The Old Brick Churches of Maryland

are stationed primeval oaks, spreading their patriarchal branches over the trees of a younger generation, and over the graves of nearly two centuries. The quaintest of gravestones bears the following inscription: -

HERE LYES THE BODY OF
DAVID COLEY.   HE DEPARTED
THIS LIFE OCTOBER Ye 20   1729.
CUT BY JOHN GODFREY

On the foot-stone is carved the following epitaph: -

Behold and see now where I lye,
As you are now so once was I,
As I am now soe must you be,
Therefore prepare to follow me.

The first page of the Parish Records begins with the following entry: -

Pursuant to an act of Assembly Entituled an Act for the Establishment of the protestant Religion in this Province, wherein it is ordered that the Justices of the County with the freeholders shall chuse six Vestrymen for Each respective Parish, which According was done and performed the 24th Day of Janry - Anno qui Domini 1698, - whose names are hereunder inserted,   VIZ:   Mr. Thos Smith Mr. Chas. Tilden       { Mr. Wm. Frisby Mr. Mich. Miller       Mr. Hans Hanson     Mr. Simon Wilmer Janury - 30th, 1693. Acquaintance with these vestrymen may be formed from the well-preserved records of Kent County and from the traditions of a proud posterity. 9 Vestrymen of St. Paul's Thomas Smith appears on the records as Colonel Thomas Smythe. He was the grandson of Sir Thomas Smythe, Treasurer of the Virginina Company, between 1606 and 1618. He was also one of the signers of the petition to William and Mary in 1689 for the establishment of the Protestant religion in Maryland. In 1694 he was chosen, with William Frisby, Hans Hanson, and John Hynson, to serve as burgesses, and in 1697 these names appear in a public document from which the following extract may prove interesting: - "William the Third, by the grace of God, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. ... We have also constituted and appointed you and every four or more of you of which you the said William Frisby, John Hynson, Hans Hanson and Thomas Smyth or one of you are allways to be one of the Commissioners to Enquire of the Oaths of good and Lawfull men of your county aforesaid, of all manner of Felonies, Witchcrafts, Inchantments, Sorceries, Magick arts, Trespasses, Forestallings, Ingrossings and Extortions whatsoever & of all and singular other misdeeds & offences whatsoever of which Justices of the Peace in England may or ought Lawfully to Enquire." Of witchcrafts, etc., there were but few cases in Maryland, one woman only having lost her life on suspicion of being a witch, when she was thrown overboard by frightened sailors during a storm. Thomas Smythe presented to the church of St. Paul's in 1699 a communion service, consisting of one chalice of silver and one plate of silver, which are still in use, and bear this inscription: "The gift of $ to the Parish of St. Paul's on the north side of Chester." The vestry 10 The Old Brick Churches of Maryland books also record the gift of a pulpit cloth and cushion from his wife, "Eliner Smythe." This has undoubtedly been long since appropriated by the historic moth. Thomas Smythe's estate of Trumpington adjoined that of James Ringgold, whose name is also prominent in the history of Kent. In the generations of Smythe that follow, are to be found an Honorable and a Major, and a house in Chestertown, dating from colonial times, still attests to the standing of the Ringgold family. 11 Vestrymen of St. Pauls Southeast of St. Paul's was the home of the Frisbys, one of whom married the granddaughter of Simon Wilmer, a patriarch whose descendants are found like twigs upon the genealogical trees of other families. The name of Wilmer, moreover, has to this day been distinguished in the Church and in the Law. The Tildens were men of standing in England, and their coat of arms is as follows: -     Arms.     Azure, a saltier, ermine, between four pheons.   Or,     Crest.     A battle-axe erect, entwined with a snake, proper.     Motto.    Truth and Liberty Michael Miller, on whose land the church was built, "repaid again as a gift to the church" the two thousand pounds of tobacco which he had received for the land. This gentleman was chosen burgess in 1685, and churchwarden in 1709; but that did not exempt him from his duties as vestryman, for it is recorded that on July 20th, 1695, he was fined one hundred pounds of tobacco for being absent twice from the meetings of the vestry. Hans Hanson was the only vestryman whose ancestors were not all English. His grandfather, whose mother was a Swede, served with honor in the army of Gustavus Aldophus, and lost his life at the Battle of Lützen, while defending his king. The parents of Hans were Andrew Anderson Hanson and his wife Annika, who in 1642 emigrated with the Swedish settlers under Lieutenant John Printz to New Sweden on the Delaware. Hans was born on Tinicum Island in 12 The Old Brich Churches of Maryland 1646, but came to Maryland in 1653, when his parents were driven from Delaware by the Dutch. In the County Records we find the name of Colonel Hans Hanson associated with positions of honor and trust, and his blood has flowed in the veins of most of the prominent Kent Islanders from that time. After his marriage, in 1679, he purchased from Charles Vaughan the estate of Kimbolton, lying on the north side of Chester River and on the west side of Langford's Bay, near the mouth of Broad Neck Branch. He lived there till he died in 1703. The Hanson coat of arms, handed down from Colonel Hanson of the Swedish army, was as follows: -     Arms.     Azure, a cross betonnée, cantoned by four fleurs-de-les, argent.     Crest.     A martlett, proper.     Motto.     Sola virtus invicta. It differs from that of the English branch, but the motto is the same. The grandson of Colonel Hanson was Gustavus Hanson, who served with our revolutionary patriots, severing all connection with his English relations, though his bride, Catherine Tilden, had received from his family in England a "magnificent silk dress inwrought with bullion thread," a portion of which is still preserved by a descendant. In the history of those times, we find that the Privy Councillors, County Court Judges, High Sheriffs, and Burgesses were all planters, and the large plantations, with their group of storehouses and cabins, assumed the 13 An Old Vestry-house character of towns, and the state of society was feudal. Among customs repugnant to modern ideas was that which sanctioned the corporal punishment of servants. A case is on record where the jury found that the punishment of a maid-servant, although not the cause of her death, was "unreasonable, considering her weak estate of body," and the court imposed a fine of three hundred pounds of tobacco for the "unchristianlike punishment." The rod used on the occasion was from a peach-tree, which shows that Kent was then, as it is now, a fruit-growing country. With William the Third the cane came into vogue, and we may picture to ourselves the irascible gentleman of the old school shaking their canes at refractory subjects. A few yards from St. Paul's Church stands the vestry-house bearing the date 1766 in brick mosaic on its south side. Here the vestry held their courts, and an indication of the nature of some cases coming under their jurisdiction is found in an extract from the Parish Records, dated Feb. 10, 1695: "Likewise ordered by this vestry that the churchwardens admonish Edward Plesto and Elizabeth North to live separately." When admonitions failed, the parties were summoned to appear before the vestry, and if they still persisted in their way, they were finally handed over to the civil authorities to be punished according to law. The vestry-room was a place of social as well as business meeting for those who perhaps never met their neighbors excepting on Sunday. Here the men may have negotiated the 14 The Old Brick Churches of Maryland sale of their crops, and joined the women at a frugal repast, indulging in a bit of gossip around the blazing logs. The colonial church was never heated. Before the vestry-house was built, vestry meetings took place at private houses or at the court-house, which stood first at New Yarmouth and afterwards at Chestertown. Every court-house had its "ordinary," a place licensed to sell liquors, for which the rates were fixed by the court. In 1686 on the court-house wall of New Yarmouth was posted the following list of drinks: Lbs. of Tobacco.     Brandy per gall. .......................................................................... 100.     Rum per gall. .............................................................................. 080.     Brandy Burnt per gall. ................................................................. 100.     Cider per gall. ............................................................................. 020.     Quince drink & Perry per gall. ..................................................... 025.     Sherry wines per gall. .................................................................. 120.     Port wines per gall. ...................................................................... 060.     Claret & white wine per gall. ....................................................... 060.     Canary per gall. ........................................................................... 150.     A Bowl of Punch with one quart of Rum & Ingredients per gall. .... 040.     Ditto Brandy per gall. .................................................................. 060.     Madeira per gall. ......................................................................... 076.     Molasses beer per gall. ................................................................ 012.     Mault Beer - strong - per gall. ...................................................... 020. The first rector of St. Paul's was the Rev. Mr. Vanderbush, who was chosen by two members of the vestry commissioned to engage him for a year for the sum of eight thousand pounds of tobacco. He died in 1696, when Governor Nicholson sent to succeed him the Rev. 15 The Rev. Stephen Bordley Stephen Bordley, with the following form of installation, which was at that time used in Maryland: - The Bearer hereof is Mr. Stephen Bordley, who is sent by the Right Hon'ble and Right Rev'd Father in God, Henry Lord Bishop of London, in order to officiate as a clergyman of the Church of England in this his Majestie's Province of Maryland; I do therefore, in his Majestie's name appoint the same Mr. Stephen Bordley to officiate as a clergyman of the Church of England in the Parish of St. Paul's in Kent county. Given under my hand and Seal at the Port of Annapolis, the 23d day of June, in the 9th year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord William the third, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, &c., Anno Domini, 1697.                                                             FRANCIS NICHOLSON                                                             (Seal) To the Vestrymen of St. Paul's, Kent Co. - These The Rev. Stephen Bordley died in 1703. His influence, like that of other good pastors, seems to have infused into the church a store of vitality which enabled it to survive periods of religious famine and moral depression. Other entries on the church records show that the collections taken up at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsunday went to defray the cost of wine used at the Holy Communion. We here learn also that after 1715, when the Hanoverian succession was threatened by the Pretender, vestrymen took an oath of "Allegiance and Abhorrency," and continued to take the "Test Oath," which excluded Catholics from office. The oath of Allegiance and Abhorrency is as follows: - 16 The Old Brick Churches of Maryland I, A. B. do swear that I do from my heart abhor detest & abjure as impious & heretical that damnable doctrine & position that princes excommunicated or desposed by the pope or any authority of the See of Rome may be desposed or murdered by their subjects or any other whatsoever & I do declare that no foreign prince or prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority or authority ecclesiastical or spiritual within the Kingdom of G' Britain or any of the dominions thereto belonging, so help me God. St. Paul's Church was rebuilt in 1713, and we have reason to believe that the same walls are now standing, as their dimensions and structure conform to a description recorded at that time. By it, we learn that the church was forty feet long by thirty feet wide and sixteen feet high. The walls were two and a half bricks thick, and there was "a circle at the east end." The first Chapel of Ease of St. Paul's Parish, now known as the I. U. CHURCH, originally bore the name of St. Peter; but it seems that the saint was less honored than one John Usidon, a considerable landowner, whose initials decorated a sign-post at the cross-roads where the chapel stood. Of the church built in 1768 no trace is left; the present one represents the parish of I. U., created about the year 1862, but now only interesting, as are some individuals, on account of ancestry. A large I. U., in a different colored brick on the chancel end, is the badge entitling it to consideration, while the fine old pines clustered around it are like faithful retainers, striving to conceal the defects of an unworthy offspring. 17 Emmanuel Church       At Chestertown, is a church, finished in 1770, as a Chapel of Ease to the I. U. Church. It was remodelled some years ago, is now the parish church, and is known as Emmanuel. Before closing this chapter, it may be well to explain what is meant by a "Chapel of Ease." At the time of the Establishment, there were ten counties in Maryland. These were laid out into thirty-one parishes, covering such large tracts that many families, in order to reach the parish church, which by law they were forced to attend, had to drive to the spot on Saturday, that they might be in time for the service on Sunday, - a "Sabbath day's journey" being ahead of them before they could reach home again. To rectify this, Chapels of Ease were built in the outlying districts of large parishes; but where two or more churches already stood in the same area, one of them invariably became the parish church, and the others the Chapels of Ease, and the rector was obligated to minister in turn to each. Whenever a supplementary church was needed, it was ordered by Act of Assembly that a Chapel of Ease should be built "for the furtherance of God's religion." CHAPTER II. Pages 19 - 34 "Old Chester" St. Luke's Wye The Tilghmans and the Lloyds The Rev. Thomas Bacon Henry Callister The Bennett Burying-Ground St. Luke's, Church Hill St. John's, Tuckahoe Trinity, Dorchester County St. Andrew's, Somerset County The Old Green Hill Church, Wicomico County All Hallows', Worcester County St. Mary's, Cecil County A List of the Original Parishes of the Eastern Shore of Maryland II. East of the island of Kent and south of the Chester River, lies a large area of fertile country, known at the time of Establishment as Talbot, but later on as Talbot and Queen Anne. The three parishes of St. Paul's, St. Michael's, and St. Peter's lay here. The oldest church buildings, now standing, are two Chapels of Ease of St. Paul's, - St. Luke's, Wye, and St. Luke's, Church Hill. St. Paul's Parish has an interesting record, extending back to 1694, and the names of its rectors represent an unbroken chain of worthies, from the Rev. John Lillingston, in 1694, to the Rev. Hugh Neill, in 1775. It is a remarkable fact that these 22 The Old Brick Churches of Maryland colonial rectors retained the same charge up to the time of their death, and with one exception lie beneath the ruins of ancient St. Paul's, better known as "Old Chester," which stood about a mile from the town of Centreville, where the present St. Paul's was erected in 1855. Two royal oaks mark the site of the original building, a wooden structure standing in 1655, and of its successor, which was so old as to need repairs at the time of the Establishment. A prominent vestryman of St. Paul's was Colonel Richard Tilghman of the Hermitage, who advanced the sum necessary for the rebuilding in 1697, the vestry engaging to reimburse him; he also contributed liberally to the building of the Chapel of Ease at Wye, in which a large square pew near the chancel was reserved, by order of the vestry, for the use of his family. St. Luke's Wye, is one of the quaintest of Eastern Shore churches. Seen in the slanting rays of the evening sun, through a frame-work of branching oaks, its weather-beaten brick and shining ivy present a prettier picture than an engraving can reproduce. Changes have been made in the interior to meet the requirements of modern times. Beneath the alter lie the remains of one of the colonial rectors, whose name has been lost. A stone, bearing the following inscription, stands within the chancel-rail, awaiting removal to the spot it is destined to cover: - 23 St. Lukes Wye BENEATH THIS STONE LIE THE REMAINS OF THAT EMINENT AND FAITHFUL SERVANT OF GOD THE REV. ELISHA RIGGS RECTOR OF THIS PARISH FROM A. D. 1797 UNTIL HIS DEATH FEB 6TH 1804. THE MEMORY OF THE JUST IS BLESSED The church, at one time, fell into disuse on account of its dilapidated condition, and a new St. Luke's was built at Queenstown, a few miles distant. Bishop Whittingham, however, finding the venerable structure given up to the beasts of the field, literally drove these living proofs of the "abomination of desolation" from the spot, and afterwards used his influence to have it restored to its proper uses. In 1854 the whole building, "fitly framed, compacted, and beautified," being then strong as in the days of old, was reconstructed by the same bishop. Wye became a separate parish in 1859. Colonel Tilghman married Anna Maria Lloyd, granddaughter of the Commissioner of 1652. She was named for her grandmother, Anna Neale, who had been a lady-in-wating to Queen Henrietta Maria, and had received from her the gift of a ring, which is still in the possession of a lineal descendant. This ring opens with a spring, and reveals a miniature portrait of Charles I. 24 The Old Brick Churches of Maryland painted on copper. Anna Neale's oldest daughter, Henrietta Maria, though a Papist, married Richard Bennett, son of the Puritan Commissioner, and after his death, Philemon Lloyd, a Quaker, son of Edward Lloyd, the other Puritan Commissioner, Philemon settled at Wye, and Wye House has ever since been the home of the Lloyds. The oldest son of the family for eight generations has been called Edward, and there are three generations of that name now living. The records of Shrewsbury, a parish two hundred years old, but with no ancient church, contain a letter written in 1721 by the Commissary of the Eastern Shore, the Rev. Christopher Wilkinson, to assist at the consecration of Wye Chapel on St. Luke's Day, October 18th, and to lodge at his house "ye night before." Talbot and Queen Anne have ever been pre-eminent for their hospitality, and as there had been a wedding in the Tilghman family the preceding week, we can imagine that the consecration of Wye Chapel was an excuse for prolonging the festivities. There is a saying in Maryland, "Ride a mile and stay a week," - a saying which may well have originated where the Lloyds, the Tilghmans, the De Courseys and others kept open house. Among some interesting letters written by the Rev. Thomas Bacon, rector of St. Peter's Parish, to "Henry Callister, merchant," is the following, dated Dover, Oct. 26th, 1756: "We had on Saturday last at Col. Lloyds the 25 A Concert at Colonel Lloyd's most delightful concert America can afford, my honor the first fiddle being accompanied on the harpsichord by the famous Palmer, who is the best natured man of a Top hand, I ever met with." There were neither theatres nor concert-halls in Maryland at that time, but wealthy planters entertained actors and musicians, who came to them with letters of introduction, and an impromptu play or concert was often made practicable by the concurrence of the many guests possessing talent and toilet for the occasion. Many of these old families still preserve gowns of brocade and other rich material, antique jewellery, and old portraits, which attest the truth of William Eddis' statement, made shortly before the Revolution, that "the quick importation of fashions from the mother country is really astonishing, nor are opportunities wanting to display superior elegance." He also alludes to the varied amusements and numerous parties of the time. Queen Anne and Talbot on the Eastern Shore, and Prince George's and Anne Arundel on the Western, were, until the Revolution, the centres of refinement and festivity. The rural amusements then in vogue were of the same character as now prevail at fashionable country clubs. The character of importations at that time may be seen in an invoice made by Henry Callister, merchant of Wye, in 1751, which reads as follows: - 26 The Old Brick Churches of Maryland Colored ginghams Bibles & Common Prayers Irish Stuffs &c Gauze handkerchiefs Candlesticks & snuffers Spice mortars Black jacks Snuff boxes" Chafing dishes All the green teas All sorts of Crockery     &c &c. There is on record also an inventory of books owned by H. Callister, as follows: - A Latin & English Dictionary Statutes of Gt. Britain & Ireland Hudibras Craddock's version of the Psalms Swift, Goldsmith, Pope, Molière, Tom Jones History of China Observations on Herculaneum. Henry Callister seems to have been a "character." In his letter-book is preserved a notice to a storekeeper to sell "no rum to James Hoxley and Sophia his wife, as they were rendered sick, saucy, and drunk, by which I suffered in my crops and in the peace of my family." A letter addressed to the delinquents follows. 27 Henry Callister and the Rev. Thomas Bacon James Hoxley and Madam Sophia, I have no power to bear your ill usage longer. Come settle with me and leave my plantation to Providence. H. Callister. Give an account of everything, at your peril. H. Callister. Give an account of the provisions you have over. H. Callister. Turn off the Plantation everything that belongs to you. H. Callister. Though a terror to the transgressor, H. Callister was a warm friend to the deserving, among whom were many Acadian refugees, who settled on the Eastern Shore about this time. In fact, it is said that he wrecked his fortunes in rendering them assistance. In one of his letters he speaks of going to read Plato to a dying friend, and his kindly nature is often manifested in his correspondence with the Rev. Thomas Bacon, whose account of a concert at Edward Lloyd's we have given. Thomas Bacon, though a good musician, is better known in Maryland history as a compiler of laws. In 1757 he began to collect in book form the enactments of every General Assembly of Maryland, retaining the titles only of those that had been repealed. Thus the church, as well as the civil community, had the whole history of legislation in the Province. In one of Thomas Bacon's letters he says, "Musick is departed from me, and the 'Laws' my only employment, are dry stuff which stick in my throat." Accord- Transcription in Progress To be Continued... Transcribed February 2004 by Dee Horney-Gabler HOME