USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 72
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 72
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AGAUD, JOSEPH STUART, was born, August 14, 1822, at Petersburg, Virginia. His father was de- scended from the Huguenots, and a native of Gloucester County, Virginia. He was a merchant of Norfolk and Petersburg, and highly esteemed by all who knew him. He died in New Orleans at the age of seventy-six. Mr. Pagaud's mother was of 'Scotch descent, and a native of Baltimore. She died in New Or- leans at the age of seventy-six. At the time of her mar- riage to Mr. Pagaud's father she was the widow of the Rev. Thomas Hume, a Presbyterian minister, and had one child, a son named after his father, Thomas, who became a minister in the Baptist Church, and was a pastor for over forty-two years in Portsmouth and Norfolk, Virginia, and who at his death in 1875 left a son who was his successor in the Baptist ministry, the Rev. Thomas Hume, Jr., of Virginia. Mr. Pagaud had four brothers and three sisters, only two of whom, a brother and a sister, are now living, both of whom are residing in Louisiana. He was the third son. His early education was received in his native town, and for several years during his boyhood he was employed in mercantile houses in various departments. In his eighteenth year he prepared for college, and entered the Junior Class of Hampden Sidney College, Prince Edward County, Virginia, where he continued his studies for three years. Ile taught school for two years in Warwick County, Virginia, and was subsequently appointed Assistant Pro- fessor of Mathematics at William and Mary College, which position he declined, and removed to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1845, to which city his parents and his brothers and sisters had several years previously removed. Without giving up his studies he for several years engaged in mercantile pur- suits, first in St. Louis, and then in New Orleans. IIe removed to the latter city in 1846, and in 1847 married Miss Angeline Leslie, of Tennessee, afterwards distin- guished as a teacher in the public and normal schools and Sylvester Larned Institute of New Orleans. After the terrible epidemie of 1853 he visited Texas, and removed to Galveston in 1854, where his youngest son died. Ilis
eldest and only son is now residing in New Orleans. On returning to New Orleans Mr. Pagand entered journalism as river reporter of the New Orleans Delta. He assisted in starting the New Orleans Times, was connected with the Courier and Crescent, and after the civil war with the Star, the True Detta, and for four years with the Picayune. For some time he was the agent of the New Orleans and Louisville Lightning Line of Steamers. Ile subsequently studied law, graduating at the University of Louisiana, and practiced in all the courts. He served in the City Council of Jefferson, volunteered to go to the assistance of General Beauregard in 1862, was one of his body-guard and staft at the battle of Shiloh, and was honorably discharged in 1863, but not being able to return to New Orleans served in the department at Mobile. He taught school at We- tumpka in 1864 and at the Barton Academy in Mobile in 1865, up to the time of the surrender, when he returned to New Orleans and found that both his parents were dead and that all his property had been confiscated. He then resumed his newspaper relations with the Picayune. Hav- ing succeeded in journalism he determined to go to Europe in 1869, and in Paris assisted in founding the American Register. At the beginning of the Prussian war he re- turned to New Orleans and engaged in establishing life insurance agencies in Louisiana and Texas in 1870 and 1871. The following year he accepted the agency of the Emigrant Aid Society of Norfolk, Virginia, went to England, and was a Commissioner from Virginia to the Vienna Ex- position, after which he went to Liverpool, and to further assist in making known the advantages offered to emi- grants to Virginia, he founded the American Herald at Liverpool and London. Being in impaired health he re- turned to Virginia in 1874, and finally settled in Baltimore, where he has ever since been corresponding for various papers in this country and Europe. During the sessions of Congress he is the special Washington correspondent of several Virginia papers, and an earnest advocate of Demo- cratic principles.
BAYER, COLONEL BRANTZ, was born in Balti- more, September 27, 1809. He was educated by private instruction and at St. Mary's Col- lege. After extensive travel in Europe and the ' East he returned to his native city and entered upon the practice of law, pursuing it until 1841, when he was appointed Secretary of the United States Legation to Mexico, which post he retained until the death of his father, Christian Mayer, who was intimately connected with the trade and commerce of Baltimore from the year 1783. On his return to Baltimore Mr. Mayer renewed his legal practice, uniting therewith contributions to literature and the editing of the Baltimore American, under the ad- ministration of its founders, Dobbin, Murphy & Rose. Ilis
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principal literary works were Mexico as it Was and Is ; Journal of Charles Carroll of Carrollton during his Journey with Franklin, Chase, and Archbishop Carroll to Canada in 1775; Mexico, Astec, Spanish, and Repub- lican ; Captain Canot, or Twenty Years in the Life of an African Slaver ; Observations on Mexican History, with some Account of the Zapetic Remains at Mitla ; Mexican Antiquities ; Tahgahjute, or Logan the Indian and Cap- tain Michael Cresap ; and A Memoir of Fared Sparks. Mr. Mayer was a large contributor to the daily, monthly, and quarterly press. He was one of the founders in 1844 of the Maryland Historical Society, being at that time President of the old Baltimore Library Company, which became merged in the new organization. The plans for the building occupied by it and the Mercantile Library, corner of St. Paul and Saratoga streets, were partially drawn by Mr. Mayer. On the death of General John Spear Smith in 1866 Colonel Mayer was elected President of the Historical Society, which position he occupied several years. He was appointed by John McDonough, of New Orleans, as one of his executors, and he was subsequently selected by the Baltimore authorities as one of its commis- sioners to manage the city's share in the McDonough be- quest. Hle sided with the Federal Government in our civil war, and occupied the position of President of the Union State Central Committee of Maryland until he received a commission in the United States Army as Colonel. After serving in that capacity he returned to his residence in Baltimore. The last public position held by Colonel Mayer was as one of the judges in the Department of Art at the American Centennial Exhibition. He died February 23, 1879.
HEEZUM, JOHN W., Merchant, of Easton, Talbot County, Maryland, was born in Caroline County, 'Maryland, in 1815. His grandparents, who were Scotch, emigrated to this country and occupied a tract of land under Cecilius Calvert (Lord Baltimore) in the upper part of Dorchester County. His father and mother were early members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the father a conspicuous and influential mem- ber of the community. John was brought up on his father's farm until fourteen years of age, when he began life in Easton as, clerk in the store of Mr. J. W. Jenkins, after- ward William Loveday, continuing for seven years. Ile commenced business for himself in 1838 on a small capital furnished by his father, and has been continuously in busi- ness for forty years, conducting it with integrity and uprightness through the panics of 1842, and 1857, and though the loser of thousands by others, has never paid less than one hundred cents to the dollar on bis indebted- ness. During this time for twenty-five years he did the largest business in Easton, and led the way to the improve- ment of storerooms, and inviting arrangements for the ex-
hibition of goods. Mr. Cheezum has served as a director of the bank and in a few minor posts, he having sought the obscure rather than the conspicuous public position, his business integrity and capacity eminently fitting him for services which he has invariably declined. After forty years of upright and honorable business life, at sixty-four years of age, no one engaged in business is carlier or later in attendance on the duties of business than he. He has been twice married ; first, in 1839, to Miss Amanda, daughter of P. Stevens, once a well-known merchant of Easton, and second, in 1844, to Sarah, daughter of John M. G. Emory, lawyer and clerk of the Court of Appeals held in Easton for the Eastern Shore, and a relative of Bishop Emory of the' Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Cheezum is re- markable for a cheerful and an earnest life, seeking by kindness and liberality to make the lives of others happy.
RATES, BENJAMIN, was born in Weymouth, Massa- chusetts, October 20, 1820. His parents were of the Plymouth Rock stock, and in humble circum- stances. His father held public office most of his long life, and was highly esteemed in the com- munity on account of his strict integrity. The subject of this sketch was the only son of a family of six children. His parents being exemplary Christians his early character was formed under the influence of religious training. At the age of twenty-one he left the parental home and went to Fall River, Massachusetts, where he obtained employ- ment as a clerk in a large boot and shoe store. By indus- try and fidelity he won the confidence of his employer and the esteem of those with whom he came in contact. Being interested in Sunday-school work, he was at that time a teacher in the school of the First Baptist Church of Fall River. After two years' service as a clerk he commenced business on his own account with the money saved from his earnings, when the great fire occurred which destroyed the place and drove him back to his home in a penniless condition. Ile then went to work on the shoe-bench and toiled hard at his trade. This employment he abandoned in about eight months on account of failing health. Hav- ing had a good common-school education, he then went to Rhode Island and commenced teaching school in the town of Portsmouth. After teaching for some time, and having fully recovered his health, he removed to Norwich, Connecticut, where he commenced manufacturing boots and shoes. His skill as a workman secured him a large patronage, and he did a profitable business, Two years thereafter, at the age of twenty-eight, he married Miss Qoa Ann Town, an amiable Christian lady. In less than six years from that time another disastrous fire swept away the earnings of many years, and again being reduced to penury, he once more returned to the shoe-bench and toiled cheer- fully at his trade until he had accumulated enough to re-
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Benjamin Bales,
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lieve him from his financial embarrassment. After three years, during which time he had acquired a competency, he removed to New Haven, Connecticut, and commenced the drug business, where he remained several years, At the beginning of the civil war in 1861 be removed to Washington, District of Columbia, where he engaged in business until 1865. During his residence in Washington his wife died. Her remains were taken to Norwich, Con- necticut, for interment, and now rest beside those of her daughter and two sons. A fine monument marks their last resting-place. Of the issue of this marriage four sons sur- vive. Ile soon afterward removed to Baltimore, his present home, where he has since carried on a prosperous busi- ness. He has been a firm advocate of temperance prin- ciples, and never allowed an intemperate or profane person to remain in his employ. Ilis sympathies are ever with the poor and oppressed, and he is outspoken and inde- pendent in the expression of his views on all questions of public interest. Ile has exhibited considerable ingenuity as an inventor, and has obtained several patents for machines connected with his business. Having had a prosperous busi- ness career, he has been able to give all his children a lib- eral education, and to contribute much towards charitable and benevolent objects. Fifteen years after the death of his first wife he was married, November 23, 1876, to Miss Emma Isabella Armstrong, of St. Joseph, Missouri. The issue of this marriage is a daughter, named Emeline L. Bates.
YUUD ARTER, DURUS, Builder and Engineer, was born in Baltimore, August 11, 1815. His father was John Scarborough Carter, who was a native of Baltimore County, born in 1790. Ile was the son of John Carter, who emigrated to West Pennsylvania and settled on the banks of the Monongahela near Brownsville. The latter was the son of Richard Carter, of Baltimore County. Durns Carter's mother was the daughter of John Ensor, who married Dorcas Gorsuch, daughter of Charles Gorsuch, of Baltimore County, whose predecessor was one of the owners of part of the tract in the centre of Baltimore called Todd's Range, the first patented in its present limits. John Ensor was the son of Abraham, who was the son of John Ensor, of Darley Park, who owned a large portion of Old Town, commencing at the corner of Gay and High streets, extending thenee to the boundary. The Ensors and Gor- suchs were among the first settlers of that portion of the State, and the Gorsuch name is the second under letter G of Baltimore County records. They were large landed pro- prietors and materially contributed to the establishment of the Federal Government and Baltimore city, with whosc progress and history they were closely identified. The Carter family record has been of the noblest character. . Its members were of the old Maryland Line in all the contests for liberty and the rights of man. John Carter, the grand- father, was awarded a tract of land by the State of Mary-
land for being a soldier of the Revolution, and his son, John S. Carter, for his services in the war of 1812. After the war he was a Captain for several years of a company in the Maryland militia. Durus Carter was appointed by Gover- nor Bradford Commander in the Seventh Ward, and organ- ized fourteen companies of militia in June, 1864, when Baltimore was threatened by the Confederates. Ile was the proposer of the plan to supply the city of Baltimore with water from Glencoe, on the Gunpowder River, from a point two hundred and sixty feet high, that by natural flow would have supplied the entire city without the ex- pense of forcing the water by artificial means up to high- water service. His scheme would have been a saving of several hundred thousand dollars in original cost of the water works and in their operation. He had surveys made at his own expense and offered his plans to the city free of charge. He was one of the city directors of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1857. These directors defeated the' proposition to issue three millions extra dividend in the shape of " watered " stock whilst there was no money in the treasury, which project was advocated by John W. Gar- rett. In 1839 Mr. Carter married Elizabeth Cragg, daugh- ter of Jonathan Cragg, whose family was from Nottingham, England, and settled in Maryland in 1820. He has had six children, of whom but two survive, Major Joseph F. Carter, of Howard County, and Elizabeth Tewson, wife of Charles W. Geddes, son of Alexander Geddes, steam marble-cutter, Baltimore. Major Carter served in the Fed- eral Army during our civil war, first in the Ninth Mary- land Regiment, in which he held the rank of Lieutenant. He was captured at Charlestown, Virginia, and incarce- rated in Libby Prison. Immediately after being released he joined the Third Maryland Veteran Regiment as Cap- tain. Ile served through the war, participating in the leading battles, and was brevetted Major for his bravery and gallantry.
B ECHITEL, GEORGE KERPER, A.M., Educator, was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
7 July 1, 1839. His parents were Joseph and Mary A. Bechtel. Ilis mother was the daughter of George and Elizabeth Kerper, of Chestnut Hill (now Phila- delphia). His grandfather, Peter Bechtel, was a paper manufacturer within the present limits of the city of Phila- delphia. He was a man of prominence and a vestryman of St. Michael's Lutheran Church, Germantown, Pennsyl- vania. George, the subject of this sketch, received his primary education in public and private schools in Tren- ton, New Jersey, after which he entered af store as clerk, and continued in that employ for four years ; then attended the Trenton Academy, Rev. David Colc, D.D., Principal, for one year. I.Ie was thus enabled to enter the Sophomore Class of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton. Ilere he remained until, completing his collegiate course, he was graduated in 1860. Being of frail constitution and delicate
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health he was prevented from participating in the ordinary athletic sports indulged in by boys, and was driven to books for entertainment. He therefore became a great reader. After graduating, his mind was much exercised on the sub- ject of the ministry, but in view of his feeble health he finally decided to adopt teaching for his profession. His first. engagement was as assistant in Tremont Seminary, Norristown, Pennsylvania, after which he became Principal of the Academy at Centreville, Ohio, and subsequently at West Nottingham Academy, Cecil County, Maryland, from 1863 to 1866. Ile next conducted a private school in Media, Pennsylvania. Being invited to take a position in the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and also the Classical Department of Newark Academy, New Jersey, he accepted the latter, and the President and all the members of the Faculty of the College of New Jersey united in a testimonial commending his ability as a teacher. Mr. Bechtel remained in this position for two years, during which time he added to his reputation as a scholar and a successful instructor and disciplinarian. On leaving Newark, Professor Bechtel opened a private classical and English school at Orange, New Jersey. Ilere his health failed so that he was obliged to seek a more congenial climate. Before leaving Orange the Rev. Dr. Irving, Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, addressed Professor Bechtel a most complimentary letter for himself and others, and said, " This acknowledgment is due to you, as well as my high appreciation of your scholarship and your great ability and excellence as an instructor of youth." So efficient had Professor Bechtel been during the four years, from 1862 to 1866, as Principal of the West Nottingham. Academy, that in 1872 he was again elected to that po- sition and still retains it. The West Nottingham Academy was chartered in 1812, and at once took high rank as an educational institution. A large number of distinguished men of the present day received their education at this Academy, and Professor Bechtel may well feel an honor- able pride at being the successful successor of such men as Rev. James Magraw, D.D., Samuel M. Magraw, A.M., Rev. George Burrows, D.D., Rev. A. A. Hodges, D.D., and others of high repute. Professor Bechtel is a Presby- terian by birth, education, and conviction ; catholic in his views, and liberal towards other denominations. lle is a Royal Arch Mason. On November 15, 1865, he married Mary, daughter of Joshua and Sarah Bechtel, of Pottstown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
ceium OPKINS, JOHNS, was born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, May 19, 1795. His father, Samuel Hopkins, of that county, was descended from an English Quaker family of respectability ; and his mother was HIannah Janney, of the well-known family of that name in Loudon County, Virginia. The pioneers of the Hopkins family were six brothers, who came
to this country soon after the colonization of Maryland. The subject of this sketch received a moderate education and worked upon his father's farm until eighteen years of age, when he entered the counting-room of his unele, Ger- ard T. Hopkins, a wholesale grocery merchant of Balti- more. There he displayed great business aptitude, indus- try, and energy, and soon acquired a thorough knowledge of the details of the branch of trade in which he was en- gaged. In 1819 he, in connection with Benjamin P. Moore, established the grocery house of Hopkins & Moore. In 1822 the partnership was dissolved, and Johns Hopkins as- sociated with two younger brothers under the firm name of Hopkins & Brothers. The business of the house was rap- idly extended through the Valley of Virginia and into the adjacent States. The firm conducted a successful business for a quarter of a century, when Mr. Hopkins retired there- from, leaving as his successors the two brothers and two " of his clerks. He still, however, manifested a great in- terest in commercial affairs and the general prosperity of his adopted city. After the resignation of the late James Swan, President of the Merchants' Bank of Baltimore, Mr. Hopkins was elected his successor, and continued to dis- charge the duties of that office until his death. In 1847 he became a Director in the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road Company, in which he was a large stockholder. In 1855 he was appointed Chairman of the Finance Com- mittee. Prior to 1857, when the company was embarrassed by the monetary difficulties of the country and internal dis- sensions, and was unable to provide in due season for the heavy obligations imposed upon it by the extension of the road, he voluntarily indorsed the notes of the company, pledging his private fortune to its support, thus sustaining the credit of the company and insuring the completion and success of the road. During the panic in the fall of 1873 he 'furnished the company with nine hundred thou- sand dollars, which enabled it to pay its interest in cash. HIe was the owner of fifteen to seventeen thousand shares of the company's stock. Appreciating the wants of the growing trade of Baltimore he erected extensive buildings in suitable localities for the accommodation of merchan- dise or supplying of offices. Massive warehouses were erected by him, and the Rialto Building, corner of Second and Holliday streets, is a noble monument of his enterprise. Besides occupying the Presidency of the Merchants' Bank Mr. Hopkins was a Director in the First National, the Me- chanics', Central, National Union, Citizens', and the Farm- ers' and Planters' banks. He was Treasurer of the Re- public Life Insurance Company of Chicago, Director of the Baltimore Warehouse Company, of the Merchants' Mu- tual Marine Insurance Company, and was a large stock- holder in the George's Creek Coal Company and the Mer- chants' ' and Miners' Transportation Company. By his means, individual efforts, and credit he was instrumental in averting from Baltimore the financial disasters which swept through other cities in the great panic of 1873. Johns
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Hopkins died December 24, 1873. In his will he en- dowed to the amount of about six millions of dollars a uni- versity at Clifton (his country residence), with a law, medi- cal, classical, and agricultural school ; a free hospital in Baltimore, for four hundred patients, complete in all its appointments and departments, and which will form a part of the Medical School at Clifton ; a convalescent hospital in a country neighborhood within easy reach of the city ; a home in Baltimore County for colored children having but one parent, and in exceptional cases for such colored chil- dren, not orphans, as might be in need of charity. This home will accommodate four hundred inmates. Mr. Hop- kins died in possession of great wealth, which he used to the greatest advantage in the improvement and adornment of the city, the promotion of its trade or commerce, the advancement of its prosperity, and no one has left behind him grander monuments of Christian charity and benevo- lence.
SOPER FAMILY.
COPER, WILLIAM HENRY, second son of Ignatius and Ann (Browning) Soper, was born in Mont- gomery County, Maryland, in 1820. His father, a farmer and planter, born in the same place in 1785, was a man of sterling integrity, kindly dispo- sition, and highly esteemed. Ile had five sons and five daughters, all of whom survived him, his death taking place in 1852. His wife survived him twenty-six years, and died December 12, 1878. The first American ances- tor of the family was John Soper, a planter, who came from England in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and settled in what is now Prince George's County. Hc left three sons and seven daughters, and his son John, the only one of whom any record has been preserved, also a plant- er, left six sons and five daughters. The descendants of all of these are widely scattered over Maryland and other States. Basil, son of the last-named and grandfather of William H., was born in Prince George's County in 1742. Ile married Miss Mary Busey, and removed to Montgomery County, where he pursucd the occupation of farmer and planter, and died in 1825. He was a slaveholder, but pro- vided in his will that all his slaves should be free on arriving at a specified age. His religious belief was in accord with the early Methodists, and the itinerant preachers often found a temporary home under his hospitable roof. Ile left three sons and three daughters. The early advan- tages enjoyed by William HI. Soper were not superior, but as he grew older this defect was compensated for by dili- gent study, and he commenced life as a teacher. For many ycars lie was connected with the public education of the State of Maryland, and perhaps did as much as any ohe to advance that cause. In 1856 he was elected Secretary and Treasurer of the Board of School Commissioners of
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