Portrait and biographical record of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Part 94

Author: Chapman Publishing Company
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: New York, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 906

USA > Maryland > Portrait and biographical record of the Eastern Shore of Maryland > Part 94

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James Latimer Banning and Emma, his wife, née Harris, have two children, H. G. Banning, Jr., and J. L. Banning, Jr. Emma Banning, née Harris, is a daughter of Alexander Harris and Maria, née Spencer, of the Spencers whose pro- genitor, James Spencer, settled on Miles River, Talbot County, in 1670, his descendants known

later in Kent County, Md., in connection with the Wickes, Ringgolds, and others.

Of other names mentioned above Cæsar A. Rodney was attorney-general in Jefferson's cab- inet, later United States minister to the Argen- tine Republic, dying there in 1824; he was a nephew of Cæsar Rodney, signer of the Declara- tion of Independence, whose hard ride of eighty miles to Philadelphia was an interesting episode in that compact in which it was said, "we must hang. together or hang separately." The first of the Rodneys settled in Delaware in 1682.

Capt. Henry Geddes, a successful Revolution- ary naval officer (see Cooper's Naval History), married Margaret, daughter of James Latimer and sister of Dr. Henry Latimer, of Delaware, a Revolutionary army surgeon, who was present at every battle of note from Brandywine to York- town. His bitter partisanship caused the British to place a price on his head, and vigilance on his part was long "the price of liberty" and life too. Later he was twice United States senator. James Latimer was chairman of the Delaware conven- tion of delegates that was first of all the states to ratify the constitution, December 7, 1787.

Robert Banning, the older son of Jeremiah, above mentioned, was born in 1776 and died in 1845. He succeeded his father in occupancy of the Isthmus, and in a more retiring and less adventurous way was also a representative char- acter. Like his father, he was once collector of the port of Oxford, though under twenty years of age; his commission, signed by President Washington, is still preserved, dated 1795. He was a member of the house of delegates, a cap- tain of militia in the troubles of 1812, and filled many positions of trust and honor. He wrote a diary of current events during a period of about forty years, and probably not a man of note in church or state, or otherwise, in all the country far around but finds incidental mention there at some time. He loved social intercourse, was an ardent sportsman and loved the rod and gun, the horse and hound. He notes, for instance, "after the fox hunt they dined with me, forty in number." He was identified with the church as vestryman, etc., and was doubtless a Christian

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gentleman. We cannot refrain from one amus- ing quotation from his diary. He notes sailing a small boat in a violent storm: "but, thank God, reached home safely, like a drowned rat." The pen was run through the last four words, the thoughtless irreverence of the connection having evidently struck him later. He lived mostly the quiet life of a prominent citizen and farmer in affluent circumstances for that time, with numer- ous slaves, producing on the estate most of the raw materials, clothing and food used on it. He was a type of the best of this class of men, a class once numerous in the south, now practically a tradition of the past. It was he who had the old British cannon ball hung in the Royal Oak that gave name to the village, and where (after an absence of some fifteen years in Delaware) it still hangs, but now on a locust post on the site of the oak long since fallen and gone. On the day of lıis death being visited by his friend, Mr. Sam- uel Kennard, the latter was suddenly stricken, and the two lay dead in the house at the same time. His descendants, down to grandchildren of his grandchildren, are numerous, but none remain on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Of his large family of children one survives, Miss Mary E. Banning, at Winchester, Va., with whom scientific research has been a pastime, and in certain directions a deep study. Her original work in botany, describing and illustrating the native fungi of Maryland, is preserved in the New York State Museum, and is considered by scient- ists a high authority.

Of the Wickes family mentioned notice is surely due Capt. Lambert Wickes, one of Amer- ica's most successful Revolutionary seamen. (See Cooper's History.) The gallant Major Ringgold, killed in the Mexican war, the progenitor of the Ringgolds, came to Maryland in 1650. The pro- genitors of nearly every person named in this arti- cle as residing between Delaware and Chesapeake Bays were of English origin. The Spencers and Rodneys are still well-known English families.

Capt. Henry Geddes was of Irish birth; the scene of his childhood, by family tradition, was about Carlingford Bay. He was born in 1749, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, entered the

English navy, then the American navy in 1775, and died in 1833. Extracts from Jeremiah Ban- ning's journal may prove of interest. In this manuscript he usually speaks of himself in the third person. In Oxford's palmy days as a com- mercial center, for such it was prior to 1750, the father of Robert Morris, of Revolutionary fame, lived there.

ROBERT MORRIS, MERCHANT.

Mr. Banning writes in his journal: "The great natural abilities of Mr. Morris overleaped every other deficiency. As a mercantile genius it was thought he had not his equal in the land. As a companion and bon vivant he was incom- parable. If any public or political point was to carry he defeated all opposition. He gave birth to the inspection law on tobacco and carried it through though opposed by a powerful majority. He was the first who introduced the mode of keeping accounts in money, instead of so many pounds of tobacco, per yard, per pound, per gal- lon, as was formerly the case. He was a steady, warm friend wherever he made professions, and had a hand ever open and ready to relieve real distress. At repartee he bore down all before him. Mr. Morris was father to the present Robert Morris of Philadelphia and the most dis- tinguished merchant of his time in America, perhaps exceeded by but few in the world as to his extensiveness of trade, mercantile knowledge, popularity and probity in his dealings."

KILLED BY A SALUTE.

Mr. Banning gives this contemporary account of Mr. Morris' tragic death:

"Mr. Morris, the elder, agent to the great house of Cunliffe & Sons, Liverpool, received his death wound in July, 1750, by the wad of a gun fired by way of a salute to him from the ship Liverpool Merchant, Samuel Matthers com- mander, which was then lying at Oxford. The accident occurred in the following manner: On the arrival of the aforesaid ship from England, - Mr. Morris and some other gentlemen went on board, as is usual on such arrival. On his re- turn to the shore he was accompanied by the captain, who, before he left the ship, gave orders

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upon a certain signal to salute with such a num- ber of cannon. The signal was the captain put- ting his finger to his nose. Unfortunately a fly lit upon the nose of Captain Matthers, and he with his hand brushed it away; this was taken by the officer on board as the signal. The guns were fired; the wad of one, passing through the backboard of the pinnace, struck Mr. Morris a little above the elbow, broke the bone and occa- sioned a contusion which in a few days brought on a mortification and put a period to his life in August."

THE GREAT FINANCIER.

Robert Morris' son, "the present Robert Mor- ris of Philadelphia," as Mr. Banning calls him, was Robert Morris the signer, and afterward the great financier whose credit pulled the country through its financial troubles of the darkest hours of the Revolution. He was born in Liverpool in 1734, and came with his father to America, when he settled in Oxford.

DEPARTED GLORY OF OXFORD.

In his journal, "day-book" he called it, Jere- miah Banning gives the reasons for his particular account of the character and tragical taking off of Robert Morris years after his death. This is verbatim from Captain Banning's journal:

"The motive that led to the above particulars of Mr. Morris was in order to give a sketch of the now poor, forlorn and destitute town of Oxford, which was at the time of his death and during his agency (for he was the principal sup- porter) one of the most commercial ports in Maryland. The storekeepers and other retailers, both on the western and eastern side of the Chesapeake, repaired there to lay in their sup- plies. In those days Easton, then only known by the name of Courthouse, could not boast of one store. Seven or eight large ships at the time were frequently seen at Oxford delivering goods and completing their lading; nor was it uncommon to dispatch a ship with five hundred hogsheads of tobacco in twelve days after its ar- rival.

"After the death of Mr. Morris commerce, splendor and all that animating and agreeable

hurry of business at Oxford gradually declined. * * * * Baltimore at that time was little thought of or scarcely known, especially by an adjoining state. Herds grazed on the streets, if streets they could be called, but it soon took the lead and was destined to become the emporium not only of the Chesapeake, but of Maryland. The poor, forsaken Oxford is bereft of all former greatness, and nothing remains to console her but the salubrious air and fine navigation, which may anticipate better times. Oxford's streets and strands were once covered by busy crowds ushering in commerce from almost every quarter of the globe. The once well-worn streets are now grown up in grass, save a few narrow tracks made by sheep and swine, and the strands have more the appearance of an uninhabited island than where human feet had ever trod."

Though this was written by the captain as a retrospect, he was contemporary with all he de- scribes, being seventeen years old and in Oxford when Robert Morris was killed. The business of Oxford declined and became extinct at the be- ginning of the Revolution. In April, 1775, the last foreign ship touched at that port. In this languishing condition Oxford remained for a long series of years, until it had dwindled to sixteen houses and less than one hundred population.

CAPTURED AND IMPRISONED.

Captain Banning was on the seas during the French and English wars, had several narrow escapes and was once made prisoner by a French privateer and was exchanged when only one be- side himself of his ship's crew survived the hor- rors of imprisonment at Fort St. Piers, Mar- tinique. His verbatim details of this scene of inhuman cruelty and privation are too horrible to publish.

FRANCE CEDES NOVA SCOTIA TO ENGLAND AND THE EARTHQUAKE IN LISBON.

He took a load of Acadians from Nova Scotia when that territory was ceded by France to Eng- land, to Wye River and distributed them among such planters as would receive them. He was in Lisbon "on business with Sir Harry Franklin,

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the then British envoy at that court," soon after the great earthquake of 1755, by which it "had been mostly destroyed and presented the most deplorable spectacle that it is possible to conceive from the awful effects thereof. The city was in a heap of ruins, with numberless dead carcasses of human bodies being mingled therewith."

BRADDOCK'S ARRIVAL.

At anchor in Hampton Roads, February, 1755. -"A British fifty-gun ship with other men-of- war and transports arrived, Commodore Kep- ple in command, having on board General Brad- dock and his army destined to carry on the war against the French and Indians on the Ohio."

BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT.

Returning from Barbadoes September, 1755 .- "Off the mouth of Patuxant River * *

* first heard of the death of General Braddock and of the total ront and defeat of his army. This circumstance, to those who may be unacquainted with the critical situation of the country at tlie time from the French and Indians, may seem trivial. But far otherwise were the opin- ions of the people at that day, for it was thought nothing but the success of General Braddock would save us from destruction. Happily the enemy did not push and pursue their victory, by which means time was given to collect and make head again."

CAPTURED WITH RICHARD TILGHMAN.

"In 1761 took passage for London on the Bet- sey, in Eastern Bay, off Mr. Matthew Tilghmans' * separated from convoy by gales * * captured by French privateer near Western Is- lands * Captain Banning and R. Tilgh- man, a youth, permitted to remain on the Betsey * * * in three weeks hove-to off Vigo, await- ing daylight to enter * * this a fortunate delay to Captain Banning and his brother prison- ers, for at twelve o'clock the same night, happily, tlie Antelope, British fifty-gun ship, retook the Betsey and carried her into Lisbon; here he and his young friend, Dick Tilghman, were once inore restored to liberty." Together Messrs. Ban-

ning and Tilghman encountered two memorable adventures later, but space forbids a recountal here.

CARRIES AN OBJECTIONABLE PASSENGER; THE FEELING OF INSUBORDINATION STRONG AGAINST ENGLAND IN 1766.

Unknown to himself, he brought Zachary Hood the "stamp-master," from London to Ox- ford in the ship Layton (1766). The patriots had been informed of his coming, however, and found him aboard the Layton. "Mr. Hood was threatened with immediate destruction," writes Captain Banning in his journal; "however he took an opportunity of making his escape and fled to Annapolis, from thence he was hunted and driven like a savage beast to New York, but found there he was obliged to seek safety in the fort. In America he could find no rest, and he was obliged to fly to England for protection, from which he never returned. At Annapolis Mr. Hood's house was leveled with the earth, and himself in many places burnt in effigy, and even in Easton, but the unfortunate patriotic operator there in forming the figure cut himself with an axe, which caused his death."

ABANDONED THE SEA IN 1773.

The following incidental extracts from a mass of manuscript: "1773-About this time the clouds of civil war began to thicken and lower on the devoted shores of America, several insidi- ous attempts having been made by Great Britain to raise a revenue in this country, and as often baffled.

"1775-In May Mr. Banning was elected first lieutenant of a company of militia to be raised at the Courthouse (Easton); and soon after captain of another company raised at Bartlett's Oak * * elected by the county to serve in general conven- tion in Maryland.

"In company with his first lieutenant, set out for Cambridge near Boston, where they found General Washington, just arrived, and presented letters of introduction. Returning, the whole country through New England appeared a per-

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fect scene of warlike preparation * * * disci- plining of militia everywhere *

* * nothing heard but the rattle of drums and the animating fife. In August following elected by the people colonel of the Thirty-eighth Battalion of militia * * and appointed officer of the port of Oxford. April, 1788-He was, by a contested election, the first of four chosen to represent Tal- bot County in a general convention to be held at Annapolis in order to ratify and confirm the Fed- eral government, as now established, of the United States. This proof of his country's con- fidence and approbation was perhaps the most pleasing and flattering circumstance in the life of Colonel Banning. The four deputies were Colonel Banning, the Hon. Robert Goldsborough, the Hon. Edward Lloyd and Mr. John Stevens."

There is much of interest in the old journal, but space forbids more here.

ON. JOHN MITCHELL ROBINSON. The long and honorable career of Judge Robin- son and his close identification with public affairs in Maryland entitle his name to lasting remembrance in the annals of the state. During his long term of service as chief justice of Mary- land he was always distinguished for impartial administration of justice, and while he held de- cided political opinions, yet he knew no politics while on the bench, but held himself above party lines. As a member of the court of appeals his circuit embraced Caroline, Talbot, Queen Anne's, Kent and Cecil Counties.

The family of which Judge Robinson was a member traced its lineage to Rev. Ralph Robin- son, a distinguished Protestant clergyman of England. The first of the name in this country settled in Delaware over two hundred years ago. The judge's grandfather, Ralph Robinson, was a wealthy planter of Sussex County, that state, and the father, Peter, also a planter, removed to Caroline County, Md., where he owned valuable property. The second son born of his marriage to Sarah Mitchell was Jolin Mitchell, whose birth

occurred in Caroline County, December 6, 1827. When a lad he accompanied his mother to Queen Anne's County. He received his education in Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pa., and afterward studied law in Centreville, being admitted to the bar when twenty-two years of age.

In January, 1851, under the old constitution, he received the appointment of deputy attorney- general for Queen Anne's County. In Novem- ber of the same year tlie new constitution went into effect and under it he was elected state's attorney. In 1864 he was elected judge of the circuit which comprised the counties of Queen Anne's and Kent. Three years later he was chosen judge of the third judicial circuit, and again in 1882, both times without opposition either in the convention or at the polls. His term of office would have expired in 1897. He was appointed chief judge of the court of appeals by Governor Brown May 1, 1893, to succeed Chief Judge Richard H. Alvey, who resigned to accept the position of chief justice of the court of ap- peals, District of Columbia. This appointment was confirmed by the state senate in 1894.

Before the legislature of 1884 Judge Robinson was a candidate for the United States senate to succeed Hon. James Black Groome. After an exciting scene in the legislature, through a con- fusion of party lines owing to an unexpected changing of votes, the judge was defeated. In duration of service upon the bench he was the oldest judge in the state. From youth he was distinguished for honorable character and up- rightness. He was above bribery and chicanery and the petty deceits of some politicians he de- spised. In mind and in character he was alike noble. He always refused to compromise with wrong, but made a manly stand for justice and equity. During the terms of the court of appeals he remained in Annapolis. The May term of court he usually spent in Talbot and Queen Anne's, while in September he was in Cecil, and in October visited the courts of Caroline and Kent Counties. During the portion of the year when not engaged in judicial duties he resided at Waverley, one of the old Tilghman homesteads, on the Chester River, six miles from its mouth.

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The death of Chief Judge Robinson occurred suddenly in Annapolis, January 14, 1896, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Lloyd, wife of Lieut. Edward Lloyd, Jr., of the navy. He was then sixty-eight years of age. When the news came to the court of appeals that he had passed away his friends and co-laborers expressed the deepest regret. The flag on the state house was placed at half mast. In respect to his memory the court adjourned for several days. Dispatches were re- ceived by the family from many eminent men of the state, including Governor Lowndes. The bar association passed resolutions of regret and of sympathy with the family. The formal announce- ment of his death was made in the city court of Baltimore by William S. Bryan and court was at once adjourned by the judge. In the criminal court his death was announced by State's At- torney Duffy and the court was immediately ad- journed.

The funeral took place at St. Anne's Episcopal Church, Annapolis, January 17, in the presence of a distinguished assembly of citizens. Among those present were the governor of Maryland, the general assembly, the chief civil and military officers of the state, leading members of the bar, officers of the United States navy and many who, though of less prominence, were not less true mourners on the occasion. The casket, covered with flowers, was carried into the church by six judges of the court of appeals and the clerk and the reporter of the court. The procession to the church from the state house formed an imposing spectacle and was composed of about three hun- dred men of eminence in state history. From the church the casket was borne to the railroad station and the funeral party proceeded to Cen- treville, where they were met by members of the bar and officers of the circuit court. The casket was conveyed to Waverley, the judge's late home, from which place interment was made in the cemetery. At the hour the judge died he was being re-elected president of the Queen Anne's National Bank of Centreville, and in re- spect to his memory the bank was draped in black, as was also the courthouse.

From his friends throughout the state came

many tributes to the memory of Judge Robin- son. Governor Lowndes said regarding his death: "It is a great misfortune to the state. He was a brave, an able and a good and just judge." Col. George M. Russum, of Denton, said: "The news of the death of Judge Robinson will be a great shock to the people of the second judicial circuit, by whom he was universally beloved. As a judge he was quick to comprehend and prompt to decide, and his ability and impartiality were unquestioned. He was a man of strong convictions, courageous in the expression of his opinions, and distinguished for his purity of life and devotion to his friends. No deserving per- son ever appealed to him for his aid in vain." Ex-Governor Whyte paid him this tribute: "I have known Judge Robinson for forty years at least and our relationship was always of the most cordial and friendly character. He knew the high esteem in which I held him and there was no one in the state to whom I would have given more cordial support for any position to which he might aspire. He was, however, so well fitted for the judicial office and adorned that station so highly that it seemed to be his special vocation. He was a man pure in heart, earnest in spirit and strong in conviction. He felt the impulse always that he was to give his best energy, his calm con- sideration, his strong sense of justice to the dis- charge of all his judicial obligations. His long service on the bench and renewed support given to him term after term by his people showed how firm was his hold upon the confidence of those among whom he dwelt. No personal friendship, no political bias, no preconceived views ever swerved him from the line of strict judicial duty."

Ex-Governor Frank Brown, who appointed Judge Robinson chief judge of the court of ap- peals, said: "In the death of Judge Robinson the bar of Maryland loses a valuable jurist and the people a trusted servant. His death was personally a great shock to me. The state will suffer a great loss in his untimely end. He was a man of high personality and was necessarily respected by all who had the privilege of his ac- quaintance. An eminent jurist, he was always distinguished by his fair-mindedness an impar-

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tiality, and while he was in the nature of his position identified with politics he was on the bench simply the instrument of justice and knew no party lines. His memory will always be cher- ished in Maryland both as a public man and a private citizen."

In 1857 Judge Robinson married Mariana, daughter of Thomas A. Emory, a planter and a member of an old family of Queen Anne's County, and a son of Gen. Thomas A. Emory, and on the maternal side a granddaughter of ex- Governor Levin Winder, of Maryland, who was also lieutenant-colonel in the Revolutionary army. The children born to the union of Judge and Mrs. Robinson were named as follows: Alice, wife of Francis Gowen, of Philadelphia; Sallie M., wife of Anthony M. Hance, of Phila- delphia; Mariana W., wife of William F. Fullam, of the United States navy; Elizabeth R., whose husband, Lieut. Edward Lloyd, Jr., is in the United States navy; Ralph, a prominent attorney of Baltimore; and Amy, Mrs. Edward M. McIlvain, of South Bethlehem, Pa. The home of the widow, Waverley, is one of the prettiest in the state. The commodious residence is surrounded by beautiful grounds, overlooking the Chester River, which is nearly two miles broad at this point. The home- stead consists of eight hundred acres, some of which is planted to grain and the remainder to fruit trees.

EORGE W. COVINGTON has resided ill Still Pond, Kent County, since 1851, when he came to this place to accept a position as clerk for his uncle, Daniel Haines, in a general store. In 1857 he purchased from G. W. Price the business which he has since conducted. In the fall of 1867 he built the storeroom and dwell- ing house that he has since occupied. For five years, from 1871 to 1876, he also carried on a general mercantile business at Lynch.

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Portrait and biographical record of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Part 94

Author: Chapman Publishing Company Publication date: 1898 Publisher: New York, Chapman pub. co. Number of Pages: 906

Author: Chapman Publishing Company
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: New York, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 906