#52 Ancestors 2021 Week 19 Mother's Day: How I Became the Mother of Twins

 I am the mother of twins, my handsome sons, Matthew and James. 

When Bob and I married in September 1971, I was just starting my first full-time job, teaching at Anne Arundel Community College.  So we decided to postpone our honeymoon until after the school year ended.  We had some contacts in Europe, Christine, a former au-pere in France and Sandra, a friend working for the State Department and living in Germany, so we decided we would splurge and spend a month in Europe.  

As soon as I had finished grading final exams in May, we packed up our Eurail passes and headed across the Atlantic.  First stop, Paris, where we met up with Sandra, who came from Germany to meet us.  While we were in France, we attended a wedding in Christine's family at a lovely church out in the countryside.  We also visited some of the major sites like Versailles, Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. Here I am with Sandy at the Eiffel Tower.  We spent a lot of time looking at prints in some of the small shops near the Louvre and eventually bought a couple, even though they seemed wildly expensive at the time, given our small budget.  

After France, we took the train to Bad Aibling, a lovely town south of Munich where Sandra lived. In Germany, of course we spent some time at beer fests and toured some of the countryside.  However, about this time, I started feeling unwell, throwing up all the time. This put somewhat of a damper on our travel plans. I managed a train trip to Florence, but when Bob and Sandy took the train to Rome, I stayed behind.  I didn't make it to Rome until 40 years later, but that is another story. 

Neuschwanstein

My memories of this trip include throwing up in some very nice restaurants and fainting dead away at Neuschwanstein castle. I think it was the fainting incident that finally decided me that I should see a doctor.  The doctor spoke little English and I spoke little German, but he managed to convey to me that I was pregnant.  I was stunned.  Now, you may wonder why I didn't draw the obvious conclusion much sooner.  What can I say?  I had a sheltered childhood, attended Catholic schools and studied to be a nun during my teenage years.  Sex education was not high on the agenda of the good sisters. 

In any case, we saw a little more of Germany and stopped in England on our way back to the States, and carried on with getting ready for a new baby.

Everything went well until about October or November when my obstetrician said I was gaining too much weight.  You might not remember, but at the time, obstetricians were all over watching that you didn't put on too much weight.  I was starving.  I mean I cried at night I was so hungry.  And poor Bob would do his best to remind me that I was not supposed to gain so much weight.  I have to say I didn't take his reminders very well. 

Finally, around Thanksgiving, the obstetrician detected two heartbeats and informed me that I was going to have twins.  Remember that sonograms were not a routine thing at the time, so you just had to depend on physical observation.  Well, to my relief, he then said that since it was twins, I could eat as much as I wanted.  By December when the semester was over, I was too big to fit behind the steering wheel of my car and I mostly just stayed at home in our apartment.  

The twins were due around Valentine's Day, but they arrived a few weeks early on January 28. Although I did go into labor, I was so big that the contractions did just about nothing and so the twins were delivered by C-section.  They weighed in at just under eight pounds each.  No wonder I gained so much weight.  Fortunately for me, it was mostly all baby and I looked pretty skinny after the birth.  (That may be the last time I ever looked skinny. Thank you, boys.) 

Bob and I debated and debated over names for the twins.  In fact, we debated so long that the hospital nurses threatened to name the babies themselves.  We wanted family names and finally decided on Matthew Scrivener (a very early colonial settler) and James Gibbons (a name that happened to occur in both our families) Agee.  The boys were fraternal rather than identical twins, one with dark hair and dark eyes taking after the Agee side and one with blond hair and blue eyes, taking after the Scrivener side.  What great planning on our part. Everyone was happy!

Meanwhile, as we dithered over the names, my sisters were most anxious to see their new nephews.  Unfortunately for them, and unlike the more open policies of today, the hospital at the time did not allow visitors to the nursery.  However, Louise and Maripat did not let that stop them.  They snuck into the hospital and by a circuitous route of back stairs and side hallways managed to make it to the nursery before being caught and thrown out.  

I was lucky enough to be able to go from the hospital straight to my parents' home where I had two adoring aunts and three adoring uncles to help take care of the twins, who were the first grandchildren on both sides of the family.  They weren't spoiled at all, not to worry. 

Of course, Matt and James were also the first grandchildren in the family.  I think this picture of my Dad with his grandsons says it all about how he felt.  

Only the beginning of many adventures as the mother of twins. 

 

#52 Ancestors 2021 Week 35 School: Marlboro High School

 

My mother, Anne Theresa Summers, was a very good student.  Her report card shows that her teachers considered her superior in almost every way (but only above average in cooperation!)  

She graduated from Marlboro High School in 1942, one of thirty-seven seniors in the 35th graduating class, a member of the debate team and of the National Honor Society.  Her favorite subject, according to her yearbook, was Problems of Democracy.  She was the president of the Home Ec Club and was also in the Glee Club and the School Orchestra. She went on to college at George Washington University. 

As shown in the program, the graduation ceremony was quite elaborate, filled with music and speeches. Note that Mom was the winner of the Girl's Declamation Contest.  No surprise at all to anyone who tried to argue with her later in life. 

And of course, the senior class had a will.  Mom willed her "studious ability and a few of her grades" to Ambrose Baden and Ralph Weaver, apparently young men who were not at the top of the class. 

Here is the student body in front of the school in 1942. Mom is in the front row, third from the right, in the very sharp looking vest, which she probably made herself. 

What my mother may not have realized when she was a student was that she attended a very historic high school. 

Marlboro High School was located on the site of  Dr. William Beanes' home.  Beanes, as history fans may remember was the prisoner whom Francis Scott went to rescue when he witnessed the shelling of Fort McHenry in the Baltimore harbor.  Dr. Beane's home was said to be the finest in Upper Marlboro.

 After Dr. Beane's death in 1828, the house was altered to become the Marlborough Academy, established by the legislature in 1835. The subjects taught included Dictionary, Geography, Latin, algebra, Geometry, and Cyphering; Greek and French studies were soon added. Hours were 8:00 a.m.to 5:30 p.m., and September was vacation month. At first only boys were admitted, but by 1840 there were female students as well; a report for 1844 indicates the attendance of 42 boys and 18 girls. 

In 1855, the Academy building burned to the ground, but by 1860, the site was known as Academy Hill and housed a new one-and-a-half story school building with a central bell tower. In 1867, after the establishment of the Board of County School Commissioners, a separate public school for girls was established immediately east of the academy building, and the two buildings were separated by a “good and substantial fence.”

Frederick Sasscer (a cousin of mine and later the County's Superintendent of Schools) described the education he received at the Academy after the Civil War:

The Academy building then consisted of two rooms, one of which was the school room and the other the bed room of the professor. . . . His classes, wonderful to tell, ranged from boys learning the alphabet, the first step in education, then to classes in Cicero and Xenophon. . . . The furniture was of the rudest kind. Desks with sloping lids in sets of three, in all about 30, were arranged against the walls. . . . The very small boys, who had no writing to do, found resting places on two long benches with backs. There were no blackboards, no free books and few physical comforts. The old professor sat at a small table in an arm chair, and was always supplied with a goodly number of supple rods, for the rod was not spared in those primitive days.

In 1921, the Academy was replaced by Marlboro High School, built at a cost of $38,000 by Thomas Marsden.  It was of masonry construction, coated with white-painted cement, and distinguished by a handsome shaped parapet on its south entrance façade. It had eight classrooms, offices and a library, as well as rooms for manual training and home economics.

In 1934, a Classical-Revival style façade was added to the building, significantly enlarging it. A large red-brick addition including eight more classrooms and an auditorium was built, wrapping around and hiding the south entrance façade of the original 1921 structure. 

Marlboro High School operated until 1948, when classes were moved to the Frederick Sasscer High School to address overcrowding.  The building continued to house primary and middle school classes until 1974.  After that it functioned as office space for various county agencies. 

#52 Ancestors 2021 Week 10 Name's the Same: The James Weems Cousins

 Once upon a time (in the 1700's), there were two cousins in Calvert County MD, both named James Weems.  Now of course, their friends and family at the time could tell them apart.  As for their future descendants, not so much. And the fact that Calvert County suffered not one but two Court House fires that destroyed pretty much all the 18th- and 19th-century records doesn't help.  These two cousins have caused a lot of confusion for the family's historians.  And because of their not-crystal-clear history, one or both of these men has even been sent off to other parts of the country to fill in a gap in someone else's family history.  

So here is what I know about these Weems cousins.

David Weems, one of the immigrant Weems ancestors, (my 7X great-grandfather) lived in the southern part of Anne Arundel County MD, very close to the border with Calvert  County MD.  Arriving from Scotland in the early 1700's, David was a farmer and a trader with ships going across the ocean to England to bring back goods for sale.  During the Revolutionary War, he used his ships to help the war effort.  

David married twice and had a total of 19 children by his two wives, including a son James with his first wife, Elizabeth Lane.  

James Weems of David (my 6X great-grandfather) was born at the family home, Marshes Seat, 22 May 1731.  We can be fairly certain of that date because David kept a meticulous record in the family Bible, which was continued by his son Gustavus and fortunately for later generations is preserved at the Maryland Historical Society Library.  We also know, thanks to the Bible, that James of David died 4 November 1784 in Calvert County MD.  

In between those dates, James is named in the 1761 will of his brother Lock Weems, who died on a trip to England.  James is also named as executor of the will of his brother-in-law, Richard Lane, in 1784, shortly before his own death. 

Shortly before his death, James Weems (identified as James Weems of David) owned more than 600 acres of property in Calvert County MD, according to the 1783 Assessment found at the Maryland State Archives. 

His property included

*pt of Regan

*Green House

*Chew's Purchase

*Grantham

*Fall Short

*Coxes Folly

*The Farm

*pt Coxes Choice

James of David married Sarah Isaac of Calvert County, the daughter of Sutton Isaac and his wife Mary.  One clue is that their oldest son, born about 1760, was named Sutton Isaac Weems. Sarah is also identified as Sarah Weems in the 1764 will of her mother, Mary.  Finally, the 1786 Tax List for Calvert County shows Sarah Weems along with five sons of James of David: Sutton, John, Loch, William, and David. (James and Sarah also had three daughters: Mary, Elizabeth, and Sarah.) 

The 1800 Census of Calvert County shows two women over 45 in the household of Sutton Weems.  One of these is likely his mother Sarah who presumably died in the county sometime thereafter. 

So, while some researchers have suggested that this James moved to South Carolina and was the progenitor of that line of Weems, it seems very unlikely that this was the case given the strong evidence of his life in Maryland right up to the time of his death. 

Family tradition says that James's sons David and William moved West about 1800 and there is not a lot of information about what happened to them.  Band leader Ted Weems is said to descend from this David Weems. 

________________________________

Now, as to the other James Weems.  

David Weems the immigrant came to Maryland with his brother James Loch Weems (also my 7X great-grandfather, since I am descended from both brothers) who settled in Calvert County MD, not far from his brother.  James married Sarah Parker, the daughter of George Parker and Susanna Parrott and the widow of John Stoddert, about 1727.  James and Sarah's first child was a son, James Weems Jr. born about 1730, so very close in age to his cousin, above. James Weems Jr. had five younger siblings, one of whom, his sister Susannah, was my 6X great-grandmother. 

Unfortunately, we don't have a nice detailed family Bible for the James Loch Weems family, but we know that James did have a son James Jr. because he deeded property to his son James in 1760 (probably at the time of his marriage) and left him further property in his will in 1778:

 I give to my son James Weems and his Heirs forever the Land whereon he Lives and all other my Lands thereto adjoining together with the Water Mill bought of John Waters and also all my Lands near Calvert County Court House bought of Wm Woodward, John Wood, Richard Young, Thomas Tucker Wilson Jnr.   G  Clagate, the Lands I took up called The Meadows Preserved and my Lot adjoining said Court House.

The 1782 Assessment in Calvert County MD shows James Weems in possession of numerous properties, including specifically, the lot at the Court House (his father having died in 1779). 

Sometime around 1760, James Weems Jr. married Margaret Terrett, the daughter of William Henry Terrett and Margaret Pearson.  We have only indirect evidence for this, nothing so clear as a marriage license. The marriage probably took place in Virginia since that is where Margaret's family lived.  Margaret Terrett's mother wrote her will in 1796 and named her grandchildren, the children of her deceased daughter Margaret Weems.  

James Weems Jr. and Margaret Terrett had four children, who are named in a Chancery Case about the settlement of their grandfather Weems' estate in 1790:

*James T. (Terrett) Weems 1761

*Amelia Weems 1767

*Margaret Hall Weems 1768

*Nathaniel T. (Terrett) Weems 1772

After Margaret's death, James Weems Jr. married a second time to Frances MNU and had two daughters: Elizabeth and Wilhelmina. 

James Weems Jr. seems to have had some issues with mental health.  A Chancery suit (yet another suit about the estate of James Weems Sr.  It was a very contentious estate, lucky for future genealogists since it gives us a lot of family history.) claims that about 1783 James Jr. became "hypochondriacal" to such a degree that he was confined to bed and his affairs had to be managed by his wife and other family members. 

James Weems appears in the 1800 Census of Calvert County MD in Christ Church Parish, over the age of 45. 

James Weems Jr. died about 1805 when the National Intelligencer advertises his property for sale in Calvert County MD under the direction of his son, Nathaniel T. Weems.

It seems that James Weems Jr. committed suicide.   Letter of Mary Hesselius to Mrs. Ridout at White Hall, not dated, in a series with dates in the early 1800's [at Maryland State Archives]:

 Dr. Clagett drank tea with us yesterday at Dr. Murray's.  He mentioned a very shocking circumstance which was that Mr. James Weems of Calvert County having cut his throat.  . . . He was a man in years, has a large family and many grandchildren.  

#52 Ancestors 2021 Week 38 Fun and Games: Dave's Emmy Award Ceremony

 

MotorWeek, Maryland Public Television's long-running auto show, debuted in 1981.  My brother Dave has been there almost from the beginning.  He started working for  MotorWeek in 1987 as an intern at Towson State University, and he never looked back.  He was hired full-time in March 1988, two months before graduation.  Dave is now the Senior Executive Producer and Head Writer for the show.  Over the years, Dave has had many exciting adventures visiting all 50 states and 38 foreign countries.  He estimates that he has driven over 5000 different cars over the course of his career.  But, of all his significant accomplishments, there is one that stands out for the family.

In 1998, Dave received an Emmy Award for his production of the Chicago Auto Show.  

Naturally, we were all thrilled.  The bummer was that the Emmy was in an obscure category that did not merit an appearance on the televised award ceremonies.  (Their Loss!) Of course, we couldn't let that stand, so the family designed a personalized--and highly memorable--award ceremony for Dave.  Everyone had a role to play. 

My sisters Louise and Maripat and I were the celebrity hosts, complete with very sophisticated feather boas.  And note, that while we did not require tuxes, all of the guys did have very fancy bow ties! And do please note the star-studded background.  

In addition to providing the introductions and commentary, we also provided the entertainment with a selection of car-related songs including "Little GTO," "She'll Have Fun, Fun, Fun Til her Daddy Takes her T-Bird Away," and "Workin at the Car Wash Blues."  And you better believe we could belt out that "Wah-Wah, Yeah-Yeah" chorus.

The Three Sisters version of Workin at the Car Wash Blues

In our scenario, the competition was Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang and Herbie, the Love Bug.  What can I say?  This was a family-friendly show and there aren't that many car movies.  

Of course, Dave's superior technical skills won out over these mere childish fantasies!  

Our brothers Rob and Phil took on the role of the disappointed runners-up for the Emmy.

The losers did not take the loss gracefully and registered their unhappiness at the ceremony, but in the end, they conceded to Dave's talent.

Of course, Dave gave a gracious acceptance speech and thanked his mother.

And, there were plenty of adoring fans, especially Dave's kids.  

Since 1998, Dave has produced the Chicago Auto Show many times, sometimes with assistance from one of his children.  

And Dave has had many professional achievements since that Emmy. 

But, hey, you never forget your first, especially when your siblings engrave it in your memory. 

#52 Ancestors 2021 Week 28 Transportation: Five Generations of Road Builders

 My family has roadbuilding in its genes.  For the last five generations, my family has been involved in building and maintaining Maryland's roads.  

Well, technically, it probably goes further back than that.  While much early transportation was done on the waterways, Maryland passed its first public roads law in 1666, ordering county commissioners to make roads passable for foot and horse traffic.  Overseers were appointed in each county and county residents were required to contribute either tobacco or labor toward road maintenance.  I'm sure my ancestors were included in that aspect of road construction.

However, county labor and tax levies were very soon unequal to the demand and road travel, according to contemporary accounts, remained pretty much a harrowing experience throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.  Agitation for better roads came particularly from farmers anxious to get their crops more easily to market and their grain more easily to the mill.  The introduction of the automobile in the early 1900's only increased the demand for better roads.  

Maryland responded in 1898 by asking the State Geologic and Economic Survey to investigate the condition of roads throughout the state and the cost of improving them. In 1908, after seeing the enormous cost of maintaining roads, Maryland established the State Roads Commission to construct, improve and maintain a State system of roads and highways, funded in part by registration fees from those pesky automobiles. 

Maryland Highways ca. 1924

And here is where my family enters the road building picture.  Roads Commission field offices were established in the counties around the state.  My great-grandfather, John Marshall Dent, known as Marshall, (and in the family as Poppa Dent) was hired to help with the investigation of the need for roads and by the 1920's was appointed to run the field office in St. Mary's County.  

Marshall was born in 1873 in Georgia, where his father John Marshall Dent Sr. (known in the family as Big Poppa) had fled to fight for the confederacy during the Civil War.  The family later returned to St. Mary's County and raised ten children there, Marshall being the oldest son.  

Marshall was always a tinkerer and worked as a machinist, ran a lumber mill, and by 1920 was managing a garage. According to my Uncle Jack, Marshall's grandson, Marshall could fix anything and was often consulted by automobile owners about their car troubles. So, he was an excellent choice to work with the State Roads Commission to identify where the county needed new or improved roads. In fact, his work with the State Roads Commission led him to meet his future wife, Mary Turner, as he explored the need for roads in Calvert County.  They married in 1898. 

About 1920, my grandfather, Frank Philip Scrivener Jr., was discharged from the Navy after serving in WWI and was looking for work.  His mother, Louise Gwynn Scrivener, was a noted civic activist who served on numerous government commissions and managed to pull strings with Governor Albert Ritchie to get her son a job with the State Roads Commission.

Young Frank (shown here with his father Frank Sr.) was charged with travelling around the state to visit the various field offices and collect information about where roads needed to be built or enhanced. 

Frank's job had the side benefit of introducing him to Marshall Dent and eventually to Marshall's daughter, Elizabeth, whom Frank married in 1924. (And who would have thought the State Roads Commission could be such a hotbed of romance?) His state job kept him working through the Great Depression and he served the State Roads Commission for 46 years until his retirement in 1968. 

After a series of construction and maintenance posts, in 1931, he was made the maintenance engineer for state roads, and  in 1964 was named Assistant Chief Engineer for Maintenance and Operations.  For more than 30 years, Frank was responsible for the maintenance of Maryland's 4300-mile highway system as well as the equipment necessary to do that maintenance. Among his innovations, he was responsible for the first radio communications system in state roads vehicles and for the development of a prison labor system that kept the roads operating during the labor shortage of WWII.  

A registered professional engineer, Frank earned a national reputation in his field, serving in leadership positions in the Maryland Association of Engineers, the American Association of State Highway Officials and the American Road Builders Association. 

Meanwhile, Frank's oldest son, my father, Frank Philip Scrivener III, born in Baltimore in 1925, also became involved in road-building but from a more hands-on perspective.  After serving in the Army during WWII, and attending Loyola College on the GI Bill, Frank III went to work for E. Stewart Mitchell Asphalt Company in Baltimore.  That's him on the right below with a Mitchell truck.

One of his first jobs was  paving the tarmac and runways for the 3300-acre Friendship Airport outside his home town. (That's a lot of asphalt!) Later, Frank managed to convince the Army that his specialized skills would be more valuable in the US than overseas and he travelled around the country for the government supervising the paving of airport runways as far away as Michigan and South Carolina, a deal worked out to prevent him being recalled to Army service and sent to Korea. 

Friendship Airport 1950

In 1958, Frank had the opportunity to join Tom and Bill Baldwin to form Reliable Asphalt Company in Anne Arundel County MD.  He served as its President until 1978 when Reliable Asphalt became a division of Reliable Contracting. He then served as General Manager of Reliable Contracting until his retirement in 1989.

Dad spent a lot of his time in his green Reliable pick-up truck, travelling around the state to inspect various paving jobs. Driving around was one of his favorite pastimes. As a special treat, or maybe because we were driving Mom crazy and she wanted us out of the house, one or more of us kids would sometimes get to ride with him. I can still remember the pungent smell of fresh asphalt and coming home covered in dust (from the unpaved part of the roads) with asphalt stuck to my shoes (big no-no!) from the newly-paved part of the road.  Dad's favorite jobs were when he got install a tennis court; that was his specialty.  He was a nationally-ranked player and spent almost all his free time with a racquet in his hand. Of course, he built himself a court in our back yard. 

Like his father, Frank was a leader in his field, serving as President of the Maryland Asphalt Association and a board member of the National Asphalt Pavement Association.  

Quite a few of the Scrivener young men got one of their first jobs at Reliable thanks to my Dad.  Even I worked at Reliable in my teens weighing trucks at the asphalt plant and doing office work.  My brother, Robert Keene Scrivener, however, followed more directly in Dad's footsteps and went to work full-time for Reliable after graduating from college. 

Rob has been with Reliable for over 40 years now and serves as Vice President and Chief Operations Officers for the Plants, Paving and Trucking Operations. Like Dad, Rob has served in leadership roles in the Maryland Asphalt Association, the Maryland Transportation Builders and Materials Association and the National Asphalt Pavement Association.  

Rob's sons Bryan and Nathan have continued the road-building tradition for a fifth generation, working at  Reliable as Vice-President of the Southern Division (Charles County) and Director of the Quality Control Lab, respectively. 

#52 Ancestors 2021 Week 13 Music: Joseph Hiskey, Baltimore Piano Maker

 Keyboard instruments have been around in Europe since at least the 14th century.  The harpsichord was much favored by Queen Elizabeth, who was acutally quite a talented performer. 

But it was not until 1709 that Bartolemeo Christofori of Padua developed the instrument that made music by striking strings with a soft hammer producing soft or loud tones depending on the pressure--the piano-forte (meaning soft-loud). This was the instrument upon which Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven composed their piano music. 

Cristofori piano at the Metropolitan Museum

By the 18th century,  the building of cases for these instruments was a well-recognized art.  The cases were elaborately designed often by prominent artists, full of inlaid wood and gilt decoration.

In America, the art got off to a slow start, mainly because so few people could afford the instruments, and those who could afford them often looked with suspicion on local products, preferring the prestige of imported goods. After the War of 1812, however, business picked up because the economic depression in Europe brought a flood of craftsmen to America. 

Joseph Hiskey (the 6X-great-grandfather of my grandchildren Henry and Harper Agee) was one of those craftsmen, landing in Baltimore in December 1816.  Hiskey was born in Vienna in 1783, the son of Joachim and Ludmilla Hiskey.  By 1818, he was listed as a piano maker in the Baltimore Directory. 

In 1824, he married Helen Geisenderffer, with whom he had three daughters: Josephine, Mary, and Helena, and a son John Joseph.  (Josephine later married Sea Captain William Hamlen and became the 5X-great-grandmother of my grandchildren.)  Joseph's wife Helen died shortly after the birth of her third daughter and Joseph married her sister Elizabeth in 1831 and had five more children with her.  Elizabeth died in 1844 and Joseph died in 1850.  Both are buried in Baltimore's Green Mount Cemetery along with several of their children.  

Joseph Hiskey was among the first instrument makers in Baltimore and it was substantially due to his work that Baltimore became a hub for piano manufacture, fame later heightened by the work of William Knabe. Establishing himself first at Water Street and then moving to various locations in the city, Hiskey finally settled in a small workshop on Light Street.  

Before coming to Baltimore, Hiskey had worked as an apprentice to European artisans and had been thoroughly educated in the fundamentals of pianoforte construction.  As an artist, he strove for perfection and while his business was never noted for size and quantity of output, his skill and attention to detail earned him an enviable reputation and a good living for his large family. 

This ad, appearing in Baltimore in 1822, indicates Hiskey's desire to compete with Europe:

Joseph Hisky thanked patrons of his pianoforte manufacturing establishment. . . for the encouragment since beginning here.  He has worked in some best European factories and spared no pains to make his output superior to any other in this country and equal to best produced in London, Paris, Vienna; grand, upright, grand square and other varieties of piano.

Joseph Hiskey's pianos were quite different in style from the spindly early instruments as this one from about 1840 illustrates (currently located at the National Museum of American History).

This square piano was made by Joseph Hisky in Baltimore, Maryland about 1843. Hisky was a Viennese piano maker who became one of the earliest piano manufacturers in Baltimore. The nameboard on this piano is inscribed “Joseph Hisky / from Vienne / Baltimore.” This piano is serial number 9629 and has a compass of FF-f4, Viennese action, single-strings FF-C, double-strings C#-b2, triple-strings c3-f4, tuning pins in the front, 4 pedals: bassoon, dampers, moderator, and Janissary (drum and bells), an iron string plate frame, and a mahogany case.

Here is a later Hiskey ad  (1838) from the Baltimore Sun that emphasizes his pride in his skills. 

SUPERIOR PIANO FORTES. JOSEPH HISKEY No 5 South Calvert street, Baltimore, respectfully invites his friends and the ladies in particular, to call and see his assortment of splendid PIANOS. They are of various patterns, and in a variety of scarce and choice wood. In addition to MAHOGANY, there are ZEBRA, ROSE and WALNUT. Such a variety cannot otherwise than please. Many of them have six octaves and a half. The wood of all is well seasoned, and the workmanship superior, and the tones not exceeded by any made in this country or elsewhere, as proved by the approbation of most of the first professors of music in this city. My terms will be liberal, and as usual I warrant the Instruments. 

The piano maker was apparently a stubborn and independent sort as this story suggests. Once when he was shipping a number of his hand-made instruments to South America, a broker tried to convince him to buy insurance on the lot in case the ship went down on route. The old German is reported to have replied in somewhat broken English that if the ship went down, he would simply make some more pianos.  The ship, by the way, did go down and Hiskey suffered a rather significant loss.  However, he never did succumb to the pleas of the insurance brokers.

Sadly, none of Hiskey's children followed him into his craft and at this death, his inventory of pianos was put up for sale. Only a few of Hiskey's creations survive today, including the one shown above at the National Museum of American History.  

#52 Ancestors 2021 Week 11 Fortune: Great-Uncle Elijah and the Ouija Board

 Elijah Jefferson Bond, the fourth child of Judge William Bond and Charlotte Howard Richardson, was born in Bel Air, Harford County MD, 23 January 1846.  He attended public schools in Anne Arundel County MD and was a veteran of the Confederate Army, as were his brothers, Frank and Arthur Bond. (It is through Frank Bond and his daughter Harriet that I am related.)  He graduated from the University of Maryland Law School in 1872 and opened a law practice in Baltimore.  In 1874, he married Mary Peters and by 1876, they had a son William.  

This sober background might not seem like fertile ground for the invention of a divination tool that has fascinated folks for more than a hundred years, but there it is.  Great Uncle Elijah was the man who, in 1891, patented a "talking board" under the name of Ouija, "a magical device that could answer questions about the past, present and future with marvelous accuracy. " 

The Ouija Board grew out of  19th-Century-America's fascination with spiritualism or the belief that the dead can communicate with the living. The Civil War, with its thousands of deaths, only encouraged the phenomenon as bereaved families longed to connect with their loved ones. However, the methods used to make this connection were frustratingly slow.  Calling out the alphabet and waiting for a spirit to knock at the right letter, for example, took forever to get any message through.

In the late 1880's, spiritualist camps in Ohio started using a "talking board" with letters and a planchette that moved around the board to speed up the communication process. In 1890, Charles Kennard of Baltimore pulled together several businessmen, including Elijah and his friends William Maupin and  Washington Bowie, to form the Kennard Novelty Company to commercialize the previously homemade device and exclusively manufacture and sell the board.  None of the men were particularly drawn to spiritualism, but they did see a good business opportunity. 

However, it wasn't the "Ouija" yet.  

In some popular belief, the name came from the French and German words for "yes,"  "oui" and "ja," But, according to Ouija's historian, Robert Murch, it was the board itself that came up with the name, with the help of Elijah's sister-in-law, Helen Peters, who was judged to be a strong medium.  Sitting around the table with Helen, the Kennard company men asked the board what it wanted to be called.  "Ouija" came through.  Helen said it meant "Good Luck."

The next step was to get a patent on the device, which meant proving to the patent office that it actually worked. So, Elijah brought Helen with him to Washington to file for the patent.  The patent officer said he would grant the patent if the board correctly spelled out his name, which presumably was not known to Elijah or Helen. They all sat down and communed with the spirits and the planchette correctly spelled out the name.  The shaken patent officer granted them the patent on February 10, 1891 for a new "toy or game." Elijah also got the Canadian patent the following month. 

The Ouija was definitely a money-maker.  By 1892, Kennard had two factories in Baltimore, two in New York, two in Chicago and one in London.  By 1893, Elijah had sold his share in the company. Some companies tried to launch rival products, but none had the success and longevity of the Ouija Board. 

Elijah died in Baltimore in 1921, having generated several other patents for steam engines and the like, but none as interesting as his first one.

He was buried in an unmarked grave in Green Mount Cemetery.  And there he lay, unknown, until 2007. when Robert Murch, after much effort, discovered his resting place and was finally given permission to erect a memorial for Bond, by his great-nephew, Walter Dent (to whom I am also related.) Murch created a unique memorial with the traditional names and dates on one side and a replica of Bond's most famous patent on the other.