In 1876 “...disaster struck”

 - Sam Chew,  storekeeper & storyteller

                 “I was born in 1874, nine years after the Great War, and when I became nineteen my father told me to go to the Store and go to work.  I never disputed my father.  He was the best man I ever knew. 

“I had read Blackstone’s ‘Short History of the English People’... 

I had read the immense volumes of  ‘The Congressional Directory 1860 to 1866’...  

I had read the burning speeches of Daniel Voorhees, Thomas Benton, and Jefferson Davis... 

“But the Village Store was where I learned the history of the West River country in which I was born.

  

Owensville Store and Post Office c1900

“It was a finishing school...  

a gathering place.

“Here could be found the justice of the peace, the carpenter, the blacksmith, the farmer, the bricklayer, the gentleman, the veteran, and the doctor.” 

The doctor around the time of the Civil War was Dr Estep Hall.

“One morning [in 1876] Dr Hall was driving to Annapolis behind a pair of spirited horses when disaster struck.  As they were descending the hill to the South River, the team became frightened and were soon beyond control of the driver.  The team galloped toward the bridge and collided with the railing throwing Dr Hall out violently, his head striking the abutment. He lived only 24 hours.  His attending physician was Dr Morris Cheston who had but recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.”    

In 1881 Dr Morris Cheston bought Dr Hall's house in Owensville.  He became the fifth doctor to live there. 

Dr Morris Cheston, wife Sally, and 4 children. 1893