Milford chronicle., 1960-10-07
LEWES

Twas the slip of a stone-cutter's
chisel after all. That, in effect, Ii
the solution to the riddle of he
miss-dated tombstone in ancient
st. Peters churchyard, Lewes.
/ A February 80" birthdate
should have been March /, 1850
] 1t took Salisbury, Md, attorney
Richard E. Cullen, to establish the
correct birthdate of his great
Observation-Disclosures, Elizabeth
H. Cullen, described as having been
born on Feb. 30, 1850.
Intrigued by persistent theories
as to the date the Salisbury at
torney says:
II just had an opportunity to ex-
anime the family Bible in pos
session of my mother, that original
ly belonged to Elisha Davenport
Cullen, only son of the marriage
of Elizabeth H. Cullen and Charles
M. Cullen" Elisha was a George
town attorney who died in 1862.
Il found in the Bible in the
handwriting of Elisha d. Cullen
the birthdate of his mother, Eliza
beth H. Cullen is written March, l
1850.
Mr.. Cullen adds: "Of course /
have no idea why the gravemarker
showed the birth date as February
! 80, 1850 other than the fact that it
could have been a mistake on the
part of the stone-cutter and the
family saw no need of having a
new marker cut with the correct
ed date March 1, 176O). Another
descendant of the marriage of
Elizabeth H. Cullen and her first
husband (whose name was Harris)
Mrs. Samuel Ewing of Rehoboth
Beach, formerly of Lewes, had
previously stated that the Febru-
ary 80 date is recorded in her
mothers OAR records"
The assumption is it was copied
| from the date on the Lewes tomb
stone without realizing the inac-
curacy and that no such date ex-
lists under either the Julian or
Gregorian calendars.
Which all leads back to the first
theory a. slip of the stone-cut-
| ter's chisel.
Walter Crawford, new elected
president of the Lewes Lions Club,
recently presided at his first meet
| ing of the fall season after the
club reconvened from it's summer
adjournment. In his acceptance
speech Mr.. Crawford stated he
would do all in his power to pro-
mote Lionism and would serve the
Lewes Club to the very best of his
ability.
In observance of the Lewes
Club winning the Softball League
Championship a trophy was pre-
sented by Sergent Wood to Alfred
Stango, who represented the team
members. Each player received a
certificate for his participation in
the games and helping to win the
trophy championship.
President Crawford announced
the club would again sponsor their
annual gun shoot on October %
Co-chairmen appointed included
George Bryan, Frank Dickerson
and Edward Papciak. The shoot
will be held on the range of Frank
Dickerson, starting at pm.
! Visiting guests at the meeting
included: ]. p. Martinez of the
Midland Eastside Lions Club OF
Texas; and four members of the
Murderkill Club of Frederick
Frank H. Beebe, President; Joseph
Effinger, Ezekiel Dill and George
Mickey Effinger.
Three men were rescued by. the
Coast Guard from the ice piers in
the bay, two weeks ago Tuesday
after their boat ran aground on
the submerged rock piles causing
$1,000 damages. The skipper of the
boat, John Leonard, of Baltimore,
had left Ocean City, Md, with his
son, Richard, and another man,
Alfred Johnson, early on Tuesday
morning. 1t was clear weather
when they left but before getting
to the Breakwater at Lewes it be-
gan to rain heavily and vision be-
came cloudy. Mr.. Leonard said he
endeavored to get on the inside of
the Breakwater but ended on the
outside and on the rock piles
which he said could not be seen
even though he was only cruising
at about five miles per hour. The
accident occurred at 500 in the
morning. After the boat struck
the ice piers the three men scram-
bled aboard the rocks and awaited
rescue. The boat was salyaged and
is being repaired at Thompson Is
Boat Yard in Lewes.
| Mr.. Leonard, who is 81 years old,
said he has been plotting boats
since he was IL years old and re-
marked he felt he was a capable
captain but anyone in similar cir
cumstances would have struck the
\ Suhmargad ipQ niprc Ho urUod