One of the most amazing monuments in Mount Olivet belongs to a gentleman whose name evokes an equal level of intrigue. Lycurgus Edward Hedges was a businessman who made a fine living engaged in the flour and grain business. He accumulated great wealth, but remained civic minded. One of his social accomplishments relates to having served as our cemetery's third president from 1889-1892.

Lycurgus, a name you don’t run across every day, was born in Frederick County near Hansonville on February 14th, 1825. As the second child of Eneas and Catherine (Scholl) Hedges, he came into a family with roots dating back to before Frederick’s founding in the mid 1700’s. His ancestors settled a 258-acre parcel in the 1732 on Monocacy Manor which they gave the name “Hedge Hogg,” located roughly five miles north of Frederick City and west of the Monocacy River. Lycurgus childhood home was a family farmstead that straddled the old Frederick Turnpike (today’s US15) located south of Muddy Creek and north of Sundays Lane and Biggs Ford. The Hedges family would come to own other nearby parcels such as “Hedges Delight” to the southwest at Tuscarora Creek and my childhood stomping ground of “Yellow Springs.”

The Hedges are said to have originally come from Berkshire, England in the late 1600’s, first settling in the New Castle Delaware area, then Chester County, Pennsylvania. Lycurgus’ mother’s side was comprised of Scholls and Brunners, two early German families who came here in the mid eighteenth century. His maternal grandfather, Christian Scholl, Jr., was a War of 1812 veteran who married Maria Elizabeth Brunner of the family associated with Schifferstadt.

So based on his family tree, how did he get a name like Lycurgus? Well, I can’t help to think of the old, downtrodden idiom “Its’ Greek to me,” because it is, Lycurgus is a name from ancient Greek history. Although it was faintly familiar to me, I looked it up immediately and found the following from “wunder-source” Wikipedia:
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Lycurgus (c. 820 BC) was the quasi-legendary lawgiver of Sparta who established the military-oriented reformation of Spartan society in accordance with the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. All his reforms promoted the three Spartan virtues: equality (among citizens), military fitness, and austerity.

Lycurgus attended Marshall College in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania in the late 1740’s, just before it merged with Franklin College to become Franklin & Marshall. He actually worked as a teacher early in his career, but eventually moved to Frederick City and took a job as a clerk. His residence was on the north side of W. Third Street in the first block west of Market Street.
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Lycurgus’ big opportunity came when he entered into the flour and grain business, his firm having a location on E. Patrick Street. Somehow, he grew his efforts westward, going in business with a man named Joseph Snively. Around 1870, The tandem acquired a mill in Warthena, Kansas, a town in Doniphan County that bordered Missouri. This geographic location is just northwest of Kansas City, MO,  and more importantly, is situated along the Missouri River, which provided a great opportunity for transport. The Eagle Flour Mill was a very successful operation, and one of the greatest suppliers of flour to the western territories, not to mention sending product north, south and eastward as well.

Mr. Hedges traveled to Kansas regularly, but his home was here in Frederick where he also busied himself with the growing needs of his community. Civic work included service as a trustee and board manager of the Montevue Hospital.

Lycurgus also shared his talents as a director of the First National Bank. Best of all (for us), he also was a board member who rose to become the third president of the Mount Olivet Cemetery Company. He also belonged to the Evangelical Reformed Church, where he was both a member and an officer. Outside of that, I found a few newspaper articles that showed he enjoyed fishing at his favorite childhood spot on the Monocacy at Biggs Ford.

​The ensuing summer and fall were very difficult for Mr. and Mrs. Hedges due to the loss of their only child. In addition, Lycurgus had been dealing with heart trouble. One day in late October (1892), Lycurgus was walking on E. Second Street, on his way to Zacharias’s stable where he boarded his horse team. He and his wife were planning to take a buggy ride to see friends. Having set out from his home, Lycurgus soon collapsed on the sidewalk and died in front of the Jesuit Novitiate. 

Mr. Hedges was buried three days later on November 3rd. His body was placed in Area C/Lot 85, next to the grave of his beloved Lillian who had died eight months earlier. 

I found Lycurgus Hedges last will and testament on Ancestry.com, solely because it was also registered by Mrs. Hedges with the county courthouse of Donaphin County, located in the county seat of Troy—yet another serendipitous connection to Greek mythology. Mr. Hedges went to great lengths to spell out his intentions that his executor erect a "suitable" grave monument to the memory of himself and wife Amanda on his lot in Mount Olivet.

Learning all this information has certainly added to my fondness of the monument which features a weeping woman sitting atop, and holding a wreath in one hand with the other holding up her head. In the study of monument iconography, the grieving woman is self-explanatory, where the wreath symbolizes victory over death. Interestingly, the laurel wreath is associated with Greek attire and celebrations since ancient times, continuing a tradition to the modern day Olympic ceremonies.

​The weeping statue could be that of Niobe, another woman from ancient times. She appears a great deal in classical art and sculpture, especially in cemeteries. In Greek mythology, Niobe was a victim of hubris, and was turned to stone by Zeus after she mourned over her lost children. The story of Niobe, and especially her sorrows, is an ancient one. She is mentioned by Achilles to Priam in Homer's Iliad and is as a stock type for mourning.

​I can’t help but see Mrs. Amanda Hedges in the form of the grieving statue, having lost both her daughter and husband during that fateful year of 1892. She, herself, may have felt like Niobe, as if she had emotionally been suspended in stone. Mrs. Hedges would depart this life less than five years later on April 16th, 1897. Dr. Talbott would be buried here 16 years later.

To the left of the monument are markers for Lycurgus’ parents, an individual stone for Lilly and another for husband Dr. Talbott. A final family member buried here is granddaughter Lillian Talbott Humphrey. From what could be gleaned from early newspapers, Ms. Humphrey was quite a colorful figure in her own right. Thanks to her grandparents, Lillian Talbott (Humphrey) incurred great wealth at age 21, as she inherited the Hedges fortune and farm property on Route15.  It didn’t come without drama however as the article below attests to.

The couple reconciled, but eventually sold the Hedges family farm as they had serious money problems. They moved to Baltimore but eventually divorced. Mrs. Humphrey would die in 1967 in Woodstock, VA, and represents the last of her family to be buried here.

​In retrospect, perhaps Lillian Talbott Humphrey should have been given the Athena or Pandora, or lesser known goddesses such as Dysnomia (associated with lawlessness) or Nemesis (goddess of retribution).

Frederick Memorial started out under the name of Frederick City Hospital, a facility that grew considerably over a century. It began (and remains) at a location on the northwest outskirts of Frederick City on Montonqua Avenue, later to be named W. Seventh Street.  For years, local residents have simply referred to this facility as FMH. Today, the hospital facility is much larger in scope, and has expanded to a great extent over recent decades to keep up with the demands of a growing population. What was “Frederick Memorial” and synonymous with the hospital on Seventh Street, is now the much larger Frederick Regional Health System (FRHS or Frederick Health for short) and includes the RoseHill facility and a dedicated cancer patient facility (off Opossumtown Pike), Hospice of Frederick County, Corporate Occupational Health Services and a myriad of other facilities featuring consultants, specialists and practitioners located throughout the area.
 
While Emma could serve on a hospital board, and vote on early hospital matters, she would never in her lifetime have the right to vote for politicians, ranging from Frederick mayors to US presidents. Suffrage was the keystone of a larger women’s rights movement, a reform effort that evolved during the 19th century, but would not find its ultimate resolution until the 20th century. The women's movement initially emphasized a broad spectrum of goals before focusing solely on securing the franchise for women. Four years and five days after Emma J. Smith’s death, August 26th, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserved all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

Emma Josephine Smith and a group of “fellow” women worked hard to give Frederick its first public hospital structure. She was born on January 21st, 1844, four years before the famed Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman" and was held in Seneca Falls, New York (July 19-20, 1848). Here, some 300 women and men signed the Declaration of Sentiments, a plea for the end of discrimination against women in all spheres of society.

Emma experienced the American Civil War while in her late teens. After the conflict, she would see the 14th Amendment passed by Congress in 1866 (ratified by the states in 1868), saying “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective members, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. . . .But when the right to vote . . .is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State . . . the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in proportion.” It is the first time that “citizens” and “voters” are defined as “male” in the Constitution.

Three years later in 1869, the first woman suffrage law in the US was passed in the territory of Wyoming. The following year, the 15th Amendment received final ratification, saying, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” By its text, women were not specifically excluded from the vote.

Here are a few other highlights of the women’s movement over Emma’s lifetime, courtesy of the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Social Welfare History Project:

*1870 The first sexually integrated grand jury hears cases in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The chief justice stops a motion to prohibit the integration of the jury, stating: “It seems to be eminently proper for women to sit upon Grand Juries, which will give them the best possible opportunities to aid in suppressing the dens of infamy which curse the country.”

*1873 Bradwell v. Illinois, 83 U.S. 130 (1872): The U.S. Supreme Court rules that a state has the right to exclude a married woman (Myra Colby Bradwell) from practicing law.

*1875 Minor v Happersett, 88 U.S. 162 (1875): The U.S. Supreme Court declares that despite the privileges and immunities clause, a state can prohibit a woman from voting. The court declares women as “persons,” but holds that they constitute a “special category of nonvoting citizens.”

*1879 Through special Congressional legislation, Belva Lockwood becomes first woman admitted to try a case before the Supreme Court.

*1890 The first state (Wyoming) grants women the right to vote in all elections.

The Genesis of a Remarkable Lady
Emma J. Smith never married. Her parents included the fore-mentioned George William Smith, Jr. (1807-1871) and Mary Ann Elizabeth Nixdorff (1815-1859), thus descending from some of Frederick's earliest settlers on both the Smith and Nixdorff sides. Emma's father was one of the founders of the Frederick County National Bank and served as a Judge of the Orphans Court. Mr. Smith is said to have "served with notable credit for many years as Judge of the Orphans' Court, in which capacity he displayed an ability and judgment that added materially to his repute. He was frequently called upon as a referee in the disputes that arose among his neighbors and it is worthy of mention in this connection that in many instances he proved an effective factor in the adjustment of such cases without the necessity of an appeal to the courts."
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Emma was one of nine children, only five of which would grow into maturity. She had two brothers (Charles Colvin Smith and Dr. Franklin Buchanon Smith) and two sisters (Mary Thomas Smith and Clara Virginia (Smith) Getzendanner), all of whom predeceased her. Emma had four additional  half-siblings because her father had been married previously. One of these was the earlier mentioned George William Smith III (1832-1915) of trolley fame.

Emma spent her early years on the family farm and received schooling.  She attended the Evangelical Lutheran Church and had many friends. She learned business and political acumen from her father, and most likely, gained valuable medical knowledge from brother Dr. Franklin B. Smith (1856-1912), a local physician.

Without kids to raise, the maiden lady had time, energy and money, to give. She busied herself with two fine projects in the mid-1890’s as a leading proponent and Charter Member of Frederick’s Home for the Aged on Record Street, and participated as a member of the Francis Scott Key Monument Association and was equally successful in helping Mount Olivet receive the grand memorial that greets visitors entering  our S. Market Street entrance. From here, Emma set her sights on a new target.

Emma and her lady Board of Managers worked earnestly to fund the hospital project. They went door-to-door, approached businesses and lobbied the state. In just five years, a new, "state of the art," two-story (and soon to be three-story) hospital building opened to the public. This was early May, 1902. The structure cost $8,000 to build, and featured 16 private rooms and would soon boast three wards. A school of nursing was also established in 1902 adjacent the Frederick City Hospital and named the Georgianna Simmons Nurses’ Home. Mrs. Simmons was the former Georgianna Houck (1832-1915) who contributed the bulk of the money needed to build this facility. Her gravesite is located in the same section of the cemetery as Emma and another major early benefactor of the hospital, Margaret S. Hood.

​Emma could not have been happier with making her dream a reality. Unfortunately though, there were many community medical professionals who were not. Trouble had been brewing for quite some time.  Controversy soon followed between the new hospital and Frederick County Medical Society because the bulk of the doctors of town felt jilted that they had little to no say in the hospital's construction. Moreso, they were unwilling to take instruction from an all-female Board of Managers, headed by a woman administrator without medical training. Yes, they thought that these women were incapable of running a hospital. Another struggle with the Medical Society would ensue over a refusal by the Lady Board of Managers to hand over the hospital to allopathic (alternative medicine) physicians, a suggestion made by the Frederick County Homeopathic Physicians Society.

Emma spent her final decade of life continuing to give her energies to the hospital and the Record Street Home. She, herself, maintained a home at 18 W. Third Street, where she soon took to professional writing. In 1912, she published two novels, printed and distributed by Cosmopolitan Press of New York. These were entitled Unraveling a Mystery and a children’s book Two Little Chinquapin & Other Tales.
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Emma Josephine Smith died on August 21st, 1916 of a cerebral hemorrhage. Her obituary was given plenty of space in the local papers, one of which deemed her "one of the remarkable women of Frederick." She was buried under the shadow of a large monument erected in honor of her parents who had predeceased her. This is located in Mount Olivet’s Area E/Lot156). In the weeks to follow, several glowing tributes and memorials appeared in the newspapers.

Seven years after Emma’s death, the National Woman’s Party proposed the following Constitutional amendment in 1923: “Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and in every place subject to its jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” Things would not be firmly rooted until 41 years later in 1964, when Dr. King’s push for equality among races joined the women’s fight for equality with males.  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was passed, including a prohibition against employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.

Miss Smith is still remembered by some in Frederick, and the hospital. Recently, Frederick Health honored Miss Smith by naming their westernmost entrance (off Seventh Street) Emma Smith Way.

Thanks for the facility Miss Smith, Frederick couldn't live without it!

*Bonus articles of note:

A Fruitless Trip to a Cemetery
Back in 2003, I was in the midst of conducting family research on my father’s “Haugh side.” There was a sense of urgency so to speak as my father had been diagnosed with cancer the previous year, and by summer of 2003 had finished his first round of chemotherapy. He was eager to occupy his mind with other things, and I was desirous of learning more about his life experience and genealogy. I especially needed to channel through him as my contextual advisor, knowing that time was limited and I could lose him in the near future.
 
I supplemented my Dad’s “life story commentary” and tales of ancestors with the above-mentioned sources, especially utilizing online government and church records. In addition, I would take him on field trips to find former homes, schools and other landmarks from earlier eras. Among the most meaningful were cemeteries, finding and visiting tombstones of early relatives.

Meanwhile, nearly 150 miles away, William Cooper Smallwood, Sr., wife Elizabeth Cooper Smallwood, son Thomas Morgan Smallwood and 11 kinfolk have their names preserved in Frederick, Maryland’s Mount Olivet Cemetery. As a guy with distant South Jersey roots, I guess I was guided to help in some way.

​This is a quote that not only seems very fitting as we start a new year, but it’s also appropriate considering that this week’s featured “Story in Stone” recipient has a surname that is synonymous with time and clocks—John Fessler.

To go back to the quote for a minute, it first appeared in a 1902 book entitled “Sun Dials and Roses of Yesterday: Garden Delights Which Are Here Displayed in Every Truth and Are Moreover Regarded As Emblems.”  The work’s author, Alice Morse Earle (1851-1911), was an historian and author from Worcester, Massachusetts. Her writings, beginning in 1890, focused on small, sociological details rather than grand facts, and are invaluable for modern social historians. Mrs. Earle wrote a number of books on Colonial America (with much concentration on the the New England region) such as Curious Punishments of Bygone Days.

Alice Morse  Earle could certainly appreciate her own quote regarding the inability to stop “the march of time” and enjoy “living in the moment,” thanks in part to a life-changing event that occurred in 1909. She  nearly drowned off the coast of Nantucket while a passenger aboard the RMS Republic bound for Egypt. Shortly after departure and within a dense fog, her ship collided with the SS Florida. During the transfer of passengers, Alice fell into the water. This event impacted her health so severely that she died two years later.

Tick-Tock
Perhaps you are familiar with the fact that early Fredericktown was known for skilled craftspeople of many kinds ranging from furniture makers to glass artisans. The burgeoning Colonial era crossroads town on the western frontier was also known for its talented horologists. Now, like me, you may need a background in Latin and/or a small leap of imagination to see hour in horology, but if you do, you've pretty much deciphered the meaning of the profession based on the root “hora” (plural “horae”). Horology is the study of time and the art of making timepieces.

“To be a horologist, a man had to know both the science and the art of timekeeping; to be a clockmaker he had to be a skillful mechanic. From time to time a completely rounded man in science, art and handicraft appeared, such as Tompion, Graham, Harrison in England; LeRoy, Berthoud, Breguet in France; Ramsay, Reid, Smith in Scotland; Huygens in Holland; and Rittenhouse in America. In lesser degree there were many in America as well as elsewhere of measurable ability.

In America we can cite examples that will show a wide distribution of such craftsmen and an interweaving of their output in a pattern that was spread over a broad territory. In clock lore as in that of furniture making and other industrial arts, certain names are so outstanding as to have become household words.
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Especially was this the case in the New England colonies where the fame of their clockmakers eventually rose to such a height as to produce the impression in later times that little ability or activity in that line was manifested anywhere else. But before the end of the 18th Century skillful clockmakers in other colonies had been producing their wares and acquiring a reputation. This was more marked in the Middle States and Maryland than in the colonies along the sea coast of the South.

A clock was one of the few things not brought over in the Mayflower. If there was a clockmaker among the passengers he had no means of practicing his art except by importation of materials from Europe. Lack of mechanical facilities in America and high cost of materials for metal clocks, which had to be imported, drove would-be clockmakers of America to the production of wooden movements. These, however, were not attempted until the colonies had been growing for a hundred years and the compulsion under which they were made continued from about 1770 until about 1820.
 
During this time these clocks were made almost entirely by hand and it is those only that can claim any attraction today as antiques. Toward the end of this period, with the aid of machinery that had then become available, wooden clocks were produced in such number and were so widely distributed that a wooden movement cannot now indicate either rarity or antiquity unless its date or maker is known.
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Handmade clocks, even those cheaper ones with wooden movements, were expensive and people who could afford to buy one could also afford to pay for an attractive case for it, and the long case or so-called “grandfather” clock became a prized piece of household furniture.
 
Clockmaking as an industry related entirely to domestic clocks. Public clocks were installed by individual makers who, in many instances, carried on in a comparatively small way. Local makers of recognized ability constructed tower clocks to be installed in a town hall, a church steeple, or some public building in many of the thrifty New England cities, towns or villages, and also, though less commonly, in other sections of the country. Some of these clocks survive; others have been replaced by later ones.

When an artisan built a public clock it was an important item in his own history and in the history of the place for which it was made. A clock of that nature was likely to be a chef d’oeuvre of its maker whose subsequent fame rested entirely upon that one work. A similar comment applies to an interesting public clock now in operation in the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Of this the Associate Director of the Smithsonian writes:

‘The clock movement was installed in the tower of Trinity Chapel, Evangelical Reformed Church, Frederick, Maryland in 1796-97. It was made there by Frederick Heisley. It was paid for by public subscription and was known as the Town Clock. It was removed about 1928 and replaced by an electric movement…It is a weight-driven, pin escapement, hour strike movement with a fourteen-feet pendulum with wooden rod and cast-iron bob. The frame is of hand-wrought iron, the wheels of brass, the drums of wood, and the weights cast-iron.’

Our subject, John Fessler, Jr., learned the clock-making trade from his father, and would continue the family business upon the latter’s death in 1820. The Fessler story is atypical of the many German families that came to settle in early Frederick Town during the American Colonial period. To elaborate on Mr. Hering’s writing above, John Fessler was born in Switzerland in April, 1759 and immigrated with his parents and brothers  to America in 1771, first living in Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia, then Germantown. He would move to Lancaster, where he likely apprenticed in the clock-making trade, although a few sources say that he came from a family of skilled craftsman of this ilk.  Regardless, he took employment as a clock-maker there.
 
From 1777-1782, John Fessler fought as a private in the Revolutionary Army.  After the War, he relocated to Frederick Town, now a bustling crossroads, chock-full of skilled artisans including furniture and glass-makers. In the same year, John married a local girl, Anna Elizabeth Bach, and in 1783 opened a clock making and silversmithing business. The location is said to have been at the corner of W. Patrick and Publick (now Court) streets. 

The couple had four children, however, the first two (Heinrich and Elizabeth) would die in infancy. John, Jr. (also recorded as William John Fessler) was born July 2nd, 1787 and baptized in the town’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. Two years later, a sister Margaret would be born.  I couldn’t find much on her aside from a marriage to George M. Conradt, Jr. in 1819. Mrs. Fessler, the former Anna Elizabeth Bach, was the daughter of German immigrants Balthasar and Rosina (Stump) Bach. Sadly, Mrs. Fessler would die prematurely in 1791, only in her 31st year. John Fessler, Sr. would remarry Elizabeth’s younger sister, Maria Barbara Bach. The couple would have three children, however two died as infants, and the third, a girl named Rosina, would die at age 13 in 1812. To compound the John’s pain, Maria Barbara would die in July 1801 at 30 years of age. Both marriages spanned only eight years each.
 
Ironically, John Fessler, Sr. was dealt a hard lesson, over and over again, when considering Alice Morse Earle’s quotation regarding time when it comes to his loved ones. One can only assume that the bond between father and son (John, Sr. and John, Jr.) was exceptionally strong. Not only did John Jr. assist his dad in the family business, but he also stood as a steadfast family member throughout the entirety of John Fessler, Sr.’s adult life.

John, Jr. had assisted his father since childhood. One of his early responsibilities involved winding and oiling Frederick’s Town Clock, produced by fellow German and Revolutionary War vet, Frederick Heisley (1759-1843). This massive timepiece was placed within the spire of Trinity Chapel, located in the first block of West Church Street. To put things in context, I think I should give a brief overview of the fore-mentioned Mr. Heisely.

Frederick Heisely
Frederick Heisely had also moved to Frederick in 1783 and set up a clock, watch, and mathematical instrument trade.  He remained here about ten years, most of which spent located on South Market Street.  Heisely’s prime offerings complimented the Fessler clocks as he specialized in surveyor compasses and other mathematical instruments, such as protractors, scales of different sorts, perch chains, pocket compasses, and sun dials.

Around 1793, Heisely moved back to Lancaster, PA, and went into business with his father-in-law George Hoff. It is said that he returned to resume his own shop in Frederick in 1798, but this may be a bit fuzzy.  Regardless, he was contracted by his own church congregation (German Reformed) to produce the clockworks to be placed in the spire of their church. Frederick Heisely may have bounced around as a journeyman, but would definitively move to Harrisburg, PA, in 1811, and worked with his two sons, George Jacob (1789-1880) and Frederick Augustus (1792-1875).
 
Incidentally, we have a round-about connection with George J. Heisely as he is credited with putting the tune to Francis Scott Key’s “Star-Spangled Banner.” He was a soldier in Pennsylvania’s First Regiment during the War of 1812 and apparently shared his song book with fellow soldiers Ferdinand and Michael Durang. These two gentleman were amateur actors and the first to publicly perform singing the song with the accompaniment of the British drinking song “To Anacreon in Heaven”—and the rest is history (not to be confused with Heisely).

In case you were curious as to the fate of Frederick Heisely, he would die in Harrisburg in 1843 and is buried in Harrisburg Cemetery.

In early 1821, a register listing the Corporation of Frederick’s expenses for the previous year was printed in the Republican Gazette and showed that John Fessler and Son were paid $30.00 for winding and oiling the Town Clock. John, Jr. would continue to perform this task for years to come. Incidentally, the Heisely clockworks were eventually removed from Trinity Chapel in 1928 as mentioned in Mr. Hering’s article, and have been in the collection of the Smithsonian ever since. From that point forward, our Town Clock has been run by electricity. 

Fessler & Son
On November 23rd, 1811, John Fessler, Jr. announced the opening of a shop in “the house of John Schley, opposite William and John Baer’s—a clock and watch making business.”  This appeared in the Frederick Town Herald newspaper. Just over five years later, a formal business partnership with his famed father was publicized by way of an advertisement appearing in the Republican Gazette and General Advertiser in early 1817.  The location given in this latter ad was that of a storefront on West Patrick Street, located to the west of Talbott’s Hotel, which in time would become known as the City Hotel. Today, the former Francis Scott Key Hotel sits on the site of both these former properties.

John Fessler, Sr. died on November 7th, 1820. His death was lamented in the local newspapers, and by noted Frederick diarist Jacob Engelbrecht in a passage written later that day:
 
“Died this morning at 4 o’clock in the 61st year of his age Mr. John Fessler, one of the most respectable inhabitants of this town.”
 
The old clockmaker was laid to rest in the burying ground of his beloved Evangelical Lutheran Church, amidst his “sister wives” and the five children that predeceased him.

I wasn’t able to glean much about John, Jr.’s professional life, but he continued producing quality work, including addressing the need came for smaller mantel clocks and pocket watches as tastes and styles changed. He was very active in civic life, and was continually elected as a city councilman representing Ward 2, and served as City Commissioner several times.  
 
The Fesslers went on to have five children: Rosina/Rosanna Catharina (1818-1903), Henry Baer (1814-1873), Anna Elizabeth (1816-1898), Caroline Rebecca (1828-1901), John William (1830-1837), and another son whose name is not readily known (1835-1837).

Jacob Engelbrecht mentioned John, Jr. often in his recounting of municipal elections. The diarist also made two melancholy entries in the winter of 1837, a downtrodden time in which John and Susanna lost two sons in a week’s time:
 
“Died this morning a son (youngest) of Mr. John Fessler aged about 2 years. This is the second child of Mr. Fessler that died within two weeks. The other was in the 7th year of his age. Buried on the Lutheran graveyard.” (Thursday, March 9, 1837 2PM)
 
John Fessler, Jr. had been down this road before, and likely channeled his heartbreak into his work as he had seen done by his father before him. Unlike his father though, he experienced 50 years of marriage with Susanna (Susan).

Susanna (Susan) Fessler died on Christmas Eve, 1862. It had been a rough fall and “time of times” already with the Confederate invasion of town by Gen. Lee and his Confederate Army  in early September, followed by the battles at nearby South Mountain and Antietam. John, Jr. lived to see the end of the war and a return to a new normalcy. Amazingly, he had been born four years after the end of the American Revolution, and would die four years after the surrender at Appomattox.

​The clock would sound its last chime in the life of John Fessler, Jr. on July 2nd, 1869, two days before Independence Day. He had lived for 82 years, three months and nine days, but who’s counting. Fessler would be buried next to his wife in the old Lutheran graveyard of town. On November 15th, 1891, their bodies would be moved to Mount Olivet and reburied in Area H/Lot 5.