Carroll Yesteryears 25 December 2011 Poem Celebrates the Christmas Spirit by Mary Ann Ashcraft During the nineteenth century, people often presented original poetry to friends and family. This charming poem written by Louis Edwin Shriver of the Union Mills Homestead was a gift to his nieces who also lived there. On Christmas morning, the little girls [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 11 December 2011 General Fought in Many Places Over 40-Year Tenure by Mary Ann Ashcraft Nearly one hundred years ago, Marion P. Maus, a sixty-something U.S. Army brigadier general, and his wife, decided to spend part of each retirement year living at the Dielman Inn on the corner of Main and High Streets in [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 27 November 2011 Camp Meeting was a Marquee Event for 37 Years by Mary Ann Ashcraft With the dark, cold days of winter approaching, let’s look back at an important Carroll County summer event which occurred yearly from 1871 until 1907 – the Linwood Camp Meeting. Started by the Uniontown Church of God as [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 13 November 2011 Family Bibles Provide Rich History by Mary Ann Ashcraft It seems so tragic when family bibles, especially those with births, deaths, and marriages recorded in them, end up at an auction instead of being passed down. Just like old photo albums, these are treasures which deserve a place in our homes. [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 23 October 2011 Gravestones a Genealogist’s Friend by Mary Ann Ashcraft If you are a genealogist, finding the gravestones of your ancestors is like dying and going to Heaven. With this in mind, the Carroll County Genealogical Society decided to make copying local cemeteries one of its priorities when it was founded in 1981. [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 9 October 2011 Herrs Had a Strong Reputation by Mary Ann Ashcraft Westminster’s Main Street has always been home to a wide variety of businesses as well as residences. From 1870 until the early twentieth century, a carriage-making firm belonging to Frank K. Herr occupied a building between Carroll and John streets where it [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 25 September 2011 Manuscript a Valuable Resource by Mary Ann Ashcraft New Windsor resident Nathan Haines Baile (1846-1926) was a person to whom Carroll County will always be indebted because he left behind a fascinating account of his life and times. I ran across part of the manuscript at the Historical Society of Carroll [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 11 September 2011 The Life of a 19th Century Doctor by Mary Ann Ashcraft All of us probably have a mental picture of the old-time country doctor traveling around the countryside in a buggy with a medical case full of pills. Dr. Francis Jesse Crawford (1819-1885), who practiced in the area around Taylorsville, probably [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 28 August 2011 Key was Complex, Patriotic by Mary Ann Ashcraft Two weeks ago, this column ended with Francis Scott Key as a young man married to his beautiful, wealthy sweetheart and ready to embark on a law career in Washington, D.C. with his influential uncle Philip Barton Key. Throughout the rest of his [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 14 August 2011 Learning the Story Behind Francis Scott Key by Mary Ann Ashcraft Carroll County has both a highway and a high school named after Francis Scott Key, but how much do we know about the man himself? I wanted to know more and began reading Victor Weybright’s biography, “Spangled Banner: The Story [...]