USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, Volume III > Part 22
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GEORGE HARRY BIRNIE
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After this hard field work, he spent the years from 1875 to 1877 as a professor of mathematics in New Windsor College. In 1879 and 1880, he was division engineer on construction work on the Ohio and West Virginia Railway with headquarters at Vinton, Ohio. He then became locating engineer for the Mexican National Railway in the State of Michoacan, Mexico, from 1881 to 1883; but the home country had strong attractions for him. He had married, and he decided to settle down at Taneytown, and in 1884 he organized the Birnie Trust Company. He says himself that he started in with the idea of making the Birnie Trust Company the best bank in that section by giving the best possible service based upon the idea that a bank officer owes a higher allegiance to the public than he does to his own stockholders or directors. That he has won a substantial measure of success along these correct lines is proven by the fact that his bank now has a surplus equal to its capital. He recalls the concluding sentence of a lecture of Doctor Alexander delivered at the end of his Princeton term, which he says was an inspiration to him, and which has aided him in many a struggle and kept him from many errors. That sentence was this: "Finally, young gentlemen, let all the ends thou aimest at be thy country's, thy God's and truths.' Good-bye."
Mr. Birnie is a cultivated man, whose attainments have come to him as a result of constant reading and study of the best authors along the lines principally of mathematics, physics, best English literature and astronomy.
Mr. Birnie is an active church worker, being an elder in the Presbyterian Church since 1888, and superintendent of the Sunday school for nearly twenty years. He has also served as president of the Carroll County Christian Endeavor Union, and vice-president of the Maryland State Union.
On June 1, 1882, he married Miss Elizabeth Eleanor Zollickoffer daughter of Alfred Zollickoffer of Uniontown. They have three children: Eliza Roberts, Eleanor and Clotworthy Birnie.
His political allegiance has always been given to the Demo- cratic party, though he broke through the traces once and voted against Mr. Bryan on that occasion. He finds his chief recreations in bicycle riding and fishing, and confesses to a weakness for a good novel. His advice to young men starting in life will not bear para- phrasing and is here given in his own words: "I recommend to young
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men personal purity, temperance in its widest sense, including food, drink, temper, language, dress, etc .; unflinching honesty, and a keen sense of honor, and above everything else to remember that any young man's success in life will be in direct proportion to the quality and quantity of the service that he renders to others. I believe that God placed every man in this world to render his best service to others. For many years it has been my motto that the best service I can render to others means the highest and best success for me. If a man takes 'My Best Service' as his motto, though he should live in the center of a forest, the public will beat a well-worn path to his door."
The strongest testimonial to Mr. Birnie's ability is found in the fact that years ago, before our people had waked up to the necessity of a better system of public roads, he was an earnest and ardent advocate of better roads, believing even then that the State should employ competent engineers and make liberal appropriations. He studied the question out long before other men had given it much thought, and summed up his views upon the matter by the state- ment that progress in agricultural communities is to be gauged by the condition of the free schools and the public roads more than by any other criteria. Measured by these standards, Maryland was not up to the highest standard, and he has been a preacher of the gospel of better public schools and better roads for long years. The majority is now coming his way, and it is to his credit that he has been a pioneer in this great movement for many years.
Mr. Birnie is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the Pennsylvania Society of Civil Engineers, American Bankers Association and the Maryland Bankers Association.
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yours Truly Ru Filventer
RICHARD WILLIAM SILVESTER
R ICHARD WILLIAM SILVESTER, President of the Mary- land Agricultural College, and one of the prominent educators of the present day, is a native of Virginia, born in Norfolk on September 16, 1857; son of W. W. and Virginia (Lindsay) Silvester. The elder Silvester was a planter devoted to his calling and a great lover of plantation life. This branch of the Silvester family dates in our country from 1664, when Mr. Silvester's first American pro- genitor came from England and settled at Great Mills, Norfolk County.
Richard William Silvester, M.D., grandfather of our subject, was an eminent yellow fever specialist in the day when yellow fever was more dreaded than any other disease.
Mr. Silvester's boyhood life was spent on the farm. He was a healthy lad; took his share of farm duties, and developed a love of nature and a taste for country life which has remained with him up to the present. He thinks that his mother's influence had more to do with the formation of his character than all other influences. In youth he was fond of Dickens and Thackeray, while Byron was a favorite author to him in his early years. As he grew older and the
years of manhood came on, he began to appreciate the real depth in literature. He declares that the great work of Victor Hugo, "Les Miserables," affected his life and has influenced it more than any other book outside of the Bible. He says that Hugo's work taught him the lesson that in every human being there is a spark of good which needs but the right breath to kindle it into a blaze of re- generation.
Mr. Silvester's education was obtained first in the public schools of Norfolk County, and later in the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, Virginia, where he graduated in 1877, with the degree of Master of Sicence. He began his career as a teacher of natural sciences and mathematics at the famous old Charlotte Hall Academy in Saint Mary's County, Maryland. He never lost sight, however, of the fact that he loved the land, and wanted to go back to agricul-
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tural work. In 1882, he was made full professor in Charlotte Hall Academy, and in 1888 became president of the school.
In 1892, he was elected President of the Maryland College, which position he has since filled with ability, and has made it one of the high class agricultural colleges of the United States. The wonderful work done by teachers of agriculture in the past twenty years fills with amazement, not only people who have paid little attention to it, but even those who have tried to keep in touch with the progress of scientific investigation, which has revolutionized American agri- culture.
President Silvester believes that the present day agriculture is a profession, as much so as theology, law, medicine, or engineering. He looks forward to the day when every intelligent farmer will have in his home, a well selected library bearing upon every phase of agri- cultural development. He feels that science applied to agriculture will open up an era of prosperity for our country of which the present generation has littie idea.
His pupils are trained, not only for professional life, but likewise to a keen appreciation of their civic duty. He advises and urges upon them, first to fashion their character upon the Golden Rule; second to study the great cardinal principles of our government as announced by the Fathers of the Republic. To regard the right of franchise as sacred as their honor. To esteem the election day as second only to the Sabbath in the calendar of the year, and the election booth as an altar when casting his vote.
On April 11, 1888, Mr. Silvester was married to Miss Lucy Lee Bowen, daughter of Philander Bowen. They have two children; Virginia L. and Richard Lee Silvester.
Politically, Mr. Silvester has been through life a Democrat; but he has been busy trying to make two blades of grass grow where there was not any before, and has not had time to indulge much in politics. His religious affiliations is with the Protestant Episcopal Church. He is much interested in all kinds of student sports, and has given a great deal of time to athletics.
President Silvester is convinced that the college president and college professor, who is unmindful of the fact that he was once a boy, places himself out of touch with that complex organism, known as the American boy. A warm sympathy for, and interest in him is the only formula which will give potency to his latent powers.
Yours truly
JAMES RUSSELL BRASHEARS
J UDGE JAMES RUSSELL BRASHEARS, of Annapolis, Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Maryland, was born at West River, Anne Arundel County, on March 13, 1858, son of John W. and Willie E. Brashears. Mr. Brashears is descended from Benjamin Brasseur, who came from France to Virginia and thence moved to Maryland in 1658, where he was naturalized as an English subject on December 4, 1662. He died almost immediately after that, intestate, and his widow, Mary Brasseur, who died soon after, left a will in which she gave her residence as "The Clifts." It is of interest to note the various changes in this name. It appears by the proceedings of the Council of Maryland, in volume II of the Archives of Maryland, on page 424, that on the 21st day of May, 1661, Benja- min Brasseur, or Brasseurs, was commissioned one of the Judges for Calvert County, and on page 464, it appears that Benjamin Brassieur, late of Virginia and subject of the Crown of France, his wife and children, were naturalized in 1662. We see, therefore, that the old keepers of the record spelled Mr. Brasseur's name in three different ways. Evidently it was Anglicised in the next generation or two into its present form, and even then the old recorders indulged in vagaries of spelling; for we find by the records in the Land Com- missioner's office, that two hundred and eighty-four and a half acres of land, a part of Anne Arundel Manor, was surveyed the 12th of June, 1769, for Mr. John Brashears, and on the 1st of September, 1771, it was patented to Mr. John Brashiers, Jr. This land was devised by John Brashiers to three of his sons, Benjamin, William and Jonathan, by his will dated on the 10th day of August, 1771. This John Brashiers, Jr., was son of John, who was son of Samuel, who was son of Robert, who was son of Benjamin, the immigrant who was naturalized in 1662. Judge Brashears' father, John William Brashears, was son of Robert and grandson of William, who was the last person by name of Brashears that owned a part of Brashears Purchase; and when he conveyed his interests he reserved the family burial ground.
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The father of James R. Brashears was by occupation a farmer, -- a strong, firm man, who served for a time as Register of Wills in Anne Arundel County. Young Brashears was a strong, robust country boy, worked on the farm during vacations, and in retrospect can see that this work was most beneficial in every respect. He attended the public schools and an academy on West River. Arriving at the age of eighteen, he took charge of his father's farm, with the idea of becoming a farmer. Possessed of an alert mind, he soon saw that the returns from farming were very meager, and this was especially true at that time, thirty years ago. Taking his father's advice, he became his deputy in the office of Register of Wills; and while serving there, read law; was admitted to the bar, and began practice at Annapolis, where he has remained up to the present time. He remained as Deputy Register of Wills up to 1887. By that time he had acquired a large acquaintance over the county, and his prac- tice was a success from the start. This acquaintance also had its influence upon his life in a political way, for very soon after he entered upon the practice of law, he became prominent in the councils of the Democratic party, and from 1889 to 1901 was on the ticket of his party at every general State election. In 1890, 1892, 1894, 1902, he was a member of the House of Delegates, and was temporary speaker during the sessions of 1894 to 1902. He served on the committees of Ways and Means, and on the Judiciary. In 1902 he was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the ranking committee of the House. In 1890 he was Chairman of the Committee on Chesapeake Bay and its Tributaries, and in 1892 Chairman of the Committee on Temperance. While a member of the General Assembly, he refused to accept passes from railroads or an allowance for the purchase of postage stamps. In 1895, Mr. Brashears was elected as State's Attorney for Anne Arundel county, and served four-years' term; but in 1899, when he was a candidate for reelection. there happened along a Republican year, and he with the rest of the ticket went down in defeat. In 1907 Judge Brashears was again elected to the General Assembly, but this time to the Senate for a full term of four years. He had hardly entered upon this term when on April 11, 190S, he was elected an Associate Judge of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Judicial District for a full term of fifteen years, having been nominated by the Democrats and endorsed by the Republicans. This was indeed a remarkable compliment to a man
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who had been as prominent in political life as Judge Brashears and had been so staunch a Democrat. It is a strong testimonial to his impartiality. He is easily one of the professional and political leaders of his section, and his political influence is and has been for years State-wide. In view, however, of his present judicial posi- tion, which has yet thirteen years to run, Judge Brashears has practi- cally retired from active politics.
He has been for three years a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is affiliated with the Odd Fellows and the Order of Red Men. Judge Brashears finds his recreation in gunning and fishing. On December 22, 1891, Judge Brashears was married to Matilda Mccullough Brown.
The record here given shows Judge Brashears to be a man of unusual force, far above the average; and it is natural that such a man should have convictions upon all matters, either of public or of private interest. He has given thought not only to what consti- tutes success, but as to how best to attain it. He believes that success comes to the man who is "honest, truthful and temperate in the use of strong drinks. In professional, business and public life, he should resist all inducements to do wrong for immediate gain, and in public life. he should always fortify himself against the influence of the unscrupulous political worker and lobbyist, and never do any act against the interest of his people in order to advance his own interest; for, in the end, he is then likely to be without honor, money and friends."
In the seventeenth century and the first part of the eighteenth century, there was a slender stream of French emigration to America, mostly Huguenots. Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina got practically all of this French blood, there being only scattering indi- viduals in the New England and Middle States. It was a peculiarly valuable stock, and it is noticeable even now from the fact that the descendants of these original French settlers show in the most marked manner the characteristics of their progenitors. These characteristics were rigid integrity, strong sense of religious duty, industry, thrift, and a very high sense of civic duty. James R. Brashears, descended from this stock, has lived up to its best traditions. He possesses both courage and integrity. In the General Assembly, he has given service to Anne Arundel County equal to that given by any man who has ever represented the county; and though he has not been popular with
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the lobbyist, the exploiter, or the self-seeker, he has acquired a charac- ter and standing among the good citizens that would be a badge of honor to any man, and which it may be said he most justly deserves.
As an item of special interest, it is worth while to quote the official record of the naturalization of the old Huguenot, Benjamin Brasseurs. It reads as follows:
"Cecilius Calvert:
"Whereas Benjamin Brasseurs late of Virginia have sought leave to inhabit as a free denizen to purchase lands I do hereby declare that said Benjamin Brasseurs his wife and children to be full denizens of this province and that he be held, treated, reputed and esteemed as one of the faithful people."
The old Huguenot was a valuable accession, and they could well afford to naturalize him. He left three sons-Robert, Benjamin and John-and four daughters-Ann, Susanna, Martha and Elizabeth. Benjamin II died in 1675, evidently unmarried; for he left his estate to his sister Martha; and the Brashears of the present day are direct descendants from Robert and John, sons of the immigrant.
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Viny Truly Yours D. Malloin
DWIGHT DAVIDSON MALLORY
T HERE appear to have been two main branches of the Mallory family in America. The first, and the most numerous, has been settled for generations in the State of Connecticut; the second in Virginia. The Virginia family has furnished two or three Congressmen, one from Virginia and one from Kentucky; and several splendid Confederate soldiers. To the Connecticut family belonged Stephen Russell Mallory, United States Senator from Florida and Confederate Secretary of the Navy. His son, the second Stephen Russell Mallory, also represented Florida in the United States Senate. To this Connecticut branch of the Mallory family belongs Dwight D. Mallory of Baltimore, one of the pioneers of a great industry in our country, and whose name for nearly fifty years has been known from one end of the country to the other. D. D. Mallory was born in New Haven, Connecticut, son of Willard and Elizabeth Mallory. His father, a man of great energy, was an oyster grower in the village of Fair Haven, where the son was reared. After gaining such education as was obtainable in the local schools, Mr. Mallory entered upon his business career as a grocer in the village of Fair Haven in 1854. The oyster business, as we now know it, was then in its infancy. The far- seeing mind of D. D. Mallory recognized the vastness of the opportu- nity, and in 1856 he migrated to Detroit, Michigan, where he estab- lished himself in the oyster and fruit packing business and built up a large trade. It did not take him long to realize that he could do better if his business was situated nearer to the source of supply; and in 1862, he moved to Baltimore and established what quickly became the largest house in the oyster-packing trade. Men of middle age can remember the long, flat cases filled with tin cans in which the oysters were shipped, packed in ice, in three grades, all over the United States. The big, juicy fellows were classed as "selects"; the next, equally good, but not quite so big, were "standards"; and then there was a third brand which sailed under the nom de plume of " XX," or some other equally unmeaning phrase, though a most proper title would have have been "scrubs." Even in that early day, the oyster packers had
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learned that the business would not stand for much waste. The busi- . ness grew with most marvelous rapidity, and as early as 1870 there were twenty thousand people engaged in the packing business in the city of Baltimore. This was the foundation of the oyster and fruit packing business, which has now spread all over the United States as far as fruits and vegetables are concerned, and extending down the Atlantic Coast and around the Gulf Coast to New Orleans in so far as the oyster business is concerned. Many millions of dollars capital and literally hundreds of thousands of people are engaged in this industry in which D. D. Mallory was a pioneer, and his name upon a case of goods stood throughout the country for many long years as a synonym for "quality." Mr. Mallory's trade mark was the "Dia- mond Brand" and was well known in all cities, towns and villages from Baltimore to California. The first carload of raw oysters that ever entered San Francisco, California, was shipped by D. D. Mallory and Company in 1868.
On August 12, 1860, Mr. Mallory was married to Elizabeth C. Spencer, and they have now passed their fiftieth year of married life. His religious preferences have always inclined to the Presbyterian Church; and his political affiliation is with the Republican party. He frankly admits that he has never been much of a reader-that he has been too busy working. To those who know the man, this is easily believable, as in the years of his physical prime he was possessed of enormous energy and drove his business with the power of a dynamo. Mr. Mallory has made a success in a financial way; is a man of large means, being a director in a number of prominent corporations, including the National Mechanics Bank, Canton Company, Hopkins Place Savings Bank and other financial institutions; and is recognized as one of the leading citizens of the city in business circles, though not now actively engaged beyond the care of his investments and the look- ing after the corporate interests in which he is concerned.
There is some confusion as to the origin of the name of Mallory. Speaking broadly, one recognized English authority claims that the Mallory name was of Norman-French origin, derived from the village, or estate, of Meilleray in the Department of Seine et Marne. Yet another English authority says that the name originated in Flanders, and that it became Meilleray and Mellery in France, and Mallory in England. Apparently Yorkshire was the ancient home of the family in Great Britain, for we find there a Mallory family located centuries
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ago at Studley, with a coat of arms thus described: On a golden ground, a lion rampant, in red, collared in silver. For the crest: a nag's head couped in red. We find the same coat of arms copied by the Mallorys of Cheshire; of London; of Northampton; and of two other places where the address is not given. Here and there appears a slight variation in the crest, and in one case a slight variation in the coat of arms proper; but it is quite evident from all the facts in the case that the Yorkshire Mallorys represent the parent family in Great Britain.
EDWIN JAMES DIRICKSON
I HE late Doctor Edwin James Dirickson of Berlin, one of the prominent medical practitioners of the State and well known in its public life, was a native of the town in which his entire life was spent, born on November 26, 1852; son of Levin Littleton and Sarah Elizabeth (Forman) Dirickson. Levin L. Dirickson died on August 31, 1894. His wife, Sarah Elizabeth Forman, born Octo- ber, 11, 1831, is now living in her eightieth year, with all of her facul- ties well preserved and is as alert-minded as in the days of her youth. Levin Dirickson was one of the prominent lawyers in his section in his generation. He served as a member of the legislature and of the Constitutional Convention. In addition to which he put in four terms of service as State's Attorney. He was a graduate of Harvard College, a polished literary man, a fine speaker, and a beautiful writer.
The Dirickson family is descended from a Norwegian family of vikings, which in the old days went under the name of Diricks. A branch of this family was temporarily resident in Denmark, and from that country came Joseph Dirickson, who settled in Philadelphia about 1692, and moved to Maryland about 1700. He was promi- nently connected with the Episcopal Church, as his descendants have been ever since. One of the early Diricksons was a vestryman in the old Swedish Church, Philadelphia, where his name appears on the register, and his body lies in the churchyard. The Diricksons have, as a rule, been professional men, doctors and lawyers, noted for their probity and learning. One of Doctor Dirickson's ancestors served as a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War. The maternal line goes back to General Edward Forman, who settled in Cecil County in the seven- teenth century, when that section was first opened.
Doctor Dirickson was a strong boy, whose early years were di- vided between village and country, and he developed an early taste for natural history and literature. He attended the village school up to the age of twelve, farming in off hours and doing regular tasks about the house. He entered the village store owned by Cyrus
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Leonidas Williams (whose daughter he later married)-at the age of twelve, continuing his studies at night under his employer's tuition, as he made his home in the family until he was eighteen years old. In his later years, looking back upon his early life, Doctor Dirickson re- called that these early habits of study had a profound influence upon his life. He was fortunate in his mother. She was a very intelli- gent woman, thoughtful, well informed, a great reader; and the mu- tual devotion of mother and son was remarkable. His early tastesin natural history and nature's laws possibly had something to do with his later life. In addition to these tastes, he was very partial to works on political economy, travel, exploration, history, and deductive mathematics. In general literature, Shakespeare, Carlyle and Ma- caulay were his favorite authors. In later years, he became a very general reader, dividing his time between scientific works and general literature, and reading about half the night. Though he owned a drugstore in partnership with Doctor Dashiell, outside of this interest he did not dabble in commercial pursuits after one unsuccessful ven- ture in the lumber business, as he discovered that he had no adapta- tion for that sort of business.
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