USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 54
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 54
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EE, COLONEL JAMES FENNER, State Senator of Mary- land, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, July 9, 1843. He is the eldest living son of Stephen S. and Sarah F. (Mallett) Lee, who removed to Bal- timore in the year of his birth. In that city he was placed under the instruction of the best masters, and in 1855 was sent to Europe, where he was for several years in one of the first schools of Switzerland. Ile completed his collegiate studies in Paris at the Lycée St. Louis, and after having travelled over the Continent returned to Balti- more. There he entered as a law student the office of Brown & Brune, and before applying for admission to the bar spent a term at the Law School of Harvard University. In 1866 he married Mrs. Albert Carroll, daughter of William George Read, Esq., and granddaughter of Colonel John Eager Howard. On this event his parents presented him with a farm in Carroll County, and he decided to devote himself to agricultural pursuits as soon as he could dispose of his law business and complete the third volume of the Maryland Digest, which he had, in 'conjunction with his friend, Jacob> J. Cohen, undertaken to publish. Having in time accomplished this and settled upon his farm, he soon became identified with and earnest in the promotion of every material interest of his county. In a short time such was his popularity that he was constantly chosen to represent the interests of his district in the Democratic county con- ventions, and frequently selected by them to represent his county in the State conventions. In 1874 he was ap- pointed as Aide-de-camp to Governor Groome, with rank . of Colonel. Colonel Lee was in 1876 nominated for the office of State Senator by the Democratic party of his county, and elected after a most active and exciting cam- paign. In the Senate he was made Chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing, And did good service to the State by reducing the expenditures for the same $20,000. This position he retained in the second session of the Legisla- ture, in which he was equally successful in his efforts to secure economy in that department. At the assembling of tlie Senate he was unanimously chosen President of the temporary organization, and was invariably during the ab-
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sence of Colonel Lloyd-the permanent President-elected to fill that office. It was mainly through the efforts of Colonel Lee that the endowment of twenty-six free scholar- ships was obtained from the State for the Western Mary- land College, situated in the county which he represented. Colonel Lee has four children : Arthur E. Lee, Sarah Lee, J. Fenner Lee, Jr., and Sophia Howard Lee.
ILDEN, MARMADUKE, of Great Oak Manor, Kent County, Maryland, came to Kent at an early period, and died in September, 1671, leaving three sons, viz., Marmaduke, Charles, and John Tilden. His eldest son, Marmaduke Tilden, owned at one time thirty-one thousand three hundred and fifty acres of land, married Rebecca Wilmer, daughter of Lambert and Ann Wilmer, died June 20, 1726, and had a daughter, Wealthy Ann Tilden, who married and has descendants now living, one of whom is James Hodges, Esq., of Balti- more. His second son, Judge Charles Tilden, a distin- guished member of the first vestry of St. Paul's Parish, was upon the bench of Kent County for many years, and has descendants now living, one of whom is Colonel George A. Hanson, of Chestertown. His great-grandson, Dr. William Blay Tilden, was one of the wealthiest and most prominent vestrymen of Shrewsbury Parish in 1769, and is represented by living descendants, viz., Charles Tilden Westcott, Esq., of Chestertown, and John W. Jones, Esq., of Philadelphia, at one time Vice-President of the Phila- delphia and Reading Railroad.
EE, JULIAN HENRY, Merchant, of Baltimore, is the second living son-their eldest child having died in infancy-of Stephen S. and Sarah E. ( Mallett) Lee, and was born in Baltimore, November 2, 1845. Ilis primary education was carefully conducted in his native city, and at the age of ten he was taken to Europe with his elder brother, and placed in the famous Pension Bellevive, in Switzerland, then under the management of Monsieur Edouard Sillig. Here he spent four years, when, having mastered the French language, he returned to this country and completed his studies at the Rev. Dr. Dal- rymple's college in Baltimore. He then, in the year 1861, entered his father's office, and in a short time so familiar- ized himself with all the details of the business, developing so much energy, good judgment, and skill in the manage- ment of several important transactions, that' he was at a very early age admitted as a partner in the profits of the business. Shortly after this his mother's health failed, and his father spent some years with her in Europe, leaving to him the entire responsibility of the large establishment, and also the management of his mother's estate, of which he had been appointed trustee in the place of Mr. Tilling
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hurst, who resided in Rhode Island. Both of these im- portant trusts he discharged to the entire satisfaction of all the interested parties. Mr. Twee is still in business with his father, enjoying the full confidence and esteem of the busi- ness community. From his earliest manhood he has heen identified with the development and management of all the successful associations devoted to open-air sports which have been organized by the leading young men of the city. He has been Captain and President of the Ariel Boating Club, President of the Baltimore Cricket Club, Vice-Presi- dent of the American National Cricket Association, and President of the Baltimore Athletic Club. Mr. Lee was married in 1873 to Elizabeth D., daugliter of James W. Tyson, of Baltimore County. They have three children : Elizabeth, Stephen States, and Guillielma. He belongs to the parish of St Paul's Episcopal Church, with the work of which he has been for a long time identified as Sunday- school teacher and as a visitor to the sick and needy. Ile is at all times a ready contributor to its charities.
AN BIBBER, WASHINGTON CHEW, M.D., was born in Frederick, now Carroll County, Mary- land, July 24, 1824. At the age of seven years he was placed at a school in Little York, Pennsyl- vania, which was subsequently known as Marshall
College. After remaining there two years he entered Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he pur- sued his studies for a year, and then went to Mount St. Mary's College, Emmettsburgh, Maryland, where he re- mained for two years, at the expiration of which time he entered Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Washington County, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1840 with the degree of A.B. After graduating he removed to Baltimore, where he commenced the study of medicine in the office of the late Professor Nathan R. Smith. He matriculated at the University of Maryland in the fall of 1841, and graduated therefrom with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the spring of 1845. Ile then went to Grand Gulf, Mississippi, where, however, he remained but for a brief period, and then located in New Orleans, Louisi- ana. In that city he spent the memorable summer of . 1845; the yellow fever was devastating the place, its ravages only being equalled by the epidemic of the same disease which afflicted the Crescent City in 1853. There he had abundant opportunity of studying the nature, phe- nomena and mode of treatment of that malignant malady, being brought into frequent personal relation with it, both in private practice and in the Charity Hospital. On leav- ing New Orleans he was placed in professional charge of a party of ladies and gentlemen of Maryland, with whom he returned to that State. In 18.16 he established himself in the practice of his profession in Baltimore, which he has been actively and minterruptedly pursning ever since.
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In 1852 and 1853 Dr. Van Bibber served as physician to the Baltimore County Almshouse. He has been for many years physician to various institutions of a benevo- lent and humanitarian character, such as Christ Church Asylum, llome of the Friendless, St. Mary's Seminary, Notre Dame Convent, etc. He is a member of the Medico- Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, and was for some time its Secretary; was one of the founders in 1852 of the Baltimore Pathological Society, acted as its Secretary for seven years ; also served as its President, and represented it in the American Medical Association. The doctor has contributed many valuable articles on medical science, and was from 1856 to 1859 an Associate Editor of the Virginia Medical Journal, and from 1859 to 1861 was Associate Editor of the Maryland and Virginia Medical Journal. His father was Washington Van Bibber, a native of Baltimore, and at one time an extensive farmer in Carroll County. He participated in the defence of Baltimore in 1814. Ilis grandfather, Isaac Van Bibber, was a native of Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Mary- land. He was a famous sea captain and voyageur, owning the ship which he commanded. The shipping firm of Isaac and Abraham Van Bibber, of Baltimore, which was well known in its day, he was the senior partner of. The Van Bibbers were an ancient Hollandise family, its pro- genitor in this country being a Captain Isaac Van Bibber, a native of Amsterdam, and who came to America in com- mand of a vessel belonging to Lord Baltimore's fleet, and settled in Cecil County. The doctor's mother was Lu- cretia Emory, daughter of Thomas Lane Emory, farmer, of Queen Anne's County, Maryland. His grandmother on the maternal side, was a Hlebb, and his grandmother on the paternal side was of the old and respectable Chew family of Philadelphia, Dr. Van Bibber married in 1848 Miss Josephine Chatard, youngest daughter of the late Dr. Peter Chatard, an eminent physician of Baltimore. Ile has five children, two sons and three daughters, The former are talented and accomplished physicians, and are associated with their father in practice. The elder, Dr. John P. Van Bibber, graduated at the Maryland University in 1871; and his brother, Dr. Claude Van Bibber, gradu- ated therefrom in 1877. Carefully eschewing all public or political station, Dr. Van Bibber has been wedded to his profession, in which he has gained an eminence that places him alongside of the best and most honored of its members, the Smiths, Miltenbergers, Chews, Chatards, Bucklus, and others, who have shed a lustre upon their noble vocation.
BICKERS, HON. GEORGE, Ex-United States Senator, was born in Chestertown, Maryland, November 19, 1801. Ile was the only surviving chikl of James and Ann Vickers, the former of whom died suddenly in 1818, and the latter in 1827. The les- sons impressed on his mind by his mother influenced
him through life. Ile grew up strictly moral and with a great respect for sacred things. He was educated at Wash- ington College, and at the age of sixteen entered the office of the county clerk. In two years he was promoted to the first clerkship in the office. While thus engaged he pre- pared himself for the legal profession, pursuing his studies so privately that his admission to the bar in 1832 was a great surprise to his friends. A great compliment was paid him by the examiners, who had so well understood his character from childhood as to propose to omit the exami- nation, since he would not have made application unless fully qualified. The following year he opened an office in Chestertown, devoting himself exclusively to his profession, and in time obtained the largest practice at the Kent bar. In 1836 he was elected as a Whig one of the two electors of the Senatorial College of Maryland, receiving the high- est minber of votes in each election district. The great difficulties that arose in the State Senate of that year were mainly adjusted by the interposition of Mr. Vickers. After this he confined himself strictly to his profession, being very decidedly opposed to all office-seeking. In 1861, without any previous intimation, he was commissioned by Governor llicks as Major-General of Militia for the. Eastern Shore, and being solicited to accept by deputations from two mili- tary companies in his town, and by a written request from a number of citizens, he yielded to their wishes. He was opposed to secession, and used his influenec to keep Mary- land in the Union. Still he was very conservative. Ile declined the offer of a judgeship tendered him by Gover- nors Hicks and Bradford. In 1864 he was without his knowledge put on the electoral ticket for the election of General McClellan, and made speeches at various public meetings. In 1865 he was elected to the Senate of Mary- land, and served the two following years. During the last he was Chairman of the Committee on Judicial Proceed- ings, and not one bill was left unreported. In 1866 he was one of the Vice-Presidents of the great Union Convention which met in Philadelphia. Early in March, 1868, he was, most unexpectedly to himself, elected to the United States Senate for five years, and took his seat the third day after the commencement of the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, for whose acquittal he voted. While in the Senate he served on several important committees, and made many speeches ar.d reports. On returning to private life he re- sumed the practice of his profession, in which he is still engaged, lfaving by eare and prudence preserved his health, and preserving the appearanee and vivacity of a man twenty years younger. When quite a young man Mr. Vickers made many temperance addresses and did innch to advance the cause. Ile united with the Methodist Protestant Church in 1848, if which communion he still continues, and is very benevolent. Mr. Vickers has been heard to say that in the course of his life he has read the Bible through ten times, and the New Testament twenty times, besides promiscuous reading of the sacred chapters alnost daily.
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Ile donated to the people of his town a few years since about three acres of land for a cemetery, which is now one of the most beautiful in the county. He has always been very active in every enterprise for the improvement of his locality. He was the first President of the Kent County Rail- road Company, and so continued till the road was built and put in operation. He was married in 1826 to Mary, eldest daughter of James and Ann Mansfield, and has lived to enjoy his golden wedding. Only four of their eleven children, two sons and two daughters, now survive.
UGER, GENERAL BENJAMIN, Senior Major-General of the Confederate States Army, was born in Sumter, South Carolina, in 1805. He graduated at West Point in 1825, and was assigned to the Third Artillery in Florida. In 1834 he was one of three artillery officers to visit Russia and France, consti- tuting a commission appointed by the United States Gov- ernment to study artillery tactics in those countries. The result was the organization during the ensuing year of the Ordnance Corps of the United States Army, in which Huger was made a Captain. On the establishment of the Ordnance Arsenal at Old Point Comfort in 1836, he was assigned to its command, retaining the same for several years. In the Mexican war he was Chief of Artillery under Major-General Scott. He served throughout the war, and received three brevets for gallant and meritorious conduct. After the close of hostilities with Mexico, he was made Superintendent of the United States Armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, continuing as such until 1855. Ile was then appointed Chief of Artillery and Ordnance, with his headquarters at Pikesville Arsenal, Maryland, and was stationed there when the civil war broke out, when he immediately resigned his commission in the United States Army, and after a brief connection as an officer with the Fifth Maryland Regiment (about the time of April 19, 1861, difficulties) repaired to Richmond, and offered his services to the Governor of Virginia. He was appointed Brigadier-General in the Virginia State Service, and assigned to the department of Norfolk. On the or- ganization of the regular Confederate Army he was made Major-General therein, and retained the command at Nor- folk until ordered by General Joseph E. Johnston to evac- uate that position and repair to Richmond. le partici- pated in the various battles around Richmond, in the " Seven Days' Fight," and was afterwards relieved and transferred to the department of the Trans-Mississippi, . where he remained until the end of the war. He then went to South Carolina and abided for about a year, when he bought a farm in Fauquier County, Virginia, upon which he resided. The General died, December 7, 1877, whilst on a visit to his native State. His wife was Celes- tine Pinckney, daughter of Colonel Thomas Pinckney, of
South Corolina, and granddaughter of General Charles Cotesworth -Pinckney of Revolutionary fame, and who was at one time Minister to Great Britain. He was the author of the celebrated expression, " Millions for defence and not one penny for tribute." General Huger's father, Colonel Francis Kinlach Huger, was a native of South Carolina. He was a student of Sir John Hunter, the eminent surgeon of England, and took the degree of M.D. Whilst a student, he, with a classmate named Bollman, went to Olmütz, Austria, to effect the release of the Marquis Lafayette, who was imprisoned for political offences. Lafayette was rescued, and succeeded with Bollman in getting on a sea-bound vessel. Huger was apprehended and imprisoned for a year, when he was ran- somed at a large price. He returned to America just prior to the war of 1812 with Great Britain. He entered the American service, and became Aide-de-camp to General Ferguson of the Army of the South. He was afterwards promoted to a Colonelcy, and served with bravery and dis- tinction throughout the war. The grandfather of General Huger, Daniel Huger, was a native of France, which he left on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and came to America, settling on the Cooper River, South Carolina. The General had five children : Benjamin Huger, who was on the United States Coast Survey when our civil war broke out, when he entered the Confederate service as Adjutant. General to his father; Eustis Iluger, who was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, but entered the ser- vice of the Confederacy immediately upon the outbreak of hostilities as Captain of artillery, serving throughout the war, and participating in the principal battles. He is liv- ing in Baltimore, but also attends to his extensive planting interests in Virginia. Frank Huger, another son, was Lieutenant in the Third United States Infantry, and en- tered, April, 1861, the Confederate States Army as Captain of artillery. Ile rose to the rank of Colonel in Long- street's Corps. He is now Master of Transportation and Acting Superintendent of the Virginia and Tennessee Air Line Railroad, of which another brother, Thomas Pinck- ney, who was a Lieutenant in the United States Army, is the General Agent, with his headquarters in New York,
MA"SOLLMAN, WENDEL, Iron Bridge Inventor, and Ex- Master of Road and Bridge-builder of the Balti- more and Ohio Railroad, was born in Baltimore, January 21, 1814. His father, Thomas Bollman, was born in Bremen, May 28, 1775, and came to Balti- more about 1778 or '79. Ile was a baker, and assisted in the defence of the city in 1814. fHis death occurred April 17, 1819, when Wendel was only five years old. His mother, whose maiden name was Ann Barbara Rabb, was born in Weissenbach, September 20, 1786; came to Baltimore, January 1, 1800 ; was married, April 16, 1805 ; and died, January 30, 1866, aged seventy-nine years. Her
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father, Adam Gottlieb Rabb, kept the German Lutheran day-school connected with Zion Church, on Gay Street, and was organist of the church. Her mother was Magda- lena Schaefer, of Weissenbach. Their children were : William, born August 3, 1806, died August 2, 1807; Mary Ann, born November 5, 1807, deceased ; Ann Catharine, born January 1I, 1809, died October 1, 1860; George, born June 14, 1810, died September, 1810; Ann Marga- retta and John Thomas (twins), born August 30, 1811, the former of whom is the widow of William McKimmell, the latter died in New Orleans, October 17, 1835; Wendel, the subject of this sketch, date of birth before given ; and Andrew Rohr, born February 19, 1816, and died October 14, 1853; so that of the eight children, Margaretta and Wen- del are the only survivors. Wendel attended Bassford's free school on Calvert Street, and a private school for a brief period. His education, however, is mainly self-acquired. On the death of his father his mother was left very poor, and having six children to provide for, endeavored to do so by keeping boarders. In 1824 Frederick F. Springer and Albert Koster, who boarded with Wendel's mother, formed a copartnership and entered into the drug and apoth- ecary business at Shepherdstown, Virginia. In less than a year thereafter an opportunity occurred at Harper's Ferry to establish a branch of their business there, Mr. Springer taking charge at the Ferry and Mr. Koster remaining at Shepherdstown. They now required additional help, and as Mr. Springer, who liked Wendel as a boy, had told him when leaving Baltimore for Virginia, that if successful in business he would send for him, he wrote to his mother asking her consent to let Wendel come to him, promising to educate and care for him, giving him his choice of Shepherdstown or Harper's Ferry as a home. He went to Shepherdstown first, and liking the place resolved to remain there. Mr. Koster had married a most accomplished daughter of Dr. Rich of that place. Wendel found in this lady all the kindness and care of a mother. She be- came his teacher, giving him morning and evening lessons, and in six months she had taught him the English and Latin name of every drug, tincture, and compound in the Store. She wrote prescriptions in latin, and instructed him in the form of putting them up, watching him closely to see that he made no mistakes in the medicine or the weights. Unfortunately, he had but nine months of train- ing when she died. Mr. Koster, after her death, dissolved partnership and returned to Baltimore. Wendel then went to Mr. Springer at Harper's Ferry, who, though more ex- acting than Mr. Koster, treated him very kindly. He had been there but one year when he was taken with chills and fever, from which he found it inipossible to free himself. Hle, therefore, returned to Baltimore, in the hope that a change of location might be of benefit to him. He went to the residence of an uncle on Gay Street, whose oppo. site neighbor was Dr, Hlenzie, his uncle's family physi- cian. The doctor, satisfying himself of Wendel's ability
in putting up prescriptions, proposed that he should remain in his office and employment, and he would cure him for nothing. Dropsy of the chest had also set in, but in three months the doctor had completed his cure. On July 4, 1828, he was able to take part with the boys in the proces- sion in laying the corner-stone of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The following week he entered as an appren- tice with Mr. Pain Holland to learn the carpenter busi- ness. After building two small houses Mr. Holland's work slacked off, and he had nothing more to do. Wen- del then turned his attention to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. That company was about laying the track from Pratt Street to the Carrollton bridge, over Gwynn's Falls, through Mount Clare property. He went there, and ap- proaching an engineer who was giving directions. about the work, he inquired if more hands were wanted. The engineer thought he was almost too light for the work, but inquired what he could do. Wendel said he had been four months at the carpenter trade, that work had failed, and that he could handle the saw, hatchet, and jack-plane. The engineer was Lieutenant George W. Whistler, but Wendel did not know it at the time. He was referred to Mr. John Ready, boss carpenter, who employed him at sixty-two and a half cents per day at notching cross-ties. The next day Lieutenant Whistler gave him two hundred stakes to make for the final line and level for the track. The following morning the Lieutenant said : " I want to see if you can drive those stakes you have made, and I want you to go with the en- gineers and do whatever they direct." This Wendel con- sidered promotion, and he determined to do everything he could to please them ; to be always on time and to move quickly. The Lieutenant took notice of his spirit and action, and the second week paid him off at seventy-live cents per day. This change promoted him to " rodman " when required. He considered it to be great promotion, and thought he could soon learn to use the instrument. This brought him to the commencement of laying track in the fall of 1829. The carpenters detailed for this purpose were John Ready, Superintendent ; Thomas MeMachen, Foreman ; Alfred Ray, Nicholas Ridgely, Silas Ficket, and Wendel Bollman. These all participated in laying the first cross-tie, stringer, and iron rail on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Mr. Latrobe promised him he should par- ticipate in laying the last, but this he had not the pleasure of doing, as his presence. was required on the eastern end of the road. After the track was laid from Pratt Street to Gwynn's Falls bridge he remained on the road . until the spring of 1830. Ilis mother was anxious he should learn the carpenter business; he therefore ap- plied to Mr. John Coats, an old friend of his mother, and after being with him less than a year Mr. Coats en- tered into partnership with Cool & Randall in the lum- ber business, and retired from carpentering, at the same time procuring for Wendel a place with john and Valen-
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