Back to the Future? The Zittle’s Hundred Years Almanack

Have you ever worried about lice in your cabbage? Does your milk taste like turnips?  Does your canary have asthma? Or maybe you want to stop your cows, or perhaps your horses from kicking.  How about a proven recipe for grape pie, persimmon beer, or Indian corn vinegar? Do you want a sure cure for the croup, an ear ache, a sore throat, freckles, dropsy, bedbugs, or maybe you just want to cure meat.

Look no further than Zittle’s Hundred Years Almanack, 1868 and Ending with 1967, a copy of which was recently acquired by the Historic Shepherdstown Museum.  It offers an insight into the customs, foods, health, and daily life of 19th century rural America.

Printed on what appears to be newspaper stock, the now tattered 64-page booklet was published in 1868 in Shepherdstown by John H. Zittle, who also published the The Shepherdstown Register.

Besides weather predictions for the following 99 years [Did it really snow in Jefferson County on February 18, 1960 as predicted?], it contains “antidotes for poisons, useful hints, practical information and valuable recipes.”

Selling for a mere 50 cents, the Almanack, according to Zittle’s advertisement in The Shepherdstown Register, was “worth $500 to any farmer or family” and the recipes alone were “worth double the price of the book,”

Zittle was born in Maryland in 1832 and moved to Shepherdstown in 1853 when he purchased The Shepherdstown Register newspaper.  He was a member of the local Shepherdstown militia—the Hamtramck Guards – which was one of the first units to arrive in Harper’s Ferry to respond to John Brown’s rebellion in 1859.  Zittle later wrote a book about the event, A Correct History of the John Brown Invasion at Harper’s Ferry, West Va., which was published by his wife in 1905.

After serving as a second lieutenant in Company B, the 2nd Virginia Infantry, known as the Stonewall Brigade, he was back in Shepherdstown by 1863, when he began his first of seven terms on the town council.  He also served three terms as mayor of Shepherdstown.

Except for a break during the Civil War years, Zittle edited and published the paper from 1853 until 1882, when sold the paper and printing press to William Snyder.  Zittle died in 1900 and is buried in Middletown, MD.

The Museum’s 1868 edition is listed as the “First American Edition,” and advertisements for the Almanack appear in The Shepherdstown Register only in 1870. There may not have been subsequent publications after that date.

There is a single advertisement in the Almanack, one for fellow townsman W.M. Entler’s “Sure Cure,” which according to the ad on the back cover, “never fails to cure cholera, cholera morbus, cramp, colic, flux, dysentery, summer complaints, diarrhea, etc., etc.” It cost 35 cents a bottle, with a guarantee: “No cure, No pay.”

[For more about John Zittle, see The Editor and the Spy: Espionage and Poetry in Shepherdstown on the Eve of the Civil War

 

 

 

A New Addition to the Museum’s Collection: The General’s Table

A New Addition to the Museum’s Collection: The General’s Table

The latest addition to the Museum’s collection of early Shepherdstown furniture is a table that was once in the home of Col. John Francis Hamtramck, Jr.

The mahogany drop-leaf dining room table is on loan by Wanda Perry of Charles Town, WV.

Col. Hamtramck was the son of a Revolutionary War General and graduated from West Point. He led Virginia’s volunteers in the Mexican-American War and subsequently served as governor of the Mexican State of Saltillo.  He was elected mayor of Shepherdstown in 1850.

In the fall of 1986, following the death of Elise Selby Billmyer, the owner of the Wyncoop-Morgan- Selby-Hamtramck-Shepherd-Billmyer house on East German Street in Shepherdstown, the home’s contents were sold at public auction. The sale grossed $90,515.00 at a time when the house and lot were appraised at $135,000.00. At the sale, Wanda Perry of Charles Town, WV, purchased this dining room table.

Mrs. Perry recalled that family members often referred to this piece as the “General’s Table,” a reference to Col. Hamtramck, who lived in the German Street home with his wife, Sarah Ellen Selby Hamtramck.   The couple moved into the German Street house in 1855, following the death of Sarah’s father, Walter Bowie Selby.  Colonel Hamtramck was the great-grandfather of Elise Selby Billmyer,

The table, dating to the period 1830-40, has had some alteration over the years, but is in excellent condition. Ms. Perry, whose family has lived in Jefferson County for several generations, loaned the piece to the Historic Shepherdstown Museum so that the table would remain as part of the county’s rich heritage.

For more information on Col. John Francis Hamtramck, visit:  https://historicshepherdstown.com/portfolio-item/john-francis-hamtramck/

A Shepherdstown Murder Mystery

In the middle of an upstairs room in the Historic Shepherdstown Museum is a detailed scale-model steam boat, made of tin and about three feet long.

 The boat was built by Henry Snyder, a Shepherdstown resident who was murdered in 1864, in a violent robbery by masked bandits.  The crime caused a stir in Shepherdstown at the time, and for some years after.  One of the stories in the Shepherdstown Register, shortly after it resumed publication at the end of the Civil War, was a reprint of an article that had appeared in a Baltimore newspaper in November of 1864. The article told of the robbery at the Snyder farmstead and the murder of a young family member, Henry Snyder.

Who was Henry Snyder and who was responsible for his death?  Were they Northern sympathizers or “carpet baggers” as some claimed, or perhaps others closer to home? And why?

Henry Miller Snyder, “a good citizen and esteemed by all who knew him” according to the Shepherdstown Register,  was born in 1836 at the family farm, Rock Springs, located off of Ridge Road, a few miles outside of Shepherdstown.  A loyal Virginian, he enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army in May of 1861, a month after the state joined the Confederacy.  Just two months later, his unit was sent to Manassas, Va., where he was wounded at the First Battle of Bull Run.  Sent home to recuperate, he began work on his model steam boat. Partially painted red, it would never be finished.


Henry Miller Snyder

Still in the Confederate Army, in 1863 he married Mary Virginia Moler.

Whenever his unit was encamped nearby, he would at times sneak away from camp without leave to visit his wife and family.

One such occasion was on November 9th, 1864.  According to the article in the Shepherdstown Register, four men on horseback— three wearing masks and one wearing blackface — approached the Snyder farmstead at about 8:00 PM and  knocked on the door.  The robbers apparently knew the area and likely assumed that the elderly Snyders were alone in the house.  Mrs. Snyder, Henry’s mother, expecting the return of a family member, opened the door and three of the men barged in. Demanding money, they grabbed Mrs. Snyder and blindfolded her. Henry’s father, John Snyder, who had been sitting by the fire, stood up, only to be knocked down by one of the intruders, who then tied him to a chair.  The robbers again demanded money.  Mrs. Snyder agreed and they removed her blindfold.  She went to an upstairs bedroom to retrieve the money, which was kept in a small purse.

Henry, who lived with his wife in another part of the house, heard the noise and rushed to his parents’ aid.  In the scuffle, Henry was shot in the arm and the bullet passed through his abdomen and lodged in his back.

Mrs. Snyder gave the robbers her purse with forty dollars in it. They took the money and then threw the purse on the floor, threatening to shoot the two men’s wives if they didn’t stop their “hallooing.”

Henry Snyder lay bleeding in the front hall of the Rock Spring farmhouse and died some 36 hours later.  A tall-case clock that stood in the room still has a hole where another bullet entered, and it is said that the blood stain on the floor where Henry lay dying is still visible.

After leaving the Snyder Farm, the bandits went to the house of Christian Rhinehart, a few miles away.  They called for him to come out on his porch and demanded money, saying that just as they knew him, he would know them if they took off their masks. They told him that they had already killed one man and would kill Mr. Rhinehart as well if he didn’t hand over his money.  They then hit him with a revolver, knocking him down and taking what money he had in his pockets.

Were the robbers members of a Confederate raiding party, as reported in the Daily National Republican, a Washington, D.C., newspaper a few days later?  According to this article, on the evening of the 9th, Major Harry Gilmor, well known at the time for leading daring raids on Union positions, and his men were on their way to attack Chambersburg, Pa.  Passing through Shepherdstown, they robbed stores and individuals, and murdered a man named Henry Snyder.  Gilmor, in his autobiography, Four Years in the Saddle, admits to being in Shepherdstown at the time, but claims to have gone there to “discover the perpetrators of the fearful robberies, murders, and outrages of all kinds that had been committed in that neighborhood, scarcely a house having been free from such depredations.”

The Snyders apparently knew the identity of the bandits, but never revealed their names “for the sake of their families.” It wasn’t until 1991 that Henry Miller’s niece, Mary Saum, revealed to a select few, who have also remained silent, the names of the murderers. She did add, howeve, that they all died horrible deaths.

In July 1865, the Shepherdstown Register reported that a man named Enoch Thompson was acquitted in the murder of Henry Snyder. No further information was given.  Records of the trial could not be located at the Jefferson County Courthouse, so the full details of the murder may never be known or if the other bandits were ever arrested or even identified.

But the story doesn’t end here.  Even though Enoch Thompson was acquitted in this instance, he apparently went on to live a life of banditry and crime. In 2017 an interesting medallion appeared at an auction in Connecticut. The medallion is inscribed:

“We Honor the Brave
Presented to
Sergt. J.F. Wilt
by the citizens of
Shepherdstown, VA
for killing a
noted highwayman
Enoch Thompson”

The donors of the medallion are “J.W. Grant, & many Friends.”

Sergeant Wilt has yet to be identified; no date or other information was given on the medallion, although it is known that J.W. Grant was treasurer of Shepherdstown in the years after the Civil War. It would seem that Enoch Thompson met his fate shortly after his acquittal.

Who was really responsible for killing Henry Snyder will likely continue to remain a Shepherdstown murder mystery.

Sheetz Family Bible Returns to Shepherdstown

Sheetz Family Bible Returns to Shepherdstown

The Historic Shepherdstown Museum recently received a Bible that belonged to the Sheetz Family.

The donor, Christine Saulsbury, of Desert Center, California, was helping a friend clear out her mother’s bookstore, when she came across a Bible that once belonged to William Miller Sheetz.  Inscribed inside the cover were “Shepherdstown” and the date, May 12, 1842. Knowing that the book would be of historical interest, she researched the Sheetz Family and contacted the Museum.

Although a bit tattered, the Bible contains some family genealogy and a hand-written prayer.  The Bible was originally published in Philadelphia in 1835.

The Sheetz were a prominent family in Shepherdstown and were known throughout the Shenandoah Valley for the production of fine firearms. Several generations of Sheetz produced rifles for almost a century, from the time of the Revolution until the Civil War.

William Miller Sheetz was born in 1810.  He was the son of John Jacob Sheetz and grandson of Philip Sheetz, all gunsmiths in Shepherdstown. He was probably the last of the Sheetz family to make rifles.  There is evidence that his son, William Miller Sheetz, Jr., repaired rifles but not that he made any.

The Sheetz Family dwelling and workshop was located on Lot 1, at the corner of King and German Streets, across from McMurran Hall.  The building is now a restaurant.

William Miller Sheetz married Juliann Barnhardt.  Juliann’s date of birth (May 6th, 1815) is recorded in the Bible, along with notations for two of their nine children:  Mary Elizabeth (October 3rd, 1848) and Emma Kate (January 4, 1855).

William Miller Sheetz died in 1866 and is buried in Shepherdstown’s Elmwood Cemetery.

Several rifles produced by the Sheetz Family, including one made by William Miller Sheetz for Rezin Shepherd, grandson of Shepherdstown’s founder, are on display at the Historic Shepherdstown Museum.

An interesting entry in the Bible is a prayer in which Sheetz writes that he has purchased the Bible “as a remembrance of the most true and holy and merciful God.

William Miller Sheetz died in 1866 and is buried in Shepherdstown’s Elmwood Cemetery.

Several rifles produced by the Sheetz Family, including one made by William Miller Sheetz for Rezin Shepherd, grandson of Shepherdstown’s founder, are on display at the Historic Shepherdstown Museum.

2020 Preservation Award Winners

Historic Preservation Month award winners

May is National Historic Preservation Month and we celebrate by honoring individuals involved in preservation efforts in the Shepherdstown area. Traditionally the awards are presented at our May Speaker Series event. Because of the uncertainty about when restrictions on public gatherings will be lifted, we have cancelled our May event. However, we are delighted to announce our award winners and we plan to present the awards in the fall.

Cheryl Brown, center, at the dedication of the plaque honoring Shepherdstown men who served during the Revolutionary War. With her are Dr. John E. Stealey III, who gave the dedication address, and Cindy Nicewarner, then-historian and now Regent of the Pack Horse Ford Chapter of the DAR.

Our first award, Preservation of Historic Legacies: The Dr. James C. Price Award goes to Cheryl Brown. Cheryl is being honored for two primary reasons. In 2106, as the Regent of the Pack Horse Ford Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, she led the effort to honor the men of Shepherdstown who fought in the American Revolution. On Memorial Day, May 30, 2016, a plaque, located on the side of the War Memorial Building in downtown Shepherdstown, was dedicated to the sacrifice of those men. The dedication was part of the 100th anniversary celebration of the Pack Horse Ford Chapter of the DAR.

In addition, Cheryl did the extensive research over three years that established that New Street United Methodist Church was the actual owner of the Shepherd Family Burial Ground. Using the process of reverse genealogy, she researched the first Shepherd in the area, Thomas Shepherd, his children and grandchildren. Her research of deeds and wills in court houses and libraries in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and what is now West Virginia allowed her to determine that Abraham Shepherd had deeded the cemetery to the “Episcopal

Methodist Church”, which was the name of the church at the time. Once ownership of the cemetery was established, the church voted to transfer the property to the Corporation of Shepherdstown.

Cheryl is a former board member of Historic Shepherdstown Commission. She is currently the Regent for the West Virginia National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She previously served as regent for the Pack Horse Ford DAR chapter in Shepherdstown and she has served as the National Chair for DAR Service for Veterans.

Eleanor Finn, right, receives a check from Lisa Welsh to help restore the Shepherd Cemetery.

Our second award, Outstanding Service to The Historic Shepherdstown Commission, goes to Eleanor Finn. Eleanor has been an outstanding officer, board member, committee chair and member of HSC over the past decade. During this time, she has consistently provided leadership and shown tremendous dedication to a wide variety of key HSC projects and programs. While Eleanor’s contributions to HSC and the community are too numerous to fully detail, we’d like to highlight a few of them.

Eleanor is a former president of HSC and during that time, she exhibited strong management and leadership skills and presided over a prosperous period for the organization. She serves as Museum docent coordinator, recruiting volunteers to serve as docents at the Historic Shepherdstown Museum, coordinating schedules and communications on a weekly basis, and serving as a docent herself.

She spearheaded a major exhibit on the Brothers of Harmony gospel choir and the local African-American Red Sox baseball team. The exhibit was part of Eleanor’s strong effort to reach out to Shepherdstown’s African-American Community and to improve coverage of their important contributions to the history of Shepherdstown. She also presided over HSC’s commitment to improve and maintain the historic Shepherd Cemetery on New Street. She was instrumental in securing three grants for repair of stone walls and wrought iron railings at the cemetery, personally led numerous work parties there, and has also taken responsibility to ensure that the cemetery is well maintained.

Cottage at 207 North Mill Street, Shepherdstown, before restoration work

Our final award, the Preservation of Historic Structures Award, goes to the 1950 cottage located at 207 N. Mill Street in Shepherdstown. The award is given in collaboration with the Shepherdstown Historic Landmarks Commission. In this case, the restoration meets the award criteria for “rehabilitation or making possible compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural guidelines.”
Most of the rehabilitation work was done by owner Jason Rolfe. He indicated on his permit application that he planned “to make the cottage historically appropriate and consistent with maintaining Shepherdstown’s historic appeal.” Using historically appropriate materials (Circa 1950), Jason replaced roof shingles, siding, windows, porch railings, repaired the porch foundation and added a new wood picket fence. The Landmarks Commission indicated that the work displayed excellent craftsmanship, and that the cottage was likely saved from total deterioration.

Restored 1950s cottage on Mill Street. The addition to the right of the house replaces a side porch and crawl space.

On This Day in History: March 10, 1920

On March 10, 1920, West Virginia became the 34th State to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the states from denying women the right to vote. Also known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, it was named after this early pioneer of women’s suffrage.

Two years earlier, President Woodrow Wilson urged passage of the Amendment. It was eventually approved by both houses of Congress and by April 1920, by 33 states. Thirty-six states were needed before it became the law of the land.

In West Virginia, Governor John J. Cornwell called a special session of the state legislature to take up the amendment. After an initial tie in the State Senate (14 to 14) the Amendment finally passed on March 10, 1920, after the vote was delayed to allow State Senator Jesse Block time to return to Charleston from California.

West Virginia became the 34th State to ratify the Amendment.

State Senator, Milton Burr, of Bardane, Jefferson County, voted against the amendment, despite telegrams from President Wilson, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Navy, Serena Dandridge and other residents urging him to vote for the measure. Jefferson County’s Delegate, Milton Osburn Rous, also voted “NO” on the amendment.

Washington State ratified the 19th Amendment later in March, followed by Tennessee in August, thereby giving women the right to vote in the 1920 election.

Wheeling Intelligencer, 8 March 1920, p. 3 (Chronicling America): Senator Jesse Bloch breaks West Virginia Suffrage Tie.

Postponement Announcements

Dear Members of Historic Shepherdstown,

The Board of Directors of Historic Shepherdstown has made the difficult decision to postpone some of our upcoming events because it is important to help prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

The Spring Museum Opening Reception, scheduled for April 3, will be postponed until a later date. You will be notified when we are able to reschedule.

The Museum Opening, scheduled for April 4, will be postponed to a later date. You will be notified when we are able to open. Just as a note, Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day, also scheduled for April 4, has been postponed.

The Speaker Series event scheduled for April 8 is also being postponed. We will work with our featured speaker, Dr. Raymond Smock, and the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education to find a date to reschedule and we will let you know when we are able to do that. We have not yet made a decision regarding our May Speaker Series event.

We are disappointed that we will not be able to see you at these events and thank you personally for your continued support of Historic Shepherdstown. However, your health and wellbeing are also important to us, and we believe that at this time everyone’s safety should take precedence.

Thank you for understanding. As we are able to reschedule, we will keep you informed.

Sincerely,

Donna Bertazzoni

President, Historic Shepherdstown Commission  

2019 Shepherdstown Tour of Historic Churches – Dec. 26th 2-6pm

The popular Shepherdstown Tour of Historic Churches will once again be hosted by Historic Shepherdstown & Museum. Assisted by the Shepherdstown Visitor Center, the event will take place on December 26th from 2-6 pm.

Read more

2019 Holiday Ornament Features Former Jefferson Security Bank Building

Sara Wasson, Director of Marketing and Community Relations for Jefferson Security Bank, holds the 2019 Historic Shepherdstown Christmas ornament. She is standing beside a portrait of W.N. Lemen, who was president of the bank when the JSB building, featured on the ornament, was built.

2019 Holiday Ornament Features Former Jefferson Security Bank Building

The Historic Shepherdstown Commission has selected the former Jefferson Security Bank building, also known as the Yellow Brick Bank, for their 2019 holiday ornament.

This is the fifth year that Historic Shepherdstown has recognized important local landmarks with production of a brass holiday ornament. Jefferson Security Bank, as part of their 150th anniversary celebration, helped underwrite the 2019 ornament’s cost.

The building, located at the corner of Princess and German streets, was designed and built specifically for the bank. Jefferson Savings Bank, as it was known then, was formed by seven prominent local businessmen and opened on May 19, 1869. The bank moved into the building in 1906, and changed its name in 1909. The building remained the bank’s headquarters until 1975, when it moved to its current location at the corner of Princess and Washington streets. In 2015, the bank was officially recognized as the oldest corporation in West Virginia.

Restaurateur Kevin Connell operated the successful Yellow Brick Bank restaurant in the building for more than 30 years. Today it houses a Mexican restaurant and offices.

As part of its 150th anniversary celebration, Jefferson Security Bank partnered with local organizations and bank employees to perform 150 days of random acts of kindness. “The community is the reason we have been here for 150 years,” said Sara Wasson, the bank’s director of marketing and community relations. “We wanted to give back to the community, and we wanted to do something more than just in May.”

For 150 days, beginning in December of 2018, the bank engaged in community projects large and small that benefitted residents of Jefferson and Berkeley counties. They included providing 150 Christmas gifts to organizations that help children who otherwise would not have received them, delivering donuts to local teachers, and helping out a Charles Town resident who had lost his home in a fire.

“Closing out the year with the Christmas ornament is a perfect fit for us,” Wasson said. “It is a historic building and as part of our anniversary, we put together a history book of the bank. The ornament was a way of carrying our anniversary on throughout the year.”

The ornament is now on sale at the Historic Shepherdstown Museum, located in the Entler Hotel building, which is open on Saturdays (11 a.m.-5 p.m.) and Sundays (1 p.m.-4 –p.m.) through October and during Christmas in Shepherdstown. It is also available through the Historic Shepherdstown office (304-876-0910, open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, or [email protected]). The museum is also selling 2015-2018 ornaments, which feature McMurran Hall, the Old Marketplace Building, Rumsey Monument and the Entler Hotel. Closer to Christmas, this year’s ornament will be available at the Jefferson Security Bank office downtown and at the Barron Office on Martinsburg Pike, and other local businesses. 

Speaker Series, 2019 – Ret. Pastor Randall Tremba, Shepherdstown Stories

On Wednesday, October 16, Dr. Randall Tremba will be the final speaker in Historic Shepherdstown’s 2019 Speakers Series. His talk is entitled “Dr. Price, Mrs. Williams and Her Corgi Plus Other Tales and Characters of Shepherdstown.” He will be telling stories selected from his collection gathered over 45 years. In the process, he will provide a picture of the town and the many changes it has seen over nearly half a century.

            The talk will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education on the Shepherd campus. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

            Randall Tremba was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio. He took a bachelor of arts in philosophy at Wheaton College, Illinois (1969), a master’s of divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California (1973), and a doctor of ministry at Princeton Seminary (1992). He was installed as minister of the Shepherdstown (WV) Presbyterian Church in July 1976. Forty-one years later he retired. In between, he married Paula, became a parent (Jonah, Nathanael, Amanda) and a grandfather, founded the Rumsey Radio Hour (1990), and co-founded the Shepherdstown Good News Paper with Ed Zahniser (May 1979).

            Light refreshments will be served after the talk.

            Historic Shepherdstown will announce the speakers for the 2020 Speakers Series early next year. For more information about the October 16 event, contact the Historic Shepherdstown Commission office at [email protected] or 304-876-0910.