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Archiver > MDALLEGA > 2006-02 > 1139324478


From: "Jill Craig" <>
Subject: Allegany County Directory 1895 available online
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2006 10:01:18 -0500




Western Maryland Public Libraries announces that the Allegany
County directory for 1895 is now online. It is available at
http://www.whilbr.org/alleganydirectory/index.aspx.



City of Cumberland and Allegany County Directory, 1895-96 lists
the names, occupations and residences of heads of households in Allegany
County, Maryland in 1895, and the companies doing business in the
region. There are separate entries for Cumberland City, Barton,
Frostburg, Lonaconing, Mt. Savage and Westernport. There is a general
listing for Ocean, Orleans, Oldtown, Eckhart Mines, Flintstone, Pratt
and other small towns, which also includes those who resided outside the
town limits.


Many of the occupations that employed men in 1895 are not common
today. Included in this list are telegrapher, rigger, tinner and tanner,
basket maker, slater (possibly roofer), lime manufacturer, iron founder,
elevator boy, paper finisher, boat inspector (on the Canal), peddler,
huckster (another name for peddler), wallpaper renovator, gas producer,
wood peeler (for the Piedmont Pulp and Paper Co. and W Va Paper Co) and
wood turner. There were doublers who might have operated a machine used
to twist together strands of cotton or wool fiber. There were also
singlers who may have also been involved in rope or carpet making.
Coopers made wooden barrels and casks. Some of the more interesting
occupations listed were leader of the Cornet Band, bird fancier,
canvasser of novelties, equestrienne, singleboy and a crier at the
circuit court.

Women with occupations are included too - dressmakers,
millinery, boarding houses. For example, in Cumberland Katie Millman is
listed as a florist; Mrs. Hildebrandt a grocer; Mary Hammersmith had a
saloon on 12 Queen City Pavement; and Miss Mary Hilleary and Miss Mercy
May ran schools. Miss Ida C Mathis was superintendent of the Western
Maryland Hospital. In smaller towns women had additional roles - Mrs.
Sarah Craig was a confectioner in Lonaconing; Johanna Hauser, a grocer
in Frostburg; Mrs. Henry Schramm ran a general store; and Carrie
Creutzburg was a milliner and dressmaker in Barton. Mrs. Frank Wolfe
sold stoves and tinware in Frostburg. Mrs. E. Thompson was a music
teacher in Mt. Savage and Jennie Loar in Ocean; Mary Nugent the
Postmistress in Westernport; and Isabella Baltan ran the saloon at
Eckhart Mines. Annie Oder was a compositor, while her father Benson Oder
was the proprietor of the Frostburg Mining Journal.



Widows appear in the directories, together with the name of
their former husbands, as in Welsh Bridget wid James of Cumberland and
Kooken Sallie wid Joseph of Westernport. Unmarried women also are
listed, even without a profession. So Weiskettel Miss Belle, cashier, 67
Decatur is listed with her profession, but Weiskettel Miss Minnie, 67
Decatur is listed too.

Two interesting entries in the directory are those of Benton
Alexandria, miner, Water in Frostburg and Cronley Florence, miner, Mt
Savage. In the 1890s Florence was a fairly common name for men, and
while Alexandria was less common, the 1900 Maryland census lists 14
heads of household with a first name of Alexandria, and all but two were
men. It is very unlikely that there were women working in the mines in
some capacity in Frostburg and Mt. Savage in1895.

The text designates "Colored Persons". There are many
African-American miners listed in Frostburg. African-American barbers,
blacksmiths, grocers, saloon owners are among the Cumberland business
owners. Ellen Johnson, an African-American woman, owned a grocery store
on 16 Ann and Helen Harvey, laundress, 183 Madison. May Hoye Public
School on Independence in Cumberland and a Public School in Westernport
were denoted for African-American students. Cumberland also has a number
of churches marked as African-American, and there were African-American
secret societies, like the Star of the West Lodge No 26, [colored] A F
and A M.



Saloons were by far the most common business in Cumberland, at
least in this 1895 directory. Seventy-nine were listed. Retail grocers
were numerous too. There were 27 lawyers. The large number of insurance
companies for fire indicates the dangers of flammable structures and
industries like the glass factories and iron furnaces. There were also
specialty insurance firms for steam boilers and plate glass.



The website also includes photographs of businesses mentioned in
the text. They are from the Herman and Stacia Miller Collection and are
used with permission of the Mayor and City Council of Cumberland.



Western Maryland Public Libraries is grateful for the loan of
the 1895 directory from the Allegany College of Maryland. The text is
available at their Cumberland campus library.



Whilbr, the online history site produced by Western Maryland
Public Libraries, documents the historical photographs and manuscripts
found in the libraries and historical societies of Washington, Allegany
and Garrett counties. www.whilbr.org <http://www.whilbr.org/>;


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