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 95

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 95

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He was married in 1892 to Miss Carrie M. Reber. of Orangeville, Baltimore coun- ty. They have no children.

He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, Highlandtown; and is a staunch Democrat.

William Schofield, father of subject, was

born in Belfast, Ireland; emigrated to America at the age of 18, and settled in Birmingham; at first he worked at anything he could get to do. When the war broke out he enlisted in the 10th Penna. Vol., and served three years. He was wounded July 9, 1863. He was honorably dis- charged with rank of sergeant. After his return he accepted the position of superin- tendent of the Lippincott & Beckwell Axe manufacturing plant. In 1876 he retired to Birmingham, where he now resides. He married Katharine Hall, whose father, John Hall, was a native of Berks county, Pa., and whose grandfather, William Hall, came from Holland in 1803. He died in Berks county.

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Scho- field are as follows: John C. (subject); Wil- liam, harnessmaker, of Tyrone, Pa .; Dr. James F., Shirleysburg, Pa .; Robert K., student at Baltimore University; Edward, student at Dickinson College, Williams- port, Pa .; Myrtle, at home.

William Schofield, grandfather of our subject, resided in York Road, Belfast, Ire- land, where he died in 1897 in his 93d year. He was a book-keeper for a large ship build- ing firm in Belfast. He married twice. His children are: John, retired English Army officer, Belfast, Ireland; William; Robert, served thirty years of his life in India and the British Army; Francis and Allen, are partners in the bakery business in New York City; James, lives at Bellefonte, Pa., a member of the State Legislature: Mrs. Sampson, of Belfast, Ireland; Lizzie, died in New York City; was wife of one Crocket.

JAMES SMITH ROGERS, Treasurer of the J. C. Grafflin Company, 213 South street, resi-

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dence 709 W. North avenue, was born in Baltimore, November 12, 1828. His father was Jonathan Rogers, and his mother Maria Smith before her marriage; she was born in Baltimore in 1797, and his father was born in New London, Conn., Decem- ber 29, 1794. Mr. Rogers comes from old English stock (the founder of this line in this country, James Rogers, born in England, 1615, came to America in 1635, and died in New London, Conn., in 1687, where some of his posterity still reside), his ancestors having lived at New London, Conn., one hundred and fifty years before his father came to Baltimore to live in 1820. Jona- than Rogers was a commission merchant, and carried on business in Baltimore from his arrival here up to the date of his death, which occurred September 10, 1832; Mr. Rogers' mother dying in 1847. His father had five children, all deceased except Wil- liam P. Rogers, accountant, 323 N. Charles street, Baltimore, and Mr. Rogers the sub- ject of this sketch. He was educated in the private schools of Baltimore and always lived in this city except from 1855 to 1870, when he resided in Virginia. During the Civil War he served the first year in the commissary department of the Confederate States Army in Virginia. Mr. Rogers was twice married; first to Maria Virginia Leef, October 25, 1854, and upon her decease, to her sister, Mary Frances Leef, January 14, 1864; both his wives being daughters of Henry Leef and Isabella Groom, his wife; and all of them being natives and residents of Baltimore. He has four children living: James S., Jr., architect, residing in Detroit, Mich., and who was married June 5, 1895; Caroline; William F., Jr., book-keeper ; Nor- man, electrical engineer. All his children

were educated in the public schools of Bal- timore. He and all his family are members of Memorial Protestant Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Mr. Rogers being one of the vestrymen. Up to the formation of the Republican party, Mr. Rogers was a Whig, after that a Democrat, but takes little active interest in politics, and is strictly a business man, devoting all his time to the duties of his high and important office as treasurer of the J. C. Grafflin Company, with whom he has been associated in business for more than twenty years.

DAVID ABERCROMBIE, Manager of The Baltimore News Company, whose place of business is in the Sun Building, was born May 6, 1840, at Grameston, near Falkirk, Scotland. His father was David Aber- crombie, and his mother Christian Taylor, both Scotch. His father was a brick burner, which business he was engaged in until he came to. Baltimore in 1847, when he connected himself with Henry Taylor in the newspaper business, both of whom con- tinued in that business until Mr. Abercrom- bie's death in 1864. Mrs. Abercrombie died January 28, 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Aber- crombie had ten children, of whom are living: John, who is assistant manager of the Baltimore News Company; William T., a clerk in the same company ; Mrs. Eliz- abeth Hyde, of Baltimore; Christine, and Mr. Abercrombie, the immediate subject of this sketch. He had but few opportunities to receive an education when young, and at- tended the public schools of Baltimore but a short time, as at eight years of age he be- gan life as a newsboy in Baltimore, selling papers on the streets for Henry Taylor, and as he came up in life, educating himself;

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next he became a messenger in Mr. Tay- lor's office : then clerk, salesman, and before he was twenty-one, manager of the entire business, and when in 1863 the firm became Henry Taylor & Co., he was made a partner in the firm; subsequently (1870) the busi- ness was carried on under the present name, "The Baltimore News Company." Mr. Abercrombie was made treasurer of the company, and has for years been its mana- ger and cashier. Mr. Abercrombie mar- ried when little over twenty-one years old, on October 10, 1861, his wife being Miss Addie, daughter of the late John A. and Mary A. Jenness, both being Americans. Mr. and Mrs. Abercrombie have no chil- dren. They are members of the Methodist Church; he is a Mason and master of St. John's Lodge; an Odd Fellow, member of St. Andrew's Society, a director of the Economy Savings Bank of Baltimore, treas- urer of the Emory Grove Camp Meeting Association, trustee for the Home of the Aged, M. E. Church, and one of the board of managers of the Preachers' Aid Society of the M. E. Church. He is an Independ- ent Democrat. William and Henry Taylor were the founders of the Baltimore News Company in this city and were uncles of Mr. Abercrombie, both natives of Scotland. The business was started on North street in 1840, and in 1852 removed to its present quarters. An incident showing the push of this house and the tact and energy of Mr. Abercrombie occurred in April, 1861, when the war began and when for a time all com- munication with Baltimore and the North was cut off by the destruction of the rail- roads, bridges and telegraphs. This house determined, at the suggestion of Mr. Tay- lor, to supply the people with the northern

papers, and thus to keep open communica- tion between Baltimore and the northern cities. To this end they ran wagons, under the direct management of Mr. Abercrom- bie, to Havre de Grace, day and night, tak- ing Baltimore mail and papers there and bringing back Northern papers and mail. This was done until regular communication was restored. Mr. Abercrombie is very pop- ular; known as a man of strict integrity and sterling worth-a self-mademan. At the ter- mination of his services as foreman of the grand jury (January term of 1892) he was given a banquet at the Hotel Rennert; his fellow jurymen there presented him with a handsome lamp, stand and shade as a testi- monial of their high appreciation of his worth as a man and of his able and con- scientious performance of his duties as their foreman; and in respect to his principles as a temperance man and a Christian dis- pensed with wine at the banquet. Mr. Abercrombie resides at 742 West North avenue.

EDGAR KEMP LEGG, General Manager Baltimore Building and Loan Association of Baltimore City, was born in Winchester, Va., June 22, 1843. His parents were George W. and Eliza (Doughty) Legg, both of whom were born in Alexandria, Va., their ancestors belonging to some of the oldest families of that State. His father was a flour merchant and carried on this business in Georgetown and Winchester, Va., for some years, after which he resided in Berkeley county, Va. (now W. Va.), and represented the county for several sessions in the Legislature of West Virginia. His father and mother are now deceased. Mr. Legg was educated in the Winchester

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Academy, at Winchester, Va. When the Civil War came on in 1861, he, at the age of eighteen, joined the Confederate army, and served in the 13th Virginia infantry, Gen. A. P. Hill's troop, and on June 27, 1862, in the seven days' fight around Rich- mond, was severely wounded; recovering, he returned to the army, where he served until the end of the war. After this he came to Baltimore to reside and was engaged in business for a number of years as a flour and grain merchant, retiring from this busi- ness upon the formation of the Baltimore Building and Loan Association. He was appointed to the high and important office of general manager of the Association, and by his management and push it has built up an extensive business, now having assets of more than $2,000,000 a year, and is one of the leading associations in the country, its place of business being in the Fidelity Building, corner of Charles and Lexington streets. Mr. Legg was married June 8, 1880, at Frederick City, Md., to Ellen Trail Webster, whose parents were George F. Webster and Ellen Trail; both of Mrs. Legg's parents were born in Frederick county, Md., and their ancestors were among the earliest settlers of that section of the State. Mr. Legg has five children: Frederick Webster; Edgar Kent, Jr .; Ellen Trail; Charles Trail and Florence Golds- borough Legg; they attend the various in- stitutions of learning in the city. He and his family are members of the Episcopal Church. In politics Mr. Legg is a Demo- crat, but takes no active part except to vote, devoting all his time to his business, and being very domestic in his tastes spends most of his time with his family when not engaged in business. He resides at 112 W.

North avenue. Mr. Legg was active in the reorganization of old North Baltimore Club, and one of the incorporators of its successor, the Commonwealth Club, of which he is now president, after having been a member of the board of governors.

WILLIAM GISRIEL, Brass Manufacturer and Proprietor of the Maryland Brass and Metal Works, at 1527 and 1529 Guilford avenue, with residence at 1135 Johnson Square, was born in Baltimore, March 29, 1853. He is the son of Frederick Gisriel, who was born in Alsace Lorraine in 1826, and came to America in 1840, settling in Al- bany, N. Y., where he resided a short time, after which he came to Baltimore. Mr. Gisriel's mother was also a German, and came to America from Germany about the time his father did and a short time after their arrival in this country they were mar- ried. Mr. Gisriel's father was a baker and soon after coming to Baltimore established a bakery on Greenmount avenue and Eager street, where he built up quite a busi- ness and accumulated considerable prop- erty; he died in 1868, and his wife in 1894, leaving four children: Sophia, Jennie, John, and William, the subject of this sketch, all of them being residents of Baltimore. Mr. Gisriel attended the public schools of Balti- more until he was about fifteen years of age, when his father dying, his mother appren- ticed him to Henry McShane, brass found- er, to learn that trade. He served his time out with McShane and, when twenty-one, went to Philadelphia and worked at his trade, but did not remain there long and returned to Baltimore to work at Davis & Watts' foundry on Holliday street, near Saratoga, this foundry being noted as the

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one where all the appliances for the Bell telephone were first manufactured and the first manufactured in the world. Mr. Gis- riel was the man who had charge of this de- partment. In 1873 Davis & Watts closed their foundry and a short time afterwards Mr. Gisriel took the plant and commenced business for himself. Having no money, but good friends, by push and energy he soon established a good business and pros- pered, purchasing the property on Holliday street, known as 312, 314, and 316 North Holliday street, where he built a foundry and carried on business for some years, but his business still in- creasing he was compelled to seek more commodious quarters for his plant, and in 1893 leased the plant of the Mary- land Brass Company's foundry, Guilford and Girard avenues, where he is at pres- ent located. Mr. Gisriel is the oldest individual brass founder now in the busi- ness in Baltimore, and his establishment is known as the Maryland Brass and Metal Works, of Baltimore. In 1872 he was mar- ried in Baltimore to Martha Washington Cornelius, daughter of John D. Cornelius, whose wife was Priscilla Parks, both of his wife's parents being Marylanders and born in Baltimore county. He has eight chil- dren living in Baltimore, viz: Lilly, Wil- liam, Emma, Walter, Cora, Edward, Stew- art, and Joshua Levering, and two dead- Mary, who died in 1873, and Beulah, who died in 1893. His daughter Emma is the only one of his children married, she hav- ing married James Fairbanks. His son William is a brass founder and engaged in business with his father. All of the family are Methodists, attending Madison Square Church. He is president of Summit Grove

Camp Meeting Association, and a member of Phoenix Lodge, A. F. and A. M., and a member of Maryland Commandery, No. I, Knights Templar, which claims to be the oldest commandery in the United States. Mr. Gisriel is independent in politics and votes for those he considers the best men, but was formerly a Democrat.

GUSTAVUS A. DOBLER, Paper Dealer, was born in Elizabethtown, Lancaster county, Pa., October 16, 1839. He is a son of Daniel Dobler, who was born in Balti- more, April 4, 1804. His mother was Christina Barbara Iehle, born in Kornwes- theim, Wurtemburg, Germany, May 20, 1802, and came to Baltimore in 1816; both resided here until their deaths, his father dying in 1859, his mother in 1867. John Michael Dobler, Mr. G. A. Dobler's grand- father, located in Baltimore from Wurtem- burg in 1798, and did patrol duty for Balti- more September 12, 1814, date of the battle of North Point. Mr. Dobler's father was a chemist, physician and teacher; after follow- ing these professions for some years he be- came a manufacturer of paper boxes and carried on this business in Baltimore until 1859. He had seven children, all deceased except the subject of this sketch and a daughter, Paulina Theodora, who is the wife of James R. Shumacher, book-keeper for Dobler & Mudge. Gustavus A. Dobler attended the public schools of Pennsylvania and Baltimore until 1853, when he went to work in his father's factory, subsequently becoming manager. In 1858 he severed that connection and was employed by A. L. Knight, paper dealer. From there he went with Wheelwright, Mudge & Co., same business, and as clerk and partner has been

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with the successive firms and is at present senior member of the firm of Dobler & Mudge, paper dealers, one of the largest houses of the kind in the city, doing a large business south, west, etc. Their house is at 113 Hopkins Place. Mr. Dobler has been twice married; first, December 17, 1874, to Catherine, daughter of George Dobler, of Baltimore. On March 10, 1885, to Ida Gertrude, daughter of I. George Gehring, of Baltimore; by his second marriage Mr. Dobler has three children, Martin Luther, Emma Catharine and Mary Christina. Mr. Dobler is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church; is a trustee of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Seminary of Hick- ory, N. C .; has been a director of the Ger- man Orphan Asylum for the past seven years ; is a member of the Reform League, the Civil Service Association, and also a member of the German Society of Mary- land, the Lutheran Statue Association of Washington, D. C., and a member of the State Senate of Maryland, having been elected on the Republican ticket in 1895. He is a Democrat by inheritance and re- mained such until 1875, but votes for the best man irrespective of party. Mr. Dob- ler is noted for his strict integrity and ster- ling honesty; he is domestic in his habits, spending all his available time with his fam- ily; he has at his home, 131 Aisquith street, as fine and well selected a library as any lay- man east of the Falls. He is much inter- ested in public charities, hospitals, etc., indi- vidually caring for the inmates, besides aid- ing many institutions in various ways. Mr. Dobler never turns a deaf ear to the appeal of the needy, believing that "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

MARTIN WAGNER, the subject of this sketch, is one of the pioneers in Baltimore's great oyster and fruit packing industry. He is the founder and president of the Mar- tin Wagner Company, the leading house of its kind on this continent, and has been identified with the packing industry since its infancy. He was born in Baltimore July 24, 1849, and began life as an apprentice in the tinsmithing business when all that work was done by hand. Then as now the mak- ing of tin cans was an important feature of local commerce over which Mr. Wagner acquired a perfect mastery and in the de- velopment of which he was largely instru- mental. Naturally the making of tin cans was very closely allied to the packing busi- ness, and Mr. Wagner's quick discernment enabled him to appreciate the splendid op- portunities which it offered. He then ac- quired a complete knowledge of the art of processing-an art at that time shrouded in mystery and accessible only to a very limit- ed few. With this valuable knowledge, to- gether with aggressive methods he began the packing of canned goods, improving upon old methods and bringing about inno- vations such as the business had not known before. It was then that the now widely known "Martin Wagner" brands were launched out to win popular favor over a formidable array of competition. That they are to-day everywhere known and that a large demand for them proceeds from every quarter of the United States and Can- ada, extending largely to Europe, may be attributed to the fact that with the packing of the first as well as the last can this fixed rule was laid down: that nothing but super- ior excellence should appear under the Wagner brand; and it is because this prin-

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ciple has never been changed that a uniform merit has always prevailed and a vast and increasing trade developed. In 1872 Mr. Wagner began business in a small way as a manufacturer of tin cans on Luzerne street, and was successful from the beginning, so much so that within a short period his es- tablishment had grown to be one of the largest plants for the manufacture of tin cans in Baltimore. The methods of the business have been revolutionized and the output of the large tin can making depart- ment of the Martin Wagner Company many times multiplies what was considered an ex- ceedingly large output in the other days. In 1880, however, with characteristic en- ergy, a prominent trait, Mr. Wagner set aside the making of cans as an exclusive business and made it an auxiliary to his new venture in the packing of oysters and fruits. Thus from a small beginning the establishment has reached its present great proportions. In 1889 the Martin Wagner Company was incorporated with a capital of $200,000. The officers of the com- pany are Mr. Martin Wagner, president and general manager; Mr. M. J. Wagner, vice- president; Mr. W. A. Wagner, treasurer; Mr. George J. Wagner and Mr. John G. Schorr, superintendents respectively of the can manufacturing and packing depart- ment.

At that time they occupied commodious quarters at 2315-2317 Boston street, com- prising a four-story building, 120x300 feet in dimensions, with wide area of sheds and wharves that afforded facility in the dis- charging of vessels. Mr. Wagner long ago foresaw the conditions which to-day attach to the great enterprise of which he is the head and shrewdly bought an extensive but

unimproved tract of land at Curtis Bay, Anne Arundel county, to which place has been moved the entire plant which had for years made the old location a center of un- ceasing activity. To-day the unimproved land of other days is now Wagner's Point and immediately contiguous is the uninter- esting town of East Brooklyn, both places owned and controlled by the Martin Wag- ner Company. At the former place is lo- cated the packing establishment of the com- pany with largely increased capacity and embracing every device known to this busi- ness. Immediately adjoining is the can- making department, the output of which has recently been increased from 20,000,000 cans per year to 30,000,000 and 40,000,000 cans. Nearby and a striking figure in this great group of buildings is the box manu- facturing establishment; thus it is seen that in one center is combined all the various departments of the packing industry. Large warehouses line the water front, affording easy access to shipping on the one side and to rail transportation on the other. Splen- didly built docks and bulk-heads extending into deep water admit of the presence of a large number of draught vessels at one time. An electric plant supplies illumina- tion to the establishment, adding another to the conveniences that facilitate the hand- ling of a really enormous buisness. In car- rying the plant from Baltimore to Wagner's Point-about four miles distant from Balti- more-they likewise carried the operatives who form a happy and prosperous com- munity, to the now busy little town of East Brooklyn, with its hundred two and three-story finely built brick dwellings, a post-office whither comes and goes the mail three times a day, a largely attended country

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public school, drug store, bakery, shoe store and restaurant, it has every claim to the dig- nity of a town many times older and larger. The town enjoys the presence of a well conducted grocery and provision store at which goods are sold at city prices. A fire engine company with splendid quarters is a feature of East Brooklyn and a fine chemi- cal engine truck and accessories to their or- ganization. Whilst serving a very distinc- tively practical purpose the social feature is not inconsiderable and the engine house is a place of great local importance. To the north of East Brooklyn is Masonville, a town of growing importance and named for the great cracker baker of Baltimore; near- by is Fairfield indicating its activity by a number of factories and numerous pretty dwellings: to the west is the old town of Brooklyn and lying at the extreme souther- ly end is South Baltimore, with its churches and schools, mills and car shops and one of the finest sugar refineries in the country. These growing towns have a combined population of about 10,000 people, and dot the landscape of one of the most successful vegetable sections in the United States-far famed Anne Arundel county. Baltimore lies heavily banked against the north and is easily reached by the electric cars which penetrate these towns.

· Hand in hand Wagner's Point and East Brooklyn grow together, for there is never any cessation in the march of improve- ments. New buildings are constantly going up and a strong building association makes it possible for every family to own its own dwelling, a convenience largely availed of. Altogether the buildings of the Martin . Wagner Company used exclusively in their packing business cover ... acres.

The subject of our narrative has not yet reached the half century mark and yet there has been crowded into his life the activities and results of a much longer period. Look- ing back over the past twenty-five years there is reason for much elation and gratifi- cation. The now towering proportions of the company dwarf into insignificance the place of beginning-a meagre and unpre- tentious place that lives again the embodi- ment of a town and a-town's people. Mr. Wagner is as actively present in the con- cerns of the establishment as ever he was. He laid the foundation of the business and moulded its policy from which there has been no deviation. Every department is under his watchful eye-even the veriest de- tails of the business do not escape him. The past of the Martin Wagner Company's plant has been prolific of great results and indications point to a long continuance of prosperity.

GEORGE W. KNAPP, member of the firm of Matthai, Ingram & Co., manufacturers of tinware and sheet metal goods, a son of the late John K. and Harriet Anne (Ford) Knapp, was born in Baltimore county, Md., July 18, 1847. His father was a chemist and both his parents descended from Amer- icans, being colonial settlers of the country. The former was a native of Connecticut, the latter of Maryland. Mr. John Knapp died in 1857; his wife in 1895. They had four children, all deceased except John T. Knapp, civil engineer, of Baltimore, and Mr. George W. Knapp, the immediate sub- ject of this sketch. The latter was educated at the public schools of Baltimore and by private tutors. He was married February 28, 1878, to Emma Kate, daughter of the late Nicholas and Susan (Gray) Boone, of

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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