USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 59
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 59
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ROBBIN, HON. GEORGE WASHINGTON, one of the Judges of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City, was born in that eity July 14, 1809. Ile was edu- cated at Wentworth Academy, under Dr. Boisseau, and at St. Mary's College, Baltimore. He studied law in the University of Maryland, where he took the de-
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gree of Bachelor of Law, and was admitted to the bar April 2, 1830. In June, 1846, he was commissioned Lieu- tenant.Colonel of Cavalry of Maryland, with the view to the organization of the militia of the State during the war with Mexico. He was a member of the Constitutional . Convention of Maryland of 1867, and was Chairman of its Judiciary Committee. IIe was elected one of the Judges of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City, the duties of which position he entered upon November 20, 1867. Judge Dobbin was one of the founders of the Maryland Histori- cal Society. For many years he was one of the Board of Visitors of the Maryland Hospital for the Insane. He was for a long time a Director of the Baltimore Library Com- . pany, and is now a Trustee of the Peabody Institute, as also of the Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is a Regent of the University of Maryland, and Dean of the Law Faculty therein. In 1871 he received the honorary degree of LL.D). from the University of Maryland. Judge Dobbin is still upon the bench, and an act was passed by the Legislature of Maryland in 1878, to permit him to remain thereon after his attaining the age of seventy-five years. Though " threescore years and ten," Judge Dobbin is in the full possession of all his mental faculties, and his rulings and decisions evidence the pos- session of the highest order of judicial knowledge and ability. Ile was married June 27, 1831.
CCLENAHAN, EBENEZER DICKEY, Contractor, was born, November 22, 1806, in Cecil County, Maryland. Ilis parents were James McClena- han and Mary Biddle. Ilis grandparents emi- grated to America and settled in Cecil County about 1750. Their children were John, James, Mary, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Ellen. Ilis grandparents on the paternal side, Samuel and Ellen, were Scotch-Irish ; maternal side were English and Welsh. The country schools of that day afforded him his early education. When about ten years of age he attended the first Sunday- school that was organized in Maryland. That school was instituted by Sarah Wilson, daughter of Rev. John Wilson, a seceding Presbyterian minister. Mr. Wilson was an Englishman and proprietor of the New Leeds Factory. The school was opened in the spring of 1816. Mr. Mc- Clenahan has been connected with the Sunday-school ever sinee as scholar, teacher, and active worker. In 1832 he joined the first temperance society that was formed in Cecil County, and he has been noted for his labors and ad- vanced views in the cause of temperance from that time. Ile was carly apprenticed to a wheelwright and coach- maker, and after serving his apprenticeship removed to Elkton. Being a stranger and without means or influence, he felt the importance of carefulness in the formation of acquaintances. In 1828, although he had been reared under Presbyterian influence and taught in its faith, he connected
himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for more than fifty years has been an active and useful mem- ber. In 1832 he commenced business on his own account in Port Deposit. There he married Margaret J., youngest daughter of John and Elizabeth Megredy. Subsequently for several years he engaged in quarrying granite, aided by his brother-in-law, Daniel Megredy, who was extensively engaged in that business. ITis sons succeeded him, and are now the leading men in that line. Since quitting the quarrying of granite Mr. McClenahan has been engaged in real estate speculations and in contracting. Ilis varied businesses have called him into twenty-one States. IIe is a man of energy and decision of character; generous in his impulses and strong in his attachments; a hater of shams and bold for the truth. His wife died February 12, 1877, on her sixty-eighth birthday. Their children are John Megredy, who married Laura Jane Farron, whose " surviving children are Virginia, Charles Alfred, Mary, John, William, Iloward, Robert Emory, and Walter. Daniel Megredy MeC'lenahan, the second son, is unmarried. Their third sou, Robert Emory, married Elizabeth Perry; they have one child, Alice Perry McClenahan. Walter, the fourth son, died June 19, 1876. Their eldest daughter, Mary, married Samuel Rowland Carson, and have children, Walter M. and John C. Carson. Their other daughter, Sarah W., married Joseph W. Reynolds; she died October 3, 1876, leaving children, Jacob Tome, Caroline Tome, Jesse, Mabel, Bertha, Robert Megredy, and Joseph Webb Reynolds.
ILKENS, WILLIAM, Senior Member of William Wilkens & Co., manufacturers of curled hair and bristles, was born, October 13, 1817, in Oster- linde, near Lesse, Dukedom of Brunswick, Ger- many. His parents, Christian and Amelia (Deppe) Wilkens, were members of the Lutheran Church and highly respected. His father was a farmer, but afterward con- ducted a small drygoods store in Lesse, to which place he removed soon after William's birth. About the year 1825 they removed to Hildersheim, where William was educated in a common school, the tuition fee being about fifty cents per quarter. After leaving school he spent several years in a drygoods store. Desiring to come to America, and there being no railroads in his country in those days, he walked to Bremen, one hundred miles distant, where he took ship for New York, about the year 1836. IIe went at once to Philadelphia and commenced his business career on a capital of eighteen cents. In 1837 hy entered as an employé in the silk-weaving factory of William Ilorstmann, and remained with him about one year. While in Phila- delphia he boarded with HI. Gerker, who was engaged in the manufacture of curled hair on a limited scale, and from whom he received the idea of entering into the same busi- less. Ilaving accumulated a small sum, he commenced
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a general trading business. In 1839 he went to New Or- Icans by water, and with a Mr. Steckheim conducted for a brief period the furniture business. From thence he went to Texas, and traded between Texas and New Orleans for about six months. The last trip to the Crescent City proved a disastrous one, on account of the drowning of some of his mules while fording a stream. In 1841 he went to Phila- delphia, trading as he went. He spent about eighteen · months in Pennsylvania, where he married, and went on a visit to his aged father in Germany. Returning to America he decided to locate in Baltimore, finding it a good mar- ket for hair goods ; and there being no factory in that city, he concluded to establish a business similar to that of Gerker's in Philadelphia. He accordingly rented a part of Colson's glue factory, near Ross Street, and commenced in 1843 the curled hair and glue business. His former trading in the raw material gave him peculiar advantages in that line, and led him to associate the bristle business with that already established. He successfully conducted his operations; and finding that he required larger accom- modations, leased a lot on the Frederick Road of Charles Carroll, about one hundred feet front, and built a factory. lie subsequently purchased other ground, and constantly enlarged his establishment until it now covers about fifteen acres, with all the most approved machinery, part of which even assorts the sizes of the bristles. The territory around it has also been increased, so that it now embraces about one hundred and fifty acres, upon which dwellings for the workmen are erected and avenues laid out. Mr. Wilkens employs about four hundred persons constantly.' A branch railroad track is run into his factory for the shipment of curled hair, bristles, etc., to all parts of the country. Con- siderable quantities are also shipped to Europe, while but little of the crude material is imported, this being the best market for the raw material. The first telephone in Balti- more was laid between their extensive iron-front ware- house on Pratt Street and the factory, to supersede the tele- graph used by them. They have branch houses in New York, Chicago, and St. Louis, where much of the raw ma- terial is collected. The bristle business was added in 1853, when Mr. Wilkens associated with him Mr. Herman 11. Graue, a gentleman of fine business qualifications, who has entire control of the books and financiering of the con- cern, and who worthily represents the firm during the fre- quent trips of Mr. Wilkens to Europe, Egypt, Palestine, and other countries. The manufacturing establishment of Messrs. Wilkens & Co. is a source of pride to all who de- sire the prosperity of Baltimore as a manufacturing centre. He has been a member of the Odd Fellows and Masonic fraternities for several years, but his business engagements have prevented his taking an active part in them. He was the originator of the railway between Baltimore and Ca- tonsville, and has now the controlling stock. Mr. Wilkens was married twice. By his first wife he has three children, and two by his second.
MIT11, HENRY, Builder, was born, October 3, 1831, at llesse Darmstadt, Germany. fle is of German ancestry. In 1846 he came with his parents to Baltimore. He served a term of apprenticeship with Jolin Meiser, and afterward with W. Robinson, in the carpenter business, in all covering a period of six years. After working about three years as a journeyman, he acted as foreman for John D. Long for about five years. In 1859 he commenced business on his own account. Be- ing well known as an efficient and reliable workman, he at once secured a good business, which by industry, care, and perseverance he gradually increased until it assumed large proportions. For a number of years he has had as many as two hundred men in his employment at one time. Hle has sometimes had as high as thirty buildings in hand at the same time in different parts of the city. Some of the finest dwellings, business houses, and warehouses in Balti- more have been built by Mr. Smith. His work is always executed under his own inspection, and put up in the most substantial manner. He has never yet failed in giving satisfaction, and those for whom he has erected build- ings have so much confidence in him that in many instances the work is intrusted to his judgment and the cost to his honor, without any contract being made. Mr. Smith is a member of the Lutheran church on Jackson Square, of which he has been a Trustee for a number of years. He is a Director in the German American Bank. He married Elizabeth C., daughter of George W. Dietz, of Germany, July 26, 1852. He has five children living, three sons and two daughters. Ilis oklest son, Henry, has been a partner in the business for some years.
ISHER, HARRY, Senior Member of the banking house of William Fisher & Sons, Baltimore, was born in Baltimore, January 12, 1840. His parents were William and Jane Alricks Fisher, both deceased, His father was one of the most prominent bankers of Baltimore ; he died in 1867. Mr. Fisher received his edu - cation at St. Mary's College and at Topping's. After leaving school in 1857 he entered his father's office, where he cultivated strict business habits and tastes. He became associated with his father in the banking business in 1860, under the above firm name, and has remained in the same business and firm since that time, having become the se- nior member in 1873, in which position he still continues. Mr. Fisher was personally and successfully engaged in in- portant negotiations for the purchase of the interest of the city of Wheeling in the Baltimore and ¿Ohio Railroad Company, and also of the interest of the State of Maryland in the same road, as also in the placing a large proportion of the five million five per cent. bonds issued in 1878 by the city of Baltimore. By strict integrity and business ability he has maintained the house of William Fisher & Sons in increasing prosperity and standing. The house is
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now composed of Harry Fisher and Parks Fisher. In as- sociation with several prominent citizens he was instru- mental in 1874 in establishing the American District Tele- graph system in the city of Baltimore ; and having been elected President of the company at its organization, he has remained so since. The Baltimore company is probably the most successful one of its kind in the United States. In the years 1866 and 1871 Mr. Fisher travelled extensively · in Europe. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and in politics is a Democrat. In 1866 he mar- ried Mrs. Serena McLane, widow of Captain George Mc- Lane, of the United States Army, and daughter of James Vanall, an old and respected merchant of Baltimore, now deceased. They have four children. Physically, Mr. Fisher is robust and of florid complexion. Ile is devoted to business, but cultivates literary and scientific pursuits.
EMMICK, GEORGE ARMISTEAD, Ex-Associate Judge of the Orphans' Court of Howard County, and at present Justice of the Peace in Baltimore, was born in Baltimore, March 17, 1818. He remained in that city until the twenty-third year of his age, where he attended various schools and acquired a knowl- edge of the shoe manufacturing business. In 1841 he re- moved to Prince George's County, where he prosecuted the above vocation for two years, and subsequently re- moved to Howard County, where he successfully carried on the same business for ten years. Whilst a resident of Howard County Mr. Hemmick occupied for four years the position of Associate Judge of the Orphans' Court of Howard County, under an appointment by Governor Philip Francis Thomas. He performed the duties of that office with such acceptability as to canse his election for another term, nuder the change in the State Constitution creating it an elective position. His appointment and subsequent nomination for and election to that position cmanated from the Democratic Conservative party, of which Mr. Hemmick is a devoted member. During the last year of the term for which he was elected he resigned his office and tefinned to his native city, where he resumed his early vocation, and continued therein until IS68, when he was 'appointed by Governor Thomas Swann a Justice of the Pcace for Baltimore city, which position he has held con- tinuously to the present day. The father of the subject of this sketch, Jacob Ilemmick, was a native of Westmoreland County, Virginia, where the paternal progenitors of the family, who were originally from Germany, settled prior to the American Revolution. Ilis maternal ancestors were of Irish descent. In 1838 Mr. Hemmick married Miss Ann C. Shipley, daughter of Benjamin Shipley, an cxten- sive agriculturist of Anne Arundel County. Mrs. Hemmick died in 1868, and the surviving children of the marriage arc two sons and five daughters. Both as a public officer and as a private citizen, Mr. Hemmick is highly respected.
RICHI, ARTHUR, M.D., was born in Kent County, Delaware, June 14, 1816. On his mother's side he was of Scotch descent. His father, William Rich, was of English ancestry, and a native of the State of Maryland. Dr. Rich was brought up by his uncle, Dr. Arthur Rich, then residing in Cambridge, Dorchester County, and who carefully superintended his education. He attended school at Cambridge until he was eighteen years of age, when he went to Baltimore, and studied medicine under the direction of his uncle, who had removed to that city. He also attended three courses of lectures at the Maryland University, and graduated in 1836. He then entered into partnership with his uncle, under the firm name of A. Rich & Nephew, which con- tinued until his uncle's death. At the breaking out of the civil war, Dr. Rich was commissioned Surgeon, and served in the hospitals at Washington, Baltimore, and Alexandria, Virginia; and since has been practicing in Baltimore, his present location being at No. 20 North Fremont Street. He is a member of the Maryland Chirur- gical Faculty, and served for a number of years as Secre- tary to the Executive Committee. Dr. Rich was an old- line Whig in the days of that party, and was a member of the Union League of Maryland. He was always a strong and unconditional Union man, and proved well his devo- tion to his country during the late war. He is now a firm Republican. He was brought up in the communion of the Episcopal Church, and taught many years in the Sab- bath-school. On July 7, 1842, Dr. Rich was united in marriage with Sarah, daughter of the late Dr. George A. Dunkel, of Baltimore, the ceremony being performed by the late Dr. Wyatt. The issue of this marriage was seven children, four sons and three daughters, of whom only one, a son thirty years of age, is now living.
RANDOLPHI, ANDREW JACKSON, second son of Thomas and Annie Randolph, was born in Elkton, Cecil County, Maryland, March 13, 1815. lle was the fifth in descent from Edward Fitz Ran- dolph, who was married to Elizabeth Blossom in the year 1646, both having come from Nottingham, Eng- land, in the May Flower. Young Randolph was carefully educated by his father, who in his son's minority was one of the most successful school-teachers of Baltimore. When about fifteen years of age he was placed under the care of John A. Robb, of Baltimore, to learn the art of shipbuilding. HIe was able to master its most difficult problems before attaining his majority, and at the age of twenty-two was considered one of the best draughtsmen in naval architecture. lle was united in marriage June 7, 1837, with Mary Ann, daughter of Alexander Despeaux, a prominent shipbuilder of Baltimore. In 1839 he en- tered into partnership with William Bailey, the firm assuming the name of Bailey & Randolph. Their ship-
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yard was located on Fell's Street near Thames, in the eastern section of Baltimore. In 1843 he changed his business, engaging in the lumber trade. The firm of Randolph, Golibart & Co. continued until 1865, when Mr. Golibart withdrew, and the business was conducted under the name of Randolph Brothers & Co., which it bears to the present time. It is now under the management of his son-in-law, Ferdinand Trotten, and of his son, Lewis W. Randolph. In all the business relations and transactions of Mr. Randolph, he exhibited the strictest integrity ; his word was his bond. In 1832, when only seventeen years of age, he connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church, in East Baltimore Station. This station was after- wards divided, when he by the division became a member of the Broadway Station. In this church he continued through life, and was earnest and energetic in advancing its interests. In the Sunday-school work in particular he manifested the deepest concern, often expressing his belief that the future prosperity of the Church depended mainly. on the careful instruction of the young. He was eminently successful in this department, first as a teacher, and after- wards as superintendent ; also as a steward and a class- leader in the church he displayed a remarkable adaptation, feeling at all times the responsibility resting upon him. He was never connected with any association of a secret or political character. He was an old-line Whig until the dissolution of that party, when he became a Republi- can, and a firm and uncompromising advocate of the emancipation of the colored race. Liberal in the extreme, he was also exceedingly careful and conscientious in the bestowal of his gifts, endeavoring to make each accomplish the greatest amount of good. In his social relations he was one of the most genial and pleasant companions, full of life and vivacity, but always careful of the feelings of every one around him. In the years 1859-60, while Hon. Thomas Swann was Mayor of Baltimore, he was a School Commissioner, which was the only public office he ever held. Mr. Randolph was of medium height. He died March 17, 1874, aged fifty-nine years, leaving behind him his wife, one son, and two daughters.
OMER, CHARLES C., was born, November 1, 1847, at Baltimore, Maryland. Ilis father, Christopher Homer, a native of Hanover, Germany, came to Baltimore about 1827. Shortly after his arrival he entered into the bacon business, and was one of the pioneers in that branch of trade. In 1866 he retired with a competency. Charles C. Homer received the rudi- ments of his education in Baltimore. Being an only child, his father determined to give him the advantages of a thorough education. Accordingly, in 1862, he entered Georgetown College, graduating in 1867. After gradua- tion he became for a few months clerk in the paint, oil,
and glass business with F. T. Holthaus & Son, of Balti- more. Ile was then called to settle the estate of his uncle, James Husgen, which occupied him about three years. In 1869 he married Fanny M., daughter of F. T. Holthaus, of Baltimore. He has had five children, four of whom are living. In 1870 he became a partner with R. H. Carr & Son, in the wholesale hardware business. This partner- ship continued two years. Ile then for eleven months became bookkeeper and salesman for Mr. John N. Foss, with whom he became associated as partner in 1873. The success of the firm is largely attributable to Mr. Homer's thorough knowledge of the business, and his kindly and courteous disposition.
ORMAN, HON. ARTHUR P., State Senator and President of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, was the eldest son of Peter and Elizabeth A. (Brown) Gorman, and was born in Howard County, Maryland, March 11, 1839. His father was a farmer and a large contractor on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, with which he was connected for many years. He was a native of Baltimore. His grandfather, John Gorman, came to America from Ireland in the year 1800, and settled in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; he afterward removed to Bal- timore. His mother descended from the family of Samuel Brown, who were of English blood, but came from Scot- land to this country before the Revolution, and took part in that war, fighting bravely in the cause of American freedom. Of this family, also, two great-uncles of Mr. Gorman distinguished themselves in the war of 1812. The advantages of education which Mr. Gorman enjoyed in early life were very limited. He attended the public school in IToward County for only a brief period, when, in 1852, at the early age of thirteen, he went to Washington, and through the influence of Judge Edward Hammond, then a member of Congress from Maryland, and of Senator Stephen A. Douglas, secured a position as Page in the United States Senate. Here his amiable and obliging dis- position, and his prompt performance of duties, made him a general favorite. Ile was advanced from one position of trust to another, under the rules of promotion, till he had held every subordinate office in that body, except that of Sergeant-at-arms. The Senate became Republican in 1861, but such was his popularity, that although he was a pronounced Democrat he was retained in its service. In 1866, after he had been in that service for fourteen years, and was then Postmaster to the Senate, he became very active in opposition to the effort to impeach President Johnson. This gave offence to the Republican majority, and caused his removal. Immediately Reverdy John- son, Thomas A. Hendricks, and other Democratic mem- bers of the Senate, with Hon. Montgomery Blair, united in a petition to the President to secure his appointment as Collector of Internal Revenue of the Fifth District
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of Maryland, which was granted, making his commis- . affairs of a great State. His experience of fourteen years sion to date from the day of his removal. Messrs. in the United States Senate, where the greatest men of the country were dealing constantly with the profoundest questions of Government at the most critical period of the nation's history, gave Mr. Gorman a field of observation and a school of political discipline which has peculiarly fitted him for the position in which he has been placed in his native State. IIe was married in March, 1867, to Miss Il. Donagan, of Pennsylvania, and has six children. llis wife is a member of the Presbyterian Church, to which he also inclines. Fessenden, of Maine, Morgan, of New York, and other conservative Republicans, united with the minority to secure his confirmation, He entered upon the office to which he had been appointed, continuing to discharge its duties until April, 1869, soon after the accession of Gen- eral Grant to the Presidential chair. The Fifth District comprised all the southern tier of counties down to Point Lookout, and had always been regarded as one of the most difficult to manage. Its accounts had never been closed up, yet when Mr. Gorman left the office, his were closed in less than six months, it being the first time in the history of the district that this had been done. In the autumn of 1869, having already taken an active part in the political contests of the time, he was elected, with Judge William McCormick, to represent his county in the House of Dele- gates. Ilis influence began to be decidedly felt before the end of the first session. During the same year he was ap- pointed one of the Directors of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company. He was returned to the House for the succeeding term of 1872, and elected to the Speakership by an almost unanimous vote of his party in caucus. Ini- mediately after the adjournment of the session he was elected President of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which office he still holds. In 1875 he was elected to the Senate for four years, to succeed Ilon. John Lee Carroll, the present Governor of the State. In 1877 he was ap- pointed Chairman of the State Central Committee of the Democratic party. He was at first opposed to the Consti- tutional Amendments, but when they became a part of the National fundamental law he was in favor of recognizing them, and with the Hon. Fred. Stone proposed and secured from the State an appropriation of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the education of the colored people; coming down from his chair and advocating the measures on the floor of the House. Hle is in favor of the Govern- ment paying its just obligations to the letter, and is as far removed as possible from anything that savors of repudia- tion. The canal of which he is President had not been a profitable investment, but during the five years of his able administration has been made to yield a net revenue of over one million dollars, being more than double the amount earned during the twenty years previous. There has never been a defaulter in any of the offices connected with the canal. Mr. Gorman is one of the most conspicu- ous men in the State, and the acknowledged leader of the Democratic party. This position has been accorded him not from any prestige of wealth or family, but solely on account of his magnificent abilities. His personal popu- larity, his success in harmonizing the conflicting clements and interests in his own party and in sustaining party discipline, his wisdom in council, his force, calmness, and cool courage, united with his life-long experience in politi- cal life, eminently fit him for the leadership in the public
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