The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1877-07-20

| lngly lnc0nVenlent to readers of news.
papers, we insert them in brackets imme.
diately in connection with the subject an.
notated, that the reader may have the sat.
isfaction of compromising the whole Of
the subject without the trouble of referring
to another part of the paper for its com,
| pletion.
With these Introductory remarks we
| proceed with the text of the subject mat.
ter, emitting such portions as may appear
not to be of general interest.
Mr.. King, having taken position upon
the scafolding of the new building, adj
| dressed the audience which had congrega.
ted as follows:
eve have assembled this 9th day OF
June, Anno Domini, 1877, unceremonious-
ly, to lay the dated Corner Stone of the
"Friends Meeting House." in which TO de-
post for preservation useful and interest
ing documents in connection with this
branch of the church; also memoranda in
relation to Darlington and its surroundings
equally important to the generations who
are to follow us.
Upon one of the exposed sides of the
cornerstone is distinctly cut, 1929 the
year in which the first meeting house,
was erected-and upon the other side
1877 w. S. f.
"The old stone building, now beng re-
moved to give way to this new structure
of granite, was built in 1929, forty eight
years ago. Its halfacre lot was donated
by the late Ephraim Hopkins, Sen. VIM.
Hensell was the carpenter, and Oliver
Bird, the father of the present John Bird,
was the mason in the construction of the
old building. Both of them resided, at
that time, in Darlington.
"The meeting, at the present time, is
composed of tifty-eight members and
twenty-five families and parts of families"
In the original, each member of the
meeting, with the number of their children
are named. w. S. f.
"The first meeting to suggest and pro-
pose the building of this new structure,
was that on the evening of the 9th of the
first month of this year 1S77-held at the
residence of N. Ncwlin Smith. This con-
ference was composed of the following
committee: George L. Scott, N. Newlin
Smith, Isaac II. Thompson, r. King, Mrs.
N. Newlin Smith, Fannie Maris, and
Jennie Edge. Through their correspon~
dent they addressed the Baltimore
'Friends,' which resulted in contributions
from them amounting to $4,000" The
names of the contributors, and the amount
given by each are here inserted. w. S. f.
1.-THE Philadelphia and Frankford
Friends have contributed $997. The
names of each of these contributors are
here given.
The cash and hauling contributions at
home-Deer Creek-is stated to amount
to So, 900. W. S. f.
"The architect of the building is J.
Crawford Nelson, Of this county.
"The contract for the building was
given to Alonzo Reynolds &, Brother, of
Port Deposit.
"The dimensions of the building,
minus of projections, are 27x49 feet. 1t
is being built of bright Port Deposit
granite, which is delivered by canal boat
at Shure's landing, on the Tide Water
Canal.
"The building committee is composed
of DR.. j. Carey Thomas and Francis Il.
King, OF Baltimore, and Isaac ii. Thomp-
son and II, King, of Hartford county.
"The masons are S. b. Neshiu, of Cecil
with his assistants, Thos. Jackson
Caldwell, Geo. Washington Caldwell,
Willard Fillmore Mellow, John II. Ray. and
Thomas Grey.
1.-THE original halfacre lot has been
by the purchase of three fourths
of an acre adjoining land from Joseph r.
of JOS, and deed for the same,
to the Trustees of the Monthly Meeting,
has been recorded in Bel Air.
"The present Trustees are Geo. L. Scott,
Joseph Edge, N. Newlin Smith, VIM. A.
Cook, and II. King.
"The mason work of the new building
was begun on May 23d, 1877, at A o'clock
p. M.
"The other places of worship in the
village are the "Upper," or "Hicksite" (ao-
called Friends Meeting House, at the
end, the Methodist, in the center,
and the new "Grace Memorial Church."
southwest.
GAS regards the early settlement of
Friends at Darlington, we can find no
record in this county Of an earlier date
than 1887, one hundred and forty years
ago. An original deed from Nathan
Rigbie (brother OF the grandfather of the
John w. Massey, of Darlington
dated September 81, 1887, conveying addi-
tional land to the meeting, alludes to a
meeting house ON the property at that
time.
"The present venerable stone building
the "Hicksite," appears from the records
to have been built in the year 17G2. The
Monthly Meeting report of September 1,
1851, states: One of the Friends made
report that no provision is yet made for
building new meeting house; and as the
season is far advanced, it is thought best to
refer it under the care of the former COM
mittee till the spring of 1862
"The committee, two years later, report
that, the delinquents have paid up, and
Richard Jones, the mason, was paid in
full, and satisfied"
"From these records it will appear that
the present meeting house has been built
one hundred and fifteen years"
Among the papers placed in the hands
of the writer by MIR. King, was the original
deed for the three acres and a-half of land
to the ''people called Quakers," upon
which the old "Hicksite" Friends Meeting
House stands, signed in bold hand by
Matt Rigbie," with numerous nourishes
beneath. The paper is considerably worn
at the folding creases, and other paper has
been pasted upon the back to maintain its
integrity. ~ portion vi inc WrlIlnS tnat
is upon the back of the paper, including
several signatures, has thus been covered,
but the greater part of it can be decipher-
ed by holding the paper up to the light
This deed bears the date, as already
stated by Mr.. King, of the year 1887, and
at that time Maryland was u province, and
what is now known as Hartford county,
was portion of Baltimore county.
AS an example of legal circumlocution,
this document probably exceeds those that
Dickens has SO inimitably ridiculed in his
history of the decentralization Office"
Considering the small quantity of land
it is certainly voluminous
title--nearly large enough to cover the
ground literally, as well as metaphorical-