William McHose (1769-1826): Silver Spring Township Stone Mason

Salem Church on the Carlisle Pike in Hampden Township, the three-span stone bridge at Fisher’s Fording (Houston’s Mill), and many substantial stone houses east of Carlisle were built by William McHose and his brother John between the years 1810 and 1826.

Jeremiah Zeamer, editor of the American Volunteer newspaper, and a native of Silver Spring Township, published many articles about the history of the township and its families. One of the families that he wrote about was the McHose’s.¹

Zeamer wrote that the McHose brothers “in their time were famous stone masons and quite a number of large buildings in that part of the county yet stand (in 1900) as enduring monuments to their workmanship and enterprise.” In 1812, they built the large stone house on Daniel Hoy’s farm (owner in 1900). They also built a stone house a short distance from Hoy’s on a farm long owned by the Spangler family. About a mile east of the Hoy farm they built a stone house on the James Angeny farm.

William McHose also built bridges. In 1825, he built the three-span stone bridge at Fisher’s Fording (Houston’s Mill) on the Conodoguinet Creek. The bill for a portion of his fee was submitted to the Cumberland County Commissioners for payment in 1825.² A bill to the Commissioners for McHose’s repairs to the bridge at Fleming’s Fording is dated 1826.³ Zeamer also noted that in 1826 William McHose erected the new St. John’s Episcopal Church on the Square in Carlisle.

William McHose was born on October 4, 1769. He and his sisters Susanna, Esther and Anna McHose were all baptized in1792 at the Lower Saucon United Church of Christ in Hellertown, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.⁴ Sometime between 1802 and 1805, William bought land in East Pennsborough Township (later Silver Spring Township) and moved his family to Cumberland County. William McHose died on August 24, 1826 in his 58^th year and is buried in the cemetery at St. John’s Lutheran (Peace) Church.