Meshach Browning western Maryland folkways and early settlement life. Meshach Browning was born in Damascus, Montgomery County, Maryland. Meshach Browning's father was an English soldier who escaped from Braddock's massacre (1755), deserted and settled in the highlands of Western Maryland. This community was a wholly self-subsistent one in which the men wore deer skins procured by their own rifles and dressed and tailored by themselves. The women spun and wove flax and wool. The only commodities upon which they were dependent on outsiders was gunpowder and lead for shot. Meshach Browning married Mary McMullen (1781–1839) on April 13, 1799 at Blooming Rose,
Shadrach Dingle Zak went to South America in search of the Dingle fortune, Shadrach begged Zak’s wife, Lisa, to take him in. Sticking to the Dingle code of loyalty, Lisa agreed and Shadrach spent the next few months trying to seduce her and order was restored when Zak returned but Shadrach’s behaviour continued to provoke disgust among his family and their neighbours alike. A life of heavy drinking took a toll on Shadrach and his daughter, Chastity, worried that her father would die of alcoholism-related illnesses. Attempting to wean him off alcohol, Chas bet Zak and Shadrach that they could not stay