250 and Counting

Tag: 1847 deaths

  • Abraham Shepherd–August 13, 1776

    Cover art for August 13, 1776: logo for the Ohio House of Representatives, whose basic design hasn't changed in many years.

    Abraham Shepherd hails from Shepherdstown, West Virginia, but when he was born it was Mecklenburg, Virginia.

    As near as I can put it together, there were originally two large tracts of land belonging to Shepherd families; one was over 200 acres and the other was a 750-acre plot of mostly farmland.

    In 1776 there were five Shepherd brothers, whose father, Thomas, died in 1776. John Shepherd, one of those five, moved to Wheeling Creek (Ohio, not WV), then Limestone Kentucky, then Red Oak, which was in Adams County, about 50 miles east-southeast of modern-day Cincinnati.

    Meanwhile, back in Mecklenburg, the town changed its charter and, in 1798, extended its corporate limits and changed its name to Shepherdstown, likely to honor Thomas Shepherd. Thus, in 1862 when the trans-Alleghany Virginia counties voted to secede from Virginia and become their own state, Shepherdstown was instantly one of the oldest towns in the state. That vote was challenged, and in 1866 the US Congress passed a resolution recognizing the transfer. Ultimately in 1870 the Supreme Court decided in West Virginia’s favor. Maryland also had something to say about who owned some of that land, which is why West Virginia has that peculiar hook in the northeast corner, but again the Supreme Court sided with West Virginia.

    Last week, a Maryland legislator put forth a bill that would secede the Eastern Shore of Maryland from the rest of the state, but he somehow also included a county from Delaware and the part of Virginia that’s part of the Delmarva Peninsula and separated from the rest of the state by the Chesapeake Bay. How counties in three different states could become their own state, and whether the potentially affected counties in those states actually feel about such a move, is not known. I suspect that it’s largely a performative action on his part to protest gerrymandering, and he’s right in that many of Maryland’s districts have ridiculous shapes. But these days it’s much more complicated to just break away from another state, for political and fiscal reasons.

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  • August 27, 1775: Frederick Graff

    Cover art for August 27, 1775: an 1804 portrait of Frederick Graff, painted by James Peale. Note the Center City Waterworks in the background.

    Frederick Graff feels like one of those guys who gets so little credit for what he did, you wind up feeling pretty badly for him.

    But the fact is, if not for him, over three dozen cities in the US wouldn’t have adequate water systems. So good on Frederick! Hoist your favorite beverage in his honor! (Though, in this case, it really should be water.)

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  • February 20, 1775

    Cover art for February 20, 1775: Etching of "Enterprise on her Fast Trip to Louisville, 1815"

    Until Israel Gregg came along, steamboat commerce on the Ohio river was considered impractical, largely because the currents were so strong.

    But Gregg had an interesting approach to demonstrate that it was, in fact, possible. In some portions of the river, there was a confluence with another river, which meant that there were multiple currents in the river for some distance. This is what made it hazardous in the first place.

    Gregg made a point of seeking out the currents of a specific river in each confluence, and navigating only that river’s current. So from Brownsville to Pittsburgh, Gregg used the currents of the Monongahela River. From Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, he used the currents of the Ohio River. Then he remained with the current of the Ohio to Louisville. From there he returned to Pittsburgh, running against the current of the Ohio. A few cycles of this had people convinced, and his ship, the Enterprise, became one of the first of that name to go down in history. (Specifically, it was the third in American history.)

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