Meshach Browning
Encyclopedia
Meshach Browning was an early backwoodsman, hunter and explorer of the watersheds of the North Branch Potomac and Youghiogheny River
s. His memoir is Forty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter (1859). He has been celebrated as Maryland
's most famous frontier hunter.
Browning's memoir of his "hunting-fever" years (1795–1839) and other activities was originally penned with a turkey
quill. Half backwoods history, half heroic adventure story, it recounts his hunting expeditions and life-threatening encounters while stalking game and records details of life in early frontier America, western Maryland folkways and early settlement life.
(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 gun powder and lead for shot.
Meshach Browning married Mary McMullen (1781–1839) on 13 April 1799 at Blooming Rose, Maryland. His military experience was restricted to a brief commission as captain of a company of militia which went into action only once, and that on the occasion of a muster when they undertook to “lick” their commander, with whom they had become disgruntled. (The mutineers apparently got the worst of it.)
Browning became an expert in woodcraft
and wild animal behavior and habitats. His pursuit of the abundant white-tailed deer
, black bear
, panthers and wolves
through the "western wilderness" became legendary. This wilderness was the Allegheny Mountains
, especially in Garrett County, Maryland
and the surrounding regions of what is now West Virginia
. After his first wife's death, he married Mary M. Smith, on 24 April 1841 in Allegany County, Maryland
.
Browning and his son-in-law, Dominick Mattingly, were selected to collect donations to build a church at Johnstown, Maryland
. The result of their labors was St. James Church, dedicated in 1853 under the pastorate of Rev. William Lambert and prosperous for many years.
Youghiogheny River
The Youghiogheny River , or the Yough for short, is a tributary of the Monongahela River in the U.S. states of West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania...
s. His memoir is Forty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter (1859). He has been celebrated as Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
's most famous frontier hunter.
Browning's memoir of his "hunting-fever" years (1795–1839) and other activities was originally penned with a turkey
Wild Turkey
The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey .Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green...
quill. Half backwoods history, half heroic adventure story, it recounts his hunting expeditions and life-threatening encounters while stalking game and records details of life in early frontier America, western Maryland folkways and early settlement life.
Biography
Browning's father was an English soldier who escaped from Braddock's massacreBraddock expedition
The Braddock expedition, also called Braddock's campaign or, more commonly, Braddock's Defeat, was a failed British military expedition which attempted to capture the French Fort Duquesne in the summer of 1755 during the French and Indian War. It was defeated at the Battle of the Monongahela on...
(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 gun powder and lead for shot.
Meshach Browning married Mary McMullen (1781–1839) on 13 April 1799 at Blooming Rose, Maryland. His military experience was restricted to a brief commission as captain of a company of militia which went into action only once, and that on the occasion of a muster when they undertook to “lick” their commander, with whom they had become disgruntled. (The mutineers apparently got the worst of it.)
Browning became an expert in woodcraft
Woodcraft
Woodcraft is a recreational/educational program devised by Ernest Thompson Seton in 1902, for young people based on camping, outdoor skills and woodcrafts. Thompson Seton's Woodcraft ideas were incorporated into the early Scout movement, but also in many other organisations in many countries.In the...
and wild animal behavior and habitats. His pursuit of the abundant white-tailed deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
, black bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
, panthers and wolves
Timber Wolf
Timber Wolf, Timberwolf, Timber Wolves or Timberwolves might refer to:-Animals:* Any subspecies of Canis lupus, the Gray wolf, which inhabits forested areas...
through the "western wilderness" became legendary. This wilderness was the Allegheny Mountains
Allegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...
, especially in Garrett County, Maryland
Garrett County, Maryland
Garrett County is the westernmost county of the U.S. state of Maryland. Created from Allegany County, Maryland in 1872 it was the last Maryland county to be formed. It was named for John Work Garrett , railroad executive, industrialist, and financier. Garrett served as president of the Baltimore...
and the surrounding regions of what is now West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. After his first wife's death, he married Mary M. Smith, on 24 April 1841 in Allegany County, Maryland
Allegany County, Maryland
Allegany County is a county located in the northwestern part of the US state of Maryland. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 75,087. Its county seat is Cumberland...
.
Browning and his son-in-law, Dominick Mattingly, were selected to collect donations to build a church at Johnstown, Maryland
Johnstown, Maryland
Johnstown is an unincorporated community in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. Preston-on-the-Patuxent was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.-References:...
. The result of their labors was St. James Church, dedicated in 1853 under the pastorate of Rev. William Lambert and prosperous for many years.
Legacy
- In 1859, a reviewer of Browning’s newly published book noted that his family, founded in 1800, had increased “fifty years later to one hundred and twenty-two, of whom sixty-seven, as their progenitor says proudly, were ‘capable of bearing arms for the defence of their country,’— though, to be sure, the Harper's Ferry affair leaves us in some doubt as to the direction in which they would bear them.”
- Browning’s account of his fight with an unexpectedly formidable buck in the Youghiogheny River inspired Arthur Fitzwilliam TaitArthur Fitzwilliam TaitArthur Fitzwilliam Tait was an American artist who is known mostly for his paintings of wildlife. During most of his career, he was associated with the New York City art scene.-Biography:...
(1819-1905) — the great AdirondackAdirondack MountainsThe Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
artist and deer hunter — to paint the scene in 1861 (The Life of a Hunter: Catching a Tartar). The same year Currier and IvesCurrier and IvesCurrier and Ives was a successful American printmaking firm headed by Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives . Based in New York City from 1834–1907, the prolific firm produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black and white lithographs that were hand colored...
published a hand-colored lithograph of Tait’s black and white painting, thus immortalizing the incident.
- A Maryland Historical Marker states Browning was Garrett County's most famous hunter, killing 2,000 deer and 500 bear during this 40 year period. This marker lies within eyesight of Browning's grave at St. Dominic's Catholic Cemetery in Hoye, Maryland.
- In 1890, St. James Church was rebuilt under the pastorate of Rev. Romanus Mattingly. The name was changed from to St. Dominic Church (St. Dominic being the patron saint of Dominick Mattingly, who was a zealous Catholic. His wife, Ann Browning, was Meshach's daughter.) The church was located on the road opposite the Mattingly homestead in what is now Hoye, Maryland, and the cemetery adjoining contains the graves of Meshach Browning, D. J. Mattingly, and many of their descendants.
Works
- Browning, Meshach (1859), Forty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter; Being Reminiscences of Meshach Browning, a Maryland Hunter; Roughly Written Down by Himself, Revised and illustrated by E. Stabler. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.. (Many reprints include the twelve hunting scene engravings by Edward Stabler [1794-1883].)