Four letter carriers, including Joshua Corbin and his horse “Harry”, begin free daily delivery of the mail from Westminster to the rest of Carroll County. They are the first government-sponsored “guinea pigs” to test Rural Free Delivery county-wide in the U.S.
Corbin delivers about 30 pieces of mail a day. He and his colleagues are so successful that U.S. Post Office makes RFD official in 1899.
Fannie May Salter serves 22 years ending in 1947 as the last female lighthouse keeper at Turkey Point Light on the Elk Neck River in Cecil County. Here she is pictured with her son and their turkeys. Her house and lighthouse are in the background.
Congress declares 1812 War. Large Baltimore mob attacks publisher of strong anti-war newspaper. Revolutionary war vet and 2 rioters are killed; many injured including Robert E. Lee’s father. Baltimore becomes known as “Mobtown.”
Edward Gorsuch of Monkton, pursues 13 enslaved escapees in 1851 to Christiana, just over the Pennsylvania line. Although he has a warrant under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act., the free Black community defends the escapees and Gorsuch is killed. It is the first test of federal legislation to retrieve escaped slaves.
We acknowledge the enduring presence of many American Indian tribes who once lived in Maryland and who now, having lost their lands, live in a diaspora. Read more.
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