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B 846,887
HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY MARYLAND
ARTES
SCIENTIA
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
F MICHIGAN
SI QUAERISPENINSULAM AMOE NAN
1
-
1.×1 . Ir J77
.
.
HISTORY
OF
Dorchester County
MARYLAND
BY
ELIAS JONES
CASTLE HAVEN, ON CHOPTANK RUIVEIL
BALTIMORE WILLIAMS & WILKINS COMPANY PRESS
1902
1
COPYRIGHT, 1902 BY ELIAS JONES
CONTENTS.
DIVISION I.
INTRODUCTORY TO THE HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY.
Chapter
I
13
..
II
19
III
21
IV
26
DIVISION II.
EARLY HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY.
Chapter
I
31
II
37
III
39
IV
46
V
53
TOWNS AND THEIR DESCRIPTIONS.
Chapter VI .
59
VII 63
VIII . 71
IX 79
X
87
XI.
91
XII
IOI
CHURCH HISTORY.
Chapter XIII
107
XIV
I17
XV
13I
OLD BURYING GROUNDS. Chapter XVI 137
ELECTIONS AND POLITICAL HISTORY.
Chapter XVII
141
XVIII
157 .
MISCELLANEOUS HISTORY (Colonial).
Chapter XIX
159
172546
4
CONTENTS
INDIAN HISTORY. Chapter XX 170
COLORED RACE IN DORCHESTER COUNTY.
Chapter XXI
178
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE IN COLONIAL DAYS.
Chapter XXII
181
COUNTY FOLKLORE AND SUPERSTITIONS.
Chapter XXIII
189
REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. Chapter XXIV . 197
..
XXV .
206
XXVI .
221
XXVII .
231
COUNTY PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES. Chapter XXVIII 240
WAR OF 1812-15.
Chapter XXIX
247
EDUCATION-SCHOOLS.
Chapter XXX .
254
FEDERAL AND CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS FROM DORCHESTER COUNTY IN CIVIL WAR, 1861-65. Chapter XXXI
258
DORCHESTER COUNTY FROM ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW.
Chapter XXXII
264
HISTORICAL NOTES.
Chapter XXXIII
.
266
DIVISION III.
FAMILY HISTORY, GENEALOGY AND BIOGRAPHY.
Chapter I .
269
APPENDIX.
NUMEROUS CIVIL LISTS OF COUNTY, STATE AND NATIONAL OFFICIALS OF DORCHESTER COUNTY AND LIST OF FEDERAL SOLDIERS FROM THE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR OF 1861-65.
List of Illustrations.
CASTLE HAVEN-Frontispiece.
FACING
PAGE
BAPTIST MISSION CHURCH
76
BETHEL AFRICAN M. E. CHURCH
180
CAMBRIDGE HIGH SCHOOL
254
CARROLL TOMBS
280
CHRIST P. E. CHURCH
136
COATS-OF-ARMS:
CARROLL
275
GOLDSBOROUGH-HENRY
299
HOOPER
319
KEENE
335
LAKE
342
VANS MURRAY
394
COUNTY JAIL
58
COURT HOUSE
52
DORCHESTER HOUSE (Colonial)
68
DORSEY WYVILL HOUSE
284
EAST NEW MARKET HIGH SCHOOL
86
EDMONDSON HOUSE .
90
GRACE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH
78
HAMBROOK
304
HAMBROOK BAY
12
HICKS MONUMENT
318
HOOPER HOUSES
88
LEE MANSION (Colonial)
98
.
INTRODUCTORY TO THE HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY.
As history is but the record of past events, dependent on some primary cause, so we find the origin of Dorchester County and its early development to be what the founders and early settlers of Maryland made it. Therefore, to show the relation of the county to the province, under the influ- ence of its makers, and to invite a deeper interest in our ancestors of colonial times, a brief sketch is here first given of the Calvert family, the Lord Proprietaries of Maryland, the charter privileges granted Lord Baltimore by the King of England, the rules and laws from time to time proclaimed by the Proprietaries, Governors and Council, either with or without approval of the Assemblies, and other events that shaped the course and progress of the colony that led to the formation of Dorchester County. Readers familiar with Maryland history may omit this chapter.
.
PREFACE.
This fragmentary collection of local history and biography is only a glimpse at the interesting events occurring in Dorchester County from its origin, two hundred and thirty-three years ago, to the present day. In compiling this local record, references to State events and people have been frequently made in order to explain the cause and effect of local acts which have had their influences in county affairs. Especially has it been the purpose to note the names of the promoters of the county as well as to mention their deeds.
In this fast age of book and newspaper literature when every inmate of the American home must daily read the current his- tory of the world as it transpires, there is no reasonable excuse why a history of Dorchester County should not be published.
It has been the desire of the author to give a truthful narration of the events treated, and while the diction may not be all that could be desired, it is set forth as an earnest effort, to which the reader is asked to bestow that indulgence which the work merits. If due credit has not been given, either by reference or quotation, for any language used in this book, it is an act of unintentional omission.
It is a pleasure to insert a list of references and names of per- sons to whom the author is indebted for aid and information in
IO
PREFACE
compiling this work, and much gratitude is due to librarians and court officers for the liberty of access to the books and records in their keeping.
Owing to the loss or destruction of some of the provincial records of Maryland and the County Court records of Dorchester County, a complete list of the Council and Assembly Delegates, Court Justices and Sheriffs of that period could not be obtained for publication.
ELIAS JONES.
Baltimore, December, 1902.
SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM WHICH THE HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY HAS BEEN COMPILED.
CONTRIBUTORS.
Mrs. Hester Dorsey Richardson.
Miss Pink Jacobs.
Mrs. Dr. G. L. Hicks and family.
Levin Straughn.
Hon. Jas. S. Shepherd.
Mr. Richard P. Lake.
Mr. James Wallace.
Hon. Robert G. Henry, M. Worthington Goldsborough, Col. Wm. S. Muse, Charles Lake, Hon. W. F. Applegarth, Hon. Phil. L. Goldsborough, Wm. C. Anderson, John W. Fletcher, John G. Mills, Jas. H. C. Barrett, Alfred R. Steuart, Francis P. Corkran, Jasper Nicols, Enoch Lowe, Esq., Dr. H. F. Nicols, John E. Harrington, Jas. W. Craig, Dr. James L. Bryan, Dr. Thomas H. Williams, Dr. B. W. Golds- borough, Hon. Clement Sulivane, William F. Drain, Rev. Dr. W. L. McDowell, John T. Moore, Jeremiah P. Hooper, Charles M. Davis, Milton G. Harper, James Todd, Mrs. Fannie Mister, Miss May Stevens, Wm. M. Marine.
George W. McCreary, Librarian Maryland Historical Society.
FROM PUBLIC RECORDS .- Maryland Historical Society, Maryland State Library, Maryland Land Record Office, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore; Peabody Library,
12
SOURCES AND REFERENCES
Baltimore; Dorchester County Circuit Court Records, Dor- chester County Orphans' Court Records, Dorchester County Register of Wills' Records, Dorchester County Commission- ers' Records, United States Treasury Department.
NEWSPAPERS .- Maryland Gazette, Annapolis; Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser, Federal Republican, Bal- timore; Republican and Star, Easton; Democrat and News, Cambridge; Dorchester Era, Cambridge; Dorchester Standard, Cambridge; Cambridge Chronicle, Cambridge; The Daily Banner, Cambridge.
BOOKS CONSULTED FOR INFORMATION .- Bozman's His- tory of Maryland, Scharf's History of Maryland, Browne's History of Maryland, Hanson's History of Kent, Archives of Maryland, published and unpublished; Senate and House Journals of Maryland, Kilty's Landholders' Assistant, Makers of Methodism, Freeborn Garrettson's Journals, Francis As- bury's Journal, Boehm's Reminiscences, First Eastern Shore of Maryland Regiment History, by Wilmer; Indian Tribes of the United States, by Drake; Chronicles of Colonial Mary- land, by James W. Thomas.
....
HAMBROOK BAY. ON CHOPTANK RIVER.
,
MaOU
DIVISION I.
Introductory to the History of Dorchester County.
CHAPTER I.
THE CALVERT FAMILY-THE LORDS PROPRIETARIES-MOTIVES FOR FOUND- ING A COLONY BY GEORGE CALVERT, THE FIRST LORD BALTIMORE-HIS NEWFOUNDLAND COLONY A FAILURE-HIS EFFORTS IN AMERICA-THE LOSS OF HIS FAMILY AT SEA-THE PREPARATION OF THE MARYLAND CHARTER-CHARTER RIGHTS OF THE PROPRIETARY.
"George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, was the son of Leonard Calvert and his wife, Alice Croxall, a cultivated Flemish yeomanry people, and was born at Kipling, in Yorkshire, northern part of England. When only eleven years of age he entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1593, and in four years became Bachelor of Arts. Soon after leaving college he married Anne, daughter of George Mynne, and became the clerk of Sir Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury. While in that capacity he attracted the notice of King James, who visited the University of Oxford in 1605, when young Calvert was given the degree of Master of Arts." By royal influence he was made Clerk of the Privy Council in 1611, and in 1617 was sworn in as one of the Secretaries of State, and then knighted. For his valuable services to the govern- ment he was long a favorite of King James, though annoyed by the Duke of Buckingham and other jealous rivals at Court. In 1613 he was a member of Parliament from Corn- wall; in 1621 for York, and in 1624 for Oxford.
August 3, 1622, his wife died in childbirth. Ten children survived her. Their children were:
Cecilius, the eldest, successor to the title.
Leonard, Keeper of the Rolls of Connaught from 1621 to 1626; captain of a privateer off the coast of Newfoundland
14
INTRODUCTORY HISTORY
in 1629; Governor of Maryland from 1634 to the year of his death at St. Mary's, June 9, 1647; was never married.
George came to Maryland with Leonard; settled in Vir- ginia, and died in 1667.
Francis, died in youth.
Henry, there is no published record.
Anne, married William Peasley and lived in London.
Dorothy, no record.
Elizabeth, no record.
Grace, married Sir Robert Talbott, Kildare, Ireland.
Helen, no record.
John, died in youth.
Philip Calvert, by his second wife (?), was Governor of Maryland.
About this time Lord Baltimore became interested in col- onization, and was made a member of the Virginia Company and the New England Company, and was granted the terri- try of Newfoundland on March 30, 1623, which was incor- porated into a province called Avalon. Before the patent was granted he had organized a little colony there in 1620. In 1624 he was made Baron of Baltimore by King James, and granted in fee 2034 acres of arable land and 1605 acres of bog and woodland in Longford County, Ireland. Very soon after the receipt of these great honors, Lord Baltimore failed in health and lost favor with the King, who was also very ill at that time. He proposed to resign, and, in six weeks before King James died, sold the Secretaryship to Sir Albert Morton for six thousand pounds sterling. After the death of King James, Lord Baltimore was received with favor by the new King Charles I., who assisted him with govern- ment vessels to take a colony to Newfoundland. One of the vessels was the "Ark of Avalon," which later, with the "Dove," brought the first colonists to Maryland.
The earliest accounts of man's origin and his habits of abode on the earth show him to have been then, as now, a creature naturally inclined to extend his jurisdiction over wide domains of land. Hence, Lord Baltimore's ambition
.
15
THE CALVERT FAMILY
was to rule over a kingdom, be it Newfoundland or Mary- land. Others say the primary purpose of Lord Baltimore was to found a colony in America within a province which had been promised to him by Charles I. under special char- tered rights, that he might offer his "Catholic friends a home where they could enjoy the privileges of religious liberty of conscience free and undisturbed from royal decrees and per- secuting laws."
"Though Lord Baltimore was a highly honored man by the King of England, and an influential leader in public affairs and among men, yet he was the victim of serious mis- fortunes. First, was his costly effort in planting a colony in Newfoundland." This colony was abandoned by Lord Bal- timore because of the severity of the climate. It had cost him thirty thousand pounds. In 1629, after having lived one winter in Newfoundland, where he and his family were much of the time sick, he abandoned his home to fishermen, sent a part of his family to England, and sailed with his wife, some children and servants to the colony of Virginia, to look in that part of America for a better place to locate a new colony.
While in Virginia he was unkindly treated and urged to take the oaths of "allegiance and supremacy," which he re- fused, and was obliged to leave the colony. For some un- known cause he left his family and personal property there. After his arrival in England, he petitioned the King to have his family brought home, which was first refused, but in 1631 his wife, several children and servants, with much valuable personal property, were permitted to embark on a vessel, the "St. Cloude," for England. This vessel and all on board were lost at sea on the homeward voyage. After the loss of his second wife and children by this disaster, in a letter of con- dolence written to the Earl of Stafford, he refers to his own misfortunes thus: "There are few, perhaps, can judge of it better than I, who have been a long time myself a man of sorrows. But all things, my Lord, in this world pass away; statum est, wife, children, honor, wealth, friends, and what else is dear to flesh and blood. They are but lent to us till
16
INTRODUCTORY HISTORY
God pleases to call for them back again, that we may not esteem anything our own, or set our hearts upon anything but Him alone, who only remains forever."
After Lord Baltimore had obtained consent from King Charles I. to settle a colony in America, adjacent to Virginia, he prepared the patent with his own hands in the Latin lan- guage; but before it received the royal signature he died- April 15, 1632, in the fifty-third year of his age, at Lincoln's Inn Fields, in London, and was buried in Saint Dunstan's Church, Fleet Street, London.
In the charter Lord Baltimore had named the territory to be granted "Crescentia," but when it was passed to his son, Cecilius Calvert, the title name of the province was changed, by order of King Charles, to "Maryland." in honor of his wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, daughter of King Henry IV. of France.
The plans laid out by Lord Baltimore for planting a colony at his expense, where he expected to supremely govern, and where his friends and others hoped to enjoy civil and religious liberty, were successfully started in operation by his eldest son, Cecilius (baptized Cecil) Calvert, but he and his suc- cessors of the Lords Baltimore met many disturbing political factors while trying to govern their province. Cecilius Calvert inherited his father's estates, baronial honors and titles, and thus became the second Lord Baron of Baltimore in the Kingdom of Ireland.
The provincial charter, intended for his father, promptly passed the Great Seal, and was given the son, June 20, 1632, two months and five days after the death of Lord Baltimore the first.
Cecilius Calvert inherited but little fortune from his father, George-Lord Baltimore-except titles of honor and un- profitable land estates. What revenues he could raise were spent towards the support of his infant colony in Maryland, which required aid for development before it brought rev- enues in return. He married the daugher of Earl Arundel, and resided with his father-in-law, who was rich in "ancestral
.
17
CHARTER RIGHTS OF PROPRIETARY
associations," but poor in living resources. When eighty years old, in 1638, he wrote to the King of England: "Mon- eys I have none; no, not to pay the interest of the debts. My plate is placed at pawn. My son Baltimore is brought so low with his setting forward the plantation of Mary- land, and with the claims and oppositions which he has met with, that I do not see how he could subsist if I did not give him diet for himself, wife and children."
CHARTER RIGHTS OF PROPRIETARY. (Scharf's History.)
In condensed form the Charter of Maryland invested the Proprietary with the following rights:
TERRITORIAL .- All the land and water within the boun- daries of the province, and islands within ten marine leagues of the shore, with mines and fisheries, in perpetual possession to himself and his heirs.
LEGISLATIVE .- The right to make all laws public or private, with the assent of the freemen of the province; and ordinances (not impairing life, limb or property), without their assent.
JUDICIAL .- To establish courts of justice of various kinds, and appoint all judges, magistrates and civil officers; also to execute the laws even to the extent of taking life.
REGAL .- To confer titles and dignities; to erect towns, boroughs and cities; and to make ports of entry and depar- ture; also to pardon all offences.
ECCLESIASTICAL .- To erect and found churches and chapels, and cause them to be consecrated according to the ecclesiastical laws of England; and to have the patronage and advowsons thereof.
MILITARY .- To call out and arm the whole fighting population, wage war, take prisoners, and slay alien enemies; also to exercise martial law in case of insurrection.
FINANCIAL .- To alienate, sell or rent land; to levy duties and toils on ships and merchandise. 2
18
INTRODUCTORY HISTORY
THE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS .- The charter gave all settlers in the colony of England the privilege to remain English sub- jects. To inherit, purchase or own land or other property; free trade with England; to help make the laws for the prov- ince, and not be taxed by the crown. 'The proprietary had almost kingly control, and the people very restricted privi- leges, yet under the Calverts' rule civil and religious liberty was secured and enjoyed by the people for fifty years
Of George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, Bancroft says: "He deserves to be ranked among the most wise and benevolent lawgivers of all ages. He was the first in the his- tory of the Christian world to seek for religious security and peace by the practice of justice, and not by the exercise of power." The opinion of Bradley T. Johnson, author of "The Foundation of Maryland," showing Lord Baltimore's purpose of planting the colony of Maryland, much deserves recognition, and is here partly quoted: "Instead then of the foundations of Maryland having been laid on a policy of col- onization and material development, or as the consequences of religious movement in England, or as the result of the teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, the light now shed upon the contemporaneous actors, their motives and their acts, enables us to see that Lord Baltimore from the very initiation of his enterprise deliberately, ma- turely and wisely, upon consultation and advice, determined to devote his life and fortune to the work of founding a free English State, with its institutions deeply planted upon the ancient customs, rights and safeguards of free Englishmen, and which should be a sanctuary for all Christian people for- ever." "This purpose wisely conceived, maturely con- sidered, and bravely persisted in, through all obstacles, ex- plains everything that has heretofore appeared ambiguous in the career of Lord Baltimore."
The motives that influenced George Calvert to found a colony were liberally enlarged or modified by his son and successors to meet the political policies made by national changes in the government of England.
CHAPTER II.
PREPARATION FOR STARTING FIRST COLONISTS-LEONARD CALVERT PUT IN CHARGE OF THE EXPEDITION, AND APPOINTED FIRST GOVERNOR- DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND-ARRIVAL IN AMERICA-FOUND A BEAUTI- FUL LAND, BUT FACED MANY PRIVATIONS.
The beginning of the work towards colonizing Mary- land by Cecil Calvert, under his palatine powers and distin- guished title, "Cecilius, Absolute Lord and Proprietary of the Province of Maryland and Avalon, Lord Baron of Balti- more," as was designed by his honored father, was started in 1633. Numerous friends were invited to emigrate with him; commissions were issued, and a constitution and laws were framed for the government of the colony. At this time, after having made great preparations to go out with his colony, his private affairs and relations to public State mat- ters, made it impracticable for him to leave England. He commissioned his brother, Leonard Calvert, "Lieutenant- General, Chief Governor, Chancellor, Commander, Captain, Magistrate and Keeper of the Great Seal," to accompany the colonists and govern them in the province. Their departure from England, under severe restrictions, stormy voyage across the ocean, arrival in the Chesapeake, and settlement at St. Mary's, with small resources and little means for self- defence, were the beginning of trials to prepare the way for courageous endurance under long-continued privations. Too far away from happy homes and generous friends in England were they to find relief in sickness, sympathy in sorrow, or consolation in bereavement.
To those first settlers, and other heroic adventurers who followed, to establish new homes for the enjoyment of per- sonal freedom and liberty of conscience in a lovely land. clothed in a forest of virgin wildwood, shore-washed by the bold waters of the Chesapeake Bay, and embraced by beauti-
20
INTRODUCTORY HISTORY
ful rivers that curve and twine inland toward delightful loca- tions for towns and rural homes, we, the generations of to- day, in "Maryland, My Maryland," chiefly owe our happy destiny.
Much of interest took place in the little colony founded at St. Mary's in the course of the events by which it grew in population and expanded in bounds that required subdivi- sion into counties and county organizations between 1634 and 1669 (to show the plan of government and steps for ad- vancement), to that period when Dorchester County was erected. In recent years the Maryland Historical Society, through many of its distinguished members, by their thor- ough investigation and examination of old colonial records and papers-the Maryland Archives and official documents in the Colonial Record Office in London, and from the Cal- vert papers, purchased in England-has collected and pub- lished an invaluable fund of Maryland provincial history, hitherto undiscovered, and new to the present generation of Marylanders.
1
CHAPTER III.
FIRST COLONIAL ASSEMBLIES-CODE OF LAWS-THE PROPRIETARY'S PRE- ROGATIVES-SEPARATION OF THE ASSEMBLY INTO TWO LEGISLATIVE BODIES-POWERS OF THE COUNCIL-FIRST DISTURBING FACTOR, CLAI- BORNE OF KENT, RICHARD INGLE, THE NEXT TO INTERFERE-HIS ALLI- ANCE WITH CLAIBORNE-SEIZURE OF ST. MARY'S-FLIGHT OF GOVERNOR CALVERT TO VIRGINIA-HIS RETURN AND RE-CAPTURE OF ST. MARY'S -DEATH OF GOVERNOR CALVERT IN 1647-APPOINTMENT OF WILLIAM STONE, GOVERNOR, ETC.
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