The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-07-15

dore Hibberd and wife and wife's sister De.
borah, in which Joseph Wilson now lives
His nail factory was on the corner wher,
, John w. Dlehps house now is and the store
house was between, n part of which store
house, on It's original site, is now n part of thu
dwelling house Of John Hnrtsock He sub
sequently removed to the city Of Washington
and entered into the service Of the United
States government where his genius and tai
ents were duly appreciated About the same
time, that ia 10 say, about the first decade Of
the present century, and before the early
dawn Of the day which has witnessed the
triumph Of the mechanic arts in the substitu
ton OF machinery for the hard muscular hu.
man labour and toll to which the husbandmnn
then appeared to be hopelessy doomed, he
felt the full force Of the Scriptural quotations:
"Cursed is the earth in thy work, with labor
and toll shalt thou eat thereof all the days OF
thy life, and sin the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat thy bread, Genesis Ill, II and 10,
and these were his only consultations. But
Jacob b. Thomas, then resident of the town
of Union Bridge, as it then was, originally
conceived the idea that the extremely hard
labor Of cutting grain in the harvest field
could be done by machinery driven by horse
power, and which prior to that time in the
|
and was not known to be practicable, and
may therefore truthfully be said to have been
originally invented by him. And as this is q
local historic incident of more than ordinary
importance it may be pardonable to notice Mt
| greater length the details thereof
| In the building and room that is now the
front parlor of the dwelling house of what is
known as the Shriner premises on Main street,
being the same historical block in which I'll.
CARS dwelling, store and nail mandatory
were, and is called block No. l. on the plat
of that part of the town which is recorded
among the land records of Carroll County,
in Liber W. A. Mex. No. 81, folio 1868, Nc,
and which room or part of the building was
originally built and intended for cabinet.
maker shop, Jacob X. Thomas constructed
q reaping machine, with an automatic attach
ment thereto, to gather the cut grain into
sheayes, being substantially the sell.raker OF
the present day. In the summer and harvest
Of 1911 the machine was so far perfected as
to permit trial Of its operations in field of
wheat, then fully ripe, being the field now
belonging to John Davis Clemson, and the
spot in the field where the trial was made
was very near to the present dwelling house
of James A. BOSTON and wife. The machine
had not yet been furnished with tongue aud
other appurtenances for attaching horses to
it, but was pushed into the grain by a suili
cient number of men. Thomas Shepherd,
lately deceased, and William Shepherd. his
brother and father of Thos. f. Shepherd
and Solomon Shepherd and Rudolph Stem,
father OF Reuben W. Stem, of Westminster
were three Of the men who aided in is trial.
and their testimony is unanimous that it cut
the grain well and perfectly, but that its de.
livery was defective and did not make good
sheaf. There is no testimony as to the man
ner in which the gathering attachment was
constructed, whether it was like or unlike any
of the automatic self rakes of the present day;
but the cutting apparatus was substantially
the same as the reaper of the present day,
cutting the grain in the same shears like man
ner and which has since been universally ap.
proved and adopted as the best method of
cutting grain, and differing only in the meth
| cd of attaching the knives to the sickle bar.
| In the modern machines the knives are short
aud broad and riyited fast to the sickle bar
| In Thomass machine the knives were longer
and pivoted in tho middle and attached to
the sickle bar by n pivot at the rear end.
| The peculiarly sentitiye organization Of the
mind of the inventor rendered him incapable
of bearing up against and overcoming the in.
credulity and ridicule consequent upon the
partial failure Of the machine at the time, and
il was never finished by him. During its CON
struction he at times refused admittance into
the shop, and to the question often put in an
impairment and sneering manner and tone.
| "Thomas what do you call your machine ?'
he would answer 'the FOOLS Inquiry" He
afterwards built factory for the manufacture
of fax into linen by machinery, which was
located about one mile southwestward from
the town. This also did not prove remuner
alive. The factory house is now n tenant
house on the premises of the heirs OF Reuben
Devilbiss. He afterwards moved to Balti-
more and kept the old Globe Inn in Market
street, and from there moved to Frederick
| City aud kept the City Hotel, and from there
moved 10 Point of Rocks, on the Potomac
River, where he died, but at the time of his
decease was constructing Il steam canal boat,
invented by him.
| 0bed Hussey, the celebrated pioneer of
reaping machines, was cousin of Jacob Il.
| Thomas. They were intimately acquainted,
and Hussey subsequently took up Thomass
invention and perfected it SO far as to make
it an operative machine, and from that, Nc
Cornicks, and all others cutting on the same
principle, were constructed las they all con
cede.) Differing in various ways in the man
ner OF their construction, but all cutting in
| the same shcars.like manner, and they have
practically reaped the rich rewards so de
servedly due to our fellow townsman, Jacob
| X. Thomas, and to which his brilliant inven-
tive genius justly entitled him.
Our pioneers did not pass away without
| leaving their footprints upon the civilization
of the age. The example of their industry
and ingenuity was not lost upon the comma
nifty in which they lived. A good paved
wagon road was made across the swampy
ground northward from the town, and good
and substantial bridge was built across the
creek-all done by the united personal labor
of those who dwelt on both sides of the creek
and swamp, aud after its completion and
while the builders were still assembled a
motion was made that the bridge be called by
some name to distinguish it from other bridges
that might be subsequently built, which being
considered, and upon the suggestion that in.
asmuch MS that the bridge connected the two
sides Of the creek and swamp, and that it was
built by their united labours, that it be called
"Union Bridge" which name was then cho.
sen and adopted.
In April, 1874, Peter Benedum sold out all
his land here at from 500 to Sl20 per acre
and emigrated to the Valley of Virginia, near
| Winchester. Jacob Switzer 1.-THE father of
the writer, then an infant 3 years 0ld) pur.
chased 1888 acres of it, including all that part
of the town west of Main street and north Of
Elgar street. The forests had now been
cleared out, the swamps drained, and all was
made rich and productive farming land. The
war with Great Britain had caused an active
demand for all agricultural products. Wheat
! flour was sold in the Baltimore markets for
$l4 per barrel, and other products in proper
ton. All that part of the town west of Main
street was clover field and which being
ploughed down and put in crop of wheat,
and then in crop Of rye, the proceeds
Of the sales of the two crops were equal to
first cost of the land. AT this time 1t con
tained only four dwelling houses7-one upon
the site of Hartsock's hotel, and which was
taken down to make room for the hotel in
1870; one near the site of Captain Isaiah
l,ightner's dwelling house, and which was
taken down and removed in 1914, and is now
the central part of the dwelling house of VIM.
Stultz, one on the present site of VIM. Viii.
sons store, afterwards for o long time used
as shop, &C., and taken away about 10 years
ago-these three were all wooden Ga log
houses; and then the brick house built by
Joseph Elgaf. The brick cabinet maker shop
in which the reaper was built, being also
.cov,.o.d.. aonyarta1 into n dusali;noy houaa