History of Washington County Maryland / Biographies

Description

H
ISTORY
O
F
Washington County, Maryland
NEW
88-PAGE
BOOK
Early days in Washington County, Maryland, are recalled through a mixture of colorful tales, factual data, and individual biographies in this 88-page excerpt from J. Thomas Scharf's
History of Western Maryland
, originally published in 1882 by Louis H. Everts of Philadelphia. The book is printed on 8 1/2" x 11" quality paper. The front cover is an 80# card stock, protected with a vinyl sheet.
Two more books on this area are available. One concerns the History of Hagerstown and the other is a History of the Districts of Washington County.
Among the many interesting subjects included are
:
a list of land grants made prior to the revolution, Indian antiquities, public officials, James Rumsey's Steamboat (the first such ever built in the United States), a list of 51 roads in Washington County in 1819, early stage lines with details on their schedules and stops, mail routes, the Cumberland Valley Railroad, Western Maryland Railroad (with details so vivid you can almost smell the smoke from the steam engine), Washington County Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio RR, some rather colorful letters from one Luther Martin to Mrs. Hager (widow of Jonathan Hager) during his unsuccessful courtship, and other interesting bits of history and trivia.
Attention Genealogists:
This book is filled with names. In addition, there are individual biographies of notable county residents, some quite colorful. Among these bios are:
John Hood, the Hughes family, the Lawrence family, the Tilghman family, Nathaniel Rochester, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Rochester, the Wetzels and the Poes (famous Indian fighters), Maj.-Gen. Perry Benson, the Williams family, Gen. Samuel Ringgold, the Fitzhugh family, Commodore Jesse Duncan Elliott (whose colorful career included action in the War of 1812, dueling, etc.), the Kennedy family, the Beatty family, Frederick Humrichouse, William Heyser, Mary Wolgamot Schnebly, Col Jacob Hollingsworth, Wolfgang Newcomer, Robert Fowler, Luke Tiernan, Adam Glossbrenner, Edward Merryman Mealey, Frederick Bodmann, the Neill family, J. Philip Roman, Lieut. Louis M. Hughes, and Maj. James Breathed.
The final ten pages contain a "large number of the representative people of the county" who were "either born in or at some time resident in Washington County who have died since 1791" and died prior to 1882. Most are brief, but some give details.
Wouldn't this make a unique gift?