Annual Historical Society Meeting Honors Lucia Demond & Audience Gets Involved In Living History Program

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Playing the part of an 1860s youngster from Cherry Hill, William Graham urges the crowd to come outside as the Civil War Chaplain is approaching the village.

On this fine autumn Saturday members of the Historical Society of Cecil County gathered for the organizations 82rd annual meeting.  The crowd socialized, heard annual reports, elected officers, talked about the past, enjoyed dessert, and participated in some excellent historical programming, during the afternoon.

President Paula Newton opened the assembly with remarks about activities this past year.  After the reports and election of new officers President Newton honored Lucia G. Demond with the presentation of the Ernest A. Howard Award.  The Society presents this prestigious recognition to individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the preservation of Cecil’s heritage, working in significant ways to promote, protect and preserve the built environment, folkways or relics of earlier times

Lucia, the sixth recipient, teamed up with her husband, Nick (a former president), contributing countless volunteers hours to benefit the county and the society.  Constantly working to shed light on the area’s past they broadened the work of the Society, which included increasing hours of operation and contributing numerous historic manuscripts with great research value.  In addition the couple was active in heritage preservation with other local organizations such as the Upper Bay Museum.  “We thank Lucia for her tireless lifelong effort to protect and preserve our historic resources and for serving as an ambassador, promoting the County’s heritage,” President Paula Newton remarked.

About the time the last photos had been snapped two youngsters from the 1860s burst into the meeting, excitedly shouting that the Civil War Chaplain, the Rev. Joseph T. Brown, was coming.  Rev. Brown served as a chaplain to the Maryland 6th Volunteer Regiment, and he was returning home to Cherry Hill, fresh from Libby Prison and the all too vivid memories of major battles.

It was now time for the audience to get involved as the excited youngsters urged them to hurry up and greet the returning veteran.  So as members spilled outside on this beautiful Saturday afternoon, they heard a voice off in the distance signing an old Methodist Hymn.  As the man walked toward the assembly, everyone soon saw that it was the Civil War Chaplin returning from Libby Prison.

Following greetings and handshakes from old friends who had been separated for some time, the tired veteran of major battles lead the crowd into the Cherry Hill United Methodist Church, where he took the pulpit to share first hand stories.  The account, mixed with great emotion, was from a man who had survived the great conflict and he told about selecting prisoners to be executed, hearing about the assassination of President Lincoln, and the experiences of terrible battles.  Periodically the Methodist preacher led the assembled audience in the signing of old hymns and those beautiful sounds filled the sanctuary.

Once Rev. Brown finished telling his Civil War story and interacting with the crowd, the Libby Prison Minstrels, a group of Civil War musicians, shared songs of the Civil War, using instruments of yesterday and today.  It had been a fine afternoon of inspirational true stories, participatory history, and special music as the members peeked into the daily life of a chaplain during the war.

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The Libby Prison Minstrels played Civil War era songs.
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President Paula Netown talks with Lucia G. Demond, the recipient of the Ernest A. Howard Award, an honor that recognizes special efforts to promote Cecil’s heritage.
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The Civil War Chaplin (played by the Rev. Hubert Jicha) The Rev. Brown takes the pulpit at Cherry Hill United Methodist Church to share his first hand stories in this living history program.

Notes:  The Civil War Chaplain was played by Rev. Hubert Jicha of North East United Methodist Church.  The two youngsters from the 1860s were Riley and William Graham; and the script for the living history program was written by Eric Mease.   

WDEL Radio News Journalist Covers Breaking News about Elkton Plane Crash

U.S. Radio, a monthly magazine for buyers and sellers of radio advertisements. Published in 1961, this issue has an article on the hunger for news hitting an all-time high.

December 8, 1963, was a slow night for broadcast journalist Joe Mosbrook, who was working the Sunday evening shift at WDEL-AM in Wilmington. Nothing particularly remarkable filled the Delaware airwaves as Joe ripped network copy off the teletype, made phone calls to get updates on things around New Castle County and read weather reports about a December thunderstorm passing through Wilmington.

But that changed at 9 p.m. when phones suddenly started jangling in the newsroom.  Worried callers asked about a sudden large fireball illuminating the night, while others blurted out that they watched a large jet go down in flames near the Maryland/Delaware state line.  The journalist started working his sources, trying to piece together whatever early information he could get from emergency responders, airport representatives, public officials, and witnesses.

Unnerved people wanted information, and in the early 1960s, the place to turn for fast-breaking events was radio.  So when something happened people tuned up and down the dial as stations had a local staff of reporters covering a market and could deliver information efficiently and rapidly.  Newspapers published twice a day and television, with heavy not so movable equipment, just didn’t have the portability we are familiar with today.  This was the golden age of radio news, but things were beginning to change as television got ready to turn listeners into viewers.

Two hours after the first alert when out on civil defense radio networks, Joe had a full, preliminary report for NBC’s News on the Hour at 11 p.m., summarizing what was known at that point.  He continued providing Network feeds from WDEL until 1 a.m. that morning and was back on the air again at 7 a.m. to update the local audience and the network. The final piece is from 7:30 a.m.

After listening to Joe report on the dedication of I-95 and the Kennedy Assassination for WDEL, we recently exchanged messages with the veteran reporter.  He dug through his collection of old tapes and found the coverage of the Elkton Crash, which he made from WDEL.

The Delaware broadcaster had grown up in Wilmington and started at WDEL in 1961.  He was the news director there until 1967, when he moved to NBC News in Cleveland to work radio and television for 35 years, retiring in 2002.    Joe still does a weekly jazz history feature for Cleveland’s NPR outlet.

Notes

A remembrance program will be held on Dec 8, 2013.  Click here for details.  Also be sure to click on the individual time segments to hear Joe’s news reports.  We thank Joe for allowing us to use these 50-year-old news pieces and they will be added to a remembrance archive.

Broadcast Journalist Joe Mosbrook around 1963. (Source: Joe Mosbrook)

Last Survivor of the Battle of Baltimore Was From Cecil County

A war of 1812 reenactor during the Havre de Grace celebration.

As decades slip all too quickly by once young soldiers grow old.  While aging the defenders often recall their battles, remembering stirring times until that final voice is silenced.  That time was rapidly approach in 1896 for soldiers of the War of 1812, when the Utica Morning Herald reported that only fourteen pensioners remained.

In that group was a Cecil County centenarian, Elijah B. Glenn.  He had been born at Carpenter’s Point in August 1796.   Glenn was the “last survivor of the ‘Old Defenders who saved Baltimore from the British attack” in September 1814, according to the Cecil Democrat.  He died on July 25, 1898, at 102 years of age at the home of his granddaughter, Mrs. John E. Barcklow in Newark, NJ according to the New York Times.  The private joined the Maryland Militia when he was 18, serving in Captain Peter Pinney’s company, the 27th Maryland Regiment, which fought at the Battle of North Point.

A reenactor from the Ship’s company talks to visitors to his tent during the War of 1812 celebration in Havre de Grace.

History on Demand: New Audio Tour Gives Modern Access to Port Deposit History

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The old Rock Run Mill in Port Deposit.

The Port Deposit Chamber of Commerce has entered the high-tech heritage tourism world by piloting a new product, becoming the first Cecil County destination spot to offer walking tours delivered over a wireless network.  Strolling throughout the historic town nestled between granite cliffs and the east bank of the Susquehanna River, the past comes alive for curious types, tourists, and residents as the present meets the past.  While ambling along a street with fine buildings from an earlier time, visitors dial in on a cellphone to hear engaging and informative narrations.

The buildings in this river town have always seemed as if they were just waiting to tell lively stories of the past and that was done traditionally with a walking tour pamphlet.  Now the earlier eras speak to the passerby.

Port is an ideal town for an afternoon walking tour on a beautiful autumn day (or anytime really) similar to this one.  So be sure to visit soon, but don’t forget to bring along your digital devise.  The recorded messages, all brief (less than two minutes), describe events from the past and the points of interest.

The phone number is 585-546-1776.   There are eleven stops and callers select what they want to listen to by dialing the stop number on the keypad.  Small signs posted around town alert visitors to the locations.

Thank you Port Deposit Chamber for helping make Cecil County history more broadly accessible on an audio that gives everyone a chance to hear a lively and engaging personal tour of major historic spots and events around a town that has so much history waiting to be shared.  This pilot product was developed earlier this year in order to help the Chamber learn about navigating the process of working with these emerging products and it will enable them to enhance the tour over time.

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In the center of Port Deposit.

Additional Arrangements Announced for Flight 214 Remembrance Program

Amy Foard, Front Desk Manager, at the Comfort Suites in Elkton.
Amy Foard, Front Desk Manager, at the Comfort Suites in Elkton.

The Historical Society of Cecil County is holding a remembrance program on Dec 8th 2013, as it will be fifty years since Pan American World Airways Flight 214 crashed outside of Elkton, killing everyone onboard the jet.  As we honor the memory of those on the flight and the first responders who answered the urgent call that stormy night, families from throughout the nation are traveling to Elkton on this date.

The Elkton Comfort Suites has partnered with the Society to offer an exclusive discounted rate to those traveling to Elkton over the remembrance weekend.  If you are attending the programs and need overnight accommodations feel free to check with the Comfort Suites.  Tell them you are attending the “Cecil County Historical Society Program,” and they will make the special rate available to you.

The Society thanks the management of the hotel for helping support this important program as families return to Elkton on this weekend in early December to the remember the tragedy that touched so many lives in so many ways.Comfort Suites Hotel Elkton

Maintaining Water Access to the Head of Navigation at North East

Beginning after the Civil War, the Army Corps of Engineers worked to maintain water access to communities located at the head of navigation of many rivers on the Chesapeake. That ongoing struggle, extending well into the 1900s, required constant effort as the Corps mapped waterways, carried out dredging, removed shoals, and built dikes, making the waterways navigable for sailing and steam vessels.

For places that had grown steadily because of the location at the top of a waterway, silting the river beds was a problem, making them nearly unreachable via the traditional routes, except on high tide.  These centuries of labor generated a lot of helpful technical reports, many of them done by engineers, and those old original records are often available to help understand the passage of centuries along a stream.  As the Corps superintended the dredging, they produced pages of notes, sketches, hand-drawn maps, letters, official correspondence, and official documents.  Many surviving manuscripts are stored safely away in the Philadelphia Branch of the National Archives.

The North East River was one of those watercourses that received attention.  The Engineers did a detailed examination of the waterway for the House of Representatives, surveying it to its head in 1937.  The United States dredged a channel of 6’ feet depth to the Davis Wharf in North East in 1893, at a cost of $5,140, “exclusive of an expenditures of $15,500 under prior authorizations.”  At this point, commercial interests desired to have a channel 10 feet deep to a point 300 feet above the foot of Church Street, ending in a suitable turning and anchorage basin.  If the Government would agree to do this proponents offered to “furnish necessary rights-of-way and spill-disposal areas, construct a public wharf, and contribute $100 toward the cost of improvement.”

The North East River about 1914. (Private collection)

Noting the value in this work, the report said there were 1,500 inhabitants, principally engaged in the manufacture of brick, insulating products and baskets, processing of vegetables and fish, and the repair of boats.  The nearby areas were devoted chiefly to farming, although a number of summer residential developments are located along the lower reaches of the stream.  The commerce of the harbor for 1935 consisted of 10,000 tons of fish and 500 tons of salt at a fish-pickling plant near the lower town limits.

If the work was performed, it should lead to the receipt of substantial quantities of petroleum products, building materials, fertilizers and miscellaneous freights with saving in transportation costs estimated at $3,750, the authors estimated.

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Army Corps of Engineers Report on the North East River at North East – 1937. The Army Corps of Engineers continually worked to maintain navigation to the top of the North East River. (National Archives)

Another study in 1910 noted that the town of 1,000 had a taxable basis of $500,000 and was governed by a board of five commissioners.  It contained one bank, a grade and high school, a newspaper, two hotels, three churches, two brickyards, a shirt factory, a basket factory, a cannery, three fish-packing houses, a charcoal kiln, a flour mill, an electric light plant, a boat building, and a cooperage plants.  One railroad passed by the town.  Twenty-eight sailing craft and 92 power boats were owned here, 75 percent having a capacity of 10 tons or less.

Water transportation was limited to one 35-ton power boat, drawing 5 feet of water, which plied between North East and Baltimore.  It had to wait for flood tide to pass over the bar, which was causing a failing off of profits.

Additional examinations were conducted in the 1870s and 1880s, and these manuscripts, especially those highly detailed maps drawn so long ago, help answer many of our questions about the time and place.

After Nearly A Half-Century on the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, Retiree Mulls Over Changes

H. W. Sherman with Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
H. W. Sherman retires from the C & D Canal

H. W. Sherman, one of the assets acquired by the Federal Government with the purchase of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, was retiring from the Army Corps of Engineers in 1953.  The 70-year-old administrative assistant spent 48 years on the waterway, having started with the corporate owner of the route across the Peninsula in 1905.

It was a lock canal when Herman moved from Philadelphia to Chesapeake City to work as a clerk.  “You should have seen the barges coming through in those days,” the retiring employee told the Baltimore Sun.  “They were long and loaded with lumber, pulpwood, and pig iron.  There wasn’t any oil in those days, but there was wine.”

It was a toll route, and every vessel paid as it moved through the first lock.  “Big shippers posted a bond so their barges could move through without any holdup.  Each week drafts were sent to them for payment.  If they failed, the bonds were seized.  The small operators paid cash on each voyage.”  In 1912 Mr. Sherman became a collector, picking up the cash at the first lock.  “In those days, because the locks were small,” he relates, there were teams of four mules to pull barges through.”

He added that the only other person associated with the canal still alive in Chesapeake City was Harry Borger, a mule driver and later a steam rig operator.

The veteran employee noted the changes:  “It’s a good thing we haven’t had to worry about tolls with all this big traffic moving through.  Think what it might be checking up on the big lots in the freighters that have been using the canal.    The 70-year-old planned to stay around Chesapeake City, where he had spent his last 48 years, working in his huge flower garden and cutting the shrubbery around his white frame house in Chesapeake City.

The times had changed on the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal.

Trains Are Gone on the Octoraro Branch, But Relics of the Railroad Age Remain

Trains on the old Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad didn’t go far and they didn’t go fast on the line that twisted and turned its way through some of the most scenic parts of Cecil County.  Beginning on the state line at Sylmar, the rails passed through valleys, alongside creeks, and through granite hills until the junction of mainline, the Columbia and Port Deposit Road, was reached.  On a trip through this attractive area today, rusting iron bridges, abandoned right-of-ways, and other relics of the railroad-age remain.

A rusting abandoned bridge carries the rails of the P. B & C. Railroad across the Octoraro Creek outside Rowlandsville.  The Port Deposit & Columbia Bridge is seen in the background.
A rusting abandoned bridge carries the rails of the P. B & C. Railroad across the Octoraro Creek outside Rowlandsville. The Port Deposit & Columbia Bridge is seen in the background.

Sprecher Shared Elkton’s 1960s Story in an Engaging Talk

Milford Sprecher shares Elkton's Story, a talk about the 1960s in the county seat.
Milford Sprecher sharing Elkton’s story.

Yesterday afternoon, Milford Sprecher kicked off the Historical Society of Cecil County’s popular 2013-14 speakers series with an engaging, photo-illustrated talk, “Elkton in the 1960s.”  On the pleasant Saturday, he vividly captured the spirit of those years locally, providing views and perspective of someone who came of age in the county seat during a pivotal era.

It was a period of change in the nation and in Cecil County.  The opening of I-95, integration, urban renewal, a changing central business district, the Vietnam War, and tragedy all affected Elkton, and Milford talked about those matters.  Also, on the enjoyable track through some 50 years to this special place, his thoughts drifted back to fond memories acquired long ago, when Elkton was a much different place.  The speaker kept things rolling along, but laughter periodically interrupted the presentation as he recounted humorous incidents from the past.  After it was over, people eagerly clustered around the speaker to converse and share additional stories.

This was part of the Society’s annual speaker’s series.    During the cooler months, the Society hosts a series of popular talks on topics ranging from practical research methods to fresh lectures that have broad appeal.  All lectures are designed to be informative and enjoyable while concentrating on new, broadly engaging topics or applied sessions to help with research.

Click here for additional information upcoming events from the speakers series,  The free programs take place on the first Saturday of each month at 2:00 p.m. at Cecil County’s History and Genealogy Library at 135 E. Main Street in Elkton.

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North Street, Elkton, 1953 Source: Robinson Collection, the Historical Society of Cecil County

Remembering Dr. James Johnson, a respected Cecil County Physician

A tribue of rememberance for Dr. James Johnson
Courtesy of George Sewell

When Dr. James Johnson started practicing medicine in Elkton in the middle of the Great Depression the county’s healthcare system was segregated, just like every other aspect of life in Cecil County.  Union Hospital had a separate ward for African-Americans and the young physician didn’t have admitting privileges.  If one of his patients required hospitalization, he arranged the admission through another doctor.

As integration made inroads in areas such as public accommodation and education, an entire generation of black doctors worked with others to bring an end to the racially segregated health care across the nation.  The system of separate wards here appears to have been eliminated by the mid-1960s but prior to that time, the physician hadn’t been given admitting privileges at the hospital.

The daughter of Dr. Peter Stavrakis, Olga, recalls that period:  “He was a good physician and my father respected him enough to leave him in charge of his patients when we went on vacation even before the civil rights movement and before Dr. Johnson had rights to put patients into Union Hospital.  Sometimes people would react to that and I would assure them that my father only went off call to the best practitioner in the county.  He also got involved in helping to get full hospital privileges for the physician for he felt that he was a skilled healthcare provider.”

The young man from Baltimore, a 1928 graduate of Lincoln University, went to Nashville, TN to enroll in Meharry Medical College, a school that was founded in 1876 by the Freedman’s Bureau as a school for African-American physicians.  It and Howard University in Washington, D.C., were the only medical schools for black students at that time.

After returning to Baltimore to complete his internship at Provident Hospital, the urban professional settled in rural Cecil County, opening his office at the corner of East High and Booth streets in Elkton in 1934.  Barbara Boddy, 61, of Elkton worked for him in that bustling office as a teenager.  “Doctor would make his rounds at Union Hospital first thing in the morning, then visit the sick in their homes in the afternoon.”  You know Doctors made house calls in those days, she casually remarked.

But his day was far from over “We would open the office for patients later in the day,” Barbara adds.  “Often we worked late into the night as Doc took care of everyone.  When he was ready for his afternoon caseload, “he would say okay open the door.  Sometimes there would be so many people already there waiting for us.”  Barbara, serving as his assistant, would attend to office functions and help the physician as he swabbed throats, took temperatures and blood pressures, cured various pains, and treated a range of ailments.  You would also find him traversing the county at all hours of the night to respond to emergencies at patient’s homes she adds.  “He was always working.  He never seemed to tire.”

“Six dollars, yes that’s what it cost for a Doctor visit,” Clifford Jones recalls.  “For that, he dispensed whatever medicine you needed too. Doc always fixed me right up, curing whatever ailed me.” “He was a sweet wonderful person,” is the way Barbara remembers him.  “He was always working for people and it didn’t matter whether they could pay or not.  He just took care of them.”

For his many contributions to the community, the respected doctor was recognized as the citizen of the year by the Chamber of Commerce in 1971. He was particularly proud of his effort to get a modern school built at Booth Street for children in the African-American community during the separate but unequal period of the past.

Into the 1970s he maintained a busy medical practice, keeping his office open five days a while visiting patients at Union hospital seven days a week. His days often began before dawn and ended well after sunset. Jim Cheeseman, the Cecil Whig photographer said in 1971: “The one picture I would really like to shoot is a silhouette of the good doctor rushing to Union Hospital in the early morning before dawn like I have seen him do so many times.”

Dr. James Johnson passed away on Feb 24, 1978, at the age of 73. He had practiced medicine in Elkton for 43 years.

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Here is a link to an earlier post about Dr. Johnson, along with comments from readers.

Dr. James Johnson
Dr. James Johnson