USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 10
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 10
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of the Maryland Baptist Union Association for three years; and as a presiding officer he has shown an ability and skill unsurpassed by any of his predecessors. In this capacity he is peculiarly gifted. He has also served as one of the Managers of the Maryland Tract Society. He has been connected with the Masonic Order and temperance organi . zations for many years. Ilis religious views have always been strongly those of the denomination with which he affiliates. Ile believes in the entire separation of Church and State; a converted membership, and consecration of the whole life to the service of God, as an evidence of a saving faith. But he is not a bigot, and is always ready to co-operate with other organizations for the general good, enjoying the respect of ministers of all denominations. HIe is no politician. He was maried to Miss Virginia Bagby, of King and Queen County, Virginia, July 9, 1861, daughter of Mr. John Bagby, a well-known and successful merchant. She was sister to Rev. R. II. Bagby, D. D., who died in 1870. Rev. A. Bagby, a pastor in Virginia, and Rev. G. F. Bagby, a professor 'in Bethel College, Ken- tucky, are her brothers. James Pollard, a brother of the subject of this sketch, is a lawyer at the Baltimore bar. Ile married Miss Susie Tyler, a daughter of Dr. G. K. Tyler, a retired merchant of Baltimore. Dr. Pollard is of a lively and happy disposition ; firm in what he believes to be right ; full of carnestness and activity of body and mind.
ELLIOTT, WILLIAM, JR., A.M., Ph. D., Principal of the Baltimore City College, was born in that city December 30, 1821. His father, William Elliott, was a native of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, his ancestors having emigrated from England to Maryland about the year 1687. llis mother, Elizabeth (Sommerville) Elliott, was of Scotch-Irish descent and became a resident of this State with her widowed mother, Jane ( Keys) Sommerville, in the year 1805. Her family, though attached to the Protestant Episcopal Church, early in the history of Methodism welcomed Mr. Wesley and his fellow-laborers to their home. Young Elliott enjoyed the advantages of the best private institutions of learning in his native city, developing at these the character, and laying the foundation of that love of study which he has since exhibited. The rigid discipline which he under- went in the system of training pursued in these schools had great influence in turning him toward a professional career. In his early manhood he made choice of the business of teaching as his lifework, and' believing that in the pursuit of his calling, the public schools of his native city offered a wider field of usefulness than the private in. stitutions in which he had spent the first years of this service, he applied for and obtained, in April, 1850, a posi- tion in the Eastern Female lligh School of Baltimore,
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September 17, 1851, he was transferred to the Central Iligh School, now Baltimore City College. Since that time his life has been thoroughly identified with the progress of the Public School System, and he has been untiring in his efforts to advance its efficiency. The Board of School Commissioners, at various times, has shown its apprecia- tion of his zeal and energy as a teacher, by repeated pro- motions in the institution in which he has spent the larger part of his life. In August, 1873, on the death of Thomas D. Baird, LL.D., Principal of the Baltimore City Col- lege, he was chosen to be his successor. This position he now occupies, laboring with that degree of zeal and success which has always characterized him, and which has contrib- uted greatly to give character to the institution. As an evi- dence of the estimation in which he is held by his fellow- teachers he has been twice elected President of the Maryland State Teachers' Association, he has also been elected Presi- dent of the City Teachers' Association, and was chairman of the committee of public school teachers through whose efforts a monument was erected over the remains of Edgar Allan Poe. As a tribute to his scholarship and ability as an educator, he was the recipient of the honorary degree of A.M. from Dickinson College in 1857, and of the de- gree of Doctor of Philosophy from the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, in 1877. Besides having been con- nected with the 1. O. O. F. for a quarter of a century, he is an active member of the Maryland Ilistorical Society, a Manager of the Maryland Bible Society, and of the Henry Watson Children's Aid Society respectively. He is a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has creditably filled the several positions in that de- nomination which are open to laymen. Mr. Elliott was married, December 28, 1848, to Rosanna Bunting, daughter of John and Mary (Sommerville) Bunting. Of the nine children of this marriage only three are now living : Mary A. S., Thomas Ireland, and Rosa Elliott. The son is a graduate of Princeton College, of the class of 1876, and of the Law Department of the University of Maryland, in the class of 1878.
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OBINSON, JOSEPH HENRY, Editor of the Democrat and News, and Attorney-at-law, Cambridge, Mary- land, was born in Lakesville, Dorchester County, same State, October 28, 1840. Ilis father, Edward Creighton Johnson, was left an orphan at the early age of nine years, without means or influential friends, but the energetic boy immediately shipped on board a large sea schooner, and was rapidly promoted, until he had the proud honor of being appointed captain and commander before attaining his majority. A few years afterward hc married Amelia Ross Wallace, a refined and cultivated lady of Seotch descent. Ten children were the fruits of that
union, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second, who, after attending the public county schools, taught school for three years-being then the youngest teacher in the county. Ile then went to Dickinson College to com- plete his education. Although he had received no instruc- tion in the higher branches of mathematies, and only a few months' tuition from Rev. T. P. Barber, D.D., in the Latin and Greek, yet he had, whilst teaching school, pur- sued these studies with such success that he entered the Sophomore class of the college in 1860. Ile devoted his time so unceasingly to study, that during his Junior year his health completely broke down and brought on dyspep- sia in its most malignant form, from which he has never been entirely cured. His physician ordered him to aban- don his studies and seek some more active occupation. Ac- cordingly, he commenced the mercantile business in Cam- bridge, his father furnishing the means and becoming a silent partner. He transacted a very large business, but disliking it he purchased the Democrat and News, in 1867, and soon made it one of the leading papers on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It has always been the highest aim of Mr. Johnson, as an editor, to promote the interests of edu- cation among the masses, by furnishing a better class of schools and a higher grade of teachers; the development of home enterprises and industries ; and a purer, higher grade of morals among the people. The latter he believes can be best accomplished by inciting a greater love for temper- ance, schools, and churches. In 1874 he was admitted to practice law in all the Maryland courts, and has been en- gaged in many important cases, although ill-health on sev- eral occasions has seriously interfered with his practice. Ile is a man of great energy, and whatever he undertakes he always succeeds in accomplishing. Ile works sys- tematically, and thus transacts a wonderful amount of busi- ness. Ile takes deep interest in all enterprises that give employment to laboring men. A few years ago he pur- chased two acres of land in Cambridge, laid it off in squares, and built neat cottages suitable for mechanics and laboring men, and in twelve months from the date of the purchase one hundred and fifty inhabitants were occupying these dwellings. In 1877 he built a marine railway and shipyard in Cambridge that gives employment to a large number of carpenters, calkers, sailmakers, etc. Ile an- nually pays out to laborers more money than any other citizen in the county, and has done more for the laboring classes.' In the fall of 1877 he was nominated by the Democratic party for the Maryland Legislature, and re- ceived the largest number of votes in his district of any candidate on his ticket. In the Legislature he advocated all measures which he believed to be for the good of the State, with a freedom and independence that surprised his party friends, and opposed with equal force other measures which he believed injurious, although supported by the majority of his party. The Maryland Republican in speaking of Mr. Johnson said : "He was elected last
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fall to the House of Delegates by the Democratic party, this being the first time that he was ever a candidate for any office. lle is a fluent and able speaker, and has been one of the most independent members of the House, Clear, forcible, and judicious, he has looked closely after the interests of his constituents." Mr. Johnson has been an active member of the Masonic Order since 1866, and it has been mainly through his efforts the beautiful Masonic Temple in Cambridge has been built. He has travelled through most of the States in the Union, but especially in the North and West. Before reaching manhood he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. On the division of the churches several years ago, that of which he was a mem- ber affiliated with the Southern Branch.
¿RCHER, JOHN, eldest son of Dr. Robert II. Archer, was born in Cecil County, Maryland, in 1806. Ile received his rudimentary and academical education at Nottingham Academy, in that county. In 1822 he entered, as ,cadet, the Military Academy at West Point, and on graduating, four years later, was commissioned Second Lieutenant, and ordered to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. After several years' service on the frontier he was married, in 1833, to Ann, daughter of Thomas L. Savin, a lumber merchant of Port Deposit, Cecil County. He soon afterwards resigned his commission, and formed a partnership with his father-in-law. In the spring of 1846, having lost all his property, he made a tour on horseback through Texas, then recently admitted into the Union, and in the autumn of the same year removed with his family to the western portion of that State. Here he was engaged in farming and stock-raising until the secession of the State, when he repaired to Montgomery, Alabama, and tendered his services to the Confederate Government. He at once received a Captain's commis- sion, and upon the transfer of the government to Rich- mond, was assigned to the staff of General John Il. Winder, then Commandant and Provost-Marshal of that city. Soon afterwards he was offered by General A. Sid- ney Johnston, whose classmate he had been at West Point, a position on his staff, which he accepted ; but when about to set out for the General's headquarters in Kentucky, he was attacked by sickness, from the effects of which, as he had never enjoyed robust health, he suffered during the remainder of the war. He remained on General Winder's staff until 1863, when he was placed in command of Camp Jackson, near Richmond. Soon after he was appointed a member of the general court-martial sitting in the city of Richmond, which position he held until the spring of 1864, when he was sent by the Confederate Government with . secret dispatches to the commander of the Trans-Missis-
sippi Department. In crossing alone the Mississippi, then closely guarded by the enemy, he made a very narrow escape, being severely wounded. After the war he re- turned to Texas, and resumed the occupation of stock- raising with considerable success. When in his seventieth year he studied law, a profession to which his taste had always inclined him. In the following year he was ad- mitted to the bar, and soon afterwards was elected to the office of county Judge, and in 1878 was re-elected. In politics he was an old-line Whig until 1844, when the op- position of that party to the annexation of Texas induced him to join their opponents, since which time he has been an unswerving Democrat. He has three sons and three daughters, all of them married but two. All of his sons served with distinction in the Confederate Army ; they are now practicing lawyers in Texas, and stand high in their profession. Captain Archer is nearly six feet in height, of « slender form and delicate constitution, possessing, how- ever, an unusually vigorous mind, and a fearless and inde- pendent spirit. Ile resides in the town of llelena, Karnes County. For some years he has been a member of the Southern Methodist Church.
23200 RCHER, HENRY W., Attorney-at-law, son of Dr. John Archer, M.B., was born April 18, 1813, at Stafford, in Harford County. His collegiate course commenced at Yale and was completed at Union College, Schenectady, under the presi- dency of the celebrated Dr. Nott. He read law with Ilonorable Albert Constable, his brother-in-law ; was ad- mitted to the bar in Baltimore city in 1835, and commenced practicing his profession in Harford and Cecil counties. On June 7, 1849, he married Mary E., daughter of John W. and Elizabeth Walker, of Chestertown, Kent County, and soon afterwards removed to Bel Air. ITe early at- tained a high rank in his profession, and has a large and lucrative practice, which is constantly increasing. As a business lawyer, prompt and reliable, he enjoys an enviable reputation ; while as a pleader he has few equals, and no superior in the various courts where his practice lies, in- cluding the Court of Appeals. Devoted to his profession and applying himself closely to its duties he has had neither time nor inclination for political life. In 1845, however, he represented his native county in the State Legislature, and in 1867 was a member of the State Con- stitutional Convention of that year, in both of which posi- tions he took an active and prominent part. In politics Mr. Archer was an old-line Whig until 1861, when he cast his fortunes with the Democratic party and has ever since remained steadfast to its principles. He has nine children, five sons and four daughters. Ile is of medium height and well proportioned. Though .possessing considerable
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dignity of character, his address is pleasing and his man- ner courteous. Active in his habits and blessed with a vigorous constitution he seems as yet in the prime of life. He resides on hus farin near Bel Air, living in generous style, and dispensing hospitality with a lavish hand.
RCHER, ROBERT HARRIS, youngest son of Dr. John Archer, of Rock Run, was born in 1820, in Harford County. After a preparatory course in the county schools he entered St. Mary's College ; which, however, he left before the completion of his studies. Soon after attaining his majority he removed, with some friends, to Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, and engaged in the manufacture of lumber. This proving an unprofitable investment he returned to his native county, where he secured an interest in a large merchant mill at Rock Run, of which for several years he had the super- vision. On the breaking out of the Mexican war he was appointed Second Lieutenant of the company which his brother, the late Gencral James J. Archer, commanded, in the Voltieur regiment. He served with distinguished gal- lantry, until, in the midst of one of the bloody battles be- fore the city of Mexico, he was prostrated by a violent hæmorrhage from the lungs, and had to be carried from the field. This attack incapacitating him for further service he returned home, and it was a year or two before his health was fully re-established. On February 23, 1853, he married Ellen HI., only daughter of Rev. Reuben HI. Davis, of Harford County. This lady lived but a few years after her marriage. At the beginning of the late war Colonel Archer entered the Confederate Army, and served as a private at the first battle of Manassas. Ile was soon afterwards commissioned by Governor Letcher, Lieutenant- Colonel of the Fifty-fifth Virginia regiment, commanded by Colonel Mallory. In 1862 he was appointed Adjutant to his brother, General Archer, commanding the Tennes- see Brigade, in which position he distinguished himself in nearly all the great battles fought in Virginia, until he and his brother were captured at Gettysburg, July, 1863. In this battle he was severely wounded, and when convales- cent was sent, with other prisoners, to Johnson's Island, where he rejoined his brother. He was exchanged in the following autumn; but his health had been so seriously impaired by his confinement that he was unable to take part in any of the subsequent great battles. On the termi- nation of the war he returned home, and resided on his farm, on the Chesapeake Bay, until his death, which took place March 12, 1878. Colonel Archer was, in early life, an old-line Whig; but becoming convinced, several years before the war, that the South could secure her constitu- tional rights only on the basis of State soverignty, he went over to the Democratic party. He was distinguished from
early manhood for his high sense of honor, his unques- tionable bravery, and his independence of character. Ile was somewhat above medium height, and although slender in youth, had become quite stout before he attained his prime. He left but one son, Henry W. Archer, who is a member of the Baltimore bar.
ERCHER, GEORGE W., M.D., is the youngest son of the late Dr. Robert II. Archer, and was born near Churchville, in Harford County, Maryland. He received his rudimentary education in the county schools, finishing at Bel Air Academy. IIe then studied medicine under his father, and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania. Soon after receiving his degree he set out for Western Texas, with the view of practicing his profession. Finding there, however, a super- abundance of doctors, he joined a company of rangers, whose duty it was to protect the frontier from the Indians. In about eighteen months, his health having failed, he re- turned to his native county, and for several years after- wards was unfitted, by continued sickness, for active pur suits. In 1861 he joined the Confederate Army as sur- geon, and in that capacity served throughout the war, for a brief period in the field, but mainly in various hospitals in Virginia, Georgia, and Alabama. Six months after the con- clusion of the war he returned to Harford County, and has since been an invalid. Ile has, however, been a frequent contributor to various journals and magazines. In 1872 he published a novel founded on the events of the " Ga- chupin War" in Texas, which was favorably noticed by the press ; and has now ready for publication a novel re- lating to the late war between the States, besides a number of tales in verse.
ECCLESTON, JUDGE JOHN BOWERS, was born in 1794, in Kent County, Maryland: lle received his principal education at Washington College, near Chestertown, and adopted the legal profession. Soon after his admission to the bar of Kent County, he was elected, in 1819, to the Legislature of Maryland, but afterwards took very little interest in politics, devoting himself to his profession, in which he attaind eminence, and was deservedly ranked among the ablest lawyers in Maryland. He was elected, April 23, 1821, one of the vestrymen of Chester Parish, and February 9, 1824, was made one of the Visitors and Governors of Wash- ington College. He was appointed, February 8, 1832, one of the Associate Judges of the Second Judicial Dis- triet of Maryland, consisting of Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's, and. Talbot counties, and when the judiciary was re-
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organized in 1851, he was elevated to the bench of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, which position he filled until his death. Judge Recleston was the son of Samuel Recleston, who married Ann Bowers, daughter of Thomas Bowers, of Kent County, and had three children : Jolm Bowers Ecclestou, the subject of this sketch ; Ann Eliza- beth Eccleston, who married, in 1815, John Ringgold Wilmer, son of Simon and Ann ( Ringgold) Wilmer; and Mary louisa Eccleston, who married, in 1819, Elias Marsh. Samuel Eccleston married a second time, Martha Ring- gold, and had a fourth child, the Most Rev. Samuel Ec- cleston, 1).D., of the Roman Catholic Church, who was consecrated, September 14, 1834, the fifth Archbishop of Baltimore, and died in 1851. Samuel Eccleston died in 1802. Judge John B. Eccleston married twice; first, July 26, 1827, Ann M. P. Clarkson, of Chestertown; secondly, November 2, 1829, Augusta Chambers Houston, daughter of Judge James and Augustine (Chambers) Houston, and had the following children : Augusta Cham- bers Eccleston, who died in 1832; a second Augusta Chambers Eccleston, who married, December 28, 1853, Samuel M. Shoemaker, of Baltimore; Samuel; James Ilouston; Miriam ; James Kent Harper; and Ann Isabel Eccleston, who died young. Judge Eccleston died at his residence, in Chestertown, November 12, 1860, greatly beloved for his amiable disposition and admired for the singular purity of his character.
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NABE, WILLIAM, Piano-Forte Manufacturer, was born at Kreusburg, in the Duchy of Saxe Weimar, June 3, 1803. His father, who was an apotlie- cary, intended that his son should be educated for a profession, but owing to the loss of property occa- sioned by the calamities of war during the invasion of Germany by the French in 1812-13, he was unable to carry out his plans in this direction, and apprenticed young William to a cabinet-maker, where, after learning his trade according to the German custom, and working at the same for two years in different places, he apprenticed himself for three years to Langenhahn, a piano-forte manu- facturer at Gotha, after which he travelled for six years, visiting the principal cities of Germany, being everywhere recognized as an excellent piano maker. In 1833 he con- tracted an engagement of marriage with Miss Christiana Ritz, of Saxe Meiningen, who soon after cmigrated to America with her family, accompanied by Mr. Knabe, with the expectation on his part of settling on a farm in the State of Missouri, but learning of the difficulties to be overcome in a journey so far West, he came to Balti- more, Maryland, with the intention of remaining at least one year, in order to become better acquainted with the language and customs of the country. Here he found em-
ployment with Mr. 11. Hartge, the original inventor of iron piano frames, at five dollars per week, which was soon in- creased to eight dollars per week, and he then consummated his marriage engagement with Miss Kitz, By industry and economy he in four years accumulated sufficient capital to induce him to give up the idea of going to Missouri, and commenced business for himself in the purchase, sale, and repairing of old pianos, in a frame building on the corner of Lexington and Liberty streets. In 1839 he formed a copartnership with Mr. H. Gaehle, under the firm name of Knabe & Gaehle, for the purpose of engaging in the busi- ness of manufacturing piano-fortes. This connection proved eminently successful, and resulted in their being compelled to remove, in 1841, to the corner of German and Liberty streets, and again, in 1843, to the corner of Eutaw Street and Cowpen Alley, and four years later, ow- ing to increased business, to the still more commodious quarters, Nos. 1, 3, 5, and 7 North Eutaw Street. In 1851 they had two large establishments, one on Baltimore Street, near Paca, the other on Cowpen Alley, in the rear of the Eutaw House, both of which were destroyed by fire in November, 1854, causing a heavy loss, that nothing but remarkable industry and perseverance could replace. In 1855 Mr. Gachle died, but the business was continued by Mr. Knabe, under the name of William Knabe & Co., a name which has since become a household word all over the United States. The old paper-mill, on the corner of West and China streets, was purchased for a factory, and subsequently, in 1860, the present immense structure was commenced, at the corner of Eutaw and West streets, fronting two hundred and ten feet on the former street, and one hundred and sixty-five on the latter, but, owing to the serious interruption of business by the war, was not fully completed with its additions until 1869. It is now one of the most extensive factories of the kind in the country, furnishing employment to a large number of skilled workmen, and capable of turning out forty pianos every week. As early as August, 1855, Mr. Knabe com- menced to compete for the prizes offered by the Maryland Institute for the best piano exhibited at its fair, and against more than twenty competitors, bore off the gold medal, since which, medals, diplomas, and premiums, almost without number, evidence the skill and excellence of work- manship displayed in the pianos manufactured by William Knabe & Co. Mr. Knabe died May 21, 1864, and the business which he founded and left at his death in a highly prosperous condition, was continued, and has ever since been successfully' conducted by his sons, William and Ernest Knabe, and his son-in-law, Charles; Keidel, under the old firm name of William Knabe & Co., with their extensive office and salesrooms at No. 204 and 206 West Baltimore . Street, and No. 112 Fifth Avenue, New York. The qualities which Mr. Knabe possessed in an eminent degree, seldom fail to command success in any enterprise, and are worthy of imitation by all who have
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