Ellsworth Cemetery

04/05/2026

Reverend Nicholas Parker was born enslaved in Carroll County in the summer of 1831. His enslavers have not yet been found. He self-liberated during the early 1860s. He went up to Syracuse, New York and enlisted in the US Army in 1863.

Mr. Parker served under an alias, Augustus Roberts, to hide from his enslavers. If they had known his whereabouts, they may have been able to re-enslave him. He served as a Private in Co. G of the 8th USCT. When he was sick and in hospital, he became the chaplain's steward. He served in South Carolina and later in Texas.

Following the war, Mr. Parker returned to his hometown, New Windsor. In 1873, he married Mrs. Ellen (Parker) Dorsey. Her first husband had died some years previously. They were married by Rev. Perry G. Walker at the Sharp Street church in Baltimore.

The couple lived and worked at the New Windsor College, as cooks. Rev. Parker also worked as a minister in the AME church. During the 1880s, they moved to a house on Union Street in Westminster. They likely continued to work as cooks at the nearby Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College). With his pension and his work, he was able to own his home as well as half-interest in a second house on Union Street.

Rev. Parker died in 1895, and had a large funeral from the Union Street Memorial Church. He is buried in Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland.

03/29/2026

Sometimes the only records that remain of someone's life is a headstone.

Such is the case for Mr. William Wiley. We have yet to find a census record, newspaper article, marriage announcement or record or even a death certificate.

We have the headstone of Mr. William Wiley, marking his grave at Ellsworth Cemetery.
He was 54 years old when he died.

03/22/2026

Mr. William Frisby is buried in an unmarked grave in Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland.

He was born, the eldest child of Mr. Hanson and Eliza (Barnhart) Frisby, in 1864 in Westminster. By the time he was a teenager, William was working alongside his father as a laborer.

In 1887, William married Ms. Mary Cole in Carroll County. By 1900, they had six children, although only 3 had survived. Youth was a hard time in the years before modern sanitation and vaccines. In addition to their three natural-born children, they also adopted Nellie Frisby. As early as 1900, he had been working as a waiter. Mr. Frisby worked at the First National Restaurant, which had been in operation near the railroad at least as early as the 1890s.

Mr. William Frisby died shortly after his father did in the spring of 1903.

03/15/2026

Young Lawrence Clements Jr. was born in 1890, the child of Lawrence and Clementine (Snowden) Clements, in Baltimore City. His mother was a native of Carroll County, and had moved to Baltimore in the late 1890s.

We don't know what accident befell the young boy on New Year's Eve, 1901. His death certificate simply states that he died of a skull fracture at his home on Division Street. At the turn of the century, in an industrial city like that of Baltimore, any number of accidents might occur to cause the death of a young child. A dray cart, errant horse, or street car might have been the cause. Or he might have fell playing on the cobblestones, or from a steep staircase, or playing near a construction site. Whatever the cause of the head injury, it was following by meningitis. He died two weeks after the trauma.

Lawrence Clements Jr. was brought to the outskirts of Westminster, and buried in the family plot in Ellsworth Cemetery.

03/08/2026

Mr. William C. Thomas Bixler was born in the mid 1800s, likely in March of 1854, in Carroll County, Maryland. He may have been enslaved by the white Bixler family.

The first record we have for Mr. Bixler is the 1900 Census. He's working as a hostler, taking care of the horses at a local hotel. His wife, Hannah Dorm, had been previously married and her four surviving children are living with them. Another five children of hers had died before 1900. He was illiterate, which was common since schools for African American children didn't exist in antebellum Maryland.

In 1910, the children have all moved out and Philip Dorm, his brother-in-law, had joined them. The two men worked various jobs on the local farms. Mr. Bixler was enumerated as Thomas, and he seems to have used both William and Thomas at various times.

Sadly, Hannah passed away in 1917. The 1920 Census finds Philip and William still rooming together, and working as day laborers.

Mr. William C. Thomas Bixler died in the summer of 1926. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland.

03/01/2026

Mr. Upton Morgan is buried in an unmarked grave in Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland.

Born in 1842, he was likely enslaved although we do not have records yet of his enslavement. The first official record we find for him is the 1870 Census, where he is living with his wife (Harriet Hewitt) and three children. The couple would go on to have at least nine (9) children, five (5) of whom were still living as of 1900.

Mr. Morgan was an accomplished musician, known for being a "songster," organizing a Fife and Drum Corps, and performing with the Golden Leaf Glee, Banjo and Guitar club. Mr. Morgan also managed the amateur baseball club in town.

He worked as a coachman for many years, and later -- with the advent of the automobile -- as a driver. In March of 1920, he was admitted to the Crownsville Hospital where he died the next month of bronchial asthma.

02/27/2026

We are excited to debut our Book of Ellsworth on Saturday! A 400+ page repository of information about the people who are buried at Ellsworth Cemetery.

Is your family connected?? Stop by and find out!

Carroll County will hold its district level History Day competition and History Expo in partnership with the Historical Society of Carroll County and Celebrating America on Saturday, February 28, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Winters Mill High School. The competition portion includes middle and high school student projects related to this year’s theme, Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History, to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. https://bit.ly/3M6yH8p

02/22/2026

Charles Henry Hill was born in Carroll County, probably near Taneytown, in the summer of 1842. His death certificate lists his parents as Mirah Hill and Anna B. Cole. In ante-bellum Maryland, he would have gone to work as a young boy, even if he were not enslaved.

He married Ms. Matilda Goodwin in 1868. They lived with her father, Mr. Simon Goodwin in 1870.

They had at least eight children, with at least four living to adulthood. The late 1800s was a tough time to be a child. We find newspaper reports of Charles Hill losing three children to diphtheria in 1893. While these might have been his grandchildren, as he had a son named Charles as well, it must have been a heart-breaking loss to the family.

Sometime before 1900, Matilda Hill died, since Charles is listed as being widowed in that year's census. He never learned to read or write, and worked as a laborer on the nearby farms his entire life. He died in 1916 in his home on West Main Street in Westminster, Maryland. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Ellsworth Cemetery.

02/15/2026

Mrs. Lucinda Coleman is buried in an unmarked grave in Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland.

Little is known about Mrs. Coleman as records as sparse. We know that she was born in Maryland in the 1840s, likely enslaved, although we do not know her parents' names nor the name of their enslaver. The first record we have of her is the 1890 Veterans Schedule, where she is listed as a widow. However, no man named Coleman has been found who served during the Civil War and no pension record for her receiving a widow's pension has been found either.

In 1900, we find Mrs. Coleman living in Westminster, where she worked as a laundress. This occupation was a common one for African American women, who had been denied an education and were illiterate. She lived with one of her sons, Frank Coleman. Mr. Coleman worked as a waiter, likely in one of the town's hotel restaurants. She was widowed and four of her five children were still living.

In 1907, Mrs. Coleman feel ill and was transported to the Alms House (now the Carroll County Farm Museum). She died of kidney disease, then called "Bright's Disease." She was buried a few days later in Ellsworth Cemetery.

02/11/2026

Looking forward to seeing everyone at History Day!

We are debuting a collection of photos and information about the 380 people we know are buried at Ellsworth.

Carroll County will hold its district level History Day competition and History Expo in partnership with the Historical Society of Carroll County and Celebrating America on Saturday, February 28, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Winters Mill High School. The competition portion includes middle and high school student projects related to this year’s theme, Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History, to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. https://bit.ly/3M6yH8p

02/08/2026

Mr. Nelson Brown may have served in the Civil War, although records have not yet been found.

Mr. Brown was born in Maryland in the mid 1830s. His mother was likely enslaved, meaning that he also would be enslaved at the time of his birth. In 1870, he is living with Rachel Brown, who is likely his wife. Two young boys lived with them as well, John and Richard Valentine. John is too old to be Rachel's son, so they might have been her brothers. They are all working as farm hands in and around Linganore.

In 1880, the couple is still living and working in the Liberty district of Frederick County. A young boy, named Nelson Jackson, is with them and enumerated as their grandson.

Oddly, Mr. Brown is not listed in the 1890 Veterans census. While the main US Federal Census of 1890 was destroyed in a fire in 1921 (much to the continued frustration of American genealogists), most of the special Veterans Schedule survived. The Pension Office had asked for this enumeration of Veterans and their surviving spouses, at least in part to budget for the pension payments. In any case, Mr. Brown is not listed on the schedule for Libertytown and not found in any index.

Mrs. Brown passed away sometime before 1899. Mr. Brown was remarried to Mrs. Jennie Lewis, who had three children from her previous marriage.

When Mr. Nelson Brown died in 1906, the American Sentinel's obituary mentions that he may have served during the Civil War. However, no records have been found to substantiate that claim.

Mr. Brown is buried in an unmarked grave in the historic Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland.

Edited to add: While we have found military records for a number of men named "Nelson Brown," none of these men have confirmed ties to Carroll County. One Veteran (Co K, 1st USCI) was living in DC during 1900, while the Carroll County Nelson Brown lived in Westminster for that Federal Census. Another Veteran (Co K, 7th USCI) was born in Virginia and enlisted from Charles County. If we are able to retrieve his pension record (not all pensions are accessible), then we may be ble to confirm whether or not they are the same person.

02/01/2026

We know very little about Mrs. Eliza Jones. An elderly woman, guessed to be in her 80s, she died in Westminster in the summer of 1916. She was possibly married.

Her father is listed on her death certificate as Thomas Jones. Her mother's maiden name is simply "Parker."

She is buried in an unmarked grave in Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland.