statement of the company (December 31, 1897) shows aggregate risks in force, $934,139.90; aggregate assets, $153,637.08, of which $152,109.69 consisted of premium notes; aggregate disbursements for the year 1897, $9,999.87, of which $8,257.70 represented the amount of losses paid.

SECRET SOCIETIES.

Howard Lodge, Independent Order of Good Templars, was organized on the 28th of June, 1846, with the following officers: Edward Smith, W. C. T.; James A. Hays, W. S.; Maggie P. Waggoner, W. I. G.; Alice M. Staley, W. V. T.; Daniel Wolfinger, W. T.; James H. Ziegler, W. O. G. The organization disbanded about the year 1873.

A lodge of the Independent Order of American Mechanics was instituted in 1871 with the following officers: James A. Hays, W. S. M.; Henry Schriver, W. M.; John W. Nigh, J. M.; David Summer, R. S.; H. T. Creps, S.; Upton Clopper, T.; Edward Smith, C.

Golden Rod Council, No. 42, Junior Order United American Mechanics, was chartered December 22, 1891, with the following officers: Charles C. Ziegler, P. C.; D. J. D. Hicks, C.; Jacob D. Wolfinger, R. S.; David Barnhart, F. S.; Samuel Middlekauff, T. In 1897 the Council erected a hall at a cost of $2,000. It is a two-story frame building, of which the first floor constitutes an auditorium in which public meetings of a general character are held; the council rooms occupy the second floor. Samuel Middlekauff, Charles C. Ziegler, and Jacob M. Stouffer composed the building committee. It was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies on the 12th of September, 1897.

Minneola Tribe, No. 114, Independent Order of Red Men, was instituted April 10, 1895, with the following officers; Joseph S. Barkdoll, P.; D. J. D. Hicks, S.; Samuel Middlekauff, S. S.; B. F. Baker, J. S.; Daniel T. Johnson, C. of R.; Virgil H. Miller, C. of W.; Harvey J. Hartle, K. of W.; Daniel T. Hartle, G. of W.; Claggett A. Hartle, G. of F.

MUNICIPAL INCORPORATION.

Leitersburg was incorporated by act of the Legislature, February 25, 1853, with the following boundaries:

Commencing at a poplar tree on the road leading from Leitersburg to Smithsburg near a stable belonging to Jeremiah Slick, thence running with a straight line to a stable near the house now occupied by Daniel Lowman, thence with a straight line to a spring on or near a lot belonging to Nathan McDowell on the road leading from Leitersburg to Greencastle, thence with a straight line to a blacksmith shop now occupied by G. W. Lantz belonging to George Poe, thence with a straight line to the beginning.

The act of incorporation provided for the annual election of a burgess, assistant burgess, and three commissioners, whose functions were minutely defined. The first election occurred on the first Monday in April, 1853. The local government was duly organized, and under its administration the streets were improved, the sidewalks were curbed and paved, and other measures of benefit to the community inaugurated. But after several annual elections had been held the town government dissolved and no effort has since been made to reestablish it.

POPULATION.

The late George W. Ziegler of Greencastle informed the writer that in 1829 he made an enumeration of the inhabitants of Leitersburg and found a population of 219. In 1850 it was 298; in 1870, 335; in 1880, 308. No statistics are given in the census of 1890.

CHAPTER IV.

CHURCHES.

ANTIETAM LUTHERAN CHURCH-JACOBS LUTHERAN CHURCH-ST. PAUL'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, LEITERSBURG-ST. JAMES' REFORMED CHURCH, LEITERSBURG - MILLER'S MENNONITE CHURCH-LONGMEADOWS GERMAN BAPTIST CHURCH-REFORMED MENNONITE-RIVER BRETHREN-UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH, LEITERSBURG - METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, LEITERSBURG.

ONE of the oldest churches in Washington County was situated within the original limits of Leitersburg District. There is conclusive evidence of its existence at an earlier date than that of any other place of worship in the county, with the possible exception of St. Paul's near Clearspring and the Protestant Episcopal chapel near Chapel Woods school in Funkstown District, not far from the College of St. James. This evidence occurs in the will of Robert Downing, executed on the 1st of November, 1754. The clause referring to this church reads as follows:

I give and bequeath to my beloved daughter, Esther Downing, all that tract or parcel of land, part of the second resurvey on Downing's Lot, beginning at the most easternmost corner of the first resurvey on Downing's Lot and running thence south fortyfive degrees west six perches across the second resurvey and all the land on the most southernmost side of the before mentioned line, containing by estimation 113 acres of land, excepting ten acres to be laid out for and convenient to the meeting house, provided the people that resort to the said meeting house pay for it.

In 1786 the Rev. John George Young, pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Hagerstown, wrote the following account of this church:

1756.-About thirteen families of our church united, purchased ten acres of land, and built a sort of church, as their circumstances allowed, about four miles from Hagerstown on the Antietam creek. They were served first for several years by Pastor Haushihl from Frederick and then for a short time by Pastor Schwerdtfeger; finally, after I received a call from Hagerstown I was also called there and served them every four weeks until, on account of other pressing duties, I was compelled last year to relinquish this part of the field. They consist now of from fifty-five to sixty families, many of whom with respect to their spiritual welfare were thoroughly ruined by