USA > Maryland > Genealogical and memorial encyclopedia of the state of Maryland, a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume I > Part 14
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
183
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
has one child, Gertrude Ross; Amanda C., married George Morrow, and has children: Mary Burdick, married H. Evans Smith, of Baltimore; Gertrude Howser, married Peter Corbin Chambliss, and has a son, Peter W .; Kathry Allen, who, with her widowed mother, resides at the family home, No. 2434 Madison avenue, Baltimore.
The following article, which appeared in the editorial columns of the Baltimore "Sun," is a testimonial of the esteem with which Mr. Morrow was held by the paper of whose editorial staff he was so long a member :
A FAITHFUL SERVANT
The highest commendation given in the New Testament is the com- mendation bestowed on the good and faithful servant. Conscientious fidelity to duty, loyalty to the trust committed and the task assigned is still, with all our uplift, too rare a virtue to go unmarked and unpraised.
An unchanging and unostentatious example of this noble virtue of fidelity was contained in the quiet, steadfast, straightforward life of George Morrow, a member of the "Sun's" staff for more than a generation, who completed life's assignment yesterday. He was one of the few members of the "Sun's" present staff whose connection with the paper extended back to the life of its founder, Mr. A. S. Abell, and his passing breaks one of the few links with that period. Trained in that early school, he retained its virtues while keeping pace with the progressive ideas and methods of the present. He regarded the "Sun" as an institution, and was as loyal to its service as the soldier to the flag of his country. An honorable and upright gentleman, duty and fidelity were the golden words in the lexicon of his life.
When we can "leave our brother sleeping" the sleep of the just with the supreme praise of the Supreme Teacher of the centuries as his epitaph and eulogy, our regret at his passing is mingled with just pride in his fine and manly record. May we all deserve one which means as much.
CHARLES CHRISTOPHER HOMER
FAR from the scene of his own birth and successful life,
but near the birthplace of his parents in Germany, Mr. Homer drew his latest breath and closed a long career of honor and usefulness that firmly fixed his name among the great financiers of Baltimore, his native city.
The business world knew him as a wise and upright banker, his fellowmen as a public-spirited citizen foremost in advancing any enterprise which promised a bigger, better Baltimore, but to his friends he was the frank, genial gentle- man, holding sacred the ties of home and friendship, delight- ing to serve those near and dear to him. He was the man of culture in business, the student of the problems of his business, widely informed and grounded in its laws and equally so on all economic questions bearing any relation to national finance or the public welfare. He was not a dreamer or an idealist, but from his study and his experience chose those things which were sound, practical and proven. Thus ever keeping his feet on the solid rock, he became a recognized force in the financial world, his opinions, views and ideas being sound, carried weight when presented to those with whom he discussed public problems, before congressional committees or before monetary conventions.
He bore the crucial test of success nobly, and ever pre- served the charm of his winning personality and bore all his varied responsibilities with modest dignity, fidelity and honor, winning public esteem to an unusual degree. He was taken away in the full prime of his splendid manhood and intel- lectual strength, his death hastened by the mobilization preparations going on in Germany at the outbreak of the present European War. He had sailed for Europe on July 8, 1914, to benefit his wife's health, and the events and unusual
-
185
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
strain of the next two months brought on a nervous break- down, from which he did not recover. He was a son of Chris- topher and Dora (Malo) Homer, both of German birth, who, in early youth, came to the United States. Christopher Homer became a successful business man of Baltimore and to pos- terity left an honored name.
Charles Christopher Homer was born in Baltimore, Maryland, November 1, 1847, died in Bremen, Germany, September 13, 1914. He was educated in Baltimore private schools and the University of Georgetown, whence he was graduated A.B., class of 1867, later receiving from his alma mater the Master's degree. He began his business career as a glass and paint salesman, changing at the end of one year to a line of hardware. He soon abandoned that line also and established the provision house of Foss & Homer. That house continued in business until 1880, when it dissolved, Mr. Homer from that time devoting himself entirely to finance. He had been elected a director of the Second National Bank in 1878, and during the two years he continued in business after his election he made a deep study of national finance and banking, thus when later he was called to official rela- tion with the bank it was not a tyro called, but a man of prac- tical knowledge well grounded in the principles and practice of the business he was to administer. In 1886 he was elected vice-president of the Second National Bank. He remained the executive head of that institution for twenty-five years, a period of great growth and expansion for both institution and executive.
He was a commanding figure in his native city's financial affairs, and his wisdom as an executive was sought by other institutions. He was vice-president of the Savings Bank of Baltimore at the time of his death; an ex-vice-president of the Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and from 1897 until
186
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
19II was president of the Baltimore Clearing House, re- elected annually, only his positive declination to again serve the Clearing House as president caused his retirement. He was chosen chairman of the Baltimore committee that drafted a plan for the "Creation of a Safe and Elastic Currency," known as the Baltimore plan, a plan which was unanimously endorsed by the association. With this endorsement he ap- peared on December 12, 1894, before the Congressional Com- mittee on Banking and Currency and made the final argu- ment in favor of its adoption by Congress. He was an active member of the Baltimore Board of Trade and a delegate rep- resenting the board at the monetary convention held at In- dianapolis, January 25, 1898.
During the "free silver" agitation of 1896, Mr. Homer, as president of the Second National Bank, voiced the senti- ment of that institution and so sound and weighty were his opinions and so highly was he regarded as an authority on national financial policy that the substance of the sentiment was incorporated in the first act of the newly-formed Mary- lang Bankers Association as follows: "Resolved, That we are unalterably opposed to the free coinage of silver and to every debasement of our currency in whatsoever form it may be presented; that we firmly and honestly believe that the true interest of our country will be best served by its rigid ad- herence to the gold standard of value, the continuance of which will not only preserve its financial integrity and the future welfare of its citizens, from the wage earner to the capitalist, but will insure through the prompt restoration of confidence, that rapid development of its resources which will eventually place it among the first nations of the earth."
With the modesty of a truly great man, he bore himself when at the height of success with the same frank, genial kindliness of manner as when striving for his first business
187
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
success as a merchant. His course was marked by quiet dignity, fidelity to his trusts, and honorable performance of every duty. He did not strive for the world's applause, but won it from those who opposed his views as well as from his friends. His business responsibilities were heavy, but he never wavered in his public-spirited loyalty to the interests of his native city and in a larger way to his State and Nation. He served as a trustee of the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, and was a member of the Maryland Historical Society. He abjured partisanship in politics, but supported the men who stood for the measures and principles of govern- ment he believed in, and were themselves best fitted to fill the office sought. His hand was ever extended to relieve the needy, but in his benevolence, as in his every deed, he was so unostentatious and gave so quietly that publicity was avoided and many of his good deeds remain unknown. He loved his home, and with his wife, a woman of attractive personality, dispensed an abundant and charming hospitality. He looked on life from a broad point of view, recognized and appreciated the good in others and viewed with sym- pathy the frailties of human nature. His friends were legion, and it is not a forced sentiment that "none knew him but to love him."
Mr. Homer married, March 4, 1869, Frances M. Holt- haus, born in Baltimore, September 7, 1847, daughter of Francis Theodore and Maria E. Holthaus, both born near Osnabruck, Hanover, Prussia, but married in Baltimore, both coming to that city in youth. In 1914, Mrs. Homer being in poor health, the devoted couple journeyed abroad and at Bad-Beynhausen, Germany, spent the weeks intervening between their arrival and the outbreak of hostilities between the European nations. The conditions were trying to an American and the warlike preparations seriously affected Mr.
1
188
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
Homer. He made his way to Bremen, intending to take pas- sage home, and there was completely prostrated and never rallied. Five children were born to Charles C. and Frances M. Homer, four sons, and a daughter who died in infancy. The sons, eminent in finance, law, medicine and commerce, are factors in the life of their native city and worthy succes- sors in the third generation of a name never to be forgotten in Baltimore annals. The sons are: Charles Christopher (2), who was his father's close business associate, vice-president of the Second National Bank and his successor; Francis Theo- dore, member of the law firm of Willis & Homer; Henry Louis, resident physician at Union Protestant Infirmary ; Robert Baldwin, president of the R. B. Homer Lumber Com- pany.
Druglas H. Phonics for
MRugtas N.
DOUGLAS H. THOMAS, JR.
SINCE the invention of order in Architecture by the Greeks, to whom the world owes all that is great, judicious and distinct in the architectural orders, the ability to follow the laws of those orders and the style of the different periods has been the foundation upon which to base the claim to be designated an "architect." But in addition to that ability, there frequently have arisen men of creative genius who have made the profession an art and who, given limit of cost, loca- tion, purpose, material and surroundings, would design buildings which, correct in architectural detail, so fitted the location in which it was placed, so harmonized with its sur- roundings, was so well adapted to the purpose intended and so agreed in its style with the material of which it was built, as to stamp its creator not only as an architect, but as an artist as well. To this class belonged Douglas H. Thomas, Jr., of Baltimore. While as a member of the firm, Parker, Thomas & Rice, his personal ability was merged with that of his as- sociates, the touch of his personal genius is seen in many of the fine public and business buildings designed by the firm in Baltimore and elsewhere. He possessed that creative genius in a high degree and will ever rank among the foremost architects of his day.
Perhaps the personal quality of his work is best seen in the buildings at Johns Hopkins University, his firm being the winners of the first open competition for the general de- velopment of Homewood. Himself an alumnus of the Uni- versity, he devoted himself personally to the designing of the new buildings and unsparingly gave of his talent and of his genius to a scheme of buildings which would be in keeping with the great fame of the University. To this labor of love as well as of professional obligation, he brought all his art,
190
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
all his skill, his trained taste, and from every viewpoint labored to produce an artistic, practical and harmonious whole. The complete Academic or Gilman Building in its dignity and effectiveness stands as a monument to his taste and appreciation of what a University building should be.
Douglas H. Thomas, Jr., son of Douglas H. Thomas, Sr., president of the Merchants-Mechanics Bank of Baltimore, and his wife, Alice Lee (Whitridge) Thomas, was born in Baltimore, in March, 1872, died there, the victim of an auto- mobile accident, June 11, 1915. He attended private schools until sixteen years of age, then went abroad and for one year was a student at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
After his return from Lausanne, he entered Johns Hop- kins University whence he was graduated with the customary degree, class of 1893. He continued his studies at the Massa- chusetts School of Technology, Boston, specializing in the study of architecture, now a profession in which a follower must also possess the knowledge of a constructive engineer. After graduation from the Institute of Technology he again went to Europe, studied at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts, and afterwards to Greece, the fountain-head and inspiration of architectural art, completing his studies. He then returned to Baltimore and in partnership with J. Harleston Parker began a brilliant career as an architect which only terminated with his death. Parker & Thomas maintained offices in Baltimore and Boston, and as the years progressed took a leading posi- tion among the foremost architects of the United States. Later Arthur Wallace Rice was admitted to a partnership, the firm then becoming Parker, Thomas & Rice.
Monuments to the skill, ability and high standing of the firm may be seen in different States and cities, but in Balti- more and vicinity they exist on every hand. Among the more notable are the "Belvedere Hotel" (Baltimore's largest and
191
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
most beautiful hostelry), Baltimore & Ohio building, Gilman County School, the Bank building of Alexander & Sons, Savings Bank of Baltimore, Baltimore Trust Company building, Metropolitan Savings Bank, and The New State Normal School at Towson, Maryland. They also designed several buildings for Harvard University, Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, and for Johns Hopkins University, at Homewood. They designed and erected government buildings and Virginia State building at Jamestown Celebration, and all buildings at Jamestown, except the buildings of the separate States.
Mr. Thomas personally took a deep interest in the de- velopment of Homewood, designing and erecting the Academic and the Administration buildings. His last work. left unfinished, was the new building to be erected by the Consolidated Gas and Electric Light and Power Company, on Lexington street, Baltimore.
In speaking of his work at Homewood, an official of the university said: "The death of Douglas H. Thomas is a very great loss to Johns Hopkins University. Himself an alumnus of the institution, he has, since 1906, given ungrudg- ingly of his talents and energy to the scheme of Homewood's general development, having made it a labor of love rather than a mere professional obligation. The Academic build- ing, in its great dignity and effectiveness, is a monument to his taste and appreciation of what a University building should be. When the power house plan was completed and bids for its construction were in, he saw a way to improve its appearance and reduce its cost, not heeding the fact that it would also reduce his commission. He served the University with an unselfish devotion and gave to his alma mater the best of himself and of his talents. His death is not only an official loss but a personal one to all of us."
Mr. Thomas was president of the Maryland Institute of
192
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
Architects, and a member of other professional and scientific societies. He possessed an ease and grace of manner, was quiet, courteous and friendly, was very popular in Baltimore, where he had a host of friends. His clubs were the Mary- land, Baltimore, Merchants and Eldridge Kennels.
He married, at the Church of the Advent (Episcopal), Boston, in 1901, Elizabeth Lyman Chadwick, who died very suddenly in Biarritz, France, in 1912, daughter of Dr. J. R. Chadwick, of Boston, Massachusetts, leaving four daughters : Catherine, Rosamond, Alie and Elizabeth.
JOHN PRENTISS POE
THE Poe family has long been identified with Maryland, and has contributed many distinguished citizens to that commonwealth. Burke's "Landed Gentry" gives an extended account of the ancestry of this family, and shows that Dr. Poe, physician to Queen Elizabeth, who came from Donegal, was a member thereof. David Poe, of Dring, Ireland, died in 1742. He was a son of John Poe, for whom he named a son. This son, John Poe, grandson of John Poe, married, in September, 1741, Jane McBride, of Ballymoney, County Antrim, sister of that McBride who was Admiral of the Blue and a member of Parliament for Plymouth in 1785.
In 1743 John Poe and his wife set out for America, and arrived at New Castle, Delaware, accompanied by two sons, David and George. They located first in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and afterwards removed to Cecil county, Mary- land, later to Baltimore, where John Poe died in 1756. The first city directory of Baltimore, published in 1796, contains the name of Jane Poe, widow, German street, between Harvard and Hanover. This property was owned by the family. She died July 17, 1802, aged ninety-six, and is buried in Westminster Churchyard, lot 129. Their eldest son, David Poe, married Elizabeth Cairnes, and they were the parents of David Poe, who married Elizabeth Arnold. Edgar Allan Poe, the poet, was born of this marriage, in Boston, Massa- chusetts, January 19, 1809.
George Poe, second son of John and Jane (McBride) Poe, was born in Ireland, and was brought by his parents to America when only two months old. The family afterward re- moved to Cecil county, Maryland, where, about 1773, George Poe married Catherine Dawson. Soon after their marriage they moved to Baltimore and lived first on Thomas street, MD .- 13
194
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
Fells Point, west of Broadway, as it is now, and afterward on their own property, No. 183 Market street. This lot is now on the south side of Baltimore street, about three doors east of Hanover street. He was a private in Captain Case's company, on duty, 1775-76. David Poe, his brother, was a sergeant, later in Captain McClellan's company. David Poe was lieutenant; George Poe, sergeant, and William Poe, private. On June 11, 1776, George Poe was commissioned captain in the Thirty-fourth Battalion, militia of Frederick county. George Poe died at the home of his son, Jacob Poe, at Elmwood, Frederick county, August 20, 1823, aged about eighty-two years, and was buried in the burying ground of the Brick Meeting House, near Walkersville, same county. The loss of the family Bible by fire makes it impossible to give the exact date of his birth. Catherine (Dawson) Poe, his wife, was born in Cecil county, Maryland, May 13, 1742, and died at the home of her son Jacob, which was then at Havre de Grace, Maryland, August, 1806, and was buried in lot No. 129, Westminster Churchyard, Baltimore. Children : Jacob, mentioned below; George, born November 14, 1778, died July 21, 1864; Harriet, March 28, 1785, died January 6 1816; Stephen, died in infancy.
Jacob Poe, eldest child of George and Catherine (Daw- son) Poe, was born October 11, 1775, on Thomas street, Balti- more. As a young man he was employed by a merchant, and made several voyages as supercargo; afterward he became a farmer, first near Havre de Grace, and in 1817 at Elmwood, Frederick county. He married, in Baltimore, January 4, 1803, Bridget Amelia Fitzgerald Kennedy, daughter of John and Amelia (Fitzgerald) Kennedy, born June 10, 1775, in County Tipperary, Ireland. Her father sailed from Dublin in the ship "Neptune," April 30, 1784, and landed at Balti- more, May 30, following. Her mother was Amelia, daughter
195
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
of George Fitzgerald, counselor at law. She died at Salis- bury, Eastern Shore, Maryland, 1790. John Kennedy died at St. Croix, West Indies, while on a visit to his brother James. Jacob Poe died at the home of his son, Neilson Poe, Lex- ington street, Baltimore, July 25, 1860, aged eighty-five years. He was buried at the Brick Meeting House, near Walkers- ville. Bridget A. F. (Kennedy) Poe died December 25, 1844, at her home, Elmwood, Frederick county, and was buried in the Brick Meeting House Churchyard. Children, first six born in Baltimore: George, November 10, 1803, died Feb- ruary 6, 1804; John, March 4, 1805, died September 12, 1807; George, March 20, 1807, died January 10, 1879; Amelia and Neilson (twins), August 11, 1809, former married Dr. Charles Goldsborough, and died November 2, 1883; James Mosher, January 3, 1812, died October, 1885; Harriet Clemm, August 6, 1817, in Frederick county, Maryland, died Decem- ber 1, 1878.
Neilson Poe, son of Jacob and Bridget A. F. (Kennedy) Poe, was born August 11, 1809, in Baltimore, and in early life was a student at law in the office of William Gwynn, a noted counselor and editor of the "Federal Gazette." Afterward he was assistant editor, then editor and owner of the Fred- erick "Examiner," and on his return to Baltimore, in 1835, became editor and proprietor of the Baltimore "Chronicle." He was admitted to the bar before attaining his majority, and practiced in Baltimore until 1878, when, at the request of Governor Carroll, he accepted the chief judgeship of the Orphan's Court, which place he filled until shortly before his death, January, 1884. He was a constant contributor to many journals, and was distinguished by the beauty of his style and elegance of his diction. He married at Elmwood, November 30, 1831, Josephine Emily Clemm, daughter of William, Jr., and Harriet (Poe) Clemm, born August 13,
196
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
1808, at Mount Prospect, Baltimore county, the home of her grandfather, Colonel William Clemm. She died January 13, 1889. Children: Amelia, born October 1, 1832, in Fred- erick county; Neilson, September 6, 1834, in Frederick county, married, November 7, 1867, Alice Henrietta Morris; John Prentiss, mentioned below; Josephine Clemm, March 10, 1838, in Baltimore, married, April 10, 1860, George Gib- son Casey; Harriet Clara, July 4, 1840, in Frederick county, died May 1, 1846; William Clemm, December 4, 1843, in Frederick county, married, October 13, 1868, Eleanora Hennen Robertson, died January 20, 1906; Kennedy, May 3, 1845, died February 26, 1846; Robert M., January 31, 1847, in Baltimore, married, November 27, 1872, Sarah Graham Wingate, died April 10, 1884; Charles, August 4, 1851, in Baltimore, married, October 10, 1877, Ellen E. Conway.
The character and career of John Prentiss Poe are most beautifully and aptly described in a memorial address deliv- ered by Honorable Henry D. Harlan, November 1I, 1909, at the University of Maryland, as follows :
John Prentiss Poe was born August 22, 1836, in Baltimore. He grew up under happy influences, having before his eyes a rare example of domestic felicity, refinement, culture and the many graces of Christian character. His first teacher was his accomplished mother. For a short while he was a pupil in the public schools of Baltimore, and at an early age entered the French and English Academy of Professor Boursaud. Later he attended St. Mary's College, and subsequently matriculated at Princeton College, from which he graduated with the class of 1854, being then in his eighteenth year. On the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation his Alma Mater con- ferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
On his return from college, the young graduate secured a clerkship in a bank, and during this time read law under the supervision of his father. He was appointed librarian of the Law Library, where he had an excellent opportunity to pursue his studies and familarize himself with the literature of the law. He was admitted to the bar of Baltimore in the superior court on the twenty-first anniversary of his birth-August 22, 1857-and in Decem-
197
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
ber of that year was admitted to the court of appeals of Maryland, and to the supreme court of the United States in the succeeding January. In every department of the law he was equipped to serve his clients, and no one served them with greater fidelity. In their behalf no task was too great to undertake; no amount of research too arduous; no attention to details too exacting. He brought to the trial of their causes a mind richly stored with the learning of the profession; a thorough acquaintance with the rules of practice and the technicalities of pleading; a capacity for clear and exact statement that was unexcelled ; a memory that was little short of marvellous, combined with reasoning powers of a high order, and a diction that was singularly pure and copious. He could speak in the convincing language of logic, or when the occasion required, employ the persuasive voice of eloquence. He could denounce fraud and wrong with telling effect, and uphold justice and right with overpowering force. His manners were graci- ous and winning. While maintaining the interests of his clients, he was fair to his opponents, courteous to his adversaries, deferential and respectful to the court. He was an adept in the art of cross-examining. Small wonder that he had many cases to try in the State and Federal courts. * * *
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.