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 115
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In 1856 he was appointed by the General Synod, which met at Chambersburg, Pa., a delegate of the Reformed Church of the United States to the Evangelical Alliance Convention at Lubeck, Germany, and in 1857 attended a Conference at Berlin, which was favored with the presence of the King and Queen of Prussia, who manifested their interest by inviting the members of the Con- ference to visit their palace, where they were delightfully entertained. In 1880 he was a delegate to the Centennial Sunday-school Convention held in London, England, in commemoration of Robert Raikes, who es- tablished the first Sunday-school in Glou- cester, England, in 1780. In 1860, at Mr. Griffith's suggestion, the "Children's Aid
Society" was organized by himself and two associates; he has never ceased to be an active supporter of the institution, and is still one of its efficient vice-presidents. This society was afterwards, through the bequest of Henry Watson of $100,000, changed to the "Henry Watson Children's Aid So- ciety." Since the organization of the So- ciety, 2,637 children have been received. Of this number 2,235 have secured desirable Christian homes.
By reason of the riots which occurred April 19, 1861, Mr. Griffith was convinced that a long and desperate struggle had be- gun, and was impressed with the necessity of some organization to aid the soldiers phy- sically and spiritually, both in army and navy. In pursuance of a call by Mr. Grif- fith, in 1861, about forty gentlemen, known to be loyal to the United States Govern- ment, met at his dwelling May 4, 1861, and a Christian Association was organized with Mr. Griffith as president. A circular was promptly issued enumerating supplies needed for camp and hospital purposes. This was the first organized movement in this direction during the Civil War. About six months later the United States Christian Commission was organized with George H. Stuart president, headquarters in Philadel- phia. Because of Mr. Griffith's energy and efficiency as president of the Christian As- sociation, he was appointed chairman of an auxiliary committee in the city of Balti- more, to have control of a central depart- ment of the work of the United States Chris- tian Commission. Mr. Griffith, for a pe- riod of four years, generously devoted his time and money to this cause. This great benevolence had the hearty endorsement of Secretary Stanton, Secretary Seward,
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Chief Justice Chase, General Sherman, President Lincoln and many other eminent officials. General Grant, when the Com- mission was about to close its labors, ad- dressed to its president a letter of com- mendation, from which the following ex- tract is taken:
"It affords me pleasure to bear evidence to the services rendered, and the manner in which they have been rendered. By the agency of the Commission much suffering has been saved, on almost every battle-field and in every hospital during the late Re- bellion. No doubt thousands of persons now living attribute their recovery, in a great part, to volunteer agencies sent to the field and hospital by the free contributions of our loyal citizens."
Soon after the Civil War he was elected president of the Maryland Union Commis- sion, which was organized, at his sugges- tion, for the purpose of co-operating with the people of the South in relieving desti- tution occasioned by the ravages of war; also for aiding refugees with money, cloth- ing, provisions and agricultural implements. In May, 1866, this Commission was dis- solved, the necessity which called it into ex- istence having disappeared. Relief was given, in cash and otherwise, to the value of about $24,000.
Mr. Griffith has been a strong advocate of temperance from his youth. At the age of seventeen he was elected president of the Temperance Society of St. Peter's P. E. Sunday-school, of which Mr. Wm. Wood- ward was superintendent. This was one of the first Sunday-school temperance or- ganizations in the country.
Mr. Griffith was one of the founders of the Union Soldiers' Orphan Asylum, the
Asylum and Training School for Feeble- Minded Children, the House of Reforma- tion and Instruction for Colored Boys, the Industrial Home for Colored Girls, and the Society for the Protection of Children from Cruelty and Immorality. He is president of the last two mentioned institutions. The two reformatory institutions-the one for boys and the other for girls-were the first established in the United States for the ne- gro race.
He has also, for many years, been actively engaged in prison reform, having in 1869 es- tablished the Maryland Prisoners' Aid As- sociation, of which he has been president since its organization. In this capacity he has done much directly for the moral im- provement of the prisoners, by providing them with religious literature and by estab- lishing Sunday-schools and religious ser- vices in the Maryland Penitentiary and other penal and reformatory institutions and almshouses throughout the State. As president he visits annually the penal and pauper institutions in the State, and keeps the society well posted with regard to the buildings, management and condition of the inmates. This is done without expense to the society.
He has been instrumental in securing a number of legislative enactments, which have removed abuses and saved unneces- sary expense.
In 1879 a bill passed the Maryland Legis- lature establishing the Maryland House of Correction, to utilize the time and labor of tramps, vagrants, drunkards and petty thieves, who had been previously supported by the State. This bill was first suggested by Mr. Griffith at a meeting of the Mary- land Prisoners' Aid Association.
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Mr. Griffith is clearly upon record as the friend of the mechanic, the champion of hon- est toil, and the enemy of anything that tends to lower the dignity of manhood and render employment less remunerative and honorable; yet he cannot shut his eyes to the fact that the State owes a duty to the convict and prisoner, who as its wards should be lifted up from a condition of idle degradation and be taught habits of honest industry. January 4, 1876, Mr. Griffith read a paper at a meeting of the Maryland Prisoners' Aid Association em- phasizing the necessity for a change in the Magistrate fee system of Baltimore. A bill to this effect was framed and soon after- wards became a law. Under the old system there were twenty-four Magistrates, each empowered to commit persons for trial who were charged with offenses or merely sus- pected. This power was abused for the sake of fees and costs, and the expense to the tax-payers was great. Under the new law each Station House is entitled to one committing Magistrate, who receive salary instead of fees, and who is required to care- fully examine into charges. The number of commitments at once largely decreased, and it is estimated that the tax-payers have been saved from $30,000 to $40,000 an- nually.
He secured the passage of an act pro- hibiting the receiving and detaining of chil- dren between three and sixteen years of age in any almshouse in the State, unless such child be a paralytic or otherwise in- capable for usefulness; also to prevent the employment of young girls as sitters in con- cert saloons. He also prepared a bill that passed both Houses of the Legislature, without an amendment, prohibiting children
from begging, peddling and visiting low places of amusement, which prepare them for lives of prostitution and crime. This law has had a most satisfactory effect on the youth of this city. Also he took an active interest in securing the passage of the law prohibiting the selling of cigarettes to youths under fifteen years of age.
In 1883, Mr. Griffith urged, and had passed, an act by the Legislature to au- thorize the Baltimore Police Commissioners to appoint matrons to the District Police Stations, to take charge of female prisoners, who often arrive in a shameful condition. He also originated the bill giving judges discretion to suspend sentence in certain cases, particularly as to first offenders.
Mr. Griffith is a member of the National Prison Association, and in 1870 he was ap- pointed a delegate, by the Governor of Maryland, to the first National Prison Con- gress held at Cincinnati, O., and was one of its vice-presidents; Governor Hayes, of Ohio, afterwards President of the United States, being its presiding officer.
In 1872, he was appointed by the Gover- nor of Maryland a delegate to the Inter- national Penitentiary Congress, held at London, England, July 3-13, and read a paper before that body on the penal, re- formatory and charitable institutions of Maryland, which was received with such favor that 1,000 copies were ordered to be printed by the Executive Committee; it was also compiled in the report of the Congress. Again, in 1878, he was appointed a delegate to the International Prison Congress held at Stockholm. He has personally inspected the principal corrective and charitable in- stitutions of Europe and America, and is a corresponding member of the Societe Gen-
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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.
erale des Prisons of France, and the How- ard Association of London.
He was for a number of years a mem- ber of the board of directors of the National Prison Association of New York. He was appointed by Hon. John Lee Chapman, Mayor of Baltimore, a member of the board of visitors to the Baltimore city jail for 1865, '66 and '67. He was for several years di- rector on the part of the city to the Female House of Refuge.
He is president of the Maryland Sunday- school Union and during the thirty-one years he has filled this office over 1,500 Sunday-schools have been organized and aided, a large proportion of them for the colored race. Since the war Mr. Griffith has been indefatigable in his efforts to, ame- liorate the educational and spiritual condi- tion of this race. Maryland has now greater educational advantages offered to the colored race and a higher standard of morals among them than any State in the Union. During his incumbency as president, 151,400 children and teachers have been gathered in, and $141,688.62 col- lected and disbursed, of which amount Mr. Griffith has contributed $13,373, in addi- tion to which he has defrayed his own ex- penses while traveling in the interest of the society.
For thirty years he was a teacher of the normal Bible class of the First Reformed Church, during which time one hundred and fifty-one scholars united with the church; many of these became useful in Sunday- school work, and four became ministers of the gospel.
He is a member of the Young Men's Christian Association, having contributed liberally to the erection of its building in
Baltimore, and to its annual support. He was among the first members of the Board of the Boy's Home Society and contributed generously for the building and its sup- port. He has, for forty years, been one of the board of managers of the Maryland Tract Society. He has, for thirty-five years, been a leading Elder in the First Re- formed Church, and has always represented this church in the Classis, District and Gen- eral Synods of the Reformed Church of the United States. He has, for thirty-two years, been a member of the Board of For- eign Missions; was a member of the Board of Home Missions of the Potomac Synod, and is now president of the Board of Pub- lication of the Reformed Church in the United States at Philadelphia, of which board he has been a member for over thirty- five years. He was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of Franklin and Mar- shall College, at Lancaster, Pa., when James Buchanan, afterwards President of the United States, was its chief officer. He is also president of the Sunday-school Board of the Synod of the Potomac. He is pres- ident of the Board of Trustees of the Union Protestant Infirmary. He was for many years a director of the Old Town Bank and the Washington Fire Insurance Company of Baltimore.
Mr. Griffith is a self-made man, having had but limited educational advantages in his youth, and has acquired most of his ed- ucation at the Sunday and night schools; but being a man of great executive ability, indefatigable energy and strong will, he has surmounted all the difficulties that were thrown across his path. He is a frequent contributor to the daily, weekly and relig- ious papers; his articles on Sunday-school
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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.
and church work, prison reform, the tem- perance cause and kindred subjects, having been widely read and productive of much needed legislation.
Mr. Griffith, although eighty-three years of age on November 4, 1897, is still active and energetic in the prosecution of his com- mercial and philanthropic enterprises, and is proud of the fact that, although com- mencing life in the business world, in a to- bacco house, he never chewed nor smoked, nor has he ever used alcoholic beverages; but has saved the money which such indul- gences cost, and applied it to charitable pur- poses. Mr. Griffith prizes, perhaps more than any one gift, a recently tendered gold- headed cane from the prisoners of the Maryland State Penitentiary to himself.
At the close of the report of the general agent of the Maryland Prisoners' Aid As- sociation, he added the following: "After serving ten years as general agent of this society, we most heartily acknowledge the great assistance rendered us by the presi- dent, Mr. G. L. Griffith. No man could be more devoted to a cause than he is to the work in which we are engaged. He contributes, he labors, he directs and en- courages the work the whole year round. Thousands of men in high salaried posi- tions do far less than he does. Truly, he must realize that 'it is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
DECATUR H. MILLER, JR .- The name and family of Miller are long and definitely identified with many commercial, landed and financial interests, all tending to the ad- vancement, growth and development of Bal- timore, as will more fully appear further along in this article.
Decatur Howard Miller, Jr., the surviv- ing executive head of this family and its varied business concerns, bears his father's name. His father died December 31, 1890, having attained to a ripe age of three score and ten. He was pre-eminently a man of affairs in his life time. Having served only once in the political field, and then as a member of the City Council, he devoted his time and talents to his personal and com- mercial affairs. These were large enough to demand careful custody, too. Mr. Mil- ler was vice-president of the Board of Trade; director in the Consolidated Coal Company; director in the B. & O. R. R. Co .; sugar re- finer, when that industry was in its infancy in this city, and with such men as co-labor- ers in that industrial field as the late Joseph Rieman; a director in the Baltimore Dry Dock Company ; and a director in that great corporation the Merchants' and Miners' Transportation Company, with ships trad- ing along the entire N. A. Atlantic sea coast. One of the ships of this line still bears the Miller name.
This gentleman, the honored father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Balti- more and received his education under pri- vate tutors. His father, in turn, was George H. Miller, also a Baltimorean, who was the owner of the large tract of land known as Hawkins' Point, not far down the river.
The Decatur portion of this family name is derived from relationship to Stephen De- catur, a relation of Commodore Decatur, of Revolutionary fame. On the paternal line or side, the Millers here mentioned have long and elaborate Revolutionary incidents in their family archives, showing the partici- pancy of their ancestors in that struggle.
On the maternal side, Mr. Decatur How-
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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.
ard Miller, Jr.'s, mother was Miss Eliza S. Harn, a daughter of Jesse Harn, of Lynch- burg, Va., the first man to introduce licorice into the manufacture of chewing tobacco. This secret, like that of the manufacture of silk (preserved by monks), Mr. Harn suc- cessfully guarded for many years. He was an extensive and extremely wealthy to- bacco manufacture.
Mr. D. H. Miller, Jr., was born January 20, 1850, in Baltimore, and like his father received a careful education under private tutors. He began his active business career with his father in 1868, as wholesale com- mission tobacco dealer, and on their present business site, 112 S. Gay street. The old firm name used to be Jacob Heald & Co., afterwards changed to D. H. Miller & Sons.
Mr. Miller, with whom this article is spe- cifically dealing, is an active, aggressive man of business. He has little fancy for over- worked positions, however, and steadfastly declines all tenders as a director in the many Boards. In the directory of the Merchants' and Miners' Transportation Company he re- tains a seat, and in that one corporation alone.
Like his father, Mr. Miller has neither fondness nor time for political preferment, and declines to do more in that field than vote, and that as he sees fit.
He is a member of the Maryland Club and also of the Baltimore Yacht Club. He is a pew holder in Grace Church. Mr. Mil- ler married Miss Agnes Owens, a daughter of James Owens, of Maryland. Three boys and three girls have blessed this marriage.
MR. JACOB H. TAYLOR was born in Bal- timore county and came to Baltimore in 1839, where he has ever since been actively
engaged. His commercial and financial en- terprises are so large and varied that even more space than that apportioned here to them ought to be utilized. Then again, Mr. Taylor's descent is entitled to special men- tion among citizens thus identified with this city's development.
His father was Elijah Taylor, who died at the ripe age of eighty-three, after a ca- reer of probity mixed with patriotism, as he fought in the War of 1812 in defense of Bal- timore. Three brothers, who came from England early in America's history, were the progenitors of the Taylors in this coun- try. One of these three settled in Virginia, one in the West and the other in Maryland. President Zach. Taylor was a son of one branch of these three brothers.
On the maternal line, Mr. Jacob H. Tay- lar's mother was named Hiss, a daughter of Jacob Hiss, who came from Germany. The large patrimonial landed interests which he bought are still in the family. Mr. Taylor does not look his three score and ten by at least ten years, and is, as has before been remarked, actively engaged, as ever, in vast enterprises. He is president, for ex- ample, of five coal companies: The Taylor- McCoy Coal and Coke Company, Glen- White Coal and Lumber Company, the Howard Coal and Coke Company, the Oak- land Coal and Coke Company, and the Big Vein Coal Company.
Mr. H. S. Taylor, his son, is also inter- ested in these properties. Mr. Taylor owns 2,400 acres of superior coal lands at Gallit- zin, Cambria county, Pa. These lands yield vast quantities of bituminous coal, named after the mine above. He also owns over 350 coke ovens, producing an excellent quality of coke. The Glen-White Coke
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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.
Company's product of coke is recognized as the finest coming from Pennsylvania. The Howard Coal Company is owned in part by some Baltimoreans, as co-partners of Mr. Taylor. He is a director in the Con- tinental Bank, of Baltimore, and is largely interested in charitable organizations, as well in the official Boards, in which con- cerus he is continuously heard and his influ- ence felt.
In political matters he has been tendered alinost all of the usual and desirable offices, like the Mayoralty and so on up and down the scale. He has never accepted any of them however. When the Old Light Street M. E. Church (then opposite the Carroll- ton Hotel, as it is now known, but then called "the Fountain Inn") outgrew its quarters and moved to Charles and Fayette streets, Mr. Taylor followed, being then as now a member. The next move was to Mt. Vernon Place, its present site. For thirty- two years, amidst all the vicissitudes, Mr. Taylor was the leader of that famous church choir. He is also a trustee of the Mt. Ver- non Place M. E. Church.
It thus appears, from the above, that few men have been more intimately identified with the growth and development of this city than Mr. Taylor.
MR. CHARLES O'DONNELL LEE .- The subject of this article, Mr. Charles O'Don- nell Lee, is a lineal descendant of the first Lee-Richard-who came to America from Shropshire, England. The Lees came to England in 1066 from Normandy with Wil- iam the Conqueror. In the history of the colonies of Virginia and Maryland no name has been made more respected and famous.
Our subject was born February 8, 1841, in Baltimore, and like his ancestors on the paternal and maternal side has been an im- portant factor in the development of this city's growth. He was educated at George- town College and entered upon his active business career in 1869, as a member of the firm of Hoffman, Lee & Co., importers and jobbers of coffee. His father, Thomas Sim Lee, who still lives at the family seat, "Needwood," Frederick county, Md., is a gentleman of the old school, cultivated, re- spected, retiring in disposition, and enjoy- ing the leisure of a well spent life.
The father of Thos. Sim Lee was William Lee. The first Thos. Sim Lee, the great- grandfather of our subject, was born in 1743 in Prince George's county, Md. His wife was Mary Digges, of Milwood, the only child of Ignatius Digges, and the wealthiest and most coveted matrimonial prize in her section. This first Thos. Sim Lee was a highly educated and cultured man, as will be observed from the following historical facts.
On January 13, 1776, he was elected by the Maryland Convention major of the Lower Battalion of Prince George's county. He was Governor of Maryland during the Revolution, from 1779 to 1783, and repre- sented his State in the Continental Congress in 1783-4. He served a second term as Governor of Maryland from 1792-4, and died March 7, 1819, full of honors and years, having declined a proffered third term as Governor.
Another grandfather of our subject was Gen. Columbus O'Donnell, than whom few citizens were more widely or favorably known to Baltimoreans. He was the po-
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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.
tential, organizing and executive head of many and varied large commercial inter- ests in the city, among them the original Baltimore Gas Company and the first water works company. In financial and social circles here his individuality was most con- spicuous, and his influence far reaching and appreciated.
Mr. Lee's mother was Josephine O'Don- nell, a daughter of the General. Her grand- father was John O'Donnell, who owned and named Canton, after Canton, China, he being largely engaged with the China trade.
Mr. Lee steadily declines many entangle- ments in official boards, being too much wedded to private interests.
His wife, Matilda D., was a daughter of Jos. W. Jenkins, a well known and con- servative merchant. Their children are Joseph Jenkins, Thos. Sim, Chas. Stewart (who is one of the incorporators of the Mer- chants' Coffee Company of Baltimore); Chas. O'D., Jr., Adrian Iselin, Mary Digges, Louisa Carroll, Gertrude Jenkins and Dorothy Courtney Lee.
MR. EDWARD HAMBLETON, the subject of the following article, comes of one of the oldest and most distinguished families of Maryland. His father, Thos. E. Hamble- ton, who died in 1876, was for many years a leading man of commercial and financial affairs in Baltimore. He filled among other positions of honor and trust the presidency of the Maryland Fire Insurance Company, of this city. His father, in turn, was a cap- tain in the Revolutionary War, holding his commission from Governor Johnson, of Maryland.
The Hambletons are of sturdy Scotch an- cestry, having first settled in America prior
to 1650. The family tree is full, flattering to contemplate, from a patriotic standpoint, and justly cherished by the subject of this sketch as being a priceless heirloom to his posterity.
It is a safe assertion that there is not to- day a man more thoroughly identified with and forming an integral part of the financial and commercial development of Baltimore, than Mr. T. Edward Hambleton. He was born in New Windsor, Carroll county, Md., in 1829. He graduated from St. Mary's College in '49, and first began his general business career as a manufacturer of agri- cultural implements. Afterwards he en- gaged for a time in the wholesale provision trade, which he abandoned in turn to em- bark with his brother in the wholesale dry goods trade. At the outbreak of the Civil War, his sympathies, as well as his vast and varied interests in the South, induced him to cast his fortunes and his life with the Con- federacy. Accordingly, he moved to Rich- mond, Va., and became a firm member of "Importing and Exporting Company" of that city.
This concern owned and manned several swift steamers, which ran in and out of the blockaded harbors of Charleston, Wilming- ton and other places South. They often escaped the vigilance of the Federal fleets and carried cotton, stores, munitions of war, etc. These swift "runners" were not always able to escape, however, but Mr. Hambleton, the man in charge, most fre- quently was.
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