The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1, Part 16

Author: National Biographical Publishing Co. 4n
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Baltimore : National Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844

USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 16
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 16

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BIOGRAPHICAL. CYCLOPEDIA.

reer through his son, William A. Boyd, Jr., and B. F. Gees, before referred to, until 1868, when Mr. Gces died. In 1870 Mr. Boyd, Jr., associated with him in business Thomas W. Cromer. Mr. Cromer withdrew from the firm in 1877. During the period embraced in the changes mentioned, Mr. Boyd, Senior, retained an interest in the Baltimore house, and it was only a short time before his death that he disposed of his interest therein to his son William, who still carries on the business at No. 33 South Street, where it has been prosecuted with uninterrupted success for the last quarter of a century. Many interest- ing incidents illustrating the integrity, sagacity, and busi- ness tact of Mr. Boyd are related by those who knew him intimately. Commencing at the foot of the ladder, he early acquired a competency and rose steadily to the pos- session of abundant wealth. His time was not exclusively devoted to his business. Hle was in every sense a true and public-spirited citizen. He was one of the Board of Man- agers of the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts in the early history of that institution. Ile was a Commissioner of Public Schools from 1850 to 1855. For several years he was a member of the Board of Direc- tors of the Maryland Penitentiary, and also of the Board of Trustees of Baltimore City and County Almshouse. In the discharge of the various duties of these positions he brought to bear the powers of a vigorous mind and a ripened experience. He was a ready, logical debater, and having stored his mind with knowledge from the best authors, was an instructive and interesting social compan- ion. He was ardent and sincere in his friendships, chari- table in the dispensation of his bounties, and prominently active in whatever he conceived to be to the interest of his native city and her institutions. These qualities won for him the esteem and confidence of the community. Among his warm personal friends were citizens of influence and character, whose names, like his, are connected with the growth and progress of Baltimore. In summing up his character, the Ilon. Joshua Vansant, who knew him inti- mately for forty-two years, in a letter addressed to his son, since the death of Mr. Boyd, thus speaks of him: " In business pursuits, your father was industrious, methodical, prudent, and stamped all his transactions in such connec- tion with the seal of his integrity. These characteristics constituted the rock or basis on which he reared the struc- ture of his success in life. The prominent features in his character were sterling honesty, inflexible will, a thorough hate of wrong, and contempt for all things ignoble. In calling up the incidents of his long life, there is no act in that connection that can cause his children to blush at the mention of his name. On the contrary, he has left to them, and to the widow of his heart, the heritage of a name to them more valuable than all the treasures the earth holds in her bosom." He died, September 21, 1875, in the in- spired hope of the Christian faith, in which he lived.

GEDDES, JAMES W., was born January 10, 1824, at Baltimore, Maryland. Among his paternal ances- tors have been men both of military and literary distinction ; one was a general under the Duke of Wellington, in the war with Spain; in 1746, one was a major in the army of the Pretender, Prince Charlie. On this account, leaving Scotland, he emigrated to America and settled on the Eastern Shore of Maryland; another was a celebrated writer and a bishop of the Catholic Church in England. His father, James Geddes, a native of Aber- deen, Scotland, induced by love of American institutions and the hope of bettering his fortune, came to Baltimore in 1816, and for a time worked at his trade as a copper- smith. After a few years he set up business, which he carried on successfully until the time of his death, in 1837. Ilis ancestors on his mother's side, of the historic name of Holmes, came over from England in the Reign of Queen Anne and settled in Virginia. Ilis mother's father, Samuel Robinson, was an old and honored merchant of Baltimore. Ile had a store on Calvert Street in 1800. James W: Geddes attended the Baltimore city schools until he was fourteen years of age, when he entered for a few months the drygoods store of his uncle, Samuel Robinson, of Washington, D. C. On his return home he became ap- prentice for six consecutive years to several different parties in the ship plumbing and sheet-metal business. Ilaving worked at his trade as a journeyman for about five years, in 1852 he began the roofing and sheet-iron business on his own account. Like many others, he began without capi- tal. Grappling successfully with this difficulty, he was able after a few years to build up a good business. Ile was the first to introduce into Baltimore the ornamental galvanized-iron cornice. Ile has been the originator of several patents, among which is the highly approved gal- vanized-iron ventilating skylight. His factory is at 67 and 69 North Street, and his business, which is now chiefly confined to the roofing and galvanized-iron ornamental work, though not so large as in some years past, he still carries on successfully. In the past, for a number of years in succession, he employed on an average about forty hands. He has been a member of the Christian Church for about twenty-five years. In 1850, he married Sarah Ann, daughter of John Hulse, of Baltimore, and originally of England. Ile has six children living, three sons and three daughters. Mr. Geddes is held in high esteem in the community for his persevering industry, integrity, probity, and Christian deportment.

B BANKS, DANIEL. BOWER, late President of the Union Manufacturing Company of Maryland at Ellicott City, was the son of Andrew and Catharine (Bower) Banks. His mother was the granddaughter of Sir John Bauer, Burgomaster of Strasburg, Ger- many, who left on the occupation of that city by the French.

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

He came to this country, and located near Reistertown, Halimmore County, where, in 1774, he patented large tracts of land. Mr. Banks lost his father when quite a child and was obliged to labor when a mere boy for his own support and that of his mother, whom he loved with tenderest de. votion ; he had also to obtain his own education in such ways as he could, but in after-life was found well qualified for the positions he was called to occupy ; indeed few with everything to faciliate their course in life ever succeed so well. He was pre-eminently a self-made man, and made his own way to fortune and honor, unaided save by the blessing promised to all faithful and earnest endeavors. Even as a boy he was energetic, self-reliant and faithful, but these qualities were enhanced by the modesty, almost altfidence of his disposition, which seemed only the sooner to find him a place in the affections and respect of those who met him. Ilis earlier years were spent in the dry- goods business, in which he was very successful. Ile re- tired from it in 1846 to take charge of the Union Manu- facturing Company of Maryland, at Ellicott City, succeed- ing Mr. Robert Miller as President. This position he re- signed a year before his death on account of failing health. He married Miss Margaret 1 .. , daughter of George White- lock, Esq. of Wilmington, Delaware. She had eight chil- dren, seven daughters and one son, Andrew ; she was of Quaker extraction, was born November 2, 1805, and died March 7, 1871. Mr. Banks survived her nearly four years. lle died January 28, 1875. He was identified all his life with the interests of Baltimore, and spent his best energies in their promotion. He was for many years a director in the Farmers' and Merchants' National Bank of Baltimore, and when he died was the oldest director of that institu- tion. He was one of the original subscribers to the North- ern Central Railroad, and took an active interest and a leading part in many other enterprises for the public welfare.

B COBANKS, HON, ANDREW, Farmer, Legislator and Capitalist, the only son of Daniel B. and Mar. garet S. Banks, was born in Baltimore, January 14, 1838. Ile received his education at Baltimore City College, St. Mary's, Maryland, and Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, and commenced the study of medi- cine, but his health failing, was obliged to abandon the pro- fession of his choice, and hoping to benefit it, he sailed in the latter part of 1856, in the bark Emily, Captain Etch- burg, for South America. Reaching the River La Platte in January, 1857, they encountered a severe storm, the ves- sel was wrecked at midnight off the mouth of the river in a pampero, and Mr. Banks barely escaped with his life. On his return home he commenced farming on the estate patented by his father's maternal grandfather, Daniel Bower, near Reistertown, in Baltimore County, where he

has since resided. In these lands, which he has brought to a high state of cultivation, he takes great pride and delight. Ile married, November 21, 1860, Miss Rebecca E. Godwin, by whom he has six children, four boys and two girls. He finds in the principles of the Democratic party an expression of his political faith, and for several years has taken an active interest in public affairs. In 1872 he was first elected to the General Assembly of Maryland from Baltimore County. Ilon. A. P. Gorman was then Speaker of the House, Mr. Banks was placed on several important committees, and took a prominent part in the deliberations of that body. He was re-elected in 1874, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Robert Fowler, over Francis S. Corkran, by a majority of 890 votes. In 1876 he was not a candidate for re-election, . his time being occupied in the settlement of his father', estate. That year the county went Republican. In the fall of 1877 he was again selected as one of the standard-bearers of his party on the legislative ticket, which achieved an easy victory, and he was thus for a third time honored as the chosen representative of his County in the Legislature, than which no higher testimonial could be given of his ability and fidelity in office, and of the esteem and high regard of his fellow-citizens. Ilis present term will expire on Jan- uary 1, 1880. Besides the management of his estate and the careful performance of his political duties, Mr. Banks finds time to engage in business enterprises, in all of which his marked financial ability have made him conspicuous. On the retirement of his father from the Presidency of the Union Manufacturing Company, he was elected to a seat in the Board of Directors, which position he still retains. He is a Director in the Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad, also a Director of the Baltimore and Reister- town Turnpike Company, and on the organization of the Maryland Tubing Transportation Company, an enterprise for bringing the crude petroleum in pipes, direct from the oil regions to tide-water, he was made its president. He has also been identified with, and held prominent positions in, the Masonic, Odd Fellows, and other benevolent asso- ciations. He was educated in the Episcopal Church, but is by no means sectarian, contributing liberally to all de- nominations of whatever name or creed.

PENCER, REV. ISAAC JESSE, Pastor of Paca Street Christian Church, Baltimore, was born in Belmont County, Ohio, November 10, 1851! His parents were George and Elizabeth Spencer. His father was a prosperous farmer, a member of the Society of Friends, and distinguished for his many excellencies of character. To the gentle influence of the pious example and teaching of his mother, a devoted Christian, Mr. Spencer attributes his strong religions bias from carly

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA. .

childhood, and, in a large measure, the success which has attended his clerical career. During his boyhood it was Mr. Spencer's intention to devote his life to farming and to labor for the more general intellectual culture of farm. ers. When twelve years of age, however, his religion, convictions were deepened in consequence of the death of his father and the death of two of his brothers, which occurred within a few consecutive weeks, from disease contracted while in the Union service during the late war ; and being impressed with the beauty of a life consecrated to the service of Christ, he decided, in obedience to his convictions of duty, to enter the ministry. Although having become a member of the Methodist Church, he stumbled at the exaggerations of religious experiences pro- fessed by many, and threw himself unreservedly upon the word of God, believing that in it alone he coukl find all necessary revelation of God and duty. This led him finally to embrace the teachings of the Disciples, and to enter at once upon his studies for the ministry. Owing to the death of his father and the absence from home of his only surviving brother, who was then in college, the burden and care of the farm devolved upon Mr. Spencer. Although the responsibility was lightened by his mother's manage- ment, he, nevertheless, passed through a rugged experi- ence for one of his delicate health. In order to carry out his settled purpose to devote his life to the ministry, he became a close student and improved every opportunity to thoroughly qualify himself for the duties awaiting him. Ilis brother being ten years his senior and of scholarly tastes and habits, stimulated his desire for a thorough edu- cation, and exerted a great influence over him in the choice of his calling. He attended Ilillsdale College, in Michi- gan, in the year 1869, and the President of that institution was so favorably impressed with his pupil, and so well as- sured of his future success, that he offered to defray all the expenses of his education provided he would remain at that college. This kind offer Mr. Spencer declined, however, and, in compliance with the request of his mother, returned to the farm, where he remained until the spring of IS72, when, having reviewed his former studies, he went to Bethany College, Virginia, and continued in that institution without interruption until his graduation in 1875. His expenses in college were paid from the salary he received for preaching during his stay at Bethany. The estimation in which he was held during his college career found expression in his being chosen to fill many promi- nent positions and to deliver the valedictory address of his class. Immediately after his graduation he was called to the pastorate of the Christian Church in Bellaire, Ohio, where he remained two years. During his labors there, the church was greatly strengthened and fully 125 new members were added. On the 15th of October, 1877, he received a unanimous call to Paca Street Christian Church, Baltimore, the most prosperous church of the Disciples in the State of Maryland, the membership numbering over

six hundred. In his new field of labor he displayed in- creased carnestness and zeal, and his ministration has therefore been eminently successful. The church and Sunday school under his direction are in a most prosperous condition, and steadily increasing in numbers and influ- ence. Mr. Spencer possesses rare executive force, always subjecting his work to careful system, and then pushing it in every department to successful issue. He has attained reputation in his denomination as a practical and profound Sunday-school advocate. lle has . appeared frequently on the platform as a popular lecturer, and his efforts have been remarkably successful. Ilis sermons have the merit of earnestness and originality, and abound with apt illus- trations and forcible Scriptural quotations. He always speaks extemporaneously, without any attempt at rhetorical display, but with a vigor and unction that carry conviction to the heart. Mr. Spencer was married, September 19, 1878, to Miss Sallie Louise, daughter of Dr. Philip B. and Jane K. Pendleton, of Louisa County, Virginia. She is a niece of President Pendleton, of Bethany College, Vir- ginia, and a cousin of the llon. George 11. Pendleton, of Ohio. Iler great-grandfather was a Colonel in the Revo- lutionary army.

ULLMAN, REV. ROYAL IIENRY, A.M., one of the most prominent ministers of the Universalist Church, in Maryland, was born in Auburn, Cayuga County, New York, June 30, 1826. His parents were J. Lewis and Emily C. Pullman, both of whom were members of the Universalist Church. Mr. Pullman is the eldest of a family of ten children, one of whom is the inventor of the Pullman Palace Sleeping Car, and founder and President of the company known by this title. He was educated at the Portland Academy, New York, and subse- quently had the honorary degree of Magister in Artibus conferred upon him by the Lombard University of Illinois. Ile was ordained a clergyman in Olcott, Niagara County, New York, where he entered upon his ministry and re- mained seven years. Ilis call to the ministry was based upon deep religious convictions, and an earnest desire for the work caused him to put aside all worldly considerations calculated to withdraw him from his chosen calling. 1lis strong religious feeling seems to have been inherited from his father, the distinguishing trait of whose character was devoutness. During his ministry at Olcott, New York, he erected a house of worship, which was dedicated in 1857, and by his labors contributed greatly to the numerical strength of the church. In 1859, he accepted pastoral charge of the Universalist Church at Fulton, New York, and during a very successful ministry of eight years, was instrumental in securing the erection of an elegant church edifice there, which was dedicated in 1866. He accepted a call from the Universalist Church of Peoria, Illinois, in

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

1867, and remained there until 1872, during which time the tiniest house of worship in that city was erected by this church and dedicated in 1868. In 1872, he was elected General Secretary of the Universalist General Convention, New York city being headquarters. This is the most im portant office in that denomination, the inenmbent being intinsted with a general oversight of the spiritual and finan- cial interests of the church. In this position Mr. Pullman exhibited great activity and efficiency, and the term of his office exceeded that of his predecessors. Ile officially vis- ited twenty -two different States, travelling almost constantly for four years, except a brief respite during a visit to Europe in the summer of 1875. He instituted popular religious conventions in various parts of the country for the purpose of deepening the religious convictions of the people as the only sure foundation of all true and worthy Christian en- terprines, and was eminently successful in the work, espe- cially in the great States of the North. On his retirement from the office of General Secretary with a view to re- entering the pastoral work, the Board of Trustees of the General Convention gave expression to its high apprecia- tion of Mr. Pullman's services by a series of complimentary resolutions, and the secular as well as the religious press, of his own denomination, united in expressing the general regret at his retirement from a field of usefulness in which he had proved himself as possessing qualifications essential to success, and equal to the responsibilities of his high office. Ile accepted pastoral charge of the Second Universalist Society of Baltimore, in June 1877, where he is at present (1878), laboring successfully. In addition to his ministe- rial labors, he has rendered efficient aid in promoting vari- ons reformatory movements and benevolent enterprises. lle always preaches extemporaneously, with an earnest, impressive delivery, and his sermons are characterized by their clearness, force of diction, and logical arrangement. Mr. Pullman is an active member of the Masonic Lodge, Rayal Arch Chapter, and for many years was Sir Knight and Prelate of Peoria Commandery. He is also a member of the order of Odd Fellows. He was married, April, 1845, to Miss Harriet J. Barmore, daughter of John and Hannah Barmore, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and has two chil- dren, Francis C. and George H., both of whom are living. Ilis daughter married Mr. C. S. Smith, of Peoria, Illinois, and his son, having graduated at Harvard College and studied law, was admitted to the New York Bar in 1876. Hle subsequently became a member of the Baltimore Bar, and is now engaged in successful practice in that city.

JAMS, WILLIAM HENRY, Treasurer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, was born in Baltimore, October 6, 1822, being the second son of John and Catharine ( Barnes) ljams. His father was born in Anne Arundel County, and lost his mother when he was only three weeks old. He came to Baltimore in 1806,

when he was seventeen years of age, and, in 1814, partici- pated in the defence of that city against the British invad- ers. Ile followed the business of honse-building through a long and active life, and now ( 1879), in his eighty-ninth year, hale and hearty, bright and intelligent, still reverts with pride to the fact of his having been one of the " Old Defenders" of Baltimore. The family is of Welsh origin, and the first of the name came to America among the earli- est settlers of the State. They were people of wealth, and devoted themselves mainly to agricultural pursuits. In the war of the Revolution they bore an honorable and active part. Mr. William Henry Ijams is descended in the fifth or sixth generation from the first of his name in the State of Maryland. His mother was from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where her family have lived for generations. She died when he was only five years of age. Ile was edu- cated and has always resided in the city of Baltimore. In August, 1837, before he was quite fifteen years of age, he. left school and entered upon the active duties of life as clerk in the office of Mr. John Gill, a Notary Public. IIe remained with Mr. Gill for twelve years, when the office was discontinued, Mr. Gill having reached the age of eighty-five years. Ile then became a clerk for Aaron R. Levering, agent for the Nashville Insurance Company, and remained with him for four years, at which time the death of Mr. Levering occurred, and the Baltimore office of the company was discontinued. On the Ist of May, 1853, he became a clerk in the office of the Treasurer of the Balti- more and Ohio Railroad Company, and for thirteen years faithfully discharged the responsible duties of that position. In 1866, he was promoted to the office of Auditor, which position he filled for three years. On the ist of May, 1869, Mr. Joshua J. Atkinson, who had been the Treasurer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company for over thirty years, a man of strict integrity and great faithfulness to his trust, was seized in his office, in the morning, with a conges- tive chill. Medical aid was summoned, but his case was pronounced hopeless, and he died at five in the afternoon. Mr. tjams was appointed to take the place of Mr. Atkin- son, ad interim. One week from that time the.company met and formally installed him as Treasurer, an office which he still holds. In the nine years since he entered upon its duties he has lost but one day, which he took to visit the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Mr. fjams was married, in October, 1853, to Isabella, daughter of John King, of Baltimore. They have four children, William IIenry, the eldest, is in the grocery business in Baltimore, in partnership with E. T. Drury, who married Mr. Ijams's only daughter, Laura Adell. Ilis second son is George Edgar, who is a student of medicine in the University of Maryland, and the third is Albert Barnes, a child of eight years. In his busy life Mr. Ijams has found little time for polities, and has never aspired to public office. Before the year 1850, he became a member of the society of Odd Fellows, but never would consent to hold an office, either

BIOGRAPHICAL. CYCLOPEDIA ..

in the Lodge or Encampment, though he has always re- mained firm in his attachment to the order. The families of both his father and mother were Methodists, and had been for generations. Mrs. ljams is a member of that church, and Mr. tjams attends it, but is not a member. In the forty-one years in which he has been in active life, he has been engaged in only three offices, and has served the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company for twenty-five years,

B SPAROYCE, JAMES, an extensive individual coal miner and shipper, was born in the town of Chester, Or- ange County, New York, January 8, 1823. His parents were natives of Dublin, Ireland, and on cm- igrating to this country, settled in the State of New York, where all their children were born. Two brothers and a sister of Mr. Boyce are still living there. Mr. Boyce received a common school education in his native town, and removed with his parents to New York city, at an early age. Ile entered into the employ of a retail grocer, and afterward served as clerk in the wholesale trade, in which employment he continued until the year 1839, being then in his sixteenth year. He was subsequently employed by a retail coal dealer in New York city, with whom he continued as clerk until 1842, when he commenced the same business on his own account. . Soon afterward, he also engaged in the wholesale trade. In 1847, he became interested in the Cumberland coal fields, and afterward in- vested largely in bituminous coal lands in Maryland and Virginia, which he operated in his own name, and took an active interest, as a stockholder and general agent, in one of the largest coal companies in the Maryland region, from which he realized large profits. He was subsequently elected President of the Franklin Coal Company of Mary- land, of which he became sole owner in 1865. During the civil war he made heavy contracts in the Pennsylvania region for anthracite coal and shipped immense quantities therefrom to the United States Government, which also yielded him large profits. He afterward purchased a tract of anthracite coal lands in Pennsylvania, which remain un- worked, as he is engaged in working another colliery on royalty in the same region, He became the sole owner of that valuable coal property operated in the name of the George's Creek Mining Company, Maryland, which he con- tinues to work in connection with the coal lands adjoining the Franklin mines. Ile also became half owner of the Gaston Gas and Coal Mine, and the largest owner in another extensive gas coal mining company of West Vir- ginia. His principal place of business is in Baltimore, and his interests centre largely in Cumberland or George's Creek coal region of Maryland. For many years his min-

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1, Part 16

Author: National Biographical Publishing Co. 4n Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Baltimore : National Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 844

Author: National Biographical Publishing Co. 4n
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Baltimore : National Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844