Earn a free subscription!

We have been told by many of our readers that the CSM Mailbox is the first thing they read when they open a new issue. We certainly love getting swamped with tons of your letters and consider every one for publication. We want to hear from you so keep those letters coming! While you’re at it, include a photo and we’ll publish it along with your letter. Be sure to include your phone number and complete mailing address. If your letter is chosen for publication in a future issue, you'll receive a free one-year subscription to Cecil Soil Magazine.

Sincerely yours,
Ed Belote Sr, Publisher

P.S.— We've provided a simple and convenient form that you may use, if you wish.

January/February 2010

Dear CSM:

First, we would like to say Happy New Year to the Belotes and CSM staff! And second, we're looking forward to another great year for CSM. We enjoyed seeing pictures of ourselves and our pet in past issues. It always fun to see familiar faces of neighbors and read articles about local history.

Thanks for all the free issues in the past, but we also realize the need for paid subscriptions and feel that the cost is very reasonable. We're sure that dedicated readers, including ourselves, won't want to miss a single issue.

We're already looking forward to the next issue!

Jackie & Michele Hamilton
Rising Sun, Maryland

Dear Ranger Rick,

A busy summer has passed and we have a little more time to reflect on many pleasant occasions. We had a productive crop year, with the exception of sour cherries that we lost to an abnormal frost. Also, we were happy to have a record number of people visit the farm to enjoy picking their own blueberries, peaches, and blackberries.

Your article in the July/August issue of Cecil Soil was well written and did an excellent job of describing our farm and the activities that take place here. Many customers mentioned reading your article, and expressed the opinion that you had truly captured the scenic and the productive elements of our farm. Thanks to you and Cecil Soil for a well written and published article about Spring Valley Farm.

Yours truly,
Dan and Elizabeth Derr
Conowingo, Maryland

Dear Sir,

My parents moved from Elkton, Virginia to a farm 3 1/2 miles outside of Rising Sun in 1919, before I was 2 years old. We lived there as long as my parents lived. I went to a one-room school called New Bridge School, which was by the Octoraro Creek and on the road to the paper mill and the Boy Scout camp that was mentioned in the Sept/Oct CSM.

When I was going into the 6th grade my father bought a pick-up truck so that my two older brothers and I could go to Rising Sun School and take our four cans of milk to the to the condensory in Rising Sun each day.I have lots of good memories of growing up on the farm and of going through school in Rising Sun.

Almost two years ago I moved to this retirement community where I have my own apartment, but take one meal a day in the dining room. I’m so glad to be near my daughter and her family.

My good friend in Rising Sun mails the Cecil Soil Magazine to me when she is lucky enough to find one.Thank you for the care and quality of your articles.

Louise Jenkins
Allentown, Pennsylvania

Dear Sir:

Information on the enclosed picture, (shown above): The ladies from Port Deposit had taken a bus trip in 1968 to visit the United Nations building in New York City. Notice how we are dressed; hats, gloves, heels, etc. We also did some shopping.

Pictured left to right are: Marian (McCardell) Fox, Anne (Jackson) Bradford, Marie (Narvell) Bannon, Janet (Walker) Abrahams, Hazel (Lake) Wingo, and Emily Jack.
I hope the picture is good enough to put in your magazine.

Sincerely,
Anne J. Bradford
Aberdeen, Maryland

Hi Folks,

Really enjoy your magazine. I have good friends in Chesapeake City Area, so have come to honor more about Maryland, although I grew up in West Grove, Pa. Thanks for all your work.

Margaret Michener
Cochranville, Pennsylvania

Dear Cecil Soil Folks,

I was leafing through the November/December issue of your magazine and was surprised and thrilled to see the article of “Life Along the Canal” which included a picture of my grandfather, Frank Bennett, in front of his feed store on Bohemia Avenue, which is now The Yacht Club Restaurant. This picture brought back a lot of good memories of when I was a child, playing in my grandfather’s store.
Also, I was happy to see the picture of our house that I grew up in on Bohemia Avenue, next to Trinity Methodist Church.

You published an issue a while back on the Ferry Boat in Chesapeake City and there appeared a picture of a young lady departing from the ferry, which I am pretty sure was my mother, would it be possible to get a print of this picture?

We really enjoy Cecil Soil and thank you.

Sincerely,
Eddie Ireland Piatelli
Chesapeake City, Maryland

Dear Sirs,

I truly enjoy the magazine. Though I am a lifelong native of Newark, Del., I consider myself an “adopted” Cecil Countian. I live just over the line on Route 273 and had the privilege of working 30 years for the Cecil County Public School system.

Vivian M. Timmons
Newark, Delaware

Dear Ed and Carol,

Thank you so much for the lovely article about us! We’ve had so much good feedback from it and the timing was perfect. Leonard had a mini stroke soon after and is still homebound from that. He’s coming along slowly but surely. Hope he’ll be ready to give the great grandkids motorcycle rides at Christmas!

Best wishes for a Happy Christmas and many years of Cecil Soil!
Leonard & Nancy Conrad
Colora, Maryland

P.S. In the Sept./Oct. issue in the class of 1939 photo Leonard Conrad is seated far right in the front row. Also, the reunion photo on page 50 is the 55th reunion.

Dear Mrs. Carol Belote & the Cecil Soil Staff:

You have no idea how happy and touched I was when I read the “Remembering Rose Hill Farm” cover story.

I grew up with the Kemp family. They were like my second family. Pat Kemp was my best friend through kindergarten, elementary, and high school. After graduation, we went our own ways, but forgot to keep in touch.

So Carol, when I called you to possibly get a message to Nora Kemp-Lane asking her to call me, you opened up a door from my past that I thought was closed for good. I was so glad to hear from Nora. We talked about the past and of our present lives and families. We are planning to see each other soon. Also during the holidays we are planning to surprise Pat with a visit.

Again, Carol, you are a Godsend and bless you! We need more people like you who care. What you did meant so much to me; you have no idea!

I will definitely keep up with Cecil Soil Magazine. Carol has made a believer out of me.

Deborah Pearce Brooks
Earleville, Maryland

Dear Ed,

I was so delighted to see the article about our Dr. Johnson. He indeed was a rare and wonderful doctor and person.

When I was about 8 or 9 years old, the kids from the old Elk Mill Elementary School used to sled on the hill across from the school. One morning, the snow was packed down and icy. I went sailing down the hill and straight through a barbed wire fence. The other kids pulled me home on the “Brick Row” on my sled.

Doctor Johnson came to our house and put in three stitches in the area above my eye. How lucky was I? I sat in a straight-backed chair holding onto my grandmother Mary Mann’s hands.

When I was preparing to leave for nurses’ training in Baltimore, he took
many warts from my hands and legs at no charge and gave me my first pair of nursing bandage scissors.

The year he died, we were living in Baltimore and read of his death. My husband and I were able to attend the viewing, held at March Funeral Home on Monroe Street in northwest Baltimore.

After his funeral, Mrs. Johnson had a sale of his possessions. Proudly sitting on my entertainment center is a small pipe rack with his pipes. The rack had sat on his office desk for many years.

When I was a child, all he had to do was look at me and I got better. Patients stood outside his office door for hours waiting for him to open. He was a beloved soul to many, many people.

Ruth M. Lashley
Elkton, Maryland

To the Editor,

Our names are William and Laura Seiss and we are in our late 70s and are volunteers at Cecil County Senior Center.

On November 21, 2009, we attended the Senior Prom at the First Assembly of God on Whitehall Road in Elkton. It was the largest attended prom that the Center ever had. There was a huge number of elderly people there plus 20 or so young teens from a nearby school. We talked to your photographer who was covering the event, and she suggested we express our views to the Soil.
These young people started by waiting on everyone at the tables, bringing drinks and food to each of us. Then when the dancing started, they danced with anyone that would dance with them. They even danced all the old dances that they’d never heard of.

There were two teenagers in particular (Eric, age 15, and Emma, age 14) that told us they had more fun at this dance then they did at their own school dances.

In all my years I have never seen teenagers like this. It was like we were in a different country. Our sincere hope is that you find out where these kids are from, and that their parents and school be made aware of what special teens these are.

Please show this to our friend JoAnn Dawson. Thank you for accepting this letter and we all hope you can pass this on to the parents and school of some great kids.

Sincerely,
William and Laura Seiss
Elkton, Maryland

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Seiss, Thank you for your letter! It seems we don’t hear near enough about the exceptional young people being raised in our beautiful county. We are certain that the parents and teachers of these Rising Sun High School students will be grateful that you’ve taken the time to acknowledge their contributions to this wonderful event, which is featured on pages 52 and 53.

Dear Mr. Belote,

Following a serious illness in June and my 80th birthday in July, I went on the trip of a lifetime. My daughter, grandson and I flew to San Antonio, Texas for some very interesting sightseeing. It has changed quite a bit since I lived there 70 years ago.

One pleasant surprise was the Menger Hotel we stayed in next to the Alamo. They had a display of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, which was my daddy’s service in the Spanish American War.

Then we went on to Fort Worth and stopped by for a short visit to see Duane and Alice Borden.

From there we went to Nacogdoches to visit my family. It was so good to see them and we had a wonderful time. One of my cousins lives on a beautiful ranch. His mother lives in a charming pioneer style house that she designed herself and is furnished with antiques. It was so pretty, reminded me of the show Little House on the Prairie.

Sincerely,
Catherine Beal
North East, Maryland

In response to Duane Borden’s letter published in the September/October 2009 issue, there was a mill on Stoney Run Creek owned by the Moffitts and it may be the surrounding area that Mr. Borden remembers. It belonged to my great-great-grandfather. It was located on Stoney Run Creek north of Razor Strap Road and south of the B&O. The directions Mr. Borden gives would fit as would the description of the stream.

I don’t know whether or not the Moffitts still owned it in the 1930s. I know my great-grandfather lived in town (North East) at that time, but perhaps another family member kept the property. I would have to dig through my box of family history stuff to get more details.

For what it’s worth, I have attached a picture of great-grandfather JRK Moffitt.

Sincerely,
Pam Howard

Dear Cecil Soil Magazine,

Tom Connelly, his mother and two sisters, Pam and Mary Beth moved to Wilson Avenue in Rising Sun, Maryland in 1965. At eleven years old Tom started to work in Poist News Store and delivered newspapers. At sixteen he started to work in the pharmacy for Jay Brinsfield. When he got out of high school he went to Philadelphia College of Pharmacy & Science. After he graduated he worked as a pharmacist when Jay Brinsfield owned the pharmacy. When Jay wanted to sell it, Tom bought the store and is still running it.

The Connellys were wonderful neighbors and we have been good friends ever since. I asked them to go to Janes Church, which they did and they are very active in the church. Tom teaches a Sunday School Class and also speaks some Sundays and at funerals.

Dorothy R. Ryan
Rising Sun, Maryland

See the Scrapbook on pages 56-57 for some photos Dorothy sent us from Tom’s youth.

Please send your letters to: Cecil Soil Magazine, P.O. Box 645, Rising Sun, MD 21911. You may also fax them to 410-658-3242 or use this handy form. All letters become the property of Cecil Soil Magazine and Back Porch Publications, LLC, and may be edited for clarity or space. All letters received are given due consideration for publishing. Beginning in January 2010, writers of letters selected for publication in future issues will receive a free one-year subscriptions to CSM, or extensions to their existing subscriptions, when applicable.

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