USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume II > Part 31
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And may we not be permitted in the exercise of that charity which "rejoiceth not in error but rejoiceth in the truth," and "which hopeth all things"-to indulge and to avow the hope, that many among us, who are now living in separation from the Church of their forefathers, will claim their birth-right as the heirs of promise. For a century and a half, all who professed and called themselves Christians, within the bounds of this parish, knew nothing but "the Doctrine and Sacraments, and the Discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded, and as this Church hath received the same." The very names which are now borne by the descendants of the first settlers and old residents, are to be found throughout our records. Though, in some cases, their immediate parents may have lived in separation from the Church, yet if they will go back, even to the second generation of their ancestors, they will find that they all belonged to the same holy fellowship. They will find also, that the only plea assigned by the first separatists, was the plea of necessity-that among the troubles and distractions of the times in which they lived, the ministry and sacraments of the church had been withdrawn from them. This reproach we have sought, and are still seeking to take away. St. Luke's, Queenstown, has been built. Old Wye Church has been restored and made free to all. This Church, built of old Chester bricks, has been enlarged to its utmost capacity of enlargement; and the additional accommodations which it affords, are now affectionately offered to those who will accept them, on their own terms.
And now, having thus far sought to perpetuate the work of those who came from a far distant land, bringing with them from the old country, where Apostolic hands had planted it, the Church of the Liv- ing God, may we not with propriety, must we not from duty, plead in its behalf and in their names, with those who occupy the homes they founded in what was then an untrodden wilderness of a new world,
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who inherit their honored names and the rich blessings which their piety has bequeathed. We do not ask them to follow their forefathers, whether they were right or wrong; but to cultivate that filial feeling which must tend, wherever it is cherished, to keep religion in all its essential features, what it originally was; which makes us one with those who have preceded us, as they were one with those who preceded them even to the earliest generation of their spiritual parentage. We only ask them so far to honor their fathers and their mothers, as to stand in the ways and see whether the paths in which they walked, are not, of a truth, "the old paths" in which all the generations of their fathers also walked, even from the Apostolic age; in a word, to inquire and learn whether the church of their fathers is not also the church of their fathers' God.
My beloved parishioners, children of pious ancestors, you have a fair land, a goodly heritage; but what most of all endears it to your hearts and makes it above price, is, that the dust of many generations of your sainted fathers and mothers mingle with its soil. Follow them, beloved, in all virtuous and godly living, that when your mortal remains shall be gathered unto theirs, your immortal souls may go to join them in the blessed rest of "the Spirits of the just made perfect," leaving behind you, as your best legacy to your children and children's children the blessings which God hath promised "unto thousands of them that love Him and keep His commandments."
The above Sermon by Rev. W. C. Crane was preached in St. Paul's Church, Centreville, the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, August 5th, 1855 and published later in compliance with the request of the vestry.
WHITE MARSH CHURCH SAINT PETER'S PARISH
There is no record extant of the date of the building of this old church but a mutilated Parish Register shows that a Mr. Joseph Leech was acting minister as early as 1690.
At a meeting of the vestry, March 7, 1709 O.S., bills for making ten new pews and the altering of several old ones, the making of a new pulpit and the repairs of the windows and chancel doors were presented and ordered to be paid to the amount of 5250 pounds of tobacco, and about this time a well was dug at the church for the use of those attend- ing and coming long distances.
The vestry records make no other mention of this church building, White Marsh, until the year 1722 when under date of April 3, we find the following minute:
"Then the vestry of the parish aforesaid agreed with Mr. Bayley to make 150,000 bricks at the rate of two hundred pounds of tobacco
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per thousand, and also to allow him five pounds of tobacco per centum for collecting the said tobacco." One year later, June 10, 1723, we find the following entry, "Then the vestry of the parish agreed with Benjamin Bullock to make 100,000 bricks, in order to build a church, at the rate of forty-eight pounds of tobacco per thousand, and the said Benjamin is to make them and burn them well, as also to have them made and burnt before the 31st day of October next ensuing, and the said vestry is to find 'Tendance and diet and lodging, and all other things neces- sary towards the performance of said work.'" At the same time the vestry contracted for plank one inch thick, at one pound of tobacco per foot, for corn at thirty pounds of tobacco per bushel, for having the folk's victuals dressed, one hundred pounds of tobacco per month, for the wages of two men to make bricks at four hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco per month.
April 6, 1724, the size of the church was made fifty-six feet in length and twenty-eight feet in breadth.
Under date of October 10, 1724, it is entered, "The Vestry agreed and it was ordered that the Register make an entry that Mr. Nicholas Lowe shall have all the vacant ground in St. Peter's Church between Mr. Robins pews and the chancel in order to build himself a pew upon the said ground."
In 1725-26 Mr. Samuel Chamberlaine was directed to go to Mr. Howard and get a lawful binding prescription towards the building of a new church in the said parish, which being obtained, was placed in the hands of the Register, to be circulated among the parishioners. The total sums subscribed were twenty pounds in money, 55,380 pounds of tobacco, five barrels of corn from Robert Welsh, and twenty pairs of shoes from William Thomas, subsequently a subscription for 5050 pounds of tobacco for the building of a chancel was made.
On June 8, 1726, an elaborately hand printed minute gives "An ac- count of subscriptions for building St. Peter's Church," and states that "the old church is much decayed and unfit for divine service."
Notwithstanding that contracts had been made for the burning of the bricks of which the church was to be built, it would seem that it was at last constructed of wood, and the size, finally determined upon by the vestry August 5, 1726, was fifty-five feet in length and thirty feet in width, with a pitch of fourteen feet. In January 1726-7 then agreed with Mathew Kirby to build a church at the west end of the old church and likewise drew articles with him for which the said Mathew is to have 45,000 pounds of tobacco and twenty pairs of shoes and he
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WHITE MARSH CHURCH
to find everything that is necessary for the outside work and to be paid at two payments viz: May 10, 1727 and June 30, 1728, the penalty was fixed at 14,000 pounds in case of failure of either party to comply with the contract the articles of which were delivered to Henry Bayley, Jr., Esquire. By a subsequent contract, Mr. Kirby agreed to build a gallery within the new church for which he was to receive 15,000 pounds of tobacco. The church had a chancel at the east end, as ap- pears by another minute. As stated above, the church was built of wood, though it is nowhere so explicitly stated, but there are several minutes of orders passed by the vestry that the outside of the church should be tarred, a custom common in this county at that time, when paint was not so cheaply purchased, and a minute of one order that it should be underpinned with cedar posts. This fact taken in connec- tion with the other that the contractor for the outside, Mr. Kirby, was a carpenter and not a mason may be sufficient. The church appar- ently was not finally and entirely completed until 1733, for on the 6th of June of that year, Mr. Kirby received the remainder of the tobacco due him for which he passed his receipt to the Rev. Mr. Maynadier and the vestry "in full of all accounts, debts, dues and demands what- soever from the beginning of the world to the day of the date hereof."
The interior of the old brick church must have been restored before the final contract had been made for building the new addition, namely on the 15th of June, 1728, for on that date we find the following entry on the vestry records.
Then were the pews in St. Peter's Church divided by lot among the several parishioners whose names are hereunder written:
No. 1 To CHARLES MARKLAND
2 THOMAS BOZMAN
3
66 DANIEL MAYNADIER
4 HENRY BAYLEY
5 THOMAS RICHARDSON
6 PHILIP FEDDERMAN
7
66 SAMUEL CHAMBERLAINE
8 WILLIAM AYRES
9 JOHN EDMONDSON
10 RICHARD GILES, since to MAT KEMP and CHARLES LOUD 11 RACHAEL TURBUTT
12 DOCTOR PORTER
13 WILLIAM THOMAS
14 PHILIP MARTIN and JOSEPH PARRATT
15
66 JOHN SHERWOOD
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
No. 16 To BENJAMIN PEMBERTON
17 NICHOLAS GOLDSBOROUGH
18 JOHN OLDHAM
19 WILLIAM WHITE
20 DANIEL BOYER, sold to WILLIAM HARRISON, Miles Creek.
21 THOMAS HARRISON
22 FRANCIS ARMSTRONG
23 THOMAS BULLEN
24 GEORGE ROBINS
25 WILLIAM ROBINS
Recorded by order of the Vestry, Wm. Rakes, Clk.
Again we find this minute in the vestry records 1730: The single pews in this parish church belonging by lot to the sundry persons under mentioned, the same is ordered to be entered accordingly.
1 HENRY BOWDLE
14
THOMAS PAMPHILION
15 MATTHEW JENKINS
3 GEORGE SHANNAHAN 16 THOMAS BARNETT
4 DAVID ROBINSON
17 EDWARD MAN SHERWOOD
5 LOFTUS BOWDLE
18 EDWARD FISH
6 WM. BARKER 19 JAMES WHITE
7 JOHN MULLIKEN 20 ARTHUR CONNER
8 SOLOMON ROBINSON 21 JAMES SHEPHERD
9 THOMAS WHITTINGTON
22 EDWARD NEEDLES
23 SAMUEL ABBOTT
24 JOHN CLIFT
25 THOS. DELAHEY
13 SHADRACH AND MESCHECK BODFIELD
The pew holders were to pay 500 pounds of tobacco for each pew and 30 pounds for the hinges to the door. In 1731 the church was ordered to be enclosed with palings with a church yard 200 feet in length and 130 feet in breadth, more or less, the pales to be well sapped and drawn. In 1745, immediately upon the assumption by the Rev. Thomas Bacon of his ministerial duties as rector of Saint Peter's parish there was such an increase in the attendance of the parishioners upon the public serv- ices that the church building at White Marsh, was insufficient to accommodate the people who had long been unaccustomed to such preachings as he was able to present to them, from week to week, for the late rector, the Rev. Daniel Manadier, however respectable he may have been in his life and conversation, had been officially represented as a horrid preacher.
Through the active efforts of Mr. Bacon quite a large sum was sub- scribed by the parishioners for the enlargement of the parish church.
10 PHILIP KERSEY
11 RICHARD DOVE
12 JOSHUA GRESHAM
2 WILLIAM DOBSON
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WHITE MARSH CHURCH
This addition, which was built of brick, was the third and last church edifice at White Marsh, and nearly doubled the seating capacity of the building. It was not completed, however, until 1750 and formed the nave to the old framed church, above mentioned, which made, as it were, a transept to the then new brick addition.
The vestry records make no further mention of any changes in the parish church from this time onward. With occasional repairs, notably in 1833, when they were extensive, it continued to be in a condition fit, but barely fit, for public services, which until the division of the parish were held here and at Easton on alternate Sundays. After that divi- sion, in 1856, and the building of the church in Trappe, services became less and less frequent in old White Marsh church, until about the begin- . ning of the civil war they were abandoned altogether.
In 1834 the much needed repairs to the church had been finished, and they were the last of any important character ever made. The chancel, which had been placed at the east side was removed to the north end, the arrangement of the pews was changed and a vestry room built at the north end. On February 3, 1834, the vestry proceeded to distribute the pews by ballot among the parishioners. The following list of pew holders indicates the families still attending the services at White Marsh church at the above date, Nicholas Goldsborough, Anna Maria Tilghman, Richard Trippe, Edward Martin, Samuel Stevens, Rev. Thomas Bayne, Theodore Loockerman, Thomas Worrall, Thomas Hayward, Harriet Martin, Thomas Coward, James Lloyd Chamberlaine, Robert Delahay, Josiah Rhodes, Thomas Baker, Samuel T. Kennard, Martin Goldsborough, William R. Trippe, Joseph Mar- tin, Mariah Goldsborough, Nicholas Martin, Nicholas Thomas, Mary Clare Martin, Robert Henry Rhodes, Mrs. Chaplin. Later, the fol- lowing names appear as pew holders, John Goldsborough, John Bullen, William R. Hughlett, Samuel Banning, William H. Groome.
Among the last minutes of the registry of the vestry of Saint Peter's parish, having reference to old White Marsh church, is one relating to the ancient burial ground surrounding this church. It is dated August 4, 1845, and reads as follows: "On motion, Resolved that the parishioners be requested to meet at the parish church, with their hands, carts, grub- bing hoes and axes for the purpose of cleaning up the churchyard on Wednesday 27th of August, if fair; if not, the next fair day." This yard from the time of the building of the first church, soon after the formation of Talbot into a county in 1660, had been used as a public cemetery. Some of the most considerable people of the parish had
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
here been interred, as well as many of the poor; but few of the head- stones that marked the graves of the neighborhood gentry remain, the most notable one of which is the tomb stone of Robert Morris, father of the Revolutionary worthy of the same name, who died July 12, 1750. This grubbing and cleaning up of White Marsh graveyard was repeated occasionally, from time to time until 1897, when the fire from the burn- ing brush that had been burnt near the old church was blown by a sud- den windstorm onto the roof of the old deserted building and burned it to the ground.
A service had been held in this church on that occasion by the Rt. Rev. Wm. Forbes Adams, Bishop of Easton, and an address on the life of Robert Morris, Senior, had been delivered by Col. Oswald Tilghman, who also read, from the original manuscript, a paper which had been read, on the same spot, by his grandfather, Mr. Tench Tilghman, eighty- five years before when he was conducting the services as lay reader in St. Peter's parish.
There are sunken graves and wrecks of tombs under the shadow of these charred walls, some of which date back to 1667. Here lie the ashes of many of the first settlers of Talbot County, and their neglected graves are a mute reproach to their descendants, many of whom appar- ently cherish neither reverence for their memories, nor respect for their virtues.
THE OLD CHAPEL AT KING'S CREEK
For a parish of the territorial extent of St. Peter's it became neces- sary, as settlements extended in sections of the county remote from the parish church, that additional places of worship should be provided. The clergy uniformly opposed the division of the parish, in as much as that would result in the diminution of their stipends; so that expedient was adopted of erecting a chapel of ease in the upper portion. The first indication of the existence of any such chapel is contained in a minute of a vestry meeting held October 5, 1731, Mr. Daniel Mayna- dier being rector. The minute is as follows: "The vestry agrees to give George Sprouse, for cleaning and sweeping the chapel at King's Creek, a hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco for this year and every year ensuing that he shall do the same service." It is presumable, in the absence of any previous reference to the existence of this chapel, that it had been recently erected. Its site had been definitely ascer- tained, though the structure long since disappeared. It was situated at or near the small cross roads village known as Chapel, about five miles north of Easton, in the election district which, with the village, derives its name from this humble house of worship. Formerly this place was called Williamsburg, or Barwicksburg, or Forktown, but its present designation has been the most permanent. The chapel was upon the land now owned by Mr. John H. Pratt, and remains of it are pointed out to this day. Little is said of it in the vestry records, but at one time it was customary to elect one of the church wardens from its vicin- ity, who had charge of it. We have seen that George Sprouse was made sexton in 1731, and a minute of the records names Joseph New- man as holding this office in 1752, upon a salary of four hundred pounds of tobacco per annum. Sarah Winter was sexton in 1771, and Daniel Christian in 1772 and 1774, according to the account book of the vestry of those years. In 1762 it is called the Tuckahoe Chapel, and in 1765 George Duling was paid for repairing it, and for the same service Levin Spedding was paid in 1775. On petition an act was passed by the General Assembly of 1770, entitled "An Act for the establishment of a chapel of ease in Saint Peter's parish, in Talbot County" by which "the justices are empowered, from time to time, on application of the vestrymen and wardens to assess any sums of tobacco, not exceeding 10 lbs. per poll for repairing and supporting a chapel erected some years
291
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
since by voluntary contribution; and the said chapel is established as a chapel of ease to the said parish; and the incumbent is required to perform service there every third Sunday." Nothing more seems to have been accomplished under the provisions of this act than to effect some repairs.
In 1779, although there was no rector, the vestry gave notice that on Sunday, July 11, there would be service and a sermon read at the parish church, and at the chapel the Sunday following. In 1790 the chapel seems to have been abandoned, and services for the upper part of the parish were held in the Court House at Easton alternately with those at White March Church. There is ground for believing the serv- ices at the chapel had been irregular or at greater intervals than two weeks anterior to this date. On the 3rd of October, 1791, "The vestry adjourned to meet at the church on Monday, the 17th inst., for the pur- pose of consulting the parishioners respecting the petition to the next General Assembly for disposal of the Glebe lands and the remains of the Old Chapel." A record in the clerk's office of the county bearing the date of 1795, speaks of "the road leading from where the old chapel formerly stood." Could it be that there were two buildings at different times? In the replies of the vestry to certain queries as to the condi- tion of the church, made in 1797, we have this description of the deser- tion, the decay and final disappearance of the chapel: "Six or seven years back, the vestry learning that it was abused to vile purposes, adjourned to meet at it, the next vestry day, and advertised the neighbor- hood of the meeting, and that if they would contribute to keep it in order and employ a minister, both would be done. The doors of the chapel were found to have been let stand open and that horses and cattle had sheltered in it. Also from joiner's shavings and chips lying in it, it was seen that it had been used as a work shop.
The roof was in bad condition, the walls much cracked, the windows broken, the floor damaged, but the pew work in tolerable good state of preservation. On the pulpit was written with chalk, something like a pasquinade-"Alas poor Parson." The vestry finding the Chapel in the order described and the neighbors not attending, except two, who said they came through mere curiosity and had nothing to propose, talked about the improbability of its being repaired and again preached in, and that the inside work would answer for one at Easton (which a subscription was then on hand to procure the building of) the con- sequence was that in a little time the neighborhood began to pull the inside to pieces and parts of it were to be seen dispersed about as covers
.
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THE OLD CHAPEL AT KING'S CREEK
for goose pens, and chicken coops, as scaffoldings for new buildings and a store was said to be fitted up with shelves out of it. As soon as the breaking up was known of, a written complaint was made to the county court, and by the court was delivered to the prosecutor. Noth- ing was ever done, and at present such total destruction has been made that not the least appearance of a chapel remains. By 1808 the very ruins had been appropriated by Mr. William Barwick, and his executor was asked to pay for the bricks of the chapel the deceased had used, whatever was right and proper. Thus this little house of worship dis- appeared from view, and its very site is unknown except to the curious antiquary or the pious pilgrim.
By an Act of Assembly of 1785 the village at the Court House of this county was organized as a town, and was called Talbot. By the sub- sequent acts of 1788 and 1789 the name was changed to Easton and a court house was directed to be built there for the accommodation of the general court, as well as the court of the county. But the act of 1790 may be said to constitute the charter of this town, and in the preamble to this it is recited that it had considerably increased in houses and inhabitants. To furnish to these inhabitants the services of the church without the inconvenience of travelling to White Marsh, a distance of eight miles, the rector and vestry of St. Peter's parish insti- tuted services in the Court House, and there for a number of years they were held. The precise date of this institution is nowhere men- tioned in the records, but it must have been during or soon after the war of the revolution, probably in or about the year 1790, for we find under the date of May 3 of that year the following record on the books of the vestry: "The vestry determine that the clergyman to be appointed [to succeed Mr. Gates] shall preach in White Marsh Church and the Court House alternately." This indicates that the Chapel of Ease had been abandoned and that Easton had been made the place for holding service in the upper part of the parish.1
1 See Act Assembly, Chap. LXXX to tear down and rebuild parish church; also to ascertain bounds of parish.
THE OLD BRICK CHURCH ON HARRISON STREET, EASTON
Projects had been formed as early as 1797 to erect a new church in the growing town of Easton, and in 1799 this project had so far been carried into effect that a lot of ground had been purchased by the ves- try of Samuel Baldwin on Harrison street at the corner of Baldwin's alley, having a front upon the former of fifty-six feet, and a depth of sixty-four feet on the latter. An addition was made to this lot in 1817, when Mr. Richard Harwood, who had been appointed the trustee for the settlement of the estate of Mr. Baldwin, by the Court of Chancery, conveyed a lot adjoining that originally purchased, having a front of thirty-three feet, six inches, on Harrison street, and a depth of seventy- eight feet, to the rector and vestry of St. Peter's parish, and in the con- veyance acknowledged the title of that body, to the lot sold by Bald- win. In 1800 a committee of the vestry consisting of David Kerr, Henry Nicols, Jr., George R. Hayward and John Goldsborough, Jr., Esquires, was appointed to superintend the erection of the new church. The funds were derived from the sale of the pews, and these gentlemen in July, 1800, through the newspaper notified the purchasers that they are resolved "to proceed without delay and inclose the church," pro- vided the monies due shall be paid by the first day of August, when it is proposed "to begin the walls." The amount received seeming to have justified the beginning, for we find in the Maryland Herald of Sat- urday, August 26, 1800, the following: "On Wednesday last was laid the foundation of a new church in this town. The order pursued on the occasion was as follows: At the usual hour in the afternoon a numer- ous and very respectable congregation assembled at the Court House, where divine service was performed by the Rev. Wm. Keene and suit- able and impressive discourse delivered by the Rev. Mr. Rigg. The con- gregation then proceeded, with the clergy and vestry of St. Peter's parish preceding, to the place intended and prepared for the sacred building; when in the presence of a multitude of spectators, whose countenances bespoke the pious feelings of their hearts, the corner stone was laid by that aged vestryman and venerable man, Saml. Chamberlaine, Esq. The 122d Psalm sung with devout animation and a prayer adapted to the occasion by the Rev. Mr. Rigg closed the solemnity. We cannot withhold the natural expressions of that satisfaction which must arise
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