This being election season 2018, I thought it might be interesting to see how local folks viewed an election in years gone by. For this, we return to the year 1884 and an old newspaper article I ran across while researching local and family history.
From the "Salisbury Advertiser and Eastern Shoreman" dated Nov 22 1884 , we find the article shown and transcribed as follows::
"The Democracy of Somerset, Worcester and Wicomico counties, held a mass jubilee on Saturday evening, 16th Inst., at Meadow Bridge, the point where the county lines of Somerset and Worcester passes into Wicomico, near the residences of Wm. P. Morris, of Wicomico, and Josiah M. Pollitt, of Somerset. The people of Nutters, Princess Anne and Trappe districts turned out en masse. At 7 o'clock the little cannon recently exhumed near Fruitland, where it had slept since '44, now known as the "Little Belcher," announced to the people of the neighborhood that the time to assemble had arrived, when several hundred on foot, a long train of carriages and a cavalcade of horsemen one hundred strong, bearing Chinese Lanterns, appeared on the ground, where a number of fires had been kindled on the farm of H. P. Jones, where piles of oysters had been provided and other necessary arrangements made to make things lively. The farm houses in the neighborhood were brilliantly illuminated among which we note the residences of J. H. Riggin, W. P. Morris, Jacob Morris, Josiah M. Pollitt, H. P. Jones and others. After the crowd had fully assembled and the return of the cavalcade, the firing of cannon and other demonstrations, the meeting was called to order by Judge F. J. Hayman of Worcester, who nominated Mr. Levin Pollitt, of Somerset, to the chair. Mr. Pollitt is in his 88th year, voted for Jas. Monroe in 1820 and for General Jackson every time he was a candidate, Mr. Pollitt told the writer that be was fond of his gun yet, and killed 7 squirrels at 8 shots this Call. After the organization of the meeting, L. Malone was introduced to the audience by F. J. Hayman, Esq. Mr. Malone then addressed the meeting and was attentively listened to for about 60 minutes when he concluded. He was frequently greeted with cheers at the mentioning of the names of Cleveland and Hendricks. The crowd present then made a raid on the bivalves, which they seemed to enjoy, while the "Little Belcher" kept up here salutes until a gun had been fired for every State which had cast its vote for Cleveland and Hendricks, and an old rusty Horse Pistol for each of the others, amid great rejoicing and firing of cannon and small arms. At 10 o'clock the people repaired to their homes, after an evening's fun such they had not enjoyed in that neighborhood for many years."
From the article, we see that the location of this celebration was at "the Meadow Bridge" on Nov 16 1884, at the very point where the modern counties of Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset intersect, just to the south of Fruitland, MD (about 3 miles away). Most of the people mentioned in the article are can be found on the 1877 maps of the area. Images from this source are presented below as stitched together portions of the SE section of Trappe District in Wicomico (top/yellow) and the NW section of the Princess Anne District (bottom/pink) in Somerset - the Atkinson's District of Worcester County lies to the east of the latter (NOTE: the Nutters District in Wicomico is to the east of the Trappe District). The location of the original "Meadow Bridge" is shown by the red dot and, though it was known as such much earlier, it became the point at which the three counties intersected when Wicomico County was formed in 1867 (a small bridge exists there today that has embedded into the concrete the names of each county). Key people mentioned in the article are also shown on the map and some brief details about each are below:
William P. Morris: this is William Pollitt Morris (1819-1897), son of James Morris (1780-1873) and Mary (Pollitt) Morris (1791-1831) and grand-nephew to his namesake William Pollitt (1756-c1816). James Morris was the subject of an earlier blog post on this site.
Josiah M. Pollitt is Josiah Morris Pollitt (1826-1892), the son of Levin Pollitt of the article and below. He married Rebecca Amanda Hayman in Worcester Co., MD in 1847.
J.H. Riggin, this is John H. Riggin (1833-1922); there is a small old family cemetery back on this property that I visited in August 1997 to transcribe the tombstones (See here: http://www.mdgenweb.org/wicomico/wcp/rigg_frt.htm)
Jacob Morris (1825-1881) who married Annaliza Morris (1834-1903) in 1855 in Somerset Co., MD. He was son of James (1780-1873) and Mary (Pollitt) Morris (1791-1831) and younger brother to William P. Morris above.
H.P. Jones, this man is unknown but this compiler has Jones family ancestors who lived close to this area and are probably related. More research is required to identify him. He appears to be the "P. Jones" shown on the maps in the area.
Judge F.J. Hayman is Francis J. Hayman (1828-1887), son of James Dorman Hayman (1782-1851) and Catherine Dashiell (c1790-bef 1850).
Levin Pollitt (1797-1885) was the elder statesman of the area at the time who married Elizabeth Morris (1796-1857) in 1825 in Somerset Co., MD. He was old enough to vote in 1820 when it is indicated that he cast his ballot for the 5th President of the United States, James Monroe. He also voted for Andrew Jackson each time he ran for the office.
L. Malone is either Levi Malone (1820/21-1891) or Levin W. Malone (1823-1906), both of the Trappe District, Wicomico County. Levi was from Upper Trappe (modern Allen), MD and Levin W. lived more up towards Shad Point, west of Fruitland. This compiler believes the L. Malone stated here was higher likelihood to be Levi Malone, son of George Malone (1786/90-1849), George being this compiler's 5x great-grandfather.
Sidenote items on the maps are shown "Wm Hitch" who is William Hitch (c1799-1877). He was son of John Hitch (c1765-1828) and Amelia Disharoon (c1775-c1849) and married Nancy Pollitt in 1827, she the widow of John Morris (c1792-1825). John Hitch was son of this compiler's 5x great grandfather Benjamin Hitch (1738-1814), a veteran of the Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War and who first purchased land in this area in 1764. William Hitch was the father of Alfred James Hitch who was murdered in Eden Station on New Year's Eve 1873 and whose story is told in an earlier blog on this site. "I. Hitch" on the map is Handy Irving Hitch (1823-1901) who inherited the original Benjamin Hitch land from his father Samuel Hitch (1784-1858). A portion of this land was transferred to become the site of Old Zion Methodist Church. The church is gone today but the cemetery there survives and is still active with many of the people shown in the image above buried there. Irving Hitch was brother to this compiler's 3x great grandfather Washington Henry Hitch (1821/22-1871/72). It is probably no doubt that Irving Hitch was at the gathering in 1884.
That is it for now - thanks for reading and check back in a couple of weeks for a new article!
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