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,
Thomas Shadrach James Thomas Shadrach James Thomas Shadrach James (1 September 1859 – 9 January 1946) was a Methodist lay preacher, linguist and herbalist. However, it was as a teacher, first at Maloga Aboriginal Mission and later at Cummeragunja, that he is remembered in history. Through this role, he equipped and influenced generations of Aboriginal activists, including Margaret Tucker, Pastor Doug Nicholls, George Patten, Jack Patten, William Cooper and Bill Onus. On his birth certificate, Thomas James is recorded as being "Thomas Shadrach Peersahib". His father was denoted as James Peersahib (in other documents, this name is Peersaib). And his mother was Esther