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From: "craig o'donnell" <>
Subject: [LDR] Chestertown as Port, #2
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 16:39:03 -0500

...continued...


Such a structure must have been constructed, as the justices of the
Kent County Court, in a petition to the Provincial Council on June 9,
1752 begged Hugh Wallis to build a wharf and to erect a crane
adjoining the warehouse at the end of Main Street in Chestertown. 14

This is the first reference to a warehouse made after 1730. A few
years later, however, on November 16, 1753 the Assembly authorized
the establishment of a warehouse at Chestertown. 15

This structure was probably built; as the county court, on November
28, 1754, appointed John Williamson and William Ringgold to contract
with any person or group of persons to make any necessary repairs at
the warehouse by January, 1755. 16

Also, a public warehouse was erected by the colony under the
provisions of the Act of 1763 for the regulation of tobacco and
customs. 17 In a list of warehouses and inspectors of tobacco made in
1763, Chestertown is seen to have had two inspectors, both of whom
were paid an annual salary of 6,400 pounds of tobacco, and were
required by law to be in attendance at the warehouse four days a
week, while Annapolis employed but one inspector, three weekdays. 18

It is interesting to note that in 1910 two warehouses of unknown
antiquity which were located on the lawn of "Wide Hall," the
residence of Wilbur W. Hubbard, Esq., were demolished during the
improvement of the property by the present owner.

The first reference to a wharf appears in the already mentioned
request of the county court to Hugh Wallis to construct a wharf and a
crane in 1752. This wharf must have been built, because in the fall
of 1773 a lottery was held in Maryland to raise £500, 5s, to repair
the wharf at Chestertown, besides erecting a market house. Two
thousand and fifty tickets were advertised for sale at four dollars
each. Fifteen percent of the total sum was deducted for the wharf and
the market house. The drawing took place February 22, 1774 in the old
court house under the supervision of Thomas Smyth, Eleazer McComb,

13?
14 Maryland Archives, vol.50. p.7.
15 Maryland Archives, vol.50. p.317.
16 Maryland Gazette, November 28, 1754.
17 Laws of Maryland, 1763, Chapter 18.
18 Ibid.

===

Col. Richard Lloyd, John Maxwell, John Voorhees, James Hynson, John
Page, Jeremiah Weves, Thomas Ringgold, William Sliby, Jr., and Dr.
William Bordley. 19

It is traditional that the stones for the wharf or wharves at
Chestertown were brought over from England by ships as ballast, and
not only later disposed of to make room for the cargo, but used to
pave the approach to the wharves. These stones, it is authoritatively
stated, are not native to Maryland, being entirely different from
those in Kent County or in any of the counties south of the Chester
River. 20

Chestertown was for several years a member of the Patuxent Customs
District which included Annapolis and Oxford, but it was made a
separate customs district in 1742 through the efforts of Lord Nugent
of England, a friend of Lord Baltimore.

The peer, having promised the Rev. James Sterling, DD, Rector of St.
Paul's Parish in Kent County, some favors which he afterwards was
unwilling or unable to grant, had the collectorship of Chestertown
given to Dr. Sterling to satisfy him. 21 The collector was paid an
annual salary of more than £60 a year until his death in 1763. 22
After an exhaustive investigation, the Lords Commissioners of the
Customs in England ruled not only that the collectorship was unfairly
secured for Dr. Sterling, but also that no appointment was to be made
to that office after his death. 23

This was not carried out, as William Geddes in a notice in the
"Maryland Gazette" of March 17, 1767 made it known that he was
appointed "collector of the customs, for the port of Chester." 24

For some time up to the Revolution a bitter controversy raged between
Geddes and the collector of the Patuxent Customs over the limits of
their respective districts, a situation that caused John Williams,
the inspector general of the customs in the colonies, to recommend
that the limits of the port of Chester be defined as they were in
1742, and that the customs office be removed to Baltimore. 25

The salary paid to Mr. Geddes was insufficient to the immediate needs
of his family, so that he was obliged to participate in the West
India and foreign trade, as owner of a brigantine

19 Maryland Gazette. November 18, 1773.
20 Maryland Historical Magazine, June, 1908, p.274.
21 Ibid., Sept.1932, p.236; Letters of Governor Sharpe, vol.2, p.437.
22 Letters of Gov. Sharpe, vol.2, p.437. (Epitaph in Md. Gazette,
Nov.17, 1763).
22 Md. Historical Magazine, Sept., 1932, p.236; Letters of Sharpe,
vol.2, p.437.
24 Maryland Gazette, March 26, 1767.
25 Maryland Historical Magazine, Sept., 1932, p.236.

===

which was operated for him by the merchants of Chestertown. 26

Williams, who later discovered Geddes' part in commerce, ordered him
in the spring of 1770 not only to sever such connections with
shipping, but to concentrate all his energies to the superintendence
of the customs district. 27 There was no need for Geddes to have a
launch or boat to meet incoming vessels, as there was little or
practically no use for it. 28

Dr. Sterling, the first collector of the port of Chestertown, though
comparatively little known, purchased property on the east side of a
creek by the Chester River for £750 sterling from Edward Scott in
October, 1747. 29 Admirably gifted by scholarship, not only as a
clergyman, but as an astute politician, Dr. Sterling was honored by
the General Assembly to serve as chaplain during the session of
1740. 20

No one knows exactly when the supposed customs building at Water
Street in Chestertown was built, as the county records do not mention
it. There are, however, marks in this particular structure which
indicate that it was renovated at least three different times,
warranted by the expansion of Chestertown.

The first section, it is believed, was erected not earlier than 1720
and the third section before the Revolution. The walls of this
"customs" house are of large old-fashioned hand made bricks. It is
said that every original brick is in place. It appears that the
building started life as a warehouse for the Ringgolds, the original
owners, who were merchants of great wealth. Under the terrace of the
house were three vaults where valuable imported goods were stored for
safekeeping. One of them evidently was used as a dungeon for
obstreperous slaves, as it had ventilation. The common belief that
there exists an underground tunnel from the customs house to the
Ringgold home, erroneously known as the "Abbey," is not only without
foundation, but exaggerated by the spinning of legends.

At the time Chestertown was created a customs district, the
Ringgolds, it is reported, rented the building to the British
Government for use as an office. 31 In a report to the Customs
Commissioners of the colonies in Boston, the inspector-general of the
Customs wrote

26 Ibid., p.234.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid.
29 16 Liber J. S., 1747-1751, No.26, pp.89-90.
20 Maryland Archives, vol.42. p.94.
31 Authority of Hon. Wilbur Ross Hubbard.

===

that £5 sterling per year was being charged for the use and heat of
the Customs Office which was separate from the collector's home. 32
It is earnestly hoped that the real proof for the authenticity of the
present Customs House will be discovered shortly.

Chestertown as a customs district did not enjoy a revenue as did
Annapolis, for the collector's salary was paid out of the provincial
treasury, not from the receipts of the customs. 33 From September 8,
1767 to April 5, 1770 the duties or receipts amounted to £8 15s 1d
which was remitted to Charles Steward, cashier and paymaster-general
of the colonies at Boston. 34

Besides the collectorship, there was the important office of the
comptroller of the port of Chestertown which was occupied in 1770 by
John Clapham, who was paid a salary of £40 a year. 35 As he was a
resident of Annapolis, Clapham's work was efficiently discharged by a
deputy who was at that time a young man twenty years old. 36

The earliest report of a ship carpenter shows that Christopher Gold,
attracted to Chestertown by the shipping prospects, purchased for two
hundred pounds of tobacco, property in the town along the Chester
River from Edward Rogers on September 23, 1709. 37 The carpenter died
before 1725, and his holdings were disposed of by his son for fifteen
thousand pounds of tobacco to Mr. Thompson on August 7, 1725. 38

There were several merchants and ship owners in Chestertown but none
more prominent than Colonel John Hanson and Thomas Ringgold, men of
tremendous energy and enthusiasm, who both took a leading part in the
shipping and political affairs of the colony. The latter, who was
born in 1721, was a ship owner and a merchant of local reputation and
influence in the colony and Kent County. Not only did Mr. Ringgold
acquire from a lucrative trade wealth which virtually ranked him as
the richest man on the Eastern Shore, but he was closely allied to
the mercantile aristocracy of Maryland. 39 The present house known as
the "Abbey" was built by Mr. Ringgold who had the interior paneled
with elaborate carved wainscoting and overmantel decoration from
England. 40

32 Maryland Historical Magazine Sept., 1932, p.234.
33 Correspondence of Governor Sharpe, vol.2, p. 437
34 Maryland Historical Magazine. Sept., 1932, p.234.
35 Ibid., p.234, p.239.
36 Ibid., p.234.
37 6 Liber J. S., 1707-1714, p.154.
38 Ibid.
39 From letter written to Gen. Tench Tilghman on April 19, 1845. In
possession of Morris Keene Barroll, Esq.

===

<more>
--
Craig O'Donnell
Sinepuxent Ancestors & Boats
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_________________________________

-- Professor of Boatology -- Junkomologist
-- Macintosh kinda guy
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• [LDR] Chestertown as Port, #2 by "craig o'donnell" <>