USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > Sandy Spring > Annals of Sandy Spring history of a rural community in Maryland, Volume III > Part 23
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"Though the sword of the Death Angel had struck so often and so severely among our people in the year just ended, almost the first entry on our new record was the death of Grace Harvey on April 11, which occurred at Sunset, the home of her uncle, Charles G. Porter; and two days later she was laid to rest in the Sandy Spring burying ground.
"Born at Cherry Grove fifty-nine years ago, she lived most of her life in Baltimore with her parents. After the death of her father she returned to Cherry Grove, and remained there until the end of her mother's life, when she went to live with her uncle Charles and Aunt Jane Porter, to whom she filled the place of a daughter.
"Affectionate, cheerful and hospitable. many will remember the cordial welcome she gave to those who visited at Sunset. Her devotion to "Unele Charlie" after he lost his wife, was most tender. She then cheerfully assumed the care of the housekeeping, and
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was ever diligent and faithful in the discharge of her duties, even after she had become disabled with rheumatism, from which she was a great sufferer for five years.
"While lying on her couch, unable to move, she often sang snatches of songs and hymns learned in her younger days when music was her chief amuse- ment.
"She counted from memory one day 375 different people who had called upon her during her illness.
"Conscious up to the time of her death, and real- ized her condition, she spoke of her implicit trust in her Savior, and said near her end, that 'he seemed to be standing by her.'" (M. P. T. J.)
"At Alloway April 13, 1906, occurred the death of Annie Miller Shoemaker, daughter of Warwick P. and Mary M. Miller, and widow of Joseph M. Shoe- maker, of Germantown, Pa.
"It is difficult to give expression to the sense of loss to her neigborhood-and to other neighborhoods as well-caused by the death of one who was related to nearly the whole community.
"From her earliest youth she showed much indi- viduality and force of character, which was strongly marked at school. A classmate of hers at Westtown Boarding School, in speaking of her recently said : 'Many of us will not forget the gentle, brown-eyed girl with the sunny smile who moved amid the throng of students with a dignity of her own, making her presence felt even then.'
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"In 1875, she married, and went to live in Ger- mantown, where more than twenty years of ideal married life were spent, and where the grace of a beautiful home resulted from her rare art of home- making. The guests of Enderly love to recall the atmosphere of beauty and kindness and joyous life which pervaded it.
"Her large, generous nature was responsive to the needs about her, for she believed that 'when God gives a blessing to be enjoyed, he gives with it a duty to be done,' and she acted upon this belief. Be- ing happy she tried to help the less fortunate to bear their burdens. For years she and her husband were active in the work of the Germantown Hospital, but it is in her private charities that she is best remem- bered.
"Her love of nature,-the 'great out-of-doors'- was intense. and her fondness for and success in growing flowers were proverbial, as also were her knowledge of birds, and her devotion to all domestic animals.
"A friend has said of her: 'When I think of her as the practical housekeeper and seamstress, as the expert gardener, the capable musician. the well-read woman with a store of poetry at her command, and yet well grounded in more solid literature, I realize what an unusually well-rounded character she was.'
"In 1895, came the death of her husband, a sorrow from which she never recovered. Seven years later (1902), she returned to the neighborhood of Sandy Spring, which she so loved all her life, and having
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erected a new Alloway on the site of the old, with her devoted father and sisters, she took up the broken threads of her life.
"But this reunion had lasted only for a brief sea- son, when disease in its most painful form became her portion, and for nearly three years she bravely bore it. Words cannot portray the agony of those years, but on April 13, 1906, she was released from suffering, and on the 16, at the beautiful Easter season, she was laid to rest by the side of her beloved husband in the little Alloway graveyard, where sleep a noble company." (M. J.)
On April 5, Rachel Carter, daughter of Charles G. and Lizzie Willson, was born in Washington.
On April 12, E. Clifton, Jr., son of E. C. and Elsie M. Thomas, was born at Kirkside.
On April 25, Cloverley narrowly escaped de- struction by fire.
About this time the annual railroad excitement oc- curred, and matters progressed so far that F. M. Hallowell gave an option on a site for a station; the more sanguine and imaginative of our neighbors at once began to hear the whistle of the approaching train, but so far, the option remains the only thing on the lot !
Activity of different kinds goes and comes in waves, and this seems particularly true of the build- ing fever. Sometimes it sweeps like an epidemic over the neighborhood; every body is busy putting up something, but last year we had nothing to re-
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mark along this line; this year there has been much more. During April a new kitchen was added to Brooke Grove, and in the fall a tenant house was built at Pen-y-bryn-For G. I. Banes and family who have rented the place-and one on the Cottage farm was greatly enlarged ; while the house at Long- mead has been remodeled and much improved. It was one of the homes which in the past year, has had a heating plant put in ; the others being Rock Spring, The Highlands, Willow Heights, Belmont, Edgewood and the Bank, which makes the number of Sandy Spring houses with modern heating apparatus, add up to twenty-three.
But perhaps the most radical change has taken place in the bank building, which has been more than doubled in size. Inside it has very handsome fittings in chestnut, and accommodates both the Na- tional Bank and the Savings Institution comfortably, and even outside it is now an attractive structure, instead of the little snub-nosed house we have known !
Early in May the Government surveyors went through this region and left behind them on every available surface cabalistic characters, doubtless of deep and mysterious significance. but all that the uninitiated can glean from them is some rather sur- prising information as to the relative altitude of dif- ferent points. Ashton is 496 feet above sea level, and the big chestnut tree on Cherry Grove farm is fifty-seven feet higher. Sandy Spring is eleven feet lower than Ashton, Olney is on a level with the top of the Washington Monument-555 feet-and the
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Manor is really so far justified in its assumption of superiority, as that it can actually look down on the rest of us from an elevation of 559 feet !
On May 19, William J. T. Farquhar and Lottie Griffith were married in Rockville.
On May 5, at Mt. Airy, the Wednesday Club and a number of guests enjoyed a very interesting talk on Japan by Alonzo H. Stewart, of Washington, il- lustrated with numerous photographs which he took while in the Mikado's empire.
Another pleasant occasion during May was the con- cert given at the Lyceum by the Swarthmore Glee and Mandolin Clubs. The young men made very good music, and bore themselves with most admira- ble dignity. Our pleasure in their deportment was hardly second to our enjoyment of their perform- ance !
On May 28, the stockholders of the Enterprise Telephone Company decided to sell out to the Chesa- peake and Potomac Company, who took possession of our lines and exchanges on June 1, with good re- sults up to date. The Sandy Spring telephone had until this time afforded much in the way of "copy" to the historian, but it has ceased to exist as a neigh- borhood affair, and the thing that is now ours-only a small fringe on the skirts of a great corporation- has lost all individuality and "local color." Let us hope it may not lose its usefulness along with its endearing personal qualities! .
Sandy Spring does not often make a distinct acqui- sition in the way of population, but about this time
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A. A. Brigham of Massachusetts, with his wife, son and daughter, after a trial residence of several months, became permanent citizens. Mr. Brigham has been Master of Rhode Island State Grange and Director of Rhode Island Experiment Station, and for five years he was instructor in the Agricultural College of Japan. Buying Levi Hill's house and lot, and land adjacent from H. T. Lea, they proceeded to renovate and reconstruct the dwelling and put up new out- buildings.
The first three weeks of May were very dry, which had a bad effect on the strawberries, that were by no means improved by the rain that fell daily during the picking season. Nevertheless, there was a fair crop, and one grower reports more profit from one acre of berries than from eighty acres of wheat !
Ice formed on the 10 and 11 May, and almost full- grown leaves on poplar and other trees in the low ground were frozen, making the woods look as if it had been burned over, and in some places all fruit, even apples, was killed. From the 13 to the 19 of the month the mercury ranged from 80° to 88°; by the 21 it was cool enough for fire; and May closed with a very severe storm, in which a cow was killed by lightning at Auburn and there was hail in places.
On June 7, Sherwood Friends' School held its final commencement ; when it opened in the fall it was as a High School, under the jurisdiction of the County, though the Friends still make a strenuous effort to keep a hand in its management.
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On the 14 June, Samuel P. Thomas took his de- gree as Bachelor of Science at the Maryland Agri- cultural College.
The Sandy Spring Quarterly Meeting occurred June 9-11, with John J. Cornell, A. Haviland Hull and O. Edward Janney present as ministers. Ed- ward C. Wilson, principal of the Friends' School in Baltimore, addressed the First-day School conference. There was a fair average attendance of Friends from a distance, and all the sessions were interesting and helpful.
The evening of June 21 was signalized by a won- derful rainbow. A complete double arch of the pris- matic colors swept from horizon to horizon in the eastern heavens, shutting in a segment of shimmering, colorful, opalescent vapor, while the unbroken semi- circle of the second bow spanned the blue-gray sky towards the zenith.
The week following Quarterly meeting, some of our energetic young women opened a Woman's Ex- change in the library building at Sandy Spring. Emma T., Lillie B., and Virginia MeP. Stabler, Florence M. Bond, Helen G. Miller, Ethel Farquhar and Dorothy Brooke were the managers of the scheme, which proved a success, as the decorative work, hand- sewing and all kinds of fancy cookery were in de- mand among home folks as well as among the "sum- mer people." The Exchange, under the care of one of its managers, was open for several hours each morn- ing throughout the summer, and for a day or two in December to catch the Christmas trade.
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June 25, the body of William P. Iddings, of Or- ange, N. J., was buried at Woodside Cemetery.
About this time some of the young people started a riding club, which with more or less regularity took weekly horseback excursions, and the divided skirt was much in evidence throughout the summer.
In June, Granville Farquhar sold sixty acres of his place, Mt. Olney, lying to the south of his farm buildings on the Brookeville pike, to Reuben P. Hines. Later in the summer he sold to William J. T. Farquhar a lot on the Sandy Spring pike, and an- other, adjacent to that and to Rockland farm, to Dr. W. E. Magruder, Jr., of Baltimore.
In the absence of any distinctive Independence Day celebration, the 4 July, which is also little Mar- garet Sherman Jones' birthday, witnessed a unique entertainment at her home, The Briers. Over forty children in Indian costume assembled on the shady lawn during the morning, and warwhoops resounded as the village of wigwams and its band of young "squaws" was surrounded and captured by "braves" in wonderful war paint and feathers. Luncheon was served out of doors, and the children and the "grown- ups" in attendance, all voted it a charming occasion.
On July 8, occurred the death of one of the sub- stantial citizens of our County, John Bready, a near neighbor to Sandy Spring, if not immediately of it. The following sketch was taken from a notice which appeared in the Baltimore American:
Mr. Bready "was born in Frederick County, but came to Montgomery with his father when quite a
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young man, engaging in farming. In this occupation he was successful, owning at the time of his death four large and fertile farms, besides possessing large holdings of securities. He married a Miss Kelly, of Frederick County, his mother dying on his wedding day.
"Although of a modest disposition and never seek- ing public office, he was appointed by . Governor Lloyd Lowndes a member of the State Live Stock Sanitary Board, and served for six years, until the board was reorganized by Governor Smith. During his service he was largely instrumental in eradicating pleuro pneumonia from the State. He was a director of the Union Turnpike Company of Montgomery County for twenty-five years, and its president for eighteen years, serving continuously until he resigned in May, 1905. He was an incorporator of the First National Bank of Sandy Spring, and at the time of his death was a director."
On the 12 July there was a very pleasant al fresco concert at Bloomfield for the benefit of the Club House; but in spite of the good attedance at this entertainment and the crowd at the minstrel show, also given for it at the Lyceum on the 28 July the Club House still stands a forlorn skeleton, peering over the hilltop for someone to come and cover its "bare bones" with weatherboards and roof !
A song recital at the Lyceum on the 20 by Mrs. Frank W. Janney of Baltimore had a far smaller audience than her fine, beautifully trained voice de- served.
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"The pages of this history would be very incom- plete without more than a passing reference to the life and character of Charles Stabler, who died at the Cottage, July 24, 1906, in his eightieth year.
"He was the son of Caleb and Ann Moore Stabler, and was born October 28, 1826, on a farm near Brookeville, now owned by John Riggs.
"At the early age of fourteen he drove a large team, hauling flour from Brookeville to Georgetown, D. C.
"In 1837 the family moved from Brookeville to Bloomfield, and remained there until the spring of 1841, when the entire household of Caleb Stabler went to live on 'The Manor,' on a large tract of land purchased for $2.05 per acre. During the twenty- one years he lived upon 'The Manor,' Charles Sta- bler helped to make it 'blossom as the rose.'
"On June 16, 1853, he was married at Brooke Meadow to Sarah E. Kirk, and went to Sunnyside to live. Nine years after he moved to Burnside, where he farmed for several years, until he entered the mercantile firm of C. Stabler & Co., at Ashton, when he bought the Cottage from Charles G. Porter and moved to it, that he might be nearer the store.
"The firm having dissolved in 1870, he retired to his farm an continued to work that, until, after seventy years of strenuous exertion, failing health compelled him to give up active labor. He had a partial stroke of paralysis about six years before his death from which he never recovered.
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"His life was of the intensive sort; as a boy he early took up the heavy end of the burden will- ingly, and all through his career it was his habit never to shrink or try to throw the hard task on any other person, but, seemingly, to prefer to take the arduous and tedious duties upon himself. In a quiet and unpretentious way he looked after the needy, and always sympathized with those in distress.
"As a neighbor he was kind and generous, almost to a fault ; he would sometimes neglect his own work to help a friend or neighbor in time of trouble. He was very fond of society, also of music and poetry, and it was one of his pleasures to repeat his favorite verses from Burns and other poets.
"He very much despised anything like hypocrisy, and this dislike grew on him till he almost lost faith in the professors of religion ; yet he had a very tender and responsive heart.
"As a farmer he was ever striving to im- prove conditions and increase results, experiment- ing with new methods and new ideas; and he made a success of nearly everything he undertook in that line. He never tried to grow a crop or to raise an animal or fowl that he did not succeed far above the average man, and this was due to his pains- taking and untiring industry. It was one of the greatest trials of his declining years that he had to give up active work. After he had passed several milestones beyond the allotted journey of man's life. it pleased the Good Father to call him to his Eternal Home. In him we have lost a good citizen and a
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kind hearted and generous man, in whose character there was much to emulate." (E. P. T.)
During a severe storm on the 27 July, Newton Stabler's barn was struck by lightning and burned, with two tons of hay and four hundred bushels of wheat.
About the end of July, Dr. J. Elliott Gilpin of Baltimore completed a bungalow, largely built with his own hands on land bought of Mary T. Bond and sons, and he and his family will use it as a summer home.
Two parties took advantage of the leisure of Au- gust to go camping. From July 31 to August 7, seven young women kept open house at Burnside after the unique plan long in vogue in Sandy Spring; and from August 4-13, the camp on Capon River, W. Va., owned by a number of our neighbors, was occupied by some of them and their friends.
On August 3, there was a lawn fete at Riverton for St. Luke's church, Brighton.
On the evening of August 21. the barn of Lewis Steer was burned with all his hay and grain, his driving horse, harness, etc.
And on the same day, August 21, the County Fair at Rockville began ; and it had about the best weather that the month afforded, though it was hot on the 21, and rainy on the 24, the day the fair closed. The exhibits and the attendance were both good, but gam- bling of all kinds was carried on to a most disgrace- ful extent.
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All through the summer, on the initiative of Roger B. Farquhar, a petition had been in circluation pray- ing the Judge of the Circuit Court to withhold the license for pool-selling at the fair, the granting of it being at his discretion. Though the petition was signed by many, yet the Judge, for some reason, felt bound to the fair managers to give them their usual privilege; but he promises that next year, if another effort is made to prevent pool-selling, he will refuse to grant the license. So it is, in the phrase of the day, "up to" the respectable people of the County to do all they can to eliminate this objectionable fea- ture; and we should not rest until this and all its other demoralizing concomitants are banished, and the Agricultural Fair is made the place of innocent rec- reation for the farmer and his family which it should be.
August 25, those interested in the Club House thriftily took advantage of the presence of many sum- mer guests in the neighborhood to have an entertain- ment, which was well patronized, the program consist- ing of tableaux illustrating songs, music and a pres- entation of the always amusing farce, Box and Cox.
During the month of August, R. Rowland Moore bought Plainfield farm from his father, William W. Moore, and the adjoining Oxmead place from Joseph T. Moore, and he and his son William have gone to farming. They have also put up a most complete chicken palace, with all the modern improvements, even steam heat! We hope the hens may appreciate their advantages and live up to them.
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On August 30, a large party of Friends and others set out from Sandy Spring for the Friends' General Conference at Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. Thir- ty-four of our people were present during its sessions, which lasted a week, and enjoyed the fine weather, the good company, and the many opportunities for spiritual and intellectual uplift that were free to all there on the mountain top.
- The re-opening of the schools was an occasion of unusual interest among us, owing to the new condi- tions governing them. Sherwood having become a part of the County system, it and the Sandy Spring school became one under the principalship of Roger J. Whiteford; the three lowest grades meet in the public-school house under the instruction of Sallie P. Brooke, and the older children go to Sherwood, where Ida P. Stabler and Isabel Stabler assist the principal.
The school opened well, and by midwinter there were 109 pupils enrolled, in spite of an unprecedent- ed epidemic of measles. This began early in the term, and not a family, hardly a child, escaped, though one who can remember for several years back might wonder that all the material for this disease had not been long since exhausted. Besides this plague of measles, typhoid came nearer being epi- demic than it ever did before in this region, the ne- groes especially suffering from it, though there were many severe cases among the white people.
On September 7, the body of Walter Lea was in- terred at Woodside Cemetery.
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On the morning of September 27, the body of Wil- liam C. Riggs was found near Rock Creek bridge on the Rockville road, he having been thrown from his buggy and killed some time during the night. His team was found not far from the scene of the tragedy.
During the week from October 9-16, John J. and Eliza H. Cornell paid a religious visit to Sandy Spring. In those seven days they called on fifty-six families and attended meeting on Sunday.
On the 9, we had a high north-west wind, the first from that quarter for months; and while it blew, the house at Willow Grove took fire, and was only saved from destruction by the help of a chemical fire- extinguisher that was there.
That night came the first frost; the ground froze. and there was ice on three succeeding nights, but the mercury stood at 70° on the 15 October.
On October 3, Ebenezer Wanzer, son of E. W. and Sarah M. E. Haviland, was born at Avoca.
From the 6-8 October. the Orthodox Friends, held their Quarterly Meeting at Ashton meeting-house. An interesting Bible Conference occupied the even- ing of the 6, and the Sunday morning session was well attended. Several Friends from other meetings were present, among them David Sampson, of North Carolina.
Charles E. and Florence M. Bond, on October 20. celebrated the tenth anniversary of their marriage. with a large reception at Edgewood.
Though so many of our people had attendeed the
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Conference, and in spite of unfavorable circum- stances at home, twenty-four Sandy Springers went to Yearly Meeting in Baltimore. It seems a fact unusual enough to be noteworthy, that one of our members was this year absent from the Yearly Meet- ing for the first time in forty years.
All through the fall the whole neighborhood had been in deep sympathy with Mary E. Moore and her family on account of her illness; cheered by her im- provement from time to time, rejoicing in her ap- parent convalescence, deeply bereaved when her death came on the 11 November.
After a life spent wholly in the cheerful, loving service of others, her end was that of
"One who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."
The daughter of William John and Rebecca M. Thomas, she was born at Clifton, October 24, 1838. Her early education, outside of an exceptionally wise and inspiring home training, was obtained from gov- ernesses, and in small day schools; her later school life was spent at Fair Hill, under the instruction of Mary Willis Kirk, Rebecca Watson and William Henry Farquhar.
In 1858, she married William Wilson Moore, and they made a modest but happy home at Atholwood, given her by her father as her share of the paternal acres. This home was hallowed, blessed and saddened by the birth and early death of their daughter Clara. Here also was born their son R. Rowland, their other two children, Sarah and Rebecca being born at Plain-
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field, whither they moved in 1865, and lived under the roof of Robert R. and Hadassah J. Moore.
The young daughter-in-law at once became the prop and stay of her husband's parents, and increas- ingly so in their old age; they and all who were nearest to her, depending upon her in a most unusual degree for counsel, sympathy and help, which never failed them. Indeed, her readiness to respond to all demands upon her for succor-from whatever source -was unvarying, while her own tastes and wishes were her last consideration.
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