Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1942-07-03
THE EASTERN SHORE
OF MARYLAND
No. ,
By EBEN HEARNE

The peacefulness of the early set
tier of the Eastern Shore, as we'll as
that of settlers in other parts of the
colony, along the shores of the Chesa-
peake Bay, was greatly disturbed by
long drawn-out struggle that oc-
Cured between Lord Baltimore Cecil
Calvert) and his emigrants and Will
liam Claiborne The latter moved
over to the Eastern Shore from Vir-
GINA and established on Kent Island
near the shore of the present Queen
Anne County, trading post and was
carrying on a profitable trade with
the Indians and some occupants of
the contiguous territory. Frequent
skirmishes occurred and settlement
of hostilities was not reached until
the matter had been threshed out in
the English Parliament during the
Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell in
the late 165O's.
Maryland was settled by an aggre-
cation of Catholics and their charter
was a liberal one and soon after a
legislature was organized, it passed
in 1919 a law which was known as
the Maryland federation Act, which
granted to all who would settle in the
new colony the right to worship God
according to the dictates of ones own
conscience and under the condition
that any one processing to believe in
Jesus Christ should not be molested
or prosecuted on that account.
Hence, dissenters from Virginia and
the other colonies and from England
and the continent of Europe settled
on the Eastern Shore and soon the
meeting houses of Quakers, Presby-
terians, Baptists and, later Method
lists were seen dotting its surface in
every part of the domain.
The Eastern Shore embraces nine
counties, settled as follows: Kent,
in 1912; Talbot, in 1862; Somerset, in
1866; Dorchester, in 1869; Cecil, in
1874; Queen Anne, in 17O6; Worces-
ter, in 1742; Caroline, in 1773; and
Wicomico, in 1867. 1t is a noticeable
fact that every one of these nine
counties Except Wicomico) has a
good old "simon-pure" English name,
thus showing that the early settlers
revered the Calvert family and their
homeland. In all probability if Wi
comico had been carved out of Somer-
set and Worcester Counties before
1850, it would have been accorded the
honor of having an English name.
However, some may be inclined to
commend its sponsors for naming it
"Wicomico," after the native Indian
tribe that once roamed it's verdant
wastes and considered it their home.
The proximity of the Eastern Shore
to the state of Delaware which, on
account of its size and compactness,
is called the Diamond State" and
which, in association with the Eastern
Shore of Maryland and the two coun-
ties of Virginia, Accomac and North
ampton, the expressive name of "TheI
Peninsula" has given rise to num-
Der of names made up of a combina-
ton of syllables taken out of the
names of the three states. The new
words that have been coined and are
included in Geographical dictionary
as acceptable names, are as follows:
Delmar, Marydel, Mardela, Marva,
Delmarva and Delmavia.
The early settlers looked upon the
Eastern Shore as the land of OPP
portunity and after the prosecutions
and the expressions of the past years
of their lives to which they had been
subjected in their mother country
across the billowy waves of the broad
Atlantic Ocean, they also had looked
upon the Eastern Shore as haven of
peace, tranquility, and freedom. They
were more willing to face the opposi-
ton of the native Indians than to en-
dure the prosecutions of the authori-
ties of their native countries across
the sea.
IlC G1oCCIl OAIOlO1 OIL AAAAPOA Se~AAS
part of a colony, which later became
state, was the cradle not only of
religious liberty, but under the hu-
name laws passed by the Legislature
became the cradle of civil liberty.
The Calverts were farsighted and the
first state code of laws embraced the
principles of the American System.
Much could be written about the
Eastern Shore during the Colonial
period covering space of time of
over one hundred years, but the ac-
count would be the recital of the
founding fathers in getting firmly
settled in a new country and in de-
veloping it's resources so that the
business Of living cOuld he made DrOf-