The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1, Part 44

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

USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 44
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 44

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

in 1871, which met weekly at his house for the first few months of its existence, until its membership increased to over seventy, when it became necessary to rent a room for its the. He was elected its first president, and takes great pride in the continued success of the society. He has been elected a member of the following societies: Baltimore Medical Association ; Pathological Society of Baltimore ; Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland ; Gynecological Society of Boston, Massachusetts; Clinical Society of Baltimore ; Academy of Medicine of Balti- more ; and the Maryland Academy of Sciences. In 1873 he was elected Professor of Chemistry in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore. In December, 1873, he was appointed editor of the Baltimore Physician and Surgeon, a medical monthly, published under the aus- pices of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and con- tinued with much credit to fill this position until January, 1876. The chair of the Diseases of Women becoming va- cant, he was transferred to it by the faculty. He has since that time devoted himself most assiduously to that branch, and has frequently performed some of the most important and delicate operations; among these, craniot- omy, sixteen times, without losing a single patient. There is no man who is more entirely and thoroughly absorbed by the duties of his profession, or who is more compelled to sacrifice to it all the ordinary comforts and pleasures of life, than a successful physician. Dr. Erich has been a hard student, and devoted most of his life to the cure of diseases, and inventions for the relief of suffering human- ity. As a lecturer, his distinguished talents were soon rec- ognized, and he drew large classes, even when treating the dry subject of chemistry, so often wearisome to the medi- cal student. He is a man of sound judgment, generous impulses, and remarkable force of character. Honorable in all the relations of life, courteous and gentle in his manners, he commands the respect and confidence of the community, and has a brilliant future before him.

PENDERGAST, JEROME ALOYSIUS, was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, October 25, 1831, where his father, the late Captain Charles Pender- gast, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1794, settled at the age of fifteen years. The latter led, for several years, the life of a mariner, and then entered very extensively into the quarry business at Port Deposit. He was contractor for the furnishing of stone to the United States Government for various public works, during the long period of twenty-two years. He supplied all the stone for the construction of the Rip Raps, as also for the Gosport Navy Yard, and the principal public buildings at Washington. Whilst conducting his business as a Gov- ernment contractor, Captain Pendergast became the owner

194

BIOGRAPHIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

of several vessels, some seventeen in number, which he kept in active service. In 1838 he removed to Baltimore, , and entered into mercantile pursuits, as a shipping mer- chant and owner, establishing himself on Smith's wharf, where, for many years, he conducted business on his indi- vidual account, and subsequently associated with him a son, under the firm name of Charles Pendergast & Son. At the commencement of the American civil war, Captain Pendergast was running seven packet lines to various Southern ports, and was also extensively engaged in the Rio trade. At the termination of the war, he retired from business with an ample fortune, and died, in 1867, in the seventy-third year of his age, esteemed by the entire com- munity for his sterling integrity, enterprise, and usefulness as a citizen. At the time of his death, his establishment was regarded as one of the oldest commercial houses in Baltimore. Ile left four sons and two daughters, all of whom are living except one daughter. The surviving daughter is the wife of S. Ilamilton Caughey, head of the extensive clothing establishment of Noah Walker & Com- pany. James F. and Charles II., two of the sons, consti- tute the house of Pendergast Brothers & Co., of New York, and C. C. Pendergast, the youngest son, has been agent for Wells, Fargo & Company, in California, for twenty years. The subject of this sketch, Jerome A. Pen- dergast, is the only son of Captain Pendergast living in Maryland. Ile removed to Baltimore from Havre de Grace, with his parents, when he was at the age of eight years. After attending various schools, he was sent to the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts. Whilst a student of that institution, he sustained a very serious injury by falling down a flight of steps, his spinal column being injured, and his confinement to his room being necessitated for many months. After leaving the College of the Holy Cross, young Pendergast entered Georgetown College, District of Columbia. He pursued his studies there for four years, or until his eighteenth year, when he became connected, in a elerical capacity, with the importing house of J. F. Miller & Co., with which he re- mained for four years and a half, when he entered his father's establishment, and remained therein until the ter- mination of the American civil war. Ile then became the senior partner in the shipping house of Pendergast, Fenwick & Co., which firm continued in existence for two years. This house ran a line of six steamships between Baltimore and Charleston. After the dissolution of the concern, Mr. Pendergast established himself in business on his individual account, as a ship broker and wharfinger of Smith's wharf, in which he has been steadily engaged for thirteen years, his establishment being at No. 77 Smith's wharf, within a few feet of where his father founded his mercantile house, forty years ago. Mr. Pendergast is aho agent for a line of packets between New York and Balti- more. He married, October 2, 1866, Miss Ella Coleman, daughter of the late. Robert 11. Coleman, of the ohl phar.

maceutical establishment of Coleman & Rodgers. Ile has four children living, three of whom are daughters. Few merchants exhibit more business vim and energy than Jerome A. Pendergast. He may emphatically be styled a live and active man, ever on the alert to secure regularity and dispatch in his multifarious transactions. His general mode of conducting his commercial affairs has won for him the esteem of all who have been brought into personal relation with him. In manners he is the polished gentle- man, and in disposition, frank and generous. He possesses fine conversational powers, and his personal appearance is strikingly attractive.

MADDUX, THOMAS CLAY, M.D., was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, February 10, 1836. lle was the seventh son and twelfth child of Thomas L. Maddux, a very extensive and wealthy farmer, and native of the same place. Thomas L. Maddux's children numbered thirteen, all of whom have at- tained the age of forty. He was a lineal descendant of Sir William Maddux, of Saven Oak Manor, England, the coat of arms being a tiger, in passive but defensive attitude. At the age of twelve years, Thomas Clay Maddux was placed at the Winchester ( Virginia) Academy, where he remained for two years, when he was sent to Flint Hill Academy, Loudon County, Virginia. In 1851 he was en- tered at the Alexandria Academy, Professor Brockett, Principal, where he pursued his studies diligently until 1856, when he graduated with the highest distinction. Whilst returning to his home, after graduation, he met Major Ilenry T. Dixon, of the United States Army, who had insulted an old and valued friend of his some time previ- ously, and immediately proceeded to resent the insult. There was an exchange of shots, young Maddux receiving a bullet through the neck and lungs, which occasioned a paralysis that lasted for nearly a year. He was so seriously wounded, that his recovery was regarded as miraculous. In October, 1857, he matriculated at Winchester Medical College, and entered as a student the office of the great Virginia surgeon, Professor Hugh Il. McGuire, graduating in 1859. Ile was an exceedingly apt student in anatomy and surgery, exhibiting extraordinary proficiency, in his general and final examinations, in these important branches of medical education. In the winter of 1859 he located at White Hall, a small village near Winchester, Virginia, where, in the brief period of nine months, he acquired a widespread reputation in his profession, especially in sur- gery, performing several capital operations, without failing in a single case. Some of them were quite remarkable, one in particular, the case of Mis. James Rowland, who had been suffering for many years with an immense tumor which involved an entire side of her neck and face. The

195

BIOGRAPHIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

operation for the removal of a morbid growth, that spread over so large a surface and implicated so many important vessels, was regarded by old and experienced surgeons as an extremely hazardous undertaking -- one, in fact, that would necessarily be followed by fatal results. Dr. Mad- dux, however, performed the operation without producing the slightest untoward symptoms. In the fall of 1860, Dr. Maddux feeling that White Hall and its vicinity was too contracted a theatre for the exercise of his acknowledged professional abilities, removed to the city of Richmond, Virginia, where he entered at once upon a large and lucra- tive practice, his fame as a physician and surgeon having preceded him to the Virginia capital. Here he continued to maintain his well-deserved reputation as one of the most skilful of modern surgical operators. In February, 1861, at the very commencement of the hostilities in Charleston harbor that ushered in the American civil war, Dr. Mad- dns left Richmond for South Carolina, and was innnedi- ately commissioned as assistant surgeon in the army of the Pahnetto State, and ordered to duty at Fort Moultrie, Sullivan's Island, being there at the time of the terrific bombardment of Fort Sumter by the South Carolina forces, which commenced on the morning of April 11, 1861, Major Anderson commanding the United States forces in Sinter, and surrendering on the 13th. On the 14th of the same month (April), Surgeon Maddux was ordered to re- port to Captain Hollinquist for duty, the captain having been assigned to the command of Sumter. Whilst the boat which conveyed the doctor, in company with Captain lollinquist, General Ripley, and other distinguished Con- federate officers, was lying outside and near Fort Sumter, awaiting orders to take possession, the memorable accident of the premature explosion of cartridges occurred on the para- pet of the fort, whilst Major Anderson was saluting the lower- ing of his flag. On this occasion one man was instantly killed and several wounded. The hospital flag was run up in dis- tress, when Dr. Maddux was ordered into the fort to render necessary assistance. Ilere he performed the operation of am- putating a leg, the first capital surgical operation performed in the civil war. A few days after these occurrences Dr. Maddux received information that his native State of Vir- ginia had seceded from the Union, and immediately ten- dered his resignation as surgeon in the South Carolina army for the purpose of entering the service of his own State, when Governor Pickens of South Carolina honored him by ordering him to Virginia with the First South Carolina Command, under General Bonham. He accompanied the Second South Carolina Regiment, Colonel Cushan. The train bearing the regiment collided with a freight train at Orange Court-house, Virginia, causing the death of one person, and causing several severe injuries. A negro ser- vant was so mutilated by this accident as to necessitate the amputation of one of his legs, which operation was skil. fully performed by Dr. Maddux, Thus he amputated the leg of the first colored person in the war, as he had that of

the first white person. In Virginia, Dr. Maddux served as surgeon in the Confederate Volunteer Army, and was in many of the noted battles, including the first battle of Bull Run, Seven Pines, and the Seven Days' battle of the Chickahominy. Ile was finally captured near Bentonville, North Carolina, whilst endeavoring to get within the lines of General Joe Johnston, during the last battle with Gene- ral Sherman, in April, 1865. He was paroled and per- mitted to return at once to Richmond by the way of New- berne, North Carolina, Fort Monroe, and James River, in a United States transport, accompanied by his family. During the war he performed distinguished service on the field and in the hospital as a surgeon, his record as such being unsurpassed in the Confederate service. At the close of the war Dr. Maddux settled quietly down to the practice of his profession in Richmond, Virginia, where he remained until the autumn of 1867, when he left that city owing to the uncongenial elements that had crept into it as the result of the war, and took up his abode in Baltimore, Maryland, from which time to the present (1879) he has been uninterruptedly practicing his profession with signal success. He is an active member of all the leading medi- cal societies of Baltimore, the Medico-Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, and a member of the American National Medical Association, and has always taken a prominent part in their scientific deliberations. He is a gentleman of very decided character, boll in his views and positive in their utterance. His superior skill as a surgeon is only equalled by his coolness and self-control in the performing of the most difficult operations. That most dangerous and delicate operation, lithotomy, he has performed thirty- eight times with invariable success, and his uniform success in all surgical cases is proverbial.

REIRCE, THOMAS, was born April 9, 1806, in the town of North Kingston, Washington County, Rhode Island. His father was Thomas Peirce, of Rhode Island. His mother was Mary, daughter of John Cole, of the same place. Mr. Peirce received his early education in the common schools of Rhode Isl- and. At the age of twenty-one he became clerk in the grain and flour store of David Barton, of Providence, Rhode Island. Mr. Barton owned a line of packets running be- tween Providence and Baltimore. Mr. Peirce therefore became early acquainted with the shipping business. In 1832 he went to Baltimore to act as agent for a line of packets of Mr. Barton, and for about two years received a . salary from Mr. Barton. Near the end of that time he en- tered into the general commission business on his own ac- count. In 1838 he began to 'import from the West Indies, and soon afterwards from Brazil and other parts of South America. Ile has ever since continued in the same

196

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

business. He has built nearly all his own vessels, always selecting his own timber, and having them built under his direct supervision. He models his vessels with a view to the requirements of the different routes they have to run, and the kinds of business they have to do. His knowledge of the strength and durability of a vessel seems almost in- tuitive. Mr. Peirce is one of the oklest importers in Balti- more, having been in the business over fifty years, and one of the few who have never met with any serious reverse. This has been partly owing to his care not to make any ven- ture beyond his individual ability to meet it, should it prove a failure. Ile has gone but little outside of his own busi- ness, and to that he has given close attention. In 1833 he married Mary Ann, daughter of General Peter B. Phillips, of Rhode Island. He has three children living.

PILL.SON, COLONEL EDWARD C., was born in Thomaston, Maine, March 15, 1807. His parents were Deacon Perez and Melinda Tillson, who were among the first settlers of the town. Ilis paternal ancestors came from England, and those on his mother's side are traced to the Mayflower pilgrims. Mary Newport, one of the Mayflower passengers, had among other possessions a pewter plate, on which she caused her name to be engraved. She gave it to her eldest daughter, through whom it has been passed down in direct lineal descent to successive eldest daughters, each possessor of the heirloom having her name engraved on it, until it came into his mother's safe-keeping. Mr. Tillson was educated at the public schools in Thomaston, where he acquired the common branches of an English educa- tion, such as were usually taught in those days. It was the custom then to have a three months' summer session, taught by a lady, for the younger children, and a three months' winter session, taught by a gentleman, for large scholars. His father being a farmer, and requiring Ed- ward's services on the farm from the time he was old enough to be of any assistance, his schooling during the six or nine months' vacation was necessarily suspended. Ilis tastes and inclinations being mechanical, he was not so well satisfied with farming as he thought he would be in other employment. After leaving school, he was ap- prenticed to the house and ship carpentering trade, at which he worked in his native town for two years, having attained his majority. Ile then set out on a tour through the Southern States and the West Indies, working at his trade wherever he stopped. After pursuing this mode of life for two years, he returned home and engaged in ship and house building on his own account, which he continued until 1845, when he removed to Massachusetts, and for- lowed his business in Boston and adjacent cities until 1852. The climate of Boston being unfavorable to his health, he

accepted a position as agent for a coal company in the coal mines of Maryland, where he has remained among the mountains, engaged in the coal and lumber business, ever since, with the exception of three years spent on a farm in Missouri during the late war. Mr. Tillson having served as a captain in the Maine militia, was, in 1832, elected Colonel of the Fourth Regiment, Second Brigade, and Fourth Division of the militia of that State, which he held for seven years, and then resigned. During the period of his command, the frontier difficulty, known as the Aroostook war, occurred, and he was detailed to com- mand a regiment of drafted men to march to the frontier for the purpose of protecting the timber on the northeast boundary. But fortunately, before troops came in colli- sion, the matter was settled by General Scott and Governor Fairfield with the British Minister, and the drafted men were discharged. Colonel Tillson has been Postmaster in both Alleghany and Garrett counties, Maryland. He also held the office of Justice of the Peace and County Sur- veyor, and is now (1878) President of the Board of County Commissioners of Garrett County, Maryland. In 1829 he was initiated, and in due course took the several degrees, in Orient Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, and has filled the highest chair in that lodge. On remov- ing to Massachusetts, he was admitted by letter to King Solomon's Lodge, of Charlestown, and is at present a re- tired member of it. He has been connected with temper- ance organizations for thirty-five or forty years, and has occasionally lectured on the subject. In the course of his travels, in the years 1830-31, he several times encountered, in the Gulf of Mexico, pirates that infested the waters about there at that time, and had some running fights, but always escaped unscathed. At one time, while a pas- senger on board a brigantine in the Gulf of Mexico, he was placed, in consequence of the yellow fever breaking out among the crew, in a very critical dilemma. The crew was reduced to one man, and with his assistance, and such knowledge of navigation as he had acquired while sailing as a passenger, they managed to keep the vessel afloat for eighteen days, until they made Moro Castle, at Havana, Cuba. As soon as they were near enough, they made sig- nals of distress, which were acknowledged by the Castle, and in a short time they were boarded by two boats' crews, one from an English ship of war, and one from a United States man of war, sent out from the harbor. With their assistance, the vessel was brought into port in a very crip- pled condition, having nearly all its sails blown away, in consequence of not having men enough to take care of them. In early life Colonel Tillson was trained in the doctrine of the Calvinistic and Congregational Church, and up to the age of eighteen accepted these doctrines; but, on mature reflection and study, he gave up his belief in them, and accepted the doctrine of Universalism. His first vote for a President of the United States was given for John Quincy Adams, against Andrew Jackson. He

197

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

has voted at every election for President since that time. Until the Whig party was dissolved, he always voted with it ; since then he has voted and affiliated with the Repub. lican party. Colonel Tillon was married to May 1'. Sawyer, of Portland, Maine, daughter of Captain David Sawyer, master mariner of that plice, January 20, 1833. She is still living. They had eight children, four only of whom are living. One son was a member of a regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps. He was wounded in the seven days' battles before Richmond, taken prisoner, confined in Libby prison two weeks, then exchanged and taken to a hospital in Baltimore, where he died of his wounds. The Colonel is a man of strong character, and af prepossessing appearance, somewhat over the medium size, and of fine form. It has been often said that he was the counterpart of General Scott. His social qualities are of the highest order, and his genial manner is patent to all who come in contact with him. Ilis mind is in perfect accord with his disposition and physique. Possessed of good judgment, he brings to all matters with which he deals a broad intelligence and impartial candor. Few men are more capable of making all around them appre- ciate the inestimable worth of a vigorous intellect and genial nature.

"HEARER, THOMAS, M.D., was born, August 1, 1825, at Stonehouse, about fifteen miles above Glasgow, on the Clyde, Scotland. On the parish records of that place appears the family name in un- broken succession for more than a hundred and fifty years. llis mother's name was Bruce. Whether she was a descendant of Robert Bruce, af Bannockburn, cannot be positively ascertained. Dr. Shearer was the seventh son of a mmerous family, and from his infancy, it was the cherished wish of his mother, a woman of great gentle- ness of character and deep picty, that he should be educa- ted for the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, then, as now, the leading religious body of Scotland, and distin- gnished for its intelligence, general scholarship, and theo- logical culture. With this object in view, he was sent to school, in the tenth year of his age, and placed under the charge of a teacher who was famous for his devotion to the study of the classics. In accordance with the English and Scottish method, Latin was taught first, then Greek, and then the mother tongue. Whatever may be said of this mode of study, it is generally conceded that the Scot- tish schools and academies are among the best in the world. So rapid was his progress, that at the age of nine years, at a public examination conducted by the clergymeu of the parish, he was awarded the first prize for proficiency in Latin, some of his competitors being several years his senior ; and the second prize for a thorough knowledge of the in- tricate form of the Greek verb was also awarded to him.

At the age of fifteen, he was admitted to the University of Glasgow, one of the foremost institutions in his native land, hom which he graduated with honor in his eighteenth year. About this time his religions opinion, underwent a change, and finding that he could not conscientionly sub- scribe to the articles of the Presbyterian Church, as ex- pounded and interpreted by its accredited ministers, he determined to abandon the study of theology and devote himself to the science of medicine. In order to prepare himself for his chosen profession, he entered the Uni- versity of Edinburgh, then regarded as one of the finest medical schools in Europe, from which he graduated at the expiration of three years. Ilis health having been impaired by excessive study, and thinking that it would be benefited by travel and a change of climate, he ac- cepted a position as ship surgeon on one of the packets plying between Glasgow and New York. Sailing from Glasgow, August 1, 1848, he arrived at New York, Sep- tember 12, following. After a brief residence in Phila- delphia, he went into the country, a few miles from that city, where he spent some time during the delightful month of October, and busied himself in collecting spec- imens of indigenous plants to take with him on his re- turn to Scotland. When the ship was ready to sail, he concluded to remain until the following spring, at which time the packet was expected to return to the United States. The doctor did not return to his native land un- til 1878, twenty-nine years thereafter. In 1854 his atten- tion was attracted to homeopathy, then a new, much misunderstood, and sadly abused system of medicine. After a long and patient study of the subject, and a thorough trial of its remedies, he became a convert to homeopathy, attended three courses of lectures at the Homeopathic College of Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1858. Twenty years of active and eminently successful practice as a homeopathie physician, have fully served to confirm the wisdom of that step. In 1856 Dr. Shearer married Miss Harriet Fox, daughter of George Fox, Esq., of Philadelphia, Their family consists of a son and a daughter, both of whom are in Europe. Dr. Shearer's son has chosen his father's profession, and is now ( 1878) pursuing his medical studies at the University of Edin- burgh, his father's Alma Mater. The daughter is also attending school in that city. After entering upon the practice of homeopathy, Dr. Shearer resided for several years in Charleston, South Carolina, where he is still held in grateful remembrance by many warm and devoted friends. Toward the close of the American civil war, he located in Baltimore, his present home, 'The writer's personal acquaintance with Dr. Shearer dates from the time of his removal to Baltimore, and he has marked the steady increase of his usefulness and influence. Na one has done more than Dr. Shearer to popularize the science of homeopathy, so thoroughly misunderstood and misrepresented by its antagonists, and, until a recent period,

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1, Part 44

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