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 the village and supported Laurel until help arrived. After Daniel was born, Shadrach showed him more love than he had any of the Dingle children and was over the moon when Laurel asked him to be godfather. Shadrach adored his godson, surprising everybody who knew him; he gave Daniel presents and promised to do things with him when he was older. However, Daniel died of sudden infant death syndrome, devastating Shadrach and he initially blamed himself, thinking that the alcohol fumes he had breathed on Daniel killed him but, supported by Laurel and Diane Sugden, he stopped blaming himself. Despite