USA > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 27
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 27
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BALDWIN, SILAS, A.M., M.D., was born, March 9, 1845, in Harford County, Maryland. At the age of thirteen years, he entered the Bethel Academy, in his native county, then under the preceptorship of Rev. T. S. C. Smith, where he remained for three years, going through a thorough training for college. He then entered Georgetown (D. (.) College, but remained
there fora brief period only, owing to the Federal troops con- verting a portion of the college buildings into barracks (just after the first battle of Manassas), which greatly interfered with the curiculum of the institution, and caused his father to withdraw him therehow. He was then seut to Princeton College, where, owing to his preparatory educa- tion, he at once entered the Sophomore Class, and gradu- ated, with honor, in 1865. Immediately after his gradua- tion, he entered, as private student, the office of the late Professor Nathan R. Smith, Baltimore, and, after attending two regular courses of lectures, at the Maryland Univer- sity, graduated therefrom March 9, 1867. The estimation in which he was held by his co-graduates, is indicated by the fact that he was selected by them as the president of the graduating class. After graduating, he returned to his native county, and entered upon the practice of medicine, lle remained in Harford for about a year and a half, and, during that period, married Miss Mary Eliza Williar, daughter of George P. Williar, Esq., a prominent mer- chant of Baltimore. Becoming dissatisfied with the irk- someness of a country practice, Dr. Baldwin went to Bal- timore, October, 1868, and established himself in the prac- tice of his profession in the northwestern section of the city, where he has continued actively engaged therein up to the present writing. In May, of 1870, he was elected by the Board of Directors of the Maryland Penitentiary, as the Visiting Physician of that institution, under the ad- ministration of Governor Oden Bowie. He held that position for the two years of Governor Bowie's term, and under his successor, Governor William Pinkney Whyte, for two years. The satisfactory manner in which he dis- charged the duties of Visiting Physician at the Peniten- tiary, is evidenced in a series of complimentary resolutions, adopted by the board, April 13, 1874, on the occasion of his resignation. These embraced a request that the doc- tor act until his successor was elected, and the expression that in his withdrawal " the prison had lost a most valua. ble, attentive, and efficient officer, under whose adminis- tration the sanitary condition of the prison has been great- ly augmented." Dr. Baldwin had medical charge of the Penitentiary during the prevalence of the great small-pox epidemie, which committed such fearful ravages in Balti- more in 1873. The chapel of the Penitentiary was im- provised for a hospital, and seventeen patients at a time were down with the loathsome malady. There were about eight hundred prisoners in the institution, all of whom were vaccinated by the doctor, in consequence of which, and the general skilful professional care he exercised over them, but four fatal cases occurred. Whilst occupy- ing that position, Dr. Baldwin still devoted his spare time to his private practice, which had become quite extensive. . In February, 1878, he was appointed Vaccine Physician for the Nineteenth and Twentieth Wards of Baltimore, by the late Mayor George P'. Kane, which position he con- tinnes to hold under the present Mayor, Ferdinand C. L.a ..
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trobe. Dr. Baldwin's father, William Baldwin, who twice represented Harford County in the Maryland Legislature, his grandfather, Silas Baldwin, and his great grandfather, William Baldwin, were all natives of Harford County, and for four generations have lived npon the ancient estate of the family, the original mansion, built of English im- ported brick, being still in existence. The house in which the doctor's father, William Baldwin, is now living, and which occupies a portion of the original estate, is itself some sixty years okl. William Baldwin married Miss Hanna A. Powell, daughter of Davis Powell, originally of Pennsylvania, and of the Quaker persuasion. The doc- tor's grandfather, Silas Baldwin, married Miss Charlotte Street, of Ilarford, daughter of Colonel John Street, one of the gallant defenders of Baltimore in 1814. The pro- genitors of the Baldwins originally came from Scotland, and were among the carliest landed proprietors of Mary- land, in the colonial days. Dr. Baldwin was one of five children, of whom he is the sole survivor. In religion, the doctor is attached, as were his ancestors, to the tenets of the Presbyterian Church. He has two children, Katie and William.
B ANNON, HON. MICHAEL, Lawyer and Senator, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, August 1, 1827. Ile was the sixth in a family of nine chil- dren, whose parents were Philip and Alice (Galla- gher) Bannon. Ilis father was a highly respected farmer. His grandfather was an officer in the Irish Rebel Army, in 1798. When the English succeeded in sup- pressing the rebellion, he was threatened with arrest, and suffered greatly from hunger and exposure, but escaped. Ile married a Miss Woods, of a prominent Scotch-Irish
family. One of the brothers of Mr. Michael Bannon went first to Australia, and from thence to California, where he made a large fortune, and returned to Ireland. At the age of eighteen, Mr. Bannon set out alone for the United States. On the way; the cholera broke out on the vessel, and seven sailors and twenty-seven passengers died. Arriving in New York, in July, 1846, he found work for a few days, after which he went to Albany, in hopes of a better opportunity, but was disappointed, and returned as far as Haverstraw, where he secured employment in a brick-yard. Ifere he carried brick till his flesh was bruised and raw, and, unable to continue it longer, returned to New York, where he drove a cart four weeks. He then proceeded to Philadelphia, having been recommended to a Mr. Cummisky, of that place, who, however, failed to give him employment, and, for a time, he took care of horses on the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was then being built. Here he was thrown in contact with boys and men of the lowest character, and, as he could not talk
Irish, he was shamefully persecuted and beaten. In Au- gust, he was attacked with ship fever, and lay in a critical condition many weeks. When he recovered, he was weak and penniless, and almost naked, yet he worked at ship- loading until his hands were tom and bleeding from band- ling limestone and pig-iron. Early in 1847, he came to Baltimore, with only a ten-cent piece in his pocket. It was snowing ; he was poorly clad, and nearly shoeless. Ilaving two cousins in the city, he found his way to one of them, but was not invited to remain. Ile gave his ten cents for a lodging, went without supper and breakfast, and, finding his other cousin, he this time concealed his relationship, and obtained from him permission to teach his children and keep his books for seven dollars a month. After a time, having proved his worth, he made known his relationship, and his wages were raised, first to nine, then to twelve dollars a month. At the end of a year, he had bought the first overcoat he ever had ; a horse and cart, hired a man to drive, and began to do a little busi- ness outside of his salary. He made application for several schools, as teacher, but without success, and went to Chestertown to visit Mr. Urie, a trustee of a vacant school, and a great fruit-grower. Mr. Bannon had at- tended an agricultural college in Ireland, and was thor- oughly versed in fruit culture ; he greatly surprised and delighted Mr. Urie by his superior knowledge in that de- partment, and secured his infhence in his behalf, but his being a Catholic was an objection in the minds of others. As he had no certificate, he was advised to stand an ex- amination at Washington College, but the president de- clined to examine him. He then applied to Professor Rogers, in charge of the mathematical department. It was a cold, snowy, blustering night as he went into the professor's room, which was warm and bright, and with the beautiful mathematical instruments in their glass cases, presented a charming scene to the homeless young man, in whose mind the thought instantly rose : " Oh, what would I give to be in this professor's place !" Ile received a kind letter from Professor Rogers, and obtained the school at $250 a year. He now determined on a full col- legiate course ; spent all his time out of school hours in study, and obtained permission to attend the college on examination day each week. His salary was raised the second year to $300, and the third year to $450. After teaching and studying in this way for five years, in IS54 he graduated from the college, and Professor Rogers hav- ing resigned, he was at once elected Professor of Mathe- matics, to occupy the same room he had so longed for on the stormy, dreary night in which he had first entered it. llis salary as Professor was $700 a year, with his board. Ile remained one year, and resigned to form a partnership with Mr. Isaac Perkins, to manufacture the wood-work for ," carriages, sleighs, etc. This not proving a pecuniary suc- cess, he disposed of it at a favorable opportunity, and re- moved to Anne Arundel County, where he taught school
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for two years, near his present residence. From the time of his graduation he had been assiduously pursuing a com se of legal studies, and in 1857 was admitted to the ba, before Judge Price, in Towsontown. He at buce opened an office in Baltimore, and comnieneed the prac- tice of his profession. He afterwards purchased the prop- erty where his office was, on St. Paul's Street, and erected " The Bannon Building." Beginning at first with a gene- ral law business, he, by degrees, made a specialty of equity practice and real estate. Ile soon began to accumulate wealth, till now he owns five valuable farms in Anne Arun- del County, and considerable real estate in the city, amounting in value to about $100,000, all of which he has made in the last twenty years. His home farm, near Jessup's Station, is a marvel of beauty. Ile built the honse himself, making his own brick. The drainage and improvements on this place probably surpass anything in the State, and are his special pride. Mr. Bannon is a Dem- ocrat, and has, for several years, been influential in the councils and management of State affairs. Ile is a mem- ber of the Democratic State Central Committee, and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Anne Arundel County, and, since 1875, has been the Senator from that county. Ile is a natural leader, a man of great firmness and vigor of intellect, and a skilful and successful party manager. In the summer of 1878, he visited his early home, in Ireland, also the . Exposition at Paris, and spent some time in travelling on the Continent and through Great Britain. Mr. Bannon was united in marriage, De- cember 23, 1858, with Eveline Clark, and has had eight children, of whom five boys and two girls are living.
G OWEN, HONORABLE SALES J., late Mayor and Post- master of the city of Washington, was born in the township of Scipio, Cayuga County, New York, October 7, 1813, His parents were from Massachu- setts, and were among the first settlers of the above -
county. He assisted his father in the labors of the farm until he attained his majority, receiving a good academic education, and from the age of seventeen he taught school during the winter season. For the four years succeeding 1838, he engaged in mercantile pursuits, after which he re- moved South, and in 1845 was a clerk in the Treasury Department in Washington. In October, 1848, he was re- moved by Robert J. Walker for refusing to contribute a portion of his salary to aid the election of General Cass to the Presidency, and for assisting the Honorable David Wilmot in sending out free-soil documents. Ile favored the election of Mr. Van Buren, and used his means and di- rected his efforts for the furtherance of his anti-slavery sentiments, the open profession of which, at that time, re- quired in the latitude of Washington the possession of
great manliness and courage. After this he engaged in the prosecution of claims against the government, and was very successful in the settlement of the accounts of army officeis returned from the Mexican war. His business bringing him into frequent intercourse with influential men in the Southern States, he became with them a general favorite, and from 1856 to 1861 was frequently approached with the view of winning him over to their scheme of a separate government. Failing in this he was made a special object of persecution, but neither flattery, promises, mor threats ever induced him to waver for a moment in his loyalty to the Union. In the Presidential campaigns of 1856 and 1860, he took an active part in favor of the Republican candidates, and no resident of Washington possessed in a higher degree the confidence of Mr. Lincoln, or could boast of a greater number of commissions signed by the martyr President, all of which were bestowed without so- licitation. Nor did any one in his sphere during the war exert a greater influence, do more to aid the government, or submit to greater sacrifices. In 1861, he was appointed to the important position of Commissioner of Police for the District of Columbia, the safety of the Capitol and of the chief officers of the government depending in great measure on the efficiency of this department ; the former police hav- ing joined the rebellion and left for Richmond. The same year he was made disbursing officer of the United States Senate, and in 1862, was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue, which office he held till he was appointed Post- master of Washington, in March, 1863. During the war all the mails to and from the armies were distributed and mailed through this office, yet during Mr. Bowen's admin- istration, not withstanding the heavy duties, every depart- ment was so managed as to give universal satisfaction. While he was at this post Andrew Johnson attempted to get entire control of the War Department by removing Secretary Edwin M. Stanton, and appointing General Lorenzo Thomas, Secretary ad interim, The order issued directing the postmaster to deliver the mail of the War De- partment to General Thomas was disobeyed, and the mails promptly handed, as heretofore, to Secretary Stanton, by this means defeating the scheme of Andrew Johnson, Mr. Bowen continued in this office, institnting many important reforms and improvements, until, in 1868, he was elected Mayor of the city. It is a common remark that more was done, during his term of two years, to improve and advance the interests of the city than in any ten years preceding, and at a less expense to the tax-payers than ever before. Ile inaugurated a system of sewerage, the parking and opening of streets, planting trees, abating nuisances, reduc- ing expenses, correcting abuses, etc. For eleven years he was a member of the Levy Court of Washington County, District of Columbia. Through his instrumentality the roads in the county were made good and substantial pub- lie Inghways. While acting in that capacity, as well as in that of Police Commissioner, he voted nuiformly against
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granting licenses to grogshops, and had his example been followed, the hundreds of such nurseries of crime and misery would not now be found in the district. In his efforts for the improvement of the roads, in grading hills, filling up valleys, and removing from across the roads, the gates and fences which were there after the old Maryland style, he had to combat the strongest opposition both in the city and in the district. But by his persistent effort these great improvements were gradually made, and indorsed by the people. Mr. Bowen first suggested the public schools for the colored children of Washington, and drew with his own hand every bill relating to them which has since been made into a law. Under his management as trustee and treasurer, the first sites were purchased, and the first four school-houses for colored children were erected. To these schools the city authorities were violently opposed, and re- fused to pay the city's share of the school fund as required by act of Congress, but Mr. Bowen, determined to keep them up, used his own private means to pay the teachers, fifty-one in number, and to defray the other necessary ex- penses of the schools, sustaining them in this way for nearly a year. Hle expended over twenty thousand dollars of his own money, but had the satisfaction of seeing the educational interests of the colored people triumph over all opposition. Ile was also the first executive officer of the district who bestowed offices of trust and honor on colored men, and to his efforts were they indebted for their early enjoyment of the privilege of voting in the district, and of being made witnesses and jurors in the courts of law, and amenable only to the same laws and punishments as the whites. As in the case of the colored schools he was the author of every bill passed by Congress, having for its ob- ject the amelioration of the condition and elevation of the colored race in the District of Columbia. He has always been the friend of all the poor and unfortunate, and is ex- tremely popular with the laboring and dependent classes. In the several positions held by him, he has collected and disbursed millions of government money, not a penny of which was ever misappropriated, or not legally and justly accounted for. His whole life and character furnishes one of the finest illustrations of the truth and beauty of the declaration of the poet, " An honest man is the noblest work of God." Mr. Bowen's religious views have always been Unitarian. He was married, July 2, 1835, to Mary Barker, daughter of John A. Barker, of Venice, Cayuga County, New York.
YNCHI, JOHN STEVENS, M.D., was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, November 24, 1828. The farm on which he was born is situated on the St. Mary's River, two miles above the site of the ancient city of St. Mary, where Lord Baltimore first planted his colony ; and from these colonists he is directly
descended, both through his paternal and maternal ances- try. Ilis parents were Thomas and Elizabeth (Coad) Lynch. His paternal ancestors came from County Galway, Ireland. His mother was descended from John Coad, a restless, energetic, and somewhat eccentric gentleman, whose name figures extensively in the early history of the colony, and whose efforts to establish a democratic re- publican government gave the Proprietary much trouble, and won for himself, even at that early period of American history, the name of rebel. Dr. Lynch's mother died when he was but little more than two years of age, leaving eight children, of whom the eldest, a daughter, was nineteen years and the youngest eleven months of age at the time. As his father never married again, upon this sister de- volved the care of this large family, and from her the sub- ject of this sketch received his early mental and moral, training. Dr. Lynch attended the common schools of his native county until his thirteenth year, making rapid prog- ress in the branches taught there, and in the spring of 1841, removed with an elder brother to Wilcox County, Alabama, where he entered an academy, and pursued the study of the higher English branches, including mathe- maties, natural philosophy, astronomy, chemistry, and physiology, together with the Latin, Greek, and French languages. These studies were continued, with slight in- terruptions, until the end of the year 1846, when he entered upon the study of law, in the office of Bethca, Beck & Roach, of Camden, Alabama. In the summer of 1847, however, he was required to return to his paternal home in Maryland, where, at the age of nineteen, he accepted an appointment as teacher in the public school of his dis- trict, and taught during the year 1848, privately continuing his legal studies at the same time. The following year, in consequence of the death of his sister's husband, who had been lucratively engaged in the manufacture and sale of proprietary medicines in Baltimore, Dr. Lynch aban- cloned the law, and took charge of that business, at the urgent solicitation of his sister. While thus occupied, he nat- urally turned his attention to the study of medicine, and in 1851, when his sister no longer needed his assistance, com- meneed the study of medicine under the late Professor Chew,. M.D., and at the same time matriculated at the School of Medicine of the Maryland University. Sixteen months after- wards, in March, 1853, he graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from that institution. After spending a few months in his native county, he returned to Baltimore, in August, 1853, and entered upon the practice of medicine. In 1857, he was elected a Delegate to the Maryland Legislature, and served in that body in the session of January, 1858. IIc took an active part in the legislation and discussions of the House of Delegates, and introduced several important meas- ures, among which were bills to establish a State vaccine physician and to amend the laws relating to coroners' in- quests in the city of Baltimore, by dividing the city into districts and the appointment of experts to the office of
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coroner. Although he failed to secure the passage of either of these measures at that session, he had the pleasure of seeing his sugestiote, afterward become law, in conse. queuse of the thought and inquiry awakened by his efforts. In 1858, Dr. Lynch again removed to Alabama, and at ouce entered upon a large and lucrative practice in the neighborhood where he spent his early boyhood. When the civil war began, his strong Southern sympathies im- pelled him to actively support the Confederacy. Accord- ingly, he aided in organizing a company among his neigh- bors, of which his brother, George Lynch, was elected Captain. The doctor was elected Lieutenant, and the company was mustered into service as Company C, Sixth Regiment of Alabama Volunteers, May 16, 1861. This regiment was commanded by the Honorable John J. Seiblew, formerly Minister to Belgium, and John B. Gor- don, afterward a Major-General, and now a United States Senator from Georgia, was its first major. He remained in active service until May 1, 1862, during which time he participated in the battles of Bull Run and Manassas, in July; 1861;and in the siege of Yorktown, in April, 1862. Hetsody afterward retired from the army, and resumed the priretice of medicine in Alabama, where he continued until March, 1872, when, on account of ill health occasioned by protracted malarious poisoning, and owing to the increas- ing depression of the material prosperity of the South, he again returned to Baltimore. The year previous to his re- moval from Alabama, he was unanimously nominated by the Democratic Conservative party as a candidate for the State Legislature, but the colored Republican vote preponderat- ing, he was defeated. On his return to Maryland, he united with several eminent members of the medical pro- fession and organized in Baltimore, in August, 1872, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of which Dr. Lynch was appointed the first Professor of Anatomy. In the follow- ing year, Professor Edwin Warren, who held the chair of Surgery, accepted a position in the service of the Khedive of Egypt, which led to some changes in the organization of the school, by which Professor Lynch was assigned to the chair of Principles and Practice of Medicine, which he has held ever since. Dr. Lynch became a member of both the fraternities of Free Masons and Odd Fellows, in 1850. While in Alabama, he organized a lodge of Free Masons, of which he was Past Master for eight years. In politics he is a liberal Democrat, and has always affiliated with the Democratic party, except for two or three years, when he was a member of the Native American party, and voted for Mr. Fillmore, for President, in 1856. In December, 1857, he married Marie Louise, youngest daughter of the late Vincent Sutton, Esq., of Baltimore, formerly of Westmore- land County, Virginia. The subject of this sketch has al- ways shown himself equal to the demands of the hour, and commands the confidence and respect of the community, without seeming to be aware of the extent of his influence, so much absorbed is he in the duties of his profession.
NAGELS, GEORGE II., Manufacturer, was born March 22, 1816, at Hlesse Cassel, Germany. Ilis ances- lors were natives of Germany. His father, C'huis. topher Bagels, a burgonnster and manufacturer of Hesse Cassel, took an active part in the German revolution of 1831. After the revolution was partly sup- pressed, foreseeing that the revolutionists would be perse- cuted, and longing for a more liberal government, Mr. Pagels thought it best to leave with his family for America. So in the spring of 1833, he sold out his possessions, and with his family left for Baltimore, which he reached after a voyage of about seven weeks. On the day of his arrival, he took the oath of allegiance, and shortly afterward re- ceived from Germany a copy of a verdict given against him by those who had put down the men who had been struggling for liberty. In the same year he bought a tract of land in Baltimore County, Maryland, called " Chevy Chase," on which, after carrying on his business for about ten months in Baltimore, he located, and where he now, in the ninety-third year of his age, resides. George II. Pagels, the second son of Christopher Pagels, whose scholastic education had been chiefly received in Germany, learned his trade with his father, part of the time in Ger- many, and part of the time in Baltimore .. After helping his father at " Chevy Chase" for about three years, he went, when about twenty-two years of age, to Baltimore, and worked at his trade with his brother Edward. Soon afterward, for the benefit of his health, he went to the western coast of Florida, where he spent about two years. Then being entirely restored, he returned to Baltimore, and became partner of his brother Edward in the manufacture of iron railings and the general blacksmithing business, the firm name being E. & G. H. Pagels, which continued until July 1, 1858, when the partnership was dis- solved, George 11. Pagels continuing the business and Edward going to California. Up to the present season of depression, Mr. Pagels continued the business until it reached its present size. IIe has had as many as twenty- six men in his employ at one time. In 1860, he tore down the old building, which had been the place of business of himself and his brother, on Saratoga and Jasper Streets, and put up in its place a four-story structure, in which he still carries on his business. In 1867, he became a mem- ber of the first branch of the Baltimore City Council, to which he was re-elected the second term, serving two years. During his term of service, he drew up many valuable ordinances; among them were the ordinance under which the new city hall was built; the ordinance for the reorganization of the fire department, which or- ganization it has ever since retained ; the ordinance for the enlargement of Riverside Park; the ordinance for chang- ing the mode of application for building sheds, etc .; and the ordinance for the enlargement of the Richmond Market. During his two years' service, nearly his whole time was taken up with council matters. At the close of
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