When Pocomoke Was Young- A continuing weekly feature.

 

(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.

TRADES. Etc. 

The Hatting business held a very important place in 
manufacture. Hats, at an early day, were made of all 
the various grades of fur, from the rabbit to the beaver. 
The first hatter, of whom we have any information, carry- 
ing on the business in New Town, was John Hall, after he 
died, then Andrew Gilchrist, then in succession, James Hall 
carried on until he died. These all died young men. An- 
drew Gilchrist was a Scotchman and was full of playful fun. 

About 1827, Colonel William 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 
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 sep- 
arately ; 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 
representative of this branch of mechanical trade, estab- 
lished in Pocomoke City, who may always be found 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 
family in its day as the sewing machine does now. Coffin 
making has always 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. 

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 1803 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, 
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 of Stevenson 
Bros. They are also, in connection with their trade, 
involved in the Furniture and Sewing-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 ago. 

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 
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 wealthy, 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 possession of 
the property, she got married to Peter Corbin. She is 
now a widow, and lives in the neighborhood of Davis's 
Crossroads, 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 
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. Dryden 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 Dryden, 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.

CONTINUES NEXT SATURDAY HERE AT THE POCOMOKE PUBLIC EYE.