USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume II > Part 49
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8 One curious provision of this law was that "no ordinary keeper whatsoever shall credit any such sailors" namely tipplers and those who spend all their wages and then run away from and desert their ships "to the neglect of their respective commanders and prejudice to the dispatch of any ship or vessel thereby" for more than five shillings, during any one voyage, under a penalty of losing his debt and being fined to his Lordship five pounds sterling-one half to be paid to the . county school and one half to the informer.
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son he shall pay a penalty of 5,000 lbs. of tobacco, one-half of which should go to the schools and the other to the informer.
At this session of 1717, also, there was passed an act supplementary to "an Act (of 1704) for the limitation of officers' fees" the preamble of which was to this effect: that "several and respective officers write their accounts of fees in such short abbreviated words" that the per- sons who have to pay these fees "cannot by any means satisfy them- selves for what the said fees become due." It is provided by this act that the officers "whose fees are due upon execution shall and are obliged to draw out the particulars of their fees in a fair legible hand, and the words at full length," under a penalty of 500 lbs. of tobacco, one-half to go to the support of the Free School at Annapolis and one- half to the informer. In 1731 a similar act required Clerks and Regis- ters to furnish copies of costs written in legible hand, and in words of full length, under a penalty, for neglect to do so, of 2,000 lbs. of to- bacco, one-half the fine to go to the school of the county where the offense may be committed, and one-half to the informer. A subse- quent act made lawyers as well as public officers liable to the same penalty for writing their accounts of fees in short abbreviated words. The last act of this year 1717 which was so prolific of laws favoring the schools, was a private act "for the better security of Mary Smith- son, widow and executrix of Col. Thomas Smithson, in the payment of a debt from the said Col. Smithson's estate to the Free Schools." Col. Smithson was a very distinguished citizen of this county, who after holding some of the most conspicuous and responsible positions in the provincial government died here, at his residence (on the farm near Easton, now commonly known as the "Glebe," for the reason that he bequeathed it to St. Michaels' parish for the support of its minister) about April 1, 1714. It would seem that he had in his pos- session at his death a considerable sum of money belonging to the school fund, which he had collected in his several official capacities. By his will he devised his farm or plantation called "Surveyor's Forest," consisting of six hundred and fifty acres, in Dorchester County, with all the stock, farming inplements and negroes, after the death of his wife to the Free Schools provided the Rector, Governors and Visitors would release his estate from a portion of the debt due to them to the extent of five hundred dollars, to be paid to his sister, then in Eng- land. The will is obscurely written, hence, probably the necessity of a law "for the better security of his widow and executrix." This landed property came finally into the possession of the school officers, and in
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
1720 an act was passed enabling them to sell it, and ordering them to invest the proceeds in good securities for the benefit of King William's School, the income from which should be used in the payment of the master or masters and usher, and for no other purposes whatever.
In 1719 an act entitled "an Act for the better supporting the dig- nity of magistrates in the administration of justice within this prov- ince" was passed, the object of which was the correction and punish- ment of attorneys a'nd the officers of the courts for their misdemeanors and unbecoming conduct to the judges on and off the bench, or to use the phraseology of the law, to punish those "who shall use any indecent liberties towards the several magistrates and justices of the several courts within the province . to the lessening the gran- deur and authority of their respective courts." Any person thus offend- ing was fined 2,000 lbs. of tobacco, if the offense was committed in a lower court, and 4,000 lbs. if in a higher. If the indignity was shown to a justice out of court, yet in the discharge of duty, the offender might be imprisoned two days, or required to sit in the stocks two hours, and pay a fine of 1,000 lbs. of tobacco. The whole fine in these in- stances was appropriated to the public school of the county where the offense was committed. In the same year "a Supplementary act for causing Grand and Petit jurors and witnesses to come to the Pro- vincial and County courts, and ascertaining their allowances," was passed. It would seem that beside a small per diem allowance from the public fund to jurors and witnesses, suitors or court were permitted to give to such juries as tried their respective cases a kind of donative. The law recites that some persons having much business with the courts "have endeavored to raise general expectation in jurors of larger dona- tions from them than from their adversaries, thereby endeavoring to incline them to their favour." This act provides that not more than one hundred and twenty lbs. of tobacco, or twelve shillings in money should be given to any jury, sworn in any cause, and if any suitor should give more than these sums, he should forfeit 6,000 lbs. of tobacco, if his case should be in the provincial court; and 2,000 lbs. if in the county courts; one-half the amount to go to the support of the public schools, and one-half to the informer. In 1760 this law was modified, so that the donative should not exceed ninety-six lbs. of tobacco, or about four dollars of the money of the present time.
In 1722, by an Act entitled "An Act for preventing the destroying the boundaries or bounded trees, etc." a penalty of 5,000 lbs. of tobacco was laid upon all such persons as should violate the provisions which
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are sufficiently set forth by the title of the law; one-half the fine to be paid for the support of the public schools, and the other to the informer.
In this rapid survey of the legislation whose secondary object was the formation of a fund and revenue for the support of public schools, we reach in chronological sequence, that act under which was founded the free school of Talbot County, namely, the act passed October 26, 1723, and entitled "An act for the encouragement of learning, and erecting schools in the several counties of this province." The pre- amble sets forth that
Whereas the preceding Assemblies for some years past, have had much at heart the absolute necessity they have lain under, in regard both to duty and interest, to make the best provision in their power for the liberal and pious education of the youth of this province, and improving the natural abilities and acuteness (which seems not to be inferior to any) so as to be fitted for the discharge of their duties in the several stations and employments they may be called to and em- ployed in, either in regard to church or state, and for that end an imposi- tion on sundry commodities exported out of, and others imported into this province, and other fines, for raising a fund for the erecting and supporting a good school in each county within this province, which has succeeded with such desired effect, that it is now thought necessary and it is prayed that it may be enacted,
that one school be erected in each county, at such place as may be se- lected by the visitors; that seven persons for each county be appointed and are hereby nominated, viz., for Talbot County:
THE REV. HENRY NICHOLLS, MR. ROBERT GOLDSBOROUGH,
COL. MATTHEW TILGHMAN WARD, MR. WILLIAM CLAYTON,
ROBERT UNGLE, EsQ., MR. THOMAS BOZMAN,
MR. JOHN OLDHAM;
that these visitors meet with all convenient speed; that they qualify themselves by taking the oaths prescribed by the Act of Assembly, signing the oath of abjuration, and the test, and an oath faithfully to discharge the trust committed to them; that the visitors consti- tute a body politic, with power to hold lands, tenements and other property and to dispose of the same, also to receive gifts, portions, annuities, etc., to the amount of one hundred pounds sterling per an- num, for the use of the schools; that they have the power of perpetual succession; that they be authorized to make laws, orders and rules for the government of the schools; provided that they be in no wise contrary to the royal prerogative, nor the laws and statutes of England
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and Acts of Assembly of this province, or the canons and constitution of the Church of England, by law established; that they be empowered to purchase lands to the extent of one hundred acres, and to erect the necessary school and farm buildings thereon; that they
be likewise directed to take all proper methods for the encouraging good school masters, that shall be members of the Church of England, and of pious and exemplary lives and conversations, and capable of teaching well the grammar, good writing and the mathematics, if such can conveniently be got, and they allow every such master for his en- couragement, for the present (besides the benefit and use of this plan- tation) the sum of twenty pounds per annum, and take such other measures. as may give due encouragement to one or more masters and be perpetuating the school;
that they be required to meet four times a year; that the money which had accumulated in the Treasurer's hands should be divided into twelve equal parts, corresponding with the number of counties and the schools to be set up, and that the visitors of each school be authorized to draw from the Treasurer one such part to be applied to the uses of that school, and that thereafter as the funds should accumulate they should be al- lowed to draw each one-twelfth part annually; that the visitors be empowered to hold property, howsoever acquired, to the amount of fifteen hundred pounds, sterling: that they be required to choose a register, and keep an account of their proceedings, subject to an exam- ination and correction by the General Assembly; and that, finally, if any person appointed visitor shall refuse to take upon him that office, he should be fined 500 lbs. of tobacco for the use of the school of that county in which the offense had been committed. This law was amended by an act of 1728, so that the board of visitors might supply the vacancies in its own body, caused by a person's refusal to serve; also so that as many children of the poor should be taught gratis, as the board of visitors should order.
It was under this law of 1723 that the Talbot County Free School was organized and here the account of this school might properly be introduced; but to make this review of the laws relating to the fund for the support of public schools complete, those passed subsequent to this date will be noted. In 1724, by an act for the limitation of of officers' fees, etc., it was made penal for sheriffs to refuse to discount drafts on the tobacco held in their hands, or for making a charge for discounting such drafts, in the sum of 2,000 lbs. of tobacco, one-half of which went to the schools and one-half to the informer.
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In 1725, "an Act to prevent several irregularities complained of by the people called Quakers," was passed, of which this is the preamble:
"Whereas it is humbly represented to this present General Assembly, by the persons called Quakers, that sundry persons set up booths, and sell drink and other things near their yearly meeting houses within this Province, whereby those places which were by them intended and used as places of solemn worship, are converted into places of traffick, debauchery and immorality, to their very great disturbance in the exercise of their religion and the worship of God." It was therefore enacted that "whosoever shall presume to set up a booth, or sell or dispose of any liquor or other matter or thing whatsoever, either by land or by water within one mile of the yearly meeting house of the said people called Quakers in Talbot county, or within two miles of their yearly meeting house near West river, in Anne Arundel county, during the time of such meetings shall forfeit and pay ten pounds cur- rent money of Maryland, one-half to be applied to the use of the pub- lic school in that county where such offense shall be committed, the other half to him or them that shall sue for the same.
This law was modified by the act of 1747, extending the limits to three miles, within which liquors, etc., should not be sold. This act also recites other grievances of the Quakers, namely, the holding horse races near their meeting house in Talbot County, and the "tumultuous concourse of negroes," at the times of the yearly meetings at the places indicated. By this act the penalty for the offences noted, including horse racing, was fixed at five pounds currency, to be applied as in the act of 1747. This law was explained by the act of 1752, and several times extended, when about to expire by limitation, by other acts.
In the year 1729 "an Act for raising a duty of three pence per hogs- head on all tobacco exported out of the province for the uses therein mentioned," appropriated one-half the revenue derived from this source to the uses of the Governor, and one-half to the use of the county schools. This law expired by limitation in 1732, was renewed and finally expired in 1739. In this same year, 1729, an additional and supplementary act to several previous acts for the "administration of justice in testa- mentary affairs, provided that balances of intestate estates, where there was no legal representatives, were to be paid over to the Visitors of the public schools; but if a legal representative should appear, these Visitors were required to refund the amount they had received."
By an act of 1730, entitled an "Act for the preservation of the breed of wild deer," it was provided that the penalty of 400 lbs. of tobacco should be paid for killing a wild deer between certain dates of the year,
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the fine to be divided equally between the informant and the public schools.
In 1747 the towns of Princess Anne and Oxford, as other towns had been previously, were allowed by Act of Assembly to impose a fine of 100 lbs of tobacco upon any person permitting their geese or swine to go at large within their limits, one-half to go to the public schools and one-half to the informant. In the same year a penalty of £10 currency was laid upon any clerks or other persons who should re- move any public records from the proper offices "between the hours of XI at night and VI in the morning," one-half the fine to go to the public schools, and one-half to the informant. The next year this law was modified so far as related to the removal of the records, but imposing a fine of 600 lbs. of tobacco upon any clerk who should absent himself from his office from 9 o'clock in the morning until sunset, to be divided as above related.
In 1763, an Act was passed imposing an additional duty of two pounds per poll on all negroes imported into the province. For violations of this law a penalty of ten pounds, currency of Maryland, was imposed upon the offender, one-half of which was paid to the informer and one- half to the visitors of the public school.
There were many other Acts of Assembly which were made in the interest of particular county schools, but inasmuch as this is not in- tended to be a complete history of education in the Province of Mary- land, these have been omitted, as have all Acts of a post revolutionary date. None have been included in this review but such as relate to the schools of the province in general or to the Talbot County school in particular. A complete and full history of education in Maryland is yet a desideratum.
After this survey of the laws by which funds for the support of free schools were expected to be realized, it is now necessary to revert to that one under which the Talbot Free School, and all other schools of the same class within the province, except King William's School, were organized. It has been seen that under the Act of 1696 a provision was made for founding two schools, one for each of the divisions of Maryland, that for the Western Shore at Annapolis, and that for the Eastern Shore at Oxford. Without doubt the failure to establish the school at Oxford was owing to a deficiency of means, the imposts upon commodities, and the fines for offenses having failed to realize more than sufficient to maintain the school on the Severn. But by the year 1723 funds, in tobacco or money, had so far accumulated under the
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various Acts of Assembly, already quoted, that the establishment and maintenance of a school in each county was considered feasible; and as has been shown, trustees or visitors were by this act nominated and appointed for each of the counties to carry into execution its provi- sions. Those for Talbot have already been named. It does not appear that for several years anything more was accomplished by these gen- tlemen than the taking the necessary preliminary steps towards the purchase of a farm upon which to locate the school. The place was left to the selection of the visitors, with this legal proviso only, that it should be near the center of the county. The board of visitors selected as satisfying these conditions and others prescribed by the nature of the institution, a parcel of land lying between the waters of Third Haven and Saint Michaels Rivers, at a point where they very nearly approach, very near the center of the county, on the main road lead- ing from the lower part of the county, called Bayside, to Talbot Court House, now called Easton. This land is now a part of the farm owned by Joseph R. Price, Esq., and was once the residence of Col. William Hayward. It is a part of a large tract called Tilghman's Fortune, patented by a Capt. Sam'l Tilghman, and lay not far from the house where the first Quaker meeting house erected in Talbot County was built. The following is an abstract of the deed of this property:
This Indenture made this twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord God, one thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven (1727-8) between John Sutton of Talbot county in the Province of Maryland, cooper, and Sophia, his wife, of the one part and Henry Nichols, James Hollyday, Michael Howard, Robt. Goldsborough, William Clayton, Thomas Bozman and John Oldham, of the same county and province, Visitors of a school founded and hereafter to be erected in the same county, of the other part, Witnesseth: that the said John Sutton, and Sophia, his wife, for and in consideration of the sum of Fifty-two pounds current money of Maryland, to them in hand paid before the executing of these presents, have granted bargained and sold, alieniated enfeoffed and confirmed to the said H. N., J. H., M. H., R. G., W. C., T. B., and J. O., and their successors to the use of the same school, a certain parcel of land, part of a greater tract of land called Tilghman's Fortune, situate, lying and being in Talbot county aforesaid, between Saint Michaels river, and Third Haven creek, and near a cove called Betty's Cove: beginning &c., &c., and containing one hundred acres of land, together with all edifices, buildings, &c.
This deed was certified before George Robins and Rezdon Bozman, two of the Justices of the Peace, or Judges of Talbot County court.
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Upon the farm thus purchased the visitors erected such buildings as were necessary, regard being had, to the boarding of a part of the pupils as enjoined by law. Of the organization of the school under such "rules and orders" as the visitors prescribed for the government of "the Master, the Usher, the Tutor and the Scholars" nothing is known. That the school was intended to be something more than a primary or elementary school is clear from the curriculum laid down in the Act of Assembly, namely, "Grammar, good writing, and Mathematics." From the preamble to the Act of Assembly of 1782 authorizing the establishment of Washington College upon the foundation of the Kent County School, it is clear that this school had departed from the origi- nal plan in regard to the course of study as laid down in the Act of 1723, and that it had become an academy of high order, in which the Latin and Greek languages were taught. It is altogether probable the other county public schools had made similar changes and progress by the introduction of the same studies, and such others as are usually associated with them in the advanced education of youth. It is not likely that the Talbot school was of lower grade than the Kent school, in its latter years at least. In selecting a competent teacher, no doubt the visitors encountered the difficulty suggested by the phraseology of the law, "if such can conveniently be got." This difficulty was a common and a lasting one in the province. It cannot be said that it has disappeared even to the present day, notwithstanding the number of professional schools for the training of teachers, and the better pay that is extended to them. But there is good ground for believing that the Talbot county free school was better supplied with good teachers than the private subscription schools which were often filled by indentured servants, and even convicted criminals,9 from the cus- tom of employing the curates and readers of the parishes of St. Michaels and St. Peter's as masters of this school. The vestry records indicate as much, for the mastership is occasionally offered as additional induce- ments to educated men to accept the curacy in one or the other of these parishes. The names of but two teachers have reached us. Mr. George Rule is commemorated in our records for his skill and excell- ence, but Mr. George Ewings for his rascality. The following advertise- ment from the old Maryland Gazette of Aug. 16, 1745, pillories the latter:
9 Bampfylde Moore Carew, the King of the Beggars, as he was called, came to Talbot as one of these unwilling immigrants, and the Captain of the ship that brought him over, recommended him to a planter of Bayside as "a great scholar and an excellent school master."
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Ran away from Talbot county school on Monday the 5th day of this instant August, George Ewings, the master of the same school, who took away with him a negro man, named Nero, and two geldings, the one of a grey and the other of a black color, the property of the Visi- tors of the same school. The said Ewings is an Irishman, of a middle stature and thin visage, is marked with the small pox and has the brogue upon his tongue. Whoever apprehends the said Ewings, negro and geldings, so that they may be had again, shall receive five pounds, current money of Maryland, as a reward, paid by the Visitors of the said school. Signed per order,
Aug. 7th, 1745.
WILL. GOLDSBOROUGH.
The salary paid to the teachers was twenty pounds (or fifty-three dollars and thirty-three cents of the money of the present time) and the use of the school farm-an insignificant sum, but doubtless regarded then as really munificent. It is probable the master was allowed to charge a tuition fee for instructing those able to pay, but was required to receive as many charity pupils as the visitors should designate. There is nothing in the law indicating that this was anything but a free school, but previous laws upon which this was based show that there was a charge for instruction, except in the cases named: and the fact that provision was required by the law of 1723 to be made for boarders may be interpreted as meaning the school was not absolutely free.
The school seems to have prospered for a long series of years, and was "looked upon as the most frequented in the Province," to use the words of an advertisement, presently to be quoted. It would seem that in the year 1764 the school had been for a considerable time under an ex- cellent master, believed to have been Mr. George Rule, and that increased accommodations had become necessary. The Visitors had also become involved in debt which they were unable to discharge from their ordi- nary revenue. They, therefore, resolved to resort to a very common expedient of the time for raising money, and issued the following:
SCHEME FOR A LOTTERY
FOR THE USE OF THE TALBOT COUNTY SCHOOL.
There being necessity for making considerable repairs to the build- ings of this school, and also some additions thereto for the Master's convenience, and the funds appropriate to its use being already charged with a heavy debt, the visitors, unprovided with any other means, take leave to propose the method of Lottery to raise the sum of three hun- dred and sixty pounds for answering the purpose above mentioned.
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