The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1903-08-22

II Is passing strange, now some Trivial
circumstance or event. will often fix in
delibly on the youthful mind. the rccol-
lection of particular locality, while
other concurrent events. pregnant with
big results. and most important in them
selves are entirely lost sight of and for
gotten.
In early childhood. there seems to be
an innate susceptibility to impressions,
kecnncSs of individual experience,
which as we grow Older. the influence of
greater events wcakrns. and in Il measure
destroys.
We recall clearly what happened in our
bOyhoOd. but become strangely oblivOuS
of greater things. rs our horizons widen.
and our experiences multiply.
So. we carry into early manhood with
the keeneSt recollection. Il complete bud
get of little things and little events. cher
ished because they are purely personal
and are not shared by any one else
What impressed one boy. did not i'm
press another, just aS the varying pic
lures of an extended landscape. delight
differently, the eyes of several bcholdCrS
Down town, rs we used to say in Elk
ton, or as We now more faShionably
phrase it--at the West End,-on the
southeast corner of Main and Bridge
Streets. stands Il brick StOre-houSe. in
better condition to-day. and the centre
perhaps of greater business activity than
at any previous period in its history. 1t
is occupied by Roger Witwolth and his
sons as a hardware store.
That old StOre-houSc has always been
a land mark in the local trade of the
town.
John Sharplcy was its earliest occupant
as we can recall it. Afterwards. Green
bury Purnell conducted general trade
there, followed by John II. Graham.
William II. Elder and Joseph =. Cant
well. Staples and Cantwrll the latter
firms conducting the stove and tinwarr
business in it.
The event with which the writer aSSo-
ciateS it however. was during its occup-
ancy by John Sharpley.
The late Col George Il. Howard and
Jonathan II. Torhcrt father of General
a. Il. \. Torbcrt, We're his clerks. Both
of these men We're popular in their day.
the latter being Il particularly jovial and
companiOnable young man. always ready
for fun. anu known far and wide nS IL
jolly companion. and practical joker.
Jonathan was Il native of Delaware,
and had located in Elkton. He after
wards removed to Sussex County. Della
ware. locating in Georgetown. where he
became II popular minister of the Mctho-
dist Episcopal Church. and where it is
said of him. he married more people in
any one year. than all the ministers of
Sussex County put together. and where
for many years he was Cashier of the
Sussex Branch of the Old Farmers Bank
of Delaware. the parent Bank being mt
New Castle with branches in Whining
ton and Georgetown.
In those days, the pottery business or
manufacture of earthrn ware had been
conducted in Elkton. the one building
devoted to that industry being the old
Pot House which stood on the brow of
the hill. south of the Sharplry store
house. and opposite The Green on
Bridge Street. where once the old ElktOn
Market House stood The old Pot House
consisted of three stories. the lower one.
being built of stone and the upper stories
of frame. After its abandonment as
pottery. it was tenantcd by colored peo-
pie, II number of families occupying its
lane or street. stood several small build
ingS tcnantcd by colored people, and on
the extreme brow of the hill next them
on the east. stood the only coorcd church
of the town. which after the burning of
the little meeting house on the railroad.
east of Booths meadow. and where the
graves of the old colored burying ground
are still tracrablc was the only place of
4
the erection of the combined school house
and church in 1S6G. now known as Prov
idcnce Church. This building was con
structed of lumber donated by the United
States Government and which had been
used in temporary hospitals during the
war of the rebellion, the donation for
Elkton having been secured upon the
application of the late John \. J. Cres-
well, William j. Jones and other prom
inent Union men.
The proximity of the old Pot House to
the Church. rendered il great rendcz-
vous for colored people. Down under the
brow of the hill, thanking Water Street.
was row of small houses also tenanted
by them. that section of the town. rival
ling what was afterwards known aS Soap
House Hill or lower Philadelphia. in the
East End of town. as the most thckly
settled portion of the town by the local
colored population.
The rear of Sharpey's store was not
then as now improved by any buildings.
but was an open space, no fences or other
Instructions protecting the premises from
the invasions of the evily disposed night
prowler. Young Howard and Torbert
noticed, that Mr. Sharpley's wood, which
occupied a large pile in the back prem
ises equdistant from the store-housc and
the Pot House "wcnt farther" than it
should. and various schemes were dis
cussed by them, to protect it from its
nightly invaders. They had double
purpose in view, not only the protection