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From: "John R. Clarke" <>
Subject: Re: [LDR] Dames Qtr., Somerset Co., MD
Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2004 19:15:58 -0400
References: <2b.60b88a23.2e6c8de2@cs.com> <002201c49374$c4cd6120$39148441@compaq> <002301c49391$b4223c20$0a637642@Kay>


Hi,
I think we may find that a lot of these early coastal NJ, VA and NC
folks were up to their necks in piracy or privatering, of one form or
another. I believe it was Gov. Thomas POLLOCK (1656-1722) of NC that was
accused many times, probably rightfully so, of sheltering and protecting
Edward TEACH, otherwise known as Blackbeard.

I think these folks made a buck where they could, any way they could and
were not too particular where it came from, either. In that regard, have
things really changed that much because the only real difference between the
words, "politician" and "crook," is that one starts with a "P" and the other
with an "C." <grin>

John R. Clarke
Thomasville, GA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kay Grogg" <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, September 05, 2004 5:45 PM
Subject: Re: [LDR] Dames Qtr., Somerset Co., MD


> An interesting side bar to your contribution about pirates: my "Uncle
> Willie" William J.T. Kelly, left MD in 1890 and moved to Ocracoke Island,
> NC. The family that he married into owned the land where Black Beard the
> Pirate was supposed to have buried his treasure. Black Beard was long
> gone
> by this time but the connection between Somerset Co. pirate activity and
> the
> NC pirates sure makes for some interesting family folklore.
> Thanks,
> Kay
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Crouch" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Sunday, September 05, 2004 2:18 PM
> Subject: Re: [LDR] Dames Qtr., Somerset Co., MD
>
>
>> Add to the mosquito population 2-3 varieties of biting flies, and the
>> infamous "noseeums"..(nearly invisible gnats whose bites itch for a week
> or
>> two), and the environment of the area could certainly generate such
>> names.
>> However, it is rumored that there is a relationship between the names and
>> the activities of pirates who found those areas convenient for hiding
>> out.
>> To this day there is still a tradition in those areas of burying
>> valuables
>> in coffee cans in the back yard...
>>
>> Jim Crouch
>> Somerset Co., MD
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: <>
>> To: <>
>> Sent: Sunday, September 05, 2004 11:42 AM
>> Subject: Re: [LDR] Kelly, Giles, White- Dames Qtr., Somerset Co., MD
>>
>>
>> > In a message dated 9/5/2004 9:21:56 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>>
>> > writes:
>> > > I have been told that the word Dames in Dames Quarter was originally
> Dam
>> > > as in beaver dam and was changed to sound better.
>> >
>> > This is all very entertaining to watch, but "Dames Quarter" is just a
>> > late-era prudish cleanup of the original name of the peninsula known
> from
>> earliest
>> > settlement as the Damned Quarter, doubtless a commentary on its happy
>> mosquito
>> > population. One sees it spelled in colonial records in other ways:
> Damm,
>> Dam,
>> > etc. No family with any name like this was out there.
>> >
>> > Likewise, the adjoining "Deal Island" was originally Devil's Island.
> I've
>> > heard from Deal family genealogists who've imagined it must have
> something
>> to do
>> > with them, but it doesn't.
>> >
>> > John Lyon
>> >
>> >
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