A book signing for the new 2004 issue of the Journal of the Lewes Historical Society, the seventh in a series of annual local history books, will be held Saturday, December 4. Several authors of articles in this publication will be on hand to sign copies and discuss this local history project from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Fisher-Martin House (Lewes Chamber of Commerce and Visitors’ Center) on Kings Highway in Lewes. Additionally, local historian Hazel D. Brittingham will be available the Groome United Methodist Church from 10 a.m. to 12 noon to sign copies of the Journal, which includes her article about the 100-year history of at that church, located on Savannah Road. Local historian Judith Atkins Roberts will also be at the Lewes Presbyterian Church on Kings Highway from 10 a.m. to 12 noon to sign copies of her book of church history called A Nickel in the Cup as well as Volume 7 of the Journal, which contains articles by her about General Nelson Appleton Miles (for whom Fort Miles was named) and journalist Marjorie Virden.

Residents of the area and visitors who have an interest in local history will want to add this newest issue of the Journal to their libraries. The theme is “Notable Lewes People” of the past. Some of the people featured were from the relatively recent past of the middle of the last century, so reading about them will stir memories for some local readers. Trenny Elliott presents a portrait of her father, James Edward Marvil, the first president of the Lewes Historical Society. Former Lewes fire department chief, the much admired Louis A. Rickards, left a manuscript-in-progress at his untimely death in 2002, in which he reminisced about his family’s grocery business and the work involved with supplying the menhaden fishing fleet. The editors of the Journal are pleased that the Rickards family allowed these childhood memories to be published as an article called “Grubbing Them Fishboats.”

Other figures who made unique contributions to the local community are featured: “Ruth Chambers Stewart” by Ruth Mankin, “Frederick Douglas Thomas” by Barbara Vaughan, “Lest We Forget: Virginia Cullen” by Hazel D. Brittingham and “Mayor William E. Walsh” by Gary Grunder. Readers will probably be surprised to learn that the discoverer of the use of iodized salt to prevent thyroid disease was an amateur archeologist in Lewes, Dr. David Marine, described in an article by Warren MacDonald.

Reaching back in time, Hazel Brittingham describes “Eliza Ann Marshall,” who was born in Lewes during the War of 1812. E. D. Bryan wrote a history of drug stores and various druggists in Lewes from the early 1800s through most of the 20th century. “Sara Fisher Clampitt Ames” by Robert G. Stewart provides a portrait of this Lewes native, who became a well-regarded sculptress with a famous subject in the mid-1800s. Another intriguing artistic figure of Lewes in the early 1700s is “Henry Brooke: Colonial Poet” by Betty Grunder. Robert G. Stewart also explores the mystery of an obscure man, William Byron, born in Mali and presumably brought to America as a slave.

Ryves Holt, an important figure in Lewes in the early 1700s, is described in an article by Michael DiPaolo. Finally, the earliest Lewes resident whose life in the 1600s is recalled in the Journal is “Pieter Cornelius Plockhoy” by Warren MacDonald.

This newest issue of the Journal also contains many interesting old photographs and some original artwork by local marine artist, Steve Rogers.

Copies of this 64-page publication will be available at the book signing, along with former volumes issued in 2001 through 2003, for five dollars each. Local stores that carry these publications as a service to the Lewes Historical Society include Books By the Bay, Stepping Stone, Saxon Swan in downtown Lewes. They can also be found at the Country Store at the Historic Complex, Third and Shipcarpenter Streets, which will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. December 4, 5, 6, 11, and 18. For more information, please contact Betty Grunder, Journal Editor, at 645-8214.

©2002-2005 The Lewes Historical Society