its erection has not been discovered.
In 1801 Dr. John Coats, the armorer, advertised in the Maryland Herald that he
would attend at the magazine to receive the arms that had been distributed to
the militia. This indicated its existence at that time. It was probably built
some time after the Revolution. It is a small, curious structure of cobble stones
or boulders.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 149
de-Grace, Georgetown and Frederickton, all upon the Eastern Shore,
are matters of general history known of all men. As soon as this sys
tem of warfare was commenced, alarm was created in all parts of the
State accessible by the boats of the enemy, and particularly throughout
this peninsula so universally penetrated by navigable waters, and at the
same time so cut off from assistance from the larger part of the State.
The militia of those counties most exposed to attack were kept upon
the alert to repel the inroads of these incendiaries and robbers.
Although a commendable willingness had been shown by the citi
zens of this county to enroll themselves in the several military organi
zations then formed, or forming, there existed well grounded appre
hensions in the minds even of those who were disposed to place most
confidence in the firmness and courage of a citizen soldiery, that there
would be an inability to repel any serious attack that should be made
by the enemy. These apprehensions, where they were not suggested
by a want of reliance upon militia forces in general, were based upon
the fact that there were not arms enough within reach to equip even
those volunteer companies which had received some of the advantages
of military drill, and upon which most reliance was to be placed in the
case of an emergency. This condition of affairs led to the calling of
a meeting of the citizens of the county at Easton on the 23rd of March,
1813, at which a committee was appointed to draft a Memorial to the
Governor and Council of the State, setting forth the defenceless condi
tion of the county, and praying relief from the authorities. This
memorial, as containing much that is interesting from a historical
point of view, is here inserted:
To His Excellency the Governor, and the Honorable Council of the State
of Maryland:
The Memorial of the inhabitants of Easton, in Talbot county, and
of sundry citizens of, the neighborhood, most respectfully showeth:
That your memorialists are creditably informed and verily believe that
a squadron of British ships has been for some time stationed in Lyn-
hayen bay, at the mouth of the Chesapeake, and that the number of
ships has lately considerably increased, thereby proving a design in the
enemy to continue a fleet in that anchorage and a probable intention
to detach his vessels from thence into the rivers and waters of Maryland,
to seize and plunder the persons and property of the inhabitants, or to
commit still greater injuries. At least, without vigilance and prepara
tion, he may be tempted to commit them from a belief that the defence
less condition of many parts of the State will enable him to do so with
out any effectual resistance. Your memorialists, in common with the
people at large, are sensible of their danger, in such a situation, and are

150 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
animated by a desire to possess the means of resisting it : but though the
avenues afforded by the navigable waters of the State furnish oppor
tunities of plunder and invasion, in most of its sections there are, never
theless, certain places containing objects of such importance as become
peculiar marks for attack, and where the force and means of defence
should be greater, and ought more promptly to engage the public atten
tion. Your memorialists beg leave to represent to your Excellency and
Honors that the town of Easton as a place which ought, in their opinion,
to be so considered. It contains a public armory, in which arms and
ammunition belonging to the State are deposited.5 It contains a bank,
in which the State is considerably interested as a stockholder, as well as
many individuals, and from which accommodations have been most
usefully extended to divers citizens of the Eastern Shore, and the depos
its in which must always be contemplated as" an inviting object of
pillage by an invading foe,6 and the nearness of the town to the waters
of Third Haven, Saint Michaels and Choptank rivers leaves it sur
rounded by so many accesses by which it may be approached that extra
ordinary measures of watchfulness and resistance appear to be necessary.
These measures do not, however, exist : the neighboring militia are gen
erally without arms or ammunition, and though the companies in
Easton have been heretofore furnished with public muskets for the
purpose of exercise and training, and of guarding against possible danger,
it has been found, upon examination, that in their present condition
few of them are fit for effectual service. No redoubts are provided.
The field pieces employed by the artillery company are not in town,
but kept in charge of the commanding officer; and it is doubted whether
the services of the militia can be controlled by the General of the Brigade
where the prospect of danger is not immediate, without the precise orders
of your Excellency. Were the weapons of defence in the power of your
memorialists, and the danger in view, it ought to be expected that a
reliance might be placed on their voluntary and animated exertions;
and though they may come forth upon the calls of anticipated danger,
and steadfastly perform their duties for a while, yet it often happens,
where no object is presented for the employment of their services, that
their animation will decline and a reluctance be felt to continue on a
duty which no actual necessity appears to require.
Your memorialists having thus stated to your Excellency and Honors
their probable danger and defenceless condition, respectfully submit
them to your due consideration, and pray to be admitted to such means
of relief as the Executive government shall deem expedient and sufficient;
and they respectfully request your Excellency and Honors to consider
the subject of their memorial as soon as the public engagements of the
Council will permit; and they trust their exposed situation will excuse
8 As a matter of precaution the specie of the Bank was removed from Easton
and sent under guard to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. An account of this removal
was given in the contribution relating to the Bank, published in the Easton Star,
July 18th and following, 1871.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 151
them for urging their claim to a reasonable protection in the terms they
have used; and your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c.
Signed by the subscribers in behalf of the inhabitants as a com
mittee appointed for this purpose at a general meeting of the town.
P. Benson,
Robt. H. Goldsborough,
Jno. Meredith,
Jno. M. G. Emory,
Ns. Hammond.7
Easton, 23rd March, 1813.
In reply to this memorial Governor Levin Winder stated that the
Brigadier General, or other commanding officer, at the place threatened
with invasion, had power to call out the militia, but that the Executive
of the State was able to take no other step "to give to the inhabitants
of that place further security." He, however, referred the memorial
to the Hon. John Armstrong, the Secretary of War, for the United
States, who replied: "In a country so intersected by rivers and bays as
ours it is impossible to embody troops at all the points an enemy, having
a naval superiority, may menace or assail. In this case it might be
well to remove the armory." It thus appears this county, and indeed
the whole peninsula, was left without any other defence from the maraud
ing parties than could be given by its ill-armed and undisciplined militia.
It would seem, however, that by the middle of April 2000 stand of new
arms had been received at the armory, though complaints were still
made that they were not issued to those willing to use them, for reasons
which are not apparent. The fleet at Lynn haven bay was on the 24th
of March joined by Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, in the flag ship
Saint Domingo, and a frigate. A few days later, a detachment of the
fleet visited Sharp's Island, and held possession several days, carrying
off much property belonging to Mr. Jacob Gibson. At this time great
alarm was created in Easton by the presence of the enemy at the mouth
of the Choptank, and this alarm reached its acme on Sunday, March
28th, when it was announced that vessels from the fleet were approaching
the town by way of Third Haven river. The drum beat to arms, and
' This memorial, which prudence dictated should not appear in the public
journals of the day, made part of a communication addressed in 1818 to the Hon.
John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, by the Hon. John Leeds Kerr, State
Agent for the prosecution of claims of the State of Maryland against the General
Government for expenses incurred in the war of 1812, and from this source it has
been drawn for insertion here. It is not difficult to recognize in this paper the
practiced hand of the gentleman whose name stands second in the list of sub
scribers.

152 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
a large number of citizens, in conjunction with the Easton Light Infan
try Blues under the command of Capt. George Wishart Smith paraded,
and showed a determination to resist the landing of the enemy. In
formation, however, soon arrived that the vessels ascending the river-
were bay craft loaded with lumber from one of the lower counties upon
this shore. It is believed, from the testimony of one who was present
and participated in the work, that it was at this time the breastworks
opposite The Point, upon the plantation then owned by Mr. Henry
Hollyday, were thrown up.8 This little redoubt was named "Fort
Stoakes" because it was constructed mainly by the workmen in the
shipyard of Mr. James Stoakes,9 which was near Easton Point. In this
fort were placed the six guns of Captain Clement Vickers' battery,
and it was kept in a state of readiness for action during the remainder
of the war. There was always a garrison or guard within the fort,
for the shelter of which a house was constructed. This guard con
sisted of a very few men except during periods of alarm, when it could
be easily increased by the workmen from the shipyard, many of whom
belonged to the "Talbot Volunteer Artillery Company" of which
Capt. Vickers was the commander, and which was the same company
that was originally in 1808 under Capt. Samuel Thomas. At the
date of these events there was building at the shipyard of Mr. Stoakes,
one of those naval defences which were much .lauded at the time, but
which soon were proven to be very worthless, and brought ridicule
on the projectors. This war vessel was built at the expense of the
citizens of Easton and vicinity, who subscribed the amount necessary
for its construction. It was a barge, fifty or sixty feet long, and ten
feet wide, and propelled by forty-eight oars, twenty-four on each side,
and each oar being worked by two men sitting upon the same seat, side
by side.10 It mounted a single gun, placed in the bow. This barge
8 Mr. John H. Barrott, son of Sol. Barrott, informed the writer that this earth
work was thrown up on a Sunday, when it was thought the enemy was approaching,
but he does not remember the date. Mr. Thomas Parrott says it was thrown
up when the British were at Castle Haven, in 1814. The statement in the text
is probably correct.
9 Mr. James Stoakes was a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
He carried on ship building at Easton Point, extensively and successfully for a
number of years, but ultimately became bankrupt, and died in 1818. He was an
enterprising, industrious, courageous and zealously pious man.
10 This description of the barge was received from Mr. Thomas Parrott, a very
aged man, yet living, but it is very evident his memory failed him as to the number
of oars which could not have been forty-eight in a length of sixty feet. It is
probable there were but twenty-four oars.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 153
was finished early in June, but it does not appear that it was ever brought
into requisition for purposes of war, offensive or defensive. After the
termination of the war it was decked over, and converted into a vessel
of burden. A similar, but heavier barge was built at St. Michaels,
at the shipyard of Colonel Perry Spencer. Like that built at Easton,
it proved of no service whatever, as a vessel of war; but it too was con
verted into a vessel of burden, after receiving a deck and sailing equip
ment. It may be well enough to say in this connection that whenever
there were any of the fleet of the enemy in the waters of Talbot, or near
her shores, a guard boat was sent down from Easton, or St. Michaels
daily, to report the position of the ships. Nor should there be a failure
to note that in addition to the regularly organized companies in the
town of Easton, there was a band of the more aged citizens who were
known as the Town Guard, the duty of which was to protect the town
whenever the companies were absent. Of this band Thomas James
Bullitt, Esq., was the Captain.
Towards the middle of April a detachment of the British fleet moved
up the bay with the ultimate object of capturing the city of Baltimore.
On or about the 12th of this month Admirals Warren and Cockburn
took possession of Sharp's Island, making a prisoner of Mr. Jacob
Gibson, the owner, who had repaired thither to bring off his stock of
sheep, cattle and other property. He was prevented from removing
anything that could be of use to the fleet and was finally permitted to
return to his home on the main, after receiving partial compensation
for what had been seized by Admiral Warren.11 The money paid to
him was honorably tendered to the government, Mr. Gibson being
unwilling to appear as having profited by the enemy. The squadron
at this time was reported to consist of seven sail, two twenty-gun brigs,
and five smaller vessels, though according to the statement of Mr. Gibson,
Admiral Warren's flagship, the San Domingo, made a part of the fleet
on the 15th of the month. At or about the same time Tilghman's and
Poplar Islands were taken possession of by the enemy, and Mr. Hemsley
and Mr. Sears suffered from the depredation of the enemy upon their
cattle. The following letter of John Leeds Kerr, Esq., addressed to a
11 This visit of Mr. Gibson gave rise to much controversy at the time, and was
the subject of correspondence between him and the authorities, both State and
Federal. It was upon his return from the island that he was guilty of that play
ful escapade, of frightening the citizens and soldiers at St. Michaels of which a
full account was given in a contribution published in the Saint Michaels Comet
of January 6th, 1877.

154 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
member of the Council of Maryland, and now published for the first
time, will serve to indicate the condition of affairs in the county at this
juncture. Easton, April 14th, 1813.
Dear Sir: — Our citizens have been for several days past in a state of
alarm by the reported approach of the enemy to our Bay Shore, and to
day we have received information from Colonel Auld by a letter to
General Benson, dated 10 o'clock, that six British ships, at Nabbs'
[Knapps'] narrows were actually sending men ashore in Barges, and that
he was preparing to meet them with 140 men of his regiment. Upon
this information the militia companies of this place were immediately
ordered out, but a difficulty arose with respect to the delivery of more
arms than those which had been specifically ordered. The General
has taken upon himself the responsibility of sending arms and ammuni
tion to the point of attack, in addition to those which have been sent
heretofore to the Bay Side, and if the emergency, which now presents
itself, should continue Colonel Smyth proposes upon his own responsibil
ity to deal out as many arms as may be deemed advisable.
The order, of which I inclose a copy, has been delivered to the Armorer
today, and although some of our citizens have expressed dissatisfaction
at it, giving it a construction which cannot accord with the real views
of the Council, some of us have undertaken to assert that the order is
intended for the general accommodation of all the counties, now liable
to attack, upon any emergency that might arise, when resort could not
be had to the Executive, at Annapolis. We have supposed that the
discretionary power of giving out arms and ammunition, occasion
might require has been lodged with you, as a member of the Executive
Council, near at hand, on the Eastern Shore. In this construction we
are confident you will agree with us; and as you are at some distance
from the Armory and the people here are extremely pressing upon the
subject, it has been thought to suggest to you the propriety of your
granting to the Brigadier General, or some other officer in or near Easton,
a discretionary power to order out arms, &c, as necessity may require.
This is a probability of a large portion of the militia being called out im
mediately, and you will gratify our people very much by a prompt an
swer upon this subject. Under present circumstances, you will see
reason to excuse the liberty of this communication from a private citi
zen written upon slight consultation with a few friends.
The following article taken from the Republican Star of the 20th of
April will also serve to represent the condition of affairs in this county,
as well as give an account of one of those incidents of the war which
excited some interest.
The Queenstown packet was captured on Friday last by two barges
from the British squadron up the bay between North Point and the

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 155
Fort. The captain and some of the passengers made their escape in a
boat, the rest, among whom were some women and children, were de
tained all night near the Admiral's ship. In the morning they were
put on board an old sloop and allowed to proceed home, detaining the
packet and property to the amount of between three and five thousand
dollars, principally belonging to Mr. Meredith and Bromwell of this
town.12 The squadrons having during the last week literally spread out
on our shores, while their small vessels have entered several rivers,
but without effecting any landing on the main, being opposed at all
points by infantry and cavalry, whose determined valor they seemed
loth to test. Sharp's island has been invaded now about a week, and a
partial supply of water and provisions have fallen into the hands of the
captors. Tilghman's and Poplar islands are also in their power, and
out of the protection of the militia. From those prisoners whom they
have released, it is understood they intend to make their rendezvous
on these islands, so long as they furnish supplies. The editor inti
mates that the cause for the barrenness of his columns of news is the
absence of his workmen upon military duty in the lower part of the
county. In his issue of the 27th of April, the editor states that during
the past week Poplar island was visited by a marauding party and
"plundered to a large amount. Upwards of forty head of cattle, some
sheep, hogs, etc., were borne off by this visit," when the party "stood
up the bay." "Had the islands in the bay," he continued, "been
divested of succor for the enemy, which interest and patriotism certainly
dictated, the bold and determined stand made by the defenders of the
main would have rendered their visit up the bay both short and unprofit
able. It was while the fleet was in the upper part of the bay, in the months
of April and May, 1813, that the city of Baltimore was threatened with
a visit from Admiral Cockburn, and the small towns of Havre-de-Grace,
Georgetown and Frederickton were attacked, plundered and burned
and many outrages perpetrated upon the inhabitants of the counties
lying north of Talbot by his marauding parties. It would be going
beyond the prescribed scope of this contribution to give any particular
account of these expeditions, which were as disgraceful to their perpetra
tors as they were humiliating to those who undertook to repel them, for
the inefficiency of the militia under fire was most conspicuously displayed.
The reader is referred to works of the general history of the country or
12 In the Republican Star of the same date Messrs. Meredith and Bromwoll
give a statement, over their own signatures, of the circumstances of their capture,
but they add little to the account given by the editor. They state that Admiral
Cockburn was in command of the fleet, and that he was on board the flagship
Marlborough of seventy-four guns. The packet and merchandise were retained as
lawful prize. *

156 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
of the State for details of these affairs. They are referred to here on
account of their relation to matters in this county, and because of their
effects upon the people of Talbot, which were to increase the alarm and
to keep the militia forces in a constant readiness for the coming of the
enemy. This event, it was very evident, could not long be postponed,
and it was awaited with more and more solicitude as the reports of out
rages gained in atrocity. Cattle and other lone stock were driven from
the exposed parts of the county. Valuables, such as would offer tempta
tion to unscrupulous sailors and marines, were transported to places
of safety, women and children were sent in many cases into the interior,
and slaves suspected of disaffection were also placed beyond reach.
Every man liable to military service was enrolled in some company, and
subjected to such periodical drills as those engaged in the active work
of life could be expected or required to undergo. The few relics of the
revolutionary era buckled on their swords or shouldered their muskets
"to show how fields were won" or to give encouragement to their
younger fellow-citizens. Notwithstanding the disheartening effects
which the conduct of the militia elsewhere had induced, or was calculated
to induce, there is no evidence that there was any reluctance shown by
the men of Talbot to have their courage and firmness put to the test,
nor that there was any other feeling than a determination to retrieve
the honor of their brethren in arms which had been lost, or sadly obscured
on other fields. Another effect of these outrages perpetrated along
the bay shore of this and the neighboring counties was to unite the whole
people, and, if not to extinguish all differences of opinion as to the policy
of the war, at least to prevent any other expression with regard to it but
a determination to repel the foe should he invade their homes. The
Federalist, who had most violently condemned the declaration of war,
stood side by side in the ranks with the Democrat who had been most
reckless in his advocacy of such declaration; while, there is good ground
for believing that more than one-half the commissioned officers of the
Talbot militia were drawn from that party which was branded as an
ally of the enemy by its opponents. All diversities of sentiment merged
into one, the duty of every man in the community to defend his fireside
from the intrusion of a rapacious enemy. If the vehemence of the parti
san was not added to the ardor of the patriot in every case, the conduct
of no one betrayed any difference in the alacrity and willingness that
were shown by all to join in the common defence.
The rolls of the several militia companies, and the rosters of the
regiments, or battalions, formed within this county during the war of
1812-15 are not, to the writer, accessible, if indeed they be in existence:

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 157
but from such imperfect memoranda as have been recorded, and from
the recollections of persons participating in the military events of the
time, the following account of the militia organizations had been com
piled. It is proper to say that it is necessarily imperfect, and doubtless
in some instances incorrect. Of artillery, there seems to have been
but one regularly organized company in the county. This was known
as the Talbot Volunteer Artillerists, and was commanded by Captain
Clement Vickars, though, it will be seen in the sequel, he had but the
rank of lieutenant. This is the same company that in 1809 had for its
captain Samuel Thomas, and this gentleman may have remained at
the head of its roll during the war, though Vickars performed the duties
of its chief officer. In the town of St. Michaels there were artillerists,
but it does not appear they were organized as a distinct company.
They were probably members of an infantry corps, and had assigned to
them the charge of those cannon which were at that town. Captain
William Dodson, who is recognized officially as Lieutenant Dodson, had
command of the fort at St. Michaels, and Lieutenant John Graham was
in command of another breast-work. Of these St. Michaels artillerists
William Farlow, Wrightson Jones and John Thompson were subordinate
officers, but their relative rank is not known.
Of cavalry, three companies are known to have been organized in the
county. "The Independent Light Dragoons" was formed of citizens
of Easton and its vicinity. Of this company Robert Henry Golds
borough was the captain; William Harrison, first lieutenant; Edward
W. Hambleton, second lieutenant, and Philemon W. Hemsley, cornet,
or third lieutenant. This is the same company of which, under the
name of the "Talbot Patriot Troop," Edward Lloyd was captain, until
promoted in 1812 to be lieutenant colonel of the Ninth Regiment of
Horse. At the same time Mr. Goldsborough was offered the rank of
Major to the same regiment, but declined the honor, preferring to remain
Captain. This troop some years later was commanded by Mr. William
Harrison, and then by Mr. Nicholas Thomas, as captains. The second
troop of horse was formed at St. Michaels and its vicinity. The name
which it assumed has escaped notice, but it was commanded by Robert
Banning as Captain; Feddeman Rolle, and afterwards Richard Spencer,
as First Lieutenant; William Roberts, as Second Lieutenant, and James
Hambleton as Cornet, or Third Lieutenant. The third troop in the
county, of which the name has not survived, was formed at Trappe,
and composed of citizens of that village and the neighborhood. Of this
company Daniel Martin was Captain, who was succeeded, in 1813, by
the First Lieutenant, William Dickinson. The Second Lieutenant Was

158 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Isaac Bowdle, who was promoted to be First Lieutenant in 1813, and
the Cornet was James Clayland, who was promoted to be Second Lieu
tenant in the same year. Of these troops, the companies of Captains
Banning and Martin belonged to the Ninth Regiment of Horse, and
probably that of Captain Goldsborough belonged to the same. If
there was a troop of horse in the upper part of the county, as is not
unlikely, its name and the names of its officers have escaped mention.
Of infantry there were many companies in the county, either in
skeleton or fully organized. The list following may be regarded as
full and as accurate as can be compiled from such imperfect memoranda
as have thus far been collected.13 In and near Easton were companies
commanded by Captains George Wishart Smith (the "Light Infantry
Blues"); John Leeds Kerr (the "Easton Fencibles"); and Amos Hale,
(the "Mechanic Volunteers"). These were all uniformed companies, and
the two first mentioned maintained their organization for years after
the close of the war. Captain William Jordon commanded a company
composed chiefly of residents of Miles River Neck, and Captain Jonathan
Spencer and his company were from the neighborhood of Wye Landing.
Captain Joseph Kemp, who afterwards became Colonel Kemp, drew
his command from the town of St. Michaels and vicinity, which assumed
the name of the "Saint Michaels Patriotic Blues." This company had
been commanded by William Merchant before his death, and was
uniformed. Captain Thomas Wayman drew his company (the "Hearts
of Oak"), from the neighborhood of the Royal Oak. This company
maintained its organization for many years after the war, and was com
manded by Alexander B. Harrison. If not uniformed at the date of
the war, it became so afterwards. Below St. Michaels, in the Bayside
and in Broad Creek Neck, companies were formed under Captains
Oakley Haddaway, John Carroll and Daniel Feddeman. In the lower
part of the county, within Trappe district, Captains Nicholas Golds
borough, Samuel Stevens, John Merrick and James Newnam enrolled
companies. In the eastern and northern portion of the county, or
chiefly in the Chapel district, were the companies commanded by Cap
tains Henrix (Thomas or Charles), Thomas Jones and George Parrott."
13 It is proper to say, in this connection, that all the military records of the
State of Maryland, relative to the war of 1812-15, were removed from Annapolis
to Washington, and are now in the office of the 3rd auditor of the Treasury of the
United States.
14 This list cannot be implicitly relied upon, as to the localities of the companies
In the main it is indubitably correct.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 159
These forces were under the chief command of Brigadier General
Perry Benson, under whom were Colonels Edward Lloyd, Hugh Auld,
William B. Smyth, William Hayward and Perry Spencer, the last two
of whom were too old for active service, yet they performed military
duty in emergency. The Majors were, John Meredith, William Caulk,
John Dawson, Thomas Jones, William Lambdin, and later, John Leeds
Kerr as Brigade Inspector, and Daniel Martin.15
If the efficiency of this large body of enrolled militia had been pro
portionate to its numbers or to the bravery of its component parts, the
people of the county would have had little to apprehend from any force
the enemy was likely to send against them; but experience had shown
how little dependence could be placed upon the firmness of men whose
natural courage was not supported by that confidence that comes only
from military discipline. What training in tactics they received was
of the most effectual kind, such only as could be given by officers them
selves ignorant of military science and art, at such periodical musters
irregularly attended by men who could not be withdrawn from their
usual avocations. The insufficiency of arms was such that all who
were enrolled could not be properly equipped, so that muskets that
were used by companies stationed near threatened positions were given
up as soon as the immediate danger had passed, and transferred to other
companies when the enemy approached the section from which they
were recruited.16 But under all these circumstances, there was an evident
determination vigorously to defend their homes from the devastating
foe, should he make a landing upon the main.
On the sixth of May 1813, a pleasing incident worthy of commemora
tion occurred at the town of Saint Michaels. An account of this may
be given in the words of one who witnessed the affair.
The ladies of Saint Michaels delivered to General Benson a hand
some flag, for the use of the Fort [erected upon Parrott's Point, for the
defence of the town,] with the following address by Miss Dodson:
15 This list is not wholly trustworthy, but as there is substantial ground for
what it states, it must stand until better information furnishes correction and
completion. 16 In June 1813 an effort was made to form a more regular body of soldiers,
which should be kept constantly under arms for the defence of the country. It was
then proposed to raise a company or companies of mounted Jnfantry, to be called
the Volunteer Rangers, which should be officered and paid by the State and which
should serve during the continuance of the war, but should not be required to go
beyond the limits of the State. There is no certain evidence that this company was
ever formed.

160 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
"The ladies of Saint Michaels and its vicinity wishing to express
the high sense of gratitude they feel to the gentlemen, for their prompt
exertions in erecting a fort for the common defence; and also in some
degree to testify their zeal for the liberty and honor of their beloved
country, have prepared a flag, at their own expense, made it with their
own hands, -and do most respectfully present the same to you, and
through you to them, for the use of the said fort — having entire confi
dence the same will not be disgraced for want of that patriotic zeal and
persevering bravery which always inspires the breast of a people
enlightened and free. The General received it with feelings of grati
tude and delivered an appropriate answer, by calling to their minds
what the Grecian, Roman and Carthagenian ladies had done when then-
country was invaded by a foreign foe : and he beheld with pleasure that
his countrywomen he believed, were not behind them, or the women
of any nation in patriotism. The flag was raised under the fire of a
gun and music, the soldiers promising to defend it with their lives.
(Signed) A Bystander."
The lady presenting the flag was the sister of the Captain of the Artil
lery company, Capt. William Dodson, who was in command of the Fort
at the entrance of the harbor of the town. Upon this flag was embroid
ered the names of the officers of this company, and was displayed over
the Fort when the attack presently to be mentioned was made, but was
borne away when the Fort was evacuated.
Early in the month of June the number of ships in the Chesapeake
had been considerably increased by new arrivals from Bermuda and the
West India station. Upon these there were three or four thousand
troops "including a regiment made up of foreign refugees and prisoners,
many of whom were worthless desperadoes." Foiled in an attack
upon Craney Island, that commanded the harbor of Norfolk, Virginia,
the village of Hampton on the north side of James River was on the 25th
of the same month, seized and those infamous outrages perpetrated upon
its inhabitants which added new horrors to the alarm the marauding
expeditions of Cockburn had excited among the people seated alonp the
bay and its tributaries. Brutality to women now, it was apprehended
would be united with the burning of farm houses and villages, and with
the pillaging of plantations and stores of these "water Winnebagoes,"
as they were called. As a consequence of this new terror, the wives
and daughters of the residents in exposed situations were sent off to the
interior or as far as this was possible; but of course the larger part of the
inhabitants were not able to avail themselves of this expedient for
17 This communication is given as it was printed, without any attempt to
correct its phraseology.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 161
protection from a licentious soldiery. The enemy's fleet advancing
up the bay continued to send parties into the rivers and creeks where
they committed their usual depredations. On Tuesday, August 10th,
according to one of the newspapers of Easton, there were twenty-five
or thirty sail up the bay, off Tilghman's Point, in the Eastern Bay and
around Kent Island; which they took possession of, on Thursday last,
[the 6th] and landed about two thousand troops, erected a battery at
the Narrows and occasionally crossed to the main. They made no
attempt to land on the main of Talbot, though they have had possession
of Poplar Island, the past week. Kent Island became a kind of ren
dezvous, from which expeditions were sent out from time to time.
The land forces were under the command of General Sir Sidney Beck-
with, who made his headquarters at Belleview, the seat of Mr. Jonathan
Harrison, near the bay shore. That gentleman, a native of Talbot,
had sent the female members of bis family to Easton, but remained
himself upon the plantation, to prevent, as far as possible, the destruc
tion of his property.18
It was not doubted, from the time when the enemy had taken pos
session of Kent Island, that he would soon visit the mainland of Talbot
or Queen Anne county. There was much to invite his attention in these
counties and especially in the former. Talbot contained the largest
town upon the Eastern Shore and one that could be approached by boats
and small vessels to within three miles, by way of Saint Michaels river.
This town offered materials for pillage, being a place of no inconsiderable
wealth, containing a bank and well furnished stores. Here too was the
armory for the whole of this section of the state, which the imagination
of the enemy, doubtless, filled with the munitions of war, but which was
18 From this gentleman, the grandfather of the writer of this contribution, it
was learned that while General Beckwith and his officers made very free use of
everything in the house and upon the farm, they treated Mr. Harrison and his
wife with marked courtesy, and even proffered some inadequate payment for the
injury they had done. Mr. Harrison was a professed Democrat and supporter of
the war, and used to relate that one day at dinner, Captain Powell, an Aide to
General Beckwith, said to him "we will ship the Democrats for being enemies to
the British government, and we will drub the Federalists for being enemies to
their own." The National Intelligencer of Washington, at that time an intense war
journal, seriously claimed that the Americans had acquired new allies while the
British were upon Kent Island, from whose attacks more important results were
anticipated than from those of the neighborhood militia. These allies were the
mosquitoes, whose bloodthirsty numbers it was thought would soon drive the
enemy to take refuge on board his ships. These were Trojans that no Ajax could
withstand.

162 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
indeed very empty when the militia had been armed, as they were
upon occasions of alarm. Besides Easton, the town of Saint Michaels
upon a river of the same name was an important point for attack-
important as an outport of Easton, as it were, and as being a village of
two or three hundred inhabitants and containing much plunder; but
more important as being a place of shipbuilding where at the date of
these events there were six or more vessels upon the stocks, of which one
was a barge for naval defence. There were also larger craft, some of
which were probably intended for the privateer service; for this county
was then noted for the construction of that class of fast sailing vessels,
which were used in this private warfare, and for which Baltimore has
acquired the whole credit, and to which that city gave the name of Balti
more Clippers. The destruction of these vessels then in the course of
building at the shipyards19 of the town and vicinity was alone of sufficient
importance to invite a visit from the enemy now stationed almost
within sight of the workmen engaged in their construction.
For some weeks the militia of the county at large had been in expec
tation of being called in to service, and as has been shown, those in the
Bayside had been for some time upon the alert. Videttes had been sta
tioned at different points of observation and every movement of the
fleet and its boats had been noted and reported to Colonel Auld, at St.
Michaels or to General Benson, at Easton. When itjwas announced
that the enemy had taken possession of Kent Island, and that his ships
were in the Eastern Bay, the companies of Captains Smith, Kerr and
Vickars of Easton were ordered to Saint Michaels where they met with
the company of Captain Kemp and the artillery men under Captain Dod
son, of that town. These were soon followed by other companies from
more distant parts of the county and before their services were actually
required there were assembled at the point of attack about five hundred
men.20 These belonged to the following companies in addition to those
just mentioned: Captain Wayman's company, Captain Carroll's com
pany, Captain Jordon's company, Captain Jonathan Spencer's company,
Captain Robert H. Goldsborough 's company, Captain Robert Banning's
"There were vessels upon the stocks in the yards of Thomas L. Haddaway,
Impey Dawson, Joseph Kemp, John Wrightson and John Davis; in the town.
Near by were the ship yards of Col. Perry Spencer and Richard Spencer, where
there were vessels building.
20 No accurate account has been recovered of the actual number of militia pres
ent at St. Michaels. Those persons engaged in the affair who have left reports
vary in their estimates from three hundred to six hundred.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 163
company, Captain Dickinson's (formerly Captain Daniel Martin's) com
pany, Captain Henrix's company, and a company from the neighboring
county of Caroline, the name of the captain of which is not known.
These could not have had the full quota, or they were mere detachments.
General Benson was in command, and under him were Colonel Auld,
Colonel Thomas Jones, Major John Dawson, Major William Caulk and
Major Daniel Martin. The troops were quartered in the town and the
two churches (which have now entirely disappeared) were converted into
barracks, the Episcopal church (then not quite finished) and the Metho
dist church. Doctors James Tilton, Theodore Denny, Tristram Thomas
and Ennalls Martin were surgeons in attendance. Early in the spring
when the enemy's fleet appeared in the upper part of the bay, and
took possession of the islands along the bay shore, a breast-work had
been thrown up upon the point of land then and still known as Parrott's
Point which is at the mouth of the inner harbor of the town. In this
breast-work, or fort as it was called, four guns were placed, carrying six
and nine-pound shot. These guns were placed in charge of Capt.
or Lieut. William Dodson,21 and about thirty men. There is a tradition
substantiated by two excellent witnesses, that a boom was thrown across
the mouth of the harbor of logs chained together to prevent the entrance
of the enemy's barges, and that it proved effectual. Captain or Lieuten
ant Vickars' battery of two guns was sent below the town and stationed
at or near the place where the Broad Creek neck road joins the main
county road leading to the Bayside. This was done in anticipation of
the enemy's landing below the town, and marching upon it from the
rear. On the point of land within the town, then known as Dawson's
wharf, being then occupied by the shipyard of Impey Dawson, there
was a breast-work thrown up in which were placed two six-pound
cannon, mounted upon cart wheels. These were the same guns that
had been presented to the people and soldiery of the town by Mr.
Jacob Gibson as a peace offering for the alarm he had caused them by
his playful imposition, already noticed. This battery was under the
21 Capt. William Dodson was a native of this county, having been born in St.
Michaels, January 19, 1786. He sailed packets out of St. Michaels river for a
number of years. He commanded one of the barges in Barney's flotilla, after the
affair at St. Michaels, and participated in the discreditable battle of Bladensburg,
where the sailors and marines from the flotilla alone preserved their honor. He
married in 1807 and dying Dec. 8th, 1833, left many children, of whom Captains
Robert A. and Edward Dodson and Leonidas and Henry Clay Dodson survive.

164 ' HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
command of Lieutenant John Graham,22 John Thompson and Wright-
son Jones each had charge of one of the guns. After the attack of the
enemy had begun, the guns of Captain or Lieutenant Vickars23 was
brought up from below the town and stationed upon the point of land
within the town at the extremity of Green street on the left of the
Church cove, now known as Mill Point, because near it stood, at one
time, the first steam mill ever erected in this county. Upon this point
also breast-works had been thrown up. Such were the preparations that
were made to repel the enemy.
It was a time of great solicitude, and though it has been customary to
ridicule everything connected with the affair at St. Michaels, there is
abundant evidence that those who participated in the military move
ments which preceded or made part of it were very far from regarding
the events then occurring as fit subjects for mirthful badinage or bitter
satire, as the following letter, written by the captain of one of the com
panies upon the eve of his march to the point threatened by the enemy,
will attest:
"My Much Beloved Friend: — I am just going into a situation
which may render me obnoxious to the chance of never seeing you more.
My only solicitude is for the honor and happiness of my family. Be a
friend to my wife, who is all that is honorable and just to me, and a
father to my children, equally and without distinction. I wish Arthur
to be brought up to my own profession, and the rest as their talents
may indicate. If there be another world, there cannot be a doubt
that the just and honorable will meet there. Farewell, and pay respect
to the memory of a protege.
John Leeds Kerr."
August 4th, 1813.
There were doubtless many others of the citizen soldiery assembled at
St. Michaels, who, while awaiting the approach of a strong and a dis
ciplined foe, felt the same solicitude as that expressed by this gentleman
22 Lieutenant Graham was the son of  Graham a respectable farmer living
near St. Michaels. He was a member of Capt. Joseph Kemp's company. He
was born September 15, 1778 and died April 23, 1837, leaving many children.
25 Captain Clement Vickars was born in Dorchester county, Maryland, in
1773. For many years he commanded packets sailing out of Third Haven, from
Easton Point. Later he was the first captain on the steamboat Maryland, a vessel
constructed under his immediate supervision. He was in this position at his
death August 17, 1825. He was a man of great decision of character, bold, ener
getic, adventurous, and vigorous in body and mind. He has left descendants in
this county, of whom the Captains Leonard inherit the predilections of their
grandfather for the water.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 165
to his uncle, Mr. John Leeds Bozman: and this can be said without
imputation upon their courage, for he is not the truly brave man who
is insensible of danger, in dangerous contingencies, but he who, appre
ciating his position and its possible consequences, has the fortitude to
face the impending peril.
The movements of the enemy upon and around Kent Island, which
were closely watched, indicated that an attack upon St. Michaels would
speedily be made. A brig had advanced up as far as Deep Water
Point, and had been engaged in making soundings and reconnoissances.
A deserter, who had been sent on shore at the Island from one of the snips
to convoy an officer, had taken the boat and crossing the Eastern Bay,
landed in Bayside. Upon being brought before General Benson he
declared that there were about two thousand men upon the Island,
ready for an expedition, and of these fourteen hundred were marines and
regulars; that they intended making an attack on St. Michaels during
the then current week, by land and by water; that this would have been
done before, but they dreaded a ten-gun battery, as they called it,
erected at the mouth of the harbor of the town. The editor of the
Republican Star, upon the very morning of the long expected coming
of the enemy, said, when referring to these circumstances and to the
collecting of the troops at the threatened point: "We have no doubt
of their meeting with a warm reception from the band of brothers
stationed in that quarter, should they make the attempt." At last
the much looked for event was really at hand. The night of August
the ninth was wet and drizzly. The commander of the Fort at Par-
rott's Point refused the application of his officers to scale the guns, which
had been charged for some time, saying that the night was such as to
render the approach of the enemy more than probable, as the darkness
and obscurity would favor his purposes. Captain Dodson's surmises
were realized. Embarking on board of eleven barges, the enemy, com
posed of three hundred soldiers and marines, left the fleet early in the
morning, and keeping along the shore of the river opposite St. Michaels —
the river here being more than a mile wide — escaped the vigilance of the
videttes placed at Ashcraft's and other points, and passed unobserved
up the river, above the mouth of the harbor, and of course above the
fort.24 He then crossed directly over, still concealed by the clouds and
fogs. It was now about four o'clock in the morning of the 10th of
24 It has been stated that the barges were piloted by a man named Higgins,
a citizen of the county. For the sake of honor it is hoped this was done under
compulsion though the informant intimates that it was done voluntarily.

166 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
August, but dark for that hour, as the weather was still lowering. Ar
riving at the shore, which was flat and sandy, not admitting the near
approach of the boats to the beach, the troops began disembarking in
the water, and were forming into a column, when they were discovered
by the guard at the fort, at a short distance from the flank of the breast
works — so near indeed that the commands of the officers could dis
tinctly be heard. After all the warnings and precautions, the garrison
seems to have been taken by surprise, and before a gun had been fired,
the greater portion of them were seized with a panic, and throwing
away their muskets, they made their way toward the town, running
through the field of corn which interposed. The enemy fired a volley
at the fugitives without any damage except to Mr. Parrott's crop.
But there were a few of the men who retained their courage, and deter
mined to have one shot at the enemy. The position of the British was
such that but one gun could be trained upon them. This was wheeled
into position. Though heavily charged with ball and canister, there
was laid in its very muzzle a parcel, weighing twenty-seven pounds, of
old scrap iron, nails, etc., around which were wrapped some rope-yarn.
There were three men only left in the battery: Captain Dodson, Lieu
tenant Richard Kennemont,25 and John Stevens, a colored man—the
same who is said to have been the first to discover the enemy at his land
ing. The gun was brought to bear upon the British column, properly
sighted, and the match applied. The enemy had seen the members of
the garrison flying towards the town, and imagined that the fort from
which they had expected trouble was entirely deserted, and they were
confidently expecting to take possession without meeting any resistance,
when they received into their ranks the contents of the nine pounder
heavily and fearfully charged, as has been described. Although the
consequences were disastrous, the column moved on, without pause,
and soon poured over the breast-works, which now really were without
defenders and entirely abandoned, for Captain Dodson, with his brave
companions, John Stevens and Leiutenant Kinnemont, had followed
the rest of the garrison, not however without having a volley or two
sent after them through the protecting corn. Captain Dodson did not
forget his flag, the same that had been presented by the ladies of St.
Michaels, for he drew this down from the flag-staff, and bore it off with
him in his flight. The British, upon taking possession. of the battery,
gave three cheers, which could be distinctly heard in the town, spiked
25 Another authority says the white man was Frank Gossage.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 167
all the guns, and then returned to their barges, bearing off their killed
and wounded. The gun that had done such execution had been so
heavily charged that when it was discharged it leaped from its car
riage entirely over the embankment and fell into the ditch beyond.
All the guns were subsequently drilled at their vealts, or touch-holes,
and made as useful as before.28 The barges rounded the point and
placed themselves in the mouth of the harbor, within less than a half
mile of the town. One account says they first advanced as far as the
boom27 thrown across to what is known as Navy Point. Being unable to
proceed further they fired two guns and then drew off to a position in the
river, from which they opened their fire, which was continued with much
vigor, though with little effect. This fire was promptly and spiritedly
returned by the two batteries upon Dawson's wharf and upon Mill Point,
under Lieutenant Graham and Lieutenant Vickers, the last of whom had
brought up his guns from the Bayside road as soon as he heard the
firing, and had placed them in the position designated.28 Owing to
26 There has been much controversy among participants in this affair as to the
person who fired this gun. The honor has been assigned to three persons by
equally creditable witnesses. Some assert with positiveness that it was John
Stevens, the brave colored man, who not only at the fort, but afterwards during
the whole engagement, acquitted himself in such a manner as to win the praises
of all who witnessed his intrepidity. Others, again, with equal positiveness,
declare that it is Lieutenant Kinnemont who should have the credit of this cour
ageous piece of conduct. Yet others declare, without reservation, that to deprive
Captain Dodson of the honor of this deed of daring would be grossly unjust,
for he was the commanding officer, and whatever was done was by his order, and
probably by his assistance. Captain Dodson was certainly the last man to leave
the fort, and no subordinate would have presumed to fire the gun without his
order. Besides, it is well attested that Captain Dodson always claimed that the
gun was fired by him, and he was too honorable a man to deck himself with what
justly belonged to others. Without doubt John Stevens and Lieutenant Kinne
mont (or the white man, whatever his name) were present when the gun was dis
charged, and were assisting. They therefore are entitled to share with their
brave commander whatever honor should follow so gallant a deed.
27 Although there is some doubt whether any such boom was formed, there is
none whatever that the barges did not enter the harbor.
28 More credit has been given to Captain Vickars than he is justly entitled to
for repelling the foe. It is the uniform testimony of eye witnesses and partici
pants that to Lieutenant Graham and his battery upon Dawson's wharf must be
given the chief honor of this transaction. Captain Vickars did not get his guns
into position until the enemy had begun to retire. That he and his company be
haved with great gallantry, and aided most effectively in securing the retirement
of the enemy is not questioned, for of this there is abundant testimony. But
the attempt of the chroniclers of the action, all of whom were residents of Easton

168 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
the foggy condition of the atmosphere the aim of the enemy was de
fective. Their balls which were from small six pound pieces flew above
the town penetrating the roofs of some of the houses, or striking some
of the higher gables. The injury done was insignificant. The firing
of the Talbot artillerists was said to have been more effective. It is
certain that one of the barges was struck, and so injured that to pre
vent its sinking, it was necessary to swing it between two others, and
in this situation it was carried out of the range of guns and con
ducted to the fleet. The number of shots fired by the enemy is not
known, but the Talbot cannoniers fired as many as fifteen shot when
the enemy drew off to the opposite shore and returned to the ships off
Kent Point or the rendezvous upon the island, completely foiled in
their undertaking. While the artillery was engaged with the enemy
the infantry and horse were drawn up upon the public square of the
town, under the immediate eye of General Benson, ready to meet the
invading foe should he attempt to make a landing. The intrepidity
of the commander, which really needed none of that fortifying stimulus
which he is said to have used, was opened to the charge of recklessness,
for he exposed himself and his troops unnecessarily, when protection
could easily and properly have been attained. Some of the troops did
not show that firmness in the presence of danger, as danger there was,
that was manifested by much the greater number: and tradition relates
that one company, which shall not be named exhibited a wonderful
discipline as well as unanimity, in its precipitate retreat, for when it
reached the Royal Oak, four miles distant in its homeward flight, the
roll was called and there was not a man but answered to his name.
This may have been a playful jibe, or only a half serious charge, but it is
unquestionable that there were some in this little army of raw militia
who however stout and brave at heart were unable to control their actions
and actually ran away when the balls and grape shot were heard passing
unpleasantly near, above their heads. A field officer suddenly aroused
from his slumbers by the firing, did not pause to ascertain the condition
of affairs in the town, thinking it to be already in the possession of the
enemy, precipitately fled to his home, to meet the indignant reproaches
of his courageous wife, and ever after to bear the shameful imputation
of cowardice from his fellow citizens — an imputation which, it is fair to
say, was not wholly deserved, for his inconsiderate conduct had really
or its vicinity, to attribute to him the chief credit for the repulse of the barges and
to ignore or undervalue the superior services of Lieutenant Graham, of Saint
Michaels, cannot be justified by the facts as related by many eye-witnesses.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 169
palliation, though certainly not justification, in the attending cir
cumstances. The result of the engagement was most gratifying to the
Talbot troops. No blood of any American was shed, and this has
given ground for the undeserved ridicule that has attached to the affair;
but the enemy was completely foiled in his attempt to capture and burn
the town, and beside he had suffered very considerably. The following
is the official report of General Benson, made immediately after the
engagement. The enemy with eleven barges29 made an attack upon the little fort
at the mouth of the harbor of St. Michaels, on Tuesday morning the
10th inst, and under a dark cloud, and were not seen until they were
landing. They were fired on by two guns,30 and the men from the
fort retreated with the loss of their muskets. Then the guns were
spiked and the enemy embarked and commenced a cannonade upon
the town. There were fifteen well directed shot from our guns, which
made the enemy retreat. Ten of the shot were fired by Lieutenant
Graham from his battery and five from Lieutenant Vickars'. There
was much blood on the grass at the water. One pair of boarding pistols31
two boarding cutlasses, two cartridge boxes; and a pair of pumps left.32
The barges fell down to the brig, three or four miles and remained until
9 or 10 o'clock, nine of them went to Kent Island, in slow order, and
two went down to the Admiral's ship. The militia generally behaved
well, and I have no doubt the same body would meet the conflict with
redoubled ardor. Some of the houses were perforated, but no injury
to any human being.54 This showeth the hand of Providence.
P. Benson, B. G.33
" The number of barges has been variously stated from nine to eighteen.
10 Notwithstanding the official character of this report, the true statement is
that there was but one gun fired, all witnesses agree in this.
81 These pistols were long in the possession of Captain William Dodson, and
preserved. by him as trophies of the battle.
11 The Baltimore Patriot referring to the affair at St. Michaels says: "From
the British having left a pair of 'dancing pumps' behind them at St. Michaels,
we conclude their intention was to have a dancing frolic — and so they had — but
then they paid the piper. "A true war dance of Yankee reels
And manual exercise of the heels."
The writer is indebted to Mr. Frank Emory for this squib taken from a series
of "County Sketches" prepared by this gentleman and published in the Centre-
ville Observer in 1873.
" Republican Star, August 17, 1813.
14 It is customary for those who would deride this affair to say in mockery that
the only blood shed within the lines of defence was that of a domestic cock, who
during the battle was encouraging the soldiery with his "shrill clarion." But if
there was no blood spilt by the Talbot people during the battle there was some

170 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
There is another contemporary account of this affair, which originally
printed in the Federal Gazette of Baltimore of the 17th of August (from
which it was extracted by the writer of this contribution) but copied into
Niles' Weekly Register, the Philadelphia Aurora and perhaps other
journals. The author is unknown.
Extract from a letter from Easton dated August 12th. "The enemy
have taken full possession of Kent Island, and have fortified the narrows.
Their ships lie around the island, several of them in the Eastern Bay, and
a brig has been up as high as Deep Water Point, in Miles River. Tues
day last, in the morning, about four o'clock, the British made an attack
on St. Michaels with eleven barges. They went up the river on the
opposite side and came down on the side of St. Michaels without making
the least noise, close to the shore and as it was very cloudy, and our men
in the fort without suspicion of an attack, they had landed before they
were discovered. Our men fired two guns and left the fort, of which
the enemy took possession and give three cheers, supposing they would
have St. Michaels without much difficulty, but they were very much
mistaken, for the St. Michaels people, and Captain Vickars35 of the
Easton Packet, with the artillery from Easton attacked them so briskly
and pointed their guns with so much judgment that our invaders
were soon obliged to make off. The infantry were not engaged. There
were only four pieces of cannon in the battery, one of which our people
spiked before they left it; the other three were spiked by the enemy.
But they have all been drilled and are again ready for service. We
were fortunate enough not to have a man hurt, although the grape
shot flew like hail in the town, and there balls went through a number
of the houses. The two shots that were fired from the fort must have
done some execution as a good deal of blood was seen on the shore, and
two swords and a pistol were left behind, and three barges were seen
to be struck by the artillery from the town. We expect to hear every
hour of another attack on Saint Michaels, as I have no doubt they
after and because of it. The management or mismanagement of the affair gave
rise to much crimination and recrimination among the officers, and a challenge
for a duel is said to have passed between Captains Kerr and Smith. A reconcilia
tion, however, was effected before any hostile meeting could take place. For
years after whenever old participants in the battle, of the ruder sort, met at the
tavern, they began to chaff each other upon the cowardice displayed, and as they
became pot valiant, they fought their battle over again, not like the intoxicated
monarch of whom the poet sings, but with each other. Many were the black
eyes and bloody noses of the warriors of St. Michaels, who however insensible to
the calls of honor in time of danger, were quick to resent any imputation cast
upon their courage in time of safety.
36 It will be observed that no notice is taken of Lieutenant Graham's battery
the guns of which were really those that proved most effective in repelling the
boats.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 171
will return with a stronger force. We are, however, well prepared
for them. Two companies from Easton have been there for the last
week. They are relieved and have returned home. — Should the enemy
succeed in taking St. Michaels, we may expect a visit from them (at
Easton), but having already met so unexpected a repulse, perhaps they
may not venture again."
It will be seen that these accounts do not precisely agree with each
other, nor with that given by several active participants. An attempt
to reconcile them at this distant date would be futile. Of the number
killed and wounded of the enemy, nothing beyond conjecture is known.
The following, taken from an editorial article contained in the Republi
can Star of August 17, may be regarded as the most authoritative
statement. The essential part was copied into Niles Register of August
28th and has been generally accepted.
Since which [the action of the 10th] eight deserters have come into
town, two on Tuesday and six yesterday afternoon.36 Among the latter
is a midshipman, who reports that he conducted the captain of the
brig Contest ashore on Kent Island, on Sunday evening, and he not re
turning before dark they put off and landed in the lower part of this
county; that the brig had just come up the bay, that they were informed
by the midshipmen of the Marlborough * * * that in the attack
on Saint Michaels the British lost one captain. One Lieutenant of
marines and twenty-seven privates, and that one of the barges was
materially injured.
Another witness, Thomas Ennalls, a fugitive slave, who escaped from
the fleet, testified that a barge lay alongside the ship on board of which
he was, and upon the barge were the dead killed in the action; and that
an officer said in his presence, loud enough to be heard, that "they had
lost an officer worth more than the whole d — nd town was worth."
But Ennalls did not know the number of the dead. There is a tradition
that the officer killed was a nephew of Admiral Cockburn, who was
upon the eve of returning home, but asked that he might accompany
this expedition as he wished to have one frolic with the Yankees before
leaving. He is said to have been killed by a six-pound ball striking him
in the breast as he sat in the stern of his barge.37 The dead were con-
38 One of these deserters was Jamison Hamilton, a Scotchman and a weaver,
who for many years afterwards lived and followed his trade in Easton.
37 The propensity of participants in this action, as in most others, to exaggerate
the injury inflicted upon the enemy, renders it extremely probable that the num
ber of killed and wounded in this affair has been magnified. There can be no
doubt, however that the damage done was sufficient to deter the foe from prose-

172 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
veyed on shore at Parson's Point and there buried, as many citizens
witnessed through their spyglasses.
After the repulse of the enemy, some of the companies of militia were
permitted to return to their homes, with commands to the officers to
hold them in readiness to return, at a moment's notice, should another
attempt be made upon the town of St. Michaels, as was anticipated.
Deserters reported to General Benson that an expedition had left the
Island and fleet, under the commands of General Sir Sidney Beckwith
and Admiral Cockburn, for an attack upon Queenstown, in Queen
Anne's county.38 There was ground for believing a similar expedition
composed of land as well as naval forces, would be despatched to Talbot,
for the accomplishment of the purposes of the former, which had proved
ineffectual by reason of the insufficiency of its numbers to meet suc
cessfully the troops that were defending that place with so much decision.
Every movement of the enemy continued to be watched with true
military vigilance. Reports were made that the fleet of the enemy were
abandoning the upper part of the bay, for the purpose of carrying the
customary devastation into the counties bordering on the Choptank.
The following letter from a gentleman in Chestertown to his friend in
Wilmington, signals — perhaps somewhat prematurely — the departure
of the enemy from Kent Island. Chestertown, Aug. 23, 1813.
Yesterday the enemy abandoned Kent Island, after taking off every
thing they could make useful or profitable; such as all the negroes that
were not too old and infirm, stock of all kinds, etc., amountingata rough
calculation to upwards of one hundred thousand dollars. This day their
whole fleet got under way and stood down the bay, so that we have
a little more respite, but how long God knows. Report from Kent
Island says they intend going up Choptank river, at or about Dover
ferry, and take possession of Easton, and the lower part of Talbot, it
being a rich and fertile part of the country. I have no doubt when
cuting his attempt on the town, and to prevent its repetition, at least by water.
A deserter reported that the excuse offered by the commander of the expedition
to the Admiral for his failure was, that he was deceived as to the character of the
forces he was to encounter: that he had expected to meet militia — whose instabil
ity was notorious — but he found regulars, with whom he could not cope with the
small force under his charge.
38 An account of the attack on Queenstown would not be within the scope of this
contribution but one that is very full is given in "County Sketches " by Mr.
Emory, published in the Centreville Observer of 1873, and another in Scharf's
History of Maryland. The last curiously gives the 7th of August as the date of
this affair — whereas Mr. Emory correctly gives the 13th.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 173
we come to have particulars of their behavior on the Island it will nearly
come up to Hampton.39
With reference to the same movements, the Republican Star, of
August 24th, says:
By express from Queen Anne's yesterday information was received
that the enemy had evacuated Kent Island and have repaired on board
their ships, which from late movements by sounding, etc., an attack
somewhere may be expected in a few days; and circumstances strongly
support the opinion that this county will be made the object on which
the enemy may endeavor to wreak his vengeance for the late repulse at
St. Michaels. Patriots may be overcome, but by superior numbers
only. Every man is expected to do his duty. Since our last, ten
deserters have come in — a hearty set of blue-jackets.
The troops that had been permitted to return to their homes after
the affair at St. Michaels were recalled, and preparations were made
to give a warm reception to the enemy should he repeat his visit. This
visit was not long postponed, as the following letter, written by Major
Solomon Dickinson to the editor of the Republican Star, will show.
St. Michaels, Aug. 29, 1813.
Mr. Smith:
Thursday, [that is to say, Aug. 26th,] about daylight the enemy was
discovered by our videttes, stationed at Colonel Auld's point40 to be
landing from sixty barges. They immediately moved a column about
two miles towards our camp at this place. They then posted a picquet
of men in advance within a few miles of us. They had two field pieces,
and a number of rockets on the road in the rear of the picquets. At
the same time we discovered three schooners and a brig beating up the
river, crowded with troops, evidently with an intention of cutting off
our retreat and destroying this place, should we march down to attack
them. A flag from one of the schooners landed, and informed several
persons, living upon the water side, that the British troops would land
in a few hours, and if they would remain in their houses, their property
should not be injured. After this Admiral Cockburn, at the head of
three hundred men, marched below in search of a militia company
stationed there, the greater part of whom made their escape across
Harris' creek. Fourteen were afterwards taken at their houses. They
burnt two small vessels and plundered the inhabitants of clothing, etc.,
39 Emory's "County Sketches," Centreville Observer, Feb. 25, 1873.
40 Col. Auld resided at Wayde's point, upon Bayside, the present residence of
John W. Kemp, Esq., about six miles below the town of St. Michaels. This point
took its name from Zachary Wayde, one of Claiborne's men, driven from Kent
Island by Lord Baltimore's people.

174 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
to a large amount. From information received that morning from
five seamen who deserted after landing, their force on shore was eighteen
hundred men, under Sir Sidney Beckwith. At six p.m. they re-em
barked, taking with them their prisoners, whom they released the next
day on parole. At the same tune the vessels weighed anchor, and stood
down to the fleet off Kent Point. The militia presented a determined
front in support of their country's rights.
Per order of General Benson, S. Dickinson, B. Major.
Very little can be added to this account of Major Dickinson; but
the following part of a statement made to the writer by the Rev. Robert
Kemp, late minister of the Wilmington Annual Conference of the Metho
dist Episcopal Church, will serve to elucidate and somewhat amplify
the official narrative.
* * * When my father aroused me in the morning and announced
that the British, who lay off Kent point, in full view, were landing, the
number of boats putting off from the ships was so great that I can com
pare them to nothing better than chips thrown upon the water from a
basket. They captured a schooner called the High-Flyer while on the
expedition. They landed at Col. Auld's plantation, and whether any
of them went up the road towards St. Michaels, I cannot say, but some
of the force went down the peninsula as far at least as my father's
place.41 My father was not at home. Some of the officers and men
came up to the house, but others remained upon the road. The offi
cer in command of the detachment or squad that came to the house
was Major Williamson, who asked for cider, but declined receiving it
because it was recently made and therefore unwholesome, but he accept
ed bread, milk and fruit for himself and men. Major Williamson
asked my sister if she was not alarmed when she saw the British soldiers
approaching the house, after what she had heard of the outrages upon
the women at Hampton. She replied that she certainly was much
alarmed, and was at that moment suffering much fear of injury. Major
Williamson comforted her by saying that she need apprehend nothing
from British soldiers: that they never perpetrated such outrages as those
referred to; and that those committed in Virginia were committed by
Frenchmen who had deserted their own countrymen and had joined
the British army. He added, these had been placed where they could
do no further harm. My father coming home encountered the party
on the road, and was taken before Admiral Cockburn, who was mounted
on a horse. I saw the Admiral at a distance only. My father gave
him to understand that he was a Friend, or Quaker: whereupon the
41 This farm is now owned by and is the residence of the Misses Kemp, daughters
of John Kemp, and of the same family that has had possession of this property for
more than two hundred years— a rare, but not the only, instance in this county
of such lengthened ownership.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 175
Admiral said that he belonged to a very worthy society of people, and
that if we were all Quakers there would be no war. Mr. Kemp was
asked by the Admiral if he had any knowledge of a boat or barge that
had been carried off by a party of deserters. He replied, " I have seen
the barge." He was then directed to go with a party of marines and
point out the place where he last saw the boat. He went to the water's
edge and pointing to a stake in the water, said, "when I last saw the
boat she was tied to that stake." The men saw there was no boat at
the place indicated, and so reported: but in truth the boat was still tied
to the stake, and had been sunken to prevent her discovery and capture
by the owners.42 The militia company that had been stationed below,
upon the Bayside and upon Tilghman's Island, was Captain John
Caulk's. Finding themselves cut off by the interposition of the enemy,
they dispersed, most of them getting across Harris' creek, but sixteen
of them were taken prisoners, carried to Annapolis, a depot of exchange,
and there released, after a detention of several weeks.43 There was
considerable plundering, but it was not systematic, or with authority.
The sailors and soldiers took what could be used by them. Nothing
was taken for the general purposes of the fleet.44
These two accounts are sufficiently full and explicit. A portion of
the expeditionary force, probably that under Sir Sidney Beckwith,
moved up the Bayside road towards the town but was deterred from
making an attack by the bold and determined front which the troops
there collected presented, the number. of which, about six hundred,
had been doubtless much exaggerated by informers, besides, their firm
ness upon the former occasion had been advantageously displayed.
The wooded character of much of the country furnishing protection
to the militia, they would have been able to do much execution upon
an advancing party without dangerous exposure of themselves. That
portion of the expedition that was confined to the boats made no active
demonstration. Towards evening the land forces were reembarked
and returned to the fleet, again foiled in their purposes of destruction.
42 A very striking instance of Quaker truthfulness and Quaker shrewdness —
but told with the utmost frankness and naivete' by Mr. Kemp.
43 This is probably erroneous; Mr. Dickinson's statement being official and
authoritative. 44 In this connection it is proper to say that the citizens of Talbot, unlike those
of other sections, did not suffer, as far as can be discovered, any loss of slaves.
Many of the negroes, when the enemy was threatening, were sent off to the interior ;
but the real cause of the immunity of Talbot from this kind of depredation was the
unwillingness of the negroes themselves to leave their homes and masters. Slav
ery in Talbot was so mild in its character, and particularly that form of slavery
which existed in Bayside, that there was small inducement for the negroes to en
trust themselves to the tender mercies of the British.

176 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
On Monday, the thirtieth of the month, the fleet weighed anchor
and stood down the bay. The following is from the Republican Star
of Tuesday, August 31st.
We have the pleasure of announcing to our readers that information
was received at camp, yesterday, from our videttes upon Tilghman's
Island that during the morning a ship came up the bay under a press of
sail, fired several guns, when the whole fleet got under way and stood
down the bay, and at 2 o'clock General Benson discharged the troops
at St. Michaels.
Before disbanding, the following orders were read to the assembled
militia, and were published at the request of the officers.
Brigade Orders. August 30th, 1813. As the British are on their
way down the bay, the militia at this post are discharged except such
a guard as Colonel Auld may see proper to keep here. The Caroline
militia will deliver their arms and cartridges to the Armorer at Easton.
The extra arms will be delivered to the Quarter Master, Mr. Garey,
to be sent to Easton. The General, in behalf of his country, sincerely
thanks the militia that have remained at this place, under many priva
tions, and, in some instances, under disagreeable circumstances. In
sight of a menacing enemy, the troops presented a determined front in
support of their country's rights. All the Commandants of corps and
companies are on their return to their respective homes, to order court
martial upon all deserters and delinquents. There is to be no firing of
guns, no waste of cartridges. Every officer stands accountable for the
safe keeping of arms and equipments, and as the main body of the
militia have done themselves honor, the General hopes and flatters
himself that they will return home with the same honor.
Thus ended the campaign of the year 1813, which upon the whole
had been successful, for though the Talbot troops had been unable to
prevent the landing of the enemy upon the islands, from their fleet
which commanded the bay, they had succeeded in thwarting his purposes
of destruction and pillage upon the main. The most severe sufferers
from his depredations were Mr. Jacob Gibson, upon Sharp's Island;
Mr. Will Sears, upon Poplar Island, and Mr. Hemsley, on Tilghman's
(more properly Choptank) Island.45 The court martials which were
46 In June, 1813, Mr. William Sears made affidavit before Mr. Justice Peter
Denny, that he had lost by the British, from Poplar Island, 30 head of black cattle,
86 old sheep, 20 to 30 lambs, 300 breeding sows and pigs and all the poultry that
could be caught. He further declared that much injury was done to his house
and furniture. Mr. Jacob Gibson under oath before Mr. Justice William Harri
son, July 20, 1813, declared that his losses stock— giving number and kinds-
amounted to S1203, after deducting a small amount which he had received from the
British officers in money and bills in exchange.— Niles' Register, Oct. 9th, 1813.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 177
ordered by the General in command were dissolved as there were no
charges preferred against any officer, though the conduct of some was
severely commented upon in private circles. In the following April
the troops were paid for the time they had served.48
Although immediate danger to the county had passed, by the retire
ment of the fleet, the war continuing, there was reason to expect another
visit from the enemy in the following year. The old military organiza
tions were maintained, and new companies formed, or projected. One
of these was to be armed with rifles instead of the musket, regimental
parades and company drills were required, and the officers were
acquiring a better knowledge of military tactics. Provision had
been made also for the better arming of the forces. The events of the
year had imparted courage, confidence and ardor. In April of the
year 1814 a section of the enemy's fleet which had held possession of the
lower part of the bay, moved northward, but soon returned to the main
body, carrying off two schooners captured near Sharp's Island, one of
which was ladened with corn. Barney's flotilla of gun boats passed
down the bay on Sunday, May 1. One of the barges was commanded
by Captain William Dodson of St. Michaels and another by Capt.
Henry Thomas of Easton. Many men of the crews were also from
this county.47 Of the performances of this miniature squadron and of
its ultimate destruction this is not the place to speak. About the
43 An advertisement in the Republican Star of April 19, 1814, notified all con
cerned that David Kerr, Jr., Paymaster of the 4th Regiment would be in Easton
to pay off the troops and these companies are mentioned as being entitled to pay :
viz. Capt. Geo. W. Smith's, Capt. Geo. Parrott's, Capt. John Merrick's, Capt.
Nick. Goldsborough's, Capt. Samuel Stevens', Capt. James Newman's, Capt.
Thomas Henricks', Capt. Amos Hale's, Lieut. Thomas Cooper's, Capt. John
Leeds Kerr's companies. All of these were of the 4th regiment of the Maryland
militia, and of infantry. No companies of the 26th regiment are mentioned, nor
any of the 12th battalion of cavalry, nor of the artillery. The 26th regiment of
infantry was composed of companies of the Bayside section of the county, and
there were probably paid off at St. Michaels.
47 In this connection it may be well to say that the navy of the United States
had many Talbot men among the sailors. Lieutenant William Bush of this
county was on board the Homet in the naval fight with the Peacock, and was
killed. Of this gentleman little or nothing is known. In the battle of Lake
Erie, under Commodoie Perry, Purser Samuel Hambleton, though a non com
batant, took an active part, and was severely wounded. A memoir of this most
estimable gentleman whose acquaintance and friendship the writer of this con
tribution is proud to have enjoyed, has been prepared and shall be published
hereafter.

178 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
middle of June a detachment of the enemy's fleet, consistmg of one
brig and two schooners came up the bay as far as Kent Point, capturing
one of the ferry boats, belonging to Mr. Sears plying between Hadda-
way's ferry and Annapolis, and destroying two or three other smaller
vessels. This detachment returned to the main body of the fleet below.
On Sunday, July 10, a frigate and four schooners with several barges
of the enemy made their appearance between Poplar Island and Kent
Point, and captured one of the Cambridge packets, off Thomas' Point.
They moved up the bay, with no apparent purpose of remaining. About
this time important events were occurring upon the Western Shore,
Cockburn was carrying on his system of plunder and devastation along
the shores of the Potomac and Patuxent. Barney's flotilla had taken
refuge at the head of the last named of these rivers. Early in August
the enemy had been reenforced by troops under General Ross, and ap
prehensions began to be felt for the safety of the national capital. The
enemy's policy was to keep the shores of the bay in a state of constant
alarm. On the 18th of August a ship and two schooners and a large
sloop anchored off the mouth of the Eastern Bay, and in the evening
sent off two barges which captured a small vessel and a canoe. The
crews landed upon the Bayside, and after amusing themselves upon the
beach in some frolics returned to the vessels, without doing any harm.
On the 22nd Commodore Barney destroyed his flotilla, and on the 24th
was fought the humiliating battle of Bladensburg in which no credit
was gained by any of the American forces except the sailors and
marines from the flotilla, and of these as has been noted, Talbot county
furnished no inconsiderable number. On the 25th the enemy entered
Washington and burned the public buildings, magazines and stores. On
the 31st was fought the battle of Caulk's field in Kent county, in which
the invaders were driven off with the loss of their commander Sir Peter
Parker. On the 10th of September a large fleet passed up the bay to
reinforce the enemy who was now threatening Baltimore, on the 12th
was fought the battle of North Point, and upon the 13th occurred the
bombardment of Fort McHenry. On the 19th the fleet retired down
the bay, continuing their harassing visits to the shores. But these
events belong to the general history of the-State and Nation and are here
referred to merely to show their relation to or their connection with the
events of the war in this county. The enemy continued to hold posses
sion of the Islands off the bay shore, and a detachment of their fleet
entered the Choptank on the 19th of October, and sent an expedition
consisting of eighteen barges and a schooner up as far as Castle Haven,

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 179
in Dorchester. They made a landing but committed no other depreda
tions than that of robbing the tenant upon the farm of Dr. Kemp of
his poultry and cattle. Tilghman's Island suffered more severely from
the marauders.48 While occupying these islands the 26th regiment
of Infantry under Colonel Auld were on duty, to prevent their depreda
tions on the main. The presence of a portion of the British fleet in
Choptank, some of the ships advancing as high as Castle Haven, as above
noted, kept the militia of the lower district of this county, as well as
those of Dorchester on the alert. An attack upon Easton was momen
tarily expected, preparations were made to give the enemy a proper
reception. Troops were assembled from different parts of the county
again under General Benson, and Fort Stoakes was manned and the
guns placed in position.49 Videttes were stationed upon points of land
that admitted a view of the movements of the fleet and boats of the
enemy, and a guard boat was also daily sent down the river for the same
purpose. On the 19th of October it was announced that an expedition
had left the fleet and was under way for an attack upon the town by
way of Third Haven. The troops that were assembled at Easton
slept upon their arms the whole night in readiness for the conflict
which was expected in the morning. But the purposes of the enemy
were defeated by the tempestuous weather, which dispersed their boats,
and drove them back to the fleet. Some of the barges are said to
have grounded on Benoni's Point, at the entrance of the river.
Although it was intended that the expedition should be again sent
45 Mr. Alexander Hemsley, at that time the owner of Tilghman's Island, made
the following statement of his losses :
"A list of stock taken from Choptank Island by the English from the 20th to
the 25th of October 1814, to wit:
43 grown oattle 50 sheep
15 calves 25 barrels of corn
— 2 to 3 tons of hay
58
For the above articles they left bills of exchange to the amount of 150 pounds
sterling. The following stock they left the specie for, at the prices opposite
to each. 7 grown cattle at $5 $35.00
5 calves at $2 10.00
6 large hogs 8.00

(signed) Alexander Hemsley. $53.00
48 According to some testimony Fort Stoakes was erected at this time, and not
in 1813, as stated in the text.

180 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
out for the same purpose, circumstances prevented its being a second
time undertaken. The militia was retained in position at Easton until
the 2nd of November when information having reached General Benson
that the enemy had abandoned Tilghman's Island and that his fleet
had left Choptank river, the troops were dismissed and allowed to
return to their homes. General Benson issued the following address:
Wheatland, Nov. 7th, 1814.
Sir: — In justice to the patriot band of militia I had the honor to com
mand and to dismiss on the morning of the 2nd instant, at Easton, I
wish it to be known that on the morning of the 20th ultimo, after they
had been lying on their arms all night with a probability of attack from
the enemy, at their 4 o'clock parade, a. m., from the report of the officers,
there was not an absentee from any of the corps. There appeared to
be no party but one, and that was We are One. You will please hand
this to each of the editors of the papers in Easton.
Your obedient servant, P. Benson.
Upon leaving Choptank the fleet for a short while assumed a position
off Poplar Island and Thomas' Point, but soon after the heavier ships
went into the lower Chesapeake, leaving behind, however, a sufficient
force for the prosecution of a system of spoliation upon the small craft
that plied between the city of Baltimore and the tributaries of the bay.
This was a kind of petty privateering — or as it was designated at the time,
picarooning — in which small gains and no honors were to be won. For
the purpose of carrying on these depredations it was the custom of the
enemy to make use of the larger and better craft that had been captured.
They would arm and man the schooners of good burden, conceal their
heavy guns beneath piles of plank or other conspicuous but easily mov
able materials, and employ all other possible devices to give these armed
vessels the appearance of peaceful traders making their ordinary trips
to and from the city. When a luckless sloop or schooner could be over
hauled, she was taken possession of, or when a number of craft could be
found becalmed, these extemporized war vessels would make their way
into the midst of them, and then suddenly swoop down, in boats and
barges, and before they could get out of the way most of them would
be captured, without firing a gun or drawing a sword.50 Notwithstand-
30 From the private journal of Mr. Thomas H. Dawson, of his journey to the
fleet, upon a flag of truce, for the purpose of securing the release of his wife and
children, who had been captured upon the packet Messenger. This journal the
writer has been permitted to examine by Mr. Elias O. Dawson, the son of Mr.
Thomas H. Dawson, and it has been freely used in the preparation of the account
of the capture of the Messenger, which follows.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 181
ing the hazards of bay navigation, while the enemy was thus skimming
the waters of the Chesapeake, there were venturesome captains always
ready to take the risk of capture, drawn to it by the fascination of
danger, and by rewards of increased rates of freight. None of these
were bolder and more enterprising than Captain Clement Vickars, of
the sloop Messenger, a packet sailing weekly between Easton Point and
Baltimore. Relying upon the swiftness of his new sloop and his own
skill as skipper, he did not fear to " run the blockade," and he passed
and repassed the British vessels with safety during the season. The
Messenger became well-known to the enemy and a most desirable ob
ject of capture. At last circumstances favored those who were upon
the watch for her, and threw her into the hands that had been so eager
to gain possession of such an admirable craft, of whose sailing qualities
they had had many exhibitions, and of whose beautiful model and ap
pointments they had heard such glowing accounts. The circumstances
of her capture may be related in the words of the editor of the Republi
can Star:
To Robert Spencer, Esq., A. D. C.
On Friday morning last (November 11th) the Easton packet Messen
ger, Captain Vickars owner and master, was captured by an enemy's
barge with six men and an officer, off the north end of Poplar Island,
on her return from Baltimore. The circumstances of this important
event we give from verbal relations: that early in the morning they
descried several vessels at anchor down the bay, which they supposed
were waiting a favorable tide, there being little or no wufd. The packet
stood her course down, and shortly afterwards discovered a barge board
and capture a craft at no great distance from them. They tacked, as
did a schooner in company, and stood up the bay, but made little head
way. The barge left her prize and pursued them; and when little
more than a mile from the sloop, Captain Vickars, with his hands,
five in number, and Captain H. Thomas, of the flotilla, put off in a
boat (partly at the instance of the passengers) leaving on board ten or
twelve, among whom were several ladies, and most of them belonging to
this town. When out of reach of the enemy's fire, should they attempt
to bring the boat to, they lay on their oars, and saw the packet taken
possession of. Soon after the barge, with three men, put off in pursuit
of the schooner, that was higher up the bay, which they took, and the
whole fleet stood over to the western shore, where a southwest breeze
struck them, and they shaped their course down the bay. It is under
stood that in this daring enterprise, the enemy having armed stolen craft,
one of which, a small sloop, the other a schooner, with some barges, had
within a short space of about eighteen hours, purloined from defenceless
individuals more than half that number of vessels of various value, that
of the Easton packet no doubt surpassing two or more of them in value,

182 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
she being nearly new, completely fitted, with goods, etc., on board,
which together would fall httle short of ten or twelve thousand dollars,
which was amassed by six men and an officer, without firing a gun ! Nor
is it known that the whole fleet of bay craft then in the enemy's posses
sion cost him a single ball ! Captain Vickars and his crew arrived in the
night of Friday and on Saturday we understood a flag was granted by
the proper authority, accompanied by Captain Vickars, which left early
on Sunday morning, on Captain Auld's packet, to procure the release
of the passengers, and to convey them to their friends.
Little need be added to this account. It was afterwards learned
that the officer effecting the capture was Lieutenant Pearson, of the
Dragoon, seventy-four, who it would seem had started upon a cruise
towards the upper part of the bay, for the purpose of seizing the steam
boat then plying between Baltimore and Frenchtown, upon the line
of travel to Philadelphia. Accounts of this steam vessel had excited
much interest on board the fleet. She was probably the Chesapeake,
the first steamboat ever built in Maryland, and has been constructed
only the year before. Lieutenant Pearson was diverted from his pur
pose by falling in with about twelve bay craft, all of which he took pos
session of, including the Messenger.
The loss of this fine vessel was a very serious blow not only to the
owner, but to the entire community. It was determined to attempt
her recovery by ransom, and a flag of truce was granted by General
Benson for this purpose, and for the release of the passengers who were
captured. Accordingly Major Meredith, as bearer of the flag, accom
panied by Captain Vickars, Mr. Thomas H. Dawson and others, sailed
November 12th, from Easton Point on board the schooner Superior,
Captain Auld. Major Meredith bore the following letter from General
Benson: Easton, 12th Nov., 1814.
To the Commander of the British Squadron now lying in the Chesa
peake Bay, —
Sir: — The sloop Messenger, a packet boat, has been captured by
one of the barges belonging to your squadron, with several respectable
inhabitants of Talbot county, and I am sorry to learn that these pas
sengers have not been set on shore, many of them being ladies. It is
hoped there will be no difficulty in releasing them immediately. Mr.
Clement Vickars, a highly respectable citizen of this county, industrious
ly laboring for the support and advancement of his family, must sus
tain in the capture of his vessel a loss that will reduce him to the
greatest difficulty and inconvenience, unless he can ransom her at some
moderate sum. The usages of war justify such a procedure, in as much

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 183
as the spirit of the practice of civihzed nations, in a state of war, enjoins
them to conduct it in such a manner as to make its unavoidable course
produce as Httle private individual calamity as possible. I have granted
a flag, under the conduct of Major Meredith, for the purpose of obtain
ing an immediate restoration of the captives to their friends, and to give
to the owners of the property taken an opportunity of ransoming it
according to the usages of war.
I have the honor to be your Hum. Serv't, P. Benson, B. G.
of Md. Militia.
At ten o'clock the next day, the 13th, the flag schooner Superior
fell in with the armed schooner having the Messenger as a prize under
her lee. Lieutenant Pearson in command requested that the Superior
should keep company with his vessel to the fleet station, which was off
Tangier Islands. Permission was granted to the gentleman from Tal
bot to visittheir friends captured who were still upon the packet. For
this purpose he poUtely tendered to them the use of his barge. The
prisoners were in good health and spoke in the highest terms of the polite
and gentlemanly treatment they received from the officers, who supplied
them with everything in their power and used every exertion to render
their situation comfortable.51 Lieut. Pearson freely condemned the
war as a most unnatural one, in which he regretted to be engaged. His
obligations of President Madison as the author of such a fratricidal con
test were frequent and fierce. The Superior came to anchor on the
15th to the leeward of the Dragoon, the flagship of Captain, or as he
is frequently caned, Commodore Barrie, at the mouth of the Great
Wycomico. A boat was immediately sent from the ship to fetch the
officer of the Flag of Truce, Major Meredith. The results of the negotia
tions were not entirely satisfactory to the Talbot people, as is shown in
the following letter addressed to General Benson in reply to his by the
Mag: His Majesty's Ship Dragon,
Off Tangiers, 15th Nov. 1814.
To Brigadier General Benson.
Sir: — In reply to your letter of the 12th instant, just received from
Major Meredith, I am to acquaint you that such of the American
prisoners as were captured on the 11th instant, in the Messenger, whose
age excludes them from the militia service, are hereby set at liberty
together with the ladies, children, &c. I am to acquaint you that it
is contrary to my instructions to ransom any vessel properly captured
from the enemy. I am sorry it is not in my power to parole the persons
"Mr. Thomas H. Dawson's private journal.

Robert Spencer,
Will. Bromwell,
Chs. Eccleston,
Jas. Frazier,
Saml. Homes,
Hy. L. Clark.

184 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
named in the margin; but my orders forbid my entering into any arrange
ment for the release of prisoners except on the
principle of receiving man for man. On such
terms it will afford me great pleasure to be en
abled to restore those gentlemen to their friends,
for any British subjects you may send me. I
have the honor to be
Your obedient humble servant,
Robert Barree.
Captain and Senior Officer.
The following taken from the People's Monitor of Saturday, November
19th, will serve to give more fully the result of the mission of Major
Meredith. We are sorry to say that the object of the truce was only in part
effected. They would not listen to the ransom of the sloop on any
terms,52 and the following will show how far they will consent to the
release of the prisoners.
List of persons released, who were captured on the sloop Messenger, on
the 11th instant, and sent to Easton in the flag Schooner, Superior,
Captain Auld, where they arrived on the 17th inst.
Mrs. Edith Dawson and her two children.
Miss Harriet W. Day.
Miss Susan McGlaughlin.
Miss Isabella Prince.
James Cockayne, non combatant.
Joseph Spencer, ditto, being a teacher in a public seminary.
Negroes Ned and Kitty.
Prisoners released who were captured on other vessels, and put on
board the prize sloop Messenger:
Miss Elizabeth Frazier of Dorchester.
Doctor Traverse of ditto, over 45.
Mrs. Brown of New York, put on board the flag schooner from Dragon,
74. Persons detained as militia men captured in the sloop :
Robert Spencer of Easton.
Samuel Holmes of ditto.
Henry L. Clarke of Baltimore.
William Bromwell of Easton.
62 In a paper read by the Hon. J. B. Kerr, late of Washington, before a literary
society of that city he stated that when offer was made by Capt. Vickars to ransom
the Messenger. Captain Barrie replied that the vessel was so beautifully modeled
and elegantly fitted up that he meant to retain her to be presented to the Prince
Regent for a yacht. This Mr. Kerr probably received from Capt. Vickars him
self.

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 185
Note. — Mrs. Bromwell and Mrs. Johns, her mother, continued on
board the Commodore's ship with Mr. Bromwell, through choice,
with an expectation of obtaining his release.
Prisoners detained, who were captured on other vessels and put on
board the sloop:
Charles Eccleson "1 of Dorchester
James Frazier / militia men."
After the conclusion of the negotiations pretexts were found for the
detention of Flag of Truce, that the gentlemen and ladies might be
enabled to participate in a fete which was improvised and politely
tendered by the officers of the ship. The journal which has been several
times quoted says:
All the prisoners were conveyed on board the Dragon from the sloop
to partake of an elegant and sumptuous entertainment prepared for
them by the commodore, after which the company was conducted
into an elegant ball-room furnished with an excellent band of music.
Upwards of forty prisoners taken at North Point, that remained un
changed, and had, a few days before, arrived in the Brune from Ber
muda to be exchanged, were invited to partake of the entertainment.
As some of the ladies were Friends or Quakers, the offer of a dance
to them, might have appeared like adding insult to injury, if it had not
been proffered with the utmost good will and courtesy. Captain Barrie
was particularly complaisant.53 In the morning of the 16th the persons
who were allowed to return home were sent on board the Superior,
in the Captain's gig, and they disembarked at Easton Point the next
day. It is hardly necessary to say that the cause of Captain Vickars' and
Captain Thomas' desertion of the Messenger, when about to be boarded,
was their active participation in military and naval operations against
the enemy, and the certainty of their being made prisoners of war.
Some of these gentlemen who remained on board and were captured
did not receive that indulgence which they expected, for they were
retained for exchange. The case of Mr. Bromwell was particularly
hard and unfortunate. He had, the day before bis capture, been mar-
55 Finding Mrs. Dawson feeding one of her little children with a large pewter
spoon, Captain Barrie ordered his steward to bring him, immediately, from his
own locker, a silver teaspoon, which he politely requested the lady to accept,
saying apologetically that he was afraid the large spoon would make the child's
mouth too wide. This spoon he insisted upon her taking with her, and it was
retained, and may be to this day, as a souvenir of a by no means painful episode
in the family history.

186 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ried, and was returning home with his bride. Besides, this was the
second time he had been taken prisoner while crossing the bay — the year
before having been captured in the Queenstown Packet.
To conclude the account of this affair it remains only to state that the
prisoners and passengers that had been retained on board the fleet
were on the 24th of November paroled and set on shore upon the Bay-
side near Tilghman's Island. They reported "that the enemy lost part
of their ill-gotten spoil, in a late wind, by the sinking of three or four
of their craft, and by others being driven down the bay, without provi
sions. In those sunk, upwards of forty of his men perished." The last
statement must be taken with allowance.
While the fleet lay in the mouth of Choptank desertions were frequent
and occasional prisoners were taken from the enemy. Three of the
last were sent to Easton from Dorchester on the 14th Nov., where they
were captured by the militia after their craft, which was one that had
been seized in the Chesapeake, had grounded. At other times more
prisoners were sent over to be forwarded to Baltimore. Of these, two
officers, Lieutenant Phipps (or Phibs) and Midshipman Galloway, were
treated with more than civility. They were placed under a parole and
given the freedom of the town. They were caressed and flattered by
the attentions of the better, that is the wealthier, class of citizens, and
particularly by the ladies, who were quite charmed with their rank and
manners, and one lady lived to rue the gallant attentions of Midshipman
Galloway. The freedom which was extended to these prisoners gave
much umbrage to many sober citizens, who saw that they were permitted
to see the weakness of the defences of the place, and that the knowledge
thus obtained might be used, in case of attack. The commanding
general did not escape censure for his indulgence. A private letter, from
a prominent citizen of Easton to a member of the Governor's council,
in the possession of the writer, reflects severely upon the leniency of
General Benson and the inefficient provisions of the care and trans
portation of prisoners. It says: "Though they are confined within
certain limits, they could not fail to make observations, which would
be very disadvantageous to us, should they be soon exchanged and any
attack be made. For instance, they had an opportunity of viewing
the relative situation of the Point and town. They were finally sent
off for Baltimore, by order of General Benson, in the Easton packet
from the Point, down the creek. When this intention of the General
was first known, many of the most respectable citizens sent a remon
strance in writing to the General, requesting, for the safety of the town,

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 187
that these prisoners (one of whom was a remarkably shrewd fellow)
should not have an opportunity of then ascertaining the nakedness of
the place. The answer of the General was that he should send them
down to the Point blindfolded, and order them to be kept in the hold
as long as the captain of the packet should think advisable. The farce
was actually exhibited, and the prisoners have gone down the creek and
river for Baltimore." This letter warmly urges the propriety of appoint
ing a deputy Provost Marshal to take charge of prisoners. However,
no harm came to any one by reason of the freedom granted to the pris
oners, except the poor girl whom Galloway made love to and then
compulsorily or willingly deserted.
By this time the principal part of the fleet had been withdrawn from
the upper portion of the bay, and the larger ships were stationed off
Tangiers, while expeditions were fitted out for depredations in Virginia
waters. But occasionally a ship would make her appearance above,
while at all times the smaller vessels, barges and tenders were to be seen
picarooning in different parts of the bay, seizing upon such small craft
as came within their reach. The last injury to be suffered by any
citizen of Talbot was the partial loss by Mr. Sears, of Bayside, whose
losses of one kind or another had been severe, of a second of his packets
early in January, 1815, which being pursued by the enemy, was scuttled
by the crew and abandoned. She was taken possession of, the holes
bored in her bottom plugged up, and then set on fire by the British.
The fire, however, did not effect her complete destruction, and the ves
sel was reclaimed.
Negotiations for peace had been for some months in progress, and
early in February, 1815, the news of its ratification by the British
government arrived, and in a few days after the American government
assented to the terms of the treaty of Ghent. Thus terminated a war
which, pronounced by one party to be righteous in its motive, glorious
in its conduct, and happy in its results: by the other as having been
commenced without prudence, conducted without skill, and indecisively
concluded. But all united in welcoming peace, and none more heartily
than the people of Talbot, who for more than two years had been har
assed by apprehensions, and tantalized by petty injuries and annoyances,
perhaps more hardly to be borne than greater calamities, because they
irritate and inflame and do not obtund the moral sensibilities.
In the preparation of this account of the incidents of the war of 1812-15,
as they occurred in Talbot and upon her borders, the writer has availed
himself of every source of information within his reach. The general

188 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
histories of the United States and of Maryland have been consulted,
of course. But the newspapers of the day have furnished the most
abundant and the most valuable material. Of these Nile's Register and
the Federal Gazette, of Baltimore, and the Republican Star and People's
Monitor, of Easton, may be mentioned. A few private letters, which
have by chance escaped the almost universal destruction that has
come upon all collections of such documents in our county, have fur
nished some interesting and valuable items of information. The journal
of Mr. Thos. H. Dawson has supplied many memoranda. The testi
mony of a number of aged men, taken down immediately from their
lips, has been of great assistance. It is proper to say in this connection
that much difficulty has been encountered in the attempt to reconcile
conflicting statements made in every case more than sixty years after
their occurrence. But the differences were upon trifles. In the main
the stories of these witnesses agree. The persons who were consulted
and gave the fullest and most connected recitals were Captain Thomas
Auld, of Bayside, son of Colonel Hugh Auld; Mr. Jeremiah Harrison,
of St. Michaels, a member of Captain Kemp's company; Mr. Stephen
Denny, of Ferry Neck, a member of Captain Wayman's company. All
of these participated actively in the affair at St. Michaels in 1813, and
their memories of the events were full and accurate. Mr. Thomas
Parrott, still living at a very advanced age, at Easton Point, and Mr.
John H. Barrott, of Cambridge, possibly still living, the son of Solomon
Barrott, the last surviving Talbot soldier of the Revolution, were able
to give very full accounts of affairs in and around Easton. The Rev.
Robert Kemp, late minister of the Wilmington Annual Conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, though a non-combatant, charged his
mind with almost every minutia concerning the movements of the troops
during the summer of 1813, and rehearsed them with great fullness, and,
it may be added, positiveness, in the year 1874. Besides these, many
other aged persons, whose names need not be mentiond, have given
additional and confirmatory testimony, all of which has been used so as
to present a connected and authentic relation of the incidents of the war
of 1812-15, happening in Talbot. Because many words have been em
ployed and many petty details noticed, it must not be inferred that any
illusions have possessed the mind of the writer with regard to the impor
tance of the occurrences related; or that he has wished to impress the
minds of others with their importance. Their insignificant or nugatory
character as materials of history is as distinctly acknowledged as it is
sensibly felt: and if justification or apology for their presentation with

WAR OF 1812-15 IN TALBOT 189
so much fullness should be sought, it will be found in this, that these
occurrences possessed a more absorbing interest for our people, because
they were near and personal, than those grand events of which Europe
was at that time the scene; and what so interested our fathers, should
in some degree interest us, their descendants and the heritors of their
opinions and of. their feelings.
P. S. — Since the forgoing contribution was placed in the hands of the
printer, a partial list of the names of the officers of the Maryland militia
serving in the war of 1812, from Talbot, has been received from the office
of the 3rd Auditor of the Treasury, at Washington. This list comprises
the names of aU the officers named in the muster rolls, as far as such have
been filed; but it is very evident that many companies are not mentioned.
List of the names of Officers of Maryland Militia, war 1812, from
Talbot county:
Robert Banning, Captain; Feddeman Rolle, 1st Lieutenant; William
Roberts, 2nd Lieutenant. 9th Regiment
John Carroll, Captain; James Haddaway, Lieutenant.
Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Auld.
WiUiam Dickinson, Captain; Isaac Bowdle, 1st Lieutenant; Daniel
McGinnis, 2nd Lieutenant; Jabez Caldwell, Major 4th Regiment.
Robert H. Goldsborough, Captain; William Harrison, jr., 1st Lieuten
ant; Edward N. Hambleton, 2nd Lieutenant; E. Lloyd, Lieutenant
Colonel; Daniel Martin, Major.
Amos Hale, Captain; Thomas Cooper, Lieutenant; John Meredith,
Major 4th Regiment.
Oakley Haddaway, Captain; Jas. Jones, Lieutenant; Hugh Auld,
Lieutenant Colonel 26th Regiment.
Thomas Henrix, Captain; Thomas C. Nicols, Lieutenant; John Mere
dith, Major 4th Regiment.
William Jordan, Captain; WiUiam Austin, Lieutenant; Hugh Auld,
Lieutenant Colonel 26th Regiment.
John L. Kerr, Captain; John (William?) Hayward, Jr., Lieutenant;
also William H. Groome, Lieutenant; William B. Smyth, Lieutenant
Colonel, 4th Regiment.
Joseph Kemp, Captain; John Graham, Lieutenant; Hugh Auld,
lieutenant Colonel 26th Regiment.
John Merrick, Captain; Tristram Perry, Lieutenant; Jabez Cald
well, Major 4th Regiment.

190 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
James Newnam, Captain; WiUiam Brown, Lieutenant; also, Matthew
Higgins, Lieutenant.
George Parrott, Captain; Jno. Dudley, Lieutenant; William B.
Smyth, Lieutenant Colonel 4th Regiment.
Jonathan Spencer, Captain; George Moffett, Lieutenant; also,
Edward Price, Lieutenant, Hugh Auld, Lieutenant Colonel 4th Regi
ment. Samuel Stevens, Jr., Captain; WiUiam Jenkins, Lieutenant; Jabez
CaldweU, Major 4th Regiment.
Clement Vickars, Captain; Thomas A. Fisher, 1st Lieutenant;
Thomas Parrott, 2nd Lieutenant; Artillery attached to 4th Regiment.
Thomas Wayman, Captain; James Colston, Lieutenant; Hugh Auld,
Lieutenant Colonel 26th Regiment.
Of General Perry Benson, the chief in command, at the affair of St.
Michaels, an extended memoir was printed in the Easton Star. Colonel
Hugh Auld, the second in command, was the son of Edward and Sarah
Auld, and born at Wade's point, which afterwards became bis own resi
dence, July 20th, 1767. He was a gentleman of good capacity, genial
manners, and unquestioned courage as a soldier. He died November
3rd, 1820, and is buried at his old homestead. He left a large family
of children, among whom was the late Thomas Auld, Esq., who is likely
to be remembered as the owner and master of Frederick Douglas, the
distinguished orator, and most considerable man of the African race in
this country. Col. Auld has descendants in the wives of Mr. John C.
Harper and Mr. WiUiam H. Bruff, respected citizens one of St. Michaels,
the other Texas.

GENERAL LAFAYETTE AND THE
PEOPLE OE TALBOT
One of the most pleasing episodes in the grand epic of our national
history is the visit of General La Fayette to America in the year 1824-25.
The whole story of his coming to our country during our war of Inde
pendence reads like the adventure of some hero of romance. Indeed
we may say that chivalry and knight errantry had their noblest mani
festation, and their culmination in that young marquis who forsook
fortune and station, the ease of home and the splendors of the court,
and wandered across an ocean of dangers to redress the wrongs, not of
some captive maiden, but of an oppressed people whose liberties were
threatened. There is no purpose here to give an account of his coming nor of the
noble and gaUant services he rendered to the struggling colonies. These
belong to the general history of the country, and a recollection of them
is embalmed in the memory of a grateful people. The object of this
paper is to narrate with a degree of particularity some occurrences
that happened in this county upon the occasion of General La Fayette's
return to America in 1824, concerning which we may look in vain among
the chronicles of the time.
It wiU be remembered that immediately after the surrender of Corn
wallis at Yorktown, and before peace had been declared, General La
Fayette returned to France for the purpose of raising additional forces
to aid us in our struggle. There was not time then for any popular
expression of the national thanks, but from Congress, the inestimable
services he had rendered received due recognition. But soon after
peace had been restored and our independence acknowledged, among
the very first acts of the government was to invite our generous deliv
erer to America. Accordingly in 1784 upon an invitation extended to
him by General Washington, General La Fayette again was upon our
soil, and then he received the delightful reward of his efforts in our
behalf in the generous thanks of a grateful people. His tour through
the country was like that of a triumphant procession, and in every
place he was the recipient of the warmest testimonials of affection
and respect. It was during this visit that he received the compUment,
which the State of Maryland honored herself by bestowing, of being
constituted a citizen, a special act having been passed for that purpose,
191

192 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
by which it was ordained that "the Marquis De la Fayette and his
male heirs forever, shall be taken as natural born citizens of this State."
But the young nation had just then passed through an exhausting war.
It had hardly yet learned the magnitude of the great boon that had been
conferred upon it, nor was it capable of estimating the services of its
benefactor. Forty years of wonderful prosperity and development
elapsed. The thirteen confederate colonies had grown to a grand nation.
There was again a longing to give some adequate expression of grati
tude to the man who had been so instrumental in giving the opportunity
for achieving this marvelous "growth. Accordingly in 1824 Congress,
giving utterance to the popular desire, passed a resolution directing
the President of the United States, Mr. Monroe, to invite General La
Fayette to America, as the guest of the nation; and to offer a ship of
the line to convey him to our shores. The invitation, so heartily
given, was cordiaUy accepted, though the use of a national ship was re
spectfully declined. He arrived at New York in the packet ship "Cad
mus," Aug. 15th, 1824. In that commercial metropolis he was received
and feted as no other ever had been, and upon leaving there he com
menced a tour of the country, everywhere receiving the plaudits of the
people, with enthusiastic demonstrations of the most lively gratitude.
Deputations of citizens from aU the chief cities and towns of the country
waited upon him to pay their tributes of respect and affection; and even
villages and remote country districts solicited the honor and pleasure
of having an opportunity to express in some humble way their high
regard and warm attachment for the nation's benefactor. Our own
county was not amiss in this pleasing duty, as wiU appear from what is
now to be related.
Moving South from his place of debarcation, towards the capital
of the nation, it was expected that General La Fayette would set
foot upon the soil of our State, and be in the City of Baltimore on the
7th day of October. Grand preparations were made for his reception,
but of this reception at the hands of the authorities, the mUitary and the
people of that city, it is not necessary to say anything here, yet in as
much as certain citizens of Talbot were most prominent in the cere
monies which preceded his entrance into the bounds of the corporation,
it may not be amiss to mention their participation in the interesting
rites of hospitality that took place upon the arrival of the guest in Mary
land. The Gubernatorial Chair was at the time filled by His Excellency
Samuel Stevens, a native and resident of this county; a man of great
simplicity of character, of great private worth, and of unaffected urban-

GENERAL LAFAYETTE AND THE PEOPLE OF TALBOT 193
ity of manners. If his abilities as a statesman were not of a high order,
he was eminently patriotic in his impulses, and conscientiously faithful
to duty. Not being scholarly in his tastes he may not have been mi
nutely informed of the great services the expected guest of the nation
had rendered to civU liberty, both in the old and the new world, but he
was sufficiently sensible of the benefits that he had bestowed upon the
people of America to act the grateful host with effusion. Not having
been bred in courts, like his guest, he may have shown himself some
what deficient in the forms of etiquette, but he had the manners of an
Eastern Shore gentleman — better because more natural and sincere
than those of a courtier. Knowing that certain duties of hospitality
as the chief magistrate of the commonwealth would devolve upon him
in connection with the visit of General La Fayette, he caUed to his
aid two of his old and personal friends, Col. Edward Lloyd, who had
once occupied the seat he was then filling, but was now United States
Senator, and Col. Solomon Dickinson, his near neighbor at the Trappe,
who was then member of the Senate of the State. Governor Stevens re
quested these gentlemen to meet the distinguished Frenchman and
formaUy to receive him in the name of the State of Maryland. They
accordingly repaired to Frenchtown, in company with a large delega
tion from the city of Baltimore, where they received their guest from
the hands of Mr. McLane who represented the authorites and people
of Delaware. Col. Lloyd was first presented by Mr. McLane, and
then Col. Lloyd presented his colleague and the representatives of the
corporation and miUtary of the city of Baltimore and of the Society
of the Cincinnati, to General La Fayette. They aU, after an inter
change of polite civilities, embarked on board the Steamer "United
States," Capt. Edward Trippe, an Eastern Shoreman of Dorset, and
proceeded to their destination as far as Fort McHenry, then commanded
by Col. Hindman, a native of Talbot. Here General La Fayette and
his suite were landed amid the unbounded enthusiasm of the people,
and were conducted through ranks of soldiers and citizens towards a
tent, consecrated by haUowed associations, in that once it had belonged
to Washington. As he approached, from this emerged our respected
fellow citizen Gov. Stevens, who received the General with a brief ad
dress, conceived and expressed in such singularly good taste as to leave
some doubt as to its authorship upon the minds of those who, knowng
the homely rusticity of the worthy Governor, expected no such courtli
ness of speech.
But before these occurrences had transpired, the people of our own

194 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
county had manifested some anxiety to offer a tribute of their thank
fulness to the national guest. This desire was expressed in several
communications to the two papers published at that time at Easton,
"The Republican Star," and the "Easton Gazette." Of these the
following is from the Gazette of Sept. 11, 1824:
COMMUNICATED
PROPOSED CONVENTION OF
The People of Talbot County, to welcome GENERAL LA FAYETTE
upon his arrival in the United States.
The inhabitants of the county from their own knowledge, or from
history, or by tradition, are weU acquainted with the essential assist
ance rendered to this country by General LA FAYETTE in the achieve
ment of its Independence and in the establishment of its Liberties,
and must be presumed to be always willing to acknowledge their grati
tude to him for the share of these blessings which they enjoy: But as it
wiU be scarcely practicable for them to wait upon the General, on his
arrival in Baltimore, to express their sentiments in person, and it might
be a subject of extreme regret if so suitable an occasion of forwarding
their congratulations should be omitted;
It is therefore proposed that a meeting of the people of Talbot County
be held at the Court House, in Easton, on SATURDAY the 18th day
of September instant, at 12 o'clock, for the purpose of enabling them to
express their sense of his services and virtues, to declare their satisfac
tion at his arrival in the United States, and to greet him with that cor
dial welcome which his association with WASHINGTON during the
Revolution, his continued love of liberty, and his attachment to the
institutions of our country, so justly entitle him to receive. The
people are respectfully and earnestly invited to attend accordingly.
THE WISH OF MANY CITIZENS.
Talbot County, September 6th, 182/h
The suggestions contained in this communication seemed to meet
with the approbation of the people, and accordingly on the 21st of Sep
tember a large public meeting assembled, of which we have the follow
ing account in the Gazette of Oct. 23d, 1824:
LA FAYETTE CONVENTION
The citizens of Talbot county, Eastern Shore of Maryland, assem
bled in the town of Easton on Tuesday, the 21st of September 1824,
at 12 o'clock to express their feelings on the arrival of General La
Fayette in America.
Major General Benson was called to the chair, and Tench Tilghman
chosen Secretary.

GENERAL LAFAYETTE AND THE PEOPLE OF TALBOT 195
The chairman stated the object of the assemblage after which Robert
H. Goldsborough, Esq., rose, and addressed the Convention in a feeling
and eloquent appeal, portraying the prominent acts of the life of Gen
eral La Fayette, and closed by submitting the foUowing Resolution:
That a Committee of  persons be appointed to consult, and to
present to the meeting for their approbation a respectful and becoming
salutation of General La Fayette, and an expression of their senti
ments and feelings upon his arrival in these United States.
This resolution was immediately adopted; the blank filed with the
number seven; and the foUowing gentlemen, to wit: Governor Stevens,
the Honorable Edward Lloyd, Nicholas Hammond, Esq., Thomas J.
Bullit, Esq., Col. Daniel Martin, Robert H. Goldsborough, Esq.; and
John Leeds Kerr, Esq., were selected by the chair to carry its pro
visions into effect. The committee retired, and the meeting adjourned
until 3 o'clock p.m. to receive their report.

At 3 o'clock p.m. the meeting reassembled, and the committee re
ported the foUowing address and resolutions, which were unanimously
adopted. The expression of the feelings and sentiments of the citizens of Talbot to
General La Fayette upon his arrival in America, presented by a deputa
tion appointed for the especial purpose composed of Major General
Benson, Robt. H. Goldsborough, Esq., and the Hon. Edward Lloyd.
The Freemen of Talbot county, of the Eastern Shore of Maryland
participating in the universal joy, that is diffused throughout this
country at the arrival of General La Fayette upon the shores of the
United States, welcome him as the tried friend of the iUustrious founder
of the RepubUc, their beloved Washington, and as one of the boldest
adventurers in the achievement of American Independence.
They hail him as the noble and disinterested friend of liberty and of
mankind. Gratitude is a sentiment that belongs to generous hearts, and it
becomes Freemen to cherish and express it. The homage of respect
is due to merit; but the adulation of serviUty has no abode with us.
The remembrance of great actions is sweet; the pleasure of expressing
that recoUection to the Hero, who has performed them, is the pride of
the free and the duty of the virtuous.
Therefore Resolved — That we fully participate in the universal joy
that is felt by all classes of our fellow countrymen at the long desired
arrival of General La Fayette —
Resolved — That we receive him as the guest of the nation and as a
citizen of Maryland — as one of those illustrious and generous benefactors,
to whom we are indebted, under Providence, for the enjoyment of
national independence, and equal Uberty and rights.
Resolved— That the arrival of General La Fayette in our country
has infused into us a more lively recoUection of a period and of scenes
that ought never to be forgotten; because it was a time of magnanimous

196 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
struggle in the best of causes; and a sacrifice of brave men and of honest
patriots for the freedom and prosperity of that country which we now
inhabit and enjoy.
Resolved — That a deputation of three citizens be appointed to wait
upon General La Fayette in the name of the freemen of Talbot; to
present him with these expressions of their sentiments towards him;
and to say to him, that although as a plain frugal country people, we
have not the means of adding splendour to his progress nor of fur
nishing luxurious banquets to entertain him, yet we have hearts faith
ful to love him, and ingenuousness to bear exulting testimony to his
great worth — that his name and his glory are famiUar to us and to our
children, and that he wiU live as he ought to do, in the affections of
Americans to the latest ages, and hold a merited station in the fore
ground of American history — That so dear has he ever been to the
American people, they have marked and admired his course in his
native country since he left us; and if he, as one of the Fathers of
the French Constitution of '89, was, with other friends of public liberty
and popular rights, fofied in their noble and patriotic exertions by
events which no human foresight could anticipate, and no human
efforts control, they regard the grand attempt as worthy of a man who
had signalized himself in aiding in the achievement of American Inde
pendence with better fortune and with a happier fate.
Resolved — That it is our sincere wish that General La Fayette would
call his farmly to him from France and spend the remainder of his years
in our country, that the remnant of his life he might enjoy with us a
portion of that happiness which has been so disinterestedly and emi
nently instrumental in procuring for our country, and that our fel
low countrymen might have an opportunity of testifying to him more
calmly their gratitude, their veneration, and their love.
The Convention selected Major General Benson, Robert H. Golds
borough, Esq., and the Hon. Edward Lloyd, the deputation, to wait on
General La Fayette on his arrival in Baltimore, and to present to him
the Address, Resolutions, and Congratulations of the freemen of Tal
bot. The following resolution was also submitted and adopted:
Resolved — That the Trustees of the steam boat Company be re
quested to present to the La Fayette deputation the freedom of the
Maryland to and from Baltimore for this occasion.
P. BENSON, Chairman.
Attest, TENCH TILGHMAN, Secretary.
There is no doubt that this address and these resolutions were from
the eloquent pen of the Hon. Robt. H. Goldsborough. They were
presented, by the committee appointed for the purpose, to General
La Fayette during his sojourn in the city of Baltimore. At the time
of the presentation he gave a verbal reply, and promised to furnish
the committee an answer in writing; but as no record is made of any
such in the public prints of the day, it is presumable, amidst the multi-

GENERAL LAFAYETTE AND THE PEOPLE IN TALBOT 197
plicity of similar demands, it was wholly forgotten. But there has
been preserved a copy of the reply of the General to a similar address
presented to him by citizens of Queen Anne's, which as it contains
references to persons belonging to this county, and is otherwise inter
esting, it is here inserted. It wUl be seen from this letter that he en
tertained the wish and expectation to visit the Eastern Shore; but in
this, he and those who would have been delighted to welcome him,
were disappointed.
General La Fayette's reply to the Committee of Queen Anne's County.
The honor I had forty years ago, to be pecuUarly adopted by the
State of Maryland, enhances the gratification I now feel in the tes
timonies of kindness and esteem expressed in the name of Queen Anne's
County, and by you, sir, to whom, at the time of that adoption, I have
been under special obligation.
It is my eager and affectionate wish to visit the Eastern Shore of this
State. I anticipate the pleasure there to recognize several of my
companions in arms, and among the relations of my departed friends,
to find the honored widow of a dear brother in General Washington's
family, Col. Tughman, as well as a daughter of my friend Carmichael,
who first received the secret vows of my engagement in the American
cause, the least suspicion of which by the French or British Govern
ment it was at that time momentous for me to prevent.
As to my future destinies, gentlemen, there are duties which may
supersede the fondest inchnations, but in every case I shaU be at
tached to the citizens of Queen Anne's County by the most cordial
sentiments of gratitude and respect.
The Queen Anne's Committee had as their speaker the Hon. Robt.
Wright who was a member of the General Assembly in 1784, when
by an act General La Fayette was made a citizen of the State. The
lady referred to as the widow of Col. Tilghman was Mrs. Anna Maria
Tilghman of Plimhirnmon, who was the daughter of Matthew Tilgh
man, and relict of Col. Tench Tilghman, one of General Washington's
aids, and therefore member, with La Fayette, of his military family.
The Mr. Carmichael referred to was the Secretary of the American Com
missioners in Paris at the time General La Fayette conceived the project
of aiding the colonies. This committee of Queen Anne's county was
presented at Annapolis by Gov. Stevens on the 18th of December,
1824, when General La Fayette was on a visit to that ancient city.
It was during this visit that was committed that niaiserie by our worthy
Governor which tradition continues to perpetuate, for the laughter of
succeeding generations. Governor Stevens who was more distinguished
as a farmer than as a Statesman, and was better informed upon the

198 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
petty party issues of his day than upon the minutiae of history, pro
pounded with great artlessness the startling question to the General,
whether he had ever been in Annapolis before. Tradition unfortunately
has not transmitted the reply of the polite Frenchman, but we may be
sure it was not such as to mortify the Governor by convicting him of
an ignorance under the circumstances almost unpardonable. Another)
reminiscence of this visit to Annapolis wiU serve to show the littleness
of the party strifes of the day. The members of the Legislature then
in session at Annapolis resolved to give a dinner to the distinguished
guest of the city and State. It was given, and we trust it was such
as they had no reason to be ashamed of. At the time it was discussed
among the members whether this dinner should be paid for by the
gentlemen of the two houses and other official persons, out of their own
purses, or by the State. It was at first attempted to raise the necessary
funds by private subscription, but many of the members refusing to
contribute anything whatever towards defraying the expenses of this
entertainment, it was finally resolved that they should be borne by the
public treasury. The foUowing year, when the election came round,
some of those gentlemen from Talbot who had been in the Legislature of
the previous year, were caUed to account in the public prints for having
squandered the public funds in "banquets" and "public repasts" which,
it was demanded, should have been paid for out of their own pockets.
To the credit of our people, they sent that gentleman back again, who
received most abuse for his prodigality of the money of the State, but
who in truth had been most Uberal in his private subscriptions— Mr.
Richard Spencer.
The people of the County having been disappointed in their first
attempt to prevail upon General La Fayette to visit Talbot, another
effort was made by offering what was thought to be a pleasant induce
ment for him to come. The Maryland Agricultural Society was then
in the fuU vigor of its usefulness. Under its auspices cattle shows
were held upon the Eastern and Western Shores. In the year 1822
the first of these bucolic festivals or fetes for the Eastern Shore was
held at Easton; and in 1824 it was proposed to hold the second, or the
fifth counting those held on the Western Shore. The Agricultural
Society at one of its meetings in Easton elected General La Fayette,
who had always professed great partiality for rural pursuits, an honor
ary member; and a committee, consisting of Gov. Samuel Stevens,
Robt. H. Goldsborough, Esq., and Gen. Perry Benson, was appomted
to express to that distinguished gentleman the pleasure experienced
by the society in having his name enrolled among its membership;

GENERAL LAFAYETTE AND THE PEOPLE OF TALBOT 199
also to tender an invitation to him and his suite to attend the cattle
show to be held in Easton on the 18th day of November, 1824. To this
invitation and the notification of his election the General returned this
reply, from the seat of Mr. Jefferson, where he was the honored guest :
Monticello, November 12, 1824.
Gentlemen: The honor I have received on being made a member of the Maryland
Agricultural Society is highly valued by me, and I most sincerely lament
the impossibUity I am under to attend the exhibition on the Eastern
Shore. My utmost expectation is to be able to arrive in time for the
last day of the second Exhibition near Baltimore, an object upon
which I am now writing to a friend in that city. The date of your
letter wiU itself offer an apology, as I am engaged after this visit to stop
a few days at MontpeUer, Mr. Madison's seat, to dine at Orange Court
House, to visit Fredericksburg and be one or two days in Washington
city. These particulars I take the liberty to lay before you, as an
excuse, which I hope wiU be acceptable, as well as the expression of my
grateful and affectionate respect.
LA FAYETTE.
P. Benson, Esq.,
Easton, Talbot County,
Eastern Shore, Md.
It is a matter of interesting reminiscence that those premiums, which
were in the form of pieces of silver plate, that were awarded at this
cattle show as weU as those awarded at the cattle show upon the
Western Shore, had this inscription following after the recipient's name,
"From the Agricultural Society by the hands of La Fayette." Some of
these premiums stiU exist in the country, and are estimated beyond
their intrinsic value on account of the pleasing associations connecting
them with our great national benefactor.
Although the large body of our people were debarred from the privi
lege of seeing General La Fayette, and of expressing to him in person
their admiration of his character and their gratitude for. his services,
large numbers visited the city of Baltimore during his stay, and made
up a portion of the throng that saluted him in his progress through the
streets of the joyous city. The Steamer Maryland then new, under
the command of Capt. Clement Vickers, and the various sailing packets,
were employed in conveying those citizens who were anxious to gratify
a laudable curiosity and indulge a pleasing sentiment, to and from the
city, and many took their children with them that they might have it
to say in after years their eyes had rested on the unselfish benefactor of
their country, and that they might witness with what acclaim freemen
could reward this champion of civil liberty throughout the world.

THE COUET HOUSE
The thanks of our citizens will be due, and no doubt they wifi be
liberally paid to the Hon. the Commissioners of the county for the meri
torious work they are now, (1878) engaged upon, of improving the Court
House and its surroundings. Mr. Roberts, the architect whom they
have employed, has aheady given to the front door that finish for which
it has been waiting more than eighty years, by constructing a very
pleasing entablature and cornice, and laborers, under other intelligent
direction, are grading the grounds and planting trees to take the place
of those which it became necessary to remove to make room for the
neat iron fence and the convenient pavement which is to surround
this our Palace of Justice. From an aesthetic point of view it is all
right and proper to make the entrance to the courts of law pleasing to
the eye; but from a prudential point, would it not be more appropriate
to make the portals repulsive — horrific, in order to deter the victim
from entrance, rather than beautiful and attractive to invite him
within? It is a pretty generaUy received maxim that the doors of justice should
always be open, to the great and humble alike; but it is respectfully
suggested that this has been a little too literally obeyed in the case of
the doors of our hall of justice. They have been kept open a trifle too
constantly, for they have been open night and day, during terms, and
during recess, Sunday and Monday, and this not for the humankind
only, but for the brute beasts, who neither sue, nor are sued. Now,
no one wiU be apt to accuse Mr. Roberts of any intention to impede
justice, if he shaU, while giving due ornament and finish to the portals,
pay some attention to their fastenings. He may protect the public
property and our precious records, without imperiling any right, or in
flicting any wrong, if he will only so arrange the locks and bolts, that the
doors shall not so readily yield to the slight pressure from without,
that has been sufficient heretofore to expose the building and all its
valued contents to destruction.
The money required for these improvements, that have been and
shall be made, will be weU invested, and pay us ample interest. We
are, as a people, too regardless of appearances. The careless, solvenly,
neglected aspect of our chief public building has been too closely copied
in our private houses. When the betterments which the Commissioners
200

THE COURT HOUSE 201
of the county and town are contemplating shall have been completed —
when our old, dingy and gloomy Court House shaU put on its coat of
fresh paint — its broken shutters that have been flapping in the wind
for so many years shaU be repaired and renovated — when the loosened
bricks shall be replaced, and aU the dilapidated walls repointed — when
the neglected grounds shall be well sodded, planted with young shade
trees and surrounded by their handsome iron paling — our people will
be prompted*and stimulated to improve their own homes, and make
them as bright and cheerful without as they doubtless are within,
in order that our public and private houses may be in keeping, one with
the other. The old Court House may thus become a school house to
educate us in refinement and taste. Besides, this changed aspect of
our public bmlding, wUl impress strangers coming among us favorably,
and may induce them to make a county their home where the good order,
condition and sightliness of its Court House evinces the care, the interest
and the wealth of the people; whereas these visitors would be repelled
or deterred from settling among us if there should be a most conspicuous
and striking evidence of our poverty, thriftlessness and negligence pre
sented by the dilapidation and general dinginess of our principal county
building. Now that we are likely soon to see our Court House in reputable and
pleasing order, it may prove interesting to our people to know something
of its history, and that of those other houses that preceded it, as places
of judicature. It is weU known that this is not the first Court House
that has existed in this county, nor the first on the same spot. The
present edifice may be considered the fourth erected for the accommo
dation of the courts, counting that one which is said to have been built
upon Kent Island, before the separate organization of Talbot county.
In this article, therefore, it is proposed to give an account of these several
court houses, as far as we have any authentic information respecting
them. The first settlement upon the Eastern Shore of the State was made by
Claiborne under the Virginia charter, upon Kent Island, and this settle
ment was at one time represented in the House of Burgesses of that
State by Nicholas Martin, whose descendants stiU survive in Talbot.
But Claiborne's title was disputed by Lord Baltimore, and he was dis
possessed. It does not appear that he, or the Virginians established
any court of justice, his settlement being but a trading post.
There is no doubt, as will subsequently appear, in the very earliest
years after the organization of our county, courts were held at private

202 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
houses, and, it may be, the very first courts upon the Eastern Shore were
held at the houses of the Commander, as that officer was caUed who
was chief in command under the Governor of the province. There can
be no question that courts leet and courts baron were held, for the writer
has seen some of the records of these feudal tribunals. It is not unlikely
therefore that the very first courts ever held on Kent Island, were of
this kind, and held at Kent Fort Manor, near Kent Point, so that the
first judicature for the Eastern Shore and what was at one time a
part of Talbot, was with mediaeval forms, and under Lords of the
Manor. By an act of assembly of the province of Maryland of the year 1638
provision was made for the administration of justice in the Isle of Kent.
which was recognized not as a distinct county, but as simply an Hundred
of St. Mary's. Although considered only an Hundred, a court of record
designated as the "Hundred Court of Kent" was erected upon the Island,
and the Commander, as the principal officer was called, was made the
judge or justice. This court had jurisdiction in certain cases denned
by the act, and from it appeal was had to the county court upon the
Western Shore. Besides this court, occasionally the supreme or pro
vincial court held sessions upon the Island. For the accommodation
of these courts a house is said to have been erected, somewhere upon
the eastern side of the Island, but its location is not certainly known,
nor is there any information of its size or character. This declaration
of the existence of a Court House upon Kent Island is made upon the
authority of Mr. George L. L. Davis. In an article published in the
Gazette of May 7, 1853, this gentleman says :
The first indication of a Court House upon the Island — the first also
upon the Eastern Shore of Maryland, — occurs in the shape of a short
memorandum, without date, but appearing with other entires during
the year 1659, [in the records now in the Kent county court house.]
* * * John McConikin, it is said, hath this day assigned over the
patent of the land, and what thereon remaineth belonging thereto, with
all privileges, to the inhabitants of Kent where the Court is now kept.
* * * There is recorded evidence that the courts of Kent county
were usually held upon the Southern part of the Island from 1647 to
1654, while there is none, at least now extant, that they were held any
where but on the Island, for many years afterwards. * * * Mr.
McConikin held several tracts upon the same [eastern] side of the Island,
including one on Crab Alley Creek, called "George's Codd," sixty acres
of which are now [1853] in the possession of Mr. Wm. 0. Lowery. Upon
that part of the tract, it is highly probable the Court House stood. Nor
is there any doubt that a Court House was erected on the Island, at an

THE COURT HOUSE 203
early period: for upon the record about sixteen years after the deed
[above mentioned] we find the following order: "Likewise, the Com
missioners of the county have made choice of the old court house upon
the Island, to be the county Court House; but do order that the court
shall be kept at the house of John Darby, in the Eastern Neck, as it hath
been formerly." * * * About 1680 a court house was built upon
Gray's Inn Creek, an arm of the Chester, and there a town was founded
by one of the early Ringgolds at Kent — a town which bore the name of
New Yarmouth, and which, for many years, remained the seat of jus
tice for Kent county.
This account seems to show very clearly that there was a court house
upon Kent Island before the time of the organization of Talbot which
court house was the first used by the inhabitants of the territory now
within our limits, but then belonging to Kent Island Hundred of St.
Mary's County, or to the Isle of Kent county.
We have no distinct record of the date when Talbot was laid off from
Kent, as a separate jurisdiction. It is first mentioned in the council
records in 1660 — 61. Nor are the original boundaries clearly defined.
But it seems that from 1661 to 1695 it embraced aU the territory from
Kent narrows and south of Kent Island to the Delaware line, and Chop-
tank river. In the last named year, 1695, by an act of assembly,
Kent Island was attached to Talbot, and Corsica Creek was made
apparently the northern limit of the county, having Kent county on
the north. In 1707 (act of assembly 1706, chap. Ill) the County of
Queen Anne was laid off from Talbot, and from Kent, and embraced
its present territory with a part of Caroline, which was taken in 1773
from Queen Anne and Dorchester counties, with its present limits.
For many years after the separate organization of Talbot county its
courts were held at private houses, and many of these houses are known
to have been situated not far from the centre of the settled territory of
the county, namely on the Wye river, and near its head.
The first court of Talbot after its separation from Kent, of which
there is any record extant was held at the house of Mr. WiUiam Coursey
on the 25th of April 1662, at which no business seems to have been
transacted. It met, perhaps, merely for organization. Mr. Coursey
lived in what is now Queen Anne's. These gentlemen are the first men
tioned Justices or Commissioners of the Peace, the four first named of
whom were present at this first meeting of the court:
Mr. Henry Coursey, Mr. Seth Foster,
Mr. WiUiam Coursey, Mr. James Ringgold,
Mr. Ric'd Woolman, Mr. Thomas South,
Mr. Thomas Hynson.

204 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
There is reason to believe that Mr. John Morgan was the first clerk of
the county, who was foUowed by Thomas Vaughan, and then by William
Hemsley, who was commissioned in 1668. The second court of which
there is mention, was held at the house of Mr.. Richard Woolman, on the
25th June 1662, at which Robt. Knapp took the Oath of Constable.
This Mr. Richard Woolman probably lived upon Wye river, upon the
tract still known as Woohnan's, and was the first Burgess from the
county that sat in the Assembly of the Province. This Mr. Robt.
Knapp was he who gave name to Knapp's narrows, that water between
Tilghman's Island and the main. Some other trifling business was
transacted at this second court, such as the adjudging the age of John
Jackson, an indentured servant of Mr. Richard Woolman, though the
court not being full, the matter was adjourned. The Third Court of
which we know anything was held Oct. 25th 1662, at the house of Mr.
Will. Coursey. Among other business transacted was the "laying" of the
"county and publique leavy" for the year, amounting to 7473 pounds of
tobacco. The following curious record was ordered by the court held
this day to be made by the clerk. It is one of many of similar character.
Came ye Persons in their proper persons and acknowledge ye couve-
nants following in open court, to wit:
Thomas Philips 1 Know all men by
to \ these presents that
Nicholas Bra way I, Thomas Phillips
of Talbot County, in ye province of Maryland, have Bargained and sould
unto Nicholas Bradaway of the same county, fower female head of cattle,
viz. : one Cow bought of Thomas Snow, one Cow bought of Mr. Rock
well, of Ann Arandall County, deceased. One being marked in the
Left Eare, with a Cropp and two slitts, the Right eare with a flower de
luce, in the other cow a Cropp and an under keele in the left year, the
other two being the Increas (?) of the aforesaid, marked with an hole in
the left Eare and a slitt on the upper part of the Right Eare. To have
and to hold the said Cattle with all their full Increass to the said Nicho
las Bradaway his heirs and assigns forever. And I, said Thomas Phillips
doth warrant the said Cattle to the said Nicholas Bradaway, against
all manner of claims whatsoever, as witness my hand this 9th of July
1662. Nicholas Bradaway.
The fourth court held, was at Ottwell, the house of Mr. William
Taylor, Nov. 25, 1662, when Cuthbard Phelpes took the oath of Consta
ble. It was at this court that the first conveyance of land was recorded,
it being from Will. Taylor, executor of Thomas Witherly (?Wetherby)
to William Price, for fifty acres of land upon Coxe's Creek, and

THE COURT HOUSE 205
bearing the date of the assembling of the Court. Apparently it was
the custom for parties conveying land, or personal property to appear
in Court, acknowledge the deed, and sign the record. The fifth court
was held at the house of Mr. Seth Foster, Feb. 12, 1663 when the first
civil action was determined. The sixth court was held at Mr. Thomas
South's house, when Ric'd Tilghman sued Thomas Madbury for fail
ure of contract as overseer, and was now suited. The seventh court
was held at the house of Mr. Edward Lloyd on the 3rd (or 30th)
June 1663, when Mr. WiUiam Hambleton took the oath of High Sheriff
of the county and gave his bond. He was probably the first who held
that office, his duties having before been discharged by the consta
bles. The eighth court was held at the house of Mr. James Ringold,
on the 25th August 1663. The ninth court was held at the house of
Mr. Seth Foster, on the 25th Oct. 1663. The tenth court was held at
the house of Mr. WiUiam Coursey, when Mr. Edward Lloyd first takes
his seat as one of the Justices, in virtue of his being one of the Gov
ernor's CouncU and Judge of the provincial court. At this court we
have recorded the return of a Jury of Inquest. The foUowing charge
was given to the Jury which was composed of these persons:
Mr. Thomas Hynson, Sen. Foreman
Mr. Thomas Hynson, Jr. Mr. Dan'I Glover
Mr. John Hynson Mr. Thomas Norris
Mr. James Ringold Mr. Rich Bradaway
Mr. Anthony Griffin Mr. John Bowles
Mr. Edward Rogers Mr. Edward Thomason
Mr. John Madbury
First. You are to make inquisition whether any man has been asses-
ory or Principall. You ought to state the case in matter of Law how
it lyeth.
2ndly. That Examin whether hee bee not a Felo Dese.
3rdly. Whether hee bee not a Devodane.
4thly. You are to examin the evidence and ground of your j udgment
upon that you shall sweare to the utmost of your skill to serve and
try on the behalf of the Lord Proprietary the true cause how John
Shorte here deceased, (before) came to his Death, ontimely death,
that justice may be done in the same. Soe help ye God. This charge was
given to the Jury of Inquest, whose names are here under written upon
the death of John Shorte. per mee Henry Coursey.
Here foUow the names as given above. The evidence is all written
out in the records, from which it appears that John Shorte, was the
indentured servant of Mr. Thomas Squth, one of the Justices of the

206 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
court. That the master had occasion to chastise this servant, when,
rather than receive the whipping, John Shorte ran into the creek,
and there in a considerable depth of water remained, while his master
stood threatening him upon the bank. Then it came to pass that John
Shorte was drowned — some said by his own act, rather than be chastised,
and others said by the act of his master. The Jury however brought
in this verdict:
Wee the Jury before mentioned, by virtue of these depositions have
unanimously agreed and doe finde that John Shorte, late servant unto
Mr. Thomas South is Fielo Desi: and this is our verdict that he ought
not to have Christian Buriall by Law.
It may be mentioned incidentaUy that the white servants in the early
times of our State, were treated with a cruelty that would be incredible
if it were not a matter of public record. The death of John Shorte
evinces this — but there are hundreds of cases mentioned of great bar
barity in which the court was called upon to interpose. One cannot
but remember that a similar case of aUeged drowning to escape a whip
ping occurred upon Wye river nearly two hundred years after the death
of John Shorte, which case Frederick Douglas has embalmed in his
memoirs. The eleventh court was held apparently at the house of Mr. Edward
Lloyd on Wye River the 3rd Tuesday in January, 1663. At this court
Robert Martin commenced suit against Henry Clay. This Henry
Clay was a resident of Bayside, and lived near the head of Harris'
Creek. He is thought, by Mr. John Bozman Kerr, a gentleman who
has paid much attention to the genealogy of Talbot families, to have
been the ancestor of Henry Clay, the great statesman of Kentucky.
The twelfth court was held at the house of Mr. Richard Woolman on
the 15th of March, 1663. At this court was recorded a "power of
attorney" from Joseph Weeks to Thomas South. Query, was Mr.
South the first attorney-at-law in the county? It was customary in
our early courts for parties to suits to appear in proper person, the
employment of attorneys was not universaUy resorted to until some
years after. This same Thomas South was sued by Anthony Griffin at
this court, for the use of his "cannew" which Mr. South had borrowed
for a fortnight "for the Indians to hunt for him." Anthony claimed
10 lbs. tobacco per day. Anthony Purse, Constable of Chester Hundred
presented Thomas Hynson, Jr., one of the Justices of the court, and Ann
Game, for committing fornication, contrary to the Act of Assembly.

THE COURT HOUSE 207
Thomas pleaded guilty, but stated that though guilty, he had made
Ann his wife, and therefore prayed indulgence from the court; but the
court while it reUeved him from the prescribed fine of 600 lbs. of tobacco,
or in default of payment,
the corporal punishment by whipping upon his bare body, till the Blood
do appear, so many stripes (not exceeding thirty-nine), as the Justices
shall adjudge.
for his incontinence, suspended him from his duty as Justice of the Peace
for one year and a day. Ann escaped entirely.
These brief abstracts of the records of the very earliest courts held
in our county have been given on account of their great antiquity,
their curious character, and as illustrative of our early civil history.
It will be seen that our courts were not held at one place, nor had they
any house devoted expressly to their use. There is Uttle doubt that
they continued to be peripatetic until as late as the year 1680, when
it is mentioned that a court was held at the house of PhUemon Lloyd.
There is a record of a court held at Mr. Richard TUghman's. Now
if this Mr. Tilghman resided at the "Hermitage" on Chester river,
as is probable, and if Mr. Seth Foster resided on Tilghman's Island,
as is certain he did in 1669, the courts were thus held occasionally at
the very extremities of the county, as then settled. This was probably
for the accommodation of the people in widely separated sections, at a
time when travel was difficult, and was conducted chiefly by water.
There are many entries in the old levy lists of charges for boats for
"carrying down the Grand Jury." About the year 1679, however, the
court began to be settled and seems to have had possession of a house,
probably under lease, for its purposes; and also it began to consider
the matter of erecting a county buUding. On the 17th of June 1679
we have this record:
The Commissioners [or Justices] have agreed with Elizabeth Winkles
to have the Court House which is now used to Keepe Court in, with the
roome adjoining, until the latter end of November next in consideration
we the Commissioners are to allow her as they think fitt.
The Court hath ordered Major William Coursey to treate with Richard
Swetman to come to the aforesaid house to keep ordinary, as also to
treate concerning the building of a Court House.
From this it appears that the house used as a haU of Justice, was also
used as a house of entertainment or accommodation, and was occupied
by someone who should take care of it for the use of the court. Sub-

208 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
sequently, when a Court House was built, it will hereafter be seen that
it was rented out, and the county derived a revenue from its occupancy,
Apparently Elizabeth Winkles kept the house as a kind of ordinary or
tavern, as probably there was no accommodation for the judges and
those attendant upon the court, at the place of its settings. It is alto
gether probable that the house that was used by the Justices, and which
was placed under the care of Eliz. Winkles was near the place where
the Court House was subsequently built. Indeed, there is an order of
the court on record to the effect that no liquor should be sold upon the
plantation of Elizabeth Winkles while the Court House was in process
of building.
In another article an account will be given of the erection of the first
Court House in what is now Talbot County.
Those who took the pains to read the previous article respecting the
Court Houses that have been used by the people of Talbot county as
their places of judicature will have learned that the first courts in which
our people were interested were the Hundred Courts of Kent Island, dis
regarding those minor manorial courts, which may have had an existance
co-incident in time with these higher tribunals: that these Hundred
Courts, first held by the Commander as Justice in his own house at
Kent Fort, upon the southern part of the. island, merged into the Kent
county courts, when that county was established, and had a house
specially appropriated to them in the Eastern part of the island, at
least, as early as 1659, which continued to be used long after Talbot
had been set off from Kent; that in 1660-61, our county having had her
territorial limits denned, which embraced a large part of Queen Anne's
up as far as Corsica creek, and perhaps beyond, but excluded the Island
of Kent, which was subsequently annexed, (1695), the courts of our
county were organized, (say in 1662), and for many years usually met
at the private residences of the Justices, but occasionaUy in other citi
zens' houses; that, though sometimes for the convenience of the sparse
population settled along the Chester and Wye rivers, the Eastern and
Chesapeake bays, they met at remote situations, they commonly
assembled at the plantations near the centre of settled portions of the
county — about what is now Wye Landing; that gradually this locality
became the place for holding the courts, near which a house was rented,
was occupied as a Court House, and was so designated; that in June
1679 the court was in the possession of a house which seems to have been
an inn or tavern kept by and perhaps belonging to one Elizabeth
Winkles, who furnished the rooms for the court and also entertained the

THE COURT HOUSE 209
Justices: and finally that about this time the Commissioners determined
to erect a bunding for their own proper use, and they set about it im
mediately, as wiU now appear.
But before proceeding to give an account of the buUding of this Court
House it wiU be necessary to retrace our steps. Several years before
this date the same subject had been under consideration with the
Justices, for in a very old book of Judgments, quite imperfect, now in
the Clerk's office, we find this record:
Att a Court held at Jonathan Hopkinson's in Wye River, the 27th
August 1674, present
The WorshippfuU ' Mr. Richard Woolman
Capt. Philemon Lloyd
Capt. Jonathan Sybry (Sibery)
Mr. Philip Stevenson
Mr. Edward Roe
_ Mr. Richard Gorsuch Commissioners.
Then came Jonathan Hopkinson, and did seU unto the Commission
ers for ye use of ye County ten acres of Land, being for ye building of a
Court House and a Prison. Ye said land to begin at a Pine tree marked,
at ye water side, and Running east and by south up his plantation until!
it comprehend the quantity of Ten Acres of ground between that and
ye branch that lyes south from s'd plantation : it being sould for one
Thousand pounds of Tobacco and Casque to be leaved (levied) out of
the county, and the said Jonathan hath hereby engaged to give full
assurance for ye said land unto ye Commissioners on the behalf of the
county when he shaU there unto (be) required.
The Court hath ordered yt the Prison be built upon the said land
according to the dimensions following: That is a house of twenty foot
in length and fifteen foot wide, and to be underpuid two foot under
ground, and a foot above ground with stone, and the said underpinning
to be two foot thick, the side and the gabell ends up to the plate to be
built with squared pieces of timber one foot square, and to be lofted
with joyse of seaven inches square at the least and to be fower inches
distant one from ye other, and the loft to be layed with two inch oake
planke, and a partition in the said house with a convenient windore
in each roome, and firm substantiaU Iron Bars to each windore, and a
proposionable roofe with a foot jet att the sides; and gabell ends of ye
said roofe to have a duble covering, and the uppermost covering to be
good white oake boards without any sap, with duble dore of two inch
oake planke to be two futt and a half wide the said dore to be nailed
w'th substantial! broad heded nailes, three inches asunder with soficient
strong lock, iron bars and boults.

210 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Although this deed of sale of land and contract for buUding the
prison were placed upon record, it appears that neither was held as
binding, or if binding, only as to the land, for a new contract for the
building of a prison were entered into with Jonathan Hopkinson in 1675,
and at the same time a purchase of a larger, or perhaps additional tract
of land was consummated. Under date of March 4, 1675, is found the
following entry among the Court records.
Jonathan Hopkinson this day sould the Commissioners of the County
twenty acres of land and Court House, and the said Jonathan dothhereby
bind himself to give unto the Court good assurances for the said land,
when thereunto called, and the said Jonathan hath undertaken to build
a Prison, and in consideration of the Land, Court House and Prison the
county is to allow him the said Jonathan  poundsof To
bacco, to be paid in the next leavy laid for this county of Talbot. The
Dimensions of the Prison followeth.
To be twenty foote longe, and fifteen foote wide, and the ground sells
to be of Locust or Cedder and a foot square; to be laid one foot and a
half in the ground; the posts to be 8 inches square and to stand stud-
waies within four inches one of the other; the Plates answerable, and
the joists to be sixe inches square and to be within foure inches one of
another, with a Roufe sufficient and strong, [being] Eight foote from the
lowere Plate : and a particon or enclusure sixe foote out of the length of
the Prison with a doare in the said Partison: the outward Doare to be
of two inch planke made dowble, and one grating window in each divi
sion, made with iron bars well fixte into the wood and smaU wickets in
each doare, with good strong Lockes : the upper floware to be laid with
inch planke and to be covered and wether boarded with good clabboard. ,
The consideration paid for this property is not mentioned in the record,
but in the levy of the foUowing year 10,000 pounds of tobacco was
assessed for the use of Jonathan Hopkinson in payment for the prison.
It would appear from the above entry that Jonathan Hopkinson sold
a house with the land, which was caUed the Court House. In this,
then, the court was probably held until the year 1679. Under the date
of Jan. 21, 1678, there is this record.
The Court hath left it to Capt. Philemon Lloyd to pich on a place to
keepe Court for this county, and to purchase land for the same use.
It would appear therefore that wherever the Court may have been
held prior to 1679, in that year Mr. Lloyd selected the "Widdow
Winkles" house in which to hold Court, and the^ Commissioners in their
levy made Nov. 18, of that year, aUowed her 3,100 lbs. of tobacco,
according to an agreement with her, as published in the previous article.
In the same year, and again in 1781 the Courts were held at the house of
Mr. PhUemon Lloyd himself, who was one of the Justices. It will be

THE COURT HOUSE 211
seen from aU this that there is considerable obscurity as to the meeting
places of the Court; in truth the Court was moved from place to place.
It appears that twenty acres of land were bought of Jonathan Hopkinson,
and upon it a prison was built, and the house that was upon it was used
for a whfie as a Court House; that afterwards the house of EUzabeth
Winkles, who apparently kept a tavem, was used. There is no evi
dence of the purchase of any other land than that bought of Jonathan
Hopkinson, but in March 1679 (N.S. 1680) the clerk of the Court was
ordered to "send to Mr. WiUiam Hemsley to repair forthwith to the
Court House, and lay out the county land, according to the former
bounds thereof." We may conclude therefore with tolerable cer
tainty that the Court House which was built about the year 1680-81,
was erected upon the land purchased of Jonathan Hopkinson, and
represented to be on Wye. Except the record that the house was
upon this river, there is no other written memorandum to guide us
as to its exact position in the County. If the surveyor ever filed
any return of his survey, it was not placed upon record, or it is lost,
unless indeed, it has been preserved at Annapolis. But there is a
pretty weU established tradition, and one which we may be safe in fol
lowing, that the county land, upon which this Court House was built
was upon the south side of Skipton creek, a branch of Wye, a short
distance from what is called Wye Landing. The twenty acres sold by
Jonathan Hopkinson upon which was first erected the prison and then
the new Court House, was the point of land formed by Skipton creek
and Wye river to the west and south of the dwelling house upon the
farm of the late PhUemon Feddeman Hemsley, known by the name of
"Hopton." Here there are remains of old houses and at one place, in a
situation giving a view directly down the creek into a beautiful bay,
and in the center apparently of a tract of about twenty acres, there is
an excavation which is popularly supposed to have been the ceUar or
dungeons of the jaU; but as the building contracted for by Hopkinson
and built by him had no ceUar this must be an error. In the garden
adjoining the dwelling upon the farm are the debris of another very
ancient buUding. There is nothing however to identify any remains
that are found at this place, with those of the Court House or the jail,
but tradition, as before said, a sufficient guide in this case, points to
this spot on Skipton creek as the site of the old county buUdings. As a
vfilage grew up around the seat of Justice for the county, we may sup
pose there would be left some indications of its existence, and these
indications, though few, are sufficient to identify the location. This
village or town was known by the name of York, a designation bestowed

212 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
no doubt by some of the Justices in reminiscence of their place of resi
dence in the Old World. The town by its proper name is mentioned
for the first time in the record June 20, 1693.
We now come to the time when the first Court House was built
within our present bounds. Among the proceedings of the Court
held Aug. 19, 1679, appears the foUowing record:
The Court hath agreed with Richard Swetnam [the same who was
invited in June of the same year, to come to the place where the court was
held, to keep an ordinary, and to confer with reference to the erection of
a county building], to build a Court House upon the County land in
Wye River; the said house to be fivety foote by twenty-three, with a
Court Hall, eighteen foote by eighteen, according to a plot delivered
to the court by the said Swetnam. In consideration whereof the com
missioners have condescended to payd unto him the s'd Swetnam,
One Hundred & Fifty Thousand Pounds of Tobacco; the one moyety
or half part to be payd this yeare, the remainder at the cleare finishing
the Premises, and the said Swetnam to live in the said house when
finished, seaven years Rent free : the said Swetnam is to repair forth
with to the house where the court is now keep, and lay in provision ag't
the next Court.
The phraseology — "the commissioners have condescended to pay,
etc." will be noticed. Many of those justices who thus condescended
from their lofty seat to pay a carpenter for his work, were the very
same who made Christopher and EUzabeth Barnes, in 1666, "kneele
downe upon their knees in open Court and ask forgivness" for some
peccadiUo. These petty magistrates were the chief dignitaries of the
county and they magnified their office. But they seem not to have been
held in that humble reverence they Uked to exact, for there are frequent
records of their arraignment of persons for conduct and language that
savored of contempt, and they punished offences of this kind that would
be regarded as too insignificant for notice by our Judges. One of them
was publicly accused in 1664 of hog-stealing — an offence of the same
grade in social morals, then, as sheep-stealing is now, and his brother
justices sentenced the slanderer to down go "upon his knees and acknowl
edge that he had wrongfuUy defamed the plaintiff."
The above contract seems not to have been sufficiently explicit, for
in March of the same year (or according to the new style in March of
1680) a new contract, setting forth the specifications of the building,
was made between the Justices and Richard Swetnam, of which the
following is a copy word for word:
This indenture made ye sixteenth day of March One Thousand Six
Hundred and Seaventy nine between Richard Woolman, Major WiUiam

THE COURT HOUSE 213
Coursey, Coll. Philemon Lloyd, Edward Mann, Capt. George Cowley,
James Murphy, WiUiam Combes, Commissioners for ye county of Tal-
bott of ye one party and Richard Swetnam Carpenter of ye other party,
Witnesseth, yt it is covenanted granted, bargained, concluded and
agreed by and between ye said parties in matter and forme following, yt
is to say yt sd Richard Swetnam for himself his heirs Executors and
Administrators doth covenant in manner and forme as hereafter, from
Article to Article doth ensue & follow, yt is to say, yt ye sd Richard
Swetnam att his own propper cost and charges shall forthwith sett
aboute and prosecute ye building of one County Courte house upon ye
County land in Wye River in Talbot County, ye sd building to be
according to Ruff plot heere annexed, yt is to say fifty foote by twenty-
three with a court HaU of eighteene foote by eighteene with a porch eight
foot by eight, ye whole building to be of three stories pitch't the first
twelve foote in ye cleere, ye second nine foote & ye third eight foote,
with an Italion or hip't roofe, with Lutarnes (?) hip't with twelve Archy-
tryve Windowes, in ye two cleere storyes with cornishes over ye heads
of ye windowes two of them in ye Court HaU of eight foote by seaven,
ye rest five feet by six with seaven or eight Lutarne Windowes in ye
Roofe, together with two stacks of brick chimneys of fower harths of
eight foote within the Gaumes with a fayre open viU (?) stare case up
unto ye Roofe, having several partitions with folding wenscoatt dores
where nessisary, ye lower Dores polectioned [this word is so written —
it may be polished, or panneled, or partitioned\, with two chimney pieces
for ye lower rooms. Ye Court Hall to be wenscoated, Railed and Banis-
terd sealed and inclosed in such forme & manner and as comendable
as in ye Provinciall state house, with good and sufficient light clap
board covering and wather boarding with a second covering ye second
yeare after finished, ye whole building to be p'formed & finished att his
ye sd Swetnams owne charge, saving glass, hooks hinges boltes and locks
only excepted; with all brick laying & plastering woorke and under
pining with brick or stone, wch is to be done by some knowne woork-
man who is sufficiently to calk (?) render, wash and stopp ye whole
building and Prime ye windowes in Oyle, Coll. PhilemonLloyd to provide
and finde him colours yt ye whole woorke be sufficiently built woorkman
like & yt all the several timbers thereto be of good proportion and of such
regular scantling as shall be reasonably advised by any good Archy-
tecktare. In consideracon of w'ch bargaines Covenants promises,
Articles and agreements of ye part of ye sd Richard Swetnam, by him his
heyrs, executrs or admrs well and truly to be performed fulfilled and
kept as aforesaid, ye sd ' Richard Woolman
Major Will Coursey
Coll. Philmeon Lloyd
Edward Mann \ Commissioners for
Capt. George Cooly ye County
James Murphey afores'd.
William Combes

214 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
have agreed to pay in behalf e of ye s'd county unto him ye sd Richard
Swetnam his heyres exors, admrs or assignes one hundred and thirty
thousand pounds of tobacco, one moyty at the sealing and delivery of
these presents, yt it to say fifty seaven thousand five hundred and fifty
& one pound of tobacco, whch said sum of fifty seaven thousand five
hundred fifty and one pounds to tobacco ye said Swetnam doth for
himself his heyres executrs & adminrs doth release acquit and discharge
ye sd Richard Woolman George Cowly
Will Coursey James Murphy
Philemon Lloyd William Combes
Edward Mann and either of their heyres executrs &
admrs by these presents and ye s'd
Richard Woolman George Cowly
Will Coursey James Murphy &
Philemon Lloyd William Combes
Edward Mann doe further covenant & prom
ise in behalf e of ye County aforesaid to pay unto him ye sd Ried Swet
nam his heyres and assignes att ye cleare finishing of ye premises Seaven-
ty two thousand foure hundred forty and nine pounds of tobacco, it
being ye full and cleare agremt, in witness whereof ye partyes above men
tioned have interchangeably sett their hands and seales ye day and yeare
first above written. Richard Swetnam [seal]
Signed Sealed and
delivered in ye presence of ]
Benja Randall \
Tho. Impey Clk J
To this instrument succeeds the bond of
Richard Swetnam,
WiUiam Bishope,
Anthony Mayle,
for the faithful performance of the contract, which, as it contains
nothing of special interest, is not copied. The amount of bond was
260,000 lbs. tobacco in the cask.
According to the specifications as stated in this paper it is probable
the first Court House erected within our present bounds was constructed,
and in that house the court met about the year 1682 or 3, not before,
for there are records of its being held at the house of Philemon Lloyd,
Esq., in the year 1681 and of a levy in favor of Mr. John Downes for
the use of his house to keep Court in" — 1000 lbs. tobacco, in November
of the same year. From a minute of the court held in March 1679, 80,
we may infer that our ancestors of the time were not more temperate
than we are ourselves in the use of intoxicating Uquors. It was found
to be necessary to promulge the following order:

THE COURT HOUSE 215
The Court hath ordered that noe ordinary be Keep upon the planta
tion of Elizabeth Winckles by herself or any other person during the time
that Mr. Richard Swetnam is a building the Court House upon the
county land, &c. Another minute of a later date gives indication of
the abuse of the privilege held apparently under the first contract by
Ric'd Swetnam of occupying the Court House as an ordinary. In Sept.
1684, after possession had been taken of the new house, we have this
record: "Ordered by the Court that noe drink be sold in the Court
House, or Drank theire dureing the setting of the Court, in forfeiture
of two shUUngs and six pence for every Pott or Bottle or drink sold
during the setting of the Court aforesaid. According to the levy list of
1682, the contractor was aUowed 2,000 pounds of Tobacco for adding
a porch to the county buUding. One of the accessaries of a Court
House and implements of Justice, in former times, was the public pUlory,
or stocks. Within the recollection of many persons yet living one of
these remnants of barbaric judicature, the stocks and whipping post
stood in the Court House yard in this town. It was placed in front of
the jail, just where the smoke house now stands, and the culprit sat
facing Washington street. The unlucky wight who had the misfortune
to be sentenced to be placed in the stocks, suffered not only the punish
ment of uneasy posture and restraint, but received the unsavory com
pliments of the boys, and low people, not in words only, but in the form
of stale eggs and defunct animals which they threw upon his head, he
being unable to dodge their obscene missiles. Fortunately for us this
degrading punishment of piUory and stocks was long since abolished in
our county and State, though we retained the whipping post to a com
paratively recent date. On the 18th Nov. 1690, the court "Ordered
that Thomas Bruff doe at or before the next ensuing court to be held
for this county, the third day of January next, fix and sett up before the
Court House doore the stock, piUory and whipping post, by act of assem
bly appointed, on penalty of five hundred pounds of Tobacco, for failure,
for his neglect.
But the men did not go "unwhipped of Justice" for want of a whipping
post before the one mentioned above was erected is very plain, for in
the levy laid at the same court Solomon Wright had an aUowance of
50 lbs. of tobacco for whipping John Contee.
Our Justices seem to have been fond of this judicial toy, for the same
Thomas Bruff was in June, 1700 directed
to set up a pair of stocks and whipping post, at the town of Doncaster,
and Robert Grundy a pair of stocks and whipping post at Williamstadt.
Doncaster was a town, now gone to decay, at the mouth of Wye
River, on the "Wye town" farm. Williamstadt was what was, before
this date, and again after, caUed Oxford, on Third Haven River.
It appears that want of accommodation at the place of meeting was
a trouble the court endeavored to diminish by aUowing their Court

216 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
House to be used as an inn; they also in March 1692-3 directed stabling
to be provided for the horses of those who should be in attendance
upon their sittings, as we find by the following order:
Ordered by the Court that John Salter (the same man who built the
Quaker Meeting house on Third Haven) "doe erect and build upp at
the toune of Yorke a stable of forty foot long and twenty foote wide,
with a convenient place at one end to secure bridles and saddles thereby,
overjetting a foot on each side, with cedar posts and cedar and locust
grand rales and the same to beginn and finish with all convenient speed,
&c. Apparently the lease of Richard Swetnam, mentioned above, of the
Court House, as an house of entertainment, expired about 1691, when
it was rented to John Salter for the same purpose and term of years.
In September of 1698 the court entered into a contract with one Laurence
Knowles of a similar character:
Articles of Agreement made between the Commissioners of Talbot
County, on ye one parte and Laurence Knowles of ye same county,
Inholder on ye other part, ye 20th day of September, Anno Domini,
1698, witnesseth:
Imprimis. That ye said Lawrence Knowles is to have ye Court
house, with the land and privileges thereunto belongingf or to Dwell in at
ye yearly rent of Tenn Thousand Pounds of good, sound, weU-condi-
tioned Tobacco, to be paid as a yearly rent (for and during the space
of seaven yeares compleat to ye Justices to be imployed for ye use and
benefit of ye county, and that after John Salter have completely repaired
ye said house, according to articles of agreement with him formerly made
that he ye said Lawrence Knowles doth oblige himself yearely and every
yeare for and during ye said term of seven years to keep up ye said house
in good repair and so to leave it.
2ndly. The ye s'd Lawrence Knowles shaU provide one suitable
roome to be set apart for ye use of ye sheriff of ye county, to make a
prison for debtors.
4thly. The ye s'd Knowles particularly reserve and set apart ye
Court Roome for to hold ye Courts in, and shall likewise provide a
roome for ye use of Juries and Candles sufficient for ye use of ye Court
during ye sitting thereof, in any Court during ye tearme afd.
5thly. The y'd Knowles is to have ye use of ye stable for and during
ye Tearme afd he ye s'd Knowles paying ye annual rent of One thousand
pounds of Tobacco to and for ye use abovesaid, having received ye same
and soe leave it, at ye expiration of ye afd terme.
Knowles gave bond for the faithful discharge of this obligation in the
sum of One Hundred Thousand Pounds of Tobacco, Daniel Sherwood
and Michael Russel being his securities. Of the last mentioned person

THE COURT HOUSE 217
nothing is known, but of Daniel Sherwood, it may be mentioned, as
illustrative of one phase of the social and civU arrangements of the time,
that he was authorized to take care of the poor of the county, at his own
residence, instead of a quartering them upon different persons. This
was the germ of our Alms House. The Court House continued to be
used as an inn until it was finaUy abandoned in 1707, for in 1706 it was
under rent, as appears by a credit on the levy list, to Ralph Stevenson for
3500 lbs. tobacco per year.
Many of the details here given may be, in the opinion of many, very
trivial, and not worth the trouble of perpetuation in print; but to those
possessed of the true antiquarian or archaeological spirit, nothing is
unimportant that belongs to the past; to the student of history, whether
it be the grand epics of nations, or the simple story of a county or neigh
borhood, nothing is valueless that is Ulustrative of the varying con
ditions of society; and by the lover of his natal soU, who with fihal
fondness cherishes every memento of the earlier days of the mother earth
that bore him, nothing is disdained as insignificant that recalls the
features of her prime. By aU such these minutes of the buUding of the
first Court House at York, with its prison and piUory, also its hostelery
for man and beast, wiU not be deemed as without interest or value.
In the next article an account wiU be given of the second and third
county buUdings, the last being that which now stands in the center
of Easton, and upon which workmen are engaged in repairing and im
proving. In the Court House at York,- on Skfpton creek, buUt in 1679, as has
been related in the previous article, the Court continued to be held
until the year 1707. During this time the population of the county had
gone on increasing in numbers with great rapidity. Emigrants, volun
tary or enforced, from the old countries, from neighboring provinces,
and from other sections of Maryland, seated themselves along our
beautiful water courses, which then, as now, afforded such unsurpassed
conveniences of travel and transportation, and caused this tidewater
region speedUy to become settled. The consequent multiplication of
the business of the Court required increased faculties for the adminis
tration of Justice; and the population spreading out into remoter sec
tions of the county, began to feel more and more sensibly the necessity
of making the seats of Justice more accessible. This could best be done
by increasing their number, and thus diminishing the distance which
judges and. juries, parties to suits and their witnesses had to travel to
attend the courts. Appfications, accordingly, began to be made to the

218 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Provincial Assembly for the organization of a new county, from the
northern part of the territory belonging to Talbot. In deference to the
wishes of the people, in April 1706 there was passed an act entitled
"An Act for the dividing and regulating several counties on the Eastern
Shore of this Province, and constituting a county, by the name of Queen
Anne's county, within the same province." By this act the bounds of
Talbot were denned with precision — something which probably never
had been done before. These bounds as thus settled are the same that
are now recognized, and in the words of the act are thus described:
From and after the 1st of May, 1707, the Bounds of Talbot county
shall contain Sharp's Island, Choptank Island [now called Tilghman's
Island] and aU the land on the North side of great Choptank River,
and extend itself up the said River to Tuckahoe Bridge [at what is now
HiUsborough] and from thence with a straight line to the MiU commonly
called and known by the name of Swetnam's mill [now Wye null] and
from thence down the South side of Wye river to the mouth thereof, and
from thence down the Bay, including Poplar Island, to the first begin
ning: also Bruffs Island in Wye River. (Bacon's Laws — 1705, chap.
III). Queen Anne's lay north of these lines, and of course received a large
section of the territory belonging to Talbot, including Kent Island.
Opportunity wiU be taken hereafter to attempt the definition of the
boundaries of Talbot before the date of this act — a matter stiU involved
in much obscurity. It wUI be perceived that the Court House at York
feU within the Talbot lines, but though formerly it was near the center,
if not of the territory, at least of the population, it was now in the north
western extremity of the county and, therefore, far removed from the
larger portion of the people. In consequence it became very necessary
to remove it to a position more central and convenient of access.
The Court continued to hold its sessions at York after the passage
of the act, and up to June 17th, 1707, when the last meeting was held
in the old Court House. But immediately after the law was passed,
the Justices of the county, at a court held in the usual place Aug. 21st,
1706, appointed a commission, constituted of these members of the
court, namely: Robert Grundy, John Dawson and Thomas Robins,
together with Thomas Smithson, Chief Justice of the Provincial Court;
Robert Goldsborough, Attorney for the Queen or Prosecutor and John
Hawkins, also a Judge of the Provincial Court, to select a suitable
place for holding the Courts thereafter. This commission seems to
have decided upon Oxford as the most fitting place, and so soon after

THE COURT HOUSE 219
the time for the act for the division of the county to become operative,
we find the Court assembling at that port. The first Court was held
at Oxford Aug. 19, 1707, at the house of the Sheriff, Daniel Sherwood.
At the last meeting at York, in the old Court House, a commission
from the Queen was read, constitutmg these gentlemen the Justices for
the county:
Matthew Tilghman Warde, James Lloyd,
Robert Ungle, John Dawson,
Thomas Emerson, Foster Turbutt,
Thomas Robins, John Bullen,
Vincent Hemsley,
of whom the six first named, or any three of them, constituted a Court
of Oyer and Terminer, and the four first named were of the Quorum,
without one of whom no Court could be held. These then, were the
first Justices of our county as it was limited in 1706-7. Daniel Sherwood
was commissioned at the same Court, High Sheriff, with John Sherwood,
Philip Sherwood and Charles Ungle, as his Deputies. Robert Finley,
who was clerk before the division, continued to be clerk of the Court,
and Robt. Goldsborough, as mentioned above, was Prosecutor — clerk
of Indictments, or as it is phrased in the record, "who foUoweth for the
Queen." The Court immediately after the division of the county began to
levy tobacco for the purpose of erectmg a new Court House and Prison.
In Nov. 1707, there appears a levy of 28,926 lbs. for that purpose, and
120 lbs. for timber for the stocks at Oxford; and the foUowing year
the sum of 30,000 lbs. was assessed for the new Court House, and 2,400
lbs. to pay the rent of the house the Justices were occupying until the
Court House could be buUt.
It may not be out of place here to say that Oxford, the place selected
for holding the Court, was very accessible by water from aU parts of
the county, and was the most flourishing town within its limits. It
was laid out and made a port in 1683, though it had an existence long
anterior to that date. In 1694 a re-survey was made and it was again
recognized as a port under the name of Williamstadt. There were
other acts and supplements to acts passed in 1707-1708-1709, order
ing the town lands to be laid out anew, and though these acts faUed
to receive the royal assent, the Commissioners did proceed to this duty
as though they had been confirmed. It was at this date (1707) again
called Oxford. When it was thought that this town would be made the
seat of Justice, speculation in town lots was very rife, and a large num-

220 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ber was taken up for buUding thereon, showing that human nature was
the same two hundred years ago as now. In the hands of the compiler
of these annals there is a fuU account of the several surveys, and of the
sale of the lots — an account fortunately preserved by the care of Samuel
Chamberlaine the first of the name who settled in Talbot in the year 1714.
Our public records are quite silent upon this subject.
The Court seemed so weU pleased with the location, that at the
November session of i709, it determined to make Oxford the permanent
seat of Justice for the county. In accordance with this determination
the Justices entered into a contract with Daniel Sherwood, at that time
Sheriff, and Col. Nicholas Lowe who owned the land upon which the
town was built for the erection of a building for Court purposes. The
following is a copy of the contract: ,
Itt is agreed between the Justices of this Court and CoU. Nicholas
Lowe, together with Mr. Daniel Sherwood, for the building and fur
nishing a Court House at the towne and Port of Oxford, in that county
as follows, viz.:
First — That the said House be built fully as large within syde from
wall to wall as Queen Anne's county Court House is from the outside
of the walls thereof, &c.
2ndly — That this county Court House is to be by them the said
Nicholas Lowe & Daniel Sherwood built one foot higher than Queen
Anne's county Court House is built.
3rdly — That it be built directly after the same form of Queen Anne's
county Court House, except as before is agreed, only that instead of sash
windows there is to be wooden shutters for the lower part of the windows,
and glass for the upper part of the windows.
4thly — Itt is agreed between the s'd Justices and the said Lowe and
Sherwood that the said Court House by them the said Lowe and Sher
wood to be built, is to be as fully compleated and adorned in every re
spect, as Queen Anne's county Court House, is, &c.
And Lastly — Itt is agreed between the said Justices, and the said Coll.
Nicholas Lowe and Mr. Daniel Sherwood, that they said CoU. Nich.
Lowe and Mr. Danl. Sherwood shall be paid by this county, at the fin
ishing of the said Court House the sum of One Hundred and Twenty
Thousand Pounds of Tobacco, &c.
But this contract was never carried into effect; on the contrary the
year following, Nov. 21, 1710, it was ordered thus:
That the Court hath appointed to meet at or near Pitte's Bridge,
the third Tuesday in January next, then and there to treat with Phile
mon Armstrong, owner of two acres of land at or near the said Bridge,
whereon to build a Court House in this county according to act of
Assembly, &c. Ordered also by the same court that the sheriff and

THE COURT HOUSE 221
surveyor of this county meet them there accordingly in order to run
out ye afd land <&c, whereon to build ye s'd Court House, &c.
Accordingly the court did meet at the place and time designated in
the above order. Now, Pitt's Bridge near which the Court House was
to be placed, and actuaUy was placed, is that bridge to the north of the
town, on the CentreviUe road sometimes called Tan-yard Bridge, near
the slaughter houses. It is likely this bridge was longer and larger at
the period now referred to, than at the present. It is buUt over the
head of Thud Haven creek; now it spans an insignificant stream, but
formerly it is said to have been over a navigable water course. Old Mr.
Solomon Barrett, a soldier of the Revolution, and the last survivor
of that glorious struggle in this county, whom many remember, stated
in his life, that within his recoUection, oysters used to be brought up
to that bridge in boats for sale, and that it was known as Pitt's Bridge,
by the residents of the neighborhood. There can be no mistake as to
the identification of this bridge as Pitt's Bridge.
The Act of Assembly referred to above, which wUl be referred to again
in subsequent records, was that passed Nov. 4th, 1710, and was entitled
"An Act for the building a Court House for Talbot County, at Arm
strong's Old Field, near Pitt's Bridge." In Bacon's abridgment it is
stated: By this act the Justices of Talbot County were impowered to make
choice, of two acres of land at or near Pitt's Bridge, at the head of Tread
Haven creek, on Philemon Armstrong's Land and the same to purchase
by Agreement or Valuation of a Jury, &c. (Bacon's Laws 1710, chap. V.)
There is in the possession of the compiler of these annals a record
of the laying out of the county land for the purposes of a Court House,
which record is not among those belonging to the county. This record
is in the handwriting of Robert Finley, the clerk, and may therefore be
regarded as perfectly authentic. For the sake of perpetuating this
record, as weU as for its intrinsic interest, it is here copied in fuU :
Talbot sc. Att a Court of our Sovereign Lady Anne, Queen of
Great Britain, &c, caUed and held at the plantation of Philemon Arm
strong near Pitts his Bridge in the said county, by her said Majesty's
Commissioners and Justices of the Peace the sixteenth day of January
Anno Domini One Thousand seven hundred and ten, for the laying out
two acres of land towards the erecting of a Court House in said county,
according to Act of Assembly <fec. Before the Worshipfull
Mr. Thomas Robins 1
Mr. James Lloyd I Her Majesties Justices
Mr. Thomas EmersoD j and Gentlemen.
Mr.JohnBullen

Her Majesties
Justices, Present.

222 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Ordered by the Court here, that the Sheriff doe attend the Justices
of said county with a good and sufficient jury, at the plantation of
Philemon Armstrong, near Pitts Bridge the third Tuesday in February
next, and that the aforesaid Sheriff doe acquaint the absent Justices
with this order &c.
The Court adjourned till the third Tuesday in February next.
Talbot Sc. Att a Court of adjournment of our sovereign Lady Queen
Anne &c. held at the plantation of Philemon Armstrong near Pitts Bridge
the twentieth day of February in the tenth year of her said Majestyes
reigne, Anno Domini One Thousand seven hundred and ten &c. Before
the Worshipfull Mr. Thomas Robins
Mr. James Lloyd
Mr. Thomas Emerson
Mr. John Bullen
The Court proceed to laying out two acres of land in Armstrong's
old field, near Pitts bridge whereon to build a Court house in this county
according to Act of Assembly <fec. And the place where the said land
is laid out, Mr. John Bullen disasents to have the Court house (now to
be built) built on the land laid out as aforesaid &c.
The Sheriff returns his pannel of the Jury which he hath been com
manded to summon, to appear at this Court this day in order to value
two acres of land, at or near Pitts bridge, where on to build a court house
in this county, according to Act of Assembly, whose names are as follow-
eth, vizt. Anthony Rumball John Sherwood
Henry Bayley Walter Moulton
Griffith Evans John Botfield
Edmund Fish Joseph Bounton
William Holmes Richard Cooper
William Bash David Bills (or Mills)
They are accordingly sworne and sent to consider as well the damages
that may accrue as to appraise and value indifferently the aforesaid two
acres of land laid out in order to build a Court House on as aff d &c.
The Said Jury returns to the Court and upon their oaths doe say, We
of the Jury do find the damages to be subjoined, and the value of the
said land at the sum of fifteen thousand pounds of Tobacco <fec.
And the said Court adjudging what they have proceeded in in val-
lueing the land aforesaid to be insufficient, for as much as they did not
unanimously agree of the place whereon to build a court house in this
county. It is therefore Ordered by the Court here that the Sheriff of
this county, together with the Surveyor of the county do attend the
Justices of the county at or near Pitts Bridge, the first day of March
next : Ordered also by the Court here that the said sheriff doe summon
a good and sufficient Jury out of each part of this county, to appear before
the said Justices on the First Tuesday of March aforesaide &c.
Itt is likewise further ordered by the Court here that the Clerk of
this county do putt up notes in the most public places of the county

Her Majesties
Justices, present

THE COURT HOUSE 223
signifying that on Thursday the first day of March next the said Jus
tices were to meet at or near Pitts Bridge in order to procure two acres
of land whereon to build a court house in said County &c. That if any
person or persons is inclinable to take the building of the said Court
House, Lett him or them repair to the place aforesaid, and he or they
shall be heard.
The Court adjourns till the first Tuesday in March next.
Talbot Sc. Att a court of adjournment of her most sacred Majesty
Anne Queen of Great Britain &c. Held near Pitts Bridge by her said
Majestys Commissioners and Justices of the Peace, the first day of
March in the tenth year of her said Majestys reigne &c Annoq. Domini
One Thousand seven Hundred and ten, Before
Mr. Thomas Robins
Mr. Thomas Emerson
Mr. James Lloyd
Mr. John Bullen
The Sheriff returns his pannell which he hath been &c whose names
are as follows (vigt)
John King WiUiam Thomas
WiU. Skinner John Hendrix
Andrew Kinnemont Thomas Sockwell
Jacob Gibson John Needles (Nedels)
Richard Holmes Marvine Giddins
Loftus Bowdle John Lovedaye
They are accordingly sworn and sent to consider as well of the Dam
ages, as to appraise and value indifferently two acres of land this day
laid out, near Pitts Bridge, whereon to build a court House, &c.
The aforesaid Jury returns to the Court and upon their oaths do say,
we of the Jury do find the Damages to be sustained, and the value of
the said land at the Summ of Five Thousand pounds of Tobacco &c.
Robert Finley Cler. Cur. Comm. Talbot.
Now the land thus laid out, surveyed, and valued is that land upon
which the Court House now stands, and makes a part of the original
patent of Londonderry — a name that is stiU perpetuated in the beauti
ful seat of Doct. Ninian Pinckney, of the U. S. Navy, who stiU holds a
large part of the tract. Although it is said the place where the Court
House was erected was caUed Armstrong's Old Field, it would appear
that at the time the Court House was bunt upon it the land was wooded,
for Philemon Hemsley was allowed in the levy of 1711 a certain amount
for grubbing the same. In the same year William Turbutt, who was the
Deputy Surveyor of the county under Robt. Diggs, Esq., Surveyor
General for the Eastern Shore, laid out the road to the landing at what
we now caU Easton Point but in our earlier annals known by the less
euphonious, or less elegant name of "Cowe Landing," It is worthy

224 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
of record too, that in the following year 1712, aUowances were made in
the Levy for the road from MUes River ferry to the new Court House,
across the head of Third Haven creek, and for the bridge then, probably,
first constructed, which is now caUed the Court House bridge. Before
this date persons to reach what is now Easton from Bay Side went around
by the Glebe road and came across Pitt's Bridge. The Court House
Bridge was properly so caUed, for it was a bridge for the purpose of
reaching the Court House.
After it had been determined that the Court House should be placed
on "Armstrong's Old Field" 'mear Pitts his bridge," Oxford was aban
doned. While there the court was held in the houses of Daniel Sherwood,
and of Mary Stevenson who had aUowances for rent made them in the
levies. The first Court held in Oxford was upon 19th Aug. 1707. The
last court in Oxford was held March 20, 1710, when a new commission for
the Justices was read, directed to these gentlemen:
Mathew Tilghman Warde "
Robert Ungle
Thomas Robins
James Lloyd 1
Thomas Emerson J
John Bullen ]
Anthony Wise > gentlemen
WiUiam Clayton J
Of whom the three first mentioned were of the Quorum. These gentle
men with the exception of Mr. Warde assembled at the place now called
Easton, on the 19th day of June 1711, and there held the first court
ever held upon the land now occupied by our county seat. The follow
ing is the loyal and specific record of the convening of the court:
Att a court of our Sovereign Lady Anne, Queen of Great Britain,
&c, &c, held for Talbot County (in a house of Mr. PhUemon Hemsley
adjacent to the land laid out whereon to build a Court House, in said
County near Pitt's Bridge), by her Sacred Majesty's Commissioners
and Justices of the Peace, the 19 day of June in the 10th year of her
Sacred Majesty's Reigne &c, Anno q. Domini One thousand seven
hundred and eleven & there continued until the twentieth day of the
same month, before
The Worshipfull Mr. Robt. Ungle
[and the other justices named above.]
Her Majesty's Justices present.

THE COURT HOUSE 225
The officers of the court at this time were:
Clerk: Robert Finley;
High Sheriff; Foster Turbutt;
Deputy Sheriff: PhiUp Feddeman; Ernault Hawkins; Samuel Turbutt;
Attorney for the Queen: Robt. Goldsborough;
Crier: WU1 Clayland;
Coroner: Andrew Skinner;
Surveyor: WiUiam Tarbutt.
At this date Col. Thomas Smithson, who is yet held in grateful re
membrance by the pious members of the Episcopal Church of St. Michael's
Parish for his large bequest of land to the Parish, for a Glebe, and PhUe-
mon Lloyd, Esq., of Wye Island, at one time belonging to Talbot, were
members of the Provincial Court, and had a seat in our County Court,
when present, as aU Judges of that Court were entitled to have.
At this last court held at Oxford, and by the Judges of the new com
mission, mentioned above, a contract was made with PhUemon Hemsley^,
of Queen Anne's County, for the erection of the Court House for Talbot
upon the plot of land purchased of PhUemon Armstrong, near Pitt's
Bridge. The foUowing is a copy of the contract, as entered among the
court records of Mh. 20, 1710, (N. S. 1711) :
Articles of agreement made and concluded by and between we the
subscribers her majesties Justices of Talbot County of the one part and
Philemon Hemsley of Queen Anns County Gent'n of the other part Wit-
nesseth, whereas there is a certain act of assembly in this province entit-
uled An Act for building and erecting a Court House for Talbot County
at or near Pitts Bridge impowering the said Justices or the major part
of them to treat and agree with undertakers or workmen for buUding a
Court house for the said county at the place aforesaid, In pursuence of
the said act we the said Justices hereunto subscribed, have accordingly
treated and mutually agreed to and with the said PhUemon Hemsley
for buUding a Court house on two acres of land already laid out near
Pitts Bridge for that purpose according to the Plott of the said house
drawn by the said Philemon Hemsley and the Dimensions ffol; vizt.
First. The said house to be thirty feet long in the clear and twenty
feet wide in the clear, with a back building for the Seat of Judicature of
twelve feet and eighteen feet in the clear and thirteen feet pitch from
the level of the earth to the waU of plate, the walls of the said house all
round from the foundation to the water table to be two brick thick and
a brick and a half upward to the waU plate, and the gabel ends above
Joyce to be one brick thick with a small chimney in the chamber that is
over the seat of Judicature, the said building to be built of weU burnt
brick, laid in good sufficient mortar workmanlike, the front of the said

226 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
house of smooth bricks with blue headers (?) and stretchers, to be rubbed
(?) from the sills of the windows upwards to the wall plate with streight
arches over the windows done workmanUke, the ends and back part
of the said house to be plain good work with a hemsome (?) (quaere,
handsome) Peddiment over the front doore supported with weU turned
Cullums and bases of Cedar and Locust, the roof of the said house to
be well shingled with Cypress Shingles sheweing mundiUions (?) (quaere,
medallions) in the front barge boards at the ends, aU the back eaves to
be well boxt with good moulding workmanlike; the front door to be
Cedar or Locust if Cedar the siU to be locust with Lights over the door,
worked with Archytrive on ye sd Doore case the front to have archy-
trive Transome windows, all the other windows to be plain transome win
dows except the Dormers which are to be without transome, the seat of
Judicature to be handsomele wenscutt, with a Suitable chaire benches
railes and baUisters with tables and benches for the attorneys, with suita
ble railes and baUesters round where the Grand Jury and the Pettit Jury
must stand, with convenient stairs for either to go up stairs at either end
as Described in the Piatt, all the floor with the railes and seat of Judicature
to be planked, aU without weU paved, the upper floor to be rabbitted or
grooved Devided into convenient rooms with Pettitions of Plank with
good frame doors, the front doore to be a hansome Double Doore the
Joyce of the said house to be all galloping (?) Joyce of Ten inches and
four inches square, the Rafters seven and four inches square at foot and
four square at head, the inside of the said house or building above stairs
and below to be well lathed and plastered all ye windows of the said.
house to be well glazed with Led (?) and glass except the lower lights in
the transome windows in the front end below Joyce which are to have
shetters instead of glass; all the windows front doore cullums peddi-
ments. Dorments and Eaves of the said house and seat of Judicature
well primed and painted.
Secondly. The said Philemon Hemsley doth promise to compleat
and finish ye sd building in every respect workmanlike, according to the
Dementions and Directions as above specified by the Twentyeth day
of November which shall happen in the year of our Lord One thousand
seven hundred and twelve, and also to finde and provide for the said
Justices a convenient [house] at or near the said place called Pitts
Bridge to hold Court in on ye third Tuesday in June next, and during
the building of the said house &c.
In consideration whereof we the said Justices being authorized as
aforesaid Doe agree to pay him the said Philemon Hemsley or his assignes
the full and just Quantity of one Hundred and fifteen thousand pounds
of good merchantable tobacco, convenient in the aforesaid county (that
is to say) sixty thousand pounds of Tobacco this present year and the
sum of twenty thousand pounds of tobacco at the closeing (?) of the said
house, and the remaining part at the finishing of the aforesaid worke.
In witness whereof the Partys above said have hereunto set their hands
and seals the 23rd day of March in the tenth year of the reigne of our

THE COURT HOUSE 227
sovereigne Lady Anne of Great Britain France and Ireland Queen defen
der of the faith &c. Annoq. Domini 1710 1 M. T. Warde [seal]
2 Robt. Ungle [seal]
3 Thos Robins [seal]
4 James Lloyd [seal]
5 Thomas Emerson [seal]
6 John BuUen [seal]
7 Antho. Wise [seal]
8 Will Clayton Jr. [seal]
Philemon Hemsley [seal]
Signed Sealed and Delivered in the Presence of Robt. Finley
Phil. Feddeman.
For the faithful execution of the above recited contract, the foUowing
persons became security to the amount of two hundred and thirty
thousand pounds of tobacco, viz:
Philemon Hemsley,
Tho. Martin,
Will. Clayton,
WiU. Clayland,
Trus. Thomas.
According to these articles of agreement it is altogether probable
the second Court House for the county was buUt. But the court did
not await its completion before it moved to the place selected for its
its permanent sittings, for we find it occupying, "the House of Mr.
Philemon Hemsley's adjacent to the lands laid out whereon to build a
Court House in Talbot Co.," June 19, 1711, and the court of this date
was the first held at or near the site of the Court House now standing.
By the June foUowing the Court House seems to have been sufficiently
completed to aUow the courts to hold their sessions therein, for the 17th
of that month 1712, the first court was, according to the record, held in
the Court House near "Pitts his Bridge," and there it continued to be
held until after the Revolutionary war, as will hereafter appear.
At a court held Aug. 21, 1711, it was ordered.
That he the said Foster Turbutt [then Sheriff] proceed to build a goal
or prison house (on part of the lands laid out whereon to build a Court
House in the county near Pitts' Bridge) untill such time as the Justices
of the Court shaU further consider of the same, and that he the said
Turbutt be accordingly allowed therefor at the laying this County levy
&c.

228 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
The jail appears to have been built, for the levies were certainly
made for the purpose. The total cost of the prison was 50,000 lbs. of
tobacco, and it seems to have been completed in the FaU of 1713. Of
course there was an appropriation for stocks.
The Court House was not rented, as was that at York, to any occupant
but Mr. Henry Frith was placed in charge of it to keep it clean, to
provide lights, fuel, &c, &c. He received 800 pounds of tobacco per
year for his trouble.
By an Act of Assembly of Nov. 1710 the commissioners of the county
were authorized and empowered to sell the Old Court House and Prison
at York, and the land thereunto belonging, to the best purchaser. In
accordance with this act the Justices made sale of the property to
Robert Finley for 8000 lbs. tobacco, as appears by a credit on the levy
list of Nov. 21, 1712. There is no evidence to determine whether this
was the full, or only a partial payment.
It was intended that this article should conclude what was meant to
be said concerning the Court Houses of the county; but as it has length
ened itself out beyond the prescribed limits, indulgence is asked for the
infliction of another paper, which shall give an account of the erection
of the present existing county buUdings.
It wiU have been seen from what was contained in the preceding
article, that the Justices or Commissioners of the county in building a
Court House in "Armstrong's Old Field," near "Pitts his Bridge,"
erected a good, substantial, and for the requirements of the time,
commodious edifice — one very different from those perishable structures
previously built for court uses, which were in constant need of repairs,
judging by the frequent levies made for that purpose, and which rotted
down almost as soon as completed. In this Court House then, built not
only with regard to amplitude and permanence, but with some pre
tensions to architectural taste, as the contract evinces, and with no
disdain of ornament, the courts of the county continued to be held
from 1712 to 1794, a period of eighty-two years, a longer time than has
elapsed since the erection of the Court House now standing. But,
with the progress of the county, and the changes in our judiciary system
brought about by the Revolutionary war, a new buUding had become
necessary, even supposing the old one had remained unaffected by decay.
In the year 1776, the Proprietary government having previously
been deposed, a convention framed a constitution for the new bom
State of Maryland, and in 1777 this constitution became our funda
mental law. By this instrument, so full of sound political wisdom,

THE COURT HOUSE 229
so capable of adaptation to the ever changing phases of society, the
judiciary and other civU machinery that had been in operation under
provincial regime was changed. Yet it was not so radicaUy changed
as one would expect, considering the great poUtical mutation which had
just occurred. Under the proprietary government the highest judicial
tribunal, that is of original or primary jurisdiction, was the Provincial
Court. This, by the constitution, was merged into the General Court,
which was required to sit, not as the Provincial Court at the seat of
government — first at St. Mary's and then Annapolis — only, but al
ternately upon the Western and the Eastern Shores of the State. The
county Courts remained pretty much the same as under the provincial
system, but their organization was essentiaUy modified in 1791 and
more thoroughly in 1794. Beside the General and the County Courts,
the new constitution provided for a Court of Appeals, which was at
first required to sit only at Annapolis but subsequently, in 1805, when
the General Court was abolished, was made to hold a session on the
Eastern Shore, for the transaction of business for this section of the
State. The constitution, besides reorganizing the judiciary system,
created or continued certain civU offices, some of which were of a duph-
cate character, having places and incumbents on both the shores. At
some future time, it is hoped, an opportunity wiU be offered to give a
full and detaUed account of the various changes that have been made,
from time to time, in our judiciary, but now, there is no such opportunity.
Now these changes of the Courts, and this creation of new offices
rendered it necessary that a larger and better appointed buUding should
be erected for their accommodation, at least upon the Eastern Shore;
and accordingly at the very first session of the General Assembly after
the adoption of our State constitution, we find that steps were taken
towards this end. By an Act of Assembly entitled, "An Act to open
Courts of Justice, and for other purposes" (177, chap. XV, sec. 9) among
other things, it was provided * * *
That the Judges of the General Court, or any one of them shall hold
their first Court for the transacting and determining the business of the
Eastern Shore at Talbot Court House, in Talbot county, on the second
Tuesday of September next, and on the second Tuesday of April and
September, until a town shall be laid out at Dover, and a Court and
prison there erected; after which the said Court for the Eastern Shore
shall be forever held at Dover on the second Tuesday of April and Sep
tember, * * * and that Justices of the several county Courts,
under the present form of government, or any three or more of them,
shall hold their respective Courts, on the days hereafter directed by
acts of Assembly.

230 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
It will be perceived that the Legislature contemplated not only the
erection of a Court House and prison, but the foundation of a new town
upon the Shore, which should be as it were a second Capital. This
last remark is not merely inferential, but there is good authority for the
declaration, as wiU appear in the sequel. The town of Dover had an
existence, however, long anterior to the date of this Act, though it
probably had no corporate existence — or was not laid out according to
any law. The knowledge that any town of the name was ever within
the bounds of the county, wUl probably be new to most of our citizens;
but nothing can be better substantiated in our topographical annals
than that upon the banks of the Choptank river, about three miles
from Easton, upon the land known as Barker's Landing, now owned
by Capt. Hardcastle and not far from what is now Dover bridge, there
was in the middle, and even the earUer part of the last century, a town
of considerable foreign trade, if not of very large population. At the
place designated, there are the excavations of ceUars, the debris of walls,
and the remains of wharves and piers. Upon the adjoining farm of
Mr. WiU. T. EUiott, may be found many tombstones, which indicate
the place of sepulcher for the viUage. AU these serve to mark the site
of this ancient settlement. The name of the bridge now in use, and of
the former ferry at the same place, but which was kept at a point lower
down the river in the earliest years of its existence, actuaUy at Barker's
Landing, is derived from the town which formerly existed near this
river crossing, and not from the fact that by the ferry or the bridge
the traveler may reach Dover, Delaware. The road caUed "Dover road"
also derives its name from the fact that it led to Dover on the Chop-
tank. There is abundant evidence in our county and other authentic
records that there was a town at the point indicated, and it was at this
town, to be laid out according to law, that the new Court House, for
the General Court of the Eastern Shore, and for the accommodation of
the State officers, for the same section, was to be erected.
The provision of the act of Assembly aheady quoted for the erection
of a Court House for the Eastern Shore, at Dover, seems to have been
entirely disregarded. There is no evidence that any attempt or overtures
to an attempt, to carry it into execution were ever made, and the alter
native of holding the Courts at the Talbot Court House, as provided
in the bfil, was adopted. The county Court House near Pitt's Bridge
was therefore used by the general as well as the county Courts for many
years. In the year 1788, an act was passed repealing so much of the

THE COURT HOUSE 231
former act as related to the holding of the General Court for the Eastern
Shore at Dover, and the second section of the bUl (1788, chap. XVT, sec. 2)
was in these words:
And be it enacted that the Judges of the General Court, or any one
of them, shall hold their Court for transacting and determining the busi
ness of the Eastern Shore at Talbot, in Talbot county, forever hereafter;
and that the Dame of the said town shaU hereafter be called Easton.
It wiU be remembered that up to the year 1786, the viUage that had
grown up around the seat of Justice in this county had no other name
than that of the Court House — or Talbot Court House. In that year
by act of Assembly (1785, chap. XXXII).
Messieurs Jeremiah "Banning,
Hugh Sherwood, of Huntington,
John Stevens,
Greenbury Goldsborough and
Alexander McCuUum,
were appointed a board of Commissioners to purchase lands, lay them
off into lots, and make other arrangements for the founding and build
ing a town near the Court House, which town should be caUed Talbot.
It was then first that the viUage was authorized to assume the name
mentioned in the supplementary act quoted above. At this vUlage and
its Court House the General Court for the. Eastern Shore was ever
afterwards to be held, and it was to be called, thenceforward, not
Talbot, but Easton, after Easton in England near Bristol on the
lower Avon.
The insufficiency of the county buUdings, however, had already been
experienced, and the General Assembly following that which had di
rected the General Court to be held at Talbot, or Easton, namely, that
of 1789, passed an Act (1789, chap. XXXVI) entitled <7An Act for the
building a Court House in Talbot county, for the accommodation of the
General Court for the Eastern Shore, and the county of Talbot," of
which the foUowing is an abstract or brief:
Seel. Whereas * * * * it is represented to this general assem
bly, that the court house belonging to the said is extremely inconvenient
and incompetent to accommodate the general court, from whence it
appears necessary that a court house should there be erected for the
accommodation of the said general court : And whereas it is represented
that the inhabitants of Talbot county are willing to defray part of the
expense of the building; therefore,

232 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Sec. 2. Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That
Robert Goldsborough
WiUiam Perry,
WiUiam Hayward,
Howes Goldsborough } Esquires
James TUghman, Jr.,
PoUard Edmondson and
David Kerr
shall be and are hereby appointed Commissioners for the purpose of
carrying this act into execution.
Sec. 3. And be it enacted, That the public ground in the town of
Easton, in the said county of Talbot, shall be and the same is hereby
appropriated to the uses intended by this act, and shaU hereafter be
vested in the Justices of Talbot county court, and in the Judges of the
said general court, for the mutual accommodation of the general court
for the Eastern Shore, and of the county court of Talbot county.
Sec. 4. Provides for the levy of five hundred pounds on the property
of the county by the Justices of Talbot county, one-half in the year
1790 and the other half in 1791, and the application of the same to the
uses and purposes directed in the act.
Sec. 5. Authorizes the above mentioned Commissioners to draw upon
the Treasurer of the Western Shore for the sum of Two Thousand Five
Hundred pounds, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury of the
State. Sec. 6. And be it enacted, That the said Commissioners, or the
major part of them, shaU be and they are hereby authorized and required
to contract and agree for the building of the said court house, and to
direct the plan of the same; which said court house, when erected and
finished, shall be used as, and taken held and deemed to be, the proper
court house of the general court of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and
of the county of Talbot.
Sec. 7. Provides for the fiUing vacancies in the board of Commis
sioners, by appointment of the Governor and Council.
Sec. 8. Provides for the payment to the Commissioners of all their
necessary expenses, contracted in the execution of the trust.
Sec. 9. Provides for the rendering a full and fair account to the
Governor and CouncU, by the Commissioners, of aU their receipts and
expenditures. In accordance with one of the provisions of this act the Justices of
the county, did in the years 1790 and 1791 assess upon the property
the amount of five hundred pounds, two hundred and fifty pounds in
each year; but it does not appear that the erection of the building com-

THE COURT HOUSE 233
menced before the year 1792, for in Dec. 1791 another act, supplementary
in fact, but not so caUed, to the former, was passed (1791, chap. IV)
entitled ,rAn Act to authorize the Commissioners for building a Court
House at Easton, Talbot county, to seU and dispose of the old court
house, and for other purposes therein mentioned." The preamble to
this act is in these words :
Whereas it is represented to this general assembly that the Commis
sioners for building a court house at Easton, in Talbot county, are of
opinion that the spot on which the old court house now stands in the most
proper site for the new building: And whereas the records, books and
some other things belonging to the public are deposited in the said old
court house; therefore be it enacted, &c.
This biU provided (1) for the sale of the old Court House by the
Commissioners; (2) for the renting or leasing by the clerk of the county
Court and the register of wUls of proper repositories for the books and
other public property of their respective offices; (3) for the removal of
the same books, papers and public property to the new Court House,
within ten days after the date, when the several officers shall have re
ceived notice from the Commissioners that proper rooms had been
provided in the new buUding for their reception; (4) and for the payment
of all necessary expenses for such removal from the old, and re-removal
to the new Court House, and for the rent of the rooms used whUe the
new house was in progress of building.
A supplement to the above act was passed at the same session (1791,
chap. XXVIII) authorizing the Justices of Talbot county Court
to contract and agree for a convenient house in the town of Easton,
to hold Courts and elections for the aforesaid county, and from and after
the first day of January, in the year seventeen hundred and ninety-two.
and commanding that such house should be considered the Court
House to aU intents and purposes whatsoever, until the completion of
the new Court House. It also provides for the expense attending the
renting of such "convenient house."
These laws passed by the General Assembly serve to give us many
interesting items of information respecting the new Court House.
It appears from them that the State defrayed much the larger part of
the expenses incurred in the erection of the building. The whole cost
of the buildmg it was intended should not exceed three thousand pounds
of current money. Of this the county assumed to pay five hundred
only and the State twenty-five hundred pounds. This house was

234 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
probably the largest buUding within the State, at the date of its erection,
with the exception of the State House in Annapolis. There is very good
ground for stating that this very Uberal appropriation from the general
treasury, and the extensive scale upon which it was determined to build
the Court House, had not their origin solely in a desire to give accommo
dation to the various State and county courts, and the civil officers,
but in an expectation that at some future time, and that not remote,
the legislature would sit alternately at Annapolis and Easton, just as
the legislature of Connecticut sits every other year at Hartford or
New Haven. In truth the province, and then the State had long pos
sessed a kind of duplicate government, for while the governor was
necessarily one, there were other officers for each of the two shores. It
has been only within the recoUection of persons now living that the
custom of having a court of appeals, a land court with its judge and
court officers, a treasurer, for each of the shores was abolished, and to
the present there is not complete homogeny, for the United States
Senators must be selected, one from the eastern and the other from the
western section, while the Governor by a kind of conventional arrange
ment was untU a very recent period chosen alternately from the two
shores — Easton as being the seat of justice for the State courts of this
shore and as being the place where the various State offices were located
was for a long time caUed the "Little Capital," and doubtless its in
habitants indulged the fancy that a legislative assembly would some
time or other hold its sessions in its Court House which was, in its day,
quite an imposing structure.
From the laws, we learn also, that the new Court House was erected
upon the same spot of ground that the house of 1712 stood, and that the
old building was torn down to give place to the new. It is not unlikely
that a portion of the old materials were incorporated into the new
edifice. While the new buildmg was in progress therefore, it became
necessary to rent rooms for the courts and the officers of the county,
within the viUage. The levy fists for the year 1793 and 1794 give us
some slight information of the houses used for court purposes. We
find that Jesse Richardson, Treasurer of Lodge No. 6 of the order of
Masons, was allowed in 1793 four pounds ten shillings "for the Orphans'
Court setting in the Lodge Room nine days," and fourteen pounds
ten shillings '"'for the county court setting in the Lodge Room twenty
nine days." In 1794 there is more than one aUowance in the levy
to Solomon Corner for the "sitting of the Court in his house." Ap
parently the Clerk's and Register's offices were in a house belonging to

THE COURT HOUSE 235
David Kerr, Esq., he having been allowed six pounds for the use of these
offices. At one time, and most probably at this date, 1793-94, the
Masonic Lodge Room was over the old market house upon Harrison
street, between Dover and Goldsborough street — the buildmg now used
as a stable by Mr. John Mason. In these humble quarters, now de
voted "to such base uses," were our courts held. Mr. Solomon Corner
of whose house also the court at this time made use, kept a tavern in
this town. This was not the first time the court had sat in a house
of public entertainment, as we have previously seen. Mr. David Kerr
was a highly respectable merchant of Scotch descent, who for several
years represented the county in the General Assembly, who at this date
was Judge of the Orphans' Court, and who fiUed other offices with
great usefulness and acceptance. No minute of the place of holding
the General Court for the Eastern Shore has been discovered, as the
records of that court were removed to Annapolis, with those of the
Court of Appeals, into which it merged in 1805, when that court ceased
to meet in Easton under the provisions of the constitution of 1851.
It is probable, however, the General Court met in the same rooms, that
were used by the County Court.
Another point is settled by the Acts of Assembly that have been
quoted, namely, that the commissioners were authorized to contract
for the buUding of the Court House, upon a plan and according to speci
fications that should be determined upon by them. A pretty thorough
search through the Clerk's office has faUed to discover a draft of this
contract and this plan. It may yet be discovered at the seat of govern
ment of the State. There is a tradition which has not been certainly
verified, that the architect of the State house at Annapolis was also the
architect of our Court House. The simUarity of the two structures may
have been the origin of the current beUef, but the long interval of time
between the erection of the State House (1760, chap. XIV), and that
of the Court House (1789, chap. XXXVI) renders the tradition improb
able. A Mr. WiU Anderson was the architect of the State House, and
may have been of our Court House. But it is very certain, from numerous
records, that whoever was the designer of the buUding, Cornehus West
was the contractor and buUder. As there is no evidence that during
the time of the erection of the Court House, he received or expected to
receive anything more than the five hundred doUars appropriated by
the county and the twenty-five hundred pounds appropriated by the
legislature, it is presumable the contract was made for building the house,
as we now see it, for this sum of 3000 pounds, currency. This converted

236 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
into Federal money, at the rato estabUshed by the Act of 1781, namely,
two dollars sixty-six and a two-thirds cents per pound, Maryland cur
rency, or seven and six pence to the dollar, made the cost of the Court
House eight thousand dollars. As the value of money has very largely
decreased since that time, by the increase of the production of gold and
silver and the employment, more generally than before, of paper cur
rency, we may safely say the buUding cost a sum that would be equiva
lent to at least $20,000 of the money of the present.
But it would seem that CorneUus West either gave more and better
work and materials than he should have had done, or he made a false
estimate of the probable cost, for in the Maryland Herald & Eastern
Shore General Advertiser — the first paper ever published upon this Shore-
contains in its issue of Sept. 20, 1794, the foUowing advertisement:
The subscriber gives public notice that he means to petition the next
General Assembly of the State praying that compensation may be made
him for what he actuaUy lost in building a Court House of the county of
Talbot, in the State of Maryland, by the unexpected and rapid rise for
everything requisite for carrying on the said building, besides journey
men's wages, provisions, &c, which by a statement of the expenditures
accompanied by the original estimate presented last session, is made to
appear to be at least four hundred pounds.
CORNELIUS WEST.
Mr. West's petition was laid before the legislature, and received from
that body favorable consideration, and as it seemed to be a fair and
equitable claim, an Act was passed (1794, chap. LXIII) for his relief
entitled "An Act for the reUef of CorneUus West of Talbot County"
of which this is a copy:
Whereas it appears by the petition of Cornelius West that he contract
ed with the commissioners for building a new Court House in Easton,
in Talbot county, for the accommodation of the General Court for the
Eastern Shore, and the County of Talbot; and whereas it appears that
after making the said contract the prices of materials, provisions and
labor took a sudden rise, by which the money contracted for did not pay
more than the materials and workmen, leaving nothing for his own
labour and expenses for near three years; and whereas it is just and
reasonable that the said Cornelius West should have a compensation
for his labour and expenses.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland that the justices
of Talbot County be authorized and empowered to levy on the assessable
property of the said County, a sum not exceeding one hundred and fifty
pounds, current money, to be paid to the said Cornelius West, or his
order.

THE COURT HOUSE 237
The amount stated in the bUl, not nearly so much as was asked, was
accordingly levied, as appears by the records of the Levy court, and
doubtless paid to the contractor. This did not save him from bank
ruptcy, for he is said to have been pecuniarily ruined by the faithful job
performed by him for our county. Some of the sub-contractors are
said to have suffered also.
The buUding appears to have been completed early in 1794, for among
the minutes of the county court held the second Monday in June, of
the same year, appears this record of its formal acceptance by the
Justices: Whereas by an Act of Assembly passed at a session of the General
Assembly of Maryland begun and held in the city of Annapolis on Mon
day the seventh day of November, and ended the thirtieth day of
December in the year 1791, it was enacted that the Justices of Talbot
County Court be authorized and requested to contract and agree for a
convenient house in the town of Easton to hold the Courts for the county
aforesaid, and from and after the first day of January in the year 1792
the several courts and elections for the county aforesaid shall be held at
such house as aforesaid provided by the Justices aforesaid, and that the
said house shaU be considered as the Court house of the said county to
all intents and purposes whatever, until the New Court House shall be
finished for that purpose, and that the several courts and elections, as
soon as conveniently may be shaU be held in the new Court House, and
not elsewhere; and whereas the Commissioners for buUding the said new
Court House have signified to the court, that the said new Court House
is finished and has been defivered to the builder thereof, for the pur
poses for which it was erected, it is therefore ordered by the Court that
the said new buUding is received and shall be considered henceforth as
the Court House of Talbot County to aU intents and purposes whatso
ever. Ordered that pubUc notice be given of the above at the Court House
door. It is probable this court, held in accordance with the law of 1790
on the second Monday in June, was the first ever held within the new
building, but the various officers had taken possession of the rooms
assigned to them a Uttle before this time, say in April, as appears by
several advertisements inserted in the Herald.
It would seem that at this date the hours of business commenced with
sunrise, and closed with sunset. It is likely that from the first, the
Clerk and Register occupied the rooms now used by them, in the N. E.
and S. E. corners of the building. The Register of the land office at
first had a desk in the office of the Register of Wills. Subsequently the

238 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
room in the rear of the Clerk's office — that is in the N. W. corner-
was used by him. The Sheriff has the room now occupied by the Board
of School Commissioners, and here was also the clerk of the Court of
Appeals, in the last years of the sittings of that court upon the Eastern
Shore, though the original office of this Clerk was in the N. E. corner
room, on the second floor. There were two grand halls of justice occupy
ing the center of the buUding above and below. Upon the first floor, sat
the county court, but subsequently it sat above stairs during the Fall
term. There was then no partition across the lower hall, and the whole
space was open. In the large hall above sat the Court of Appeals, the
room having a partition across it, so as to diminish its size, and enable
it to be warmed. Here also sat the county court in autumn, as stated
above. The judges occupied, what was termed the "seat of justice"—
the recess in the western end of these halls — not as now, the eastern
end. The General Court made use of one of these halls; which, is not
known, as that court has been so long aboUshed no one now Uving can
remember when it held a term in Easton. Probably, however, it sat
in the same room that was subsequently used by the Court of Appeals.
Besides these courts, it is certain that occasionally the United States
Circuit Court held its sessions in the new Court House. In the Her
ald of Nov. 18, 1794, there is printed a most remarkable charge of Mr.
Justice Blair to the Grand Jury, at a term of this court. The striking
feature of the charge was its political character. The Judge being an
ardent Federafist, he took occasion to belabor severely and without stint
not only those who were engaged in the Whisky RebeUion, but their
apologists, the RepubUcans of the day; nor did he spare those who were
then in sympathy with the French, a nation that was then carrying
things with a high hand, at home and abroad.
The following are the names of the Judges and the Justices of the
Peace, who held courts in our Court House, when it was first thrown
open, and of the several officers, connected with the civil affairs of the
State upon this Shore, and of the county.
Judges of the General Court for the Eastern Shore.
Samuel Chase, Chief Judge.
Nicholas Thomas, 1
Jeremiah Townley Chase,) Associate JudSes-
Judges of the County Court.
Hon. James TUghman, Chief Judge, of Q. A.
James Tilghman, Jr., "1 _ ,
John Stevens. Associate Judges.

THE COURT HOUSE 239
Justices of the Peace.1
John Bracco, John Roberts,
WU1. Dawson, Dan'l. P. Cox,
Woolman Gibson, WiU Hambleton, Jr,
Hugh Sherwood, James Price,
Peter Webb, Henry Johnson.
Judges of the Orphans' Court.
John Bracco, William Dawson.
David Kerr.
Clerk of Gen. Court, E. S. — Benj. Stevens,
Clerk of County Court— WU1. S. Bond,
Attorney General for State — Luther Martin,
Deputy Attorney General — Jno. L. Bozman,
Register of Wills — James Price,
Sheriff — Richard Johns,
County Surveyoi" — David D. Barrow.
For the sake of brevity, the writer must forego the privUege of refer
ring to the many distinguished judges, eloquent lawyers and efficient
public officers that have appeared within the waUs of this Court House:
nor can there be reference to the many remarkable trials that there
have had their hearing and their determination.
Each of these subjects would afford matter for most interesting chap
ters in our County annals, which may, perhaps, be hereafter written.
But here must terminate this account, aheady become inordinately
long and tedious, of the Court Houses of Talbot County.
This monograph would not be complete without some notice of that
necessary adjunct of the Court House, the county jaU. Justice is al
ways represented as carrying not only the scales but the sword: for
she sits not only to decree righteousness but to punish wickedness.
Our Court House is symbolized in her balance — our jaU in her sword.
Eighty and more years had not passed without leaving their marks upon
the old building which during that time had been used for the confine
ment of criminals and those that were then considered almost equal
offenders against law and morals, the debtors, to say nothing of dis
obedient slaves. The changed conditions of society, since the period
of its erection and particularly the claims of an enlightened humanity
ui regard to the treatment of prisoners, awakened by the recent revela
tions of the horrors of European prisons by the great philanthropist,
'They sat also as a levy court.

240 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Howard, demanded other and better accommodations for the unfortunate
and vicious than those which were satisfactory in 1713, when the prison
for the Court House near Pitts' Bridge was built. Soon therefore after
the completion of the new Court House at Easton, — in the same year
of its occupancy, — the following advertisement appeared in the Maryland
Herald of Sept. 30th, 1794:
Notice is hereby given to the inhabitants of Talbot county that appli
cation will be made to the next General Assembly for a law enabling the
Levy Court to assess a sufficient sum of money, from year to year, on
the property of the said county for the purpose of building a Public
Gaol at Easton, and for directing the mode of building the same'.
This petition seems to have been presented to the legislature at its
next session, and in accordance with its tenor a biU was drawn, it is
very safe to say, by Nicholas Hammond, Esq., of this county, which
finally passed and became a law December 26th, 1794. That this bill
was the production of this most estimable gentleman is evinced by the
singularly formal, stately and precise style, which characterizes this
statute, as well as everything that came from his ponderous pen,8 and
which was in perfect keeping with his character. This bUl is entitled
"An Act for buildmg a new gaol in the town of Easton in Talbot county
and to provide for the regulation of the said Gaol." (Acts of Assem
bly 1794, chap. LXVII). As pubUshed it is comprised in thirteen sec
tions, and is too long to be copied into these annals; but the following
is a transcript in full of those parts that are of most importance in this
connection, and a brief of the remainder.
Whereas it is represented to this General Assembly that the public
prison of the said county is in a ruinous condition, and incapable of
repair, and that the purposes of private and public justice cannot be an
swered thereby, without the practice of many means which are as incon
sistent with the principles of humanity, as they are with the true notions
of civil liberty: And whereas it has been prayed that an act of Assembly
may be passed for buildmg a new gaol in the town of Easton for the said
county, by an equal and impartial tax upon the property thereof, upon
an assurance that the assessment and collection of the said tax, by
reasonable installments, will be agreeable to the inhabitants thereof;
therefore Sec. II. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That a
new and commodious gaol be forthwith erected upon the public square
in the said town of Easton, or such other place as the Commissioners, ,
2 Those who have seen Mr. Hammond's handwriting will not think this
epithet inappropriate. It was exceedingly heavy.

THE COURT HOUSE 241
hereafter mentioned, shall deem most proper, for the use and benefit
of Talbot county; and that Nicholas Hammond, Samuel Sharp, Thos.
J. Bullett, Samuel Logan and Joseph Haskins be, and they are hereby
appointed Commissioners to contract for the building of the same gaol,
and to plan and to superintend the said building until finished, and to
accomplish the several purposes mentioned in this act, concerning the
same. Sec. III. By this section the Commissioners were authorized to
negotiate a loan of One Thousand pounds currency, at the rate of six
per cent per annum, for five years.
Sec. IV. Provides for the levy of two hundred pounds per annum,
upon the assessable property of the county, for five years in succession,
commencing with 1796, to pay the principal of the debt, and in addition
a sufficient sum to pay the interest thereon.
Sec. V. Provides for the levy of two hundred pounds in 1795, for
the payment of the loan. It is not quite clear why this section should
have been added to the former.
Sec. VI. Provides for the mode of collecting the tax, and for the
payment of the money coUected over to the Commissioners.
Sec. VII. And whereas the escape of prisoners, and too often their,
inhuman treatment are occasioned by a want of vigilance and care in
the keepers of the gaols, who are usuaUy persons employed by the
Sheriffs, not sufficiently near to those situations to afford assistance, or
to protect the injured, and who, not being immediately amenable for a
default of conduct, are not so watchful, or so circumspect in their con
duct as justice and humanity require; and it is apprehended that the
residence of the keeper of the gaol will better secure the purposes in
tended by the confinement of persons; therefore Be it enacted, That
the said Commissioners in planning and directing the building of the
said gaol, shall lay off two apartments and a cellar, and reserve and
appropriate the same to the residence of the keeper of the said gaol, and
throughout the whole plan, the said Commissioners shall have respect
to the comfortable accommodation, as well as security of the prisoners :
and if the funds established by this act shall enable them to do so, they
shall lay off a convenient and sufficient yard and cause the same to be
enclosed by a substantial waU; and the said Commissioners, as soon
as the said building shall be completed, shall return a fair and faithful
account of the proceedings and expenditures to the Justices of Talbot
county Court, to be examined and inspected by them, and on their
approbation thereof, the same shaU be deposited and filed among the
original papers belonging to their office.
Sec. VIII. This section provides for the appointment of a jailer,
by the Sheriff, — for his taking a certain prescribed oath, — for his giving
bond in the sum of three hundred pounds, — and for his removal.

242 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Sec. IX. Prescribes the duties of the jailer and entitles him to a
residence within the jaU buUding.
Sec. X. Prohibits and forbids the keeper from "holding or keeping
any ordinary or house of entertainment within the gaol, and from
retailing spirituous Uquor," also from seUing or aUowing to be sold by
any of his domestics, or by any other person, to the prisoners in his
custody, any spirituous Uquors, under a penalty of five pounds for every
offense. Sec. XL Provides for -the visiting of the gaol, by the Grand Jury,
at each term of the Court, and for its report to the Court of the condition
of the building and of the treatment of the prisoners. The object of
this visit is stated to be
to secure as much as possible the proper and humane treatment to pris
oners confined in the said gaol.
Sec. XII. Provides for the sale of the old jail, after the completion
of the new, and the application of the proceeds of such sale to the uses
of the county.
Sec. XIII. Provides for the collection of fines, imposed under this
act, and the application of them to the use of the county.
This law is very suggestive, and gives us an insight of the character
of the old prison, and of the treatment to which its inmates were sub
jected. The phrase employed in the first section — "the purposes of
private and public justice cannot be answered thereby" — must attract
notice by its singularity. Private justice must have referred to that
privilege which was held or granted to the creditor of imprisoning his
debtor — a privilege which was not withdrawn in this State until the
year 18 — , though long before that it had ceased to be enforced with
rigor, and even before it was entirely abrogated, it had come to have
but a nominal existence. "Private justice" may also have referred to
the privilege possessed by the master of imprisoning his slave, for run
ning away, insubordination, or other like offenses, or even for safe keep
ing. Other expressions in this law indicate that prisoners were subjected
to acts of inhumanity and cruelty, by reason of the narrow and restricted
accommodations of the old building," and its insecurity. No doubt the
persons confined were often compelled to submit to the indignity and
suffering of being chained, for in the old levy lists there are many allow
ances to different persons for "ironing the prisoners." The cruelties
of imprisonment and fetters were modified by the custom, introduced

THE COURT HOUSE 243
apparently about this time, of sending persons convicted of petty of
fenses "to the wheelbarrow," that is to work upon the streets and roads.
By a supplementary act passed in 1797, Owen Kennard and David
Kerr, Esqs., were placed on the commission for superintending the
building, in the room of Saml. Sharp and Saml. Logan, deceased.
The cost of the buUding was settled by the law at one thousand pounds,
Maryland currency, or $2,666.66 in Federal money, a sum that might
represent about 7000 dollars of the money of the present time; but an
examination of the levy books shows that a much larger sum was paid
by the county. The foUowing levies for the new jaU are on record:

1795

-

260

pounds

1796

-

248

u

1797

-

236

((

1798

-

224

K

1799

-

212

<<

1800

-

200

U

1801

-

200

it

1804

-

166

" 10 shillings

in aU - 1746 pounds 10 shillings
besides many smaU amounts levied for special purposes connected with
the buUding.
By the supplementary "act for building a new gaol," (1797 chap.
XXV) aheady referred to, the commissioners were authorized to sell
the old jaU and apply the money arising from such sale to the building
of the new prison,
or otherwise to abate the old gaol, and apply the materials thereof towards
the foundation or other parts of the pew building; and after the sale or
abatement of the old, and untU the completion of the new,
it was declared to be lawful for the sheriff
to rent or hue one or more suitable apartments in the town of Easton
for the legal confinement of persons.
There is no evidence that the old jail was sold; it is therefore prob
able it was "abated," and its materials incorporated in the new structure.
This indicates, too, that the old jail was of brick. There is no certain
evidence what house in the town was used for a jaU, while the new one
was building, but there is a tradition worthy of confidence that a house
belonging to Solomon Corners, in whose tavern it wiU be recoUected

244 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
the court was held while the Court House was in process of erection,
was used at this time for prison purposes. It is said to have stood on
the lot between the residences of Judge Goldsborough and Mr. Tharp,
on Washington street. There is also an allowance in the levy list of
1801 to John Mullikin for the rent of a house used as a prison.
The commissioners were directed to build the new jaU within the
public square in the town of Easton. They selected, as we see by the
building yet in use, the northwest corner of the square. The old jail
stood upon the N. East corner, just opposite the brick hotel, as the writer
was informed by the late Thomas C. Nicols, Esq., a gentleman very
aged at time of his death, who recollected, as he said, to have played
baU when a boy against the end of the old building.
It will be seen from an examination of the seventh section that the
commissioners were requested to provide suitable apartments in the
new structure for the comfortable accommodation of a jailer, who should
be required to Uve within the prison. This provision too is based upon
"justice and humanity." There is no doubt that in the old jail and by
its keepers violence was made a substitute for strength of walls and
vigilance of guards, in the securing the prisoners from escape; and doubt
less too, there were outrages committed by the confined, one upon the
other, in the absence of the jailer which would be prevented by his con
stant presence. This rule for the residence of the jaUer, who is now
either the sheriff himself or his deputy, within the prison walls is yet
maintained, no doubt to the increased comfort of the confined and the
improved police of the establishment. Samuel Swan was the first jailer
under the law of 1794.
Finally, this law gives us another interesting feature of our civic
countenance at the date of its passage, in the prohibition to the jailer
of keeping an ordinary within the buUding or of selling liquor to the
inmates. It used to be one of the most profitable of the perquisites of
the keepers of the prisons, the furnishing to those confined, particularly
those imprisoned for debt, better accommodations than those provided
at the public expense, and the granting them indulgence in the use of
intoxicating Uquors. It would seem that the old keepers kept a bar
either within the prison, or at some convenient spot near by, from which
they derived an easily obtained income. This privilege was "abated"
with the abatement of the old jail, doubtless to the great improvement
of decency and order within the prison.
As far as the writer has been able to discover, there is no record of
the date when the new jail was completed. Evidently no beginning

THE COURT HOUSE 245
had been made upon the building when the supplementary law was
passed in the faU of 1797, for by that law the commissioners were al
lowed to make use of the materials of the old jaU in constructing the
foundations of the new. In the levy list, made in January, 1801, there
is an aUowance to James Nabb for "criminal irons" and for "money
advanced for the Gaol Door." In the same list is an aUowance to
John Mullikin, of thirty pounds for "rent of Gaol to January, 1802."
As late as 1804, there was an aUowance in the levy to Owen Kennard,
Esq., one of the commissioners for buUding the jaU, of One Hundred
and sixty-six pounds ten shUlings. From the various minutes it is
safe to say the prison was not finaUy completed until the year last
mentioned. One of the humane provisions of the law for the erection of the jail
was that for the buUding a waU around the yard, so that a certain
class of prisoners might have privilege of fresh ah and sunshine. This
seems never to have been carried into execution, but it is to be hoped
that it is not yet too late for us to perform that which was so beneficently
conceived by our forefathers.
There was a pUlory and stocks belonging to the jaU, as we might sup
pose, even if the records of the county and the recoUection of persons
yet living did not confirm our suppositions. In 1797 an aUowance
was made in the levy to David Kerr and Tristram Bowdle, Esquires,
Justices of the Peace, of twelve pounds and ten shUlings for buUding a
pillory. The writer has been informed by those who recoUect this
instrument, that it stood about where the smoke house of the jaU now
stands, that is in front and to the left or southeast of the buUding. It
consisted of stocks for holding the head and hands, with a whipping
post beneath. The punishment of colored people for petty offenses
by whipping continued up to the time of emancipation. Among the
minutes of Saint Michaels parish of 1824 there is entered the very
proper protest of the vestry against the use of the trees standing in
the church yard as whipping posts, for those condemned to that pun
ishment.

THE STORY OF PERDITA
A Romance of Colonial Times in Talbot County.
In or about the year 1825 the Hon. Theodore Sedgwick, of Berk
shire, Massachusetts, an enthusiastic agriculturist — and one of those
singular poUtical nondescripts, a democratic aboUtionist — was visiting
this county for the purpose of extending his acquaintance with the
farmers of this region, then regarded as among the most intelligent
and successful of the whole country, and also for the purpose of attend
ing one of those annual cattle shows, which, at that period, it was the
custom to hold in the town of Easton. He became the honored and
honoring guest, at Plimhimmon, near Oxford, of Tench Tilghman,
Esq., the father of the gentleman of that name yet Uving among us,
to whom, it is proper to say, the writer is indebted for most of the
facts related in this preface, and the appendix hereafter to appear. This
Mr. Sedgwick, himself a distinguished author, was the brother of the
yet more distinguished authoress, Miss Catherine Sedgwick, of Stock-
bridge, Mass., a lady to whom we aU owe so much pleasure derived from
her many deUghtful stories. While at Plimhimmon Mr. Tilghman
related to Mr. Sedgwick the story of a young woman, a tradition of
whose romantic adventures attached to that estate. In this story
Mr. Sedgwick, true to the Yankee character of thriftiness, which is
sure to discover advantages where others see only impediments, perceived
the materials that could be used profitably by his sister, who, young
as she was, had aheady given proof of her abilities in more than one
fiterary adventure, and notably of late, in 1824, in a successful novel
caUed "Redwood," which obtained the rare distinction for an Ameri
can book at that time of being reproduced in England and of being
translated into the French, Italian and Swedish languages. Upon his re
turn home Mr. Sedgwick, who had treasured up the incidents, rehearsed
the story, as he had received it from Mr. Tilghman to his sister, who
at once, with the eye of the true literary artist, saw in the narrative
materials almost ready formed for a romance, and immediately began
to weave them, as no one knew better how, upon the loom of her fancy
into the charming story of Perdita.
At that date there was a fiterary fashion hardly yet gone out of
publishing annuals — books with fanciful titles, printed in the highest
246

THE STORY OF PERDITA 247
style of typography, bound with the greatest luxury, Ulustrated by
engravings from the burins of the best masters of the graphic art, and
not infrequently written by authors of the first distinction in prose and
poetry. The story written by Miss Sedgwick, based upon the materials
obtained by her brother in Talbot, was contributed to the Atlantic
Souvenir — one of these annuals for the year 1827. Like every produc
tion that had come from the pen of this young authoress, it immediately
attracted attention and won high commendation. If its literary
exceUence had not been sufficient to give it acceptance among the re
fined and cultured of our own county, its local references and personal
allusions would of themselves have secured the interested perusal by
our people of the story of Perdita. It has been repeatedly republished
in the papers of this county, but it first appeared here in the columns
of the Gazette of Dec. 16th and 23d, 1826. It has also been republished
in various repertories of choice literature, the New York Mirror, for
instance, which in its day, its early day at least, was regarded as an arbi
ter of literary merit. It is now again reproduced, that the present
generation of our people may read and enjoy what was so relished by
their fathers and mothers — a charming romance charmingly told, and
one founded upon veritable incidents, part of which occurred within
this county, and with people whose descendants remain to the present
prosaic time.
It would probably impair the enjoyment of the story if there should
be a statement made by the prying and tattling annalist of how much
of it is entitled to credence, and how much must be put down to the in
vention of the romancist. For the present suffice it to say that as printed
it contains enough of truth to satisfy aU but those most exigent of facts,
and enough of fancy to appease those who crave only "such stuff as
dreams are made on." The "round unvarnished tale" wiU be deUvered
at the end of this ''strange eventful history."
MODERN CHIVALRY
BY THE AUTHOR OF REDWOOD.
But when the hour of trouble comes to the mind or the body — and
when the hour of death comes, that comes to high and low — Oh, my
leddy, then it is'na what we hae dune for ourseUs, but what we hae
dune for others, that we think on maist pleasantly. — Heart of Mid
lothian. The assertion that a tale is founded on fact, is a pious fraud of story
tellers, too stale to impose on any but the very young or very credulous.

248 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
We hope, therefore, not to be suspected of resorting to an expedient that
would expose our poverty without relieving it, when we declare that the
leading incidents of the following tale are true — that they form, in that
district of the country where some of the circumstances transpired, a
favourite and well authenticated tradition — and that our hero boasts with
well-earned self-complacency, that there is no name better known than
his from "Cape May to the head of Elk." That name, however, honorable
as it is, must be suppressed, and we here beg the possessor's pardon for
compelling him, for the first time in his life, to figure under false colours.
In the year 1763, an American vessel lying in the Thames and bound
to Oxford, a smaU sea-port on the eastern shore of Maryland, was hailed
by a boat containing a youth, who, on presenting himself to the captain,
stated that he had a fancy for a sailor's life, and offered his services for
two years, on the simple condition of kind treatment. The captain,
though himself a coarse, illiterate man, perceived in the ah and language
of the lad indications of good breeding, and deeming him some disobedi
ent child, or possibly a runaway apprentice, declined receiving him.
But William Herion, as he called himself, was so earnest in his solicita
tions, and engaging in his manners, and the captain, withal, in pressing
need of a cabin-boy, that he waived his scruples, quieted his conscience
with the old opiate that it was best not to be more nice than wise, and
without inquiring too curiously into the boy's right of seff-disposal, drew
up some indentures, by which he entitled himself to two years' service.
The boy was observed for the first day to wear a troubled counte
nance. His eye glanced around with incessant restlessness, as if in eager
search of some expected object. While the ship glided down the Thames
he gazed on the shore as if he looked for some signal on which his life
depended, and when she passed Gravesend, the last point of embarcation,
he wept convulsively. The captain believed him to be disturbed with
remorse of conscience; the sailors, that these heartbreakings were
fingerings for his native land, and all hinted their rude consolations.
Soothed by their friendly efforts, or by his own reflections, or perhaps
following the current of youth that naturally flows to happiness, William
soon became tranquil; and sometimes even gay. He kept, as the sailors
said, on the fair weather side of the captain, a testy, seff-wUled old man,
who loved but three things in the world — his song, his glass, and his
own way.
All that has been fabled of the power of music over stones and brutes
was surpassed by the effect of the lad's melting voice on the icy heart of
the captain, whom forty years of absolute power had rendered as despotic
as a Turkish Pasha. When their old commander blew the stiffest gale,
as the sailors were wont to term his blustering passions, Will could, they
said, sing him into a calm. Will of course became a doting piece to the
whole ship's company. They said he was a trim built lad, too neat and
delicate a piece of workmanship for the stormy sea. They laughed at his
slender fingers, fitter to manage threads than ropes, passed many jokes
upon his soft blue eyes and fair round cheeks, and in their rough lan
guage expressed Sir Toby's prayer, that "Jupiter in his next commodity

THE STORY OF PERDITA 249
of hair would send the boy a beard." In the main WiU bore their jokes
without flinching, and returned them with even measure, but some
times when they verged to rudeness, his rising blush or a tear stealing
from his downcast eye, expressed an instinctive and unsullied modesty,
whose appeal touched the best feelings of these coarse men.
The ship made a prosperous voyage; and in due time arrived off the
American coast. It is a common custom with sailors to greet the first
sight of land with a sacrifice to Bacchus. The natural and legaUzed revel
was as extravagant on this, as it usually is on similar occasions. The
captain with unwonted good humor dealt out the liquor most liberally
to the crew, and bade William sing them his best songs. Will obeyed,
and song after song, and glass after glass carried them, as they said, far
above high water mark. Their language and manners became intoler
able to William, and he endeavored to steal away with the intention of
hiding himseff in the cabin tiU the revel was over. One of the sailors
suspecting his design, caught him rudely and swore he would detain
him in his arms. WiUiam struggled, freed himself, and darted down
the companion way, the men following and shouting.
The captain stood at the entrance of the cabin door. WiUiam sunk
down at his feet terrified and exhausted, and screaming "protect me —
oh! for the love of heaven, protect me."
The captain demanded the occasion of the uproar, and ordered the
men to stand back. They however, stimulated to reckless courage,
and in sight of land, and independence, no longer feared his authority,
and they swore that they would not be baulked in their frolic. Poor
Will, already feeling their hands upon him, clung in terror to the captain,
and one fear overcoming another, confessed that his masculine dress was
a disguise, and wringing his hands with shame and anguish, supplicated
protection as a helpless girl.
The sailors, touched with remorse and pity, retreated; but the brutal
captain spurned the trembling supplicant with his foot, swearing a
round oath that it was the first time he had been imposed on, and it
should be the last. Unfortunately the old man, priding himself on his
sagacity, was as confident of his own infallibility as the most devoted
Catholic is of the Pope's. This was his last voyage, and after playing
Sir Oracle for forty years — to have been palpably deceived — incontro-
vertibly outwitted by a girl of fifteen, was a mortification that his vanity
could not brook. He swore he would have his revenge, and most strictly
did he perform his vow. He possessed a plantation in the vicinity of
Oxford; thither he conveyed the unhappy girl, and degraded her to
the rank of a common servant among the negro slaves in his kitchen.
The captain's wrath was magnified by the stranger's persisting in re
fusing to disclose the motive of her deception, to reveal her family, or
even to tell her name. Her new acquaintances were at a loss what to
call her, till the captain's daughter, who had been on a visit to Phila
delphia, and seen the Winter's Tale performed there, bestowed on her
the pretty appellative of Hermione's lost child, Perdita.
The captain, a common case, was the severest sufferer by his own pas-

250 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
sions. His wife complained that his "venture," as she provokingly
styled poor Perdita, was a useless burden on her household — a "fine lady
born and bred, like feathers and flowers and French goods, pretty to
look at, but fit for no use in the world. The captain's daughters, partly
instigated by compassion, and partly by the striking contrast between
the delicate graces of the stranger and their own buxom beauty, inces
santly teased their father to send her back to her own country; and
neighbors and acquaintances were forever letting fall some observation
on the beauty of the girl, or some allusion to her story, that was as a spark
of fire to the captain's gun-powder temper.
Weeks and months rolled heavily on without a dawn of hope to poor
Perdita. She was too young and inexperienced herself to contrive any
mode of relief, and no one was likely to undertake voluntarily the difficult
enterprise of rescuing her from her thraldom. Her condition was thus
forlorn, when her story same to the ears of Frank Stuart, a gallant
young sailor on board the Hazard, a vessel lying in the stream off Oxford,
and on the eve of sailing for Cowes in the Isle of Wight. Frank stood
deservedly high in the confidence of his commander, and on Sunday, the
day preceding that intended for the departure of the ship, he obtained
leave to go on shore. His youthful imagination was excited by the
story of the oppressed stranger, and he strolled along the beach in the
direction of her master's plantation, in the hope of gratifying his curiosity
by a glimpse of her. As he approached the house he perceived that the
front blinds were closed, and inferring thence that the family were
absent, he ventured without the bounds of the plantation, and saw
at no great distance from him a young female sitting on a bench beneath
a tree. She leaned her head against its trunk, with an ah of dejected-
ness and abstraction, that encouraged the young man to hope he had
already attained his object. As he approached nearer, the girl started
from her musings and would have retreated to the house, but suddenly
inspired by her beauty and youth with a resolution to devote himself to
her service, he besought her to stop for one instant to listen to him.
She turned and gazed at him as if she would have perused his heart.
Frankness and truth were written on his face by the finger of heaven.
She could not fear any impertinence from him, and farther assured by his
respectful manner, when he added, "I have something particular to
say to you — but we must luff and bear away, for we are in too plain
sight of the look out there," and he pointed to the house — she smiled
and followed him to a more secluded part of the grounds. As soon as he
was sure of being beyond observation, "Do you wish," he asked with
professional directness, "to return to old England."
She could not speak, but she clasped her hands, and the tears gushed
like an opened fountain from her eyes — "you need not say any more,
you need not say any more," he exclaimed, for he felt every fear to be a
word spoken to his heart— "If you will trust me," he continued, "I swear,
and so God help me as I speak the truth, I wiU treat you as if you were
my sister. Our ship sails tomorrow morning at day light, make a

THE STORY OF PERDITA 251
tight bundle of your rigging, and meet me at twelve o'clock tonight
at the gate of the plantation. Will you trust me?"
"Heaven has sent you to me," replied the poor girl, her face brighten
ing with hope, "and I will not fear to trust you."
They then separated — Perdita to make her few preparations and
Frank to contrive the means of executing his romantic enterprise.
Precisely at the appointed hour the parties met at the place of ren
dezvous. Perdita was better furnished for her voyage than could have
been anticipated, from the durance she had suffered. A short notice
and a scant wardrobe, were never known to oppose an obstacle to a
heroine's compassing sea and land, but as we have dispensed with the
facilities of fiction, we are bound to account for Perdita's being in pos
session of the necessaries of life, and it is due to the captain's daughter
to state that her feminine sympathy had moved her from time to time
to grant generous suppUes to Perdita, which our heroine did not faU to
acknowledge on going away, by a letter enclosing a valuable ring.
A few whispered sentences of caution, assurance and gratitude, were
reciprocated by Frank and Perdita, as they bent their hasty steps to
the landing place where he had left his boat; and when he had handed
her into it, and pushed from the shore on to his own element, he felt the
value of the trust which this beautiful young creature had reposed in
him. Never in the days of knightly deeds was there a sentiment of
purer chivalry than that which inspired the determined resolution and
romantic devotion of the young sailor. He was scarcely twenty, the
age of fearless project and self-confidence. How soon is the one checked
by disappointments — the other humbled by experience of the infirmity
of human virtue!
Stuart had not confided his designs to any of his shipmates. He was
therefore obUged warUy to approach the ship, and to get on board with
the least possible noise. He had just time to secrete Perdita amidst
bales of tobacco in the darkest place in the hold of the vessel, when a
call of 'all hands on deck,' summoned him to duty. He was foremost at
his post, and all was stir and bustle to get the vessel under way. The
sails were hoisted — the anchor weighed, and aU in readiness, when a
signal was heard from the shore, and presently a boat fiUed with men
seen approaching. The men proved to be Perdita's master, a sheriff,
and lus attendants. They produced a warrant empowering them to
search the vessel. The old captain affirmed that the girl had been
seen on the preceding day talking with a young spark, who was known
to have come on shore from the Hazard. In his fury he foamed at the
mouth, swore he would have the runaway dead or alive, and that her
aider and abettor should be given over to condign punishment. The
master of the Hazard declared that if any of his men were found guilty
he would resign them to the dealings of land law, and to prove that if
there were a plot, he was quite innocent, he not only freely abandoned
his vessel to the search, but himself was most diligent in the inquest.
The men were caUed up, confronted and examined; not one appeared

252 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
more cool and unconcerned than Frank Stuart, and after every inquiry,
after ransacldng as they beUeved every possible place of concealment, the
pursuers were compeUed to withdraw, baffled and disappointed.
The vessel proceeded on her voyage. Frank requested the Captain's
permission to swing a hammock alongside his berth on the pretence
that the berth was rendered damp and unwholesome by a leak in the deck
above it. This reasonable petition was of course granted, and when
night had closed watchful eyes, and dropped her friendly veU, so essen
tial to the clandestine enterprises of the most ingenious, Frank rescued
Perdita from a position, in which she had suffered not only the incon
veniences, but the terrors of an African slave; and wrapping her in
his own dreadnaught, and drawing bis watchcap over her bright luxuri
ant hair, he conducted her past the open door of the captains' stateroom,
and past his sleeping companions, to his own berth; then whispering
to her that she was as safe as a ship in harbour, he gave her some bread
and a glass of wine, for which he had bartered his allowance of spirits,
and laid himseff down in his own hammock to the companionship of
such thoughts as are ministering angels about the piUow of the virtuous.
The following day a storm arose — a storm stiU remembered as the
most terrible and disastrous that ever occurred in Chesapeake Bay.
There were several passengers of consequence on board the Hazard,
among others two deacons who were going to the mother country to
receive orders — for then, we of the colonies, who have since taken all
rights into our own hands, dared not exercise the rights God has given
us, without the assent of the Lords Bishops. Night comes on, the storm
increased, and then, when the ship was in extremity, when death howled
in every blast, when "the timid shrieked and the brave stood still"—
then was the unwearied activity, the exhaustless invention and uncon
querable resolution of Frank Stuart, the last human support and help
of the unhappy crew. The master of the Hazard was advanced in life,
and unnerved by the usual feebleness and timidity of age. He had
but just enough presence of mind left to estimate the masterly conduct
of young Stuart, and he abandoned the command of the vessel to him,
and retired to what is too often only a last resource — to prayers with the
churchmen. Once or twice Stuart disappeared from the deck, ran to whisper a
word of encouragement to his trembling charge, and then returned with
renewed vigor to his duty. Owing, under Providence, to his exertions,
the Hazard rode out a storm which filled the seaman's annals with many
a tale of terror. Gratitude is too apt to rest in second causes, in the vis
ible means of deliverance, and perhaps an undue portion was now felt
towards the intrepid youth. The passengers lavished their favours on
him — they supplied his meals with the most delicate wines and fruits,
and the choicest viands from their own stores; he with the superstition
characteristic of his profession, firmly believed that heaven had sent the
storm to unlock their hearts to him, and thus afford him the means of
furnishing Perdita with the dainties suited to her delicate appetite, so

THE STORY OF PERDITA 253
that she fared, as he aftenvards boasted, like the daughter of a king in
her father's palace.
Stuart was kept in a state of perpetual alarm by the mate of the vessel.
He knew that this feUow, one of those imbeciles that bent Uke a reed
before a strong blast had been hostile to him ever since the storm, when
the accidental superiority of his station had been compeUed to bow to
Frank's superior genius. He was aware that the mate had, by maUcious
insinuations, estranged the captain from him, and he was but too cer
tain that he should have nothing to hope, if his secret was discovered
by this base man. Perhaps this apprehension gave him an ah of un
wonted constraint in the presence of his enemy; certain it is, the mate's
eye often rested on him with an expression of eager watchfulness and
suspicion, and Stuart, perceiving it, would contract his brow and com
press his lips, in a way that betrayed how hard he strove with his rising
passion. The difficulty of concealment was daily increasing, as one
after another of his messmates, either from some inevitable accident, or
from a communication becoming necessary on his part, obtained pos
session of his secret. But his ascendancy over them was complete,
and by threats or persuasions, he induced them all to promise invi
olable secrecy. There is an authority in a determined spirit, to which
men naturally do homage. It is heaven's own charter of a power to
which none can refuse submission.
Frank never permitted his comrades to approach Perdita, or to speak
a word to her; but in the depths of the night when the mate's and the
old captain's senses were locked in sleep, he would bring her forth to
breath the fresh air. Seated on the gunwale, she would bestow on him
the only reward in her gift — the treasures of her sweet voice, and Frank
said the winds sat stUl in the sails to listen. There were times when
not a human sound was heard in the ship, when these two beings, borne
gently by the tides in mid ocean, felt as if they were alone in the universe.
It was at such times that Frank felt an irrepressible curiosity to know
something more of the mysterious history of Perdita, whose destiny
heaven, he believed, had committed to his honour, and once he ventured
to introduce the topic nearest his heart by saying, "you bade me call
you Perdita, but I do not like the name; it puts me too much in mind
of those rodomontade novels, that turn the girls' heads and set them
a-sailing, as it were, without chart or compass in quest of unknown
worlds." He hesitated; it was evident he had taken bimseff to a figure,
to avoid an explicit declaration of his wishes — after a moment's pause
he added, "it suits me best to be plain-spoken — it is not the name
that I object to so much, but — but, hang it — I think you know Frank
Stuart weU enough to trust him with your real name."
The unhappy girl cast down her eyes, and said that Perdita suited
her better than any other name.
"Then you will not trust me?"
"Say not so, my noble, generous friend," she exclaimed, "trust you!
have I not trusted you! you know that I would trust you with anything
that was my own, but my name, I have forfeited by my folly."

254 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
" Oh no, that you shall not say, a brave ship is not run down with a
hght breeze, and a single folly of a young girl cannot sink a good name—
a folly!" he continued thus indirectly pushing his enquiries, "if it is a
folly, it's a common one — there's many a stouter heart than yours that's
tried to face a gale of love, and been obliged to bear about and scud
before the wind.''
"Who told you?— how did you discover?" demanded Perdita in a
hurried, alarmed manner.
Frank's generous temper disdained to surprise the unwary girl into
confidence, and he immediately surrendered the advantage he had
gained. "Nobody has told me," he said, "I have discovered nothing
— I only guessed, as the Yankees say — now wipe away your tears, the
sea wants no more salt water, and believe me Frank Stuart has not
such a woman's spirit in him, that he cannot rest content without know
ing a secret."
In spite of Frank's manly resolution he did afterwards repeatedly
intimate the longings of his curiosity, but they were always met with
such unaffected distress on the part of Perdita, that he said he had not
the heart to press them.
As the termination of the voyage approached, Stuart became more
intently anxious lest his secret should be discovered. The mildest con
sequences would be that he should forfeit his wages — that he cared not
for. Like Goldsmith's poor soldier, he could he on a bare board, and
thank God be was so weU off. "While he had youth and health," he
said, " and there was a ship afloat on the wide sea,, he was provided for."
But his companions who had been true to him might forfeit their pay;
for, by their fidelity to him, they had in some measure become his
accessories. But he feared consolation even under this apprehension;
"the honest lads," he said, "would soon make a full purse empty, but
the memory of a good action was a treasure gold could not buy— a
treasure that would stick by them forever — a treasure for the port of
heaven." There was, however, one apprehended evil, for which his
philosophy offered no antidote.
He was sure the captain would deem it his duty or make it his will
(even Frank's slight knowledge of human nature told him that will and
duty were too often convertible terms), to return the fugitive to her soi-
disant master in Maryland. Nothing could exceed the vigUance with
which he watched every movement and turn that threatened a detection,
or the ingenuity with which he evaded every circumstance that tended
to it — but alas! the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to
the strong.
One night, when it was blowing a gale a particular rope was wanted,
which the mate remembered to have stowed away in the steerage.
Frank eagerly offered to search for it, but the mate was certain that no
one but himself could find it, and taking a lantern, he went in quest of
it, Frank followed him with fear and trembhng. He has since been in
many a desperate sea-fight, but he declares he never felt so much like a
coward as at that moment. The mate's irritable humour had been

THE STORY OF PERDITA 255
somewhat stirred by Frank's persisting in his offer to go for the rope,
and when he turned and saw him at his heels he asked him, angrily,
what he was dogging him for? "The ship rolls so heavUy," replied
Frank in a subdued tone, "that I thought you might want me to hold
the lantern for you." Frank's unwonted meekness quite conciliated
the mate, and though he rejoined, "I think I have been used to the roU-
ing of a ship a Uttle longer than you, young man," he spoke good-
naturedly, and Frank ventured to proceed.
Most fortunate as Frank thought, the mate directed his steps to the
side of the ship opposite Perdita, but making a little circuit in his return,
he paused between Frank's hammock and Perdita's berth. At this
moment the poor lad's heart, as he afterwards averred, stopped beating.
The ship roUed on that side, and the mate catching hold of the berth to
save himself from faffing, exclaimed. "In heaven's name what lazy
devil is there, when every hand is wanted on deck," and raising his lan
tern to identify the supposed delinquent sailor, he discovered the beauti
ful girl. For a moment he was dumb with amazement, but soon recall
ing the search at Oxford, the whole truth flashed upon him; he turned to
Frank and shaking his fist in his face, "Ah, this is you, Stuart!" he said,
and enforced his gesture with a horrible oath.
"Yes," retorted Frank, now standing boldly forth, "it is me, thank
God," and then drawing a curtain that he had arranged before Perdita's
berth, he bade her fear nothing
"Oh, Frank," she exclaimed, "I cannot fear where you are." This
involuntary expression of confidence went to her protector's heart.
There is no man so dead to sentiment, as not to be touched by the
trust of woman, especiaUy if she be young and beautiful. Frank was
at that age when sentiment is absolute, and he was resolved to secure his
treasure at any hazard. Perdita's declaration, whUe it stimulated his
zeal, awakened the mean jealousies of the mate.
"And so my pretty miss," he said, "you fear nothing where this feUow
is— I can tell you, for all that he may boast, and you may believe he is
neither master nor mate yet, and please the Lord I'U prove as much for
him this very night."
"And how wUl you prove it?" asked Stuart in a voice which, though
as calm as he could make it, resembled the low growl of a bulldog before
he springs on his victim.
"I'U prove it, my lad, by teUingthe whole story of the smuggled goods
to the captain. A pretty piece of work this, to be carrying under the
nose of your officers. It's no better than mutiny, for I'll warrant it
the whole ship's crew are leagued with you."
Stuart reined in his passions, and condescended to expostulate. He
represented to the mate that he could gain nothing by giving informa
tion to the captain. He described with his simple eloquence the oppres
sion the poor girl had aheady suffered ; the cruelty of disappointing her
present hopes, just as they were on the point of being reahzed, for the
ship was not more than 24 hours saU from Cowes; he appealed to his
compassion, his generosity, his manliness, but in vain, he found no

256 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
assailable point. The mean pride of having discovered the secret,
and the pleasure of humbling Stuart, mastered every good feeling of
the mate, if indeed he possessed any, and he turned away, saying with
a sort of chuckling exultation that he should go and do his duty.
"Stop," cried Frank, grasping his arm with a grip that threatened
to crush it. " Stop and hear me — I swear by Him that made me, if you
dare so much as to hint by word, look or movement, the secret you have
discovered here, you shall not cumber the earth another day; day, said
I, no, not an hour, I'll send you to the devil as swift as a cannon ball
ever went to the mark. Look," he continued, tearing away the curtain
he had just drawn before Perdita, " could any thing short of the malice of
Satan himself contrive to harm such helpless innocence asthat — do you
hear me," he added in a voice that out roared the storm, "in God's name
look at me, and see I am in earnest."
The mate had no doubt to satisfy, he trembled like an aspen leaf,
in vain he essayed to raise his eyes, the passion that glanced in Frank's
face, and dilated his whole figure, affected the trembling wretch like a
stroke of the sun. He reeled in Frank's iron grasp, his abject fear changed
Stuart's wrath to contempt and giving him an impulse that sent him
quite out of the door, he returned to soothe Perdita with the assurance
that they had nothing to fear from the " cowardly dog." She was con
founded with terror, but much more frightened by the vehemence
of Stuart's passion than by the threats of the mate. She had always
seen her protector move hke an unobstructed stream along its course,
in calm and silent power. Now he was the torrent, that no human
force could control or direct.
She saw before her calamities far worse than any she had endured.
She believed that the mate, as soon as he was recovered from his paroxysm
of terror, would communicate his discovery. She apprehended the most
fatal issue from Frank's threats and determined resolution, and the
possibility that his generous zeal for her might involve him in crime, was
intolerable to her. Such thoughts do not become less terrible by solitary
meditation — in the solemnity of night, and amidst the howling of a
storm. Every blast spoke reproach and warning to Perdita; and
tortured by those harpies remorse and fear, she took a sudden resolution
to reveal herself to the captain, feeling at the moment that if she warded
off evil from her protector, she could patiently hide the worst conse
quences to herself. She sprang from her berth, as if afraid of being
checked in a second thought, and rushed from the steerage to the cabin.
All was perfect stillness there — the passengers had retired to their beds.
The captain was sitting by the table; he had been reading, but his book
had fallen to the floor, his head had sunk on his breast, and he was in a
profound sleep. The light shone full on his weather-beaten face-
on large uncouth features — on lines deepened to furrows— and muscles
stiffened by time. Never was there an aspect more discouraging to
one who needed mercy, and poor Perdita stood trembling before hinii
and close to him, and dared not, could not, speak. She heard a foot
step approaching, and still her tongue was glued to the roof of her

THE STORY OF PERDITA 257
mouth. Then she heard her name pronounced in a low whisper at the
cabin door, and turning, she saw Stuart there beckoning most earnestly
to her. She shook her head, signed to him to withdraw, and laid her
hand on the captain's shoulder. There was but one way to thwart her
intentions, and Frank's was not a hesitating spirit, he sprang forward,
caught her in his arms, and before the old man had rubbed his eyes fairly
open, Perdita was again safe in the steerage.
Stuart's threats produced the intended effect on the mate; he was
completely intimidated. He scarcely ventured out of Frank's sight lest
he should incur his dangerous suspicions, and the next day the vessel,
accelerated by the gale of the preceding evening, arrived at Cowes. The
captain and mate immediately landed, and Stuart, no longer embarrassed
by their presence, was able to take the necessary measures for Perdita.
She assurred him that if once conveyed to the mainland, to Portsmouth
or Southampton, she could herself take the coach to London, and there,
she said, happiness or misery awaited her, which her noble protector
could neither promote nor avert.
A wherry was procured. Before Perdita was transferred to it, she
took leave of aU the saUors, shook hands with each of them, and expressed
to them individuaUy, her gratitude and good wishes. Her words con
veyed nothing but a sense of obhgation, but there was something of
condescension in her manner, and much of the grace of high station,
that contrasted strikingly with the abased, fearful and shrinking air
of the girl who had tiU then only been seen gliding like a spectre along
the deck, attended by Stuart, and veiled by the shadows of night.
As the wherry parted from the ship, she bowed her head, waved her hand
kerchief to Frank's shipmates, and they returned her salutation with
three loud cheers.
Stuart attended her to an Inn at Portsmouth, engaged her a seat in
the London coach, and then foUowed her to a private apartment, which
he had secured, to bid her fareweU.
Perdita, from the moment she had felt her emancipation from a de
grading condition, and the joy of again setting her foot on her native
land, had manifested perhaps, an undue elation of spirits, an elation so
opposite to Frank's feelings that to him it was a grating discord; but
when she saw him for the last time, every other emotion gave place to
unfeigned sorrow and inexpressible gratitude.
Stuart laid a purse on the table beside her. "My shipmates," he
said, "receive their wages tomorrow, so they have been right glad to
make their pockets clear of the Uttle trash that was in them which may
be of service to you, though it is of no use to them."
"Oh, Frank!" she exclaimed, "if I should ever have anything in my
gift— if I could but reward you for aU you have done for me ! "
All the blood in Frank's heart rushed to his face, and he said in a voice
almost inarticulate with offended pride, "there are services that money
cannot buy, and thank God, there are feehngs in a poor man's breast
worth more than aU the gold in the king's coffers."
"Oh, what have I said," exclaimed Perdita, "I would rather die—

258 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
rather return to the depth of misery from which you rescued me— yes,
ten times told, than to speak one word that should offend you to whom
I owe everything — my fife — and more than fife. I did not say — I did
not think, that money could reward you."
" Do not speak that word again," said Frank, half ashamed of his
pride, and half glorying in it. "Reward! I want none but your safety
and the blessed memory of having done my duty. Money— ho! I
care no more for it than for the dust I tread upon."
"I know it — I am sure of it," cried Perdita, humbled for the moment
by a sense of an elevation of soul in Frank, that exalted him far above
any accidents of birth or education. " Frank, you are rich in everything
that is good and noble — and what am I, to talk of reward — poor— poor
in everything but gratitude to you, Frank — I am not poor in that— you
must not then despise me, and you will not forget me — and you wUl keep
this ring for my sake."
Frank took the ring, and the hly hand she extended to him— his
tears feU fast upon it — he struggled for a moment with his feelings, then
dashed away his tears, and half articulating "God bless you!" he hur
ried out of the apartment, thus separating himself from the beautiful
young creature for whom he had performed a most difficult service
with religious fideUty ; and of whose name even, he was forever to remain
in ignorance.
The enterprising talent of Stuart ensured its appropriate reward.
In one year from the memorable voyage before related, he commanded
a vessel, and on the breaking out of the revolutionary war, he devoted
himself to his country's cause, with the fervent zeal which characterized
and consecrated that cause which made the common interest a matter
of feeling — a famUy affair to each individual.
Stuart commanded an armed merchantman, and disputes with the
noted Paul Jones the honor of having first struck down the British
flag. However this may be, he was distinguished for his skUl and intre
pidity, and above aU (and this distinction endures when the most
brilliant achievements have become insignificant), for his humanity to
those whom the fortunes of war cast in his power.
While on a cruise off the West Indies, Stuart intercepted an enemy's
ship bound to Antigua. His adversary was far superior to him in men
and guns, but as it did not comport with Stuart's bold spirit to make any
very nice calculations of an enemy's superiority, he prepared unhesitat
ingly for action. The contest was a very severe one, and the victory
long doubtful, but at last the British captain struck his colours. Though
we certainly are disposed to render all honour to the skiU of our hero,
yet we dare not claim for him the whole merit of his success, but rather
solve the mystery of victory at such odds, by quoting the expression of
a patriotic English boy, who said on a similar occasion, "Ah, but the
Americans would not have beaten, if the Lord had not been on their
side." After the fight, the English commander requested an interview with
Captain Stuart; informed him that the wife and mother of the gov
ernor of Antigua were on board his vessel and that they were almost

THE STORY OF PERDITA 259
distracted with terror; he entreated, therefore, that they might be
received with the humanity which their sex demanded, and the defer
ence always due to high station, he held that aU God's creatures, who
feared their Creator and did their duty, were on a dead level, and as
to the duties of humanity, he trusted no American captain need go
further than his own heart for instructions how to perform them.
The British captain was ignorant of the spirit of the times, and argu
ing nothing favourable from Stuart's republican reply, he returned
with a heavy heart to the ladies to conduct them on board the cap
tor's ship. The elder lady, the mother, was a woman of rank, with
all the pride and prejudice of high birth. The Americans she deemed
all of that then much despised order — the common people; rebels
and robbers were the best names she bestowed on them and in the
honesty of her ignorance she sincerely believed that she had faUen into
the hands of pirates. The younger lady, though deeply affected by
their disastrous situation, endeavored to calm her mother's apprehen
sions, and assured her that she had heard there were men of distinguished
humanity among the American sailors. The old lady shook her head
incredulously. "Oh, heaven help us," she groaned, "what can we expect
from such horrid fellows, when they know they have Lady Strangford
and the Right Honourable Mrs. Liston in their power, and your beauty,
Selina! your beauty, child! is a fatal treasure to faU among thieves with,
depend on't; arrange your veU so that it wUl hang in thick folds over
your face, I wUl draw my hood close." The precaution on her part
seemed quite superfluous, but the young lady obscured some of heaven's
cunningest workmanship with her impervious veil.
The servants were ordered to defiver the ladies' baggage to the Ameri
can captain, with the request that some necessaries might be reserved.
Stuart answered that he interfered with no private property, and that
all the baggage of the ladies remained at their disposal.
Lady Strangford was somewhat reassured by this generosity, and
attended by her captain and foUowed by her daughter and servants, she
proceeded to Stuart's ship. Stuart advanced to meet them and offered
her his hand, she proudly declined it and passed sUently on. A gust of
wind blew back her hood — "Faith!" exclaimed one of the sailors who
observed the scrupulosity with which she replaced it, "the old lady
had best show her face, for I'm sure we'll all give a good berth to such
an iron bound coast as that." But as the same breeze blew aside the
young lady's veU, there was a general murmur of admhation. She had
at the moment graciously accepted the tender of Stuart's hand in the
hope of counteracting the impression of her mother's rudeness, and
when her veU was removed he had a full view of her face; conscious
that many were gazing on her, she blushed deeply, and hastUy readjusted
it without raising her eyes. Stuart dropped her hand, smothered an
exclamation, and retreated a few paces, leaving her to follow her mother
alone. One of the officers observing his emotion, said, "How is this captain?
you don't wink at a broadside, and yet you start at one flash from a lady's
bright face."

260 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
"I got a scratch on my right arm in the engagement," returned
Stuart, evading his raUlery, "and the lady's touch gave me a pang."
He then retired to his state room, and wrote the foUowing note, which
he directed to be deUvered to the young lady: — "Capt. Stuart's compli
ments to the ladies under his protection — he incloses a ring once bestowed
on him in acknowledgment of honorable conduct, as a pledge to them
that the hand that has worn such a badge shaU never be suUied by a bad
deed. Captain Stuart wiU proceed immediately to Antigua conveying
the ladies with the least possible delay to their destined port." _ Such a
communication to prisoners of war, might naturaUy excite emotion in a
generous bosom, but it did not account for the excess of it manifested
by the young lady. She became pale and faint, and when her mother
alarmed at such a demonstration of feeling, took up the note, she caught
it from her and then after a second thought relinquished it to her.
"I see nothing in this, Selina," said the old lady, after perusing and
reperusing it, "to throw you into such a flurry; but you are young and
are thinking no doubt of getting home to your husband and children,
young people's feelings are, like soft wax, easUy melted."
"There is a warmth in some kindness," rejoined the daughter earnestly,
"that ought to melt the hardest substances."
"Really, I do not see anything so very striking in this man's civility.
It would be of course, you know, in the British navy; politeness and all
that sort of thing being inborn in an Englishman, but it may be, indeed
I fancy it is quite unheard of in an American."
"ShaU I write our acknowledgments, madam, to Captain Stuart?"
asked the young lady with evident solicitude to stop the conversation.
"Certainly, certainly my dear Selina, always be ceremoniously polite
with your inferiors."
" Madam, I think this noble Captain," she would have added, "has
no superiors," but afraid of further discussion she concluded her sentence
with the tame addition, "richly deserves our thanks."
She then wrote the foUowing note: — "Mrs. Liston in behalf of her
mother-in-law, Lady Strangford, and on her own part, offers her warm
est thanks to Captain Stuart, the ladies esteem it heaven's peculiar
mercy that Captain Stuart is their captor. They have aheady had such
experience of his magnanimity, as to render them perfectly tranquil in
reposing their safety and happiness on his honour." The ring, without
any aUusion to it, was re-inclosed.
When Captain Stuart had perused the note, he inquhed if the lady
had not requested to speak with him. He was answered that so far
from intimating such a wish, she had said to her mother that she should
remain in her state-room tUl she was summoned to leave Captain Stuart's
vessel. The Captain looked extremely chagrined, he knit his brows, and
bit his lips, and gave his orders hastily, with the usual sea expletives
appended to them— "a sure sign," his men said, "that something went
wrong with the captain," but these signs of repressed emotion were all
the expression he allowed to his offended pride, or perhaps his better
feelings. The ladies were scrupulously served, and every deferential

THE STORY OF PERDITA 261
attention paid to them that Lady Strangford would have anticipated in
the best cusciplined ship in his majesty's service.
A few day's saU brought the schooner to the port of Antigua. She
entered the harbor under a flag of truce and remained there just time
enough for the disembarcation of the ladies and theh suite. During
this ceremony the captain remained in his berth under a pretext of a
violent headache but it was observed that they were no sooner f airly
off than he was on deck again moving about with an activity and even
impetuosity that seemed quite incompatible with a debilitating malady.
Captain Stuart continued for some months a fortunate cruise about
the West India islands. His was not the prudent maxim that "discre
tion is the better part of valour," but when valour would have been boot
less he knew how to employ the alternative and his little schooner was
celebrated as the most despearate fighter and the swiftest sailer in those
seas, and her captain became so formidable that the English admiral
off that station gave orders that the schooner should be foUowed and
destroyed at all hazards.
Soon after this he was pursued by a ship of the fine and compeUed
to take refuge in the harbour of St. Kitts, a French and of course a friend
ly port to the American flag. Here he anchored his vessel, and deeming
himself perfectly secure, and wearied with hard duty, he retired to his
berth after setting a watch, and dismissing his crew to repose. In the
middle of the night he was alarmed by an attack from the pursuing frig
ate, which had contrived to elude the vigilance of the fort that guarded
the entrance of the harbour, and was already in such a position in relation
to him as to cut off every possibility of escape. His spirit, far from quail
ing, was exasperated by the surprise; he fought as the most courageous
animals fight at bay. To increase the horror of his situation, the
commander of the fort, from some fatal mistake, opened a fire upon
him. He was boarded on aU sides by boats manned with eighty-four
men. We are too ignorant of such matters, and too peaceably inclined
to give any interest to the particulars of a sea-fight. Suffice it to say,
that our hero did not surrender till he was himself disabled by wounds,
his little band cut down and his schooner a wreck. When the British
commander ascertained the actual force with which he had contended,
his pride was stung with a consciousness that a victory so dearly bought,
had aU of defeat but the disgraceful name; and, incapable of that sym
pathy which a magnanimous sphit always feels with a noble captive,
he arraigned Captain Stuart before him as a criminal and demanded of
him how he dared against the law of nations to defend an indefensible
vessel. "Did you think," retorted Stuart with cold contempt, "that I had
gunpowder and would not burn it? do you talk to me of the law of nations !
I fight after the law of nature that teaches me to spend the last kernel
of powder, and the last drop of blood in my country's service." His
conqueror's temper heated before, was inflamed by Stuart's reply. He
ordered him to be manacled and put in close confinement. This con
duct may appear extraordinary in the cammander of a British frigate,

262 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
but the English in their contest with the colonies were not always
governed by these generous principles, by which they have themselves
so much alleviated the miseries of war. A defeated American was
treated as a lawful enemy, or a rebel, as suited the individual temper
of the conqueror.
The frigate was so much injured in the fight as to render a refit neces
sary, and her commander sailed with his prize for Antigua.
Stuart well knew that his fideUty to his country rendered him ob
noxious to the severest judgment from the admhalty court and though
he might plead the services he had rendered the ladies of the governor's
family in mitigation of his sentence he proudly resolved never to advert
to favours which he had reason to believe had been Ughtly estimated.
Spirits most magnanimous in prosperity are often most lofty in
adversity. Frank Stuart, mutUated by wounds, dejected by the fatal
calamities of his faithful crew, irritated by the indignities heaped upon
him by his unworthy captor, and stung by secret thoughts of some real
or fancied injury — chafed and overburthened with many griefs, received
and suUenly obeyed a summons to the presence of the governor. It
cannot be denied, that reluctantly as he appeared before the governor,
he surveyed him at his introduction with a look of keen curiosity. He
was surprised to see a man rather past his prime, though not yet declined
into the vale of years. With generous aUowance for the effect of a tropi
cal climate, he might not have been more than forty-five. His physiog
nomy was agreeable, and his deportment gentlemanly. He received
Captain Stuart with far more courtesy than was often vouchsafed from
an officer of the crown, to one who fought under the rebel banner, and
remarking that he looked pale and sick, he begged him to be seated.
Stuart declined the civUity, and continued resting on a crutch, which
a severe wound in his leg rendered necessary.
"You are the commander of the schooner Betsy?" said the governor.
"What's left of her," returned Stuart.
"You appear to be severely wounded," continued the governor.
"Hacked to pieces," rejoined Stuart, in a manner suited to the
brevity of his reply.
"Your name, I believe, is Frank Stuart?"
"I have no reason to deny the name, thank God."
"And, thank God, I have reason to bless and honour it," exclaimed
the governor, advancing and grasping Frank's hand heartily. "What
metal did you deem me of, my noble friend, that I should forget such
favours as you have conferred on me in the persons of my wife and
mother." "I have known greater favours than those forgotten," said Frank,
and the sudden illumination of his pale face, showed how deeply he
felt what he uttered.
"Say you so!" exclaimed the governor, with good humored warmth,
"well, but that I am too poor to pay my own debts to you, I should
count it a pleasure to assume those of all my species — but heaven grant,
my friend, that you do not allude to my wife and mother. I blamed

THE STORY OF PERDITA 263
them much for not bringing you on shore with them — but my mother is
somewhat over punctiUous, and my wife, poor soul! her nerves are so
shattered by that sea fight, that she is but now herseff again. On my
word, so far from wanting gratitude to you, she never hears an aUusion
to you without tears, the language women deal in when words are too
cold for them. But come," concluded the governor, for he found
that aU his efforts did but add to Stuart's evident distress, "come,
follow me to the drawing-room, the ladies wiU themselves convince you
how impatient they have been to welcome you."
"Are they apprised," asked Stuart, stUl hesitating and holding back,
"whom they are to see?"
"That they are — my mother is as much delighted as if his majesty
were in waiting, and my wife is weeping with joy."
"Perhaps," said Stuart, stUl hesitating, "she would rather not see
me now."
"Nonsense, my good friend, come along. It is not for a brave fellow
like you to shrink from a few friendly tears from a woman's eye."
Nothing more could be urged, and Stuart foUowed Governor Liston
to the presence of the ladies. Lady Strangford rose and offered him
her hand with the most condescending kindness. Mrs. Liston rose too,
but did not advance tUl her husband said, " Come, Selina, speak your
welcome to our benefactor" — he may misinterpret this expression of
your feelings."
"Oh, no," she said, now advancing eagerly, and fixing her eye on
Stuart, while her cheeks, neck and brow were suffused with crimson,
"Oh, no, Captain Stuart knows how deeply I must feel benefits, which
none but he that bestowed them could forget or undervalue."
"It was a rule my mother taught me," replied Frank, with bluntness,
softened however by a sudden gleam of pleasure, "that givers should not
have better memories than receivers." There was a meaning in his
honest phrase hidden from two of his auditors, but quite inteUigible
to her for whom it was designed, and to our readers, who have doubt
less aheady anticipated that the Honourable Mrs. Liston was none other
than the fugitive Perdita. A sudden change of color showed that she
felt acutely Stuart's keen though veUed reproach.
"A benefit," she replied, stUl speaking in a double sense, "such as
I have received from you, Captain Stuart, may be too deeply felt to be
acknowledged by words, now heaven has given us the opportunity of
deeds, and you shall find that my gratitude is only inferior to your merit."
Stuart was more accustomed to embody his feelings in actions than in
speech, and he remained sUent. He felt as if he were the sport of a
dream, when he looked on the transformed Perdita. He knew not why,
but invested as she now was, with all the power of wealth and the
elegance of fashion, he felt not hah the awe of her, as when in her help
lessness and dependence, "he had fenced her round with many a speUe,"
wrought by youthful and chivahic feeling.
He perceived, in spite of Mrs. Liston's efforts, that his presence was
embarrassing to her, and he would have taken leave, but the governor

264 HISTORY OF TABLOT COUNTY
insisted peremptorily to his remaining to dine with him. Then saying,
that he had indispensable business to transact, and must be absent for
a half hour, he would, he said, leave the ladies to a free expression
of their feelings.'
When he was gone, Mrs. Liston said to her mother, "I do not think
your little favourite, Francis, is quite well today, wiU you have the
goodness to look in upon him and give nurse some advice." Theold
lady went without reluctance, as most people do to give advice, and
Mrs. Liston turned to Stuart and said, "I gave my boy your name,
with a prayer that. God would give him your spirit. Do not, oh, do
not think me," she continued, her Up quivering with emotion, "the un
grateful wretch I have appeared. I am condemned to silence by the
pride of another. My heart rebels, but I am bound to keep that a
secret which my feefings prompt me to pubhsh to the world." Stuart
would have spoken, but she anticipated him: "Listen to me without
interruption," she said, "my story is my only apology, and I have but
brief space to teU it in. It was love, as you once guessed, that led me
to that mad voyage to America. I had a silly passion for a young Vir
ginian, who had been sent to England for his education — he was nine
teen, I fifteen, when we promised to meet on board the ship which
conveyed me to America. His purpose, but not his concert with me was
discovered, and he was detained in England. You know aU the events
of my enterprise. I left a letter for my father, mforming him that I
had determined to abandon England, but I gave him not the slightest
clue to my real designs. I was an only, and as you wiU readily believe,
a spoiled chUd. My mother was not living, and my father, hoping that
I should soon return, and wishing to veU my folly, gave out that he had
sent me to a boarding-school on the continent, and himself retired to
Switzerland. When I arrived in London, I obtained his address and
followed him. He immediately received me to apparent favour, but
never restored me to bis confidence. His heart was hardened by my
childish folly, and though I recounted to him aU my sufferings, I never
drew a tear from him; but when I spoke of you, and dwelt on the
particulars of your goodness to me, his eye would moisten, and he would
exclaim, 'God bless the lad.' I must be brief," she continued, casting
her eye apprehensively at the door, "Mr. Liston came with his mother
to Geneva, where we resided; he addressed me — my father favoured his
suit, and though he is, as you perceive, much older than myself, I con
sented to marry him, but not, as I told my father, till I had unfolded
my history to him. My father was incensed at what he called my
folly — he treated me harshly — I was subdued, and our contest ended in
my solemnly swearing never to divulge the secret, on the preservation
of which he fancied the honour of his proud name to depend."
"Thank God," then exclaimed Frank, with a burst of honest feeling,
"it was not your pride, cursed pride, and I may still think of Perdita as
a true tender-hearted girl; it was a pleasant spot in my memory," he
continued, dashing away a tear, "and I hated to have it crossed with a
black line."

THE STORY OF PERDITA 265
Mrs. Liston improved all that remained of her mother's absence in
detailing some particulars, not necessary to relate, by which it appeared
that notwithstanding she had dispensed with the article of love in her
marriage (we crave mercy of our fah young readers), her husband's
virtue and indulgence had matured a sentiment of affection, if not as
romantic, yet quite as safe and enduring as a youthful passion. She
assured Stuart that she regarded him as the means of aU her happiness.
"Not a day passes," she said, raising her beautiful eyes to heaven, "that
I do not remember my generous deliverer, where alone I am permitted
to speak of him." The old lady now rejoined them, bringing her grand
child in her arms. Frank threw down his crutch, forgot his wounds,
and permitted his full heart to flow out in the caresses he lavished on his
little namesake.
The governor redeemed Stuart's schooner, and made such representa
tions before the admiralty court of Stuart's merits, and the Ul treatment
he had received from the commander of the frigate, that the court ordered
the schooner to be refitted and equipped and permitted to proceed to
sea at the pleasure of Captain Stuart. He remained for several days
domesticated in the governor's family, and treated by every member of
it with a frank cordiality suited to his temper and merits. Every look,
word and action of Mrs. Liston expressed to him that his singular serv
ice was engraven on her heart. He forebore even to aUude to it, and
with his characteristic magnanimity, never inquired directly or indirectly
her fanuly name. He observed a timidity and apprehensiveness in
her manner, that resulted from a consciousness that she had, however
reluctantly, practiced a fraud on her husband, and he said that having
felt how burdensome it was to keep a secret from his commander for a
short voyage, he thought it was quite too heavy a lading for the voyage
of life.
The demonstrations of gratitude which Stuart received from Governor
Liston and his family, he deemed out of aU proportion to his services,
and being more accustomed to bestow than to receive, he became rest
less, and as soon as his schooner was ready for sea he announced his
departure, and bade his friends fareweU. He said the tears that Per
dita (he always caUed her Perdita) shed at parting, were far more
precious to him than aU the rich gifts she had bestowed on him.
At the moment Stuart set his foot on the deck of the vessel, the Ameri
can colours, at the governor's command were hoisted. The generous
sympathies of the multitude were moved, and huzzas from a thousand
voices rent the ah. Governor Liston and his suite and most of the
merchant vessels then in port, escorted the schooner out of the harbour.
Even the stern usages of war cannot extinguish that sentiment in the
bosom of man, implanted by God, which leads him to do homage to a
brave and generous foe.
Captain Stuart continued to the end of the war, to serve his country
with unabated zeal, and, when peace was restored, the same hardy spirit
that had distinguished him in perUous times made him foremost in bold
adventure.

266 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
He commanded the second American trading vessel that arrived at
Canton after the peace; and this vessel with which he circumnavigated
half the globe, was a sloop of eighty tons, little more than half the
size of the largest now used for the river trade. Tbis adventure wUl be
highly estimated by those who have been so fortunate as to read the
merry tale of Dolph HeUegher, and who remember the prudence mani
fested at that period by the wary Dutchman of the ancient metropolis
in navigating these smaU vessels; how they were fain to shelter them
selves at night in the friendly harbours with which the river abounds, and
we believe, to avoid adventuring through Haverstraw, bay or the Tappan
sea, in a high wind.
When Stuart's httle sloop rode into the bay of Canton, it was mis
taken for a tender from a large ship, and the bold mariner was afterwards
familiarly called by the great Hong merchants, "the one-mast Captain."
Such is the story of Perdita as elaborated by the novelist from in
cidents collected by her brother while at Plimhimmon. Since the pub
lication of the story, such is its vraisemblance, — such the skill with
which fact and fiction are intermingled, — that many of the denizens of
the neighborhood of the young woman's debarkation and residence while
in Talbot, receive the whole as truth without intermixture of error.
A very estimable gentleman, a descendant of one of the actors in the
little drama, has been heard to relate with particularity aU the incidents
of Miss Sedgwick's novelette, at the same time giving every evidence
of his belief of the entire story, from the beginning to the end; thus
affording another instance of the inventions of the romancist being ac
cepted as the chronicles of the historian. The foUowing appears to be
the unembellished story of the young woman, who for want of her true
name must stUl be caUed Perdita, as it has been gathered from those
now living who have heard it related by persons who were old enough
to have received the account from those remembering the characters that
figure conspicuously in the tale.
Somewhere about the year mentioned in the story, 1763, a ship lay
off at anchor, in the Thames, waiting for her clearance papers, and ready
to sail. There came on board a young person, apparently a lad, and
asked to be shipped as a boy. He was accepted, and soon after the ship
dropped down the river and went to sea. The name of the ship was the
"Integrity;" that of the master John Coward, and she was bound for
the port of Oxford, in the colony of Maryland. Capt. John Coward
owned the estate of Plimhimmon, which was also his home when not at
sea. This estate subsequently came into the possession of his son, Capt.
Thomas Coward, who was master of the frigate " Choptank," that traded
between Oxford and London, up to the time of the Revolution. By
this Capt. Thos. Coward the plantation was sold in the year 1787 to the

THE STORY OF PERDITA 267
Hon. Matthew TUghman, he who was so worthily conspicuous in our
Revolutionary annals, as a home for his daughter, the wife of Col.
Tench TUghman, one of the staff officers of Gen'l Washington. Capt.
John Coward of "Plimhimmon" and of the good ship "Integrity" has
descendants in the State to this day. The name, though not the blood,
is extinct in Talbot, but Mr. Thomas R. Coward, of Baltimore, is a
representative of the family; while elsewhere, as in California, there are
those who are proud to trace their origin to, and derive theh patronymic
from the bluff captain who for many years saUed out of the port of Oxford.
The literary artist, in her portraiture of Capt. John Coward, for the
sake of effect, has without doubt, limned with exaggerated fines his
characteristic features, and touched with too warm a coloring his mental
complexion. Doubtless he possessed the usual traits of the sea-faring
men and ship-masters of his day, but he was not the coarse, UUterate and
brutal despot of the quarter-deck he, in the story, is represented to have
been. Some, who recoUect the time when Miss Sedgwick's story was
first published, say the members of the family were indignant that their
ancestor should have been depicted with the lines, fights and shadows
we see in the portrait, and were disposed to throw the blame of such a
caricature upon that gentleman in Talbot who had given Mr. Sedgwick
the outlines of the story. Indeed they attributed the authorship of the
romance to Mr. TUghman himself. We find, therefore, that when the
tale was first printed in the "Gazette," some one to whom Capt. Coward
was known, at least by direct tradition, for the purpose of correcting any
unfavorable impression that might be given of the worthy Captain's
character by the description of him by the authoress, prefaced the story
with these words: "The person to whom the interesting and delicate
fingered boy bound himself, was not only an inteUigent sea-captain,
but a weU bred country gentleman, who owned the fine estate caUed
Plimhimmon, adjoining the old town and port of Oxford, where his
fanuly resided. Several persons, stUl Uving, recoUect him as a man of
character, weU esteemed, and of good feehng, who moved in the best
company of his day; and Uving on the fat of a choice soU aided by the
resources and foreign nicknacks of a rich merchant ship, entertained
liberally and handsomely."
The ship on board of which Perdita is said to have embarked, when
leaving England, is known with almost absolute certainty to have been
the "Integrity," as mentioned above, for according to a list of vessels
receiving cargoes in, and sailing out of Choptank, Third Haven and Wye
rivers, now in the possession of the writer, this ship is known to have
been commanded by Capt. John Coward from a date at least as early as
1751, to 1771, and to have been trading between the city of London and
the town of Oxford. It may not be amiss to say, parentheticaUy, that
ships were accustomed to load in the Choptank as high up as Kingston,
and as they often had to wait a considerable time to complete theh
cargoes, it was preferred they should he in the fresh water of the upper
Choptank, that they might escape the devastations of the boring worm,
so destructive to sea-going vessels before the introduction of copper

268 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
sheathing. Most of the tobacco, from the Eastern side of the county,
at least, was shipped from the landings upon that river, and accordingly
we find that the "Integrity" took in the bulk of her cargo at Dover,
a town that has now disappeared, and at Barker's Landing, and com
pleted her loading at Oxford, where she obtained her clearance papers,
that being the port of a large district, and at one time, for the whole
Eastern Shore, where the CoUector and Naval Officer were compelled
to reside. The trade between our county and England was through
London houses, almost exclusively, though occasionally there was a
shipment to Liverpool and Glasgow. The consignees of the "Integrity"
in London were, at various times Anthony Bacon, John Hanbury,
Dickerson & Court, and Christopher Court & Company.
Before the ship had reached her destination it was discovered that the
sailor boy who had shipped in the Thames was not a boy at all, but a
girl in disguise. This coming to the knowledge of Captain Coward, he
took care to protect her from insult during the remainder of the voyage,
and after his arrival at Oxford, he placed her in the care of the ladies of
his famUy at Plimhimmon. The girl persistently refused to tell her
name, but her story as it was finaUy eUcited from her was simply this:
That she had formed a love attachment for a young man, a saUor on board
the ship "Integrity," and knowing or believing that he was about to
sail for America, she determined to accompany him. To accomplish
her purpose she assumed the disguise in which she had been discovered,
and made use of the ruse in which she had been detected, to be received
on board the same ship with her lover.
Tradition rather confirms the statement in the romance that the
girl's appearance and demeanor evinced that she had been well born
and bred, and that she was unaccustomed to the hardships and priva
tions of humble life. The more charitable were disposed to attribute
her escapade to her youth and the impetuosity of a passion that is so
often indiscreet, the most so when most innocent: but her own sex,
and particularly the ladies of Capt. Coward's family, were not so indul
gent, and rather looked upon her as one of those troUops from London,
the like of which there were so many landed upon our shores. Accord
ingly, instead of receiving her upon terms of equality they placed her in
their kitchen, and assigned to her the drudgery of a menial.
The girl soon discovered how terrible a mistake she had made, and
repented sorely of her indiscretion. She had not even the consolation
of the company of her lover, for either he was not on board the "Integrity"
as she supposed, or he, with the sailors' usual inconstancy, deserted her.
Tradition is here at fault. The hardships and degradation she was
enduring, added to the poignancy of her regret for having forsaken her
home, caused her to long for an opportunity to return to her parents in
England. The near proximity of Plimhimmon to Oxford brought her
often into communication with the sailors of the ships trading between
London and this region of the country. Her strange adventure, which
was the common talk of the nieghborhood and town, did not fail to
reach the ears of the officers and men, who landing from the ships after

THE STORY OF PERDITA 269
long voyages, Ustened with avidity to aU the gossip of the little port,
and became eager to see the object of so much pity or so much scandal.
It is not surprising that very soon she excited the sympathies, then
engaged the affections, and finaUy enlisted the services of some suscept
ible, adventurous and courageous young sailor. Such a one she found
in Stewart Dean, who is caUed in Miss Sedgwick's version, Frank Stuart,
a saUor on board the ship " Hazard," Captain Adam Coxen. This ship
"Hazard," or "Hazzard," as she is called in the list referred to above,
was trading between the Thames and Choptank rivers from the year
1763 to 1769, her consignees being WiUiam and James Anderson, of
London; and her commander Captain Coxen, like Captain Coward,
was a resident of Talbot. The writer in the " Gazette," of whom men
tion is made above, says of him: "The few yet living who recollect
the broad shoulders, the huge features, the lowering threatenings of
the shaggy and tremendous brows, and the deep furrows of the weather
beaten face of old Captain Coxen, say the picture as dehneated in the
story is to the life."
The young saUor held frequent stolen interviews with Perdita, at
Plimhimmon, and theh trysting place, under an apple tree in the orchard
to the left of the mansion, or to the right as it is approached, up to a very
recent time, used to be pointed out to the curious and the romantic.
Here were arranged the plans for the escape of the young woman from
those she regarded as her cruel oppressors, and for her concealment on
board the ship, when she was ready to sail. How they accomplished
their purposes tradition fails to inform us; all we certainly know is that
she was surreptitiously conveyed on board the "Hazard," and carefully
hidden away among the tobacco hogsheads; and that she made the
voyage safely and without discovery, to her own and her gaUant bene
factor's great satisfaction.
After the arrival of the "Hazard" at London, Perdita, stUl persisting
in her refusal to reveal her name and parentage, made these last requests
of Dean, which doubtless were more difficult to be granted than any
she had hitherto proffered: that he would conduct her to the intersection
of certain streets in the city which she named, and there leave her;
that he would not attempt by any means to penetrate her secret, but
as the only return that she was able to give for his kindness and devotion
he would accept the simple thanks of the unhappy and misguided girl
whom he had befriended. Mr. Dean, like a man of honor, respected
her wishes, comphed strictly with her requests, conducted her to the
spot she had designated, and there bade her adieu. Of this Stewart
Dean little is known. The writer in the " Gazette," to whom reference
has been made more than once, and who, Uving much nearer than we to
the time of the occurrences, seems to have been famUiar with the events
of the story as they actuaUy happened, says : — " He is not only the mirror
of chivalry, but has continued to be the very soul of truth." It would
appear from this that the hero of the romance was known and stiU Uving
at the date of its publication in 1826. There is a tradition too, pretty
well substantiated, that after abandoning the sea, Stewart Dean settled

270 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
in Albany, New York, where he was visited by Miss Sedgwick, and where
he confirmed with his own Ups, what she had previously learned of his
adventures and those of Perdita.
It is a pity to spoU a pretty story. It is like breaking a statue or
marring a painting. But Truth — a very Vandal in her insensibility
to the charms of fancy's most living pictures, a very Puritan iconoclast
in her remorseless fury against the most worshipped idols of the imagina
tion — demands imperatively it should be told, that aU the incidents of
the romance after the parting of the hero and heroine, — aU that is
said of Stewart's or Dean's commanding a privateer in our revolutionary
war, of his capturing a British vessel, of his own subsequent captivity,
of his meeting in the person of the Governor's wife the long lost Perdita,
&c, &c. — "Are of imagination aU compact,"
— are pure fictions without a shadow of real foundation.

OLD PARISH LINES IN TALBOT COUNTY
The first "Act for the establishment of Religion" was passed by the
provincial assembly of Maryland in 1692. It provided that every
county in the province should be laid put into parishes.
Among the records of Talbot County court, held June 20, 1693 may
be found the foUowing: "The court proceeds to lay out the parishes
for tbis county, as also to nominate and appoint the vestrymen for the
several and respective parishes." Talbot County was laid out into
three parishes, Saint Paul's Parish, Saint Peter's and Saint Michael's
Parish. The Maryland Archives, Vol. 23, pages 21, 22, give the loca
tion of these separate parishes, as foUows: "St. Paul's Parish begins
at the head of Chester River and extends to the Court House, and from
the Court House along the north side of Brewer's Branch to the head
of the said branch, and from thence to John Jadwin's Branch being
the north part of Tuckahoe."
The Court House referred to then stood on "Hopton" farm, near the
mouth of Skipton Creek, about nine nules north of Talbot town, which
later was caUed Easton to which the Court House was removed in 1710.
In an ancient book of Rent Rolls of Talbot County, in the custody
of the Maryland Historical Society, may be found the foUowing entry:
"Hopton, surveyed June 1st, 1668, for Jonathan Hopkins, on the
east side of the east branch of Back Wye 300 acres, possessed by Wm.
Swetnam, and 20 acres by the County of Talbot for Court House land."
St. Peter's Parish begins at John Jadwin's Branch and extends to
Oxford town.
St. Michael's Parish consists of MiU and Bay Hundreds and part of
Island Hundred, that is to say, from the Court House downward.
The boundary lines of these three parishes not being definitely deter
mined, and disputes having arisen between the Rectors of each parish
as to certain of their parishioners, who were in doubt as to which parish
they properly belonged, the Court directed these parish lines to be
surveyed and a certificate of same to be duly recorded.
The report of Mr. Turbutt, County Surveyor, appomted by the Jus
tice to lay off the lines of the three parishes, dated June, 1714, says, "St.
Peter's parish to contain Third Haven Hundred, Bolingbroke Hundred
and part of Tuckahoe Hundred, bounding on the north by a line drawn
from the head of Brewer's Branch south 75 degrees east to the head
271

272 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
of Jadwin's Branch." The Glebe road and Goldsborough neck road
from Easton to AU Saints church and Three Bridges is the line dividing
St. Peter's and St. Michaels' Parishes.
Brewer's Branch empties into Skipton Creek, and is the same, long
known as the Three Bridge Branch. Its source is about a mUe west
of Cordova. John Jadwin's branch is a part of the dividing line be
tween Talbot and Queen Anna's Counties, and has long been called and
known as Lloyd's Branch. It empties into the Tuckahoe at a point
opposite HUlsboro.
St. Paul's Parish comprised aU of Talbot on the north and St. Michaels'
Parish aU of Talbot on the west of St. Peter's.
This Act of 1692 for ,the establishment of reUgion, however, failed
to become a law, as it failed to receive the sanction of the British Sov-
reigns, William and Mary. It provided that churches erected under
its provision should be buUt at Ports. Oxford, at this date, was the
principal port in the county and indeed upon the whole Eastern Shore.
Here, therefore, it was expected and required a church should be built
had this act become a law. Although contracted for, the church at
Oxford was not buUt and the White Marsh Church buUt soon after the
laying out of Talbot as a county in 1660, became the Parish Church of St.
Peter's Parish. The first Vestrymen of Saint Peter's Parish appointed
by the Court June 20, 1693, were Mr. Thomas Robins, Mr. Thomas
Bowdle, Mr. George Robins, Mr. Nichols Lowe, Mr. Samuel Abbott,
Jr., and Mr. Thos. Martin. WHITE MARSH PARISH
In the year 1856, upon the petition of sundry persons living at or
near the town of Trappe, consent was given by the Vestry of Saint
Peter's, that a new parish should be organized within its limits, and on
the 12th of May these proceedings were had with reference to this sub
ject: "David Kerr, Jr., Alexander Matthews and James Lloyd Cham
berlaine, representing persons anxious for a division of the parish, at their
request, had an interview with the Vestry and asked that they would
express theh views upon a proper location of a divisional line. The
Convention, at its session in the same month, granted the petition of
the memorialists, and the new parish embracing the ancient parish
church was organized with the northern boundary"
following a line drawn from the waters of Trippe's creek, at the junc
tion of the lands of Mrs. Hugh Hambleton, Barclay Haskins and Mat
thew TUghman Goldsborough, due east to the waters of the Choptank
river.

OLD PARISH LINES IN TALBOT COUNTY 273
At the convention of 1857, the organization was confirmed and the
name given to the parish was Southern Saint Peters, subsequently,
in 1858, changed to Whitemarsh Parish.
ALL SAINTS PARISH
In the year 1881, the parish of AU Saints was laid off leaving St.
Peter's Parish bounded as follows:
Old line from Choptank to head of Cove in Trippe's creek, then
north with said creek and Tred Avon river by its middle to head of Lee
Haven creek, thence by a straight line due north to Goldsborough Point
at the mouth of Glebe creek, thence with said creek to its source, thence
by a straight fine to Wootenaux bridge, thence with Kings creek to its
mouth, and south with Choptank river to place of beginning.
These boundaries have never been changed.
WYE PARISH
The congregation at Wye continued to be a part of St. Paul's parish
until April 9, 1860. On April 7, 1859, a preliminary meeting for the
organization of a new parish was held at Wye Church. Those who were
present at this momentous meeting were: Rev. Erastus F. DashieU,
rector of the parish; Richard B. Carmichael, C. C. TUghman, WiUiam
H. Forman, Henry Davis, Charles H. TUghman, Dr. James Davidson,
Dr. John C. Earle, Dr. Anselm W. Neal and R. B. Carmichael, Jr.
After a brief address by the rector, in which he set forth the necessity
of the proposed division, it was decided that it be expedient that "aU
that portion of St. Paul's parish lying below a line beghming at a point
where Reed's Creek empties into Chester River and running up that
creek to its head, and thence with a line foUowing the line dividing the
CentreviUe from the Queenstown election district, to a point where it
intersected the main road from CentreviUe to Easton, at or near a stream
of water caUed Madam Elsey's Branch, and thence in a direct line to-
a point where the ah line intercepts the boundary line between St. Paul's
parish, Queen Anne's and Talbot Counties, and St. John's parish, Caro
line County, be formed into a separate parish, to be caUed Wye Parish."
Thus St. Luke's parish of Wye came into being.

OLD CHESTEE AND WYE CHUKCHES
Our earliest records extend no further back than to the year of our
Lord 1694, two years after the Province of Maryland was organized
into parishes, and registrars were appointed. At this period the parish
embraced — with the exception of Kent Island — the whole of Queen
Anne's County, including what is now Caroline County and a large por
tion of Talbot County than now belongs to it. There were then within
its bounds, besides the Parish Church — caUed "Chester Church"—
three Chapels of ease, viz. : the "Up-River Chapel" (upon the site of
the present St. Luke's, Church HiU)— "Tuckahoe Chapel" (in what
is now St. John's Parish, in the counties of Caroline and Queen Anne)
and "St. Luke's, Wye." From the fact that the Parish Church very
shortly afterwards needed repair, and the Chapel at Wye renewal, these
structures, even at that early date, must have been standing for a num
ber of years. The probability is that the first Chester Church and the
first St. Luke's at Wye, were the very earliest churches erected on the
mainland of the Eastern Shore. We aU know that Kent Island was
the cradle of the Church of Maryland, the first settlement within its
borders having been made there, and having been made by members
of the Church of England. As early as 1618 Capt. WiUiam Claiborne,
Secretary of State to the Virginia Colony, who is referred to in his ap
pointment to that office as "a man of quality and trust," — came from
Jamestown to Kent Island with a company of one hundred colonists.
There were with this colony a clergyman of the Church of England,
the Rev. Richard James, by whom, in aU human probabUity, the foun
dation of the first Church in Maryland was laid, and whose death
occurred in 1638. From the Island the colony spread, carrying of
course, the Church with it, to the neighboring territory, and Chester
and Wye Churches being nearest to the Island, were the first erected.
From these data, we may safely infer that these churches were built
about the year 1640 — certainly not later than 1650.
The records begin with the rectorship of the Rev. John LiUingston
in 1694 — whether he was the first minister or for how long a previous
period he may have exercised the pastoral office in this neighborhood,
we have no means of ascertaining. He retained this charge until his
death, in the year 1709. His high standing in the Provincial Church,
from which may be inferred the exceUence of the work which he here
274

OLD CHESTER AND WYE CHURCHES 275
accomplished and the comparative strength and importance which this
parish had attained in that early day — is attested by the Rev. Mr.
Talbot, one of the missioners of the Propagation Society, who, in Octo
ber, 1705, wrote these words, which are preserved in the coUections of
the Protestant Episcopal Historical Society; — "Mr. John LiUingston
designs, it seems, to go to England next year: it seems to be the fittest
person that America affords for the office of Suffragan, and several per
sons, both of the laity and clergy, have wished he were the man." No
small tribute this, to the high estimation in which the first rector of this
parish was held by his contemporaries. And that it was not to his
talents, his learning, his prudence and zeal alone, he owed this marked
distinction, but to bis sterling personal worth and ardent piety also,
there is affecting evidence. His dying testimony afforded the most
impressive seal to the truths which he so long and so faithfully pro
claimed to your fathers. His original wiU I have found on file in the
office of the register of wills for this county.
It is written in his own hand and begins with these words:
First and principally, I commend my soul to Almighty God my Creator,
assuredly believing that I shall receive fuU pardon and fuU remission
of all my sins and be saved by the precious death and merits of my
Blessed Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Who wUl say that there was no piety in those days, and who of you
will not give thanks for the good example, the faithful labors and the
dying testimony of this eminent servant of God. Who of you wUl say
that he, your father, had not part in procuring for you the manifold
blessings wherewith you are even now enriched and who of you but
will gratefuUy cherish the blessing and honored memory of the Rev.
John LiUingston, the first rector if not the first minister of the parish.
It was during the rectorship of Mr. LUlingston, in 1697, that the second
of the three old Chester churches, which successively occupied the same
site, distant about a mUe from CentreviUe, was erected. The record
informs us that this was "built after the dimensions of forty feet in
length and twenty-five in breadth;" the means for its erection having
been advanced by Col. Richard TUghman, of the Hermitage; "the vestry
having," as saith the record, "to reimburse him aU ye necessary ex
penses." On the 3rd of May, 1709, at a meeting of the vestry, which then con
sisted of Col. Richard TUghman, Charles Wright, Arthur Emory, Dr.
Edward Chetham, Solomon Wright, John Slater and John King, it was

276 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ordered, on the occasion of the death of the Rev. John LUfingston, that
William Denton read Divine service on Sunday at the Upper River
Church in the morning, and in the afternoon at the Parish Church;
and the next Sunday at Tuckahoe Church in the morning, and at Wye
Church in the afternoon, and that the vestry for so doing are to allow
the said WUliam Denton 400 lbs. of tobacco per mensen; provided,
the said WUliam Denton have permission for so doing from His Excellen
cy, the Governor.
We see from this — and similar notices are found throughout our
records — that a vacancy in the rectorship did not involve a suspension
of the regular services of the church. The practice of lay reading did
much towards keeping the old parishes alive, and to its neglect in later
days many of the evils which befell the church may be justly attributed.
From 1710 to 1713 the Rev. James Hindman was rector of the parish.
It was during his rectorship that the erection of a new church at Wye
was resolved upon. At a meeting of the vestry, held September 23,
1712, a subscription for this purpose was opened, headed by the "Rev.
James Hindman, 4000 lbs. tobacco." This act of the Rev. Mr. Hind
man is the last in which his name appears, and is in itseff, a proof of
his liberality towards the church and his zeal for its extension.
Mr. Hindman was succeeded in the year 1713 or 1714, by Rev. Chris
topher Wilkinson, who retained his charge until his death in 1728.
During bis incumbency, the present church at Wye was erected. Arti
cles of agreement were entered into on the 28th day of October, 1717,
between the vestry and WUliam Elbert, in which the latter binds him
self "to build with aU despatch, a church at the head of Wye river, either
where the old church stands or hard by the same" — the consideration
being 100 lbs. sterling, given by Major Turlow, and the subscriptions
amounting to 60,000 lbs. of tobacco. On the 5th of June, 1721, a com
mittee, consisting of Wm. Clayton and Augustine Thompson, appointed
to view the Church at Wye, reported to the vestry that the contract to ;
buUd the same had been complied with. '-':;
The Rev. Mr. Wilkinson, under whose auspices this work was com
menced and completed, was one of the most worthy and distinguished
of aU the colonial clergy. In 1717, he was appointed by the Bishop
of London, his Commissary for the Eastern Shore. In 1717, he held
his first visitation, at which were seven clergymen, who addressed a
letter to the Bishop of London, thanking him for the appointment of
Mr. Wilkinson. In Hawks' Ecclesiastical Contributions, his character
is summed up in these words:

OLD CHESTER AND WYE CHURCHES 277
He was remarkable for the prudent and judicious, yet slow, operations
of a sound, weU balanced mind, directed by the feelings of a true heart.
The amount of labor performed by the colonial rectors of this parish,
may be inferred from the record of theh official acts. I have taken at
random the year 1717, when Wye Church was buUt, and first recorded
among Mr. Wilkinson's official acts:
143 baptisms of white chUdren.
63 funerals of white persons.
41 marriages of white persons.
The following year there were 74 marriages. When to these are added
the services rendered to a large colored population; and the distances
from each other of the four churches belonging to it, are taken into
the account, it appears almost incredible that a single clergyman could
accomplish so much.
On the 30th of January, 1721, it was
ordered to be recorded that Major John Hawkins did in his fife time give
unto the Church of Saint Paul's Parish an altar table and cloth and a
pulpit cloth and cushion. Likewise a sUver chaUce; and at his death
did further give a sUver flagon.
These vessels, inscribed with the name of the giver, have ever since
been used at the administration of the Holy Communion in the parish
church. To the ministry of Mr. Wilkinson succeeded the long, laborious and
useful rectorship of the Rev. James Cox, from 1729 to his death in 1753;
longer than that of any other rector, and characterized by the most
untiring devotion and energy.
Between 1830 and 1836 this church became so dilapidated that it
could not be used as a place of worship. A few years later it became
necessary that Bishop Whittingham and three friends should reach a
certain steamboat landing very early in the morning. Theh way led
them near the old church. Going to it they found that the church
had become a stable. The cattle were driven out, and then, standing
in the desecrated chancel, in the gray hght of the morning, the Bishop
said "Let us pray," and the four brethren knelt together. The Bishop
poured our his soul in suppUcation, entreating the Lord to revive his
work, to buUd the old waste places and make the sound of praise to be
again heard in the house caUed by His name. The service ended, they
barred the entrance with fence rails and went theh way. But before
they had left the buUding they contributed what was the foundation
of a fund for the restoration of the church, and on July 20, 1854, this

278 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ancient temple was set apart by Bishop Whittingham to the worship
of God, and it has since been known as "Saint Luke's Wye."
In 1754 "Mr. WiUiam Hemsley agreed with the vestry to build a
gallery in the west end of St. Paul's Parish Church, opposite to the other
gallery, and of the same length and breadth."
The Rev. Mr. Cox was succeeded in 1754 by the Rev. Alexander
Malcolm, who retained the rectorship untU his death, June 15, 1763.
I am informed, that in an obituary notice which appeared in the Mary
land Gazette of that period, he is spoken of as having died at a very
advanced age, and of having been "the author of several learned works
on Mathematics, Music and Grammar." For a short period after Mr.
Malcolm's death the Rev. Samuel Keene — afterwards and for many
years rector of St. Luke's parish in this county, officiated as curate under
the license of George Sharpe, until the appointment to the rectorship
in 1867 of the Rev. Hugh NeiU. In 1755, it was
resolved, that inasmuch as the parish church is not worth repairing,
props be set about it, and measures be taken for buUding a new church
where the old one now stands.
About this time the old prayer book belonging to Wye Church was
ordered to be sold and a new one purchased.
In 1767 it was "ordered, that the new parish church be made agree
able to a plan of St. Paul's Church in PhUadelphia;" also, it was agreed
to refund the Rev. Mr. Neil two shillings and six-pence, for cash paid
by him for the plan of St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia."
On the 7th day of May, 1771, the work on the new church building
being considerably advanced, a contract for its completion was entered
into between "Caleb Ricketts, of Cecil county, of the one part, and
Rev. Hugh NeiU, rector. Thomas Wright, church-warden, Richard
T. Earle, Richard Tilghman, Jacob Seth, Charles Price, WiUiam Bord-
ley and WiUiam Hopper, vestrymen, of the other part." The last
meeting of the vestry under the provincial government of which any
record remains, was held on the 5th of September, 1775, at which time
the Rev. Hugh NeiU was rector. There were present at this meeting,
Arthur Emory, church warden; Thomas Wright, WiUiam Tilghman
and Thomas Lane Emory, vestrymen.
The next record is that of a meeting of several inhabitants of St.
Paul's parish, lying partly in Talbot County, convened in pursuance
of an act of the General Assembly of the State of Maryland, on the
first Monday in June, 1779, for the election of a select vestry, when

OLD CHESTER AND WYE CHURCHES 279
the following persons were chosen: WiUiam Hemsley, Richard Earle,
John Gibson, Thomas Wright, James Earle, Richard Carmichael and
Arthur Emory, Jr., John Hammond and Levin Downes, church war
dens: aU of whom qualified before Thomas Carradine, Justice of the
Peace, by taking the oath of allegiance to the State, the prescribed
oath of office and subscribing to their beUef in the Christian refigion.
A subscription was immediately set on foot by the vestry, "according
to the provisions of the Act of Assembly for raising money for the sup
port of a minister or preacher of the Church of England and for other
purposes." They then proceeded
to ascertain whether the Rev. Hugh NeiU, being now a non-juror, should
be employed as a reader, when it was decided in the negative. Orders
were drawn on the Rev. Mr. NeiU for the surplice, plate and other orna
ments belonging to Chester Church and Wye Chapel, to be dehvered
by him into the hands of the church wardens.
At a subsequent meeting of the vestry, held in July of the foUowing
year, Mr. NeiU was elected minister of the parish.
In February, 1781, "Mr. James Earle was appointed to meet repre
sentatives from all the vestries of the Eastern Shore at Talbot Court
House, to consider the heads of a biU to be laid before the General Assem
bly for the support of the Christian rehgion." At a subsequent meeting
the Rev. Mr. NeiU and Thomas Wright were added to this delegation.
Mr. NeUl's connection with the parish terminated with his death in
the latter part of 1781 or the beginning of 1782; and with him died the
last of the colonial records. It is not a httle remarkable that they aU
died in charge of this parish. Not in this, however, but in aU respects,
they were remarkable men, performing an immense amount of labor,
and exerting an influence for good which cannot be "meted out in words,"
and which the revelations of the last great day alone wiU fuUy disclose.
They were men Of our pure altars worthy ministers
Detached from pleasure, to the love of gain
Superior, insusceptible of pride ;
And by ambitions longings undisturb'd;
Men, whose delight was, where theh duty led
Or fixed them; whose least distinguished day
Shone with some portion of that heavenly lustre,
Which makes the Sabbath lovely in the sight
Of blessed angels pitying human cares.

280 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Mr. NeiU was succeeded by the Rev. Robert Smith, D.D. (afterwards
the first Bishop of South Carolina), who sustained the pastoral relation
to this parish for a short period, embracing a portion of the years 1783
and 1784. Here foUows a long vacancy in the rectorship. It is grati
fying, however, to notice the efforts of the laity to strengthen the things
which remained of the Church in theh midst, then almost ready to perish;
and to know also, that among the four clergymen and two laymen who
formed the delegation from Maryland to the General Convention,
held in Philadelphia, 1789, which framed a "General Constitution of
the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America,"
our own parish was represented by Richard B. Carmichael, Esq.
The next rector was the Rev. Samuel Keene, Jr. (afterwards the first
missionary in Kentucky), from 1791 to 1794.
Mr. Keene was succeeded in 1797 by the Rev. Elisha Rigg.
It was not until the last year of the faithful ministry of Mr. Rigg,
that the noble structure of the last Chester Church, in which many of
you, my brethren, formerly worshipped God with your fathers, was
completed. It was commenced, as we have seen, before the Revolution,
when the number and the resources of the parish both demanded and
justified a spacious and costly parish church. Inasmuch, however, as
the support of the government was whoUy withdrawn from the Church
during the progress of its erection, and the love of many of its members
waxed cold during those troubled and trying times — the burden of its
cost fell principally and very heavily upon the faithful few of the last
generation, who having put theh hands to this work, counted nothing
so dear unto them as its accomplishment. In size and strength and
beauty of proportion, it greatly exceUed most of the churches of its
day. It was consecrated by the Rt. Rev. Thomas John Claggett, D.D.,
the first Bishop of Maryland, on the 24th day of July A.D. 1803. With
the Church, there was also consecrated "the churchyard thereto adjoin
ing," as in the language of the act of consecration, "a sacred repository
for the dead bodies of the saints therein interred, and also for those which
may be hereafter interred therein, by and with the consent of the ves
try for the time being."
The Rev. Mr. Rigg died February 6, 1804. His remains are interred
under the chancel arch in Wye Church; and within a few days, Ihave
been authorized to say, that the spot will shortly be marked with an
appropriate tablet. In 1854, in removing the accumulated rubbish
from the same church, preparatory to its restoration, another tomb
was found, and other and most affecting proofs afforded of the truth

OLD CHESTER AND WYE CHURCHES 281
of the tradition which marks the spot right underneath the altar, as
the grave of one of the early rectors of this parish, whose name has been
lost. There can be httle doubt that with this single exception the
remains of aU our colonial rectors Ue beneath the ruins which indicate
the site of old Chester Church, and the hope is devoutly cherished,
that this ancient place of burial may be put into a condition which will
fit it for the holy uses to which it has been solemnly set apart.
Mr. Rigg was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Barclay, from 1804 to 1805;
Rev. Mr. Reynolds, 1806 to 1809; Rev. Daniel Stephens, from 1811
to 1816; Rev. Wm. J. BuUcey, from 1817 to 1820; Rev. Grandison
Aisquith, from 1821 and 1823; Rev. Bennett S. Glover, in 1824; Rev.
Thomas K. Peck, in 1825.
Here foUowed one of several intervals, during which the services of
the Church were kept up by lay readers, principaUy by that learned,
pious and devoted layman, whose praise was in aU the churches of his
day, and whose history is closely identified with that of this parish and
diocese. I need hardly mention here the name, which is written in
every volume of the valuable Ubrary (now the property of the parish),
which he was at such pains to coUect, inscribed upon the communion
plate of Wye and Queenstown churches, and held in loving and grate
ful veneration by so many who hear me.
The declension of the parish, which commenced with the revolution,
was so rapid, that in the year 1809 the hst of communicants was reduced
to 14 names, viz. : William Hemsley, Anne Hemsley, Philemon Hemsley,
Henrietta Earle, Sarah Troup, James TUghman, WiUiam D. Thomas,
Charles Browne, Henrietta Blake, John Fisher, Edward DeCourcy,
Sam'l Thomas, Henrietta Thomas and EUzabeth Hemsley.
The large "Old Chester Church" soon fell into dilapidation. A small
portion, embracing the chancel, having been boarded off for winter
use, it continued to be occasionaUy occupied by smaU and decreasing
congregations, and the parish was almost threatened with extinction.
The Rev. Robert W. Goldsborough commenced his labors in this
parish as a lay reader in 1829. Shortly afterwards he entered upon
the rectorship, which he retained untU the year 1836.
The difficulties in the way of keeping so large a buUding as the parish
church in even tolerable repair, and of coUecting a congregation within
its walls, continuing to increase, it was deemed necessary to remove a
portion of the materials of which it was composed, and with them to
construct what may now be called the old part of the sacred edifice
in which we are assembled. This was accordingly done, under the

282 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
superintendence of a buUding committee, consisting of the Hon. Richard
T. Earle, Col. John Tilghman, Pere WUmer, W. A. Spencer and Thomas
A. Emory, Esquires. The corner stone of this buildmg, buUt of mate
rials taken from old Chester Church, and having within its walls bricks
which belonged to the original church of that name, was laid by the
rector, the Rev. R. W. Goldsborough, May 1, 1834; and its consecra
tion by the Rt. Rev. WiUiam M. Stone, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese,
took place on the 22nd of July, 1835. It was a good work. Humanly
speaking, it saved the parish, and a heavy debt of gratitude is due to
those whose wisdom devised it, and through whose liberafity and energy
it was effected.
To Mr. Goldsborough's succeeded the short ministry of the Rev.
John Owen, in 1836.
Then followed that of the Rev. John P. Robinson from 1836 to 1841;
Rev. Henry Brown, from 1841 to 1851; the Rev. WiUiam G. Hawkins,
from 1851 to 1852, which brings us down to the rectorship of the pres
ent incumbent, (being the 21st rector of the parish) commencing Decem
ber 2, 1852. The Rev. Mr. Goldsborough was the last minister by whom
stated services were performed in old Wye Church ; the condition of the
building after his ministry, becoming such that without repair it could
no longer be used as a place of worship. Instead of repairing it, how
ever, the vestry deemed it expedient to build a new chapel in what was
regarded as a more coevenient location. Accordingly, the present edi
fice in Queenstown was erected, and under the title of St. Luke's (the
name by which old Wye Church was officiaUy known) was consecrated
to the worship of God by the present Bishop of the Diocese on the 21st
of April, 1842.
Since your present minister came among you it has pleased God to
put into the hearts of some of the descendants of those who, in the in
fancy of this country, raised the venerable waUs of Wye Church and
worshipped with them; of others, who residing in that vicinity, earnestly
desired to have in theh midst a living Church, a living ministry and the
life-giving Word and sacraments; and of others, whose only nearness
to us is in the intimacy of those sphitual relations which bind in one
Living Body all the true members of Christ, to provide the means for
its restoration. That work has been done. The foundations of those
old walls — the oldest entire church walls in Maryland, and built of
English bricks — have been made secure, and the whole building, fitly
framed, compacted and beautiful, is now as strong as in the days of old.
It was the privilege of many who hear me to join heart and voice in the
exulting services with which that ancient and solemn temple— never
before consecrated— was set apart to the worship of the Ever Blessed
Trinity. Those memorable services occurred on Thursday, the 20th
day of July, 1854. A few days ago, on Thursday, the 19th day of July,
1855, within one day of the first anniversary of the consecration of old

OLD CHESTER AND WYE CHURCHES 283
Wye Church, within three days of the twentieth anniversary of the
consecration of this church, and within five days of the fifty-second
anniversary of the consecration of Old Chester Church, we came
together again, with many rejoicing friends and a goodly company of
preachers, to meet our chief pastor, and through him to present to God
tnis beautiful addition to the House which was aheady His own. He
had crowned us with blessings and had vouchsafed us the tokens of
greater blessings in store; and that there might be "room to receive
them," we ventured, as I trust, in faith and love, with a sincere deshe
to promote His glory and "the prosperity of His Holy Apostolic Church,"
to break forth on the right hand and on the left, lengthening the cords
and strengthening the stakes of His Tabernacle in our midst.
And now that this work has also been completed, and we have met
together in this Holy Sanctuary, thus enlarged, improved, and dedicated,
to us, with one accord, render thanks unto Him who has inspired us
with this holy purpose, united us in this good work, and at length, has
crowned it with success. Not unto us, oh Lord, but unto Thy Name,
be aU the praise and glory, through Christ Jesus.
I congratulate you, my beloved brethren, and rejoice with you, upon
this substantial token of God's presence and blessing. I rejoice and
thank God, that He has put it into your hearts to strengthen and en
large the foundation of your parish church, to make it in a good degree
commensurate with the extent and importance of your parish, and
worthy of your ancestry; and to give increased efficiency to the means
of grace which are here dispensed. It gladdens my heart to know that
now there is not ODly a cordial welcome, but also ample room, for our
neighbors and friends to come and worship the Lord with us in the
beauty of holiness, and heartily to rejoice with us in the strength of our
salvation; and that some provision, at least, has been made, by which
your servants also can partake with you of the fulness and the pleasures
of God's House, and bow with you before the common Lord and Master
of us all. And, beloved in the Lord, blessed as you are aheady for
your fathers' sake, I hail in these evidences of your attachment to the
holy religion which made them what they were, and to the Church which
nourished them for immortality, the tokens of those blessings also,
which are promised to filial love and reverence. Continue, then to
honor your fathers and your mothers, though they may long since have
rested from theh labors. Cherish theh memory. Guard theh sepul
chres from desecration. Preserve the affecting and sacred monuments
of theh zeal for God. Execute the wishes of those who have gone before
you, leaving you theh names, theh possessions, and theh good examples,
as you hope to have your own regarded by those who are to bear your
names and occupy your places. How little encouragement would you
find to labor in any good cause, U you were deprived of the conviction,
that that cause would be endeared to your children by your own exer
tions and sacrifices in its promotion. Esteem it, then, your sacred
duty, as it is your privUege and safety, earnestly to contend for that
pure and simple faith, which having been once defivered to the saints,

284 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
and by faithful men, handed down "through the ages aU along," has
been transmitted unto you by your fathers. Let the interests of the
Church, which was to them the House of God, and to theh souls the
gate of Heaven, and in communion with which you are united to them
in sanctified and immortal bonds be ever precious in your sight. Restore
it so far as you can, to aU its ancient seats, and extend its influences
to all within your reach. Above aU, give yourselves to be built up
into it, as living stones, spiritual sacrifices, acceptable unto God
through Jesus Christ. Be Churchmen of the ancient stamp; honest,
manly, earnest Christians. Drink deeply of that filial sphit which has
been the characteristic feature of God's faithful people in every dispen
sation. Should the scorner come among you, stand not by to hear the
Holy Saviour and the Holy Faith of your fathers and your mothers,
dishonored and revUed; but confess Him whom they confessed, and
follow them as they followed Him in the way everlasting. So shall it
be well with you, and with your children after you; and God, even
your own God, and the God of your fathers, shaU delight to be with
and bless you.
And may we not be permitted in the exercise of that charity which
"rejoiceth not in error but rejoiceth in the truth," and "which hopeth
all things" — to indulge and to avow the hope, that many among us,
who are now living in separation from the Church of theh forefathers,
will claim theh birth-right as the hehs of promise. For a century and
a half, aU who professed and caUed themselves Christians, within the
bounds of this parish, knew nothing but "the Doctrine and Sacraments,
and the Discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded, and as this
Church hath received the same." The very names which are now borne
by the descendants of the first settlers and old residents, are to be found
throughout our records. Though, in some cases, theh immediate
parents may have lived in separation from the Church, yet if they will
go back, even to the second generation of theh ancestors, they will
find that they aU belonged to the same holy feUowship. They will
find also, that the only plea assigned by the first separatists, was the
plea of necessity — that among the troubles and distractions of the times
in which they lived, the ministry and sacraments of the church had been
withdrawn from them. This reproach we have sought, and are still
seeking to take away. St. Luke's, Queenstown, has been built. Old
Wye Church has been restored and made free to aU. This Church,
built of old Chester bricks, has been enlarged to its utmost capacity
of enlargement; and the additional accommodations which it affords,
are now affectionately offered to those who wUl accept them, on their
own terms. ¦"*'
And now, having thus far sought to perpetuate the work of those
who came from a far distant land, bringing with them from the old
country, where Apostolic hands had planted it, the Church of the Liv
ing God, may we not with propriety, must we not from duty, plead in
its behalf and in theh names, with those who occupy the homes they
founded in what was then an untrodden wUderness of a new world,

WHITE MARSH CHURCH 285
who inherit theh honored names and the rich blessings which theh
piety has bequeathed. We do not ask them to foUow theh forefathers,
whether they were right or wrong; but to cultivate that filial feeling
which must tend, wherever it is cherished, to keep religion in aU its
essential features, what it originally was; which makes us one with those
who have preceded us, as they were one with those who preceded them
even to the earliest generation of theh sphitual parentage. We only
ask them so far to honor theh fathers and theh mothers, as to stand in
the ways and see whether the paths in which they walked, are not, of a
truth, "the old paths" in which aU the generations of theh fathers also
walked, even from the Apostolic age; in a word, to inquire and learn
whether the church of theh fathers is not also the church of theh fathers'
God. My beloved parishioners, children of pious ancestors, you have a
fah land, a goodly heritage; but what most of aU endears it to your
hearts and makes it above price, is, that the dust of many generations
of your sainted fathers and mothers mingle with its soU. FoUow them,
beloved, in aU virtuous and godly living, that when your mortal remains
shall be gathered unto thehs, your immortal souls may go to join them
in the blessed rest of "the Sphits of the just made perfect," leaving
behind you, as your best legacy to your children and chUdren's chUdren
the blessings which God hath promised "unto thousands of them that
love Him and keep His commandments."
The above Sermon by Rev. W. C. Crane was preached in St. Paul's
Church, CentreviUe, the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, August 5th, 1855
and published later in compliance with the request of the vestry.
WHITE MARSH CHURCH
saint peter's parish
There is no record extant of the date of the buUding of this old church
but a mutilated Parish Register shows that a Mr. Joseph Leech was
acting minister as early as 1690.
At a meeting of the vestry, March 7, 1709 O.S., biUs for making
ten new pews and the altering of several old ones, the making of a new
pulpit and the repairs of the windows and chancel doors were presented
and ordered to be paid to the amount of 5250 pounds of tobacco, and
about this time a weU was dug at the church for the use of those attend
ing and coming long distances.
The vestry records make no other mention of this church buUding,
White Marsh, until the year 1722 when under date of April 3, we find
the following minute:
"Then the vestry of the parish aforesaid agreed with Mr. Bayley
to make 150,000 bricks at the rate of two hundred pounds of tobacco

286 HISTORY OF TALBOT county
per thousand, and also to allow him five pounds of tobacco per centum
for collecting the said tobacco." One year later, June 10, 1723, we find
the following entry, "Then the vestry of the parish agreed with Benjamin
Bullock to make 100,000 bricks, in order to build a church, at the rate
of forty-eight pounds of tobacco per thousand, and the said Benjamin
is to make them and burn them weU, as also to have them made and
burnt before the 31st day of October next ensuing, and the said vestry
is to find 'Tendance and diet and lodging, and all other things neces
sary towards the performance of said work.' " At the same time the
vestry contracted for plank one inch thick, at one pound oftobacco
per foot, for corn at thirty pounds of tobacco per bushel, for having
the folk's victuals dressed, one hundred pounds of tobacco per month,
for the wages of two men to make bricks at four hundred and fifty
pounds of tobacco per month.
April 6, 1724, the size of the church was made fifty-six feet in length
and twenty-eight feet in breadth.
Under date of October 10, 1724, it is entered, "The Vestry agreed
and it was ordered that the Register make an entry that Mr. Nicholas
Lowe shall have aU the vacant ground in St. Peter's Church between
Mr. Robins pews and the chancel in order to build himself a pew upon
the said ground."
In 1725-26 Mr. Samuel Chamberlaine was dhected to go to Mr.
Howard and get a lawful binding prescription towards the building of
a new church in the said parish, which being obtained, was placed in
the hands of the Register, to be chculated among the parishioners.
The total sums subscribed were twenty pounds in money, 55,380 pounds
of tobacco, five barrels of corn from Robert Welsh, and twenty pahs
of shoes from WiUiam Thomas, subsequently a subscription for 5050
pounds of tobacco for the building of a chancel was made.
On June 8, 1726, an elaborately hand printed minute gives "An ac
count of subscriptions for building St. Peter's Church," and states that
"the old church is much decayed and unfit for divine service."
Notwithstanding that contracts had been made for the burning
of the bricks of which the church was to be buUt, it would seem that
it was at last constructed of wood, and the size, finally determined upon
by the vestry August 5, 1726, was fifty-five feet in length and thirty
feet in width, with a pitch of fourteen feet. In January 1726-7 then
agreed with Mathew Khby to buUd a church at the west end of the old
church and likewise drew articles with him for which the said Mathew
is to have 45,000 pounds of tobacco and twenty pairs of shoes and he

WHITE MARSH CHURCH 287
to find everything that is necessary for the outside work and to be paid
at two payments viz: May 10, 1727 and June 30, 1728, the penalty
was fixed at 14,000 pounds in case of failure of either party to comply
with the contract the articles of which were deUvered to Henry Bayley,
Jr., Esquhe. By a subsequent contract, Mr. Kirby agreed to build
a gaUery within the new church for which he was to receive 15,000
pounds of tobacco. The church had a chancel at the east end, as ap
pears by another minute. As stated above, the church was buUt of
wood, though it is nowhere so expUcitly stated, but there are several
minutes of orders passed by the vestry that the outside of the church
should be tarred, a custom common in this county at that time, when
paint was not so cheaply purchased, and a minute of one order that it
should be underpinned with cedar posts. This fact taken in connec
tion with the other that the contractor for the outside, Mr. Kirby,
was a carpenter and not a mason may be sufficient. The church appar
ently was not finaUy and enthely completed until 1733, for on the 6th
of June of that year, Mr. Kirby received the remainder of the tobacco
due him for which he passed his receipt to the Rev. Mr. Maynadier
and the vestry "in fuU of aU accounts, debts, dues and demands what
soever from the beginning of the world to the day of the date hereof."
The interior of the old brick church must have been restored before
the final contract had been made for buUding the new addition, namely
on the 15th of June, 1728, for on that date we find the foUowing entry
on the vestry records.
Then were the pews in St. Peter's Church divided by lot among
the several parishioners whose names are hereunder written:
No. 1 To Charles Markland
Thomas Bozman
Daniel Maynadier
Henry Bayley
Thomas Richardson
Philip Fedderman
Samuel Chamberlaine
William Ayres
John Edmondson
Richard Giles, since to Mat Kemp and Charles
Loud
Rachael Turbutt
Doctor Porter
William Thomas
Philip Martin and Joseph Parratt
John Sherwood

234 56
789
10111213 1415

288 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY

No. 16

To

Benjamin Pemberton

17

«

Nicholas Goldsborough

18

u

John Oldham

19

u

William White

20

«

Daniel Boyer, sold to William Harrison, Miles
Creek.

21

u

Thomas Harrison

22

<<

Francis Armstrong

23

a

Thomas Bullen

24

«

George Robins

25

u

William Robins

Recorded by order of the Vestry, Wm. Rakes, Clk.
Again we find this minute in the vestry records 1730: The single
pews in this parish church belonging by lot to the sundry persons under
mentioned, the same is ordered to be entered accordingly.
1 Henry Bowdle 14 Thomas Pamphilion
2 William Dobson 15 Matthew Jenkins
3 George Shannahan 16 Thomas Barnett
4 David Robinson 17 Edward Man Sherwood
5 Loftus Bowdle 18 Edward Fish
6 Wm. Barejsr 19 James White
7 John Mulliken 20 Arthur Conner
8 Solomon Robinson 21 James Shepherd
9 Thomas Whittington 22 Edward Needles
10 Philip Kersey 23 Samuel Abbott
11 Richard Dove 24 John Clift
12 Joshua Gresham 25 Thos. Delahey
13 Shadrach and Mescheck
bodfield
The pew holders were to pay 500 pounds of tobacco for each pew and
30 pounds for the hinges to the door. In 1731 the church was ordered
to be enclosed with palings with a church yard 200 feet in length and ¦
130 feet in breadth, more or less, the pales to be weU sapped and drawn.
In 1745, immediately upon the assumption by the Rev. Thomas Bacon
of his ministerial duties as rector of Saint Peter's parish there was such
an increase in the attendance of the parishioners upon the public serv
ices that the church buUding at White Marsh, was insufficient to
accommodate the people who had long been unaccustomed to such
preachings as he was able to present to them, from week to week,
for the late rector, the Rev. Daniel Manadier, however respectable
he may have been in his fife and conversation, had been officially
represented as a horrid preacher.
Through the active efforts of Mr. Bacon quite a large sum was sub
scribed by the parishioners for the enlargement of the parish church.

WHITE MARSH CHURCH 289
This addition, which was buUt of brick, was the thhd and last church
edifice at White Marsh, and nearly doubled the seating capacity of
the building. It was not completed, however, until 1750 and formed
the nave to the old framed church, above mentioned, which made, as
it were, a transept to the then new brick addition.
The vestry records make no further mention of any changes in the
parish church from this time onward. With occasional repairs, notably
in 1833, when they were extensive, it continued to be in a condition fit,
but barely fit, for public services, which until the division of the parish
were held here and at Easton on alternate Sundays. After that divi
sion, in 1856, and the buUding of the church in Trappe, services became
less and less frequent in old White Marsh church, until about the begin
ning of the civU war they were abandoned altogether.
In 1834 the much needed repairs to the church had been finished,
and they were the last of any important character ever made. The
chancel, which had been placed at the east side was removed to the
north end, the arrangement of the pews was changed and a vestry room
built at the north end. On February 3, 1834, the vestry proceeded to
distribute the pews by baUot among the parishioners. The foUowing
list of pew holders indicates the families stUl attending the services at
White Marsh church at the above date, Nicholas Goldsborough,
Anna Maria TUghman, Richard Trippe, Edward Martin, Samuel
Stevens, Rev. Thomas Bayne, Theodore Loockerman, Thomas WorraU,
Thomas Hayward, Harriet Martin, Thomas Coward, James Lloyd
Chamberlaine, Robert Delahay, Josiah Rhodes, Thomas Baker, Samuel
T. Kennard, Martin Goldsborough, WUliam R. Trippe, Joseph Mar
tin, Mariah Goldsborough, Nicholas Martin, Nicholas Thomas, Mary
Clare Martin, Robert Henry Rhodes, Mrs. Chaplin. Later, the fol
lowing names appear as pew holders, John Goldsborough, John BuUen,
William R. Hughlett, Samuel Banning, WUliam H. Groome.
Among the last minutes of the registry of the vestry of Saint Peter's
parish, having reference to old White Marsh church, is one relating to
the ancient burial ground surrounding this church. It is dated August
4, 1845, and reads as foUows : "On motion, Resolved that the parishioners
be requested to meet at the parish church, with their hands, carts, grub
bing hoes and axes for the purpose of cleaning up the churchyard
on Wednesday 27th of August, if fah; if not, the next fah day." This
yard from the time of the buUding of the first church, soon after the
formation of Talbot into a county in 1660, had been used as a pubUc
cemetery. Some of the most considerable people of the parish had

290 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
here been interred, as weU as many of the poor; but few of the head
stones that marked the graves of the neighborhood gentry remain, the
most notable one of which is the tomb stone of Robert Morris, father of
the Revolutionary worthy of the same name, who died July 12, 1750.
This grubbing and cleaning up of White Marsh graveyard was repeated
occasionaUy, from time to time until 1897, when the fire from the burn
ing brush that had been burnt near the old church was blown by a sud
den windstorm onto the roof of the old deserted buUding and burned it
to the ground.
A service had been held in this church on that occasion by the Rt.
Rev. Wm. Forbes Adams, Bishop of Easton, and an address on the life
of Robert Morris, Senior, had been dehvered by Col. Oswald Tilghman,
who also read, from the original manuscript, a paper which had been
read, on the same spot, by bis grandfather, Mr. Tench TUghman, eighty-
five years before when he was conducting the services as lay reader in
St. Peter's parish.
There are sunken graves and wrecks of tombs under the shadow of
these charred walls, some of which date back to 1667. Here lie the
ashes of many of the first settlers of Talbot County, and theh neglected
graves are a mute reproach to theh descendants, many of whom appar
ently cherish neither reverence for theh memories, nor respect for their
virtues.

THE OLD CHAPEL AT KING'S CKEEK
For a parish of the territorial extent of St. Peter's it became neces
sary, as settlements extended in sections of the county remote from the
parish church, that additional places of worship should be provided.
The clergy uniformly opposed the division of the parish, in as much
as that would result in the diminution of theh stipends; so that expedient
was adopted of erecting a chapel of ease in the upper portion. The
first indication of the existence of any such chapel is contained in a
minute of a vestry meeting held October 5, 1731, Mr. Daniel Mayna
dier being rector. .The minute is as foUows: "The vestry agrees to
give George Sprouse, for cleaning and sweeping the chapel at King's
Creek, a hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco for tbis year and every
year ensuing that he shall do the same service." It is presumable, in
the absence of any previous reference to the existence of this chapel,
that it had been recently erected. Its site had been definitely ascer
tained, though the structure long since disappeared. It was situated
at or near the smaU cross roads village known as Chapel, about five
miles north of Easton, in the election district which, with the viUage,
derives its name from this humble house of worship. Formerly this
place was called WUliamsburg, or Barwicksburg, or Forktown, but its
present designation has been the most permanent. The chapel was upon
the land now owned by Mr. John H. Pratt, and remains of it are pointed
out to this day. Little is said of it in the vestry records, but at one
time it was customary to elect one of the church wardens from its vicin
ity, who had charge of it. We have seen that George Sprouse was
made sexton in 1731, and a minute of the records names Joseph New
man as holding this office in 1752, upon a salary of four hundred pounds
of tobacco per annum. Sarah Winter was sexton in 1771, and Daniel
Christian in 1772 and 1774, according to the account book of the vestry
of those years. In 1762 it is called the Tuckahoe Chapel, and in 1765
George Duling was paid for repairing it, and for the same service Levin
Spedding was paid in 1775. On petition an act was passed by the
General Assembly of 1770, entitled "An Act for the establishment of
a chapel of ease in Saint Peter's parish, in Talbot County" by which
"the justices are empowered, from time to time, on application of the
vestrymen and wardens to assess any sums of tobacco, not exceeding
10 lbs. per poU for repairing and supporting a chapel erected some years
291

292 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
since by voluntary contribution; and the said chapel is established as
a chapel of ease to the said parish; and the incumbent is required to
perform service there every thhd Sunday." Nothmg more seems to
have been accomplished under the provisions of this act than to effect
some repairs.
In 1779, although there was no rector, the vestry gave notice that on
Sunday, July 11, there would be service and a sermon read at the
parish church, and at the chapel the Sunday foUowing. In 1790 the
chapel seems to have been abandoned, and services for the upper part
of the parish were held in the Court House at Easton alternately with
those at White March Church. There is ground for beUeving the serv
ices at the chapel had been irregular or at greater intervals than two
weeks anterior to this date. On the 3rd of October, 1791, "The vestry
adjourned to meet at the church on Monday, the 17th inst., for the pur
pose of consulting the parishioners respecting the petition to the next
General Assembly for disposal of the Glebe lands and the remains of the
Old Chapel." A record in the clerk's office of the county bearing the
date of 1795, speaks of "the road leading from where the old chapel
formerly stood." Could it be that there were two buUdings atdifferent
times? In the replies of the vestry to certain queries as to the condi
tion of the church, made in 1797, we have this description of the deser
tion, the decay and final disappearance of the chapel: "Six or seven
years back, the vestry learning that it was abused to vUe purposes,
adjourned to meet at it, the next vestry day, and advertised the neighbor
hood of the meeting, and that if they would contribute to keep it in
order and employ a minister, both would be done. The doors of the
chapel were found to have been let stand open and that horses and
cattle had sheltered in it. Also from joiner's shavings and chips lying
in it, it was seen that it had been used as a work shop.
The roof was in bad condition, the walls much cracked, the windows
broken, the floor damaged, but the pew work in tolerable good state
of preservation. On the pulpit was written with chalk, something
Uke a pasquinade — "Alas poor Parson." The vestry finding the Chapel
in the order described and the neighbors not attending, except two,
who said they came through mere curiosity and had nothing to propose,
talked about the improbability of its being repaired and again preached
in, and that the inside work would answer for one at Easton (which a
subscription was then on hand to procure the buUding of) the con
sequence was that in a httle time the neighborhood began to pull the
inside to pieces and parts of it were to be seen dispersed about as covers

THE OLD CHAPEL AT KING'S CREEK " 293
for goose pens, and chicken coops, as scaffoldings for new buUdings
and a store was said to be fitted up with shelves out of it. As soon as
the breaking up was known of, a written complaint was made to the
county court, and by the court was delivered to the prosecutor. Noth
ing was ever done, and at present such total destruction has been made
that not the least appearance of a chapel remains. By 1808 the very
ruins had been appropriated by Mr. WiUiam Barwick, and his executor
was asked to pay for the bricks of the chapel the deceased had used,
whatever was right and proper. Thus this httle house of worship dis
appeared from view, and its very site is unknown except to the curious
antiquary or the pious pUgrhn.
By an Act of Assembly of 1785 the village at the Court House of this
county was organized as a town, and was called Talbot. By the sub
sequent acts of 1788 and 1789 the name was changed to Easton and
a court house was directed to be buUt there for the accommodation
of the general court, as weU as the court of the county. But the act
of 1790 may be said to constitute the charter of this town, and in the
preamble to tbis it is recited that it had considerably increased in houses
and inhabitants. To furnish to these inhabitants the services of the
church without the inconvenience of travelling to White Marsh, a
distance of eight mUes, the rector and vestry of St. Peter's parish insti
tuted services in the Court House, and there for a number of years
they were held. The precise date of this institution is nowhere men
tioned in the records, but it must have been during or soon after the
war of the revolution, probably in or about the year 1790, for we find
under the date of May 3 of that year the foUowing record on the books
of the vestry: "The vestry determine that the clergyman to be appointed
[to succeed Mr. Gates] shaU preach in White Marsh Church and the
Court House alternately." This indicates that the Chapel of Ease
had been abandoned and that Easton had been made the place for
holding service in the upper part of the parish.1
¦See Act Assembly, Chap. LXXX to tear down and rebuild parish church;
also to ascertain bounds of parish.

THE OLD BRICK CHURCH ON HARRISON
STREET, EASTON
Projects had been formed as early as 1797 to erect a new church in
the growing town of Easton, and in 1799 this project had so far been
carried into effect that a lot of ground had been purchased by the ves
try of Samuel Baldwin on Harrison street at the corner of Baldwin's
alley, having a front upon the former of fifty-six feet, and a depth of
sixty-four feet on the latter. An addition was made to this lot in 1817,
when Mr. Richard Harwood, who had been appomted the trustee for
the settlement of the estate of Mr. Baldwin, by the Court of Chancery,
conveyed a lot adjoining that originally purchased, having a front of
thirty-three feet, six inches, on Harrison street, and a depth of seventy-
eight feet, to the rector and vestry of St. Peter's parish, and in the con
veyance acknowledged the title of that body, to the lot sold by Bald
win. In 1800 a committee of the vestry consisting of David Kerr,
Henry Nicols, Jr., George R. Hayward and John Goldsborough, Jr.,
Esquires, was appointed to superintend the erection of the new church.
The funds were derived from the sale of the pews, and these gentlemen
in July, 1800, through the newspaper notifiedthe purchasers that they
are resolved "to proceed without delay and inclose the church," pro
vided the monies due shaU be paid by the first day of August, when it
is proposed "to begin the waUs." The amount received seeming to
have justified the beginning, for we find in the Maryland Herald of Sat
urday, August 26, 1800, the foUowing: "On Wednesday last was laid
the foundation of a new church in this town. The order pursued on
the occasion was as foUows: At the usual hour in the afternoon a numer
ous and very respectable congregation assembled at the Court House,
where divine service was performed by the Rev. Wm. Keene and suit
able and impressive discourse dehvered by the Rev. Mr. Rigg. The con
gregation then proceeded, with the clergy and vestry of St. Peter's parish
preceding, to the place intended and prepared for the sacred building;
when in the presence of a multitude of spectators, whose countenances
bespoke the pious feelings of their hearts, the corner stone was laid by
that aged vestryman and venerable man, Saml. Chamberlaine, Esq.
The 122d Psalm sung with devout animation and a prayer adapted to
the occasion by the Rev. Mr. Rigg closed the solemnity. We cannot
withhold the natural expressions of that satisfaction which must arise
294

THE OLD BRICK CHURCH 295
in every weU dispersed mind, especiaUy when we consider the present
aspect of certain opinions towards not only civU order and poUte litera
ture, but also towards morality and religion. We cannot help con
gratulating our own community upon its possession of so many Uberal
and enlightened characters who appear ready stUl to give theh pubUc
testimony to a rational faith which stands unmoved at aU possible dis
tance from the pretended phUosophy of GaUic infidelity and atheism.
We ardently wish them good luck in the name of the Lord."
Before the end of the year the committee of buUding announced that
the church was "inclosed" and ask the purchasers of pews for the last
payment. There seems to have been some hesitancy on the part of
many of the parishioners to purchase pews, lest they thereby should be
placed under obUgation ever after to pay the rent thereon. The ves
try, for the purpose of explaining the conditions of purchase, and of
surrender published a long address in May, 1801, to the Churches of
"St. Peter's Parish" of which these are the opening sentences: Whereas
it appears to the vestry of Saint Peter's Parish that the sales of the pews
in the Easton and White Marsh Churches have been lately much re
tarded by the prevalence of an opinion that the present terms of the
sale are unreasonable in this particular, that they enable the vestry
to exact the per cent, after the pew holders shaU have removed from the
county and thereby cease to have any use of the pew; and also that
the heirs of the deceased pew holders may be compeUed to keep the
pews and pay the rent, or be at the trouble of seUing them, if they should
not want them after the death of their ancestors. Now the vestry
being desirous of doing away theh prejudices, of convincing aU rational
and weU disposed people that theh wish is rather to see the church fiUed
with devout Christians than to raise a revenue for the support of a
clergyman by means deemed unreasonable, do hereby make known
and declare and solemnly promise that they wUl, etc." The vestry
engage to release any pew holder from the payment of rent who shall
temporarily remove from the county during the time of his absence;
to release aU minors from payment of rent until they shall become of
age, when they may resume theh right to theh pews. They also state
the terms by which a right to a pew shaU be forfeited to the vestry,
etc. These details need not be here given, as they no longer possess
any interest.
The church seems by the middle of the year 1803, to have been so
far completed as to permit of its consecration, and so on the 10th of
July this ceremony was performed by the Right Reverend Dr. Claggett,
Bishop of the diocese of Maryland, as we find recorded on theh record :

296 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
On Sunday last in the morning the new church in this town was con
secrated by the Right Rev. Dr. Claggett and formally dedicated to
Almighty God, by the name of Christ Church, in Easton, in the parish
of St. Peter's, Talbot County, in the presence of a number of the clergy
of the Protestant Episcopal Church and a crowded congregation. Also
in the afternoon of the same day, the apostohc rite of confirmation,
and the holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper were both aaministered
by the bishop to a considerable number of persons, who were mostly
advanced in years, and every way greatly respectable.
There were present of the clergy upon this occasion, besides the rec
tor, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Price of St. Michael's parish, Mr. Barclay, prin
cipal of the Easton Academy, and Mr. Contee of Charles County. On
Wednesday, the 20th of the same month the bishop consecrated the
old parish church at White Marsh, and also the surrounding burial
ground — a dedication which they had never before formaUy received.
The same clergymen named above, were present and a large number of
persons were confirmed.
The church buUding at Easton was not completed for some years
after this date — it was incomplete at least as late as 1807 — but it was
used for service, and continued to be used until abandoned in or about
the year 1845, when the stone church was occupied by the congregation.
This old church is stUl standing. It is now substantially buUt of brick,
plain in its style of architecture but having some pretensions to orna
mentation. The entrance is from Harrison street by two arched doors
in the east end, on which is a large window. Each of the sides is pierced
by three oval headed windows. The chancel, which is within the body
of the church is between the doors. A gaUery, before a floor had been
constructed over the whole church, occupied the west end in which
at one time was an organ. Since its abandonment as the place for the
pubhc religious services it has been used as a room for the Sunday School
of Christ Church. It has also been used for private week day schools,
an upper floor converting it into two apartments, one for boys and the
other for girls. The sale of this old building is now contemplated, that
the proceeds may be devoted to the erection of a Sunday School and
lecture room in the rear of the parish church. It was later on sold to
the Baptists.
The following are the names of the clergymen who as rectors officiated
in this old Church: Joseph Jackson from  to 1811; Thomas Bayne,
from 1813 to 1835; John WUey, from 1836 to 1837; Henry M. Mason,
from 1837 to  .

METHODISM IN TALBOT
The man whose home is in the country, and who, in his struggle for
life, is brought face to face with nature, both in her benignant and malefi
cent moods, is more apt to cherish a belief in a superintending power
that controls the world, than the dweller in the towns, where the contest
for existence is with man himself, or the laws which man has made.
The countryman, whose fife is poor and barren as compared with the
full rich fife of his neighbor of the city, is prone to think that beyond the
present there is another state of existence where some compensation wUl
be rendered to him for his privations here, and where there shaU be a
realization of those pleasures which exist for him only in imagination.
Our people of Talbot have always been a rural people. The towns of
the county have always been smaU and few. As a consequence our
people have always been a pecuharly reUgious people. Whatever may
be the conception of the nature of reUgion — whether as a body of opin
ions, upon matters of the highest import, or as an inspiration of feeling
or sentiment elevating man in his lowliness and cheering him in his
despondency, or finaUy as a code of duty guiding and directing his steps
amid a moral darkness, or through a wUderness of error — with us, it
has been held as our highest phUosophy, our most ennobling impulse,
and our wisest rule of action. By it, more than by any other immaterial
influence, has our life been fashioned and formed, and from it our society
has derived its hue and impress. More completely segregated from the
great world than most rural populations ; our peninsular situation, hemmed
in by two great bays and the wide ocean; more largely cut off from
intercourse with each other than people occupying a compact country,
by our water courses which permeate this county in every direction, and
often widely divide even the nearest neighbors; the services of the church
or meeting, calling those together from distant parts, who else would
seldom or never have met, served to keep ahve the feeling of sociabihty,
which is the very foundation of aU civUity, but which, though instinctive,
may actuaUy perish through lack of opportunity for its due gratification.
Thus it was that reUgion resisted the barbarizing influences of social
isolation, and maintained the vitaUty, early as weU as late in our history,
of those seeds of civilization', which, brought from our old home, might
else have been bUghted in theh growth under new and unfavorable
environments. The clergy, apart from theh office of interpreters of
297

298 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
the mysteries, of enforcers of the requirements, and of ministers of the
consolations of reUgion, have always been held in honor and veneration
because they have been the repositories, as it were, of much of whatever
culture has -existed among us, and they have been the mediums of com
munication between the common inteUigence and the highest and best
thought of the time. The sphere that is so completely fiUed by the press,
at the present, was once held by the pulpit; and it is no contradiction of
this assertion that the pulpit chiefly exercised itself in enforcing ritual
observances or the moral law. It was to be expected that at a time
when and in places where eternal interests occupied men's minds more
than now, the ministers of religion should dweU upon other than temporal
themes. It had not yet been discovered how nearly correlated are the
material and spiritual conditions of any people. Very early in our his
tory, too, religion connected itself with education, that second great
instrument of moral influence upon society. Our very first teachers may
not have been clergymen, but one of the first movements in this county
towards supplying free instruction to the common people was inaugu
rated by a most enlightened priest of the estabUshed church, and seconded
by those who were affected by bis counsel or example. FinaUy, up to
the time of our revolutionary war, reUgion made a part of our poUtical
system, and thereby it aroused an interest separate and distinct from that
which sprang from the exercise of its spiritual offices. The union of
church and state, which for a long time subsisted among us, was thought
to be, and may have been, as necessary as the connection, at the present,
between the schools and the state. How far the moral character of
our people and their national prosperity was improved by this union, and
how far legislative action or state pohtics was chastened and restrained
by tbis connection, which now seems so unnatural, this is not the place
to discuss; but of tbis there is certainty, the making the religion of the
state a part of the poUtical system of the state was calculated to arouse
antagonism to the former, which in the end terminated in hostUity.
But notwithstanding this hostUity the fact that the union of church and
state was maintained for so many years is evidence that the people of
the province regarded reUgion as- of such moment, that it deserved the
support of the government, and that it was the part of poUtical wisdom
to uphold that union. The historians of the state have not determined
to what extent opposition to the method of appointing ministers to par
ishes, and to the levying money for theh support, conduced to the great
revolution of 1776. But the fact that ministers were appointed by the
Governor and councU, and that they received theh stipends from the

METHODISM IN TALBOT 299
public purse, gave them a consequence with those who had no reverence
for their sacred character, and placed Uttle value upon theh intellectual
and moral worth.
Therefore, in preparing the local annals of this county an account of
religion, as it existed among us from the beginning, must occupy a con
spicuous prominence. The changes of reUgious opinion; the rise and
decline of new sects or societies; their influence on current thought
and conduct; the succession of the ministers; the fives of theh influen
tial members; the formation of theh vestries, visiting committees,
boards of stewards and charitable associations; the building of theh
houses of worship and other ecclesiastical structures; theh glebes and
endowments; the territorial limits of theh parishes, quarterly and
yearly meetings, theh circuits, dioceses and conferences; theh con
troversies and contests; even theh foUies, extravagancies, vagaries and
weaknesses; aU are fit subjects for the pen of the humble annalist.
Although Maryland was settled under Roman Catholic patronage,
it does not appear that at any time in Talbot, tbis communion was very
strong in numbers. There are probably more members of that church
now within the county than ever before. The prejudices which it had
incurred in the old country were transmitted to this, and in the legal
disabilities the provincial legislature imposed, it imitated the parent
state. Hence the Roman Church was kept in a condition of suspended
vitality, from which it has but recently aroused to new vigor in our
midst. There were Quakers in Maryland as early as 1660 or 1661, and prob
ably in Talbot, for here, at Betty's cove, was one of the earUest of the
stated meetings of the society. In 1672 Fox preached at the meeting
house at "the Cove," and found a large society aheady formed. This
religious body continued to increase in number and influence up to about
the time of the revolutionary war, when either from a subsidence of its
earlier enthusiasm, or on account of its testimony against slavery, it
began to decline. Its influence upon religious thought and feeling in
the county has been out of all proportion to its numbers. It does not
appear from any extant record that Puritanism, in- any of its organized
forms, ever acquired any foothold in Talbot; but the puritanical spirit,
which has existed at all times and in aU reUgions, found its satisfaction,
first, in the holy fervor, the self denying simphcity and rigorous rule of
the peaceful Friends, and afterwards, in the iconoclastic and conquering
impulse of the more mUitant Methodists.
The ministers of the Reformed Church of England from the earliest

300 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
dates of the country's history had cures within our limits; and this long
before the Church of England became the estabUshed church of the
province. It is positively certain that the first settlers in Talbot were
under protestant influence, and employed protestant ministers as their
spiritual directors. In the years 1692 and 1702 those Acts were passed
that made the Church of England the estabUshed church of the province,
which it continued to be until 1776. In 1785 the Protestant Episcopal
church, as the successor to the Church of England, was established. In
or about the year 1774 the Methodists of Talbot began to be distin
guished from the other members of the establishment by theh earnest
piety, and theh feUowship in a separate society. They, as is weU known,
maintained a nominal connection with the old church until 1784, when
the Methodist Episcopal church was formed. This was before the
Protestant Episcopal church as a distinct ecclesiastical body had for
mally organized. There is an interesting minute in the Vestry Record
of St. Michael's parish for the year 1780, which indicates the harmony
and good feeUng between those who were distinctively Methodists, and
those who gave theh enthe allegiance to the church. This a copy of a
subscription of money, tobacco and wheat, for the support of the min
ister, the Rev. Mr. John Gordon. Certain of the subscribers are named
as the Society of Methodists, and the very first of these was that of Joseph
Hartly who had previously been imprisoned in the Easton jail, as is
mentioned in the sketch that is to follow. Another of these was Thomas
Harrison, who before and after that date acted as vestryman of the
parish. The causes of the rapid spread of Methodism throughout this penin
sula, and in Talbot, as an integral part of that peninsula, are very num
erous, but can hardly be called obscure. They may be thus summarized:
First, A growing hostUity to the estabfishment on account of the com
pulsory payment of church rates, and of the methods of appointment to
parishes. Second, The increase of the democratic sphit, and its antagon
ism to royalty and aristocracy, which the church was thought to favor.
Third, The opposition of many of the ministers of the church on the East
ern Shore, and of some of the members to the patriotic cause, by which
the church was thought to be identified with toryism. Fourth, The ill
repute in which certain of the clergy were properly held, but which was
improperly transferred to many who were not deserving of any imputa
tion of bad morals. Fifth, The repression which the observance of
religious forms in pubhc service placed upon the expression of religious
emotion. Sixth, The fervid oratory of the preachers as contrasted with

METHODISM IN TALBOT 301
the frigid and dignified sermonizing of the clergy. There is no doubt
that the Quaker influence, which had very generally pervaded the county
and given complexion to the piety of aU those who were earnest in their
religious profession, was highly conducive to the rapid success of Method
ism; for although the society of Friends, about the time of the appear
ance here of Wesleyism, had shown signs of decadence, the spirit which
animated it in its earUest years, when it found an organization prepared,
by a kind of metem-psychosis, migrated into this new ecclesiastical body.
But these are subjects that may not now be elaborated. Another
opportunity for the performance of such a duty wUl not be wanting and
shaU not be neglected. The object of these prefatory paragraphs is
to introduce an article written at the request of the compUer of these
memoirs upon our local history. It was his intention to attempt the
task himself, of giving an account of Methodism in Talbot, but he was
fortunate enough to secure the invaluable assistance of the Rev. Dr.
Phoebus, who had been appointed the historiographer of the Wilmington
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and who was and is
actively engaged in accumulating materials for a fuU and accurate his
tory of his church upon the peninsula. Dr. Phcebus kindly consented to
furnish a sketch of Methodism in our own county of Talbot in advance
of that more complete account which we may expect in his greater work;
and for the most interesting and able paper which foUows, the thanks are
due of aU who take an interest in our county's annals, but more partic
ularly of aU the members of his communion, of the best culture and of
the earnest but chastened piety of which, he is a conspicuous example.

SAINTS AND SHRINES OF EARLY METHOD
ISM IN BAYSIDE
1879
A paragraph in a late number of The Comet indicates that during the
current month, the Methodists of St. Michaels and its vicinity propose
to celebrate with a reUgious fete the hundredth anniversary of the in
troduction of Methodism into that region. This is a purpose which
even those may commend who are not of the same household of faith,
for there are none now so bigoted in theh opinions, or so swayed by
their prejudices as not to be ready to acknowledge the salutary results
of that religious movement in this community which had its beginning
about one hundred years ago. Whatever may be thought of the truth
of the doctrines then preached, or the propriety of many of the prac
tices which then arose, there can be no doubt that morality was strength
ened, and piety deepened; that men's hves were rendered purer, and
their minds elevated and consoled by Methodism. It is not perfectly
clear why this year of grace, 1879, has been selected as the centennial
anniversary of the introduction of Methodism into Talbot, or more
strictly the Bayside of this county. It is presumable, however, that
those who have prompted this commemorative ceremonial, have suf
ficiently investigated the subject and can justify, from historic data,
the selection of July, 1779, as the date of the appearance of Mr.
Wesley's preachers in this section and neighborhood; but liberty is
taken to say that there is very good ground for believing, if indeed
there be not conclusive evidence, that several years before this time,
the people of Talbot, and of Bayside had shared in the great awaken
ing by the preaching of Mr. Wesley's missionaries. It is even not
improbable that the voice of that most eloquent of preachers, White-
field, was heard within our bounds long before this time. In 1763
it is certainly known that there was a society of Calvanistic Meth
odists in the neighboring county of Queen Anne's, and if this soci
ety was formed by that great evangehst (of which there is no cer
tain evidence, however) it is not unlikely in his tour through this and
the other provinces, he may have stepped over into Talbot. But if
Whitefield did not visit this county, as one of the historiographers of
Methodism has conjectured that he did, there is httle or no doubt that
302

SAINTS AND SHRINES 303
some of Mr. Wesley's preachers were here and exercising theh vocation
successfuUy in 1777, and possibly in 1776. In 1774 the chcuit caUed
Kent was formed with very Ul-defined limits. The preachers which
were sent to the people of this chcuit were largely endowed with the
propagandist spirit, and were not likely to confine theh labors strictly
to those regions that had aheady been conquered to Methodism. They
no doubt undertook incursions in partibus infidelium, as all regions
were considered to be which had not heard the gospel as it was expounded
by them. Of this Kent chcuit the Rev. Freeborn Garrettson had charge
in 1776. But he was reheved by one Daniel Ruff, when, as he says,
"he went out to form a new one," and began preaching in Tuckahoe
Neck, Caroline County. It is not likely that any Methodist preacher,
and it is least likely that Freeborn Garrettson, would confine his labors
to CaroUne when richer fields, waving with more abundant harvests
ready for the ecclesiastical sickle, lay under the very eye of this Joshua,
just across the Jordan of Tuckahoe Creek. Yet, it is not absolutely
certain that Freeborn Garrettson was here in Talbot earher than 1778
—a fact which presently wiU be more fuUy noticed. In 1777 the preach
ers which were sent to the Kent chcuit, which, as has been shown, was
of indefinite extent, and embraced aU the region that could be reached,
were these:
Martin Rodda, Robert Wooster,
William Glendenning, Joseph Cromwell.
The last mentioned of these apostles of Eastern Shore Methodism,
is certainly known to have preached in Talbot, and aU of them possibly
preached.. It is upon record that Joseph CromweU in this year preached
at Wye, Saint Michaels and Bayside. He therefore may with propriety
be called the founder of Wesleyan Methodism in this county, and es
pecially in Bayside: for although there may have been preachers here
before him, he was the first of whom there is positive indubitable, and
recorded evidence, to preach "reUgion in earnest" as Methodism has
been appropriately called, to the people of Talbot and particularly of St.
Michaels and its vicinity — to the people, whose descendants are about
to celebrate tbis important event, the consequences of which have been
so marked in theh habits, theh thoughts, and indeed in theh social
structure. Of Joseph CromweU, it is fortunate that we know something. It
is said that he was reared in the neighborhood of Baltimore. There
are people of his name there to this day. He was "so UUterate as to be

304 HISTORr OF TALBOT COUNTY
unable to write his own name, and yet he preached in the demonstration
of the Spirit, and with an authority few could withstand. By his labors
thousands of aU classes and conditions in society had been brought into
the fold and were walking worthy of theh profession." Bishop Asbury
said of him: "He is an original, indeed — no man's copy. He is the
only man I have heard in America with whose speaking I am never
tired. I always admire his unaffected simphcity. He is a prodigy— a
man that cannot write or read weU; and yet his words go through me
every time I hear him. The power of God attends him more or less
in every place. He seldom opens his mouth but some are cut to the
heart." This capable and devoted man may therefore be regarded as
the founder of Methodism in Talbot. For this reason, and because
he embodied its spirit as weU as Ulustrated in his life and character its
distinguishing virtues, he should hold the first place in the local hagiog-
raphy of the people of this denomination, and, receiving the canoniza
tion of the church, should be reverenced as the patron saint of the
Methodists of Bayside. The followers of Wesley, Northern and South
ern, Old-Side and Radical, would honor themselves, as weU as be pay
ing a just tribute to the adventurous devotion, and the holy zeal of this
founder of their several churches, to this father of the whole family of
Methodists in this county, by erecting to him during this year a me
morial tablet in the church at St. Michaels. Besides, such a memento,
being ever before them, would be a sUent but continual exhortation to
emulate his virtues, better than the sermons of the most eloquent of
his successors in the ministry.
If CromweU may be regarded as the pioneer of the Methodist Church
in Talbot, and especiaUy of Bayside, one who came soon after him,
and who may have preceded him, may be called the organizer; and
to him justly belongs the second place among the saints of this region.
If CromweU went into the wUd forest, and with his rude and sturdy
strength cleared away the brush and feUed the timber, Garrettson
soon foUowed, and with his constructive power, buUt the sacred edi
fice. It is not necessary in this article to say much of this very able,
pious and zealous minister. He is reaUy an historic character, and of
such eminence that few persons in his church are uninformed of his
great worth, and his successful labors. Besides being a man of deep
piety, he was cultivated in his mind, refined in his manners and enjoy
ing good social position. He was therefore fitted to commend Meth
odism to a class who were not attracted to it by the ruder and plainer
Joseph Cromwell. It was his special duty to secure to the "society"

SAINTS AND SHRINES 305
the conquests which were made by the fiery zeal and exhausting labors
of less cultured, but hardly less able men. He arrived, as he himself
says, in Talbot in July, 1778, and "labored for two weeks, night and
day with tears." Those who were attracted to Methodism by his
preaching and that of his co-laborers, he united into societies. In
November of tbis year he attended a quarterly meeting in this county,
at the house of Mr. Parrott, near St. Michaels, and after the business
meeting had concluded, a prayer meeting was held, at which fifteen
persons were present. As yet the conception of a separate ecclesiasti
cal body was imperfectly formed, and the "societies" were considered
still within the Church of England, although of course that church as
an "establishment" had disappeared with the adoption of the constitu
tion of the State of Maryland in 1776. From July, 1778, therefore,
organized Methodism in Talbot, and of course in Bayside, must date
its existence.
Associated with Freeborn Garrettson on the great Kent chcuit, with
which Talbot after the formation of the societies had been incorporated,
was Joseph Hartley. If CromweU was the pioneer and founder of
Methodism here, and Garrettson the organizer, Hartley was the proto-
martyr. The story of the arrest and imprisonment of this preacher,
both in Queen Anne's and in Talbot; of bis being committed to jail
in Easton for teaching and preaching the gospel contrary to the Act
of Assembly, made and provided; of his conscientious scruples about
taking the oath of aUegiance to the new State of Maryland, after having
taken a simUar oath to the State of Delaware; of his preaching to as
sembled crowds from his jaU window; of his being taken from prison
to the dying bed of one of the justices that had committed him; of the
testimony of this dying magistrate to his being "the servant of God,"
and of his request that Hartley would preach his funeral sermon; of
the release, after a whUe, of this servant of God, upon his recognizance
to appear at court, from day to day, until discharged — this whole story
has been so often told, that it need not be here repeated. Joseph Hart
ley married, settled, and died here. His place of sepulture is not known,
and as the bones of the Methodist saints have no power of discovering
themselves by working miracles like the rehcs of the saints of other
communions, the grave of this confessor cannot be made the shrine to
which the devout may repair; but nevertheless his services to Method
ism, his patience under affliction, and his holy zeal should not fail to
have theh due recognition in this year, which is reaUy the centennial
anniversary of his imprisonment, and of his preaching like St. Paul

306 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
at Rome, in bonds. Garrettson also suffered imprisonment, in Cam
bridge. Hartley Uved at Dundee, in MUes River Neck, and was prob
ably buried in the burial ground that surrounded the Chapel of the
Church of England, which was on that farm.
When these early preachers appeared in Talbot, reUgion was at a
low ebb. It was characterized by formaUty and mdifference. The
Church of England, which was the established church of the province,
was very inadequately performing its duty towards the people. The
clergy were few in number, and as theh stipends were sure, and their
positions enjoyed without rivalry, theh clerical functions were per
formed with a kind of official regularity, and an official apathy. There
had been many of these clergymen of improper character, but at the
time when Methodism came in the three niinisters of the church, within
this county, were men of exemplary hves. These were the Rev. Jacob
Henderson Hindman, in St. Peter's Parish, who was succeeded by the
Rev. John Bowie in 1780; theRev. John Gordon, in St. Michaels Parish;
and the Rev. Hugh NeiU, in St. Paul's Parish (Wye). Of these the
Rev. Mr. Bowie and the Rev. Mr. NeiU were non-jurors or tories. The
church, even before the revolution, and particularly since the political
contest over the vestry act in 1770, had lost much of the affection of
the people, among whom there was a growing opposition to the pay
ment of the tax fof the support of the clergy. The sittings were very
inadequate for the accommodation of the worshippers. In the whole
county there were but three churches and two chapels of ease belonging
to the established church, to accommodate a population which in 1780
amounted to at least 12,000 souls. The two chapels of ease were at
this time in ruins. In the Bayside, the church at St. Michaels was the
only place of worship, except a httle Quaker meeting house near the
head of Harris's Creek. The Friends had in the county three other
houses — one near Easton, one near Trappe, and a thhd in King's Creek,
or Tuckahoe. Even these good people, who at an earlier day had
shown so much fervor, were sharing in the general indifference to re
ligion, and were not only cooling in their ardor of an hundred years
before, but relaxing in the rigidity of theh discipline. They were also
declining in numbers. The only other denomination of Christians
within the county were the Roman CathoUcs, of which there was a
mission chapel at St. Joseph's, founded in 1765. There were so few
Romanists that theh presence, however devoted they may have been,
did not perceptibly change the religious aspect of society. So there
were in the whole county, at the date of the introduction of Methodism,

SAINTS AND SHRINES 307
but two houses of worship, where according to the present ratio, between
church and people, there should have been more than thirty. In the
whole Bayside, below Easton, there were but two, where there are now
fifteen or more. When the Methodist preachers came in, what houses
of worship there were, were closed against them: and until theh converts
became sufficiently numerous and wealthy to buUd meeting houses theh
public services were held in private houses, in barns, in hired rooms
in the towns, or in the open field, the woods or orchards. Camp meet
ings among these people were of later introduction, and were adopted
because there was a lack of sufficient house accommodation for the
immense throngs that often assembled at theh meetings. It is said
that one of the earliest preaching places in Bayside was at the residence
of Mr. Richard Parrott, near St. Michaels, on the farm now owned
by Mr. Alexander Harrison. There is an early record of a quarterly
meeting at this place, in these words: "In November, 1778, on a quar
terly meeting occasion in Talbot county, about fifteen persons met to
hold a prayer meeting at Mr. Parrott's the night after quarterly meet
ing ended. Mr. Garrettson was assisted at this meeting by Mr. Hart
ley, and his brother, Richard Garrettson. This was a powerful meet
ing and lasted six hours — ending at two o'clock in the morning. Five
souls — Dr. White, his two sisters and two other young ladies — were
set at liberty." Mr. Garrettson, from whose book of reminiscences of
his ministry this extract has been made, speaks of this meeting as
an actual epiphany of the Diety, in such words as these: "the
Lord was with us in truth" — "the power of the Lord was sensibly
felt"— "His presence fiUed the room." From other declarations of
Mr. Garrettson, and from the weU-known opinions of some of the
more enthusiastic of his foUowers these expressions can hardly be
considered metaphorical. There is another interesting record of a
meeting at Mr. Parrott's house, to this effect: "WUliam Waters, about
the year 1779, in a bam on Parrott's Point farm, held a two days' meet
ing. Seven persons were converted, and a class formed in St. Michaels."
The place where this barn stood, therefore, may be considered a haUowed
spot to Bayside Methodism. Another famUy, which if not living in
this section at the time, became identified with it subsequently, opened
its house to these early apostles of this faith. This was that of the
Bruffs. Mr. Robert Newcomb, belonging to Bayside and Uving just
above Royal Oak, was a friend of the preachers, and probably had serv
ices at his house. In Ferry Neck, Arthur Rigby, a blind man of good
fortune, exceUence sense, and ardent piety, permitted the use of his

308 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
house, which was of ample dimensions. A Uttle later, Henry Banning
Uving in Hopkins's Neck, whose wife has been canonized, so far as
having her name mentioned by all the hagiographers of Methodist
saintliness, extended like hospitaUty to the preachers. Doubtless there
were many others of shrular liberality, but theh names have unfortunate
ly not been transmitted by either written record or oral tradition.
It is not certainly known where the first meeting house that was
erected for the use of the Methodists of Talbot, was buUt: but inasmuch
as very soon after the preachers began their labors in this county, these
people became very numerous in Bayside, it is highly probable that to
them belongs the honor of buUding the first house dedicated to worship
according to these forms.
Certain it is, that the first recorded deed for land to be used for this
purpose bears the date of 1781, and was for a lot in the town of St.
Michaels.1 The foUowing is an abstract of tbis deed:
Tbis Indenture, made the sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord,
seventeen hundred and eighty-one, witnesseth that James Braddock,
of Talbot County, Gentleman, having a pious zeal and peculiar love
for the society of people caUed Methodists, as also for other divers good
causes and considerations thereunto moving, Doth by these presents
willingly, freely and voluntarily give and grant unto
James Benson, Richard Parrott,
Robert Lambdin, -Joseph Harrison,
John Kersey, Joseph Denny,
Thomas Harrison, John Macdonald,
and Daniel Fairbank,
(Trustees specially appointed bythe saidsocietyof people caUed Method
ists) the half of two town lots of land, distinguishing on the platt of
St. Michaels, by lots number thirty-seven and thirty-eight, [here fol
lows a description of the property which fronted on St. Mary's Square],
'In the year 1790, a lot of ground in the town of Easton, on Goldsborough
street, on the east side of Thoroughgood lane, was purchased for five shillings
from James Seth, by Alexander McCullum, Moses Allen, John Blake, Geo. Miller,
William Martin and James Vansant for the use of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. As this was the site of the Chapel that for many years was used by
the Methodists of Easton, until the house on West street was erected in 1829-30,
it is persumable that the date of the deed was the date of the erection of the
building. Unquestionably these people had a place of worship before this time,
and tradition asserts that this original chapel, which may have been a hired
house, stood on Washington street, nearly opposite the Brick Hotel. It has
been found to be impossible to verify this tradition by any documentary
evidence. But Garrettson relates that in 1787 he preached in the "little chapel"
at Talbot Court House— that is before the date of the above mentioned deed.

SAINTS AND SHRINES 309
in order that they may buUd thereon a good and convenient house,
agreeable to the instructions of the people caUed Methodists, for the
public worship of Almighty God, and to and for the said use and pur
pose, and to no other use, intent or meaning whatsoever.
The remainder of the instrument is purely formal. The witnesses
were Jonathan Harrison and Jos. [or Jas.] Wrightson. The date of
the buUding of this house was the date of the formation of Talbot ch
cuit, to which these preachers were sent, viz. : Henry Willis and Jere
miah Lambert. The house erected on this lot was quite commodious
and was buUt of brick. It had what was caUed a hipped roof, and stood
with the side to the square. This house was removed in the year 183-
when the buUding now used as a High School was erected.
The meeting house next erected in Bayside was that upon or near
the Bay shore, upon land called "MUes End," and purchased for seven
shUlings and sixpence from John and Mary Lambdin Kersey. The
deed was dated May 1, 1804, and was made to the foUowing persons
as Trustees, viz:
John McDantel, Robert Colloson,
Rob't Lambdin, Jr., Daniel Lambdin,
Robert Lambdin, James McDaniel,
Joseph Hopkins, James Haddaway.
There are provisions in the deed for maintaining the number of nine
trustees. Mr. Kersey probably made the ninth, though not mentioned
as such, as he was the party of the first part to the deed. This meeting
house was transferred to the colored people not long ago, and a new
one erected near by, for the white congregation.
The thhd meeting house of the Methodists of the Bayside section
of the county, that was buUt, was that erected about a mUe above the
Royal Oak, in the year 1808, upon land acquired from Henry Baiming,
whose house had been a preaching place anterior to that date. The
names of the Trustees were as foUows, viz:
Arthur Riqby, James Jones,
Thomas Townsend, Charles Rigby,
Joseph Esgate, Joseph Hopkins,
Richard Dawson.
This house was very recently removed to the viUage of Royal Oak,
and extensively improved, in order that the old Methodists might com
pete on equal terms with the Southern church.

310 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
The fourth house of worship of the Methodists in this section of the
county, that was erected, was in Ferry Neck, upon land obtained of
Mr. Henry Colson. The Trustees of this httle chapel at the date of
its building, 1817, were:
Spedden Orem, John Harris,
John W. Battte, Arthur Rigby,
Richard Eaton.
This house stiU stands, being used by the colored people, a new one
having been buUt a short distance above for the white congregation.
The last mentioned of these trustees was the hierophant at this little
shrine, being a class-leader and exhorter. He was a man of great sim-
pUcity of mind and sincerity of heart, but he made no pretensions to
saintliness of character, for the natural man in him was never com
pletely subdued. He was a good man, and died in the sweetness of
peace if not in the odor of sanctity.
It is not necessary further to extend this recital of the dates of the
erection of the numerous meeting houses that have been buUt in Bayside.
This would be to enter upon the era of modern Methodism. This
modern Methodism continues to buUd shrines and to nurture saints,
but time is necessary to hallow with sacred associations the one, and the
vista of years is required to enable us to perceive the nimbus of sanctity
that surrounds the heads of the other. What has been, shaU be; so
when the present times shall become the old times — when another
hundred years shaU have passed — then many a place that is now trod
den with careless feet wiU be marked as the scene of some divine mani
festation, and many a person whom we daily pass with indifferent recog
nition, shall have had his name enroUed among those the church has
beatified.

EPISCOPAL CHUECHES IN SAINT MICHAELS
THE OLD CHURCH AND THE NEW
Work was begun on the new Parish church of St. Michaels Parish,
Talbot County, Md., Tuesday, June 25, 1878.
In tearing down the old church the parts near the walls were found
to be entirely decayed, and the waUs themselves cracked from the top
to the foundation and started out of plumb from three to five inches.
The workmen found the tomb of Rev. Henry Nicols under the chancel
in good preservation, and also the tomb of Rev. Mr. Chamberlaine
on the interior of the west gable; these were carefuUy protected from
injury. The foUowing is the Latin inscription on the slab over Rev.
Mr. Nicols's tomb, which was covered by the chancel floor, and exposed
when the chancel was removed:
H. S.
Jacent Exuviae
H. Nicols, A. M.
CoU. Jesu Ox:
Ohm Socii
Hujus Ecclesiae Pastoris. Indignisshni
per Annos 41.
Nati Aprilis 1 mo 1687
Denati Feb'y 12 mo 1748
Salvam fac Anhnam Christe
pro meritis fuis
Vbrit Annos 70
Sal fatuum conculcate
Haccipsc jussit insculpenda
Tbis inscription may be translated thus:
Here Ues the remains of Henry Nicols, A.M., formerly a fellow of
Jesus College, Oxford, and a pastor of this church for 41 years — most
unworthy. Born April 1st, 1678; died Feb. 12, 1748. Save his soul,
0 Christ, for Thy own merits. He hved 70 years. Tread upon salt
without savor. He ordered these to be inscribed.
The present church is not very old, having been buUt in 1812. It
is the thhd church on the same spot.
The first recorded baptism took place in 1672. These cfifferent
churches judging from the records cost the sparse and scattered popu
lation much labor and self-denial, and the present congregation cannot
expect to finish the work which they have now begun without experi-
311

312 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
encing the same self-sacrifice. The church would not be a worthy
offering to God if it cost them nothing.
The plan of the new church is by Henry M. Congdon, 111 Broadway,
New York; it is, we beUeve, of the early English transition style. The
dimensions, in length, from west gable of tower, to east gable of chancel
is 100 feet, fuU width from outside to outside 52 feet; within these
waUs there is a vestibule in the tower 12xl5| feet, a nave or audience
room 48x48 feet, a chancel including choh 25x25 feet, an organ room
10x12 feet and a vestry room 10x12 feet. The central aisle wUl be 7J
feet wide with two side aisles along the waUs. Beside the entrance
through the tower there wUl be an entrance through a south porch.
The Sunday school room is placed in a gaUery over the north gable,
it wUl be a handsome room, throughly Ughted and ventilated, ap
proached through a winding stair-way in the tower, dimensions about
18x48 feet. When finished it wUl be so arranged that after the school
is over it can be turned into a pleasant and roomy seating-place for the
colored people. The front elevation of this church with tower and
spire is very beautifuUy proportioned, and when finished wUl be a great
ornament to the town of St. Michaels. The outside dimensions of the
tower are about 20x20 feet, stone-work running up about 60 feet, fin
ished with a sphe including cross, about 45 feet, making in aU 105 feet.
The whole church is plain but beautifuUy proportioned and tf finished
as designed by the architect wiU do credit to the vestry of St. Michaels
Parish, be an honor to the neighborhood, and enhance the fame of the
architect. When the floor of the old church was taken up, some old flint-and-
steel muskets were found. It is known that during the war of 1812
the church was occupied by soldiery, and these old muskets have doubt
less been there since that time.

EAELIEST CATHOLIC CHUECHES IN
TALBOT COUNTY
The ancient town of Doncaster stood on the tract of land in MUes
River neck which continues to perpetuate the name of Doncaster
farm. It was located at the mouth of Wye River, opposite Bennett's
point. Bruff's Island was separated from the town of Doncaster by
a narrow, but deep, channel through which the largest sailing vessels
could pass. The stone foundation of a large buUding that was evidently
a tobacco warehouse, and which had been completely covered by the
sand for more than a century was unearthed, in 1912, by some work
men engaged in buUding a concrete sea-wall for Mr. Sidney S. Schuyler,
the present owner of Bruff's Island, and also of a part of the Doncaster
farm. There is a plat of the town of Doncaster stUl preserved by Mr.
Charles Howard Lloyd upon which is marked a Roman Catholic Chapel
with a steeple on it. This was doubtless the chapel which Frances
Sayer, the widow of Col. Peter Sayer, in her wiU probated 27th Sep
tember, 1698, ordered buUt of lime and brick over the burial place of
her late husband, who was High Sheriff of Talbot County, and who
died less than a year before her. In his wiU, probated 2nd November,
1697, he devises one-third of his estate "to the English Benedictine Nuns
and English Benedictine Monks at Paris, and to English Friars." He
also directed his Executors, (his -wife, Frances, and nephew, Charles
Blake,) "to seU Proptr's Island, or some other piece of property, and
out of the proceeds to pay certain personalty to Thomas LifehoUy,
to each of testator's grandchUdren (unnamed), and to aU priests in the
Province." The Island referred to was Crouch's or Bruff's Island,
which, however, he had sold before bis death to Edmond O'Dwyer.
Philemon Lloyd the only chUd of Edward Lloyd, the Puritan, married
Henrietta Maria Bennett, the widow of Richard Bennett, of Bennett's
Point. He was accidentUy drowned in Wye River, leaving her a young
widow with an infant son, Richard Bennett, Jr. She brought to her
second husband a large fortune, and bore him three sons and four daugh
ters. Among the many tracts of land mentioned in her wUl, probated
June 2, 1697, she mentioned the Great Island in Wye River bought of
313

314 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Charles Hemsley. Being a daughter of Captain James Neale and
Henrietta Maria GUI, who were Romanists, she was a devout Catholic,
as is evidenced by the foUowing devises in her wiU. "To the priests at
the Chapel at Wye River 100 acres, 'Town Road,' bought of Richard
Hazelten and also land bequeathed testatrix by John Londy of Chester
River." John Londey, by his wiU executed April 2, 1693, devised one-
third of his estate to Roman Catholic Chapel at mouth of Wye River.
OLD ST. JOSEPH'S CHURCH
Rev. Joseph Mosley, a Jesuit Priest, who came to CecU County in
1760, had charge of a Cathohc mission at Bohemia Manor until 1787.
He traveUed aU over the Eastern Shore, and in the journal, left by him,
he says he baptized about 600 persons, many of whom were negro
slaves, and that between the years 1766 and 1787, the accessions to the
Cathohc Churches to which he ministered, including some on the Western
shore, numbered 185, and he performed the marriage ceremony 170
times and officiated at about 175 funerals. In 1764, he organized a
church at St. Joseph's in Talbot County, and probably with a view of
founding another mission sinhlar to the one at Bohemia, purchased
about three hundred and fifty acres of land in Chapel District, near the
border line of Queen Anne's County. The next year he placed eight
negroes, which he brought from Prince George's County at a cost of £10,
each on this farm. These negroes are supposed to have been in charge
of an overseer. Father Mosley's journal contains many curious entries
illustrative of the manners and customs of society at the time they were
made. Among them are the foUowing: "4th November, 1770, 1 married
Jerry, a negro of ours to Jenny, a negro belonging to Mr. Charles Blake,
but afterwards bought by us. Test, — many negroes, both ours and
others, at St. Joseph's, Talbot. 23rd July, 1777, I married Davy, a
negro of ours, to Hannah, a negro of John Lockerman, by his consent.
Many negroes of his and our fanuly being present. September, 1795,
married at home a wench of John Connell (Senior), named Hannah to
a feUow of TuUies Neck, by note." There are many entries in Father
Mosley's journal of marriages of negroes "by note," which meant that
the sable couples had notes from their owners requesting or authorizing
him to perform the marriage ceremony. The above data, in relation
to Father Joseph Mosley is taken from Johnston's History of Cecil
County. The Cathohcs continued to hold this farm until 1882, when
they sold it to John P. Stelle. They, however, retained the Church

EARLIEST CATHOLIC CHURCHES IN TALBOT COUNTY 315
and a few acres surrounding it. This ancient brick edifice although
now (1914), just a hundred and fifty years old, is in a good state of preser
vation and regular weekly services are held in it by Priests from the
Parish Church in Easton. The Jesuits had conveyed this entire property
in 1874, to the Bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington. Father Albert
Peters was the last resident Pastor of the Jesuit Society.

OEIGIN OF TALBOT GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES
Choptank River takes its name from a tribe of Indians that inhab
ited both shores of this stream before its settlement by the English.
They were men of large stature. In the Academy of Natural Sciences
in Baltimore, there are several skeletons of these Indians (taken from
an Indian mound at Sandy HU1 on the Choptank near Cambridge)
that measure nearly seven feet in height with skuUs of unusuajly large
size. MUes River, or St. MUes River, is a corruption of Saint Michaels,
its original name. In colonial times ah grants of land from the Lords
Baltimore were in the shape of leases subject to small and merely nomi
nal ground rents, reserved by the Proprietary, and payable annually
at Michaelmas, the Feast of St. Michael and AU Angels, which in the
calendar of the Roman CathoUc and AngUcan churches occurs on Sep
tember 29; hence St. Michael was considered to be the patron saint
of colonial Maryland, and as such was honored by the river being
named for him.
The change of name was due to the fact that the Quakers, a large
colony of whom were among the earUest settlers in Talbot County,
having no reverence for saints, persisted in dropping the word saint
and calling the river Michaels River, which readUy became corrupted
into MUes.
As early as 1667, six years after the laying out of Talbot County,
may be found in the Proceedings of the Provincial CouncU of Mary
land, a commission issued by Charles Calvert, Esq., Captain General
of all the forces within the Province of Maryland, to George Richard
son as captain of aU troops of horse that shall march out of "Choptanck
and St. MUes rivers in Talbot County, aforesaid upon any expedition
against any Indian enemy whatsoever," etc.
At the same time, a sinular commission was issued to Hopkin Davis,
as Captain of foot in Choptanck and St. MUes rivers. So we find
authority for St. Michaels and Michaels, St. MUes and MUes; take your
choice. Wye River, which forms the northern boundary of Talbot County,
was given this name by Edward Lloyd, the Welsh emigrant who took
3-16

ORIGIN OF TALBOT GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 317
up large tracts of land along its southern shores, before the laying out
of Talbot County. He named it for the beautiful winding Wye, noted
for its sinuosity, whose source is near that of the Severn, rising almost
at the summit of PUnhimmon, a mountain in Wales it forms the bound
ary between the shores of Brecon and Radnor in South Wales, ere it
enters Herefordshire, England, and thence flowing through this county,
Ross and Monmouth, falls into the Severn near Chepstow. To the
Lloyd homestead, which has continued in the possession of the Lloyds
of Wye for nine generations he# gave the name of Wye House.
The Tred Avon River doubtless takes its name from one of the many
Avon rivers in Old England, most likely from the Lower Avon that
empties into the Bristol Channel.
Of the thirteen Eastons in England, the most important town of that
name is situated about one mile from the head of the Lower Avon.
Easton, Talbot's county seat, being just one mfle from the headwaters
of the Tred Avon River, is supposed to have been named for this English
town. In colonial days there were many merchant vessels trading between
Oxford, Maryland, and Bristol, England, near which Easton, England,
is located and from which section many of the early settlers of Talbot
County emigrated.
Edge's Creek takes its name from James Edge, who in 1755, was as
sessed on over 700 acres of land, lying principaUy in Deep Neck.
Plain Dealing Creek was so caUed from the name of a tract of land of
200 acres, surveyed December 5, 1663, for Joseph Winslow, and border
ing along the west shore of this creek.
Harris's Creek took its name from WUliam Harris, of the Clifts,
Calvert County, who in his wiU probated May 2, 1698, devised to bis
two sons Joseph and Benjamin, lands in the lower part of Talbot County.
Peace Blossom Creek. George Robins of Banbury, England, who
emigrated to America in 1670 settled in Talbot County on a tract of
land at the head of the eastern branch of the Tred Avon containing
1,000 acres, which was surveyed for Job Nutt, January 31, 1660, and
called by him, Job's Content. Mr. Robins planted on this estate the
first orchard of peach trees that was ever planted in Talbot County.
These trees he imported from England, through his lifelong friend Peter
Collinson, the then world-renowned naturalist and botanist, which had
been procured by him from Persia. When this peach orchard was
for the first time in fuU bloom it presented such a novel sight, that the
neighbors for miles around came paddling up the creek in theh dug-

318 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
out canoes to Mr. Robins' homestead to catch a sight of the beautiful
pink peach blossoms, which were at that time such a curiosity that
the name of Job's Content was changed to that of Peach Blossom and
that romantic name, which was at the same time given to the creek,
has been perpetuated for over two centuries down to the present time
(1914). Boon's Creek took its name from one of Talbot's earnest settlers,
John Boon, who owned almost aU of the land bordering along both sides
of this creek, which later, a few years prior to the American Revo
lution, came into possession and ownership of Samuel Chamberlain
who built the colonial mansion thereon, and gave to it the name of
Bonfield. Pickering's Creek, in MUes River Neck, a branch of the Wye River,
takes its name from Francis Pickering, who owned a tract of land at
the head of this creek, now known as Forrest Landing. In a deed from
Francis Pickering et al to Edward Lloyd dated November 9, 1758, this
creek is called Long Tom's Creek. Who this Long Tom was, wUl prob
ably ever remain a mystery.
Leed's Creek, in MUes River Neck, was named for the Hon. John
Leeds, Jr., a native of Talbot County, who died in March, 1750, eighty-
five years of age. He was one of the "ye worshipful commissioners
and Justices of the Peace for Talbot County" 1734-38, and clerk of the
Talbot County Court from 1738 tiU the beginning of the War of the
Revolution. Island Creek was so caUed from the fact that a small island stood
directly at the mouth of this creek, which has enthely disappeared,
but was stUl visible a half century ago within the memory of persons
now (1914) living.
Glebe Creek takes its name from a tract of land lying along the south
side of this stream which was devised by Thomas Smithson in 1714
to St. Michaels Parish for a Glebe for the support of the rector.
Nelson's Point, at the lower end of Broad Creek Neck, and so called
on ah the United States Government charts, and also upon the Mary
land geological maps, was never the correct name of this point.
It is properly Elston's Point, and takes its name from Ralph Elston,
who patented "Long Neck" a tract of land at the extreme southern
end of Broad Creek Neck, containing 200 acres, and which was surveyed
for him March 12, 1664. His name is perpetuated down to the present
time (1914) by one of his descendants WUUam Elston Shannahan, a
prominent merchant of Easton.

ORIGIN OF TALBOT GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 319
Benoni's Point, which originally extended nearly out to the fight-
house opposite the mouth of Tred Avon River takes its name from
Benoni Banning, one of Talbot's earUest settlers, who owned this point
of land. He removed to Vhginia, and was in a Vhginia regiment in
the American Revolution and was wounded in the battle of King's
Mountain, N. C.
Pecke's Point, speUed Peck's Point on aU maps and government
charts, which is on the north side of the Tred Avon River about one mile
above Oxford, takes its name from Benjamin Pecke, a lawyer who
owned a tract of land which included this point, at the lower end of
Hall's Neck. He died in 1709. His son, Benjamin Pecke, Jr., who
died in 1729, gave the sUver communion service to Christ's Episcopal
Church in St. Michaels.
Ship Point, at the mouth of Trippe's Creek, was so named from the
fact that a ship yard was located there where many sailing ships were
built by Thomas Skillington who died in 1699. He devised to his son
Kenehn Skillington, "Turner's Point (the former name of this point)
in Hambleton's Neck," as the lower end of BaUey's Neck was then called.
Mr. Thomas Chamberlaine had several vessels buUt at tbis ship yard.
In 1700, the ship "Elizabeth" was buUt for him there, to trade between
Oxford and Liverpool "by GUbert Livesley" which was manned by 24
guns and 96 men. In the "Records of Port Oxford" written by the
sons and grandsons of Mr. Thomas Chamberlaine, in the possession
of the Maryland Historical Society, these ships are frequently mentioned.
Clora's Point, which is improperly speUed on the United States Gov
ernment maps and charts Chlora's Point, was so called from one Clora
O'Dora, who became the owner of a tract of land in Island Creek Neck
of 600 acres, fronting on the Choptank River and extending from the
waters of Island Creek to those of Dividing Creek, by virtue of a deed
therefor dated June 18, 1666, from Edward Lloyd to the said Clora
O'Dora and John Marks, whose interest shortly thereafter passed to
O'Dora, being a part of Edward Lloyd's original tract of 3,050 acres
called "Hier Dier Lloyd." Although he gave to Clora's Point a name
which has continued to adhere to it ever since, he actuaUy owned this
tract of land less than two years, for on June 8, 1668, by deed of that
date, he conveyed it to John Ingram.
Wade's Point, on Eastern Bay, below Claiborne, is so caUed from its
first owner Zachary Wade, one of Claiborne's Kent Island colonists,
who crossed over from Kent Island to Talbot in 1758 and took up a
tract of 400 acres upon which he settled.

320 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Howell's Point, on the north shore of the Choptank River about three
mUes below Cambridge, took its name from HoweU PoweU, one of the
early Quaker settlers in Talbot County who owned a tract of land ad
joining the Dickinson estate "Crosiadore."
Tilghman's Point, at the mouth of MUes River, took its name from
Matthew Tilghman, the patriarch of the Maryland colony, who owned
Rich Neck Manor, of which this point is the northern extremity. This
fine estate adjoins the viUage of Claiborne and is now, (1914), the attrac
tive homestead of Henry H. Pearson, Jr.
ChanceUor's Point, in Bolingbrook Neck on the Choptank River, is
located at the southern end of the tract of land caUed "Woolsey Manor,"
containing 1000 acres, which was originally surveyed for Philip Calvert,
Esq., who was sometime ChanceUor of the Maryland Province. Hence
his land was, and continues to be, called ChanceUor's Point.
Jamaica Point was so caUed from the name of a 250 acres tract of
land upon which this point is located caUed "Jamaica," which was sur
veyed May 18, 1666, for John Richardson.
Deep Water Point, on the MUes River, was in colonial times known
as "Feast Landing," because of fish feasts having been held on the hard,
sandy beach there. In a certificate of survey made in 1737 by David
Davis Barrow, Surveyor of Talbot County, it is stated: "The State of
Maryland, set. February 20th, 1787 : By virtue of a special warrant of
Proclamation granted out of the Land Office unto Matthew Tilghman,
Esq., of Talbot County, bearing date the 15th day of December, 1786,
to resurvey a tract or parcel of land called 'The Feast Landing' con
taining 16| acres of land, which a certain George Gleaves had hereto
fore surveyed and laid out for him the 21st of March, 1773, as may
appear, etc. I humbly certify that I have by virtue of the aforesaid
warrant carefuUy resurveyed for and in the name of him the aforesaid
Matthew TUghman, Esq., the aforesaid tract or parcel of land accord
ing to its respective metes and bounds, and find it to contain sixteen
acres and one quarter of an acre of land. Seven acres and three quar
ters of an acre of which I find to be taken away by St. Michaels river,
which I have by virtue of the aforesaid warrant excluded, and have by
virtue of the aforesaid warrant added to the aforesaid tract six acres
and three quarters of an acre of vacant land and have reduced the whole
into one entire tract now called Deep Water Point, etc."

THIED HAYEN
To the annalist and antiquary there is scarcely any subject of more
interest than geographical nomenclature — the tracing to their sources,
through all theh variations, changes and corruptions, the names of
the civU divisions and the physical features of any country. Though
it cannot be said that the study of topographical terminology is one of
the highest importance, it cannot be disdained as one unworthy of the
attention of the man of letters, the statesman, or the man of affairs;
for, it often has led to the elucidation of obscurities in history, to the
settlement of national disputes, and the protection of large pecuniary
interests.1 To the citizens of Talbot it should not be a matter of indif
ference whence came the names of the towns, vUlages and hamlets; the
public landings, ferries and bridges; the parishes, hundreds and dis
tricts; the islands, points and necks of land; the watercourses, rivers,
creeks, coves, branches and mUl streams; and even of the manors,
plantations and homesteads. Such names are often the only mementoes
of many of our worthies of past time, and it should not be deemed an
unbecoming sentiment, the deshe to transmit some memory of those
who, even humbly, wrought for the good of Talbot. Such names, too,
perpetuate many local incidents, of too smaU importance to merit a
record in history, but too interesting, to those who claim this county
as theh home and the home of theh ancestors, to be entirely forgotten.
Such names, again, bestowed by our fathers as reminiscential of their
former homes in the Old World serve to point out the source from which
our families sprang, and to keep aUve kindly memories of our mother
country. In estimating the importance of our geographical nomen
clature, of correcting it when erroneous, and perpetuating it when
correct— to these benefits, which may be caUed merely sentimenal, may
be added those more material advantages which come from its enabling
us to settle disputes as to property, of its validating titles, or of secur
ing valuable rights where they have been denied, or been in abeyance.
This much it has been thought necessary to say by way of apology
1 As an instance of the political importance of names, Marylanders and Vir
ginians will recall the long dispute, scarcely yet settled, concerning their boun
daries, founded upon a controversy as to Watkin's Point.
321

322 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
for the attempt which is about to be made to determine the name of a
water course in Talbot county.
In t"he Saint Michaels Comet of the 18th of Aug., there appeared an
account of the Wye, an arm of the bay which in part divides the coun
ties of Talbot and Queen Anne's. The following is an extract from this
article: The name "Wye," some will persist in saying, was given to this
river from its shape, this being like the letter Y, the lower part of the
river being its shank, and the branches that unite at Wye Island, form
ing the arm of the Y. However plausible this may seem, it is of course
erroneous, as the river was given its name for the Wye of Wales by the
Welsh patentees of the lands on its banks. The Welsh Lloyds owned
the magnificent country on the east side from its mouth to the borders
of Queen Anne's, except "Gross's" where the Welsh Tilghmans settled.
Alike erroneous is the notion of the name of the "Third Haven," as it
was called — because it is the third haven or branch of the Choptank.
The geography that caUs it so, is as wrong of this corruption of the name
of the Welsh Tred Avon. Such nomenclature is akin to finding the
name Oxford in the supposition that the "Third Haven," at this point
could once be forded by oxen."
In this paragraph there are several statements which invite criticism,
to one of which, and one only, it is proposed to caU attention at this
time. As the article from which it has been taken appears to have
been written deliberately, it would not be safe, perhaps, to say that any
declaration the writer has made in it is erroneous; but in the absence
or in ignorance of the grounds upon which he declares, apparently with
authority, and certainly with positiveness, that the proper name of
another water course, whoUy in Talbot, is not Third-Haven, and is not
anything else than Tred-Avon, it is permissible to say that possibly he
is mistaken. There are three circumstances which determine the
correctness of a geographical name, when in dispute, to wit: priority,
usage, and fitness. When these aU concur, all doubt ceases. When
they are not in accord or are in conflict, then question arises. When
two of them agree, theh weight of authority must over-balance the
third and sanction the name they give. v
There are few citizens of Talbot who, having occasion to mention the
beautiful watercourse that penetrates the county from the south to
about the centre, having its debouchure in the Choptank, and its source
near Easton, have not hesitated to pronounce or to write its name,
and this embarrassment has always increased where particularity or
precision has been required. This hesitancy is owing to the fact that it

THIRD HAVEN 323
has been designated by so many names, each of which had the authority
of currency, and, as investigation shows, of early usage. It is a singular
circumstance that the same hesitancy and confusion has existed for more
than two hundred years. The people who hved near the time when
this watercourse first received a name from European explorers or
settlers upon its borders, were just as much embarrassed as the people
of the present day. Whoever bestowed the name seems to have been
the only man who could write and pronounce it correctly, and he has
left no record as far as is known. The writer in the Comet asserts,
rather positively, that the name was of Welsh origin. Upon what
authority this is said does not appear. The intimation is also, that it
derives from some stream or river in the Cambrian principality. The
writer of this article has taken the pains to examine ail the gazetteers,
and atlases that are in the large Ubraries in the city of Baltimore, and
has failed to find any name which approaches in sound or speUing to
any of the names which have been attributed to this estuary or creek,
for river it can in no sense be caUed. There are several rivers and rivu
lets in England that bear the name of Avon, and some smaU streams in
Scotland; but there does not appear to be any in Wales. Indeed,
Avon seems to have been a generic name in some of the old languages
of the British islands, for river. There is no river Avon in Wales.
The word Tred, is doubtless of Welsh or Celtic origin; at least it is
used as a prefix to many Welsh names as Tredegar. Further: there is
no evidence that there were any early settlers of unquestionable Welsh
origin in Talbot county.2 It is certainly an assumption, without proof,
that Mr. Edward Lloyd, the founder of the family of that name that
has so long held, even from the first days of the organization of the
county, or even before, a social position of the highest respectability,
and that has given so many distinguished statesmen and civilians to
the province, state, and nation, came over from Wales. He is known
to have come into Maryland from Vhginia, and assumed a prominent
1 There is plausibility in the presumption that Mr. Morgan the patentee of
the tract of land called Plimhimmon, near Oxford, possibly a corruption of Plin-
himmon, was a Welshman. But nothing is known of him. Mr. Robert Vaughan,
at one time commander of Kent Island, and Thomas Vaughn, once sheriff of this
county, both of whom took up land in Talbot may have been Welshmen, as their
name indicates. In the original patent of Plimhimmon to Henry Morgan, dated
1658, the land is represented as lying upon Tred-avon creek. In a deed of the same
estate by John Rousby to Richard Coward, and dated 1718, this water is some
times called Tredavon, and sometimes Tredavan. Mr. Samuel Chamberlaine in
copying from original papers calls the creek Thirdhaven.

324 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
position during the Puritan ascendency, as well as after; but he was
probably an EngUshman, though of course of Welsh descent, as his
patronymic clearly indicates. He died in England, and his will, be
queathing his estate on the Wye to his grandson, states that he was a
merchant of White Chapel Parish, Middlesex county. It may be
well enough to say here that neither the Wye nor the Severn are dis
tinctively Welsh rivers, the former has its source and part of its course
in Wales, and the latter bounds that principality on the South, but both
pass through English territory. The man or men who gave name
to this water under consideration died and left no sign to enable us to
determine its primitive appeUation: nor are we able to trace any of its
varied names to an original cognomen existing in those countries from
which the first explorers or emigrants into Talbot came.
As has aheady been stated, this water course was caUed, in the very
earliest days of which we have any records, by as many different names
as at the present. An examination of the documents preserved in the of-
• fice of the clerk of the county, dating back to 1662 or earlier, this river,
creek, estuary, or whatever it may be caUed, appears to have been
known by eight, if not more names, some resembling each other in sound
and spelling, and others differing widely, though aU evidently coming
from one original. It was caUed Tred-Avon, Trad-Avon, Tred-Aven,
Tred-Haven, Trad-Haven, Tread-Haven, Trade-Haven and Third
Haven. It is proper to say there are here mentioned without regard
to frequency of use, weight of authority, or order in time. All that is
meant to be said is, these names appear in the Court records, if not abso
lutely synchronically, at least within the fifty years after the organization
of the county, in 1660-61, and were used indiscriminately. Without mul
tiplying instances of the use of these appellations, a few references to their
employment may be presented. Tred-Aven Creek is mentioned in a deed
of William Hambleton (whose descendants are stiU among us), to Francis
Bellows, bearing the date of Sept. 9, 1665. This is the very earliest men
tion of this water course that has been discovered in our records. In
the following year 1666, Richard Tilghman (who was the founder of the
family of that name upon the Eastern Shore, and who was not a Welsh
man, as the writer of the Comet intimates, but a native of Kent, in old
England, and who was the ancestor of the Tilghman's of Groses on Wye,
as of all others of the name upon this peninsula), sold to Richard Pres
ton, 1000 acres of land caUed Canterberry Manor (in BaUey's Neck,
where Richard Tilghman is said first to have settled, before he moved

THIRD HAVEN 325
to Hermitage on Chester river), which Manor is stated to have been
situated on the Eastern branch of Treadaven Creeke. In the same year
(1666) Anthony Griffin conveyed to Richard Howard a tract of land
upon Treadaven Creeke. In 1672, this water is caUed in another deed,
Treadhaven Creeke. In 1683 in a conveyance of Cooke's Hope Manor
(in Edmoridson's neck), originaUy patented to Miles Cooke, in 1659,
the name is written Treadavon. In 1686, Benjamin Pecke, from whom
Peck's Point received its name, sold a piece of land, part of Hopkins'
Point (in Hopkins' Neck), on the west side of Tredhaven Creeke. In
1714, a deed of Robert Grundy, to Robert Ungle (him who lived at
Plain Dealing, and whose tragic end gave origin to the weU-known
ghost story), to Thomas Pamphilion of a lot in Oxford, the land men
tioned as bounding upon Third-Haven Creeke. Upon a fly-leaf of judg
ment records, in the Clerk's office, there is a memorandum of the sale
of a parcel of land to John Edmondson, by Francis Armstrong, made
Jan. 18, 1665. This land was said to be on the south side of Trade-
Raven Creeke. Down to the time of the formation of the State Con
stitution in 1776-7, it was customary for the Justices of the County
Courts to appoint the constables of the several Hundreds into which
the county was divided. In the year 1679, these persons were named
constables for the several hundreds:
Francis Brooks, for Island Hundred.
George Carrill, " Worrall "
Wm. Gaskin, " Bay
Richard Moore, " Trad Avon "
Wm. Trawth, " Bullingbrooke "
Thos. Willson, " Mill
Henry Green " Chester "
But in the next year Clement Sales was constable for Tred-Haven
hundred, while in 1686 Walter Quinton, was constable for Tread-Haven,
and in 1699, William Bush, took the place of Samuel Martin as con
stable of Third-Haven hundred. Now, turning from the Court records
to those which next to them are the most ancient, the minutes of the
Friends' meetings in this county, we find that upon the opening of the
great meeting house, that which stiU stands near the town of Easton,
which is much older than the town itseff, and which, possibly, was the
germ of the town, it is represented in the minutes as situated upon
Trad-Haven Creeke. This record was as of the 24th day of the 8th

326 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
month3 (October), 1684, the meeting house having been commenced in
1682, or about that date. On the 10th of the 6th (August) month
1688, a quarterly meeting was held at the house on Trade-Haven Creeke.
In 1690 and 1692 the clerk of the meeting used the same orthography,
but in 1703 he wrote Tred-Havens. Of all the speUings of the name in
the Quaker records Trad-Haven was the most common in the earlier
years, that is, during the time of Thomas Taylor, who was the "man
who wrote for the Friends," though it was subsequently changed to
Tread-Haven, and still later, say in 1760, to Third Haven.
Besides the public rolls of the county and the minutes of the meeting
of Friends, there is a third record of early date which merits mention
in this connection, namely; a copy of the proceedings of the Com
missioners appointed and authorized to lay off the town and port of
Oxford. This copy was made at the instance and charge of the Hon.
Saml. Chamberlaine, the first of that name in this county. This record
is entirely authentic, having been drawn from official sources, though
these sources are no longer discernible. It is the only extant account
of an interesting event in our local history. The surveys were made by
Mr. William Hemsley and Mr. WiUiam Turbutt, Surveyors, the first
in 1694 and the last in 1707. The surveyors seem to have acted as
clerks to the Commissioners, and authenticated the record with their
signatures. In this record the name of the water by which the pro
jected town was nearly surrounded is given as Tred Haven. Upon the
maps or plots which these surveyors made, and which are stiU in existence
and in the possession of the town authorities, the water is not named.
The date of the first meeting of the Commissioners was as early as 1684.
Now, after making aU the aUowance that may be demanded for the
ignorance, carelessness or preverseness of court clerks, church scribes,
scriveners, conveyancers and attorneys, who seem to have written
the name according to no law nor custom, but according to the fancy
or whim of each, these details are sufficient to show that, from the very
first the orthography or orthoepy was as variable and uncertain as at
present. They also show that the law of priority, as giving precedence
or preference to a name, is here of no value, for it does not appear
that any one name antedated another, but that aU the names were
used in or about the same time. To be sure, if we take the date of the
3 March was the first month of the ancient Roman year till the adoption of
the Julian calendar which was followed by the Gregorian. It so continued in
England till 1752. The legal year before that date beginning on the 25th of
March.

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THIRD HAVEN 327
first appearance of this water course in the court records of the county
as describing the question of priority, the name should be Tred Avon:
but from the fact that this was not repeated when next there was occa
sion to employ it, indicates this use to be a mere accident. But it
must be confessed that the early and frequent use of some form of
modification or corruption of Tread Avon gives countenance and sup
port to the opinion that this, or an appellation something hke it, is the
original name and that Third-Haven, and aU the terms which embrace
the word Haven was a subsequent denomination, the result of a rational
izing in a matter of nomenclature, or an attempt to reduce a name,
which is too commonly arbitrary, to something inteUigible and appro
priate. The second criterion of the correctness of a geographical name is
usage. Usage may be regarded as of two kinds, each of which has its
value. These are, common usage and critical usage — or popular and
learned. Of common usage among the people, it may be said, there is
unfortunately no such uniformity in pronouncing or writing the name
of this water course as to place any one style beyond cavU or question.
The name is written and spoken now, as it has always been, most va
riously. But undoubtedly at the present time it is more common to
hear and to read of Third-Haven than Tred Avon, or Tread Haven or
any other of the variations of the name that has been mentioned. Usage
requires no justification. It is itself a law. In this case, however, there
are some circumstances which account for the greater prevalence of
the name Third-Haven. Among these may be mentioned that it is
sufficiently old to have received sanction; it is perfectly inteUigible,
whereas some of the others have no meaning but sound foreign and
archaic; it is compounded of famUiar words that come readUy to the
mind and tongue, and finally it is appropriate. The people therefore
have adopted pretty generally this simple name, and have rejected
or relegated to the precisians the other appeUations. It is rare to hear
any other except among those who affect purism or research. Of
critical usage, it may be said that there have been few to interest them
selves sufficiently about the subject to make such inquisition into the
origin of the name as to qualify them to use it with exactitude. Mr.
John Leeds Bozman, the historian, who has left behind him an incom
plete and unpublished account of Talbot, his native county, particularly
of its geographical features, caUs this water-course Third-Haven. It is
not known that this gentleman interested himseff with the matter
of determining the correctness of names when no historical facts were

328 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
involved; but it is hardly probable that he who was aware of the uncer
tainty that hung around the name of a creek, upon one of the branches
of which he lived, as had his ancestors for generations, and who was
familiar with the early settlement of the county, having carefully and
critically examined all the records both in Easton and Annapolis, would
have used a corrupt or a perverted name in a paper intended for publi
cation, and one of a character demanding precision in this regard.
On the contrary, Mr. John Bozman Kerr, who has given much attention
to our local antiquities, in a deed bearing the date of 1845, and written
with exceeding elaboration of detaU, more for the purpose of perpetuat
ing certain facts concerning our topography, than of describing the
property conveyed, seems to incline to the name Tred Avon or Tred-
Haven, for he employs both terms. It must be said, however, that in
using these forms, he appears to be quoting from the ancient copy of
the survey of Oxford, referred to above, then in his possession, but now
in the hands of Jas. LI. Chamberlaine, Esq., of Cecil county. Mr.
Kerr in this does not certainly indicate his own preference for one or the
other name. Among the geographers and chartographers may be
mentioned Mr. Joseph Scott, the compiler of a Gazetteer of the United
States, a Geographical Dictionary, and other works of like character.
In his book entitled "A Geographical Description of the States of Mary
land and Delaware," published in 1807, he designates this water course
as Third-Haven river. He may have adopted this as the popular name,
without making any examination or special inquiry into its correct
ness. On the contrary Dilworth who compiled the first map of the coun
ty, and published it in 1858, calls it Tread Haven. Of course he assigns
no authority for his use of this name. The United States Coast Survey
charts, made from surveys between 1843 and 1859 and published at vari
ous times within those years, calls this water Third Haven. It is proper
to say that these charts, which are so beautiful and accurate in their
delineation, are not to be enthely depended upon for theh nomenclature.
Upon them are placed accepted or weU known names, and the informa
tion the gentlemen making them received from the people was in many
cases incorrect. Mr. Simon Martenet upon his map of the county
published in 1866 foUows implicitly the Coast Survey Charts, even to
the copying of inaccuracies in the names. In the map of Maryland
by 0. W. Gray, published in this 1877 the name is Tred Haven, while
in the map of the county about to be published by Lake, Griffing &
Stevenson which has been completed with more than ordinary care,
the name will be Third Haven, as the writer is assured from an inspec-

THIRD HAVEN 329
tion of the original drafts, before engraving. References to other
maps might be made if it were necessary, but they would only serve to
show the same diversity as has been indicated by those aheady made.
It would thus seem that- this rule of usage, whether learned or unlearned,
is of smaU value in determining the correctness of this or that name,
though it is very clear to see that the preponderance is in favor of Third-
Haven. The last criterion for determining the correctness of a geographical
name is fitness or propriety. That is to say, when a name seems appro
priate, it is reasonable to think it is the proper name. Names would not
appear to be so arbitrarily and capriciously bestowed, if the motives
of the original givers could be known. There is always a reason for a
name, though it may be a simple or a siUy one. These motives are so
numerous and varied that no mention need or can be made of them
here. Settlers in a new country, however, with tender recoUections
of their old homes fresh in theh minds are very apt to indulge in a very
becoming sentiment, by the bestowal upon the places of theh settlement,
and upon the natural features marking them, names which have pleasant
associations, and are suggestive of agreeable reminiscences of the land
they have left. If it were possible to know who first gave name to
the watercourses under- consideration, we might possibly trace one of
the names by which it is caUed, through its corruptions, to some beautiful
stream in the British Islands, beside which the donor had spent his
early years. As has been stated above, there are numerous rivers and
rivulets in England, France and Scotland, and perhaps in Ireland
bearing the name Avon, but there is none that carries a name that
approaches to Tred Avon or Tred-Haven. It is hardly safe, then, to
assert that either of these names has been transferred from the old to the
new world.
The earnest explorers and settlers of Talbot must have been struck
at the first sight of the beautiful estuary, now under consideration,
that makes out of Choptank, by its advantages as a road stead or haven
for shipping, and particularly of that part of it which extends from
Benoni's to Peck's point. Here they found a natural harbor, completely
land locked, large enough to admit the British Navy, and with water
deep enought to float the largest vessels of that day. Here too they
found a natural pier, at the point where Oxford now stands, subse
quently caUed Town Point, where ships might approach the shore
within a rod or so, and receive theh cargo. In seeking a name for this
harbor was it not natural for these explorers or settlers to bestow upon

330 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
it some title that should be expressive of their appreciation of the trade
advantages of this haven, and call it Trade-Haven? Could a more
appropriate name have been given? We have seen that sometimes
this water was called by this very name. But -in saUing up the Chop-
tank, and exploring the indentations of its shores on the North side,
they found, when coming around Choptank (or Tilghman's) Island,
and passing what they may have called Black Walnut Point, a deep
creek making up into the mainland, which furnished a good harbor.
This may have received the name of First Creek,"- and did subsequently
get the name of Harris' Creek or Harrison's Creek, from one Robert
Harrison (doubtless the progenitor of that innumerable family in Bay
Side) who settled near its head. Going farther up the Choptank, the
explorers entered another deep estuary, capable of furnishing them
a harbor or haven. This they certainly named Second Creek, and as
Second Creek it was known for several generations, Broad Creek being a
name that came into use at a comparatively recent date. Passing on
upwards, the explorers turned what is now Benoni's Point (the origin
of whose name the writer has not been able to discover), and entered
another deep creek and harbor, the third from the bay, and this they
may have caUed Third Haven, for the reason that it was the third from
the Bay. Now the writer in the Comet says the notion that this estuary
was called Third Haven, because it was the third harbor from the Bay is
founded upon a false geography — that is to say, this water is not the
thhd harbor or haven, for there are others beside Harris' Creek and
Broad Creek, between it and the mouth of Choptank, as for instance
Irish Creek, and Black Walnut Cove. Strictly speaking this is true.
But it is presumable that early explorers did not enter every indentation
of the shore; and as for Irish Creek it may very weU have been passed
by in as much as its narrow mouth was partiaUy concealed by what is
now caUed Royston's, but originally, Aldern's or, perhaps, Yafford's
Island. It is very natural to suppose early navigators making hasty
voyages would regard only the large, and neglect the lesser, bodies of
water. The geography that would call Third Haven Creek, the third
harbor from the mouth of Choptank, or from the Bay is just such geogra
phy as these explorers would make, and it would be near enough to the
truth to afford foundation for a name. If this origin of the name Third
Haven, could be as clearly established as that of the name Oxford (in
4 In some old deeds, this creek is called First Creek, in a few Harrison's Creek,
but in most Harris' Creek.

THIRD HAVEN 331
England) from a ford for oxen,5 which the writer; in the Comet ridicules,
or seems to ridicule, there would be no longer any dispute, and this
article would never have been written.
FinaUy: Those who have had the patience to read this long essay to
wards settling a disputed point in geographical nomenclature wUl have
discovered that the argument is wholly inclusive; for neither of the
names by which this water is known can claim indubitable priority;
neither of them has come into universal use nor been adopted by all
geographers, historians and critical writers; neither is so suitable and
appropriate as to satisfy all objections. In other words, neither of them
answers to even two of those criteria by which the correctness of a name
is determined. Every one is therefore at Uberty, under the circum
stances, to adopt either name, according as his taste is best satisfied,
by the one or the other. As for the opinion of the writer of this article,
if any one is interested in having it expressed, he would say that he
prefers Third-Haven, for these simple, but perhaps inadequate reasons:
it is familiar, it is comprehensible, it is easily spoken, it is appropriate,
it is httle Uable to corruption and it has the sufficient sanction of old,
common and intelligent usage.
1 Originally called Oxnaford, or Oxeneford.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT
The Town and Port of Oxford
(1882)
The Great Choptank river seems, at this date, to be destined to become
again a highway of foreign commerce, and the people seated along its
shores may live to see, as did theh forefathers long before them, the
great ships going and returning with their rich freights and numerous
passengers. In anticipation of these coming ships, the town of Cam
bridge, in the adjoining county of Dorchester, is applying to be invested
with the honor which her sister town in Talbot long wore, but of which
she was, in her humiliation, wantonly deprived by a super-serviceable
public officer. A petition is now in circulation in this county to the
Honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United
States, for the reestablishment of Oxford as a port of entry and depart
ure. The reasons so well set forth in this petition, both sentimental and
practical, are such as should persuade every citizen of Talbot who
loves and reveres the county of his birth or residence, or who is attached
to it merely by the ties of interest, to affix his signature and to use
whatever influence he may possess to forward and secure its purposes.
The account which is now about to be presented, if it shaU have no other
value or merit, may at least serve to enforce the claim of the ancient
"town and part of Oxford," now happily rejuvenated and restored to
more than her former populousness, to be reinvested with that dis
tinction among the towns of the Eastern Shore which she at one time
so creditably wore.
The town of Oxford, without doubt, owes its origin to the noble har
bor upon which it is seated. Of its founders or first settlers we know
as little as of the founders of the great cities of antiquity. It is hardly
conjectural that they were men actuated by no great ambition or moved
by what are called the nobler motives. They came not for the purpose
of serving theh king and extending the bounds of this realm. There
was no affectation among them of reUgion or patriotism — of a desire
to escape persecution, or to convert the heathen. They were probably
plain men simply bent upon bettering theh fortunes, having no higher
object, entertaining no loftier thought than pecuniary profit, or the
332

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 333
making for themselves and famUies pleasant homes. They came
seeking a place where safely and conveniently they might trade with
the Indians, or where they might advantageously undertake the work
of planting, with faculties for the shipment of theh productions. That
arm of the wide estuary of Great Choptank, known as Thhd Haven
creek, having its heads and sources near the center of the county, and
its deboucheur between Benoni's and Bachelor's points, forms just
above its mouth a broad, deep and sheltered bay.
Viewing this expanse of water, laughing in the sunlight; with its
clean shingly beaches extending on either side for mUes; with its low
sloping banks covered with a magnificent growth of virgin forest extend
ing down to the very shores; with its quiet coves stretching far into the
land, and suggesting to the imagination new and hidden charms; the
least impressionable must have been affected by its exceeding beauty —
a beauty which in large measure it stUl retains, after the disfiguration of
a progressing civUization not yet old enough to produce its own pictur
esque effects, nor to preserve those that nature has made. The yet
keener eye that is open only to pecuniary profit must have been struck
at once by its commercial and economical advantages; for here stretched
out before it was a capacious harbor, land-locked, deep and secure, to
which ships of the largest tonnage could be admitted and vessels of the
smallest measurement be protected; communicating directly with the
great bay, and easUy accessible to the ocean itself; approached by
innumerable water ways by which the Indian trapper or European
planter might transport his pelts or produce; surrounded by a terri
tory every acre of which seemed fitted for the plough, with a soU which
gave evidence of its fertility by the thick growth of the noble oaks,
pines, poplars, walnuts and chestnuts that everywhere lifted their
towering heads to the sky, or cast their shadows over the waves that
came rippling almost to theh very roots. The early navigator, Indian
trader, land prospector or merchant adventurer, whoever and whatever
he may have been who first sailed up this bay, rounding Benoni's point
made for the bold headland that lay two mUes or more to the north and
and east of him, and with the southerly wind after him, he weathered
the point, long afterwards known as Town point, upon which the low
waves were breaking, and dropped his anchor under its protection within
twenty yards or less of the clean, pebbly beach, in water deep enough
to float the largest ship of the British navy. Landing here, before him
and his companions, the timid natives fled from theh viUage seated on
the bank, for through theh having been subjugated by the warUke

334 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Susquehannocks of the north, and harried again and again by the savage
Nanticokes of the south, they had lost aU courage and manliness— or in
Indian phrase had been made women of. Here was a most fitting site
for a trading post, and doubtless immediate steps were taken for its
occupation. A high bank gave a suitable place for habitations and
store houses, and if needs be, a stockade fort might be erected in a posi
tion that was almost surrounded by water, and that hardly admitted
a surprise by a crafty enemy. These circumstances without any doubt
determined that here should be estabUshed a place of trade, and thus
Oxford was founded. When and by whom wiU probably never be
known. SUently and without ceremony it was occupied. A mist as
impenetrable to the historic vision as that which shrouds the origin of
Troy or Thebes, veils from our sight the beginning of this Uttle town,
which, though we caU it ancient, is in comparison with those great cities
but of yesterday.
The land upon which the town was buUt was part of a tract of three
thousand and fifty acres, weU known in this county as the "Hier Dier
Lloyd,"1 and patented to Mr. Edward Lloyd, the founder of the family
of that name in Maryland, Aug. 11, 1659, according to some unauthen-
ticated, but accepted documents. September 20th Mr. Lloyd conveyed
four hundred and twenty acres, part of this tract, to Mr. WiUiam Stevens,
and he, June 16th, 1668, conveyed the same to his son bearing his own
name. WUliam Stevens, Jr., conveyed this tract, June 15th, 1672, to
Mr. Edward Roe, who dying left this property to an only daughter,
EUzabeth, who intermarried with Mr. WiUiam Combes, and after his
death with Col. Nicholas Lowe. Col. Lowe and his wife conveyed in
1694, portions of this four hundred and twenty acres to the Commis
sioners appointed to lay off the town of Oxford, under an Act of Assem
bly, as wUl appear in the sequel. The Island feU into the possession of
the Bozmans through the intermarriage of Mr. Thomas Bozman with
Mary, the daughter of Col. Nicholas Lowe; and from the Bozmans,
1 An attempt has been made to trace the' origin and meaning of this name.
A letter was addressed to Prof. S. A. Binion, of the Peabody Library, a gentleman
of singular accomplishments in linguistics, requesting him to trace the words to
their source, and the following is his reply: "I have consulted no less than a
dozen authorities of Welsh lexicographic and patronymic works. There are no
proper names in the Welsh language under Dyer-Hier or Dier-Hyer, &c. Hyer-
Dyer must therefore be a misnomer. The Welsh hir or hair is equal to English
long, and the Welsh word tir daira or daear stands for land or earth. Thus instead
of Hyer Dyer, &c, it should be Hair Daiar Lloyd, which if rendered into proper
English is the long (track of) land belonging to Lloyd."

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 335
through John Leeds Bozman, the historian of early Maryland, it came
by devise, into the possession of John Leeds Kerr, Esq., the lawyer and
statesman, whom many remember; since whose ownership, it has been
held by the late Mr. James Stewart, his hehs and others untU sold but a
few weeks ago to Capt. Botts.2
The earliest record that has thus far been discovered bearing upon
the erectmg or establishing a town in Talbot county, unfortunately, is
not so expUcit as to justify a positive assertion that it has reference to
Oxford, although it is very probable that it has such a reference. This
record is that of a deed of gift, bearing date the 22nd of Sept., 1668,
from WiUiam Stevens to the Lord Proprietary, and conveying thirty
acres of land "for the settling and buUding of a towne in Tread-Aven
Creeke in Great Choptank."3 The metes and bounds of this tract are
given in the deed, and though they may have served at the time suffi
ciently to mark and designate the land, they are not such as enables us
at this date to determine its exact position. That it was upon Thhd
Haven creek, near Great Choptank river, is clear enough, and as in the
second record, presently to be noted, reference is made to "town land,"
lying in the same region, it is a legitimate conclusion that these thirty
acres thus devised were the same upon which Oxford was built. Tbis,
however, is conjectural. WUUam Stevens, in anticipation of the estab
lishment of a port of entry and departure, may have seen his advantage
in giving a part of his land for a town, and that land may have been
elsewhere than at the place where the town was subsequently buUt.4
The second record that has been discovered is in these words: "An
ordinance of the Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary of this Prov
ince of Maryland for the erecting of several ports within the same."
Forasmuch as it is necessary for the good of trade that certain ports
within the Province of Maryland be appointed for the lading and unlad
ing of merchandise, his Lordship doth hereby ordain, make out, con
stitute and appoint that the several places hereafter mentioned, and
none other, unless by the particular appointment of his Lordship and
his hehs, or his or their Lieut, or Lieuts. or Chief Governor of the said
province for the time being, that is to say, in St. Mary's county, in St.
2 By an Act of Assembly of 1882 authority was given to connect this Island with
the mainland by a causeway.
1 Land Records of Talbot county No. 1, p. 47. The peculiarity of the phrase
ology— "in Tread Aven" in Choptark" is that which is common in the early
records of this county.
' It will be seen in the sequel that William Stevens claimed to have a title to
the land which at a subsequent date was laid out for the town of Oxford.

336 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
George's river, afore the city of St. Mary's; in Charles county, in
Wicomico river, as near the Town Land as ships and other vessels can
conveniently ride; in Calvert county, in Patuxent river; in Anne Arun
del county, afore the town land purchased of Richard Acton, and afore
Herrington in Herring creek, in the same county; in Baltimore county,
afore the Town Land in Bush river and Sassafras river, in Talbot county,
afore the Town Land in True haven, 5 in Choptank in the same county;
in Kent county, in the creek before Morgan's plantation; in Somerset.
county, afore James Jones, his plantation, shall be the sole and only sea
ports, havens, stations, creeks and places of loading and unloading and
departing of all and all manner of goods, wares and merchandises, &c.
Given under the great seal of the said Province of Maryland, the
20th day of April, in the seven and thirtieth year of his Lordship's
dominion over the said Province, anno domini, 1669.
Witness Charles Calvert, Esq., his Lordship's Lieutenant General
of the said Province of Maryland. Charles Calvert.
Proclaimed at the city of St. Mary before the Burgesses of the Assem
bly, there convened, the two and twentieth day of April, in the thirty-
seventh year of the dominion, &c.6
This proclamation of Governor Calvert is as Uttle decisive as the deed
of William Stevens, as to the location of the town proposed to be founded:
but it does not invahdate the conjecture that has been ventured.
From this time onward there are numerous records establishing the
existence of a town at the place where Oxford now stands, at dates an
terior to that of its legal recognition. A few of these may be interesting,
and are here inserted for the satisfaction of those who are curious in
such matters. That Oxford had an existence in March 1668 is shown
by the will of William Parrott, who, in that month of that year, devises
to his son of the same name a house and lot in that town, which is men
tioned expressly.7 "On the 19th day of September (1670) Jno. Pitt
comes into court and acknowledges a deed of sale unto Edward Eoe of
two thirty foot houses, lying and being in ye city of Oxford in Tred
Avon, and all ye land hereunto belonging."8 On the 18th day of
February, 1672, Anthony Mayle deposed in open court that "Michael
Taylor did tell your deponent yt he would keep store at ye town of
5 Either a false reading or a misprint for Tred Haven.
5 From a communication of J. J. Stewart to the Baltimore Sun, April, 1878,
with reference to the boundaries of Kent, Talbot, Baltimore and Cecil counties.
7 Testamentary Records of Talbot county, in Registers office, Volume of Wills
for 1665 to 1717.
8 Land Records of Talbot county, No. I, p. 167.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 337
Oxford, p'vided he might not be starved, as he was ye last year."9
All the keepers of ordinaries within the county were ordered to appear
before the county court, and did accordingly so appear Oct. 15th, 1674,
when they were aU Ucensed to continue theh ordinaries at the places
where they had hitherto been kept, except John Boone who "is ordered
by the cort to remove, according to his promise then made, unto the
town of Oxford in Tred Avon creeke, ye court being satisfied that
where he now dweUeth is not a place convenient for an ordinary, &c."10
Under date of Nov. 17th, 1679 it is recorded "That the court hath con
sidered that the city of Oxford is a fit place for an ordinary, it being
convenient for shipping. Ye court hath therefore ordered that Thomas
Impey cl'k drawe a Ucense and bond according to Act of Assembly for
Edward Simson to keepe ordinary at ye s'd city as afores'd w'th sufficient
sureties to performe according to Act of Assemby."u If other evidence
were wanting of the existence of an embryo town at the place indicated,
it would be furnished in the fact, that when the town was laid out an
account of which is now to be presented, a number of persons claimed
ownership of houses and lots within the limits of the town as denned
by the commissioners and the surveyor.
At a meeting of the General Assembly in October, 1683, an act entitled
"An Act for the advancement of Trade" was passed, Nov. 6th of the
same year, declaring certain "town ports and places of trade * * *
to be ports and places where aU ships and vessels trading into this Prov
ince shall unload and put on shore, and seU, barter and traffic away all
goods, &c, imported into this Province and aU tobacco, goods, &c, of the
growth, production and manufacture of this Province, intended to be
sold here, or exported, shaU be for that intent brought to the said ports
and places." Among the towns or places named in this Act; were these
within the limits of Talbot county, viz:
Near Tred Avon creek, at the Town Land.
In Kings Creek, near the old town.12
In Wye river, Town Land there.13
' Land Records of Talbot county, No. Ill, p. — .
10 Land Records F. F., p.—
u Court Records of Civil Judgments of date.
12 In explanation it may be stated that this was probably -what was subsequently
known as the town of Kingston, which was near the place now called Kingston
Landing. 15 This was unquestionably the place which subsequently became known as
Doncaster, at the mouth of Wye river, opposite Bruff's or more properly Crouch's
island on on the Wyetown farm of Col. Edward Lloyd.

338 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
At the Town Land, at the Fork in Chester river.14
In the following year upon petition of certain of the inhabitants,
other towns and ports were established by law, but none in Talbot;
but in 1686, upon a similar petition, other towns and ports were author
ized to be laid out, to which aU the privileges granted to the first were
conceded. Among these was one for Talbot,
"At or near the Court House upon the land of James Downes, and the
lands adjacent, to be caUed York."16
Again in 1688 other towns were "erected" in the Province, and one of
these was in the county of Talbot, as then bounded,
"On the North side of Corsica Creek at a place caUed Gleven's Point,
to be caUed Talbot town."18
Reverting now to the law of 1683 establishing the town and port of
Oxford, it may be interesting to note some of the provisions of that
law, and the proceedings held under those provisions. Commissioners
were appointed for each of the counties in which the towns were or were
to be located, whose duty it should be to purchase the necessary quan
tity of land, have it surveyed and divided into lots, which were to be
marked and numbered. The quantity of land was to be one hundred
acres, and the lots to have an area of each one acre. There were to
be streets, lanes and aUeys, and " open places to be left for erecting a
church, chapel, market house or other pubUc buUdings." In case the
commissioners and the owners of the lot could not agree as to price, a
jury of condemnation and assessment was to be summoned by the
sheriff to value the lands. The owner was to be paid by the persons
"taking up" the lots, but he was to have the first choice. It was re
quired of each "taker up" of a lot to begin to build a house twenty feet
square, within one month after the entry of his claim, and to complete
14 The town at the forks of Chester river was what in the records is variously
designated as West Chester, Chestertown, and Forktown. It was not upon the
site of the Chestertown of the present day. At Forktown a court for Talbot
county was held as early as 1664. It may be noted here that as the date of the
"erection" of this town, the county of Talbot embraced the whole of what is
now Queen Anne's, a large part of what is now Caroline and perhaps a very con
siderable portion of what Is now Kent counties. The boundaries of Talbot will
hereafter be discussed, in another connection.
15 This town of York, which was the seat of Justice for Talbot county until
the division of the county in 1707, was upon Skipton creek, and upon the farm now
(1882) owned by Mr. Courtelieu, and known as the Hemsley place.
16 The writer has not been able to identify this with any known town or vil
lage. It was probably never more than a mere place of landing.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 339
it within six months. The lots were to be open to selection, by the citi
zens of the county only, during four months from the date of the sur
vey; but after that time had elapsed, to any and aU persons complying
with the terms. If any lots should not be taken, after five years the
title reinvested in the original owners. AU goods imported were to be
landed and all exported to be loaded, at one of the towns and ports,
from and after the last day of August, 1685; and to guard against vio
lations of these provisions of trade two officers were to be appointed,
one for the Western and the other for the Eastern Shore (in Talbot and
Somerset) "to take due entry and clear aU ships trading into this Prov
ince." It was ordered that "all rents due to his Lordship, all pubUc
levies, officers' fees, etc., due on execution to be brought to the
towns, * * * and secured as other tobaccos" in storehouses; upon
which tobacco thus bought and paid, a discount of five per centum
was allowed. Debts due on and after the last day of August, 1685,
were to be paid in tobacco deUvered at some of the towns, at the charge
of the creditor.17 It may be inferred, from certain expressions in the
Act, that when any of the towns named in this or in subsequent acts
of the same tenor, were aheady, or should become large enough to de
fray the expense, without charge upon the county, of sending a Burgess
to the General Assembly, it should be entitled to a delegate as its repre
sentative, just as the city of St. Mary's was entitled. There were other
provisions in the law, for which the reader is referred to the Abstract
given in Bacon's collection.
In conformity with the requirements of the Act the gentlemen, nomi
nated or a majority of them proceeded to execute theh trust. A minute
of theh meetings has been preserved, and is here presented.18
17 In some of the subsequent Acts all debts paid at some of these ports were dis
counted at the rate of ten per centum. These towns were therefore, in the ab
sence of banks the places at which debts were made payable the tobacco, as the
currency, being deposited in warehouses to the credit of the creditors.
11 The details of the account about to be given of the laying out of the town
of Oxford have been derived from an exceedingly interesting manuscript record
collected and compiled by Mr. Samuel Chamberlaine, the first of the name in
Talbot, and carefully preserved by his descendants. Through the kindness
of Mr. James LI. Chamberlaine, now a resident of Baltimore, the writer was per
mitted, years ago, to make a full abstract of this record and of the notes inserted
in it, chiefly genealogical, of the Hon. John Bozman Kerr. Mr. Chamberlaine
adopting the suggestion of the writer has deposited this valuable MS. with the
Maryland Historical Society, which it may be well enough to say, in passing,
should be the custodian of all such papers, of which no duplicates exist.

310 histort of talbot county
The Town and Port of Oxford
At a court held on the land of Mr. William Combs in Tred Haven
creeke for the laying outt a town there, on Tuesday ye 29th day of July,
1684, met according to the subdivision, the Honourable Coll. Vincent
Lowe, Mr. Edward Man, Mr. James Murphy, Mr. John Rousby, Mr.
William Combs, Mr. Bryan O'Mealy, Mr. John Newman; Commission
ers. And adjourned till Thursday. John Woodward, C'lk.
Thursday, July, cctt.
Mett the aforesaid Commissioners and caused the aforesaid town to
be surveyed staked outt according to Act of Assembly, and the lots
numbered from 1 to 100.
The town called by the name of Oxford. John Woodward, Cl'k.
August ye 2nd, 1684.
Then came Mr. William Combs and took up his lott, in the same town
of Oxford, staked outt according to Act of Assembly and numbered 29.
John Woodward, Cl'k.
Eod'm Die.
"Came Coll. Vincent Lowe and took up his lott &c." Here fol
lows the same formula for the taking up lots in the town by these per
sons, namely:
William Combs, Lot No. 29.
Coll. Vincent Lowe, Lot No. 30.
John Pattison, Lot No. 28.
Dr. Thomas Goddard, Lot No. 17.
Richard Royston, Lot No. 1.
John Rousby, Lot No. 2.
William Wintersell, Lot No. 3.
James Sedgwick, Lot No. 4.
Rachell Bailey, Lot No. 100.
David Fairbank (Sept. 23), Lot No. 50.
Henry Newnam, Lot No. 41.
Thomas Delahay, " u 42.
James Derumple, " " 43.
Mr. Edward Man, Lot No. 44.
John Morris, " " 45.
Dennis Hopkins, Lot. No. 5.
George Robotham, Lot No. 6.
Henry Alexander, " " 7.
Zerobabell Wells, " " 8
Ralph Elston, Jr., " " 9.
Jasper Hall, " " 93.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT

341

Coll. Philemon Lloyd, Lot No. 96.

Thomas Imphey,

<<

97

John Price (Sept. 2), '

tt

32.

John Mann, '

It

46.

Francis Harrison, '

tt

'47.

Richard Gurling,

! It

48.

John Woodward,

t tt

49.

a

" 78.

tt

" 79.

it

" 80.

tt

" 84.

a

" 89.

it

" 91.

tt

" 92.

Aug. 2nd, 1686.
Thomas Lurkey, Lot No. 51.
HoweU Powell, " " 76.
William Dickinson, Lot No. 77.
Richard White,
Charles Dickinson,
John Turner,
William Moore,
WiUiam Richee,
Joseph James,
Thomas Bowdle,
"Lotts retaken up, Sept. 6th, 1685.
"James Sedgwick having taken up a lot in the towne of Oxford and
nott built thereon, according to Act of Assembly, came Thomas Hutch
inson and took up the same anew, being staked out and numbered 4."
The same formula is repeated for these persons and theh lots:
James Sedgwick's lot retaken by Thomas Hutchinson, 4.
Zerobabell Wells' lot retaken by John Edmondson, Jr., 8.
William Stevens' lot retaken by Walter Quinton, 16.
Dr. Thomas Goddard's lot retaken by John Woodward, 17.
George Robins' lot retaken by George Robins, (anew) 18.
Bryan O'Mealey's lot retaken by Abraham Morgan, 24.
Major Peter Sayer's lot retaken by Peter Sayer (anew), 15.
Thomas Hopkins' lot retaken by John Pope, 13.
John Edmondson's lot retaken by Richard Broughton, 23.
Will Behord's lot retaken by Daniel Sherwood, 40.
Bryan O'Mealey's lot after forfeiture was retaken in the name of his
orphan son, of the same name, by WilUam Sharp, Abraham Morgan
having also faUed to comply with the terms of the Act. James Sedg
wick's lot after passing into the possession of WiUiam Beverly and Sarah
Bartlett, fell to Sarah Bartlett and Joseph Lowe, May 4th, 1686.
At the risk of making this account tedious, the contents of the whole
of this early record has here been given, that it may be known who were
the persons that became residents of this town, or possessors of property
therein. There can be no doubt that many of the lots were taken up

342 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
upon pure speculation, for the names of some gentlemen appear in the
list whose large landed estates in other portions of the county, and whose
other interests precluded them from making Oxford theh home or even
their place of business. Very evidently, from the number of towns
that were authorized by several acts referred to, and from the avidity
with which the lots were taken up within their limits, as in this case,
the province of Maryland was, at the period under consideration, passing
through one phase which new countries are almost sure to enter. Here
was presented at this early time what has been so often witnessed in the
new states and territories of our country — towns without population,
streets without houses, and marts without business In the case of Ox
ford, however, there was ground for the beUef that a flourishing city
might be built up, and though the brilhant expectations that were
indulged were not fully realized, the place did become one of very
considerable trade, though never one of much size in extent or popu-
lousness.1 9
Of the progress of the town for the ten years succeeding its laying out
in 1684 little is known. After the Revolution in England, in 1688,
known as the Protestant Revolution, Maryland became a royal province.
At an assembly held in 1692 "An Act of repeal of all laws made in this
province, &c." was passed, which covered and therefore repealed all the
acts for establishing towns and ports. In the year 1694, however,
an act entitled "An Act for erecting Anne Arundel and Oxford towns in
to ports and towns" was passed, by which the places named became, to
all appearance, the sole ports for the entrance and clearance of vessels
for the province. By this act a collector and naval officer or their
deputies were required to reside at each of these ports. Commissioners
for each were named^or buying and purchasing the town lands, and for
the surveying and laying out the same into lots, who were directed, on
or before the 20th of February of the same year, to meet on the town
lands and there to treat and agree with the owner or persons interested,
for the purchase of one hundred acres, which should, after purchase, be
surveyed and by them "marked, staked out and divided into convenient
streets, lanes, aUeys, with open spare places to be left, on which may be
erected a church, chapel, market house or other public building, and
the remaining part of the said one hundred acres to be divided into one
hundred equal lots" which were to be duly marked. The owner of the
land was entitled to the first choice of a lot, and then the Governor to
18 There is really no evidence that Oxford at the most prosperous period of ita
provincial history, had as many people as it now counts or claims.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 343
the choice of three, if he should so please. The lots were then to be open
to be taken up by any inhabitant of the county, during six months,
after which time they were free to be taken by any one paying the
owner for the same. In case the owner should refuse to seU the lands,
or there should be any other impediment to the sale, then the com
missioners were authorized to summon a jury of free-holders to assess
such damages and recompense as they should think fit, to be awarded
to the owners and aU persons interested, according to theh several
respective interests. The owner was authorized and required to receive
the pay for his land from the persons taking up the lots; which were,
each, to be valued at a sum equal to the amount agreed to be paid by
the commissioners or awarded by the jury. Those persons who had
bought lots under the agreement and survey of 1684 were confirmed on
theh rights. Takers up of lots were required to build a "twenty foot
square dwelling house, at least within twelve months after taking up
the same" as weU as pay the sum at which the lot was rated before they
could acquire fuU title to the property. "And any person or persons
that shall buUd and inhabit in such port or town, and shall owe any
tobacco, and wUl pay the same in such town, he shah be aUowed ten per
cent for every hogshead of four hundredweight and upwards, so paid
in towns, to be deducted out of the debt aforesaid, or pleadable in bar
of creditor." An act entitled "An additional act to the Acts of Port"
passed at the May session of Assembly in 1695, authorized and directed
the commissioners appointed by the act of 1694 some time before the
last day of September next, to proceed to survey and lay out the town
land at Oxford, "bounding the same at low water mark, including the
island, and so to the old bounded tree at the southermost part of the
Neck." It further directed that " there be one or more places laid out
and reserved for the building of ships and other vessels. It pro vided also
"that the two ports of Anne Arundel and Oxford, for the future, shall
be called, known and distinguished by the names or appeUations of
Annapolis and. Williamstadt, that is to say, the port of Anne Arundel to
be called by the name of Annapolis and Oxford by the name of William
stadt. And that there be purchased to the said town of Williamstadt,
one hundred acres of land adjacent to the said town, for a common or
pasture for the benefit of all persons within this province thatshaU repair
to the said town. And that the same be laid out as above expressed
and that six acres of the same be reserved for pubhc buildings."20
"Bacon's Laws, under dates.

344 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
The gentlemen named in the Act of 1694 to be the commissioners for
the purpose therein mentioned, were these, namely:
Mr. Edward Mann,
Mr. John Edmondson,
Mr. Clement Saile,
Mr. John Needles,
Mr. Thomas Robins,
Mr. Thomas Robins, Jr.,
Mr. Thomas Smithson,
Mr. Robert Smith,
Mr. John Hawkins, and
The Hon. Col. George Robotham.
Of these the seven first mentioned, being a majority, met at the town
of Oxford on the 19th of October, 1694, and elected Mr. Thomas Delahay,
theh clerk, who qualified by taking an oath f aithf uUy to discharge the
duties of his office. They then agreed with Mr. Nicholas Lowe and
Elizabeth his wife of the purchase of the town land. On the 17th day
of December of the same year Nicholas Lowe and his wife executed an
indenture by which they bound themselves to the commissioners to
give a clear title to every " taker up " of a town lot who should pay them
the sum of five hundred pounds of tobacco. They further obligated
themselves to give a like title to aU those persons who had taken up lots
under the act of 1684, and had buUt houses thereon, although such lots
had been forfeited by the faUure of the takers up to pay the stipulated
price; provided that price was now paid. They agreed to warrant and
defend the title against the heirs and assignees of the late WiUiam Combs,
deceased, the former owner of the land.21
The commissioners or a majority of them, met again at Oxford on
the 5th day of February 1694, when they issued a summons for Mr.
William Stevens, Senior, doubtless the same who had presented thirty
acres of land to the Lord Proprietary for the site of a town, as has aheady
been mentioned, who appeared before them and promised to bring his
papers the next day. It would seem that Mr. Stevens claimed to hold
a title to the land purchased, or a part thereof. A commission was also
issued Mr. PhUemon Hemsley, the PubUc Surveyor, to survey and lay
off the land according to the provisions of the act.
On the foUowing day the record says: "By reason of several pretend-
» The full text of this indenture is given in the Chamberlaine MS., but need
not be further quoted.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 345
ing titles to the towne land it was voted [?the word is Ulegible] by the
commissioners whether a jury or nott should be panneUed," Major
Smithson and Mr. Needles dissenting. On the 7th of February the
following minute was entered.
"It is taken into consideration that whereas there hath [been] a certyn
writings drawne between Mr. Nicholas Lowe and his [wife] of ye one
part and ye major part of the commissioners for ye towne of Oxford of
ye other, now that by reason of several others pretending a title to the
said land, and ye said deed is found to be faulty, therefore to help the
title of ye towne be better it is voted yet a jury be sworne. The com
missioners coming together take into consideration the several p'rsons
pretending to have a title of ye said land at Oxford now lay'd out for a
pretended towne, being one hundred acres; it is first considered by
reason of several pretenders to have a title and interest in the said land,
for which reasons, thought [though] an indenture was drawne, yett
upon due consideration, for ye reasons aforesaid, the said indenture
is voyd as to our proceedings. We are agreed to proceed by a jury. —
S'd jury called and sworne. The jurors names.
Mr. MatheU [Michael] Turbett,
Mr. Samuel Martin,
Mr. Daniell Sherwood,
Mr. Thomas Ball,
Mr. Francis Harrison,
Mr. Nicholas Goldsborough,
Mr. Robert Grundy,
Mr. James Brishope,
Mr. Lawrence Knowles,
Mr. WUliam Jones,
Mr. Mathew MUburne,
Mr. George Ladmore,
"The jury return theh verdict that they do value ye hundred acres
of land layd outt for a Towne caUed Oxford after ye rate of five hundred
pounds of Tobacco per acre to ye oner or oners, and that they do value
the hundred acres contiguous to ye said hundred acres caUed Oxford at
ye rate of nine thousand pounds of Tobacco."22
Mr. Lowe and his wife formaUy assented to the award of the jury so
far as to agree to receive five hundred pounds of tobacco for each town
lot, but they dissented from the valuation of the hundred acres for a
" The condemnation of the one hundred acres for a town-common was author
ized by a supplementary Act of May, 1695, whereas the meeting of the Commis-

346 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
town common. They agreed, however, to accept for this hundred
acres "twelve thousand pounds of tobacco from the Commissioners
to be paid at some convenient time to answer exportation." But this
offer was not accepted, and the matter of the common lay over for some
months, as will presently appear.
The Commissioners met on the following day, Feb. 9th, and "with the
Surveyor proceed to lay outt ye towne and stake it out." On the 11th
"The Commissioners mett againe and the Corn's with the Surveyor
proceed staking outt ye towne as aforesaid, laying out the markett
place and streets." Feb. 12th "The Corn's meet againe, proceeding
as before." Feb. 13th, "The Corn's meet, againe proceed to a full
survey, and there was layd out the Island." For several days the
Commission continued its sessions determining matters relating to the
survey, the occupancy of certain lots, and the taking up of others:
but on the 18th of Feb., owing to much dissatisfaction founded upon
the fact that all persons deshous of taking up lots had not an equal
chance, and that some lots were of more value than others, it was resolved
that the priority of choice should be determined by "drawing tickets
made from 1 to 40, and Mr. Thomas Robins, Jr., was appointed to pre
pare the tickets and superintend the drawing." Under this arrange
ment many lots of ground in the town were assigned, of which it is not
necessary here to make any record.
In September, 1695, the survey was renewed and extended, Mr.
Hemsley still acting as surveyor and Mr. Delahay as secretary; the
whole being completed September 28th. On the 30th of December of
the same year the Commissioners or a majority of them met at "the town
and port of WUfiamstadt,"23 for the purpose of laying off the land for a
town's common, in conformity with the Act of Assembly, passed at the
May session of 1695, before referred to in this paper. The High Sheriff,
Captain James Smith, who was expected to produce "the ordinance of
ye House of Burgesses" did not appear; so the Commission had before
them but a copy which was to this effect :
By the House of Burgesses Oct. ye 8th, 1695, Ordered that att Port
of William-stadt be layed outt Two Hundred Acres of Land, to be
sioners for this purpose is said, in the record, to have been held in February,
1694-5. There is a confusion of dates, of which it is useless to attempt the settle
ment, but which may be traced, probably, to clerical inaccuracies.
" Of course, it will be understood that this name was substituted for the origi
nal, in honor of William of Orange, then the King of England.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 347
valued by a jury, and purchased by the county for the towne common,
and that the Island be sett aside for pubhck buildings.21
Signed pr order, William Blaben,
Clk. of Assembly.
Assented to by his Excellency and Councill,
Henry Denton, Clerk CounciU.
The Commissioners believing that this copy was erroneous as to
authorizing the laying out of two hundred acres for a Common, ordered
the Sheriff to "goe over to ye Port of Annapolis, and there examine the
said ordinance with the originall," and to make his return on the eleventh
day of February. A copy of tbis order of the Commissioners was
served on the Sheriff, Mr. Daniel Sherwood, who made his return upon
the day appointed, when the Commissioners "ordered that a Jury be
impanelled for to value two hundred acres of land for ye said Towne and
Common." On the foUowing day Mr. Hemsley, the surveyor, was
ordered "to lay out the outermost bounds of the Towne Common, and
a Jury was sworn to assess the value of the land comprised within those
bounds and amounting to two hundred acres."25 This Jury consisted
of these persons, namely:
Mr. WUliam Turloe, foreman; Mr. Solomon Wright, Mr. Joshua
Atkins, Mr. Ric'd Moore, Mr. Antho. Rumball, Mr. WilUam Moore,
Mr. WiUiam Anderson, Mr. John Price, Mr. Edward Banning, Mr.
Robt. Hall, Mr. WiUiam Arickrfill (?), Mr. John Brannock.
The Jury went out and viewed the land and returned theh verdict
in wrighting28 signed by the foreman in these words here foUowing:
Wee of the Jury being all agreed doe value the Towne Land at Eight
een thousand pounds of Tobacco, pr hundred, and the twenty-four
acres within the Towne over and above the hundred acres pro rata.
Also wee [doe value} the seventy and six acres of ye Common at four
thousand pounds of Tobacco, and the twenty-five acres next adjoin
ing to the end of the Towne after the rate of ye rate of above said Towne
S4No such ordinance appears among the laws as compiled by Bacon. This
paper was doubtless meant to be an abstract of the Act referred to in the text, but
was erroneously made.
" The Surveyor's return of metes and bounds is a part of the Chamberlaine
manuscript records; but it is very obscure.
" Mr. Delahay's orthography, as appears from this old record, was exceedingly
eccentric.

348 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
land, p. cent. In witness whereof the foreman of the said jury in ye
behalf of all the rest hath hereunto set his hand. William Ttjrlo.
"Febr. ye 12th, 1695.
After these proceedings proclamation was made that all who desired
to take up lots in the "Towne and Port of Wilhamstadt" should appear
on the following morning, when, after reserving "for his Excellencie
ye Chief Governor, then being, Francis Nicholson, Esq., &c, Lotts No.
4, 5, 6," it was "Ordered by the Commissioners that in taking up Lotts
this method should be observed, viz. : Soe many [as] are minded to take
up Lotts shaU give their names, and soe many numbers shall be put
into a hatt, [that is] to say 1, 2, 3, &c, and every person shall draw
for his choice. Which was accordingly done, and then they proceed
to draw Lotts."
Some other orders were passed, of which the foUowing only will be
quoted as curious and significant.
Ordered by the said Commissioners that there be a good substantial
worrume [worm] fence made across the narrowest place of ye said
Towne, for convenience of fenting [?] for securities of creators [creatures]
that shall or may be brought to ye said Towne of Wm. Stadt on any
ac'ctt, by the inhabitants of ye said Towne or others, and that ye said
fence be sett up and finished at the charge of those persons having lotts
in ye said Towne, by an equal assessment on all persons having Lotts
as aforesaid, some time betwixt this present date and ye first day of
May next, with good substantial! gates and other conveniences for pass
ing along the rode — the said gates to [be] hung on good substantial
hinges, and to open both wayes.
Mr. Clement Sale was requested to see that the work was satis
factorily done. A copy of the journal of proceedings was ordered to be
sent to the Governor.
In the record, so frequently quoted, there are lists of names of the
persons taking up lots, and of the numbers of those lots, as well as cer
tificates of surrender or transfer of lots; but as it would serve to extend
this contribution beyond reasonable limits these must be omitted."
Before concluding this portion of the narrative, it is proper to say that
there is no evidence, other than that presented, that the town common
27 The authorities of the town of Oxford could hardly spend a small sum of money
more profitably, if the gratification of its citizens be regarded as a profit, than by
publishing the whole Chamberlaine manuscript, accompanied by copies of the
two old plots of the town, now in their possession.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 349
was ever purchased and enclosed. No further reference to it is made in
any contemporary document.
The custom which was followed by the Assembly of the Province,
periodically, to repeal all its former legislation, with specific exceptions,
and re-enact those laws which were demanded by the public interest,
was observed by the passage of an Act of general repeal, Oct. 3rd, 1704,
entitled: An Act repealing all former acts of Assembly heretofore made, saving
what are hereby accepted. The acts of 1694 and 1695 respecting the
ports of Annapolis and Oxford were included; but by the same assem
bly they were re-enacted and continued in force until the close of the
next session of the Assembly. At the April session of the year 1706
an act was passed entitled "An Act for the advancement of trade, and
erecting ports and towns in the Province of Maryland. This Act had
a supplement in 1707 and another in 1708, though the last in no way
related to Oxford. By these acts a large number of the towns formerly
authorized were re-elected, others were "deserted," and yet other new
ones ordered to be laid out. All the old towns of Talbot were revived.
But of the whole number but six were made Ports, and of these Oxford
was one, and the district assigned to it comprised "All the towns,
rivers, creeks and coves in Talbot county, and the towns, rivers, creeks
and coves in Great Choptank and Little Choptank in Dorchester county
and Kent Island in Queen Anne's county.
Commissioners were appointed for laying out the town anew, under
conditions almost identical with those prescribed by the acts of 1694
and 1695, already mentioned in this paper: but with this qualification,
viz: it should be
surveyed and laid out according to the former plot, and when so laid
out, the Commissioners according to their discretion, shall leave out
24 from the 124 acres therein contained by the first laying out, and the
Lots remaining within the 100 acres only, shall be adjudged the Town
and Port of Oxford, although the same do not contain 100 Lots; to
the end that the Lots aheady taken up and buUt upon may not be
altered or lessened.
It will be observed that the discount on debts paid at the ports is no
;er allowed by these new acts of incorporation, if they may be so
called. The gentlemen named in the Act of 1706 were these:
Major Nicholas Lowe,
Mr. Thomas Robins,
Mr. Matthew Tilghman Ward,

350 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Mr. Daniel Sherwood,
Mr. Robert Grundy,
Mr. John Dawson,
Mr. Thomas Emerson,
Mr. John Hawkins.
and perhaps others.28 Of these a majority assembled on or about
the 10th July, 1707, and were attended by Mr. William Turbutt, the
deputy surveyor for the county, who also acted as clerk. It was agreed
between the Commissioners and Major Nicholas Lowe that he should be
paid six hundred pounds of Tobacco for each lot to be taken up in the
town, but this agreement was modified on the 26th, when
The Commissioners taking it into consideration that in as much as sev
eral lotts (now to be taken up in the said town) are much more conven
ient and of greater value than ye rest, they have thought fitt and do
agree to sett a particular value on every lott, according to the goodness
or convenieney, conceiving that it would be a greater encouragement
to ye People than to make every lott of an equal value.
The prices settled upon ranged from 200 to 1000 pounds of tobacco.
On the 21st the surveyor and Commissioners "proceeded in laying out
ye Towne and Port of Oxford, beginning att ye Towne-Point and running
according to a former platt so farr as to include one hundred acres of
land, leaveing outt twenty-four acres which were formerly within the
bounds of the said Towne, as by said platt appears." Some changes
were made in the direction of High street, and the street along the
strand. The survey was completed on the 25th, when it appears the
plot of the town after leaving out the twenty-four acres, formerly
embraced, belonging to Major Lowe, was divided into eighty-two lots,
with streets, lanes, etc., and a Place for Public buildings. The extant
record gives the names of the persons taking up lots, the number of
the lots, and the prices paid for them; also certificates of improvement
which gave full and clear title to the property. The last entry is of
Jany. 21st, 1711-12, being a receipt of Nicholas Lowe to William Tur
butt for 800 lbs. tobacco, in full for a lot in Oxford. It will be observed
that the original name of the town was resumed, King William being
dead, and "good Queen Anne" being upon the throne of Great Britain.
Now, it appears that the Acts of Assembly of 1706 and of the next
few years following, did not receive the assent of the Queen, who pos
sessed a veto, and they were thereupon void. Persons who had taken
" The text of the Law is not given by Bacon.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 351
up lots in the town, under these acts and the previous acts that had
been repealed by the Assembly, became concerned about the title to
their property; so it was deemed necessary in 1715 to pass a law con
firming them in the title, where they had compUed with the condi
tions of purchase. But the faUure of the law of 1706 to receive the
royal assent, apparently, should have deprived those towns therein
mentioned, as places of entry and clearance of ships and other vessels,
and of the pecuUar privUege of being ports. Yet it is known that this
deprivation never occurred. Oxford certainly remained the port for
the collection district defined in the Act of 1706 during the whole pro
vincial rdgime, and even under the confederate and federal government
down to a very recent period, with a regular succession of custom house
officers. Under what authority it so continued during the ante revolu
tionary period is not known. Possibly it was by a simple order of the
Governor and CouncU, with Royal and Proprietary sanction. Certain
it is that no law has been hitherto discovered which reinstated Annapolis,
Oxford and the other places mentioned in the Act of 1706 as the ports
of Maryland, in the precedence that had been given over other towns
of the Province.
Besides what has been related of its origin and founding httle more
is known of the history of Oxford, and tbis httle must be given in a
disjointed and fragmentary way. As a place of trade it long held a
precedence of the towns upon the Eastern Shore and next to Annapolis
it was the principal port of the province, until the town of Baltimore
acquired the superiority which it has to the present retained. Although
from the earliest settlement of the country along the Choptank and its
tributaries this place enjoyed considerable trade, it seems to have
reached the height of its prosperity about the middle of the last century
after which this prosperity began to decline, and became finally extinct
at the commencement of the war of the Revolution. From an early
period some of the large Liverpool and London commercial houses
engaged in the American trade had their factories established here,
and theh ships making theh periodical and regular trips to the waters
of Third Haven and Choptank, or into Saint Michaels and Wye rivers.
It may be. noted, upon authority, usually accurate, that Mr. Gilbert
Livesey, was the first to establish a factory, or place of trade at Oxford.
One of the earliest of these houses was that of Gildart & Company com
posed of Mr. Richard Gildart, in 1714 Mayor of the City of Liverpool, Sir
Thomas Johnson, Mr. Richard Norris, Mr. William Squire and Capt. Ed
ward Rachdale, who had for their factor at Oxford, Mr. John Chamber-

352 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
laine, and owned the ship EUzabeth, built near that town. Another
Liverpool house, which more than any other became identified with Ox
ford was that of Messrs. Foster Cunliffe & Co., of which Mr. John and
then Mr. Samuel Chamberlaine were at one time the factors, to be suc
ceeded, but after some years, by Mr. Robert Morris and then by Mr.
Henry CaUister. Each of these gentlemen are prominent characters in
our local and indeed our provincial history, of whom more wUl be said in
other connections. Another firm of which Mr. Anthony Bacon, of Lon
don, was the principal, had for a great number of years intimate commer
cial relations with the people of this -county, having his ships sailing into
and his stores upon the Choptank and one store at Oxford. The names
of a few other Liverpool and London merchants may be given, who were
trading in the waters of Talbot. Of Liverpool were Mr. Edward Lowndes
and Mr. Lawrence Spencer. Of London were Mr. Mathias Gale, Mr.
Samuel Hyde, Mr. John Hanbury, Mr. Wm. Anderson, Mr. Christopher
Court. These were generaUy principals of firms that changed their
style as time passed. Some of them continued in the trade until. all
commercial intercourse was interrupted by the war of independence.
The methods of conducting trade with this colony gradually changed.
In the beginning, the want of capital and proper business connections
on the part of the permanent residents required the establishment of
agencies at the different favorable points, but as the circumstances
altered, these factories were either closed, or the factors purchased
the interest of the original owner, and conducted the business upon
their own account, or copartnerships were formed between the resident
merchant and the English firm. In yet other cases, as wealth increased
wholly independent houses were established whose connections with
those of the old country were merely those of commercial correspond
ence. The factory system, however, was not discontinued, as long as
the political connection between the mother country and the province
subsisted. It may be not amiss to give the names of some of the resi
dent merchants of Oxford, and those importing theh supplies of foreign
goods through this port. One of the earliest of the resident merchants
at Oxford was Mr. Will Sharp,29 a quaker, and another, of the same
29 As something of curious interest the following, a bill of lading, is here in
serted: Shipped by the Grace of God in good order well conditioned, by me William
Sharp, Jr., merchant, in and upon the good ship called "The Blue Bird's Delight,"
whereof is master for this present voyage Capt. Morgan Jones, and now residing
at anchor in Fyall [Fayal, of the Azores] Roads, and bound by God's permis-

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 353
religious persuasion, was Mr. John Edmondson. Both of these became
very wealthy and founded famUies, now extmct in this county. A little
later appear the names of Robert Grundy, Benjamin Pemberton, Thomas
Lewis, Robert Ungle, Thomas Robins, John Oldham, all of whom
apparently had stores and warehouses at Oxford. In or about 1723
Mr. Saml. Chamberlaine purchased an interest in the firm in whose
ship he originally came to Maryland, and estabUshed the house of Cham
berlaine & Company. He made and married a great fortune, rose to
distinction in the civU and poUtical affairs of the province, and is the
progenitor of the most respectable fanhiy of the name, still weU repre
sented in the county. In this connection also must be mentioned
Mr. Robert Morris and Mr. Henry CalUster, both of whom from being
factors rose to be independent merchants. For some years prior to
the Revolution the number of stores throughout the county multiphed
and Oxford became more and more a port of entry merely and not a
great depot, though always enjoying a very hberal share both of the
domestic and foreign trade. In order to render this account more com
plete, the names of. some of the ships and theh captains may here be
mentioned. The first ship of which we have any positive knowledge
that appeared in Thhd Haven was the Golden Fortune, commanded
by Capt. Saml. TUghman, who before the organization of Talbot county
took up a large tract of land at the head of this creek, to which he gave
the name of "TUghman's Fortune," out of which Ratchffe, and other
neighboring properties were carved. The Blue Bhd's Delight, Capt.
Morgan Jones, has aheady been mentioned, as has the ship EUzabeth,
Capt. John Chamberlaine, a ship that was buUt at SkUUngton's Point
near Oxford. Passing over a number of years, for which no record
exists, we find the names of many of the ships of which the firm of
Foster Cunliffe & Sons of Liverpool were the owners or the consignees
mentioned in the CaUister papers. The Robert & John, Capt. Johnson,
was trading at Oxford in 1742, and the Cunliffe, Capt. John Pritchard
in 1745. Of this ship more wul presently be said. The Liverpool
sion to Choptank river in Maryland, to say: Seventy-two pipes and three quarter
casks of wine and marked and numbered as per margent, all to be delivered in like
good order and well conditioned at the aforesaid port of Choptank, the dangers
of the sea only accepted to Mr. William Sharp, senior, or to his order, the freight
being all paid, the master hath affirmed to three bills of lading, one of which three
lo be acknowledged, the other two to be void, and so God send her safe to her
'lesired port.
September ye 17th, 1699. Morgan Jones.
Land Records Talbot county, No. 7, p. 219.

354 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Merchant, Capt. John Gardiner, was a constant trader from 1745 and
onward for many years. The Choptank, another Talbot buUt ship,
Capt. Barnes, was well known at Oxford from 1748 and onward, but
did not belong to the Cunliffes, nor was she saUing in theh interest.
In 1750 the ship Integrity, commanded by Capt. John Coward, who
was a resident of Plimhimmon, and the founder of a fanuly here, was
saUing in the interest of Mr. Anthony Bacon, and was probably owned
in part by him. Upon this ship local tradition relates that the young
woman, who came to be known as Perdita, embarked, whose story was
so romantically told by Miss Catherine Sedgwick.30 Capt. John Coward
and his good ship Integrity were succeeded by Capt. Thomas Coward, his
son, and the frigate Choptank, in 1772. This ship was probably among
the last of those belonging to Oxford to sail from Thhd Haven creek
prior to the Revolution. There is a record of her taking in freight on
the 19th of April, 1774, her consignee being Thomas Eden & Co., just
one year before the battle of Lexington, the beghuung of the war.
Probably before her return resolutions forbidding aU commercial inter
course with Great Britain had been adopted. In 1761 the ship Friend
ship was in command of Capt., afterward Col. Jere Banning, who had
long been sailing out of Choptank, and who, subsequent to this date
had charge of several ships, which need not here be named. This very
respectable gentleman after "foUowing the sea" for many years settled
at the Isthmus in this county, having acquired a handsome competence,
and was appointed the first coUector of the port of Oxford under the
new regime inaugurated by the Revolution in which war he was an
active and prominent participant. It is not necessary to extend this
catalogue of ships trading at Oxford, which to be rendered complete
would require the insertion of nearly two hundred names, recovered by
an examination of the county records, the books of the Custom House
as kept by the collectors prior to the Revolution, and other authentic
sources.51 ,0 This little romance, founded on fact, was published originally in the Atlantic
Souvenir, of 1827 and frequently republished, lastly in the Easton Star, of Aug.
24th and Sept. 2nd, 1872, with an introduction and appendix by the author of these
contributions, giving the actual occurrences upon which the romance was based.
" There have been deposited with the Md. Hist. Soc'y two books of the col
lectors of the port prior so the revolution, one of which is a record of the arrivals
and departures of ships and other vessels, their names, the names of their masters
and owners, their destination or place of clearance, a description of their cargoes,
number of their men and their guns, and the place of their building. The first
entry is of the year 175S and the last is of Aug. 28th, 1773. The other volume is a

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 355
Reference has been made to the Cunliffe, Capt. Pritchard. An
incident in the career of this ship and her commander, which could not
be mentioned when giving the list above, must not be omitted in this
account of the port to which she belonged. In the year 1744 war existed
between France and England in which the American colonies of the
respective countries participated. The home government issued letters
of marque and reprisal, and the ocean was traversed by privateers.
Every merchantman was equipped with an armament for defence
against these legahzed marauders. On the 7th of Jan., 1744, the ship
Cunliffe, Capt. Pilchard, on her passage from Liverpool to Oxford met
with one of the French privateers about ten leagues from Cape Fear,
and being unable to escape prepared to defend herself, notwithstanding
the great disparity in the armament and the number of the crew. The
ships fought for ten hours. Several men were kUled on board the Cun
liffe, and the captain was so severely wounded that he died three days
after the engagement.
However, the wind blowing fresh and the Cunliffe being a tight ves
sel and good saUer got clear.
Another account says:
Our ship had but 38 men and boys, none of which showed the least
fear during the engagement, and was ladened deeply. The privateer
had twenty carriage guns besides swivels, and two hundred men. * * *
The merchants are making a pretty collection for the ship's crew.
Mr. CaUister, in a letter of July 28, 1745, to Mr. Robert Whitfield,
of Douglas, Isle of Man, says:
Though we are with reason concerned for poor Capt. Prichard's mis
fortune, yet his gaUant behavior in defending the ship and her safe
arrival are very agreeable news to us. * * * Capt. P. and his
crew behaved as they ought to do. He died with glory. His epitaph
is prettily done and has been printed in the Maryland Gazette. I dare
say none of our commanders here will behave ill in such circumstances,
but God avert the occasion.
The Cunliffe was consigned to Mr. Robert Morris, and she, after
this, voyage, was commanded by Capt. Johnson. It would seem from
book of accounts kept by the collectors of the customs, commencing with the year
Nov. 1747, and ending Oct. 10th, 1775. These books are in a good state of preser
vation, but the first mentioned of them has lost some of the leaves.- They are most
interesting records of the trade of the port of Oxford, for the time which they
cover.

356 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Mr. Callister's letters that another of the ships of the Messrs. Cunliffe
trading in Third Haven and Choptank, namely the Robert & John,
was not so fortunate as the Cunliffe, for she was captured by the priva
teers in 1745.32
It will have been perceived from what has been said that the greater
part of the foreign trade of Oxford, using the term foreign as appli
cable to all countries not now embraced within the United States,
was with England through the ports of London and Liverpool. But
at one period there was very considerable commercial intercourse with
Bristol. About the middle of the last century, as indicated by' the
books of the Custom House, there were arrivals from Antigua, Halifax,
Bermuda, Guadaleupe, Quebec, Barbadoes, St. Christopher, Barcelona
(Spain), Jamaica, Senegal (Africa), Madeha, and perhaps other parts,
to say nothing of the three great cities before mentioned. There were
frequent arrivals from or departures for the domestic ports of Boston,
New York, Philadelphia, Newburyport, Falmouth, Salem, Piscataway,
Nantucket and Charleston. Mostly, the ships trading at Oxford came
directly from the place of departure, but it was not unusual for them to
make a kind of ocean circuit. Loading here with tobacco, peltry, lum
ber, especially that made of black walnut, and with some of the other
coarse articles of commerce, the products of Maryland, they sailed for
the EngUsh ports, and, there discharging theh freight, they took in
assorted cargoes of goods of European manufacture, and of Eastern
or India products and sailed for some of the West India Islands,
where they took in sugar, molasses, fruit, rum and negro slaves.
Occasionally they touched at Madeira and the Azores, for wine for
the gentry of the colony. Thus freighted, they entered Chesapeake
and reported at Oxford. After a survey was made and the custom
house fees were paid, they either landed theh cargo at that town,
or at other places within the collection district, as at Cambridge in
Dorchester, at Dover or Kingston in Talbot. Some of the ships
went into St. Michaels and Wye rivers to supply the stores in
those sections of the county thereon bordering, making landings at
Wye-town or Doncaster, and at Deep Water Point near St. Michaels.
Other ships went into Chester river and Little Choptank. Some of the
articles of exportation from Oxford, besides those aheady mentioned, as
shown by the books of the Custom House, were, in the middle of the
last century, wheat, corn, pork, live stock and poultry (to the West
Indies), sassafras bark, plank, shingles, staves, hoops and bricks. It.
32 Maryland Gazette, May 17th and July 12th, 1845. Also CaUister Manuscript
letters.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 357
was customary, and at one period obUgatory, for masters of vessels to
advertise by posting the rates of freight to different ports, and the time
and place of receiving it, and when this became compulsory by law,
it was also required that a record should be made of the same in the office
of the clerk of the county. It may not be amiss to state, as one of the
customs of the time, for the captains publicly to invite theh patrons and
friends on board theh ships, to partake of such entertainment as they
could give. WhUe waiting for tobacco or other freight in Choptank it
was common for the ships, then unprotected by copper, to ascend that
river into fresh water to escape the teredo, or boring worm, so destructive
to vessels in the salt water. Dover thus became quite a rival of Oxford,
and there Mr. Anthony Bacon had one of his principal factories. Very
often vessels came from England in ballast, and so it has happened that
at several points upon Choptank, and at Oxford may be found lumps of
chalk which were used for this purpose, and being unsalable were thrown
into the water, where they may be seen to this day.
The following extracts from the journal of Captain, afterwards known
as Colonel Jeremiah Banning, wiU serve to show the extent of the
foreign and domestic trade of Oxford at the period of its greatest pros
perity, and also the time when that trade, for some years diminishing,
finally became extmct. It was .hardly necessary to say that Col. Ban
ning was personaUy conversant with that of which he wrote.
The storekeepers and other retailers both on the western and the east
ern side of the Chesapeake, repaired there to lay in their supplies. * * *
Seven or eight large ships, at the same time were frequently seen at
Oxford, delivering goods and completing their landing; nor was it
uncommon to despatch a ship with 500 hogsheads of tobacco in twelve
days after its arrival. At that time tobacco was not examined or
inspected by sworn officers as now. Men skiUed in the article were
employed by the merchants or storekeepers and caUed Receivers, to
view, weigh, mark and give receipts to the planters, after which vessels
were sent to collect it, when it underwent a pressing and packing pre
paratory for shipping. After the death of Mr. Morris, commerce,
splendor and all that animating and agreeable hurry of business _ at
Oxford gradually decfined to the commencement of the civil war which
broke out in April, 1775, when it became totally deserted as to trade.
In the autumn of that year was the last appearance of British ships or
indeed of any other at that port. * * * Oxford's streets and strand
were once covered by busy crowds, ushering in commerce from almost
every quarter of the glove. Bereft of all former greatness, nothing
remains to console her but the salubrious air and fine navigation which
may anticipate better times.33
"This extract is a portion of Col. Banning's journal, furnished to the writer
bY his granddaughter, Miss Mary E. Banning, now of Baltimore.

358 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
It is hardly necessary to say that the "salubrious ah and fine naviga
tion" remain, and have brought "better times."
Reference has been made to the importation of negro slaves at Oxford
— a traffic which continued down to the time of the extinction of the
town as a depot of foreign trade. In the official records there are
several, but not numerous entries of slaves. In 1763, the Two Sisters,
Capt. Jere. Banning, 160 tons measurement, manned with 20 men and
carrying 6 guns, owned by Anthony Bacon, GUbert Franklin and An
thony Richardson, of London, and buUt in Maryland, brought from
Senegal 5 negro slaves. No other cargo is named. On the 3rd July,
1771, the sloop Success, John Kingham, Master, and owned by Richard
Worge, of London, brought in 104 slaves from Senegal. In the next
year the same vessel brought 86 slaves from Senegal, and the schooner
Experiment, owned by James Dickinson and James Lloyd Chamberlaine,
5 slaves from Barbadoes. In the Maryland Gazette of July 8th,
1746, Mr. Robert Morris, with an assorted cargo of merchandise, just
arrived, by the ship Cunliffe, Capt. Johnson, from Bardadoes, adver
tises for sale at Oxford "a parcel of negro men, women, boys and girls."
It is not necessary to say to the well informed, especiaUy after the
mention of so many reputable men engaged in its prosecution, that
no disrepute attached to the trade in African slaves.
But the ships trading with England also brought human freight,
under the names of transported rebels, condemned convicts, and inden
tured servants. To such must be added respectable freemen seeking
to advance their fortunes in a new country. In 1717 a portion of the
cargo of the ship Friendship, from Belfast, consisting of eighty rebels
who had been taken in arms during the Jacobite rebellion in 1715 at
Preston and elsewhere in Scotland, was brought to Oxford and sold to
masters) for a term of years, and among the purchasers were Messrs.
Philemon Lloyd, John Oldman, Daniel Sherwood, Robert Grundy,
John VaUiant, WUliam Elbert, Peter Anderton, PhUemon Sherwood,
James Colston, WUUam Thomas, Thomas Robins, and perhaps others
of this county.34 Again on the 20th July, 1747, the ship Johnston,
M Scharf's Hist. Md., Vol. 1, p. 385, et seq.
Maryland Gazette, July 28th, 1747.
Maryland Gazette, Dec. 11, 1755. The CaUister MS. letters, and the Eecords
of Talbot County Court; also Scharf's Hist. Md., Vol. 1, p. 475, et seq. In the
records of Talbot County court for March 6th, 1721, there is a most interesting
account of the proceedings which were had upon a petition of some of these rebels,
sold for a term of seven years, whom their masters were attempting to hold for a
greater length of time.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 359
Capt. WUl. Pemberton, arrived at Oxford, having on board a large
number of Scotch rebels captured at CuUoden and elsewhere during
the rising in behalf of the young Pretender, Charles Edward, in 1745.
Not finding a ready sale in this county a portion of this human cargo
was sent to Annapolis. Another class of poUtical exUes was that of
the Acadians, a ship load, one of four that came to Maryland, of whom
arrived at Oxford, Dec. 8th, 1755, and came under the care of Mr.
Henry CaUister, then acting as factor of Mr. Anthony Bacon, at that
place. He and the Rev. Thomas Bacon, both Manx men, interested
themselves most actively and earnestly in behalf of these unfortunate
people. Contributions were solicited for theh support, and apphca-
tion was made to the county authorities for assistance. They were
distributed in the counties of Talbot, Queen Annes, and Dorchester.
The transportation of criminal convicts continued uninterruptedly,
notwithstanding the frequent protests of the colonists down to the
Revolution, indeed the last ship that appeared in St. Michaels river
landed her servants, fourteen of whom were convicts and two inden
tured, though not aUowed to discharge the other portion of her cargo.35
Of indentured servants scarcely a ship arrived at Oxford from London
or Liverpool, that did not bring a greater or less number. It should be
stated here, as it has been in other connections, that nothing disreputable
attached to persons securing theh passage by theh agreement to serve a
stipulated time; though doubtless there were disreputable persons
who did thus pay theh way across the ocean, as there were others caUed
respectable who had theh passage paid for them by friends who were
glad to be weU rid of those who reflected no credit upon theh families.
In the year 1683, after the passage of the Act for laying off the town
of Oxford, the Commissioners and Justices of the Peace of this county
authorized the establishment of a ferry at that town across Thhd
Haven creek, and appointed Mr. Richard Royston as the Keeper, for
which they aUowed him the sum of 2500 pounds of tobacco.36 The
ferry, then estabUshed, was maintained for many years, probably as
long as the town possessed any trade, or to the period of the Revolution.
It was then discontinued, and for a long series of years persons wishing
" See contributions entitled "The Poor House" published in the Easton Star,
Dec. 2, 1879.
"The following is the entry in the Levy list of the year: "Richard Royston
for one-half the allowance for keeping a ferry from his plantation to the towne
of Oxford, and back againe, or on board any shipp nigh, there riding, for one
year, 2500 pounds."

360 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
to cross to or from that town were dependent upon the courtesy and
kindness of people Uving on either shore. For a while persons were
licensed to keep ferry at Oxford, but were not paid from the county
funds. They were compensated by those who used the ferry. But
in the year 1836 the public ferry was revived, Mr. Morris Orem Colston
was appointed the Keeper, and from that day to this it has been main
tained at the county expense. At the date of the original establish
ment of the Oxford Ferry there had long been a ferry over St. Michaels,
or Miles river at or near the place where the bridge now in use was
erected. In the year 1695 a pubhc post was estabUshed in the Province, one
of the few stations of which upon the Eastern Shore being Williamstadt
or Oxford. It was long after that a regular postoffice system was estab
lished by the home government.
From many entries in the Levy Ust of charges "for expenses in treat
ing with the Indians at Oxford," within the years 1689-91, it is apparent
that about this time there was an assemblage at that town of the repre
sentatives of the Provincial Authorities and some of the chief men of
the Indian tribes upon the Eastern Shore — probably the Choptanks, .
seated along the river of that name, or the more troublesome Nanticokes,
living further down upon the peninsula. No reference to the treaty at
Oxford has been found in any books of State history, but there can be
little doubt of the fact.
In the year 1706 an act. was passed by the General Assembly, entitled
An Act for dividing and regulating several counties on the Eastern
Shore of the Province, and constituting a county by the name of Queen
Anne's, within the said Province.
By this act the boundaries of CecU, Kent and Talbot, as they are now
were defined, and Queen Anne's county was laid off from the territory
hitherto belonging to Talbot. Commissioners were appointed to cause
the boundaries of the several counties to be surveyed and marked,
and they were "impowered to lay out and purchase by agreement
with the owners or by valuation of a jury two acres of land in each county
for a Court House, &c." By the segmentation of the territory of
Talbot the seat of justice at York on Skipton creek was far removed
from the centre of the county. It was therefore resolved that there
should be a change of the location of the Court House. At first it was
determined that Oxford should be made the county seat, and in Novem
ber, 1709, a Court House was ordered to be built in that town, where

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 361
from Aug. 19th, 1707, until March 20th, 1711, (N. S.), the courts were
held in the houses of the High Sheriff, Daniel Sherwood, and of Mary
Stevenson. At the November session of the Court in 1709, a contract
was entered into between the "Worshipful the Commissioners and
Justices of the Peace," of the one part, and Mr. Daniel Sherwood and
Col. Nicholas Lowe, of the other part, to erect a Court House at Oxford;
but this was never carried into execution, for in 1710 an act of Assembly
was passed authorizing and directing that the Court House for Talbot
should be buUt at "Armstrong's Old Field, near Pitts' Bridge," and
there accordingly it was buUt. This is the origin of the town of Easton,
of which it is proposed, in another contribution, to give an account.
The following articles copied from the Maryland Gazette, probably
refer to one and the same enterprise, and will serve to commemorate
an event of some importance in the history of Oxford in ante-revolution
ary times.
A proposal is on foot for maintaining a good deck'd boat, to run
on fixed days once a week constantly (except when hindered by the ice,
or tempestuous weather) across the bay, from Oxford to Annapolis, and
Annapolis to Oxford. And we hear, those who subscribe thirty shillings
a year are to have a free passage as often as they please, finding them
selves provisions. Those gentlemen on the Western Shore who have a
mind to encourage so useful a scheme are requested to give in their
names at the printing office.*7
By public spiritedness is meant beneficence, munificence, generosity,
benevolence, every thing good and commendable. Animated by these
principles a number of gentlemen in Talbot and Dorchester counties
and thereabouts, and in Annapolis, have lately subscribed a sum to
support a packet boat, well fitted and manned, from Choptank to Annap
olis, weekly in summer and once every fortnight in winter, unless
unavoidably hindered by frost or tempests. She began her stages
the first week in March. Her times and places of attendance are:
At Cambridge on Mondays, which she leaves in the afternoon, and pro
ceeds to Oxford; from whence she sails to Annapolis on the Wednesday
morning foUowing and leaves Annapolis for Oxford on Friday morning :
except in the two first weeks of each Provincial Court, when she is to be
at Annapolis on each Tuesday. By these riders [post riders previously
referred to in the article] and the packet boat a ready communication
by letter is opened to a great part of the province. Whoever subscribes
20 shillings a year or upwards towards the support of the packet may
cross the bay in her as often as they please, without further expense,
except the supplying themselves with provisions.38
" Maryland Gazette, April 2nd, 1761.
18 Maryland Gazette, March 25th, 1762.

362 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Ridgely in his "Annals of Annapolis" mentions the theatrical per
formances of a troupe of comedians from Vhginia, in June, 1752.
Some authorities claim that these were really the first ever witnessed
in America. This company of players went to some of the upper towns
of the province, Upper Marlborough, Piscattaway and Chestertown
being mentioned as having been visited. From an entry in the court
records of Talbot, it is probable they visited Oxford. The same record
is interesting also for the reason that it gives the first evidence, yet
discovered, of the presence in this county of pleasure carriages as dis
tinguished from those of burden. At the June term of the court in
1755 Jacob BromweU brought suit against Mrs. Margaret Lowe, and
among the items in his account were these:
For riveting and fitting plates and springes to your shaise, five shil
lings, also for 2 pins and 2 smaU plates for your shaise 2s 6d. May 26th,
1753, to 2 sealed tickets for you to go to the play, 15 shUlings.
WhUe this is not positive evidence of there having been theatrical
performances at Oxford — for Mrs. Lowe may have crossed the bay to
attend those which were enacted at Annapolis — yet it is sufficient to
raise a presumption that such was the fact. Madam Lowe was a
wealthy lady of Oxford Neck and the name of Jacob Bromwell is still
familiar in that vicinage. In this connection it may be mentioned that
another amusement which the people of Talbot had long enjoyed, was
in May, 1767, presented with more than usual eclat at Oxford. At
this time there was horse racing near that town, at which the Governor
of the province was present, and many of the most prominent citizens
and other gentry of the county.39
Here may conclude the pre-revolutionary history of Oxford. During
the war, it being a place of no commercial nor strategetic importance it
was the heat of no operations that deserve commemoration. Early in
the contest the independent company of Capt. James Hindman was
stationed here to overawe the disaffected, and to prevent the depreda
tions of marauding parties of the Enghsh and Tories, who had possession
of the bay. For more than three-quarters "of a century after the Revo
lution the "town and port of Oxford" can hardly be said to have had
a history, so completely has its life been extinguished by the changes
of the political relations of Maryland, taken in connection with the
fact that the trade of the county, a good share of which Oxford had
39 Maryland Gazette, May 7th, 1767. Also private letter of the Hon. Matthew
Tilghman, in the possession of Col. Oswald Tilghman.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 363
enjoyed during the years of her prosperity, was drawn off to Easton,
which, from being an insignificant vUlage, had acquhed an Unportance
it had not hitherto possessed, after the institution of the new state
government, for besides being the seat of justice for the county it was
made the place where certain officers for the Eastern Shore were re
quired to reside and discharge their functions, and where the General
Court of the state held stated, and the United States District Court
occasional sittings. Col. Jeremiah Banning in his journal, written prior
to 1798, gives a sad picture of the desertion and desolation of this town,
as contrasted with its former animation. He says:
Oxford's streets and strands were once covered by busy crowds
ushering in commerce from almost every quarter of the globe. The
once weU worn streets are now grown up in grass, save a few narrow
tracks made by sheep and swine ; and the strands have more the appear
ance of an uninhabited island than where human feet had ever trod.
This condition continued down to a very recent period — down to the
late civU contest, when reaction commenced and fresh fife and vigor
began to be manifested; so it may be said, that as the war of the Revolu
tion marks the end of her old prosperity, the other greater war of the
rebellion marks the beginning of her new growth in population and
wealth. In the earlier years of the present century Oxford, as remembered by'
the oldest residents of the town and vicinity, had become an insignificant
village of less than one hundred inhabitants (seventy white and twenty
colored people) occupying thirteen houses.40 Of these houses the two
most conspicuous were the Markland house situated on Back or Town
creek — an old, quaint, rip-roofed brick buUding stiU standing; and the
large framed structure, long occupied by Capt. Saml. Thomas, which
stood on the river, at the corner of the principal street, and which is
now a part of the Riverview Hotel. The only traces of the former
commercial importance of the town were the "Salt-House" which stood
near the place where is now the ship-yard of Mr. Nathaniel Leonard;
and the Tobacco Warehouse which was near the strand, but further down
towards Town Point. Both of them were in a state of dUapidation and
have long since disappeared. This warehouse was abandoned even
" For many of the details which follow, the writer is indebted to the courtesy
of Mr. Philemon Willis, of Oxford neck, a venerable gentleman, whose retentive
memory has preserved the impressions of a naturally receptive mind, and whose
reminiscences have more than usual value to the local antiquary for their accuracy
and the caution with which they are expressed.

364 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
before tobacco had ceased to be cultivated. It is beUeved Mr. David
Robinson was last appointed inspector. The foreign trade of the port
had dwindled to a single sea-going schooner, the Col. Ramsey, commanded
by Capt. Thomas Coward, that occasionally brought a cargo of salt from
Turk's island for the merchants of the county. It may be said, however,
that Messrs. Christopher and Robert Johnson, Scotchmen, were im
porting merchants at Oxford as late as 1791, and they were also manu
facturers, there, of nails upon quite an extensive scale, considering
the time and place. The retail trade was carried on in three small
shops kept by Mr. WUUam Markland, Mr. James Stewart and Mr.
John WUUs. This last named gentleman with Mr. PhUemon Willis
was conducting a ship yard (at least in 1798) at the town; and sail
making and rigging was carried on by Mr. Thomas Whiting as late as
1810. A wind null stood upon the pubhc square, owned by Mr. Edward
Bromwell, which had been running since 1796. It may be well enough
to mention that in 1717 permission was granted, by legislative enact
ment to Mr. John Oldham to erect a wind null upon Town Point. At
the period, now described, there were no churches within the town,
and no public school, though Mr. Saml. Parker at one time and Mr.
Thomas Watts at another, had private schools. There were no mails,
the nearest post office being Easton, twelve mUes distant, and communi
cation with the outer world was by the packets from the same town
which weekly passed by the deserted port on theh trips to Baltimore. But
in June, 1819, the first steamboat that phed upon the waters of Chop-
tank and Thhd Haven made her appearance in the harbor, upon her
first trip from Baltimore and Annapolis to Easton. This was the
steamer Maryland under the command of Capt. Clement Vickars, with
Mr. Eugene McCuUy as engineer.41 Steam navigation had been intro
duced only a few years before, namely in 1813. The ferry that had
been maintained at the pubhc expense had long since ceased, and was
not renewed untU 1836, as before mentioned — then, not because of any
increase in the number of passengers, but for the purpose of relieving the
residents of the town and neighborhood of the annoyance which they
were subjected to by being compelled (by theh kindness and courtesy)
to set people across the river in their boats when it was by no means con
venient nor agreeable. Even then the salubrious air attracted occasional
41 Previous to this date the steamer Surprise, Capt. Jonathan Spencer, was
running upon Saint Michaels river. In 1823 the steamer Albemarl commenced
making trips upon Choptank as far up as Cambridge in Dorset, touching at How-
el's Point in Talbot.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 365
summer visitors, and a few famUies from other parts of the county, some
what later than the time now under our view, made it theh home during
the unhealthy seasons of the year. Life flowed on in one monotonous
course diversified by no more important events than the capture of rock-
fish three feet in length, or of a sheepshead twelve pounds in weight,
—for the drowsy air of the place seemed to nourish devotees to the
dreamy sport of the rod and fine, or slaves to the lazy task of fishing,
while the surrounding waters furnished an abundance of the finny
game to keep awake the interest in this mild recreation or to afford
remuneration to this easy work.
In this languishing condition Oxford remained for a long series of
years, giving few tokens of vitahty and affording slight encouragement
to the hopes which were always cherished by her people, with a kind
of listless confidence, that there would be at some day a resuscitation
of her former prosperity, when her advantages for trade, the great
salubrity of her climate, and the beauty of her situation would attract
population and capital, and her ways and waters regain a portion of
her former animation.
The first sign of the reawakening of this slumbering town was given
in the year 1847, and had a most creditable origin — no other than the
electric touch of divine science. In the autumn of this year Mr. John
H. Allen, a graduate of West Point, estabUshed a school at this place,
which merged into the "Maryland Mihtary Academy." It is not
proposed, in this connection, to present an account of this institution of
learning: this wiU be done hereafter when treating of the schools of
Talbot, a subject as yet only partially discussed in these contributions.
Suffice it to say, here, that Mr. Allen, largely and efficiently aided by
Gen. Tench TUghman of Plimhimmon, a gentleman of whose merits
will hereafter be better appreciated than they were during his life or
than they are even now, succeeded in enhsting the cooperation of many
of the more prominent and influential citizens of Talbot, and the neigh
boring counties, in his scholastic enterprise, by which a charter and some
governmental recognition were obtained from the State of Maryland, a
school buUding and dweUing house for the principal were erected and a
large number of pupUs quickly coUected. On the 13th of Sept., 1855,
unfortunately, the principal building used for lecture rooms and dor
mitories was destroyed by fire, and was never replaced. The school
soon became entirely extinct, but not before it had rendered efficient
service to the cause of Uberal education, and had benefited the town
of Oxford by calling attention to its healthful and beautiful situation

366 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
whereby accessions to the population began to be made and its advan
tages as a place of residence for those seeking retirement from the
turmoil and conflicts of city life began to be appreciated. Following
the school came the churches. In April 1853 the corner stone of a
Protestant Episcopal church edifice, designed by the celebrated archi
tect Upjohn, of New York, was laid, Bishop Whitehouse officiating.
This remains to this day incomplete, standing upon a beautiful site
near the river and on the border of the town. It is generally supposed
that this structure was the first ever erected in Oxford for religious
purposes, but this supposition is erroneous. It is known from extant
records — imperfect and obscure to be sure, but authentic and positive
in character, that Mr. Samuel Chamberlaine of Plain Dealing, con
tributed largely to the erection of a Chapel of Ease, of the church of
England within the town. This Chapel stood upon or near the Public
Square, which had been reserved, when the town was originally sur
veyed, and it existed down to about the year 1800, when it was destroyed
by fire originating from the discharge of a gun beneath it by a boy
hunting for rabbits — an incident which serves to indicate how com
pletely the town had lost its urban character and had reverted to its
original rusticity.42 The school and the church heralded the dawn of a
brighter day for the town of Oxford. In 1861 the war of the Rebellion
broke out, and though nothing of sufficient importance occurred at this
place in connection with the military or naval operations of the govern
ment to merit any notice, this great contest is referred to here, because
it is not only epochal in the history of the country at large, but itmarks
the period when this town began to experience, in common with the
county, the benefits of the great poUtical and social revolution which was
by it accomplished. It may be well enough to state that at Oxford for
a short time in the first year of the war, was stationed a detachment of
soldiers, which seems to have been sent to seize the muskets belonging to
the state that had been used in the MUitary Academy. Later the
town was occasionally visited by gunboats, having on board the generals
in command of the Department, who came upon theh tours of inspec
tion and observation. In Dec. 1862 Boards of Trade were appointed
« Genealogical Notes of the Chamberlaine family, p. 20, and private letter from
Mr. Philemon Willis.
—In the year 1856 the Methodist Episcopal and 186 the Methodist Protestant
church buildings were erected. In 1879 the chapel of the Protestant Episcopal
communion, now in use, was built, to serve the purposes of the congregation until
it should be able to complete the unfinished edifice before noticed.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 367
for each of the counties whose duties were to license the admission of
merchandise from the cities, and to prevent the contraband trade,
which, it was aUeged, was carried on with the insurgents of the South.
The Board at Oxford consisted of Mr. WUUam H. VaUiant then the
Collector of the Port, and Mr. Edward Benson. On the 18th of Sept.,
1863, one of the most impressive sights ever witnessed was that pre
sented when the steamer Champion left the wharf at Oxford, having
on board more than two hundred slaves who were leaving theh masters
and theh homes to enlist in the army of the United States. An eye
witness of this occurrence wrote:
The owners and others stood silent and thoughtful upon the wharf
and beach, and as the steamer moved off, the colored people on board,
waving theh hats in good bye, broke out into one of their jubilant
hymns such as they were accustomed to sing in theh reUgious meetings,
for having no patriotic songs those hymns were converted into songs
of deliverance from slavery.
Oxford was soon after made a recruiting station, the enlisting colored
people in the military service of the country having been conducted
hitherto, irregularly and in a manner pecuharly aggravating to the
masters. In Feb. of the year 1849 the town first enjoyed the advantages
of regular maU service, when the Postoffice Department appointed
Mr. Thomas Watts postmaster, and ordered the deUvery and despatch
of a maU thrice a week. Previous to this time, at least since the cessa
tion of the pubhc post estabUshed under the provincial government,
before referred to in this contribution, aU matter received or sent by
mail was through the offices at Easton or Trappe. Mr. Watts was
succeeded hi 1852 by Mr. WUUam H. VaUiant, who held his place
until he was appointed collector of the port in 1861, when he was suc
ceeded by Mr. James Stewart, (whose successors in the order of time
have been Mr. John 0. GaUup, Mr. Edward S. Harrison), then himself,
reappointed, and finaUy his daughter, Miss Mary Stewart, the present
very acceptable and efficient postmistress.
In the year 1863 a renewed interest began to be felt by the inhabitants
of the town in theh municipal affairs — an interest which owed its origin
to the evidences of growth then presenting themselves, and which was
exhibited by the measures adopted for a reorganization of the town
government. It would seem that for a long series of years — even from
the date of the laying out of the town, the government was almost
nominal. It was no other than what was exercised over other portions
of the county, and was administered by the Worshipful the Justices

368 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
of the Peace and Commissioners, the Sheriff and the Constable of the
Hundred in which it was situated. After the Revolution, and the
reordering of civU affairs, the same kind of government was continued
only modified by the changed circumstances. Down to the year 1826
if Oxford had any separate municipal government, or local magistrature,
that government had lapsed, and the magistrature was in abeyance.
At the December session of the General Assembly in 1825 an act was
passed entitled "An Act appointing Commissioners for the town of
Oxford in Talbot county." By this act Messrs. Robert Banning,
James Lloyd Chamberlaine and John WiUis were appointed Commis
sioners to open, locate and mark the pubhc squares, streets, lanes and
alleys according to the original location made under the provisions of
the Act of Assembly of 1694, and these squares, &c, were to remain open
to pubhc use without encroachment or obstruction. The Commis
sioners thus appointed had the power of filhng all vacancies that might
occur in their body, and thus it became self-perpetuating. The singular
fact must be noted that two of the Commissioners were not residents
of the town, Mr. Chamberlaine and Mr. Banning. This circumstance
gave rise to difficulties which caused a petition to be presented to the
General Assembly of 1831, by the citizens of Oxford, asking that the
number of Commissioners be increased to five, which petition was
granted, and Mr. WUUam Markland and Mr. Ennalls Martin, Jr.,
were added to those named in the act of 1825-26, and three members
of the board were authorized to transact business. The town con
tinued to be governed by a board thus constituted and appointed,
aided by the county officers of the peace, until the year 1852, when,
for reasons not apparent, a petition was forwarded to the General
Assembly from the inhabitants of the town praying that Oxford should
be regularly incorporated and "placed under the care and regulation
of certain commissioners to be elected by the inhabitants thereof, and
vested with sufficient power to forward and effect the purposes intended."
To this petition the Legislature favorably responded, and the act was
accordingly passed, May 31, 1852, which constitutes the first and only
charter of the town of Oxford — a charter under which it is still gov
erned.43 This charter was amended in 1865 in some particulars, which
here need not be specified. The records of the board having disappeared
the names of the commissioners elected under the charter cannot be
43 For the provisions of this Act of Incorporation reference must be made to
Laws of Maryland for the year 1852, and the Code (1860) of Public Local Law,
p. 855.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 369
given. In truth the town government slept the sleep of peace enjoyed
by the people in common. In the year 1863 these slumbers were dis
turbed by the cannon of war, and the clatter of industry. A general
meeting of the citizens was caUed that assembled March 2nd, at the
house of Mr. Thomas Oldham Martin, for the purpose of ratifying or
authorizing the summons of Mr. James Stewart, the only surviving
resident commissioner under the charter, of the electors to choose five
commissioners of the town. The caU was ratified and confirmed by
this meeting, and the election was duly held, when these gentlemen
were chosen: Messrs. Thomas 0. Martin, James Nichols, John 0.
Gallup, Richard A. Delahay and Haddaway Cooper. These met and
organized, taking a proper oath of office, and elected Mr. John Dono
van clerk. A re-survey of the town was ordered to be made and Mr.
Tench F. TUghman was appointed the surveyor, who commenced his
duties on the 6th of April, and completed them on the 9th of the same
month. Since that time the organization of the town government
has been maintained by annual elections, and the records of its pro
ceedings have been preserved with tolerable completeness. An exami
nation of them reveals nothing in the history of the corporation that
need be here commemorated. The commissioners now in office are
Messrs. W. H. Seth, James H. Benson, WiUiam T. EUiot, James Nicols,
WiUiam P. Benson and Mr. Charles F. Stewart is the Clerk of the Board.
It was about the time of this reorganization that Mr. John Dono
van laid the foundation of an important industry that is now repop-
ulating the waste places of the town, by the establishment of an oyster
packing house, with which he united the canning of fruits and vege
tables. A little later, say in 1866, Mr. Nathaniel Leonard commenced
the buUding of vessels, and with his shipyard he connected a steam
saw and grist miU. The salubrity of the ah, the beauty of the situation
of the town, and the advantages it presented for stUl water sea bathing,
which long had been recognized, but not appreciated, now began to
attract the attention of persons in pursuit of health, recreation or pleas
ure during the summer months. A pubhc house of entertainment had
been maintained for a number of years by a most worthy lady, Mrs.
Thomas 0. Martin. In 1875 this was merged into the River View
Hotel, under the management of Mr. James Norris, the old framed
buildmg that stood near the pubhc strand and had been for many years
the most conspicuous structure in the town, having been enlarged,
improved and beautified to satisfy the increasing demands of summer
visitors for comfortable and tasteful accommodations. But in 1878

370 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
the same enterprising hotel manager caused to be erected a much more
commodious buUding, now known as the Eastford House. The Pennsyl
vania Railroad is now planting a Park near the terminus of theh road
upon the Bonfield property, with a view, it is thought, of erecting within
a still larger building for the reception of summer visitors. In this
connection it may be mentioned that in the year 1879 a plot of ground
near Town Point, which had long been occupied and disfigured by some
dilapidated and unsightly buUdings, was purchased by Col. Samuel
Wetherill, a wealthy gentleman of Philadelphia, and here be has laid
off and planted ornamental gardens and grounds, in the midst of which
he has erected a beautiful marine villa, to be a retreat for himself from
the turmoil of city fife, and a hospitable roof for the reception of those
who enjoy his intimate acquaintance. This probably is only the first
of its kind that shaU ultimately be built upon this charming water.
With increase of population and business, as a cause or consequence,
came an increase of faciUties of travel and transportation. Whereas
for a long series of years the steamer that plied upon Thhd Haven merely
stopped occasionally upon her trips to or from Easton to send a boat
ashore to land or receive a casual passenger, a wharf was constructed, at
which regular landings are made, and now two steamers touch at Oxford
daily or tri-weekly, going to and returning from Baltimore, and find
their interest in doing so. In 1871 the Maryland and Delaware Rail
road, the same that was afterwards known as the Delaware and Chesa
peake, and which is now a feeder of the great Pennsylvania, was complet
ed to tide water at a point just below the town; and in 1875 the pier
was built at its terminus, with the expectation that by or through Oxford
would pass the great current of travel North and South, when those
connections shall be made which are projected.
From time immemorial the pious people of the town sought religious
instruction or sphitual comfort, and the idle found diversion at sacred
places beyond its limits. In 1851 a congregation of the Protestant
Episcopal communion, known as Trinity, was organized, and in 1853,
as before mentioned, the still incomplete stone church in the suburbs
was erected so far as it has ever been buUt. This congregation in 1879
laid the cornerstone of Grace Chapel within the town, where it worships
at present, and wiU worship until it shall be able to complete the unfin
ished edifice, that now stands with such picturesque effect upon the
banks of the river. In the year 1856 the meeting house of the Meth
odist Episcopal Church was erected, and in 1876 that of the Methodist
Protestant.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 371
No school supported by public funds had an existence in Oxford
until 1868, when the school house of the neighborhood was moved to a
site upon the pubUc square. There are more schools than one now
required to instruct the numerous chUdren of a prolific population, and
to the credit of the people these schools are weU fUled.
Healthful as is the climate, exempt as is the locality from all epidemic
disease, long fived as are the people — and aU this is proverbially true,
and has been true as far back as the history of the town extends, yet
pale death certainly comes at last, even to the resident of Oxford.
It is not strange that no provision was made, until of late, for an event
which seemed uncertain, or at least always remote: no place of burial
was. ever set apart. The dead were interred in the corners of the gar
dens; in the graveyards which may be found upon almost every farm
of the neighborhood, or later in the grounds around the new stone
church. In the present year land has been purchased, part of the
Plimhimmon estate, adjoining the town, and embracing the burial
grounds of the Tilghman's, who had long permitted the interment of*
those nowise connected with the family, for a pubUc cemetery, and where
the few who die at Oxford wUl hereafter be laid.
At a time when the town had begun to show unquestionable signs of a
return of its former prosperity — prosperity of degree if not of kind —
it was deprived of that distinction which it had long enjoyed of being
a. port of entry and departure. This disservice it is said to owe to the
Hon. John A. J. CresweU, member of Congress, who, in 1866, procured
the withdrawal of its port privileges and rights, for reasons that are not
apparent: and the books and papers belonging to the CoUector's office
were removed to the Custom House at Baltimore. At this date Mr.
WiUiam H. VaUiant was the Collector and Inspector of the revenue,
and he was therefore the last person to enjoy the honors and emolu
ments of the office. It would appear form the imperfect records that
remain, that in the earher years of Oxford it was the chief port of a
District that embraced the whole Eastern Shore. Subsequently* it
became the chief port of a District that extended from Chester river to
Little Choptank. StUl later it was one port of the Patuxent District,
as has before been noted. As a chief port it had its own CoUector and
Naval Officer. As a secondary port it had merely a Deputy CoUector
and a Naval Officer. After the Revolution, and down to the abolition
of its privileges, the tributary district remained pretty much as before,
but it had its independent staff of officers, who were styled Collectors
and Inspectors. In the later years one person discharged the duties of

372 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
both stations. From the imperfect records that remain, or, at least, that
have been examined, it is impossible to complete the list of the officers
of the Customs at Oxford, but the following defective record may not
be devoid of interest. The first officer of the port that has been named
was Robert Ungle, Esq., of Plain-Dealing, who was naval officer up
to 1727, when he was succeeded by Mr. Samuel Chamberlaine, his
son-in-law, who had been his deputy. Mr. Chamberlaine, after Mr.
Ungle's death, became Deputy CoUector. In 1748 he resigned and was
succeeded by his son, Mr. Thomas Chambe laine, who had been Naval
Officer, and who now united in himseh the duties of both Deputy Col
lector and Naval Officer. At this date Mr. James HoUyday was Chief
CoUector of the District. Mr. Thomas Chamberlaine held his offices
until his death in 1768, when he was succeeded by his brother, Mr.
Samuel Chamberlaine of Bonfield, who was made CoUector, and Mr.
John Leeds was Naval Officer. At the outbreak of the Revolution
both Mr. Chamberlaine and Mr. Leeds were relieved of their offices by
reason of their being non-jurors or persons who refused to take the obli
gation of the associators, and then the oath of aUegiance to the new
State Government. From the beginning of the war, however, the offices
may be said to have been in abeyance, until the year 1777, when Capt.
subsequently Col. Jeremiah Banning, of the Isthmus, was appointed by
the Governor and councU "Naval Officer and Collector of the rates,
duties and imports " at the port of Oxford. As such he remained until
the adoption of the Federal constitution, when he was appointed by
General Washington, then made President, " CoUector and Inspector
of the Revenue." Dying in 1798, he was followed in his office by his
son Mr. Robert Banning, who had previously acted as Inspector under
his father. Mr. Robert Banning continued to hold his office until
1804, when, in conformity with a pernicious custom first introduced by
Mr. Jefferson, he was removed to give place to Mr. John Willis, a political
supporter of the President. **
44 This gentleman came to Talbot from Caroline in or about the year 1784, and
was engaged in the mercantile business and shipbuilding at Oxford from that
time until his appointment as Collector. He gave much attention to the cultiva
tion of fruit. But his horticulture was pursued more as an amusement than as a
calling or branch of business, it was therefore less profitable to himself than use
ful to the community. He introduced many new and improved varieties of fruit,
and it was through him that the singular adaptation of this locality for the pro
duction of certain kinds, particularly cherries, was discovered. He planted the
grape vine which has a local celebrity, and which is regarded as one of the curiosi
ties of the town, being really extraordinary for its great age, size and productive
ness. It was planted in the year 1808, and was called by Mr. Willis the Guernsey

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 373
In the year 1808, at the time of the operation of the celebrated embargo
upon foreign trade, Mr. WUlis issued the foUowing order:
Custom House, Oxford, Md.,
Feb. 13th, 1808.
This is to give notice to aU masters and owners of vessels, now in this
district, not to permit their departure from the same, until the owner,
consignee, agent or factor, shall, with the master, give such a bond at
this office, as may be requhed, agreeably to the supplement to an Act
entitled "An Act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports
and harbors of the United States." John Willis, CoUector.
For the purpose of enforcing this order James Clayland was appointed
a Captain to aid the CoUector. This proceeding must have been merely
formal, for there were no vessels within the coUection district of Oxford,
trading with foreign ports — or at most there was but one. Dying in
office, Mr. John Willis was succeeded by his youngest son, Mr. Nicholas
WUlis, in 1839, being appointed by Mr. Van Buren. Upon the coming
in of the new administration of Genl. Harrison, Mr. John Dawson was
appointed the successor of Mr. Nicholas WilUs, removed, but before he
entered upon his duties the President died, and Mr. Wilhs was rein
stated by Mr. Tyler. He was recommissioned by Mr. Polk in 1845.
In May of the year 1849 Mr. John H. Allen, Principal of the MUitary
Academy, was appointed to succeed Mr. WiUis, by Genl. Taylor. Mr.
Allen was followed in the office by Mr. Richard B. WiUis, who dying
was succeeded Aug. 22nd, 1857, by Genl. Tench TUghman, who being
in office at the outbreak of the war of the RebeUion, and not in accord
with the administration upon the great question in dispute, was removed
by Mr. Lincoln, and Mr. WUUam H. VaUiant was appointed in his stead
in AprU, 1861. This gentleman remained in office until it was abolished
—in 1866, as before mentioned. For a long series of years the actual
grape, because it was derived from the island of Guernsey, in the British Channel.
This vine has now a trunk of forty-five inches in circumference, and its branches,
though not so extensive as formerly, being kept within certain limits, cover a
large part of the yard in the front of the Willis house, besides several trees growing
near. During one season it is said there were counted upon this vine twenty-four
i thousand five hundred bunches of grapes, a number so enormous as to require that
we should make some allowance for the personal equation of both the counters and
the reporters. Mr. Willis died in 1839 and was buried upon his own premises,
within the town. He has left many descendants, and the memory of an honest
man, upon which no shadow rests.
—It may be here noted that in 1803 the town of Easton was made a port of entry
in the collection district of Oxford, and Mr. Charles Gibson was appointed Inspec
tor, or Naval Officer.

374 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
duties of the Custom House were discharged by a most worthy and com
petent man, Mr. Thomas Watts. The Custom House proper in the
days of Mr. Jeremiah Banning and his successor, Mr. Robert Banning,
was really at the Isthmus, their residence, where the modest building
still stands. During the term of Mr. John WiUis and his successors, it
was a diminutive tenement, not more than ten feet square, that stood
near the WiUis house, and yet may stand, and contrasted strangely
with those imposing structures that were built in the great city upon
the Patapsco which was literaUy unknown when Oxford on Choptank
was a thriving port.
Of the population of Oxford previous to the national enumeration of
1870 little is known. In provincial times it may be that two or at
most three hundred people were assembled within its limits. In the
year just mentioned for the first time the inhabitants of the town were
numbered separately from those of the remainder of the county. Then
there was a total of two hundred and seventy-seven, aU of native parent
age. By the census of 1880 the number of the population had risen
to and now, 1882, it is estimated to be fully one thousand.
So much for the past. What wiU be the future of this town which had
its founding in the very dawn of our local history, which had its era of
prosperity and then its sleep of years to awaken into renewed youth
and vigor, it is probably vain and useless to conjecture. Pleasing
as it may be to indulge the fancy that it will continue to grow in size and
importance until it shaU become a considerable city, where commerce
and manufactures may concentrate, or where fashion, in pursuit of
health and pleasure, may congregate as at another Nice or Newport,
sober reason compels us to beUeve that Oxford can never be more than
a village, even though the ship canal be constructed by the Choptank
route, and the oyster fields of the Chesapeake unexhausted yield their
perennial "harvest of the sea;" even though its ah shall continue to
be the very breath of Hygeia herself, and its waters healing as the fabled
pool of Bethesda.
Here wiU be concluded this account of the "town and port of Oxford."
That it is burthened with trivial detaUs is a critisicm which is readily
anticipated : but in reply it may be asked whether any incident is unim
portant which illustrates the history of a community. For the sake
of rendering this paper interesting, no attempt has been made to sub
stitute mere conjecture for facts, nor to supply the deficiences of authen
tic records by materials furnished by the imagination. For every
statement there is ample testimony in the form of either written docu
ments or contemporary witnesses.

the towns of talbot 375
The Town of Saint Michaels
(1883)
In times of old a vUlage, which perchance grew into a town or even
city, would cluster around the castle of some great lord, who for the
privilege of preying upon its inhabitants himself protected them from
the severer depredations of robber knights who infested the land. When
the church became supreme, or contested for preeminence with the
nobility, bishops and abbots were the great magnates, and they assumed
the role of protectors of a timid and cowering people. Around the cathe
drals and monasteries sprang up viUages which were glad to pay with
tythes and other rates for the shelter and defence that could be given
them by either the temporal or spiritual arm of the church, from the
violence and exactions of neighboring barons and theh retainers. Though
these were the circumstances of the origin of towns in lands far distant
and in times long past, it could hardly have been expected that we
should be able to trace the beginnings of a town to the building of a
church, in a country free from aU apprehension of oppression from a
nobUity or privUeged class, and at a time when priestly anathemas
deterred the violent from wrong, as little as church waUs protected the
weak from injury; yet such is the fact with regard to Saint Michaels.
The church was the first house erected, and around it gathered the viUage
which took its name.tt As no personal protection was secured by it
to the villagers, nor expected, and as there is no reason to believe from
what we know of the character of the early settlers that spiritual bene
fits were principal motives of Uving near it, we must look for other reasons
why they should have taken up their homes around the humble ecclesi
astical structure that was bunt near the spot where the new and beauti
ful Protestant Episcopal Church now stands. These reasons will
appear in the sequel.
Of the circumstances of the buUding of the church edifice first erected
upon the site which has ever since been consecrated to religious pur
poses in the midst of grounds that have been sadly diminished by fre
quent sales and possible intrusion, an account was prepared for and
published in the Saint Michaels Comet of June 1st, 1878. Although the
date of its erection has not been preserved, there is evidence that in
48 Saint Michaels may be regarded the patron saint, or guardian angel of Mary
land, for all patents required the payment of the quit rents to the Lord Proprie
tary on the Feast of Saint Michael and all angels: and this was the legal day of
many processes.

376 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
1736 it had gone to decay and had been replaced by a new structure-
and that no others but very aged persons had knowledge of the time
when it was built. From depositions taken in the year just named
by authority of the Vestry, the land for church purposes had been given
by either Mr. John Hatton or Mr. Edward EUiot, but the weight of
the evidence was that the former was the real owner of the two acres
that were set apart for church purposes. There is reasonable ground
to believe that this occurred as early at least as 1672, when the Reverend
Mr. James Clayland, was exercising the office of minister of the Reformed
Church, and before the Church of England had become the established
church of the province.48
It is not difficult to conjecture what were the considerations which
determined the locating of the church at the place where it was built.
In the earliest years of the province of Maryland, before the construction
of the roads, the water ways were commonly used for inter communica
tion. The canoes and barges antedated the chahs and coaches of a
later period, and for the poorer class of people they took the place of
the horse with bis saddle and pUUon. As the settlements in Talbot were
in the first instance made along the banks of the innumerable creeks
and coves of the county, it is readily seen that the inhabitants found
it more convenient to make their journeys by water, than to take long
detours around the heads of these creeks and coves by the yet unfre
quented paths through woods and swamps. Now the place selected
as the site of the church is just where the waters of Saint Michaels and
Broad Creeks approach near to each other. Boats were able to land
almost at the church door upon one side, while they could reach a point
not many hundred yards from the same, upon the other. An examina
tion of the chorography wUl show that a very large part of what subse
quently became Saint Michaels parish can be easUy reached by boats
leaving the town either by church cove or by what is known as Saint
Domingo or Back creek. The whole of what is now caUed Bayside,
the whole of Miles River Neck, and the country along Saint Michaels
river on the east,47 were able to send theh worshippers to the church
" A memorandum by Mr. John Bozman Kerr, states that the first church at
St. Michaels was built in 1600. Upon what authority this was made is not indi
cated. We are not safe in disregarding any indicia of this first explorer of the
wilderness of our early annals, but he is not to be followed implicitly.
47 The proper name for the creek or river, commonly called Miles River, is
Saint Michaels. The corruption into Miles probably originated in the habit,
common to all people of abbreviating names which are difficult of pronuncia-

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 377
in barges, canoes or other boats, some one of which every farmer pos
sessed; whUe those who preferred and were able to ride, had but to
to follow the devious and narrow bridle path which by necessity had to
pass immediately before the door.48
But the position selected for reasons ecclesiastical and spiritual weU
might have been chosen for reasons economical and secular; for the
same f acuities of access which it offered to those seeking reUgious strength
or comfort were offered to the wordly minded intent upon theh material
or pecuniary advantage. In truth the place of meeting for worship
became a place of meeting for business. There, as a point where most
persons congregated, were posted the advertisements of the masters of
the ships trading in the waters of Talbot, Queen Anne's and Dorset, in
which they described the character of their vessels, theh destination,
theh rates of freight, and gave the names of theh owners and consignees
in London, Liverpool, or other EngUsh ports. There the captains
met the planters of the vicinity, and the factors and merchants, with
whom contracts were formed. The creek which makes in from Saint
Michaels river and forms the harbor of the town furnished an admirable
anchorage for sea-going and other vessels, while at Deep-Water Point,
one of the chops of this harbor, vessels of large tonnage could approach
the shore within a stone's throw. Ii we may credit tradition, a most
uncertain guide, such vessels, at a time, not within memory, could and
did ascend the harbor much higher than the present depth of water
would permit.49 It is, however, very weU established that the harbor
tion. Possibly the custom of the Quakers in dropping the word Saint, may have
favored this habit. It was easy to pass from Michaels river to Miles ; and the
corruption commenced at a very early period in the history of the county. There
is a Miles creek in Trappe district, which sometimes, in the first records was called
St. Miles, and at others St. Michaels. In 1687 one. John Miles of Ann Arundel
county, sold a tract of land to Thomas Miles of the same county upon the upper
waters of the St. Michaels river. May we not have here the origin of the alter
nate name.
" Although the origin of the town is to be traced to the building of a church,
it is a curious fact, worthy of being noted, that the first mention of the place
that has been discovered in the county or any other records, is in connection with
a horse race which came off at St. Michaels in 1680. In a book of judgments for
1681-1685 there is a record of an action to recover a bet made upon this horse race.
This indicates clearly that here was a place for neighborhood gatherings at the
date indicated.
" As confirmatory of the truth of this tradition, stones are pointed out in
Church Creek, which are said to have been thrown from ships that had used them
as ballast.

378 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
of Saint Michaels was a place of lading and unlading of English shipping
at a very early period, and continued so to be down to the Revolution
if not a little later. In extant records there are many indications
that Deep Water Point, upon the right of the approach to the harbor
was from its singular natural advantages, at and from a very early
day, a preferred place for the receipt and deposit of freight, and that
here was the factory of one Liverpool firm, at least, and a house of
public entertainment.
There is a little doubt that the English mercantile firms of London,
Liverpool and Bristol, whose ships were trading in the waters of Talbot,
Choptank, Third Haven, Wye and Saint Michaels rivers, had their
factors or agents at points at, or at least not remote from the site of the
town of Saint Michaels; but there have been discovered but few records
of the presence of such persons. There was a pubUc tobacco warehouse
upon the farm of Daniel Sherwood, upon Broad Creek not very dis
tant from this place. Here large quantities of the staple of the province
was brought to be inspected, and stored to await transportation. It
is known that Mr. James Edge, he who gave name to an arm of Broad
Creek, upon which he resided, was in 1741-2 the factor of Mr. Richard
Gildart of Liverpool, whose ships visited Talbot regularly down to the
outbreak of the war of Independence.50 When the people of the colonies
determined, by theh Associations, to permit no English goods to be
introduced, namely in 1775, Mr. Jas. Braddock of St. Michaels, was the
agent of Messrs. GUdart and Gawith, and their ship, the Johnson,
which entered the Eastern bay was prevented by the Committee of
Observation from landing that part of her cargo consigned to Mr.
Braddock. This gentleman owned much property which was subse
quently embraced in the plot of the town, at the date of its incorporation
and survey; and his name was given to one of the squares or wards into
which the town was divided, as will presently be noted. In this very
imperfect sketch of the origin and ante-revolutionary history of Saint
Michaels, it is proper that reference should be made to an independent
merchant whose large transactions in tobacco and other country prod
ucts and whose stocked store of imported goods, were important
factors in the growth of a town in his immediate vicinage. This gentle
man was Mr. Thomas Harrison, who had his place of business on the
arm of Broad Creek that approaches the town, as it were in the rear, at
his farm now called Canton. His store-house stood at the water's edge,
60 Mr. Edge is buried beneath the church at St. Michaels.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 379
near his residence, yet standing, and to it resorted the planters and
traders of Talbot and Dorchester counties to exchange theh tobacco
or other products for goods and wares of foreign importation. This
tobacco and whatever else was fitted for export were sent abroad in
ships lying in Saint Michaels river and harbor. It may not be amiss to
say that Mr. Harrison acquhed a very handsome fortune in this busi
ness which he conducted until his death in 1802, and left to his son, Mr.
Samuel Harrison, who prosecuted the same in the old place until about
1810, when he removed to the town proper which had now grown to a
village of no inconsiderable size, the patronage of whose inhabitants
it was his interest to retain. Mr. Samuel Harrison continued to import
his goods directly from England, down to 1808, at least, and he was
probably the last merchant of this county to participate in the foreign
export and import trade; but it should be stated bis importations at
this date were made through the port of Baltimore, and his exportations,
if any, were through the same. If there were other merchants before the
Revolution at or near St. Michaels, and doubtless there were, theh names
have not been preserved.
From very early dates in the history of this county the business of ship
building had been successfully prosecuted. The vast forests of magnifi
cent pines and oaks which almost completely covered the face of the
country and came down the very water's edge, as though asking to be
launched upon its bosom, furnished ample, excellent and easily procurable
materials for the use of the naval architect; whUe the many deep and
sheltered coves and creeks gave him convenient and inexpensive sites
for shipyards. In no section of the county was the business more
largely and diligently foUowed, as long as the timber lasted, than in
Bay Side, where it has left, to the present day, traces and indications
of its extent in the debris and waste yet lying preserved by the salt water
and to be seen in every neighborhood and where the business stUl sur
vives, though upon a much reduced scale. The tendency which, in
all progressive societies, is shown by the occupations of men, especiaUy
of the commercial and mechanical, to concentrate for their prosecution
at a few points, instead of being widely scattered was manifested there
by the trade of ship building. Without pausing to study the philosophy
of this it is sufficient to say that in such pursuits, differing from the
professional or agricultural, personal and pecuniary interest corroborates
the instinctive gregariousness of men; for in those common effort is
most necessary to success, whUe in these individual effort is all that is
requhed. With the destruction of the timber proximate to the various

380 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ship yards scattered through the county there was a gradual drawing
together of the master builders, and their workmen in the various depart
ments — the ship-wrights, the blacksmiths, the sawyers, the caulkers the
riggers, the sail makers and the painters — at a few locaUties which pre
sented compensating advantages to offset the labor and expense of the
longer transportation of materials. One of these points of concentration
of the ship buUding interest, determined by circumstances very apprecia
ble, was St. Michaels, and its immediate vicinage, where from the earliest
days of settlement it has had an existence. Here, owing to the causes
which have aheady been noticed, and others; here where men assem
bled for traffic, worship or recreation; here where the planters and traders,
with their wives and daughters, resorted upon the arrival of every ship
to partake of the poUtic and calculating hospitaUty of the captains,
which upon these occasions was profusely extended; or where they
came to learn the prices of the Maryland staple in the markets of Europe,
and the political and social news of the great world beyond the ocean;
here where the youth of both sexes from the country around congre
gated on holidays to witness or participate in the horse racing, cock
fighting and other rustic sports; here the young men came to prove
and display theh manhood in feats of strength and agUity and the young
women to parade their personal charms bedecked in the simple finery
of the country, or, in the case of the more fortunate, in the newest
mode from abroad; — here had grown up, as it were, imperceptibly a
hamlet or smaU viUage, chiefly inhabited by mechanics, and those who
lived off their labor, the publicans and small ship-keepers. The mechan
ics were engaged in building or refitting vessels, the shop keepers catered
to theh wants, while the publicans provided entertainment for the
sailors and strangers just arrived from abroad or for the cockerouses81
of the country around.
These, then, were the circumstances under the influence of which a
small straggling viUage of a few humble tenements, occupied by a hun
dred or more people, grew up around the church, and near the ship yards.
The houses had been buUt without regard to order, and the people lived
in peace without government No attempt, down to the time of the
Revolution had been made to assign any limits to or give any regularity
to the village, and no thought or wish had been expressed for municipal
rights and privileges. The few streets were but roads that conformed
61 A term said to be of Indian origin, signifying the chief or great men, and
applied to the large planters as distinguished from the small farmers.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 381
to the natural features of the land and water, and the only laws the in
habitants obeyed, except the general laws of the province, were those
which custom had estabUshed. With the outbreak of the war of the
Revolution closes the first period of the history of the town of Saint
Michaels namely that of its origin and inchoation.
After that happy event the prosperity which had begun to be shown
before, became more marked. Houses, and people to occupy them,
multiplied, business flourished, fortunes, or what was deemed there to
be fortunes, were accumulated by the masters of the numerous ship
yards and the smaU merchants, the workmen Uved in great independence,
comfort and plenty, whUe the people of the adjacent country experienced
the benefits o" having a ready market for their timber and other farm
products. Within the town aU was life and animation, particularly
around the ship yards. The ringing of the heavy broad axe, as it
shaped the tortuous knees or the graceful timbers, the grating of the
whip-saw as it went plunging into the pit, riving the sohd oak; the
thundering of the great hon maul upon the rounding bottom or the
sweeping sides of the ship as it drove the spikes or trunnels home; the
clanging of the caulkers' maUet closing with pitchy oakum the gaping
seam; the roar of the blacksmith's forge as it welded the links of the
ponderous cable; the aeolian strains that awoke as the tightening stays
and shrouds became attuned under the rigger's cunning hands; even
the boisterous chaffing of the sailors awaiting the completion of their
vessels, and the noisy prattle of the urchins whUe picking up the chips
for the evening fire, — all these united in one grand symphony, at once
the sign and the expression of industrial prosperity and happiness.
The Town of Saint Michaels
An hundred years or more had probably elapsed, after the date when
the first traces of Saint Michaels might have been discovered at the
place where it now stands, before any steps were taken to give to the
town which had huddled around the church and ship yards something
of regularity, by the laying off streets and aUeys, to take the place of the
tortuous roads and paths, which made the viUage ways and to mark
and designate by proper fines the lots which were to be built upon. In
the year 1778, during the progress of the war of the Revolution, Mr.
James Braddock, an English gentleman, who was the agent or factor
of Messrs. Gildart & Gawith, Liverpool merchants, at St. Michaels,
and who had come into possession of land in and near the town, laid

382 history of talbot county
off a portion of this land into town lots, and had a plot of the same
properly made by a surveyor. This survey and plot is not upon record,
but is frequently referred to in many deeds of land which he executed
after this date. It is beUeved that Mr. Braddock at this time laid off
the central portion of the town including the public square, of which
mention will be made in the sequel. After Mr. Braddock's death, Mr.
John Thompson, his heir under his exceedingly brief will of a half dozen
lines, in 1783, laid off another portion of land into lots. Of this addition
to the town there is no record, farther than frequent mention of and refer
ence to it in many conveyances. The town continued to grow in size
and in prosperity. By the year 1804 the number of people who had
taken up their residence at Saint Michaels, and had therefore common
interests distinct from the interests of the people of the county in general,
was such that there was felt a desire, or rather there was experienced a
necessity for the acquisition by this community of certain powers,
privileges and immunities which would enable it better to maintain
order and promote its well being. Besides there was a growing con
viction, founded upon the prosperity which prevailed, that the vil'age
would develop into a considerable town requiring municipal government,
with its own proper ordinances and officers. After the matter had been
thoroughly discussed by the people at their voluntary meetings, and by
the principal citizens, upon whom wou'd fall the chief burden of the
new government, in private, it was determined to forward a petition
signed by the residents of the village, to the General Assembly of the
State praying that a charter for a corporate town be granted to the
people of Saint Michaels. Accompanying this petition was a bill
embodying those provis:ons which it was deemed advisable to secure.
This petition and biU were presented to the Legislature at the November
session of 1804, and on the 19th of Jan. 1805 the bill received the final
ratification of the body, and became a law. The following are the
first, second and third sections of the Act of Incorporation.
I. Whereas, it hath been set forth by the petition of sundry inhabi-
ants of Talbot county, that the village now known by the name of
St. Michaels, in said county, has considerably increased in the number
of houses and inhabitants, and have prayed that the said village may be
reacted into a town according to the ancient metes and bounds thereof,
and of the lands adjoining thereto, as laid down in a plot annexed to
said petition, and the prayer of the petitioners appearing reasonable,
therefore II. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland that Robert
Dodson, John Dorgan, James Boid and Thomas S. Haddaway be and

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 383
they are hereby appointed Commissioners, who, or a majority of them,
be and are hereby authorized and directed to resurvey the grounds and
lots within the viUage of Saint Michaels, in Talbot county and to per
petuate the fines and bounds thereof, that is to say, as weU as those
lands and bounds laid off by a certain James Braddock about the year
1778 for the purpose of a town by the name of Saint Michaels, as afore
said, as those gounds or lots which were laid off and sold by a certain
John Thompson, heh and representative of the aforesaid Braddock
on or about the year 1783, for the said purpose; and the said Commis
sioners are hereby directed to resurvey and establish by stone bounda
ries, or such other as they shall consider good and durable, ah the lots,
squares, lanes, ways and aUeys in the said town, agreeably to the old
location, thereof, as made at the time of the first laying off of those
grounds, or as nearly so as they can, and to give to the said squares,
streets, lanes, ways and aUeys, such distinguishing names as they think
proper; and the Commissioners are further hereby authorized and
directed to lay off into lots, streets, ways, lanes and alleys such other
grounds or lands conceded for such purposes as shall be contained
within the limit's herein after prescribed and the same to name and
number as aforesaid.
III. And be it enacted that the bounds and limits of the said town
shall be as foUows, viz.: Beginning at a stone set down by the side
of a cove of Saint Michaels river and running south 66 degrees, 15 min
utes west to a branch of Broad Creek, then up and with said Broad
Creek to the land of Samuel Harrison; then therewith north 81 degrees
east to the main road; then northwardly with said main road to the
land of Robert Richardson's heirs; then therewith to the waters of
Saint Michaels river aforesaid, then with said waters to the beginning;
which said town shall be caUed Saint Michaels.
Of the other sections of this act of incorporation it is not necessary
to give more than a brief abstract.
IV. Provides for the appointment of a surveyor who shall draw a
plot of the town.
V. Provides for a clerk to record the proceedings of the Commissioners
and theh surveyor, to give a plot and perfect description of all lots,
streets, &c, and to file his record with the clerk of the county.
VI. Authorizes the Commissioners to act as such until the first Mon
day in January, 1806, when an election should be held for their succes
sors in office, and it directs that annually upon the same day elections
should be held thereafter, commencing at 9 o'clock in the morning and
closing at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, at which all freemen qualified to
vote for delegates to the General Assembly, should be entitled to vote
by ballot. In this section also the quaUfications of a Commissioner
is defined, and annual choice of a Bailiff required, and the matter of
appointing the judges of election determined.
VII. Settles the time for the meetings of the Commissioners, regu
lates their pay, and prescribes their duties.
VIII. Defines the duties of the Bailiff, and among these was this:

384 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
"to punish with moderate correction under such rules and regulations
as shall be prescribed by the said Commissioners all such negroes and
other slaves as shall be found stroUing or wandering about the streets
in the night time, and frequenting the houses of other persons in said
town, without the consent of their masters."
IX. Prohibits the going at large of geese and swine.
X. Defines the powers of the Commissioners.
The Commissioners appomted by the Act seem not to have proceeded
to the discharge of theh duties until the year 1807. In the meantime
some changes had been made in its constituent membership, Mr. William
Merchant having taken the place of Mr. Boid and Mr. Jas. Dodson
having been added to the Commissioners.
These gentlemen selected Mr. Samuel Tennant, a gentleman resident
in the immediate neighborhood, as their surveyor and proceeded to lay
off the town, according to the act of incorporation, paying due regard
to the lines of the plots of Mr. Braddock and Mr. Thompson. The
streets were laid off sixty feet wide and properly marked by boundary
stones. To these streets were given such names as Talbot (that is the
main street of the town), Mill (that is the street running down to Mill
Point, otherwise Roades' Point), Mulberry, Chestnut, Water, Willow,
Cherry, Locust. Certain aUeys were named Cedar, Carpenter's, Thomp
son's. The whole plot of the town was divided into three squares,
or wards, exclusive of the PubUc square in the centre of the town. Brad-
dock's Square, or ward comprised aU the land from St. Michaels river to
Talbot street and along that street to a stone marked H. Thompson's
Square, or ward comprised all the land bordering on Broad Creek,
extending up to Talbot street. Harrison's Square, or ward comprised
all the land bordering on St. Michaels river below Braddock's Square.52
The Public Square, to which the name of Saint Mary was given was a
body of land near the centre of the town, containing forty-eight thousand
square feet in the shape of a regular paraUelogram, two sides of which
parallel with Talbot street were each two hundred and forty feet in
length, and the other two sides paraUel with Mulberry street two hun
dred feet in length. Apparently this square was enclosed; at least
it is described in the report of the Surveyor as having two gates, each
forty feet wide, and respectively known as the North and South gate.
Besides the land which was laid off, as described, there were other lands
within the limits which were left unsurveyed. Of these a portion
belonged to the vestry of St. Michaels Parish, and was known as Mt.
" The boundaries of the Wards here given are probably sufficiently explicit.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 385
Pleasant, and the Church land: This church land lay within Braddock's
ward or square, and at a subsequent date most of it was sold by direction
of the vestry. After the survey had been completed, the commissioners
drew up a report of their procedures, and, with a plot of the town, filed
it with the Clerk of the county for record; but a dUigent search has not
been able to discover the book in which this report was copied. The
town thus described is situated upon an arm making out from the
South side of St.Michaels river and is about twelve mUes from the
Chesapeake Bay. According to the Coast Survey the Episcopal church
near the centre of the town is in Latitude 38 degrees 46 minutes 58
seconds, and in Longitude 76 degrees 16 minutes 10 seconds west from
Greenwich; and it is eleven mUes and five hundred and seven yards
from the Court House at Easton. The limits of the town as laid off
by these commissioners and theh surveyor remained unaltered until
the year 1852, when upon the petition of sundry of its inhabitants
the legislature authorized that certain lands adjacent to the corporate
lines should be embraced within the corporate limits. These lands
were thus defined in the Acts of Assembly. "Beginning on Talbot
street at a stone which limits the original corporation [of 1804] at the
northeast corner of a lot belonging to the heirs of Richard Harrington
on said street, and running south eighty-three degrees west two hundred
and forty feet to New Street; crossing said street a space of sixty feet
and continuing beyond or west of said street one hundred and twenty
feet; thence paraUel with Talbot street, north two and one-half degrees
west eight hundred and fifty-five feet to Church Neck road thence cross
ing said road north twenty degrees west three hundred and forty-six
feet to the division line between the lands of WUliam Jones and John
N. Hambleton; thence south eighty-seven and one-half degrees east
two hundred and eighty feet to Talbot street, including that portion of
the town not embraced in the former Act. For the purpose of com
pleting this relation of the bounds of the town, reference must be made
to the Act of Assembly of the year 1860, by which the jurisdiction
of the Commissioners was extended over "the waters of St. Michaels
harbor west of a line drawn from Navy Point to Jones' Point." This
same act amended the original charter in certain particulars that need
not here be noted. Again in 1880 another act was passed which con
tained numerous amendments so fuU and comprehensive as to be equiva
lent to a new charter; but as these are not significant of any changes
in the character of the town, or the social condition of the people though
they do indicate increased growth, any detailed statement of them is

386 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
uimecessary. They relate chiefly to the government of the municipality
and for the better conduct of this government the Commissioners were
reduced in number from five to three, were allowed to appoint one of
their number President of the Board, who became virtually Mayor, a
Treasurer, a Clerk and a Bailiff, officers which already had an actual
if not a legal existence. The limits of the town jurisdiction in the har
bor, by this act of 1880 was "a line drawn from Parrott's Point to
Three Cedar Point," so that the whole harbor was included. In the
year 1868 an Act of Assembly had authorized the appointment of a
harbor master. The appointment of this officer and the extending of
the town jurisdiction over the harbor had been rendered necessary by the
development of the oyster industry, which brought a much larger num
ber of vessels into this port, and as a consequence a greater liability to
if not actual increase of disorder. In 1882 there was another Act of
Assembly by which the powers of the Bailiff were extended. It author
ized him to act as conservator of the pubhc peace in any part of the
county of Talbot, and to receive such fees as constables are entitled to
receive. From what has been said in connection with this subject, it is evident
to those acquainted with St. Michaels and its vicinity that the boun
daries as they have been described do not include aU the territory that
should properly belong to the town, for both above and below there
are districts partially buUt over that are not embraced within the limits
of the corporation.
It has already been noted that the period of the inception or beginning
of the town of St. Michaels terminated with the outbreak of the war of
Independence. The same great event marks the commencement of
its growth in population and industrial enterprise. After the Revolu
tion the ship building interest received new impetus, and the construc
tors of vessels to supply the demand which the greatly increased domes
tic and foreign trade created, gave employment to aU the shipwrights
within the county. St. Michaels as the centre of this interest accordingly
prospered. For about forty years, down to 1820, the ship yards in or
near the town were ceaselessly engaged in building all kinds of sailing
craft, from the large sea-going ship to the smallest sloop for bay navi
gation. The masters of these yards contended in generous rivalry who
should carry off the palm for beauty of model, for excellence of work
manship and for despatch in building.53
63 The following, taken from the Republican Star of Nov. 26th, 1805, is illustra
tive of this rivalry. "Improvement in Ship Building. " "On Saturday evening,

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 387
A class of vessels which at one tune possessed a world-wide reputation
for theh saUing quaUties, and for the gracefulness of theh lines, and which
acquired theh name rather from the port out of which they saUed than
from the place of theh construction, probably owed their origin to the
shipyards of St. Michaels, and the skill of the shipwrights of the same
town.54 These were those Baltimore Clippers, which first gave preced
ence to our chief city as the principal entrep6t of the West India trade
in this country, and which during the war of 1812 bestowed upon the
same city the equivocal distinction of being the port of arrival and
departure of the greatest number and of the most successful of the priva
teers that preyed upon the British commerce.
If it should be requhed to assign a date when the ship building interest
had attained its greatest development in and near St. Michaels — when
the town was enjoying its highest prosperity from the prosecution of this
its peculiar business, the year 1810 might safely be given. To be sure
for four or five years previously, as for the same time after there was
no sensible increase or decline except so far as it was affected by the war;
but by the year 1820 many of the yards had been abondoned and those
that were stUl active were conducted with much diminished force and
restricted capital. In or about the year designated, 1810, every ship
wright in the county was fully employee, and aU those mechanics whose
work was necessary in naval construction. It may be interesting and
useful to place upon record the names of some of the ship buUders who
at this date were prosecuting the business at or near St. Michaels.
It is proper to say that this town was the residence of many of the work
men who were employed in yards that were some mUes removed. Two
the 23rd of November was launched in Broad Creek, the elegant and substantially
built ship 'Hope,' burthen nearly 400 tons. We assert (and our assertion is ground
ed upon the opinion of correct judges) that this ship was never equalled in model
nor excelled in workmanship, by any ever built upon the Eastern Shore. — It may
not be amiss to mention that instead of thirty hands, during twelve months,
being necessary for the building of said ship, as was represented by some of the
ship oarpenters of this county, that she was on the stocks but six months and three
days, with fourteen men about one half the time, and the remaining half, from
twenty to twenty-four men, including every person engaged on the ship."
(Signed) "Harrison & Kemp, Ship Builders, St. Michaels, Talbot Co."
" Mr. Edward Spencer himself the descendant of a Talbot shipbuilder, says in
his chapter of "manners and customs" in Scharf's History of Maryland: "It is
held by some that the models of the " Baltimore Clipper " for schooners the fastest
sailing vessels in the world, originated near the town of St. Michaels, in Talbot
county, where ship building has been a hereditary pursuit ever since 1670." —
Scharf's History of Maryland, Vol. ii, page 63.

388 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
of the largest ship builders were the Messrs. Spencer, Col. Perry Spencer
who lived at Spencer Hall, near the town, bad yards at bis own place
upon Broad Creek, and at the vUlage itself. Besides he gave contracts
to other builders, which his own workmen were not able to fill. He is
said to have engaged to build six of the barges that composed the bay
flotilla. Mr. Richard Spencer, his brother, lived at Beverly on Broad
Creek, and carried on ship buUding extensively. His workmen popu
lated Onion HiU, but a portion were inhabitants of St. Michaels. Mr.
William Harrison, of Mount Pleasant, Church Neck, was the builder
of large sea-going vessels and his yard was one of the most extensive
in the county. Mr. Harrison was not a shipwright hhnseU but with
Mr. Levin Blades as his foreman, he was a successful buUder. He gave
sub contracts to Mr. Thomas Hambleton, whose yard was near Hamble-
ton's Island, in Church Neck. Mr. Thomas Wayman built vessels
upon SoUtude Creek. The ship yards just named were near St. Michaels
and many of the workmen had their homes in the town. There were
other yards a httle more remote, as that of Mr. John Dawson at Peck's
Point, that of Mr. James Colston at Clay's Hope, in Ferry Neck, that
of Thomas and James BaU in Broad Creek Neck, and that of James
Collison in Bay Hundred. These were aU tributary to St. Michaels
and might be considered as outlying labor stations of the town. Im
mediately at and within the limits of the town were the yards of
Messrs. Thomas L. Haddaway, Impey Dawson, John Wrightson, Skinner
Harris, John Davis and Joseph Kemp.55 Mr. John Dorgan was largely
engaged in building, but he was not a shipwright. He was a ship-smith,
and employed others in the construction of vessels. In 1817 he was
associated in ship buUding with Mr. Cooper. WilUam Merchant was
65 The information respecting these ship yards has been derived from personal
recollections of aged citizens of St. Michaels: of whom special mention may be
be made of Mr. Jeremiah Harrison, now deceased, and Mr. Robert Lambdin, who
in hale old age still survives. The last named is himself a ship builder, and followed
his calling for many years at St. Michaels. He has been kind enough to furnish
recollections of the "fellow craft." of the date to which reference is made, in
writing, and the compiler of these annals wishes to make his acknowledgments
to Mr. Lambdin for his courtesy in furnishing the data embodied in the text.
His memory of ship building and ship builders extends over more than sixty years.
His first work with the broad-axe was in hewing the oars for the barges built by
Col. Spencer for the flotilla, and as he still occasionally wields the same imple
ment in the ship yard of his son who has succeeded him, may it be long before
the annalist shall have to record that he has struck his last blow.
Messrs. Thomas L. Haddaway and Impey Dawson had each a vessel upon the
stocks when the British attacked the town in 1813.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 389
another ship-smith, and was interested in ship buUding. It is not to be
supposed that aU the persons named as buUders at St. Michaels were car
rying on at the same time and at different yards. It was customary
to form temporary copartnerships, when the contracts were heavy.
And again it was common for the owner of the timber, the master
workman in wood, the master workman in iron, the merchant furnishing
supplies for the famUies of all, journeymen included, to form a partner
ship for the buUding of a ship, and to divide the profits, according to a
certain proportion when the ship was sold and paid for. In truth, there
were but few ship buUders in the county, except the Messrs. Spencer
and Mr. William Harrison, able from theh resources to construct a
ship of five hundred tons. One of the merchants most largely interested
in this industry was Mr. Samuel Harrison, who succeeding his father,
Mr. Thomas Harrison, in business in Broad Creek, at Canton, moved
his store to St. Michaels about 1810, and there conducted a most profit
able trade in making advances to ship buUders, both money and sup
plies, and in co-partnerships with practical workmen of deficient capital,
but of abundant skUl. After the war of 1812, Mr. Harrison owned a
large vessel in the West India trade, buUt in Talbot, and it was for the
purpose of furnishing outward freight for this vessel, that his large mill,
heretofore referred to, was built.
After the close of the war with Great Britain say from 1815, the ship
building interest sensibly declined. The ship timber easily accessible
began to grow scarcer, and more difficult to be procured; but the princi
pal influence that affected this interest was the growth of the city of
Baltimore, not only as a great emporium of commerce, but as the point
at which naval construction was concentrating. Some large vessels con
tinued to be buUt in Talbot, but by the year 1820 or 1825, the work
of the yards was almost whoUy given to the fabrication of the smaUer
craft adapted to bay navigation. By the last named year ship buUding
had so dwindled that it could no longer be considered a leading indus
try of the county and especially of the town of St. Michaels. It may be
said to have been almost whoUy extinguished for a number of years, but
there was a revival in or about the year 1840, from which time it has been
pursued with very considerable energy, two or more yards having been
active down to the present time. Within this period, -hat is from 1840
to the present, the representatives of the ship binding interest in
the town may be regarded as being Mr. Edward WUey and Mr. Robert
Lambdin. At the date of this writing, (Dec. 1882), there are three
active shipyards in St. Michaels, that of Robert Lambdin & Sons,

390 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Thomas H. Kirby & Co., Thomas L. Dawson, which are giving employ
ment to many workmen in the construction of the smaller varieties of
sailing craft, such as coasting schooners, pungies, and that peculiar form
of naval architecture known by the cacophonous name of bug-eye, which
seems to be a hybrid produced by the cross of shallop and canoe.59
That period in the history of the town now under review that is from
the Revolution to 1850, and which may be called its period of organiza
tion and growth was characterized by the prosecution, expansion and
temporary extinction of that industry which has just been noticed.
But coincidently, and in a large degree consequently, the town during
this period manifested signs of development and progressive improve
ment. A better class of houses began to be erected within the decade
commencing with the year 1805, and something of permanency and
substantialness was shown by the employment of brick instead of
wood for the construction of buUdings. About this time was erected by
Mr. William Merchant the house lately used as a residence for the min
ister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, also the house at the S.E.
corner of Talbot and Mulberry' streets, now occupied by Mr. Denny
Williams, was built by Mr. Wrightson Jones; also the house at the N.E.
corner of the same streets, now owned by Mr. John Harper, was built
by Mr. Dooris. Col. Kemp built the house now occupied by Mr. Oliver
Sparks, Mr. Samuel Harrison built the brick store house, burned down
some years ago, (1870, March 28), upon the ground now occupied by
Stephen Harrison, and to this store house he transferred his business
from his farm, Cannon. In or about the year 1819 this gentleman,
who was a man of great enterprise, erected in the town the first steam
mill that was ever built upon the Eastern Shore. It stood upon the
point of land where the ship yard of Mr. Kirby now is, and was built
upon a large scale, being intended by its owner to be a merchant mill
for the. manufacture of flour for exportation to the West Indies and the
Spanish coast of South America. The machinery was of the most
approved and expensive character, and aU the appointments of the
mill were in keeping. A portion of the machinery had been used in
and were a part of a horse mill, which Mr. Harrison had erected upon
bis farm, Canton and which stood upon a lot now within the town limits,
56 While the orign of this term bug-eye, though of very recent date, is involved
in hopeless obscurity, it being probably a mere vulgar locution without signifi
cance, the name 'pingy' may almost certainly be traced to a river or creek of the
E. S. of Virginia called the Pongueteogue, where possibly this description of craft
may have first been built.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 391
near the place where the Masonic Hall now stands. This horse miU
performed such good work, and was so remunerative as to encourage the
owner to the undertaking the larger enterprise, which was not successful,
but resulted in very considerable pecuniary loss to the owner. Many
years later, after the miU had long remained idle, it was taken down,
to give place to the ship yard of Mr. Edward Willey; but in 184- another
steam miU, smaUer, simpler, and of more modern machinery was erected
upon Gibson's or Navy Point — that point which Ues to the right of the
approach to the inner harbor' — by a joint stock company. This null
supplied a neighborhood want, for wind-mills, which had been the
reliance of the fanners from the very settlement of the county, were
disappearing, and it was therefore successful. It was destroyed by fire
in February, 1860, but quickly rebuUt upon the same site. This miU
was destroyed by an explosion of the boilers in 1864, and in its stead
another was buUt near the same place, which is stUl in existence and at
work. To encourage the farmers of the vicinity to fetch theh garden, orchard
and dairy products to the town for sale to the inhabitants, a market house
was erected about the year 1805, in the centre of St. Marys' square. It
seems to have accomphshed its purposes very imperfectly, as the oldest
people do not remember to have seen it occupied as a place for the sale
of provisions. If it ever was used for this purpose, it was quickly
abandoned; and soon after the war of 1812-15 it was a kind of armory,
where were placed those cannon which were presented to the town by
Mr. Jacob Gibson as a peace offering for the alarm he had caused by
his escapade in 1813, elsewhere related. These cannon having been
removed to the armory at Easton, the market house was about the time
when public or primary schools were introduced into the county, say
in 1835, converted into a school-house, and such it remained, until
better accommodations were provided at the lower end of the town,
when it was demolished.
In the year 1810 the buUding of a new church for the use of the con
gregation of the Protestant EpiscopaUans was begun, but this was not
completed until 1815. The church of 1810 was demolished in 1878, and
on the 14th of August of the same year the corner stone of the beautiful
structure, now standing, was laid. This church was dedicated Nov.
1, 1882, having been completed some months before. The "people
called Methodists" very early had a large brick church fronting upon
St. Mary's square, which was erected about the year 1781-82." This
" That is the date of the deed of the land upon which this meeting bouse was
built.

392 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
church was torn down in the year 1839-40, and another erected in its
stead, which though stUl standing is used for the accommodation of a
High School, the congregation having removed to a more commodious
edifice, built in 1870-81 upon Talbot street. This was dedicated July
12th, of the last named year.
In the year 1813 the existence of vessels upon the stocks, including
some of the barges for the flotUla, invited an attack from the British then
in control of the bay. This attack was handsomely repelled by the
militia from the town and county. A fuU and particular account of this
affair and all the attendant circumstances, has been published among
these contributions, in the Easton Ledger of June and July, 1882, so
there is no need to do more than refer to these incidents in the history
of the town.
The second period, that of organization and growth, or what may be
designated as the ship buUding period, terminated with the thhd decade
of this century. With the year 1830, commences the third period of
its history, extending down to the present. The last ten years of the
preceding period was marked by a very sensible decline of prosperity.
The ship buUding which had been its support graduaUy, after the war
with England, gravitated towards Baltimore or had found other local
ities more favorable for its prosecution. The ship carpenters moved
to that city or to the lower part of the peninsula where timber was more
readily and cheaply obtained. These ten years from 1820 to 1830
were years of privation and actual suffering. There was much pov
erty and destitution, particularly among the aged, the infirm and
the weaker sex. The waters of St. Michaels river furnished abun
dance of oysters and fish, and the capturing of these afforded a
yet unrenumerative employment to a few men, whUe the women
eked out a Uvelihood by spinning and weaving for the neighboring
farmers. The town was stiU the home of some persons following the
various handicrafts, which they plied in the country around. The neces
sity of resorting to the water for a large part of the animal food consumed
in the town gradually produced a class of men who foUowed fishing and
oystering, and particularly the latter as a constant and only employ
ment, selling their captures either to the citizens of the town or to boat
men who occasionaUy carried a cargo to the city of Baltimore. Thus a
great business originated. At first it was confined merely to the supply
of home consumption, and was necessarily very restricted. But with
the growth of our chief city in population there was a corresponding
increment; but even down to a comparatively late date this business

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 393
was very limited, for the whole bay as weU as the rivers of Virginia
yielded this living harvest, and the market of so smaU a city as Baltimore
was readily suppUed from such extensive fields. But a beginning was
made for the building up of a large industry. In the year 1830, we find
this industry receiving a very wonderful impulse by the opening of the
Delaware & Chesapeake canal,58 and from this time we must date the
commencement of the thhd distinctive period of the history of the town
—a period characterized by tbis new and profitable pursuit. Tbis
canal by enabling vessels of smaU tonnage to pass directly from our
bay to PhUadelphia and thence through the New Jersey improvements
to New York, gave to the oystermen of Saint Michaels the advantage
of the markets of three cities instead of one, and they were not slow to
avail themselves of it. From this time the town began to resume its
former prosperity; the population, which had dhnhushed in numbers,
began to increase, comfort took the place of want and competence that
of poverty. New houses began to be built, and old ones to be repahed
and renovated. Merchants brought theh goods, finding here a profitable
market, and professional men settled among a people able to pay for
their services. The dying or dead trade of ship buUding, a Uttle later,
say in 1840, was resuscitated, and then the once famUiar sounds rever
berated in the long stagnant air, and some of the deserted ship yards
put on their old animation. The weekly packet of Capt. Dodson's
was constrained to surrender at last her human freight, to the more
certain and regular steamer, that touched at the wharf, while the casual
and cumbersome sloop that carried a cargo of oysters now and then gave
place to a whole fleet of Ught, shapely, swift and staunch pungies,
owned or freighted by the citizens of the town. As one or another of
this fleet anchored in the harbor, and displayed the signal that indicated
her readiness to receive a fresh cargo, she was soon surrounded, not by
rude and ungainly dug-outs, crank and ugly, besmeared with pitch, and
propelled by the paddle or square saU, extemporized it may be from
some discarded sheet or blanket — such as were seen even while the ship
wrights were constructing these marvels of naval architecture, the so-
called Baltimore Clippers — but by those marine beauties the modern
canoes, graceful in theh fines, resplendent in theh colors, light in their
structure, swift and aerial in their movements — the very butterflies of
sea, flitting from bar to bar, as from parterre to parterre, carrying off
this luscious spoil. Upon this industry the town has mainly depended
18 This canal was formally opened for trade, July 4th, 1829.

394 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
and still depends. It has grown in extent and magnitude, and though
there are apprehensions, not ill founded, that the exhaustion of the oyster
beds in Miles River and the Eastern Bay is not a remote calamity, the
returns of labor are stiU sufficiently remunerative to sustain a larger
population than has ever before lived within the town, and to encourage
an increase of the number. The fleet of oyster canoes is now more nu
merous than it has ever been, and human labor with the tongs has been
supplemented by mechanical contrivances, such as drags and scrapes, so
that more oysters are taken than at any previous period. No more
beautiful sight, of the kind, can be offered to the eye, than is witnessed
upon every fine morning in the faU of the year, when this minature fleet
of more than a hundred sail boats start from the harbor of Saint Michaels
for the oyster grounds, unless it be the return of the same after a day
spent in profitable labor. Almost daUy, if there be wind, there is pre
sented a regatta that would deUght the eye of the rich yachtman of our
great cities, for there are constant contests of speed and seamanship.
Though there may be no competition for silver cups as the prize of the
winner, there is a generous rivalry between the owners who shall display
the whitest and most nicely fitting sails, who shall best preserve the
brightness and freshness of his paint, who shaU show the cleanest bottom
to the eye of the wind, who shaU have the hold of his little ship, when
the dirty work of the day is over, in the neatest condition. Of late
years this oyster business has developed in another direction than the
capturing of the sheU-fish, that is to say some of the citizens of the
town have engaged in shucking the oysters, and putting them either in
tin cans, or in barrels for transportation to distant points. This branch
of the business is now conducted upon a scale, which, though not com
parable with that of the same business in the city of Baltimore, is most
respectable, and is giving employment to a class of laborers which could
not undergo the hardships of oyster fishing. For the development
of this form of industry the town is chiefly indebted to Mr. WUliam
WUlis, though as a matter of fact, it ,wa,s introduced here by others
who preceded him, but who did not prosecute it with the same vigor
and success.
For many years the people of St. Michaels, from what date is not
apparent, had neglected theh corporate duties and privUeges in failing
to elect commissioners of theh town. In January, 1846, an attempt
was made to revive theh municipal government, and on the first Mon
day of that month and year an election was held for town officers,

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 395
commissioners and bailiff, under the act of 1804.6' But these officers
failed to qualify, as "doubts were entertained as to the power of said
inhabitants now to hold an election for said officers." A petition was
therefore forwarded to the General Assembly from the people praying
that the act of 1804 be revived, which prayer was granted, the old act
being declared to be in Ml force, and the inhabitants authorized to
appoint two judges and one clerk of election, who were empowered to
open the polls at the School House on the first Monday in 1848. At
this election Mr. Richard C. Lane and Mr. Oliver Harrison were judges,
and Mr. John Hope was clerk, the foUowing gentlemen were chosen
commissioners of the town: Mr. James B. Way, Dr. John MUler,
Messrs. WUUam Harrison, Edward WUley, and WUUam Weeden.
Mr. Thomas H. W. Lambdin was chosen Bailiff. The old books of
record of the Commissioners were found in the possession of Mr. Rigby
VaUiant. Between the 19th of Sept. and the 19th of December of the
same year a re-survey of the town which had been ordered was completed
by Mr. Fitzgerald, who presented a plot in the preparation of which he
was aided by the older surveys. From this time to the present the
municipal government has been maintained by regular elections, held
according to law; and due record has been made and preserved of the
proceedings and ordinances of the Board of Commissioners. This
board now contains but three members, under the act of 1880, and is
constituted of these gentlemen: Mr. WiUiam E. SeweU, President or
Mayor; Mr. John W. Dean, Secretary or Clerk; and Mr. George W.
Lambdin. In the Maryland Herald, pubUshed at Easton, of June 9th, 1801,
is the following announcement: "The PubUc are hereby informed that
a maU from Annapolis, via Haddaway's Ferry wUl arrive at Easton by
12 o'clock on every Saturday and return from Easton at 3 o'clock on
the same day." This is here inserted to mark the time when first a
Post Office was established in St. Michaels. The first postmaster is
known to have been Mr. James Dodson, 1802, who was succeeded suc
cessively by Richard Harrington 1811, WUUam Roberts 1816, James
Pursley 1817, James Dodson 1825, Thomas Auld 1832, Henry Seng-
stack 1839, Thomas Bruff 1841, John Jefferson 1841, Leonidas Dodson
1844, Arthur J. Loveday 1845, John K. Skinner 1846, Joseph Spencer
" The statement in the text has been taken from authentic records; yet there
is ground for belief that an election of commissioners was held in 1845, but like
that of 1846 its legality was questioned.

396 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
1852, William W. VaUiant 1852, Socrates M. Ridgaway 1852, Henry
P. Montague 1852, John W. Dean 1854, Henry F. Bryne 1855, Thomas
W. Blades 1856, John K. Skinner 1858, John A. Bruff 1861, Henry C.
Dodson 1862, Robert A. Dodson 1878, Gustavus K. Benson 1883. The
measure of the increase of mail matter, at the office of this town, as in
all others, is a measure of the increase of population, wealth and intel
ligence, from the time when that matter was received but once a week
and was carried about the town in the hat or pocket of the post master
to the present, when there is daUy mail received from and sent to points
above and below the town of very considerable weight and varied
contents. During the first or formative period of the town's history there was
little communication with other portions of the province or with the
neighboring provinces, for domestic commerce could hardly be said
to exist, and travel was neither a necessity nor a luxury, with much
the greater part of the people. Communication was frequent and direct
with the mother country by means of the tobacco ships, and with the
West Indies by vessels trading between these islands and Maryland.
In fact beyond those necessaries which the county afforded, the people
had few wants, for they were simple and abstemious in theh habits of
fife, and the nomadism which characterizes the modern Americans
had not yet been adopted. What domestic communication existed was
chiefly by shaUops, sloops and other small sailing vessels for the longer
journeys, or by barges or canoes, propeUed by oars for the shorter.
In the second period of the town's history, Baltimore assumed a pre
cedence of the towns of Maryland, and then it was regular packets
began to ply between St. Michaels and this emporium of trade. Fine
sloops and schooners, with comfortable, if indeed it may not be said
luxurious accommodations for passengers, departed and arrived at stated
times. Among the captains of these packets, in the early years of the
present century were Capt. Robert Dodson, and Capt. Impey Dawson.
A Uttle later were Capt. Wm. Dodson and Capt. Edward Dodson.
These packets continued theh service until the introduction of steam
boats into St. Michaels river, which was almost co-temporaneous with
the beginning of the thhd period of the history of the town. To be sure
as early as 1817 the very primitive steamer Surprise passed up the river
without making a landing at the town; and aU the inhabitants went to
the shores to gaze upon this great novelty in navigation. The Surprise
was commanded by Capt. Jonathan Spencer, son of Col. Perry Spencer
of Spencer Hall. It was not until 1839 that steam communication was

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 397
established between this town and Baltimore when the steamer Paul
Jones, Capt. James. Fookes, made her appearance in the harbor.60 Since
that time, with occasional interruptions, there have been steamboats
regularly plying upon this route. The Paul Jones was succeeded in
1842 by the Osiris, Capt. John D. Turner, and she by so many others
that they need not be mentioned. At the present time the propeUer
Olive, owned as weU as commanded by natives of St. Michaels, affords
steam communication with the commercial capital of the State, but is
believed to be very inadequate for the travel and freight which de
mand accommodation.
The people of St. Michaels have always been mostly those who were
employed in the laborious avocations. They were saUors, mechanics,
oystermen. The women were spinners, knitters and weavers as long
as those employments could be made profitable. A few merchants
from the first existed among them, and of late years this class of citizens
has been more numerous than was advantageous. A smaUer number
of professional men have had residence in the town. The first physician61
who made his home here was Dr. Anthony Thompson, in 1815; the
first lawyer was the Hon. John Bozman Kerr in 1858; and the first
settled clergyman, not to mention the Methodist ministers who are by
the necessities of theh itinerant system but sojourners, was the Rev.
Dr. Spencer, in 1843. There have been but few of the citizens to accumu
late large wealth; of those the most conspicuous was Mr. Saml. Harri
son, who has been frequently mentioned. Comfortable independence
based upon frugality and industry, has characterized the economical
condition of the people. But there have always been many poor among
them. From the time of the decline of ship budding to its revival and
the beginning of the oyster industry, the town had more than the usual
proportion of necessitous people. In truth it may be said that during
this period poverty was the rule, and competence the exception. From
about the year 1840 the town became the residence of persons of means,
and it now contains many citizens of moderate, though not large wealth;
but a general level of pecuniary independence prevails, and while a
few rise slightly above, there is none except the old and afflicted that
need fall much below tbis level, for labor finds constant and remunera
tive employment.
10 In an article published in the St. Michaels Comet it is stated the Paul Jones
was running in 1838 upon Miles Saver commanded by Capt. George W. Russell.
" Dr. Francis Rolle, of Rolle's Range, and Dr. James Benson of Maiden Point,
were physicians, living near the town at a very early date. Later Dr. John Bar-
nett settled between the Royal Oak and St. Michaels.

398 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
The manners that once and for a long time prevaUed in the town were
those of a simple people so intently engaged in providing for the urgent
wants of life that they were precluded from cultivating the social ameni
ties. The truth compels the declaration that such a people, not having
those restraints upon the passions and those correctives of theh con
duct which are so influential in giving a decorous tone to a society
existing under other conditions, too often presented examples of some
thing grosser than the merely unbecoming. It is to be feared that what
used to be said was too true, that the courts had more cases of mis
demeanors and other petty offences committed by the people of St.
Michaels than by any conununity of the same numbers in the county.
This evil reputation gave rise to the Ubel upon this town, which some
were fond of repeating — even those to whom it appUed as readily as
to any others, for they were of the same stock, that it was originally
settled by convicts and theh descendants, who had transmitted their
vices and ignorance. This slander had its origin, doubtless in the
fact that convicts during the colonial regime were landed here, as they
were landed at almost every other point of debarcation.62 What was
said at first in mere badinage or banter was perpetuated by spite or
malice. There is reafiy no other foundation for this imputation than
the one assigned, and there is no stronger probabiUty that the inhabi
tants of St. Michaels, or any of them, were the descendants of convict
servants, than that the people of any town where such involuntary
immigrants were landed, are the progeny of this class of transports.
Poverty has no greater evil than that it makes its victims ridiculous.
But whatever may have been once the social condition of the town, with
increase of wealth and inteUigence has come a corresponding improve
ment in morals, manners, and indeed, in aU the elements of civilization;
so that no citizen of St. Michaels need fear a comparison of his town with
any other of its class in the State.
The two agencies which next after a remunerative industry — the most
powerful of them aU — were most influential in amehorating the condi
tion of society in St. Michaels, were religion and education. The first
period of its religious history corresponds with the colonial period of
the political history of the commonwealth. During this period the
« Of the landing, at Deep Water Point at the mouth of St. Michaels harbor,
of the notorious vagrant and petty thief, Bampfy d Moore Carew, the prince of
beggars and the King of the gypsies, and of his adventures here, an account ab
stracted from his autobiography by the compiler of these annals was published
in the Easton Star, of Aug. 27th, 1872.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 399
people of St. Michaels, as most others in the province, were under the
religious guidance of the rectors of the parish; and here, at least, this
guidance if not scrupulously foUowed, seems not to have been obsti
nately resisted; though it is recorded that when the first church was to
be bunt under the law of 1694, the people objected. This may have
been, however, an objection to the tax, not to the form of reUgion.
In truth there were no sectaries worth mention, for even the Quakers
assembled no meeting here, though they had a smaU congregation
below, nearer the bayside. The people accepted the reUgion as estab
lished by law (1694-1702) but tbis reUgion was by most of them re
garded as a kind of moral constabulary rather than an agency for the
consulting human despondency and the strengthening human infirmi
ties. There was too much officialism in its character to afford the in
spiration of high motive or noble endeavor — too much mere decorum
to awaken earnestness. Yet in aU probabUity the services at the parish
church were attended with commendable regularity by the piously
disposed, at least, and the poU tax of thirty or forty pounds of tobacco
for the support of the minister was paid promptly, even though reluc
tantly in many cases. But a people like those of St. Michaels requhed
something more than or something different from the staid and sober
ritual of the church of England and the unimpassioned sermons of the
excellent parson Nicols, or the equaUy good parson Gordon. The
arguments by the former against the deism of TindaU and Toland had
no meaning to a people who had never learned to doubt, and condemna
tion by the latter of the enthusiasm of Whitefield and Wesley were
uninteUigible to those whose religion, if they had any which was definable,
was that of emotion or feeling. The Friends made theh appearance in
Talbot at or about the date of its organization, and though this county
was one of theh strongholds in America, they were never numerous in
Bayside, and scarcely had existence in St. Michaels. One hundred years
later appeared a new reUgion which was in a certain sense the spiritual
successor of Quakerism, even then dying out. The coming in of this
new sect was also coincident in time with the inauguration of a new
poUtical regime. In 1777 Joseph CromweU, an UUterate, but a strong
minded as weU as devout man, first preached methodism in St. Michaels;
and the kind of methodism he proclaimed is that which to this day
prevails, unaltered in any essential trait.
In 1778 Freeborn Garrettson held a meeting near the town and then
and there were exhibited those strange paroxysmal phenomena in the
persons of the people of St. Michaels which are still presented, in seasons

400 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
of religious revival, without any diminution of theh original violence and
impressiveness. Though a skeptical phUosophy has attempted to reason
it away, sectarian jealousy to sneer it down, and even irreverent ridicule
to laugh it out of existence, here primitive methodism, with aU its pecu
liarities still survives, the reUc of an age of stronger faith in spiritual
things, and of more sober views of the world that is and of the world
to come. That Methodism so quickly took root, and so rapidly spread
that in a few years it occupied about the whole ground, is evidence that
the seed which were sown by the early husbandmen fell in congenial
soil. That it continues to flourish here in aU its original vigor and
purity is evidence, also, of its adaptation to the reUgious wants of this
people, who find it an aid . to holy inspiration, a contentment of theb,
religious yearnings, and a rule of righteous conduct in life. That it
has been beneficial to this community, few would venture to question;
and though the strictness of its regiment may have given to it an air
of sobriety, sometimes deepening into puritanical gloom, and though
it may have afforded opportunities for hypocrisy to practice its decep
tions, unquestionably open vice has been rebuked with a severity that
has had no qualification, and private conduct regulated by a straight
line that no priestly casuistry or complaisance was aUowed to deflect.
Of early Methodism in St. Michaels, John Hanna and John Dorgan
were not unworthy exemplars — men who were not only fervid in their
piety but correct in theh Uves and conversation — men of whom no
evU could be said, with truth, and of whom, in fact, nothing was said,
until they exhibited as perhaps too strenuous insistence upon the adop
tion of theh views of church pohty, in 1828, and even then partisan
rancor dared not to impeach theh christian character. Later Garrison
West and Thomas Keithly best Ulustrated its peculiarities. Both of
these were devout and irreproachable men. Enthusiasts they may have
been, but theh enthusiasm raised them from the low plane of their
humble lives into a region of spiritual exaltation, with its purer moral
atmosphere. Of these two, the most notable was Garrison West.
If ever man deserved canonization, it was this humble, ignorant, but
truly holy man. The most diligent advocatus diaboli could find no spot
nor flaw in him; and if his remains, now lying in the old churchyard,
perform no miracles such as are attributed to the enshrined relics of
many a mediaeval saint — if they heal no physical blindness, if they
cure no fleshly ulcers — who shaU say what moral cecity, what spiritual
sores they have not removed. Those who have seen him when alive
in his moments of ecstasy and exaltation, when his large coarse features

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 401
seemed to glow with more than earthly Ught, and his uncouth language
thrilled the hearer like the words of a Hebrew prophet, or Grecian python
ess, might be pardoned if fancy led them to beheve they saw the very
aureola of sainthood encircling his venerable head. The memory of
this good man is a perpetual benediction upon this community.
That the primitive character of the reUgion of some of the Methodists
of St. Michaels has not changed, was singularly Ulustrated by the
incident of'the removal, in the year 186- of the smaU organ which some
of the progressive brethren had succeeded in placing in the church, and
the setting it adrift in the river, where it was found and brought to
land amidst the jeers of the conservative party in the congregation.
This removal was effected secretly and at night, but by whom has never
been certainly known, though suspicion pointed to some members of
the communion who had been open and strenuous in theh opposition
to the introduction of a musical instrument into the church, conscien
tiously beUeving that worship should be conducted without the aid
of mechanical contrivances, and should be strictly personal and spiritual.
The matter was investigated by the church authorities and even by
the grand jury of the county; but the act was not traced to any one.'3
In the year 1828 the congregation of Methodists had grown so large
and strong that divisions crept in among them. A violent controversy
arose not here alone, but throughout the connection, respecting the
powers of the Bishops and Presiding Elders and the Ught of lay repre
sentation in the councils of the church. St. Michaels was a point
where the contest was as warm as at any part of the field of battle.
This controversy resulted in a division of the people. Those who
seceded from the old organization, caUed by theh opponents "Radicals,"
built a place of worship upon St. Mary's square, within hearing of the
people of the "Old Side" meeting house. The discord produced by
** One good and venerable man, opposed to novelties in public worship, upon
the introduction of the organ forsook the church whose worship, as he thought
had been profaned by the use of mechanical adjuvants and joined a rival commu
nion. But when this too adopted the same obnoxious contrivances, he forsook
it also, and having no other to connect himself with, he now makes his own home
his sanctuary. Bus sincerity no one doubts, and all admire his consistency.
An anecdote of this organ is worth recording. The morning after the disappear
ance from the church of the melodeon, one of those most violently opposed to its
admission, called joyously to another of the same sentiment: "It is gone, John!
It is gone!" "What is gone?" answered his friend. "The hellodion," was the
reply of the pious brother, using a paronomasia that had in it more of wit than
holiness— that savored more of salt than sanctity.

402 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
their separate but simultaneous psabnody only too fitly symbolized
their disagreements upon ecclesiastical pohty. Peace and amity
however, now subsists between the jarring sections of Methodism
and even musical harmony is not violated since the Methodist Protes
tants buUt theh new meeting-house at the corner of Talbot and Chest
nut streets. Theh old meeting house upon the square was converted
into a school house, but it has now whoUy disappeared.
On the 13th of Aug., 1879, the centennial of the introduction of
Methodism into St. Michaels was celebrated with interesting and impres
sive ceremonies and services, in which a large number of the clergy
men who had exercised theh ministerial functions, at various times, in
this town, and many laymen from a distance participated, in fraternal
union with the resident members of this communion.
Of that other agency which has been mentioned as having been instru
mental in amehorating the original social rudeness of St. Michaels we
know but httle, in the ante-Revolutionary or formative period of the
town's history. That there were schools in the town and neighborhood
supported by private subscription there can be httle doubt. But
when the teachers were convict or indentured servants, the grade of
these schools must have been low. Unquestionably many of the poor
were excluded from the tuition of even these teachers, brought from
the transport ships. In the second period, subsequent to the Revolu
tion, there was newly awakened interest in the subject of education,
as in aU others relating to the pubhc welfare. The stimulating influence
of that political convulsion has never been duly appreciated. Schools
supported by the subscription of patrons multiplied, and the character
of the teachers employed improved. Many were the poor mechanics
who saved from theh weekly wages the sum to pay for the winter's
schooling of their boys; many the poor widows who spun and wove to
earn the doUar a month which went to simUar laudable purposes. But
stUl, down to a time much within the recollection of men now living
the educational character of the town was that of UUteracy. It was
not untU primary schools supported from the pubhc funds were instituted
under a law framed and presented to the Legislature in 183464 by a
gentleman as nearly identified with the town as was Mr. Richard Spen
cer, that education began to be general. From this time to the present
M Teackle's School Law of 1825-6, though approved by Talbot, never went into
practical effect. Bruff's School Law of 1833 also failed of its purposes. The law
known as Spencer's School Law, the first to be operative, was passed March 15th,
1834.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 403
the people of St. Michaels have with an ardor that is really exceptional,
cherished theh schools as theh dearest possession, so that now the
reproach of UUteracy under which they long rested is almost enthely
removed, exceedingly few of its citizens, probably none native to the
place, except colored people, being without the rudiments of an educa
tion; whUe there are many quite as weU informed as people of theh
social grade in any community. In the year 1840 Mr. Matthew Spencer
established an English and classical school in the town under an act of
incorporation. This school was not successful, and in 1843 his brother,
Dr. Joseph Spencer succeeded him.6* In the year 1852 a school of high
grade for young ladies was established in the town by Mrs. M. A. Patti-
son, an English lady; but it had a brief existence, and is worthy of notice
only as being the first of its kind in St. Michaels. In the year 1857 a
number of the citizens of the town and vicinity united for the purpose
of securing superior education for theh daughters by the employment
of teachers of requisite qualifications. This resulted in the establish
ment of the St. Michaels Female Academy. The buUding that was
originaUy buUt for a place of worship by the congregation of Methodist
Protestants, situated upon St. Mary's Square, and last occupied by the
High School, was fitted up for school purposes, and Miss Hahn, now the
accomplished wife of a principal citizen, was employed as teacher. This
school flourished for a number of years and was successful in the intro
duction of higher education for the female youth, than had been known
in this town and section of the county. In the year 1865 there was a
15 In the year 1845 the commissioners of the town were involved in a controver
sy with Mr. Matthew Spencer, then teaching at Princess Ann, respecting a bell
which had been purchased by subscriptions of the citizens, including Mr. Spen
cer himself, and which was used for calling Mr. Spencer's school, as well as for
purposes other than educational. This controversy was of a most extraordinary,
ridiculous and scurrilous character. It gave to Mr. Spencer the opportunity for
indulging his favorite and most characteristic vein of satire and ridicule and
giving vent to his spleen against the people of the town who had not shown, as he
thought, a proper appreciation of his merits as a teacher. It gave to the citizens,
through their representatives, the opportunity to be revenged upon Mr. Spencer,
who had long delighted in ridiculing in his own inimitable way their peculiar
habits, their social customs, their lack of culture, their humble avocations, and
even their origin and religion. This controversy, conducted at first in the news
papers and afterwards in hand bills, is too personal and ribald to be admittted into
this contribution, but it is exceedingly amusing, and illustrative not only of the
mental traits of the accomplished and eccentric man who took the principal part
but of the life that was lived by the citizens of Saint Michaels at the date of its
appearance.

404 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY '
reorganization of the pubUc schools of the county and towns under the
general school law of the same year, when a new impulse was given to
popular education. Graded schools were here established and the
foundation laid for a High School which however was not organized
untU the revised state law went into operation. The foUowing memo
randa kindly furnished by Alexander Chaplain, Esq., School Examiner,
give the names of the teachers of this school and the dates of theh ap
pointment :
St. Michaels High School opened Monday, Sept. 19, 1870. Teachers:
Principal, George E. Haddaway; Assistant, Mary E. Orr.
Miss M. Emma Wrightson succeeded Miss Orr as assistant teacher
in September, 1872.
The High School occupied the new rooms provided for it on Wednes
day, the 25th of March, 1874, with George E. Haddaway as principal,
Miss M. Emma Wrightson as first assistant, and Thomas J. Warren ,
as second assistant.
Thomas J. Warren resigned as second assistant October 20, 1874,
and was succeeded by Miss Alice McDaniel, who was the first graduate
of the school.
George E. Haddaway resigned as principal, and his connection with
the school closed on the 15th day of July, 1878.
He was succeeded by A. Stuart Marye.
Miss Ann Margaretta Tilghman succeeded Miss Wrightson as first
assistant in September, 1879.
A. Stuart Marye resigned as principal March, 1880, andwas succeeded
by Edward Reisler.
Miss Ann Margaretta TUghman resigned as first assistant, and Miss
Alice McDaniel was promoted to the place of first assistant, and Miss
Mary E. Loud was appointed second assistant.
So the teachers are now Edward Reisler, Principal; Alice McDaniel,
First Assistant; Mary E. Loyd, Second Assistant.
In noting the agencies which have had a transforming influence upon
Saint Michaels, there must be no omission to refer to the establishment
of a pubhc press. In the year 1866, the first number of a small news
paper, intended merely as an advertising medium for its proprietors,
caUed "The Comet" was issued by Messrs. H. C. Dodson and John T.
Ford. The name of the paper was designed to be significant of the
purpose of its editors and proprietors to issue it at irregular intervals.
This diminutive sheet was soon enlarged and appeared weekly. It
has continued to be published untU the present time. It is now owned
and edited by Fayette Gibson, Esq.
As a mark of the improved condition of the people of St. Michaels,
the estabfishment of a Building and Loan Association in the year 1874

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 405
must be noticed. This institution professes to have for its object,
primarily, the aiding of men of smaU incomes, whether from theh labor,
or from investments, in theh efforts to secure homes, by offering to them
an opportunity to put at interest theh weekly savings, or by lending
them money to be returned in weekly installments. ReaUy the BuUding
and Loan Association is a savings bank, where smaU deposits may be
made, and from which money may be borrowed upon the pledge of
property. That such an institution should be established at Saint
Michaels, and that it should prosper, is a token of improved weU being
that admits of no question; but a token which fifty years ago would
have been thought impossible of presentation by a community of me
chanics, half theh time unemployed and of oystermen picking up a bare
support from the bars of St. Michaels river.
St. Michaels has also its charitable and benevolent institutions.
A Masonic Lodge was held here first in 1857, and continues its meetings.
In the year 1870 a large and handsome haU was built on the principal
street, which unfortunately the order has not been able to retain, as
the debt incurred in its erection was more than a poor and limited mem
bership could discharge. In the year 1846 a Lodge of the Independent
Order of Odd FeUows was instituted, and has ever since maintained its
organization. Charitable associations connected with the various
churches need not here be noticed.
Politics play so important a part upon every American stage, that
some account of them as they were here presented should not be omitted.
During the first period of its existence it cannot be said that Saint
Michaels had any poUtics. It is indeed doubtful whether any of its
people had the privUege of expressing, even if they had the inclination
to form any poUtical opinions. Provincial poUtics is a subject upon
which much obscurity rests that history has not yet dispeUed. There
is reasonable ground for beUeving, however, that at the dawn of the
second period the people of the town were inspired by the same glowing
patriotism that warmed the breast of Matthew TUghman, to whose
expositions of British wrongs, and whose exhortations to resistance they
had opportunities to listen, as his home was almost at theh doors.
They gave evidence that they shared his ardor for independence, by
sending some of theh numbers as soldiers to the field, and sailors upon
the sea. After the establishment of the federal government, and parties
had begun to be aUigned, it is more than conjectural that a majority
of the people of the town adopted the opinions of Mr. Jefferson, the
apostle of the people, that is of the working men. Although the county

406 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
was equally divided in sentiment upon the matter of declaring war with
Great Britain in 1812, with a preponderance a httle in favor of the
Federalists, or opposition, there is good ground for beUeving that the
people of the town itseU were supporters of the war party or the adminis
tration. They were led by one who was identified with theh interests
Col. Spencer. Theh ardor was rendered the more intense by the fact
that many of theh neighbors and friends were seamen and liable to be
subjected to impressment, if indeed some were not aheady on British
ships. Later in the war, this ardor was further increased by reports of
depredations and outrages by the enemy along the shores of the bay,
and indeed upon the bay shore of theh own county almost within their
own sight. It reached its maximum of intensity when the attack was
made upon the town by the British in 1813. As evidence of this feeling,
we have an account of a pubUc dinner which was spread in the town on
the 4th of July, 1812, and partaken of by both Democrats and Federal
ists. It is said that after participating in a "comfortable entertain
ment" prepared by managers appointed for the purpose, at which m
Col. Hugh Auld presided, supported by Mr. Nathan Harrington as
vice-president. Mr. Samuel Tenant read the Declaration of Independ- "
ence, and Mr. Alexander Bradford Harrison, the President's message of ™
the 1st of June, and the Declaration of War. These proceedings were :ffi
followed by an oration by Mr. James Dooris.66 To the oration succeeded ia
toasts to the number ofkeighteen, aU of which were patriotic, but some of iu
which were significant of opinion upon the living pohtical topics: Thus *¦
the eighth was this: "The Patriots of the present Congress — whose en- "Hi
lightened minds, influenced by the spirit of '76, have assumed the neces- ft*
sary armour and attitude against the enemies of theh country." The ife,l
ninth, "The lamentable though inevitable War — the last resource of vir- !?l
tuous freemen." Tenth : "Commodore Rogers, the brave, whose intrepid iit,|
sphit in humbling supercUious Britons raised the towering eagle over >a
the crouching Lion — may the freebooting sons of Britain who dhect the ifa
floating dungeons meet the fate of the Belvidere."67 It must be acknowl- {ki
edged these toasts were sufficiently warm to satisfy the taste of the most i^
!¦¦¦'¦ <5tjlt
•• This Mr. Dooris was a merchant of the town, a democrat in politics, and at ^
this time a member of the Legislature. Being an Irishman by birth, his oration ^,
which has been preserved is of that florid and prefervid character which it might
be expected to possess, proceeding from a man whose inherited hatred of England W J
for wrongs to his native country had acquired additional intensity from injuries
inflicted upon his adopted country. It is a kind of patriotic extravaganza. j^
67 For an explanation of the illusions recourse must be had to general history. ^

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 407
fiery Democrats, and in as much as it is said that "perfect unanimity"
prevailed, they could not have been unacceptable to the FederaUsts
present, albeit they were opponents of the war. On the 4th of March,
1813, there was another pubhc dinner, in commemoration of the adoption
of the Federal Constitution, when only Democratic-Republican gentle
men participated in the repast. Mr. Samuel Tenant was chairman,
Mr. Thomas L. Haddaway, vice-chairman, and Mr. James Dooris,
secretary. On this occasion too, patriotic and partisan toasts were
drunk and cheered. Thus: "Free trade and saUors' rights upon the
highway of nations — until this be obtained may spirited resentment
be enkindled in the American people, against the pirates of perfidious
Britain." And again: "The tories in the United States — a stormy
passage for them to Bombay." Query why should tories be consigned
to Bombay, rather than to any other port? Was this another name for
a hotter place? Again on the 3rd of July of the same year the great
national anniversary was celebrated at St. Michaels, by a number of
the citizens of the town and vicinity, who, after partaking of an elegant
turtle dressed in different ways at Mr. James Harrison's, listened to
the reading of the Declaration of Independence by the president, Mr.
WUl Roberts. After tbis, toasts "were drank, with six, nine, twelve and
fifteen cheers." Of these the foUowing wUl serve to illustrate the tem
per of the convivial patriots. FUteenth: "The British Rear Admiral
Cockburn, a man in person, but a brute in principle. May the Chesa
peake be bis watery grave." Sixteenth: "This town of St. Michaels —
a place of mechanism. May its nervous sons be ever ready to defend
it." The nevous sons had theh metal tried after only about one month
from tbis date, for on the morning of the 10th of August the town was
attacked by the British, who were handsomely repeUed.68 After the
close of the war, the parties c intending for popular favor, having become
equally democratical in then: principles and practices, St. Michaels
was a field often fought' over by the contestants, being lost and won
alternately, for the parties were very evenly balanced; but most fre
quently, down to the time when new parties were formed in 1828, the
Democrats won the day. .In this year, however, the year of the rise
of Jacksonism, the Adams or administration ticket was chosen in the
St. Michaels district by Adams more than double the Jackson electors.
Presumably, St. Michaels gave its quota of this great majority.
as Of this affair a full and detailed account was printed in the Easton Gazette
of May 28th, 1881.

408 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
During the decade succeeding the Jackson campaign of 1828 there was
nothing distinctive in the poUtics of St. Michaels. Most frequently
the opposition, under whatsoever name, was successful. In the year
1840, by means of the peculiar agencies or influences which were brought
to bear in the campaign of the year, the Democratic supremacy of the
two previous years was overcome and the Whig electors were chosen
in the St. Michaels district, and by inference, in the town itself. Here
was erected one of those curious campaigning structures caUed a "Log
Cabin," with its conspicuous latch string hanging out, its more con
spicuous coonskin naUed to the walls, and its less conspicuous barrel
of hard cider (so-caUed) kept within. It is agreeable to relate that the
Log Cabin was converted into a school house, after it had performed duty
as a place of assemblage of the Whig pohticians and theh followers.
The death of President Harrison soon after his inauguration in 1841,
was the occasion for giving expression to the patriotic feelings of the
people of the town and vicinity, with which was mingled the smallest
proportion of partisanship. On the 8th of April a public meeting
assembled of citizens of both the parties, over which Dr. James Dawson
presided, and for which Mr. John Harrington acted as secretary. A
committee composed of Mr. Matthew Spencer, Mr. Thomas Tennant,
Dr. James Dawson, Mr. John Dunning, and Mr. Nathan Harrington.
was appointed to prepare a series of resolutions expressive of the sense
of bereavement experienced by the community because of the death
of the President. This committee reported resolutions couched in
customary phraseology, and recommended that Dr. Joseph Spencer
be invited to deUver a suitable sermon. This invitation was accepted,
and on the 19th of the month the sermon was delivered in the Episcopal
Church. It was subsequently published in pamphlet form. In the
great national questions that were agitated in the period from 1840
to 1860 the people of St. Michaels took httle more than a languid interest.
A ripple upon the quiet surface of society was caused by the admission
of Texas into the Union, and the consequent Mexican War. Two mili
tary companies, a troop of horse commanded by Capt. John Harrington
and a company of infantry commanded by Capt. WiUiam Henry Harri
son, were organized. The disputes respecting the extension or limita
tion of slavery, aroused httle sympathy with either of the contending
parties in the community where there were few slaves, and where in
fact there was much secret repugnance to slavery concealed under pru
dent manifestation or partiality. When the Whig party had com-

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 409
mitted suicide, and other parties arose to take its place in opposition
to the Democratic, the American or so-caUed Khow Nothing party
found here a constituency whose habits and opinions favored the recep
tion of its principles. In the presidential campaign of 1856, which may
be considered as prefoninary to the great contest "which came off four
years later, St. Michaels district, gave the large majority of one hun
dred and thirty-two in a total vote of four hundred and twenty-six
to the ticket of the American party, Mr. Filmore being its candidate.
All other districts gave a majority for Mr. Buchanan. If we must
look for the motives of this vote beyond mere party aUegiance we may
find them in that prejudice which a secluded people have against for
eigners, and in that antagonism which subsists between the communions
of the Methodist and the Romish churches. Besides this the Khow
Nothing party professed an intense Americanism, which was equaUy
opposed to domestic disorganization and foreign domination. In the
year 1860 there were three electoral tickets before the people, and now
the American party claimed to be the Union party, par exceUence;
while it branded the strongest section of the Democratic party, in this
county, as the Disunion party, and complimented the friends of Mr.
Douglas as the Union Democrats. When the vote was taken, St.
Michaels district was found to have given the BeU and Everett, or
Union candidates a majority over the other two tickets combined of one
hundred and eleven votes. When the war broke out, this town was very
pronounced and decided in its adherence to the government, and its
loyalty was maintained to the end. In another contribution the stir
ring events, the opinions, the passions of the war of the RebeUion in
Talbot, including this loyal town of St. Michaels wUl be given, but one
incident may here be noted. When too many of the officers of the
army and navy were surrendering theh commissions and arraying
themselves on the side of the insurgents, it was doubtful what position
Mr. John N. Hambleton, Purser of the Navy, who was on a distant
station, would assume upon his return. Mr. Hambleton Uved at the
Cabin farm adjoining the town. When it became known that he had
returned to his home, and that he was steadfast in his aUegiance to his
country, a large number of the citizens of St. Michaels went out to his
house, and calling this modest and undemonstrative gentleman to his
door received from his own Ups assurances of his unshaken loyalty,
in a speech the longest his remarkable diffidence had ever enabled him
to utter. Whereupon several of the citizens approached him, and,

410 THE HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
amidst the cheers of theh companions wrapped him in the folds of the
American flag, as the most fitting decoration of a true citizen of the
republic.69 Before completing this subject some matters of purely local politics
must receive attention, for they engaged the attention of the people
of the town more entirely than the momentous issues which divided
the great parties upon state and national affairs. At or about the time,
as has been noted, when the oyster industry received its great impulse
from the opening of the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, there arose
questions that had peculiar interest for most of the citizens of St. Mi
chaels, namely, those that relate to the protection and preservation of
the oysters and the extrusion from the oyster grounds of interlopers
from adjoining states. These questions have continued vital to the
present time, and they are discussed by the local politicians and the
local press with an earnestness which only a dhect personal interest in
them could awaken, and with an abUity which only the concentration
of thought upon a single subject could develop. Another matter a httle
later, received much attention from the people, and affected their
local poUtics. After the introduction of public schools, there arose
differences as to the merits and quafifications of the teachers, and con
tests in the election of school trustees were very animated. This interest
in the school elections continued down to the time when the people
were deprived of all control of theh schools by the law of 1865 and
those laws which were made to supercede this first general law. That
89 An amusing incident of this occasion shows that the ridiculous is not one
step nearer to the sublime, according to the Napoleonic adage, than bathos is to
pathos. Mr. Hambleton invited the exultant citizens into his house, where he
offered them wines and other liquors, in which they pledged the success of the
federal arms and the perpetuation of the Union with hearty sincerity and much
effusiveness of patriotic sentiment. One person however was seen to avoid drink
ing, although known to be one of the most ardent supporters of the government.
With much good natured banter he was urged by his companions to disregard his
temperate habits for once; but neither this Dor the polite invitation of Mr. Ham
bleton could induce him to violate his rule of conduct. That he might not seem,
however, to be wanting in either patriotism, or in courtesy to the excellent gen
tleman who he came out to honor, and who was now entertaining him, he finally
said: "I cannot drink liquor, but if Mr. Hambleton has a pan of bonny-clabber, I
wiU take a little of that instead. ' ' It is hardly necessary to say the pan of bonny-
clabber was produced by Miss Lydia Hambleton, long the mistress of the house,
and, be it said to the revered memory of this truly excellent woman, long the
ministering angel to the poor of the town ; and thus, one man, at least, went home
from the cabin entirely sober.

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 411
there were evils attending the system of electing school officers, there is
no doubt; but it is hardly less questionable that the removal of the
schools whoUy from the control of the people, has had a tendency to
impair theh efficiency. As parties in a state or nation when they can
no longer divide upon some great question of pubhc poUcy decline to
the condition of mere bands foUowing their principal leaders, whose
personal fitness or unfitness for office is discussed with even more earnest
ness than any poUtical issue, and whose elevation or exclusion from
power is thought to be of more vital importance, if warmth of advocacy
or denunciation be the measure of real sentiment, than the success or
defeat of any measure of government; so with parties in municipahties
and corporations, and so with parties in this town. When the school
law for Talbot county, in the absence of any general law, had been
settled beyond fear of further disturbance by meddlers, a result not
effected but by much effort and a deal of discussion, this community of
St. Michaels divided upon the merits and demerits of a single individual
as a teacher. Annually for twelve or fifteen years it was distracted by
the question whether Mr. James B. Way should be retained as a teacher
of the public school or dismissed. This man was born in Philadelphia
and had enjoyed a good social position, as his manners indicated. He
had possessed considerable means which he had squandered. He had
married respectably, but had deserted his wife, though he was very
partial and not disagreeable to other men's wives. He came to St.
Michaels directly from Caroline county, in, or about 1839, introduced
by most respectable gentlemen, and was duly instaUed as teacher.
It was not long however before doubts of his fitness began to be whispered
and then boldly-expressed. These doubts were based more upon alleged
moral delinquencies than tutorial deficiencies. But on the other hand,
Mr. Way by his agreeable manners had made himsefi very acceptable
to a considerable number of the parents, and was very especiaUy beloved
by the pupils of his school. It would be, perhaps, unjust to the memory
of the dead man, who is stiU remembered kindly by many whom he
taught, and it might wound the sensibihties of some of his old and
attached friends — it might not even be agreeable to some of bis enemies —
if any particular relation should be made to the grounds of the contro
versy which long raged with so much intensity in this httle, community.
Mr. Way was placed or displaced alternately as his party was successful
in the election of trustees of the school district; for he was not dis
couraged by defeat, but was a standing apphcant during fife for the
place of the teacher. He wore always, when not in office — even during

412 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
the intervals when he was not a resident of the town — the white robe
of candidacy, and though this seemed somewhat besmirched, the par
tiality of friends caUed those gauds which his enemies called stains.
This contest long continued, so that at this day, with our imperfect
fights, we do not know whether to regard the constancy of his friends
as an evidence of his possessing some merit, or of theh possessing great
good nature; nor do we know whether to look upon the equal constancy
of his enemies as proof of his worthlessness or of theh obstinacy. How
ever, death, the great umpire, finaUy settled the matter by the removal
of Mr. Way, Jan. 15th, 1853. He is buried at Saint Michaels, where
steps have been taken by some of his former pupils to mark his grave
with some memorial stone. Charity wUl incline us to believe that
whatever they may inscribe upon it wUl not be less true than those
epitaphs which affection writes upon stones of its kind everywhere.
What is here said of him, it was thought, might be said with propriety
of one who if not an admirable, was a notable character of the town
for many years.
Another local question has long been agitated in this community.
It is one of which the issue hes between economy and humanity upon the
one part and health and comfort upon the other. The original charter
forbade the running at large of geese and swine, but did not prohibit
the keeping them within inclosures. With the growth of the town, and
with the improvement of the condition of its people, a party arose,
which objected to the pig-pens that had increased in numbers and
offensiveness with the increase of population. With the reorganiza
tion of the town in 1848 this party took shape, and attempts were made
to secure an ordinance to abate a nuisance which some thought intoler
able. The custom of feeding the sty pigs upon fish, otherwise useless,
and upon king crabs, the common limulus, added to the virulence of
the odors that ordinarily emanate from the places where these animals
are fed and gave to the atmosphere of the town in summer a nauseous
unctuousness that seemed to nourish disease. But those who pleaded
for comfort and health were met by those who pleaded for the interests
of the poor and dependent, who denied the unwholesomeness of the
effluvia, who claimed that if the health of the community was impahed,
it was in some inappreciable degree, and this was not to be weighed
when the very means of fife of many were dependent upon the produce
of theh sties; and who thought it a mere matter of opinion which cus
tom may modify, whether pig pens are or are not offensive. It is
creditable to the goodness, but not to the wisdom of human nature,

THE TOWNS OF TALBOT 413
that the party of benevolence and kindness, albeit that party has many
adherents whose motives are not those of charity, has thus far triumphed
over the party of pubUc sanitation and pleasant Uving. When the
question was last tested by taking the voice of the people, there were
but nine voters against the continuance of the nuisances; for many
who had most strenuously opposed them, at last expressed the willingness
to endure the evU odors rather than to bear an Ul name, and to take
the dubious risk of incurring disease rather than the certain condemna
tion of the poor.70 But the progress of civilization and refinement
is nevertheless doing effectuaUy what was vainly sought to be accom
plished by direct legislation, so that under a rigid enforcement of exist
ing ordinances the atmosphere of St. Michaels is becoming as agreeable
as it is salubrious.
Another subject of local poUtics — local as to the county — deserves
a brief notice, in as much as the action of the people of the town upon
it marks theh progress in pubhc order, social morahty and private
propriety, of which virtues some have thought it did not at one time
present the best Ulustrations. When in the year 1873 it was put to the
vote of the people of this county, whether in the several districts the sale
of liquor should be forbidden or not, by an overwhelming majority,
it was resolved that it should not be sold. This is the more remarkable
and commendable as it involved a severe seh-denial, for men who are
as much exposed to atmospheric inclemencies and who undergo as much
hard exhausting labor as the oystermen of St. Michaels, find a comfort
in alcoholic beverages that those employed in more protected and easy
avocations may easUy forego. The influence of what was known as
the Local Option laws is thought by many, perhaps by the majority,
to be most salutary, while there are yet some who question theh effi
ciency in promoting sobriety and good morals.
No records exist that serve to indicate the number of the inhabitants
prior to the Revolution, nor are there any data upon which we may form
a reasonable conjecture. Unquestionably, it was very smaU — not
more, probably, than one hundred or at most two hundred. In the
national decennial census taken since 1790, with stated regularity,
there were no records made of the people of the town distinct from those
70 It is in place to say here, that in the year 1832 the town was visited by the
terrible scourge of Asiatic cholera, by which a larger number of the people perished
proportionately, than in any other part of the county — a result which most per
sons attributed to the cause mentioned in the text. Other epidemics are thought
to be traceable to the same.

414 THE HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
of the rest of election district untU the enumeration of 1840, at which
time there was a separation of the town inhabitants from those not
residing within its limits, and this has continued. If the recollections
of the older people may be depended upon, up to the year named the
town had not a population of more than three hundred people. It
may be well enough to say that at no time has the colored population
within the town borne the same proportion to the whites that it did bear
beyond the town — in other words, the colored population was always
few in numbers. It has increased since the emancipation of slaves.
The following table of population has been compUed from the official
pubUcations of the census for the several years:
1840  499
1850  858
1860  1010
1870  1095
1880  1471
There is good ground for beUeving that the population is increasing in
numbers, for as yet the pressure upon the means of living has not yet
reached its maximum and in the struggle for fife there are chances
in favor of survival. Health and vigor are the inheritance of the young,
large famUies are the blessings of the mature, and longevity is the rea
sonable expectation of the old. These, with the absence of desire to
wander from home, give assurance that the town will continue to increase.

JACOB GIBSON'S BANK
Now that we are experiencing the expiring gusts of that financial
storm which so recently burst upon the country, but is now dying away
in the distance of the past — now that our minds are fuU of that subject
of Banks and Bankers which forced itseh upon our attention, uninvited
and against our wUls, an account of one of the most curious schemes for
the foundation of a fiscal institution within this county that was ever
conceived, may possess an interest that under other circumstances
might not attach to it. In giving a relation, some years ago, of the ori
gin and organization of the Farmer's Bank of Maryland, of which a
branch was estabUshed at Easton, which branch was merged into that
institution which is now with so much skiU, so much security, and so
much confidence managing and performing so large a part of our moneyed
operations, it was stated that the first decade of this century was a period •
of extraordinary prosperity in Talbot county, and indeed of the State.
Then it was that our agriculture was receiving a new impulse by the
increased attention to new methods of culture and the application of
an intelligent husbandry. In the year 1805 the "Maryland Agricul
tural Society" had its beginning, now the oldest society of the kind
in the United States. Ship-building was carried on with great vigor
and upon a large scale. Other forms of manufacture, which have now
entirely disappeared from among us, were then in existence. Tan
yards were scattered aU over the country. In the town of Easton,
hatting, copper and brass founding, nail making, clock and watch mak
ing, silver smithing to say nothing of those branches of mechanical
industry that are stUl followed, were conducted with success. At the
period mentioned, say in 1805, the advantages of Bauking institutions
were sufficiently appreciated: indeed benefits were attributed to them
of a kind and degree to which they were not entitled. Then as now,
they were thought to be the creators of wealth, and not mere machinery
for the management of money. Hence the Legislature was besieged for
charters, and there was a great multiplication of banks within the
State. While the subject of the formation of the Farmer's Bank of Maryland
was in agitation, and the attention of capitalists, agriculturists and
manufacturers were dhected to the subject of its establishment at
Annapolis with its numerous branches at various points in the State,
415

416 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
one of which was to be in this county; and just before the "Articles of
Association" for the proposed bank were published in the. papers here
and at the capital, there appeared a long communication, in the form
of an "Address to the People" in the Republican Star, published at
Easton, over the signature of Jacob Gibson. In this communication
was detailed a scheme for the establishment of a financial institution
in Talbot, so oddly original in its conception, so utterly impracticable
in its methods of operation, and so strange, outre and bizarre in its
purposes, that one not acquainted with the character of that most
remarkable man who proposed it, would suppose it to be the vagary
of a madman or the pleasantry of a satirist. It is not the place nor the
occasion to give an account of this stout-hearted, large-brained, strong-
armed man; of this friend of the poor and the lowly and enemy of the
rich and lofty; this life-long foe of aristocratic pretension, and this lover
of democratic equafity; of this hater of hypocrisy in religion and this
irreligious applauder of piety; of this terror of his enemies and this
refuge of his friends; of this rugged, stalwart, mUitant man, who loved
a fight better than a feast, and who was never thoroughly at peace with
himself except when engaged in active war with others. Hereafter,
however, a sketch of this person, the most notable of his time living in
this county, will be given. His life was full of curious incidents, and of
these, his project, which it is now intended to relate, of founding a
bank, was not the least curious.
It is proposed to give an abstract of the article containing this project
of Mr. Gibson, but before doing so, in order that it may be more clearly
understood and appreciated, it may be necessary and it certainly
will not be amiss to state that at the period previously referred to, there
was not only great material prosperity as manifested in an improved
agriculture and increased manufacturing industry, but there was co-
incidently great inteUectual activity and augmented moral susceptibil
ity. As evidences of the mental activity that prevailed, it is only
necessary to mention the names of some of those citizens of the county
who were living during this period. In its beginning Bowie was preach
ing at St. Michael's, and teaching in our Academy at Easton. He was
succeeded by that able, but unfortunate man, Francis Barclay, in the
school, who was in turn succeeded by that distinguished linguist, who
here wrote and published his grammar of the Latin language, Archibald
Walker. At this time Bozman was writing his invaluable history of
the earlier years of the State, a monument of his industry, his research and
his erudition. Nicholas Hammond, that precise and formal Englishman

jacob Gibson's bank 417
from the Isle of Jersey, was not only laying the firm foundation of our
bank, but was elucidating the obscurities and unravelling the mtricacies
of our land records, and by the wonderful accuracy and elaborateness
of his conveyances, was giving stability to our titles to property, winning
the thanks of aU future honest land-owners, and the objurgations of
the tricksters and Utigious. Thomas J. Bulhtt, that unennined judge,
as the learned and discreet counseUor was defivering those lucid opinions
that had almost the authority and weight of judicial decisions. Robt.
H. Goldsborough, who was at once our Chesterfield in manners and our
Chatham in eloquence, was preparing himself for that brilliant career
in the State and National Legislatures, in which he proved himself the
match for the strongest in the course. John Leeds Kerr, at one time the
bosom friend and then the earnest rival of him last named, was train
ing his nerves and strengthening his young thews for those struggles at
the bar where he won such distinction that his precedence was hardly
to be questioned. Dr. Ennalls Martin, the perspicacious physician,
but the brusque, bluff, burly man, was acquiring in his contests with
disease upon the narrow field of a country practice that courage of opinion
that enabled him to dare to differ with the great masters in medicine,
even Rush himself, and to anticipate by two generations, in his book
published some years later, the rational treatment of the present day:
while Dr. Tristram Thomas, that "mildest mannered man," his very
antipode in bearing, if not his equal in ability, was riding throughout
the county carrying soothing comfort by his sweet urbanity where gros
ser medicaments had sadly faUed into many a chamber of sickness.
But this digressive notice of the unusual mental activity that charac
terized our county in the early part of the century is given to mark the
contemporaneousness of inteUectual vivacity with the great material
prosperity before referred to, but more especiaUy to mark theh syn
chronism with an access of moral sensibility. There is not space, nor
is this properly the occasion, to descant upon the general progress of
morality which was then making in the county, under the teaching of
the Old Church that was endeavoring to purify herself, but not as yet
with entire success, for Price yet officiated at her altars, from the stains
cast upon her robes by so many unworthy ministers, and was now by
the whiteness of the Uves of most of her priesthood rendering herseh
worthy to be heard in her reproofs of sensuality and grossness. Nor
is there space nor suitable occasion to speak of the still more potent
influence upon the general progress of morality, that was exercised by
that child of the church, Wesleyan Methodism, the warm and glowing

418 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
exhortations of whose early preachers, to a deeper piety and greater
righteousness of Ufe, were heard in the remotest and most secluded
sections of the county where as yet there was neither church nor chapel,
and where the gospel was preached by these devoted men in private
houses, barns and shady groves. But attention is here meant to be
caUed to a single manifestation of a higher moral development among
our people, for the reason that it is hinted at or presupposed in the article
of Mr. Gibson. There is no purpose, however, of attempting to trace
this to its proximate cause; no purpose of inquiring whether this in
stance of a higher moral development was the result of a more enlightened
view among our citizens or theh material interests, of a better conception
of sociological law, or of a clearer apprehension of the divine wUl. The
particular mamfestation of moral sensibiUty to which reference is made
was the evident disposition on the part of aU to ameliorate the condi
tion of the black race, and a settled purpose on the part of many to ef
fectuate the emancipation of the slaves. Manumissions which had
indeed from the very beginning been occasionaUy made in the latter
part of the 18th century and on into the 19th, multipUed rapidly. The
testimony against slavery of those high moralists, the Quakers, who were
numerous and influential in Talbot, confirmed and strengthened as it
was by the preaching of the Methodists; the teachings and practices
of the French Revolutionists in regard to personal freedom which were
strongly approbated by the predominant or popular party in the county;
the Jeffersonian RepubUcans; and finaUy the smaU, marketable value
at which slaves were held, even by those who had no reUgious nor political
scruples about holding them, before there grew up that active Southern
demand for them for the culture of cotton, which subsequently so en
hanced theh price; were aU tending rapidly to one end, the abolition
of slavery. Every one was looking forward to the early disappearance
of what had come to be considered, almost unanimously, a great social
evil, and the ablest minds were exercised not in finding suitable argu
ments to defend the institution, but the best means of accomplishing
an inevitable result with the least injury to aU interests.
As an evidence that the minds of our people were earnestly exercised
upon this subject, additional to that presented in the plan of the bank
hereafter to be mentioned, it is worthy of notice that in our county in
1804, the very year of the pubUcation of the plan, there was organized
and established a society, the ostensible object of which was "the relief
of persons of color unlawfully held in bondage, and the aid of those who
may be illegally transported from the State, &c," but the covert or in-

Jacob gibson's bank 419
*
direct.object of which was the affectmg public sentiment upon the great
politico-moral question of emancipation. In other words this "Philan
thropic Society," as it was caUed, was not only a society to prevent
kidnapping and like crimes, but an aboUtion society under a very thin
disguise. That the estimate here given of the purposes of this society
is not erroneous, the preamble to the Constitution of the Society, adopted
the 28th July, 1804, wUl sufficiently attest, and it is here inserted:
It having pleased the Creator of the world to make of one flesh aU
the children of men, it becomes them to consult and promote each
other's happiness as members of a family, however diversified they may
be by color, situation, reUgion or different states of society.
Commerce in the human species has been uniformly pernicious and
disgraceful in every country in which it has been exercised, and long
experience has sufficiently attested its repugnance to sound policy, to
good morals, to the rights of mankind, and to the sacred obUgations of
the Christian Religion. The free Constitution of the United States suffers
violence by such UUcit practices. Its fundamental principles declare
the original and inherent equaUty of mankind, and on this broad and
liberal basis stands our Uberty and poUtical happiness. K the prin
ciple of slavery were in itself justifiable, it is impossible to vindicate on
rational grounds the Ulegal exercise of it. Many persons entitled to
freedom by the laws and constitutions- of the several States, are de
tained by fraud and violence. Every good citizen is deeply interested
in the impartial administration of justice, and consequently in the
prevention of such Ulegal and unjust proceedings.
The cultivation of the minds of those that may be emancipated, in
order to eradicate the habits and vices of slavery, is an object highly
worthy of pubUc attention. Society has suffered injury, and is in
danger of suffering more by neglecting the education of persons of
color. Impressed with the importance of those sentiments the subscribers
have associated under the title of the Philanthropic Society for the
relief and protection of free blacks, and people of color unlawfuUy held
in bondage, or otherwise oppressed, and for effecting these purposes
have adopted the foUowing Constitution.
This Constitution, of which the above was the preamble, was sub
scribed by many prominent and influential citizens of the county, and
the society maintained its existence down to times within the recoUection
of many now Uving.
Prom what has now been said, with a greater digressiveness than
is probably aUowable by the canons of Uterary criticism, the reader
will be able to trace the motives or incentives of Mr. Gibson when he
made public his financial scheme for the achievement of both an economi-

420 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY 0
cal and a benevolent purpose. This scheme it is proposed to lay before
the reader in the form of an abstract, as the original article published in
the Republican Star of Feb. 28, 1804, and republished at the author's
request, in the foUowing issue of the same journal, is too long and too
full of Gibsonian idioms for insertion enthe. The article thus
opens: To the Public : Long have I been a suffering witness, with the rest of
the community, to the bending and groaning with unjust oppression,
to the commercial interest of our country, and to the bowing of many
of our country merchants, who are laboring under equal embarrass
ments, to the lordly importer rolling in luxury at our common expense.
He then proceeds to contrast the advantages enjoyed by the large
merchants of the cities with the embarrassments of the mechanics
and farmers in borrowing money, the banks furnishing facilities to
the former of obtaining funds at a low rate per centum, while the latter
have to submit to a discount of from 15 to 25 per centum, exacted by
usurers, to obtain money to carry on theh business. He complains
that while the importer can borrow in order that he may await a market
for his goods, the ship builder is driven to the sacrifice of his vessels that
he has constructed in order to continue his business; and the laboring
mechanic often has to suffer a discount of 25 per cent upon his daily
wages, because the master builder can not obtain ready money to pay
his journeymen. The farmer, too, is not able to retain his grain in his
garners to wait the rise of price, but must sell his crop to the millers as
soon as prepared for market, because he can not afford to pay the heavy
discount exacted by capitalists, and there are no banks from which he
can obtain money at reasonable rates. He says incidentally
Six per cent is no object to any man at this day.
To remedy aU these evUs, and withdraw that county at least in
which I five, and where I have a large stake, [Mr. Gibson was a farmer
on a grand scale], I have matured a plan that if carried into execution,
which I am determined. shall be done, wUl effectually place us in an
independent situation, and wiU enable the farmers, mechanics, and
country merchants to assume a position of equafity with the importers.
and mUlers. * * * I wUl open a bank in Easton for the accommoda
tion of all descriptions of people, who shall secure the payment of their
notes by good and common securities. * * * I wUl deposit in the
bank, as a capital, under the direction of Nicholas Hammond, Wm.
Hayward, Edward Lloyd and Thomas J. Bullitt, Esquhes * * * the
sum of 30,000 dollars, or more if they require it, as a security for any
notes that may issue like other bank notes. These gentlemen shall at all

jacob gibson's bank 42i
times or at stated periods, have access to the bank, its papers, books
and capital, and shaU control its poUcy like other directors. Vacancies'
among them may be fiUed by the citizens of Easton. They shaU see
that the stock in bank shaU always be sufficient to take up aU notes in
circulation. Let us pause here to contemplate this preposterous provision of having
as directors of a bank, those who have no personal interest in the insti
tution and of having vacancies in the board fiUed by a popular vote of
the citizens of this town. Mr. Gibson proceeds to say the bank should
be opened on the first day of January, 1805, with a specie capital of
10,000 dollars, to be paid in by himseh, and that the remaining 30,000
dollars should be deposited in equal instalments of 4,000 doUars every
six months. To secure the payment of this 20,000 dollars he obUgated
himself to give to the gentlemen above mentioned a mortgage upon
one thhd of his real estate, without stay, and he agreed that in order
to give greater security for the payments of the bank issues and to give
confidence in the entire solvency of the institution, that this mortgage
might continue in force as long as he retained any connection with it.
He then proceeds to make division of the profits resulting from the bank
ing operations. No more than six per cent was to be charged for the
use of money. Of these six per cent, four only were to be retained by
him for interest upon the capital stock, one per cent was to be funded for
the ultimate extinguishment, or repayment of the capital, and one
per cent was to be devoted to the payment of the necessary expenses,
or so much of it as might be requisite, and the remainder, if any, should
go to the formation of a fund, to be placed at the disposal of the directors
for "The Manumitting the Slaves Among Us!" He goes on to
say that at the end of five years he would resign aU benefit that might
be derived from the bank, and join with "the pubhc in purchasing the
stock at par for the exclusive purpose of conducting the bank for the manu
mission of all the negroes in our county." In order that the institution
should be conducted enthely for this benevolent purpose, he proposes
that after the five years mentioned, 10,000 doUars of his capital stock
should remain in the bank at the rate of five per cent per annum pro
vided the public would reimburse him the other 20,000, thus leaving
the working capital intact. For the state or municipaUty to take
stock in banks was a favorite method of raising capital in those days, and
it has been but recently that Maryland divested hersetf of her bank
stock, if indeed she have not a smaU interest stiU in our own at this
place. Mr. Gibson entertained such ideas of the magnificent profits of

422 history of talbot county
banking that be asserts in five years the whole capital could be paid off
and
in fifteen years or less every slave in the county, and probably in the
district, might be redeemed, especially if the discounts are propor
tionally and equaUy great with other banks.
But in order "to aid the institution in its liberating principle," he
proposes that a tax for five years be laid upon aU the negroes that
might be liberated through the agency of the bank, of ten dollars upon
the men, five dollars upon the women, and two and a half dollars upon
all children above ten years of age. In addition, he proposes the legis
lature should tax aU negroes whatever, already free, to the amount of
three doUars to be paid by the men, one doUar by the women, and one
half doUar by the children above the age of ten years. The funds
thus derived should be employed in purchasing and emancipating the
slaves. He then enters into a statement "to prove the utility and
practicability of its [the bank's] redeeming principle." He estimates the
interest upon the capital to be derived from discounts, provided the
profits prove to be anything like what they are in similar institutions,
at $5400. This amount laid out in negro slaves at $120 per head, which
he regards as the average cash value of men, women and children at the
time, would emancipate the first year 45 slaves. By taxing these pur
chased slaves according to the rates before stated, they would yield an
average tax of eight and one-fifth dollars [his arithmetic seems here to be
a little at fault] or "say eight dollars," and an aggregate of 360 dollars in
the second year. The tax on negroes previously free would yield at
least 500 dollars. These sums added to the annual interest from the
bank would give 6,260 dollars to be laid out in the purchasing of more
slaves. The number thus emancipated would increase each year with
a progressive ratio, and in less than fifteen years aU would be liberated,
and every holder that chose to resign them would receive a valuable
consideration. He wishes it distinctly to be understood that no man should be com
peUed to part with his slaves at this price, but he apprehended that more
would from year to year be offered than there would be money to pur
chase, and he states he would be wiUing to part with his own upon the
terms mentioned.
He had, or seemed to have, a high opinion of his bank, for he remarks:
I will say that it wUl be the safest bank now in operation, because
it will not only have its capital in specie, but * * * thirty thousand

JACOB gibbon's bank 423
dollars worth of such real property, as it is weU known I possess, mort
gaged without stay, and will thus bid defiance to suspicion.
But at the same time it seems to have crossed his mind that his
scheme somewhat smacked of the ridiculous, for he says:
Some persons no doubt because tbis institution is set on foot by
Jacoo Gibson wUl ridicule it as fanciful but when 30,000 doUars are de
posited or secured in the hands of those gentlemen mentioned as direc
tors or trustees, who wUl say he wUl not receive its notes with as much
confidence as those of other banks?
Man of business as he was, he does not disdain laying bare the motives
that actuated him in setting on foot this project. He declares his in
come to be more than sufficient for aU his wants, and that his objects
were higher and loftier than the acquisition of wealth.
My objects, he says, I most solemnly declare, are principaUy to
benefit the pubUc, when no injury can derive (?) to myself, and to
open a door to the Uberation of our black population, in whose behalf
all nature cries aloud. I hold 40 or 50 of these people, for whom I paid
cash, five or six excepted, and who are very profitable to me. I am as
unwilling to give them up as most persons, and like others resort for
apology for holding them to a customary finesse, that it would be impolitic
and dangerous to the community, at this time, to liberate them: but if any
man or institution wUl give me theh value, they shall go tomorrow to
that liberty of which I daUy taste the sweets.
Mr. Gibson concludes his address with these words, a most singular
peroration: Finally, after the accomplishment of the object before mentioned the
funds may be transferred to the support of the clergy, who are the worst
paid people in this country, and whose functions are indisputably
necessary. It may also aid charity, schools and manufacturers. K the
public wUl give me cash for good bonds and judgments, I wul put the
bank in motion immediately; otherwise it wUl be suspended until the
time mentioned. I wUl guarantee the assignments. '
JACOB GIBSON.
Maringo, Talbot county, Feb. 28, 1804.
Think of supporting the clergy by a bank! But this is not more cu
rious than the buUding churches by lotteries as used to be commonly
done, or the endowing theological schools with the winnings at the stock
board, as has been done recently. In this last paragraph we see adum
brated that correlation of inteUectual activity (shown in a deshe for
common schools), of material prosperity (shown in the wish for man
ufactories), and of moral sensibility (shown in a solicitude for the support

424 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
of ministers of religion), which is referred to in the beginning of this
contribution. Mr. Gibson was so weU pleased with his production, that he requested
Mr. Smith, the editor, to republish it, taking care to retain aU the typo
graphical errors of the original. This was truly characteristic of the
man. He possessed such individuaUty and egotism and yet such
open honesty that he wished to appear just as he was, with all his own
faults about him, and not tricked out in the borrowed though better
garments of another. Accordingly in the Star of March 6th, 1804,
the article reappears, word for word as before, but with this as a portion
of the preface:
I am happy to inform the pubhc that the proposition meets with
general approbation; and that some gentlemen whom I had accommo
dated with money on loan, have informed me that I shaU receive theh
money in aU the spring. With this sum, and some other funds which I
can raise from sales of my grain now on hand, the bank wiU open on or
before July next, or as soon as I can obtain plates and a mill for the
institution. Let the reader observe the archaism of calling the bank note press
a MiU, and how like a jibe it reads in this day of excessive paper money.
It were weU if we should take to heart the lesson imparted in this word
"MiU," and ward against the dangers that are now threatening us, from
that great money MiU in the Treasury department, which may be made
to give us too large a yield of paper meal for the smaUer grist of gold,
or other wealth that is in the national hopper.
It is hardly necessary to say, Jacob Gibson's Bank never went into
operation. Our farmers, mechanics, and country merchants, however,
soon had bank accommodation from the branch bank at Easton of
the Farmers' Bank of Maryland; but emancipation was deferred for
60 years, and then it came without the moderate average compensation
to the master of 120 doUars for each of his slaves, and without that
higher and better compensation that flows from a sense of having per
formed voluntarily, and without compulsion an act of justice and hu
manity.

JACOB GIBSON'S PRANK
"And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed,
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war;
While thronged the citizens with terror dumb,
Or whispering, with white lips, — the foe ! they come I they come !
— Byron.
It is proposed in this paper to present an amusing and instructive
episode of the war of 1812, the scene of which was laid in this county of
Talbot. It was not altogether ludicrous, for it has its serious aspect,
and as wUl be shown in the sequel, it came near to having a very tragic
termination. It wUl be found instructive, inasmuch as it wiU serve as
an illustration of the state of society here, and of the public sentiment
of the time to which it refers. As to the antiquarian no object, which
has come down from a former age, however trifling is without its interest
and value, so to the annalist, or student of local history no incident of
the past, however simple, is without its worth or significance.
The story that is to be told is of one of the most remarkable men this
county has produced, whether we regard his undeniable merits or his
equally undeniable faults of character and conduct. Oral tradition and
written record have transmitted so much concerning this worthy that
there are ample materials for the formation of a proper estimate of one
who was as stalwart in mind as in body, and who was as rugged in his
virtues as in his manners. In a study of his character it is impossible
not to be reminded of the half mythical heroes of antiquity — he was
so strong and so full of lusty fife, and yet so simple and so natural. Here
after a complete account may be given of this notable man, who for a
generation kept himself more prominently in the pubhc view, than any
one of his day in this county. Mr. Gibson resided at Marengo, in
Miles River neck, opposite St. Michaels — a plantation named by him
soon after the great victory of Bonaparte, of whom he was a most ardent
admirer. He had other farms and plantations in the county, including
the one made up of Sharp's or Claiborne's island. AU of these he tilled,
by means of overseers and his slaves. He was as enthusiastic a farmer as
he was a zealous partisan, and he carried into agriculture the same force
425

426 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
of character as that he bore into politics. His plantation of Sharp's
island being distant from the main, in visiting it during the war, he was
liable to capture by the enemy's fleet if he should venture into the bay
so it was his custom to cross from his farm at Marengo to St. Michaels
and then take a boat in Broad Creek for his island farm, thus diminishing
his dangers, and shortening his voyage.
For some time after the declaration of war between the United States
and Great Britain, the last mentioned country was content to blockade
the coast and harbors of the former along the Altantic, and without
attempting any permanent lodgment, to harass the enemy by marauding
expeditions along the shores, wherever boats could penetrate. These
expeditions regarded from a military point of view were of no benefit to
the invading party, but were so far serviceable to the invaded that they
were most influential in uniting the people of this county who had been
much divided in sentiment as to the policy of the war, in theh opposi
tion to the enemy. The British forces acquhed some plunder, but much
more reproach and detestation. The Americans lost some property
but they obtained a greater determination to resist. In the early part
of the year 1813, Admiral Warren, who was in chief command of the
British fleet on the coast, arriving in the Chesapeake, ranked near
Admhal Cockburn, who had been in command of the naval forces in the
bay, and who had acquhed aheady an infamous name, subsequently
made more infamous by the outrages committed at Hampton and else
where in Virginia and Maryland. In AprU of this year Admhal Warren
with a strong fleet saUing up the Chesapeake, or on about the 12th of
the month took possession of Sharp's Island, and made a prisoner of
Mr. Gibson, who had just come over from the mainland to look over his
property with a view to its removal from the reach of the British. Find
ing himself as weU as his island and the property upon it in the possession
of the enemy, he asked of Admhal Warren that protection should be
given to whatever was not required for the use of the fleet, so that there
might be no wanton destruction. This protection was granted, and
further, permission was given to Mr. Gibson, who was very quickly
released, to remove certain property from the island, for which the
fleet had no use, but the removal of any live stock was interdicted.
Admiral Warren made use of but a small part of the stock, for which
Mr. Gibson received a partial compensation in money and orders upon
the British treasury. The value of the stock seized was estimated at
255 dollars. This money Mr. Gibson refused to accept as belonging
to himself, and on the 24th of April he addressed a letter to the Hon.

JACOB GIBSON S PRANK 427
James Monroe, Secretary of State, for the United States, and to his
Excellency, Levin Winder, the Governor of Maryland, detailing the
circumstances of its being in his hands, and requesting instruction as to
its disposition. This letter, as well as the orders of Admhal Warren, to
which reference is made in the letter, are here inserted as interesting
historical documents. They are copied from a curious hand-bill entitled
"Federal Treason and Democratic Gratitude " now in the hands of the
compiler of tbis paper, and dated May 10th, 1813.
Jacob Gibson's communication to James Monroe, Esq., Secretary of State
of the United States, and Levin Winder, Esq., Governor of the state of
Maryland.
Baltimore, 24th April, 1813.
James Monroe, Esq.,
Secretary of State.
Sir: — On the 9th inst., I was in this city, and on the arrival of the
news of the affair in the Rappahannock, I was much alarmed at the ex
posed situation of the property in and bordering on our bay, and imme
diately proceeded to remove my grain, stock and slaves from Sharp's
Island. I reached my place of residence on the 10th, and crossed to
my island on the 1 1th. On the morning of the 12th I was made prisoner
while in the act of removing my property. My stock, consistmg of cat
tle, sheep and hogs, was interdicted and forbid removal, by order of Sir
John B. Warren. I was detained on the island untU the 17th, when I
returned to my family. The enemy took from the island 4 sheep from
100, 12 cattle from 57, and 28 hogs out of 50, sixteen of which were
small pigs. I was treated by all the officers, but particularly by the
Admhal, with marked politeness and delicacy. The purser of the Ad
miral's ship left on the island $54 in specie, and informed me he should
leave bills on his government for the balance of the stock taken. I
protested against any agency in a transaction with the enemies of my
country that might contribute to their aid, but they forced a deposit for
the stock they had taken, amounting to about $225. Considering that
I have no control over the money or bills thus left, until the pleasure of
the government is communicated as to its disposal. The exposed situa
tion of my island, being nearly four miles from the main, entirely
excludes it from defensive measures. I asked from the Admhal a
protection for my property there, which he instantly granted to prevent
further depredations, otherwise my growing crops might be sacrificed;
as you wiU find by the enclosed document (it being a copy from the
original left on the island). He also permitted me to transport the
remnant of my last crop to the county where I resided as per docu
ment No. 2. I have now remaining on the island upwards of 90 sheep,
44 cattle and 22 hogs, which if the government thinks advisable, will
please to order off by the proper authority; but I am fearful such an
event might, after what has taken place, aggravate the destruction of

428 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
my buildings, slaves, crops, &c. However, I solicit no indulgence if
the government consider the common cause wiU be advanced by the
measure. The enemy has, I befieve, by this time left Sharp's Island, and taken
possession of Poplar Island, where I beUeve they intend making a ren
dezvous.1************* I shall remain here until you do me the honor to answer this letter1
and as my absence from my famUy and concerns is attended with great
inconvenience, may I hope to hear from you by the earUest mail— and
I have the honor to be your obedient servant, Jacob Gibson.
Address to the Post Office, Baltimore.
number 1
By the Right Honorable Sir John Borlase Warren, Bart., K. B. Admiral
of the Blue, and Commander in Chief of His Majesty's ships and
vessels employed and to be employed on the American and West Indian
Station, &c, &c.
Whereas his majesty's squadron under my command, having occasion
for refreshments, and Sharp's Island, in the bay, producing five stock,
I have directed the said stock shallnotberemoved. Whatever cattle any
of the officers, of his majesty's ships, under my orders, may take, as
well as any other stock, is to be paid for by regular biUs or cash, and no
depredation or injury is to be committed on the houses and farms, serv
ants or slaves, upon the above mentioned island. Given under my
hand, and on board his majesty's ship St. Domingo, off Sharp's Island
in the Chesapeake, April 12th, 1813. John Borlase Warren.
To the respective captains and commanders of his majesty's ships
and vessels. By command of the Admiral,
Thomas Fox, Pro Secretary.
number 2.
By the Right Honorable Sir John Borlase Warren, Bart, K. B. Admiral
of the Blue and Commander in Chief of His Majesty's ships and ves
sels employed, and to be employed, on the American and West Indian
Station, &c, &c.
The captains and commanders of his majesty's ships and vessels are
hereby required and directed to permit the vessels bearing tbis pass,
1 This vacuum in the publication is a necessary omission (here) from my letters
to the governments. It relates to matters unconnected with this business. How
ever, the friends to my country may see it at the printing office — none else have a
a right, and are forbid. [The "friends to my country" were the Democrats of
course: those that are "forbid" were the Federalists, whom Mr. G. regarded as
even worse than British enemies.]

jacob gibson's prank 429
and having on board the quantity of corn and fodder specified in the
margin, belonging to Jacob Gibson, Esq., to transport the same from
Sharp's Island, in the Chesapeake, to any place in the river Choptank,
or St. Michaels river.
Given under my hand, on board his majesty's ship San Domingo,
off Sharp's Island, in the Chesapeake, April 17th, 1813.
John Borlase Warren.
By command of the Admiral,
Thomas Fox, Pro Secretary.
To the letter addressed to the Governor of Maryland, which was
the same as that addressed to Mr. Monroe, Sec'y of State, Mr. Gibson
secured a reply, to the effect that the matter had beed referred to the
President of the United States. To the letter to Mr. Monroe, if any
answer was returned it has not yet been discovered.
During Mr. Gibson's absence from his home, and detention upon the
island the most extravagant stories were put in circulation concerning
him and his movements, the gist of which was that he was aiding the
enemy by furnishing them with supplies, and benefiting himseh by
trading with the fleet. Public sentiment was aroused against him, and
even his political friends were too ready to accuse him of dishonorable
conduct while in communication with the British fleet. After his
return, and his explanation of what had occurred, there were stiU those
who could not believe that Admhal Warren would have granted such
indulgence and favor as was indicated by the orders just presented,
unless he had derived corresponding advantages. To these Mr. Gibson
made this characteristic reply:
I had no right to expect to be favored, but on the contrary, to be
the first victim of British vengeance. Fortunately God has made me
of strong nerves, that I can shine, when I please, in a church, a drawing-
room, a grog-shop or a brothel; and if by my address and urbanity of
manners, I softened the roaring lion to a kind lamb and obtained papers
that helped my country, and rendered no aid to its enemy, was I not
justifiable? * * * * The federalists, I could persuade myself
to forgive * * * but for democrats cowardly to shrink from the
support of theh first main pillar! From the federalists I had nothing
to expect. They forced me to ride them rough shod. I have never
spared them, nor ever wiU, when I see them err. I have given them
whip and spur. I rolled them, in this county, from a high poUtical
standing to the bottom of the valley. I took democracy from its slum
bering ashes. Yes — I, Jacob Gibson, did it. With my zeal, perseyer-
ence, justice of the cause, and my purse (and I dare contradiction)
raised you democrats from the bottom of the lowest vaUey to the top
of the political hill. I placed your feet on the neck of federahsm, and
when you got there, you forgot how it happened.

430 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
The presence of the British forces in the bay, the taking possession
of Sharp's and Poplar Islands, the seizure of the bay craft plying be
tween Baltimore and the rivers and creeks of Talbot, the penetrating
of their boats from the fleets, into every water course that was unde
fended, created the utmost alarm in aU parts of the county, which led
to the formation of many mUitary companies for defence against attack.
Guard boats were placed at the mouths of the rivers. Batteries were
erected in positions commanding the water approaches to the towns
of St. Michaels and Easton. Cavalry companies were organized, which
acted as scouts, and transmitted accounts of the movements of the en
emy's fleet, or barges. St. Michaels was thought to be particularly
exposed, and liable to attack. It was regarded as the outpost of Easton,
the county town; and besides, within its limits and in its immediate
vicinity, there were several vessels on the stocks, among them a barge
for naval warfare, which the enemy desired to destroy. The people
of St. Michaels and its neighborhood were in constant dread and mo
mentary expectation of an attack. The town was accessible both by St.
Michaels river, and by Broad Creek, for on either side it could be ap
proached by smaU boats; while from the bay side it could be easily
attacked by land forces. Among the military companies organized for
the defence of the county, was the troop of horses commanded by Capt.
Robert Banning, of the Isthmus. This company was made up of
gentlemen living in the vicinity of Royal Oak. It was in pretty con
stant service as videttes or scouts, keeping watch from Knapp's narrows
to Easton. In the town of St. Michaels there was an infantry company,
commanded by Capt. Jos. Kemp, subsequently, Col. Kemp. This body
of men gave special guard to the town, and held itself in constant pre
paredness. Such was the condition of affairs in the lower part of Talbot in the
middle of April, 1813 — the enemy near at hand, and the people sensitive
to alarm — the enemy threatening and the people expecting an attack.
On the morning of the 18th or 19th, as near as the exact time can be
determined, a barge-like vessel was discovered malting her way, under
sails and oars, up that branch of Broad Creek which approaches St.
Michaels. At the mast head was displayed a red flag which was very
naturaUy supposed to be the dreaded Union Jack of Great Britain.
At the same time the beating of a drum on board the barge or boat was
distinctly heard. This, though hardly consonant with hostUe intentions,
was thought to be done in bravado, as though the enemy was confident
of success and had no need to employ any secrecy in his movements.

jacob Gibson's prank 431
No soldiers were seen on board, but they were supposed to be concealed
in the hold of the vessel. No one was visible but the two or three
men engaged in sailing the suspicious craft. The people along the
shores first took the alarm. The fanners placed messengers on fleet
horses and sent them to town to announce the approach of the British,
of whom the boat was thought to contain but the advance. Men with
families prepared to send theh wives and daughters up the county
beyond the reach of a lascivious and brutal soldiery, as they had shown
themselves to be farther south. Live stock was to be driven off from
the shores into secluded places so they might escape the marauding
bands of Cockburn. In the town the announcement of the approach
of the British created the greatest consternation, except in the breasts,
let us believe, of the brave citizen soldiers. Capt. Kemp's infantry
company, the St. Michaels Patriot Blues, was immediately under arms,
while Capt. Banning, with his horsemen were more than usually active,
hastening hither and thither in quest of the most recent inteUigence
of the progress of the approaching enemy, and in summoning the other
military companies from the surrounding country.
But neither the citizens nor the soldiery were kept long in suspense.
The boat continued its easy course up, with its red flag flying and its
deep drum beating. As the river or creek became narrower a nearer
view of the craft and her crew was obtained from the shore. The
vessel was soon discovered to be one which had lately left Broad Creek,
probably Capt. Richard Spencer's of Beverly, for Kent Island, and then
the burly form outlined itself against the sky, and the loud and ringing
voice was heard to echo along the shores, of Jacob Gibson. A gentle
breeze blew out from the mast the dreaded flag, which proved to be
unmarked by St. George's cross, and was only a red handkerchief; and
the tacking of the boat displayed, not a gaUy decked drummer boy and
his rattling instrument, but a ragged negro man thumping with his
fists upon the head of an empty rum barrel. The whole affair was
explained. It was Jacob Gibson returning from Sharp's Island, and
playing a practical joke upon the people of St. Michaels and vicinity.
Being naturaUy of buoyant spirits, and now, more than usual, elated
by his successful negotiation with the British commanders for the
protection of or probably pay for his property, he thought to have a little
innocent sport at the expense of his countrymen, by feigning to be theh
enemy. By the time he had reached the back landing, at that part of
the town caUed San Domingo, the feelings of the people and soldiers
had undergone a great change; the fears of the former had given place

432 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
' to indignation, and the courage of the latter to a deshe for revenge,
Neither was in a state of mind to laugh at Mr. Jacob Gibson's prank
and both were ready to inflict punishment for his having caused the
one to betray timidity, and the other to show theh bravery without a
cause. So when he reached the town instead of meeting a hearty
welcome back from the hand of the enemy, he encountered emphatic
objurgations. Those who had been reluctant to credit the rumors of
his having been trading with the enemy, and thus committing overt
treason, did not now hesitate to brand him with this infamous accusa
tion; while his political enemies saw, as they thought, evidences of his
guilt in the cargo of his vessel, some barrels of rum which he declared
were taken from a wreck he encountered in his trip from the island.
The soldiers of Captain Kemp's company were ready to take vengeance
upon him for a transaction which they were not in a state of mind to
regard as a practical joke; and but for the interposition of theh com
mander, his life would have paid the penalty for its perpetration. The
muskets of these men were actually pointed at his breast, and undoubt
edly would have been discharged but for the firmness and decision of
Capt. Kemp. The gentlemen of the troop of horse were calmer and
more considerate than their commander, who being an old political
opponent of Mr. Gibson, from whom he had received many severe rubs -
in the electioneering campaigns, was not averse to seeing him, humiliated,
if not harmed. As a Federalist he would have been pleased to see a
pronounced war Democrat convicted of illicit traffic with the enemy,
and if injured in person, his grief would not have been inconsolable. -
For the part Capt. Robt. Banning took in this affair, Mr. Gibson made
a most violent and vituperative attack upon him in the handbill hereto
fore referred to in this paper. The soldiers were at last quieted, and
the offender was aUowed to depart without injury for his home, across
St. Michaels river, after having publicly apologized for his conduct,
and explained his proceedings while upon Sharp's Island. There are
traditions that he was compelled, while making these apologies, to
suffer some humiliating indignities: but these traditions are probably
at fault, and from what is known of the sturdy character of Mr. Gibson,
it is very safe to say he could have done nothmg but what was becoming
a haughty man, who would have lost his life rather than debase himself
by an abject act, whUe making the only amends possible to an honorable
mind, for an offence innocently committed. ¦'',«"' ;
This prank of Jacob Gibson had a very interesting sequel. As has
been before mentioned the British fleet had command of the Chesapeake

jacob gibson's prank 433
bay. They were capturing and destroying all the crafts plying upon
its waters, carrying off the cattle and other hve stock for the use of the
fleet and threatening aU towns which were accessible by water. St.
Michaels was one of the places which were to be visited with destruction
and perhaps rapine. The means at the disposal of the State for the
defence of her coasts were sadly deficient. There was not either a
sufficiency of men, nor of arms to equip those ready to serve in the
rnilitia. Of heavy arms, in particular, there was a woful deficiency.
Artillery companies were unable to procure cannon. In St. Michaels
there was an organization of this kind, at the date of these transactions,
under the command of Capt. WUliam Dodson, but it was either without
guns entirely, or was inadequately supplied. Mr. Gibson was informed
of the inability of the State to furnish these arms and he appreciated
the necessity of these being furnished to the citizen soldiers in and
near St. Michaels, for its defence. He was an ardent advocate of the
war, and an earnest supporter of its prosecution to a favorable end.
He now saw an opportunity to justify his partisanship, gratify his pa
triotism, and pacify his offended feUow-citizens of St. Michaels. He
accordingly whUe in Baltimore, immediately after the affair just related,
purchased two cannon, and had them transported around the head of
the bay, to avoid capture by the British whose blockade was so strict
that few vessels escaped. These cannon he presented to the town of
St. Michaels — an instrument of war, as a peace offering. There is no
doubt the gift was intended to conciliate and placate the offended
people of that place. Although in his handbiU Mr. Gibson rather resents
the imputation- that this was his motive.
It is pleasing to know that the Ul feeling which was engendered or
fostered, by this affair, between Jacob Gibson and the people of St.
Michaels, and which subsisted for a long time, notwithstanding the
gift of the guns, has not been transmitted to theh posterity, and that a
grandson of that Jacob Gibson, who has inherited all his ancestor's
remarkable vigor of intellect, and has only lost that ancestor's brusque-
ness of manner to acquhe a mUdness and gentleness peculiarly his own,
now enjoys the confidence, respect and affection of the descendents
of the angry citizens of 1813, and now ministers with unsurpassed skiU
to the alleviation of the sufferings of those whose fathers were once
ready for a harmless joke to take the Ufe of his high spirited progenitor.
Of the incidents here narrated it is proper to say, they are thoroughly
authentic; and although they have never before been published, at
least in the connection here presented, they may be refied upon as

434 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
strictly veritable, having been derived from sources worthy of all cre
dence. Care has been taken to confirm tradition by record, so that an
amusing story might be made a valuable contribution to the annals
of this county. Unfortunately he was unable to procure carriages
for these guns, and as there was pressing and immediate need for them
they were rudely mounted upon cart or wagon wheels, and did good serv
ice on the ever memorable 10th of August, 1813, when the British
made theh long expected attack on St. Michaels, and were so gallantly
repeUed. On this occasion they were severaUy commanded by John
Thompson and Wrightson Jones, who contmued to fire them as long
as the enemy was within range. Subsequently these guns were properly
and handsomely mounted upon carriages. For many years, for want of
an armory, they were placed in the unused market house of St. Michaels,
which stood in the middle of St. Mary's square, in the centre of the
town, and were only brought to fire an occasional salute upon the fourth
of July, or in honor of some poUtical victory of either party. When the
market-house was converted into a school-house, the gifts of Jacob
Gibson were transferred to the armory at Easton, where they remained
untU our great civil war. On Sunday, June 9, 1861, by order of His
Excellency Thomas HoUyday Hicks, Governor of the State, WUliam
T. Roberts, Esq., Armorer at Easton, delivered to Col. Abel Smith,
of the New York volunteers, acting under Gen. Banks, all the arms
belonging to the State in the Armory, and among these were the two
six-pounders presented by Mr. Gibson to the people of St. Michaels.
These cannon were taken by Col. Smith to Fort McHenry, where they
probably are to this day, as theh antiquated pattern, it is likely, pre
vented their employment in our late contest. Thus it has come about
that on the grand moving drama of our national history the amusing
comedy of Jacob Gibson frightening the people of Bayside with his
red handkerchief, and empty barrel, connects itseh with the bloody
tragedy of our civU war.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT
Early Schools And School Masters
I
The preparation of a complete history of education in Maryland is
a task as yet imperfectly performed. Indeed, it can hardly be said to
have been seriously attempted; the few sketches of the subject that
have been made having no pretentions to thoroughness. A sense of
Disqualification for the work, more, perhaps, than a perception of its
arduous nature, has deterred every one from the undertaking; for
a rare combination of qualities are requisite for its due accom
plishment. That labor must be done by some one who unites in
himself the industry of the antiquarian, the insight of the phUos-
opher, and the ardor of the enthusiast. In the vast mass of irrel
evant matter which would have to be subjected to analysis, the
historic chemist would often have to be contented with the discovery
of mere traces of that for which he sought. These would consist mostly
of obscure bints, or minute notices, scattered here and there in pubhc
records of one kind or another — in church registers, legislative proceed
ings, books of law, fanuly memoranda, and files of news papers. These
sources of information would have to be searched with the patient,
but sharp, eye of the archaeologist, who gropes in rubbish for remains
of antiquity, and not with the simply curios glance of the dilettante,
seeking objects of virtu. And, when all the materials for a history
have been coUected, the greater labor remains to weave them into one
connected and veritable story, that shaU relate the rise, the progress
and the condition of the schools of Maryland, and that shall describe
those influences which have affected them from time to time and in
different sections of the province and State, and which has made them
what they were or what they are.
As in the greater or more comprehensive panorama of Maryland
history, those of her citizens who have taken a prominent part in the
conduct of her civU and poUtical affairs, or have made an impression
upon her social structure should be delineated for the instruction or the
veneration of those coming after, so upon the narrower canvas of this
story of her schools, there should be no failure to portray the careers and
435

436 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
characters of her more distinguished teachers, school officers and promot
ers of her educational interests; for there have been those belonging
to each of these classes of educationists in Maryland who are as deserv
ing of historic commemoration as are her statesmen, her jurists her
clergy or her physicians. Who more worthy of honor than he who
mokes popular government possible, who enhghtens the law makers, who
prevents reUgion from lapsing into superstition, and who promotes the
moral and inteUectual health of the community? But even the diligence
of the coUector of these materials for a history of schools, coupled, as
it may be, with analytic power and constructive abUity, wiU not suffice
to make the competent historian unless he be inspired with a love
for all that is expressed by the term education — for the objects, the
methods, the agencies and the agents. That a historian thus endowed
wUl appear in the future may be confidently expected, for besides con
tinuing to be a matter of the greatest possible individual or personal
concern, education has become almost within the recoUection of a liv
ing generation a State affair of the weightiest moment, having its admin
istrative staff, its code, its rules and precedents, its courts of original
and appeUate jurisdiction, and its independent fisc or treasury. More
than this, the teachers, from being the most humble of public servitors,
without social standing or official recognition, have, as a body, ac
quhed that greater consideration and consequence which are due to
wider attainments in letters and science, to improved moral worth and
to a more extended usefulness, and which are generally conceded to
those holding dhect relations to the government of the State. A great
interest, pubhc and private, like this of education, and one managed
or served by a large influential and distinctive class of citizens, men
and women — a class, not only of present, but increasing prospective
importance and weight cannot long be without a fit historian. In
anticipation of his coming, and with a view of aiding him in some small
measure, it is now proposed to give an account of the earUest schools
and schoolmasters of this county, of which and whom any record or
memory remains. This paper wUl be confined to the time preceding
the revolution, and the meagreness of the resources from which it must
be compUed wiU give to it the merit of brevity and the fault of inade
quacy. The iUiterateness of the earliest settlers of this State, this county in
cluded, has afforded a subject of much small wit to those who would
ridicule that family pride, which many of our most respectable citizens
have felt and sometimes perhaps too plainly exhibited, in theh ancestry.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 437
Those who have nothing to boast of, and others who have something to
be ashamed of, in theh paternal predecessors, have found some compen
sation, or it may be some revenge, when they could point out, to those
among us who a Uttle ostentatiously display theh coats of arms, cer
tain rude signs or symbols not recognized either by heraldry or calig-
raphy, attached to wills and other instruments of writing of theh fore
fathers, in the place where theh names should have been subscribed;
or, when a neighbor, with a pardonable vanity, displays reUcs of what
he fondly dreams was the former grandeur of his fanuly, in the form
of old battered household plate, or faded silk gowns of ancient pattern,
the petty malice of those who possess no such memorials of the wealth
and fashion of theh ancestors is vastly gratified when it can present sam
ples of defective orthography or other evidences of deficient scholar
ship in the script of those who first drank from the sUver goblets or
urns, or who wore the silken robes. There is probably as much of spite
as of truth in the allegation of prevalent ignorance among those who
were the permanent and substantial settlers of this province. WhUe
there is soine ground for the charge, unquestionably there has been
much exaggeration of the iUiterateness of those who coming to Mary
land first gave tone to society as it was in formation, and who, from
the first, were her representatives in whatever distinguished her in man
ners, morals or inteUigence. There was a class of emigrants who might
be called ignorant. This was that of the indentured servants. But
even among the people of this class there were many who enjoyed the
advantages of a good elementary education. This is shown by the
fact, hereafter to be more fuUy noticed, that many of the early school
teachers were drawn from this very class. But the substantial men
who settled the province, who took out patents for lands, or bought
them from second hands, and Uved upon them, founding famUies, and
attaching themselves to the soU — the real planters, the traders, the pro
fessional men, and even the thrifty mechanics — were in general suf
ficiently weU educated to be refieved from the imputation of iUiterate
ness, though, most probably, there were exceedingly few who could
lay just claim to what might be called high culture. They were cer
tainly weU enough educated to know the value of a httle learning in
the struggle for Ufe, even when that struggle was rather with uncul
tivated nature, as is the case in aU new countries, than with man, as it
is in the settled States. They did not aUow the pressing exigencies of
the formation of new homes in the wUderness to prevent them from se
curing to their children, even upon the secluded plantation, such an

438 HISTORY OF TAIlBOT COUNTY
equipment for the contest as is afforded by the possession of the ele
ments of letters and the rudiments of science. As wealth accumulated
the education imparted or provided was of a better character. More
capable instructors were employed at home, or the sons were sent to
the great schools and universities of England. Thus, WiUiam Harper,
of this county, in his wUl, dated 1739, makes particular provision,
and gives specific directions, for the education of his son, Samuel Clay
land Harper, requiring that his teachers be paid double for his instruc
tion; and that he be trained up to one of the professions. Mr. Har
per appears to have been a man of some fondness for literature, and a
friend of schools, for he directed by his wUl that if his son should die
before he should arrive at the age of twenty-one, his Ubrary and one-
hah of his estate should pass to the Talbot County Free School. Mi
chael Howard, Esquhe, a prominent lawyer at the bar of this county,
who died in 1737, provided for the education of his nephew, Michael
WUUam Howard, at the Westminster School and at King's College,
Cambridge, England. It may be proper to add that the professional
education of many of the lawyers and physicians was received in the old
country, before the revolution.
The first schools that were formed in this county and province must
have been of an elementary character to correspond with the simple
life-wants of the settler. From the circumstances of the planters, it is
inferable that they were of a private or domestic kind. The farms were
large and widely separated, the population exceedingly sparse, and
there were no considerable towns or viUages. Consequently neighbor
hood schools, which grew up when these conditions changed, could not
be formed. By the more wealthy settlers private tutors were employed,
and it is not unlikely the master of the plantation, in many cases, per
mitted the chUdren of his dependents, or of any poor freemen Uving
near him, to enjoy the privUeges of instruction by such tutors, for the
sake of the advantages that would accrue to his own chUdren by being
associated with others while under instruction. The first schools,
therefore, in this county, were what may be designated as plantation
or home schools, made up of the chUdren of the proprietors, and such
others as they might see fit to admit to participate in theh benefits.
These schools were, of course, of smaU size, and the instruction im
parted elementary in character. '.i'
This system of plantation or home schools continued to be followed
for not many years; indeed, it can be said to have enthely disappeared at
the present, for private tutors are still employed by those Uving remote

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 439
from the towns or by those unwUUng to send their chUdren to the com
mon schools. But as soon as a sufficient number of settlers had made
plantations and homes in any vicinage, schools of another order, but
scarcely of a different grade, were instituted. Several neighbors would
unite to employ a teacher, and become responsible f or his sala ry. Others
were permitted to avail themselves of the services of the master by pay
ing a stipulated fee. Such schools were what have been designated as
ueighborhood subscription schools. The salary attached to the place of
teacher was exceedingly small, but some additional compensation was
given in the privUege he enjoyed, though now it would be regarded as
a penalty inflicted, of "boarding around" in the famUies of the chief
patrons. This system continued in existence down to the time when
the State gave support to the pubhc schools; and under it many of those
school houses which are stUl in existence, or those which immediately
preceded them upon the same sites, were buUt. Even after the State
and county had begun to give assistance to the schools, it was custom
ary for the neighborhoods to contribute a sum for the increase of the
teachers' salaries. In these neighborhood subscription schools many
persons stiU living received aU the instruction in letters they ever ob
tained. Some of them were exceUent, and aU of them useful.
StiU another class of schools was formed as soon as the density of
population, the increase of wealth and refinement, and the consequent
demand for better and higher instruction justified its appearance. This
was the class of private schools — or those in which the master assumed
all the responsibility and demanded for his services a stipulated fee from
such as placed theh chUdren under his care. These often flourished
side by side with the subscription schools, and sometimes took theh
places. As theh success depended solely upon the character and abili
ties of the several teachers, the masters were generaUy men of a better
order, in both theh moral, inteUectual and professional qualifications.
These schools pretended to advance the pupU beyond the simple ele
ments of learning, and to give him an initiation, at least, into a critical
study of his own language, and into apphed mathematics. In some
cases, too, the Latin and Greek languages, in theh elements, made
up a portion of the course of study. It is hardly necessary to say that
schools of this kind have had a continued existence down to the pres
ent day, though the exceUence of the schools supported by the State
and county has very nearly caused their extinction. They survive in
but one school, or, perhaps, two schools for boys, and a few schools
for girls within the Umits of Talbot.

440 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Of another class of schools, namely those which would be now des
ignated as denominational schools, we find traces in the early records
of the county. The clergy of the Church of England as established
in Maryland, or at least the better and more reputable of them, mani
fested considerable interest in the cause of popular education. The
Bishop of London, under whose ecclesiastical administration the church
in this province was placed, instituted inquiries through his commis
saries, from time to time, respecting the existence of parochial schools*
but the responses to his queries, as far as they have survived, do not
indicate that any such schools ever had an existence in this county.
The Talbot County Free School that wa3 established under the law
of 1723, of which an account has aheady been given in a previous con
tribution, would not faU into this class, for, although the rector of the
parish in which it was placed was always the chairman of the board
of visitors, and many of the vestrymen of the same parish were mem
bers of that board, it is very certain that the school was not under the
official control of the ecclesiastical authorities; nor was the school of a
grade to be classed as a parish school, though some charity pupils were
doubtless received, hi consideration of the partial support it received
from the public funds. Nor was the charity-working school of Parson
Bacon, estabUshed in 1753, of which also a fuU account has been given
in these contributions, properly a parochial school, for neither was it con
trolled by any parochial body. It is believed, however, that not unfre-
quently the clerks or curates of the parishes in Talbot taught in these
schools or others, for the purpose of eking out theh slender stipends, and
thus a reUgious influence was extended over such as they had charge of.
At a later day the clergymen of the Church of England were among the
most efficient teachers in the county. The Friends, or Quakers, the only
other denomination that had organized congregations within this county
untU within a few years of the revolution, very early mamfested a
deep "concern" in the matter of education. The minutes of theh
meetings indicate this sohcitude. There is no doubt that they had, at
a very early day, theh denominational schools, which probably were
held in theh meeting houses, though it is proper to say this last state
ment is purely conjectural. Later they had houses for the uses of their
schools. Reference has aheady been made to the charity-working school of
Mr. Bacon. This was an attempt to introduce into Maryland a class
of schools which had been very successful in England. It was the
only one of its kind in the province. It was supported by private annual

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 441
subscriptions and benefactions, and was designed for the education of
the poor only. It not only gave instruction in letters, but also attempted
the tiaining of its pupils in some useful employment— an educational
idea revived in most recent times. In other words, it was a manual
labor school. One of its most curious provisions was that for the ad
mission of negro chUdren. A fuU and detailed account of this school
may be found in the Easton Star of February and March of the present
year. Another class of schools was represented in this county by the Tal
bot County Free School, estabUshed, as before stated, under the law of
1723. like schools were founded in many of the other counties, and
they really were the precursors of the exceUent county academies set
up after the revolution. This school had legislative aid and recogni
tion. But nothing more need be said of it than has been said in the
Easton Star of April and May of the present year, where a fuU account
of it has been given.
In the rude and primitive condition of society which existed in this
county, as in the province generally, for many years after its settlement,
there was no demand for higher culture, and if there had been there
were reaUy no teachers to impart it. In a new country not the inteUec-
tual graces, but the physical forces are in requisition. The former are
unwilling to be transported from an old community to a new, and they
are difficult of transportation, and yet more difficult of perpetuation.
Men, learned and accomplished, find a new soU inhospitable, so they
are loath to leave theh old homes, where they have appreciation. From
the very beghuuhg great difficulty was experienced by the planters of
Maryland and other colonies whose conditions of settlement were
similar, in obtaining competent teachers. Theh abUity to pay learned
men or those skilled in the art of instruction, was small. And besides,
the compensation that was paid for mere physical labor drew off into
mechanical callings all but those who were incapacitated by bodUy
weakness or indolence. The consequence was that the profession of
teaching, if it might then be so called, was fined by those who were
thought to be fit for nothing else. As a consequence, they were held
in low repute. Theh social position was beneath that of those pursu
ing the handicrafts. The pubhc estimate of them was measured by
the insignificant compensation that was extended to them for theh
services. The early teachers were obtained from that needy class of
emigrants who secured theh passage to this colony by obfigating them
selves to serve a certain number of years in consideration of their trans-

442 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
portation; or from that other and hardly less necessitous class who
though they might have been able to pay the ship master the moderate
sum charged for bringing them over, after theh arrival, found them
selves unfitted for the hard labor that was exacted of them in this new
country. Or again from another and a smaUer class, made up of va
grants and petty criminals, or. banished rebels, who were compelled to
leave their old homes for an enforced residence in Maryland or Vhginia.
Many of the early settlers were, therefore, actuaUy indentured servants,
or were bought by the planters from the captains or supercargoes
as they stood upon the deck of the ship. From the records of the
county, from the oldest newspaper printed at Annapolis, and from other
authentic sources, it is certainly known that the custom of purchasing
teachers was common, and that not a few of these were reaUy con
victs. It is probable that from each of the classes which furnished
the early teachers — the poor freemen, the indentured servants, or the
transported criminals — the most vigorous in body, or even the most
sprightly in mind, were not selected as tutors for the chUdren. In new
countries physical strength is too important an element in the struggle
for Ufe, or in the pursuit of wealth to be wasted in disciplining urchins;
and intelfigence can win too many and rich rewards to be used upon
the work of the abecedarian. The school teacher, therefore, was too
generally the man of inferior physical stamina or of the less active men
tal quahties. Indeed, down to a very recent date, U, indeed, the same
condition does not stUl exist, the calling of the elementary teacher
was adopted, by the simply indolent, or by those who felt their physi
cal or mental incapacity for the great competitive struggle for the honors
and rewards of Ufe. To be sure, strong men have and do become teach
ers for a time, that they might and may prepare themselves for, or await
more remunerative and more highly esteemed positions. It may be
readUy inferred, from what has been said of the character of the classes
from which the early teachers were taken, that they held a very hum
ble social position, and that their very limited scholarship, if theh
imperfect acquaintance with even the rudiments of learning deserves .
to be designated by such a name, did little to raise them in general
esteem; and that the low moral character of many of them was such
as to hardly merit more consideration than they received from people
whose standard of rectitude and purity of conduct were no higher than
their standards of scholarship and literary culture. •• "¦¦'" ¦ ¦"'
Commensurate with the growth of the county, and the same may
be said, of course, of the whole province, in population, in wealth, and

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 443
all the elements of civiUzation, was the improvement in the character of
the teachers; so that at the close of the period to which this paper is
confined, there was to be found in Talbot, as elsewhere, no inconsider
able number of very competent and exemplary instructors; though it
must be confessed that much the larger part of this body of useful
citizens, were stiU, and for years continued to be poorly qualified mor
ally, and inteUectuaUy, for theh high vocation. The legislation im
mediately preceding and during the war of the Revolution, by depriving
many worthy and accomphshed clergymen of theh legal stipends,
gave to the class of teachers a number of men possessed of very respect
able scholarship, and irreproachable character. These were the incum
bents of some of the parishes who contmued to perform theh ministe
rial duties with most conscientious fidelity, after theh legal support was
withdrawn, and they were left without any maintenance except that
they could earn by extra-ministerial duty, and what pious benevolence
felt impeUed to bestow. Early Schools and Schoolmasters
II
Having now completed this general view or periscope of the early
schools and schoolmasters of Talbot, this paper wfll be concluded by
necessarily brief notices of such particular schools and schoolmasters
as have been commemorated in our very imperfect records. The first
mention of any schoolmaster is that contained in the judgment record of
the Court of Talbot County for the March term of 1680, and this men
tion is not creditable to the person of whom it is recorded, nor of the re
corder, for "John Stevens, school-master" is represented as having
been presented by the grand jury for being drunk on the Sabbath day,
at the house of John Aldridge; and the clerk who has thus impaled
John Stevens, uses such abominable orthography as to show his want of
acquaintance with a good schoolmaster in his youth, or an acquaintance
with even so drunken a schoolmaster as he who was arraigned. John
Stevens was fined one hundred pounds of tobacco.
The school and schoolmaster next mentioned in any record, belonged
to the society of Friends or Quakers. These plain, but eminently
wise people, who do not disdain nourishing the inner and divine Ught
with the oU of outward and human knowledge, have never been back
ward or indifferent in promoting education; and they have always
preferred, for one reason or another, to have theh chUdren taught in

444 history of talbot county
schools under theh own denominational influence. At this time, when
the public schools are so good, of theh kind, the Quakers, while mak
ing no protest against them, except the one that education is a matter of
private concern and not of pubhc, in which position they are supported
by some of the best authorities in social phUosophy, prefer to establish
schools of theh own. In the year 1683 the minutes of the meeting in
Talbot indicate that the Quakers had a school at or near theh meet
ing-house in Tuckahoe, on King's Creek. This school was taught by
Isaac Smith, of Vhginia, that commonwealth then, as now, sending us
teachers. Isaac Smith, it is stated, feU into "distraction of mind," and
during his paroxysms of madness would tear his clothes, commit other
destructive acts, and would also wander away from his home, near
the school. The meeting ordered that this unfortunate man should
be properly cared for by the Tuckahoe Friends until he could be re
stored to bis famUy in Vhginia. Of this school in Tuckahoe nothing
more is known.
In the year 1691, among the land records of the county was recorded
a deed of "Thomas WaUis, schohnaster" (the clerk stUl having failed
to perfect his spelling of this word) to Robert Smith, for one hundred
acres of land on the north side of Saint Michaels River, bordering on
Bachelor's Branch, and caUed "Neglect" — a very appropriate name for
a teacher's home. This Thomas WaUis, in the year succeeding, had
aU his personal effects seized under an attachment. The schedule of
his property evinces his poverty, and was as foUows:
Schedule Lbs. Tobacco
One old chest  15
One parcel of old hon  15
Two pot-hooks, a cutting knife and a pen knife  60
A parcel of old nayles  120
A parcel of old books  100
Eight old pewter spoons  20
A parcel of pewter   100
One old feather bed  200
A spinners wheel  150
750
The pen-knife and old books are the only symbols of Thomas Walks'
profession. This memorandum wUl serve to indicate the growth of
humane feefings, for it shows the custom then prevailing of stripping
the unfortunate debtor absolutely bare.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 445
In 1693, at the March term of the county court, Henry Adcock, "being
a man weU skUled in ye art of teaching good letters," brought suit
against WUUam Warrilowe, who, according to the narrative of the
case, "did retaine ye said Henry to teach and instruct his sonn WUliam
Warrilowe, Jun'r, in good letters and manners for and during the term
of one yeare next ensueing ye day and yeare of (viz.: Nov. 21, 1687),
and ye said Henry in fact saith that he then keeping a pubUc school at
Miles River, within the jurisdiction of this court, &c, &c." The narra
tive further says that WUUam Warrilowe had promised to pay Henry
Adcock the "fuU and just summe of four hundred pounds of tobacco,"
but did not. The school teacher was cast in his suit, and he not only
failed to recover the amount of his tuition fee, but he was requhed to
pay WUUam Warrilowe two hundred and forty-two pounds of tobacco
for his "false clamour." He was, however, more successful in another
case in which he was sued by a tavern-keeper, the matter in contention
being the "shugar" which the pubhcan alleged, and the dominie denied,
had been added to Henry Adcock's potations. It would seem, from the
result, that the school teacher did not use "shugar" with his rum.
Tbis Henry Adcock, it appears, was one of those indentured servants
mentioned in another part of this article, and had served, for the space
of two years, Mr. Thomas Impey, sometime clerk of the county court,
and resident of Bayside.
The schoolmaster whose name is next encountered was Thomas Green
wood, who, in 1717, conveyed to Christopher SprigaU a tract of land
called "Adventure," upon one of the branches of King's Creek, and con
taining two hundred acres. The only notable circumstances connected
with Thomas Greenwood are, that his wife EUzabeth could not write her
name and that he was a man of comfortable fortune — a very rare hap
pening to school-teachers, who as a class are poor. In 1720, James
Fletcher, schoolmaster at Oxford, was sued by Mr. James HoUyday
for a debt owing to Sarah his wife. In 1722, Daniel Walker, school
master, purchased of Joseph Pond ninety-two acres of land called
' "Jamaica," at the head of one of the branches of Thhd Haven Creek,
upon which Daniel Walker then Uved. Of this teacher we know some
thing more than of those before mentioned, from records written by
his own hand, for he was the clerk and register of Saint Peter's Parish
from 1707 to August 28, 1724. He was born at Pflkington, England,
and was the son of John and EUzabeth Walker. In 1677 he was ap
pointed to keep a ferry over Saint Michaels River, at the point where
the bridge now stands, and in the levy record of the county it is quaintly

446 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
stated: "To Daniel Walker, in consideration of his poverty, many chil
dren, loss, ferriage over river with a canowe, at least 2,500 lbs." He
has not left the number of his chUdren in doubt, for he has faithfully
recorded in the parish registry theh several names, the year, day of the
month, day of the week, and hour of the day, when each was born.
In November, 1725, Thomas Smith, schoolmaster, is named in the
pubhc levy hst as having been aUowed for three days service as a petit
juror, fifteen pounds of tobacco per diem, or about sixty cents of the
money of today. It would seem from this that schoolmasters were not
then, as now, exempt from jury duty, though Thomas Smith may have
been a schoolmaster rethed from business, for he was evidently a man
of substance and a good Uver. As late as 1755 he was residing upon
his estate, part of "Grafton Manor" on Bayside, for upon the rent-roll
of Lord Baltimore for that year he was assessed upon one hundred acres
of land so designated. It is further known that he would occasionally
draw blood, not, it is to be hoped, from the luckless urchin's back, but
from bis neighbors' arms when applied to to exercise the functions of
a phlebotomist. For this purpose he habituaUy carried a lancet.
In the year 1728, was estabUshed the Talbot County Free School, to
which reference has already been made, and of which a fuU and de-
taUed account has been given in another contribution of this series.
But one teacher's name has reached us of those certainly belonging to
this school, and that is commemorated by the infamy attaching. Here,
too, Mr. George Rule probably taught, and taught acceptably.
In 1747, Stephen Stitchbury, schoolmaster, bought a parcel of land
in Island Creek Neck, called "Boone's Hope." Of him nothmg more
is known, but his abUity to buy land argues favorably for his skUl as a
teacher. It is probable this worthy man has Uving descendants now
in the county where the name is perpetuated.
In 1751, Richard RowUnson, schoolmaster, was requhed to enter
his recognizance for the appearance of his wife at the August term of
the Court. Fortunately the offence of Mrs. Rowlinson is not men
tioned. «¦';
In the year 1753 or 1754, the Charity Working School of Parson
Bacon was established in Oxford Neck. A fuU account of this school
has aheady been published in these contributions. '-' 5>1'
Lawrence Maynard, schoolmaster, was sued by Michael Hackett,
upon his note, for 600 lbs. tobacco and twenty shUUngs currency, at
the August term of the Court in 1755. It is Ukely this person has left
descendants, as the name survives in the state, but not in the county.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 447
Joseph Toope, schoolmaster, was sued in the June Court, of 1756, by
Messrs. GUdart and Sons, merchants of Liverpool, who had theh fac
tors estabUshed in this county at several points, of whom Mr. Thomas
Harrison, of Canton, near St. Michaels, presently to be mentioned,
was one.
In 1756, Thomas Harrison, merchant on Broad Creek, sued James
Price, schoolmaster, for a debt incurred to him. Price was aUowed
a credit for three months' schooling of Harrison's chUdren. He after
wards absconded carrying off most of his effects. What was left was
levied upon by Harrison. Among his property were found a parcel of
books valued at ten shUlings, and a paper of ink-powder, which mark
the profession of the owner.
Among the court records of the same year, 1756, may be found the
exceedingly curious petition of John Jones, schoolmaster, "to the wor
shipful, the Commissioners and Justices of the Peace." As this is
illustrative of the condition and position of that class of teachers which
was made up of indentured servants, it is copied in fuU. It serves also
to present one phase of society in Talbot.
n n I John Jones, to the Court here, prefers the foUowing
ThonSThnsj Petition:
Worthy Gentlemen:
Your humble petitioner humbly sheweth that he is a bond servant
to Thomas Timons, and has received a great deal of Ul usage by blows
and stripes. Imprimis: On the first day of October I related to him that
he had violated his promise in imposing servile labour on me, and not giv
ing me cloathes as that was his agreement when he deshed me to act
inqualityas schoolmasterunderhim, whereupon he beat me with his fist
about the face and much bruised me, of which Mr. Robert Goldsborough
was spectator, and deshed him to desist from like cruelty, and ordered
him at the same time to provide me warm cloathes. Secondly, on
the 15th day of the same instant, he whipt me by reason I did not walk
the main road home from school according to his orders. I acquainted
him that I was ashamed, as that I had scarce a shirt to my back or
breaches to wear. Thirdly: on the 19th of the same instant I returned
home from school, and finding no one at home, I went to the place
where all the fanuly were. I had not been there a quarter of an hour,
till the master came and told me it was time to go home, and I acquainted
him there was no one at home and then he went away, and in a very
short time he came and told me that my mistress was gone home and
I must go and sheU corn. Then I desired the favour of him to let
me get a drink of cyder and he replyed, dare any one give you a drop.
Whereupon my feUow servant who was there came along with me, and

448 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
as we walked along I related to him that master thinks to frighten
one by his spleen and revenge; and I said at the same time, I have as
many friends as he, and he walking behind incognito heard the words
and he directly made use of this expression : then damn you I wUl be
your foe. Whereupon he took up a piece of pine plank about three
feet long and three or four inches broad, and an inch thick, and with
the said instrument struck me several blows and bruised me very much
in the body, and afterward beat me with his fist and bruised me in the
face, of which Mr. John Goldsborough was a spectator. Gentlemen,
the real cause of the cruelties that I have suffered is, that I went into
a pubhc place there were several of the subscribers, and showed how
he had beat me, and related to them the whole affair, how that he
detained me every morning to work, and requhed the same in the
evening, if occasion offered; and in doing this he says I have calumni
ated his reputation and character and he has often said, since I declared
this, that if he cannot have satisfaction one way he will another. This
my fellow-servant can affirm. So I humbly beg, worthy gentlemen,
that you wiU take my present circumstances into consideration, and
grant in your great impartiahty and wisdom that I may be ordered
to another master, as soon as this year's schooling is completed, that
I may shun those barbarities and cruelties that are likely to attend
me hereafter, which shall ever be with gratitude acknowledged by
your most obedient servant and humble petitioner. John Jones.
Talbot County, Nov. 2d, 1756.
Thomas Timmes was summoned to answer. The court heard and
determined. The case was dismissed, Timmes discharged, and Jones
sentenced to pay to him a sum in consideration of the costs and charges
incurred by the said Timmes. H John Jones' statement was not true,
it must have had the semblance of truth. It is, therefore, very sugges
tive as to the character and condition of that class of school teachers
furnished by the indentured servants bought out of the ships by the
planters. As the court dismissed the case, it is not unlikely this com
plainant was a drunkard and disreputable person, whose disorderly
conduct, when in hquor, provoked the anger of his master, and whose
unfitness for his calling condemned him to "servUe labour," as he de
served to be.
The proceedings of the county court for the November term of 1757
contain the foUowing minute: "Joseph Price, schoolmaster, in the court
here, before the Justices aforesaid takes the oath of allegiance, the
oath of abhorrency, the oath of abjuration and makes the declaration
caUed the Test, as they are appointed to be taken and made by an Act
of Assembly of this province, and doth subscribe the adjuration and
declaration aforesaid severally."

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 449
At the same court WUUam Edmondson, schoolmaster, took shnUar
oaths and made like subscriptions. These proceedings were probably
under the Act of 1716, entitled "An Act for the better security of the
peace and safety of his Lordship's government, and the Protestant in
terest in this province," which requhed all persons holding offices and
places of trust to take the oaths and pledges indicated. Schoolmasters
and clergymen were included. But there are no other records dis
covered of any one of the first named class of citizens having been re
quhed to comply with this law; and why at this time there should have
been this revival of loyalty to the house of Hanover, and fidefity to
the Church of England, is not apparent, unless the Jacobite rebellion,
and the rising in Scotland under Charles Edward, in the years just
preceding, account for the new zeal. The defeat of the pretender
sent many of the rebels to Maryland, and Talbot received her due
share of these involuntary but acceptable emigrants.
In 1761, Patrick Parks, schoolmaster, was the principal party to a
bill of sale to satisfy a debt.
In the same year, James DoneUan, schoolmaster, was non-suited by
Thomas Clayland. This teacher seems to have been Utigious, as his
name frequently appears in the records as a party to suits, either as
plaintiff or defendant. ,
Nicholas Seymour, in the same year, was sued by Andrew Law, and
cast. In point of time, the period of a great poUtical and social revolution
has been approached in this article, and here must close this very im
perfect account of the early schools and schoolmasters in Talbot. It
is not pretended, of course, that those mentioned constituted the whole
number or even the majority of those that existed in this county
during the many years traversed by this record. Doubtless much the
greater part of them have passed into entire obhvion, from which theh
memories can never be rescued by the most dUigent student of our
local history. The paucity of the facts which have been related, and
the obscurity which clothes those few have rendered the attempt which
has been made in the first part of this contribution to draw some general
deductions, extremely hazardous. AU, therefore, that has been said,
aside from the plain and simple recital from authentic records, has been
said hesitatingly by the writer and should be so received by the reader.
Many of the details and incidents are exceedingly trivial, but not, there
fore, necessarily insignificant. They constitute, perhaps, the most
valuable part of tbis contribution, for even if they have been misunder-

450 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
stood and misused, they may again be employed by a more cunning
hand, and a more perspicacious mind to write the history of education
not of Talbot, only, but of the commonwealth at large.
Quaker Schools
The Friends or Quakers, as they are commonly but no longer de
risively called, very early in our history acquhed a strong foothold in
Talbot, under the earnest teachings of the apostles of this faith, and
even of the very founder himself, they increased so rapidly in numbers
that they soon became a most influential body, dictating, when they
had need, the poUtics and giving tone to the society of the county.
OriginaUy drawn from the poor and simple, here they very soon became
conspicuous for theh wealth and inteUigence. Among them were to
be found some of the most enterprising and successful merchants and
the largest planters of Maryland. They were among the first to appre
ciate the advantages which education affords not only for the increase
of material prosperity, of social consideration and personal happiness,
but also for the promotion of sound religious influence and healthy
spiritual growth. Besides they were not slow to perceive that the
errors into which were most liable to fall and into which some of the
first disciples had actuaUy faUen, after escaping those of a rigid formal
ity, were those of a perfervid enthusiasm in reUgion; and that the most
effective and salutary check upon those extravagancies which are said
to have characterized the early Friends, and which had been, in a meas
ure, transported to America, was the cultivation of those faculties of
the mind which are the natural antagonists of the tumultuous feelings.
Another motive prompted them to inteUectual culture. This was a
desire to acquhe or furnish a substitute for those pleasures which their
system of reUgion condemned and which neither an indulgence in re
Ugious emotion, nor an extreme devotion to the acquisition of wealth,
which have always characterized this pious and thrifty people, could
supply. These considerations prepare us to expect to find traces in
the historic sands indicating the presence in Talbot at a very early
day of Quaker schools.1 In a previous number of tbis series of con-
1 It is an interesting fact that the first public library ever formed in this county
and probably in the province was the one collected by the Friends in 1676 and after,
at the Betty's Cove meeting house. The following is a minute of the meeting
held on the 14th of the 5th month of that year. "It is thought fit by the
meeting that a stock be kept amongst Friends to pay for books, and to
dispose of as Friends shall see need, from time to time, for ye service of

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 451
tributions reference was made to the establishment of such schools,
and brief notices were given of one or more of them. In this paper it
is proposed to present an account of some others of which uncertain
traditions or scanty written records have preserved the memory.
It was stated, in the article referred to, that there exist traditions of
the existence of a Quaker school upon or near the site of the first meet
ing house of the Friends, at Betty's Cove. There is no account of this
school in the minutes of the Friends, and those minutes extend back
to a period anterior to the abandonment of the ancient meeting house
at that place; but this absence of record is no proof that such a school
had no existence, in the face of a tradition which seems to be very posi
tive and tolerably weU substantiated. A private letter from James
Dixon, a Friend, says: "We have no records of the meeting at Betty's
Cove" [this is hardly correct], "but there was a Free School on that
same lot under the direction of Friends belonging to that meeting, so
I was informed by Henry HoUyday, Sr., who had been a pupU there."
It is possible that the Free School attended by Mr. Henry HoUyday,
was the Talbot Free School, of which an account has been given, and
which was certainly near where the old Quaker meeting house once
stood. But there exist records of another Quaker school, which was
established at or near the "great meeting house," on Thhd Haven, of
which it is proposed now to speak.
On the 25th of November, 1779, at a monthly meeting of the Society
of Friends at Thhd Haven, there was present a committee, appointed
by the Quarterly Meeting, in conformity with the advice of the Yearly
Truth, every Friend being left to his own liberty and freedom what to give.
Upon which Friends subsided as follows:" William Berry 400 lbs. Tobacco,
Bryan 0. Mealy 400, John Pitt 350, Howell Powell 400, Ralph Fishbourne 400,
Thomas Taylor 400, John Edmondson 400, William Southbee 200, John Jadwin
200, Henry Woolchurch 200, James Hall 100, William Sharpe 300, John Pemberton
100, Henry Parrott 200, John Dickinson and Charles Gorsuch 400, Alexander
Nash 200, Obediah Judkins 100, in all 4750 pounds of tobacco. Thomas Taylor,
who was clerk of the meeting, was appointed Librarian or keeper of the books.
In 1681 the library had an accession of "a parcell of bookes which came from our
dear friend and brother George Fox, before his death as a token of his love."
It should be remembered that this was long before the attempt of the Bishop of
London through Commissary Bray to establish parochial libraries in this province.
Remnants of this original Quaker library are still in existence. The writer has
in his possession one of its volumes much mutilated and otherwise disfigured,
entitled "A Whip for the Snake," being a reply to an attack on the Friends in a
book entitled "A Snake in the Grass." Lovers of peace as were the early
Friends, they were not averse from religious controversy.

452 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Meeting within the bounds of which this Monthly and Quarterly Meet
ing was comprised. Among other subjects commended to the considera
tion of this committee was that of the establishment of schools for the
education of the children of Friends. This committee having duly
weighed the matter, reported to the meeting and advised
that a suitable school for the instruction of youth in useful learning
be erected within the verge of this meeting . . . and that this
meeting do appoint a committee to take the same under care and pro
ceed therein as way may open.
Whereupon the meeting after due dehberation, appointed these
gentlemen members of the committee proposed, viz. :
William Edmondson,
Benjamin Parvin,
Tristram Needles,
Richard Bartlett.
On the 27th of July, 1780, this committee reported to the meeting
that "they met on the occasion in company with a number of members
of this meeting, and concluded that it wUl be expedient to raise the sum
of fifty pounds ($133.33) for that purpose." The coUectors of the
meeting were directed to coUect this sum before the last of the twelfth
month (December). In August Thomas Wickersham and James
Berry were appointed members of the school committee in the place of
Benjamin Parvin and WiUiam Edmondson, relieved at theh own re
quest. On the 12th of November of same year the committee was
directed by the meeting to "proceed to buUd a house on Thhd Haven
meeting house lot for the aforesaid purpose." A minute of the meet
ing held the 22nd of the 2nd month (February), 1781, is in these words:
"The consideration in regard of a school being weighty before this
meeting, it appears to be the sense and judgment thereof that a house
be buUt of brick, forty feet long and twenty feet wide, with a cellar
under the whole, at the place heretofore mentioned; and the committee
aheady appointed are directed to proceed thereto as speedUy as way .
may be opened." On the 26th of July, of the same year "the commit- ;.
tee appomted in the case of the school informs this meeting that they
have employed a Master, who has opened a school at this place; which
being approved the same committee are contmued and to have oversight
and care thereof until further directions." The teacher thus em
ployed was Samuel Hutton, as appears from the foUowing minute of
a meeting held November 29, 1781 : "the meeting dhects the Treasurer
to pay unto Samuel Hutton the sum of three pounds thirteen shillings,
it being the balance due him for teaching Friends school last quarter.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 453
Of this teacher, the minutes of the meeting have preserved some me
morials. He seems to have had his residence, before coming to Talbot,
within the verge of "New Garden monthly meeting in the state of
Pennsylvania." He married EUzabeth, the daughter of Mr. Edward
Needles of this county. He continued to teach the Friends' school
very successfuUy and acceptably, according to the records, until 1792,
and possibly later, when he removed to Nottingham, Chester County,
Pennsylvania, very much to the regret of the Friends of Talbot, who
at theh meeting of the 13th of December of that year, appointed a com
mittee to wait upon him for the purpose of dissuading him, if possible,
from leaving the county. This committee, after having offered all
inducements to abandon his purpose, reported "the Friends might give
him up." Letters dimissory, therefore, were granted to Mr. Hutton,
commending him, as a member in good standing in the society, to the
Nottingham meeting. He died not long after leaving Talbot, whither
his wife and chUdren returned in 1795, to theh relatives, bringing let
ters of membership to the society of Friends at Thhd Haven. It may
be.weU enough to say that his widow became a teacher in the town of
Easton many years later.
It would seem that the house which was authorized to be buUt in
1781 was not completed untU 1782 or later, for in April of that year
the minutes indicate that it was stiU in process of erection, money being
then ordered to be paid as it might be needed for the purpose. Nor
was it buflt according to the original design, of brick, but of wood, as
appears by a recommendation of the school committee in 1789 that
the school house be removed to the town of Easton. The meeting
concurred in the opinion of the committee and authorized that body to
contract with some responsible person for the purchase of a lot of ground
in the town and for the removal of the house. These gentlemen accord
ingly agreed with Mr. John Needles that he should buy a quarter of
an acre of land and place the school house upon it, they contracting
to pay reasonable charges for the removal, and to allow him to hold the
title of the property until he should be fuUy paid for the lot and his
labor. The school house was in 1791, accordingly removed, agreeable
to directions, and placed upon the lot at the corner of Harrison street and
South lane, in the rear of the premises now owned by Dr. Jos. E. Cham
berlain. In 1795, Mr. Needles having been fuUy satisfied, conveyed
the house and ground to Richard Bartlett, Thomas Wickersham and
John Dickinson in trust for the Thhd Haven monthly meeting, as ap
pears by the court records of the county. In constructing this school

454 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
house, upon its original site, and its internal arrangement contmued to
be the same after its removal, provision was made for the accommoda
tion of the teacher and his famUy, as appears by an order of the meeting
in 1787 that the dwelling part of the school house should be rented to
a tenant. After the house had been moved to town the portion fitted
up for a dwelling was either rented out, or was occupied by poor persons
belonging to the society of Friends while the portion adapted to school
purposes continued to be used for what it was originally intended.
In the year 1844 this school house property was sold to James L. Mar
tin, Esq., for #325 and the money was applied to improving the meeting*
house. Little is known of the character of this school. It is presumable
that it was elementary. Whether it was an absolutely free school is
not apparent. Certain it is that frequent coUections were taken up
in the meeting for the payment of the teachers, but it is possible, indeed
probable, a charge for tuition was made against those able to pay for the
instruction of theh chUdren, while the poor were allowed to share its
advantages without fee or expense. That the school under Mr. Hutton
had been prosperous is apparent from a report of the committee hav
ing it in charge, made to the meeting in March, 1791:
The committee are free further to add that Friends' school, which
is kept in part of said buUding and conducted by Samuel Hutton has
of late so increased as to make it necessary to employ an assistant,
and there is grounds to hope that if the school is properly conducted
it will become a seminary of useful instruction; and notwithstanding
the great object in view, of accommodating Friends' chUdren generally
hath not yet been accomplished, yet we still look forward with hope,
that if the subject is pursued with ardour and attention the present
inconveniencies will be removed and the institution become a sub
ject of more extensive advantage. Signed: Thomas Wickersham,
Richard Bartlett, ,"
John Dickinson.2
How long this school contmued under the direct control of the meeting
it is impossible to determine; but there is ground for behef that very
soon after its removal to Easton the society ceased to exercise any care
or direction over it, and that it became a private school, patronized
2 In 1788 John Dickinson and John Jenkinson were made members of the School
Committee instead of Howell Powell and Thomas Hopkins. In 1789 the members
were those signed to the report, as named above, with John Jenkinson, whose
name does not appear.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 455
and taught by Friends. A part of the buUding was rented out for this
purpose, whUe the remainder was occupied as a dwelling, sometimes
if not always by those of the Society unable to pay. Certain it is, by
the year 1820 the school house had yielded a considerable fund from its
rental, which was applied by the meetmg to Church purposes. Of
the succession of the teachers there is no record, after the resignation
of Mr. Hutton, who, as mentioned above, was the first. He had for
successors Samuel Troth, who was teaching in 1810, James Iddings
and Mary Edmondson, who were teaching in 1820, and Thomas Pear
son, and aU worthy Friends and teachers who have left a good name
behind. Thomas Cross taught in the same buUding, but he was not
a Quaker. The dates of the incumbency of these cannot be accurately
determined and tradition is not to be depended upon. It would seem
that in the early part of the century many of the teachers of the county
were of the Society of Friends, theh pure fives and quiet ways recom
mending them as instructors in preference to the passionate, cruel,
and often dissipated Irish. The school with which this paper is con
cerned became extinct, as a denominational school, by reason of decline
in the numbers of the Friends in its neighborhood, and of the increased
popularity and exceUence of the pubUc or common schools supported
in part or whoUy from the pubUc funds. It was found to be a burden
to the Society which accordingly divested itseh of aU responsibUity
for its management.
After the cessation of this school of 1780 no attempt was made by the
meeting at Thhd Haven to establish another, until a very recent date.
The Society of Friends in Talbot long maintained a precarious exist
ence. For years they had been diminishing in numbers, but the lowest
point was reached in or about 1870 when but about fourteen families
were claimed as belonging to the monthly meetings assembling in the
venerable buUding which dates from the year 1684. But after this
date there appears to have been a revival of reUgious interest, as weU as
a decided increase of members. This may in a measure be accounted
for by the additions which were made to strangers immigrating to
this county from the North and West. The renewed vitality which
has been thus acquhed has been shown by the recent erection of a
handsome brick meeting house, near the old one, which is very properly
allowed to stand as one of the most interesting relics of pristine Quaker
ism. But this new Ufe has been further manifested by the estabhsh-
ment of a school for Friends' chUdren and those of aU others who may
see proper to avaU themselves of such exceUent tutorage as Friends

456 history of talbot county
know how to bestow. At a meeting of the Society in 1874, these per
sons were appointed a board of trustees of a school to be erected or
set up, under the auspices of the monthly meeting at Thhd Haven:
John C. Bartlett, Samuel S. Yeo,
Robert B. Dixon, Henry Wilson,
James Dixon.
Contributions to the enterprise were made by the members of the
meeting, to defray the cost of erecting a suitable buUding and the work
was speedUy completed. A commodious brick school fiouse was erected
upon Bay street, near Washington street, Easton, and a young lady,
Miss Emma Satterthwait was installed as the first teacher. From, the
first the school was prosperous, and has continued so up to the pres
ent time, persons of all reUgious denominations giving theh patronage.
Miss Satterthwait's health failing, after two years' service, she was suc
ceeded by Mr. Wilson M. Tyler, who is now the very capable master.
In 1879 an addition was made to the school house to accommodate the
increasing number of pupils, and Miss Satterthwait having recovered
her health returned to Talbot, and is acting as assistant to her half
brother, Mr. Tyler. As this school, like most others conducted by
Friends, appears to give great satisfaction to its patrons, a long life of
prosperity and usefulness is promised. Into this school both boys and
ghls are admitted in accordance with the weU known Quaker principles
of equality of rights of the two sexes. The elements of learning as well
as the higher branches of a good education, including the classical lan
guages, are taught. Although the school is under the control of the
Quakers, and is so far sectarian, yet as these people, of late years at least,
whatever they may have been in the height of theh primitive fervor;
have not shown a proselyting sphit, those who are anxious and careful
to preserve the reUgious faith of theh chUdren as it is inculcated by
parental or priestly instruction, have no fear that it may be invalidated
by any denominational precepts, or an enforced conformity with any
distinctive practices. But those who know the high ethical standards
and the deep piety of the Friends, need not be told that true morals
and fundamental religion are carefuUy taught — such morals and such
reUgion as are accepted without cavU by aU.

the schools of talbot 457
The Talbot County Free School
The attention of the citizens of this county, and indeed of almost the
whole State, has been arrested, but not so thoroughly aroused as it
should be, by the discussion which, at this writing, is going on in the
General Assembly, respecting certain modifications of the existing
school law, and particularly respecting a change in the method of ap
pointing the county school officers. With no purpose of joining in this
discussion one remark may be ventured, that the plan of appointing
these officers, by the judges, is objectionable for many reasons, not the
least serious of which is that it tends to impair the interest of the peo
ple in public education by removing from them aU control of these
schools; for men soon cease to concern themselves about a matter,
not of a purely personal nature, which is withdrawn from theh con
sideration and influence. Now, whatever can add to the popular
interest, which has nagged under the present regime, but is now awak
ened in this subject by executive suggestions and legislative oratory,
may indirectly affect lawmakers and cause them to govern theh action
by higher and wider considerations than usually influence those who
are apt to confound the good of theh party and the good of the pubhc.
An account of the first school supported by the public funds that ever
was estabUshed in Talbot, and perhaps the second that was established
in the province or State,* may be serviceable at tbis juncture, as well
as be gratifying to those who are curious respecting the early history
of education in this county. K this account of the Talbot County
Free School be prefaced by a brief survey of the legislation which at
tended its establishment, it wUl not impair the value of this paper in
the eyes of those who are watching the course of theh delegates to the
General Assembly upon the matter of pubhc schools.
The first steps that were taken by the authorities of Maryland towards
the establishment of a school or "place of learning" was in 1671, when
a bill passed the Upper House of Assembly, which at that date met at
Saint Mary's, for the founding a coUege. This biU was amended by
'The first public school in Maryland was undoubtedly the King William's
school, in Annapolis; but in the year 1724, in reply to inquiries of the Bishop of
London, "Have you in your parish any public school for the education of youth?
If you have, is it endowed, and who is the Master?" the Rector of Great Choptank
parish (in Dorchester) answered : " I have in my parish one public school, endowed
with £20 current money, which is about 15 shillings sterling, yearly, for which the
Master is obliged to teach ten charity scholars."— President Garnett's MS.
address, "Past and Present of Education in Maryland."

458 history of talbot county
the Lower House but the amendments were not acceptable to that
branch of the legislature which had originated the bUl, so it failed of
becoming a law of the province. It is interesting to note that the same
question which now divides the friends of pubhc education, and which
causes so much embarrassment, divided the early statesmen of this
commonwealth, and caused the failure of the first scheme for providing
an institution of learning in Maryland, namely the religious instruction
to which the pupils should be subjected in the school — how it should
be conformed to theh reUgious professions, CathoUc and Protestant.4
The colonial records do not indicate that any other legislative action
was taken towards the establishment of schools untU the year 1694,
when Governor Nicholson sent a message to the assembly proposing
that a plan be formed for buUding a free school for the province, and
the maintenance of proper teachers. He pledged himself for a very
liberal contribution and annual subscription, during the time he should
continue in the government, whUe the secretary of the province and
other gentlemen holding official positions promised very considerable
sums. The Assembly approved of the Governor's recommendations,
and imitated him by making very liberal subscriptions, to the amount
of nearly forty-six thousand pounds of tobacco.5 But it advised that
instead of there being but one school, there should be two, one at Severn,
or what is now Annapolis, and the other at Oxford in Talbot, then the
most considerable place upon the Eastern Shore, and but recently laid
out as a town and made a port of entry. An address was ordered to
be sent to theh Majesties, WUUam and Mary, which took the form of
a Petitionary Act. Another address was ordered to be sent to the
Bishop of London, who had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the colony,
asking his "assistance and care." A letter was directed to be sent to
the Archbishop of Canterbury asking his assistance also, and that he
would assume the patronage of the school. The plan of these schools
was embodied in three bills which passed upon the same day, the first
of which was "An Act for the encouragement of learning, and advance-
1 President Garnett's Manuscript History of Education in Maryland; also
Scharf's History of Maryland, Vol. 1, p. 349.
5 These gentlemen, members of the Lower House of the General Assembly, and
constituting the whole delegation from Talbot, subscribed the amounts affixed
to their names :
Hon. Robert Smith, Speaker, 2,000 lbs. tobacco, Col. Henry Coursey, 2,000
lbs. tobacco, Mr. Nicholas Lowe, 1,200 lbs. tobacco, Major Thomas Smithson,
800 lbs. tobacco.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 459
ment of the natives of this Province." The second was an act entitled
"An Act suppficatory to theh sacred Majesties, for erecting Free
Schools." The third was an act entitled "An Act for laying an imposi
tion on several commodities of this Province, etc., for the maintenance
of Free Schools." The texts of these laws are not in the common com-
pendiums of law — in neither Parks nor Bacon — so theh specific pro
visions are unknown. However, they were soon repealed by subse
quent acts, presently to be noticed, and doubtless theh essential fea
tures were retained in those laws which were substituted for them.
Now these acts of 1694 were reaUy the first to pass through all the
stages of legislation, and become laws, which provided for schools to
be supported in any degree by public funds, for as has been shown the
bills introduced in 1671 faUed to receive the approval of both houses.
But nothing was reaUy accomplished under them, except perhaps the
collection of funds from the impost. In 1695, it may be weU enough
to mention, an act was passed imposing a tax of four pence per gallon
on all liquors imported into the province, for the purpose of raising
money for buUding and repairing Court Houses, Free Schools, Bride
wells and such pubUc services. This law expired by limitation in three
years. The first law of which we have the text in the books, for the estab
lishment of Free Schools was that passed in July, 1696, and entitled
"A petitionary Act for Free Schools." It wUl be remembered that
since the year 1691 the province of Maryland had been under royal
jurisdiction, and not under Lord Baltimore, who was not restored to
all his Proprietary rights untU 1715. The preamble to this law was
in the form of a petition to King WUUam, Queen Mary having died since
the last petitionary act. This, for its curious phraseology, if for noth
ing else, is worthy of being here rehearsed. Its humUity, amounting
to abjectness, appears singular to the independent citizen of today.
This preamble is as foUows:
To His ExceUent Majesty. Dread Sovereign: From the sincerity
of our humble and loyal hearts we offer to your sacred person our most
dutiful and sincere thanks for your royal care and protection to us,
for your Majesty's princely zeal and pious care of our mother church
of England, and for extending your royal benediction to our neighboring
colony, your Majesty's subjects and territory of Vhginia in your gra
cious grant and charter for the propagation of a coUege, or place of
universal study in that, your Majesty's said colony. In humble con
templation thereof, and being excited by bis present ExceUency, Francis

460 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Nicholson, Esq., your Majesty's Governor of this Province, his zeal
for your Majesty's service, pious endeavors and generous offers for the
propagation of Christianity and good learning herein; we become hum
ble suitors to your most sacred Majesty, to extend your royal grace
and favour to us, your Majesty's subjects of this Province, represented
in this your Majesty's General Assembly, thereof, that it may be en
acted, etc.
The act then goes on to provide for the establishment of a "Free School
or Schools, or place of study of Latin, Greek, Writing and the like,"
at Anne Arundel town on the Severn, to be called "King William's
School" and to be managed by a board, which should form a body
pofitic, under the name of the "Rectors, Governors, Trustees and
Vistors of the Free Schools of Maryland." Provision was made for
the raising and coUecting the sum of one hundred and twenty pounds,
sterhng, per annum, for the payment of the teachers and other expenses.
There is that further aDd important provision that, as soon as the reve
nues from whatever source for the Free Schools should exceed the sum
of one hundred and twenty pounds, by an equal amount, "the Rec
tors, Governors, Trustees and Visitors shaU proceed to erect, found and
bufid one other Free School at the town of Oxford on the Eastern Shore
of this province, in Talbot County, or in such other place in the same
county as to the Rectors, Governors and Visitors aforesaid shaU seem
most expedient." These officers were directed to pay over the like
sum of £120 sterling for the support of this school, which should be
"in aU respects under the same benefits, privUeges, injunctions, and
restrictions as the said first Free School at Anne Arundel."8 It was
also provided that simUar schools be estabUshed in each of the counties
of the province, as fast as the income for the purpose would aUow the
same to be done. Of these schools the Archbishop of Canterbury
was to be the ChanceUor, in accordance with his consent obtained in
1695, given in answer to the address presented the year before. There
was to be no loDger dispute as to the character of the religious instruc
tion imparted in these schools, for the law established that the rules
and orders for theh governance were to be in accordance with the
canons and constitutions of the Church of England. It was under
this act that the celebrated King WiUiam's School at Annapolis was
established, a school upon whose foundations at a later day was built the
now venerable CoUege of St. John's. It does not appear that there
" In this we have the germ of the first free school of Talbot, which was built
not at Oxford, however.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 461
was such an accumulation of school money as to justify the erection of
any other school under this law.7
A brief statement of the resources from which the funds were derived
that supported this school, and others which were subsequently estab
lished, including the Talbot County Free School, and a short notice of
the several laws providing for the raising these funds, cannot but be
interesting to friends of pubUc education, and even to the simply curious
about the past of Maryland. Aheady the Act entitled "An Act for
laying an imposition, &c." passed in 1694, has been noticed, and also
that of 1695 laying a tax of 4d. per gallon on liquors.
It would seem that there had been dhficulties experienced in coUect-
ing the subscription money that had been pledged for the free school or
schools; so in 1669 it became necessary to pass a private law enabling
''purchasers of the subscriptions to the free schools to recover the same."
In 1704, for some reason not apparent, it became necessary to declare
authoritatively that the petitionary act of 1696 was still in force. In
the same year an act was passed entitled "An Act laying imposition on
several commodities exported from this Province," by which it was
declared that certain imports laid upon furs and skins exported should
"be employed towards maintaining of a Free School or schools within
the Province." Non-residents were requhed to pay double duty; and
any person failing to pay the impost forfeited his property, one-half
the value of which went to the school fund and one-half to the informer.
If a master of a ship or vessel should knowingly receive on board any
commodity that had not paid, but which should have paid the impost,
he was requhed to forfeit 5,000 lbs. of tobacco, one-half to go to the
schools and the other to the informer. Beef and pork were placed in
the same catagory with furs and skins. This act repealed that of 1694
of the same tenor. It was in turn modified by the act of 1723, so far
as to exempt furs and skins from the impost, but continued to bind
other commodities.
In 1715 an act was passed entitled "an Act for tfie better security
of the Peace and safety of his Lordship's government and the Protes
tant interest in this Province," which provided that if any one should
attempt to exercise any office or administer any trust without taking
'The Law of 1696 repealed an act which it calls the "Supplementary Act"
of 1694; but as there was no act of that year having such a title, it referred doubt
less to the "Act for the encouragement of learning &c." Bacon conjectures
that the word "supplementary" was a clerical error for "supplicatory" Act, one
of such a nature having been passed in that year, as before noticed in this paper.

462 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
the oaths of allegiance, of abhorrency and of abduration, he should
be fined two hundred pounds, currency, one-half of which should go
to the school fund and one-hah to the informer.
At the May session of the Legislature of 1717, an "Act to regulate
ordinaries" was passed according to which any violation of its provi
sions, and they were numerous and minute, was punished by heavy
fines, one-half of each of which went to the schools in the county in
which the offense was committed, and one-hah to the informer.8 In
any county where there was no free school established, the moity in
tended for it, might be used to defray the ordinary county charges,
but an account was ordered to be kept and when a school should be
estabUshed, the money should be refunded. This law exphed by
limitation in 1720. At the same session an act was passed entitled
"an Act laying an additional penalty of twenty shiUings current money
per poll on Irish servants, being Papists, &c, and 'on aU negroes/
for raising a fund for the use of pubUc schools, within the several coun
ties of the Province." This 20s. per poll on ail papists and negroes
imported, it was said shaU be "for the advancement of learning, to be
applied towards the encouragement of one pubhc school in every county
within the province, that is to say, one equal share thereof for the
support of each school." This law was an amendment of the law of
1715 of simUar tenor, but the duty then imposed of 20s. per poll, which
was continued, thus making it 40s., did not apply to the same pur
pose. In the same year, 1717, a "supplementary act to the act relat
ing to servants and slaves," was passed, one of the provisions of which.
was the seUing into slavery, or temporary servitude negroes or mulat-
toes intermarrying with whites, or whites intermarrying with negroes
or mulattoes, and the proceeds of such sale were to be apphed "towards
the support of a public school within the said county" where the offense
might be committed. The law of 1715, of which this was a supplement,
provided that if any minister, pastor, or magistrate, or any person
whatsoever, who by the law of the province "usuaUy join people in
marriage," shall join any negro or mulatto slave with any white per-
8 One curious provision of this law was that "no ordinary keeper whatsoever
shall credit any such sailors" namely tipplers and those who spend all their wages
and then run away from and desert their ships "to the neglect of their respective
commanders and prejudice to the dispatch of any ship or vessel thereby" for
more than five shillings, during any one voyage, under a penalty of losing his debt
and being fined to his Lordship five pounds sterling — one half to be paid to the
county school and one half to the informer.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 463
son he shaU pay a penalty of 5,000 lbs. of tobacco, one-haU of which
should go to the schools and the other to the informer.
At this session of 1717, also, there was passed an act supplementary
to "an Act (of 1704) for the limitation of officers' fees" the preamble
of which was to this effect: that "several and respective officers write
theh accounts of fees in such short abbreviated words" that the per
sons who have to pay these fees "cannot by any means satisfy them
selves for what the said fees become due." It is provided by this act
that the officers "whose fees are due upon execution shaU and are
obliged to draw out the particulars of theh fees in a fah legible hand,
and the words at fuU length," under a penalty of 500 lbs. of tobacco,
one-half to go to the support of the Free School at Annapolis and one-
half to the informer. In 1731 a simUar act requhed Clerks and Regis
ters to furnish copies of costs written in legible hand, and in words of
full length, under a penalty, for neglect to do so, of 2,000 lbs. of to
bacco, one-half the fine to go to the school of the county where the
offense may be committed, and one-half to the informer. A subse
quent act made lawyers as weU as pubhc officers liable to the same
penalty for writing theh accounts of fees in short abbreviated words.
The last act of this year 1717 which was so prolific of laws favoring
the schools, was a private act "for the better security of Mary Smith-
son, widow and executrix of Col. Thomas Smithson, in the payment
of a debt from the said Col. Smithson's estate to the Free Schools."
Col. Smithson was a very distinguished citizen of this county, who
after holding some of the most conspicuous and responsible positions
in the provincial government died here, at his residence (on the farm
near Easton, now commonly known as the "Glebe," for the reason
that he bequeathed it to St. Michaels' parish for the support of its
minister) about April 1, 1714. It would seem that he had in his pos
session at his death a considerable sum of money belonging to the
school fund, which he had coUected in his several official capacities.
By his wiU he devised his farm or plantation caUed "Surveyor's Forest,"
consisting of six hundred and fifty acres, in Dorchester County, with
all the stock, farming inplements and negroes, after the death of his
wife to the Free Schools provided the Rector, Governors and Visitors
would release his estate from a portion of the debt due to them to the
extent of five hundred dollars, to be paid to bis sister, then in Eng
land. The wiU is obscurely written, hence, probably the necessity of
a law "for the better security of his widow and executrix." This landed
property came finaUy into the possession of the school officers, and hi

464 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
1720 an act was passed enabling them to seU it, and ordering them
to invest the proceeds in good securities for the benefit of King William's
School, the income from which should be used in the payment of the
master or masters and usher, and for no other purposes whatever.
In 1719 an act entitled "an Act for the. better supporting the dig
nity of magistrates in the administration of justice within this prov
ince" was passed, the object of which was the correction and punish
ment of attorneys and the officers of the courts for theh misdemeanors
and unbecoming conduct to the judges on and off the bench, or to
use the phraseology of the law, to punish those "who shall use any
indecent liberties towards the several magistrates and justices of the
several courts within the province ... to the lessening the gran
deur and authority of theh respective courts." Any person thus offend
ing was fined 2,000 lbs. of tobacco, if the offense was committed in a
lower court, and 4,000 lbs. if in a higher. H the indignity was shown
to a justice out of court, yet in the discharge of duty, the offender might
be imprisoned two days, or requhed to sit in the stocks two hours,
and pay a fine of 1,000 lbs. of tobacco. The whole fine in these in
stances was appropriated to the public school of the county where
the offense was committed. In the same year "a Supplementary act
for causing Grand and Petit jurors and witnesses to come to the Pro
vincial and County courts, and ascertaining theh aUowances," was
passed. It would seem that beside a smaU per diem aUowance from
the public fund to jurors and witnesses, suitors or court were permitted
to give to such juries as tried theh respective cases a kind of donative.
The law recites that some persons having much business with the courts
"have endeavored to raise general expectation in jurors of larger dona
tions from them than from theh adversaries, thereby endeavoring to
incline them to theh favour." This act provides that not more than
one hundred and twenty lbs. of tobacco, or twelve shUlings in money
should be given to any jury, sworn in any cause, and if any suitor should
give more than these sums, he should forfeit 6,000 lbs. of tobacco, if
his case should be in the provincial court; and 2,000 lbs. U in the county
courts; one-hah the amount to go to the support of the pubhc schools,
and one-half to the informer. In 1760 this law was modified, so that
the donative should not exceed ninety-six lbs. of tobacco, or about
four doUars of the money of the present time.
In 1722, by an Act entitled "An Act for preventing the destroying
the boundaries or bounded trees, etc." a penalty of 5,000 lbs. of tobacco
was laid upon aU such persons as should violate the provisions which

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 465
are sufficiently set forth by the title of the law; one-half the fine to be
paid for the support of the pubhc schools, and the other to the informer.
In this rapid survey of the legislation whose secondary object was
the formation of a fund and revenue for the support of pubhc schools,
we reach in chronological sequence, that act under which was founded
the free school of Talbot County, namely, the act passed October 26,
1723, and entitled "An act for the encouragement of learning, and
erecting schools in the several counties of this province." The pre
amble sets forth that
Whereas the preceding Assemblies for some years past, have had
much at heart the absolute necessity they have lain under, in regard
both to duty and interest, to make the best provision in theh power
for the liberal and pious education of the youth of this province, and
improving the natural abUities and acuteness (which seems not to be
inferior to any) so as to be fitted for the discharge of theh duties in
the several stations and employments they may be caUed to and em
ployed in, either in regard to church or state, and for that end an imposi
tion on sundry commodities exported out of, and others imported
into this province, and other fines, for raising a fund for the erecting
and supporting a good school in each county within this province, which
has succeeded with such desired effect, that it is now thought necessary
and it is prayed that it may be enacted,
that one school be erected in each county, at such place as may be se
lected by the visitors; that seven persons for each county be appointed
and are hereby nominated, viz., for Talbot County:
The Rev. Henry Nicholls, Mr. Robert Goldsborough,
Col. Matthew Tilghman Ward, Mr. William Clayton, ¦
Robert Ungle, Es<j., Mr. Thomas Bozman,
Mr. John Oldham;
that these visitors meet with all convenient speed; that they qualify
themselves by taking the oaths prescribed by the Act of Assembly,
signing the oath of abjuration, and the test, and an oath faithfully
to discharge the trust committed to them; that the visitors consti
tute a body politic, with power to hold lands, tenements and other
property and to dispose of the same, also to receive gifts, portions,
annuities, etc., to the amount of one hundred pounds sterling per an
num, for the use of the schools; that they have the power of perpetual
succession; that they be authorized to make laws, orders and rules
for the government of the schools; provided that they be in no wise
contrary to the royal prerogative, nor the laws and statutes of England

466 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
and Acts of Assembly of this province, or the canons and constitution
of the Church of England, by law established; that they be empowered
to purchase lands to the extent of one hundred acres, and to erect the
necessary school and farm buUdings thereon; that they
be likewise dhected to take aU proper methods for the encouraging
good school masters, that shaU be members of the Church of England
and of pious and exemplary Uves and conversations, and capable of
teaching weU the grammar, good writing and the mathematics, if such
can conveniently be got, and they allow every such master for his en
couragement, for the present (besides the benefit and use of this plan
tation) the sum of twenty pounds per annum, and take such other
measures. ... as may give due encouragement to one or more
masters and be . . . perpetuating the school;
that they be requhed to meet four times a year; that the money which
had accumulated in the Treasurer's hands should be divided into twelve
equal parts, corresponding with the number of counties and the schools
to be set up, and that the visitors of each school be authorized to draw
from the Treasurer one such part to be apphed to the uses of that school,
and that thereafter as the funds should accumulate they should be al
lowed to draw each one-twelfth part annuaUy; that the visitors be
empowered to hold property, howsoever acquhed, to the amount of
fifteen hundred pounds, sterling: that they be requhed to choose a
register, and keep an account of theh proceedings, subject to an exam
ination and correction by the General Assembly; and that, finally,
if any person appointed visitor shall refuse to take upon him that office,
he should be fined 500 lbs. of tobacco for the use of the school of
that county in which the offense had been committed. This law was
amended by an act of 1728, so that the board of visitors might supply
the vacancies in its own body, caused by a person's refusal to serve;
also so that as many chUdren of the poor should be taught gratis, as
the board of visitors should order.
It was under this law of 1723 that the Talbot County Free School
was organized and here the account of this school might properly be
introduced; but to make this review of the laws relating to the fund
for the support of public schools complete, those passed subsequent
to this date wiU be noted.- In 1724, by an act for the limitation of ¦
of officers' fees, etc., it was made penal for sheriffs to refuse to discount
drafts on the tobacco held in theh hands, or for making a charge for
discounting such drafts, in the sum of 2,000 lbs. of tobacco, one-half
.of which went to the schools and one-hah to the informer.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 467
In 1725, "an Act to prevent several irregularities complained of by
the people caUed Quakers," was passed, of which this is the preamble:
"Whereas it is humbly represented to this present General Assembly,
by the persons caUed Quakers, that sundry persons set up booths, and
sell drink and other things near theh yearly meetmg nouses within this
Province, whereby those places which were by them intended and
used as places of solemn worship, are converted into places of traffick,
debauchery and immorality, to theh very great disturbance in the
exercise of theh religion and the worship of God." It was therefore
enacted that "whosoever shaU presume to set up a booth, or sell or
dispose of any Uquor or other matter or thing whatsoever, either by land
or by water within one mUe of the yearly meetmg house of the said
people called Quakers in Talbot county, or within two mUes of theh
yearly meeting house near West river, in Anne Arundel county, during
the time of such meetings shall forfeit and pay . . . ten pounds cur
rent money of Maryland, one-hah to be appfied to the use of the pub
Uc school in that county where such offense shaU be committed, the
other half to him or them that shaU sue for the same.
This law was modified by the act of 1747, extending the limits to
three miles, within which Uquors, etc., should not be sold. This act
also recites other grievances of the Quakers, namely, the holding horse
races near theh meeting house in Talbot County, and the "tumultuous
concourse of negroes," at the times of the yearly meetings at the places
indicated. By this act the penalty for the offences noted, including
horse racing, was fixed at five pounds currency, to be applied as in the
act of 1747. This law was explained by the act of 1752, and several
times extended, when about to expire by limitation, by other acts.
In the year 1729 "an Act for raising a duty of three pence per hogs
head on aU tobacco exported out of the province for the uses therein
mentioned," appropriated one-hah the revenue derived from this source
to the uses of the Governor, and one-half to the use of the county schools.
This law expired by Umitation in 1732, was renewed and finaUy exphed
in 1739. In this same year, 1729, an additional and supplementary
act to several previous acts for the "administration of justice in testa
mentary affairs, provided that balances of intestate estates, where
there was no legal representatives, were to be paid over to the Visitors
of the pubUc schools; but if a legal representative should appear, these
Visitors were requhed to refund the amount they had received."
By an act of 1730, entitled an "Act for the preservation of the breed
of wild deer," it was provided that the penalty of 400 lbs. of tobacco
should be paid for killing a wUd deer between certain dates of the year,

468 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
the fine to be divided equaUy between the informant and the public
schools. In 1747 the towns of Princess Anne and Oxford, as other towns had
been previously, were aUowed by Act of Assembly to impose a fine
of 100 lbs of tobacco upon any person permitting theh geese or swine
to go at large within theh limits, one-half to go to the public schools
and one-half to the informant. In the same year a penalty of £10
currency was laid upon any clerks or other persons who should re
move any pubhc records from the proper offices "between the hours
of XI at night and VI in the morning," one-half the fine to go to the
pubhc schools, and one-half to the informant. The next year this
law was modified so far as related to the removal of the records, but
imposing a fine of 600 lbs. of tobacco upon any clerk who should absent
himself from his office from 9 o'clock in the morning until sunset, to
be divided as above related.
In 1763, an Act was passed imposing an additional duty of two pounds
per poU on aU negroes imported into the province. For violations of
this law a penalty of ten pounds, currency of Maryland, was imposed
upon the offender, one-half of which was paid to the informer and one-
half to the visitors of the pubhc school.
There were many other Acts of Assembly which were made in the
interest of particular county schools, but inasmuch as this is not in
tended to be a complete history of education in the Province of Mary
land, these have been omitted, as have aU Acts of a post revolutionary
date. None have been included in this review but such as relate to the
schools of the province in general or to the Talbot County school in
particular. A complete and fuU history of education in Maryland is
yet a desideratum.
After this survey of the laws by which funds for the support of free
schools were expected to be realized, it is now necessary to revert to
that one under which the Talbot Free School, and aU other schools
of the same class within the province, except King William's School,
were organized. It has been seen that under the Act of 1696 a provision
was made for founding two schools, one for each of the divisions of
Maryland, that for the Western Shore at Annapolis, and that for the
Eastern Shore at Oxford. Without doubt the failure to establish the
school at Oxford was owing to a deficiency of means, the imposts upon
commodities, and the fines for offenses having failed to realize more
than sufficient to maintain the school on the Severn. But by the year
1723 funds, in tobacco or money, had so far accumulated under the

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 469
various Acts of Assembly, aheady quoted, that the establishment and
maintenance of a school in each county was considered feasible; and
as has been shown, trustees or visitors were by tbis act nominated and
appointed for each of the counties to carry into execution its provi
sions. Those for Talbot have aheady been named. It does not appear
that for several years anything more was accomplished by these gen
tlemen than the taking the necessary preUminary steps towards the
purchase of a farm upon which to locate the school. The place was
left to the selection of the visitors, with this legal proviso only, that it
should be near the center of the county. The board of visitors selected
as satisfying these conditions and others prescribed by the nature of
the institution, a parcel of land lying between the waters of Thhd
Haven and Saint Michaels Rivers, at a point where they very nearly
approach, very near the center of the county, on the main road lead
ing from the lower part of the county, called Bayside, to Talbot Court
House, now caUed Easton. This land is now a part of the farm owned
by Joseph R. Price, Esq., and was once the residence of Col. WiUiam
Hayward. It is a part of a large tract caUed TUghman's Fortune,
patented by a Capt. Sam'l TUghman, and lay not far from the house
where the first Quaker meeting house erected in Talbot County was
built. The foUowing is an abstract of the deed of this property:
This Indenture made this twenty-seventh day of February, in the
year of our Lord God, one thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven
(1727-8) between John Sutton of Talbot county in the Province of
Maryland, cooper, and Sophia, his wife, of the one part and Henry
Nichols, James HoUyday, Michael Howard, Robt. Goldsborough,
William Clayton, Thomas Bozman and John Oldham, of the same
county and province, Visitors of a school founded and hereafter to be
erected in the same county, of the other part, Witnesseth: that the
said John Sutton, and Sophia, his wife, for and in consideration of the
sum of FUty-two pounds current money of Maryland, to them in hand
paid before the executing of these presents, . ~. . have granted
bargained and sold, alieniated enfeoffed and confirmed to the said
H. N., J. H., M. H., R. G., W. C, T. B., and J. 0., and theh successors
to the use of the same school, a certain parcel of land, part of a greater
tract of land caUed TUghman's Fortune, situate, lying and being in
Talbot county aforesaid, between Saint Michaels river, and Thhd
Haven creek, and near a cove called Betty's Cove: beginning &c, &c,
• . . and containing one hunched acres of land, together with all
edifices, buUdings, &c.
This deed was certified before George Robins and Rezdon Bozman,
two of the Justices of the Peace, or Judges of Talbot County court.

470 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Upon the farm thus purchased the visitors erected such buildings as
were necessary, regard being had, to the boarding of a part of the pupils
as enjoined by law. Of the organization of the school under such
"rules and orders" as the visitors prescribed for the government of
"the Master, the Usher, the Tutor and the Scholars" nothing is known.
That the school was intended to be something more than a primary
or elementary school is clear from the curriculum laid down in the Act
of Assembly, namely, "Grammar, good writing, and Mathematics."
From the preamble to the Act of Assembly of 1782 authorizing the
establishment of Washington College upon the foundation of the Kent
County School, it is clear that this school had departed from the origi
nal plan in regard to the course of study as laid down in the Act
of 1723, and that it had become an academy of high order, in which
the Latin and Greek languages were taught. It is altogether probable
the other county pubUc schools had made similar changes and progress
by the introduction of the same studies, and such others as are usually
associated with them in the advanced education of youth. It is not
likely that the Talbot school was of lower grade than the Kent school,
in its latter years at least. In selecting a competent teacher, no doubt
the visitors encountered the difficulty suggested by the phraseology of
the law, "if such can conveniently be got." This difficulty was a
common and a lasting one in the province. It cannot be said that it
has disappeared even to the present day, notwithstanding the number
of professional schools for the training of teachers, and the better pay
that is extended to them. But there is good ground for believing
that the Talbot county free school was better suppfied with good
teachers than the private subscription schools which were often filled
by indentured servants, and even convicted criminals,9 from the cus
tom of employing the curates and readers of the parishes of St. Michaels ¦
and St. Peter's as masters of this school. The vestry records indicate
as much, for the mastership is occasionaUy offered as additional induce
ments to educated men to accept the curacy in one or the other of these
parishes. The names of but two teachers have reached us. Mr.
George Rule is commemorated in our records for his skUl and excell
ence, but Mr. George Ewings for his rascahty. The foUowing advertise
ment from the old Maryland Gazette of Aug. 16, 1745, piUories the latter:
9 Bampfylde Moore Carew, the King of the Beggars, as he was called, came to
Talbot as one of these unwilling immigrants, and the Captain of the ship that
brought him over, recommended him to a planter of Bayside as "a great scholar
* * * and an excellent school master."

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 471
Ran away from Talbot county school on Monday the 5th day of this
instant August, George Ewings, the master of the same school, who
took away with him a negro man, named Nero, and two geldings, the
one of a grey and the other of a black color, the property of the Visi
tors of the same school. The said Ewings is an Irishman, of a middle
stature and thin visage, is marked with the smaU pox and has the brogue
upon his tongue. Whoever apprehends the said Ewings, negro and
geldings, so that they may be had again, shaU receive five pounds,
current money of Maryland, as a reward, paid by the Visitors of the
said school. Signed per order,
Will. Goldsborough.
Aug. 7th, 1745.
The salary paid to the teachers was twenty pounds (or fifty-tfiree
"dollars and thirty-three cents of the money of the present time) and the
use of the school farm — an insignificant sum, but doubtless regarded
then as really munificent. It is probable the master was aUowed to
charge a tuition fee for instructing those able to pay, but was requhed
to receive as many1 charity pupils as the visitors should designate.
There is nothing in the law indicating that this was anything but a free
school, but previous laws upon which this was based show that there
was a charge for instruction, except in the cases named: and the fact
that provision was required by the law of 1723 to be made for boarders
may be interpreted as meaning the school was not absolutely free.
The school seems to have prospered for a long series of years, and was
"looked upon as the most frequented in the Province, " to use the words
of an advertisement, presently to be quoted. It would seem that in
the year 1764 the school had been for a considerable time under an ex
cellent master, beUeved to have been Mr. George Rule, and that increased
accommodations had become necessary. The Visitors had also become
involved in debt which they were unable to discharge from theh ordi
nary revenue. They, therefore, resolved to resort to a very common
expedient of the time for raising money, and issued the foUowing:
SCHEME FOR A LOTTERY
FOR THE USE OF THE TALBOT COUNTY SCHOOL.
There being necessity for making considerable repairs to the build
ings of this school, and also some additions thereto for the Master's
convenience, and the funds appropriate to its use being aheady charged
with a heavy debt, the visitors, unprovided with any other means, take
leave to propose the method of Lottery to raise the sum of three hun
dred and sixty pounds for answering the purpose above mentioned.
This school through the abihties and extraordinary assiduity of the

472 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
present master has for many years, even under great disadvantages
been looked upon as perhaps the best and most frequented in the
Province; and should this scheme succeed, and the buUdings rendered
more commodious by having the school weU fitted for the reception
of boarders it might become yet more extensively useful than it has
hitherto been.
Instruction or right education is universally confessed to be one of
the greatest advantages in Ufe. It is the best and truest improvement
of our rational faculties; and those useful arts and sciences by which
the condition of man has been rendered more happy and commodious
are in a great measure owing to it. It purges off the dross of slavery
and superstition and bears a friendly aspect on Uberty and the social
interests of mankind.
Solicitous to secure this noble advantage, and actuated enthely by
sentiments of tenderness and regard for the rising generation, the Visi
tors flatter themselves that every lover of his country and friend of
mankind will warmly promote a lottery so laudable in its intention and
countenance with his favour and indulgence this nursery of school
learning. (Here foUows the scheme, which had 706 prizes and 894 blanks, making
1600 tickets, which at $4 each, was expected to reaUze $6,400; all of
which were divided among the prize holders. The profit to the school
was derived from a deduction of 15 per centum from the prizes, before
being paid, which would be §960 or £360 Maryland currency.]
This scheme is apparently more promising to the adventurer than
any hitherto offered, there being not many more blanks than prizes,
and the deduction of only 15 per cent., and as the visitors have been
much encouraged to propose this lottery, they have reason to hope it
will speedily be drawn.
The Rev. John Gordon
Messieurs Jacob Hindman
Matthew Tilghman ¦ Visitors
Jonathan Nicols
Henry Hollyday
and Mr. William Nicols,
who are appointed managers, wUl give bond and be on oath for the
faithful execution of the trust.
The drawing to begin as soon as the tickets are sold, at Talbot Court
House, in the presence of a majority of the managers and such of the
adventurers as choose to attend, of which the pubhc shaU have timely
notice, in the Maryland Gazette, and a Ust of the prizes shaU also be
published, immediately after the drawing.
All prizes not demanded within six months after publication will
be deemed a generous benevolence to the school and applied accordingly.
Tickets may be had of any of the members. All money now in cir
culation will be received for tickets and paid in discharge of the prizes.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 473
A subsequent announcement states that the lottery would soon be
drawn, as the tickets were nearly aU sold, and that Mr. Thomas Golds-
borough's name had been added to the list of Managers. But the
files of the old paper from which the above advertisement has been
taken, give no information whether the lottery was actuaUy drawn,
though it is reasonable to presume it was. This case of the adoption
of a method of raising money which would receive, at the present day,
the condemnation of moralists, indeed of statesmen, and of its sanction
by so exceUent a man as the rector of St. Michaels parish, Mr. John
Gordon, one of whose functions it was to determine for his flock the
moral quality of actions, in as much as it indicates that the standards
of right and wrong are not immutable, but vary from age to age, may
serve to settle, in some appreciable degree, a fundamental question in
ethical phUosophy.
From this time onward, until its extinction, no record whatever,
however slight, of this school has been discovered. How long it flour-
: ished and when it ceased to exist is unknown. It is believed, upon
tradition merely, that it continued in successful operation up to the
time of outbreak of the American revolution, when its revenues having
been withdrawn to supply the exigencies of the state during the war,
and private patronage during the troubles not being sufficient for its
maintenance, its doors were closed. One fact is known, that before
public affairs had become thoroughly settled and new provisions could
be made for its support, the buUdings upon the farm were destroyed
by fire, and they never were replaced. There was less solicitude for
its reestablishment from the fact that the Rev. Dr. Bowie, a clergyman
who had settled in Talbot during the Revolution, having been deprived
of his parish in Somerset county on account of his tory principles, had
set up an exceUent school near Easton, which in a measure supphed
the loss of the Talbot Free School. Besides, it is proper to note, that
after the war of the revolution, which produced not only a change in
political relations and methods, but in habits of thought and courses
of action, a subject which has not been" sufficiently dwelt upon by
historians, popular interest in pubUc education was dhected towards
the establishment of schools of a higher order than had existed under
the provinced regime. Academies and coUeges absorbed the attention
of our legislators, who doubtless reflected the sentiments of those they
represented. Elementary education received no assistance from the
public treasury but was left to be maintained by private patronage.
It should be said, also, that the free schools in many of the counties

474 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
had not been as successful as that estabUshed in Talbot. Accordingly
it is found that after the Revolution in a number of cases adjoining
counties united theh funds and established union schools, or academies
and these for years were among the best in the State. In other cases
the free school property was handed over to boards of trustees who
had no relation to the State or county governments, and they founded
excellent schools. In yet other cases, the school property passed into
the hands of the trustees of the poor, and thus was diverted entirely
from its original use and purpose. The school property of Talbot had a
different destiny.
In the year 1782 by an Act of Assembly the visitors of Kent county
school which was then exceedingly prosperous, having one hundred and
forty pupils, were authorized and empowered "to erect the said school
into a coUege or seminary of universal learning." One of the pro
visions of this act was that "if the visitors of any county school on the
Eastern shore, for the more effectual advancement of useful knowledge
and the better promoting the good purposes for which such county
schools were originaUy founded shaU be deshous to engraft and consoli
date the funds and estate of such county school, or any parts of the
same, with the funds and estate of the said intended coUege" they
should be aUowed to do so, and be entitled to appoint one member
of the board of visitors of the coUege "for every five hundred pounds
which any such county schools shaU contribute towards founding and
supporting the said coUege;" or they might have "any other privileges
and advantages in respect to the education of the youth of such county
in the coUege" as might be fixed and agreed upon, in consideration of
this sum of five hundred pounds "or any sum or estate of greater or
less value which they might contribute." The coUege then and thus
organized was what became and is known as Washington college, at
Chestertown. For the support of this school, beside State endow
ments and donations, the fines and forfeitures which formerly went
to the county schools, were set apart. In the year 1784 a similar Act ;
of Assembly authorized the conversion of King WiUiam's school m
AnnapoUs into a coUege, which was and is known as St. John's College, j
and these two institutions, the one for the Eastern and the other for
the Western Shore, constituted the University of Maryland. Of these
schools it is unnecessary to say more in this connection.
In the year of the organization of Washington coUege, namely 1782,
an Act entitled "an Act to enable the Visitors of Talbot county school"
was passed, of which the foUowing is the preamble:

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 475
Whereas, it has been represented to this General Assembly by the Visi
tors of Talbot county school, that the school house belonging thereto
hath, by unavoidable accident, been burnt down and consumed by fire,
whereby the said county is deprived of any public school or seminary
of learning; and the said Visitors being desirous of promoting useful
knowledge and fulfilling the good purposes for which the county schools
were originally founded, are wiUing to engraft and consoUdate the es
tate of Talbot county school aforesaid with the funds and estate of
Washington CoUege, after paying the debts that are justly bona fide
due and owing from the said school, therefore be it enacted, &c.
This law authorizes the visitors to seU the property at pubhc sale to
the highest bidder, and to pay off aU debts against the school, accord
ing to the tenor of the petition presented: but there is no provision
made for the disposition of the remainder of the money received from
the sale. This seems to have been left to the discretion of the board of
Visitors. This board was composed of these gentlemen, aU of whom
were residents of St. Michaels parish:
The Rev. Mr. John Gordon,
Mr. John Bracco,
Mr. William Hayward,
Mr. William Hindman,
Mr. William Perry,
Mr. Rob't Goldsborough.
Having on the 12th of February, 1783, made due advertisement of
the intended sale of the property it was, on the 1st of AprU of that year
offered at pubUc vendue, and the hundred acres of land were purchased
by Mr. John Stevens for the sum of four hundred and eighty-five pounds
"current real money." On the first of October a deed was executed
by the Visitors to him, he having paid or secured the payment, of the
sum mentioned. A few days after Mr. Stevens resold the property to
Mr. James Lloyd Chamberlaine for the same that he had given. Among
the records of this county there is note of the disposition of the money
received from the sale of the school property; but a report was pre
sented to the General Assembly of the State by the Rev. Dr. WUUam
Smith, the first President of Washington CoUege of the subscriptions
and donations that had been made for its endowment. In this report
the names of several citizens of Talbot are given as benefactors of the
school, and the amounts bestowed. In addition to these it is noted
that the Visitors and Governors had received from the Visitors of
Talbot County Free School the sum of four hiindred pounds. The
subscriptions thus made entitled Talbot, according to the act of incor-

476 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
poration, to a representation in the board of Visitors and Governors
of the college, and accordingly Mr. Robt. Goldsborough and Mr. Wil
liam Perry were appointed as members from this county. From that
time to the present, the visitors and governors have continued to elect
some gentleman known for his friendliness to pubhc education from
Talbot to a seat whenever a vacancy has occurred in theh body. It is
to be regretted that the honor of representing the county in the oldest
college of the State, and the only one upon the Eastern Shore, has
not been sufficiently appreciated — so Uttle so, indeed, that few in the
county know that it enjoys the privilege of such representation. This
respectable position is now held by Hon. Samuel Hambleton. The
rights which the county enjoys of sending two pupils to Washington
coUege free of aU charge are not founded upon the benefactions of
private citizens and of the Visitors of the Talbot Free School, above
noticed, but upon endowments and appropriations by the State.
The Board of Visitors having therefore conformed in aU particulars
to the law — sold the property, paid off aU debts binding upon it, and
transferred the remainder of the proceeds of the sale to the institution
designated as the residuary recipient — became functus officio, and thus
the Talbot Free School closed forever its organic, as it had years before
ended its functional existence.
The people of this county have long cherished theh pubUc schools
as theh most valued privilege and right. They have shown themselves,
from time to time, ready to adopt any system of administering them
which promised to promote their greater efficiency, however and by
whomsoever framed. They have ever been jealous of any attempt
to impair or restrict theh usefulness. No pubhc burden have they so
cheerfuUy borne as that imposed for the maintenance of pubhc instruc
tion; and there is no private sacrifice they so willingly make as that
by which an education, for the common uses of life at least, is secured
to theh children. How far the growth of these most creditable senti
ments is attributable to that school which for more than hah a century
flourished in their midst, and of which an account has just been given,
it would be impossible to determine: but that it had much to do with
preparing the popular mind for the adoption of those systems of edu
cation which forty or fifty years later were received by Talbot with so
much glad earnestness, when other counties which had no such prep
aration rejected them, and for the reception of that wiser and more
comprehensive system which at the epoch of universal freedom inau
gurated the era of general education in every portion and among all
classes of the people, no one can doubt.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 477
The Charity Working School of Parson Bacon.
In a paper published in the Easton Star of December last, on the
"Poor House," it was stated that a portion of the buUding now used
for this pubUc charity was erected for a manual labor school for poor
boys. It is now proposed to give as fuU an account of this school
as the imperfect records now extant wUl permit. A proper intro
duction to this account would be a survey of the Ufe of the very able
and useful man who was the founder and chief patron of the school,
the Eev. Dr. Thomas Bacon. But this pleasant task wUl be for the
time deferred, it being sufficient for the present purposes to say that
this pious and learned man came to this county, from the Isle of Man,
in or about the year 1745, and settling at Oxford, first became curate
to the Rev. Daniel Manadier, then far advanced in years, and after
the death of that worthy clergyman in 1746, the rector of St. Peter's
parish, within whose bounds the school of which an account is now about
to be given was, by bis labors, erected.
The schools which Mr. Bacon found in Talbot, with one exception
presently to be noticed, were of the most primitive character, being
but little above the Hedge schools of Ireland, or the Dame schools of
England in the slenderness of the instruction they imparted, and below
these simple institutions in the character of the teachers, who were, in
too many cases, indentured servants, or even transported convicts.
But these schools, such as they were, were closed to the poor, for they
were supported by subscription among the planters, who, if they admit
ted the chUdren of theh less fortunate neighbors to share in theh meagre
and perhaps doubtful benefits, it was done as an act of grace which the
pride of poverty was not always ready to accept. There were no
parochial schools in the county, and if any of the clergy consented to
teach, it was an extra duty, for which he had to be compensated by
tuition fees. But there was at the time of his settlement here, one school
in the county which was technicaUy a free school, though there is ground
for the belief that it was free only in name, a small number of poor chU
dren being admitted without charge, but the greatest part of the pupils
being required to pay a tuition fee. This school had been founded under
the law of 1723 providing for the establishment of a free school in each
of the counties in the province. Under a previous law, which, however,
never became operative, Oxford had been designated as a suitable
place for one of the two schools to be established, the other to be at
Annapolis. But the law of 1723 providing for the establishment of
free schools in all the counties requhed them to be placed as near the

478 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
centre of the several counties as possible; so the one for Talbot was
placed on a tract of one hundred acres of land, part of what was called
in the original patent "TUghman's Fortune," taken up before the
organization of the county by Capt. Samuel TUghman, of the "Golden
Fortune." This hundred acres lay about three miles from Easton,
on or near the Bay Side road, at a place where the waters of Thhd
Haven and St. Michaels rivers approximate, and upon Betty's Cove.
This school house lot makes a part of the farm now owned by Mr.
Joseph R. Price. Occasion wUl be taken, hereafter, to give an account of
this school. When Mr. Bacon came into Talbot this Talbot charity
school was in operation, but it was so remote from his section of the
county as to be practicaUy useless to the poor of the greater part of
his parish. To provide means of instructing the poor, he soon after
his induction formed a plan for a school, which should be supported by
the private bounty of his parishioners, and others whom he hoped
to interest in his project. Any assistance from the pubhc funds was out
of the question, for aU moneys that might be appropriated by the
province were expected, to go to the support of the county free school,
above mentioned.
In the year 1750 having sufficiently matured his plans, he set himself
earnestly at work for theh accomplishment. He caused to be circulated
throughout the province, indeed beyond its limits, the foUowing papers
asking the assistance of the charitable in the furtherance of his humane
scheme. They were also published in the only newspaper of the Pro
vince, from the files of which in the State library at Annapolis they have
been obtained:
THE SUBSCRIPTION ROLL
Maryland, 14th July, 1750
Whereas, profaneness and debauchery, idleness and immorality,
are greatly owing to a gross ignorance of the Christian religion, espe
cially among the poorer sort, in this Province; and whereas nothing
is more Ukely to promote the practice of Christianity and virtue than
an early and pious education of youth; and whereas many poor peo
ple are very desirous of having their children taught, but are not able'
to afford them a Christian and useful education: We whose names
are underwritten do hereby promise and agree to pay yearly (during
pleasure) the several sums of money or tobacco, over against our names
respectively subscribed, for the setting up a Charity School in the
parish of Saint Peter, in Talbot county, for maintaining and teaching
poor children to read write and account, and instructing them in the
knowledge and practice of the Christian reUgion, as professed and

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 479
taught in the Church of England, and such other things as are suitable
to theh condition and capacity, according to the general plan and rules
hereunto annexed.
To this subscription roU was appended the foUowing:
A general plan or scheme for setting up and supporting a Charity
School in the Parish of St. Peter's in Talbot county, for the mainte
nance and education of Orphans and other poor chUdren.
I. That a Master duly qualified shall be procured from England,
to be recommended and approved of by one of the reUgious societies,
who shall be obfiged to teach so many poor chUdren as shaU be deter
mined by the Trustees; and shall also instruct a certain number of ne
gro children, if thereunto requhed by the Trustees.
II. That besides the annual subscriptions and casual benefactions,
application be made to the vestry to appropriate the money collected
at the offertory on Sacrament Sundays to the use of the said school:
and also that one or more charity sermons be preached every year,
and collections made thereat, for the better support of the said school.
III. That the number of poor children whether boys or girls shall
be determined by the Trustees, according to the produce of the bene
factions: a smaUer number at first, which may be increased, as it shall
please God to increase the abUities or fund of the Trustees.
IV. That the poor chUdren shall be taught to read, write and ac
count, and be instructed in the knowledge and practice of the Christian
reUgion as professed and taught in the Church of England; together
with such other things as are suitable to theh condition and capacity;
and be supplied, during theh continuance in the school, with all neces
saries of fife proper to theh state.
V. That to theh learning shall be added such labor as they 'are
capable of, that they may be inured to industry, as weU as trained up
in the principles of Piety and Virtue, at a time when theh tender minds
may be supposed the most susceptible of good impressions, and least
tinctured with the prevailing indolence and vices of the country in
general. VI. That after such a course of exercise and instruction as maybe
necessary they shaU be put out to services or apprenticeships, as may
seem best to the Trustees, for the credit of the establishment, and good
of the children, as weU as that of the country in general.
VII. That if it shall please God so to bless the endeavors of the
Trustees as to enable them to set up some useful manufacture, they
shall lay themselves out in that way, and strive to make the produce
of the children's labor contribute towards theh support or better en
couragement, as circumstances may require.
VIII. That such negro chUdren as shall be sent by order of the
Trustees to the said school, shall be taught to read and write, and
introduced to the . knowledge and fear of the Lord, gratis; but main
tained at the expense of theh respective owners.

480 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Rules referred to in the Subscription Roll, relatmg to the Subscribers
Trustees, etc., for the government and support of said School; and
for regulating other matters concerning the care and management
thereof. I. That the present annual subscription shaU be deemed to com
mence from the day of the date of the subscription roU, and the pay
ments to be made accordingly.
II. That at the end of each year any subscriber may withdraw
his or her subscription for the time to come by signifying the same in
writing, under his or her hand, to the Trustees and Treasurer, for the
time being, three months before the exphation of the year. When no
such notice is given, such persons to be deemed subscribers for the
same rate of value for the following year, and payment to be made
accordingly. III. That there shall be a general meeting of the subscribers, on
Saturday 29th September 1750, at the Parish Church of St. Peter's
in Talbot county at the hour of XII; when six Trustees and a Treasurer
shall be chosen by a majority of the subscribers then present, who with
the Rector of the said" parish for the time being shall have the immediate
care and government of the said school, and shall report the state and
condition of the same at the Quarterly or other general meetings of the
subscribers. IV. That no person shall be qualified to be chosen a Trustee or
Treasurer for the said Charity school who does not at least subscribe
five pounds current money of this Province, per annum, toward the
support of said school.
V. That at the first general meeting of the subscribers, on the 29th
of Sept., 1750, shall be settled the times and manner of the future gen
eral meetings, and such other regulations agreed upon as shall be deemed
the standing rules and orders for the government and management
of the said Charity school.
VI. That if there shall happen to be any money in stock at the
entrance of the Treasurer in office, or that there be a considerable sub
scription to be received, the Treasurer shaU give his bond to four or
more of the subscribers, to lay out the same as the Trustees shaU order;
but more especially that in case of his death the money so received
and not expended, may be answered to the school.
VII. That the Treasurer shaU keep a fair account of aU the receipts
and disbursements for the view of the subscribers and others who may
desire to know how the money is disposed of.
VIII. That the Treasurer shall bring in his accounts once or oftener
in a year; if requhed, to be examined and audited by the Trustees, or
persons appointed for that purpose.
IX. That on Easter Monday in each year there shall be chosen
a Treasurer and six Trustees, by the majority of the subscribers then
present; nor shall any Treasurer or Trustee continue in his office above
one year, unless re-elected by the majority aforesaid.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 481
X. That every person subscribing Five pounds currency per annum,
or upwards, shaU have a right to name a child to enjoy the benefit of
the school, such chUd appearing to the Trustees to be a fit object for it.
The largest subscriber to have the first nomination, and the rest in order,
according to the value of theh annual subscriptions. Those of equal
value to cast lots for their choice or nomination, and afterwards chil
dren to be presented by them in theh turns as settled by the said lot.
Before proceeding further in this account of the school it may be weU
to call attention to that provision of the plan that regards the education
of colored chUdren. This enlightened man, it wUl be seen, was antici
pating by more than one hundred years that work which we have but
lately commenced. It is proper to say, in this connection, that this
attempt to ameliorate the condition of these people was but one act of
his benevolence to them, but one evidence of his sympathy for them
among many. He deUvered sermons at his church to them, regularly,
and some of these have been published. He delivered other sermons
to theh masters and mistresses upon theh duties to theh slaves. These
- two were printed and have been reprinted. His name should be ever
held in grateful memory, by the colored people of Talbot.
The first assistance of which there is any record in carrying out the
project of Mr. Bacon was derived as was natural from his own parish.
Among the vestry proceedings of St. Peter's Parish for July 3, 1750,
(Record Book, p. 272) may be found the foUowing minute:
They [the vestry] agree that what money is now in stock of the col
lection money or what shall hereafter be coUected at the offertory,
shall be applied towards the support of a charity school in this parish.
It wiU be perceived this action of the vestry antedated the issuance
of "the subscription roU." It therefore not only was a pledge of pe
cuniary support, but a sanction and confirmation of Mr. Bacon's pur
pose. He, from this time, was active in securing private or individual
pledges. He did not confine himself to his own immediate parish or
county but he extended his- solicitations for aid into aU parts of the
province, and even to England itseh. In the sequel it wiU be seen that
citizens of the sister commonwealth of Vhginia gave him assistance.
He appears to have had immediate and substantial encouragement to
prosecute his beneficent work. Gentlemen of almost every county on
this Shore, and of several counties on the Western, and some of the
mother country itself, recorded theh annual subscriptions or their

482 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
direct benefactions. Flattered by this success he felt justified in calling
a meeting of the subscribers for the purpose of due organization. This
meeting was accordingly held in the parish church — then, as now, called
"White Marsh" — on the 29th of September, 1750, and on this occasion
Mr. Bacon had the pleasure of reporting annual subscriptions amounting
to 284 dollars, and donations amounting to 164 doUars.
At this meeting a board of Trustees and a Treasurer were elected.
The gentlemen who consented to assume the duties of these offices
were men of the first respectabihty and influence in the county. Theh
names wUl appear in the sequel.10 On the 14th of October, in accord-
10 The following list of the names of the annual Subscribers and Benefactors,
with the sum affixed which they severally bestowed, is still extant. Its date is
not precisely known, but it was of about Oct. 1st, 1750.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: IN TALBOT COUNTY £ B D
Rev. Thomas Bacon  5 00
William Goldsborough  5 00
John Goldsborough  5 00
James Dickinson  5 00
Robert Goldsborough  5 00
Henry CaUister  5 00
Rev. John Gordon  5 00
Dr. Mitchell Hackett  5 00
Jno. Hanmer  5 00
Matthew Tilghman  5 00
Hon. Saml. Chamberlaine  4 10
Saml. Bowman  3 00
Jere Nichols  3 00
Tristram Thomas.  2 10 0
Peter Denny  2 00
Dr. Edward Knott  2 00
Daniel Manadier  1 10 0
Capt. Richd. Bruff  1 0 0
Thomas Bruff  1 00
Will. Thomas (sheriff)  1 10 0
Peter Comerford  1 0 0
Thomas Barnett  1 00
Will. Nichols  [.[[_ [[ ]..[[ [[ .... ........ 1 0 0
Jacob Bromwell   100
Will. Mullikin  .... '. . 1 0 0
William Martin  .[[,]  1 10 0
IN QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY
Robert Lloyd  5 00
Henry Cassan  3 0 0

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 483
ance with his published plan, Mr. Bacon preached the first of his charity
sermons at the parish church for the benefit of the school. This sermon
at the request of the vestry, was subsequently printed in -London,
in a pamphlet of twenty-eight quarto pages, and it is the same that is
referred to in the article from the Maryland Gazette which foUows,
and in the letter of Bishop Wilson, to whom the manuscript was sent for
publication. This sermon is stiU extant, but not within the reach of
the writer of this contribution.
Before a year had elapsed, from the date of Mr. Bacon's circular, the
project had been so favorably received, and had met with such sub
stantial encouragement both at home and abroad, he was prepared to
announce pubhcly that there was no longer doubt of its accomplishment.
IN KENT COUNTY £ S D
James Nichols  1 10 0
IN DORCHESTER COUNTY
Henry Ennalls  3 00
JohnGaile  3 0 0
Will. Fishwick  2 00
IN SOMERSET COUNTY
Capt. Henry Lowes (or Lewis)  5 0 0
IN WORCESTER COUNTY
James Mien (?)  2 0 0
William Allen  1 00
IN BALTIMORE COUNTY
Rev. Andrew Lendram (?)  2 10 0
IN ANNAPOLIS
Dr. Alex. Hamilton  2 00
IN LIVERPOOL
Capt. Edward Barnes  ,  1 10 0
BENEFACTIONS
Mr. Jacob Hindman  0 6 0
Capt. Jno. Coward  1 0 0
James Edge (Talbot)  1 00
Henry Lewis (Talbot)  0 10 0
Levin Gale  1 6 0
Tabman Lowes or Lewis (Talbot)  1 00
Capt. James Williams (Somerset)  2 10 0
Mr. Potts (Dorchester)  1 00
Rev. Mr. Glasgow (Worcester)  1 10 0
Rev. Jno. Hamilton (Dissenter)  ;. 2 70
For this list of subscribers, and for much else in this paper, the compiler is
indebted to the inedited "History of the Parishes of Maryland," by the Rev. Dr .
Ethan Alien, lately deceased.

484 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
In the Maryland Gazette for June 12th, 1751, the foUowing communi
cation may be found, which although not signed was almost certainly
from his pen:
The proposal for erectmg a Charity school in St. Peter's parish, Tal
bot county, meets with vast encouragement, not only in this Province
where many worthy gentlemen and ladies have generously contributed
towards it, but in England where upwards of £100 sterling have been
collected by the pious care and application of the Reverend Dr. Wil
son,11 sub-almoner to his majesty, and the Reverend Stephen Hales,
who are considerable benefactors to tbis exceUent design.
The plan has already been published in this paper. No. 282, and is
reprinted, together with an account of the subscriptions and benefac
tions to 30th, Oct. last, at the end of a sermon preached on the occasion
by the Reverend Thomas Bacon, rector of St. Peter's parish, and is to
be sold for the benefit of the intended school, of which public notice
will be given in this paper, and where they may be had. [No such
notice was given, as far as could be discovered.]
[Here follows a paragraph of thanks to donors, and an invitation
to others to imitate them. This need not be copied.]
It may be proper to observe that the sums aheady subscribed and
given, are too considerable to admit the least doubt of a failure in the
execution of this good design; and the trustees are of such unexcep
tionable fortunes and characters that the benefactors may depend on the
due application of their charities in the best and most prudent manner.
The Trustees are:
Mr. William Goldsborough, The Rev. Mr. John Gordon
Mr. John Goldsborough, Mr. Robt. Goldsborough
Mr. Matthew Tilghman, Mr. Robt. Lloyd.
And the Treasurer is :
Mr. James Dickinson, of Dover, on Choptank, Merchant.
An annual account wiU be pubUshed of the benefactions and prog
ress of this charitable scheme, in which every subscriber or contribu
tor will see the application of his pious contributions.
The scholars are to be employed in useful labor and inured to early
industry, as well as taught to read, write and account; and are to be
supplied with clothing, lodging, diet, and all the necessaries of fife,
during their continuance in the school, and afterwards are to be put
out to apprenticeships, or service, as may best conduce to theh own
benefit and the good of the Province. j'£"
This article, evidently written by Mr. Bacon, concludes with an
invocation of the divine blessing upon the scheme, and other pious
expressions, which need not be copied, as they contain no important
information of the school. •. -r.
11 This was good Bishop Wilson, of Sodor and Man, who ordained Mr. Bacon.
Of Mr. Hales, it is regretted, nothing is known.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 485
Although an organization has been effected, it was not deemed pru
dent to attempt the establishment of the school until further con
tributions to the fund and annual subscriptions had been obtained.
During the years 1751 and 1752 Mr. Bacon devoted himself earnestly
to the work of securing a proper endowment. He not only succeeded
in enlisting the people of Maryland in his benevolent enterprise but
those of Virginia also. In the Maryland Gazette of June 11, 1752,
he pubfishes a list of the contributors residing in that province, and at
the conclusion of his card of thanks he adds "To the genthnen and ladies
who attended a concert of Music in the CoUege HaU, for the benefit
of the School, for 23 pistoles and a hah. " It would thus seem that the
citizens of Williamsburg, Va., the seat of William and Mary CoUege,
had become sufficiently interested in the scheme to aid Mrs. Bacon's
efforts to realize funds. It is not at aU unlikely Mr. Bacon was one of
the performers at this concert, for he is known to have been an accom
plished musician, playing expertly upon the violin and violinceUo. He
was also a composer of music. A concert was held in October of the
same year at Upper Marlborough, in Prince George's county, Maryland,
for the same purpose. It may be weU enough to say here, that in the
Maryland Gazette, of Dec. 19th, 1754, Mr. Bacon published a second
list of contributors from the province of Vhginia. It is to be regretted
that no list of subscribers of Maryland, other than that given above,
has been preserved.
On the 23rd of August, 1752, Mr. Bacon dehvered another sermon in
his church in behalf of the school, which also was published. It was
dedicated to Lord Baltimore. A copy of the sermon and of the plan
and rules for the organization of the school, with a letter dated Dec.
23rd, from the author, was sent to the Proprietary. A letter with like
accompanying documents, was also sent to his Lordship's sec'y the Hon.
Csecilius Calvert. These resulted most advantageously to Mr. Bacon.
At a meeting of the clergy of the province at AnnapoUs, in August,
1753, upon which he was attending, he received from Gov. Sharpe,
who had just arrived from England, through Mr. Ridout his secretary,
the following communication:
His Lordship desires his best compliments to the Rev'd Thomas
Bacon, Rector of the Parish of Saint Peter's, in Talbot County, and
desires he may be assured that his Lordship wUl ere long send a testi
mony of his approbation and real good wUl by money for setting up and
carrying the plan of the Charity working school to be set up in St.
Peter's parish, into execution with respect to his and the trustees

486 history of talbot county
pious and charitable designs; with this priviso that the master which
is intended to be sent from England be appointed by the Lord Pro
prietary; and that the future master of the said school for the time
being, if sent from England, be first approved of by the Lord Proprie
tary or his heirs, and if an inhabitant of Maryland, be first approved
by the Lord Proprietary's Lieut. Governor or Commander in Chief,
then for the time being; and that such master be also removable on
misbehavior by such Lieut. Governor or Commander in Chief. I desire
you would acknowledge his Lordship's and Mr. Secretary Calvert's
receival of Mr. Bacon's letters to them dated 23rd Dec, 1752, copies
of which acknowledgement wiU be sent to them.
Although the letter and the accompanying copies of the sermon and
plans of the school were thus acknowledged through Governor Sharpe,
the dhect reply of the Lord Proprietary was not forwarded until Jan.
5, 1754, when the foUowing letter from the Hon. CaeciUus Calvert,
Secretary of Lord Baltimore, was despatched:
Sir: I had not been so long deficient in the acknowledgment of your
first12 but by reason, the Governor was by my Lord advised in relation
to your request, viz. : for the benefit of a Charity Working School, to
be set up in the parish of St. Peters, Talbot county. The Lord Pro
prietor has dhected me to inform you, he has perused and considered
the general plan, with the proposals and rules relating to the school.
The advantages that may arise from such a scheme give him happiness;
the tendency being to promote religion and industry among his tenants
under his government. And as a peculiar mark of his favor and pro
tection, with the means to forward so pious, humane and public a bene
fit, he has given instruction to Mr. Edward Lloyd, his agent and re
ceiver general to pay into the hands of the Treasurer of the school, by
virtue of a note or order drawn on him, signed by the Trustees of the
school elected, of which he deshes you will inform them, viz. : the sum
of one hundred guineas sterling as a free gift, to be laid out as you and
the Trustees shaU think most meet ; and the sum of twenty pounds a
year, together with five pounds a year from Lady Baltimore, making
the sum of twenty-five pounds a year, to be paid by two equal, half
yearly payments, to commence from date of instruction, and so to con
tinue to be paid by the present agent, and all succeeding ones, unless
his Lordship's hehs or assigns, as Proprietors, shall think fitting to
signify to the contrary, with other reservations in reference to his Lord
ship's instructions to Mr. Edward Lloyd. Your request of the boys of
the school called nominal Baltimore boys, and by the title of his Lord
ship, you have here his direction and leave to sytle them so, and as an
12 The second was probably that which accompanied an address of the clergy
of Maryland, drawn up at the meeting in Aug., 1753, Mr. B., was one of the com
mittee appointed to prepare this address to the Lord Proprietary. He was also
the secretary of the meeting.

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 487
additional token of his favor and approbation, he sends you his thanks
for your obliging dedication and edifying sermon, preached on the
occasion of the Charity School at St. Peters parish, 23rd Aug., 1752.
Your true friend and
Humble Servant, Ccectlius Calvert.
P.S. I have deshed Mr. Lloyd, my Lord's agent, and Receiver Gen
eral to pay annuaUy five pounds sterling, for the benefit of the Charity
School of St. Peters Parish, in Talbot county, in two equal hah yearly
payments, to commence from the date of his Lordship's instruction
relative thereto; and to be paid to the elected Trustees by note or order,
on my account, which I desire you wiU advise them of, and which, with
pleasure, I deshe theh acceptance.13
Before this letter from Lord Baltimore had been received Mr. Bacon
and the Trustees had made one other important step towards establish
ing the school. Encouraged by the handsome donations and sub
scriptions which had been made, they resolved upon the purchase of
land, upon which the school should be located.
That it might be under Mr. Bacon's immediate and constant super
vision, it was determined to place it near the parish church, and not
remote from the residence of the rector, which at this time was at
Dover, a town which has now now enthely disappeared but which,
was near to the place yet known as Dover Ferry. Negotiations were open
ed with Mr. David Robinson, of Oxford Neck for the purchase of a tract
of land lying upon the main road leading from the parish church to the
port of Oxford, then the principal port of entry upon the Eastern Shore.
The result of these negotiations was the purchase of one hundred and
forty-three acres of land, made up of 70 acres of "HuU," 50 acres of
"David's FoUy, " and 23 acres of "Part of Chance. " The sum paid for
this was one pound of the currency of Maryland per acre, or one hundred
and forty-three pounds currency for the whole. This was said to be
paid to Mr. Robinson by Mr. Bacon "out of the fund of money aheady
received towards setting up and supporting a Charity School in the
parish of St. Peter's in Talbot county aforesaid, for the maintenance
" The Lord Baltimore who thus became the patron of Mr. Bacon's school,
was Frederick, the seventh and last of the line. He affected letters, and was an
author of several books. Their merit was not equal to their numbers. He was
proud to be considered a patron of learning. His fortune was immense. His
life was disreputable. His lady was Diana Egerton, daughter of the Duke of
Bridgewater. Ccecilius Calvert was son of Benedict Leonard, fifth Lord Balti
more, and therefore the uncle of Frederick. He died without issue.— Morris'
"Lord's Baltimore."

488 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
and education of orphans and other poor chUdren." The deed was
made "to Thomas Bacon, his hehs and assigns forever, in Trust, as
aforesaid for the use and benefit of a Charity School intended to be set
up, etc., etc, to the only proper use and behoof the same Charity school
forever, and to no other use, intent or purpose whatsoever." The
deed was acknowledged before Mr. John Goldsborough and Mr. WUliam
Thomas, two of the Justices of the Peace for the county, on the 13th
of Feb. 1753.
Very soon after coming into possession of the land thus purchased.
Mr. Bacon and the Trustees entered into a contract for the erection of
a proper buUding for the use of the school. In the Maryland Gazette
of April 12, 1753, may be found an advertisement of Mr. Bacon inviting
"proposals to buUd a house for a Charity school, sufficient to accommo
date twenty pupils. " The phraseology of the advertisement is such as
would seem to indicate the school had aheady at that date been lately
opened. Other information however renders this interpretation doubt
ful. At what time precisely the erection of the buUding was commenced
is not known, but it is certainly known that it was not completed and
dehvered over by the contractors to the Trustees until 1755.
The foUowing extract from a letter of his old and constant friend,
Bishop Wilson, of the Isle of Man, wiU serve to indicate the progress of
the work, and be otherwise interesting as showing the soUcitude of that
worthy prelate for the success of the school, and especiaUy for the wel
fare of the blacks, for whose advancement in civiUzation Mr. Bacon
had shown himself laboriously earnest: London, Jan. 10, 1754.
* * * As for the school you will find the noble present of 100
guineas by L'd Baltimore, besides 20£ from myseh, and 5£ from his
Lady and 5£ from Mr. Calvert annually. So you see by God's good
blessing the design flourishes beyond what you ever thought. Go
on briskly. Get the house finished. Enlarge your views. Fear
nothing. The reason why I do not print and publish the accounts
that are to be annexed to your sermon was this : I thought they would
come out with much more eclat and figure when the house was near
finished, and when we could teU the world that Lord Baltimore was a
patron of it. Furnish me therefore with every thing necessary for a
proper appendix to your last sermon. We must not multiply things
of this kind, for the printing of such long accounts are very expensive,
and it had better be done when the school house is near finished. In
the mean time you may pubfish how the design is going on in your pa
per. Nothing will please me more on this side the water than pushing
on the school and making it a great thing. The 50£ for the instruction

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 4gg
of the negroes may certainly be laid out in the purchasing a boy and a
ghl, who may be taught, and make useful servants for the school, and
it is ready for you.
These fifty pounds mentioned in Bishop Wilson's letter may have
been the gift of the Bishop himself, or they may have been given by
some of his wealthy friends upon his soUcitation. His suggestion for
the expenditure of this donation is certainly curious. The whole tone
of this communication indicates that he had warmly espoused the cause
of the school, and was laboring for its success.
Upon Mr. Bacon's arrival at Oxford in 1745 he was warmly welcomed
by Mr. Henry CaUister, a merchant at that port, and also a compatriot
of his from the Isle of Man. He had become one of the trustees of the
school Mr. CaUister subsequently moved to the Head of Wye. A
volume of the corrrespondence of this gentleman has been preserved.
In a note of Mr. Bacon to him, dated May 13th, 1755, which appears
to have been one of form, he was invited to attend a meetmg of the
Trustees of the Charity Working School to be held on the Saturday
following, for the purpose of receiving from the builder the house then
completed, "to agree with a Master and House Keeper, and to settle
the children at theh habitation. " This therefore may be regarded as
the date of the opening of the school, for which Mr. Bacon had been
laboring for four years most assiduously. Hia gratification on the
success of those labors may readUy be conceived. The buUding which
was thus taken possession of and occupied, was buUt substantiaUy of
brick, two stories in height, with a frontage of  feet, and a depth of
 feet. It is stiU standing, and constitutes the western part of the
House which is used for the accommodation of the Poor. Of its transfer
to the county authorities, an account wUl presently be given, in substance
the same as that presented in the article mentioned at the beginning of
this contribution.
From this time onward records are wanting of the operations of the
school. Mr. Bacon in the year 1758 without, at first, resigning his
rectorship of St. Peter's Parish, removed to Frederick county on the
Western Shore, where he for a whUe acted as reader but afterwards was
inducted as rector of AU Saints' parish, which was considered the most
valuable living in the Province. How long the school continued to
be maintained is not known. It was certainly in operation in 1764
as in that year its mastership was offered as an inducement to a clergy
man to become the Rector of the Parish, and thus unite the offices of
priest and teacher, a not unusual one in the latter part of the past

490 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
century, in this county. It is supposed the troubles preceding and
during the Revolutionary war, caused the withdrawal of the annual
subscriptions, and occupied the minds of the patrons of the school to
the exclusion of its interests; and that then the pupils were dismissed
and the teachers ended theh labors in the Charity Working School of
Talbot county forever.
Mr. Bacon after a Ufe of great usefulness, but of much suffering, both
bodily and mental, died in Frederick county, May 24th, 1768, some
years, probably, before the dispersion of the school. It would seem
there was no one having sufficient interest in the property to look after
it, so it appears to have been taken possession of, with or without the
consent of the surviving trustees, by private persons, who used it for
a very considerable time for theh own purposes and benefit, until
it was disposed of for a pubhc charity of another order. Under an
Act of Assembly of the year 1786 the County of Talbot wa3 authorized
to buy land and erect buUdings for the care of its poor. It was suggested
that the property held in trust for the use of the Charity school might
be obtained for that purpose. The legal title rested in the hehs of the
Rev. Mr. Bacon. The two surviving members of the Board of Trustees
of this school were the Hon. Matthew TUghman and the Rev. John
Gordon. These gentlemen took measures to have the title transferred
by the hehs to them; and accordingly we find recorded among the land
records of the county two deeds, bearing the dates of Jan. 21st and 28th
of March, 1787, from Rachel Harwood and Mary Passapae, daughters
and only surviving hehs of Mr. Bacon, conveying to the Hon. Matthew
TUghman and Rev. John Gordon, all theh right, title and interest in
the property purchased by theh father in 1723, and held in trust by
him for the Charity school. The interest of the husbands of these
ladies, was at the same time transferred. The deed expresses that the
transfer was made to Mr. TUghman and Mr. Gordon in trust for the
same charity school, but its unexpressed purpose was to enable them to
make the property over to the Trustees of the Poor of Talbot county.
At the April session of the General Assembly of 1789, a memorial
dated Feb. 13th was presented by these gentlemen to this effect: Where
as Matthew TUghman and John Gordon, trustees of the Charity School
in Saint Peter's parish, in Talbot county represent
that by an instrument in writing, bearing date the 13th day of Febru
ary, 1753 a certain David Robinson conveyed unto Thomas Bacon,
in trust, for the use and benefit of a Charity school in Saint Peter's
parish in Talbot county, all that part of a tract of land called Hull,

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 491
also all that tract or parcel of land called David's ly, and also all that
part or tract of land called Chance, situate in Talbot county, as by
reference to the said instrument of writing wiU more fully appear; and
that by the death of the said Thomas Bacon, the trust aforesaid de
volved to the co-heirs of the said Thomas Bacon, the one named Rachel,
who has married Risden Bozman Harwood, the other named Mary[
who was married to Moses Passapae; and that by an instrument of
writing, the one bearing date the 21st day of January, 1787, the other
the 28th of March, 1787, Risden Bozman Harwood and Rachel his
wife, and Moses Parapoe and Mary his wife, have conveyed in trust
unto said memorialists the land mentioned in the above instrument
of writing, and aU the right and title in the trust aforesaid, acquhed by
the said Risden Bozman Harwood and Rachel, his wife, and Moses
Passapae and Mary, his wife; and the said memorialists further set
forth that although the intention of the trust aforesaid to the said
Thos. Bacon was for the use and benefit of the Charity school aforesaid,
that notwithstanding the said intention, the lands aforesaid have not,
for a considerable number of years been applied to the intended pur
pose, and are now, and have been for sometime in the possession of a
certain Sarah Howard, who does not claim any title thereto, the memo
rialists have therefore humbly prayed that they may be empowered
to convey the trust aforesaid to the Trustees of the poor of Talbot
county, and theh successors, for the benefit of the poor of said county.
As it "seemed reasonable" to the General Assembly to grant this
prayer, an act was accordingly passed May 14, 1789 authorizing and
empowering Mr. TUghman and Mr. Gordon to transfer the property,
according to the tenor of theh memorial.
Under the sanction of this act, Mr. TUghman, on the 12th day of
October, and the Rev. Mr. Gordon on the 5th day of the same month,
in consideration of one shilling current money of Maryland, "bargained
and sold to Thomas Sherwood, WiUiam Goldsborough, Samuel Chamber
lain, Howes Goldsborough and Lloyd TUghman, Trustees of the Alms
and Work House, for the time being and to their successors forever,
in trust, for an Alms and Work House," the whole property of the
charity school, as described in the deed of David Robinson to Thomas
Bacon, in 1753. This property continues down to the present time
in the possession of the Trustees of the Poor, and is used for the pur
pose expressed in the deed of trust above mentioned.
This account of the Charity Working School of Parson Bacon, has
been given with greater elaboration and minuteness of detaU than a
rigid literary criticism, perhaps, will sanction: but it is conceived
that local annals must possess these very quaUties tf they are to be
of any value as historical materials. The authorities which have been

492 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
reUed upon for its compUation are these: The Records of Talbot County
the parish Register of St. Peter's Parish; the files of the Maryland
Gazette, at Annapolis; Kilty's Laws of Md.; the unpublished manu
script History of the Parishes of Md., by the Rev. Ethan Allen, and the
memoir of the Rev. Thomas Bacon, by the same industrious coUector,
published in the American Quarterly Church Review, for Oct. 1865.
P. S. — Since the foregoing article was placed in the hands of the
printer, the writer has been able to obtain, through the kindness of
Dr. Dahymple, curator of the Archives of the Diocese of Maryland
a copy of Dr. Bacon's sermon, preached Oct. 14th, 1750, "for the Benefit
of the Charity Working School. " To this sermon is annexed a "Copy
of the Proposals, Rules, Subscription RoU, and other proceedings
relating to the Charity School, intended to be set up in the Parish of
St. Peter's in Talbot county, in the Province of Maryland." This
appendix is prefaced by these remarks:
The Trustees have thought proper to publish the foUowing Papers,
that the nature, intent and foundation of the proposed school may be
more generally known; and that well disposed charitable Christians
may thereby be encouraged to bestow theh Benefactions, where they
may be assured of theh being laid out to good and pious uses; and
where the Subscriptions and contributions are aheady, by God's Bless
ing so far advanced as they need not doubt of its being carried into
Execution. Such persons as are willing to join in promoting his useful and laud
able design are requested to pay or transmit theh benefactions into
the Hands of Mr. Jas. Dickinson, of Dover, on Choptank, Merchant,
then Treasurer: or if they think proper to become annual subscribers,
and live at too great a distance to sign the Subscription Roll, they are
desired to signify the same to the said Treasurer by letter, that theh
names and subscriptions may be inserted upon the List.
This is foUowed by these six papers, viz: I. "A General Plan,''
(Aheady published.) II. "Rules referred to in the Subscription
RoU," (aheady published.) III. "The Subscription RoU," (aheady
published) . IV. Minutes of the proceedings of the first general meet
ing of the subscribers held Sept. 29th, 1750, of which an abstract is
here presented. , I
Mr. Bacon reported the subscriptions and benefactions to be as
follows, viz: Currency.
Annual Subscriptions  £106 16s Od
Benefactions & Collections  £ 61 12s Id
Total  £168 8s Id

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 493
Then were elected as Trustees, and Treasurer, those gentlemen
named in the text of this article. The Treasurer gave bond for £200
sterling. "The General Plan" and "the Rules," were adopted as
the standing rules and orders for the government of the school, subject
to changes at a general meeting of the subscribers. It was resolved
that a chairman be appointed at each general meethig: that the next
general meeting be held on Easter Tuesday in 1751, and that ordinary
general meetings should be held on Easter Wednesday, and the thhd
Tuesday in October of each year without previous notice; that extra
ordinary general meetings might be caUed by the Trustees, by giving
notice ten days before the time selected, at the Parish church, and by
advertisement set up at the Court House; that subscription should be
paid half yearly on the 14th of January and the 14th of July of each
year, to the Treasurer; that the Trustees, with the Rector of the Parish
and Treasurer have power to regulate theh own times of meeting and
to form laws for the regulation of the master, scholars and aU other
matters relating to the school. At this first meeting Mr. Bacon paid
into the hands of the Treasurer £61, 12s, ld currency. V. "A fist of
the annual subscribers with theh several subscriptions as they stood the
30th of October, 1750. " Tbis list is nearly the same as that aheady
published in this contribution, which was derived from Dr. AUen's
manuscripts. In order to make them exactly conform it is necessary
to add the names of a few subscribers and the amounts of theh annual
subscriptions, viz: IN TALBOT COUNTY £ s d
William Robbins  2 5 0
ZadockBodfield  0 5 0
William Oxenham  1 5 0
James Woolcott  0 10 0
IN DORCHESTER COUNTY £ S d
John Casson  2 0 0
Dr. Jno. Ennals  1 10 0
Total value of annual subscriptions to 30th Oct. 1750 117 16 0
VI. "A list of casual Benefactions, CoUections, &c, to the 30th of
October, 1750." As this list is much more complete than that aheady
printed from Dr. AUen's manuscript, it is here given in fuU, and is as
follows:

494 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Received from Mr. Jacob Hindman, Talbot county, six shillings
currency; from Capt. John WilUams, Somerset county, two pounds
ten shillings, currency; from the Rev. Mr. Pat. Glasgow, rector of
All-Hallows, in Worcester county, one pound ten shillings, currency
from Mr. John Hamilton, Dissenting teacher, at Princess Anne's, in
Somerset county, one Pistole; from Henry Sowes, Jr., Talbot county
ten shiUings, currency; from Master Levin Gale, Talbot county, one
pound, six pence, currency; from Master Tubman Sowes, Talbot
county, one pound currency; from a gentleman desiring to be unknown,
Philadelphia, one pistole; from a lady desiring to be unknown, Talbot
county, one German piece of Gold; from Capt. John Coward, Talbot
county, one pound, currency; from Mr. John Edge, Talbot county,
one pound, currency; from Mr. Pott's, Dorchester county, one pound,
currency; from a person desiring to be unknown, Dorchester county,
two pounds, currency; from a gentleman desiring to be unknown,
Dorchester county, half a pistole; from Mr. Const. BuU, Cecil county,
two pieces of Eight; from A. Hamilton, M.D., AnnapoUs, one pound,
currency; from a gentleman desiring to be unknown, Annapolis, one
Moidore; from Major Barth, Ennalls, High Sheriff of Dorchester
county, one pound, currency; from John Ross, Esq., Annapolis, two
guineas; from Dan'l Dulany, Jr., Esq., AnnapoUs, two pistoles; from
Mr. Nich. McGubbins, Annapolis, two guineas; from a gentleman
desiring to be unknown, Annapolis, ten pieces of eight ; from Mr. Wil
liam Middleton, Annapolis, one pistole; from Mr. Lambert Booker,
Talbot county, one pound, currency; from Mr. Phil. Walker, Talbot
county, two pounds currency; from Mrs. Walker, ten shUlings; cur
rency; from Miss Dickinson, Talbot county, five shillings, currency;
from Major John Dixon, Talbot county, two pounds, currency; from
Mr. Nich. Glenn, Talbot county, two shillings and six pence, currency;
from Mr. Richard Austin, Talbot county, five shillings, currency; from
several worthy benefactors at a charity sermon preached at Princess
Anne's town, in Somerset county, the 23rd of August last, three shUlings
and two pence halfpenny, sterUng, four pistoles and a half, eight pieces
of eight and a half, one bitt, and four pound eleven shUlings, currency;
from the Vestry of St. Peter's, being money collected at the offertory,
one chequin, four pieces of eight, and two pounds, eighteen shillings
and seven pence, currency; ready money collected in the church on
the 14th of October, 1750, at the charity sermon, three shiUings, sterl
ing, one German piece of gold, and fourteen shillings, currency— all
of which being reduced to the value of current money of this Province,
amounts to seventy pounds fourteen shilUngs, currency. £ s d
Annual Subscriptions to the 30th Oct., 1750, value  117 16 0
Benefactions &c, to do value  70 14 0
Total  188 10 0

THE SCHOOLS OF TALBOT 495
For which several subscriptions and benefactions, the Trustees and
other managers for the school return theh most hearty thanks to the
several charitable Contributors; desiring theh prayers and those of
all pious Christians for a blessing from Heaven upon theh endeavors to
promote and establish the present good and useful design.
Well wishers of this sort in Maryland, are requested to note down
any useful hints, suitable to the chcumstances of this Province which
may occur to them, either relatmg to the management, employment
or putting out of the chUdren to the greatest advantage, or to the easiest
method of supplying them with necessaries, or supporting a greater
number with less expense, and to communicate theh observations to
the Trustees: — who wUl thankfuUy receive such kind advices and make
the properest use of them. Letters may be dhected to the Rev. Mr.
Thomas Bacon, Rector of St. Peter's in Talbot county, who is appomted
by the Trustees to note down and take care of theh proceedings.
The sermon from which the above has been taken was printed in
London in the year 1751 by T. Ohver; and it was sold for the benefit of
the charity school.

THE POOR HOUSE
The short and simple annals of the poor.
Gray's .
Behold a record which together binds
Past deeds and offices of charity
Else unremembered. Wordsworth's Cumberland Beggar.
Social philosophers of every class, whether moralists, economists
or statesmen, equaUy acknowledge to have been baffled in theh attempts
to solve the problem of pauperism — to determine how far the promptings
of humanity for the refief of poverty may be indulged by either indi
viduals or states, without detriment to the wehare of the community.
The moralists, in the main represented by the religious teachers, from
the time when charity was raised by the greatest of Christian teachers
to be the very princess of the virtues, have sought the solution in the
practice of a universal benevolence or beneficence. They have made
the giving alms to the poor to be more than an obhgation to theh fellow
men; they have made it an act of devotion to the Deity. But this
teaching where it has been most successful in its reUgious influence,
has been most injurious in its social; for experience has proved that the
more bountiful the charity that piety bestows, the more numerous
becomes the class that demands and that receives it. Mendicancy
increases in a very exact and dhect ratio with liberafity. The latest
writer on morals. Mr. Herbert Spencer, has pointed out how that
unlimited benevolence would lead to universal pauperism, for as long
as there shaU be a hand to give there wUl be another hand to receive
the benefaction, and continuing to give must end in an inabUity longer
to give. Political economists differ as to theh solution of the question
in hand, according as theh views cfiffer of the offices and functions of
government. The school that limits those functions to protecting the
citizen in his person, property and opinions, say that the duty of taking
care of the old, the infirm and the incapable belongs to individuals,
and that the government steps beyond its proper sphere when it assumes
any such obhgation. This school does not shrink from the consequences
of this doctrine, that those who have not friends to help them in theh
need must perish: and this they regard as the proper and natural cor
rective of pauperism. The other school of economists which regards
496

THE POOR HOUSE

497

the State as holding a kind of parental relation to the citizen, claims
that poverty is incidental to organized society, and must exist until
the demands of society and the wants of the individual coincide. There
fore society, as personified, in its government, ought to take care of
those of its members who by age, sickness, or infirmity of whatsoever
kind are not able to provide for theh own necessities. Finally the
statesman who is called to deal with the actual and ever present evU
of pauperism, who cannot wait the determination of the moral question
of public rehef to the poor, and the other questions of the true functions
of government — the statesman, who is really a man of expedients and
not of principles, for the- science of government is as yet far from being
an exact science — solves the problem by providing for the merest
necessities of the aged, the infirm and helpless; but this in such a scant
and meagre manner that while the humane impulses of the community
are barely satisfied and the pubUc purse is not severely depleted, pau
perism shaU not be made inviting. Indeed, pauperism, by the states
man, is treated much as though it were criminal; and for this there is
much justification, for there is a close connection between poverty and
crime. But there are many worthy poor, enthely deserving of aU the
aid they receive either from pubhc bounty or private charity.
The amount of money that is contributed by States, societies and
individuals for the support of the poor of this country is immense. The
number of the beneficiaries is very large and increasing just in pro
portion as the strugggle for life becomes more intense. What sum is
annually bestowed by private charity can never be known nor even
approximated. The sum contributed by voluntary associations of vari
ous kinds, it would be exceedingly dhficult to learn. But an effort
is about to be made by the general government to determine what is
done by pubUc bodies towards the support of the poor, and the number
of persons who are receiving aid from the pubhc treasuries. Tbis
information acquhed wiU be embodied in the report of the Superin
tendent of the Census. Mr. F. A. Walker has accordingly addressed
a circular letter to the trustees and other officers in charge of the various
prisons, reformatories and alms houses within the United States, in
which letter are contained certain questions concerning those institu
tions, and the repUes to these questions, when properly summarized and
compiled, wUl furnish most valuable hiformation concerning pauperism
in this country. One of these circulars has been received by the Trustees
of the Poor of Talbot County, and they are coUecting information which
wfll enable them to answer the queries propounded to them. In addi-

498 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
tion to, and in anticipation of what they may say, it is proposed in this
paper to give some account of what has been done for the poor of Talbot
from the organization of this county to the present time, and par
ticularly of the Poor House, and its management from the beghming.
AU wUl not be said that could be said upon this subject, nor even all
that is interesting, but as much as assigned limits wUl permit.
In the primitive condition of human society pauperism is unknown,
for the same reason that it does not exist in the societies of brute animals.
The weak, the aged, the helpless are left to die from want and exposure.
if they be not dispatched by violence. In the earher years of civilized
societies, it is almost equaUy unknown, but for different reasons.
Those who found and form such societies are usuaUy in the very prime
and vigor of fife, and mostly they are men of courage and seU refiance,
asking and needing no help. Besides, in new communities the neces
saries of life are few and easUy obtained, so the most indolent may
gain them with the least exertion, and the most shiftless by the least
prudence. But in such communities accident may disable even the
young, and sickness may prostrate even the strongest. Then food,
however abundant, cannot be provided, shelter, however simple, can
not be constructed, and clothing, however plain, cannot be obtained.
Then the man, young and strong as he may have been, must ask aid;
and when friends are wanting, as they are apt to be in new countries,
he must caU for pubUc charity. Without doubt there were those
within the limits of this county almost from the very date of its organi
zation, in 1660 or 1661, whose infirmities brought from theh old homes,
or whose misfortunes incurred here, or whose friendlessness, owing to
their being in a new and strange land, made them pensioners upon
the public bounty. There may have been others here much less de
serving; others who in the old countries were vagrants and inmates of
poor houses or work houses; or worse, for the planters in the early years
of our history were not nice as to the character of those they brought
over; and at a later day, the British authorities sought to relieve them
selves of the burthen of theh poor by shipping them to this colony,
or made Maryland the unwilling recipient of many belonging to the
criminal classes.1
1 As early as 1733 "An Order of Transportation" is recorded among our records,
issued by the Court of Quarter Sessions, of Liverpool, County of Lancaster, Eng
land, directed to Capt. John Bibby to transport to any of his majesties plantations,
Elizabeth Gream, Henry Wilkinson, Margaret and Margery his children, Peter
Gream, William Gream, Perry Scott and Jane Wilkenson, convicted of petty

THE POOR HOUSE

499

There are records extant in this county of paupers having been
returned to England, at the pubhc expense, rather than have them
chargeable for a number of years. Thus: in 1713 a levy was ordered
by the Court "to Mr. Foster Turbutt, late Sheriff, for 1,000 pounds
tobacco, paid for a certain Thomas Ashton's passage to England, the
said Ashton being a poor infirm person, and like to be a charge to this
county." The first memorandum, however, that has been discovered
of the appropriation of money, or tobacco to a poor person was to one
enthely reputable who had received honorable wounds in a conflict
with Indians. This was Lieut. WUUam Smith who in 1666 had an
allowance of 3,214 pounds of tobacco, and in 1667-8, 1,500 pounds and
500 pounds "for his accommodations." The foUowing minute of the
Court may be worth copying:
William Smith, that was wounded by the Indians came to this Court
for some releafe, being disabled by his wounds: and the Court upon
a former order in that ease providing have ordered that hee have for
the present yeare one thousand five hundred pounds of tobacco, and
that Mr. Edmundson have five hundred pounds of tobacco for his
accommodations, for the time that he was at his house.
But in 1668 there was the first direct appropriation for a pauper, eighteen
hundred pounds of tobacco having been given "to Abraham Bishop for
keeping the ould man." In the year foUowing 1,493 pounds were
given to "Abraham Bishop, an ould man, and in 1670 he again received
the county bounty of 1,054 pounds of tobacco. In 1674, 3,000 pounds
of tobacco were coUected by the sheriff (the sheriff was then, and for
more than an hundred years later, the collector of aU the taxes, except
the Quit rents of the Lord Proprietary, who had "farmers" of his
larceny and vagabondage. This, the earliest record of criminals having been
sent to this county, is matched by the latest, which is in the year 1775. In this
year a ship arrived in the Chesapeake from Liverpool, consigned to Mr. James
Braddock, of Saint Michaels. The Association of Congress having declared
that all importations from Great Britain should be suspended, the Committee of
Observation for this county, informed Mr. Braddock that the ship would not be
allowed to discharge her cargo of merchandize, but that the Captain would be
permitted to land the fourteen convicts and two indentured servants, whom he
had on board; which he accordingly did, coming into the Eastern^bay to do-so.
It may be that our patriots of Talbot thought these would make good soldiers,
even though they were poor citizens. Some of them may have fought at Long
Island with Smallwood, or at Cowpens with Howard, and now, as heroes of the
Revolution they may be receiving the grateful tribute of our adulation, though
history has failed to record their names.

500 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
revenues derived from a tax on the land) for the support of three children
of WiUiam Taylor: and in the same year "WUliam Greene, an impotent
person" had a levy in his behalf of 1,000 pounds, "Jane Merytt, a poore
woman, for 800 pounds" and "Benjamin  " (his name is not legible)
"sicke and weake" for the same amount. Placing tobacco at two
pence or four cents per pound, these aUowances were really liberal
considering the poverty of the community. Subsequent to these dates
the records are numerous of appropriations for the support of the un
fortunate poor. A noteworthy case was that of 1756, when at the August
session of the county court, sitting as a levy court; a petition was pre
sented to the " WorshipfuU, the Justices of the Peace, " setting forth that
Joseph Bujiale, Fermee and Charles Landree, French neutrals, have
each three smaU chUdren, the oldest of which is not over five years of
age, and that Charles Landree has under his care a father and mother,
very "antient people;" that they cannot supoprt theh famUies, and
"can hardly get bread for themselves." The court aUowed to each
500 pounds of tobacco, and subsequently appropriated 750 pounds for
the reUef of Abraham Landree, Stephen Bujiale and Peter Landree.*
! It is unnecessary to relate the sad and shameful story of the forcible expa
triation of the Acadians by order of the British Government. This is well-known
from history, but even better known from poetry, as the Evangeline of Longfellow
has been read by all. In 1755, five ship loads of these neutral French were sent to
Annapolis, in this province, and thence they were distributed to the several
counties, Talbot receiving her quota. They seem to have been a thriftless people,
or they were thoroughly dispirited by their removal from their homes. Besides
those persons mentioned in the text, there were several others of these neutral
French who in the years following received assistance from the public funds oi
the county. This act of our County Court, in appropriating tobacco (the cur
rency of the colony of course) for the support of a few of these helpless exiles
connects Talbot with this interesting but painful episode in American history.
Nowhere else better than here can be inserted a most interesting document of this
time, and germane to the subject under consideration. As it sufficiently explains
itself, it is here presented without further introduction.
To the Worshipful John Goldsborough, 1
Matthew Tilghman, > Esquires.
Pollard Edmondson andj
Representatives for Talbot county in the General Assembly of Maryland.
The Humble address of the Electors, Freeholders of the said county,
Sheweth :
That the wretched Acadians, in a manner quartered upon us, are a griev
ance, in as much as we are not at present in a situation and in circumstances, cap
able of seconding their own fruitless endeavors to support their numerous families,
as a people plundered of their effects : for though our magistrates have taxed us

THE POOR HOUSE 501
It seems that there was no systematic rehef for the unfortunate poor
for nearly fifty years; further than this, the levies were made in behalf
of the necessitous, according to the method of our County Commissioners
of giving pensions to those in need, relying upon the assistance of friends
and private benevolence to supplement this public charity. In a very
large number of cases, however, paupers were placed in the care of
particular individuals and aUowances granted to these for the support
of those under theh protection. Besides the shght provision for the
pressing necessities of food, clothing and shelter, the county paid
liberally for medical attendance; and it is curious to note that the pay
of the physician was sometimes made conditional upon the cure of the
patient. In 1670 HoweU PoweU was aUowed for the cure and charges
of WUliam Smith, probably the same that was wounded by the Indians,
1,200 pounds of tobacco, and Dr. James Benson, one of the earliest of
our physicians, was frequently compensated for professional services
sufficiently to feed such of them as cannot feed themselves, they cannot find
houses, clothing and other comforts ; in their condition needful, without going from
house to house begging, whereby they are become a nuisance to a county hardly
able to afford necessary comfort to their own poor. And as it is no easy task for a
Christian to withstand the importunate cravings of their distressed fellow crea
tures, those amongst us, especially who possess the greatest degree of humanity
must, of course, be the greatest sufferers. But this is not all. Their religious
principles, in a Protestant country, being dangerous, particularly at this juncture,
and their attachment to their mother country, added to their natural resentment
of the treatment they have met with, render it unsafe to harbour them in case of
any success of the enemy, which visibly affords them matter of exultation on the
slightest news in favour of the French and Indians. We therefore pray, that you
will use your endeavors to the Assembly to have this pest removed from among us,
after the example of the people of Virginia or Carolina, at their own expense, as
they request, or otherwise, as the Assembly shall in their wisdom, think fit. We
humbly conceive that any apprehensions of their adding to the strength of the
enemy, if transported to these colonies, would argue a degree of timidity, not
to be approved of: that on the contrary, they would rather be burthensome to
their country in their present circumstances, encumbered with their wives and
children, whose immediate wants will, for a long time, tax the utmost industry
of the few able bodied fathers among them. Besides they need not be discharged
without first binding them as strongly as people of their principles can be bound, .
by an oath of neutrality, for so long a time as may be judged needful. It will
have perhaps, this further effect, that since they so earnestly desire to quit his
Majesty's protection, in a manner renouncing it, they enfeeble their claim to the
restitution and restoration they contend for; a point it would be greatly to the
interest of the Colonies to gain with good grace.
We are Gentlemen,
Your Most Obedient Servants.

502 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
rendered and medicine adniinistered to the poor, from the public levy.
And so on down to the time of the establishment of the Alms House
all the more prominent physicians from year to year presented accounts
for medicine and medical attendance, which were aUowed by the Court.
More of this wUl presently be said.
In 1704 we have the genesis of our county Poor House. On the 21st
of November of that year the court seems to have considered the method
of pensioning the poor expensive and inefficient, and passed the follow
ing order:
Ordered by ye Court here, that aU persons that receives alms from
this county, except housekeepers, doe for ye future, reside at ye house
of Daniel Sherwood for the ensueing year; and ye said Daniel is to
find and provide sufficient necessaries for them, at ye rate of one hun
dred pounds of tobacco each, less than they are now aUowed.
At the same time Darnel Sherwood was empowered to arrest "all
vagrants and loose persons. " This arrangement with Daniel Sherwood
continued in practice untU 1710 at least, for the records note appro
priations to him for the care of the poor up to this date. Whether it
continued longer is not apparent, but it is certain that not many years
after, say in 1725, the county court had abolished the system of having
the poor coUected at one place, and had reverted to the old plan of
pensioning its paupers, levying amounts in favor of certain individuals
for the care of those mentioned specificaUy as being in theh keeping.
This system continued to be practiced until 1785, as wUl hereafter be
noticed. It was subsequently revived by an Act of Assembly, and it
continues to be foUowed up to the present day, the county commissioners
granting pensions to necessitous persons, beside levying a sum of money
to be disbursed by the trustees of the poor. In 1707, Dr. James Benson
had two levies in his behalf for "attending ye Hospital." It is not un
likely, though it is by no means certain, that the hospital was nothing
else than Daniel Sherwood's Poor House. There is no means of deter
mining where this first Poor House stood. Mr. Sherwood was at one
time, from 1707 to 1709, sheriff of the county, and at his house in Ox
ford the court sat for several years after the court house at York had
been abandoned, and before it had been decided to buUd a court house
near "Pitts-his-Bridge," in 1710. It is therefore probable that the
first Poor House, with Daniel Sherwood as keeper was in the ancient
"town and port of Oxford." But this is conjectural only.
Under the system of pensioning the poor, the county beneficiaries
continued to receive rehef for a great number of years. In March,

THE POOR HOUSE 5Q3
1774, a biU passed the general assembly of the State providing for the
erection of a county Alms and Work house. By this bUl a board of
"Trustees of the Poor" was constituted, of which the foUowing promi
nent gentlemen of the county were the members:
[The text of this Act, the writer, thus far has not been able to recover,
as it is not to be found either in the volume of laws published by author
ity nor among the State archives at Annapolis. So the names of these
original trustees of the poor must forever remain unknown.]
The Act authorized the Commissioners or Levy Court to assess upon
the taxable inhabitants of the county for three successive years fifteen
pounds of tobacco per poU for defraying the cost of this Ahns or Work
house. Mr. John Stevens, who was sheriff, coUected the amount
assessed for one year only, namely, 1775. The war of the Revolution
commencing, and the proprietary government lapsing, there was no
further coUection of this tax, although the law otherwise remained in
force. After the close of the war of Independence, namely, in March,
1786, the Act of 1774 was repealed, and another Act substituted; and
it is under this law and supplements thereto, the affairs relating to the
county poor are stUl administered. This act substantiaUy the same as
that of 1774, appomted these gentlemen "Trustees for the Poor of
Talbot County," viz:
William Hayward,
James Benson,
Thomas Sherwood,
Peregrine Ttlghman, and
William Goldsborough,
with the power to fiU any vacancies that should occur in the board by
death, removal or any other cause. It also ordered that an "Alms and
Work house" be "erected and buUt in Talbot County, at a convenient
place therein, at the general charge and expence of the said county."
Provision was also made for the levying such a tax upon the property
within the county liable to assessment, as should realize the sum of
four hundred pounds, currency, in each of the years 1786, 1787, 1788;
which sums as they should be coUected were to be paid over to the
trustees. This last provision was repealed by an act of 1787, for reasons
hereafter to be named. The Trustees were empowered to buy land
to the extent of thirty acres, for the use of the Work house. It is ex
pressly set forth in the act, that a Work house should make a part of
the institution, and it is proper to say that this provision was carried

504 history of talbot county
into execution, the poor, who were not enthely helpless being required
to do something for theh support, or at least for theh amusement
picking oakum being the employment of the feeblest. It dhected that
the clothing worn by the paupers should bear a conspicuous mark of
P. T. (poor of Talbot). The act also provided that the funds collected
under the act of 1774, and then in the hands of Dr. Moses AUen, one of
the original trustees, should be paid over to the trustees last named.
Other provisions of this law, which was pretty much the same as that
framed for other counties of the State, need not here be recited, as they
are weU known as being operative at the present time.
But that provision of the law which referred to the purchase of land
and the erection of a buUding for the accommodation of the poor of the
county was not carried into effect, its purposes having been secured by
other means than those named therein. On the 13th of February,
1753-4, the Rev. Thomas Bacon, Rector of St. Peter's Parish, purchased
of David Robinson, Esquire, for one hundred and forty-three pounds,
current money of Maryland, parts of three tracts of land, viz: 70 acres
of "HuU," 50 acres of "David's FoUy," and 23 acres of "Chance,"
in aU one hundred and forty-three. The object of tbis purchase was the
establishment of a "Working Charity School," for the "maintenance
-and education of orphans and other poor chUdren;" and the property
was held in trust by Mr. Bacon for the purposes mentioned. Upon the
land this enlightened clergyman erected a buUding for the accommo
dation of the pupils, and the school went into practical operation, being
patronized by Lord and Lady Baltimore, and many of the gentry of
this province, particularly of this county. This property lay in Oxford
Neck, not far from the old parish church of White Marsh. There is no
means of determining how long the school was maintained; but in 1787,
as is known, it had for a considerable time been extinct. In that year
the Hon. Matthew TUghman and the Rev. John Gordon presented a
petition to the General Assembly of the State, in which they represent
that the hehs of the Rev. Thos. Bacon, namely Rachel (Bacon) Harwood,
wife of Risdon Bozman Harwood, and Mary (Bacon) Passapae, wife of
Moses Passapse, both daughters of the Rev. Mr. Bacon, have conveyed
to them aU their right, title and interest in the lands mentioned above
intrust. The petition further sets forth: '•"''
that although the intention of the trust aforesaid to the said Thomas
Bacon was for the use and benefit of the Charity School aforesaid,
that notwithstanding the said intention the lands aforesaid have not,
for a considerable number of years, been applied to the intended pur-

THE POOR HOUSE 5Q5
pose, and are now, and have been for some time, in the possession of
a certain Sarah Howard, who does not claim any title thereto.
The memorialists (who represent themselves to be trustees of the Charity
School in St. Peter's Parish in Talbot county) therefore ask that they
be "empowered to convey the trust aforesaid to the Trustees of the
Poor, of Talbot county. " The prayer of the petitioners was granted
by the passage of an Act, May 15th, 1787 empowering the trustees
of the Charity School "to convey in fee simple the aforesaid lands
unto the said Trustees of the Poor of Talbot County, and theh successors
for the Charitable use and benefit of the poor of said county. " By this
act that provision of the act of the session of 1785-fi authorizing the
levying four hundred pounds for three successive years, for the pur
chase of lands and buUdings, was repealed, though the money that had
been coUected, was dhected to be paid over to the Trustees of the Poor.
Thus it was that the county came into the possession of the farm in
Oxford Neck, near Hole-in-the-WaU, which is now used for the partial
support of her poor. The number of acres originaUy acquhed was
one hundred and forty-three. In 1808 the trustees appUed to the court
for a commission to resurvey the lands and mark its boundaries. These
gentlemen were appointed of the commission:
John Edmondson, ]
Henry Martin, [¦ Esquires,
Joseph Martin, J
and Mr. Sam'l Jackson was the surveyor. These gentlemen determined
that there were  acres belonging to the institution. By sale and pur
chase, rendered necessary by the running of roads and straightening
of lines, the boundaries and extent of the tract have been sUghtly
changed from what they were at the date of the purchase in 1753-4.
The buUdings upon the farm have been erected at various times.
That which is devoted to housing the poor consisted originaUy of that
brick portion nearest to Hole-in-the-waU. This was buUt without
doubt by Parson Bacon for his Charity Working School, soon after the
purchase of the land. As early as 1803 the premises were so crowded,
and filthy, that the erection of an addition was mooted. This measure
was again seriously discussed in 1813. Lumber was ordered to be
bought, and "clay to be turned" for the making of bricks. Arrange
ments with the Bank of Easton were effected for borrowing money untU
the levy of $1,000, which was asked for, became avaUable, the consent
of the legislature for this levy having been obtained at the last session.

506 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
In 1814 further authority to levy an additional thousand dollars was
asked of the General Assembly. In 1815, this project seems to have
been partly abandoned, and one entertained of seUing the land and
purchasing elsewhere. A petition to this effect was presented to the
legislature in 1817, but was not granted. Finally in January, 1819
contracts were made with sawyers, bricklayers and carpenters to erect
an addition to the house, and the work immediately commenced.
Thomas Hale was the brick-layer, and Joseph Kemp the carpenter.
Other additions and improvements have been made in more recent years,
the most important of which was the framed annex to the original
school house on the South, erected in 1865, and which was rendered
necessary in order that shelter might be given to the large accession
to the number of the inmates created by the emancipation of the negroes.
Previous to this great and beneficent act the old and infirm of the colored
people were mostly supported by theh masters: after these people
became free some of them became pensioners upon the bounty of the
county. The truth of history requires it to be said that the number
of those demanding eleemosynary aid was nothing like as large as was
anticipated by both those who favored and those who opposed emanci
pation. If it were proper in a paper of this description, the character
and inadequacy of the principal buUding upon the farm, might afford
matter for profitable remarks. It is in more than one sense a Poor
House. The Work house that belonged to the institution seems to have been
in existence as late as about the year 1825, but afterwards disappeared.
On the 10th of November 1872 the house of the Overseer was burned
down, and a new residence for this officer was buUt in the same year,
Mr. Vansandt being the carpenter.
The site of the Poor House has long been objectionable on several
accounts. It is remote from the county seat where pubUc business is
mostly transacted, and where pubUc officers mostly reside or usuaUy
assemble. It was at one time and it may now be considered as an
insalubrious location, several overseers of the poor having died in suc
cession upon the premises after a brief residence. In 1803, a minute in
the records indicate that opinions prevaUed that a change was advisable.
The Trustees being of opinion that it would conduce greatly to the
convenience of the poor to be placed on the water, and in the neighbor
hood of Easton, determine that it will be proper to petition the Legis
lature to empower them to sell the Poor House property and purchase

THE POOR HOUSE 507
somewhere near Easton, or to authorize them to buUd an addition to
the present buUding, as this seems an absolute necessity for their com
fort. Again in 1815 a petition was presented by the Trustees to the Legis
lature to this effect: that a law be passed authorizing them to seU theh
lands, &c, and purchase elsewhere, and also authorizing a levy of §2 000
to carry the objects of the petition into execution. Nothing came
of these petitions. They were renewed in 1817, and Mr. Robert Ban
ning, who was then a member of the General Assembly, as well as of the
Board of Trustees of the Poor, was requested to prefer the wishes of
the Trustees, and enforce them by the use of such arguments, and the
presentation of such facts, as he was able and in a position to command.
The petition asked the privUege of seUing the ahns house property
and to buy elsewhere; and that the levy court be authorized to levy
upon the county the sum of $1,000 for two or three successive years;
which with the sum heretofore levied, but now uncollected, and the
money that the present property would bring if sold, they beUeve would
be sufficient to place the establishment in an eligible and comfortable
situation." The prayer of the petitioners to seU was not granted.
Again in 1824, doubtless upon the petition of the trustees, though theh
records indicate nothing of the kind, an act was passed, empowering
them to seU the Poor House and land, and to purchase elsewhere to the
extent of six hundred acres. The levy court by tbis act was empowered
to assess and coUect an amount sufficient to carry this object into effect.
This law seems to have remained a dead letter. In 1833 a supplement
to the act of 1824 was passed, the provisions of which were in the main
the same as the original law. This, too, remained inoperative, and
has so remained to the present day. Why this has been so, is not ap
parent. The Poor House and Farm stiU remain in the hands of the
Trustees, and are used by them as a home for the unfortunate of the
county. There is a growing conviction, however, that the pubhc
interests would be better subserved, and the comfort of the counties'
beneficiaries be better promoted by a sale of the property, and the
erection of an Alms House near the county town, without the expensive
appendage of a farm.
A few items of information respecting the internal administration
of the Poor-House may be of interest. As has been before noticed,
by the law of 1785-6 the clothing of the inmates was marked conspicu
ously "P. T," that they might be recognized should they go beyond

508 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
prescribed limits. This has been aboUshed, as it was a badge of
degradation. The dietary of the House has always been very simple
and coarse, but never so scant as to reduce vitaUty. Pork and Bacon
have furnished from the beginning the chief flesh food, but new fresh
meat is furnished. Corn meal has been the chief material for bread,
but now flour is also supphed. In 1815, it is interesting to note, the
Trustees paid ten doUars per barrel for corn, or two doUars a bushel.
For the first time apparently coffee was furnished to the poor of the
House in the year 1799, very largely dUuted however with burnt rye,
in the proportions of one-fourth berry to three-fourths grain. Rations
of rum at an early day, or whiskey at a later, were issued — whether
regularly or occasionaUy is not clear: but they were whoUy abolished in
1817, though the order was modified the next year, so as to permit the
overseer to issue six gaUons in the year — a tantaUzing quantity. But
wine and other alcoholic stimulants were not forbidden to be admini-
stered under the physician's prescription. It is weU to note that the
paupers, by one means or another, obtained intoxicating Uquor at
Hole-in-the-waU, and gave much trouble by reason of its abuse. Up
to 1855 a system of weekly aUowances of provisions was foUowed,
but after that date, the inmates seemed to have had food without any
other limit than that afforded by the judgment of the Matron of the
House. It is interesting to note that at one time inmates were received
upon the condition they should pay for what they consumed, or a small
board; and parents were permitted to enter theh chUdren at the house
and have them taken care of, by paying a small sum. The records
indicate that there were persons in the Poor House who were not abso
lutely destitute of means. Work in the Work House was exacted of
aU those able to do anything up to 1824 or '25 at least: but by 1848
it would seem that the paupers were not requhed to perform any manual
labor, except domestic duty in the house by the women, and farm
labor in the fields by the men. Corporal punishment was permitted
to be inflicted by the overseer in 1796, and perhaps long after. The
foUowing curious minute is from the records of May 4th, 1793. ; ..
Resolved that Mary Forrester be taken off the list as one of the Poor,
and employed as a school-mistress, for which service she is to have 3-9
(three shillings, nine pence, or in the money of to-day, about 50 cents)
per month and her maintenance as usual. ¦'
Certainly not a very munificent reward, but Mary Forrester escaped
the opprobium of being a pauper. Nor were the religious interests of

THE POOR HOUSE 5QQ
the poor enthely disregarded, as is shown by the foUowing minute under
date of March 13, 1800:
A motion being made that three pews be purchased in White Marsh
Church for the accommodation of the poor, but it was opposed by
Messrs. HoUyday and Goldsborough: but a majority being of opinion
that it was perfectly right and necessary, it was accordingly determined
that the three pews in the north end of the gaUery be purchased for the
use of the poor, and John Singleton, the Treasurer, is accordingly author
ized to purchase and pay for said pews.
A pauper whose memory has reached the present time, and who gave
much trouble to the Trustees and Overseer, named Nan Ellis, was a
pretty regular attendant at old White Marsh. She managed occasion
ally to have a penny to put in the bag for the poor: who were not so well
provided for as herself; and for this she received the benediction "God
bless you," from the pious and venerable Saml Chamberlaine, who
collected the ahns. In the years 1791 and 1793 by Acts of Assembly
permission was granted to the Trustees of the Poor to bind out as ap
prentices any poor chUdren, orphans, that were dependent upon the
county. In 1797 was granted the permission of keeping out door
pensioners to the number of ten, with an annual pension not exceeding
thirty doUars. This custom of having pensioners, which was the rule
previous to the date of the establishing the Ahns House, was thus
revived in a degree; but it was more completely revived by the Act
of Assembly of 1835, which permitted the County Commissioners to
pension a certain number of worthy poor, and levy money for this
purpose.

THE MILES BIVER BRIDGE
A HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST BRIDGE
The proposition made July 1, 1878 for the county commissioners to
buy the bridge across MUes river, and to abolish the tolls and make it
a free bridge, naturaUy dhects attention to the bridge itself, as well
as to the feasibiUty and propriety of the county commissioners acceding
to the wishes of these who advocate a free bridge. We have obtamed
all the information possible as to the organization of the bridge company,
the construction of the bridge and such other items as would make an
article interesting to the reader of The Comet.
At the session of the Legislature, of 1858, the MUes River Bridge
Company was incorporated. The charter named Col. Edward Lloyd,
Edward Lloyd, jr., Kennedy Owen, H. C. TUghman, James LI. Martin,
and others, commissioners to obtain subscriptions to the stock of the
company. The capital stock authorized by the charter was $15,000,
the shares were fixed at $25 each, and this has continued to be theh
par value, though they are now assessed at $48 each. The bridge
was buUt in 1858 by Capt. Travers of Taylor's island, Dorchester county.
who did the work by contract, for $7,000, — he being the lowest bidder.
The dimensions of the bridge are as foUows: length, 1480 yards;
width 16 feet. The draw opening is 30 feet, and the draw is operated
by a raUway that runs it backward and forward, instead of the pivotal
swing now generaUy employed in drawbridges. The pUes and cap-
sills were white oak; the joists white pine, and the flooring hemlock.
The original joists and flooring have been almost enthely replaced by
white oak.
Among the original stockholders in the company were Gen. R. C.
Buchanan, Admhal F. Buchanan, Gen. Charles Winder, Capt. R. LI.
TUghman, Comd. Charles Lowndes, Col. Edward Lloyd, Thos. H. Oliver
E. L. Winder, Thomas P. WilUams, HazUtt Mackey, Alex. H. Mackey,
and Wm. G. Harrison. The present board of directors are Col. Edward
Lloyd, president; Com. Charles Lowndes, treasurer; Lloyd Lowndes,
secretary; Thos. H. Ohver, Dr. Charles M. TUghman and Charles H.
Gibson. The secretary is a paid officer. A bridge-keeper is employed
at a salary of $250 a year, including rent and fuel. Mr. Clayton Willis
now fills that place. 510

THE MILES RIVER BRIDGE §H
The average cost of repairs since 1858 would approximate $250 a
year. Some years the bills for repairs have gone much beyond that sum,
and in many years they have faUen much below it. In 1877 the cost
of repairs was $177, and in 1876, $771. For several years after the
bridge was buUt, but a trifling sum was paid for repairs. In 1877 the
receipts from tolls were $1190. The rates of tolls as established by the
board of directors are as foUows: Single horse and carriage, 5 cents
each way, double horse and carriage, 10 cents. The charter provides
that foot passengers may be charged 6 cents each way; horse and rider,
10 cents each way; single horse and carriage, 30; double horse and
carriage, 30 cents. The company reduced the tolls to the present rates
and abolished the tax on foot passengers about 1872.
A dividend of six per cent on the capital stock has been regularly
declared each year, with the exception of the last three years, during
which time the annual dividend has been 8 per cent. The pohcy of
the board has been not to divide aU the net earnings among the stock
holders, but to provide a sinking fund which would be sufficient to re
place the bridge when time and decay should make a new bridge neces
sary. AU the income of the board has not come from tolls, as the
county has paid the bridge company annually $600 which was the cost
of the ferry maintained there by the county previous to the buUding of
the bridge. AU the business aff ahs of the bridge company, the accounts,
statistics, etc., have been weU kept, and aU the matters weU and safely
managed. At the last session of the legislature a biU was passed authorizing the
county commissioners to buy the bridge, providing a sum not exceeding
$5,000 wUl purchase it, and to make it a free bridge for aU passengers.
The mode of procedure contemplated by the bUl is for the commissioners
to appoint two competent persons to examine the bridge, value it, and
report to the county commissioners
The bridge ought to belong to the county and to be made a free bridge.
We have no doubt this wiU be done, and that the people of the county
will endorse it, if the stockholders wUl seU the bridge for a fah and rea
sonable price. MUes River Neck is an important section of the county,
and contains many of the heaviest tax payers in the county- It is
not right that they should be subjected to a toU every time they go to
the county seat — even when they go there to pay theh taxes. If the
county buy the bridge, the MUes River people wUl pay theh large
share of the money necessary to make the purchase. MUes River Neck
is increasing rapidly in population, and in thrifty enterprises, and aU

512 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
such impediments to the development and improvement of this part
of the county as a toU bridge should be removed and residents of this
part of the county should have the same unrestricted facilities of travel
to the county seat and elsewhere that other sections of the county enjoy.
Of special taxes, MUes River Neck has always paid a fah, and sometimes
a larger proportion, even for matters not dhectly advantageous to that
section. MUes River Neck has always paid a large school tax and until
within the last five years, there was but one school in the Neck, and
that did not cost ever $400 a year. The school tax annuaUy paid by
MUes River Neck is sufficient to maintain hah a dozen schools, and has
maintained them in other parts of the county. The tax-payers of the
Neck have never complained of the school-tax, but have always paid
it cheerfully. There would, then, seem to be no doubt that it is enthely
just and proper for the county to maintain a free bridge across Miles
River, as to the purchasing of the old bridge, and the price to be paid
for it, — the commissioners, under the authority and discretion aUowed
them in the enabling act, may safely be trusted with that. It is not
likely that they wUl pay as much for an old bridge as a new one would
cost, nor do we intimate that the stockholders wUl ask any such thing.
With a stock that has paid regularly six per cent, and a reserve fund
accumulated from the individual profits, the stockholders can afford
to deal generously with the county. The maximum sum of $5,000
named in the bUl, was the market value of the stock at the time the
act was passed.
And the matter should not remain in abeyance. It is not likely
that any repahs wUl be done to the bridge by the bridge company
while the matter of purchase is pending. Let the examiners give the
bridge a thorough examination, and accurately report its value, and let
the commissioners and directors come to a just and fah agreement
about the price, so that the people of MUes River Neck may be relieved
from the odious and onerous imposition of tolls as soon as possible.
The County Commissioners appointed two civU engineers, Captain
WUliam H. Smith and James M. Sharp, to examine and place a valuation
on this bridge. These two appraisers having valued the bridge at
$3,350, being a httle less, than one-half of its original cost twenty years
before, the bridge company proceeded to convey the bridge to the County
Commissioners of Talbot County by deed bearing date the 10th day"of
September, 1878, and which may be found recorded among the Land
Records of Talbot County, Md. Liber 86, Foho 99.

THE MILES RrVER BRIDGE 513
Prior to the buUding of this wooden-pUe bridge, a pubUc ferry had
been maintained across MUes River at this point from almost the time
of the laying out of Talbot County in 1661, for as early as 1677, Daniel
Walker was appomted to keep a ferry over Saint Michaels River at the
point where the bridge now stands, and in the levy records of the county
it is quaintly stated, "To Daniel Walker, in consideration of his poverty,
many chUdren, loss, ferriage over river with a canowe, at least 2,500 lbs,"
meaning tobacco, which was then the currency of the Province of
Maryland. Just at what date a scow, propeUed by means of a rope
stretched across this ferry for the conveyance of wheeled vehicles and
animals superseded the canoe ferry is nowhere disclosed in the Levy
Records of Talbot County; as there were no wheeled vehicles in use in
this province until more than hah a century after Talbot County was
laid out, a dugout canoe was doubtless amply necessary to accommodate
the few pedestrians who desired to cross this ferry in those early times.

A CARGO OF CONVICTS BROUGHT TO
TALBOT IN 1739
[communicated]
Mr. Robson: — Presuming that everything relating to the history
of Talbot county is of interest to its citizens, your correspondent asks
the privilege of presenting one of the earliest of our memorials, which,
though it may be familiar to a few, wiU be new to the most of your
readers. It is an extract from a book entitled An Apology for the life
of Mr. Bampfyld Moore Carew, of which several editions have been
published, one within the present or the past year. The work is
not in the hands of your correspondent, but the extract is from a copy
now in the Peabody Library at Baltimore, which extract was obUgingly
furnished by P. R. Uhler, Esq., the Librarian. Occasion is taken to
say that there are known to be two copies of this book in this county,
belonging to Dr. Nicholas PindaU, lately removed, who lent them to
some persons who failed to return them to theh owner. If the present
holders of these books wUl return them to the office of the Star, they
will be forwarded to Dr. PindaU, who is exceedingly anxious to re
possess them, and has given authority to the writer to recover them
if possible. This Bampfyld Moore Carew is supposed to have been
born about the year 1692. He was an Enghsh adventurer, thief and
pickpocket, who, by reason of his skill and prominence in his profes
sion came to be caUed the "King of the Beggars." He ran away from
home in boyhood, led the life of a vagrant, was convicted of larceny,
sentenced to transportation, sent to America, from which he escaped,
joined the Gipsies, by them was elected their King, and died, as nearly
as can be ascertained, about the year 1758. Having been convicted
of theft, or, as he puts it with euphemistic elegance, worthy of ancient
Pistol himself, "of having disobliged some gentlemen," he was placed
on ship-board, with no "indentures" truly, but a copy of the Judge's
sentence, and sent to the Colonies, for his own and his country's good.
Maryland, and Talbot, had the honor of receiving the distinguished
stranger, and his arrival, and that of others, it seems, were celebrated
by the drinking of a puncheon of rum by the planters of the neighbor
hood. Mr. Carew in his memohs is singularly oblivious of dates —
as indeed he is of facts, for many of his stories are in the Baron Mun
chausen vein, and does not give us the exact time of debarkation in
Maryland, but an approximation to it can be made. It was probably
in the same year of the declaration of war against Spain by England,
namely in 1739, or early in the year following. Parson Nicols was
Rector of St. Michaels' Parish from 17311 or before to 1748, when he
1 Nicols became rector of St. Michael's Parish in 1708.
514

A CARGO OF CONVICTS 515
died, being succeeded by Parson Gordon, in that year, and Parson
Nicols was one of those who went on board to receive the distinguished
personage and his associates, as appears from the recital. The ship
in which Mr. Carew had embarked, came up St. Michaels' or MUes'
River. There is a pretty weU estabUshed tradition that Deep Water
Point, that is, the point of land upon the right of the entrance into
the arm of St. Michaels' River, which constitutes the harbor of the
town of that name, was a place of lading and unlading of ships in early
colonial times, and the depth of water near the shore at that point,
and tiie safety of the harbor within, justifies the tradition. It is prob
able therefore that Mr. Bampfyld Moore Carew, "rat catcher," "dog
merchant," "prince of beggars," and "king of the gipsies," first touched
the soil of the Western Hemisphere at Deep Water Point. And this
is rendered more probable by his mention of several gentlemen, who
came on board, who were undoubtedly residents of the vicinity or im
mediate neighborhood. Mr. Carew, as he likes to caU himself, may
be left to himself to teU his own story as far as it relates to Talbot.
It must be confessed he was a close observer, if he learned aU he tells
us in the very short time that he spent upon the Eastern Shore, accord
ing to his own narrative. After his escape he wandered about some
time upon this peninsula, graduaUy working his way towards the North,
and finally succeeded in shipping for England. He joined the gipsies,
strolled with them about the continent of Europe, was elected a king
of one of theh tribes, met with many marvelous adventures, accord
ing to his own narrative, and finaUy died some time anterior to 1748
as mentioned above. As indicative of the interest that is taken in
this man's story, it may be mentioned that it has been dramatized,
and forms one of the stock plays of the theatre in England and America.
Although at present the title of the play cannot be given, there is httle
doubt respecting this interesting fact, as it has been derived from good
authority. The names of several gentlemen are mentioned in this
extract, as of those who came on board to purchase servants. Parson
Nicols was rector of St. Michaels parish at the time, and has left de
scendants, one of whom died recently at great age in this town. Mr.
Hambleton was the ancestor of our respected representative in Congress.
Mr. Ashcraft's memory is perpetuated by a point of land in St. Mi
chael's harbor, and his descendants are the prominent ship buUders of
Baltimore, theh forefathers having foUowed the same calling here
in Talbot. Mr. Huxter, or Hoxter, had descendants in this county
up to a very recent date, and doubtless are here or in Caroline stiU.
The family of RoUes or RoUe is residing on the homestead that it has
held since the very settlement of the county, near St. Michaels. No
family in the State can claim and justly claim a better descent. These
gentlemen were aU residents of the vicinity of the place of landing.
It may not be amiss to call attention to one fact which Mr. Carew
mentions, that peaches, which are about to become an important hor
ticultural product of our county, nearly one hundred and fifty years
ago were raised in such profusion as to aUow them to be fed to the

516 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
stock, as they are now, in abundant years. Our forefathers very soon
discovered the capacities of our land. It is asserted, upon what is
deemed, by some, good authority that the first peaches grown in America
were grown in this county, upon the farm "Peach Blossom," near
Easton. Sometimes names, however, originate stories, just as stories
originate names. The few errors into which Mr. Carew faUs, we can
readily pardon in consideration of his having given us so interesting,
and in general, so accurate an account of what he saw in Talbot.
AN EXTRACT FROM A BOOK ENTITLED "AN APOLOGY FOR THE LIFE
OF MR. BAMPFYLDE MOORE CAREW"
MR. CAREW ARRIVES IN MARYLAND
The first place they touched at was Hampton, between Cape Charles
and Cape Henry, where the Captain went ashore and got a Pilot;
and after about two days stay here, the PUot bought the vessel down
Miles's river, and cast anchor in Talbot county; when the Captain
ordered a gun to be fired as a signal for the planters to come down
and then went ashore; he soon after sent on board a hogshead of rum,
and ordered aU the men prisoners to be close shaved against the next
morning, and the women to have theh best head dresses put on, which
occasioned no httle hurry on board; for between the trimming of
beards, and putting on of caps, aU hands were fuUy employ'd. In
the morning the Captain ordered publick notice to be given of a day
of sale, and the prisoners, who were pretty near a hundred, were all
order'd upon deck, where a large bowl of punch was made, and the
planters flock' d on board; their first enquiry was for letters and news
from old England, what passage he had, how their friends did, and
the like. The Captain informed them of war being declared against
Spain, and that it was expected it would soon be declared against
France; that he had been eleven weeks and four days in his passage.
Theh next enquiry was, if the Captain had brought them good store
of Joiners, Carpenters, Blacksmiths, Weavers, and Taylors; upon
which the Captain called out one Griffy, a Taylor, who had lived
at Chumleigh, in the county of Devon, and was obhged to take a
voyage to Maryland, for making too free with his neighbor's sheep;
two planters, who were Parson Nicols and Mr. RoUes, ask'd him, if
he was sound wind and limb, and told him, it would be worse for him,
if he told them an untruth; and at last purchased him of the Captain.
The poor Taylor cry'd and beUow'd Uke a BeU-weather, cursing bis
wife who had betrayed him: Mr. Carew Uke a brave man, to whom
every soil is his own country, ashamed of his cowardice, gave the
Taylor to the DevU; and as he knew he could not do without them
sent his shears, pressing-iron, thimble and needle, to bear him com
pany: wherefore aU these waUings, says our hero, have we not a fine
glorious country before us? pointing to the shore; and indeed in this
he was very right, for Maryland not only affords every thing which
preserves and confirms health, but also aU things that are charming.

A CARGO OF CONVICTS 5]7
The beauty of the prospect, the fragrancy of the fields and gardens,
the brightness of the sky, and serenity of the ah, affects the ravish' d
senses; the country being a large plain, and the hillq hi it so easy of
ascent, and of such moderate height, that they seem rather an artificial
ornament to it, than one of the accidents of Nature. The abundance
of rivers and brooks is no Uttle help to the fertUity of the soU.
The whiter in Maryland does not continue above three or fourmonths,
December, January, February and March, of which thirty or forty
days only are bad weather. The frosts are severe, but attended with
a clear sky, and don't last long. The rains are frequent and refresh
ing: and the heats of the summer, which are most violent in June,
July and August/ are much mitigrated by them; and the fresh breezes
that are common in this country, contribute much to render the heat
tolerable to new comers, and hardly sensible to the inhabitants.
Most sorts of fruits here grow wild, and without cultivating; and
they have such plenty of peaches that they give them to theh hogs;
theh flowers likewise are as fine as any in the world.
Tobacco is the standing commodity of the country, and is so bene
ficial to the planters, and so natural to the soU, that all other improve
ments give place to that. Indeed they could turn theh hands to
nothing that would employ so many slaves and servants, and require
so little stock to manage it, or take up such a large track of land; for
the same ground that is planted every year with Tobacco, would pro
duce, if corn was sown there, more than all the plantations in America
could consume.
This plant is so common in England, that we need not describe it:
it grows much Uke a Dock; and whereas in our gardens it must be
managed with as much care as the choicest fruit or flower, in Mary
land they leave it exposed to aU the injuries of the weather, which is
very favorable to it. The Tobacco of this plantation was not at first
so good as 'tis now, that of Brazil had once the greatest reputation
over all Europe; but now Maryland and Vhginia has the best price
in aU markets. It is not known how the Indians cured theirs; they
now have it aU from the English: 'tis said they used to let it run to
seed, only suckering the leaves, to keep the sprouts from growing up
and starving them. When it was ripe, they pulled them off, cured them
in the sun, and laid them up for use. The Maryland planters sow the
seed in beds, as the gardeners in England do Colwort seeds; they leave
them there a month, taking care aU that time to have them weU weeded.
Whentheplants are about the breadth of one's hands, they are removed in
the first rainy weather, and transplanted into what they call Tobacco hills.
hi a month's time the plants wiU be a foot high, and they top them,
and then prune off aU the bottom leaves, leaving only seven or eight
on the stalk, that they may be better fed by the top; and these leaves,
in six weeks time, wul be at theh fuU growth. The planters prune
off the suckers, and clear them of the horn-worm twice a week, which
is called worming and suckering; and this last work lasts three weeks
or a month, by which time the leaf from green begins to turn brown-

518 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
ish, and to spot and thicken, which is a sign of its ripening. As fast
as the plants ripen, you must cut them down, leave them in the field
for half a day, then heap them up let them Ue and sweat a night, and
the next day carry them to the Tobacco house, where every plant
is hanged one by another (by a peg which is drove into the stalk of
each plant) at a convenient distance, for about a month or five weeks;
at the end of which time, they strike or take them down in moist weather,
when the leaf gives, or else it wUl crumble to dust; after which, they are
laid upon sticks, and covered up close in the Tobacco house for a week
or a fortnight to sweat; and then opening the bulk in a wet day, the
servants strip them and sort them, the top leaves being the best, and
the bottom the worst Tobacco. The last work is to pack it in hogs
heads, or bundle it up, which is also done in a wet season; for in the
curing Tobacco, wet seasons are as necessary as dry, to make the leaf
pliant, which would otherwise be brittle and break.
Besides lions, leopards, elks, bears and other animals which are
met with in Maryland, there are two peculiar to the country which
deserve to be described, viz. : the flying squhrel and the opposum.
The flying squirrel has a fleshy substance which extends in its skip
ping from one tree to another, like wings, and by the help of these he
will fly or rather skip thirty or forty yards at a time, from tree to tree.
The opossum has a head like a dog, and a taU like a rat; 'tis about
the bigness of a cat, and the false belly, in which the female carries
her young, is thus described by one that saw it: 'tis like a loose skin
quite over the belly, which never sticks to the flesh, but may be looked
into at all times, after they have been concerned in procreation. In
the hinder part of it is an overture big enough for a small hand to pass;
and thither the young ones, after they are full hahed, and strong enough
to run about, fly when any danger appears, or when they go to rest or
suck, and continue to do so tiU they have learned to live without theh
dam. The strangest part of this description is, that the young ones
are bred in this false beUy, without ever having been in the true one.
They are formed at the teat, and grow there for several weeks together,
till they are in perfect shape, and have strength, sight and hah: they
then drop off, and rest in this false belly, going in and out at pleasure.
They are to be seen fastened to a teat from the bigness of a fly, tUl they
become as large as a mouse. Neither is it any hurt to the old one to
open the bag and look in upon her young.
There were no rats and mice in Maryland when the English first
landed; but they soon multiplied so from the English shipping, that
once there was Uke to have been a sort of rat-plague among the planters. ,
There is no country more remarkable for the variety of bhds in it
than Maryland; where the woods and groves in the spring, summer,
autumn, and almost aU the year, are rendered as delightful by the
musick of the feathered chohs, as by the coolness of theh shades, or
the fragrance of theh flowers. Among these the mock-bhds are the
most diverting; they love society so weU, that whenever they see
mankind, they wiU perch upon a tree near the person, and sing the

A CARGO OF CONVICTS

519

sweetest ahs in the world. The next is the humming bird, who revels
among the flowers and licks off the dew and honey from' the leaves-
'tis not hah so large as an English wren, and its colour is a shining
mixture of scarlet, green and gold.
As for fish, there is such a prodigious plenty of them, that it is hardly
credible to an European. Many of these fishes wiU leap into canoes
and boats, as the English or Indians cross a river.
The manner of the fishing-hawks here preying upon fish, is very
diverting and remarkable. The sport is to be seen every summer in
the morning, and some all day long. These hawks are wonderful eager
after theh game, when the fish first come in the spring. In the dead
of the winter they fish further off at sea, or remain among the unin
habited islands upon the sea coast. They have often been seen to
catch fish out of the water and as they were flying away with quarry,
the bald eagles have taken it from them again. The fishing hawk
will hover over the water and rest upon the wing some minutes to
gether, then from a vast height dart down directly into the water,
plunge into it for the space of hah a minute, and at last bring up a
fish with him as big, that he can hardly carry it. When he is on the
wing, he shakes himself so strongly, that the water comes off of him
like a mist, and then he flies to the woods with his prey, unless the
bald eagle intercepts him, and takes it away from him. This bhd
as soon as he perceives the fishing hawk with the game in his mouth,
pursues him, and strives to get above him in the ah, which if he can
do, the hawk lets his fish drop, and the eagle leaves him to take up his
prey, which he shoots after with such surprising swiftness, that he catches
it in the ah before it falls to the ground. These fishing hawks, when the
seasons are extraordinary plentiful, wUl catch a fish, and loiter about
with it hi the ah, on purpose to have a chace with the eagle for it; and
if the eagle does not come, he'U make a daring noise, as if it were to defy
him. This sport has been frequently seen, and by the description of it,
must certainly be extremely pleasant to the spectators.
But to return: when aU the best tradesmen were bought up, a planter
came to Mr. Carew, and asked him what trade he was of : Mr. Carew,
to satisfy him of his usefulness, told him he was a rat catcher, a mendi
cant, and a dog merchant, what the D — 1 trades are those? replies the
planter, in astonishment, for I have never before heard of them. Upon
which the Captain, thinking he should lose the sale of him, takes the
planter a Uttle aside, and tells him, he did but jest, being a man of
humour, for that he was a great scholar, and was only sent oyer on
account of having disobliged some gentlemen; that he had no inden
ture with him, but he should have him for seven years, and that he
would make an exceUent school-master: however, no purchase was
made of him. The next day the Captain asked him to go on shore
with him to see the country, but indeed with a view of getting a pur
chase for him among the planters. As they were walking, several
people came up to Mr. Carew, and asked him what countrymen he
was, &c. At length they went to a tavern, where one Mr. David

520 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Huxter, who was formerly of Lyme in Dorset, and Mr. Hambleton,
a Scotchman, seemed to have an inclination to buy him between;
soon after came in one Mr. Ashcraft, who put in for hhn too, and then
the bowl of punch went round merrily. In the midst of theh mirth,
Mr. Carew, who had given no consent to the bargain they were making
for him, thought it no breach of honour or good manners, to take an
opportunity of shpping away, without taking any leave of them;
and taking with him about a pint of brandy, and some biscuit cakes,
which, by good luck, he chanced to lay his hands on, he immediately
betook himself to the woods, as the only place of security for him.

TIE FRIENDS OR QUAKERS IN TALBOT
"Quakers that like to lanterns, bear
Their lights within 'em, never swear."
S. BUTLEK HUDIBRAS.
Society of Friends is the proper designation of a Christian sect com
monly called Quakers, which took its rise in England, about the middle
of the seventeenth century, through the preaching of George Fox.
They agree, doctrinally, with other Christian organizations, but they
lay greater stress on the doctrine of the personal presence and guidance
of the Holy Spirit.
The name of "Friends" was adopted by tbis sect from the words
of Jesus Christ to his Disciples, "Ye are my Friends if ye do whatso
ever I command you."
They condemn all oath taking and war. The Protestant revolution
in England, which began in 1688, had resulted in placing WiUiam and
Mary on the British throne. They commissioned Sh Lionel Copley
the first Royal Governor of the Province of Maryland. He arrived
in the spring of 1692 and took the government from the hands of the
Committee of Safety.
Upon the meeting of the Assembly at St. Maries the members aU
took the prescribed oaths, with the exception of John Edmondson
of Talbot and Thomas Everdine of Somerset County, being Quakers
they asked to be aUowed to make the usual declaration by persons so
principled, to which the Lower House assented, but the Upper House,
consisting of the Governor and his councU, refusing to assent thereto,
these two Quakers were expeUed from the Lower House. It was at
this session that an act was passed making the Church of England
the estabUshed Church of this province, and a tax of 40 pounds, per
poll, of tobacco was voted to pay the expenses of the establishment,
for the buUding of churches and the support of the clergy. This act
was, of course, very obnoxious to the Quakers who, at that date, num
bered among theh adherents many of the largest land owners and the
wealthiest ship buUders in Talbot.
John Edmondson and WiUiam Sharp, both Quakers, were then the
leading shipping merchants at Oxford. This was a great blow to that
equality in reUgion that had been Maryland's boast for over a hah a
century. 521

522 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Across the ocean to the old motherlands went the fame of Maryland
as a province, where there was no persecution of those holding creeds
at variance to the orthodox method of worshipping God, a country
were religious and irreligious Uberty was not only tolerated but al
lowed without comment or interference with one's conscientious belief.
Along the shores of the Atlantic, from the Chesapeake to the Kennebec,
the same fame of religious Uberty in Maryland went, and thus those
persecuted for holding conflicting creeds were glad to find a haven of
refuge in this much favored land.
The result of this liberal aUowance of thought in a man was the
coming to the Eastern Shore of Maryland of that sadly persecuted
sect, the Quakers. They came from across the sea, from Virginia,
from New England and elsewhere, to see this Eldorado which would
be an asylum for them. EspeciaUy did the Friends settle in Talbot
County, and an unswervingly honest, temperate, generous, yet clannish
people, they left their impress ineffaceably upon this county. At that
time, 1660, be it recaUed, Talbot County embraced territory now in
cluded in Queen Anne's and part of Kent and Caroline counties, as
well as its own extensive domain.
Among the earliest settlers in this favored section of Maryland
were a dozen or more famUies of this Society of Friends or Quakers
who had suffered untold persecutions at the hands of the Puritans of
New England, and who sought refuge under the reUgious toleration
offered them by the Province of Maryland. They led simple, sober,
industrious and strictly moral Uves, and found many adherents among
our early protestant settlers. The carefuUy preserved records of the
Third-Haven monthly meetings, now stored in the fireproof vault,
in the office of the Register of WUls of Talbot County, covering a period
of two and a hah centuries, are treasures of inestimable value to the
local annalist of Talbot County, as weU as to the Maryland historian. ,
In their cemeteries, surrounding their unpretentious Meeting Houses, ;;
no monuments are to be found, "Nor storied urn, nor animated bust" v
for the Friends ever held firmly to the belief that death places aU mor
tals on the same level.
The Quaker city of Philadelphia has, however, taken a signal depar
ture from this long estabUshed custom of their sect, by erecting, on the
top of their city haU, a colossal bronze statue of WiUiam Penn, the
Quaker Governor of Pennsylvania.
Monuments and memorial tablets erected to commemorate the
virtues and manly deeds of our early worthies are however not without

THE FRIENDS OR QUAKERS OF TALBOT 523
theh value. They are object lessons of unceasing interest to the rising
generations, and a constant incentive to the young to become good
and useful citizens.
In New England, Boston in particular, where only a century ago
alleged "witches" were burned at the stake, the Friends were terribly
persecuted, for the Eastern States were not then traveling upon the
broad gauge of advancement and true Uberty that now distinguish
theh citizens. This persecution in New England gained for Talbot
many settlers whose descendants are among its best people of today,
the Friends. They came hither to find an asylum and found it, whUe
the beautiful country delighted them. They came to work hard, to
found new homes, new associations and to lay the corner stones of
future greatness and fortunes.
The log cabin homes erected, and in this each gave to the other a
helping hand, theh fields planted, they began to turn theh atten
tion to the building of their Meeting Houses, where they could worship
in theh own sUent way. There is nothing so effective as sUent prayer-
it leaves one whoUy alone with his conscience, often afar from pleasant
companions; and to think quietly of one's sins is the surest way to
reform one's self.
It was three years before the establishment of Talbot County that
the Friends came here to settle, in 1657, the first coming from Vhginia,
and the Meeting Houses, primitive in the extreme, for they do not
believe in "an outward, visible sign of an inward sphitual grace,"
were erected at Wye, Little Choptank, Island Creek and one, which
was doubtless the first, near the head of "Betty's Cove, " MUes River.
This one was buUt of clapboards, and stood near the boundary line
between the homes of R. B. Dixon and Dr. Cherbonnier, upon a lot
that covered ten acres of land, and faced the cove, from which it was
distant but a few rods. The records show that here, also, was a grave
yard, and that the httle buUding was repaired in 1676, but in 1693
it was abandoned, left alone with its encircling dead, while a larger
and more pretentious Meeting House had been erected in a more cen
tral location at the head of the Thhd Haven, or Tred Avon River.
This last buUding was so placed as to be convenient' to every part of
the county, even by the few highways, the bridle paths or water ways.
The locality of this greater Meeting House, great stUl in the memories
that cluster around it, could not have been better chosen, for it is just
south of Easton, in its suburbs now, and hence the site of sites, showing
how weU chose they who located the county town just where they did.

524 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
The Friend's Meeting House at the head of the Avon was also not a
long walk across for those who came by boat to Betty's Cove on Miles
River, while as aU roads lead to Rome, it is said, so aU highways and
streams in Talbot lead to Easton. This house was a frame building
with massive timbers, boarded and shingled, and today stands as a
monument to the old time style of buUding.
As the records have it:
Our joint Quarterly Meeting for both Shores, held at ye home of
Ralph Fishboume ye 27th day of ye Fhst Month 1683, the meeting
decided upon this greater house, it being unanimously agreed that
Betty's Cove Meeting be removed to ye great Meeting House.
Hence the greater house was buUt, the lesser one, about which still
rests the ashes of the Talbot Friend's ancestry, being left to crumble
to decay, if not into entire forgetfulness, for
"So the multitude goes, Uke the flower or the weed,
That withers away to let others succeed
So the multitude comes, even those we behold,
To repeat the old tales so often retold."
The home of Ralph Fishboume was a farm adjoining the present '
town of Claiborne, upon Eastern bay, which continues to perpetuate
his name down to the present time.
Among the Friends who attended the old Meeting House was Wen-
lock Christison, who feU a victim to his creed and was sentenced to
be hanged in Boston, yet was later released from prison, not because of
humanity, but because the EngUsh government ordered a mitigation
of his punishment. Many are the names in Talbot today of the an
cestors of those who attended that old Meeting House, and whose ashes
doubtless there repose, and among them can be named John Edmond
son, William Southbee, WUliam Troth, Howell PoweU, Thomas Tay
lor, John Pemberton, WUliam Cole, John Dickinson, WiUiam Dixon,
Charles Gorsuch, Richard Johns, William Berry, John Jadwin, John
Pitt, John Kemp, Thomas Bartlett, Peter Webb, Christopher Birk-
head, Henry Woolchurch, James Hall, WilUam Sharpe, Henry Parrott
and Obediah Judkins.
It is stated as an indisputable fact that George Fox, the founder of
the Society of Friends, attended the meeting at Betty's Cove that
originated the building of the old Meeting House near Easton. It
was in 1684 the meeting was held, and George Fox describes the greater
house in his journal as being located upon the Avon River (old style

THE FRIENDS OR QUAKERS OF TALBOT 525
Third Haven). This meeting lasted five days, the first three attended
by aU of the Society of Friends, the last two only a men and women's
assemblage for discipline. The Friends were not alone in attending
theh meetings, for Romanists, Protestants, Indians and Negroes were
often present, in fact this new house had to be enlarged to hold the
people. To John Edmondson feU the honor of entertaining George Fox
his farm at the time being the one known as Cedar Point, now (1914)
owned by Mrs. Edward B. Hardcastle of Easton. In his journal
Fox says that he attended the meeting each day, going by boat, and
the boats were so numerous in the river the scene reminded him of the
Thames of London. He also spoke of "seeing both rivers" — the Avon
and the MUes — from the Meeting House which must have stood in
the field at the eastern end of the Ship's Head farm at the southeast
comer of which stands Bloomfield Station on the Baltimore, Chesa
peake and Atlantic Railway.
At that time the Friends in Talbot kept a boat — the "Good WiU" —
and horses, expressly for the use of their free ministers in traveUing
through the country. Upon his return to England George Fox sent
to the Meeting House a number of books, some of which are stiU held
by the Society, and this was the first library known in Talbot. This
greater meeting house was buUt in no sUpshod manner, as its fine state
of preservation today shows, after having withstood the storms of over
two hundred and thirty years. The builders did not sUght theh con
tract, as is too often the case with them in this hurrying age.
There was a committee of Friends appointed, as the old record reads :
To agree with ye carpenters for ye buUding of ye said house 60 foote
long, 44 foote wide, and to be strong, substantial, framed work, with
good wite oak sills and small joyst, and ye upper floors to be laid with
plank and ye roof to be double raftered, and good principal rafters
every ten foote, and to be double studded below, and to be weU braced
and windows convenient, and shutters, and good, large stairs into
ye chambers, which chambers are to be 40 foote square at each end
of ye house, and twenty foote vacant space between them: and for other
conveniencys to be left to ye aforesaid Friends.
Now there was no going behind this contract, and if it be true that
figures wont Ue, it seems, even at this late day, a paradox somewhat
difficult of solution, as to how in a house "60 foote long by 44 foote
wide," two chambers on second floor could be made at each end 40 foote
square, "with 20 foote vacant space betwix them." Still there stands

526 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
the old Meeting House today, stout, staunch, and with wondrous
staying powers to resist the ravages of Old Father Time, and any one,
Friend, Protestant, Romanist, can go out and measure the dimen
sions and then figure out on those "40 foote square rooms with 20 foote
vacancy space betwix them," and see how it was done in "ye long time
ago." This Third Haven Meeting House is the oldest house of worship
now (1915) standing in the United States.
From a minute, dated 6th of 12th month, 1690, a house was erected
on these grounds, near the river side, for the accommodation of visitors
from a distance (the two chambers over the meeting rooms probably
being insufficient). The statement is, "That Friends on this shore
are to pay to Ralph Fishboume 2041 lbs. of tobacco; it being ye one-half
of what he disbursed for buUding ye house for convenieney of Friends
from a distance, at the creek side, near our Great Meeting House."
As late as the early part of this century some persons now living can
remember when they went to and from this meeting in row or sail
boats (in preference to carriages), and had only to walk a very short
distance, this tributary to Third Haven River, which is merely a ditch
now, being navigable then.
It is evident that provisions were furnished these Friends by the
members here, if they were not already supplied. The minutes in
regard to it reads:
This meeting considering ye great distance yt Friends have to come,
both by land and water, yt may repah to our Yearly Meeting, whereby
they want necessarys, therefore this Monthly Meeting appoints Joseph
Rogers to inquire into ye same, and to give Friends accounts, yt so
they may be supphed if any want to be.
Thus proving that it was not a spirit of inhospitahty that prevented
all visitors from being entertained at private houses, but doubtless
an inability to accommodate the large number that came, or to find
means of transportation for them.
For several years monthly meetings were held two days in succession.
The reports varied but little in expression, but it is evident, from their
length, that considerable business was accomplished. As the smaUer
meetings declined, others were estabUshed elsewhere. Some resigned,
or suffered themselves to be disowned on account of the slavery question,
which agitated the minds of friends at an early date: and many were
disowned for marrying those not in membership with the Society, in
consequence of the ceremonies being performed by a minister or priest

THE FRIENDS OR QUAKERS OF TALBOT 527
(for they styled aU by that appeUation), because tortures had so fre
quently been inflicted through their instrumentaUty; therefore a breach
of discipline in that respect was deemed almost an unpardonable offense •
but from a decrease of members, and a more charitable spirit toward
all Christian denominations, rules of discipline in this particular have
relaxed greatly.
Marriage intentions in those days were announced in the meeting
by the parties themselves, in both the men's and women's meetings,
on two separate occasions, and thirdly, in a written form, together with
the written consent of the parents of both when under age, consequently
it embraced three months before the ceremony was accomplished.
At the present epoch the "passing" as it is termed, is settled in writing.
The first marriage on the meetmg records bears the date of 1668, and
reads as foUows:
WiUiam Southbee, of Talbot County, in the province of Maryland,
the 29 day of the Fhst Month (0. S.) and in the year 1668, in an Assem
bly of the People of God, caUed Quakers, at theh meeting, at the
house of Isaac Abrahams, solemnly in the fear of God, took Elizabeth
Read of the aforesaid county and province, spinster, to be his wife;
and she, the said Elizabeth Read, did then and there, in the like man
ner, take the said WUUam Southbee to be her husband, each of them
promising to be faithful to each other. To which the meeting now
witnesseth, by signature.
A regular record of marriages, births and deaths has been kept since
1668, and it appears even earUer than that.
Settlements of estates, contracts (either legal or otherwise), all
disagreements, also consents asked for certificates of removal, and
for travelling Friends and ministers, as weU as for approval of mar
riages, were submitted to the meeting, and committees appointed
to investigate the clearness of the cases. Tobacco being the currency
for many years, aU coUections and business transactions of the church
were made in that way except in occasional donations of grain, produce,
furniture and cattle. The first coUection in money was made in 1713.
In that era tobacco seems to be the staple crop. The Indians considered
it a sacred herb, a precious gift of the Great Spirit to his children, and
the act of smoking, with them, always had something of a ceremonial
or even reUgious character.
Friends were conscientiously opposed to paying tithes; but their
personal effects and slaves were often seized to the amount equivalent

528 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
to the assessment, though they were compensated out of the meetings
fund for their loss. The records show that care has been exercised in
providing for indigent members when afflicted, or unable to support
themselves, and assistance rendered to fit others for business. The
subject of education claimed theh early attention, and several schools
were established under their superintendence. A school house was
built on a portion of these old Meeting-House grounds in 1782, but was
removed to Easton in 1791. A proposition was made in 1816 to move
this Meeting House there; a lot of ground was purchased and bricks
burned for the purpose, but the matter was reconsidered and thought
inadvisable. Friends were always much exercised in regard to taking oaths. This
meeting applied for an act of the EngUsh Parliament on the subject;
and in 1681 Richard Johns and William Berry were requested by the
meeting to appeal to the Maryland. Assembly to exempt the Society
from taking oaths, which was favorably received by the Lower House
but not by the Upper. In 1688 Lord Baltimore pubUshed a proclama
tion resolving to dispense with oaths in testamentary cases. Thence
forth those who had any scruples in the matter were permitted to
affirm. The spirit of war has always been denounced by Friends as
inconsistent with a Christian Ufe, believing that arbitration is a much
more peaceable and satisfactory mode of settling disagreements. Min
utes of their meetings state that coUections were made several times for
the benefit of their members suffering from the Revolutionary War in
this country, and from the effects of the Rebellion in England and
Ireland. We are informed that it was the usual custom with Friends, after
attending the sessions of the West River Yearly Meetings, to go on
board of the slave ships and select their slaves. In 1759 the Yearly
Meeting of Maryland advised care in importing and buying negroes;
in 1762 condemned importing, buying or seUing slaves without the
consent of the meeting; but in 1777 slave-holding was made a disown-
able offense. The first WilUam Dixon freed and provided for a num
ber of his slaves long before the consciences of others had been moved
in the matter. Some voluntarily manumitted theirs. Isaac Dixon,
James and Benjamin Berry, Sarah PoweU, Benjamin Parvin, John and
Sarah Register, John and MagdaUne Kemp and James Turner were a
few of the number. Schools were afterwards provided for the benefit
of these colored people; and their efforts were unceasing untU the general
manumission occurred in 1863.

THE FRIENDS OR QUAKERS OF TALBOT 529
The foUowing account is given of WiUiam Penn's visit here, in 1700:
. We met at a Yearly Meeting at Treadhaven, in Maryland upon
the Eastern Shore, to which meetmg, for worship, came WUliam' Penn
Lord and Lady Baltimore, with theh retinue; but it was late when they
came, and the strength and glory of the heavenly power of the Lord
was going off from the meeting; so the lady was much disappointed
as I understood from Wm. Penn, for she told him she did not want to
hear him, and such as he, for he was a scholar and a wise man and she
did not question but he could preach; but she wanted to hear some of
our mechanics preach, as husbandmen, shoemakers and such like
rustics, for she thought they could not preach to any purpose. WUliam
Penn told her "some of these were rather the best preachers we had
among us."
An interest has always been manifested by Friends in the welfare
of the Indian race. The mild and persuasive treatment of George
Fox, WUUam Penn and others seemed to insure theh respect and con
fidence through succeeding generations. So httle did our early prede
cessors appreciate one of the comforts of Ufe (as weU as health) that
for almost a century they had no means of heating this buUding (foot-
stoves, fiUed with hot embers, were sometimes used by women Friends).
Some opposition was offered when a stove was proposed, and afterwards
bought (in 1781), declaring that theh religious zeal ought to be suffi
cient warmth. It is authentic that one of the members was so un
yielding that, to show his disapproval, he caUed it a "dumb idol,"
and made it a receptacle for his overcoat, but as there was no fire,
no damage was done; the foUowing Sabbath he repeated the act without
noticing the fire, and the odor arising from the smoking garment at
tracted his attention (much to the amusement of the witnesses, especiaUy
the chUdren), and Friend Parvin had the humiliation of going to its
rescue, convinced of his error as to a stove being a "dumb idol."
This house was saved twice from being destroyed by fire; once by
a Friend whose name was Sarah Berry (about the year 1810); she
extinguished the flame by rubbing it with a stick, not having time to
obtain water or give the alarm. This ancient buUding brings many
memories. Since its erection great progress has been made in the
arts and sciences — nations have been formed and faUen asunder; and
now this house is foUowing the course of aU terrestrial things — decay.
What memories crowd upon us as we stand in the presence of the
Past! How great is the mind of man, and how wonderful! It grapples
with complex subjects but to reduce them to comprehensive simpUcity.
It measures the length and breadth of our land and knows the coming

530 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
of the seasons. It brings into action latent forces — commands them
and they obey. Yet how insignificant when it attempts to compre
hend the duration of time, and to measure the untold length of the past!
Two hundred years! what is it but a drop in the ocean, but a thought in
the history of ages? Yet, short as it is, generations have come and
gone, the young have become old and passed away. Sturdy oaks,
that withstood the storms of winter, and among whose inviting branches
carroUed birds for scores of summers, have flourished and fallen.
In the sUent graveyard of the old Meeting House Ue entombed the
ashes of those whose smUes once made glad the heart, whose buoyant
laughter delighted the ears of loving friends, around whose board
echoed the voices of happy chUdren, and from whose gates the stranger
was turned not away.
On the face of those rough-hewn timbers are written, "Passing away,
passing away." The plain, undecorated walls seem to echo the voices
of long ago, and humbly caU the weary soul to rest. The unpainted
benches remind us of the untarnished Uves of true Christians. The.
unassuming doorways, low ceilings and unsteepled roofs are typical
of the meek and lowly who adorn not the exterior, to be seen of men,
but who worship God with an humble and contrite heart. No organ
peal is heard; but beyond the solemn sUence whispers the heavenly
words, "Peace, be stiU."

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT
The first explorations of the Chesapeake Bay by white men were
made by Capt. John Smith and his party in 1608. The map traced
by him of the bay and the mouths of the rivers emptying into it, as seen
by him when coasting along their shores, are very crude and necessarily
inaccurate, as no actual surveys were made by him. Bozman in his
History of Maryland, vol. 1, page 115, says:
Smith's omission to explore the Eastern Shore of Maryland, at
least the midland parts of it, between the Nanticoke and Sassafras
rivers, has deprived us of some mteresting information relative to
that part of the country now composing the counties of Talbot, Queen
Anne and Kent together with the several islands facing the Bay-coast
thereof, since known by the appellations of Sharpe's, TUghman's,
Poplar and Kent Island.
It may be further remarked, also, he adds that the part of the Eastern
Shore of which the counties of Queen Anne and Talbot are now com
posed, is denominated on Smith's map,
Brooke's forest, "Overgrown with wood," as he says, and the three
islands, therein imperfectly sketched by him as lying opposite thereto
called by him "Winstone's isles," must have been the isle of Kent,
Poplar, and Tilghman's islands, but most inaccurately designed.
GREAT CHOPTANK ISLAND OR TILGHMAN'S ISLAND
Seth Foster was the original patentee- of Great Choptank Island.
It was surveyed for him August 11, 1659, two years prior to the organi
zation of Talbot County, for 1200 acres and 300 acres more, doubtless
of said island, were surveyed for him January 15, 1661. In 1755 it
was assessed to Matthew TUghman for 1468 acres on the Rent Rolls
of Lord Baltimore.
Seth Foster married EUzabeth, the widow of Thomas Hawkins,
who died 1669. In his wiU, probated March 12, 1674, the said Foster
devises one-third of his estate, both real and personal to his widow
Elizabeth; to his son-in-law (step-son), John Hawkins 1000 acres,
"Tully's DeUght, on Chester river:" To eldest daughter, EUzabeth
Lowe, wife of Vincent Lowe, "Great Choptank Island;" to youngest
daughter, Sarah (who later married Michael Turbutt), 1000 acres,
"Stagdish Woods," on Chester river; to two daughters, aforesaid,
531

532 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
residue of estate. Colonel Vincent Lowe, dying- in 1692, in his will,
probated October 20 of that year, devised to his wife, EUzabeth,
Great Choptank Island and aU pertaining thereto, which was left
said wife by her father Seth Foster, as his oldest daughter,
requesting her, if she die without heirs, to devise said Island to Foster
Turbutt and hehs, he being the son of her sister Sarah, wife of Michael
Turbutt. To Mary, daughter of Michael Turbutt, 1000 acres, "Four
Square" farm, — residue of estate to be sold by executors. To brother
Nicholas, land in Parish of Denby, England, left testator by bis mother
Ann Lowe; she was the natural daughter of Henry WiUiam Cavendish,
and the whe of Vincent Lowe, Sr. of Denby, England. Their daughter,
Lady Jane Lowe, married for her second husband Gov. Charles Calvert,
who later became the third Lord Baltimore. She died in England
January 24, 1701. Her first husband was Henry SeweU of Mattapony,
secretary of the province of Maryland. Col. Vincent Lowe, Jr.,
her brother, was High Sheriff of Talbot County in 1675, and was ap
pointed Surveyor General of the Province in 1679. He was one of the
largest landed proprietors in Talbot County, and possibly in the State.
The widow of Col. Vincent Lowe married, for her second husband,
WUliam Coursey, another prominent citizen of Talbot County, who
together with his whe, mortgaged Choptank Island to Capt. John
Hyde, merchant, of London, who sold it to Matthew TUghman Ward.
This last named gentleman married, firstly, Mabel Dawson Murphy,
daughter of Ralph Dawson, and widow of Capt. James Murphy. He
married, secondly, Margaret Lloyd, daughter of Col. PhUemon Lloyd
of Wye House. He was commissioned Major General of the MiUtia
of Talbot County in 1739, Chief Justice of the Provincial Court 1729-32,
Member of the Governor's Council 1719 tiU his death in 1741, leaving
his widow, Margaret Ward, the richest woman on the Eastern Shore.
His only child, a daughter Mary by his first wife, died single in 1722.
He devised this entire estate, after the death of his widow, to his cousin
and namesake, Matthew TUghman, whom he had adopted when a
youth. His landed estates included not only Choptank or Ward's
Island, but his attractive homestead "Bayside," or "Rich Neck Manor,"
now (1914), the elegant country-seat of Henry H. Pearson, Jr., Esq.
The town of Claiborne is located on this tract of land, which was pat
ented by Henry Fox for 1000 acres, and conveyed by him to Capt.
James Murphy in 1684.
Matthew TUghman, a few months after the death of his benefactor,

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT

533

married Ann Lloyd, and soon became one of the leading public men
in the province, and a prominent patriot during the American Revolu
tion. He died in 1790. He devised his homestead to his eldest son
Lloyd TUghman who died intestate in 1811. Choptank, Ward's or
Tilghman's Island continued in the possession of Matthew TUghman's
heirs until the year 1838, when it was sold and conveyed by them to
Absalom Thompson; eleven years later, in 1849, he conveyed this island
to Gen. Tench TUghman, when it was surveyed by Samuel Jackson
County Surveyor, and found to contain 1869 acres, a greater part of
which was covered with a forest of taU pine trees of original growth.
General Tilghman erected two portable Page saw-mUls on this island,
the first steam saw mills ever used on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Both of these mUls were unfortunately burned, and the timber project
was abandoned.
It is now (1914), nearly denuded of timber trees, the land is divided
into smaU farms, and the town of TUghman is a busy shipping point
- for fish, oysters and crabs and the canning of tomatoes and herring
roe are big industries at this place.
The wind storms which have for centuries caused the waters of the
Chesapeake Bay to break over the banks of this island at high tides
have swept away many acres of this island on the bay front. The
United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, has just
published (1914), a most interesting pamphlet entitled Erosion and
Sedimentation in Chesapeake Bay around the mouth of Choptank River,
in which the foUowing reference is made to TUghman's Island.
Tilghman Island is the largest and most northerly of the three islands
under discussion. It is over 3^ mUes long and has an area of more
than three square miles, providing homes for many prosperous farmers
and fisherman. At its north end are located the towns of TUghman
and Avalon with a population of several hundred people. It is sepa
rated from the mainland by a narrow strait caUed Knapp Narrows.
This island has suffered much less erosion in proportion to its area
than either of the other two. The eastern coast, as in the other is
lands, remained essentially unchanged during the 63 years from 1847
to 1910. Extensive erosion has taken place along the western. coast,
except in the protected portion in Pawpaw Cove, a semichcular in
dentation midway of the island. During the 53 years between 1847
and 1900 the area of TUghman's Island decreased from 20151 to 1686
1 If the TJ. S. Government survey of 1847 ia correct, which makes the area of
Tilghman's Island, at that date, 2,015 acres, then the original surveys under
which this island was patented to Seth Foster in 1659 and 1661 are manifestly

534 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
acres, a total loss of 329 acres or over 16.3 per cent. The maximum
encroachment of the sea has been on the southern cape (Black Walnut
Point, which has reached a quarter of a mUe in 63 years. The average
annual encroachment of the sea on the western shore during the 53
year period was 10 feet, the estimate excluding the shore of Pawpaw
Cove, which has not changed. This is a much lower rate than those
effective on the corresponding coasts of the other islands. Only the
southern portion of the west coast was surveyed in 1910, but here the
erosion has been rather rapid, averaging 29 feet a year for the 10 year
period beginning with 1900. That Tilghman Island wiU have a much
longer fife than the other two islands is manifest. By considering
as before the mean annual areal loss per mile of exposed shore line
and using one-half the remaining westerly exposed shore line as a basis,
it would seem that the island wiU not disappear in its watery grave
for at least 570 years. However, this estimate must be regarded only
as a very rough approximation. Although the earhest maps show a
large stretch of water between Tilghman and Sharpes Islands many
of the residents recount the tales told by their forebears of a genera
tion or two ago concerning the proximity and even the connection of
the two islands. It may be interesting in this connection to point
out the fact that during the 63 years from 1847 to 1910 the average
annual widening of the intervening water area was 0.01 mUe as the
islands in 1910 were 3.38 miles apart, the time of theh separation, if
this rate of widening has prevailed continuously would be about 340
years ago or about 1570. This is a hundred years earner than the date
of the oldest map, that of Herman, which shows a considerable stretch
of intervening water.
Sharpe 's Island, lying at the mouth of the Great Choptank River,
on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay, and directly opposite the
"Cliffs" of Calvert County, derives its name from one of its early owners
Dr. Peter Sharpe, who is caUed in the Calvert County Records Peter
Sharpe of the Cliffs, "Chirurgion." This island has been known by
several different names, according as it has, at various times, belonged
to this or that person, but the name of the Quaker physician of Calvert
has clung to it, and wUl ever be used to designate a Uttle patch of earth
a century ago containing 700 acres, but which is diminishing year by
year, and destined at no very remote geological period to disappear
beneath the waves of the Chesapeake, unless, indeed, there shaU be
another of those secular upheavals which first lifted it and the whole
incorrect, as his two patents call for 1,500 acres only. It is possible, however,
that he may not have taken up the whole of this island, and that the neck on
the north end of this island, next to the mainland, may have been patented by
Robert Knapp, who died in 1682, and from whom Knapp's Narrows, the strait or
narrow stream separating Tilghman's Island from the mainland, takes its name.

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT 535
Eastern Shore out of the sea. If priority of designation should be
allowed to govern, the proper name of this island is Claiborne's. In
the deed of WUl Sharpe, son and heir of Peter, to John Eason, Septem
ber 10, 1675, it is expressly stated that this island was formerly known
by the name of Claiborne's Island, and now, or lately, by the name
of Sharpe's Island. This is repeated in other and subsequent con
veyances. There is Uttle doubt that Capt. WiUiam Claiborne, the
original settler, if he may not claim the honor of founder of Mary
land, visited, took possession of, and gave his name to this island. It
is reaUy due to Claiborne, whom Lord Baltimore's colonists treated
so badly, and who has fared so poorly at the hands of the historians,
that his name should be permanently attached to some spot of earth
in a state, the seeds of whose civiUzation he was the first to plant. His-
. toric justice and the laws of geographical nomenclature demand that
this island, whUe any of it remains shall be caUed Claiborne's Island.
Since the above was written the name of Claiborne has been given to
a vUlage at the western terminus of the Baltimore, Chesapeake and
Atlantic RaUway, on Eastern Bay, which promises to become a town
of some importance. In "The Worthies of Talbot," volume 1 of the His
tory of Talbot County, may be found a memoir of WUliam Claiborne
who founded the first settlement of white men in Maryland on the
south end of Kent Island a few years before Lord Baltimore's colonists
landed at Saint Mary's. It was Claiborne and his Puritan foUowers
who defeated Lord Baltimore's Governor, Stone, at the battle of the
Severn which made him not only Lord of Kent but of aU Maryland,
and he continued so during the reign of CromweU the Protector in
England. In the autumn of 1659, the Great Protector passed away,
and two years afterwards Charles II was restored to his throne and
Maryland quietly acknowledged him. That was necessarily the end
of Claiborne in the province of his hold upon Kent Island. The famous
"rebel," as he was then caUed, returned to Vhginia where he owned a
fine old estate, caUed "Romancoke" in King WUUam County, and
either there, or in the County of New Kent, where he also owned broad
acres, and which he had so named in contradistinction to Old Kent
in Maryland, he died at the age of about ninety toward the end of the
seventeenth century. These old struggles are now long forgotten,
but they Ue at the foundation of Maryland history and are worthy of
attention. He was a soldier, a diplomat, a poUtician and a man of
genius, and the multitude of honorable persons of his blood in the
United States need not be ashamed of the descent from him says Jno.

536 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNT'S
Eston Cooke in the August number, 1883, of the magazine of American
History. A pamphlet just pubUshed (1914), by the U. S. Geological
Survey, heretofore referred to, entitled Erosion and Sedimentation in
Chesapeake Bay around the mouth of Choptank River contains the fol
lowing interesting information relative to Sharpe's Island:
SHARPS ISLAND
Loss in area. — Sharps Island, the smallest of the three under dis
cussion, stands dhectly at the mouth of Choptank River, unprotected
on any side from the action of the waves. Less than a generation ago
it was a summer resort and supported a number of people throughout ¦
the year. The north end was weU wooded and the island was a favorite
ground for hunting ducks and smaU game. The days of its prosperity
are now but a memory, and the Ufe of the island is a thing of the past.
The trees have disappeared save for a meager hah dozen; the houses
have been washed away except for the large hotel which stands alone
in the center of the island, a crumbling monument to the activity of
other days ; the site of an artesian weU has been transgressed by the
waves so that it now presents the unique feature of a weU in the midst
of the waters of the bay. The survivors of the piling that made up
the long pier which formerly invited the voyager only add to the melan
choly of the deserted and dreary scene.
Impressions and hearsay are not the only evidence of remarkable
changes in the island, for the story told by the comparison of the three
maps of 1848, 1900 and 1910 is equaUy noteworthy. In 1848 the
island contained 438 acres; in 1900 the surprisingly smaU area of 91
acres, or but 21 per cent, had survived. There had been an average
annual loss of 6.7 acres, or 1.5 per cent. Owing to the decrease in the
length of shore line the amount of erosion annually during the period
from 1900 to 1910 dropped to an average of 3.8 acres, which, however,
was 4 per cent of the total area of 1900. The area of the island inl910
was 53 acres, showing a loss of 88 per cent in 62 years, an average
annual loss of 6.2 acres, or 1.4 per cent.
Linear cutting. — The maximum erosion on Sharps Island, as on
James Island, has been on the west and north sides, the east and south
sides having remained substantially unchanged. An interesting fea
ture is the continuance of the sandspit on the south end until after 1900,
when the pier was washed away. Since then the spit has moved around
to the southeast corner of the island, inclosing a smaU pond. The north
ern part of the island is made up of material of the Talbot formation
and rises out of the water as much as 7 feet. Here the erosion has been
enormous, the water advancing 0.35 mUe in 52 years and 0.57 mile in
62 years. The average encroachment on the north and west coasts
during the 52-year interval was 0.32 mile, or at the rate of 32 feet a
year. During the 10 years between 1900 and 1910 the bay advanced
0.21 mile on the north shore, or at the remarkable rate of 110 feet a

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT 537
year. The loss on the west coast, however, was much less, averaging
about 21 feet a year during the period. r
The marshland of the southern part of the island is withstanding
the force of the waves much more effectively than the rest of the island
and wUl doubtless be the last to disappear. It may be interesting
in this connection to venture a prediction, based on the facts at hand,
as to the time of final disappearance of the island. By platting the
length of the island as ordinates against the time interval between
surveys, it is evident that the rate of erosion has greatly increased in
the last 10 years. If the rate of that interval were to continue the
island would disappear before 1930. However, it is obvious from the
general study that the erosion was unusuaUy intense during this period
and furthermore that when the marshland is reached the rate wUl
decrease. On the basis of the rate of encroachment during the 52-
year interval and the maximum width of 0.28 mUe, the time of dis
appearance would be put at 1947. From a consideration of the an
nual areal loss per mile of shore line subject to erosion, one-hah the
remaining exposed shore line being used as a basis, the average annual
loss wiU be 1.67 acres. By this method the date of the island's enthe
submergence would be put at 1942. At the rate during the last 10
years on the west coast, the estimated date would be a httle later,
. probably about 1950 to 1955.
From general considerations the writer feels that it is fairly safe to
predict that Sharps Island wiU be enthely gone by 1950 and that it is
not beyond the range of possibihty that the island wUl disappear before
1940. The higher land to the north wiU doubtless be cut away first,
and in 15 years, if the average yearly rate persists, the house wUl be
reached. In 20 years probably Uttle wUl be left but the low-lying
marshland. POPLAR ISLAND OR FOSTER'S ISLAND
In the Calvert Papers No. 269, Record for Land 1640, foUo 106, is
.the foUowing record:
Isle of Kent County, Thompson's Manor, containing the Island
called Popeley's Island, containing 1000 acres, and 430 acres on Isle
of Kent due Richard Thompson for transporting himself, whe, his
child, one maid servant and six men servants — surveyed 6th Novem
ber 1640 owned by Seth Foster 1658.
This Richard Thompson was a near kinsman and henchman of the
notorious Capt. WUliam Claiborne, the first white settler on Kent
Island, which later belonged to Talbot County. A few years only
after Thompson had settled on Poplar Island, his enthe famUy, in
cluding his whe, children and servants were aU massacred by the blood
thirsty Nanticoke Indians, during his absence from the Island.

538 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
In 1642 Giles Brent being Commander of the Isle of Kent, WUliam
Luddington and Richard Thompson were appointed commissioners.
This entitled him to a seat in the Assembly of the Province.
In 1838 the Assembly had passed an act of Attainder against Clai
borne, by which all of his property and stores at his trading post on
Kent Island were forfeited to the Proprietary. Claiborne went back
to England to submit his claims under the Virginia Charter to the
Crown ; on his return, in 1644, Thompson evidently advocated his claims,
for Governor Calvert, in 1644, issued a proclamation,
to be published on the Isle of Kent, prohibiting any trade with that
island tiU ships had first been at St. Maries, and declaring Captain
WiUiam Clayborne and Richard Thompson, planter, to be enemies
to the Province, and prohibiting aU inteUigence or correspondence
with them or agents.
When the Royal Government in England was usurped by Oliver
Cromwell, after the execution of Charles I, Claiborne, being a Puri
tan, recovered his estates on Kent Island, and became one of the lead
ing citizens of the province. Thomas Hawkins appears to have been
the next owner of Poplar Island, after Richard Thompson, for in 1654
he sold and conveyed by deed to Seth Foster "Two quarters of my land
on Poplar Island." In his wUl, dated October 21, 1656, but not pro
bated tiU October 4, 1669, he divided his land on Poplar Island between
his wife Elizabeth and son Thomas Hawkins, Jr. His widow later
married Seth Foster. Seth Foster, dying in 1674, devised Great Chop-
tank Island to his daughter Elizabeth, wife of Vincent Lowe; to his
daughter Sarah, who, later, married Michael Turbutt, 1000 acres of
land in upper Talbot, later Queen Anne County, and residue of estate
to his two daughters aforesaid. This residue must have included
at least one-hah of Poplar Island. He also mentions son-in-law,
meaning stepson, John Hawkins, who later became prominent as Judge
of the Provincial Court. He resided at Queenstown, the first county-
seat of Queen Anne's County.
In the Assembly Proceedings 1657, Maryland Archives, is the follow
ing act concerning Poplar's Island.
It is enacted and declared in the name of his highness the Lord
Protector of England &c and by the authority of this present General
Assembly, that the island commonly caUed Poplar's Island lying near
unto the Island of Kent be adjoyned unto the County of Kent, and
from henceforth be of all persons so accounted and taken to be.

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT

539

In 1661 Poplar Island was made a part of Talbot as also Kent Island,
but in 1671 it was restored to Kent County together with Kent Island'
by the foUowing proclamation.
To aU persons to whom these presents may come: These are to
certify that I have ordered and appoynted, and doe order and appoynt
that for the future the Northeast side of Chester as far as the bounds
of Talbot County were formerly on that side, shaU now bee added to
Kent County, and I doe declare that part to belong to Kent, as alsoe
Poplar's Island, and doe hereby requhe that the Sheriffe of Talbot
County presume not to recover any quitt rents or dues from the in
habitants Uving and residing uppon the place above specified, they
being within the County of Kent. Given under my hand this 4th dav
of June 1671. J
In 1695, both Kent Island and Poplar Island were attached to Tal
bot. In 1706 Kent Island was divorced from Talbot and given to a
younger sister Queen Anne.
After the termination of the Reign of OUver CromweU in England,
and the accession of King Charles II, this monarch determined to
dispossess the Dutch of the settlements they had made in America on
what the English claimed as theh territory. To this end, he granted
to his brother James, Duke of York, a patent for aU the country from
the Connecticut to the Delaware Bay. Shortly after this grant was
made war was declared between the Enghsh and Dutch and the same
year New Amsterdam surrendered to an expedition under command
of Col. Richard Nichols and the name of that place was changed to
New York.
Shortly after the surrender of New Amsterdam an expedition under
Sh Robert Carr was sent to Delaware Bay, which without much blood
shed, took possession of the country, according to Carr's instructions,
in the name of his majesty the King of England. The name of New
Amstel was now changed to New Castle, and Altona was caUed by the
name of Christiana and later Wilmington. New York and the country
along the Delaware remained in the possession of the English tUl 1674,
when war again breaking out between the Dutch and English they were
conquered by the former.
The downfaU of the Dutch, in 1664, terminated the connection of
the Dutch Governor, D'Hyniossa, with the settlement at New Castle.
He sought refuge in Maryland, and his property including an island
in the Delaware River, was confiscated and given to Carr. He was
kindly received by Lord Baltimore who gave him a grant of the whole

540 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
or part of Foster's Island or Poplar Island, in Talbot County. No
doubt this was on account of the favor he had showed the English in
Maryland during the latter part of the time he was in authority in
Delaware. Poplar Island had doubtless been confiscated by Lord
Baltimore from the adherents of Claiborne when they were driven out
of Kent and Poplar Island. Just how long D'Hyniossa continued to
live on this island is not known. An interesting memoh of this Dutch
Governor of Delaware may be found among the "Worthies of Talbot"
volume 1 of this work.
George Lynn-Lachlan Davis in his Day Star of American Freedom,
published in 1855, says of Poplar Island.
The number of the Dutch refugees was larger than that of the Swedish;
including the Governor Alexander Diniossa, and his chUdren, origi
naUy from GUderland; He Uved some time upon an Island of the Chesa
peake then caUed "Fosters:" but subsequently, it seems, upon the
Western Shore, and the last glimpse I obtain is in Prince George's
where his family dwindled down into a state either of extreme mis
fortune or of great obscurity.
In common with nearly all of the many islands in the Chesapeake
Bay, Poplar Island is fast washing away. It has been cut into three
separate islands by the lashing of the waves of the Chesapeake Bay
and constant erosions have decreased the acreage of this tract from
1000 acres in 1640 to less than 500 acres in 1912.
Royston's Island, formerly caUed Aldern's Island, at the mouth of
Irish Creek, assessed in 1755 for 41 acres to Richard Aldern's widow,
EUzabeth, and Willey's Island, on Broad Creek at the lower end of
Church Neck, about two mUes south of St. Michaels, formerly caUed
Hambleton's Island, and in 1755 about double the size of Royston's
Island are both fast washing away. While Powell's Island at the end
of HoweU's Point on the Choptank River, assessed to Judge Samuel
Dickinson in 1755 for 55 acres has long ago entirely disappeared, as
have also other smaUer islands in Talbot waters, among which may be
named Sherwood's Island, on MUes River, assessed in 1755, for 20
acres to Philemon Hambleton.
• BRUFF'S ISLAND OR CROUCH'S ISLAND
This island takes its names from Thomas Bruff, sUversmith, who
emigrated from London, England, to Maryland, about 1665. He
was constable of Chester Hundred in 1690; married, 1668, Rhoda,
daughter of Charles Walker and died March 1702. He devised to

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT

541

son Richard, dwelling plantation at Doncaster (pronounced Donkster)
and one-half of Crouch's Island, and to son Thomas, residue of island!
This island was originaUy called Crouch's Island from WiUiam Crouch
of Ann Arundel County, who, by wUl probated May 25, 1676, devises
"Crouch's Choyce," at mouth of Wye to son Josias. The town of
Doneaster was located on this tract caUed Crouch's Choyce. Thomas
Bruff, Jr., and Katherine, his wife, conveyed to Edward Lloyd, Crouch's
Island, by deed dated April 11, 1707, and from that date it has been
known as Bruff's Island. It was originaUy laid out for Henry Mor
gan who assigned it to WUliam Crouch. Josias Crouch, Jr., sold it
to Edmond O'Dwyer, who, in November, 1678, conveys to Peter Sayer
Crouch's Island, containing 50 acres, Sayer reconveys it to O'Dwyer,
who, in turn, conveyed it to Thomas Hinds in 1687, and in the same
year the said Hinds conveys this island to Thomas Bruff. Richard
Bruff, son of Thomas, bom 1670, was an Inn-Keeper at the town of
Doncaster, and owned a large tobacco warehouse, fronting on a narrow
strait of water which then separated Bruff's Island from the main
land on which the town of Doncaster stood. The foundations of this
old warehouse which had been buried under the sand for over a cen
tury were unearthed, hi 1912, by Mr. Sidney S. Schuyler, the present
owner of Bruff's Island, when digging sand with which to buUd a con
crete sea-waU to protect the banks of his island. Bruff's Island is
now (1914), connected with the mainland by a soUd roadway of sand
which has gradually fiUed up the deep stream or strait through which
schooners formerly navigated. This island now containing about
thirty acres is completely covered with handsome forest trees of great
variety and is a park of rare beauty.
There were six tobacco warehouses in Talbot County during the
Revolutionary War. The foUowing communication from the commis
sioners of tax for Talbot to "His ExceUency, the Governor, and Council
of the State of Maryland" shows the locations of these several
warehouses. Talbot County, Aug. 7th, 1780.
Agreeable to Act for the regulation of the staple of tobacco, we the
undersigned cornmissioners of the tax for Talbot County do certtfy
that we have nominated and do hereby recommend the foUowing*
persons to be Inspectors at the several warehouses therein to wit:
At Broad Creek Warehouse on Choptank River, John Caulk and
James Wrightson, Jr.
At Bruff's Warehouse on St. Michaels River, Thomas Ray and Wm.
Sherwood.

542 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
At Oxford Warehouse on Choptank River, John Markland and
James Colston.
At Parson's Landing Warehouse on Choptank River, Tristram
Bowdle and Philip Horney.
At Kingstown Warehouse on Choptank River, James Barnwell,
Jr., and Samuel Register.
At Emerson's Warehouse on Wye River, Robert Hall and John
Clayland.
Tho. Sherwood,
Jere Banning,
Howes Goldsborough,
Sam Chamberlaine.
The town of Doncaster, adjoining Bruff's Island, at the mouth of
Wye River, like the town of York, the ancient county seat, on the
eastern branch of Wye River, probably never contained more than a
dozen houses. They both doubtless went out of existence about 1707,
when Queen Anne's County was organized and took away from Talbot
the northern hah of her territory, and when Queenstown, between
Chester River, and the head of Back Wye River, became the county-
seat of this new county, and the court house at York was removed
to what was later Easton, but then called Talbot Court House.
WYE ISLAND
Among the many beautiful little rivers which lend a peculiar charm
to the quiet scenery of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, there is none so
lovely as the Wye, nor is there any which is more intimately connected
with the great men and stirring events of the youthful days of the
republic. Originating in a smaU creek in the lower portion of Queen
Anne's County, near the Talbot line, it forms the boundary between the
two, widening rapidly untU it mingles with Skipton Creek. Just at
this point its stream divides into two branches, the Back and the
Front Wye, these curving arms holding in loving embrace the fertile
and historic island which is the scene of the following reminiscences,
untU, clasping hands again round Bruff's Island, which stands like a
sentinel at the outer gate, they flow together into the broad mouth
of the St. Michaels and make their way with it toward the Eastern
Bay. The stranger is told by those who ought to know better that the
river thus forms a double Y, from which its name is derived. A glance
at the county map, however, shows all along its banks the ancestral
seats of the Lloyds and Tilghmans — names suggestive of the Welsh origin
of the old families which bear them — and tells us more correctly that

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT 543
the early settlers brought with them loving memories of the bright little
river which rises in the ancient Cambrian hills, and, mingling its waters
with those of the Severn, flows out through Bristol Channel to the
Atlantic. It was thus, undoubtedly, that Wye River obtained its
name. Its banks are almost entirely free from the dreary border of
marsh which fringes most of the peninsula streams. The channel
deepening rapidly from the shore, sweeps between bold bluffs of fine
woodland and smiling fields of grain or clover, dotted by the handsome
residences of many whose ancestors dispensed stately hospitalities in
these same homes more than a century ago.
Wye Island, the subject of this paper, is known by several other
names, being called indiscriminately Chew's, Bordley's and Paca's
Island2 from the distinguished families which at different times have
occupied it, and in connection with which it became a prominent fea
ture in the early history, not of Maryland only, but of the United States.
In shape it is exceedingly irregular, being about five and three-quarter
miles in length by one and a hah in breadth at its widest part, curving
round with the river and broken in its outline into numerous fantastic
peninsulas, indented by a multitude of miniature bays and gulfs. The
land, as with aU other islands in the Chesapeake rivers, is exceedingly
fertile — a fact which is accounted for by their formation, the aUuvial
matter washed down by the stream having been gradually deposited
on the sandbars which form their foundations, this accumulation giving
a depth and richness to the soU unknown on the adjoining 'main.'
Its natural strength is manifested in the dense thickets of young tim
ber1 — oak, chestnut, walnut, hickory and other woods of similar robust
growth — which spring up wherever cultivation has been intermitted
for a few years. There is no gradual sloping of shore: no 'flats' stretch
out in wide, shaUow margin toward the channel. The quiet river opens
against a firm, high bank which might almost be caUed a bluff and
flows calm and deep on either side of the island. These features give
us the key to the home Ufe of its distinguished occupants a century
and more ago. The stately mansion, now scarred by time and feeble
with the infirmities of age, would never have risen on such a site had
not the broad fields and teeming pastures been capable of sustaining^
its manorial elegance, nor would an island home less accessible by easy
water-transit for coach-and-four have suited the men who took so
active a part in the great events of their day. The river murmurs its
'This island was also called "Lloyd's Insula." It was conveyed by Stephen
Whetstone to Philemon Lloyd in 1668.

544 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
inarticulate story of the historic past, and the wind, as it sighs among
the broad leaves of the old catalpa groves, whispers its memories of
silken coats and jeweled buckles; of stately minuets and courtly din
ners; of brains unclouded by the crusty port of other days retiring
from the festive board to discuss the problems of statecraft and the
issues of unequal wars, of baying hounds and scarlet-coated riders;
of wealth and intellect and culture which have faded with the peace
ful golden sunset which closed a century of strife and storm. For here
was the model plantation of John Beale Bordley, where that distin
guished patriot defighted to expend his great wealth in giving a practi
cal impetus to the agricultural interests of his State; and here was the
home of WUUam Paca, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, and the governor who represented Maryland in that august
assembly which received the commission laid down by the Father of
his Country, the rich harvest of seed sown by theh hands with many
misgivings and cultivated through eight long, weary years with blood
and tears and treasure.
In the will of Mrs. Henrietta Maria Dulany, the mother of both
Mrs. Judge Bordley and Mrs. Judge Paca, the first item is the bequest
to her son, Philemon Lloyd Chew, of
aU that tract or parcel of land lying in Queen Anne's county caUed
Lloyd's Insula, containing seventeen hundred and ninety-five acres
and also aU that other tract or parcel of land caUed the Purchase, ad
joining to the former tract, and containing one thousand acres; both
which tracts together are commonly called or known by the name
of The Island, or Lloyd's Island in Wye River.
This magnificent estate of nearly twenty-eight hundred acres of the
richest land in Maryland was but a portion of the immense fortune
of this wealthy lady. Mrs. Dulany's maiden name was Lloyd, and her
paternal grandmother had been goddaughter, namesake and maid-
of-honor to the queen of Charles I. Her first husband, from whom
a large part of her wealth seems to have been derived, was Samuel
Chew, a descendant of John Chew, who built the first stone house at
Jamestown. Their daughter Margaret married John Beale Bordley,
tand their daughter Mary became the wife of WiUiam Paca. This wUl
bears date this fourth day of November in the year of our Lord Christ
seventeen hundred and sixty-five. Among other matters of interest
it shows us the animus of Southern slavery in those days — a spirit
which wiU be recognized by many as marking the 'institution' to its
close. Bequeathing to her grandchild 'the old negro woman Jenny,'
Mrs. Dulany adds,

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT 545
I desire a tender care may be taken of the said old Jenny by those
to whom she shall go as aforesaid, and I particularly hope my said
granddaughter wUl be careful of her.
Further on we read,
It is my order and request that when my things in general shall be
divided, the old ones may go with theh famUies, and that they be well
treated and taken care of for theh past labor, the benefit whereof
my chUdren have received.
John Beale Bordley was one of the executors of the wUl. This dis
tinguished patriot was born at AnnapoUs, February 11, 1727. His
father was Thomas Bordley, of Bordley HaU, Yorkshire, England,
attorney-general of the province of Maryland. This gentleman was
the fhst husband of Ariana van der Hayden, the granddaughter of
Augustin Hermann, the famous Bohemian exile who took so promi
nent a part in the affairs of New Amsterdam in the days of his friend
and connection by marriage, Peter Stuyvesant. This Hermann after
ward received from Lord Baltimore a grant of the tract of CecU county,
Md., stiU known as 'Bohemia Manor.' By his wife, Miss Shippen,
of Boston, he became the ancestor of the Bordleys and Frisbies of Mary
land, with aU theh numerous and widespread descendants, and of the
Jennings and Randolph families of Vhginia.
John Beale Bordley was the last of the admiralty judges of Mary
land under the provincial government. Margaret Chew was his first
wife, and on her death he married Mrs. Mifflin — whose maiden name
was Fishboume — of PhUadelphia. He thus became stepfather to
General Thomas Mifflin, governor of Pennsylvania, and president of
Congress when Washington resigned his commission. Judge Bordley's
name appears as an 'Esquhe Justice' in a 'copy common recovery,
WiUiam Paca vs. James PhiUps,' in 1770, the paper being stiU pre
served at the Wye HaU mansion.
¦., The special interest attaching to Judge Bordley, however, does not
centre in the historic events of his times, but in his passion for agricul
ture and the object toward which its practical aim was directed. It
was his 'hobby' to prove how easily the colonies could be made inde
pendent of the mother country, and Wye Island independent of the
rest of the world. Accordingly, he devoted his large fortune to the
culture not only of grain and fruits, but of dye-plants, herbs and do
mestic condiments — to the rearing of cattle and sheep and the man
ufacture of theh various products into food and textile fabrics. His
farm became a manufacturing viUage, supplying its own raw ma-

546 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
terial, and the result was that common to 'model farms' the world
over — everybody admired, but nobody imitated it. A very prac
tically useful fancy of his, however, was the sending of boat loads of
beef and flour, fruits and vegetables, as presents to the nearest mUi-
tary posts, and many a hungry 'Continental' was made fuU and happy
by these substantial tokens of the judge's success in farming. On one
occasion he stripped his estate on Pool's Island, opposite the mouth
of Worton Creek, of aU its valuable stock for the use of the army.
While others were devoting their hours of study to the political
problems of the young republic, Bordley gave up his literary leisure
to the production of a work on husbandry, which makes curious read
ing at the present day. The book is written in the first person, giving
the results of his own careful experiments, as well as his extensive
studies, and covers the entire ground, from the buUding of farm-man
sion and offices to the preservation of shoe leather and the preparation
of cheap food. From this work we learn with some surprise that
in Maryland most of the wheat sown is amongst maize, whUe it is ripen
ing, in September.
The old methods of culture are condemned, and new ones suggested
which would ensure the ruin of a modern farmer in the course of two
or three crops. From patriotic motives the cultivation of tobacco
has been discarded for that of hemp, to which many pages are de
voted, with fuU instructions to housewives to make fine linen out of
hemp. The foUowing description of an improved plan for threshing wheat
reads strangely enough after one has watched the throbbing steam-
power as it whirls the straw clouds with a living energy from the throat
or the huge threshing machine:
In my treading, twenty-four horses are formed into four ranks at
some distance from the floor, and when the floor is ready laid one of the
ranks has the word given to advance. For the sake of order and reg
ular work the boy who is mounted on one of the horses advances in
a walk with the whole rank haltered or tied together, and enters on
the bed of wheat, walking the horses upon the track laid with wheat:
another rank is ordered to foUow as soon as the first is supposed to have
obtained a distance equal to a fourth part of the chcumference of the
bed; and so for the other ranks. They are forbid to go out of a walk
till, having walked upon the bed five or six rounds, word is given to
move on in a sober, slow trot, and to keep the ranks at theh fuU dis
tance from each other, as the four cardinal points of the compass.

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT 547
The first journey is eight or nine miles; then the horses are fed,
Watered and rested until the straw is moved, and the process repeated
until twenty-five mUes have been traveled which completes the opera
tion for the day. Think of twenty-four horses trotting twenty-five
miles: to do in one day what a modem field-engine accomplishes hi
two or three hours!
In describing the proper methods of buUding country habitations
Judge Bordley makes original suggestions about supplying the upper
stories with water. He says:
Water might be raised to a head at the top of Mr. Morris' quarry-
hUl on the SchuyUdU for supplying reservohs on the tops of the houses
in Philadelphia. Consult ingenious men. The tide falling eight feet,
and running two and five-tenths mUes in an hour, at least equal to
the walking of horses in mUl-work, could not works be so constructed
that the impetus of the water of that river should move a wheel (I think
a horizontal one) which would force the water wanted up to a reser
voir on the top of that hUl? A horizontal wheel under water would
_ for ever turn one and the same way, whether the water runs ebbing
or flowing; as near thirty years ago I experienced in a model.
Perhaps the commissioners of the SchuyUdU waterworks might
take a valuable hint from the above.
One of the judge's pet schemes was the introduction of the hop to
encourage 'home-brew' as a substitute for the execrable rum of those
days, but in the course of his experiments he nearly overshot his mark.
Describing how a certain Mr. Anderson obtained 'an English gaUon
of pure spirit' from a bushel of Irish potatoes, he gives the foUowing
account of the Uquor:
It was in every respect the finest vinous sphit I ever saw. It was
somewhat Uke very fine brandy, but was milder, and had a kind of
coolness on the palate pecuUar, to itseh. Its flavor was stiU more
pecuUar, and resembled brandy impregnated with the odor of violets
and raspberries. A single glass of it put into a bowl of rum-punch
gave it a flavor of half rum, hah brandy, impregnated with raspberries.
There was no difference in the taste of the very weakest of its spirit
near the end of the distilling and that of the first; which is a peculiarity.
Fortunately for the cause of temperance, so near his heart, aU the
judge's efforts failed to reproduce this nectar. Otherwise, one-hatf
the fanners of Pennsylvania and the Eastern Shore would probably
have gone to making potato-brandy for the other half to put into theh
nun-punch.

548 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Perhaps one more extract may be of interest to Centennial house
keepers, as describing how their great-grandmothers used to make ice
cream :
Two pewter basins, one large, the other smaU, the smaU one to have
a close cover : in this basin the cream is put and mixt with strawberries,
etc., to give flavor and color: sweeten it. Cover it close, and set the
small basin in the large one. Fill this with ice and a handful of salt,
to stand three-quarters of an hour: then uncover and sth the cream
weU together; cover it close again, to stand half an hour longer; and
then it may be turned into a plate. Tin or copper vessels may do.
In 1785, Judge Bordley removed to Philadelphia, where with Judge
Peters and others he founded the first agricultural society in Pennsyl
vania. He died in 1804. The antique residence3 which he occupied
at the lower end of Wye Island is no more. It was built by Samuel
Chew of materials brought from England, and was one story high and
one hundred and three feet front. The splendid granite wharves built
by Judge Bordley are shapeless stone-heaps, and the salt-houses, loom
houses, shops and cottages have disappeared.
Passing now to the upper portion of the island, we reach the grand
old mansion which was the home of WiUiam Paca. UnUke the Bordley
estate, this has never been ahenated from the famUy, and dilapidation
are everywhere prominent, it is stiU the property and the home of the
lineal descendants of the Signer.
The dwelling stands upon a commanding eminence, whence it looks
down upon the 'Narrows' and controls a view of thousands of fertile
acres, once the inheritance of the Lloyds and Chews, and stiU owned,
to a great extent, by theh descendants. The land naturaUy slopes
downward from the river bluff, but has been terraced up until it forms
a broad plateau, sufficient to accommodate not only the house, but the
extensive gardens and pleasure-grounds which surround it. This
herculean work was done, according to a famUy tradition, by the
negroes of the estate, the earth being trundled up in wheelbarrow. The
same tradition teUs how Governor Paca, in order to overcome the
determination of his son John to go to sea, gave him carte blanche to
build a house after his own ideas and without regard to expense; and
John took him at his word. The original plans and elevation show a
3 This magnificent mansion was destroyed by fire in the month of  , 1879.
The tinners were at work repairing the roof, and in their absence the fire from
their hand furnace communicated with the wood work, and before it was dis
covered, the conflagation had obtained such headway as to render it unman
ageable.

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT

549

palatial mansion, with arcades and porticoes, niches and pedestals
for statuary, battlements and pinnacles for roof and tower, the details
of which were probably never completely carried out. Much of the
elaborate ornamentation was of lead, and was taken down in the course
of the Revolutionary struggle to be run into buUets for the Continental
muskets. Ruinous as its present condition is, there is ample evidence
of its primal grandeur. The buUding is in the Doric style, the plans
having been drawn by the same hand which originaUy designed the
Capitol at Washington. The central portion is square, with two spa
cious porticoes, the lofty columns of which present an imposing appear
ance. Stretching away on either side are the arcades, or more properly
covered passages, terminating, the one in the kitchen and offices, the
other hi the grand parlor or 'ball room.' Entering the house is Uke
stepping back into the past century. A single glance at the antique
tete-a-tete sofa explains to us at once why the gentlemen of that day
wrote to their wives as 'Dear Madam,' and subscribed themselves 'Your
devoted companion, lover and friend.' No man who did his courting
on that stiff-backed seat, unable to face the lady of his choice without
sitting three feet away from her or breaking his spine, could ever after
have come to terms of undue famUiarity.. Looking around the square
hall which served as dining-room, we see La-Fayette's side-board,
with its spindle legs, its wine-cupboards and ancient knife-cases of
inlaid mahogany, and its feet elaborately carved into griffon's claws.
There is nothing of elegance about this ancient furniture — nothing,
indeed, except the fact of its whUom ownership, to distinguish it from
similar old-time reUcs which may be seen in a hundred lumber closets
throughout the country. But we moraUze on, the degeneracy of the
times as we think, ¦ !/,-..
How solid and substantial were the men and the ways of those days !
None of your flimsy modern shams for Monsieur le Marquis and the
brave old Signers, but hard, hand-carved mahogany, worth its weight
in gold, if not hi blood, having run the gauntlet of the Gulf voyage
through waters swarming with the phates of the Costa Rica!
Alas! a nearer inspection dissolves the speU! An irregular patch
of white attracts our attention, and we turn away disgusted as we reaUze
that at last the old fraud is only veneered! Aud perhaps the gaUant
Frenchman himself was, after all, but a fine specimen of veneering.
A current anecdote among Eastern Shore gentlemen whose fathers or
grandfathers' hospitaUty he enjoyed tells how his first question to a
stranger after introduction would be, 'Married or single?'— 'Married,

550 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
sir.' — 'Happy man!' would be the rejoinder. In the next case, prob
ably, the reply would be 'Single.' — 'Lucky dog!' with a wink and a
shrug and a familiar slap on the shoulder.
Opening on this square hall are several bed rooms, remarkable only
for their smaU size. The long corridors, however, are noble apartments,
and fuU of corner cupboards and simUar housekeeping arrangements
and conveniences. Here, too, one wanders in the past. The Signer's
handsome bookcase, on the shelves of which stand the volumes of his
law library, and the tables where he played short whist with his Revolu
tionary confreres, are stUl used by his descendants. Here, too, are the
antique chairs which graced the gubernatorial mansion at Annapolis,
and were loaned for Congressional use when Washington resigned his
commission. Of course, among them is the inevitable chah in which
Washington sat, but fortunately its identity has been lost among its
half dozen fellows, as Uke as so many peas, and the visitor may take
his choice. The grand parlor is a beautiful and stately room, the
lofty ceiling ornamented with handsome structure work and the walls
hung with famUy portraits of very great artistic men. Among them
is a fuU length picture of Governor Paca by Peale, and in his best style.
It shows us a taU, portly man, of commanding presence and strikingly
handsome features. The rich dress and easy carriage betoken a gen
tleman of wealth and breeding, while the dark eye and weU-chiseled
mouth evidence character and firmness rather than great inteUectual
force. William Paca was born in Harford county, Maryland, October 31,
1740. His father, John Paca, Esq., was a gentleman of large wealth,
a stout, handsome and refined man, as evidenced by his portrait at
Wye Hall, his features giving confirmation to the idea of Italian origin
suggested by the famUy name. His mother was Elizabeth Smith,
whose grandmother had married a brother of the duke of Marlborough,
and whose mother, Elizabeth Martin, was one of the most celebrated
beauties of her day. This lady, according to a family tradition, excited
much comment by her flirtations with Richard CasweU, afterward
governor of North Carohna, and Richard DaUam (whom she married).
Some of the wits of her coterie immortaUzed her coquetries in the dog
gerel verses, still extant, beginning —
Pretty Betty Martin,
Tiptoe! Tiptoe!
Pretty Betty Martin,
Tiptoe fine!

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT 551
The writer of this paper weU remembers a large parrot, a favorite
of his boyish days in South CaroUna, one of whose accomplishments
was the repetition of these Unes.
WUliam Paca was educated at PhUadelphia under the tuition of
Rev. WiUiam Smith, D.D. He studied law in the office of Stephen
Bordley, Esq., at AnnapoUs, was Ucensed to practice in 1761, and ad
mitted to the provincial bar in 1764. He married first Mary Chew,
the sister-in-law of Judge Bordley, by whom he had one son, John P.
Paca, the buUder of Wye HaU. He afterward married Miss Ann
Harrison of PhUadelphia, a niece of the Reverend Bishop White. This
lady died chUdless. This statement is at variance with that made by
Goodrich in the brief sketch of Governor Paca among the Lives of the
Signers, but the facts are from a genealogical paper preserved by the
family at Wye HaU.4 Many of these papers, seemingly of no impor
tance or interest whatever, give us a far better insight into the Ufe and
manners of those olden times and the characters of those who Uved in
them than the pretentious state documents which teU of pubbc events.
Thus, we find a dupficate Ust, dated November 9, 1766, of articles re
ceived by WUUam Paca from the personal estate of Mrs. Dulany, his
wife's mother, which not only enumerates many curious household
utensils the use of which has been long since forgotten, but evinces a
particular attention to detail which few modern hehs or executors would
care to imitate. The Ust embraces about four hundred items, varying
in character from negro slaves to '§ lb. sugar candy,' 'one old copper
cullender,' and '1 sconce glass, broke to pieces,' and ranging in value
¦ from eighty pounds to threepence. From this we learn that a negro
woman with bedding was worth thirty-five pounds whUe bacon and
beef on the hoof were appraised at two shillings and three shillings per
pound respectively. Hyson tea was valued at one pound two shiUings
per pound, and that ten years before the burning of the Peggy Stewart,
and the Boston Tea Party! Coffee, on the other hand, was only nine-
pence. Those were halycon days for the wealthy fanners of the East-
em Shore, when only the exceeding stillness of the calm forboded the
coming storm. Here is a httle scrap of paper which, Uke the burin of
some skiUful master, presents to us a spirited picture by the suggestions
of a few weU drawn Unes:

'Another paper, however, supports Goodrich.

552 history of talbot county
Dr Sir:
"We send you some Fish caught last evening in our Seine & 3 Crabs.
If not engaged out nor inconvenient to the ladies we wiU dine with
you today. Yrs. affly
Sunday. Wm. Paca.
The calm reaches of the Wye were teeming with fish with choicest
flavor, then as now, but the inquisitive crustacean had not yet discovered
the comfortable grass-beds of its bottom, or perhaps was out of season.
The perch and taUors are occupying the attention of the dusky scuUery-
maids, while the clumsy old family-coach with its four sleek bays lum
bers down into the huge scow, and is ferried across the river with its
powdered and farthingaled occupants on their way to service at old
Wye Church. Within the sacred buUding the parson and clerk are
rendering the service in a responsive duet, whUe the stiff brocades and
wide hoops of the lady worshippers render kneeling in the quaint, nar
row pews a simple impossibiUty. Without, the gentlemen, in scarlet
coats, green silk waistcoats, buckskin breeches and heavy topboots,
are discussing the price of tobacco, the fresh news — only six weeks old —
which the Ariel has just brought from England, the growing burdens
of taxation and the acts of the provincial council, entering the church
with an air of stately courtesy to the minister, rather than of reverence
for the place, in time to hear the "fifth head" of his formal and some
what dry discourse, as was the general fashion of the day. And then
the old coach lumbers back to the Island; the gentlemen ride along
side in a courtly converse with the fair inmates; the fish splutter in the
pan and the crabs are daintUy served on a "wUlow pattern" India-
china hot plate as a Benjamin's mess for some favorite lady-guest,
and the old catalpa trees cast long and dubious shadows ere the gen
tlemen leave theh curious port to join the ladies, who are taking a dish
of tea in the great parlor and discussing the latest phase of court fashions
— whether rouge and patches should be worn together, and whether
the new coiffure should be twenty inches or two feet in height. These
same ladies, however, were very practical housewives, and knew how
to look after their interests, for here is a copy of the lease and indenture
between one of them and Nathan Ireland of Cecil county:
The said Nathan to have the use for three years of her farm known
as Turkey Point (familiar to all canal travelers between Baltimore
and Philadelphia), the annual rent to be "four hundred pounds in cur
rent money, four hundredweight of good salted butter, well put up in
firkins, twenty-four turkeys, seven dozen dunghill fowls, ten barrels
of good, well made herrings and one barrel of nice shad" (sic).

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT

553

It is perfectly safe to assert that could tenants be found now to
make the same terms, every farm on the Eastern Shore would be rented
out before the close of the year.
The practice of the law and the exciting events in which he early
began to take an active part left Mr. Paca but Utile time to enjoy the
rural pleasures of his island home. His residence was usuaUy at Annap
oUs — no doubt known then as now as Annop'-lis — and in 1771 we find
him a member of the House of Burgesses, the people's branch of the
provincial legislature. Daniel Dulany, his friend and connection by
marriage, had yielded to the temptation held out by a lucrative public
office and espoused the government side, but Paca's independent and
fearless spirit was not to be swayed by wealth or official influence. A
curious instance of the spirit of the times is found in the formal hang
ing on a gibbet and burying in a coffin of Governor Eden's obnoxious
proclamation enforcing the onerous fee laws. This piece of mummery,
which would now be regarded as worthy only of a rabble, was headed
by Paca and Hammond in person, minute guns being fired from a schoon
er owned by the former. For the remainder of the day the queerly-
planned streets of the "Ancient City" — laid out, it is said by the pat
tern of a cart-wheel, the State House being the hub — were thronged
by a festive and excited but not disorderly crowd of citizens. In 1774
Paca was sent to Congress, where he continuaUy advocated, against
the sense of his constituents and the instructions of the council, the
adoption of the Declaration of Independence. In June, 1776, these
instructions were withdrawn, and Paca and his coUeagues left free to
append theh signatures to the world-famed document which was
adopted on the Fourth of July and signed on the second of August,
1776. From this time untU his death he was occupied almost without
cessation in the performance of the most important public duties. In
1778 he was appointed chief-justice of the Supreme Court of Mary
land, hi 1780 chief-judge of the United States Court of Appeals: in
1782 he was elected governor, and again in 1786. In 1789 he was ap
pointed by President Washington judge of the United States District
Court for Maryland.
The inauguration of SmaUwood reUeved Governor Paca for a brief
season from the cares of public office, and it was probably at this
time that the princely mansion at Wye Island was in its greatest glory.
The spacious and convenient stables, now ruinous, show that the Signer
had a truly Maryland love for fine horses, and with Judge Bordley's
model farm at one end and Judge Paca's manorial home at the other,

554 HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Wye Island presented a magnificent specimen of American life in the
times of the Repubfican Court. There can scarcely be imagined a
more charming retreat for a man of wealth and Uterary culture wearied
with the burdens of pubUc life in such trying times. Its insular posi
tion ensured just enough of seclusion to secure rest and quietude, whUe
the lovely river, navigable almost to its sources, afforded a short and pleas
ant water route to AnnapoUs or a narrow and safe ferriage to the prin
cipal lines of land-travel. The kindly soil yielded in richest abundance
every necessary or luxury of rural Ufe; the fields and thickets abounded
then, as now, with game-bhds in variety to satisfy the sportsman or
the epicure; while the fox gave ample opportunity for the gentleman-
farmer's favorite recreation. "The Narrows" afforded as fine duck-
shooting as could be found anywhere on "the Shore," and the nets,
set over-night a short distance from the land, were sure to supply the
breakfast table with the choicest of fresh fish. The closets and cup
boards of the long corridor are stiU full of the quaint old china services,
which give evidence how all these "creature comforts" were enjoyed
and with Uberal hospitaUty. But the stern caU of duty had twice
called upon WiUiam Paca to leave all this pleasantness for the services
of his country, and now a stiU more inexorable voice, which had also
twice bidden him relinquish the dearest ties of domestic happiness,
brought the summons which no man may dispute. On the 23d of
October, 1799, he died at Wye Hall, having nearly completed his fifty-
ninth year. It is pleasant to find a man of his position and celebrity
crowning an active and useful pubhc life with a peaceful and happy
death. During his illness he conversed with perfect resignation on
his approaching dissolution, and cheerfully submitted to sickness and
death under a deep conviction of the unerring wisdom and goodness
of his heavenly Father and of the redemption of the world by our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. To the faith and charity of a Christian he
added the civil virtues of a gentleman.
Fond as a husband, indulgent as a father, constant as a friend and
kind as a master.
Such is the testimony of some well-informed and appreciative friend,
whose manuscript, without date or name to lead to the identification
of its author, is preserved among the family archives. His burial
took place, not upon the island, but at Old Wye, just across the
Narrows, where the old famUy burying-ground was situated. There,
beneath a simple mound fast sinking to the level of the surrounding

THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT

555

earth without a stone or stake to mark the spot, rests all that was mortal
of WUUam Paca, thrice member of Congress, twice governor of Mary
land, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and holder successively
of three of the highest judicial offices in the country.
In 1911, the Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolu
tion erected a handsome monument over the grave of Governor WUUam
Paca, at Old Wye, in Queen Anne's County. Upon the occasion of
the unveUing of this monument, on May 13th, 1911, which attracted
hundreds of spectators both from Baltimore City and from the Eastern
Shore, Colonel Oswald TUghman made the address of acceptance, in
which he said, "Ceremonies, such as are being enacted here today, are
beautifuUy in accord with the eternal fitness of things — they do more
than honor the dead — they serve to elevate and purify the living and
raise them to a higher citizenship. They are potent inspirations to
patriotism, and deserve to be encouraged by aU good citizens who love
theh homes and theh dear old State, and piously cherish her best
traditions. And now, Mr. President, I accept, with the heartfelt thanks
of a grateful people, not only of the Eastern Shore, but of the whole
state of Maryland, and in theh behalf, this monument, erected by the
Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution to the
memory of one of Maryland's wisest statesmen and ablest jurists,
who played such an active part in the founding of this great nation,
and in planting the seeds of Liberty in the hearts of a Uberty-loving
people — Governor WUliam Paca."

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

Ababco, King, 36, 37, 38.
Abbott, Samuel, 24, 79, 272.
Acton, Richard, 336.
Adams, Jasper, 12.
John. 88.
Rt. Rev. William Forbes, 290.
Adcock, Henry, 446.
Ahatsawap, Chief, 36, 38.
Aisquith, Rev. Grandison, 281.
Aldern, Elizabeth, 540.
Rebecca, 133.
Richard, 540.
Alexander, Henry, 340.
Robert, 73.
Allen, Rev. Dr. Ethan, 483, 492.
John, H., 365.
Dr. Moses, 65, 66, 138, 308, 504.
William, 483.
Anderson,. Archibald, 77, 105, 115, 116,
121. James, 260.
John, 12.
Peter, 358.
William, 235, 325, 347.
Andre, Major, 117.
Applegarth, Thomas, 126.
Arickfill, William, 347.
Armstrong, Francis, 288, 325.
Hon. John, 151.
Philemon, 221, 225.
Ashbury, Bishop, 304.
Ashcraft, Mrs., 515, 520.
Ashton, Thomas, 499.
Atkins, Joshua, 347.
Atkinson, Isaac, 81, 82, 83.

Bacon, Anthony, 268, 352, 354, 357,
358, 359.
Rev. Thomas, 288, 359, 440, 477,
.481, 482, 492, 504.
Baggs, John, 21.
Bailey, Rachell, 340.
Baker, Francis, 46, 65, 66, 72, 75.
James, 126.
Thomas, 289.
Baldwin, Samuel, 297.
Ball, Thomas, 345, 388.
Baltimore, Lord, 539.
Lord and Lady, 529.
Banks, General, 434.
Banning, Benoni, 319.
Edward, 347.
Henry, 79, 94, 103, 115, 116, 308.
Jeremiah, 51, 74, 78, 124, 131, 231,
354, 357, 358, 362, 372, 374, 542.
Mary E., 357.
Robert, 144, 145, 157, 189, 368, 372,
374, 430, 431, 432, 507.
Samuel, 289.
Barclay, Rev. Francis, 296, 416.
Barker, William, 288.
Barnes, Christoper, 212, 353.
Capt. Edward, 483.
Elizabeth, 212.
Barney, Commodore, 183, 184.
Barnwell, James, 542.
Barrett, Dr. John, 397.
Barrie, Commodore, 183, 184.
Barrott, John H., 188.
Solomon, 188.
Barrow, David D., 239, 320.
Thomas, 126.

Auld, Colonel, 154,. 159, 162, 163, 173,
176, 179, 182, 184, 188, 189, 190, 395, Bartlett, John C, 456.
406. Richard, 452, 453, 454.
Thomas, 188, 395. Sarah, 341.
Auroughtaregh, Chief, 36. Thomas, 524.
Austin, Richard, 194. Barwick, William, 138, 293
William, 189. Bash, WUliam, 222.
Ayres, William, 287. Bateman, Wilfred, 21.
557

558

INDEX

Battie, John W., 310.
Bayley, Henry, 222, 287.
Bayne, Rev. Thomas, 289, 296.
Bealey, William, 32.
Beckwith, Gen. Sidney, 161, 174, 175.
Belford, William, 341.
Bellows, Francis, 324.
Bennett, Henrietta Maria, 313.
John, 144.
Richard, 31.
Benson, Edward B., 367.
Gustavus A., 396.
James, 72, 79, 103, 109, 125, 308,397,
502, 503.
James H., 369.
Gen. Perry, 18, 28, 29, 79, 95, 105,
116, 121, 122, 123, 131,146, 151,
J54, 159, 162, 168, 169, 174, 176,
179, 180, 182, 183, 186, 190, 194,
195, 196, 198, 199.
Samuel, 125.
William P., 169.
Berry, Benjamin, 528.
James, 528.
Sarah, 529.
William, 524, 528, 451.
Beswick, Will, 46.
Beverly, William, 341.
Bewley, Anne, 138.
Bibby, Capt. John, 498.
Binion, Prof. S. A., 334.
Birkhead, Christopher, 46, 78, 110, 115,
116, 524.
Henrietta, 134.
Bishop, Abraham, 499.
Bladen, William, 347.
Blades, Thomas W., 396.
Blake, Charles, 313, 314.
Henrietta, 281.
John, 308.
Bodfield, Meshack, 288.
Shadrach, 288.
Zadoch, 493.
Boid, James, 382.
Bond, William Stoddert, 21, 239.
Booker, Lambert, 494.
Boon, John, 318.

Bordley, John Beale, 73, 544, 545, 547,
548. Mary, 138.
Thomas, 545.
William, 278.
Botfield, John, 222.
Bounton, Joseph, 222.
Bowdle, Isaac, 189.
Loftus, 223, 288.
Thomas, 272, 341.
Tristram, 245, 542.
Bowie, Rev. John, 113, 138, 473.
Bowles, John, 205.
Bowman, Samuel, 18, 482.
Boyer, Daniel, 288.
Bozman, John, 22, 43.
John Leeds, 165, 239, 327, 335.
Risdon, 1, 11, 16, 17, 43, 52, 59, 469.
Thomas, 14, 18, 21, 287, 334,465,
469.
Bracco, John, 22, 46, 65, 70,79, 103, 138,
239, 475.
Bradaway, Nicholas, 204, 205.
Braddock, James, 69, 133, 308, 381, 382,
383, 499.
Braithwayte, William, 31.
Brannock, John, 347.
Brent, Giles, 31, 538.
Brishope, James, 345.
Broaghton, Richard, 341.
Bromwell, Edward, Jr., 138, 364.
Jacob, 362, 482.
William, 184.
Brooks, Francis, 325.
Brown, Rev. Henry, 282.
William, 190.
Browne, Charles, 281.
Browning, Elizabeth, 138.
Bruff, John A., 396.
Joseph, 74, 79, 103.
Capt. Richard, 482, 541.
Thomas, 11, 215, 395, 482, 540, 541.
William H., 190.
Bryne, Henry F., 396.
Buchanan, Admiral Franklin, 510.
Gen. R. C, 510.
Bujiale, Joseph, 500.
Stephen, 500.

INDEX

559

Bulkey, William, Jr., 281.
Bullen, John, 219, 222, 223, 224, 227.
Thomas, 21, 22, 288, 289.
Bullitt, Thomas Jr., 138, 153, 195, 417,
420.
Bullock, Benjamin, 286.
Burges, Col. William, 35.
Burgoyne, General, 107.
Bush, John, 134.
William, 177, 325.
Bussey, Thomas, 36.
Button, John, 138.
Cain, Daniel, 138.
Caldwell, Jabez, 144, 189, 190.
Callendar, Andrew, 138.
CaUister, Henry, 352, 353, 359,482,489.
Calvert, Benedict Leonard, 487.
Caroline, 2.
Cecilius, 1, 15, 485, 487.
Charles, 316, 336, 582.
Frederick, 4, 48.
Philip, 12, 320. -
Campbell, Robert, 96.
Caquis, Poh Poh, 35, 36, 37.
Carew, Bampfyld Moore, 398, 470, 514-
520.
Carey, John, 46.
Carmichael, R. B. Jr., 273.
Richard B., 273, 279, 280.
William, 197.
Carr, Sir Robert, 539.
Carradine, Thomas, 279.
Carrill, George, 325.
Carroll, Charles (Barrister), 64, 87,
102, 103, 104, 126.
Charles, of Carrollton, 64, 73, 74,
101, 102.
Daniel, 120.
John, 158.
Casson, Henry, 482.
John, 493.
Caswell, Richard, 500.
Caulk, John, 138, 175.
William, 159.
Cavandish, Henry W., 532.
Chamberlain, Rev. Mr., 311.
James Lloyd, 18, 65, 69, 72, 76, 78,

Chamberlain. James Lloyd, 88, 89, 94
100, 101, 118, 133, 135, 136, 270,
282, 328, 339, 358, 368, 475.
John, 351.
Dr. Joseph E., 453.
Samuel, 7, 18, 46, 50, 56, 62, 134,
138, 220, 286, 287, 294, 318, 323,
326, 339, 352, 353, 366, 372, 482,
542.
Thomas, 319, 372.
Champ, William, 12.
Chance, Tilghman N., 22.
Chaplain, Mrs., 289.
Alexander, 404.
Charles I, King, 538.
Charles II, King, 539.
Chase, Samuel, 62, 64, 71, 73, 101, 104,
238." Jeremiah Townley, 238.
Cheatham, Dr. Edward, 275.
Cherbonnier, Dr., 523.
Chew, John, 544, 548.
Margaret, 544.
Mary, 544.
Philemon Lloyd, 544.
Samuel, 544, 548.
Christian, Daniel, 291.
Christison, Wenlock, 524.
Claggett, Rt. Rev. Dr., 295, 296.
Claiborne, Col. William, 535,537,538,
540.
Clark, Daniel, 117.
Hy. S., 184.
William, 138.
Clay, Henry, 206.
Clayland, Rev. James, 376.
John, 542. .
Thomas, 449.
William, 158, 227.
Clayton, WilUam, 14, 18, 224, 225, 227,
276, 465, 469.
Clift, John, 288.
Clinton, General, 97, 110.
Clows, Cheney, 107.
Cochran, John, 65, 66, 138.
Cockayne, James, 184.
Cockburn, Vice Admiral, 148, 153, 155,
171, 173, 407.

560

INDEX

Cole, William, 524.
Collinson, Peter, 377.
Collison, James, 388.
Collister, Harriett, 126.
Colston, Alice, 133.
Elizabeth, 133.
Henry, 133, 310.
James, 133, 190, 358, 388, 542.
Jeremiah, 133, 134, 136, 137.
Morris Orem, 360.
Combes, William, 213, 334, 340, 344.
Comerford, Peter, 482. #
Congdon, Henry M., 312.
Connell, John, 314.
Conner, Arthur, 288.
Contee, Rev. Mr., 296.
Cook, Miles, 13, 325.
Cooley, Capt. George, 213.
Cooper, Aaron, 134.
Nathaniel, 65, 66, 79.
Richard, 222.
Copley, Sir Lionel, 521.
Corner, Solomon, 234, 235.
Cornwallis, Lord, 123, 129.
Corwin, William, 13.
Coursey, Col. Henry, 17, 36, 203, 205,
458. William, 17, 203, 204, 205, 207, 213.
Court, Christopher & Co., 268,, 352.
Coward, Capt. John, 134, 266, 354, 483,
494. Richard, 101, 323.
Capt. Thomas, 134, 177, 189, 261,
289, 354, 364.
Cox, Daniel, 138.
Daniel Powell, 239.
Rev. James, 277, 278.
Coxen, Adam, 269.
Crookshanks, Charles, 66.
Crane, Rev. W. C, 285.
Creswell, John A. J., 371.
Cromwell, Joseph, 303, 399.
Cross, Thomas, 455.
Crouch, Josias, 541.
Josias, Jr., 541.
William, 541.
Cunliffe, Messrs., 356.
Curtis, Thomas, 134.

Dagworthy, Captain, 142.
Dallam, Richard, 500.
Darby, John, 203.
Darnell, John, 35.
Darrow, James, 126.
Dashiell, Rev. Erastus F., 273.
Davidson, Dr. James, 273.
Davis, George L. L., 202, 540.
Henry, 273.
Hopkins, 316.
John, 388.
Dawson, Edith, 184.
Elias O., 180.
Impey, 138, 388, 396.
Dr. James, 408.
Jasper, 35.
John, 46, 125, 159, 218, 219,350,
373, 388.
Ralph, 532.
Richard, 309.
Thomas, 103.
Thomas H., 180, 181, 182, 183, 188.
Thomas L., 390.
William, 125, 138, 239.
Day, Harriet W., 184.
Dean, John W., 395, 396.
De Bore, Colonel, 107.
De Courcy, Edward, 281.
De Grasse, Admiral, 128.
De Kalb, General, 116, 117.
Delahay, Richard A., 369.
Robert, 289.
Thomas, 46, 288, 340, 344.
Denny, James Earle, 126.
Joseph, 308.
Peter, 176, 482.
Stephen, 188.
Theodore, 163.
Denton, Henry, 347.
Dewaqua, Cannab Catani Pacanab,
36.
D'Hyniossa, Dutch Governor, 539, 540.
Dickinson, Charles, 341.
James, 18, 45, 52, 56, 59, 95, 358,
482, 484, 492.
John, 55, 71, 93, 110, 451, 453, 454,
524.
Gen. Philemon, 110.

INDEX

561

Dickinson, Samuel, 138, 192, 540.
Solomon, 173, 174.
WilUam, 13, 32, 157, 189, 341.
Dickinson and Court, 268.
Diggs, Admiral, 128.
Dixon, James, 456.
Major John, 494.
Robert B., 456, 523.
William, 524.
Dodson, Edward, 396.
H. Clay, 404.
James, 384, 395.
Leonidas, 395.
Robert, 382, 396.
Capt. William, 157, 160, 162, 163,
165, 166, 169, 177, 396, 433.
Donellan, James, 449.
Donovan, John, 22, 138, 369.
Dooris, James, 390, 406, 407.
Dorgan, John, 382, 388, 460.
Dougherty, John, 79.
Douglas, Frederick, 190, 206.
Dove, Richard, 288.
Dowries, James, 338.
Levin, 279.
Dudley, John, 190.
Dulany, Daniel, 499, 553.
Henrietta Maria, 544.
Duling, George, 291. ,
John, 138.
Dunmore, Lord, 81, 96.
Dunning, John, 408.
Dwiggons, James, 134.
Earle, Henrietta, 281.
James, 14, 126, 279.
John C, 273.
Joseph, 96.
Richard Tilghman, 278, 279, 282.
Eason, John, 535.
Easton, Richard, 310.
Eccleston, Charles, 184, 185.
Eden, Gov. Robert, 19, 58, 59. 94, 95,
653. Thomas & Co., 354.
Edge, James, 18, 317, 378, 483.
John, 494..

Edmondson, John, 17, 18, 287, 325, 341,
353, 451, 505, 521, 524, 525.
Mary, 455.
Pollard, 18, 46, 50, 65, 88, 89, 94,
138, 232, 500.
Samuel, 103.
Thomas, 18.
William, 449, 452.
Elbert, John, 138.
William, 385.
Elliott, EdwarU, 376.
William T7, 230, 369.
Ellis, Nan, 509.
Elston, Ralph, 494.
William, 116.
Emerson, Thomas, 12, 18, 171, 219, 222,
223, 224, 227, 350.
Thomas A., 282.
Emory, Arthur, 278.
Arthur, Jr., 279.
Frank, 169.
Thomas Lane, 278.
Engle, Solomon, 134.
Ennalls, Major Bartholomew, 494.
Henry, 483.
Dr. John, 493.
Esgate, Joseph, 309.
Evans, Griffith, 222.
Evardine, Thomas, 52.
Ewings, George, 470, 471.
Fairbank, Daniel, 308.
David, 340.
Farlow, William, 157.
Feddeman, Ann, 138.
Daniel, 158.
Philip, 21, 225, 227, 228.
Ffendall, Josias, 15.
Ferguson, James, 138.
William, 138.
Finley, Robert, 21, 219, 221, 223, 225,
227, 228.
Fish, Edmund, 222, 288.
Fishboume, Ralph, 451, 524.
Fisher, John, 281.
Thomas A., 190.
Fishwick, Mr., 483.
Fletcher, James, 445.

562

INDEX

Fookes, Capt. James, 397.
Ford, John T., 404.
Forman, William, 273.
Forrester, Mary, 508.
Foster, Rigby, 11.
Sarah, 12, 203, 207, 531, 537, 538.
Seth, 538.
Fox, George, 451, 521, 524, 525, 529.
Henry, 532.
Francis, Tench, 16, 18, 21.
Franklin, Gilbert, 358.
Frazier, Doctor, 184. *
Elizabeth, 184.
James, 184.
William, 77.
Frith, Henry, 288.
Fuller, Capt. William, 21.
Gaile, John, 483.
Gale, Harry, 126.
Levin, 483.
Mathias, 120, 352.
Galloway, Midshipman, 186.
Gallup, John O., 367, 369.
Gardiner, Charles, 138.
Capt. John, 354.
Garrettson, Rev. Freebom, 114, 303,
399. Richard, 307.
Gaskin, William, 325.
Gawith, & Co., John, 69, 70, 378.
George III, King, 53.
Gibson, Charles, 373.
Charles H., 510.
Elizabeth, 138.
Fayette, 404.
Jacob, 79, 138, 151, 163, 176, 223,
391, 415^34.
John, 22, 65, 66, 94, 103, 109, 115,
116, 125, 130, 138, 279.
Jonathan, 115, 116, 120.
Woolman, 18, 46, 50, 95, 125, 130,
138, 239.
Giddins, Marvin, 223.
Gildart, James, 68, 69, 70.
Robert, 351, 378.
Gildart and Gawith, 378, 381.
Giles, Richard, 287.

Gill, Henrietta M., 314.
Gist, Mordecai, 78, 100, 105, 106, 111,
116.
Glascow, Rev. Patrick, 483, 494.
Glendenning, William, 303.
Glenn, Nicholas, 494.
Glover, Rev. Bennett S., 281.
Daniel, 205.
Goddert, Dr. Thomas, 340, .341.
Goldsborough, Greenbury, 77, 79, 95,
96, 231.
Howes, 109, 126, 130, 138, 232, 491,
542.
James, 138.
John, 46, 50, 51, 52, 56, 59, 77, 94,
103, 289, 448, 482, 484, 500.
John, Jr., 294.
Maria, 289.
Martin, 289.
Mary Ann, 126, 138.
May Ann Turbutt, 125.
Matthew Tilghman, 29, 272.
Nicholas, 16, 17, 18, 29, 158,177,
 288, 289, 345.
Robert, 11, 14, 17, 21, 43, 51, 52, 56,
59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 73, 86, 102,
103, 126, 135, 138, 195, 218, 219,
225, 232, 448, 482, 484, 488, 500.
Robert, Henry, 24, 25, 27, 29, 142,
151, 189, 196, 198, 417,
Rev. Robert W., 281, 282.
Sarah, 138.
Thomas, 138, 473.
William, 77, 126, 138, 157, 471, 482,
484, 491, 503.
Gordon, Rev. John, 65, 113,472, 473,
475, 482, 484, 490, 491, 504, 515.
Mary, 138.
Thomas, 79, 113.
Gorsuch, Charles, 451, 524.
Richard, 209.
Gossage, Frank, 116.
Graham, Lieut. John, 157, 164, 167
Grahame, George, 104.
Grant, Thomas, 138.
Gray, Andrew, 32.
O. W., 328.

INDEX

563

Gream, Elizabeth, 498.
Peter, 498.
WilUam, 498.
Green, Henry, 325.
William, 500.
Greene, General, 121, 123, 130.
Greenwood, Elizabeth, 445.
Thomas, 445.
Gresham, Joshua, 288.
Griffins, Anthony, 205, 206, 325.
Griffith, Colonel, 99.
Groome, WilUam H., 189, 289.
Gurling, Richard, 341.
Hackett, Michael, 446.
Dr. Mitchell, 482.
Haddaway, George E., 404.
James, 180.
Oakley, 158, 189.
Thomas L., 382, 388, 407.
William Webb, 19, 101, 118.
Hahn, Miss, 403.
Hale, Amos, 158, 177, 189.
James, 524.
Jasper, 340.
John, 64, 104.
Thomas, 506.
Robert, 347.
Hambleton, Edward N., 144, 157, 189.
James, 157.
Mrs. James P., 10, 272.
Lydia, 410.
N., 385, 409.
Philemon, 540.
Samuel, 29, 177, 476.
Thomas, 388.
William, 10, 12, 13, 17, 63, 64, 79,
80, 138, 139, 239, 391, 520.
Hamilton, Dr. Alexander, 483.
Jameson, 171.
Rev. John, 494.
William, 17.
Hammond, John, 279.
Nicholas, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 195,
240, 241, 416, 420.
Hanbury, John, 268, 352.
Hands, Alexander, 145.
Hanna, John, 400.

Hanner, John, 482.
Hanson, John, 120.
Harding, Captain, 68, 76.
Hardiman, Major, 117.
Harrington, John, 408.
Nathan, 406.
Richard, 385, 395.
Harper, John C, 190.
Samuel Clayland, 438.
William, 438.
Harris, Beujajnin, 317.
John, 12, 22, 310.
Joseph, 138, 317.
Skinner, 388.
Thomas, 139.
WilUam, 317.
Harrison, General, 373, 408.
Alexander Bradford, 158, 406.
Edward S., 367.
Francis, 341, 345.
James, 401.
Jeremiah, 188, 388.
John W., 308.
Jonathan, 309.
Joseph, 308.
Oliver, 395.
Robert, 330.
Samuel, 379, 383, 389, 390, 397.
Stephen, 390.
Thomas, 65, 69, 288, 308, 378, 389,
447.
William, 157, 160, 176, 189, 288,
388, 389, 395, 510.
William, Jr., 189.
William Henry, 408.
Harwood, John, 24, 138.
Rachel, 490, 504.
Richard, 294.
Ridout Bozeman, 491, 504.
Hartley, Rev. Joseph, 114, 125, 305.
Hatton, John, 376.
William, 12.
Hawkins, EUzabeth, 531, 538.
Emault, 225.
John, 32, 218, 344, 350, 531, 538.
Thomas, 537, 538.
Rev. William G., 282.

564

INDEX

Hayward, George R., 24, 25, 294.
William, 24, 79, 80, 83, 92, 135, 136,
139, 159, 189, 232, 420, 469, 475,
503.
Hazelton, Richard, 314.
Thomas, 28, 289.
Hemsley, Alexander. 179.
Anne, 281.
Charles, 314.
Elizabeth, 281.
Philemon W., 157, 2J1, 223, 224,
225, 226, 227, 281, 344.
Vincent, 219.
William, 12, 13, 17, 21, 126, 209,
278, 279, 281, 326.
Hendrix, Edward, 138.
John, 223.
Thomas, 117, 158, 189.
Henry, John, 124, 130.
Herman, Augustus, 545
Hicks, James, 134.
Gov. Thomas H., 434.
Higgins, Matthew, 190.
Hindman, Edward, 77, 78, 105.
Eliza, 125.
Jacob, 43, 52, 65, 66, 95, 472, 483, 494.
Rev. Jacob Henderson, 113, 306.
Capt. James, 65, 66, 74, 95, 98, 105,
109, 116, 118, 121, 130, 362.
James, Jr., 130.
Rev. James, 276.
Dr. John, Jr., 95, 139.
William, 65, 66, 74, 77, 82, 103, 120,
130, 139, 475.
Hollyday, Ann, 138.
George T., 86.
Henry, 18, 22, 24, 25, 46, 50, 152,
451, 472.
James, 17, 18, 73, 82, 86, 372, 440,
469.
Holmes, Richard, 223.
Samuel, 184.
William, 222.
Hooe, Robert T., 102.
Hood, Zachary, 43, 51, 54.
Hooper, Henry, 73, 82.
Hope, John, 395.
Hopewell, William, 96.

Hopkins, Dennis, 340.
John, 271.
Joseph, 309.
Robert, 12.
Samuel T., 21.
Thomas, 454.
Hopkinson, Jonathan, 209, 210, 211.
Hopper, William, 278.
Homey, Phillip, 542.
Howard, John Eager, 121.
Michael William, 438, 469.
Richard, 325.
Sarah, 505.
Howe, General, '97, 107, 110.
Hughes, Capt. John, 117.
Huglett, Thomas, 21.
William R., 289.
Hughley, Woolman, 138.
Hutchinson, Thomas, 195, 240, 241, 341,
416, 420.
Hutton, Elizabeth, 453.
Samuel, 452, 454.
Huxter, Mrs., 515.
David, 519.
Hyde, Capt. John, 582.
Samuel, 352.
Hynson, John, 206.
Thomas, 203, 205.
Thomas, Jr., 205, 206.
Iddings, James, 455.
Impey, Thomas, 21, 341, 445.
Ireland, Nathan, 552.
Irvine, Alexander, 103.
Charles Edward, 103.
Jackson, John, 204, 296.
Saml. J., 505, 533.
Jadwin, John, 271, 451, 524.
James, Joseph, 341.
Rev. Richard, 274.
Jefferson, John, 395.
Jenifer, Daniel of St. Thomas, 74, 103,
104, 109.
Jenkins, Matthew, 288.
Thomas, 139.
Walter, 139.
William, 190.

INDEX

565

Jenkinson, John, 454.
Jennings, Richard, 12.
Johns, Richard, 115, 139, 239, 524, 528.
Johnson, Captain, 353, 355, 358.
Christopher, 364.
Henry, 139.
Randolph, 139.
Robert, 364.
Thomas, Jr., 62, 64, 102, 104, 109,
351.
Jones, James, 189, 309, 336.
John, 447, 448.
Morgan, 353.
Robert, 12, 139.
Thomas, 68, 69, 70, 139, 158, 159.
William, 345, 385.
Wrightson, 157, 164, 309, 434.
Jordan, William, 158, 162, 189.
Judkins, Obediah, 451, 524.
Jump, Alemby, 145.
Keene, Rev. Samuel, 278, 280, 294.
Keithly, James, 126.
Thomas, 402.
Kemp, Alice, 139.
Benjamin, 139.
John, 174, 524, 528.
John W., 173.
Joseph, 158, 164, 189, 388, 430, 431,
432, 506.
Magdalene K., 528.
Mat, 287.
Rev. Robert, 174, 188.
Kennard, Owen, 243, 245.
Samuel T., 28, 289.
Kerr, David, 139, 177, 232, 235, 243, 245,
294. David. Jr., 272.
John Bozman, 76, 125, 206, 328
339, 376, 397.
John Leeds, 153, 158, 159, 162, 164,
177, 195, 235, 335, 417.
Kersey, John, 308, 309.
Mary Lambdin, 309.
Philip, 288.
King, John, 223, 275.
Kingham, Capt. John, 358.

Kinnemont, Andrew, 223.
Richard, 166.
Kirby, Matthew, 286, 287.
Thomas H. & Co., 390.
Kirk, Martin, 12.
Kirkwood, Captain, 123.
Knapp, Robert, 204, 534.
Knowles, Lawrence, 216, 345.
Knowlton, Colonel, 99.
Knott, Dr. Edward, 482.
Ladmore, George, 345.
LaFayette, Marquis de, 29, 128, 191,
549.
Lake, Griffing & Stevenson, 328.
Lambdin, Daniel, 309.
George W. C, 395.
Robert, 139, 308, 309, 388, 389.
Thomas H. W., 395.
William, 139, 159.
Wrightson, 139.
Lambert, Jeremiah, 309.
Landree, Abraham, 500.
Charles, 500.
Farmee, 500.
Peter, 500.
Lane, Richard C, 395.
Langford, John, 1.
Lavelle, WUUam, 126, 139.
Law, Andrew, 449.
Lawrence, Thomas, 21.
Lee, Governor, 113, 129.
Leech, Rev. Joseph, 285.
Leeds, John, 21, 43, 318, 372.
Leitch, Major, 99.
Lendram, Rev. Andrew, 483.
Leonard, Nathaniel, 363, 369.
Leslie, General, 118, 119.
Lewellin, John, 21.
Lewis, Henry, 483.
Tubman, 483.
LifehoUy, Thomas, 313.
LiUingston, Rev. John, 274, 275, 276.
Lincoln, President, 373.
Liston, Mrs., 260, 295.
Livesley, Gilbert, 319, 351.
Lloyd, Ann, 533.
Charles Howard, 313.

566

INDEX

Lloyd, Edward, 9, 12, 17, 18, 19,28,29,46
50, 56, 61, 62, 65, 73, 74, 76, 80, 82
88, 89, 103, 109, 115, 118, 126, 130, 139
142, 145, 157, 189, 192, 195, 205, 266
313, 316, 319, 323, 334, 337, 420, 486
510. Edward, Jr., 510.
James, 18, 45, 52, 79, 139, 219, 221
222, 223, 224, 227.
Margaret, 532.
Mary E., 404.
Philemon, 14, 17, 36, 38, 207, 209
210, 213, 225, 313, 341, 358, 532
543.
Philemon, Jr., 17.
Richard, 73, 82.
Robert, 18, 482, 484.
William, 126.
Logan, Samuel, 241, 243.
Londey, John, 314.
Loockerman, Jacob, 21.
John, 314.
Theodore, 289.
Loud, Charles, 287.
Mary C, 404.
Loveday, Arthur S., 395.
William, 223.
Lowe, Ann, 532.
Mrs. Elizabeth, 344, 531, 532, 538.
Capt, Henry, 483.
James, 139.
Joseph, 341.
Mrs. Margaret, 362.
Nicholas, 13, 16, 21, 220, 286, 334
344, 349, 350, 361.
Vincent, 35, 340, 531, 532, 538.
Vincent, Jr., 532.
William, 10.
Lowery, Wm. O., 202.
Lowndes, Edward, 352.
Com. Charles, 510.
Lloyd, 510.
Luddington, William, 538.
Lurkey, Thomas, 341.
Lurty, Elizabeth, 139.
McConikin, John, 202.
McCubbin, Nicholas, 494.

McCuUum, Alexander, 231, 308.
McCuIly, Eugene, 364.
McDaniel, Alice, 404.
James, 309.
John, 309.
McDonals, John, 308.
McGinnis, Daniel, 189.
McGlaughlin, Susan, 184.
McKean, President, 129.
Mackey, Alexander H., 510.
Hazlett, 510.
McLane, Mr., 193.
McMullen, Captain, 126.
Madbury, John, 205.
Thomas, 205.
Man, John, 340.
Mann, Edward, 21, 213, 340,[344.
March, Thomas, 31.
Markland, Charles, 287.
Edward, 101.
John M., 542.
William, 364, 368.
Martenet, Simon, 328.
Martin, Gov. Daniel, 28, 144, 151,r159.
Elizabeth M., 163, 189, 195, 550.
Ennalls, 25, 163, 368, 417.
Henry, 505.
James Lloyd, 454, 510.
Joseph, 289, 505.
Mary Clare, 289.
Nicholas, 79, 95, 96, 201.
Philip, 287.
Robert, 139, 206.
Samuel, 325, 345.
Thomas, 227, 272.
Thomas, Jr., 65, 66.
Thomas Oldham, 369.
William, 59, 308, 482.
Martingale, Levin, 134.
Samuel, 134.
Mary, Queen, 458.
Marye, A. Stuart, 404.
Margt. Jane, 500.
Mason, Rev. Henry, 235.
John, 235.
Matcomb, Rev. Alexander, 278.
Matthews, Alexander, 272.
Maxwell, Ann, 125.

INDEX

567

Mayle, Anthony, 336.
Maynadier, Rev. Dr. Daniel, 22, 287
288, 291, 477, 482.
William, 130, 139.
Maynard, Lawrence, 446.
Merchant, William, 120, 158, 384, 388
390.
Meredith, Jno., 151, 159, 182, 183.
Merrick, John, 158, 177, 189.
Middleton, William, 494.
Miem, James, 483.
Mifflin, Gen. Thomas, 545.
Milburne, Mathew, 345.
Miles, John, 377.
Thomas, 12, 377.
Miller, George, 308.
Mills, David, 222.
Milward, Mr., 135.
Monroe, President, 192.
Hon. James, 427.
Montague, Captain, 94.
Henry P., 396.
Moffitt, George, 190.
Moore, Richard, 325, 347.
Robert, 24, 25, 28.
William, 341, 347.
Morgan, Abraham, 341.
David, 134.
Henry, 12, 323.
John, 21, 204.
Morris, John, 340.
Robert, 12, 93, 290, 353, 355, 357.
Morton, James, 46.
Mosley, Rev. Joseph, 314.
Moulton, Walter, 222.
Mullican, Patrick, 13.
Mullikin, Charles R., 22.
John, 46, 244, 245, 288.
Patrick, 13.
Will, 482.
Mulrain, Cornelius, 32.
Murdock, William, 46, 50.
Murphy, James, 213, 214, 340, 532.
Mable Dawson, 532.
Nabb, Charles, 139.
James, 245.
Nash, Alexander, 451.

Nathheldianch, Chief, 31.
Neal, Dr. Anselm W., 513.
Neale, Capt. James, 314.
Needles, Edward, 12, 453.
SheriftJohn, 132, 223, 344, 345,453.
Tristram, 452.
NeiU, Rev. Hugh, 278, 279, 280.
Nelson, Ensign, 121.
Nesmith, Mr., 166.
Newcomb, Robert, 126, 139, 307.
Newman, Henry, 340.
James, 158, 177, 190.
John, 340.
Joseph, 291.
Nichols, Rev. Henry, 14, 311, 465, 469
514, 516.
James, 369, 483.
Col. Richard, 539.
Nicholson, Francis, 20, 348.
Joseph, 103, 104.
Nicolls, Henry, 139.
Robert D., 139.
Deborah. 11.
Jeremiah, 22, 482.
Jonathan, 52, 59, 472.
Lloyd, 24.
Robert, Lloyd, 65, 66, 74, 78, 80.
Thomas C, 189, 244.
WiUiam, 472, 482.
Norris, James, 205.
Richard, 351.
Thomas, 205.
Nutt, Job, 12, 317.
O'Dwyer, Edmund, 313, 541.
Oldham, Ann, 139.
Capt. Edward, 11, 18, 39, 45, 52,59.
John, 14, 18, 288, 353, 358, 364,465
469.
Narcissa Julia, 39.
Oliver, E. H., 495, 510.
O'Mealy, Bryan, 340, 341, 451.
Orange, William of, 346.
Orem, Spedden, 310.
Orr, Miss, 404.
Owen, Rev. John, 282.
Kennedy R., 29, 510.
Oxenham, William, 493.

568

INDEX

Paca, Mrs. Judge, 544.
John, 548, 550.
William, 62, 64, 73, 102, 104, 126,
130, 131, 545, 548, 550, 552, 553,
555, 556.
Pamphilion, Thomas, 288.
Parker, Sir Peter, 178.
Samuel, 364.
Patrick, 449.
Parrott, George, 158, 177, 190.
Grundy, 46.
Henry, 451, 524.
James, 21.
Joseph, 287.
Perry, 139.
Richard, 125, 305, 307, 308.
Thomas, 190.
William, 336.
Parwin, Benjamin, 452, 528, 529.
Passapae, Mary, 490, 504.
Moses, 491, 504.
Pattison, John, 340.
Mrs. M. A., 403.
Pearson, Lieutenant, 182, 183.
Henry H., Jr., 3, 320, 532.
Thos., 455.
Peck, Rev. Thomas K., 281.
Pecke, Benjamin, 325.
Pemberton, Benjamin, 18, 288.
John, 451, 526.
Capt. Will, 359.
Penn, William, 7, 522, 529.
Perdita, Story of, 246, 270.
Perry, Tristram, 189.
William, 74, 94, 103, 139, 232, 475,
476.
Peter, Joseph, 31.
Peters, Father Albert, 315.
Phelps, Cuthbert, 12, 204.
James, 545.
Phillips, General, 119.
Thomas, 204.
Phipps, Lieutenant, 186.
Pickard, Nicholas, 12.
Pickering, Frances, 318.
Robert, 125, 139.
PindaU, Dr. Nicholas, 514.
Pitt, John, 336, 526.

Plater, George, 102, 104.
Polk, Josiah, 130.
Preston, 373.
Pond, Joseph, 445.
Pope, John, 341.
Potts, Mr., 483, 494.
Powell, Howell, 320, 341, 451, 501.
Pratt, John H., Jr., 291.
Preston, John, 341, 347.
Richard, 326.
Price, Rev. Mr., 296.
Charles, 278.
Edward, 190.
James, 22, 239, 247.
John, 341, 347, 373.
Joseph, 139, 448, 469, 478.
Thomas, 105.
William, 204.
Prince, Mrs. Isabella, 184.
Pritchard, Capt. Jno., 142, 355.
Purse, Anthony, 206.
Pursley, James, 395.
Queen, Capt. D., 131.
Quinton, Walter, 325, 341.
Rakes, William, 288.
Ramsey, Col., 364.
Ratchdale, Edward, 351.
Rawden, General, 123.
Rawlings, John, 21.
Ray, Thomas, 65, 66, 125, 541.
Read, Elizabeth, 527.
Reed, Thomas, 12.
Register, John, 528.
Samuel, 139, 542.
Sarah, 528.
Reisler, Edward, 404.
Reynolds, Rev. Mr., 281.
Rhodes, Josiah, 289.
Robert, Henry, 289.
Rice, Nicholas, 22.
Richardson, Anthony, 358.
Jesse, 234.
John, 320.
Robert, 383.
Thomas, 287.
Col. William, 95, 99, 105, 106.

INDEX

569

Richee, Hugh, 65, 69, 125.
WilUam, 341.
Ricketts, Caleb, 278.
Ridgaway, Socrates M., 386.
Rigby, Arthur, 307, 310.
Charles, 309.
Philip, 139.
Rigg, Rev. Elisha, 280, 294.
Ringold, James, 203, 205.
Thomas, 46, 50.
Roberts, Edward, 24.
John, 130, 239.
William, 189, 200, 395, 407, 434.
Robins, George, 16, 17, 18, 272, 288, 341,
469. Thomas, 18, 218, 219, 221, 222, 223,
224, 227, 272, 344. 349, 353, 358.
Thos., Jr., 344, 346.
WilUam, 288, 493.
Robinson, Capt., 126.
David, 286, 364, 487, 490, 491, 504.
Rev. John P., 282.
Solomon, 288.
Robertham, George, 17, 340, 344.
Rochambeau, General, 128, 130.
Rodda, Mr., 114.
Martin, 303.
Roe, Edward H., 22, 209, 334, 336. -
Rogers, Commodore, 406.
Edward, 205.
Rolle, Feddeman, 157, 189.
Dr. Frances, 397.
John, 139, 576.
Robert, 139.
Ross, General, 178.
John, 494.
Rousby, John, 17, 323, 340.
Royston, Richard, 340, 359.
Rule, George, 446, 470, 471.
Rumball, Anthony, 222, 347.
Rumsey, Benjamin, 104.
William, 104.
Russel, George W., 397.
Michael, 216.
Ruthehoagh, Chief, 31.
Sales, Clement, 32, 325, 344, 348.
Salter, John, 216.

Satterthwaite, Emma, 456.
Sawalegeh, Chief, 31.
Sayer, Frances, 313.
Col. Peter, 313, 341, 541.
Schuyler, Sidney S., 313, 541.
Scott, Captain, 99.
James, 12.
Joseph, 328.
Perry, 498.
Sears, William, 139, 176.
Sedgwick, Catherine, 246, 247.
James, 340, 341.
Theodore, 246.
Sengstack, Henry, 395.
Seth, Jacob, 276.
James, 308.
Gen. Joseph Bruff, 38.
Thomas M. 139.
Wm. E. 395.
William H., 369.
Sewell, Bazil, 139.
Henry, 532.
Seymour, Nicholas, 449.
Thomas, 12.
Shannahan, John, 139.
Wm. Elston. 318.
Sharp, Wm., 341.
Sharpe, Gov. Horatio, 43.
Margaret, 139.
Dr. Peter, 13, 534, 535.
Samuel, 65, 66, 74, 80, 83, 103, 241,
243.
WiU, 352, 353, 451, 521, 524.
Shepard, John, 36.
Sherwood, Daniel, 16, 17, 18, 46, 216,
217, 219, 220, 224, 231, 341, 345, 347,
350, 358, 361, 378, 502.
Edward Man, 288.
Elizabeth, 139.
Hugh, 130, 209, 231.
John, 287.
John, 3rd, 130, 219, 222.
Philemon, 139, 358.
Philip, 219.
Thomas, 139, 491, 503, 535, 542.
William, 541.
Shorte, John, 205, 206.
Singleton, John, 139.

570

INDEX

Skinner, Andrew, 139, 225.
Elisabeth, 11.
John, C, 395, 396.
Richard, 21, 46, 65, 69.
William, 223.
Slater, John, 275.
Smallwood, Colonel, Wm., 80, 96, 98
100, 105, 106, 107, 116, 120.
Smith, Col. Able, 434.
Elizabeth, 556.
Capt. George Wishart, 132, 158
162, 177.
Isaac, 444.
Capt. James, 134, 346.
Capt. John, 34, 531.
Robert, 458.
Rev. Robert, 344.
Thomas, 446.
William, 499, 501.
Rev. Dr. William, 475.
Wm. II., 512.
Smithson, Mary, 463.
Thomas, 21, 218, 225, 318, 344, 345
458, 463.
Smyth, Thomas, 73, 82.
William B., 24, 159, 189, 190.
Snow, Thomas, 204.
Sockwell, Thomas, 223.
South, Thomas, 203, 205, 206.
Southbee, William, 451, 524, 527.
Sowes, Henry, Jr., 494.
Tubman, 494.
Spedding, Levin, 29.
Sparks, Oliver, 390.
Spencer, Edward, 387.
Herbert, 496.
Jonathan, 144, 158, 162, 190, 364,396.
Rev. Joseph, 184, 395, 397, 403, 408.
Lawrence, 352.
Matthew, 403, 408.
Col. Perry, 153, 159, 388, 396.
Richard, 198, 388, 402.
Robert, 184.
Wm. A., 282.
Sprigall, Christopher, 445.
Stagwell, Moyses, 2.
Stanfield, Richard, 139.
Stanley, John, 32.

Stelley, John P., 314.
Stephens, Rev. Daniel, 287.
Steuart, Charles F. 369.
J. J., 336.
James, 364, 367, 369.
Mary, 367.
Stevens, Benjamin, 21, 239.
John, 65, 66, 95, 139, 166, 231, 238
443, 479, 503.
Samuel, 28, 29, 139, 146, 158, 177
190, 192, 197, 196, 289.
WUliam, 334, 335, 341, 344.
Stevenson, Mary, 224, 361.
Philip, 209.
Ralph, 217.
Stirling, General Lord, 96.
Stitchbury, Stephen, 446.
Stoakes, Capt. James, 152.
Stone, Thomas, 64, 73, 98, 104.
Rt. Rev. William M., 282.
Strangford, Lady, 259, 261, 263.
Strouse, George, 291.
Stuart, Frank, 250, 270.
Sullivan, General, 107.
Sutton, John, 469.
Sophia, 469.
Swan, Samuel, 244.
Swetnam, Richard, 207, 212, 213, 215
216.
Sybry, Jonathan, 209.
Tailler, Col. Thomas, 35.
Talbot, Rev. Mr., 275.
Grace, 1.
Robert, 1.
Taylor, President, 373.
Michael, 336.
Thomas, 326, 451, 524.
William, 12, 204, 500.
Tenant, Samuel, 384, 406, 407.
Tequassino, King, 36, 38.
Thorp, James M., 512.
Thomas, Henrietta, 281.
Henry, 177.
James, 109.
John, 139.
Nicholas, 18, 56, 61, 65, 72, 74; 78
88, 89, 104, 109, 151, 289.

INDEX

571

Thomas, Rachel, 139.
Capt. Samuel, 152, 157, 281, 363.
Tristram, 43, 52, 163, 227, 417, 482.
WUUam, 11, 18, 43, 52, 95, 139, 223
281, 286, 287, 358, 482, 488.
Thomson, Edward, 203.
Thompson, Anthony, 397.
Augustine, 14, 276.
John, 157, 382, 434.
Richard, 1, 537, 538.
Tibets, Henry, 126.
Thomas, 126.
Tilton, Dr. James, 163.
Tims, Thomas, 447.
Tilghman, Miss A. Margaretta, 404.
Anna Maris, 289.
C. C, 273.
Charles H., 273, 510.
Edward, 46, 50, 97, 98.
Henry Cooke, 510.
James, 18, 103, 104, 126.
Judge James, 238.
James, Jr., 232, 281.
Col. John, 282.
Lloyd, 491, 533.
Matthew, 18, 19, 41, 56, 61, 65, 71
75, 83, 88, 89, 92, 94, 99, 101, 104
109, 115, 116, 118, 120, 124, 126
130, 320, 362, 405, 472, 482, 484
490, 491, 500, 504, 531, 533.
Oswald, 41, 290, 362, 555.
Col. Peregrine, 72, 74, 84, 126, 139
503.
Richard, 12, 14, 16, 17, 103, 205,
207, 275, 278, 324.
Richard, Jr., 72, 74, 139.
Richard Lloyd, 510.
Capt. Samuel, 12, 15, 16, 353, 469
478.
Tench, 194, 196, 246, 290.
Col. Tench, 28, 97, 98, 99, 126, 129
197.
Gen. Tench, 365, 373, 533.
Tench F., 369.
William, 22, 125, 278.
Todd, Thomas, 12.
Toope, Joseph, 447.
Townsend, Thomas, 309.

Travers, Capt., 510.
Trippe, Capt. Edward, 193.
Capt. Henry, 34.
Richard, 140, 289.
William R., 289.
Troupe, Charles, 65, 66.
John, 65, 66.
Sarah, 281.
Troth, J. Eugene, 39.
Samuel, 455.
WilUam, 35, 37, 39, 325, 524.
Turbitt, Samuel, 225.
Sarah, 531, 532, 538.
WiUiam, 14, 223, 225, 326, 345, 350
531, 532.
Turbutt, Foster, 18, 27, 219, 225, 227
499, 532.
Mary, 582.
Rachel, 287.
Turloe, WilUam, 347, 348.
Turlow, Major, 276.
Turner, Edward, 139.
James, 528.
J. Frank, 21.
John, 139, 341.
Capt. John, 397.
Joseph, 139.
WUliam, 14.
Tyler, Wilson M. 456.
Ungle, Charles, 212.
Robert, 219, 224, 227, 325, 372, 465.
Valiant, John, 21, 358.
Rigby, 395.
William H., 367, 371, 373.
William W., 396.
Van Buren, Mrs. 373.
Van der Hayden, Ariana, 545.
Vansant, James, 308, 506.
Vaughan, Robert, 323.
Thomas, 21, 204, 323.
Vickers, Capt. Clement, 152, 157, 162
164, 167, 169, 170, 181, 182, 190, 199
364. Sarah, 140.
William, 46.

572

INDEX

Wade, Zachary, 12, 319.
Walker, Archibald, 416.
Daniel, 445, 446, 513.
Elizabeth, 445.
F. A., 497.
John, 445.
Phil, 494.
Rhoda, 540.
Wallis, Thomas, 444.
Warde, Mabel, 3.
Margaret, 532.
Matthew, 3.
Matthew Tilghman, 3, 14, 18, 219,
224, 227, 349, 465, 532.
Ward, 532.
Warren, Sir. John Borlase, 148, 151,
153, 426, 429.
Thomas, 404.
Wasattucham, Chief, 36.
Washington, General, 100, 129, 197, 372.
Waters, William, 307.
Watts, Thomas, 364, 367, 374.
William, 126.
Way, James B. 395, 411.
Wayman, Thomas, 15S, 190, 388.
Wayne, General, 111.
Webb, Peter, 140, 239, 524.
Weeden, William, 395.
Weeks, Joseph, 17.
Weenakaman, Chief, 36.
Wells, Zorbabell, 340, 341.
Welsh, Robert, 286.
Wesley, Mr., 114.
West, Cornelius, 235, 236.
Garrison, 400.
Wetherill, Col. Samuel, 370.
Weyman, Thomas, 140, 162, 163.
Whaland, Capt., 126, 128.
Wheatley, Nathan, 134.
Wheeler, Bennett, 24.
Whetstone, Stephen, 543.
White, James, 288.
William, 288.
Whitefield, Robert, 355.
Whitehouse, Bishop-, 366.
Whittingham, Bishop, 277, 278.
Whittman, Thomas, 288.

Wickersham, Thomas, 452, 454.
Wickham, Alexander, 80, 81.
Wiley, Rev. John, 296.
Wilhelm, Dr. Lewis W., 5.
Wilkinson, Rev. Christopher, 276.
Henry, 198.
Jane, 498.
Margaret, 498.
Willey, Edward, 389, 391, 395.
William, King, 459.
Williams, Denny, 390.
Capt. John, 483, 494.
Col. Otho Holland, 117.
Willis, Clayton, 510.
Henry, 309.
John, 364, 368, 372-374.
Nicholas, 373.
Philemon, 363, 364, 366.
Richard, B., 373.
William, 394.
Willson, Thomas, 325.
Wilmer, Pere, 282.
Wilson, Bishop, 484, 488.
Henry, 456.
James, 140.
Robert, 65, 68.
Samuel, 103.
Winckier, Elizabeth, 207, 208, 210, 215.
Winder, Gen. Charles S., 510.
Edw. Lloyd, 510.
Gov. Levin, 151, 427.
Winslow, Joseph, 317.
Winter, Sarah, 291.
Wintersell, William, 340.
Wise, Anthony, 224, 227.
Withers, Samuel, 21.
Woodward, John, 340, 341.
Woolchurch, Henry, 451, 526.
Woolcott, James, 493.
Woohnan, Col. Richard, 17, 203, 204,
206, 209, 212, 213.
Wooster, Robert, 303.
Wooters, Charles, R., 22.
Worge, Richard, 358.
Worrall, Thomas, 289.
Worrilowe, WiUiam, 445.

INDEX

573

Worthington, BriceBeal, 104, 107.
Wright, Charles, 275.
Edward, 14.
Solomon, 215, 295, 347.
Thomas, 103, 278.
Wrightson, Miss Emma, 404.

Wrightson, Francis G., 21.
John, 388.
Dr. Thomas, 541.
Yehoch, Che, Cha Pohosse, Chief, 36.
Yeo, Samuel, 456.

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