USA > Maryland > Dorchester County > History of Dorchester County, Maryland > Part 14
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No better field for the study of folklore in this country can be found than the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Settled as it was at an early date by an almost exclusively English stock and practically untouched by later immigration, it has kept and handed down old English forms of speech, customs
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY
and traditions quite in their original form. The folklore that abounds in Shakespeare is extant at this day in Dor- chester; half the inhabitants of Hooper's Island still misplace their h's in true cockney style while our regularly used phrase "right smart," regarded by outsiders as dialect, is found in the writings of Sir Philip Sydney.
The superstition of the negroes has contributed largely to the folklore of the present day, yet it is by no means con- fined to the black or ignorant, but the myths, legends and superstitious stories which many people in the county regard with interest and attach importance to originated among various races of people centuries ago and were imported to our shore, where was found a fertile soil for vigorous growth and easy culture, due to the early association of black slaves, indentured servants and master's children in the same house- hold.
Some of the most common popular beliefs and sayings are here given:
INFLUENCE OF NATURAL SIGNS AND PHENOMENA.
SUNRISE AND SUNSET REFLECTIONS.
"Evenings red and mornings gray Are certain signs of a beautiful day; Evenings gray and mornings red Will bring down rain upon the traveler's head."
BURIALS OF THE DEAD AFTER THE SUN CROSSES THE NOON-DAY MERIDIAN.
In Straits District no dead persons are buried until after "the sun turns."
MOON SIGNS AND INFLUENCES.
A new moon with both horns or points inclined upwards indicates to the farmer dry weather; if the upper horn is
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turned downward, wet weather, rains will soon follow. The position of the crescent moon shows her ability to hold water in the clouds or pour it out in copious showers.
Full moons in the mornings indicate storms; in evening, fair weather.
The new moon that appears south of west means warm weather for that phase, and when north of west, cold weather compared with the prevailing season.
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MOON'S INFLUENCE ON PLANTING SEED AND GROWING CROPS.
For potatoes and all crops that grow in the ground the seed planting should be done on that change of the moon when there are dark nights to insure good crops.
Corn and all other crops that develop above ground should be planted in the period of moonlight nights, as light is one of the essential elements required to produce full crops of cereals and other like grown products.
To kill hogs on the decrease of the moon causes the pork to shrink when cooked.
FATED BY WIND.
If peas, beans or vegetables that grow in pods are planted when the wind is northeast they will not bear or produce a crop.
SUPERSTITIONS-REMEDIES FOR SOME DISEASES.
TO CURE A STY.
Go to some footpath or highway where people frequently travel and repeat the following: 1
"Sty, sty, leave my eye, Go on the next one's eye that passes by."
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TO CURE CHILLS.
Tie as many knots in a string as you have had chills, then drop the string and the person who finds it and counts the knots will have the chills, and you will be free from them.
Or-Cut as many notches in a stick as you have had chills, then throw it behind you without looking back and the per- son who finds it and counts the notches will get the chills.
Or-Bore a hole in a tree, blow into it once for each chill and the tree will take the chills and die.
TO CURE WARTS.
Find a hollow stump with water standing in it, wash the wart and go away without looking back.
Or-Steal a bean, cut it in half and rub each half upon the wart, then bury the bean under a doorstep. Do not look under the step again until the bean has decayed and the wart will disappear.
Brass rings worn on the fingers will prevent cramp.
A horse chestnut, if continually carried or kept about any person, will prevent all such persons from ever having rheu- matism.
TRIVIAL SAYINGS AND SUPERSTITIONS. EVENTS THAT BAD LUCK FOLLOW.
To cut hair or nails during sickness.
To begin to get better on Sunday when sick.
For a sick person to suddenly develop a craving appetite is to feed death.
For a picture to fall from its hanging on the wall denotes coming death to some of the household.
For two persons to look into a mirror at the same time brings great disappointment to one or both of them.
To break a looking-glass brings seven years of bad luck.
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To see the picture of a corpse in a mirror is believed to be the sign of an early death. For that belief, mirrors in death chambers are turned fronts towards the wall of the room in which the dead are laid until time for burial.
The howling of a dog at night is a sign of sickness or death, to stop his wail and avert the threatened calamity, turn your right shoe on its side with the top part towards the dog.
Shortly before the death of some people their names have been heard distinctly called and warning raps or knocks at the doors have often been heard by inmates of the homes in which death was near to some one of the members.
When the spirit of a living person is seen going away from home it is a sure sign of short life for him. If seen return- ing or coming home instead of leaving home, long life is promised.
To meet a woman first in the morning after leaving home will bring bad luck that day.
It is bad luck for a woman to be the first visitor on New Year's Day.
To spill salt means bad luck unless you avert it by throwing a pinch of salt over the left shoulder.
You must leave the house by the same door you entered to avoid bad luck coming to that home.
MISCELLANEOUS SAYINGS.
Itching of the nose means a visitor is coming; if on the right side, it indicates a man; if on the left, a woman.
Itching of the right eye means a cry; the left eye, a laugh. Burning sensations felt in the ears warn you that you are the subject of somebody's talk, either for good or evil report.
If a rooster comes near the door and crows before it, a visitor is coming to that house.
If a cat licks its paws and smoothes its hair behind its ears with them, the ladies of the house are warned to make their toilet and be ready to receive coming visitors.
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If the wish bone of a chicken is pulled apart by two unmar- ried people until it is broken, the one who holds the longest part will first be married.
To approach a gate at the side on which it is hinged for the purpose of opening it is a sign that the person will not get married in that year.
If a garden hoe is carried through a dwelling house, a death will occur in the family living there before the end of the year.
The first time you see a new moon in any month, any wish that you make then, before you look at any other object, your wish will be granted during that moon.
Money shaken at the new moon soon replenishes the purse.
WITCHES.
A broomstick laid across the doorway will prevent a witch from entering the house.
If a witch sits down in a chair in which is sticking or is afterwards stuck a fork, she cannot rise as long as the fork stays there. An example of this was tested at the "Dr. Johnson" place in "Lakes" with old "Suf," who was said to be a witch.
A witch can take a horse from a locked stable and ride it all night; the evidence of this being the foaming sweat on the horse and the witch knots tied in its tail and mane, often seen the next morning.
A witch can turn people into horses and ride on them. One man in Dorchester County died from the effects of such a trip, the clay being found under his finger and toe nails. He had refused to let the witch have his horse to ride, so she rode the owner instead.
If a witch is about to turn a sleeping person into a horse and the sleeper awakes in time, seizes the witch and holds her without speaking until daybreak, she will assume her proper form.
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A witch can also turn herself into any animal she pleases for hunter's dogs often trail and tree witches at night that take the form of some animal to avoid detection.
To kill a witch, draw a picture of her and shoot at it with pieces of silver instead of lead, bullets or shot; just where the picture is shot the witch will be wounded; if in vital parts of the body, she will die from the effects.
TRICKS OR SPELLS.
In Dorchester as throughout most of the world, the thirti- eth of October, or "Halloween," is regarded as the best time to try "spells" and to read the future. "Bobbing" for apples, sweating eggs and making the dumb cake are the favorite rites. The latter is probably the most interesting as abso- lute silence has to be maintained throughout the whole per- formance and is a joint operation of two people. The cake itself is made up of salt, flour and water, of each one spoon- ful. Two persons holding the same spoon mix the ingre- dients and jointly bake the cake. When cooked they jointly divide and eat it, all in silence; neither must they speak again until morning, but in their dreams they will behold their future partners.
SACRED SUPERSTITIONS.
Old Christmas, or January 6, is another night on which many supernatural things are said to happen. At the hour of midnight, hops, world's wonder and the tiger lily are said to sprout up through the earth. At that same hour all the cattle fall upon their knees as if in prayer. Thus Nature and the lower animals give thanks for the birth of Christ.
GHOSTS, APPARITIONS, BUGABOOS.
The worst and most injurious branch of folklore, very prevalent in Dorchester County, is the telling of ghost stories in various forms in the presence of children. In nine-
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY
tenths of the families in the county the children have been schooled in tales of apparition and intimidating bugaboo stories, which have made them timid and fearful at night, even in their own homes. False impressions have been made in their minds about imaginary objects that never had an existence.
As there are no ghosts we must not write false tales to excite fear in the young or gratify the curiosity of the superstitious.
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Revolutionary Period, 1775-1776. CHAPTER XXIV.
INTRODUCTION TO THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR-LEADING PATRIOTS IN DOR- CHESTER COUNTY-INTEREST WHICH MARYLAND TOOK IN DEFENCE OF THE RIGHTS OF THE COLONIES-ORGANIZATION OF THE MILITIA IN THE COUNTY-VOLUNTEERS FOR THE CONTINENTAL ARMY-FORMATION OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT-DELEGATES FROM DORCHESTER COUNTY TO THE PROVINCIAL CONVENTIONS.
Upon the events of this period in the history of Maryland and the American colonies, when the latent germ of liberty became vitalized and developed into the tender bud of Amer- ican freedom, wholly depends our State and National exist- ance of unsurpassed greatness to-day. With this view of what Maryland and Dorchester County now are, the Revolution- ary Period claims a large share of historical notice.
From the passage of the "Stamp Act," in 1765, to 1775, the spirit of resistance to English oppression was kindling the feelings of many of the colonists (patriots in Dorchester County by no means excepted), whose active efforts and hon- orable course, not hasty in action but with calm deliberation, nobly doing their duty when the exigencies of every occasion demanded, here claim our special attention, but limited space permits only a few of their names to be here men- tioned: We have Robert Goldsborough, Daniel Sulivane, Henry Travers, Richard Sprigg, Thomas Ennalls, William Ennalls, John Dickinson, Joseph Richardson, Henry Steele, John Henry, James Muse, Thomas Jones, Benjamin Keene, Henry Hooper, James Murray, Robert Harrison, and many others, who then forgot past political differencs and united in a common cause for colonial rights unjustly denied by English control in the province. Even the notable agita- tion for political and financial rule in Maryland between the
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY
people and the Proprietary branch of the provincial admin- istration which reached a high state of excitement between 1770 and 1773, when the lower House of Assembly refused to renew the Act for regulating the fees of office in the execu- tive departments of the government, and which Governor Eden attempted to reestablish by proclamation, and which caused the spirited controversy between Charles Carroll and Daniel Dulany, was soon buried under the flood of patriotic influences and sentiment that moved the masses toward the revolutionary struggle.
The English methods then used for raising revenue for home use, by taxing the American colonist, are too familiar to Maryland readers for repetition here, but the plans adopted in the colonies to evade the unjust imposition of "taxation without representation" were partly of Maryland origin and thus make a connection with our local history through the county representatives who helped to formulate them. While non-importation associations had been organized in some of the colonies and the refusal to import British goods or buy them, if imported, had provoked great commercial disturb- ances in seaport towns, it was not sufficient to redress colonial grievances, long and patiently borne under English rule. The colonists, at first, did not propose to resort to arms to secure their rights as subjects of their mother-land, much-loved England, to which, by kindred blood, they had been loyally and devotedly allied; but the fire-brand that aroused universal indignation among them was the passage of the "Boston Port Bill" by Parliament, March 31, 1774. Soon public meetings were called to consider the gravity of the strained relations between the colonies and the "Crown." One of the first meetings was held in Baltimore, May 31, 1774, where it was recommended that deputies be chosen from each county to convene in Annapolis, there to deter- mine on a course of conduct for the province. Delegates were accordingly chosen and met at Annapolis, June 22, 1774; they were county representatives of large influence; those from Dorchester being Robert Goldsborough, William
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ASSOCIATION OF THE FREEMEN OF MARYLAND
Ennalls, Henry Steele, John Ennalls, Robert Harrison, Col. Henry Hooper and Mathew Brown. This convention resolved to adopt a commercial policy of non-intercourse with England, and appointed deputies to a Congress of all the colonies to insure unity of action on this line. The gen- eral Congress met in Philadelphia in September, 1774; the members from Maryland being Robert Goldsborough (of Dorchester), Mathew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, Jr., Wil- liam Paca and Samuel Chase. There the Maryland policy was adopted, and resolutions also passed urging the colonies to use the best methods possible for the preservation of American liberties. Public meetings were held in all the counties of Maryland to ratify this policy; committees were chosen to enforce it, and delegates elected to a second con- vention, which met at Annapolis in November, but adjourned until December 8. This convention provided for the organ- ization and drill of the militia and the purchase of arms and ammunition by authorizing a subscription of £10,000, of which Dorchester County was to raise £480. This repre- sentative convention of the people was the beginning of the political revolution that converted the Proprietary province of Maryland into a State government.
This convention of Deputies met again in April, 1775, and while in session, received the news of the battle of Lexington. It authorized the election of new Deputies to the next con- vention, known as the Association of the Freemen of Mary- land, that met July 26, 1775. The Dorchester County Dele- gates were Robert Goldsborough, Henry Hooper, James Murray, Thomas Ennalls and Robert Harrison.
This convention appointed a Council of Safety, which sat at Annapolis to shape matters and measures relating to the "policy of resistance" between the meetings of the conven- tions. This committee was assisted by a Committee of Observation in each county, which kept the Council con- stantly advised and carried out its orders. The Committee of Observation in Dorchester County consisted of fifteen members, which were elected in September, 1775, namely:
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY
Joseph Richardson, Chairman; Col. Henry Hooper, Joseph Daffin, Thomas Ennalls and others, with John C. Harrison, Clerk, and James Murray, Secretary.
The Committee of Observation had authority to inspect the course and report upon the conduct of any person whose loyalty to the cause of the colonists might be suspected, and to investigate charges of disloyalty.
On the Committee of Ways and Means of the Conven- tion, Robert Goldsborough served and James Murray was appointed a member of a committee to consider plans for establishing, a manufactory for making arms.
Much important business was done by this convention to put the province in the best state of defence then possible. Authority was given to raise forty companies of minute-men in the province, two of which were to be Dorchester's quota. The minute-men agreed by enrollment to serve until March, 1776, and "March to any place ordered in any of the colonies and fight for the preservation of American liberty with their whole power."
December 7, 1775, the next Convention of Delegates met at Annapolis. Dorchester County was represented by John Ennalls, James Murray, Henry Hooper and William Ennalls.
This convention resolved to put the province in a better state of defence and to raise an additional force of one bat- talion of eight companies and seven independent companies. Many recruiting offices were opened in the counties, and volunteers soon filled up these companies, of which the Sixth was raised in Dorchester County, and first officered by Capt. Lemuel Barrett; First Lieut. Thomas Woolford, Second Lieut. John Eccleston and Third Lieut. Hooper Hudson. Later, Captain Barrett resigned and Lieutenant Woolford was promoted to fill the vacancy. Lieutenants Eccleston and Hudson were also promoted to the successive vacancies.
The muster roll of the Sixth Independent Company was as follows :
Commissioned January 5, 1776, Thomas Woolford, Cap- tain; John Eccleston, First Lieutenant; Hooper Hodson, Second Lieutenant.
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SIXTH INDEPENDENT COMPANY
Commissioned March 2, 1776, Lilburn Williams, Third Lieutenant.
PRIVATES.
John Gray,
Patrick Caton,
Hugh Mckinley,
Patrick Connerly,
John Linch,
William Woolford,
Hooper Hodson,
Richard Frazier,
William Watts,
Peter Taylor,
James McCollister,
Thomas Howell,
Edward McFading,
Richard Wood,
Hugh Walworth,
John Martin,
John Watkins,
John Callihorn, Samuel Ash,
Edward Flin,
Chris. Minges,
Lawrence Hughes,
John Murphy,
Samuel McCracking,
Patk. Farren,
Samuel Jones,
Barney Maloy,
William Lee,
John Bassett, Luke Cox,
Mich'l Connor,
Thomas Bayley,
John Welsh,
Wm. Smith,
Nathan Wright,
Charles Foxwell,
John Dunn,
Miles Shehern,
Jonathan Price,
Caleb Joy,
Patrick Rach,
Wm. Mann,
Thos. Grayham,
William Dingle,
Solomon Tyler,
John Hayward,
Robert Ruark,
Edward Hardikin,
Mathew Hayward,
J- Sherren,
Samuel North,
Thomas Harrison,
Jacob Hooston,
William Killinough,
William Compton,
Isaac Southard,
William Cole,
Joseph Stapleford,
Lawrence Fitzpatrick,
John Noble,
William Thom,
James Sulivain,
Daniel Norris,
John Keron,
Thomas Gains,
Joseph Read,
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNTY
PRIVATES Continued.
Geo. Vest,
Dennis
John Malone,
Hooper Elliott,
Hugh Kelly,
Thomas Hayward,
Daniel Brophy,
Samuel Spencer,
Edward Hodson,
James Urey,
Edward Garroughty,
Robert Skinner,
Dewest Downing,
Thomas Hart,
Ephraim Wheeler,
Absolum Comini,
Benjamin Deshield,
William Becks,
Daniel Dinet,
John Stevens,
Philip Hodge,
William Hale,
Francis Noble,
John Martin, of Dorset,
John Caffey,
James Andrew,
Matthew Colbert,
William Hays,
William -lihay,
Jeremiah Andrew,
Edward Williams,
James Haney,
Thomas Saunders,
Richard Bush,
Levin Prichard,
Robert Henderson,
Spencer Saunders,
James Dolly,
Richard Gamble,
Robert Smith,
William Andrew.
By order of the Council of Safety, this company was tem- porarily stationed at Cambridge.
This company was not the first organized in Dorchester. Fired by the military spirit of defence for the protection of home and family, the brave men here rapidly organized into militia companies. The first one was enrolled on November 30, 1775, with fifty-seven privates, one drummer, four cor- porals and four sergeants; officered by Benjamin Keene, Captain; John Keene, Jr., First Lieutenant; Richard Tub- man, Second Lieutenant, and John Griffith, Ensign. It was called "The Bucks Company." The next company was called "Friends to America," officered by Capt. Timothy McNamara, First Lieut. John Stewart McNamara, Second Lieut. Charles Johnson, and Ensign John Kirwan. Other companies were formed: "The Plymouth Greens," Capt.
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MILITIA COMPANIES
William Travers, Lieuts. J. Ashcomb Travers and Alexander Tolly, and Ensign Philip Ferguson, were its officers; "The Transquaking Company," in command of Capt. Zacharias Campbell and Lieut. Bartholomew Ennalls, Jr .; "The Cam- bridge Blues," under Dr. Thomas Bourk, Captain, Ezekiel Vickers and Thomas Firmin Eccleston, Lieutenants, and Nathaniel Manning, Ensign; and "The New Market Blues," organized by Lieuts. Thos. Logan and James Sulivane, and John Pitt Airey, Ensign. The officers, with Capt. Henry Lake, in his company, were Lieuts. Levi Willin and Luke Robinson and Ensign Job Todd. Commissions were also issued to the following officers of companies: Capt. Den- wood Hicks, First Lieut. Moses LeCompte, Second Lieut. Henry Keene and John Budd, Ensign; Capt. Joseph Byus, of Castle Haven Company, and Capt. George Waters, First Lieut. James Wright, Second Lieut. Joseph Stack and John Caulk, Ensign.
These militia companies, with others organized in 1776, were divided into two battalions, the upper one was com- manded by Col. James Murray, Lieut .- Col. John Dickenson, First Major Joseph Ennalls, Second Major Joseph Richard- son, and Quartermaster Robert Gilmore; the lower one by Col. Thomas Ennalls, Lieut. Col. John Ennalls, First Major Richard Harrison, Second Major Thomas Muse and Quar- termaster Thomas Jones.
Col. Henry Hooper, of Dorchester County, had been appointed Brigadier-General of the military forces for the lower district on the Eastern Shore. To protect the inhab- itants who lived along the Bay and rivers in Dorchester from the plundering invaders of Lord Dunmore's fleet, Gen- eral Henry Hooper distributed the militia in July, 1776, as follows: Colonel Richardson, with 125 privates, at Cam- bridge; Lieutenant-Colonel Stainton, with 120, at Cook's Point; Captains Robson and Stephen Woolford, with 15 each, at Taylor's Island and James' Island; Captain Keene, with 15, at Meekin's Neck; Captain Wheatley, with 15, at Ascom's Island; Captain Travers, with 15, at Hooper's
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER COUNI.
Island; Lieut .- Col. John Ennalls, with 45, at Honga River; Colonel Murray, with 130, and Major Fallin, with 30, at Hooper's Straits.
This organization of the volunteer companies for the Con- tinental Army and the militia companies for the home de- fence was but the beginning of the army mobilization for the most desperate struggle ever begun for national inde- pendence.
After appointing many officers and raising means for arm- ing and equiping the volunteers, this convention adjourned January 18, 1776.
The convention met again on May 8, 1776. Dorchester sent Robert Goldsborough, Henry Hooper, James Murray and John Ennalls.
While this convention was in session, a letter in transit from Lord Germain, one of the English Secretaries of State, to Governor Eden, of Maryland, was intercepted. It out- lined a plan for invading Maryland and other colonies, and for restoring the legal government by land and sea forces, to which the Governor was to give his assistance in the opera- tions. This placed the Governor in a critical position, and the convention drafted a resolution which was adopted: "That for the public safety and quiet of the people, the judg- ment of the convention require the Governor to leave the province, and with full liberty to depart peaceably with his officers." The vote on the resolution was 41 affirmative and 14 negative, four of which were cast by the Dorchester delegation.
This convention adjourned and met again June 21, and while in session authorized an election to be held in the several counties to elect Delegates to a convention for organ- izing a State government.
This new convention met August 14, 1776. The Dele- gates from Dorchester were Robert Goldsborough, James Murray, James Ennalls and Joseph Ennalls. It drafted a State Constitution and form of State government, which the people ratified by electing Delegates to a General Assembly,
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