The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1941-09-04
First Settlers of the
Glades Country
A Brief Account of the Settle
ments Up to the Time of the
Revolutionary War

Glades, supposed to be unsuitable for
raising corn, the staple food of the
earliest pioneers. In Maryland Lord
Baltimore did not open his lands west
of Fl Cumberland for patent and set
Element until 1774, and in 1878 the
General Assembly reserved all unoc-
cupied state land westward of FIT.
Cumberland" for Maryland soldiers of
the Revolution.
THE ECKERLY BROTHERS,
"Dunkards" - conscientious directors
to war-to escape military service in
eastern Pennsylvania, went into the
western forest and about 1853 settled
on Cheat River. They lived at Dun
kard Bottom until 1856, when DR..
Samuel Eckerly travelled to the Shen-
andoah Valley with a load of furs.
The people of the Valley suspected
this stranger from the other side of
the mountains of being a French spy;
they detained him but finally some
men accompanied him to Dunkard
Bottom, where they found the body of
his brother, murdered by Indians. DR..
Eckerly then abandoned the settle
ment. Later Dunkard Bottom (now
Camp Dawson) became a stopping
place on the trail or road to Clarks-
burg. About 1896 Augustine Friend
moved there from Teens Glade in
Maryland.
THE PRINGLE BROTHERS and
two other soldiers, in 1861, deserted
the British army at Fort Pitt. They
wandered through the forest until
they reached the Glades, where they
camped near Aurora. Some time later
they travelled by old Indian trails to
the nearest settlement in what is now
Hardy county, W. Va, where they
were arrested; but the Pringles, John
and Samuel, escaped and returned to
their camp. After the French and In
dian War, hunters from the settle
ments east began coming to the
Glades and the Pringles moved into
the forest of Upshur county. They are
said to have made their home there in
a hollow sycamore tree.
THE FRIEND BROTHERS were
probably the first settlers in what is
now Garrett county John Friend, Sr.,
brother and son, Gabriel, in 1854
Travelled a-foot from their home on
the Virginia side of the Potomac, over
the Mccullough Path to the Youghio-
gheny, where they found a village or
camp of friendly Shawnee Indians,
from whom they bought the red mems
cabins and corn fields. The following
year John, Charles and Augustine
Friend moved from the Potomac over
the Braddock Road and Bear Camp
trail to what is now Friendsville.
Charles and Augustine finally went
west, but "old John" remained on the
Youghiogheny and became the first
permanent settler in Garrett county
and the ancestor of the numerous
Friend connection in this county.
JOSEPH TOMLINSON surveyed,
in 1860, Good Will" 100 acres, on
the Braddock Road. This tract includ-
ed the Little Meadows where Gen.
Braddock's army camped in 1855. 1t
is probable that, soon after securing
his patent in 1861, Tomlinson moved
from Frederick county, Md, and set
tied at the Little Meadows. He kept
the noted log Red House Inn, where
Gen. Washington lodged, near the site
of the present Stone House Inn, which
was built by his son Jesse in 1916.
WILLIAM WILTON ASHBY set
tied on "Ashby's Discovery" near
Gortner prior to 1776, but during the
Revolutionary War he appears to
have returned to his home on the
South Branch because of the danger
of Indian attacks. In 1881 he sold his
Virginia lease and returned to cash
by's Discovery; in 1895 he bought
"Piney Bottom" at the mouth of
Cherry Tree Run, which became the
permanent Ashby home.
JACOB FROMAN in It'll surveyed
and patented "Bad Is the Best of II"
100 acres, near the mouth of Bear
Camp Run. About this time he moved
his family from the Valley of Viz
ginia and built the first grist mill in
the glades country, on what is now
known as Mill Run. In 1880 Froman
went to Kentucky and some years
later rented, and, in 1914, sold his
Maryland farm and mill to John Fike,
Sr.
RICHARD HALL settled on the
Blooming Rose ridge prior to 1774.
The survey that year Of the "Bloom-
ing Rose" tract of 1,100 acres gives
the beginning corner as "about sixty
perches East of Richard Halls house"
His settlement was included in the
survey on condition that he be given
one hundred acres. Hall died there in
1891 and the owners decided the land
promised to his heirs. In 1897 Jacob
Marley bought the Hall farm. 1t is
now the home of Frank HENDERSON.