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

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

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

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BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

the largest business in timber, lumber and shingles that was done on the Susquehanna River by any one firm. On the dissolution of this partnership, by the death of Mr. Rinehart in 1851, after deducting all the profits that each had drawn from time to time, the capital invested was over one hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Edwin J. Rinehart, son of the deceased, who, for some time previous to the death of his father, had been clerking for the firm, suc- ceeded to his father's interest in the business, and the style of the firm was not changed. The partnership was dis- solved in 1853, each partner continuing in the lumber business. In the spring of 1855, Mr. Tome formed a co- partnership with John and Thomas C. Bond, styling the firm Bond, Brother & Company, who continue the lumber business to the present time. This firm, of which Mr. Tome is the capitalist, in addition to their extensive lumber business, own about twenty thousand acres of timber lands in Pennsylvania, as well as ten thousand acres of similar lands in Michigan. Mr. Tome is also largely engaged in the grain, fertilizer and agricultural trade in Port Deposit, with his nephew by marriage, Mr. Joseph W. Reynolds, under the firm of J. Tome & Company. In 1849, Mr. Tome formed a business connection with the Messrs. Tay- lor and John S. Gittings, of Baltimore, who were the owners of the Steamer "Portsmouth," plying between Port Deposit and Baltimore; and afterwards purchased the steamers " Lancaster " and " Juniata " of the opposi- tion line, consolidating the two companies, and running the three steamers for passengers and freight, and towing canal-boats from the Susquehanna and Tide Water Canal. This line proved a success, and is still in operation with two side-wheel steamers and three tugs. In 1865, this company, with Captain Mason L. Weems, organized the Baltimore and Fredericksburg Steamboat Company, run- ning two steamers, the " Wenonah " and " Matilda," and continued to run this line until 1874, when, after the death of Captain Weems, the partners transferred their Interests in the line to his heirs, who now control it. In the course of his extended business transactions, Mr. Tome has be- come a large property-holder. In addition to the nume- rous dwellings, store-houses, wharf and warehouse proper- ties held by him in Port Deposit, he is the owner of twelve thousand acres of timber land in Potter County, Pennsyl- vania, in addition to those held by the firm of Bond, Brother & Company. He also owns four or five valuable farms in Cecil County, Maryland, besides a valuable farm of three hundred acres in Carroll County, of that State, together with valuable property in Baltimore and else- where, and a large personal estate, consisting of private securities, bonds and mortgages. Mr. Tome is also the owner and proprietor of Minnequa Springs in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, on the line of the Northern Central Railway, superintended under his direction by Mr. W. I. Tyler, who is well and favorably known to the guests who have visited the Springs for some years past. Since 1849,

he has been the President of the Baltimore and Susque- hanna Steam Company, and is a stockholder and director in the Conowingo Bridge Company. He is a director in the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Com- pany, and a large stockholder in the Delaware Railroad Company. He is largely interested in the Port Deposit and Columbia Railroad, in which he is a director, and in the Susquehanna and Tide Water Canal Company, and owns a large amount of stock in the Ridley Park Associa- tion. Through him and a few others the outlet lock on the Susquehanna and Tide Water Canal, at Bell's Ferry or Lapidum, was constructed, thus enabling canal-boats to reach Port Deposit without being compelled to go first to Havre de Grace. Until the commencement of the war, Mr. Tome had been too much engaged in business to be allured by the inducements of political preferment ; but when the Union of the States was threatened, he was ready to spend time and money in its defence and maintenance. In recognition of his firm Union principles, he was elected by the Union party of Cecil County to the Senate of Mary- land in the fall of 1863, and took his seat in January, 1864. At that session, Archibald Sterling, Esq., of Baltimore, was Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Senate, on which committee Mr. Tome held the second place. William J. Jones, Esq., of Cecil County, was a leading member of the House, and Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. These three gentlemen took the lead in the financial legislation of the session, which bore very clearly the marks of Mr. Tome's ability as a financier. In the fall of 1864, the Reform State Convention having met the same year, he was again nominated and re-elected to the Senate. At this session he was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Finance, and of the Committee on Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, and served on the Com- mittees on Engrossed Bills and Insolvent Laws. After his retirement from the Senate in 1867, he took no part in political matters until 1871, when he was unanimously nominated by the Union Republican party of the State for Governor of Maryland. Hle was . defeated by William Pinkney Whyte. He is now the Treasurer of the National Republican Executive Committee. Mr. Tome's banking operations have been very extensive. For a number of years he was private banker for the business men of Port Deposit. In May, 1850, he, with others, having procured a charter for the Cecil Bank, at Port Deposit, opened it with a capital of only twenty-five thousand dollars. Its officers were, Jacob Tome, President, and Allen Anderson, Cashier; Mr. Tome owning the principal portion of the stock. The capital of the Cecil Bank increased yearly, until one hundred thousand dollars were paid in, and in 1864, it had a surplus of one hundred thousand dollars. It then became a National Bank, and one hundred thou- sand dollars more capital was put in, making its present capital three hundred thousand dollars. Its present officers are. Jacob Tome, President, and Robert C. Hopkins, Cash-

Yours sincerely on Whereit.

BIOGRAPIIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

ier. Mr. Tome's next banking enterprise in Cecil County was the purchase, in 1868, of the Elkton National Bank, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, of which he is President, and Charles B. Findley, Cashier. In 1865, he opened the Fredericksburg, Virginia, Bank, with a cap- ital of one hundred thousand dollars; Jacob Tome, Presi- dent, and John M. Wallace, Cashier. Subsequently, he purchased the National Bank at Hagerstown, Maryland, and removed it to Washington, where, re-chartered and reorganized, it is now the Citizens' National Bank of Washington City, with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars; llon. John A. J. Creswell, President, and A. R. Appleman, Vice-President. The building of this bank, located on Fifteenth Street, opposite the Treasury building, built, and formerly owned by Jay Cooke, purchased at a cost of seventy-two thousand dollars, and improved at an additional expense of twenty-eight thousand dollars, is conceded to be the finest banking-house 'in the city of Washington. Mr. Tome is also a director in the Third National, and stockholder in the Marine Bank, of Balti- more. lle was married December 6, 1841, to Miss Car- oline M. Webb, of Port Deposit, a most estimable lady. They had several children, all of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Tome was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and, although not a member himself, Mr. Tome has uniformly attended its service. In 1865, he conceived the purpose of building a new church and donating it to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the town of Port Deposit. It was dedicated by Bishop Mat- thew Simpson, October 30, 1871. It cost sixty-five thou- sand dollars, and is, perhaps, the handsomest church in Maryland, outside of the cities. In honor of the donor, it has been incorporated, " The Tome Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church." Mr. Tome's residence, situated at Port Deposit, on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna, is one of the most elegant and complete in all its appoint- ments of any suburban mansion in Maryland. It is three and a half stories high, and rests upon a solid foundation of rock; is built of dressed granite, quarried in that vicin- ity, and covered with a Mansard roof. On the northwest corner of the main building, and attached to it, stands a tower twenty-two feet square, built of beautiful cut granite; it extends above the main building, and has, on each floor, a handsome room, furnished with walnut casings. Thc house throughout is magnificently furnished ; wide halls in the several stories divide the different apartments, and the walls are graced with a variety of paintings. The floor of the main building is used for the purpose of a bank, and that of the tower as Mr. Tome's private office. On the south side is a large grapcry and conservatory; on a hill, near by, are three reservoirs, from which an abundant supply of water is obtained, and at the southern end of the wharf is a large gas-house, built of native granite, and containing a receiver with a capacity of thirty-five hundred feet. In front, across the street, is a beautiful park, artis-

tically laid off. The grounds and park arc' adorned with lawns and terraces, and shade trees, plants and flowers, in rich variety. When seen from the river, the place pre- sents a picturesque appearance, and resembles some pala- tial residence on the Rhine. Notwithstanding the multi- plicity and magnitude of his varied business operations, Mr. Tome directs and personally supervises them all. Ile is methodical, and punctual at every place requiring his presence. Amid all, he has preserved his vigor of mind and body by regular, tempcrate habits. Fortune and favorable circumstances have attended him; but he is a millionaire to-day because he has been industrious, persever- ing, far-seeing, systematic, economical, and cautious ; quick to discern, and prompt to improve business opportunities.

IBBONS, MOST REV. JAMES, Archbishop of Baltimore, and Primate of the Church in Amer- ica, was born of Irish parentage in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, July 23, 1834, and

7 having been baptized in the Cathedral of that city, was conveyed at a very early age by his father to Ireland, where he received the rudiments of an educa- tion and training, destined subsequently to elevate him to his present eminent station. On returning to his native land, after a long absence, he concluded to pursue his studies at St. Charles College, Maryland, and graduated with honor at that institution in the year 1857. Subse- quently, at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, he pursued a thorough course of study in philosophy and theology, which concluded with his ordination as Priest at St. Mary's, at the hands of the late most Rev. Archbishop Kenrick, June 30, 1861. Summoned immediately to the responsibilities of his sacred calling, the youthful priest was appointed assistant to the late Rev. James Dolan, rector of St. Patrick's, discharging the requirements of the position with such fidelity and suavity of manner as to secure unbounded popularity with the parishioners. This sentiment of affectionate regard was also entertained by the congregation of St. Bridget's, at Canton, to the pastor- ship of which he was shortly after transferred. After re- maining in charge of St. Bridget's for several years, the lamented Spalding, then at the head of the American Church, chose the young pastor as a member of his house- hold by conferring upon him the position of private secre- tary-a marked recognition of merit. Sunday, August 16, 1868, the venerable Cathedral of Baltimore was the scene of an important event in the career of Father Gib- bons, who, on that occasion, was consecrated by his Grace, Dr. Spalding, Bishop of Adramyttum in Partibus Infi- delium, and Viear- Apostolic of North Carolina. The labors of the new Bishop in that field were attended with eminent success, and exhibited remarkable administrative

BIOGRAPHIICAL. CYCLOPEDIA.

ability, together with a zealous concern for the salvation of souls. After about four years of ceaseless labor there, a vacancy being created in the See of Richmond, through the denise of Right Rev. Bishop McGill, the Viear- Apostolic of North Carolina was by authority of the Holy See translated to Richmond, where he was installed by Arch- bishop Bayley, October 20, 1872. Within a brief period after his arrival in that diocese, renewed life and interest, in a religious sense, became apparent as the fruits of his administration. Several new churches were erected, and in addition, at the close of little more than five years, he had founded and placed in successful operation, the splendid institution known as "St. Peter's Cathedral Male Academy and Parochial School," " St. Sophia's Ilome " for aged people, in charge of the Little Sisters of the Poor, the late William Shakespeare Caldwell, Esq., of Richmond, having generously donated the elegant house at Ninth and Marshall streets for that purpose. "St. Joseph's Female Orphan Asylum " was also enlarged, and a fine parochial school for boys and girls instituted at Petersburg, with one also at Portsmouth for girls. The venerable head of the Archdiocese of Baltimore was at this period in rapidly failing health, and finding himself unable to discharge the onerous duties of his responsible office, he sought from Rome the appointment of a Coadjutor, his decided prefer- ence in this emergency being the energetic young Bishop of Richmond. In compliance with this desire of the dying prelate, Bishop Gibbons was appointed Coadjutor, with the right of succession, to the most Rev. James Roosevelt Bayley, Archbishop of Baltimore, May 20, 1877. This act was a signal and affecting evidence of the high esteem which Dr. Bayley entertained for the person of his Grace. Being now warmly attached to Virginia, the faithful prelate was reluctant to leave that State; yet where duty called "'twas his to obey," and the mandate of ecclesiastical authority was therefore promptly complied with. When the time came for Bishop Gibbons to leave for his enlarged field of labor, his departure called forth an expression of deep regret from citizens of all denomi- nations. Although but a brief period has elapsed since his promotion to the See of Baltimore (October 3, 1877), it has been marked by great executive energy and an accurate perception of the wants of the diocese. As an instance of this may be mentioned, the securing of a most eligible site for the erection of a large church, at the inter- section of East Monument and Washington streets, in the northwestern section of the city of Baltimore, to which church he has appointed as pastor, Rev. Michael Dausch, for many years the worthy assistant of St. Vincent de Paul's. The Archbishop has recently purchased the building on the northeast corner of High and Low streets, as a branch of St. Mary's Industrial School, to be known as St. James's Home for Boys. Previous to his accession, Archbishop Gibbons had contributed to Catholic literature an invaluable addition in the popular work, " The Faith of

our Fathers," a volume which has met with extensive favor, and elicited the heartiest commendations from a host of readers. The approval is well earned, for it com- pares favorably with the standard theological productions of either the past or present. Its circulation in eighteen months has exceeded fifty thousand copies. The author's sentences abound with vigorous, terse and keen analysis, seconded by a masterly maintenance of Catholic doctrine. In the career of Bishop Gibbons, who has as yet scarcely attained the meridian of life, we have an illustration of the fact that it is not always through adventitious surroundings in youth that men finally rise to eminence and the favorable regard of their fellow-men, but rather through the exercise of humility, patience, charity, gentleness of manner and speech, combined with a laudable ambition to be an instrument of good in the world. These traits are emi- nently characteristic of Archbishop Gibbons, and qualify him to fill the Episcopal throne once occupied by the illus- trious Carroll, Kenrick and Spalding.

00 ALLIS, SEVERN TEACKLE, A.M., LL.D., was born in Baltimore, September 8, 1816. Ilis parents were from the Eastern Shore of Mary . land, and descended from the earliest settlers of the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Vir- ginia. Ile was sent very early to school, and graduated at St. Mary's College, Baltimore, in 1832, at the age of sixteen years. In the fall of 1832, he entered the office of William Wirt, in Baltimore, as a student at law ; re- maining there until the death of Mr. Wirt, in 1834, when he entered the office of the late Judge John Glenn, where he continued his studies, until September, 1837, when he was admitted to the Bar. At eighteen, he received the de- gree of Artium Magister, from St. Mary's College; and the honorary degree of Legum Doctor, in 1841. In early life, Mr, Wallis had a taste for literature and contributed a good deal, in both prose and verse, to the magazines and periodicals of the day-the prose articles consisted mostly of literary or historical criticism. Ile carly became a profi- cient in the Spanish language, and was devoted to the his- tory and literature of Spain; receiving, in consequence, in 1843, the rare honor of election as a Corresponding member of the Royal Academy of History of Madrid. In 1846, he was chosen a Fellow of the Royal Society of Northern Anti- quaries at Copenhagen. In 1847, Mr. Wallis visited Spain ; and in 1849, Ilarper & Brothers published the result of his observations in a volume entitled, "Glimpses of Spain," which was well received, and passed to a second edition. Later, in 1849, he was sent to Madrid, professionally, by the Government of the United States, for the purpose of exam- ining into the title to the public lands in East Florida, as affected by royal grants made during the negotiations for

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

the Treaty of 1819. Mr. Wallis was put into direct relations with the Spanish Government, and enjoyed exceptional opportunities of official and social intercourse and observa- tion. He prepared a careful work on his return, under the title of, "Spain : Her Institutions, Politics and Public Men," the publication of which was delayed by circum- stances until 1853, when it appeared from the press of Ticknor, Reed & Fields, Boston, and was received with favor in both this country and England. From 1859 to 1861, he contributed largely to the editorial department of the Baltimore Exchange. Ile was a Whig in politics from his first vote down to the organization of the American, or Know-Nothing party, after which he identified himself with the Democratic party, and voted for Mr. Buchanan. Ile was offered the District Attorneyship, by Mr. Bu- chanan, in 1857, but declined it. In 1861, after the affair in Baltimore of the 19th of April, he was sent to the Ilouse of Delegates, and took a leading part in the proceedings of the Maryland Legislature of that year, at Frederick. Ile was Chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations, and made himself obnoxious to the Federal authorities, by his Reports, which were adopted by the Legislature, and which took strong ground against the war, as well as against the then prevalent doctrine of military necessity. In September of that year, the Legislature was suppressed by military force; and Mr. Wallis was arrested, with many of its members and other prominent citizens of the State, and imprisoned for over fourteen months, in Forts Mc- Henry, Fortress Monroe, Fort La Fayette, and Fort Warren, successively. No charge was ever made against him by the Government; and having steadfastly insisted upon being either lawfully tried or discharged, he was finally released, in November, 1862, without conditions, and without hav- ing ever been informed to the present day of the cause of his arrest. On his release, he returned to the practice of his profession in Baltimore; and since that time has been actively and successfully engaged in it in the local and ap- pellate Courts of the State, as well as the Federal Courts of the District, and the Supreme Court of the United States. In the winter of 1862-3, Mr. Wallis had a con- troversial correspondence (which attracted some attention) with the Ilon. John Sherman, then of the United States Senate, concerning the suppression of the Maryland Leg- islature and the arrest of its members, and of the Mayor and Police Commissioners of Baltimore, in 1861. Not- withstanding his professional occupations, Mr. Wallis has given much time since the war to literary work, contribu- ting critical articles occasionally to the Reviews and Mag- azines, and from time to time writing a good deal for the daily press in Baltimore and New York. Ile has also been called upon frequently for addresses upon occasions of in- terest. In 1870, being one of the Trustees of the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, he delivered, upon the invitation of the Board, a discourse upon the Life and Character of Mr. Peabody, in the Institute Hall in Baltimore. He had the

unusual honor of an invitation, by joint resolution of the Senate and the House, to repeat that discourse in the hall of the House of Delegates, at Annapolis, before the Gen- eral Assembly of Maryland and the chief executive and judicial officers of the State. At a later period of that year, upon the death of the Ilon. John P. Kennedy, Mr. Wallis was elected to succeed him as Provost of the Uni- versity of Maryland, which place he continues to fill. In December, 1872, as Chairman of the Art Committee of private citizens, appointed by the Legislature, he delivered, in the Senate Chamber at Annapolis, the address upon the unveiling of Rinehart's statue of Chief Justice Taney. The tastes of Mr. Wallis have always inclined him to lit- erature, of which he has been a student from his youth. Ile speaks the French language with facility, and the Span- ish with the same ease and correctness as his native tongue. Ile has never lost his familiarity with the Latin classics, or his early fondness for them. For politics he has manifested comparatively small inclination, and has taken but little active part in them for many years. His election to the Legislature, in 1861, was not only unsought but entirely against his wishes. Down to the breaking out of the civil war, he was an ardent advocate for the Union. Ilis sym- pathies, however, were altogether and warmly with the South after the struggle began; and, although he did not recognize secession as a constitutional right, he regarded the Federal Government as entirely without constitutional authority to interfere with the States, by coercion, if they saw fit to retire from the compact, as they had seen fit to enter into it. His views on this point were better repre- sented by the specches of the Hon. James A. Bayard, of Delaware, in the Senate, than by those of any other pub- lic man of the day. The political developments of the war, and the course of events since its termination, have strengthened Mr. Wallis in his conviction, as a student of our institutions, that their chief danger lies in the perpet- ual aggressiveness and undue extension and preponde- rance of Federal influence and power. Upon its historical antagonism to these his most earnest sympathy with the Democratic party rests ; and, although educated in Whig ideas, he shares to the full the opposition of Democratic doctrine to tariffs, troops, subsidies, land grants, bounties, and all the similar machinery by which consolidationism, in his judgment, is subverting the Constitution and cor- rupting the people.

PATROBE, HONORABLE FERDINAND C., Mayor of the city of Baltimore, was born October 14, 1833, in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, John II. B. Latrobe, has, for half a century, been a leading member of the Baltimore bar, and is distinguished for his high mental culture and schol- arly attainments. The son received his education at

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA

the College of St. James, Washington County, Maryland; and after a course of law studies under his father, was ad- mitted to legal practice in 1858. Soon after his admission to the bar, Mr. Latrobe was selected by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company as its assistant counsel, and, as such, he has defended that great corporation in many of its most important cases in the Court of Appeals of Mary- land; and in the well-known case of O'Connell against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, was the sole counsel for the defence. For many years he has been the counsel of the late Thomas Winans, and Messrs. Winans & Company, as well as their confidential business agent. On the death of Mr. Thomas Winans, in 1878, Mr. Latrobe became attorney for the executors of his vast estate. In the fall of 1867, Mr. Latrobe was elected to the Legislature of Mary- land, and was acting chairman during the entire session, of the Committee of Ways and Means. He was the author of many important acts passed at that session ; among them, the Military Law of the State, which, through his efforts, was then established. The Honorable Thomas Swann, then Gov- ernor of Maryland, appointed Mr. Latrobe Judge Advocate General of the State, when he, with General John S. Berry, the Adjutant-General, aided in organizing the large militia force, consisting of eleven regiments, fully armed and equipped, which belonged to the State military force in 1869. In the fall of 1869 he was re-elected to the Legislature, and made Speaker of the House of Delegates, which then embraced in its membership some of the most distinguished men of the State ; such as Governor Carroll, Judge Mer- rick, Honorable E. J. Henkel, A. P. Gorman, and E. J. Kilbourne. In the Presidential campaign of 1872, Mr. Latrobe took an active part in the canvass of the city of Baltimore and the State at large, in eloquent advocacy of Democratic principles. In 1873 he was a candidate for the Mayoralty nomination, on the Democratic ticket, against the Honorable Joshua Vansant, the latter being successful after a very animated contest. In the Centen- nial year of 1876, he was unanimously nominated by the Democratic Convention for the Mayoralty of Baltimore, and elected over his opponent, IIcnry M. Warfield, Esq., taking his seat in November of the same year. During Mayor Latrobe's administration many new and most im- portant reforms in municipal government were inaugurated. The old Port Warden's department, with its attendant evil, the City Yard, was abolished and superseded by a Harbor Board-a commission composed of seven gentle- men, who serve without pay, and who are intrusted with all matters connected with the harbor. The result of this re- form was the deepening of the harbor of Baltimore to twenty-four feet at low water, so as to receive any vessel that can enter the port of New York. The cobble-stone pavement of Baltimore Street and many other of the lead- ing thoroughfares of the city gave place to the Belgian blocks; active progress was made in the improvement of Jones's Falls, and many important streets and avenues were

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

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