USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > Sandy Spring > Annals of Sandy Spring history of a rural community in Maryland, Volume III > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
xxii
INDEX.
CHAPTER XIV.
April 1, 1908, to April 1, 1909.
Improvements to graveyard-Obituaries of Prissy Pumph- "1 rey, Phebe A. Stabler, James Stabler, Florence Mar- lowe, Z. D. Waters, Sarah A. Bond, John Howard, Re- becca J. Brown, Thor as S. Stabler-Births: Katharine L. Bond, Alfred M. Haviland, Allan F. Thomas, Joseph Moore Stabler, Hubert Bentley Robison-Recitals by . Jeanette Broomell and C. R. Strauss-C. Janney re- turned from Bermuda - Marriages : Herbert O. Sta- bler and Elsie C. Elbrey, William W. Moore and Lucy S. Lea, Malcolm Farquhar and Katharine D. Thomas, F. Pole Robison and Mary C. Bentley, Edward Carlton Stone and Katharine L. Brooke-Lectures by Roena Shaner and William I. Hull-Much building, Kennett, Fair Hill, etc .- Pilgrimage from Baltimore-Tin wed- ding-Sherwood commencement-Quarterly meeting- A. O. Page, G. T. Smith and wife leave-Woman's Ex- change-Domestic teaching-M. O. Stabler to Pacific Coast-Circus-County Fair-Load of hay burned-Rug sale-Horse Show-For Love or Money-Conference- Edward N. Bentley retires from business-Schools open -Augustus Stabler institute lecturer-A. A. Brigham to South Dakota-Normal and Agricultural Institute- Orthodox Quarterly Meeting-Sale at Falling Green- - Election-Shoemakers to Myrtlebank-F. J. Downey buys Sherwood Mill-Social Service League-Foot and mouth disease-Sherwood Bazaar-Apple prizes-Re- turn of B. G. Wilson and wife, Thomas J. Lea and wife -Enterprise Telephone Co.'s business closed-Farmers' Institutes-Lincoln Centennial-Visit from Dr. O. E. Janney-Inauguration blizzard-Helen L. Thomas to Europe-Contract for school building let-Farm bought for N. A. I .- New Clubs-Crops-Roads. Page 436
Annals of Sardy Spring
CHAPTER I. 1895-1896.
The mantle of the Historian of Sandy Spring, worn so long with stately dignity by Wm. Henry Farquhar, and later with jaunty grace by Eliza N. Moore, was left in a crumpled heap at the last An- nual Meeting; its wearer stepped out of it with a suddenness that left us speechless, breathless, stupe- fied, stunned ! Her effort to drop it upon Mary Ma- gruder's shoulders failed ; so, collecting its scattered wits, the Board of Lyceum Directors picked up the sacred garment and guarded it reverently, pending the discovery of some fitting eminence whereon to hang it.
Great efforts, alas ! often achieve painfully dispro- portionate results ;- they found me. And now my "title hangs loose upon me, like a giant's robe upon a dwarfish elf."
But as I assumed it under protest, because no one of the desired dimensions was forthcoming, I beg of you, friends and neighbours, pardon my shortcom- ings. Blame Nature that I do not measure up to my predecessors, for who of us "by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature" intellectually any more than physically ?
2
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
Even the weather seemed hopelessly depressed by the Historian's resignation; weeks of east wind fol- lowed it, and the mercury lingered dispiritedly around the freezing point. As late as the 19 April the leaf-buds had hardly begun to swell, and the fruit-trees showed no bloom. .
April 13-14, the Orthodox Friends held their Quarterly Meeting, with a number of ministers in attendance. Owing to the establishment of new Monthly Meetings, the Quarterly Meeting will here- after be held at Ashton only once in two years, and the time will be September instead of April.
Easter brought many visitors to the neighborhood, and so much gaiety also that one of our "society girls" said that it was difficult, even two weeks in advance, to find a disengaged evening for any pur- pose.
Near this time Edward Magruder took his degree of Doctor of Medicine at the Baltimore Medical College, and was afterwards made Assistant Demon- . strator of Histology and Anatomy in the same insti- tution, he having begun the practice of his profes- sion in Baltimore. He and his sister Emma, who is a successful and popular trained nurse in the same city, had their certificates of membership re- moved from Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting to Park Ave. Monthly Meeting later in the season.
April 22, Lydia Haviland, daughter of Dr. Wil- liam and Marian H. Tatum. was born.
The 21 was the first day of springlike weather
3
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
that Sandy Spring enjoyed, and having once made a move up, the mercury, as if to atone for past defi- ciencies, kept on up to 82° on the 25 and 90° on the 26. This unseasonable heat was followed by almost a week of soaking rain, such as we had not enjoyed for months-some said that the ground had not been so wet for three years.
But even a much needed rain is not without its drawbacks, and this one, by interfering with corn planting, and belating it, offered the farmer an op- portunity to indulge in his favorite pastime of croak- ing.
Sun and rain brought spring and summer almost simultaneously. .
More potatoes were planted this season than for several years past. A stranger passing through the neighborhood on April 19 said that he had never seen so many people engaged in potato planting in one afternoon in his life. Those who got this most unin- teresting of all crops in early had a good yield-one acre on the Belmont farm producing 353 bushels- but the late crop was injured by the summer drought. What happened to the price in the winter has not yet been explained, and all other farm produce has sympathized with the potato. Such low prices for all that the farmer has to sell are unparalleled in the memory of any one living, and unless there is a speedy improvement the results will be disastrous.
April 26 Mary Randolph, daughter of John H. and Sallie Turner Janney, was born.
4
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
On the 29 and 30 Mrs. Annie L. Diggs of Col- orado, spoke to the pupils of Sherwood School and of Sandy Spring public school about her experience of Woman Suffrage; Mrs. Diggs having been a voter in Kansas for eight years, and having observed the workings of woman suffrage in the other Western States where it prevails, ould speak on the subject as one having authority.
On the evening of April 30, George Kennan lec- tured at the Lyceum on "Adventures in Arctic Asia," to a shamefully meagre house. The weather, which was damp, was no adequate explanation of the many empty seats; they were a painful commentary on the taste of the local popular audience that could miss such a rare treat as this clever, witty and ad- venturous gentleman gave us.
True to her character May was capricious and un- comfortable, with changes of temperature to try the toughest constitutions. The first week was very hot, the mercury rising to 86° on the 10, but the next day the "long" season in May began, and we shivered with cold and dampness for almost two weeks. There was ice on the 21, but it melted when the temperature mounted to 70° on the 23 May.
May 8, Benjamin Miller, son of Wm. Taylor and Elizabeth P. M. Thom, was born.
May 11, Sandy Spring showed a first symptom of the "midsummer madness" that became acute in August-about forty people went on a picnic to Folly Quarter.
5
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
On May 9, the Annual Meeting of the Enterprise Telephone Co. was held, and its reports show its con- dition at the end of its first year to be flourishing; it having twenty-one miles of main line and about six of side lines, for the most part substantially built- these wires connecting fifty-two public and private phones. The most distant point reached was Rock- ville. Dr. Roger Brooke was made President, Jos. T. Moore, Jr., Treasurer, and H. H. Miller Secre- tary, with an able board of directors.
An entertainment on May 17 for the benefit of Sandy Spring Library was a great success, neighbor- hood talent, as usual, drawing a full house. The pro- ceeds of the evening cleared the Library of debt, but for lack of funds it no longer opens its doors to the public.
Whatever such a statement as that might seem to in- dicate to the contrary, Sandy Spring is bound to "keep up with the procession"-whatever the world does we will do too, so in this day of pilgrimages nine representatives of the Brooke family journeyed to Della Brooke in St. Mary's County on May 19. The net results of this trip the historian has found it hard to arrive at, but a rather complex journey took them to the landing place of their ancestors, where some traces of the early Brookes still linger; and there, no doubt, our pilgrims indulged in sentiments proper to the occasion.
In the field of athletics, as well as in the realm of sentiment, the name of Brooke stands conspicuous in our annals this year: at the inter-collegiate athletic
6
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
sports in Pennsylvania, Wm. S. Brooke, Jr., and Fred. L. Thomas were chiefly instrumental in win- ning the George W. Childs Cup for Swarthmore. This being the third year in succession that Swarth- more has won the cup, it is now the property of the College Athletic Association.
Nor have the laurels won by George H. Brooke, as "full-back" of the University of Pennsylvania foot- ball team, been allowed to wither; 1895 only brought fresh success to the first son of Sandy Spring to win a national reputation !
May 26, the body of Joseph M. Shoemaker of Phil- adelphia, Pa., was buried in the cemetery at Alloway. Though never a resident here, he was bound by ties of kinship to many in Sandy Spring, and all who knew him felt in his death the loss of a noble, gen- erous and beneficent friend.
During the month the homes of our migratory neighbors were opened for the summer, and Rock- land made preparation for the season by putting in water fixtures, supplied by a windmill. At Wood- burn and Charley Forest there have since been like improvements.
When the mercury registered as high as 95°, and ranged between that point and the higher eighties, from May 29 well into June, all who had left the city congratulated themselves, and those who had not bestirred themselves to find country quarters. So the boarder season began early, and though perhaps there were fewer boarders than usual in the neigh-
7
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
borhood during the summer, their stay was longer than common.
May 28-29, a party of thirteen made a two days' trip to the Sugar Loaf Mountain, and during the lat- ter part of the month all three of the farmers' Clubs visited the Agricultural Experiment Station, at the invitation of Director R. H. Miller.
June 2, the body of Robert S. Moore of Washing- ton, formerly of Sandy Spring, was buried at the" Friends' burying-ground.
June 3, Mrs. Baker of Brookeville moved into the house at Ashton, owned by Chas. G. Porter, and for .years occupied by W. H. Ent.
That broke the spell which had seemed, since last winter's exodus, to rest on the village, and its vacant houses gradually filled up. When Mrs. Baker left, November 1, she was succeeded by the family of Wm. Oldfield, who also occupies the wheelwright shop.
June 6, Fred. Jackson and wife-formerly Mary P. Thomas-came from Denver, Colorado, to live at Parkhurst, Ashton, where he has been well patron- ized as a photographer.
June 6, at Leawood, the home of the bride's aunt, Nellie Hutton was married to Myron Hubbard of · Warsaw, Ind.
That same day, June 6, was further signalized by the delightful banquet with which the. Phrenaskeia closed a most prosperous season. The affair took place at Tanglewood, where a table was laid for twenty-nine fortunate enough to be members. Added to the at-
8
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
traction of the menu were toasts of superexcellence ; Mary S. Hallowell responding for "the Phrenaskeia ;" Sarah T. More on behalf of "Our Absent Members ;" Chas. E. Bond for "The Girls of Sandy Spring;" Rebecca T. Miller for "The Boys of Sandy Spring;" G. F. Nesbitt, Jr., "The Summer Girl;" Ellen H. Thomas, "The Coming Man;" and R. Bentley Thomas for "Our Sisters, Cousins and Aunts who have Served Us." Songs were sung, stories told, and every one voted it all charming. .
The next day, June 7, witnessed a closing scene which brought deep regret to many, for the end of the session 1894-95 severed the connection of Belle W. Hannum with Sherwood. Eight years of faithful work, first as assistant and then as principal of the school, had endeared her to pupils and patrons alike. Her resignation lessened incalculably the working force for education in the neighborhood, and her going away left a painful gap in our social ranks.
Somewhere about this time, Prof. Bibbin bought of John Robert Harding some fine prehistoric soap- stone vessels for the Woman's College of Baltimore.
In spite of fine. cool weather, Quarterly Meeting, June 9-10, was poorly attended by Friends from a distance. The ministers present-Wm. Wood and Martha S. Townsend of Baltimore, and A. Haviland Hull of Little Falls-spoke earnestly and effectively from the gallery, and the social phase of Quarterly Meeting was no less pleasant than usual.
June 18, another of our Sandy Spring boys, Wm.
3
9
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
S. Brooke, Jr., went to St. Louis to join his brother, Robert, in business. He is the third member of his family and the seventh from this neighborhood who has settled in St. Louis of late years.
June 19, Dorothy, daughter of Jos. T., Jr., and Estelle T. Moore, was born.
June 20, R. Rowland Moore, Jr., removed his fam- ily to Suffolk, Va., where he had established himselt in business, as president and manager of the Suffolk Saw-Mill Co. His plant, by the aid of about 300 hands, turns out 1,250,000 feet of lumber per month, and other incidental products.
Late in June, Emma T. Stabler sailed from New York, with J. K. and Emma Taylor of Baltimore, for an extended tour in England, France and Ger- many. Two months later, Edward Farquhar made the voyage to Pernambuco, Brazil, and return. These were the only Sandy Springers to go abroad during the year, but the rest of our population has been by no means stationary. We have sent representatives to various places between Bar Harbor, Me., and San Antonio, Texas, in which latter place Isaac Harts- horne has spent the winter. But even such distant facilities for rapid transit as we possess have reduced Washington and Baltimore to mere suburbs of Sandy Spring, and we don't count going to either city a journey.
But, though far from the beaten track of travel, we found ourselves in June on the route of a would-be "globe-trotter," one Jno. M. Thomas, a lame printer
10
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
from Indiana, who had come so far in his effort to circumnavigate the globe in his wheel chair.
In spite of the high temperature of early June, the month was, on the whole, cool, frequent thunder show- ers keeping the world fresh and green; and with her usual perversity, Nature supplied liberal rain for harvest time; the Summer drought did not begin till the 28 July.
For the first time barley became a conspicuous prod- uct in this section, showing an effort on the part of farmers to fit themselves to changed conditions. When wheat, corn and rye all sold for the same price per bushel "on 'Change" in Baltimore something had to be done. Wheat and hay made, on the whole, good aver- age crops, and but for the unfavorable harvest weather the farmer would have had nothing to complain of.
July 2, Henry Reese, son of J. Janney and Helen R. Shoemaker, was born.
It was along through this month that the charac- teristic phenomenon of the year '95-'96 began to assert itself. The present scribe has already had occasion to remark that Sandy Spring will "keep up with the procession ;" it will if it has to ride a bicycle to do it ! And the "society leaders" among us, like the leaders of high fashion in Paris, New York and Chicago, adopted the wheel. The bicycle has long been a fa- miliar object on our roads, owing to the many excur- sionists from Washington who make this the objective point of their Sunday runs, and there were a few spo- radic cases of bicycle fever among our own popula- tion ; but early in July it. began to assume epidemic
11
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
form, and soon raged with great violence. No one was exempt on account of age or sex. Women seemed to have the disease with even more violence than men, and little girls, fair young women, even grandmothers, fell victims to it; and we harbored among us for a while a "bloomer girl."
Who could not show bruises or walk lame in conse- quence of efforts to ride a wheel was simply not "in it," and the bicycle soon rivalled the telephone as a topic of conversation.
Handlebars, air-pumps, sprockets, pneumatic tires, skirt guards, crank-shaft brackets, punctures, rattled like hail from the lips of the enthusiast upon the head of the uninitiated listener; and fair hands that had never so much as driven a tack or sawed a board, be- came expert with the cycler's kit of tools. Anything, however distantly connected with a wheel, became of interest. I therefore venture to insert here the fol- lowing :
FABLE OF THE WISE VIRGIN AND THE CROW. 1
.One fair summer day a Wise Virgin set forth for a spin on a bicycle, and as she rode she mused : "Why should I go alone when my friend might go with me ? I will call for her." So to the neighbor's she went, gave her invitation, and it was accepted by the friend, who went to make ready.
The Wise Virgin, as she waited, looked at her wheel, and decided that it would be well to put in her time, and to make assurance doubly sure, by "blow- ing up" her tire in case it might need filling before
12
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
she should get home. So the cap was unscrewed, the beak of the air-pump inserted, and the Wise Virgin pumped away till her friend was ready, to the great edification of a Tame Crow who watched her pro- ceedings with intelligent interest. With a sigh of satisfaction the Wise Virgin turned, when her friend came in sight, to pick up the cap, but it was gone; searching failed to find it, and the intelligent and interested Crow gave no sign that he had swallowed it to help him to digest the idea that it was worth while to "blow up" an inflated pneumatic tire.
"The moral of that is this": "Don't cross the bridge till you come to it," "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," and much more to the same effect.
July 4, Lydia, daughter of W. B., Jr., and Eliza M. H. Chichester, was born.
July 15, a large party of friends met at Bloomfield to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the marriage of Edward N. and Hallie J. Bentley, to whom they gave many transparent tokens of good will.
July 15, at Mt. Pleasant farm, was born Esther, daughter of Mary E. W. and Dr. Samuel I. Scott, of Washington, formerly of Sandy Spring.
July 18, Thomas Wetherald, son of the noted Qua- ker preacher of that name, died in Baltimore and was buried in the graveyard at the meeting-house.
During the summer the Sandy Spring Baseball Club played a number of games against the Norbeck, Gaithersburg, Rockville and Highland teams, with varying success, and though they always played to a
13
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
full house, so to speak, the enthusiasm for the game seemed to flag, especially among the players.
By the end of July the tide of summer guests was at the flood, and everybody within reach patronized a lawn fete for the benefit of the Lyceum, held at Tan- glewood on the evening of July 30. Music, tableaux, : gypsy fortune tellers and entertainment of a more substantial character contributed to the success of the evening, which paid the Company's debts and left money in the treasury.
The summer, so far, had been so cool and showers so frequent that we began to hope we might escape the drought that generally visits us at this season, but during the month of August there was no rain but a shower on the 31, while the temperature rose !
The first week of August, fifteen young men and women, duly chaperoned, held Probation Court at Folly Quarter from the 2-9, the outcome of which, so far as has yet appeared, is general satisfaction tinged with bliss.
August 9, at Rock Spring, Elisha J. Miller of Al- exandria, Va., died, after a long illness, borne with the sweet patience that had characterized him through life. He was buried in Alexandria. Well known to his many relatives and friends in Sandy Spring, his frequent presence among us will be sorely missed and regretted, and the beauty of his character will keep him in honored remembrance here.
Aug. 12, General Gibbon, U. S. A., gave, at the Lyceum, an interesting and suggestive lecture entitled
14
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
"What I Know About the Indian," and later in the month the young ladies of St. John's Guild gave an entertainment at Olney Hall for the benefit of the Episcopal church.
With September came the County Fair, from the 3-6, with its usual accompaniments of heat and dust, and an unusual crowd for the first three days, but the weather showed its disapproval of the innovation of a fourth day by raining copiously.
On the 9 September, Sherwood school opened with Mary S. Hallowell principal, Sarah B. Farquhar and Edith Hallowell assistants, Nora Stabler pupil-teach- er, and thirty-six pupils-the number ranging from thirty-six to forty during the year, though the attend- ance was somewhat interrupted by measles during the winter.
The mercury rising to 99° on the 12 was not con- ducive to activity on the part of the "young idea;" nor did frost on the 14 contribute to the success of a lawn party at Longwood on that evening, but in spite of the weather quite a good sum was realized for St. John's church.
As usual, Sandy Spring sent a goodly delegation to the George School; other students going to Earlham, to Swarthmore, to University of Pennsylvania, and to Washington.
Sept. 18, at The Cottage, the home of Charles and Sarah E. Stabler, their daughter Mariana was mar- ried to Robert H. Miller by Friends' ceremony. A large company of near relatives and friends witnessed the marriage, which took place at 5 P. M. After their
15
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
wedding trip the bride and groom went to live at Alloway, which once more opened its doors after be- ing long closed ; and there thither returned Warwick P. Miller, after several months' sojourn with first one and then another of his children. Isabel and Janet Miller now make their home in Germantown, Pa., with their sister, Annie Shoemaker.
September 25, Samuel P. and Elizabeth G. Thomas received. the congratulations of their friends on the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage; and not one of the 150 guests, ranging from three months to 88 years of age, but felt, when looking the golden bride and groom in the face, that in this case marriage had not been a failure.
Golden weddings are growing pleasantly familiar to us, as in the twenty-two years preceding this one there have been ten couples who have rounded out their half-century of married life, viz: Edward and Ann R. Stabler, Caleb and Ann M. Stabler, Wm. Henry and Eliza Stabler, Robert R. and Hadassah J. Moore, Joshua and Sarah Ann Gilpin, Edward and Deborah Lea, Thomas and Beulah I. Lea, Charles G. and Jane T. Porter, Wm. Henry and Margaret Farquhar, Benjamin and Margaret E. Hallowell.
September 30, Miss Elizabeth U. Yates of Maine gave a lecture strongly tinged with woman suffrage at the Lyceum, under the auspices of the W. C. T. U.
The gaities of the winter began early, and one of the most notable social events that ever happened here occurred at Plainfield October 17, the birthday of Sarah T. Moore. At this unique entertainment all
16
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
the accessories of a wedding, from the conventional bride's gown to the presents and the wedding journey, save and except the bridegroom, were present, and the guests all voted that the whimsical plan of the child had been cleverly executed by the woman.
The National Purity Alliance, the National Con- vention of the W. C. T. U., and the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held in Baltimore during the last three weeks in October, seem to deserve mention here be- cause of the active interest they excited among our people, many of whom attended the sessions of one or more of these bodies with interest and profit.
The early days of November were remarkable for at least two reasons: 1st, it was hot-the mercury gradually rising for a week till it marked 78° at noon on the 9, and 70° that evening, though it had fallen to 40° by noon next day; 2nd, we had an election. That there was any interaction between the weather and the election is not proven, but the results of November 5 were so "unusually different" that the popular mind of Maryland has hardly readjusted its focus sufficiently to appreciate just what happened.
The excitement of an exceptionally vigorous cam- paign culminated on the first Tuesday in November. That evening the Lyceum was connected by telephone with the telegraph office at Sandy Spring, and a crowd of eager politicians collected there to hear the returns as they came in; and many Democrats, as well as the Republicans, rejoiced in the victory of Lowndes. because that involved the downfall of Gormanism. And as if a Republican Governor was not enough to
17
ANNALS OF SANDY SPRING.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.