Carroll Yesteryears 27 July 2014 Special 1890 Census Reveals Civil War Veterans, Widows By Mary Ann Ashcraft Historians and genealogists constantly bemoan the lost of the 1890 U. S. Population Census to a devastating fire in 1921, but there was another census taken that year – a special one which targeted surviving Civil War Union soldiers, [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 13 July 2014 Westminster the Home of 19th Century Weaver By Mary Ann Ashcraft I’m always amazed at the variety of craftsmen who lived and worked in Carroll County. There were potters, cabinetmakers, clock makers, joiners, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, and weavers, to name just a few. From the 1850s to the late 1870s, Westminster was [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 22 June 2014 The Confederate Raid on New Windsor By Frank Batavick With a chorus of rebel yells and the firing of pistols in the air, 600-800 Confederate cavalry came swooping into New Windsor on July 9, 1864, 150 years ago this July. Their immediate goal was to loot the town’s stores– stealing chickens, [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 8 June 2014 A Hessian Soldier Who Came to Carroll By Mary Ann Ashcraft The gravestone of Conrad Zile which once stood in a Carroll cemetery reveals almost nothing of a long, adventurous life spent in Europe and America. Zile, originally known as Konrad Zeul, was one of the Hessian soldiers sent to North [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 25 May 2014 A Memorial Day Tradition Rooted in the Civil War By Mary Ann Ashcraft A Memorial Day tradition observed in many local cemeteries is marking the graves of servicemen and women with small American flags. If you visit the cemetery beside St. Luke’s (Winter’s) Church outside New Windsor, you will likely see [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 11 May 2014 Cigar Ad Sheds Light on Village of Sam’s Creek By Mary Ann Ashcraft Sam’s Creek begins its journey to the sea on the western slope of Parr’s Ridge just above Taylorsville and flows roughly west-northwest until it joins Little Pipe Creek outside of Union Bridge. From there, its water flows into [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 27 April 2014 Lincoln, Carroll Had Troubled Relationship By Sam Piazza Abraham Lincoln is one of the most revered presidents of the United States. Most Carroll County residents during the Civil War would not have agreed to such praise. As the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s re-election approaches, both the 1860 and 1864 races reveal [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 13 April 2014 1880 Census Gives Peek into Carroll Farm By Mary Ann Ashcraft Did you know that census takers in 1850 and 1880 not only recorded the population of the United States but also tallied the agricultural output? Thanks to transcriptions of Carroll’s agriculture censuses by Jeff Duvall, a resident of Georgia but [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 23 March 2014 Bits of History Surround Us By Mary Ann Ashcraft What first got you interested in history…pertaining to Carroll County or anything else? I’m sure once you were bitten by the history bug, you didn’t stop reading, listening, or looking for bits of history, especially if there were family connections involved. I’m [...]
Carroll Yesteryears 9 March 2014 Scarlet Fever Struck Silver Run in 1877 By Mary Ann Ashcraft Mother Nature has thrown lots of nasty weather at us during the past few months, but we are lucky that this hasn’t been a year when cases of the flu have been prevalent. That’s a relief! Wandering through St. Mary’s [...]