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THE HISTORY OF CAROLINE COUNTY
PRINTED BY THE J. W. STOWELL PRINTING CO. FEDERALSBURG. MD.
HISTORY
-OF-
CAROLINE COUNTY
MARYLAND
FROM ITS BEGINNING
Material Largely Contributed by the Teachers and Children of the County
Revised and Supplemented by
Laura C. Cochrane Lavinia R. Crouse Mrs. Wilsie S. Gibson A. May Thompson Edward M. Noble
Of the Caroline County Schools
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RECEIVED FEB 241921 DOCUMENTS DIVISION
To the Teachers and hundreds of Pupils in the schools of Caroline County who willingly secured data which is herein presented this volume is respectfully dedicated.
INTRODUCTION.
The continual need of the children, teachers, and officers of our public schools having some historical data concerning the home county of Caroline has led to the publishing of this book which is here presented to the public.
The constant neglect of a citizenship to compile facts concerning its growth and history must inevitably lead to an almost total ignorance of the same and subso- quently to a lack of appreciation of the local heroes.
Having read of the struggles of the colonial troops during the Revolutionary War, how many of us are con- scions of the fact that our county then only in its infancy furnished not only its quota of soldiers and supplies, but the leader of the troops of the Eastern Shore -Colonel William Richardson ?
Have we fully realized that the immortal Declara- tion of Independence was made possible by just such as- semblages of determined citizens as the one held in this county in June 1774?
Has it ever occurred to us that our county furnished one subject of the cause for the War of 1812-the im- pressment of American Seamen ?
Generally may it be said that Caroline's worthies of the past and present have held and still hold an hon- ored place among the leaders of the State. To give due credit to these is one valid reason for such a volume. Perhaps, a more important reason, however, for such an effort is the necessity of the pupils in our schools ac- quiring a fundamental knowledge of the organization and earlier history of our county (1) to teach an appre- ciation of home and local environments and (2) to fur- nish a proper basis for state and national history.
Assuredly, Caroline County has a rich background which adds dignity to the present, for ont of the early days step stately personages who add charm to every scene; stirring events that warm the blood; and spots hallowed by the acts of brave ones; yes, changing per- sons and events-moving pictures so to speak.
In the "History of Caroline County" an attempt has been made to record in simple form the substance of facts gleaned from reliable sources by the pupils, teach- ers, and officials of the public schools through talks with
the older residents, county officials, by means of old manuscripts, deeds, wills, newspapers, church and court records, and from the several volumes of history and novels pertaining to our county and state.
Our appreciation is here extended to those princi- pals, teachers, and children of our schools who have con- tributed material as well as to that large host of parents and friends who have answered the questions of children from day to day with such uniform courtesy and coop- eration. Especially are our thanks due to Capt. Chas. W. Wright, Edward T. Tubbs, Zebdial P. Steele, J. Kemp Stevens, James E. Hignutt, officials of the Clerk's office, and others who either through personal knowledge, memory, data or help of records aided ns greatly in this publication.
To the Editors of the County newspapers-Greens- boro Enterprise, Denton Journal, American Union, Federalsburg Courier and Caroline Sun. as well as to Swepson Earle, author of the Colonial Eastern Shore, we desire to acknowledge our gratitude for the use of valuable engravings and etching's loaned us.
While conscious of the laborious efforts and pains- taking care bestowed, we fully realize that a work, so largely one of original research, is inevitably not with- out imperfections and some errors. In submitting it, therefore, to the public. it is with the hope that generous readers will appreciate the difficulties attending the un- dertaking and will accord consideration and justice to the motive which has animated this humble tribute.
EDWARD M. NOBLE.
Denton, Maryland, October 10, 1920.
xii
SOURCES AND REFERENCES
CONSULTED IN THE PREPARATION OF THE HISTORY OF CAROLINE COUNTY.
PUBLIC RECORDS :
Congressional Library, Maryland State Library, Maryland Land Record Office, Maryland Historical So- ciety, Enoch Pratt Library, Peabody Library, Land and Will Records of Caroline County, Land and Will Rec- ords of Dorchester County, Land and Will Records of Talbot County, Records of Bethesda Church, Preston; Tennessee Historical Society, Third Haven Meeting, Easton.
NEWSPAPERS :
Maryland Gazette, Annapolis; Easton (Md.) Ga- zette; Denton Journal; American Union, Denton; The Pearl, Denton.
BOOKS AND PAMPIILETS :
American Archives, Washington; Maryland Ar- chives; History of Maryland Conventions 1774-1776; Senate and House Journals, Annapolis; Atlas Landhold- ers Assistant; McSherry's History of Maryland; Mak- ers of Methodism; Asbury's Journal; Hanson's History of Kent County; Tilghman's History of Talbot County; Earle's Colonial Eastern Shore; Wright's History of the Wright Family; Federal Census of 1790; The Tory Maid; Maryland Historical Magazine; Maryland in Prose and Poetry.
xiii
FIFTH AVE .. DENTON. SHOWING COUNTY ATHLETIC DAY PARADE.
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xiv
CONTENTS.
Page
1. Formation of Caroline County 1
2. Organization of the County 3
3. Caroline County Courts 7
4. The Hundred __ Election Districts 18
5. Land Grants 23
6. The Mason and Dixon Line 25
7. Roads, Ferries, Bridges, Fences and Gates 28
S. Indians of the Eastern Shore 35
9. When Indians Lived in Our Land 41
10. Foreword to the Trial of Poh Poh Caquis 45
11. Erection of the Court House and Jail 50
12. Revolutionary Period 54
13. Caroline's Military Activities 70
14. Colonel William Richardson 76
15. Colonel William Whiteley SO
16. Matthew Driver S2
17. The Potters of Potters Landing S5
18. Life in Caroline Following the Revolution SS
19. Early Brick Dwellings in Caroline 94
20. The Hughletts 100
21. William Frazier-Methodist Organizer 103
22. Early Churches and Societies 105
23. Caroline County Almshouses 120
24. When Tobacco was King 123
25. The Duel Between Dickinson and Jackson 126
26. War of 1812 129
27. Captain Joseph Richardson 133
28. Thomas Culbreth 134
29. Early Postal Service 137
30. The Plantation 139
31. Slavery 141
32. An Old Time Maryland School ( 1838) 152
33. The Public Schools 156
34. Early Factories 165
35. The Civil War 16S
36. Marydel Vicinity 175
The Marydel Duel, Edinburgh
37. Henderson Locality 181
38. Goldsboro ( Old Town) Bridgetown, Bee Tree, Barcus
187
39. Moore's 191
40. Greensboro (Choptank Bridge) 194
Whiteley's and Lowe's
41. Burrsville ( Punch Hall, Union Corner) 218
Central, Camp Grove
42. Denton (Pig Point, Edenton ) 224 Garey's, Oaks, Willoughby's. Andersontown, Liden's, Hickman, Williston, Williamson's, The Bureau
43. Harmony ( Fowling Creek ) 251
Grove, Laurel Grove, Friendship
44. Preston ( Suow Hill) 256
Linchester, Choptank
45. Bethlehem 263
Smithson, Hubbard's
46. Federalsburg ( North West Fork Bridge) 267
Hickory Hill, Nichols, Houston's Branch
47. Concord 281
Howard's, American Corners
48. Smithville and Community 284
Chestnut Grove, Nabb's
49. Hillsboro (Tuckahoe Bridge) 289
Thawley's, Tuckahoe Neck
50. Ridgely 289
Furman's Grove, The Plains
51. Spanish-American War 314
52. County Newspapers 316
53. The World War 320
54. The Floods of 1919 347
xvi
FORMATION OF CAROLINE COUNTY.
Up until 1774 there was no Caroline County. The land where we now live belonged to Dorchester and Queen Anne's counties. Large tracts were uncleared and roads poor. When people living here had business at court, they had to make a long, rough journey either to Cambridge or Queenstown. Far-seeing men decided to petition the General Assembly of the province to make a new county out of parts of Dorchester and Queen Anne's, which they felt would result in a more rapid development of this section as well as prove a great personal convenience.
The petition was granted (in 1774) creating the new county and giving to it the name of Caroline. This was in honor of Caroline Eden, a sister of Frederick Cal- vert, the last Lord Baltimore, and wife of Sir Robert Eden, then English governor of Maryland.
The same Assembly provided that the new county be divided into hundreds. This was an English term for what we would call districts. A map given else- where in this history shows these divisions and you can readily find in which of the original hundreds you live.
The Assembly also appointed seven commissioners for Caroline county, namely: Charles Dickinson, Ben- son Stainton, Thomas White, William Haskins, Richard Mason, Joshna Clark, and Nathaniel Potter. These men were to buy four acres of land at Pig Point (now Den- ton) have it surveyed and recorded in the county rec- ords. Upon this land the court house and jail were to be built.
In the meanwhile, court was to be held at Melvill's Warehouse. This was a small settlement about a mile and a half above Pig Point, consisting of a tobacco ware- house, wharf, store, and a few houses. Elections were to be held there as well as other business transactions. As a result Melvill's Landing, the temporary county- seat, became a place of considerable importance in the early history of Caroline. A prominent man at the Landing was James Barwiek, who kept the inn, was jailor, provided the necessary rooms for court nse, and kept the ferry which ran from Melvill's Warehouse to the causeway opposite. An old store house belonging to Edward Lloyd of Talbot was rented for a jail. It was
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evidently not in good condition, for the court ordered it put in better repair by placing logs under the sills and that these logs be sunk in the ground. The warehouse was a more substantial brick structure built previous to 1763 situated a little back from the river. Here the great hogsheads of tobacco were received from planters, weighed, stamped and stored for shipment.
The first session of court was held March 15, 1774 at Melvill's Warehouse. It continued being held there twice a year in March and October until 1777, when Bridgetown (now Greensboro) succeeded in having it moved there. Later, however, it was decided for the con- venience of public business, Melvill's Warehouse being most central, that court be held there as usual. Not- withstanding this fact, records prove that sessions were held at Bridgetown in August and November of '78 and June, October, and November of '79.
Feeling was strong concerning the permanent loca- tion of the county-seat. The people in the upper part of the county insisted upon Bridgetown, while those in the lower section were quite as insistent for Pig Point. In 1785 a compromise was effected by the General Assembly authorizing the purchase of two acres of land at Mel- vill's Landing. Matthew Driver, the owner of the Brick House Farm which extended nearly to the Landing, promptly deeded the required amount of land to the justices of the county to be used as a site for the court house and jail. All that happened within the next five years regarding this compromise we do not know, but in 1790, all the belongings of the county court were moved to Pig Point. A house was rented there, and used until the completion of the court house about 1797. for the court sessions.
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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
I. Introduction.
The early government of Maryland was modeled af- ter the Palatinate of Durham in England, with a few added "powers" which made the Governor scarcely less than a king.
Of all the Colonial organs of government-The Hun- dred, the Manor etc .- the County had more functions and more powers than any other, especially in the execu- tive and judicial lines.
II. Why Caroline?
What was the need that led to the organization of Caroline ? The inland sections of Dorchester and Queen Anne Counties had developed and were now rich and productive. Trade as well as population had increased and as a whole this section had become somewhat prom- inent in the respective counties much on account of the fertile soil in this inland section.
Crime too had increased, due in a great degree to the cosmopolitan nature of a new and rapidly growing population. The carrying of prisoners from this section to Queenstown in Queen Anne County or Cambridge in Dorchester County naturally became a problem. With these points in view .-
1. Needs of increased population,
2 Needs of increased trade,
3 Need for increased crime,
a more central government began to be discussed.
Then too because of distance and difficulties of trav- el in that day the right of suffrage was in a sense prac- tically denied many free-born citizens.
Having in mind these needs of the people the colo- nists in this section presented a petition to the General Assembly of Maryland, which met at Annapolis, Nov. 1773, praying that the right to organize a new County be granted them.
Below is given the Aet passed by this Assembly.
"WHEREAS, a considerable body of the inhabitants of Dor- chester and Queen Anne's Counties, by their petition of this General Assembly, have prayed that an Act may be passed for the division of the said counties, and for erecting a new one out of the parts
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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 honor- able, 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 aforesaid two counties, Dor- chester 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 Hunt- ing 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 Chapel Parish church to 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 Queen-Anne's County to intersect the main road that leads from Beaver-dam Causeway to Dovertown, in Kent Coun- ty upon Delaware, thence with the said road to Long Marsh, thence with said Marsh and stream of the branch of Tuckahoe Creek to Tuckahoe Bridge, thence with the said creek to Great Choptank River and with the said river to the first beginning at the month of Hunting Creek, shall be and is hereby erected in a new county by the name of Caroline County."
The land approximately was as follows: From Queen Anne County that part of Caroline lying west of the Choptank River. From Dorchester County that part of Caroline County lying east of the Choptank Riv- er with a somewhat indefinite boundary along what is now the Delaware line. Of this section there was vet some question as to Maryland's valid title and probably for this reason the land was largely uncleared.
In addition to the two parts above given Caroline has now a small portion of land-probably a few square rods-included within her boundaries that was in the early surveys a part of Talbot.
III. Naming the County.
The new county was named Caroline in honor of Caroline Calvert, sister of Frederick, last Lord Bal- timore, and wife of Robert Eden, last colonial governor of the Province of Maryland.
IV. Completion of Organization.
While these enactments were all in 1773, the actual organization of the county did not take place until 1774 at which time it was necessary to make some changes in the Eastern boundary line as laid out by Assembly in 1773, owing to the fact that although a map had been made and the "vistor" run by the surveyors completed
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vet the exact location of the "division" seemed indefi- nite in the minds of the legislators.
V. The Finances.
The Assembly, too, in the Acts at time of organiza- tion secured to the county the greater part of the monies for a Court House. Besides authorizing assessments the following was ordered by Assembly :
"Some time prior to the organization of Caroline County the taxpayers of Dorchester County were assessed for the purpose of constructing a Court House at Cambridge. The taxpayers residing in that portion of Dorchester County which subsequently became a part of Caroline County, had been assessed in a similar manner, and paid to the commissioners of Dorchester County, 70,000 pounds of tobacco.
When arrangements were made for organizing Caroline Coun- ty. the justices of Dorchester County were authorized to pay to the commissioners of Caroline County, 70.000 pounds of tobacco, this quantity to be credited to the taxpayers residing in that section of Caroline County which formerly was known as part of Dorchester County. The taxpayers of that section of Caroline County formerly a section of Queen-Anne's County, were assessed in proportion to the amount received from Dorchester County. This was to be placed to the credit of the previously mentioned former taxpayers of said section and to be used towards building the Court house and prison in Caroline."
TI. Final Sealing of Boundaries.
The first difficulty abont boundaries has been men- tioned before-namely the Maryland-Delaware line. Be- side this, other changes were made in the line which sep- arates Caroline from Dorchester. These changes were three in number and below we give them quoted from Wright.
1 Alteration of 1793.
"The first alteration took place in 1793, when John Smoot, Eccleston Brown, and Thomas Nichols of Dorchester County, with James Summers and Edward Wright Sr. of Caroline County were authorized to have a new bridge constructed to span the North- west Fork River, about 150 yards or 1916 perches below the site of the old bridge that had been washed away; they were also to have the road (that led from Hunting Creek Church to Cannon's Ferry ) altered, to traverse across the new bridge and thus annex to Caroline County a stretch of land formerly in Dorchester Coun- ty."
2 Alteration of 1878.
"The second and less important alteration was made during 1878, in the dividing line and road leading from Hynson to Feder- alsburg, and it was in reference to straightening the road for a short distance between the lands of William A. Noble and S. Frank Pool residing in the opposite adjoining counties. The expense in- curred in making this alteration was borne by these two enterpris- ing gentlemen."
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3 Alteration of 1880.
"The third and most important alteration of the boundary line occurred in 1880. Early in that year each of the seventy voters of the section that was proposed for alteration, petitioned the General Assembly of Maryland, that whereas Federalsburg standing upon the dividing line between Dorchester and Caroline County, hence causing divers difficulties; therefore the boundary line between these counties should be altered; beginning at a dividing line ap- proximately one and a half miles north-west of Federalsburg, be- tween the lands of Wm. H. Alburger and Mrs. Ann Noble; then with the same reversed through the lands of Robert McCrea, A. W. Flowers, and others, until the North-west fork of the Nanticoke River is reached then along the river to Miles' Run; along Miles' Run to the road leading from Johnson's Cross Roads to Federals- burg."
By this survey lands lying between the new and the old boundary became part of Caroline County. Then a census of all voters within this limit was taken. With one exception the voters were in favor of Alteration and as a final matter Caroline paid Dorchester $600 for the land.
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CAROLINE COUNTY COURTS.
I. Importance of Courts of that Day.
As has been mentioned the Palatinate of Durham was the model for Maryland government and according- ly much power was vested in the county unit-the court. The following list of court powers, of that day gives an idea of their jurisdiction.
Court powers:
1 To divide Counties into Hundreds.
2 To appoint a constable once a year for each Hundred.
3 To divide the county into highway precincts.
4 To appoint once a year an overseer for each highway pre- cinct.
5 To hear and consider petitions for new highways.
6 To let contracts for keeping ferries.
7 To let contracts for erection and repair of county build- ings.
S To appoint inspectors of weights and measures. (Later for tobacco.)
9 To provide county with standards of weights and measures.
10 To require tobacco inspectors to render them accounts.
11 To remove inspectors from office for misbehavior.
12 To (through Justices) levy taxes.
13 To exempt paupers from poll tax.
14 To exempt superannuated slaves from tax.
15 To (through sheriff ) collect taxes.
16. . To grant rights to keep ordinary.
17 To establish rates of ordinary as to eating, drinking, etc.
18 To advise sheriff as to day of election of "delegates." ( The justices sat with sheriff during election. )
19 To (in some cases) direct the sheriff to sell insolvent debt- ors into servitude.
20 To pay annual prizes amounting to several thousand pounds of tobacco for the best pieces of linen manufactured in the county.
21 To train and organize Militia.
22 To (in cases of poverty ) -
a Bind out orphan children as apprentices.
b Engage physicians for sick paupers.
c Levy tax for the support of the poor and needy.
II. Establishing the Courts.
The same assembly-1773-which gave us Caroline, enacted various laws relative to the new County Courts.
1 The Assembly appointed seven Commissioners.
2 These Commissioners were authorized to purchase "A quantity of land, not exceeding four acres of land, at or adjoining Pig Point on the east side of the Choptank Riv- er, below Melvill's Warehouse."
3 The Justices of Caroline County were authorized to secure a place for court and gaol.
4 Ordered court to be held at Melvill's warehouse until Court and gaol at Pig Point were complete.
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5 Authorized Justices to levy a tobacco assessment sufficient to pay for land on which to build court house and gaol- plus 5% sheriffs fees for collecting.
6 The commissioners were authorized to contract and agree for the building of the Court house and gaol.
III. Places of Holding Court.
1 Melvill's Warehouse. March 1774 to August 1778.
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