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 72

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 72

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Sales, which was named in honor of her daughter, Agnes, and which was for many years the only Catholic church in that neighborhood.

In 1825 William Clarke Somerville, brother of Henry V. Somerville-born in 1790-was appointed minister of Sweden. He was the warm personal friend of La- fayette, who was in the United States at that time as the honored guest of the na- tion. Upon his return to Europe in the Brandywine, September 29, 1825, Mr. Somerville accompanied him. His health was declining at the time, and he died soon after his arrival in France. The following extracts from letters written by Lafayette to his brother, reveal the cordial and inti- mate relations which existed between them: "La Grange, January 26, 1896. My dear sir: It is to me a very painful, but sacred duty, to be among the first to convey the dire information of your having lost an ex- cellent brother, and I, a much valued friend, who on the last moment, has honored me with an additional and most precious mark of his affection * I shall confine my- self to his expressed intention to entrust us at the La Grange with the care of his mortal remains. * * And now, my dear sir, it remains for me to apoligize for these details, which, painful as they are, it has appeared necessary to lay before you, and other mem- bers of the family. Should anything have been wanting unintentionally, in our per- formance, with the advice of the American public officers here what we have thought most consonant to your lamented brother and to your own views, at least there has been no deficiency in our feelings, and in our eagerness on the deplorable occasion to do for the best. Be pleased to accept the

Chas. B. Viernant.

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appropriate condolence, and high regard of two sympathizing friends, my son and my- self, to whom my whole family beg to be joined. Lafayette * The inscrip- tion upon Mr. Somerville's tomb is: "Wil- liam Clarke Somerville, citizen of the United States of America, while on a diplo- matic mission from the government of his country, he died at Auxerre, on the 5th of January, 1826. He had expressed a wish to be interred in the burying-ground of the in- habitants of the La Grange," It would be impossible in a narrative such as the present, in which conciseness is an essential and indispensable characteristic, to exhibit in detail the personal histories of this ancient and distinguished family. We must, as a consequence of these restrictions, pass to the consideration of the history and the immediate ancestry of its most eminent living representative, Charles Bernard Tier- nan, born in Baltimore, September 4, 1840. His father, Charles Tiernan, was born in 1797, was the schoolmate and warm per- sonal friend of Samuel Eccleston, after- wards Archbishop of Baltimore, traveled extensively in Europe, and encountered many strange and varied experiences.

Among the notable features of his life was the earnest interest he displayed in the political fortunes of Mexico, at the time of her declaration of independence, the follow- ing letter, in the possession of C. B. Tier- nan, from one of the most conspicuous char- acters in Mexican annals, is a striking illus- tration of this sentiment :

MEXICO, May 4, 1822.

MY DEAR AND ESTEEMED SIR:

By the correspondence I have received, which has been brought to me by the schooner "Igsquaela," proceeding from Phil-

adelphia, I have received letters from Senor don Richard Meade, and Commander Eu- quenio Cortes, of this Government, which both assure me of the good offices which you have done on behalf of my nation, as well as assisting the Commissioners, as in establishing our credit, making right the opinions respecting us, and negotiating the recognition of our independence. These services, which the Government owes to the illustrious liberality of yourself, and which sends a predilection to the country to which I belong, has excited in me the most profound gratitude, and decided me to offer you my friendship and my respect. Have the goodness to consider these expressions as emanating from the necessity of a free heart. I am with due consideration, your affectionate and faithful servant who kisses your hand, AUGUSTIN DE ITURTIDE.

Senor Don Carlos Tiernan.

Mr. Tiernan also received from this historic personage, an expression of his appreciation and regard in the shape of a curious gold watch of Mexican workmanship, with the inscription: "Don Charles Tiernan-a present from

a friend." Mr. Tiernan was subsequently appointed Consul for Mexico at Balti- more, performing the duties of the office faithfully and efficiently for more than twenty years.

His wife, Gay Robertson Bernard, was born in 1817, in Caroline county, Va .; was educated in Richmond, and mar- ried Charles Tiernan, December 20, 1836. She was a lady of fine appearance, of beautiful and fascinating manners, had a talent for art, and was an excellent per- former upon the harp. Her circle of friends included the most cultured and refined so-

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ciety of Baltimore in that day, embracing such social lights and leaders as Miss Emily Harper, Madam Bonaparte, Mrs. John Hanson Thomas, Mrs. William George Reed. Mrs. John H. B. Latrobe declared her to be one of the most brilliant acquisi- tions to the social life of Baltimore. Gen. Winfield Scott, and Mrs. Scott were fre- quently entertained at her father's home, in the sumptuous style of the old Virginia day, and there is still in existence a letter in verse, written to her by Mrs. Scott, which is bright, enlivening and genuinely witty.

Charles Bernard Tiernan received his academic training at St. Mary's and Loyola Colleges, Baltimore, attaining the degree of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. His legal training was acquired un- der the auspices of the late S. Teackle Wal- lis, one of the most cultured and gifted rep- resentatives of the American bar. Upon the opening of the Johns Hopkins Univer- sity, he toak a post-graduate course of one year in modern literature in this most ad- vanced and progressive centre of American culture. In January, 1861 he became a member of Fifty-third Regiment, Maryland. National Guard and during the eventful scenes of the 19th of April, he was sent by the colonel for his arms and equipments, and served in the regiment until it was dis- banded upon the arrest of the members of the Legislature and the occupation of the State in large force by the Federal troops. He was a member of the Fifth Regiment and of the Fifth Regiment Veteran Corps.

He retains his grandfather's pew in the historic Cathedral, and is trustee and secre- tary of the Board of Trustees of this ancient foundation. He has been a member of the

Hibernian Society, of Baltimore, as well as its legal adviser.

He is a member of the "Clan Dona- chaidh" in Scotland, as his grandmother, Jane Gay Robertson, belonged to the family of Robertson of Stranan, and he has received many complimentary letters from the headquarters of the clan at Glen Devon, Perthshire, in regard to his connection therewith.

He has also been a member of the Alston, Athaeneum, and Maryland Clubs, of the Catholic Club, of the Maryland His- torical Society, of the Society of Colonial Wars, of the Alumni Association of St. Mary and Loyola Colleges, and of many other associations with which he felt bound to unite himself from sentiments of patriot- ism and from convictions of public duty.

Mr. Tiernan was one of the original men- bers of the "Ariel Boat Club," which was organized in 1864, and was the first boat club established in Baltimore, and was for a long number of years its secretary and treasurer, almost sustaining it in the time of its adversity and no one in Baltimore has contributed more effectively than himself to the support and success of all manly ath- letic exercises, such as boating and rowing, in the city. He was a member of the Elk- ridge Fox-hunting Club, he was tendered a position as staff officer in the militia, and as lieutenant in the Fifth Regiment, and the nomination on the Democratic ticket to the City Council from the Eleventh ward, and the nomination to the presidency of the Hi- bernian Society, but declined them all. He was for many years President of the Cathedral branch of the St. Vincent of Paul Society. Vice-President of the General So- ciety in Baltimore, and is probably one of

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the oldest officers of that society in the United States.

He is a man of broad and extensive per- sonal and social acquaintance; his lit- erary and scholarly attainments are con- siderable, his knowledge of art is by no means slight or superficial, he has traveled widely in Europe, as well as in North Amer- ica, and has striven to keep himself in friendly, sympathetic alliance with his own people, to deserve the respect and regard of of the community, and to advance and foster its true interests and its national develop- ment by devoting his energy and his influ- ence faithfully and earnestly to its service.

EDGAR ALLAN POE .- I purpose in the present sketch to speak of Edgar Allan Poe principally from the standpoint of literary and poetical character. His per- sonal history has been written so fre- quently and is so easy of access that in this connection it might seem a work of supererogation to indulge in biograph- ical detail beyond the mere statement that Poe was born in Boston in January, 1809, a year notable in the annals of the world. Tennyson, Darwin, Gladstone, three of the most illustrious examples of human progress in diverse but still not an- tagonistic spheres of development, date their birth from this annus mirabilis of our dawning nineteenth century. Yet with all that has been written in regard to the per- sonal history of our poet-his escapades- his infirmities-his versatile and checkered life, it is by no means sure that his unique position in the evolution of our literature is perfectly appreciated and properly under- stood. Edgar A. Poe had no prototype or predecessor in American poetry or in Amer-

ican romance-he has had no successor in either, though the empirical imitators of his style may be described as legion. There is nothing American in his genius, scarcely a shade of local color, of home association, of native reminiscence in all that he has produced. This singular trait may serve to account for the hopeless failures of New England critics, to estimate Poe rationally, or to appreciate his phenomenal position in our literary history. 'His real poetic affinity and affiliation is with the school of Coleridge and Keats, the nearest approach to a repro- duction of his genius in our day, is to be found in the poetry of Rosetti. It is a fact not unknown to special students of our poetry that the "Blessed Damozel" had its inspiration and suggestion in the "Raven" of Poe. The former poem is indeed a sort of inverse presentation of the latter. In the first we have the lament of the lover for the Lenore in the heavens; in the other, it is the longing of the glorified spirit for reunion with the loved one still lingering here alone, the difference is in the celestial and terrestrial attitudes of the ac- tors principally affected by the development of the dual idea. It cannot be demonstrated that a single American poet has contributed in the slightest measure to the development of Poe's rare and unique genius. The ab- surdity of the Chivers' myth is too patent to demand or to deserve refutation. A sin- gle line in the "Raven" is borrowed almost literally from Mrs. Browning's "Lady Ger- aldine's Courtship," and the mere title of the poem may have been suggested by the "Raven" of Coleridge, but the essential characteristics, as well as the fundamental conception, are Poe's alone. The genius of Poe, however, is not to be estimated by

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the "Raven," despite its immense popu- larity. Its metrical and rhythmical power is unsurpassed, all the rare devices of Norse bard and Saxon minstrel are blended in the wonderful witchery of its verse, alliteration, assonance, "linked sweetness long drawn out," "the hidden soul of harmony," with its sombre refrain, so suggestive of the "one word" of Shakespeare's starling.

"Annabel Lee" and the "Haunted Pal- ace" each stand on a higher plane of poetic art than the "Raven." Both reveal the in- spiration of Coleridge, the subtle charm of Keats. "Genevieve," the "Lambia," "La Belle Dame sans Merci," "Christabel," are the preludes and harbingers of Poe's su- preme and especially distinctive creations. All belong to the sphere of the weird, the fantastic, the realm of mystery, a type and character of poetry abundantly creative in the earlier decades of the century, and form- ing a specific, notable phase in the develop- ment of the incoming wave of romanticism which marked the later stages of the Geor- gian era. To this school Poe belongs, in his prose, as well as in his poetical aspect. He is in practical utilitarian America what Coleridge and Keats were in the England of the age of Waterloo, and the Napoleonic epoch. In this respect his position is ab- solutely isolated and aloof in the history of poetical evolution in this country.

It is unjust to Poe's fame and character to speak of the lack of moral tone in his prose and poetry. He is in no rational sense obnoxious to the charge. His aim is not didactic, there is no striving after alle- gorical teaching, moral lessons, ethical in- struction. All this was alien to his purpose, and in conflict with his ideal. The remote, the supernal, these were his congenial

themes; the local, the domestic, the sphere of sensibility in normal life, lay far wide of his purpose, and it is illogical as well as unscientific to condemn him for adhering to the tenets of his philosophy in the exercise of his power, either in prose or in poetry. In foreign lands, notably in countries of romance origin, in which the artistic in- stinct and the artistic appreciation is much more acute and discriminating than in our own race, his fame brightens with a steadily increasing lustre. His most brilliant tri- umphs are in the future, as the gradual ex- pansion of art culture brings the undiscern- ing world somewhat nearer to a rational conception of his genius, the rarest, subtlest, most pervaded by pure phantasy, that the history of literature has seen since the spa- cious times of Coleridge and Keats, of whose type of art he was the propagandist and the not unworthy representative in our fresh, buoyant, prosaic, occidental civiliza- tion.

FREDERICK BROOKS HUBBELL, President Home Telephone Company, Baltimore, Md., was born at Harrisburg, Pa., July 2d, 1842. He is a son of the late General Hora- tio and Rebecca (Brooks) Hubbell, the for- mer a native of New York, the latter of Pennsylvania, and both of English-Irish- German descent. (See Dr. Egle's Genealo- gies of early Irish and German Pennsyl- vania settlers and Conn. Colonial Records.) Both the Hubbells and Brookses were of Colonial stock, antedating the Revolution- ary War by more than a century. Gen. Hor- atio Hubbell was a leading lawyer of Phila- delphia, was the projector of the Atlantic Cable (see Congressional Records, 1849), and had command of the State troops dur-

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ing the native American riots of 1844 in Philadelphia. Frederick B. Hubbell was educated in the public and high schools of Philadelphia, read law with his father and was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1863, but never practiced, becoming identi- fied almost immediately after his admission to the bar with coal mining and railway en- terprises in connection with the Pennsyl- vania railway system. In 1872 he went South as assistant to Gen. Herman Haupt, General Manager of Richmond and Dan- ville (commonly called Piedmont Air Line), now Southern Railway, with headquarters at Richmond, Va., General Haupt repre- senting the Pennsylvania Railroad which at that time owned the controlling interest in this system. Mr. Hubbell remained at Rich- mond until the close of 1876, when he was transferred to the Northern Central system and placed in charge of the Canton terminus coal traffic. He was next in the General Freight Agent's office of the same company at Baltimore. In 1880 he took charge of the Mansfield Coal and Coke Company at Pitts- burg, Pa., where he remained until 1886. Returning to Baltimore he was elected to the vice-presidency of the Suffolk and Caro- lina Railway. In 1889 he was elected Gen- eral Freight and Passenger Agent of Mary- land Central (now Baltimore and Lehigh) Railroad, serving in that capacity until 1892, when he was made vice-president and took charge of the construction of the Bristol and Elizabethtown Railway in Tennessee. Upon the completion of this road to Eliza- bethtown, he was elected second vice-presi- dent of the Texarkana and Fort Smith Rail- way and General Manager of the Arkansas Construction Company. Under Mr. Hub- bell's direction the lines of this company

were surveyed and located between Fort Smith, Ark., and Shreveport, La., and eighty miles of track laid and operated when his connection therewith was severed and he returned to Baltimore, there becoming one of the promoters of the Queen Anne Rail- road, and is one of the directors of the con- struction company of that road. He is president of the Home Telephone Company of Baltimore, a member of the Masonic fra- ternity and a Republican in politics. Mr. Hubbell was married October 8, 1880, to Ella Sherman, daughter of Walter S. Hub- bell, a lawyer of Canandaigua, N. Y. Mrs. Hubbell died in 1890, leaving one child, Stewart B. Hubbell, now a student at Mo- hegan Lake Military Academy, Peekskill, N. Y. Mr. Hubbell resides at 1829 N. Cal- vert street, and is a member of the Franklin Street Presbyterian Church.

COL. GEORGE WASHINGTON FAYETTE VERNON came of Revolutionary stock; his grandfather, Thomas Vernon, was a soldier in the Pennsylvania Line, War of the Revo- lution, and his father, Nathaniel Vernon, was a soldier of the War of 1812-14. The Vernons are of Norman-French extraction, descended from the race that under William the Norman, conquered England, A. D. 1066. The Vernons emigrated to America with William Penn, the founder of Pennsyl- vania. The subject of this sketch was born at Frederick City, Frederick county, Md., June 14, 1843. He was educated at Freder- ick College, and was engaged in the study of law at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. He entered the army August 10, 1861, as second lieutenant of Company A of the Cavalry Battalion which, at Colonel Ver- non's suggestion, was called "Cole's Cav-

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alry," in honor of Capt. Henry A. Cole, the senior captain and commander.

In the spring of 1862, when General Bank's army made its campaign in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, "Cole's Cavalry" was in the van and at Bunker Hill, Va., the first blood of the campaign was shed by this command, in a successful cav- alry skirmish with Ashby's Confederate cavalry, not, however, without serious loss. The brigade commander, General Williams, then commanding the Third Brigade, Bank's Division, Eighth Corps, issued a complimentary order, mentioning Captain Cole and Lieutenant Vernon by name. In the successful battle at Winchester, Va., March, 1862, in which General Shields de- feated Stonewall Jackson's Confederate army, Company B, "Cole's Cavalry," open- ed the fight. In all of the various cam- paigns in the Shenandoah Valley of Vir- ginia in 1862-63-64, "Cole's Cavalry" was incessantly scouting and skirmishing with the enemy; in fact, in all of the Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia campaigns they took an active part and suffered heavily.

At Harper's Ferry, Va., in September, 1862, the cavalry refused to surrender, and led by "Cole's Cavalry" successfully cut their way through the enemy's lines, passed through Gen. Robert E. Lee's army, then at Sharpsburg, Md., and captured General Longstreet's ammunition train, which had its effect in the subsequent battle of Antie- tam, Md. Lieutenant Vernon was pro- moted first lieutenant May 10, 1862, and captain October 25, 1862.

At the midnight battle in the snow at Loudon Heights, Va., January 10, 1864, Captain Vernon was severely wounded, a bullet passing through the left eye and shat-

tering a portion of the skull. Captain Ver- non was promoted major, March 5, 1864, and lieutenant-colonel April 20, 1864, the battalion having been recruited to a full regiment. Colonel Vernon commanded a brigade of cavalry, and subsequently a bri- gade of infantry in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, in the summer and fall of 1864. The repeated and successful raids of the enemy upon the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road, between Harper's Ferry and Martins- burg, Va., in the winter of 1864-65, caused the detail of Colonel Vernon to be sent for its protection in charge of detachments from the One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Pennsyl- vania Infantry, Eighteenth Connecticut In- fantry, Fourteenth West Virginia, and Thirteenth Maryland Infantry. There was no further trouble from the time Colonel Vernon assumed command; and the close of the war found him in charge of a military district in the Shenandoah Valley of Vir- ginia. He was mustered out of service with his regiment at Harper's Ferry, Va., June 28, 1865.

He returned to his home at Frederick City, Md., in July, 1865, and established a legal collection agency, but devoted a por- tion of his time to his farm, a short distance from the city. He was appointed postmas- ter at Frederick City, Md., March 8, 1867, and served until May 24, 1869, when he was appointed a special agent of the United States Treasury Department, which posi- tion he held until February, 1878, when he was appointed surveyor of customs at Balti- more. Md., February 13, 1878, which he held until March 18, 1882. Upon the ex- piration of his commission he established a real estate brokerage and collection busi-

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ness at Baltimore, Md., where he at present resides.

Colonel Vernon took an active part in politics from 1865 to 1882, being frequently selected as a delegate to Republican State and National Conventions. He has been an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, having been a Post commander for several years and department commander in the department of Maryland in 1886. He was President of the Union Veteran Asso- ciation of Maryland in 1889, and was ap- pointed by Governor Lowndes in 1896, one of the committee to compile the records of Maryland Union soldiers, sailors and ma- rines of the late war. He is a member of the Loyal Legion Commandery of the Dis- trict of Columbia. Colonel Vernon is a mem- ber of the collection and real estate broker- age firm of G. W. F. Vernon & Co., with offices in Baltimore and branch offices in Washington, D. C. He was married Au- gust 18, 1873, to Sallie, daughter of the late Alexander Todd, of San Francisco, and granddaughter of the late Judge Todd, of Tarrytown, N. Y. Colonel and Mrs. Ver- non have three children, Anna D., George A. and Edna F. Vernon, and reside at Prim- rose, Baltimore county, Md. The family at- tend the Episcopal Church.

REV. ARTHUR CHILTON POWELL, Rector of Grace Church, Baltimore, was born at Dayton, O., July 22, 1854. He is a son of the late John and Sarah ((Latham) Powell, the former a native of Herefordshire, Eng- land, and the latter of the State of Maine, and lineally descended from Mary Chilton, one of the passengers of the Mayflower. Arthur Chilton Powell attended the public and high schools of Dayton, O .; entered

Amherst College in 1872, and was gradu- ated with the class of '76; spent the follow- ing year at Princeton Theological Semi- nary, and attended Philadelphia Divinity School in 1878-79; was rector at Riverside, Hamilton county, O., from 1879 to 1882; at St. John's Church, York, Pa., from 1882 to 1886; was Dean of the Convocation, Harris- burg, from 1886 to 1888, and entered upon the rectorship of Grace Church, Baltimore, November 17, 1888. Rev. Mr. Powell is one of the Board of Trustees of the Church Home, one of the vice-presidents of the So- ciety for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, one of the managers of Maryland Home for Consumptives and a trustee of Warfield Col- lege School, Sykesville. He was married September 28, 1882, to Helen B., daughter of Charles J. and Sarah (Buttless) Hardy, cashier Deshler National Bank, Columbus, O. Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Powell have three children, George, Chilton Latham and Paul Rullison, and reside at 709 Park avenue.

DR. JOHN MORRIS was born in Leacock township, Lancaster county, Pa., on the 6th of February, 1824. His education was re- ceived in private schools and later in Lan- caster Academy, and the high school of the same city. This education was afterwards supplemented by private tutors in the Latin, French, German and Spanish languages. His last French tutor, Mons. Dupuy, was teacher of this language in the Baltimore City College. He afterwards committed suicide, being driven to this desperate act, the Doctor's fears, byhis (the Doctor's) mur- dering of the French language. At the age of fifteen Doctor Morris entered the law of- fice of the Hon. Jacob Broom, who was at that time secretary to Col. James Cameron,

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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