USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 51
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 51
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tendent in the decoration arrangement of the Household Department of three successive agricultural societies in Maryland. . At the Exposition in Cincinnati in 1872 he chartered a car and conveyed to the above city two hundred and sixteen specimens of plants, and was awarded the hrst prize for exhibiting the finest collection thereof. It was an unprecedented enterprise, and strikingly illustrated his energy and devotion to his profession. He has from time to time contributed to various publications or read before scientific societies papers on botanical or horticul- tural topics. For a number of years he contributed to the American Farmer, a calendar of monthly operations in the flower garden and green-house. He has been iden- tified with all the movements in Baltimore to promote horticulture, and numerous public institutions have had the benefit of his helping hand. He has represented his ward in the City Council of Baltimore, and served as Chairman of the Committee on Parks, in which capacity his floricultural and arboreal knowledge were advanta- geously availed of. Though in the seventy-seventh year of his age, Mr. Feast still enthusiastically and actively pursues his vocation, he being, as remarked by the Ameri. can Farmer in 1878, " the sole remaining representative of the early days of floriculture, the father, indeed, of the plant trade, and as one whose surname has long been a household word among growers and admirers of flowers." Mr. Feast has been twice married, first, in 1831, to Miss Mahala Spencer, of Harford County, Maryland ; secondly, to Miss Sarah A. Uppercue, of Baltimore County. Ile has five children living : Linnaeus, Loudon, Dillwyn, John, and Annie.
DEN, WILLIAM, was born in the city of Baltimore, November 14, 1806. On his father's side he is of English descent, and on his mother's' of Scotch. He attended school until he was eleven years of age, and then went to learn the butchering busi- ness with Alexander Gould. At the age of twenty-one years he went into business on his own account, and con- tinued it about thirty years, when he retired. lle then purchased a farm in Carroll County, Maryland, which he has since disposed of. Mr. Eden remembers very well the battle of North Point and the bombardment of Fort Mellenry. In his youth he was an attendant upon the Rev. Mr. Henshaw's church, and has never changed in his religious principles. Ile has been a member of St. Andrew's Society, a Scotch organization, for about forty years. Ile cast his first vote for Andrew Jackson; subse- quently affiliated with the old-line Whigs until the eivil war, and is now a Democrat. Hle pmarried Miss Anu Caroline Anderson, September 3, 1833, and has six chil- dren, two sons and four daughters. Ilis oldest daughter is the wife of Edward H. Moon. Mr. Eden, though now in his seventy-second year, enjoys general good health, and bids fair for a green old age,
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BILSON, HON. JOSEPH ALEXANDER, Lawyer and State Senator, the youngest son of Joseph S. and Eveline (Sollers) Wilson, was born in Calvert County, Maryland, September 29, 1831. Ilis ancestors on both sides were from England, and among the earliest settlers on the Eastern Shore. Both fannlies own large landed estates on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay in that county. Mr. Wilson gradu- ated at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, in 1850, and was admitted to the bar in 1852 at the age of twenty-one. Ile rapidly rose into prominence as a lawyer, and in 1856 was elected to the House of Delegates. In 1860 he was elected State's Attorney for his county, and such was his popularity that he was re-elected continuously, without opposition, for the three succeeding terms, making a period of sixteen years in which he held that office. In 1876 he was nominated for the State Senate, but his op- ponent, Nathaniel Duke, Republican, was returned as elected by five votes. Mr. Wilson contested the election, and a new election was ordered, in which he was suc- cessful by the largest majority ever given in the county. Ile took his seat in January, 1878. He was married in 1856 to Miss Sarah Eliza, daughter of Hon. A. R. Sollers, of Calvert County, who served several terms in Congress. Mr. Wilson has four children : Joseph L., Augustus S., Mary Frances, and Helen.
ARDCASTLE, GENERAL EDMUND L. F., the eldest son of Edward B. and Mary Ann (Lock- wood) llardeastle, was born, October 18, 1824, in Denton, Caroline County, Maryland. His father, Edward B. Hardcastle, was a prominent merchant of the town, and much esteemed for his high character. Robert Hardcastle, his great-great grandfather, came from England, and in the year 1748 obtained a patent for lands and settled in that portion of Queen Anne's County which was subsequently taken off to form a part of Caroline County. Robert left several sons, one or more of whom removed to Virginia or the Western territory. Peter, the third son, who was a soldier in our Revolutionary war and rose to the rank of Major in the Continental army, died without issue. The eldest son, Thomas, who founded the family seat known as " Castle Ilall," in the upper part of Caroline County, left eight sons, from whom have descended all of the name now residing in Maryland. Aaron, the eldest son of Thomas, was the grandfather of Edmund. llis mother was the daughter of Caleb Lockwood, who belonged to an old and numerous family in Delaware. The subject of this sketch grew up and went to school as a boy in his native town, where an academy was established in the year 1840. Among his associates at this school were John M. Robinson and the brothers Willard and Eli Saulsbury, who have become men of distinction. The
former is an eminent jurist on the bench of the Court of Appeals of Maryland ; the two latter have each repre- sented the State of Delaware in the United States Senate for two terms, the present Senator having been the suc- cessor of his brother, who is now Chancellor of Delaware. To complete their education the Saulsburys and Robinson went to Dickinson College, Carlisle, where it was the in- tention of Mr. Hardcastle to send his son also. But it was the desire of the latter to go to West Point, and the fact that Caroline County had never had an appointment to this institution favored his aspirations. From the Hon. James A. Pearce, then a Representative in Congress, he received the appointment, and after passing the required examination he was entered as cadet at the United States Military Academy, June, 1842. Ilere he acquitted him- self with credit, graduating, June, 1846, fifth in his class, and in a short time thereafter he was commissioned a Sec- ond Lieutenant of the United States Army, in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. In the same class were Gen- erals Mcclellan, Foster, Reno, Couch, (Stonewall) Jack- son, Sturgis, Stoneman, Oakes, Maury, Palmer, Jones, Wilcox, Gardner, Maxey, and Pickett. The Mexican war having broken out the month preceding the graduation of this class, almost every member of it was ordered to the seat of war, where an opportunity was soon afforded them to put in practice the military science taught them at West Point. Lieutenant Hardcastle was assigned to duty under General Winfield Scott, and served throughout the bril- liant campaign that was conducted by that distinguished commander. He participated in the siege of Vera Cruz, the battle of Cerro Gordo, the capture of the Castle of Perote and of the city of Puebla, and the battles of Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and the city of Mexico. " For gallant and meritorious conduct " in the severely contested battles of Churubusco and Molino del Rey he received two brevets, which gave him the rank of Captain from September 8, 1847, the date of the last-named battle. Ile remained with the army in Mex- ico until the termination of the war by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, executed in June, 1848. During the occupation of the enemy's capital the engineer officers were chiefly engaged in making reconnoissances and seek- ing information of the resources and roads of the country, with a view to a forward movement of the army. But several months before the ratification of the treaty of peace there were indications of a termination of the war with- out further conquest of Mexican territory. One of the most significant of these indications was a request to Gen- eral Scott from the civil authorities of the city of Mexico, to have made by our engineer officers'a survey for the more perfect drainage of that city, and for its protection from the floods caused by overflow of the waters of the Northern Lakes. Serions injuries had been sustained by these inundations, and it was desirable that a remedy should be found to guard against this danger in the future.
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This duty was assigned to Captain Hardcastle and Lien- tenant Smith of the Topographical Engineers, who made n survey and reported a plan and estimate for draining the Upper Lakes of their surplus waters; and suitable ac- knowledgments for the services rendered by these officers were made by the Mexican authorities, When the army was recalled from Mexico in the summer of 1848, Captain llardcastle on arriving at New Orleans was ordered to proceed to Washington. Here he was occupied till the next winter in completing maps and reports of the surveys he had made in Mexico. About this time the commission was organized for running the new boundary line, which our recent acquisition of Mexican territory under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo made it necessary to establish. As the junior engineer officer Captain Hardcastle was as- signed to astronomical duty on this Mexican Boundary Commission, and for the better protection of the valuable instruments placed in his charge he was ordered to pro- ceed by sea to San Diego, California. The steamer on which he sailed touched at Panama and took on board the rest of the Commission, which had crossed the isthmus and were awaiting transportation to San Diego, at which destination they all safely arrived in the month of May, 1849. This Boundary Commission was made up of a commissioner having diplomatic functions, with a corps of civilians, a surveyor with assistants (all civil engineers), whose duty it was to run and mark the boundary line, and an astronomical party, consisting of three engineer officers of the army and civil assistants, whose duty it was to de- termine the geographical position of this line. Beginning at the initial point on the Pacific coast (one marine league south of the Bay of San Diego) this boundary was to run thence by a straight line to the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers. But in order to compute the azimuth by which this line could be laid off and run from either end, it was necessary first to establish the latitude and longitude of its terminal points. The establishing of fixed observa- tories, and the necessary observations and the computation of the same for the determination of the correct geographi- cal position of these two points, occupied about a year. While this work was going on at both ends of the line Captain Hardcastle was making reconnoissances of the intermediate country. The length of this line was about one hundred and fifty miles, and he found it wouldl cross two ranges of mountains and a sand desert, the width of which was more than one third of the distance. This desert was destitute of grass or water, and over its burning sands the thermometer in the shade at midday ranged at one hundred and six degrees. le reported that it woukl be a difficult and laborious work to run and mark this boundary, but he thought it was practicable to do so by es- tablishing points on the crests of the mountain ranges, and by employing a small force, -say a working party of three persons,-which could be supplied with water and provi- sions by relays of pack-mules, to operate across the desert.
In the meanwhile, however, the appropriation of one hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars that had been made for this work was being exhausted by the maintenance of the two corps composing the civil branch of the Boundary Commis- sion. Both the commissioner and surveyor had reported that the running and marking of this line was impractica- ble, on account of the great cost of operating through the unfavorable country intervening between the Pacific coast and the Gila River. It was under these circumstances, after the astronomical work had been completed, that or- ders were received from Washington to suspend further operations, disband the Commission, and leave one of the officers of the army in charge of the work. Captain Hard- castle being designated to remain at San Diego, he sub- mitted an estimate of the cost of running and marking the line, amounting to the sum of twenty thousand dollars. This estimate being approved at the Department of the In- terior, funds were immediately sent to him, with instruc- tions to commence operations., He took the field at once, and by the middle of the next summer he had completed the work at a cost within the amount of his estimate. A handsome marble monument was placed at the initial point on the Pacific coast and cast-iron monuments were erected at different points along the line. Returning to Washington in the autumn of 1851, he was shortly after- wards appointed Engineer Secretary of the Lighthouse Board, then being organized under a recent act of Congress. Up to this time our lighthouses and buoys, etc., had been under the charge of the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury, but our growing commerce required for its protection a more efficient and better-organized system of control of these important aids to navigation. To accomplish this object Congress authorized the creation of the Lighthouse Board, to be composed of three officers of engineers of the army, of three officers of the navy, and of two civil- ians having scientific attamments. The commercial na- tions of Europe, especially England and France, had made great progress and improvement in the structure of lighthouses, as well as in the mode of illuminating theun. Iron pile foundations were found to be less costly and better adapted to certain localities than solid masonry, and for the cumbrous metallic reflectors there had been substituted the glass lens, which gave a stronger and bet- ter light. But in order to avail of these and other modern improvements an entire change of our lighthouse system was necessary. The first important step taken was to divide our coast into districts, which were placed in charge of officers of the army and navy as lighthouse inspectors, who were required to make frequent inspec- tions and reports. As Engineer Secretary of this board, Captain Hardcastle had under his supervision the prepar- ation of plans for new lighthouses and for the improve- ment of old ones as they were modified from time to time. Besides he had to conduct the correspond- ence in reference to the execution of such work. He
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prepared the plans for the Screw-pile Lighthouse on Seven Foot Knoll at the mouth of Patapsco River, and of the Minot's Ledge Lighthouse on the coast of Massachu- setts. Both these structures are good specimens of engi- meeting skill, but very different in character as well as cost. One is an open framework of wrought iron exposed to the ice-flow from the Susquehanna River, the other is a mas- sive granite tower exposed to the full force of the Atlantic wave, and each has successfully withstood the severe shock it was designed to resist. After a service of more than four years on this duty Captain Hardcastle resigned his commission in the army, and settled in Talbot County, Maryland, where he has since devoted himself to agricul- tural pursuits. A few years prior to his resignation he had married Sarah D., daughter of the late Colonel William Hughlett, a wealthy and influential gentleman of the same county. It was not to be expected that a man of his character and qualifications would remain in retirement upon his farm. Ile declined to take part on either side in the late civil war; but he made himself useful to the peo- ple by protecting them from the extortions of swindlers en- gaged during the war in furnishing substitutes for drafted men. In 1867 he was called upon to take charge of the Maryland and Delaware Railroad, which had become so seriously embarrassed in its finances that all work upon it had been abandoned. His friends were surprised that he would accept the presidency of a company in the desperate situation this was believed to be in ; but he did not do so till after careful consideration of the matter. The road had been built as far as Ridgely in Caroline County, where it stopped for want of funds or credit to carry it further, and unless it was extended to Easton the people of Talbot County would reap little or no benefit from their means already expended in this work. After satisfying himself that but a small amount of mortgage bonds had been issued, he accepted the position, on condition that the existing contract was to be annulled when the road reached Ilills- borough, and that no more bonds should be paid out, but that the work should be paid for in money as it progressed beyond this point. On this basis the road would belong to the stockholders by whose means it was built. Under his . administration public confidence was restored, and the four miles of road to Hillsborough were built on the re-estab. lished credit of the company. But a controversy arose be- tween him and the contractor as to the mode of payment for work beyond this point, which resulted in his retire- ment from the presidency at the end of the year. About this time he was made a Director in the Easton National Bank of Maryland. Being elected to the State Legislature he served in the House of Delegates in the session of 1870, and was made Chairman of the Committee on Militia and a men- ber of the Ways and Means Committee. Ile was the author of the militia law and several important local laws adopted at that session. In 1874 he was appointed by Gover- nor Groome a Brigadier-General in the State militia,
which appointment was subsequently renewed by Gover- nor Carroll. Under the Assessment Act of 1876 he was also appointed by Governor Carroll on the Board of Con- trol and Review for Talbot County, and by his associates he was made President of the board. In this position he rendered most valuable and satisfactory service in the equalization and fair adjustment of taxes. Again elected to the Legislature, he was recognized as one of the most useful members of the House of Delegates in the session of 1878. As Chairman of the Committee on the Chesa- peake Bay and Tributarics he prepared a bill regulating the oyster interest, which was highly commended, but the influence of the dredgers was sufficient to defeat its pas- sage. The measure with which he was most prominently identified was the Elevator Bill, of which he was the author. It was an important measure for the protection of the grain and fruit-growers of Maryland, who are subjected to seri- ^ ous loss for want of adequate provision for the reception, storage, and handling of these important staple products. But there was violent opposition to its passage by the large dealers in Baltimore city, and the Judiciary Committee having reported that the bill was unconstitutional, it was defeated without a fair consideration of its merits. With- out being a partisan he is a Democrat in politics, and wields a considerable influence. General Ilardcastle is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Ile resides in the town of Easton, and has four sons : Richard, Thomas, Edward, and Ilughlett.
UcLANE, HON. ROBERT MILLIGAN, eklest son of the late Louis Melane, of Delaware, was born at Wilmington in that State, June 23, 1815. Ilis father, after twenty years of distinguished public service as Representative in Congress, as Senator, as Minister to Great Britain, as Secretary of the Treasury, and then Secretary of State, retired from politi- cal life in 1837, and settled in Maryland, having accepted the Presidency of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com- paby. The vigor und capacity with which he administered its affairs during the long period of his presidency, made those years memorable in the history of that great work. Colonel Allan McLane, of Delaware, the grandfather of Hon. R. M. McLane, was an officer of distinguished merit in the Revolution, and was the friend of Washington, who honored him with an important and responsible civil office under the government formed in 1787, which he retained until his death in 1829. Catharine Mary, Milligan, the mother of the subject of this sketch, a woman of superior character and accomplishment, was the eldest daughter of Robert and Sally (Jones) Milligan, of Cecil . County, both of the oldest and most highly respected families of Mary- land. Robert M. MeLane was placed at an early age at a noted school in Wilmington, and in 1827 was sent to
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BIOGRAPHIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.
St. Mary's College in Baltimore. Two years later his father took him to Europe and placed him under an in- structor in Paris. In that city he attended the classes at the College Bourbon, and enjoyed the friendship of Gen- eral Lafayette, who cherished an affectionate remembrance of his grandfather. Returning to the United States in 1831, and having at that time a preference for military life, he was appointed a cadet at West Point by General Andrew Jackson, graduating in July, 1837, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the First Artillery. The same summer he joined his regiment and took command of his company in Florida, where his services merited and re- his commis ceived the commendation of his brother officers of all grades. The following spring he was ordered with his company to join General Scott in the Cherokee country, Georgia, and later in the same year was transferred to the newly organized corps of Topographical Engineers, and ordered to report to General Taylor, then operating in Florida. With him he remained till the fall of 1839, when he joined Captain Canfield, then engaged in a mili- tary survey of the Northern Lakes, and with whom by order of the Secretary of War he went to Europe, in January, 1841, for the purpose of examining the system of dykes and drainage in Holland and Italy. While in Paris, August 2 of that year, Lieutenant McLane was married to Georgine, daughter of David Urquhart, a prominent and wealthy merchant of Louisiana. On his return he proceeded to New Orleans with Captain George W. Hughes, Topographical Engineer, for a military survey of the approaches to that city, and was engaged in similar services for the two following years. His winters had been passed in Washington, where, it having becn always his father's wish that he should devote himself to the law, and his own tastes leading him to decide on that profes- sion, he pursued a course of legal study, and had been admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia shortly before sailing for Europe in 1841. He continued his studies from that time, and in October, 1843, resigned his commission in the United States Army, and commenced the practice of his profession in the city of Baltimore. Reared in the society of public men he at once took part in the political affairs of the State and of the country, se- curing innucdiate recognition as an able public speaker, and as possessing talents of a high order. Ile actively participated in the efforts of the Democratic party to carry Maryland in the exciting Presidential campaign of 1844, and the following year was elected to the House of Dele- gates. The finances of the State being at that time in an embarrassed condition, he sustained the Governor in his recommendation of a faithful fulfilment of all obligations, and contributed in no small degree to the passage of laws by which the faith and credit of Maryland were main- tained. He also advocated ably the right of the people to assemble in sovereign convention and alter their Constitu- tion as they might see fit. lu the fall of 1847 Mr. Mellane
was elected to Congress from the Fourth Congressional District of Maryland. Ile warmly defended the Mexican war policy of the administration, and was soon recognized as a prompt and forcible debater. As Chairman of the Committee on Commerce he rendered efficient service to the commercial interests of Baltimore, and at the close of his second Congressional term, 1851, during which he had been Chairman of that Committee, the Board of Trade of Baltimore City passed resolutions thanking him for his efforts. In the fall of 1849 he was re-elected to Congress by a largely increased majority, and at the expiration of this term procecded to California, where he remained actively engaged in professional business until the summer of 1852. In the fall of this year he was elected on the Democratic ticket as a Presidential Elector. In the fall of 1853 he was appointed by President Pierce Commis- sioner to China, with the power of a Minister Plenipoten- tiary, and at the same time accredited to. Japan, Siam, Corea, and Cochin-China. A naval force being placed by the President subject to his control, he at once set out on this important mission, and arrived at Hong Kong in April, 1854. The account of his services there forms a most interesting chapter in the history of our country. llis health suffering during the following summer, and the peculiar attitude which affairs had assumed leading him to consider that the public interests did not longer rc- quire him to remain in China, he requested his recall, and a successor being appointed he returned to Baltimore. He represented his Congressional District in the Demo- cratic National Convention which assembled in Cincin- nati in 1856, and in 1859 was appointed by President Bu- chanan Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Mexico, to which he proceeded, and, April 7, 1859, presented his credentials to President Juarez. Affairs in that country were then in a greatly disturbed condition, and Mr. Melane was empowered with au- thority to exercise his own discretion in many important particulars, which. he did with great wisdom, and nego- tiated and signed a treaty between the United States and Mexico for the protection of the lives and property of our citizens, when the culmination here of the difficulties between the North and the South satisfied him that further negotiations would be useless, and resigning his mission he returned to his family in Baltimore. Ile took part in the public discussions, and represented that city in one or more State conventions that assembled in the carly months of 1861, adhering with firmness to the opinions and principles he had always advocated. When the Legislature met in May, 1861, he was appointed one of a Commission to proceed to Washington to confer with the President of the United States in reference to what was considered by that body the unconstitutional proceedings of the Federal authorities within the State of Maryland. Upon the report of this Commission, the Legislature formally resolved that it was not expedient for the State to
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