The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2, Part 63

Author: National Biographical Publishing Co. 4n
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Baltimore : National Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 802

USA > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 63
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 63

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1842 he married Miss Elizabeth M. Turner, daughter of Harry E. Tmmer, a respected citizen of Baltimore, eight children being the issue of the marriage, five of whom are living. The estimation in which Mr. Turner is held by the community in which he lives is indicated by the fact that he has been frequently solicited to become a candidate for publie office. In two or three instances be has yielded to these solicitations, and was elected by the Republican party to the Ilouse of Delegates and the Senate of Maryland. When General Grant was a candidate for his second Presi- dential term Mr. Turner was prevailed upon by the Re- publican party of the Third Congressional District of Mary- land to become its candidate for Congress, and such was his great personal popularity that he ran one thousand votes ahead of Grant, a circumstance that was unequalled in that memorable campaign. Mr. Turner's name has been promi- nently mentioned in connection with other high and re; sponsible official trusts, such as the Mayoralty of Balti- more, the Collectorship of that port, and the Naval Officers under the present administration (President Hayes). His religious belief is that of the old-fashioned Wesleyan Methodists. He embraced religion at a very early period of life, and has ever since been a zealous and consistent member of the Church. He was for many years a very active member of the old Caroline Street Church, and con- tributed liberally to its support and charities, his donations amounting to thousands of dollars. During the past few years he has been connected with the Broadway Church. Mr. Turner's character for charity and benevolence have made his name a household word. Ile is as unostenta- tious as he is liberal, giving for the good that his gifts con- fer, and not merely for the applause of the world.

DASSEY, WILLIAM BOONE, a retired Merchant and wealthy Landholder of Caroline County, Mary- land, was born in that county in the year 1815. Ilis parents were William and Elizabeth ( Boone) Massey. Ilis father died at the age of fifty, when his son William was only two years old. He began his education at a subscription school at the age of six, and continued to attend till he was ten, paying for his school- ing at this tender age by working upon the farm. But his tastes inclined him to mercantile pursuits, and at the age of fourteen he engaged as clerk in a store in Greens- boro, of which Mr. Thomas Birchinal was the proprietor. With this gentleman he remained till he was twenty-two years of age, when, in connection with Mr. William HI. Dowries, he bought out Mr. Birchinal, and the two started a general merchandise business. Mr. Massey's share of the capital was only three hundred dollars. At the end of six years he bought out the interest of his partner and continued alone for twelve years, when he again took a partner, Mr. William C. Mcads. In 1855 he bought out

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Mr. Meads and conducted the business by himself for sev- enteen years. In 1872 he sold out his store and engaged in farming, having spent thirty-five years of his life as a merchant. Hle began the purchase of real estate in 1842. For ten years from 1847 he invested in vessels trading be- tween Philadelphia and Baltimore, but finally gave all his attention to real estate. Since his retirement from business he has been investing all his money in this way, till now he is the possessor of about twelve hundred acres of land, all situated in Caroline County. He has made his fortune by his own industry, honesty, and perseverance. He has had reverses, but it is his boast that he has never paid less than one hundred cents on every dollar of his debts. Mr. Massey was active as an old-line Whig from his earliest manhood up to the accession of Mr. Lincoln to the Presi- dency, after which he became and is still a Republican. Ile has always shunned politieal office and conspicuous party position. He has travelled very generally through the United States and Canada. Ile was married in 1838 to Anna Maria, daughter of Andrew Baggs, of Caroline County, by whom he had six children. He lost his wife in 1848, and remained a widower until 1862, when he mar- ried Mrs. Elizabeth Turner, daughter of Mr. W. T. Wright, of Queen Anne's County. Two children have been born to them. Mr. Massey is the father of Hon. James Massey, member from Caroline County of the present State Legis- Iature. He early became attached to the Methodist Epis- copal Church, which he still attends.

OATS, JOHN, was born in Baltimore October 7, 1814. His parents, Henry and Elizabeth Loats, came to this country from Germany about the year 1800. His father was a horticulturist, and supported his family by his daily labor. Ile died in the year 1817, when the subject of this sketch was but three years old, leaving three children to the care of his widow, with no resources but those which her own exertions could supply. John had scarcely reached the age of eleven before he was earning his own living and contributing to the support of his mother. At that early age he mani- fested a disposition to work his way up in the world. Having had about eight months' schooling, he was appren- ticed to George Algire, a tanner, in Baltimore County, and by dint of energy and determination soon made himself master of the trade in all its branches. He worked one year as a journeyman, receiving but eight dollars per month, and from the meagre sum he had saved concluded to embark in the tanning business on his own account. At the age of twenty-one he formed a partnership with Richard Johns in Baltimore County, which continued for thirteen years. In 1848 he removed to Frederick, and purchased the large tannery and dwelling of Casper Quinn, where he carried on business successfully for nearly thirty

years. Ilis leather gained a wide reputation, and always commanded the highest market price. In 1877, finding that close application to business was impairing his health, he sold his tannery and retired, ranking among the wealthiest tanners in the State. For the last twenty years Mr. Loats has also owned and cultivated one of the finest farms in Maryland, ncar Frederick City. Although no politician he has held several public positions, but never aspired to or tilled an office of a lucrative character. Ile was at one period a member of fourteen corporate bodies, and was among the few capitalists of Frederick who would enter almost unsupported into any enterprise that suggested benefit to the community. The Frederick and Pennsylva- nia Line Railroad was one of the most notable enterprises in which he engaged. The credit of building that road is pre-eminently due to him. He has been President of the road from the beginning, and the greatest compliment that could be paid to his integrity is found in the fact that he handled upwards of a million dollars used in its con - struction without giving a bond, every dollar of which was satisfactorily expended and accounted for. No other man in that community would have undertaken the task, and probably no other could have so successfully carried it through. Mr. Loats is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and is a liberal contributor to colleges, schools, and religious and charitable institutions. Many persons now occupying prominent positions owe their start in life to his liberality. Others on the verge of bank- ruptcy have been rescued from ruin by aid and advice. Hle has ever been the poor man's friend, never turning away empty-handed any deserving applicant for assistance. He has been 'twice married. His first wife was a Miss Chilcoat, an estimable lady of Baltimore County, who died a few years after their marriage. His second wife was Miss Callie Sifford, a daughter of John Sifford, of Fred- erick County. She died in May, 1875, lamented by the whole community, who loved her for her amiable disposi- tion and generous charities.

MTHOR, JOHANN MICHAEL ROBERT, M.D., son of Andrew and Caroline (Poller) Amthor, was born in Gotha, Germany, March 4, 1821. He was educated in the Gymnasium Ernestinum of that city, and pursued his medical studies under the direction of three eminent homeopathic physicians, Dr. Blau, Dr. Plaubel, and Dr. Wohlgemuth, The great founder of homoeopathy, Dr. Hahnemann, was a friend of the family, and the young Johann early became interested in everything connected with that branch of science. When scarcely sixteen years of age he began to practice at home, and his intuitive skill even then gave assurance of future success. In 1852 hie came to America and opened an office in Baltimore, in which city he in a short

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time gained a large practice, and where he has since re- mained, gaining year by year a stronger hold on the confi- dence and respect of the people. Besides his large gen- cral practice Dr. Anthor has obtained a wide celebrity as a specialist in rheumatic diseases and all affections of the throat and chest. He is now, with one exception, the ho- nopathie physician longest resident in Baltimore, highly esteemed by all who know him. He joined the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in February, 1859, and is a member of King David's Lodge, No. 68. In religion he adheres to the Lutheran faith, the Church of his parents. Dr. Amthor married in 1852 Fredericke Oschman, also a native of Gotha, and has four sons and two daughters. Ilis eldest son, Robert, born February 28, 1856, is a student at the Hlahnemann Medical College in Philadel- phia. Ile commenced study and practice with his father, to whom he is of great assistance during his vacations.

HITE, WELCOME, was born in Wardsboro, Wind. ham County, Vermont, December 22, 1826. Ilis parents, Daniel and Mary (Durant) White, had a family of fifteen children, of whom fourteen grew to maturity, and most of them are still living. Ilis grandfather, Thomas White, was from Massachusetts, and is believed to have descended from Peregrine White. The family is of English descent. Mr. White's maternal grandfather, Samuel Durant, served in the patriot army during the whole of the Revolutionary war. Ile was de- scended from a French Protestant family who early settled in New England. Daniel White was a Lieutenant in the militia during the war of 1812. Welcome White attended a neighboring school for several winters during his child- hood and youth, and was brought up to the labors of the farm till he attained his majority. IIe then learned the carpenter trade with his brother-in-law, and such was his mechanical genius that in six months he was equal to a journeyman, after one year receiving full wages. IIe remained with his brother-in-law five years. In 1852 he removed to Baltimore, and entered into partnership with a friend in the bakery business on High Street. They had no knowledge of the details of the business, and had to depend wholly on their native shrewdness and energy, but they were successful from the beginning. At the end of the first year Mr. White purchased his partner's interest. In 1858 he sold his establishment, and removed to his native town. Ile built a fine grist-mill on property which he had taken in part payment. After four years' absence Mr. White returned to Baltimore, resuming business at his old stand. In 1865 he greatly enlarged his business, locating at 92 North Paca Street, where he still remains. Ile ranks among the substantial men of Baltimore. Ilis specialty is in bread and pies, in which trade his house is the leading one in the city. . He has travelled extensively

through the United States. In religion he is a Univer- salist, and in politics a Republican, He was married in Baltimore, in 1857, to Miss M. F. Read, who was from his native place. They have six children living, viz,, Clara M., Flora E., Jennie J., Minnie M., Wallace D., and Leila M. White. In 1872 they lost a most promising child by the name of Wilbur Henry.

OUGHTON, CHARLES E., Merchant, was born in Ilarvard, Massachusetts, August 24, 1827, and was the only son of Steadman and Ann (Cragin) Houghton. Ile attended the public schools of the place, and for some time enjoyed the advantages of the High School; but at the age of seventeen he put into execution a plan he had cherished from childhood, and sought his fortunes in the West. He went as far as Cin- cinnati, where he found employment in a provision store, and after serving some time as elerk was taken into part- nership. This partnership was dissolved in 1865, twenty- one years from the time he first entered the store. Mr. Houghton then removed to Baltimore, and formed a part- nership in the fruit-canning business, which continued twelve years. In 1877 he withdrew from that business, and established himself in partnership with Mr. Geiss, at No, 23 Spear's Wharf, in the merchandise of plaster, fer- tilizers, and building material. He soon bought out his partner, and conducted the business alone successfully for several years. Mr. Houghton is an active and enterprising man, of high character, a member of the Congregational Church, and of independent views in politics. Ile mar- ried, in 1858, Miss Caroline S. McMurray, and has four children.

HILD, SAMUEL., Merchant, is the son of the late Samuel Child, a highly esteemed citizen, one of the Old Defenders, and for many years a prominent carriage-builder of Baltimore, who was born near St. Paul's, London, and came to this country while yet young. His paternal grandfather, who was a brewer, published a book entitled, Every Man his own Brewer. The mother of Mr Child was Miss Margaret Worrall, of English descent. Her ancestors were among the early settlers of Maryland. Mr. Child attended private schools, and completed his education at St. Mary's College when fifteen years of age. Ilis father having received injury in a great accident on the Northern Central Railroad, Samuel was obliged to leave school for the purpose of taking charge of his father's business. Ile commenced mercan- tile life in a shipping commission house, and afterward spent a year in a hardware house. Ile then cutered the extensive honse-furnishing and fine art store of Samson Carriss, with whom he remained four years, and

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where he acquired the knowledge which has resulted in his present business success. From 1854 to 1868 he was connected with the house of Cortland & Co. in the same business, in the course of which time he was admitted as a partner in the concern. In the latter year he dissolved his connection with the firm and opened a similar estab. lishment on North Charles Street, under the firm name of Samuel Child & Co., Samuel Appold becoming a special partner. In 1871 Mr. Child purchased the entire interest of his partner, and under the same firm name has con- ducted the business ever since. A destructive fire oc- curred in 1875, which involved heavy losses, as the valu- able stock was but partially insured. A temporary inter- ruption of business necessarily ensued during the remodel- ling and enlarging of the premises and the refurnishing and ornamentation of their salesrooms, which was effected at a heavy expense, and it is pronounced one of the finest house-furnishing stores in the country. Mr. Child's suc- cess in business is mainly attributable to his sterling in- tegrity, enterprise, and uniform courtesy. Much of his stock being of foreign manufacture necessitates annual trips to Europe, in which Mr. Child visits England, France, Germany, and Austria, personally attending to the selection of goods. In politics he was an old-line Whig, and is now a conservative Democrat. Ile attends the Protestant Episcopal Church. He married a daughter of the late James A. Henderson, of Baltimore. They have four children living, two of whom were partially educated in Europe, the eldest daughter being an artist of some merit.

REYNOLDS, P. SPESARD, M.D., of Hillsborough, Caroline County, Maryland, was born in New Castle, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, in the year 18IS. Ilis father, Robert Reynolds, a native of Washington County, Maryland, served with dis- tinction in the war of 1812. He lived to the age of ninety- one years. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Michael Spesard, of the same place. She died in June, 1850, aged sixty-nine years. The education of Dr. Reynolds was commenced at the academy of his native place, and com- pleted at Holmes Literary Institute, New Lisbon, Ohio. Ilis tastes were very decided both for mercantile life and for medicine, and in his earlier manhood his mind was somewhat divided between the two. In the office of P'ro- fessor George McCook, of the last-named place, he thor- oughly pursued his medical studies, and after attending two full courses of lectures at the Washington University of Baltimore graduated from that institution in the spring of 1850. Following this he entered immediately upon the practice of his profession in Baltimore, but after two years' residence in that 'city his fondness for country life induced him to settle in Hillsborough, where for twenty-

eight years he has pursued with unremitting attention and fidelity his duties as a physician. Dr. Reynolds has avoided political life, but as a temperance man and an advocate of local option, and of all just and wise measures for the furtherance of the temperance cause, he has been promi- nent. Hle is a vestryman in the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which for the past sixteen years he has been a member. He has represented his church a number of times in her Diocesan conventions. Dr. Reynolds was married in January, 1878, to Miss C. S., daughter of the late Dr. John H. Holt, of Hillsborough, a well-known physician of that town, whose death occurred in August, 1872. She is also a granddaughter of Dr. William E. Seth, a graduate of the University of Paris.

IIOMPSON, JOSEPH, son of Joseph and Mary A. (Early) Thompson, was born in Baltimore city, September 19, 1836. His parents emigrated from County Tyrone, Ireland, in the year 1829, and settled in Baltimore. Mr. Thompson was educated at the male Central High School in 1851, now known as Baltimore City College, of which the Rev. Francis Waters was then principal. He pursued a regular English course of study, and on leaving that institution entered into the em- ploy of his father, who was engaged in the business of wheel- wright and blacksmith in Baltimore. After learning his trade Mr. Thompson worked as journeyman for his father, and on his father's death, which occurred in 1869, he suc- ceeded to the business, which he has carried on at the same place ever since. Although Mr. Thompson's life has been spent in the workshop, he has found time to pursue a va- ried course of reading, and has acquired considerable local celebrity as a public speaker and a humorous reader. He has frequently participated in public entertainments for the benefit of charitable and benevolent enterprises, and for several years has been accustomed to make frequent visits to the Penitentiary for the purpose of giving gratuitous readings for the entertainment of the convicts. At the time of the riot in Baltimore, during the great strike of railroad employes, in July, 1877, when the First Maryland Regiment fired into the mob, a peace meeting was held at Hollins Hall by the employes of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, on which occasion Mr. Thompson and William HI. Cowan, Esq., were the principal speakers. Resolutions of a pacific character were passed, and the meeting had the effect of restoring order and quiet. The prominence thus secured caused Mr. Thompson to be the choice of the workingmen as their candidate for Mayor at the convention held at Raine's Hall in 1877, when he was nominated by acclamation. The opposing candidates for the Mayoralty were the Hon, George P. Kane, of the Democratic party, and Mr. Ilenry M. Warfield, Indepen- dent. Mr. Thompson received over eighteen thousand

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votes. During the canvass he displayed great ability as a public speaker, which was quite surprising to his friends and called forth favorable comments from the daily press. Ilis sympathy for the laboring classes finds expression in efforts to ameliorate their condition, and when public meetings are called to advance their interests Mr. Thompson is generally among the first invited to speak and give di- rection to the movement. In 1878 he was the nominee of the Labor, Greenback, and Temperance parties for Repre- sentative in Congress from the Third Congressional Dis- triet of Maryland, and was defeated by the Hon. Robert M. McLane. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, and was Grand Master of Maryland in 1872. He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church from childhood. Hle was married December 2, 1862, to Miss Susie E. Knapp, daughter of John and Harriet Knapp, of Baltimore County, and has two children living.

wird ANSON, COLONEL SAMUEL, of Green Hill, was born in 1719 in Charles County, Maryland. He was the son of Hon. Samuel Hanson. On January 6, 1776, he was commissioned by the Maryland Convention Lieutenant-Colonel of the Upper Bat- talion of Charles County, and served with credit. He was noted for his patriotism, and it is related of him that " he presented General Washington eight hundred pounds ster- ling, silver, to cover the bare feet of his soldiers with shoes." At one time he was a Magistrate and Judge of the Orphans' Court of Charles County. He was a trusted officer and the life-long intimate friend of Washington. Ile married Ann Hawkins, and had three sons and five daughters, viz., Major Samuel Hanson, aide-de-camp to General Lafayette, who married Mary Kay, daughter of John and Elizabeth Kay, of New Jersey, and had three sons and three dangh- ters, viz., Ilon. Samuel Hanson, who cmigrated in 1807 to Kentucky, and was the father of General Roger Weight- man Ilanson of the Confederate Army, who fell mortally wounded at the battle of Murfreesborough, Tennessee, and died January 4, 1863, and Ilon, Richard Hickman llan- son, of Paris, Kentucky ; Isaac Kay, who married Maria Storer; Captain Thomas, United States Army, who died unmarried ; Maria, who married Hon. Daniel Sheffey ; Ann, who never married ; and Louisa Serena, who married General Roger Chew Weightman, of Washington, D. C. Jahn Contee Hanson ; Captain Thomas Hanson, of " Oxen Hill," who married Rebecca, daughter of Walter and Mary (Grafton) Dulany, and granddaughter of Daniel Dulany, the elder, had several children, and is now represented by his descendants, Thomas Mountjoy Hanson, of Washing- ton, D. C., and Right Rev. George W. Peterkin, Protes- tant Episcopal Bishop of West Virginia ; Sarah Hanson, who married Dr. William Beans, of Upper Marlboro, who was captured by the British in 1814 (see the introductory

letter of Chief Justice Taney to the poems of Francis S. Key, New York, 1857, and the memoir of Chancellor Alexander Contee Hanson); Eleanor Hanson, who married General Chapman ; Mildred Hanson, who married Dr. William Baker; Chloe Hanson, who married General George Lee, a younger brother of Governor Thomas Sim Lee; and Anna Ilanson, who married Nicholas Lingan, a younger brother of General James Maccubbin Lingan, and lied January 17, 1793, leaving a daughter, Chloe Ann Lingan, who was raised by her aunt, Mrs. Lee, married Rev. William McKenney, Chaplain in the United States Army, and died August 3, 1851, and among other children left a daughter, Anna Hanson McKenney, who married Lorenzo Dorsey, son of Judge Owen Dorsey. Mr. Dorsey died March 9, 1862, leaving five children and his wife, Mrs. Anna Hanson Dorsey, who is well known in Roman Cath- olic literature as a distinguished and popular writer.

PATES, IlON. ALBERTIS WORTH, Territorial Secre- tary and Lieutenant-Governor of the Territory of Wyoming, was born in Howard County, Maryland, February 14, 1847. Ilis father, Thomas Spates, also a native of Maryland, was of English descent ; and his mother, Elizabeth Ellen Poulton, daughter of Zachariah Poulton, of Temperance Valley, Iloward County, included among her ancestors the Rev. Charles Dorsey, one of the founders of Methodism in Maryland. When Albertis was in the fourth year of his age his parents removed to Lees- burg, Loudon County, Virginia, where his father engaged in mercantile pursuits, conducting the same for about six years, when he went to Baltimore to reside. His son, who had been attending private schools in Leesburg, continued his studies in Baltimore at the best private institutions of that city, including the Newton Academy. At the age of cighteen years he left school and entered upon the study of law in the office of Corwin, Owen & Wilson, Washington, District of Columbia, the senior partner of the firm being the distinguished Tom Corwin, of Ohio, After reading law for three years he was admitted to the bar of the Su- preme Court of the District, and subsequently, on motion of the late Robert J. Brent, was admitted to the Maryland bar. His law practice has been principally in Washington. From his earliest manhood Mr. Spates has taken an active part in politics. When he was but twenty-two years of age he delivered speeches at Democratic meetings in Bal- timore. In 1872 he made an extended canvass for Horace Greeley for President, and was honored with the Presi- dency of the leading Greeley club of Maryland, the head- quarters of which were in Baltimore. During this period he presided over a mass meeting in Monument Square, coniposed of over ten thousand people. The Democratie Conservative Executive Committee of Maryland, through its Chairman, Hon. A. Leo Knott, selected Mr. Spates to

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2, Part 63

Author: National Biographical Publishing Co. 4n Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Baltimore : National Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 802

Author: National Biographical Publishing Co. 4n
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Baltimore : National Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 802