USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > Sandy Spring > Annals of Sandy Spring history of a rural community in Maryland, Volume II > Part 6
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Her literary ability was of a marked character, and her intimate friends were often delighted by her ad- mirable prose or poetry, which her innate modesty and self-depreciation kept from the general public.
The poem, which was read at the dedication of this Lyceum, and the poem with which she favored us, ret- rospective of a period of twenty years, will live in our grateful memories.
She seldom went from home, except to attend the meetings of the Horticultural Society, of which she was an interested and valued member.
The cultivation of rare and beautiful flowers was her delight and recreation, and the "Roses of Sharon" were as fragrant and perfect as those which inspired the song of King Solomon so many centuries ago in Judea.
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Sheltered from every care by the devotion of her daughter, and the loving ministrations of children and grandchildren, her life flowed on to its peaceful close.
While convalescing from a severe illness in 1879, she wrote the following lines, expressing most feeling- ly her trust in a merciful Father and a future life.
"I seem to stand in waiting on the verge Of that dividing river, Which lies between earth's scenes And rolls its surge To scenes which last forever.
"Yearning to meet those friends So dear to me, Who have the waves crossed over, Yet clinging fondly to the forms I see Around my sick-bed hover.
"How shall I choose between the Angels there, Beyond my earthly vision, And those dear angels who Attend me here- How shall I reach decision?
"It is not thine to choose; Wait, then, and trust All to the Great Life-Giver. The loving Father, merciful and just, Who doth all souls deliver.
"And there I rest, with all my friends on earth, More dear to me than ever. With hope that I may some time Have a birth In blissful life forever."'
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Sixth month, 3rd. The spring meeting of the Ag- ricultural Society was held at Rockville, and four out of five premiums awarded for flowers to Sandy Spring people.
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Sixth month, 9th. Patience H. Leggett died at Norwood, in her seventy-seventh year.
Coming from the State of New York, she had dwelt among us, as one of us, for nearly a quarter of a century, and her loving and sympathetic nature made her the cherished companion of all ages.
It was her happy fate to grow old gracefully, and to retain in a marked degree the confidence and affec- tion of the young.
The poor and needy were not only the recipients of her bounty, but of the kindly considerate word and manner so often withheld from those of humble sta- tion.
The death of a beloved daughter seemed to loosen her hold on life, and while the untiring devotion of her granddaughter, the love and care of children and friends strove to mitigate an irreparable loss, it seem- ed she could not survive her sorrow. She was called in a moment from this breathing world, into the great silence beyond, and died without suffering.
Few faces have been as peaceful and beautiful in the calm repose of death as was hers on the afternoon of Sixth month, 1Ith, when a large concourse attend- ed her funeral and followed her remains to their last resting-place.
Sixth month, 12th, 13th, 14th, our quarterly meet- ing was held, with a smaller attendance than usual, but a great gain in order and quiet. A committee of
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young people having been wisely appointed to en- force a correct and becoming behavior in the place of worship.
Heavy and unusual rains prevailed at this time, and our farmers, always on the verge of ruin, and generally in despair over the prospective or actual failure of some crops, were now in the depths about their pota- toes. There seemed no possibility of getting this valu- able tuber entombed.
Again and again would the potatoes, the fertilizers, the laborers, and the farmer, be grouped in the field ; again and again would the floods descend, and a sad dripping procession wind homeward, leaving the po- tato still unplanted, and many of them were not un- der ground until after wheat was cut ; meanwhile vege- tation was most luxuriant, and ill-weeds grew apace in the moist atmosphere.
. In June, Mary P. Thomas, who had gone a few months previously to Denver, Colorado, on a visit, was married to Frederick Jackson, of that place, and permanently settled in her new home.
Sixth month, 20th. On Ist day afternoon, Presi- dent Edward H. Magill, of Swarthmore College, lec- tured most instructively on the subject of higher edu- cation. Many of his former pupils were interested lis- teners.
Sixth month, 30th. Alice, daughter of Alban G. and Sadie P. Brooke, was born.
Seventh month, 12th. Our esteemed friend, James S. Hallowell, died in his sixty-fifth year, at Clifton Springs, New York, where he had gone for the bene- fit of his health.
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In his younger days he was employed as a teacher in the school of his uncle, the late Benjamin Hallo- well, of Alexandria, Virginia. At the outbreak of the war he came to Sandy Spring and taught in the pub- lic school to the lasting gratitude of those who had the benefit of his thorough system of instruction. Af- terwards, he established a flourishing boarding-school at Fulford, which he conducted with success for some years. During President Lincoln's administra- tion he served as disbursing clerk in the postoffice department, and since that time he was employed in farming near Brookeville.
As was fittingly said of him by Henry C. Hallowell, in the minutes of the Farmer's Club :
"We all feel that a warm and generous heart has ceased to beat. A man of untiring energy, unbound- ed benevolence, and scorning what was little and mean, he will long be remembered. His kindness to dumb and helpless animals around him was proverb- ial. Carrying grain in his pockets to scatter upon the snow, during severe winters, for the birds, or tak- ing long walks after night in town to feed and water animals turned out upon the commons to die.
"His remains were followed to their last resting place, July 14th, and sincere grief was manifested over his open grave."
Seventh month, 20th. R. Rowland Moore and Margaret G. Tyson were married at Marden by Friends' ceremony. The bride and groom went to their charming new home, "Amersley."
Our summer run of company, whose tide sets hith- erward in July, reaches flood in August, and ebbs
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away in September and October was now invading and overflowing our borders. Guests arriving and de- parting almost daily by private and public convey- ances, and friends, old and new, greeting us in the highways, our homes, and at the old meeting-house.
We were thankful to have raised enough provender to satisfy the pangs of foreign hunger, and the con- stant death-cry of the spring chicken was heard in the land.
It was a pleasant fact that many of these guests were not strangers, but our own people, who had wan- dered far and wide, returning joyfully to their birth- place.
Sandy Spring is rich in outlying colonies. We have them in Washington, Baltimore and Staunton, Vir- ginia; in Philadelphia, Germantown, Swarthmore, York, Pa .; in New York; in Lawrence, Medford and Pittsfield, Mass .; Minneapolis, Minnesota; St. Louis and Weston, Missouri ; in Michigan, Denver and Col- crado Springs, Col .; Sacramento and Yuba City, Cal .; Atlanta, Ga .; and the Sandwich Islands.
From the North, South, East and West, come dele- gates to tread again the paths of youth, and drink once more from the old familiar spring.
How often in this, as in every. country place, has the old story been repeated.
"An old farm house, with pastures wide, Sweet with flowers on every side; A restless lad who looks without The porch, with wood vine twined about, Wishes a thought within his heart- Oh, if I only could depart,
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From this dull place the world to see, Ah, me! how happy I would be!"
"Amid the city's ceaseless din, A man who round the world has been, Who 'mid the tumult and the throng, Is thinking, wishing, all day long, 'Oh, could i only tread once more The field-path to the farm-house door,
The old green meadows could I see,
Ah, me! how happy would I be!' "
Seventh month, 28th. Edith, daughter of J. Janney and Helen Shoemaker, was born.
Seventh month, 31st. Anna Leggett, daughter of Joseph, jr., and Estelle T. Moore, was born.
Eighth month, 2d. An entertainment was given at the Lyceum for the benefit of a charity in Alexan- dria. Caroline H. Miller delivered an interesting in- troductory, and Henry C. Hallowell read an original poem.
Ninth month, Ist, 2d, and 3rd, the weather was most propitious for holding the, Rockville Fair, which was largely attended, the exhibit notably good, es- pecially as regarded the display of stock. The pens were crowded with Jersey, Durham, and Holstein cattle, many of them thoroughbred, with imposing pedigrees.
Seventeen premiums were awarded to Rockland, alone, for various products, and many others distrib- uted among our people.
Eighth month, 31st. A severe earthquake occurr- ed on the southeastern coast of the continent, al- most destroying the City of Charleston, and giving Sandy Spring a perceptible shake.
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For more than a week afterwards repeated shocks occurred in the south, many of them distinctly felt in our section.
One of the newspapers, strong on statistics, assert- ed that 27,000 women arose in afright, on the earth- quake night, convinced there was a man in the room. The strong-minded females in our. neighborhood at- tributed the shaking to a dog under the bed, or the passing of a heavy wagon.
Ninth month, 9th. The Horticultural exhibit which had been omitted the previous year, was a very great success. The weather in the morning was extremely threatening, but as we have always been greatly fav- ored in that respect, the people were encouraged to bring their products of the field, garden and house, and in the afternoon it cleared beautifully. The dis- play was unusually good, and a large assembly en- joyed the show, as well as mingling with friends from all parts of the neighborhood and county.
Excellent speeches were made by the president. Henry C. Hallowell, Francis Miller, C. R. Harts- horne, John M. Smith and Admiral Jouett.
Ninth month, 15th. A very rainy day, but two hundred visitors from the neighboring Granges of Ol- ney, Liberty Grove, and Glenwood, assembled to as- sist Worthy Master Murray, of Maryland State Grange, in the ceremony of dedicating the new hall of Brighton Grange.
In less than nine months, the whole preparatory work of agreeing on plans, securing money, and mak- ing contracts, as well as the actual labor of the mason, carpenter and painter was done.
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The hall is two stories, with grange room, and ante- rooms above, and public hall below, and part of its foundation rests on the site of a "chapel of ease." erected by permission of the British Government in 1758, and which was afterwards destroyed by a storm.
This was the first place of worship built in this part of the county, and the church as well as the state, was supported by a general tax on the people, which tax was paid in tobacco.
Speeches were made by Henry C. Hallowell, Mr. Murry, Dr. Hutton, C. R. Hartshorne and others, and an appropriate closing was given to the occa- sion by the reading of a historical sketch of the loca- tion of the new hall and immediate neighborhood by the Hon. A. B. David.
The soft September air or some other influence, seemed to bring the people together oftener than usu- al, in outdoor assemblies, for on Ninth month, 23rd, a large temperance meeting was held at the Lyceum, and in the adjoining grove a large audience listened, with interest and benefit, to excellent addresses, made by Frank and Caroline Miller, Mrs. Riley and Ed- win Higgins, of Baltimore, and Mrs. Washington, of Vermont.
About this time the farmer with the products of the farm all gathered, was able to sum up the profits and losses of the year, and was obliged to contem- plate the result with a face almost as long as the rest of his body.
The unprecedented rains of May, June and July had added greatly to the cost of planting and harvesting
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his crops, while lessening their value. Hay was abun- dant in quantity, but poor in quality ; wheat, corn and potatoes were all short, and the yield of fruit less than usual. Chestnuts and walnuts were very scarce, and the most persevering schoolboy could hardly have gathered a pint of chinquapins in an afternoon. Cer- tainly it was a season when, if ever, the agriculturist could, with propriety, revel in gloom.
Tenth month, 19th. Charles F. Kirk and Annie Brooke were inarried, by Friends' ceremony, at Brooke Grove. After a trip through Virginia the young couple settled in a portion of Fair Hill house, which had been comfortably renovated for the event.
Early in this month a Good Templar's Lodge was established at Olney, mainly through the exertions of Edith Farquhar and Mary Magruder. Dr. William E. Magruder was elected Chief Templar. Its member- ship numbers eighty, and it has exerted a beneficial in- fluence.
On Tenth month, 19th, after nearly a year of sick- ness and suffering, Mary B. Hall, wife of E. J. Hall, entered into rest.
Inheriting many of the strong characteristics of her father, Roger Brooke, of Brooke Grove, she was of a most hospitable and energetic nature, and her life had been full of kindness and benevolence to all around her.
In the midst of untiring industry, she found time for extensive reading of the better class of books, and her literary taste was excellent.
Her interests were many and varied, and her cheer- fulness and humor made her a delightful companion
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to old and young. Her illness had been borne with fortitude, and no murmurs or repinings passed her lips in all the long months of utter dependence on de- voted relations and friends.
On the morning of the 21st, in the presence of a large concourse, she was laid in the family enclosure at Longwood, amid the flowers she had so carefully tended and loved.
Eleventh month, 18th. At the residence of the bride, by the Rev. John R. Cadden, Lewis W. Steer, of Philadelphia, was married to Virginia L. Holland, of this place.
Eleventh month, 21st. The barn and outbuildings at Ingleside were burnt very early in the morning. Crops and horses were destroyed, but the loss was fortunately nearly covered by insurance.
Eleventh month, 24th, at St. Bartholomew's Church, Montgomery County, by the Rev. Dr. Hut- ton, assisted by the Rev. William W. H. Laird, Charles R. Hartshorne and Ella M. Lansdale, were married.
Twelfth month, 8th. Mr. Bukofsky, our harness- maker at Sandy Spring, died after a lingering illness.
Always an invalid, his industry was marked, and he had the prudent forethought to insure his life, and was thus enabled to leave his faithful wife in comfortable circumstances.
Twelfth month, 12th. Mildred H., daughter of John C. and Cornelia H. Bentley, was born.
Twelfth month, 24th. Ernest Iddings and Miss Minnie Rust, of Washington, were married. The young couple are located at Elton.
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Twelfth month, 20th. Helen S., daughter of Sam- uel and Florence Wetherald, was born.
Twelfth month, 24th. Christmas Eve, our vener- able friend, Rebecca Russell, attained her hundreth year. Many persons visited her on this memorable birthday, and enjoyed her bright and interesting con- versation; and some time after, this remarkable old lady went out sleighing. As an encouragement to our illustrious spinster band, the most careful re- search has failed to find a married woman in this vi- cinity who ever lived to be a century old.
First month, Ist, 1887, passed quietly, with but little social visiting or formal calls.
Charles Lamb says, that no one ever regarded the first of January with indifference. "To muse and moralize upon that day is human ; but, in truth, every day is a new year's day, and should afford a pros. pect, or a retrospect ; should be a day of remem- brance, or a feast of hope."
First month, 23rd. Maurice L., son of Edward N. and Hallie C. Bentley, was born.
The Farmers' Convention held at the Lyceum on First month, 18th, was one of the largest and most animated ever held, notwithstanding the severity of the weather. The president, Henry C. Hallowell. in his opening address called the attention of his audi- ence to the vast area of undeveloped land in the Uni- ted States, and the fact that the American farmer fail- ed to exercise those small economies that make, in a large degree, the prosperity of the foreign tiller of the soil. While we import eggs by the millions, and cabbage by the ship load, there is room for greater
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watchfulness and care in so-called little things that make up the great aggregates.
Various committees reported on railroad cross- ings, protection of sheep, diseases of cattle, taxa- tion, agricultural experiment stations, etc. Re- ports were read by Dr. Mahlon Kirk, secretary of the Senior Club, by Benjamin H. Miller, secretary of the Enterprise Club, and Allan Farquhar, secretary of the Montgomery Club. Much discussion followed on those topics agreed upon, namely : How can we make our farms pay better? Would the adoption of the township system be advisable in Maryland? Can we lessen the acreage of corn to advantage? How much improved machinery should a farmer purchase, etc .?
A pleasant and profitable day was passed, the in- ner man being sustained by a bountiful lunch, pro- vided by the Clubs' wives and daughters, to whom a vote of thanks was unanimously tended.
Second month, 17th. William Henry Farquhar passed away in his seventy-fourth year. He was the son of Amos Farquhar, of Carroll County, Md., and Mary Elgar, of Montgomery County.
The Farquhars were of Scotch descent, and of strongly-marked characteristics; some of that name are prominent in naval circles, and others have been in public life. Amos Farquhar was a farmer in com- fortable circumstances, but was induced to engage in cotton manufacturing in York, Pa., where William Henry Farquhar, was born in 1813. The venture was unprofitable, and the family returned to Maryland, and settled in Sandy Spring, when the subject of this
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sketch was eleven years old, and where he ever after resided.
His devoted and helpful wife was a daughter of Isaac Briggs, a friend of Jefferson's, who appointed him to assist in surveying the then new Louisana Purchase.
William Henry Farquhar was a student from ear- liest years, and numerous anecdotes are told of his precosity and fondness for books. He completed his education, with his brother-in-law, Benjamin Hal- lowell, in Alexandria, Virginia, and afterwards assist- ed him in his large and influential school. He was de- signed for the law, but a threatened weakness of eye- sight caused an abandonment of this design. He be- came then a farmer and teacher, and was soon promi- nently identified with the educational interests of Montgomery County.
In connection with his sister, Mary W. Kirk, he reestablished Fair Hill boarding-school, where there were at one time fifty boarders.
He was the president of the board of school con- missioners, county surveyor, a civil engineer of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, president of the Sandy Spring lyceum, one of the original directors of The Mutual Fire Insurance Co., promoter of the turnpike from Ashton to Olney (af- terwards consolidated with the union pike, of which he was a director), a candidate for the State Senate, an influential member of the grange, director in the San- dy Spring savings institution. and taker of the census on two occasions. He was historian for twenty
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years, the result having been given in the "Annals of Sandy Spring."
These various positions indicate the value placed upon his services by his fellow-citizens, and his inter- est in everything tending to advance the welfare of his county. His opinion was frequently sought by his neighbors, who had great confidence in his judgment.
He was a successful farmer, having, without capital, converted a barren and forbidding tract into a pro- ductive and profitable farm. His views were always rather in advance of his friends, particularly on the subject of African slavery, education, and reforms generally, but without bigotry, granting to others the liberty of opinions that he claimed for himself.
He was a forcible writer, expressing himself flu- ently with the pen, and his literary honesty was ab- solute. Always a devourer of books, with a mind well stored, yet ever with the thirst of true knowledge, ac- quiring more.
He was for half a century the intellectual center of the community. In character, he was pure and childlike, of unimpeachable integrity, of the strictest veracity, and a warm, social disposition. His pupils, scattered far and wide, retained the sincerest affection and esteem for him.
One who had known him for many years, remarked that he had never heard him utter one word that might not have been said in the presence of his wife or daughter; and with this testimony to the refine- ment of his heart, we leave him enshrined in the grateful memories of those who were made better and happier by his long and useful life.
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The three winter months were made memorable by a succession of dark days, bitter cold, and frequent stornis. The fortunate few, perhaps, fled to the cities and escaped some of the discomforts inseparable from a winter in the country. These very discomforts enable the home life to deepen. The season indoors seems just to reverse the order of outward seasons ; plans gather vigor, and we bend ourselves to the hard intellectual work of the year. The winter brings heart and mind to their full force and growth. Na- ture's winter often seems the human summer time ; then spring begins to make us languid, and the busy summer of earth life brings to ourselves a pause and rest and comparative inertness.
So as nature is resting and sleeping outdoors, in- doors it is all action-hands oftener meet hands in works of service, and friends are drawn closer to friends. The book comes forth in the long evening, the story-telling begins, the fathers and mothers gather the children around their knees by the cheer- ful blaze, that blaze, itself the sunshine of old springs and summers in the far-off past.
While the citizen, in his close environment of bricks and mortar, his endless distraction, has eternal rumble and noise of teeming life and traffic, commis- erates us in our frozen solitudes, we in turn find ad- vantages in a "leisure," which Socrates says is the finest of all possessions, and in an isolation which should increase and strengthen every resource of mind and memory.
Third month, 4th. Elsie Brooke, daughter of Frank and Fannie Snowden, was born.
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Third month, 25th. William L. Kinnard, aged eighty years, dropped dead in his field, while plowing his first furrough in the morning.
A native of Pennsylvania, he had dwelt here many years, and was a man of integrity. He was a strong advocate of temperance, frequently speaking in pub- lic on that subject.
Third month, 29th. A tenant house on Fair Hill farm burned to the ground with considerable loss to its inmates of clothing and bedding.
Third month, 31st. Benjamin W. Hallowell Mur- ry, the bright and interesting little son of James and Bridget Murry, died of that dreaded disease, scarlet fever. His parents had earnest sympathy in this severe affliction.
On the last day of April, we did not exactly have the "flowers that bloom in the spring," but a deep snow that gave us as wintery a landscape as any we had enjoyed through the past six months.
On that evening the young ladies and gentlemen from the manor gave an excellent entertainment at the lyceum for the benefit of the library. A series of beautiful tableaux, and a well-acted play, delighted a small, but appreciative, audience with a closing scene, illustrating the sad, sad state of Sandy Spring society. The curtain rolled up disclosing a brave, but solitary youth surrounded by at least fifteen atten- tive young ladies.
Besides the Grange Hall at Brighton, in the past year, R. Rowland Moore's house was completed and occupied.
Thomas Lea built a comfortable home at Eldon.
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Additions and improvements have been made at Alloway and "The Cedars," and wind mills and water introduced at both of these places and at Sunset. The old homestead at Fair Hill has almost a new interior, while retaining its outward characteristics.
Admiral Jouett has made various improvements at "The Anchorage," and it would be difficult to find the Fulford beneath the skillful changes and adorn- ments, that have beautified this pleasant home.
Our only and original Sandy Spring admiral has, with his usual generosity, started a zoological garden by the importation of a wild African pig. It is ru- mored about that no husband should be without one, for so terrifying is this uncivilized porker to the fem- inine heart, that the mandate "turn out the pig!" clears the whole surrounding county of female society, and leaves the distinguished naval officer a veritable Robinson Crusoe in an uninhabited space.
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