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 II > Part 17
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 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
564
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
president of the American Colonization Society. He aided his effective work in this direction by no less effective publi- cations and addresses in various other States, and was devoted to the scheme throughout his life. He was invited by the King of Belgium in 1876 to represent the United States at the meet- ing called by the king at Brussels, with a view to organizing an International Association for the Exploration of Africa, and when this was effected Mr. Latrobe was elected president of the American branch.
Political honors had very little attraction for him. Al- though nominated by the Democratic party in 1829, at a time when the city had but two representatives, Mr. Latrobe de- clined the honor. His reason for this course of procedure was that his professional duties demanded his attention to the ex- clusion of political matters. As an inventor he is best known through the "Latrobe Stove," also known under the name of "The Parlor Heater," and a variety of appellations, which is in familiar use throughout the United States. He was in especial demand as a patent lawyer, as his knowledge of mechanical principles gave him an advantage not to be over- looked. He organized and incorporated the telegraph com- pany over whose lines the first telegraphic message was sent, and by means of introducing Morse to President Harrison of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, succeeded in in- teresting the latter in the new idea. He had a very peculiar and practical theory about utilizing scraps of time, which very many people allow to go to waste, and this was the secret of his being able to accomplish what seem to be almost marvel- lous results. He was eighty years of age when he purchased a typewriter and learned to use it with a fair amount of rapidity.
The honors showered upon Mr. Latrobe and the offices he held are almost numberless. He delivered the address at the laying of the cornerstone of the Masonic Temple in 1866, was
565
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
chosen grand master of the fraternity four years later, and was re-elected for nine successive years, when he declined another re-election. When the cornerstone of the new City Hall was laid in 1867, he was chosen to make the address, and was selected by the citizens of Baltimore to receive it from the building committee. He was appointed commissioner from Maryland to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and so active was his work in the commission up to the close of the exhibition that the thanks of the Society for the Better Observance of the Sabbath were tendered him for having been instrumental in closing the Exposition on Sun- days. He was a member of the Board of Visitors of the Mary- land Hospital for the Insane, and was later chosen vice-presi- dent, an office he filled many years. He was one of the foun- ders, and president, of the Maryland Historical Society, and one of the regents of the University of Maryland. As chair- man of the Public Park Commission, his work was of a most excellent character. He served as president of the Maryland Academy of Art until its collections were transferred to the Peabody Institute, and it was due to his efforts that the casts were obtained which are now in the gallery of the Maryland Historical Society. For many years he was president of the "Proprietors of the Greenmount Estate," and was one of the original purchasers with a view to turning it to its present purpose.
Mr. Latrobe married (first) Maria, daughter of Dr. James Steuart, of Baltimore; (second) Charlotte Virginia, daughter of Ferdinand Leigh Claiborne, of Mississippi.
Editorially one of the Baltimore papers said of Mr. Lat- robe, in part:
Maryland has possessed in this country no man who accomplished so much in so many different directions as John H. B. Latrobe. To have done one of a dozen things that he did would have been more than one man in a
566
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
thousand achieves in a lifetime. To have done all that he did, was to crowd a long and noble career so full of achievements that its retrospect seems an almost impossible record. In reviewing his life it is difficult to decide whether to bestow the higher praise on the thoroughness with which he did each thing, or on the facility with which he did all things, and the only way out of the embarrassment is to admire the universality of his ability, the wonderful endurance of his mental and physical powers, and the unflagging steadiness of his purpose. The lifework of such a man is his best eulogy. He achieved fortune and fame outside of politics by the pure force of his ability and integrity. Labor was to him both duty and pleasure. He aimed at success, and he succeeded, and with it all he maintained the purity and rectitude of his character, and left a reputation which should be an incentive and an en- couragement to every young man. It was a noble life, nobly lived.
-
CA NE ! PUBLIC LIBE
STOR, LENOX AI ILDEN MUNDATT
All. Morgenthaler.
OTTMAR MERGENTHALER
T THE invention which the world knows as the Mergenthaler
Linotype, the creation of the brain of Ottmar Mergen- thaler, a man of genius, who by this invention has established his claim as one of the great emancipators of modern times, is one of the strangest in the world in many respects, the strangest being the fact that this wonderful and intricate machine by which type is set, cast line by line, ready for the press, and the type redistributed, is the invention of a man who never set type in his life and never worked in a printer's office. For over four centuries type had been set by hand, the business was a prosperous one and there seemed no stimulus for the invention of a type setting machine, but nevertheless Mr. Mergenthaler conceived the idea of one. Lack of funds for a time handicapped him, but nothing discouraged him, and finally, in 1885, he was able to announce his invention as com- pleted. All the world now knows the name "Mergenthaler"; it is known wherever newspaper offices are found, and the revo- lution the linotype has wrought in these offices and other printing establishments was so comparatively peaceful that its magnitude was not, perhaps, and is not yet fully realized. The adoption of the linotype was for a time fought by the in- terested unions, but time proved that the benefit to be derived from the machine extended to the manufacturer, printer and purchaser of the printed page everywhere. The invention of Mr. Mergenthaler, who was a German by birth, was due entirely to American influences. Freedom of thought and action, each man an equal and the door of opportunity open to all, these were the inspirations which gave to the world the linotype, one of the greatest inventions of its kind of the age. The early models of the Linotype have been deposited in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, District of Columbia.
568
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
Ottmar Mergenthaler, son of John George and Rosina (Ackerman) Mergenthaler, was born May 11, 1854, in Hach- tel, Wurtemberg, and not in Bieticheim, as has been stated in earlier biographies. His father followed the profession of teaching, in which he excelled, and his mother's family num- bered among them several of that profession. He was a pupil in his father's school and the hours out of school were filled with work around the home, and in after years he wrote of this period that "it was all work and no play." The intention was to have him become a teacher, but he rebelled and it was plain that he possessed mechanical talent, for he mended the village clocks, modeled animals out of wood, and he was what we know as a boy "handy with tools." But it costs money in Ger- many to learn the trade he aspired to, maker of mathematical instruments, and his education was not sufficient to warrant him in aspiring to more than an inferior position. So, taking what he could get, he became an apprentice to his Uncle Hahl, brother to his step-mother, agreeing to work without wages for four years, pay a small premium, furnish his own tools and in return was to be taught watch and clock making and receive his board and lodging. At the age of fourteen he began work and so well did his zeal and progress satisfy his uncle that he began paying him wages at the end of his third year, twelve months sooner than agreed upon. During this period he attended the village night school and Sunday school and gained his first knowledge of mechanical drawing. In 1872, he completed his appenticeship, and, seeing no oppor- tunity to turn his training to profitable account, he joined the tide of young Germans who left their homes during the years following the Franco-Prussian War, disheartened by the de- pressed condition of the Empire. He was aided to reach the United States by August Hahl, son of his employer uncle, who was a maker of electrical instruments in Washington,
569
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
District of Columbia, who forwarded cash for the passage ex- pense and promised him work upon his arrival. As the age of military service had nearly arrived, the young man lost no further time, and in 1872 he landed in Baltimore, Maryland, going thence to Washington.
And now began a new life for this eighteen-year-old Ger- man boy, the greatest surprise being work at good wages, his employer not taking advantage of his inexperience. While the making of electrical instruments was entirely new to him, and that was the business of the Hahl shop, he soon became very proficient, and within two years acted as shop foreman and as business manager in Mr. Hahl's absence. The shop made many instruments for the newly created weather bureau and signal service, and did much of the experimental work on the apparatus to be used for heliographs, gauges for rain and snow, wind velocity, registering instruments, etc., and in per- fecting these standard instruments, he was selected to work with the officers and the inventor. The United States Patent Office law requiring a model to accompany every application for a patent brought much business to the little plant, as most of the inventors had their models made in Washington. Thus young Mr. Mergenthaler came in contact with inventive minds and for some time lived in an atmosphere of invention, which eliminated his own training and even before he was of age the idea of the linotype entered his mind. At all events, here he gained valuable inspiration and in the Hahl shop aided in perfecting many of the inventions of others.
In 1873, Mr. Hahl moved his shop to Baltimore, the panic of that period inducing the change. It was about the year 1876 that the linotype machine first took, and in the face of many discouragements, principally lack of funds, Mr. Mer- genthaler persevered in his experiments, a great deal of steel and other materials being sacrificed, to say nothing of labor.
570
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
The partnership which was formed in Baltimore between Mr. Hahl and himself terminated in 1883, Mr. Mergenthaler re- moving to a small machine shop on Bank Lane near St. Paul street. There he pursued his great invention which had be- come a part of his life, and at waking he was at work and at sleeping was dreaming of the day when an operator seated at a keyboard should cause type to assemble, perform their work and return each to his own department to issue again when the operator pressed the key.
Finally a confidence was established and sufficient capital was secured to complete and place the invention on the market. A company was formed and shortly afterward, in 1885, a syn- dicate of wealthy newspaper men obtained a controlling in- terest in the company, paying therefor $30,000, although not a dollar of profit had yet accrued from the manufacture or sale of the machine. Later the syndicate and Mr. Mergenthaler quarreled and he retired from the company, and under the corporate name, Ottmar Mergenthaler & Company, he estab- lished a plant at Clagett and Allen streets, Locust Point, Bal- timore, and there began supplying the demand for linotypes which by 1890 had become well established, and since then well nigh universal. So the battle was fought and the victory won, and truly great victory it was. When the linotype was perfected and it became simply a matter of filling orders, Mr. Mergenthaler turned to another wonder-working machine and perfected an invention by which a woman operator, and a boy to renew the material holding spaces, can manufacture grape baskets and berry boxes in a constant procession. This, too, bears the name Mergenthaler, and with the linotype has added to the wealth of the world by reducing proportion cost, and to the happiness and comfort of the world by increasing production. The personality of this modest genius was most pleasing and won for him an army of friends. The employees
571
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
of his plant rendered him ungrudging service, and every man employed in experimental work did his very best to work out the ideas submitted him to reproduce in metal. He was most democratic, even after success and wealth came, and his men felt a pride in him and in his work which they practically made their own.
Mr. Mergenthaler married, September 11, 1881, Emma Lachenmayer, who survives him. They were the parents of three sons and a daughter: Fritz L., deceased; Eugene G., Herman and Pauline. Mr. Mergenthaler died at his home in Baltimore, October 28, 1899.
THOMAS HENRY GAITHER
AN honorable and distinguished ancestry may be considered
as something worthy of mentioning even in our republican government, where all are held responsible for their own acts and are judged by their own merits. Thomas Henry Gaither, we are sure, never boasted of his ancestors and but few of his intimate friends even are aware that in his veins there flows blood as noble and good "as all the blood of all the Howards." The family is of English extraction, and John Gaither, the immigrant ancestor, came to this country with Lord Balti- more and settled in Maryland. On his maternal side Mr. Gaither was of Scotch descent, the family having settled in this country, in Connecticut, in the early colonial days.
Daniel Gaither, grandfather of Thomas Henry Gaither, was an extensive farmer of Montgomery county, Maryland. One of his brothers, Henry Gaither, was an officer in the Revolutionary war, serving as a captain in the Maryland line, and as a lieutenant in the Third Regiment Infantry, United States army; he was one of the five lieutenant-colonels ap- pointed when the United States army was first organized.
George Riggs Gaither, son of Daniel Gaither, was born in Montgomery county, Maryland, April 15, 1797, died Sep- tember 18, 1875. He was a pupil in the dsitrict schools of his native county until he had attained the age of sixteen years, and then entered upon his business career, which proved an eminently successful one. His first position was as a clerk in the dry goods store of his uncle, Romulus Riggs, in George- town, D. C., and in 1820 he purchased the interests of his uncle in this enterprise, and conducted it on his own account until 1825. He then removed to Baltimore and established him- self in the wholesale dry goods business in that city, near Sharpe street, and was thus engaged until 1840, when he re-
573
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
tired from business activities, having accumulated an immense fortune by his business acumen and straightforward and honor- able business methods. During this interval the firm name was changed a number of times, being in succession : George R. Gaither; Gaither, Matthews & Oulds, and George R. Gai- ther & Company. His financial transactions were on a scale to compare favorably with his transactions in the mercantile world, and his contributions toward the improvement of Balti- more by means of the erection of many warehouses and pri- vate residences, were colossal for that time. The family home was located in Cathedral street. His country seat, at which he resided for many years, was known as "Oakland" and was formerly the property and residence of Charles Sterrit Ridgely; it is located in Howard county, Maryland. He was a man who never acted upon impulse instead of judgment, and his policies, socially as well as in business matters, were not formed by hasty conclusions. He married Hannah Smith, born in Washington, D. C., in 1800, died June 20, 1873; daughter of Abram Bradley, granddaughter of Abram Brad- ley, and descended from the Bradleys who were among the earliest settlers of the State of Connecticut. Abram Brad- ley, Jr., was one of the early officers of the United States gov- ernment, being first assistant postmaster-general under Presi- dent John Adams, and had full charge of the removal of the general postoffice to Washington, D. C., when it was decided to remove the department to that city. Mr. and Mrs. Gaither had ten children, among them being: 1. George Riggs, Jr., born in Baltimore, Maryland, January 21, 1831. He was the recipient of an excellent education, and was engaged in farm- ing until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he entered the Confederate army. He was in command of Company K, First Virginia Cavalry, with the rank of Colonel, served during the entire war and participated in all of the most important en-
574
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
gagements. He was made a prisoner once, exchanged, and returned to his command. At the close of the war Colonel Gaither returned to Maryland, and made his home in Balti- more, where he was engaged in the cotton business until 1879. He has served as lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Maryland Infantry, and as commanding colonel of the Fifth Regiment, Maryland National Guard, Veteran Corps. He married, August 7, 1851, Rebecca Hanson, daughter of Colonel Charles S. W. and Mary Pue (Ridgely) Dorsey, who are both de- scended from the old and prominent families of Maryland. They have had children: Mary Ridgely; Henrietta; George Riggs, the third; Charles Dorsey; Abram Bradley; John Dorsey; Thomas Henry; Ridgely and Rebecca Dorsey. 2. Thomas Henry, see forward. 3. Hannah B., who erected to the memory of her father the magnificent Church of the Holy Comforter, at the corner of Pratt and Chester streets, Balti- more. 4. A. Bradley. 5. Henrietta, who married John Stewart.
George Riggs Gaither Sr., although very young when the War of 1812 broke out, was true to the patriotic ideas always entertained by his family, and served in Peter's Artil- lery during that famous contest. He was in four engage- ments, including the battle of Bladensburg, from which his company retreated after the battle was lost, bringing off its guns and caissons, it being one of the very few in that particu- lar struggle which maintained good order when it retired from the field.
Thomas Henry Gaither, youngest son of George Riggs and Hannah Smith (Bradley) Gaither, was born in Balti- more, Maryland, October 15, 1835. His elementary educa- tion was acquired in a private boarding school in Montgomery County, Maryland, and he then matriculated at the Baltimore City College, from which he was graduated with honor.
575
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
Country life appealed to him more than that of the city, and he accordingly was always identified with agricultural matters, partly as a farmer, partly as a commission merchant. In busi- ness transactions he exhibited the quick appreciation and prompt decision which are as necessary to the successful mer- chant as to the successful general, but tempered with a cour- tesy that wins the esteem of all who come in contact with him. In private life his amiable and generous disposition endeared him to a host of friends. His military career consisted of service in the company commanded by his brother, mentioned above, and about 1882 he served as a commissioner of Howard County, Maryland. He was a member of the Episcopal church, holding pews in the Brown Memorial Church, the Emmanuel Church, and St. John's Church of Howard county. His contributions to these institutions were liberal ones, and he was foremost in all matters which tended to elevate and advance the community, either in a religious or secular manner.
Mr. Gaither married in Howard county, Maryland, Sep- tember 29, 1857, Sophia B., born in Annapolis, Maryland. September 19, 1840, daughter of Commodore Isaac and Sarah B. F. (Bland) Mayo, granddaughter of Chancellor Bland, of Maryland, and sister of Frederick, Henrietta, Samuel G., Annie, John and William Johns Mayo. Commodore Isaac Mayo, United States Navy, served with distinction in the War of 1812, and died in 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Gaither had two children : Georgiana Mayo, who married Laurence Balliere. and Thomas H.
The home life of Mr. Gaither was almost ideal in its refined and intellectual surroundings, and was a magnet to attract numberless friends who were loud in their praises of the gracious hospitality and winning personality of the mis- tress of it. Mrs. Gaither is rarely gifted as a hostess, and
576
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
while lavish in her hospitality, there is an air of refined sim- plicity and harmony which seems the acme of comfort, and she was a most charming helpmeet to her worthy husband, who was ever approachable and genial, and had the happy faculty of winning friends wherever he went. He was frank in declaring his principles, was sincere in maintaining them, and his career was rounded with success and marked by the appreciation of men whose good opinion was best worth hav- ing. His death occurred September 23, 1918.
ARTHUR WEBSTER MACHEN
THE origin of the Machen family from which Arthur Webster Machen sprang was in the borders of Wales. The emigrant of the name in America settled on the Rappa- hanock river in Virginia in the early part of the eighteenth, or latter part of the seventeenth century. Thomas Machen, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Virginia, in February, 1750, and moved to Washington, where he resided for a number of years. He married Ann Lewis, who was born December 31, 1754. His death occurred at Wash- ington, District of Columbia, May 17, 1809; his wife passed away, in that city, February 13, 1810.
Lewis Henry Machen, was born in Maryland, Feb- ruary 22, 1790. His early youth was busily spent in ac- quiring an education, availing himself of every means for mental improvement; by writing essays, preparing speeches for delivery before a debating society, and by constant read- ing and study. His education was interrupted by the death of his father, who, leaving not a small personal estate, left his mother and three sisters dependent upon him for support. This reduced him to the necessity of earning a livelihood, and he obtained employment as clerk in the office of the Secretary of the Senate, a connection he retained for nearly fifty years. His spare time was devoted to studying law, but he never felt able to forego his salary to become a practicing attorney. He married, October 15, 1812, Miss Cynthia Pease, daughter of Louisa and Henry Pease of Connecticut.
An earnest advocate of the War of 1812, President Madi- son, on May 6, 1813, commissioned him a captain of infantry in the First Regiment of the Militia of the District of Co- lumbia. In the spring of 1814, he purchased, in Maryland, eight miles from Washington, a farm, where he resided, and MD .- 37
578
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL
thus automatically lost his command. When the British were approaching Washington, by his energy, good judgment and presence of mind, the archives and secret documents of the Senate were removed from the Capitol, thereby saving them from the conflagration which ensued.
Mr. Machen's first wife died October 15, 1815, leaving no issue, and after remaining a widower for a little over one year, he married Caroline Webster, born in New Hampshire, November 2, 1788, and a daughter of Toppan and Elizabeth (Flagg) Webster. He contracted, in the presidential cam- paign of 1828, a hearty political antipathy to Andrew Jack- son that caused him to write a series of stirring and violent newspaper articles supporting the Whig candidate. His supe- rior officer in the Senate strenuously objected to his partisan- ship, threatening him with the loss of his position, but he repeatedly refused to forego his right as a citizen to use his pen in support of the policies and candidates which seemed to him conducive to the welfare of his country. This insist- ence upon what he conceived to be his right as a citizen did not operate to his disadvantage. Eight years later the same superior officer promoted him to be "Principal Clerk of the Senate," a position which he held until 1859. Mr. Machen, in 1843, purchased a farm of seven hundred and twenty-five acres, near Centreville, Fairfax county, Virginia. This home- stead he named "Walney" from the magnificent walnut trees in front of his mansion.
Though devoid of a collegiate education, Mr. Machen, by constant reading, and love of study, acquired a wide cul- ture and a degree of literary knowledge far surpassing that of the average college graduate. Latin, French and Spanish he read with ease. The love of books was a mania with him. His artistic taste made him love good bindings, illustrated books and engravings, and he was also a patron of artistic
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.