USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, Volume III > Part 23
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. In 1871, Doctor Dirickson entered the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, one of the best of our old medical schools, and was graduated in 1874. After his graduation, he took post-graduate courses, both in Philadelphia and Baltimore. He entered upon the practice of his profession in his native town. In his early youth he was divided in his mind for some time between the professions of law and medicine. He had a natural penchant for law; but being very fond of scientific study, and encouraged by parents and relatives, his decision finally was in favor of medicine. He had a full share of the family traits. Among the notable characteristics of the Dirickson family may be mentioned that in every generation the members of it have been partial to learning, have been peculiarly attached to each other, to home life, and to native land. All these were strong in Doctor Dirickson. In later life he recalled that his companions were always his elders, and that his reading was much in advance of the boys of his age.
. He became a general practitioner of medicine, with a partiality for obstetrics and gynecology. His success in his profession was always marked, especially along the lines which he preferred. He was a re- markably temperate man-never drank wines or liquors of any kind,
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not even tea or coffee, and never used profanity. He had strong poetic tastes and constantly in his leisure hours threw off verses, which, however, he never preserved or published.
In 1884, then having been for ten years a practicing physician. he first came into connection with public bodies, and in that year was made vice-president of Jefferson College Alumni Association. From 1873 up to the day of his death, a period of thirty-six years, he was constantly connected in an official capacity with the Protestant Epis- copal Church as vestryman and warden, serving as senior warden for many years. For twelve years he was Master of his Masonic Lodge, and served for many years as a town councilman. In 1901, he was elected to the General Assembly as a Democrat. In 1902, he was appointed by Governor Smith member of a commission to investi- gate diseases in horses, and in that same year was elected a member of the Maryland Medical Licensing Board for a four-year term. In 1903, he was appointed a member of the State Board of Health, and in the same year was elected vice-president of the Maryland Health Association.
He was always professionally interested in, and identified with, every movement to awaken the public to the need of wise laws for sanitation and the prevention of disease. He acted as Assistant Sur- geon of the United States Marine Hospital Service between Cape May and Cape Charles, from the time of its organization until a few years before his death, when he relinquished it on account of accept- ing other appointments. His interest in scientific agriculture was only second to his interest in the health movement, and his efforts in the improvement of agriculture through the use of his pen and voice before farmer's institutes were of great value to the State. He wrote numerous articles in advocacy of his ideas, both along medical and agricultural lines.
On the 28th of April, 1874, Doctor Dirickson was married to Miss Anna Harriet Louisa Williams. Six children were born to them: Anna Brevard; Cyrus Williams; Levin and Edward Forman (twins); Harriet Elizabeth, and James Brevard Dirickson. All of these are living, except one of the twins, Edward Forman. Mrs. Dirickson is a daughter of Cyrus Leonidas Williams and his wife, Ann Elizabeth Brevard, whose sister married John Dirickson, great-uncle of Doctor E. J. Dirickson; and these were the last of the Brevard family in Maryland-one of the ancient families of our country, members of
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which made such reputation in North Carolina and Florida that coun- ties in those States were named in their honor.
Doctor Dirickson was affiliated with the Order of Red Men; Worcester County Medical Society, and the Medical Society of Maryland. A Democrat in his political convictions and affiliations, he reserved to himself the right to independent action when in his judgment it was necessary, and took part in the reform movement during what was called the "Hunt-Lowndes campaign." He found his recreations in camping out, sailing, and a close intercourse with nature.
Doctor Dirickson did not see that he had won any special meas- ure of success in life. In that his friends did not agree with him. If true success consists in usefulness, and most thoughtful men agree that it does, he was an exceedingly successful man, for he was a most useful one.
His suggestion to the youth of the country in taking up the duties of life, was to be prompt and methodical; study to be temperate in all things, and in the doing of whatever duties might come under their hands, to do them with all their might. Such a course would, in his judgment, bring a due reward.
Doctor Dirickson died August 27, 1909.
JACOB EPSTEIN
F EW Baltimoreans do as much for the City and keep as much in the background as Mr. Jacob Epstein, founder and practi- cally the proprietor of the Baltimore Bargain House, which is one of the marvels in the commercial life of Baltimore, in fact, of the entire country.
Mr. Epstein was born December, 28 1864. He came to Balti- more from his European home when he was seventeen years old, with very small capital, but with plenty of brains, energy and adapta- bility. In 1881 he started a wholesale notion business on Barre Street, the dimensions of which were 18 by 30 feet. He gave to this business intense thought and concentration, so that the business grew rapidly, making it necessary to acquire, from time to time, additional build- ings. The buildings now occupied by the business are known as 204 to 220 West Baltimore Street; 10-12 North Howard Street, which is used as a clothing factory; 213 to 221 West Fayette Street, which property is owned by Mr. Epstein; the entire block at Scott, Wicomico and Cross Streets, which is also owned by Mr. Epstein; 33-35 Hopkins Place and 109-111 Hopkins Place.
In order to meet the growth of the business, Mr. Epstein has found it necessary, lately, to purchase all the property in the entire block on Baltimore Street, between Howard and Liberty Streets, run- ning back to Garrett Street, (excepting one building) on part of which site he will erect a 12-story, modern building, which will cost about $1,500,000, according to reports in the press. It is estimated that the new building will contain 240,000 square feet of additional space.
The sales of the Baltimore Bargain House were close on to $13,- 000,000 in 1910. Although the business is done principally through catalogs, many merchants visit the Baltimore market and come direct to the house especially to buy the bulk of their goods. Mr. Ep- stein ascribes his success mainly to his renowned motto "More goods For Same Money-Same Goods For Less Money." The weekly payroll of the business, so far as Baltimore City is concerned, is ex- ceeded only by that of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company,
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as nearly 1200 men and women are employed, including 200 book- keepers, accountants and stenographers.
Mr. Epstein is regarded as an exceptionally able organizer of men, and when asked how he accomplished such remarkable results in business, he said:
"By employing better men and paying better wages than other houses do. These things accomplish the best results."
In speaking further about his success in business, he said:
"There is no secret about the success of the Baltimore Bargain House. When I started, I made up my mind to build a business strictly on honor. Every article must be exactly as represented or the goods could be returned. I have the distinction of being the first wholesaler in America who marked goods in plain figures and then sold them strictly at one price; in fact, I believe I am the only whole- saler to-day who is strictly doing it. If any man in my employ should deviate from this one-price system I would discharge him, no matter how important he might be. I adopted the catalog system instead of drummers through which to sell goods, because it costs me about 2 per cent to sell goods through that means, whereas it costs 7} to 10 per cent to sell goods through drummers."
The usefulness of the Baltimore Bargain House to the City of Baltimore was increased in the summer of 1909 and 1910 through Mr. Epstein's enterprise in chartering a number of steamers of the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company to convey merchants from Florida and Georgia, at his own expense, to visit the wholesale market of Baltimore, without restricting such merchants as to where they should purchase their goods, thus expending considerable money to convince Southern merchants of the natural advantages of Balti- more as a wholesale market.
Mr. Epstein's interests must not be thought to end with the ex- pansion of trade. He has, with the steady advance in commercial lines, become one of Baltimore's most prominent philanthropists. Not only does his heart go out in sympathy, but his hand also offers help to every deserving form of distress. Mr. Epstein's name is always among the first and largest contributors toward every good cause.
While for a number of years Mr. Epstein has given largely to such charities as the Hebrew Children's Sheltering Home, the Hebrew Friendly Inn and Aged Home. and is a large supporter of the Feder-
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ated Charities of Baltimore (both Jewish and Gentile), his name is especially identified with the new Jewish Home for Consumptives, located at Reisterstown, which he founded and toward the establish- ment of the first and main building of which he contributed $40,000. By means of this philanthropy he will figure in the history not only of the State, but also in that of the country as a pioneer in the eradi- cation of the White Plague.
Mr. Epstein does not confine his contributions to Hebrew chari- ties alone. He gave a generous contribution to the fund for the Young Men's Christian Association's new building, he donated a cottage to Eudowood Sanatorium, and contributed a substantial sum for the endowment of the Johns Hopkins University at Homewood. While the public knows him to be a philanthropic man, it does not know that he has secretly helped numbers of young men to go to college and maintained them while there, because he thought they possessed talent which should be developed.
Mr. Epstein is a lover of art. His home contains the rarest and choicest paintings of the most celebrated masters. which add to the refinement and elegance of his residence, and constitutes one of the ' most valuable collections in Baltimore.
With Mrs. Epstein, Mr. and Mrs. A. Ray Katz, their son-in- law and daughter, he resides in the beautiful mansion located at the entrance of Druid Hill Park. He also has another daughter, who re- cently married Mr. Sidney Lansburgh.
Mr. Epstein's appreciation of music was also manifested, when, in order to bring the Metropolitan Opera Company to Baltimore for the Winter of 1909-10, he readily became one of the main guarantors.
Mr. Epstein has never sought public office, but has declined numerous State and municipal offices which were offered. His in- terest in charitable work, however, prompted him to accept an appoint- ment by the Mayor, some time ago, to the Board of Supervisors of City, Charities, also an appointment by Governor Warfield to the Board of Eudowood Sanatorium.
Mr. Epstein is at present a director of the National Howard Bank; a director of the Continental Trust Company; vice-president of the Clothiers' Board of Trade; treasurer of the Federated Jewish Charities; a director of the Jewish Home for Consumptives; a direc- tor of the Merchants Hotel Company; a director of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association; a director of the Baltimore Steam
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Packet Company, and is interested in the welfare of several other institutions.
Mr. Epstein's chief recreation, particularly in summer, is travel. He usually goes to Europe annually, where he seldom misses an op- portunity to enlarge his collection of art.
While Mr. Epstein does not devote much time to society, he has a large circle of friends in the leading Jewish clubs; is a member of the Phoenix and Suburban Clubs, and is also a thirty-second degree member of the Masonic Fraternity.
Despite his phenomenal success, Mr. Epstein has preserved the simplicity of his character and habits. He is a Republican in poli- tics and usually votes that way, although he has been independent at times. Mr. Epstein is an enthusiastic Baltimorean, tries hard to advance its welfare and is optimistic of its future. Having built up a great business practically without capital at the start, he can, perhaps, be considered one of the most enterprising business men in the history of Baltimore.
JOHN A. J. CRESWELL
T HE HONORABLE JOHN A. J. CRESWELL was born November 18, 1828, at Port Deposit, Cecil County, Mary- land, a thriving town on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, about five miles from its mouth. Before its incorporation in 1824, it was known as Creswell's Ferry. The larger part of the town is built on the estate formerly owned by his grandfather, Colonel John Creswell, and still in possession of the family. His father, John Creswell, the only child of Colonel John Creswell, after representing his native county of Cecil in the House of Delegates of Maryland, in the session of 1828-29, died May 12, 1831, at the early age of twenty-nine, leaving the subject of this sketch, when but a little over two years of age, together with three infant sisters, to the sole care of his mother, Rebecca E. Creswell, formerly Rebecca E. Webb, the eldest daughter of Jonathan and Rachel Webb, of Pine Grove, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Creswells are of English origin. Robert Creswell is enrolled as one of the sub- scribers to the Company for Virginia previous to 1620; and from him sprang the branch of the family that sailed up the Chesapeake and settled on the banks of the Susquehanna, where some of their descendants have ever since resided. Robert Creswell, brother of Colonel John Creswell, removed to Augusta, Georgia, in 1795. The children of this Robert were six in number: 1. John, who remained at Augusta; 2. Martha, wife of John Phinizy, a planter near Augusta; 3. Ann, wife of William Sims of Montgomery, Alabama; 4. Jane M., wife of Gassaway B. Lamar, formerly of Augusta, but afterwards of New York City. Mrs. Lamar and six of her children were lost on the ill-fated steamer Pulaski, off the coast of North Carolina, June 14, 1838. Charles A. L. Lamar, who alone of her children escaped that deplorable disaster, was killed at Columbus, Georgia, in 1865, while serving with conspicuous gallantry as an officer in the Confederate Army. 5. Samuel, who died without issue; and 6. Mary, wife of General George W. Summers, of Augusta. Rachel Webb (née Rachel Ashe), the mother of Rebecca E. Webb, was the
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granddaughter of Doctor Daniel Heinrich Esch, Anglice Ashe, or Ash, of Hachenburg, Germany. He was a member of the Reformed Church, and emigrated to Philadelphia in 1741; but was lost at sea in 1747 while returning to his native land to recover an estate to which he had become entitled in his absence. Through Jonathan Webb, his maternal grandfather, Mr. Creswell is descended in the fifth de- gree from Richard and Elizabeth Webb, who were prominent and in- fluential leaders in the Society of Friends. The Webbs emigrated from Gloucester, England, in 1699, after the return of Elizabeth from a pre- vious visit to America, and settled at Birmingham, Chester County, Pennsylvania, near where the battle of Brandywine was fought, sev- enty-eight years afterwards. Elizabeth Webb, one of the heroic fig- ures of our early history, was a most intrepid and zealous missionary of her religion. Her enthusiasm and courage were unbounded. In her diary, written in her own strongly-marked chirography, and still preserved, she recounts the details of a voyage she made to America with Mary Rogers as her companion in 1697, "upon truth's service only." Leaving husband and children and all the comforts and de- lights of home, she embarked at Bristol, November 16, and braved the perils of a winter passage across the Atlantic. More courageous than the Apostles of old, she stood as a pillar of strength amid the storms, and even when the ship was covered with waves and appeared to be sinking, she inspired by her exhortations and example, a renewed fortitude in many who "were in great distress because death seemed to approach near unto them." On February 5, they came to anchor within the Capes of Virginia and a few days thereafter effected a landing. Regardless of the inclemency of the season, she forthwith started upon her appointed mission. Crossing the bay, she traversed the Eastern Shore from Accomac to Cecil, and, proceeding through Delaware into Pennsylvania, made her first halt at Philadelphia. Thence, moving through West and East Jersey, she passed by water successively to New York, Long Island and Newport, where she arrived June 13, 1698. She then visited Boston, Salem, Salisbury, Hampton, Dover, Amesbury, Lynn, and Scituate. Returning to Boston, she held "a heavenly meeting there," which caused her to exclaim, "It is the day of Boston's visitation after her great cruelty to the servants of the Lord." Facing southward, she retraced her steps across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, the intervening Sound, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and
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Virginia, and traveled fifty miles into Carolina, "through the wilder- ness, the swamps and deep water." Having reached the limit of her long and appalling journey, she, at last, reverted to the place of her debarkation. Taking passage in the good ship, Elizabeth and Mary, Frederick Johnson, Master, for herself and her friend and companion, Elizabeth Lloyd, a daughter of Thomas Lloyd, who was Deputy- Governor of Pennsylvania under William Penn, they set sail March 20, 1699, from the mouth of the Chesapeake, and May 22, following, landed at Plymouth, "all in good health of body and peace of mind," in thankfulness for which she devoutly wrote, "our souls do bow before the Majesty of the Great God, whose Power and preserving hand we witnessed to be with us upon the mighty waters." In the performance of her arduous duties which her religious fervor imposed upon her, she accepted the Holy Spirit as her infallible guide. When ever It called, she obeyed; whatever It counselled, she executed; wheresoever It led, she followed. Active, vigilant, laboring, exhort- ing, preaching, praying, never quailing before obstacles or dangers; submitting willingly to the severest privations and sufferings, and confronting death itself unflinchingly, she endeavored to illustrate in herself the precepts of Him whom she acknowledged as the Divine impersonation of her faith and the strong foundation of her hopes. Through cold and heat, wet and dry, beating tempest and burning sunshine, undeterred by the noxious malaria of an unaccustomed climate and the dreadful solitudes of the scarce broken wilderness; at one time sinking by the wayside from exhaustion, at another struggling for life with consuming fever; in jeopardy to-day from the savage Indian, and to-morrow from the no less savage persecution with which bigotry and intolerance pursued the unoffending and unresisting Quaker, she pressed valorously forward, confident that she needed no more potent amulet than the name of Jesus, and that all along her pathway "the mighty Power of God would be made manifest to the honor and exaltation of His great and glorious name." These eighteen months, devoted to the most perilous and self-sacrificing service, are but an illustration of her whole life. Until her death, she was continuously engaged in just such mighty works, without a thought of earthly compensation or reward. Anthony William Boehm, chaplain to Prince George of Denmark, the consort of Queen Anne, counted her among his friends. In writing to her under date of January 2, 1712, he said:
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JOHN A. J. CRESWELL.
Your letter hath been read with great satisfaction by myself and many of my friends, but I have not been able to recover it yet out of their hands. Some have even desired to transcribe it for their edification, and this is the reason I did not send you presently an answer; though it hath all along been on my mind to express the satisfaction I had at the reading thereof. . . . True love is of an universal and overflowing nature, and not easily shut up by names, notions, peculiar modes, forms, and hedges of men, and if you will be pleased to correspond with me, even after your return from America, I shall always be ready to answer your kindness.
Thomas Chalkley, the celebrated Quaker preacher, in his introduc- tion to her "Treatise on the Revelation of Saint John," wrote of her:
It was my lot once to cross the sea from America to Europe in company with this servant of Jesus, and her conversation and deportment had a ten- deney to draw people's minds towards God and heavenly things. It was her practice to speak, read and write so thai, her conversation seemed to us to be in heaven while she was on earth. I have blest the Lord that I was acquainted with her, she being like a mother to me in my tender years; and was not only so to me, but was indeed a mother in the house of Spiritual Israel.
Other women, no more richly endowed with the treasures of intellect and heart, and no more to be admired for the sanctity of their lives and the record of their benefactions, have been preserved in marble and eulogized in song and history as worthy exemplars for succeeding ages. Elizabeth Webb has not thus been canonized. He: simple faith forbids that her name should be emblazoned on tables of stone or monuments of brass, or that her virtues should be sounded in labored inscription or measured epitaph. And yet bes fame survives. A grateful tradition has borne her sweet in- Euence down the tide of time. The spirit of love which she invoked, s :_ pervades the abodes of thousands who cherish her precepts witte doing her office in stirring their hearts to soothing charities. Hes memory, consecrated by her good deeds, has lost nothing of its issgrance, and her descendants, now multiplied through seven generations, may traverse the habitable globe, and visit every shrine azE mausoleum erected in honor of the most famous of their race, car they will nowhere find a relic better entitled to their veneration chaz the sacred dust which for more than a century and a half has Fearfully reposed within her unmarked grave.
Mr. Creswell graduated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Penn- stranis, in June, 1848, sharing the first honor of his class with Pro-
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fessor James W. Marshall, and delivering the valedictory oration on the day of commencement. He was admitted to the bar of Mary- land in 1850. In politics, he was originally a Whig, and cast his first presidential vote for General Scott in 1852. The Know-Nothing Movement having disbanded the Whig Party, Mr. Creswell became a Democrat, and was a Delegate to the Cincinnati Convention which nominated Mr. Buchanan in 1856, At the beginning of the War between the States, he joined the Union Party, and afterwards became a Republican. Ir 1861, he was elected a member of the Maryland House of Delegates. In the summer of 1862, he was made Acting Adjutant-General for the State, and had charge of raising the quota of Maryland troops. He was elected in 1863, a Representa- tive from the First District of Maryland to the Thirty-eighth Con- gress, during which he served on the Committees on Commerce and Invalid Pensions. He was a Delegate to the Republican National Convention which renominated Mr. Lincoln in 1864. In March, 1865, he was chosen by the Legislature a United States Senator for the un- expired term of the Honorable Thomas H. Hicks, deceased. He served on the Committee on Commerce, Agriculture, Mines and Mining, and as Chairman of the Committee on the Library. He was a Delegate to the Philadelphia Loyalists' Convention in 1866, and to the Border State Convention held in Baltimore in 1867, also to the National Republican Convention of 1868. His position as an ad- vanced Republican, was clearly defined in his speech on the proposed Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, delivered in the House of Representatives January 5, 1865; in his address on the life and character of his friend and colleague, Henry Winter Davis, delivered by request of the House of Representatives February 22, 1866; and in his speech in favor of manhood suffrage before the Border State Convention, held in Baltimore September 12, 1867. He was appointed Postmaster-General at the beginning of the administration of General Grant in 1869. This important Department of the Government was under his charge for five years and four months, During that period, almost every branch of the service was extended to meet the wants and convenience of the people .. From June 30, 1868, to June 30, 1874, the number of post offices in operation was increased from 26,481 to 34,294; the number of money-order post offices, from 1468 to 3404; the number of postal clerks, from 232 to 850; the number of free delivery cities, from
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