Books with author Meshach Browning

Meshach Browning (1781 - 1859) was an early backwoodsman, hunter and explorer of the watersheds of the North Branch Potomac and Youghiogheny Rivers in Maryland. His memoir is Forty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter (1859). He has been celebrated as Maryland's most famous frontier hunter.Meshach Browning was one of the pioneer hunters in Preston county. In 1859, the year of his death also, he published an "Autobiography," setting forth thrilling accounts of his life as a hunter. The reliability of Mr. Browning's work is vouched for by such authorities as Judge Thomas Perry of the Fourth Judicial District of Pennsylvania and others who knew the correctness of many things that appear strange, almost miraculous. His work is entitled, "Forty-Four Years in the Life of a Hunter." During that time Mr. Browning killed nearly 2,000 deer, 500 bears, about 50 panthers, more than 1,000 rattlesnakes, and scores of wolves and other beasts. Many of them were in Preston county. He was not a very large man, but a powerful man physically and an athlete of great note. On two occasions he entered the bears' cave and fought with the bruins in their den. 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."Forty-four Years of the Life of a Maryland Hunter," related with all the good sense, sincerity, modesty, unconscious force and rustic humor of an unlettered man, who struggled with his grammar as he had struggled with bears, and steered his pen with as many and as honest misgivings as he would have handled the latest pattern of Winchester fowlingpiece in all its elaborate up-to-dateness; for this was the sort of hunter who aforetime confronted the catamount or the bear with a crippled flintlock, bandaged with a shoestring.By the older denizens of all this region the memory of this man is kept reverently green, for he was the patriarch of the Glades. Browning was in his eightieth year in 1859, when his book was published, and was the nestor of the community of woodmen, hunters and anglers which had been growing up around him for half a century— a conspicuous personality among the stalwart mountaineers and the honored forbear of a progeny of brave men and handsome women, who revered him for his integrity, his strong, crude intellect, his dauntless courage, his generosity, his tenderness, his ingenuous modesty. His book is no compilation of fish stories and hunters' yarns; almost every page is marked by his shrinking sensitiveness, lest his reader may regard him as a braggart or a liar. The lad Meshach grew to be the hero of every other man's talk in his little mountain republic, to be saluted for a preeminence of which he was unconscious. I have said that in his story he reminds me of the fine chivalry the generous pride of Jules Gerard — that brave and intrepid chevalier who went out to meet the Algerian lion alone in the moonlight. Meshach Browning says of the bear: "A bold, undaunted beast; not apt to quarrel with others, but if any trespass on his rights, then furious and vindictive. I admire and love the bear, because he would insult neither man nor beast, nor will he suffer either to insult him." But the panther "is a great sneak," and to be scorned—" cowardly, treacherous and cruel." Stories of “flood and field” are always interesting, alike to old and to young; but this Volume is even more fascinating than works of its class usually are. The author makes no attempt at display, but tells his experience with a native simplicity that is not the least alluring part of the book. Numerous engravings illustrate the text. Originally published in 1859; reformatted for the Kindle; may contain an occasion

Meshach Browning spent decades as a professional hunter and trapper of bears, boars and deer in rural Maryland during the early 1800s – this is his story, in his own words.Born in modest circumstances, Browning grew up at a time when the United States as a nation was in its infancy, with much of the population living in rural areas. From his youth, the author vowed to be self-sufficient, leaving his home and first love to hone his abilities as a hunter. Returning with money gained from selling pelts and meat, it is then that Meshach contemplates hunting as a career.The equipment used by the author is much inferior to that of the modern day. Meshach’s use of a musket – a gun whose reliability is demonstrated as poor in several instances – leads him to rely on his skills in close quarters combat. On multiple hunts, described with stunning vividness in these pages, Browning’s ability to battle animals in melee saves his life. The dangers of his trade are balanced by its lucrativeness: bear meat and pelt for instance fetched high prices on the open market.Though his life’s work is the primary subject, Meshach Browning shows a tender side when describing his first marriage; his loving wife Mary bore him several children. In later chapters, he proudly teaches his sons the craft which sustained their family for so many years.

In Western Maryland the inhabitants have been lucky, one of their first ancestor settlers poured the life he carved there and his unique and sometimes gritty soul out onto paper, using a turkey quill he fashioned himself. Thanks to modern facilities we are now all lucky enough to be able to read this treasure and absorb the sense of magic and fear that some of the earliest settlers felt in the New World. Originally put onto a limited run in 1859, Forty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter documents the life of a woodsman, hunter and family man in virgin American territory, stalking game in the wild woods, and detailing the flora and fauna only so recently disturbed. This reprint of the classic text is partially a history of a specific and extinct style of life but also an emotional and heroic story full of adventure. Meshach Browning's hunts spanned the wild territories of Appalachia, West Maryland and Virginia, always guided by the pursuit of skittish and swift white tailed deer. Surviving desperate times and death defying competitions with wolves, formidable bucks, bears and even reputedly panthers, Meschach Browning became the proud patriarch of a large and industrious family in a growing settlement. Without the immeasurable benefit of his memoirs we might never have known the stories he may once have told his grandchildren. The reader is at liberty to picture the old hunter watching embers burn down of an evening and imparting his wisdom, but thankfully due to his handmade quill and dogged determination you need not rely only on imagination and can know what he saw and how he felt through his own words. About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Meshach Browning spent decades as a professional hunter and trapper of bears, boars and deer in rural Maryland during the early 1800s - this is his story, in his own words. Born in modest circumstances, Browning grew up at a time when the USA as a nation was in its infancy, with much of the population living in rural areas. From his youth, the author vowed to be self-sufficient, leaving his home and first love to hone his hunting skills. Returning with money gained from selling pelts and meat, it is then that Meshach contemplates hunting as a career. The equipment the author used is much inferior to today's. Meshach's use of a musket gun - whose reliability is demonstrated as poor in several instances - leads him to rely on his skills in close quarters combat. On multiple hunts, described with stunning vividness in these pages, Browning's ability to battle animals in melee saves his life. Dangers of his trade are balanced by its lucrativeness: bear meat and pelt for instance fetched high prices.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.