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 5
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 5
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
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ever since, conducting the affairs of the | croft married for his second wife Mrs. company with signal success.
In 1864 Mr. Ashford married Miss Sid- ney L. Bell of Philadelphia, a descendant of the Snowdens of that city, and of this marriage there are three children - two sons, Snowden, a civil engineer and ar- chitect, and Dr. Edwin W. Ashford, and a daughter.
GEORGE BANCROFT.
The Bancroft family is of York, England, stock and dates back its exist- ence in that shire for hundreds of years prior to the war of the "Roses," or the strifes of the Plantagenets and Lancas- ters. George Bancroft was born in Hali- fax, Yorkshire, June 1, 1817, was educated there, and in his early prime June, 1842, came to America. He first located in Oneida county, N. Y., and there carried on business for four years, when he re- moved to Utica in the same state, where he also engaged in business. Being well trained in music, he was appointed, in 1857, professor in that fine art in the pub- lic schools of Utica, which position he retained until 1867, when he went to Rich- mond, Va., and there for a year carried on business, but returned to Utica and passed away nearly two years more in mercan- tile pursuits. The next year or two was passed in Marshalltown, Ia., when, some- time in the latter part of 1871, he removed to Washington, D. C., and entered the in- ternal revenue service, in which he con- tinued for five years, when he resigned, in 1876, and entered into the pension claim and patent agency business, which he has ever since conducted with unaltering suc- cess. His first marriage occurred in Eng- land, in 1838, to Miss Sarah Crossley, who bore him companionship until 1885, or nearly half a century. In 1888 Mr. Ban-| ment of the National university-all of
Matilda A. Mapes, daughter of William Evenden, Esq., of Ashford, Kent, Eng- land. John Bancroft, the father of George, was wounded at the battle of Waterloo, and was as brave a soldier as ever bore sword upon his thigh.
DR. HOWARD HEINTZ BARKER.
This physician, although comparatively young as a practitioner, stands with the foremost of his professional brethren in the city of Washington and in the Dis- trict of Columbia, and has held as many positions of public trust and responsibility as any member of the profession of greater age. He was born in Washington in 1848, was educated at Everett institute, Union academy and at Columbia college, and graduated from the medical depart- ment of Georgetown university in 1870- being thus a thorough Washingtonian. His practice was begun and still continues to be in his native city, and no stronger evidence can be produced of his ability and popularity. He is a member of the Medical society and Medical association of the District of Columbia, and of the American Medical association; was a charter member of the Gynecological so- ciety of the district, and of the Clinico- Pathological society; he was assistant phy- sician at Columbia hospital for women, and with several others originated the Emergency hospital, in which for fifteen years he had charge of the diseases of women. He was also one of the consult- ing physicians of the Eastern dispensary, was demonstrator of anatomy at George- town college, and afterward lecturer on diseases of women, and is now professor of obstetrics and diseases of women, and dean of the faculty of the medical depart-
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which go to show his prominence in his infantry, commanded by Col. Gilbert profession and his popularity with his Hathaway. He served in that capacity brother professors. Dr. H. H. Barker is until the battle of Stone River, the same a son of James W. Barker, who was born year, when he was promoted to first ser- in Frederick county, Va., in 1820, and geant, the duties of which position he dis- who married Miss Sarah A. R. Heintz, daughter of Jacob Heintz of Maryland.
charged in an eminently satisfactory manner, until the close of war. His com- The doctor was married in 1872 to Miss mand was in a number of hotly contested Fannie R. Wilson, daughter of Jesse B. battles, among which were Stone River Wilson, and to this union have been born
and Perryville; and later his regiment was Howard Wilson Barker and Fannie May placed on detail duty in different parts of Barker.
the South (most of the officers being in "Libby prison,") until the cessation of JOB BARNARD. hostilities. At the close of his military But few lawyers at the national capital have achieved as signal success in the legal profession during a brief residence as the gentleman whose name introduces this biography. Mr. Barnard is de- scended from English ancestry, and dates his family history from the year 1650, at which time the name appears in con- nection with the early annals of Salisbury life, Mr. Barnard began the study of law, and, to acquire a greater proficiency in his profession than private reading af- forded, he entered the law department of the university of Michigan at Ann Arbor, in which institution he completed the prescribed course, graduating with the class of 1867. Being well equipped for the active duties of the profession, he and Nantucket, Mass .; and later in the entered upon the practice of the same at poineer history of North Carolina. When Crown Point, Lake county, in partner- Indiana was opened to settlement, the ship with Judge E. C. Field, a firm which Barnards were attracted thither, and in continued until 1872, when he effected a the old Quaker communities of Wayne copartnership with his brother, Milton C. county, that state, the name is promin- Barnard, in connection with whom he ently mentioned, in connection with both continued practice under the firm name the development of the country and the of Barnard & Barnard, until 1873. In the progress of the ancient faith of the latter year, he succeeded Charles Mc- Friends. Mr. Barnard was born of Namee as assistant clerk of the supreme Quaker parentage in Jackson township, court of the District of Columbia, the Porter county, Indiana, June 8, 1844, and duties of which he discharged in a highly received his educational training in the commendable manner, until July, 1876, district school, and the Valparaiso M. & when he resigned and formed a law F. college, where he made substantial partnership with James S. Edwards and progress in the higher branches of learn- M. C. Barnard, under the firm name of ing. Before the completion of his scho- Edwards & Barnard, which continued, lastic course, at the early age of eighteen, until July, 1882, when the firm was he responded to the country's call for changed by the retirement of the gentle- troops, enlisting August 7, 1862, as private man last mentioned, to devote himself in company K, Seventy-third Indiana specially to abstracts of title. The firm
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of Edwards & Barnard still continues, and | members of the bar, but by people of this their business in the District of Columbia community, who are so largely interested in the administration of justice in the supreme court of the District of Columbia. After many weeks' consider- ation of the matter, Mr. Barnard has become, as we believe, and as the signa- tures hereto appended will, we think, at- test, the well nigh unanimous choice of the lawyers who practice in our local courts, for the position to which we ask he may be appointed. He is forty-five years of age, a man of unquestioned in- tegrity, of great industry,and, we believe - and our belief is based upon our per- sonal knowledge of the the man and from observation of his conduct of causes in court -that he will make a capable and satisfactory judge. And we know that there is no lawyer practicing before the supreme court of the District of Columbia who will receive any considerable sup- port from his brethern of the bar as against Mr. Barnard.'" is large, and continually increasing, while their reputation as lawyers of high legal attainments is much more than local. The following from the Washington City Post, bearing date of March 9, 1889, shows the high standing which Mr. Barnard has acquired among the members of the Washington city bar: "The Republican lawyers of the District of Columbia assembled yesterday in the office of Worthington & Heald, to fix upon some man who would be a satisfactory candi- date for the vacancy on the District bench, occasioned by Judge Merrick's death. There were nearly sixty members of the bar in attendance-nearly the entire number of republican lawyers in the District. H. H. Wells, presided, and A. A. Birney acted as secretary. The meeting proceeeed directly to business, with no nominations whatever. The first ballot-an informal one-showed a marked majority for Mr. Job Barnard, which increased when the decisive vote was taken. The choice was promptly made unanimous. A petition was then drafted for presentation to President Harrison, which said:
While a resident of Crown Point, Mr. Barnard was called to fill several mun- icipal offices, and since becoming a resi- dent of Washington, his sound judgment as a methodical business man, has been recognized by his election to the follow-
'Mr. Barnard has been engaged in ing posts of trust, viz: director of the active work in the supreme court of the Lincoln National bank, director of the Commercial Fire Insurance company, and director of the Equitable Co-opera- tive Building association, the largest financial institution of the kind in the district. Mr. Barnard was married on the 25th day of September, 1867, to Miss Flora Putnam, of Berrien county, Michi- gan. They have three sons, Ralph Put- nam, Clarence Williams, and Charles Arthur Barnard; their second child, Wal- ter Sinclear, having died at the age of District for the last thirteen years. We know him well. Owing to the fact that the vacancy has existed for about six weeks, and owing, further to the fact, con- ceded on all hands, that the person to be appointed to fill it should be familiar with the laws in force in the District of Columbia, and well trained in the practice of that court, the question of what member of the district bar would be rec- ommended by us for that position has been thoroughly discussed, not only by | two years.
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REV. DR. WILLIAM ALVIN BARTLETT.
This famous lecturer and divine was born in Binghampton, N. Y., December 4, 1832, and in his native city received his earlier education. In 1852 he graduuted from Hamilton college, in Clinton, N. Y., and then attended the Union Theological seminary in New York city, completing his course of study there in 1856. In the latter part of this year he went to Berlin and Heidel- burg, Germany, and further pursued his studies for two or three years, and on his
of Walter P. Flanders, of Wisconsin; but he was soon called upon to mourn her loss, as she was taken from him at Berne, Switzerland, in 1874-she dying without issue. For three years Dr. Bartlett passed his lonely life without a mate, but in 1877 he was fortunate in securing the hand and heart of Miss Annah L. Walcott, daughter of William D. Walcott, and this happy marriage has been blessed by the birth of two children, one of whom, Walcott Duryea Bartlett still, survives, a promis-
return began his ministerial life by ing youth of some twelve summers.
preaching a short time in the Presbyte- rian church at Owego, N. Y., whence he CHARLES J. BELL. went to Brooklyn, N. Y., where he built Mr. Bell is a capitalist, as well as one of the most energetic young business men of the District of Columbia. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, in April, 1858, and after receiving a very fair edu- cation in his native city, was dispatched to Canada, in 1873, where he began his business life as a clerk in the Imperial Bank of Canada, doing faithful service up a large congregation, over which he presided for ten years. He next went to Chicago, where he built the Plymouth church, which seats 2,000 persons, and there he officiated eight years; thence he went to Indianapolis and for four years labored with the same uninterrupted suc- cess that had crowned his efforts in his previous fields of ministerial work. In and increasing his business knowledge 1882 he settled in Washington, D. C., and until 1879, when he was appointed gen- has here proven himself to be a faithful eral manager of the National Telephone and assiduous servant of the Master. company and intrusted with the control During many of these long years, how- ever, he has made lecturing trips all over the country and has accomplished great good by this means, being well received at all points, eloquently and earnestly of its affairs in England, in which coun- try he opened all the telephone ex- changes at the north and held a general supervision over them until January, 1882, when he returned to America. Locating pleading for the cause of Christianity. then in the city of Washington, D. C., he He has been a frequent contributor to the established the banking firm of Bell &
religious press, especially to the Independ- ent, for which paper he wrote a serial story entitled "The Lost Image," which story, in its course of publication, at- comment.
tracted much attention and favorable number of other business enterprises and
Co., of which he is the head. Besides the task imposed upon his time and at- tention in the management of this exten- sive concern, he interests himself in a holds high positions in them all. His natural talents and business experience
Rev. Dr. Bartlett was married, in 1859, to Miss Charlotte A. Flanders, daughter being availed by several corporations
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and individuals that are only too glad to secure him as manager. He is a director in the Washington Brick company, is president of the Washington Stock ex- change, a director in the Columbia Fire Insurance company, vice-president of the American Security and Trust company, director of Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone company, of the Pennsylvania Telephone company, of the North Capi- tal and O Street (Belt Line) Street-car company, is director and treasurer of the Central Dispensary and Emergency hos- pital, trustee and treasurer of the Night Lodging-house, and manager and treas- urer of the National Geographical society, and thus has his time fully occu- pied. He was married, in 1888, to Miss Grace B. Hubbard, daughter of Gardner G. Hubbard, and his home is brightened by the presence of two interesting little children.
Although an American by adoption and an Irishman by birth, Mr. Bell in blood and descent is a Scotchman, his father, David Charles Bell, having been born in Edinburg, Scotland, in 1818. He was a graduate of the university of his native city and was for many years pro- fessor of English literature in Dublin and in Belfast, but retired in 1883 and came to America, and took up his residence in Georgetown, D. C., which he still makes his home. The grandfather, Alexander Bell, was also a native of Scotland, but died in London, England, while holding a pro- fessorship in one of its colleges. The father of Alexander was named David, and he, also, was born in Scotland, and was a military gentleman of high rank.
EDWARD FRANKLIN BINGHAM,
13, 1828, at West Concord, Vt., being the fifth son of the late Judge Warner Bing- ham and Lucy (Wheeler) Bingham, and is a descendant of Thomas Bingham, who emigrated from Sheffield, England, and settled in Norwich, Conn., in 1663. His brothers, the Hon. Harry Bingham, an eminent lawyer and Democratic politi- cian, and Judge George A. Bingham, a prominent lawyer and ex-judge of the supreme court of New Hampshire, reside at Littleton in that state. Edward F. Bingham received his early education at the public and select schools of Vermont, and later at the academy of Peacham, of the same state, one of the oldest and best endowed, and most distinguished educa- tional institutions of the state at that time. In 1846, while on a visit to Ohio, he determined to make that state his future home. After spending a brief period at Marietta college he read law with his brother Harry, at Littleton, N. H., concluding, as he commenced, his law studies under the late Judge Joseph Mil- ler, of Chillicothe, Ohio. He was admit- ted to the bar by the supreme court of that state in May, 1850, the late Chief Jus- tice Peter Hitchcock presiding. The leg- islature had, in the preceding March, created the county of Vinton, and on June 1, 1850, he opened a law office at McAr- thur, the county seat of the new county. Although a total stranger, he soon found warm friends and steadfast clients, with plenty of business. A vacancy occurring in the office of prosecuting attorney of Vinton county, the following November, he was appointed to that office by the court of common pleas, and in 1851 he was elected for a term of two years, and re-elected in 1853, serving five years. In October, 1855, he was elected as repre-
chief-justice of the supreme court of the District of Columbia, was born on August sentative (democrat) for the counties of
ET Bingham
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Vinton and Jackson, and served in the to 1868 he served as a member of the legislature during the sessions of 1856 and board of education of the same city, and was re-elected to the board in 1872. In March, 1873, he was nominated by his party as a candidate for judge of the court of common pleas for the fifth judicial district, and at the election the following month was elected without opposition. He was twice re-elected, each term being for five years, to the same position with- out opposition. He was a delegate to the democratic national convention at St. Louis in 1876, which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for president. The democratic state convention in 1881 nominated him for the Ohio supreme court bench, but with the balance of the ticket he was defeated. In 1886 he was very strongly recommended by the bench, bar and citizens of Ohio, irrespective of party, to President Cleveland for judge of the sixth United States judicial circuit; Judge Howell E. Jackson, then United States senator from Tennessee was, however, appointed to that position. On April 25, 1887, while occupying a place on the Ohio common pleas bench, Judge Bing- ham was by President Cleveland ap- pointed chief-justice of the supreme court of the District of Columbia, which posi- tion he occupies at present. 1857. Although strongly urged to accept a renomination to the legislature he de- clined, desiring to devote himself to his law practice. In 1858 he was compli- mented by his party with the unanimous nomination for the office of judge of the court of common pleas for the second sub-division of the "judicial district," composed of the counties of Vinton, Jackson, Pike, Scioto and Lawrence. The democratic party then being in a minority in that sub-division, he was defeated by a small majority by his competitor, the Hon. W. W. Johnson. In 1859 the demo- cratic convention for Vinton and Jackson counties convened to nominate a candi- date for representative in the legisla- ture, and, meeting with difficulties in making a nomination, in the absence of Judge Bingham, and without his knowl- edge, nominated him and adjourned. But upon receiving information of this action he declined. He was a delegate from the eleventh congressional district of Ohio, in 1860, to the democratic national convention, held first at Charles- ton, S. C., and by adjournment at Balti- timore, and was an eye-witness to the thrilling proceedings of that body. In January, 1861, he removed to Columbus, As a lawyer, Judge Bingham ranked among the foremost of the Ohio bar. He was earnest and forcible, industrious and thorough, and while he had marked success in his cases, whether to the court or jury, he seemed more at ease in the argument of legal propositions to the court. He has always been regarded as a safe adviser by those seeking legal counsel. On the bench his success is more pronounced than it was as a lawyer. He is cultured, honest, humane, and on and off the bench is quiet and unassuming. Ohio, where he resided until he removed to Washington. In 1868 Judge Bingham be- came chairman of the state democratic ex- ecutive committee, and so discharged the duties of that office in the important cam- paign of that year as to receive the gen- eral commendation of his party and friends. But because of its interference with his professional duties he declined further service in the position. From 1867 to 1871, he was by election solicitor of the city of Columbus, Ohio; from 1863 6
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His knowledge of jurisprudence in both legal profession, was given the advan- the law and equity is extensive. It may be said of him that few of his decisions were ever reversed, although now is his twentieth year of continuous judicial service.
Judge Bingham was married November 21, 1850, to Susannah F. Gunning, of Fayette county, Ohio, who died August 2, 1886, leaving two sons and two daughters. The judge was next married on August 8, 1888, to Mrs. Lin C. Patton, daughter of the late United States Senator Allen T. Caperton, of West Virginia.
ARTHUR A. BIRNEY.
The name of Birney is of historic sig- nificance in the United States and will always be remembered as belonging to one of the most talented and distin- guished families of the country. The Birneys originally came from Ireland, county Cavan, in the local annals of which the family is well and favorably known, the ancestry dating back from the time of Henry the Eighth. The progenitor of the American branch appears to have been James Birney, a well-to-do farmer of county Cavan, whose son, James, was the ather of Hon. James G. Birney, one of the most eminent men America has ever produced. James Gillespie Birney was born in Danville, Ky., February 4, 1792, and died in the state of New Jersey, November 25, 1857. His father, James Birney, migrated to the United States when sixteen years of age and settled in Kentucky, where he became a prominent business man, manufacturer and planter. His mother dying when James G. was a child of three years, his early youth was passed under the care of a pious aunt. He early displayed uncommon powers of mind, and, with a view of entering the Huntsville, where he soon built up a very
tage of a liberal education in Transyl- vania university and Princeton college, graduating from the latter institution with high honors in 1810. He studied law for several years in Philadelphia, chiefly under Alexander Dallas, and be- gan the practice of his profession in Dan- ville, Ky., in 1814. In 1816 he was elected a member of the state legislature, in which body he opposed and defeated in its original form a proposition to demand of the states of Ohio and Indiana the enactment of laws for the seizure, impris- onment and return of slaves escaping into their limits. Influenced by his educa- tional training in the Eastern states at a time when the gradual emancipation laws went into operation in those parts, he was led to favor the solution of the slavery problem by that means. In 1818 he re- moved to Alabama and followed planting for some time near the city of Huntsville, and while a resident of that state was elected a member of the first legislature, which assembled under the constitution of 1819. He wielded a potent influence in the formation of the constitution of Kentucky, though not a member of the convention, and it was chiefly through his efforts that a provision empowering the general assembly to emancipate slaves on making compensation to their owners, and to prohibit the bringing of slaves into the state for sale, was adopted. In the legislature he was outspoken in the ex- pressions of his convictions, and at one time assigned his reasons in a very for- cible speech for voting against a resolu- tion honoring Gen. Jackson, which placed him politically with a small minority. In 1823, he relinquished planting and re- sumed the practice of his profession at
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extensive business, and in 1827 succeeded adoption of a system of gradual emanci- in procuring the enactment by the pation. He found the great majority de- Alabama legislature of a statute to pro- cidedly opposed to this measure, the hibit the importation of slaves into that former powerful emancipation element state for sale or hire. In 1828, he was a having been weakened by the opposition candidate for presidential elector on the of political leaders, chief among whom Adams ticket and made a brilliant can- was Henry Clay. In June, 1834, he vass of Alabama in the interest of his candidate. He served repeatedly as mayor of Huntsville, took a prominent part in matters educational, and in 1830 was deputized by the trustees of the state university to select and recommend five persons as president and professors of that institution, which duty was in due time faithfully performed and his selec- emancipated his own slaves, and from that time forward devoted his energies to the advocacy in his native state of the abolition of slavery. He formed the Kentucky Anti-slavery society in 1835, and in May, of that year, made, at New York, the principal speech at the meeting of the American Anti-slavery society. In June, 1835, he issued the prospectus for the tions approved. For some years he was publication of an anti-slavery weekly the confidential adviser and counsel of paper at Danville, but on account of the Cherokee Indians. Becoming sen- sible of the evil influences of slavery, Mr. Birney, in 1831, determined to move his family to a free state, and accordingly in that year took up his residence in Jack- sonville, Illinois. About this time he was ization society for the south-west, which position he accepted and to which he devoted his energies for a period of one social persecution against the opponents of slavery, found it impossible to obtain the services of a publisher or printer at his home town; accordingly he removed to Cincinnati, where the first number of his paper was given to the public. He appointed agent for the American Colon- met with much opposition in his fearless espousal of the cause of emancipation and his press was several times destroyed by mobs, but during all those perilous times year. Being satisfied that the project of he acted with great firmness, and finally annexing Texas to the United States and succeeded in maintaining the freedom of forming several slave states out of that the press in Cincinnati. 'As an editor he was distinguished by a thorough knowl- territory had not been abandoned, although the secret negotiations in 1829 edge of the subjects about which he for its purchase had failed, that a power- to Texas existed, and that the southern politicians were united in the design to secure a majority in the United States senate, that the situation was grave and seemed to portend the permanency of
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