Join us for a full day of genealogy lectures and hands-on research on Oct 6, 2012. Nationally renowned genealogist Donn Devine will present the keynote lecture: “DNA: The New Tool in Genealogy.” The program begins at 9am at the Elkton Central Library with a poster session of local lineage and genealogical societies, followed by three lectures. Grab a bite to eat in town and rejoin us at 2 pm at the Historical Society of Cecil County at 135 E. Main Street for our final lecture and an opportunity for hands-on research.
Lectures include: *Introduction to Genealogy *Google Genealogy *Integrating Social History into Your Family Research *DNA: The New Tool in Genealogy Co-sponsored by the Cecil County Historical Society. Please register online or by calling the library.Library: Elkton Central Library Location: Meeting Room Contact: Elkton Adult Services Department Contact Number: 410-996-5600 x 481
Around 4 p.m. this afternoon, as the National Weather Service issued severe weather warnings for Cecil County, the sky quickly darkened over Chesapeake City. By all appearances mother nature was brewing up an intense line of thunderstorms for Cecil County and we were in for a dark and stormy night. But Cecil appears to have escaped the worst of the pounding and the storm brought badly needed rain. Here are a few photos from Army Corps of Engineers headquarters and C & D Canal Museum in Chesapeake City.
Today Cecil County is divided into nine minor political subdivisions called election districts (ED). But in the earliest times the equivalent intra-county areas were known as a hundred. Having its origin in Saxon history, the name was derived from the concept of having a territory that could provide a hundred men to serve in the militia. In the colony, it was used as an administrative area for the administration of local government, which included the work of tax assessor and the appointment of constables. In 1798 the General Assembly enacted a law requiring the division of the then nineteen counties of Maryland into EDs in the place of the antiquated hundred. Cecil County was divided into four EDs in 1800.
Several decades ago, Darlene McCall and Lorraine Alexander published a most helpful title, the “Genealogical Research Guide for Cecil County, Maryland.” It included a map drawn by Jon Harlan Livezy, which shows the fully developed system of hundreds in Cecil County in the late 1700s. Darlene has given us permission to share the helpful depiction here as we often get questions about the placement of those civil units. Thanks Darlene
It’s a great time for those who investigate earlier eras as we are in the middle of a major transformative revolution. Oh sure photocopiers made it easy to duplicate library materials and the connectivity of the Internet tied things together. But in this digital age open source placement of content on social media sites is the latest cutting-edge enhancement enabling exploration of the past to move beyond the walls of the library while also leveraging the powerful knowledge of the crowd.
Hstorypin, one of these exciting, new collaborative products, is a virtual repository where users pin old photos on Google Maps. This allows “millions of people to come together, from across different generations, cultures and places, to share small glimpses of the past and to build up the huge story of human history,” according to the publisher. “Everyone has a history to share: whether it is sitting in yellowed albums in the attic, collected in piles of crackly tapes, conserved in the 1000s of archives all over the world or passed down in memories and old stories. Each of these pieces of history finds a home on Historypin, where everyone has a chance to see it, add to it, learn from it, debate it, and use it to build up a more complete understanding of the world.” We Are What We Do, the publisher, is a not-for-profit company, working in partnership with Google.
Although the development of the collection is in its early stage, viewers will find plenty of fascinating images online. On the Delmarva Peninsula the pinning is just getting underway, but there are pictures from the Maryland State Archives, the Hagley Museum, and individuals, going back to the mid-19th century. Wilmington, Perryville, Harrington, Salisbury, and other places on the Eastern Shore are represented through the sharing of these early adopters.
It will be interesting to watch developments in this region as the major institutions sort out how they’re going to use this collaborative, open source platform to change the way people experience the past, making resources accessible to a far broader audience. In addition there will probably be a great deal of sharing as old pictures come out of the attic. And the value of crowdsourcing adds to the unparalleled interactive experience, creating a broader knowledge database as visitors to the site create additional knowledge about the objects.
When Google Street View is available, it overlays the historical pictures on the contemporary location, creating an interesting perspective. Here’s the link to Historypin.
—Downtown Salisbury about 1856. Source: Maryland State Archives via HistoryPin
From the Cecil Whig YouTube Page – By Jane Bellmyer
After the approval for an emergency demolition of a historic home, one member of the Port Deposit town council calls for the dissolution of the Historic Area Commission
Come to The Landing on Saturday September 22 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. for a unique tour of history and nature. Help the Landing welcome back Maryland State Naturalist, Nicole Heinrich of the Fair Hill Nature Center. Nicole will talk about how the changing seasons will be experienced on Elk Landing’s 60 plus acres. That goes for both the many species of plants and animals that populate The Landing. What do the animals do over the winter? How will the Little Elk Creek change? And what makes those leaves change color, anyway? That’s the nature side of things.
As for the history, check out the location of the newly discovered Fort Hollingsworth that saved Elkton from the British torch during the War of 1812. A member of the Elk Landing Foundation will explain the archaeology that led to this spring’s discovery, the significance of the find, and the roll of the fort and its defenders during the war. The web site at www.elklanding.org and click on Research to see the full report of the archaeological field session that found the fort.
There’s lots to do at Elk Landing on September 22. See you there!
Elkton, August 22, 2012 — It was a sad day at Singerly Fire Company in Elkton today as about two hundred emergency responders, friends and family said goodbye to E. Rosemary Culley. The 76-year-old pioneer in Cecil County Emergency Services passed away on August 17, 2012. She started as a volunteer in the Perryville Ladies Auxiliary in the 1950s and ended up retiring as the director of the Department of Emergency Management in 1997. Along the way she broke barriers and served as a role model for emergency responders.
Rosie was honored with a traditional fire-service funeral. Engines from all nine county companies escorted the family and mourners to the North East Methodist Cemetery. Singerly’s old 1952 Oren, engine 314, made the seven mile journey too as the flower wagon. When the long line of police cars, fire apparatus, EMS vehicles and personal cars passed Station # 13, on-duty personnel stood at attention in front of engine bays draped with black mourning bunting.
The crossed ladders tribute honored the public servant. As the funeral procession slowly passed the firehouse, mourners went under an arch formed by two aerial units towering over Newark Avenue. A United States Flag hanging from the ladders flapped gently in the August breeze.
Rosie was remembered as a dedicated volunteer and career public servant who rose through the ranks as she devoted much of her life to citizens of Cecil County. Rosie will be missed.
Chief Dispatcher Culley staffs the county’s emergency dispatch system in the basement of the courthouse addition, about 1968. In those days there was one person on a shift.
E. Rosemary Culley, 76, a trail blazing public servant, passed away Friday Afternoon. During her life time she accomplished many things while also leading the way for women in emergency services.
Growing up in a Perryville Fire Company family she naturally continued that dedication into adulthood. The early decades, the 1950s and 1960s, were occupied in the traditional way as a member of the ladies auxiliary. Three times during that period she served as the president of Singerly Fire Company’s Auxiliary.
When Cecil established a central dispatch system in October 1961, she took a job with the county, joining the first group of five “operators” hired to take emergency calls. She rose through the ranks of the Civil Defense Agency, which today is the Department of Emergency Services. For years, she was the chief dispatcher, supervising a staff of “operators” working the telephone lines and radios around-the-clock. In 1985, Rosemary became the third director of the agency, providing leadership in an organization that was rapidly professionalizing and expanding, its’ responsiblities growing far beyond a cold war mission. After a 35-year career in emergency management she retired in 1997, becoming more active in Singerly and the “County Firemen’s Association” with added volunteer responsibilities.
Though she never dwelled on it, she broke barriers for women. Rosemary and three other women became the fire female fire company members in 1975. Completing an intensive EMT course, this group learned the ropes and passed a demanding examination. Soon they were answering ambulance calls alongside male colleagues. She never considered it a big deal but in later years, other young women joining the service had a female emergency responder for a role model. That wasn’t available to those 1970s trail-blazers.
During her career she handled some of the biggest disasters in county history. One dark December night in 1963, working all alone at fire headquarters, the phones, all of them, suddenly started jingling off the hook. A large jet passenger plane, with 81 people on board, had exploded in mid-air over Elkton and gone down in flames in a cornfield at the edge of town. All across Cecil station-house radios snapped urgently to life as the calm, professional voice of Dispatcher Culley broke the Sunday evening silence with the most of urgent of alerts.
Headquarters was pulsating with information coming in and going out as alarmed voices crackled over the radio asking for a general alarm, all available ambulances in the region, and more police as Rosie steadily coordinated the response to the terrible catastrophe, the most serious disaster in Cecil’s history. As quickly as possible additional Civil Defense workers made their way through the heavy traffic to help the dispatcher single-handedly juggling it all, as bolts of lightning punctuated the Maryland darkness.
There were many other big disasters on her 35-year watch. Hurricane Agnes devastated Port Deposit and the Susquehanna. A gas explosion in Perryville demolished buildings downtown, claiming one life. Following a massive train wreck with flames boiling up into the sky as hazardous material tanker cars exploded, a rapid evacuation of western Elkton was speedily carried out. Three Mile Island, shipping accidents on the C & D Canal, massive pile-ups on the Interstate, blizzards and tornadoes were some of the others.
Rosemary Culley, a pioneer in Cecil County Emergency Services, rose through the ranks, starting as a volunteer in the Ladies Auxiliary some 60 years ago and ending as an executive, the Director of Emergency Management. Along the way she broke barriers and served as a role model for emergency responders. Rosemary Culley will be missed and she will be remembered for a lifetime of public service to Cecil County and its citizens.
Rosie works the radios and watches the phones at fire headquaters, in the basement of the scout building in back of the old jail. It was October 1962. Photo Credit: Cecil DemocratRosemary (first on left), Rachel Gray, Henry Metz, Dan Brown, John J. Ward, of the emergency management staff, join Commissioner Mary Maloney in dedicating the 911 console in 1978. Photo Credit Historial Society of Cecil County
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski (both D-MD) today announced a U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) grant for slightly more than $2 million to complete the western 1.8 miles of Chesapeake & Delaware (C&D) Trail. The funding will be used to complete the final Maryland portion of the 17-mile trail linking Chesapeake City, Maryland to Delaware City, Delaware.
“Completion of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Trail has been one of my top priorities,” said. Senator Cardin, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee. “The C&D Trail is a recreational treasure and this $2 million in federal funds ensures the completion of the Trail, which will attract tourists who want to enjoy the experience of hiking and biking between Chesapeake City, Maryland and Delaware City, Delaware.”
“The C&D Canal is a pathway to our history and a pathway to enjoying nature and recreation,” said Senator Mikulski, a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related agencies. “I’m so proud to fight for Maryland in the Senate. These federal dollars will bring jobs to the area and help grow the local tourism economy. Improving this trail will help draw new visitors to our state’s national treasures and preserve them for generations to come.”
“I join Senator Cardin in congratulating Chesapeake City on receiving this grant. The C&O Trail extension will provide economic, tourism and recreational benefits to Chesapeake City,” said Maryland Secretary of Planning Richard Eberhart Hall. “This project and others like it advance Governor O’Malley’s goal to restore the health of Chesapeake Bay by investing in our existing towns and encouraging sustainable communities. The trail project will make Chesapeake City more accessible to many visitors and help them enjoy its unique history and heritage.”
The C&D Trail is a planned 17-mile bicycle and pedestrian pathway between Maryland and Delaware that runs along the north bank of the C&D Canal. The Trail will have restroom facilities and signage and provide visitors with direct access to the ferry in Chesapeake City.
Join us for a full day of genealogy lectures and hands-on research on Oct 6, 2012. Nationally renowned genealogist Donn Devine will present the keynote lecture: “DNA: The New Tool in Genealogy.” The program begins at 9am at the Elkton Central Library with a poster session of local lineage and genealogical societies, followed by three lectures. Grab a bite to eat in town and rejoin us at 2 pm at the Historical Society of Cecil County at 135 E. Main Street for our final lecture and an opportunity for hands-on research.
