The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1877-11-17

Historical Researches that Quilp Made
as a Bohemian.

as a Bohemian.
CHAPTER X.
THE LABADIsTs.
bankers speaks of fine road leading
from Augustine Herman's to the planta-
ton of his son Casparus, which was, as
before stated, on the Delaware, near Apo
| quinimink creek. He also speaks of the
other roads through the woods as being
marked by chip being taken out of the
trees about the height of mans eyes from
the ground, and says that they were very
hard to follow. They were greatly i'm
pressed by the majestic appearance of the
noble forest trees they saw in this part of
Maryland. These were, no doubt, fine
specimens of trees, and perhaps many OF
them were many centuries old when they
gazed upon them. The location of an an
cient tree that stood upon the Labadie
tract is marked upon Gritfith's map of
Maryland, which was published in Phia-
delphia in 1898. 1t was called the "Laba-
die Poplar," and was noted for it's great age
and size, and must have been of much noto-
riety, as it is the only tree located on that
map. They also spoke of the abundance of
wild grape vines they saw while upon this
journey. There was considerable num-
Der of Quakers in this part of Maryland at
this time, and little further on in the
journal we find it stated that they visited
the place of Casparus Herman with view
of purchasing it for the use of their COM
munity, and say that cit was objection
able only because it lay on the road, and
was therefore resorted to by every one and
especially by these miserable Quakers."
They had met Quakeress at Upland some
. time before, who, they state, was the "great
prophecies from Maryland" She was trav-
cling in company with two other women,
also Quakers, who had " forsaken husband,
children, plantation and all. and were GO
ing through the country in order to quake"
! They came to the house where bankers
and Sluyter were stopping and drank
dram of rum with each other, after which
they began to shake and groan, so that the
Labadists wondered much what it all meant
and what was about to come of it. She
did not quake much at that time, however,
but the next day she sat next bankers at
dinner and quaked very hard-so hard that
she shook the bench upon which they and
a number of others were sitting. These
people, that professed to be Quakers were
different from others who also called them
selves by that name, and no doubt the
former were the miserable ones before re-
ferred to. They speak very highly of Rob
ert Wade, Quaker, who lived at Ches-
ter and who appears to have been pious
and exemplary man. William Edmunson,
a travelling preacher from England, also
visited the Quakers on the Sassafras river
a few years after this time, and speaks of
stopping at the house of one William South
erly, Quaker, who lived there. These
thrifty people were no doubt attracted there
by the fertility of the soil and the easy
terms upon which they could acquire titles
to plantations and the freedom to hold any
religious opinions they pleased. The great
thoroughfare between the Delaware and
Chesapeake at that time was along the
Bohemia and Sassafras rivers and Apo
quinimink creek, and this no doubt led to
the early settlement of that part of the
county, and the Quakers were the first to
see the advantages to be derived from be-
ing located upon the route or in close prox-
unity to it. These two Labadists found a
Quaker near the Bohemia river and along
side of the road leading from Augustine
Herman's to his sons place on the Della
ware, who was living in a little shed not
much bigger than dogs kennel" but
who was engaged in building house which
he intended to use as an ale house. 1t is
plain from these facts that these Quakers
were among the earliest settlers of our
county, but they do not appear to have re-
manned here long or to have been numer-
GUS enough to have left any enduring marks
or monuments of their sojourn.
We find a petition among the early rec
ords of the county from George Wanner,
James Barber and six other Quakers, pray
ing that their meeting house at the head of
a branch of Still Pond creek might be en-
tered or registered according to the act of
Parliament, and promising "ever to pray
for the eternal happiness of the court"
This is the first reference to church or
meeting that we find in the early history
of the county
We cannot close this subject without re-
marking the great difference between the
journal of William Edmunson and that of
bankers; the former says but little about
the country and was wholly engrossed in
the work in which he was engaged-the
spread of the Gospel while the latter rarely
refers to this matter, but speaks of every
thing else. These journals are evidences
of the truth of the Scriptural maxim, that
tout of the fullness of the heart the mouth
speaketh.''
Slavery existed in Cecil county from
very early period of its history. The Laba
dists speak of it in the following manner:
"Servants and negroes are employed in the
cultivation of tobacco, who are brought
from other places to be sold to the highest
bidders, the servants for a term of years
only, but the negroes forever. and may be
sold by their masters to other planters as
many times as their masters choose that
is (the servants) until their term is full
filed and the negroes for life. The slaves
seem to have had as hard time, perhaps
we should say much harder time, and
worse usage at this early day in the history
of slavery than in more modern times, for
bankers speaks of them having to pound
and grind the corn for the use of them
selves and their masters families after
working hard all day in the tobacco fields
Their only food was Indian corn, which
the Labadie journalists call maize. They
state that they soaked it first before pound
ing or grinding it, because the grains could
not be ground in their small hand mills on
account of their hardness, and that they
used the finest for bread and the other