The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2, Part 1

Author: National Biographical Publishing Co. 4n
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Baltimore : National Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 802

USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 1
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 1

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.

Gc 975.2 B52 pt. 2 1912250

REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02256 1929

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016

https://archive.org/details/biographicalcycl02nati

193

359.

THE

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA

REPRESENTATIVE MEN

MARYLAND

R AND

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

BALTIMORE: NATIONAL BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING CO. 1879.

1TO KYO JABIHTAHDOIT

1912250

359

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

mate and valued friend of Reuben's father ( Henry Jamar). Young Reuben's education was obtained at the Newark and Elkton academies. After leaving school he adopted the mechanical calling of his father, and prosecuted the business with energy and success until 1849, when he was appointed an Inspector of Customs in the Baltimore Cus- tom-house by Colonel George P. Kane, Collector under the administration of President Millard Fillmore. This . was Mr. Jamar's first entrance on public life. Four years previously he had been the candidate of the Whig party for the office of Sheriff, and though the county was so largely Democratic, Mr. Jamar ran so far ahead of his yourticket that his election was lost by only a few votes, Mr. ThorJamar remained Inspector of Customs until 1852, when he dem was appointed to a position on the Old Union Line be- tween Baltimore and Philadelphia, by Isaac R. Trimble, - then General Superintendent. He was soon transferred to a more important position on the Philadelphia, Wil- mington, and Baltimore Railroad. Here, by his courteous manners and proverbial urbanity, he made hosts of friends, and won and retained the confidence and respect of all connected with the management of the road. While thus employed the death of his brother James Henry, in 1855, created a vacancy in the office of Register of Wills, and though the judges of the Orphans' Court at that time were of opposite politics to Reuben Jamar, yet they selected and appointed him to fill the unexpired term. The Rail- road Company, not being willing to lose the services of Mr. Jamar, he continued his relation to the railroad, and had the duties of the office of Register of Wills performed by James W. Maxwell, Esq., a young lawyer of great per- sonal popularity. In 1866 Mr. Jumnar resigned his position with the Railroad Company, and engaged in the grain commission business at Elkton in connection with William B. Thomas, the well-known flour and grain dealer of Phila- delphia. In 1867 he was elected Register of Wills, and at the end of a six years' term, in 1873, he was re-elected to the same office. In his official capacity he was a pains- . taking, courteous, and obliging officer, commanding the esteem and respect of all, irrespective of party. Fre his term of office had expired, December 1, 1878, Mr. Jamar died, and the vacancy occasioned by his death was filled by the Orphans' Court, by the appointment of his son, Reuben Emory Jamar, the present occupant. Thus for . more than fourteen years the Jamar family have, by the popular voice of the county and the selection by the Orphans' Court, been continuously in that office, On March 6, 1838, Mr. Jamar was married to Annie Re- becca, a daughter of John IL. and Sophia Ford, of Cecil County. The Fords'are of English descent. Charles, the progenitor of the family in Maryland, emigrated from ", Cheshire, England (date not known), and located on Bohe- . mia Manor, near St. Augustine, and continued to reside there until his death, April 24, 1765. His son John pur- chased and lived on " Old Field's Point Raum," on Elk

River, opposite " Court-house Point," so-called because the court-house of the county was then located there. On this farm he built a large mansion house of brick, imported from England, which is still standing and in good repair. Between these points was a publie ferry. Bishops Coke and Asbury often rested for days at Mr. Ford's hospitable man- sion. John Ford's son, John Hyland Ford, was the father of Mrs. Reuben D. Jamar. He with Henry Jamar was a pio- neer Methodist in Elkton, and one of the trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in that place. He was much esteemed as an energetic, useful man, of pure life and Christian virtues. Mrs. Jamar's mother was the daughter of Jeremiah and Catharine Cosden, whose parents emi. grated from England and purchased and settled on what is now known as the " Ferry Farm," on Bohemia River, now owned and occupied by the Ilon. William M. Knight, The surviving children of Reuben D. and Annie R. Jamar - are, Alethea Sophia, who married Dr. John E. Owens, now residing and practicing his profession in Chicago; Amie R. ; Cora A. ; Dr. John H., who is successfully practicing medicine in his native town and vicinity, and who mar- ried Margaret, daughter of William and Mary E. Hollings. worth; Reuben Emory, who succeeded his father in the office of Register of Wills, and who married Victoria B., daughter of James E. and Henrietta Barroll ; Mitchell F., who graduated at West Point and is now in the army with the rank of Lieutenant ; and Edward W., ticket agent of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago. Dr. John E. and Annie R. Owens have one child, Marie. Dr. John 11. and Margaret Jamar have four children, John Rowland Jamar, Mary Hollingsworth Jamar, Sophia Cosinne Jamar, and Isabel Jamar. Reuben Emory and Victoria B. Jamar have three children, Henrietta Jamar, Laura C. Jamar, and Victoria Barroll Jamar, Mr. Reuben D. Jamar was a member of the Masonic Order and of the Odd Fellows. Ile was a liberal supporter of the Church and of the edu. cational interests of the town, and was always a friend to the poor. He was a true friend and a useful citizen. The writer of this sketch knew him well and enjoyed his friend- ship for nearly forty years,

DAGRAW, REV. JAMES, Clergyman and Educator, was born in Bart Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1775. His father, G Jolin Magraw, a native of Kilkenny, Ireland, hav- ing 'been compelled to flee his muive land, because of his connection with a secret political elub, which was regarded as inimical to the British Government, fled first to Gibraltar, and thence to this country, and settled in Pen- sylvania. Being well educated, be taught school at Upper Octorara, and other places in Lancaster County, Pennsyl. vania. Ile was a volunteer soldier in a Pennsylvania

360

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

regiment during the entire Revolutionary war, and was in most of the battles in Eastern Pennsylvania, Dela- ware, and New Jersey. He was at Valley Forge, and crossed the Delaware with Washington, and was wounded at the battle of Princeton. Ile married Jane Kerr, of Middle Octorara, and died December 22, 1818, aged sixty-eight. Their son James, the subject of this sketch, received his primary education at a classical school near Strasburg, Pennsylvania, and afterwards entered Franklin College, at Lancaster city, where he was graduated with honor. In 1800 he entered upon the study of theology, under the Rey. Nathaniel Sample, pastor of the churches of Leacock and Middle Octorara. In the same year he was received as a candidate for the Gospel ministry by the Presbytery of New Castle. On December 16, 1801, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Middletown, Pennsylvania, and appointed to supply several charges. In 1802 he was sent on a mission tour to Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. In 1803 he received calls from Washington and Buffalo, in Pennsylvania, and from West Nottingham, in Cecil Coun- ty, Maryland. After mature consideration he accepted the call to West Nottingham, and April 4, 1804, was or- dained and installed pastor by the Presbytery of New Castle. The society at that time was comparatively feeble, but it steadily prospered under Mr. Magraw's ministry, and at the time of his death it was a large and flourishing con- gregation. In 1810 the Upper West Nottingham Church was organized, and Mr. Magraw served that church also until 1821. In 1822 he organized a church at Charlestown and remained its pastor until his death, after which the church at that place became extinct. In 1825 Dickinson College conferred upon Mr. Magraw the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Dr. Magraw was a prominent and influential member of the church courts. He took a decided and active part with the Old School, in the church controversy which commenced in 1831, and issued in 1837 in the division of the Church into New and Old School. In reference to the part he sustained in this controversy the Rev. Robert J. Breckenridge, D.D., said, " Beyond a doubt the great chapter in Dr. Magiaw's life was his connection with the . reform of the Presbyterian Church from 1831 until his death." He was a member of the General Assembly of 1834, also an active member of the Convention of Ministers and Elders that met in Philadelphia, and drew up and signed the famous " Act and Testimony." In 1812, through the ageney of Dr. Magraw, the West Nottingham Academy was established. After a few years of indifferent success and frequent changes of teachers, he became its principal, and continued to hold that relation until his death. Under his management this institution attained a high reputation. Students were attracted to it from distant parts of the country, and many who have and still hold prominent positions in business, political, and professional life, re- ceived their education at this academy. Dr. Magraw was emphatically a man of action. Ilis administrative abilities

were of a high order. Ile faithfully discharged the duties of his pastoral charge; efficiently superintended the West Nottingham Academy ; was an earnest worker in the tem- perance reform in its infancy ; and amid all these labors, successfully managed the large farm on which he resided. In person Dr. Magraw was tall, somewhat corpulent, and had a robust and. vigorous constitution. Endowed with high intellectual powers, of strong will, affable and agree- able manners, he exercised a great influence over his fel- low-men and commanded their respect. On December 6, 1803, he married Rebekah, daughter of Stephen and Jane Cochran, of Cochranville, Chester County, Pennsylvania. She died December 1, 1834, aged fifty-four years. He sur- vived his wife and died October 20, 1835, aged 60 years. Ilis sons, all of whom are now deceased, and who were men of mark and prominence, were James Cochran Magraw, born September 12, 1804, chied July 3, 1868; Stephen John Ma- graw, born September 10, 1806, died September 29, 1848; Samuel Martin Magraw, born January 9, 1809, now de- ceased ; Robert Mitchell Magraw, born March 14, 1811, died June 13, 1866; Henry Slaymaker Magraw, born De- cember 17, 1815, died February 1, 1867; William Miller Finney Magraw, born May 26, 1818, now deceased. Dr. Magraw had two daughters, Jane Eliza, born March 30, 1813, died November 30, 1826; Ann Isabella, born Janu- ary 30, 1821, died October 27, 1847. Quite a number of his grandchildren are now living, and occupy prominent positions as agrienlturists, business, and professional men.

OPKINSON, MOSES ATWOOD, D.D.S., was born in East Bradford, near the Merrimac River, in Essex County, Massachusetts, July 24, 1824. ITis mother, Maria Atwood Hopkinson, an accomplished lady, died during his infancy. His father, William Hopkinson, an architect, contractor, and builder, was at one time engaged in the tobacco business, and was for many years the town clerk and town treasurer ; and his ancestors for many generations lived, died, and were buried in that town. They were of English descent, and were remotely related to Francis Hopkinson, signer of the Declaration of Independence. His grandfather married Hannah Balch, a daughter of the first minister of Bradford. A remarkable trait of the Hopkinson family has always been a love of personal independence. The town of Brad- ford was noted for its academies. The principal of Brad- ford Academy was Benjamin Greenleaf, 'the celebrated mathematician. Merrimac Academy had students from the remotest parts of the country. After receiving an educa- tion at this school, the subject of this sketch, at the age of eighteen, obtained the position of Principal of one of the public schools in Amesbury. This school had previously been taught by the poet Whittier. Young Hopkinson sub-

361

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

sequently held the position of Principal of a successful pri- vate school in the adjoining town of Haverhill. The con- finement incident to this employment was unsuited to his tastes and habits; and as it was his early intention to be- come a medical practitioner, he adopted teaching as a tem. porary employment. He therefore abandoned it, and at the last moment of delay before entering on professional studies, chose dentistry as his future vocation. After an extended and expensive course of private tuition in Boston, he removed to Baltimore in 1847-that city containing at that time the only dental college in the United States, where he graduated in 1849. HIe immediately entered upon a successful practice in Baltimore. Since the era of cheap dentistry he has been preparing to retire from the profession ; and of late years has been known to business men by his connection with commercial agencies. Dr. Hopkinson has been twice married, once at the residence of the Roman Catholic Archbishop in Baltimore, and once at the Church of the Epiphany in Washington. His first wife, whom he married in 1853, and by whom he had a son (Merrill) and a daughter ( Emily), was Miss Lizzie Frailey, a sister of the late Commodore Frailey, of the United States Navy. Ifis second wife died in 1874. Dr. Hopkinson has always been a. Democrat. IIe was, however, a. member of the Municipal Reform Convention of 1873, but be- came convinced that the surest and best way to accom- plish reform is within the party. He was a member of the Tilden and Hendricks Club of the Eleventh Ward in Bal- timore in 1876; but never sought political preferment in his life. He is a member of the Grand Lodge of Mary- land Knights of Pythias, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Protestant Episcopal Brotherhood of Baltimore. At an early period of his life, Dr. Hopkinson became a member of the Unitarian Church, but in 1850 he entered the Roman Catholic Church, unit- ing with the Cathedral congregation in Baltimore. It was there that both of his children were baptized. In 1860 he united with Grace Protestant Episcopal Church in Balti- more, of which he is still a member. Having devoted his life to the investigation of religious subjects, and to the search for a system adapted to the restoration of harmony to the Church, and having been baptized by a Unitarian minister and by a Roman Catholic priest, and confirmed by a Roman Catholic archbishop and a Protestant Episcopal bishop, it may be interesting to state the conclusions at which he has arrived. They are briefly as follows :

" I. That all religions are necessary.

" 2. The Christian religion is of infinite importance to mankind.

" 3. The only way harmony can be restored to the Church is for each denomination to abjure whatever is anti-Christian in its tencts, doctrines, or practices; in other words, to teach Christianity pure and simple, and not de- nominationalism.

" 4. Intrinsically, no one of the various sects into which

the true Christian Church is divided is any better than . another; and it is the height of presumption to make the claim. In the judgment of the individual, one may be better suited than another to his state of development. As therefore a choice by an individual of one instead of another on account of its intrinsie superiority cannot be made -- one being as good as any other for the purposes for which the Church was instituted-a selection must be made from other considerations, chiefly because it is neces- sary to unite with one of them in order to become a mem- ber of the Church of Christ."

HITRIDGE, JOHN, M.D., was born in Tiverton, Rhode Island, March 23, 1793. Ile was the third son of a family of nine children who reached adult life. His ancestors were of direct English descent on both sides. Their history is traceable for several generations; and the American branch is believed to have come from England with Gov- ernor Winthrop in 1630. His paternal grandfather was Thomas Whitridge, a respectable farmer and mill-owner in Rochester, Massachusetts. His wife was Hannah Has- kell. His grandfather on the maternal side was John Cushing, of Scituate, Massachusetts, a Colonel in the Army of the Revolution, son of Judge John Cushing, and brother of Judge William Cushing, Chief Justice of Massa- chusetts, and for many years Associate Judge of the Su- preme Judicial Court of the United States. Hc was ap- pointed by President Washington, and was the immediate predecessor of Judge Story. Ilis grandmother on the maternal side was Deborah Barker, a sister of General Joshua Barker. His father, Dr. William Whitridge, was born in Rochester, Massachusetts, 1748. Quite early in life he indicated a remarkable fondness for books. Ilis taste, in this respect, was indulged by his parents, and he was educated for a physician, according to the custom of those days, by private instruction in the family and under the immediate direction of the celebrated Dr. Perry, of New Bedford, Massachusetts. There were then no courses of medical lectures of which he could avail himself. The honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon him by Harvard University in 1823. He was an eager student of chemistry, which at that time was being en- riched with many valuable discoveries. To the study of theology he also gave much attention; and such was his desire to satisfy himself on certain points in the Hebrew Scriptures, that he made himself well acquainted with the Hebrew lauguage after he was fifty years of age. He died at Tiverton, in 1831, at the age of eighty-four. Ilis widow, Mary Cushing Whitridge, survived him fourteen years, and died in 1846 at the age of eighty-seven. Dr. Jolin Whitridge, the subject of this sketch, after receiving

362

BIOGRAPIIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

the best education the neighborhood afforded, entered Union College, Schenectady, New York, about the year 1812, where he took the degree of Artium Baccalaureus and . Artium Magister. He then determined to follow the example of his two elder brothers and enter the profession his father had so zealously and successfully followed, and having pursued his studies in reference thereto, he gradu- ated in medicine at Harvard University in 1819. Soon after, he decided to make the South the field of his labors, and settled in Baltimore, a total stranger, January 1, 1820. In that city he was actively engaged in practice for fifty- three years (until 1873), devoting himself solely to the care of his patients, and positively declining all outside positions of trust and emolument, that would in any measure inter- fere with his duty to those who had intrusted their lives and health to his care. ITis eldest brother, Dr. William Cushing Whitridge, settled in New Bedford, Massachu- setts, where he practiced his profession until his death. He was the father of the late Horatio L. Whitridge, a highly esteemed merchant of Baltimore. His second brother, Dr. Joshua Barker Whitridge, after resigning his position as Surgeon in the army, settled, in 1815, at Charleston, South Carolina, where he died during the late war. His younger brother, Thomas Whitridge, is a well-known merchant of Baltimore, extensively engaged in the China and Rio trade. . Dr. Whitridge was a vestryman of Christ Church (Protestant Episcopal). In politics he was a Whig, and during the civil war a Union man. He died Wednesday, July 24, 1,878, at Tiverton, Rhode Island. He married Catharine Cocks Morris, of New York, a sister of General William Morris, and now one of the oklest and most promi- nent lawyers of that city. Dr. Whitridge had six children, one of whom, John A. Whitridge, is a stock broker ; an- other, Dr. William Whitridge, is a practicing physician. One of his daughters married Dr. Philip C. Williams, and another Major Douglass II. Thomas, of Baltimore.

ORWITZ, THEOPHILUS B., is the second son of Dr. J. Horwitz, a distinguished scholar, who died in the year 1852. Under the latter's guidance and direction Mr. Horwitz was carefully educated. Having determined to adopt the profession of his father he entered the office of Nathan R. Smith, the late eminent Professor of Surgery in the University of Mary- land. Mr. Horwitz's talents and great diligence soon placed him in the front rank of students in that celebrated school of medicine, where he graduated at the end of the usual curriculum with distinction. For a time he located in-Philadelphia, and soon took high rank among the rising medical men of that city. Then, having determined to go abroad, he went to Paris, where for some time under world -

renowned professors he devoted himself to the study of science, in the pursuit of which he was greatly aided by his thorough knowledge of the French language. Quit- ting Paris, Mr. Horwitz travelled extensively in Europe, visiting every city of note on the Continent, extending his travels to Turkey and Greece. At Rome he resided for some time, studying carefully the great works of art with which the Eternal City abounds. After returning home Mr. Ilorwitz determined to study law, and in the year 1854 was admitted to the bar. Ile soon took a high position in the profession. In 1860 he married Mary Barroll, daughter of the late James E. Barroll, of Cecil County, Maryland, a well-known and prominent member of the Maryland bar, who amassed a considerable fortune by the practice of his profession. Mr. Horwitz's learning, his untiring industry, and his knowledge of mankind, rapidly bronght him a large clientage, and he now enjoys an ex- tensive and profitable practice. Ilis devotion to his clients and the ability and zeal with which he espouses their in- terests not only endear him to them but often operate on the minds of the jury so as to convince them that the right must be on the side of one so earnest, so persistent, so satisfied that his cause is just. Mr. Horwitz is a singularly cautions and reliable counsellor, a ready and effective speaker, and a vigorous and graceful writer. In the man- agement of his cases he is ingenious and skilful. Ile, however, never goes into the trial of a case without the most ample and laborious preparation, leaving nothing to chance. Mr. Horwitz possesses many of the noblest quali- ties of manhood. He is generous to a fault, his hand is ever open to the poor, and all who come in contact with him are impressed with his courtesy of manner, his frank. ness and his sincerity.

OWARD, GOVERNOR JOHN EAGER, was born June 4, 1752, in Baltimore County, Maryland. He was the third son of Cornelius and Ruth ( Eager ) How- ard, and the grandson of Joshua Howard, a native

.3 of England, who settled in Maryland about 1685, and obtained a grant of land in Baltimore County. Hle married Miss Joanna O'Carroll, a lady of Irish parentage. The Eagers came to America from England soon after the charter to Lord Baltimore. During the century that elapsed from the period when John Eager Howard's ancestors came to this country to the Revolution, nothing of special historic interest is recorded of them. The'events of the struggles of the Colonies against the home Government brought the subject of this sketch into the foreground of patriotism and military renown. Upon his expressing a desire to take a part in the approaching struggle, he was offered a Colonel's commission, but being distrustful of his abilities to perform the duties appertaining to that rank, he

. قيب

363

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

preferred the humbler station of a Captain, and such a commission was accordingly attained for him in one of those bodies of militia termed flying camps, in the regiment commanded by Colonel J. Carvil Hall. Captain Howard enlisted a company in two days and marched immediately to join the army. He was present at the battle of White Plains, and continued to serve as Captain until December, 1776. When the battalions were rearranged as regulars, March, 1777, he was appointed Major of the Fourth Bat- talion. He was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Regiment, March 11, 1779. Ile served through the whole war with distinguished valor, participating in the following battles : White Plains, October, 1776; Ger- mantown, October 4, 1777; Monmouth, June 28, 1778 ; Cowpens, January 17, 1781; llobkirk's Ilill, April 25, 1781, and won imperishable renown at Camden and Guil- ford. After the Revolution Colonel Iloward retired to his patrimonial estate. In 1787 he represented Maryland in the Continental Congress. In 1788 he was chosen the Governor of Maryland, which post he filled for the consti- tutional period of three years, during which time the Federal Government was adopted and put into operation. In 1794 he was appointed a Major-General of militia, but declined accepting the commission. In 1795 General Washington tendered him the Secretaryship of War, which offer was respectfully declined. He served in the Senate of the United States from November 30, 1796, to March 3, 1803, and was P'resident pro tem. of the Senate in the Sixth Con- gress. When Baltimore was threatened by the British in 1814, he was again brought from his retirement, and headed a troop of aged men torender such services as their infirmi- ties would allow. May 18, 1787, Colonel Iloward married Margaret Chew, the eldest daughter of Hon. Benjamin Chew, of Philadelphia. He had children, viz, John Eager Howard, born June 25, 1788, who married, December 20, 1820, Cornelia Annabella Read, and died October 18, 1822 ; George Howard, born November 21, 1789, who married, December 26, 1811, Prudence Gough Ridgely, and died August 2, 1846; Benjamin Chew Howard, born November 5, 1791, who married, February 24, 1818, Jane Grant Gil- , mor, and died in 1872; William Howard, born December 16, 1793, who married, May 14, 1828, Rebecca Ann Key, and died August 25, 1834; Julianna Elizabeth Howard, born May 3, 1796, who married, December 7, 1819, John Mc- llenry, and died May 22, 1821 ; James, born December 17, 1797, who married, first, Sophia Gough Ridgely, secondly, Catharine M. Ross, and died March 19, 1870; Sophia Catharine Howard, born March 6, 1800, who married, May 7, 1825, William George Read; Charles, born April 26, 1802, who married, November 9, 1825, Elizabeth Phoebe Key, and died June 18, 1869; and Mary Anne Howard, born February 16, 1806, and died May 20, 1806. Governor "Howard died October 12, 1827, at his country seat, Belve- dere, and there never lived a braver or more gallant man, one more true to his native State, and faithful to his country.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2, Part 1

Author: National Biographical Publishing Co. 4n Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Baltimore : National Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 802

Author: National Biographical Publishing Co. 4n
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Baltimore : National Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 802