The stories of two successful early farmers tell much about Cloverly’s pas – one was white, one was black, and both still live on in local memories.
Charles T. Hill (1853-1942) spent his boyhood with Asa Stablers much as an adopted son; he housed, fed, and clothed him and taught him to work. He needed little teaching; Asa Stabler, who had four boys of his own, often said, “I raised five sons, and Charlie Hill was the best.” Frugal to a fault, Charlie saved, saved, and saved. At mid-life he was able to buy a farm, 149 acres on Norwood Road, from Robert H. Millers. Soon he was running High Ridge Dairy with 100 cows and a milk wagon, which also carried passengers who sat on milk cans for five cents for a round trip to and from Washington.
Joseph Harding (1822-1894) bought 200 acres as a young man, cleared most of it, and built a log house on today’s Harding Lane. He began raising potatoes and eventually became known as the Potato King of Montgomery County. He served as toll keeper at the Ednor toll booth and he founded a small Free Methodist Church in Cloverly that eventually relocated in Spencerville. He established a family cemetery and the first Hardings he buried were his wife Elizabeth Moore and one of their five children. Soon after the Civil War he built the three-story Ash Grove, a substantial home reflecting a hard-working farmer’s success.