The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2, Part 78

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

USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 78
USA > Maryland > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2 > Part 78

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RICHARDSON, ELIN HALL, M.D., was born Octo- ber 6, 1825, at Bel Air, Harford County, Mary- land. He was the son of Major William and Catharine ( Hall) Richardson, Major William's pa- rents were Henry and MeMorgan Richardson. Catharine Hall, wife of Major William Richardson, was the daughter of Captain Elin Hall, who commanded a company in the Revolutionary war, and was taken prisoner at the battle on Long Island, where he afterwards made the acquaintance of and married Gertrude Cowenhouen, of a family of much prominence on that island. Major William Richardson served with distinction in the war of 1812. His children were Henry Richardson, Sophia Richardson, Cynthia Richardson, Gertrude Richardson, Dr. E. Hall Richardson, and Dr. William S. Richardson. Elin Hall Richardson, the subject of this sketch, was edu- cated at the Harford Academy, R. Denis and Samuel Whann principals. IIe read medicine with Professor Dunbar, of Baltimore, and was graduated at Washington University, Baltimore, in 1848. Since then he has practiced his pro- fession in Bel Air and over a large extent of surround- ing territory. Having attained a high reputation for skill in his profession, he has enjoyed an extended and lucra- tive practice. Though decided in his political opinions and active in the Democratic party, with which he has al- ways affiliated, he has never been an aspirant for political honors. He has always taken a deep interest in educa- tion, and has for thirteen years been a member, and Presi- dent for several years, of the School Board pf his county, and a member of the State Board of Public Education. He is a Past Junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of the Order of Masons of Maryland, and an active member of his lodge at Bel Air. Educated in the faith of his fathers at the age of seventeen years he was admitted into the

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membership of the Presbyterian Church, in which he has been an Elder for nearly thirty years. In 1854 he mar- ried Alice A. Wilson, daughter of Dr. Joshua and Rebecca Wilson, of Harford County. The fruit of this marriage is five surviving children, viz., Mice Catharine, Parmela Rebecca, Mary Cassander, Henrietta Gertrude, and Joshua Wilson. Dr. Richardson enjoys in a marked degree the respect and confidence of his acquaintances.

CORCORAN, WILLIAM WILSON, Capitalist and Phi- lanthropist, was born in Georgetown, District of Columbia, December 27, 1798. His father, Thomas Corcoran, one of the most prominent and influential of the early citizens of Georgetown, was a native of Ireland, and emigrated to America in early youth. No citizen of Washington or Georgetown is better known or stands higher in public estimation than Mr. Corcoran. His life has been one of great business activity, and is rich in deeds of philanthropy. For many years he engaged suc- cessfully in mercantile pursuits in Georgetown, and from 1828 to 1836 had the management of the real estate of the Bank of the United States in the city of Washington, and the Bank of Columbia in Georgetown. He subsequently engaged in the exchange business in Washington, first in Pennsylvania Avenue, and afterwards in the building of the old Bank of the Metropolis on F Street, and in 1844, in partnership with Mr. George W. Riggs, purchased the old Bank of the United States, where the firm became permanently established. The operations of this firm were on a large scale and attended with great success. Mr. Corcoran retired from business in 1854, and has since de- voted his time and means to works of benevolence and the advancement of science, literature, and art. He donated to Washington and Lee University a choice library of five thousand volumes, and bestowed the first sum of money to raise William and Mary College of Virginia from the con- dition in which it had been placed during the civil war. He also made donations to the University of Virginia, the Virginia Military Institute, and made a liberal endowment of landed property to Columbia College of Washington, including in the latter donation a fine building used as a medical department of that institution. Ife established and endowed Oak Hill Cemetery, situated on the pietur- esque licights of Georgetown. In 1835 Mr. Corcoran married Louise Morris, daughter of Commodore Morris. She died five years after their marriage, leaving a son, who survived her but a short time, and a daughter, Louise, who in 1859 was married to Hon. George Eustis, a Representa- tive in Congress from the State of Louisiana, and after several years' residence in Paris died at Cannes, in Decem- ber, 1867, leaving three children. In memory of his only daughter he erccted the " Louise Home," one of the most

useful benevolent institutions in the country. The build- ing itself is complete in all its appointments, and is one of the most beautiful structures in Washington. So munifi- cent have been his charities that the late George Peabody admitted that in Mr. Corcoran he had found a strong com- petitor in acts of benevolence. In Mr. Corcoran art has found a munificent patron, and the magnificent gallery in Washington which bears his name has given him world- wide celebrity, and will serve as an enduring monument to his memory after he has passed away.

SOMER, REV. SAMUEL., D.D., Pastor of St. Paul's English Lutheran Church, Washington, District of Columbia, was born January 22, 1826, at Sabbath Rest, Blair County, Pennsylvania, where his child- hood and youth were . passed. Ilis parents were John and Catharine Domer; his father a native of Mary- land, his mother of Pennsylvania, and both of German origin, whose ancestors many years before had emigrated to America. His father and mother were both pious, and from childhood he had the loving attention and training which such parentage involves. The family genealogical record in many respects is very meagre ; but tradition has it that some generations back the name appeared with some degree of prominence in the clerical roll of the Church in Germany. His grandfather was a man of sterling integrity and of respectable attainments, educated chiefly in the German language, and remarkable for his knowledge of the Scriptures. Mr. Domer's early educa- tion was pursued in the common country schools. Hle went to school in the winter, and worked during the sum- mer at such employment as country life presented and re- quired. At sixteen years of age he began to teach a country school in the forests of Cambria County, Pennsyl- vania, receiving sixteen dollars per month, out of which he paid five dollars per month for boarding. After that he alternated between study and teaching and other kinds of work. In the spring of 1849 he entered Wittenberg Col- lege, Springfield, Ohio, and was graduated with the second honors of the class in 1853. Ile entered the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, soon after his graduation. Rev. S. S. Schmucker, D.D., and Rev. C. P. Krauth, D.D., were the active professors in that seminary at that time. Under their guidance and care Mr. Domer passed his seminary career. fle left the seminary in the spring of 1855, and under the sanetion and commendation of Dr. Schmucker accepted a call to the pastoratt of the English Lutheran Church at Sclinsgrove, Pennsylvania. He began his ministry there May 17, 1855, before he was regularly licensed. Ile was licensed by the old Pittsburg Synod at Canton, Ohio, in June of the same year. Fle was transferred from the Pittsburg Synod to the East Pennsyl-

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vania Synod as a licentiate, and the following year was ordained. Mr. Domer resided at Sclinsgrove fourteen years, eleven years as Pastor of the church. At the close of the tenth year of his pastorate he took charge of the interests of the Susquehanna Female College in the same town, and from 1865 to 1869 was its Principal, serving the church also as Pastor for one year longer in connection with his labors as Principal of the school. He resigned the pastorate in 1866, and for the three following years de- voted himself principally to the duties of the college. Prosperity and success attended his services in that institu- tion, but his tastes and inclinations running in the direction of ministerial work he resigned his charge of the school, and accepted a call to St. Matthew's English Lutheran Church in Reading, Pennsylvania, in June, 1869. He re- mained at Reading three years, during which time he had much success and made valued friends. He subsequently accepted a call from Trinity Lutheran Church of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, to which place he removed in October, 1872. He labored there for two years with great success. In November, 1874, he began his ministry at St. Paul's Eng- lish Lutheran Church in Washington, District of Columbia. IIc was associated with Rev. Dr. Benjamin Kurtz, Rev. II. Ziegler, D.D., and others, in founding and establishing the Missionary Institute, a classical and theological institu- tion, at Selinsgrove, which he served for some time as a voluntary professor in connection with the pastorate of the local church. Ile was also one of the founders of Susque- hanna Female College before referred to. Ile was invited to the presidency of a female college in one of the Southern States prior to the war, but declined because of his pastoral relationship at the time. At the annual commencement of Roanoke College, Virginia, in June, 1876, the Board of Directors conferred on Mr. Domer the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. He has frequently appeared before the public as a lecturer, and has at different times been chosen to deliver addresses before literary societies of colleges at their commencements. He was married, Janu- ary 28, 1858, to Miss L. Louisa, youngest daughter of Colonel J. K. Davis, of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Colonel Davis was a native of Virginia, resided for some years in Kentucky, and then moved into Pennsylvania. Ile died at Selinsgrove in 1847. Ile was a brother of the late Hon. John P. Davis, of Meadville, Pennsylvania, who served in the war of 1812-15 as a soldier in the command of Richard M. Johnson I lis wife's mother was a daughter of Captain Hummel, of Pennsylvania, also a soldier in the war of 1812. His wife's brother, Captain Charles Selin Davis, commanded Company G, One hundred and forty-sev- enth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, General Geary's Brigade, and was killed in the battle of Lookout Mountain and Taylor's Ridge, in November, 1863. As a writer and author for publication Dr. Domer has given to the public some excellent sermons, addresses, and lectures. Ilis published discourse, delivered on Thanksgiving Day, in

1875, in Foundry Methodist Episcopal Church, Washing- ton, District of Columbia, is a masterpiece of eloquence. Ile is no dogmatist in religion. The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man is the formula of his broad churchism.

WENTZELL, REV. FREDERICK, M.D., was born in Lancaster city, Pennsylvania, September 29, 1822. Ilis father, Christian Swentzell, married Miss Charlotte Snyder, sister of Ilon. Henry Snyder, of Baltimore. Frederick was the eldest of seven chil- dren. John Swentzell devoted his attention to vocal and instrumental music, and is now engaged in teaching in Peoria, Illinois; Henry J. is merchandising in New York ; Edward William and Washington, graduates of the Balti- more Dental College, are practicing their profession in Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania ; Annie M. married Ilon. Judge John B. Livingston, the Presiding Judge of the Lancaster City and County Court ; Caroline A. resides with her sister, Mrs. Liv- ingston, in Lancaster city. Frederick attended the semi- nary at Lancaster, and at the age of fourteen years, owing to the death of his father, who died in limited circum- stances, leaving his widow with six children, secured a position in a drygoods house, in which he remained nearly six years, attending night school during the winters. In the twenty-second year of his age he commenced the study of medicine. February 26, 1842, he became deeply ex- ercised on the subject of a call to the ministry. He, how- ever, attended two courses of lectures at the Jefferson Med- ical College, Philadelphia, and graduated therefrom. Ile then connected himself with the Twentieth Street Metho- dist Protestant Church, and was recommended for the itinerancy. He was admitted into the Maryland Annual Conference March, 1846. During his pastoral term in Philadelphia he was married to Miss Margaret Teese, daughter of Daniel Teese, whose wife was Miss Jane Thomas. They have had six children, the eldest of whom, the Rev. Ilenry Christian Swentzell, is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College and of the General Theo- logical Seminary, New York, and at present the Rector of Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church, Chambersburg, Penn- sylvania. He married Miss Margaret T. Jackson, of New Jersey. The second son, Walter Turpin Swentzell, a graduate of the Maryland College of Pharmacy, and also of the Maryland University of Medicine, is a practicing physician in Harford County, Maryland. The third son, John B. Livingston Swentzell, is a graduate of the Mary- land Dental College, and is practicing dentistry in Bel Air, Maryland. Frederick and Edward William are attending school. The sixth child is a daughter named Margaret Teese Swentzell. A year of Dr. Swentzell's ministerial life was spent in York, Pennsylvania. Ile is a fluent and graceful speaker, an independent thinker, and an carnest, zealous, and successful Christian teacher. Though modest

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and retiring he is heroic and fearless in the defence of } truth. IIe does not hesitate to attack error, no matter from what quarter it may originate or what form it may assume. During his ministry in Newark, New Jersey, he de- livered a course of lectures against some popular form of infidelity, which drew crowded houses. A few years since, during his pastorate in Baltimore, he delivered a series of lectures on the rationalistic school of writers, Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, and others, which were regarded as a complete refutation of their doctrines and a triumphant vindication of the Christian faith.

IND, EDMUND GEORGE, Fellow of the American In- stitute of Architects, was born at Islington, near , London, England, June 18, 1829. llis father, William Alexander Lind, an engraver, is still living in London in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He was of Swedish descent. His mother, Elizabeth Violet Lind, deceased, was of an old English family. Her father was colonel of a dragoon regiment, fought on the British side in the war of the Revolution, and was wounded at Bunker Hill. Being disabled he received a pension, which was continued to his widow after his decease. Mr. Lind had two brothers, the eldest, William Alexander, is a Pres- byterian minister in Lancefield, Victoria, Australia; the youngest, Charles Henry, was a legal practitioner in Lon- don. He died in 1876. The subject of this sketch was educated without reference to any particular ealling, ac- quiring in Birmingham, where his father lived for nine years, the rudiments of an ordinary school education, mak- ing especial proficiency in ornamental writing and draw- ing. His earliest tastes were of an artistic nature, drawing and painting being his favorite pastimes. After leaving school he was placed in a lawyer's office in London, where he remained several years; but disliking the profession he abandoned it to study architecture at the School of Design in London under Mr. C. M. Richardson, an eminent architect and the author of several works on Elizabethan architecture. He also studied watercolor painting under Mr. R. Redgrave and other professors at the School of Design. In 1849 he made an engagement with Mr. John Blose, archi- tect, doing business in London, with whom he served three years. At the expiration of that term he was employed as principal draughtsman and manager with an architect in London and another in Sheffield. In 1855 he came to this country, arriving in New York November 14 of that year. There he was introduced to several prominent architects, and in less than two weeks he had three offers of employment, one of them from the architect of the First Presbyterian Church of Baltimore, which he accepted, and at once en- tered upon his duties. The building progressed under his

directions until April, 1856, when he went into partner- ship with Mr. W. T. Murdoch. Four years afterwards they dissolved their connection, and he has since then con- tinued business on his own account. During the years 1859 60 he was a member of the Fifth Regiment of Ma- ryland Guards, which was disbanded in the carly part of the late war. Mr. Lind is President of the Baltimore Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, a mem- ber of the Masonic Fraternity, Knight Templars, Mary- land Historical Society, St. George's Society, Young Men's Christian Association, Academy of Sciences, and of the Academy of Fine Arts. In his youth he was an Episcopalian, but for the last sixteen years has been con- nected with the Presbyterian Church, and is now a mem- ber of the Brown Memorial Church. He was married to Miss Margaret, sixth daughter of William T. Murdoch, a drygoods merchant of Baltimore, April 23, 1863. They have five children, three sons and two daughters. His most important works in Baltimore are, in part, l'eabody Institute, Masonie Temple, Carroll's Buildings, Brown's Building, Cartlan's Marble Store, Armstrong & Cator's Iron Building, Dr. John's Memorial Church, and Franklin Square Presbyterian Church. Ile has erected many public and private edifices in Virginia and North Carolina, and some in South America.

ERBERT, JAMES R., Brigadier-General Command- ing First Brigade Maryland National Guard, was born, August 18, 1833, at Woodstock, Howard County, Maryland. ITis father, Dr. Thomas Snow- den Herbert, was the son of Hon. John C. Herbert, member of Congress from Prince George's County, de- scendants of the Herberts of Lakes of Killarney, Ireland. llis mother was before her marriage Miss Camilla A. Ham- mond, daughter of Philip Hammond, of English descent. Iler ancestors came to this country with Lord Baltimore, and settled in Annapolis. James R. Herbert attended school for two years in Howard County, and afterwards spent eighteen months at Hallowell College, Alexandria, Virginia. At the early age of thirteen he left school and went to sea before the mast on the ship Herman, Captain Charles Welsh, and made two voyages to Liverpool and one to Rotterdam. At the latter port he and eleven others of the crew were attacked with Asiatic cholera, only one of whom hesides himself survived. So terrible was the scourge in that city that four thousand deaths were reported in one month. At the age of sixteen he entered the store of R. llickley & Brother, Baltimore, and after two years engaged with Duer, Norris & Co., of Baltimore, with whom he spent one year. In 1852, on the decease of his father, he went on the farm and remained two years, after which he re- moved to Baltimore and formed a copartnership with M.

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Lancaster in the tobacco, grain and commission business. The firm was subsequently changed to Herbert & Brother, of which he remained a member until 1861. Mr. Herbert assisted in organizing the old Maryland Guard, in which he enlisted as a private. lle was soon after elected Second Lieutenant of Company A, Independent Grays, of Balti- more. lle left Baltimore May 12, 1861, with nineteen others for Harper's Ferry, and was there made Captain of ninety-six men, and commanded six companies until George II. Stewart was made Major He held his rank as Captain of that company until it was mustered out of service in 1862 ; it constituted part of the First Maryland Regiment of the Confederate States Army. On being mustered out Captain Herbert immediately proceeded to Richmond, and re-entering the service was commissioned Captain of a com- pany numbering one hundred and thirty men, and assisted in raising two other companies. With these three compa- nies he marched to Winchester, Virginia, where they joined two companies which had preceded them. Of these five companies he was made Major. He was afterwards pro- moted to the Lieutenant-Coloneley of six companies, known as the Second Maryland Regiment, with which he went through the war. The Maryland troops, consisting of in- fantry, cavalry, and artillery, were under his command at Gettysburg and Culpepper Hill; he was wounded and confined to the hospital two months. Being captured he was sent as a prisoner to Johnson's Island, Ohio, and in 1864 he was exchanged for a Lieutenant-Colonel of a New York regiment. Ile returned to Richmond, reported for duty on line in front of Petersburg, and within thirty days took command of his regiment. When the evacuation of Richmond took place he was in that city, and went thence to Greensboro, North Carolina, when he reported for duty to General Joseph E. Johnston. After the surren- der of General Lee he returned to Baltimore, and in 1866 engaged in the commission business with P. W. Ilairston, afterwards Ilerbert, Hairston & Co., with whom he has since been engaged. In 1867 he was elected Colonel of the Fifth Maryland Regiment, and served for three years, when he resigned and remained out of service one year, at the end of which time he accepted the unanimous vote of the colonels of the three Maryland regiments of militia to become Brigadier-General of the First Brigade. In the fall of 1876 he was elected Police Commissioner, and en- tered for a six years' term of service, March, 1877. Gen- eral Herbert had command of the troops during the late labor riots in Baltimore, and was highly complimented of- ficially and otherwise. He has been a member of the Ma- sonic Order since the close of the war. His grandfather, William Herbert, was Grand Secretary of Alexandria Lodge of Masons, of which General Washington was Grand Mas- ter. General Herbert is a Democrat in polities, and a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Ile married Elizabeth Coleman Alexander, of Virginia, and has four children.

CARRENT, HON. GEORGE, Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, was born in Charles County, Mary . land, in September, 1817. His parents were George and Matilda (Thomas) Brent. Ilis mother was the daughter of Major Thomas, of St. Mary's County, and a sister of James Thomas, who was Governor of the State. Judge Brent is a graduate of Georgetown College, District of Columbia. He studied law in Washington city with his uncle, William L. Brent, and completed his legal studies at the Law School of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ile then commenced the prac- tice of law in his native county, having settled at Port Tobacco, the county seat, and was soon snecessful in ob- taining a large and lucrative practice in the three counties comprising the First Judicial Circuit of the State. In 1841 he became State's Attorney, and continued in the office until 1850. He was a member of the Whig party until it disbanded, when he united with the Democrats, and has since acted consistently with them. He several times rep- resented his county in the Legislature, and though he has frequently been urged by his friends to allow the use of his name as a candidate for other political positions he has always refused, being averse to political life, and prefer- ring to devote himself to the practice of his profession. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1850, serving as a colleague of the Ilon. William D. Merrick, Ilon. Daniel Jenifer, and General John G. Chap- man. In 1861 he was elected Judge of the Circuit Courts for the several counties comprising the First Judicial Circuit of the State, which were then presided over by a single judge. When the judicial system of the State was changed by the Constitution of 1864 he was one of the judges re- tained under its provisions. The judicial system of the State was again changed by the Constitution of 1867. The one judge system was abolished, and a chief judge and two associate judges for the Circuit Courts were substi- tuted. In 1867 he was elected without opposition Chief Judge of the circuit in which he resided, thereby becoming one of the judges of the Appellate Court of the State, which is composed of the chief judges of the several cir- enits. Judge Brent is noted for the elevated tone and unspotted integrity of his life, and for his great personal courage, rendering more striking the suavity and grace of his manners. Courtly, yet dignitied, and possessing fine talents as a speaker, he is exceedingly popular. Few have ever commanded more thoroughly the entire respect and esteem of so large a circle of acquaintances. Fle was mar- ried in 1849 to Catharine, the eldest daughter of the Hon. William D. Merrick, a lady of great personal beauty and highly gifted. She died in August, 1877, leaving him the care of a large family of children. Judge Brent is a most laborious worker in the discharge of his duties, and holds a high position as a lawyer. Ile is systematic and punc- tual in all his undertakings, and when presiding as Chief Judge of his circuit conducts the business of his court with

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Maryland and District of Columbia Pt. 2, Part 78

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