USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 41
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 41
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persuasive eloquence are often heard in the courts and in the public halls, and his reputation extends far beyond the borders of Maryland. When exciting political campaigns are in progress he frequently responds to invitations to ad- dress large assemblies in the principal cities of the New England and Middle States, and wherever he goes he evokes great enthusiasm. Still he is not a zealous partisan, looking at only one side of the question. He possesses an eminently judicial temper, is cautious in forming opinions, and careful that the conclusions at which he arrives are sus- tained by reason and fact. Notwithstanding his uncommon gifts of speech, Mr. Mathews rarely appears in the criminal courts. Although he has been leading counsel in many important criminal cases, he greatly prefers to practice in the civil courts. Whether arguing a dry question of con- stitutional law or making an appeal in behalf of a prisoner whose life or liberty is at stake, he never fails to command the attention of the court, the jury, and the spectators, and when his sympathies are touched, those who wait for bril- liant bursts of oratory will not be disappointed. But it is when addressing large public assemblies that he appears to the best advantage, finding here an opportunity for the ex- ercise of all the arts of rhetoric of which he is master. In wealth of language and felicity of illustration, few orators surpass him, while the play of humor, satire, and irony that enlivens his arguments, keeps expectation at its highest pitch, and provokes the most enthusiastic applause. In private life he is kind, courteous, and hospitable, devoted to his family and friends, fond of society, books, and good living, and much given to the gratification of his æsthetic tastes. He is quite a connoisseur in fine art, and has filled his house with rare gems, which at odd times and places have taken his fancy. As a writer his style is forcible and elc- gant, and his literary productions exhibit the carefulness and finish of one who has the instincts of an artist. To the general public Mr. Mathews is known as an able lawyer, an eloquent speaker, and a courageous political leader ; while his personal accomplishments and the gentler quali- ties, imperfectly portrayed in this brief sketch, have gained him the affections of a large circle of friends. He was married, January 6, 1855, to Rachel Ilough, eldest daugh- ter of John Brooks, a member of the Society of Friends, and has one child, a daughter. Mrs. Mathews is a woman eminently fitted to be the companion of her husband, and his implicit faith in her judicious counsels is well known among his friends. To a mind of remarkable vigor she adds the happiest modes of expressing her thoughts. Her charming conversational talents exhibit all the grace of wide and varied culture, enlivened by wy and humor and natural vivacity of manner. She has been an invalid for many years, but has lost little of her sprightliness, and is still the same delightful companion and friend. Since the above was written, Mr. Mathews has been nominated by President Hayes to be United States District Judge for Maryland.
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ODGE, ROBERT PERLEY, Treasurer of the District of Columbia, was born, September, 1817, in George- town, District of Columbia. He is one of the sons of l'ancis Dodge, an extensive flour and shipping merchant, who died in 1851. His grandfather was Colonel Robert Dodge, of Hamilton, Massachusetts, who fought at the battle of Bunker Hill, and was in twenty- . three engagements during the Revolutionary war. In 1833 he entered Princeton College, New Jersey, and was graduated in 1836, and having determined upon civil en- gineering as a profession he continued his studies in the School of Engineering at Bacon College, Kentucky, where he was graduated in 1837. Receiving an appointment at that time in the corps of engineers on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, at Cumberland, Maryland, he continued in that employment until 1840. In consequence of the con- tinued suspension of specie payments nearly all internal improvement companics curtailed their expenses, and the profession being overstocked, he engaged in farming and mercantile life. In 1840 he became a member of the Episcopal Church. In 1841 he married a daughter of Major James P. Heath, of Baltimore, Maryland. In 1846 he entered upon the milling business, which he pursued on an extensive scale until 1860. He was a Director in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in 1856-57, and about that time was a member of the Corporation Councils for several years, and director in several local companies. He has been a vestryman of his church for over thirty years. At the coming of the war of 1861 his business was broken up by the failure of others. His partner, Adjutant-General Thomas, obtained for him an appointment as Volunteer Paymaster, United States Army, in the summer of 1861, and he continued in that position until he was mus- tered out in July, 1866,-" services no longer required,"- having during his service disbursed over fifteen million dollars, for which he received a clear acquittance from the Treasury. In 1866 he became a claim agent, and subse- quently a real estate agent, which business he pursued until 1876, when, without any solicitation or knowledge on his part, he was appointed Treasurer of the District of Columbia, which office he now ( 1879) holds.
B BROWN, REV. B. PAYTON, Presiding Elder of the Washington District, Baltimore Conference, of the UJUS Methodist Episcopal Church, was born, July 5, 1830, in King George County, Virginia. Ilis father, John Brown, was a native of Virginia, and a farmer in the county where this son was born. Ilis mother's , marlen name was Mary Virginia Elkins, whose mother was a Miss Barber, previous to her marriage, of Madison County, Virginia. He was the youngest of six children,
three sisters and two brothers, all of whom are dead. Ilis father died while he was quite. young. After receiving a common-school education he entered Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, in the year 1849, but was obliged to leave it before graduating on account of his siglt failing him. Two years anterior to his going to college he was con- verted, and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church at Fredericksburg, Virginia, under the ministry of Rev. John Lanahan, D.D., who was then pastor there. Ilis convic- tion of a divine call to the work of the ministry followed very soon after his conversion, and while he trembled at the responsibility incurred, he promptly and cheerfully de- voted himself to preparation for the work to which he then dedicated his life. He received license to preach on New- ville Circuit, Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 1852, from Rev. Charles B. Tippett, l'residing Elder, who had been one of the agents of the Methodist Book Con- cern, at New York. In connection with the largest class of candidates that ever joined a Methodist Conference in this country, or perhaps any other, he was received as a probationer for membership in the Baltimore Conference in the spring of 1853, which held its session in I lagers- town, Maryland, Bishop Morris presiding. He was or- dained Dcacon by Bishop Waugh, in 1855, and Elder, in 1857, by Bishop Janes. These three Bishops are dead. In the number of that large class of probationers was the Rev. Alpheus Wilson, now Missionary Secretary of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church South. He was stationed for two years on Montgomery Circuit ; two years on Westminster Circuit ; one year on Summerfield Circuit ; two years at Fayette Street Station, Baltimore ; two years at Davidson- ville, Anne Arundel County, Maryland ; two years at Wes- ley Chapel, Washington city ; two years at Madison Avenue, Baltimore; three years at Foundry Station, Washington city ; three years again at Wesley Chapel, same city ; one year at Caroline Street Station, Baltimore ; three years at Georgetown, District of Columbia; two years again at Foundry Station, Washington, making five years alto- gether at that station ; and in 1878 he was appointed Pre- siding Elder of the Washington District of the Baltimore Annual Conference, so that, while just in the prime of life, he has spent more than one half of his years in the active ministry of the Gospel. Mr. Brown has been twice mar- ried, first, to Miss Henrietta Dorsey, daughter of Noah E. and Sarah Dorsey, of Anne Arundel County, Maryland. She died five years after their marriage. On April 20, 1869, he married Mrs. Harriett A. Dickson, widow of Rev. S. A .. Dickson, of the Baltimore Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, and daughter of Dr. Joshua Wilson, of Harford County, Maryland. He has six children living, three by each marriage. Mr. Brown has been emphatically a man of one work. Ile is regarded by his brethren in the Con- ference as one of the most active and efficient laborers in the ministry, and is, therefore, most highly esteemed. During his pastorate at Wesley Chapel, Washington, the
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BIOGRAPHIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.
Hon. Salmon P. Chase, then Secretary of the Treasury, be- eame a regular worshipper in the Methodist Episcopal. Church. Mr. Brown knew him well, and esteemed him not only as a great but also a good man. In his judgment Mr. Chase was one of the wisest and purest statesmen of recent times.
SAVIS, PARKER BENJAMIN, President of the Board of Trustees of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia, was born at Newburyport, Massa- chusetts, June 16, 1832. His parents were Benja- min and Martha E. Davis. His father was remark- able for his rare social gifts and his eonstant activity in religious and benevolent enterprises. His mother is still living, and is a woman of more than ordinary intellectual endowments, a persistent and studious reader of books, and an ardent lover of nature. It is to her that Mr. Davis is indebted for an early introduction to the pleasures of intellectual effort, and the training of memory to collect and store away valuable facts, both from books and a close observation of men and things. llis early education was confined to the common schools of his native town, but, having aequired a habit of study, he subsequently mas- tered, in some degree, by private exertion, all branches of study embraced in a liberal higher English course, and, in addition, acquired some knowledge of the French, Greek, and llebrew languages. He worked on a farm and in a shop pretty steadily from his tenth until his twentieth year. He then engaged in the business of carriage manufactur- ing. This being distasteful to him, he commenced teach- ing in Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1854. He went to Ohio the following year, and taught school in Cincinnati until 1859. During this period he was actively engaged in Sunday-school and other labors leading to publie speak- ing, and, upon the advice of friends, resolved to prepare for the work of the Christian ministry. In 1859 he en- tered Andover Theological Seminary, and remained there a year and a half, leaving on account of failing health. In 1861, at the breaking out of the civil war, being incapaci- tated for active military duty, and still determined to be identified with the Union Army, he went into the field in a civil capacity, and served about two years. lle was ap- pointed to office in the Treasury Department, September 11, 1863, and is now chief of the prize-money division in that department. While residing in the District of Colum- bia, Mr. Davis has held the following offices : School Trustee from 1869 to 1870; School Commissioner, part of 1871 ; Superintendent of Schools for the county of Wash- ington during 1871 and 1872; School Trustee in 1877. Ilis knowledge of the educational wants of the District of Columbia, and his ripe experience in such matters, were the means of placing him in high esteem among his brother members of the board, and they elected him to the office
of President of that body, August 2, 1878. Mr. Davis helped to organize a company which founded the village of Mount Pleasant, now the most important suburb of Washington, and aided in establishing public schools, Sun. day schools, and literary societies in that place. He is opposed to secret societies, and therefore has no connec- tion with any. He was a member of the Porter. Rhetorical Society of Andover Seminary, and an honorary life men- ber of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Ile was trained in childhood under the religious belief of the Congregational (Orthodox) 'system, and still holds to the doctrine generally known as evangelical. Ile believes in the Christianity of the Bible, the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and the divine mission of Jesus Christ. Ilis present political views may be expressed as follows : Ile heartily approves of the course pursued by President Hayes in the settlement of vexed political ques- tions in the Southern States, and is in favor of a currency based upon the gold standard. lle favors the civil service reform advocated by Mr. George W. Curtis and other writers of like views; a moderate protective tariff; and is an advocate of impartial (not universal) suffrage, and of the equality of all men before the law. Ile has never been a strong partisan either in politics or theology, and has voted but few times. With one exception he has voted the Republican ticket. He married, May 27, 1863, Maria Jessie Sandford Swett, daughter of Rev. Jessie Swctt, late Pastor of the Free-Will Baptist Church at Richmond, Maine. They have had seven children, six of whom are living.
EALE, REV. JOHN SUMMERFIELD, D.D., a promi- nent minister of the Baltimore Conference, Metho- dist Episcopal Church, was born at Annapolis, Maryland, September 3, 1825. Ilis parents were William G. and Arianna W. Deale, both of whom were natives of Maryland, and whose ancestors were among the earliest settlers of the State. llis father was a builder and real estate broker, in which business he was engaged most of his life in Washington city. An active, energetic business man, of strict integrity, he stood high in the estimation of all who knew him. Dr. Deale re- ceived his primary education at private schools in Wash- ington, and, after thorough preparation, entered Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1844, from which insti- tution he graduated in due time. He entered the Balti- more Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the spring of 1849, since which time he has tbeen actively engaged in the work of the ministry. Ile has filled various appointments within the Baltimore Conference in the States of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and the Dis- trict of Columbia, and wherever he has labored has left behind him a record of faithful and efficient service. Ile was stationed ten years in Baltimore, four of which he
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was Presiding Elder of the East Baltimore District, and was a member of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held in Brooklyn, New York, in 1872. He is now (1879) filling his third charge in the city of Washington, being stationed at Wesley Chapel, and having also been stationed at Ryland and Waugh chapels in the same city. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was con- ferred upon him by Alleghany College, Meadville, Penn- sylvania, in the year 1870. Dr. Deale is a quiet, earnest worker, who shuns notoriety and display, but whose in- fluence is none the less extended and enduring. Ilis life has been one of great usefulness, and as he is yet in the prime and vigor of manhood, his Church relies upon him for many years of active service. He was married at Win- chester, Virginia, December 16, 1851, to Miss Sallie Buck- master, daughter of Nathaniel Buckmaster, an attorney of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and has had seven children, four of whom are living. Ilis eldest son, John S. Deale, Jr., is a bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Baltimore.
nm BBOTT, HORACE, Capitalist and Retired Manu- facturer, was born in Worcester County, Massa- chusetts, July 29, 1806. His father was a farmer, of English descent, lived in East Sudbury, Massa- chusetts, and died when Horace was an infant. Ilis mother was Lydia Fay, daughter of Benjamin Fay, of Westboro, of the same State. She was of English descent also, and was a cousin of Eli Whitney, the in- ventor of the cotton gin. The early education of Horace was received in the public schools, which he attended in the winter only, working on the farm the rest of the year. At the age of sixteen he was bound apprentice to a black- smith, whom he faithfully served until he attained his majority. After that he worked as a journeyman for two years longer, and then set up a blacksmith shop on his own account, conducting it successfully for a period of six years, In 1836 he removed to Baltimore. . The facilities there afforded for forging heavy iron work, owing to the convenience of its supplies of iron and coal as well as means of water shipment, led him to devote himself there to that important branch of manufacturing industry. Ile secured the " Canton Iron Works," then owned by l'eter Cooper, of New York, and for fourteen years prosecuted the manufacture of wrought-iron shafts, cranks, axles, etc., for steamboat and railroad purposes. It was during that period he made the first large steamship shaft of wrought iron in this country. It was for the Russian frigate " Kamtschatka," built for Nicholas 1, in New York. It weighed twenty-six thousand pounds, and aroused the interest of other manufacturers in iron and the general public when placed on exhibition at the Exchange in New York. Other heavy shafts were subsequently forged at
these works. Between the years 1850 and 1861, Mr. Abbott had added to his works three rolling mills, capable of turning out the largest rolled plate then made in the United States. The demands of the war drew heavily upon Mr. Abbott's resources and facilities; but they were met by a promptness and fidelity which received from the Secretary of the Navy a letter of high commendation on the completion of an order for two hundred and fifty thousand pounds of rolled iron in forty-eight hours from the time of receiving it. Mr. Abbott undertook to furnish the plates for the first monitor designed by Mr. Ericsson, who feared he would have to order them from England, being under the impression that there were no mills in this country of sufficient capacity to supply them. Mr. Abbott was equal to the occasion, and had them delivered in a shorter time than was anticipated. He afterwards furnished the armor-plates for nearly all vessels of that class built on the Atlantic coast, and also for the " Roanoke," " Agamenticus," " Monadnock," and other large iron- clads. At the close of the war the " Canton Iron Works " were sold to a joint stock company under the corporate name of the Abbott Iron Company of Baltimore City, of which Mr. Horace Abbott was unanimously elected President, a position he held for some time. The number of rolling mills has been increased, giving employment to many hundreds of men. They are situated on the line of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad where it enters the city, and close to the water's edge, thus affording ample facilities for shipment by rail or water. Mr. Abbott is now enjoying a well-earned rest from active business life ; but he is not idle, he is still an efficient worker in many ways, in civil and religious life. Ile is connected with banking institutions, with the Baltimore Copper Company, with the Union Railroad, and has been a Trustee, for several years, of the Second Presbyterian Church. In politics he is a Republican, and was formerly a Whig. In 1830 he married Miss Charlotte Hapgood, of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, by whom he had seven children. Of the whole number but one survives, a daughter, married to Mr. Isaac M. Cate, an iron merchant of Boston. From an humble beginning and earnest effort, controlled by an accurate and self-reliant judgment, Mr. Abbott has won the admiration and respect, not only of the community in which he has lived, but of the Govern- ment he so faithfully and promptly served in the times of its extremest needs.
1 ROCKETT, ROBERT L .. , Professor of Physical Science and the French Language, in Western Maryland College, Westminster, Maryland, was born in the city of Alexandria, Virginia, in 1816. Ile is of Scotch descent. His grandfather came from Edinburgh, Scotland, to Virginia, before the American
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Revolution, and took the side of the Colonies during the watr. llis father was born at the homestead, and was a Lieutenant in the war of 1812-15. Professor Brockett, immediately after graduating, became one of the corps of teachers of the Alexandria Boarding School, an institution of high grade, presided over for many years by Benjamin Hallowell, a ripe scholar, whose mathematical and scien- tific attainments were acknowledged both in this country and in Europe. In the year 1839, Professor Brockett commenced an institution of his own in his native city, in which only day scholars were admitted. After his mar- riage, which took place in 1843, he greatly enlarged the capacity of his building, and opened the institution for the accommodation of boarding students. His success was such that he rarely had a vacancy-the entire building being occupied, and generally a score or more awaiting admission. In 1857 he closed the institution, having accepted the appointment of Professor of Natural Science in Lynchburg College, Virginia, and removed with his family to that city. The year following he was elected its President, but at the end of the session, because of failing health, he resigned to seek rest and quiet in the country. Removing to Frederick County, Maryland, Professor Brockett opened a school for young ladies in the village of Libertytown, which he continued till the close of the late war. Removing to Anne Arundel County, he pur- chased land, and built " Clifton Female Institute," which he closed to accept the professorship he now fills in the Western Maryland College. The Professor married Anna E. McCormick, only daughter of Rev. Thomas McCor- mick, of Brookeville, Montgomery County, Maryland. Their children, six in number, four daughters and two . sons, are living in Maryland, with the exception of one son, who died in Alexandria. Their eldest daughter married W. 11. 11. Anderson, attorney, of Baltimore. Another daughter, Carrie, married W. O. Ligget, mer- 1 chant. Their son, Dr. C. T. Brockett, is a practicing den- tist in Baltimore.
HODSON, HENRY CLAY, Druggist, was born, October 5, 1840, in the town of St. Michael's, Talbot County, in the same house that had been the home of his ancestors for more than four generations. The family have resided on the bay side of the county for more than a hundred years. His father, Captain Rob- crt A. Dodson, sailed many years on the Chesapeake Bay, and now holds the position of Postmaster in St. Michael's, to which he was appointed by General Grant. Ilis grand- father, Captain William Dodson, was also a sailor, and commanded one of the barges under Commodore Barney, in the war of 1812. Hle also had charge of the battery on Jarrot's Point, that so successfully repelled the attack of the British on that town in 1813. The mother of Henry Clay Dodson was a native of Baltimore. Iler maiden name was
Keithly. Ile was sent to the public schools of his native town from his eighth to his fourteenth year, when he was placed in a drug store in Raston, to learn the business. He was afterwards employed by Mr. 1I. F. Byrne, an apothe- cary and druggist in St. Michael's, whose business he pur- chased in 1860, and has conducted from that time. To advertise -it he established, in 1866, a paper called The Comet. Hle conducted it with great ability for about a year, when it passed into other hands. In 1861 Mr. Doil- son was appointed Postmaster in St. Michael's by Presi- dent Lincoln, which position he continued to fill till 1875, when he resigned, having been elected to the General As- sembly of Maryland, and served in the session of 1876. He has been frequently chosen Town Commissioner of St. Michael's, in which capacity he is now serving. Ile_ was brought up in the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a member, and in which he has been very active. He has been for many years an efficient and popu- lar Sunday-school superintendent. Mr. Dodson has five brothers : William K., residing in Bloomington, Illinois ; Dr. R. A. Dodson, a practicing physician, who served as Surgeon of the First Maryland Cavalry; R. S. Dodson, proprietor of the Atlantic llotel, at Norfolk, Virginia; C. Marion Dodson, who served during the war on the United States steamer Pocahontas, in the capacity of Hospital Steward, and is now a druggist in Baltimore ; and M. J. Dodson, who is a druggist in Norfolk, Va. His sisters are Amelia, the wife of Rev. D. C. Ridgaway, of the Wilming- ton Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mrs. Hetty E. Granby, of Norfolk, Virginia. Mr. Dodson was married in 1861 to Maggie A. MeCarty, of Easton, who died the following year. In 1864 he married Martha A., daughter of Dr. William B. Ilahn, of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. They have had six children.
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