The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 78

THE BALTIMORE SUN A Baltimore Pioneer of Farm and Turf 10 JOHN STUART SKINNER HAD MANY OTHER CLAIMS TO FAME by MYRTLE HELFRICH A. lN ivy-covered tomb crumbling under the ton streets. Their home must have been attractive, if we accept the evidence of a desk of solid mahogany, exquisite flat silver and a beautiful silver service now in the possession of Mr. Greene. They are still suggestive of the Baltimore hostess' graceful hands presiding over a candle-lit tea table of long ago when the Skinner threshold was wont to be crossed by the great as well as the kindly neighbor.

Historical references are made to visits by the Presidents and other dignitaries in Baltimore, most of whom were entertained by the postmaster and his wife. By 1818 Skinner had moved to No. 8 South Calvert, street, where he lived over the post-office, and began the publication of a magazine, The Censor, which was political in character. It was short-lived, but in 1819 he struck his stride in The American Farmer, the first continuous, successful agricultural periodical in the United States. Site the first number went on sale April 2 and it was evident from the start that it was to be a success.

Skinner's own articles covered a wide field of subjects of interest to the farmer. His series, "Notices for a Young Farmer," showed his concern over the persistent Colonial belief that agriculturists must farm many acres of land poorly with many slaves rather than cultivate well a few acres with fewer servants. He was a great advocate of crop rotation and intelligent fertilization, and he steadfastly maintained that in the state of its agriculture, is to be found the true test of the advancement of a nation. Thomas Jefferson, Timothy Pickering, G. W.

P. Custis, Caleb Kirk and other noted men of the time contributed articles. Skinner always wrote at night. One critic of his day stated that, "although somewhat too profuse in his style and rather over-given to flattery, Mr. Skinner was a vigorous writer and his whole heart seemed engaged' in the cause of agriculture.

He did much for its improvement and deserves the gratitude of his country for his labors." -He was described as a large, fine-looking man, open and frank in his manners, persevering and energetic. Joseph Wood did a splendid portrait in oil when Mr. Skinner was 37, showing a kindly mien, high intellectual forehead, stern jaw and long thin face looking out under thick black hair. Shortly before the advent of The American Farmer Skinner was one of a group who "1 ride on horseback through the night, and was the first to announce the enemy's approach. While he was away the British burned his buildings on his Leonard's creek estate, and Skinner never sought ment from the Government.

But a little later came a more famous exploit. On September 13, 1814, in company with Francis Scott Key, under a flag of truce, he was sent to the quarters of Major-General Ross on the British flagship Surprise, to deliver a letter requesting the release of Dr. Beanes, a Southern Marylander; captured by the British during their approach on the Capital. On arrival they were astounded to hear that they would be held prisoner during an attack the British would make immediately upon Fort McHenry, but that they could remain under guard on their own little craft if they wished, "until Baltimore had been taken." Skinner pleaded in vain that the city be notified io the women and children might leave. -There is a legend, related to me recently by a Colonel Skinner's great-grandson, Frederick Stuart Greene, that Key did not write his anthem, depicting the mingled emotions of those men, until after they had been released by the British and were feeling their way back to Baltimore in the fog, uncertain of the news that awaited them.

Suddenly the sun burst through the mists and Key saw the flag still floating over the fort. On a bit of paper he wrote the words and handed them to Skinner to read. He returned the paper to Key with the remark, "Let me think this over." Key started to tear up the paper, whereupon Skinner "said, "Don't destroy it. You have really written an inspired bit of verse." It was Skinner who placed the words in the hands of Samuel Sands, the 14-year-old printer's boy who set them in type from which handbills were made. Thus the song has come down to us, president madison appointed Skinner postmaster at Baltimore in 1816, a position he held continuously until 1837.

At 28, there- others, it was organized on the 200-acre Maryland Tavern estate four miles out on the Western Turnpike road (Frederick road). For many years it was the scene of the semiannual fairs, and animals from all parts of the world could be found in the pens and pastures, often being sold to American breeders for the price they cost the society members. In October, 1824, the Maryland Agricultural Society arranged a special fair in honor of General Lafayette, who was visiting Baltimore. Mr. Skinner was chairman, and later entertained the distinguished guest in his home.

The next month the United States Government rewarded the general for his services in the Revolutionary War. An act of Congress granted him $200,000 and one entire township of land in Florida containing 23,029 acres, now a part of Tallahassee. Skinner was chosen by the Frenchman as manager of the entire tract, a position he retained until his death many years later. Meanwhile Skinner was occupied with his job as postmaster and with the many added duties which fell to the lot of prominent citizens. In 1820 the first mail express coach was run between Baltimore and Washington in 2 hours and 45 minutes, and surveys were made of three different mail routes between Baltimore and Philadelphia.

In December, 1825, Skinner (who had been awarded the militia rank of Governor's aide with the title of colonel) was made secretary of a group organized to determine the practicality of building a canal from Baltimore to unite with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal to Pittsburgh, then to Lake Erie, which would open up western and northern channels of commerce. The plan was finally discarded as too costly. In 1827 he was a member of the House of Delegates in the legislative session which granted a charter to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. colonel skinner sold The American Farmer in March, 1829, for $20,000, and began the publication of The American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine as an authentic record of the performance and pedigree of the bred horse, a subject which had seriously attracted him for years. Ben: Perley Poore's biography of Skinner says that horses whose pedigrees were recorded in the Register rose in value from $100 to $5,000 and $10,000.

It was Colonel Skinner's proud boast that his interest lay purely in the improvement of the breed of American horses and that he never bet a dollar on any horse race nor on any living thing. He was interested in the first regular race course near Baltimore which was built in 1820 on the Philadelphia road, and he took an active part in the development of Potter's course, which was builf in 1823 in Canton. Scharf states that "another course was established by the Jockey Club in 1831 on the old Frederick road, known the Central, the most prominent and popular of all race courses about Baltimore. Colonel Skinnet was one of the judges there of the famous race between Colonel Luke's Industry and a bay gelding raised by Martin Potter, over which more money changed hands on the result than had ever been known before." IN 1873 an association was formed for the improvement of the breeds of horses, and Skinner was one of the managers. Seven years later that organization was merged into the Jockey Club, with Colonel Skinner as secretary.

The Central became the official course of the club and was widely known because of a slight undulation throughout which gave relief to the horses. The importation of horses from England, a cause which Skinner constantly championed, had so improved the breed of racers that the period was characterized as "the golden age of the American turf, with Marylanders owning a moiety of the most famous racers of the day." Turfmen, incidentally, have not frogotten Colonel Skinner's contribution to the development of the sport in Maryland; to this day an annual "John Stuart Skinner" race is run at Pim-lico. In 1835 he sold the American Turf Register for $10,000, but continued to contribute to the leading magazines and newspapers. He 'edited a number of works, including several English books, and ever remained active in agricultural and Jockey Club societies. A change in political policy with the election of Mr.

Van Buren to the Presidency in 1837 caused his removal from the postmastership. Continued on next page march of centuries in Westminster churchyard, a stone's throw from Poe's grave, and an old-fashioned brick house on a cobble-stoned street in Old Town, hinting of bygone gentility in spite of gaping windows and bedraggled neighborhood, are the only two landmarks remaining in Baltimore to prove the eventful and honored life of the man whose name was once far more familiar. The Government knew him as John Stuart Skinner, a sort of Paul Revere of the War of 1812 and the man whom Francis Scott Key accompanied on the night of the bombardment of Fort McIIenry, after which Key's poem burst gloriously upon a war-weary nation. Agriculturists know him as the father of American agricultural literature, and those few who can speak of him with authority look upon him as the one-man Department of Agriculture in his day. American sportsmen claim him as the father of American turf literature, and history records him as the personal friend of Presidents Jef-, ferson, Madison, Monroe and Jackson.

THE THREE MAJOR PUBLICATIONS which he edited and published, The American Farmer, The American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine, and The Plough, the Loom and the Anvil, have become collectors' items, and so great is their value that recent sale of a completely bound set of the Turf Register' netted the recipient a neat $1,000. But why not? Salvator in The Thoroughbred Record last November identified the Turf Register as "the most classical of all classic items." It is strange that in this city, where numerous contemporaries stand immortal' in marble and bronze, nowhere has Colonel Skinner been so honored. The window exhibit this month in Enoch Tratt Library is a gratifying token of respect by the Maryland Room to commemorate Colonel Skinner's birthday anniversary, which falls on the same day as that of Washington, the nwn whom Skinner made a pattern for his patriotic fervor. Skinner's life in Baltimore was so closely associated with the important advances of the city that to know him is to learn a fascinating bit of the city's development. he was born February 22, 178S, the son of Frederick Skinner, a descendant of Robert Skinner, a Maryland settler with Leonard Calvert, and a grandson of that Captain Stuart whose shipyard on West river, with vessels in the stocks, was burned during the Revolutionary War.

The Skinner estate of 600 acres lay on the peninsula between the Tatuxent river and the Chesapeake. As a youth young John spent his leisure time following the slaves about their tasks, or trailed after his father over his properties, which also included a 700-acre tract lying near the Calvert county courthouse. He was born with the love of the soil in his blood and had a precocious adeptness for sponging up the lessons in husbandry taught by his father. Probably on some leisurely journey with leather to the tanner or while cutting tobacco he had his first dream of restoring the lost prosperity to agriculture brought about by the long abuse of the Colonial soil. At 18 he became assistant to the clerk of the county court, and soon afterward reading clerk in the Legislature.

He studied law at every leisure moment, and was admitted to the bar at the age of 21. Soon after the declaration of war in 1812 young Skinner was appointed inspector of European mail by President Madison, with headquarters in Annapolis, where all packets carrying United States mail to Europe were required to stop for inspection. He was also an agent for prisoners of war, the two positions giving him a combined salary of $1,800 yearly. The friendships he formed with the British officers at this time lasted through 1 Fi? v-l; "1 i I i 4f JOHN STUART SKINNER From a portrait in oil made in 1825 by Joseph L. Wood out life and later was of aid to him.

He was ordered to Baltimore in 1813, be- fore, he became an integral part of the city, lending his talents and interests unvaryingly formed the Maryland Agricultural Society, which held its first exhibition in 1820 at the fair grounds near Market. That fall he advocated the establishment of a stock farm, for the systematic improvement of breeds of domestic animals, and by 1821, with the aid of Major Isaac McKim and came purser in Commander' Barney's flotilla of gunboats and sloops which was being outfitted in Baltimore, and next year figured in two exploits. First, he heard that the British forces had landed for their march upon Washington, made a gallant forty-mile to her progress. He and his wife lived at the corner of Albemarle and Plowman streets, in Old Town, cut off from the newer part by the Fallsway, which cut a deep horseshoe into the corner of Calvert and Lexing-.