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10 1800.5
Darbard College Library
VERI
TAS
FROM THE BRIGHT LEGACY
One half the income from this Legacy, which was re- ceived in 1880 under the will of
JONATHAN BROWN BRIGHT of Waltham, Massachusetts, is to be expended for books for the College Library. The other half of the income is devoted to scholarships in Harvard University for the benefit of descendants of
HENRY BRIGHT, JR., who died at Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1686. In the absence of such descendants, other persons are eligible to the scholarships. The will requires that this announce- ment shall be made in every book added to the Library under its provisions.
.
0
HISTORY
-OF-
LEITERSBURG DISTRICT
WASHINGTON COUNTY, MD.
INCLUDING
ITS ORIGINAL LAND TENURE; FIRST SETTLEMENT; MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT ; RELIGIOUS, EDUCA- TIONAL, POLITICAL, AND GENERAL HISTORY; BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, ETC.
BY HERBERT C. BELL, Author of a History of Northumberland County, Pa.
ILLUSTRATED.
LEITERSBURG, MD. PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 1898.
4517866.5 $2079.49
HARV ARD COLLEGE JUL 21 1899 LIBRARY Bright find
Copyrighted, 1898, by HERBERT C. BELL.
PREFACE.
THE plan of this work includes the original land tenure of the District, its first settlement, and material develop- ment; the origin and growth of its churches, schools, and other institutions, and of the village of Leitersburg; and a series of biographical sketches, combining much of the per- sonal with the public history. The data have been obtained almost entirely by original research, and not without diffi- culty. Although more than a hundred and sixty years have passed since the settlement of the District, its history has been altogether neglected. The pioneers who first invaded its territory, removed the primeval forest, and initiated its development rest in unknown or forgotten graves, and even tradition is silent regarding the names of many of them. Early religious and educational effort in the community they founded is traced with difficulty, and much that would be most interesting regarding its general history is forever lost. It has been the author's earnest endeavor to recover all that was accessible, and neither time, labor, nor money has been spared in the effort to produce a comprehensive and accurate District history, valuable and interesting to the present generation and increasingly so in future years.
For courtesies rendered in the preparation of this work appropriate acknowledgments are due and gladly tendered to the publishers of the Hagerstown Mail and Herald, to public officials in the county offices at Hagerstown, Fred- erick, and Upper Marlboro and the State land office at Annapolis, to the Maryland Historical Society, to the pas- tors of churches, to those enterprising citizens who have given their support to the work, and in general to every one who has in any way contributed to its success.
HERBERT C. BELL.
Leitersburg, Md.
MAP OF LEITERSBURG DISTRICT.
no
4
5
Off
....
EXPLANATIONS.
APPROXIMATE scale, one inch to a mile. Continuous lines indicate public roads; double lines, turnpikes ; broken lines, private roads ; the heavy broken line, the old Nichol- son's Gap road.
REAL ESTATE OWNERS.
1. John Wingert.
49. Daniel Beck.
2. Isaac Hykes.
50. Lewis Miller.
3. J. H. Hykes.
51. Levi L. Ridenour.
4, 5. Henry F. Lehman.
52. Mrs. Magdalene Neff.
6. Isaac Shank.
53 Curtis Fogler.
7. Cressler Brothers.
4. 54. John B. Newcomer.
8, 9. William S. Young.
10. Mrs. William S. Young.
II. Abraham Lehman.
57. George A. Beard.
12. William G. Young.
58, George W. Coss.
59. Martin's School.
14. Paradise School.
15. M. L. Trovinger.
16. Longmeadows Church.
17. Samuel Hykes.
18. O. H. Ragan.
19. Jacob B. Lehman.
20. William H. Hykes.
21. Henry M. Jacobs.
22. Heirs of Frederick Ziegler.
23. John C. Miller.
24. David Ziegler (Startown Postoffice).
25. Edward M. White.
26. Mt. Union School.
27. Lewis H. Myers.
28. William G. Martin.
29. Samuel Boward.
30. John D. Spessard.
31. Simon Clopper.
32. Henry F. Unger.
33, 42. Samuel Hartle.
34. Henry and Frederick Hartle.
35. Alveh L. Stockslager.
36. Frank D. Bell.
37. George H. Wolfinger.
38. Joseph Barkdoll.
39. Harvey J. Hartle.
40, 41. Levi Hartle.
84. Leonard Senger.
85. Kemp M. Bell.
86 Pleasant Hill School.
87. Albert Stoner.
88. Heirs of Daniel Harshman.
89. Mrs. Mary M. Newcomer.
90. William F. Ridenour.
48. Martin C. Funk.
74. Daniel Oller.
75. Heirs of Henry G. Clopper.
76. Joseph and John B. Barkdoll.
77. Claggett Hartle.
78. Daniel Hoover.
79. Upton Clopper.
80. Solomon Stephey.
81. Mrs. Margaret Leather.
82. Daniel V. Shank.
83. Joseph Wishard.
43. Clinton W. Hartle.
44. B. F. Spessard.
45. J. H. Wishard.
46. J. C. Stouffer.
47. George T. McKee.
67. Charles B. and Levi B. Wolfinger.
(68. Jacob B. Stoner.
\69. Mrs. Elizabeth Stoner.
70, 92. Immanuel and Katie R. Martin.
71. Henry Martin.
72. George H. Bowman (Mills Postoffice).
73. (S. R. of Leitersburg) Freeland W. Anderson.
60. Jacob Needy.
61. Joseph Martin.
62. Julia and Lydia Bell.
63. 64. Daniel W. Durboraw.
65. Rudolph Charles.
: '66. C. L. G. Anderson.
13. Daniel N. Scheller.
55. Samuel Newcomer.
56. John Wishard.
73. (North of Leitersburg) Samuel Mar- tin.
6
EXPLANATIONS.
91. William H. Stevenson.
93. Daniel R. Grove.
94. William H. Hoffman.
95. Mrs. Nancy Hoffman.
96. E. Keller Mentzer.
119. (N. E. of Leitersburg) C. C. Hol- linger. 120. Heirs of David Strite.
97. Joseph M. Bell.
98. Daniel S. Wolfinger.
99. Heirs of John Eshleman.
122. Mrs. Mary A. Gilbert.
100. John H. Miller.
123. William H. Kreps.
101. Otho Kahl.
124. Noah E. Shank.
102. William H. Barkdoll.
125. Miller's Church.
103. Benjamin Shockey (Rock Forge).
126. Daniel W. Martin.
104. Augustus Shiffler.
127. John O. Wolfinger.
105. Franklin M. Strite.
129. Heirs of Joseph Strite.
106. Jacobs Church.
130. John S. Strite.
107. Daniel Hoover.
131. John F. Strite.
108. Mrs. Martha H. Leiter.
109. New Harmony School.
110. Lewis Lecron.
134. Casper Linderman.
III. John Kriner.
135. Mrs. Laura K. Ziegler.
112. Mrs. Fanny Strite.
136. Rock Hill School.
113. Isaac Needy.
137. David H. Wolfinger.
114. Heirs of Joseph Strite.
138. Mrs. Mary A. Jacobs.
139. Mrs. Mary A. Hykes.
116. John A. Bell.
140. Henry M. Jacobs.
117. Samuel Strite.
132. Samuel McH. Cook.
133. W. Harvey Hykes.
115. Hiram D. Middlekauff.
118. John Summer. 119. (West of Leitersburg) George F. Ziegler.
121. Henry L. Strite.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION. WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND.
Situation and Extent-General History-Political Organization- Internal Improvements-Town and Village Growth 9-18
CHAPTER I. EARLY LAND TENURE AND SETTLEMENT.
Antietam-Prehistoric Remains -- Longmeadows-Skipton-on-Craven -Deceit-Darling's Sale-Lambert's Park-Downing's Lot-Ches- ter-Well Taught-Allamangle-All That's Left-Rich Barrens- Perry's Retirement-Huckleberry Hall-Dry Spring-Burkhart's Lot-Scant Timber-Father's Good Will-Elysian Fields-The Farmer's Blessing-Addition to Cumberland-Turkey Buzzard- Cumberland-Smaller Tracts-Adjustment of Boundaries -Mason
and Dixon's Line 19-50
CHAPTER II. SOCIAL AND MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
Language, Dress, Etc .- Slavery-Erection and Boundaries of Lei- tersburg District -Politics-"In War Times"-Agricultural De- velopment-Postal Facilities-Public Roads-Bridges-Turnpikes -Mills-Rock Forge-Distilleries-Tanneries, Textile Manufac- tures, Etc. . 51-101
CHAPTER III. LEITERSBURG.
Early History-The Town Plot-The Village in 1830-Business In- terests - Secret Societies - Municipal Incorporation - Popula- tion . . 102-112
CHAPTER IV. CHURCHES.
Antietam Lutheran Church-Jacobs Lutheran Church-St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Leitersburg-St. James Reformed Church, Leitersburg-Miller's Mennonite Church-Longmeadows German Baptist Church-Reformed Mennonite-River Brethren-United. Brethren Church, Leitersburg-Methodist Episcopal Church, Leitersburg . 113-142
8
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V. SCHOOLS.
"The Hollow House "-Martin's School-Leitersburg Schools-The Jacobs Church School-"Jacob Miller's School House"-Paradise- Rock Hill-Pleasant Hill-New Harmony-Mt. Union-General Statistics . 148-154
CHAPTER VI. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
. . 155-881
INDEX
. 338-337
INTRODUCTION.
WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND.
SITUATION AND EXTENT-GENERAL HISTORY-POLITICAL OR- GANIZATION-INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS-TOWN AND VIL- LAGE GROWTH.
A NOTICEABLE feature of the Appalachian mountain system is the great valley that extends from Vermont to Alabama, bounded on either side by parallel ranges and crossed by the largest rivers of the Atlantic slope in the United States-the Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the Potomac, and the James. The section between the Susquehanna and the Potomac is called the Cumberland valley, in which the larger part of Washington County is situated. It is bounded on the south by the Potomac river; on the east the South mountain separates it from the adja- cent county of Frederick; Mason and Dixon's Line is the northern limit of its territory, which terminates at Sideling Hill creek on the west. The county has a maximum length of forty-four miles; in breadth it varies from a mile and a half at Hancock to twenty- eight miles at the base of the South mountain.
The basin of the Potomac river embraces the whole of Wash- ington County, from which its principal affluents are the Cono- cocheague and Antietam. Both rise in Pennsylvania. The former pursues an extremely winding course through the geological for- mation known as slate or shale and joins the Potomac at Williams- port; the latter traverses a limestone region and terminates its course near Sharpsburg.
GENERAL HISTORY.
The Indian occupation of Western Maryland is perpetuated in the names of its streams-Potomac, Conococheague, Antietam, Tonoloway, Monocacy, etc. Indian village sites, burial grounds, and battle-fields have been identified in various parts of Wash- ington County. About the year 1736 a sanguinary battle oc- curred at the mouth of the Conococheague between the Delawares
10
HISTORY OF LEITERSBURG DISTRICT.
and Catawbas, in which the former were disastrously defeated. Schlatter, writing of the Conococheague region in 1749, says: "In this neighborhood there are still many Indians, who are well dis- posed and very obliging and are not disinclined toward the Chris- tians when they are not made drunk by strong drink."
The upper Potomac was explored at an early period in the his- tory of Maryland, but nearly a century elapsed after the founding of St. Mary's before the present territory of Washington County was formally opened to settlement. The sale of lands west of the South mountain was first authorized in 1733. The Proprietary reserved the Manor of Conococheague, a tract of eleven thousand acres. The largest individual estate in the county was Ringgold's Manor (twenty thousand acres); Chew's farm, Longmeadows, Montpelier, the Chapline, Jacques, and Hughes lands were also extensive tracts.
Two converging streams of immigration contributed to the early settlement of Washington County. There was a movement of population, principally English in nationality, across the South mountain from the older settlements of Maryland, while the Ger- man communities of southeastern Pennsylvania also contributed a large contingent, which found its way thither through Lancas- ter, York, and the Cumberland valley. To the relative numerical strength of the different nationalities composing the early popu- lation there is perhaps no better index than religious preferences. The Church of England was an established provincial institution and one of the first places of public worship in the county was an Episcopal chapel, situated near Chapel Woods school in Funks- town District; but the adherents of this faith, while generally wealthy and influential, were not numerous, and no other English church existed in the county before the Revolution. There was a German Reformed congregation at Conococheague as early as 1747, at Hagerstown in 1766, and at Salem in 1768; a German Lutheran congregation at Antietam in 1754, at Sharpsburg in 1768, at Hagerstown in 1769, and at Funkstown in 1771. Ger- man Mennonites and Baptists were also represented before the Revolution.
Washington County was the scene of important military opera- tions during the French and Indian war. Braddock's army, which rendezvoused at Frederick, crossed the county on its march
11
INTRODUCTION.
to Fort Cumberland in the campaign which terminated in disas- trous defeat on the Monongahela, July 9, 1755. A general panic ensued; in the Conococheague settlement numbers of people de- serted their homes and retired for safety to the interior of the Province. As Fort Cumberland was too far to the westward to afford adequate protection Governor Sharpe built Fort Frederick, an extensive fortification with massive stone walls near the Poto- mac fourteen miles above the Conococheague. Here a garrison was stationed until the close of hostilities. Parties of Indians still devastated the frontier, however, especially in 1763, when a second exodus similar to that of 1755 occurred. But in 1764 the allied tribes of Pontiac's confederacy were finally defeated and the western frontier of Maryland at length enjoyed the benefits of un- disturbed tranquility.
After the close of the French and Indian War the development of Washington County was rapid. The population increased, and the cultivated area was greatly extended. The number of mills multiplied and flour became a staple commodity for export. Towns were founded and soon became local centers of business and industry. The mineral resources of the county were also de- veloped: the Jacques Furnace in Indian Spring District, Mt. Aetna at the South mountain, and the Antietam Iron Works were all in operation at this period. A number of important public roads were opened to facilitate internal communication and the transportation of the varied products of the farm, the mill, and the forge to distant markets.
In the war for American independence the people of Washing- ton County bore an honorable part. The Stamp Act of 1765 was practically nullified in Frederick County by the action of the county court and the revenue measures by which it was followed were successfully frustrated. "On Saturday, the 2d of July, 1774," as reported in the Maryland Gazette, "about eight hundred of the principal inhabitants of the upper part of Frederick County assembled at Elizabeth-Town and being deeply impressed with a sense of the danger to which their natural and constitutional rights and privileges were exposed by the arbitrary measures of the British Parliament," expressed their sentiments in a series of resolutions in which the Boston Port Bill was denounced, the suspension of all commercial relations with Great Britain and
12
HISTORY OF LEITERSBURG DISTRICT.
the holding of a Continental Congress were advised, etc. On the 12th of September, 1775, a Committee of Observation was elected, which exercised general executive and judicial functions within its jurisdiction until the 3d of March, 1777. It supervised elec- tions, regulated the militia, tried offenders and suspected per- sons, etc. Of the representation of the county in the field it is possible to speak only in general terms. In addition to a full complement of regular troops the militia was also called out and rendered efficient service. Cannon were manufactured in the county for the State troops and military supplies of various kinds were also obtained here. Fort Frederick was used for a time as a place of detention for prisoners of war.
In the War of 1812 the county was represented at the battles of Bladensburg and Baltimore and in the Canada campaign. After the battle of Bladensburg General Ringgold mustered his bri- gade at Boonsboro but its services were not considered necessary by the Secretary of War.
The Civil War was an eventful period in the history of Wash- ington County. It was at a farm house near the Potomac oppo- site Harper's Ferry that John Brown collected the band of twenty- one men with which he seized the United States arsenal at that place. In June, 1861, ten thousand Federal troops marched through the county and occupied Harper's Ferry. In the Mary- land campaign of 1862 the Confederate army occupied Frederick on the 6th of September; here several divisions were detached for the reduction of Harper's Ferry, while the main body crossed the South mountain. The Federal army reached Frederick on the 12th and continued in pursuit; its advance was disputed by the enemy at the passes of the South mountain, where a battle was fought on the 14th of September. The Confederates then con- centrated their forces west of the Antietam in the vicinity of Sharpsburg, and here on the 17th of September occurred the greatest battle ever fought on Maryland soil. Eighty thousand Federal troops and forty thousand Confederates were engaged, and the aggregate loss in killed and wounded was twenty thou- sand. In the Confederate invasion of 1863 Lee's army of eighty- five thousand men marched through Washington County, which was also the scene of its retreat after the battle of Gettysburg. Of minor military movements the most important were Stuart's
1
13
INTRODUCTION.
raid of October, 1862, and McCausland's raid of July, 1864, when Chambersburg was burned. The county had a large representa- tion in the Federal army and the sentiment of its people was over- whelmingly favorable to the Union.
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION.
From 1658 to 1776 Western Maryland was successively in- cluded in the geographical limits of Charles, Prince George's, and Frederick Counties, erected in 1658, 1695, and 1748, respectively. On the 26th of July, 1776, the Provincial Convention of Mary- land divided Frederick County into three election districts, des- ignated as the Upper, Middle, and Lower. The first and most extensive included the present territory of Washington, Alle- gany, and Garrett Counties; the second, Frederick and part of Carroll; the third, Montgomery. Each of these divisions was con- stituted a separate county by an ordinance passed on the 6th of September, 1776. Washington County thus included all that part of the State west of the South mountain until 1789, when Allegany County was erected.
The first court house of Washington County stood in the center of the public square in Hagerstown. It was a two-story structure; the court-room and public offices were on the second floor, while the first was used as a market house. In 1816 the Legislature authorized the selection of a new site and the erection of a new building, which was accordingly located at the corner of Wash- ington and Jonathan streets. On the night of December 6, 1871, it was destroyed by fire. The present court house, a substantial and imposing brick edifice, was erected in 1872-74.
The first county prison was a log building. The second was situated on East Franklin street, nearly opposite the market house. The present jail is located on North Jonathan street and was built in 1857-58.
The county almshouse was located for many years in Hagers- town, at the corner of Locust and Bethel streets. In 1878 John Nicodemus presented to the county a farm near Hagerstown upon which commodious buildings for the accommodation of the in- digent and insane have been crected by the county commissioners.
At March term, 1749, the Frederick County court established five hundreds in the territory subsequently embraced in Wash-
14
HISTORY OF LEITERSBURG DISTRICT.
ington County. Antietam extended from the Potomac to the Temporary Line between South mountain and Antietam creek. Marsh and Salisbury included the territory between Antietam and Conococheague; Marsh extended from the Potomac to "the road that leads from Wolgamot's mill to Stull's," and Salisbury from that road to the Temporary Line. Conococheague extended from the Conococheague to Big Tonoloway between the Potomac and the Temporary Line, and Linton included all that part of the Province west of the Big Tonoloway.
Antietam Hundred was divided in 1758. Elizabeth, Fort Frederick, and Skipton were erected prior to 1775, and Barrens, Morley's Run, Upper Old Town, and Sandy Creek between 1775 and 1785. The present territory of the county was embraced in the following hundreds in 1813: Elizabeth-Town, Lower An- tietam, Upper Antietam, Middle Antietam, Jerusalem, Barrens, Sharpsburg, Marsh, Williamsport, Upper Salisbury, Lower Salis- bury, Conococheague, Fort Frederick, and Linton. In 1823 the Legislature authorized the levy court to appoint constables for the election districts, and hundreds were no longer recognized as subdivisions of the county.
From the organization of the county in 1776 until 1800 its present territory constituted one election district with the polling place at Hagerstown. In 1800 five election districts were erected. No. 1 (Sharpsburg) included the extreme southeastern part of the county; No. 2 (Williamsport) and No. 3 (Hagerstown) extended from the Conococheague to the South mountain; No. 4 (now Clearspring) was situated between the Potomac and the State line between Nos. 2 and 3 on the east and Green Spring Furnace run on the west; No. 5 (Hancock) included all that part of the county west of No. 4.
District No. 6 (Boonsboro) and No. 7 (Cavetown) were erected in 1822; No. 8 (Rohrersville), in 1833; No. 9 (Leitersburg), in 1838; No. 10 (Funkstown); No. 11 (Sandy Hook) and No. 12 (Tilghmanton), in 1852; No. 13 (Conococheague), in 1858; No. 14 (Ringgold) and No. 15 (Indian Spring), in 1860; No. 16 (Bea- ver Creek), in 1867; No. 17 (Antietam), in 1869; No. 18 (Chews- ville), in 1872: No. 19 (Keedysville), in 1873; No. 20 (Downs- ville), in 1878; Nos. 21 and 22, in 1884. Three others have since
15
INTRODUCTION.
been added, two of which are located principally within the cor- porate limits of Hagerstown; the other is known as Wilson's.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
The first road through the Cumberland valley was laid out in 1735-36 from Harris's Ferry on the Susquehanna to the Potomac at the mouth of the Conococheague. Its course through Wash- ington County was nearly identical with the present Williamsport and Greencastle turnpike. Among the county roads in 1749 were the following: "Between the Great Marsh to Potomac and from thence to Conococheague"; "From the Great Marsh to Antietam and from the river to Stull's"; "Up Conococheague to Wolgamot's mill and from thence to the head of the Great Marsh"; "From Baker's to Stull's mill." Under the jurisdiction of the Frederick County court a number of roads were laid out, including many of the most important in the county to-day and some that no longer appear upon the map.
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