USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 29
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 29
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WILMER, SIMON, the progenitor of the family in America, eame from England to the Province of Maryland in 1660. Ile was a very prominent man in old Kent, a representative in the As- sembly, a vestryman in the Parishes of St. Paul - and Shrewsbury, and hell important publie offices. He had two sous, Simon and Lambert, both of whom were representative men in Church and State. Lambert had two sons, Simon and Lambert, who were men of promi- nenee in the county. Simon, the son of Lambert, had four sons, one of them the Rev. James Jones Wilmer, was a elergyman, before and after the Revolutionary war. IIe was Secretary of the first meeting of the Clergy in 1783. It was on his motion that the Church of England in the United States, adopted the name of the Protestant Epis- eopal Church. Another son, Dr. John Lambert Wilmer, of " Wilmer Point Farm," married Elizabeth Brooke Car- michael, and left a large family, of whom but one of their children is living, Colonel Edwin Wilmer. Another brother, Simon Wilmer, of the " White House Farm," was the father of the Rev. Simon Wilmer, whose son, the Right Rev. Joseph P. B. Wilmer (recently deceased), was Bishop of Louisiana. The Rev. William H. Wilmer, a brother of Rev. Simon Wilmer, was President of the Gen- eral Convention of the Bishops, the Clergy, and the Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States; President of William and Mary College, and Professor in the Virginia Theological Seminary. One of his sons, the Right Rev. Richard Hooker Wilmer, is Bishop of Ala- bama. The Rev. Lemuel Wilmer, a half-brother of the Rev. Simon and the Rev. William HI. Wilmer, D.D., was for nearly half a century Rector of the Parish at Port To- baeeo, Charles County, Maryland, and has descendants of prominence in this State. The Wilmers have gone out from old Kent into various States of the Union. Many of them are representative men, in the Church, in the pro- fessions, and in business eireles. Few of them have mani- fested any taste for politieal life. On the female side many of them have intermarried with families of dis- tinction.
ASIN, ROBERT WILSON, was born at Old Field Point, Kent County, Maryland, September 6, 1806. He received his education at Washington College, and at adult age adopted the. voeation of an agrieulturist. After pursuing a farmer's life for about twenty years, he, in 1847, removed to Baltimore, where he engaged extensively in the business of a real estate broker, and maintained a high character for frank and honest dealing. From early youth he evineed a lively in- terest in politics, and was an active worker with his party,
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but never sought or accepted political preferment. He was . identified with the okl Whig party, and when it ceased to exist he affiliated with the Democracy, supporting the ticket of that party in the election of Governor E. Louis Lowe. On the breaking ont of the rebellion his sympa- thies were with the Southern Confederacy. Decided in his opinions, he was free and frank in their expression; though committing no overt act, he nevertheless rendered himself obnoxious to some of the Union officers in au- thority at Baltimore, and was arrested by order of Colonel Fish, Provost-Marshal, and sent to Fort McHenry, thence to Fort Lafayette, and then transferred to Fort Delaware, where he was kept as a prisoner of war for twenty-eight months, refusing to purchase his liberty by taking the "ironclad " oath. Mr. Rasin's paternal ancestors were of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and on the maternal side, of the Society of Friends, his own religious predelictions being in favor of the latter. He ultimately embraced the faith and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, in which he was baptized, and in the communion of which he died. Mr. Rasin married Miss Mary R., daughter of Edward Ringgold, of Kent County, by whom he had four children, two only of whom are living, I. Freeman Rasin, Clerk of the Court of Common P'leas, Baltimore, and R. W. L. Rasin. He died February 8, 1878. Few men enjoyed a larger circle of attached friends than Robert W. Rasin. Ile was ardent in temperament ; a loving husband and father ; and his intercourse with his children was such that they could always approach him with freedom and confidence. In person he was tall and commanding ; in his deportment manly and dignified, and in manner, affable and cheerful. He won and retained the friendship of all with whom he was brought into intercourse.
ROBINSON, COLONEL. JOHN MONCURE, President of the Baltimore and Steam Packet Co., was born in Philadelphia, August 22, 1835. He is the son of Monenre Robinson. After passing through a regu- lar course of instruction at the Virginia Military In- stitute he entered Ilarvard University, and after graduating therefrom applicd himself to the study of civil engineering. On the breaking out of the American civil war he became attached to the Engineer Corps of the Confederate Service, with the rank of Colonel, serving also as a Staff Officer. Colonel Robinson was for some time Superintendent of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, and is now President of the Baltimore and Steam Packet Company ; the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad Company; the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroad Company; the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad Company, and the Augusta Railroad Company.
EMPLE, JOHN WESLEY, Clerk of the Circuit Court for Caroline County, Maryland, was born November 15, 1821 on the homestead, near Tem- pleville, Queen Anne's County, same State. His pa- rents, William and Mary ( Knotts) Temple, were also natives of Queen Anne's County, and were of English descent. Mr. Temple's education all through his minority was very limited, and when he attained the age of man- hood he was scarcely able to read and write. The only educational advantages he enjoyed were those afforded by the district, school in the neighborhood, in which there did not appear to be any teachers capable of giving in- struction in grammar. He worked on the farm in spring and summer, and attended school during the three winter months. Ile had no inclination to follow anything except farming, and remained with his father until the twenty- second year of his age. On the Ist of April, 1844, he removed to a farm in Caroline County, where he remained until September 1, 1874, when he removed to Denton, the county seat of Caroline. Although Mr. Temple has never been an aspirant for political office he has been called upon to fill several important and responsible positions, such as that of Justice of the Peace, Clerk of the Circuit Court for Caroline County, as also of the Levy Court. Ile is a mem- ber in good standing of the Masonic fraternity, the Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias. He is attached to the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which his parents were members, and in which his grandfather was a local preacher. In politics he affiliates with the Democratic party, though he is not an ultra partisan. In December, 1850, he married, and has had nine children. Mr. Temple has all through life led a strictly temperate life, never having drank any intoxicating beverages. Ifis excellent character and efficiency as a public official have caused him to be highly csteemed in the community in which he resides.
INKS, HONORABLE WILLIAM HENRY, Lawyer and Legislator, son of Samuel and Susan links, was born in the city of Baltimore, November 16, 1844. Ilis parents were both natives of Maryland, his father being of English descent, and his mother of German ancestry. Samuel Hinks was, for many years, a flour and grain commission merchant of Baltimore; was Mayor of that city from 1854 to 1856, and held other important public offices. Ilis son, William IL. Hinks, was educated in the common schools of Baltimore, and graduated at the Baltimore City College, in July, 1862. After graduating, he filled the position of bookkeeper for one year in a Bal- timore warehouse, and then removed to Frederick County, where he now resides. He engaged in farming for several
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years in Frederick County, devoting his spare time to quali- fying himself for the profession of the law. Prior to enter- ing upon the practice of law, he studied with Milton G. Urner, Esq., then State's Attorney for Frederick County, and Messrs. Nelson Poe, Esq., and John P. Poc, Esq., of Baltimore, He studied in the office of the last-named gen- tleman for two years, entered the Law Department of the University of Maryland, in Baltimore, and graduated from that institution in the year 1872. He was admitted to the bar and entered upon his professional career the same year, in Frederick City, since which time he has been engaged in active practice. Ile was a Union man during the late war, and has been identified with the Republican party from its first organization. Ile was elected to the House of Delegates in 1875, and re-elected in 1877.
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EIB, HONORABLE WILLIAM J., Farmer and Legisla- tor, was born February 20, 1832, at Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Samuel and Eliza J. (Good) Leib, both natives of Pennsylvania, his father being of German and his mother of English descent. His father was a prominent and influential business man and politician of Pennsylva- nia, having been chosen as Associate Judge of the Schuyl- kill County Courts, and having filled various official posi- tions in Washington city. The subject of this sketch re- ceived his early education at the preparatory department of the Pennsylvania College ; was one year a student in the Collegiate Department at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and graduated at Amherst College, Massachusetts, in 1853. On leaving college Mr. Leib taught school for some time, and studied law at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, with J. W. Rose- berry, Esq. He was admitted to the bar in 1855, and prac- tieed his profession successfully for several years in that locality. He served as a Clerk for a number of years in the Treasury Department at Washington, D. C., and re- moved to Frederick County, Maryland, in 1867, where he has continued to reside since that time. He is now engaged in farming, his home being in the country, four miles from Frederick. Mr. Leib has taken quite an active part in polities and has long been identified with the Republican party. Ile was a Delegate to the Maryland Republican State Convention in 1873, and was elected on the Republi- can ticket to the House of Delegates in 1877, .
i. ARTSOCK, HONORABLE LOTT, Merchant and Legislator, was born October 30, 1822, in Fred- erick County, Maryland. His parents were Joseph and Elizabeth Hartsook, both natives of Maryland. His life has been spent principally in farming, mill- ing and merchandising. He has several times filled the
position of Postmaster of Johnsville, Frederick County ; was a firm Union man during the civil war; has been identified with the Republican party since its organization, and was elected by that party to the House of Delegates in 1877. He has been twice married, first, in 1846, to Miss Elizabeth Burgess, daughter of Samuel and Rachel Bur- gess, of Frederick County, and secondly, to Miss Eliza Roach, daughter of Thomas and Margaret Roach, of Car- roll County. He has five children living. One of his sons has served as Sheriff of Frederick County.
PDER, J. BENSON, Editor and Legislator, was born in Page County, Virginia, in August, 1841. Dur- ing the civil war he served four years in the Con- 6 federate Army, and was in the engagements ~of Cold Harbor, Malvern Hill, Chancellorsville, Win - chester, and Gettysburg. He removed from Virginia to Maryland in 1874, since which time he has exerted considerable influence as editor of the Mining Journal of Frostburg, Maryland. In 1877 he was elected to the Ilouse of Delegates, and has been a very efficient member of that body.
MARTIN, ROBERT KIRKWOOD, Civil Engineer, was born at Denton, Caroline County, Maryland, January 5, 1835. His father was Dr. George T. Martin, on the Eastern Shore. The maiden name of his mother. was Mary A. Whitely; her grandfather, Robert Kirkwood, was a Captain in the Revolutionary war, and was afterwards killed by the Indians at " St. Clair's Defeat." Young Martin came to Baltimore at the age of ten, and graduated Bachelor of Arts at St. Mary's College of that city in 1852. He then studied law for about six months, and in 1853 engaged in engineering. Ile commenced the exercise of his new profession on the Alexandria, Loudon and Hampshire Railroad ; this was followed by the survey of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railway, and after that, of the Pittsburg and Collinsville Railroad. Concluding these, the labor of years, he went to Baltimore to accept the position of Resi- dent Engineer in the department of the water works in 1858, when the city was engaged in introducing water from Jones's Falls Creek. In 1872 he was made Chief Engineer, and given in charge the important work of de- vising a plan to introduce an increased water supply from Great Gunpowder Falls, which the rapid growth of the city demanded. The signal ability and success with which he has executed this difficult piece of engineering, has fully established his reputation as one of the most accom- plished engineers of the State. The work is not yet com. pleted, but is well under way. A full description of it cannot be given in this brief sketch, but it may be stated, however, that the stream is tapped at the nearest point to
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the city, and through an underground tunnel twelve feet in diameter, with a capacity of 170,000,000 gallons every twenty-four hours, is conducted to the main reservoir, one hundred and sixty-three feet above tidewater, situated on the Harford Road, about three miles from the City Hall. This reservoir covers about eighty acres, has an average depth of thirty feet, and a capacity of 600,000,000 gal- lons. It has the appearance of a natural lake, and will be surrounded by a drive one hundred feet wide, forming, when completed, a most beautiful and attractive place of resort, and as an example of engineering skill, it will be one of the most perfect in America. The water, when it leaves the reservoir on the way to the city, will pass through a tunnel two thousand six hundred feet long, leading from the cffluent chamber to lower ground on the Harford pike. At this point the cast-iron mains will take up the supply for distribution. The distance from this point to the eastern limit of the city is a little less than a mile. To the completion of this magnificent work Mr. Martin is devoting his best energies, and its full success is already assured. Mr. Martin is a gentleman of thorough and varied culture and superior social qualities, which make him very popular, and secure for him many warm personal friends.
CARBORO, HON. SILAS, Physician and Member of the Ilonse of Delegates, was born May 5, 1827, in Harford County, where he now resides. He was the fifth son of Samuel and Letitia (Warner) Scar- boro. His parents lived to a great age, his father being ninety-two years old when he died, and his mother ninety-one. ITis ancestors came from England at a, very carly period, and settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, but removed to Harford County, Maryland, over one hundred years ago. Dr. Scarboro was educated at the common schools, and at the academy at Unionville, Chester County, Pa. He then engaged in teaching for a few years, when he commenced the study of medicine with Professor Dunbar, M.D., in Baltimore, and attended lectures at the University of Maryland, from which he graduated M.D. in 1857. Ile then settled in the upper part of Harford County, where he has since resided. In February, 1863, he entered the Federal Army as Assistant Surgeon to the Second Regiment of Maryland Volunteers, under Colonel Ollard, which first joined the Ninth Army Corps, at Newport News, under General Burnside. In April, the Ninth Army Corps was transferred to Kentucky, where he was iletailed for hospital duty at Camp Nelson. At this post, where he remaincd about one year, his duties were very arduous and responsible, having, with six or seven other surgeons, the case of from five to eight hundred sick and wounded men. A considerable portion of the time he was in full charge of this hospital. The
Ninth Army Corps being sent back to Virginia, Dr. Scar- boro was ordered to report to his regiment. They joined the Army of the Potomac about the 1st of May, 1864, at Cold Harbor. He was present at that battle, and at all the series of battles which were fought from Cold Harbor to Petersburg. In August, 1864, having suffered from camp fever, exhaustive labors, and constant exposure, his beatth gave way, and he was forced to retire from the service, which he did, receiving an honorable discharge. Ile returned to his home in Maryland, and resumed the practice of his profession with the large success that had always attended him. He never refuses to respond to the call of the poorest. * In politics, he has been active for many years; he had a warm feeling for the South, but was utterly opposed to secession. Ile was County School Commissioner from 1869 to 1875; the schools were very prosperous under the administration of the board of which he was a member; the standard of scholarship was ele- vated, a better class of teachers were employed, and better schoolhouses were erccted than ever before in the history of the county. In 1877 he was elected to the Legislature on the Democratic ticket by a majority of about one thousand votes. Ilis position here is one of usefulness and influence. He was married, May 12, 1859, to Miss Kate Bishop, of Baltimore, who died May 13, 1872, leav- ing him three children, Ilarold, Bertha, and Georgia. He is a communicant in the Protestant Episcopal Church. llas been an occasional and valued contributor to the Harford and Baltimore press.
POLLOWAY, CHARLES T., Fire Inspector, and Ex- Chief Engineer of the Fire Department of the city of Baltimore, was born in that city, Decem- .. ber 25, 1827. Ile was the fifth in a family of eight children, whose parents, Robert and Eleanor Hol- loway, though of Revolutionary stock, were both highly esteemed members of the Society of Friends. His father was a well-known watch and elock maker, and some fifty years ago made the clock now in the tower of No 6 En- gine llouse, at Gay and Ensor streets, Baltimore. During many years of his active life he was one of the most prom- inent and efficient officers of the Independent Fire Com- pany, and was one of the- large number of respectable citizens who maintained the efficiency of the volunteer fire organization. Charles T. inherited the activity of his father in these directions, and at the age of fifteen was President of the Hope Junior Fire Company. In 1850, while engaged in the jewelry business, he projected and organized the first Hook and Ladder Company attached to the Fire Department, was elected its President and served in that capacity until the organization of the present Paid Department, in 1859. . Although at the time regarded as a
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novelty, its success proved complete, and gained for its projector a reputation for sagacity in the best mode of ex- tinguishing fires. On the organization of the Paid Fire Department, under the administration of Mayor Swan, and the appointment of Mr. Holloway as Chief Engineer, the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company, No. I, of which he had been President, drew up and passed a highly com- plimentary preamble and series of resolutions, and, causing them to be beautifully engrossed, presented them to him as expressive of their obligations to him, and their sense of his high moral worth and reputation as a fireman. They also passed a resolution, tendering their thanks to the cor- porate authorities of the city, for their selection of Mr. Ilolloway as the Chief Engineer of the Baltimore City Fire Department. Self-sacrificing as the Volunteer Fire Department had been for many years previous to the intro- (luction of the present system, it had become greatly de- moralized. The good men in the several companies were being outnumbered by the vicious and lawless. These difficulties were obviated in Cincinnati by the employment of paid men, with steam fire engines, drawn by horses, one of which was brought from that city by Mr. Latta, its builder, and, though by no means such a light and rapidly movable machine as is now in use, it created a profound impression. Mr. Holloway was among the earliest in Bal- timore to see the revolution it was destined to work as a fire extinguisher ; and he lost no time in putting his con- victions into practice. With the hearty concurrence of Mayor Swann, and through the liberality of many of the leading citizens, three steamers were soon built and placed in service. In less than two years from the exhibition of Mr. Latta's engine the revolution in the system was com- plete, and the present efficient department in a state of perfect and harmonious organization. The first lire to which the new department was called put the ability and firmness of the new Chief Engineer to a practical test, and proved that the paid system with steamers possessed all the merits which had been claimed. Mr. Holloway held that important position for five years, and at the close of his ser- vice both branches of the City Council of Baltimore, hav- ing set forth the invaluable qualities of the officer and the services rendered by him, passed highly complimentary resohitions. Ile had previously to this been made the recipient, by the Baltimore City Fire Department, of a val- uable watch and chain as a testimonial of the estimation in which he was held. For the last ten years Mr. Ilolloway has filled the important office of Fire Inspector, the powers of which, through his persevering efforts, have been en- larged by the State Legislature, and a competent officer provided for the safe keeping of goods saved at fires till the appearance of the rightful owner. The good effect of this enlargement of powers is manifest in the great decrease of incendiarism. On the morning of November 20, 1870, at a fire on South Charles Street, when Mr. Holloway was on duty as Fire Inspector, he met with a serious accident,
which nearly proved fatal. A large tobacco factory and warehouse had been burned out, and the fire almost ex- tingnished, when a tall side wall unexpectedly fell, bury- ing him under the debris, together with an active member of the Fire Deptment, by the name of Hayes. After four hours of imprisonment in that living tomb, almost suffocated by smoke and steam, and with the dead body of Hayes lying upon him, he was rescued, crushed and bleed- ing, by the men of the Fire Department, at imminent risk to their own lives from tottering walls and falling timbers. Mr. Holloway has also rendered the public a great service in the endeavor to prevent the sale of dangerous oil for illuminating purposes, and has forcibly presented the mat- ter to both the State Legislature and the municipal an- thorities of Baltimore, but as yet without success. The organization of the Salvage Corps by the principal insur- ance companies, the control of which was given to him," was the result of his persistent efforts in that direction. Mr. Holloway is extensively engaged in the manufacture of chemical fire extinguishers, on which he has already obtained ten patents, besides medals and diplomas from the Centennial and other exhibitions and fairs. He also builds hook and ladder trucks on a plan of his own, and has patents on velocipedes and other articles. He has made a success of the chemical fire extinguisher, having overcome all the objections and defects in other extinguish- ers of that kind. He is Vice-President of the several boards of the Baltimore United Fire Department, which he assisted to organize, and is President of the Franklin Chess Club. In 1870, Mr. Holloway assisted in the organ- ization of the present Fire Department of Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, and was the recipient of complimentary municipal honors. At a meeting of the Board of Fire Commission- ers of that city, held June 3, 1870, a vote of thanks was unanimously voted " for his very kind assistance and many valuable suggestions." In his political and religious opin- ions he is liberal, and accords to others as an American right the same privilege. For several years he has been a vestryman of St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church, and some time since presented that church with a hand- some marble altar and lectern, together with altar furniture, in commemoration of his providential escape from death above recorded. Mr. Ilolloway is a Mason in good stand- ing. Ile married Miss Anna HI. Ross, daughter of the late Captain Reuben Ross, October 12, 1854.
1 RAYWARD, CHARLES ECCLESTON, State's Attorney for Dorchester County, Maryland, was born in Cambridge, Maryland, October 30, 1841. His parents were Dr. William R. and Eliza E. ( Eccles- ton) Hayward. His mother was the daughter of William Wash. Kecleston, Esq. Charles pursued his pre-
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