TIME MACHINE: 1833..1901..1933..1946..1893..1892

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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.

　

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