USA > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 66
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 66
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ENSON, JAMES, was born in St. Michael's, Talbot County, Maryland, July 18, ists. His father, Charles Benson, was a merchant, and descended from one of the oldest families of that county. Ile was born in 1790, and died in 1864. He married Rachel, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Esgate, also of an old family of that county. She died in 1842, in her fifty-sixth year. She joined the Methodist Episcopal Church when only five years of age, and for fifty years was a devoted member of that communion. Her son James united with the same church in his fourteenth year, and attributes to that step the success and happiness of his life. He attended school from his sixth to his sixteenth year, assisting in his father's store when not engaged in his studies. From the age of seventeen until he obtained his majority, he served as an apprentice to his uncle, Robert Benson, shoe dealer in Baltimore, remaining with him six months afterward, when he returned home and conducted the shoe business as a branch of his father's store, until March, 1841. Hle then removed to St. Michael's and commenced business for himself. He was succeeding well when in November, 1843, he lost all his property by fire. To rally from this disaster was the hard struggle of his life, but he succeeded and continued in business until November, 1856, when his health suffering from the con- finement of his store, he purchased a small farm, called " Elberton," two miles from St. Michael's, to which he removed. Ilere his health improved, and he added to the employments of the farm the business of General Agent and Collector for St. Michael's. In 1867 he purchased the estate known as " Maiden Point," and resided there until December, 1875, when he returned to the town of St. Michael's. He still continues the same business, Ilis agency includes land sales, fertilizers, insurance and gen- cral claim collection. He was Collector of State and County Taxes for Talbot County for the years 1862 and 1863, and for election districts numbers three and five, for three years afterward. Mr. Benson has been con- spienous all his life in the Methodist Episcopal Church, having held every lay office, and is now Recording Steward of St. Michael's charge. He has been largely instrumental in the building of their beautiful new church, which is an ornament to the town. He was married, in November, 1841, to Elizabeth, daughter of Edward and Elizabeth Harrison, of Talbot County. Her father was formerly a large shipbuilder of Baltimore city. She became the mother of fourteen children, only four of whom are now living. Losing his wife in February, 1861, Mr. Benson was again married, to Mary Anna, daughter of Perry Benson, of Royal Oak, Talbot County. By this union he has one child. Mr. Benson has been a remarkably useful man, filling every position in life to which Providence assigned him ; whether as a church member, a citizen of the community in which he lives, or as the head of a large and interesting .. ,mily, with credit to himself and with benefit to others.
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HELPS, HON. CHARLES E., Lawyer, was born in Guilford, Vermont, May 1, 1833. His father, llon. John Phelps, was a lawyer of reputation in that State. His mother, Mrs. Almira Lincoln Phelps, is the author of a series of clementary treatises on botany, chemistry, natural philosophy, and geology, which have been for many years widely used as textbooks, over one million copies of the various edi- tions having been sold. Her reputation as an authoress, and also as a practical and successful educator, attracted the attention of the Trustees of the Patapsco Female Institute, of which llon. Thomas B. Dorsey, Chief Justice of Maryland, was President, and upon their invitation, seconded by the Right Rev. Bishop Whittingham, Mr. and Mrs. Phelps removed to Ellicott's Mills in 1841, and as- sumed charge of that establishment, which soon became an assured success. Hon. Charles E. Phelps is a de- scendant in the eighth generation from William l'helps, who emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1630. On his mother's side, he is descended from Thomas Hooker, known as the "founder of the Connecticut colony," and from Samuel llart, one of the colonial champions of religions liberty in opposition to the intoler- ant code known as the " Blue Laws." Becoming a resi- dent of Maryland in his early childhood, he attended the Rock Hill Academy, and in 1844 a private school in Bal- timore, becoming an inmate of the family of Professor N. R. Smith. He afterwards passed four years at St. Timo- thy's Ilall, under the care of Rev. L. Van Bokkelen, and graduated at Princeton College in 1852. Ilis legal studies he pursued at the law school at Cambridge, and in the office of Robert J. Brent. After spending some time in foreign travel, he commenced the practice of his profession in Howard County and in the city of Baltimore, removing thither in 1856. The political situation was at that time disturbed by the disorders which had begun to characterize the local rule of the so-called Know-Nothing organization, To suppress the disturbances which grew out of it, the " Maryland Guard" was called into existence, of which Mr. Phelps was one of the originators, Captain of a com- pany, and afterwards Major. He was not altogether un- prepared for these duties, St. Timothy's Hall having been something of a military school, and he had imbibed strong military tastes in very early life from a residence of several months within the walls of Fortress Monroe, while on a visit to an elder brother, an officer of artillery. In the municipal election of October, 1860, the Reform party nominated the Ilon. George William Brown for Mayor, and among their candidates for the City Council, presented the name of Mr. Phelps for the First Branch from the Twelfth Ward. This party had the gratification of seeing all their candidates elected over their Know- Nothing op -! ponents by large majorities. The Reformers carried every ward in the city, and ninety-six precincts out of one hun- dred, making the revolution complete. As chairman of
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the Committee on Police, Mr. Phelps presented an elaborate report on the relations of the city to the State, as affected by the legislation organizing a State police ; recommending such revision of the city ordinances as were required, and calling attention to some of the powers vested in the Board of Police Commissioners, which seemed liable to future partisan abuse, with a suggestion of remedies. The sectional difficulties shortly after culminating in civil war, no action was taken on this report. On the memorable 19th of April, Mr. Phelps was Major in the Maryland Guard, which was assembling at its armory, surrounded by an excited multitude. Ile found a large majority of its members either in full sympathy with the prevalent spirit of hostility to the Federal troops, or passively yielding to it; and a very small minority endeavoring, like himself, vainly to stem the current. The orders that at length came from the civil authorities, were such as were ap- plauded by the crowd, and were entirely satisfactory to the majority of the men. Mr. Phelps declined to obey, and withdrew, forwarding immediately a formal resignation of his commission. Ile was urged to reconsider his deter- mination, and was offered the command of a detachment to assist in burning the railroad bridges. Receiving in- telligence from an official quarter, which, however, proved incorrect, that a Confederate force from Harper's Ferry would be in the city on the next day, he left with his family on the morning of the 20th for Philadelphia, where he remained till the attitude of resistance was abandoned. In Angust, 1862, he accepted the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the Seventh Maryland Volunteers, a new regiment of in- fantry raised and commanded by Hon. Edwin 11. Webster, then a member of the House of Representatives. In November, 1863, on his re-election to Congress, Colonel Webster resigned, and Colonel Phelps was commissioned and succeeded to the command. The First, Fourth, Sev- enth, and Eighth Maryland Regiments were brigaded to- gether, and the Maryland Brigade was constantly in active service. On the first day of the battle of the " Wilder- ness," Colonel Phelps had a horse shot under him. At Spottsylvania Court-house, May 8, 1864, he succeeded to ? the command of the brigade, after the fall of Colonel Denison, severely wounded. The fall of General Robin- son, also severely wounded, placed him in command of the division, or its remnant, while in the act of charging a line of breastworks on Laurel Ilill. The assault was repulsed with heavy loss, and Colonel Phelps, while leading the column, had his horse killed under him, was wounded and taken prisoner. For his " gallant conduct " in this action, he was subsequently commissioned Brevet Brigadier Gen- eral. The day after being captured, while on the road to Richmond under a guard of the enemy's cavalry with over three hundred prisoners, the party was overtaken near Beaver Dam Station by General Custer's brigade, and a brief skirmish resulted in the rescue of the prisoner», and the capture or dispersion of their guard. Colonel
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Phelps being severely wounded, suffered excessively for want of proper attention during the ten days which fol- lowed of rapid marching and frequent fighting. The wounded far exceeded the means of transportation, and many were left behind. In his efforts to keep with the command, Colonel Phelps overstrained his powers of en- durance, and after reaching Bottom Bridge, was unable to procced further. Ilearing of this, General Sheridan kindly took him in charge, placing his own travelling wagon at his disposal for the residue of the march. He was in Baltimore an invalid when that city was in immi- nent danger of capture after the defcat of General Wal- lace at Monocacy in July, 1864, and volunteering his ser- vices to Major-General Ord to assist in the defence, he served on his staff till the invasion was repelled. Ilonor- ably discharged from the service in September, 1864, on account of disability from his wound, aggravated by sub- sequent exposure, Colonel Phelps was nominated, by ac- clamation, in the Congressional District Convention of the Union party, which met shortly after in Baltimore, to suc- ceed Hon, Henry Winter Davis in the Thirty-ninth Con- gress. Ile accepted the nomination in a speech defining his position as " radical in war and conservative in peace." In that Congress he served on the Committees on Naval Affairs, and on the Militia. He opposed by speech and vote the radical measures and policy of reconstruction, and ad- vocated the restoration of the Southern States without further condition than the abolition of slavery, but voted, under the modified shape which it finally assumed, for the Amendment known as Article XIV. He also strongly op- posed his veteran colleague, Governor Frank Thomas, in the measures he sought to introduce looking to the restor- ation, by Congressional enactment, of the Republican supremacy in Maryland. As a representative from Mary- land, and a member of the Committee on Naval Affairs of the Thirty-ninth Congress, the duty devolved on Mr. Phelps of sustaining the claims of the city of Annapolis as the permanent site of the Naval Academy, which dur- ing the war had been temporarily removed to Newport, Rhode Island. His efforts, both in committee and in the House, were actively devoted to demonstrating the unri- valled advantages of Annapolis, and were largely instru- mental in securing the appropriations for the erection of new buildings there for the use of the Academy, which practically settled the question. In 1866 Mr. Phelps was nominated to the Fortieth Congress by the Conservatives, and elected after a struggle of great bitterness, out of which emerged the Democratic Conservative party, a name which has ever since been retained. His election, though secured by a large majority, was formally contested by his radical opponent, who, however, finally withdrew. In February, 1867, he was offered an executive appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, to fill the place of Judge Cochran, deceased, but the contest for his seat in the House of Representatives being then pending and ac-
tively pressed, this appointment was declined. In the Fortieth Congress he was placed upon the Committee of Appropriations. In Congress he pursued an independent course, voting with the Democratic minority upon political questions, such as reconstruction and impeachment, and with the Republican majority upon questions of finance and the public credit. Declining to embark in a contest for a renomination, Mr. Phelps, after a service of four years in Congress, returned to the active practice of his profession, in partnership with John V. L. Findlay, with whom he is still associated. In 1872 he was appointed by Governor Whyte, State Manager of the House of Refor- mation for Colored Children, in Prince George's County, to which position he has been reappointed by each suc- ceeding Governor. Hle took no part in the so-called Re- form campaign of 1875, but after the election made a speech at the Maryland Institute to an immense mass meeting, presided over by Professor N. R. Smith, which was received with great eclat, and elicited the warmest congratulations of his friends. On July 4, 1876, by the invitation of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, he delivered the Centennial oration at Druid Hill Park. In October of the same year, he delivered the address before the Agricultural and Mechanical Society of Harford County, at their annual exhibition at Bel Air. General Phelps has served for several years as a member of the Board of Public School Commissioners of Baltimore, and for a portion of the time as President of the Board. He has also served at a number of Diocesan Conventions of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Maryland, as a lay delegate. Since 1856 he has been a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, attending occasionally its annual meetings, at one of which, held in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1872, he read a paper upon the " Application of the Mechanical Philosophy of Heat to Cosmical Motion." Upon the breaking out of the riot in Baltimore in July, 1877, caused by the attack of the mob on the Maryland Guard, while marching against the rail- road strikers, it was decided by Governor Carroll to raise two new regiments of infantry for thirty days' service, the command of one of which was offered to General Phelps. Hle at once commenced recruiting the Eighth Regiment Maryland Guard, and the next day went into camp with four companies, two more being soon after added, when further recruiting was stopped. Shortly before the expir- ation of the term of enlistment, the newly raised regi- ments were paid off and mustered out. General Phelps was married, in 1868, to Martha, daughter of William Woodward, one of the oldest and best-known merchants in Baltimore. General Phelps was an able and popular com- mander, a thorough disciplinarian, and in action exhibited great coolness and bravery. As an orator, he is impas- sioned, cogent, and remarkably effective. A thorough student of the law, he masters his cases and presents them before the court and the jury with remarkable effect and success.
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- ACKUS, REVEREND JOHN C., D. D., was born in Albany, New York, in 1811. At an early age he was sent to the New York University. Leaving there he entered Harvard, where he graduated in 1831. Accepting theology as a profession he became a student at Princeton, where he remained three years, In 1835 he became a licentiate, and in December of that year was called to New Orleans. En route he stopped at Baltimore, where, owing to the death of Mr. Nevins, the pulpit of the First Presbyterian Church, which the deceased had long and acceptably filled, was vacant. An invitation to preach was extended to Mr. Backus, and was accepted. He produced such a favorable impression as to result in his election in 1836 to officiate as the permanent pastor. He was installed as such on September 15 of that year. The First Church structure was then located on the site occupied now by the United States Court-house, corner of North and Fayette streets. The last services held therein were in 1860, and the final one of them was made the occasion of an interesting historical discourse upon the origin and progress of Presbyterianism in Baltimore, and its early church structures, delivered by Mr. Backus. In 1861 Doctor Backus was made Moderator of the Assembly. In 1875 he requested permission to resign the charge, which request was granted, so far as to release him from the duties and responsibilities of his office, on condition, however, that his future relations to the church would be that of Pastor Emeritus. Doctor Backus is liberal in his religious views. In person he is tall, slender, and erect, and presents a strikingly clerical appearance.
6 BAGNER, PETER, was born in Philadelphia, October 1, 1772, and died at Washington, July 16, 1850. Hle was appointed a clerk in the Treasury by General Washington in 1793, and Third Auditor by President Monroe, upon the creation of that office in 1817. He served under every administration for fifty-six years, with high approbation and esteem, resigning his office to General Taylor in 1849. Congress repeatedly devolved on him the settlement of large and important claims, and twice by direct vote expressed its appreciation of his valuable services. The office of Third Auditor, be- fore the institution of the present Court of Claims, became at one time so prominent from the calls made upon its chief by Congress, that John Randolph of Roanoke once, pausing in debate for an apt phrase to express his sense of the influence of the Emperor Nicholas in the affairs of Eu- rope, styled him the great Third Auditor of Nations. In the Union of October 24, 1844, its editor, the late Thomas Ritchie, commenting upon the retirement of Mr. Ilagner, said : " No government could ever boast of a more able,
honest and efficient officer. He has been the model of what a public servant should be; no higher compliment can be paid to a publie officer than to say of him, ' He is as virtuous as Peter Hagner.' "
BOLTON, HION, GEORGE, State Printer and Editor and Proprietor of the Maryland Republican, was born in Portsmouth, England, October 31, 1817. Ìlis father, John Colton, was a native of the same place, while his mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Moore, was born in Little Hampton. ITis father was a soldier in the British Army, and was one of the number who stood for the draft to go to the battle of Waterloo, but fortunately was not drawn, Having been honorably discharged from the service, he emigrated to the United States in 1819, settling in Leonardtown, St, Mary's County, Maryland, where he died at the age of fifty-two, and his wife at the age of forty-three. They had a family of eleven children, eight of whom, Elizabeth, William, Richard, George, Ann, Joseph, Mary, and John, grew to maturity. Only George and John now survive. The former was left an orphan when about twelve years of age, and enjoyed few opportunities of education. En- tirely dependent on his own resources, he apprenticed him- self when fourteen to a tailor and served six years. Dur- ing that time he devoted all his spare moments to reading and study, and pursued this course through many years, till he was not only well acquainted with books but also with public affairs, Having mastered his trade he at once started in business for himself, and successfully prosecuted it for several years in Leonardtown, and afterwards in West River. But his mind was too active for the confine- ment of the shop, and he finally opened a store for gene- ral mercantile business, which was very successful, till in 1847 he had the misfortune to lose all his hard earnings by fire, Ile then went to Baltimore, and compounding with his creditors for sixty cents on the dollar obtained receipts in full, but promised to pay the balance if he was ever able. Fourteen years later he paid the remaining forty cents with full interest for the whole time, an act which speaks with more force for his integrity and honor than volumes of praise. During the administration of Presi- dent Polk Mr. Colton was Postmaster at West River, and in 1852 received an appointment to a position in one of the State Tobacco Warehouses in Baltimore, which he held for nearly seven years. During that time he became well and favorably acquainted with the leading men of the State, and this acquaintance, and the regard in which he is held among them, has ever since given him great influ- ence in political councils. In January, 1860, he was ap- pointed Purveyor of the Baltimore City and County Alins.
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house, before the division was made. In 1865 he pur- chased the Maryland Republican, published at Annapolis, one of the oldest newspapers in the State, having first been issued in 1809. This introduced him to the most congenial employment of his life, he having always had a fondness for literatme and been a constant contributor to the press for many years. Entering upon the task with enthusiasm, and continuing it with untiring zeal, his en- terprise and ability have made this one of the most influ- ential weekly newspapers in the State. Mr. Colton had for many years been very prominent in politics, and at the close of the war was one of the recognized leaders of the Democratic party in Maryland, Untiring in his activity, his influence was widely felt. His keen intellect, the ex- tent of his information, his quickness of thought and sng- gestion in every emergency, his native force of character, and ability to carry the party counsel to a successful issue, made him a power not only in his own organization but in the State. From 1868 to 1874 he was a Representative in the General Assembly from the Nineteenth Ward of Bal- timore, and to no man was the legislation of that period more indebted. For the last ten years he has been either directly or indirectly, the printer to the State, a position he has filled with general acceptance. He is also a Director in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, besides holding seve- ral minor offices. Among the last it may be mentioned that he was a Visitor to the Industrial School for Orphan Girls, and a Trustee of the Bay View Asylum. Ile has several times been a member of the City Democratic Con- vention, and is one of the leaders in all the party councils. Though so active in politics, Mr. Colton has found time to interest himself greatly in agriculture, and his fine farm containing one hundred and fifty acres near Jessup's Cut, in Howard County, is under a high state of cultivation. Ilis blooded stock is unsurpassed in the State, while his great variety of fowls and their superiority make his collec- tion one of the finest in the United States. At the Mary- land Fair in 1878 he received, on his different varieties, over fifty first premiums. Mr. Colton was married, Septem- ber 27, 1842, to Miss Lydia Jane Hamilton, a lady of rare excellence. They have had tive children, the eldest, Wes- ley Hamilton Colton, is one of the officers in the Criminal Court of Baltimore. Luther F. Colton is one of the pro- prictors of the Maryland Hotel at Annapolis. The eldest daughter, Hannah Moore, married Charles A. Wailes, State Commissioner of Insurance, and died in 1873, at the age of twenty-five. She was a lady of remarkable beauty and loveliness of character. Her husband followed her in 1876. They left two children, Elizabeth Leonard, and Mary Hamilton Wailes. The fourth child of Mr. Colton is Carrie Lee, who is at home with her parents; their youngest, George, Jr., died in early childhood Mr. Col- ton is now a gentleman of sixty years of age, but with such excellent health, freshness of countenance, and vivacity of manner and expression as to appear less than fifty. He
is of medium height, has a massive forehead and clear penetrating eyes. He is exceedingly pleasant and genial. A thoroughly self-made man, he owes his great success in life and long-continued prominence in political affairs solely to his native genius, and to his abilities as a leader.
SYLVESTER, J. J., LL.D., F.R.S., was born in London, September 3, 1814. Ile was chiefly edu- cated in St. John's College, Cambridge, England, passing his examination at the University as second wrangler in 1837. For several years he pursued the study of law, intending to devote his life to the legal pro- fession, for which he had peculiar fitness. He was for several years Professor of Mathematics in University Col- lege, at that time styled the University of London; for fifteen years the Professor of Mathematics, at the head of a numerous staff, in the Royal Military Academy of Wool- wich, For a short time, when a very young man, he held the same position in the University of Virginia, United States. For some time he was Mathematical Adviser to certain Assurance and Reversionary Companies in London, and for several years after quitting the Royal Military Academy, was Examiner to the University of London, Hle has received the honorary degree of I.L .. D. from the Universities of Dublin and Edinburgh; has been Fellow of the Royal Society of London for forty years; Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and in 1854 was one of the nine annually elected by the committee of the Athenaeum Club, London. Hle received from the Royal Society of London the gold medal for his mathe- matical researches. He is a corresponding or foreign member of the Institute of France, of the Royal Acade- mies of Sciences of Berlin and Gottingen, the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, the Royal Acad- emy of Sciences of Naples, and other learned societies of England, France, Italy, and America. For over twenty years he has been editor of the Quarterly Journal of Mathematics, published in Cambridge, England, He was one of the original founders of the Mathematical Society of London, in which he held the office of president next in succession to the late Professor De Morgan, a position now filled by the eminent Physicist and Mathematician, Lord Rayleigh. Ile is at present editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Mathematics, published under the auspices of the Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore ; author of various works on Mathematics and Mechanics, embracing from one to two hundred memoirs published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of London, the Philosophical Magazine, Crelle's Journal, the Transac- tions of the Institute of France, the London and Dublin Mathematical Journal, the Quarterly Journal of Math- ematics, and other English, French and Italian journals.
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