Worker Housing in 1943

In 1943 there was a housing shortage so Phillip Canning Co in Laurel put up these pre-fab houses for their workers. Compared to the house I am putting up obviously there was less building code and zoning requirements. They would hold two Families and they look to be 12 X 12. So what happened to them? I would be interested in any story about living in them. So please comment. Click Photo to Enlarge

October Is Family History Month

October is designated in many U.S. States as "Family History Month," and genealogists everywhere have adopted the month as their own. Whether you're new to genealogy, or have devoted a lifetime to it, celebrate Family History Month with your family this October by trying one (or more) of these ten wonderful ways to craft and commemorate your past. (Taken from about.com modified by me)

1. Get Started Tracing Your Family Tree
If you have been curious about your family tree but just aren't sure where to start then you don't have any more excuses. As the baby boomers have gotten older they are spending more time researching their family tree, as such there are more resources and data out there, both on the Internet and in libraries and history societies. I will write more about them soon.

2. Create a Family Cookbook
For those families that keep in contact their gatherings or family reunions a perfect recipe for family history, a cookbook of collected heirloom recipes is a wonderful way to preserve memories of favorite meals shared with family. Contact your parents, grandparents, and other relatives and ask them to send you a few of their favorite family recipes. Have them include a story about each dish, where or who it was handed down from, why it is a family favorite, and when it was traditionally eaten (Christmas, family reunions, etc.). Whether you create a full-blown family cookbook, or just make copies for family and friends - this is a gift that will be cherished forever.

3. Record Family Stories
Every family has its own history - the events, personalities, and traditions that make the family unique - and collecting these singular stories and memories is one of the most meaningful ways you and your family can honor your older relatives and preserve family traditions. Recording family stories on audiotape, videotape, or in legacy journals, brings family members closer together, bridges generation gaps, and ensures that your family stories will be preserved for future generations.

4. Uncover Your Family Health History
Also known as medical genealogy, tracing your family health history is a fun, and potentially lifesaving, project. Experts state that about 3000 of the 10,000 known diseases have genetic links, and that many diseases "run in families," including colon cancer, heart disease, alcoholism, and high blood pressure. Creating a family health history can be a useful tool to aid you and your medical care provider in interpreting patterns of health, illness and genetic traits for you and your descendants. What you learn now could potentially save a family member's life tomorrow.

5. Take a Trip Back in Time
Grab a map, and hop in the car for a family adventure! A fun way to celebrate your family history is to visit sites of importance to your family - the old family homestead, the house where you were born, the country from which your ancestors migrated, the hillside where you played as a child, or the cemetery where great-grandpa is buried. If none of these locations is near to your home, then consider a trip to a historical museum, battlefield, or re-enactment event that relates to the history of your family.

6. Scrapbook Your Family Heritage
The perfect place to showcase and protect your precious family photos, heirlooms, and memories, a heritage scrapbook album is wonderful way to document your family's history and create a lasting gift for future generations. While it may seem a daunting task when faced with boxes of dusty old photos, scrapbooking is actually both fun and more easy than you might think!


7. Start a Family Web Site
If your extended family relies on email to stay in touch, then a family Web site may be for you. Serving as a digital scrapbook and meeting spot, a family Web site allows you and your kids to share family photos, favorite recipes, funny stories, and even your family tree research. If you or someone in your family is a Web designer, by all means go to town. If you're more of a beginner, however, don't worry - there are plenty of free online services that make creating a family Web site a snap!

8. Preserve Your Family Pictures
Make this the month that you finally get the family photos out of the shoeboxes or bags in the back of your closet; track down the photo you've never seen of your great-grandparents; or ask your Grandma to help you put names to the faces of all of those unmarked photos in your family album. Try your hand at scanning them into your computer, or hire someone to do it for you, and then store the originals in acid-free photo boxes or albums. Same thing goes for the family movies! Then share some of your photo finds with the family, by creating a family photo calendar or a family photo book!

9. Get the Next Generation Involved
Most children will learn to appreciate their family history if you turn it into a detective game. Start your children or grandchildren on a lifelong journey of discovery by introducing them to genealogy. Here are some wonderful projects to do with your children this month including games, family history and heritage projects and online lessons.

10. Craft a Heritage Gift
From picture frame Christmas ornaments to heritage quilts, your family history makes a great gift! Homemade gifts are often inexpensive but are favorites with the recipients. They don't have to be anything complicated either. Something as simple as a framed photo of a favorite ancestor can bring tears to someone's eyes. Best of all, making a family heritage gift is often more fun than giving one!
Family Tree Projects & Gift Ideas

Laurel Library Celebrates Oct Family History month

A number of interesting History events are occurring at the Laurel Library in October;

On Oct 1 between 1:00 and 3:00 PM is a workshop called "Using Your Library Card to Explore Census Records." Most of Sussex County libraries has agreed to recognise any Sussex County Library card as valid at their library (Your Library Card is now a SUPERCARD) so you can use your Delmar Library card at Laurel.

October 8th Friday between 10 AM to 3:00 PM is "Sussex County Cousins" always a good event for genealogy since most native born area people are cousins this gives you a chance to share your family tree information with more distant relatives. It is put on by the Sussex County Genealogical Society. Very Possibly I will attend it again.

October 20th Wednesday at 6:30 PM is a workshop called "Cracking the Code: Understanding Colonial Handwriting and Documents."

October 26th at 6:30 Tuesday is a program called: "across the Tracks: Uncovering the history and Persistence of the African-American community in West Laurel." Maybe they will talk about Bacontown

Bethany Beach Boardwalk Arts Festival

Bethany Beach Boardwalk Arts Festival
The Bethany Beach Boardwalk Arts Festival proves that the resort towns no longer roll up their sidewalks after Labor Day. Held on Saturday, Sept. 11 from 10am to 5pm, the festival features more than 100 artists displaying a wide variety of works – from paintings to pottery and baskets to baubles. All this within a few feet of the Atlantic Ocean – and the beach fries stands!

The Delmar Heritage Day Festival - Sept 25th

The Delmar Heritage Day Festival is coming up. It should be a great Fall day with exciting events. Food and craft vendors can register for a spot by contacting William Hardin at 410-896-2777. Besides food and crafts there will fireworks and a car show.

Samuel Batson Hearn - the Delmar Confederate

Samuel Batson Hearn was the son of Kendal and Elizabeth Hearn. He was born in 1841 on the Hearn homestead which was located between what would become Delmar and the area that would become known as "Bacon Switch." Samuel grew up as every other boy did in southern Delaware - with strong feelings that individual states had their rights and the Federal Government should stay out of the issues of those rights. As things grew hotter between the states, Civil War broke out. On August 19th of 1862 he backed those convictions with action and left his family and Delaware to join the Confederate forces in Richmond. On August 30th 1862 he was with the First Battalion of Maryland Cavalry. From Richmond he went to a training camp in Charlottesville. After training camp he was with the Army of Northern Virginia and was stationed in the Shenandoah Valley near Winchester.

It is related that in Samuel's first engagement in battle he shot his first Union soldier. However, not wishing to see him die, he rushed to the now wounded man to give him assistance. In gratitude for this help, the soldier gave to Sam his pocket watch! He followed Captain Emack of the First Maryland Cavalry into battle in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania led by General Robert E. Lee. Surviving that he fought again at North Mountain, Brandy Station and Second Manassas.

It wasn't until February of 1864 that Samuel was allowed to go home for leave. He and Braxton Lyons returned to the Eastern Shore for ten days. His father was less than pleased about his joining the Confederate forces and his mother had to hide him in a blanket chest until she could convince him to see his son again.

As Braxton Lyons, John R. H. Embert, and Samuel Hearn were recrossing the Chesapeake Bay after their leave was up they were captured by Union forces at the mouth of Hollin's Straits and were tried, convicted and sentenced to be hanged as spies.

It was by way of intervention by the Gittings family to President Lincoln that Lincoln granted a pardon to the three men on August 29, 1864.

The Adjutant General, E. D. Townsend, on August 31, issued this order:

"The sentence to be hanged by a military commission, promulgated in General Order N. O. 61 Headquarters Middle Department 8th Army Corps, Baltimore, Md. August 8, 1864, in the case of Samuel P. (B.) Hearn, Braxton Lyon, and John R. H. Embert, citizens-- is commuted by the President of the United States to confinement at hard labor in the Penitentiary during the war. The Penitentiary at Albany, N.Y. is designated as the place of confinement to which the prisoners will be sent under suitable guard by order from this department commander and delivered to the warden for execution of their sentence."

For some unexplained reason, there was no promulgation of President Lincoln's commutation of Embert's, Lyon's, and Hearn's sentence before the men were marched to the gallows at the hour designated for their execution. Then they were show the boxes prepared for their burial, and the reprieve was for the first time read to them.

The three prisoners were transferred to the Albany Penitentiary was notified by the commissioner general of prisoners to send them to Fort Monroe for exchange. Their parole followed, and on July 12, Adjutant General Townsend announced in General Orders the remission of their sentence and immediate discharge upon taking of the oath of allegiance.

The prisoners were exchanged for Union prisoners and Samuel tried to join up with General Lee again only to find Lee had surrendered. Hearn was discharge in Richmond.

Samuel Hearn stayed in Virginia after the "War." He married Miss Mary Virginia Gibbs, daughter of Charles E. and Elizabeth Gibbs, on December 21st, 1869 at Port Royal Virginia. When his father died the inheritance allowed him to buy a farm that was located between Port Royal and Bowling Green, Virginia.


His name was added to the Delaware Confederate Monument in Georgetown Delaware on May 12, 2007.

The Faithful Steward

The Faithful Steward, bound from Londonderry, Ireland to Philadelphia with 249 passengers, ran aground near Indian River Inlet, Delaware on the night of September 1, 1785. When a sounding was taken, it was found the ship was only in 4 fathoms of water, though there was not the slightest appearance of land. Every exertion was used to run the vessel off shore but all failed.

On the morning of September 2, the ship was near Indian River, about four leagues to the southward of Cape Henlopen. Every effort was made to save the unhappy sufferers, who had remained on the deck during the night. The ship was only 100 yards from the shore. On the evening of Sept. 2, the ship broke to pieces. The long boats that had been put into the water drifted ashore before they could be manned. All relief was cut off. The only chance of survival for the remainder of the passengers was by swimming ashore, or using pieces of the wreck as life rafts. By dawn's light only 68 of the 249 passengers had survived. The inhabitants from Lewistown (present day Lewes, DE) came to the beach to plunder the bodies of their goods. Of the 100 women and children aboard, only 7 were saved. Among the cargo aboard the ship were 400 barrels of half pennies and gold rose guineas.

The State of Delaware had posted a historical marker in the general area where the Faithful Steward went down (SC-73), but I understand it has since been removed. It was located at Delaware Seashore State Park. On Haven road, first road on right, north of the Indian River Inlet Bridge.

For 135 years, English half-pennies, struck with a bust of King George III, have been washing up on the beach about one-fourth mile north of Indian River Inlet. Most of the coins were stored in barrels, purportedly 400 of them, below deck. Those that didn’t break open eventually rotted and cast millions of coins across the sandy bottom. The wreck is close enough to shore--just beyond the surf line--that coins are still swept in by heavy seas and riptides. Storms, such as Hurricane Earl, are signals to grab your metal detector and head for Coin Beach. Fittingly named years ago, the area is even designated Coin Beach on some souvenir maps. They say you don’t even need a metal detector, but I have never found anything there. Matter of fact due to the lack of markers on the beach front indicating where the parking lot is on one occasion I have walked past the parking lot entrance and had an extra hour wandering the beach wondering where the parking lot was.

There is an interesting genealogical story about the Faithful Steward located here and here. The stories remind us that the "Faithful Steward" is not just a Delaware tourist item but was a real life wreck in which some people died and some survived and those that survived have descendants that are in the USA today.

And as it happens speaking of shipwrecks, today in 1985 The wreckage of the British luxury liner 'Titanic' was located 73 years after it sank.