Evening star., 1933-11-30
TRADITION STRONG
ON NEASTERN SHORE
Isolation Causes Pure Strain
of AngIo-Saxon in Mary
land Section.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Chronicles which speak of Strong
willed race and intense family pride
spring from the Eastern Shore of Mary
land, where the lynching of colored
man and mob riots have caused con-
sternation among State officials.
The Eastern Shore is divorced from
the rest of the State by Chesapeake Bay
and until recent years lack OF modern
highways virtually cut it off from the
main stream of traffic.
Because of isolation it is believed that
purer strain of Anglo-Saxon blood
exists on the Eastern Shore than any
where else in the country. People have
neither flowed in nor out of the section
to the extent they have in other Amer
ican communities.
They are born and they die either
in their ancestral homes or few miles
away determination goes On, but ira
ditionS remain intact.
At Salisbury where the riots have
taken place, there still live descendants
of Thomas Gillis, one of the city's first
commissioners, appointed in 1882. Many
of the Wrights living in the area are
descended from Edward Wright, who
went there IN 166U.
Old manor houses dot the country
side each with its collection of legends.
Magnolias, fig trees and rich boxwood
hedges still grow where the Colonial
fathers planted them
DuelS were common in the early his
tory. Stephen Decatur was one of the
most famous casualties in such an en-
counter.
City Burned Twice.
When time came to build the city's
first church the city fathers stood to-
gether in a characteristic manner
Funds were difficult to raise, so the
Leaders levied tobacco tax, and when
100000 pounds had been collected in
1853 the structure was begun.
Twice the city was burned to the
ground, in 1860 and in 1866 But each
time the people, undaunted, built a
new city
During the Revolutionary War the
district became a favorite hideout for
Tories because of the many bays and
inlets which mark the shore line. Sur
prise raids, arrests and secret
marches were staged by the natives as
the Colonials uncovered the nests of
British sympathizers.
Meanwhile, the rich planters, with
their own. ships built for trade with
Europe and the Indies, brought in sup
plies for Colonial troops. If they met
British ship, so much the better.
They forgot their merchant rating and
engaged ip battle.
Earlier, the Eastern Shore people de-
cided the Church of England" was a
phrase to their distaste The first
rulers of Maryland, the Calverts, had
granted religious freedom. So the
Eastern Shore people met and estab-
ished the Protestant Episcopal Church
with the "of England" eliminated.
Eastern Shore men fought in all the
major revolutionary battles and Capt.
James Nicholson of Kent County be-
came commander of the infant Ameri-
can Navy.
Farming and shipping always have
been the major industries.
Vessels Gathering Place.
Now however, cotton, fax and
tobacco, once major crops, have given
way to truck farming. OystermeR and
their sailing vessels always have lent
color to the shore line. They make
Salisbury gathering place, and at the
end of the season they bring their
" a.
been said that during the week a per-
son could walk from shore to shore Of
the river harbor at Salisbury by
stepping from boat to boat.
Eastern Shore people always have
same intensity that they evidence for
family traditions
When railroad appropriations were
finally made in 1885 wild street celebra-
tions were held in the towns along the
the Wicomico & Pocomoke Railroad
was opened, there was a great feeling
of pride about it. But, even then, it
was a sort of family pride" that per-
mitted some humor. Col. Lemuel Sho-
well, who was one of the heavy in
vestors, couldn't resist matching his
favorite race-horse against his new
trains. On bright days he would race
the train riding his horse from station
to station, with the horse winning the
race.
From 1857 to 1884 the Eastern Shore
felt that the States bankers were spend
ing too much on the Western Shore Of
the State. There was talk of seeding,
and some talk of merging with Della
ware-a move which the latter State
favored,
During the Civil War the section was
cbetwixt and between" But it remained
loyal to the North for the most part.
On, of their most famous women was
Anna Ella Carroll, called the "unrecog-
nized member of President Lincoln s
cabinet" She Is credited with keeping
the State from seeding.
Harbor Improved.
The first auto was driven into Sails
bury by William L. Billy" Edison, son
of the famous inventor. Young Edison
had married local girl, Miss Blanche
Fowler Travers, and they returned home
in 1899 in "horseless carriage" about
which the town papers wrote columns.
In 1872 Salisbury began a campaign
for widening its harbor. The fight was
FANNY won in 1926, an evidence of the
characteristic persistence of the people.
Congress lent some small assistance at
first and then refused TO do more. In
1925 Congress protestex THAT the traffic
in the harbor would not justify the ex-