USA > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 69
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 69
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YSON, HON. II. II., Member of the House of Delegates, was born in Philadelphia, l'ennsyl- vania, December 6, 1845. lle is the only son of Joseph W. and M. Louisa (Ilewlings) Tyson. His father was a lawyer and a man of great prominence, holding in the course of his life many important positions.
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Ile was for several terms a Representative in the Penn- sylvania Legislature, was Commissary-General, also Assist- ant Postmaster-General under President Tyler. He was at the head of his profession, and declined further office because he could not afford it. He removed to Howard County, Maryland, about 1848. Mr. Tyson was educated at St. Timothy's Hall, a classical school near Baltimore, till he was fifteen years old. Before he was sixteen he left home and joined the Confederate Navy ; going to Rich- mond he was appointed Acting Midshipman by President Davis, and entered the service on the Potomac, first on the steamer Richmond, whose former name was George Page. He remained on this steamer till the army evacuated the line of the Potomac, and was her Captain for some weeks before she was destroyed to prevent her capture. He then went to Mobile and served on the steamer Morgan for two years, and returned to the James River in the fall of 1864 to be examined for promotion. He spent the winter on . the school ship, and in the spring and summer of 1865 was on the James River as Past Midshipman on the ironclad Richmond. He remained on the ironclad till she was de- stroyed at the time of the evacuation of Richmond. Then the fleet was turned into the Summer Brigade, and went to Danville, Virginia, where he acted as.a Lieutenant of infantry, and was then transferred to artillery and given command of three pieces. Ile reported to Johnson at Greensboro, North Carolina, and was paroled, the war having closed. He was then less than twenty years old. Ile made two visits to Europe to recover his health, which had been shattered by pneumonia and Southern fever. In 1870 he returned home and settled down upon a farm in Howard County, where he still resides. In 1874 he first became active in politics, and in 1877 was elected to the Legislature of Maryland for two years from January, 1878. He was married in 1874 to Miss Julia C. Tyler, of Alabama, grand-daughter of President Tyler, and has two children, Louise and Allan.
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BALEY, MAURICE ALOYSIUS, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Maryland, Mayor of Cumberland City, and late Auditor of the Circuit Court of Alleghany County, was born August 4, 1842, at Cumberland City, Maryland. Hc was the third son of Dr. Thomas A. and Emily C. (Hoffman) Healey of that city. His father was an eminent physician, enjoying a large practice, and standing at the head of his profession. Ile died in that city in 1871. His mother and his mother's mother, a lady of seventy-nine years, and a sister, compose his family. His grandfather on his mother's side, Major Frederick Hoffman, was an officer in the war of 1812. His grandfather, Michael Ilealey, was a large farmer and distiller in Ireland. Ile came to Amer- ica in 1818, and settled in Baltimore, afterwards removing
to Cumberland, taking a large contract on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and died shortly after its completion, at the age of seventy-six. He was a man of high character and wide influence, and universally respected; of great force and energy, and at one time wealthy. His mother's grandfather, Dennis Claude Lieutand, was one of the largest sugar and coffee planters on the Island of San Domingo previous to the insurrection. Ile owned seven large plantations, and over fifteen hundred slaves. With his family he was driven from the island at the time of the massacre, and they succeeded in making their escape, with their jewels and part of their money, on the ship called . the " Ten Millions," by reason of the fact that it sailed from the island with its wealthiest residents on board, and loaded with their treasures to that amount. The captain of the vessel during the voyage turned pirate, made pris- oners of his passengers, and landed them penniless on the coast of Florida. After peace was supposed to have been restored, Mr. Lieutand returned to San Domingo to take possession of his property, supposing he would be allowed to remain. After he had been there three or four days, the massacre was resumed. His faithful servants warned him of it, and bid him in the chimney of one of their houses, where he was compelled to remain forty-eight hours. From his place of concealment he witnessed the sickening and horrible sight of the butchery in cold blood of all his relatives, except his own immediate family: He was a man then under forty years of age, of jet black hair, and 'it is said that during his concealment his hair became per- manently white. He finally escaped at night by being carried in a chest to a United States vessel by two of his old servants, and made his way to Baltimore with some means ; for although when he made his first escape he was unable to take all his plate and money with him, on re- turning to the island he was rejoiced and surprised to find that his house had not been burned, and that his faithful servants had prevented its being sacked. When warned of the second massacre, he and two servants spent the night in secreting the plate and money, some of which he brought away with him. He died in Baltimore a year or two after reaching that city. Mr. Maurice A. Healey was educated in the best schools of Cumberland, delicate healthi preventing a full collegiate course. Ile commenced the study of the law with Thomas De Vecmon, Esq., January, 1861. In August of the same year, his sympathies being with the South, and the sentiment of his town being over- whelmingly loyal, he was obliged to leave, and went to Virginia, crossing the Potomac by wading it at night at Patterson's Creek, in company with several others. He went to Winchester, and joined the heavy artillery com- pany under Captain William Baird. Shortly afterwards, in December, 1861, he joined the regular army, in the West Augusta Artillery, under General " Stonewall " Jackson, and was in that battery in the battle of Kernstown and in several smaller engagements. In March the battalion was
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turned into infantry as Company L of the Fifth Regiment of the Stonewall Brigade. He was in that regiment with Jackson through the Valley campaign, when on account of physical inability, and his term of service having expired, he was honorably discharged, and went to Richmond for six weeks; after which, having recruited in health, he re- enlisted for the war under General William E. Jones, in Company E, of the Seventh Virginia Cavalry, afterwards des- ignated by General Lee in a special order, as." The Laurel Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia." This was in 1862. Ile served with that brigade till July, 1864, when he was appointed Assistant Engineer to Colonel John A. Hay- don, Chief Engineer of General Beauregard's army, and served in that capacity until the close of hostilities, when he was paroled at Newberry Court-house, South Caro- lina, and sent to New York by the Government on the steamer Fulton. Ile was the seventh man pardoned by Andrew Johnson, His whole family were in the Southern army ; his father was a surgeon, and his brother, now Dr. Thomas M. Healey, of Washington, was Captain of Engi- neers on the staff of General Joseph E. Johnson. His brother Frederick was in the cavalry service under General Beddeford Forrest. Ile returned to Cumberland with his father on Christmas day, 1865, penniless. They rented a room, and gradually acquired a little means. After a time they gathered about them the other members of the family, who had been seattered through the South. Young Mr. Healey resumed his legal studies in 1866, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1867. In 1868 he was appointed Au- ditor of the Court, which he held till January, 1878, when he resigned. In 1876 he organized a company for the purpose of building a railroad from Cumberland to the State of Pennsylvania, there to connect with the Bedford division of the Pennsylvania road, for the purpose of intro- ducing that road as a competitor of the Baltimore and Ohio road. For this enterprise he secured the aid of the city of Cumberland to the amount of sixty-five thousand dollars, and procured confirmatory acts from the Legislature. IIe was elected to the City Council in May, 1877, and made President of that body. He is unmarried, is a Democrat, and in religion is a Roman Catholic.
COFFMAN, JOHN, Merchant, was the eldest son and 260 second child of Daniel and Mary (Schrote) Hoffman, and was born in Baltimore in 1796. At twenty one years of age he with David White- ford, the husband of his elder sister Elizabeth, were admitted as partners to the old-established grocery business of his father. The firm was known in later years as that of Daniel Iloffman & Company. Mr. Hoff- man was married in 1819 to Margaret Ann, daughter of Captain John Peterson, who established the first line of
packet ships between Baltimore and Richmond, Virginia, before the introduction of steamboats on Chesapeake Bay. They had twelve children, six sons and six daugh- ters. Mr. Hoffman was successful in business, and happy and highly respected in life. He died suddenly in 1846 in the fiftieth year of his age. In 1862 his second son, John, made the purchase of a farm in St. Mary's County, and was proceeding down the bay at night in a schooner to pay for it, when the schooner was run down by a Brazilian man-of-war, and sank at once. Mr. Hoffman and a colored woman on board were drowned. Ile is supposed to have been in the cabin of the vessel. Eight months afterward his body was washed ashore on Kent Island in a wonderful state of preservation, appearing as perfect as though life had just departed. Ile left a widow and two children, William and Alice. The remaining eleven children of the elder John Hoffman are yet living ;" the eldest is Dr. Daniel P'., following whom are David and Eliza, twins, Emily, Laura, Mary, Louisa, Henry, Adeline, William and George.
PROWNE, REV. NICHOLAS MANLY, third son of Hugh and Eliza (Manly) . Browne, was born in North-East, Cecil County, Maryland, September 16, 1837. His father was born near Belfast, County Down, Ireland, in 1784. When he was seven years of age he came with his parents to. America. They landed- at New Castle, Delaware, and started at once for the West, intending to make Ohio their future home. Arriving at Battle Swamp, Cecil County, Maryland, the severe illness of one of the family compelled them to stop, and after remaining a week or two, they decided to settle in that place. His father died soon after, and the care of the family soon came to devolve in large measure upon Hugh, he being the eldest son. This early responsibility doubtless had great influence in de- „veloping those traits of character that made him remark- able through life, and an object of such affectionate regard by all his family and descendants. Ile appren- ticed himself at the age of twenty-one to learn a me- chanical trade, and served three years, after which he commenced business for himself .: By untiring industry and economy, in a few years he accumulated a compe- tency, the income from which gave him a comfortable support during the remainder of his life, Ile retired from business at the age of fifty., He served in the war of 1812; the principal service he rendered was in the defence of Baltimore. The captain of the company to which he belonged failed to make a proper return of the register of the company, in consequence of which his name, with those of his comrades in arms, cannot be found among the military records of that period. Ile
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was for many years a vestryman of the Protestant Epis- copal Church in the parish where he lived. Ile died at the age of eighty-one years, and was buried by the Order of A. F. and A. M., of which fraternity he had been a member of long standing. His son Nicholas, the subject of this sketch, bears the name of his maternal parentage, his mother's maiden name being Manly, and a member of her family, named Nicholas, was a clergy- man of prominence in the earlier settlement of the country: He received the benefit of the best schools near his home, and for a time the instruction of a private tutor. He possessed a strong natural inclination for mercantile pursuits, and engaged a short time as a clerk with the leading merchant of the town where he lived. At the age of sixteen he became impressed with the truth that religion is the only real basis and groundwork of usefulness, and connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was remarked even at this early age for the justness of his dealings, and as being inflexibly true to his word, pru- dent in his conduct, and courteous in his deportment. Without expressing himself decidedly, his father yet strongly intimated his desire that he should make the study and practice of medicine the business of his life. But his son was already considering the duty of a higher calling, and after long and careful reflection, determined to give himself to the work of the Christian ministry. In 1856, in company with the Rev. R. Laird Collier, now an emi- nent minister of the Unitarian Church, he entered the only Theological seminary of his denomination at that time, at Concord, New Hampshire, and remained three years. At the end of the second year he had completed the three years' course in Hebrew; this enabled him to improve the last year in general reading, preparatory to his entrance into the ministry. He graduated in the class of 1859, being then twenty-one years of age. Immediately upon his return home, he was assigned to the charge of a church at Holmesburg, Pennsylvania, where he remained until the session of the Philadelphia Conference, into which body he was received as a member on trial. At that session he was appointed as pastor of a church in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, where he continued during the years 1860-61. The next year he was assigned as junior pastor on Millington Circuit ; in 1863 to Easton, Mary- land, in 1864 to Centreville, and in 1865 to Chestertown in the same State. While at Chestertown he was married, January 8, 1866, to Miss Clintonio C. Cook, the youngest daughter of Honorable Clinton Cook, who was a promi- nent member of the bar in that town. The three following years Mr. Browne spent on Kent Island as pastor of the church of his denomination. He was then appointed to a charge in Dorchester County, Maryland, where he also spent three years, and was placed in charge of the church at Salisbury. At the session of the Wilmington Conference in 1875, Bishop Janes, the senior Bishop of the Church, appointed him Presiding Elder of the Salisbury District.
His first report of Church work, made to the Conference, received from Bishops Scott and Ames the highest compli- ments. His power to judge of the fitness of men for the places best adapted to their peculiar qualifications has se- cured for his department some of the best talent of the Conference. Mr. Browne has been an active worker in the Temperance cause. While he has not allowed his judg- ment to be influenced by impracticable schemes for the furtherance of the movement, he does not hesitate to avow himself a radical in abating what he conceives to be the greatest curse of the age. He has always voted with the Democratic party, but is a Conservative in politics, and re- serves the right to choose from either side the men to whom he gives his suffrage ; openly declaring his purpose never to vote for any man who encourages or is addicted to the use of intoxicating drinks. Mr. Browne is large-hearted and liberal in the use of his private means; his character and administrative ability are of a high order, and his tal- ents as a preacher and his influence as an carnest and con- scientious church officer are greatly esteemed in his denom- ination. He has one child, Ilugh Cook Browne, now in his twelfth year.
EWIS, FRANK SPENCER, D.D.S., was born in Har- ford County, Maryland, October 29, 1852, being the second son and youngest child of Joseph H. and Hannah (Spencer) Lewis. His father came from Cecil County. The ancestors of the family, who were of Welsh origin, resided in that county and in New Jersey for several generations. His father lost his parents in early childhood and was brought up by his relatives. Dr. Lewis was educated at the Oakland School, in Harford County, which he attended till he was sixteen years of age, when he commenced to learn dentistry, having decided to make that his profession, entering for that purpose the office of Dr. Hoops, on Eutaw Street, Baltimore. After five years of thorough and careful study and preparation he graduated at the Baltimore Dental College in 1873. Ilis proficiency and attainments were held in such high esteem by the faculty of the college that he was chosen the following year as Assistant Demonstrator to the classes, in which position he gave great satisfaction, and his ser- vices were highly appreciated ; but.finding that it required more of his time than he could spare, he resigned after one year. Dr. Lewis settled on Green Street, where he soon built up a good practice, which is steadily increasing. He is a member of the Alumni of the Baltimore Dental Col- . lege. He devotes himself exclusively to his profession, and as he is yet a young man, his professional career prom- ises to be one of great success. Ile is a member of the Fifth Maryland National Guards. His father and mother,
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who still reside in llarford County, are members of the Society of Friends, and Dr. Lewis loves the faith of his fathers. On December 13, 1877, he was united in mar- ringe with Addie, daughter of Prof. A. J. and Mrs. E. L. Schad, of Baltimore. Prof. Schad is of German descent, and is a professor and a well-known composer of music. His wife is descended from the St. Leonard family of England.
EORGE, ISAAC S., President of Traders' National Bank, Baltimore, was born in Baltimore, July 9, 1818. Ilis father, the late James B. George, was born in Baltimore County, near Govanstown, in 1794. In early life James B. learned the art of shoemaking. He took an active part in the war of 1812, and particularly in the defence of Baltimore, having been stationed at Fort Mellenry during the memorable bombardment of 1814. Hle was an active member of the Old Defenders' Associa- tion until his death, February 1, 1869. In 1852 he repre- sented the city in the State Legislature as a temperance man. In his general bearing he was most unpretending. IIe was possessed of a high degree of natural ability, marked firmness, and a general suavity of manners, which endeared him to all. His personal popularity was unbounded, being the outgrowth of inflexible integrity, combined with uni- versal philanthropy, giving him a strong hold upon public confidence, and cansing him to be called upon to fill many positions of honor and trust. He was a great admirer of Masonic rites, and acknowledged to be one of the brightest workmen of that honored order. He was of French de- scent, his ancestors being Iluguenots, who were forced to leave their homes on account of religious persecution. They came to America in the early part of the year 1700. The Georges of Revolutionary times took an active part in the struggle for liberty, and were prominent in the battle of Brandywine. . "The name was originally spelled Georgia, which orthography was not abandoned until Mr. George had nearly reached maturity, his old indentures of appren- ticeship having been thus spelled. Mr. Isaac S. George's maternal ancestry were Scotch-Irish, strongly wedded to the Calvinistic faith, and were members of the old Second Presbyterian Church, under the pastorate of Dr. Glendy. llis mother; Mary Ellen Stewart, was born in Glasgo, Ireland, in 1800, and was brought to this country by her parents when but one year old. The parents of Mr. George occupying a very humble position, and being compelled to struggle through adverse circumstances, were unable to bestow upon him such an education as they desired. Leav- ing school at the age of thirteen years, he went to work with his father at the shoemaking business. At this he continued until 1841, when he commenced a small shoe
store on his own account at No. 76 Centre Market Space. There, by close attention, hard labor, rigid economy, and perseverance, he succeeded in building up a profitable trade. In 1867 he was compelled, through chronic afflic- tion, to withdraw from active business. In 1864 his son, I. Brown George, being then of age, Mr. George estali- lished the house of Isaac S. George & Son at No. 252 Bal- timore Street, soon after which he erected the iron-front building northeast corner of Baltimore and Liberty streets, into which the firm moved and successfully conducted the business until 1875, when the senior partner retired, leaving the business in charge of his son, who still con- ducts the commission boot, shoe, and rubber trade at the same place, occupying the entire building. Mr. George has pursued an upright course through life, and has therefore won the confidence of the public. IIis likes and dislikes are very strong, and he maintains his opinions with tenacity. His course in general has been marked by conservatism. In early manhood he took much interest in attending lyceums, meanwhile never claiming any literary taste or distinction. He was one of the founders of the " Murray Institute," first presided over by Rev. Dr. James Shrigley, an institution which reflected marked social influence, and as a Debating Society became exceedingly popular. Being strictly a man of business and giving close attention thercto, he found no time for mental improvement. For books he had no relish ; " nature," as he has said, " never designing him for a student, had so perverted his taste as to cause an aversion to reading or study ; thereby throwing him altogether upon his powers of observation for the practical knowledge he possesses." Through such agencies as force and sagacity he has worked his way through life, and made for himself a'pathway leading to popular indorsement, the evidences of which rest in the many prominent positions, public and private, which he has occupied. Ile has always mani- fested an unwavering loyalty to the General Government. On reaching his majority, he became identified with the Whig party, because of his profound love for Ilenry Clay, and he acted with that party until its practical dissolution on the death of that statesman. When the Know-Nothing movement was inaugurated, Mr. George arrayed himself against it; becoming prominent in the Reform movement, which sought to stay its tendencies. He was nominated as one of the candidates of the Reform party for the Legislature. Being defeated at the election, he, with his colleagues, contested their right to seats in that body, but without success. Subsequently, as a choice of evils, he supported Mr. Breckinridge for the Presidency. Under Mayor Brown, he was a member of the Water Board, recognized as one of the most important commissions under the city government. At the, breaking out of the war of 1861, Mr. George identified himself with the Con- servative Democrats, supporting the Government as an entirety, and maintaining loyalty thereto. While denying
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the right of secession, he was, nevertheless, in strong sympathy with his Southern brethren. Centring his hopes in the Conservative party, he was honored with the nomi- nation for State Senator, on the ticket headed by General MeClellan for President of the United States. After the close of the war, when the freedom of the ballot was once more accorded to Maryland, he was selected to represent Baltimore in the Constitutional Convention of 1867; after which he was chosen by the Sixth Ward to represent it. in the First Branch of the City Council, and was made Chair- man of the Committee on Ways and Means. For many years he took an active part in the management of the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts. After serving two years as its President, he declined a re-election. In 1868 he was elected President of the Atlantic Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and held the position until it was manifest that underwriting was not profitable to that company; when, at his suggestion, the company went into voluntary liquidation, discharging in full all its obligations. In 1872 he was appointed by Mayor Vansant one of the Visitors of Baltimore City Jail, which he held for six years, being President of the Board the last two years. He has been for many years an active Director in the Associated Firemen's Insurance Company. In 1874 he was elected .President of the Traders' National Bank, which position he still fills. As a business man, Mr. George has contributed his share to the development and prosperity of his native city ; and he still maintains a deep interest in all measures appertaining to it's welfare. His religious views are of the most liberal type. ' In his early youth he was reared in the faith and modes of wor- ship of the Methodist Episcopal Church; but, following the lead of his father, he became interested in Univer- salism, and for several years was identified with its up- building and extension in Baltimore. In later years, though not a member of the Church, he has returned to the forms of service in which he was first educated. He is now a regular attendant at Madison Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. At the same time, he never permits his mind to be warped by . any theological dogmas; ac- cepting only such as accord with his own judgment of God's infinite goodness. Being a firm believer in immor- tality, and recognizing a Divine Providence, he relies to the fullest extent on God's mercy, which must in the ful- ness of time culminate in the salvation of the whole. human family. Mr. George married Miss Elizabeth A. Mann. a daughter of the late William Mann, a native of England. Miss Mann was born in Halifax, while her parents were en route for this country. They have had eleven children, six only of whom are living. The position which Mr. George occupies in life has been attained by indefatigable industry, unusual perseverance, undaunted courage, and strict integrity, elements of character which, if combined in one man, serve to fit him in an eminent de- gree to be a prominent and useful citizen.
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