USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 53
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 53
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PEARCE, JUDGE WILLIAM, was born in that portion of Shrewsbury Parish, Kent County, Maryland, which, between the years 1674 and 1706, was allotted to Cecil. He was the son of William Pearce, the High Sheriff of Cecil County in 1687, and he represented Cecil in the Legislature of Maryland in the sessions of 1694, 1706, and 1707. He and all his family were Episcopalians, and for nearly or quite two hundred years have been prominent in Church affairs. In 1714 and 1715 he was the presiding Judge of the Kent
County Court. Ile died in March, 1720, and his wife, Isabella Pearce, survived until 1729. ITis daughter, Isa- bella Pearce, married Colonel William Blay, of Blay's Range, Kent County, the son of Colonel Edward and Ann Blay, and had a daughter Catharine Blay, who married, July 27, 1722, John Tilden, son of Judge Charles Tillen, and was the mother of Catharine Tilden, who married Gustavus Hanson, son of Judge Frederick and Mary Lowder Ilanson. Ilis eldest son, Gideon Pearce, was a vestryman of Shrewsbury Parish in 1714, High Sheriff of Kent County in 1721, and by the act of 1723, chapter 19, entitled, " An act for the encouragement of learning and erecting schools in the several counties within this Prov- ince," was appointed a visitor of the county school of Kent County. This school, commonly called the " Free School" of Chestertown, became the most celebrated seminary of learning in Maryland, and by the act of 1782, chapter 8, was erected and constituted Washington Col- lege. Gideon Pearce died in 1751, leaving his eldest son, James Pearce, who was a vestryman of Shrewsbury Parish in 1756; married, August - 17, 1771, Susanna Shannon, and died in 1802, leaving a son, Gideon Pearce, who mar- ried Julia Dick, daughter of Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, of Alexandria, Virginia, and left a son, the late Hon. James Alfred Pearce, who was born December 14, 1805, and was United States Senator from March 4, 1843, to the day of his death, December 20, 1862.
0 OWIE, GOVERNOR ROBERT, was born in Prince George's County, Maryland. On June 29, 1776, he was elected Captain by the Convention of Maryland, and served in the Second Battalion of the Maryland Flying Artillery. In 1803 he was elected Governor of Maryland, succeeding Hon. John Francis Mercer, and served until the appointment of his successor, Robert Wright, in 1806. In 1809 lie was one of the Maryland Presidential Electors, and voted for James Madison. After the expiration of the gubernatorial term of lIon. Edward Lloyd, he was again in 1811 elected Governor of Maryland, and was succeeded in 1812 by Levin Winder.
BASSEY, HON. JAMES, Legislator, was born in Greensboro, Caroline County, Maryland, March 5, 1843. He was educated at the Academy in Greensboro and the Maryland Agricultural College in Prince George's County, and after leaving the last-named institution engaged in farming and merchan- dising. He has served two terms as Town Commissioner of' Greensboro. In 1877 he was elected to the House of Delegates on the People's ticket, receiving the support of members of both parties. Being a firm friend of the tem- peance cause, he was an earnest supporter of the local option measure.
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S PEALE, REV. DAVID J., Pastor of the Light Street Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, was born at Beale's Mills, Juniata County, Pennsylvania, July 1, 1835. He is the oldest of a family of five children. His father, Joshua Beale, recently died at the age of eighty-four years. His mother, Milly ( Milliken) Beale, is still living at the old homestead. On his father's side Mr. Beale traces his ancestry to an English Quaker who landed with William Penn at New Castle, Delaware, 1682 .. Ac- cording to a tradition it was through his influence that Penn decided to settle in the Keystone State. His son William was a minister in the Society of Friends, and a son of his, David, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was Judge of the Orphans' Court for the counties of Mifflin and Cumberland, Pennsylvania. On his mother's side Mr. Beale is of Scotch extraction. A rigid Presby- terian, she trained him from early childhood in that faith. In his earliest youth he had a strong desire to preach the Gospel, and his education was directed to that end. His preparatory studies were pursued at Tuscarora Academy, Pennsylvania, from which institution he went to Jefferson College in the same State, where he graduated in 1861, ranking among the highest in scholarship in a large class. He studied theology at Princeton, graduating from that seminary in 1864. The same year he received a unani- mous call to the Old Home Church at Middle Tuscarora, of which his parents were members. During his pastorate nearly two hundred members were added to the church, and a new edifice was required under his leadership at Penn Mills. IJis next pastorate was in connection with the old historic Presbyterian church at St. George's, Dela- ware. From this church he was called to be Pastor of the Light Street Church, Baltimore, in 1872, with which he is still connected. During the six years of his pastorate in this church its membership has more than doubled. The Sabbath-school is large, numbering five hundred scholars. Mr. Beale's manner in the pulpit is simple, plain, spiritual, and sympathetic, and he impresses all who listen to him with his sincerity and firm belief in the doctrines he preaches. His discourses are delivered with earnestness and animation. He lends a willing car to all, and is un- ceasing in the performance of his ministerial dutics. His pastoral labors are not limited by the boundaries of his own parish, but comprise many families not connected with any church. Though wedded to the theology and polity of his Church, he regards all who are the children of Christ as his brethren, and is therefore on the most ami- cable terms with ministers of other denominations, with whom he exchanges frequent courtesies. Of a genial, frank disposition, characterized by a manliness and boldness in adhering to and proclaiming his views, courteous while he is uncompromising where principle is concerned, gen erous in spirit and in act, he is respected by all classes of the community. On May 2, 1865, he married Miss Mary Moore, of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, daughter of
Rev. J. Newton Ritner, Pastor of a Baptist church in Philadelphia. He has had six children, all of whom are living. Two of his three brothers are ruling elders in the Presbyterian Church, and his only sister is the wife of a Baptist clergyman in Philadelphia. With the exception of his father, all the members of his family are still living.
SARSHALL, JOHN, Elocutionist, was born in Bal- timore, May 14, 1848. He attended the public schools of that city until he attained the twelfth year of his age, when he became engaged in the last manufacturing establishment of his father. IIe was a diligent student, and availed himself of every op- portunity for self-improvement. At quite an early age he developed literary tastes and aptitudes, which, added to his engaging manners, naturally drew him into intellectual and refined circles. At the age of sixteen years he joined the Everett Institute, the oldest literary institution in Bal- timore, where his elocutionary abilities were first mani- fested, and which were rapidly improved by studious ap- plication and frequent reunions with gentlemen of fine literary attainments. Shortly before attaining his majority he became a member of the Scott Literary and Musical Circle, which was recognized as ranking higher than any other kindred association in Baltimore on account of its able membership. Mr. Marshall's superior qualifications soon resulted in his being selected as its President, which position he retained for two years. His readings attracted marked attention, and he was repeatedly urged by compe- tent judges to adopt elocution as a profession. Ile was, however, exceedingly averse to public exhibitions of his abilities. Influential friends, who were convinced of his eminent fitness for the profession of an elocutionist, earn- estly pressed him to adopt it, and seck the best possible in- struction to enable him to perfect a mastery of the art. Mr. Marshall finally yielded to the advice of his friends, and decided to secure the most critical opinion of his abilities, and accordingly departed for England in Septem- ber, 1877, his intention being to go to the best elocutionists in London, give them a specimen of his abilities, make a frank statement of his intentions, and abide by their ver- dict, whatever it might be. He first applied to Professor Plumptre, of King's College, London, and afterwards went to two other. leading elocutionists in that city. All three, after a careful and exhaustive trial of his style and methods, declared that he manifested an extraordinary ability for elocution, and strongly advised him to make it his profession, which he then decided to do. He put him- self under the tuition of Professor Plumptre, and devoted himself to the art with such assiduity that in a short time his instructor declared that it was beyond his power to add to the perfection of his style. At the close of his studies he received a letter from Professor Plumptre pronouncing
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his proficiency in elocution, and referring to his " mental excellencies of great taste, judgment, and discrimination," to which " he unites a fine, full, flexible voice, capable of a very wide range in inflections and modulations, by which he is able at all times to bring out the full meaning of every anthor." Mr. Marshall visited Paris, where he re- mained a number of months, perfecting his knowledge of French and studying his art. He gave a reading in Paris and two readings in London, which were commended by the press in the highest terms. He returned to America in October, 1878, landing in New York, where his arrival was immediately noted by the press, and he received flat- tering social attentions. In that city he placed himself under the instruction of Professor George Vandenhoff, famous for his mastery of the dramatic art, who, after Mr. Marshall had gone through a course under him, gave him a letter recommending him as a competent teacher of elo- cution. This letter was the first that Mr. Vandenhoff, in the course of his forty odd years of instruction in the art, had ever given to one of his pupils, and it was, therefore, an achievement of which Mr. Marshall had reason to feel justly proud. Mr. Marshall made his first public appearance after his return to this country before a New York audience, and his success was most decided. The entire press of that city spoke of his recitations in the most culogistic terms, pronouncing him an accomplished eloentionist in voice, action, expression, and thorough cul- ture. Hle returned to his native city in February, 1879, gave a public recital, and was received by a refined and critical andience that entirely filled the Academy of Music. This recital fully sustained the reputation he had acquired as an elocutionist abroad and in the metropolis of this country. Mr. Marshall is a close and enthusiastic student, and seems destined, in the face of what he has already achieved, to attain the highest rank in his profes- sion.
BANG, THEODORE F., Doctor of Dental Surgery, was born, May 8, 1833, near Clarksburg, Harrison County, Virginia. His father, James Lang, was a farmer and wagomaker. Later in life he carried on milling and merchandising in connection with his farm. Theodore's mother died when he was three months old. Owing to his early life being spent upon a farm, and the scarcity and remoteness of schools, his opportunities for obtaining an education were very limited. When he was fourteen years of age his father entered into a general merchandise business, and employed him as clerk and sales- man. In such a position opportunities were presented him for the study of books, and in six years he obtained a com- mon education, the result solely of his own personal exer- tions. In 1853 his father was stricken with paralysis, which rendered necessary the closing up of his business. In 1855 the subject of this sketch opened a store in the vil-
lage of Bridgeport, Virginia. At this time Dr. Lang, whose Christian name included an additional initial, L., dropped the same as a matter of business convenience, and has ever since signed his name as T. F. Lang. After mer- chandisiug about two and a half years he abandoned the business owing to the financial panic of 1857. He was un- successful in his trading operations, and hence realized the necessity of securing a profession. He first directed his attention to medicine and surgery, but as there was much in the practice of medicine that was distasteful to him he abandoned the study thereof, and decided upon dentistry as a profession. He attended the sessions of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in 1858 and 1859, and returned to his native county, where he practiced dentistry until 1861. On the breaking out of the civil war he was one of the few loyal men in the town of Clarksburg who openly espoused the cause of the Government, and who were the first in the State to inaugurate the loyal movement which spread through Western Virginia, and ultimately secured thirty-four thousand soldiers for the Union Army and the separation of West Virginia from the parent State. As soon as the tocsin of war was sounded he began recruiting for the general service. In June, 1861 he was mustered as a private into Captain N. A. Shuttleworth's Company B., Third Virginia Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was, by order from the War Department, made the Sixth Cavalry Regiment in 1863. He served in the field three years and four months; was promoted to First Lieutenant and Adjutant of the same regiment July 12, 1861 ; to the Majority of same regiment August 1, 1862 ; and the Brevet- Colonelcy March 13, 1865. He was twice complimented in special orders upon the battle-field by Generals Averell and Hunter, and received a medal from the State of West Virginia. The following notice appeared in the Spring- field (Ohio) Methodist Protestant, September 14, 1864 : " We are glad to learn that that brave and loyal soldier, Major T. F. L. Lang, formerly of the Third Regiment, West Virginia Infantry, but recently of General Averell's stall, has passed safely through the many perilons campaigns iu which he has been engaged, including all of Milroy's, Fre- mout's, and Pope's, in Virginia, and Averell's cavalry raids among the mountains. Our army may contain more conspicuous officers, but it contains no truer patriot, no braver soldier, no warmer-hearted man than Major Lang. He has done enough hard fighting and seen enough dan- ger and hardship to deserve special promotion ; but he has been overlooked, while men of far inferior deserts have been advanced." After the close of the war Dr. Lang es- tablished himself in the practice of his profession in the city of Baltimore, and has been eminently successful, be- ing regarded as one of the most skilful and accomplished dentists in Baltimore. He is an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, having been Quartermaster- General of the Department of Maryland, and now. Com- mander for the second term of Wilson Post, the largest
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organization of ex-soldiers in Maryland, and second to but few in the country. From the twenty-second year of his age he has been a member of the Order of Masons, and for several years took an active interest therein. Ile was a Charter Member and King of a Royal Arch Chapter formed at Clarksburg, and was also a member of the En- campment of Knights Templar at Morgantown, Virginia. December 17, 1857, Dr. Lang married Susan, daughter of Colonel Richard Fowkes, of Clarksburg, Virginia. They have had three children : Richard D., born February 29, 1860; Minnie A., born January 21, 1864; and Stratton McG. Lang, born October 12, 1872. Dr. Lang is ex- ceptionally bland and pleasant in his manners, and enjoys a wide popularity among his numerous acquaintances and associates. Ile is a gentleman of varied intelligence and mental culture, and is a true representative of the self- taught and self-made man.
EE, COLONEL STEPHEN STATES, was born in South Carolina, and is descended from an old English family. Ilis great-great-grandfather, Francis Lee, emigrated to the island of Barbadoes toward the close of the seventeenth century, but being dissatis- fied with the climate he removed early in the cighteenth century to South Carolina. His son, Thomas Lee, was born February 6, 1710, and died August 8, 1769, leaving a large family. His fourth son, Stephen Lee, was born July 21, 1750; he had several sons, the eldest of whom, Paul S. H. Lee, born September 22, 1784, was the father of the subject of this sketch. The family in all its branches have borne well their part in the exciting periods of our country's history. Several of its members were engaged in the Revolutionary struggle, and Stephen Lee and one of his brothers were for a long time prisoners of war at St. Augustine. Their families were sent to Philadelphia during the occupation of Charleston by the English. During the exciting period of tlie Nullification troubles in South Carolina in 1832, the whole family, under the leader- ship of its eldest member, Judge Lee, one of the distin- guished leaders of the Union party, were active in their support of the Union, standing firm with James L. Petti- grew, Hugh S. Legare, Judge Huger, and others; but when the late unfortunate war commenced, all those at the South, although many were Douglas Democrats, sided with their States. Among some seventy members contributed by this family to the Confederate Army may be mentioned General Stephen D. Lec; Colonel Charles Lee, of North Carolina; Colonel P'. Lynch Lee, of the Twentieth Ar- kansas; Major Hutson Lee, Chief of the Quartermaster's Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida ; be- sides many officers of less rank, and several surgeons. Colonel Stephen States Lcc was educated for the profession of civil engineer, and studied in the office of Mr. Horatio
Allen, Chief Engineer of the South Carolina Railroad, one of the first projected in this country. Michael Chevalier was then travelling and making a study of this country. Upon his coming to Charleston, Mr. Allen selected Mr. Lee to ac- company him over the railroad, and to explain to him every- thing connected with the work, then considered such a marvellous enterprise. In 1835 his sphere of action was changed to the North, being called to take charge of the Providence Division of the New York, Providence and Bos- ton Railroad, as Assistant Engineer under General McNeil and Colonel Whistler, the Chief Engineers, and C. E. Det- mold-his life-long friend-Resident Engineer. Upon the completion of this work he was sent, in the winter of 1836-37, to examine and report upon the projected works in the State of Illinois, with a view to determine the ad- visability of Eastern capitalists contracting to build the roads and deliver them to the State completed, accepting State bonds in payment. Mr. Lee reported that the scheme was inadvisable at that time, and the panic of 1837 soon afterward justified his cautious views on that subject. General McNeil commanded the State troops during the Dorr rebellion in Rhode Island, and appointed Mr. Lee the engineer on his staff, with the rank of Major. Subse- quently he was appointed Aid to Governor Fenner, with the rank of Colonel, and through those exciting times was brought into close connection with the leading men of the State. On the completion of the surveys of the New Bed- ford Railroad, which he made under Colonel Whistler, he was selected Chief Engineer for the construction of the work, under the Presidency of Hon. Joseph Grinnell, Colonel Whistler having been called by the Emperor of Russia to take charge of the great work from St. Peters- burg to Moscow. Mr. Lee called around him the most skilful assistants, but devoted himself personally with un- tiring interest and energy to the work, verifying all impor- tant calculations, and had the satisfaction of receiving the congratulations of the leading railroad men of the country, called together at the opening of the road in 1840, for having built and equipped his railroad within his estimate, and opened it on the day named in his first report-two things which had never before been accomplished. While thus engaged Mr. Lee met and enjoyed the confidence of most of the leading men of Massachusetts. He married, in the last-named year, Sarah F. Mallett, daughter of General E. J. Mallett, a descendant of David Mallett, a Huguenot, who with many others sought refuge in this country after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. General Mallett's father was an officer in the Revolutionary Army and Com- missary-General for the State of North Carolina with the rank of Colonel. Mrs. Lee's mother was the daughter of James Fenner, and granddaughter of Arthur Fenner, Gov- . crnors of Rhode Island for an aggregate of twenty-eight years. James Fenner was elected Governor the first time on the death of his father. lle was then in Washington serving his State as United States Senator during the second
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term of President Jefferson, and at once resigned his posi- tion and returned home. The Feuers are of old English stock. One of the ancestors was an officer in Cromwell's army. They came to Rhode Island with Roger Williams, and were granted lands near Providence, with manorial rights and privileges, a part of which land some of their descendants still reside upon and own. A few years after his marriage Mr. Lce gave up his profession and estab- lished hinslf in Baltimore, identifying himself with the coal and iron interests of Maryland. At that time the coal- fields of Cumberland were entirely undeveloped, and his house became the agent of the Mount Savage Coal and Iron Company, owned by English capitalists, who com- menced the shipment of coal and the manufacture of iron in 1843. The first cargo of Cumberland coal was sent to the firm of Lee & Co., and by them shipped to the line of steamers, " The President" and the " British Queen." Soon after the Cunard Line was established, which has been a steady consumer of this coal to the present time. It is now shipped from Baltimore, Georgetown, and Alex- andria to all parts of the country, as well as to South America, Cuba, and Pacific ports, Mr. Lee continuing identified with the interest of this coal-field, which has steadily developed from the beginning. In 1855 he took his two eldest sons to Switzerland to be educated; and again, in 1869, his eldest son being married and settled in the country, he left his business interests in the hands of his second son, his partner, and visited Europe with Mrs. Lee for her health, and for the education of his two younger children. Establishing himself at Tours, in France, on the breaking out of the war between that country and Prussia, he with Colonel Elphinstone, formerly an officer in the English Army, were urged by the English National Society for Aid for the Sick and Wounded in War, to act for the society in that part of France. Mr. Lee accepted the position of Honorary Secretary of the Division whose headquarters were at Tours, and soon after the entire man- agement of that division until the close of the war de- volved upon him, Colonel Elphinstone being appointed Military Correspondent of the London Times. The posi- tion of Mr. Lee was important, and in it he had the conti- dence of the officers of both armies. When the German army entered Tom's the General in command treated him with the greatest kindness and consideration ; no soldiers were quartered in his house, and no request asked by him for any of the inhabitants of the place was denied, if con- sistent with military necessity. At the close of the war his services were recognized by all parties. The French Re- public conferred upon him the Decoration of the Legion of Honor, the Prussian Government that of the Royal Crown of Prussia, and the Bavarian Government that of the Cross of Merit of Bavaria. Mr. Lee also occupied himself in the charitable work of distributing seeds to the small farmers who had been ruined by the war, and in aiding and advising in the distribution of the American funds
sent out through the sympathy and generosity of our own countrymen, to the nufortunate people whose homes had been made desolate. He received letters of thanks from the authorities of Orleans and a large number of the Com- munes in the Valley of the Loire, and from the leading people of Touraine a most beautiful testimonial in the formn of a magnificent volume of the history and monuments of Touraine. In 1877 he brought his family home. They are now occupying their handsome establishment on the corner of Charles Street and Boundary Avenue, where lie lives surrounded by his children and grandchildren, and en- joying the sincere affection and respect of the community.
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