USA > Maryland > Montgomery County > The history of Montgomery county, Maryland, from its earliest settlement in 1650 to 1879 > Part 8
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
GEORGE R. GAITHER, recently deceased, one of Baltimore's most opulent citizens, left a fortune of one million three hun- dred thousand dollars, consisting of large and handsome stores and warehouses, on Baltimore, Hanover, German, Howard and Charles streets, and handsome dwelling houses on Cathedral street.
ISRAEL H. B., and A. and R. R. GRIFFITH, for many years flourished as successful Merchants of Baltimore. Upon the death of the first named, investments in stocks and bonds to
89
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
the amount of four hundred and forty-five thousand dollars were found in a trunk under his bed.
THOMAS L. REESE, the father, and grandfather of the well known grocery firm, now doing business in Baltimore, was for a number of years a highly esteemed citizen of old Mont- gomery.
In early life he was a clerk with the celebrated Johns Hop- kins, in the counting-room of their uncle Gerard T. Hopkins, and often has the great capitalist been heard to say, that when he came to Baltimore he had but five dollars in the world, but he had resolved to become a rich man.
When about twenty-five years of age he married Mary, . daughter of Thomas Moore-and lived for six or eight years in Brookeville, engaged in mercantile life, filling several offices of honor and trust, everywhere esteemed as a conscientious and upright man.
From there he returned to Baltimore, and became a partner in the wholesale grocery firm of Gerard T. Hopkins & Co.
In 1833 he opened a retail store on Pratt street, desiring to educate his sons in all the details of the business, where he remained until 1844, when he retired from active life, but still by his daily counsel and advice, aiding his sons, who succeeded him, in building up the large business they are now doing .- In carly life he was often heard to say that he never desired to become a rich man, and although actively engaged for more than thirty years in mercantile life, during which he reared and educated a large family, he died in moderate circumstances, but leaving to posterity a legacy more valuable than any amount of earthily riches,-a good name.
Among other names worthy of being mentioned is that of WILLIAM DARNE, of Mountain View, at the foot of the Sugar Loaf Mountain, who afterwards removed to Darnestown, where he died.
Mr. Darne was distinguished for his hospitality and urbanity of manners. He left a family of daughters equally distinguished for beauty, culture, ease and elegance of manner. One of whom married Capt. Smoot of the Navy; another, Capt. Lacy of the Army; another, Dr. Bell, a practising physician of the County. Mr. Darne several times represented the County in the State Legislature and as a director in the Chesapeake and 7
1
90
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Ohio Canal. He also left one songMr. Alexander, Darne of the County.
Rev. THOMAS MCCORMICK was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, in 1792, but came to Montgomery at the age of six to live with his uncle, Thomas Moore. In 1806 he went to Balti- more and learned the trade of house carpenter, and fifteen years afterwards built the house now owned by E. J. Hall, Esq., at Longwood, near Brookeville, which he afterwards purchased, and where he resided for fifteen years in enjoyment of the pleasant surroundings. He is now nearly eighty-eight years of age.
The late THOMAS MOORE lived in Brookeville, and was the inventor of the first refrigerator ever made, in which Thomas McCormick carried the first butter to market. It was patented in 1803, and at first was of small size, made for the purpose of carrying butter to market on horseback, as most of the market- ing was carried in those days. The refrigerator consisted of a cedar tub of oval form, and about eighteen or twenty inches deep, in this was placed a tin box, with the corners square, which would contain twenty-two prints of butter of one pound each, leaving space on each side, between the tin and wood, for ice in small lumps. The outside of the wooden box was covered with rabbit skin with the fur on, and over that was a covering of coarse woolen cloth. In this refrigerator the butter was carried on horseback to the market ac Georgetown, a distance of twenty miles, in warm weather, hard and firm, and with ice enough left to give each purchaser a small lump. This butter commanded a much higher price than any other.
Thomas Moore was a remarkable man. His father, Thomas Moore, an Irish Quaker, came to this country early in the last century, settled first in Pennsylvania, where he married, and afterwards removed to Loudoun County, Virginia, where he built a residence and called the place Waterford, after his native home. Here the son Thomas for a time carried on the business of a cabinet-maker, which he had learned. He then engaged in milling and merchandising in connection with his brother-in- law, James McCormick. About the year 1794 he removed to Maryland, having married Mary Brooke, daughter of Roger Brooke, of Brooke Grove, in Montgomery County. Here he commenced farming on the estate of his wife, and soon dis- tinguished himself as a practical farmer.
91
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
The State of Maryland is greatly indebted to him for many improvements in agriculture. Although the land was poor when he took possession of it, he soon had the model farm of the County and State. This farm is now owned by E. J. Hall, Esq., former President of the Montgomery County Agricultural Society, who married a niece of Mary Moore. Persons came from long distances to see his farm and witness the deep plow- ing with the mammoth plow of his own invention, his fine stock of cattle in fields of red clover, his meadows of timothy, fine fields of corn, the ground yellow with pumpkins, and the large pen of small bone hogs, fattened on pumpkins, corn and slop, boiled in a wooden box.
One of his distinguished visitors was Charles Carroll, son of Carroll of Carrollton, who came on purpose to see the farm and improvements. The proprietor being absent on that occa- sion, it devolved upon the twelve-year-old nephew to show the visitor around, which service was rewarded by the first silver. dollar the farmer boy ever called his own.
Thomas Moore, about this time, wrote a treatise on agricul- ture, and another on ice-houses and refrigerators, which proved of signal benefit to the State of his adoption. In the year 1805, he was employed by the Corporation of Georgetown to construct the causeway from Mason's Island to the Virginia shore, for which he received twenty-four thousand dollars, and completed the work in less than one year. After this he was employed by the United States Government to lay out the great National Road to the West. During the war with Great Britain, from 1812 to 1816, he took charge of the Union Manufacturing Works, near Ellicotts' Mills, as chief manager.
About this time he, in connection with his two brothers-in- law, Caleb Bently and Isaac Biggs, purchased the site and erected the cotton mills known as Triadelphia, Montgomery County, Md. This was not a profitable investment, the war closing soon after the factory went into operation. He was next called upon by the Board of Public Works of the State of Virginia to accept the position of Chief Engineer of the James River Canal. He also served in the same capacity in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, where, after making consider- able progress, he contracted a fever so fatal to many on the Potomac, and came home to end his life with his family. From
92
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
the year 1818 until his death he occupied, with much honor to himself and with great benefit to the public, and with the entire approbation of those to whom he was responsible, the office of principal Civil Engineer of the State of Virginia. On the 3rd of October, after a sickness of twelve days, aged 63 years, he quietly departed this life like one falling into a quiet slumber.
ROGER BROOKE, an immediate descendant of one of the first settlers of the colony of Maryland, was noted for wit and humor, and though a Quaker, he had, like Washington, a great fondness for his hounds and the fox chase; and was one of the best, most active and successful farmers of the County. Mr. Francis P. Blair, in an agricultural address, characterized him as a second Franklin.
Mr. BLAIR above alluded to, who so beautifully and elegantly established himself at his well known seat of Silver Springs, was attracted to the spot under singular circumstances. Hc had purchased a very fine saddle horse, Selim, of the late Gen. Wm. Lingan Gaither, another of Montgomery's representative men, who had repeatedly served his native County with credit and ability in both branches of the State Legislature. In tak- ing a ride with his daughter, beyond the limits of the District of Columbia and in the lower part of Montgomery County, Selim became frightened, threw his rider, and ran down among the thick growth of pines in the valley to the west of the road. Mr. Blair followed and found the horse fast to a bush, which had caught the dangling reins of the bridle. Near the spot he spied a bold fountain bubbling up, the beautiful white sand sparkling in the water like specks of silver. Mr. Blair became so charmed with the spot and the spring, that he resolved at once if possible to possess it. He sought its owner, and soon a bargain was made at what then was considered a good price by the seller; but in the eyes of Mr. Blair as very cheap. This led to the proprietorship of the far-famed and classic seat of Silver Springs; where its venerable and distinguished owner spent in elegant retirement the last twenty-five years of his long and eventful life, and died peacefully, full of years and full of honors, at the advanced period of eighty-five.
ROBERT POTTINGER and Dr. WILLIAM BOWIE MAGRUDER, father of the late most excellent and valuable citizen and physi-
93
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
cian, Dr. WM. B. MAGRUDER, of Brookeville, were leading and prominent citizens of the County, in their day and generation.
Major GEORGE PETER was a member of Congress for this District, and during life a prominent and active politician. He served in the Legislature of the State. He commanded an artillery company in the war of 1812, and had among his soldiers George Peabody, who subsequently became the great banker and philanthropist, and the late George R. Gaither of Baltimore, who then, with Mr. Peabody, resided in George- town, D. C.
The two Drs. DUVALL, father and son, were prominent and active in their professions, as politicians and representatives of the County in the State Legislature.
The different State Inspectors of Tobacco, appointed from Montgomery County, were Richard H. Griffith, Philemon Grif- fith, John W. Darby, Francis Valdemar, Perry Etchison, Green- berry S. Etchison, and the present popular Inspector, Robert S. Hilton.
ROBERT SELLMAN, of Montgomery County, was, before the repeal of the law, appointed State Flour Inspector. He so actively and faithfully discharged the duties of the office, that after the repeal of the law, he was, and still is continued as private inspector at the request of the merchants of Baltimore.
THOS. F. W. VINSON, well and favorably known to the citi- zens of Montgomery County, was a fine specimen of the gentle- men of the olden times. His pleasing manners at once put his friends, as well as strangers, at perfect ease in his presence. He was for many years Sheriff of the County, and one of the Judges of the Orphans' Court.
Mr. JAMES HOLLAND, grandfather of the present Thomas J. and Clagett Holland, was said strongly to resemble General Washington in his personal appearance. As an auctioneer, he was known far and near. A peculiarity of his habit was always to give ample notice to both seller and buyer. "Going, going, going, the last chance, owners and bidders look out."
The principal manufacturing establishment in the County was Triadelphia Cotton Factory, founded in 1809, by three brothers- in-law, ISAAC RIGGS, THOMAS MOORE and CALEB BENTLY.
A Woolen Factory was established in the neighborhood about the same time by DAVID NEWLIN,-all members of the Society of Friends.
V
CHAPTER XIV.
PROMINENT MEN-CONTINUED.
Hon. Geo. W. Hilton. Wm. Darne, of Mountain View. Prof. Benjamin Hallowell. Hon. Allen Bowie Davis. Edward Stabler. W. T. R. Saffell. Francis Cassott Clopper. Wil- liam Wilson. Leonidas Wilson. Hon. Thomas Lansdale. Dr. Richard Waters. John S. Belt. Hon. Richard Waters, and others.
WORTHY of mention among the self-made men of the County is the HON. GEORGE W. HILTON, born in Laytonsville, October the 2d, 1823, and educated in Georgetown, District of Columbia. Soon after completing his education he commenced the teaching of school in the old mountain school house, in the third district, afterwards he taught school in Clarksburg and Cracklin Dis- tricts. In 1847, he was appointed Deputy Sheriff and Collector, which position he occupied until he engaged in merchandising in Damascus, in 1852, where he successfully continued for seven years, when he purchased property in Clarksburg and removed there in 1859. By energy and enterprise, combined with strict business integrity, he succeeded in establishing a large and profit- able business, which he conducted until 1872, when he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. Having purchased four tracts of land adjacent to the village of Clarksburg, he set about renovating and improving them, by a liberal and judi- cious expenditure in lime and fertilizers, including grasses, he has succeeded in bringing them up to a degree of fertility that is amply repaying him for his expenditure.
Mr. Hilton's ability soon attracted the attention of the people, and he was called to the Legislature in 1869, and served the people in the session of 1870 so faithfully, that he was re-elected for a second term in 1872, serving on the committees of cor- porations and printing with marked ability. With a keen per- ception for the details of measures that affected the interests of
95
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
the County, he was ever foremost in perfecting and pressing them to a favorable conclusion. He was also appointed by Gov. Carroll, in 1877, on the Board of Control and Review that had the revising of the tax assessments. Mr. Hilton finds ample opportunity for the display of his spirit of enterprise in the improvement and beautifying of his lands and tenements, having erected several handsome dwellings in Clarksburg, that have added materially in promoting the attractions of the village.
" Mountain View," the old home of William Darne, is a farm containing about 150 acres of land, watered by Little Monoeacy on the north-east, and bounded on the south and south-west by the County roads leading from Barnesville to Maj. Hempston's Old Briek Mill. The lands of the Gotts and Plummers lie adja- cent at the south, those of Abraham S. Hayes and Z. G. Harris on the east and south-east, and those of Colmore Offutt and Hanson Hays on the north. The proprietorship of some of these lands is now no doubt different. Patrick MeDade's old mill was located on Little Monocaey, about half a mile north of Mountain View.
Prominent among those whose deeds have added lustre to the name and fame of the Friends' Society of Sandy Springs, and of Montgomery County, is that of BENJAMIN HALLOWELL,. Philosopher, Philanthropist, Orator, Farmer and Teacher; . gifted with an extraordinary variety of knowledge, prominent in the many fields of investigation, in which he exerted his powerful energies, and prosecuting his researches with one ulti- mate aim, the happiness of his fellow-creatures. He was born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, on the 17th of August, 1799, and came to Montgomery County, Maryland, in 1819, as Mathematical teacher at the Boarding School at Fair Hill, which was established in that year. In 1824, he established a school at Alexandria, Virginia, and received among his pupils, from all sections of the country, many who have since attained position and honor. The Rev. Mrs. R. T. Boyd, relict of the late Rev. R. T. Boyd, of this County, and mother of the pub- lisher, attended his courses of lectures in Alexandria, in the years 1834 and '35. Mr. Hallowell came to live upon his farm " Rockland," near Sandy Springs, in the summer of 1842, this was a poor tract of land, but by judicious draining, fertilizing
96
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
and grass seeding, it was completely reclaimed, and with the buildings of the Rockland Seminary, which he established, now under the control of his son, HENRY C. HALLOWELL, presents a beautiful and attractive appearance. In 1859, he was elected First President of the Maryland State Agricultural College. He was prominent in organizing the Farmers' Club of Sandy Springs, the first meeting of which was held at the residence of Richard T. Bently. He was a frequent lecturer before various associations on scientific and agricultural subjects. He was Professor of Chemistry in the Medical Department of Columbia College, Washington; a member of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and one of the foremost in the Balti- more Yearly Meeting, to adopt plans for the improvement of the condition of the Indians on the Western borders. He died in 1877, in the 78th year of his age, regretted and beloved by all that knew him.
Among the many improved estates in the County, is Green- wood, the residence of Hon. ALLEN BOWIE DAVIS. This place was purchased in 1755, by Ephraim Davis, the grand- father of the present owner, and by him transmitted to his son Thomas Davis, who during President Washington's administra- tion, raised a company and marched to Pennsylvania in 1794, to suppress the "Whiskey Insurrection." He was elected to the State Legislature while thus engaged, and frequently thereafter filled the same position, he was also elector of the Senate under the old Constitution, and occupied numerous positions in the County, from Magistrate, Surveyor and Conveyancer to Judge of the County Court. He died in 1833, honored and regretted by a large circle of friends.
Mr. Davis, the present proprietor of Greenwood, began a long career of public duties and usefulness very early in life, succeeding his father in the Board of Trustees of the Brookeville Academy, at the age of twenty-four. In 1840, he was elected a member of the Board of Public Works of the State, in which he exercised his influence in favor of the representation of the minority, and the abolition of political agencies in the manage- ment of public trusts. In 1850, he was elected to the State Constitutional Convention, and was made one of the first, trus- tees of the State Agricultural College, and subsequently Presi- dent of the Board. At the same time, he was elected President
97
L
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
of the Montgomery Manufacturing Company, of Triadelphia. He was also President of the Montgomery County Agricultural Association.
In 1849, he obtained the charter for the Brookeville and Wash- ington Turnpike Company, was elected President, served six- teen years, completed the road and retired from the Company. In 1863, he was elected to the State Legislature, and in 1869 was elected President of the Maryland State Agricultural Society. In addition, he has taken an active interest in the works of internal improvement, of social and agricultural advancement, of national polity and other matters pertaining to the prosperity of the people of the County and State.
One of the oldest settlers now living in the County is EDWARD STABLER, who is eighty-five years of age. He has been Postmaster of Sandy Springs for fifty years, and is the oldest Postmaster in the United States. He was the originator of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Montgomery County, which was organized in 1848; he was elected President, and still holds the office, enjoying the entire confidence of the Com- pany and community.
The Hon. Allen Bowie Davis, in a speech at a meeting of the State Agricultural Society in 1876, said of this family, "That the farm-a part of which Mr. Asa Stabler occupies, was pur- chased about thirty years ago, by Caleb Stabler, father of Mr. . Stabler, Jr.,-at $2.05 per acre, or $820 for 400 acres. It was then without house or fencing. Mr. S. not having a plethoric purse, built a comfortable two story log house, with other neces- sary onthouses of the same material, and called it Drayton. To Drayton he removed with his family, consisting of a wife, one daughter and four sons. He inclosed a garden, and planted a small orchard. His first crop of wheat was five bushels sown, from which he reaped two and a half bushels,-the first reward of his labor. Acting npon the maxim of an old Quaker pro- genitor-"if thee is kind to the land, it never will give thee an ungrateful return,"-he persevered, and did obtain a grateful and bounteous reward.
" Accepting an invitation to spend a night at Drayton, some years ago, I found the venerable patriarch and his no less ven- erable wife alone, and by them I was received with all the cordial but unostentatious and simple hospitality which it was
98
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
possible for a host and hostess to lavish upon the most honored and distinguished guest. I soon learned from them that their daughter was married, and all of the sons grown up and settled ont for themselves. After tea, a rap at the door announced a visitor, and one by one the four sons and the son-in-law came in to inquire after the health of father and mother, and to pay their respeets to their guest. I learned also, that the 400 aeres had been divided into six parts, and that each of the sons and son-in-law had built and was settled ou his portion-the old folks retaining the homestead-and that each was near enough, after the labor of the day and after tea, to walk over to Dray- ton, to inquire after the well-being of their parents. I thought I never saw a brighter or happier family, or witnessed a more interesting or so instructive a seene.
" Within a few days past I have again passed through the same original farm, now cut up and divided, as already stated. The venerable sire and his consort still survive; each of the sons and son-in-law are in genteel and comfortable houses, sur- rounded with well kept gardens and orchards, flowers, shrubs and ornamental trees and farm,-as Mr. Stabler can testify- yielding from 26 to 32 bushels of wheat per acre, with corres- ponding crops of corn, hay and straw, supplemented by all varieties of fruit, from the early strawberry to October peach and hard russet apple."
Mr. W. T. R. SAFFELL, was born September 18th, 1818, two miles south of Barnesville, on a farm called Knott's Place, where his father Lameck Saffell resided. He was baptised by Rev. Mr. Green, and first heard the Gospel preached by Rev. Basil Barry. His great uncle was Charles Saffell, a revolution- ary soldier and pensioner, who lived on a farm five miles north of Rockville, near Gaithersburg, and died in 1837, at the age of ninety. At the beginning of the revolution, he lived with his father, a French musician, in Prince George's County. From that County he marched to Annapolis and joined the Regiment of the Maryland Flying Camp, under the command of General Rezin Beall, and sailing to the head of Elk River, he marched north to New York in the company commanded by John Haw- kins Lowe. Charles was a drummer, fifer and bugler at the battles of Long Island, Fort Washington, Brandywine, Ger- mantown and Monmouth. In his latter days he was an Ane-
99
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
tioneer, and in that capacity visited all parts of the County. As a violinist, he amused himself in his feeble old age, and often reproduced the melodies of the Revolution in a peculiar style, now forever lost.
FRANCIS CASSOTT CLOPPER was born in Baltimore, July 26th, 1786; began life in Philadelphia, and when only eighteen years of age was sent by his employers to New Orleans, to col- lect moneys due them there, and at intermediate points. The trip was made on horseback, through a wild frontier country, alone, or with such chance companions as he might meet upon the road. His mission was successful, and he brought back the money quilted in his vest; after which he made many more trips like it.
On the 8th of July, 1811, he was married to Ann Jane Byrne, of Philadelphia, and in the following year he purchased the farm in Montgomery County, upon which he resided until his death,-the family having removed there in the same year,- making a continuous residence of fifty-seven years.
The original grants of the tracts of lands, comprised in the purchase, date back to 1748, to the times of the Lords Proprie- tary, and formed part of their Manor of Cor ococheague, or, as one of them has it, of "Calverton." The lands are described as lying upon "Sinicar" Creek, near the ford known as the "Indian Ford;" and it is said that the old Indian road from Washington to Frederick crossed Seneca a few yards above the present County road crossing.
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.