​Well, maybe that’s not the best title choice for a blog article coming from a cemetery, but it certainly describes the days and weeks following Thanksgiving in which a central activity for many becomes the frantic pursuit of gifts for Christmas.

The “Olympic Games of Commerce” boast, as their opening ceremony, the unofficial holiday of “Black Friday,” which now extends through the entire weekend. This is book-ended by “Cyber Monday,” the online version of the previous three days. If you still see your own shadow without presents for all on your list, you better not pout because there are nearly four more weeks of shopping before “Santa Claus” comes to town.

I decided to look at the Frederick News of a century ago to study this phenomenon "back in the day" as they say. A logical place to start was December 1st, 1923, as I wanted to see what shopping options were available (here in Frederick) long before there was something called “Black Friday.” As a matter of fact, this particular year of 1923 came six years before the infamous “Black Thursday” of October 24th, 1929—the day of the largest sell-off of shares in U.S. history causing the Great Stock Market Crash.
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Let's get back to the topic of holiday shopping. The answer was clear back then—your best strategy for scoring Christmas deals was keeping a keen eye on advertisements in the "local" newspaper, and getting to the "local" store as fast as possible. Usually this required a trip to downtown Frederick, because this was the prime hub for almost everything in the realm of commercially bought gifts.

As I hearken back to the time period of the “Roaring 20s," it’s important to recall that all presents did not come from stores or shipping warehouses as the majority do today. Back then, a popular alternative  included handmade, and homemade, gifts. These could come in many forms and included specialty crafts, clothing and valued antiques. However, not everyone had the talent, time or know-how.  I found an article touting holiday shopping in downtown Frederick in the November 20th edition of the Frederick News. This appeared five days prior to Thanksgiving that particular year.

​Frederick had several nice shops to choose from ranging from Doll Brothers to Bennett’s, Hamburgers to Hendrickson’s. However, there was one additional store that particularly stood out from the rest. This was Kemp’s.

Perhaps it was the marketing acumen of owner Clarence Thomas Kemp, or maybe it was his location on the northeast corner of the town square, known better as “the Square Corner” at the intersection of Market and Patrick streets. Whatever the case, this endeavor offered not just the customary ground floor browsing, but the addition of a second and third floor. Talk about a store of many departments! And come holiday time, the third floor would be transformed into a magical oasis of Christmas gift offerings.

​Kemp’s was the place, and as the advertisement above makes mentions, it even boasted an elevator to assist customers to those upper floors. A busy venue all-year round, Kemp’s Dry Goods and Notions Store was Santa’s workshop for “kids from 1 to 94” as Karen Carpenter would sing. And if you, like me, are curious to the commercial meaning of notions, they are small objects and accessories such as buttons, snaps, and collar stays used in sewing and haberdashery. Notions also include the small tools used in sewing, such as needles, thread, pins, marking pens, elastic and seam rippers. Oh, the lost art of sewing and "at-home" alteration of "hand-me down" clothing!

Clarence Thomas Kemp
Although previously familiar with this leading merchant of Frederick’s rich past, I knew I had a short cut waiting for me in respect to compiling a biography of his life, or at least part of it. Clarence Thomas Kemp's biography appears in Volume 2 of T. J. C. Williams’ History of Frederick County, published in 1910.

The following passage is taken from that work, and paints a robust picture of Mr. Kemp, whose early ancestors hailed from Germany and Switzerland as is well-documented in genealogical work of Frederick County. In fact, his great-grandfather, Lt. Col. Henry Kemp (1763-1833) led soldiers in the War of 1812 and resides in our cemetery in Area NN. Henry's father, John Ludwig served as a member of the Committee of Observation during the American Revolution here in Frederick. You may also be familiar with a road connected to this early family, located just north of downtown Frederick as it links Rocky Springs Road with Shookstown Road on a northwestern perimeter of Fort Detrick property—Kemp Lane.

Here's that promised biography:

“C. Thomas Kemp, one of the leading citizens of Frederick, Md., proprietor of one of the most successful drygoods and notion houses, situated on the northeast corner of Market and Patrick streets of the city, began life as a poor boy and owes his present eminence in the community to his own earnest efforts. By good management and close application to his business interests, coupled with strict integrity, and fair dealing in his relations with others, he has acquired a reputation and a general regard that are most creditable. Mr. Kemp, who was born July 5th, 1862, is a son of Lewis G. and Sarah M. (Miller) Kemp.

The Kemp family traces its ancestry to reputable lineage in its old home in Germany. The founder of the American branch of the family (Conradt Kemp (1685-1765)) was one of the early settlers of Frederick County, Md. Lewis G. Kemp, father of C. Thomas Kemp, was for many years an active farmer. Later in life, he moved to Frederick. He is now about eighty-five years old, and with his wife resides in Frederick. Mr. Kemp is a member of the Reformed Church. For the past sixty-five years he has been connected with the Democratic party, whose ticket he has constantly supported. His wife, Sarah M. Miller, is a descendant of the well-known Miller family. Three of their children are living: Mary Margaret, unmarried, resides in Frederick; C. Thomas; and B. M., of Chicago, Ill.

​C. Thomas Kemp lived primarily at three locations in Frederick City. In 1880, he lived with his parents at 297 West Patrick. From here he would reside at today's 20 West 3rd Street by 1900, likely moving here after his marriage in 1895. He would be residing here in 1910 when the biography appeared in Williams’ History of Frederick County. Interestingly, his next door neighbor in that census was Frederick City Hospital foundress Emma J. Smith.

The original site of Kemp and John P. Renner's dry goods store was 15 North Market Street. This structure no longer stands and is the current site of District Arts. Kemp would relocate to the northeast corner of "the Square Corner" at the intersection of Market and Patrick streets, so named because it was the town square of Frederick. This site had many previous usages, including that of a drugstore in the picture above.  A previous "Story in Stone" on Daniel M. Grumbine illustrated its use for a tailoring business, and I also learned of a Milton A. Woodward who  was a grocer, and the name of the structure was once familiar to residents as the Woodward Building.

​Mr. Kemp would enlarge the brick building to three stories in 1908, and it would soon be billed as "the Square Store at Square Corner." 

​C. Thomas Kemp added men's and boy's clothing departments to his initial offerings of women's and children's apparel. A long list of items were sold here ranging from shoes,  silk hosiery, handkerchiefs, jewelry, neckwear and corsets.

Mr. Kemp went on to purchase the adjacent Rosenstock building on East Patrick Street in 1921 and expanded even further. ​By June of 1923, he was running advertisements which touted Kemp’s as “Frederick’s Greatest Store.”

A key area of interest revolves around newspaper-based holiday ads, and more specific, Christmas advertising.​ ​My case study involved careful scrutiny of Mr. Kemp's work leading up to Christmas, 1923—a century ago. I found C. Thomas Kemp as one of the earliest businessmen to really “sell” the holiday. He continued his successful marketing strategy and clearly flexed the Kemp's brand. In addition, C. Thomas Kemp counterbalanced his advertising with a specific new department for his store during the holiday season. In December of 1923, we see the third floor, which had usually served as home to men’s clothing, becoming the "Gift Shop.” ​​

The "ramp up" week to Christmas included a second ad, in the daily newspaper, designed to provide special gift ideas to the Frederick populace. I was curious about the entire campaign of 1923, so I researched each day and found these gems from December 18th-22nd. Not quite the 12 days of Christmas, but a brilliant marketing campaign nonetheless. C. Thomas Kemp topped off each holiday with a heartfelt message to his customers and community. He did this on each major holiday, and here in 1923, he accentuated ads for Christmas and New Years.

Since I had the Christmas Eve edition of the local paper in hand, I thought I'd share the front page and a few interesting articles from said front page that pertain to Santa Claus coming to Frederick. This should get you in the Christmas spirit!

C. Thomas Kemp had worked his way up from the bottom and was enjoying the fruits of his labor. His personal life would eventually center around a new home for him and wife Mary in one of Frederick’s finest neighborhood—Rockwell Terrace.

Kemp's ads would continue to attract customers up through the proprietor's death in 1930. As a matter of fact, I was interested to find an advertisement announcing to the community that the business would be closed for several days on account of Mr. Kemp's death in early July. A great sign of respect among business owners came that same week as his competitors shared their condolences.

​C. Thomas Kemp actually passed on July 1st, 1930. He died at his home at 208 Rockwell Terrace, just four days shy of his 68th birthday. His obituary states that he had been ill for quite some time, suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.

​C. Thomas Kemp was buried in Mount Olivet’s Area C/Lot 138/140 beside his in-laws, Theodore and Mary (Dill) Shultz. Wife Mary Matilda Kemp would join him here upon her passing in 1941. Mr. Kemp’s parents Lewis (1824-1913) and Sarah (1821-1912) are only about 75 yards up the hill in Area E/39, and other early Kemp family members are in this section too. C. Thomas Kemp's former business partner, John P. Renner, and other friends in the dry goods business such as Charles J. Doll (1859-1930), who died the day after Mr. Kemp, are buried nearby as well.

​Kemp’s Department Store would continue to operate for decades after C. Thomas Kemp’s passing. Daughter Annie, and son in-law, Sam Maples, would operate the store until the early 1960s. Routzahn & Sons, Inc., owners of a furniture, television and appliance store at 24-26 East Patrick Street would purchase the store and property in 1961. They continued to operate under the Kemp's moniker before eventually changing it to Routzahn’s Department Store. The rest, as they say, is history. Thank you Mr. Kemp for outfitting and assisting with "the spirit of giving" during the holidays for so many past (and present) Fredericktonians. 

So with Thanksgiving at hand, I decided to take a look into what was happening in my hometown of Frederick, Maryland for the "Turkey Day" back this week, 150 years ago. According to my calculations, that puts us into the third week of November, 1873. Jacob Engelbrecht (b. 1797) was alive and well at this time. I immediately decided to consult his legendary diary, the greatest single, documentary of our city's rich history (kept from 1819 until the author's death in 1878).

This would be a particularly sad time for Jacob, as he lost his wife, Eliza, at the very end of 1872. He would move from his home on West Patrick Street to that of his son Phillip on South Market Street only a few blocks from Mount Olivet's front gate the previous May. This would be his first Thanksgiving as a widower, and away from his longtime home next to the Carroll Creek, (and across from the original site of the  Barbara Fritchie house). Outside of that, it was a quiet year that saw Ulysses S. Grant start his second term as U.S. President. Jacob commented on March 4th (the time of Grant's inauguration) that he hoped that Grant "would conduct himself as he had done in his first four years, and we'll be alright." He went on to write, "I think he managed as well taking all in all as good as a man possibly could. He's a good President." 

On the local level, the big news of the year was the corporation's decision to replace the old Market House, dating from 1769. This landmark on North Market Street was home to municipal government and would be replaced with a commodious building of brick at a cost of $8,000. The size and scope of the project necessitated additional properties on both sides, and behind, to be purchased. The demolition occurred in spring of 1873.

Throughout the summer, residents saw the new structure, which would include a theater on the backside to accommodate lectures, concerts and theatrical productions, take shape. Of course this would become the City Opera House. I found Engelbrecht's diary entry of September 8th to be very ironic based on the structure's current use 150 years later:

"New City Hall & Market House - On Saturday last September 6, 1873 the masons finished the brickwork on the above building, and on the strength of it, they had two kegs of "lager bier" and basket full of cakes for all hands concerned."

 You know this locale today as the site of Brewer's Alley Restaurant.

Thanksgiving was celebrated by the fabled Pilgrims and Indians of eastern Massachusetts in fall 1621. In 1873, the "holiday" was not a given as we have today, 252 years later. Proclamations by both the United States President and individual state governors actually had to be made to recognize these days as special and worthy of closing banks and businesses, while encouraging the citizenry to get into church and be "thankful" for their blessings.

I researched the history going back to George Washington and the time of the Nation's founding to learn that Thanksgiving has been celebrated nationally on and off since 1789, with a proclamation by our first president after a request by Congress. President Thomas Jefferson chose not to observe the holiday, and its celebration was intermittent until President Abraham Lincoln, in 1863. Honest Abe proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens", calling on the American people to also, "with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience ..... fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation." Just remember this as you are watching the Lions and Cowboys tomorrow, or as you are carving the turkey. Lincoln declared a day of Thanksgiving to be held the last Thursday in November. On June 28th, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law "The Holidays Act" that made Thanksgiving a yearly appointed federal holiday in Washington, D.C. 

​On that last Friday of November, 1873, Jacob Engelbrecht would write in his diary:

"Day of thanksgiving —Yesterday was Thanksgiving day by proclamation of President Grant and Governor Whyte of Maryland and was generally observed in our town. The different churches had divine service."  

​In case you were curious, this practice of political proclamations would continue until 1885. Another irony of history because an act of Congress would thereby make Thanksgiving, and other federal holidays, a paid holiday for all federal workers throughout the United States. This legislation would be enacted on January 6th of that year (1885). Perhaps, that's a better way for all of us to remember the importance of January 6th—instead of another "questionable" narrative involving the capitol and congress on that day?

Jacob Engelbrecht did not write anything more on that first Thanksgiving without his beloved Eliza. Studying this man, I'm sure he found plenty in life to be thankful for, as it had been a wonderful one thus far. And like George Bailey, where would historians, genealogists and others be without this great Fredericktonian who kept his diary from 1819 until his death in 1878. In addition to serving a term as Frederick mayor, he was more importantly a friend to many.

Thanksgiving week of 1873 however had started off pretty unnerving. This was due to a fatal incident on West 6th Street that left a man dead. 

"Killed or murdered —Last evening a man (stranger) named John McCormick was struck with a "slug shot" by John Philby from which he died soon thereafter. It occurred in Sixth Street. Philby was released on bail ($200). The coroner's jury was that he was injured by the fall on the pavement."
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Jacob Engelbrecht
Sunday, November 3rd, 1873

Who was this John Filby? Who was John McCormick? I immediately was intrigued when I learned that Mr. Philby (or Filby) was buried here in Mount Olivet in Area H/Lot 134 nearly four decades later. McCormick would be buried in a potter's field at Montevue, the county almshouse, north of town.

Consulting the newspapers of the day, stories of this event could be found in papers involving the Baltimore Sun, Cumberland Daily News, and Montgomery County Sentinel. The local papers of the day, the  Maryland Union and the Frederick Examiner gave a much more thorough account of events as you can imagine.  

Just what more could I find out about John Filby, a man who, like our friend Jacob Engelbrecht,  I clearly presume had an equally tough Thanksgiving in November of 1873?

John J. A. Filby
John Jacob Astor Filby was born March 24th, 1854. He was the son of Samuel Thaddeus Filby (1823-1886) and Mary Anna (Mulhorn) Filby (1836-1894). It appears that John's father was from the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania area originally. In fact, Samuel's sister, Mary Ann (Filby) Wade, was the mother of Gettysburg's most famous resident during the famed American Civil War. This was Mary Virginia "Jennie/Ginnie" Wade, who was killed by an errant bullet on July 3rd, 1863 while in the process of kneading bread. This would make Jennie/Ginnie our subject John's first cousin. 

Our cemetery records list Samuel Filby as a stagecoach driver, something I confirmed in the 1850 US Census as it showed him in residence at Keefer's Hotel on West Church and Court streets. The Filby's, interchangeably spelled Philby, lived on West Sixth Street in Frederick near the intersection with North Bentz Street. The 1860 Census record perhaps speaks a bit toward young John's upbringing. The family residence appears to have been a "Grog House." If you don't know what this is, it's a tavern or bar, with "grog" defined as spirits/alcohol. This locale is made even more colorful by the tenancy of one Ellen Banks, her profession listed as prostitute. Alrighty then!

It was tough sledding to find out more about John Filby. As I gleaned a bit of his early life up until the day he literally knocked John McCormick's "lights out" in November of 1873 at age 19, one thing was definitely clear—his life would certainly not compare to that of his namesake John Jacob Astor (1763-1848). The German-born American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor died six years before John Filby's birth, and I have no idea why any parents would be so fond of the wealthy gentleman. This was  a confusing name to give to a newborn because its well-known that Astor made his fortune in "sketchy" ways which included a fur trade monopoly, by smuggling opium into China, and by investing in real estate in and  around New York City. He was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States.

John Filby was only 11 years old when President Lincoln was assassinated and the Civil War ended in April of 1865. He can be found living at home on West Sixth Street in the 1870 census. John would marry his first wife, Miss Elizabeth Gerloch (Gerlach), in January, 1879. I found this woman, an immigrant, working as a domestic servant for wealthy mill owner and the Frederick Fair Board's first president, Gideon Bantz, in the 1870 census.

John J. A. Filby's parents are both buried here in Mount Olivet, but in different areas of the cemetery. Samuel passed just before Thanksgiving of 1886 (November 20th to be exact) and can be found in Area Q/Lot 218. Likewise, Annie (Linton) Filby died a week before Thanksgiving as well (on November 17th), 1894 making for another emotional Thanksgiving for our subject. Annie was laid to rest in Area H/lot 182.

The 1890s are always problematic with a lack of the 1890 Census records, lost in a fire. I did not even come across any articles to bridge the gap to the 1900 census. I would however be able to place John at West Sixth Street in the first decade of the new century. He had remarried Joanna (Stimmel) Burrall. around 1893/94 and the couple would be living with a daughter from his new bride's former relationship. This was Joanna's third marriage as she originally been married to a gentleman named Anton Shelhorn.

I reveled in seeing a new profession noted for John J. A. Filby, one that followed in his father's footsteps. He was a keeper of a saloon. I soon found other mentions of this establishment located on Montonqua Avenue, aka West Seventh Street. This was known as Filby's Road House and was considered to be on the outskirts of town at the time. It was positioned at the intersection of Montclaire Avenue and near the site of the old toll house.

​In 1901, a terrible windstorm took off the establishment's roof. It apparently made its way to the Oppossumtown Pike, the name for North Bentz Street above Seventh Street before the name of Motter Avenue would be applied. The occasion called for a photograph to be placed in the local newspaper as well giving us a visual.

This structure, despite the damage, still stands today! It's now home to La Villa Nail Salon and Mackie's Barbecue Co.  at 325 & 327 West Seventh Street. It's directly across from the hospital.

Under Filby's ownership, the Road House often found itself in the center of controversy and bawdy conduct.

The Filby Road House was sold around 1906/07. Newspaper advertisements show that Joanna, not John was the true owner or purse strings of the Road House. Joanna would also own several build-able lots on West Seventh. The 1910 census shows shows John without a job, or simply enjoying his retirement. However, Joanna is listed as operating a grocery store. I'm thinking this was done utilizing the couple's home domicile.

John Jacob Astor Filby was reported ill in a few of the February News editions. He would be dead within a month, passing on March 21st, 1912. Filby would be buried not far from the grave of his mother in Mount Olivet's Area H/Lot 134. A sizeable dark gray monument stands over his grave.

As I thought I had things nicely buttoned up on this story about a Frederick man who inadvertently killed another man, an apparent vagabond, just days before Thanksgiving, 1873, I couldn't help but think of John's wife Joanna Filby having to endure a lonely Thanksgiving in November, 1912.

Regardless of how that went down, she appears relatively "grief free" by Thanksgiving of 1913. To my great surprise, Joanna had worked relatively quickly in getting remarried once again. This time her husband was in his early twenties, while she was 50. Forget turkey talk, we have a cougar on our hands "By George!" This was a future World War I vet by the name of William R. Brightwell. The articles below help illustrate the couple's interesting relationship. ​Apparently Joanna dabbled in a few other "questionable" endeavors as well.

Months after her divorce, Joanna would suffer a major life setback as her home was consumed in a fire on West Sixth on October 24th, 1925. During this event, six homes in the neighborhood burned. These homes were seen as part of a slum area. The opportunity came for the City to rebuild public housing here in years to come as the John Hanson Apartments.

​The exciting life and times of Joanna (Filby) Brightwell would come to a close on February 23rd, 1928. She had been living with her daughter in the vicinity of Rose, Michigan at the time of her death caused by heart disease. She would be buried with her "old," both literally and figuratively, husband John J. A. Filby in Area H. Sadly, no one took the opportunity to ever apply her death date on her gravestone.

Happy Thanksgiving, and smokers out there, I suggest you carry your own lighter and matches. Don't always count on the goodwill of others to offer you a light, as you may get more than you bargained for like John McCormick that Thanksgiving week of 1873. 

The Belvedere Hotel made its formal debut in 1903, taking its name from the estate of John Eager Howard (his son Charles would marry Francis Scott Key’s daughter Elizabeth in 1825.) Located at 1 Chase Street in downtown Baltimore, this was the center of Charm City’s social scene for many years. The structure still stands today, however its primary usage today is boasting luxury condos.  In its heyday as a hotel, the Belvedere hosted many famous celebrities ranging from movie stars and musicians to politicians and three U.S. presidents.

The hotel’s majestic ballroom was used nightly for formal dinners and fanciful galas. An event that occurred here on the night of Monday, January 11th, 1910, did not possess the glitz and glamour of a Hollywood party, nor did it have the stuffy air of a formal state dinner. No, on this particular night, a group of Union veterans of the American Civil War once again gathered together to reminisce about days of old, and enjoy each other’s company during times of peace—something they had been doing since their inaugural edition of these annual reunions decades before.
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This group was known as Cole’s Cavalry, a military outfit of volunteers that had been formed 49 years earlier in 1861 at the outset of “the War between the States.” Although the event was well-attended and went off without a hitch, there was something noticeably different in comparison with previous gatherings of this set of cavalrymen attached to a military unit known as the Potomac Home Brigade. Plain and simply, absent was the group’s wartime leader and namesake—Col. Henry A. Cole, a Frederick, Maryland native.  Col. Cole had died the previous May.

In 1861, Henry Alexander Cole rose to the rank of American colonel and bravely commanded the 1st Maryland Cavalry Battalion, Potomac Home Brigade in operations across his home state of Maryland and Virginia during the American Civil War. An 1881 newspaper article appearing in a newspaper called the Carbon Advocate (Lehighton, PA) spoke of our subject:
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“Maj. Henry A. Cole of Frederick, Md., was the commander, and it is needless to say that he was a man of great dash and courage. From the first fight in which he led his four companies of brave mountaineers, down to the close of the war, the cavalry he commanded bore his name and I doubt if there was ever one of those sturdy veterans who did not take pride in saying that he belonged to Cole’s Cavalry.”

​Henry Alexander Cole was born on July 25th, 1838, in Frederick.  He was the third son of George A. Cole (1806-1886) and wife Ann F. (Hilton) Cole (1803-1877). One of eight children, Henry was educated in local schools and took on the trade of carpenter like his father before him. 

​Over the next decade, Henry used his skills in the contracting and construction of residential, commercial and public structures. The Cole family lived on South Market Street, just south of the intersection with All Saints St. They had a house on the east side of Frederick’s principal north-south thoroughfare, and this was three doors down from the B&O Railroad passenger station (across Market Street from the US Hotel).

​With the winds of war prominently blowing on Frederick in the spring of 1861, local residents had seen events such as the fall of Fort Sumter (SC), the fall of Harpers Ferry and defection of Virginia from the Union, the Pratt Street Riots in Baltimore, and the capital of Maryland temporarily moved from Annapolis to downtown Frederick. An early war zone would soon constitute our county’s southern border. This was the Potomac River, true dividing line between North and South, the Union and the Confederacy. Before the war, Henry A. Cole was a commissioned "Major" in Maryland’s Militia on May 1st, 1861. He would serve as Aide-de-camp on the staff of Major General Anthony Kimmel (commander of militia in the western part of the state.)
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On July 19th, 1861, US Congressman from Maryland, Francis Thomas, received authorization from Edwin Stanton, President Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War, to provide for the raising of four regiments of infantry for the protection of persons and property in the area. In addition to the four companies of infantry, Representative Thomas also planned to raise four regiments of cavalry who would prove useful for the exact services that the brigade was being raised for – scouting, patrolling river crossings, and anti-guerrilla operations.  Secretary Stanton’s order was brought to Frederick and a request for volunteers was called for with interested parties asked to assemble at the old Hessian Barracks site on South Market Street, a stone’s throw from Mount Olivet Cemetery.

​The day was August 10th, 1861. As this was a volunteer unit, most of the men who answered the call were young and had come from local farms, bringing their own horses for use in the war effort to preserve the Union. This would be the same day that Henry A. Cole enlisted in the Union Army. Like the men under him, he was mustered into the military for three years’ service.
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Just over three months later on November 27th, 1861, Cole would be appointed captain of Company A of the 1st Maryland Cavalry Battalion, Potomac Home Brigade. In short time, this outfit, made up primarily of Frederick men, would take the name of its charismatic recruiter, becoming “Cole’s Rangers” and/or "Cole's Cavalry.”

​​Henry A. Cole made a true name for himself on March 7th, 1862 as his men led the advance of Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks division into Virginia. Cole would have his horse killed under him at the battle of Bunker Hill (north of Winchester). Luckily, our subject would not be injured  in the incident. He was able to quickly liberate one of the many horses the Rebels had captured/stolen for his own use, allowing him to lead a defeat of the Confederate units under renowned cavalry Gen. Turner Ashby (1828-1862.) Cole and his men would take many prisoners in the days to follow.

Capt. Cole and his men would participate in the Battle of Kernstown on March 22nd, 1862 and the following day's Battle of Winchester in which Gen. James Shields faced off against soldiers under Gen. T. J. "Stonewall" Jackson and his stalwart brigade.  In the months to follow that spring, the Frederick men in Company A would see action at Edinburg and Charles Town, both in Virginia.

On August 1st, 1862, Companies A, B, C, and D were consolidated within the 1st Maryland. The whole regiment now took Cole’s moniker. Henry Cole would be officially promoted to the rank of major a few months later in October.

In late summer,  Cole's Cavalry would participate in the Second Battle of Bull Run/Manassas, operating against the left flank of the Confederates. After Gen. Robert E. Lee’s victory in this major engagement, the Confederates headed north into Maryland. They crossed the Potomac River at Conradt’s Ferry and soon would be traversing Carrollton Manor. Frederick would be the first substantial, northern town to which the fabled general would bring his Army of Northern Virginia. This was early September of 1862. 

Meanwhile, Cole’s Rangers attacked Southern cavalry units near Leesburg. They did encounter a surprise attack in the Battle of Mile Hill on September 2nd of 1862 in which Cole lost roughly 60 men. Two days later, Cole's Cavalry was active at skirmishes at Edwards Ferry and Monocacy Creek along the Potomac. They provided reconnaissance of troop movements in the Lovettsville area as the Rebel forces converged on Frederick. 

From here, Cole was ordered to participate at the Battle of Harpers Ferry (Sept. 12-15) of the Maryland Campaign. A cavalry breakthrough of enemy lines was necessary at the final stages of the battle. Cole’s Cavalry were tasked to deliver an important dispatch from the beleaguered garrison of Col. Dixon Miles to Gen. George B. McClellan, in charge of the Union’s Army of the Potomac. Major Cole , with three men on foot, succeeded in eluding the Confederate forces, and reached McClellan's headquarters east of Burkittsville. Once there, he reported the condition of affairs at Harpers Ferry, and was assured by the general "that he felt confident that by that time Gen. Miles had been relieved" by Gen. Franklin. 

Unfortunately, this would not happen resulting in a major surrender by Miles. Over 12,000 men laid down their arms in what became the largest surrender of US forces until the Second World War. The captured men were paroled and were soon on their way to Camp Parole near Annapolis, where they would wait out their exchanges. Cole's Cavalry had lost about a dozen men around the Harpers Ferry area through the whole episode and days leading up to it. Regardless,  Henry Cole would receive personal thanks for the mission.

The battles of South Mountain and Antietam would occur at this same time. Afterwards, Henry Cole would remain in Northern Virginia to square-off against one of his key rivals—Confederate Col. John S. Mosby (1833-1916). Mosby’s operations in Northern Virginia, and regular attacks across the Potomac on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and Baltimore & Ohio River, are legendary.

​​With well over a year of solid experience and services under its belts, the decimated ranks of Cole’s Cavalry needed to be refilled due to losses due to capture and casualty. Soon replenished to full strength, the battalion drew the assignment to range up and down the Shenandoah Valley, keeping a watchful eye on the movements of Gen. Lee.

For a short time, the battalion was broken up, however in the fall of 1863 the command was reunited and assigned to pursue Lee and his Army. During the autumn and winter, Cole’s Cavalry fought the Confederates at Leesburg, Upperville, Charlestown, Woodstock, Front Royal, Edinburg, New Market, Harrisonville, and Romney. The old battalion was placed in a “Brigade” with the First New York Cavalry within the 34th Massachusetts Infantry. The New York cavalrymen and Cole’s cavalrymen became devoted friends. Each command had the highest opinion of the brave qualities of the other. Rations and powder were practically shared. Going to the following winter of 1863 – 1864, the New Yorkers and the Marylanders engaged in horse racing and other sports at Brigade headquarters at nearby Charlestown, which seems all but fitting.

​Maj. Cole would go on to participate at the Battle of Loudoun Heights (VA) and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel for his dramatic victory at the engagement on January 10th, 1864. This would often be referred to as “the battle in the snow.” Mosby’s Rangers would attack Maj. Cole’s command in the middle of the night. Cole’s men fought them off in the snow wearing only their night clothes (ie: pajama equivalent). After a desperate hand-to-hand combat, the Confederates were repulsed. This event would be commemorated each year on January 10th by Cole and his men, setting the date for the annual reunion banquets like the one mentioned at the outset of this particular  "Story in Stone" on January 10th, 1910. (NOTE: For a detailed description of this event, see Travis' "A River Divided" blog article.)

A patriotic address was then made by Judge Madison Nelson, associate judge of the Maryland court of appeals. The ceremony was followed by a banquet, after which the members of the battalion hurried to their homes.

At this same time, Maryland Governor Augustus W. Bradford had taken great interest in Cole’s Cavalry, and suggested the major enlarge his battalion to full regiment. This unit had proven so useful to Federal commanders during the campaigns of 1862 and 1863 that the organization was further expanded in February 1864. Eight additional companies were created, raising the battalion to a full regimental strength. The governor had no difficulty in getting the necessary authorization from President Lincoln’s War Department.

​Maj. Cole was commissioned lieutenant colonel in March, and then fully promoted to colonel the following month on April 20th, 1864. The veterans of the first Battalion, who were fully equipped, were ordered to report to Gen. Franz Sigel as part of Gen. Phil Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. On May 15th, 1864, Cole’s Cavalry took part in the disastrous fight at New Market, Virginia. Losses were heavy for the Union side as Gen. Sigel was defeated, and many soldiers were captured by the brigade of brave young cadets from the Virginia Military Institute located in Lexington, Virginia. 

​Gen. Sigel’s movements have been subject to criticism. Unfortunately, he failed to thwart a secret mission headed by Rebel Gen. Jubal A. Early a month later, allowing Early's force to arrive in Martinsburg by train from Lynchburg, VA while the Union had the capital of Richmond under siege, as well as Petersburg. This "Hail Mary" plan of Robert E. Lee's involved a sneak attack on Washington, DC from the northwest, or so it would play out that way in early July, 1864.

​​With Cole's Cavalry out in the Shenandoah Valley, a clear path  to Frederick without opposition had been laid out to Gen. Early. He would levy ransoms on Hagerstown, Middletown and finally Frederick. You likely have heard the story of Frederick's city officials and local banks cobbling together $200,000 at that time in effort to "save the town" from the supposed torch of Early and his men. The Battle of Monocacy would immediately follow on July 9th as heavily outnumbered Union forces under Gen. Lew Wallace met Gen. Early along the banks of the Monocacy River south of town at the site of the Frederick railroad junction. If not for this little engagement, and the delay it caused allowing the city of Washington to be re-fortified, our nation's capital might have been captured by Early's force.

​Later in 1864, Cole’s cavalrymen took part in the engagements at Keedysville, Charlestown, Halltown, Summit Point, Berryville, and Winchester. The area was soundly kept in check by the forces under Gen. Phil Sheridan. The regiment of Col. Cole was afterwards ordered into the newly-formed/named) state of West Virginia to guard lines of communication until the war's end in the spring of 1865 when Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on April 9th. Col. Henry A. Cole  would be relieved of command a few weeks later in Martinsburg on May 3rd.

​After the war, Henry A. Cole applied for a position in the U.S. Cavalry and was informed by the U.S. Secretary of War (Edwin Stanton) that he had been appointed Captain of the 7th U.S. Cavalry by the President of the United States (Andrew Johnson), and was sworn-in on October 11th, 1866. He was examined and was found physically competent, but shortly after that, he failed the examination by the Cavalry Board and his appointment was canceled.

Two advertisements appear in Frederick Examiner newspapers in 1865 regarding his personal home, and a business venture into the "coal" business. 

​Cole would build a number of houses on Madison Avenue in west Baltimore. He soon met Mary E. Smith (1840-1927) here in the city and the couple wed on 1870. 

​Henry's profession would change in 1880 when our subject accepted an appointment to the United States Internal Revenue Service, which position he held at the time of his death. One source says he was a US Internal Revenue Storekeeper (1881-1890), and a US Internal Revenue Gauger (1890-1909).  

​The 1890 veterans schedule shows Col. Cole living at 1420 Argyle Avenue in Baltimore. He would appear in the 1900 census living here as well, with Argyle Ave. located in the Upton neighborhood of the city (slightly northwest of center city).  Henry was found to be living as a boarder to the George J. Waltz family. Mr. Waltz was a druggist.

​Often called “modest and kindly,” Col. Henry A. Cole's benevolence was put on display by our local newspaper back in 1891. The same article appeared in the Baltimore Sun the following day. Cole was a prominent member of the (G.A.R) Grand Army of the Republic, the largest of all Union veterans' organizations. This may have been the genesis of the G.A.R. plot in Mount Olivet that currently exists at the south end corner of Area C (Lots 1 & 2) today. Here, you will find a collection of Union soldiers buried by themselves in adjoining gravesites. A few members of Cole's Cavalry are here as well, John A. Hudson and Charles J. Reynolds.

​Col. Henry A. Cole would join his former soldiers and family members in 1909. He would pass days before Memorial Day on May 25th 1909 at his home on West Mosher Street in Baltimore. He had been ill for a time, and his obituary states Bright's Disease as the cause for his death at age 70. ​

I found it interesting that there is no mention whatsoever of Col. Cole's wife, Mary, in his obituary. I actually had trouble finding any reference to her in newspapers and census records, and their supposed wedding in 1870. I also surmise they had no children. Mary died on November 7th, 1927, and is buried next to the colonel in Area R.

Veterans' Day 2023 marks the debut of our American Civil War "Union soldier collection" on MountOlivetVets.com. Many thanks to Marilyn Veek and several other volunteers over the last several years who have helped us research these soldiers, and now you can explore these memorial pages of Mount Olivet's Union soldiers. We hope to have Confederate soldiers up by next Veteran's Day, if not sooner. The button below will take you directly to the Civil War portal on the site.

​A special little monument depicting a child praying recently introduced me to an equally interesting man named William L. W. Seabrook. The Seabrooks are buried not far from the entrance of the cemetery in Area A, within plain sight of the Francis Scott Key Monument in one direction, and the aptly named Key Memorial Chapel in another. Here also, the visitor will find Mrs. Harriet Philipina (Thomas) Seabrook buried along with five additional young children who died rather young between the years of 1863 through 1872. The fore-mentioned child figure monument marks the grave of an infant simply known in our records as L.S.  I’ve deduced this to denote the name of Luther Stanley. Four siblings of L. S. can be found in separate graves—all sharing a central miniature obelisk.

​Interestingly, the least appealing grave monument in this plot belongs to the family patriarch and original purchaser (of the cemetery ground). His name was William L. W. Seabrook and his life story and accomplishments are very impressive. Seabrook's obituary in the Frederick News, American Sentinel, Baltimore Sun and Gettysburg Times and several other regional papers in September 1916 reads as a well-crafted biography. I will include that here later, thinking perhaps that this man, himself, could have been responsible for writing it as he made his mark as a long-time newspaper editor.

This very early railroad, not to mention its connections to Thaddeus Stevens, intrigued me. In 1836, a man named Herman Haupt had surveyed the "road from Gettysburg across South Mountain to the Potomac" and in 1838, the rail "bed" was "graded for a number of miles, but never got further than Monterey.” No train ever traveled on "the Tapeworm," and no rails were ever laid but the route was surveyed and graded in Adams County.

The right-of-way was later used by the Susquehanna, Gettysburg and Potomac Railway and its successor, the Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway to build a line from Gettysburg west to Highfield, Maryland. Some may recognize a highly visible part of this line on the northwest portion of the Gettysburg Battlefield property at McPherson Ridge with its memorable railway cut through surrounding reddish-brown sandstone. Heavy fighting during the battle took place here, and also around the Seminary Ridge railway cut, on July 1st, 1863.

​As for Thaddeus Stevens (1792 – 1868), he was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, being one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee during the American Civil War, he played a leading role, focusing his attention on defeating the Confederacy, financing the war with new taxes and borrowing, crushing the power of slave owners, ending slavery, and securing equal rights for the freedmen. He was a fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against black Americans, and sought to secure their rights during Reconstruction, leading the opposition to U.S. President Andrew Johnson.

​I found this fascinating as our subject, and his father, were acquainted with this man, especially considering their respective ties to Gettysburg and the Republican Party as you will soon learn. William L. W. Seabrook would also have a strong connection to another Republican politician with indelible ties to Stevens, the abolition of slavery, and Gettysburg—Abraham Lincoln.

​Let’s get back to Fairfield and the childhood days of our subject. Nearly six years after the death of his father, William L. W. Seabrook’s mother, Harriet P. (Beckenbaugh) Seabrook, made the decision to move back to her former home in Frederick County’s Creagerstown. The boy, now 10, would attend school here and work on the family farm. He would also learn to perform clerk duties in the store of his uncle, Michael Beckenbaugh. The family attended the Lutheran Church there.

​Around 1850, William L. W. Seabrook moved to Gettysburg and learned the printing trade under a gentleman named Robert Goodloe Harper, Jr. Harper published the Adams Sentinel. Two years later, at age 19, Seabrook continued his foray into publishing by purchasing an interest in a newspaper in our neck of the woods entitled the Frederick Herald. He would become its editor in chief in 1852.

In 1855, William L. W. Seabrook married a local Frederick girl named Harriet Philippina Thomas. She was the daughter of Robert Levin Thomas (1786-1842) and Elizabeth (Dill) Thomas (1800-1866). Her name likely was given as a result of being born on the Mount Philip plantation located west of Frederick City and accessed by the road that today still carries its name. The original builder of this estate at the foot of Catoctin Mountain was a relative, Dr. Philip Thomas, one of Frederick’s earliest (and legitimate) physicians. Dr. Thomas was also highly active in the war for independence.

The children of this union mentioned at the outset of this article, buried as youngsters in the family plot here in Mount Olivet, include: Stanley (d. 1861) at 5 months old; Stanley Charles (d. 1863); Frankie (d. 1864 at 3 months old); L. S. (d. 1867); and Claude (d. 1872 at 5 months old). 

In March of 1856, Frederick diarist Jacob Engelbrecht notes that William L. W. Seabrook was elected teacher of the Primary School No. 72 located on the east side of North Market Street. I assume he performed this job in tandem with that of the newspaper which naturally would pull Mr. Seabrook into the wonderful world of politics. In 1857, William L. W. Seabrook left the teaching and newspaper professions as he would be elected commissioner of the Maryland State Land Office, and was subsequently re-elected six years later in 1863. This also precipitated an eventual move to Annapolis.

​This was his lot during the period of the American Civil War, in which Seabrook staunchly supported the Union through his Republican leanings. I guess you could say that William L. W. Seabrook had more than “leanings,” as he campaigned on behalf of President Abraham Lincoln throughout the entire state. I found that he wrote a book on his experiences in state government service during the Civil War. Most interesting was his relationship with Gov. Thomas Holiday Hicks who made the decision to move Maryland's General Assembly sessions to Frederick in the summer of 1861. Seabrook used this opportunity to praise his political party for keeping Maryland, a staunch Democratic state,  in the Union and not seceding to the south.

​I found a detailed review of Seabrook's experiences of that time, written in his own hand. (NOTE: I will include at the end of this story). Seabrook voted against Lincoln’s running mate Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, for Vice President in 1864, and this explains why Seabrook’s position as Land Office commissioner would be terminated in 1868 by the action of the Democratic convention of 1867. You may recall that Andrew Johnson ascended to the presidency following the April, 1865 assassination of President Lincoln, and would hold the office until 1869.

In that same year, however, Seabrook became part owner and editor of the American Sentinel newspaper of Westminster. He would work here for seven years before reselling his interest in the paper to the former owner in 1874. William L. W. and Harriet had resided in Westminster at the Montour boarding house during this time, but I also found them associated with a house in Creagerstown. This could have been his mother's house, but kept in W. L. W. Seabrook's name.

​In 1886, our subject returned to the newspaper business and Westminster to serve a second tenure as editor of the American Sentinel. He finally settled into this career, and life in Carroll County. He was active in civic life, and especially the Masons, where he would serve in several leadership positions.

​William L. W. Seabrook lost his beloved wife, “Pina,” in 1907. She would be buried in Frederick in the family plot where the couple’s children had been buried nearly 40 years earlier. Just days later, Seabrook would learn of a second death, that of his brother.

It was around this time that William would be joined in Westminster by his son, William L. Seabrook, the Lutheran minister. Rev. Seabrook helped his father with his household, and the newspaper. A few years later, William L. W. would call it quits. Nearly 60 years after first entering the newspaper business, Mr. Seabrook would retire in November of 1909 after 41 years with the American Sentinel.

​Surrounded by family, William L. W. Seabrook would live out his final years in Westminster. His death would come on September 11th, 1916. His obituary would appear in newspapers near and far, as he was a well-known, and respected, figure in his field. The Frederick News would be among this group, and I’m sure the Delaplaine brothers were acquainted with their fellow industry-man. Their paper would run a detailed article in their September 14th addition chronicling the scene in Westminster and Mount Olivet on the occasion of Mr. Seabrook’s funeral services, handled by the Masonic Fraternal Order.

​Though not buried here, I became interested in two grandchildren mentioned in Mr. Seabrook’s obituary. Both would have their names in the Frederick newspaper in the months immediately following their paternal grandfather’s death. First would be William B. Seabrook, as he would successfully escape death twice during the time of his grandfather's passing. Raised for a time by William L. W. and Harriet Seabrook in Westminster, William would participate in World War I. While on the French warfront, his first encounter involved being wounded by deadly gas. Removed from the front, he almost got killed on his way back home to America.

​I want to say more about this man in a minute, but let me complete my earlier thought by relaying that William L. W.’s granddaughter made the Delaplaine’s newspaper pages with an announcement of her engagement in November of 1916. Her name was Frances Seabrook and she wed Ralph Whitman, a civil engineer in the US Navy. He would eventually achieve the rank of Rear Admiral and had a storied career and much notoriety in military duty, and the pair are buried at Arlington Cemetery.
​
Speaking of careers and notoriety however, let's get back to Frances’ brother William. His career would be an evocative one as I found myself going down the proverbial rabbit hole after seeing countless references to him after a simple Google search. To my surprise, I found that he is more famous, or shall I say infamous, than his namesake grandfather. He’s been labeled as having been terrible, a drunkard, abominable, tormented, perverted, crazy and an all-out whacko. Oh, how I wish he was buried here in Mount Olivet!

In her article for Atavest Magazine, author Emily Matchar describes the grandson of William L. W. Seabrook as "the writer who introduced zombies to America." The following link to her online article is a great resource, as it paints a picture of Harriet P. (Thomas) Seabrook. It reveals that William B. "Willy" Seabrook held his grandmother “Piny” in high regard, although his assessment of his father and grandfather was not kind. Here is a link to that article: https://magazine.atavist.com/the-zombie-king/

William Buehler Seabrook was born in Westminster in 1884. Apparently his father (William L. Seabrook) and mother left him in the care of his grandparents when he was eight years old. He had great resentment for this action (and his parents in general) based on the gentleman's later writings. He wasn't overly crazy about William L. W. Seabrook either. 

The only family member for whom William B. Seabrook had any affection was his grandmother, who he called "Piny," (pronounced "pee-nee") a nickname stemming from her middle name of Philippina. Our cemetery records back up this claim, however ours incorrectly reads as "Ponie." 

William B. Seabrook described his grandmother as being a soul barely of this world. He wrote in his memoirs:

"She was born on a Maryland plantation in the caul (the amniotic sac unbroken around her, which was said to impart on a child a supernatural aura), and nursed by an Obeah slave girl. Piny possessed “visions and powers” since childhood but was married off as a teen to Seabrook’s “white-bearded” grandfather, who brought her to Westminster and forced her to live an unhappy life among the tedious bourgeoisie. To feed her opium addiction, she hid a bottle of laudanum in the crook of a backyard tree."
 
Seabrook believed that his grandmother saw something in him (self described as "her odd, morose grandson").  They were kindred spirits, and he went on to say,  “Another little soul which, like herself, found normal, ordinary life unbearable.” It was through his beloved Piny that he had his first experience with the “unexplained,” and supernatural. This would serve as a subject that would occupy his mind for the rest of his life.

Ms. Matchar illustrates in her article that,  "He and Piny would often walk together in Shreiver’s Woods, just outside Westminster. Seabrook knew the woods well; he would often go there to gather chinquapin nuts or fish for minnows in the stream. But one day, Seabrook wrote, while he was strolling with Piny, the woods became strange. They arrived at a clearing he didn’t recognize. Suddenly, the trees surrounding him were not trees but the legs of 'beautiful bright-plumaged roosters, which were as tall as houses.' Taking him by the hand, Piny led him beneath the legs of the roosters as the enormous birds shuffled and crowed."

I assume that "Willy" Seabrook was here in Mount Olivet's Area A/Lot 95 for the funeral of his grandmother in 1907. Perhaps she brought him here on occasion to visit the graves of the children "Piny" lost decades earlier? Maybe he visited his grandfather's grave after returning from the war? 
Regardless, this is some strange stuff indeed, but get ready for tales of cannibalism, witchcraft and human bondage.

​William B. Seabrook began a respectable career as a reporter and City Editor of the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia, worked at the New York Times, and later became a partner in an advertising agency in Atlanta. He is well-known for his later writing on, and engaging in, cannibalism. Seabrook's 1929 book The Magic Island, which documents his experiences with Haitian Vodoo in Haiti, is considered the first popular English-language work to describe the concept of zombies. That’s right, the grandson of William L. W. Seabrook and wife Harriet Philippina (Thomas) Seabrook is responsible for what we know as zombies. Cue Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and fire up a Netflix binge-watch of the Walking Dead.

​William B. Seabrook would die of suicide by drug overdose in 1945. ​There is plenty written about this man to be found on the internet, and many of his books, and a few biographies are available in print. Be sure to check eBay because they have a great selection to choose from. 

If anything else, I guess the old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover," surely fits the gravestone and life story of William B.'s grandfather, William Luther Wesley Seabrook.  

​This week's "story" will be about our latest class of inductees into our Mount Olivet Monument Hall of Fame. Plenty more on that in a moment, as I would be remiss not to remind our readers that this blog is uniquely inspired and influenced by gravestones week in, and week out. That reminds me of something I must make sure you know: 

Mount Olivet Cemetery sells and designs grave monuments! It's true, and not just a shallow marketing pitch.
Now this may be something that many Fredericktonians and Frederick Countians (and beyond) are well aware of, yet there are some folks that likely have no idea.  It's understandable as a rival monument dealer is strategically located  directly across from our cemetery front gate-a brilliant marketing move which continues to illustrate the real estate mantra of "location, location, location."

​Custom grave marker sales is something Mount Olivet has been doing for about 20 years now. Our staff has designed, and placed, hundreds of memorials over this period. You certainly have your choice to choose from and shop around, and we get the same "rocks" from the same US quarries as our competitors. We also have had special orders involving the utilization of exotic stone from overseas locations. A key selling point lies in "the one-stop shop approach." Since we work with the customer on purchasing their burial plot, and related grave opening-closing services, why have them deal with an outside firm for the memorial/grave monument that will be placed here? Mount Olivet staff will also be the ones excavating and providing the appropriate cement foundation (for a stone marker), while having the ultimate responsibility in providing overall care and maintenance for the customer's burial lot, and surrounding cemetery, into perpetuity.

As is the case with the thousands of grave monuments on our hallowed grounds, the Mount Olivet Cemetery corporation will always be here as it has been since 1854. We don't plan on going anywhere in the future. More than that, money spent on a stone at Mount Olivet doesn't go to a business owner or shareholder, but is solely used in operating and enhancing the cemetery. Doesn't it make sense to obtain a gravestone from us as well?

It's interesting to see the variety of choices to memorialize loved ones. You just need to drive or walk through the cemetery to see our vast showroom of models. And that is exactly what some people do. Customers in the form of Mount Olivet lot-holders often take pictures of gravestone shapes, styles and sizes that interest them. They present these images when meeting with our sales team of Meghan Murphy and Rick Reeder. Many times, they will accompany the customer on sightseeing sojourns where the customer can point out aspects of existing stones that they like. Meghan and Rick can easily incorporate these ideas and examples into a design for a custom stone. They also have at their disposal thousands of designs and styles that are available from our vendors and can share these during meetings and appointments.

When it comes to choosing and designing a grave monument, remember the old adage, if you can dream it, you can do it. If anything else, shop your preferred stone design idea to different vendors for estimates, but please give us a chance to show you what we can do for you.

Now, since we are on the subject of monuments, I promise that you won't find a larger and eclectic collection in central and western Maryland than Mount Olivet Cemetery. The only one that comes close is our sister-"garden cemetery" of Rose Hill Cemetery in Hagerstown. We boast an evocative "museum of marbles" and "gallery of granites." 

Back in 2017, we launched the Preservation and Enhancement Fund of Mount Olivet Cemetery, a 501 © (3) nonprofit entity with a goal of showcasing and securing our amazing cultural landscape. As many know, we possess a unique blend of nature, art, and architecture symbolically memorializing the human condition. With the assistance of cemetery staff and our Friends of Mount Olivet (FOMO) membership group (begun in Spring, 2020), the non-profit's mission is to preserve the cemetery's historic records, on-premises house and chapel structures and, most noticeably, thousands of vintage gravestones and monuments.

Our hope is to educate visitors and Frederick residents alike by sharing the fascinating background of Mount Olivet and those who reside in it, numbering nearly 41,000. The “Friends” group is active in related activities designed to generate enthusiasm in not only history research and gravestone preservation, but continued fundraising while spreading community awareness of this special place. We attempt to accomplish this through engaging and entertaining educational lecture programs, walking tours, special events and anniversary commemorations. ​

​Two summers back, our Friends group established the Mount Olivet Monument Hall of Fame. We inducted seven monuments, including our most famous in Francis Scott Key, as part of the inaugural class. 

​In talking with colleagues and other members of our Friends group, we found it best to frame this new “Hall of Fame” on the look and design of the monuments, themselves, and not on the person(s) buried beneath.  So, it is the above-ground masterpiece of art and craftmanship that provides the criteria for consideration, nomination and election to our “Mount Olivet Monument Hall of Fame.” 

Unlike other "Halls of Fame" (ie: sports, music, etc.), we didn't have to build a gallery on our grounds, as we already have one! The memorials are already in place, some for well over a century and a half already. All inductees appear in the form of a virtual gallery on the MountOlivetHistory.com site.
​
In 2022 and again this past summer, we put the task of Hall of Fame voting to our Friends of Mount Olivet. A nominating committee within the Friends group was formed in early summer and headed up by Mike and Sheila Schaden. Nominees (put forth by Friends members) were submitted throughout the summer and a narrowed down list of 20 was officially introduced at this year's annual picnic in late August. The voting commenced with both in-person, online and mail-in ballot from our FOMO membership.  
​
The votes have been tabulated and certified as we proudly share our class of 2023 inductees for the Mount Olivet Monument Hall of Fame.

Seabrook "Praying Child" Monument
Location: Area A/Lot 95
Date of Placement: after 1902
​Decedents: L. S. Seabrook 

This appears to be a small monument of a naked child praying. In doing a little online research, I found this same design displayed in several other cemeteries such as Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, New York's Albany Rural Cemetery in Albany and Schenectady's Vale Cemetery, Green-Wood Cemetery in New York City Brooklyn's vast Green-Wood, and Union Grove in Canal Winchester, Ohio, Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Forest Hill in Boston, Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit, and Mount Auburn (the original "garden" cemetery).  Examples also appear in Ireland and England. Some of these figures were marble, one was white zinc. ​

The Bopst "Mourning Woman" in Area L/Lot 192 was placed over a lot purchased by Mr. Bion Eugene Bopst in 1901 as a place to re-inter his first wife, Mary E. (Bruchey) Bopst. Mary had died five years earlier in November of 1896, at the tender age of 37. She was originally buried in Utica Cemetery in the quaint hamlet north of Frederick City and along Old Frederick Road that boasts one of the county’s oft-photographed covered bridges. Today, the adjoining church is known as St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran.

I don’t know what prompted this move to Mount Olivet, but I deducted that her burial at Utica could have been precipitated by the presence of relatives tied to her mother's (Margaret Jackson Bruchey) Jackson family that had ties to the Woodsboro area. Regardless, Mary Elizabeth (Bruchey) Bopst was re-buried here in Mount Olivet on November 14th, 1901.

I could not find any further information on the exact date of the memorial placement of our “Mourning Woman” on Area L, but I would surmise that it went in at the time of Mary’s re-interment, which would have generated a central “family” monument with her last name to give proper context to her individual, raised foot stone. Read more about this monument and its restoration with the original "Stories in Stone" article from March, 2023.​

Adelaide was born on August 18th, 1888. She was the daughter of Millard (later Milton) Taylor Derr and wife Mary C. Smith. She did not have a long life at all, but it was one that hopefully brought joy to her parents throughout the duration. Not all children received obits, however "darling" Adelaide did. The obituary for our decedent claims that she died at exactly 1:50am on June 30th, 1890.

Adelaide's father worked as a butcher (as did his father before him). The family lived at 308 West Patrick Street (west of Bentz Street). A Sanborn Insurance map from 1887 shows a sausage making facility in their backyard, as well as a slaughter house next door and behind (Millard's father) Daniel Derr's house. Note that today's Degrange Street was originally known as Derrs Street or LeGrange Street. The Derr sausage factory backs up to the Frederick County Jail, which once fronted on West South Street. Today, the old jail is home to the Frederick Rescue Mission. That neighborhood has a tradition of being lively!

​The Derrs had had one other child, Millard Arthur Derr (1882-1956). He was a veteran of World War I and spent 30 years in Detroit after the war working as a civil engineer. Millard Arthur died in Detroit but was buried in Salisbury, Maryland's Parsons Cemetery with his wife Nancy (Hooper) and her family, not in Mount Olivet with his sister and parents.

​Mother (Catherine Michael) Monument
Location: Area H/Lot 397
Date of Placement: after 1858
​Decedents: Catharine (Bernhart) Michael

This monument has been featured in FaceBook posts on Mother's Day for good reason as it is a memorial ode to a maternal figure. The sentiment near the base of this stone reads "Rest Sweet Mother Rest." Above this, a bible passage (Philippians 1:21) is featured in which the apostle Paul said: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Another verse appears beneath but is hard to make out.

The decedent here is a woman named Catharine Michael (born Catharine Bernhart on January 4th, 1804). 
Catharine was married three times. Her first husband was John Coe. The couple was married in 1820 and apparently lived in the Mechanicstown area. Coe died in 1833 and is buried at Israel's Creek Meeting House Cemetery in Walkersville. She next married John Baker in 1835 and had daughters Caroline (Baker) Mory (who is also buried in H/397), and Sarah. They lived in the Middletown District. 

​Kintz Tree-Cross Monument
Location: Area H/Lot 156
Date of Placement: after 1922
​Decedents: Dorothy A. Kintz 

Dorothy Arbelinan Kintz did not have the opportunity to celebrate her "Sweet 16" birthday, as she would pass five months prior at Frederick's City Hospital from peritonitis. The daughter of Jacob Kintz and Johanna Christiana Heinrich was born August 8th, 1906. Dorothy's father was a metal worker, and her mother a German immigrant who kept house. The family lived at 228 East 7th Street. Dorothy traveled to Germany when she was five years old to spend two months with relatives. She was an employee of the Union Knitting Mills at the time of her death.

​Kehne Children Monuments
Location: Area L/Lot 36
Date of Placement: after 1902
​Decedents: Helen E. Kehne, Blanche M. Kehne, John Edgar Kehne, Pearl C. Kehne

There are many cemetery symbols of iconography that seem to be ubiquitous—the lamb is certainly one of them. When traversing a graveyard, if you see a tiny lambs on a stone, you most likely have the grave of a child. These lambs come in many sizes and positions—usually you will find these straddling small tombstones or foot stones. 

The lamb is the symbol of the Lord, the Good Shepherd. The animal also represents innocence, likely the reason for this motif commonly adorning the tombstones of infants and young children. Most often the lamb is lying down, often asleep and sometimes with a cross incorporated into the design.

​Since we can easily judge the architecture depicted on the Stull monument as ancient, I thought the answer would either lie in Greek or Roman history, the Bible, or both. I had someone mention to me that it may signify Pompeii, a victim of Mount Vesuvius. I didn’t see the symbolism in a destructive volcano wiping out civilization being something you’d want to put on your grave marker, unless of course you were a victim of said Vesuvius—and those poor souls didn’t have much of a say in their burial as it happened without warning.   

​Another individual offered the story of Joshua and the Wall of Jericho. In the case of Jericho, the bible lesson here reminds us that walls can be a source of imprisonment and division, but God fulfills what He promises. Is this a “shout out” to the promise of heaven to the faithful? I re-read some interpretations of this Bible story and learned that some scientists have theorized that the walls of Jericho were destroyed by an earthquake and not seven priests blowing trumpets. Regardless, the depiction on the Stull stone looks more like the famed Paestum Temple in Salerno (Italy) than an ancient city wall in Palestine's West Bank.

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​"STORY IN STONE"

​​Thomas Floral Monuments
Location: Area F/Lot 24 & 26
Date of Placement: after 1902
​Decedents: William Hamilton Thomas, Susannah Thomas, Martha Ritchie (Hanna) Knight

​The floral carvings on these monuments are amazing, exhibiting expert craftsman skills by the talented stonemason who performed this work. These lasting memorials were likely quite expensive, but based on other stones in this lot and those adjacent, money was no object. Within feet is an earlier inductee of the MOC Hall  of Fame with the Celtic Cross marker of John Knight McDannold made by Tiffany's of New York around 1899, the year of the decedent's passing.

​Susanna Hanna (Knight) Thomas was raised in Indiana but later in life moved here. A few of my earlier "Stories in Stone" blogs focus on her grandnephew, John Knight McDannold, and also her brother, John Knight. This latter gentleman has a large, impressive monument a few feet away in an adjoining lot, and was very wealthy at the time of his death in 1864. As a matter of fact, Mr, Knight died in Biarritz France, and his body was brought overseas for burial in Mount Olivet --something rarely done at the time for monetary and public health reasons.

Susannah's husband, William Hamilton Thomas (1835-1917), had roots in Frederick, as did his wife, and  had done very well for himself going into his father Edward C. Thomas’s oyster and fruit packing business. This was  started several decades before in Baltimore. The couple had three daughters: Florence, Fannie and Marcia Virginia. Marcia Virginia Thomas was featured in a past "Story in Stone" feature as she died due to a terrible drowning accident while the family was vacationing at Rangeley Lake, Maine in 1892.

​Recently, the Friends of Mount Olivet monument restoration and repair team "up-righted" Susannah's mother's monument as it had been face down from a fall several years ago. This was Martha Ritchie (Hanna) Knight (1811-1887). Mrs. Hannah's gravestone was the model for the same floral design and craftsmanship that would be employed for both Susannah and William's stones. 

Martha Ritchie (Knight) Hanna was the daughter of James Knight and Mary McCleery who married in Frederick in 1804, but moved to Indiana shortly thereafter. Sources vary as to where Martha was born, some say Maryland and others Indiana. She married a John N. Hanna and lived in Brookeville, Indiana with had daughters Elizabeth and Susannah. By 1840, Mr. Hanna ( some sources refer to him as Gen. Hannah) had apparently died, leaving  as Martha with her two daughters to raise.

​In 1841, Andrew McCleery" in consideration of the natural love and affection which he hath and beareth to Martha, as also for the better maintenance, support, livelihood and preferment of her" sold her part of the "Old Shop Lot" on the north side of the eastern end of the market house ground. Martha sold this lot in 1852 to the Mayor and Common Council of Frederick. She apparently rented housing after that. Daughter Susannah married William Hamilton Thomas in Frederick in 1859. Susannah bought 19 South Stricker Street in Baltimore in 1871. By 1880 Martha was living there with William and Susannah Thomas.

​​So there you have it, the Class of 2023 for the Mount Olivet Monument Hall of Fame. To see earlier inductees, click the Monument Hall of Fame link under the MORE header tab (upper right on the  MountOlivetHistory.com homepage. 

Every stone, already here and yet to come, has a chance to make our little Hall of Fame. But more importantly, let us help you make your gravestone or marker the way you want it. Express yourself and your personality if you please—it's an eternal monument that represents a life well-lived, and will make sure you aren't forgotten like the people we talked about in this week's blog.

​This time September, back in the year 1862, must have been an interesting and contemplative one for Frederick resident Edward Buckey, then the current president of the Frederick County Agricultural Society. Two years prior, he was busy planning for a one week county fair in October. In 1861, the fears and anxieties associated with a Civil War put the "Kabosh" on a successful run of annual exhibitions because the fair's local home would be needed for the war effort.

The particular week, and those to follow September 17th, 1862 saw hundreds of newcomers coming to Frederick. These were not the annual fairgoers, but rather wounded soldiers. You see, September 17th, 1862 marked a significant date that would go down in history. It remains that of the deadliest single-day battle in American history with 3,675 killed and total casualties numbering 22,717. We know it as Antietam.
 
Sharpsburg, Maryland, the scene of battle, was only 30 miles away, and Frederick's residents would see casualties brought to town to local hospitals. This had actually begun happening a few days earlier as the Union and Confederate armies had squared off in pitched battles on September 14th at three mountain gaps atop South Mountain, dividing line between Frederick and Washington counties. Fittingly, this conflict, the first battle on northern, or Union, territory, became known as the Battle of South Mountain. 

​The Confederates had come to Frederick after crossing the Potomac River in that first week of September, and stayed here for about five days before departing on September 10th. With an invading army in town, the last thing on the mind of residents was the annual county fair and the livestock competitions, food and amusements that comprised an agricultural fair at the time.
 
Now this was certainly not “Fair Week,” as our annual agricultural exhibition was generally held in October, corresponding with traditional Oktoberfest time, as a celebration of the end of growing and harvest season. The frivolity of the agricultural exhibitions here had actually been slightly challenged back in 1859, as the community was still abuzz with talk and sentiment regarding John Brown’s  recent raid on Harper’s Ferry. It was also that fall, Frederick County received the distinct honor of hosting the 20th Annual Exhibition of the Maryland State Agricultural Society from October 25-27, 1859.
 
For those not familiar with the ill-fated insurrection attempt by John Brown, he and his band of followers orchestrated a deadly raid on the Union military arsenal at Harpers Ferry.  Brown had been staging for this event at the Kennedy farm, just over the Washington County line in Pleasant Valley.  When he put his plan into effect on the night of October 16th, word reached Frederick by rail the next morning and the nation was alerted of the events from here.  Members of Frederick’s fire companies/militia units who regularly performed drills and displays at the annual fair, now had to put their military training to practical use as they were hurried to Harpers Ferry by train, among the first responders on the scene.  They would assist Col. Robert E. Lee, Capt. JEB Stuart and the U.S. Marines in the successful capture of Brown and his surviving men.

​Amidst the local and national excitement this event would have on the local citizenry, the Maryland State Fair commenced at the Frederick Barracks Grounds on October 25th and dictated an excellent exhibition with banner attendance.  Hotels were filled, and county residents extended their hospitality, and their business goods and inventories, to throngs of tourists. Of particular interest during this event were the simultaneous benefit events being held by the Ladies auxiliaries attached to fire companies of Frederick.  A newspaper account from October 26th reported  that the United’s had “on exhibition the hat and a pistol belonging to “old” Brown, a Sharp’s Rifle and a Litchfield Spear, captured by the Guards at Harper’s Ferry.”

Meanwhile the Junior Defenders performed military drills for audiences with the accompaniment of The American Band. I haven't seen proof of this anywhere, but I'm sure one of the most popular citizens to attend the fair that year was George Brengle Shope. The Frederick resident was working a carpentry job in Harpers Ferry at the time of Brown's raid, and unfortunately found himself among those held hostage in the engine house. He lived to tell his tale, and would testify in Brown's trial. (NOTE: George Brengle Shope is buried in Mount Olivet's Area H and you can read more about him in an earlier Story in Stone titled "John Brown's Hostage.")
 
The Seventh Exhibition of the Frederick County Agricultural Society was held in October 1860. Unfortunately, the return of the Frederick County fair was clearly overshadowed by the rhetoric and anticipation tied to the hotly contested U.S. Presidential election between Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, John Breckinridge and John C. Bell. Southern Democrat, and former vice-president John C. Breckinridge ran on the slavery platform and was Maryland's winner with 45.93% of the vote (42,482), edging out Constitutional Union candidate John Bell who garnered 45.14% of the vote (41,760 votes).  As for the other candidates with much greater name recognition today than the previous candidates, Stephen Douglas received 5,966 votes (6.45%) from Marylanders, and in distant fourth place, Abraham Lincoln had 2,294 votes (2.48%). I read somewhere that Lincoln only received 17 votes in Frederick County. When reviewing results like these, it's not hard to understand the effect of politics and the volatile mood of the country at that time.  

​Within weeks of the 1860 Frederick agricultural fair, residents would see Abraham Lincoln elected as their new president. (Interestingly, they would eventually see their man John C. Breckinridge four years later, leading Rebel troops here under Jubal Early during the Battle of Monocacy in July, 1864).

Southern states would immediately start seceding from the Union in the months to follow.  The official first shots of war occurred on April 12th, 1861 in Charleston, South Carolina as Fort Sumter was fired upon.  Virginia would join the Confederacy less than a week later and on April 19th, an angry mob in Baltimore attacked federal troops from Massachusetts who were trying to make their way through town. The city would be placed under martial law by the federal government.
 
Frederick would soon become the state capital during the spring and summer 1861. In August, the Potomac Home Brigade was formed as local Union men enlisted for military duty. Others fled south to join the confederacy, such as former Junior Defender Bradley Tyler Johnson, who would take an active part in forming the 1st Maryland Infantry, CSA. The Frederick County Agricultural Exhibition’s home of the Barracks Grounds was permanently commandeered for its intended purposes and would be converted into a Union Military Hospital.
 
Enter the fore-mentioned Edward Buckey as president of the society, ascending to the position in that year of 1861. His role would be eased as there would not be another Frederick Agricultural fair until October of 1868. However, concerns of local farmers would be heightened during the multiple-year “War Between the States.” 

​Edward Buckey
I randomly chose Edward Buckey and the Frederick Fair here as an interesting lens to view world events at that time. This annual rite of fall, the Great Frederick Fair, is a traditional staple of Frederick County. The more things change as Frederick continues to grow, we can count on our history and events such as the fair and Civil War sites to ground us. In the Frederick Fair's realm, it's something that can serve as a time capsule of not only "great" memories for us all boasting the sights, sounds, smells, and thrills of the fair, but also the essence of comaraderie and community. Sadly, that wouldn't be afforded at three distinct times over the past 160 years. One was the period of the Civil War,  with a second being the 1918  Spanish Flu Pandemic. Of course, more recently, the third cancellation of the Great Frederick Fair occurred in September, 2020 thanks to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Let's take a look at Edward Buckey, shall we? Born March 7th, 1797 in Libertytown, Edward Buckey was the son of Peter Buckey (1775-1848) and Mary Salmon (1778-1864). His paternal grandfather, Matthias Buckey (1727-1794) immigrated to America around 1750 from Minfield, Rhineland-Pfalz, Germany. Matthias first settled around New Windsor, and eventually bought properties in, and around, Frederick. I was pleased to learn that one of these was land near Little Tuscarora Creek, destined to become the Cloverhill II development off Opossumtown Pike (just north of Frederick Community College).

​Edward Buckey's father (Peter) was one of eight siblings born to Matthias and wife Mary (Hoffman). Two of these were John and George Buckey who would be responsible for helping to create the crossroads town south of Frederick that bears the family name-Buckeystown. John was a tavern-keeper and blacksmith and George was a tanner.

Edward was the oldest of five children, and only son of Peter and Mary. His father bought 13 town lots in Libertytown on South Street and a 30-acre tract in 1812. He also operated a tannery here that would become known as the Angel Tannery and boasted 36 vats according to a newspaper ad in the Frederick Town Herald in 1823.  It is assumed that Edward Buckey grew up on the family farm and was apparently educated in local schools. I will say here that in writing an earlier Story in Stone on Elihu Rockwell (namesake of Rockwell Terrace), I learned that Libertytown had an Academy on the east end of town in which Mr. Rockwell was once headmaster.

Information about Edward's early life is scarce, but an obituary from the Baltimore Sun states that Edward Buckey was a captain during the War of 1812. This has not been confirmed as yet, and we don't not have him labeled in our cemetery records as such. A cousin, Daniel Buckey, however is part of our Mount Olivet collective of War of 1812 veterans numbering 110.

Edward Buckey was an ardent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His father was a trustee of the church in Libertytown and had a hand in purchasing land used for the congregation's structure. Edward would move to the Frederick area around the time of his 21st birthday when Peter Buckey bought a 197-acre farm in 1818, said to have been located west of Frederick on "the Old Middletown Road." After tracing the deeds forward, my land research "secret weapon" Marilyn Veek found that this farm (one day owned by Edward Buckey) was located on the south side of Butterfly Lane between Mount Philip Road and Butterfly Ridge Elementary School. Most of this farm property is now the "Emerald Farms" development, while part of it is under I-70, and another part of it is south of I-70 (currently undeveloped and landlocked).

I'm jumping ahead in the story but to explain the farmstead a little more in detail I direct your attention to the following newspaper ad from 1866. This was the sale of the property which was known as "Bloomfield Farm." The article describes it as being located "three miles from Frederick".  When Edward later sold all the farm animals, crops, household goods, etc. the farm is identified as being two and-a-half miles southwest of Frederick. We are pretty sure that Butterfly Lane is today is what was referred to here as  "Old Middletown Road" as opposed to the National Pike/Patrick Street.

I found that Edward always listed his occupation as that of farmer in census records. He never married and lived on the family homestead and continued farming. He was appointed an officer for the newly formed "Farmers' Club" organized on November 22nd, 1849. ​

We first see Edward appearing in the 1850 US census living with his mother. This was two years after the death of his father. Meanwhile Edward kept busy with work as one of the trustees of the Methodist Church. He also served a term in the Maryland House of Delegates.

On January 12th, 1853, "in obedience to the call of many farmers, there was organized 'The Agricultural Club of Frederick County,' which was to hold annual exhibitions, and monthly meetings for instruction, discussion, etc." It adopted the constitution and bylaws of its predecessor, "the Farmers' Club." 

​Not much more would change over the next decade (of the 1850s) as Edward and his mom would still be co-habitating on the family farm a decade later.

I found that Edward Buckey did participate in the Mass Union Convention that occurred in Frederick City in March of 1861. This took place at the Frederick County Court House (today's City Hall) just two weeks after President Lincoln's inauguration. Although a slave-holder, Edward's name appears on the famous handbill that listed Frederick citizens supporting the Union and the president. Could he have cast one of those 17 votes for "Honest Abe?" 

As I said earlier, the Agricultural Exhibition was canceled in 1861 because of the Civil War and primarily because it had lost its location at the Barracks Grounds south of town. Instead of seeking an alternative space, it was best best thought to concentrate on safety. That summer, Frederick would see senators and delegates from around the state come here to participate in sessions of the General Assembly, having been moved from Annapolis. Things were a bit "too hot and agitated" in Annapolis with its southern leanings, so the governor proposed Frederick as a conservative temporary home that summer and early fall.

The following years saw the Maryland Antietam campaign (battles of South Mountain and Antietam) occur in 1862 as already chronicled, and the summer of 1863 brought another major battle just up the road at Gettysburg. Soldiers were plentiful in Frederick before and afterward, but thankfully for Edward these were Union boys. As if the Civil War wasn't stressful and upsetting enough, Edward had an ailing mother to care for. She would pass in March of 1864, and he and his siblings had her body buried in Mount Olivet within the family plot in Area F (#33) where his father was laid to rest in June, 1848.

Four months after his mother died, Edward's farm would be along the route that Confederate Gen. Jubal Early would bring his invading army into Frederick in early July, 1864. The ensuing Battle of Frederick occurred nearby at the vicinity of Linden Hills, and the Battle of Monocacy down at the railroad junction the following day. Throughout this episode, Frederick would be ransomed for $200,000. Thankfully, local banks paid up and the town was spared. Obviously, there would be no fair in the fall 1864, and even though the war ended in April, 1865, the hospital center would still be in use.

I'm curious as to the lack of a fair held in the fall of 1866, but some activity took place the following year that would redefine the annual exhibition that had been sidelined since 1861.

New Home
In Spring of 1867, the Frederick County Agricultural Society was re-formed with the selling of 139 life membership tickets.  After tasking a special committee with finding a new permanent home for the Agricultural Exhibition, the Society purchased 21 acres of land from its own Treasurer,  Gen. Edward Shriver, former leader of the Frederick militia that quelled the John Brown raid. A neighbor, and later Society president, William H. Falconer would also sell land for the “new cause.” I also found that Mr. Falconer was also a member of the Mount Olivet Cemetery Board. 

Bought for $4,500, these properties were located about a half mile east of Frederick on the north side of the Baltimore Turnpike.  Almost immediately, substantial buildings were erected and a race course track was laid out.  The Frederick Agricultural Grounds now came into being.

​Edward was able to complete his term as president with this great accomplishment under his belt. He would turn the reins over to C. Keefer Thomas as Board president. The Ninth Annual Fair of the Frederick County Agricultural Society was held October 12-15th, 1868. Interestingly there was a definitive Civil War theme. The return of livestock was accentuated with a tremendous entry of cattle, sheep and poultry specimens. Fittingly, the guests of honor were national Civil War heroes in the form of President Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. William T. Sherman, among other members of the President’s Cabinet. The president’s visit on the 14th drew a larger than normal audience as was expected, but this added to the greatest attended fair that the county had ever seen.
​
“I have great pleasure in visiting for the first time the city of Frederick of which I have heard so much during the period of the late rebellion, and which, too, stood up manfully for the maintenance of the whole Union. I expected to visit this city some years ago but found myself unable to do so but now have found so many friends, and have been gratified with what I have seen of your Fair and enjoyed of your hospitality, I hope at some future time to visit you again.”

Ulysses S. Grant
October 14th, 1868
​
President Grant and his party dined at the Fairgrounds and watched the newest feature to the Frederick event…harness racing, a horse competition in which the animals race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace) while pulling a two-wheeled cart called a sulky. Among the many trials of speed held during this fair, was a $500 premium that went to the horse “Patchen” from Philadelphia who made the mile in 2 minutes and 45 seconds. Owen Bowie, the Governor of Maryland was also on hand for the 1868 event.  An avid horseman and breeder of thoroughbreds, Bowie would be responsible for bringing Pimlico Race Track to the state thanks in part to a successful  gambling wager made by himself and associates.
​
President Grant would keep his promise, and returned to Frederick and the next fair in October of 1869.  In addition to members of his cabinet, a host of former governors and the mayor of Washington D.C., the president was accompanied by the United States Marine Band.  From Frederick’s B&O Station on Market Street, the band headed a procession of carriages that carried the distinguished visitors to the fairgrounds. President Grant would visit the fair for two days . ​

In the years to come, Edward Buckey continued working with the Frederick Agricultural Society and put his efforts toward serving his beloved Methodist Episcopal Church. After settling his deceased mother's estate, the farmstead was sold, and Edward moved in with his widowed sister, Mary (Buckey) Getzendanner and his three nieces in a townhouse located on Frederick's East Church Street. 

Edward Buckey would experience plenty more fairs during the following decade of the 1870s. I'm sure the ten-year anniversaries of the Civil War battles were remembered vividly by the citizenry. Meanwhile the fair grew stronger and larger. Edward Buckey wouldn't live to see the 20th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam in 1882. He had passed nearly a year earlier on October 7th, 1881 at the age of 84. His obituary also provided a first initial of "J," which I hadn't seen before. My money is on "John" or "Jacob."

The house where Edward Buckey was living at the time of his death was at what is now 202 East Church St. It belonged to his niece Mary Getzendanner, who bought it in 1865. Interestingly, I lived there in a first floor apartment from 1995-1998. Perhaps we slept in the same bedroom?

It's a beautiful monument. In need of a good cleaning, yes, and that will come soon. From here on out, when I see this particular gravestone in Mount Olivet, it will surely conjure up thoughts thoughts of four things for me: the Great Frederick Fair, the American Civil War, the Buckey family and my old apartment on Church Street. Every monument in a cemetery has the power to do so, as long as you have the time to research the life of the decedent further.

Sadly, it's just one of those dates that conjures up sadness. The lasting images of that day. The anxiety and confusion. The tragedy and tremendous human loss. The anger and unanswered questions of why? 

Twenty-two years have passed, but the memory of September 11th, 2001 is still vivid for the vast majority of us, many able to recall exactly what we were doing when news reports told us that planes flying into the Twin Towers/World Trade Center buildings in New York City at the start of the workday of September 11th, 2001. 

It's not hard to think of one particular gravesite here at Mount Olivet every time September 11th comes around each year. I drive by this large black, granite stone each day on my way to work, as its located at the entry point of our administrative offices within the mausoleum complex (at the south end of the cemetery). This is the final resting place of Alan Patrick Linton, Jr. who perished in New York that fateful day, as he was simply just doing his job as an investment analyst. As my workplace is a known cemetery, his soon became one. Thousands were lost in the Twin Towers, as both buildings eventually collapsed killing  employees and first-responders in  the buildings. Alan was 26 at the time, and working for an investment firm on the 104th floor of the South Tower. 

This morning on my way into the cemetery, I was thinking of the Frederick High graduate who I penned one of these "Stories in Stone" for back in 2021. I then spotted one of the members of our Friends of Mount Olivet monument repair crew and stopped to say hi. He explained that he had chosen to fix the small grave of an infant this morning, whose stone actually displays a death date of September 11th, 1868. With no other information in our files, it is safe to assume that this child was a stillborn, or died shortly after birth, making this same 11th day of the 9th month, a sad and fateful day for a local family back 155 years ago.

Our FOMO member Roy told me that he had first noticed this particular stone a few weeks back, and it just seemed fitting to give special repair attention on this particular day.

The work of finding/cleaning and leveling the base was performed. Then the dye of the stone belonging to John M. Hagan was resurrected. All this happened between 9-10 AM,  the critical time window 22 years earlier in which the South Twin Tower was hit and collapsed (9:03 and 9:59 AM respectively).

As Alan Linton gave me plenty to write about despite  his shortened life of 26 years, my new subject John M. Hagan obviously did not have a chance to experience anything. The son of Francis "Frank" T. Hagan and Susan Amanda (Eakle) Hagan likely died at his parent's farm, at the time located west of Frederick along the Old National Pike, today's US Route 40 Alternate. They lived in the vicinity of Fairview on the eastern slope of Catoctin Mountain.

If the last name of Hagan conjures up some sort of familiarity with the Braddock Heights area, it is quite appropriate. You see our John M. Hagan, who lost his life on September 11th, was the grandson of his namesake John Hagan, one-time tavern owner. That's right, we are talking about Hagan's Tavern, former restaurant which was last known as the Silver Maple Inn which closed its doors in 2009. 

An interpretive wayside sits outside the old tavern in the parking lot. The HMDB (Historic Marker Database) assisted me with the information found on its face, part of a series of markers placed along the Historic National Road from Baltimore to Grantsville and beyond in western Maryland.

​The text on this marker reads as follows:

"The National Road has borne witness to many notorious comings and goings. The quiet atmosphere you’ll find at Hagan’s Tavern today is quite different from the raucous bawdiness of yesteryear. This tavern was a “place where the old bloats of the neighborhood would gather on Saturday and public days to run horses, fight chickens, drink bad whiskey, and black each others eyes.”

It was also a political stomping ground where “cooping” commonly occurred, a practice “where politicians would lure all the poor white voters they could muster to the inn. There the election hopefuls would feed the voters the best food that they could, see that new poker playing cards were at hand, and make sure the whiskey glasses never went dry.” The voters were then taken quickly to cast their ballots.

Long before the National Road, General Braddock marched through here, observing that western Maryland was “almost uninhabited, but by a parcel of banditti who call themselves Indian traders.” The roughhewn log ancestors of taverns like Hagan’s were both Indian trading posts and primitive lodgings. One traveler complained that “I spent the night in a bed with four other godforsaken souls; never knowing whether I would get my pocket picked or be carried off by vermin.”

The Hagan family appear on the atlases of the mid to late 1800s as owners during this time. Frank T. must have had a hand in the business, but he is listed as a farm laborer in the 1860 census. John Hagan died in 1883 and his property was distributed among sons John C. Hagan, Frank, Eugene, and William.

Eugene acquired the Old Hagan's Tavern, his childhood home, along with the others. I'm assuming, Eugene operated this for a time, or sold it. This same sibling of Frank, and uncle to the deceased infant John M., is buried a few yards directly behind our subject in Mount Olivet's Area H/Lot 242. Our records show that he was born May 3rd, 1843 and passed on December 31st, 1916.

To the left of John M.'s humble grave are three other Hagan siblings who died as infants. Of course this was commonplace at a time when medicine was nowhere as advanced as later centuries. Infant and child mortality rates were high. Here, we find Laura Virginia Hagan (b. October 9th, 1867 and d. February, 18th 1868). I found it interesting that this child's death was roughly 9 months before the birth/death of John M. Hagan.

As I looked for the children's parents, Frank and Susan Hagan, in our records,  I could not find them here at all. I did find  Frank's older brother John C. Hagan (1837-1907) buried nearby in Area H's Lot 301.

I soon found Frank and Susan were living in Washington County by the late 1870s. They appear to have returned to live near Susan's parent's farm at Eakle's  Mills, southeast of Keedysville. Here, Frank worked as a blacksmith.

Two Hagan children lived until adulthood. These were  Washington Caspar Hagan (1870-1897), and Mollie M. Hagan (1880-1953). Susan Hagan died on July 24th, 1899 and was buried in Keedysville's Fairview Cemetery. This is where her son Washington had been  laid to rest two years earlier, having died at age 26.

Frank and daughter Mollie cohabited for the next 14 years following his wife;'s death. Census records show him working his own blacksmith shop on the west side of South Mountain on Gapland Road. He died on November 20th, 1913 and would be buried next to his wife and son in Keedysville. 

Its sad to find children separated from their parents in cemeteries. But here's the thing about cemeteries, graveyard keepers make surviving parents the promise to look after their loved ones into perpetuity. The same holds true for a promise to the children of a deceased parent (s) in caring for the parent's resting place, and so on and so forth. For John M. Hagan, and his siblings reposing to his left, let the record show that we gave him special care on September 11th, 2023—155 years after his death. 

So, we had a little “fun run” in Mount Olivet back on Thursday evening, August 24th. This event was put on with the help of two, local partners, and supported our ongoing preservation efforts by the Friends of Mount Olivet membership group. One of these partners was Charm City Run, a running & walking specialty company with one of its eight retail locations here in Frederick. In addition to helping guide us in this particular endeavor, Charm City sells shoes with personalized fittings and various other necessities for runners from apparel to athletic gear. The group handled the technical logistics of the course through our “garden cemetery,” along with aspects of marketing and execution of the run.

Capped at 75 runners and called “The Distillery Dash,” $750 was raised through entry fees, and Charm City Run matched the amount thus creating a total donation to our FOMO group of $1,500. This money will go to the continued repair and restoration of old and ailing monuments in our historic section as I’ve discussed before within this blog.

​Yours truly shook off the rust, and participated in the 2-mile run around the cemetery. It wasn’t my first rodeo, and I finished with no incident. I quite enjoyed the opportunity to participate with others in this “fun run” format. I, however, did not enjoy being taunted by my 17-year-old son who made the point several times over that he finished minutes ahead of me. Since it was not an official timed event, I reminded him that the only way he could have beaten me is if he actually had considerably more fun than me, since it was marketed as a “fun run.”

​That brings me to our second partner, and an explanation for the name “Distillery Dash.” This was McClintock Distilling, a relatively new craft distillery of over six years in town located between West Patrick Street and Carroll Creek. It can be accessed from Carroll Street in the historic confines of the old Ideal Buick Garage location of the early 20th century. The firm distills vodka, gin and whiskeys from 100% organic grains and features tours and tastings at their location showing mastery of adaptive re-use architectural practices.

​McClintock Young was a former resident of Frederick, and long-time resident of Mount Olivet, buried in 1913. He is a very interesting figure to study in context to the annals of Frederick history. Mr. Young holds the distinction of being a successful businessman, but is commonly heralded as Frederick’s greatest inventor. At the time of his death in 1913, he had filed over 100 patents for his creations. He would be responsible, in part, for giving work to hundreds of local residents thanks to his inventive genius.

​McClintock Young, Jr. was born June 25th, 1836 in Washington, D.C. Here is where he lived his early years, and began his scholastic career. Our subject’s father, McClintock Young, Sr. (1801-1863), was a politician and received an appointment to the position of Chief Clerk of the United States Treasury. He would be called upon to be Acting Director of the Treasury several times during the Andrew Jackson administration. Ironically, the senior Mr. Young briefly worked under short-lived Secretary of the Treasury, Roger Brooke Taney, whose wife and three daughters are buried in Mount Olivet’s gated Potts lot.
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McClintock’s mother, Susan Bird Newman (1805-1836), was the daughter of Col. Francis Newman of England, and she hailed from Upper Marlboro in Charles County, Maryland. Her father had given up a baronetcy back home in favor of American citizenship (c. 1800). Mr. Newman served as a colonel in the War of 1812 and afterwards became a revenue collector for Washington D.C.

​The progenitor of the Young family was McClintock’s paternal grandfather, Hugh Young, a Scotch-Irishman and resident of Londonderry, Ireland. He was implicated in the rebellion of 1798, and to escape persecution, fled to the United States in that year, and settled in Baltimore, where he would spend the remainder of his life. He was a great admirer of Andrew Jackson, and is said to have entertained the rough and tumble president in his home in “Charm City.”

Interestingly, Hugh’s son, McClintock Young (Sr.), would be appointed chief clerk of the United States Treasury by Andrew Jackson, a position Young, Sr. would retain for a number of years as mentioned earlier. McClintock, Sr. and wife Susan had two boys, McClintock, Jr. (b. 1836) and Alexander (b. 1830-1862).
Taney may have influenced the elder McClintock Young to send his sons to Frederick to attend the Frederick Academy (also called Boy’s High School), once located on Council Street. Both boys can be found living here in town within a boarding house run by a lady named Teresa Jamison in the year 1850. This is thought to have been on East Second Street.

​McClintock Young, Jr. was a tinkerer from a “young” age. In 1849, at 12 years-old, he constructed a fire engine that could throw a stream of water more than 40 feet in the air. He did this without the aid of technical or mechanical training. McClintock, Jr. went on to attend St. John’s College in Annapolis, and receive teaching from Benjamin Hallowell (1799-1870) who had opened a boarding school in Alexandria, VA. Mr. Hallowell  had quite a reputation, and one of his former students was Robert E. Lee. Mr. Hallowell went on to be the first president of the Maryland Agricultural College, later to change its name to the University of Maryland.

​McClintock Young, Jr. opened a foundry in Frederick on the east end of Patrick Street adjacent the bridge that crosses Carroll Creek. He engaged in the agricultural implement and machinery business from 1856-1870 with a business name of the Vulcan Iron Works, originally started with partner Ezra Doub.  In the early 1860s, Young was running the Vulcan Works by himself and produced items such as stoves and related items. The partnership dissolved by century's end, as Mr. Young began getting noticed for his success in gaining patents for new inventions.

​Along the way, McClintock Young married Louisa Mary Mobberly of New Market in 1862 and started a family. She was a relative of Frederick Revolutionary War hero, et al. Thomas Johnson, Jr.

​Young continued to make the world better through mechanized means, earning patents for steam engines, saw mills, and sewing machines. He also designed such useful things as a box-making machine and an ink eraser. His big invention came with a “self-rake” mechanism that he sold to the McCormick Harvester Company. This would remain a pivotal part of the firm’s famed reaper machines for more than half of a century.

It's not quite known how McClintock spent the American Civil War in Frederick, a definitive crossroads of war. He registered for service as was mandatory, however did not serve. Meanwhile, his brother died as a result of the conflict. Alexander served with the Confederacy and was killed above Richmond (VA) at the Battle of Hanover Courthouse on May 27th, 1862. McClintock’s father would die less than a year later in early May, 1863. He is buried in a crypt in Washington, D.C.’s impressive Congressional Cemetery.

​McClintock Young's wife, Louise, bought the property that is today labeled as 124 North Court Street in 1865. The family would live here, and a lasting reminder can be found directly across the street in the form of a coal chute cover with McClintock’s name as a maker’s mark.

​McClintock Young would earn a great payday in 1870 from the Diamond Match Company, who purchased his patent for an automated match-making machine. This mechanism cut splints from a block of wood, spaced for dipping without shifting the block or cutters, and stuck them into the holes of a perforated plate, in which condition they were dipped in the composition, and, when sufficiently dry, pushed out by small punches, corresponding to the holes in the plates.

​Young also invented machines to manufacture hinges, and, (previous to 1870) obtained several patents including such things as knife sharpeners and others covering the principles of the modern bicycle with pedals powering rear wheels instead of the existing early technology of the late 1800s featuring “front-wheel drive.”

​Meanwhile, a unique relationship grew between McClintock Young and executives of the Diamond Company. One such was John K. Robinson, the primary founder of the Palmetto Brush Company here in Frederick in 1886. Young had come up with a machine that could turn palm trees into scrub brushes, and would design several more variations on his original.

Formerly, this trade had to be performed by hand. McClintock’s invention spaced, bored, inclined and tufted the holes automatically, allowing each tuft (of brush bristle) to be secured by a wire staple. Two machines of this type, run by one operator, could create 70,000 tufts in 10 hours.
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McClintock Young’s original foundry location on South Street soon became the home of the Ox Fibre Brush Company, with McClintock being named company vice president. Due to the business’ great success with customers here and abroad, a new plant would be built on East Church Street extended.

​Young’s “brush with success” led to him being well respected here, and elsewhere, throughout his life. He traveled abroad to Canada and England to patent his inventions interantionally. McClintock Young labored, so others would not have to in the manufacture of products that would further assist the laborer. At a time when there were few sports and entertainment stars, an inventor of his reputation carried a level of celebrity and was revered by colleagues and neighbors alike.
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Aside from that, Young was highly involved in the civic and fraternal clubs of town. He was an active Mason, and member of All Saints’ Protestant Episcopal Church. Most importantly, he was said to have been a stellar parent, raising three daughters into adulthood, especially challenging after his wife died in 1886. These included: Helen Young (married Baker Johnson), Elizabeth Bird Young (married Dr. Arthur Williams), and Eloise Newman English (married Arthur English). One thing that brought great happiness to Frederick’s grand inventor was the time he spent at his mountain cabin.

​This retreat was procured before the conception of the resort colony at Braddock Heights thanks to another brilliant innovation started in Frederick by George William Smith with his interurban trolley system (the Frederick & Middletown Railway) in 1896.

Of course, that particular area was made famous and took its name from Braddock Spring, once used supposedly by British Gen. Edward Braddock in 1755. Keeping a spring-like theme, McClintock’s cabin was located in the Bootjack Springs area northwest of Frederick City, mountain land wedged between Yellow Springs and Indian Springs, both having roads named for them.
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I, myself, grew up just below said cabin in the Bootjack Springs Estates. My father even hung an antique bootjack in our house’s central hallway. The bootjack was more commonly used in earlier times by gentlemen to assist in the removal of boots. I don’t know how the Bootjack Springs area got its name for sure, but I was once told that the land parcel (that contained the principal spring of this vicinity), was shaped much like a bootjack. I recently learned that one of McClintock Distilling's signature concoctions is "Bootjack Rye Whiskey." 

It’s hard to keep a good man down, but the brilliant light within McClintock Young, Jr. finally faded on August 1st, 1913. Supposedly, a three-year illness was to blame for his demise at the age of 77, his troubles were initiated, in part, years earlier by a severe fall from a horse in November,1913. 

​McClintock’s daughters sold his house on North Court Street in 1914. However, Eloise would receive the mountain cabin as a gift from her father. It would be the setting for a major event in the life of Eloise and her children three years after McClintock’s passing. I wrote about this in “Stories in Stone,” under the title "Auld Lang Syne and the Inventor's Daughter" for one of my first blog pieces in which I had wanted to chronicle the life of this special man. It’s now taken me six and a half years to finally follow through.

​However, I only have one thing to say—researching and presenting history is not a race, but more like a "fun-run." As long as you make it to the finish line, and have enjoy the pursuit and learning along the way, that’s all that matters. I do, however, now suddenly feel the need for a nice drink for my labors as we enter Labor Day weekend of 2023. Perhaps I can find something with Bootjack Rye Whiskey so I can salute the old inventor, himself.

The family lot in Mount Olivet's Area H is not far from Confederate Row on the cemetery's west side. It holds the remains of McClintock, wife Louisa who predeceased him, along with his two infant children (McClintock and Louisa) that passed in the late 1850s. Daughters Helen and Eloise are also buried here, along with three of Eloise' children, and another from Helen.

By design, the finish of the recent fun run was placed just past McClintock's gravesite. Participants paid their respects, to a man who certainly used his time here in Frederick, and on Earth, to its fullest. Thank you McClintock Young, and thanks Charm City and McClintock for your kind support of our ongoing historic preservation of Mount Olivet Cemetery.

One thing you will surely find in a cemetery are dates. Now I'm talking day of the month and year here, certainly not a social or romantic appointment (date). Birth and death dates are evident by the tens of thousands on the faces of marble and granite gravestones, or etched upon bronze plaques. Our cemetery records are filled with the same, and also include burial dates of those interred here as well.

We can't promise that all are correct, but it's certainly our hope. Where a cemetery can generally guarantee a burial date's accuracy, and obituaries can be researched for proper death dates, birth dates of early decedents can sometimes be problematic. In many cases, these were provided by family members and associates, leaving room for error when no birth certificate or church record/family Bible entry was ever made.

The date of August 9th is an important one this year for Mount Olivet Cemetery. It marks something a little bit different for us, in addition to supposedly being a famous decedent's birthday. In this particular case, this day marks the official unveiling and dedication date of a magnificent monument at Mount Olivet. The year was 1898, and this was no ordinary tombstone—no sir! This is the most famous gravemarker and site in a cemetery containing over 41,000 souls, so to speak. I'm talking about Francis Scott Key--
author of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

For this article, we are more interested in the monument itself, and the day of its official unveiling moreso than Francis Scott Key the man, lawyer, songwriter, and patriot. It is an inaugural member of our Mount Olivet "Monument Hall of Fame," and got there easily through its merit as a true work of art.  Interestingly, the monument's namesake, Mr. Key, had been dead for 55 years already before its placement. "Better late than never" I guess, as they say.

I'm not overly interested in re-hashing the history of Francis Scott Key (1779-1843), or how he came to write his song in Baltimore Harbor during a 27-hour bombardment of Fort McHenry in September, 1814, here in this particular article. You can find that saga on another page of this very website. Interestingly, this story has been told at the Key monument site in Mount Olivet hundreds, perhaps thousands of times since the mid-19th century. Eager ears have included school children, tour groups and senior center outing participants. I know this from first-hand experience, because I am among the latest to do so over the last two decades. I've also had the good fortune to share FSK's story at special commemorations at the monument site including such events as the annual Memorial Day ceremony put on by the American Legion, and our local Francis Scott Key Post #11.

In the last 40 years, we've had some great events here. In 1987, the monument was refurbished, its bronze figures having been tarnished over its first 89 years. Worse than the outer appearance of these sculptures, was the internal rust and corrosion that was happening, as the infrastructure was fast deteriorating. The multiple sculptures were sent to the studio of Eleftherios Karkadoulias in Cincinnati, Ohio.  One of the top bronze sculptors and restoration artists in the country, Mr. Karkadoulis did an amazing job and the statuary figures were put back in place "as good as new."  A fine event was held by the Francis Scott Key Memorial Foundation to welcome them home after an 8-month sojourn to the midwest.

In 1998, Frederick County celebrated its 250th anniversary. One of the signature events of that year took place here in Mount Olivet as citizens commemorated the 100th anniversary of the original unveiling of the monument on August 9th, 1898. It was a fine event, full of pomp and circumstance.

In more recent history, two events were held in 2013 and 2014 to celebrate the bicentennial of the Battle of Baltimore and the writing of "the Star-Spangled Banner" as a major part of Maryland commemorative activities associated with the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. We marketed these as "Anthem & Author Reunited" and "Home of the Brave."

I worked for the Tourism Council of Frederick County at the time and we worked in advance to make sure that visitors would have products here in Frederick to assist in interpreting Francis Scott Key's connection and ties to town. This came in the form of interpretive displays, with Mount Olivet Cemetery being our prime location to tell his story. We also concocted a great scheme in taking the unique opportunity to bring Key's original song manuscript to his former hometown.

Knowing that the latter task would be nearly impossible in the actual anniversary year of 2014, our local planning committee set its aims on obtaining the document for Flag Day, 2013. In case you didn't know, Key's "Star-Spangled Banner" manuscript resides at the Maryland Historical Society. We knew it would be displayed at Fort McHenry during the anniversary. 

Permissions and grant funding (for transport and security) were obtained and the 2013 "Anthem & Author Reunited" event became a reality for a special three-day commemoration in mid-June a decade ago. The priceless document was brought to Frederick, where it first went on public display at Frederick City Hall on Friday the 12th. Here, thousands of visitors had the opportunity to view the document under glass as it "laid in state" within the first floor hearing room under the watchful eye of a ceremonial guard provided by both Frederick City Police, The Frederick County Sheriff's Office and Maryland State Police. The latter held the role of escorting Key's manuscript to Frederick from "Charm City."

Various activities throughout the three-day event ushered in a new collection of interpretive panels placed around Frederick City to help explain Francis Scott Key's importance here as the third point of a "Key Heritage Triangle," if you will. Baltimore is the home of Fort McHenry and the manuscript, and Washington, DC served as residence and primary employment site to Key in adult life and the Smithsonian Museum of American History is the site where you can find the original flag that flew over Fort McHenry on that fateful day of September 14th, 1814. But little old Frederick and Mount Olivet hold the literal, and figurative, "key" to the story, as the first, and eternal, home of the author. This is also where he started his highly successful law career.

Interpretive exhibits, skillfully produced with the help of David Guiney (Interpretive Direction), Ruth Bielobocky (Iondesign) and artist Richard Schlecht were unveiled all over town at places such as Courthouse Square, the Hessian Barracks (Maryland School for the Deaf), Harry Grove Stadium, and the Frederick Visitor Center where the exhibit enshrines one of the legendary British bombs that "bursted in air." These would be unveiled in separate ceremonies on that opening day of the 2013 celebration, and on Saturday the 13th.

The grand finale occurred at Mount Olivet Cemetery on Flag Day itself as the manuscript was mightily escorted through the streets of Frederick by the US Army's ceremonial Old Guard Unit, aka the 3rd U.S. Infantry. You may know them from their work with memorial affairs missions, most notably funerals and ceremonies held at Arlington Cemetery. On this day in June, 2013, the contingent made quite a scene as they marched from Frederick City Hall through a number of city streets before turning down South Market and into the cemetery's front gate.  The soldiers stood at attention in front of the Key Monument as the original manuscript came as close as possible to its original author. An estimated 1000 spectators were on hand. If you believe in spirits and the afterlife, I would guarantee that Francis Scott Key was smiling down with greatest admiration on the scene that day. But there were others as well.

A few more "banner" days that brought smiles to more than just Francis Scott Key were September 13th and 14th, 2014. This was the anniversary of the Battle of Baltimore and the event titled "Home of the Brave."  We not only celebrated Key on that day, but also those who he said to have been the true inspiration for his writing of the song originally entitled "The Defense of Fort McHenry." While visiting Frederick on August 6th, 1834, Francis Scott Key made a speech at Courthouse Square during a large ceremonial banquet. Many veterans of the War of 1812 were in the audience and this would be one of a few rare occasions in which Key discussed his remembrances associated with writing "The Star-Spangled Banner."  Key would give credit to these former soldiers: 

"The song, I know, came from the heart, and if it has made its way to the hearts of men, whose devotion to their country and the great cause of freedom I know so well, I could not pretend to be insensible to such a compliment.

With it came an inspiration not to be resisted; and even though it had been a hanging matter to make a song, I must have written it. Let the praise, then, if any be due, be given not to me, who only did what I could not help doing; not to the writer, but to the inspirers of the song!”

…I again thank you for the honor you have done me; but I can only take the share of it. I was but the instrument in executing what you have been so pleased to praise; it was dictated and inspired by the gallantry and patriotism of the sons of Maryland. The honor is due, not to me who made the song, but to the heroism of those who made me make it…" 

We have 109 of those War of 1812 veterans buried here in Mount Olivet, the second highest concentration of 1812 soldiers in all of Maryland, second only to Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore. We used the occasion to properly mark these men with special plaques found throughout our grounds and made possible thanks to funding from the Maryland State War of 1812 Commission and the Francis Scott Key Memorial Foundation.

The cemetery hosted a two-part commemoration at the Key monument including a Saturday night luminary event recognizing  those very 1812 vets called out by Francis Scott Key at that 1834 event at the courthouse. Boy Scouts with Tiki torches were positioned at the 109 graves of 1812 veterans in Mount Olivet, and a procession led by horse and carriage winded its way through the cemetery making 15 stops to here from re-enactors portraying former Frederick residents at their respective gravesites.  This was followed by a solemn roll call of their names, capped with a fine fireworks display at Grove Stadium behind the silhouette of Francis Scott Key atop the monument.

The next morning at sunrise, a choir sang all four stanzas of the national anthem, and a crowd of 300 were entertained by re-enactors depicting Francis Scott Key, Abraham Lincoln and James Monroe.

Speaking of which, none of the events just recounted compare to the grand excitement generated back in 1898 when the monument was first revealed to an audience of thousands.

I want to tell you about the genesis of the monument itself, and how it came to be. A good starting place is the 1860s and the American Civil War. Fifty years after its initial writing, there was not an opportunity to celebrate "The Star-Spangled Banner" with a fancy commemoration. You may recall that Baltimore was under martial law. Meanwhile, here in Frederick, on September 14th of 1864, the feeling  was more one of relief than nostalgic patriotism as we had just witnessed a small skirmish west of town on July 8th, and a day later, a full-pitched battle down at Monocacy Junction, south of town. In fact, we were lucky that the banks paid a ransom levied by Confederate Gen. Jubal Early, keeping our town intact and not in ruin by the torch. Just ask nearby Chambersburg, Pennsylvania how they were feeling after their town was burned to the ground in the early morning hours of July 30th. 

The song and its author were re-remembered however through the war. Union military bands and musicians, in search of patriotic music, curiously blew the dust off the sheet music of the old song, and it became an instant favorite of both the players as well as the rank and file themselves. By war's end, the song had regained the interest, and adoration (at least in the north), as it had first enjoyed in 1814. People of Frederick began recalling the Key family and in particular, Francis' time spent here as a youth, and again as a fledgling lawyer. This led citizens to ask if Key was still alive, or not? When realizing he had died in 1843, folks began to search for his gravesite, ultimately disappointed to learn that he was reposing in Baltimore and not Frederick. Many questioned why he was not buried in our beautiful new garden cemetery of Mount Olivet? 

The answer was simple —at the time of Key's death, there was no Mount Olivet. This land, south of downtown Frederick City, was nothing more than rolling farmland along the Georgetown Pike and the "Newly Designed Road" which crossed Carrollton Manor leading to the Potomac and Virginia beyond. The cemetery wouldn't be opened until May, 1854, more than a decade after Key's death in January, 1843 at the age of 64.

Key had died of a lung infection (pleurisy) while visiting his oldest daughter, Elizabeth Howard, a resident of Mount Vernon Place, adjacent Baltimore's Washington Monument. He was not buried back at his current home of Georgetown/Washington, DC, but rather in nearby Old St. Paul's Cemetery, a stone's throw from Camden Yards and the University of Maryland's School of Medicine campus.  Francis Scott Key's mortal remains were placed in the Howard family crypt, where his wife Mary would join him upon her death in 1859. 

The rekindled interest in "the Star-Spangled Banner," and songwriter prompted some of Frederick's leading citizens, led by Mr. George M. Potts, to lobby Mrs. Elizabeth (Key) Howard and her sister, Alice (Key) Pendleton for reburying the Keys in Mount Olivet. From what I have read, it seems to have taken a while for the ladies to warm to the idea. 

One event that could have swayed hesitancy occurred in spring of 1866 with the death of Francis Scott Key, Jr. Perhaps there was limited room in the Howard family vault to accommodate this family member? Or maybe free grave lots were offered to get the Keys back to Frederick? Regardless, the selling point of having FSK return to his native home of Frederick was paramount—he needed to be "poetically" laid to rest as he had supposedly requested to be buried "beneath the shadows of the everlasting hills" of Catoctin Mountain. This was a great  tribute to Frederick and the town he knew well in his youth, site of the first courthouse of his law career, and not far from his family estate of Terra Rubra, near present day Keymar (Carroll County). Besides, Key's parents and sister had already been reinterred here in 1855 from former resting places in Frederick's All Saints Protestant Episcopal Burying Ground, once located along Carroll Creek in the heart of Frederick City.

Residents and tourists alike would afterward make pilgrimages to see the final resting place of the man who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner." However, many visitors were underwhelmed by such a modest gravesite for such a patriotic citizen. He was the face and "pop star" of the Second War of Independence for goodness sake. This was also a time of Victorian extravagance where grand monuments were being erected for Civil War soldiers and officers alike, even those who lost in war on behalf of the Southern Cause. Why then, did Key not have something more substantial and fitting to reflect his deeds? Descriptions and a few surviving photos show Key's original gravesite embellished with landscaping, flower pots, and eventually a flagpole. However, it wasn't enough for a citizen who was an automatic entry into the history book of our nation.

The seed was now planted for something bigger and better for Francis Scott Key. However, it would take over three decades to be finally realized. The seriousness of the matter definitely ramped up in the late 1880s as the founding of the Francis Scott Key Monument Association would soon follow. Various fundraising efforts were undertaken, aided by private donations, government appropriations and even schoolchildren being asked to save and send pennies for the patriotic project to give "The Star-Spangled Banner's" writer a monument equal to his deed and legacy.

In 1896, the Key Monument Association, under the leadership of William C. Birely requested bids for the Frederick project. A man named Folger McKinsey, then editor of the Frederick News newspaper, headed up the monument's design committee, and would correspond with interested firms. It was McKinsey who truly championed the movement upon his arrival in town in 1888. He would use his media platform to truly resuscitate a movement that had started a few decades earlier but sputtered out after raising little money.

The Association was ultimately impressed with a design submitted by the New York City studio of Alexander Doyle. It featured Key and allegorical figures.

​Mr. Doyle was born in Steubenville, Ohio, and spent his youth in Louisville (Kentucky) and St. Louis (Missouri) before going to Italy to study sculpture in Bergamo, Rome, and Florence, studying with noted experts Giovanni Duprè, Carlo Nicoli and Fernando Pelliccia. While there, he became a member of the Royal Raphael Academy.

​After returning to the United States, he settled in New York City and became one of the most prominent sculptors of the era. There are three statues by Doyle in National Statuary Hall in Washington, DC: Thomas Hart Benton, Francis Preston Blair, Jr., and John E. Kenna.
 
Alexander Doyle became a sculptor of marble and bronze monuments of historical figures including Civil War heroes and other prominent persons.  His work can be found throughout the United States including in Washington, DC, Missouri, Alabama, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, and Mississippi.

In the case of Frederick's Francis Scott Key monument project, Doyle would receive the request for proposal at a time in which he was busily finishing his project involving the three figures for Statuary Hall. He had recently made the acquaintance of a 24-year-old immigrant from Italy named Pompeo Coppini. The two men had a chance, but positive, first meeting aided greatly by Doyle's ability to speak Italian since  Coppini could not read or write English.

Unfortunately, Mr. Doyle had no work for the young Italian who had freshly arrived in New York in early 1896. However, he told Coppini that he foresaw opportunities in the near future after finishing his present project for the US Capital. Soon thereafter, Coppini learned of another project needing assistance due to a strict deadline. With Doyle's reference and introduction, Pompeo Coppini would be hired to help a fellow New York sculptor named Roland Hinton Perry on a project for the opening of the new Library of Congress in Washington, DC. This was the Fountain of Neptune which survives today. Coppini assisted Perry to its completion in November, 1897.

Immediately after finishing the Neptune Fountain, Coppini returned to see Alexander Doyle. The young immigrant's timing could not have been better as this was when Doyle received a call for proposal from the Francis Scott Key Monument Association. The project offered $10,000, but needed to be completed in time for Flag Day, 1898.

In 1987, Judge Edward S. Delaplaine wrote a brief history of the monument entitled Doyle and Coppini: Sculptors of the Francis Scott Key Monument. Here is the story of that fateful moment for the young Italian sculptor as he received his first major work in America, setting in motion an amazing career in the public arts.

"Doyle picked up the letter and explained to the young Italian the anthem entitled : "The Star-Spangled Banner," and how it came to be written. It seemed an excellent subject for sculpture; but to enter the competition it was necessary to submit a model in accordance with specifications prepared in Frederick by the Key Monument Association. Coppini, unfamiliar with the English language, was not capable of entering the competition, while Doyle, having completed a heavy load of work, was looking forward as usual to a long summer vacation with his family at Squirrel Island, Maine. However, the prospect for a sculptor appeared fascinating. Coppini had won the confidence of Doyle and an agreement was reached that Doyle would enter the competition while Coppini would be allowed to use his studio to make the pen and ink sketch for it and also do the sculpture in the event that they should win the award. The model was entered in the competition and it won the award on February 16, 1897.

It was agreed that below the statue of Key would be three figures symbolizing American Patriotism. In the center would be Columbia, the lovely symbol of all that is greatest and best in the United States of America. To serve as a model with "a beautiful, queenly head" to pose for the figure of Columbia, Coppini selected Elizabeth di Barbieri, a native of New Haven, Connecticut. She agreed to pose for him and not long after she began, Coppini fell in love with her, and in the winter of 1897, the model promised to marry the sculptor. They were wed in New Haven on February 27, 1898.

Down through the years there has come the story that the original idea of the group of three figures at the base of the monument was to have Columbia with her flag resting upon her shoulder; to have the youth to the right extending his hand in a vow of fidelity; and to have the little child to the left -- failing to grasp the significance of the lesson of Patriotism because of his tender years --extending his hand in imitation of his older companion. According to this tradition, Coppini during the sculpturing made substantial changes in the positions of the figures. He brought Columbia's flag forward instead of having it resting upon her shoulder. The youth to the right placed his hands on a sword to symbolize Defense. The little child to the left held a lyre to symbolize Music and Song.

Ordinarily Coppini was a fast worker. But Doyle had met with a number of delays, one of which was due to the illness and death of his father, with the result that the Committee on Design of the Key Monument association became worried the the sculpturing might not be completed in time for the dedication of ther monument early in August. The committee urgently requested Doyle to have the work completed by June 14, 1898.

The committee had requested that the text of the four verses of "The Star-Spangled Banner" be added to the back of the monument. Doyle asked Coppini to do this modeling even though he was not familiar with the English language. This was the young Italian's comment on the addition to the monument:

​'All the lettering of the Star-Spangled Banner tablet in the back of the memorial were modeled by me in clay and copied from a print of the National Anthem, letter by letter, before I was able to read a word of it, but knowing its meaning as Sculptor Alexander Doyle translated them for me, as he could speak and write Italian as well as I, having spent part of his youth and schooling in Carrara, where his father owned some marble quarries.'

(NOTE: For more information on Pompeo Coppini and the reburial of the Keys and son Francis Scott Key, Jr., I suggest reading back editions of Stories in Stone published previously. Click highlighted links.)

The date of grand ceremony had to be moved back to August, but a cornerstone laying ceremony would still take place on June 14th, 1898. Weeks earlier on May 18th, the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Key had been moved to a vault, placed below the site of the proposed monument. The laying of the project's cornerstone would prove quite impressive and drew thousands of spectators according to the newspaper reports. The fraternal order of Freemasons took charge of this sacred ceremony on behalf of the Key Monument Association. On June 14th, Frederick would find itself decked out with flags flying, and businesses adorned with colorful, patriotic bunting. 

A parade led many dignitaries and onlookers through the streets of Frederick en-route to Mount Olivet and the site of the third, and hopefully final, gravesite for Francis Scott Key. A large platform was erected for spectators to the north of the site under a copse of trees. A choir was also on hand as Baltimore lawyer, and Past Grand Master of the Masons, John M. Carter gave the main address of the day's Flag Day program, as important items within the ceremonial cornerstone were put in place in accordance to Masonic ritual.

Unfortunately, there was one low point to report as the spectator stage collapsed shortly into Mr. Carter's remarks. One woman was injured more than others, but thankfully the stage was only 3 feet of the ground. It must have been quite a scene regardless. If anything else, this proved a nice dress rehearsal for the main event scheduled less than two months later on August 9th, 1898. You could say the stage was set! (Sorry)

The large parts of granite to comprise the monument's base and pedestal, as well as the delicate sculptures of bronze, arrived in Frederick from New York by train. They were brought to the cemetery by horse and wagon, and surely generated conversation and excitement. Newspapers throughout the country talked in great anticipation about the upcoming unveiling to be held in the small western Maryland town for one of the country's top patriots. This was also the home of Civil War, flag-toting heroine Barbara Fritchie and recent Spanish-American War hero Commodore Winfield Scott Schley, whose heroics in July, 1898 while in command of Admiral Dewey's flagship, the Brooklyn of the North Atlantic Fleet, helped destroy the Spanish naval fleet ensuring victory to Teddy Roosevelt and his legendary Roughriders in Santiago, Cuba. 

Key's birthday was rightfully considered for the new date of dedication. However, not having the internet and instant information at one's fingertips caused a bit of a problem. Mount Olivet's vital records for the Keys followed in accordance with the information provided on the decedents' gravestones. likely erected in 1866/1867 following their re-interment here. This is a point of contention as Key's tombstone advertised August 9th, 1780 as his birthdate. Unfortunately, this was an error to be realized later, as he had actually been born on August 1st, 1779. I was amazed to find this erroneous birthdate appearing in the Frederick News on the day of the big event. It was understood to be the day by many apparently. Remember, before criticizing, the people of this era did not have access to Ancestry.com.

Regardless, the dedication ceremony took place on Tuesday, August 9th instead of Monday, August 1st, 1898. Once again the town was decked out in red, white and blue pageantry. A rainy morning gave way to ample sunshine after noon, just in time for a lengthy parade that launched from the North Market Street Fountain at 2pm. The central attraction of the parade was the 6th US Artillery Band, and the formation was led by Chief Marshall E. Y. Goldsborough. Other musical troupes included the Knight Band of Baltimore, and local favorites in the Harmony and Yellow Springs bands.

Maryland's Fourth regiment, National Guard, had not been deployed in the war as yet, and received permission to attend the dedication as a group. in addition, Grand Army of the Republic members from around the area, along with a large contingent from Baltimore, came to town to participate. This was fitting since it was the Union Army that reintroduced Key, and his catchy song about the flag under attack by the British, to later generations than those who had experienced the war of 1812 in person.

The fire companies of town, at one time doubling as our first militia units, were on the scene in their finest attire, with their polished equipment at hand.  They certainly knew how to enhance a parade. The Continental American Guards were dressed in Continental Army dress harkening back to the American Revolution in which Key's father, John Ross Key, had participated, ultimately achieving the rank of captain. It was this same gentleman buried within Mount Olivet's Potts Lot in Area G, who introduced his young son to the immortal patriot of American patriots, George Washington.

Other important guests on hand that day of August 9th, 1898, were speakers Emily Nelson Ritchie McLean, destined to become the President General of the United States Daughters of the American Revolution seven years later, and beloved local minister Rev. Osborne Ingle from All Saints Protestant Episcopal Church who would deliver the ceremony's invocation. In fact, it was Rev. Ingle who presided over the reburial of the Keys in Mount Olivet 32 years earlier in 1866. The main orator of the momentous occasion was Henry Watterson, the son of a U.S. Congressman from Tennessee, who had became a prominent journalist in Louisville, Kentucky. He would also become a noted author and partial term U.S. Congressman, and part-owner and editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal. Watterson would later win the the Pulitzer Prize for editorials written regarding America's entry into World war I.

Key Monument Association President William C. Birely, and Secretary and Monument Design Chair Folger McKinsey, who would eventually leave the employ of the Frederick News for greater fame with the Baltimore Sun newspaper, could not have been prouder of the finished work done by Mr. Doyle and Signore Coppini. The monument, and its symbolic figures, were hidden from view of the assembled audience by two large flags draped in front of the memorial. 

At the proper point in the ceremony, Miss Julia McHenry Howard, Key's great-granddaughter, was given the signal to pull a cord which caused the large flags to "fall apart" and expose the grand achievement. At that magic moment, as the audience of thousands exclaimed their satisfaction, huzzahs and emotions, the band struck up "The Star-Spangled Banner," and Folger McKinsey's daughter Lois hoisted an American flag up a flagpole positioned behind, and slightly to the right, of the monument.

Thankfully, we have a handful of photographs which captured the event and some of the participants on that special day of August 9th, 1898—even though it was the wrong day. So if you had just one wish to time travel and you wanted to experience this event first-hand, you better have your dates right if you were told it took place on the occasion of what would have been the decedent's 119th birthday. Don't go trusting his old tombstone.​

I was particularly glad to see longtime friends and acquaintances in the audience, but one surely stood out. This was my old boss, John Fieseler, recently retired executive director of the Tourism Council of Frederick County/Visit Frederick  after a magnificent 23-year run. John has done so much for our county in terms of tourism development, and so much in bettering me as a historian and heritage tourism professional along the way while I was in his employ and out. I am a devout disciple of his for sure, and always will be.

John played a hand in all the "recent" Key commemorations and ceremonies over the past four decades I talked about earlier in this article. He's always been the biggest fan of Francis Scott Key, and has joyfully promoted the lawyer/songwriter/patriot as one of the county's leading ambassadors, and equally his monument as one of our most prized tourist attractions. When designing the new Frederick Visitor Center (which opened in 2011), John made sure that a likeness of Francis Scott Key was placed by the front entrance to welcome tourists to not only the award winning center,  but to our incredible city and county—two places equally loved by Key, himself.

On this night of August 9th, 2023, John was not just here as a spectator and FSK fan, he was also representing the Community Foundation of Frederick County as a trustee of the Francis Scott Key Memorial Fund. This was started a few years back with the dissolution of the Francis Scott Key Memorial Foundation formed in 1964, whose mission focused on the perpetual care and upkeep of the monument at Mount Olivet Cemetery and educating the community about Francis Scott Key's significance, including his writing of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Last year, monies from this fund allowed us to bring in one of the country's top cemetery restoration experts in Jonathan Appell (Atlas Preservation of Southington, Connecticut) to re-point the monument, repair the base at ground level and re-bronze the statues crafted by Pompeo Coppini in Alexander Doyle's New York City Studio over 125 years ago. In recent weeks, another disbursement from the fund allowed us to put a brick walkway around the monument, an idea and design that was originally proposed back in 2012 by David Guiney of Interpretive Direction. This walkway invites and allows visitors to inspect the monument up close and personal, especially the statuary figures, and the complete "Star-Spangled Banner" manuscript crafted by Coppini on the monument's backside. In coming years, we will be working with multiple local and state partners in an effort to enhance the monument site and build a more thorough "Star-Spangled Plaza" here which will highlight the lasting value and importance of four aspects to our country—the anthem, the flag, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

Back to John Fieseler, he may hold the actual "key" to Francis Scott Key's true birthdate, as he is a resident of Keymar, living in a beautifully restored historic farmhouse within a mile of Key's birthplace of Terra Rubra on Little Pipe Creek.  It has been rumored for years that the author of our national anthem could have been actually conceived in John's historic barn. Talk about "the rocket's red glare" and "bombs bursting in air," now that's a hot take! But, sadly a story for another day, not necessarily a "banner one," and of course will require additional scholarly study and research with calculations incorporating a strict, 9-month pregnancy model perhaps culminating on the 9th of August, 1779?  

​As always, thanks for tolerating me and my ramblings. And thank those who helped give Francis Scott Key that final resting place here in Mount Olivet "neath the everlasting hills," and the opportunity for visitors to to see him pointing to the flag his song immortalized both by the "dawn's early light," and "the twilight's last gleaming."

The accompanying text (for the engraving) explains how the equipment turns ingredients into beer:

"The cold liquor [water] pump A, raises the water from the river or well B, which, as well as the wort pump M, is driven by a horse with proper machinery, which likewise grinds the malt used in the brew-house.  The grinding house is situated between the pumps, as may be seen by the mill spout P, which conducts the malt from the mill into the mash tun H.  The liquor from the river B, is pumped into the cistern or reservoir, where it is ready at all times during the hurry of brewing; and from the cistern it passes through the large pipe D, into the liquor copper, E, where it may be stopped by a cock at the extremity of the pipe.  The liquor when warmed for mashing is let into the mash-tun, H, by opening the cock, F, in the bottom of the copper, and runs down the trunk Z, which carries into the raising spout, G, in the mash-tun, H, this spout by a notch in the moveable or false bottom of the mash-tun, conducts the liquor between the moveable and real bottoms, which, by ascending, assists the mashing very much. The extract or wort is let go, by turning the cock, K, into the underback, L, and is from thence carried by the horse pump, M, into a level with the wort copper, O, and runs from the pump through the pipe, N, into the wort copper. When cold liquor is required for mashing, as is the case in small beer brewing, it is obtained from the cistern, C, by the pipe, Q, which communicates with it.

Thus these three very laborious parts of the business, viz. pumping the liquor from the river or well; mashing, and pumping up the worts into the copper, may easily be performed by two men; and they are able to mash a very considerable quantity of malt, and attend to the steaming of the casks, liquoring the backs, &c. between the mashes.  When all the worts are in the great copper, O, and are boiled sufficiently, they are run off into the first back, T, by turning the cock, R, from the spout, W, conducting the worts from the drainer, S, which detains the hops.  This back communicates with the two large backs, Y, which are sufficient to contain all the worts, and they may be laid at a greater or less depth, by using one or both these backs, stopping either of the pipes, X, by putting in one of the plugs, U.  The situation of  these two backs is higher than the fermenting tuns, and by pipes the worts are conveyed into them below; and if there is conveniency, the tuns, when cleansing, ought to be high enough to fill the casks in the cellar by means of a leathern pipe.

There you have it, brewing beer on an industrial level doesn't seem that hard now, does it? Well, I will say that after reading that passage, I am now doubly appreciative for the opportunity to enjoy the final product, and will leave it at that. I've visited a few modern-day breweries (Coors and Yuengling), and encourage readers interested in the process to visit some of our local breweries or chat with the many hobbyists we have in our midst as I'm lucky to have a neighbor who calls on me to be a taste-tester from time to time.

​As we learned last week, Frederick, Maryland has served home to local beer brewing operations since the 1700s. Makers in Frederick took advantage of a great water source in Carroll Creek, and the agricultural ingredients needed from the surrounding countryside. Brew House Alley was a name given to a narrow lane that connected West Patrick and West All Saints' streets. It slowly morphed into Brewer's Alley by mid-century. The thoroughfare would eventually be widened for two-way automobile traffic in the 20th century and eventually renamed Court Street.

John G. Lipps
​John George Lipps was born on November 23rd, 1803 in Wurttemberg, Germany. He immigrated to America in the 1830s and reached Frederick by at least 1838, the year he married. Mr. Lipps is said to have begun his brewery around 1840 and was appointed a justice of the peace in 1846.

John G. Lipps opened his brewery on West Patrick Street, utilizing the former operation of George Gelwick. This was next to a popular hotel/saloon called the Black Horse Tavern, run by Jacob Schmidt at one time. Apparently, Lipps' Brewery would be facilitated by the purchase of the Steiner family's property named Long Acre.

John G. Lipps married Catherine Ritchie (who was related to the Ritchie family of Maryland that would produce a future governor, which, in turn, would lead to the naming of a highway). The couple would have seven children.

The Lipps brewery was successful with peak production around 700 barrels. As mentioned earlier, the firm's main competitor was only about 100 yards away down Carroll Creek in the form of a brewery owned by Jacob Markell on the corner of Brewer's Alley and the All Saints' streets . 

We have a rare photograph that includes an image of the Lipps' Brewery in 1868. This was taken by early Frederick photographer Jacob Byerly at the time of the Great Flood of '68. The photo is a view looking westward on West Patrick Street around the area of the famous bend. The brewery, and several homes in this vicinity were heavily damaged by the freshet which caused Carroll Creek to swell far beyond its boundaries.

As we have seen the unique connection between brewery and saloon and tavern, with the latter being the point of chief public connection to the product, Mr. Lipps purchased another tavern called the Globe Hotel. This was located on East Patrick Street and had a unique historic significance to town.

​When he came of age, John G. Lipps' son, John A. C. Lipps (1842-1923) assisted his father in the family business. Brothers George C. Lipps and Ritschy Lipps would follow when they each came of age in the 1870s. Eventually the firm would move away from brewing around 1881 and the death of John George Lipps.

The J. Lipps Sons company now focused their energies on becoming a distributor of other beers from Baltimore and Philadelphia. The brewery property sat unused for years until being sold out of the family in 1904.

​Jacob Markell
Jacob Markell (1786-1867) was a noted Frederick businessman who purchased the brewery and land here on Lot#20 in 1852 from Capt. William Small’s estate. Few details are known about Mr. Markell heading up the brewery operation, as he would have better success with his dry goods mercantile business on West Patrick Street. One day I will tell you about his son Fred and daughter-in-law Catherine Susannah (Thomas) Markell, and their interesting connections to the American Civil War.

Speaking of wars, Jacob Markell was a veteran of the War of 1812, and was regarded as one of Frederick's most-respected citizens. He experienced considerable success in the realm of land investment with his “Markell’s Addition,” platted in 1856, and representing the largest extension of residential development along South Market Street during the 19th century. This came from a two-and-a-half acre farm located across South Market Street from the Frederick Hessian Barracks property destined to become the MD School for the Deaf.

In regard to real estate in the immediate vicinity of Markell's brewery, the extensive leather tannery of Gideon Bantz (1792-1854) stood across the creek to the north. Mr. Bantz's father had built the built a stone warehouse here around 1797, and it would eventually become part of a tanning operation t hat helped produce over 100.000 sides of leather in 1853 with five other firms of the same ilk in town. Gideon Bantz also purchased the old Brother's Tavern on the corner of West Patrick and Brewer's Alley. It would serve home to Mr. Bantz but after his death in 1854 would eventually be used for a place of traveler lodging again.  It would be expanded into a luxury accommodation known now as the Central Hotel. I discovered an advertisement of it being for sale in 1857. In the same edition, I saw another advertisement for an auction of personal estate items being held at the brewery site.

​Jacob Markell was appointed commissioner of the Frederick Female Seminary in 1856. Perhaps this pursuit pulled him away from giving the brewery his undivided attention? He would lease (and later sold) the brewery property for $2,750 to Peter Baer, a German who came to Frederick to hone his craft utilizing the magical waters of Carroll Creek.​

​Peter Baer
Peter Baer was born in Weinheim Germany, on Christmas day 1822 on his family's farm. His parents were  vintners and he graduated from Weinheim City College in 1844. Bear decided to try his fortunes in America.

The young man would eventually settle in Pennsylvania, living with an uncle. He honed his family skills in brewing by working at the Washabaugh Brewery in Chambersburg, PA, learning everything he needed to know to start his own brewery operation. By 1857, Peter Baer partnered with a gentleman named Peter Middlekauf in Hagerstown. He would save up enough money in that first year to purchase the Markell Brewery in Frederick.
​
Recognizing the outdated condition of the plant, Mr. Baer updated his operation with “first class machinery.” He would run his brewery here for the next 15 years and expanded along the way, hiring two full-time employees, building a new beer cellar (1865) and pumping out more than 800 barrels per year. He quickly eclipsed the neighboring Lipps Brewery in production and did this with fewer employees.

The expansion was a great achievement, especially following the hardships of the Civil War on the community. However, the new beer cellar project came with a tragic episode that was recorded by Jacob Engelbrecht in his diary with an entry made October 23rd, 1865. 

"Dreadful accident-This afternoon about 4 o'clock an accident occurred by which two men were killed, viz Theodore Kreh & Sebastian Exner, They with 3 others were digging & walling up a beer-cellar for Mr. Peter Baer (Brewer's Alley). As they were at work it caved in & two were instantly killed & the other three were also injured."

​

​Peter Baer would follow Mr. Markell’s lead and invested in real estate. He would purchase homes and lease them to German immigrants in Frederick. Mr. Baer would eventually turn his full focus toward this endeavor, and give more time to his French wife Salome and their four children. In an 1874 Frederick City Directory, Mr. Baer is listed as a "capitalist." Meanwhile, a German-born Baltimorean named Louis Heise is labeled a brewer, as he had taken over Mr. Baer's establishment on Brewer's Alley through lease agreement.

Well, as you can see, Mr. Heise could not sustain the business, defaulting on his mortgage to Peter Baer. I wonder if this was an effect of the economic recession that occurred in the country at the time, triggered by the Panic of 1873  and lasting until 1878/79. I found Louis Heise back in Baltimore in an 1878 Baltimore City Directory, His occupation, as printed therein, simply read: "Beer."

​​Peter Baer sold the brewery property on Lot #20 to Paul Hauser in 1879 for $6,000. Nine years later in 1888, at the time of his death, Mr. Baer was described as “one of the best known and wealthiest German residents of the city” and worth about $30,000.

Paul Hauser
Paul Hauser came by way of success in Wisconsin, and was arguably the most successful brewer in the history of olde Brewer's Alley of the 18th and 19th centuries. I immediately wanted to learn more about him and a Google search led me to a website entitled Wisconsin Breweries and Brewpubs. Within this site, author Doug Hoverson recounts the history of beer and brewers in an annotated online companion to his printed volume The Drink that Made Wisconsin Famous: Beer and Brewing in the Badger State. Mr. Hoverson includes a page of his research on our transplant Paul Hauser.

​Apparently Hauser was living in a place called Taycheedah as early as 1855, which is east of Fond du Lac on the southern shore of Lake Winnebago and about 60 miles southeast of Green Bay. He, too, was a native of Europe--Switzerland to be exact. Mr. Hauser's wife, Johanna, was Prussian.The couple had their first son, Louis, in Wisconsin around 1856, the same year Mr. Hoverson believes that Hauser came to the Fond du Lac vicinity. He is said to have operated a brewery here from 1858 to the latter part of the 1860s. He eventually took on a business  partner and would also operate a lager beer saloon, having built another brewery that continued operation into the 1870s.

​​The Hauser Brewery would experience a devastating fire in 1872. Financial problems in rebuilding would follow, coupled with the recession of the decade (as was the case of brewer Louis Heise here in Frederick at the same time). Mr. Hauser would be forced to turn the operation over to a former sales agent "as a cover" in an effort to disguise mounting debts. He would sell his brewery the following year in 1878. The Hauser family then moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where Mrs. Hauser would die in 1883, perhaps prompting a change of scenery for her widowed husband.

One way or another, Paul Hauser came to Frederick, Maryland after purchasing Mr. Baer's former brewery on Brewer's Alley. Hauser was able to make a fresh start here and was responsible for substantial expansion of operations.

It wasn't all romance and big bands along Carroll Creek at the Hauser Brewery as the article below attests to feats of strength, or stupidity, sometimes accompany beer drinking.

We've established that Paul Hauser offered variety and his brew could be guaranteed ice cold, as he had the (Ice) house, pond and street to prove it. It appears that he made the decision to sub-let his saloon and beer garden to a new owner. This could have been due to health reasons, and/or a desire to go back north to aid his son in the operation of a successful malt brewing works in St. Paul. As a final touch here in Frederick, it seems that all he needed to compete with leading breweries of the period like Anheuser-Busch (founded 1852 in St. Louis) were those darn Clydesdales, right?

Mr. Hauser came back to Frederick and may have just given up the brewing aspect of his business. He would reconfigure his ice house, next to Hauser's Pond, to include a bottling works. It also appears that he had the semblance of a saloon at this location but I'm not quite sure the chronology of this work. He bought the Black Horse Tavern on West Patrick Street in 1890 and renamed it "The Eagle." At this time, he rented out his "commodious" house on West Patrick Street and soon after took up partial residence in Baltimore. He remarried and had definitive business ties to an enterprise called the Globe Brewery in Charm City.

Hauser continued to maintain dual residences, and frequently traveled to Frederick to visit friends and keep an eye on his holdings  from gleanings I saw with newspaper mentions. Although not thought to be brewed here, he would have a hand in supplying (and bottling) his beer choices here.

An unfortunate event happened to Mr. Hauser in early April, 1898 that would make front page news both here and in Baltimore. This seems to be the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back," putting Paul Hauser out of the beer production game, and Frederick as well.

In the 1900 US census, Paul Hauser is listed as a saloon operator. He would live out his life in Baltimore, dying in 1915. It was certainly a career in beer to drink a toast to.

Christian Eckstein
Christian H. Eckstein was included in  an article I wrote last year, but I'd like to share a portion with you here. He purchased the star of our story, the Lot #20 Brewer's Alley brewery property, at tax sale in 1889. Another native German, Christian was born on October 22nd, 1822 in Dernichein in Hesse-Kassel, Germany. He emigrated to America with his wife and first came to Baltimore, where he worked as a milkman. He came to Frederick in 1854 and began operating taverns here. 

​I learned that he may have started at the noted Dill House that once sat at the corner of West Church and Court Street. I did an earlier story on the origins of this location, now represented by a stellar, macadam parking lot serving the Paul Mitchell Temple and M&T Bank. Eckstein had opened his own bar by 1862, which would take his name. This was located on the northwest corner of North Market and third streets. This location at 301 North Market Street, also doubled as his home residence as far as I could tell.

​301 N Market Street was once the site of Eckstein's Saloon, and is today known as the Up on Market restaurant. It would remain in the family until 1893. Diarist Jacob Engelbrecht notes the following event in his diary on July 14th, 1862:
 
“Lager beer saloon—Mr. Christian Eckstein, who keeps a lager beer saloon at the corner of Market and 3rd Street, was called on by the Provost Marshal & his posse with a wagon, & took 21 kegs of lager beer other article in his line. Government reason, selling liquor to the soldiers. This happened on Saturday evening last 12th instant.”
​
The war came and went, and I’m sure Mr. Eckstein sold plenty more alcohol to the various soldiers of both armies who visited our city along the way. Weeks after the surrender at Appomattox in April, 1865, Christian Eckstein embarked on a sojourn back to his native homeland (Germany) accompanied by a friend and fellow resident named Jacob Schmidt, who kept the Black Horse Tavern mentioned earlier in conjunction with a variety of brewers and located on the famed bend in the second block of West Patrick Street. They left town by train on May 15th and returned on August 30th after a pleasant trip.

In addition to slinging beer, Mr. Eckstein was an avid marksman. Jacob Engelbrecht makes mention  Herr Eckstein again in reference to an interesting purchase of land on Fredericks’ northwest side:

“Deutsche Scheutzen park—This park adjoining our city was sold at public sale on Saturday last March 12, 1870 to Christian Eckstein for fifteen-thousand one hundred dollars ($15,100). It contains 28 and ½ acres of sand and was formerly part of the farm of Mr. Stephen Ramsburg but lately to Doctor William Tyler from whom the “Scheutzen Gesellschaft” purchased it.”
​
For quite sometime, I have had a particular interest in this curious organization of German origin. I first stumbled upon the Deutsche Sheutzen Gesellschaft in the context of local, German Civil War soldier Joseph Groff. His name would be applied to Groff Park which was synonymous with Frederick Scheutzen Park. You know this locale better today as the campus of Hood College, northwest of Frederick’s downtown center. The meeting lodge of this group still survives today as Brodbeck Hall, keeping its German name after all these years.

John Georg Kuhn was born in Munich, Germany on November 25th, 1855. He came to America with great aspirations in 1889. Soon, he would be in Frederick, Maryland and formed what would become known as the Gambrinus Brewery, and this entity had its grand opening in 1891. His first big break came with securing the right to serve his beer at the Great Frederick Fair in 1892.​

It would not take long for Mr. Kuhn to get his first taste of adversity, due to an unfortunate disaster that could have been avoided had someone kept a closer watch over their children. A nearby fire started in ice houses due to kids being careless. I was puzzled just thinking about a house full of ice burning, until I found out that it was often common to pack ice in sawdust. Now there's an accelerant! I would soon learn that this incident was also a threat to my workplace of Mount Olivet as well.

While combing through old newspapers, this article caught my attention in reference to our subject. Hindsight being 20/20, it is too bad Mr. Kuhn did not have this man in his corner as fate would eventually deal a harsh blow, 

Things went nicely for the remainder of 1894, 1895 and into 1896. Unfortunately, John Kuhn would lose it all in a devastating fire in May of that fateful year. ​

John Kuhn would eventually continue to sell alcohol and host bowling up on N. Market Street before moving to Baltimore. Meanwhile,  few attempts by other interested parties to start another brewery in town occurred in 1911 and again in 1914, but each came up short. One group was from Baltimore, and the other from Chicago. The desired location, however, was not at the creek and Brewer's Alley, but rather the abandoned factory of  Calvin Page on the southwest corner of South and Broadway streets.

The brewery ruins on Brewer's Alley stood for some time before several dwellings were constructed in its place. The area now constitutes part of the Carroll Creek Linear Park.​

According to census records of 1910 and 1920, John Kuhn was living in Baltimore and remained employed in brewing. He even got busted for serving alcohol without a license in Baltimore in 1913. John G. Kuhn died in Baltimore on March 10th, 1927. He is buried in Baltimore's Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery located off Belair Road.

As time passed, the names of the many brewers of Frederick have faded from collective memory. How can they help from not being forgotten? We don't have remaining structures from their former workplaces, examples of their beer products, and local memorials to their lives (in the case of Capt. Small, Diehl, Hauser and Kuhn)  in places like Mount Olivet.

The name of Brewer's Alley would disappear as well. The north-south city thoroughfare would take the new name of Court Street. In the early 1920s, the humble alley needed a makeover in both look and moniker because something big was happening in the block to the north. This was the construction of a new luxury hotel, the likes of which had never occurred here before. The Francis Scott Key Hotel opened in January, 1923 and was a definitive "game changer." Business and pleasure travelers would see Frederick as a prime destination. Even the original Frederick Board of Real Estate (destined to become the Frederick County Association of Realtors) was formed in response to this impact on town. One of the organization's first major projects involved lobbying town officials to widen Court Street in an effort to proactively facilitate traffic and travelers coming to the hotel. 

We have alluded to it a few times already, but an equally important structure was also being built at this time on this same thoroughfare that traveled to the immediate east of the FSK Hotel. It was a block away and would be constructed on the old brewery location.

Asbury United Methodist Church is a church rich in history and steeped in significance as one of the oldest African-American churches in Frederick. the congregation's roots date back to 1818 when William Hammond, a free black man, purchased a lot on East All Saints Street for $60. The church, which was known as the “Old Hill Church,” was constructed by a white congregation who permitted free blacks to worship there. In 1864, blacks came into full possession of the church, and by 1870 it was incorporated and renamed Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1912, pastor Rev. L. J. Valentine convinced the congregation to purchase the old brewery property for the new church when the lot on the corner of Brewer’s Alley and W. All Saints Street became available.  By 1921, the present church structure was completed. In 1939, the church dropped Episcopal from its name and became Asbury Methodist Church. Eventually, the church would officially become known as Asbury United Methodist Church.

The Brewer’s Alley restaurant location at 124 North Market Street began serving customers in July, 1996. Best of all, beer was brewed on the premises. However, there exists a much bigger story of Frederick's past in relation to this very location.  The first residents of Frederick held a lottery to raise money to build a market house on this location in 1765, which was completed in 1769. It would eventually become our first town hall when Frederick was incorporated in 1817. The structure served its dual purpose for over a century. The Market House spanned the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War, including the ransoming of the city by Confederate General Jubal Early.
 
In 1873, the bustling town of Frederick replaced the Market House with the “new” multi-functional offices, and provided space in the rear for the Frederick Farmer’s Market. Later, the rear of the building was replaced by the present parking deck, the first of it’s kind in town.
 
As the seat of city government up through the mid-1980s, the building was witness to Frederick’s political history, and as an opera house and theater it has been witness to much of Frederick’s social and entertainment history. The building has hosted such diverse events as a lecture given by Frederick Douglass, and concerts conducted by John Philip Sousa. Other events of note included a memorial service for slain President William McKinley (1901) and a speech on trade and commerce by President William Taft (1911), the Frederick debut of D.W. Griffith’s film “The Birth of a Nation” (1915) and the Manhattan Opera Company’s production of “Madame Butterfly” (1926).

Thank you to Phil Bowers and those responsible for choosing such a "stout" name for the establishment. Along with brewing their own beer for the past 27 years, we are lucky to have the tradition of beer-making here in Frederick live on as these days we have numerous firms doing so.

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History Shark Productions presents:
​
Chris Haugh's "Frederick History 101"
Are you interested in Frederick history? Want to learn more from this award-winning author and documentarian?

Check out his latest, in-person, course offering: Chris Haugh's "Frederick History 101," with a 4-part/week course on Tuesday evenings in late August/early September, 2023 (Aug. 22, 29 & Sept 5, 12). These will take place from 6-8:30pm at Mount Olivet Cemetery's Key Chapel. Cost is $79 (includes 4 classes).

In addition to the lecture class above, two unique "Frederick History 101 Walking Tour-Classes" in Mount Olivet Cemetery will be led by Chris in August focusing on interesting local, historical figures of the 1900s. These are available for  different dates ( Aug. 8th and Aug 23rd) Cost $20. 

​For more info and course registration, click the button below! (More courses to come)

So, spirits should be plentiful here at the cemetery, when talking of the supernatural, of course. However, I’d like to use as a theme, spirits of another kind, while paying homage to a few of those buried here who created, or served up, alcohol during Frederick’s “spirited” past! This time around I will focus on beer for this two-part extravaganza.

Some years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the birthplace of one of our Frederick history heroes, whose final resting place is in Mount Olivet. This was none other than Thomas Johnson, Jr. --lawyer, business entrepreneur, member of Continental Congress, military leader during the American Revolution, early U.S. Supreme Court justice, surveyor of Washington, D.C., and Maryland's first-elected governor. Johnson, and his brother James (builder of Springfield Manor near Lewistown) are buried in Area MM, and their colorful lives exemplified "the Spirit of 76!" Both gentlemen, along with another brother, Baker (buried in Area E) are natives of Calvert County. They were born and raised along St. Leonard's Creek, where it flows into the lower Patuxent River. Their ancestral home was called the Brewhouse.

Over the past several years, the craft brewery and distillery industry has proliferated in Frederick, often causing historic buildings to be re-purposed with modern equipment and tasting rooms. Examples include today's McClintock Distilling, Steinhardt Brewing, and Brewer's Alley Restaurant. Let's go back in time, to see who was doing the “brewing,” and where did this activity this occur? We can use the cemetery as a "museum of past beer makers."

​We can return to Frederick’s humble beginnings in the mid-1700s, over 275 years ago. Within a few years of the town’s founding in 1745, three innkeepers were granted licenses to operate ordinaries in Frederick Town. These included Kennedy Farrell, John Cramphlin, and Jacob Beney. At Kennedy Farrell's, one could enjoy a "hot dyet for a gentleman with a pint of small beer" for the price of one shilling, three pence or a "cold dyet" for eight pence. The prices were set by the courts.

​In putting together this story, I looked at a "like town" (to Frederick) that shares many similarities going back to our humble beginnings in the mid-1700s. I've always thought that Lancaster, Pennsylvania (founded in 1729) is a shining example to compare with Frederick. We had early German families, and particularly farmers and skilled craftsman, from Lancaster who re-located to Frederick. Trade and communication between both towns was particularly strong early on. I soon found A History of Brewing in Lancaster County, Legal and Otherwise by Charles O. Lynch and John Ward Willson Loose. The authors mention that malt liquor beverages were noted first on the scene in the Pennsylvania town, with malt kilns making their appearance in 1745, the year of Frederick Town's founding.

Authors  Lynch and Loose also report in their study:

Although breweries existed from the earliest days of Lancaster, any attempt to draw a clear line of demarcation between innkeepers who were brewers in the back rooms, and brewers who had saloons in the front rooms would be impossible. Late in the eighteenth century certain innkeepers emerged as brewing specialists who eventually conducted breweries primarily. Lancaster's early brewers made their murky, unstable, unpredictable beer and ale in a few tubs, barrels and pails situated in the rear of their inns. Brewing was simply another chore in the operation of inns and taverns, and we are led to believe few innkeepers regarded brewing as much more than a troublesome task which ought not require any more of the busy hosts' time than absolutely necessary. After all, there were other beverages available for quenching thirsts, making toasts, and providing an evening of congenial talk.

Brewing had an early presence in Frederick Town, with the Charlton family apparently making beer as early as the mid-1700s. You may recall hearing about an early inn here called Mrs. Charlton’s Tavern. Eleanor (Harrison) Charlton (1723-1793) ran the inn with, and after the death of, her husband Arthur Charlton (1721-1771). Some reports say that the Charlton's son, John Usher Charlton, actually did the brewing, but I failed to find additional proof for this article. Eleanor Charlton was Francis Scott Key's maternal grandmother, and the Charlton family’s tavern was once located at the southwest corner of the town’s Square Corner at Market and Patrick streets—today’s site of Colonial Jewelers.

Another oft mentioned tavern of note in Frederick's "olden days" was that of Henry Brother which was once located on the southwest corner of West Patrick and today's Court Street. Today, this is basically the plaza area in front of the Frederick County Courthouse. An old photograph shows a vintage metal, tourist road sign that once marked the site of the tavern and reads that: "George Washington stopped here Thursday, June 30, 1791 in a building on this site known as Col. Henry Brothers Tavern."

At the time the above photograph was taken in 1937, the old tavern site was host to an Amoco gas station. I am indebted to a website charleybrother.com which provided plenty of background on this family and their former "residence" on the corner of what was destined to become the original Brewer's Alley of Frederick.  It was here across from Brother's Tavern that the funeral procession for George Washington formed on February 22nd, 1800. This was the first observance of the former president's birthday since his death on December 14th, 1799. Thomas Johnson, Jr. would deliver the eulogy for his old friend and compatriot on this day which saw nearly 8,000 residents participate in a procession through the streets of Frederick and culminate with a solemn church service at the Presbyterian Church at the intersection of North Bentz and West Fourth street.

The charleybrother.com website's author, Christine Friesel, included a transcript of a memoir written by Henry Brother's son, Valentine (1793-1820) which had been donated to the Frederick Historical Society in 1971 by a gentleman from Vermont.

The information therein relayed that Col. Henry Brother was born January 11th, 1745 in "the Black Forest area" of Germany and came to America as an indentured redemptioner. I would later learn the exact location to be Herzogtum, Zweibrucken, part of the Rhineland-Palatinate for those Deutch geography fans.

Brother served (for his passage) with Nicholas Boogher (Bucher). Before his servitude had expired, Mr. Boogher died and Henry continued his term under his former master's widow (Eleanor) and her six small children. Interestingly when Henry's indentured servitude was over, he would marry Mrs. Boogher.

Henry Brother would come to be known as a a dry goods store and tavern keeper in his adult life. I'm not sure if these were the inventions of Mr. Boogher, or Mr. Brother, but the tavern establishment was known to travelers as the Sign of the Spread Eagle. An earlier inn was operated on the location here by Michael Jesserong who had purchased the property in 1762 from town founder Daniel Dulany. 

The couple of Henry and Eleanor Brother would have four children of their own, with two dying in infancy. Two sons would grow into adulthood and assisted with the family tavern business. This included Henry, Jr., who would go on to become a hatter in Frederick, and Valentine (b. 1773) destined to take over the tavern upon his father's death. At age 11, Valentine Brother had been put in charge of the tavern accounts, converting these to English from German style, the native language of his parents. He would also accompany his father (also known as Major or Colonel Henry Brothers) on business trips to southwestern Virginia. The establishment would blossom with growing popularity associated with stagecoach travel.

​Alcohol would certainly play a major part in the hospitality trade and it's certainly no secret that Henry Brother's Tavern served alcohol, and specifically beer. But did the family make their own? Perhaps the following article sheds light on the subject because I spy some pivotal ingredients for brewing beer.

​From 1778 to 1787, Henry Brother bought various lots in Frederick town including "a new brick house" on the east side of North Market Street between 3rd and 4th streets. He also owned several lots near the corner of Market and Sixth streets.

​Major Henry Brother died on July 7th, 1791, which is exactly a week after George Washington visited his establishment.  Brother's body was laid to rest, not far from the tavern he operated, in the original German Reformed burying ground behind Trinity Chapel. His body would later be reinterred in the congregation's second burying ground at North Bentz and West Second streets around 1803. This is today's Memorial Park, and his remains are still there as an article from November, 1923 mentions his stone belonging to Henrich Bruder complete with German epitaph being buried in the grave as was the fate  of nearly 300 other stones when the burying ground was condemned at that time.

The table was now set for son Valentine to take over operation of the tavern in 1793 upon his 20th birthday in accordance with his father's last will.  In 1793, however, Valentine opened up a grocery and hardware store on East Church Street, having received the blessing of his mother for not taking over the tavern on West Patrick Street at this time. 
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Meanwhile, (brother) Henry Brother would marry a young woman named Elizabeth Pringle (later changed to Brengle) this same year. 

In theory, Elizabeth could be considered "the girl next door" because her father, Christian Pringle/Brengle, owned Frederick Town Lot #20 directly behind Brother's Tavern and across the town creek. Christian Brengle (b.1738-?) plays into our drawn-out brewing story because he had bought this important parcel located on the northwest corner of West All Saints' and modern day Court streets from Sebastian Derr (of Dearbought fame) in 1774. Derr had bought Lot #20 and the back half of Lot #29 across the creek (and behind Brothers Tavern) from the above mentioned Michael Jesserong in 1767.

Christian Brengle would manage Brother's Tavern for a while after Henry and Valentine's stepbrother Frederick Boogher in 1796, and a Capt. James Neal in 1797, are recorded as keeping the “Sign of the Spread Eagle.” He began his shift in 1797 on the family's behalf. Henry Brother would "hang up his hat" and take a turn at running the inn at the close of the century. In a few minutes, I will tell you about a move made by Mr. Brengle that likely provided the establishment with freshly brewed beer on his lot behind the tavern and across Carroll Creek.

​Meanwhile, Valentine Brother continued the operation of his grocery and hardware business through the 1790s, but became interested in political life. He served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1795 and 1796 alongside notable citizens buried here in Mount Olivet: George Baer, William Beatty, David Shriver, and Allen Quynn, Jr. He also served in local militia which doubled as a fire department, and became county sheriff.

Valentine Brother would own/operate a tavern on Market Street called the Sign of the Fountain Inn. I can't figure out how he could do all he did because he was commissioned on April 17th, 1799 as a Captain in the 9th Regiment for New York by President John Adams and John W. Henry, the War Secretary at Philadelphia. His military appointment had led him to Bath, New York. He came back to Frederick briefly, at which time the family tavern was being run by Basil Williamson. Valentine Brother was honorably discharged on June 15, 1800, just months after participating in Washington's funeral procession which he, himself helped organize and lead. 

IN 1801, after the birth of his son Henry on George Washington’s birthday (February 22nd), Valentine Brother removed his family and relatives in a caravan to Ontario County, New York and eventually established a farm near Geneva, NY. He represented his county in the New York State Assembly and would die in 1820. He is buried in Old No. 9 Cemetery in Seneca, New York.

​Now that we have espoused plenty of "Brotherly Love," let's talk beer! An account from the website oldbreweries.com says there was a gentleman named Balser (Baltzer) Heck brewing here in Frederick locally from 1760-1790. This was said to have been a higher end, delicacy beer. Dare I say this could have been Frederick’s first “craft beer.” Even Charles Carroll of Carrollton makes mention of dealing with Mr. Heck, who supplemented his business by selling horses.

​Balser Heck bought town lot #20, where Asbury Church is now located (on the northwest corner of West All Saints and Court streets), from Christian Brengle in 1777. Heck’s widow would eventually sell it back to Brengle some eighteen years later in 1795 as his last will and testament had directed her to do. This was Mr. Heck’s business site, likely the first of an interesting line of breweries that would operate on this lot on the southside of Carroll Creek, along what was once a narrow alley connecting W. All Saints Street with West Patrick Street. Court Street is a name that would come much later, because the stretch between All Saints and West Patrick became known as Brewer’s Alley.

Heck had also bought part of lot #38 from the heirs of his father-in-law (John Linganfelter) in 1787. Balser Heck's son, Charles, sold it to John Hoffman in 1804 who sold it to Job Hunt in 1814. This lot is on the south side of the first block of East Patrick (now 16-20 E. Patrick) where JoJo's Restaurant and Tap House is today. Talk about your extremes for the future—one of Heck's former properties is today the site of a church, and the other is popular bar/restaurant.

​Frederick City planner Lisa Mroszcyk Murphy wrote in her Preservation Matters article of 2018 that there was yet another historical account noting two brewers in Frederick in 1797, but she didn’t share their names. I assumed that Christian Brengle kept the brewery operation going after making the purchase from Balser Heck's widow. I soon found an advertisement in an old newspaper in which Mrs. Catharine Kimboll (1745-1831) mentions lots for sale on the northside (of the second block) of West All Saints Street, above "Deal’s Brewery." (As a side note, Catharine (Grosh) Kimboll  was another notable early businesswoman of Frederick Town like Eleanor Charlton. She ran a tavern on West Patrick Street from 1797-1828 that hosted many early statesmen and would eventually become the City Hotel, Frederick's prime lodging spot throughout the century, eventually yielding to the Francis Scott Key Hotel that would be built on its original footprint).

I soon determined the exact identity of this Mr. Deal thanks to land research conducted with my trusted assistant, Marilyn Veek.  We found that Mr. Brengle sold the property in 1795 immediately after gaining possession of it again from Balser Heck's widow. It was transferred to Frederick Diehl of Adams County, Pennsylvania. 

​After painful study of land deeds and census records, we deducted that Frederick Diehl was the financier here, and possibly the brains as well, but not the on-site brewer. It appears that he had set up his son, Abraham Diehl, to oversee the brewing operation here on Carroll Creek in the same location that Balser Heck had previously utilized.  I found Abraham living in Frederick in the 1800 US Census, however I couldn't land any articles or advertisements in local newspapers readily available to me. Perhaps the target audience for his product was the local tavern community, or perhaps his father's base in Pennsylvania?

In late June, 1807, there appeared to be a flurry of activity at the county courthouse in respect to property holdings between father and son. One of the most interesting deeds had listed the equipment utilized for the brewing operation itself including two copper stills and a copper heater. 

Frederick Diehl appears to have come to Frederick to operate the brewery himself at this time. A wool mill also came about across the creek to the north of the brewery here. Regardless, the Diehl's ownership of the brewery would cease in 1809 when the operation was purchased by a Christopher Haller. In Lisa’s Preservation Matters article on early brewers, she included info from the 1810 census noting four breweries in Frederick producing 730 barrels of beer valued at $4,380. One of these likely belonged to a man named George Carl Gelwick (1741-1817), a native of Hanover, PA. Gelwick could earlier be found operating a brewery in Hagerstown in 1798. I have reason to believe that at least two breweries were operating on Carroll Creek in the general vicinity of todays Frederick County Court House.

​​As for Gelwick in Frederick, I found his approximate location to be on West Patrick Street near the bend, with his property backing up to Carroll Creek. His obituary reports that he was a brewer and an innkeeper. I did learn that Gelwick is buried in Hagerstown's Rose Hill Cemetery, but could not find Balser Heck's final remains whereabouts, but I assume they were placed in one of Frederick's original downtown graveyards.

​Now an early Frederick brewer that I know is in Mount Olivet is one Andrew Thomson (c.1771-1822). However, he is buried in an unmarked grave in Mount Olivet's Area NN/Lot 134. He was originally laid to rest in the town’s Presbyterian burying ground, once located on the southwest corner of North Bentz and Dill Avenue where Washington's funeral was commemorated in February of 1800.

​I don't know where Mr. Thomson conducted his "mixology," but I strongly believe that he took over Mr. Gelwick's brewery upon the gentleman's death in 1817. Meanwhile, on lot #20 along Brewer's Alley, Mr. Haller had sold the former brewery of Mssrs. Diehl and Heck to John Baker.

Frederick's tavern scene was on the rise thanks to the National Pike coming through down via Patrick Street. By 1825, Frederick had 19 "public houses," most located on Patrick and Market streets. Other local taverns than the Sign of the Spread Eagle and Fountain Inn that were formerly kept by the Brother family included names such as Sign of the Sorrel Horse, Sign of the Seven Stars, Sign of the Eagle and Review, Washington Inn, Globe Inn, Sign of the Sheaf of Wheat and Plow, Sign of the Ship, Black Horse Tavern and many more.

The demand for this beer would grow locally, but as the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad would reach Frederick in 1831, beer could now be transported more efficiently from Baltimore as opposed to long stagecoach rides to "Charm City" taking up to 18 to 24 hours.

​As we have established, during much of the 19th century, the east side of today's North Court Street between Patrick and Church streets boasted saloons and hotel “bars” on each corner. A block south, the west side of South Court Street became formerly known as Brewer's Alley, and was home to a substantial brewery that extended between All Saints Street and the creek. The Diehl's carding factory would be re-purposed by a man named Gideon Bantz who built a mill and leather tanning operation on the north side of the creek.

By chance or design, Brewer’s Alley actually extended beyond West South Street, with this stretch playing home to the town’s eventual ice plant. Later, this particular thoroughfare would take the equally fitting name of Ice Street.

​Regardless, ice would play an important role for the brewer’s and their products. There are no physical signs of the breweries here today, but the name of course is kept alive thanks to Phil Bowers naming his "brew-pub" on North Market Street, Brewer’s Alley. This month (July, 2023), the popular restaurant is celebrating its 26th anniversary. Frederick's tradition of local brewing and saloon style hospitality is on display each and everyday here, and at their Monocacy Brewing location and tasting room located at 1781 North Market Street.

​By the way, the new Brewer’s Alley Restaurant location was once Frederick City Hall, and played home to the legendary City Opera House. The previous building at the Brewer’s Alley restaurant site was known as the Market House and was built in the 1760s and replaced in the 1873 with the current structure.

Captain William Small
Before my recent discovery of the mysterious "Mr. Deal," a gentleman named William Small was another early known brewer to take up operations on Brewer's Alley after buying a number of lots in the year 1830. A shoemaker from the York, PA area,  he was German and his name was originally spelled “Schmahl.”

​At a time when we did not have a fancy and attractive flood control project, properties adjacent the creek had their definite upsides and downsides. Adequate, and convenient, water source for drinking, industry, clothes-washing etc. was great, but the constant threat of flooding and swamp-like conditions in a low-lying floodplain was not ideal and brought several other problems. This early brewery was located on the south side of the creek, where we've established that Asbury United Methodist Church sits today.

Capt. Small gave me the opportunity to "check my work" as Marilyn and I found deed documents that traced back previous owners of the original brewery property on Carroll Creek. Small obtained the brewery from John Kunkel, who bought the operation at a sheriff's sale. The former owner, John Baker seems to have defaulted on his mortgage to Christopher Haller from whom he had bought the brewery in 1814. Haller purchased the location from Frederick Diehl who apparently came back into the operation for a few years when son Abraham sold the property and all brewing utensils to his father in the year 1807.

​With the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg upon us, I thought it would be fitting to highlight a participant of that legendary conflict for this week’s story subject. His name is Col. Edward H. Welsh, and his gravestone in Frederick’s historic Mount Olivet spells out the fact that he was brevetted for gallantry shown in battle at Gettysburg in early July, 1863. And in case you are not familiar with the word “brevet,“ here is the definition:

In many of the world's military establishments, a brevet was a warrant giving a commissioned officer a higher rank title as a reward for gallantry or meritorious conduct but may not confer the authority, precedence, or pay of real rank. An officer so promoted was referred to as being brevetted.

Those of you who read last week’s “Story in Stone” know that the Union Army of the Potomac spent a few days in Frederick in late June, 1863. With Gen. Joseph J. Hooker in command, the Army was in pursuit of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee who had crossed the Potomac into Maryland a few weeks earlier with Rebel forces. Lee’s objectives were unknown to the Union forces and the leadership in Washington as this marked his furthest foray into northern territory. Cities such as Washington, Baltimore, Harrisburg and Philadelphia found themselves on high alert.

Meanwhile back in Frederick, a messenger had been sent to town with an order from President Lincoln to relieve Gen. Hooker of his duties, and put Gen. George G. Meade in his place atop the Army of the Potomac. Meade and his men of the 5th Corps were encamped at Arcadia, a fine manor house on the Buckeystown Pike,  located just north of the small hamlet of Lime Kiln. The actual change of command would occur at Gen. Hooker’s temporary quarters in the early morning hours of June 28th, at Prospect Hall a few miles to the northwest.

With little time to plan strategy, Gen. Meade gathered his army which had been encamped in and around Frederick City, and marched them northwards toward the Mason-Dixon Line and Pennsylvania where intelligence reported Gen. Lee and his men to be. Every major roadway leading north from Frederick was utilized by the expansive Union force. Meade would make his next headquarters at Middleburg (Carroll County) on the 29th, and then northeast of Taneytown on the Shunk Farm where he directed the early concentration of his forces between June 30th and July 1st.

​Ironically, Meade had come from the south northward to meet his rival (coming from the north). His initial plan was one of a defensive nature requiring the spreading out of his troops across a series of entrenchments in northwestern Carroll County utilizing Pipe Creek as a line of demarcation. This has an interesting connection to Mount Olivet, and our most famous resident in Francis Scott Key who grew up along Pipe Creek near Keymar (MD). Key’s birthplace was the family plantation of Terra Rubra. What if the battle had been fought here and not Gettysburg? Could it have spilled over into northeastern Frederick County such as Thurmont (known then as Mechanicstown) or Graceham or Emmitsburg? What if?

​Instead, the greatest battle of the American Civil War would be fought July 1st–3rd, 1863, in and around the small town of Gettysburg just over the Pennsylvania border. In the conflict, Gen. Meade's Army defeated attacks by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, halting Lee's invasion of the North. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point due to the Union's decisive victory and concurrence with its victorious Siege of Vicksburg.

​There are soldiers here in Mount Olivet that found themselves in Gettysburg on the field of battle in early July, 1863. One of them was a gentleman named Edward H. Welsh. His gravesite is marked by a substantial chunk of granite located adjacent the Key Memorial Chapel in Area H/Lot 5. The gravestone employs a mixed exterior of both polished surface along with rough-hewn sides and base. The lower face of his gravestone has raised, polished lettering and a simple cross. The cross, however, has nothing to do with traditional religion per se, but has a special military meaning as I would soon find out.

The simple cross on Col. Welsh’s gravestone can be found throughout Gettysburg National Battlefield Park and signifies the Union Army of the Potomac’s 6th Corps.

The 6th Corps had 37 infantry regiments and 8 artillery batteries at the Battle of Gettysburg, organized into 3 divisions of two or three brigades each and an artillery brigade. The military cross that appears on Col. Welsh’s gravestone in Mount Olivet, also appears on a very special monument on the battlefield on Culp’s Hill. As an aside, please check out a website called CivilWarCycling.com in which author Sue Thibodeaux has written an article (geared towards bicycle-bearing tourists) about the monument shapes and  symbols at Gettysburg. It is a key to unlocking the symbols on regimental monuments that honor the Army of the Potomac. Sue has written books about other Civil War battlefield sites as well.

​The 65th New York Monument on Slocum Avenue honors Maj. Gen. John Sedwick’s 6th Corps. (Gen. Henry Slocum, of whom the avenue is named,  was in command of the army’s right wing, which included Sedwick’s Corps.) The geographical location of the battlefield here is Culp’s Hill, as mentioned earlier. Particularly interesting for us locally, the action that involved the 6th Corps here occurred on the Union Army’s right on Day 2 and Day 3 of the battle (July 2nd and 3rd), and featured Marylanders of the Union Army pitted against Marylanders of the Confederate Army.

​On the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. In the late afternoon of July 2nd, Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, and the Peach Orchard. On the Union right, Confederate demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. All across the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines.

In addition to Edward H. Welsh, two prominent Frederick men were on opposing sides at Culp’s Hill—Bradley Tyler Johnson and Joseph Groff. Brigadier Gen. Bradley Tyler Johnson was a former attorney from Frederick who left town after gathering men to fight for the Confederacy. He would be among the most prominent Marylanders who fought for the South, and led the 1st Maryland Regiment, C.S.A. (Confederate States of America). He is descended from the Tyler and Johnson families of town with roots going back to Baker Johnson, brother of Gov. Thomas Johnson.

Bradley Tyler Johnson was born in 1829, the son of Charles Worthington Johnson and Eleanor Murdock Tyler and graduated from Princeton in 1849.  He read law with William Ross of Frederick, and finished his legal degree at Harvard. He was admitted to the bar in 1851. Johnson is not buried here, but rather in Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore.
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About 100 yards directly behind (and west) of Edward H. Welsh’s grave is that of Capt. Joseph Groff of the Union’s Potomac Home Brigade. This outfit was made up of local men from our area. I wrote a “Story in Stone” on Captain Groff and you can read more on him at your leisure.

On the third day of battle, fighting resumed on Culp's Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by around 12,000 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, known as Pickett's Charge. The charge was repelled by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great loss to the Confederate army. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers from both armies were casualties in the three-day battle, the most costly in US history.

​The 65th’s brigade commander, Col. Alexander Shaler, was relatively new in his position. His recent promotion came following heroics at the Battle of Salem Heights (VA) in which he, himself, displayed gallantry under fire leading him to earn the Medal of Honor, the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration. Lt. Colonel Joseph E. Hamblin was promoted to colonel as a result, and took direct command of the regiment. At Gettysburg, he had brought 319 men to the field, including Lt. Welsh. Hamblin lost 4 men killed and 5 wounded during the three-day engagement between July 1st-3rd, 1863. One of those wounded was our subject Edward H. Welsh.
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Edward Horace Welsh was born on June 2nd, 1840 in North Bloomfield, Trumbull County, Ohio. His parents were Samuel H. Welsh (1811-1900) and Matilda (Flower) Welsh (1815-1846).        

A biography of Col. Welsh can be found in the History of Allegany County, Maryland by James Thomas and Thomas J. C. Williams (published 1923). It reads:

“He was reared and educated in his native state. When still a lad, moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and later became a member of the Cleveland Grays, a company organized in that city. When war broke out between the States, he enlisted as a member of the Seventh New York Militia, and served with it until it was mustered out ninety days later, and he then enlisted, with the First Regiment of United States Chasseurs, also called the Sixty-fifth New York Volunteer Infantry, and July 11, 1861, was appointed quartermaster-sergeant of this regiment because of his patriotism and valor. At the time of this later enlistment he was only twenty years of age, and yet in spite of his youth served with distinction throughout the entire campaign. At the battle of Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines, as it is sometimes called, he was wounded in the breast, leg and ankle, and, as a reward for meritorious service, was made a second lieutenant.

​On October 28, 1863, Mr. Welsh was appointed first lieutenant of the Sixth Artillery, New York State Volunteers, and served with distinction during the three days battle of Gettysburg, and was very active in the placing of artillery at strategic points, and for this splendid service was brevetted colonel. A monument in honor of the service performed by his regiment now stands near the entrance to the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Subsequently he was assigned to the personal staff of General Hunt, of the Artillery of the Army of the Potomac, where he served with distinction until the close of the war. In spite of his severe wounds he never drew a pension, nor did he ever apply for one, "it being his pleasure that he served his country and was wounded in its service because of his patriotic love for it, and not for any material reward.”

​The History of Allegany County biography continues:

“After his honorable discharge, Mr. Welsh went to Frederick City, Maryland. On November 8th, 1869, Mr. Welsh married Ellen Sophie (Wisong) (1838-1923) of Frederick City. She grew up in a house found on East Patrick Street.”

​Welsh supposedly came to Frederick and sold lightning rods. After marrying, the couple lived together with Ellen’s widowed father, Isaac Wisong, and sister Jennie. Also living here were Ellen’s 16-year-old niece Margaret Irene Cromwell and nephew 18-year-old Charles Cromwell. The men (Edward and Charles) are listed as working as store clerks, and I would bet they worked at the Excelsior Stove House of N. J. Wilson located on E. Patrick Street. which featured a lightning rod department; or in either of  grocery stores, as two were located near their home in the 100 block of East Patrick Street. (The Wisongs lived at 117 E. Patrick according to records). These groceries were Holbrunner’s Grocery and Plummer’s Grocery at the time (1870).

​Welsh worked as a hotel clerk in Cumberland as early as 1873. Another excerpt from the biography found in the History of Allegany County by Williams and Thomas tells of Welsh's move from Frederick to western Maryland but mentions the job he would "leave the hotel" for:
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“In 1873, he came to Cumberland, and established himself in the wholesale and retail green grocery business on Baltimore Street, and later became associated with the Kenneweg Company, wholesale grocers, was its president for a number of years until his death January 21st, 1914. He was a director of the First National Bank, and the Cumberland Dry Goods & Notion Company, both of Cumberland, and never lost his deep interest in the welfare of the city, and the development of its enterprises. Mr. Welsh took an active part in the operation of the Allegany Building, Loan & Savings Company, and demonstrated his faith in the city and county by investing in their different enterprises. A strong Republican, he was honored by being the successful candidate of his party for the office of city councilman, and was returned to that office after serving one term.”

​Let’s break this published bio down a bit, shall we? In the 1890 Cumberland Directory, the Welshs lived on Baltimore Street, next door to their grocery business. Ads from 1889 say that the E. H. Welsh Grocery was located at 150 Baltimore Street. Perhaps a renumbering occurred, or a move to a different building occurred. Regardless, they would re-locate from this home at some point before the 1900 census was taken, as they can be found living in a house they owned on Decatur Street.

​Edward was active in the National Civil War Veterans fraternal organization known as the Grand Army of the Republic, or G.A.R. for short. In 1903, Edward H. Welsh was appointed as an Aide-de-Camp of the National Commander in Chief of the G.A.R., and in 1905 he could be found serving as Commander of the Tyler Post #5 in Cumberland. Welsh represented the Department of Maryland at the National Encampment of the G.A.R. in Denver, Colorado in September, 1905. He also represented the Cumberland G.A.R. Post at the annual Department Encampment in Baltimore in April, 1906.
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In business, our subject was re-elected as a director of the Inter-State Trust Company in 1907, and again in 1909. In 1907, Edward and a business associate bought the large Kenneweg Company Wholesale Grocery store, a chain store affiliate of the Pittsburgh firm of the same name. Mr. Christian Kenneweg had come to town in the late 1880s, and Col. Welsh seems to have kept his composure and competed for years without issue. Mr. Kenneweg likely saw something in Welsh to eventually sell the location/franchise to him.

​Col. Welsh was now 70 years of age by early July, 1910 and the 47th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. He continued his activities in business, civic and personal life. I searched the local papers for any mention of Col. Welsh’s participation in the activities marking the 50th anniversary of the most famous battle fought on American soil. This was a big deal as thousands of soldiers gathered in the central Pennsylvania town to participate in commemorative events marketed as "The Great Peace Reunion." It would be held in sweltering heat,  and was attended by President Woodrow Wilson, former officers of the battle and other dignitaries.

​I would have to assume that Col. Welsh was there in Gettysburg with old friends and foes from 1863 for that amazing commemoration. Here was a man very proud of his military service, exemplified by participation at the highest leadership levels in the G.A.R. activities, and having a gravestone that makes special note of his participation in the Battle of Gettysburg. I’d bet money that Edward H. Welsh was there in Gettysburg from July 1st-4th, 1913.

​I thought I had something when a Frederick newspaper online search provided me with a Welsh result pertaining to the Gettysburg commemoration of 1913. However, I soon deducted that this gentleman was not our Edward H. Welsh. The article centered on another former resident named John L. Obenderfer who once reported to a “Capt. Welsh” in the Confederate ranks. It is a comically written story so I decided to share with you nonetheless.

​Getting back to our Col. Welsh of Frederick and Cumberland, I am happy to think that he had this amazing experience in Gettysburg of attending the 50th anniversary commemoration. This is even more poignant because five months later, Edward H. Welsh would be gone. He died on January 21st, 1914 in Cumberland.
The History of Allegany County states:
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“For about a year prior to his demise Mr. Welsh was in poor health, but his death came as a shock to his many friends in the city and county. His funeral was largely attended by the leading citizens of this region, who flocked to honor one who in life had rendered so public-spirited a service, and set so high an example of honorable living. Interestingly, interment was not made here in Mount Olivet. Instead, Col. Welsh was interred in Cumberland’s Rose Hill Cemetery.”

​Ellen S. Welsh continued living in the couple’s home in Cumberland. She also would receive her late husband's pension. Her live-in companion remained niece Margaret Irene Cromwell.  She died in 1923 at the age of 85 in Cumberland, however her body was brought to her native home for burial. She would be laid to rest in her family plot in Area H/Lot 5 just outside Key Memorial Chapel, newly constructed less than a decade before.

​Mrs. Welsh left quite an estate behind, a testimonial to her late husband’s business acumen. It was worth an estimated $200,000 according to her will. Without any direct heirs, the majority of the estate would go to niece Margaret Irene Cromwell. Mrs. Welsh’s last wishes directed that the body of her late husband Edward be exhumed and re-interred next to her in Mount Olivet at the time of her death. This would be completed six months after Ellen’s funeral . Edward’s body arrived at the cemetery on November 23rd, 1923. An additional bequest included $200 to be paid to Mount Olivet for the upkeep of the family plot.

​Margaret Cromwell had started her life in Frederick, but would stay in Cumberland living in the home on Decatur Street until her death in 1933. Margaret's executors would sell the former Welsh family home to Allegany Hospital of the Sisters of Charity in 1935.

Ms. Cromwell's body would be brought back to Frederick like the Welshs. She would be buried next to Col. Welsh and Ellen, her adopted parents for the bulk of her life one could say. A final person of note in this plot was Margaret’s mother of the same name. She was Ellen Welsh’s  sister who died at age 29 in October 1855. This was less than two weeks before daughter Margaret’s second birthday.

So on this 160th observance of the Battle of Gettysburg, let us not forget that "freedom is not free." The idiom expresses gratitude for the service of members of the military, implicitly stating that the freedoms enjoyed by many citizens in many democracies are possible only through the risks taken and sacrifices made by those in the military, drafted or not. The saying pertains to Col. Welsh and thousands of others in Mount Olivet who participated in conflicts that allow us to attend baseball games,  eat hotdogs and drink beer at family picnics, go to the beach, and watch fireworks this holiday weekend if we so please. So be sure to give the colonel's "illustrative" gravestone a nod of respect if you happen to be in the cemetery anytime soon.

History Shark Productions presents:
​
Chris Haugh's "Frederick History 101"
Are you interested in Frederick history? Want to learn more from this award-winning author and documentarian?

Check out his latest, in-person, course offering: Chris Haugh's "Frederick History 101," with a 4-part/week course on Tuesday evenings in late August/early September, 2023 (Aug. 22, 29 & Sept 5, 12). These will take place from 6-8:30pm at Mount Olivet Cemetery's Key Chapel. Cost is $79 (includes 4 classes).

In addition to the lecture class above, four unique "Frederick History 101 Walking Tour-Classes" in Mount Olivet Cemetery will be led by Chris this summer. These are available for  different dates (July 11, July 25th,  Aug. 8th and Aug 23rd) Cost $20. 

​For more info and course registration, click the button below! (More courses to come)

​Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I am no stranger to a wide variety of monuments and gravestones, and the “stories” behind them. As a matter of fact, rocks (primarily of granite and marble) are the “basis” of this ongoing “Stories in Stone” series. However, our interest in rocks is centered on history and geneaology instead of geology and the science that deals with the earth’s physical structure and substance.

An interesting point to make here is that rocks last forever. With the assignment to represent the “physical footprint” of a human being, place or event, the memory (of said person, place or event) should last equally as long as “the rock,” shouldn't it? That’s what memorialization is all about, and why gravestones and monuments hold value to those of us who care about learning from things from our past. Going back even earlier in time, before the recording of history by cultures, we study rocks to understand early peoples and the planet itself (ie: Native American spearpoints, monadnocks like Sugarloaf Mountain, Stonehenge and petroglyphs).

As we near the end of June, I can’t help but think about a unique, local specimen that proves my “point of rocks” serving as solid, lasting reminders. This particular one captures a legendary event from Frederick’s past that did not occur on Mount Olivet’s property, but was in very close proximity from a geographic sense. Years ago, this locale would have been reached by a short walk of about 500 hundred yards from my office at the cemetery. This would be similar to a walk from the back of Mount Olivet to our front gate on South Market. These days, with residential, commercial and transportation growth over the last century, getting there requires greater effort, and is best made by automobile. I’m talking about “the Gen. Meade Change of Command Monument” at Prospect Hill.

​Considered to be on the outskirts of southwest Frederick, the “Change of Command” monument is often missed. It is located along Himes Avenue at the foot of the hill and service road leading up to the Prospect Hall mansion, formerly the site of St. Johns Regional High School. The marker’s visibility and accessibility have improved greatly in recent years thanks to the Civil War Trails program in which wayside interpretive markers have been placed next to the rock in question, which had previously been partially hidden by shrub growth, and difficult to access by automobile.

The granite monument marks the vicinity where the command of the Union Army of the Potomac passed from Gen. Joseph Hooker to Gen. George B. Meade on June 28th, 1863. This was done by order of President Abraham Lincoln at a critical time during the American Civil War. The significance of this event was not known at the time, as just days later, Gen. Meade would be engaged in the most famous battle ever to take place on American soil, perhaps only rivaled by Lexington & Concord or the Battle of Yorktown of the American Revolution.
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This is not a native rock to Frederick, but fittingly hails from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. More specifically, it comes from the infamous “Devil's Den” on the battlefield. For those not familiar, Devils’ Den is a boulder-strewn hill on the south end of Houck’s Ridge below Big Round Top. On the second day of battle (July 2nd, 1863), “the Den” was skillfully used by Confederate artillery and sharpshooters to shoot at the commanding Union position above on the ridge.

Why don't we bring science into this story this week, just for fun. The Gettysburg National Military Park website gives readers the following geologic background on the rock composing Devil's Den and our local monument :

Approximately 180 million years ago during the late Triassic Period, the Gettysburg Formation comprising sandstone, siltstone, and shale was deposited in a large carved-out basin in the Gettysburg area. These lowlands were broken by hills and ridges that were formed as a result of geologic activity when a dense 2,000-foot thick slab of igneous (molten) rock called the Gettysburg Sill and also two 50-foot dikes were thrust into the Gettysburg Formation. One of the dikes underlies Seminary Ridge in a north to south orientation while the other parallels the ridge to the west. Sills are responsible for the topographically-high areas of the Round Tops, Culp's Hill, and Cemetery Ridge and Hill.

The intrusion dikes are composed of very fine-grained, dense diabase rock very resistant to weathering. The composition of these rocks indicates that the molten masses cooled very rapidly. The Gettysburg Sill is coarse-grained diabase, an igneous rock otherwise known as granite. The Sill also contains a large amount of feldspar. 

Two bronze plaques are attached to a granite boulder.  The first plaque marked the original dedication in 1930, and the other is from the re-dedication in 1963 as part of the American Civil War Centennial activities. ​

From natural history, let's return to American history. Gen. Meade formally assumed command of the Army in the dining room of Prospect Hall on June 29th, just two days before the fateful Battle of Gettysburg.  Gen. Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker was the Union Army General who succeeded General Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac in 1863, despite his grandiose notions of becoming a dictator. He had a reputation for being aggressive in pursuit of war, women, and liquor. Interestingly, Gen. Hooker is best known for having his name attached to the female camp followers—the first “hookers” of record.

​Prospect Hall has a much richer history than simply this singular event in the Civil War. I hope to talk about other episodes involving Prospect Hall in future stories involving various former owners dating back to the 1700s. Prospect Hall may not as durable as a rock or boulder down the hill, but we are blessed to have such a historical “monument” still standing.

​Another interesting part of the “Meade Change of Command” story involves another “structural witness to history.” This landmark mansion can be found still standing a few miles to the southeast of Prospect Hall. This is known as Arcadia, and you may have driven by it before while on Buckeystown Pike. Or perhaps you’ve heard of it because its name has appeared in the news a great deal of late because it may be demolished. Arcadia is important to local history for a variety of reasons. In particular, for our recounting of the “change of command,” this property is part of our larger story as it is the location where Gen. Meade was encamped when he learned the news of his military promotion.

The order for a change of command from President Lincoln was carried by Gen. James A. Hardie, a 40-year-old West Point graduate who served as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton's Chief of Staff. According to the account by Judge Edward S. Delaplaine in the souvenir program issued on the occasion of the centennial anniversary of the war, the messenger arrived from Washington at the train station on South Market  among a throng of Union soldiers in the streets of Frederick:

"Hardie made the journey in mufti (civilian clothes). In Frederick he heard that Meade's headquarters was located near the Harper's Ferry road about a mile from the city. Hiring a buggy and driver, he made his way at night with difficulty past army wagons and crowds of soldiers, reaching Meade's tent on Sunday, June 28 at three o'clock in the morning.”

Meade took command reluctantly because he was concerned about changing leaders in the middle of a campaign. Additionally, he felt his longtime friend Gen. John F. Reynolds was more capable and more deserving of the assignment. Gen. Meade described his appointment in a letter back home to his wife Margaret:

"At 3:00 a.m., I was aroused from my sleep by an officer from Washington entering my tent, and after waking me up, saying he had come to give me trouble. At first, I thought it was either to relieve me or arrest me.... He then handed me a communication to read; which I found was an order relieving Hooker of command and assigning me to it.... As a soldier, I had nothing to do but accept and exert my utmost abilities to command success... I am moving at once against [Confederate Gen. Robert E.] Lee, who I am in hopes [Gen. Darius N.] Couch will at least check for a few days; if so, a battle will decide the fate of our country and our cause."

​Meade's prediction proved true. Just hours after his promotion, the general found himself with little to no time to calculate his next moves. During the day of the 29th, he moved the Army of the Potomac forward (and northward) towards the enemy. By that evening, Gen. Meade had established his headquarters in Middleburg, Maryland. He wrote again to his wife:
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“We are marching as fast as we can to relieve Harrisburg, but have to keep a sharp lookout that the rebels don’t turn around us and get at Washington and Baltimore in our rear. They have a cavalry force in our rear, destroying railroads, etc., with the view of getting me to turn back; but I shall not do it. I am going straight at them, and will settle this thing one way or the other. The men are in good spirits; we have been reinforced so as to have equal numbers with the enemy, and with God’s blessing I hope to be successful. Good-by!”

Both armies would soon be fully engaged on the farm fields and woods surrounding Gettyburg for the first three days of July, 1863. This would be the turning point of the Civil War, and Meade had found himself in a much different situation from when he had laid his head down to go to sleep in his tent beside peaceful Ballenger Creek at Arcadia just a few days earlier.

​If interested, please take a look at the following blog by Gettysburg Battlefield Guide Jim Hueting made back in 2009. He has some excellent photographs of Arcadia and Prospect Hall to help frame the scene of that fateful night Meade took command.

​Arcadia
The word arcadia is defined as “a region or scene of simple pleasure and quiet.” I guess this was also the marketing message of National Bohemian beer, which was brewed and enjoyed “in the land of pleasant living” here in Maryland? The Arcadia mansion and former manor site is located between Frederick and Buckeystown. The extensive plantation, in its original form, included land stretching eastward across the Monocacy River. The manor house is said to have been erected around 1790, or the years immediately after. According to histories of Frederick, the mansion was the meeting place of the local gentry who gathered to play cards, dance, race horses and fox hunt. History books from the early 20th century make comment that, “the splendid mansion is one of the finest in Western Maryland. It is of colonial style and is situated on a high rolling elevation, surrounded by all kinds of beautiful trees and flowers. This estate is one of the best country homes in the county.”

Today the house overlooks adjacent Buckeystown Pike (MD Route 85) and offers a commanding view of the surrounding area including Monocacy National Battlefield, in the distance to the east. Arcadia was extensively altered in the late 19th century, and now possesses an elaborate balconied tower. The interior was also extensively updated at that time as well. Historians and architectural experts agree that Arcadia is significant for its historical associations and as an interesting mix of architectural features which have made it a bonafide local landmark.

​The house played other roles during “the war between the states” in addition to hosting Gen. Meade and his soldiers in late June, 1863. Ten months earlier, in September, 1862, Confederate colonel (later general) William N. Pendleton stayed at Arcadia. This was during the Antietam Campaign and Pendleton was certainly no stranger to Frederick. He was actually a former resident, having served as rector of the city’s All Saints Episcopal Church from 1847-1853. He left town in a huff after resigning his post due to a dispute with the church vestry. He had urged the vestry to build a new church to replace the aging facility on Court Street. They refused, at least until after he left town. The new church would go under construction later that decade and front on West Church Street.

​ In 1864, Arcadia was utilized during the Battle of Monocacy. It actually encompassed the Best Farm at one point of time (as the map above shows). Rebel Gen. Jubal Early formed his troops here to cross the Monocacy and go into battle. Arcadia would also serve as a makeshift, field hospital for wounded Confederate soldiers during the famed “Battle that Saved Washington.”

​There have been a number of owners of Arcadia over the years as you can imagine. I’d like to highlight a handful that are buried here in Mount Olivet. First off, there is Arthur Shaaff, credited with originally building the mansion along (Henry) Ballenger's Creek south of town.

​Arthur Shaaf
Arthur Shaaff was born in Frederick County on October 7th, 1768 and died on May 15th, 1817. Named for his grandfather, Arthur Charlton, he was the son of Caspar Shaaff (?-1799) and Alice Charlton (b. 1743-1775). Mrs. Shaaff was the daughter of Arthur Charlton (1722-1771) and Eleanor (Harrison) Charlton (1723-1770), well-known tavern operators in Frederick’s past.

Caspar Shaaff and Alice Charlton were married in November, 1759. The couple had four children: Mary, John Thomas, Arthur, and Caspar. The Charlton family was of English descent and arrived in Frederick County during the early eighteenth century. They had direct ties to the Keys of Terra Rubra.

Caspar Shaaff was of German descent and worked as a merchant and carpenter. In 1754, Shaaff (also found to be spelled Shaaf and Shoaf) acquired 275 acres of land surveyed originally for Joseph Chaplaine under the name of "The Resurvey on Exchange" in the vicinity of Fox’s Gap atop South Mountain. During the period 1757-1758, Caspar Shaaff filed legal petitions in the local court to collect debts owed to him. He is shown as head of household in Frederick County in the 1790 US Census. It is thought that he lived here locally in 1796, because Mr. Shaaff assisted in settling his mother-in-law, Mrs. Eleanor Charlton's estate. In 1797, Caspar Shaaff of Frederick Town was appointed "agent for the late Daniel Dulany, in the counties of Montgomery, Frederick, and Washington, to accept rents, etc."

Caspar’s son, Arthur Shaaff, could be found living primarily in Annapolis by century’s end. He had become a prominent lawyer in Maryland, and would play a role in the early careers of two other Frederick esquires. Shaaff practiced law in Frederick, Annapolis, and Hagerstown. Roger Brooke Taney identified Arthur Shaaff as one of the prominent and distinguished members of the Maryland Bar when Taney, himself, was a law student in Annapolis between 1796-1799. Taney recalled Shaaff as a mentor and a colleague. He (Taney) prepared cases both with Arthur Shaaff, and opposing the gifted attorney.

Taney related that Shaaff assisted him when he moved to Frederick City in 1801 to practice law. "Mr. Shaaff, who still practiced in Frederick, having invited me to take part in one of his cases, in order to give me the opportunity of appearing in public.”

Arthur Shaaff’s practice included real estate management, property disputes, property transfers, and estate settlement. In some cases, Shaaff, Roger Brooke Taney, and a cousin, Francis Scott Key, collaborated. I’ve been under the impression for years that the fabled joint law office of Taney and Key, once found in Courthouse Square (and fronting Court Street), was actually the law office of Arthur Shaaff.
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In 1806, Roger Brooke Taney married Ann Phoebe Charlton Key, the sister of Francis Scott Key, and became a cousin by marriage to Arthur Shaaff. Shaaff’ s mother (Alice (Charlton) Shaaff) was sister of Ann Phoebe Penn (Charlton) Key—the mother of the Key siblings, Ann Phoebe Penn Dagworthy (Charlton) Key and Francis Scott Key.

Like he had done with Taney, Arthur Shaaff is credited with presenting young Francis Scott Key to the Frederick County Court, and moved for his admission to the bar. The formal ceremony was noted as follows in the records of Clerk William Ritchie:

“On motion of A. Shaaff, Esq., Mr. Francis Key is admitted to practice as an Attorney of this Court who took the Oath directed by Act of Assembly.”

​Historian William Jarboe Grove (1854-1937) wrote in his “History of Carrollton Manor” of 1922:

"In the summer, Mr. Taney would sometimes retire, with his family, a few miles from Frederick to Arcadia, the country-seat of the eminent lawyer Arthur Shaaff, a bachelor, and a cousin of Mrs. Taney, to recruit his overtasked mind in the serenities of the country.”
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Although Arthur Shaaff practiced law in Frederick County, he was not recorded in the 1800 and 1810 censuses as residing in Frederick County. His primary residence was in Annapolis, Maryland. However, Shaaff also was not recorded in the Annapolis census data for 1800. The 1800 census listed his brother John T. Shaaff as head of household in Annapolis, Maryland. The household contained 2 free white males between the ages of 26 and 44 (presumably John T. and Arthur), one free white female between the ages of 26 and 44, and seven slaves (U.S. Census 1800). By 1810, both Arthur Shaaff and John T. Shaaff were listed as separate heads of household living in Annapolis.

​Arthur Shaaff died on May 15th, 1817 at approximately 49 years of age. He would be buried in All Saints’ Protestant Episcopal Cemetery, originally located between Carroll Creek and East All Saints Street.

​On September 30th, 1854, one of Mount Olivet’s founding board members, Richard Marshall, handled plans to re-inter Shaaff’s body in newly opened Mount Olivet Cemetery. Marshall was a leading lawyer in town, and formerly mentored by Roger Brooke Taney. Marshall also moved the bodies of Mrs. Ann Taney and her parents (Ann and John Ross Key) to the south end of his lot. This gravesite was originally known as the Marshall Lot, but is now better known as the Potts Lot, as the Marshall’s married into this family.   

​The Arcadia Mansion and associated property were inherited by John Thomas Shaaff, the elder brother of Arthur Shaaff. John T. Shaaff was a doctor by profession who practiced in Annapolis. He was the Treasurer of Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland from 1799 to 1801 and a member of the Governor's Council from 1798-1800. He moved his practice to Georgetown after 1810. While in D.C., he served as the Vice-President of Columbia Institute and was a founder of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia in 1819. When John T. Shaaff died on May 3rd, 1819, the executors of his estate were his wife Mary Shaaff of Georgetown, William Marbury of Georgetown, and Roger Brooke Taney of Baltimore.
(Frederick Examiner 1851, July 23).

​In 1826, the executors of the estate of John T. Shaaff sold Arcadia to Col. John McPherson (1760-1829) of Frederick for $29,000. McPherson transferred the property to teenage grandson John McPherson Brien (1807-1850), who transferred the property to his father, John Brien (1766-1834)in 1833.

In 1835, the estate of John Brien sold the property to Col. Griffin Taylor, described as a large slaveholder living the lavish "southern plantation lifestyle" and incurring debts that required him to sell off sections of the property. William Jarboe Grove referenced account books containing gaming debts that were found in the attic by later owners. In the 1850 census, Taylor was recorded with 18 enslaved persons. In 1851, Mr. Taylor offered his real and personal property for sale stating that he intended to remove to the West. A footnote on Col. Taylor is that he relocated to Cincinnati, but died four years later in October, 1855 and was laid to rest in St. Johns’ Catholic Cemetery in Frederick.

​The estate was described as containing 1,015 acres and was offered as a single farm or for subdivision into three or four farms. The estate contained three dwelling houses, as well as Arcadia Mansion where Col. Taylor resided. The mansion was described as a large brick house with "wings handsomely finished, and the gardens and grounds about the house are handsomely laid off and improved with evergreens". Griffin offered the mansion with about 280 acres as one farm.

​Frederick resident Jacob Engelbrecht reported in his diary entry of September 9th, 1851 the sale of Arcadia Farm and Mansion by Griffin Taylor to Michael Keefer for $18,000. At the time, Keefer (1815-1876) was the proprietor of Frederick’s City Hotel on West Patrick Street.

 In 1858, Michael Keefer assigned his real estate, including Arcadia, and personal property to Edward Shriver to act as his trustee to sell advantageously at private or public sale to clear Keefer's debts. In October 1858, Shriver sold Arcadia, then containing approximately 338 acres, to Thomas and Cynthia Clagett. The deed was recorded in 1862. Both men are buried here at Mount Olivet.

​Thomas Clagett resided on a large estate near Kemptown and used Arcadia as a fox hunting retreat. In residence in 1860 were Thomas Clagett, age 22, with the occupation of farmer and a laborer, J. Dunloff, and 4 slaves. Mr. Grove recalled that his father lived at Arcadia under Clagett's ownership and boarded his son. In 1862, Thomas Clagett sold Arcadia Mansion and 210 acres of land to Robert Henry MacGill, Sr. (1821-1876). He wouldn't be here for long, however.

​MacGill and McKinney
It was Mr. MacGill who hosted Gen. Meade and the Union soldiers in late June 1863. A year later, William Jarboe Grove recalled that, as a ten-year old boy, he watched the ambulances bringing Confederate wounded from the battlefield. His father was pressed into service to carry stretchers. Arcadia was used as a temporary field hospital, with operations conducted in the central room on the first floor.

​​While Confederate wounded were taken to Arcadia, Union wounded were taken to another farmhouse nearby. That hospital, on the George Markell property, was under the charge of David F. McKinney, a surgeon with the 6th Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Dr. McKinney reportedly was so taken with the area that he purchased 277 acres containing the Arcadia Mansion in 1865 from Robert MacGill. McKinney continued to work as a physician in Frederick County and became an agriculturalist.

Dr. David Ferguson McKinney was born in 1836 in Clinton County, Pennsylvania near Loch Haven. He was educated in public schools and received a degree from Jefferson College in Canonsburg, PA. He entered the Pennsylvania Medical College of Philadelphia and graduated in 1860. Soon after graduation, McKinney  was appointed as assistant surgeon in the 87th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was transferred to the 6th Army Corps of the Potomac and was shortly thereafter promoted to surgeon with the rank of major. He served for three years and was discharged in October 1864.

Dr. McKinney was married in 1865 and brought his new bride, Mary (Trego) McKinney, to live at Arcadia. The former Mary Trego (b. 1841) was the daughter of a successful iron manufacturer from Baltimore.
David and Mary McKinney improved Arcadia Mansion during their tenure.

​​ It was reported that Dr. McKinney replaced the blood-stained floorboards in the first floor center room, the family’s dining room. The room had been used as the operating room when Arcadia was used for a short period of time as a Confederate field hospital.

Other alterations that occurred were the raising of the one-story hyphens to two stories. William Jarboe Grove reported that "the north wing is as it was originally built except the two center rooms, a story was added by Dr. McKinney. The small rooms connecting the main and end wings were formerly one story high." The McKinneys added the viewing tower on the front of the east elevation of the building.

​The McKinneys would reside at Arcadia for half a century. Both David, who died in 1915, and Mary E. McKinney (d. 1924) are buried here in Mount Olivet Cemetery. They have one of the only surviving lots with marble "curbing" delineating their gravesite. A massive cross is the central feature with corresponding footstones for family members listed on the base of the cross. Here too are Dr. McKinney's Trego in-laws and his sons William and David  who would assume Arcadia after his death. Both gentlemen would farm and manage the estate with their respective wives. 

I have a very nice collection of vintage Frederick postcards. In a thrift shop in Hagerstown, I found a few cards showing our Arcadia. I bought both. The first card talked of Arcadia serving as a tourist home near Lime Kiln with Mrs. McKinney as a hostess and appears to be from the 1930s/40s by the car in the driveway. I assumed this to be William McKinney's wife, Grace McSherry McKinney, and not Dr. McKinney's wife Mary (Trego) McKinney. The second card doesn't even look like the house in question, but I bought it anyway. It probably hails from the 1960s during the Civil War Centennial period.

I would soon learn that the McKinneys began to take in tourists in the 1930s. Author Nancy Bodmer wrote in her Buckeystown and Other Historical Sites that this was "not only for monetary benefits but because they enjoyed sharing Arcadia with other people. One of the first to stay for the summer months was Miss Mary Neighbours, who was born in Buckeystown. In 1939 she came to Arcadia for a rest in the country from the hot and hectic Frederick. She stayed 27 years, leaving only when the house was sold. Hardly a night would go by that the rooms would not be occupied."

​​In April 1966, heirs of the McKinney family sold 277 acres south of the mansion to a group of investors who would construct the Countryside development. The mansion and remaining land has been bought and sold many times over. Plans along the way have even included a country club, but that did not come to fruition.

Years ago, I bought another old postcard on eBay, dated 1900, with the Francis Scott Key monument on its face. I was particularly interested in this card because it was actually written at Arcadia. The author was Dr. McKinney who signed his correspondence with “Dave.” It was penned on April 20th, 1900 to the former physician’s brother James Harris McKinney living in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania (located in Lycoming County and nowhere close to the Atlantic Ocean).

(Written Transcript)

“Arcadia,”
 April 20th, 1900

We have had a big rain commencing Saturday night and continued until noon of yesterday. We are ready to plant clover. Some farmers done, of course too wet-now-We are in about our usual condition of health and sincerity. Hope you all are well. The door stands ajar to any or all of you.
​
Always,
Dave

For good measure, I searched for James Harris McKinney and found his name in the 1900 Census and final resting place up in Pennsylvania. 

​This is one of my longest stories to date and actually inspired by my acquisition of that antique postcard. Made of paper, it's a miracle it even survived and somehow started in the hands of David F. McKinney at Arcadia 123 years ago, was sent to Jersey Shore, PA, and wound up in my hands all these years later.

This humble (and long) "Story in Stone" is not just a testament to several owners of a singular property that happened to be buried in the local cemetery.It's also not just about a beautiful mansion from Frederick’s past, that still survives. No, it’s much more than that—Arcadia is a common thread of Frederick’s history through hundreds of years, and and serves as a touchstone to legendary figures in our local and national history including Gen. George Gordon Meade, Roger Brooke Taney and Francis Scott Key. Those men, along with lessor known characters such as Arthur Shaaff, Robert MacGill and Dr. David F. McKinney, are long-gone as well. But steadfast Arcadia is still here, weathering the test of time, not unlike a rock formed millions of years ago. The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and the subject of postcards throughout the 20th century. Many county residents would even refer to Ballenger Creek as "Shoaff's Creek," giving credit to the early builder of the mansion.

Sadly, Arthur's surname has silently slipped away, but his mansion home has not. I know that Frederick County continues to grow, and progress does not stand still. However, as the name of the mansion suggests, I pray that the parcel and beautiful house located at 4720 Buckeystown Pike remains untouched, and like a gravestone in a cemetery, has the opportunity to continue standing as a testament to the owners and events of the past as a reminder of “a region or scene of simple pleasure and quiet.”

False Advertising 101 is what I have done here with my cover photo, as this has absolutely nothing to do with current events. I'm sure it has lured many curious  readers into my sinister "history web." As can be seen upon closer inspection,  there is snow in this photo, one taken by yours truly on January 29th, 2019. That late afternoon, we had the most amazing sunset, one that painted the sky an "emblazoned orange." This came out of nowhere, as the entire day had been cloud-covered with falling snow most of the duration. FaceBook and Instagram erupted with similar pictures to mine, taken throughout the greater Frederick region. I just happened to be shooting obligatory "cemetery in snow" pictures, when this rare phenomenon occurred. Talk about being at the right place at the right time?

Speaking of rare, and strange, occurrences, we certainly experienced one this time last week over a few day period, and featuring orange skies. Certainly not as pretty, but noteworthy and a cause for alarm by some as those with respiratory conditions were cautioned to stay indoors. A few events were canceled such as Frederick's Alive at Five, and our regularly scheduled Thursday gravestone-cleaning session for our Friends of Mount Olivet.

Off the top of my head, I can  think of only one thing more daunting than the media-hyped spectacle captivating much of the east part of our country (including little old Frederick) and  thanks to the Canadian wildfires bringing hazy and smog-like conditions, bad air-quality index and a hint of woodfire smoke about. That one thing that comes to mind (after a painfully long tease) would be a song about a magic horse on a cold Nebraska night. That's right, I'm talking about the one, and only, Wildfire by Michael Martin Murphey.  The hit single reached #3 on the Billboard "Hot 100" Music Chart in June, 1975. Interestingly, the name of the album this song came from is Blue Sky-Night Thunder. All I could think of when I discovered the album name for this story was  Orange Sky-Night Coughing.  At least the air quality on the album cover looked a bit like it did last week.

From one Michael to another, I was fascinated by the drone pictures and video obtained by the talented videographer Michael DeMattia for the popular Frederick Scanner website (www.frederickscanner.com) and complementary FaceBook site. These "orange skies" weren't the same orange skies commonly only seen at dawn and dusk. They were eerily prevalent all day long on Wednesday, June 7th and June 8th as we were under a Code Red Air Quality warning. For those unaware of this rare occurrence, it was the result of the smoke from over 400 fires, more than 700 miles away from Frederick, having already burned land 20 times the acreage of our county.

While all of this was happening Thursday, I recall looking out my office window and thinking that it looked like it could rain, but there was no chance for precipitation at all. It was all so strange. Since I couldn't take any "glamour gravestone shots" on my I-phone for upcoming stories, (yes, I'm now thinking that sounds equally strange), I started looking at some photos on my phone that I've taken over the last several months. 

After perusing through a few dozen, I became transfixed on a monument belonging to the Fulton family in Area F/Lot 71. I don't know about "night thunder," but the blue sky in the background of this photo made me leave "sodbustin' behind" (part of a lyric in the fore-mentioned Wildfire song) and truly appreciate brilliant, clear sky days like I never have thought of before. Why, this now reminds me of another song from the 1970s which seems very apropos here —ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" which hit its peak of #35 on the Billboard Chart in June, 1978. Interesting it was from an album similar in name to Mr. Murphey's entitled Out of the Blue.

This lot contains four members of the Fulton family, with Dr. Henry K. Fulton (1832-1891) and wife Laura (1841-1922) on the monument in the picture. A few feet away are John (1810-1845) and Sarah Fulton (1817-1898). I decided to go out and explore the lot a little closer, and contextualize the situation. I assumed that John and Sarah were either parents of Dr. Fulton, or at the very least John was a brother. I was wrong.

After some "hazy"research, I realized that John and Sarah Fulton were the parents of Dr. Fulton's wife Laura. "Uh-oh," I thought, I've got more than "kissin' cousins" on my hands here.  Who am I to judge, I certainly became more curious about the symbolism projected by the funerary monument of Dr. Henry K. Fulton and Laura. Traditionally, a broken column signifies "a life cut short." Dr. Fulton lived to age 59, but that doesn't illustrate "being cut down before your prime."

Henry is working as a clerk at this point of time on the eve of the American Civil War. I would later learn that the father and son were joined by Henry's maternal grandmother, Margaret Keerl. Henry's mother, Amelia Henrietta (Keerl) Fulton, had died at the tender age of 21 in the year 1832. Now there is someone who deserved a broken column monument. I was impressed with Amelia's grave nonetheless, seeing it on Find-a-Grave's Greenmount Cemetery memorial pages. The page also included a transcript of her obituary which provided more insight on my Dr. Henry K. Fulton.

"Obituary, Baltimore Gazette and Daily Advertiser (Baltimore, MD), January 30, 1832:
"This morning at half past 5 o'clock, AMELIA HENRIETTA, wife of Doctr. Robert Fulton, and only daughter of the late Dr. Henry Keerl, of this city, aged 21 years 5 months and 15 days."

I now learned what the "K" stands for in our central subject's middle name, along with his first-name namesake Henry (his maternal grandfather, who I would discover was a physician as well.)

Even though things are out of order in my line of discovery, this article from the Baltimore Sun solidified my subject's heritage to the Hessian physician. I tried to make a connection to our Frederick Barracks, but was unsuccessful in doing so.  Dr. Keerl invested heavily in real estate and garnered a large fortune, one that would be shared with his family upon his death in 1827. It's no surprise that his son-in-law (Dr. Robert Fulton) and grandson (Dr. Henry K. Fulton) would live comfortable lives. I found an article in the Baltimore Sun from 1851 showing that Henry owned property as a minor, certainly proving my postulate.

I read that Dr. Henry attended the University of Maryland for his training, but found an article from 1861 that shows his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania's Medical School.  Even though the article has a "J" for his middle initial here (instead of a K), this lines up chronologically and perhaps he attended both schools as it's not like he was without the means to do so. 

Since I was poking around in Baltimore's Greenmount Cemetery anyway, I thought I'd share a look at Dr. Henry's father's grave monument. Dr. Robert Fulton would pass in May, 1880. It appears that he remarried sometime after 1860. She was a Baltimore widow named Caroline (Lloyd) Starr. 

A living legacy of Dr. and Laura Fulton is a house they once owned in Adamstown. This is Green Manor and may have been their only residence here in Frederick County, as they would eventually re-locate to the Mount Pleasant neighborhood or northwest Washington, D.C. by 1882.

Located at the west end of Washington Street, Green Manor was the home of Adamstown's namesake, Adam Kohlenberg. Kohlenberg served as the first railway agent and postmaster, and established a storage warehouse near the original Davis warehouse (demolished) which was built about 1835. In 1856, another man, Daniel Rhoads, laid out 12 lots on the south side of the main road which was the first stage of its development.

 Green Manor is important to the town of Adamstown as the past residence of two of the most prominent citizens in the town's history, the fore-mentioned Adam Kohlenberg Jr., and later Jacob Kline. By 1864, a brick dwelling house was standing on twenty-five acres on the periphery of the developing Adamstown. Upon Kohlenberg's death, the house was sold to Dr. Henry K. Fulton, who lived there until 1882. Three years later Jacob Kline bought the property for $5,200.  He lived at "Green Manor" for more than twenty years and during that time platted and sold lots, "Jacob Kline's Addition" to Adamstown which today comprises the largest area of Adamstown.

The Fultons moved to 1514 Park Street in northwest Washington, DC. I didn't learn much of Dr. Fulton's work, if any, as a physician, and the same about their personal interests. All I saw were a few newspaper mentions that they were happily spending summers in Bar Harbor, Maine. In less than a decade from moving from Adamstown, Dr. Fulton would be dead.

On November 26th, 1891 was not a good Thanksgiving for Laura Fulton, This would be the day she lost her husband.

Dr. Henry K. Fulton would be placed in the family burial plot of his wife's family at Mount Olivet the following day (January 28th)in Area F/Lot 71. Our records show that this plot was purchased in 1864. I found his last will online as well and have shared it here.

As can be seen, Laura outlived her husband by 31 years. She died in Washington on January 5th, 1922.

A rare find came in the form of an ad for the monument company that constructed the Fulton's monument. I had noticed earlier that the maker's mark of J. F. Manning Wash, D.C. was stamped/carved on the base of our monument. When I found Laura's obit in the Washington Evening Star, an advertisement for J. F. Manning appeared in the very next column.

If anything else, I think you will agree that we have a bit "clearer" view of a monument and its decedents located in Mount Olivet's Area F. In doing so, I pulled on the help of the "ROY G. BIV" acronym as we focused on at least one primary color in blue, and two secondary colors in orange and green. 

As usual, these are the ramblings of a curious and strange mind in a quest to gain greater understanding  of those who eternally rest here at one of Maryland's most historic burial grounds.

A web search recently landed me on a website with the address of www.solihull.gov.uk. I was searching for a small, rural village in Warwickshire, England called Chadwick End. Just by looking at this url, one can spot that this page is hosted by the government of Great Britain. In particular, the information I would gain on Chadwick End could be found as part of a larger information portal for the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands, England, one of seven  metropolitan districts (in the West Midlands) and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England.

Now I've never had the opportunity to travel to Great Britain, but hope to one day. Chadwick End is not a place on my "bucket list" at all, but I stumbled over it while researching a unique first name found in Frederick's historic Mount Olivet. As a matter of fact, I just learned that Chadwick is ranked #5,568 in popularity according to the website thebump.com. More about him in a moment. Here is what I learned from the "worldwide web" on my village quest, for those interested: 
 
"Chadwick means 'farm near a spring'. Chadwick End is approximately 6 miles south-east of Solihull town centre and is in the parish of Balsall, itself previously in the parish of Hampton-in-Arden. The village is not a traditional village in terms of a cluster of houses situated around a village green with a church and a public house. Rather, it is a crossroads settlement that has expanded over time with a ribbon of development along the A41. It lies astride this trunk road between Birmingham and Warwick, some 3 miles from Knowle, and its position on this established route probably accounts for its development.

​Most of Chadwick End falls into Solihull although part is in Warwickshire; sometimes the houses may be in Solihull and the gardens in Warwickshire! There are close links between Chadwick End, Baddesley Clinton, which is in Warwickshire, and the cluster of properties formerly known as Bedlam's End. Traditionally a small village that supported a farming community, between 1905 and 1960 the settlement of Chadwick End, together with the adjacent Bedlam's End and Baddesley Clinton, grew considerably."

I have to admit that I instantly became interested in a potential visit to Chadwick End's sister-city Bedlam's End!  if nothing else, I'd go there just to obtain a souvenir tee-shirt. I got sidetracked with this "squirrel distraction" as I desperately looked for more info on Chadwick End's neighboring village. That's when I learned that the term "bedlam" comes from the name of a hospital in London, “Saint Mary of Bethlehem,” which was devoted to treating the mentally ill in the 1400s. Over time, the pronunciation of “Bethlehem” morphed into bedlam and the term came to be applied to any situation where pandemonium prevails. Who says that these "Stories in Stone" are nothing more than biographical tributes to the deceased? I sure pride myself on providing my viewers with the knowledge to expand horizons and wow friends, family and co-workers. But I digress.

I tried to find a good photo of Chadwick End for my story's cover image  (at top of the article). There was nothing of interest (or historic sex appeal) to be found. However, the big tourist draw in this area is the British National Trust' Baddesley Clinton Manor located nearby Chadwick End (and Bedlam's End) in the greater Solihull area. I lost track of the project at hand (this article) as I read a story about a former lord of this manor named Nicholas Brome. One of the "must sees" found within this attraction include stains on the floorboards said to be blood, and left in 1483 when Mr. Brome stabbed the local priest.

​It seems a "big time" sin in breaking commandments (Thou Shall not Kill) until one learns that the said priest was actually breaking another. Brome's rage boiled over when the clergyman was "being overly familiar with his wife." Tests on the stains suggest that they are comprised of pig's blood, but the murder probably did take place somewhere in Baddesley Clinton on account of this "unsaintly" conduct by both individuals. Brome went on to rebuild the nearby parish church, dedicated to St. Michael, as a penance for having murdered the parish priest. ​

It doesn't end there though. Mystery and intrigue continues to invoke interest  in Nicholas Brome's gravesite. Apparently, Brome demanded to be buried "standing up" in the doorway of the St. Michael's Church at Baddesley Clinton. Sadly his marker stone often gets covered by a doormat, but hey, remember that he did stab a priest to death in cold-blood. 

So what does any of this have to do with Mount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick, Maryland? Nothing in particular, save for a "catchy" obituary header for a decedent buried in our Area NN.  A slight alteration of Chadwick End would have provided our local newspaper with "Chadwick's End," fitting to run above the fold and photograph of our decedent's gravestone that still sits over his traditional, horizontal burial. 

However, photography hadn't quite made its way to Frederick yet by 1842, and this certainly would not have appeared in our Frederick newspapers until much later in the 19th century. Regardless of that, I'd like to finally introduce you to our main subject this week, Chadwick Hargrave Kuhn (1822-1842).

So I've talked before about the sources used in compiling these stories. One of the first places consulted is Mount Olivet's digital burial database. Here was the result of my search for this random stone that caught my eye on a walk of the grounds back in late March. 

With some quick computing, I deducted that Chadwick's birthdate was November 19th, 1822. As a 19-year-old, I assumed that I wouldn't find much on this youngster. I did my initial searches in other source materials at hand, but found nothing. I was also frustrated by the fact that I did not have immediate access to local newspapers of this period either.
​
So Chadwick had me looking in other directions. First, I wanted to track down his parents, who sadly are not buried here in Mount Olivet.  I had their names in Chadwick's data with father being Joseph Lewis Kuhn, and the unique inclusion of our records of his military duty. I soon found that Chadwick's mother was the former Caroline/Carolina Hargrave. A family tree on Ancestry.com helped further, as it had been uploaded on the website by a descendant of one of Chadwick's sisters.

I soon found myself at a " dead end, pardon the pun, on the Kuhn family line going backwards. However, a look at the Hargrave line certainly piqued my curiosity. If anything else, I felt good about discovering the source of more than just Chadwick's middle name "Hargrave."

Yep, our subject's first name comes from his grandfather's middle name and likely a family surname before that in an earlier generation. Lewis Chadwick Hargrave, Chadwick's grandfather, was a politically important man of his times who apparently served as "Counsel for the King of England to Gibralter, Spain," according to Ancestry.com. 

Deeper investigation showed that Lewis Chadwick Hargrave was the Britannic Majesty's Consul General for the Balearic Isles of London.  Hargrave died in 1837 and his daughter Caroline is mentioned in his will which I was able to find thanks to the internet and a genealogical board: 

"Lewis Chadwick Hargrave now devised his moiety in trust to Charles Bowdler of Doctors Commons, George Henry Malcom Wagner of Hurstmonceux Place Sussex and John Chadwick the younger of Rochdale Lancaster merchant for use of his son James Augustine Hargrave for life. And in trust to raise £ 4000 the interest to his daughter Louisa Maria wife of John Parody of Gibraltar And also £ 4000 the interest to the children of his deceased daughter Caroline Catherine late wife of Joseph Louis Kuhn now in America. After the decease of James Augustine Hargrave proceeds of moiety for use of his children." 

​Our subject unfortunately did not get much of a chance to spend his inheritance from his noteworthy grandfather. I see three siblings listed for Chadwick in Henry, Caroline and Antoinette. However, I strongly think Henry's supposed birth date of 1802 (as listed in this family tree) is erroneous, as this is impossible because Joseph L. Kuhn married Caroline/Carolina Hargrave around 1818. 

In performing a Google search, I found a town history that revealed that Chadwick's older sister (Caroline) lived the majority of her life in Tiffin, Ohio (within Seneca County) as Mrs. Caroline Pennington. She married in 1842, and Mr. Pennington's biography states that Caroline A. Kuhn was a native of the island of Minorca (a province of Spain). It also said that she was a daughter of Joseph L. Kuhn, of the United States Navy, and a granddaughter of Lewis Chadwick Hargrave, late British consul-general to the Spanish Balearic Islands. This was a nice vetting process for me, and I also have seen that many former Frederick residents would make Tiffin, Ohio their home back in the early 19th century. 

So, I may never learn how Chadwick and Caroline's parents first met, but it's safe to assume they were married and living in Minorca, or Menorca as it is known today. Now here is a place that is a tourism "keeper" at first glance, unlike Chadwick End! I went in search of its history and learned that in November 1798, a British expedition captured the island of Menorca (historically called "Minorca" by the British) from Spain. A large force under Gen. Charles Stuart landed on the island and forced its Spanish garrison to surrender in eight days with minimal bloodshed. The British occupied the island for four years, using it as a major naval base, before handing it back to Spain following the Treaty of Amiens in 1802.

My research assistant Marilyn Veek was summoned by yours truly, to find out more about Joseph L. Kuhn. I was getting nowhere fast with him, however, I found scant mentions in Jacob Engelbrecht's diary, kept from 1819-1878. More on that momentarily as I'd like to share Marilyn's findings done on abbreviated time before she headed off on  a "birding" trip to the west coast.

She actually found a ship manifest for Joseph L. Kuhn and his family from Gibraltar to Philadelphia in the year 1821. Unfortunately, for me, this was just before Chadwick's birth in November of the following year. However, it confirmed Henry Kuhn as a sibling (born c. 1819) to Chadwick, along with a time of passage to the United States. 

​A reader (Deborah Ward) pointed out to me this poignant Jacob Engelbrecht entry from July 2nd, 1821:

“Lieutenant Joseph L. Kuhn of the United States Marines arrived in town on Thursday evening last 28 of June 1821 from Port Mahon Island of Manorca, in the Mediterranean Sea. After an absence of nine years he brought with him his lady & two children. He arrived in Philadelphia his welcome return.”

I had assumed that the Kuhns lived in Philadelphia but a definitive home by 1830 would be Washington, DC. Jacob Engelbrecht writes in his diary on December 16th, 1830, the following entry:

"Died at Washington City on the 10th instant in the year of her age Mrs Caroline Kuhn consort of Captain Joseph L. Kuhn of the United States Marines." 

The question that begs asking here is, "Why would Engelbrecht write this? Did he know the Kuhn family? If so, did they live in Frederick between 1821 and 1830? Or, was Capt. Kuhn a Frederick native to begin with?"

I found a Joseph L. Kuhn (1798-1855) who lived in the Creagerstown area in the 1850 census, but he had a wife, Sarah, and slew of kids.  This is not our father of Chadwick because Engelbrecht also wrote of Capt. Kuhn's death in 1836:

"Died at Washington City on the 7th instant in the year of his age, Captain Joseph L. Kuhn, late of the United States marines, a native of our town. Son of the late Henry Kuhn, Esquire, Second Mayor of our city. (January 12, 1836)."

And this is why I love history! Captain Joseph L. Kuhn was the son of our second mayor, Henry Kuhn, no way! Henry Kuhn (1761-1834) was a longtime judge of the Orphans Court for Frederick County and died at his farm in Graceham in north county. So perhaps the Henry Kuhn I saw linked to Thurmont is a distant cousin to Chadwick somehow?

A Google search of "Mayor Kuhn and Frederick" led me to a Dr. Henry Kuhn of Ohio. This was a brother of Captain Joseph who holds the distinct honor of being a town's first mayor. Interestingly, that town is none other than the fore-mentioned Tiffin, Ohio. Dr. Kuhn was born and raised here in Frederick, and Engelbrecht made a note in his diary of Dr. Kuhn's marriage on Nov. 17, 1825 to Catherine Baltzell, daughter of Charles Baltzell.

​ Marilyn found a land transaction done three years before Joseph L. Kuhn's death.  In 1833, Joseph L. Kuhn of Washington City, bought from the estate of Peter Mantz, a 32-acre tract called "Stovers Good Luck".

​I think it may have been located in the vicinity of Tuscarora but don't quote me on that.

Looking through Jacob Engelbrecht's Diary longer, led me to another obituary for the family. This was the death of Chadwick's brother whose birthdate given in the Ancestry.com family tree I disputed.

"Died in Washington, DC on the 26th instant in the year of his age Mr. Henry Hargrave Kuhn, son (eldest) of the late Joseph L. Kuhn of the United States Marine Corps. He was born on the island of Minorca, Mediterranean Sea. (April 29, 1841)." 

As much as I achieved in chasing down the story of this family through fine resources at hand, I have yet to find the final resting places of Captain Joseph L. Kuhn, wife Caroline and son Henry.  I'm also puzzled that Engelbrecht failed to write about Chadwick's end, I mean death—well you know what I mean. I scoured the diary to no avail. I also checked the online database of Frederick's Evangelical Lutheran Church and they don't have a clear record of his burial in their graveyard. However they have a record of his reburial from the second Lutheran burying ground at the corner of E. Church and East Street to Mount Olivet in 1907.

Our records are dependable in this regard and backed up by Evangelical Lutheran in their database. He was re-interred in Mount Olivet's Area NN/Lot 125 on April 1st, 1907. Not my first choice for a dependable date (April 1), but I will trust in the system of record keeping. Its now been 116 years here in our humble cemetery within Frederick, Maryland far from Chadwicks End and Gibralter, native home of our subject's mother. Chadwick Hargrave Kuhn is buried among a row of strangers, with no one from his nuclear family in the cemetery as well. At least his paternal grandfather was a big wheel here in Frederick in his lifetime. 

So usually, when asked if you have plans for "Flag Day," a check of the calendar should center on the date of June 14th. However, at this particular time of year, there may be a little confusion as we have this date, and two others on which "the Star-Spangled Banner" plays a prominent role. Of course, I'm talking about Memorial Day and the 4th of July.

In past years, I've written extensively about all three of these "flag days" and their perpetual meaning and importance to not only our cemetery, but burying grounds throughout the United States of America. Flag Day is a celebration of the old Red, White and Blue itself, and commemorates the adoption of our standard as the official flag of the country. It's also a great day for us here at Mount Olivet Cemetery since we have the gravesite of Francis Scott Key. You know him, right? He's the guy who wrote the nifty, little ode to the "Stars and Stripes" back in 1814 during the Battle of Baltimore at Fort McHenry—a pivotal part of the confusing War of 1812 and our unwanted rematch against Great Britain to keep our independence.

Since we are talking Flag Day here, for those interested, our Friends of Mount Olivet (FOMO) membership group invites the public to  enjoy our annual Flag Day Author's History Talk. This lecture will once again be held in front of our Key Chapel, behind the Francis Scott Key Monument. The event begins at 6pm (on June 14th) and is free and open to all. We suggest bringing a lawn chair or a blanket to sit on.

We have speakers talk on patriotic individuals from our past, with special tie-ins to Mount Olivet. This year, we will feature a lady named Robin Meyer, whose father, Sam Meyer, researched, wrote and published a book on the fore-mentioned Mr. Key. It was published in 1995 under the title: Paradoxes of Fame: The Francis Scott Key Story. Robin plans to talk about the book itself with special recollections of why and how her father researched and wrote this work.

​The 4th of July has plenty of activities and events to offer throughout Frederick County. Firework displays, concerts, and usually picnics rule the day as we should fondly recall our first War for Independence, and in particular, the date of July 4th, 1776. This was when the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, boldly announcing the colonies' separation from Great Britain.

A definitive tie-in to Mount Olivet lies in the fact that we are the final resting place of one of the members of that particular Continental Congress. This was Thomas Johnson, Jr., originally hailing from Calvert County but we made him our own with two public schools and a "medical services autobahn" named for him here. Unfortunately, he would have had greater fame if he wasn't absent on July 4th, or whatever the often debated day was that the delegates signed the legendary Declaration of Independence parchment.

Mr. Johnson had a legitimate "note from home" (if you will) as he was feverishly raising troops and armaments for the great fight that was looming with the motherland. Thomas Johnson would go on to lead men into battle as a Brigadier General of the Maryland Flying Camp. He would soon be recalled back to his home of Maryland from the battlefields of eastern New York in an effort to serve as the Old Line State's first elected governor.

Outside of visiting Johnson's final home (today a museum) Rose Hill Manor, please feel free to pay homage at various places in Mount Olivet on July 4th if you are feeling extra patriotic. Places of interest include Thomas Johnson's gravesite in Area MM/Lot 38, his sculpted bust (which was crafted by local artist Joseph Urner) in our "Star-Spangled Plaza" area near the Key Chapel, or reverently stroll around and through our modern "TJ" burial section to the left (south) of our mausoleum complex and administration/sales office. Don't worry, in each instance, the US flag will be flying nearby.

​Before we arrive at Flag Day and "the Fourth," we need to remember that we have a day that means more than the fight for independence and a celebration of a colorful swath of cloth. This is Memorial Day. Differing from the other "flag days" with set dates, Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May, and incorporates the preceding weekend as part of a three-day commemoration. 

Memorial Day originated in 1868 and was first known as Decoration Day.  The observance took form when the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) established it as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the Union war dead with flowers. Confederate veteran groups would follow suit with their own day honoring former soldiers lost in the conflict. The National Archives website provides the following explanation for the origin of Memorial Day:

By the 20th century, one day was chosen to solemnly commemorate all Americans who lost their lives in military service—Memorial Day. Over the years, people have made regular pilgrimages to visit cemeteries and memorials on this federal holiday, particularly to honor those who have died in military service. In many cases, volunteers place American flags on graves of veterans within cemeteries of varying sizes, big and small. Public ceremonies of remembrance are generally held by veterans service organizations and municipalities.

As historian and preservation manager of Mount Olivet, I'm proud to say that this description fits our approach to a "T." Last Saturday, May 20th, volunteers descended on Mount Olivet to assist us along with our faithful partners in Francis Scott Key Post #11 of the American Legion. Our mission once again was to  place well over 4,000 flaglets on veteran graves. It's a huge task, but we are blessed to have so many volunteers come out to help, including people of all ages, vets themselves, and players of Post 11's American Legion baseball teams too!

​For decades, Legion Post #11 has held a program in the shadow of their namesake’s memorial by the front of the cemetery. This takes place at 12 noon. Earlier in the morning, and in the rear of the cemetery, local Frederick County chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution conduct organized ceremonies to honor veterans “at rest” in Mount Olivet’s mausoleum complex. This is a more recent tradition with a start time of 10am and includes help from the Sons of the American Revolution Lawrence Everhart Chapter, along with Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
 
Flags are flown at half-mast, Taps is played and wreaths adorn the Francis Scott Key monument and Mount Olivet's  World War II Memorial where flaglets gently wave over the mortal remains of 30 individuals lost during that world conflict.

This year, a new war memorial stands in Mount Olivet on this sacred day of remembrance (as it was under construction last year at this time). This is our Mount Olivet World War I Memorial Gazebo and Never Forget Garden located in the center of Areas T, U and S and the cemetery's midsection. This picturesque site honors over 600 men and women of World War I buried in Mount Olivet. We are still seeking contributions in an effort to add interpretive panels to tell more of World War I's story, making special note of the 13 wartime veteran deaths (in 1918) associated with interments here in the cemetery from this conflict. Some of these men were killed on the France-Germany front, and others died as a result of the Spanish Flu Pandemic.

​We dedicated this special memorial last October, and, immediately following the program, asked participants to help us spread poppy seeds in the flower beds surrounding the gazebo. These were designed to  form the Never Forget Garden, a tribute to the casualties of war, and especially those soldiers and sailors who remain unknown and missing in action to this day. 

The red poppy is regarded as a symbol of war casualties, and this tradition started with a poem. This is fitting since poems and patriotism seem to go hand in hand from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride" to John Greenleaf Whittier's "Barbara Fritchie," with the latter's central character buried just yards away from the World War I Memorial Gazebo. In the spring of 1915, a Canadian artillery unit brigade surgeon, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, saw bright-red poppies blooming on the war-torn fields where so many soldiers had lost their lives. The sight moved him to write the famous poem “In Flanders Fields." 

Now here we are seven months later, and our seeds have come into full bloom. Make sure to visit the World War I Gazebo and Never Forget Garden this weekend , or upon your next visit to Mount Olivet. 

The US flag has definitely been on my mind all week, and last week as well. I gave a lecture for the Sons of the American Revolution Chapter last week on the topic of Revolutionary War Soldiers buried at Mount Olivet. The count numbers 47 at last check. Two days after my program, I found myself placing flags in Mount Olivet's Area E on the graves of some of the very men I had spoken about. These included some heavy hitters including Col. John McPherson, Lt. John Lynn, Brig. Comm. Baker Johnson, Gen. Joseph Swearingen and Maj. Peter Mantz. I wrote a "Story in Stone" on Peter Mantz a few years back, and plan to cover the rest of these gentleman, and nearly 40 more, in coming years as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution over the next decade.

No shortage of flags can be seen in this section of the cemetery, and a heavily concentrated area is that of the fore-mentioned Maj. Mantz whose burial lot includes other veterans including three sons (Isaac, Ezra and Charles) who participated in the War of 1812. An adjoining lot contains the grave of a fellow RevWar vet named John Gomber. Gomber was Peter Mantz' brother-in-law.

I was curious about the "Gomber" name, so I ventured out to his grave the other day to take a closer look. As I came upon it, I stopped for a moment to take in an interesting viewscape looking toward the southwest. I zeroed in on five flaglets in my immediate line of vision, each belonging to a separate veteran. Here I was reminded of the richness of our historic, burying ground because four different conflicts and time periods of American history were represented by these five vets.

For starters, John Gomber, Jr. (#1 in photo above) has a substantial marker dating back to his death in 1831, 23 years prior to our first burial in Mount Olivet. He was originally laid to rest in Mantz Family burying ground that once occupied the northeast corner of West 4th Street and Klineharts Alley in Downtown Frederick.  Shortly after the opening of Mount Olivet, his descendants had his body, and that of wife Esther (Mantz) Gomber who predeceased him in 1830, reburied in Area E/Lot 136.

Our records state that John Gomber, Jr. was born on December 4th, 1756 in Frederick. He married Esther Mantz (b. 1765) in December 1779 just after celebrating his 23rd birthday. The couple would go on to have 6 children. 

​The only reference to an occupation for John Gomber comes with a brief mention in Jacob Engelbrecht's diary that he was a "brewer." As far as military duty, he was as an Associator for Frederick's Committee Observation in the years ramping up to the American Revolution. He would serve as a private under his brother-in-law, Captain Peter Mantz. Gomber was a member of the legendary Maryland Militia better known as "the Flying Camp." I assume he saw action during the battles in the northeast, specifically, the Battle of Long Island.

To the right of John and Esther Gomber's gravestone, one will find a monument containing the name of daughter Ann Christena Smith (1799-1839). This woman's husband, John Dinsmore Smith, has a footstone-style marker to the right of hers and represents the second veteran attached to my "five flag vision" referenced earlier. 

Thanks to the information found on the 1812 plaque marker placed in 2014, we learn that John Dinsmore Smith was first corporal in the 1st Regiment of Maryland Militia under Capt. John Brengle from August 25th to September 10th, 1814. This means he fought at the legendary Battle of Baltimore that inspired Francis Scott Key to write his "Star-Spangled Banner" song, although it originally carried the title of "The Defence of Fort McHenry." Specifically, Smith was a participant of the Battle of North Point.

You can learn more about the colorful Capt. Brengle and his men in an earlier "Story in Stone" article from August, 2019 entitled "A Patriot in the Pulpit."  I've been hard-pressed to find much more on this gentleman outside of being John Gomber, Jr's. son-in-law. Frederick diarist Jacob Engelbrecht made note of his death with a journal entry dated March 16th, 1832. 

"Died last night in the 45th year of his age, Mr. John Dinsmore Smith (commonly called "Yankee Smith") of our town a native of New Hampshire. Buried on the German Reformed graveyard. Son in law of the late John Gomber."

Aside from the couple (Ann Christena Gomber and J. D. Smith) marrying in 1822, I was interested to learn that Ann Christena was buried in the Mantz lot with her parents instead of by her husband's side in the German Reformed burying ground (destined to become Frederick's Memorial Park on the corner of North Bentz and West Second streets). This leads to a hazy, gray area in authenticating Lt. Smith's burial here in Mount Olivet. There is no official record of him being interred in Mount Olivet, while his wife and other family members were brought here from the Mantz burying ground in August of 1855. 

Meanwhile, J. D. Smith's name is not among those still buried in Memorial Park. It's one of those genealogical research nightmares of "Where did his body go?" Or, simply, did we (the cemetery) fail to record his placement here back in the 19th century? We may never know, but for now John Dinsmore Smith is memorialized with a special marker next to his wife and Gomber in-laws. ​

Up the hill on Lot 102, is one of Smith's fellow War of 1812 compatriots by the name of Henry Hanshew. I wrote about this early family of German immigrants last fall in respect to Henry's later relative John K. Hanshew, an expert in the game of Chess. Henry's father, Frederick Hanshew (1760-1832) came to the town that shares his name in the early 1780s.

Henry was born in 1785, a year after his parents were married here. His War of 1812 marker, in front of Henry's vintage tombstone, states that Private Henry Hanshew served in the 1st Regiment, Maryland Militia, under Captain Henry Steiner from August 25th to September 27th, 1814. Henry lived to see the beginning of the American Civil War, but not the final outcome, dying in March, 1862.

Speaking of the American Civil War, the fourth flag can be found on Area E's Lot 98 and a veteran of that particular conflict. Sergeant John M. Pimm survived the war, but would die shortly thereafter from the result of a fatal "on the job" injury. 

The son of John M. and Nancy Pimm of Frederick was born on December 3rd, 1835, He would gain employment with the railroad, but also answered the call to defend the Union in the American Civil War. As his stone reveals, John would attain the rank of sergeant and proudly served with the Potomac Home Brigade, an outfit specifically charged with guarding the B&O Railroad and C&O Canal from Rebel marauders intent on disrupting these important transportation lines. Records show that Pimm enlisted as a private into military service in August, 1861. He is also listed as a member of Maryland's 13th Regiment, Company D.

.The local newspapers reported John's untimely death at the age of 30. He would die on December 11th, 1865, the day after a terrible accident encountered while working for the Western Maryland Railroad.

While searching articles for Sgt. Pimm, I saw his name listed in 1869 among a group of 29 local, Frederick Union Army soldiers buried in Mount Olivet. In late May of that year, Fredericktonians commemorated their dead soldiers by placing flowers upon graves of soldiers for a second Decoration Day. We discussed this day earlier as the impetus for today's Memorial Day. Here are a few excerpts from the lengthy article that ran in the Frederick Examiner newspaper at the time explaining the exercises of the day.