Lords of the Manor: the Cunninghams

Frederick County’s Carrollton Manor stretches from below Frederick City southward to the Potomac River. The western boundary is Catoctin Mountain, and the eastern is Sugarloaf Mountain. This constitutes a bit of an embellishment based on the original 1723 “Carrollton” land patent of 10,000 acres as assigned to namesake Charles Carroll the Settler. He claimed he acquired it from the Tuscarora tribe that had come from North Carolina about the year 1712.
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When it comes to researching and exploring the history of this special region of Frederick County, I look to two prime “Go To” sources: William Jarboe Grove (1854-1937) and Nancy Willman Bodmer. William Jarboe Grove’s History of Carrollton Manor was first published in 1922 and takes a personal  view of former families and “Southern culture” of the area by a lifelong resident. Grove’s father was Manassas J. Grove, founder of the M.J. Grove Lime Company located at Lime Kiln just above Buckeystown.

Nancy Willman Bodmer was born in Aberdeen (MD) and moved to Frederick County in 1972 with her husband Ed. The couple settled in Buckeystown where they raised their family and opened up a pottery and wood stove shop in the center of this village southeast of the county seat. Nancy soon became enamored with the history of her new hometown and set out to research and write numerous publications about Buckeystown and surrounding area. Two of these are Buckey’s Town: A Village Remembered (first published in 1979), and The Past Revisited: Buckeystown and Other Historical Sites (1990). Nancy continues to research, preserve and present the history of the southern Frederick Valley, in addition to exercising her pottery craftmanship. I want to thank Nancy in advance as I will be sharing some important visuals from her books to help illustrate this week's "Story in Stone."
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Two prominent early characters of “the Manor” were Judge Benjamin Amos Cunningham (1798-1891) and his son John A. H. Cunningham (1831-1870). Their names can be found on the pages of both authors’ respective works. Judge Cunningham led quite a life, one that spanned nearly the entirety of the 19th century. He began his career as a merchant, but finished a highly-respected politician and banker. His son died at 38 years of age, but made a name for himself as a local leader in agrarian circles operating one of the largest plantations in the county.

Cunningham family plot in Frederick's Mount Olivet Cemetery (Area E)

​Benjamin Amos Cunningham’s large funerary monument sits proudly on the northern end of Mount Olivet Cemetery’s Area E. Son John’s gravestone is a few yards to the south in the neighboring lot. Just down the hill, behind their graves, one can view cars traveling on the more recently renamed “Stadium Drive” – the beginning leg of New Design Road, a thoroughfare that bisects the entirety of Carrollton Manor from north to south. The route terminates at Noland's Ferry on the Potomac River and was originally called the "New Designed Road." It dates from the mid-1800s.

Vivid depiction of the "New Designed Road" from the 1858 Isaac Bond Atlas Map showing it originally spanning between today's Harshman Road and Noland's Ferry. The route would be extended to intersect with South Market Street and Corporate Frederick.

William Jarboe Grove, in his History of Carrollton Manor writes:

“The road probably derives its name from the fact that for nine miles (on its southern portion) it was run in a straight line. No barriers of any kind checked its straight course, although then, as now, objections arose. One of the most serious was that in passing through the western edge of the Darnall property, the road cutoff the buildings and Monagoul Spring, which was not only one of the finest springs on the Manor, but its connection with the Tuscarora Indians made it valuable from a historical standpoint. About this time Davis Richardson bought the Darnell farms and the Manor settled the dispute to the satisfaction of Mr. Richardson, who built a fine residence on the east side of the road, where C. Arunah Rogers now lives. The Buckeystown pike runs through the Manor on the east and was originally an Indian trail coming from the lakes down the Susquehanna River through Pennsylvania and Maryland to the mouth of the Monocacy and on down through the Virginias to Florida.”

Closer view of "New Designed Road" on 1858 Bond Atlas Map

The New Designed Road was originally built by the Carroll family to help facilitate the movement of goods from Noland’s Ferry (on the Potomac) to Frederick City, however it would not fully open until the mid-1800s. The road project lost its straight line at the former plantation of a man named Richard Cromwell, who served as the last overseer of Carrollton Manor for the Carroll family.

Meanwhile, the Buckeystown Pike, paralleling New Design Road to the east, would constitute part of the original US Route 15 until being supplanted by a new right of way at the eastern foot of Catoctin Mountain in the 1960s. Today, we also know the Buckeystown Pike by its technical name, Maryland Route 85. Just below the old turnpike’s namesake town, this roadway parallels the Monocacy River on the eastern side of "the manor," and passes by the former Buckingham Plantation once inhabited by the fore-mentioned Judge Benjamin Amos Cunningham and his heirs. Today, this is where you can find the Claggett Center and Buckingham Choice Retirement Community.

Above photo features a view looking southwest across Buckeystown Pike (MD85) from Bishop Claggett Lane (driveway for Claggett Center). The original entry into the Buckingham estate was Buckingham Lane which is further north on the Buckeystown Pike (on the south side of the village of Buckeystown).

Nancy Bodmer created the map above in her book "The Past Revisited: Buckeystown and Other Historical Sites." It wonderfully illustrates both New Design Road and the Buckeystown Pike as they traverse Carrollton Manor

​Benjamin A. Cunningham
Benjamin Amos Cunningham was born June 20th, 1798 in Baltimore, Maryland, a son of Harford County natives Daniel Cunningham (1763-1832) of Little Falls and wife Mary Ann Amos of Gunpowder Falls (1777-1872). Benjamin’s parents were Quakers and married on October 16th, 1797 at the Little Falls Meeting House near today’s Fallston. 

Benjamin A. Cunningham was raised in Baltimore. An interesting anecdote can be found in his lengthy obituary and refers to the War of 1812. As a young teen, Benjamin assisted in digging entrenchments at Baltimore’s Chinquapin or Hansom Hill to aid the local militia units preparing to battle the invading British.

A portion of a drawing entitled "ENTRENCHED POSITIONS OF AMERICAN TROOPS NEAR BALTIMORE- WAR OF 1812" -a sketch drawn during the conflict and comes from the personal journal of Sir Pulteney Malcolm (of the HMS Royal Oak), See "Chinkapin Hill" in lower left, so named because of Chinquapin Run creek

​This is a great connection to Mount Olivet’s totality of War of 1812 veterans, including our front-gate greeter, Francis Scott Key. Like Key, Benjamin A. Cunningham studied law with intent to have a legal career. 

​Benjamin somehow became acquainted with some of Frederick’s earliest Quakers living on Carrollton Manor in the immediate vicinity of Buckeystown. These included the Davis and Richardson families.  Maybe this is what brought him in 1825 to the sleepy little village south of bustling Frederick. Regardless, the road, literally and figuratively, led him to Buckeystown where he would engage in mercantile pursuits.  We are not exactly sure where Cunningham conducted his early business but he took over the job of village post master from Daniel Buckey in 1826. He would serve in this role until 1840. 

Baltimore Patriot and Mercantile Advertiser (Aug 15, 1826)

1830 US Census showing Benjamin A. Cunningham living in Buckeystown

​Benjamin Amos Cunningham would go on to marry one of the twin daughters of a wealthy, large plantation owner in the immediate area of Buckeystown. His name was John Hasselbach and he lived south of the village in between the Pike and the Monocacy below Michael’s Mill. Hasselbach is spelled a number of ways, but I will use the spelling found for Rebecca on her gravestone of "Hosselboch." Benjamin’s bride Rebecca (born 1804) was of German heritage and had also formerly lived in Baltimore before coming to Frederick County with her father and family. Information on this gentleman is tough to come by. I found a probable birth date of 1765 and another of 1757. Either way, both were associated with Philadelphia and he (and possibly his wife who remains unnamed) were Redemptioners who came in the 1780s. This could explain a relationship to nearby Quakers as well.

John Hosselboch purchased his 300-acre farm with its stately mansion in 1811. The earliest recorded history of this property dates to 1730 when the land was patented as Buckingham House and granted to Edward Spriggs, a Colonel in the British Army and well-known pre-Revolutionary War land speculator. Later names on the deed include Ninian Tannehill, Ninian’s son William Tannehill, and finally George Schnertzell before Hosselboch’s ownership. The farmhouse is thought to have been constructed in 1780. Buckingham farm has always been considered one of the show places of “the Manor” on account of its fertile Monocacy bottom land and splendid, scenic views of surrounding mountains. It was also a place that utilized considerable slave labor. At John Hosselboch’s death in 1840, the plantation was supported by 34 black and mulatto house servants and farm laborers.

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A view looking southeast across the former Buckingham Plantation towards Sugar Loaf Mountain from Bishop Claggett Lane near the intersection with the Buckeystown Pike.

​Benjamin Amos Cunningham married Rebecca Hosselboch on November 9th, 1829 and the couple went on to have three children together: the fore-mentioned John Amos Hosselboch Cunningham (1831-1870), Mary Rebecca (Cunningham) Hall (1833-1913) and William Armstrong Cunningham (1834-1892). The Cunningham family lived at the Buckingham farm residence with Rebecca’s parents. I’d also like to add that the Hosselboch family were influential in building the first stone Methodist Church in Buckeystown in 1827, of which Benjamin Cunningham would soon become a devout member.

​When John Hosselboch died in 1840, he left the Buckingham House and plantation to his 19-year-old grandson, John Amos Cunningham. At this time, Benjamin sold his business in town, likely in an effort to help his son with the responsibility of running the Hosselbach family farm. I want to return to author William Jarboe Grove for a bit more narration regarding the Hosselboch and Cunningham families from The History of Carrollton Manor. The author states that John Amos Hosselboch Cunningham was a key supporter of the road projects on the manor, and served as one of the original officers of the Buckeystown Turnpike Road Company. The younger Cunningham also had his name changed to honor his maternal grandfather:

“Very active in this road movement was John Amos Hoselbock Cunningham, who married Martha, daughter of James L. Davis. Mr.  Cunningham was a man of leisure with a happy jovial disposition, and a true gentleman of the Southern type, he owned Buckingham, where the Buckingham Industrial School is now located and maintained by the Baker brothers.
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Mr. Cunningham, by a special act of the Legislature, had his name changed to John Amos Hoselboch Cunningham. When the change of Mr. Cunningham's name was under consideration, an amusing incident occurred. One of the members of the Legislature inquired if it was Mr.  Cunningham's wish to take up the whole alphabet. But it was in gratitude for the gift to him by  his grandfather John Amos Hoselboch of the Buckingham farm containing more than three    hundred acres of land, and all the stock, farming implements and household furniture, that Mr. Cunningham had his name changed. Mr. Hoselboch was a very successful farmer, who died and left all this by will to Mr. Cunningham. Mr. Hoselboch had three children: one son and two daughters. He provided well for his daughters, but his son George, who had been very successful, and whom he had already helped financially, was not remembered by his father's will. The daughters were twins. One married Thomas Davis, the owner of Greenfield Mills, and the other married Judge Benjamin Amos Cunningham. A remarkable occurrence was their   death on the same day, and the messengers bearing the news of their deaths met on the road between Buckeystown and Greenfield Mills. They were both buried on the same day in the family burying ground on Buckingham farm."     

Hasselboch Burying Ground with Buckingham's Choice Retirement Community in background

Rebecca (Hosselboch) Cunningham died the day after Christmas, 1834 at the tender age of 30. As stated above, her twin sister, Hilleary (Hosselboch) Davis of Greenfield Mills down the pike, died the very same day on December 26th (1834). Both young women would be laid to rest in a small, but special cemetery in which members of the Hosselboch family and two individuals of African-American descent are buried. The Hosselboch headstones are no longer present; but a marker has been placed to remember the two Black individuals who were buried here. This private burial ground is particularly familiar to me as it constitutes the opening scene of my 1997 documentary “Up From the Meadows: A Black History of Frederick County, Maryland.”

This cemetery is on private property, but individuals are welcome to visit it if they first check in at the Claggett Center Welcome Center. (If the welcome center is unstaffed, please call 301-691-8048) where you’ll sign in and get a guest badge. You’ll leave your car here and walk behind the Welcome Center. Follow the signs into the farm fields for 0.5 miles through open fields towards the Hosselboch family cemetery on the top of a small hill. Visit online below: On the Trail of Souls.org

ON the Trail of Souls

William Jarboe Grove continues with a personal anecdote about the burial ground at Buckingham:
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“Mr. Hoselboch and many others were buried in this old graveyard, which was then enclosed by a post and rail fence. About the year 1870, a substantial brick wall was built by Benjamin Cunningham, a son of John Amos Hoselboch Cunningham. I, as a boy, hauled lime in a cart from my father's lime kiln to put up this wall, and I remember very well how difficult it was for the horse to hold the cart back, as the hill which it was necessary to go down was especially steep. It was the custom then for every farm to have its burial ground, which was usually in the center of the field or some prominent place on the farm. During those days, many of the leading citizens and early frontiersmen were buried in these lots. Nearly all of these old graveyards have been farmed over, very few having been enclosed or protected; and, while this looks like desecrating the graves of these early people, still we have the consolation as my mother always said: "No matter where the body rests, so the soul is safe."

​As I was looking into the personal and professional life of Judge Cunningham, my assistant, Marilyn Veek was studying old land records. In 1834, B. A. Cunningham bought his first property in the area. This included a very familiar structure still located on the southwest corner of the Buckeystown Pike and Manor Church Road. Author/historian Nancy W. Bodmer knows this place intimately because it served as the home of her pottery business for half a century!

This stone building on the southwest corner of the Buckeystown Pike and Manor Woods Road served home to Benjamin A. Cunningham and author Nancy W. Bodmer. (This is the first building on the right of Buckeystown Pike in the center of the photo).

In her book, Nancy opines about this structure which she gave the designation of #83 and "The General Store":

"Originally part of the Good Luck tract and later owned by George Buckey, this property was sold to Adam Kramer for $300 in 1823. The land included the present 4 houses to the south. The price would indicate that no houses were present in 1823. The stone for construction was quarried from a rare vein of iron rich stone along the Monocacy River near Michael's Mill. The stone house adjacent to this store was built around the same period. In 1825, Abraham Koontz bought the property which had doubled in price, $600.50. In 1834, Benjamin Amos Cunningham purchased the property for $1400. In a history of the town written by W. G. Baker in 1913, he describes the stone store: 'Seventy years ago Mr.'s Cunningham and Duvall kept the largest or one of the largest stores in Frederick County outside of Frederick City in the building of Arthur McKenna. From the store room, sales were made for miles around. Persons now have no idea of how many goods were sold from this same old store room. Farmers would buy for their families and for their colored people by the wagon loade.' "

The General Store site in 1915

Interior of the General Store under the proprietorship of John DeLashmutt (pictured) in 1898

Benjamin would marry a second time to Eveline Candler (b. 1818) of Montgomery County on December 5th, 1836. The couple would have five additional daughters: Eveline Virginia (Cunningham) Thomas, Alice Louise (Cunningham) Rice (1842-1942), Cecelia Ellen (Cunningham) Chilton (1844-1902), Fannie (1849-d. before 1860) and Ida Caroline (1852-1902).

As son John Amos Hosselboch Cunningham gained more experience in leading the Buckingham plantation, Benjamin had the opportunity to work on behalf of the greater Frederick community in political realms. In 1845, he received an appointment on Frederick’s Levy Court. Three years later, in 1848, Mr. Cunningham became a Frederick County School Inspector. All the while the family lived in the confines of the Buckingham plantation's farmhouse.

Vintage image of the Buckingham farmhouse

1850 US Census showing Benjamin and Eveline with seven children in the household at Buckingham

Benjamin Cunningham obtained a great deal of property in the village after the 1850 death of his brother-in-law George Hosselboch who died in Cairo, Illinois of cholera according to Frederick diarist Jacob Engelbrecht. This included a holding on the corner property immediately across the Buckeystown Pike from the General Store (on the southeast corner of Buckeystown Pike and Michael's Mill Road). 

Former home of Cunningham's brother-in-law, George Hasselbach.

Also around this time, my assistant Marilyn learned that Benjamin had bought 16 lots in town from William Norris, the executor for his brother-in-law George Hosselboch. He was involved with a number of other properties, mostly owned jointly with others including Mr. Duvall, Daniel Baker, Arthur DeLashmutt, and Davis Richardson. He would sell off various lots on the southeast part of the village and along the pike between then and 1871. Many fine homes today are located east and south of Buckingham Lane on these former lots once owned by our subject.

​Cunningham's longtime business partner, Grafton Duvall, purchased the General Store property from Benjamin in 1857 for $2000 and would continue as a merchant here. Fours years earlier, Benjamin had bought an old limestone building a few doors up the pike. This was the former Buckey's Tavern, and was sold to Cunningham by Col. Lewis Kemp, son-in-law of George Buckey. Col. Kemp was the first president of the Agricultural Club of Frederick County and the Frederick County Agricultural Society, founded in 1853. Benjamin A. Cunningham would also become a board member of this organization. This same year of 1853 would mark the first exhibition of the Frederick County Agricultural Society. Today we know this event as the Great Frederick Fair.

Mr. Cunningham re-opened a second mercantile establishment in the former Buckey’s Tavern, and it is shown as "Cunningham and Co." on the 1858 Bond Atlas Map. This occurred in 1853.  It has been said that Mr. C. could provide his customers with anything from “needle to anchor.” 

1858 Bond Atlas Map of Buckeystown

Frederick Examiner (Oct 12, 1859)

This visual of Buckey's Tavern (second from left) comes from Nancy Bodmer's books. Below is a modern-day view of the same structure in Buckeystown.

​In early April of 1854, Benjamin's wife Eveline Cunningham died at age 36. It appears that she was originally buried at the Hosselboch burying ground as Mount Olivet was not open for burials until late May of that year. It was also this same year that Cunningham was elected to the state legislature as a delegate. In 1858, Gov. Thomas H. Hicks would appoint Benjamin to serve as Judge of Frederick County's Orphans Court.

Maryland Union (Nov 4, 1858)

​Based on land records, newly-titled Judge Cunningham bought a farm in 1859. That farm is at the location marked S.D. Leib on the 1873 Titus Atlas Map. This is north of Lime Kiln (over the train tracks) and south of Arcadia on the west side of the Buckeystown Pike. Today, Cunningham's former farm is bisected by English Muffin Way and is home to several large warehouse buildings and the local home of Matan Companies.

A portion of the Buckeystown District Atlas from the larger Titus Atlas Map of Frederick County showing the farm of S.D. Lieb just below Arcadia on the west side of the Buckeystown Pike. This was a former farm of B. A. Cunningham

1860 US Census showing Benjamin Cunningham and daughters living on their farm

To the left is the former site of Cunningham Farm in vicinity of English Muffin Way at the railroad crossing on Buckeystown Pike

​Benjamin Amos Cunningham would weather the American Civil War with no issue. He was said to have been a proud Unionist and was elected to serve on the 1864 Union Convention of Maryland. This body rewrote of the state constitution officially put an end to slavery here in the Old Line State.

In January, 1865, Cunningham was elected Secretary of the Frederick Town Savings Institution and appears in their employ in the 1870 US Census. Some records say that Cunningham moved to Frederick in 1865, but if so, he was likely renting.

MD Union (Jan 12, 1865)

1870 US Census showing Benjamin Cunningham working for the Frederick Town Savings Bank. Note that his 93 year-old mother is living with the family.

​​All the while, John Amos Hosselboch Cunningham was making his maternal grandfather proud with his successful management of the Buckingham Plantation. I've read that after freeing his slaves, he would assist many in obtaining land nearby the plantation. Just across from Buckingham, on the other side of the Monocacy River, two Emancipation communities would grow in the form of Flint Hill and Hope Hill. Many of these families of color had former links to the large plantation. Some continued to work here, while others found employment at Buckeystown's cannery, along with the tanyards and nearby lime operations.

​John Amos Hosselboch Cunningham predeceased his father. This occurred on April 20th, 1870. He would be buried the very next day, however this would not be in the small family cemetery at Buckingham. Interestingly, his mortal remains would be laid to rest in Mount Olivet in Area E/Lot 197.

​Earlier that same month, Judge Cunningham had second wife Eveline re-interred in Mount Olivet in an adjoining plot to his sons' Area E/Lot 90. He had already done the same with his first wife, Rebecca (Hosselboch) Cunningham, over a year earlier on January 30th, 1869. This is likely the time when the large obelisk style monument was erected on the plot, however it could have come two years later upon the passing of Judge Cunningham’s mother Ann in 1872.

Frederick Examiner (Jan 31, 1872)

Our subject retired from his position at the bank in 1875. He can be found living with two daughters, a niece and a house servant in the 1880 census and spent the following decade in Frederick. He bought what is now 227 East 2nd Street in 1880 from trustees for John Jarboe. At the time he owned it, the property included a vacant lot to the east at what is now 229 East 2nd Street. The house now at that location was probably built by his daughter Mary (Cunningham) Hall.

1880 US Census showing Judge Cunningham living at 227 E 2nd St in Frederick

The former home of Judge Cunningham stands at 227 E 2nd St (gray home on left with light blue shutters)

​Judge Benjamin Amos Cunningham died on May 1st 1891 and was noted as one of Frederick’s oldest residents. As mentioned at the onset, his obituary was quite extensive and made front page news here in Frederick. I also found his obituary in the Baltimore, Washington and even Pittsburgh newspapers.

Frederick News (May 1, 1891)

Frederick News (May 4, 1891)

Frederick News (May 2, 1891)

Frederick News (May 7, 1891)

​Judge Cunningham's other son, William Armstrong Cunningham (1834-1892), died within a year of his father. Thus concludes the lives of the male Cunninghams of Carrollton Manor. Also buried on this plot in Mount Olivet are two of the Judge’s daughters: Cecelia Chilton (1844-1902) with husband William, and Ida Caroline Cunningham (1852-1902). John Amos Hosselboch Cunningham’s wife Mattie and three young grandchildren are also here. Another daughter, Alice Louise (Cunningham) Rice (1842-1942), is in nearby Area B/Lot 112 .

William Armstrong Cunningham)

Cecelia Ellen (Cunningham) Chilton

Ida Caroline Cunningham

Alice Louise (Cunningham) Rice

Martha "Mattie" Caskie (Davis) Cunningham (with John A. H. Cunningham) and three young children: (l-R) John Hosselboch Cunningham (1867-1869), Mollie Loulie Cunningham (1859), and James Lynn Davis Cunningham (1857-1859)

​John Amos Hosselboch Cunningham’s heirs sold the Buckingham plantation to a gentleman named Daniel Baker sometime before 1873 as his name is designated on this site on the Titus Map published in 1873. Twenty-five years later in 1898, Daniel, Joseph, and William Baker founded the Buckingham Industrial School for Boys on the property. Based on the European industrial school model, the Baker family endowed and created an institution where poor white boys might have a home and receive a good education. The enrollment averaged 50 Buckingham Boys between the ages of 6 and 18.

1898 view of the Baker Industrial School (above) and the structure today (below)

​In addition to their industrial education the boys took care of gardening, milking, canning, and tending the orchards. The school closed in 1943-44. In 1950 the property was donated to the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and renamed Bishop Claggett Center after Thomas John Claggett, first bishop of Maryland. It continues to serve as a conference and retreat center to this day.
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The name Buckingham also lives on with the Buckingham’s Choice continuing care retirement community located next to Claggett Center. A “newly designed path” leads residents on a pleasurable walk through the scenic grounds of the former "Lords of Carrollton Manor" up to the old Hosselboch/Hasselbach Burying Ground.  

Hosselboch Burying Ground

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to my friend and colleague Nancy W. Bodmer who I have known for over 30 years. When it comes to the history of Buckeystown and Carrollton Manor, she is definitely the "Queen of the Manor." Her research and visuals contained in her several books were invaluable to publishing this blog story on the Cunninghams and Hosselbochs!