The History of Pocomoke by Murray James (15)

formerly JSfeiD Town. 99

About 1S27, Colonel Wiliiam H. Merrill commenced
manufacturing hats, he carried on extensively.

After Colonel Merrill retired from the business then
Francis Mezick engaged in it, and took as a partner,
Carey C. Sears, they introduced the manufacture of the
silk hat in New Town ; after continuing together some-
time they dissolved partnership and each one carried the
business on separately.

I should have stated that during the time of Colonel

Merrill's being engaged in the hatting business, George S-
Redden also carried it on in New Town. After Mezick &
Sears retired, then Henry Brewington engaged in it for
some time. Since he ceased to carry the business on, it
has become extinct in New Town, now Pocomoke City.

The carriage-making business was carried on in New
Town at an early date, though in a small way. Milby
Cottingham was the first of whom we have any knowledge
to engage in it. He made some few carriages, but his
work was mostly repairing. I remember a little coach
which he made, after the regular style of coaches, for his
little child, and to this day, taking into consideration the
then surrounding associations of my little boyhood life,
it is in my memory still, one of the prettiest little carriages

that I ever saw.

How long Mr. Cottingham carried the business on I

cannot say. After he moved away there was no carriage-
maker in New Town, until Rev. Wm. Quinn established
it in 1836. He did not, however, follow it long before he
he sold out to Meridith & Spearman, who continued it



100 History of Pocomoke City, .

but a short time ; then Jesse Hopkins followed it in suc-
cession, then Hughes & Redden ; afterwards they
dissolved, and since then they carry on the business sepa-
rately ; William E. Crisp and Thomas Evans, then
Broughton & Cliff were also engaged in the business ;
then J. Thaddeus Toadvine manufactured extensively,
then followed Tatum, Gordy and Lankford. We now
have three carriage factories in Pocomoke City and one
carriage bazaar, kept by William T. Bullen.

The watch and clock repairing business was not fol-
lowed by any one in New Town until about 1865, when a
Frenchman, by the name of Montandon, came to New
Town and commenced to follow it, and remained here
two or three years. He was followed by a German by
the name of Harr, who carried on the business for about
two years. Mr. Harr was followed by Mr. Geo. Sar-
torius. We now have Mr. William Sartorius as the
representave of this branch of mechanical trade, estab-
lished in Pocomoke City, who may always be lound at his
place of business.

The cabinet, wheelwright and undertaking business has
been followed in New Town from time immemorial,
though not so extensively carried on in the early history
of the place. The cabinet business embraced the making
of bedsteads, tables, chairs, corner cupboards, cloak cases,
etc. The wheelwright business comprised the wagon and
cart wheel, together with the spinning wheel manufacture.

The spinning wheel occupied as useful a place in the



Formerly New Town. 101

family in its day as the sewing machine does now. Coffin
making has alwavs been in vogue. Coffins, in the early
history of New Town were generally made of pine boards,
painted black and not lined. When the undertaker
attended a burial, if the corpse was to be carried any
distance, it was placed on the running gear of a carriage
or in a cart and carried to the place of interment ; but if the
distance was short, it was carried by hand. Before the
corpse was put in the coffin a linen sheet was placed in it,
and then the corpse was laid on the sheet in the coffin and
wrapped up. The lid of the coffin was always flat. When
at the grave the coffin would be placed on chairs during
the preliminaries for burial. There were no cases then.
The coffin was put down in the ground and boards laid
over it and then covered up, and generally a stone was
put at the head and foot of the grave. Burials were not
so expensive in the early history of New Town as at the
present day. The coffins cost about $5. The shroud
was simply a slip made of muslin. This old mode of
burial with the winding sheet brings to mind the songs of
warning that used to be sung in revival meetings :

Young people, all attention give,

While I address you in God's name;
Yon, who in sin and folly live,

Come hear the counsel of a friend.
Your sparkling eyes and blooming cheeks

Shall wither like the morning rose;
The coffin, grave and winding sheet

Will soon your active limbs enclose.



102 History of PocomoJce City,

About 1825, James T. Dickinson moved to New Town
and commenced the cabinet, wheelwright and undertaker's
business. He made quite an improvement in the whole
line of coffins and burial of the dead. Gum and walnut
took the place of pine coffins. They were padded and
beautifully lined. The coffins at first were carried by
ropes ; he introduced handles, such as are used at the
present day, then the bier, case to the coffin, and hearse.
Perhaps a brief sketch of Mr. Dickinson's life will be
interesting to the reader. He was born in 1303 near New
Town. His parents were James and Nancy Dickinson,
both worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal Church
in New Town until their death. Mr. ' Dickinson was
apprenticed to Handy Mills to learn the aforesaid busi-
ness. After he became of age he married Miss Nancy
Burnett, daughter of James Burnett, Sr., and moved to
New Town, where he spent the remainder of his days.
He was thrice married, and was the father of five sons by
his first wife and one daughter by his second wife, only
two of whom survive him. By industry and economy he
provided amply for his family and the education of his
children, and at the same time accumulated considerable
property. He was a man of strict integrity and of a kind
and genial nature. He was modest and retired and never
sought preferment, and was esteemed and respected by
the entire community. He was a member and ruling-
Elder in the Presbyterian Church, and was often selected
to represent her in the church courts. He died in 1866,



Formerly New Town. 103

aged 63 years. His remains rests in the Presbyterian
Cemetery of Pocomoke City. Mr. Dickinson attained to
this distinction by adhering strictly to the secret of suc-
cess, which is : he attended to his own business and did not
meddle with the business of others. " A good name is to

be preferred before great riches."

The cabinet and undertakers business is at present car-
ried on by Jacob E. James, G. and Francis A. Stevenson,
three brothers, doing business under the firm ol Stevenson
Bros. They are also, in connection with their trade,
en^ao-ed in the Furniture and Sewino- Machine business.

The Wheelwright business is carried on at present, by

Abraham Cranmer and S. W. Farlow.

The Baking business was carried on quite extensively

in the early history of New Town. Mrs. Margaret Young
whom we called Aunt Peggy, and an old colored woman,
whom we called Aunt Mareer, were the cake bakers in
New Town sixty-five years age.

After Aunt Peggy died, her daughter Sally Evans car-
ried on the business. Old Aunt Mareer and Aunt Sally
seemed to vie with each other in baking cakes, and I
doubt whether nicer cakes, in their line, were ever baked.
About 1825, Aunt Sally, for so she used to be called, got
married to Agur Lewis Jones. During that or the next
year they purchased the hotel property, belonging to
Captain John Merchant, and commenced Hotel Keeping.
From that day it went by the name of the Sally Jones'
Hotel. They kept a good table at moderate charges.
Aunt Sally had a reputation of renown, as the great cake



lOi History of Pocomoke City,

baker, both in Somerset and Worcester Counties, Md.,
and in Accomac County, Va. She and Lewis kept their
horse and wagon, and would attend all the General Musters
in the counties aforesaid, well loaded with superior cakes
of different kinds, and would also attend the camp-
meetings, elections, vendues, holiday festivals, etc. They
would return home, not so heavily laden with cakes, yet
with their equivalent in hard cash. Aunt Sally and Lewis
became wealth)-, but no one knew it. She survived her
husband several years. After his death she was so afraid
of being robbed that she would borrow money to pay her
taxes. She died without children, and left her property
to her many relatives ; and to the Protestant Episcopal,
Methodist Episcopal and Protestant Methodist Churches.
She left a large share of it to Miss Rosa Young, for she
helped to make it. After Miss Rosa came in posession of
the property, she got married to Peter Corbin. She is
now a widow, and lives in the neighborhood of Davis's
cross roads, at the advanced age of ninety years. When
Sally Jones died, she left Moses Stevenson her executor.
Upon making an inventory of her property, it was dis-
covered that she had, in hard cash, $6,000. She was
buried in the Protestant Episcopal Church Burying
Ground, in this place, at the probable age of eighty years.
The Baking Business has been carried on quite exten-
sively during late years ; being unable to ascertain the
dates I can only name the persons who have been engaged
in carrying on a bakery. The first was John Knapp, then



Formerly JVew Town. 105

"William S. Matthews and a man by the name of MarmoiiJ
tthen a man by the name of Hopkins, then Philip and
Frank Fletcher, who were followed by F. H. Dry den and
John J, Jones, who employed a man by the name of Dietz,
then Stephen J. Blades. The business is carried on at
present by Mrs. K. Stubbins and Mrs. P. Whittington,
in connection with the sale of confectionery. The manu-
facture of brick in New Town was first introduced by
John W. Quinn several years ago. It is now carried on
in connection with the lime kiln business by Messrs. H.
A. DeKay and W. J. S. Clarke, under the name of
.DeKay &. Co., doing an annual business aggregating $8,000.

There is one more feature of manufacturing which I
'wish to mention as commanding probably the first place
in magnitude, that is the manufacture of phosphate for
manure. This business has been carried on by Messrs.
Freeman, Lloyd, Mason and Dryclen, who have now
• established a factory near the City of Norfolk, Va. These
gentlemen are all business men — men of push — and have
a reputation to back them up in their heavy business, and
must succeed.

In summing up the manufacturing business of Pocomoke
City, I will say that we have six or seven boot and shoe
shops, three tailor shops, seven or eight house-carpenter
shops, ten blacksmith shops, three carriage shops, and one
carriage bazaar, two cooper shops, one undertaker shop
and one phosphate factory, all aggregating a business
.annually of probably $170,000.



106 History of Pocomoke City,



CHAPTER XIV.

SHIPPING INTERESTS.

The shipping trade was quite an extensive business irr.
the early history of New Town, though it was mostly on-
the coast and to the West Indies. There were as many
vessels then, probably, as there are now sailing from New:
Town, but of a different character. They were generally
of smaller capacity, were sharp built, holding a draft of
seven or eight feet of water, and were commanded by
captain and mate, and a regular crew before the mast.

These vessels would carry white oak, barrel and hogs-
head staves to the West Indies, which were sold for
remunerative prices, and on their homeward voyage
would bring molasses, sugar, coffee, West India rum,
tropical fruits and hard cash.

The Bay trade consisted of pine plank, sawed by [hand
with the whipsaw, staves and laths which were riven,
cypress shingles, coopers' ware and what corn could be
spared from home consumption, flaxseed, dried fruit,
feathers, rags, etc.

We have now eight large vessels sailing from Pocomoke
City which are engaged exclusively in the bay trade. One
and sometimes two steamboats plying between here and.



Formerly New Town. 107

the city and the railroad running daily to all parts north,
by which facilities we have daily access to all the cities,
doing an annual shipping business aggregating probably
the round sum of $500,000. It will, no doubt, be of
interest to the reader to see the names of those who were
probably their fathers and brothers, and who chose the life
of a sailor, recorded here.

I record from memory the following names of those who
were captains sailing from this place from 1820 to 1882
inclusive : Captains John W. Long, Fleet Shelton, Harry
Long, John Sturgis, James Riggin, Hezekiah Dorman,
Jacob Riggin, Parker Copes, Harry Burch, Herod Scott,
William H. Veasey, Samuel Fields, Steven Purnell, York
Baily, James H. Young, Thomas N. Williams, Robert
Henry, Isaac N. Veasey, William F. Veasey, Littleton N.
B. Long, Elijah Taylor, L. Thomas Williams, James T.
Young, John H. Clark, Thomas J. Veasey, Thomas Brit-
tingham and George Bailey, and no doubt there were
others whose names have escaped my memory. Some of
these were regular Tars, while others were engaged in the
bay trade. As I have already given a sketch of the history
of several of those I have named, there is one other man,
a sketch of whose history I desire to record, and that is
Captain Littleton N. B. Long who, when but a boy, left
his father's house, and this his native place, and went to
the City of Baltimore, and from there he engaged in a
seafaring life. Friendless and penniless, with nothing to
depend on but his native talent and energy with which to



108 History of Pocomoke City,

make his mark. The sequel shows how well he did it.
Whether he engaged as cabin boy or not on board the
ship or brig I am not able to say, but one thing I can
say, he had a bright intellect and was ambitious to make a
man of himself. Obedient and industrious, he soon won
the sympathy and favor of the officers, and as circum-
stances would permit, with their instructions, he studied
navigation.

While a young man he took command of a ship ; in a

short time after this he became owner or part owner of a
ship and continued in this relation for several years. He
finally retired from a seafaring life and purchased a farm
in Talbot County, Md., where he is living in independ-
ence and comfort, at the probable age of 55 years.

All honor to the New Town boys who thus make men
of themselves.

CHAPTER XV.

EASTERN SHORE STEAMBOAT CO.

1

The Eastern Shore Steamboat Company of Baltimore
being a very important iactor in the commercial life of
Pocomoke City, it is but simple justice that a record of
its doings should have a prominent place in this History.

The Eastern Shore Steamboat Company of Baltimore
was incorporated September 16, 1869. The incorporators
were Samuel Harlan, Jr., John T. Gause and Nathaniel
R. Benson, of Wilmington, Del., Philip R. Clark, of



Formerly New Town. 109

Baltimore, George R. Dennis and John W. Crisfield, of

Somerset County. Md., and W. J. S. Clarke, of Worcester

County, Md.

The capital stock oi the Company at its organization

amounted to $160,000, with two steamers. At the present
period, 1882, the company owns three steamers, which
are running to the Eastern Shore, so that daily communi-
cation from the peninsula is had by one or other of its
steamers with the City of Baltimore. The Company has
now in course of building a much larger steamer, which is
.to be named the Eastern Shore.

The Officers of the Company are : Samuel Harlan, Jr.,
President; J. T. Gause, Vice-President; N. R. Benson, J.
Upshur Dennis, John W. Crisfield, W. J. S. Clarke and P.
R. Clark, Directors; W. Thomson, Superintendent; P.
R. Clark, General Agent.

The names of the Steamers are, respectively : Steamer

Tangier, Captain S. H. Wilson ; Steamer Helen, Captain

L. J. Smith; Steamer Maggie, Captain George A.

Raynor.

These steamers are superseding, in a great measure, the

sail vessels in carrying the produce of the Eastern Shore
to Baltimore. While they have first-class accommodation
for passengers in their saloons, state-rooms and cabins,
and the viands upon their tables are selected from the
best city markets.

The writer having traveled on all of these steamers can
say that the officers are polite and obliging, and passengers
may be sure of being treated as ladies and gentlemen.



110 History of Pocomohe City,

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