USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 32
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80
499
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.
cially in the heating and ventilation of the buildings, should be committed, Mr. Reese married, in 1845, Sarah Jane, daughter of David and Elizabeth Janney, of London County, Virginia, and nicce of the late Phineas Janney, of Alexandria, Virginia, extensively known as President of the old Bank of Potomac. The ancestors of the Janney family came to America with William Penn, and have al. ways been members of the Society of Friends. Mr. Reese has had four children, three of whom are living : Thomas 1 .. , Elizabeth M., and Cornelia S. Mary Anna died in carly childhood. The brothers of Mr. Keese, to whom refer- ence has been made as extensively engaged in the grocery business, are Thomas Moore Reese, of the firm of Thomas M. Reese & Sons, 99 North Charles Street, Baltimore. He married Martha, daughter of William Henry Stabler, of Sandy Springs, Montgomery County, Maryland. Their children are Harry S., Walter, and Lawrence, who are in business with their father. Frank, another son, is deceased. Charles, of the firm of Charles Reese & Co., 345 Madison Avenue. He married Susan H. Wetherald, of Wilming- ton, Delaware. Their children are Percy M., Anna Hal- lowell, Estelle E., Warren Lacy, Alice, and Frederick Ilerman, all deceased except Percy M. May Walton, the only living daughter, married William F. Burr, of Phila- delphia. Edward Reese, 366 West Baltimore Street, mar- ried Mary A. Gilpin. Their children are Juliet Canby, Fannie G., Kate S., and James Stone. Henry Reese mar- ried Mary Anna Miller, of Alexandria, Virginia. Their children are Carrie M., Ilelen, Robert M., Nannie M., Arthur L., Albert, and Mabel. There were three sisters ; the only one living is Deborah. Mary died in infancy, and Annie, who died in August, 1877, was the wife of Professor Caleb S. Hallowell, nephew of Benjamin Hallo- well, the celebrated educator. Caleb S., who was raised by Benjamin Hallowell, with his brother James, became Benjamin's successors. Caleb during the war removed to Philadelphia, where he established a very successful school. Failing in health he retired from it, worth forty thousand dollars, and died in that city, leaving two children, Charles, now married and living in Colorado, and Elizabeth, who lives with Charles Reese, on Madison Avenue, Baltimore. The earliest progenitors of the family in America were Jolm Reese Meredith, who came from the neighborhood of War- wick Castle, in Wales, and his wife Catharine Evans, of Chester, England. This gentleman dropped the name of Meredith, before removing to America, as being too long a name, and was henceforth known by that of Reese. The family at an early day (1719) settled in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and afterward some of them in Baltimore.
WEGG, COLONEL WILLIAM HENRY, was born on Kent Island, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, in 1832. The family homestead, " Legg's Beginning," in Cox's Neck, near which the subject of our sketch was born, was first settled by William Legg, an Eng- lishman, under a warrant obtained from Governor Ilart, in 1717, and has descended, intact, to the heirs of cach generation. Kent Island is distinguished as the first point of Anglo-American civilization within the present bounda- ries of Maryland, being settled about 1626, by Colonel William Clayborne. The father of Colonel Legg was Cap- tain Henry C. Legg, who fell a victim to the cholera epidemic of 1832, the year of his son's birth. His wife was Mar- garet, daughter of Captain William Skinner, of Queen Anne's. William Henry was the youngest of three chil- dren. He attended the country school of the neighbor- hood, though not regularly, until he attained his seventeenth year, when he took charge of the home farm, his only brother having died at an early age. In 1859, there being no teacher obtainable at the time, he was solicited to take charge of the District School, which he. consented to, it being in close proximity to his farm. In the fall of that year he was nominated by the Democratic party of his county for the Legislature, and was elected, receiving a very large and flattering support, many members of the opposition party in his district voting for him. He served in the session at Annapolis in 1860, and at Frederick in 1861. In 1867 he was elected to the first Legislature that met under the present State Constitution. During the ses- sion (1868), he was appointed on several important com- mittees, and was Chairman of the Committee on Chesapeake Bay and Tributaries, as such reporting the bill that gave the State its first oyster police force. Having no reliable labor to cultivate his farm, he, in 1872, rented it out, and bought the Denton Journal, the Democratic organ of Caroline County, which he edited with profit and success until November, 1876, when he sold it to advantage and returned to his farm on Kent Island. As an editor he was a member of the Editorial Association of the State, and one of its Vice-Presidents. In October, 1875, he was appointed by Governor Groome an Aid on his Staff, with the rank of Colonel. In 1878 he removed to Stevensville, two miles from his farin, and there established the agricultural and building hardware business, in connection with the sale of phosphates, still retaining the management of his farm. Colonel Legg was married in December, 1866, to Henrietta, daughter of Clinton and Marietta Cook, of Centreville, Queen Anne's County. Her father was a very prominent attorney in the courts of his district, and had served in both the Upper and Lower Houses of the State Legisla- ture. He died, greatly regretted, in 1857. Colonel and Mrs. Legg have four children. His mother is still living. She is a warm-hearted, generous, Christian woman, from whom her son inherits many of the qualities that have made him so popular, and by whom he was carefully trained in
t
-
.
1
500
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.
all the nobler principles of humanity. She, as was his father, is a member of the Methodist Church, which the Colonel's family attends. Colonel Legg is a man of warm impulses, a ready debater and writer, and even his politi- cal opponents admit that he excels as a stump speaker.
9 STEWART, JOHN DUNCAN, son of John and Barbara Stewart, was born in Baltimore, March, 1828. He was educated at the private schools of the city, and at Carlisle College, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated A.B., after which he pursued a thorough course of study in preparation for the ministry, and gradu- ated in theology. But being in very delicate health, he was compelled to abandon his chosen profession, and re- luctantly turned to other fields. He went West, and was for two years the editor of the Cincinnati Sun. Returning , to Baltimore, in 1851, lie engaged in the hardware business for one year only, when he entered the livery business with his father, on Banks Street near Broadway. This active employment suited his health, and he became very strong, and was also very successful. In 1856 he removed to III Lexington Street, where he continued until July 25, 1873, when, in the great fire of that year, all his buildings, including stables, coach factory, and carriage- house, were swept away. He lost all his valuable stock of sleighs, robes, and harness, besides several wagons. Ilis entire loss amounted to about sixty thousand dollars, yet with indomitable courage and energy he commenced at once to rebuild. By the following April he was ready again for business, with one of the largest and most com- plete establishments of the kind in the United States. The building covers a quarter of an acre of ground, and can accommodate on the two lower floors one hundred and sixty horses and two hundred and fifty carriages. The harness room, carriage room, and horse stables are divided by fire walls. The hay is kept on the third floor, and is taken up by a patent machine, worked by horse power. It is a New England invention, and is the only one in Mary- land. It consists of a patent fork and tramway. By its means, a load of hay, weighing three tons, is unloaded in seven forkfuls, each one, being raised to the mow, is car- ried on the tramway to the desired place, when, by an auto- matie movement, it is distributed over the loft without any hand labor whatever. The carriage house has three floors, all of which are accessible by means of a waiter, which takes up two carriages at a time; it also has a room where each customer, keeping his horse at livery, has the use of a closet in which to keep driving seat, driving suit, robes, etc. Mr. Stewart also erected a large carriage factory, in which all the coaches are repaired, and the horse-shocing done. The stable has five entrances, one on Park Avenue and four on Clay Street. It occupies Nos. 31, 33, and 35
Park Avenue, and several numbers on Clay Street. In the general disturbance, April 19, 1861, the stables of Mr. Stewart were raided upon by roughs, who embraced the opportunity to plunder. He, with several of his friends, employés, and customers, armed themselves as well as the unexpected emergency would permit, and guarded the place, but he lost a number of valuable horses. The in- ventive genius of the family has appeared in every genera- tion. Mr. John D. Stewart patented a pipe cover, a pipe stem, for which he was offered five thousand dollars; a burglar-proof lock ; a letter box for street use, which was adopted by the Government ; a tool to cut carriage washers, etc. Although his health would not permit the exercise of his profession, his fine education was by no means lost to the world; he kept his pen almost constantly employed in the advocacy of needed measures, and in the forwarding of every good word and work. The contributions of his ready and fertile mind to the newspapers and pamphlets of the day were unremitting. His ability and versatility as a writer caused him frequently to be called upon to do a variety of literary work. He also spoke with fluency, and obtained great influence over the mind's of those whom he addressed. Ile was passionately fond of political life, and would undoubtedly have succeeded in it had he lived to carry out his cherished plans. It was his intention to soon place his business in the hands of his son, and to enter the political arena. In 1869 he was elected to the First Branch of the City Council, his opponent being one of the most popular men of the city. Mr. Stewart was married, April 2, 1850, to Eliza Griffith, daughter of Anthony Griffith, a brave and valued officer on the sloop- of-war Constitution, during the war of 1812. Ninc children were born to them, Colin, Mary Frances, Anna Griffith, who died in infancy, John, Ida, Isabel, Harry Lee, Estelle, and Margaret. Mr. Stewart belonged to the Order of Masons, to the St. Andrew's Society of Odd Fel- lows, and was, in early life, an active member and Secre- tary of the old Volunteer Mechanical Fire Company, composed only of men of high standing in the city. In Angust, 1872, he was thrown from his carriage, striking the side of his face against the curbstone. The injury he received was a very serious one, and finally caused his death. The shock to his nervous system also affected his mind. On July 23, 1876, he was sun struck, but recovered. He died February 9, 1877, leaving his family and his busi- ness to the care of his eldest son, Colin.
6.
1 NG, JOHN HADLEY, Lawyer, was born in Baltimore in 1819. Ile attended private schools until the age of fourteen years, when he entered an insurance office as clerk. After occupying that position two years he became attached to the County Clerk's office in a clerical capacity, remaining therein over five years.
.
1
501
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.
He then commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. John II. B. Latrobe, and in August, 1844, was admitted to the Baltimore city bar. One year thereafter he was ad- mitted to practice in the Court of Appeals, and in 1849 in the Supreme Court of the United States. He has enjoyed an extensive and varied practice in the different courts. Ile successfully defended HIon. Henry Winter Davis in 1859, and Hon. Charles E. Phelps in 1863, in the contests for their seats in Congress. His criminal practice has included several important murder cases, in which he has always succeeded in clearing his client, and he has been generally successful in his civil practice. During the Mexican war Mr. Ing was appointed Captain in the Sixth Regiment, Maryland Militia, and was promoted to the rank of Major-General. During the civil war he was an unfaltering Union man, and was active in his efforts to assist the Government in suppressing the Rebellion. For thirty-nine years Mr. Ing has been a member in good standing of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is attached to Jerusalem Encampment, No. I. Ile is a 'member of Monroe Division, Sons of Temperance; also of Powhatan Lodge, Improved Order of Red Men. IIe was a member of the old Baltimore United Fire Depart- ment, and was an officer in the Friendship Fire Company. In religious sentiment he is a Methodist, as was his father and grandfather. Mr. Ing's father was Edward Ing, who married Ann Iladley, daughter of John Hadley, of Dela- ware. Ilis grandfather was John Ing, a native of Wales, who came to this country in 1787. Mis maternal grand- father, John Hadley, was also a native of Wales, and set- tled in Delaware. He was a Revolutionary soldier under General Washington. Mr. Ing married, October 16, 1845, Miss Lydia A. Strandley, daughter of John and Rachel Strandley. Mr. Ing is a gentleman of agreeable manners, is a forcible speaker, and has been very successful in his profession.
BARDON, GEORGE Everr, Attorney-at-law, Bal- timore, was born April 10, 1852, at Norfolk, Vir- ginia. Ile is the son of the late Henry B. Rear- don, a prominent citizen of Norfolk, Virginia. After a thorough preparatory course Mr. Reardon en- tered St. John's College, Fordham, New York, from which institution he graduated with honor in 1870. Ile studied law with Ilon. George P. Fisher, United States District Attorney, of the District of Columbia, and graduated at Columbia Law College in the class of 1874. In the latter part of that year he entered upon the practice of law in the city of Baltimore, where he has since continued. He has been commissioned by the Executives of the respective States Commissioner of Deeds for all the States in the Union.
REEDON, IION. J. II. W. G., Physician and Leg- islator, was born in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, in the year 1841, where he received a common-school education. He subsequently graduated at the University of Maryland. Hle served as Resident Physician of the Infirmary. At present (1878) he is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
ILSON, HION. GEORGE, of Broadneck, was born in Kent County, Maryland. IIe was the son of James and Catharine Wilson, of Old Field Point. He was a Delegate from Kent County in the Legis- lature of Maryland in the sessions of 1728, 1731, 1732, 1734, 1735, 1736, 1740, 1745, 1746, and 1747. Ile married Mary Kennard, a lady of notable strength of mind and character, and died in 1748. Ile was an extensive landed proprietor and a large slave-owner. Among his slaves was one, a royal personage, " Prince Wiggins," an African king, captured, enslaved, and sold while a prisoner of war. The " Prince" was not required to work, and lived to see four generations of his master's family. George Wilson, of Castle Cairy, eldest son of IIon. George Wilson, married Margaret HIall, and had a son, John Wilson, who married, February 2, 1779, Mary Perkins, of the White House, and was the father of Captain Frederick Wilson, who commanded the troop of horse at the battle of Caulk's Field, and of Margaret Wilson, who married Dr. James Black, of Fairfields.
OBERTS, HON. CHARLES BAYLE, Member of Con- gress from the Second Congressional District of Maryland, composed of Carroll, Cecil, Harford, and a large portion of Baltimore County, was born in Uniontown, Carroll County, Maryland, April 19, 18.12. lle was the second son and only surviving child of John and Catharine A. ( Bayle) Roberts. After gradnat- ing at Calvert College, New Windsor, Maryland, in 1861, he entered upon the study of law, and was admitted to practice in 1864. In 1868 he served as an Elector on the Democratic ticket in the Presidential contest of that year, Seymour and Blair being the nominees. Mr. Roberts was elected by the Democratic party of his district to the Forty-fourth Congress, and was placed on the Committee of Accounts, of which he became Chairman, succeeding Hon. J. D). Williams, elected Governor of Indiana. IIe was re-elected to the Forty-fourth Congress by over three thousand majority, and was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Accounts. He was also a member of the Committee on Commerce. Mr. Roberts was married, No- vember 10, 1863, to Miss Annie E. Mathias, daughter of
64.
502
BIOGRAPHICAL, CYCLOPEDIA.
Colonel John T. Mathias, formerly of Baltimore, and now of Tyrone City, Blair County, Pennsylvania, Mr. Rob- erts is one of the most popular men in Western Maryland, and his entire Congressional course gave the utmost satis- faction, not only to his immediate constituency, but to the whole people of Maryland, inrespective of party.
ALKER, WILLIAM STEVENSON, was born Jan- uary 6, 1832, in Chestertown, Kent County, Maryland. Ile is the son of John W. and Elizabeth (Constable) Walker. He commenced his education at Washington College, and was graduated at Princeton in the class of 1851. He married, December 27, 1855, Mary Rebecca Ricaud, daughter of Judge James B. and Anna E. F. (Gordon) Ricaud, of Chestertown, and has three children living, viz. : Anna Elizabeth, Cornelia Rebecca, and William Stevenson Wal- kér. In the winter of 1866 he was elected a vestryman of Chester Parish, and March 19, 1867, was appointed one of the Visitors of Washington College. He was a Deputy from the Diocese of Maryland to the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, which met in the city of New York, in October, 1868, and since then has represented the Diocese of Easton in the General Conventions which as- sembled in the cities of Baltimore in 1871, in New York in 1874, and in Boston in 1877. In politics he is a Demo- crat.
(From " Baltimore, Past and Present.")
ZARY, JAMES SULLIVAN, late senior of the firm of James S. Gary & Son, proprietors of the Alberton Cotton Mills, Howard County, Maryland, was born in Medway, Massachusetts, November 15, 1808. Ile was the son of John Gary, a farmer of Lan- cashire, England, who, with his brother James, emigrated to this country in 1712, and settled in New Hampshire; James going to Massachusetts. His father died in early manhood, leaving a large family. His mother was Mary Witherell. She belonged to one of the oldest families of New England. Ile had two brothers, John and Joseph, who were very superior mechanics. When but five years of age, James went to work in the Medway Manufacturing Company's Cotton Mill, where he remained for seven years, acquiring in that time a thorough practical knowl- edge of the details of. the manufacture. His early educa- tional advantages were necessarily limited, but, aided by a good mother, he availed himself of every opportunity for mental improvement. Leaving the Medway Company with a view to more profitable employment, he engaged
successively In a mumber of manufacturing establishments, ever gathering valuable knowledge of the business, which greatly contributed to his after success in life. In these various changes he was prudent and economical withal, and by the time he was twenty two years of age he had saved n few thousand dollars, In 1830 he married Pamelia, daughter of Deacon Ebenezer Forrest, of Foxboro, Massa- chusetts, and removed to Mansfield, Connecticut, where he became a partner in a cotton factory. That was a most unfortunate venture for him ; as the agents of the factory became bankrupt, and he lost his entire investment. After that he spent some years in charge of one of the depart- ments of the Lonsdale Manufacturing Company's Mills in Rhode Island. In 1838 Mr. Gary removed with his family to Maryland, where he took charge of one of the depart- ments in the mills of the Patuxent Manufacturing Com- pany, at Laurel, Prince George County. In 1844, with three others, he established the Ashland Manufacturing Company of Baltimore County, and assumed the entire control of the works. This company operated most suc- cessfully until 1854, when the buildings and machinery were destroyed by fire. In addition to his control of the Ashland Mills, he undertook at the same time the super- vision and control of the Patuxent Company's Mills, at their invitation. This service he most satisfactorily ren- dered, visiting and directing both. About a year previous to the fire at the Ashland Company's Mills, he established, in connection with another gentleman, the Alberton Manu- facturing Company, at Elysville, Howard County, which continued until 1857, when it shared the fate of many others in the financial crisis of that period. A new organi- zation was soon after effected under the name of the Sagonan Manufacturing Company. Mr. Gary made the discovery in 1859, that through the mismanagement of his associate, who controlled the financial affairs, the com- pany had become disastrously involved in outside opera- tions. He at once arranged to assume the sole ownership of the mills, together with the heavy indebtedness. The ereditors believing that Mr. Gary ought not to be held re- sponsible for what had been done without his knowledge, were generously disposed to agree to a very liberal com- promise, but Mr. Gary declined the offer, promising to meet every claim in full at a future period. That promise he fulfilled in half the time for which he had asked. In 1861, his son, James Albert Gary, was taken into partner- ship, under the firm name of James S. Gary & Son, with office and warehouse in Baltimore. In 1863 a branch house was established in St. Louis, under the name of James S. Gary & Co., both of which have been attended with great prosperity. In 1866 the mills, dwellings, and the property at Alberton were considerably damaged by a freshet. They were again damaged much more disas- trously in 1868, when the whole valley of the Patapsco was suddenly swept by a torrent, which destroyed many lives and millions of dollars' worth of property. Mr.
--
.
ــ معـ
AS Gany
503
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.
Gary, himself, narrowly escaped with his life. The loss to him amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand dol- lars. The waters had scarcely subsided when with his usual courage and energy he set about rebuilding his mill, having first relieved the immediate necessities of the suf- ferers around him. The work of reconstruction was pushed vigorously forward; and though his mills had suf- fered more damage than others, with one exception, he was the first to resume operations by several weeks, Many improvements were made and such extensive additions that the capacity for production was doubled. But the active man, in the midst of his usefulness and benefactions, was suddenly stricken down. lle died at the age of sixty- two years, from the effects of a carbunele, March 7, 1870, and was buried at Alberton, the scene of his labors, and where the monuments of his energy and skill still remain, in the busy mills and their pleasant surroundings. Mr. Gary was a man of rare ability and indomitable perse- verance. He had wonderful tact in managing men, securing their confidence and hearty co-operation and good will by his hearty kindness to all. He was, too, a mathematician of unusual ability. IIe was a Whig in politics, and during the war a sincere and zealous Unionist. As in religion so in politics, he always respected the views of others. He was not identified with any church, but he was governed as nearly as possible by the Golden Rule. The village of Alberton is on the Patapsco River, in Howard County, about twelve miles from Baltimore, on the Baltimore and Ohio Raitroad. It is provided with all the necessary appliances for comfort and convenience. One of Mr. Gary's strictest regulations was the prohibi- tion of the sale of intoxicating liquors. Ile left two children, a son and a daughter; the latter married 11. B. Holton, Esq. Since Mr. Gary's death the business has been conducted by his son, James Albert Gary, in the old firm name. lle is a practical manufacturer, like his father; and is largely identified with the interests of his city and State, and seems to have attained his highest ambition in being recognized as a good and useful citizen.
B BLACKBURN, HONORABLE IIENRY HINCSMAN, .LL.D., was born, October 12, 1838, in Columbi- ana County, Ohio. His parents were both natives of Virginia. Ilis father, Barbee Blackburn, was a grandson of William Blackburn, a Major-Gen- eral during the Revolutionary war. His mother, Eliza- beth, daughter of Aaron Hincson, was descended from an old German family. In 1834, Barbee Blackburn removed to Ohio in company with a colony of Friends, or Quakers, who left Virginia on account of their religious opposition to the institution of slavery. He settled in Columbiana County. Henry was carly trained to farm work, and but
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.