Stoney Creek Farm - Joel and Catherine Schlosser

Joel and Catherine Schlosser

Joel was first enumerated at the farm in the 1840 census, which was little more than a head count of persons living in the County. He is listed as the Head of Household, along with an indication that his wife was between the age of 20 and 30, along with two children, both under the age of 5. Joel had married the former Catherine Doub in Frederick, Maryland on April 20, 1835, when she was about age 19. She had been born in Fredrick on January 4, 1816.

Joel and Catherine had three children together eventually: Josiah, born about 1836; Enos, born on June 27, 1838; and Daniel, born on June 16, 1843. Daniel died less than a year later, on April 23, 1844. He is buried at the Mt. Hebron 1st U.B. Church in Eakle’s Mill, Maryland.

Joel’s son Enos Schlosser married the former Mary Eleanor Hoover (born February 19, 1845) on January 4, 1866. They had a son Edward Thomas who was born on December 26, 1867. Enos acted as the executor of his father’s will in 1879, and later died on March 11, 1912.

Joel’s eldest son Josiah continued to live with his parents and would eventually take ownership of the estate and operate the farm along with his own family. Joel and Catherine and son Josiah were enumerated at the farm in the 1870 census, which listed Joel as a retired farmer at the young age of 59. Catherine lied about her age, claiming that she was then age 43, when in fact she was 54. Son Josiah was then age 31 and single, indicating that he worked as a farmer. Joel listed the value of his real estate at an impressive $22,000, and the worth of his personal belongings as $1,000 ($322,000 today). Josiah listed a personal wealth of belongings as $1,200. The Schlosser’s also had a Caucasian domestic servant living with them on the farm named Sarah Derr, who was then age 19.

A notice appeared in the January 17, 1866 edition of the Hagerstown Herald & Torch Light newspaper that mentioned Schlosser’s Fording, a low area across Antietam Creek adjacent to the farm where wagons could cross the riverbed. The state planned on building a bridge with two stone arches, both with a span of fifty feet that would carry an iron bridge far above the riverbed. The bridge was damaged in 1881, requiring residents to again traverse across the creek bed for a short time, as posted in a later edition of the newspaper.

Joel Schlosser died on October 18, 1879, and was buried in the Boonsboro Cemetery. Just two years previous, his brother Samuel sold a farm close by known as the “Williams Farm” for $12,000 to an individual known as Nathaniel Mumma. A notice of the sale was reprinted from the Boonsboro’ Odd Fellow in the November 21, 1877 edition of the Hagerstown Herald & Torch Light newspaper.

The 1880 census was enumerated at the farm, and listed Catherine as the head of the household; this time, she correctly stated her age of 64. The census revealed that her son Josiah had married sometime in the previous ten years to the former Savilla Doub, a close relative of his mother’s that was fourteen years his junior. She had been born in Maryland in December 1848.

Catherine Schlosser died on March 16, 1890 at the age of 74, and was buried next to her husband Joel in the Boonsboro Cemetery.