James M. Hiteshew (1838-1902)

James M. Hiteshew (JM) was born 29.Jan.1838/9, likely in Frederick, Frederick County MD, where census records indicate his family was living in 1840 and where his parents married in 1828. There is both mystery and some confusion regarding JM's middle name and initial. When written in longhand, the letter “M” can be mistaken for “W” or “H” and this is probably the source of confusion. The combined evidence of all available records indicates that “M” was in fact his middle initial, but no known records spell out the middle name. Some family trees show “James Mills” as the name for both JM and his oldest son. Others show JM as “James Michael,” which is also the name given to one of JM's great-grandsons.[1]

JM's father had been born in Maryland rather than in the Pennsylvania area where his immigrant ancestors had first settled. German immigrants and their descendants in Pennsylvania had been attracted to Frederick County, Maryland by the opportunity to purchase good farmland on reasonable terms. A history of Frederick County notes that JM's father had been “a farmer in early manhood.” So JM and his family may have been living on a farm when the 1840 Federal Census shows them in Frederick, Frederick County, MD. That may have changed when the family moved to Middletown, Frederick County, MD, where census records show them residing in 1850. At any rate, neither JM nor any of his siblings were in an agricultural occupation as adults.

At some point between 1850 and 1858, it seems JM moved to Cumberland, MD. At the time, Cumberland provided opportunities for a young man who might be looking for an alternative to farming as a way of life. You can learn more about what was happening in Cumberland at that time from the Wikipedia article History of Cumberland, Maryland and the National Park Service article The Canal Arrives in Cumberland.

James M Hiteshew married Virgina Louise Grey on 10.Apr.1858 in Cumberland, MD at the Lutheran Church with Rev. R. J. Weddell officiating. I have no information about how JM and Virginia met, but it seems likely that JM had moved to Cumberland sometime after his father's death in 1853. The 1860 Federal Census shows JM (age 22) and Virginia Louise (age 20) living in Cumberland, along with their son James (age 2). JM is listed as having occupation laborer and the fields are blank for value of owned real estate and personal property.

As noted below, JM served in the Union Army for three years during the Civil War. Afterwards, the 1870 Federal Census lists his occupation as boating and indicates that he owned real estate valued at $1000 and personal property valued at $100.

City directories provide further information about residence and employment:

• The Daily New Directory of the City of Cumberland, 1876: Hiteshew, James, saloon, Wineow; h 29 S. Liberty
• Cumberland, Maryland, City Directory, 1884: James M. Hiteshew, weight-master, h Wine nr Old Town rd
  • Hiteshew, Daniel, catcher, Rolling Mill
  • Hiteshew, Wm T, lab, Rolling Mill
• ibid, 1890: Hiteshew James M. book agent, h 40 Wine
  • Hiteshew, William T, plasterer, h 40 Wine
• MISLABLED IN ANCESTRY.COM (see image 76) ibid, 1893: Hiteshew, James M, constable 40 Wine
• ibid, 1901: Hiteshew, James M. constable, h 40 Wine.
  • Hiteshew, Laura V, bds 40 Wine
  • Hiteshew, Wardlaw M, tinwrk, h 65 Oldtown rd.
• ibid, 1902: Hiteshew, James M, h 40 Wine
  • Hiteshew, Wardlow, M. lab h Arch nr Oldtown rd.
• ibid, 1913: Hiteshew, Virginia (wid James), h 40 Wine
  • Hiteshew, Laura V, dressmkr 62 Williams, res same.
  • Hiteshew, Wardlaw McG, tinwkr, h 20 Arch.

JM enlisted in the Union Army on August 27, 1861 and joined Company E, Second Infantry Regiment, Potomac Home Brigade, Maryland Volunteers at the rank of private. This regiment engaged with the Confederate Army on multiple occasions while protecting critical transportation infrastructure (railways, bridges, rivers, canals). They also participated in the Gettysburg campaign. JM served in the Union Army for three years and was discharged on September 29, 1864. Military records show his rank as corporal at the time of his discharge. An obituary refers to him as a sergeant, but it seems to have been a common practice for communities use this kind of rank inflation to convey their esteem. [2]

Records indicate JM and Virginia Louise were married “by Pastor R. J. Weddell in the Lutheran Church.” There was more than one Lutheran church in Cumberland at the time, but Rev. Weddell was affiliated in what came to be referred to as St. Paul's Lutheran Church, but which may have been known at the time as “Christ's Church” or “Christ's English Lutheran Church.”[3]

At some point, JM and Virgina Louise appear to have changed their religious affiliation. An obituary for JM posted on Find-A-Grave notes that his funeral took place at the Kingsley Methodist-Episcopal Church, with Rev. A. H. Zimmerman officiating.[4] JM and his wife Virginia are buried in Cumberland's Rose Hill Cemetery, which is the cemetery for Emmanuel Parish of the Episcopal Church.[5]

— (May be incomplete) —

• James M(ills?) Hiteshew (b. 1858, d. 1862)
• Mary Ellen Hiteshew (b. 1860) m. Charles D. Hager
• Daniel Conrad Hiteshew (b. 1863)
• Laura Virginia Hiteshew (b. 1865)
• Josephine Hiteshew (b. 1866, d. 1866)
• William Thomas Hiteshew (b. 1868) m. Anna Emelia Himmler
• ?George Funderburg Hiteshew (b. 1872)
• Phillip Leander Hiteshew (b. 1872, d. 1872)
• Wardlaw McGill Hiteshew (b. 1875) m. Elizabeth Turner

[1] James Michael Marshall was the son of Turley Marshall and Catherine Ruth Hiteshew (daughter of JM's son William T. Hiteshew)

[2] History and roster of Maryland volunteers, war of 1861-5. 1898, Press of Guggenheimer, Weil & co. View online

[3] Article on the website of German Marylanders: St. Paul's Lutheran Cumberland. See also the church website. An informative article previously posted on the National Park Service website can be found via the WaybackMachine: https://web.archive.org/web/20210529044704/https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/cumberland/twn.htm (The original URL for the article was https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/cumberland/twn.htm and there is a capture of that from 29.May.2021.)

[4] The Kingsley Methodist Church was in the historic Rolling Mill District of Cumberland. As of 2016, the church building was the site of the non-denominational Friendship Haven Church. For more information on the historic church and its activities, see the Preservation Maryland article Discover Historic Rolling Mill: Kingsley Methodist Church. For a better understanding of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the late 1800s, see Wikipedia article Methodist Episcopal Church. (NOTE: The website of the present-day Kingsley United Methodist Church has no information about the history of the church or congregation, so it's not clear how it relates to the historic church with a similar name.)

[5] [[https://www.emmanuelparishofmd.org/rose-hill-cemetary/|Rose Hill Cemetary]