The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1, Part 36

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 36
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 36

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1 LAKE, CHARLES D., Builder, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, January 10, 1836. When he was ten years of age, his parents removed with him and their other children to America. They arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, where they remained for awhile, and then went to Baltimore and settled. Charles was placed at the best private schools of that city, and re- ceived an excellent education. At a proper age he com- menced to learn the carpentering and building business, and on the attainment of his majority became a thorough expert therein. He soon began to display that remarkable enterprise and energy which have resulted in his building up large sections of Baltimore with elegant and valuable dwellings and warehouses. Among the most important of the improvements constructed by him, in conjunction with an elder brother, are extensive rows of press-brick and marble-front residences on North St. Paul Street. These rank among Baltimore's most splendid private structures, and the latter are exceptionally fine in their arrangements, architectural designs, and elaborate finish. They have added immensely to the value of property in the section where they are crected, and have given an impetus to im- provements in that direction, that bids fair to soon result in covering the entire territory from Biddle Street to Jones's Falls with magnificent residences. He has thus proved himself to be a public benefactor, and useful and most valuable citizen. Other portions of Baltimore are indebted to him for many of their best improvements, and he may well be regarded as ranking among her prominent and dis- tingnished builders ; and it may be added that there is none whose work is executed with greater faithfulness, or whose contracts are more honorably observed. Mr. Blake is quict and unobtrusive in manners and disposition, and is very reserved. He is more demonstrative in acts than in words. In him there is combined cantion with energy, sagacious thoughtfulness with enterprise, qualities which have been largely instrumental in assuring him the uniform success and prosperity which have characterized his career. Pro- fessor Fowler, the distinguished phrenologist, gave Mr. Blake an excellent character chart in 1863, and the predic. tions he made of his future successes, based upon certain traits, have been remarkably verified. Mr. Blake married, in 1876, Miss Marrion Wolcott, of Baltimore. He has one child. Though still a young man, he has identified his name with the growth and progress of his adopted city, and es. tablished his claim to be regarded as among her most useful citizens.

B LAKE, HENRY, Builder, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, March 10, 1840. He comes of an old, highly honored family of Ireland, where his father 3 and grandfather were extensive landed proprietors (in Mayo County). In 1846 his parents came to America, and after a brief sojourn in Boston, Massachu ..

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sctts, settled in Baltimore, where Henry spent his youthful years, and was educated at the best schools of that city. Mr. Blake is one of the most extensive builders in Balti- more, and all the structures erected by him are among the most elegant edifices that adorn the city. To him is that splendid section of Baltimore, known as Eutaw' Place, in- debted for no less than thirty of its magnificent residences, whilst Madison Avenue, Bolton Street, and Charles Street Avenue, are each adorned by an equal number of fine residences, erected through his energy and enterprise. The number of houses of that description erected by him in different sections of Baltimore, is not less than one hun- dred. Mr. Blake is still continuing his business operations most actively, and, considering the fact that he is still a young man, is destined to add immeasurably to the archi- tectural growth and beauty of Baltimore, as well as to his own fame as a builder. He is plain and unostentatious in his manners, sociable in his disposition, and displays all those qualities which win the esteem and friendship of those with whom he is brought into personal relation. . He is a gentleman of unquestioned integrity, and perfectly re- liable in the fulfilment of his contracts.

GOODWARD, DAVID ACHESON, Professor of Fine Arts, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., September 16, 1823. Ilis grandfather was W. W. Wood- ward, a well-known publisher of Philadelphia. Ilis father was William Hill Woodward, who, after carrying on the publishing business for some time in Philadelphia, removed, with his family, to Cincinnati, O. Ilere he established the first, and at that time the only publishing house in Cincinnati, which business he carried on there successfully for several years. Ilis mother was Eliza Young, only child by first marriage of David Ache- son, of Washington, Pa., a prominent politician and mem- ber of Congress, and a native of the North of Ireland, and descendant in the collateral branch of the family, of Archi- bald Acheson, Lord Gosford, in the Peerage of Ireland, and ex-Governor General of Canada. In Cincinnati, David very soon began to show a liking and aptness for art. When not more than five or six years old, he began to draw in imitation of other drawings and paintings. Before he was ten years of age, he began to draw and paint from nature. His first painting in oil, a portrait of his brother, was made at about the age of fifteen. His mind was so much taken up with art, that his father found it difficult to have him give attention to anything else. When about thirteen years of age, he went to college at Washington, Pa., for about three years. Ile then returned to Cincinnati, and, in connection with T. Buchanan Read, who was then painting, opened a studio. After painting in Cincinnati for about a year, he went to Philadelphia,

opened a studio on Chestnut Street, and also continued the study of painting and drawing from the casts in the Penn- sylvania Academy. After remaining there for about two years, he left the city, and for four years travelled and painted. In this way he travelled over a great part of the United States. In the fall of 1847 he located in Balti- more, Maryland, and occupied for a number of years a studio on the corner of North and Fayette Streets. In 1851 he married Miss Josephine, only daughter of Joseph Laty, a well-known shipbuilder of Baltimore. From this union he has now living five sons and two daughters. Mary, a highly educated and interesting girl, died in 1876, at the age of twenty-one. In 1852 he was engaged by the Maryland Institute, which had been but recently or- ganized, as Instructor of Drawing. In 1853 he was elected as principal of the department, which position he held until 1860, when he was elected by the board to re- organize the school, which resulted in the present School of Art and Design, and of which he was chosen principal. This position he has ever since held. The success of this school has been unparalleled in this country. The report of the United States Commissioner, at Washington, shows that the school in 1874 and 1875 had twelve teachers and a yearly attendance of five hundred students. Mr. Wood- ward has also been ingenious in inventions, the most im- portant of which is the solar camera. It is the apparatus by which all large photographs are made, and is now in common use. In 1859 he visited Europe, where he suc- cessfully introduced the camera. This invention brought about an entire revolution in photography. Professor Woodward has painted the life-size portraits of many of the most eminent men of the last half century.

BASIN, ISAAC FREEMAN, is descended from some of the earliest and most prominent settlers in Mary- land. The Rasins are of French descent. A por- tion of the family are still in France, one of whom, Philip Rasin, is now an eminent member of the bar in Paris. Robert Wilson Rasin, the father of the subject of this sketch, was in early life a farmer, but removed to Baltimore city, where for many years he was extensively known as a real cstate agent. His father, Philip Free- man Rasin, was a prominent merchant and landowner in Kent County. Ile was the son of William Rasin, who settled in Kent in 1750. He was a member of the Legis- lature in 1757, and was among the earliest and most prom- inent vestrymen in Chester Parish. William Blackiston Rasin, a younger half-brother of Philip F. Rasin, while yet in his teens, entered as a private in the Revolutionary army, and was promoted to Ensign, Lieutenant, and Cap- tain of the Light Infantry of Kent County. At the battle of Camden, S. C., August 10, 1780, in which General

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Gates was defeated and Baron De Kalb was killed, he was the only Ensign who carried his colors from the field, when a retreat was ordered. Philip F. Rasin married Phabe Wilson, daughter of George and Susan Holliday Wilson. George Wilson was the son of George and Margaret Hall Wilson, of " Castle Cary." He was, the son of George and Mary Kennard Wilson, of " Broad Oak," who was the son of James and Catharine Wilson, of " Old Field Point." James Wilson came from England to the Province of Maryland, and settled in Shrewsbury Par- ish, Kent County, about the year 1700, and died 1732. Susan Holliday Wilson was a daughter of James and Margaret Cook Morris; he was the son of Anthony Morris, of St. Dunstan's, Stepney, of London, born August 23, 1654; married Mary Jones, January 30, 1676, and died October 24, 1721. The Pennsylvania Morris family of Revolution- ary fame descended from said Anthony Morris. The family tree of this family, for three hundred years back, is now in the possession of the subject of this sketch. Mary Rebecca Ringgold Rasin, the mother of Isaac Freeman Rasin, was twice married. Her first husband, William Ringgold, was her first cousin; he was the son of Thomas Ringgold, who died in 1816. . Thomas was a brother of Dr. William Ringgold, who also died in 1816, and be- queathed to his nephew William, "Coursey's Point," on Corsica Creek, Queen Anne's County. Thomas and Dr. William were sons of William and Rebecca Brown Ring- gold, who died in 1790. Edward Ringgold, the father of Mary K. Rasin, was a farmer and planter, possessed of large landed estates on Kent Island and in Kent County. Ile was of retiring disposition, great moral worth, and un- blemished Christian character. He married first his first cousin Martha, a daughter of William Ringgold, of Corsica, who died in 1790. His second marriage was to Rebecca Smith, of Chestertown, after which he removed from Kent Island to Chestertown, and resided there until his death, December 10, 1854, aged eighty. He was the youngest son of Thomas and Elizabeth Sudler Ringgold, planter of "Coxe's Neck," Kent Island. Thomas was the son of James Ringgold, of " Coxe's Neck," who died in 1740. Ile was the son of James Ringgold, " Gentleman and l'lanter," of Talbot County ; James, of Talbot, was the son of Major James Ringgold, " Lord of the Manor on East- ern Neck," and his second wife Mary Vaughan, a daugh- ter of Captain Robert Vaughan, commander of Kent from 1647 to 1652. Major James was one of the Commission- ers for holding Courts in Talbot as early as 1662, and af- terwards in Kent, from 1674 until his death in 1686, and was a great favorite with the Crown. He was the son of Thomas Ringgold, " Lord of Huntingfield," who was the progenitor of the family in America. He emigrated from England (and it is thought settled first in Virginia), and afterwards, in 1650, with his two sons, James and John, settled in the Isle of Kent. Hle possessed large landed estates, and was a very prominent and influential man.

He was a member of the courts as early as 1651. In 1652, England appointed commissioners for the settlement of all matters in dispute in the English plantations, in the Chesa- peake Bay, and stipulated that Philip Connor or Thomas Ringgold should always be one of them. He was a true Royalist, and in 1652, with sixty-five others, pledged them- selves to be true and faithful to the Commonwealth of Eng- land, without King or House of Lords. The Ringgolds have been men of wealth, high social and public prominence, and military distinction. "Coxe's Neck," on Kent Island, now owned by Samuel Ringgold, descended from father to son for eight generations, covering a period of nearly two and a half centuries. I. Freeman Rasin was born in Kent County, March 11, 1833, and was educated at Wash- ington College, Chestertown, Kent County. At an early age he removed with his parents to Baltimore, and entered as clerk in the drygoods business, and afterwards engaged in that business on his own account, which he continued to prosecute successfully until 1867. On the breaking out of the rebellion, his sympathies were decided and out- spoken with the Southern Confederacy. Becoming active and prominent in the Democratic party, he was elected Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in 1867, and re- elected in 1873, by a majority of over fourteen thousand, for another term of six years. As a politician, Mr. Rasin wields a telling influence in the State, though he never ob- trudes himself on the notice of the public; he is an ener- getic worker, a man of quick perceptions, clear views of men and things, positive opinions, and of rare executive ability. His influence is recognized and appreciated. Mr. Rasin has been successful as a business man. In con- nection with his brother he owns one of the finest estates on the Eastern Shore, "Old Field Point," on the Sas- safras River, in Kent County, a tract that has been in the family for more than two hundred years. Ile married Julia A., daughter of Captain John Claypoole, a descen- dant of James Claypoole, who was a man of note at the time of the founding of Philadelphia, in 1683. Ife was an author of a number of works of high repute, and was the admired friend of William Penn, long before he came to America. James was the son of Adam Claypoole, who was seated at the Manor of Norborough, Northampton County, England, in 1610. Ile was the owner of " Wal- dram Parks" and " Gray Inn," estates in that county. IIe was an uncle of Lord John Claypoole, who married Eliza- beth, the favorite daughter of Oliver Cromwell. Adam Clay- poole married Dorothea, daughter of Robert Wingfield and Elizabeth Cecil, sister of William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, and Prime Minister of England in the reign of Queen Eliza- beth. The Claypoole arms was granted to James Clay- poole of Waldram Parks, Northamptonshire, England, by Robert Cook Clarenciux, King of Arms, June 17, 1588. On the maternal side, Mrs. Julia A. Rasin is a granddaughter of the late Edward Browne, of Kent County, whose personal popularity and business qualifications were evidenced by

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his having served three terms in the office of Sheriff of the County. Mr. Rasin has had seven children : Martha A., born March 8, 1863; died September 28, 1865. Genevieve Ringgold, born April 17, 1865; died March 27, 1877. Howard Claypoole, born July 24, 1866; died November 12, 1868. John Freeman, born October 28, 1869; Morris Claypoole, born February 11, 1872; Gertrude Browne, born March 22, 1876; Julia Angela, born September 18, 1877. Ile resides on North Avenue, Baltimore city, where he and his estimable wife dispense a generous hos- pitality, for which the family have been always noted.

IEIIL, REV. GEORGE, D.D., Pastor of the Evan- gelical Lutheran Church of Frederick, Maryland, was born near Greencastle, Franklin County, l'enn- sylvania. Ilis parents, Michael and Catharine Diehl, were natives of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Having purchased a farm two miles north of Greencastle, they removed there in 1809. There the boyhood of George was spent. He received his early education at the school in that neighborhood, and for some time attended a school in Greencastle, taught by his eldest brother, Samuel Diehl. In December, 1832, he entered the preparatory department of Pennsylvania College, at Gettysburg, commencing the study of the Latin language, and the other branches of the regular course. In October, 1834, he entered the Fresh- man class of that institution. Being somewhat in advance of his class, especially in mathematics, and the class above being small, the faculty suggested to him, that by doing some extra work, he might carry along some of the studies of the Sophomore class, in connection with those of the Freshman, with a view to being advanced one year. The suggestion was adopted, and Mr. Diehl passed over the college curriculum in three years. Ile was graduated in September, 1837, taking the first honor of his class. He immediately commenced the study of theology, and was also appointed tutor in Pennsylvania College, which position he held for two years. In the winter of 1840, the Rev. T. Stork, pastor of the Lutheran Church of Winchester, Vir- ginia, finding it necessary to spend several months in Mis- sissippi, invited Mr. Diehl to supply the Winchester pulpit during his absence. This offer was accepted, and in addi- tion to preaching, Mr. Diehl continued his theological studies in Winchester. The same year he obtained license from the Lutheran Synod of Virginia, to preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments of the Church. In the suin- mer of 1840 he accepted a call from the Boonsboro pas- toral charge, consisting of three churches, Boonsboro, Bakersville, and Sharpsburg, in Washington County, Mary- land. lle was ordained in his church in Boonsboro in 1841. At the expiration of three years he resigned this parish, and accepted a call from Eastern Pennsylvania.

A number of influential families having withdrawn from the First Lutheran Church of Easton, which was very large, they were organized by Mr. Diehl into the Second congre- gation, under the name of Christ's Church. He entered upon his labors as pastor of this congregation in Septem. ber, 1843. For some time the services of the Second Lu- theran congregation were held in the Methodist Episcopal church, which was rented for services every Sunday after- noon, and every other Sunday evening, together with the privilege of using the lecture-room several nights during the week. In 1844 the church edifice of Christ's Church was erected. The congregation steadily increased in num- bers, and the work was in a prosperous condition, when, in July, 1851, Mr. Dicht resigned the charge and accepted a call from the Lutheran Church at Frederick, Maryland, of which he has ever since been pastor. In 1850, Mr. Dichl was one of the delegates of the East Pennsylvania Synod to the General Synod, in the convention in Charles- ton, South Carolina, and was elected Secretary of that body. During his pastoral life in Frederick he has held many of the offices of the Synod of Maryland, serving as its Secre- tary; and repeatedly as its President. Ile has served four full terms of five years each-twenty years in all-as one of the directors of the Maryland Synod, in the Board of the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, and for nearly twenty-five years as a member of the Board of Trustees of Pennsylvania College. In 1857 he took an active part in the organization of the Pastors' Fund of the Maryland Synod, a corporate body, and has always been one of its board of five trustees. He has served a's delegate from the Maryland Synod, presiding over that body in its conven- tion at Dayton, Ohio. In 1856 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by his Alma Mater, Pennsyl- vania College. In January, 1856, he became one of the pro- prictors and editors of The Lutheran Observer, published in Baltimore. After occupying this position for more than five years, in 1861, not approving, in some particulars, the management of the paper by his colleague, the resident editor, Dr. Anspach, Dr. Diehl severed his connection with the paper. But in the following year, October, 1862, he and Dr. T. Stork became the proprietors and editors of that paper, and associated with them Dr. Conrad, then pas- tor of a church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Dr. Diehl held the post of senior editor until January, 1867, when the Ob- server was removed from Baltimore to Philadelphia. Since its publication in Philadelphia, he has been President of the Board of Directors of the Lutheran Observer Associa- tion, and one of the regular contributors of the paper. Dur- ing the entire period of his connection with tthis church paper, whether as editor or stated contributor, Dr. Diehl has retained his large pastoral charge in Frederick. He is a man above medium size, of robust health, and great energy. Ilis pastoral career has been one of great activity. He preaches three sermons during the day, every three Sun- days out of four, and does a large amount of other pastoral

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work. In addition to his contributions to the columns of The Lutheran Observer, he furnished a number of arti- cles for the Quarterly Review, the theological journal of the Lutheran ('Inch. Some of his occasional discourses have been published, such as " Thanksgiving Sermon at Kaston, 1849," " Historical Discourse of the Church of Frederick," " The Bible, the Safeguard of our Political Institutions," " Life of Dr. S. S. Schmucker," " Biograph- ical sketch of Dr. Stork," and " Sketch of the Life and La- bors of Dr. Bittle."

NOWLES, WILLIAM GRAY, M.D., Baltimore, was born at Knowlesboro, Delaware County, Pennsyl- vania, February 16, 1811. His parents were James and Margaret (Gray) Knowles. His father was a wealthy farmer, owning and cultivating what had been thrce large farms, and which have been in the family abont one hundred and fifty years. He died very suddenly, in 1830, at the age of sixty-nine years. Hle was the son of John Knowles, who married the daughter of Thomas Tatnal. She received from her father's estate one of the farms above. mentioned. James Knowles had a family of ten children. Both the families of Gray and Knowles were very talented, distinguished, and highly connected. Mrs. Knowles, who lived to the advanced age of eighty-seven, was a lady of remarkable beauty and force of character. Her father owned Gray's Ferry, near Philadelphia. She had four brothers, Robert, James, George, and William Gray ; and five sisters. The eldest, Mrs. Elizabeth (Gray) Leiper, was the grandmother of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the celebrated Arctic explorer. Hler husband, Thomas Leiper, was of Scotch birth, and pos- sessed great business ability and enterprise. Ile is said to have constructed the first railroad in the United States from Lapidea, where his extensive works were located, to Leipersville, Pennsylvania, a town named in his honor. Another sister, Rebecca, became the wife of the distin- guished Judge, George Morton, of Philadelphia. Martha Gray married Evan W. Thomas, lawyer and farmer. Ile was a native of Maryland, but spent most of his life on his estate near Philadelphia. He was a man of profound learning and great nobility of character. His wife lived to the ripe age of ninety-six years. Sallie Gray married William Levis; Mary married Peter Grubb, a very eccen- tric character; and Nancy Gray never married. Dr. Knowles was carefully trained by private tutors in his father's home till his thirteenth year. His last tutor, William E. Whitmen, of Connecticut, afterwards distin- guished himself at the bar. In 1824 he went to l'hila- delphia, where he attended a private school of a high grade. At the time of his father's death he was studying four languages. Ile became very familiar with French

and Spanish, and also was an excellent Greek and Latin scholar. By his father's death, being thrown upon his own resources, he refused to go to college, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Chapman, a Professor in the University of Pennsylvania. From this institution young Knowles graduated, receiving the degree of M.D. in 1832. All the distinguished professors and physicians who had built up this grand old university and made it what it is, were at that time connected with it, and with them Dr. Knowles was in constant and most improving association. After his graduation, he spent a little time at home, after which he settled in the village of Darby, near Philadelphia, where he built up a very large and success- ful practice, and was very greatly esteemed, both as a man and a physician. In 1844 he removed to Baltimore, where he has since resided. With all the interests of that rapidly growing and beautiful city he has been actively identified. For seven years he was a member of the School Board, and to the wisdom of his counsels and his faithful labors is the city largely indebted for her excellent system of public instruction. For three years he was a member and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the McDonough estate. On the breaking out of the rebellion, he was the first physician in Baltimore to offer his services to the Government, and was at once appointed acting as- sistant surgeon for hospital duty in that city, and was the last physician to retire from that position. An ardent patriot and friend of liberty, he was equally opposed to slavery and secession, and during that terrible struggle he exerted his influence in the fullest degree to the mainte- nance of the national life. Dr. Knowles has been one of the most conspicuous men in the State in promoting the great temperance reform. He is a very popular speaker, and has accomplished a great amount of good. Since 1840 he has been a member of the Presbyterian Church. He was soon after ordained a Ruling Elder, and filled that office for nearly thirty years with great efficiency and con- scientiousness. He has been a liberal and constant con- tributor to the religious and benevolent work of his denom- ination, and largely instrumental in building two churches, one at Darby, Pennsylvania, and the First Constitional Presbyterian Church ( New School), corner of Greene and German Streets, Baltimore. Hle was married, in 1835, to Miss Martha Ann, daughter of Dr. Gustavus Warfield, of Anne Arundel, now Howard County, a lady of superior beauty, gifts, and accomplishments. They were married at Longwood, the family seat, where her mother, Mrs. Mary Warfield, still resides. She is a lady of most liberal culture and great strength of charakter, and although cighty-five years of age, retains her mental powers anim- paired. She was devoted to the Union during the war, and testified her patriotism by constantly wearing a small national flag attached to her cape. The grandfather and father of Mrs. Knowles were both eminent physicians, as is also her brother. She united with the above church at

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1, Part 36

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