USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, Volume III > Part 15
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W. C. Devecmon had the best of educational advantages. After preliminary training, he entered St. John's College at Annapolis, and was graduated in 1881 with the degree of A.B., leading his class. In his junior year by action of the board of visiting governors, he was awarded a special degree for distinguished proficiency in mathe- matics. After graduation, he taught Latin and Greek in St. John's . College for three years, with the title of assistant professor. During these three years he read law with S. Thomas McCulloh of the Annapolis bar, and was admitted to practice in 1884. After a year spent in traveling in the West and South, he settled in Cumberland in 1885, and has since that time been an active practitioner of the law in his native State. He has met with abundant success in his chosen profession, and he attributes the measure of success that he has won to an intense desire to understand with mathematical accuracy whatever proposition may be laid before him, and he there- fore does not leave it until he has a thorough grasp of the question from every possible angle. Outside of his profession, he has pronounced literary tastes and has contributed some Shakespearian essays to the magazines.
His political allegiance has been given to the Democratic party, with the exception of 1896, when he voted the Gold Democratic ticket represented by Palmer and Buckner. He is a member of the Potomac Club, of which he was one of the original promoters; is
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very partial to automobiling; and his hobbies-in so far as he has hobbies-run in the direction of automobiling and books. Perhaps his greatest pleasure in life has been the gathering together of his superb collection of books, which, outside of his regular law library, is one of the best owned by any individual in the State, as well as one of the largest.
'His business qualifications are quite as pronounced as his pro- fessional ability, and he has been connected with many prominent enterprises centering at Cumberland, being now a director of the United States Spruce Lumber Company, and president of the Mary- land and Rye Valley Railroad. He owns a beautiful home in Cum- berland, where he receives his friends with French courtesy and Southern hospitality. Some measure of his standing in the pro- fession may be gathered from the fact that at the 1908 session of the Maryland State Bar Association, he was elected president.
In concluding this brief sketch, it seems entirely appropriate to incorporate an admirable expression of opinion by him upon the choice of a profession or business by the young man, and as his own words cannot be amended, they are here given verbatim:
"Formerly it was the general custom for a father to select a profession or business occupation for each of his sons; for the last generation or two the sons have without parental influence, made their own choice, and circumstances have usually determined this for them. These are the two extremes, and, in my opinion, they are both wrong. A genius will sooner or later get into the occu- pation for which nature intended him; but to allow the average boy to select, without guidance, his occupation in life is simply to compel him to drift without compass or chart during his early manhood when his mind is capable of the greatest expansion. A youth of twenty-one just out of college knows neither his own capacity nor his own limitations; he knows neither the opportunities offered nor the difficulties to be encountered in the different professions and branches of business; and it is absolutely impossible for such a young man to determine with any degree of intelligence the pro- fession for which his mental, moral and physical peculiarities best qualify him to make a success in life. A father of good common sense having learned with painstaking care his boy's limitations, as well as his capacity, is better qualified than the boy can possibly be to determine the occupation in life for which that boy is most suited."
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ELIHU SAMUEL RILEY
E LIHU SAMUEL RILEY of Annapolis, lawyer, editor and author, is a native-born son of Annapolis, born on May 2, 1845; son of Elihu Samuel and Mary Jane (Ridgely) Riley. His father, E. S. Riley, Senior, was an editor who served for some years as public printer for the State of Maryland, and as alderman of the city of Annapolis. He was a man of fluent speech and strong cour- age. His mother died when Mr. Riley was a youth.
In tracing back the ancestral lines of this family, the genealogist will find Sir John Hawkins, who came from England to Virginia be- tween 1640 and 1650; John Brewer, who came to Virginia from Eng- land about 1650 and moved to Maryland about 1651; Colonel Henry Ridgely who came from England to Maryland about 1658. Drop- ping down one hundred years, there appears another ancestor, Robert Paine Davis, who served as a private and later as an ensign in the Revolutionary Army
Mr. Riley spent his youth in his native town; possessed of moder- ate health and an inordinate desire for reading, his greatest pleasure in reading being found in historical works. He learned the printing business in his father's office, and now recognizes that the knowldge of English obtained during that training has been of incalculable value to him in his later life. His educational training was received in local public and private schools; and after completing his school training and deciding upon law as a profession, he read law in the office of William R. Iglehart and John Ireland of Annapolis. He laid down for himself as a motto that, "Whatever I undertake to do, I will do well." He was duly admitted to the bar, and has practiced his profession with a measure of success, having served as city counsel of Annapolis from 1892 to 1895; as solicitor of the Annapolis and Eastport Building Association, and a term as vice- president of the Maryland State Bar Association. His best work, however, has not been done in the practice of law. As previously stated, he had a passion for history, and it easily followed that he became a faithful and painstaking investigator of local history. The
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first result of these investigations was the publication in 1886 of a work entitled "Ancient City, a history of Annapolis." The "Bench and Bar of Maryland," published in 1901, shows his work as one of the editors. In 1902 he edited a reprint of the "Letters of First Citizen and Antilon." Encouraged by his labors in this field he then undertook a much more ambitious work in the "History of the General Assembly of Maryland from 1635 to date"-a period of two hundred and seventy-five years, and a work of such vast magnitude as to call for years of research, compilation and editing. He is also author of a history of Anne Arundel County. Mr. Riley's historical work has abundantly paid his footing as a citizen. In America, we boast much about our great history, but if we are put to the question, very few of us know anything about it. The man therefore who spends his life in undertaking to preserve the history of our country, whether it be county, city, State or Republic; who does faithful and pains- taking labor; who discards mere verbiage and unreasonable tradition, and tries to place before our people the facts in connection with the history of our country, whether in whole or in part, is doing a public service quite as great as though he had founded a great factory or led an army corps; for it is a fact that a people uninformed in their history and therefore unqualified to exercise discriminatingly the duties of citizenship, are like a ship at sea without a rudder, and are liable to drift upon the shoals of national shipwreck because of lack of knowledge.
On December 4, 1872, Mr. Riley married Rebecca Williams Tucker. Of this marriage, there are four children.
His political affiliation through life has been with the Demo- cratic party. Religiously, he is connected with Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church South of Annapolis, and superintendent of its Sunday School.
His favorite recreations are found in walking, rowing and gun- ning.
Some of his ancestors have been mentioned outside of the Riley family, and it is not out of place here to say that the Riley family is an ancient one, originally Eng sh and not Irish as many people believe, though there is an Irish Riley family which has an old coat of arms consisting of a green shield, upon which are two lions rampant in gold, each with a paw grasping a bloody hand, in the center; the crest consisting of a golden crown surmounted by a green tree and a
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serpent-the motto being: "With fortitude and with prudence." The probability appears to be that the Irish Rileys are descended from the English Rileys; though they took a distinctively Irish coat of arms in using the bloody hand. The main seats of the English Rileys appear to have been in Lancashire and Lincolnshire.
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JOHN HENRY HOLZSHU
T HE late John Henry Holzshu, of Cumberland, was born in that town on July 20, 1849, and died on November 25, 1907. His parents were Charles L. and Margaret (Schilling) Holz- shu. His father, of German origin, was married in Cumberland, spent his life there, was a merchant-tailor by occupation, a man of excellent character, and one of the well known citizens of the town.
Young Holzshu learned the trade of tailor with hisfather. He spent three years as a bookkeeper in Baltimore, and with that exception his entire life was spent in Cumberland. His first business in Cumberland was in connection with his father's merchant- tailoring establishment; but in 1887, seeing a good opening, he engaged in the real estate and insurance business, in which later his brother, Charles G. Holzshu, became a partner, and which remained his principal business during life.
Mr. Holzshu's business career was an unusually successful one. He possessed sound judgment, unfailing energy, and integrity beyond question. He was both enterprising and liberal, and his friends were counted by his acquaintances. During his life he was probably connected with or held membership in more associations, societies and corporations, than any man in Cumberland. In political life, he was an ardent Republican, and closely associated with Ex-Senator George L. Wellington, both in a political and personal way. While Senator Wellington was in the United States Senate, he secured the appointment of Mr. Holzshu as postmaster of Cumberland, which position he held four years. When the Citizens Bank was organized, Senator Wellington became its president and Mr. Holzshu its vice- president. Mr. Holzshu was director and treasurer of the German Savings Bank; director in the Cumberland Savings Bank, of Cumber- land; and the Fidelity Savings Bank, of Frostburg; secretary-treasurer of the Cumberland Electric Railway, the Edison Electric Illuminat- ing Company, the Western Maryland Telephone Company; treasurer of the Tenth and Eleventh German Building Associations: vice- president of the Cumberland Improvement Company; president of
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the Holzshu Realty Company; director in the Will's Mountain Sanatorium Company; director in the Y. M. C. A .; trustee of the Cumberland Municipal Sinking Fund for over twenty years; trustee of the Allegheny County Academy. He was interested in the Maryland Rail Company, the Interstate Trust Company, and the Cumberland Ice Manufacturing Company. He served a term as Tax Collector, and at one time was Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue. At the time of his lamented death he was serving a term as County Treasurer. He was affiliated with the Elks, the Odd Fel- lows, the Knights of Pythias, and the various Masonic bodies, from Blue Lodge to Shrine. His religious affiliation was with the German Lutheran Church. In 1892 he erected the Holzshu Building, on Baltimore Street, and about the same time put up the large sana- torium on Will's Mountain, of which he was a director up to the time of his death. He held various offices in the fraternal associations to which he belonged, and was, in fact, a working member in every- thing that attracted his interest.
It is perhaps not too much to say that Cumberland never had a citizen who contributed more freely of his time, his labor, and his means to everything that had in view the advancement of the moral or material interests of the city. Amongst all his numerous activi- ties, he found time to organize a military company, and served as a Lieutenant.
On October 10, 1888, he married Miss Mary E. Reuschlein. Of this marriage there are three children: George Louis, Arthur H. and Miss Marie Holzshu.
His death, coming after a severe illness, of two weeks was unex- pected, and called forth expressions of sympathy from people far and near, and was universally lamented by the people amongst whom he had spent his useful and honorable life.
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ROBERT MORRIS JONES
R OBERT M. JONES of Baltimore, prominent in a business way, is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Green County on December 5, 1841, son of Benjamin and Margaret (Kramer) Jones. His father was a glass manufacturer and farmer by occupa- tion. A glance at his father's and mother's names will show that Mr. Jones combines within himself two strongstrains of blood, Welsh and German.
The family history of this branch of the Jones family, is one of great interest. Robert M. is a son of Benjamin, who was son of John, who was son of Robert, who was son of Griffith, who was son of Morgan, the immigrant, who was son of John of Basaleg, near Newport, Warmouth, Wales. Mr. Jones, therefore, is in the sixth generation from the immigrant to American.
There are some features of this family's history of such interest as to justify greater detail. Morgan Jones, the immigrant, was one of the most illustrious Baptist ministers of his day. In 1660 he was a chaplain to Major-General Bennett, of the Virginia forces, in expedi- tions into the Indian country. In one of these expeditions he and others were taken prisoners by the Tuscaroras and condemned to death. Through the kindness of one of their chiefs, he was ransomed. He was afterwards treated with kindness, and preached for them three times a week. It is said that he remained with them till 1669. He wrote an account of his labors and adventures in these expeditions. Morgan Jones was highly educated, having been a graduate of Oxford University. A man of excellent standing, he married Margaret, a daughter of Lord Griffith Griffiths. One of his sons was christened in honor of his grandfather, Griffith Jones. This Griffith Jones, born on October 18, 1695, following in his father's footsteps, entered the Baptist ministry. He was twice married and the father of a large family. By his first wife a son and daughter were born. The son died in infancy. . The girl, Mary, born on January 1, 1723, lived to womanhood. By the second wife he had the following children: Samuel, born February 1, 1725; Morgan, born September 23, 1729;
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John, born September 11, 1732; Thomas, born April 26, 1735; Joseph, born May 19, 1737; Benjamin, born February 16, 1740; Robert, born February 20, 1743; and Rachel, born February 20,1747. Of the ten children, Robert was the ninth in order and the youngest son.
In 1767 or 1769, Jacob Van Meter, together with the Swans and Hughes formed a little settlement in the southern part of Greene County. Jacob Van Meter is said to have been the first settler of the Baptist faith in that immediate section. A little fort was built and named "Garard's Fort," in honor of the Garard family of Hugue- not descent, which was numerous in that county. In 1770 a log church was built near the fort, which received the name of "Goshen Church," and became famous as the place where the first Baptist church meeting west of the mountains took place, and the Red Stone Baptist Association was organized. This little church was built of logs, about eighteen by twenty feet. In 1772 or 1773, a church was organized by Rev. Isaac Sutton and Daniel Fristow, on November 7, consisting of thirty members. Among those charter members was Robert Jones, above mentioned. This was in the time of the Revo- lutionary and Indian troubles, and in one of the Indian raids the wife and children of the pastor, the Rev. John Corbly, were murdered by the Indians.
Robert Jones married Jane Bolton, and to him was born one son, John, and three daughters: Rachel, Mary and Rebecca. Mary married Jesse Evans, and was the mother of Col. Sam Evans, promi- nent in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, seventy-five years ago. Rachel married Lewis Evans, and Rebecca married George Reynolds. John, the only son of Robert, and the grandfather of Robert M. Jones, married Mary J. Brice, a daughter of Capt. Wm. Brice, They had nine children: Robert, William, Benjamin, John, Rachel, Mary, Lydia, Louise and Maria. Benjamin, the third son, was the father of Robert M. Jones. Robert J. Burdette, whose reputation is as wide as the continent, is descended from this family on the female side. The children of Benjamin Jones present one of the most remarkable cases that can be shown by any family. These children, eight in number, were as follows; W. J. Jones, born July 22, 1831; Adelia, March 27, 1834; Kramer, January 4, 1836; Margaret, January 29, 1838; John, November 4, 1839; Robert M., December 5, 1841; Mary J., March 2, 1844, and Charles, June 2, 1847. It will be ob- served that the oldest is seventy-nine, and the youngest sixty-three,
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and every one of them is living-a record that would be hard to equal in our country.
James Ross, a local annalist of Greene County, Pennsylvania, is responsible for the statement that the descendants of Rev. Morgan Jones include five judges of the several courts of Fayette County, ministers, representatives, lawyers, doctors and soldiers without number in every state in the Union. A glance back over the preced- ing lines, setting forth the facts about the family, and the large num- ber of children in each generation, leads us to believe that Mr. Ross has not over-stated the facts.
Educated in the local schools of his native state, Robert M. Jones for a space of four months in 1861, then just arriving at man- hood, served in the army. Since that time he has followed contin- uously, actively and industriously, business pursuits, first in a general livestock business, and later in the pork packing business, which is his present business interest. He has won a substantial measure of success, and is recognized as a business man not only of character, but of sound judgment.
On April 6, 1869, he married Mary Straney. Of this marriage five children have been born, of whom three are living.
In politics he is an independent.
Mr. Jones has during life been a man of one pursuit. Business has taken not only his serious labor, but has been to him a recreation. He has found it all-sufficient for all his needs. He has taken no great part in the social activities of the city, beyond holding membership in the Merchants' Club.
Mr. Jones believes that the young man starting in life who will base his actions upon rigid honesty, who will keep strictly sober, follow his pursuit, whatever it may be, industriously, and give faith - ful attention to the interests of his employers, will meet with that measure of success commensurate with his talents. He has found this to be true in his own case, and not regarding himself as an excep- tional man, he sees no reason why it should not be true in the case of the other man.
He is a worthy descendant of the old Welsh preacher who took his life in his hands as a pioneer in the wilderness, and who served his generation with fidelity, with zeal and with conspicuous ability.
CORNELIUS WEBSTER ABBOTT
G ENEALOGISTS tell us that when a thousand years or so ago men first began to assume surnames that these sur- names were taken from many sources: occupations, colors, localities, natural objects, offices, and many other sources were drawn upon for the names that we now know as family names. They also tell us that the family name of Abbott was derived from the office of Abbott held by the Superior of Roman Catholic Monasteries. The first man who bore the name evidently had great respect for the work of the church. Aside from this he must have been a man of unusual force of character, as the qualities exhibited by his descendants show.
While the Abbotts have been prominent in all walks of life, they have been especially so along educational and religious lines. In our country the Abbotts appear to have been first settled in Massa- chusetts, and among the earlier settlers of that colony, between the founding of Plymouth, 1620, and the year 1650, are found George Abbot of Andover, George Abbot of Rowley, Thomas Abbot, of Andover and Arthur Abbot of Ipswich. Connecticut had her share in Robert Abbot of Branford and George Abbot of Norwalk. These were all pioneer settlers and their descendants, throughout the inter- vening generations, have not only multiplied exceedingly in number but have given to America many of its best citizens. It is worth while to note just a few of the prominent men of the name in the present generation:
Alice Balch Abbot, author; Edward Hale Abbot, lawyer; Francis Ellingwood Abbot, author; Frederick Vaughan Abbot, soldier; Henry Larcom Abbot, soldier and engineer; Katherine Gilbert Abbot, artist; Willis John Abbot, editor and author; Alexander Crever Abbot, M.D., Professor University of Pennsylvania; Arthur Vaughan Abbot, civil and electrical engineer, and author; Charles Conrad Abbott, author and naturalist; Edward Abbot, clergyman; Frank Danford Abbot, musical editor; Frank Frost Abbot, Professor in University of Chicago; Fred Hull Abbot, lawyer; Jo Abbot, lawyer
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and ex-Congressman; Lyman Abbott, clergyman and editor of the Outlook; Mary Perkins Abbott, author; Nathan Abbot, law teacher; Russell Bigelow Abbott, founder and president of Albert Lea College; Samuel Warren Abbott, M.D., Secretary Massachusetts State Board of Health; Wilbur Cortez Abbot, educator. About half of these spell the name with one "t" and the remainder with two "t's". The original spelling of the name was Abbot, and the best authorities agree that this is the correct form, but as there is no law for spelling surnames, each man being a law unto himself, about half the Abbot families preferred the more modern spelling of two "t's".
The record above given is really a remarkable one for one family in one generation, especially if one stops to consider the trend of this family in one or two directions and the wide reputation enjoyed by all of the names given above.
In Great Britain the Abbots hold the Baronies of Colchester and Tenterden, but in the present generation these. baronies are held by men without issue and will die with the present holders, which is to be regretted, as they are historic names.
Cornelius Webster Abbott of Baltimore is in direct line of descent from George Abbott of Rowley, Massachusetts. George Abbott came from England in middle life with his three sons, George, Nehe- miah and Thomas. He must have been well advanced in years when he came over for he died in 1647. Another George Abbott who settled in Andover in about 1643 and has a small army of descendants in the country, was clearly a younger man, for he married in 1647 in this country. It is probable that George of Rowley was an uncle of George of Andover. Cornelius W. Abbott's line of descent is as follows: George Abbott born in England died 1647; George Abbott, 2nd, born in England, married Sarah Farnum in 1658, had issue four sons and five daughters and died in 1687; Nehemiah born 1667, died 1750, married Abigail Lovejoy in 1697, had issue three sons two daughters; Nehemiah, 2nd born in 1692, died 1767, married Sarah Foster in 1714, had issue three sons two daughters; Joseph A, 1st, born 1727, died 1793, married Sarah White, had issue two sons; Joseph A. 2d, born 1752, died 1834, married Ruth Bucknam had issue four sons two daughters; Joseph A. 3d, born 1791, died 1857, married M. Electa Richardson, had issue three sons two daugh- ters; Cornelius F. born 1828, died 1894, married Matilda Price in 1854, had issue one son Cornelius Webster Abbott born in 1855 who is the subject of this sketch.
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Cornelius W. Abbott is in the ninth generation from the old pioneer, and was born in Baltimore on December 30, 1855. His father was Cornelius Frederick Abbott, native of Boston, who married Matilda Price, a native of Queen Anne's County, Maryland, and located in Baltimore as a merchant and manufacturer. Young Abbott was reared in the city and attended its. public schools, the last two years of his school life being spent at Professor Knapp's German school.
In 1872, a youth of seventeen, he entered upon the serious work of life as an office assistant. Four years later, when barely twenty- one years old, he engaged in the manufacture of bitters. For the thirty-two years which have since elapsed he has adhered tenaciously to this one line of business. Mr. Abbott has never made in his business operations the common mistake of sacrificing everything to size. His effort has always been to make the best, and he has a justifiable pride in the fact that Abbott's bitters are known and sold throughout the United States wherever bitters is used. Its quality is recognized as among the very best flavoring bitters made in the world. He has built up a substantial business with a growing export trade, and while he does not claim the greatest establishment of its kind, or the largest capital, he has succeeded in establishing a sub- stantial and prosperous business along the line of true merit.
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