The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1, Part 75

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

USA > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 75
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1 > Part 75

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at the best schools in Dorchester and Baltimore, and then entered Dickinson College. Having inherited a good es- tate under his father's will, he left college at the age of eighteen, began farming and otherwise devoted himself to the interests of his estate. On attaining his majority he married his cousin, the ouly child of his muele, W. D. Travers. Previous to his marriage his mind was greatly exercised on the subject of the ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was a member. Ilis love for his cousin and his worldly interests induced a compro- mise, and instead of entering the itinerant work, he ac- cepted a local preacher's license, which, while giving him authority to preach, left him free to attend to his secular concerns. In due time he was ordained, first as a local deacon, and then as a local elder. He is connected with the Southern Church, and is devoted to its interests. Ile is studious, possesses much literary taste, and is especially interested in the pursuit of theological acquirements. Mr. Travers has been twice elected Judge of the Orphans' Court for Dorchester, and on a vacancy occurring in the office of Chief Justice in his second term as Associate Justice, the Governor of the State appointed him to the position. Whether as associate or chief he made a most faithful public servant. He allowed nothing to interfere with the discharge of his duties. The emoluments of his office were very small. In the autumn of 1877 he was appointed by the Circuit Court one of the three Commis- sioners of Public Schools, and was immediately chosen President of the Board. At the Legislative session in 1878 he was elected one of the Chaplains of the Senate, and gave much satisfaction. Judge Travers leads a busy life, managing with great care and profit his estate, which is one of the largest in the county, and serving others in the discharge of the offices of Administrator and Trustee in Chancery, and for insolvent debtors; together with his ministerial labors, which are very effective in promoting the prosperity of his own denomination, and carrying light and instruction to sections where they are needed.

UGHES, ALFRED, M.D., was born at Wheeling, Virginia, September 10, 1824. Among his ances- tors have been some remarkable and illustrious men. His great-grandfather, Felix Hughes, was a native of Ireland. He was a devout Catholic, and left the land of his birth to find the religious freedom that he was there denied. Coming to this country he settled in Loudon County, Virginia, in 1732. He had four sons, one of whom, James, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, married a Miss Dunn, of Jefferson County, Virginia, in 1772, and was among the first white settlers of Greene County, Pennsylvania, then a part of Virginia. At his death he owned large tracts of land in that State, in Kentucky, and what is now Indiana ; he left three sons

and five daughters, his oldest child being then only nine- teen years of age. Ilis youngest child but one, Thomas, was born and raised in what is now Greene County Pen- sylvania, and in early life married Mary Odenbaugh, who resided near Winchester, in that State. She was the daughter of an exile from his native country, a descendant of a noble family, who in his youth had been prepared for the practice of the German civil law. They shortly after- wards removed to Wheeling, Virginia, and had seven sons and three daughters. He served under General Harrison in the war of 1812, and died in 1849. He had been Treasurer of the city of Wheeling, and member of the ('ity Council for thirty-two years; President of a bank, Fire Insurance Company, and the Suspension Bridge Company ; and was indeed one of the most prominent and esteemed business men of Wheeling. His oldest liv- ing son was chosen to fill his place in the City Council, and held the position until a year previous to his death in 1870. Ilis seventh child was the subject of this sketch. lle received a regular collegiate education, studied medi- cine and graduated at the Homoeopathic Medical College of Philadelphia. On November 1, 1849, he married Mary Kirby Adrian, of Wheeling, a descendant of the Sedgwick family, of Maryland, who settled in that State in the early part of the seventeenth century. In 1851 he began the practice of homoeopathy at Wheeling, where he had to en- counter considerable opposition. Frequent unsuccessful attempts had been made to establish the new system in that city. Of those who essayed the task and failed, two practitioners were from Philadelphia and one from Balti- more. Popular prejudice and the bitter opposition of the old school were too much for all of them, and their defeat rendered victory more difficult for their successor. Dr. Hughes, however, after a hard fight and many newspaper controversies succeeded in vindicating the advantages of the homeopathic practice. When the cholera made its appearance in 1854 he labored almost constantly, night and day, being the only homeopathic physician in the city, and meeting with almost unprecedented success in his treatment of the fearful scourge, then in epidemic form. Homeopathy was then firmly established, he soon built up a large and lucrative practice, and now Wheeling, in place of one, has several new-school practitioners. On the out- break of the civil war, when the first gun was fired at Charleston, his sympathies were enlisted in behalf of his native South. When Virginia seceded he engaged in newspaper political controversies, and became correspond- ent for the Baltimore Exchange. He was arrested for disloyalty in 1861, and was held a prisoner at Camp Chase, near Columbus, Ohio, for nearly eight mouths, when he was specially exchanged for a brother of Dr. Pancoast, of Philadelphia, captured at Bleunnery Gap, Virginia, and a prisoner at Salisbury, North Carolina. On his way to Rich- mond, with his wife and three children, he stayed in Balti- more, reporting to General Schenck, to whom he had letters

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from Judge Galloway, of Columbus. Alone he went to Washington, and obtained a permit to take his wife and children to Richmond. On the steamer in which they sailed for Fortress Monroe were several distinguished Federal Generals, among them General Thomas, who rendered them great service in getting through their extensive bag- gage, consisting of some thirteen trunks, at a time when * scarcely a bundle was permitted to go by a flag-of-truce boat. After landing at City Point, and going through the formalities of exchange, he proceeded with his family to Richmond. At Petersburg he was arrested on a general suspicion created by the amount of his baggage, and it was not until dispatches had been received from two of his friends in Richmond, Judge Brockenbrough and Honora- ble Charles W. Russell, vouching for his loyalty to the South, that he and his trunks were permitted to procecd. Their arrival in Richmond caused quite a sensation, the unusual amount of baggage giving rise to a report that he was a Commissioner of Peace sent by the United States Government clothed with full power to end the war. This caused him to be much lionized for the time. Hle at once settled down into practice, and again had to fight home- opathy's battle against bitter prejudice and stubborn op- position. Once more he succeeded in establishing the system and secured an excellent practice. After awhile he was elected to the Legislature of Virginia, of which he remained a member till the fall of Richmond. Ile was a warm advocate of the enlistment of slaves in the Southern ranks. Among his patients during and since the war was the wife of General Robert E. Lee. On December 18, 1865, he removed from Richmond to Baltimore, where he soon established himself in a good and lucrative practice. Ile is one of the first physicians of Baltimore. Dr. Hughes Is an occasional contributor to the American Homeopathic Observer. He has had ten children, of whom are living five sons and three daughters, and seven grandchildren. Ilis eldest son, a graduate in law of the Virginia University, is a practicing lawyer in Baltimore. Ilis eldest daughter was married in 1869 to W. P. Moncure, of Stafford County, Virginia, Son of Judge Moncure, of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. His second daughter was married in 1877 to Frank A. Bond, Adjutant-General of the State of Maryland, and an officer in the Confederate States Army of Northern Virginia. The family connections of Dr. Hughes nre widely extended through Virginia, West Virginia, and a part of Kentucky.

IGHMAN, NOAH JAMES, Machinist and Inventor, was the son of John and Polly (Truitt) Tilghman, and was born in 1828, in Worcester County, Mary- land. The ancestors of the family were English and came to this country about the year 1700. Mr., Tilghman was brought up on his father's farm, and was

obliged to work hard from his earliest recollection. He attended a country school one month each winter for three years after he had reached the age of seven, which was all the schooling he ever received. Having a great desire for knowledge he improved every opportunity for reading and study. When only ten years of age he was put to the hard . work of the farm. But his tastes and inclinations were all for machinery and mechanical labors, and his genius in that direction was displayed in various ways during his boyhood. At twenty-one he worked a few months with his brother at carpentering, then at the wheelwright busi- ness for two years. This he followed by nearly two years in a carriage-shop In 1854 he became a partner in a steam saw-mill; no one was sent with the mill to put it up, and he set it up himself. After that he was employed by a number of parties to set up steam saw-mills in the county. Ile sold his interest in the mill and removed in" 1856 to West Virginia, on Cheat River, Tucker County, where he leased a water-power mill for a term of years. Ile had hardly commenced work before the mill was de- stroyed by fire ; he rebuilt it at his own expense, but before it was quite finished it was again burned. Ile had neg- lected to insure it, and his loss left him too poor for further attempts. Ile obtained employment for a few months as machinist of the Rollsburg Lumber and Iron Company, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, after which he went to Salem, Marion County, Illinois. Hle there purchased a quantity of hickory wood, which he made into felloes for wagons, and sold in St. Louis, receiving for it Missouri money, which soon after, on the breaking out of the war, was nearly worthless. He went to Indiana in 1861, where he found his money worth only five cents on the dollar. Ile here engaged as an architect, and built houses on contract; he had in 1851 become a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was in this place licensed as a local preacher. In March, 1863, he returned to Maryland and set up at Tyaskin, Wicomico County, the mill now owned by himself. From that time the tide, which had seemed so against him, turned in his favor; everything he laid his hand to prospered ; the last fifteen years of his life have been a continued suc- cess. Ile engaged in a general lumber business, shipping to Baltimore, in which, as in all his other business, he has been remarkably free from accidents. Ile also continued the exercise of his mechanical genius, and has had several valuable patents issued to him. Ile is highly regarded in the community. In his church he has been greatly honored and has served in every lay office. Public office he has never desired. At Marseilles, Indiana, in 1862, he joined the Masonic Lodge, No. 7. He is now Grand Inspector of Wicomico County, appointed by the Grand Lodge of the State of Maryland. Ile is also a member of the Order of Odd Fellows and of the Good Templars. Mr. Tilghman now owns four hundred and fifty acres of land in two good farms. Ile has been twice a widower, having married in 1850 Hennie Colburn, of Worcester County, and in 1853,

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Mary E. White, daughter of Samuel Q. White. His present wife was Mrs. Carrie P. McAllen, of Snow Hill, whom he married in 1871.

INTHICUM, JOHN L., son of John M. and Mary A. Linthicum, was born in Frederick County, Mary- land, March 12, 1838. He entered the classical academy at Middletown, Maryland, at the age of twelve, and continued his studies until twenty years of age. He intended on leaving school to apply himself to the study of law, but his father dying shortly after, his plans were frustrated and his attention was directed to mercan- tile pursuits. In the year 1866 he was elected by the Re- publican party to the Ilouse of Delegates. The new Con- stitution framed and adopted in 1867 provided for an elec- tion for members of the Legislature in the fall of that year, when he was again unanimously nominated by his party, but the whole ticket was defeated by the Democratic party, he, however, leading his ticket. He was a member of the Republican State Central Committee continuously from 1867 to 1877, when he resigned, in obedience to the order of President Hayes, prohibiting government officers from taking part in political conventions. In 1872 he was elected by the Republican State Convention, a Delegate to the National Republican Convention at Philadelphia, which renominated President Grant. In May, 1873, he was appointed by Collector Booth, Manager of the United States Public Store at the Port of Baltimore, which position he held until January 1, 1875, when he was appointed by President Grant as United States Appraiser, which office he still retains. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since his boyhood,

OWARD, JAMES, fifth son of Colonel John Eager lloward, was born December 17, 1797. Not having adopted any particular profession, he was called to a number of positions of importance in the community. He was one of the first Presidents of the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad Company ; President of the Franklin Bank, etc. He died March 19, 1870.

ASONEAL, HON. JAMES HECTOR, ellest son of James and Sarah ( Robinson) McNeal, was born near Easton, Talbot County, Maryland, January 20, 1807. flis father was born January 1, 1774, and died in Talbot County, July 11, 1822. His mother was born March 7, 1775, and died January 2, 1838.

Ifis grandfather, Archibald McNeal, was born in the County of Antrim, Ireland, and emigrated to Talbot Comty in 1774. Shortly after his arrival he married Mary Harrison, an estimable lady of Virginia. Hector Mc Neal, the father of Archibald, is supposed to have been a native of Scotland, a resident of Leith, and the author of a volume of poems. The subject of this biography had many obstacles and disadvantages to contend with in securing an education, his parents possessing only limited means, and having eight other children. Ile attended school only during the winter months, but being fond of books, and having a good memory, he spent all the time he could obtain in reading and study, discouragements serving only to stimulate him in the pursuit of knowledge. At a very early age, he was compelled to discontinue school altogether, and remain at home to help support the family. When his father died, in 1822, though the subject of this, sketch was only fifteen years of age, he was obliged to assume still greater responsibilities. But his energy and courage were unfaltering, and in great measure he main- tained the family. In time his sisters married, and he with a younger brother were left alone with his mother, to whom he was devoted. He then went to Baltimore, where he found employment in a shoe house, but in a few years returned to be with his mother, who was in declining health. She died soon after, and also his brother. Mr. McNeal was married, September 18, 1838, to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Jonathan and Mary ( Bullen) Binney. Her father, a farmer, was born January 5, 1777, and died October 7, 1826. Her mother was born April 15, 1781. She lived a consistent Christian life, and died at Mount Hlopc, the old homestead, November 19, 1847. After his marriage, Mr. MeNcal engaged in mercantile pursuits in Easton, and by economy and attention to business, became sufficiently successful to enable him to invest advantage- ously in town property. On the death of his mother-in- law, his wife inherited the Binney family estate, to which he removed, and purchasing additional land, began the work of improvement, changing, building, and rebuilding till he had satisfied his own ideas of fitness and beauty, and made the place the admiration of the neighborhood. fle became at this time, also, a slave-owner, besides hiring labor from time to time as needful. With the aid of both, he successfully managed the entire estate. At a public sale of slaves in Easton, in 1839, Mr. McNeal was induced by the entreaties of an old colored woman, owned by a gentleman in the community, to purchase her husband, that he might not be sold South. Before many months she had persuaded him to buy her also. He built for them a small house on the farm, where they lived for many years until her death, and well repaid him with their faithful service. Their three sons, emancipated by the civil war, entered the Federal Army, in which they bravely served till the close of the struggle. They then went North to live, but occasionally returned to see those with

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whom they had lived so long. Their father, now very aged and gray, is still living. In the discussion of the slavery question, then agitating the country, Mr, MeNeal was, of course, deeply interested, being himself a slave owner; but his eyes were blinded by no small self interest, and when the rebellion was fully inaugurated, he was among the few in the county who stood with devotion and un- * wavering firmness on the side of his country. In 1864 he was elected to the Legislature of Maryland, of which he was a useful member. He was not conspicuous as a pub- lie speaker, but oceupied positions on several important committees, and introduced and aided the passage of sev- eral of the best laws of the State. In 1865 he was elected to the Senate, and there labored zealously in the interests of the Commonwealth, amid the excitement and danger of that period of her history. He was again returned to the Senate in 1866. For the year 1864, and the two years following, he was appointed Collector of State and County Charges, after which he retired from public life. He had in the meantime ereeted a handsome house adjoining the Mount Hope estate, to which he now removed with his family, and enjoyed through the short remainder of his life all the comforts of a delightful rural home. He died, after a brief illness, on Christmas day, 1868, in his sixty-first year. His wife survived him nearly two years, her death occurring November 16, 1870,

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STEVENS, B. GOOTEE, Merchant, son of Gootee and Elizabeth Stevens, was born in Caroline County, Maryland, August 5, 1837. He attended a subscription school from his eighth to his thirteenth year, his father paying sixty eents per month for his tuition. His vacations were employed upon the farm. He early showed a strong inelination toward an active business life, and but for his decided preference in this direction, his education would have been longer continued and thorough. He was engaged in his father's steam saw- mill for three years, after which at the age of twenty years he went into a store at Potter's Landing, where he continued another three years. Returning to the mill he remained one year, when he again resumed in the same store the occupation of elerk. At twenty years of age he took charge of the steam saw-mill for one year on his own account. In 1858, having attained his majority, he entered upon the general mercantile business at Potter's Landing, in which he has continued to the present time, eovering a period of twenty years. He commenced upon a capital of three hundred dollars advanced by his father, and has had good success, being now a large dealer in dry- goods, groceries, saddles, harness, stoves, wheelwright and blacksmith materials, which he purchases in large qquantities in Baltimore and Philadelphia. He is also an extensive dealer in grain, fertilizers, and lumber, and is

the owner of a large schooner, in which he sends to market large quantities of ship-timber, railroad ties, and cord- wood. Though he has had dealings with thousands, he uever gave a note in his life, never borrowed a dollar, never had a lawsuit, and never was before a count. lie was once before a magistrate as a witness for a neighbor. lle has never used intoxicating spirits, and never held a publie office, though often solicited to do so. He is a Republican, and was a Unionist through all the civil war. In religion he is a Methodist, having been trained in that Church, and always greatly attached to it. He was mar- ried in 1857 to Mary Virginia, daughter of Colonel A. J. Willis, of Caroline County. Six of their seven children are living. In 1866, upon a piece of land given him by his father-in-law, Mr. Stevens erected a handsome resi- dence, which eost him about ten thousand dollars. He owns two hundred aeres of very fine land, besides his estate of one hundred and six acres at Potter's Landing.

YNSON, RICHARD, Lawyer, was born January 20, 1821, at Deer Park, or Poplar Grove, the resi- dence of his father, in St. Paul's Parish, Kent County, Maryland. He is the son of Thomas Bowers and Ann (Dunn) Hynson, and through his great-grandmother, Wealthy Ann (Tilden) Ilynson, is lineally descended from Marmaduke Tilden, a memoir of whom is contained in this volume. His paternal ancestor, Thomas Hynson, was an early settler, and for several years and at different times the Clerk and High Sheriff of Kent County, Maryland. His mother, Mrs. Ann (Dunn) Ilynson, was descended from an old and distinguished family of the same county. Mr. Hynson received a elassi- cal education in his native county, and finished his course of study at the Academy at Chester, Pennsylvania, during the Presideney of Dr. William Dubois. After which he studied law with his relative, Judge John B. Eccleston, of Chestertown, and in the office of Hon. George Vickers. Ile was admitted to the bar of Kent County in September Term, 1843, is now in the enjoyment of a lucrative practice, and occupies a leading and distinguished position at the bar in Kent County. Since the year 1850 he has been the Treasurer of the Chester Bridge Company. He was the Treasurer and Solicitor of the Kent County Railroad Company from its organization in 1866 to the year 1874; and in 1875 was appointed the Trustee of a large majority of the bondholders of this company. Ile has been the Attorney and Solicitor of the Kent National Bank at Chestertown since it became a National Bank in 1865. At the last session, of 1877-78, he was appointed by the Legislature of Maryland one of the Managers of the House of Correction of Maryland. In early manhood he belonged to the Whig party, and since its disbandment in 1856 has been a Conservative Democrat. In religion he

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is an Episcopalian. He married, December 7, 18.13, Caralene Louis Marsh, a niece of Judge John B. Redles- ton, and a daughter of Elias and Mary Louisa ( Eccleston) March, of Philadelphia, and has four children living, Augusta Eccleston Hymson, Caralene Lowest Hyuson, Mariane Olymson, and Richard Dann Hynson.

- AVIS, LEWIS' JOHNSON, Banker, was born in Wash- ington, District of Columbia, July 21, 1834. His parents were George Madison and Georgiana (Reinagle) Davis. Ilis father was formerly of New York city. Mr. Davis is descended from Major Matthew Davis, an officer in the Revolutionary army, and from Captain John Sanford, who was with Washington at Valley Forge. . On his mother's side, he is descended from the Dupont family of France and the MacNeils of Ireland. Ilis maternal grandfather was Alexander Reinagle, of England. He was educated at Washington, and attained to special proficiency in the languages and mathematics. In IS48 he entered the banking house of R. W. Latham & Co., where he remained about two years. His health failing here, he resigned his position and went to Bel Air, Maryland, where he resumed his studies under the direc- tion of Dr. Edwin Arnold. In 1851 he re-entered the banking business with his. step-grandfather,'Lewis John- son, in Washington city. With this firm, which bears the name of Lewis Johnson & Co., Private Bankers, he has ever since been connected, and is now at the head of the business. Ile spent part of the years 1863-64 in Europe .. From 1871 to 1878 Mr. Davis was one of the Sinking Fund Commissioners of the District of Columbia, and for the last two years was President of the Board. In this capacity, his official duties have been so discharged as to win for him the unqualified approbation of his fellow-citi- zens. Though still young, he has established a character for integrity, energy, and sagacity, that does not fail of its proper recognition, and places him by common consent at the head of many important enterprises for the public good. lle was the first to set on foot the citizens' move- ment of 1877-78. It was admirably conducted, and re- sulted, largely through the personal efforts of Mr. Davis, in securing from Congress for the people of the District the great measure of cquity embodied in the act providing a permanent form of government for the District of Colum- bia. These services have been highly appreciated. Mr. Davis is a Director of the Children's Hospital, of the Labor Exchange, and the Epiphany Church Home, and is also the Treasurer of two of these institutions. In musical matters he has always been greatly interested, and was at one time President of the Choral Society of Washington. In religious faith he is an Episcopalian, and has been for years a member of the Epiphany Church, of which he is

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 1, Part 75

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

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