Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1945-03-01
=. HOME ANp CLUB ACTIVITIES ;:
MONTGOMERY SIDELICHTS
-Bu ELSIE WHITE HAINES

4
What's this? Remus Riggs has
contracted to sell corn for 30
cents a bushcl and deliver it to
Browns Mill at Brookeville! We
could scarcely believe our eyes :
but there it was: agreeable to
contract this day with Remus Riggs
he is to furnish me with corn at
80 cts per bushel for six months
at Browns Mil at Brookeville"
Of course the date was not 1915,
but 1888 and we were reading from
the account book of one Edward
Porter, who made sure of the deal
by adding: (Wlliam Manakee wit
ness to bargain) A later notation
reads: "This day hired a COW from
Remus Riggs for one dollar a
month.
And imagine Francis E. Valde-
rar selling beef for 8 cents and
pork for cents a pound! He did
little better with his hay, re-
ceived $18.75 load for it but
who knows how much the load
weighed! This Francis Valdenar
is probably the one who represent
ed his district when Montgomery
County was separated from Fred
erick right after the Revolutionary
War. He was a great, great 1--WE
really do not know how many
greats) grandfather of Mrs. Louise
Price in the Clerks Office, Rockville.
James Cashell also sold Mr.. Porter
beef ITO lbs. at 6R cts, rs and Is
cts. Don't you love the way the
dollar mark is hiked on behind)
By the way that was not Lucille
Fennington's "uncle Jim"-but one
of his great, greats.
Here are a few more prices dur
ing the period of 1882 to 1910.
Coffee was only IL cts a pound
/ but sugar was 1879. James Brooke
sold the Porters a turkey for 81.
On Dec. 8, 1888 To cash paid
Micajah Rogers for / pair boots
and Nails for Charles 1902 ITO
Jones for Peters trowsers
and coat 2.24, hat 40, thread and
buttons 1874 cts" Thomas Macor-
mack. ITO cash paid you for 4
pair of boots had some. time pre-
vious, $2.75.' TO cash paid Barns
ley for coffin, 1000 Mote: In
those days collins were made at
the local whcelwright snop,l For
jury duty Ia days IN 1887 Mr..
Porter reed $28.
/ SAbout that time James H.
Brooke bought "horse collier" for
81. and the Sandy. Spring School
borrowed $40 from Mr.. Porter.
Here is what they did with it: "B.
Brooke for 5 cord wood 5.00, Sam
Booth for cutting said wood, ESQ,
To hauling cord to schoolhouse
900" One wonders what they did
with the other so cents, Feb. 20,
1889 Mahlon Chandlee bought 6
Bbls for powder at 90 cts, 800
Edward Thomas paid $25 for a
wagon and Elisha j. Hall $40 for
an OK cart. Uriah Brown bought 5
bu corn meal for So. Elige Stoker
paid 1919 cts for a "warter mil
lion. Mary Catlett paid q cents
postage on letter. VIM. Adams
paid 13A cts for l Blu shorts"
Fanny Spears was sent $2.4O by
Jetson Boswell for weaving sc
yards lindsey"
Edward Porter also had a cooper
shop and made floor barrels for
the Ellicott Mills and later for
Triadelphia and for small millers
around the county. He made nu-
merous small loans too, and often
banked as much as $1,000 at the
Patapsco Bank, which was real
"foldin' money in those days. He
also attended for many years to
the affairs OF a farm owned by
Mrs. Ann Wortnington rented to
Thomas Cole. A tax bill signed by
Pereguine HOBBS collector for Bird
or Howard District of "A. County
is dated 1883, and was for an as