Grahamtown and Wright's Crossing Settlers

Grahamtown was named after Curtin Graham. The southern end of Grahamtown is called Wright's Crossing, where Welsh Hill crosses MD Route 36. Wright's Crossing was probably there before Grahamtown existed.

This area known as Grahamtown is located at the southeast edge of Frostburg, Maryland, in Allegany County. It begins with the northern entrance to Frostburg Memorial Park and extends south for about 5 miles, just past Welsh Hill.

Sometime in the 1880's Curtin Graham owned most of this land, having acquired it from the Wright Family. Curtin Graham was married to Susannah Wright who, with her sister, Sarah "Sally" Wright, inherited this land from their father, William Wright, after his death in 1857. John Ross of Anne Arundel County held the original patent to the land called "Walnut Level" from the British Crown, granted on the 10th day of August, 1753. How did this land pass on to the Bruce family?

Original Patent: John Ross 1753 - Tax Assessment: John Key 1783 - Sale to Henry Wright: heirs of Susannah Gardner Bruce March 1810

John Key is actually John Ross Key (1754-1821), son of Francis Key (1722-1770) and Ann Arnold Ross (1727-1811) and grandson of John Ross, holder of the original Patent. John Ross Key was a Revolutionary War Veteran who settled in Frederick County, where he served as an Associate Justice, beginning in 1791. His son was THE Francis Scott Key of "Star Spangled Banner" fame. His daughter Ann married Chief Justice Roger B Taney, the 5th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, appointed by Andrew Jackson. The only question yet to be resolved is how did "Walnut Level" come into the possession of the Bruce family. It turns out that Susannah Gardner Bruce is actually Susannah Gardner Key, sister of Francis Key and aunt of John Ross Key. At some time between 1783 and 1810, it appears that John Ross Key transferred "Walnut Level" to Norman and/or Susannah Bruce. The Keys and the Bruces were both residents of Frederick County, MD.

On the 8th day of March in the year of our Lord, 1810, Upton Bruce, Elizabeth Key Scott and John Scott, her husband, of Frederick County, Maryland conveyed the land comprising about 390 acres to Henry Wright for the sum of $1,600. The original patent covered the Welsh Hill and Hoffman Hollow areas which were later sold to a coal mining company.

This large tract of land was called "Walnut Level" although most of it sits on the side of Dan's Mountain and is anything but level. Both the Frostburg Cemetery and the Maplehurst Country Club and Golf Course occupy part of this acreage.

Curtin Graham, his wife, Susannah, and sister-in-law, Sally, lived in the original Wright home but made major additions to it.

From the front of this home, all of Frostburg is in view. In 1990, we really just walked right in with nothing to hinder us. No one was living in the house, and evidence of vandalism and misuse were evident in every room.

Wright Homeplace - 1990
My husband, Carl Beachy, and my aunt, Mildred Dando VanHorn, are in the bottom left edge of the picture.

According to the Durst family members I talked with later, this was once a beautiful stairway.

This home burned in a fire about 1995.

Only the interior seems to have been destroyed because the exterior of the home looks much the same as seen in these pictures.

Other buildings around the home of Curtin Graham were a carpenter shop, a carriage house, a wagon house, a chicken coop, ice house, paint house, coal house, smoke house, harness house, tool house, drying house and others. A dairy was also added at some time.

The barn Curtin Graham built in 1876 is now the Maplehurst Country Club. Also on the Graham farm was located the Neff Meeting House, the first religious meeting place in Frostburg, being built ca. 1800. It has been torn down and reassembled near Klondike, Md..

Curtin Graham died 19 Sep 1885 and is buried in Frostburg Memorial Park with his wife and sister in law. Their large memorial marker is very near that of my grandmother's, Rachel Hamilton Dando, who was raised on the Graham Farm.

At the time Graham died, he willed his entire estate to his sister in law, Sarah "Sally" Wright and her mother, Mrs. William Wright. They continued to live on the farm where Mrs. Wright died in 1886 at the age of 96 years.

Sally Wright then went on to live at the farm until her death in 1900. Her executors, John B. Wright and Thomas W. Frost, sold Walnut Level farm. It was reported that the section containing over 200 acres on which sat the mansion was sold to Andrew J. Willison of Frostburg and that Willison also bought a section which is where the Maplehurst Country Club is now located. The third section was reportedly sold to Allegany Cemetery Company and is now Frostburg Memorial Park. Andrew J. Willison is buried there. Allegany County Courthouse land records actually show that John N. Layman, a worker on the farm, bought the entire farm from the estate of Sarah Wright in 1901.

Layman first went to work for Curtin Graham in 1869. From that time on his life evolved around the farm where he became assistant manager in 1879.

Layman sold part of the farm to Wesley Lohr in 1907. Lohr later sold this land to the Arnold Family in 1920. This is that part of the land where the country club is now located and was actually called "the Arnold Farm" when I was growing up in Frostburg.

John Nelson Layman and Anna K. or Mary L. Fazenbaker had the following children: Clara "Ted" Layman (1881-1920); Sallie Wright Layman married Jonas J. DURST in 1892, son of Jeremiah Durst and Elizabeth Beachy, of the Bittinger area of Garrett County; John Horace Layman (1883-1962); Marvin Layman (1879-1932); Susanne G. Layman (1877-1961); Eugene Layman (1876-1958); and Mary M. Layman (1872-1965).

This picture was labeled "Laymen Children" by my mother, Lillian Dando Hamilton. The widow of Joe Durst II did not know the names of the children. My best guess is that the three youngest pictured are Marvin, Clara, & Horace.

"In 1870 Mr. Layman was married to Miss Anna R. Facenbaker, of Allegany county, daughter of George Facenbaker, and four children were born to them: Sallie, who is now the wife of Jonas Durst, of Frostburg, Maryland, a furniture dealer and undertaker; Mary, unmarried, who lives at home; Eugene, a mine foreman at Shaft, Maryland; and Susan, living at home. The mother died in 1877, and Mr. Layman subsequently marrried (second) her sister, Miss Mary L. Facenbaker, by which union there are three children; Marvin, who is a farmer and conducts a large dairy, married Sophia Youngerman, of Frostburg, and they have one child John; Horace is associated with his brother Marvin in the management of the home farm; Clara is unmarried and living at home." -- History of Allegany County, Maryland, Thomas & Williams, 1924, page 939.

Homes of the farm's workers were once located around the edges of the farm but have been torn down. My Great Grandmother, Martha A. Coons Hamilton, lived in one of those small houses and worked at the main house as a cook, among other things. After the death of her husband in 1875, Martha was left with five children under the age of six. With her sister's help she acquired a position at the farm. Curtin Graham was the owner at first but Martha stayed at that farm until her death in 1913. Her son, Horace Resley Hamilton, also worked on the farm when he was old enough.

My grandmother grew up with Sarah "Sally" Layman on the old farm. When Rachel Hamilton married William Dando in 1889, they were married at the mansion. Sally Layman and husband, Jonas Durst, founded the Frostburg establishments of the Durst Funeral Home and Furniture Store. Their son, Joseph Durst I, was a lifetime friend of our family. His father had made our kitchen table as a wedding gift for Rachel Hamilton and William Dando. Joe's son, Joseph II, died early in an accident. Currently Joseph III, is running the Durst Funeral Home.

John Nelson Layman died in 1918, at the age of 72. His sons, Horace and Marvin, continued working the farm. John Nelson's second wife, Mary Fazenbaker Layman, his daughters, Clara "Ted" and Susannah continued living on the farm. Susanna operated the Layman Dairy. She sterilized the milk bottles, filled them and sold them from the farm.

The farm was sold in 1962. At one time in the 1990's a Layman descendant tried to buy the farm and turn it into a Bed and Breakfast. It is our loss that he didn't succeed.

Gentlemen of Grahamtown

Front Row - Howard Humbertson, John Nelson Layman, Germanus Wright, George Sires
Back Row - Luther Crow, Horace Resley Hamilton, William Dando, Charles Wright

Thanks to LaVerne Pittman (Journal of the Alleghenies-Vol xxx, 1994) and Betty K. Beachy ("Strong" John Beachy and his Descendants) for much of this information.

Settlers of Grahamtown & Wright's Crossing

Gentlemen of Grahamtown