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 7
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
Mr. Stabler married, February 14, 1877, Carrie E., daughter of Dr. Robert Semple, of Philadelphia, and three children were born to them. The mother of these children died in 1886, and Mr. Stabler married, March 21, 1894, Ellen W., daughter of Rev. Horace Dean Walker, of New York. Of this marriage there was no issue.
Mr. Jordan Stabler, the subject of this narrative, was a representative of the prominent merchant to whom business is but one phase of existence, not excluding active participation in other vital interests which go to make up human existence. He was a type of the Baltimore merchant of whom his city is justly proud, whose enterprise and integrity not only develop its commerce, but give it an enviable reputation for fair deal- ing and honorable methods. It is such men who lay, deep and strong, the foundation on which is reared the fair structure of a great city's financial prosperity. He died in his native city, June 20, 1916.
GEORGE FREDERICK PATTERSON
THE THE American career of George F. Patterson, extending over a period of thirty-four years, 1880-1914, was passed in the city of Baltimore, in connection with the shipping interests of the city. He came to Baltimore the matured man of forty, his boyhood, youth and early manhood all having been spent in an atmosphere of ship building and the shipping business. In fact, his coming to the United States was in the interest of a shipping firm, and the firm he founded in Balti- more became one of the most important and best known along the Atlantic seaboard. The name Patterson was a very promi- nent one in marine circles in England, and it is interesting to note in connection with the life of George F. Patterson, of Baltimore, that he was a son of William Patterson, of Bristol, England, who may be called the "father" of steam navigation on the Atlantic.
William Patterson was president of the Great Western Steamship Company of Bristol, the company which among others built the paddle steamer "Great Western," designed by Brunel, one of the greatest architects of that time, and which proved to be a historic ship, the first Atlantic steamer, of 1340 tons measurement, 120 feet long and 35 feet beam. She was launched July 19, 1837, and sailed from Kingroad for New York, April 8, 1838, which port she reached after an uneventful voyage of fifteen days ten hours. The Bristol ship exceeded the most sanguine expectations. She easily made her ten miles an hour, as Brunel proposed, and instead of burning 1480 tons of coal, as savants had calculated, she went home at a cost of 392 tons. Great excitement prevailed on both sides of the Atlantic, and a crowd of one hundred thou- sand cheered the ship as she left New York. The "Great Britain," another celebrated ship designed by Brunel and
George F. Paterw
RARY
. AND
87
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
built by the Great Western Steamship Company, was of 3,000 tons and launched by His Royal Highness the Prince Con- sort, July 19, 1843. She was the first screw steamer built for the Atlantic. The "Great Britain" is today still doing service, being used as a wool storage warehouse in the Falkland Islands. After building several other well-known merchant ships, Mr. Patterson built many gun boats for the British government, which proved valuable additions to the navy.
George Frederick Patterson, son of William Patterson, was born in Bristol, England, May 24, 1840, died in Balti- more, Maryland, February 13, 1914. He was well educated in Bristol schools, and in his early life gained a familiarity with ships and the shipping business, through association with his father, who was heavily interested in ship building and operation. When still a young man he entered the shipping firm of Gibbs, Bright & Son, of Liverpool, later transferring his services to William Johnston & Company, Ltd., continuing with the latter firm of ship owners and shipping merchants until the year 1880. He had, during the years which had passed, gained complete and comprehensive knowledge of the details of the business as conducted by William Johnston & Company, and in 1880 he was sent with Robert Ramsay to act as representative of the Johnston line of Atlantic steamers in Baltimore. The firm of Patterson, Ramsay & Company, steamship agents and brokers, was formed in Baltimore, and through that house, which became widely and favorably known, steamers were loaded at Baltimore, not only for the Johnston line, but for other lines trading with the principal ports of Great Britain and the Continent. The offices of the company became the center of the foreign shipping business of Baltimore, and the tonnage shipped through their agency was enormous. Mr. Patterson continued at the head of the company he founded until 1907, when he retired, having
88
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
reached the age of sixty-seven years, and won the right by an unintermitted business career covering nearly half a century.
His business in Baltimore brought him into intimate relation with financiers and leading mercantile men of the city, and in such circles he was regarded as a man of highest ability, while his every business transaction was marked by the strictest observance of the principles of honor and fair dealing. He was one of the best known business men of the city, and was universally respected. Broad in his sympathy, genial and courteous in manner, he attracted both young and old. He was a member of the Maryland, Merchants and Baltimore Country clubs. After his retirement from business he resided in Roland Park.
ALBERT RITCHIE
T HE State of Maryland has been happy in the services of many 'able and upright men upon the bench, and none have been more dearly beloved, respected and esteemed, or more faithful and efficient, than Albert Ritchie, who was born September 7, 1834, in Frederick, Maryland, the son of Albert Ritchie, a prominent physician of that place.
Albert Ritchie was educated at Dickinson College, Car- lisle, Pennsylvania, and the University of Virginia, from whose law school he was graduated in 1856. He was imme- diately admitted to the bar at Frederick, and two years later settled at Baltimore, where he was admitted May 9, 1859. For nearly half a century his home was in Baltimore, and for a quarter of a century he was one of the most active mem- bers of the bar of that city. Mr. Ritchie lived without re- proach, and at his death left to his family and friends the greatest legacy possible in his personal character and high standing. It has been said of him that he was "without fear and without reproach." "No man can have a higher ambi- tion than that, and to achieve such an aim, to have it recog- nized by his fellow men, forms an imperishable heritage." His legal attainments quickly won for him a place which was strengthened and advanced by the passing years. To the principles of law he gave earnest and patient study, and he never undertook a case until he was satisfied of its inherent justice. When satisfied upon that point, to the conduct of the case he gave most careful and painstaking preparation, and entered upon its conduct with zeal and energy, regardless of any emoluments which it might bring to him. "His time, his learning and his strength were as earnestly given to one from whom no reward but gratitude could be expected as to his wealthiest client." In 1888 he was chosen president of
90
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
the Bar Association of Baltimore, testifying to the regard in which he was held by his contemporaries.
Very early in life he began to give attention to political matters, and he was much in the public service. In 1867 Mr. Ritchie took a prominent part in the proceedings of the State Constitutional Convention, and from 1872 to 1876 he was city solicitor. In 1880 and 1881 he was president of the board of supervisors of elections, and was again at the head of the city's law department during the terms of Mayors Davidson and Latrobe. He was still in this office when he was appointed by Governor Brown to fill out the unexpired term of Judge William A. Stewart, an associate judge of the supreme bench of Baltimore. This service began September 24, 1892, and at the election in the following November he was elected for a full term of fifteen years. In 1888 he was a delegate to the Democratic national convention in St. Louis, at which President Cleveland was nominated.
For several years preceding Judge Ritchie's death, which occurred September 14, 1903, at Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, he was president of the Maryland Historical Society. In this he felt a deep interest and contributed many essays and articles on the early history of the State, the first build- ings of Baltimore, and other kindred subjects. At the expira- tion of the term of Chief Judge William Brown, of the supreme bench, he was urged by his friends to accept an appointment as Judge Brown's successor, but declined. The Baltimore "Sun" said : "Judge Ritchie was distinguished not only for his great ability as a lawyer and his zeal as a student, but for the dignity which he believed should pertain to the high office he held, and for the kind and courteous manner in which he treated all with whom he came in contact." To the public service he gave the same faithful care that his private business received. "His deep conviction and sense
91
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
of civic obligations would not permit him to stand idly by, or shirk when there was need of voice or pen or brain upon the part of the city or the State. As a private citizen, or in public station, he ever bore the 'full and manly part' and con- tributed much to the general weal. When first tendered a position on the bench he declined it, but four years later, when it was again offered, accepted, and the last decade of his life was devoted to that work. Already have the bench and bar paid a tribute to his worth as a jurist, when the eloquence of the advocate had been succeeded by the impartiality and industry of the judge. His work during this period of his life is so recent, so well known of all men, that it needs only to be said, that on the bench, Albert Ritchie perpetuated in his own person, not one, but all of the best traditions of the bar and bench of this State, which have made the annals of the legal profession one of the brightest pages in Maryland's history."
To him official position of any sort was not an idle honor, and was viewed in the light of an extended opportunity for work. In 1896 and again in 1900 he read before the Maryland Historical Society papers on "The Early County Seats and Court Houses of Baltimore County," a most valu- able addition to the annals of the community. "His was a rounded manhood, in which the best qualities of brain and heart were developed in equable proportion to each other. Having almost reached the allotted span of life, it was his fortune to fall ere decay had shown itself in any of the traits which evoked the admiration and affection of those who knew him." The following resolutions were adopted by the Maryland Historical Society :
I. Resolved, That in the death of Judge Albert Ritchie, President of this Society, we recognize the loss of one who has long and faithfully labored for the advancement of learning, and the promotion of the best interests
92
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
of our State, and who, by his gentle courtesy, had endeared himself to each one of us.
2. Resolved, That we regard his demise as a misfortune to this commun- ity, in which he had so long and unselfishly toiled for high ideals and the uplifting of humanity.
3. Resolved, That we, by this means, express to his bereaved family our profound and heartfelt sympathy with them in their affliction, that their sorrow may be lightened by the sharing of it.
4. Resolved, That a copy of the memorial minute reported by the com- mittee and of these resolutions be sent to his family, and that they be recorded among the proceedings of this meeting.
Speaking of Judge Ritchie's death, the late John P. Poe, one of Baltimore's most prominent lawyers, said :
In Judge Ritchie, Baltimore has lost one of her ablest legal lights. Gifted with great legal learning, he was an admirable justice. He was a man of deliberation, most careful in reaching conclusions, and capable of arriving at and of expressing his opinions clearly. His manner on the bench would be indeed hard to improve upon. Always courteous and patient, he was firm in his desire to have the questions before him fully argued. Judge Ritchie was well versed in practice and procedure. He was an admirable lawyer. Before going to the bench he was an excellent speaker, and was always thoroughly prepared when a case he was interested in came up. He also was a frequent contributor to the press on political affairs. Judge Ritchie's connection with the Law School of the University of Maryland was pleasant and his talents were appreciated by the students. His com- mercial law lectures there are remembered well by many of the young lawyers of the city and State. We of the University especially deplore his loss. I knew Judge Ritchie intimately for about forty-five years, and I know him always to have been strong and dignified.
The late William S. Bryan said of him :
Judge Ritchie was one of the strongest pillars of the Baltimore courts. In many ways he was the strongest. His knowledge of practice and pro- cedure was greater than many jurists often acquire and he was better versed on precedents and analogous cases than is usual in men of his position. Judge Ritchie was a patient listener and always grasped the point of argument. Perhaps there are some who grasped the point more quickly, but certainly
93
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
there was none who took more care to absorb the full import of the case in hand and to have both sides thrashed out well before decision was rendered.
The late Edgar H. Gans said of him :
One of the best judges the city ever had was Judge Ritchie. His pro- fessional life was characterized by an infinite amount of patience. He never decided a case against anyone without first having a full hearing on both sides. He was levelheaded, of strong common sense, and possessed a great learning of law. Many judges are inclined to be impatient at times. Judge Ritchie was never impatient. I have never argued a case before a judge more willing and more anxious to listen and to have brought out absolutely all the evidence in any case which might at the time be in hand. He was very approachable. Although ever dignified, he was affable and sociable when approaching upon matters relating to cases in law. It will be very hard to supply the place he has vacated.
Extracts from Baltimore "American":
Hon. Albert Ritchie was a native of Frederick county, Maryland, a son of Dr. Albert Ritchie, a distinguished physician and was born in 1834. He studied law with his brother, Hon. John Ritchie, chief judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, and also at the Law School of the University of Virginia, from which he graduated in 1856. He was shortly afterward admitted to the Frederick bar, and in 1858 came to Baltimore, where he was also admitted to practice on May 9, 1859. On the expiration of Chief Judge George Brown's term Mr. Ritchie was asked to accept the appointment as chief judge, but he declined the honor, and the Hon. Henry D. Hatlan was appointed, being subsequently elected to fill that office. Judge Ritchie was a lawyer of distinguished ability, a hard student, methodical and painstaking in securing the fullest information concerning the cases which came before him for judicial determination both as regards the law and the facts, and having once arrived at an adjudication, was rarely reversed by the appellate tribunal. As a judge he was the personification of the dignity which he believed should always attach to that office, a gentleman at all times and under all circumstances, courteous to the extreme and, withal, social and gracious in his manner to each and everyone with whom he came in contact.
Judge Ritchie married, October 27, 1875, at St. Paul's Church, Richmond, Virginia, Elizabeth Caskie Cabell, born
94
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
May 1, 1851, in Richmond, daughter of Robert Gamble and Margaret Sophia (Caskie) Cabell, of that city. Judge and Mrs. Ritchie were the parents of a son, Albert Cabell Ritchie, born August 29, 1876, now a prominent attorney at the bar of Baltimore, and attorney general of Maryland.
Mrs. Ritchie is descended from Nicholas and Rachel Cabell, who lived in Warminster, near Bristol, England. Their son, Dr. William Cabell, born March 9, 1699, in War- minster, graduated from the Royal College of Medicine and Surgery in London, and engaged in practice there. Enter- ing the British navy as surgeon, the vessel on which he sailed landed at Norfolk, Virginia, and was detained there some days, during which time he made an excursion into the interior of the State. Being very much pleased with the country, he decided to settle there, returned to England, resigned his posi- tion in the navy, and came to Virginia about 1723. For some time he resided in St. James' Parish, of Henrico county, where he is found of record as early as 1726, and where he served as deputy sheriff. He removed to Licking Hole Creek in the upper part of the present Goochland county, and in 1728-29 was justice of the county court, member of the grand jury in 1728, and coroner in 1729. It is interesting to note that nearly all financial transactions in that day were reckoned in pounds of tobacco. He was the first Englishman to remove west of the mouth of Rockfish river, where he entered a great deal of land, and on September 12, 1738, received from Governor Gooch a patent of forty-eight hundred acres, and ten days later four hundred and forty acres additional. The completing of this patent was managed by his wife during his absence in England. His father died in 1730, and because of his extensive interests in England he was obliged to return to that country, whither he went in 1735, and remained to 1741. His mother died in 1737, and other relatives about the same time, and he was thus detained five years in England
95
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
to settle up his affairs. Soon after his return he received a patent of seven thousand nine hundred and fifty-two acres, and in 1743 an additional twelve hundred acres, and settled at the mouth of Swan creek, where he built a house, mill and warehouse, and established a settlement which he called War- minster, in honor of his native place in England.
Col. Nicholas Cabell, youngest son of Dr. William and Elizabeth (Burks) Cabell, was born October 29, 1750, and baptized December 15, following. He was kept at school from the age of four years and three months, finishing his studies at William and Mary College. He resided with his father until the latter's death, and owned a plantation below the paternal property, extending five miles along the James river, now known as Liberty Hall. He was a captain of militia in the Revolutionary service in 1776, and on June 25, 1778, was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. He was appointed colonel of Amherst county militia in 1780, and saw service in 1781. He was one of the first vestrymen of the parish in 1779, and was a member of the Virginia Society of the Cincinnati. He was justice of the peace of Amherst county, and representative in the State Legislature in 1783- 84-85. In 1785 he was elected to the State Senate, and con- tinued a member of that body until his death in 1803, affiliat- ing with what was then known as the Republican party. He was a trustee of the College of Washington, of Virginia, in 1796-97; was active in establishing George Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and prominent in the Grand Lodge of Free Masons, in which he held various offices.
He married, April 16, 1772, Hannah, daughter of George and Anne (Mayo) Carrington, born March 28, 1751, died August 7, 1817. William H. Cabell, eldest child of Colonel Nicholas Cabell, married Agnes S. B. Gamble, and they were the parents of Robert Gamble Cabell, above mentioned.
LAWRENCE BUCKLEY THOMAS, D.D.
'THE Thomas family, of which Rev. Lawrence Buckley Thomas was descended, is of Welsh origin, and was early established in Maryland. Philip Thomas, son of Evan Thomas, of Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales, removed to America in the year 1651, and settled in the Province of Maryland. On February 19 of that year he received a patent of five hundred acres of land, called Beakely or Beckly, on the west side of Chesapeake bay, in consideration of which "he hath in the year 1651 transplanted himself, Sarah, his wife, Philip, Sarah and Elizabeth, his children, into our province." He was appointed one of the six high commis- sioners of the Provincial Court, and was very active in pro- moting the affairs of the colony. He married, in England, Sarah Harrison, and besides the children previously men- tioned had Martha and Samuel. The last named was born about 1655, and was a minister of the Society of Friends, probably as early as August 4, 1686, when Herring Creek quarterly meetings approved his proposal to attend the yearly meeting at Philadelphia. On April 13, 1688, he was ap- pointed a committee on "drowsiness" by the West River meet- ing. In 1674 a tract of seventy-two acres was surveyed for him on Talbot's Ridge, north side of West river. He mar- ried, May 15, 1688, Mary Hutchins, of Calvert county, Mary- land, who died in July, 1751, having survived him more than eight years. He was deceased at the time she made her will, February 10, 1743. Children: Sarah, born March 31, 1689; Samuel, February 1, 1691 ; Samuel, March 11, 1693; Philip, mentioned below; John, April 15, 1697; Elizabeth, December 28, 1698; Mary, November 6, 1700; Samuel, November 12, 1702; Ann, October 8, 1703; Margaret, 1710.
Philip Thomas, third son of Samuel and Mary (Hutch-
97
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
ins) Thomas, was born March 1, 1694, and was a prominent man in the community and in the province, nearly always en- gaged in public service. He was a member of a committee ap- pointed November 24, 1732, on the part of the West River meeting to prepare an address of welcome to Lord Baltimore, and was a member of the Governor's Council as early as May 20, 1742. On March 13, 1744, he was commissioned judge and register of the land office, and represented Maryland in a treaty with the Indians at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to set- tle the western bounds of the province. He married (first) in March, 1721, Frances Holland, who was the mother of a son, William, born about 1722. He married (second) August 11, 1724, Ann Chew, who died May 20, 1777, having survived her husband more than fifteen years. He died November 23, 1762. Children: Samuel, mentioned below; Philip, born July 3, 1727; Mary, January 1, 1731 ; Elizabeth, March 8, 1733; Richard, July 17, 1736; John, August 26, 1743.
The eldest son of Philip and Ann (Chew) Thomas was Samuel Thomas, born June 12, 1725. He resided at Perry Point, Havre de Grace, on the Susquehanna river, and was proprietor of ferry rights on both sides of the stream. He married, October 23, 1750, his cousin, Mary Thomas, daugh- ter of Samuel and Mary (Snowden) Thomas, who died March 4, 1770. He survived her more than fourteen years, and died July 17, 1784. Children: Ann, born October 2, 1751 ; Philip, August 12, 1753; Samuel, July 20, 1757; Rich- ard Snowden, February 25, 1762; John Chew, mentioned below; Samuel, February 2, 1766; Evan William, February 6, 1769.
John Chew Thomas, fourth son of Samuel and Mary (Thomas) Thomas, was born October 15, 1764, and in his sixteenth year entered the University of Pennsylvania, from MD .- 7
98
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
which he was graduated A.M. in 1783, in his nineteenth year. His home was at "Fairland" in Anne Arundel county, Maryland, which place he sold for fifty thousand dollars. He was an active member of the Society of Friends, a man of very high character, a lawyer by profession, admitted to the bar at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 15, 1787. In early life he was much interested in political matters, and was elected by the Federal party in Maryland as representa- tive to the Congress of 1799-1801. While in that body in the last named year he took part in the election of President, which was consummated after three days of intensive excite- ment with thirty-five ballots, resulting in the election of Thomas Jefferson, and the transfer of the government to the Republican party. He declined a re-election to Congress, and gave his attention to the active practice of his profession. He appears to have lost his membership in the Friends Society because of marrying out of meeting and to a slaveholder. His wife and five children were admitted as members of the So- ciety, September 20, 1811, and on February 12 following he manumitted his slaves and applied for a reinstatement. Before August 7 of that year he was again received into membership, and was appointed clerk of the Indian meeting, February 21, 1817. He died at his residence in Ridley, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1836. He married, September 18, 1788, Mary Snowden, daughter and heiress of Richard and Eliza (Rut- land) Snowden, of Fairland, Anne Arundel county. She survived him more than eight years, and died November 13, 1844. Children: Mary Ann, born January 23, 1790; Ann Snowden, March 13, 1791; Eliza Snowden, August 8, 1792; Samuel, March 28, 1794; Thomas Snowden, February 19, 1796; John Chew, August 21, 1797, died young; Henrietta Maria, July 30, 1799; Mary Snowden, September 22, 1801; John Chew, mentioned below; Dr. Richard Henry, June 20,
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.