[Memories of Nicholas J. Walsh, written by his daughter Mary Walsh Shaffer for her daughter, Dorothy, for a school project in the 1940's]

My maternal grandfather, Nicholas J. Walsh of Hampstead, was a son of Michael and Mary Houck Walsh. My great-grandfather Michael was a son of Thomas and Catherine Walsh of Glin, County Limerick, Ireland. He was one of several Walsh brothers who came to this country before the Civil War. Due to storms, it took them three months to make the Atlantic crossing. Many on the boat were sick. When they arrived in America the oldest brother, John, went to Minnesota where he settled. The youngest brother, Patrick, was unmarried. He gave his life in the service of his country during the Civil War, when he died of yellow fever. He is buried in a cemetery near Richmond, VA.

My great-grandfather, Michael, settled in Carroll County and married Mary Houck of Carrollton. He was a member of the Catholic Church during the days of bigotry and religious intolerance. Soon after their marriage, they built a stone house. After the walls were built and the stone masons were gone, the carpenters found a cross, which was cut in the stone gable end of the house. The builders have all passed on, but the cross still remains.

My Great-Grandmother, Mary, was a daughter of George Houck and Elizabeth Brown. Although she had a family of her own, she was a mid-wife and rode horse back through the storms of summer and the blizzards of winter to help bring new lives into the world.

My Great-Great-Grandfather George Houck was a direct descendant of Barnett Houck, who served in the Revolutionary War in Pennsylvania. Barnett's son was Captain William Houck, who was commander of the Fifth Calvary District of Maryland in the War of 1812.

My maternal grandmother, Francis Cordelia Millender, was a sister of the late D. Howard Millender of Hampstead. Their father was Casper Millender who lived on a farm near Shiloh Church. Casper's father and mother came from Germany along with Henry Millender and Kathrine Grieman. Their sisters, brothers and other relatives told of the rough voyage crossing the Atlantic Ocean and of the low wages paid in Germany, which were as little as 6 or 8 cents a day.

When they first settled in York, Pa, my great-great grandfather worked in the quarries for 25 cents a day. There were two older children who were born in Germany. Their mother would take them in a little wagon to clean some of the many houses that were being built in York at the time. The scraps of lumber that were left in the buildings were used for fire wood. From these humble beginnings they saved money to buy a farm and helped each of their children get a start. They were also the great-grandparents of Captain Peter Zouck of Glyndon, who gave his life in France during World War I.

My Great-grandfather Casper Millender married Caroline Kemp, a daughter of Shadrack and Jane Wisner Kemp of Baltimore County, whose ancestors came from England. Casper and Caroline settled two miles south of Hampstead on a large tract of land that is now three farms. It was mostly grown up then in timber, bushes and briars. They worked very hard and the story has been handed down that hardly enough feed could be raised to feed one cow. Now, there is no finer land in Carroll County. Two of the farms are still in the family.

They built a brick house made from clay found on the farm. The bricks were burned in a kiln and some of bricks was not burned hard enough. When Sunday came, Grandfather Millender would not allow any work to be done, so as a result the fire burned out and the brick in that kiln was soft. They decided to put the soft brick on the inside of the wall and the hard brick on the outside. That worked all right, except that one of the brick layers had a grudge against Grandfather Millender and put a lot of the soft brick on the outside. As the years went by, the soft ones began to crumble and they had to be filled in with concrete. The bricks were then painted red and penciled white, but the house has remained standing for more than sixty years. (NOTE: This is the present day home of Susie Rill Walsh, wife of the late Arthur Robert Walsh, who was a son of Nicholas Joshua and Frances Cordelia Millender Walsh. The home is known as "the Home Place" or "the Company Farm" and is located on Shiloh Road, near Hampstead, MD).

My grandmother Frances Cordelia remembers helping to mold the bricks when she was a very little girl and was the last member of that generation to pass on. They are all gone now--the bricklayers, the carpenters, and the workmen, but a brick crumbles now and then to remind us of the "old grudge."

My ancestors came from faraway lands and in those days it took courage to cross the oceans in ships. Some of them spoke of boats that made the crossing in six weeks, but most trips took three months. There were home-ties to be broken, and they talked of the beautiful shade trees along the streets, the rivers and other things that they remembered and friends they left behind. They thought of this country as a New World and one of opportunity. They earned their bread by honest toil. They cut the trees, quarried the stone and made the brick to build their homes. They also planted the orchards and flower gardens around their homes. They built the little school houses, churches and railroads.

Their greatest fault was in trusting others too much, being too honest, and believing that others would be too. Many of them endorsed notes for others, who were not worthy of their trust, only to be double crossed in the end.

I am proud of my ancestors: German, French, English and Irish. They earned their bread by the sweat of their brow. They believed in the future and had a deep and abiding faith in God. They were true Americans.