USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume I > Part 48
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
4 This Oration was published as a pamphlet, with this title: "Oration on the Life, Character and Services of Tristram Thomas, M.D., delivered in Easton, Maryland, on the 28th of August, 1847, at the request of the Medical Faculty of Talbot county, Maryland, by Christopher C. Cox, A.M., M.D. Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus Tam cari capitas. * Multis ille bonnis flebilis occidit .- Hor. Baltimore: Printed by Jos. Robinson." This oration has been freely used in the compilation of this memoir. Its materials are drawn from authentic sources.
441
DR. TRISTRAM THOMAS
really felt. What is meant is that he resorted to no histrionic display of feeling, but yielded to the prompting of his own native sensibility when in the presence of suffering. And this sensibility also rendered him one of the most polite men of his day in this county.5 He was polite, not in the sense merely of possessing those graces of manner which may be acquired by intercourse with polished society, though in these he excelled; but in that better sense of being regardful of the rights and privileges, the opinions and feelings, the comforts and pleasures of others, and of acting in conformity thereto. This is a natural endowment: that may be but the affection of it. Dr. Thomas was born a gentle- man, and those qualities which made him such shone as conspicuously in the solitude of the sick chamber as in the drawing room or upon the public street. While everywhere his presence, by reason of his urbanity and suavity, was most welcome, in the sick room it was more -it was salutary-healthful. In his ministrations to the afflicted a virtue seemed to proceed from him which could not be attributed to the employment of any visible or tangible agencies. This power possessed by some few physicians cannot be denied though its explanation may not be as clear as its existence. In the case of Dr. Thomas it is not difficult to trace it to its source. The confidence in his own art which was acquired by him at a period before the skepticism in medicine that now pervades the profession had made its appearance, or at least before it had become so general as now, and which he carried with him unabated to the end, he was able to impart to those who came under his treatment and care. His own unquestioning faith in what`he practised he easily communicated to minds in a condition to be readily impressed. The confidence of his patients in his professional honesty aided in the work. This confidence in the medical attendant and in his art which
5 It is with regret that it must be said the graces of manner were more carefully cultivated thirty, forty or fifty years ago than now. There were gentlemen in this county of whose courtliness there are traditions that are not likely to die. These were imitated by those who were in a lower social scale, so that the whole people in a measure acquired a politeness which was far removed from the rusticity common to rural communities. Even the negroes followed the example of these masters and became polite. In the early part of this century these persons were thought worthy by their manners to contest for the palm of being the best gen- tleman: Robt. H. Goldsborough, Esq., Dr. Tristram Thomas, and Israel Carroll, the body servant of Col. Will. Hayward. There were those who considered the colored man entitled to the precedence and he certainly was, if an over-strict observance, and an exaggeration of the forms observed in society were made the test.
442
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
is one of the most effectual agencies of the practitioner, and which lies at the foundation of that healing influence that comes with the very presence of the physician, was strengthened in the case of Dr. Thomas by the gentlest manners, the kindest words expressed in the softest tones, and with the most sympathizing interest. This explains much of his success in practice-for success he had such as few physicians in his position have enjoyed. It cannot be attributed to any extra- ordinary mental ability, though his endowments were respectable; not to any great learning in his profession, for it is very doubtful whether after the earlier years of his practice he kept pace with the progress of medical knowledge. It does not appear that his perspicacity in dis- tinguishing diseases was above that of ordinary men; nor did he pos- sess unusual resources in the application of remedial agents: though it is not meant to be intimated he was in these deficient. But the extent and efficacy of his practice were out of all proportion to his natural capacity or his acquisitions, and may be traced directly to those moral qualifications, so to speak, which have been noticed;6 and yet Dr. Mar- tin, his contemporary, and in a sense a rival, had equal or greater suc- cess with manners directly the reverse of those of Dr. Thomas. His professional labors extended to all parts of this county and into the adjoining counties of Queen Anne's and Caroline. Occasionally his services were required in even more distant sections. In autumnal seasons, at least in those when the malarial diseases were more than usually prevalent, it was often necessary when he was at the height of his practice to have relays of horses to enable him to make a full cir- cuit of his practice in one day before returning to his home. In the later years of his life through the greater activity of younger men and the increase of competition by reason of the greater number of physicians, his practice very materially declined. But almost to the every end of life he enjoyed a fair share of business. To the female portion of the community his ministrations were especially acceptable, for besides being most gracious in his manners, he was delicate, pure and honorable.
6 While the writer professes to have no knowledge of the character of Dr. Thom- as' practice, he ventures to conjecture that it was affected by his own personal character, and that he who was so gentle and mild in his manners, and so sensitive to the afflictions of others, must have modified, softened, mitigated those heroic methods of treatment which prevailed up to a comparatively recent period. If this conjecture be true, we have the psychological phenomenon presented of the sensibilities anticipating the deductions of reason, and the inductions of experience, for this mild practice is the practice of the present.
443
DR. TRISTRAM THOMAS
To the poor he was the constant benefactor. To them he extended the same consideration and attention that he bestowed upon those able to compensate him for his services. His relations with the members of the profession were of the most harmonious and cordial character. He was entirely free from jealousy and was never a participant in those petty strifes that mar good feeling and bring reproach upon the faculty. To young practitioners he was kind, indulgent and helpful. He was al- ways ready to give them that assistance which they stand most in need of in the earlier years of their labors, namely the results of personal experience and observation.
It is believed Dr. Thomas contributed but little to medical litera- ture. A paper on Bilious and Remittent Fever, published in one of the medical journals was referred to favorably by Dr. Eberle in his book on Practice. Certain notes of cases that fell under his observation were also printed and were quoted by the same authority. He was not reluctant to discuss with his brethren matters relating to their common calling, and therefore it may be that any additions he may possibly have made to medical science or art became a part of the traditions or unwritten lore of the profession; for it is not to be supposed that a long life spent in the observation and treatment of disease was without its fruits.
Dr. Thomas was a Federalist, though he took no other part in politics than simply to deposit his vote for the candidates of his choice. He did not live to see his son raised to the chief magistracy of the State, though his parental pride was gratified by learning before his death of the nomi- nation of Philip Francis Thomas as the candidate of the Democratic party for the gubernatorial chair.
He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. An absence of all zealotry, the possession of a sound judgment, and the promptings, of an enlightened self interest made him liberal towards those who dif- fered from him in religious opinion. If he was harassed by those doubts which beset physicians generally, he had the discretion to conceal them, living as he did in a community deeply interested in spiritual things and therefore intolerant of skepticism. Dr. Thomas was one of the earliest members of the Masonic fraternity in this county, he having been among those admitted to the first lodge established in Talbot-by Dr. John Coates, the first grandmaster of the State of Maryland, origi- nally designated as Lodge No. 6, but subsequently as St. Thomas' Lodge No. 37. He was a warm advocate of the principles of Masonry and wrought earnestly for the advancement of the order.
444
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
Dr. Thomas was of medium height of slight, spare figure, of ruddy complexion, and of a countenance in which intelligence and kindliness of feeling were expressed. His appearance in old age inspired venera- tion and affection.
He was three times married: first in 1792, to Miss Gaddes of Wilming- ton, Del .; secondly in 1804, to Miss Mary Ann Goldsborough, of Talbot; and thirdly, in 1809, to Miss Maria Francis, of Philadelphia. Of the numerous children born to him these survived him: Philip Francis Thomas, Governor of Maryland, and the incumbent of many other civil stations of honor and responsibility; Dr. William Thomas at one time a much esteemed practitioner of Medicine in Easton; Mrs. Ellen Francis, the wife of the late James Lloyd Martin, Esq., a prominent member of the bar of Talbot county; Capt. Charles Thomas, now a retired officer of the United States Navy, and citizen of Baltimore; and Mrs. Henrietta Stewart, wife of Mr. V. D. Stewart, Pharmaceutist of Baltimore.
The body of Dr. Thomas lies buried at Easton in that portion of Spring Hill Cemetery which formerly was the burial ground of the Prot- estant Episcopal Church. Here no stone has as yet been erected over his remains, but his epitaph is written in the minds and hearts of the people among whom he lived. It were well if that people keep the inscription fresh and legible; for its perpetuation of his memory will prolong beyond the grave the usefulness of a life devoted to acts of humanity and will be its best tribute of homage and of gratitude.
HON. WILLIAM PERRY 1746-1799
Pride of family does not appear to have been sufficiently strong among those akin to the subject of this sketch to cause the preservation of those records of their ancestry which would enable the members of the living generation to justify by written record this sentiment which they now indulge. While they frankly acknowledge that whatever they have of this feeling of superiority on the score of descent is founded mainly upon traditions, they are not willing that these obscurely transmitted as they are shall be considered as illusory as many that are accepted without hesitancy by others as authentic, and as the chief support of claims to social distinction much more pretentious than they assert. The father of the subject of this sketch and the founder of the family in Maryland was William Perry (I) an Englishman by birth, who seated himself in Caroline county. He is reputed to have been one of the larg-
445
HON. WILLIAM PERRY
est land-holders of the Province, as well as the possessor of a great num- ber of slaves-a kind of property in his time greatly more valuable than broad acres. He and his wife, Ann, seem to have lived in a style cor- responding with their means with a kind of "rude pomp where the fashions of St. James were somewhat oddly grafted on the roughness of the plantation,"1 and dying left their vast estate to his three children, two daughters and a son. One of the daughters, Deborah, married Henry Dickinson, and the other Alex. Frazier, both of Caroline county. The son bore his own name and was he of whom it is now proposed to speak.
William Perry (II) was born August 24th, 1746. Nothing whatever is known of his early education, but that it was not neglected there is abundant evidence; that it was such as the ample means of his father could readily bestow and better than could be obtained in the neighbor- hood schools or academies is altogether probable. He may have been sent, like many of the sons of wealthy planters of that day, to England for the completion of his studies. If he embraced the profession of law there are no means of determining beyond what is tradited. He early contracted a marriage with Elizabeth the daughter of Jacob Hindman, Esquire, of "Kirkham" in this county (now called "Perry Hall" and still in the possession of a descendant, Mrs. Mary Hindman Perry (Muse) Cox, and the sister of the Hon. William Hindman, a member of Congress, and of Capt. James Hindman of the Continental Army.
After the marriage of Mr. Perry to Miss Hindman he removed to Talbot and purchasing the seat of the Hindmans upon Miles river, he made that his home giving to it the name it now bears, enlarging the mansion, adorning and beautifying the grounds, until it became one of the most charming residences of the county, a character which it main- tained down to a comparatively recent date and may again at any time assume when fortune smiles upon its present possessor. Here he engaged actively in agricultural pursuits, diversifying them, as was the custom of the gentlemen of the day, with politics, into which before and during the Revolution he entered with the ardor of a patriot and after with the passion of a partisan. His first official positions were held under the Proprietary Government. In 1774 we find his name mentioned as one of the Receivers of the Alienation fees or fines for Lord Baltimore. In the same year the records of the court here show him to have been one
1 See Parkman's "Montcalm and Wolfe" for a brief but admirable description of the Virginia gentry of the time-very appropriate to the same class in Mary- land. Vol. I, p. 30.
446
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
of the "Worshipful the Justices of Peace" for Talbot County, officers of more extended jurisdiction than that possessed in the present by those bearing the same name. This latter position he held up to the time of the displacement of the Proprietary and the institution of constitu- tional government in the State of Maryland. When the courts were reorganized under the Constitution of 1776 he was continued as a Justice of the Peace down to 1779 when he was retired. At the Convention of Delegates from the several counties that assembled at Annapolis, July 26th, 1775, Mr. Perry was chosen as one of a committee of eight gentlemen of known integrity from the Eastern Shore (there being a similar committee from the Western) to sign bills of credit which were to be issued for the encouragement and the promotion of the manufac- ture of salt-petre, the erection of a powder mill and other purposes, pre- paratory for the war that had already begun with the mother country. At the meeting of the Convention, November 9th, 1776, he was appoint- ed upon a committee for a similar duty-the signing of other bills of credit. On the 2d of July of the same year he was chosen by the Con- vention, in connection with Messrs. John Goldsborough and Henry Banning to hold an election of Delegates to a new Convention, whose special duty it should be "to form a new government by authority of the people only"-that is to say, to frame a Constitution. The election was accordingly held August 1st, the Convention met and the Consti- tution was formed. By this instrument he was named as one of the Judges of Election-the first election held under that great charter- in connection with Messrs. John Goldsborough and John Bracco. During the whole war of the Revolution he was an active and zealous patriot, aiding by his counsels and sustaining with his wealth the cause of independence, but he took no part in military operations.
After the conclusion of the war he entered actively into politics. The government of the State under the Constitution may be said to have been at this period inchoate, and the best minds found an ample field for the exercise of powers in giving order, firmness and consistency to the new organism. National parties under the Articles of Confedera- tion may be said scarcely to have had existence. In September, 1786, Mr. Perry was chosen by the electoral college one of the State Senators from the Eastern Shore having as his coadjutors Messrs. John Henry, William Hemsley, George Gale, William Paca and Edward Lloyd. Serving the constitutional term of five years he was again chosen sena- tor 1791 with Messrs. William Tilghman, William Hindman, Gustavus Scott and Edward Lloyd as his associates from the Eastern Shore.
0
447
HON. WILLIAM PERRY
Again he was chosen senator in 1796, with Messrs. Nicholas Hammond, Littleton Dennis, John Campbell, John S. Purnell and James Holly- day as fellow members from this section of the State. This was the fifth Senate chosen since the adoption of the present form of govern- ment, and it honored Mr. Perry by electing him its President; but be- fore the end of his term of service he died suddenly while in the active discharge of his duties as presiding officer of this most respectable assem- bly. During the time of his service in the senate many most important acts were passed by the General Assembly, and those may be particu- larly noted which relate to the new national government, to the reor- ganization of the judicial system, to the testamentary affairs, to the elections, to education and to religion. It is fair to presume, though testimony be wanting, that Mr. Perry who was certainly an enlightened statesman participated actively and efficiently in the work of legislation upon these subjects. When the county courts were reorganized under the act of 1790 he was appointed by the Governor and Council one of the Associate Judges for Talbot County, the date of his commission being January 17th, 1791. Talbot County court was within the Judi- cial district composed of Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's and Talbot counties. Mr. James Tilghman was Chief Judge, and Mr. James Tilghman, Jr., fellow associate Judge. Mr. Perry held this office but for two years when he resigned. When parties began to be formed upon the lines of national policy he allied himself with the Federalists, and in the end became a warm partisan ready to defend his principles, ab unquibus et rostro. The leaders of the two parties in this county, when they became de- fined, were William Perry of the Federal and Jacob Gibson of the Democratic or Republican as it was then called; and many are the stories related of their election conflicts which were not confined to loud and strong words but to hard and vigorous blows. A letter of William Perry to Nicholas Hammond, written from Annapolis but a few days before his death comments upon the Kentucky resolutions, 1799, just then before the legislature, and the Virginia resolutions of the year previous-those dragon's teeth of civil strife. There are those now living who will have a higher estimate of Mr. Perry's perspicacity as a politician than had many of his time when they learn that in these resolutions he was able to read of trouble to come to the nation.
Mr. Perry was an earnest, active, and in all probability an exemplary member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, serving as a member of the Vestry in St. Michaels parish from 1877 until his death. He was the first delegate sent from the parishes of this county to the Diocesan
448
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
Convention in 1790, and he served in the same capacity in 1792. He was a friend of popular education having been one of the trustees of Talbot Free School, a promoter of Washington College, Kent County, an institution from which so much was expected at the date of its organi- zation, and an active agent while in the Senate in securing the charter of the Easton Academy-one of the last services he rendered his county as appears from the letter already quoted. Mr. Perry, like many of the prominent gentlemen of his day, was a member of the Masonic Fraternity. He was the Secretary of a Lodge established in this county soon after or during the war of the Revolution under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania; and as a representative of this lodge he assisted in the organization of the Grand Lodge of Maryland at a Convention held for this purpose at Talbot Court House, or Easton, in July, 1783. By this convention he was elected Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, and was the first to serve in this capacity.
While in the active discharge of his duty as President of the Senate of Maryland, he was suddenly stricken with apoplexy, and expired on the 10th day of January, 1799. He was buried at Annapolis with no inconsiderable pomp as appears from the following account of his death and funeral printed in the Maryland Gazette, with the then cus- tomary marks of mourning:
Died on Thursday last in this city, in attendance on his legislative duties the Honorable William Perry, Esquire, late President of the Sen- ate of this State. His remains were interred on Saturday last, attended by the several departments and officers of Government, and a number of respectable citizens, in the following order:
Sexton,
Two Staff men. Staffs in mourning. Clerk, Clergymen, Physicians, Pall-Bearers, Undertaker, Hearse, Mourners, President Door Keeper
Messenger with staff in Mourning,
of the with staff in Mourning
Senate Members of the Senate,
Sargeant-at-Arms with Mace in Mourning, Speaker of the House of Delegates, Members of the House of Delegates,
449
HON. WILLIAM PERRY
Chief Clerk, Assistant Clerk, Governor, Council, Clerk, Chancellor, Judges of the General Court, Treasurers, Clerk of General Court and Court of Appeals, Registers of Chancery and Land Office, Auditor and Agent, Printer, Citizens-two and two.
Upon the meeting of the House of Delegates Jan. 12th, 1799 the following resolution was passed and entered upon the record of the proceedings :
RESOLVED: That the members of this House wear a scarf on their left arm for ten days in respect of the President of the Senate who died in attending the duties of his appointment. By order, William Har- wood, Clk.
No stone has ever been erected over his remains which lie undis- tinguished in the church yard of St. Ann's, Annapolis. No portrait of him exists but tradition relates that he was short in stature, stout in person, of florid complexion with blue eyes and light hair-a true representative of the English squire. He was fond of the pleasures of the table, companionable, of easy manners and deservedly held in much esteem as the possessor of many social accomplishments and the domes- tic virtues. His abilities were undoubtedly of a most respectable order fully equal to the discharge of his public functions. As has already been noted in this paper he married a Miss Hindman by whom he had two children, a son bearing his own name who living to maturity died childless, and a daughter who became the wife of Col. William B. Smyth, and who was without offspring. The son, William Perry, (III) at one period served as clerk to the Senate of Maryland. William Perry (II) married for his second wife Miss Sarah Rule, the daughter of George Rule, Head Master of the Talbot County Free School, a man of no contemptible literary attainments, a portion of which he imparted to his daughter who, according to family tradition, was a good Latin and Greek scholar. By this lady he had an only daughter who became the wife of Mr. David Kerr, Jr., the brother of the Hon. John Leeds Kerr, and subsequently of Dr. John Rogers. She was a woman of great strength of character, and has many descendants now living.
450
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
GENERAL LLOYD TILGHMAN
1816-1863
General Lloyd Tilghman, Confederate States Army, was born at "Rich Neck Manor," the present beautiful colonial country-seat of H. H. Pearson, Jr., near Claiborne, in Talbot County, Eastern Shore of Maryland, 30th of January, 1816. His parents were James Tilgh- man and Ann C. Shoemaker Tilghman, his grandfather Lloyd Tilghman was a son of Honorable Matthew Tilghman, who for half a century from 1740 to 1790 was one of the most prominent figures in the politi- cal annals of both the Province and the State of Maryland, and who was justly styled by the historian, McMahan, the patriarch of the Mary- land Colony. Matthew was a member of the First Continental Congress 1774, and of those of 1775, 1776 and 1777. He failed to immortalize his name as a signer of the Declaration of Independence by reason of the fact that he was called back to Annapolis in June 1776 to preside over the Convention which framed the first Constitution of the State of Maryland. He was speaker of the House of Delegates 1773, 1774, and 1775, and President of the revolutionary convention that from 1774 until 1777 controlled the Province, and directed the Government which had been wrested from Governor Robert Eden, the brother-in-law of the Proprietary, the last Lord Baltimore. His wisdom, courage, purity of character and ability won for him the name of the patriarch of Mary- land, and his influence was second to that of no man in forming the institutions and organizing the Government of the new State.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.