Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1940-02-23

life is the God-given ability to carry
in our minds the recollection of events
and experiences in past years Of our
life and at any moment to be able to
recall and narrate them verbally OF
to commit or record them in writing
so that they become imperishable
Otherwise, if unexpressed in either OF
these two methods, all that we have
ever known will eventually go into
oblivion.
Before taking up the recital OF
some of my most interesting reminis-
cences of over seventy years past,
wish to state something about the To-
cality in which it was my good for
tune to be born. Pocomoke City Cat
the time of my birth being known as
Newtown) lies on the southeast side
of the Pocomoke River, in Worcester
County, the southermost part of the
glamorous Eastern Shore of Mary
land, and only six miles from the Vir-
ginia state line.
The town had its beginning late in
the 18th Century and was known for
about two hundred years by four
names, Stevens Landing, Meeting
House Landing, Warehouse Landing
and Newtown, respectively. The last
name was suggested by Mr.. Revelle
in 1855. This name was retained un-
til by an Act of the Legislature of the
State of Maryland at it's session of
1879, it was changed to Pocomoke
City.
My earliest recollections go back to
period before the Civil War, when
Newtown was small village with
less than five hundred inhabitants.
There were only about ten streets
and several alleys, all without names,
except that the principal street was
known as Main Street. The extern
sion of Main Street was called the
Virginia Road. The extension of the
present Second Street was called Ced-
ar Hall Road. Lower Front Street
diverged, to the left into Somerset
County Road and to right into the
Snow Hill Road. There were no gen.
eral sidewalks and the streets were
not lighted. Those were verify the
horse and buggy days, and carts
drawn by oxen were in common use.
Candles were used to light homes and
buildings. I have held the candle
moulds many a time while my mother
would pour the hot tallow into the
mouids, after which the moulds would
be hung up to allow the tallow to
harden. Kerosene or coal-oil lamps
were introduced later, as were cook
stoves. All cooking previously had
been in fire places.
Sweet pone or Sunday pone and the
Johnny-cakes and the plate cakes
were succeeded by more modern kinds
of bread, both from corn meal and
wheat flour. Cereals were unknown.
1 have fallen asleep many night
with the sound ringing in my ears
made by a servant beating hominy
in a mortar made from the trunk of
a gum tree, the instrument used for
the beating or pounding of the flinty
corn being an iron wedge fastened
in a handle, called pestle.
Dwelling houses were comparative
ly small-several one and one-half
stories in height. Some were built
in Southern style with a single story
room, called colonnade, between the,
main building and the kitchen. At
the present time, colonnades have
been superseded by rooms of two.
stories.
The leading families of the town
in 1860 were as follows: Adreon,
Benson, Clarke, Cannon, Conner,
Cranmer, Davis, Dixon, Dickinson,
Dryden, Duer, Hall, Hearne, Hargis,
Horsey, Henderson, Lloyd, Long Mer-
rill, Barnes, Mills, Murray, Melvin,
Polk, Powell, Quinn, Riley, Ross,
Rowley, Smullin, Stevenson, Sturgis,
Redden, Hughes, McMaster Taylor,
Townsend, Richards, Truitt, Marshall,
Wilkinson, Williams and Young.
The families living in the country
contiguous to the town were as fol-
lows: Dennis, Schoolfield, Carsley,
Merrill, McMaster, Bevans, Town
send, Mills, Miller, Atkinson, Dale,
Dryden, Cuff, Daugherty, Rowland,
Veasey, White Landlord, Payne, Bon
neville, Pilchard, Hancock, Feddeman,
Jones, Blades, Scott, Wilson, Steven
son, Stevens and Boston. was re-
lated to several of these families.
Many of the events during the Civil
War made a lasting impression on