USA > Maryland > Maryland's colonial Eastern Shore ; historical sketches of counties and of some notable structures > Part 14
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After buying "Pemberton's Good Will," Major Handy built the present mansion, using largely New Jersey heart pine and sparing no cost in the construction. Its large rooms and spacious hall lend them-
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selves now, as in past generations, admirably to social functions. The interior finish-woodwork and painting-have been of keen interest to the community for years, and much praised by those seeking true colonial models. George W. D. Waller, the present owner and occu- pant of "Poplar Hill Mansion," wishing to restore some of this work, could find no artisan in his neighborhood to undertake it and was told that this craftsmanship of a century ago was now unknown.
After Maj. Levin Handy, the property was owned by Peter Dashiell, a brother-in-law of Dr. John Huston, to whom he conveyed "Poplar Hill" in 1805. Major Handy had, in the meanwhile, returned to Newport, Rhode Island. Dr. Huston, a physician of wide reputa- tion, lived in the mansion and practiced medicine in Salisbury until his death, about the middle of the last century. One of his old family servants, who recently died, at an advanced age, Saul Huston, was the wealthiest colored man in that section of the State. As is almost invariably the case with old family servants of the Eastern Shore- but very few of whom now survive-Saul was shrewd, dignified, with a quick brain and pleasing personality, and carried the impress of old- time manners and virtues.
Dr. Huston left a large family; one of his daughters married William W. Handy, and they became the parents of John Huston Handy, the noted Maryland lawyer ; another, Dr. Cathell Humphreys, and a third, Thomas Robertson, who occupied the mansion until it was purchased by George Waller, father of the present owner. A house of much earlier construction stood on "Poplar Hill," and the back building, now connected by a colonnade, (built by Major Handy), with the mansion, was the original Winder residence. A grove of Lombardy poplars, the largest ever known to grow in that section, originally surrounded the mansion, but they have disappeared, and the tree is no longer found in that part of the Eastern Shore. A large section of the city of Salisbury was built on the "Pemberton's Good Will" tract. Isabella Street and Elizabeth Street are named for Dr. Huston's daughters.
Col. Isaac Handy, the progenitor of the Somerset family, settled on the Wicomico River in 1665, three miles from the site of Salisbury, and did an importing business on the present Main Street. Salisbury was known as "Handy's Landing" until 1732.
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WICOMICO PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
"ROKAWAKIN" CHURCH
D R. ALFRED NEVIN, in his "History of the Presbytery of Phila- delphia and Philadelphia Central," writes: "The Presbyterians had their meeting houses in Snow Hill, Pitts Creek, Wicomico, Mano- kin and Rehoboth, as early as 1680." The frontispiece map shown in "The Days of Makemie," by Rev. L. P. Bowen, D.D., indicates the location of these early established churches. The church as originally built on the Wicomico River was on what is now the "Anderson Farm," called the "Upper Ferry" on the main thoroughfare from Princess Anne to Barren Creek. Around this church at the time of the Revolutionary War were quite a number of Presbyterian families. Among the more noted were those of Major Roxburgh, the Slemonses, Andersons, Irvings, Lynchs, Ellegoods, Pollitts and Taylors. After the original church became dilapidated and the population extended farther northward, the old church was removed from its site at the "Ferry" to the road crossing at the "Rokawakin Creek," four miles from Salisbury. The architecture of this church, as shown in the picture, is similar to that of the Protestant Episcopal Spring Hill
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Church and tradition has it that the framing, including sills, rafters and sleepers were the material of the old church.
That the Presbyterian Church was firmly established on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland by Francis Makemie there is no doubt. The following is quoted from "The Days of Makemie," and shows the activities of this remarkable man:
"The months that followed were privileged seasons in the lives of our Presbyterian colonists. Mr. Makemie was everywhere, cheering the hearts of the scattered Calvinists, preaching on the Annamessex, preaching on the Manokin, preaching on the Wicomico, preaching up toward the head of navigation on the Pocomoke, preaching on the seaboard, preaching down on the Virginia line."
Prior to 1764 the Manokin and Wicomico churches were united under one pastorate. One of the events of interest in the "History of the Manokin Presbyterian Church," under date of April 26, 1796, is the following: "Ordered, that a collection be taken in the congregation every Sabbath during the time the Rev. John Collins is appointed by Presbytery to preach." The following is entered upon the sessional minutes at this time: "The Presbytery directs that the Rev. Johh Collins supply every third Sabbath at 'Rokawakin' (Wicomico), Manokin and Rehoboth, in rotation, till the last of August, the rest of his time, until the next sessions, to be at his own discretion."
Appropriate to the passing of many of these sacred edifices, are the closing words of a sermon delivered by the Rev. A. C. Heaton. D.D., Sunday, May 4, 1865.
"Where many a pious foot hath trod That now is dust, beneath the sod;
Where many a sacred tear was wept, From eyes that long in death have slept. The temple's builders, where are they- The worshippers? All passed away.
We rear the perishable wall,
But ere it crumble, we must fall."
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BEN DAVIS HOUSE BUILT ABOUT 1733
S ITUATED on the northwest bank of the Wicomico River a short distance westerly of "Green Hill Church," is an old house known as the "Ben Davis House." This property has been in the Davis family for many years and is now owned by the heirs of Ben Davis, Jr. Unfortunately this house is no longer occupied and is rapidly going to ruin, yet the lines indicate that one day it was a substantial homestead. It is said to have been the parsonage connected with "Green Hill Church." This house is situated on the bank of the river like the church and has a commanding view of the river for miles. In the days when people traveled to church in boats it must have been a wonderful sight to see the river, for miles, white with the sails of the parishioners' canoes coming to attend divine service. The shift- ing of the population nearer the towns and building of State high- ways are the chief reasons for these old structures and homes becom- ing deserted.
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BIRTHPLACE OF SAMUEL CHASE
OPPOSITE "GREEN HILL"
T HE "Chase House," built of wood, stands on the south side of the Wicomico River, nearly opposite "Green Hill," and is well pre- served. Tradition gives the date of its building as about the same time as that of "Pemberton Hall." Here Rev. Thomas Chase lived while rector of Somerset Parish, and here his son, Samuel Chase, among the greatest of American lawyers, was born, April 17, 1741. Rev. Thomas Chase, for the last thirty-four years of his life, was rector of St. Paul's Parish, in Baltimore City, being appointed by Governor Bladen. February 11, 1745. He died April 4, 1779, when his son had attained high rank at the bar, and as a leader in the Revolution.
Taught the classics and English branches by his father, Samuel Chase studied law at Annapolis, where he made his home. He was elected to the Assembly repeatedly from 1764 to 1784; sat in the Continental Congress in 1774-1778; went with Benjamin Franklin and Charles Carroll on a special mission to Canada in 1774; signed the Declaration of Independence; removed to Baltimore in 1786, after another term in Congress; was appointed Judge of the Baltimore Criminal Court. 1788, and Chief Judge of the General Court of
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MARYLAND'S COLONIAL EASTERN SHORE
Maryland, 1791 ; President Washington named him an Associate Jus- tice of the United States Supreme Court in 1796, and he served as such until his death in Washington, June 19, 1811. Boldest among the Maryland patriots, he early counseled independence, and in the Congress declared, "by the God of Heaven, I owe no allegiance to the King of Great Britain!"
Of the nine impeachment trials before the United States Senate, that of Judge Chase, in 1805, is, next to the impeachment of President Johnson, the most notable. Johnson's acquittal was made possible by the vote of an Eastern Shore Senator, George Vickers, of Kent, and Chase, an Eastern Shoreman by birth, was defended in his trial by an Eastern Shoreman by adoption, Luther Martin. Martin learned his first law in the library of Judge Solomon Wright at "Blakeford," while he was teaching school at Queenstown, and attained his first eminence at the bar in Somerset. On the advice of Chase, he was made Attorney-General of Maryland, and after twenty- seven years in this office appeared before the Senate as Chase's chief advocate. Goddard says:
Judge Chase had been most injudicious in his remarks concerning Presi- dent Jefferson's official course. Yet that he was not deserving of impeachment the result of a trial before a body containing a majority politically opposed to him, clearly indicates. The impeachment was not sustained, only three of the eight articles receiving even a majority of the votes of the Senators, none the requisite two-thirds.
Delisle writes:
No man ever stood higher for honesty of purpose and integrity of motive than Judge Chase. Notwithstanding the rancor of such party feeling as dared to charge President Washington with appropriating the public money to his private use did all in its power to pluck the ermine from his shoulders, yet his purity beamed the brighter as the clouds grew darker and he lived to hear the last whisper of calumny flit by like a bat in the morning twilight.
At this trial Aaron Burr, whom Martin was two years later to so effectively defend at Richmond on the indictment for treason, pre- sided. Judge Chase built the "Chase House" at Annapolis in 1770- the only colonial three-story dwelling in "The Ancient City."
One of the recent owners of the Somerset ancestral Chase home- stead was Henry J. Dashiell, the grandfather of Congressman Jesse D. Price, of the First District. Mr. Dashiell sold it to Col. Lemuel Malone, and the present owner is Ephraim Bounds.
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SPRING HILL CHURCH ON ORIGINAL SITE
H TISTORY, the record of men and the things they do, is valuable according to its adherence to truth; and it is equally false, cer- tainly in its purposes, if it leaves unrecorded that which had most important consequences. In other States and places families and names disappear, but the history of the Eastern Shore of Maryland is largely read in its family names.
No reference, however brief, to Wicomico County would be true to itself and to the people of which it is a record if nothing were said about Spring Hill Church-once the church of Stepney Parish, which has been the center of the parish life for a century and a half. The history of Spring Hill Church is the history of the old families con- tributing to its support, influenced by its teachings, the people for whom it has so long been the center of religious, social and intellectual life. These are the family names which themselves, by their mention, tell the history of this old church, and so largely the history of that part of Wicomico County, for generations: the Hitches, Robertsons, Wallers, Howards, Gillises, Fowlers, Freenys, Gordys, Weatherlys- names synonymous with the church, and a large part of the county.
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BISHOP STONE HOUSE
BUILT ABOUT 1766
T "HE "Bishop Stone House" was built on a tract of land which, for a number of years was in the Stone family, and is situated about half way between Salisbury and Spring Hill Church, on the old stage road leading from Salisbury to Barren Creek, Vienna, and up the Eastern Shore.
The special feature of interest in connection with this house is the fact it was the home of the third Bishop of the Diocese of Maryland. Bishop William Murray Stone was born in Somerset County, June I, 1779, and was educated at and graduated from Washington College, Chestertown. He was elected and consecrated Bishop of the Diocese of Maryland, October 21, 1830, and lived in this house until his death, February 26, 1838. At the convention which elected him there was rivalry as to who should be chosen Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Maryland. As a compromise, the convention decided upon the oldest minister in the diocese and it was found that Rev. William Murray Stone was the oldest, and therefore he was
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duly elected and consecrated bishop. After his death the property was sold and the family removed to the south side of the Wicomico River, now in Somerset County. Dr. Stone, the surviving son of the bishop, died a few years ago, having passed his "three score years and ten." The property is now owned by E. Jackson Pusey, of Salisbury. The residence is in a well-preserved condition and is said to have been built about a century and a half ago.
The remains of Bishop Stone for many years rested in the burying ground on this place, but after it passed from the Stone family were removed to Parsons' Cemetery, Salisbury. In 1878 the Dioceses of Maryland and Easton erected a handsome monument over the grave as a memorial of the Church's love of Bishop Stone. On the monu- ment is the following inscription :
In loving memory of the Rt. Rev. Wm. Murray Stone, D.D. Sometime Bishop of Maryland.
On the tomb the inscription is as follows:
This stone marks the Hallowed resting place of one who faithful unto death now rejoices in the crown of life which God has prepared for those that love him. The Right Rev. William M. Stone, D.D. was born June 1, 1779, was Rector of Spring Hill and Stepney Parishes more than 25 years, was consecrated Bishop of Maryland October 21, 1830, and died 26th of Feb. 1838.
He was eminently meek and had not foes
His heart was warm and true and he had cordial friends Office and honor sought him in the retirement which he loved
Patience and faith sustained him in the trials of his pilgrimage
And hope never forsook him until she beheld him in the fruition of the everlasting promises of the Master whom he had devotedly served.
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. f.
CHERRY HILL
ON WICOMICO RIVER
L° OCATED on a high bank on the south side of the Wicomico River, at the junction of Tony Tank Creek and the river, about two miles from Salisbury, is "Cherry Hill," the home of the Somers and Gunby families for the past two centuries.
This place derives its name from the first patent, in which the land is called "Cherry Hill." The original house was built of wood, but has been rebuilt by the present owner, Louis W. Gunby, of Salisbury. The interior, however, has been preserved, with its broad fireplaces and curved staircase, borders of scrollwork and the flooring of heart pine. The chimneys are on the outside, as originally built, and the house has a very picturesque appearance from the river, and from the house there is an extended view of the Wicomico above and below for miles.
There were several owners of "Cherry Hill" before it came into the possession of Capt. Samuel Somers, about the end of the eight- eenth century, who added to and enlarged the house that had been there many years. Captain Somers was a noted sea captain and traded with the West and East Indies to Baltimore and to "Cherry
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Hill," where he had large warehouses for the storage of the goods brought on his trips, and supplied the back country extending to Snow Hill.
He was of the noted Somers family, members of which served in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. One of his ancestors, George Somers, is said to have raised the first British flag on Bermuda Island after being shipwrecked there. Captain Somers' only son, William D. Somers, died without male issue, having one daughter, who is now Mary Pollitt. Captain Somers' two daughters married brothers, John and William Gunby. The present owner of the old family residence, Louis W. Gunby, of Salisbury, is a son of Charlotte Somers and John Gunby, and he has made this old mansion and its surrounding grounds one of the most beautiful country homes on the Eastern Shore.
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F
OLD TYPES OCCASIONALLY SEEN ON THE EASTERN SHORE
WASHINGTON COLLEGE
ESTABLISHED 1782
W ASHINGTON College was established by an Act of the Legisla- ture of Maryland in 1782. It ranks as the oldest college in Maryland, and the eleventh in order of foundation in the country. There had been in existence in Chestertown the Kent County School, which dates back certainly to 1723, and which probably had its beginning at a still earlier unknown date. The college charter merely "enlarged the plan of the Kent County School by engrafting thereon a system of liberal education in the arts and sciences."
The college was the concept of the distinguished divine, publicist and educator, Rev. William Smith, D.D., who served both as the first president of the Board of Visitors and Governors, and first principal of the college. Under Dr. Smith's direction and influence a foundation sum of ten thousand pounds was subscribed, mainly by citizens of the Eastern Shore, in consideration of which subscription the State pledged the annual appropriation-the income from certain licenses and fees. The State, however, soon came to discharge this obligation very irregularly and the progress of the college was thereby
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MARYLAND'S COLONIAL EASTERN SHORE
hampered. During the past decade the State has made reasonably generous appropriations for maintenance and improvements, and the college has shown a marked development in every respect.
George Washington's connection with the college is peculiar and interesting. In a letter dated Newburg, New York, August 18, 1782, he graciously accepted the compliment of giving his name to the college. In the same letter he contributed the sum of fifty guineas toward the foundation. In 1784 he visited the college, subscribed his name as a member of the corporation of Visitors and Governors, and attended the commencement of that year. In 1780 the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by the college. This diploma, together with the diplomas for the like degree conferred by the uni- versities of Yale, Harvard, Brown and Pennsylvania, is carefully pre- served in the archives of the Congressional Library at Washington.
The original building at Washington College, the cornerstone of which was laid by Governor Paca in 1783, was probably the most imposing college building in the country at the time. It had a frontage of 160 feet, and contained class-rooms, living-rooms for students and instructors, and an auditorium in the rear. This building was destroyed by fire in 1827. Owing to the failure of the State to fulfill its promises in the matter of appropriations, and the difficulty of raising money in other ways, it was not until 1844 that sufficient means were at hand to begin the rebuilding of the college. The college was not, however, closed in the meantime, as the classes were conducted in rented quarters. In 1844 Middle Hall was erected and ten years later two additional buildings, known as East Hall and West Hall, were built. The past ten years has shown the most marked development in the history of the college. The faculty has been increased; the curriculum rearranged and new courses of study intro- duced; the requirements for admission and graduation have been raised; an athletic field, with stands and a cinder running-track, graded and enclosed, and two new buildings, William Smith Hall and the gymnasium, erected.
The physical equipment of the college consists of four residence halls for students; three houses for professors; the old gymnasium, soon to be converted into sick quarters; William Smith Hall, con- taining the offices, recitation rooms, library, laboratories and audi-
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torium; the gymnasium, a commodious and well-equipped building for physical training and indoor games, and Washington Athletic Field. These buildings are situated on a beautiful campus of about sixteen acres, improved with convenient walks, well-kept lawns, shade trees and ornamental shrubbery.
Washington College has experienced the vicissitudes common to all colleges of early foundation in this country, but it has persisted through these changes and shown an ever-increasing vitality. Its doors have never been closed. At all times it has clung to high ideals of scholarship and character, and given to the State and the nation invaluable service in the training of young men for good citizenship.
Janotaire 1 President of Washington College
The present Board of Governors of Washington College is composed of
James Alfred Pearce President
Lewin W. Wickes Secretary
Samuel Vannort
Clarence W. Perkins
George B. Westcott
William W. Beck
Hope H. Barroll
Philip G. Wilmer
John Walter Smith
John D. Urie
Harry J. Hopkins
Dr. Harry Simpers
James E. Ellegood
Dr. Frank B. Hines
Dr. John W. Mace
S. Scott Beck
J. Frank Harper
William B. Usilton
T. Alan Goldsborough
Curtis E. Crane
W. Mason Shehan
Harrison W. Vickers
Dr. Harry L. Dodd
Harry C. Willis
Eben F. Perkins is Treasurer of the Board
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عكهر طيسية تراكيد أوالجر
SIMPLE LIFE
ON THE EASTERN SHORE
I CANNOT call this book complete without a few words of tribute to those men-in the main descendants of the colonial pioneers- who lead the "simple life" on the waterfront of the Eastern Shore. My official work for many years has brought me into personal con- tact with them and their families. Down on the banks of most of our navigable rivers in tidewater Maryland are many small vine- covered cottages with flowers in the yards. It has been my frequent good fortune to partake of meals in these homes in every Eastern Shore county and the feeling of "I share what I have with you" lends the air of hospitality which makes this section distinctive, even in the fisherman's cottage.
Upon a recent visit to the Straits District, in the lower part of Dorchester County, on Elliott's Island, which is separated from the mainland by six miles of marsh roads, I stopped for dinner at the home of an interesting old lady-bent, but having the use of all her faculties. During the course of our conversation she told me that she had passed her ninety-seventh milestone, having been born at
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Bishop's Head in Dorchester. She proudly related that her grand- father was also born in the county, had lived to be over a century, and had fought for the independence of the American colonies.
Wrong impressions have been circulated in other parts of Mary- land and its neighboring States, which have led many people to con- demn the watermen of the Eastern Shore as a class, and to entertain an erroneous impression of them as "pirates." Upon the whole, they are good citizens, almost entirely of the Anglo-Saxon race, of worthy lineage linking them with the early colonists, true to their own tradi- tional code of honor, with strong home instincts, sturdy and self- reliant.
Their forefathers have fought on the battlefields of every war in which this nation has been engaged, and should our country, in their generation, be so unfortunate as to be drawn into armed conflict with any other. these men of the "sun-tanned brow" and the "horny hand," accustomed to hardship and willing to make sacrifices, even to the last of all, would be prompt in response to their country's call. Such wars may God forbid, and this productive Peninsula never be plowed by enemy shells, and our remaining colonial relics destroyed by shot and torch.
S. E.
im.3
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[ FINIS]
HECKMAN BINDERY INC.
MAR 85
N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962
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