In the 19th century, a few people, including Ben Franklin, experimented with electricity for science or entertainment. Joseph Priestly wrote the book The History and Present State of Electricity, with original experiments in 1769. One image from the book, at left.
An Ellicott descendant related in his 1882 book how some grandsons of the founders set up electrical devices around the stove in the Ellicott's store in order to shock unsuspecting locals.
"This belief in the magical power of the Ellicotts was further induced in consequence of certain electrical contrivances which some of the boys had constructed in the store [c1789], and had so fixed as to operate with startling effect upon incomers. The nature of electricity being unknown to the uninformed in that locality, the simple rustic on approaching the stove to warm, found himself violently shaken as if his limbs would part from his body, while the young Ellicotts around were convulsed with laughter. The "boys" were the sons of Jonathan, Elias and George Ellicott, and were proverbially mischievous, both at Ellicott's Mills and in Baltimore."
Evans, Charles W. Biographical and Historical Accounts of the Fox, Ellicott, and Evans Families. Buffalo: 1882
Priestly, Joseph. The History and Present State of Electricity, with original experiments 2d ed. London: 1769 (over 700 pages). More sketches on pages 248, 478, 488, 494, 496, 502. HERE
©2025 Patricia Bixler Reber
Forgotten history of Ellicott City & Howard County MD
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