History of Baltimore, Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1729-1898, including its early settlement and development; a description of its historic and interesting localities; political, military, civil, and religious statistcs; biographies of representative citizens, etc., etc, Part 113

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1344

USA > Maryland > Baltimore County > Baltimore City > History of Baltimore, Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1729-1898, including its early settlement and development; a description of its historic and interesting localities; political, military, civil, and religious statistcs; biographies of representative citizens, etc., etc > Part 113

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Doctor Miltenberger's life was brightened and its trials made lighter by the presence of one who was a helpmeet indeed. She was Miss Sarah E. Williams, daughter of Mr. Nathaniel Williams, formerly of Mo- bile, Alabama, but later of Baltimore. Doctor Miltenberger is a member of all the leading medical societies.

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

DR. B. HOLLY SMITH, JR., 1007 Madison avenue. (D. D. S.)

Dr. B. Holly Smith, Jr., first saw the light of day at Piscataway, Prince George's county, Md., March 17, 1858. His earliest education was received under a pri- vate tutor, and later in the Virginia Normal Institute at Hamilton, Va. Between his twelfth year and attaining his majority, Doctor Smith was variously employed; part of the time on the railroad, for a time dispensing news, and lastly book-keeper for a banking concern. The family having moved to Baltimore in 1870, Doctor Smith was employed in the city until his matricu- lation in the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, from which he graduated in 1881. He also obtained a diploma from the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons in 1883. He began at once the practice of dentistry, and has merited a liberal patronage from the better class of Baltimore citizens. In 1881 Doctor Smith was appointed assist- ant demonstrator in his Alma Mater, and in 1888 lecturer on operative dentistry. The following year he was advanced to a professorship, filling the chair of Materia Medica and Special Anatomy.

The father of our subject, Rev. Bennett Holloway Smith, Sr., a native of Virginia, was born in 1823. He was a man of liberal education and religious convictions. He was early converted to the simple faith of the Wesleys, and for many years was an honored minister of the Methodist Episco- pal Church. In 1870 he was appointed to a position in the Baltimore Custom House, and thereafter made Baltimore his home.

The mother of Doctor Smith was Miss Matilda C. Janney, daughter of Mr. John Janney. The wife of our subject was Miss

Frances G. Hopkins, daughter of Mr. Wil- liam Conwell Hopkins, and granddaughter of Judge Keene, of Maryland.

Doctor Smith is a member of the leading Dental Associations of the State and Na- tion. Of the Southern Dental Association he was president in 1893-94, and is now serving as vice-president for the South of the National Dental Asociation. He is secretary of the Executive Committee of the National Association of Dental Faculties since 1893, and has presided in the Mary- land State Dental Association. In a literary way Doctor Smith has made himself felt, having contributed to the various publica- tions devoted to his profession. Of the so- cial orders he holds membership in the Royal Arcanum, the Golden Chain, and the Improved Order of Heptasophs. Doctor Smith and wife are members of the Asso- ciate Reformed Church.

DR. G. LANE TANEYHILL, 1103 Madison avenue. The family of which Dr. G. Lane Taneyhill is a worthy representative is one dating back to the colonial period of our national existence. The first American an- cestor, John Taneyhill, came from Paisley, Scotland, early in the seventeenth century, settling in Calvert county, where he re- ceived a large grant of land from Cecil Cal- vert, Lord Baltimore, and the old parch- ment deed bearing his signature was in the county records until their recent destruc- tion by the burning of the court house at Prince Fredericktown, Calvert county, Md.

Rev. Thomas Taneyhill, father of the Doctor, was for many years a well known light in the ministry of the leading Metho- dist Church. He was one of the pioneer preachers, his work extending over the

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States of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsyl- vania. As a boy he was a witness of many of the scenes of the War of 1812, and on one occasion came near losing his life dur- ing that turbulent time. He had climbed a tree to watch the operations, and a portion of the troops of General Ross passing through his father's farm, thinking him to be a turkey, was about to fire, when he called to them, offering to come down. He did so, and was not further molested. He heard the explosion when Barney blew up his own fleet in the Patuxent river to pre- vent its falling into the hands of the British under Claiborne. During the course of his life he was the witness of three wars of the government. Thomas Taneyhill was born in Calvert county, December 7, 1803. He was almost wholly a self-educated man. Af- ter his seventy-third year he took up the study of Greek and Hebrew and within three years had translated the Greek Testament.

He was licensed to preach by Reverend William Prettyman, admitted to the confer- ence by Bishop Soule, and assigned to his first charge at Green Brier, Va., March, 1828. After a long life, well spent in the Master's vineyard, he retired from active work at the age of sixty and made his home at Bryan, Williams county, O. His death, at the age of ninety-one, occurred at the residence of his son, Rev. Charles Wesley Taneyhill, of Toledo, O., November 19, 1894. He was the hero of Hadley's novel, "George Brown's Courtship," the scene of which was laid in the Juniata valley. It is a beautiful story, and at one time one that was very well known. His wife, the heroine of the story, was Miss Elizabeth Berryman, daughter of Mr. Thomas Berryman, whose ancestors came from the North of Ireland.

Their wedding occurred February 28, 1833, and in 1883 they celebrated their golden wedding, at which they gave each of their children a gold coin on which was engraved their names with the date of the celebration.

Dr. G. Lane Taneyhill was born in Belle- fonte, Center county, Pa., March II, 1840. After classical education in the high school of Professor Bradley, of Bloomsburg, our subject entered Dickinson Seminary at Wil- liamsport, from which he graduated in 1858, with the degree of A. B. After graduation he proceeded to Stryker, Williams county, O., where for two years he engaged in pre- paring students for Oberlin College.

Leaving Ohio at this time, Doctor Taney- hill returned to his father's old plantation in Calvert county, Md., teaching school until 1863, at the same time studying medicine under Dr. John F. Petherbridge. Coming to Baltimore in that year he became a medi- cal cadet in the Camden Street Military Hospital, at the same time attending lec- tures in the medical school of the University of Maryland with Professor McSherry as preceptor, graduating in the spring of 1865. He was immediately commissioned by Gov- ernor A. W. Bradford, assistant surgeon of the Eleventh Maryland Regiment, stationed at Fort Delaware, serving without pay until the close of the war, being mustered out in June, 1865. He is a member of Wilson Post, No. I, G. A. R., of Maryland.

From 1865 to 1868 Doctor Taneyhill was assistant surgeon in the Maryland Hospital for the Insane, which stood on the ground now occupied by the Johns Hopkins Hos- pital, studying nervous diseases. The fol- lowing year he was a student and assistant in Bellevue Hospital, New York. On re- turning from New York, Doctor Taneyhill

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

opened an office in Baltimore and has been a leading practitioner of the city ever since.

The Doctor is the author of the well- known History of Medical Societies of Bal- timore from 1730 to 1880, and of the in- teresting lecture "Personal Reminiscences of a Medical Official in an Insane Hospital."

Doctor Taneyhill takes an active interest in all societies of a professional nature, and is connected with many of them. He is a member of the American Medical Associa- tion, State Medical Society, served as presi- dent of the Baltimore Medical Association in 1874; for thirty years he was a member of the State Medical Faculty, and is serving on its board of trustees; is vice-president of the Baltimore Obstetrical and Gynecologi- cal Society and treasurer of Alumni Asso- ciation of Maryland University. Over thir- teen years he has served as examining sur- geon for the pension bureau in Baltimore and for several large insurance companies. He was appointed March 7, 1898, by Mayor Malster to the position of Quarantine Hos- pital Physician (salary $3,000), which ap- pointment was confirmed by unanimous vote of the City Council, March 9, 1898. Two days subsequently he declined to ac- cept the proffered honor on account of private practice.

Of religious and civic societies he is stew- ard in the Madison Avenue Methodist Church; vice-president of the City Mission- ary and Church Extension Society; and is physician of St. Andrew's Society, organ- ized in 1806 for aiding needy Scotchmen in the city. Doctor Taneyhill was one of the original incorporators of the Maryland Academy of Sciences.

He is the aggressive and popular school commissioner from the Twelfth ward of Bal-

timore, endorsing the Civil Service idea, and one of the most active in advancing the cur- riculum and enlarging the list of text- books, and takes a deep interest in all that pertains to education. He is thoroughly interested in all reform move- ments calculated to improve our civil insti- tutions, and is an active member of the Good Government Club of his ward, the Civil Service Reform League, and the Co- lumbian Club. He has been for many years a member of Maryland Historical Society.

In 1882 he had conferred upon him the degree A. M. by Dickinson College.

On November 20, 1873, Doctor Taney- hill was married to Miss Carrie A., daughter of the late Rev. William McAllister, of New York. They are both members of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church. Dr. and Mrs. Ta- neyhill have two living children: G. Lane Taneyhill, Jr., an undergraduate of Johns Hopkins University, and Ruth Hollis Ta- neyhill, a pupil at Miss Russell's school, N. Charles street, Baltimore.

JOHN STONEWALL J. HEALY, Attorney- at-Law, was born in Baltimore, Md., on the IIth day of August, 1862. His father was John Healy, who came to this country from Ireland in 1837, and went to Virginia, join- ing an uncle, Bartholomew Curry, who was a large contractor extensively engaged in the construction of canals and railroads, with whom he remained two years, when, his health failing, he visited Cuba, spending a year on that island. In 1840 John Healy came to Baltimore and established himself in the retail grocery business in the eastern section of the city at the corner of Pratt and President streets, and built up a large trade. At that time cargoes of sugar, mo-

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lasses, coffees and teas were sold by the im- porters at auction on the vessels immedi- ately upon their arrival, and among the largest and best known purchasers was John Healy. He was a man of scholarly attain- ments, having received a classical education at one of the world-renowned Irish univer- sities, with the intention of entering upon a professional career. He was thoroughly conversant with the Greek, Latin, Spanish and French languages, and was one of the best of English as well as Latin gram- marians. His acquaintance with the ancient authors was extensive and thorough, and few could hold their own with him in dis- cussing Virgil, Horace and Juvenal. He was of quiet tastes, retiring habits and un- assuming and unpretentious manners, de- voting himself almost exclusively to his home and his books. In 1861 he married Eliza J. Donnelly, daughter of Peter Don- nelly and Margaret Donnelly and the sister of David Donnelly, of Baltimore. Miss Don- nelly was born in Williamsport, Md. Her parents came from Ireland in 1819, and set- tled in western Maryland. Miss Donnelly on her mother's side came from the O'Neils, of Tyrone, and was the youngest of fifteen children. The result of this union was two children, the eldest the subject of this sketch and the second a daughter, who died in infancy.

During the war John Healy was an ar- dent though quiet Southern sympathizer and was several times threatened with arrest for his Southern tendencies. He was al- ways a strong Democrat and often boasted that during a period of nearly sixty years he voted at every election even during the dark days of Know Nothingism and always cast a Democratic ballot. He died in 1898 at the advanced age of eighty-six years.

John Stonewall J. Healy was educated at Calvert Hall, completing his education at Loyola College, from which institution he received the degree of A. B. At the age of seventeen he left school and took a position with the old and well-known wholesale gro- cery house of Calvin Chestnut & Co., located at the northwest corner of Pratt and South streets. He was connected with this firm for ten years, rising from an humble position to that of head book-keeper and cashier, a po- sition of trust and responsibility which he ably and conscientiously filled until the dis- solution of the firm. During that time he took an active interest in public affairs, having through the Taxpayers' Association, a large body of well-known and influential citizens, become prominent in connection with many public and popular reforms. Among these was the street cleaning ques- tion. As chairman of a committee of this association, and representing a number of public-spirited citizens he had prepared and submitted to the City Council a proposition to take a contract to clean the streets of the city for a term of years at a saving of $II0,- 000.00 per annum to the municipality. He was also chairman of the committee on street paving reform, which accomplished some good results; on the Belt Line Rail- road, which secured additional safeguards from the B. & O. R. R. Co. in building its line around the city, and numerous other committees, and was recognized by that body as a young man of exceptional force and ability.

In 1891 he took up the study of law, en- tering the office of Hon. A. Leo Knott, for- merly State's Attorney of Baltimore county and ex-Assistant Postmaster General, and taking the course at the Maryland Uni- versity, he graduated with honor in the class

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of 1893. Since coming to the bar he has participated in some prominent cases.

In 1892 Mr. Healy ardently supported Grover Cleveland first for the nomination and afterwards for the Presidency. He spoke at the first meeting indorsing Mr. Cleveland's candidacy, and also at the rati- fication meeting immediately after his nom- ination. He made several speeches during the campaign, part of the time in New York State.

In 1896 he supported Hon. William J. Bryan, the candidate of the Democratic party, and the Chicago platform, with an en- thusiasm and ardor that won him many friends. He was very active during the campaign of that year, and worked hard and faithfully for the success of the ticket. In 1897 he was selected by the Democratic party as its candidate for legislative honors from the Third Legislative District, but went down with the entire Democratic ticket which met such disastrous defeat in that year. During that campaign he at- tended two and three meetings a night, making speeches and striving hard for vic- tory for his party, showing himself well qualified and equipped for legislative honors. He is mentioned for future politi- cal honors. Mr. Healy is active and ener- getic, and as a young man bids fair to be- come prominent legally and politically.

CHARLES MESSERSMITH was a native of Germany. He came to this country when about four years of age. His parents lo- cated in Baltimore, where they became good, law-abiding citizens of their adopted country. Charles, at an early age, went into the butcher business, which he successfully followed up all his life. By a close appli-

cation to business principles he succeeded in building for himself a fortune, and at the same time helped in a material way the growth of the city. He confined himself to veal exclusively. His business grew to such an extent that he had stalls in the leading markets of the city.

He married Miss Louisa E. Saumnig, a native of Baltimore, but of German parent- age, in 1849, by whom he had ten children, six of whom are living; four of these are boys who have succeeded their father in his business. These are Charles E., Sam- tel J., John K. and Oliver, all of whom are prominent men in their line of business.

Charles Messersmith died in 1893 la- mented and honored by all who knew him.

JOHN CHRISTIAN ROTH, proprietor of the Fayette Cafe and Billiard Hall, was born in Baltimore, May 29, 1860. He is the son of the late George and Katharine (Gess- wein) Roth, natives of Germany, who lo- cated in Baltimore some years prior to the late war, where George Roth was latterly engaged in the marketing business. He died in 1880; his wife in 1873. John C. Roth attended the public and parochial schools of Baltimore, learned the trade of cigar making and was variously employed up to 1887, when he entered the service of J. Requardt & Co., with whom he continued to be associated until 1898, when he as- sumed the proprietorship of the establish- ment named above. Mr. Roth is a Mason and Past Master of Joppa Lodge, a mem- ber of the B. P. O. E., Baltimore Lodge, No. 7, and of the Order of the Golden Chain. He was for five years a member of the Fifth Regiment, being mustered out as sergeant. He is now a member of the Fifth

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Regiment Veteran Corps. He was mar- ried November 26, 1884, to Anna Elnora, daughter of the late Joseph Hackett, a pas- senger engineer for thirty years in the em- ploy of the B. & O. R. R. Mr. and Mrs. Roth have one child, Margaretta C., reside at 1926 WV. Baltimore street and attend the Lutheran Church.

GEORGE K. McGAW, leading importing grocer of Baltimore, was born at Bush (head of Bush river), Harford county, Md., January 8, 1850. He is a son of John Mc- Gaw, a prominent citizen of that county, who, like his father and grandfather, en- gaged principally in the business of tan- ning. The ancestors of Mr. McGaw were early colonial settlers.

George K. McGaw first attended Abing- don Academy (formerly known as Cokes- bury College), spent one year at Bel Air Academy, and from 1865 to 1868 was at West Nottingham Academy, a Presbyterian school, in Cecil county. In July, 1868, he entered the employ of Hon. Jacob Tome, of Port Deposit, serving in various capacities in bank, warehouse and steamboat offices, and for three years at the office of the Bal- timore & Susquehanna Steamboat Co., at Baltimore. On May 1, 1875, Mr. McGaw embarked in the grocery business at the northeast corner of Lexington and Paca streets, in partnership association with Mr. John B. Ramsey (now president of the Na- tional Mechanics' Bank), under the firm name of Geo. K. McGaw & Co. Mr. Ram- say's connection with the business was sev- ered after several years, Mr. McGaw con- tinuing it under its original name, and re- moving to his present commodious and handsome establishment, 220 and 222 North

Charles street, February 1, 1888. From a modest beginning, both in volume of busi- ness and capital employed, Mr. McGaw has, with rapid strides, pushed forward un- til he now occupies the foremost position in his line, not only in this city, but in the South. In fact, there are few houses in the United States so fully equipped for handling a large trade. Each of the cities of the first- class in the United States has one and only one such establishment, and it was for years the ambition of dealer after dealer to found and maintain just such an exclusive em- porium as Mr. McGaw's well directed, en- terprising efforts have succeeded in secur- ing for Baltimore. Mr. McGaw takes an active interest in all public matters and en- terprises. He was one of the committee of seventy in the recent Democratic sound money campaign. He is president of the Buena Vista Hotel Co., of the Exchange Permanent Loan and Building Association ; a member of the Board of Trade, Corn and Flour Exchange and Merchants' and Man- ufacturers' Association, and a director of the Guardian Trust and Deposit Company. He is a Mason, a member of the Order of the Golden Chain and Royal Arcanum.

He was married January 16, 1877, to Mar- garet A., daughter of the late James War- den, at one time leading flour merchant of Baltimore, and one of the incorporators of the Corn and Flour Exchange. Mr. and Mrs. McGaw have two children, Mary Bar- tol and Sophie Warden McGaw; reside at 1021 St. Paul street and are members of the First Presbyterian Church.

MR. I. FREEMAN RASIN was born at Castle Cary, Kent county, Md., March II, 1833. His father was Robert Wilson Rasin,

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whose father was Philip Freeman Rasin, also of the same county and place; whose father was William Rasin, the progenitor of the family in America. He married Sarah Free- man and settled in Kent county, Md., in 1750, under Charles Calvert, Lord Balti- more, and was a man of estate and promi- nence, being a member of the Assembly as early as 1757, and was one of the earliest and leading vestrymen in Chester Parish. His descendants have intermarried with families of distinction, and are related to some of the earliest and most eminent set- tlers of Maryland of Colonial, Revolution- ary and historic fame, such as the Wil- sons of 1700; Halidays, 1700; Ringgolds, 1650; Claypooles, 1653; Wilmers, 1660, and Morris, who came over about 1657 with William Penn. The subjoined official copy is instructive :

(Copy.) "LAND OFFICE OF MARYLAND.

I hereby certify that there is deposited in and belonging to this office, a certain Rec- ord Book, entitled record of the officers and soldiers entitled to land westward of Fort Cumberland in Washington county, with the numbers of the lots drawn for them, agreeably to an Act of the General Assem- bly, passed November session, 1778; and that it appears, from said record, that lots numbered 2045, 2046, 2047 and 2048 were under the drawing aforesaid awarded to Lieut. William Rasin.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the Land Office of Maryland, this 7th day of Decem- ber in the year 1894.

(Signed) [SEAL. ]

PHILIP D. LAIRD,

Commissioner of Land Office.

This William Rasin entered the Revolu- tionary service and was promoted to ensign, lieutenant and captain of Light Infantry of Kent county, Md. He married Sarah Free- man. His son, Philip Freeman Rasin, mar- ried Phoebe Wilson; his son, Robert W. Rasin, married Mary Rebecca Ringgold, and his son, Isaac Freeman Rasin, married Julia Ann Claypoole. The father of Mary Rebecca Ringgold was Edward, a farmer and planter, and possessed of large landed estate in Kent county and Kent Island. He married his first cousin, Martha, daughter of William Ringgold, of Corsica. His sec- ond marriage was to Rebecca Smith, of Chestertown, Md., where he resided till his death, December 10, 1880. He was the youngest son of Thomas and Elizabeth Suddler Ringgold, planter of Coxe's Neck, Kent Island. Thomas was the son of James Ringgold, of Coxe's Neck, who died in 1740. He was the son of James Ringgold, gentle- man and planter, of Talbot county, Md. James, of Talbot, was the son of Maj. James Ringgold, "Lord of Manor" on Eastern Neck, and his second wife, Mary Vaughan, was a daughter of Capt. Robert Vaughan, commander of Kent from 1647 to 1652. Maj. James Ringgold was one of the com- missioners for holding Court in Talbot, as early as 1662, and afterwards in Kent from 1674 to his death in 1686, and was a great fa- vorite with the Crown. He was the son of Thomas Ringgold, "Lord of Huntingfield," who was the progenitor of the family in America. He emigrated from England and, it is thought, settled first in Virginia and afterwards, in 1650, with his two sons, James and John, settled on the Isle of Kent. He possessed large landed estate, and was a very prominent and influential man. He

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was a member of the Courts as early as 1651. In 1652 England appointed commissioners for the settlement of all matters in dispute in the English plantations on the Chesa- peake Bay, and stipulated that Philip Con- nor or Thomas Ringgold should always be one of them. He was a true Royalist, and in 1652, with sixty-five others, pledged him- self to be true and faithful to the Common- wealth of England, without King or House or Lords. The Ringgolds have been men of wealth, high social and political promi- nence, and also of military distinction. Coxe's Neck on Kent Island, now owned by Samuel Ringgold, descended from father to son for eight generations, covering a period of nearly two and a half centuries.

Philip F. Rasin married Phoebe Wilson, daughter of George and Susan Haliday Wil- son. George Wilson was a son of George and Margaret Hall Wilson, of "Castle Cary." He was the son of George and Mary Kennard Wilson, of "Broad Oak," who was the son of James and Catharine Wilson, of "Old Field Point" (still owned by the sub- ject of this article, together with his brother). James Wilson came from Eng- land to the Province of Maryland, and set- tled in Shrewsbury Parish, Kent county, about the year 1700, and died 1732. Susan Haliday Wilson was a daughter of James and Margaret Cook Morris. He was the son of Anthony Morris, of St. Dunstans, Stepenny of London, England, born Au- gust 23, 1654. He married Mary Jones January 30, 1676, and died October 24, 1721.

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Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n Publication date: 1898 Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1344

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1344