The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-08-03

agreed to pay SIS currency per annum 70:
the privilege, which indicates that the
business Of the town must have been quit,
considerable. The rates of wharfage thi,
year were as follows: For every sea rssse
OF 100 tons and upwards lying at the wharf
per day, Cd; for every sea vessel of les.
tonnage, per day, Id; all other boats. I'd.
In 1916 the Commissioners granted the
privilege of erecting stalls for tie fairs 10
John Smith, saddler, for 81 per annum.
At meeting OF the Commiss toner's in
l151, it was ordered that a number of chests.
then in tine ware house supposed To he the
property Of some officers killed at the de-
feat of Gen. Braddock,l be broken omen
and an inventory of their contents be sen,
10 the Governor, i'll order 10 ascertain what
disposition should he made of them Two
years afterwards the contents of these
chests were sold at public sale. And this
is all the records contain about the chests
or their owners. Whether they were younp
men in the strength and prime of man
hood, or OF more mature years, we know
MOTOR, like vessel that was built at or
near the town and sailed out from il some
years afterwards upon the broad bosom OF
the ocean, they never returned. What bit
ter tears were shed for the adventurous
mariners, and what homes made desolaic
10y absence of the warriors. we shall never
know, for their names and their SORROWS
are alike forgotten. Save this slight allu
sion to the soldiers and tradition about
the vessel, nothing more is known of either
In lbs, vacancy occurred in the Board
of Commissioners, which was filled by the
election Of Rev. John Hamilton. who was
At that time rector of North Elk Parish
There is reason To believe that many Of the
early Commissioners of the town did no,
reside in it, though they were probably
the owners of town lots. This year, John
Smith was sued for the rent Of the fair
ground, which he rented two years before.
In 1850, the Commissioners contracted
with Philip Nelson to repair the public
wharf. They were to pay him 10 shillin-s
currency per day, he finding two good
workmen beside himself and to rithfal
them (Which Hanse Rudolph engaged to
do at Is. per day each, and allow them a
half-pint of rum a day. We learn from !
return made by the constable this year.
which is to be found among the papers in
possession of the County Commiss oners.
that there were three two wheeled carriapes
in Charlestown at this time, one of which
belonged to Rev. John Hamilton These
old fashioned, two. wheeled carriages were
sometimes called Chairs The whole
number of these carriages, returned in the
county in l1557, was thirty four. Five years
afterwards, they had increased TO forty-five.
In l1Gl. the commissioners ordered that
the rent of each pcddlcT's stall and drink
ing booth, when rented by citizens of the
town, should not exceed Is
We learn from the records of the Com
missione!s that the keeper of the store
house, during the years from 1919 to III.
had failed TO account for two hundred and
fifty hogsheads that had been stored in it.
In other words, lie was defaulter to the
extent Of ei2s.
The levy list FOR 1868 shows that the tax
ables as returned by the constable for that
year, Numbered eighty-nine, of whom
twelve were negro slaves. The law deiin-
ing taxables is so indefinite that il is i'm
possible to understand who were taxabes.
lint flara - Ill -. 81.
comprised all the males, free and slave.
above twenty and all the female slaves over
sixteen years of age. The whole popula.
ton Of the town at this time was probably
about two hundred. In I'LL. the taxables
numbered one hundred and two, of whom
seventeen were slaves. In 17.i, they num-
bered ninety two of whom eleven were
slaves. In each Of these years, the Rev.
John Hamilton is returned as one of the
taNables and the owner of one of the
slaves.
Charestown and Baltimore are nearly of
the same age, and for long time after the
former was laid out they were rivals and
continued to be such until about the time
of the Revolutionary war, when the latter,
owing tc the trade with the western part
Of the State, and the superior facilities for
foreign commerce, onrstripped the former,
and it gradually sank into obscurity and
neglect. Many of the inhabitants who had
erected substantial houses in Charestown
tore them down aud shipped the material
TO Baltimore, where it was used in the con
s;Iuction of other buildings; thus the sue,
cessful rival gained what the unsuccessful
one lost, and as the one diminished The
other increased in size.
Here we must stop for the present, but
will tell all about the removal Of the court
house to and from the town, and how the
citizens opposed the construction Of the
road that ran near, but not through it,
when We write the general history OF the
county, from the close of the Revolutionary
war. QUILP.