MYERSVILLE-WOLFSVILLE AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY - Myersville-Wolfsville Area Historical Society Research Blog

Kellsie A. Gaver of Ellerton: The Legacy of a Middletown Valley Craft

1/23/2020

The workshop of Kellsie Alvey Gaver on Bittle Road near Ellerton.

By Jody Brumage, Historian and Curator of South Mountain Heritage Society

Until mass-produced furniture became widely available and popular in the late-nineteenth century, many families in the Middletown Valley furnished their homes with chairs, tables, beds, cupboards, and other pieces that they either constructed themselves or commissioned through their local cabinetmaker. The trade of cabinetmaking came to the colonies with European settlers in the seventeenth century. Possessing the skills of joining, carving, and turning among others, cabinetmakers built furniture to the specifications of their customers. Throughout the nineteenth century, cabinetmakers were as common to small towns as blacksmiths, millers, and storekeepers, but only the names of a few have stood the test of time and maintain recognition today among those who collect and preserve furniture made in the Middletown Valley. Many of these cabinetmakers lived and worked in the upper valley around the villages of Myersville and Wolfsville.

Left: Mary Ethel Virginia Gaver Morningstar, eldest sister of Kellsie Gaver, sitting in a caned-back rocking chair made by her younger brother. (Image used with permission of Lisa Heatherly Montgomery)

James Wesley Morgan established a furniture factory northwest of Wolfsville in Brandenburg Hollow in 1883 where he built chairs, tables, and cabinets. The site of his establishment is now the Wolfsville Ruritan Club. Calvin Tressler Kinna Gladhill and his wife, Lola Wiles Gladhill of Harmony, established the valley’s premier furniture store in 1915 in Middletown, employing local cabinetmakers in addition to carrying fine furniture imported from catalog companies. Beginning in the 1850s, the Stottlemyers of Wolfsville, perhaps the most well-known of valley cabinetmakers, produced furniture which has come to define the Middletown Valley style. The work of Frederick Stottlemyer and his son, Christopher Columbus Stottlemyer remains highly sought-after nearly a century after their business ceased operation in 1921.

One of the last families engaged in this traditional cabinetmaking trade in the upper valley were the Gavers of Ellerton. Gaver-made furniture is rare given the short period of time in which it was produced. From the early-1930s until 1942, Kellsie Gaver produced cupboards, chairs, bedsteads, and other furniture in his workshop located on his parent’s farm on Bittle Road in Ellerton along Catoctin Creek.

A sewing rocker, made by Kellsie Alvey Gaver. (Owned by Jody Brumage)

Sarah Hoover Weddle: Lost to a “Criminal Operation”

1/9/2020

Dayton (Ohio) Herald, 25 February, 1903: “Mrs. Amy Snyder, 52, the wife of Aaron Snyder, an expressman, of 223 South Montgomery Street, was arrested Tuesday afternoon by Sergeant Fair and assistants, on suspicion of having performed a criminal operation on Miss May Smith, 19, of Xenia, which resulted in her death.”

Louisville (Kentucky) Courier-Journal, 26 March, 1903: “Miss Stella H. Stork, a pretty young woman whose home was at Huntingburg, Ind. … died at the private hospital of Dr. Sarah Murphy, 1018 West Chesnut Street, Tuesday afternoon. While peritonitis was the direct cause of death, this was brought on by a criminal operation….. George Lemp, a Southern Railway conductor, who came to Louisville with the girl last week, was arrested … but denied he had any knowledge of the girl’s condition.”

Scranton (Pennsylvania) Tribune, 27 March, 1903: “The sudden death of Mrs. Martha E. Rosengrant, widow of the late William Rosengrant, was the occasion of an inquest by Coroner Tibbins…. Mrs. Rosengrant was found dead in her bed at her home on Foundry Street on Wednesday morning…. The verdict of the jury was that Martha Rosengrant came to her death from a criminal operation performed upon her by someone to the jury unknown.”

Frederick (Maryland) News, 30 April, 1903: “The people of Myersville and vicinity are excited by the discovery of what appears to be evidence that the death of Mrs. Sarah E. Weddle, which occurred April 14, was due to a criminal operation. Mrs. Weddle was sick for about two weeks before her death.”

When she died during the quickening Spring of 1903, widow Sarah Weddle left five young children as orphans. The lingering evidence shows she was one of the uncounted thousands of Victorian and Edwardian women who, when they fell pregnant, turned to “female pills”—herbal abortifacients advertised openly albeit with coded language—or to “criminal operations,” as illegal abortions were termed in the press.

This article continues at Your Dying Charlotte.

When the Apple Falls Far From the Tree: Part Three

9/2/2019

During the months before the jury trial of George H. Koogle, merchant George Waters Biddle fully recovered. According to the Baltimore Sun, the gunshot wound to his thigh had nearly proven fatal but the newspaper did not elaborate whether it was from the onset of sepsis or another cause.

Perhaps tellingly, further robberies in Myersville were not reported by the press in the last quarter of that year. This did not mean the little town saw no excitement. On Election Day, 8 November, as President Teddy Roosevelt was reelected, “Some dynamite was exploded [in Myersville] and the shock shattered glass in the Flook, Gaver, Leatherman Bank and in the residence of Mr. George W. Wachtel,” the Hagerstown Daily Mail stated.

A little more than a week later, work was freshly completed on the electric railway between Myersville and Hagerstown. “The railroad runs the full length of the main street of Myersville, the track being laid in the center of the street. The poles and wires are all up and work cars have been running into Myersville from Hagerstown since Tuesday,” reported the Frederick News on 18 November.

This march of progress nearly trampled Myersville resident Martin Wachtel, who made “a narrow escape from being killed by electricity while the wires for the new road were being stretched,” the News noted. A wire fell across the street and Wachtel tried to lead a wagon across it, believing it not live. “When the horses stepped upon the wire, they were violently thrown to the ground. Mr. Wachtel … was also severely shocked. The horses were unhitched from the wagon and assisted to their feet when the one horse accidentally touched the wire a second and third time and was thrown each time. The horses were uninjured, excepting a few burns.”

Continue reading at historian Ann Longmore-Etheridge's blog, Your Dying Charlotte.

Better Late Than Never: Appreciating Ira Moser

9/2/2019

By Judy Zeck

Ira Clifford Moser was the author of the History of Myersville, Frederick County, Maryland, including Biographical Sketches of its Representative Men, published in 1905 by the Myersville Monitor newspaper. The book was later reprinted in 1971 with an updated history of Myersville written by Thomas Rose and Charles Martin and published by the Myersville Volunteer Fire Company.

(Left: Ira Moser seated on a daybed, taken in 1908 according to the calendar on the wall.)

Anyone interested in the history of the Myersville area owes Moser a debt of gratitude for the 1905 history. It is considered a handbook by those who want to understand Myersville at the time of its incorporation in 1904, just as the trolley was coming to town and as the town became the hub of the surrounding farming community. The book has been quoted in other publications about Frederick County and Maryland towns. Those of us now living deeply appreciate that Ira Moser took the time to write wrote about life in the town he was raised in, but it can be gleaned from newspaper reports of the time that Ira Moser, was not always appreciated by his contemporaries.

When an Apple Falls Far From the Tree: Part Two

4/28/2019

Amazingly—almost miraculously—on 8 August, just four days after the shooting, George Waters Bittle was able to give testimony to Justice of the Peace Christian H. Eckstein whilst propped up in a chair in the bedroom of his Main Street home. Also present during the testimony was State’s Attorney for Frederick County Arthur D. Willard (1872-1959), the counsels for the defense, the accused, Captain Jacob Koogle, Dr. Ralph Browning, Rev. Otto E. Bregenzer (abt. 1877-1920) of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, and Mrs. Bittle, the former Mary Elizabeth Routzahn (1865-1936.)

Bittle told Willard and Eckstein that on the night of the attempted burglary, “He had seen the burglar around his place early in the evening [and] though he recognized his walk,” the Frederick News noted. “The party wore a dark slouch hat, dark coat, and trousers. He did not see the face of the man at the door sufficiently well to say it was George Koogle, but he could say from what he had seen of Koogle earlier in the evening and what he could say of the man at the door he thought it was George Koogle, although he was sorry to say so.” The dolorous look Bittle may have given Captain Koogle as he spoke can well be imagined.

Bittle, like his fellow citizens, likely saw Koogle as somewhat of a superhero. For example, the merchant would surely have heard this wartime anecdote from Myersville veteran Daniel Mowen, Koogle’s brother-in-law, who included it in a series of articles he wrote for the newspaper, The Globe: “At the assault of Petersburg, on the 17th of June, 1864, and while the Seventh [Maryland Regiment] was in line, Jacob Koogle, first sergeant of company, saw a shell bounding toward them. He called to the men to ‘look out!’ Watching its course, he attempted to step out of its way when it lodged against his breast. Its force being about spent, he threw it off with his arm without injury to himself and, as it didn’t explode, it injured no one else.” This was before the affair of stealing of the Confederate colors and returning with the secessionist banner and a uniform full of bullet holes. Those twin events could make anyone wonder whether Koogle was divinely blessed.

Continue reading at historian Ann Longmore-Etheridge's blog, Your Dying Charlotte.

Financially Sound

4/4/2019

Above is a 1940 financial statement from the Myersville Savings Bank. The financial institution was located in what is now the C. Basil Grossnickle Insurance Company at 415 Main Street, Myersville. It was established in 1898 and operated as such until it was purchased by First United Bank & Trust in 1995.

A Message for Miss Mildred

4/3/2019

By Rebecca Conrad

This second family postcard was sent from Frederick to Miss Mildred Knodle of Myersville on 22 October, 1909. The sender was Walter Knodle (1873-1929), Mildred's father. It reads: "Hello Mildred, How are you getting along. Wish you were here tonight. You could go to the show. I am not good. Am so tired and stiff. Help Mama all you can and be a good girl. Tell her not to worry about anything. Take good care of Baby and Helen. I will bring you something. Your Papa."

Below: Mildred Elizabeth Knodle Poffenberger, Jacob Berman Poffenberger, Audrey Irene Knodle, and Fannie Rosella Moser Knodle around the time of Mildred’s marriage in 1921.

A Postcard for Mrs. Knodle

4/3/2019

By Rebecca Conrad

My grandmother, Mildred Elizabeth Knodle was born and resided at our farm on Ward Kline Road. Her parents were Walter Knodle (1873-1929) and Fannie Rosella Moser Knodle (1872-1943) and her grandparents were John Henry Moser (1834-1905) and Amanda Weddle Moser (1837-1913).

This postcard, with the stamp cancelled on the morning 2 December, 1911, reads: "Dear family, we got over all right and I as well as usual. It rained so hard all day and tonight Hary thinks the ice may break and come down. Wishing you a happy birthday. Your Mother, Amanda Moser.'

The ABCs of Mr. McGuffey

3/29/2019

By Rebecca Conrad

Most of us probably learned to read using the series of books starring Dick and Jane. These books used a “look and say” approach of learning new words followed by sometimes tedious repetition. “See Dick run. Run, Dick, run. “ Used from the 1930s to the 1970s, children of this time all followed the antics of these characters. The books fell out of favor due to many factors, such as the women’s movement, limited and stereotypical story lines, and the preference to the phonics system of learning to read.

For almost one hundred years prior to Dick and Jane, students had learned using a set of books created by William Holmes McGuffey. McGuffey was an educator and a preacher. He combined these two skills to create a series of textbooks which consisted of basic education in the areas of reading and spelling as well as religious instruction in his compilation of stories. His set of seven books consisted of a Pictorial Eclectic Primer and an Eclectic Primer to be used by beginning readers; four increasingly difficult Readers to be used by more advanced scholars; and an Eclectic Progressive Speller. As their names suggest, the books used a variety of materials gleaned from the Bible and works written by many notable people such as John Milton, Lord Byron, and Noah Webster, along with original essays on a wide range of subjects such as nature and geography.

McGuffey's colleague Joseph Ray published three instructional books on arithmetic in 1834. McGuffey’s series were published between 1836 and 1838. Two later textbooks (the Fifth and Sixth Eclectic Readers) were written by William’s brother, Alexander McGuffey. A study of these books gave any student a thorough knowledge of the three R’s – Reading, ‘Riting, and “Rithmetic - as well as a fourth R, Religion. Many parents who homeschool their children still use these resources today.

MWA Coopers: Rolling Out the Barrels

3/29/2019

By Rebecca Conrad

Have you ever heard “The Beer Barrel Polka?” How about “Roll out the Barrel?” Barrels were such an integral part of life that many songs were written about them. There are also many sayings such as “He is a barrel of laughs” that reference them. We even use the expression “stave off” which refers to the wood pieces used in the barrels. Barrels were used to store essentials such as flour, sugar, and salt. They were very important in the production of beer, whiskey, wine and other liquors. The type of wood used in them was crucial because they lent some of the flavor to the final product. Where did all these barrels come from?

A search of the 1850 Census for the area shows many men listed as coopers. The skill was passed down from father to son. The listing for Jacob Wastler, aged 68, and his son, Jacob, aged 25, shows them both with cooper listed as their occupation. The cooper Joseph Stottlemyer, took an apprentice named Goodlow Hayes into his household and trained him. John Wachter, John Haynes and Henry Gaver were others in the area manufacturing barrels.

The Gaver family was well-known for their cooperage skills. The History of Frederick County, Vol 1 by Thomas John Chew Williams and Folger McKinsey tells of John T. Gaver. He was the great-grandson of the John Gaver who donated land for the church for which Church Hill is named. John T. Gaver’s father was John P. Gaver, who purchased 121 acres of timber land and spent summers peeling bark and getting out materials for his barrel making enterprise. He was so successful that he was able to purchase an additional 60 acres of land.

These barrels were so critical that there was even a magazine called the National Cooper’s Journal that proudly declared itself "Devoted to the Cooperage Industry; A Paper of Great Value to All Stave, Hoop, Heading and Liner Manufacturers; To All Makers and Users of Barrels, Kegs, Casks, Tubs, Pails, Machinery and Mill Supplies." It began publishing in the 1890s and continued into the mid 1900s.

All of this makes me long to have been there when you could sit at the general store, playing checkers on an old cracker barrel and watching little girls roll the hoops down the streets. Ponder on this the next time you hear of politicians "pork-barreling." Just don’t try going over Niagara Falls in one!