The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1950-01-26
HORSE AND
BUGGY DAYS
by
Ida 10 Martin

count of journey, as told in
letter by one who had travelled
through our valley in the old days.
This was the Englishman, William
Eddes. who was at the time one OF
the commissioners in the Land Of
flee for the King of England at An
napolis. His letter, written from
Annapolis, in September of the
year 1772, starts thus:
4 am just returned from an ex-
cursion to the frontiers of this prov
ince, in which my curiosity was
highly gratified. 1t is impossible to
conceive a more rich and fertile
country than have lately traversed;
and when it becomes pOpulous IN
proportion to its extent, Frederick
County WILL at least, be equal to
the most desirable establishment on
this side of the Atlantic"
He then plunged into detailed
description of some of the odd
scenes he had seen. One of these
was the peculiar way some early
settlers took of clearing the wild
erness. They simply cut a ring
around the trunks of trees that were
too large to be easily handled, let
them die, and then planted crops
between the bare tree trunks. He
also described the rudeness of some
of the dwellings, stating that many
houses were constructed with tim
bers that had seen no tool but an
axe. And one food of the early
folks-one that as not been entire
ly lost yet-was made by pounding
dry corn in a sort of mortar, and
cooking the meal. And he gives a
description of what was probably
the first maple sugar and maple
syrup, a product of the new ter
ritories.
In the quotation above, he refers
to the attractiveness of Frederick
County," of course he meant all of
Western Maryland, as Frederick
County included all that section
then. We will see though, that
this trip had to do particularly with
this valley, as he continued his let
ter with this paragraph:
about thirty miles west of Fred
ericktown, l passed through set
Element which is making quick adj
vances to perfection A German
adventurer, whose name is Hager,
purchased a considerable tract of
land in this neighborhood, and with
much diScernment and foresight,
determined to give encouragement
to traders, and to erect proper ha-
citations for the stowage of goods
for the supply of the adjacent
country. His plan succeeded; he
has lived to behold multitude of
inhabitants of lands which he re-
membered unoccupied; and he has
seen erected in places, appropriated
by him for that purpose, more than
an hundred comfortable edifices, to
which the name of Hager's Town
is given, in honor of the intelligent
founder"
This particular writer did not
claim to know just when his Gin
telligent founder" actually arrived
in his new home country, that is in
this valley, and other sources do
not agree. But one writer states
that Hager obtained his first deed
from Lord Baltimore in 1899 and
that he had been living here before
that, for he already had his home
constructed.
Among the early settlers who
came into this valley after the in
vitation of the chief towns founder,
were group of people who had not
come on friendly terms at first.
These were members of the Army
under the command of the General
Burgoyne. After he surrendered at
Saratoga, many of these men de-
cided to settle right down and stay.
A group of them came to Hagers-
town, and among them was a young
Irishman named Whistler. Soon af-
ter arriving in Hagerstown, he mar
ried an English lady by the name
of Bishop. He, and others of this
group, soon became well liked cit
liens and took active part in the
life and growth of the community
He later held various ranks in the
Continental Army. One of his sons
became well known civil engine
er, serving his country's interests
in Russia. And another of his des-
cendents was the distinguished
painter.
And here is a little note on the
condition of travel in those days
and on the job of clearing the wild
eress for new home. It seems that
this valley was not so densely COW