USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume II > Part 57
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Talbot County, Aug. 7th, 1780.
Agreeable to Act for the regulation of the staple of tobacco, we the undersigned commissioners of the tax for Talbot County do certify that we have nominated and do hereby recommend the following persons to be Inspectors at the several warehouses therein to wit:
At Broad Creek Warehouse on Choptank River, John Caulk and James Wrightson, Jr.
At Bruff's Warehouse on St. Michaels River, Thomas Ray and Wm. Sherwood.
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At Oxford Warehouse on Choptank River, John Markland and James Colston.
At Parson's Landing Warehouse on Choptank River, Tristram Bowdle and Philip Horney.
At Kingstown Warehouse on Choptank River, James Barnwell, Jr., and Samuel Register.
At Emerson's Warehouse on Wye River, Robert Hall and John Clayland.
THO. SHERWOOD, JERE BANNING, HOWES GOLDSBOROUGH, SAM CHAMBERLAINE.
The town of Doncaster, adjoining Bruff's Island, at the mouth of Wye River, like the town of York, the ancient county seat, on the eastern branch of Wye River, probably never contained more than a dozen houses. They both doubtless went out of existence about 1707, when Queen Anne's County was organized and took away from Talbot the northern half of her territory, and when Queenstown, between Chester River, and the head of Back Wye River, became the county- seat of this new county, and the court house at York was removed to what was later Easton, but then called Talbot Court House.
WYE ISLAND
Among the many beautiful little rivers which lend a peculiar charm to the quiet scenery of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, there is none so lovely as the Wye, nor is there any which is more intimately connected with the great men and stirring events of the youthful days of the republic. Originating in a small creek in the lower portion of Queen Anne's County, near the Talbot line, it forms the boundary between the two, widening rapidly until it mingles with Skipton Creek. Just at this point its stream divides into two branches, the Back and the Front Wye, these curving arms holding in loving embrace the fertile and historic island which is the scene of the following reminiscences, until, clasping hands again round Bruff's Island, which stands like a sentinel at the outer gate, they flow together into the broad mouth of the St. Michaels and make their way with it toward the Eastern Bay. The stranger is told by those who ought to know better that the river thus forms a double Y, from which its name is derived. A glance at the county map, however, shows all along its banks the ancestral seats of the Lloyds and Tilghmans-names suggestive of the Welsh origin of the old families which bear them-and tells us more correctly that
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the early settlers brought with them loving memories of the bright little river which rises in the ancient Cambrian hills, and, mingling its waters with those of the Severn, flows out through Bristol Channel to the Atlantic. It was thus, undoubtedly, that Wye River obtained its name. Its banks are almost entirely free from the dreary border of marsh which fringes most of the peninsula streams. The channel, deepening rapidly from the shore, sweeps between bold bluffs of fine woodland and smiling fields of grain or clover, dotted by the handsome residences of many whose ancestors dispensed stately hospitalities in these same homes more than a century ago.
Wye Island, the subject of this paper, is known by several other names, being called indiscriminately Chew's, Bordley's and Paca's Island2 from the distinguished families which at different times have occupied it, and in connection with which it became a prominent fea- ture in the early history, not of Maryland only, but of the United States. In shape it is exceedingly irregular, being about five and three-quarter miles in length by one and a half in breadth at its widest part, curving round with the river and broken in its outline into numerous fantastic peninsulas, indented by a multitude of miniature bays and gulfs. The land, as with all other islands in the Chesapeake rivers, is exceedingly fertile-a fact which is accounted for by their formation, the alluvial matter washed down by the stream having been gradually deposited on the sandbars which form their foundations, this accumulation giving a depth and richness to the soil unknown on the adjoining 'main.' Its natural strength is manifested in the dense thickets of young tim- ber-oak, chestnut, walnut, hickory and other woods of similar robust growth-which spring up wherever cultivation has been intermitted for a few years. There is no gradual sloping of shore: no 'flats' stretch out in wide, shallow margin toward the channel. . The quiet river opens against a firm, high bank which might almost be called a bluff and flows calm and deep on either side of the island. These features give us the key to the home life of its distinguished occupants a century and more ago. The stately mansion, now scarred by time and feeble with the infirmities of age, would never have risen on such a site had not the broad fields and teeming pastures been capable of sustaining its manorial elegance, nor would an island home less accessible by easy water-transit for coach-and-four have suited the men who took so active a part in the great events of their day. The river murmurs its
.
2 This island was also called "Lloyd's Insula." It was conveyed by Stephen Whetstone to Philemon Lloyd in 1668.
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inarticulate story of the historic past, and the wind, as it sighs among the broad leaves of the old catalpa groves, whispers its memories of silken coats and jeweled buckles; of stately minuets and courtly din- ners; of brains unclouded by the crusty port of other days retiring from the festive board to discuss the problems of statecraft and the issues of unequal wars, of baying hounds and scarlet-coated riders; of wealth and intellect and culture which have faded with the peace- ful golden sunset which closed a century of strife and storm. For here was the model plantation of John Beale Bordley, where that distin- guished patriot delighted to expend his great wealth in giving a practi- cal impetus to the agricultural interests of his State; and here was the home of William Paca, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and the governor who represented Maryland in that august assembly which received the commission laid down by the Father of his Country, the rich harvest of seed sown by their hands with many misgivings and cultivated through eight long, weary years with blood and tears and treasure.
In the will of Mrs. Henrietta Maria Dulany, the mother of both Mrs. Judge Bordley and Mrs. Judge Paca, the first item is the bequest to her son, Philemon Lloyd Chew, of
all that tract or parcel of land lying in Queen Anne's county called Lloyd's Insula, containing seventeen hundred and ninety-five acres and also all that other tract or parcel of land called the Purchase, ad- joining to the former tract, and containing one thousand acres; both which tracts together are commonly called or known by the name of The Island, or Lloyd's Island in Wye River.
This magnificent estate of nearly twenty-eight hundred acres of the richest land in Maryland was but a portion of the immense fortune of this wealthy lady. Mrs. Dulany's maiden name was Lloyd, and her paternal grandmother had been goddaughter, namesake and maid- of-honor to the queen of Charles I. Her first husband, from whom a large part of her wealth seems to have been derived, was Samuel Chew, a descendant of John Chew, who built the first stone house at Jamestown. Their daughter Margaret married John Beale Bordley, and their daughter Mary became the wife of William Paca. This will bears date this fourth day of November in the year of our Lord Christ seventeen hundred and sixty-five. Among other matters of interest it shows us the animus of Southern slavery in those days-a spirit which will be recognized by many as marking the 'institution' to its close. Bequeathing to her grandchild 'the old negro woman Jenny,' Mrs. Dulany adds,
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I desire a tender care may be taken of the said old Jenny by those to whom she shall go as aforesaid, and I particularly hope my said granddaughter will be careful of her.
Further on we read,
It is my order and request that when my things in general shall be divided, the old ones may go with their families, and that they be well treated and taken care of for their past labor, the benefit whereof my children have received.
John Beale Bordley was one of the executors of the will. This dis- tinguished patriot was born at Annapolis, February 11, 1727. His father was Thomas Bordley, of Bordley Hall, Yorkshire, England, attorney-general of the province of Maryland. This gentleman was . the first husband of Ariana van der Hayden, the granddaughter of Augustin Hermann, the famous Bohemian exile who took so promi- nent a part in the affairs of New Amsterdam in the days of his friend and connection by marriage, Peter Stuyvesant. This Hermann after- ward received from Lord Baltimore a grant of the tract of Cecil county, Md., still known as 'Bohemia Manor.' By his wife, Miss Shippen, of Boston, he became the ancestor of the Bordleys and Frisbies of Mary- land, with all their numerous and widespread descendants, and of the Jennings and Randolph families of Virginia.
John Beale Bordley was the last of the admiralty judges of Mary- land under the provincial government. Margaret Chew was his first, wife, and on her death he married Mrs. Mifflin-whose maiden name: was Fishbourne-of Philadelphia. He thus became stepfather to General Thomas Mifflin, governor of Pennsylvania, and president of Congress when Washington resigned his commission. Judge Bordley's name appears as an 'Esquire Justice' in a 'copy common recovery, William Paca vs. James Philips,' in 1770, the paper being still pre- served at the Wye Hall mansion.
The special interest attaching to Judge Bordley, however, does not centre in the historic events of his times, but in his passion for agricul- ture and the object toward which its practical aim was directed. It was his 'hobby' to prove how easily the colonies could be made inde- pendent of the mother country, and Wye Island independent of the rest of the world. Accordingly, he devoted his large fortune to the culture not only of grain and fruits, but of dye-plants, herbs and do- mestic condiments-to the rearing of cattle and sheep and the man- ufacture of their various products into food and textile fabrics. His farm became a manufacturing village, supplying its own raw ma-
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terial, and the result was that common to 'model farms' the world over-everybody admired, but nobody imitated it. A very prac- tically useful fancy of his, however, was the sending of boat loads of beef and flour, fruits and vegetables, as presents to the nearest mili- tary posts, and many a hungry 'Continental' was made full and happy. by these substantial tokens of the judge's success in farming. On one occasion he stripped his estate on Pool's Island, opposite the mouth of Worton Creek, of all its valuable stock for the use of the army.
While others were devoting their hours of study to the political problems of the young republic, Bordley gave up his literary leisure to the production of a work on husbandry, which makes curious read- ing at the present day. The book is written in the first person, giving the results of his own careful experiments, as well as his extensive studies, and covers the entire ground, from the building of farm-man- sion and offices to the preservation of shoe leather and the preparation of cheap food. From this work we learn with some surprise that
in Maryland most of the wheat sown is amongst maize, while it is ripen- ing, in September.
The old methods of culture are condemned, and new ones suggested which would ensure the ruin of a modern farmer in the course of two or three crops. From patriotic motives the cultivation of tobacco has been discarded for that of hemp, to which many pages are de- voted, with full instructions to housewives to make fine linen out of hemp.
The following description of an improved plan for threshing wheat reads strangely enough after one has watched the throbbing steam- power as it whirls the straw clouds with a living energy from the throat or the huge threshing machine:
In my treading, twenty-four horses are formed into four ranks at some distance from the floor, and when the floor is ready laid one of the ranks has the word given to advance. For the sake of order and reg- ular work the boy who is mounted on one of the horses advances in a walk with the whole rank haltered or tied together, and enters on the bed of wheat, walking the horses upon the track laid with wheat: another rank is ordered to follow as soon as the first is supposed to have obtained a distance equal to a fourth part of the circumference of the bed; and so for the other ranks. They are forbid to go out of a walk till, having walked upon the bed five or six rounds, word is given to move on in a sober, slow trot, and to keep the ranks at their full dis- tance from each other, as the four cardinal points of the compass.
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The first journey is eight or nine miles; then the horses are fed, watered and rested until the straw is moved, and the process repeated until twenty-five miles have been traveled which completes the opera- tion for the day. Think of twenty-four horses trotting twenty-five miles: to do in one day what a modern field-engine accomplishes in two or three hours!
In describing the proper methods of building country habitations Judge Bordley makes original suggestions about supplying the upper stories with water. He says:
Water might be raised to a head at the top of Mr. Morris' quarry- hill on the Schuylkill for supplying reservoirs on the tops of the houses in Philadelphia. Consult ingenious men. The tide falling eight feet, and running two and five-tenths miles in an hour, at least equal to the walking of horses in mill-work, could not works be so constructed that the impetus of the water of that river should move a wheel (I think a horizontal one) which would force the water wanted up to a reser- voir on the top of that hill? A horizontal wheel under water would for ever turn one and the same way, whether the water runs ebbing or flowing; as near thirty years ago I experienced in a model.
Perhaps the commissioners of the Schuylkill waterworks might take a valuable hint from the above.
One of the judge's pet schemes was the introduction of the hop to encourage 'home-brew' as a substitute for the execrable rum of those days, but in the course of his experiments he nearly overshot his mark. Describing how a certain Mr. Anderson obtained 'an English gallon of pure spirit' from a bushel of Irish potatoes, he gives the following account of the liquor:
It was in every respect the finest vinous spirit I ever saw. It was somewhat like very fine brandy, but was milder, and had a kind of coolness on the palate peculiar, to itself. Its flavor was still more peculiar, and resembled brandy impregnated with the odor of violets and raspberries. A single glass of it put into a bowl of rum-punch gave it a flavor of half rum, half brandy, impregnated with raspberries. There was no difference in the taste of the very weakest of its spirit near the end of the distilling and that of the first; which is a peculiarity.
Fortunately for the cause of temperance, so near his heart, all the judge's efforts failed to reproduce this nectar. Otherwise, one-half the farmers of Pennsylvania and the Eastern Shore would probably have gone to making potato-brandy for the other half to put into their rum-punch.
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Perhaps one more extract may be of interest to Centennial house- keepers, as describing how their great-grandmothers used to make ice- cream:
Two pewter basins, one large, the other small, the small one to have a close cover: in this basin the cream is put and mixt with strawberries, etc., to give flavor and color: sweeten it. Cover it close, and set the small basin in the large one. Fill this with ice and a handful of salt, to stand three-quarters of an hour: then uncover and stir the cream well together; cover it close again, to stand half an hour longer; and then it may be turned into a plate. Tin or copper vessels may do.
In 1785, Judge Bordley removed to Philadelphia, where with Judge Peters and others he founded the first agricultural society in Pennsyl- vania. He died in 1804. The antique residence3 which he occupied at the lower end of Wye Island is no more. It was built by Samuel Chew of materials brought from England, and was one story high and one hundred and three feet front. The splendid granite wharves built by Judge Bordley are shapeless stone-heaps, and the salt-houses, loom houses, shops and cottages have disappeared.
Passing now to the upper portion of the island, we reach the grand old mansion which was the home of William Paca. Unlike the Bordley estate, this has never been alienated from the family, and dilapidation are everywhere prominent, it is still the property and the home of the lineal descendants of the Signer.
The dwelling stands upon a commanding eminence, whence it looks down upon the 'Narrows' and controls a view of thousands of fertile acres, once the inheritance of the Lloyds and Chews, and still owned, to a great extent, by their descendants. The land naturally slopes downward from the river bluff, but has been terraced up until it forms a broad plateau, sufficient to accommodate not only the house, but the extensive gardens and pleasure-grounds which surround it. This herculean work was done, according to a family tradition, by the negroes of the estate, the earth being trundled up in wheelbarrow. The same tradition tells how Governor Paca, in order to overcome the determination of his son John to go to sea, gave him carte blanche to build a house after his own ideas and without regard to expense; and John took him at his word. The original plans and elevation show a
3 This magnificent mansion was destroyed by fire in the month of -, 1879. The tinners were at work repairing the roof, and in their absence the fire from their hand furnace communicated with the wood work, and before it was dis- covered, the conflagation had obtained such headway as to render it unman- ageable.
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palatial mansion, with arcades and porticoes, niches and pedestals for statuary, battlements and pinnacles for roof and tower, the details of which were probably never completely carried out. Much of the elaborate ornamentation was of lead, and was taken down in the course of the Revolutionary struggle to be run into bullets for the Continental muskets. Ruinous as its present condition is, there is ample evidence of its primal grandeur. The building is in the Doric style, the plans having been drawn by the same hand which originally designed the Capitol at Washington. The central portion is square, with two spa- cious porticoes, the lofty columns of which present an imposing appear- ance. Stretching away on either side are the arcades, or more properly covered passages, terminating, the one in the kitchen and offices, the other in the grand parlor or 'ball room.' Entering the house is like stepping back into the past century. A single glance at the antique tete-a-tete sofa explains to us at once why the gentlemen of that day wrote to their wives as 'Dear Madam,' and subscribed themselves 'Your devoted companion, lover and friend.' No man who did his courting on that stiff-backed seat, unable to face the lady of his choice without sitting three feet away from her or breaking his spine, could ever after have come to terms of undue familiarity. Looking around the square hall which served as dining-room, we see La-Fayette's side-board, with its spindle legs, its wine-cupboards and ancient knife-cases of inlaid mahogany, and its feet elaborately carved into griffon's claws. There is nothing of elegance about this ancient furniture-nothing, indeed, except the fact of its whilom ownership, to distinguish it from similar old-time relics which may be seen in a hundred lumber closets throughout the country. But we moralize on the degeneracy of the times as we think,
How solid and substantial were the men and the ways of those days! None of your flimsy modern shams for Monsieur le Marquis and the brave old Signers, but hard, hand-carved mahogany, worth its weight in gold, if not in blood, having run the gauntlet of the Gulf voyage through waters swarming with the pirates of the Costa Rica!
Alas! a nearer inspection dissolves the spell! An irregular patch of white attracts our attention, and we turn away disgusted as we realize that at last the old fraud is only veneered! And perhaps the gallant Frenchman himself was, after all, but a fine specimen of veneering. A current anecdote among Eastern Shore gentlemen whose fathers or grandfathers' hospitality he enjoyed tells how his first question to a stranger after introduction would be, 'Married or single?'-'Married,
.
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sir.'-'Happy man!' would be the rejoinder. In the next case, prob- ably, the reply would be 'Single.'-'Lucky dog!' with a wink and a shrug and a familiar slap on the shoulder.
Opening on this square hall are several bed rooms, remarkable only for their small size. The long corridors, however, are noble apartments, and full of corner cupboards and similar housekeeping arrangements and conveniences. Here, too, one wanders in the past. The Signer's handsome bookcase, on the shelves of which stand the volumes of his law library, and the tables where he played short whist with his Revolu- tionary confrères, are still used by his descendants. Here, too, are the antique chairs which graced the gubernatorial mansion at Annapolis, and were loaned for Congressional use when Washington resigned his commission. Of course, among them is the inevitable chair in which Washington sat, but fortunately its identity has been lost among its half dozen fellows, as like as so many peas, and the visitor may take his choice. The grand parlor is a beautiful and stately room, the lofty ceiling ornamented with handsome structure work and the walls hung with family portraits of very great artistic men. Among them is a full length picture of Governor Paca by Peale, and in his best style. It shows us a tall, portly man, of commanding presence and strikingly handsome features. The rich dress and easy carriage betoken a gen- tleman of wealth and breeding, while the dark eye and well-chiseled mouth evidence character and firmness rather than great intellectual force.
William Paca was born in Harford county, Maryland, October 31, 1740. His father, John Paca, Esq., was a gentleman of large wealth, a stout, handsome and refined man, as evidenced by his portrait at Wye Hall, his features giving confirmation to the idea of Italian origin suggested by the family name. His mother was Elizabeth Smith, whose grandmother had married a brother of the duke of Marlborough, and whose mother, Elizabeth Martin, was one of the most celebrated beauties of her day. This lady, according to a family tradition, excited much comment by her flirtations with Richard Caswell, afterward governor of North Carolina, and Richard Dallam (whom she married). Some of the wits of her coterie immortalized her coquetries in the dog- gerel verses, still extant, beginning-
Pretty Betty Martin, Tiptoe! Tiptoe! Pretty Betty Martin, Tiptoe fine!
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The writer of this paper well remembers a large parrot, a favorite of his boyish days in South Carolina, one of whose accomplishments was the repetition of these lines.
William Paca was educated at Philadelphia under the tuition of Rev. William Smith, D.D. He studied law in the office of Stephen Bordley, Esq., at Annapolis, was licensed to practice in 1761, and ad- mitted to the provincial bar in 1764. He married first Mary Chew, the sister-in-law of Judge Bordley, by whom he had one son, John P. Paca, the builder of Wye Hall. He afterward married Miss Ann Harrison of Philadelphia, a niece of the Reverend Bishop White. This lady died childless. This statement is at variance with that made by Goodrich in the brief sketch of Governor Paca among the Lives of the Signers, but the facts are from a genealogical paper preserved by the family at Wye Hall.4 Many of these papers, seemingly of no impor- tance or interest whatever, give us a far better insight into the life and manners of those olden times and the characters of those who lived in them than the pretentious state documents which tell of public events. Thus, we find a duplicate list, dated November 9, 1766, of articles re- ceived by William Paca from the personal estate of Mrs. Dulany, his wife's mother, which not only enumerates many curious household utensils the use of which has been long since forgotten, but evinces a particular attention to detail which few modern heirs or executors would care to imitate. The list embraces about four hundred items, varying in character from negro slaves to '} lb. sugar candy,' 'one old copper cullender,' and '1 sconce glass, broke to pieces,' and ranging in value from eighty pounds to threepence. From this we learn that a negro woman with bedding was worth thirty-five pounds while bacon and beef on the hoof were appraised at two shillings and three shillings per pound respectively. Hyson tea was valued at one pound two shillings per pound, and that ten years before the burning of the Peggy Stewart, and the Boston Tea Party! Coffee, on the other hand, was only nine- pence. Those were halycon days for the wealthy farmers of the East- ern Shore, when only the exceeding stillness of the calm forboded the coming storm. Here is a little scrap of paper which, like the burin of some skillful master, presents to us a spirited picture by the suggestions of a few well drawn lines:
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