Window on Cecil County's Past

As the nation marked the 78^th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, we paged through newspapers and listened to broadcasts to see how Cecil County stayed informed as allied troops fought on the beaches of Normandy. Those critical late spring days in 1944 marked the start of the campaign to liberate Western Europe from Nazi Germany.

Radio Flashes Alerted the County

Once people awoke that Tuesday morning, great unease settled in as they heard the news. During the wee hours of the night, General Dwight D. Eisenhower took to the airwaves to announce that the invasion had started.  After that, broadcast journalists delivered periodic updates as people worried that Elkton’s National Guard Unit was in the thick of the fighting.  Word spread quickly on that June morning as people stirred, families anxiously huddling around radios hour after hour, listening for bulletins.     

Later that day, churches held special D-Day services, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a prayer on the networks. In charge of the Elkton services, Rev. John J. Bunting of the Methodist Church prayed for the safety of sons, husbands, and neighbors on the frontline, the Democrat reported ¹.

Meanwhile, editors of city newspapers in Philadelphia and Baltimore scrambled to put out special editions and update afternoon papers.  When they arrived at train stations and newsstands, people snapped them up.    

As the fighting stretched into days, parents whose “boys” were on the battlefront listened most intensely to broadcasts. But all across the county, no one wanted to leave the radio.  ².

One soldier, from a foxhole somewhere in France, dashed off a hasty letter, Sgt. Donald S. Preston of North East told his family that he and his brother were O.K.  It arrived in North East on June 13³

County Newspaper Struggled to Provide Local Context

The county weeklies struggled to provide the local angle.  In those early days, hometown news from the front was scarce so papers offered up a few lines of reassuring editorial matter. For example, a Whig columnist noted that these two days would go down in history – Dec. 7, 1941, with the attack on Pearl Harbor and June 6, 1944, the invasion.  Now “we need two more days of note – Surrender of Hitler and the wiping out of Japanese,” the writer added. ⁴ 

Many Cecil County boys were with the 29^th division invading France, the Whig informed readers.  “They are on the firing line driving inland.  It will be tough going as the days lengthen into weeks and the weeks into months.  Parents are on the anxious bench.  .  .”⁵

On June 24, over two weeks after the invasion began, the Democrat had some news directly from the front.  Sgt. Charles D. Racine had been slightly wounded in action in France.    

Rough Going For Cecil County Soldiers

As those difficult days stretched to weeks of intense combat, the going was rough for the 29^th Division, and four Cecil County families received sad news. Their sons had been killed.  Staff Sgt. Charles T. Creighton of North East was killed in France on June 18, just weeks after receiving the Silver Medal “for gallantry and heroism.”  The 24-year-old was with the 29^th Division, Company E. 115^th infantry when he was killed somewhere in France.  He was 24.⁶ 

 Also killed in France were two Elkton men, PFC Preston L. Dean on July 11 and Sgt. Willard P. Heverin, 34.  ⁷  Finally, the War Department reported Pvt. Luke J. Onizuk was killed in France on July 22. An expert sharpshooter, Private Onizuk was 19.⁸

The efforts of the troops deserved to be remembered and honored on D-Day.  More than 4,400 allied soldiers, including these four men from Cecil County, lost their lives on D-D Day.  Many more were wounded.

For More on the 29th Division

For more on Cecil County’s World War II generation, see the Historical Society’s “Cecil’s Soldiers: Stories from the World War II” Generation. The author is Jenifer Dolde. The central story follows the men of Company E of the Maryland National Guard, who met at the Elkton Armory and were federalized following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. While some of the men went on to serve as paratroopers and specialists, a core group battled their way from Normandy to St. Lo to Brest and finally to Bremen at the end of the war. 

Endnotes

1. D-day services held, Cecil Democrat, June 10, 1944[↩]
2. “D-Day Services Held,” Cecil Democrat, June 10, 1944[↩]
3. “Home and Abroad With Our Men on Land and Sea,” Cecil Democrat, July 1, 1944[↩]
4. “Comments,” ((“Comments,” Cecil Whig, June 8, 1944[↩]
5. Comments, Cecil Whig, June 6, 1944[↩]
6. Killed iN Action, The News, Federick, Md. Aug 22, 1944[↩]
7. Obituary,  Reburial Arranged for Preston L. Dean, News Journal June 8, 1949.[↩]
8. “War News Saddens, Cecil County Homes,” Morning News, Aug 7, 1944[↩]

In the middle third of the 20th century, many Cecil County towns had theaters. One of those enjoyable places was the “Cecil,” the Cecilton theatre, where nightly shows (except Sundays) were offered in air-conditioned comfort on a beautiful, wide-screen.

The theater had been built as a school, but the property became surplus property once the George Biddle High School, opened. So the School Board sold the structure to James D. and Catherine Stradley for $3,100 in 1944. After they remodeled and renovated the facility, one-half was converted into a hardware store and the other side become a movie house.¹

Their work included installing 35-millimeter projectors, theatre seating, and air conditioning. In the Feb. 14, 1948, edition of the Cecil Democrat an advertisement said the “Cecil Threatre” with the finest in motion pictures and best in sound was opening very soon.²

The curtain went up for the inaugural screening on Monday, Feb. 23, 1948, as Black Gold entertained an excited audience from throughout the lower part of the county. After that, the marquee advertised first-run shows for moviegoers.

Robert Moore operated the hardware store and John Deere business on the other side. About 1961, the Gerhart family purchased the hardware business, along with the building from Mr. Stradley and the lights went out as the Cecilton Theatre closed.³

For Additional Photos of the Cecilton Theatre see this album on Facebook

Endnotes

1. Mary Haggerty, “Cecilton: Chronicles of a Small Town in America,[↩]
2. Cecil Democrat, Feb. 14, 1948[↩]
3. Upper Shoreman, May 1979[↩]

Someone recently asked us about the old hotel in Warwick, and we promised to share some information about the Gillespie House.

In the 19th century, Warwick was a lively place with several merchants taking care of the trade from nearby Cecil County farms. One of those businesses was Samuel Gillespie’s Hotel. In 1868, the Middletown Transcript noted that it was a “fine, large building, capable of accommodating a larger number of persons.” His table was spread with luxuries of the season and the bar was well supplied with choice wines and liquors. In connection with the hotel, there was a half-mile racetrack.

The native of Lancaster County, PA died on Aug 6, 1889, according to his obituary in the Cecil Whig. After clerking in a store in Conowingo, he came to Warwick in 1857 and opened the hotel, which he kept until 1886. The Whig also noted in 1861, that Gillespie had just finished and was occupying his new hotel in Warwick. According to the 1858 atlas, this replaced an older hotel.

For additional photos of Samuel Gillespie’s Warwick Hotel, see this photo album on Facebook.

Cecil County once had many thriving villages, each with a cluster of homes, a few shopkeepers and tradesmen, a schoolhouse, a physician, and almost everything one needed for daily life. While most of these places continued into the 21st century as residential communities, they no longer hummed with enterprising commercial activity the way they did in the past.

We recently visited one of those places, Bay View, once a bustling village in the center of the county. It was ideally situated in an area of fine farms, abundant harvests, access to the two major railroads, and nearby mills.

The village was initially called Shelemiah, a scriptural reference in the Old Testament. The first Methodist Church, the Shelemiah Methodist Church, was built there around 1830. The present church was built in 1879 ¹

Later generations were not entirely satisfied with the ancient name of the place so they sought a new one. They finally agreed upon the name Bay View, as from elevated points in the village there was a magnificent view of the head of the Chesapeake Bay and the North East River.

A post office opened in Shelemiah on Aug. 7, 1851, and the postmaster was Elihu B. Hall. On Aug. 25, 1856, the name was changed to Bay View. The office closed in Bay View on March 31, 1903. ².

There were a number of enterprises in the village. Joseph T. Reed & Son were merchants in the community in 1893, according to the Star, They had been doing business in Bay View for 35 years. The Providence Woolen Mill owned by John F. Johnson produced a fine grade of bed blankets, horse blankets, cassimere’s, flannels, jeans, and yards. It had been erected in 1841 and had always been in the Johnson Family.³

Gilpin Falls flouring and grist mill was built in 1844 by John Patridge. He was succeeded by Coopers, who still owned the place. The mill excelled at brands of flour and feed.

Gilpin’s Rock, one of the most beautiful spots in the county, was a favorite picnic and resort spot during the summer months. A. T. Tyson was the village blacksmith and wheelwright. William Gamble’s cider mill was another attraction, especially for the thirsty types. The capacity of the mill was about 2,000 gallons per day. The gravel pit was owned by Matthew Russell

Sixty people lived in Bay View in 1882 (Peninsula Directory). The businesses included a stonemason, cooper, shoemaker, carpenters, auctioneer, millers, a music teacher, tobacconist, general store, a hotel and a blacksmith ⁴.

During January 1961, a Cecil Whig photographer visited the village and noted that the State Roads Commission has spelled the time’s name two ways. When entering the town from the south it was Bayview, while on approaching from Zion to the north it was Bay View.⁵

For Additional Photos see the Bay View Album on Facebook.

Endnotes

1. Cecil Whig, Sept. 5, 1979[↩]
2. Postal History of Maryland, the Delmarva Peninsula and the District of Columbia[↩]
3. Cecil Star, North East, Sept 9, 1893[↩]
4. Delaware State Peninsula Directory, 1881[↩]
5. “One Word, Two Words,” Cecil Whig January 19, 1961[↩]

Harford Community College is offering a talk and continuing education course on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. It involves three sessions starting on May 5, 2022, at 1:30 p.m.. The first is a classroom lecture and that is followed by two field trips to towns along the C & D Canal. The course is presented by Mike Dixon.

The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal has fascinating stories to be told. Along the 14 miles of the nearly 200-year-old waterway, every town and village, every lock and bridge, and every camp spot used by Union soldiers during the Civil War contributed to the engaging narrative. Discover the role that mule-drawn barges, locks, steamboats, and changing methods of transportation played in the evolving history of the Canal and the region.

For additional information on the C & D Canal talk and registration, click this link

Blank (harford.edu)

The nation was deeply saddened and shocked when news flashed around the world that President Roosevelt had died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the Little White House in Sulfur Springs, Georgia, on April 12, 1945. The president’s body was transported by train from Georgia to Washington, D.C., for a state funeral. Afterward, the fallen leader’s body was placed aboard a Pennsylvania Railroad funeral train for the last trip to the final resting place at Hyde Park, New York.

The train rolled slowly through the countryside at 35 miles per hour, and the coaches entered Harford County as Saturday night gave way to Sunday Morning (around midnight). Despite threatening weather and occasional light rain, a spontaneous crowd had gathered along the right-of-way at stations in Harford in Cecil counties.

In Havre de Grace, people began gathering at the station around 11 p.m., the Havre de Grace Record reported, and by midnight, a large crowd waited solemnly. The Congressional Special, carrying members of Congress, officials, and security personnel, chugged by Havre de Grace at about 12:15 a.m.

The long, dark train carrying the president’s body passed the station at 12:30 a.m. As it loomed slowly out of the midnight darkness, a sudden hush came over the people. Military police, shore patrol, and ten members of the Senior Patrol of Troop 337, Boys Scouts, with the railroad police, acted as an honor guard at the Havre de Grace Station.

Chief of Police Walker, Officer Bullock, and the entire Havre de Grace Police Department, along with Mayor Lawder, were on hand. Also, a detail of regular army men from Aberdeen Proving Ground policed all streets and approaches to the railroad station and tracks.

At the Perryville Station, the crowd sadly peered into the deep gloom of the unusually dark night, looking toward the Susquehanna River. Soon the locomotive’s light pierced the night, as the train crossed the bridge. The engineer on this run was a former Perryville resident, Clemson (Cotton) Body. He piloted the train from Washington D.C. to New York, where it was switched over from Pennsylvania to the New York Central for Hyde Park, the President’s final resting place. On this route, another engineer completed the trip.

The cars passed through Elkton at 12:45 on Sunday Morning (April 15). Over 1,000 people crowding the station platform and nearby tracks “watched with bowed heads the last ride of the President over this route.” Military police were stationed on the two twin bridges in Elkton, prohibiting anyone from viewing the train from that angle. Also, on the train escorting the remains of the wartime leader was the new President, Harry S. Truman. “All lights on the train were extinguished except for the coach in which rested the body of the late president, the Cecil Whig reported. In the crowd at Elkton were many workers from Triumph.

Out of respect for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, crowds of people gathered all along the way in Harford and Cecil counties to honor the deceased executive. Before the train came the crowd waited under threatening sky and light drizzle, keeping an eye on the northbound tracks. At each station, the special slowed and after it passed they left quickly and silently.

This scene would be repeated again in June of 1968 when Senator Kennedy’s Funeral train passed along the same tracks.

Sources: Cecil Whig, April 21, 1945; Cecil Democrat, April 14, 1945; Havre de Grace Record, April 21, 1945

For additional photos, see this album on Facebook.

A new blog by Kyle Dixon, “History Surrounds You,” remembers Ellen Garrison Jackson, a freedmen’s Bureau Teacher working in the Port Deposit area.

Ellen Garrison Jackson “applied to the American Missionary Association as early as 1863 to serve as a teacher in schools for African American children in the south,” Kyle writes. “When Ellen’s application was approved, she was eventually assigned to teach in Port Deposit, Maryland. Davis states that Ellen taught two sessions of school daily along with running a night school for adults. It is also noted that she gave public speeches advocating for the rights of African Americans to an education and to raise money to pay rent for the school location, furniture, and supplies for her students. Davis also cites two incidents of resistance by members of the community including harassment by white children and the burning down of her boarding house in the middle of the night. During her tenure teaching in Port Deposit, Ellen became one of the first to openly challenge laws that were meant to protect the rights of African Americans. . . . .”

Continues on the new local history blog, “History Surrounds You” by Kyle Dixon.

For women’s history month, we are sharing this post about the first-time women served on a jury in Cecil County.

Although women gained the right to vote in 1920, they had to push for equal rights when it came to jury duty. The new voting privilege did not automatically allow them to sit on juries, the Baltimore Sun reported: “Merely because she may help decide who shall be elected sheriff, court clerk, mayor or president it does not follow that she may also decide who is guilty of murder, arson, or wife-beating.”

The first time in the history of Cecil County women were selected to serve on the county’s petit (trial) jury for the September 1947 term of the court, the Cecil Democrat reported. Alice H. Kinter, of Chesapeake City, was the first county woman to be picked for the service, in a drawing made by Judge Floyd J. Kintner on Aug. 19, 1947. Other women selected for that term included Mazie B. Boulden, Beulah E. Gorrell, and Edith L. Wilson. By the way, there were also two African-American citizens, Lewis Williams and Harry Briscoe, on the jury pool for that term.