Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-07-14
HISTORIC ADDNEss.
uettvsrea by Mr.. r, n Upshur. Ju"s
10th, 1000. Dav Of Dedtcast"u Of
Nev Courthouse OF Ace Omac


New Courthouse or Ae' omac
Ladies and Gentle,nen:-ln intro
ducing the subject Uf my address
this afternoon, ] find myself some
what in the position OF the old color
ed preacher, who said my brederep
de text of my sermon will be found
somewhere betwlxt de lids of de Bible
between de book of Ginerations and
de book of RESOLUTIONS, for my sub
ject is spread over the pages of many
volumes of court records.
The Early Settlement of the Eastern
Shore.
The dedication OF this handsome
building to-day, as Seat OF Justice
and Temple of Law, is an event Ii
the annals of Accomack, we'll worthy
of page in her Court records. II
indicates her growth, In population
! in wealth and therefore In import
ance to our beloved Commonwealth
Contrast its proportions. with the
room in the log cabin OF the colonist
at "Old Plantation" ia which the
Boards of Commissioners or Justices
Courts first met on the Eastern
Shore and we have almost noun
tain by the side OF mole hill II
comparison. Soon after the installG
ton Of our Courts, the right of tria
by Jury was instituted here, where
upon the log cabins could not cons
veniently contain the number of per
sons in attendance upon the Courts
and the more commodious quarters Of
the Dinner House at "Old Planta
ton" and the Ordinary of Walter
Williams ut "Nassawadox," now
BridgetowD, were used as temporary
courthouses. But the tide OF i'm
migration increased in volume, and
these hostelries were shorn of their
honors, by the more pretentious
courthouses built at a place called
The Borns," now Eastville, and Al
Pungoteague about the year 1880
Let us now retrace our steps through
292 historic years to the Cd day OF
June 1908, which chronicled the ad'
vent of the white man to our shores.
That visit of Captain John Smith
and his ~ gentlemen and 7 soldier
comrades, WAS a short one, but never
theless it bore fruit. Kictopeake, the
brother OF the Laughing King, wei
coined them. He extended the hos
FATALITIES of the Shore to them, In
primitive style perhaps, but the
essence was not wanting. They en-
ioyed their stay, reported the region
pleasant and fertile. The eyes of the
Colonists at jamestown were turned
this way and In 1915, John Porey
the secretary of the Virginia Com
pany sent over 10 soldiers and II
men, under Lieutenant Cradock t.
make salt and catch fish for the
parent colony, and from these as 6
nucleus, the infant colony OF "Dale's
Gift" In swaddling clothes, with the
waves OF the Chesapeake on it
Western side, and the trackles
forest, roamed only by savages an(
wildbeasts upon it's Eastern, entered
upon its mission to anglicize Acco
mack, The land beyond thu
waters" the realm OF Debedeavon
We emperor of we Eastern Shore, thu
land of the diamond back and the oys
ter and in the beautiful smile OF ou
own Henry A. Wise, 1.-THE land of th'
MYRTLE and the pine" That was I
time to test the heads and hearts o
the bravest and the lives of thu
memb ers of that little band, though
cast in a pleasant place, were no
veritable beds of roses
That was the first settlement. Thu
plantation at "Dale's Gift" the "Olo
Plantation" settled upon the creei
which is to day called Old Plantation
Creek. Five years later or in 1920
John Porey, who seems to have beer
the guardian angel OF the early civil
ization aud destiny OF the Eastern
Shore sent over 20 more tenants, un
der the command OF Captain viii
cocks to settle upon and cultivate
the Secretary's lands. This secont
mission adopted the Iudian word Ac
comack, as a name, and was called
the plantation of Accomack." l
was close by the plantation of Dale
Gift" so that the tenants could b'
assistant unto each other In time o
need. The Secretary's lands ar
shown by Northampton records, t.
have been on Kings Greek. Tn
two plantations combined probabl.
about 1921, for in that year Johl
Porey petitioned the Governor, ri
George Yeardley, and the Council o
State, for aid both of men and mean
to help him maintain the plantation
at Accomack, for that by removals
assertions and deaths, had been re
duced in numbers to nine tenants
and in presenting his petition he Sc
forth the advantages of the Eastern
Shore to the parent colony. hi
petition was granted by certain fee
being allowed for the employment
and maintenance OF tenants at Acco
mack" Thus the new plantation
became Virginia Company planta
ton, and the old plantation dropped
the name OF Dale's Gift, and swal
lowed up the new plantation Of
let l.. Ia nd oil