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AN INITIAL HISTORY OF
THE MAYTOWN MUSEUM HOUSE
4 WEST HIGH STREET
by The Rev. Robert M. Lescallette


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Clearly, option "a" and "b" are the most likely explanations and I suppose that "b" best suits the facts, but I have yet to discover a marriage record for a third Mrs. Hastings, nor can I learn of her funeral or grave site.

We shall therefore have to leave this as an "open question." One thing is certain. The 1815 Direct Tax, which is a godsend for historians because of its more detailed description of town properties, shows that in the year that the War of 1812 came to a close, Enoch Hasting's Estate owned 1 log house, situate on High Street, of one story, 40' in length by 20' in depth, set on a lot measuring 62½' x 250', and valued on April 1, 1815 at $800 obviously the museum building at 4 West High Street.

The tax roll also reports that John Hastings owned 1 dwelling house of brick, situate on High Street, of two stories, 28' in length by 32' in depth with a back building, on a lot measuring 62½'x 250' just as clearly the predecessor of the former Shenk's store. John also owned 1 small frame house on a back street in Maytown, measuring 20' x 26' plus an unimproved lot on Walnut Street in Bainbridge, and 42 acres of farmland outside of Maytown with a total estate value of $2,840.


Epoch Hastings died without a will, which meant that his surviving children (and spouse, if there was one) would share equally in the estate. If one heir wanted to acquire the vacated house totally for themselves, they would have to "buy out" the other heirs and that is what John the entrepreneur of the family -did.

On January 27, 1817, John bought his brother, Howell's share for $180. (Deed Book 24, Vol 4, p. 441) and in 1824, brother William's share was acquired for $126 with the deed executed on September 28 and the fact recorded 8 years later on May 1, 1832 (Deed Book W, Vol. 5, pp. 19 20). I can find no record of the purchase of a remaining share owned by a surviving Sallie or her estate or by her children, Enoch and Sarah.

By 1824, the house on lot #3, our museum site, was now fully the property of John Hastings which causes me to wonder again was the "widow Hastings" referred to in the tax rolls, from Enoch's death year to 1823, his mistress rather than his wife who had no legal standing or rights of inheritance, but who was allowed to reside in the house until her death, and whom local folks assumed or pretended was Epoch's wife when she wasn't?

THAT WOULD EXPLAIN A GREAT DEAL!


It is probably significant that John Hastings took the trouble to record his deed with William in 1832 after so long a delay because that year saw the marriage of his eldest son, John R. Hastings, to Eliza D. Gibbs, on August 17, 1832 and John Senior may have had plans to provide the couple with a first house.

A formal transfer of property never occurred, however, because the younger John died on March 13, 1835 pre deceasing his Dad by half a year and the couple's son, Henry Rogers Hastings, grew up in Philadelphia, with his mother's kin.

Daughter Adeline may also have had her eyes on the house, because she married John H. Myers on June 12, 1834 but she too died shortly thereafter, even before her brother, John, on January 25, 1835.

And imagine, then, the mixture of sadness and joy that must have attended brother Edmund's wedding to Ann Hall Douglass, on January 27, 1835.... a mere 2 days after Adeline's death! Such were the far too common tragedies of life in the pre modern age. Ann Douglass, by the way, was born in Middlebury, Vermont (a delightful New England town!!!) on May 20, 1804, and she died on April 8, 1844 leaving a grieving husband and a young daughter, Kate.

Edmund Hastings found it impossible to raise a young child in his circumstances, so Kate was raised by her uncle, the Rev. Orson Douglass, until his death in 1851. Pastor Douglass had been pastor of Donegal Presbyterian Church prior to his service at a Philadelphia church, and he was a first cousin to "The Little Giant", Sen. Stephen A. Douglass, the senator from Illinois whose debate with Abraham Lincoln brought the future president of the United States into the national limelight.

The Senator was a frequent house guest at the manse in Philadelphia. Edmund McCurdy Hastings meanwhile spent his life in the deep South and died in Montgomery, Alabama on May 21, 1870. (A descendant of his, Crawford T. Ruff , who once resided at 646 S. Lawrence Street in Montgomery, informed the Lancaster County Historical Society via a letter many years ago, that he had, in his possession, a "Welsh family Bible that had been owned by Sallie Hastings and William Hastings" something that the MHS should try to track down for its archives!) (See "Hastings" family file at the LCHS.)


Returning to our chronicle's main stream .... John Hastings, the elder, son of Enoch, died without a will on September 3, 1835. He left a widow, Agnes, an elder surviving son, afore mentioned Edmund, a younger son, Eli (who was a minor), and two young grandsons, Henry and John, who were the orphans of John senior's eldest, deceased son, John R. The Miscellaneous Orphan Court records of Lancaster County for December 1835, p. 474, show that Edmund was appointed executor of the assets, and that they consisted of the following (which I group here under my own numeration for convenience sake. The document assigns them different numbers.)

1) Lot #2 in Maytown, with its 2 story brick home, barn, and other buildings.

2) Lot #3 in town, "with a one story house thereon erected" our museum site.

3) Lots # 45, 46, 47, and 48 in town, with a small building erected on one of them.

4) $228.95 in cash.

Additional properties owned by John's Estate were ordered to be sold at John Bowman's house in Maytown on January 8, 1836, in order to satisfy debts of $2,198.25. Those properties were:

1) Lot #6 and half of Lot #7, with a one story dwelling and stable situated thereon.

2) Lot # 44 "adjoining the property of John Wagner on which is erected a one story school house."

3) A five-acre tract of farmland adjacent to Maytown, next to the Beshler and Peck properties.

4) A lot in the village of Hempfield

5) A lot in Manchester, York County.

6) An unimproved lot in Bainbridge.


Because additional debts surfaced and Edmund Hastings had left the state, Thomas Johnstin of Maytown was named by the court as administrator of the estate and instructed to sell the remaining properties on December 27, 1836. Lot #2 was, accordingly, sold to "merchant" William S. Campbell of Maytown, on April 1, 1837, for $l,140.00 (Deed Book I, Vol. 6, pp. 250 1) beginning the corner's long history as a store site in the village. (The two story brick store which John Hastings had built was probably razed to make room for the late Victorian 3 story store that stand on the site today.)

The deed mentions that Col. Thomas Houston of Maytown, who lived on lot #4 (today's Lutheran parsonage) had already purchased lot #3 no doubt on the same day, April l, 1837. Houston would use the property as a source of rental income from many tenants ...and a buffer against the commercial character of the store.

So who was this "COL." HOUSTON? I know a fair amount about him, because I have met with him many times across the years, in trying to research the history of my own residence, the Lutheran parsonage. THOMAS HOUSTON was a member of a large clan of Scots Irishmen who were descended from a baronial family of Scotland, the most famous of whom was surely Sam Houston of Texas fame.

Their name in Anglo Saxon, means "house" or "garden". Born on March 17, 1788, he had at least one brother, Dr. Samuel Houston, who died in the 1860's and who is buried next to him in the Marietta Cemetery. Dr. John Houston, possibly a nephew, born in 1815, is buried nearby; he was the attending physician at Thomas' death.


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