USA > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 63
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 63
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weaving of carpets and coverlets, and such other light work as he was able to perform. During this carly period of his life his opportunities for acquiring an education at school were very meagre and limited. Some years he at. tended school for a few weeks in the winter season; but these brief periods of his life were like angels' visits, few and far between. He continued to assist his father in the manufacture of coverlets and carpets until the time of his death, which was in 1827, when the subject of this sketch was in his seventeenth year. In his eighteenth year, after consulting with his mother, who concluded that it was possible for her to manage without aid from him, he ap- prenticed himself to the millwrighting business for the term of three years. He was to receive as compensation for his services, besides the acquisition of the trade, his boarding and clothing during his apprenticeship, and a suit of clothing of better quality, called a freedom suit, at the expiration of his term of service. In this connection, we mention a circumstance that shows the solid foundation upon which the structure of his life was built, and which displays the kindness of his heart, and the generosity of his nature. Ilis aged mother had become destitute of means and involved in debt. It was an irresistible appeal to his affection, and he agreed with his master to relin- quish his elaim to the freedom suit, upon condition that the estimated price of it should be paid to her. Ile also assumed all the debts that she had been obliged to contract during his apprenticeship, all of which he subsequently paid. lle continued to work at his trade as a journeyman millwright for about two years, his wages being seventy-five eents and one dollar per day. During this time he dis- charged the debts of his mother assumed by him, and at the age of twenty-three years found himself square with the world. About this time he began the business of millwrighting on his own account, and soon had a large quantity of work and employed many hands. For a num- ber of years he was the principal millwright in his section, and proseented his trade in the counties of Cecil, Chester, and New Castle. He also turned his attention to mechani- cal drawing, a knowledge of which was of great me to him in his trade. He continued the business of mill- wrighting for nine years, during which he reaped the benefit of his early training in habits of industry and economy, and amassed a competency, or what in those days was considered a respectable sum for a moderate man. In 1842 Mr. McCullough took an interest in a Small rolling mill on Red Clay Creek, near Stanton, and formed a partnership with the former proprietors of it, Messrs. C. P. & J. Marshall. The partnership between Mr. MeCul- lough and the Messrs. Marshall expired by limitation five years from the time it was formed, and Mr. Cullough purchased the North East Forge property, on his own ac- count, February 2, 1847, and went there to live March 16 of the same year. Just before he removed, however, he and some of the other members of the now Mccullough
Iron Company, formed a partnership under the name and style of Mccullough & Co., and which in 1861 was ineor- porated as the MeCullough Iron Company of Cecil County, under the corporation laws of the State, and afterwards reincorporated by an act of the legislature in February, 1865, as the MeCullough Iron Company. As business grew better, and the means of the firm warranted it, they gradu- ally enlarged and extended their business facilities, and in 1853 purchased the site of the Westamwell Iron Works near Elkton, and erected the Westamwell Mill. which, for a time, was supplied with bar iron from North East. In 1856 the firm purchased the " Stony Chase " tract of land, near North East, adjoining their other property there, and the same year erected the Shannon Mill, which is run by water power, the fall being about thirty-four feet. The machinery in this mill is very massive. The capacity of the works of the firm at North East was increased by the erection of the Shannon Mill, to about eight hundred tons per annum, or double what it was before. In 1857 they purchased, from Mr. Joseph Roman, the Rowlands- ville Mill, near the Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad, and near the junction of that road with the Co- lumbia and Port Deposit road. A track from the former runs into each of them, thus giving the company many advantages for the prosecution of the business, which are unsurpassed by any mills in the State. The capacity for these mills is about sixteen hundred tons of sheet iron per annum. Owing to the increased demand for sheet iron, the company found it necessary to erect a steam mill in 1863, at North East. This mill was erceted especially for the mannfacture of bar iron for the use of the sheet mills at Rowlandsville and Westamwell, the manufacture of bar iron being discontinued at those mills, and the whole power there being used in the manufacture of sheet iron. This company are the sole owners and proprietors of Harvey's patent, and the only one that uses it in the United States, or probably in the world. The introduction of this new feature in their business added much to the demand for their iron, placing it, so far as cleanliness and facility in handling are concerned, upon a level with the best " Russia sheet." About the year 1853, the MeCal- lough Iron Company commenced the manufacture of gal- vanized iron, being the first to introduce this business in the United States. They sent to Europe for a man skilled in this branch of industry, and for a time had exclusive control of it in this market. They had previously obtained a knowledge of the process by their own ingennity and study. This branch of the business is conducted at the American Galvanizing Works, located in Philadelphia, at Washington Avenue and Sixteenth Street, the company owning the square between Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets and Washington Avenue and Ellsworth Street. After the company commenced the manufacture of gal- ยท vanized iron, they found it necessary to erect a forge with six fires, and to use two steam-hammers for the manufac.
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ture of charcoal iron, it being more suitable for galvan- izing purposes than that made with stone coal. They now have two steam-hannners and eighteen forge fires at their works at North East. The present capacity of all the mills of this company in Ceeil County, when run on full time, is about four thousand tons of sheet iron per annum, while their forges have the capacity of about five thousand tons of blooms per annum. When all their works are run on full time, they employ directly and indirectly about three hundred and fifty men, and have about four thousand acres of land in Cecil County, from which they obtain a part of the charcoal they use, but obtain annually from other sources, when business is brisk, many thousand bushels. This company also owns the Minquas Rolling Mill, in Wilmington, Delaware, and Mr. Mccullough and Mr. McDaniel are interested in the Diamond State Rolling Mill, and the Philadelphia Architectural Iron Works. Many of the hands employed by the company have been in its service for a number of years, and the utmost good feeling and friendship exists between them and their em- ployers. Both the employers and the employes seem to recognize the fact that each have rights that. the other should respect, and that their interests are mutual. During his residence in Cecil County his fellow-citizens frequently indicated their appreciation of Mr. Mccullough's char- acter by selecting him for positions of public trust. In politics, an outspoken and uncompromising Unionist, he left nothing undone that was in his power to accomplish in behalf of the Government, and freely lent it three of his sons to aid in the suppression of the Rebellion. In 1855, and again in 1859, he was elected County Commis- sioner. During the troublous times of the war he was elected to the State Legislature, served as a Delegate in the regular session of 1865, and again in the special session of 1866, about which time he moved his family from the county and made his residence permanently in Wilming- ton, Delaware. He was a consistent and devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church from his early man- hood to the time of his death, which occurred in Philadel- phia, Saturday, May 25, 1878, and contributed largely and generously of his means for the erection of churches, and the diffusion and maintenance of the faith which he pro- fessed. lle always was an active friend of temperance reform, contributing freely both money and influence in its behalf, and using every laudable means in his power to induce the employes of the company to refrain from the use of intoxicating drinks. On January 2, 1834, he married Miss Elizabeth Tull, of Cecil County, the issue of the marriage being nine sons and one daughter. Of his sons, three, George, Jethro, and John, have served their country in the army, two of whom, with Enoch, the oldest son now living, manage successfully the mills at Rowlands- ville. The life of Jethro J. McCullough forcibly inculcates the lessons of sobriety and integrity, of generosity and truthfulness. He practiced daily the habits of temperance
that he urged upon others, and consistently illustrated in his own career the sincerity of his professions.
"ILVER, BENJAMIN, the third son of Benjamin and Effie Silver, and one of nine children, was born December 25, 1782, at his father's residence, in Harford County, Maryland. Ilis father was the second son of Gershom and Mellicent Silver, of New Jersey. They emigrated from near Burlington, New Jer- sey, to Harford (then Baltimore) County, Maryland, about 1760, when their son Benjamin was ten years old. Ger- shom was a son of John Silver, who, with two brothers came from England to New York, or New Jersey, the time unknown. When he removed to Maryland he purchased a farm of three hundred acres on the south side of Deer Creek, in Harford County, about two and a half miles from its mouth, on which he lived and raised a family of nine children, six sons and three daughters. He died in 1775, when his son Benjamin became proprietor, and married Effie Smith, daughter of Japheth Smith, also from New Jersey. Ilis elder brother William, entering the Revolu- tionary army, never returned. Benjamin, his third son, the subject of this sketch, was born and spent his early life on the farm above mentioned. His education was such as was acquired at the common schools of that day. Early in life he entered into business for himself. Ilis father having a family of nine children, and possessed of only a small farm, was unable to assist him to any great extent. I le being a young man of enterprise and energy, and living near the Susquehanna, early engaged in fishing in that river, and soon extended it to the head-waters of the Chesa- peake Bay. He became one of the most extensive and successful fishermen of the State. The fish then (herring and shad) being very abundant in the Susquehanna River and tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, as well as in the Potomac River, it was a matter of more moment to know how to care and pack for market in good condition than to catch; the seines had been so lengthened and the equip- ments so improved that the hauls were at times enormous. Ile was also largely engaged in agriculture. Ile had a strong inclination to acquire landed property, and his in- vestments ran in that direction. But the means of improv- ing land at that time were nfeagre ; it was before fertilizers came into use. Ile used fish-pickle from his own and other fisheries, and largely wood-ashes from the cities, which gave fine crops of wheat, corn, clover, etc. . He also grazed cattle extensively. In the war of 1812, when the city of Baltimore was threatened by the approach of the British army under General Ross, he took part in its defence under Colonel William Smith, He gave his children a liberal education, and always took a deep interest in edu cational matters, Ilis time being much occupied with his
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favorite avocations, he never sought nor desired public office, but declined in favor of others. He was appointed Commissioner to disburse the State fund for the education of poor children in this section of the county before the public of common school system was adopted by the State, and served in that capacity for a number of years. Ile married in 1806 Charity Warnock, daughter of Philip War- nock, of Scotch descent, who came to Maryland in 1774 from the north of Ireland. His ancestors fled from Scot- land to Ireland in the time of the persecution. Shortly after his marriage he purchased a farm on Deer Creek, ad- joining his father's, on which he lived till his death in 1847, in his sixty-fifth year, from paralysis, a family disease, his father, mother, brother, and two sisters having died of the . same. Ile had nine children, seven sons and two daugh- ters. Several of his sons engaged in the same business as that of their father's, that of fishing and farming. Mr. Silver was a portly gentleman, of a cheerful, pleasant coun- tenance, and strong voice. Ile enjoyed remarkably good health till near the close of life. In a business point of view he had few, if any, superiors in the county, and he seemed to have an intuitive faculty of reading the char- acter of men even on slight acquaintance. In religion he adhered to the Presbyterian faith, and was from early man- hood a liberal supporter of the Presbyterian Churchville church, being a member thereof in the latter part of his life. This church at that time was under the pastoral charge of the Rev. William Finney, a minister universally esteemed. Ile, in connection with a few others of his neighborhood, erected in 1837, chiefly with their own means, a branch church, known as Deer Creek Harmony Church, for a more convenient house of worship, of which the Rev. William Finney also had charge.
CAFFRAV, GEORGE, was born in Baltimore, January 26, 1836, where he spent his carly youth, attending various schools, until the age of eleven years, when he entered Mount St. Mary's College, Emmettsburg, Maryland. He re- mained four years in that institution, and then entered, in a clerical capacity, a mercantile establishment in Balti- more. Hle served therein, and in another respectable mercantile house, until 1862, when he entered into the Confederate service. Shortly thereafter, in the execution of certain duties for the Confederate government, he was taken prisoner by the Federal forces. He spent some six months in captivity, at the Old Capitol Prison at Wash- ington and at Fort Mellenry, when he was released on parole. Among those who were incarcerated with him were Judge Carmichael and State's Attorney Powell, both of Queen Anne's County. Mr. Me Cathay's health was so much hupaired by his confinement in prison, that it has
never been completely restored. During his service under the Confederate government he had occasion to visit Nassau, West Indies, and whilst on the voyage was ship- wrecked of Cape Hatteras. After the war Mr. Met altray entered into -mercantile business in Baltimore, continu- ing to prosecute the same until i868, when he was ap- pointed by Governor Thomas Swann, Justice of the Peace for Baltimore city, the responsible duties of which posi- tion he has so faithfully and acceptably performed as to cause his retention therein up to the present writing. For two years of the above period he acted as Police Justice of the Northwestern Station in the most satisfactory man- ner. In 1873 Mr. MeCaffray's name was prominently as- sociated with the Democratic nomination for Register of Wills of Baltimore city, and it was generally conceded that he actually had a majority of one in the nominating convention, but by one of those peculiar processes only known in political matters, his opponent was declared the nominee. In 1877, on the death of the then incumbent of the Clerkship of the Superior Court of Baltimore City, a large portion of the Democratic party urged the appoint- ment of Mr. McCaffray to fill the vacancy, on account of his eminent fitness for the position, and his unjust treatment in the nominating convention of 1873. Mr. McCaffray is pleasant and affable to a marked degree, having a kind word for every one. Ile is a consistent and earnest sup- porter of Democratic Conservative principles, and is very popular with his party. In 1866 he married a daughter of Michael Connelly, long and prominently known in Balti- more as a successful teacher.
FARNETT, JAMES MERCER, M.A., LI .. D., Principal of St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, was born April 24, 1840, at Aldie, Loudon County, Vir- ginia, the residence of bis great uncle, General Charles Fenton Mercer. His parents were Theodore S. and Florentina J. ( Morens) Garnett. His mother was the daughter of Francisco Morens, of Pensacola, Florida, Con- sul for Spain at that city ; her eldest sister married Hon. Stephen R. Mallory, formerly United States Senator from Florida, and afterwards Secretary of the Navy of the Con- federate States. The grandfather of Dr. James M. Garnett was James Mercer Garnett, of Elmwood, Essex County, Virginia, who represented his State in the United States Congress, and was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1829. Ilis great-uncle, Robert S. Garnett, father of General Robert S. Garnett, who was killed at Carrick's Ford, West Virginia, in 1861, also represented the State in Congress. His great grandfather, Judge Jamies Mereer, was on the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and was a member of the State Convention of 1776. His great uncle, General Charles Fenton Mercer, represented the Lon.
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don district of Virginia in Congress from 1817 to 1839, was a leading member of the Colonization Society, and was the first president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. General Mercer was the son of Judge James Mercer, of Virginia, and nephew of Governor John Mercer, of Maryland. The father of Dr. Garnett, and his uncle, Charles F. M. Gar- nett, were both civil engineers, the latter having been Chief Engineer of the State of Georgia, of the Virginia and Ten- nessee Railroad, and of the Dom Pedro II Railroad in Brazil, 1856-59. Owing to his father's occupation as civil engineer, Dr. Garnett spent his life as a child in Virginia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina, from which State, at the age of thirteen, in 1853, he entered the Episcopal High School of Virginia, near Alexandria, then under the rectorship of his uncle by marriage, Rev. John P. McGuire. There he remained four years, leaving in 1857 with the first honor of the school, and entering the University of Virginia in the fall of that year. Here he remained two years, graduating in 1859 with the degree of Master of Arts. He taught during the session of 1859-60, and returned to the University in the fall of 1860, to pursue certain studies not embraced in the regular course for the M.A. degree. The disturbances of the country caused the formation of two military com- panies among the students, and as a member of one of these he went to Harper's Ferry, April 17, 1861, the day of the secession of Virginia. The service there was brief, and he entered the Confederate Army regularly July 17, as a private in the Rockbridge Artillery, attached to the brigade of General T. J. (Stonewall) Jackson, stationed near Winchester. Ile participated in the first battle of Manassas, on the 21st of that month. The following No- vember he was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant, and was soon after assigned to duty by General Jackson on his staff as Chief of Ordnance of the Valley District in Virginia. IIe served for several months in this capacity, and later as Ordnance Officer of the Stonewall Brigade, and of the division to which that brigade was attached, taking part in General Jackson's Valley campaign, and was engaged in the seven days' battle around Richmond, the second battle of Manassas, and the battle of Sharpsburg. Ile was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant in June, 1862. In December of that year, having passed the ord- nance examinations, he received the rank of Captain of Artillery for ordnance duty, and was assigned to the charge of the General Reserve Ordnance Train. In this capacity he served through the campaign of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. In February, 1864, he was transferred and assigned to duty as Ordnance Officer of the division com- manded by Major-General R. E. Rodes, and served with that division until the close of the war, surrendering at Appomattox Court-house, April 9, 1865. The following September he commenced teaching at Charlottesville, Vir- ginia, giving instruction at the same time as Licentiate In- structor to private students in the University of Virginia.
In January, 1867, he was appointed Professor of Greek in the State University near Alexandria, Louisiana. This position he resigned the following July, and accepted that of instructor in ancient languages and mathematics in the Episcopal High School of Virginia. Here he remained two years, after which he fulfilled a long-contemplated pur- pose of studying in Germany, to which country he went in July, 1869, and spent the following winter in philological studies at the University of Berlin, and the next summer at that of Leipzig, travelling in Italy during the spring vaca- tion. While in Berlin he also devoted some time to the study of the German school system, frequenting especially the Friedrich-Wilhelm's Gymnasium, under the director- ship of Dr. F. Ranke, brother of the historian, L. von Ranke. After visiting Paris and London, Dr. Garnett re- turned to this country in August, 1870, and the following October was chosen Principal of the St. John's College, Annapolis, which position he still occupies. He also fills the chair of History, and of the English Language and Lit- erature. He has devoted himself chiefly to philological studies, especially to the historical study of the English language. Ile is also greatly interested in all matters re- lating to education, and to school and college organization. He is a member of the American Philological Associa- tion, of the National Educational Association, and the Maryland Teachers' Association. He has contribtued occasional articles to the Educational Journal of Vir- ginia, and to the Maryland School Journal, and is the author of a paper on " University Organization," pub- lished in the Southern Review for July, 1875, and one on " The Study of the Anglo-Saxon Language and Litera- ture," published in the Proceedings of the National Educa- tional Association for 1876. Dr. Garnett is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and is a Democrat in politics. He married, April 19, 1871, Kate H., daughter of Major Burr S. Noland, of Middleburg, Loudon County, Virginia. They have one child, a son, six years of age.
ELSON, HUGH, Physician and Surgeon, was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, October 7, 1842. He is the son of Keating S. and Julia (Rogers) Nelson. His great-great-grandfather, "Scotch Tom," as he was familiarly called, emi- grated from Scotland to America before the middle of the last century, and patented large tracts of land near York- town, Va. Ile had several sons, of whom Thomas Nel- son, Jr., the great-grandfather of Dr. Hugh Nelson, be- came very prominent during the Revolutionary period. Ite warmly expoused the cause of American Independence, and having become very wealthy contributed from seventy- live to one hundred thousand dollars out of his own per- sonal property to assist the colonists in their struggle, Ile also became a general in the Continental army, and com.
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manded the Virginia forces at Yorktown. The British troops got possession of and occupied his house. When his subordinate officers asked him if they should fire on the house and chive them ont, he bade them fire and not mind the house. It was nearly destroyed by the op eration, but the British were driven out of it. He was a member of the Continental Congress from Virginia, and one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. After the war he was Governor of that State. A bronze statue to his memory adorns the Capitol grounds at Rich- mond, in company with those of Patrick Henry, Mason, Jefferson, and other distinguished sons of the " Old Do- minion." Ilis son Hugh Nelson was Judge of the Circuit Court, was afterwards in Congress, and in the United States Senate, and was finally our Minister to Spain. Keat- ing S. Nelson, the father of Dr. Ingh, has devoted him- self to agricultural pursuits, and is a considerable land- owner in Albemarle County, Virgima. His wife is a na- tive of the same county. The subject of our sketch grew up on the farm ; when he was sixteen years of age he at- tended for one year the Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia. The following year he spent at Hampden Sidney College, Prince Edward's County. Dr. Nelson has three uncles who are eminent doctors, and stand at the head of their profession in Virginia, and has also other near relatives who are physicians. The in- herited taste and talent early developed themselves in him ; as soon as he was old enough to think of his future at all, the great ambition of his life became to excel as a medical practitioner. But the civil war broke out and sadly dis- arranged the plans of many young men. He joined the Second Virginia Cavalry, under Colonel Mumford, and served in all the campaigns with that force till the end of the struggle. He was in the seven days' battle before Richmond, the battle of Cedar Mountain, the first and sec- ond battles at Manassas, and was at Gettysburg and Win- chester, the battle of the Wilderness, and at Spottsylvania Court house. On April 19, 1864, Dr. Nelson married Miss Rose Bentley, of Leesburg, Virginia, After the war he removed to Baltimore, supporting himself and family while pursuing his medical studies. After attending two full courses at the Washington University of that city he grad- uated with distinction, receiving the vote of every mem- ber of the faculty, and also passing the examination in pharmacy before the Commissioners appointed by the State of Maryland. He is devoted to his profession. Since his settlement in the city of Baltimore he has been success- fully engaged in the practice of his profession. His wife. died in 1876, leaving him three sons, who are in the care of his father's family in Virginia. Although comparatively young in years, Dr. Nelson is making rapid progress in his chosen calling for his life-work, and is held in high estima- tion by those to whom he gives medical advice, as well as by the community in which he lives. His future can easily be predicted.
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