USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 22
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 22
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lifth year. The daughter remaining is Mrs. Evalina Hall Hopper, wife of David C. Hopper, of the same county. In 1836 Mr. McCollister married Catharine, daughter of Robert Godwin, farmer, of Queen Anne's County. Of the seven children of this mion, five are now living : Mary R., who resides with her parents; John C., whose farm adjoins his father's; Mrs. William T. Todd, whose husband is a merchant of Church Hill; Samuel G., a farmer near that place ; and Charles McCollister, Jr., who now takes the care of the Hermitage estate.
ORACON
MCKEE, WILLIAM J. C., was born June 8, 1834, in Worcester County, Maryland, where he still re- sides, in the town of Snow Hill. He was the youngest in a family of eight children. Ilis father, Stephen McKee, a shoemaker, was of Scotch-Irish descent, his parents having emigrated to this country and State just before the Revolution. Ile married Esther, daughter of John Tilghman, a farmer of Worcester County. They were very poor, and lived remote from any schoolhouse, consequently William had but few educa- tional advantages. At the age of eight he commenced to work in his father's shop and on the farm. His father taught him his letters, beyond which his education was self-acquired ; yet he learned to read and write as early as most boys. In time he became a good penman, and by diligent reading and study at night, was as well educated as others of the same age. At an early age he began to learn the trade of a house carpenter, and before he was eighteen years of age, could put up barns and dwellings, directing the labors of three or four others under him. For some time he did the work of carpenter, bricklayer, plasterer, and painter, and was also undertaker for the neighborhood. When twenty years of age, he built for himself, at Colbourn's Mill, a carriage and wheelwright shop, in which he made the wood-work for wagons and carriages, and for eight years continued to do a prosperous business. One instance of his skill, which attracted special attention, was a time mahogany medical chest which he made for Dr. Morris, of Princess Anne, containing sixty- four compartments, and unfolding three times, and so ar- ranged as to expose forty-eight bottles and labels at once. lu 1862 Mr. McKee undertook for one year the business of farming in the vicinity of Snow Hill, leaving it the next year to become a watchmaker and jeweller in that town, which trade he had learned the previous years. That business he still pursues, He at first devoted him- self to it so closely that his health failed, and after two years he was obliged to seek, in connection with it, some more active employment. Accordingly, he resumed the carriage-making and undertaking business, and in addition bought thirty-seven acres of land in the vicinity of the
town, to the cultivation of which he gave some attention. Silver-plating he first studied from the books, then went to Philadelphia to gain a thorough and practical knowledge of the business. While there he was, for a time, employed by the manager of the American Bank Note Engraving Company to transfer their notes from rolls to steel plates, and his work proved highly satisfactory. Mr. McKee is now the owner of one hundred and seventy-five acres of land near the town of Snow Hill, and of several houses and lots within its limits. He attributes a large share of the success which has attended him to his early com- mencement of the Christian life He united, when in his sixteenth year, with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a liberal supporter, and to which his wife was equally devoted. He married, January 6, 1858, Rachel, daughter of William and Mary Colbourn, of Worcester County. She died, November 29, 1876, leaving him three « sons and one daughter.
UGGINS, AMBROSE LODGE, Agent of the Mer- chants' and Miners' Transportation Company, Baltimore, Maryland, was born in Middletown, Frederick County, Virginia, June 8, 1819. His father, William Huggins, a wheelwright and farmer, was of English descent, and a patriot of the war of 1812. His mother, Hannah Frances (Rogers) Huggins, was of Irish Presbyterian extraction. Her father, Thomas Rogers, actively participated in the American Revolution. Wil- liam Huggins died in 1824, when his son Ambrose was but five years of age, leaving him and two brothers and a sister to the care of his widow, who survived him until 1852. When Ambrose had reached the age of eleven he was apprenticed to Isaac Harrison, a highly respected merchant miller of Middletown. By this early entry upon the struggles of life his school education was of necessity very limited, but his mind was naturally vigorous, and his powers of application remarkable. In the Sunday-school which he attended, having one hundred competitors, he took the prize for committing to memory, in his leisure moments, during the short space of three weeks, one. thousand seven hundred and fifty verses from the Bible. He acquired a valuable knowledge of the milling business during his apprenticeship, and in 1838, in the nineteenth year of his age, removed to Winchester, Virginia, where he became a clerk in a forwarding and commission house. Ile afterwards was engaged in the same line of business in Georgetown, District of Columbia. In 1842 he en- tered upon the study of medicine, which he pursued for two years, but ultimately abandoned it and returned to his former business, connecting himself with a house in Cum- berland. In that place, in 1850, he entered, as clerk, in the employ of the Baltimore and Chio Railroad Company.
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After three years he was promoted to the position of agent at that point, and in 1858 was transferred to Baltimore, to assume the duties of Assistant Master of Transportation. In this position he served about one year. On the ist of January, 1859, he was appointed to his present position as agent for the Merchants' and Miners' Transportation Company, which has a line of splendid steamships plying between the ports of Baltimore, Norfolk, Boston, Provi- dence, and Savannah. This company had been formed but five years previously, and for twenty years Mr. ling- gins has occupied his responsible post, and has had a large share in promoting its growth and prosperity. Perhaps no one has done more to secure the reputation for promptness, integrity, and regard for the rights and interests of the pub- lic which this company enjoys. Mr. Huggins was mar- ried in February, 1847, at Clarysville, near Cumberland, to Mary Ann, daughter of Gerard Clary, a highly respected farmer and hotel proprietor. Of the seven children of this marriage, five are living: Ellwood, Hameline, Guil- ford, Lindley, and Camilla. The last-named is the wife of Thomas Sewell, a tobacco merchant of Baltimore. The youngest son is named for the eminent botanist, and quite singularly has a marked taste for the same study. He has a fine collection of about one thousand plants. He is a student in the Baltimore City College. The sons, Ellwood and Guilford, are conducting, on their father's account and in his name, the tobacco commission business, on West Baltimore Street. Mr. Huggins enjoys excellent health and has a robust constitution. His manner is most cordial and gentlemanly, winning him great popularity. For many years he has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, and now holds the position of Past Master in that Order. His residence is in the beautiful suburbs of Peabody Heights, Baltimore County.
JROTTER, PETER, was born in Mid Lothian, Scot- land, in 1831. His father was William Trotter, of the same place. He died in 1858. Ilis mother was Miss Jean, daughter of John Fogry, of Mid Lothian. She died in Scotland in 1872, Mr. Trot- ter is the ninth of a family of eleven children; four of whom are living in Scotland. He came to this country in 1853, landing in the city of New York. He attended various schools until his fifteenth year, when he was ap- prenticed by his father to the blacksmithing business, the person to whom he was indentured being William Oliver, of Lone Head, Haddingtonshire, Scotland. He remained with Oliver until he was nineteen years old, and then served for a year in the millwrighting business. On at- taining his majority he went to Tipperary County, Ireland, and engaged in agricultural blacksmithing for over four years. During this period he was awarded by the Royal
Agricultural Society of Ireland an elegant silver medal for the best agricultural grubber. Mr. Trotter has great me - chanical skill, and his works have placed him among the foremost mechanics of the State. He located in Bryan- town, Charles County, in 1855, where he is actively en- gaged in blacksmithing and carriage and wagon-making. Ile has invented a patent carriage axle of peculiar con- struction, self-lubricating, and never wearing ont. It like- wise possesses but little friction. Mr. Trotter is a Master Mason, and is connected with Evening Star Lodge, St. Mary's County. In politics he is a Democrat, and in re- ligion a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was married in 1852 (whilst in Ireland ) to Harriet, daugh- ter of Henry Quarman, of England. He has seven chil - dren living, five daughters and two sons.
9 OWARD, FRANK KEY, eldest son of Charles How- ard, and a grandson of Colonel John Eager How- ard and of Francis Scott Key, anthor of the " Star- Spangled Banner," was born October 25, 1826. Ile was educated for the bar, to which profession he devoted himself for several years, but his tastes and talents were decidedly literary, and he became, soon after the es- tablishment of the Daily Exchange, one of the editors of that journal, the predecessor of the present Gazette. He was a forcible and vigorous writer, remarkably indepen- dent, but in the expression of his opinions and in his com- ments upon public men and affairs he was always actuated by the highest aims and motives. The newspaper was " suppressed," and Mr. Howard was arrested by the mili- tary power on September 13, 1861. After an imprison- ment in Fort Lafayette and Fort Warren of fourteen months, Mr. Howard was released with the other Mary- land prisoners. He published two pamphlets, entitled Fourteen Months in American Bastiles, and The Southern Rights and Union Parties in Maryland Contrasted. Upon the establishment of the Daily Gazette, Mr. Howard be- came the principal editor, and filled that position until 1871. He died in London, England, May 29, 1872. Mr. Howard served as a member of the City Council, and was active in the Reform movement, in the service of which he risked his life.
BONES, ROBERT CHEW, EsQ., Attorney and Coun- sellor at Law, was born at Kent Island, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, January 20, 1843. His father is Richard Ireland Chew Jones, of Annapolis, Maryland. His mother's maiden name was Mary Golds- borongh Paseanlt, danghter of Lewis Charles Paseanlt. She died in 1862 ; his father is still living. The maiden name of
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his father's mother was Miss Chew, and that of his mother's mother Miss Goldsborongh. His parents' fathers were both officers in the United States Anny in the war of 1812. The subject of this sketch received a thorough education in all the branches of English culture, together with Latin, mathematics, and general history, at the Academy in Easton, Talbot County, Maryland. He was naturally fond of study, and therefore was very regular in his attendance at school. After leaving school, being then in his eighteenth year, he joined the Confederate Army, because of his honest espousal of the Southern cause in the late war. He was a Major of Artillery in that service ; lost his right arm, and was wounded four times after that loss. When the war ended he was very poor. About six months after the close of the war, he returned to Easton and studied law, in the office of Hon. Samuel Hambleton, one of the ablest law- yers of Maryland, who proved to be a kind preceptor, and one of Mr. Jones's sincerest friends. After his admission to the bar, he went to Cumberland, Maryland, and there commenced the practice of his profession, August 1, 1867. Ile was an entire stranger when he arrived in that city with three hundred dollars of borrowed money in his pocket. He has remained there ever since, successfully prosecut- ing his profession. Ile has never been connected with any public enterprise, or hell public office ; and it would re- quire very strong inducements to make him accept one ; neither has he ever been associated with any secret or po- litical organization. Mr. Jones is a member of the Catholic Church, and politically has always been a Democrat. Ile married, June 6, 1871, Miss Virginia Moss Lynn, second daughter of Dr. George Lynn, of Cumberland, and has two children. Ilis wife's mother before her marriage was Miss Virginia Moss, of Virginia. Both of his wife's parents are dead.
ITHERS, WILLIAM ARMSTEAD, Mayor of the city of Cumberland, was the third child of Addi- son L. and Fannie T. ( Buckey) Withers, and was born in Georgetown, D. C., January 28, 1833. Ilis father was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, in the year 1804, and his mother in Loudon County, in the same State, a few years later. They were married May 20, 1829. In 1836 they removed to Cumberland, Maryland, where Mr. Withers engaged in the tanning business, in which he had excellent success and soon acquired con- siderable property. lle was one of the most useful and enterprising citizens of the place, and was made Mayor of the city. His son William was educated at the Alleghany County Academy, in Cumberland, a flourishing institution. Ile became proficient in all the usual studies, leaving school at the age of eighteen, at the earnest solicitation of his father, to learn with him the tanner's trade. Ile be-
came an expert workman, and on reaching his majority went into partnership with his father, the firm assuming the name of A. I. Withers & Son. It contiuned with great success from 1857 to 1878, when Mr. William Withers purchased his father's interest, and has since conducted the business alone. Ile was noted from early youth for his correct habits and moral deportment. While still a very young man Mr. William Withers joined the Orders of Odd Fellows and Freemasons, and has consecutively filled all the offices in his respective lodges. Ile is at this time Past Grand Master and Past Master .. He has also always en- gaged in such public matters as promised to promote the welfare of his fellow-citizens. In 1872 he was elected to the City Council, and at the end of the term was nominated and elected to the Mayoralty of the city. After the lapse of two years he was again elected to the same office. In this . position he has exhibited rare executive ability and good judgment, and has given entire satisfaction to the people. Ilis manner at once inspires respect and confidence. Ile is quick in action, fluent in speech, and easy and pleasing in his address. He is strictly temperate, using neither liquors nor tobacco in any form. Ile was, like his father, a Whig, but since the disruption of that party, has been one of the strongest supporters of the Democracy. At the age of twenty-five he married Fannie C. Weldon, of Cumberland, who at her death left him six children. In 1877 he mar- ried Leonora J. Vroman, of Cumberland. For many years Mr. Withers was connected with the Methodist Protestant Church, but has recently, with his wife, united with the English Lutheran Church, of Cumberland.
HODSON, THOMAS SHERWOOD, Attorney-at-law and Collector of Customs at the port of Crisfick, Somerset County, Maryland, was born in Dorches- ter County, August 21, 1837. His parents were Thomas J. and Margaret ( Vincent) Hodson. The family estate, now owned by him and by Dr. Engene Hodson, was granted by patent to James Hodson, in the time of Charles Second. Agriculture has been the principal occu- pation of the family from that time. Ilis father, Thomas J. Hodson, was in Florida ten years from 1843, and was active in the formation of the government in that State. He returned to Dorchester County in 1853, and died at the residence of his son in Crisfickl, May 1, 1875. The mother of Mr. Hodson died in his early childhood. He attended school from the age of five years in the town of Vienna, in his native county, till the year 1852, when his father sent him to Sherman's Institute, near East New Market, in the same county, where he was prepared for Vale College, which he entered in 1864. The next year he entered the Junior class of Princeton College. Ile remained two years,
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and returning home, engaged in teaching a private school until 1863, when he was admitted on probation to the Philadelphia Conference of Ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was sent as pastor to Jamet, Dela ware. The next yem he travelled the Auna Sussex Circuit, but his health failing, he declined to enter the Conference as a member, and became editor and proprietor of the Somerset Ilerald, a Republican newspaper printed at Princess Anne. To this he devoted himself, and also to the management of political affairs, till June, 1868, when he sold the paper and became Deputy Collector of Customs at Crisfield, still retaining his interest in politics and the Re- publican party, which has steadily grown until it now fills every local office but one in the county. Mr. Hodson has been one of the most active men of his party in the State, throughout which he is well known. He has served in all the State conventions, and was an elector for Hayes in 1876. While very pronounced and decided in his opinions, he is courteous to his opponents. Ile is now the owner of the Crisfield Leader, a paper independent in politics. He is equally strong and decided in his religious views and affiliations. From boyhood he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is at present a Trustee, Steward, and local preacher in Immanuel Church at Cris- feld. lle studied law under Messrs. Dennis & Brattan, and was admitted to the bar in 1872. Since that time he
has achieved a marked success and has a large practice. Ile is exceedingly faithful to the cause of his clients. Mr. Ilodson is a Royal Arch Mason, having held all the offices of the subordinate lodge, and has been Master of Lodge No. 147. He was united in marriage, February 7, 1866, to Alice, daughter of Dr. Aaron Mauch, of Laurel, Delaware. She died, deeply regretted, Jnne 7, 1877, leaving four children.
YON, JOHN B., Farmer, was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, March 27, 1825. His father, a Farmer of St. Mary's County, died in his sixty- fifth year. His mother was Miss Ann Burroughs, of St. Mary's County, who died in her sixtieth year. They were both highly respected members of the Protest- ant Episcopal Church. They attended " All Faith " Church, St. Mary's, during their entire lives, and lived on a farm near Charlotte Hall, where all their children were born. After attending primary schools until the tenth year of his age, John entered Charlotte Ilall Academy, and continued therein for three years. After working on his father's farm for nine years he started in business for himself at a place called " Tanyard," near Benedict, Charles County, where he remained one year. In 1849 he purchased a small farm near " Brick Church," upon which he lived for six years. In 1854 he bought the
estate on which he now resides, called " Wilton," of IIon. Barnes Compton, and his uncle, Wilson. It embraces five hundred and forty acres, under a high state of cultivation and improvement. Mi. Lyon has followed agricultural pursuits for thirty years. In connection with the same he conducted, for three years, the mercantile business. Hle owns six hundred acres of land in Charles, and one hun- dred and tifty at Mills Point, St. Mary's County. He has been a member of the Board of School Trustees for his district, and, for the most of his life, a vestryman of Trinity Parish Church. He is Treasurer of Wicomico Grange of Patrons of Husbandry. He has been thrice married. First to Miss Mary E. Swan, of Charles County ; secondly, to Miss Sarah Maria Cartwright, daughter of Mrs. Keturah Cartwright; and thirdly, to Mrs. Amelia Smiths, of Charles County, a daughter of Edward Keech. Hle has four children living, three of whom are adults, John B., Jr., who lives on the Mills Point farm ; Mrs. A. M. Freeman, of Charles County; James Alexander, mer- chant, of Bryantown, and a daughter, one year old.
ATERS, HON. LEVIN LYTTLETON, Attorney-at- law, was born May 9, 1828, on the fum where he now resides, adjoining the town of Princess Anne. Ilis home has descended to him in a direct line, through many generations, his an- cestors on both sides having been among the early settlers of that vicinity, and the names of some of them appear- ing on the records as early as 1665, when Somerset was organized as a county by order of the Council. Ilis grandfather, William Waters, married Eliza Hyland, daughter of James Hyland, a lawyer of the same county, who died at the early age of twenty-five, and her mother also dying, she was intrusted by her to the care of a cousin, Miss Nancy Chase, daughter of Judge Samuel Chase, who brought her up to womanhood. The father of the subject of this sketch, also named Levin Lyttleton Waters, was a lineal descendant of Sir Thomas Lyttleton, the famous lawyer and author, and was a most refined and cultivated gentleman, and very popular. He died when only twenty- eight years of age, leaving, besides his son, a daughter, who is now the wife of Hon. Levin Woolford, late State Comptroller, and now Tax Commissioner. Young Waters was educated at Washington Academy in Somerset County, from which many distinguished men of the State have graduated. At the age of eighteen he took charge of the homestead, and soon his judicious and skilful farming attracted much attention. He afterward studied law with the Hon. Levin Woolford, above mentioned, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. In the same year he was married to Lucretia Jones, a sister of General Arnokt E. Elzey, and daughter of Colonel Arnold Joues, who was one
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of the most prominent men of the county. Mr. Water, in early manhood took rank as a leader of public sentiment in his county, and has maintained in all his career the highest reputation for candor, consistency, integrity, honor. and comtesy. He is attached to the Democratic party. As a political speaker he is fluent and effective, and is much sought after as such in his own and adjacent counties. Elected to the State Senate in 1864, and differ- ing in sentiment with the powers which then controlled the General and State government, he was ordered to resign. This he declined to do, and was immediately arrested and imprisoned by order of General Lew Wallace. After the organization of the Senate he was tried by a military commission and finally released, upon which he took his seat as Senator, and served out his term. While there he was active and laborious, and the citizens of the county owe to him some of their most important local laws. He practiced his profession, in conjunction with farming, until I870, in which year Colonel Woolford, the Clerk of the Circuit Court, was elected Comptroller of the Treasury, and the Court appointed Mr. Waters to the vacancy. At the next election he was elected Clerk for six years, but in 1877 was defeated by the Republican candidate, and resumed the practice of the law. Mr. Waters has always been prominent in every enterprise calculated to advance the interests of his county. In re- ligion he adheres to the ancestral faith of his family, and is an Episcopalian.
ERREY, CONRAD STARR, was born in Albany, New York, April IS, IS51. His parents were Dr. M. J. and Mary Ferrey. Ilis father was a man of prominence in his profession. Hle removed with his family to Baltimore in IS61, where he was well known and highly respected. His death occurred June 21, IS7S. Dr. Ferrey's mother died when he was less than two years old. He was at an early age placed by his father at an academy in Canton, St. Lawrence County, New York, where he remained till he was fourteen years of age, when he joined his father in Baltimore. At the age of eighteen he started out in life for himself and opened a baking and confectionery house, which he con-
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ducted with success. Hoping to enjoy a still larger measure of prosperity, be removed to Philadelphia, where after a few months' trial at the same business, he had the disappointment to find all his previous savings swept away. He returned to Baltimore and set to work to recover what he had lost, engaging in various occupations, but finally determined to become a physician, and to devote himself to the specialty of medical baths, his father having pre- vionsly established a Turkish and Russian Bath Institute at 54 North Liberty Street. Mr. Ferrey commenced his studies with his father in IS74, which he prosecuted with
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