The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2, Part 28

Author: National Biographical Publishing Co. 4n
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Baltimore : National Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 802

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USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 28

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OUGLAS, COLONEL JAMES ELBERT, Farmer and President of the Board of School Commissioners for Caroline County, Maryland, was the son of Joseph and Charlotte (Wilson) Douglas, and was born in Dorchester County, in 1820. His parents were natives of the Fifth District of Caroline County, near Johnson's Crossroads. His grandfather Douglas was from Scotland. The Wilsons were from England, and originally settled in Dorchester County. James Wilson, the father of Mrs. Douglas, purchased a tract of land near Johnson's Crossroads, consisting of two hundred acres, the stipulated payment for which was " one yard of good tow linen per acre." Young Douglas had few opportunities of educa-

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tion. Ilis father died when he was ten years old, and he being the eldest child was obliged to work every alternate mouth for the privilege of attending school the other months. In a short time he was given by bis mother to her cousin, James Davis, of Preston, Caroline County, on whose farm he worked till his seventeenth year, when he went to Seaford, Delaware, to learn the business of carriage-mak- ing; when he left it at the end of two years, and served an apprenticeship of one year at house-carpentering. In this employment he found great pleasure. He continued at this trade until 1847, when he was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Dorchester County, and held the position until 1851, when he was elected Sheriff by the Whig party, to which he belonged. In 1852 he was appointed Collector for the county, and was the same year united in marriage with Mary C., daughter of James Davis, his mother's cousin, to whom he had been given in childhood. He removed to Caroline County, near Preston, in 1854, and went to farm- ing, engaging also in the vessel and lumber business. In 1859 Governor Holliday Ilicks appointed him one of his aids with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1866 his wife, an excellent Christian woman, died, leaving him four children, all sons. Ile married, the following year, Mrs. Ann Elizabeth Clarke, daughter of Joseph Mowbray. In the spring of 1867, Colonel Douglas was appointed one of the School Commissioners of his county, and in 1870, under the new Constitution, he was elected to the same position, and has been President of the Board from that time. He became in 1850 a landowner in Dorchester County, and has acquired land by marriage ; he also invested his earn- ings in real estate, till he is now the owner of eighteen hundred acres of land, all in Caroline County. Colonel Douglas was in early life a Whig; he now calls himself non-political. He is an Odd Fellow and a Granger, and holds the office of Overseer in the latter fraternity. IIis eldest son is a merchant in Preston. Ile has one son by his present wife.

INGGOLD, SAMUEL, Farmer, son of Samuel and Augusta Ringgold, was born on Cox's Neck, Kent Island, October 6, 1832. This Neck was settled by Thomas Ringgold, the emigrant, about the year 1650, the time of the arrival of the Ilon. William Burgess, the leading colonist upon South River. For more than two hundred years the Ringgolds have been one of the leading families of Maryland, conspicuous in the carly provincial commerce, the American Revolution, and rep- resented in the halls of Congress. Ilis grandfather, Ed- ward' Ringgold, died in Chestertown, in 1854, and his father the year previous. He lost his mother in his early . childhood. He attended the district school from his seventh to his seventeenth year, when he was placed in a grain commission house, on Bowley's Wharf, with the firm of

Godwin & Seth. Here he remained four years, returning to the Island shortly before the death of his father, after which event he took possession of the farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1855 he was married to Mary Ellen, daughter of Charles Stevens, a gentleman well known and highly esteemed throughout the Island. In 1868 Mr. Ringgold removed to " Steven's Delight," an es- tate lying ncar the village of Stevensville. He is now the owner of five hundred acres of excellent land, divided into two farms, which are equal in productiveness to any on the Island. All this land has been, for more than two hundred years, in possession of the two families of Stevens and Ringgold. In January, 1874, his wife died, leaving him one son, L. Charles Ringgold. In April, 1875, he was again married, to Florence Z., daughter of Thomas R. Carville, also of the Island. By this marriage he has also one son, Rowland Carville Ringgold. Mr. Ringgold in- clines to the Methodist Church, in whose teachings he was educated. Ile was formerly an old-line Whig, but of late years has acted with the Democratic party. Since the year 1864 he has been a Mason, and is connected with Contes Lodge, at Easton.

CLAUGHLIN, GEORGE, Shoe Manufacturer, was born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1796. He was married at the age of twenty-one to Mary A. McCadden, and they came the following year to America, settling in Baltimore. He at once engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes, locating his business on Marsh Market Space, which was then the centre of trade in the city. He was a man of great energy of character, and rapidly built up a prosperous business. In the memorable flood of 1837, his large and valuable stock, in which nearly his whole capital was invested, was swept away or ruined. From this untimely disaster, which destroyed the fortunes of so many of the business men of Baltimore, he never fully recovered, but was enabled to bring up his family to respectability and usefulness, and to assist his eldest son, John, when he commenced business for him- self. Ile died in 1851, leaving as an inheritance for his children, the fragrance of a good name, and the lessons of industry, fortitude, and patience, which his life had im- pressed upon them. Ilis wife survived him but two years.

NIGHT, WILLIAM II., Farmer and Legislator, was born in 1837, and educated at Princeton. He is a prominent and influential farmer of Cecil County, and has taken an active part in politics. He was a member of the Maryland Senate in 1874, and elected to the House of Delegates in 1877.

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BASIN, ROBERT WILSON LOWHER, Merchant and Manufacturer, is descended from the carly set- ders of Maryland. The Rasins emigrated from France. Some of the family still reside there, of whom Philip Kasin is now a distinguished member of the bar of Paris. William Rasin, the great-grandfather of R. W. L. Rasin, settled in Kent County early in the seventeenth century. He represented his county in the Legislature in 1757, and was a prominent vestryman in Chester Parish. His son, William Blackiston Rasin, en- listed in the Revolutionary Army when about sixteen years of age, and rose from a private to the rank of captain. Ile was an Ensign at the battle of Camden, South Caro- lina, August 10, 1780, in which General Gates was de- feated and Baron De Kalb was killed. The Maryland line fought till nearly cut to pieces, and when retreat was or- dered, Ensign Rasin was the only one who carried his colors from the field. Philip Freeman Rasin married Phoebe Wilson, and left sons and daughters. Ilis son, Robert Wilson Rasin, married Miss Mary Rebecca Ring- gold. Ile survived his wife and died February 10, 1878, aged seventy-two years, leaving two sons, Isaac Freeman Rasin and R. W. 1 .. Rasin, Phoebe Wilson Rasin was the daughter of George and Susan Holliday Wilson. She was the daughter of Robert and Phoebe Morris Holliday. She was the daughter of James and Margaret Cook Morris. Ile was descended from the Pennsylvania Morris, of Revo- lutionary fame, who was descended from Anthony Morris, of St. Dunstan's, Stepney, of London. George Wilson was the son of George and Margaret Hall Wilson, of " Castle Cary." Ile was the son of George and Mary Kennard Wilson, of " Broad Oak." Ile was the son of James and Catharine Wilson, of " Old Field Point." He came from England, and settled in Shrewsbury Parish, Kent County, Maryland, about the year 1700. Mr. Rasin's mother mar- ried, first, her cousin, William Ringgold, of " Coursey's Point," Queen Anne's County, Maryland. Three children were the fruits of this union, all of whom are deceased. William Ringgold was a son of Thomas Ringgold, who died in 1816. Thomas was a brother of Dr. William Ring- gold, who also died in 1816, and bequeathed to his nephew William, "Coursey's Point," on Corsica Creek, Queen Anne's County, Maryland. Thomas and Dr. William were sons of William and Rebecca Brown Ringgold, who died in 1790. Edward Ringgold, the father of Mary R. Rasin, married, first, his cousin Martha, who was a daughter of the William Ringgold above referred to, who died in 1790. Ilis second marriage was to Rebecca Smith, of Chester- town, After said marriage he removed from Kent Island to Chestertown, and resided there until his death, Decem- ber' 10, 1854. Ile was the youngest son of Thomas and Elizabeth Sudler Ringgold, of "Cox's Neck," Kent Island, who died in 1795. lle was a prominent man and the owner of large landed estates. Ilis father, James Ring- gold, " planter," died in 1740. He was the son of James

Ringgoldl, " gentleman and planter," of Talbot County. Hle was the son of Major James Ringgold, " lord of the manor," on Eastern Neck, and his second wife, Mary Vaughan, danghter of Captain Robert Vaughan, Commander of Kent from 1017 to 1652. Major James Ringgold was one of the Commissioners for holding courts in Talbot as early as 1662, and afterwards in Kent from 1674 until his death, in 1686, and was a great favorite with the Crown. Ile was the son of Thomas Ringgold, " lord of Huntingfield," who was the progenitor of the family in America, lle emi- grated from England, and it is thought settled first in Vir- ginia, and afterwards, in 1650, with his two sons, James and John, removed to Kent Island. He was a member of the courts as early as 1651, and in 1652 was commissioned by the Crown for the settlement of all matters in dispute in the English colonies in the Chesapeake Bay. He was a Royalist, and in 1652, with sixty-five others, pledged- themselves to be true and faithful to the Commonwealth of England, without King or House of Lords. The Ring- golds have been men of wealth, high social position, of political prominence and military distinction. "Cox's Neck," a large tract of land, on Kent Island, now owned by Samuel Ringgold, has descended from father to son for eight generations, covering a period of nearly two and a half cen- turies, R. W. L. Rasin was born at " Coursey's Point," Queen Anne's County, October 27, 1836, removed with his parents to Baltimore in 1846, and entered a's clerk in a com- mission house. Ile afterwards obtained a situation with the " Philadelphia Guano Company," and the " Sombrero Guano Company " in Baltimore, with whom he remained until a change was made in the business, when he entered into the employment of Captain E. R. Cooper-his pres- ent partner-the discoverer and owner of Navassa Island, West Indies, to take the management of that large in- terest, and so continued until the disposal of the same to the " Navassa Phosphate Company," when he became the General Agent of that company ; continuing in that capacity until about 1872, when his own extensive ferti- lizer business demanded his entire time and attention. In addition to the introduction of various fertilizers in the States, he was instrumental in the introduction in Europe of Sombrero and Navassa Guanos; also in the saving and utilizing the vast meat and bone refuse from the great slaughter-houses of the West and the State of Texas, turning these hitherto unvalued materials into the base for the bone and nitrogenous ingredients, upon which the manufacturers and agriculturists of both this country and Europe mainly depend. At this time, his manufactory in Baltimore is one of the most extensive and complete establishments of the kind in the United States. llis ex- perience and visits to and acquaintance with the ablest agricultural minds of this country and Europe, enables him to successfully manage it, to the interest of his firm and the farming interests generally. The factory is located at the corner of Covington and Cross streets, fronting 473

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feet on the first named, and 175 feet on the last named, Mr. Rasin is the owner of some highly improved and very Valuable landed estates beside his city properties .. In con- nection with his brother, 1. Freeman Rasin, he owns " Old Field Point" on the Sassafras River, in Kent County, which has been in the family for more than two hundred years. Ilis city residence, on Hamilton Terrace, has the surroundings of luxury and refined taste. Ilis country seat, " Athol," is in all its appointments one of the most complete and attractive places in the environs of Balti- more. It is on the north side of the Maiden's Choice Road, on which it fronts and extends northwest a half mile on Beechfield Avenue. The mansion stands about two hundred feet from the road, and from its porch as well as the observatory, commands a magnificent view of the sur- rounding country, the river, and the bay. The grounds about the mansion are beautifully arranged, and decked with rare shrubs and flowers, annual as well as perennial. The luxuries of the tropics as well as the temperate zone are provided. There is a grape house, 18 by 35 feet, which contains Muscat, Black and Golden Hamburg, Fortignas, Black Prince, Prince Albert, and other varieties of grapes. The greenhouse is of the same dimensions as the grapery, and is supplied with an innumerable number of rare plants and exotics. There is also what is known as the stove- house, 18 by 75 feet, where are grown only such things as are produced in the tropics-beautiful flowering plants, the richness and brilliancy of whose colors cannot be pro- duced outside the temperature of their native lands. Ilere, too, coffee is growing in all its stages, from the blossoming of the flower to the ripening of the berry. There are many of the fruits of the earth's centre to make up this interesting department. Then there is a fern-house, 18 by 25, including many rare varieties of foreign ferns, and perhaps the finest specimen of Pandanus Utilus to be found in the United States. One of the fern trees has a diameter of eight feet. The grounds contain several beautiful fountains; but the most curious, as well as beau- tiful, is that known as the " Rocky." This consists of three fountains, and the rocks are made up of slag from iron furnaces, no two pieces of which have the same ap- pearance. The pockets of the rocks are filled with grow- ing native ferns, giving to the place an appearance of Oriental beauty rarely found on this side of the Atlantic. The water from the fountains passes into a reservoir, and thence through a coil of pipe imbedded in ice, and after it is thoroughly chilled, is discharged through the dairy, where a temperature of about forty degrees constantly prevails. Mr. Rasin personally superintends his exten- sive business, making frequent trips as far East as Maine, and South as Texas, and has several times' crossed the ocean. Yet with all this demand upon him, he finds time to gratify his rural tastes and enjoy the fruits of his labors. He is a genial companion and his social qualities endear him to his many acquaintances. Ile with his family are and covering an area of nearly two acres. On entering the premises the first building is one-story high and 60 feet square, which will be used for the storage of the crude material. The factory is n brick building 156 by 56 feet, which is fitted with powerful machinery, and all the appliances for the manipulation of the phosphates. The crude material goes from the store-house into a powerful iron crusher, through which it passes, and falls into a pit, whence it is taken by an elevator and conveyed through a spiral conductor to the drying machine, which has a rotary motion, and as rapidly as it is dried it is dis- charged and taken by another elevator to the second floor, to three sets of burrs, where it is ground. After the grinding it is again taken up by a third elevator, and passed thence through a set of iron rolls, of some 3500 pounds weight. The material is then bolted, and the coarse particles returned to the mills to be reground. The final process is in the mixing mill, when the sulphuric acid is applied to it. The principal acid reservoir, lead lined, stands on the second floor near the roof, and has a capacity for 150 carboys of acid. The fluid is injected into this reservoir from an iron tank on the outside of the building, and is conveyed thence to smaller reservoirs in- mediately over the mixing mill. The whole of the ma- terial is weighed, and it is placed in the machinery, 800 pounds at a charge.' After passing through the mixing mill it is discharged to the first floor, and again taken to the second floor and passed through a disintegrating mill, when it is ready for application to the soil. The whole machinery is operated by a steam-engine of one hundred horse power, in a building separate from the factory, which is protected on that side by iron window-shutters; south of the factory is a brick and stone building, 125 feet square, with capacity for the storage of 4500 tons of the fertilizer. East of and adjoining the last-named building is another of stone, 30 by So feet, and two stories high, for the storage of chemicals. About five years since, Mr. Rasin, in connection with a few gentlemen of horticul- tural tastes, succeeded in resuscitating the Maryland Ilor- . ticultural Society and placed it upon a footing equal to that of any society of the kind in the United States, as evinced by the exhibition of 1877 in Baltimore, which was said to have been the finest ever held in America, not ex- cepting the Centennial Horticultural at Philadelphia the year previous. Mr. Rasin imported from the West Indies a new variety of Century Plant, and in compliment to him, Smith, Botanist of the United States Botanical Conservatory at Washington, named it " Agave Rasinii." Mr. Kasin is Treasurer of the Maryland Hoticultural Society, also Treas- urer of the National Chemical Fertilizer Association. For years he has been a Trustee on the part of the city of Balti- more in St. Mary's Industrial School for boys; one of the largest, most flourishing and popular charities of the country, recommended and encouraged by both the city and State. . prominently identified with the Roman Catholic Church.

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On June 19, 1860, he married Mrs. Margaret A. Johnson, a lady of refinement and Christian graces, Their children are, Mary Ringgold Rasin, Robert Cooper Rasin, Grace Rasin, Bessie Rasin, and Viola Rasin.

BIL MER, COLONEL EDWIN, was born in Smyrna, Delaware, September 10, 1819. His parents were Edward Price and Rachel (Wilson) Wil- mer. I-lis grandfather, Dr. John Lambert Wilmer (who married Elizabeth Brooke Carmichael of Queen Anne's County), was the fourth generation in de- scent from Simon Wilmer, the progenitor of the family in America, who emigrated from England in 1660, and set- tled in Kent, in the Province of Maryland. His descend- ants are numerous; many of them have held, and others do now occupy, prominent positions, especially as clergy and bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church, presidents and professors of colleges and institutes of learning, and other professions. (See sketch of Simon Wilmer.) Ra- chel (Wilson) Wilmer, daughter of George and Susan (Holliday) Wilson, was descended on the maternal side from the Morris family of Pennsylvania of Revolutionary fame (a family tree of this family has been kept for the last three hundred years). She was a lady of high culture, re- finement, and Christian adornments. Edward Price, son of John Lambert Wilmer and his wife Rachel, had four children, viz. : Henrietta, who married the Rev. Pennell Coombe, of the Philadelphia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and left three children; Susan Eliza- beth, who married Lambson Farrow, merchant of Balti- more, and left one child; William Carmichael, who died in infancy ; and Edwin, the subject of this sketch, who is the only member of the direct line of his branch of the family for six generations preceding him, who was not born in Kent County, Maryland. On his maternal side, his ancestors, the Wilsons, who were English, were early set- tlers in Kent. His grandfather, Hlou. George Wilson, after · his marriage, removed to Smyrna, Delaware, and resided there until his death. Edwin's father died when he was an infant, and the care of the family devolved on his wid- owed mother. Ilis education was commenced at the schools in his natal town, and continued at Dickinson Col- lege, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. When fifteen years of age his mother died, and he left college, located in Baltimore, and engaged with his brother-in-law as clerk in the dry- goods business. Afterwards he prosecuted that business for a short time on his own account. On April 11, 1839, he married Hannah Elizabeth, only daughter of Daniel and Mary (Reynolds) Megredy, of Port Deposit, Cecil County, Maryland. Her father was the son of John Megredy, a Scotchman, and Elizabeth Job, a descendant of the De Foc

family of England. Daniel and his brother Enoch, who removed to Sangamon County, Illinois, in 1837, were men of force and influence. They were noted for their business energy and for their devotion to the Methodist Episcopal Church and active support of the carly temperance refor- mation. Mary ( Reynolds) Megredy was the daughter of John and Hannah ( Knight) Reynolds, of Cecil County. lle was a brother of Judge David Reynolds, of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, and of Reuben Reynolds, of Cecil County. (See biographies of Henry Reynolds.) In 1840 Mr. Wil- mer removed to Port Deposit, and formed a copartnership with his father-in-law, in the business of quarrying granite, and for fifteen years was an extensive contractor, furnish- ing material for Government works, as far South as St. Augustine, Florida. Mr. Wilmer's enterprise also led him to engage in other branches of trade. He was at the same time a member of the firm of Wilmer & Davis at Port De- posit, of Wilmer & Gollibert at Georgetown, and of Wil- mer & Ford at Wilmer's Point on the Sassafras River, at all of which places he did a large business in lumber, guano, fertilizers, agricultural implements, and grain, and was esteemed a bold and honorable operator. During a residence of seventeen years in Port Deposit, he contributed much to the improvement of that town by his business en- terprise and the erection of dwellings, store and ware- houses, and wharves. lle was active in all church, edu- cational, and benevolent enterprises. For many years he was a Trustee of Dickinson College, of Wesleyan Female College, and of other academic institutions. In 1857 he purchased " Holly Hall," the estate of the late General James Sewall, near Elkton, and resided there until 1860, when he sold this estate to James E. Barroll, and bought out the business interest of George W. Cummins & Co., at Smyrna, Delaware, and again engaged in active pursuits. On the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1861, Mr. Wilmer took a decided stand for the Union, and from his house floated the first Union flag that was unfurled in that State south of New Castle County. Educated in pro-slavery sentiments, and himself a slave-owner, he made the first public speech, made by a slavehokler of that State, in favor of emancipation as a war measure, and addressed meetings throughout the entire State. In 1863 he raised the Sixth Regiment of Delaware Infantry at the time of Lee's raid into Pennsylvania, and in two days he had his regiment armed, equipped, and on duty on the line of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad. Subsequently Colo- nel Wilmer, as Provost-Marshal for the District of Dela- . ware, was ordered to make the draft under the Enrolment Act, and continued in the discharge of the duties of that difficult and arduous office, to the ruin of his mercan- tile business and great detriment of his private interests, until the close of the war, during which time per- haps no man in the State was more active and efficient in raising men and money for the Government. In 1864, while in the discharge of the Provost Marshal's dutics,

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with headquarters at Wilmington, at the time of Harry Gilmore's raid into Maryland, Colonel Wilmer, with a train of cars, furnished by the Delaware Railroad Company, traversed the State of Delaware for two continuons days and nights, entering the towns, arousing and gathering to- gether the people, by the singing of the town and church bells, and when assembled, addressing them on the ener- gency, and returned with over five hundred men, who with other volunteers, from the upper part of the State, formed the Eighth Regiment of Delaware Infantry. In the spring of 1865 Colonel Wilmer's only son, a boy of fifteen years, who had aecompanied his father when on duty with his regiment (having previously been a cadet at Colonel Hyatt's Military Academy), went into the field a volunteer aide-de-camp, without pay, on the staff of General Thomas 11. Smyth, Third Brigade, Second Corps, Army of the Po- tomae, and was in the engagements of the storming of Fort Stedman, Hatcher's Run, Danville, Petersburg, Burk- ville, and the last battle at Farmville, where his General was mortally wounded, and young Wilmer returned to Wilmington, Delaware, with the body of his chief. Ile was mentioned by General Smyth, in his official report on the battle of Hateher's Run, for bravery, and was prom- ised a Lieutenant's commission, on his arriving at the age of sixteen. The termination of the war, before that period arrived, prevented his attaining that official rank. After the war Colonel Wilmer was elected President of " The Manhattan Briek Company of New York," of which he afterwards became principal stoekholder. By the depres- sion of business, so disastrous in the fall of 1869, this company was forced into involuntary bankruptcy, and Colonel Wilmer returned to Baltimore, where he has sinee resided. Ile has had born to him seven children, viz. : Mary Rachel, who married Henry R. Torbert, of Elkton (sec sketch of Mr. Torbert) ; Emma Wilson, who died in infancy ; Emma Rasiu, a child of rare gifts and graees, died in her fourteenth year. A biography of her was writ- ten and published by the Rev. 11. F. Hurn, entitled " The Sunbeam of the Household." Laura Freeman, married Charles 11. Hepburn, formerly of Williamsport, Pennsyl- vania, now of Baltimore city ; Professor Edwin Megredy Wilmer, A. M., a graduate of Dickinson College, of the elass of 1870; Ellen Moore Reynolds, and Florenee Zeilin Wilmer, all of whom, with their parents, reside in Balti- more city, except Mr. and Mrs. Torbert. Colonel Wilmer is of medium height, of good physique, and courteous manners. He is a man of intelligence and business quali- fications ; is of social, generous, and hospitable disposition, and habits. On April 11, 1879, he and his estimable wife celebrated the fortieth anniversary of their wedding day, and bid fair to enjoy another decade of married life. 1

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2, Part 28

Author: National Biographical Publishing Co. 4n Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Baltimore : National Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 802

Author: National Biographical Publishing Co. 4n
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Baltimore : National Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 802