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 9
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William A. Tottle was born December 17, 1844, died at the country home of his son, Morton P. Tottle, in the village of Glydon, twenty miles from Baltimore, Maryland, July 20, 1916. He became fully conversant with brush manufacture,
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and in 1883 located in Baltimore and began the manufacture of brushes. Through his capable management a large business was secured, and later was incorporated as William A. Tottle & Company, Incorporated, with plant on South Hanover street. Although the business was a very large one, and "Tot- tle" branded goods found in every part of the country, Mr. Tottle and his son, Morton P., were practically the sole own- ers of the company's stock, and from incorporation William A. Tottle was president and his son vice-president. Mr. Tottle was more closely associated with his employes than is usual with heads of concerns; he took a great interest in everything concerning their welfare, and was greatly honored and be- loved by them all.
From the days of Bishop Cummings Mr. Tottle was a steadfast devoted member of the Reformed Episcopal Church, and from the organization of the Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore, he was officially connected with that parish. In 1875 he was elected a vestryman, and from that time until his death he continued a member of the vestry and gave freely of his time, his counsel and his means. He was known to all the bishops of the church, and to the clergy in many cities other than Baltimore. At the time of his death he was senior warden. He was also for many years superintendent of the Sunday school; was one of the pioneer members of the Y. M. C. A. and affiliated with the Maryland and International Sunday School Associations, serving for many years as treas- urer of the Maryland association ; great was his usefulness and his influence in these bodies, and when there came the day that the strong arm of their friend was removed the Vestry of the Church of the Redeemer passed the following resolu- tion :
WHEREAS, it has pleased Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, to take unto himself the soul of our loved and respected brother, William Alexander Tottle ; and
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WHEREAS, it has been his privilege and pleasure to share in the found- ing and for many years devote himself to the work of the Reformed Episcopal Church of the Redeemer at Baltimore, Md .; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that we, the Vestry of the Church, do hereby give expression to our profound grief at his removal. For forty-nine years he was our Senior Warden; for twenty years the Superintendent of our Sunday School; and during all that time his life has been an inspiration and an encouragement that will live with us all our days. And be it further
RESOLVED, that a copy of these resolutions be sent to his bereaved family, with whom we mourn, and for whom we feel most deeply; that they be written in the minutes of the Vestry; and that they be printed in the Episco- pal Recorder.
R. A. HARRIS, Secretary. Rector.
T. ROWLAND PHILIPS,
Mr. Tottle married June 15, 1869, Mollie E. Holtz, who died June 12, 1916, aged seventy-one years. Mr. and Mrs. Tottle left a son, Morton P. Tottle, born March 24, 1881, his father's partner and successor. He married Elaine Dorothy Gore, and has a son, William A. (2), born February 19, 1909.
JESSE FEARSON ELY
THE career of Mr. Ely, which terminated just as he was about to enter the ranks of octagenarians, was closely con- nected with the city of Baltimore during his entire life. By heredity he was entitled to rank with the highest, and by personality and achievement with those whose names will go down in history as the builders of a great city. He bore well his part in Baltimore development, and during the mature period of his years, seventy-nine, was intimately and officially connected with water transportation, manufacturing and finan- cial corporations. He was one of the founders and senior director of the Commonwealth National Bank, but real estate operations constituted his greater interest during the last twenty years of his life. He was a son of Rev. Judah and Hannah (Fearson) Ely, whose daughters, Charlotte and Mary Ely, half-sisters, gave their lives to the foreign missionary cause, and in 1868, under the auspices of the American Board of Missions of the Congregational church, went to America and there labored until death. Miss Mary Ely died in America in 1913, Miss Charlotte Ely surviving her until the Turkish occupation of Armenia in 1915.
Mr. Ely traced his ancestry through paternal and maternal lines to many of the oldest American families, one line leading to Elder William Brewster of the "Mayflower." His stepfather, Dr. Jameson, was a noted surgeon of Balti- more ; his great-aunt, Mrs. Mary Young Pickersgill, made the flag which "in triumph" waved over Fort McHenry during the long night bombardment and inspired the pen of Francis Scott Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner," and his maternal grandfather, Captain Jesse Fearson, whose name he bore, commanded an American privateer during the Revolu- tionary War. This line of ancestry is thus interestingly traced from Benjamin Flower.
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Benjamin Flower, born 1714, married, June 9, 1735, Ruth Bibb, born August 8, 1715, died February 13, 1761. Their children were: 1. Ann, died in infancy, April 16, 1737. 2. Samuel, born March 29, 1738. 3. Rebecca, see forward. 4. Elizabeth, born January 14, 1745. 5. Colonel Benjamin Flower, of Revolutionary fame, born July 1, 1748, died April 28, 1781; was presented with a sword by General Washing- ton for his "masterly retreat" when Philadelphia was cap- tured by the British; he impressed all the vehicles available, loaded them with cannon and other munitions of war so sadly needed by the little army at Valley Forge, covered the con- tents of the wagons with manure, and drove out under the very eyes of the British officers. 6. William, born 1751. 7. Hannah, born 1754.
Rebecca Flower, daughter of Benjamin and Ruth (Bibb) Flower, was born November 17, 1739. She married, May 5, 1762, William Young, son of John and Ann Young, born Oc- tober 24, 1737, died February 19, 1778. Their children were : I. William, born July 8, 1763. 2. John, born August 8, 1765. 3. Hannah, of further mention. 4. Benjamin, born July 27, 1769, physician, friend and contemporary of the famous Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia. 5. Rebecca, born August 30, 1773. 6. Mary Young, born February 12, 1776, died October 4, 1857; married John Pickersgill. She became famous for having made the flag that floated over Fort Mc- Henry at Baltimore when it was attacked by the British dur- ing the War of 1812, and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the "Star Spangled Banner."
Hannah Young, daughter of William and Rebecca (Flower) Young, was born August 20, 1767. She married (second) Captain Jesse Fearson, of Baltimore, Maryland (her first husband was George Wells). Captain Jesse Fearson re- ceived a captain's commission from Congress in 1782, signed
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by John Hancock. His vessel was the "Buccaneer," three hundred tons burden, carrying eighteen guns and one hun- dred and twenty men. During the War of 1812 he was cap- tured and thrown into prison in Havana, Cuba, from which he eventually escaped and returned to the United States. The children of Captain Jesse Fearson and his wife, Hannah (Young) Fearson were: John; Benjamin; Lydia, married Henry Stickney; Hannah, of further mention.
Hannah Fearson, daughter of Captain Jesse and Hannah (Young) Fearson, married (first) Rev. Judah Ely, and (sec- ond) Dr. H. G. Jameson. Rev. Judah and Hannah (Fearson) Ely had one son, Jesse Fearson Ely, to whose memory this appreciation is inscribed.
Jesse Fearson Ely was born in 1836, died in Baltimore, Maryland, December 20, 1915. Son of cultured parents, he was given the advantages of excellent private schools, and when the preparatory period of life had passed he secured a good position with the Merchants' and Miners' Transporta- tion Company, continuing several years. Later he was identi- fied with the Ericsson Line of Steamers, becoming heavily interested in that and other corporate enterprises of Baltimore. For a number of years he was a member of the De Ford Leather Company and of the Thomas Kensett Can Company, was an organizer and senior director of the Commonwealth National Bank, and at one time was a director of the Old Town National Bank. While he maintained his directorship in the Commonwealth National Bank until his death, he prac- tically withdrew from all other corporate connection during the last twenty years of his life, but was an active real estate operator during that period. He was an able business man, honorable, just and upright, resourceful with the courage of his convictions, and most highly esteemed by those with whom he was associated in corporation or company. He was
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interested in all good causes and aided in the various move- ments of church and charity to promote better moral and liv- ing conditions in the city. In political faith he was a Re- publican, but never sought public office ; in religious belief an Episcopalian.
Mr. Ely married Lois Adela Dodge, and left two daugh- ters: Eliza J. Celeste, of No. 841 Park avenue, Baltimore, and Adela Lois, who married, June 8, 1898, Walter Scott Cars- well, M.D., of Baltimore, Maryland, and has children, Lois Charlotte, born November 4, 1899. Walter Scott (2), De- cember 19, 1900.
CHARLES H. TORSCH
LA ACKING one year of the Psalmist's "three score and ten"
years allotted to man, Charles H. Torsch fulfilled all that constitutes the true life of man, and the influences of that life. He was always a resident of Baltimore, and from the day when as a lad of fifteen he was graduated from the Central High School, until his death, he was continuously identified with Baltimore's business interests. He began as a clerk in a dry goods store, and thence rose step by step to many higher posi- tions, chief of which at his death was the presidency of the Torsch Packing Company. His advance was not meteoric, but gradual, through personal application and the practice of the essential principles of commercial honor. In his relations to the community, commercial, civil and social, he exhibited those qualities which mark the good citizen, exerting his in- fluence and directing his energy not alone for personal in- terests, but also for the public good. His life was an earnest, useful one, and its lesson an inspiration to every boy with his own way to make through the world. He was a son of Henry F. Torsch, who was born in Germany, and who came to the United States when eighteen years of age, locating in Balti- more, and dying there December 23, 1886, aged eighty-three. His mother, also of German birth, was before her marriage Mary L. Schardelman.
Charles H. Torsch was born in Baltimore, Maryland, November 12, 1846, and died there August 15, 1915. He was educated in the Baltimore public schools, entered the Central High School (now Baltimore City College) when only eleven years old, and four years later, in 1861, was graduated, winner of a Peabody prize of one hundred dollars for excellence in scholarship. Immediately after graduation he entered the employ of John S. Barry & Company, wholesale dry goods
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merchants, on Hanover street, Mr. Thomas F. Ryan, the New York financier, also being a clerk in this house at the same time. Later he was with the commission house of Vickery & Carroll, continuing as clerk and bookkeeper until 1879. He was then thirty-three years of age, with a good general knowledge of salesmanship and business management. In 1879 he joined with his brother, Frederick A. Torsch, and formed the firm of Charles H. Torsch & Brother, locating first on Hanover street, and later at the corner of Charles and Pratt streets, and established a glassware and crockery bus- iness. They continued successfully at that location until. 1886, and then removed to a larger store in Hopkins Place, where the manufacture of tinware was added to the other branches. Thirteen years later they sold their establishment, and devoted themselves to the business of C. H. Pearson Packing Company, in which the brothers had previously become associated as stockholders, and in which they had purchased a controlling interest in 1897. In 1899 Charles H. Torsch assumed the management of the company, which in 1903 was incorporated as the Torsch Packing Company, with himself as president. In 1901, prior to incorporation, the Pearson company estab- lished at Bay St. Louis, Hancock county, Mississippi, The Peerless Oyster Company, Ltd., for the packing of oysters and shrimp, a branch of the Baltimore house, which is yet maintained, Charles H. Torsch being president until his death. In 1905 another plant was built at Milford, Delaware, for the canning of fruits and vegetables. These plants were es- tablished to fill out the season, the supply of oysters from Chesapeake Bay then being insufficient to keep the Baltimore plant actively employed at all times. That condition later passed away, but the Mississippi and Delaware plants proving profitable investments were continued. The Baltimore pack- ·ing plant grew to large proportions, employing about four
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hundred hands in the busy season. As the head of his varied interests, Mr. Torsch proved the strength of his executive ability, and all of them prospered.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Torsch came to the part- ing of the ways with the regular city organization in 1911, and entered the primaries against it. He failed, however, in his struggle with the force which for years had dominated the party. Previously he had been appointed a member of the Board of Park Commissioners, and in 1898 succeeded David L. Bartlett, Esq., as president of the board. It was with his active assistance that the first playground in a public park was opened at Carroll Park by the Children's Playground Society. In his public career he was broad-minded, progressive and enterprising, always found in the van of all movements for the public welfare. He wrote much for the public press, and made his influence felt for good. He had a wide acquaint- anceship, was very popular socially, and was highly esteemed. He never declined a contest where principle was involved, and was a hard fighter, but none were so ready as he to pro- claim amnesty after a contest was over. He was enterprising and energetic, thorough and resourceful; most charitable and generous. He had a kind heart and an open purse for those who were weaker and less fortunate, but who deserved his · sympathy; and in all things measured up to the full stature of a man. Although not in late years identified with the Young Men's Christian Association, Mr. Torsch was in his early years deeply interested in the objects and aims of the society, and pronounced them good. But as in other things, he was far in advance of his contemporaries and when he pro- posed that the association add bowling alleys and pool tables to their games as a means of drawing young men within good influences, the idea was pronounced sacreligious, and vetoed. Twenty-five years later both these attractions appeared in the
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Young Men's Christian Association and the Guild House. He became a member of St. Mark's English Lutheran Church, formerly on North Eutaw street, now on St. Paul street, under Rev. Charles Stork, D.D., and later at Dr. Stork's request became a charter member of the new St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Druid Hill avenue and McMechen street. Years later he joined the First Unitarian Church, of which Rev. Alfred R. Hussey, D.D., was pastor, and continued active in church work and philanthropy until his health failed.
Mr. Torsch married, in 1872, Emma M. Saumenig, who with their only son, Charles Burnet Torsch, and two grand- daughters, Althea L. and Marie M. Torsch, survive him.
An elder brother, Captain John W. Torsch, also born in Baltimore, espoused the cause of the South during the Civil War, was in command of the Second Maryland Regiment, Army of Northern Virginia, and with his chief, General Rob- ert E. Lee, gave up the struggle at Appomattox Court House.
DOUGLAS MILLER WYLIE
NOT LONG after reaching man's estate, and soon after his graduation from Johns Hopkins University, Douglas M. Wylie became an associate of his honored father in the flour and grain firm of Wylie, Smith & Company as a partner, and from that time until his death was very prominent in the bus- iness life of Baltimore. Few men were more diverse in their interests or took part more willingly in all that pertained to the public or social life of his city; his activity and influence was not confined to commerce, for he was a social favorite and numbered many of his intimates among the most fashion- able and select. He possessed a rare trait of character that led him to identify himself actively with movements in many fields of public welfare and reached out into the broad do- main of public interest; made himself familiar with its pro- blems and held himself ready at all times to aid in their solution. Thus at one and the same time he was influential and strong in business, in religious activity, in the city's struggle for civic righteousness, in the cause of charity, in educational affairs, in fact, strong for everything that touched upon or furthered the cause of the public good.
The foundations upon which he built his proud record of citizenship were a heritage from his father, Robert M. Wylie, and with the advantage of a University education, the preceptorship of his able father, and the momentum gained while yet he could avail himself of the wisdom and experience of that father, he went forward to greater heights of success and influence.
Robert M. Wylie was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1838, and came to the United States a young man. Shortly after arriving in Baltimore he became clerk for the firm of D. J. Foley & Company. He formed a partnership with A. A.
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Johnson in 1863, trading as Johnson & Wylie. In 1865, with F. T. Smith, he founded the grain and flour firm of Wylie, Smith & Company, conducting a highly successful business under that name until the forming of the firm of Wylie, Son & Company. Six months prior to his death, June 20, 1902, he withdrew, leaving all his business interests in the hands of his capable son, Douglas M. Wylie. He was one of the foun- ders and incorporators of the Baltimore Corn and Flour Ex- change, was one of the familiar figures on the exchange, and for nearly half a century was engaged in the flour and grain business. The Corn and Flour Exchange afterward became the Chamber of Commerce, and for many years he was a director. From 1873 until 1880 he served the Chamber as treasurer, for which he accepted no remuneration; in 1890 he was elected second vice-president, and in 1891 first vice- president. He was also one of the incorporators and vice- president of the Terminal Warehouse Company, and a dir- ector of the Western National Bank. Robert M. Wylie was a devout member of the First Presbyterian Church, was twice chosen an elder of the congregation, and for a number of years was chairman of the executive committee. He was one of the organizers of the Presbyterian Association of Maryland ; a trustee of the Presbyterian Home for Women; a director of the Presbyterian Ear, Eye and Throat Hospital, and a director of the Egenton Orphanage. He married Elizabeth McKee, of Baltimore, and had two children, only one of whom lived, Douglas Miller Wylie. Mrs. Wylie survives both hus- band and son.
Douglas Miller Wylie was born in Baltimore, April 28, 1865, died unmarried in Baltimore, where he lived with his mother, March 9, 1914. He completed his education at Johns Hopkins University, class of 1890, shortly afterward became a member of the firm of Wylie, Smith & Company,
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and from the very beginning of his career displayed unusual aptitude for business. He was soon a potent force in the firm's affairs and ten years later the style and title became Wylie, Son & Company, and so remained until both father and son had both joined the great majority. On January 1, 1902, Robert M. Wylie withdrew, turning the executive manage- ment over to his son, and from that time until his death Douglas M. Wylie was the active head. Under his guidance the house continued its successful career and so prominently did its head become that he was chosen president of the Balti- more Chamber of Commerce, a position he held two terms. In the great fire of 1904, the great grain warehouses built by Robert M. Wylie and owned by Wylie Son & Company, were destroyed, Douglas M. Wylie expressing his thankfulness that his father had been spared witnessing their destruction. For twelve years Douglas M. Wylie was a director of the Eutaw Savings Bank, and member of its investigating committee, his associates on the board expressing their high opinion of his uprightness and usefulness, adding: "His death means a per- sonal loss. We shall sadly miss his vigorous work and sound advice in connection with the business of the bank." He was also vice-president and director of the National Bank of Com- merce; director of the Terminal Warehouse Company and of the Maryland Trust Company.
Mr. Wylie was an independent Democrat in politics, and once his name was mentioned in connection with the mayor- alty, but his independent tendencies did not commend him to the powers that rule. In 1909 he was elected chairman of the Anti-Amendment League, and in 1911 he was appointed a member of the Board of Park Commissioners by Mayor Mahool. But his public spirit did not wait on public office and he was greatly in evidence in all public movements. He was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church of
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Baltimore, serving as deacon from 1895, and a trustee from 1902 until his death. He was most benevolent in disposition, extending charity freely through personal channels and through the medium of organized bodies. He was for years identified with the Charity Organization Society, but while affiliated with about every charitable organization in the city it did not require official action to arouse his sympathy, any unfortunate appealing to him always finding a friend.
He was fond of the pleasures of social life and was one of the most popular clubmen of the city, belonging to the Maryland University, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins, Merchants, Elk Ridge Hunt, and Baltimore Country clubs. He was a member of the Bachelors Cotillion, welcome at its functions, and one of the most popular of the older members, being very fond of dancing, which fact endeared him to the younger members, who claimed him as one of their own. Notwith- standing his weighty business and other responsibilities he was scrupulous in the observance of his social obligations and was an honored guest in the best society. His versatility, big- hearted, genial disposition, and never failing consideration for others, won him friends everywhere, and many were the hearts that were touched by the tidings that their friend had left them. His life was an inspiration, and the memory of this christian gentleman, good citizen, sterling business man and loyal friend will long survive.
MD .- 30
COLIN McLEAN
PHYSICALLY notable for his great height, six feet six inches, and his splendidly proportioned weight, three hundred and forty-five pounds, the deeds of Colin McLean were of like unusual proportions. A builder of great works, only the most difficult construction seemed to appeal to him, and he left as monuments to his constructive genius, a large number of the greatest piers, bridges and buildings along the Atlantic coast from New York City to Albermarle Sound. The foundations for two of the immense suspension bridges which span the East river, connecting Brooklyn and New York, the longest timber railroad bridge spanning navigable waters in the world, the great five mile sea wall at Charles- ton, South Carolina, were important contracts successfully completed by Mr. McLean and the list of great enterprises presenting perplexing problems to engineer and contractor could be indefinitely prolonged. When the great Johnstown flood subsided and disclosed a scene of death, wreck and destruction unparalelled, the United States and Pennsylvania State engineers advised the governor of Pennsylvania to select the most competent contractor he could find and give him entire charge of the work of restoring the vast inundated tract to a cleanly sanitary condition. Mr. McLean was the man chosen for the work, was given full authority and performed the work in a perfectly satisfactory manner in the shortest pos- sible time. Men high in the financial world and in business, great builders and engineers, called him friend, and that friendship was never forfeited. Mr. McLean was deeply interested in civic affairs as a citizen and it was the dream of his life that Baltimore water front should become a continuous scene of industry and commerce. He aided in every way May Preston's plans for the Key Highway, the opening of
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