The South Mountain Hennery Company

*This story originates from the community of Locust Valley, a small village centered on the fork of Mountain Church and Marker Roads about two miles north of Burkittsville.

The Marker Family played a leading role in the growth and development of Locust Valley as a thriving center for agribusiness in the early-twentieth century. John H. Marker moved his family from the Myersville area to Locust Valley in 1911 when he purchased the large dairy farm of the late Daniel Sigler. Within four years, he and his sons William and Dorye opened a general store at the entrance to the farm which would go on to serve Locust Valley for the next half century. The brothers expanded the services of their business through adding machinery to grind cornmeal and hominy, building an ice cream plant, and providing long and short distance hauling. They also butchered hogs at the store for local families.

Brothers Dorye Davis Marker (left) and William Carleton Marker (right). Photograph courtesy of Teresa Burtner Kachermeyer.

In the early-1920s, William and Dorye Marker began experimenting with a medicine that could rid poultry of lice, mites, and other health maladies. They invented a “powder-like compound” called “Blue Mist Poultry Inhaler” which they began offering for sale as early as 1925. A patent was secured for “Blue Mist” and the Marker’s soon added another product, “All Medicine Tonic” to their business. By this time, William and Dorye were operating their poultry-related business venture as the South Mountain Hennery Company. A photograph of Marker’s General Store in Locust Valley from around 1930 shows a billboard atop the roof of the storeroom which advertised the Hennery Company.

Marker's General Store in Locust Valley with the South Mountain Hennery Company billboard atop its roof.

The Marker Brothers took the next steps in their growing agribusiness venture in 1931 when the South Mountain Hennery Company was incorporated as a joint stock operation, offering 500 shares valued at $100 each. At the time time, William and Dorye moved their long and short distance hauling service and their wholesale fruit, produce, and livestock businesses into a second joint stock company called “Marker Brothers, Incorporated.” This move coincided with Dorye Marker’s sale of the Locust Valley general store to Edwin Freed and the opening of Marker’s Cash Market in downtown Frederick. At the time of the sale in March 1931, the Locust Valley store was “one of the largest in the Middletown valley, handling approximately $50,000 worth of stock annually” according to “The Valley Register.”

Article announcing the incorporation of South Mountain Hennery Company and Marker Brothers, Inc. From "The Baltimore Sun" of September 11, 1931.

A promotional letter for "Blue Mist Poultry Inhaler," from the Frederick County Archives and Research Center, Heritage Frederick.

Early-1930s advertisement for the Hennery distributed by William C. Marker.

Throughout the early-1930s, the Hennery Company raised and sold chicks and ducklings. A large pond was created on the property behind the general store and William Marker’s house which appeared in advertising for the poultry business. Newspaper ads indicate that the Hennery Company's "Blue Mist" and other medical products were being sold as far away as Rapid City, South Dakota.
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However, the future of the South Mountain Hennery Company was significantly impacted when on July 12, 1934, William C. Marker was killed in an automobile accident in Knoxville. His wife Betty carried on his part in the Hennery Company for a few years, advertising chicks for sale as later as July 1936. In August 1938, “The News” of Frederick reported that the South Mountain Hennery Company was dissolved, bringing an end to this chapter of the Marker Family’s businesses in Locust Valley.

In this view of Locust Valley, the buildings that once housed the Marker's General Store and the South Mountain Hennery Company can be seen on the left.

Dorye Marker continued managing Marker Brothers, Inc., for some time after William’s death. In 1942, Dorye sold his Cash Market in Frederick to the American Stores Company and afterwards focused on his dairy farm in Locust Valley until his death on March 22, 1947.