USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 11
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 11
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the desire to make their mark in the world, and to be of service to mankind. Ile was beloved by his employes, honored and respected by his business acquaintances for his integrity, energy, and faithfulness to all his engage- ments, and will ever be held in grateful remembrance by the many thousands to whose enjoyment his skill and in- genuity have contributed.
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MICHELBERGER, OTHO WELSH, Wholesale Gro- cer, Baltimore, Maryland, was born in that city, October 15, 1799. He was the youngest in a family of five sons and six daughters, of whom only one, a daughter, now survives. His father, Martin Eichelberger, was born in York, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1759. He ran away from home in 1777 to join the regi- ment of his native town, in which he served during the Revolution. He was present at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, crossed the Delaware to fight the battle of Trenton, and spent the memorable winter of 1778 at Valley Forge. He acted as Captain for several years though gazetted as First Lieutenant, as an officer of which rank he drew a pension until his death in 1840. He mar- ried, in 1781, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Jacob Walsh, a prominent merchant of Baltimore, in which city at the close of the war he also became a merchant. As soon as Baltimore was made a port of entry by the Federal Gov- ernment, he was appointed Weighmaster of the port by General Washington, a position he occupied under each successive administration until his resignation in 1837, a most remarkable case of continuation in office. He died October 3, 1840. His widow survived him till February 7, 1855. Only two of their children entered the matri- monial state. The eldest, Eliza, married Nicholas G. Ridgely, of the firm of Macdonald & Ridgely, and died February 10, 1803, leaving one daughter, who married John Ridgely, of Hampton. Her children and grandchildren are the present Ridgelys of Hampton. The second daughter, Maria, married John Clemm, who while acting as Sergeant of Artillery in Fort MelIenry, was killed by the bursting of a shell, September 14, 1814. His name is inscribed on Battle Monument. They had two daughters, of whom the elder died young, and her sister married Commodore Daniel B. Ridgely, of the United States Navy. She died in 1850, leaving one son, Dr. Nicholas G. Ridgely. The three eldest sons of Martin Eichelberger were all in Fort McHenry during the bombardment in 1814. Mrs. Eichelberger lived till her ninety-third year. Five generations were often represented at her table. Her eldest brother, Jacob Walsh-who believed that this was the proper mode of spelling the name-married the daughter of Major Yates, of the firm of Vates & Harrison. Their son, T. Yates Walsh, was a prominent lawyer and
politician of Baltimore, and member of Congress from that city. Their daughter Elizabeth married Archibald Stirling, President of the Savings Bank of Baltimore, whose son, Archibakl Stirling, Jr., is the present United States District Attorney. Otho W. Eichelberger, the sub. ject of this sketch, was sent to Yale College, but recalled in 1819, to enter the service of Macdonald & Ridgely, wholesale grocers, located at Nos. I and 3 South Iloward Street, at which place of business he continued through life in the several capacities of clerk, bookkeeper, partner, and proprietor. " The warehouse now in occupancy was built by the above firm in the year 1800. Mr. Eichelberger was largely successful in business. Ile died January 30, 1879.
YAULT, MATTHEW, late of the firm of Matthew Gault & Son, Granite, Bluestone, and Slate Roofing dealers, was born at Bow, New Hampshire, Au- gust 24, 1819. The Gault family is of Norman origin, their ancient name being Fitz-Gaultier. With many other Normans they were taken to Scotland by Malcolm III, in the last half of the eleventh century, for the purpose of instructing the natives in the Norman system of military tactics, and infusing them with the spirit of Norman chivalry. The great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Samuel Gault, was born in a town on the Frith-of-Forth, North of Scotland, in 1680. He re- moved to Wales, where he married Elsie Carlton, a Welsh lady. They returned to Scotland, where several children were born unto them. Subsequently they removed to Lon- donderry, Ireland, and in 1721 came to America, settling in Chester, now Hooksett, New Hampshire, on what was known as the " Londonderry Grant," the original settlers of which were Scotch-Irish. He built a house for himself (which was known as the Garrison House during the French and Indian war), on the farm now owned and occu- pied by the widow and son of his grandson. ITis children were Andrew, Samuel, Jane, and Patrick, the first three being natives of Scotland, and the last-mentioned of Ire- land. Andrew, great-grandfather of Matthew Gault, located in Pembroke, New Hampshire, and built a house which is still in the family. Andrew married Mollie Ayer, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, by whom he had a son, Matthew, born in Pembroke, 1747, who was the grand- father of the late Matthew Gault (married Elizabeth Bun- tin). IIe was Aid-de-camp to Caleb Stark {son of Gene- ral John Stark), in the Revolutionary war, and was in the battles of Bennington, Monmouth, Saratoga, Stillwater, and at Valley Forge. Captain Andrew Buntin, great-grand- father on the grandmother's side, was also in the Revolu- tionary war, and was killed at White Plains by one of his guard, while trying the latter, who was suspected of being
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untrne. His son Andrew, father of Matthew, was born in the above place in 1781. He married Sallie Knox, by whom he had seven children, five sons and two daughters, Matthew, who died in infancy, Cyrus, Daniel, Andrew, Matthew (the subject of this sketch), Aunie, and Eliza. Matthew's education was received in the plain country schools in the neighborhood of the place of his nativity, and the fondness with which he, even in the later years of his life, dwelt upon the incidents of his schoolboy days, illustrated what an indelible impression they had made upon his mind and memory. Having inherited the robust constitution and fondness for athletic sports of his Scotch ancestors he was particularly agile, and exceeded in the active physical exercises of the boys of his time. As he had the advantage of the teachings and pious example of a Christian mother, his moral cul- ture must have been of a high order. At the age of seven- teen years he went to Baltimore, where his brother Cyrus was engaged in the granite business with John B. Emery, under the firm name of Emery & Gault. With them Mat- thew learned his trade, a portion of his apprenticeship being spent in Washington, District of Columbia, where the firm had a contract on the General Post-office building, and where young Gault cut and elaborately designed a cap for one of the Corinthian pillars of that structure, which attested his artistic skill. Shortly after attaining his ma- jority he formed a partnership with Matthew G. Emery, under the firm name of Gault & Emery, whose establish- ment was located near the old Baltimore Railroad depot at Washington, D. C. Owing to failing health he was compelled to return to Baltimore in 1847, where he re- entered into business with his brother, under the firm name of Gault & Brother, January 1, 1848, he taking the place of John B. Emery. The firm of Gault & Brother supplied the granite for the vault in the Treasury Building at Wash- ington, and cut the " Memorial Stone " furnished by Mary- land for the National Washington Monument. They were also co-contractors for the United States Patent Office at Washington. They dissolved partnership in 1865, and Matthew Gault continued the business on his own account. In January, 1869, he associated with him his son William A. Gault, under the style of M. Gault & Son, the business now being conducted with the same firm name at the corner of West Pratt, and Penn streets, Baltimore, The house owns a granite quarry at Guilford, Howard County, Mary- land. To the granite and bluestone business was added, in 1860, the slate-roofing feature. This establishment has slate- roofed hundreds of public and private buildings in Balti- more and throughout Maryland and in other States, and has been signally successful in Mansard roofing. In 1845 Matthew Gault married Miss Laura Cordelia, daughter of the late William G. Deale, of Washington city, who, with seven children, survived him, the latter being Wil- liam A., Arraanna D. (Polk), S. Louisa (Applegarth), Matthew, Charles K., Herbert K., and Edward A. Gault.
He died suddenly at Wesley Grove Camp Meeting, Au- gust 4, 1877, and his death was lamented by all who knew him. The following tribute to his worth, as a citizen and a Christian, appeared in an editorial in the Baltimore Journal of Commerce on the occasion of his death : " Ile was no ordinary man, but was distinguished for many en- nobling traits of character. He was gentle and forbear- ing, though firm in his convictions of duty; very chari- table and sympathetic of heart, though perfectly void of ostentation ; a man of sound judgment and capable of ad- vising, but modest and unobtrusive in his habits. As a business man he was enterprising and energetic, tempered with caution and a scrupulous care in all the details, com- bined with the nicest sense of honor, and the strictest probity and promptness in all his engagements. In fact, in all the relations of life, at home or abroad, the true Christian and gentleman marked his unvarying deport- ment. The life of Matthew Gault furnishes an example to all who knew him every way worthy of emulation." Throughout life he maintained a consistent Christian char- acter, endearing himself to all his associates by its beauty and purity. Ile had a keenly sensitive mental organiza- tion, with a fine development of the perceptive faculty, and was very observant of the actions, whilst he appeared to penetrate the motives, of those around him. He was very decided in his convictions on all subjects, but tolerant in regard to opinions of others. He was remarkably regular and methodical in his habits; was an early riser, tem- perate and abstemious, avoiding all stimulating drinks, and never using tobacco. He possessed a very sociable dis- position, and was a man of infinite humor, when the occa- sion or surroundings justified its exercise, never in his most lively sallies of wit causing the slightest offence to any one. One of his crowning virtues was his thorough devo- tion to his family. Ile was a kind and faithful husband, a considerate and indulgent father. Ile appreciated the value of a good education, and afforded his children every facility for the acquisition of knowledge, both secular and religious. In regard to the latter we would remark, as illustrative of his Christian character, as well as his moral training of his family, that when his children were ready to retire for the night, he would narrate to them in an in- structive manner Bible incidents, and impart to them the sublime lessons to be deduced therefrom. Mr. Gault, in his earliest manhood, joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, under the telebrated Rev. John Newland Maffit. For several years he was a Trustee of the Fayette Street, Franklin Street, and Union Square Methodist Episcopal churches. During the troublous times incident to the American civil war he united with the Chatsworth Inde- pendent Methodist Church. In 1874 he became con- nected with Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church South, of which he was Treasurer until his death. He was Vice- President of the Wesley Grove Camp Meeting Association from its organization to his demise.
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OUCK, JACOB W., M.D., was born July 2, 1822, in Frederick County, Maryland. llis father, Jacob Houck, was for many years a merchant in Frederick City and also in Baltimore. His ances- fors were among the earliest settlers of Frederick County, and were principally engaged in agricultural pur- snits. Dr. Houck received the rudiments of his educa- tion in Baltimore, and attended the University of Mary- land School of Letters. In 1840 he began the study of medicine in the office of Professors William N. and Samuel Baker, with whom he continued until their death ; and afterward continued his studies in the office of Professor Nathan Potter. He graduated in, medicine in 1843 from . the University of Maryland School of Medicine. A few months later, he entered the Baltimore Infirmary, where he remained one year, being the principal assistant of Professor Nathan R. Smith in all his important operations in surgery. The following year was spent in the Balti- more City and County Almshouse, where he was asso- eiated with Drs. Christopher Johnston, Frank Donaldson, William T. Howard, and others. In 1846 he was elected one of the physicians to the Baltimore General Dispen- sary, which position he retained for six years. He was then appointed Physician to the Marine Hospital, which position he held for two years. For the next six years he served as Commissioner of Health for the city of Balti- more. In 1868 he was appointed Physician to the Balti- more City Jail, which position he now holds. Dr. Hlouek is a member of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland and the Baltimore Academy of Medicine. Ile has been successfully engaged in the practice of his pro- fession for the past twenty-five years. In 1852 he mar- ried Miss Susan F., daughter of the late James Porter, of Baltimore County, and has six children living.
TOBB, JOHN A., Register of Baltimore city, was born February 8, 1829, and was one of a family of seven children, whose parents were John A. and Cornelia (Cheney ) Robb. His father was of Scotch descent, and was born in New York, in 1789. He took an active part in the war of 1812, and was stationed on Long Island. Ile came to Baltimore to build the frigate " Baltimore," for the Brazilian Government, and remaining, became one of the most prominent shipbuilders of the city. He was Captain of the First Ward Guards at the time of the Maryland Bank Riots in 1838. His wife belonged to one of the Knickerbocker families of New York. Mr. John A. Robb enjoyed in early life the best advantages of education. Ile attended the well-known school of the English disciplinarian and mathematician, Richard Walker, on Fell's Point. To his training and thoroughness of instruction many of the leading merchants and publie men of Baltimore owe in great measure their success in life. Mr. Robb remained with him ten years,
and in 1845 entered the counting-room of Samuel Phillips & Co., grain commission merchants, on Bowley's Wharf, as bookkeeper. After three years he became bookkeeper for the Fell's Point Savings Tustitution, known afterward as the Second National Bank, of which John W. Randolph was Treasurer. Here he remained two years and was ap- pointed Collection Clerk in what is now the National Farmers' and Planters' Bank. In 1850 he became Corres- pondent Clerk in the Union Bank till 1856, when with Wil- liam J. Barney- & Co., Banking and Land Company, he emigrated West. They went to Dubuque, Iowa, and after six months opened a branch establishment at Fort Dodge, and one at Decorah, Iowa. Mr. Robb became a member of the firm, with which he remained till the crisis of 1860, and the failure of John Thompson, the New York broker, and of the Ohio Life and Trust Co. Ile returned to Bal- .. timore in 1861, and was with his father in the shipbuilding 'business until the close of the war. In November, 1867, he was elected to the State Legislature, and in 1869 be- came the Chief Clerk in the Register Office ; the following year he was elected Register of the city of Baltimore, to which office he was, in January, 1878, re-elected by the City Council for his fifth term, which expires in 1880. He has discharged his official duties with great ability and effi- ciency, and with entire satisfaction to the public. Mr. Robb entered the Masonie Order about the time of laying the corner-stone of the Masonie Temple. Ile is a member of the St. Andrew's Scotch Society, of which his father was one of the original members. Ile belongs to the Demo- eratic party ; is liberal in his religious views, Ile married Mary C. Ball, of Harford County. They have three chil- dren.
USSELL, ALEXANDER WILSON, Captain and Pay -- Director in the United States Navy, the second son of Robert Greer and Susan Hood ( Worthing- ton) Russell, was born in Frederick County, Mary- land, February 4, 1824. His father was a native of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and his mother of Montgomery County, Maryland, where she now resides in her eighty- eighth year, living in the house in which was held the first County Court for Rockville Court-house. It was then owned by her grandfather, Joseph Wilson, and was built nearly a century and a half ago. A sister of Robert Greer Russell, and also his brother, Judge S. R. Russell, are still residing at Gettysburg, the home of the family for the last one hundred and fifty years. The first settler of the name was the great-grandfather of Pay-Director Russell, one of whose sons; Alexander, married Mary McPherson, a sister of Colonel John MePherson, Sr., of Frederick County, Maryland, and both these two young men served as officers in the American Army during the Revolutionary war. The three sons of Robert Greer Russell all served in the Mexican war-the eldest, the late Major William Worthington Rus-
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sell, on the United States ship Independence, on the Pa- citic coast, where he was breveted for gallantry. He was very popular and highly esteemed for his excellencies of character and efficiency as an officer. In the late war he served as o volunteer aid on the staff, of tienerals Mcclel lan, Patterson, and Banks. In the Peninsula of Virginia he contracted a fever which proved the ultimate cause of his death, his demise occurring October 31, 1862. The third son is Captain John Henry Russell, of the United States Navy. Mr. Russell received his academic education in Gettysburg and at Frederick, and commenced the study of law, but in 1842 entered the naval service. He first served two years as captain's clerk on the sloop of war Sara- toga, one of the squadron sent out under Commodore M. C. Perry, for the suppression of the slave trade. The ap- pointment of Mr. Russell being limited to the end of the cruise, he was after that variously employed till the Mexi- can war, when he served in the Mounted Rifle Regiment, Company C, under Captain Samuel HI. Walker, Texas Ranger, and rose to the highest position in the company that a volunteer soldier could attain. Attacked by a disease . incident to the climate, he remained till he was reduced to eighty-seven pounds in weight, and his only hope of life lay in an immediate return. From the vicinity of the city of Mexico he made his way alone and unaided through the enemy's country to the sea, by assuming the disguise of a Mexican, and slipping into the train of a British officer who was passing over that route. He had, however, a number of hairbreadth escapes, and at one stopping-place, oversleeping himself, in consequence of his ill and ex- hausted condition, was left behind by the train while still thirty miles from the sea. Starting on his mustang to over- take them he was twice fired upon by guerillas, was once taken prisoner and robbed, but was finally permitted to proceed, reaching Vera Cruz in safety, and finding there a steamer in which he sailed at once for New Orleans. From that city he had a long and painful journey, the lat- ter part of it by stage from Wheeling over the mountains, reaching his home in Rockville just as nature utterly gave way. It was a year before he recovered. The feat was one unparalleled during that war, and required a degree of coolness and courage rarely possessed. On his recovery he served as clerk in the Interior Department, and after- ward for nine years as Chief Clerk of the Coast Survey Office. He also served three sessions, from 1858 to 1861, as Clerk of the Committee of Naval Affairs in the United States Senate. While holding this office, in 1859, he re- ceived a letter signed by all the members of the committee, requesting him to prepare for publication a recompilation of the " Naval Laws of the United States," which he accom- plished with such success as to secure the commendation of the most eminent lawyers in the country. On February 28, 1861, he was appointed by President Buchanan to the position of Paymaster in the regular navy. In April and May of the same year he was attached to the steamer Po-
cahontas, on duty in the Potomae River and Chesapeake Bay, from which he was transferred to the sloop of war Savannah, of the North and South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and was in the Savannah River at the capture of Tybee Island. On April i, of the next year, he was appointed to the steam frigate Colorado, and was engaged in the capture of the forts in the Mississippi River and at New Orleans. From thence he was transferred to the ironclad steamer New Ironsides, special service, on which, knowing him to be thoroughly conversant with the naval laws, Admiral Dahlgren required him, against his protest, to act as Judge Advocate for a general court-martial, con- vened for the trial of a number of persons for serious of- fences. This duty, in addition to the heavy responsibilities of Senior Pay-Officer in a fleet of vessels numbering twenty- five or more, he discharged, receiving for its faithful and able performance the unusual compliment of a commen- datory letter from the Admiral. He was with the South Atlantic Squadron in 1863 and 64, when, in the official dis- patches of Commodore, now Vice-Admiral Rowan, com- manding the New Ironsides, he was specially thanked " for great zeal and ability in command of the powder and shell division," during the twenty-seven engagements with the forts and batteries of Charleston harbor. In 1864 and '65 he was on the receiving-ship North Carolina, at New York; in 1866, on the steamer Chattanooga, special ser- vice; and in 1866-67, on the steam-sloop Sacramento, spe- cial service, till it was wrecked in the Bay of Bengal, on the coast of India. Ile was made Inspector of Provisions and Clothing in the Navy Vard at Washington from 1868 to 1870, and from 1870 to '73, was in the Navy Pay-Office at Philadelphia. March 3, 1871, he was promoted to the office of Pay-Inspector. From October, 1873, to January 15, 1874, he was Inspector of Provisions and Clothing in the Navy Yard at Philadelphia, and was in the Navy Pay- Office in the same city from 1874 to '77. In that year, February 23, he was promoted to the office of Pay-Direc- tor, the highest in his corps. The rank attained by Pay- Director Russell bears the highest testimony to his bravery, efficiency, and worth. Since March 31, 1877, he has been in the Navy Pay-Office in Baltimore. He was married in 1855 to Julia, daughter of William HI. Campbell, of Wash- ington. They have six children: William Campbell, Elizabeth Lamar, Susan Worthington, Virginia Fletcher, Alexander Wilson, and Julia Campbell.
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ICKS, COLONEL HOOPER C., youngest son of Henry and Mary (Sewell) Hicks, was born in Dorchester County, Maryland, November 27, 1819. When six years of age he lost his father, and was taken into the family of his brother, Thomas Holliday Ilicks, with whom he had a pleasant home and a happy
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childhood. Under the eare of his brother, who was after- wards Governor of Maryland, a kind, generous, and noble- hearted man, he received a good common-school educa- tion, and after attaining his majority, was engaged in various kinds of business. During the administration of President Fillmore he was Collector of the Port of Vienna. The custom-house of that place has since been removed to Crisfield. In 1861 he was offered the position of Col- lector of Revenue for the First District of Maryland, which he declined. While his brother filled the offices of Governor and Senator, Colonel Ilicks was his chief ad- viser and counsellor. Ile was almost always beside him, and with him he consulted frequently, giving him his un- reserved confidence. In that time of war, excitement, and confusion, such ready assistance, counsel, and suggestion was invaluable to the Governor, and the many official and semi-official acts of service performed by his brother, added materially to the eminent success of his administration. It was during that time that he was appointed one of the Governor's staff, and received the title of Colonel. From 1865 to 1870 Colonel Hicks was one of the Appraisers of Customs in Baltimore, under Collector Webster; since which time he has been engaged in business in that city. Ile is now interested in a patent stove, which is proving a decided success. He is a gentleman of high character, an extensive acquaintance with men and affairs, and an earnest patriot. Ile was originally an old-line Whig, but since the rebellion has been identified with the Republican party. Although he was a slave-owner he voted for Emancipation. Colonel Hicks was married in 1842 to Martha Acworth, of Dorchester County, who died three years later, leaving him one child, a daughter. In 1847 he married her sister, Harriet Ann Acworth, by whom he has eight children.
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