USA > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 67
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 67
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Ile is the author of a valuable little work entitled The Laws of Verse. In some of his leisure hours he has amused himself with writing poctical pieces, some of which have been published, and possess great merit. He dis- covered the proof of the celebrated theorem of Newton on algebraical equations, which for upwards of a century and a half had remained undemonstrated. He is the joint founder, with Professor Cayley, of Cambridge, England, of what is known as The Modern Algebra, which is as much more general than the old algebra as the old alge- bra is more general than arithmetic; and of which Pro- fessor Sylvester has recently discovered an application to chemical science, which has excited great attention among chemists. Ile is the author of the Theory of Linkage, founded on Peaucellier's remarkable discovery of a method of converting circular into rectilinear motion, a problem of mechanism which had previously been supposed impossi- ble to be effected ; and has invented several new instru- ments which have been exhibited in the recent loan collec- tion at South Kensington Museum and elsewhere in Eng- land, among which may be mentioned the Plagiograph, which, while it magnifies or diminishes like an ordinary pantograph, turns the figure copied round through any de- sired angle ; and a geometrical fan for causing any num- ber of radial bars to open or elose simultaneously through equal angles, which the well-known English optician, Mr. Browning, has proposed to apply to the construction of a cheap form of automatie spectroscope.
RISFIELD, HON. JOHN WOODLAND, Representa- tive in the Thirtieth and the Thirty-seventh Con- gress of the United States, from the First Congres- sional District of Maryland, and one of the most distinguished lawyers of the State, was born in Kent County, Maryland, in iSos. His father was Arthur Cris- field, a farmer and gentleman of great uprightness of character. He was held in the highest esteem by the community in which he lived, and his death in 1825, when the subject of this sketch was in his sixteenth year, caused widespread regret. Mr. Crisfield's mother was Miss Elizabeth Woodland, a lady of more than ordinary abili- ties. She died in 1841. Young Crisfield received his principal education at Washington College, Maryland. In 1828 he commenced the reading of law in the office of his eonsin, and brother-in-law, Henry Page, a gentleman of distinguished legal abilities, and a leading member of the bar in his day. After two years of study Mr. Cristiekl was admitted to the practice of law. After some time spent in travel he located in Indiana, with the view of practicing his profession. He was admitted to the bar of
that State, but was soon called back to Maryland for the settlement of an estate. He concluded to remain in this State, and opened a law office, in 1832, in Princess Anne, Somerset County, where he has continued to reside to the present time. From very early life Mr. Crisfield mani- fested an eager interest in the fortunes of the Whig party. Henry Clay was his ideal of the patriot statesman, and Daniel Webster his mentor as the exponent of the Con- stitution, and the rights of the General Government aris- ing therefrom. Ile became in 1840 an ardent supporter of General Harrison for the Presidency, being at that time editor and proprietor of the Somerset Herald, whose columns display the earnestness and warmth with which he contended for the triumph of his party. In addition to his editorial championship he canvassed his county, de- livering able and eloquent addresses in behalf of Whig principles. In 1847 he was nominated by the Whig party as its candidate for Congress in the First Congressional District of Maryland. His Democratic competitor was Judge Samuel D. Lecompte, of subsequent Kansas noto- riety. Mr. Crisfield was elected and served on the floor of Congress with such distinguished Marylanders as Ligon, McLane, Evans, Chapman, and Roman, as his colleagues. The Mexican war was then in progress, which he opposed, and made a strong speceh, during the session, in favor of citizens carrying their property, of whatever kind, into the Territories. During the session he attended a meeting in Washington, composed of influential politicians, who sought to smother General Taylor as a candidate for the Presidency, his star then beginning to be in the ascendant. Ile was made Secretary of this meeting before its purposes became known to him; opposed its design, and earnestly combated its abettors. In March, 1849, he resumed the practice of his profession, and peremptorily declined a re- election to Congress, not because his interest had grown less for his party or country, but because his circumstances required that he should provide for a growing family. In 1850 he was elected a member of the State Constitutional Convention. During the seven months of its session he participated actively in its transactions. Two questions of great importance to the interests of the State were before that body : first, that of representation, which, prior to that period, was based on geographical lines. The Chesapeake Bay, dividing the counties on either side of it, made a sup- posed diversity of interest. A geographical representation gave each of the counties four representatives, while the city of Baltimore had but two. The other question was the Judiciary. Hitherto the judges had been appointed ; now it was sought to make them elective. Mr. Crisfield opposed ehange, desiring an independent judiciary, but his wishes and efforts failed. Upon the disruption of the Whig party in 1855, when many of its members entered what was styled the American party, Mr. Crisfield found himself detached from any political organization, being unable, conscien- tiously, to join the new one. He ran for the judgeship of his
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district, but was defeated by sixty votes, by the candidate of the American party, which was then sweeping every- thing before it. After this period he voted with the Demo- cratie party, but never affiliated with it, and ever since 1855 has been a man, as he expresses it, " without a party." At the breaking out of the American civil war he was known as a Conservative or Union man, and, believing se- cession to be revolution, threw himself strongly against the action that sought to dismember the government. Whilst absent from home, and not only without solicitation on his part, but even against his wishes, he was nominated by the Union party for the Thirty-seventh Congress. Ile deliv- ered speeches throughout his district in favor of the Union, which were remarkable for their logic, earnestness and power. He was triumphantly elected, and his course in Congress evidenced him a Union Conservative, not antag- onizing slavery, but arraying himself against what he re- garded as the extremists of both sections. His speech on greenbacks as a legal tender occasioned great dissatisfaction with extreme Republicans, but his positions were amply sustained by Judge Chase, in the Supreme Court, after- ward. llis attitude on slavery and other questions, con- cerning the management of the war, were distasteful to the party in power, and though a candidate for the Thirty- eighth Congress, he was not elected. As a lawyer, Mr. Crisfield has been engaged in many of the most important cases on the Eastern Shore. The case of Chelton and Henderson, which made a stir at the bar, and was decided as a leading case by the Court of Appeals, and gained by him, is well known. Among other cases in which he was engaged may be mentioned l'ayne v. Wrightson, a breach of promise suit, costing the defendant one half of his es- tate, by verdict of jury ; case of Lawson and Goodsell, one of riparian rights, and of great importance, involving the rights of all landowners on the tidewater of the State; and that of the Commonwealth against MeCotter, who was hung, the evidence being entirely circumstantial. The able manner in which he has conducted all his cases has given him a reputation among the members of the bar as one of the ablest lawyers in the State. Mr. Crisfield has been largely identified with the public improvements of his por- tion of Maryland. In 1866 he located the town of Cris- field (called after him) on the Chesapeake Bay. The site of it was a marsh, but the town now has a population of two thousand. His means and energy were put forth to build the Eastern Shore Railroad. Ile was President of the company that built it, and was instrumental in making the road a success, though at great peenniary cost to hin- self. Mr. Cristield has been three times married, first to Miss Ellen R., daughter of George Johnson, of Somerset County ; second, to his cousin, Julia Ethielin, daughter of Dr. Henry Page, of Kent County. She was a sister of the celebrated lawyer, Henry Page, of Cambridge, Maryland, and mother of Henry Page, State's Attorney of Somerset County, and who bears the name of his mother's family, by
act of the State Legislature of 1844, by consent of his father and the urgent request of his grandmother, Mrs. Dr. l'age, mother of Henry Page, deceased, of Cambridge. The third marriage was in 1843, to Miss Mary W., daugh- ter of General George Handy, of Somers t County. She is still living.
ISONG, WILLIAM A., Secretary and Treasurer of the Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore, was born April 1, 1819, at Woodsborough, Freder- ick County, Maryland. He was the eldest of twelve children. Ilis father, Isaac Wisong, was of French descent. Ile was a native of Shepherdstown, Virginia. lle had three brothers, Joseph, John, Lewis, and two sisters, Sarah and Margaret. Isaac Wisong was originally a shoemaker in Virginia, but he subsequently removed to Frederick, Maryland, where he went into the drygoods business at that place. Ilis mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Baer. She had three brothers : William, a chem- ist in Baltimore, Dr. Michael, a physician of the same city, and Dr. Jacob, a physician of Frederick. William A. re -. ceived his early education at an academy, such as that period afforded where he lived. At an carly age, 1832, he came to Baltimore with his uncle, William Baer, and en- tered the drug store of Mr. P. S. Chappel, in whose estab- lishment he served for several years. Ile then formed a copartnership with Mr. Kettlewell, and under the firm name of Wisong & Kettlewell conducted the drug busi- ness for a brief period. Hle next engaged in the glass busi- ness, connecting with it daguerreotype and artists' materials, in which he continued with success for some years. Hle dis- posed of this business to William King & Bro. Mr. Wisong then entered the Internal Revenue service, in which he was very successfully employed for about nine years. At the close of that term he accepted the responsible positions of Secretary and Treasurer of the Safe Deposit and Trust Company, which he has most acceptably filled for the last six years, and in which he still continues. This company was originally chartered by the General Assembly of Mary- land in 1864, under the title of the Safe Deposit Company of Baltimore, but at the January session in 1876, the act of incorporation was amended and the name changed to the Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore. It is au- thorized by its charter to take charge of and execute trusts, to act as executor, administrator, assignce, guardian of minor children, and in other fiduciary capacities. The exceutive ability and integrity of Mr. Wisong fully qualify him for his position and entitle him to the entire confidence of his fellow-citizens. The President, Vice President, and Board of Directors, together with himself, are among the ablest and best known business men of Baltimore. Mr.
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Wisong, in connection with J. Dean Smith, President of the Young Men's Christian Association, called the first public meeting in reference to the formation of a Children's Aid Society of Baltimore, which was subsequently founded September 18, 1800. It was first intended for females only, but its benefits have since been extended to the other sex. The resolution to establish such a society set forth as the object, " To provide homes for poor, neglected, and abandoned children as have no homes, and as are being raised in vice and crime." This resolution received the indorsement of llon. Thomas Swann, Mayor, Charles Iloward, President Board of Police Commissioners, George P. Kane, Marshal of Police, and flon. Hugh L. Bond, Judge of Criminal Court. The society was subsequently endowed by Henry Watson, Esq., and was named in his honor. It has four separate departments, namely : The children's department, the girls' home department, sewing machine department, and the department for instruction in cutting and fitting garments. It is now in its eighteenth year, and has met with deserved success. Mr. Wisong is its Corresponding Secretary. Ile has the credit of being the originator, also, of the Prisoner's Aid Society, in which he takes a deep interest. Governor Bradford appointed him to visit prisons in other cities, in which he collected much valuable information. Ile is neither a politician nor a member of any secret society. He is a member of the Third English Lutheran Church, and has been Superin- tendent of its Sunday-school for thirty-five years. He is also Superintendent of a Sunday-school in the Maryland Penitentiary, numbering about five hundred, which school he organized over seventeen years ago, and has continued its Superintendent ever since. In his religion as in his daily business he is faithful in all things, making the word of God his rule of action and conforming his life to its teachings. He is extremely modest ; and though frequently called upon to address public Sunday-school meetings for- bids the publication of his name as one of the speakers. He married Miss Caroline W. Munder, by whom he had six children, not one of whom lives to bless his household.
ITTS, HON. HILARY ROBERT, President of Wi- comico and Pocomoke Railroad, was born in Ber- lin, Worcester County, Maryland. His ancestors were English, who early settled on the Peninsula. 322 Ilis father is Dr. john R. Pitts. His mother, Miss Julia Mitchell, was a daughter of Colonel Mitchell, of Work cester County, who served in the Revolutionary war. His parents were married in 1814, and settled near the town of Berlin. Ililary was the oldest of four children, and began going to school in the country at the age of eight
years, and continued to attend principally in the winter. At the age of fourteen he commenced attending Bucking- ham Academy, then under the direction of Rev. Alexander Campbell, a Presbyterian mmi ter. In his eighteenth year he began the study of medicine under his father, who had an extensive and laborious practice. After attending three courses of lectures in Jefferson Medical College, Philadel- phia, he graduated in 1838, and immediately entered upon the practice of his profession in connection with his father, which continued until 1850, when his father retired, leav- ing the office and practice to his son. In 1868 Dr. Hilary Pitts was elected President of the Wicomico and Poco- moke Railroad ; its duties requiring all his time, he re- linquished his profession, to which he had devoted thirty years. He was elected to the State Senate in 1856, and served in the session of 1856-7. He served also in the Ilouse of Delegates in 1867, having been elected by the Democratic party, with which he has always affiliated. The doctor has travelled extensively through that portion of the United States which lies east of the Rocky Moun- tains. He has been a Masou since 1845, and is now (1879) a member and Treasurer of Evergreen Lodge, No. 153. Ile has been married three times ; first, to Miss Mary Wil- liams, daughter of John J. Williams, Esq. ; next, to Miss Rebecca A. Bowen. Ilis last wife was formerly Miss Mary Ann Collins. All the parties of these several mar- riages being of Worcester County, Maryland. Ile has five children living, of whom Dr. John J. W. Pitts is engaged in the practice of medicine in Berlin, Maryland. The founding and building up of Ocean City on the Atlantic coast, about seven miles from Berlin, has been one of the chief labors of the doctor's life. This famous resort has five large hotels, some of them erected at the cost of sev- eral thousand dollars. It is claimed that the beach there is the best on the coast, having no dangerous undertow. The thousands who have received so much pleasure at Ocean Grove, or regained health, are mainly indebted for this pleasure and profit to the foresight, energy, and per- severance of Dr. Hilary Pitts.
MOUNCELL, WILLIAM HENRY, was born near Wye Mills, in Talbot County, August 26, 1830. Ilis parents, Richard Tubman and Anna Maria Coun- 2 cell, were of the Roman Catholic faith. His father died when he was but seven years of age, and his mother when he was only eleven. Their Christian exam- ple made an impression on his mind that has influenced him throughout his life. He was left by their death with people of little cultivation ; no pains were taken to send him regularly to school, and he grew up with a very lini- ited education. At tilteen, awaking to a full realization of
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Nis orphaned and friendless condition, and the necessity of making his own way in life, he apprenticed himself to Alexander Graham, Editor of the Easton Gasette, to learn the printing business. The six years of his indenture he served out with such diligence and earnestness, that all the scenlar days he lost from business in that time, from sick- ness or any other cause, amounted to less than a week. It was to him also an education, and supplied the deficien- cies of his earlier years. On reaching his majority he worked four years as a journeyman, and in 1857 purchased the paper on which "he had been all this time employed, and commenced business for himself on a borrowed capi- tal of about four thousand dollars. Resolved to liquidate this debt as speedily as possible, he worked day and night, late and early, alternately setting type and editing his paper, until the obligation was fulfilled. Many years ago, he became connected with the Methodist Protestant Church, of which he is still an active and consistent mem- ber, and to which he is warmly attached. Mr. Councell was in his youth a Democrat, but at an early age embraced the principles of the Whig party, and voted for General ' Winfield Scott for l'resident. At the beginning of the dis- turbances in 1861, he took a decided stand for the Union, and has ever remained a firm and enthusiastic Republican. In 1865 he was appointed Postmaster of Easton by Presi- dent Lincoln, in which office he was continued through the achministration of Andrew Johnson, and through both terms of President Grant. In 1877 he was again appointed by President Hayes. In all these appointments the only op- position he received was at the first one, and he has re- tained the fullest confidence of the government.
IERY, HONORABLE NATHANIEL, Member of the House of Delegates, was the son of Joseph and Catharine. (Schner) Fiery, born at Hagerstown, Maryland, October 23, 1843. His father and grand- father owned large property in land and slaves, and were men of wide influence. Their ancestors were among the carly settlers of the State. The maternal ancestors of Mr. Fiery came from Pennsylvania to Maryland many years ago. Both families were of German extraction. He was educated at Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated, B. A., in 1864, intending to prepare for the Christian ministry in the Lutheran Church, but his father purchased a large milling property, which, added to his farm, made his duties so onerous that Nathaniel was called home to assist him. The result was that he be- came interested in his new vocation, gradually lost sight of his original purpose, and became a merchant miller, entering into business on his own account in 1867, and continuing it to the present time. He was never ambitious of political preferment, but accepted the nomination of
his party in Washington County, in the autumn of 1877, as candidate for the popular branch of the Legislature, the canvass resulting in his election, he being one of the three Democrats elected in his county. All the other successful candidates were Republicans. He has been appointed on several committees, and is an active and useful member of the House. Ile was married in 1869 to Miss Mary A. Spielman, of his native county, and has four children, Edgar, Max Joseph, Lela, and Mary. Ile and his wife are members of the Lutheran Church, and active in religious and benevolent work. Like his father, he has always been identified with the Democratic party.
@ mmer EEVERS, WILLIAM RUSH, was born March 29, 1815, in Frederick County, Virginia. His paternal grandfather came from Germany. There is a tra- dition in the family that his ancestors descended from the French Huguenots who emigrated to Ger- many during the persecutions in France. Ilis father, Henry Seevers, a native of Pennsylvania, moved to Vir- ginia in early youth. His mother, Hannah Grapes, was a native of Virginia. The former was nearly ninety years of age at the time of his death. The latter died at about seventy-one years of age. They had eleven sons and one daughter. Four of the sons and the daughter are still living. The second son, James Seevers, is in his eighty-seventh year. William R. Seevers, the youngest son of Ilenry Seevers, received his early education near the place of his birth, where he studied the common English branches, Latin and mathematics. After leaving school, and assisting his father for a few years on the farm, he at the age of sixteen became clerk in a country store for about two years. In his eighteenth year he became Deputy Sheriff of Frederick County, and then of Clark County, and continued in the discharge of the duties of his office for about eight years. .At this time also he was one of the Directors of the branch of the Farmers' Bank of Virginia at Winchester. In 1846 he began the mercantile business on his own account, at Summits Point, Jefferson County, Virginia. He was also Postmaster of that place for about five years. Here he continued until 1851, when he removed to Baltimore and engaged in the cotton brokerage business with his brother, A. F. Seevers, and subsequently in the cotton commission business, in which he continued until 1867. Ile then, in partnership with Mr. George F. Anderson, bought the Paragon Flour Mills, which he and Mr. Anderson have ever since carried on. They have sold as high as four hundred thousand dollars worth of flour and other prod- ucts of the mill in one year. Their flour is considered equal, if not superior to any manufactured in the State. Though not a partisan, Mr. Seevers has always been firm in his political views, siding with the Democratic party.
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He married Miss Emily E., daughter of Mr. Roger Hum- phreys, of Jefferson County, Virginia. Her mother was a Miss Wager, a niece of Robert Harper, who was the first settler of Harper's Ferry, and from whom that place took its name. They have four daughters living. Mr. Seevers has gathered together a good library of useful and standard works, which he has thoroughly read and digested. He is strictly a self-made man. Beginning life without any capital he accumulated enough to begin the mercantile business, and by industry, perseverance, and strict integrity has greatly added to his means. He has not only gained a competency, but has gained it with the confidence and good will of his fellow-merchants. By them he is looked upon as a successful and reliable business man, and.a use- ful and estimable citizen.
FRIEZE, JOHN THOMPSON, Merchant and first Mayor elect of the city of Havre de Grace. Is of German- Irish extraction. His paternal grandfather, Simni Frieze, emigrated from Germany and settled in Mary- land. He married a Miss Reese. Their children were Noah and Jesse. Jesse having been accidentally killed at Delaware City, Noah was left the only surviving representative of the family. His maternal grandfather, George Thompson, a Protestant, emigrated to this country from Ireland and settled in Cecil County, Maryland. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Ilugh and Margaret Lyon, of Cecil County. His father, Noah Frieze, married Rebecca Thompson. Their children were Jesse, David Clinton, and John Thompson Frieze. Jesse and David Clinton died in childhood, leaving John Thompson, the subject of this sketch, the only surviving child. He was born in Port Deposit, Cecil County, Maryland, August 15, 1826. Both of his parents died before he was thirteen years of age, without leaving any means for his support and education. Ile was then taken into the home of his uncle, John J. Thompson, a stonecutter by trade, in Port De- posit. His uncle had a family dependent on his daily labor for his support, and the addition of young Frieze was a prospective burden which he felt illy able to bear. But he cheerfully undertook the care of the homeless boy. Not feeling able to send him to school, his early education was very limited. By his industry and thrift young Frieze man- aged through the summer to earn and save money enough to enable him to attend, during one winter, the academy at Port Deposit, then under the charge of John H. Brakely, A.M., Principal. He realized the importance of improving his opportunities, studied hard and made rapid progress. Ilis intelligence and energy and the character he sustained for morals and good conduct prompted Messrs. George W. Kidd & Co., merchants, to offer him a situation as clerk in their store at that part of Port Deposit known as Rock
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