Fort
Henry
The
History of Emmitsburg East of Flat Run
&
the Families Who Called It Home
Michael
Hillman
Introduction
Contrary
to local folklore, Emmitsburg was never home to a
revolutionary era fort called ‘Fort Henry’, but in
many ways, the history of the land that bore the name
‘Fort Henry’ is much richer than folklore had ever
attributed to the imaginary ‘fort’.
The
first history written of Emmitsburg, published in 1880
in the
Emmitsburg Chronicle, focused almost exclusively
on Samuel Emmit and his decedents, ignoring the roles
and history of the vast majority of individuals and
families who also called the Emmitsburg area home.
Unfortunately, this error of omission has been carried
forward into every subsequent history of Emmitsburg.
This
article is the second in a series of articles designed
to correct that omission. It focuses on the history of
the land called ‘Fort Henry’, upon which today now
sits everything within the town limits east of and north
of Flat Run Creek, including the communities of Silo
Hill and Emmit Gardens, and the towns newest neighbor,
the Sleep
Inn & Suites
Lets
start at the beginning . . .
The
First Settlers
Some
years before the founding of Emmitsburg, in one of the
ironies one can only appreciate through the hindsight
history provides us, two religious sect, Catholics and
Presbyterians, settled in close nit communities in the
area. Back in their old countries, the two groups were
engaged in bitter persecution and blood shed. But in
this valley, the two groups, each brought to the area
for their own reasons, lived in peace and harmony,
having found common cause in the daily battle to survive
on this then remote edge of the frontier.
The
Catholics, who settled to the south of present day
Emmitsburg, settled in the area in hopes of escaping the
religious persecution practiced against them elsewhere
in the then predominately protestant English colonies.
The
Presbyterians, who settled on land which now comprises
present day Emmitsburg, everything north of it, and east
of it over to present day Four Points Road, chose this
area because of the richness of the soil and the year
round supply of water provided by the convergence of the
areas three main streams: Tom’s Creek, Flat Run, and
Middle Creek.
By most
accounts, Robert and Elizabeth Wilson were the family to
settle in the Flat Run area of eastern Emmitsburg.
Sometime prior to 1733, they emigrated to the area,
choosing for their homestead, land that lay in a gently
slopping valley on both sides of Flat Run. The soil was
rich from years of seasonal flooding, and with Flat Run
providing a reliable source of clean fresh water year
round, the Wilson’s had all any frontier family could
ever hope for. Being alone in the woods, the Wilson’s
never felt the need to acquire a deed for their land,
which they called ‘Wilson’s Fancy.’ Things began
to change however in 1742, when the neighborhood began
to get ‘crowded’. In 1751, several years after
Roberts death, his wife, Elizabeth, sold ‘Wilson’s
Fancy’ to William Porter.
1742
marked the arrival of John Douthet to the Flat Run area
of Emmitsburg. Unfortunately, we know little about John
other then he settled just north of Robert Wilson on 50
acres of land he called ‘Douthet’s Chance.’ Eight
years later, in 1750, John sold his land to Alexander
Mckeen and moved onto parts unknown. Alexander Mckeen is
best remembered for donating the land upon which the
first Presbyterian church in the Emmitsburg area was
built.
‘Carrollsburg,’
a massive track of land originally granted to Charles
Carroll on September 2, 1732, lay to the south and west
of the William’s homestead, and remained undivided
until 1757, when Charles Carroll sold 2,250 acres to
Samuel Emmit. Samuel established his homestead around
the forks of Toms Creek, Middle Creek and Flat Run, two
miles south east of present day Emmitsburg. Almost
immediate he began to sell off parts of his holdings,
including 106 acres upon which now lies the western half
of Emmitsburg, referred to as ‘Shield Addition’, to
William Shields, who made his living as a surveyor.
[It
would not be until May 1786, that the first reference to
a town appears in a deed for 55 acres from Samuel Emmit
to his son William, "to extend the limits of the
new town, now Emmitsburg."]
The Williams Family and the Birth of Fort Henry
In 1753, the parents of
Jane [William] Shields joined
the growing community of what was then called Tom’s
Creek Hundred. Like countless other settlers, the
Williams moved west in hopes of finding good, yet
inexpensive land; land they would never have been able
to afford back in home countries. Undoubtedly drawn to
the area to join their daughter, William Shields, their
son-in-law and noted surveyor, helped them acquire one
of the finer farms then in existence: Wilson’s Fancy,
the former homestead of the Wilsons, which they renamed
‘Wilson’s Round About.’
In addition to their daughter Jane, John and Mary had
seven other children: Thomas, Mary, Margaret, Martha,
Eleanor, Ester, and Henry. Upon his death in 1756, John
Williams deeded his land, which included Wilson’s
Fancy, and Porter’s 1st and 2ND
Additions, to his three youngest Children: Eleanor,
Ester, and Henry. While we know little about John and
Mary Williams, and their older children, we do know much
about their youngest child, Henry.
With the onset of the Revolutionary war, Henry, then
33, was elected second lieutenant of the Game Cock
Company, one of the two companies raised in immediate
area, both of which belonged to a regiment which was
commonly referred to as "The Flying Camp
Battalion." Henry’s company was commanded by his
neighbor, Capt. William Blair's. Henry’s
brother-in-law, William Shields, command the second
company.
When Capt. Blair fell mortally wounded at the battle
of Brooklyn Heights, Henry assumed command of the
"Game Cock" company. First Lieut. George
Hockersmith, Blair’s rightful replacement, yielding
the rank of Captain to Henry on account of his great
popularity with the noncommissioned officers and
privates of the company.
Under Henry’s command, the company participated in
many hard-fought battles. Henry was always in the thickest of the fray, and because
of his courage, drew the attention of George Washington
and the admiration of Gen. Lafayette, to whom he
reported during the final assault on the siege of
Yorktown.
When the war was over, Henry returned to his farm,
where he married his first wife _____ McDonald, who died
shortly after their marriage. In ____ Henry married Jane
Witherow Cooper, widow of Robert Cooper. Jane, born in
1779, was the daughter of John and Margaret Barbour Witherow. With Henry, Jane had two son’s, Washington,
who died in infancy, and John.
While for the most part, Henry quietly pursued the
life of a farmer, he nevertheless took an active part in
the politics of the nation he fought to found. In 1812,
believing that DeWitt Clinton was a more energetic
statesman and better suited to carry on the war then waging
against Great Britain with more spirit and
success than President Madison, and holding to the
one-term principle for the Presidency, Henry ran for,
and was elected as a Presidential elector in the
district composed of Frederick, Washington, and
Allegheny Counties.
Henry also keep a close eye of the health of the
local economy. He realized the that the areas many
rivers and streams, while a necessity to the farming
community, were nevertheless a major obstacle to the
transposition of the goods produced by the farms to
potential markets along the cost. In order to address
this issue, Henry help organize a lottery to raise funds
for bridge over the Monocacy, the remains of which can
still be see just to the immediate south of the present
day Rt. 140 bridge over the Monocacy. In addition to Henry also frequently served as county
magistrate, and at the time of his death, in 1821, was
the local justice of the peace.
Over his years, Henry Williams reassembled his father’s
original holdings and added to them. In 1769, Henry
bought his sisters Ester’s portion of the inheritance.
In 1769 Henry traded 25 acres on the eastern most side
of his farm - the bottom half of the 37-acre lot he
bought from his sister - with Samuel Emmit in exchange
for 20 acres on the Western side of his farm, on the
western side of the bend in Flat Run. In doing so, he
connected his holdings on the west and south of Flat
Run.
In 1788 Eleanor Williams, who had married a John
Friend and moved to Brafort County, Pa., sold her
portion of the inheritance to Henry. In 1792 Henry
bought 26 acres south and west of Flat Run from Jermiah
Emmit. In 1808, Henry completed his land acquisitions
with the purchase of 136 acres from Benjamin Mckeen. In
1812, Henry was a granted a re-survey of most of his
holdings in order to bring them all under one deed - the
combined property, 298 acres in all, was named ‘Fort
Henry.’
In 1820, Henry died in his home on his beloved Fort
Henry. Following his death, Jane continued the
operations of the farm.
In 1825 Sara, Jane’s sister died. Six years later
Sara’s husband, Alexander died, leaving a large family
dependent upon the good will of their extended families,
the children of Sara, went to live on the great ‘Fort
Henry’ estate of their aunt Jane. The fondness Jane
Williams had for her sister’s youngest son, Alexander,
was demonstrated by her decision to follow a long held
farming tradition which called for the youngest son in a
family to inherit ownership of the farm.
The logic of this tradition stems from the fact that
when a husband lost his wife, usually in childbirth, he
would remarry, and more often then not, have a second
family with the new wife. As a result, it was not
untypical for the age gap between the old and youngest
child to exceed 30 years. By the time the last child was
ready to make their own way in the world, the older ones
had long since established their own farms or business,
leaving the youngest in the enviable option of staying
on the home farm and carrying on.
John Williams, Jane’s only son, saw little interest
in taking after his father in farming Fort Henry.
Instead he persuaded his own interest, eventually rising
to prominence in his own right to become the editor of
the Frederick Examiner, and later president of the
Frederick County National Bank. So in 1853, a year
before her death, Jane sold Fort Henry to her nephew,
Alexander L. Horner 3rd, for $7,000.
Upon her death, Jane was buried next to her husband Henry and
their 4-month-old son, Washington in Tom’s Creek Presbyterian church
cemetery. The final resting spot of the Williams
is one of the prettiest in a cemetery that is the itself
the prettiest in the area. A well maintained
wrought iron fence surrounds the grave site, and an old
growth cedar proved shade in the summer, and protection
from the biting winds of winter. Standing next to
the grave, one can look down the gentle slope towards
the distant town of Emmitsburg, over land which one day
the Williams called home.
Go to Part 2:
The Horner
and O’Donoghue Families
Part 2:
The Horner
and O’Donoghue Families
Part 3: The
Annan & Baumgardner Families
Part 4:
The
Nesters, Brookside Dairy, Epilogue
Appendix: List of Deeds for Fort Henry and
surrounding properties
Read
other stories by Michael Hillman
In preparing
this article, we first conducted extensive land research
to ascertain the trail of ownership for Fort
Henry. Once ownership was confirmed, we
sought
the stories of the former landholder from
their
decedents all over the country via the internet.
We also drew heavily when possible from family histories complied in the autobiographical
William's
History of Frederick County, as
well as oral interviews of present day senior citizens.
Like
all our stories, we consider this story 'work in
progress,' so if you have anything to add to it, or
have other stories about families that once called Emmitsburg
home, please send them to us at History@emmitsburg.net
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