USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 24
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 24
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County. The children of John Emerson and Esther Lamb are Eli M., who is the eldest ; Mary M., wife of John R. Cox, a prominent merchant of Baltimore; Philena Emer- son, Professor of History, Geography, Etymology, and Orthography in Friends' School. For fourteen years this lady has been absent from her post but one day. Daniel, their second son, who was an excellent student, died in 1854, at the age of twelve years. Rachel Emerson, another daughter, is also an assistant, and Professor of Elocution and English Literature. Two other sons, George M. and John Emerson, Junior, are successful produce commission merchants in Baltimore. Priscilla M., another daughter, died in 1873. Eli Matthews Lamb is constitutionally and by culture a teacher of no ordinary degree of merit. His primary studies began at the carly age of five years, at the Hereford District School, in Baltimore County, which he attended irregularly until 1848, when he entered the Milton School under his father's supervision. Having been fully fitted in classics and mathematics to enter college he went to Haverford. His services as an assistant teacher were soon required. Ilis early proficiency is appreciable by the fact, that on his entrance into Haverford College, in 1855, he took rank at once in the Junior class, then half- way through the ycar's course. When within four months of graduation at Haverford he withdrew, in order to enter as Assistant Principal at Milton Boarding School-that particular period being the beginning of their fiscal year. Had he not withdrawn then he could not have taken that position for a year to come. In 1858 he became a partner in the institution under the firm name of John E. and E. M. Lamb. There were at that time about seventy scholars, mostly boarders, being the full capacity of the house. In 1861 Mr. E. M. Lamb was making arrangements to open a school in Baltimore, but the breaking out of the war de- cided him not to do so. HIe therefore accepted a clerk- ship in the Naval Office at the Custom-house in that city, offered him by F. S. Corkran, in which he remained until 1864. He devoted much time to the interests of the Chris- tian Commission. For eight or ten years previous to 1864, the Friends in Baltimore had a small primary school in a room about twenty-five by thirty feet, located in the rear of their meeting-house on Lombard Street. In that year they were thinking of establishing two schools-one for boys, the other for girls. Having secured the services of Mr. . Lamh he soon convinced them of the advantages of co- education ; and at once raised the school to the dignity of an academy. The first year of his Principalship, the in- crease in attendance was from twenty to seventy. The second year the school closed with a catalogue of ninety pupils, necessitating recitations in the meeting house. The third year the school-room was enlarged to eighty-five by thirty feet, and one story was added to the height of the old building, giving four more rooms. The term com- menced with one hundred and twenty scholars, the number continually increasing until 1875, when it became necessary
to erect the present large and admirably adapted building on Lombard Street near Eutaw. It contains a large, well- ventilated, and thoroughly lighted study hall, capable of accommodating both the primary and the high school depart. ments; a lecture hall large enough to seat three hundred persons; a laboratory and philosophical room, supplied with every requisite for experimental study and instruc- tion; two dressing rooms, one for each sex ; and for the departments of English, Ancient Classics, Modern Lan- guages, and Art, ten additional recitation rooms, each well provided with such apparatus as may be of service in teach- ing the subject pursued. For safety, four stairways afford means of egress from the building ; for comfort, the most approved desks, ample play-grounds, and the best means of heating and ventilating have been provided; and for convenience, the building is so arranged as to contain a sufficient number of class-rooms, each of which is easily accessible from the study hall. The furniture is of the most approved style, and is conducive to comfort and correct- ness of posture. The apparatus, such as philosophical and mathematical instruments, wall maps, charts, books of ref- erence, etc., is large and convenient ; and it is the purpose to add, from time to time, any improvements that may be made in such appliances. The library, of nearly three thousand well-selected volumes, belonging to the Friends' Library Association, is within the building. Mr. Lamb, the Principal, is assisted by a corps of thoroughly compe- tent and devoted teachers, who average one to every twenty pupils. The necessity of having a large number of assistants enables him to employ teachers who are specially qualified, by taste and culture, for the branches of study committed to their charge. Every department of the school is under the immediate supervision of Mr. Lamb, who exercises the required discipline in a firm but mild and paternal manner. He pursnes, in the management of pu- pils, that method which scems best adapted to the pecu- liarities of individual temperament, and omits no oppor- tunity to excite in all a desire for knowledge. The design of the institution is twofold, first, to prepare students for the literary or scientific departments of any of the leading colleges ; second, to give a practical yet liberal education to all who intend to finish their scholastie course at this in- stitution. The course of study is, therefore, divided into two departments. In the primary' department the pupil begins with the rudiments, and advances by easy grades to the studies of the high school department. On entering the high school the pupil may choose, in addition to the pre- scribed course in English and mathematics, such extra studies as, in the united judgment of parents and teachers, are best suited to his aim in life. It will thus be seen, that pupils may begin and finish a complete course of prepara- tory study without being deprived of the benefits of home influence, and without being subjected to the disadvantages and discouragements of a change from one school and course of instruction to another. The popularity of this
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school is to be seen in the largely increased number of pu- pils, there being two hundred and sixty-two enrolled at the close of the fourteenth year, in 1878; and also in the fact that, for several years, many sought admission who could not be received for want of room. This school is said to be the first in Baltimore where the co-education of the sexes was successfully tried. Mr. Lamb has all the good characteristics of a Friend. lle is modest and retiring, and refined in his manners and tastes. Ile married Ann W. Corkran, daughter of F. S. Corkran, Esq., of Balti- more, October 8, 1861. They have had four children, names and dates of birth as follows : F. Emerson, born July 29, 1862, Arthur Lincoln, born September 2, 1865, and flelen Philena and Mary Elizabeth, twins, born January 29, 1875.
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GIHITMAN, EZRA, Proprietor of the Maryland Farmer, and Manufacturer of argricultural im- plements, was born in Bridgewater, Massachu- setts, June, 1812. When he was four years of age his parents removed with him to Winthrop, Maine, in which place he received his education. His father was an ingenious mechanic, and had a large machine shop and manufacturing establishment. Ile was an ex- tensive constructor of large clocks for church steeples and other public buildings. More than fifty years ago he con- trived a " watch-clock " for the Winthrop Cotton Factory, in that day regarded with wonder. It was so arranged that it reported most accurately any delinquency on the part of the night watchman in going his rounds every half hour during the night in each of the five stories of the building. If he failed in his duty, the clock would not fail to make it known the next morning. Ezra, inheriting the mechanical genius of his father, at an early age mani- fested a decided talent in the line of mechanism, and even while a schoolboy devoted a considerable portion of his time to the improvement of various kinds of machinery. When about twenty years of age, having acquired a thorough knowledge of his father's factory operations, and being master of all the branches of its business, he desired a more perfect knowledge of watchmaking and silversmith- ing; for this purpose he entered into an engagement of service for one year under Jacob Crooker, Esq., of Water- ville, Maine, who had one of the best houses in that line in the State. During that period a strong and fraternal attachment was formed between himself and Mr. Crooker, which has happily continued to the present time. Mr. Whitman having decided to go into business on his own account in Winthrop, Maine, Mr. Crooker voluntarily re- leased him one month in advance of the expiration of his term of service. Mr. Crooker also gave him letters of recommendation to Messrs. Jones, Lowes & Ball, and other farge firms in Boston, Massachusetts, from whom he pur- chased a full set of watchmaker's tools, and a fine stock of
jewelry and silverware. He returned to Maine by stage- coach conveyance, there being neither steamboats nor rail- roads in those days. Ile promptly put his store and shop in complete order, and arranged his stock ; so that on June 7, 1833, his twenty-first birth-day, before six o'clock in the morning, he hung out his sign and opened his door for ac- tive business. For six years thereafter he had all the work he could do. Finding that the manufacturing implement business was likely to become very extensive and lucrative, and as it was agreeable to his inventive mind, he closed his career as a watchmaker and jeweller, and turned his attention with greatskill and zeal to improvements in labor- saving machines. That fortunate change of pursuits proved pecuniarily to his advantage, giving him an enviable na- tional reputation, and largely contributing to the comfort and welfare of the industrial classes. Mr. Whitman's al- tention was especially directed towards the construction of a machine for reaping and mowing, though at that time the idea of cutting grain and grass by machinery was ignored as wildly chimerical. Ilis father's ingenuity as a machinist having been employed for several years upon a model reaper, which he so far perfected as to satisfy him- self that the project was practicable and would soon be a success, Mr. Whitman, in connection with him and Mr. Thomas White, who afterwards established large machine shops in York, Pennsylvania, began the construction of a full-sized two-horse machine, which is believed to have been the first reaper and mower ever made. It was begun in 1824, but not completed until 1832; and though in some respects defective, it more than met the expectation of its projectors, and solved the problem of cutting grain by ma- chinery, and thus prepared the way for the splendid and perfect mechanism of the present time. Mr. Whitman continued his improvements in agricultural implements, and secured several valuable and important advantages which are now in general use. Finding but little demand in his own State for his implements, Mr. Whitman resolved to seek a locality where agriculture was more largely pros- ecuted, so as to bring his inventions into more general use. Ile therefore removed to Baltimore in 1843, and com- menced their manufacture by steam power. At that time farming implements in Maryland were exceedingly primi- tive, but the superiority of Mr. Whitman's was so mani- fest that they soon came into general use, and effected an entire revolution in farming operations. Ile also made great changes in the mode of manufacturing his wares, substituting machinery for handwork and thereby furnish- ing implements of a better character at' far less expense. Ile built the first establishment for manufacturing ploughs by machinery that was opened south of Mason and Dixon's line. In addition to his own manufacture he established a warehouse for the sale of every description of agricultural implements and the best quality of seeds and fertilizers, and his name became at once familiar to the planters throughout the Southern States, For more than thirty-five
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years he has transacted a larger business than any Southern house in his line, and by his energy, close attention to his affairs, and upright dealings he has met with marked suc- cess. Mr. Whitman has done much more, however, than to provide the best tools for work ; he has taken an active part in all that can promote the farming interest in his adopted State. Ile was for many years a Director in the Maryland Institute, and is now one of the Vice-Presidents of the State Agricultural Society. He has spared neither pains nor effort in time or money to elevate the vocation of the farmer to its proper position. He has been for several years, as he still is, a member of the Board of Trus- tees of the Maryland Agricultural College. For the last fifteen years he has been the proprietor and publisher of the Maryland Farmer, originated and established by him. It is a monthly periodical, devoted to agriculture and horticulture, and has contributed largely to the diffusion of new and useful ideas, and to suggestions of improved modes of cultivation. In the December number for 1873, he published an " Appeal to the Public," for a Maryland State Horticultural Society, and in connection with other gentlemen of,horticultural tastes, he succeeded in enlisting the influence and co-operation of leading professional and amateur florists and market gardeners. The Maryland State Horticultural Society was formed. Mr. Whitman was made its first President and served it in that capacity for two years, leaving the office with the society resting on a solid basis and in most prosperous condition. Ilc is at present (1879) Treasurer of the National Agricultural Congress, a position of high character and responsibility. He cast his first Presidential vote for Andrew Jackson, and has remained a steadfast Jacksonian Democrat ever since. Confining himself to his large business and the great in- terests connected therewith, he has neither time nor incli- nation for mingling in ordinary politics. In 1867 he was one of the Delegates from Baltimore city to the Conven- tion for framing a new State Constitution. He has been an Odd Fellow for more than thirty years; and yet, as is well known, he dispenses his means with a liberal hand to the deserving poor and needy, without passing through society hands and without regard to society obligations. Mr. Whitman has always been patriotic. When the North- eastern Boundary question threatened war between Great Britain and the United States, and the war-spirit was all ablaze, Governor Fairfield, of Maine, ordered out the State milltia to protect the Northeastern Boundary Line. Mr. Whitman, then having command of a military com- pany in that State, was detailed as an officer with orders to draft thirty men from his company and rendezvous at Augusta, the capital of the State, forthwith. Within thirty-six hours after the receipt of the order, the draft was made, the men ready, and Captain Whitman was in line at Augusta with the required number of men. No military order, under the circumstances, coukl have been more promptly observed, although it was amidst snow and
the chilling storm of a Northern winter. He has travelled very extensively in all parts of the United States and British America, and spent the larger part of the year 1857 in European countries, not so much for pleasure of health as for the acquisition of knowledge and enlarging his in- formation in regard to all matters pertaining to his line of business. During the long years of his business career in Baltimore, he has suffered losses from bad debts, damage by fire, and the serious interruption to business caused by the civil war; yet, in all those years, he has found the means to raise and educate his children, to help the needy, and liberally support benevolent enterprises. Ile has ac- quired a valuable landed property on the borders of the Boundary Avenue of Baltimore, which he has improved by the erection of a large and beautiful dwelling, sur- rounded with extensive grounds artistically ornamented, and where he dispenses that genial hospitality which marks the man of liberal culture and generous sentiment. For a man of his years, he is comparatively young in ap- pcarance. Ile is in the enjoyment of good health, is cheerful and urbane in his manners, and though on suit- able occasions determined and undaunted, is gentle and mild in demeanor and speech. He is active and dignified in his bearing, warm in his friendships, and unswerving in integrity. In all the relations of life he is irreproachable, commanding and deserving the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens, and enjoying the rewards of his well- spent years. Mr. Whitman married Miss Hannah B. Sinclair, December 31, 1836. Their children were Louis Murray, born October 11, 1841, Ezra B., born April 25, 1844, Malinda Frances, born July 12, 1846, Hannah Vic- torine, born April 24, 1847, Ilarry Fay, born April 12, 1852, Frederick Winthrop, born July 17, 1855. Lonis Murray, their eldest born, died March 29, 1847. Malinda Frances, their oldest daughter, died July 15, 1875. Han- nah Victorine, was married to T. C. Dorscy, of Baltimore, in April, 1868; they have three children. Malinda Frances married W. W. Pretzman, of Baltimore, November 15, 1868, and had four children. Ezra B., married Miss Bell C. Slingluff, October 10, 1874. She is the daughter of Jesse Slingluff, Esq., President of the Farmers' and Commer- cial Bank of Baltimore. They have two children, Frank, born December 27, 1875, and Minnie, born May 27, 1877. Harry Fay married Miss Minnie W. Noble, daughter of Rev. T. K. Noble, Congregational Minister in San Fran- cisco, California, May 9, 1875. Frederick Winthrop married Miss Lillie Q. Rigney, daughter of John T. Rig- ney, Esq., of Baltimore, October 3, 1877. Ezra B. Whit- man is President of the Baltimore Plough Company, organ- ized in 1877. Frederick W. and Harry F. are members of the firm of E. Whitman, Sons & Co., 141 and 143 West Baltimore Street. Mr. William Wallace Pretzman, a son- in-law of Mr. Whitman, is a member of the firm of R. (. Taylor's hat and fur establishment, North Calvert Street, Baltimore.
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ITTINGS, LAMBERT, Merchant, was born September 1, 1806, in Baltimore County, Maryland, at Bella Vista, originally IIill's Forest, which beautiful place he now owns. His father was James Gittings, Jr., the son of James Gittings, of Long Green, Bal- timore County. Ilis mother was Harriet Sterrett, the daughter of John Sterrett, a distinguished shipping mer- chant, who was the son of James Sterrett, who came to Maryland from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with the family of General Smith. On his mother's side he is connected with most of the old families of Maryland, such as the Ridge- lys, Dorseys, Nicholsons, Carrolls, etc. ; and on his father's side, with the Buchanans and Croxalls, the latter being one of the oldest English families that ever came to Mary- land. Mr. Gittings completed his literary education at Bel Air, and left school when about sixteen years of age. Ile first entered the counting-room of Merriman & Gittings, and afterwards that of Osgood & Co., on Gay Street. Be- fore reaching his majority he was taken as supercargo to the West Indies and Smyrna by Mr. Isaac McKim, who continued his warm friend until his death, rarely after- ward employing a supercargo or clerk without consulting him. On his return he established himself in the produce commission business, and afterwards conducted an exten- sive shipping commission business in the West Indies, South American, Mediterranean, and general trade. IIe has visited various parts of the world in connection with his business, and was well and favorably known in all the commercial ports wherever the American flag has floated, his own vessels having visited most of them in the East and West Indies, Australia, South America generally, and the Mediterranean. When about twenty-one years of age he was married to Miss Henrietta Tennant, daughter of Colonel Thomas Tennant, a distinguished shipping mer- chant and shipowner. His father's family on the Ridgely, Gittings, and Buchanan side were Episcopalians; his mother's family were Presbyterians. He himself was christened by a Methodist clergyman. His maternal great- grandfather, James Sterrett, in connection with General Smith's family and the Pattersons, built the first Presby- teriau church in Baltimore, on the site where the United States Court-house now stands. Politically he has always been a Jackson Democrat, having been a great admirer of that distinguished man. He has two daughters living, the eldest, Harriet, the wife of John Izard Middleton, a member of one of the oldest Carolina families. The other daughter, Henrietta, is the wife of James H. Buchanan, son of Charles B. and grandson of W. Buchanan, the first Register of Wills of the city of Baltimore. He had two other children, Mary T., the wife of Surgeon James Sim- mons, of the United States Army. She died, leaving three daughters. Mr. Gittings had also a promising son, who, when about twenty-one years of age, died of the yellow fever at Kingston, Jamaica, while there as supercargo in one of his father's vessels. Although a stranger in Jamaica,
such were the favorable impressions he made and the sym- pathies he awakened that strange hands voluntarily and without the knowledge of his father erected a tablet to his memory in the Episcopal Church there. Ile has also sev- eral grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. One of his granddaughters is married to Walter Dulany, son of Grafton Dulany, formerly a distinguished lawyer, and a member of the old Dulany family. Such was the youthful appearance of Mr. Gittings in his early commencement of business on his own account that surprise was sometimes expressed, that-principals in consigning their property and vessels to him, should place their interests with a boy ! It is worthy of notice that, amid all the financial troubles during the years of his commercial life, the failures of banks throughout the United States, the United States Bank at Philadelphia, and commercial houses in all parts of this country and in Europe, his standing and responsi- bility have never been doubted. It may be added that perhaps no citizen of Baltimore is more remarkable for his hospitality to strangers or is better known than the gentleman whose brief sketch is here given. -
SIMON, WILLIAM, PH. D., and Professor of Chemistry in the Maryland College of Pharmacy, Baltimore, was born at Eberstadt, Hessen, Germany, Feb- ruary 20, 1844. ITis father, William Simon, was a clergyman of the Lutheran Church at Eberstadt. He was educated at the College of Giessen, his parents desir- ing him to follow his father's profession. Having mani- fested a deep interest in all subjects of natural philosophy, he was permitted to adopt chemistry as his professional study. Before attending the University he spent some time with an old family friend, one of the best-educated druggists in Hessen, in order to acquaint himself thor- oughly with manipulation, order, and accuracy in working, so essentially necessary to a chemist. Ile then visited Switzerland, where he remained more than a year, and studied the rich and various flora of the Alps. In 1866 he returned to the University of Giessen, and attended the lectures of natural philosophy, particularly chemistry, under Prof. H. Will. He passed the examination in 1868, and soon after graduated as Doctor of Philosophy. For two years succeeding his graduation he served his Alma Mater as second and first assistant in the chemical laboratory, dur- ing which time he delivered lectures to students and other assemblies, composing some of the very best elements of the University of Giessen. In 1870 the Baltimore Chrome Works offered him the position of leading chemist in their factory. This offer was accepted, but the breaking out of the German-Franco war at that time delayed his departure for the United States. Unwilling in the hour of her peril
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to turn his back on his native country, he entered into one of the Volunteer Sanitary Corps, and was at once appointed their chief. Ile was present during and after the great battles around Mets, where the little company gained for itself rich laurels and grateful thanks for the services of its members; and at the termination of the war Dr. Simon received from the War Department a medal of honor and merit for the valuable services rendered to his country. After the battle of Sedan, which decided the chances of war, the doctor asked for and received his discharge, and imme- diately left for America, arriving in the city of Baltimore the latter part of 1870, and at once entered the service of the Baltimore Chrome Works Company. There being no chemical laboratory in existence in Baltimore at that time, wherein analytical chemistry was practically taught, at the request of several gentlemen, together with prominent drug- gists and physicians, he directed a course of analytical chem- istry. This course being successful, induced the Maryland College of Pharmacy, in 1871, to pass resolutions making analytical chemistry an obligatory branch of study. They arranged a laboratory, appointed him Professor of Analytical Chemistry, and the following year made him Professor of General Chemistry, in place of Prof. De Rosette. Dr. Simon was'also the Lecturer on Chemistry in the College of Physicians and Surgeons during the first year of its ex- istence ; but pressure of business caused him to resign. HIe was Chairman of the Section of Chemistry and Physics in the Maryland Academy of Sciences for a period of three years, and is a member of numerous scientific associations in this country and Europe. He is not only prominently known among his numerous scholars, but has also a recog- nized reputation as an analytical chemist. Dr. Simon was married, May 13, 1873, to Pemla, daughter of F. Driver, Superintendent of Schools at Oldenburg, Germany, and has one son.
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