USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume I > Part 51
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At this home of "Perry Cabin," which has been imperfectly described, Mr. Samuel Hambleton and his brother Mr. John N. Hambleton amused themselves during the intervals of duty, none too frequent for men fond of the retirement of the country with the pursuits of agricul- ture which, for them, possessed the greatest attractions. Without the
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spur of necessity or the instigation of avaricious greed they sought the largest returns for the labor bestowed upon their lands, with a diligence not surpassed by any of their less favored or more covetous neighbors. Being men eminently conservative in their mental processes-signally free from illusions of any kind (it may be added with regard to persons as well as things)-they were not too ready to adopt new agricultural theories or novelties in practical farming. They followed established lines. Under their care and culture their lands were increased enormous- ly in productiveness, while their stables and stalls presented a like im- provement in their occupants. But they were not averse from experi- ments that seemed to promise good results either in methods of farming or with improvements in machinery; and these were undertaken or adopted no more for their own benefit than for that of their neighbors less favored by fortune who, dependent upon the yearly product of their farms, were deterred from venturing upon them by fear of failure. They introduced fine breeds of cattle into the county,10 and whenever they observed in foreign countries any peculiarities in the methods of tillage that they thought might be profitably adopted at home, or any productions of the soil that might be advantageously introduced into their own country, they were not forgetful of calling the attention of agriculturists to such methods or such products. Mr. Samuel Ham- bleton's Journal contains numerous observations upon farm subjects made while abroad. He was for many years a member of the Board of Trustees of the Maryland Agricultural Society for the Eastern Shore, and at the meetings of this club, the oldest of its kind in the United States, consisting of twelve of the most respectable gentlemen if not of twelve of the most practical and successful farmers of the county, he was ever the welcome guest or cordial host, and in all its enterprises for promoting the interests of that class of men in which he was fond of enrolling himself, he was the hearty, liberal and intelligent coadjutor. The sentiments entertained of him by the members of this club were well expressed and with more than usual truth and sincerity in a series of resolutions adopted after his death.
The home of Mr. Hambleton could be enjoyed by himself only when relieved from duty, but by his direction the house was always open and the same bountiful hospitality was dispensed by his sisters to kinsmen
10 Mr. John Hambleton introduced into this county the finest Maltese Jack that probably was ever seen in this country; certainly the finest that could be purchased upon the island of Malta at that time. "Peter Simple" acquired a national reputation.
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and friends during his absence as when he was present. He could not be called a social man in his disposition or habits. He did not possess convivial traits; but one kindly disposed as he towards his fellow men could not but enjoy the pleasures which he was instrumental in securing to others. Refined and intelligent company was never unwelcome. It may be remarked that his hospitality was such that no one was hum- bled by a display which he could not equal if he wished to reciprocate the kindness nor offended by a formality which is often suggestive of patronage or condescension. In other words it was simple and cordial. Always a bachelor, perhaps because he never had the assurance to ask a woman to marry him, he was an ardent admirer of the gentler sex and liked to show this admiration, when it was deserved, not by gallan- tries which insult while they flatter but by services and attention that reveal respect for their object. He was always a bachelor, but neverthe- less he seemed possessed of those feelings which are usually associated with the characters of husband and father only. He was fond of having young people about him, witnessing their amusements without partici- pating in them, listening to their light conversation though not sharing in it. The gratification of his benevolent feelings was not limited to extending hospitalities to his kinsmen and friends or to courtesies to associates and social equals. He regarded the poor as in a sense his constant guests-at least their wants were always to be supplied. His charities were performed without ostentation; he shrank from doing his kind acts openly. Indeed he often brusquely repelled the public importunities of poverty only to yield to them in private. He has been known bluntly to refuse a small gratuity asked for in the presence of others and then immediately to bestow many times the amount as it were by stealth. He made his sisters his chief almoners and directed that his benefactions should be continued when he was not present at home to direct them. The same kindly and benevolent feelings which made him hospitable to his friends and charitable to the poor also made him compassionate to his slaves. He never heard the precept of the Roman, but he followed it all the same-Call them slaves if you will, but remember they are men.11 While he was most strict in insisting upon obedience to orders, he was yet the most indulgent of masters and the most considerate. The work of his negroes was light, their food abun- dant, their clothing ample and their housing comfortable. He stood more in the relation of guardian than of master to them: and they were
11 Ut servos dicas homines tamen esse memento .- Dionysius Cato-De moribus.
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rather wards than slaves, their servitude being regarded as a kind of apprenticeship to fit them for the freedom which, though not expressly promised, they knew was to be bestowed upon them in good time; as it was in fact in many instances. In this case slavery was divested of most of its offensive features. Even its evil effects upon the master, the greatest of all its evils, seem to have been escaped by him; for it made him neither domineering, insolent, illiberal, unfeeling, violent, brutal, improvident, indolent nor ignorant, while it may have imparted an additional degree of dignity and graciousness to manners that were natural to him, and a certain elevation of sentiment that scorned the vulgar and mean as it did to many excellent men whom an inevitable destiny exposed to an influence not wholly pernicious. Feelings of the same order with those that made him hospitable to friends, generous to kinsmen, charitable to the poor, affectionate to the young, tenderly respectful to women, and indulgent to his slaves, also made him merci- ful to his humbler servants, the beasts of his stalls and fields, and even the fowls of his yard. Instances have already been given of this com- passion and others could be added if it were necessary quite as striking, if the mention of them did not involve a descent to the immundina of the farm. This was not a mere sickly or frivolous sentimentality, but a healthy, well grounded humanity-to use a very inadequate word to express the feeling of kindness towards brute animals. It would be well to note that justice mingled with compassion to direct the conduct of this gentleman in his treatment of his flocks, according to the writer in the American Farmer already quoted. This is an unusual but not an unsuitable term to apply to the relation which subsists between a man and his living property. No doubt Mr. Hambleton thought even his horse or his cow had rights which he was bound to respect; that the services his animals rendered to him founded a valid claim upon him which he in conscience was bound to discharge by the payment of prov- ender, by shelter, by kind treatment and the avoidance of all cruelty.12
Like most men of sturdy qualities of mind, Mr. Hambleton was pos- sessed of strong partialities and equally strong aversions or antipathies;
12 May we not regard this love and compassion for the brute animals as a sign of the highest development of the moral nature of man? It had its best illus- trations in the lives of two of the most saintly characters the world has produced, Gautama Buddha and Saint Francis of Assisi. The legends of the kindness to animals of these two great teachers and devotees are among the most touching and edifying that have been preserved by religious tradition. In this Jesus was surpassed by his predecessor and follower.
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but neither the one nor the other were formed without reason nor aban- doned without cause. He was gifted with a singular insight into the wills and ways of men, and from slight incidents in the speech or con- duct he drew accurate estimates of character. These were rarely at fault, so his judgments were rarely changed. It might be said he had strong prejudices; perhaps these were the instinctive operations of a right mind. He formed very decided opinions upon such subjects as gave him thought, and of those he was exceedingly tenacious, though he could respect the differing opinions of others when they were not clearly violative of honor and uprightness and were sincerely held. Though habitually silent or reserved he was not culpably so, for he could defend his positions whenever there was occasion for the assertion or defense of them. He possessed the very rare quality of being at once earnest and tolerant. He was not like most men indulgent only where they are indifferent.
For one who enjoyed so few opportunities for mental improvement in early life, his mind was singularly well cultivated and well stored. His conversation indicated that he had not been an unobservant traveller, nor a careless and frivolous reader. His library, which he had collected through no ostentation but for his own amusement or instruction, was made up of the best authors of the language, and the books showed they had been used. He was not inapt in the use of his pen, as his journal, his letters to his family from abroad, many of which were published without his procurement, and some finished sketches found among his papers after death, but never made public, fully attest. He never so far overcame his inveterate diffidence as to print anything of his own accord. His manuscripts, however, were sometimes handed around the ship among the officers for their amusement to relieve the tedium of long cruises or anchorages in dull ports; for sober and sedate as he usually appeared, he seems to have possessed at least in his earlier years, a delicate sense of humor and a happy faculty of expressing it as was shown by these literary sallies on ship-board.
The personal appearance of Mr. Hambleton was that of a well devel- oped man above the medium height and inclined to portliness. He carried himself erect and he moved deliberately, while his whole ap- pearance and bearing was such as to command deference and respect. He had a ruddy complexion, and his hair which was perfectly white in his age, was probably sandy in his youth. His eyes were grey, and shaded with heavy eyebrows. His other features were massive but not unrefined. His habitual expression of countenance was that of
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sternness, giving to strangers the impression of austerity of character, than which nothing could be farther from the truth. He was usually silent or reserved owing to no inordinate distrustfulness of others, but chiefly to an innate modesty and diffidence of himself which no commerce with the world could dispel. Yet it must be said he was prudent in speech. His manners were peculiarly mild, simple and ur- bane, as far as possible from ceremonious affection or pretension. He was scrupulously neat in his dress in which he retained old styles, but he wore no ornaments upon his person and only such marks of his rank in the service as either custom or rule prescribed. He was strictly temperate in his habits, but not abstemious in either diet or drink. His language was well chosen and always that of propriety without indeli- cacy or profanity, and his tone of voice was low as becomes and as marks the gentleman.
In early life he was a Federalist in his politics and when his party became extinct he acted with those opposed to the election and to the imperious rule of Jackson, whose part in causing great pecuniary losses to him, some years later, through the failure of the United States bank, had no tendency to reconcile him to the dominancy of a party upon which that great leader has left his impress, as the effigies of a Roman emperor upon his coin, and by which he has now been canonized as it were and made its patron saint. Mr. Hambleton subsequently became a Whig, uniting himself with a party which he conceived contained most of the public virtue and political intelligence of the country, and in connection with this party he died. It is due to him, however, to say that though the opinions he adopted were held with his inbred tenac- ity and persistency, he was by official position as well as by natural temperament disqualified for contentious partisanship. His earliest religious impressions were received from the Quakers through his mother, and these impressions were never entirely lost; but he found in the stately ritual of the Episcopal church the equivalent for the quiet order of the Friends, while its hierarchical system satisfied his methodical habits of mind and its decorum of worship suited his sense of the dig- nity of man and the supreme exaltation of the Deity. Besides it was the regulation church of the navy. It is known that he had the religious sentiment largely developed in him, but he scorned sanctimony. It is also known that unconsciously affected by his Quaker blood, or con- sciously controlled by his own reason, he contemned that obtrusive sacerdotalism which is constantly thrusting itself between man and his Creator, as well as that religious romanticism which is seeking
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to revive in the church, by the mimetic arts of the theatre, the medieval rights of a dying superstition. He was for many years a vestryman of St. Michaels parish, and contributed liberally to its support in the time of its necessities. He attended the public services with punc- tilious regularity when at home as on ship board, but it is believed he was not in full communion until a few years before his death. In the feebleness of declining years he found less difficulty in surrendering opinions he had strength no longer to defend, and in accepting others which he had in his vigor doubted or denied; and having no change to make in conduct that had always conformed to the laws of a strict morality, he consented to submit to the imposition of observances which he once thought useless or trivial; was formally received into the church and ever after obeyed her injunctions.
By the economy of a long life and by the judicious investment of ac- cumulations slowly made, Mr. Hambleton had been able to acquire a considerable fortune measured by the standards of his time and place. Through an agreement of years' standing with his brother that the longest liver should possess the property of the other, Mr. John N. Hambleton acquired nearly the whole estate. Mr. Samuel Hambleton gave small legacies to his sisters and others of his kin, and in addition to his bequests to Miss Lydia and Miss Louisa a home for their lives at the Cabin. He emancipated the only slave he possessed owing life service, and the terms of service of the remaining servants he abbreviated with the understanding that at the death of his brother they were to be absolutely and immediately free. It was also agreed between the broth- ers that the estate of both should be distributed by the survivor accord- ing to his judgment and preference, with some regard, however, to the wishes of the deceased, among their nearest relatives. This agreement was fully carried out by Mr. John N. Hambleton's will as far as this was possible, and from the bounty of these kindly men many a kinsman enjoys comfort and independence. The good wishes of the brothers Hambleton towards their negroes were accomplished without their interposition, for the State constitution of 1864 finally severed the bonds which the war had attenuated to a degree that they no longer possessed the strength to bind the slave to his master: but because the "wrath of man" was made to anticipate them in their benevolent purposes they should not be deprived of the credit of their good inten- tions. Many of these freed men remained with their former master, Mr. John N. Hambleton, until his death, receiving wages, of course,
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while he lived, and after his death bequests by will from his estate in recognition of their constancy and fidelity.
The infirmities of age had been giving him the usual premonitions of dissolution, nevertheless he died suddenly but without pain at his home, January 17th, 1851, and was buried with his forefathers at Martingham. In an obituary notice of his death which appeared in the county papers it was said:
In what regard he was held by his neighbors and friends, the universal sorrow and gloom produced among them by his sudden death, fully attests. Among his numerous and extended family connection, whilst human nature retains aught calculated to redeem it, he must be held in grateful and sorrowful remembrance for his many mild and noble vir- tues, his unostentatious bounty, liberality and good deeds, and for his unwavering kindness and affection to them all. The loss of such a man from a community is no ordinary calamity. Much more could be said in justice to the deceased, but his modest and retiring character and his aversion to any thing like eulogy upon such occasions repress the gush of warm feelings which press for utterance upon the heart, and withhold what is justly merited and might be properly bestowed.13
Other notices of his death were in the same strain of deep regret and laudation. Just before his death he had tendered his resignaton as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Maryland Agricultural Society for the Eastern Shore; of which he was for many years the presiding officer, but before any action upon this could be taken by that body he had passed away. At the meeting following his demise, a series of resolutions was passed by the Board in which, after declaring that he deserved to be honored for his "uncommon merits," "his distinguished honesty," "his unostentatious benevolence," his "bountiful charity" and his "gallantry" in battle, it was said:
that while entertaining a due sense of his public services, we, as peaceful cultivators of the soil, who have enjoyed his hospitality and indulged in the pleasures of social intercourse with him, prefer to contemplate the mild lustre of his character in the calm retreats of private life. Such was the faultless tenor of his way, such the urbanity and piety of the man that a whisper of scandal or calumny was never breathed against him. Few such men have ever lived and few been better prepared to meet the last dread summons.
Those who retain a memory of this excellent man-excellent, though neither hero, sage nor saint, but simple gentleman-will avouch these tes-
13 Written by Col. Sam'l Hambleton and now published from the Easton Gazette of January 25, 1851, with some verbal changes.
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timonials to his admirable character and conduct to be not the extrava- gant wails that affection ejaculates in the first moments of bereavement, seeking consolation for a loss by magnifying its greatness; nor the heightened expressions of respect which custom expects and sanctions when a community, deprived of a useful and honorable citizen pays exuberant tribute to his worth, flattering itself that it appropriates the merits which it praises; but a just apprizement of a life that illustrated the best virtues of our humanity. It is difficult for one who personally knew Mr. Hambleton to speak of him except in the language of pane- gyric, and yet, si quis piorum Manibus locus, si, ut sapientibus placet, non cum corpore extinguunter magnæ animæ, thus to speak of him is to offend his modest shade: therefore, in the words of another rather than by momentary praise let us honor him by our admiration, and if our natures allow, by our emulation.14
COLONEL SAMUEL HAMBLETON 1812-1886
Although the minds of this people had been somewhat prepared for the announcement of the death of our respected fellow-citizen, Col. Samuel Hambleton, by his protracted illness, yet the frequent alternations of his improving or declining health encouraged the hope that a life which, long as it was, had not passed beyond the verge of great old age would be still prolonged, and that he who in his vigor had possessed the admiration and esteem of this community would still remain to receive in his feebleness its affection and veneration. His active and honorable life was terminated by a peaceful and painless death, Dec. 9th, 1886. The demise of few men of this community would be more sincerely and widely lamented than was his. As a token of their re- spect for him as a neighbor and friend, and as a tribute to his merits as a prominent and useful citizen, a large concourse of people attended the ceremonies of his funeral at the parish church in Easton that had been draped in mourning by order of the vestry of which he had been for many years a member, and followed his body to its resting place in the cemetery near the town which had long been his residence.
Col. Hambleton belonged to an ancient and respectable family long seated in this county, the founder of which was William Hambleton, a Scotchman by birth. Its solar or original seat was that farm in the Bayside of Talbot, upon St. Michaels river, called Martingham, still in the possession of one of the name and stock and likely to remain 14 Tacitus, his Agricola, ad fin.
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for another generation at least-a rare instance in this country of a landed estate continuing for more than two hundred years in the same family. Mr. William Hambleton appears to have been a man of con- sideration in the early history of the county and province. He was probably the second sheriff of Talbot after its organization,-Mr. John Morgan being the first-at least he was commissioned High-Sheriff in May, 1663, and was succeeded in 1664 by Mr. Anthony Griffin. In 1668 he was appointed by the Governor one of the Worshipful the Justices of the Peace and Commissioners of the county of Talbot, whose position being among the most honorable was one of the most coveted by the colonial gentry. This place he held until 1675 when his name disappears from the record of the court. In 1666 he was one of the Burgesses sent from the county to the General Assembly of the province, and he continued to represent the county until 1675 when it is believed he died. Nothing more of this gentleman is certainly known; but if the doctrines of heredity be accepted as true, we may trace the characters of the fathers in their children as well as those of the children in their fathers; so we may readily attribute to this founder of the family some of the traits that mark his descendants, and a portraiture thus drawn would give a representation of him which would possess much that is admirable. After the first William Hambleton it does not appear that any member of the family held public office until a time within the recollection of many yet living, but although the occupancy of places of trust and responsibility was in our early history an evidence of social consideration-not as now a mark of doubtful worthiness-it was by no means the only evidence. The family has always been able through the possession of personal merit, by some members at least, to maintain the position of respectability in which its founder had placed it by his virtues and strength of character at the beginning.
The subject of this memoir was the fifth in descent from William Hambleton, the immigrant and founder. He was the son of Edward Needles Hambleton and Mary Sherwood, daughter of Hugh Sher- wood, of Waterloo. Of this very respectable gentleman a few lines will not be out of place, for he is very worthy of being remembered. He was born at the family seat of the Hambletons, Martingham, on the 20th of September, 1775. He received such education as was afforded at the time by the neighborhood schools, this being of the most elementary character; but having a natural love of letters, like many of his family, he greatly remedied the defects and deficiencies of his early training by a constant recourse to the best literature. Adopting agriculture
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as the avocation of his life, and marrying early, he settled at "Waterloo," a property now occupied by his grandson Mr. James Hambleton, which came to him through his wife; and for a number of years he gave himself diligently to the cultivation of land and to the rearing of fine stock, particularly horses of improved breeds. He subsequently moved to "Londonderry," an estate which he purchased near Easton, now (1886) the country residence of Admiral Febiger of the Navy. His farming, conducted with great skill and intelligence, was continued to the end of his life. At a time before racing had been discredited by being pursued by disreputable persons, Mr. Hambleton was an en- thusiastic turfman and kept his race horses. Some of the most cele- brated entries and winners of this and adjoining counties were from his stables. Like most country gentlemen of his day possessing means, he began early to vary the monontony of country life which then was less diversified than now by attention to politics, adopting as his party that which embraced the greater portion of the intelligence and wealth of this county and State-the Federal party. Of this he became an active and zealous partisan, so that opinions which he inherited in his youth were confirmed by a conviction of their truth and expediency in his maturity. His first appearance in public life was not a fortunate one, for having been nominated in the year 1811 by his party for a seat in the House of Delegates he was defeated. This was at a period of great political fervor, owing to foreign complications of the general gov- ernment which threatened war with Great Britain. The two parties in this county pretty equally divided the people, and the supremacy alternated for some years. In 1812 Mr. Hambleton was again nomi- nated by the Federalists for the Legislature, when he was elected by a satisfactory but not large majority. This was interpreted as meaning a protest against those measures of the party in power at Washington that favored the war then in progress. But in 1813 being again nomi- nated he was again defeated. In 1814 he was again elected and in 1815 again defeated and, finally, he was for the third time elected in 1816. Those who look for significance in these alternate successes and defeats of a candidate for popular suffrage are probably as simple as those who look for a rule governing the flight and the lighting of a flock of birds in the spring. In 1818 and 1819 he was appointed by the Governor one of the Justices of the Peace of the county, and in 1821 he was elected to serve three years as the High-Sheriff of Talbot. In 1830 he was appointed one of the three judges of the Orphans Court and was occupying this position in 1836 when he resigned to be succeeded
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