USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume II > Part 55
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John Edmondson and William Sharp, both Quakers, were then the leading shipping merchants at Oxford. This was a great blow to that equality in religion that had been Maryland's boast for over a half a century.
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Across the ocean to the old motherlands went the fame of Maryland as a province, where there was no persecution of those holding creeds at variance to the orthodox method of worshipping God, a country were religious and irreligious liberty was not only tolerated but al- lowed without comment or interference with one's conscientious belief. Along the shores of the Atlantic, from the Chesapeake to the Kennebec, the same fame of religious liberty in Maryland went, and thus those persecuted for holding conflicting creeds were glad to find a haven of refuge in this much favored land.
The result of this liberal allowance of thought in a man was the coming to the Eastern Shore of Maryland of that sadly persecuted sect, the Quakers. They came from across the sea, from Virginia, from New England and elsewhere, to see this Eldorado which would be an asylum for them. Especially did the Friends settle in Talbot County, and an unswervingly honest, temperate, generous, yet clannish people, they left their impress ineffaceably upon this county. At that time, 1660, be it recalled, Talbot County embraced territory now in- cluded in Queen Anne's and part of Kent and Caroline counties, as well as its own extensive domain.
Among the earliest settlers in this favored section of Maryland were a dozen or more families of this Society of Friends or Quakers who had suffered untold persecutions at the hands of the Puritans of New England, and who sought refuge under the religious toleration offered them by the Province of Maryland. They led simple, sober, industrious and strictly moral lives, and found many adherents among our early protestant settlers. The carefully preserved records of the Third-Haven monthly meetings, now stored in the fireproof vault, in the office of the Register of Wills of Talbot County, covering a period of two and a half centuries, are treasures of inestimable value to the local annalist of Talbot County, as well as to the Maryland historian. In their cemeteries, surrounding their unpretentious Meeting Houses, no monuments are to be found, "Nor storied urn, nor animated bust" for the Friends ever held firmly to the belief that death places all mor- tals on the same level.
The Quaker city of Philadelphia has, however, taken a signal depar- ture from this long established custom of their sect, by erecting, on the top of their city hall, a colossal bronze statue of William Penn, the Quaker Governor of Pennsylvania.
Monuments and memorial tablets erected to commemorate the virtues and manly deeds of our early worthies are however not without
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their value. They are object lessons of unceasing interest to the rising generations, and a constant incentive to the young to become good and useful citizens.
In New England, Boston in particular, where only a century ago alleged "witches" were burned at the stake, the Friends were terribly persecuted, for the Eastern States were not then traveling upon the broad gauge of advancement and true liberty that now distinguish their citizens. This persecution in New England gained for Talbot many settlers whose descendants are among its best people of today, the Friends. They came hither to find an asylum and found it, while the beautiful country delighted them. They came to work hard, to found new homes, new associations and to lay the corner stones of future greatness and fortunes.
The log cabin homes erected, and in this each gave to the other a helping hand, their fields planted, they began to turn their atten- tion to the building of their Meeting Houses, where they could worship in their own silent way. There is nothing so effective as silent prayer- it leaves one wholly alone with his conscience, often afar from pleasant companions; and to think quietly of one's sins is the surest way to reform one's self.
It was three years before the establishment of Talbot County that the Friends came here to settle, in 1657, the first coming from Virginia, and the Meeting Houses, primitive in the extreme, for they do not believe in "an outward, visible sign of an inward spiritual grace," were erected at Wye, Little Choptank, Island Creek and one, which was doubtless the first, near the head of "Betty's Cove, " Miles River.
This one was built of clapboards, and stood near the boundary line between the homes of R. B. Dixon and Dr. Cherbonnier, upon a lot that covered ten acres of land, and faced the cove, from which it was distant but a few rods. The records show that here, also, was a grave- yard, and that the little building was repaired in 1676, but in 1693 it was abandoned, left alone with its encircling dead, while a larger and more pretentious Meeting House had been erected in a more cen- tral location at the head of the Third Haven, or Tred Avon River. This last building was so placed as to be convenient to every part of the county, even by the few highways, the bridle paths or water ways.
The locality of this greater Meeting House, great still in the memories that cluster around it, could not have been better chosen, for it is just south of Easton, in its suburbs now, and hence the site of sites, showing how well chose they who located the county town just where they did.
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The Friend's Meeting House at the head of the Avon was also not a long walk across for those who came by boat to Betty's Cove on Miles River, while as all roads lead to Rome, it is said, so all highways and streams in Talbot lead to Easton. This house was a frame building with massive timbers, boarded and shingled, and today stands as a monument to the old time style of building.
As the records have it:
Our joint Quarterly Meeting for both Shores, held at ye home of Ralph Fishbourne ye 27th day of ye First Month 1683, the meeting decided upon this greater house, it being unanimously agreed that Betty's Cove Meeting be removed to ye great Meeting House.
Hence the greater house was built, the lesser one, about which still rests the ashes of the Talbot Friend's ancestry, being left to crumble to decay, if not into entire forgetfulness, for
"So the multitude goes, like the flower or the weed, That withers away to let others succeed So the multitude comes, even those we behold, To repeat the old tales so often retold."
The home of Ralph Fishbourne was a farm adjoining the present town of Claiborne, upon Eastern bay, which continues to perpetuate his name down to the present time.
Among the Friends who attended the old Meeting House was Wen- lock Christison, who fell a victim to his creed and was sentenced to be hanged in Boston, yet was later released from prison, not because of humanity, but because the English government ordered a mitigation of his punishment. Many are the names in Talbot today of the an- cestors of those who attended that old Meeting House, and whose ashes doubtless there repose, and among them can be named John Edmond- son, William Southbee, William Troth, Howell Powell, Thomas Tay- lor, John Pemberton, William Cole, John Dickinson, William Dixon, Charles Gorsuch, Richard Johns, William Berry, John Jadwin, John Pitt, John Kemp, Thomas Bartlett, Peter Webb, Christopher Birk- head, Henry Woolchurch, James Hall, William Sharpe, Henry Parrott and Obediah Judkins.
It is stated as an indisputable fact that George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, attended the meeting at Betty's Cove that originated the building of the old Meeting House near Easton. It was in 1684 the meeting was held, and George Fox describes the greater house in his journal as being located upon the Avon River (old style
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Third Haven). This meeting lasted five days, the first three attended by all of the Society of Friends, the last two only a men and women's assemblage for discipline. The Friends were not alone in attending their meetings, for Romanists, Protestants, Indians and Negroes were often present, in fact this new house had to be enlarged to hold the people.
To John Edmondson fell the honor of entertaining George Fox, his farm at the time being the one known as Cedar Point, now (1914) owned by Mrs. Edward B. Hardcastle of Easton. In his journal Fox says that he attended the meeting each day, going by boat, and the boats were so numerous in the river the scene reminded him of the Thames of London. He also spoke of "seeing both rivers"-the Avon and the Miles-from the Meeting House which must have stood in the field at the eastern end of the Ship's Head farm at the southeast corner of which stands Bloomfield Station on the Baltimore, Chesa- peake and Atlantic Railway.
At that time the Friends in Talbot kept a boat-the "Good Will"- and horses, expressly for the use of their free ministers in travelling through the country. Upon his return to England George Fox sent to the Meeting House a number of books, some of which are still held by the Society, and this was the first library known in Talbot. This greater meeting house was built in no slipshod manner, as its fine state of preservation today shows, after having withstood the storms of over two hundred and thirty years. The builders did not slight their con- tract, as is too often the case with them in this hurrying age.
There was a committee of Friends appointed, as the old record reads:
To agree with ye carpenters for ye building of ye said house 60 foote long, 44 foote wide, and to be strong, substantial, framed work, with good wite oak sills and small joyst, and ye upper floors to be laid with plank and ye roof to be double raftered, and good principal rafters every ten foote, and to be double studded below, and to be well braced and windows convenient, and shutters, and good, large stairs into ye chambers, which chambers are to be 40 foote square at each end of ye house, and twenty foote vacant space between them: and for other conveniencys to be left to ye aforesaid Friends.
Now there was no going behind this contract, and if it be true that figures wont lie, it seems, even at this late day, a paradox somewhat difficult of solution, as to how in a house "60 foote long by 44 foote wide," two chambers on second floor could be made at each end 40 foote square, "with 20 foote vacant space betwix them." Still there stands
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the old Meeting House today, stout, staunch, and with wondrous staying powers to resist the ravages of Old Father Time, and any one, Friend, Protestant, Romanist, can go out and measure the dimen- sions and then figure out on those "40 foote square rooms with 20 foote vacancy space betwix them," and see how it was done in "ye long time ago." This Third Haven Meeting House is the oldest house of worship now (1915) standing in the United States.
From a minute, dated 6th of 12th month, 1690, a house was erected on these grounds, near the river side, for the accommodation of visitors from a distance (the two chambers over the meeting rooms probably being insufficient). The statement is, "That Friends on this shore are to pay to Ralph Fishbourne 2041 lbs. of tobacco; it being ye one-half of what he disbursed for building ye house for conveniency of Friends from a distance, at the creek side, near our Great Meeting House." As late as the early part of this century some persons now living can remember when they went to and from this meeting in row or sail boats (in preference to carriages), and had only to walk a very short distance, this tributary to Third Haven River, which is merely a ditch now, being navigable then.
It is evident that provisions were furnished these Friends by the members here, if they were not already supplied. The minutes in regard to it reads:
This meeting considering ye great distance yt Friends have to come, both by land and water, yt may repair to our Yearly Meeting, whereby they want necessarys, therefore this Monthly Meeting appoints Joseph Rogers to inquire into ye same, and to give Friends accounts, yt so they may be supplied if any want to be.
Thus proving that it was not a spirit of inhospitality that prevented all visitors from being entertained at private houses, but doubtless an inability to accommodate the large number that came, or to find means of transportation for them.
For several years monthly meetings were held two days in succession. The reports varied but little in expression, but it is evident, from their length, that considerable business was accomplished. As the smaller meetings declined, others were established elsewhere. Some resigned, or suffered themselves to be disowned on account of the slavery question, which agitated the minds of friends at an early date: and many were disowned for marrying those not in membership with the Society, in consequence of the ceremonies being performed by a minister or priest
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(for they styled all by that appellation), because tortures had so fre- quently been inflicted through their instrumentality; therefore a breach of discipline in that respect was deemed almost an unpardonable offense; but from a decrease of members, and a more charitable spirit toward all Christian denominations, rules of discipline in this particular have relaxed greatly.
Marriage intentions in those days were announced in the meeting by the parties themselves, in both the men's and women's meetings, on two separate occasions, and thirdly, in a written form, together with the written consent of the parents of both when under age, consequently it embraced three months before the ceremony was accomplished. At the present epoch the "passing" as it is termed, is settled in writing. The first marriage on the meeting records bears the date of 1668, and reads as follows:
William Southbee, of Talbot County, in the province of Maryland, the 29 day of the First Month (O. S.) and in the year 1668, in an Assem- bly of the People of God, called Quakers, at their meeting, at the house of Isaac Abrahams, solemnly in the fear of God, took Elizabeth Read of the aforesaid county and province, spinster, to be his wife; and she, the said Elizabeth Read, did then and there, in the like man- ner, take the said William Southbee to be her husband, each of them promising to be faithful to each other. To which the meeting now witnesseth, by signature.
A regular record of marriages, births and deaths has been kept since 1668, and it appears even earlier than that.
Settlements of estates, contracts (either legal or otherwise), all disagreements, also consents asked for certificates of removal, and for travelling Friends and ministers, as well as for approval of mar- riages, were submitted to the meeting, and committees appointed to investigate the clearness of the cases. Tobacco being the currency for many years, all collections and business transactions of the church were made in that way except in occasional donations of grain, produce, furniture and cattle. The first collection in money was made in 1713. In that era tobacco seems to be the staple crop. The Indians considered it a sacred herb, a precious gift of the Great Spirit to his children, and the act of smoking, with them, always had something of a ceremonial or even religious character.
Friends were conscientiously opposed to paying tithes; but their personal effects and slaves were often seized to the amount equivalent
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to the assessment, though they were compensated out of the meetings fund for their loss. The records show that care has been exercised in providing for indigent members when afflicted, or unable to support themselves, and assistance rendered to fit others for business. The subject of education claimed their early attention, and several schools were established under their superintendence. A school house was built on a portion of these old Meeting-House grounds in 1782, but was removed to Easton in 1791. A proposition was made in 1816 to move this Meeting House there; a lot of ground was purchased and bricks burned for the purpose, but the matter was reconsidered and thought inadvisable.
Friends were always much exercised in regard to taking oaths. This meeting applied for an act of the English Parliament on the subject; and in 1681 Richard Johns and William Berry were requested by the meeting to appeal to the Maryland Assembly to exempt the Society from taking oaths, which was favorably received by the Lower House but not by the Upper. In 1688 Lord Baltimore published a proclama- tion resolving to dispense with oaths in testamentary cases. Thence- forth those who had any scruples in the matter were permitted to affirm. The spirit of war has always been denounced by Friends as inconsistent with a Christian life, believing that arbitration is a much more peaceable and satisfactory mode of settling disagreements. Min- utes of their meetings state that collections were made several times for the benefit of their members suffering from the Revolutionary War in this country, and from the effects of the Rebellion in England and Ireland.
We are informed that it was the usual custom with Friends, after attending the sessions of the West River Yearly Meetings, to go on board of the slave ships and select their slaves. In 1759 the Yearly Meeting of Maryland advised care in importing and buying negroes; in 1762 condemned importing, buying or selling slaves without the consent of the meeting; but in 1777 slave-holding was made a disown- able offense. The first William Dixon freed and provided for a num- ber of his slaves long before the consciences of others had been moved in the matter. Some voluntarily manumitted theirs. Isaac Dixon, James and Benjamin Berry, Sarah Powell, Benjamin Parvin, John and Sarah Register, John and Magdaline Kemp and James Turner were a few of the number. Schools were afterwards provided for the benefit of these colored people; and their efforts were unceasing until the general manumission occurred in 1863.
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The following account is given of William Penn's visit here, in 1700:
We met at a Yearly Meeting at Treadhaven, in Maryland, upon the Eastern Shore, to which meeting, for worship, came William Penn, Lord and Lady Baltimore, with their retinue; but it was late when they came, and the strength and glory of the heavenly power of the Lord was going off from the meeting; so the lady was much disappointed, as I understood from Wm. Penn, for she told him she did not want to hear him, and such as he, for he was a scholar and a wise man, and she did not question but he could preach; but she wanted to hear some of our mechanics preach, as husbandmen, shoemakers and such like rustics, for she thought they could not preach to any purpose. William Penn told her "some of these were rather the best preachers we had among us."
An interest has always been manifested by Friends in the welfare of the Indian race. The mild and persuasive treatment of George Fox, William Penn and others seemed to insure their respect and con- fidence through succeeding generations. So little did our early prede- cessors appreciate one of the comforts of life (as well as health) that for almost a century they had no means of heating this building (foot- stoves, filled with hot embers, were sometimes used by women Friends). Some opposition was offered when a stove was proposed, and afterwards bought (in 1781), declaring that their religious zeal ought to be suffi- cient warmth. It is authentic that one of the members was so un- yielding that, to show his disapproval, he called it a "dumb idol," and made it a receptacle for his overcoat, but as there was no fire, no damage was done; the following Sabbath he repeated the act without noticing the fire, and the odor arising from the smoking garment at- tracted his attention (much to the amusement of the witnesses, especially the children), and Friend Parvin had the humiliation of going to its rescue, convinced of his error as to a stove being a "dumb idol."
This house was saved twice from being destroyed by fire; once by a Friend whose name was Sarah Berry (about the year 1810); she extinguished the flame by rubbing it with a stick, not having time to obtain water or give the alarm. This ancient building brings many memories. Since its erection great progress has been made in the arts and sciences-nations have been formed and fallen asunder; and now this house is following the course of all terrestrial things-decay.
What memories crowd upon us as we stand in the presence of the Past! How great is the mind of man, and how wonderful! It grapples with complex subjects but to reduce them to comprehensive simplicity. It measures the length and breadth of our land and knows the coming
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of the seasons. It brings into action latent forces-commands them, and they obey. Yet how insignificant when it attempts to compre- hend the duration of time, and to measure the untold length of the past! Two hundred years! what is it but a drop in the ocean, but a thought in the history of ages? Yet, short as it is, generations have come and gone, the young have become old and passed away. Sturdy oaks, that withstood the storms of winter, and among whose inviting branches carrolled birds for scores of summers, have flourished and fallen.
In the silent graveyard of the old Meeting House lie entombed the ashes of those whose smiles once made glad the heart, whose buoyant laughter delighted the ears of loving friends, around whose board echoed the voices of happy children, and from whose gates the stranger was turned not away.
On the face of those rough-hewn timbers are written, "Passing away, passing away." The plain, undecorated walls seem to echo the voices of long ago, and humbly call the weary soul to rest. The unpainted benches remind us of the untarnished lives of true Christians. The unassuming doorways, low ceilings and unsteepled roofs are typical of the meek and lowly who adorn not the exterior, to be seen of men, but who worship God with an humble and contrite heart. No organ peal is heard; but beyond the solemn silence whispers the heavenly words, "Peace, be still."
THE ISLANDS OF TALBOT
The first explorations of the Chesapeake Bay by white men were made by Capt. John Smith and his party in 1608. The map traced by him of the bay and the mouths of the rivers emptying into it, as seen by him when coasting along their shores, are very crude and necessarily inaccurate, as no actual surveys were made by him. Bozman in his History of Maryland, vol. 1, page 115, says:
Smith's omission to explore the Eastern Shore of Maryland, at least the midland parts of it, between the Nanticoke and Sassafras rivers, has deprived us of some interesting information relative to that part of the country now composing the counties of Talbot, Queen Anne and Kent together with the several islands facing the Bay-coast thereof, since known by the appellations of Sharpe's, Tilghman's, Poplar and Kent Island.
It may be further remarked, also, he adds that the part of the Eastern Shore of which the counties of Queen Anne and Talbot are now com- posed, is denominated on Smith's map,
Brooke's forest, "Overgrown with wood," as he says, and the three islands, therein imperfectly sketched by him as lying opposite thereto called by him "Winstone's isles," must have been the isle of Kent, Poplar, and Tilghman's islands, but most inaccurately designed.
GREAT CHOPTANK ISLAND OR TILGHMAN'S ISLAND
Seth Foster was the original patentee of Great Choptank Island. It was surveyed for him August 11, 1659, two years prior to the organi- zation of Talbot County, for 1200 acres and 300 acres more, doubtless of said island, were surveyed for him January 15, 1661. In 1755 it was assessed to Matthew Tilghman for 1468 acres on the Rent Rolls of Lord Baltimore.
Seth Foster married Elizabeth, the widow of Thomas Hawkins, who died 1669. In his will, probated March 12, 1674, the said Foster devises one-third of his estate, both real and personal to his widow Elizabeth; to his son-in-law (step-son), John Hawkins 1000 acres, "Tully's Delight, on Chester river:" To eldest daughter, Elizabeth Lowe, wife of Vincent Lowe, "Great Choptank Island;" to youngest daughter, Sarah (who later married Michael Turbutt), 1000 acres, "Stagdish Woods," on Chester river; to two daughters, aforesaid,
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residue of estate. Colonel Vincent Lowe, dying in 1692, in his will, probated October 20 of that year, devised to his wife, Elizabeth, Great Choptank Island and all pertaining thereto, which was left said wife by her father Seth Foster, as his oldest daughter,
requesting her, if she die without heirs, to devise said Island to Foster Turbutt and heirs, he being the son of her sister Sarah, wife of Michael Turbutt. To Mary, daughter of Michael Turbutt, 1000 acres, "Four Square" farm,-residue of estate to be sold by executors. To brother Nicholas, land in Parish of Denby, England, left testator by his mother Ann Lowe; she was the natural daughter of Henry William Cavendish, and the wife of Vincent Lowe, Sr. of Denby, England. Their daughter, Lady Jane Lowe, married for her second husband Gov. Charles Calvert, who later became the third Lord Baltimore. She died in England January 24, 1701. Her first husband was Henry Sewell of Mattapony, secretary of the province of Maryland. Col. Vincent Lowe, Jr., her brother, was High Sheriff of Talbot County in 1675, and was ap- pointed Surveyor General of the Province in 1679. He was one of the largest landed proprietors in Talbot County, and possibly in the State.
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