The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2, Part 73

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

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USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 73

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Baltimore County, to which position he was re-elected eleven times by a unanimous annual vote of the Board. His services were highly appreciated, and are well remem- bered by the people of the county. From 1865 to 1868 he was Secretary of the Maryland State Board of Education, and aided largely in the first-named year in the preparation of the State school law, which is the basis of the present school system of the State. He visited Europe with his son in the summer of 1876, and returned to Baltimore, where he now resides, in the autumn of the same year. He was married, January 18, 1844, to Miss Eliza M. Col- lins, daughter of the Rev. Isaac Collins, by whom he has now living two sons and two daughters.

SOPER, WILLIAM MCKENDREE, eldest son of the pre- ceding, was born in Carroll County, Maryland, in December, 1844. He was educated at Calvert College, and in 1865 . was made Acting Secretary of the School Commissioners of Baltimore County, which position he filled until 1868, when he entered the large publishing house of D. Apple- ton & Co., New York. Here his high character and un- usual business capacity soon found recognition and appre- ciation, his employers rewarding him with their confidence and a liberal salary. But when his prospects seemed brightest his health failed, and finally obliged to leave busi- ness, he accepted the advice of his physician and sailed for Liverpool in June, 1872, in company with his father. They visited places of interest in England and Scotland, making a tour of little more than two months, and returned to Baltimore, where he died September 9, 1876. His grave in Loudon Cemetery, near the city, is marked by a hand- some monument, bearing the following inscription, written by his father :

" A noble and devoted son, A kind and affectionate brother, A true and generous friend."

SOPER, JOHN, a Planter, the third in name and descent from the first settler, was born in Prince George's County in 1725. He married Miss Martha Guttrage, and died in 1801, leaving five sons and five daughters. His son Rob- ert, born in the same county in 1769, married Miss Boswell and had several children. He died in Montgomery County in 1850. Alexander Edmund, son of Robert, born in the last-named county in 1814, went to Baltimore in early life, where he entered a mercantile house and remained a number of years. Returning to Montgomery County he removed from thence to the District of Columbia, where he now resides. His son Julius, born in Montgomery County in 1845, graduated at Georgetown College, and afterwards studied theology in Drew Seminary. Entering the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he is now a missionary at Tokio, Japan. He is married, and has with him his wife and children.

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SOPER, SAMUEL, eldest son of Basil Soper, was born in Montgomery County about the year 1772. He received what was called in his day a fair English education, and pursued the vocation of surveyor and conveyancer. As such he was widely known in his section of the State. Ilis second marriage was to a Miss Jones, by whom he had two sons, who are still living. He died in 1837. His eldest son, Edward, born in the same county in 1814, received a fair English education, and removed about 1840 to Balti- more, where he entered mercantile life. He is now one of the firm of Samuel J. Soper & Co., the well-known auc- tioneers. He married in 1847 Mrs. Honoria (Howell) Sheppard, and has one daughter. Hle is in religious belief a Baptist, and is noted for his even temper, regular habits, and attention to business.

SOPER, SAMUEL JONES, second son of Samuel Soper, son of Basil, was born in Montgomery County in 1816, and was educated at the Brookville Academy in the same county. Removing to Baltimore in 1836 he commenced life as a merchant's clerk and salesman, but for many years has been the head of the firm of Samuel J. Soper & Co., auctioneers. A gentleman of modest bearing he had little desire for public life, but was elected a member of the Maryland Legislature for the session of 1865, in which he served with much acceptability. In religious belief he is a Methodist, and a man of fine character. His first wife was Anna M., daughter of William Flint, of Baltimore. She died in 1855, leaving two sons. lle next married Sarah, daughter of Philip Iliss, of the same city.

SOPER, BASIL, son of the first-named Basil, born in Montgomery County about the year 1780, was a farmer and planter. He married Miss Priscilla Ilobbs. He lived to a good old age and left several children. William Han- son, his son, born in the same county about 1814, received a plain English education, and about 1838 removed to Baltimore, where he entered mercantile life. Ile was a man of sterling character and excellent capacity for busi- ness. In 18.18 he met an untimely death by falling down n hatchway in his anction store. He was unmarried. Ilis death was deeply regretted by all who knew him.

SOPER, JOHN NELSON, eldest son of Ignatius Soper, born in Montgomery County in 1818, is an intelligent farmer, and lives at the homestead of his father. He is unmarried, a man of irreproachable character, and highly esteemed.

ALZI., JOHN HENRY, was born, June 23, 1833, in Stein, on the Danube, Lower Austria. He re- ceived a thorough education at the University of Krems, near the above city, in which he was a student for about seven years, and graduated at the age of sixteen years. While at college he found time to

make himself conversant with the trade pursued by his father, that of jeweller. His collegiate and business edu- cation completed he went to St. Poelten, near Vienna, and subsequently to the Austrian capital, where he engaged in the jewelry business. After remaining in the latter city for about a year he obtained a permit from the Imperial Government to travel beyond the confines of Austria. He made a general European tour, and then established him- self in his vocation in Geneva, Switzerland. Ile left Ge- neva and went to Winterthur, where he received a sum- mons from the authorities of the Austrian Government to return home and enter its military service. This he disre- garded, and immediately turned his course toward America. He set sail from the port of Havre, France, and in September of 1853 landed in New York. Hle obtained a situation in the jewelry establishment of David Raith, and subsequently in the house of Tiffany, Young & Ellis, where he earned - as high as forty dollars a week in simply setting diamonds, in which he was quite an expert. He remained in New York two years, during which time he saved enough to provide for his family a home in Hoboken, where he had purchased several building lots. Being compelled to change his business on account of impaired health he re- moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and in 1854 associated . with him Mr. Beeckman Cooke in the daguerreotype busi- ness, under the firm style of Cooke & Walzl. Six months after the copartnership was formed Mr. Walzl bought the entire interest of the establishment. He extended his business considerably, engaging largely in the supplying of daguerreotype stock or material to the Southern trade. Upon the introduction of photography in 1856 he again expanded his business, his establishment becoming the leading one of its kind in Baltimore. Mr. Walzl was the inventor of Tatum's Patent Oil-ground Photographs, a pro- cess whereby photographs can be printed directly on the oiled canvas. Since 1868 Mr. Walzl has devoted himself very extensively to operations in real estate. Waverly, on the York Road, Baltimore County, owes its origin and growth largely to him. As early as 1860 he purchased con- siderable land in that place, and has erected thereon many elegant and valuable structures, Ile also purchased Chan- cellorsville, Virginia, which was the scene of bloody con- flicts during the civil war. This tract of land embraced about one thousand acres. The old Chancellor Hotel, which was destroyed during the war, was renovated by him; he built a schoolhouse, and established a flourish- ing Sunday-school, Mr. P. R. Uhler, Librarian of the Pea- body Institute, kindly furnishing the books and exerting himself in behalf.of the religious work. Mr. Walzl's aim was to colonize the above section of Virginia with industri- ous Germans, who would develop its resources and thus add largely to the substantial wealth and prosperity of the State. Through his instrumentality three hundred Ger- mans were brought from their native country and located at Chancellorsville. His enterprise attracted the atten-

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

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tion of the Governor of Virginia, and Mr. Walzl was invited by him, in letters dated January 8, 1871, and January 18, 1872, to address the Committee'on Immigra- tion of the State Senate of Virginia at Richmond in refer- ence to the results of his colonization operations and his views on the same, which he did in proper terms, eliciting the approval of the entire State Legislature. The late Arch- bishop Spalding, Bishop of Baltimore, addressed a letter to the late Bishop McGill of Richmond requesting him to forward Mr. Walzl's projects in the colonizing of the emi- grants. Mr. Walzl's operations in Virginia extended from 1870 to 1873, when he returned to his home in Waverly. Subsequently he and his wife made a prolonged tour of Europe, revisiting the scenes of his childhood on the shores of the Danube. Mr. Walzl married in 1857 Miss Augusta Eisenbrandt, daughter of Christian II. Eisenbrandt, a well-known musical instrument manufacturer of Balti- more. He was a native of Göttingen, Germany, and came to America in 1812. Mrs. Walzl died in 1877. Three children survive her : John Henry, Sidney, and El- lenora. Mr. Walzl married, the second time, August 22, 1878, Miss Ida Horn, eldest daughter of Benjamin and Mary Ann Horn. Mr. IForn is a wealthy and influential citizen of Baltimore County.

PUSHING, REV. HENRY CALEB, M.A., Educator and Vice-President of the Western Maryland College, was born in Prince William County, Virginia, Sep -. tember 30, 1828. His father, C. C. Cushing, was a native of Seekonk, Massachusetts, but went to Virginia in early life, where he married and settled, Henry's early youth was spent on a farm; but at the age of sixteen he connnenced teaching a small school, composed of his brothers and a few of the neighbors' children. He con- tinued to teach at intervals for six or eight years, and in this way laid the foundation of his own education. During that period his mind was exercised on the subject of the Gospel ministry, and finally, after many misgivings, he resolved to enter it, which he did in June, 1852. Itis theological training consisted of Bible study, aided by such books as those of John Wesley, John Fletcher, Asa Shinn, and Adam Clarke's Commentaries on the New Testament, which he read entire. He put into practical use the knowl- edge thus acquired by superintending a Sunday-school and ministering at the bedside of the poor and ignorant, especially among the slaves in their times of affliction, reading the Scriptures to them and pointing them to Christ. Mr. Cushing joined the Maryland Annual Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church in the spring of 1853, and commenced the itinerant ministry on Prince William Cir- cuit, Virginia, among his kindred and friends. Before leaving that circuit he was married, May 11, 1854, 'to Dulcie B. McCormick, a daughter of Stephen McCormick,

who was the inventor of the McCormick plough, the first in which the cast-iron mould-board was used. His subsequent appointments were : Deer Creek Circuit, three years ; Cumberland City, two years; Aisquith Street, Baltimore, one year; Howard Circuit, two years; Queen Anne's Circuit, four years; Frederick Circuit, one year; Kent Circuit, two years; Pipe Creek Circuit, two years; and Westminster Station, three years. In addition to his pastoral work he filled the chair of Bell'es-lettres in the Western Maryland College from September, 1875, until June, 1876, after which he was elected to the Vice-Presidency of the College, and held the position in connection with his pas- torate until the annual session of his Conference, in March, 1877, when he was relieved from pastoral responsibilities. Ile has since devoted his whole time to college work. At the commencement of the Western Maryland College, June, 1878, he had conferred upon him by the Board of Trustees the honorary degree of Artium Magister.

COMMEY 6 BURR, HENRY, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, July 11, 1843. He was educated in the public schools of his native city, and at an early age entered into the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company. In 1861, before attaining his majority, he entered into the confectionery business, associated with his elder brother, William F. Murr, on the corner of Howard and Baltimore streets, and has since continued under the firm name of William F. & H. Murr. Owing to their superior business qualifications, energy, activity, and enterprise, they have prospered and estab- lished branch houses. Henry Murr is connected with many benevolent societies, such as the Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order of Foresters, and the Brotherhood of the Union. He is a - well-known, enterprising, and public- spirited citizen.

BEABODY, GEORGE, was born at South Danvers .(now Peabody ), Massachusetts, February 18, 1795. Ilis parents were poor, and he received but a scanty education. At an carly age he served as a mercantile clerk in Thitford, Vermont, and after- wards in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and Georgetown, District of Columbia. In the latter place he became asso- ciated with Elisha Riggs in 1814 in the drygoods business, and soon thereafter established branch houses in New York and Philadelphia, under the general firm name of Peabody, Riggs & Co. He made several voyages to Europe on commercial business, and took up his permanent residence in London, England, in 1838. In 1843 he withdrew from the house of Peabody, Riggs & Co., and established him- self in the banking business in the above city. The great acts of Mr. Peabody's life may he thus summarized : Ifis

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aid in fitting out the Grinnell Arctie Expedition in 1852; founding the same year the " Peabody Institute" in his native town, the full endowment of which was two hundred thousand dollars; gift of three hundred thousand dollars in 1857 for the establishment at Baltimore of an Institution "of Science, Literature, and Fine Arts; gift of two and a half million of dollars as a fund for building lodging- houses for the poor in London, England, in 1862; one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to establish at Harvard College a Museum and Professorship of American Archie- ology and Ethnology, and an equal sum for the endow- ment of a Department of Physical Science at Yale Col- lege. He created a Southern Educational Fund of two million one hundred thousand dollars, besides donating two hundred thousand dollars to varions objects of public utility. In recognition of his munificence Queen Victoria offered him a baronetcy, which he declined, when she pre- sented him her portrait. The corporation of London con- ferred upon him the freedom of the city, and the citizens ordered a statue, by W. W. Story, which was unveiled in the Royal Exchange, July 23, 1869, by the Prince of Wales, during Mr. Peabody's absence on a final visit to the United States. On this visit he raised the endowment of the Institute at Baltimore to one million four hundred thousand dollars; created the Peabody Museum at Salem, Massachusetts, with a fund of one hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars; gave sixty thousand dollars to Washington College, Virginia ; fifty thousand dollars for a " Peabody Institute " at North Danvers; thirty thousand dollars to Phillips's Academy, Andover; twenty-five thousand to Kenyon College, Ohio; and twenty thousand dollars to the Maryland Historical Society, besides conferring munifi- cent gifts in several other localities. In the previous year he had endowed an art school at Rome. He died at Lon- don, November 4, 1869. Ilis remains after funeral honors were placed in Westminster Abbey. They were afterwards brought to the United States in a British vessel of war and buried in his native town, now called " Peabody." Sev- eral other bequests to objects of public utility were made in his will. His remaining fortune of five million dollars was left to his relatives,

MCMURRAY, LOUIS, was born in Carroll County, Maryland, in 1823. In 1840 his family removed to the property on Biddle Street now occupied by him. About this time various methods were being tried for the packing and preservation of oysters. Young McMurray succeeded in discovering a pro- cess whereby the hermetical sealing of not only oysters,'but fruits and vegetables could be successfully accomplished. He employed his large force in the packing of the latter during the summer months, confining his attention exclu- sively during the winter months to the packing of oysters.

These soon achieved great popularity, both at home and abroad, and his articles generally were of such superior quality as to lay the foundation of that extensive business which now ranks among the first in the world. On the breaking ont of the civil war, which shut off the Southern and Southwestern trade, Mr. McMurray directed his atten- tion and operations to the foreign and California markets. IIe dispatched heavy cargoes of sealed goods to Europe and around Cape Horn to California. He was the only one in the business who made such a venture, and his en- terprise was rewarded with great success. After the war Mr. McMurray found his business so much increased that he was compelled to extend his facilities for its transac- tion. In 1871 he established himself at the foot of Cross Street, where he has one of the most extensive and com- plete structures of the kind in the country, its capacities and facilities for shipping, unloading, etc., being unequalled. Mr. McMurray had formed a partnership with Mr. Charles E. Iloughton and Mr. A. B. Ellis, under the firm name of Louis McMurray & Co., which was dissolved on the death of Mr. Ellis in 1874. In 1868, when a failure in the Dela- ware peach crop occurred, Mr. McMurray established a house in Cincinnati for the packing of that fruit. Ile transferred to that point thirty expert workmen and three hundred thousand cans. Whilst in Ohio he became con- versant with the superior quality of the sugar corn of that State, and he at once proceeded to establish its culture and packing in Maryland. The success he has met with in that undertaking is indicated by the vast structures he has erected in Frederick County, the capacity of which is seven hundred and fifty thousand to one million cans of corn per year, the number of acres in cultivation being twelve hundred. Mr. McMurray's goods were awarded the highest prizes at the Centennial Exposition, and were also awarded the gold medal at the Paris Exhibition. Mr. McMurray may be emphatically styled a self-made man, and his successful career is an illustration of what can be achieved by energy, perseverance, industry and integrity. Mr. McMurray's father, Samuel McMurray, who died in 1850, was born in Baltimore, now Carroll County, in 1800. His grandfather was born in the North of Ireland, and set- tled in Baltimore County in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Mr. McMurray married in 1850 a daughter of John McDermott, of Baltimore.

TIEFF, CHARLES MAXIMILIAN, Manufacturer of the Stieff Piano, Baltimore, was born in, the Kingdom of Würtemberg July 19, 1805. Ile received a thorough classical and scientific education in Stutt- gardt. In 1830 he married Miss Catharine R. Rœsch, of the same kingdom, who in the following year accompa- nied him to the United States. They first settled in Leba- non County, Pennsylvania, but shortly after removed to

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Baltimore, where Mr. Stieff was for ten years Professor of Music, and also of Ancient and Modern Languages. In 1841 he commenced the importation of pianos from Europe, and sold extensively the instruments of Rosenkrantz, Keine, Miller, and others. Of the merits and peculiarities of each of these he made a careful study, and in 1852 visited the manufactories of Europe, where he pursued still further his investigations into all the details of the business. On his return to Baltimore he commenced the manufacture of the instrument that bears his name, which before his death, June, 1862, had achieved a popularity equal to that enjoyed by any piano manufactured. He gave to the work his in- dividual and devoted attention, and each instrument passed from his hands as perfect as it was possible to make it. Mr. Stieff derived much assistance from the co-operation, judg- ment, and musical ability of his wife. After his death she conducted the business for five years alone, and with entire success, the high reputation of the house being sustained under her management. In 1867 she resigned the conduct of its affairs to three of her sons, John L., Charles, and Frederick P. Stieff, all of whom possessed musical talent and fine business abilities combined with long experience in every department of piano manufacture. Through their enterprise and energy the house has kept pace with the sharp competition and increased demands of the times. In accordance with the European custom it still bears the name of its founder, Charles M. Stieff. In 1876 John L. Stieff withdrew from the firm, and in 1878 another brother, George W. Stieff, became associated therewith. The Stieffs have received over sixty first premiums and gold and silver medals, including the medal of merit and diploma of honor at the Centennial Exposition in 1876, and the me- daille d'argent and a diploma d'honneur at the Exposi- tion Universelle, Paris, 1878, over all American and many foreign competitors.

JUMP, ROBERT JOHN, was born, December 7, 1833, near Oakland, Caroline County, Maryland. Ilis parents were John Jump, of l'urnell, and Elizabeth, his wife, formerly Elizabeth Clements. Their educa- tional advantages were slight, but these were compen- sated for by great mental vigor. His father was a farmer in humble circumstances. He filled the position of Col- lector. of Taxes for the county ; was elected Sheriff in 1840, and proved a faithful officer. He died in 1847, and his wife in 1858. The former was of Irish and the latter of Scottish descent, and were both natives of Delaware, where they lived until after their marriage. The subject of this sketch received his education at a country school and the academy at Denton, though assisting his father on the farm during the busy seasons. At the early age of thirteen years he entered the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Caroline County as one of the deputies, which position he held until May, 1857, devoting much of his time to study. In May, 1857, he was admitted to the bar as an attorney at-

law. In the fall of that year Mr. Jump was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court by a large majority over his opponent, the duties of which office he discharged for six years to the satisfaction of all parties. He declined a renomination, and resumed the practice of his profession. In 1864 he was nominated by the Union party as a candidate for Comptroller of Maryland. He waselected, and discharged the duties of the office for one term, and then declined a renomination. On his retirement he was highly compli- mented by Governor Swann in his message to the Legisla- ture in 1867 for his zealous, honest, and faithful discharge of the duties of the Comptrollership. After holding the Clerkship of the Circuit Court for Caroline County to fill a vacancy from April to December, 1857, Mr. Jump again resumed the practice of law, and has declined since then further political honors. From 1867 he has been connected with the Masonic fraternity, and is a Past Grand Master therein. Mr. Jump is a Republican in political sentiment, and was an earnest supporter of the Union cause through the civil war. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was a Delegate to and President of the Lay Conference held in Wilmington, Delaware, in March, 1876. He was married, November, 1855, to Laura Corkran, of Cambridge, Maryland.

URDOCH, THOMAS F., M.D., was born, May 9, 1829, in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, Alexander Murdoch, is a native of Scotland, and for many years has been a well-known merchant of Baltimore. His mother was Susan, daughter of William Trumbull, a native of Scotland. Her grand- father was Rev. Dr. Nisbet, for many years President of Carlisle College, Pennsylvania. Dr. Murdoch received the rudiments of his education in Laurenceville, New Jer- sey. He afterward entered Princeton College, where he graduated in 1847. He then studied medicine for three years in the University of Maryland and in the. Baltimore Almshouse, graduating in 1850, when he went to Europe, and pursued his studies for six months in Dublin and eighteen months in Paris. At Dublin he received a diploma from the Lying in Hospital. Ile then returned to the United States and began the practice of his profession in Baltimore, where he has since continued. He has been for two years Physician of the Baltimore Dispensary. At the opening of the House of Refuge he was elected Physician, and remained in that position for twenty-one years, and re- signed in November, 1877. During the war he espoused the Union cause, and for several years was Acting Assistant Surgeon, stationed at Jarvis United States Army Hospital. Ile was also at the same time Surgeon of the Board of Enrol- ment of the Third Congressional District of Maryland. In 1854 he married Elizabeth C., daughter of Ilon. George Winchester, a distinguished lawyer of Maryland. He has two children living.

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2, Part 73

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