USA > Maryland > Washington County > Leitersburg > History of Leitersburg District, Washington County, Md.: Including Its Original Land Tenure. > Part 6
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Members of Constitutional Conventions .- 1864, James P. May- hugh; 1867, George W. Pole.
Presidential Elector .- 1821, William Gabby.
Members of House of Delegates .- 1784, Thomas Hart; 1787- 88, Ignatius Taylor; 1788, Thomas Sprigg; 1807-8, William Gabby; 1810-11, Thomas B. Hall; 1812, William O. Sprigg; 1813- 14, William Gabby; 1819-23, Joseph Gabby; 1826, Thomas B. Hall; 1838-39, Frederick Byer; 1840, Lewis Ziegler; 1841, Sam- uel Lyday: 1844, Charles A. Fletcher; 1846, William E. Doyle, Joseph Leiter; 1847, George L. Ziegler; 1863-64, Frederick K. Ziegler.
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HISTORY OF LEITERSBURG DISTRICT.
Register of Wills .- Thomas Sprigg, 1776-80; Thomas Belt, 1780-1806; William Logan, 1857-67.
Justices of the Levy Court .- 1806-9, Thomas Sprigg; 1820, William Gabby; 1823-29, Joseph Gabby.
County Commissioners .- 1838, Samuel Lyday; 1840, George Poe; 1844, William E. Doyle; 1857, Daniel Mentzer; 1865, Fred- erick Bell; 1871, Samuel Strite.
Judges of the Orphans' Court .- 1806-7, Ignatius Taylor; 1812, Thomas B. Hall; 1821-24, William Gabby; 1875-79, Samuel Strite.
Collectors of County Taxes .- 1847, William E. Doyle; 1849, William Logan; 1864-65, Samuel F. Ziegler; 1876-77, William M. Lantz.
Sheriffs .- 1853-55, William Logan; 1879-81, Frederick K. Ziegler.
School Commissioners .- 1864, James P. Mayhugh; 1868, Ed- ward Smith; 1871, James D. Slaughenhaupt; 1881-91, Samuel Strite.
Justices of the Peace .- Thomas Sprigg, William Webb, Wil- liam Gabby, Christopher Burkhart, Joseph Gabby, Thomas B. Hall, William Kreps, George H. Lambert, Hugh Logan, Benja- min Hartman, Samuel Lyday, Francis C. Shiess, James P. May- hugh, James A. Hays, Peter Middlekauff, John Lambert, Lewis J. Ground, Frank D. Bell.
POPULATION AND WEALTH.
In 1860 the population of the District was 1,962; in 1870, 1,673; in 1880, 1,546; in 1890, 1,368.
The value of the different species of property in the District in 1897, as shown by the records of the county commissioners, was as follows: Real estate, $569,636; private securities, $45,671; bonds, etc., $2,648; stock in trade, $7,607; personal property, $78,201; exemptions, $14,803.
"IN WAR TIMES."
England and Spain were at war in 1740, and although Western Maryland was far from the scene of conflict the war brought financial disaster to one of the pioneers of Leitersburg District. Colonel Thomas Cresap had collected at his trading post at Long- meadows a quantity of valuable furs, and the ship by which they were consigned to England was captured by the enemy, reducing
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SOCIAL AND MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
him to bankruptcy and necessitating his departure from Long- meadows in the following year.
In the French and Indian War (1755-63) the enemy made fre- quent incursions into the Cumberland valley, but if any Indian atrocities were committed in Leitersburg District no record of the fact has been preserved. There is a tradition that Antietam church near Trovinger's mill was converted into a blockhouse and was a place of rendezvous for the surrounding country in time of threatened danger. In his will, dated February 8, 1764, Jacob Leiter of Leitersburg District inserted this clause: "I ordain that if any of my estate shall be destroyed or carried away by the enemy that my executors shall not be subject to loss thereby." It was Colonel Henry Bouquet, the owner of the Longmeadows estate in Leitersburg District, who defeated the Indians at the de- cisive battle of Bushy Run, August 5-6, 1763, and led a victorious expedition against the Ohio tribes in the following year.
The various schemes of colonial taxation devised by the British government at the close of the French and Indian war elicited energetic protests from the people of Western Maryland, and when the Continental Congress declared against the importation of taxable articles the people of Frederick County assembled at the county seat, November 18, 1774, and appointed a general committee to carry into effect the resolves of Congress; among the members of this committee were Joseph Perry and Christo- pher Burkhart, of Leitersburg District, of whom the former was also a member of the county committee of correspondence. At a meeting at Frederick on the 24th of January, 1775, they were again appointed members of the county committee "to carry the resolves of the American Congress and of the Provincial Con- vention into execution." Local committees were also appointed for every hundred in the county to solicit subscriptions for the purchase of arms and ammunition. L'eitersburg District was then included in Upper Antietam and Salisbury Hundreds; for the former the committee consisted of Jonathan Hager, Dr. Henry Schnebley, and Jacob Zeller; for the latter, of Jacob Funk, Con- rad Hogmire, Joseph Perry, and John Ingram. They were in- structed "to apply personally or by deputy to every freeman in their respective districts and to solicit a generous contribution." In the Committee of Observation for Washington County Leiters- burg District was represented by Christian Lantz and Christopher
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HISTORY OF LEITERSBURG DISTRICT.
Burkhart. There can be no doubt that the District contributed a fair quota of men to the Continental army, but unfortunately no record of their names or services is now accessible .*
In the War of 1812 the militia of Washington County was called out en masse, August 25, 1814, by General Samuel Ring- gold and mobilized at Boonsboro on the following day. The company from Leitersburg District was commanded by Captain John Byer and embraced practically all the citizens of the Dis- trict capable of bearing arms. A British army had routed the forces opposed to it as Bladensburg, Md., and burned the national Capitol at Washington; General Ringgold called out his brigade with the conviction that its services would be necessary in con- testing the further advance of the enemy. But the Secretary of War regarded the forces already at his disposal as sufficient for the emergency and on the 28th, the brigade having been dis- banded, Captain Byer and his company returned to their homes. The District was also represented at the battle of Baltimore and in the Canada campaign of the preceding year.
For some years the State maintained a militia organization and the citizens in every locality were required by law to muster for practice in military drill and discipline. Thomas Sprigg, of Lei- tersburg District, was commissioned as lieutenant colonel for Washington County in 1794 and subsequently rose to the rank of brigadier general. Regimental musters were held for some years on his estate, and company musters at Captain Byer's mill, near Leitersburg, subsequently owned by Fowler & Ziegler, at Schmutz's mill, now the property of David Ziegler, and on the farm of David Hoover, near Beard's church. Something of the spirit of the old militia days is reflected in the following notices, originally published in contemporary newspapers:
* On the 30th of December, 1776, the County Committee ordered the militia to march to the assistance of General Washington and appointed a number of persons to " col- lect all the people who may be left after the militia have marched and form them- selves into companies and choose their own officers for the purpose of relieving the distress of the inhabitants." Among the persons so appointed were Christopher Burk- hart. Jacob Ritter, Peter Shiess, Wendell Sights, George Lambert, Joseph Perry, and John Gabby of Leitersburg District.
The following entry occurs in the minutes of the County Committee, January 10, 1777 : "WHEREAS, Complaint has been made to this Committee that no horses have yet been procured in order to draw the cannon for the use of Colonel Stull's battalion : Ordered, That Jacob Good furnish one team for that purpose ; in case the said Good can not furnish four horses his own property, that he apply to some neighbor to assist him therein, who is hereby required to be assistive." Good was a resident of Leiters- burg District.
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SOCIAL AND MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
The companies commanded by Captains Wellar, Lantz, Rench, and Allen are desired to meet at General Sprigg's quarter on Saturday, the 29th inst., to exercise in battalion agreeably to law. CHARLES CARROLL, Major.
Elizabeth-Town, August 18, 1795.
Hagerstown, September 19, 1799.
ORDERED, That the Eighth Regiment of the Second Brigade of mil- itia be paraded on Saturday, the 19th of October next, the Tenth Regiment on the 22d, and the Twenty-fourth Regiment on the 26th day of the same month, each at 9 o'clock in the morning.
T. SPRIGG, Brig. Gen., Second Brigade.
Attention ! You are hereby ordered to parade in company at Mr. Abraham Schmutz's mill on the second Saturday in May next and at Captain Byer's mill on the last Saturday in August next at 2 o'clock p. m. A court martial to try the absentees of both the above parades will sit at Captain Byer's on the last Saturday in September next at 2 o'clock p. m.
JOSEPH TROVINGER, Captain.
March 26, 1825.
The court martial was accordingly held and the following is a transcript of its proceedings:
At a court martial held at Mr. John Byer's in Washington County on Saturday, the 24th day of September, 1825, composed of Lieuten- ant Archibald Halbert, Sergeant John Daniel, Private D. T. Wilson, the following delinquents were tried for their non-attendance at the company parade on Saturday, the 27th day of August, 1825, belong- ing to Captain Joseph Trovinger's company, Eighth Regiment, Maryland militia:
John McVey, out of the State at the time, acquitted.
Daniel Jacobs,
Fined $1 00
Lewis Ziegler,
1 00
John Strite,
66 1 00
Samuel Miller of Jos.,
1 00
John Wolfersberger,
1 00
Samuel Bachtel, 1 00 John Coursey, 66 1 00
Abraham Strite,
1 00
William Minor, 1 00
Samuel Strite, 66 1 00
Nathan Davis, 1 00
Joseph Strite, 66 1 00 Isaac Hammaker,
1 00
Jacob Byer, lame knee, acquit- ted.
Joseph Emmert, Fined $1 00
We do certify that the above statement is a true copy of the pro- ceedings of this court martial.
ARCHIBALD HALBERT, Lieutenant. JOHN DANIEL, Sergeant. D. T. WILSON, Prirate.
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HISTORY OF LEITERSBURG DISTRICT.
Many delinquencies were due to conscientious considerations, as the principles of the Mennonite and other religious bodies do not permit participation in military exercises. Some original papers showing the operation of the law in such cases are still preserved, several of which are herewith given:
Received, April 2, 1800, of Jacob Miller $3.00 for his muster fines due for the year 1799. J. McPHERSON, Deputy Sheriff.
I hereby certify and make known that I have reason to believe and verily do believe from the religious and exemplary deportment of and uniform declaration of Jacob Newcomer that he is conscien- tiously scrupulous of bearing arms and that I consider him as belong- ing to the Mennonist society under my direction. Given under my hand this 28th day of May, 1818.
JOHN STOUFFER.
Received, March 24, 1821, of John Newcomer $9.00 in full for militia fines against John, Andrew, and Jacob Newcomer for the year 1820. SAMUEL EICHELBERGER, Deputy Collector.
In the Civil War the District became for the first time the scene of military movements on a grand scale. Before the battle of Gettysburg (July 1, 2, 3, 1863) one division of the Confederate army passed through Leitersburg and on Saturday night, July 4th, the Confederate wagon train passed through the village, followed on Monday morning by the army, which marched con- tinuously until 2 o'clock p. m. on Tuesday. The main body, con- sisting of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, passed over the turn- pike, but all the by-roads leading southward were also crowded. General Lee and several of his division commanders were recog- nized by the citizens as they passed through Leitersburg.
The Confederate invasions of 1862 and 1863 occasioned great alarm in Washington County and many farmers and others from Leitersburg District joined in the general "skedaddle." Horses, wagons, and other movable property were hurried over the moun- tains in the direction of interior Pennsylvania, for which there was abundant reason, as such property was freely appropriated by both armies and especially by the irresponsible parties of strag- glers that followed them.
The following is a list of Federal soldiers who enlisted from Leitersburg District:
William Anderson, Abram Avey,
Martin Maugans, Jacob A. Metz,
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SOCIAL AND MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
Samuel Avey,
Miller,
Philip M. Bell,
Abram Mowry,
John Boner,
John Mowry,
John Gagle, Solomon Gagle,
Solomon Myers,
Benjamin F. Garver,
John W. Nigh,
Daniel Garver,
Samuel T. Nigh,
James A. Hays,
Gabby Nofford,
Joshua Hellman,
Robert Slick,
David V. High,
David Stephey,
Jacob Hovis,
William Stephey,
Thomas Hughes,
Daniel Tritle,
Samuel Kline,
John Wampler,
William Kline,
Frederick Ziegler,
Charles E. H. Koppisch,
George Ziegler,
George U. Lowman,
James R. Ziegler.
Jacob F. Lowman,
Perhaps no event of the Civil War excited so much horror in Leitersburg District as the murder of Edward Gladfelter. He reached Leitersburg on the 26th of August, 1864, in charge of some horses belonging to a Federal officer; there he was stopped by four Federal cavalrymen, who took his horses and compelled him to accompany them on foot, and at a point a mile north of the village on the turnpike he was murdered. The perpetrators, Coon, Forney, and Riley, were apprehended near Hagerstown and delivered to the civil authorities. They were tried at March term, 1865, and convicted. In pronouncing sentence Judge French said: "On the road running the boy was seen delivering to you his silver watch. A little farther on you were seen robbing his body, as he stood pale and trembling in your power, of his money, his pocketbook, his comb, etc. You then took him to the next hill and there wilfully and deliberately blew his brains out . with a pistol or gun. Edward Gladfelter fell at your horses' feet in the middle of the high road, a murderd man, a lifeless body. Then you left him on the public road to welter in his gore and returned shouting, soon after the pistol shot was heard, through Leitersburg. In all the annals of crime I have never read of so foul, so black, so inhuman a murder."
In the war with Spain the District is represented by Lieuten- ant Strite, U. S. N., and Keller Lowman, a private in the Douglas Guards. Lieutenant Strite's ship is the Olympia, the flag-ship of
Polk Mowry,
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HISTORY OF LEITERSBURG DISTRICT.
the Asiatic squadron, which participated in the battle of Manila, May 1, 1898.
POSTAL FACILITIES.
The following is a list of postmasters at Leitersburg, with the dates of their respective appointments: Joshua Grimes, May 9, 1826; Charles A. Fletcher, March 21, 1829; Samuel Etnyer, De- cember 8, 1838; Charles H. Besore, February 17, 1841; David M. Good, June 7, 1843; James P. Mayhugh, September 19, 1845; Jacob Kissell, May 7, 1847; David M. Deitrich, June 9, 1849; Samuel F. Ziegler, January 13, 1851; Benjamin F. Slick, April 26, 1853; Daniel S. Wolfinger, March 19, 1861; James A. Hays, December 18, 1865; Samuel Ziegler, April 22, 1869; John H. Ziegler, January 28, 1871; John W. Nigh, May 27, 1872; Fred- erick Koppisch, January 6, 1873; Charles E. H. Koppisch, May 6, 1884; David Barnhart, May 19, 1885; Alice Ziegler, May 28, 1889; David Barnhart, March 10, 1894; Jacob M. Stouffer, April, 1898.
Frank Trovinger was appointed postmaster at Startown, May 3, 1894; William R. Trovinger, October 14, 1895; Samuel Hart- man, February 6, 1896.
George H. Bowman was appointed postmaster at Mills, Febru- ary 5, 1889.
The route upon which these postoffices are located extends from Hagerstown to Mills. The mail is carried each way every day.
A postoffice was established at Rock Forge in 1894 and discon- tinued in the same year.
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT.
Limestone is the prevailing geological characteristic of the An- tietam valley. This usually implies a soil of permanent and re- cuperative fertility, with the disadvantages of protruding rocks and uneven surface; but this description would not apply to the whole of Leitersburg District, although it is situated entirely within the watershed of the Antietam. The limestone also ap- pears in combination with shale, sandstone, etc., and in many areas of considerable extent it is depressed far below the surface. In the western part of the District there is an extensive and fer- tile region locally known as the Marsh 'or Longmeadows. Here
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SOCIAL AND MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
a black loam appears in many places as the principal constituent of the soil and while the surface is rolling, its elevations are every- where gradual, thus imparting to the landscape a peculiar softness of contour. This locality may well be compared with the mid- land counties of England or the Blue Grass region of Kentucky.
At the period of its first settlement the District was probably well timbered throughout its entire extent. Trees of various kinds-red oak, white oak, Spanish oak, wild cherry, locust, wal- nut, etc .- are referred to in the original land patents. When Ma- son and Dixon's Line was surveyed they employed a force of axemen to cut a vista through the forest. In 1770 Dr. Henry Schnebley purchased from Peter Shiess a tract of 713 acres, lo- cated principally in the District, to which he gave the name of The Forest, which certainly implies that it was well timbered. Scant Timber, the name of a tract patented by Wendell Sights in 1766, is equally suggestive.
The removal of the forest was the first concern of the pioneer. This was a laborious undertaking, without any compensation ex- cept the increased value of the land, as timber was not a market- able commodity. Sometimes the trees were "girdled," a process which consisted in the removal of a girdle of bark from the trunk, resulting in the death of the tree and the decay of the bark and branches, which fell to the ground and added greatly to its fer- tility.
The agricultural implements at the disposal of the pioneer * were few in number and of the crudest description. The plow
* Some idea of the equipment of a Leitersburg District. farm and household in the colonial period may be gained from the following inventories of appraisement :
1755, Robert Downing : Twenty-six horses, 33 cattle, 41 hogs, 17 sheep, 4 bee hives, sickles, augers, chisels, adze, axes, I still, still-tubs, barrels and half-barrels, tight hogsheads, grind-stone, cross-cut saw, grubbing hoes, spade, I iron harrow, 2 ploughs and irons, I wagon : 5 spinning wheels, I dough-tray, butter-tubs, 2 looking glasses, knives and forks, " pewter dishes, basins, plates, and spoons," iron pots, earthenware. smoothing-irons, I churn and cooler, " a clock and glass."
1764, Jacob Leiter : Eight horses, 7 cows, 4 sheep, 3 hogs, I cutting-box and knife, I iron harrow, 2 forks, I plow and plow-irons, I wagon, I grindstone, I cross-cut saw, I brass kettle, I still, stilling vessels, 4 grubbing hoes ; 2 spinning wheels, I pepper- mill, I iron stove, " a parcel of pewter dishes and plates," I clock, I brass kettle, 1 iron kettle, " large Bible, hymn book, and a parcel of other books."
1776, George Hartle : Eight horses, 11 cattle, 11 hogs, 14 sheep, I iron harrow, 1 mill for cleaning grain, I old wagon, I grindstone, 2 mattocks, I sprouting hoe, I garden hoe, 2 weeding hoes, I broad-ax, I spade, 2 shovels, I brass scythe, 2 axes, 4 forks, I branding iron, " plow irons"; I weaver's loom and stays, I iron stove, I clock, " pew- ter basins, dishes, and plates," pewter spoons, I brass ladle, I iron kettle, "iron spoons, ladles, and water buckets," " I large Bible," " books of different sorts."
70
HISTORY OF LEITERSBURG DISTRICT.
with which the soil was first broken was made almost exclusively of wood. Wheat was sown broadcast; hay was cut with a scythe and raked by hand; grain was cut with a sickle and threshed with a flail. In the last century farming implements, like wearing ap- parel and household goods in general, were all of local manufac- ture. The iron forks used in handling manure, grain, and hay were made by the blacksmith; the prongs were half an inch thick at the base, tapered to a point, and the handle, which was inserted in the socket, was made by the farmer from a suitable sapling. For a shaking-fork a forked limb was cut from a tree, and its se- lection sometimes involved a long excursion through the forest. Plow-making was an art that had its special practitioners. In one day a skillful plow-maker could cut down a tree and from its materials fashion the beam, post, handles, mould-board, and land- side, which, with the necessary irons, constituted the completed plow. Covering the mouldboard with sheet iron was an import- ant improvement; others followed, eventually resulting in the evolution of the modern plow.
Cutting a harvest with the sickle was laborious and protracted. A good reaper could cut and bind an acre a day. Reapers gen- erally worked in pairs and cut from one end of the field to the other; when the end opposite the starting point was reached one walked back some distance and carried both sickles while the other bound both swaths; he then laid down the sickles and bound both swaths until his companion overtook him, when it was again his turn to carry the sickles. The grain cradle was the first great improvement in harvesting facilities and the next was the reaping machine. In 1856 George Bell purchased a Mc- Cormick reaper and used it successfully in cutting his crop and that of his brother, Daniel Bell; this was the first introduction of harvesting machinery in Leitersburg District. It was drawn by four horses; the cutting apparatus and the reel were similar to those generally in use at the present day; the wheat was received upon a platform, from which the sheaves were raked off by a man who sat behind the master wheel. A year or two later the Manny machine was introduced; in this a man on the platform pushed off the wheat with a fork. The automatic rake soon fol- lowed and finally the automatic binder, the crowning feature of the harvester of the present day.
71
SOCIAL AND MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
When grain was threshed with a flail or tramped out by horses, lis was a long and disagreeable task. The first threshing ma- nine was merely an inclosed cylinder, from which the straw was moved and shaken with a fork. (Hence the word "shaking- rk.") With this primitive machine it was possible to thresh two undred bushels in a day, after which about the same length of me was required to separate the wheat from the chaff with a ind-mill. The shaker, revolving fan, and straw carrier were suc- assively devised, and threshing machines combining these were manufactured by John Dayhoff at Rock Forge and also by eorge Frick at a foundry located within the original limits of eitersburg District. This foundry was removed to Waynesboro, 'a., in 1860, and eventually developed into the extensive plant of 'he Frick Company, capitalized at one million dollars.
When grain was sown broadcast it was covered with a harrow or novel plow. The first grain drill had a rigid shovel fastened with wooden pin, which broke when a stump or rock or other obstruc- on was encountered; as such occurrences were frequent a box of ins always accompanied the drill, to be inserted in place of those roken. Drills of this description were in use in Leitersburg District as early as 1850. Henry F. Bell manufactured grain rills at Waynesboro, Pa., from 1852 to 1857, in which the feed- ig device was a series of rotating cups and the shovel had a spring djustment; these were the first drills of this kind manufactured nd introduced in this locality. The drill rapidly superseded roadcast sowing.
The invention and improvement of the mower was contempo- aneous with that of the reaper. The horse-rake, another import- nt implement in connection with the hay crop, was at first a lumsy contrivance, in which the rake consisted of a wooden eam with two sets of wooden teeth projecting in opposite direc- ions. The operator walked behind and manipulated the ma- hine with a lever; when he lifted this one set of teeth dumped nd the other set came into play. Henry Schriver purchased ne of the first iron-tooth horse-rakes used in the District. With his machine the operator stood on the teeth to keep them down nd raised them with a lever which he pushed with his foot. The rst hand-lever spring-tooth rakes introduced in the District were manufactured by John Dayhoff at Rock Forge, and the first rake
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HISTORY OF LEITERSBURG DISTRICT.
of this description that he sold was purchased by Samuel Martin in 1860.
The first centrifugal cream separator in Washington County was purchased in 1891 by Samuel Newcomer and placed in opera- tion on his farm, which is situated partly in Leitersburg District and partly in Cavetown. It was manufactured by the De Laval Separator Company of New York. In 1895 the Maugansville Creamery Association established a skimming station at Strite's mill near Leitersburg. The plant consisted of a Reid separator of large capacity driven by a steam engine. Its operation was con- tinued at intervals for several years and then abandoned, owing to lack of patronage.
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