The “alley” referenced above used to have a two-story house on it with the address of 311 North Stokes Street (now demolished) and was owned originally by this Charshee family. That small lot now adjoins the rear of 563 Green Street lot and is part of that property.

The Charshee House on the northeast corner of Green and Stokes Streets was built by Bennett Whittingham Charshee (1822-1902), a carpenter by trade, who advertised in the Madisonian, a local newspaper, in 1856 “Steam sash, door, shutter and frame manufactory, moldings and pilasters. . . Ives and Charshee.” His wife was Catherine (Kate) Virginia Cook Charshee (1830-1918). In the mid-1800s, Bennett Charshee began managing the DuBois Lumber and Planing Mill (on the water at the foot of Bourbon and Fountain Streets), which he did for the next 45 years. He also was active in local politics, serving on the City Council a few times.

Bennett and Kate Charshee had five daughters and one son, Bennett Whittingham Charshee, Jr. (1860-1897). One of his daughters, Winifred Charshee (1866-1963), married Walter E. Burns (1866-1943) of the nearby Burns Brothers Carriage Factory. Another daughter, Suzanne Charshee, married Edward A. Zeitler (1858-1931), a well-known pharmacist in town; Cora Charshee was married to Edward C. Kenly who was killed by a train in 1909; and Kate Charshee married George Allen Miller and died in 1936, seven years before her husband. Born in 1851 was Missouri Wyatt Charshee, a spunky and feisty lady, who married Franklyn Pierce Cord (1850-1923) and moved to Hagerstown, Maryland. Franklyn worked as a conductor on the Norfolk & Western Railroad and one time while he was away working, a burglar entered the Cord home. Missouri stood her ground, grabbed a loaded revolver and, according to the local newspaper, foiled the would-be burglar’s efforts “with the business end of a revolver staring him in the face.” Missouri died in 1916. Bennett Charshee, Jr. was a “druggist” whose daughter, Reba (1895-1987), married Austin L. Baker, of the large Aberdeen canned food company, C.W. Baker & Sons.

This property was owned by the Charshee family since being built around 1850 by Bennett and Kate Charshee and they raised their children here. The house here, with the name "Charshee," is shown on the "Jennings and Herrick Map of Harford County - 1858. "It then descended through family members and spouses until 1966, during which family marriages and funeral services were all held at St. John’s Church. This house may have had a smaller wing added to it.

In 1966, during an ownership dispute before the Circuit Court between Thomas Raymond Charshee (1891-1978), grandson of Bennett W. Charshee vs. Mary Charshee Duncan, the Court appointed a Trustee to sell the property at public sale. The new owners were Errol Hoch (1937-2015) and Susan Jane Hoch. The Hoch family may have enclosed the porch with other renovations after they purchased it in 1966. One of their seven children was Heidi Hoch who married Larry “Hank” Allen Schnakenberg, Jr., who died at the age of only 37 in 2010. Errol Hoch officiated at his son-in-law’s funeral. Another of their daughters, Susan Lee Sunderland, died in 2015, the same year that her father died.

This large corner property continues to be owned by Susan Hoch.

County Records
Built 1900. 2128 sq ft, 1 bath, 2 stories, no basement, 5044 sq ft lot.