History of Western Maryland. J. Thomas Scharf
School. — Mr. Brey, superintendent, 75 in line. East Washington Street, right resting on Martin & Stover's corner.
Second Reformed School. — John Gassman, superintendent, 65 in line. North Potomac Street, right resting on Gassman's corner.
Trinity Lutheran School. — Jacob Roessner, superintendent, 250 in line. North Potomac Street, right resting on J. D. Swartz' corner.
Updegraff's Practical School.— Preceded by a drum-corps, and each scholar wearing upon his breast a shield emblazoned with the " Stars and Stripes."
In all the procession numbered about twelve hundred and fifty scholars and teachers. The line of procession shone brightly with numerous banners and flags, and various expressive devices and mottoes. One of these was a large bell, a representation of Independence Bell, made entirely of natural flowers, which was borne by Children of the German school.
The line of march was from the public square to Antietam, Locust, Franklin, Walnut, Washington Streets to Square, headed by the drum-corps and the Heyser Band, and thence by countermarch to the court-house.
The display of fire-works was the finest, probably, ever witnessed in the town. The illumination and decoration of houses was also very effective, though not so general as might have been desired.
On the 31st of December, 1880, an entertainment was given at the Baldwin House by the gentlemen connected with the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, who had previously been entertained by the citizens at a banquet. The men from the company's shops at Shepherdstown were brought over to decorate the large dining-room of the hotel, and succeeded in making the apartment look very handsome and attractive. The colors used were chosen with a view to represent the signals employed in the running of the trains, and the head-light of a locomotive was also introduced in the decoration with striking effect. Over the entrance were the words " Welcome, 1881," and bunting and evergreens were tastefully draped from the walls, ceiling, and chandeliers. A locomotive was stationed so as to appear to be in the act of approaching, and on its head-light was the monogram " S. V. R. R." On the front of the engine the figures 1880 were so arranged that on the expiration of the old year the figures 1881 would instantly appear. At midnight the engine-bell struck and the whistle sounded, announcing the arrival of the new year, and from the smoke-stack a banner representing smoke, and bearing the inscription "1880," floated out and then disappeared, only to be followed by another bearing the inscription "A Happy New Year." About two hundred persons were present, and between ten and eleven o'clock dancing commenced. A handsome supper was provided, including roast venison, olio, oysters, sweet-breads, turkey, and desserts. Music was furnished by John Ziegler's band from Baltimore, and the dancing continued until a late hour.
CHAPTER XLV. RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
As in Frederick County, the honor of having first introduced the Christian religion into the then wilds of Washington County cannot be definitively accorded to any one denomination, but the probabilities are that the Episcopalians were first on the field as an organized body; for it seems to be very clear that the English settlers from Southern Maryland anticipated the Germans and the Scotch-Irish by some years, and most of the Southern Marylanders belonged to the Established Church, though many of them were Catholics. Besides, the Episcopal Church was established by law, and started out with everything to facilitate its proper organization. Churches of other denominations were founded irregularly and in various localities as circumstances dictated, but the growth of the Episcopal Church was in a logical order of development, and its history may be termed almost identical with that of the county itself. The Lutherans and the German Reformed and Presbyterian denominations also established permanent congregations in many localities at a very early period, while the Methodists, though considerably later on the field, developed rapidly into strong and flourishing communities.
Originally Washington County was part of All Saints' Protestant Episcopal, or, as it was then, Anglican, Parish, which was an offshoot of St. John's, or Piscataway Parish. The latter began at the mouth of the Mattawoman Creek, on the Potomac, and ran up the said creek and the branch thereof to the utmost limits of Charles County, and thence ran with the county line to the line of the province, separating it from Pennsylvania; thence westward with that line to the boundary line separating Maryland and Virginia, and southward with that line to the Potomac River; down that river to the mouth of the Mattawoman, its beginning. In 1695 Prince George's County was created, embracing all the territory north of the Mattawoman Creek and the main branch of Swanston's Creek; or, in other words, all between the Potomac and the Patuxent Rivers. St. John's accordingly fell into Prince George's County. ,In 1696 the Rev. George Tubman was rector. He was presented in 1698 for bigamy and " sotting," and was suspended. Abraham Ford was made lay reader in his place, but in 1700, Mr. Tubman was reinstated in the ministry, and in 1702 again became rector of the parish, and died soon afterwards. He was succeeded by the Rev. Robert Owen, who did not continue long in charge. In 1704, Hickford Leman was employed as lay reader. Mr. Owen, however, officiated in the church every other Saturday during part of the year. These services were continued some four years, if not longer. In October, 1708, it was ordered that a new church be built. On the 23rd of June, 1710, the Rev. John Eraser presented his appointment as rector. In 1726 a new parish. Prince George's, was erected out of St. John's Parish. It was eighty miles in length and twenty in breadth. Mr. Eraser died in November, 1742. Prince George's Parish embraced all the territory included in the then Prince George's County west of the Eastern Branch and East Fork of the Eastern Branch of the Potomac, Washington City, Georgetown, and the rest of the District of Columbia, Montgomery County, part of, Carroll, and all of Frederick, Washington, and Allegany Counties. It was a frontier parish, and at the time of its formation had not more than two thousand four hundred inhabitants. The first rector (1726) was the Rev. George Murdoch, afterwards rector of All Saints', Frederick, which was created in 1742. The latter parish embraced all the territory north of Great Seneca Run River, and west of a line drawn from its head in the same direction to the head of one of the draughts of the Patuxent, comprising part of Carroll and Montgomery and all of Frederick, Washington, and Allegany Counties. At this time Washington County constituted part of All Saints' Parish, and was known as Antietam Hundred, or District of Frederick County. A chapel of ease was built in this district soon after that date, but in 1761 it was represented in a petition to the General Assembly that it was decayed, and built on so narrow and contracted a plan as not to be capable of holding one-third of the congregation willing and desirous to attend divine service there, and could not be enlarged with profit or convenience, so that it was absolutely necessary to rebuild it upon a better plan and with more durable materials. It is supposed that this was done, though without any legislative aid so far as can be ascertained. This was a frame building, situated about five and a half miles west of Hagerstown, and about a mile from the present site of St. James' College. A graveyard still remains there. At a comparatively recent period the structure was transformed into a dwelling, and the late Rev. Ethan Allen narrates that the " elder Dr. Dorsey" (probably Dr. Frederick Dorsey, Sr.) told him that he remembered the old chapel well.
In 1770, by an act of Assembly of that year, the Antietam District of Frederick County was created a separate parish, to become such on the removal of the then rector. Rev. Bennett Allen. The latter resided in Hagerstown, opposite the old chapel, and a curate officiated for him in the parish church at Frederick Town. Another curate had charge of St. Peters' Church, in the Monocacy District. In the fall of 1776 the new county of Washington was created by act of the Provincial Convention, and the legal provision for the maintenance of the clergy was abolished. Thereupon Mr. Allen relinquished the rectorship and returned to England. In accordance with the law of 1770, Antietam District now became Frederick Parish, and in 1806 the Diocesan Convention changed the name to St. John's Parish, embracing the whole of Washington County, except the portion comprised in St. Mark's Parish. In 1819 a number of Episcopalians residing at Sharpsburg petitioned the Diocesan Convention for leave to establish a separate congregation at that place. This leave was granted and the new parish created. Similar petitions were presented from St. Thomas' Church, Hancock, in 1835, and from St. Andrew's, Clear Spring, in 1839, and in both instances parishes were allowed to be formed. Two years later the Episcopal College of St. James was founded, the site being the old mansion of Gen. Samuel Ringgold. Congregations were also