USA > Maryland > Kent County > History of Kent County, Maryland, 1630-1916 > Part 9
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HEADQUARTERS IN THE "OLD FIFTH" IN FORMER DAYS-EDESVILLE.
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
CHAPTER XX.
WOMEN VOTE IN KENT-THE FIRST PLACE IN STATE.
Three of Them Take Part in Election at Still Pond- Fourteen Were Registered-Some of Those Who Didn't Go to the Polls Explain Why They Let a Glorious Opportunity Pass.
An act was passed by the Legislature of Maryland, 1908, incorporating the town of Still Pond. This act, in Section 3, provides that the legal voters of Still Pond, female included, who pay taxes and who have resided within its corporate limits six months, of the age of 21 years and upward, shall elect by ballot on the first Saturday in May, 1908, three com- missioners. Accordingly, on the first Saturday in May at 2 P. M. a voting place was opened in the public school room and Dr. W. S. Maxwell, Dr. J. H. Kelley and C. B. Krusen acted as judges and Wm. Medders and Wm. Krusen clerks.
There were 75 voters registered, 12 of whom were white women and two colored. There were three ladies who availed themselves of the unusual priv- ilege of casting a ballot, thereby being the first women in the State of Maryland to exercise the right of franchise. These were Mrs. Mary Jane Howard, one of the best known residents of the town; Mrs. W. S. Maxwell and Mrs. J. H. Kelley, wives of phy- sicians and leaders of thought in the community. These ladies voted early, but two of them voted a losing ticket. Mrs. Howard was the exception, as one of her candidates out of the three for whom she
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
voted was elected. It is said that some of the men offered to write the tickets for these voters, but they refused to be influenced and voted "independently."
Mrs. Howard stated that she felt very foolish going to the polls, but wanted to avail herself of the rare privilege to ascertain if there was really as much in it as the men seemed to believe.
Still Pond was the only town in Maryland at that time where the women have the right to vote in a municipal election. Only three voted, but perhaps many were prevented from voting by a rainstorm which came up about 4 o'clock. One lady said she didn't vote because she didn't want to get her new hat spoiled. Another said she wanted to go about the time it rained and after that she had to prepare supper for the men folks. Another said that after the rain baby awoke and she was compelled to re- main with him.
The election resulted in the selection of Thomas Bradley for three years, John B. Parrott for two years, and C. B. Krusen for one year, as commission- ers. The board named in the bill were Charles W. Hague, John G. Schofield and Wm. Medders.
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
CHAPTER XXI.
Some Records on the Farm.
The agricultural resources of Kent County are far superior to those of many other counties in the State of Maryland. No county has a greater variety of soils, or soils more fertile, more diversified, or more certain in the production of crops. Here is an abundance of raw material and rich soil, upon which all fruits, and all the crops, and all the animals necessary for man's support and convenience can be raised with less expense than in colder climates. Here are mighty rivers and flowing creeks and purl- ing rivulets, gushing springs of sparkling water suitable for navigation and machinery, for stock, for dairy and household. Here is a climate so genial to the physical man that the very exuberance of his spirit doubles pleasures, and robs adversity of half its woes. This is the ideal home of the farmer and skilled workman. Land is cheap and produc- tive; skilled labor is in demand.
In writing this history we cannot help but note the passing of a great industry-the peach. In the '80's there were a million and a half of trees in Kent and those were halcyon days to many a man. The Harrises and others along the Bay still find the peach a paying crop, but the blight and yellows have discouraged most of the farmers from putting much land in peach trees. Among the men who were first to introduce this delicious fruit was the late Col. Edw. Wilkins, who owned a lovely estate on
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
the Chester, now owned by Mrs. Jennie Vickers Robinson. His crop had realized him as high as $60,000 in a single season. He sold 3,000 boxes of white heath peaches one season for $18,000, which was at the rate of $6 per box. Twenty to forty thousand dollars per year clear was only an ordi- nary crop to Colonel Wilkins in those days. In one season he furnished one canner in Baltimore $56,000 worth of peaches and did not take up a dollar ; at the end of the season he took the canner's note for the whole amount until a market was found for the canned article. "Good old times" indeed were those!
For several years past the keiffer pear, assisted by the tomato, has been the financial salvation of many a Kent farmer. The keiffer pear was first dis- covered near Philadelphia. The tree was a seedling which came up on a vacant lot in 1876. It is sup- posed to be a cross between the Chinese Send-Pear and the Bartlett. In 1896 Mr. Scarborough, mana- ger of four canneries in Kent, paid to the pear grow- ers over $16,000. The total crop of the county, even in this comparatively off crop year, is placed at 200,000 baskets. The popular price that year was 25 cents per basket, since which time the average price has been nearer 15 cents. The intimate rela- tion which the keiffer pear and the tomato crop have borne to the financial fortunes of the Kent County farmer sounds to the stranger like a fairy-tale of a dream-dove but unrealized prosperity.
In 1912 there were raised in Kent County over 25,000 tons of tomatoes for which the farmers were paid $9.60 per ton. Thus, the astounding sum of $240,000. Clifton L. Jarrell says he cleared $35 per
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
acre off a hundred acres. Thomas J. Davis picked 252 tons and 24 baskets off 23 acres. Thomas Fowler on State's Attorney Vickers' Flatland farm sold 120 tons off ten acres. H. C. Willis near Fairlee shipped
.
THE KENNEDY-LOCKWOOD FARM, AN UP-TO-DATE FARM NEAR KENNEDYVILLE-WILLIAM JEWELL, TENANT.
over twelve tons to the acre off ten acres the same year.
Cooling stations established along the railroad in Kent County have superseded the creameries, and dairying has been given a new importance. The industry is but in its infancy. Mr. John N. Bennett in 1900 lived on Campbellworthmore, near Lynch's.
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
He kept a record of his creamery business, which is here given for that year :
January
2,881
$25.94
$1.60
$2.40
$21.94
February
3,539
29.31
1.75
1.25
25.31
March
5,117
46.05
1.30
2.25
42.50
April
6,696
50.22
.88
1.89
47.45
May
12,273
79.77
1.75
2.60
75.42
June
. 12,002
71.01
2.15
1.90
67.96
July
7,836
62.69
2.53
2.73
57.43
August
9,282
74.26
1.95
1.89
70.42
September
7,238
57.90
2.50
1.76
53.64
October
5,134
51.34
1.38
2.75
47.21
November
4,361
17.44
.25
1.25
15.94
December
3,159
22.52
.30
.98
21.24
Totals.
.79,519
$588.45
$18.34
$23.65
$546.29
Amount of calves
197.64
Total revenue from 19 cows
$985.74
Sold 16 calves -- amount.
155.29
Raised 3 calves at $15 each-amount.
45.00
$197.26
Average amount from each cow
41.35
Average amount of lbs. of milk from each cow
. 4,185
During the past two years the following ship- ments of milk have been made from the cooling sta- tions along the Kent railroads :
Cans, 1914
Cans, 1915
Chestertown
10,811
10,906
Worton
12,157
10,158
Kennedyville
22.945
14,047
Blacks
99
12,780
Massey
16,210
14,787
Totals
62,622
62,678
Each can contains 111/2 gallons, so that the total shipment in 1915 was 720,900 gallons of milk which brought to the farmers thousands of dollars.
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
The price for this milk varies from $1.20 to $2.00 per cwt., according to test.
Of course the staple crops of Kent County are wheat and corn. About 50,000 acres are sowed in wheat, the average yield being about fifteen bushels
A CHARACTERISTIC BARNYARD SCENE IN KENT IN EARLY WINTER.
per acre. There are about 35,000 acres in corn, the average yield being 27 bushels per acre.
In 18SS Eugene M. Bouwill reaped 52 bushels of wheat per acre off his front field on his farm, near Betterton.
One of the largest public sales of real estate ever made in Kent County was that by Mr. Richard Hynson on June 20, 1866, when he disposed of over four thousand acres of land, included in which was the large estate of Edward Comegys, of which Mr.
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
Hynson was executor. As a matter of interest touching real estate values, it is not out of place to note some of the sales and prices on the occasion named. The Fairlee farm, 841 acres, was bought by T. W. Eliason, at $50.25 per acre; the Carville
A TYPICAL PEACH ORCHARD IN KENT WHEN A MILLION AND A HALF TREES YIELDED GREAT CROPS IN THE EARLY EIGHTIES.
farm, 628 acres, to Mrs. A. R. Curry, for $28.00; the Freeman farm, 465 acres, to John M. Hudson, for $63 per acre; the Stewart farm, 343 acres, to P. T. Simmonds, for $72 per acre; the home farm, 456 acres, to Mrs. O. P. Jones, for $50.50 per acre; the Curry farm, 270 acres, to same, for same. Other sales made the total 4,00034 acres, which averaged $53.67 per acre, and a total sale by Mr. Hynson on this occasion of $214,794.071/2.
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
CHAPTER XXII.
OLD TIME CHRISTMAS IN KENT.
Dr. Peregrine Wroth's Picture of the Holiday in Kent Written Nearly a Hundred Years Ago.
No more charming picture can be found of old Yuletide customs in Kent County one hundred years ago than is written by Dr. Wroth, a distin- guished resident of Chestertown at that time. Among other things he says: "The fires blazed with a peculiar lustre at Christmas. Before the dawn of the day so long desired and longed for, the younger members of the family (I am speaking of the family in the country) were up and doing. The young children had searched and emptied their stockings, which had been hung up the night before, of the good things which are annually supplied by old Kris Kringle. The capacious bowl of egg-nog was brewed; the hickory Yule log, which had been prepared days before with all ceremony, crackled and blazed on the ample hearth; the servants, large and small, with their shining ebony faces and teeth of pearl, peeped through the half-open doors and windows, and all was prepared to salute the rising sun with the well-charged Christmas gun. As soon as the sun appeared the echoes of the report were brought back from the surrounding woods, where the older servants, men and women, came from the "quarter," dressed in their new suits of home-made kersey, leading the children who could walk, and
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
carrying in their arms those who could not, and en- tered the great house' ("home of the master" was so called) to receive their Christmas dram from the hand of the master. This annual ceremony (daily through Christmas week) being over, the servants retired to the quarters, where they were regaled with a plentiful breakfast. This being dispatched, the banjo, a musical instrument which they brought with them from Africa, was introduced, and the merry dance began with the well-remembered words, 'Jack butter in the fat; hop and git over dat.' Here we will leave them a while. In the great house, as they called it, egg-nog was handed round and all partook of the foaming beverage. After a breakfast of hot buckwheat cakes, well buttered, rolls and bis- cuit, and sometimes crackling Johnny cake and coffee, garnished with stuffed sausages, the family party began to assemble, and dining-room and par- lor were soon filled. In the meantime the cooks were busy in preparing the old gobbler for the spit, and the large dinner pot hanging over the fire was filled with a five-year old ham and chines and other pork, with stores of vegetables, such as cabbage, potatoes, parsnips, etc. Potpies of goose or chicken were not forgotten, and ample provision had been previously made of minced pies, pumpkin pudding and plum pudding and many other things, some of them now unknown.
"While dinner was preparing-to be served at 1 o'clock, never later-the male members of the family party would while away the hours by shooting at a target or galloping around the neighborhood sip- ping his neighbor's egg-nog and romping with their
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
daughters. Hilarity reigned throughout the coun- try; but I assure you, my dear children, that in- toxication was unknown in genteel circles. All were cheerful but sober, and a modest kiss was considered no breach of decorum.
"Let us now pay another visit to the 'quarter.' The servants, who were persuaded that no man in the country was so great as master, and who never approached him without lifting the hat or scraping the ground with the toe of the shoe, had their full share of unrestrained mirth and jollity. In every family there was a leader of all sports' who regu- lated the festivities of the season. In my father's 'quarter' this leader was Cuffee. He would place a large log in the front yard of the quarter, and boring a hole in it three or four inches deep with an auger, fill it with water and plug it with a black hole from the fireplace. In the interval of the song and dance he would spring from the door, and striking a heavy blow with an axe on the hole in the log, jump high in the air, and, striking his feet together three times before he reached the ground, utter a loud shout as an echo to the report from the log, almost as loud as a gun. He would then return to his comrades in the quarter and give out a line of his unpremeditated song, to be answered by them in full chorus. The rhythm of these songs was such as that in Africa at this day and was thence introduced into this country. I give a specimen : Leader-Work away, my brave boys.' Chorus-'So, ho-' (prolonged). Another specimen : 'Raccoon foot and 'possum tail, New Town gals will never fail.' "
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
TOWN OFFICIALS.
City Council-Robert Moffett, Wm. L. Fowler and George R. Rouse.
Clerk to Council-James W. Crouch.
Attorney to Council-R. Groome Parks.
Officers-Samuel S. Cooper and Beverly Hyland.
Population, 1880-2,360; 1900-3,000; 1910-2,800. Tax rate, $0.60.
VOSHELL HOUSE
VOSHELL HOUSE, CHESTERTOWN, MD.
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
CHAPTER XXIII.
Chestertown-The County Town of Kent-Its Early History.
Chestertown is the "Gem City" of the Peninsula. Her feet are lightly touched by the placid and spark- ling waters of the Chester River, whose origin is found in a spring near Smyrna, Del .; her head is crowned with verdant fields of golden grain and orchards of luscious fruits, while on her western skirts runs a brooklet whose base is to be traced far up the country. Her northern boundary is a rich, grassy glade where the undulating surface answers promptly to the agriculturist's demand, while on the west hundreds of wide-branched oaks fling their gnarled arms and waft breezes of purest ozone over the little city.
The Tilghmans of The Hermitage, represented by so many honorable men, including the President of the Constitutional Convention of Maryland in 1774, arrived about 1655. They came from Snodland, in Kent. They took up many tracts, including "Tilgh- man-and-Foxley Grove," upon which Chestertown was subsequently founded, then held, through an in- termarriage, by the Wilmers of Kent. Miss Tilgh- man, the original patentee of Chestertown, received 1,000 acres from the crown-head of England. She died in 1688, leaving her property to Simon Wilmer and his wife, Rebecca. No land was deeded until more than one hundred years afterwards, except at the mill and outlying sections. In 1735 the lot now
174
HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
occupied by Col. Vannort, corner of Maple avenue and Front street, was deeded to a Philadelphia cap- tain, and finally came into the Colonel's hands.
In 1707 the place for the town and port, by pre- vious act at Yarmouth, Grey's Inn, was ordered deserted, and the town, with courthouse, etc., built
THE PEARCE HOME, OWNED AND OCCUPIED BY NATHANIEL HYNSON, JR., IN 1735. LOCATED ON WATER STREET, CHESTER- TOWN. NOW OWNED BY MRS. M. C. RINGGOLD.
at Chestertown. All towns, rivers, creeks and coves in Cecil, Kent and Queen Anne's, except Kent Island, to be members of the Port of Chestertown, on the Chester River. Fifty acres were purchased at Chester Ferry, and the large brick house on Water street, foot of High street, was the custom house. It now belongs to W. W. Hubbard, and its vaults and tremendous rooms may be found in ex- cellent condition.
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
Henry Collister, an indentured servant, having acquired a fortune, owned the "town point" prop- erty, on Chester River, where Chestertown now stands, having become possessed of it in September, 1758.
In 1755 war was declared against the French and their Indian allies, and Governor Sharpe called for volunteers. The Gazette of February 6, 1755, says : "At Chestertown several men enlisted before the drum was beat, and the officer, who wanted but thirty men, got his complement and marched with them. Such is the commendable spirit of that place." In September, 1756, a number of gentlemen of Chestertown fitted out a fine new ship called the "Sharpe," after the Governor, and commanded by Capt. Edw. Scott. It carried 26 carriage guns and 20 swivels; 200 men manned her. This boat did valiant service against the French.
The town was laid out by authority of an Act of Maryland passed in 1706, and was named in the law "New Town." Its charter was revised in 1780 and the name Chester Town given to it. In 1730 an ordinance was passed forbidding sheep, swine or geese to be raised within the town limits. On Janu- ary 27, 1806, "an act to appoint commissioners for the regulation and improvement of Chester Town, in Kent, and for other purposes," was passed. A meet- ing was held in the old courthouse in May, 1806, and F. A. Dinsmore, then clerk, fixed the bounds as follows: Easterly, by the lands of Miss Smith; northerly, by lands of Wmn. H. Wilmer; westerly, by the poor house lands; southerly, by lands of Thomas Worrell and Robert Wright and Chester
176
HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
River. The limits of the town at present include all that property within a line beginning at the river, near the residence of H. H. Barroll, Esq., and run- ning thence and inclosing all the College lands to
3
OLD MASONIC HALL, NOW THE "KENT NEWS BUILDING."
centre of bridge at mill; thence in a southerly direc- tion through the John N. Usilton property to the point of intersection of the lands of Walter Wright with Hubbard's factory, and thence with the division line between said lands to Chester River.
Among the first clerks were William Lassell and David Arthur. In 1816 William Wheeler was bailiff,
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
and in 1821 James Dawson was wood corder ; in 1839 Thomas J. Carroll was market master; from 1856 to 1868 William Webb was bailiff and market master and court crier; in 1860 Edward Ryland was weigh master.
In George Washington's diary for August, Sep- tember and October, 1774, we glean the following interesting facts : "On September 1st, I breakfasted at Queen Anne's, in Prince George's County, dined in Annapolis and lodged at Rock Hall, and remained there until September 2d, in order to await the arrival of my two horses." Rock Hall was then the upper or northern terminus of the Annapolis Packet Ferry, where a good hotel was kept. From Rock Hall there was a well-traveled road through Ches- tertown, by the head of Sassafras to New Castle, Del. The Rock Hall farm, in 1774, was owned by Richard Spencer, who was a grandson of James Spencer, of Spencer Hall, on Eastern Neck Island. A part of Rock Hall was sold to James Ringgold, of Huntingfield, in 1779, and the Rock Hall Ferry was maintained up to about 1846, the old wharves being still visible. Washington arrived in Chestertown, or New Town, on the Chester, late in the afternoon of September 2, 1774, and stopped at the tavern located on the corner of Cannon and Princess streets. Not only did Washington stop there, but all the delegates who went to the Continental Congress in Philadel- phia in 1774 did so. On his return, in October, he is said to have stopped at the hotel kept in the build- ing now occupied and owned by Mr. Thomas W. Eliason, on High street. The whole cost for travel-
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
ing expenses was ten pounds, and for incidentals, etc., the total amount was two hundred fifty-one pounds.
E
Jhel Landmarks (Bullt 1708), Chestertown;
MISS JOSIE REDUE'S OLD HOME, BUILT IN 1708, NOW REPLACED BY HUBBARD DWELLINGS, ON WATER STREET.
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
CHAPTER XXIV.
"THE 'WHITE HOUSE' FARM."
History of the Old Colonial Estate on a Part of Which Chestertown now Stands.
Among the annals of colonial and subsequent times that have happily been preserved, few are more interesting among family records than some facts connected with the hospitable and beautiful home of the late Mr. Frisby Gordon, and for many years the home of the late William S. Walker. It is now the property of Walter Wright, a part of which is occupied by the Kent and Queen Anne's Association. Situated on the very edge of Chestertown, its fields running to the river on one side, this pleasant, pic- turesque home was called for many years "The White House." The same family has owned it for several generations, as Mrs. Walker is a lineal decendent of the first proprietor. The original grant of the land was conferred upon the early English colonist, Dr. Richard Tilghman, and the tract thus patented included what is now the site of Chester- town.
By the will of Marie Foxley Tilghman, who sur- vived her husband and was executrix of his estate, we learn that one of their daughters named "Rebecca" married Simon Wilmer (another colonist from England) about 1679. Marie Foxley Tilgh- man-the widow of Dr. Richard Tilghman-in 1688 conveyed by deed to this daughter, Rebecca Wilmer,
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
and her husband, a part of his estate, located on the Kent side of Chester River known as "Tilghman and Foxley Grove," containing 1,000 acres and which finally received the name of "Stepney," the "White House" farm. The Day Star by G. L. L. Davis, Esq., a Maryland historian, affirms that Chestertown is located on the tract above mentioned as "Tilgh- man and Foxley Grove." Their son, Simon, and grandson, Lambert Wilmer, inherited this home place; their children intermarrying with the Gordon family and the Tylden families; these last inter- marrying with the Hynson family, make the chil- dren of these branches lineal decendents of the first Richard and Marie Foxley Tilghman.
The "White House" remained in the possession of the Wilmers until 1820, when it was conveyed by one Simon Wilmer to his first cousin, Mrs. Mary Frisby Gordon, whose mother was a Wilmer, and whose granddaughter owned it until the last few years when it was sold to Mr. Wright. Some of the early Wilmers have long slept in the family burial ground on this "White House" farm. Among the later ones interred there is a sister of the late Judge John B. Eccleston, whose husband was "Ringgold Wilmer."
Rev. Simon Wilmer, the grandfather of the former Bishop of Alabama, married his cousin, who was called "the beautiful Miss Ann Ringgold," and lived on this "White House" farm. This Rev. Simon is seen on horseback, wearing his broad-brimmed cleri- cal hat, in the highly-prized landscape painting, by Charles Wilson Peale, and on the porch are Mrs. Wilmer and another lady, either Mrs. Wilmer's
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
sister or daughter, it is believed. In the distance is Chestertown, the Episcopal Church and Washing- ton College being the most prominent buildings in view.
The original plot of the "White House" farm designates it as a "tobacco plantation," showing but one house from the river to the mill.
THE WHITE HOUSE FARM- SITE OF CHESTERTOWN RADCLIFF RACE TRACK NOW ON PART OF IT-OWNED BY WALTER WRIGHT.
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
CHAPTER XXV.
Throwing Tea Overboard in the Chestertown Harbor -The Early Plays and Operas-Great Racing Events-Some Novel Ordinances-Mail Facilities.
The brigantine Geddes arrived in Chestertown in 1774 with a small lot of dutiable tea for some of the neighboring counties. The inhabitants assembled in town meeting May 13, and held indignation meet- ings and threw the tea overboard. This same day the tea was thrown overboard in Boston harbor. In June and July Chestertown received a letter from Boston thanking citizens for benevolence towards the poor of the metropolis. It seems as if this town was the only place in Maryland that sent subscrip- tions to Boston and Charlestown, Mass. They sent several vessels loaded with provisions.
In 1752 Hallam and Henry performed in a thea- tre here the plays entitled "Richard III" and "The Beggar's Opera." Every fall and spring there were races in Chestertown, back of what is now Mr. John Bell's farm, commencing about 1750. The Chester- town races were particularly celebrated, and on this course Maryland and Virginia often contended together, as also did the gentlemen breeders of Kent, Queen Anne's and Talbot counties. On the 24th of November, 1766, for instance, a race was run here for a purse of 100 pistols (3.60) expressly offered by the gentlemen of the place, in order to bring together "the two most famous horses on the con- tinent." These were Yorick, of Virginia, and Selim,
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