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 18

Author: Spencer, Richard Henry, b. 1833; American Historical Society
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: New York, The American historical society, inc.
Number of Pages: 450


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 18


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(IV) William (2) Jolliffe, son of William (1) and Phoebe Jolliffe, acquired large estates on Opequon, north of where Winchester was later laid out. He was one of the citizens appointed by the court held November 9, 1758, as overseers of the road from Cunningham's Mill to Robert Moseley's. He married Lydia (Hollingsworth) Ross, widow of John Ross, son of Alexander Ross, whose estate adjoined that of William (1) Jolliffe. Lydia Hollingsworth was a daughter of Stephen Hollingsworth, granddaughter of Henry Hollingsworth, and great-granddaughter of Valentine Hol- lingsworth, who came to Pennsylvania in the ship "Welcome" in 1682. William and Lydia (Hollingsworth-Ross) Jolliffe were married about 1750, by Friends ceremony in Hopewell Meeting, Frederick county. Children: 1. John, mentioned below. 2. Phoebe, born December 15, 1752, died young. 3. Gabriel, born May 19, 1755. 4. Phoebe, born February 12, 1758. 5. Lydia, died December 30, 1759.


(V) Captain John Jolliffe, son of William and Lydia (Hollingsworth-Ross) Jolliffe, was born December 18, 1751, in Frederick county, Virginia. He commanded a company in the Fourth Virginia Regiment; was stationed with his regi- ment at Suffolk, Virginia, and later was with General Wash- ington's army before New York. He participated in the en- gagements and skirmishes of the American army during that eventful year. He fell a victim to the scourge of smallpox, which proved fatal to so many at Morristown, New Jersey,


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in the year 1776, in his twenty-sixth year. In recognition of his srevices his heirs received from the State of Virginia a tract of land situate in the Northwestern Territory of the United States, upon the waters of the Scioto river, containing 2,666 2/3 acres, which was located by virtue of a military war- rant, August 2, 1787. Although born in the Quaker faith, he was married out of meeting by a Methodist minister to Mary Dragoo, the beautiful daughter of Peter Dragoo, a neighbor. Children: John, mentioned below; and William.


(VI) John (2) Jolliffe, son of Captain John (1) and Mary (Dragoo) Jolliffe, was born on the Red House Planta- tion, Frederick county, Virginia, February 26, 1775. He in- herited all his father's estate, as well as the military warrant of nearly three thousand acres, and in addition a large amount of property from relatives who died without natural heirs, making him one of the richest men in Virginia in land, slaves and money. He was a justice in Frederick county in 1801, and served a short time as captain in the War of 1812. He married at Winchester, Virginia, Frances Helm, daughter of Colonel Meredith Helm, of Belville Farm, Frederick county, March 10, 1807. She was born June 24, 1787. Children : 1. Meredith Helm, married Margaret Hopkins. 2. Lavinia, married Samuel Hopkins. 3. William, married Catherine Newby, of Clark county, Virginia. 4. Selina, married Wil- liam Overall, of Virginia. 5. Amos, married Mary Jones, of Virginia. 6. James, married Ann Overall, of Virginia. 7. Edward C., married Virginia Page, of Vrginia. 8. Frances Helm, married James E. Tyson (see Tyson VI).


JOHN HENRY THOMAS


THE fame of John Henry Thomas was won in general law practice, but it was as an admiralty lawyer that he gained national reputation. He very frequently appeared in notable cases in the federal courts, the Court of Appeals and in the Supreme Court of the United States, and in himself repre- sented the best traditions of the Maryland bar. His long life of seventy-four years was devoted to the practice of law, his term of service at the Baltimore bar overlapping a full half century of years. The highest sense of personal and pro- fessional honor marked that and every period of his life, while a fine courtesy and dignity of manner were distinguishing characteristics. For thirty-five years he was a law partner of S. Teacle Wallis, with whom his name is inseparably as- sociated in Baltimore's judicial annals. Mr. Thomas was one of those courageous, intensely public-spirited citizens, who never seeking the honors or distinctions of public life, yet never fail, especially in times of public trial and difficulty, to respond promptly and fearlessly to every call of duty. His reward came in the love and esteem of his fellow citizens, the consciousness of duty well performed and in unvarying re- spect in which his high legal attainment was held by his pro- fessional brethren of bench and bar. He was a son of Dr. William Thomas, whose estate "Cremona" is in St. Mary's county, Maryland.


John Henry Thomas was born at "Cremona," St. Mary's county, Maryland, July 4, 1824, died in Baltimore, July 14, 1898. After completing all courses at "Charlotte Hall," St. Mary's county, he came to Baltimore and pursued courses of study at St. Mary's Seminary on Paca street. He then went to Princeton College, once the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University. He was a member of the famous class


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of 1844, of which so many later rose to eminence. Among his intimates of the class were Dr. Charles Shields, Noah Hunt Schenk, Alfred H. Colquitt of Georgia, Carolus Wood- ruff and James Clark Welling. At Princeton Mr. Thomas, who was but twenty at graduation, displayed that clearness of mind, quick perception, strong reasoning power and ora- torical ability, which later so distinguished his legal work. He ranked with the best debaters of the college and ended his course with high honors in scholarship.


After graduation, in 1844, Mr. Thomas returned to Balti- .more and later in the year began the study of law under the preceptorship of S. Teacle Wallis. His natural talents were in accord with the profession he had chosen and he made rapid progress. Mr. Wallis conceived so high an opinion of the young man's ability that when he was appointed special en- voy to Spain by the Government, he encouraged Mr. Thomas to take an examination, although it had been his intention to spend a year longer in preparatory study. He successfully passed the ordeal of examination, was admitted to the bar and taken into partnership with his former preceptor. During the early period of the partnership, Mr. Wallis was kept in Europe by his diplomatic duties, Mr. Thomas managing the law business of the firm. After Mr. Wallis returned from Europe the real partnership began, which continued for thirty-five years, terminating about the year 1881. From that time until his death in 1898 Mr. Thomas practiced alone, his activity continuing until his last illness. Wallis & Thomas became one of the best known and most successful law firms of Baltimore, and after the dissolution Mr. Thomas maintained the same high standards. He enjoyed a very large admiralty practice and in that branch of his profession ranked with the very ablest lawyers of the country. He appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States in a large number of MD .- 16


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cases, the records of that court showing that he was one of the ablest counselors who argued before it, and that he therein lost but one case. He defended Mrs. Wharton in the two trials in which she was the defendant charged with the murder of General Ketchum and the attempted murder of Eugene Van Ness. The first is one of the celebrated cases of Mary- land jurisprudence, Mr. Thomas being associated with I. Nevett Steele and Judge A. B. Hagner for the defense. His speech to the jury was one of the crowning efforts of his career and is yet spoken of where olden time lawyers congregate. Mrs. Wharton was acquitted and retained the same counsel in her trial for the attempted murder of Mr. Van Ness, that trial also resulting in her acquittal. At a later period he represent- ed the Maryland Steamboat Company in the investigation of the "Joppa-Gleam" accident in which Harrison Garrett of Baltimore lost his life. He was also counsel for the North German Lloyd Steamship Company, the Allan Line and for a number of other important corporations.


Mr. Thomas was a lifelong Democrat, but never took an active part in politics, except upon one or two occasions when his instincts were aroused against disorder and lawlessness or aid in some much needed reform. He was closely identi- fied with the reform movement in 1859, when the first meet- ing of what was then the reform party was held at his house. He "stumped" the State at that time, and worked with other prominent men to overthrow the rule and break the power of the "Know Nothing" party. He was a candidate during that year for attorney-general on the reform party ticket against Milton Whitney. In 1882 he took a prominent part in the "new judge" movement, and his speech to an immense crowd at Concordia Hall was regarded as the ablest of that cam- paign.


Mr. Thomas married, in 1851, Miss Mary T. Leiper,


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daughter of Judge George Gray Leiper of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, member of Congress, 1829-1831, and for many years lay associate judge for Delaware county, and there he died November 17, 1868.


Judge Leiper was a son of Thomas Leiper, born in Strathaven, Lanark, Scotland, December 15, 1745, came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1763, became very wealthy, was a member of the First City Troop, and rendered effi- cient service as an officer of the Revolution. He was a promi- nent Democrat, presidential elector, director of the Pennsyl- vania and United States banks, United States commissioner for the defence of Philadelphia in 1812, president of Phila- delphia Common Council, and in 1824 one of the first officers of the Franklin Institute. He died in Delaware county, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1825.


John Henry and Mary T. (Leiper) Thomas were the parents of a son, George Leiper Thomas, deceased, and a daughter, Eliza Snowden Thomas, now residing in Baltimore. George Leiper Thomas, the only son of John Henry Thomas, was born in Baltimore and there died sixty years later, Sep- tember 10, 1912. After preparation in Baltimore institutions he finished his education abroad, receiving degrees from uni- versities in Germany and Switzerland. On his return to the United States he pursued further courses at the University of Virginia, receiving from that institution the degree Bachelor of Arts at graduation. Deciding upon the legal profession he entered the law department of the University of Maryland, whence he was graduated with high honors LL.B. After completing so thorough a course of preparation he was ad- mitted to the Baltimore bar and for many years he was as- sociated with his honored father in practice. He was a man of cultured tastes, with a high sense of personal and profes- sional honor and the center of a wide circle of intimate


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friends. He was a member of many societies, but quiet and reserved in nature and sought no political distinction. He never married, but with his sister, Miss Thomas, maintained a hospitable home in Baltimore.


Dr. William Thomas of "Cremona" was a brother of James Thomas, a Governor of Maryland, major of the Fourth Maryland Regiment Cavalry during the War of 1812 and brevet major-general, six times member of the Maryland Legislature, Governor, 1833-1835. Another brother, Richard Thomas, was a member of the House of Representatives, and speaker, State Senator and president of the Senate. The father of these sons, William Thomas, was the youngest son of John Thomas of Charles county, Maryland, a member of the House of Delegates, major of militia and a member of the Revolution- ary Committee of Safety. William Thomas married Cather- ine Boàrman, a granddaughter of Roger Brooke, a prominent descendant of Commodore Robert Brooke of the Patuxent, who in 1650 came over with forty servants as his bodyguard and built first "De La Brooke," but afterward moved to Brook Place."


Dr. William and Catherine (Boarman) Thomas were the grandparents of John Henry Thomas of Baltimore. Leon- ard Calvert's daughter, Ann, married, about 1664, Baker Brooke of "De La Brooke." Their daughter was the mother of Catherine Boarman.


le Ht. franley.


CHARLES HARVEY STANLEY


THE gentleman of the old school is not a myth, although


the originals are now becoming very rare. With the pass- ing of Charles Harvey Stanley, of Laurel, Maryland, in the closing days of 1913, one of the true type of "old school" politicians and gentlemen disappeared from earthly view, but the memory of his life is green and will ever live in Mary- land annals, and in the hearts of his fellowmen. Said Gov- ernor Crothers who appointed him State comptroller: "He was one of the best public officials I ever knew." Everybody in Southern Maryland knew him, and in Central Maryland almost everybody, but to "Southern Maryland" he "belonged," one of that rapidly disappearing "before the war" type, posi- tive in his convictions, ready to fight for them to the end, rigid as a steel bar in carrying out the responsibilities of any trust imposed either by the people or his friends, yet so kind- ly hearted that no greater pleasure was his than helping a friend over a rough part of life's pathway.


Although of Connecticut birth, Mr. Stanley was a descend- ant of John Stanley, a younger son of the Earl of Derby, who came in 1653, and the following year became surveyor of the colony, Maryland. A descendant of John Stanley settled in North Carolina, and there John Wright Stanley fought for the cause of liberty, and is revered as one of North Carolina's Revolutionary patriots. John Wright Stanley's son was clerk of Craven county, North Carolina, court for fifty-four years, that son being the father of Rev. Harvey Stanley, a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal church, father of Charles Harvey Stanley to whose memory this review of a noble life is dedi- cated. Mr. Stanley's cousin, Edward Stanley, was a member of Congress from North Carolina, and a great-uncle, John Stanley, was for many years president of the North Carolina


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State Senate. Rev. Harvey Stanley, father of Charles Harvey Stanley, was born in North Carolina, married Mary Anne Kinne, a daughter of Charles R. Kinne, who in early life moved from New York to North Carolina, there engaging in the practice of law. Charles R. Kinne was a brother of Wil- liam Kinne, editor of "Kinne's Blackstone." Rev. Harvey Stanley settled with his family in Prince Georges county, Maryland, when his son, Charles Harvey Stanley, was a boy, and there his after life was spent.


Charles Harvey Stanley was born in Saybrook, Connecti- cut, October 20, 1842, died at his home, at Laurel, Prince George's county, Maryland, December 20, 1913. His parents moved to that county, in 1851, and there he obtained a good education in local schools and under private tutors. When the questions which finally led to war between the North and the South were under discussion, he became greatly inter- ested, and when the break came, cast his lot with the South, and until Lee's Surrender, rode, fought and suffered with Company B, of the First Regiment, Maryland Cavalry.


Returning to Prince Georges' county, in 1865, Mr. Stanley taught school and studied law, having as law preceptor, General Thomas Bowie. He filled the dual role of teacher and student until January 17, 1869, and then was admitted to the Mary- land bar. Up to this period of his life, Mr. Stanley had been used to an out-of-door life, having grown up in the county, was familiar with all sorts of farm work, and fond of hunt- ing and fishing, but inordinately fond of flowers. His three years as a cavalryman had hardened his body, but not his nature, and he bent himself to his ambition, a professional career, with a firm resolve to gain a profession and make a home for those depending upon him, which was one of the objects he ever kept in view, believing, as he once wrote: "A man without a home is little more than a brute." In boy-


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hood, he had realized that success only came through applica- tion. His resolution to make a position for himself held him true from boyhood, and when he was admitted to the bar in 1869, he brought to the profession a learned, clear, clean mind, and a body trained to work and not to falter. Mr. Stanley's career at the bar was one of honorable success. As a lawyer, he was sound and able, having a large clientele in Prince George's county, Baltimore and Washington, and he won from his profession both fame and fortune. He was learned in the law, and loyal to the strictest ethical tenets of his profession, despising subterfuge, or any attempt to befog an issue. He held his professional honor as sacred as his private honor, and he was regarded as one of the fairest, but most to be dreaded, opponents. He made a client's cause his own, and to that cause gave himself without reserve.


With the passing years Mr. Stanley acquired other inter- ests, business and political. He was the principal factor in the organization of the Citizens National Bank of Laurel, in the year 1890, and was president of that successful institution from the time of its organization until his death. He was a State di- rector of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company for several years, and had landed and business interests of importance. He was a trustee of the Maryland Agricultural College from 1882, and charter member of the Farmers' Club of Prince George's county. Educational affairs held a deep and sincere interest for him. He gave freely of his time and thought to the de- velopment of the county public school system, and to the Maryland Agricultural College, of which he had been a di- rector for many years. He realized the possibilities of the college as few public men did, and he was ready to support any movement tending to any increase in the institution's useful- ness. In his politics Mr. Stanley was as uncompromising as in his private life. He was a Democrat from principle, and


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loved his party with the devotion of a son for his father, and followed his party's flag wherever it led. Yet he was not a reactionary, he would follow, but he wanted his party to go the right way, and he believed firmly in the rule of the people. He made his first appearance in public official life in 1882, when he was elected a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, serving three years. From 1890 to 1894, he was mayor of the town of Laurel, president of the school board commissioners of Prince George's county from 1901 until 1911. His faith in the people was made very plain at the time he became a candidate for the Congressional nomina- tion from the Fifth Maryland District in 1912. He had an- nounced early in the year that he would be a candidate if the Legislature passed the Direct Primary law before then, being the first man in the State to make his candidacy contingent upon the passing of that law. He was unsuccessful in the primary and the honor went to another. Shortly afterward, Governor Crothers appointed him comptroller of the State to succeed William B. Clagett, also of Prince George's county, who had died in office. Mr. Stanley announced at the time of taking the office that he would not be a candidate to suc- ceed himself, a voluntary promise which was kept. He was a perfect martinet in that office, spending a great deal of time at his office in the State house at Annapolis, and insisting upon being advised of the details of the work. He revolutionized methods used for making payments through his office, flatly refusing to allow payments unless the requisitions stated speci- fically the nature of the outlay, and were prepared with strict regard for the law, and for safe accounting.


In religion Mr. Stanley was of the faith of his fathers, and a vestryman of the Episcopal church of his town, the first chancellor of the diocese of Washington, which position he held until his death, and a member of the standing commit-


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tee of the diocese from its organization. He was a member, and a pastmaster, of Laurel Wreath Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted . Masons; was a member of the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons; and a grand inspector of the Grand Lodge of Maryland.


Mr. Stanley married, November 26, 1871, Ella Lee Hodges, of Anne Arundel county, Maryland, who died in September, 1881. He married (second) in September, 1884, Margaret Snowden, daughter of John Snowden, of Prince George's county, who survived her husband with six children ; Harvey; Charles Harvey (2); William; John; Margaret Snowden, and Elizabeth Hopkins, wife of James G. Boss, Jr. Thus in honor and usefulness Mr. Stanley's years, seventy-one, were passed, and at their close he went to his reward unafraid, but with a serene reliance upon the teachings of "the Book" which had long been one of his closest literary friends.


HENRY LONGITUDE SEAL OULD


HENRY LONGITUDE SEAL OULD, a son of Henry


and Jane Ould, was born February 2, 1793, in Devonshire, England, and died in Georgetown, District of Columbia. His father was a mathematician and man of great inventive genius, and became celebrated as the originator of the "Graphor," an instrument for reckoning longitude, and for the publication of a book on the subject. Hadley is said to have used the Graphor in 1791. To his son he gave the name of "Longi- tude," to commemorate the invention of this instrument, and added the name "Seal" on account of the British seal attached to it, an honor conferred upon him for his useful invention.


Henry L. S. Ould was educated under the English school- master, Joseph Lancaster, who originated a system of primary education known as the Lancastrian or Monitorial system, the principal feature of which was the instruction of younger pupils by the more advanced students, called monitors. This method of instruction found considerable favor in the United States in the early days of the nineteenth century, and a school was organized in Georgetown, District of Columbia. It was claimed in favor of this system that it allowed more time for recreation than under the old rigid rules then in vogue in the district schools, and besides was much cheaper, one teacher being able to supervise the instruction, it was said, of as many as three hundred pupils in the same class. This system, long since discarded, deserved the credit of causing the education of the masses to be looked upon as a thing attainable, and was without doubt the origin of our present free school system. In the year 1811 Mr. Lancaster was asked to send to this country an able teacher of the system. He chose two very capable young gentlemen, Mr. Robert Ould, and his brother, Mr. Henry L. S. Ould, both of whom came to Georgetown with


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the highest recommendations. They became naturalized Americans, lived long and useful lives, and died highly re- spected and beloved in the communities in which they resided. In response to a letter requesting him to send a schoolmaster to Georgetown, Joseph Lancaster writes :


On looking over all my schools I found but one young man answering the description, that was willing to go, and he was unwilling to leave England without his brother, a brother bound to him in affection from infancy, and to whom he has been a foster parent since the decease of his mother. Both young men have quitted respectable situations (Robert was librarian of the London Library and Henry was associated with the Bank of Wales), and connections to embark in your cause ; they are in every respect worthy of your countenance and protection to which I commend them. The elder, Robert Ould, as well as his brother, Henry Ould, have been my pupils at an early age. I have been in frequent intercourse with them since they left school. They have lived amongst my friends, so that in every respect I can speak of their merits and characters on gratifying evidence of the most satisfactory kind. I trust it will be as great a pleasure to you to receive them as it is to me to recommend them to your protection.


During the War of 1812, both these gentlemen being British subjects and liable to be pressed into England's service, withdrew from Georgetown to Montgomery county, Mary- land, where Robert Ould married Pauline Riggs Gaither, and became the father of Judge Robert Ould, of Richmond, Vir- ginia. It is said that Henry Ould was at one time very much in love with Ann Riggs Gaither, at least he preserved some poems writen and signed by her that bear the date of 1815. Inscribed upon tiny sheets of paper and written in a delicate feminine hand, they are still treasured by his descendants. Subsequently he met the bewitching Elizabeth Cloud Peirce, and fell desperately in love with her, and lost no time in storm- ing the citadel of her affections, as is attested by his eloping with her shortly afterward.


The Peirce family is one of the oldest Quaker families of the Middle States, and the coat-of-arms is as follows :


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Arms-Argent, a fesse humettee gules, between three ravens rising sable. Crest-A parrot, in its beak an amulet.




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