James & Maggie Larsh

April 3rd marks 112 years since the death of Dr. James C. Larsh.

An honest man the noblest work of God He was an honor to his profession by his devotion to his duties

Dr. James C. Larsh was born on January 1, 1821, the son of Charles L. Larsh and Rebecca Rachel Richardson.  His father was a veteran of the War of 1812, having served as a private in Captain Levering's Company of Independent Blues.  When James was eight years old, his father passed away;  Charles was just 32 years old.  His mother was married a second time on December 4, 1832 to Samuel P. Storm.

James attended first Georgetown College and later the Maryland University School of Medicine, graduating in 1842.  In the 1850 census, James was living on his own in Baltimore's first district, with real estate valued at $2,500.  Interestingly, his stepfather was the census enumerator named at the top of the page.

On October 13, 1857, James married Maggie E. Haughey, the daughter of Thomas Haughey and Mary Devries.  In the 1860 census, the couple were living in the Woolerys District of Carroll County, with real estate valued at $8,000.

In 1863, James registered for the draft in Baltimore County's fourth district, though I can find no record of him fighting in the Civil War.

A few years after the war, James inherited property at 308 Main Street in Reisterstown, near the Methodist Church.  From a Historic Sites Inventory survey completed in 1978:

"Charles and Rachel had had two children before he died.  James C. Larsh was the eldest and Washington Gardner the second son.  In 1867, James C. Larsh was deeded property which had been his younger brother's.  Washington had willed property to James and his mother, stepfather and stepbrothers and sister in 1849.  He had sailed to California and was never heard from again.  James' portion plus that from his mother, stepfather and stepbrothers and sister were deeded to him in 1867. ... It was Dr. Larsh who probably built the brick structure there today."

An 1877 map of Main Street shows two properties owned by James Larsh, marked in red: 308 Main Street, and a smaller plot just a bit further north.

From census records, the Larsh household changed little over the next few years.  By 1870 census, James and Maggie were living in Reisterstown, and employed a 10-year-old domestic servant, Jennie Jones.  James' real estate was now valued at $1,350.  In the 1880 census they had a different servant, 18-year-old Moses Oats.  Based on these records, it seems James and Maggie never had any children - or at least, none that survived past infancy.

 

Over those years, James gradually lost members of this family:  his mother Rebecca passed away on July 28, 1875 at the age of 75;  his wife Maggie passed away on August 14, 1886 at the age of 47;  and his stepfather Samuel Storm passed away on April 9, 1893, aged 85 years.  All were buried in the same row at the Reisterstown Cemetery.

"In God her trust"

In full faith she left us.

James did not remarry, and so the 1900 census finds him a widower, now retired and living at 506 North Calvert Street in Baltimore City.  He had a housekeeper, Annie C. Steinockle, a widow from Washington, D.C.

Dr. James Larsh passed away a year later, on April 3, 1901 in Baltimore City, at the age of 80.  A few days later, the Baltimore Sun had a brief article detailing James's will, leaving his possessions and property to his half-siblings and their children.

James' half-siblings were:

• Edwin L. Storm, who died on April 17, 1867 in Reisterstown, husband of Sarah Keagey
• Samuel W. Storm, who died on January 16, 1916 in Baltimore City, husband of (1) Rosalie C. Hancock & (2) Blanche Hackette
• Juliette Rebecca Storm, who died on March 18, 1909 in Baltimore City, unmarried

Sources:
Ancestry.com (census records, map, and draft record)

• Year: 1850; Census Place: District 1, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: M432_280; Page: 373B.
• Year: 1860; Census Place: Woolerys, Carroll, Maryland; Roll: M653_471; Page: 735.
• Year: 1870; Census Place: Reisterstown, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: M593_569; Page: 278A.
• Year: 1880; Census Place: District 4, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 495; Page: 570C.
• Year: 1900; Census Place: Ward 13, Baltimore City, Maryland; Roll: 613; Page: 7A.

Baltimore Sun

• "Dr. James C. Larsh." Date: 5 April 1901; Page: 6.
• "Property Left By Will." Date: 10 April 1901; Page: 7.

Maryland Archives (marriage & death records, Historic Sites Inventory Survey)

Reisterstown Library

• Reister's Desire by Lillian Bayly Marks, 1975.

Cemetery photos © AgateGS