Biography:
Few records have been found about Mr. Hanson Frisby, who is buried at Ellsworth Cemetery.
The first definite evidence we have of Mr. Frisby in Carroll County, Maryland is the 1870 Census. He is 35 years old, with his wife, Eliza Barnhart. Their eldest child living with them (William) is only five years old, meaning that he was born in about 1864 or 1865. Because of these facts, we might presume that Mr. Frisby was enslaved prior to the changing of the Maryland State Constitution in November of 1864.
Even still, no record of his enslavement has been found. It is possible that Mr. Frisby was born outside of Carroll County although no records have been found of that either. One record that might be him is the annotation of a mortgage of a young boy of about 15 years old. County chattel records show that Edward Burns & his wife, Elizabeth mortgaged a boy named “Hanson Thomas” to Samuel Orndorff in 1843. That boy shared the first name and age as Mr. Hanson Frisby and might have been him. Names were more flexible in the 1800s than in today’s electronic age.
In any case, Mr. and Mrs. Frisby settled down to a life of labor in Westminster, Maryland. He and his wife had seven children, one of whom likely died in childhood. Two sons, William and Samuel, both made their lives in Westminster as well. One daughter, Christine, married Harry Cartnail. She died in 1950 and is buried in Lebanon Cemetery in York, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Hanson Frisby died on April 29th in 1903, and is buried in Ellsworth Cemetery, outside of Westminster, Maryland. Note that his headstone appears to reach “1905”. It is possible that the stone was engraved and placed some years following his death, accounting for the error. We are confident that he died in 1903, due to his death certificate stating that year, as well as an obituary published in May of 1903.
Maryland
Headstone
American Sentinel, May 2, 1903