The DHAS Speaker for Treasures of the Archives

For those who missed the Delmar Historical and Arts Society Speaker on "Treasures of the Archives," you missed a good presentation.

Our speaker was Mr. Thomas Summer who is Manager, Outreach Services, at the Delaware Public Archives. A native of Milford, Delaware, Thomas Summers graduated from Washington College (Maryland) in 1983 with a B.A. in History. After serving as an air traffic controller in the United States Navy for four years he returned to the Delaware area and began working as an archivist at the Delaware Public Archives. Tom earned his Master of Education in Elementary Studies from Wilmington College in 1995.He has been Manager of Outreach Services since May 2005. Mr. Summer’s subject was “Treasures of the Archives.”

He did a remarkable job of relating powerpoint slides of various documents and photographs to today’s events. Some of the topics he spoke on (by far not all) were;

His talk started with an example of what is known as the "Charter Documents" of 1682. He explained how the document set the northern border of Delaware as a twelve-mile radius from the town of New Castle and south to Cape Henlopen. It is this set of documents that has many times in the past and continue to establish & protect Delaware’s boundaries & its resources. In 2008 the State of New jersey wanted to construct a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Jersey side of the Delaware River. The Charter documents prevented this because the twelve-mile radius extend to the New Jersey Shoreline and the Supreme Court upheld the power of the documents by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg saying it was within Delaware's authority to prohibit construction of the facility within its domain.

Other documents shown were early Delaware indentures which are contracts between two people. He explained that the term indenture came from the agreement was written twice on a long sheet of paper. The true copies were on the top and on the bottom of the paper. The paper was then cut half in a wavy fashion. If there was need to prove the document the two pieces were matched together with the wavy or indented edges and it was shown the document was the original. Thusly the contracts became known as indentures due to the indented edge.

He discussed the 1690 Proclamation for suppressing cursing

He explained why when a person enlisted in the military in the Revolutionary War one of the items noted on his record was his complexion. The British when retreating would leave blankets and other items that had smallpox on them. By looking at the complexion of the soldier if pox marks were present it meant he had had smallpox and thusly had an immunity to the small pox. He was put in the front of the attack so he could touch possible smallpox items and pick them up before soldiers who did not have small pox came along and picked them up and became diseased.

He spoke on Delaware offer to let New Castle Delaware be the new National capital after the Revolutionary war and he spoke about Alexander Hamilton and his methods to fund the Federal Government which had acquired the debt incurred by each state to finance the Revolutionary war.

Stored in the Delaware archives is the permanent record of everyone who went to school in Delaware.

He spoke some on the whipping post that Delaware had up until 1973. Each County had one but national pressure finally made Delaware stop using them.

He talked some about the Hometown photograph project. As you can imagine the Delaware archives is filled with photographs containing unidentified people. The Hometown project consisted of the Delaware archives sending out photographs with a log book and local residents could go to their local library and look at the photographs and identify those they knew by writing it down in the log book. Over 1900 people have been Id’ed over the last three years. The Hometown Delaware program is full of photos mostly from the 1930s to 1950s. A small group of the archives’ more than 800,000 pictures are at http://archives.delaware.gov. You can visit there and see if you can Id anyone.

He spoke some a bout the KKK and we found some of the Archives information on the KKK in Delaware is sealed until 2025.

and much more

Save The Date

Fort Delaware State Park Opens May 4

Fort Delaware State Park Opens May 4

DELAWARE CITY (May 2, 2013) – Fort Delaware State Park once again opens its doors to the public on Saturday, May 4. The fort will be open Saturdays in May, weekends and holidays from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, and Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from June 12 through Labor Day. Daily schedules are available at the park office or by calling 302-834-7941.

The very popular Victorian Kids Fest, sponsored by the Fort Delaware Society, is scheduled for June 9. P.O.W. Weekends return to the fort’s line-up this year and are scheduled for June 8 and 9, featuring “The Role of Immigrants in the War,” and Aug. 17 and 18, featuring “Music of the Civil War.” River boat cruises for groups of 40 or more have been added as well, with two evening dinner cruises on Sept. 7 and 21. Overnight camping adventures are offered for scout groups.

Travel to the fort is via ferry from either Delaware City or Barber’s Basin in Salem, New Jersey. The first Delaware City ferry departure to the fort is at 10:45 a.m. This year’s schedule includes two dockings a day at Barber’s Basin, on weekends and holidays when the fort is open, leaving Barber’s Basin at 9:30 a.m. for Fort Delaware and Delaware City, and returning at 3 p.m. Due to severe storm damage to the pier facility at Fort Mott, NJ, there are no ferries available from that site in 2013.

Following the ferry ride and a walk down the Pea Patch Island dock, a tram takes visitors to the fort. Drinks and snacks are available both in the park’s mainland gift shop and on the island, and visitors are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch.

The ferry ticket includes admission to all regularly-scheduled daily programs. Premium and Hands-On Programs are also available, for an additional fee of $5. Tickets for these small-group programs are sold on a first-come, first-served basis in the Visitors’ Center on the island on the day of the program and sell out quickly. Groups of 20 or more should contact the park office to schedule special programs and tours.

Ferry tickets may be purchased in person at the parks’ ticket office, located at 45 Clinton Street in Delaware City, or reserved in advance by calling our reservation center at 877-987-2757 or online at www.destateparks.com. The ferry schedule and a complete listing of all current Fort Delaware programs are available on the park’s website.

Ferry ticket prices are $11 for adults, $10 for veterans, active-duty military and seniors (ages 62+), and $6 for children ages 2 to 12. Purchase of a senior, military or veterans ticket requires proper identification.

The Delmar Army Navy Surplus Store

Shortly after World War Two Army Navy Surplus stores sprang up all over the United States.  With a combination of economic incentives given out to returning veterans and a stockpile of used and unused war material,  it was a perfect match for  surplus stores and  every town had one, including Delmar. 

Surplus stores were unique places and when you walked in to one you could tell immediately you were in one just by the smell.  It was a sort of musty-oily-dusty smell of old canvas, rubber made things, and a substance known as cosmoline.   What could you buy?  Wow! you could buy a world of stuff that any ten year old kid would die for.  Helmets, C-Rations, Entrenching tools, ammo belts, cans of sterno, rafts, soap, camouflage nets,  canteens, tents, rifles, ammo, clothing, back packs, and things that you had no idea what it was but you knew it was just great.   You could buy dud hand grenades – try taking one of those to school now days. And all of it was cheap. 

Back to the one that was in Delmar.  In 1946 Charles Rickenbach (1912-1999) was released from military service and came to Delmar where his wife Kathleen Lillian Smithers was from. His wife’s family was William Ted Smithers and Lillie Smithers.  He was a Railroad engineer and they lived on Chestnut street in Delmar Maryland.  He opened an Army Navy surplus store over on Foskey Lane and his family lived in the brick house that is on the corner of Foskey Lane and Bi-State Boulevard. 

 

Above is where the Army Navy Store Was.

Above is the Rickenbach Home.

He kept the store until sometime toward the end of the 1940’s.  He sold to the store to Luther Mitchell, a drycleaning owner, in Delmar.  Mr. Mitchell converted the store to apartments and they have remained so today.  After the Army Navy store Charles Rickenbach ran a bar in the local area and about 1953 he moved to Melbourne, Florida where he became a Real Estate broker dealing in land.  He was quite successful in business.  He passed away at age 87 leaving his wife and five children. 

Today Army Navy surplus stores are but a pale replica of what they use to be.  Most of the stuff found in them is Chinese made knockoffs.  There is a store in Delmar that is close to what an Army Navy store was and that is the Military Exchange out at State Line Plaza.  Altho they do not have the range of material the old stores had they do have some items. 

 

Legal Beer Is Back

On April 7, 1933, at exactly 12.01 a.m., Prohibition officially ended. Since 1919 Americans had gone without legal beer having to be satisfied with near beer (alcohol by volume under .5% and was officially called cereal beverage) or knocking on a door with a peep hole in it and whisper “Louie sent me” or making homebrew.

Congress submitted the 21st Amendment, or repeal amendment, to state conventions in February 1933 and, in March, passed a 3.2-beer bill that allowed the manufacture, sale and consumption of beer. This left local governments scrambling to draft laws to regulate the sale of 3.2 beer. In Wicomico County Maryland the Newspapers of the time were filled with Beer licenses application notices. The notices fit one of two categories; Off sale or On Sale. In Delmar, Maryland two applications were E. L. Austin ( Austin’s Sea Food) and Louotta Gordy Culver ( Martha Washington Tourist Home). Both applied for On Sale licenses so the beer had to be drunk on premises. The Off Sale license allowed for selling beer in only a dozen containers or single containers of not less than five gallons.

Below are some Salisbury Legal Beer Joints

The Chinese On Lower Delmarva in 1900

Between 1850 and 1900 about 250,000 Chinese came to America.  Most arrived in California initially for the Gold Rush and they referred to going to America as going to Gold Mountain.   As the gold became harder to find they moved into the laying of track for the railroad and many service type jobs.  Because they would work cheap and did not shy away from jobs that were traditionally woman’s work; such as cooks, dishwashers, laundryman, servants etc  they at first were accepted, but as more arrived and jobs for white men became limited, prejudice and discrimination drove them East looking for employment.    There were bound to be a few that would end up on Lower Delmarva.  The few that were here in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s were almost all owner and operators of Chinese laundries.  Unlike the Chinese immigrants who lived in ethnic enclaves in the large cities, the Chinese on Lower Delmarva were isolated from the Chinese communities in Wilmington, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC.  They would eke out a living working 18 hour days, 6 days a week closing only on Sunday due to community pressure.  Usually single and in their 30’s they had no social outlets and would usually move after a few years.

From 1914 edition Salisbury Advertiser, Salisbury Maryland

The Chinese laundry continued until the late 1940’s when home washing machines and new

Fabrics reduced the customer base and the children of the laundry family had higher aspirations than to continue their laundries.

Ad From The State Register Laurel Delaware 1929

Altho the Chinese Laundrymen made little money and lived a fugal life he also had no social outlet or place to spend his money due to not speaking the language and racism.  He was able to send a little money back to his family members in China. The families receiving this money  were referred to as Gold Mountain families.   Their relatives back in China had little appreciation of the hard life their relative was living in America.  Instead they imagined that relative just went out and picked gold nuggets up off the ground and was very stingy about sending them home to China.  Many came from the region in Guangdong (think Hong Kong and Canton) and with the money sent to them from America a very poor group of farmers who struggled in the fields were able to buy land, built family homes, summer vacation homes, hired tutors for their children, hire servants to do the work for them, eventually the constant money stream from America allowed them to stop work and they became upper class leisure people or welfare people.  This would come to an end in the 1930’s when Japan took over parts of China and prevent the transfer of money from America to those families.  The Gold Mountain Families found themselves selling land, jewelry, houses, and possessions and in some cases themselves just to buy food.

From Iris Chang book “The Chinese In America”;

Correspondence between Hsiao The Seng, a Chicago laundryman and his family in China, revealed the endless pressure placed on the overseas Chinese by their kin.  Letters he received from home all harped on one single theme: money.  Bandits had kidnapped Hsiao’s elder brother’s concubine, and the family needed $20,000 to pay her ransom.  A cousin asked for $200 to adopt a son.  Younger clan members pleaded for money to purchase a house in Canton, because they had no suitable place to stay during their vacation (“we are indeed losing face Please do not regard this as an unimportant thing”) .  After gangsters ransacked Hsiao’s village, his family begged for funds to construct a wall (“the village’s life and death is depending on you.  Take note of this”)  A nephew wanted financial assistance to cleanse himself from the “humiliation of an embezzling uncle.”  Hasiao’s daughter asked for a gold watch (“Big uncle’s daughters have gold watches, but we do not.  My venerable one can use his own judgment whether jade should be inlaid or not”). 

And on and on goes the demands, perhaps much like today’s immigrant or illegal alien who is sending money home. 

Above and Below From the Salisbury advertiser 1892

 

Below are listed a few of the Chinese on Lower Delmarva in 1900;

1900 Census Sussex County Delaware

Charles Long (Keay); Laurel, Delaware, laundryman, single, age 25, born Sept 1874, Immigration in 1892 8 years in US Naturazation: AL (alien)

Kay (Keay) Long; Laurel, Delaware, laundryman, single, born April 1865, age 35 immigration 1890 ten years nat: AL(alien)

Jhon, Leon;  Milton, Delaware, laundryman born June 1862,age 38, single, Immigrated 1874

Sing, Loun; Lewes, Delaware, laundryman Born Oct 1874, Age 25,

1900 Census Dorchester County Maryland

Fong, Lee; Cambridge Maryland, Born Jan 1870, age 30, immigrated 1892, laundryman

1900 Census Wicomico County Maryland

Dong, Lit; Salisbury Maryland, Born Feb 1868, age 32, Single, immigrated 1885, laundryman

1900 Census Worcester County Maryland

Jung, Sing; Snow Hill Maryland, age 23, Born Jan 1877, single, Immigrated 1895, laundry
Wah, Long; West Berlin Maryland, age 40, Born Feb 1860, single, Immigrated 1869, Laundry

1900 Census Somerset County Maryland

Leung, Woo; Crisfield, Maryland, age 40, Born April 1860, married, immigrated 1878, Laundryman
Leoug, Henry; cousin, Crisfield, Maryland, Age 47, Born December 1852, married, immigrated 1875, laundryman

1900 Census Accomack Virginia

Foon, Say; Chincoteague Island, Accomack, Virginia Age 36, Born August 1863, single, immigrated 1876,Laundryman
Kee Jin;  Onancock, Virginia age 39, Born Oct 1860, single, laundryman

1900 Census Northampton Virginia

Lee, Charles; Cape Charles, Virginia, Age 36, Born Oct 1863, Married, laundryman
Lee, Gee; Cape Charles Virginia, age 52, Born July 1847, married, laundryman

Due to the unbalanced sex ratio of Chinese males to Chinese female (Many more men) in 1900 and the enforcement of antimiscegenation laws, the Chinese men were forced to seek wives that were still living in China or wives of other races that lived here.  Our Government passed laws prohibiting their Chinese wives from immigrating to the United States.   

In the 1850 to 1900 time period the two classes of immigrants that were lowest on the totem pole of immigrants were Asians and Irish.  They frequently lived in the poorest neighborhoods of cities and towns so if there were not race laws prohibiting it, Chinese men would marry Irish woman. 

One Chinese man  who was not a laundryman was Yann Phou Lee who lived in Cedar Creek Hundreds Sussex County Delaware and was a farmer.  Lee born in 1861 in Zhongshan Guandong Province China arrived in America at age 12.  He broke the traditional single laundryman mold by arriving in Connecticut and taking a Caucasian wife, Elizabeth Maude Jerome.  They had two children and in 1890 he divorced her and went to Nashville Tennessee where he married Sophia Bolles.  They would also have two children; Clarence and Louis.  While in Delaware he had his two nephews from China, Gon Lee and Joe F. Lee work the farm with him.  

 

The Chinese were often made fun of as in this ad for Chase and Sanvorn Tea which appeared in the Courier Newspaper Salisbury Maryland 1906

The Mason Dixon Line Talk At The Delmar Library

Saturday I attended the talk given by Mike Dixon at the Delmar Library. A modest sized group turned out for an interesting talk on the Mason Dixon Line.

He discussed the history and problems related to the disputes between Maryland and Pennsylvania resulting in the surveyed boundary line by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon from 1763 to 1767. He associated the line with references to more recent songs and other cultural media. No the line running down State Street is not the Mason Dixon Line it is the Transpeninsular Line surveyed in 1751. He did not say if he was related to Jeremiah Dixon.

The talk was paid for by the Delmar library and the Delaware Humanities Forum.