USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 46
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 46
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BONAPARTE, JEROME NAPOLEON, only child of Jerome and Elizabeth (Patterson) Bonaparte, was born at Camberwell, England, July 7, 1805. . He was educated at Harvard College, where he graduated with honor in the year 1826. He studied law, but never entered upon the practice of his profession, his time being principally occu-
pied in agricultural pursuits and the management of his large estate. He was married, November 3, 1829, to Miss Susan May Williams, still living, a native of Baltimore, and daughter of Benjamin Williams, Esq., formerly a citi- zen of Roxbury, Massachusetts. He frequently visited Europe, and he and his father were on the best of terms. During the reign of Louis Philippe, he was permitted to reside in Paris on condition that he should pass under the name of Patterson. This restriction was soon afterward removed, however. While travelling through Europe in- cognito, he attracted considerable attention on account of his striking resemblance to his uncle Napoleon, Ile vis- ited Napoleon III several times, by whom he was most cordially received. During his residence in Baltimore he led a somewhat retired life. Hle took no part in politics, and held no official positions. Ile sympathized with the United States Government, however, during the civil war, and was outspoken in his Union sentiments. lle died June 17, 1870, and his remains were taken to Loudon Park Cemetery, Baltimore, for interment, where they now re- pose. He was an affable, warm-hearted gentleman, whose social disposition, generous nature, and many acts of kind- ness and charity won for him the love of all who knew him. Mr. Bonaparte had two sons, Jerome Napoleon and Charles Joseph Bonaparte, both of whom survive him.
BONAPARTE, COLONEL JEROME NAPOLEON, elder son of Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, and grandnephew of Napoleon I, was born, November 5, 1830, at Balti- more, and graduated at West Point in 1852, and till the resignation of his Lieutenancy in the Mounted Riffemen, U. S. A., August 16, 1854, served on frontier duty in this country. Ile entered the Imperial French Army, September 5, 1854, as Second Lieutenant of the Seventh Dragoons, be- came Chef d' Escadron Third Cuirassiers, August 15, 1855, and was transferred, March 16, 1857, to the Dragons de l'Imperatrice. He served in the Crimean war against Rus- sia, 1854-55, as engineer at Balaklava, Inkermann, Tcher- naia, and the siege of Sebastopol, for all of which distin- guished active services he was decorated by the Sultan of Tikey with the " Medjidie Order," made Knight of the " Legion of Honor of France," and received the Crimean medal from the Queen of England. He was in the Algerian campaign, 1856-57, engaged in several actions with the Kabyles ; in the Italian campaign against Austria in 1859. Hle was also engaged at Montebello, Solferino, and various outpost affairs, receiving for his gallantry the French " Me- daille d'Italie " and the decoration of " Military Valor " from the King of Sardinia. Ile was in gayrison at various posts, 1859-67, and in the guard of the Empress of France, 1867-72. On the fall of the empire he with difficulty es- caped with his life from the Commune in Paris, At the close of the war in 1871 he returned to this country, and married the same year, at Newport, Rhode Island, Mrs. Caroline Reloy Edgar, formerly Miss Appleton, grand-
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daughter of Daniel Webster. Colonel Bonaparte resided in the United States until the fall of 1873, when he went to Europe, and has been living in Paris most of the time since. He returned to the United States in April, 1879, to be present during the last illness of his grandmother, Madame Bonaparte, arriving at Baltimore a few days be- fore her death. Ile has two children, a daughter and a son.
BONAPARTE, CHARLES JOSEPH, younger brother of Colonel Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, was born June 9, 1851. At the age of eighteen he entered Harvard Col- lege, remained there two years, and graduated in 1871. After his graduation, he entered as Junior the Harvard Law School, and graduated from that institution in 1874, when he returned to Baltimore, was admitted to the Balti- more city bar, and entered upon the practice of his profes- sion, in which he is at present successfully engaged. Ile was married, September 1, 1875, to Miss Ellen Channing Day, of Boston, and is now residing in Baltimore County, at his country seat, about four miles from the city (on a farm presented to him by his grandmother, Madame Je- rome Bonaparte). He is a member of the Roman Catho- lic Church, and a Republican in politics, though not a politician.
SAVIS, HENRY WINTER, was born in Annapolis, Maryland, August 16, 1817. His father, Rev. Henry Lyon Davis, was a clergyman of the Protes- tant Episcopal Church, the rector of St. Ann's Par- ish, and at one period President of St. John's College. The latter's wife was Jane Brown Winter, a lady of fine intellectual attainments and elegance of person. Henry Winter Davis's early education began at home, under the strict supervision of his aunt, Elizabeth Brown Winter. Later training with his father in Wilmington, Delaware, in which city the latter temporarily lived, and in Anne Arundel County, to which he returned, fitted him for school, from whence he entered Kenyon College, Ohio, in the autumn of 1833. He graduated, September 6, 1837, at the age of twenty years. In October, 1839, he entered the University of Virginia, where he pursued a thorough legal course, and laid the foundation of the elegant scholar- ship which distinguished him not less than his legal re- search and brilliant oratory. After graduating at the above institution he settled in Alexandria, Virginia, and entered upon the practice of law. Ilis ability was soon acknowl- edged, and he early obtained an extensive business. Ile was a frequent contributor to the newspapers, and many of his articles on political subjects attracted great attention. In 1845 he married Miss Constance Gardiner, who lived but a few years after her marriage. Not long after her death Mr. Davis left Alexandria. Ile settled in Baltimore in 1850, where he at once took rank with the leading mem- bers of the bar. In politics he was allied with the Whig
party, and took an active part in the Scott campaign of 1852. On the defeat and final extinction of the Whigs, Mr. Davis adopted the principles of the American party. Ile was elected from the Fourth Congressional District of Maryland to the Thirty fourth, Thirty fifth, and Thirty- sixth Congresses. In the Hall of Representatives he was soon recognized as one of its ablest debaters. With thorough mastery of the subject under discussion he always commanded the attention of the House by his strictly logi- cal reasoning, his array of facts, his knowledge of Con- stitutional law, the chaste but fervid eloquence of his diction, the strength and melody of his voice, and his hand- some and commanding presence. He supported Mr. Fill- more for the Presidency in 1856, and Mr. Bell in 1860. Mr. Davis strenuously adopted the side of the Union against secession. On the fourth day of the second session of the Thirty-sixth Congress, the famous Committee of Thirty- three was raised, Mr. Davis being the member for Mary- land. Ile argued in favor of the right of coercion by the General Government of States preparing to secede from the Union. The fall of Fort Sumter finally destroyed all hopes of averting civil war, as the entire nation then arose in arms. On April 15, 1861, President Lincoln issued his proclamation calling a special session of Congress. This necessitating an election in Maryland, Mr. Davis offered himself as a candidate for Congress on the basis of " the unconditional maintenance of the Union." Ile labored with great activity in the campaign, but was defeated by Ilon. Henry May. Mr. Davis supported Mr. Lincoln's administration with untiring zeal. In the campaign of 1863 he earnestly advocated " immediate emancipation by Constitutional means." He was returned to the Thirty- eighth Congress by the Unconditional Union party. He was an acknowledged leader of the House of Representa- tives, and was looked upon as one certain of much higher political distinction than he had already won. At the close of the Thirty-eighth Congress he retired from public life. Ile died, December 30, 1864, in the forty-eighth year of his age. His funeral was largely attended by members of both Houses of Congress and by cabinet ministers. The Legislatures of several States passed resolutions of regret for his loss, and in the National House of Representatives an oration on his life and character was delivered by IIon. John A. J. Cresswell, of Maryland, February 22, 1866. Mr. Davis married the second time Miss Nancy, daughter of the late John B. Morris, of Baltimore. Beside the public speeches of Mr. Davis he wrote several pamphlets on political subjects, and on matters relating to the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which he was an ardent member. Ile was distinguished as a man of high resolve and unflinching courage, untiring industry and perseverance, much learn- ing and cultivation, excellence of private character, and striking and brilliant gifts as an orator and statesman. To the publication entitled Baltimore, Past and Present, we are indebted for the main facts embodied in the above sketch.
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INNEY, REV. WILLIAM, a prominent Minister of the Presbyterian Church, was born ncar New London, Chester County, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1788. His father, Judge Walter Finney, a native of the same place, was a Major in the Revolutionary Army. Ilis commission, which is now in the possession of his grandson, Walter Finney, of Churchville, Maryland, bears the date of August 10, 1776. He served through the Revolutionary and Indian wars, and was afterward ap- pointed an Associate Judge in Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, which office he held until the time of his death, which occurred in 1820, in the seventy-third year of his age. Hle married Miss Mary Hara, and had two children, one of whom died in his thirteenth year, and the other is the subject of this sketch. William received a good edu- cation. After passing through the preparatory course in New London, Pennsylvania, and Newark, Delaware, academies, he was sent to Princeton College, New Jersey, where he entered the Sophomore class in 1806, and gradu- ated with distinction in 1809. At an early age he de- termined to enter the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, with which denomination his parents and ancestors for many generations had been connected. Soon after his graduation at Princeton, he commenced the study of theology with the Rev. Samuel Martin, D.D., Pastor of the Chanceford Presbyterian Church, York, Pennsylvania, under whom he received a thorough theological training. On April 4, 1810, Mr. Finney was taken under the care of the New Castle Presbytery as a candidate for the Gospel ministry. He passed a very satisfactory exami- nation on the subjects assigned him by the Presbytery, Polleand, October 1, 1812, having completed his theological studies, he was licensed to preach. In 1812 he was called for two-thirds of his time, and at a salary of one hundred and fifty dollars per annum, to supply the Deer Creek Church, in Maryland. When called upon to preach his trial sermon before the elders appointed by the Deer Creek Congrega- tion to select a pastor, as was the custom in those days, Mr. Finney wrote a sermon for the occasion, but being displeased with it he threw it into the fire. To his deep regret and embarrassment, he did not have time to write another before the hour appointed, and was therefore com- pelled to rely upon an extemporaneous effort. He suc-
ยท ceeded far beyond his expectations, and made such a favorable impression upon the minds of the elders, who were captivated with his eloquence, that he was selected for the charge above named in preference to four worthy competitors, who were candidates for the same place. This circumstance led to his first call, and made him a fluent and graceful extemporaneous speaker. Mr. Finney's pastoral relation continued with that congregation until October 4, 1854, nearly forty years. Deer Creek Church was organ- ized in 1738 under the instrumentality of the celebrated Whitfield. It was originally called' " Whitfield's Meet- ing House." It then stood about tliree miles nearer the
creek from which it took its name; and for some reason not known it was removed, before the Revolutionary war, to the village where it now stands. Through Mr. Finney's influence, the name of the village was changed from " Herbert's, or the Cross Roads," to " ('hunchville." Ilence the present name of the church. This change was made about the year 1834. When he entered upon his ministry, Mr. Finney was in very delicate health, but soon became strong and robust, and for forty years was pre- vented but once by sickness from filling his pulpit on the Sabbath day, and although he lived beyond his threescore years and ten, he was comparatively free from the in- firmities of age. Ile was then the great pioncer of Pres- byterianism in Harford County, Maryland, and known throughout that community. All the old residents of that locality speak of him with great reverence and love, and their children echo the praises which they have caught " from their parents' lips. He was exceedingly pleasant in his manners, full of anecdote, and his conversation abounded with wit and humor. He loved children, and they were fond of him. He encouraged all improvements, did much to advance Harford County in agriculture and the useful arts, and to elevate the tastes and habits of the people, as well as to preach them morality and religion. He ever extended a helping hand to all who were in need, and was liberal in all his dealings with his fellow-men. He so loved his first charge, that he remained there until the close of his ministry, declining numerous calls to go else- where. After growing old in the service, and having seen the generation to which he had ministered in his youth almost entirely disappear, he closed his ministry, January 1, 1854, by delivering a farewell sermon, reviewing the history of the Churchville Church, and tendered his resig- nation, which was accepted with great reluctance, October 4, of the same year, on condition that he should remain a member of the Presbytery and give the church the benefit of his counsels and the inspiration of his presence, as circumstances would permit. He lived about twenty years after this and took part in the services frequently, always preaching with his accustomed ease and fluency. lle died, Thursday morning, July 1, 1873, in the eighty- fifth year of his age. His remains were interred near the church, the pulpit of which he had so long filled. His own people, with the help of his friends and admirers throughout the county, have erected to his memory a handsome marble monument, which stands in front of the church. It was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies November 24, 1874. Mr. Finney was twice married. llis first wife was Miss Susan Correy, of Ney London, Penn- sylvania, to whom he was married September 7, 1815. She died at the age of twenty-six, two years after their marriage, leaving an infant son, who survived her but six months. His second wife was Miss Margaret Miller, third daughter of John and Margaret Miller, who came .over to this country from Scotland, and settled in Philadelphia.
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Mr. Miller was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church, and his house was the headquarters of Presbyterian ministers. Mr. Finney's second marriage took place October 10, 1820. He spent a happy married life of forty-five years, his wife dying, July 21, 1865, in the sixty fourth year of her age. By this marriage he bad one daughter and five sons, all of whom are still living in Harford County, except his third son, William Finney, Jr., who died in California in 1862 in the thirty-sixth year of his age. Mr. Finney always spoke without manuscript or notes, and his sermons were usually prepared in a very short time. His language was figurative and poctical, and his delivery very impressive. Ile never seemed at a loss for a word to express his thought, and always had the right word for the right place. He was never verbose, but chose words to express his thought as briefly as possible. His remarks at the com- munion table, and at funerals, were always happy and ap- propriate, eloquent and instructive, elevating and com- forting. His addresses on temperance and kindred topics were of a high moral tone, and well calculated to do good. His fugitive pieces in poetry and prose exhibited great readiness with the pen. He always held the atten- tion of his hearers until he ceased speaking. In speaking of him, the editor of the Philadelphia Presbyterian, in the issue of August 9, 1873, said : " Mr. Finney was a fine scholar, a man of learning and rare accomplishments, ac- quainted with the best English authors and the classical writers ; was well read in theology, and all branches of learning required by his profession. His exceeding mod- esty prevented his tine qualities and attainments from being widely known; but those who were admitted to his intimate friendship do not doubt that he was one of the most cultivated men to be found in the Presbyterian min- istry of his day. llis ministry was discharged quietly, faithfully, and without the slightest desire for the world's applause. He preached the Gospel in a most instructive and attractive way, and won many souls to the love and service of Christ."
RUIKSHANK, GEORGE W., Lawyer and Editor, was born in Fredericktown, Cecil County, Mary- land, May 11, 1838. His father, Francis B. Cruik- shank, was the third son of John Cruikshank, of the same county, who was engaged, during his long life, in agricultural pursuits. The former died in 1877. The family is of Irish extraction. The mother of Mr. Cruik- shank was Mary K., the eldest daughter of Captain James Mitchell, a native of Laurel, Delaware, who for many years owned and controlled a line of packets from Sassa- fras River to Baltimore. She is of English descent. Her son, George W., received his primary education at the district schools, his academic training at Captain Part-
ridge's military school, and graduated from Delaware Col- lege in 1858. He then entered the law office of HIon. Charles J. M. Gwinn, in Baltimore, where he remained for one year, when he was compelled by ill-health to re- linguish study. Threatened loss of sight subsequently de- baried bim from all literary pursuits or pleasures, and he engaged in farming until 1865, when he was able to re- sume his legal studies in the office of Colonel John C. Groome, at Elkton, and was admitted to the Elkton bar in the fall of that year. Unwilling to await the slow rewards of the practice of law, on the same day of his admission he became editor and part proprietor of the Cecil Democrat. He was of Whig antecedents, but allied himself with the Democracy, and did yeoman's service in the struggle which that party made after the war for supremacy in the State. The result of his labors in the exposition of the principles of his party was manifest in the rapid rise of the paper, which had previously been long in a languishing condi-, tion, and in the great increase of Democratic sentiment in Cecil County. Mr. Cruikshank has been counsel for the County Commissioners, and for a short time was a member of the Board of Public School Cemmissioners, these being the only public offices he has held, though he has twice been honored with the unanimous indorsement of his party in the county as a candidate for Congress. As a political writer he is possessed of much ability, and his ease and versatility in other directions add greatly to the popularity of his paper. He is also a ready, forcible, and cloquent speaker. IIe is the senior member of the law firm of Cruik- shank & West, and is a member of, and vestryman in, the Episcopal Church. He has large landed interests in the county. Mr. Cruikshank has two brothers, one of whom is a merchant in Cecilton, and the other is a clergyman in Rockland County, New York. He was married in 1869, and has now a son and a daughter. Of social tempera- ment and genial and affable manners, he wins many friends, and is highly esteemed by all who know him.
EWELL, PROFESSOR M. A., State Superintendent of Public Instruction and Principal of the State Normal School, Baltimore, was born, September 7, 1824, in Belfast, Ireland. He is the son of John Newell, a distinguished educator in Ireland. Ilis mother's maiden name was Agnes Johnson, daughter of a farmer in comfortable circumstances. Mr. Newell's edu- cation was primarily received in his father's school, and so thorough was his training in early life, under the direction of his father, that at the age of fifteen be taught Latin and Greek. His studies were further pursued at the private school of Thomas Blain, who taught in the family of Earl Dufferin, recently succeeded by the Marquis of Lorne as Governor of Canada. He then attended Queen's College
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at Belfast, and finally Trinity College, Dublin, from which time-honored institution he graduated in his twenty-second year. During his course of study he taught others, and thus helped to pay for his own tuition. In 18jo, shortly after his graduation, he manied Miss Susanna Rippand, of Liverpool, England. Her father, George Rippard, and his brother were largely engaged in the shipping business between Liverpool and New York. For two years l'ro- fessor Newell taught at the Mechanics' Institute of Liver- pool, a school similar to that of the Baltimore City College. In 1848 he went to Baltimore on a visit to his relatives, and finding it a desirable city in which to reside, decided to make it his home. Ilis merits as an educator were soon recognized, and the first position of importance occupied by him was that of Professor of Natural Sciences in Bal- timore City College. The next position tendered him was a Professorship in Madison College, Uniontown, Pennsyl- vania, under the Presidency of Dr. Francis Waters, which he accepted and retained until the resignation of Dr. Waters. He then returned to Baltimore and established a commercial college on Franklin Street, in connection with his brother-in-law, James Rippard, where he remained several years. He next taught for one year in the Public School No. 1, when he went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to teach in the Newell Institute with his cousins, Rev. John Newell, D.D., and Professors James R. and Ilugh Newell, with whom he remained until called to Baltimore to take charge of the Normal School as Principal, receiving his appointment from the State Board of Education, Governor Bradford, President, Dr. Van Bokkelen, State Superin- tendent. The school was first opened by Professor Newell in Red Men's Hall, on Paca Street. After seven years it was removed to the corner of Franklin and Charles streets, where it remained about three years, until the erection and completion of the present elegant and commodious build- ing on Carrollton Avenue and Townsend Street. Dom Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, pronounced it the best-arranged schoolhouse that he had ever seen. Professor Newell suc- ceeded Mr. Van Bokkelen as State Superintendent of Pub- lic Instruction, and has thus united in him both positions. To the efficiency of Professor Newell the excellency of the public school system of Maryland, and the rapid progress of the State Normal School, are very largely due. The Normal School began with about a dozen scholars, and up to the present date thirteen hundred students have entered, and about three hundred have graduated. It is furnishing teachers to the public schools of the State, who will com- pare favorably with those going out from the oldest insti- tutions of the kind in any State in the Union. The school now averages two hundred students in the Normal, and one hundred in the Academic Department. The Maryland School Journal, of which Professor Newell was one of the originators, has been edited by him for the past four years, Ile is also the author of a series of six Readers, which are extensively used.
EONARD, COLONEL, WILLIAM JAMES, Legislator and Ex-Comptroller of the State of Maryland, was born in Worcester County, now Wicomico, in the year 1816. His parents were joseph and Mary ( Dashiell) Leonard. His father was of Irish In. guenot extraction. The first representative of the family who arrived in the Province of Maryland settled m Som- erset County, in 1734, on a tract of land which is still held by one of his descendants. Mr. Leonard's early educa- tion was obtained at the subscription school in his native county. When he was ten years of age his parents re- moved to Salisbury, where he attended the Academy. Ile prepared for college under the tuition of Dr. Ilugh Mat- thews and David Jones, Esq., and in 1833 entered the Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Connecticut. From that institution he was summoned home two years later in consequence of the illness of his father, and never per- mitted to return, though it was an object of earnest desire both with himself and his father that he should there complete the course of study he had so well begun. After some time he prevailed upon his father to allow him to commence the study of law, and entered the office of Hon. Brice Goldsborough, in Cambridge. Here he was per- mitted to remain but six months, being called home again by the increasing illness of his father, and now to give his time and attention to the labors and interests of the farm. His father's death occurred soon after he entered his twenty-first year. The public life of Mr. Leonard began in 1849, in which year he was elected to the State Legisla- ture on the Whig ticket. His associates from the county were Colonel W. J. Aydelott, James F. Bavard, and the Iate Judge Franklin. In 1853 he was re-elected on the same ticket. In 1855 he removed from his farm into the town of Salisbury, and commenced business as a mer- chant, becoming largely interested also in grain and lumber. Roused by the approaching storm of war, the Union men of the Eastern Shore of Maryland called a meeting at Snow Ilill, Worcester County, February 1, 1861. It was all-important for the interests of their cause that some well-known citizen, holding the thorough re- speet of all parties, and possessing the necessary firmness and courage and acquaintance with parliamentary usages, should preside, and Colonel Leonard was chosen as the presiding officer. Colonel Leonard from that hour threw himself heart and soul into the struggle for the mainte- nance of the national integrity. In September, 1861, Colonel William II. Purnell, Postmaster of Baltimore, was author- ized by Hon. Simon Cameron, then Secretary of War, to raise and organize a military force, which was afterwards known as the " Purnell Legion," infantry, cavalry and artillery being represented in its ranks, In consequence of the duties of his office in Baltimore, Colonel Purnell re- signed the command of this Legion in February, 1862, and Colonel Leonard was commissioned to take the position. The Legion was in service on the Eastern Shore of Mary-
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