The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2, Part 65

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

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HORWITZ, DR. J., a Physician and Scholar of much distinction, was born near Berlin, the capital of Prussia, July 6, 1783. He came to this country in the early part of the present century in order that he might in the New World enjoy that liberty of action and free expression of opinion which were then denied to the subjects of his native land ; for he then worshipped liberty with all the ardor of youth, as he sub- sequently, in the vigor of his manhood and the maturity of his intellect, frequently fought her battles both with his pen and voiee. In Boston, where he for a time re- sided, he attained great distinction as a fine classical scholar, a profound thinker, and an eloquent lecturer. He was thus brought into association, and in many cases into intimacy, with the leading thinkers and statesmen of the then infant republic, and became, amongst others, the friend and companion of the celebrated Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, who was distinguished both as a physician and a statesman. Under the guidance of Dr. Rush he be- gan the study of medicine, and was, in one course, gradu- ated M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, at that time the most celebrated seat of medical learning in America, numbering as it did among its professors Rush, Wistar, l'hysick, Dorsey, Barton, and Coxe, a galaxy of names that has certainly never been surpassed and rarely equalled at one time in the halls of any medical college. Dr. Horwitz settled in Baltimore shortly after receiving his medical degree, where for nearly forty years he continued the practice of his profession with success until the day of his death, June 30, 1852. He was especially distinguished as a linguist, speaking and writing many languages, both ancient. and modern, with fluency and accuracy. In the English language he attained great proficiency, speaking it with the ease and correctness of a cultured American, and writing it with the force and elegance of an accom- plished scholar. Ile published many monographs on medical, scientific, and general subjects, some of which were highly commended for their learning and power of thought as well by the reviews of this country as by those of Europe. Until the day of his death he continued the studious habits of his early life, and was constantly engaged in adding to the vast store of learning and to the scholarship for which he was so distinguished. In 1840 Dr. Horwitz, having been accredited by l'resident Van Buren as special bearer of dispatches to our embassies at Berlin and Vienna, returned to Europe, after an absence of nearly a third of a century. Ile remained abroad many months, travelling over the greatera part of England and the Continent, and noting the great changes that had taken place during his long absence. Ilis familiarity with most of the languages of modern Europe rendered his trip peen- liarly agreeable and interesting, and enabled him to form his own judgment of many of the most illustrious scholars and savans of the Old World whom he met during his sojourn there. The accounts which he gave of them on

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his return were most charming and attractive, possessing, as he did, conversational powers of the highest order. In 1817 Dr. Ilorwitz married Debby Andrews, the daughter of Major John Andrews, of New York. By this marriage he had four children, three of whom continued to reside in the city of Baltimore, and are well known and promi- nent members of the bar of that city ; the fourth, Dr. P. J. Horwitz, is now Medical Director, and was formerly Sur- geon-in-Chief of the United States Navy, and Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

ORGAN, GERARD E., M.D., was born, February 6, 1828, at Harrisonburg, Virginia. Ile was the sixth son of the Rev. Gerard Morgan, a well-known minister of the Methodist Church, and Rosanna, 'daughter of General Brown, of Vir- ginia. Dr. Morgan came to Maryland early in life and became identified with the interests of that city. He re- ceived a good education, and studied medicine with the late Dr. Augustus Riggs, of Iloward County, and was graduated at the Washington College of Baltimore in 1852. IIe immediately entered upon the practice of med- icine in Baltimore, and married Miss Caroline Peyton, daughter of the Rev. Y. Peyton. In 1861 and 1862 Dr. Morgan was Assistant Health Commissioner, and in 1863 and 1864 Health Commissioner of Baltimore city. He was also Assistant Surgeon of the Board of Enrolment of the Third District of Maryland. . Ile occupied various positions of honor conferred upon him by the medical and other societies, of which he was an attentive and much- loved member. His genial manners and steadfast friend- ship endeared him to all who knew him, and the poor were especially his friends. Ile was Surgeon to the Boys' Home, and one of the originators of the summer excursions for the poor. He died suddenly December 1, 1874

ORWITZ, BENJAMIN F., Lawyer, is the youngest son of the late Dr. J. Horwitz, a prominent physician and distinguished scholar, who settled in the city of Baltimore in the carly part of the present century. The subject of this sketch was born in Baltimore March 16, 1831, and was educated at St. Mary's College, Baltimore, and at the College of New Jersey, Princeton. Ile commenced the study of law in 1849, and was admitted to the bar at Baltimore in 1851. He has ever since continued the practice of his profession at the Maryland bar, and has enjoyed almost from the first to the present moment a large and lucrative practice. IIe was for many years extensively engaged in the trial of causes, many of great importance, in the courts of Baltimore and in the Court of Appeals of Maryland, but having amassed

an independent fortune by his ability, skill, and success in the courts, he has latterly devoted himself more to office practice and counsel than to the labor and anxiety of the trial of causes, although he is yet considerably engaged in the latter. As a speaker and debater Mr. Horwitz is clear, logical, and convincing. flis language is well chosen, and he is exceedingly fluent. Ilis conversational powers are of a high order, and he is either entertaining or instructive as the occasion may require, but always agreeable and attractive, abounding in anecdote and illus- tration, which his strong memory enables him to have ever at command. Mr. Horwitz has travelled extensively both in Europe and this country, is a fine belles-lettres scholar, has much literary and artistic culture, and commands a ready and forcible pen, which in leisure moments he has occasionally, either for amusement or from motives of patriotism, devoted to the press. Although a life-long" Democrat in politics he has never sought or accepted pub- lic office, having confined himself almost uninterruptedly to the practice of his profession. In 1862 Mr. Horwitz married Louisa E. Gross, the talented and accomplished daughter of the distinguished surgeon, Professor S. D. Grass, of Philadelphia, and by this marriage has two sons and one daughter.

ORGAN, WILBUR P., M.D., was born, February 25, 1841, in Jefferson County, Virginia, and is of Welsh-English descent, his father, Rev. N. J. Brown Morgan, D.D., having descended from the family of Morgans, long established in Flintshire, Wales. His mother, Mary E. Phelps, was a daughter of Rev. Elisha Phelps, who emigrated with his father and brothers from England and settled in Virginia in the last century, where he married Rachel Payne, daughter of IIenry Payne, of Shenandoah Valley, and Elizabeth Kurtz, whose father had been driven from home by one of the German revolutions, and who had settled in Pennsylvania. The Paynes were of English origin and Quaker faith. Josias Payne resided for a time in the Quaker settlements of Pennsylvania, and many of his descendants settled in Virginia and Maryland. Dr. Morgan was educated in the schools of Washington, Baltimore, and Virginia, where he received a good English and classical education. As a boy he was shy and mischievous, giving most of his spare time to reading and the use of tools, as he had a taste for mechanics, and would go long distances to see and examine machinery. After leaving school he went to a farm in Virginia belonging to his grandmother, the old home of her family, where he remained until 1858, when he entered the office of the Baltimore Christian Advocate, then being established under the auspices of the Baltimore Conference. After remaining there some time he began the study of medicine under Dr. John L. Gibbons, of Washington, D. C. In the fall of 1860 he entered as student at the Maryland

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

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University. In the spring of 1861 he was appointed Clinical Assistant to the Baltimore Infirmary or Univer- sity Hospital, where he remained until he was graduated, March 1, 1862. While in the Infirmary Dr. Morgan had under his care several of the soldiers of the Sixth Massa- chusetts Regiment who were wounded April 19, 1861, one of whom, S. 11. Needham, was one of the first victims of the civil war. Dr. Morgan, though Southern by birth, edu- cation, and sympathies, could not accept disunion, and therefore entered the Federal Army in 1862, where he re- mained as Assistant Army Surgeon, U. S. A., and Surgeon Ninth Maryland Regiment until the end of the war. Ile then made several trips to Europe in the Baltimore and Ohio steamers, and finally settled down to practice his profession in the city of Baltimore in 1867. During the first few years of his practice he was quite a voluminous contributor to the daily and weekly press, continuing a habit which he had indulged in for years as an occasional and war correspond- ent of various papers. A series of his articles on educa- tion in the Maryland School Journal was thus noticed in the Baltimore Sun : "On education, by Dr. Wilbur P. Morgan, of our city, an eminent physician, is precisely to the point, presenting a common-sense view of the subject. Whilst not condemning a classical course of studies, it presents with much force the superior importance of a good thorough English education upon the intuitive system, which will prove especially useful to nine out of ten who enter upon the world of business life to carve out their own fortunes and triumphs," etc. Becoming deeply inter- ested in the theory of evolution as early as 1860, Dr. Mor- gan determined to verify it to his own satisfaction, which he did by a series of experiments upon pigeons, extending over a number of years. The results were published in the papers of the day for the benefit of breeders. Many of the articles were republished in England in the London Review and London Journal of Horticulture of January 25, 1875, which thus speaks of the value of the articles : " I only wish we possessed an M.D. or M.R.C.S. who, being a fancier, had the happy literary gifts of Dr. Morgan. Interesting writers as poultry or pigeon writers are doubly valuable, as their articles attract the attention of non-fan- ciers, who being attracted become not unfrequently ardent fanciers ; such a writer is Dr. Morgan." The Maryland Republican, December 5, 1874, in an editorial, thus refers to the subject : " Color, form, size, and even its hereditary conditions of nervous system can be changed, Brown- Sequard, the eminent scientist, having by direct experiment upon guinea-pigs produced a strain in which epilepsy has become hereditary. Dr. Wilbur P. Morgan has also been engaged for some years experimenting on pigcons, the re. sults of some of his experiments having appeared from time to time in the Bulletin, Fanciers' Journal, and other papers, being of a highly interesting nature to the pigeon fanciers and natural philosophiers." Of late years, with the exception of a few articles for medical journals, Dr. Mor-

gan has written but little, a rapidly increasing practice demanding most of his time. February 26, 1876, he was married to Miss Lalage Dickson, of Philadelphia, daugh- ter of the late Professor S. 11. Dickson, M.D , of Jefferson College, formerly of the Universities of New York and South Carolina.

ORGAN, REV. GERARD, was born June 8, 1784, and died March 17, 1846, in the sixty-second year of his age. Ile was a native of Baltimore County, Maryland, and of Welsh descent, his an- cestors having been established in Wales for many centuries. Ilis father, Nicholas Morgan, married a Welsh lady, Mary Butler, daughter of Absalom Butler, and set- tled in Maryland, where they brought up a large family of children. Gerard in early life attached himself to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and " was active and useful in his neighborhood as a youth of much promise. In the spring of 1806 he was admitted on trial in the Baltimore Conference, and appointed to Berkeley Circuit, Virginia, and thenceforth till death was an honored minister of that denomination." " He was a man of great purity of man- ner and of life; through forty years of effective ministerial labor the slightest imputation of evil never rested upon his name. His intellect was clear and penetrating, his judgment sound and well balanced, because ever under the control of a strong vein of common sense. He was, therefore, seldom found in error; while constancy and firmness of mind, which were the principal elements of his character, preserved him from those vacillations and incon- sistencies which often render the power of even genius useless and its possessor contemptible." " In common with other preachers of his class his earlier labors were labors of great toil and privation, travelling extensively, as they frequently had to do, through the then sparsely populated portions of Northwestern and Western Pennsylvania and Northern, Western, and Middle Virginia." In 1810 he married Miss Rosanna Brown, daughter of General Brown, of Bath County, Virginia. They had seven sons, N. J. Brown, Lyttleton F., Tillotson A., J. Asbury, Romulus G., Gerard E., and D. Clinton, and one daughter, Mrs. Ilar- riet A. Riggs.

N CORRIS, WILLIAM H., M.D., was born near Liberty, Frederick County, Maryland, March 29, 1829. His parents' names were Nelson and Elizabeth GRUNDUND Maria Norris ; his mother's maiden name was Hart- sock. Ile. is a lineal descendant of Sir Robert Bruce.

9 His great-grandfather, John Hammond Norris, came to America from Scotland in the early part of the eighteenth century, and settled in St. Mary's County, Mary- land. He was accompanied by three brothers, one of whom settled near Norristown, Pennsylvania, another in Virginia,

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and the third in one of the New England States. John Norris, the grandfather of the doctor, located on a farm near Middleburg, Carroll County, Maryland. Ilis son, Nelson, father of Dr. William IL., was brought up on the farm. lle had three brothers and four sisters, only two of whom are uow living. Dr. Norris's mother was of Ger- man descent, her grandfather, Daniel Ifartsock, having emigrated from Germany in 1765. Ile settled in Frederick County, Maryland. Ile was a farmer, and died in 1824, leaving a large family of sons and daughters. The doc- tor's parents had six children, two of whom are deceased. His school education began in a country school near Mid- dleburg, Maryland, which he attended six months of the year, including the winter season, and worked on the farm `the other six months. In 1842 his father sold his farm in Maryland and removed to Winchester, Preble County, Ohio. They made the journey across the mountains to the place of their destination in wagons, requiring thirty-one days to complete it. While in Ohio Dr. Norris entered Oxford College, and remained there two years. In 1845 his father becoming dissatisfied with the West returned to Frederick County, Maryland, William H. accompanying him. His father becoming somewhat reduced in circumstances moved to Baltimore the following year. William remained in Frederick County and taught a private school near Union- ville. Ile subsequently taught in Harford, Baltimore, and Kent counties until 1851. While teaching near Chester- town, in the latter county, he made the acquaintance of Dr. Thomas Wayland, who generously tendered him the use of his medical library, of which he availed himself un- til the fall of 1852. He then went to Baltimore and entered the office of Professor Nathan R. Smith. He also attended two courses of lectures at the Medical University of Mary- land, of which Dr. Smith was Professor of Surgery. He graduated in the spring of 1854, receiving the degree of M.D. from the Provost, Hon. John T. Kennedy. He lo- cated in Baltimore, and puursned the practice of his profes- sion until 1861. Soon after his graduation he was appointed by Mayor Ilolland, Ilealth Warden, and attached to the Board of Health, which position he filled until 1862. In September, 1861, he was commissioned by Governor Brad- ford a Surgeon in the United States Army, remaining in Baltimore for the examination of recruits until March, 1862, when he was ordered to Newport News, Virginia, At that place he rendered valuable service in caring for the sick and wounded at the sinking of the frigates Cumber- land and Congress in Hampton Roads by the Confederate ram Merrimac. Ile was with General Mansfield at the evacuation of Norfolk ; and in the summer of 1862 had charge of the hospitals at Hampton for the sick and wounded of General MeClellan's army operating against Richmond. lle was on the staff of Brigadier-General Max Webber at the battles of South Mountain and Antic. tam, and in 1863 upon the staff of Generals Kelly and Morris, rendering his professional services from Martins-

burg, Virginia, to Point of Rocks, Maryland. Ile was at the capture of Milroy, at Winchester, and upon the staff of General Noah 1 .. Jeffries in Baltimore from July to October of that year, In the spring of 1864 he was Chief Medical Officer at Fort Delaware, where there were about fourteen thousand Confederate prisoners. In the summer of the same year he was in front of Parkersburg, Virginia, and for five months rendered valuable services in the trenches during the siege. In 1865 he was Assistant Sur- geon at McKein's Mansion Hospital, in Baltimore; in 1866 Examiner of Pensioners for Baltimore, and was also ap- pointed by Governor Swann Chairman of the Board of Registers of Voters for the city of Baltimore. In 1872 he received an appointment in the Baltimore Custom-house. In 1854 Dr. Norris married Miss Mary Louisa Cooper, of Chestertown, Maryland. By that marriage he had two children : Clinton Cooper, now living in Baltimore, and- Mary Louisa, who died in infancy. Their mother died in 1856. In 1862 he married Miss Mary Ellen Sutee, eldest daughter of James S. Sutee, Esq., a prominent citizen of Baltimore for the last half century. That gentleman has been a member of the City Council for eight years, and for some time during Mayor Jerome's administration acted as Mayor. He was Water Engineer for the city of Baltimore from 1855 to 1866. All the water-works in and around the city were projected and built under his superintendence. Mr. Sutee was an active official member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years. Through his instru- mentality Exeter, Monument, and Harford Avenue Metho- dist Episcopal churches were built. 'By his marriage with Miss Sutee the doctor has three children : William Sutee, Ellen Morris, and Milton Dosh, all living in Baltimore. From his youth Dr. Norris has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for several years was actively engaged in Sunday-school work. Politically he was originally a Democrat. His first vote was cast for Franklin Pierce, for President. In 1861 he supported the Union cause, and from that time has adhered to the Repub- lican party.'

COLDSBOROUGHI, HON. BRICE JOHN, of the Court of Appeals of the State of Maryland, was born in Cambridge May 30, 1803. 1lis father, Dr. Rich- ard Goldsborough, was a well-known and highly re- spected citizen of Dorchester County. Ile married Miss Achsah Worthington, of Anne Arundel County. The first American ancestor of the family was the Hon. Robert Goldsborough, of a distinguished family in England. Hle came to this country in the year 1670, and here acquired as a lawyer a state and national reputation. In the war of 1812, though ouly nine years of age, young Goldsbor- ough was enlisted as a drummer in a company of infantry raised in Cambridge by Colonel Bryan, and served till the close of hostilities. On the completion of his preparatory

Pery Truly your friend.

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land), Judge Edward Ilammond, A. Leo Knott (State's Attorney of Baltimore city), and Alexander Evans were members. He also served upon the Committee on Claims. Voted for Governor Swann for United States Senator, who declined, and afterwards voted for Ilon. Philip F. Thomas for the same position. November 4, 1873, he was elected upon the Democratic Conservative ticket State Senator from the Second Legislative District of Baltimore city, for the term of four years, to the General Assembly of Mary- land. During the session of 1874, he served upon the Judiciary Committee, Ilon. Judge William HI. Tuck, Chair- man ; also upon the Committee on Education, Corpora- tions, and Elections, and as Chairman upon the Committee on Labor and Immigration ; took an active part in favor of the bill to extend the limits of Baltimore city ; also filed a very extended minority report from the Judiciary Committee on the bill for the benefit of the City Passenger Railway Company of Baltimore, and a minority report from the same committee upon the bill to amend the Constitution of the State, making the Governor or any other officer in- eligible to the office of United States Senator, which are among the documents of the Senate of 1874. He voted for Hon. William Pinkney Whyte for United States Sena- tor, who was then Governor of the State, and resigned to accept the position of Senator ; and voted for IIon. James B. Groome for Governor, who was elected by the General Assembly. Ile took especial interest in all matters affect- ing the city of Baltimore, and being an earnest and fluent speaker was prominent in all the debates upon important questions. Though the youngest member of the Senate . he was regarded as one of the most valuable and in- dustrious. The Baltimore Gasette (Democratie) of April 4, 1874, editorially commenting upon his course, said : " The work accomplished by the Hon. Francis P. Stevens, Senator from the Second Legislative District of Baltimore during the present session of the Legislature, entitles him to the thanks and confidence of his constituents." He was prominently mentioned for President of the Senate of 1876, but declined to be a candidate. During that session was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee ; served upon the Committee on Federal Relations and Printing; also was the Chairman of the Joint Committee of both Houses mpon the " Centennial." fle was one of the most able and industrious members of the Senate. Ile introduced . and supported the bill making an appropriation for the proper commemoration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of American Independence, and it was his earnest efforts which secured the appropriation to erect the Maryland Building in the grounds of the Centennial Exposition. Hle was fully identified with all matters of public interest, and had in charge all matters of special interest to the city of Baltimore. Ile was a member of the Congress of Authors which met at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, July 1, 1876, and contributed a sketch for deposit of Hon. John Henry, Jr., Governor of Maryland, member of the Con-

tinental Congress, and first United States Senator from the Eastern Shore of Maryland. At the adjournment of the meeting of the Congress of Authors, they proceeded to the great celebration of the day held in commemoration of the passage of Richard Ilenry Lee's resolution of July 2, 1776, " That these United Colonies are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent States," etc. Very ex- tensive platforms had been erected in the square in the rear of Independence Ilall, and a vast concourse of people had assembled, filling the entire inclosure. Addresses were delivered by Ilon, William S. Stokley, Mayor of Philadel- phia ; Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, of Massachusetts; Gov- ernor Lippitt, of Rhode Island; Hon. Frederick De Pey- ster, of New York; when Mr. Stevens was unexpectedly called upon by the Chairman, Ilon. William Wallace, to address the multitude in the absence of the Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi, who had been unavoidably pre- vented from being present. He promptly responded, and delivered one of the most eloquent and appropriate ad- dresses of the day. He was followed by Hon. Benjamin Harris Brewster. The occasion was a notable one, and was the introduction of the National Centennial Com- memoration. During the years 1876-77 Mr. Stevens was a Manager on the part of the city of Baltimore in the House of Refuge, appointed by Mayor Latrobe, serving upon the Executive Committee. October 24, 1877, he was elected upon the Democratic Conservative ticket to the Second Branch of the City Council of Baltimore for two years, representing the Eleventh and Twelfth wards. Was Chairman of the Committee on Claims, Education, and Parks; also served upon the committees on Health, House of Refuge, Enrolment, and Printing. Was reappointed by Mayor Latrobe in 1878 Manager of the House of Refuge, but was ineligible on account of being a member of the City Council. Ile has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since 1860. Is also a member of Fi- delity Lodge Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; also of Phoenix Chapter Royal Arch Masons, and Baltimore Com- mandery Knights Templar.

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2, Part 65

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