Drumming legend Bernard “Pretty” Purdie Brings It Home

No one needed to call for a drum roll at Edge Entertainment on Bridge Street in Elkton Saturday evening for the R & B luminary, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie. A host of talented percussionist from Cecil County Schools, as well as others, took care of that as they laid down some solid grooves of their own and warmed up the crowd for the 65-year-old. By the time the legendary hometown musician who has played with practically all the heavy hitters, including Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown, took the stage, this group of fine young musicians had everyone grooving to the rhythm.

When he took center stage, he flashed his trade mark grin as he started charming the crowd. After a few remarks he began pounding out the Purdie Shuffle, his signature technique. It was great to see the delight on the face of the highly respected musician who has played in giant concerts and performed in recording sessions for the major labels, as he performed for an appreciative hometown audience on the "welcome home tour."

In a part of the program called Bernard “Up Close and Personal,” he talked about his formative years in Elkton. He had musical talent at an early age and Mr. Leonard Haywood, his music teacher at George Washington Carver School, took an interest in helping him. Over time, Mr. Haywood, who played in the Clyde Bessick’s Orchestra, started taking the teen with him on gigs. Sometimes when the teacher needed a nap, Bernard joined the orchestra for the second-half of the show. In 1960, he moved to New York and his career really took off after that. As a delightful evening came to a close, "the worlds most recorded drummer" was surrounded by people seeking autographs, a chance for some conversation, and a handshake.

Over the past couple of years Ed Dennis, a writer, has been in touch with the Society as he researched and wrote a book about the performer. That book will be out soon and about one-third of it has to do with his life in Elkton, Bernard said. The Society is excited about this forthcoming biography and we eagerly look forward to its release.

At the show we ran into Rob Churnside, a local folk singer, who has written some great pieces about local personalities. He mentioned that he’s just written a song about Elkton’s famous musician and he showed us the lyrics. We’ll look forward to hearing that tune sometime in the near future.

It was a pleasure to see Bernard Pretty Purdie at this show and we thank Bobby D and Rhythmland Drum Center on Main Street in Elkton for making this coming home show possible.

Saying So Long to the Mayor of Main Street

Wednesday evening, as gusty spring winds swept Elkton, I attended Tony Trotta’s viewing at Hicks Funeral Home. Born four years before young men from Cecil County marched off to fight in World War I, the popular 95-year-old passed away Monday. Later that night as I drove past his place on Main Street, the shop was dark except for two light bulbs softly illuminating a mirror, the chair in the big window where he sat waving at passersby was empty, the red and white barber pole wasn't revolving, and the closed sign informed everyone that the barber would not be in again. As I gazed out my car window on this unseasonably cool late May evening a few sprinkles feel on the quiet street that had bustled with activity for much of Tony’s life, and my mind wondered over nearly a century’s worth of town history.

Tony started cutting hair at this location during the dark days of the Great Depression, when he first came to work for his future father-in-law, Anthony Williams. In time, the 23-year old married the owner’s daughter, Jessie, and took over the business. It was the place to get your hair cut in the county seat and the Elkton shop owner had a regular clientele of judges, lawyers, courthouse regulars, businessmen and everyday people. As the decades passed quickly by in this old-fashioned shop, his customers grew old with him and retirees beginning spending hours hanging out, swapping stories, and playing the banjo. Often strangers walking down the street back in the 1970s and '80s were startled as they looked into the window of the shop to see two or three people playing guitars or plucking a banjo.

At age 90 he was still working six days a week, but as he grew older he gradually cut back, while the retirees started slowly disappearing as many of them passed away. But you would still see him sitting in his window waving to passers-by while people stopped in for a quick chat. Even in his ninth decade you would see him around town, out for a stroll with his dog, enjoying a meal at a restaurant, or sitting on one of the park benches. The last time we talked, probably a month or so ago, his mind was as sharp as ever, never forgetting a name or elements of events from a long time ago.

I always enjoyed my chance meetings with the 95-year-old and his daughter, Patty, for those visits were filled with decades of local history. His stories were about Elkton’s heyday, the marriage racket, World War II, big fires on Main Street, lively small town personalities, a bustling downtown, and much more. In fact anytime someone wanted information on Elkton’s 20th century history, we’d send them down to see Tony. Afer all he was born when Howard Taft was in the White House. If they were early enough (he opened at 5:00 a.m.), they would find him in his window. They always came back pleased with the keen insights, as well as the hospitality he provided. Through that very same window since 1935, in a quaint shop that didn't change, Tony watched Main Street change and history march along, as young men went off to war, couples came here for quick marriages, and the era of shopping centers and Internet retailing fueled the decline of main streets across the nation.

They laid Tony to rest today and as I pass by those three empty old-time chairs and the shop with the sign saying closed, I know the barber will never be in again at 118 E. Main Street. Although I’ll miss the chance to pop in for a few minutes to talk with him or to simply wave as I rush by, my knowledge of the 20th century is much greater for having had the privilege to hear so many of Tony's wonderful recollections.

The Mayor of Main Street has passed away. His friendly greetings, conversation and keen memories provided us with connections to the town's past. He will be missed.

Two Cecil County Entries Win Prizes at MD History Day Contest

Across Maryland this spring some 12,000 senior and junior high school students participated in the Maryland History Day Project by completing an original research project. Over 400 of these teens were selected at county level competitions for the annual statewide contest at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Two Cecil County entries won prizes at the state contest on April 26.

• From Rising Sun High School, "the Molotov-Rippentrop Pact," submitted by Tyler Haines and Andrew Nguyen, won the senior prize for the study of cryptology.


• Society volunteer, Kyle Dixon, an 11th grade student at Bohemia Manor, won the senior prize in African American studies. His project, "School Integration: The Long Difficult Road to Compromise," examined desegregation in Cecil, Kent, and Queen Anne's County.

The Society congratulates these young scholars. This national initiative is sponsored here by the Maryland Humanities Council.

In this photo Society Volunteer Kyle Dixon is receiving his prize from UMBC President Hrabowski.

Long Time Volunteer, Rebecca Smith, Recognized as Trailblazer

We were pleased to learn this week that a longtime supporter of the Society and former trustee, Rebecca Smith was selected to receive the 2008 Trailblazer Award. Sponsored by the Cecil Whig, the award is given to a woman who has blazed a trail in serving the community.

The Society was pleased to join others in nominating her for this recognition. Miss Smith touched the lives of two generations of Cecil’s young people as a teacher and guidance counselor during a career spanning five decades. In the midst of the Great Depression she completed her bachelor’s degree at Western Maryland College and started teaching history at Perryville High in 1935. After World War II, the practice of school counseling emerged and Miss Smith became one of the first practitioners here. The devoted educator sought out new professional development opportunities and broadened her knowledge as she helped guide teenagers. After serving the county for 41-years the popular and respected educator retired in 1979.

Glance at the handwritten notes scribbled in yearbooks during these years and you will see the admiration so many young people had for a caring professional that dedicated a great portion of her life to teaching them important lessons and helping them with the challenges of maturing. The Elkton High Class of 1976, which dedicated its yearbook to Miss Smith, illustrates this point: “As we worked our way through high school there was always one person to whom we turned in times of joy and sadness. The patience and devotion she gave each of us is deeply felt as we remember those times when her gentle nudge and her words of encouragement were all we needed. . . . With these things in mind, the class of 1976 voted unanimously to dedicate the 1976 Antler to their guidance counselor, Miss Rebeca Smith.” After that she served as the Chief Judge of the Orphans Court, finally retiring a few days before turning 88-years-old.

Beginning in the early 1980s, the lifelong Cecilton resident volunteered as a trustee at the Historical Society. During that time, she worked tirelessly to advance the organization and to assure that the County’s heritage was preserved. While helping better the organization in many ways, she was directly responsible for developing two valuable resources. The A. Rebecca Smith Yearbook Collection began when she donated her cherished volumes with so many fond memories of her students to the Society. The initial gift of 33-editions inspired others to donate so there are now nearly 300-books, which reveal the high school years of generations of teenagers and invoke priceless memories. Researchers putting together their family history or studying Cecil’s past treasure this valuable source containing once in a lifetime memories. Many other county societies have remarked to us that they wished they had such a valuable holding for one rarely sees such a large body of these works in special collections libraries.

She also created the Cecil County writers’ collection. This special holding is composed of books that were written by local authors and she always sought out additions to those titles. When she retired from the Society in the late-1990s, the tireless supporter and volunteer had improved the organization in many concrete ways.

We frequently hear that our organization is in the very top tier of societies in Maryland. During 16-years as a trustee and a much longer period as a member, the dedicated volunteer greatly contributed to the services and facilities we, as Cecil’s heritage keepers, bring to the public. We were pleased to nominate her for this honor and pleased that she is being recognized for a lifetime of community service.

Generosity of the late Albert Moore Benefits Society

The Historical Society was one of many benefactors of the estate of Albert V. Moore who passed away on December 5, 2005, at the age of 92. Mr. Moore was born in Providence in 1913. As a young man he worked for the Providence Paper Mill and then at the William duPont estate at Fair Hill before eventually retiring from the University of Delaware. Cecil’s history was important to him and having lived through much of the 20th century he knew a great deal about the area’s past. The bequest of this friend of the Society and long-time member is greatly appreciated for it will enable us to do more vital work as the county’s heritage keepers, something that was significant to Mr. Moore. In a largely volunteer organization that raises most of its money through donations from members and fundraising efforts by volunteers, Mr. Moore’s nearly $8,000 bequest allows us to accomplish tasks that would not have been possible if Mr. Moore had not remembered the organization in his will. In this photo, he is shown with his wife Ruth, who passed away away a few years earlier.

Young Scholar Initiates Original Research Project

This summer Abigail Bratcher, a Rising Sun High School Senior, is undertaking a valuable research project, which will be published by the Society toward the end of 2007. It’s always exciting to see young scholars enhance academic skills and prepare for college by exploring Cecil’s past. We first met the serious scholar when she worked on a research paper for Mrs. Dillaway’s AP 11th grade history class. Earlier in the year she participated in Maryland History Day, a juried state-competition that requires extensive, independent research of historical materials related to a national theme. As she worked through that process, she won the Cecil County History Day competition with a paper on Maryland’s role in the Civil War. Abigail plans to study history or anthropology as she prepares for an academic career in one of those disciplines. Look for her original research examining events in Cecil as the darkness of the Civil War rolled over the nation in a future edition of the Journal.

Society Remembers Anne Copley

Anne Copley, who passed away on May 9, was remembered at a Memorial Service earlier today at Jenner’s Pond in West Grove PA, when friends and family gathered to honor her life. She was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1921, graduated from Tucson High School in Arizona, and Ohio State University in 1943. Anne volunteered at the Society for nearly 30 years, and served on the board for most of that time.

A tireless contributor, she worked in the library nearly every Monday helping family historians, old house researchers, and students discover the county’s legacy. She always put the organization first and supported new ways for doing things as we began reacting to changes taking places in special collections libraries, as far back as the mid-80s. During her decades with us, she helped usher in a wide-array of innovations, ranging from employing our first museum professional nearly two decades ago to adapting to computers and all that meant for the organization. Anne had a vision for improving the Society and she helped implement advancements as she worked on and supported many of the changes we’re benefiting from today.

I still recall in the early ‘90s as we began experimenting with offering lively, engaging programs focused on broader audiences, how she put together our first public workshop, one on researching the history of your old house. On that pleasant autumn Saturday morning, as we nervously waited to see if anyone would show up, the room suddenly filled with new students. Once everyone settled into a comfortable seat, Anne, Miss Taylor and a few others went right to work offering a fantastic seminar on mining data on the county’s past. As I write this now, I still recall that pleasant day so many years ago.

We are a much better Society because of her involvement and because of her strong belief in moving forward. When I talked to her daughter, Phyllis Machledt, soon after she passed away, she mentioned that the historical society was always very important to her mother and a few days before she passed away, she was talking about important matters concerning the future of the organization. Over the past three decades as we launched many steps to improve the institution, Anne was always someone I turned to for advice when we were assessing new initiatives for the Society. If we moved forward, she was there to help support the change and to work on the enhancement.

Anne, a major leader and contributor to the organization for three decades, will be missed, but her leadership, wise-advice, and her many hours of work will serve as a continuing example to those whom she touched and to a new generation of leadership that is beginning to guide the Society through the 21st century.

Rodeo Earl Smith, the Old Range Rider

Wednesday evening Rob Churnside walked into the Society with his guitar and said I’m going to play a couple of local songs for you that I’ve just written. Well that something we’ve never heard before so everything came to a quick halt and we settled into comfortable chairs for a little performance. Oh how much we enjoyed those creative local piece.

The first one was a ballad about the escapades of Earl Smith an old range rider who lived in Cecil County for decades. A rodeo rider, Hollywood stunt man, boxing and wrestling promoter, television and radio personality, amusement park owner and who knows what else, he began his entertainment career as a young man in the 1890s performing as an expert rider and roper in Wild West Shows. As movies became popular he started performing stunts in the early Hollywood shows with the famous Tex Cooper. For Twenty years he operated the Morton Park Pool, an amusement park outside Philadelphia, and when he retired from that he purchased the Silver King Ranch on U.S. Route 40 at Perryville.

On the eve of his 86th Birthday, our local newspaper, the Cecil Whig, said he was a “hale and hearty octogenarian “ who once earned a “living by physical strength, daring skill, a flair for entertaining, and plenty of good old American guts.” When he died in 1980 at the age of 89, the newspaper said: “One of Cecil County’s most colorful personalities” has passed away. He was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

There’s a very interesting essay about Rodeo on the web pages for Kountylife.com that you might want to read since it provides insight into the colorful nature of this fascinating man. We’re going to see if we can get Rob to give us a little audio outtake that we can get on the blog because we’re sure you’ll enjoy this local-flavor piece about an entertaining man, even in his twilight years.

Rob’s other song was called Caecil By-God. Thanks Rob for entertaining us for a few minutes and for helping to preserve a unique part of Cecil's past that is fading into the myst of time. We enjoyed the pieces a lot and look forward to hearing much more.

In this January 1970 photo Rodeo Earl is receiving an an award from Cecil County Sheriff Thomas Mogule, the Maryland State Police and others. It was taken in January 1970 by Jim Cheeseman at the Cecil Whig.

Sad News

12 Apr 2007 4:53 pm

While I eagerly worked to create our first blog, my cell phone brought some sad news that dampened my enthusiasm for the task on this cool spring day. The Cecil Whig's Katy Ciamaricone was on the line, saying she needed to talk with me about Jim Cheeseman who had passed away earlier in the day. Shortly after that conversation our regular office line rang and it was Don Herring, a retired editor from the Whig.

If you don't know the "Cheese" served Cecil Countians as a photojournalist for over 20 years, capturing attention-grabbing images for our weekly and then daily newspaper as his camera documented the unfolding of history here at the top of the Chesapeake. He was there when the big disasters took place and he was there as the county celebrated holidays and everyday happenings.

He retired in 1983 and back in the mid-1990s I still recall another time the phone rang. This time the voice crackling over the line was Jim's, joking and jovial as always. Would we be interested in adding his photographs spanning three decades to our library, he inquired. Oh how exciting that call was for I couldn't wait to get over to his apartment to see the scope of the pictures and negatives. In a few weeks, joined by his former editor, Don Herring, we sat for many days pulling box after box of unorganized material together and adding his recollections to as many as possible.

Today we have over 10,000 of his images, which are such a valuable collection for studying our past. Jim left us with a permanent, unmatched visual record, with a unique depth and quality, focusing on everyday life in Cecil from 1963 to 1983.When his health was still good, he would often stop in to chat and joke with our volunteers and tell stories about his experiences. He always seemed to be in the middle of the action, whether it was chasing police cars and fire trucks, attending fire company banquets or church events, taking pictures of presidents, or visiting around Elkton after he retired.

That time and those memories seem a lot more distant as I write this late on a Friday afternoon as strong guests from an approaching nor'easter rattle our historic old bank building in downtown Elkton. But even now I vividly remember sitting there with Jim and Don over 10 years ago, pouring over those old images as "the Cheese" easily recalled time-tested stories about many of the pictures and related many tales about his escapades from the 1930s on. He always enjoyed an audience and he was entertaining for I still recall many of those stories.

I too remember his visits to the Society and seeing him around the community as he worked every job to its maximum, before and after retirement, often announcing "never fear the Cheese" is here or something like that. He had a great sense of humor, was always joking, and got along easily with people. That approach helped him for he was able to work his way into about any unfolding news event.

So long Jim. Though we'll never hear that familiar phrase again, we will carefully look after the "Cheeseman Collection" (http://www.cchistory.org/photos/index_files/Page1129.htm) for we are pleased you selected us to be the custodians of such priceless materials. As the time you traveled every corner of Cecil, from Bald Friar to Warwick and everyplace in between, grows more distant, your record of the county grows immensely more valuable and your work will serve as a tangible reminder of the contribution you made.

Click here to see a slide show containing some of Jim's work

Mike