ON TILGHMAN ISLAND

As all before us lived, dazed

With overabundant love in the reach of the Chesapeake

~ Robert Bly

Chesapeake Bay Sunset by Yolanda Koh

Talbot County on the Chesapeake Bay

In 1608, Captain John Smith thought there was “no place more perfect for man’s habitation” than the Chesapeake Bay. The largest estuary in the United States, the bay is approximately 200 miles long from its northern headwaters in the Susquehanna River to its outlet in the Atlantic Ocean.

With more than 600 miles of tidal shoreline, the history of Talbot County has been formed by the water that surrounds it. A profusion of rivers wind through the countryside and a wealth of natural resources have created ideal conditions for settlement. The first settlers, arriving in the 1630's established tobacco plantations on the shores of the Wye, Miles, Tred Avon and Choptank rivers. Countless creeks and coves add to the bounty and enchantment that make up the Chesapeake.

Black = Tilghman Island Orange = Wye River Blue = Miles River Red = Tred Avon River Purple = Choptank River

Talbot County was formally created in 1662. There, life centered around tobacco which grew abundantly in the cool maritime air. The busy wharves bustled with life all year round as ships arrived with manufactured goods from England and returned with holds chock full of tobacco. All eight of our early Maryland families made their homes in Talbot County.

Our early Maryland families arrived during a twenty-four year span from 1654 to 1678. Most of what we know about these families comes from wills and Quaker records. As in Virginia, the land was everything. While most of our Virginia relatives acquired land using the headright systems, our grandfathers in Maryland came into their Talbot County property in a variety of ways. Two used the headright system, receiving 50 acres for transporting just themselves. Three of our grandfathers purchased land and four were lucky enough to marry women who received land bequests from their father.

Two of our Maryland families made their homes on Tilghman Island.

first to the Eastern Shore

Edmund Webb (8GGF) was our first grandfather to arrive in Maryland. He was born ca. 1630 in England. In his will, he described himself as a cooper. Coopers were tradesman who made casks, buckets, barrels, and containers for flour, gunpowder, tobacco, wine, milk, and other liquids. In the South, coopers were in very high demand to make one particular kind of container: Hogsheads. Hogsheads were used to ship huge quantities of tobacco from the colonies to England.

Note: The name hogshead originally derived from a 15th century English term "hogges hede", which referred to a unit of measurement equivalent to 63 gallons.

There appears to be a lot of speculation as to when Edmund came to Maryland and where he lived. Since I have not been able to find any records for him other than land purchases and his will, I've put together my best guess.

The date of marriage for Edmund Webb is listed on genealogy sites as 1656, but I can find no record of the marriage or the name of his wife. Since Quaker records show that his first child, our grandmother Elizabeth (7GGM) was married in 1678, the 1656 date for his marriage is reasonable. It's probable that all four of his children were born in Maryland.

far flung plantations

According to a nomination for the National Register of Historic Places, the plantation known as "Bolton Manor" was purchased by Edmund Webb in 1659. Located on beautiful Tilghman Island, the plantation lay in an area known as Bayside. It appears that Edmund also dabbled in land sixty miles north of "Bolton" on the Sassafras River.

As I followed the land transfers of this property I discovered that the name was actually "None So Good in Finland." This tract must have been a hot potato because title to it was transferred three times in one year, first to John Cock, then to Edmund Webb and, finally, Edmund Webb transferred his title to Thomas King. Edmund purchased another 300 acre plantation on the Sassafras but it doesn't appear he ever lived on any of his far northern properties which would have been a wild frontier in 1668.

Orange = Bolton Manor on Tilghman Island Purple = Sassafras River land

In 1672, Edmund applied for land due to him for service performed in the province, probably for actions against the Native Americans there. That same year he took out a new patent for his Bayside property which, with the new grant, totaled 400 acres.

Edmund's will

Edmund died in 1684 at about age 55. His wife is not mentioned in his will, so we can assume she died sometime before his death.

According to his will, Edmund had four children still living when he died in 1684. Mary (8A), his youngest, was under sixteen. He left her a small bequest to be received at her the time of marriage or when she came of age. His two sons, Edmund, Jr. (8U) and Willam (8U), were to have "my plantation which I now live upon to be equally divided between them..."

Edmund's oldest child, his daughter Elizabeth (7GGM), made out quite well. Luckily, she had already married Robert Kemp (7GGF) by the time her father died. Women generally received bequests of land only if there was a husband in the picture. Elizabeth's inheritance was as follows:

"Item: I give unto my daughter Elizabeth Camp one hundred and fifty acres of Land lying upon the bay side called by the name of Bowlten joining unto a tract of land called End. I give unto her and her (heirs) foreverr."

Bolton Manor remained in the Kemp family for over 200 years. In 1847, John Kemp (4C4X) left the property to his daughter, Mary Francis Dawson (5C3X). The Dawson's left the property to their daughter Agnes (6C2X). It wasn't until 1915 when Agnes sold the property that the estate passed out of the hands of Kemp heirs.

a profitable marriage

There is no evidence in any of the Quaker records to indicate that Edmund Webb was ever a member of that faith but he evidently had no objection to his daughter marrying into it. Robert Kemp (7GGF) was a devoted Quaker whose beliefs were extremely important to him, as we shall see. He declared his intention, as was the Quaker custom, to marry Elizabeth Webb (7GGM) on 6 Sep 1678 and they were married shortly afterwards. In the Quaker Third Haven Record book, theirs in the fourth marriage intention recorded.

In 1784, Robert benefited from his marriage to Elizabeth when she received the plantation "Bolton" as a bequest from her father.

Robert Kemp died in 1703 and most of what we know about his life comes from his will. In addition to his wife's inherited plantation of "Bolton," he amassed a goodly amount of property on his own. It is also from his will that we learn of his seven children and of his dedication to the Quaker faith. While he belonged to the Third Haven Meeting House, his dying wish was to have a Meeting House built at Bayside. Robert's last bequest recorded in his will was to his beloved Quakers. Four hundred pounds of tobacco was given to the Quakers to build a new meeting house at Bayside.

Parts of Robert Kemp's will are rather unorthodox. He had very specific notions about how he wanted things done, all of which he put into his will. His oldest son John (7U), naturally, got the lion's share of father's estate. In addition to Bolton, John received property adjoining Bolton and a plantation called Wolf's Harbour. The other two sons, Edmund (7U) and Willam (7U), each received one piece of property, Mable and Mable's addition. He put John in charge of bequests to two of his daughters, Rachel (7A) who recieved 2,000 pounds of tobacco and Sarah (7A) who recieved 1,000 pounds. These girls would receive their bequests when they came of age.

That leaves two daughters not yet mentioned yet, Elizabeth (7A) and our grandmother Jane (6GGM). Robert made no bones about his disappointment in them. He left to each of them only one shilling. The following excerpt from his will reads:

"Item I Give to my Daughter Elizibeth wife of George Collison one Shilling for her portion for marrying against my minde and also Give unto my Daughter Jane wife of Robert Cloather (6GGF) one shilling for her portion for marrying against my mind and it is my Will that they be sattisfied therewith for their said Disobedience..." Their "Disobedience" amounted to marrying outside of Robert's beloved Quaker faith.

Robert's action seems pretty harsh, but, inserted in the midst of these bequests is this strange passage:

"...and also that he (his son John) pay unto Emmon Williams two thousand pounds of tobacco more for him to dispose of to any two of my Daughters that is to say one thousand to each which two of them he shall see meet within two years after my decease..."

After studying the passage, I drew the conclusion that Robert certainly wanted to teach his wayward girls a lesson, but couldn't really bring himself to leave them with nothing. The language of the passage makes it appear that Emmon Williams is free to choose any two of Robert's four daughters for the bequest. Most probably, however, Emmon was instructed to give the tobacco to the two disinherited ones, Elizabeth and Jane, if they should decide to come back into the fold.

Note: Emmon Williams would for many years try to coax Elizabeth back to the church but to no avail.

running out on Quaker"Truth"

Unlike Puritans, the Quakers did not believe in resorting to violence, i.e. whippings or pillories, when their parishioners had strayed from the straight and narrow. Home visits were more their style. Generally two Friends would be sent out to offer comfort to the wayward one and "discourse" with them about what the Quakers called "running out on the Truth."

Here are the Quakers own words on the matter:

"If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault, between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church; but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen-man and a publican...all that walk disorderly, should be tenderly dealt withal, in the same love wherewithal God hath loved us; but, if they cannot be reclaimed, they ought to be denied, and Truth cleared. . . . "

What this boiled down to is that the Quakers would give the wayward ones a chance to publicly condemn their actions before the Meeting and thus be welcomed back with open arms. If anyone chose to do otherwise, they'd be outta there!

Our grandmother Jane and her sister Elizabeth are prime examples of two who had "run out on the truth" in the Quaker faith. It only took Grandma Jane a year before she saw the error or her ways and condemned her actions before the congregation. She never strayed from the truth after that. Aunty Elizabeth was another matter. She was visited by concerned Friends five or six times over the course of a few years. Finally, in December of 1707, the Quakers gave up on her. Emmon Williams from the Bayside Meeting reported that he had made several attempts with several other Friends to set her right. On his last visit, however, he "did then and there publicly condemn her and that spirrit (that) led her to take that method of accomplishing her marriage."

I imagine Aunty Elizabeth took the condemnation in stride.