Charles Birch

Charles was born in North Beach, Maryland, on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, to John E and Elizabeth (Smallwood) Birch. By 1870, the family had moved to the ocean side of the state, living in Berlin, MD where his father was employed as a laborer. The draw of the water must have been too strong for John and, by 1880, he moved his wife and eight children to Chincoteague, VA while he worked as an oysterman.

Along the way, young Charles attended school through only the second grade, educating himself further by participating in the hard world of work. In 1891, at the age of twenty-four he married a young girl from Chincoteague, sixteen-year Jennie E Bloxom (see note 1). The young family remained in Chinco...