For nearly 41 years I have driven across the Miles River Bridge through the small African-American community of Unionville and never understood until recently its significance not only in Talbot County and the Eastern Shore but also in our nation.
I just didn’t “get it.”
Surrounded by waterfront estates and expensive homes, Unionville seemed oddly placed. The modest homes and well-kept church gained scant attention through my car window. I have since learned that I should have delved more deeply; I should have opened my eyes and mind to a community tied not only to the Civil War but to a Quaker landowner who despised slavery.
Thanks to an exhibit at the Talbot Historical Society and specifically Larry Denton, its dynamic executive director, I learned that the 150-year-old Unionville exists only through the generosity of Ezekiel Cowgill, a Quaker abolitionist who leased lots to 18 soldiers–former slaves and free blacks who fought for the Union in the Civil War Many of their descendants, including Harriette Lowery, still live in Unionville. Her ancestor was Benjamin Demby.
A Delaware native, Ezekiel Cowgill bought Lombardy, a dilapidated Miles River Neck farm, in 1856. He employed only free blacks. Most of the land on Miles River Neck belonged to the Lloyd family; the owner of the Wye House plantation at the time was Colonel Edwin Lloyd VI, whose bustling enterprise included hundreds of slaves. According to the Maryland State Archives, “Ezekiel Cowgill was affected by his slaveholding neighbors and expressed surprise to find himself living as a neighbor to slaveholders.”
It’s not surprising that Cowgill was one of two votes in Talbot County for Abraham Lincoln during the 1860 presidential election. I wonder how this principled man coped with being a lonely voice in Talbot County politics.
His Quaker roots go back to Delaware, where he served as State Treasurer and the trustee of a fund used to establish a school for free blacks under the auspices of the Preparative Quaker Meeting of Little Creek. After moving to Maryland, he became a “well-respected and influential member of the Quaker community in Talbot County” as a member of the Third Haven Meeting in Easton, according to the Maryland State Archives.
I have spent four paragraphs writing about Ezekiel Cowgill because I suspect that his story as a Quaker abolitionist who treated blacks fairly and humanely is one duplicated elsewhere in the United States. His leasing of land, however, for $1 a month to Civil War veterans who served with colored regiments—11 of the returning soldiers had previously been slaves on the Lloyd plantation—was an incredible and notable act embodying generosity both of spirit and material support. Though the leases generally extended 30 years, one granted to Isaac Copper spanned 99 years.
When I think about the 150th anniversary of Unionville exhibit at the Talbot Historical Society and the recent event sponsored by the Frederick Douglass Honor Society at Wye House on May 21, 2017, I feel pleased that blacks and whites are acknowledging together the county’s history—good, bad and ugly. I hope that other communities above and below the Mason-Dixon Line are facing the past equally as honestly and forthrightly.
As I’ve written before, grace comes in different forms.
Ezekiel Cowgill’s move to Talbot County changed the social order of the Miles River Neck. The establishment of Unionville paid visible tribute to Civil War veterans who escaped slavery and degradation to fight in a conflict that changed our country. The current actions by the Frederick Douglass Honor Society and the Talbot Historical Society represent a form of grace in the united efforts of well-intended individuals to give visibility (“transparency” in current vernacular) to periods of history that often displayed despicable human behavior.
Now, as I drive through Unionville, my eyes are wide open.
I see a community founded on the goodness of Ezekiel Cowgill and populated initially by resilient former slaves who fought in a horribly divisive and destructive Civil War. I see descendants of the Lloyd family, such as Richard Tilghman and his wife Beverly, and a descendant of an original Unionville resident, Harriette Lowery, working in unison to build ties that will last another 150 years.
Our county and the Eastern Shore are rife with history. We all benefit from examining it.
Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. In retirement, Howard serves on the boards of several non-profits on the Eastern Shore, Annapolis and Philadelphia.
Susan D. Gilbert says
Thank you for this column and alerting me to the current exhibit at the Historic Society. My husband often bikes through Unionville & we have visited the church & cemetery on our own. We look forward to going to the exhibit.
Michael Richards says
Dear Mr. Freelander:
Thank you for your fine article here on Facebook. Did you get to attend the gathering at the Talbot Historical Society on May 26th – when the Unionville exhibit opened? If you have not seen it yet, I think you would enjoy perusing it. It will be up until July 29th. Another interesting fact is that Ezekiel Cowgill’s granddaughter, Kathleen Cowgill, a well noted landscape architect in Talbot County, designed the gardens at the historical society. She, unfortunately, did not know her grandfather as she was born 10 years after he died. Nevertheless, she was very well acquainted with her family history.
While I don’t descend from Ezekiel, his sister Angelica was my great great grandmother. She and her husband Henry Cowgill lived here in Kent County, Delaware – not far from the Maryland line – and were also involved in the abolition movement. I have Henry’s anti-slavery pocket piece and a number of his books and other items. There was a John Cowgill here in Little Creek Hundred (Kent County) during the Revolution who became well known because of his views opposing the war. (He was probably the grandfather or great grandfather of Ezekiel and Angelica.) He refused to pay his taxes in specie (as it was called at the time) as he felt that would further the cause of the war – but would pay his taxes in cattle, sheep or grain. Of course the authorities did not find that acceptable – and he and his family were shunned for some years – the miller would not grind his grain, the schoolmaster would not allow his children to come to the school etc. – and he was threatened and taken before a magistrate in Dover – but finally was released and his horse given back to him. There is an article in Historical Society of Delaware’s quarterly publication back somewhere in the mid 1950’s that gives all the details. So, I think Ezekiel was following a pattern that had been established in the Cowgill family.
Ezekiel and his wife Sarah – and their son James and most of his family are all interred in the family cemetery there at Lombardy – near Unionville. The Walsh family who now own Lombardy are very cordial and welcome visitors who wish to visit the family cemetery. It is probably best, however, to give them a call first if you wish to visit the cemetery.
Best wishes,
Michael Richards