USA > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 49
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 49
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of the general disturbance of business by the war of the Revolution, he had an income of five thousand dollars a year, which, for that day, was very linge, and with every prospect of increase. In that war he espoused the Colonial side with all the energy of his nature, and from the begin- ning to the end of the struggle, by speeches, addresses and in his profession, showed himself the uncompromising enemy of George the Third and the Tories. In 1778, at the solicitation of Samuel Chase, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and afterward Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, he was appointed Attorney-General of Maryland, and removed to Baltimore. . He continued long in that office, constantly augmenting his reputation as an advocate and a jurist. In 1783 he married Miss Cresap, granddaughter of Col. Cresap, a noted pioneer. She was a lady of much beauty, which was inherited by her two only children, Maria and Elenora, both of whom married unhappily, and died broken-hearted in early life. His wife also died young. His elder daughter, Maria, was the friend and school companion of Miss Patterson, after- wards Madame Bonaparte. She was, like her father, be- nevolent, hospitable, and kind to the poor, and, surviving her mother and younger sister, spent her last days in doing good. Mr. Martin was a regular member of what was in those days known as the Old English Church, now known as St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church. He erected the family altar, and prayed in private. He was engaged in many important cases in his long and brilliant career, the records of which are a part of the history of the State. " Ile shone far above his contemporaries in the accuracy of his knowledge and the clearness of his forensic arguments. Of his general powers at the bar, his unbroken success and exalted reputation abroad are plain demonstrations. Ilis mind was so completely stored with the principles of legal science, and his professional accuracy was so gener- ally acknowledged, that his mere opinion was considered law, and is now esteemed sound authority before any American tribunal." Ilis memory was wonderful, and enabled him to have at instant command all the wealth of his great and varied learning. He was liberal and kind- hearted to a fault, and, not appreciating the value of money, he let it pass freely from him, till he was often hard pressed to meet his debts. He often had to borrow money on mortgage. " I never was an economist," he says, " in any- thing but time." In old age he found himself poor, though few had had better opportunities than he to become rich. Hle dressed in the old- fashioned colonial style, wearing the blue double-breasted coat, with gilt buttons, shorts but- toned at the knee, long white hose, and half boots; or in summer, shoes with buckles. Ile all his life wore rullles at the bosom and wrists, and a queue about six inches long, and sometimes the powdered head. In person he was of the medium size; muscular, but not heavy, in form. Ile indulged in the use of ardent spirits, as was the habit of his time, but seldom to excess, Reports and newspaper
stories greatly exaggerated what hi, hiend, considered as his one fault. In 1804 he was engaged, conjointly with Robert Goodloe Harper, in the defence of Judge Chase, of the Supreme Court of the United States, who was im- peached in the House of Representatives, on charges con- tained in eight articles, for malfeasance in office. Mr. Martin's argument on that occasion is said to have been one of the most powerful ever heard in an American court- room. Judge Chase was acquitted on every charge. In 1807 Aaron Burr was arrested for treason, and arraigned at Richmond, in the United States Circuit Court, before Chief Justice Marshall. Burr himself was the chief man- ager of his case, but drew around him an array of talent rarely united in the same cause. Besides Mr. Martin, Messrs. Wickham, William Wirt, and John Randolph, all eminent lawyers, were engaged in the case. Mr. Martin's zeal and courage and devotion surpassed everything. He not only defended his client in the court, but in the public prints, and became one of the sureties for the bail-bond that was given pending the finding of the indictment. When the trial was concluded Burr was acquitted. On August 12, 1813, Mr. Martin was appointed Chief Judge of the Court of Oyer and Terminer for the City and County of Baltimore, and filled that station till the court was abolished by the Legislature of 1816. On Febru- ary 11, 1818, exactly forty years from the date of his first commission, he was again appointed Attorney-Gen- eral of the State. His declining health, however, pre- vented his appearing, except in a few cases, and an assis- tant was appointed. In 1820 he was paralyzed in his right side, and never fully recovered from the stroke. Mr. Mar- tin had a just claim on Aaron Burr for professional services, and finding himself without means, upon the invitation of Mr. Burr, who resided in New York, he went there in 1822, greatly against the wishes of his friend, in Baltimore, and remained in the family of Mr. Burr till his death, July 10, 1826. His remains were interred in the burial-grounds of Trinity Church of that city.
FOLK, LUCIUS CARKY, was born in Somerset County, Maryland, December, 1838. He there spent his early youth, removing with his parents to Baltimore city in 1845, where he attended various schools, and at the age of eighteen years entered the University of Virginia. After pursuing his studies in that institution for two years he returned to the city of Baltimore and entered upon the study of law. Whilst pursuing his law studies the American civil war occurred, when he repaired to Richmond and was appointed by the Ilon. Stephen D. Mallory, the then Secretary of the Confederate Navy, as a master in the Confederate naval service. He was assigned to duty as private secretary and amanuensis of the late
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Commodore Matthew F. Maury, and occupied that impor- tant and confidential capacity for several months. After two years of naval service he entered the ranks of the Confederate Army, and was attached to the Nineteenth Virginia Regiment, under the command of Colonel Evans, performing his duties as a soldier therein until the cessa- tion of hostilities, when he went to New York and en- tered upon the study of law in the office of his distinguished brother-in-law, Ex-Governor Enoch Louis Lowc. So closely did he apply himself to his legal studies that he was prepared within the remarkably brief period of nine months to enter upon the practice of his profession in the Supreme Court of New York, which he pursued for six months in that city, and then returned to Baltimore, where he settled regularly in legal practice, being principally employed as a chancery lawyer in the Orphans' Court, or in the man- agement of trust estates. He has been the trustee of some of the largest and most valuable estates in and around Baltimore, notably that of the late Dr. Edmondson, lying in the northwestern section of Baltimore, which he has improved with long rows of elegant dwellings, and a mag- nificent park of eight and a half acres, known as " Har- lem Park." Mr. Polk carly erected many valuable dwell- ings, in addition to those above mentioned, all of them in the very best sections of Baltimore. His energy and en- terprising spirit were still further illustrated by his pro- jecting and operating, in 1878, the Harlem Stage Company, of which he is the President and the principal stockholder. It has proved to be an eminently successful enterprise, so much so that Mr. Polk proposes to establish lines of coaches throughout other parts of the city. In 1867 he married Miss Mary E. Clark, only daughter of Gabriel D. Clark, a leading jeweller of Baltimore, and one of its most enter- prising and wealthy citizens. He has one child living, a son, ten years of age. Mr. Polk is pleasant and affable in his manners, sociable and communicative in disposition, and possesses that agreeable exuberance of spirit, tempered with original humor, that makes hun a most attractive con- versationalist. The abundant means which have been at his disposal he has applied to the interests of the commu- nity in which he lives by contributing to the building up of the city, and by establishing the lines of communica- tion between distant points, which have proved so conve- nient to business men and citizens generally. lle is em- phatically a producer and creator, giving, through the en- terprises he has originated and developed, employment to hundreds of worthy and industrious workmen. Mr. Polk's father was the late Colonel James Polk, who for twenty- seven years held the office of Register of Wills in Somer- set County, and was the Naval Officer of the Port of Bal- timore during the administration of his cousin, President James K. Polk. Mr. Polk comes of an honored line of ancestors, both on the paternal and maternal side, and his family relationship embraces many of the most distinguished individuals of Maryland and other States, those who have
figured in the councils of the nation, or occupied a proud eminence in the judiciary.
EBER, CHARLES, was born at Obersuhl, Hesse Cassel, Germany, September 18, 1821. Ilis father, I .. Weber, was a minister of the German Reformed Church, at Obersuhl, for twenty-five years, where he was held in the highest respect. Ilis ancestors on his father's side were all clergymen of the same church from the seventeenth century down to the present generation. Among them were some who attained to eminence in their profession. His ancestors on his mother's side were of the Huguenots of France, who dur- ing the persecutions were driven from their native country, and settled in Bremen, Germany, where many of them be- came officers under the government. Charles Weber being intended by his father for the church, received a thorough academic training preparatory for professional studies. But the death of his father when Charles was about four- tecn, so reduced the means needed for the support of the family, that he was not able to finish his studies. Being forced to make his own living he turned his attention to farming, and for a number of years, up to the time of his emigration to this country, became overseer of the large baronial estate of Von Bodenhausen at Witzenhausen. In- duced by thoughts of bettering his condition in life, he determined to come to America. Accordingly he sailed from Bremen in the ship Schiller, and reached Baltimore October 6, 1842, when he was married to Augusta, daughter of Rev. J. C. Bachmann, minister of the Ger- man Reformed Church in Germany. Being impressed with the superior advantages of the State of Ohio for agricultural purposes, he intended to settle there as a farmer. But by the sickness of his wife, and the per- suasions of some newly made friends, he was induced to change his intention, and to farm for one season in Baltimore County. He then went to Baltimore city, and for a time kept a night school. Soon afterwards he en- gaged in the drug store of Richard J. Baker, where he remained for two years. . From 1845 to 1865 he was employed by the well-known shipping house of A. Schu- macher & Co. Mr. Schumacher becoming thoroughly ac- quainted with Mr. Weber, and finding in him that busi- ness reliability and sagacity for which he has since become so conspicnous, formed for him a warm friendship which lasted as long as Mr. Schumacher lived.' His friendship was of great value to Mr. Weber; it helped him to gain other friends, and bore fruit of genuine and lasting kind- ness. Having by industry and economy saved a little money and set himself up in the grocery business, the kindness of Mr. Schumacher enabled him largely to extend his business, and even to import goods from Germany and
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lolland. Gradually growing in the appreciation and es- leem of his friends, in 1865 he was elected President of the German Fire Insurance Company of Baltimore, which, under his able supervision, has now become a large insti. tution. He is one of the directors of the Canton Company of Baltimore. In 1868 he was elected President of the German Bank of Baltimore, which position he still holds. lle has had eight children, four of whom are living. Ilis oldest son living, Charles, is Secretary of the German Fire Insurance Company. His second son, August, is paying teller in the German Bank, and his youngest son, Albert, is engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York city. Mr. Weber is the only member of his family who has emi- grated to this country. He has three brothers in Germany, of whom two are in the government service. The eldest, Louis, being Chief Justice at Wolphagen ; the youngest, Otto, principal of the gymnasium of Hesse Cassel. His second brother, Adolphus, is a manufacturer in Marburg. Coming to this country without means, by industry, thrift and prudence Mr. Weber has secured a large competence. By his friends he is known as a man of broad views, gen- erous impulses and kindly acts.
3 ICII, COLONEL THOMAS ROBINS, was born September 5, 1833, in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was Dr. Arthur Rich, an eminent physician of Balti- . more, who was in the active practice of his profes- sion in that city and elsewhere for over half a cen- tury. lle was a native of Kent County, Delaware, where his father, who was of English birth, settled anterior to the American Revolution. Thomas R. Rich's mother was Miss Mary White Wiltbank, daughter of Rev. James Wiltbank, a distinguished Episcopalian clergyman and chaplain of the United States Navy. Young Rich received his education at St. Mary's College, Baltimore. Though classically educated, and designed by his parents for either the legal or medical profession, the subject of this sketch, obeying the natural bent of his mind, determined that he would be a merchant, and the desire to trade, to acquire money, to make himself independent of his father, who, however, was abundantly able to provide for his children, manifested itself at so early an age, that, even while at college, in the intervals between his studies, he devoted his time to the collection of the professional fees due his father, for which he was allowed commissions. Notwith- standing the earnest solicitations of Dr. Rich that his son should study for one of the liberal professions, the desire of the latter was so strong to engage in mercantile pur- suits, that, at the age of seventeen years, he procured for himself a situation in a drygoods house, in the humble sphere of errand boy, the condition being that he was to serve for one year without any compensation. He did
not inform his father of what he had done until after the completion of the arrangement with the merchant. The father, on being apprised by Thomas of the matter, again endeavored to prevail upon him to abandon the idea of mercantile pursuits and study a profession, but the youth had his mind so earnestly set upon the vocation he had chosen that he could not be dissuaded therefrom, and as he had given a promise to the merchant, which the father deemed should be honorably respected, all further opposi- tion to his wishes was withdrawn. Although Thomas agreed to serve for a year without salary in the drygoods house he exhibited such remarkable aptness and industry that his employer, who was proverbially close in his transactions, voluntarily agreed to give the lad a salary of fifty dollars, when he had been in his employ but two months, and, four months thereafter, such was his energy that his em- ployer raised his salary to one hundred and fifty dollars. Ilis promotion in this mercantile establishment was rapid, his compensation, before the expiration of the first year, increased to three hundred dollars, and the position of cashier and confidential clerk conferred upon him, with powers transcending those of the junior partners of the concern. After remaining with this house for about three years, his salary being increased from time to time, he con- cluded, though his employer offered him every inducement to remain with them, to accept a situation in a drygoods commission house. There he completed his mercantile education, and, in the early part of 1854, not yet having attained his majority, he determined before settling down in business on his own account, to make the tour of Europe. With a party of Americans, whose acquaintance he formed on the steamer Arctic, of the old Collins Line, during the voyage to Liverpool, he travelled through Scotland and England, visiting various mercantile and manufacturing towns and cities. Crossing the Channel he visited Paris, where he remained for some time. He then went to Marseilles, and thence to Rome, and, after an ex- cursion into Switzerland and up the Rhine, returned to Paris, where he was accredited as bearer of dispatches from the American legation to the United States Government. lle arrived in his native country in September of 1854. With his mind expanded by foreign travel, with increased mereantile knowledge, and with the advantages of the de - sirable business acquaintances he had made in Europe, Mr. Rich embarked, in 1855, in the dry goods importing and jobbing business. Hle soon acquired the reputation of being a judicious buyer and a shrewd business man. llis careful selection of goods, their character as to quality and price, his manner of conducting business, his uniform urbanity of manners, and his unswerving integrity, attracted to his establishment an extensive and profitable custom, which made it eminently prosper- ous. In the summer of 1857, in consequence of close and unremitting attention to business, Mr. Rich was at. tacked by a severe brain fever, which so prostrated him
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that his life was despaired of. He soon after rallied from the attack, however, and was again able to attend to his duties. In 1858, finding that close application to business was gradually nudenuining his constitution, he, through the recommendation of his physician, resolved to retire therefrom, and in June of that year, he started with his wife for the Western country, going as far as Minnesota, thence to St. Louis, Mo., where he spent the winter. Early in the spring of 1859 he left St. Louis in a steamer for St. Paul. Thence he went to Minneapolis, where he remained until the summer of 1860, when he returned to Baltimore with his health entirely restored, and re-entered mercantile business. At the outbreak of the civil war, he took a bold and decided stand in favor of the Federal Government. It required more than usual nerve and patriotic fervor for a Marylander at that time to take a stand in opposition to the well-known prejudices and pro- clivities of most of his early friends and associates; to dissolve the ties of a lifetime, and favor a cause which was then regarded as antagonistic to the dignity, interests, and rights of the Commonwealth of Maryland. But though in so doing he placed himself outside the pale of ancient friendships, and had every kind of opprobrium cast upon him ; though, in consequence thereof, his life was frequently threatened, Mr. Rich, at that early day, patrioti- cally espoused the cause of his country. From the very earliest organization of the Republican party in Maryland, he was an active member thereof, and was always called upon to fill the most honorable positions therein. As Secretary of the Republican Association in his own ward, he was the first person in Baltimore who signed his name to a public call for a Republican ward meeting. He was one of the originators of the Union Reading Rooms in Baltimore. They were the resort for the Union soldiers and officers in and around the above city, and a rendezvous for Union men generally. Mr. Rich was one of the early and efficient members of the Union Relief Association, which started with but twelve members. The design of this association was the comforting and relief of the Fed- eral sokliers passing through Baltimore. On account of the limited membership, and the paucity of means at the command of this society, their efforts, at first, coukdl merely be directed to the furnishing of ice-water to the jaded and travel-worn troops, as they marched through the streets. The association increased in numbers, means, and importance so rapidly that it, not long after its organiza- tion, found it advisable to secure two large warehouses, and had them fitted up in a manner suitable for the lodg- ing and feeding of the troops. An entire regiment could be set at one time at the well-spread tables. Mr. Rich was one of the original members of the " Union League," in Baltimore, which was formed in 1861. Ile was honored with the Presidency of the same, and was prominent in every Union movement in the city. On July 21, 1862, he was aide-de-camp to the Governor, with the rank of lieu-
tenant Colonel. Governor Bradford, from the time he first attached Colonel Rich to his person, held him in the highest esteem, and treated him as a confidential, intimate adviser. In April, 1863, he originated a grand Union mass meeting of all the Union Leagues of Maryland, and assisted in drafting the resolutions which were adopted by that meet- ing, sustaining President Lincoln, the whole policy of the National Government, and urging the adoption by the State of emancipation. These were the first resolutions of the kind ever offered to a public meeting in Maryland, and were received with great applause. By reason of Colonel Rich's persistent efforts in the advocacy of these resolutions, and in bringing them conspicuously to the favorable atten- tion of the several Union organizations of the State, he ultimately succeeded in having a State Convention called by the Grand Union League of Maryland, which met June 16, 1863. That convention nominated candidates (who were elected) for State offices, and for the Legislature which adopted a resolution abolishing slavery in Maryland. Colonel Rich was thus one of the prime movers, as he was the carnest advocate, of emancipation in Maryland ; and no one, from the very first origin of the Republican party in the State, took a more decided and conspicuous part in behalf of the Union cause. Since the termination of the civil war he has been quietly pursuing an avocation in which he exhibits eminent ability, and where his peculiar business talent finds full scope-that of financier. Many persons have reason to thank him for his advice in business matters and the aid which he has rendered them by his skilful management of the negotiations with which they have intrusted him. In 1856 he married Miss Elizabeth Wilson, daughter of the late William Wilson, of Baltimore. Ile has three children living, William Dalrymple, Thomas Robins, and Bradford Rich.
YCARFE, JOHN HENRY, M. D., was born March 17, 1851, in Harford County, Maryland. He spent his early youth in his native county, where he re- ceived an excellent academic education, and at the age of seventeen years entered the Pennsylvania State Normal College (near Lancaster, Pa.), prosecuting his studies there for three years. He then entered into mercantile life, but soon conceived a distaste for it, and commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. M. 1 .. Jarrett, an eminent physician of Harford. After a year's close application to his studies he went to Baltimore and matriculated (in the fall of 1873), at the Washington University, receiving his diploma as Doctor of Medicine therefrom in the spring of 1876. He settled down at once in the practice of his profession, in Baltimore, and has been steadily and successfully pursuing it thence to the present time. In March, 1877, Dr. Scarff was appointed by Mayor
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George P. Kane, as Vaccine Physician for the Ninth and Tenth wards of Baltimore, which position he continues to hold under the appointment of Mayor Latrobe. He has paid special attention to the diseases of children, and is regarded as an expert in all infantile complaints. He is also a skilful surgeon, and has performed, with signal success, some of the most difficult and delicate operations known to the profession. As Vaccine Physician he has devoted his attention to certain sanitary conditions exist- ing in the wards over which he has medical supervision, and has written an able article in the press in opposition to the wood pavings on Fayette Street, between St. Paul and Calvert, and those on St. Paul Street, between Fayette and Baltimore streets, demonstrating the unhealthy and malign influences resulting from their decomposition. No young physician of Baltimore stands higher among his professional brethren than Dr. Scarff, and there is none whose opinions, as expressed before the medical societies of which he is a member, command greater respect than his. The doctor's father was Joshua Hardesty Scarff, a native and extensive farmer of Harford County. Ile has occupied several hon- orable and responsible positions, among which are the Presidencies of the Board of County Commissioners, and the Board of County School Commissioners, which latter position he has held for several years. The grandfather of the doctor, Henry Scarff, was one of those gallant citizens of Harford who volunteered their services in the defence of Baltimore when threatened by the British in 1814. The Scarffs are of English derivation, and were among the original settlers of Harford County, where they have always been extensive landholders and planters. Dr. Scarff's mother was Miss Baldwin, of Baltimore County, daughter of John Baldwin, a prominent landowner and agriculturist. She is a cousin of Attorney-General Gwynn, of Maryland, who married a daughter of the late Reverdy Johnson, the doctor's grandmother being a sister of the late distinguished Hon. William Gwynn. On December 28, 1876, Dr. Scarff married the youngest daughter of the late Henry Kemp, a merchant of Baltimore.
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