USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume II > Part 53
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We are Gentlemen,
Your Most Obedient Servants.
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
rendered and medicine administered to the poor, from the public levy. And so on down to the time of the establishment of the Alms House all the more prominent physicians from year to year presented accounts for medicine and medical attendance, which were allowed by the Court. More of this will presently be said.
In 1704 we have the genesis of our county Poor House. On the 21st of November of that year the court seems to have considered the method of pensioning the poor expensive and inefficient, and passed the follow- ing order:
Ordered by ye Court here, that all persons that receives alms from this county, except housekeepers, doe for ye future, reside at ye house of Daniel Sherwood for the ensueing year; and ye said Daniel is to find and provide sufficient necessaries for them, at ye rate of one hun- dred pounds of tobacco each, less than they are now allowed.
At the same time Daniel Sherwood was empowered to arrest "all vagrants and loose persons." This arrangement with Daniel Sherwood continued in practice until 1710 at least, for the records note appro- priations to him for the care of the poor up to this date. Whether it continued longer is not apparent, but it is certain that not many years after, say in 1725, the county court had abolished the system of having the poor collected at one place, and had reverted to the old plan of pensioning its paupers, levying amounts in favor of certain individuals for the care of those mentioned specifically as being in their keeping. This system continued to be practiced until 1785, as will hereafter be noticed. It was subsequently revived by an Act of Assembly, and it continues to be followed up to the present day, the county commissioners granting pensions to necessitous persons, beside levying a sum of money to be disbursed by the trustees of the poor. In 1707, Dr. James Benson had two levies in his behalf for "attending ye Hospital." It is not un- likely, though it is by no means certain, that the hospital was nothing else than Daniel Sherwood's Poor House. There is no means of deter- mining where this first Poor House stood. Mr. Sherwood was at one time, from 1707 to 1709, sheriff of the county, and at his house in Ox- ford the court sat for several years after the court house at York had been abandoned, and before it had been decided to build a court house near "Pitts-his-Bridge," in 1710. It is therefore probable that the first Poor House, with Daniel Sherwood as keeper was in the ancient "town and port of Oxford." But this is conjectural only.
Under the system of pensioning the poor, the county beneficiaries continued to receive relief for a great number of years. In March,
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THE POOR HOUSE
1774, a bill passed the general assembly of the State providing for the erection of a county Alms and Work house. By this bill a board of "Trustees of the Poor" was constituted, of which the following promi- nent gentlemen of the county were the members:
[The text of this Act, the writer, thus far has not been able to recover, as it is not to be found either in the volume of laws published by author- ity nor among the State archives at Annapolis. So the names of these original trustees of the poor must forever remain unknown.]
The Act authorized the Commissioners or Levy Court to assess upon the taxable inhabitants of the county for three successive years fifteen pounds of tobacco per poll for defraying the cost of this Alms or Work house. Mr. John Stevens, who was sheriff, collected the amount assessed for one year only, namely, 1775. The war of the' Revolution commencing, and the proprietary government lapsing, there was no further collection of this tax, although the law otherwise remained in force. After the close of the war of Independence, namely, in March, 1786, the Act of 1774 was repealed, and another Act substituted; and it is under this law and supplements thereto, the affairs relating to the county poor are still administered. This act substantially the same as that of 1774, appointed these gentlemen "Trustees for the Poor of Talbot County," viz:
WILLIAM HAYWARD, JAMES BENSON, THOMAS SHERWOOD, PEREGRINE TILGHMAN, and WILLIAM GOLDSBOROUGH,
with the power to fill any vacancies that should occur in the board by death, removal or any other cause. It also ordered that an "Alms and Work house" be "erected and built in Talbot County, at a convenient place therein, at the general charge and expence of the said county." Provision was also made for the levying such a tax upon the property within the county liable to assessment, as should realize the sum of four hundred pounds, currency, in each of the years 1786, 1787, 1788; which sums as they should be collected were to be paid over to the trustees. This last provision was repealed by an act of 1787, for reasons hereafter to be named. The Trustees were empowered to buy land to the extent of thirty acres, for the use of the Work house. It is ex- pressly set forth in the act, that a Work house should make a part of the institution, and it is proper to say that this provision was carried
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
into execution, the poor, who were not entirely helpless being required to do something for their support, or at least for their amusement, picking oakum being the employment of the feeblest. It directed that the clothing worn by the paupers should bear a conspicuous mark of P. T. (poor of Talbot). The act also provided that the funds collected under the act of 1774, and then in the hands of Dr. Moses Allen, one of the original trustees, should be paid over to the trustees last named. Other provisions of this law, which was pretty much the same as that framed for other counties of the State, need not here be recited, as they are well known as being operative at the present time.
But that provision of the law which referred to the purchase of land and the erection of a building for the accommodation of the poor of the county was not carried into effect, its purposes having been secured by other means than those named therein. On the 13th of February, 1753-4, the Rev. Thomas Bacon, Rector of St. Peter's Parish, purchased of David Robinson, Esquire, for one hundred and forty-three pounds, current money of Maryland, parts of three tracts of land, viz: 70 acres of "Hull," 50 acres of "David's Folly," and 23 acres of "Chance," in all one hundred and forty-three. The object of this purchase was the establishment of a "Working Charity School," for the "maintenance and education of orphans and other poor children;" and the property was held in trust by Mr. Bacon for the purposes mentioned. Upon the land this enlightened clergyman erected a building for the accommo- dation of the pupils, and the school went into practical operation, being patronized by Lord and Lady Baltimore, and many of the gentry of this province, particularly of this county. This property lay in Oxford Neck, not far from the old parish church of White Marsh. There is no means of determining how long the school was maintained; but in 1787, as is known, it had for a considerable time been extinct. In that year the Hon. Matthew Tilghman and the Rev. John Gordon presented a petition to the General Assembly of the State, in which they represent that the heirs of the Rev. Thos. Bacon, namely Rachel (Bacon) Harwood, wife of Risdon Bozman Harwood, and Mary (Bacon) Passapæ, wife of Moses Passapæ, both daughters of the Rev. Mr. Bacon, have conveyed to them all their right, title and interest in the lands mentioned above in trust. The petition further sets forth:
that although the intention of the trust aforesaid to the said Thomas Bacon was for the use and benefit of the Charity School aforesaid, that notwithstanding the said intention the lands aforesaid have not, for a considerable number of years, been applied to the intended pur-
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THE POOR HOUSE
pose, and are now, and have been for some time, in the possession of a certain Sarah Howard, who does not claim any title thereto.
The memorialists (who represent themselves to be trustees of the Charity School in St. Peter's Parish in Talbot county) therefore ask that they be "empowered to convey the trust aforesaid to the Trustees of the Poor, of Talbot county." The prayer of the petitioners was granted by the passage of an Act, May 15th, 1787 empowering the trustees of the Charity School "to convey in fee simple the aforesaid lands unto the said Trustees of the Poor of Talbot County, and their successors for the Charitable use and benefit of the poor of said county." By this act that provision of the act of the session of 1785-6 authorizing the levying four hundred pounds for three successive years, for the pur- chase of lands and buildings, was repealed, though the money that had been collected, was directed to be paid over to the Trustees of the Poor. Thus it was that the county came into the possession of the farm in Oxford Neck, near Hole-in-the-Wall, which is now used for the partial support of her poor. The number of acres originally acquired was one hundred and forty-three. In 1808 the trustees applied to the court for a commission to resurvey the lands and mark its boundaries. These gentlemen were appointed of the commission:
JOHN EDMONDSON, HENRY MARTIN, Esquires,
JOSEPH MARTIN, C and Mr. Sam'l Jackson was the surveyor. These gentlemen determined that there were - acres belonging to the institution. By sale and pur- chase, rendered necessary by the running of roads and straightening of lines, the boundaries and extent of the tract have been slightly changed from what they were at the date of the purchase in 1753-4.
The buildings upon the farm have been erected at various times. That which is devoted to housing the poor consisted originally of that brick portion nearest to Hole-in-the-wall. This was built without doubt by Parson Bacon for his Charity Working School, soon after the purchase of the land. As early as 1803 the premises were so crowded, and filthy, that the erection of an addition was mooted. This measure was again seriously discussed in 1813. Lumber was ordered to be bought, and "clay to be turned" for the making of bricks. Arrange- ments with the Bank of Easton were effected for borrowing money until the levy of $1,000, which was asked for, became available, the consent of the legislature for this levy having been obtained at the last session.
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
In 1814 further authority to levy an additional thousand dollars was asked of the General Assembly. In 1815, this project seems to have been partly abandoned, and one entertained of selling the land and purchasing elsewhere. A petition to this effect was presented to the legislature in 1817, but was not granted. Finally in January, 1819 contracts were made with sawyers, bricklayers and carpenters to erect an addition to the house, and the work immediately commenced. Thomas Hale was the brick-layer, and Joseph Kemp the carpenter. Other additions and improvements have been made in more recent years, the most important of which was the framed annex to the original school house on the South, erected in 1865, and which was rendered necessary in order that shelter might be given to the large accession to the number of the inmates created by the emancipation of the negroes. Previous to this great and beneficent act the old and infirm of the colored people were mostly supported by their masters: after these people became free some of them became pensioners upon the bounty of the county. The truth of history requires it to be said that the number of those demanding eleemosynary aid was nothing like as large as was anticipated by both those who favored and those who opposed emanci- pation. If it were proper in a paper of this description, the character and inadequacy of the principal building upon the farm, might afford matter for profitable remarks. It is in more than one sense a Poor House.
The Work house that belonged to the institution seems to have been in existence as late as about the year 1825, but afterwards disappeared.
On the 10th of November 1872 the house of the Overseer was burned down, and a new residence for this officer was built in the same year, Mr. Vansandt being the carpenter.
The site of the Poor House has long been objectionable on several accounts. It is remote from the county seat where public business is mostly transacted, and where public officers mostly reside or usually assemble. It was at one time and it may now be considered as an insalubrious location, several overseers of the poor having died in suc- cession upon the premises after a brief residence. In 1803, a minute in the records indicate that opinions prevailed that a change was advisable.
The Trustees being of opinion that it would conduce greatly to the convenience of the poor to be placed on the water, and in the neighbor- hood of Easton, determine that it will be proper to petition the Legis- lature to empower them to sell the Poor House property and purchase
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THE POOR HOUSE
somewhere near Easton, or to authorize them to build an addition to the present building, as this seems an absolute necessity for their com- fort.
Again in 1815 a petition was presented by the Trustees to the Legis- lature to this effect: that a law be passed authorizing them to sell their lands, &c., and purchase elsewhere, and also authorizing a levy of $2,000 to carry the objects of the petition into execution. Nothing came of these petitions. They were renewed in 1817, and Mr. Robert Ban- ning, who was then a member of the General Assembly, as well as of the Board of Trustees of the Poor, was requested to prefer the wishes of the Trustees, and enforce them by the use of such arguments, and the presentation of such facts, as he was able and in a position to command. The petition asked the privilege of selling the alms house property and to buy elsewhere; and that the levy court be authorized to levy upon the county the sum of $1,000 for two or three successive years; which with the sum heretofore levied, but now uncollected, and the money that the present property would bring if sold, they believe would be sufficient to place the establishment in an eligible and comfortable situation." The prayer of the petitioners to sell was not granted. Again in 1824, doubtless upon the petition of the trustees, though their records indicate nothing of the kind, an act was passed, empowering them to sell the Poor House and land, and to purchase elsewhere to the extent of six hundred acres. The levy court by this act was empowered to assess and collect an amount sufficient to carry this object into effect. This law seems to have remained a dead letter. In 1833 a supplement to the act of 1824 was passed, the provisions of which were in the main the same as the original law. This, too, remained inoperative, and has so remained to the present day. Why this has been so, is not ap- parent. The Poor House and Farm still remain in the hands of the Trustees, and are used by them as a home for the unfortunate of the county. There is a growing conviction, however, that the public interests would be better subserved, and the comfort of the counties' beneficiaries be better promoted by a sale of the property, and the erection of an Alms House near the county town, without the expensive appendage of a farm.
A few items of information respecting the internal administration of the Poor-House may be of interest. As has been before noticed, by the law of 1785-6 the clothing of the inmates was marked conspicu- ously "P. T.," that they might be recognized should they go beyond
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
prescribed limits. This has been abolished, as it was a badge of . degradation. The dietary of the House has always been very simple and coarse, but never so scant as to reduce vitality. Pork and Bacon have furnished from the beginning the chief flesh food, but new fresh meat is furnished. Corn meal has been the chief material for bread, but now flour is also supplied. In 1815, it is interesting to note, the Trustees paid ten dollars per barrel for corn, or two dollars a bushel. For the first time apparently coffee was furnished to the poor of the House in the year 1799, very largely diluted however with burnt rye, in the proportions of one-fourth berry to three-fourths grain. Rations of rum at an early day, or whiskey at a later, were issued-whether regularly or occasionally is not clear: but they were wholly abolished in 1817, though the order was modified the next year, so as to permit the overseer to issue six gallons in the year-a tantalizing quantity. But wine and other alcoholic stimulants were not forbidden to be admini- stered under the physician's prescription. It is well to note that the paupers, by one means or another, obtained intoxicating liquor at Hole-in-the-wall, and gave much trouble by reason of its abuse. Up to 1855 a system of weekly allowances of provisions was followed, but after that date, the inmates seemed to have had food without any other limit than that afforded by the judgment of the Matron of the House. It is interesting to note that at one time inmates were received upon the condition they should pay for what they consumed, or a small board; and parents were permitted to enter their children at the house and have them taken care of, by paying a small sum. The records indicate that there were persons in the Poor House who were not abso- lutely destitute of means. Work in the Work House was exacted of all those able to do anything up to 1824 or '25 at least: but by 1848 it would seem that the paupers were not required to perform any manual labor, except domestic duty in the house by the women, and farm labor in the fields by the men. Corporal punishment was permitted to be inflicted by the overseer in 1796, and perhaps long after. The following curious minute is from the records of May 4th, 1793.
Resolved that Mary Forrester be taken off the list as one of the Poor, and employed as a school-mistress, for which service she is to have 3-9 (three shillings, nine pence, or in the money of to-day, about 50 cents) per month and her maintenance as usual.
Certainly not a very munificent reward, but Mary Forrester escaped the opprobium of being a pauper. Nor were the religious interests of
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the poor entirely disregarded, as is shown by the following minute under date of March 13, 1800:
A motion being made that three pews be purchased in White Marsh Church for the accommodation of the poor, but it was opposed by Messrs. Hollyday and Goldsborough: but a majority being of opinion that it was perfectly right and necessary, it was accordingly determined that the three pews in the north end of the gallery be purchased for the use of the poor, and John Singleton, the Treasurer, is accordingly author- ized to purchase and pay for said pews.
A pauper whose memory has reached the present time, and who gave much trouble to the Trustees and Overseer, named Nan Ellis, was a pretty regular attendant at old White Marsh. She managed occasion- ally to have a penny to put in the bag for the poor: who were not so well provided for as herself; and for this she received the benediction "God bless you," from the pious and venerable Sam'l Chamberlaine, who collected the alms. In the years 1791 and 1793 by Acts of Assembly permission was granted to the Trustees of the Poor to bind out as ap- prentices any poor children, orphans, that were dependent upon the county. In 1797 was granted the permission of keeping out door pensioners to the number of ten, with an annual pension not exceeding thirty dollars. This custom of having pensioners, which was the rule previous to the date of the establishing the Alms House, was thus revived in a degree; but it was more completely revived by the Act of Assembly of 1835, which permitted the County Commissioners to pension a certain number of worthy poor, and levy money for this purpose.
THE MILES RIVER BRIDGE
A HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST BRIDGE
The proposition made July 1, 1878 for the county commissioners to buy the bridge across Miles river, and to abolish the tolls and make it a free bridge, naturally directs attention to the bridge itself, as well as to the feasibility and propriety of the county commissioners acceding to the wishes of these who advocate a free bridge. We have obtained all the information possible as to the organization of the bridge company, the construction of the bridge and such other items as would make an article interesting to the reader of The Comet.
At the session of the Legislature, of 1858, the Miles River Bridge Company was incorporated. The charter named Col. Edward Lloyd, Edward Lloyd, jr., Kennedy Owen, H. C. Tilghman, James Ll. Martin, and others, commissioners to obtain subscriptions to the stock of the company. The capital stock authorized by the charter was $15,000, the shares were fixed at $25 each, and this has continued to be their par value, though they are now assessed at $48 each. The bridge was built in 1858 by Capt. Travers of Taylor's island, Dorchester county. who did the work by contract, for $7,000,-he being the lowest bidder.
The dimensions of the bridge are as follows: length, 1480 yards; width 16 feet. The draw opening is 30 feet, and the draw is operated by a railway that runs it backward and forward, instead of the pivotal swing now generally employed in drawbridges. The piles and cap- sills were white oak; the joists white pine, and the flooring hemlock. The original joists and flooring have been almost entirely replaced by white oak.
Among the original stockholders in the company were Gen. R. C. Buchanan, Admiral F. Buchanan, Gen. Charles Winder, Capt. R. Ll. Tilghman, Comd. Charles Lowndes, Col. Edward Lloyd, Thos. H. Oliver E. L. Winder, Thomas P. Williams, Hazlitt Mackey, Alex. H. Mackey, and Wm. G. Harrison. The present board of directors are Col. Edward Lloyd, president; Com. Charles Lowndes, treasurer; Lloyd Lowndes, secretary; Thos. H. Oliver, Dr. Charles M. Tilghman and Charles H. Gibson. The secretary is a paid officer. A bridge-keeper is employed at a salary of $250 a year, including rent and fuel. Mr. Clayton Willis now fills that place.
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THE MILES RIVER BRIDGE
The average cost of repairs since 1858 would approximate $250 a year. Some years the bills for repairs have gone much beyond that sum, and in many years they have fallen much below it. In 1877 the cost of repairs was $177, and in 1876, $771. For several years after the bridge was built, but a trifling sum was paid for repairs. In 1877 the receipts from tolls were $1190. The rates of tolls as established by the board of directors are as follows: Single horse and carriage, 5 cents each way, double horse and carriage, 10 cents. The charter provides that foot passengers may be charged 6 cents each way; horse and rider, 10 cents each way; single horse and carriage, 30; double horse and carriage, 30 cents. The company reduced the tolls to the present rates and abolished the tax on foot passengers about 1872.
A dividend of six per cent on the capital stock has been regularly declared each year, with the exception of the last three years, during which time the annual dividend has been 8 per cent. The policy of the board has been not to divide all the net earnings among the stock holders, but to provide a sinking fund which would be sufficient to re- place the bridge when time and decay should make a new bridge neces- sary. All the income of the board has not come from tolls, as the county has paid the bridge company annually $600 which was the cost of the ferry maintained there by the county previous to the building of the bridge. All the business affairs of the bridge company, the accounts, statistics, etc., have been well kept, and all the matters well and safely managed.
At the last session of the legislature a bill was passed authorizing the county commissioners to buy the bridge, providing a sum not exceeding $5,000 will purchase it, and to make it a free bridge for all passengers. The mode of procedure contemplated by the bill is for the commissioners to appoint two competent persons to examine the bridge, value it, and report to the county commissioners.
The bridge ought to belong to the county and to be made a free bridge. We have no doubt this will be done, and that the people of the county will endorse it, if the stockholders will sell the bridge for a fair and rea- sonable price. Miles River Neck is an important section of the county, and contains many of the heaviest tax payers in the county. It is not right that they should be subjected to a toll every time they go to the county seat-even when they go there to pay their taxes. If the county buy the bridge, the Miles River people will pay their large share of the money necessary to make the purchase. Miles River Neck is increasing rapidly in population, and in thrifty enterprises, and all
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