The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1, Part 58

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

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USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 58

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BETTY, HONORABLE WILLIAM REED, was born in 1832, in that part of Alleghany County, Maryland, now embraced in Garrett County. His grandfather, John Getty, emigrated from Ireland in 1790, and settled near Cresaptown, Alleghany County. was one of the first settlers of that part of Maryland, and endured the hardships and privations of those early days. James Getty, father of William K., was born where his father first settled, but in early manhood he removed to Piney Grove, five miles cast of Grantsville, Maryland,

where the subject of this sketch was born and spent his youthful days. When cleven years of age, William R. met with a painful accident, which confined him to his bed for three years, and disabled him for farm work. He left home at the age of fifteen years, and went forth into the world alone and unaided to commence the battle of life. Hle went to Pennsylvania, where, by labor and strict econ- omy, he succeeded in saving sufficient means to enable him to attend a select school at Bedford, Pennsylvania, taught by Professor Harris. By diligent study during three years at that school, he acquired a good English education, and laid the foundation for future usefulness in life. Failing health compelled him to quit school. From Bedford he went to Wilmington, Delaware, where he remained one year, and then returned to his native county, where he taught school for two years, and then engaged in merchan- dising. At the age of twenty-three, Mr. Getty married Miss Margaret Cross, a highly esteemed and worthy mem- ber, from her childhood, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They have an interesting and intelligent family of children. Oliver G. Getty, the eldest son, graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Mary- land, and is a member of the medical firm of Keller & Getty, Grantsville, Maryland. The second son, Alvin F. Getty, is engaged in merchandising. Mr. Getty is an ad- herent of the Catholic Church, having entertained its par- ticular views from youth up. His political career began in 1859, when he was elected Justice of the Peace, to which office he was re-elected three times, and at one elec- tion received every vote cast in the district, except nine. In 1864 he went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he engaged in the leather business for about fourteen months, when he left that city and returned to Grantsville, where he has since resided. Mr. Getty was a member of the Board of County School Commissioners of Alleghany County dur- ' ing the years 1868-9. In 1870 he was appointed Collec- for of State and County taxes of Alleghany County, and served for two years. In 1872, when Alleghany County was divided, Mr. Getty advocated the division with great cannestness and ability, taking an active and prominent part in the formation of the new county of Garrett, and was elected its first Senator without opposition. He has been an outspoken and uncompromising Democrat all his life, and is an able, active, and influential worker in his party. By strict economy, indomitable perseverance, and unimpeachable integrity in every pursuit of his life, he has not only risen to financial independence, but, what is far better, he has secured and enjoys the unlimited confidence and esteem of those who know him best. He is kind and generous in his disposition, and one in whom the worthy poor always find a friend. This fellow citizens delight to honor him, because they take pride in his past record, and know that he will not betray the confidence reposed in him. lle is yet in the prime and vigor of manhood, and a bril liant future may be safely predicted for him.

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BIOGRAPHICAL. CYCLOPEDIAA.

TOWNSHEND, Sarun, M.D., Health Officer for the District of Columbia, was born in Prince George's County, Maryland, December 13, 1836. Ilis great grandparents came to this country from England with Lord Baltimore in 1634, and settled in Maryland. He is a descendant of Sir Isaac and Charles Townshend ; the latter was in his day a prominent member of the British Parliament. Ilis mother, whose maiden name was Catharine Olis Lunsdom, was born and raised in Alex- andria, Virginia, her parents coming to this country from England in 1600. Ilis father, Samuel II. Townshend, was an extensive planter in Prince George's County, Maryland, who died when the subject of this sketch was quite a boy. Shortly after his father's death Mr. Townshend, at the age of eleven years, came to Washington. Ile received a com- mon-school education in Maryland and the schools of the District of Columbia, and when twenty years of age went to Illinois and entered Shurtleff College at Alton, where he commenced the study of medicine. In 1859 during the gold excitement he went to Pike's Peak, and after two years' residence there he went into the army in 1861, first enlisting in the First Kansas Regiment. He was severely wounded in the battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri. Upon his recovery he returned to Illinois and went into the Thirty-second Illinois Regiment as First Lieutenant, served during the whole of the war, and was mustered out as Major of the regiment with the rank of Brevet Lieutenant- Colonel. Ile was wounded six times, and was in twenty- two pitched battles. After the war he returned to Wash- ington and resumed the study of medicine. In 1869 he graduated at the National Medical College of the District of Columbia. Since then he has entered upon the active duties of his profession, and has enjoyed a Incrative prac- tice. lle is a member of the Medical Association of the District of Columbia ; a member of the Medical Society of the District, and he is one of the Alumni of the National Medical College of the District of Columbia, Upon the abolition by Congress of the Board of Health for the District of Columbia, June 30, 1878, he was indoused by Senators and members of Congress and prominent citizens of Washington, Gicostown, and the county, for Health Officer of the District. Out of a large muuber of promi- nent candidates the District Commissioners selected Mr. Townshend for the position. On entering upon the duties of his office, he took upon himself the manifold duties formerly performed by the entire board, and has systemat- ized the workings of the office in the interest of economy, as well as with regard to the health of the people, by the organization of a competent and intelligent corps of street, market, and other inspectors. He has inaugurated the en- foreement of strict sanitary regulations throughout the District of Columbia, and under this system the death rate of the District during the unusual hot and siekly month of July, 1878, was less than any city in the United States. Ilis brother, Richard W. Townshend, was elected member

of the Forty-fifth Congress from the Nineteenth District of Illinois as a Democrat, and in the summer of 1878 re-nominated for the Forty-sixth Congress,

UINAN, JOHN RUSSELL, M.D., was born in Lan- caster County, Pennsylvania, where he spent his early youth, attending the best schools in that vicinity. After an academic education he was placed, as a student, in Marietta College, Ohio, and graduated therefrom in the twentieth year of his age. Shortly after he entered upon the study of medicine in the office of Professor John K. Mitchell, Professor of Thera- peutics in the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and graduated with honor in the spring of 1844. Immediately after receiving his medieal diploma he established himself in the practice of his profession in Calvert County, Mary- land, where he remained until 1867-some twenty-three years. Ile enjoyed an extensive practice and was the lead- ing physician in Calvert County. In 1867 he removed to Baltimore, where he has uninterruptedly pursued his pro- fession up to the present time. Whilst in Calvert County Dr. Quinan served as United States Medical Examiner of drafted men for the civil war, and also as President of the Board of School Commissioners. In 1845 he married Miss Elizabeth Billingsly, of Calvert County, daughter of Colonel Thomas Billingsly, an extensive planter of that county, and a gallant officer in the war of 1812. He rep- resented his county with great credit in the Maryland Senate for several terms. Dr. Quinan's father was Rev. Thomas II. Quinan, long and favorably known as an Episco- pal clergyman, and Agent of the Maryland State Bible Society. . The doctor is a member of the Medico- Chirur- gical Faculty of Maryland, and author of several valua- ble medical and scientific articles. He is a gentleman of Ime intellectual culture, of classical attaiments, and en- joys a large and lucrative practice. He has sis clutchen living. His son William Russel Quinan is a captain in the United States Anny, graduating at West Point in grade number six. Ile has another son at West Point, Allan B. Quinan, who was appointed as a cadet by Hon. Thomas Swann, he having passed a competitive examination as a graduate of the Baltimore City College.

THOMPSON, WALTER HARRISON, Merchant, of Easton, Maryland, was born in that town in 1823. Ilis father was the youngest of five brothers, who, emigrating from Ireland to the United States, landed in Philadelphia in 1792. He married a Miss Ilar. rison, of Caroline County, Maryland, and settled in Easton,

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The subject of this sketch was the youngest son. Ilis father died when he was only five years of age, and thought and care and anxiety for the futme carly intended into his childhood. Ile was, however, given a thorough education in the English branches, and attended the Easton Acad- ' emy. On leaving school he entered, as drygoods clerk, the leading store of the place, conducted by Messrs. Single- ton & Talbot. In 1839 he was able to commence business for himself. He had in his store as clerk a young man, named John F. Kersey, whom in 1853 he took into part- nership, forming the firm of Thompson & Kersey. Their store has grown from a small affair, commenced in a small and quiet place, on a capital of a few hundred dollars, to be the leading drygoods house in Easton, and is the largest on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Mr. Thompson has always been an eminently public-spirited citizen. He was among the earliest and most active movers in obtaining the construction of the Dover bridge, which now spans the Choptank River, and connects Talbot and Caroline coun- ties. This bridge has greatly hastened the growth and increased the wealth of Easton. Mr. Thompson was also one of the foremost of the company which lighted the streets of the town with gas, and to him the Methodist Episcopal Church of that place is largely indebted for its beautiful house of worship. He joined that communion in his fifteenth year, and has served through life the in- -terests of his Church and the general cause of religion, not less indefatigably than he has sought to advance his own affairs. In 1847 he was married to Susan A. Mills, of Dorchester County, to whom he owes no small degree of his success in life.

WINDELL, WILLIAM, was born February 19, 1821, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ilis father was William Swindell, a native of Tralee, Ireland, who came to this country and was for many years Superintendent of the Union Glass Works of Philadelphia. His mother, who now resides with him, was Lydia, daughter of William Emmitt, the first success. ful manufacturer of flint glass cast of the Alleghany Mountains, who came from Bristol, England, about the year 1812. In 1827 the subject of this sketch went to Philadelphia and entered the glass manufactory of his father and maternal grandfather, who, in association with others, had originated the Union Glass Company for the manu- facture of flint glass. Ile there learned the business, in which he has since been eminently successful. His thorough mastery of the art has been the result of persevering toil and self-denial. Ilis father died in 1835, and thus the care of his mother, four brothers and two sisters was mainly laid upon him. On this task he entered with a devotion and self-denial very rarely equalled, and as a

consequence, his opportunities for a scholastic education were extremely limited. By close application to study at night school and a wise improvement of his lei ane homs he has greatly supplied the deficiencies of his carly edu. cation. Having completed the town of his apprentice. ship he spent the succeeding five years as a journeyman in Camden, New Jersey, where he married Miss Henrietta Mullard, a young Quakeress, who was an adopted dangh- ter of Ilughy Hatch, a farmer. In 1847 he went to Balti- more and worked as a journeyman for E. and 1 .. Schaum for five years; then in connection with William Garten, David I .. Lawson, and Jacob Lye, he originated and built the Spring Garden Bottle Works, of which he was super- intendent as well as part owner. In 1855 he took an in- terest in the glass works of Baker Brothers & Company, on Hughes Street, which he superintended for seventeen years, conjointly with the Spring Garden works, which had been purchased by the latter firm. In 1869 he became the manufacturing partner of Seim, Emory & Swindell, building another window glass factory on Icadenhall Street, at a cost of about seventeen thousand dollars. In 1873 he built a third factory, forming the Crystal Window Glass Works, which has been in successful operation ever since. In this enterprise he associated with him his sons, George E., John W., and Walter B., the firm name being Swindell Brothers. It is one of the leading glass houses in the city. Baltimore, next to Pittsburg, is the largest window glass manufacturing city in the United States, and this fact is attributable in no small degree to the enterprise of Mr. Swindell. He was one of the first glass manufac- turers in the East to substitute Cumberland coal for heating purposes' in place of resin, on account of the difference in cost. Hard coal had been used in the East, necessitating a blast. Mr. Swindell represented his ward in the City Council in 1860. Ile is a Conservative in politics, and in religion a member of the Methodist Church. He has nine children, Marietta, George E., John W., deceased, Walter B., Annic, Cora, Charles J. B., Joseph Rodgers and William. '

NOTT, ALOYSIS LEO, State's Attorney for Balti- more city, was born near New Market, Frederick County, Maryland, May 12, 1829. At the age of eight years he entered St. John's Literary Institute, at Frederick City, established by the late Rev. John McElroy, and conducted by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus. After diligently pursuing his studies there for nearly three years the subject of this sketch removed, with his parents, to Baltimore, and in 1842 was placed as a student in St. Mary's College of that city. He spent six years in that institution, and in 1847 graduated with honor. Ile immediately entered upon the vocation of teaching, his first engagement being as assistant in the Cumberland

C. Lcc RicoTt.

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Academy, which position he occupied for a year, when he accepted that of teacher of Greek and algebra in St. Mary's College, Baltimore, most acceptably filling the latter for the space of two years. Turning his attention to the pro- fession of law, Mr. Knott commenced a course of study in the office of the late William Schley, one of the most bril- liant ornaments of the Maryland bar. After reading law for one year, Mr. Knott discontinued his professional studies for awhile to become the Principal of the Howard Latin School, in Howard County, Maryland, an academy established by him, and which for many years was emi- nently prosperous. In the winter of 1855-56 Mr. Knott returned to Baltimore and completed his law studies under Mr. Schley, on whose motion he was admitted to the Bal- timore bar. Ile at once formed a law partnership with the late James 1I. Bevans, which professional connection con- tinued for two years and a half. He then commenced the practice of law upon his individual account. In 1858 Mr. Knott began to take an active part in political affairs. At that time the American or " Knownothing" party con- trolled Baltimore and the State, and Mr. Knott was one of the most energetic and persistent of those whose efforts resulted in its overthrow in 1800. In June, 1859, he was sent as a Delegate from Baltimore city to the Democratic State Convention, which met in Frederick City during the ensuing August, and was elected as the Secretary of that body. The object of this convention was to nominate State officers. In 1860 he was elected Chairman of the Execu- tive Committee of the Democratic City Convention. Dur- ing this year occurred the memorable schism which di-

vided the Democratic party, on national issues, into the Breckinridge and Douglas wings. Mr. Knott believing that Mr. Douglas embodied the true principles and tradi- tions of the Democratic party, followed the fortunes of that gentleman, and became an earnest advocate of his

election to the Presidency of the United States. He made many able and eloquent speeches in favor of Mr. Dong- las throughout Maryland, achieving a wide reputation as a finished political orator. He was thoroughly conserva- tive in his views, and, subsequently to the election of Mr. Lincoln, engaged in a movement, with a large number of

gentlemen throughout the State of various political senti- ments, with the view of organizing a party which would be equally opposed to the extreme or radical notions of both the North and the South ; and which would be pledged to hostility, alike to the Secession movement and the Re-

former, and believing that the ascendency of the latter publican party, deprecating the disunion doctrines of the

would be inimical to the peace, integrity, and permanent union of the country. The march of events in isot, rapid and overwhelming in their character, prevented the

consummation of this design. During the cusning three

year, Mr. Kuott remained in Baltimore engaged in the practice of his profession. In 1864 the Republican party having complete control of the Maryland Legislature,

passed a bill, submitting a call for a convention to alter the Constitution of the State. It was justly apprehended by Democratic and Conservative citizens, who had, for the three preceding years, been permitted to take but little part in the State government, by the predominant military authorities, that if such a call were sustained, and a con- vention should assemble in pursuance thereof, that body would not reflect the sentiments or the interests of a large majority of the people of the State, but rather the vindic- tive and intolerant views of a minority; and that the dis- abilities and disfranchisements imposed by the two pre- ceding Legislatures would, by the action of such con- vention, become a part of the organic law of the State. It was therefore resolved by the few representatives of the Democratie and Conservative element of the Legislature of 1864, to reorganize the Democratic party throughout the State, with the view of preventing this design. A conference was called in Annapolis, in February of that year, at which many of the leading members of the Demo- cratic party were present, among whom were the late Hon, Thomas G. Pratt, ex-Governor of Maryland, Judge Oliver Miller, Colonel John F. Dent, Daniel Clark and Senator Briscoe of Calvert County, to vote against the con- templated call. At this conference committees for the county and city of Baltimore were appointed to awaken and edu- cate public sentiment. The Baltimore committee was com- posed of George M. Gill, Dr. John Morris, Hon, William Kimmell, Joshua Vansant, and A. Leo Knott. A diver- sity of views in regard to the best mode of effecting the objects intended, paralyzed the action of this local com- mittee. A very small vote was cast against the convention, owing to the then condition of public affairs, The con- vention assembled, and a Constitution was formed, which

proved so obnoxious to the Democratic and Conservative party, that it was resolved to organize for the purpose of defeating it. The first call for the reorganization of the party in Baltimore city, after the commencement of the civil war, was drawn up by Mr. Kuott, June, 1864, and

published in the Baltimore papers, The object of organ-

izing the party in Maryland was to put it in full accord with the Democracy of the North, which was then about entering upon the Presidential contest of 1864, and also to rally publie sentiment in the State against the proposed

Constitution. A city convention was assembled, which,

for the purpose of safety, met in the daytime. It was followed by a State convention. Mr. Knott was a mem- ber of both of these bodies, taking an active part in their

deliberations. By the State convention he was chosen a delegate to the National Democratic Convention, which assembled in Chicago, August 29, 1864, and which nomi-

nated General George B. MeClellan, and Honoraf.le

George H. Pendleton, as the Democratic candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the United States. The same year Mr. Knott was nominated for Congress by the Democratic party of the Third Congressional District

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of Maryland, his opponent, on the Republican side, being General Charles E. Phelps. The result of the election was unfavorable to the Democratic party. In 1865 re- newed efforts were made by the Democratic aud Conserva. tive party to modify the Constitution, which had been pro- claimed as adopted by the Governor the previous year. In these efforts a number of gentlemen prominently iden- tified with the Union party during the war participated. The same year occurred the well-known quarrel between President Andrew Johnson and the Republican leaders in the United States Senate. It was at once perceived that this disagreement might be availed of to promote the pur- pose of the gentlemen of the Conservative Democratic party in Maryland. At the suggestion of the Honorable Francis P. Blair, Sr., and Honorable Montgomery Blair, a committee, composed of Colonel William P. Maulsby, William Kimmell, and A. Leo Knott, representing the Democratic State Central Committee (of which Mr. Knott had previously been elected Secretary), waited on Presi- dent Johnson, June 17, 1865, and laid before him a state- ment of the condition of the public sentiment in the State in regard to the new Constitution, and appealed to him to so use his constitutional powers and pre- rogatives as to aid the people in removing the griev- anees and disqualifications of which they complained. Without pledging himself to any particular line of action, Mr. Johnson expressed the strongest hostility to the objec- tionable features of the new State Constitution, and his full sympathy with the efforts of the conservative element of the State to get rid of them. In 1866, when the quarrel between President Johnson and Congress became pro- nounced, it was resolved to sustain him by 'a series of meetings throughout the country. A large meeting was called February 22 of that year at the Maryland Institute. In the preliminary arrangements of this meeting Mr. Knott actively participated, acting in behalf of the Democratic State Central Committee, and meeting a committee ap- pointed on the part of the conservative members of the Re- publican party who sided with Mr. Johnson in that contest. This was the initial movement of an agitation in favor of a convention to reform the Constitution, and which termin- ated in the success of the Democratic Conservative party of Maryland in the fall of 1866. At the election of this year, after a fierce and animated struggle Mr. Knott was elected to the House of Delegates by the Democratic Con- servative party, from the Third Legislative District, taking in that body an active and prominent part. He was se- lected as member and chairman of many of the most in- portant committees, including the chairmanship of the Committee on Elections and the Committee on Internal Improvements; and membership of the Judiciary Commit- tee and the Committee on Federal Relations. On the second day of the session he was appointed as a member of the joint special committee of the Senate and the House (of which Honorable Richard B. Carmichael was chair

man), to report a bill calling a convention to reform the Constitution of the State. In this committee Mr. Knott insisted on the call for a convention, retaining the basis of representation adopted by the Constitution of 1861, which secured to Baltimore a large additional represen tation in the State Legislature. The Legislature of 1866 passed the Enfranchisement Bill and the Convention Bill, which put the State Government, in all its branches, in perfect accord and harmony with the sentiments of the masses of the people. These reformatory measures were earnestly advocated by Mr. Knott. In the fall of 1867 Mr. Knott was elected by the Democratic party to the office of State's Attorney for the city of Baltimore. Ile performed its duties with such ability and entire accepta- bility, as to cause his re-nomination and re-election in 1871, and again for a third term in 1875. In 1872 he was chosen by the Democratic State Convention as one of the delegates at large to represent Maryland in the National Democratic Convention, which assembled that year in Baltimore, and nominated Horace Greeley for the Presidency. He was also selected by his associates in the delegation to represent the State in the National Ex- ecutive Committee for the succeeding four years. As the Prosecuting Attorney for the State, Mr. Knott, during his long occupancy of the office, nearly twelve years, has dis- played the highest legal ability. Ile has had to prosecute many of the most important eases on the criminal records, and has frequently been brought into intellectual conflict with the best legal minds of the Baltimore bar, but has always proved himself equal to the best in ready debate and clear logic. Ile is an earnest, rapid, and fluent speaker; an enthusiastic defender of the right ; an uncom- promising enemy of wrong. Mr. Knott's father, Edward Knott, a native of Montgomery County, Maryland, was engaged for many years in farming and planting, both in that county and the adjoining county of Frederick. Ile served in the war of 1812. His grandfather, Zachary Knott, was a native of St. Mary's County, Maryland, and at the close of the Revolutionary war, settled in Mont- gomery County, where he became extensively engaged as a tobacco planter. The ancestors of the Knotts were from Yorkshire, England, and settled in St. Mary's County in 1642, the pioneer of the family in Baltimore County being Jolm Knott. Mr. Knott's mother was Elizabeth Sprigg Sweeney, daughter of Allen Sweeney, of Chaptico, St. Mary's County, Maryland, and granddaughter of Allen Sweeney, a brave officer in the Pretender's army at the battle of Culloden, who, after that battle, escaped to America, and settled in St. Mary's County, where he mar- ried. In 1873 Mr. Knott married Miss Regina Keenan, daughter of the late Anthony Keenan, a highly respected citizen of Baltimore. Whilst devoting himself assiduously to the duties of his official position and his profession, Mr. Knou still finds time to engage in literary pur-nit. Ile has delivered several able and eloquent addresses before

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1, Part 58

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