Maryland Historical Trust Will Report Soon on Results of Archeological Dig at Brumbaugh-Kendal-Grove Homestead Located in Washington County—

Issues 33-Page Background Essay on Jacob Brumbaugh’s Home Farm

The background history 1752-1997 of the home farm “Clayland’s Contrivance Resurveyed” of Johann Jacob Brumbaugh (1726-1799) northeast of Hagerstown has been studied in detail prior to the issuance of an archeological report. The farm in 2010 had been listed as the Maryland Historical Trust’s #1 endangered historical site. Efforts to find a lessee for the buildings, the main house and a barn, who would put it to some adaptive reuse were unavailing. The buildings were destroyed before the pandemic and a contractor pursued an archeological dig on the site. It is likely that in the fall of 2025, a report will be issued on the results of the archeological dig. When it is received, we will report it here. Click Here to read.

The present report on the farm’s history updates our knowledge of Brumbaugh. It reveals that the date of his marriage to Mary Elizabeth Angle (Engle) was January 28, 1760. It adds that in addition to being a wheat farmer, distiller of whiskey, and weaver, Jacob was recognized as a wagonmaker. This is consistent with his large size and the fact that he served as a wagon master on the Braddock Expedition in 1754. The report also notes that during the American Revolution, he paid the county supply tax, another indicator of his patriotism despite his religious pacifism. Jacob has long been recognized as a Patriot under the rule of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) for contributing two blankets and selling grains to the local agent for the Continental Army.

Check periodically to learn the latest at my website. And please leave any comments or questions you have. Brumbaugh may be the only 18^th century member of the German Baptist Brethren about whom we know his entire life story in some detail.