Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1920-03-26
SHORE
SOCIETY HEARS
OF WHITE MARSH

VI utHtE ttu ua0tt
Maryland Day was fittingly cele-
brated yesterday by the Eastern Shore
Society of Baltimore, who, following
a custom OF years. held its annual sup
per on the States Natal Day, in Balti-
more. at Hotel Rennert, and heard
the twenty-fourth historical paper OF
interest to the Eastern Shore, read be-
fore the organization.
The paper, which was the feature
Of the evening, was read by w. Thorn
as Kemp, former president OF the So
ciety, whose subject was Old White
Marsh Church. of Talbot County.
Like the others it will be published
in pamphlet form and distributed TO
all Eastern Shoremen and Maryland
libraries.
Samuel X Dennis, United States
District Attorney and president of the
society, presided and introduced Mr..
Kemp. After his address il was an
nounced that the society will hold its
ladies night" at the Southern Hotel
in May A mixed quartet sang before
the supper with which the meeting
ended.
Presents Cedar GaYel
Before starting his address Mr.
Kemp presented the society cedar
gavel made of wood taken from the
site of the old church, and encircled
by a silver band, on which is engraved
This gavel made of cedar from the
site of Old White MarshfChurch, Tai
bot County. Maryland; erected 1865;
burned 1897"
Mr.. Kemp said, in part:
THE early history of the Eastern
Shore OF Maryland begins with Clai-
borne's settlement upon Kent Island
in 1881. AS Claiborne and his follow
ers had migrated from the Colony of
Virginia, where the Church of Eng
land was already firmly established. it
is only natural that the earliest church
records pertaining to the Eastern
Shore should concern the founding of
the Church of England, later called
the Episcopal Church in America.
at is known that the Rev. Richard
James accompanied Claiborne on his
trip from Hampton, Va, TO Kent
Island in 1881, where he remained un-,
til 1888. The first building for public
worship on the Eastern Shore was
erected some years later on Broad
Creek, Kent Island, and though the
church building itself has long since
disappeared, the foundation still re-
mains to mark its location.
But the oldest church on the East
ern Shore in which public worship
was conducted in recent times is un-
questionably White Marsh Church. sit
uated in Talbot county, about a quar-
ter of a mile east of the village of
Hambleton, on the old public road
leading from the port of oxford to-
ward Dover, one of the earliest settle
ments on the Choptank river. Today
there remain standing only the ruined
brick walls of the church building,
which was destroyed by fire as re-
Gently as January II, 1897. The pass
ing traveller now observes the rectan-
gular churchyard, protected by the
spreading branches of dozen or more
large oak trees, surrounding the
blackened walls of the old church. and
shading the countless graves of those
who slumber there
Old Church Built In 1865.
"In a paper read some years ago
before this society by Percy o. Sku-
ven, Esq. it is stated that according to
the land records of Talbot county, the
original White Marsh Church was
built about the year 1865 and that it
remained a place of regular public
worship for nearly 200 years there
after. Though located within the con-
fines of st. Peters Parish, Talbot
county, as laid out under the Act of
1892, the selection of this hallowed
site and the erection of the old build
ing antedates the beginning of the his
tory of ST Peters Parish by nearly
80 years
Among the records of Talbot Coun-
ty Court, held June 90 1898, may be
found the following: 1.-THE court pro-
ceeds to lay out the parishes of this
county, as also to nominate and APP
point the vestry for the several and
respective parishes Then follow the
names of the vestrymen appointed for
St Peters parish as follows: Thomas
Robins, Thomas Bowdle, George Rob
ms, Nicholas Lowe, Samuel Abbott
and Thomas Martin" 4
The rest of his address was full of
interesting details of the ancient
ehurch's history, whose records, to-
which Mr. Kemp had access. contain
the history of most of that part of the
State-of Maryland