(READER FRIENDLY VIEWING OF NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES MATERIAL)
In the news recently.. talk once again about the idea of
Delaware and the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland and Virginia becoming a new
state. It's come up numerous times in our history. Here are mentions of the
subject in 1833, 1901, and 1933. (Time Machine archives)
February, 1833
(THE MAIL- Hagers-Town, Md.) (Spelling of town is correct for
this era)
(Excerpts)
From The Delaware Journal.
An OVERTURE, it has been seen, has been made by our legislature
to the legislature of Maryland, for an union between this state and the eight
counties of Maryland on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay- the united
territory to be called the State of Delaware. We know not in what spirit this
overture may be received by our sister state, but we understand, that the first
suggestion of such an union came from leading citizens of that state, and we
ourselves have heard one of her most distinguished citizens on the Eastern
Shore, advocate it as a measure desirable in itself & which would be
acceptable to the people of that district. If natural boundaries had been
originally considered, the whole Peninsula, including the counties of Maryland
and the two counties of Accomac and Northampton, which by some queer accident,
belong to Virginia, would have been included in one government. Nature intended
it so- but men's caprice has marred the design, and spoiled one of the prettiest
states of which our union could have boasted, and even accepting the sovereign
state of S. Carolina. Why Virginia should stretch her enormous legs across the
wide expanse of the Chesapeake Bay, or Maryland wish to retain a territory
disunited from her main body by nature's irrevocable fiat, supposing the wish to
exist, are questions we desire those interested to consider. - The people of the
Peninsula assimilate in character and habits, and would readily form one people,
as nature intended their territory to constitute one state. In the event of such
an arrangement, Easton would probably become the capital of the regenerated
state- and its Capitol, adorned by the Lloyds, the Chambers, the Goldsboroughs,
the Tilghmans, the Kerrs, and the Upshurs, of the Eastern Shore, with the
Claytons and others , who little Delaware could throw into the scale, would
present a galaxy of talent and character, which would give the Peninsular State
a name that her sons would be proud of. We wish our Maryland friends to take
this matter seriously into their consideration.
July, 1901
(The Daily News- Frederick, Md.)
(Excerpts)
A NEW STATE PROPOSED
Eastern Shore Suggested as a Part of "Delmarvia"
"Delmarvia" says the New York Times, "is the odd name that some
persons bestow upon a hypothetical State of the American Union." A proposal to
create such a state by the union of Delaware with the counties of the Eastern
Shore of Maryland and Virginia has been often discussed, often with considerable
interest and by the people of Delaware, occasionally with qualified approval by
part of the people of Maryland most directly interested, never with interest or
approval by the Eastern Shoremen of Virginia, and usually with unqualified
disapproval by Virginia and Maryland.
"Rural Delaware and the Peninsula counties of Maryland and
Virginia had a common English origin and a population almost exclusively native
and of native ancestry. But Wilmington, which will soon include half of the
population of Delaware, has a large foreign element. Eastern Shore traditions
are also more distinctly southern and aristocratic than those of Delaware, and
the strong Quaker element in Northern Delaware has no counterpart on the Eastern
Shore."
December, 1933
(The Daily News- Frederick, Md.)
SOME DAY YOUR MAP OF U.S. MAY SHOW: STATE OF
DELMARVA!
Invasion of Gov. Ritchie's Militia and Criticism from
Baltimoreans Heightens Agitation that Nine Counties Secede from Maryland and
Join Delaware.
By NEA Service
(Excerpts)
Baltimore, Md. Dec.26.- Delmarva- newest commonwealth in the
American family of states!
Back of the proposal for establishment of the new state, to be
made up of Delaware and eleven counties of the other two states, lies a story of
virtual civil war in Maryland. It is the immanent secession of the nine Maryland
counties and their union with Delaware which would make the new state possible,
and the backers of the plan-they number thousands in eastern Maryland- are
hopeful that the two lower Peninsula counties of Virginia will join their lot
with the Maryland counties.
Such a secession of the Maryland counties from the rest of the
state, which lies on the other side of the Chesapeake, would be revolutionary in
recent American political history.
But to the citizens of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, secession
is not unthinkable. For it was only recently soldiers invaded the lower shore.
They seized citizens of two counties and held them prisoner in an armory. The
outraged inhabitants attacked the armory, and virtually drove them out- drove
them back ignominously to Baltimore, and with them drove the Attorney General of
Maryland and the Commander of the Maryland National Guard.
From that incident particularly, and from a series of other
previous incidents, has arisen the desire of the citizens of the Maryland's
Eastern Shore to break away from the rest of the state.
For the Eastern Shoremen are mad- mad clean through. Their
resentment is particularly directed towards Maryland's Governor Ritchie, and
also towards Baltimore newspapers which have been exceedingly open in their
criticism of the 'Shore and its demonstrations of mob violence which culminated
recently in the open street fight at Salisbury between irate citizens and the
militiamen dispatched by Governor Ritchie to seize suspected
lynchers.
That "Battle of Salisbury" was to the citizens of the Eastern
Shore what the Battle of Lexington was to the American colonists in
1776.
October, 1946
(The Beaver County Daily Times- Beaver, Pa.)
Maryland Islanders Finally Get Doctor
SMITH ISLAND, Md., Oct. 19. (AP) This isolated fishing community
had its long-awaited new doctor today, and gratified residents returned to work
after a holiday to welcome him.
When Dr. Merriett Goodrich Chambers, of Rye, N.Y., stepped off
the mail boat, which is the island's only regular link with Maryland's eastern
shore, the several hundred inhabitants were gathered in their Sunday best go
greet him. Schools were closed.
There had been no physician on the island for five months. And
residents dreaded the approach of rough winter weather in which they frequently
are isolated for days at a time.
Dr. Chambers, 69, and his wife will live in a home provided and
refurnished by the islanders. He said he applied for the $3,000 a year position
after reading newspapers accounts of the islanders plight, adding that he
regarded the job as a chance for partial retirement.
December, 1893
(Peninsula Enterprise- Accomac)
Many of the public school teachers of Accomac, in a spirit of
reverence for the occasion and actuated by patriotic impulses, dismissed their
schools on Thanksgiving day, after reading the proclamation of the President of
the United States and Governor of Virginia, and a chapter in the Bible — the
County School Board of Accomac to the contrary not
withstanding.
November, 1892 (Time Machine archive)
(The Denton Journal)
ANOTHER THANKSGIVING! The youngsters have grown a little older
and the boys of a larger growth and a former generation have a deeper snowdrift
on their heads. A good many of us are getting ready to hang our harps on the
willows and are watching the disk of the afternoon sun as he approaches the
western horizon. There are plenty to take our place, however, and the world will
jog along at the old gait whether we are here or there. To the optimist, and no
one has a right to be anything else, this is a pleasant thought. A little more
turkey and cranberry sauce, a few more jovial reunions of long-separated
families and we shall dip our colors in the honor of the brave and athletic
youth who will unstrap the burden from our shoulders and bend his own to receive
it.
Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a
big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of
interest your parents or grandparents told you about? It can be just a line or
two, or more if you wish. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on
a future TIME MACHINE posting!
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