(Chapter flow:)
ITS ORIGIN AND TOWN LIMITS
TOWN LIMITS
GROWTH, CHANGE OF NAME, ETC.
MERCANTILE ASPECT
MANUFACTURING
TRADES ETC.
SHIPPING INTERESTS
EASTERN SHORE STEAMBOAT CO.
SHIP BUILDING ETC.
HOTELS, LIVERY STABLES, ETC.
PHYSICIANS
LAWYERS
POST OFFICE
PRINTING OFFICES
SOCIAL ASPECT, ETC.
MORAL ASPECT
TEMPERANCE CAUSE
SCHOOLS
CHURCHES
Note: In duplicating this material for publishing on The Pocomoke Public Eye we have made minor adjustments to correct some of the spelling, punctuation, etc. We believe the errors were not in Rev. Murray's original writing but occurred in the process of formatting the material to a digital format for viewing online.
MANUFACTURING (continued)
An anecdote which I have heard going the rounds
many years ago may not be out of place here - A lady
of independence in an adjoining community had an only
daughter. That daughter was visited by a young lady,
who inquired of the mother where Miss So-and-So's
piano was. She took the young lady to the loom house
and pointing to the loom: "There," said she, is my
daughter's piano."
The mother and daughter made the clothes for the
family. The young ladies were their own mantua makers
and their mothers learned them to be good cooks also.
They thought it was no disgrace to learn them to work.
The first families of the place would make mechanics of
their sons, and to show that this custom was considered
in the highest sense an honorable one, I need but cite
those who were prominent citizens of the town to demon-
strate this position.
Michael Murray was a weaver of the world renowned
Irish linen in his native country, Ireland; Jesse Hender-
son a ship carpenter; Rev. James Tilghman, a shoemaker;
Joshua Sturgis, a blacksmith; Capt. Jacob Riggin, a
ship carpenter; Capt. Benjamin Hall, a carpenter; Gen-
eral Ebenezer Hearn, a tanner and currier; Colonel
William H. Merrill, a hatter, John S. Stevenson, a watch-
maker; Ceorge S. Redder, a hatter. I might name
many others, but those already named are sufficient.
Is not this a suggestive thought to parents of the
present day, to give their sons a trade instead of crowding
them into professions and clerkships, in which there are
but few, comparatively, who succeed, and to learn their
daughters to be good house keepers, and not to bring
them up in such a way as that when they get married they
will be utterly ignorant how to make their husbands a
suit of clothes or how to make and bake a johnny cake.
An incident which occurred in the history of Stephen
Girard, the millionaire, of Philadelphia, I will illustrate
here. He had a youth who was to live with him until he
was of age. This young man, by his steady habits, atten-
tion to business and probity of character, had won, over
all the other clerks, a place high up in the esteem of Mr.
Girard. His twenty-first birthday came on. The day
before that, however, he went into Mr. Girard's counting-
room and informed him of the fact, when he was told to
come in the next day as he wanted to see him. It was
conceded by all the clerks that Mr. Girard was going to do
something handsome for that young man. The next day
came, he went into the office as requested; they entered
into conversation upon their connection together. Mr.
Girard praised him for his faithfulness to his interests.
"And now," said he, "you are going out into the world to
seek your fortune, I want to give you a piece of advice.
Do you go and learn a trade; there is the barrel cooper-
ing, go and learn that! The reader may imagine how
the young man was taken back. He, however, engaged
with a barrel cooper to work with him for one year. At
the end of the year, he made a barrel, which he took to Mr.
Girard's office to show him. Mr. Girard pronounced it a
good job, and asked the price of it, which was three
dollars. He took the barrel, paid him the money for it,
and requested him to come to the office the next day as.
he wished to see him. The day came; he went into the
office, when Mr. Girard said: "You may have thought it
a very strange piece of advice which I gave you, to learn
a trade; but, if hereafter, you should fail in any business-
you engage in, then you have your trade to fall back on.
Now, here is a check for $30,000 as a token of my high
esteem and with my best wishes for your success in
life."
The different branches of mechanical business which
were carried on in New Town in its early history were
boot and shoe making, house and ship carpentering, black-
smithing, coopering, tanning and currying, hatting, etc.
There was, generally, but one shop of each branch of
business at a time. The first boot and shoemaker that I
have any information of was Rev. James Tilghman;
Caleb Tilghman, then Samuel Long, Joseph Richards,
Thomas Brittingham, James Lambdon, Jesse Long,
Josiah Long, of Jesse, Zadok Hall, of John, Edward
Murray, Francis Murray, James Sturgis, Tubman Moor,
Samuel T. Landing and James Murray. Henry Murray,
who was an office bearer in the Methodist Episcopal
Church, was also a delegate elect from Worcester county
to the General Assembly of Maryland in 1862 and 1863.
In 1866 he died suddenly, in hope of a blissful immortal-
ity. William H. S. Merrill, Thomas J. Blain, who is also
a leading office bearer in the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and has four sons — all grown men — who are an honor to
him. John Silvenhom, Rev. George Covington, Charles
Covington, Levin Covington, John Richards, Sr., George
Matthews, Case, William Matthews and William
Clogg. No doubt there are others whose names have
escaped my memory, or who were here but a short time.
These, excepting the few last names mentioned, have all
passed away.
The tailoring business was carried on at an early date.
Josiah Long, my wife's father, was a tailor. He served
his apprenticeship with his uncle, David Long, Sr., who
was the father of Captain Henry Long, Captain John W.
Long and David Long. Mr. Long worked at the tailor-
ing business until he died, which event occurred about
1813. Then in succession Benjamin Cottman, a man by
the name of Smith, William Purnell, Joseph Benson, John
H. Powell, William Atkinson, William Fisher, Theo. Hall,
William S. C. Polk, Emerson G. Polk, James Wells,
McCayland,(?) Edward Ardis and W. F. Jones. Emerson
G. Polk, W. F. Jones and Edward Ardis are the present
tailors of the place.
CONTINUES NEXT SATURDAY HERE AT THE POCOMOKE PUBLIC EYE.
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