Washington County Maryland--History

The following interview was conducted on behalf of the National Park Service on Sunday, May 26, 1974, with Mrs. Clara Manning of Paw Paw, West Virginia. The interviewer is Martha Ross.

MS. ROSS:       What I want to ask you about, Mrs. Manning - I understand you were a lockkeeper's daughter, and that you lived on the Canal. Is that not true?

Ed Wesley:        So your father, after, say 1879, had someone boat for him, and then he—

Tom Little:        Oh, yes, he didn't buy the Enterprise, had it built, right next to him. That'uz in 1881. Boatyard was built in 1880. And he had the Enterprise built in 1881. And he sold it to Mr. Ed Gunn [?] , another boatman lived down here, to William A. Smoot of Alexandria, Virginia for—I think, $200.00. That'uz in 1889. He didn't get the check 'til after the '89 flood.

Ed:        Oh.

Interview of Tom Little
Age 97
Interviewer: Ed Wesley

Father Had the Best Known Store on the Canal
Hancock, Maryland

Ed:       I'm talking to Tom Little from Hancock, Maryland, whose father founded one of the best known stores along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. You were starting to tell me how your father came to the store business here in Hancock.

MS. ROSS: Where did you live in the wintertime ?

MR. EATON: On the boat.

MS. ROSS: On the boat?

MR. EATON: Oh yeah.

MS. ROSS: Docked here at Cumberland.

MR. EATON: Oh, yeah. We was the first boat, right above the wharf where they loaded them. That was our quarters there. Yeah, it was a regular favorite tying up place, otherwise.

MS. ROSS: How did you keep it warm in the wintertime?

MR. EATON: Oh, we had a stove.

MS. ROSS: Coal fire?

MS. ROSS: How about taking care of the animals, when you were responsible for driving the mules and hitching them up and all, what were your responsibilities then?

MR. EATON: Well, if the drivers, if they worked all right, what I mean, and not actually abuse them or nothing, what I mean, to keep them working, you know what I mean, fairly working, but not just digging in as hard as they could, you know what I mean, along as they was pulling the boat at a good walking pace, I'd say, why, that was all we cared for, what I mean.

MR. EATON: And sometimes we'd get short trips at Williamsport, what I mean. We'd call them short trips, otherwise. And that would just be about three days, what I mean, and nights, and we'd be back, ready to load, what I mean. Sometimes we'd get unloaded, sometimes there'd be boats there ahead of us, we'd have to wait otherwise, our turn to get unloaded. If we was fortunate enough to drive in there with no delay, why, we'd get right unloaded, why, we'd hoof it right back, what I mean. We wouldn't lose no time.

MS. ROSS: What were some of your jobs on the boat?

MS. ROSS: [The following interview was conducted on behalf of the National] Park Service, on Saturday, May 25, 1974, with Mr. James Eaton, at his residence, 214 Potomac Street, Cumberland, Maryland. The interviewer is Martha Ross.]

MR. EATON: Well, my name is - James Eaton is my right name, yes, ma'am. They call me Little Scat, otherwise.

MS. ROSS: Little Scat?

The cemetery marked on the map is listed in the Records of Cemeteries of Washington County, copied and presented by Mrs. Warren D. Miller, Historian and Chairman of Genealogical Research, Conococheague Chapter, N.S.D.A.R, of Hagerstown, Maryland

It is listed in Sandy Hook, District 11 as:
the Graveyard on the George Ingram Farm, near Dargan.
Listed are:
John Adams, native of Ireland, age 41yr, D Jan 6, 1833
26 graves, plain stones.

Click on the PDF document titled Canal_terminology.pdf under Media Items
 

MARYLAND CONSERVATIONIST

PUBLISHED BY THE MARYLAND GAME AND INLAND FISH COMMISSION • $1.00 PER YEAR

March 1954
LET’S SAVE THE C AND O CANAL —A LITTLE JAUNT

From White’s Ferry, Md. to Shepherdstown, W. Va., Tells the Story