While most of the Sharpsburg branch of the Bolinger family moved west in 1862, one of Johann Gottlieb (John G.) Bolinger’s sons remained in Sharpsburg, later moving to Hagerstown. John C. Bolinger, the second oldest of the surviving children of Johann Gottlieb and Mary Cronise, was born in 1841 and by 1862 would have been 21. Below is John talking with a customer in front of his grocery store located at 67e Franklin, corner of Locust in central Hagerstown.
John C. Bolinger’s obituary, published in the Jan. 17 ?), 1929 issue of the Hagerstown newspaper, said that he was one of the oldest and best known citizens of Hagerstown, having been born and reared in Hagerstown and was the son of John G. and Mary Cronise Bolinger. At the age of 20 he enlisted in the Union Army and served as a musician in the First Maryland Infantry under Colonel John R. Kenly. He served until the close of the war. For 20 years he was engaged in business in Sharpsburg, returning to Hagerstown in 1888. Then he worked for a time in the store of J.H. Beachley, spent a year in Shelbyville, Ill. and in 1898 engaged in the real estate business with the Old Land Co. He was very successful in this business and in 10 years sold 3,000 lots.”