Evening Star Newspaper, February 14, 1932, Page 79

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brought to the house and treated for weeks with a broken leg. A newcomer in father’s family was named ‘Bryan' after that officer, and forever after the two families were stanch felends. During these anxious years many boys-in-blue sought and obtained assistance in various ways at Hopeton. “While President Lincoln occupied the Riggs oottage at the Soldiers’ Home he drove from the White House out Fourteenth street, eross- ing a large ‘common’ that stretches to Seventh street. Mr. Lincoln was often attended by Cavalry, and many times had with him hs son Tad. From an adjoining place twe of my father's children would stand om the lawn and watch for the President. Our lifted caps and bows from the girls were always noticed by the President. who raised his ‘stove-pipe’ in recognition.” Mr. Stickney’s children, the majority of whom were born at Hopeton, were Frank Lewis, Mary Kinsford, who married A. Mellin Rice, now deceased: Bryan Harding, Kate Alethea, Julia Hall, married Henry Park Cochrane, both being retired missionaries from Burma; Mabel, who married Prof. Louis D. Bliss, and Rosa- mond Knowles Stickney. HE Whitney Avenue Union Mission, as the present church on Park road, east of Georgia avenue, was once called, was feunded and promoted in the early days by the Smiths, the Stickneys, the Prescotts and Gatleys (later comers, who lived to the south), the Tingles, Btuart J. Gass, on whose land the chapel was built, and by others. The Lewis-Stickney home, about 1887, be- eame the property of two members of Congress, and here George Field resided from 1689 em. R was this gentleman and his brother Thomas who assisted in developing the American beauty pose, brought to this country as La Madame Percinand Jamin. a French rose which had been transplanted to Germany and for a con- siderable time had been cultivated there, It languished in Germany, so the story gees, and 8 prominent rose grower in Hamburg gave the Iast specimen of its kind to the historian and diplomat., George Bancroft. Bancroft's gar- dener, John Brady. tried his hand at developing & and succeeded in interesting the Field brothers, whose green houses occupied a part of the site of the Interior Department Building. PDuring President Grant's administration @George Pield was in ctarge of the White Hous= green houses. . Adjoining Hopeton on the north was the resi- dence of Mr. Lewis' oldest son, Joseph Knowles Lewis, and a portion of his. property he later sold to Charles E. Ebel the butcher, whose home is still standing At the southeast corner of Rock Creek Church poad and Georgia avenue was the truck garden of John and Edmund Cammack, their place extending along Rock Creek Church read to the Soldiers’ Home property. John Cammack. ®0 the writer understands. was married twice, amd the second Mrs. Cammack and a son survive. He died June 16, 1908, and was buried from the Church of tre Sacred Heart. He was an active member of the Association of Oldest Inhabitants and his pallbearers included Dr. Benjamin Summy, T. Edward Clark and Lieut. Johnson from the association, and Rebert D. Weaver, William M. Weaver, Henry E. Weaver, Charles B. Edmonston, William E. Edmonston, lU}.th Edmonston. Arthur J. May and Leo C y. Worth of Rock Creek Church road on the east side of Georgia avenue, the writer finds re- eorded the following owners and residents prior to and during the Civil War. First, the Tayloe farm, now the large subdivision of Petworth; then the Marshall Brown property, listed as belonging to T. Mosher; A. White, mow Brightwood Park, and then Emery place, the beautiful estate of the last mayor of Wash- ington, Matthew G. Emery, bounded en the north by Concord avenue, which at this point was originally a part of Rock Creek Pord road, ister called Magnolia avenue, and still later Shepherd road. The question is what # will be called next. wear. Just to the north of Concord avenue was the R. Butt, and then came the residence . M. Morrison, which stood back from the . P. Causin’s home was a little farther the road from the Reeves farm, $o the back was the property of Mrs. 8. A, es. Then came S. Reeve's place, D. Col- , A. P. C. Shoemaker, father of the late P. Shoemaker, and the estate of C. G. Gerammer, which bordered the Piney Branch to the rear of the Colclazer property. settlement known as Oak Grove was to of Mr. Shoemaker’s place, and here post office of that name, nearby which . G. Dudiey, and this was the last home east side of the road before reaching trict line. the west side of Georgia avenue during ior to the Civil War, beginning at Florida ue, was first a stopping place for farmers— on the corner. The next was the resi- of J. Holmead, which was probably at a date the Purner home. Wineberger’s was of Rock Creek Church road. 4 1} new home which occupies the site. Speak- of this unique old residence in his story of Octagon Houses of Washington for the THE SUNDAY S‘TAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, FEBRUARY 14, 1932 Emory M. E. Church South, completed > 7 1870, removed 1922, near site of the original church, built in 1832. Columbia Historical Society, Frank J. Metcalf SAYS: “Mr. Summy put up, in 1853, a small house on the site where the octagon house was later built, and lived in it until 1855, when it was burmmed. He then moved into a house across the street on the Petworth farm, and proceeded to rebuild. This was at a time when eight- sided houses were a popular form of archi- tecture. There was one such house in Vir- ginia, not far from Fort Myer, and as its ar- rangements suited Mr. Summy he adopted that style for his new home. “This new building was the first concrete house in Washington. Its sides were each 16 feet long and the walls 15 inches thick for the first story, and about a foot for the second. Boards were set up at the proper distance apart and the space filled in with concrete, consisting of lime, sand and broken stone. When this laver had sufficiently set the boards were raised and another layer put in place. The chimneys of this house are three in num- ber, and the middle one is a little to one side of the center. There is one near the front and one at the back 11 COON after the colony had settled the ever- essential question of a school arose, and this being before the days of the public school, Mr. Summy built a small room near the road, and those whose children were to be benefitted Ainited in the support of a teacher. This ar- rangement continued only for a short period. then the school house was moved up to the back of the octagon, and became the kitchen of the house. The portion between the square room and the slanting side of the main build- ing was roofed, and the post which supported one side of the piazza is now within this tri- angular room. There is a piazza entirely around the house, and above the roof is an octagonal cupola, with windows on the four sides facing the points of the compass and mock windows on the four other sides. “After Mr. Summy moved from the house it was purchased and occupied by Henry Con- radis, & native of Germany, but a resident of the District of Columbia for over 50 years, or from 1850 till his death in 1901. He was a prominent contractor, and superintended the construction of the original buildings of Ken- dall Green. He was a member of Stansbury Lodge of Masons at Brightwood and & mem- ber of the Grand Army of the Republic. Sev- eral of his children are still residents of the city, among whom may be mentioned William Conradis, & plumber, and Mrs. Louis Hartig. “The house is now owned and occupied by William Miller, who has for more than 40 years lived either in or near this house. His wife is a daughter of William Heine, who lived on the estate joining it on the north for over 50 years. Mr. Heine bought out Mr. Little, one of the original colonists, who returned to Buf- falo about 1868." Among the names of these early settlers men- tioned by Mr. Metcalf are: Benjamin Summy, William C. Avery, William Little, E. C. Hub- bard, Mr. Long. William Horner, J. P. Dickin- son, J. M. Taylor and Daniel Strickler, OTHING is more fascinating than geneal- ogy. Here we have William C. Avery, com- ing from a part of New York not far from the cradle of the Averys and Rockefellers. John D. Rockefeller's father was William Avery Rockefeller, son of Godfrey Rockefeller, who married Lucy Avery. Just what became of the William C. Avery, who settled in the District of Columbia at this time, the writer does not know. Indeed, he may have returned to New York. At least it is quite probable that there is some oconnection between this pioneer and the venerable oil baron. The Heine home still stands on the south side of Shepherd street, a little east of Georgia avenue. The property now occupied by the new Busi- ness School and other school buildings was the Alfred Ray tract. and later the farm . butcher. Mr. Ray moved to He was a son of the original Enos Ray. Then came the farm and nurseries of John Saul, purchased by him in May, 1854, from Richard Wallach. The property contained in all 80 acres, and was known as Maple Grove Farm. To the east of this was a tract recorded in the name of the W. Osborn heirs, which ex- tended to Piney Branch road. The car barn is on this farm, and not far off, in the ravine to the southeast, was the Osborn home. Mr. Saul had another farm of 35 acres at Bright- wood, called Girl's Portion, purchased from John H. McChesney in 1872, and later in- creased to 40 acres. Capt. James White’'s farm. originally con- sisting of 600 acres, came next, and the old home still stands at the corner of Longfellow th streets. James White, as has , “was well known as a gentleman of school, who was a great lover of sports and patron of the chase, good horses, good wine and the old-time pastime of watch- i contest for the championship White spring, "Enfant map, was on this farm. The Piney Branch Hotel at the old Brightwood Trotting Park, east side of Colorado avenue, south of Kennedy street. O the west of the White property, and west of Piney Branch road, lived B. Jost, Rev, Dr. Finkel, W. King and a Mr. Stewart, and nearby was also the Piney Branch race track, A. Shoemaker lived on the northwest corner of Georgia avenue and Milkhouse Ford road and to the west of this house was the home of L. Brunett. Later the first Brightwood public school was on the Military road west of G'eorm avenue. North of Shoemaker’s was the old Emory Chapel, which stood just a few yards to the south of the present Emory M. E. Church South. It was at first a modest log and frame building and was called a meeting house—a popular name for a house of worship in the early days—for this church had its beginning just 100 years ago, whe&lin 1832, A G. Pierce deeded to the church f an acrz of ground “for the purpose of a school room and a church for the convenience of the neighborhood.” Later, December 17, 1850, this land was cone veyed to Enos Ray, Levi M. Osborn, Charles Davis, George T. McGlue, Alfred Ray, Henry Hoyle and Thomas N. Wilson, as trustees. The original building was a two-story affafr, located where is now the Brightwood Junior High School, the first story being a semi-base= ment built of logs. and it was here that school was conducted for several years by John Pickett. * The second story of the building, where worship was held, was of frame, entered from the outside, and a gallery was here pro=- vided for colored worshipers. It was named “Emory” for John Emory, who was born in Queen Anne County, Md., iu 1789, of wealthy and influential parents, and who was made a bishop in 1832. Among those who were organizers of the church, we are told, were “Levi M. Osborn, class leader: Enos Ray, William B. Beall, Alfred Ray, Anthony L. Ray, Hamilton Cashell, Octavius Cashell, Pranklin Jones, Christopher Brashears, William Osbourn, John Thomas, Henry Hoyle, James and Thomas Lundon and R. S. Jones, and, of course, the faithful wives of these men played a large part in the organization.” In 1846, the record shows: “ * * * it was considered advisable and proper that the con- cerns of the church and school should be separate and distinct, and each be managed by separate boards of trustees, independent of each other. The trustees of the school elected by the church assembled were: Enos Ray, chairman: Levi M. Osborn, Enoch Moreland, Thomas Brown and Henry Ould.” From time to time additional purchases of land were made, and in 1856 a red brick build- ing was erected on the present site of the church, which we are told was “a very neat and commodious building, splendidly equipped and furnished for its day. Emory had at this time 59 white and 13 colored members. It should be said here that Hamilton Cashell, one of the original members of Emory, was a man gifted in music. He conducted a large singing class in the log-frame and brick churches, also had charge of the music at the preaching serv- ices, using the old-time tuning fork.” THROUGH the necessities of the Civil War, the brick church was torn down when it was decided to erect Fort Stevens, and the old log-frame building was “used to incarcerate unruly soldiers, and some of the bricks from the church were used in building the fort.” After the war, we are told, “Samuel Griffith . preached at Emory, and, in 1867, William H. D. Harper came as the preacher on the circuit. Mr. Harper was a great preacher and well liked, and, in about a year after his arrival on the work, Emory planned to build a stone chapel, elegant in style. The Building Come mittee members were: Alexander R. Shepherd, Governor of the District of Columbia; Enoé Ray, John McChesney, M. G. Emery, Alfred Ray, J. W. Barker and Archibald White. The stone chapel was built by Charles Vance and was completed in 1870. The corner stone of the present beautiful building was laid in June, 1922, and it was dedicated October 12, 1924. It cost around $100,000, and the Building Committee included Charles W. Ray, chairman; W. L. F. King, Albert S. Gatley, J. Edward Fowler and J. Enos Ray. Por many years Prof. Joseph R. Keene was superintendent of the Sunday school, and was succeeded by Benjamin C. King and later Alfred G. Osborn, umtil his death in 1907. The present pastor is Rev. Harry v. Wheeler. West of Emory Church, around 70 years ago, was the McChesney farm, and north of the church was the toll gate; then came the prop- erty of W. B. Bell, J. Selden, T. Carbery, D. Clagett heirs, and. at the District line, the estate of F. P. Blair. The Milk Pail Full TK! malignant spread of economic depression when human foresight is lacking or human selfishness prevails is well demonstrated by & development of the past year or two in the dairy industry. The precipitate drop in grain prices made grain farming unprofitable for the small farmer who could buy grain at prices so low that he found little advantage in putting in the labor involved in raising his own. He found the less trying and exhausting activities of his dairy more profitable and instead of continuing the growing practice of culling out cows of low productivity, maintained his herds on an even more extensive scale, thus increasing the total milk production. In the meantime, the grain farmer, with lit- the money to spend because of his low income, was unable to buy manufactured goods and in- dustrial workers suffered a loss of income as a result. The industrial worker, in turn, was forced to buy less milk so that as a result the dairy farmer, until now probably the most prosperous husbandman, is threatened with s surplus which may bring about a serious drop in prices paid for dairy products. The Department of Agriculture is stressing the wisdom of eulling &l unprofitable cows from the daibry herds and calling upon the fairymen to watch market eonditions closely to avoid disastrous surpluses. It is human nature, perhaps, to expect some one else to do the reducing, but if such an attitude is general among dairy farmers the Nation’s milk pafl may run over. .

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