The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1958-10-02

1865, an Englishman, Morehead.
discovered a method of tinplating
that yielded larger sheets of metal
and did it much faster.
One year after Morehead had
extended tinplating, Peter Shirer
established his tin business in Oak
land. Going over these angles of the
business, VIM. Ernest Shirer re-
marked that such research had
taken tinsmithing clear behind the
backdoor." He is, and his ancestors
along with his son, an example of
the practical man. These men COM
bine their headwork with their
handiwork and this is the secret of
their importance to the community
in which they have long been hard
at work to make life better.
The Shirer artisans bought and
worked with welsh tinplate."
This trade term came from that
tinplate made in Wales and Eng
land. The metals came from mines
in that part of the world. The anci-
ent people of Phoenicia obtained tin
there from before the time of
Christ. They carried the ore in their
primitive sailing ships across the
sea to the Phoenican city-kingdom
on the east shore of the Mediter-
ranean Sea. These tinsmiths of an
other time so long ago, fashioned
practical and decorative objects
from their tin-alloyed metals. An
archeologist, excavating today, in
some ruin or two-thousand-year old
tomb in the Middle East, may well
turn up some example of that an
cient tinsmith's craft.
We however, do not need to re,
main lost in some ancient tomb
! looking for tin. We have only to
walk up the street to the Presby-
! terrain church in Oakland to see
the first significant use of tin on
| its roof. AS it was, doubtless, Welsh
| tinplate put on in 1880 to keep a
tight roof over the church and has
served for nearly eighty years. The
Shirer Brothers did not put the
tin roof on the church. That job
was done by mechanics working
/ for the B & o railroad company.
They also put a tin roof on the
/ Oakland Hotel which the railroad
company built for summer visitors
| just across the river from the pres
ent railroad station
History reflects a peoples life
and this particular bit properly
starts with Peter Shirer. Grand
father Shirer was a versatile man.
Before the Civil War he was en-
gagged in business at Grantsville
and freighting his wagons over the
old National Road-present U. S.
30. We regret that we cannot ex-
: tend the story of Peter Shirer, but
in his business at Grantsville this
merchant pioneer has left us his
/ old ledger. possessed by his
grandson. and it gives a glimpse
of what business was like then. In
hauling by horse, a trace was a
most important item for it was that
part of the harness fastened to the
collar and running back to the
singletree to haul the wagon. If a
trace broke, it could be replaced
for IS cents and it was real leather.
One time Peter Shirer needed to
hire horse for seven days to get
out lumber. This cost S175, and
later someone wanted some plankS.
They bought 178 lineal feet of plank
for a cent per foot. .$1.78 Now, in
those days, as at present, some
people wanted whiskey. A gallon
cost $751; cents. And, as now, some
charged their liquor and the seller
entered in his ledger a balance on
whiskey account for cents. After
all F.. if they had to have it, they
could be expected to pay the last
cent for it, which was right and
good business. There are numerous
items in this old ledger that reveal
! lilo ~ a
dollar the hard way and what that
dollar would buy.
Perhaps about the time of the
coming of the railroad over Back
bone Mountain, Peter Shirer found
his hauling business growing less,
so he like thousands of others,
went to have look at our West.
He got as far as Missouri, and
maybe, growing tired of so much
flat land came back to his noun
tain homeland. He settled at the
crossroads south of Oakland, inter
section of present U. S. so and U.
S. PIG, and lived in the red house"
1t was a frame house sided with
plank painted red Today, the spot
is known far and wide as Red
house, Maryland. Mr. Shirer kept
a "drover's pasture" at Redhouse.
This was pasturefield fenced to
hold livestock, which at that time
was moved in large herds on foot
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