The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1889-08-24
BOhemians Visit Cecil County.
A Pilgrimage to tho Tomb of Their Great
Country man on Bohemia Manor.

| lSIJ SCCII
| A Pilgrimage to tho Tomb of Their Grea
Country man Bohemia Manor.
The delegates to the convention of tn,
Bohemian Gymnastic Union of Eastern
North America which met in Baltimore
this week visited Bohemia Manor LAS
Sunday. They came from Baltimore or
the steamer Gratitude, the excursionist,
numbering 1S2 persons. Hoffman's band
accompanied The excursion and furnished
music. AS soon as Bohemia Landing was
reached all went to the residence of Mr.
Richard Hutchinson, the Jesse of the
Hermen homestead, which is the property
of Mrs. Mary Bayard, of Baltimore. The
band headed the procession. Here the
party were welcomed by Mrs. Richard
Hutchinson and number of the decen-
dants of Augustine Hermen. Among
of the Elkton Bar, G. o. Massey, Richard
Bayard, Herman Massey, Miss Kate Old
ham, Miss M. E. Emory, Thomas j. Bay
ard and Mr.. John Bouchelle, SO years
old, probably the oldest living relative of
Hermen. The principal feature of the
exercises that followed was
THE ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
Mr.. George Johnston, historian of
| Cecil County, was not present, but had
requested MIR. John S. Writ. of Elkton,
to read his address, and he did so. MIR.
V. J. Shimek, of Baltimore, presided.
He welcomed the visitors, and introduced
| the speakers. The audience gathered on
the lawn in front of the house. Mr..
Johnston, in his address, said:
F5llow-citizens and fellow-countrymen Of
augustine Hermen:
welcome you to Bohemia Manor to-
day, and in doing 80 am prompted by
the same motives which actuate you-a
desire to do honor to your illustrious
countryman whose remains lie entombed
on the banks of this beautiful river,
which he named in honor of his native
country.
Your presence here day, am glad
to know, emphasizes the fact that his
fame is no longer circumscribed by the
limits of the county he founded; but
after the lapse of more than two GEN.
turtles, has reached across the ocean and
been recognized by his country men in
fo off Rnhnpnia xuhinb To
the exigences of war, he was forced to
flee in early manhood. The whole his
tory of Augustine Hermen attests the
truth of the assertion that he was a great
man. Hs Was great scholar, great
diplomatist, a great geographer, and,
best of all, he was good christian and
an honest man-the noblest work of God.
Like all truly great men, he was equal
to every emergency in which he was
placed, and was always ready to profit
by, rather than to succumb to, the most
trying exigencies which overlook him.
The diversity of his career is only equal
ed by the versatility OF his genius.
Driven, with many of his exiled fellow
Professionals, from his native country at
loved, he fled to the Netherlands, and
afterwards settled in New Amsterdam,
then only cluster of log huts on Man
haitian Island, where the great city of
New York now stands. His literary at
tainments and strong common sense soon
attracted the attention of Peter Stuyve-
SAINT, the governor of New Amsterdam,
and he sent him, in company with Re-
solved Cor, most probably, his name was
Roosevelt) Waldron to Maryland to nego-
tiate treaty with the authorities of that |
province, the proprietor of which claimed
the country from the Chesapeake to the
Delaware Bay and river, considerable |
part of which was then occupied by the |
Dutch from New Amsterdam, and was |
under the jurisdiction of Governor Stuy- |
vesant.
Nothing more, so far as am aware, is |
now known of the history of Resolved |
Waldron, and there is little doubt be was
man of no Importance and that the ne
gotiations were carried on by Hermen, if |
not entirely alone, with but little help |
from his companion. How we'll the
Dutch ambassadors succeeded in the |
mission upon which they were sent is at
tested by the fact that when the matter |
in controversy was finally adjudicated by
the High Court of Chancery of England,
century afterwards, it was done in &C
cordance with the construction put upon |
Lord Baltimore's charter of Mary land by |
them.
HIS FIRST VISIT TO MARYLAND.
1t was while upon this mission that |
Augustine Hermen became acquainted |
with the genial climate and fertile soil of
Maryland. A year later we find him in
possession of Bohemia Manor, then the
home of the aborigines, danger from
whom lit is stated in the old records of
the time prevented an accurate inspec
ton and survey of the land he received
from Lord Baltimore. Except few
scattered settlements on Spiesutie Island
and along the shores on the Chesapeake
Bay, the country was in possession of the
untutored Indians, who chased the wild
deer through the forests, aud sported in
their light canoes upon the bosom of the
broad rivers, which, then as now, has
tened to mingle their waters in the beau
tiful bay that still bears the name by
which the natives knew it. The beauti
full rivers and fertile plains are still here,
but the Indians have disappeared for
ever. A few rude stone weapons and
utensils are all that remain to tell us of
their history. Their names, and the
names of the tribes to which they be
longed, have persisted forever from the
earth. But it is not so with
THE NAME OF THE NOBLE MAN
whose memory you have come here today
to honor. His name still shines with
Respondent luster, and will continue to
ilumine the history of his adopted state,
while piety and worth shall claim re-
spect, and courage and wisdom receive
the homage of civilization
The map of Maryland and Virginia
which he made in consideration of the
grant of Bohemia Manor, shows him to
have been quite as eminent as a surveyor
and geographer as he was as diplo-