USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 68
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 68
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80
HITAKER, GEORGE PRICE, Ironmaster, Principio Furnace, Cecil County, Maryland, was born, December 31, 1803, in Berks County, Pennsyl- vania. IIe was the son of Joseph and Sarah (Updegrove) Whitaker. His father, who emi- grated to this country during the Revolutionary war, then minor, was the son of James Whitaker, a large cloth manufacturer of Leeds, England. The family of Joseph and Sarah Whitaker consisted of eight sons and six daughters, of whom George P., the subject of this sketch, is the youngest and only surviving son. His early education was limited. He worked on a farm until about nineteen years of age, and then hired as a workinan at the " Delaware Iron Works," in New Castle County, Delaware, where he remained about two years. By industry and rigid economy he managed, even at the low wages then paid, to save some money, and was judicious enough to in- vest it in improving his defective education. For this pur- pose he went to Philadelphia and diligently applied him- self to study until interrupted by severe sickness. Ile early resolved to make himself useful to his employers, and realized that if he would succeed in business enter- prises on his own account he must educate his mind as
8.4
662
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.
well as labor with his hands. This furnishes the keynote to his subsequent history. On his restoration to health he was employed as manager of the " Gibraltar Forges," near Reading, in Berks County, Pennsylvania, being then but twenty one years of age, and remained in that position for about two years. From this time Mr. Whitaker was the General Superintendent and managing spirit of most of the works and enterprises with which he has in association with others been engaged. His first business venture on his own account was, in connection with others, the pur- chase and rebuilding of the " Elk Rolling Mills," near Elkton, Cecil County, Maryland, where they manufactured sheet-iron, nails, etc. Subsequently in connection with his brother James he leased and rebuilt the "Old North East Forge," located at North East, Cecil County, Maryland. Here he conducted the business for about seven years. In 1836, in connection with others, he purchased the " Principio Furnace " property in the same county. This property was probably the first on which iron works were erected in the Colonies, and was owned and operated by an English company, a set of whose account books of 1726 and 1732 are now in possession of Mr. Whitaker. This company went out of existence on the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, and the property was confiscated, and some years after was purchased by Colonel Samuel Hughes and others, by whom the iron business was continued until about 1814. They made cannon for the Government, which fact probably prompted Admiral Cockburn to burn the works during the war of 1812-14; the furnace building, boring-mill, grist-mill, and bridge over Principio Creek were destroyed. From about this time until the date of the purchase in 1836 by Mr. Whitaker and others the whole property became a wild waste. Here prosperity attended Mr. Whitaker's intelligent and untiring devotion to business, and he gradually purchased the interest of all the other members of the company, and added many acres to the original purchase. The last one; his brother Joseph, he bought out in 1862 ; since when he has been and is now sole owner of this extensive property. In 1845 he, in con- nection with his brother Joseph, David Reeves, and W. P. C. Whitaker, built the " Havre Iron Works," consisting of two furnaces at llavre-de-Grace, Harford County, Mary- land. Mr. Reeves shortly afterwards retired, and the busi- ness was for a number of years thereafter conducted under the firm name of Joseph & George l'. Whitaker. In 1861 Mr. Whitaker became sole owner, and subsequently sold the works to some of the members of the " Mccullough Iron Co." In 1848 he with others purchased a large property in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, known as the old " Durham Furnace " property, built two new furnaces, and conducted them successfully under the firm name of Joseph Whitaker & Co, until about 1862, when he sold out his interest to his brother Joseph. In 1855 George P. and Joseph Whitaker purchased an interest in the " Crescent Iron Works," at Wheeling, Virginia. In 1863 Mr. Whita-
ker became by purchase the sole owner of these works and prosecuted the business until 1868, when he sold out to a company who failed during the panic of 1873-74, and he again purchased the property, after which he organized a stock company under the name and style of " The Whitaker Iron Company," George P. Whitaker, President, and his son, N. E. Whitaker, Secretary, and has since con- ducted a profitable business there. These various manu- facturing interests rendered it necessary to have a depot in Philadelphia for the sale of the products of their works, and Mr. Whitaker, ever quick to see the advantageous points of business, and prompt to carry into effect what- ever the requirements of his trade demanded, in 1848, in connection with his brother Joseph, and afterwards with his son-in-law, Joseph Condon, under the firm name of Whitaker & Condon, opened an iron commission house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and did an extensive and profitable business there until 1862. Since his early man- hood Mr. Whitaker has been associated in business with his brother Joseph, who resided in Pennsylvania. In 1861 Joseph, fearing the result of the civil war, proposed a divi- sion of their property interest, which was effected, Joseph taking the properties in the States of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and George P. those in Delaware and Mary- land ; thus dividing by free and slave States. The Vir- ginia works being a stock company was not divided. In tracing Mr. Whitaker from his boyhood, without capital, except such as God and nature had endowed him with, through the various enterprises in which he has been en- gaged up to wealth and influence, which he has attained, it may be said of him that " in youth he opened his book of life and hitherto has not left a blank page." Though an influential man in the politics of his county, neither his tastes nor time has led him to desire or hold office. Once only he consented to serve his county in the Legislature of Maryland, in the session of 1867. For a number of years he was a Director on the part of the State in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. In positions of trust he dis- charged his duty with unquestioned fidelity. Since Mr. Whitaker's residence in Maryland, which commenced in 1827, he has at all times been active in aiding and en- couraging church, educational, and benevolent enterprises. By precept and example he has ever exerted a wholesome influence in the community.
ENNIS, HON. GEORGE ROBERTSON, United States Senator from Maryland, was born at White Haven, Somerset County, April 8, 1822. The Dennis family, which is of Irish and English descent, has from the earliest settlement of the country been prominent in public and political affairs. Dannock Dennis, the first of the name in this country, settled in Somerset County in 1665; he was a lawyer by profession, and a
1
.
663
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.
man of influence in the early days of the colony. His youngest son, John Dennis, the direct ancestor of the sub- ject of this sketch, was for many years one of the judges of the Provincial Court, having been appointed to that position in 1710. Many of his descendants have been distinguished in public lite, Littleton Dennis was a prominent lawyer and for many years a judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland ; his brother, John Dennis, was elected a Representative in Congress in 1797 at the early age of twenty-six, and was re-elected for five terms successively until his death. Both earned high distinction for ability and integrity. John Dennis, the son of the last-named John, was also a Representative in Congress for two terms; and Littleton P. Dennis died while serv- ing a term in that body in 1834. Senator Dennis is the seventh in descent from the first settler. His academic education was received from a private tutor and at old Washington Academy, near Princess Anne, at that time a school of high repute. Subsequently he was graduated at the Polytechnic Institute of Troy, New York, and after leaving that institution went to the University of Virginia, Determining upon medicine as a profession he studied for two years at the University of Pennsylvania, graduated in 1843, and immediately commenced practice. He soon found his sphere of duty a wide one, covering an ex- tent of many miles, and the eighteen years in which he de- voted himself with untiring assiduity to the profession, while they brought with them well-deserved laurels and a crowning reputation for charity and good deeds, told seri- ously upon his health, and necessitated his withdrawal from active practice in 1860. But the arduous labors of his profession did not engross his attention to the exclusion of other matters affecting the welfare of the country, and even while most actively engaged in practice he took a large and lively interest in matters relating to public edu- cation and in the various works of internal improvement in the State. He was one of the promoters of the Eastern Shore Railroad, and has been for many years President of that corporation ; he was also a Director in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on the part of the State until his resig. uation upon his election as Senator. In politics Senator Dennis was up to the time of the breaking out of the war a Whig, as all of his name had been before him; upon the new issues which then arose he attached himself to the Demo- cratie party, with which he has since continued to act. In 1856 he was elected a Delegate from the State at large to the National Whig Convention which nominated Fillmore for President, and in 1868 to the National Democratic Con- vention which nominated Seymour, serving as Vice-Presi- dent of that body. He has served one term in the House of Delegates and two in the Senate of Maryland, and during his last term in the Senate was elected by a large majority over all competitors as Senator of the United States for six years from March 4, 1873. In the Senate chamber, while he has delivered few speeches, he has from
.his first entrance taken a high position, and served his State and the country faithfully and efficiently, and as a Senator stands high in the respect and esteem of his col- leagues. The position he assumed upon his presentation of the Blair Resolutions hom the Maryland Legislature, which looked to the unseating of the President notwith- standing the decision of the Electoral Commission, won for him the plaudits of Senators of both political parties, and the earnest and patriotic words in which he repudiated the idea of being made a party to such an attempt pro- duced an effect which a St. Louis paper thus describes : " That hour told that the virtue and honor of the Republic still lived. A magnetic thrill of admiration for the Mary- 'land Senator filled every heart. The Senate rose to its fect. Senator Blaine leading off on the part of the Repub- licans, and Hill, of Georgia, on the part of the Democrats, with outstretched hands, congratulated the surrounded Marylander, while a halo of resplendent glory seemed to crown him. Dennis sat down immortalized.". Senator Dennis is a fine representative of the Maryland gentleman ; his manners are courteous and sympathetic, his hospitality proverbial, and he is deservedly popular with all classes. Ilis residence is Kingston, an estate containing about fifteen hundred acres, in a high state of improvement.
ONES, CHARLES PARKER, M.D., was born near Snow Hill, Worcester County, Maryland, June 8, 1825 .. Ilis father was Jesse Jones, a farmer of Worcester County. He was a man of great decision of character, of unusual energy, and successful in his business, standing at the head of the agriculturists of his county. Ile died in 1839. The doctor's mother was Rachel, daughter of William Cropper, of Worcester County. She was a Methodist, and died in the Christian faith in 1875. Charles attended various schools until 1839, when he entered Snow Ilill Academy. One of his teachers was the late Ilon. C. I .. Vallandigham, of Ohio. He finished his classical studies under John H. Doane, a well-known and able instructor. He entered as a student of medicine the office of Drs. Farrow and Williams, of Snow Hill, and graduated at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadel. phia, in March, 1849. He engaged successfully in the practice of his profession in Newark, Worcester County, until 1862, when he removed to Snow Ilill, where he has been engaged in an extensive practice ever since. For two years, 1855-6, he was one of the Board of Commis. sioners of Worcester County. He was appointed by Gov- ernor Bradford Examining Surgeon under the State militia law for Worcester County, and has served as Chief Judge of the Orphans' Comt of his county for four years, in which position he acquired the reputation of being an up- right and faithful officer. In 1849 he married Miss Catha- rine D., daughter of Johnson Gray, of Matthews County,
664
BIOGRAPIIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.
Virginia, and has six children : Mrs. Evelyn Nelson, wife of Rev. Edwin 11. Nelson, of the Washington Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; Dr. Paul Jones, en- gaged in the practice of medicine at Horntown, Accomac County, Virginia; Mrs. Marion, wife of John R. Franklin, son of the late Judge Franklin, of the First Judicial Dis- trict of Maryland; Mrs. Helen Townsend, wife of James Townsend, grandson of Rev. Dr. J. S. Porter, of New Jersey, and son of Alfred J. Townsend, farmer ; Robley Dunglison ; and Oswald Meigs Jones. Dr. Jones has served as a Steward in the Methodist Episcopal Church, which he joined in 1839 in the fourteenth year of his age.
ARDCASTLE, HON. WILLIAM MOLLISTER, of Castle Hall, Caroline County, Maryland, was born December 2, 1778, and died June, 1874, in the ninety-sixth year of his age. He was of the family of Hardcastles, the first of whom came to this country and settled near the present town of Denton about the middle of the seventeenth century. The father of the subject of this sketch was Thomas Hardcastle, son of Robert Hardcastle, the original settler. The home of William Hardcastle from his childhood was his father's residence, known as Castle Hall, and here he died. Ilis estate, consisting of one thousand acres, is at present occu- pied and owned by his son, Dr. Alexander Hardcastle, a well-known physician and fruit-grower, a sketch of whom is contained in this volume, His education was conducted at home under private tutors, and his early tastes, which were for agricultural pursuits and the raising of fine stock, were indulged during a long life on this large estate. He was elected to the General Assembly of the State first on the Democratic ticket, but afterward on the Whig ticket ten times, serving in eleven sessions of the Maryland State Legislature from Caroline County. He lived and died greatly honored and respected. He was married, July 28, 1805, to Anna, daughter of Henry Colston, Esq., of Ferry Neck, Talbot County. Two sons, Drs. Edward and Alex- ander Hardcastle, and two daughters, Mrs. Dr. Gokls- borough and Mrs. Rev. George W. Kennedy, survive.
ARTIN, MAJOR JOHN WILLIAMS, was born in Cambridge, Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1817. His father was Hon. William Bond Martin, Judge of the Court of Appeals of Mary- land. He died in 1835. His mother was Miss Bond, daughter of Dr. Bond, one of the founders of the University of Pennsylvania. He was a generous and hos- pitable gentleman of superior intellectual culture. Ilis mother was Miss Sarah F., daughter of John Williams, of Dorchester County. After graduating at St. John's College, Annapolis, in 1837, Mr. Martin entered on the study of law .
in the office of his brother, Robert W. Martin, who was afterwards Judge of the Superior Court and of the Court of Appeals. After three years of law studies Major Mar- tin was admitted to the bar of Talbot County. In 1839 he was married to Miss Evelina 1 .. , daughter of Governor Daniel Martin, who was elected for two terms Governor of Maryland. Major Martin after one year's practice re- tired from the bar and engaged in farming on the estate called " Wilderness," the home for several generations of the Martin family. There Mr. Martin has resided for about thirty-nine years. Though having decided political opinions he has studiously avoided political life or prefer- ment. Since 1845 he has been a member of the Masonic fraternity. He was reared in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and has been a vestryman of White Marsh Parish for many years. His military title is derived from his con- nection as Major of cavalry in the regiment commanded by Colonel Samuel Hambleton, of Talbot County, a State organization which was in existence for several years. Major Martin is a gentleman of culture and of recognized integrity and worth.
OLDSBOROUGH, GRIFFIN WASHINGTON, M.D., was born in Greensborough, Caroline County, Mary- land, November 20, 1820. His father was Thomas Goldsborough, who was engaged in early life in the practice of law, but in consequence of feeble health abandoned it, and retiring to his farm spent his later life in the pursuits of agriculture. His mother, the grand- mother of the subject of this sketch, was a Miss Fauntle- roy, of Virginia. Dr. Goldsborough's mother was Miss Maria Thomas, of Annapolis, who was a devoted member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. She died in 1870 at an advanced age. After attendance at the Brookville (Montgomery County ) Academy Griffin entered the Literary Department of the Maryland University. On the comple- tion of his general education at that institution he com- menced the study of medicine under the private instruc- tions of Professors Potter and Hall, of Baltimore, and after attending three courses of lectures in the University of Maryland School of Medicine graduated therefrom in March, 1838. Immediately after graduating he settled in the practice of his profession in St. Louis, Missouri, but owing to the precarious condition of his mother's health returned East, and resumed the duties of his profession at Seaford, Sussex County, Delaware. In 1842 he removed to Greensborough, his present residence, where, with but a short interval, he has ever since been engaged in medical practice. In 1859 he was elected to the Legislature of Maryland, and served with credit on several important committees. lle was Chairman of the Committee on Cor- porations. He occupied his seat in the State Assembly until 1862, and in 1875 was returned thereto by the Demo- cratic party of his county. He has been for twenty-three
665
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.
years an officer of the Maryland and Delaware Railroad, ten years of which time he held the offices of Treasurer and Superintendent. He is now President of the Balti- more, Chesapeake and Delaware Branch Railroad, which position he has occupied for four years, Dr. Goldsborough has been twice married : first, to Miss Anna, daughter of Rev. John Reynolds, of Stoke-Newington, London, Eng- land ; and secondly, to Miss Angie, daughter of Ilon. William Hardcastle, of Castle Hall, Caroline County. Ile has two surviving children by the first marriage.
OLDSBOROUGH, M. WORTHINGTON, Paymaster United States Navy, was born October 9, 1833, and was appointed Acting Assistant Paymaster from Maryland September 30, 1862. His father was Hon. Brice J. Goldsborough, one of the judges of the First Judicial District of Maryland, and afterward Judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, in which posi- tion he died, July, 1867. The mother of the subject of this sketch was Miss Leah Worthington, of Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The Goldsborough family can be traced back to Goldsborough Hall, County of York, Eng- land, 1157. The first of the name in this country was Hon. Robert Goldsborough, of Talbot and Dorchester counties, who -enjoyed a State and national reputation. Paymaster Goldsborough is the great-great-grandson of Robert Goldsborough. Mr. Goldsborough was first at- tached to the steamer Southfield, North Atlantic Block- ading Squadron, 1862. He served on the storeship St. Lawrence, 1863-4; was appointed Assistant Paymaster United States Navy, July 2, 1864; was on stcamer Sham- rock of the European Squadron, 1866-7; commissioned Paymaster, May 4, 1866; assigned to the frigate Constitu- tion (schoolship), 1869-71; Navy Yard, Washington ; Omaha, South Pacific Station, 1872-5 ; Naval Academy, 1876; and Coast Survey, 1876-9. Ile was married to Miss Nettie Jones, of Princess Anne, Maryland, and has four sons.
LETCIIER, J. B., Merchant and Farmer, of Pres- ton, Caroline County, Maryland, was born, in 1837, in Dorchester County, near East New Market. His father, John N. Fletcher, now deceased, was a farmer and a man of much force and character. ,9 His family were old residents of the Eastern Shore. His wife was Emily, daughter of Jeremiah Bramble. She died in 1844. Their son was educated at the public schools, and in his nineteenth year entered as clerk the store of William II. Gooter, a well-known merchant of Preston, whose partner he became in 1859, and after 1861 had sole charge of the business. He has also been Postmaster of Preston since that time. He purchased in
1866 eighty acres of land in the vicinity of the village, which he planted in peach trees, and has found it a profit- able investment. Both as a farmer and merchant he has been very successful, owning his store, a pleasant resi- dence, and several valuable town lots. In public educa- tion he has taken large interest, and for the last thirteen years has been one of the trustees of the Preston Grade School. No man in the county is more highly esteemed, and the place he has won in the community, as well as his success in life, he owes to his own character and industry. Mr. Fletcher has been from early manhood an active and decided Republican, and for some years a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he was reared. In the erection of their beautiful new edifice he was a mem- ber of the Building Committee. He was first married to Miss Hennie, daughter of Thomas Kelley. The family, members of the Society of Friends, were old residents of Caroline County. Iler mother was Sally (Collison) Kelley. She lived a consistent Christian life for fifteen years after marriage, dying in the triumphs of faith July 25, 1874. Six of her children are living ; the eldest, Thomas Oscar, is in business with his father. Mr. Fletcher was again married, July 27, 1874, to Miss Sallie M., daughter of George E. Varnes, of New Market, by whom he has one son.
ORNER, JOSHUA, was born in County Armaugh, Ireland, January 1, 1806. llis father, William Ilorner, who was of Scotch descent, was a man of fine education and decided literary taste. He devoted himself considerably to the composing of sermons and hymns, many of which were made use of by the Wesleyan Methodists during his life, and are still availed of in some parts of Ireland. He was a humani- tarian and earnest religious worker, His wife, Mary (Allen) Horner, was a managing, thrifty person, and it was mainly through her endeavors that the family derived a livelihood from their little farm. The grandfather of Joshua was noted for his strict integrity and good judg- ment. He was frequently called upon as an arbiter of disputes, and there never was any appeal from his de- cisions. The ancestors of the Horners embraced many eminent names, such as the Hamiltons, Dunlops, Jeffrys, and Allens. Their religious proclivities have for genera- tions been Protestant, those on the paternal side being Methodists, and those on the maternal side Quakers. Joshua received a common-school education, and at a very early age entered into business by taking country produce to Belfast, which was thirty-three miles distant from his home, and exchanging it for such articles as were salcable in his neighborhood. When twenty years old he started a general merchandise store in Dungannon, County Tyrone, which he successfully conducted for some years, and when twenty-six years of age purchased a paper-mill property,
666
BIOGRAPHIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.
which was ultimately the cause of his coming to America, the heavy duties on paper in Great Britain at the time pre- venting the manufacturers from making any profits thereon. Mr. Horner landed in New York, where he remained about nine years, a portion of the time engaged in the crockery business, and then removed to Baltimore and embarked in the bone-dust manufacturing and wholesale paper busi- ness. In political sentiment Mr. Horner affiliated with the Whig party, and through the American civil war was loyal to the Federal Government. He married Eliza Shields Scott, daughter of Michael Scott, who served in the British Army during the Peninsular wars She de- scended from the Wallaces, Bruces, and Stewarts of Scot- land.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.