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 2
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In politics Mr. Wallis was a patriot before he was a partisan, and whenever he espoused a cause, he did it with all the ardor of a brave and ardent nature. His first inquiry was, "Was it right?" That settled, all other questions were relegated to the rear while he unsheathed his keen and spotless blade of war. Unfortunate was the opponent who crossed swords with him: he was a swordsman as strong to defend as he was powerful in attack.
Mr. Wallis entered politics as a Whig, but when the prospective Know-Nothing clan sprang from the ashes of the party of Clay and Webster, Mr. Wallis went boldly into the ranks of his old Democratic antagonists. In 1857 he was offered by President Buchanan the position of United States District Attorney, but declined it. In 1858 he wrote the reform address, which movement led to the election of a Democratic Legislature and the reforms of 1860, when the police force of Baltimore was placed under the State control and a reform city government established. He supported these measures before the Court of Appeals, which deter- mined their legality.
In 1861 Mr. Wallis was one of that large body of influen- tial Marylanders who hoped and acted to prevent the Civil War. After the riot of the 19th of April, Mr. Wallis was one of a committee to visit President Lincoln to try to stop the passage of troops through Baltimore. When the special election for members of the Legislature took place in the spring of 1861, Mr. Wallis was elected a member from Balti-
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more city and was made the chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations. He reported on order that "the House of Delegates had no power to pass an ordinance of secession." In May he reported an order for commissioners to visit the President to secure the opening of communications with the North. He also further reported that it was "inexpedient to call a convention to consider secession." This order that the House adopted, should have settled with the Government, for the time at least, the intentions of the House; but not so. On the night of September 12th Mr. Wallis was arrested by the order of General John A. Dix, United States Army. Soon afterward other members of the Legislature were seized. While the Legislature of Maryland had taken no steps to inaugurate secession, it had tried, against the overwhelming odds of the Government, to vindicate the rights of the State. Mr. Wallis, as the chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations, was the chief exponent of the State's views and the champion of its privileges. He wrote the report of the Com- mittee on Federal Relations, a most trenchant and convincing arraignment of the administration for its usurpations of power. The feeling against this report was manifested by the Federal soldiers burning thirty thousand copies of it at Frederick that the State had ordered to be printed. Conveyed to Fortress Monroe, transferred to Fort Lafayette, and thence to Fort Warren, Mr. Wallis remained a prisoner until 1862, reso- lutely refusing to take any and all oaths offered him as a precedent qualification for his liberty. At last the prison doors opened without conditions, and Mr. Wallis was again a free man.
Though debilitated by his long imprisonment, Mr. Wallis returned to the profession he graced with ardor and success, and the best efforts with his pen and his most important labors for political reform in the State were made at this
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period and continued until his death. In passing from the stormy days of the Civil War, it is curious to note that Mr. Wallis, like a famous prisoner of old, never had any accusa- tion laid against him why he was arrested, and he and the other members of the Legislature never knew, beyond sus- picion, why they had been incarcerated in military prisons.
Mr. Wallis was impelled to a public life by a high sense of duty to the young men-the obligation of setting them an example of, and encouraging them to show, independence in political action. He accepted the presidency of the Civil Service Reform and the Reform League, which positions he relinquished only at his death. He was the candidate, in 1 875, of the Independent and Republican parties for Attorney- General. That he was elected was no question. The men who robbed the people of their choice, years afterward, con- fessed their crime; but, as in Mr. Tilden's case, another man than the one who had been elected took the office of Attorney- General. His celebrated letters in that campaign are amongst the choicest of the choice polemics of Maryland's famous political campaigns, both of Colonial and Republican periods. Mr. Wallis's addresses number amongst them :
Valedictory before the School of Medicine, 1868.
Address upon George Peabody.
Address to the Law Class of the University of Maryland.
Address upon the unveiling of the statue of Robert Brooke Taney, 1872.
Address on the Lee Memorial Association, 1875.
The address of Mr. Wallis on George Peabody was re- peated by request of the Legislature before that body in 1870. In 1844, he delivered a lecture "On the Philosophy of His- tory and Some of Its Popular Errors." Amongst his poems are : "Blessed Hand," "The Last of the Hours," "Truth and Reason," "The Spectre of Colalto," "In Fort Warren," "Henon," "God's Acre," and "Midnight."
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Mr. Wallis was a lover of home, books and friends. A Wallis Memorial Association, in 1896, published a memorial edition of his works. His State included him in the group of her distinguished sons of the legal profession, which is to be chiseled in the frieze of the Supreme Court Room of the new Court House in Baltimore. Mr. Wallis did not marry. He died April 11, 1894.
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ROSS WINANS
R OSS WINANS, famous as an inventor, particularly in the line of locomotive engines, was born at Vernon, New Jersey, in October, 1796. Nothing is told of his early life or education ; but he became a farmer and displayed inventive talent by making a new plow. From this time he devoted him- self to the study of mechanism, more particularly that of rail- roads. He invented the friction wheel for cars and the out- side bearing on axles, now used altogether by the railways of this country. He also invented the eight-wheel car system.
In 1830 he removed to Baltimore, Maryland, and subse- quently the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, recog- nizing his ability, sent him to England under instructions to study the railway systems of that country. He remained a year, gaining information which proved of the greatest im- portance not only to the Baltimore and Ohio Company, but to railroad enterprise in general throughout the country. He constructed the first locomotive which was successfully used on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and he invented the style of locomotive known as the "camel-back." He organized the great railway machine shops of Baltimore, the largest in the country, and with the assistance of his sons managed them with great success. Being invited by the Russian Government to build the rolling stock for the Moscow and St. Petersburg Railroad, in 1843, he declined the proposition in favor of his two sons. In 1858 he and his son Thomas constructed the first of the so-called cigar steamers. In a circular issued at that time, this was described as being wholly of iron, and the length "is more than eleven times its breadth of beam, being sixteen feet broad and one hundred and eighty feet long." Others were built in England by his son, but they were not successful. At the time of the Civil War he was also an
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inventor of a cannon which was put to use by the Confederates but which proved to be of no lasting worth.
Mr. Winans was an active Democrat; he strongly favored the Southern Confederacy during the Civil War. In 1861 he represented Baltimore in the extra session of the Maryland Legislature. For a time he was imprisoned in Fort McHenry, on account of his opposition to the Federal Government. He made a number of selections from the works of eminent writers on scientific topics, and himself published a number of pamph- lets on religious subjects.
His wife, Julia Winans, died May 24, 1850. His two sons, Thomas De Kay and William L. Winans, inherited his mechanical genius. Mr. Winans died in Baltimore, Mary- land, April 11, 1877.
WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY
W TINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY was born in Frederick county, Maryland, October 9, 1839, son of John Thomas and Georgiana Schley. He was graduated from the Naval Academy in 1860, and was assigned to the frigate "Niagara." In 1861 he was made master, and sent to the store-ship "Poto- mac," at Ship Island. In 1862-63 he served in the West Gulf blockading squadron, and fought a field battery on the Missis- sippi river at Port Hudoon, Louisiana, and during this time was promoted to lieutenant. In 1864-66 he was with the Pacific squadron, distinguishing himself during an insurrec- tion of Chinese coolies on the Chincha Islands, and in San Salvador in the protection of American persons and property during a revolution. In 1866 he was made lieutenant-com- mander, and for three years was an instructor in languages at the Naval Academy. In 1870 and for three years he was on the China station, and led the assaulting column against the forts on the Sulee river. In 1873-76 he was again on the instructional staff at the Naval Academy, meantime being advanced to the rank of commander. In 1877, commanding the "Essex," he rescued a shipwrecked company on Tristan d'Acunha Island. He was lighthouse inspector, 1880-83, and in the latter year was attached to the bureau of equipment.
Perhaps the most notable achievement of Commodore Schley was his search for Greely and his exploring in the Arctic regions, in 1884. Greely, with twenty-five men, had sailed from St. Johns, Newfoundland, in June, 1881, and dis- appeared from view. Two ineffectual attempts had been made to find the party, when Schley (then a commander) volun- teered to make an attempt, and on May 12, 1884, he sailed from St. Johns with three vessels, and, overcoming what would have been regarded by a less courageous soul as insuperable
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difficulties, in the last part of June he found seven of the sur- vivors, in an awful condition, their only sustenance for weeks having been water in which had been boiled strips of their sealskin garments. The survivors were safely brought home, and also the bodies of nine of their dead companions. In honor of his humane and hazardous achievement, Commander Schley received from the State of Maryland the thanks of its Legislature, and a gold watch, and from the Massachusetts Humane Society, a gold medal of the first class, and the land near which he had made the rescue was named Schleyland. From 1885 to 1889, Schley (now captain) was at the head of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting. In 1889-91 he commanded the "Baltimore" during the difficulties with Chili, and later was sent to Sweden with the remains of the famous John Ericsson; and for this service received from King Oscar a gold medal. In 1892 he served again as lighthouse inspector, and commanded a cruiser from 1895 to 1897, when he became chairman of the lighthouse board. In February, 1898, he was promoted to commodore.
At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Commo- dore Schley was ordered to the "Brooklyn," as commander of the Flying Squadron. Then followed the operations about Cienfuegos and Santiago, and Schley's discovery of the Span- ish fleet in the latter harbor, and the conflict, in which the four Spanish vessels were run aground under the fire from the Americans. Commodore Schley was absent at the outset, but arrived before the action was over. Schley's early move- ments were criticized in some quarters, but he was exculpated by an examining board, and the popular verdict was most favorable to him. Promoted to rear-admiral, at the close of the war, he was made a member of the military commission in Porto Rico, and, this duty discharged, he returned home and was received in several principal cities with the highest
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honor, and was made the recipient of various valuable gifts- a gold and jeweled sword at Philadelphia, from the people of Pennsylvania; and another by citizens of New York; and a gold medal set with jewels by the people of Maryland, the Governor of the State making the presentation. In 1885, in collaboration with Professor James R. Soley, U. S. N., he wrote "The Rescue of Greely."
Commodore Schley married, at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1863, Anna Rebecca, daughter of George E. Franklin, and to them were born three children: Lieutenant Thomas Franklin Schley, U. S. A .; Virginia Wortley, and Dr. Winfield Scott Schley. He died suddenly on the street in New York City, October 2, 1911, and his remains were interred at Washing- ton, D. C.
JOHN WORK GARRETT
L ONG prominent among those who have made a permanent impress upon the history of Baltimore are the Garretts, and the influence of their leadership and enterprise has ex- tended over a large part of the United States. Their activities include the creation of a great banking business, the develop- ment of one of the leading railway systems reaching from the Mississippi to the Atlantic tidewater, the establishment of foreign steamship lines, the building of modern terminals, the increase in mining, manufacturing and agriculture, the encour- agement of the arts, and the extension of education on ad- vanced lines. So long as Baltimore continues to be a com- mercial and industrial city, and so long as it remains a center of education, the results of the foresight and energy and broad initiative of the Garretts must be appreciated. Of sturdy qualities, full of the pioneering spirit, reverential and con- scientious, staunch upholders of the Presbyterian faith, and eager for achievement, the members of this family projected upon the entire community a force that has been felt for generations, and that has been rich in its consequences to the larger life of the city, State and Nation.
John Garrett, the first of this famous family to emigrate to America, was a native of the North of Ireland. He mar- ried Margaret MacMechen, born in Scotland. John Garrett was taken ill during the voyage to America, and died before land was reached. His widow and their children continued the journey to Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, where they settled. Mrs. Garrett bought a farm and cultivated it suc- cessfully. In 1798 she removed to Washington county, Penn- sylvania, and bought another farm, and on this her children grew to maturity.
Robert Garrett, son of John and Margaret (Mac-
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Mechen) Garrett, was born at Lisburn, County Down, Ire- land, May 2, 1783, and died February 4, 1857. In him and his descendants have been united the vigorous traits of this Irish and Scotch ancestry. He was seven years old when his family came to America, and the early death of his father made him a close helpmate of his mother even at that tender age. For nine years he worked on the farm in Cumberland county, and afterwards on the other farm in Washington county, and then at the age of sixteen joined his elder brother in a trading expedition among the Indians. They followed the Monongahela river to its junction with the Ohio. Owing to the intense cold they were obliged to pass the winter in an Indian hut at Marietta, which in later years became the eastern terminus of the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad. They were well treated by the Indians, and exchanged their goods for various kinds of furs. They reached home in the spring, satisfied with the results of their trip. Close to the scene of this first trading expedition, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad later built an iron bridge across the Ohio river, a son of Mr. Garrett being president of the company. The success of the trading expedition was of great value to Mr. Garrett, for it directed his attention to the West and Southwest and their opportunities, and inspired the work that was to make him a large factor in their development. Shortly after the opening of the nineteenth century he moved to Baltimore, and was a clerk in the produce and commission house of Patrick Dins- more, in which capacity he remained some four years, when he became a partner in the firm of Wallace & Garrett, which continued up to the year 1812, when it was dissolved. Here he gained further experience in the handling of Western trade. Mr. Garrett removed to Middletown, Washington county, Pennsylvania, and entered into business there, but returned to Baltimore about 1820 and engaged in commercial pursuits.
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He opened a business on Franklin street, and later removed to Howard street, between Fayette and Lexington streets, which was headquarters for the Western and country trade. The experience he had gained in the West was of great benefit to him in his new and broader undertaking, especially in the judgment of distances and the best modes of shipment. He soon became a power in the wholesale grocery, produce, com- mission and forwarding business, to which he devoted him- self. He was in competition with some of the oldest and strongest local firms, but he was able to more than hold his own and found a specialty in which he was easily first. This was the serving of the Western trade by better facilities. He made shipments by pack horses over the Allegheny Moun- tains, and later by fast wagon trains arranged to run by day and by night over turnpikes and plank roads and connect with the Pennsylvania canal for Pittsburgh. The fostering of this Western trade had its influence upon the foreign trade of Baltimore. Increased demands from the West necessitated larger importations, and Mr. Garrett established direct com- munication with the East and West Indies and with South America for goods especially suited for the West, and also with the most important ports of Europe for the exportation of American products. He became the American agent for large shipowners of this country and Great Britain, and in due time he was considered one of the most prominent and substantial merchants and shippers of Baltimore. In those early days transportation for men and wares was done by pack-horse, wagon and stage coach. Other ports had better highways and were nearer the sea than Baltimore, and Mr. Garrett realized that Baltimore's hope of competition with the superior facilities of its rivals lay in the establishment of the best possible connections with the West. So this idea he held forth and advocated on every possible occasion. From
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1820 to 1825 he was active in the support of the movement, then just gaining headway, for quicker service between Balti- more and the growing western country. This plan was the precursor of what is today the indispensable Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Mr. Garrett, when the railroad project began to assume shape, threw to its support all his influence and enthu- siasm, and it is a fine chapter of family purpose and zeal that tells how his son was the chief instrumentality in securing for the western land the transportation facilities which he had urged with such clear vision and with such unfaltering reso- lution.
The firm of Robert Garrett & Sons was formed about the year 1839, and its first location was 34 North Howard street. The new firm, to which the sons of Mr. Garrett were admitted, had connections with the largest financial and exporting houses in London, Belfast, Dublin, and other important points of Europe, and handled a steadily increasing part of the mer- cantile and financial transactions of the times. In the course of years the firm confined itself exclusively to the banking business, and although the membership of the firm has changed, the name has remained the same, and the prestige of the house has been faithfully maintained. As Mr. Garrett's wealth increased, he contributed more and more to the welfare and advancement of the city in which he had made his home. Many instances of the enlightened policy of his bank might be cited, but one will serve to show the sentiment which guided him. In the financial troubles of 1853 the securities of the Central Ohio Railroad were excluded from sale in New York. The road was important to Baltimore, and the firm of Robert Garrett & Sons furnished the funds necessary to support it over its greatest difficulties, without thought of personal gain, but solely because they considered it a matter of necessity for Baltimore's Western trade. Mr. Garrett was one of the earliest
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advocates of the building of the Connellsville route, later put through by his son, holding that it was the best and shortest line to the West. In fact, through all his work and in all his years of effort and public spirit he used his arguments and his financial success to bring about the facilities to the West which he had early seen would be so vital to the growth and life of Baltimore.
Mr. Garrett's business interests became many and varied. He entered loyally into the active development of the city. He was a director of the Baltimore Water Company, the Balti- more Gas Company, the Baltimore Shot Tower Company, and the Savings Bank of Baltimore. In 1836 he was one of the organizers of the Western (now Western National) Bank, serving as a director until his death, and being succeeded by his son, his grandson and his great-grandson. In 1847 he was one of the leading spirits in the establishment of the Eutaw Savings Bank of Baltimore. He became one of its directors, and gave it his personal service, which continued until he died. He purchased the Eutaw House in 1845, and made it a hotel of the first rank. Five years later he bought the Wheatfield Inn, on Howard street, and replaced it by a new hotel on the site of the present New Howard Hotel. In order to draw more western trade to Baltimore he saw there must be good accommodations for the visitors, and so he built these new hotels to increase the commercial opportunities of the grow- ing city.
In 1850, after the close of the Mexican War, he became interested in California. In association with others he built the "Monumental City," which was the largest ocean steam- ship that had ever been constructed in Baltimore, for traffic between Baltimore and San Francisco. The harbor of Balti- more had not then been dredged to its present depth, and there was considerable difficulty in handling the new ship.
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Robert Garrett married, on May 19, 1817, Elizabeth, born September 18, 1791, died July 17, 1877, daughter of Henry Stouffer, for many years a prominent merchant of Bal- timore, and a member of the City Council. Mrs. Garrett was a woman of most estimable character, devoted to her home and family, yet finding time for many charities and good deeds. In 1824 she was one of the organizers of the Society for the Relief of the Indigent Sick, and at the semi-centennial cele- bration of this institution she was one of the two surviving founders. The idea upon which this society was established were the basis of the organization of the Baltimore Associa- tion for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor. Among the children of Mr. and Mrs. Garrett were: Henry S., born March 6, 1818, died October 10, 1867, unmarried; John Work, a sketch of whose life follows; Elizabeth B., born July 25, 1827, married, July, 1892, Dr. E. H. White.
Mr. Garrett's life was of rare usefulness to Baltimore. His clear and far-seeing mind grasped the problems of the future, and the boldness of operation in his projects was matched only by the indomitable perseverance which carried his undertakings to success. He had a wonderful capacity for judging the merits and motives of men, a genius for details, patience and respect for the opinions of others, a large view of life, and an unfailing self-reliance. He had no pleasure greater than uniting with his wife in doing good and in fur- thering the welfare of the people of Baltimore. To charity and religion he gave prompt and liberal support. He was a splendid type of the American citizen whose interests are broad, who won success by honorable enterprise, who recog- nized the responsibilities of wealth, and who left a heritage of power and purpose for the city which he loved and which he did so much to advance.
John Work Garrett, son of Robert and Elizabeth (Stouf-
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fer) Garrett, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, July 31, 1820, and died at Deer Park, Garrett county, Maryland, September 26, 1884. After what has been said of Robert Garrett it would seem somewhat embarrassing to claim for his son a larger fame, and yet it is not inconsistent, for the son was the com- plement of the father, and what the father saw the son accom- plished in a way that gave him recognition and reputation throughout the world. In the effect upon the development and progress of Baltimore, the services of John Work Garrett, especially in connection with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, possessed a value which is simply incalculable. No other American ever did more for his city.
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