Washington Co (MD)

David Fouch was a miller in the Brownsville area of south Washington County, Maryland. This log book covers the time period 1877-1884. He was working at Michael Bartholow's Grist Mill and both the mill and his home which was nearby appear on the 1877 Washington County Atlas in Sandy Hook district. His log book records the amount of grain he ground for each customer and so serves as a list of the farmers of south county. Fouch was also a road superintendant so notes men who worked on county roads.  

"Rosie the Riveter" became a nickname for the millions of women from all backgrounds and across the country who worked in wartime industries and support services, including aircraft factories, shipyards, steel mills, foundries, lumber mills, warehouses, offices, hospitals and daycare centers. Some of the stories of the Western Maryland Rosies are recorded on these pages, as these women did indeed "make history."

In 1862, as a young man of 21, William H. Perkins enlisted in the Baltimore Light Artillery Association, Maryland Volunteers. His battery was assigned to the Maryland Brigade, where he served honorably in various engagements including Winchester and Martinsburg in 1862 and in 1864 at Cedar Creek and the Battle of Monocacy (Roster of Civil War soldiers from Washington County, Maryland, Roger Keller, 2008).

Washington County residents enlisted to serve in World War II. This scrapbook records some of that history. Veda Poole Carbaugh, whose husband Frank received a Purple Heart for wounds received in Germany, pasted stories found in the Hagerstown newspapers into a large scrapbook. She included over 700 individuals, some of them several times as they were injured, received commendations, came home, met other service men from Hagerstown or died from wounds.

This collection of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal items was made available by Michael and Linda Marmer of Maryland. Particularly of interest are the canal boat registrations from 1857, and a payment slip for an assistant clerk of the company, signed by Alfred Spates, president of the Canal Company.  Two letters written by combatants during the Civil War tell of the attack on Dam 5 by Confederates and the use of the canal towpath as a route west.

The Story of the Potomac Refining Company was researched and reported by Andrew Clemens, former President of the Baltimore County Historical Society. Nationwide advertisement campaigns like "Sixty Dollars a Second" and "The Business That Makes Millionaires" were launched in an attempt to sell stock in the Dargan Bend mines, along the Potomac River.

The Buena Vista Ice Company was created by Thaddeus A. Wastler in 1900 after the land was sold to him due to a settlement of his father-in-law’s (Samuel T Royer) estate. Wastler first constructed two lakes; the lower, larger lake being named after Royer. When the lakes were completed, the construction of eleven massive ice houses began. They were built between the shores of the lakes, each with the ability to hold 30,000 tons of ice.

John Philemon Smith, a venerable and widely known teacher in the county and local historian, was 11 at the time of the Battle of Antietam. History became a major focus for him and he wrote articles about historic events in the Sharpsburg area for all the local newspaper. It is believed some of his columns have been preserved in this publication, "Reminiscences of Sharpsburg 1763 to 1912", a collection of his essays.

The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were composed of African American soldiers who joined the Union Army to fight in the Civil War. In Washington County, Maryland, no African Americans fought in battles at home, at the Battle of Antietam, South Mountain, Hancock or the various skirmishes as the Confederates headed south after the Battle of Gettysburg. But a significant number of men from the county did serve elsewhere during the war, either in infantry divisions or in the famous Brigade Band where the Moxley brothers and others served.

The Washington County Map Book features hand drawn maps by John Frye for all of Washington County, Maryland. Each map block is broken down into more detailed images of roads, land ownership, state and county lines, and major rivers or creeks. The descriptions and locations listed for the map blocks are based off of the Washington County Map Key, and observations of each map.