USA > Washington DC > Eminent and representative men of Virginia and the District of Columbia in the nineteenth century. With a concise historical sketch of Virginia > Part 14
USA > Virginia > Eminent and representative men of Virginia and the District of Columbia in the nineteenth century. With a concise historical sketch of Virginia > Part 14
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Formerly the treasurer of the Gaslight in a community which he has aided by company, Mr. Glover resigned that posi- his efforts, and which is honored by his tion because of the multiplicity of his presence. other duties, and recently also retired for HON. JOHN GOODE, the same reason from the vice-presidency an attorney of eminence, practicing at and directorship of the Washington & Washington, D. C., was born in Bedford
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county, Va., May 27, 1829. His father, of Bedford for the seat of war, and par- John Goode, was a prominent farmer and ticipated in the first battle of Manassas planter, and a soldier in the war of 1812. on the 21st of July, 1861. He was subse- His paternal grandfather, Edmund quently assigned to duty on the staff of Goode, removed before the Revolution General Jubal A. Early as a volunteer from Caroline county to Bedford county, aid, with the rank of captain. In the and was a soldier in the war of the Revo- fall of 1861, he was elected a member of lution. His mother, Ann M. Leftwich, the Confederate congress, in which he was the daughter of John Leftwich and took his seat on February 22, 1862, and Sally ( Walton) Leftwich, and grand- continued to be a member of that body daughter of General Joel B. Leftwich, an until the close of the war. During the officer in the war of the Revolution, and recess of the Confederate congress he a brigadier general in the war of 1812. rejoined General Early as a volunteer
aid and was with him at the battle of Malvern Hill, and during his campaign against General Hunter. After the ter-
General Leftwich fought at Germantown, Camden, and Guilford Court House, at which latter place he was severely wounded. He commanded a brigade mination of the war in September, 1865, under General William Henry Harrison at Fort Meigs in the war of 1812, after- ward became a major-general, and was frequently elected to the legislature of Virginia.
Mr. Goode was educated at the New London academy in Bedford county and at Emory and Henry college, where he graduated in June, 1848. In the winters of 1849-50 and 1850-51 he studied law with Hon. John W. Brockenbrough at Lex- ington, was admitted to the bar in April, 1851, and commenced the practice of his profession at Liberty, the county seat of Bedford county. At the age of twenty- two he was elected to the house of dele- gates as a democrat, was a presidential elector on the democratic ticket in 1852 and 1856, and a member of the Virginia convention of 1861, in which body he tion of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis earnestly advocated the passage of the to the allied armies under Washington ordinance of secession after the procla- and La Fayette. He was also president mation of President Lincoln, calling for of the Yorktown Centennial association. seventy-five thousand troops to coerce During the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth the seceding states of the south. In the congresses he was chairman of the com- spring of 1861, he volunteered as a private mittee on education. He has also been in the first company that left the county a member of the National democratic
he removed to the city of Norfolk to practice his profession, and was elected to represent that city in the Virginia legis- lature during the session of 1866-67. In 1867 he was elected from the Norfolk district as a democrat to the Forty-fourth congress, was re-elected to the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth congresses, and was the democratic candidate for the Forty- seventh congress, but was defeated, owing to the differences which had arisen in the democratic party on account of the set- tlement of the state debt, Mr. Goode having been very decided in his advocacy of full payment of all just debts of the commonwealth. As a member of the Forty-sixth congress he was the author of the bill providing for the erection of a monument at Yorktown, for the celebra-
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committee. In 1884, he was an elector Revolutionary war and untimely ended at large on the Cleveland and Hendricks ticket in Virginia, and president of the college of electors. In May, 1885, he was appointed by President Cleveland solic- itor general of the United States, and retained that office until August, 1886. During his term of service he was sent by the department of justice to British Col- umbia to represent the United States in an important case of extradition. During his professional career, Mr. Goode has been connected with several notable criminal trials, and is now lecturer on criminal law at the National Law school located in the city of Washington.
In July, 1855, he married Sally Urqu- hart, daughter of Dr. Richard A. Urquhart, and Mary (Norfleet ) Urquhart, of "Straw- berry Plains," Isle of Wight county, Virginia, by which marriage there are four children now living: Mary, who intermarried with Willian T. Brooke, the city engineer of Norfolk, Va .; Richard U., a topographical engineer in the geolog- ical survey; John B., a practicing attorney at Bedford City, Va .; and James U., now a student at the Washington and Lee uni- versity. Mr. Goode's residence is in Bedford City, Virginia, but he has also a law office in Washington, D. C.
OSCEOLA C. GREEN.
This gentleman is a Washingtonian of English extraction and ante-Revolution- ary descent, his great-great-grandfather having come from Northumberland county, England, about the year 1600, settling in Maryland. In the second gen- eration descended from this immigrant was born, in Maryland, Ralph Green, who far beyond his most sanguinary expecta- was left an orphan at an early age, but tions. He is now a stockholder in several became an extensive planter in his native incorporated companies of various kinds; state. Ile was a gallant officer in the is a director in the Traders' National bank
his life on board a British prison-ship. John Green, son of Ralph, was born in Maryland in 1778, and there grew to man- hood. He was one of the first promoters of the manufacture of cast-iron nails in the United States, an industry in which there are to-day millions of dollars in- vested. He was an officer in the United States navy for many years, saw service in the war of 1812, and in 1815 took part in the war against Tripoli under Commo- dore Stephen Decatur. He survived until 1850. He had married Miss Ann Forrest, daughter of General Uriah Forrest, in the Maryland line during the Revolu- tionary war, and who lost his leg in the battle of Germantown. General Forrest married Miss Plater, daughter of Gover- nor George Plater, of Maryland, and after his military services were ended served two terms in congress from the Maryland district in which Georgetown, D. C., is now located.
Osceola C. Green, son of John and Ann (Forrest) Green, was born in the District of Columbia in 1838 and was educated at Georgetown college, from which he grad- uated in 1856. He then engaged for a few years in farming in the district, and later entered the office of the Washington gas company, where he performed clerical duties for almost two years. During the recent Civil war he was a government contracter, having his headquarters at Washington, and after the war was a clerk for seven years in the office of the pay- master of the marine corps. In 1872 he embarked in the real estate business in Washington, in which he has succeeded
fagner
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and the National bank of the Republic; |pany's office as receiving teller, rose to director in the Washington Safe Deposit the responsible position of chief clerk, and served the company twenty years, or until 1888, when he went into the real estate business, which has ever since occupied his time and attention and in which he has met with success, his natural business tact and practical business train- ing being of material assistance to him. company; in the Washington Loan and Trust company; in the Columbia rail- road company and in the Georgetown & Tennalytown railroad company, as well as several other corporations. He is a member of the board of governors of the Army and Navy club, and also of the Down Town club, and his social standing is an enviable one.
WILLIAM BROOKS GURLEY.
This enterprising real estate dealer, who has been a resident of Washington ever since he was ten years of age, was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, August 8, 1843 and is a son of the Rev. Phineas Densmore and Emma E. (Brooks) Gur- ley, both native of St. Lawrence county, N. Y. Rev. Phineas D. Gurley was born in 1816, was a Presbyterian minister of great repute, and built the New York avenue Presbyterian church in Washing- ton city, of which he was the pastor until the date of his death, and of which church Abraham Lincoln was an attendant. Dr. Gurley was also for many years chaplain of the United States senate, having taken up his residence in Washington in 1853.
William B. Gurley was educated at Columbia college in Washington, and for three years after was engaged in business in Baltimore; he then returned to Wash- ington, where he was appointed cashier to W. A. Elderkin, commissary of sub- sistence, United States army, and was stationed at Louisville, Ky., where he re- mained until the fall of 1865, when he was transferred to Mobile, Ala., but after a short time there returned to Washington fever.
Mr. Gurley was married to Miss Eliza- beth H. Shields, daughter of William Shields of Norfolk, Va., and this happy marriage has been blessed with the birth of five sons; viz: William Shields, Mel- ville Brooks, Charles Emmerson, Richard Hamilton and Alvin Bartlett Gurley.
Mr. Gurley is a conscientious business man and a diligent one; his every hour is devoted to the interests of his patrons, and yet he finds time to perform the duties pertaining to his position as officer in various associations connected, in a greater or less degree, with real estate interests. He is a director of the Washington Loan and Trust company, director in the Columbia Title company, and president of the Industrial Home school of the District of Columbia. He has won his station in life, and is fully competent to maintain it.
PETER HAGNER
was born in Philadelphia, October 1, 1772, and died in Washington city, July 16, 1850. His father, John Valentine Hagner, a native of Heilbronn, Germany, settled in Philadelphia early in the century. He served in the war of the Revolution, and lived in Philadelphia until 1793, when he died of the yellow
and entered the commissary-general's After an attendance at the common office, in which he passed two years. He schools, the subject of this sketch was next went into the Washington gas com- admitted to the university of Pennsyl-
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vania, which he left at the age of sixteen; delivering an address in the French language, which, with German, he spoke with fluency. He was employed in the counting house of Philip Crammond & Co. until 1793, when he entered the ser- vice of the government as bookkeeper in the office of the accountant of the war department, under the presidency of General Washington. In 1796, he was
model of what a public servant should be; and hereafter no higher compliment can be paid to a public officer than to say of him (similar to what was said in Athens of Aristides the Just), " He is as virtuous as Peter Hagner."
Messrs. Gales & Seaton, in publishing this notice in the National Intelligencer, said: "The annexed commendation of the character and services of Mr. Hagner, promoted to the place of principal clerk, late third auditor of the treasury, we and afterward appointed additional ac- copy from the Union. The praise it be- countant of war by President Madison. stows is well deserved; as all who have In March, 1817, upon the creation of the had the opportunity of judging, which we office of third auditor of the treasury, he ourselves have long had, will readily ad- was appointed to that position by Presi- mit; and now after a period of arduous public service, unexampled in length and unsurpassed in assiduity and value, he retires with universal respect." dent Monroe, and retained it until his resignation in 1850, after a continuous public service of fifty-seven years, under every administration since the origin of Mr. Hagner's connection with the District of Columbia commenced in 1799, when he went to Washington in advance of the removal of the government offices, to arrange for their reception, bringing with him the limited archives of the ac- countant's department. For more than half a century he was a prominent resi- dent of the city, devoting the full measure of his ability to its material improvement; and the establishment and maintenance of the churches and charit- able and other public organizations, of which, in its early days, it was in such need. the government. Congress, on repeated occasions, devolved upon him the settle- ment of important and complicated claims, outside the regular duties of his office; and twice, by direct vote, expressed its appreciation of the value of his ser- vices. The office of the third auditor, under the existing assignment of public duties and the frequent calls made upon its chief, had become so prominent and important, that John Randolph of Roanoke, pausing in debate for an apt phrase to describe the influence of the emperor of Russia in the affairs of Europe, styled him "the great third auditor of nations."
He was twice married. His first wife was Sarah Nicholas, of Richmond, who was the mother of one child who died in infancy. In 1805 he was married to Frances Randall, daughter of John Ran-
From an editorial notice in the Wash- ington Union, written by the venerable Thomas Ritchie, mentioning Mr. Hag- ner's resignation, we extract these words: dall, a native of Westmorland county, "No government could ever boast of a Va., an officer of the Revolution, who more able, honest and efficient officer; he removed to Annapolis, Md., and was has been worth more than his weight in appointed by General Washington the gold to his country. He has been a first collector of that port, an office he
Celexander Balaguer
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held until his death. Ten children of the ist church south to the property of the marriage, seven sons and three daugh- ters, reached majority. Three of the sons were officers of the army; three adopted the legal, and one the medical profession. Mrs. Hagner, who was a lady of remarkable loveliness of person and character, died in Washington on the 13th of May, 1863, aged seventy-seven years.
ALEXANDER BURTON HAGNER,
seventh son of Peter Hagner, was born in Washington, July 13th, 1826.
After attending private schools in Washington and Georgetown, he was graduated at Princeton college, in 1845. He read law in the office of his uncle, Hon. Alexander Randall, in Annapolis, Maryland; and entered into a legal co- partnership with him, in that place, which continued until 1876, when Mr. Randall retired from practice, and his son, Hon. J. Wirt Randall, took his place. In 1879, Mr. Hagner was appointed an associate justice of the supreme court of the Dis- trict of Columbia, and returned to Wash- ington city to reside.
During the course of his practice in the court of appeals, court of chancery and circuit court of several counties of Mary- land, and before committees of the national and state legislatures, Mr. Hag- ner was employed in many important cases; among which were the mandamus cases of Marshall v. Harwood, deciding the title to the office of state librarian; Magruder v. Swann, and Gwinn v. Groome, presenting the question whether the writ of mandamus case issue against the governor of the state; the adjutant- general's case of McBlair v. Bond, and the injunction case of Gilbert v. Arnold, which involved the rival claims of the Methodist church north and the Method-
Methodist society in Maryland. Among the important criminal cases in which he appeared for the defense, were the prose- cutions against Mrs. Elizabeth G. Whar- ton for the murder of Gen. Ketchum by poisoning; and for the attempt to poison Eugene Van Ness. He was frequently counsel for the defense in courts martial; and was judge advocate of the naval court of Inquiry in 1850, of which Com- modore Morris was president, to investi- gate the conduct of Commander Hunter in the capture of Alvarado; and of the naval general court martial in 1876, at San Francisco, for the trial of Pay-inspec- tor Spaulding. Under the constitution of Maryland of 1864, he acted as special judge for several years in Prince George's county in a large number of cases in which the regular judge was disqualified to sit. He was attorney and director of the Farmers' National bank of Annapolis; trustee of St. John's college; member of the city corporation, and connected with the chief business associations of his neighborhood.
Politically, Mr. Hagner was a whig, and as such he was elected to the legislature of Maryland in 1854, and was appointed chairman of the committee of ways and means. In 1860 he was one of the presi- dential electors for Bell and Everett.
Since his return to Washington he has been continually occupied with the oner- ous duties of the laborious office, which he has now held for thirteen years.
He was married, in 1853, to Louisa Harrison, daughter of the late Randolph Harrison of Elk Hill, Goochland county, Virginia.
DANIEL RANDALL HAGNER, M. D.,
a physician of much more than local reputation, the youngest son of Peter and
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Frances Hagner was born in Washington, D. C., July 19, 1829. He had the advan-
GENERAL PETER VALENTINE HAGNER,
son of Peter Hagner, was born in Wash- tages in his youth of a superior educa- ington, D. C., August 28, 1815. He be- tional training. At an early age he came a cadet at the United States entered an academy at Georgetown, D. military academy July 1, 1832, and grad- uated July 1, 1836. He was assigned to the first artillery. He served on topo- graphical duty from July 18 to September 15, 1836, and participated in the Florida campaign of 1836-37 with a field battery, being in the battle of Wahoo Swamp, November 19-21, 1836. He was assigned to frontier duty during the border dis- turbances with Canada, and stationed at Buffalo, N. Y. until July, 1838; conducted recruits to Wisconsin, in 1838, and was
C., and subsequently, 1848, graduated from the St. James' college near Hagers- town, Maryland, which institution con- ferred in him the degree of B. A. and three years later the degree of A. M. He read medicine for some time under the instruction of private tutors and then took a course in the medical department of the Pennsylvania university, graduat- ing from the same in 1851, after which, to increase his knowledge, of the profession, he went to Paris, where he pursued his then transferred to the ordnance corps. studies for a period of two years. Re-
He was at Fortress Monroe arsenal, Va.,
turning to the United States, the doctor from 1838 to 1842. In May. 1840, he was
engaged in the practice of his profession promoted first lieutenant of ordnance, and was assistant ordnance officer at Washington, D. C., during 1845 and 1846. He was in the Mexican war from 1846 to 1848, was engaged with the siege train at the siege of Vera Cruz, March 9 to 29, 1847. He was in the battle of Cerro Gordo, April 17 and 18, 1847, and at the skirmish of Amazoque, May 14, 1847. He was brevetted captain April 18, 1847, for "gallant and meritorious conduct" at the battle of Cerro Gordo, and was brevetted major for similar conduct at Chapultepec September 13, 1847. The following day he was wounded at the San Cosme gate in the assault and capture of the city of Mexico. He was sent to Europe on pro- fessional duty in 1848, remaining abroad nearly two years. In 1849 he was on special duty in Washington, D. C. He was promoted to captain of ordnance at Washington, D. C., where he has since resided and in which city he has been connected, at different times, with a num- ber of public and private medical institu- tions, notably among which are the Providence hospital, the Children's hos- pital, St. Ann's, the Infant asylum, and for one year served on the district board of health. The doctor is now a member of the Medical society of Washington, and of the Medical association of the District of Columbia, having been presi- dent of both bodies. Of late years he has not been identified with the hospital service in the city but is still actively engaged in private practice. His success in his chosen profession has been equal to his deserts, and as a citizen he is noted for his great affability and refinement of manners, and is universally esteemed and admired by the community in which he July 10, 1851, and to major on August 3, resides. He was married in 1865 to Sarah 1851. From 1849 to 1851 he was in com- A. Smith, daughter of Col. James Smith, mand of the Charleston arsenal, S. C., and of the Frankford arsenal, Pa., from
of Northumberland county, Va.
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1851 to 1860. He was in command of the assurance society of New York at Wash- Leavenworth arsenal, 1860-61, and of the ington, D. C., was born in Washington St. Louis arsenal in 1861. On April 25, county, N. Y., May 14, 1835. At the age 1861, he was assigned to the duty of order- of twenty years, he began his business ing, inspecting and purchasing arms and life as an editor and part owner of the ordnance stores and in March, 1862, he Glens Falls Republican, and while thus was appointed to the commission on engaged in an honorable vocation that ordnance contracts and claims. He was secured for him a comfortable subsistence inspector of factories making small arms and a respectable name, he employed his for the government until December 25, leisure time, or, rather, found the time, 1863, when he was assigned to the com- to study for the legal profession under mand of Watervliet arsenal, N. Y. retain- Hon. Stephen Brown. At the May term ing the command until November 1, 1880. of the supreme court, in 1858, at Platts- He was a member of the board for the burg, N. Y., he was admitted to practice trial of breech-loading arms from April 5, in all the courts of the state; the same 1866, to June 8, 1866, and also of the board year he was appointed to a position in for the trial of Major Houston's modified the custom house, New York city, by gun carriage, in 1866 and 1867, and of the Augustus Schell, then collector of that board to consider the subject of seacoast rifles, cannon and ordnance equipments from December 12, 1867, to January 4, 1868. He was a member of various port, and held this position until the out- breaking of the war in 1861. In July of this year he commenced recruiting a company of volunteers in the city hall ordnance boards from 1875 to 1881. He park, and September 13, 1861, was wrote an able article on " The New Army Bill and the Ordnance Corps," which was published in the Troy Morning Whig, December 31, 1878, this bill providing that ordnance and ordnance stores should not after its passage be fabricated by the government, and the article being written in defense of the manufacture of such arms by the government. He was made lieutenant colonel of ordnance June I, 1863, brevetted colonel and brigadier-
mustered into the United States army as first lieutenant of company B, sixth New York cavalry, and so diligent and atten- tive to his duties was he, that in April, 1862, he was promoted to the rank of captain. He rapidly and steadily gained the respect and confidence of his military superiors and soon was detailed as judge- advocate at Washington, D. C., and then as assistant judge-advocate-general on the staff of General Slough, commanding general U. S. A., March 13, 1865, and the department of Alexandria, where in advanced to the rank of colonel of ord- March, 1865, he was honorably discharged from the service. Captain Hall then settled in Washington city, where he im- nance March 7, 1867. On June . 1, 1881, he was, at his own request, placed upon the retired list, having been in the service mnediately met with a recognition of his of the government more than forty years, practical sense and was appointed secre- tary of the board of common council; CAPTAIN HILLMAN A. HALL. subsequently he held the same relation to
This enterprising real estate dealer, the board of aldermen, and thus became associate manager of the Equitable life thoroughly familiar with all those gentle-
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men who controlled, and the measures Conquerer in 1066. The mother of the that gave life to, the improvements that subject of this sketch was Christiana made Washington the queen city of the Slingerland, youngest child of Teunis world. Under the administration of Gov. H. D. Cook and of Shepard, Captain Hall also held the responsible position of superintendent of assessments and taxes.
Slingerland, a prominent business man of Albany, New York, of pure Dutch descent, and for many years identified with the First Reformed (Dutch) church Under an act of congress, in 1878, the of Albany, locally known as "the two -. number of magistrates in the District of steepled church." The Slingerlands were a godly family, devotedly attached to all the customs of Holland, and especially to her religious traditions. Columbia was reduced from fifty to ten, and in pursuance of this act President Hayes appointed Captain Hall to one of these offices, and for eight years the cap- tain filed the position of magistrate with his usual sound judgment and discretion. He next accepted an offer from the Equitable Assurance society to become its president manager in Washington
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