USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 41
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 41
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IELDS, DANIEL, State Senator, was born in New York city, March 16, 1812. His parents were John and Mary (Craig) Fields. For several years his father was a sea-captain, his vessel sailing between New York and Liverpoal. When he'left the sea he settled in the State of New York, finally removing to New York city. John Fields belonged to a Quaker family, who were banished from Massachusetts to Rhode Island, and his wife was of Scotch descent. The subject of this sketch received a common-school education. Leaving school at the age of fourteen, he entered a drygoods store as a clerk,
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und was so employed until the year 1836, when he com- menced business on his own account, in New York city, and continued to do a prosperous business for eight years thereafter. In 18448, he removed to New Castle County, Delaware, near Newink, and commenced farming, remain - ing there five years, and in 1853 removed to Caroline County, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where he still resides. llis plantation comprises one thousand acres. Mr. Fields is a member of the Democratic party, and has taken a very prominent part in politics. He was elected to the State Senate in the year 1867, and was returned the two succeeding terms. During his last term he was chosen as the presiding officer of that body, and served during the entire term with great efficiency. Previous to being elected President of the Senate, he always took a prominent part in the debates and work of the Senate, and proved him- self a very useful member. lle strenuously opposed all unnecessary appropriations, but was ever ready to cast his vote and influence in favor of those evidently needed, as in the case of the $1 30,000 appropriation for the payment of the mortgage on the Insane Asylum necessary to enable the State to repossess itself of the property. He opposed the payment of all moneys not actually appropriated by the Legislature, on the ground that the party who contracts a debt is personally responsible if he transcends his authority, and that the same principle is applicable to legislative bodies and those who are delegated to act for them. Ilis persistency in advocating measures in favor of retrench- ment and economy was such that Mr. Fields was generally spoken of as " the watch-dog of the Treasury." Ile was an able and courteous presiding officer, and during his senatorial career favored and earnestly advocated all im- portant and necessary laws. Ile has been a Freemason since 1867, and is an active member of the Patrons of Ilusbandry, having served twice as master of that order. Hle has been married three times, first to Miss Sarah Van Buren, daughter of George and Sarah Van Buren, who re- sided near Kinderhook, New York, and second to Eleanore II. Boulden, daughter of Nathan Boulden, of New Castle County, Delaware. The maiden name of his present wife was Harriet P. Wright, daughter of Isaac and Ann Wright, of Dorchester County, Maryland. Iler father was a prom- inent farmer in that locality. Mr. Fields has eight children living.
B ANKARD, HENRY NICHOLAS, Real Estate Broker, was born on Franklin near Chatsworth Street, Bal- timore, Maryland, at 4 o'clock A.M., December 23, 1834. He is the next eldest child of Nicholas Dill and Mary Ann (Snodgrass) Bankard, grandson of Peter and Catharine ( Dill) Bankard, the grandsire be- ing of German descent. His mother was the daughter of
William and Catharine ( Hart) Snodgrass, and was of Irish parentage. The original name was Snuggrass, but was changed by the family, in Ohio, to Snodgrass. The sub- ject of this sketch is emphatically a self made man, having enjoyed but slight advantages of an academic education. Ilis father was one of the oldest master builders in Balti- more, and preferring that his son should follow in his foot- steps, imparted to him a thorough knowledge of the same business. In this vocation young Bankard evinced great ardor and industry. Ile soon became skilled in the use of tools, and often boasted, while a mere lad, that he could make as good an ovolo, or a gothic sash frame, panel door, or blind, as most of the workmen in the shop. He thus acquired a thorough knowledge of building and matters pertaining thereto, especially the value of property, which in due time became very useful to him. In 1869, he em- barked in the law and real estate business with W. A. Munson, a clever young lawyer, which partnership was dissolved by the death of Mr. Munson. Mr. Bankard has continued to carry on the real estate business at the same place, No. 5 St. Paul Strect, Baltimore, ever since, exhib- iting great energy, prudence and business tact. Ilis prac- tical education and thorough knowledge of the business, acquired through years of experience, have given Mr. Bankard superior advantages. He is regarded a formida- ble competitor when houses, building lots and lands are being negotiated or sold; and his opinion and judgment are sought and approved in question> affecting the value of property. Having been actively engaged in buying and selling real estate and other property for nearly twenty years, he has succeeded in establishing a very large and prosperous business, and is an authority in real estate mat- ters in Baltimore. He has been successful in nearly all of his undertakings, his success being mainly attributable to his quick perception and sound judgment. Although a Marylander by birth, he voted for Fremont for President, and afterward for Lincoln. True to his convictions, he was an earnest worker in the cause of the Union all through the civil war, giving to it his moral and phys- ical support, his time and his money. To prove his faith in the principles he professed, though having no aspiration for office, he consented, at the instance of his greatly lamented and noble friend, Henry Winter Davis, to become a candidate for the Legislature on the first eman- cipation ticket ever voted for in Maryland. This was a trying period, and although ten years prior to that time it would have been regarded dangerous to be seen reading a New York Tribune in Maryland, Mr. Bankard received over six hundred votes. During Mayor Brown's adminis- tration of the city of Baltimore, when the flag of our country was not allowed to be displayed, the flag on Mr. Bankard's house was the last to be furled. His place was therefore visited by a mob, and his country-seat barely saved from fire by the stratagem of the tenant in asserting that she was as good a rebel as the parties composing the mob. Mr.
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Bankard shouldered his musket when Baltimore was threat- ened, and was in the memorable campaign of seven days on Brown's Ilill, and materially aided the Union officers in their works of entrenchment and defence. In 1874 he was unanimously selected by the Republican party as their can- didate for the First Branch of the City Council, and although believed to be fairly elected, he was not allowed to be so re- turned. Mr. Bankard has for twenty years been a member of the Mechanics' Lodge of Odd Fellows, and of the Mon- umental Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Ile has always taken an active interest in all works of prog- ress, philanthropy and charity. He is uniformly a stead- fast friend to the struggling and deserving poor. Ile has held many prominent positions of honor and trust. Ile was Secretary and Director of the Newington Building Association of Baltimore, from its origin to its successful close, a period of eight years. For the past eight years he has held the same responsible offices in the Newington Land and Loan Company of Baltimore, receiving and distributing the entire earnings of the company, aggregat- ing nearly a million of dollars, with entire satisfaction to all concerned. In 1867, his health becoming impaired, in company with Rev. Dr. Backus and his estimable wife, and the Rev. Dr. Sewell, of Baltimore, he spent a portion of the winter on the Island of Cuba, visiting the chief points of interest and note, especially the beautiful and famous cave at Matanzas, and the lovely Yurumi Valley, returning home in the spring, invigorated in body and mind. Mr. Bankard's religious proclivities lean toward Methodism, sympathizing with his mother's training, but he is extremely liberal in his views, and has often been heard to say, that there are as many routes to heaven as there are rivnlets to the ocean. Ile is a practical and sys- tematic business man, warmhearted and affectionate in his nature, and quick, active and energetic. He married Car- oline A. Horn, second daughter of Benjamin and Regina (Keppert) Horn, and has had ten children, six daughters and four sons, one of his sons, George Louis, having died in 1877. The names of his children are as follows : Mary Regina, born Thursday, at HI r.M., May 27, 1858; Clara Virginia, born Sunday, 11 A.M., November 25, ISO1; Edgar Howard, born Tuesday, IO A.M., August 6, 1863; - Caroline Lincoln, born Sunday, 9 P.M., January 29, 1865; Henry Nicholas, born Saturday, 5 A.M., Jannary 26, 1867; George Louis, born Friday, 2 A.M., March 12, 1869; Florence Reppert, born Thursday, 10 P.M., June 29, 1871; Charles Sumner, born Wednesday, 512 A.M., September 3, 1873; Margaret Snodgrass, born Friday, 9 P.M., Sep- tember 24, 1875; Elizabeth Dill, born Friday, 3 A.M., September 14th, 1877: Mr. Bankard is the author of sev- eral able articles on public questions of the day,-reform in the local administration of the city, taxation, and other matters affecting the public welfare. He writes in a terse, bold and vigorous style, and the productions of his pen always command attention from their thoughtful character.
lle is now in the prime of life, firmly established in a large and prosperous business, and highly respected for his strict integrity and many excellent traits of character.
TANSBURY, JAMES E., was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, August 24, 1828. His ances- tors for several generations were natives of Mary- land, well known and highly respected. His grand- "uncle, Jacob Stansbury, did a large wholesale dry- goods business, in the early history of Baltimore, on Bridge Street, now called Gay Street. His father, Jacob Stans- bury, and six of his brothers, were all soldiers, and some of them officers, in the war of 1812. One of these brothers, Colonel Elijah Stansbury, still living, in the eighty-seventh year of his age, was, in 1848, elected Mayor of Baltimore, and served his term with honor and the approval of his fel- low-citizens. One of his uncle's, on his mother's side, Dr. A. II. Lemmon, served as a surgeon in the army of 1812. His mother was Margaret G., daughter of George Lem- mon, Sr., of Harford County, who was largely engaged in the tanning business, and was noted for his superior pro- duction in that line. Mr. Stansbury received his early edu- cation chiefly in the county schools. Until his seventeenth year, he helped his father on the farm, exhibiting remark- able energy and tact. Ile then went to Baltimore and served as a clerk and salesman for three years, in the cloth- ing house of George Presstman, at the end of which time he and Captain Robert M. Bean bought out Mr. Presst- man's interest, and began business on their own account. This partnership continned for three years, when Mr. Stans- bury purchased Mr. Bean's interest, and successfully con- ducted the business alone for fifteen years. . In 1854, Mr. Stansbury bought the right of Dane's patent brick machine, for three-fourths of the United States. This machine tempered the clay and moulded the bricks at one opera- tion. This purchase proved a great success for a time ; but it at last failed, owing to the breaking out of the civil war. About 1865, Mr. Stansbury sold out his clothing business, and began that of oyster and fruit packing, in which he has since continued. This business proving a success, he has added to his buildings, as necessity re? quired, until they have reached immense proportions. The space actually covered by them embraces a superficial area of fifteen thousand seven hundred square feet. The facto- ries are four in number, one four stories high, and the others two and three stories. The main builling is forty by one hundred feet, and is fitted up with all the new and improved arrangements ; the other three buildings are each thirty by one hundred and thirty feet. This property all belongs to Mr. Stansbury, and is admirably situated for his business, having excellent wharfage and railroad track in close proximity. About three hundred hands are usually
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employed, but in busy seasons the number is largely in- creased. The trade of this house extends in every direc- tion, all over the United States. Mr. J. B. Stansbury, son of the principal, represents the house abroad. There is an increasing demand for its goods in Europe, Mr. Stansbury is President of the Red " (" Oil Manufacturing Company of Baltimore. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Ile married Attia L., daughter of Captain John W. Sword, September 16, 1851. She died December 16, IS65. In ISOS, he married Martha J., daughter of George Lemmon, Jr., of Harford County. They have five children living, two sons and three daughters.
TANSBURY, HON. ELIJAH, was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, in May, 1791. His ancestors were well and favorably known as among the earliest settlers of Maryland. Ile was the sixth son of Elijah Stansbury, Sr., who bought a farm and mill-site in Harford County, where Elijah spent his youth- ful years, receiving a common-school education, and being the chosen leader of his young companions. Having an aversion to farming, he went to Baltimore in his seven- teenth year, and apprenticed himself for three years to his brother, in the business of bricklaying, which contract was faithfully carried out. Though lame from an accident received in early childhood, he offered his services as a volunteer in the war of 1812, which commenced just as he became of age, and was enrolled in the Baltimore Union Artillery, under command of Captain John Mont- gomery. He took part in the successful defence of Balti- more against the British forces led by Major-General Ross, in 1814. After the close of the war, he again enlisted in the Twenty-seventh Regiment Maryland Militia, com- manded by Colonel Samuel Moore, who, in view of Mr. Stansbury's honorable record, procured for him a lieuten- ant's commission. He was gradually promoted to the office of colonel, and retained command of the regiment until the end of the militia system of that day. In 1815 he entered into the business of bricklaying on his own account, which he carried on successfully for ten years. In 1817 he married Miss Eliza, second daughter of Mr. Philip P. Echel, of Baltimore, About 1825 he began a general mercantile business, into which largely entered the manufacture of botanical medicines known as the " Thom; sonian." The firm in the line of medicine consisted of G. Myers, K. Stansbury, and Dr. Samuel Thomson. Dr. Thomson was the originator of what was known as the Thomsonian system. In 1862 Colonel Stansbury re- tired from business with a competency. In 1824 he became a member of the City Council of Baltimore, and served with such satisfaction to his constituents that he held that position for eight consecutive years ; he was also
a member of the Maryland Legislature for three consecu- tive years. In 1848 he was elected Mayor of Baltimore by a handsome majority. During his administration, the "affairs of the city were conducted with such economy and prudence as to meet the approval of all parties. Colonel Stansbury has been a member of six different secret asso- ciations,-the Freemasons, Odd Fellows, Druids, Red Men, Sons of Freedom, and Sons of Temperance. He passed through the different grades of Odd Fellowship, until he became a Noble Grand, and also Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, and through the different degrees of Masonry until he attained the highest degree that the Order in the State of Maryland could confer. In 1822 he united with the Episcopal Church, of which he has ever since remained a faithful member. December 12, 1877, he had to mourn the death of his beloved wife, a lady of culture, refinement, and deep piety. After a har- monious union of sixty years, their lives had become so blended that her removal seemed like tearing off of half the tree. Though Colonel Stansbury is now in his eighty- sixth year, he still has much vigor of body and mind; he loves the society of his friends; and is always prompt in contributing to the aid of intellectual and benevolent en- terprises. With an unblemished character and a useful life, he now enjoys the repose of a ripe and honored age.
OSS, GENERAL W. E. W., son of William H. and Frances R. (Miles) Ross, was born in Baltimore, February 26, 1838. Ile is of Scotch-Irish descent on his father's side. From 1773 till after the war of 1812, all the male members of the family, at some time, held rank in the British army ; one was a ma- jor on the stall of Cornwallis. Ilis grandfather sold his commission in that army and emigrated to this country in 1804; he settled in Baltimore and married Mary Braden- baugh. In 1812, his brother, General II. L. Ross, appeared in Chesapeake Bay in command of the expedition against Washington, and on September 12, 1814, was shot at the head of his army, before Baltimore, by two riflemen in ambush. Ilis relationship to the " invader " having given rise to much prejudice, and being made the constant occasion of unpleasant remark, the grandfather of General Ross finally left the town and afterwards the country. He attached himself to Bolivar's expedition for the South American Republics, and in one of the battles in Bolivia he received a severe wound, which resulted in the loss of an arm. He was made Military Governor of Quito, and never returned to this country. John Miles, the maternal uncle of General Ross, was also on Bolivar's staff, and was captured and shot while carrying dispatches. The mother of General Ross was born in Elkton, Maryland, and, while Miss Frances Miles, taught the first public school
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in Baltimore, on Fell's Point. She remained in the ser- vice of the public as principal of the Female Grammar School, No. 3, for thirty five years. Her sympathies and convictions were so thoroughly Southern that she refused to take the oath of allegiance prescribed by the School Board, in 1862, and was removed from the post she had so long occupied, in September of that year. General Ross early gave evidence of the inherited family taste and talent for mili- tary tactics; he was Sergeant of the Iligh School Cadets, while a boy attending that school ; also during his boyhood he was page at the convention that nominated Franklin Pierce for President. In 1858 he joined the Baltimore City Guard, a crack military organization of Baltimore, and was drill sergeant till the war broke out. In that capacity he was assigned to drill the Maryland Guard, a battalion raised here by Colonel Brush just before that time. When hostilities commenced, he organized and drilled two regiments of minute men at the Post-office, many of whom were afterwards sent into the field as offi- cers of Maryland regiments. After the riot on April 19, 1861, the militia regiments were disbanded, and General Koss reorganized the Baltimore City Guard, having four full companies, and was elected major in January, 1863. In June of the same year he recruited the battalion to a regiment of ten companies, and took the field as Lieuten- ant-Colonel of the Tenth Regiment of Maryland Volunteer Infantry, having offered the coloneley to William 11. Kevin of the Forty-fourth New Vork, who had had two years' experience in the field. In 1864, upon his muster- out with that regiment at the expiration of its term of ser- vice, he received permission from the Secretary of War to appear for examination before the Board of which Gen- eral Casey was president, he being "one of two Mary- landers who laid aside State, family, and personal preju- dices, and identified himself with the Colored Service, and his doing so not only carried with it a favorable influence to the cause, but required no little nerve and principle." Hle was passed by that Board, and recommended for a colo- neley in the United States Colored Troops. As there was then no vacancy in that grade and he desired immediate assignment, he accepted the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the Thirty-first U. S. C. T., a regiment organized under the auspices of the Union League Club of New York city, and at that time with Burnside awaiting the full comple- ment of companies. While here his brother officers warmly testify to his untiring exertions to promote the efficiency of his command, and to his strict attention to the wants of his troops, which made his regiment one of the most efficient in the brigade; also to the sobriety and earnestness of his life, and to his conspicuous gallantry in the battle before Petersburg, July 30, 1864. His regi- ment led the charge at the Crater, in leading which, with great bravery, he was severely wounded by a minie ball passing through the left knee joint. It was found that amputation was necessary, and he was honorably dis-
charged and sent home. In September, he was assigned to duty in Baltimore on court-martial ; afterwards he was attached to the staff of General Lew Wallace, as Chief of the Freedman's Bureau of Maryland, under the famous order of General Stanton, No. 160. In Apal, 1865, he was mustered out of service, and appointed by the Secretary of War to the Board for awarding compensation to the owners of enlisted slaves, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Sebastian F. Streeter. This board was abolished in 1866, and he was appointed Deputy-Collector of Inter- nal Revenue under John V. S. Findlay, and was reap- pointed by William Prescott Smith. This office he resigned to accept the position of Assistant Assessor, under William II. Purnell, and on the re-establishment of the Board for awards to slave-owners, he was appointed, by Secretary Stanton, as Secretary of the Board. This he resigned in March, 1867, to accept the position of Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Third District of Maryland, which was tendered him by President Andrew Johnson. He was afterwards, in partnership with Charles E. Weaver, of Washington, engaged in prosecuting Internal Revenue claims. In 1873 he was appointed by General Adam E. King to a clerkship in the Naval Office, and reappointed, in 1877, by Naval Officer Corkran. General Ross has al- ways been an active Republican, and especially active in all organizations affecting the interests and advancement of ex-soldiers. He is an energetic member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Veteran Association of the Maryland Boys in Blue. . All the positions of honor and trust which have been assigned him he has filled with credit to himself and satisfaction to the Government. He was breveted a Brigadier-General on the field for conspicuous gallantry before Petersburg, which was afterwards con- firmed by the War Department. He was candidate for the office of Doorkeeper for the House of Representatives of the 39th Congress, 1866.
Grous HIASE, JUDGE SAMUEL, was born April 17, 1741, in Somerset County, Maryland. Ile was the son of au Englishman, Rev. Thomas Chase, D. D., of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Ilis mother's maiden name was Matilda Walker. Ile was liberally edu- cated, under the tuition of his learned father, and studied law under the superintendence of John Ilall and John Hammond, at Annapolis, where, in 1761, he was admitted to the practice of the law in the provincial courts. In 1764 he became a member of the General Assembly of Mary. land, and served for twenty years with great efficiency. Ile was a fierce opponent of the " Stamp Act." In 1774 huy was chosen a delegate to the first Congress, and re- elected in 1776. Ile was made one of the Committee of Correspondence of the Province of Maryland. On the 15th of June, 1775, he voted for the resolution, offered by
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Thomas Johnson, of Maryland, appointing George Wash- ington the General to command all the Continental forces, In the stutumer of 1775 he was appointed one of the Coun cil of Safety of Maryland. In February, 1770, he was min Franklin and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, to proceed to Canada and endeavor to persuade the people of that province to co-operate in the struggle for independence. Rev. John Carroll, D.D., of Baltimore, accompanied the commissioners, to remove from the minds of the Roman Catholic population all suspicion of interference on religi- ous subjects. The people of Canada at that time were generally of French descent, and the mission failed. On the 4th of July, 1776, he voted, with joy and eagerness, for the Declaration of Independence, and signed his name to that immortal document on the 2d of August following. He was continued in Congress from 1774 to the end of the year 1778, and served with great ability and usefulness on most of the important committees. In September, 1782, he was appointed by the Governor of Maryland, agent and trustee of the State of Maryland, to recover the stock of the Bank of England belonging to the State. In 1784 and 1785 he served again in Congress. In 1786 he re- moved from Annapolis to Baltimore, and in 1788 was appointed Chief Judge of the newly-organized Criminal Court of the town and county of Baltimore. October 7, 1791, upon the resignation of Thomas Johnson, he ac- eepted the office of Chief Judge of the General Court of Maryland. January 27, 1796, he was appointed, by President Washington, one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, and filled that position with marked ability and fidelity for more than fifteen years, until his death. In January, 1804, John Randolph, of Roanoke, moved, in the House of Repre- sentatives, the appointment of a committee to inquire into the official character of Judge Chase. Articles of impeach. ment were subsequently prepared. On the following 2d day of January his trial before the Senate commenced, and ended on the Ist of March, 1805. Ile was honorably acquitted and passed the rest of his life in the faithful dis- charge of his judicial duties. He died, in full communion with the Protestant Episcopal Church, June 19, 1811. Judge Chase married, first, Aun Baldwin, of Annapolis, by whom he had four children, one of whom, Matilda Chase, mar- ried Judge Harry Ridgely. He married his second wife, Hannah Kitty Giles, in London, Mareh 3, 1784. She was the daughter of Dr. Samuel Giles, of Kentbury, Eng- land. Emily Ridgely, daughter of Judge Harry and Matilda ( Chase) Ridgely, married Horatio Hollingsworth, and left a daughter, Matilda Hollingsworth, who married, December 21, 1842, John Henry Carroll, and was the mother of General John Carroll, of "The Caves," who married, April 21, 1870, Mary Randolph Thomas, the second daughter of Dr. John Hanson Thomas, of Balti. more, Maryland,
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