Maryland Notes ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY Charles Francis Stein, Jr., until recently President of our Society, has compiled a comprehensive history of Howard County. Like his History of Calvert County, this long-awaited book on a county whose history had long been neglected in many respects, is a highly personal book. Through- out its content the reader feels the deep roots the author has in this part of Maryland. He has very appropriately dedicated it to the memory of his mother, Ella Willson Griffith Stein who descended from Colonel Henry Griffith, soldier of the Revolution and co-founder of Montgomery County. It is a most handsome book abundant with genealogical informa- tion and local lore. Its two sections describe the historical develop- ment of Howard as it was carved out of Anne Arundel County and the pioneer families who shaped this development. A listing of early land grants and selections from Anne Arundel County Debt Books will be useful for further searches. Some thirty coats-of-arms in full color, superbly executed by J. A. Bishop, and photographs of many old resi- dences enhance the value of the book which is a tribute to the printing skills of the press of Schneidereith and Sons in Baltimore. Published in cooperation with the Howard County Historical Society, the work is available from the author, 231 St. Paul Place, Baltimore, 21202 for $19.50. PRESERVING "SCHIEFFERSTADT" IN FREDERICK The Frederick County Landmarks Foundation, Inc., Rose Hill Manor, 1611 North Market Street, Frederick, Maryland 21701, has undertaken vigorous steps to preserve and protect one of the oldest houses in Frederick County. Near the corner of Rosemont Avenue and West Second Street stands a colonial stone residence, possibly the oldest in the city of Fred- erick. This intriguing property was named "Schiefferstadt" by its builder, Joseph Brunner after his birthplace near Mannheim, Germany. Brunner landed in Philadelphia in 1724 but did not arrive in Maryland until about 1736 when he built his home in the new Monocacy settlement. The walls are two and one-half feet thick, with hand-hewn timbers of native oak, pinned together without nails or spikes. With its kick-up roof and center chimney, the building reflects the appearance of farm houses in the Mannheim area. All partition doors are of five-panel design and retain their original, elaborately wrought thumb-latches, locks, knobs and hinges. In one of the upstairs bedchambers there is a built-in five-plate stove, with four plates in figured relief. The stove is dated 1756 and bears a German inscription. [77] GERMAN LITERATURE IN BALTIMORE'S LITERARY MAGAZINES The Spring 1974 issue of German-American Studies (Cleveland, Ohio), edited by Robert E. Ward, contains two contributions of particular interest to Maryland: Paul M. Haberland, "The Reception of German Literature in Baltimore's Literary Magazines, 1800-1875," and Raymond A. Wiley, "The German-American Verse of Dr. Franz Lahmeyer." The latter article is on a remarkable, lengthy poem which was printed in Baltimore in 1833. No printed copy exists but Wiley found its manuscript version. In the poem, Lahmeyer contrasts most favorably his newly-found homeland America with the old order in Europe. [78]