Milford chronicle., 1931-04-24
THE OLD.COW
MARSH CHURCH
Name And Date Is Carved
On An Old Brown Stone
In Churchyard.

Simply Cow Marsh. Lonely and
deserted it stands by the side of a
recently completed concrete road,
surrounded, shut off from the world
by an iron fence. 1t is an Oldfash-
ioned, Quaint-looEing church with
seemingly all of it's congregation ly-
ing asleep under the tombstones
around it. People in modern auto
mobiles and modern dress ION mod
ern roads) pass it by. 1t is forgot
ten in the rush of every day life, for
it is a thing of the past. Rustic and
worn it is, and hardly worth sec
ond glance; yet the sense of a mys
terious history attracts one to it.
There are mounds all over the
church yard. If a person should
kick an old brown stone, and stoop
to look at it, he would, in all prob
ability, find name and date carved
upon it, and would replace it with
a feeling of reverence and awe, real
izing that he was standing above
the remains of one of the church
founders. And he would wonder
who they were.
Many long years ago, in April,
1902, four people 1.-TWO men, boy of
thirteen, and girl of eleYen) might
have been seen riding horseback
through the uncultiVated land which
is now Cow Marsh. No cne knows
whether the boy and girl were bro
ther ana sister or cousins. but the
two men were brothers from Welsh
Track, near Iron Hill, whose names
were Job and Luff Meredith. About
two and a half miles northeast of
what is now Petersburg the pio-
neers found some good high ground
that sloped downward to stream
of water. Here they built a log
cabin, staked a claim, and planted
Indian corn. The neighboring In
dams were friendly and the settlers
were contented. In the month of
November Job and Luff Meredith Ge-
cided to return to Welsh Track for
their families and farm implements.
Because they didn't want anyone to
take their land, they left the boy and
girl to protect it until they return
ed, which they expected to do in
few weeks. About the time they
left it began to snow. The two chill
dren were shut in by it, and could
not even get the help of the Indians.
The winter passed and Job and Luff
had not returned. When they finally
did get back the next April they
found the children alive and well.
They had survived the hard winter.
For awhile there is no record of
the activities of the family. We only
know that they wrote or sent word
back to Welsh Track saying what a
beautiful place they had and that
more settlers began to come. Around
Petersburg were five farms owned
by Peter Meredith, Peter Cruwell,
Peter Cooper, Peter Price, and Peter
Frazier. That is how the town got
it's name. The different families
married and intermarried until the
whole settlement was as near like
clan as any white colony in the
country. The people, who were re-
inclined, soon began to
hold Bible meetings at the different |
houses. The very first book of rec
ords tells us that the families wish
ed to unite and keep 1.-The solemn /
Covenant of the Church constituted |
at Cow Marsh, July 18th, 1881"
They, according to the minutes,
made eight promises and became the
fourth Baptist Church in Delaware |
In the year of 1910 Reverend John |
Sutton came to the colony and was
its first pastor. There were twenty |
two members when the church was
In 1890 Job Meredith, !
the second, offered one acre of
ground on which to build a meeting |
house. The next year Brother
Flood" was given permission to /
draw a deed to build one, and in