USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, Volume IV > Part 11
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From this brief resume we get a glimpse of the various strains of blood which enter into the makeup of this modern American. His ancestors were good men; and while he has the right to be proud of them, his own career has been such as to reflect credit upon them.
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FRANCIS BROOKE MATTHEWS
A T THE present moment, one of the leading citizens of the famous old Southern Maryland County of Charles, is Francis Brooke Matthews of La Plata. He was born on August 4, 1866, in the county where he now lives, on the farm known as Johnsonton, son of James Francis and Mary Victoria (Brent) Mat- thews. His father was by profession a lawyer and held a number of public offices in the county.
Matthews is an old English name, and the family was founded in Charles County by Thomas Matthews who came over prior to 1657, for between 1657 and 1676 we find his name cropping up a dozen or more times on the old records in one capacity or another-here as witness to a will, there as anexecutor of an estate, and again in a land transaction. The last mention of him appears when his will was probated, 11th of March, 1676. That he was a man of substance is proven by the fact that according to the bequests in that will, he named his wife, Jane, as executrix and bequeathed to her seven hundred acres of land including Matthews' Hope and Huckleberry Swamp (sometimes known as Beckley); to his son Thomas he be- queathed seven hundred acres on Mattawoman Branches; to his daughter Mary, wife of Captain Boreman, he bequeathed certain land on Mattawoman Branches and two hundred and fifty-five acres known as "Hill Freehold." There were other items in the will, but enough is here shown to prove that he was a substantial man in his day. Contemporaneously with Thomas appear John and William -John as the legatee of certain personal property under the will of Marke Phepo probated 8th of February, 1669; while William appears as witness on the will of Thomas Greenfield, probated Ist of April, 1675. From this it will be seen that the Matthews family has been identified with Charles County two hundred and fifty years.
Mr. Matthews was reared practically in the country; was not overly robust as a boy, but worked to some extent on the farm and clerked in a country store. His early predilection was for mer- cantile pursuits. His education was obtained in the local schools, and his reading then and now has been largely along practical lines, mainly of works bearing on business interests and general latter day
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information. He said that he felt inspired in youth by an ambition to gain a position of confidence and to win the esteem of his fellows.
In 1890, a young man of twenty-four, he engaged in mercantile business in Lothair. He developed capacity as a business man, and his success has been of the most pronounced character, and he is now one of the leading business men of the county, conducting the large business run under the name of the Matthews-Howard Implement Company, in La Plata, with branches in Leonardtown, St. Mary's . County, and Hughesville, Charles County, and being personally the proprietor of two general stores. In addition to this, he is director in the Charles County Bank.
A lifetime Democrat, he has been very active in the work of that party and in trying to turn Charles County from the Republican into the Democratic party. In later years, he and his associates have met with some measure of success in this direction, and he has served as register of wills for six years. In 1909, he was nominated and elected county treasurer for a term of four years, and Charles County seems to be now anchored securely to Democracy. Mr. Matthews stands well in the councils of his party and is a member of the Democratic central committee, and president of the board of town commissioners.
That corner of Maryland was originally settled by adherents to the Roman Catholic faith, and down to the present time the old church has many adherents in Charles and St. Mary's Counties, amongst whom Mr. Matthews is found.
On June 16, 1897, Mr. Matthews was married to Miss Arnie C. Jones, of Calvert County, daughter of Doctor George H. and Laura A. (Lancaster) Jones. They have six children: Elizabeth Brooke, Laura Agnes, James Francis, Catherine Eugenia, Mary Clare, ,and. George Henry Matthews.
He says he finds his recreation in work, and the results which he has obtained in a country district appear to justify that statement.
To the young man entering upon life, he commends constant application to the avocation selected and constant striving to make improvement in the same, with an eye always to the moral side, . strict honesty in all dealings in every connection. In justice to Mr. Matthews it must be said that he has lived up to his code and enjoys the entire confidence of the people among whom his entire life has been spent and in the section with which his family has been identified for many generations.
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Faithfully Yours IM Zimmerman & &
LEANDER M. ZIMMERMAN
A MONG the many strong clergymen of Baltimore, no man takes higher rank, whether measured by ability, consecra- tion, or results obtained, than the Reverend Leander M. Zimmerman, D.D., pastor of Christ English Lutheran Church in South' Baltimore. Doctor Zimmerman's marvelously successful career as a minister during the past twenty-four years, is due, in the vernacular of the day, to what we call "standing pat" in the faith, and progressing in methods.
· He is the founder of the church of which he is the pastor, and it is the only charge he has ever had. During his twenty-four years of active service he has to his credit thirty-six thousand pastoral visits, of which thirty-six hundred were made the first year. He has written three novels, and has had published and distributed more than one million booklets and tracts, on a great variety of religious and secular subjects. He has built up a large, strong and influential congrega- tion, and his Sunday school last year had an average attendance of seven hundred and forty-seven, with congregations of cqual size. Spurgeon once said: "I have come, and as regularly the crowds have come, year in and year out. On what theme could I have spoken so many years to the same people and held their interest? If I had spoken on science, politics, books, socialism, my congregation would have been scattered long ago." In like manner, Doctor Zimmerman in all these years, has adhered steadily to the old Gospel, Sunday after Sunday, and Sunday after Sunday the people came to hear from him the old, old story of "Jesus and His love." As the Baltimore Press puts it, speaking of his work: "In spite of the fact that his church is located in a section where the population has been shifting for the last twenty years, and where business is forcing out all kinds of settlers, his church has held its own and his Sunday school is one of the largest in the city." His congregation owns an excellent . church building with a seating capacity of ten hundred and twenty- eight; free of debt, and has a sufficient sinking fund to take care of ground rent, insurance, taxes, and other minor items.
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These are the great results of his work. Let us now for a brief space look at the man himself. He is a native of Maryland, born at Manchester, in Carroll County, on August 29, 1860; son of Henry and Laah Zimmerman. His father was a farmer-an industrious, honorable man of sound judgment and strong will power. He was the owner of a good two hundred and fifty acre farm, upon which were born his twelve children, of whom three entered the Gospel ministry, and one the medical profession.
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Doctor Zimmerman's name betrays his German origin, and it is no more than just to him to say that he has done credit to the strong Teutonic stock from which he comes. He had the healthy training of a country boy, and even in those early days was a lover of books.
He was fortunate in his mother-a woman of most exemplary character, who exercised a most godly influence over her children and looked after every one of them with that personal care which no one but a good mother can give. Naturally, her influence was the strongest and has been the most abiding one in his life.
He attended the local schools, and in his young manhood one day, while at work at his usual tasks, he suddenly felt that it was his duty to enter the Gospel ministry. He at once quit his work; called on his pastor, and told him of the experience. He then resumed his work; but in the fall of that year entered upon a preparatory course as a student in Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg. He was graduated from Pennsylvania College in 1884, with the degree of Master of Arts, and spent the next three years in the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.
In December 1887, he was sent to Baltimore, Maryland, to organize a work in South Baltimore. At the time he had neither any members nor a church building. During his first two months, he paid six hundred visits; rounded up his recruits, and on February 5, 1888, organized Christ English Lutheran Church. They held their meetings in a hall, and by July 15 of that year were ready to make a forward move. They bought the present church property, holding the first service in it August 12, 1SSS. The courage of the young minister and his congregation was wonderful. They went in · debt eight thousand dollars for the building, and expended two thousand dollars in renovating it. Within one year from the day Doctor Zimmerman began his work of establishing a new church, the congregation was self-supporting; and in four years from
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the time of the purchase, the building was paid for. Two years later they expended eleven thousand dollars in enlargements and improvements, and within five years more had paid off all this debt. As far back as 1894, before they were yet out of the woods, the congregation declared against oyster suppers, bazaars, church fairs, and such like ways of raising money, and settled-down upon the proper plan. Once a year they have a Thank Offering, which aggregates from one thousand to twelve hundred dollars, much of which goes toward benevolence. The congregation is a missionary church in spirit and deed, and last year contributed almost one- third of all its expenditures for benevolence. Doctor Zimmerman has never sought any other charge-he has never desired any other charge. He has seen a radical change come in the population around him. When he organized his church, it was an old residential section with few foreigners. It is now largely a foreign section, and fully half his members have moved into suburban sections or farther north-but they yet adhere loyally to the pastor and to the church.
On June 18, 1901, the young preacher had made such a mark that the title of D.D. was conferred upon him by Susquehannah University, Pennsylvania.
He has delivered a great number of addresses on public occasions before different organizations and societies, and also at conferences and synods of his church. He was twelve years a member of the board of home missions and is still on the deaconess board, serving as vice- president. For many years he has been chairman of the finance committee of the deaconess board of the Maryland Lutheran Synod, and vice-president of the Baltimore Lutheran Ministers' Association. He has been a delegate to the General Synod of his church five times, and he has served one term as president of the Maryland Synod of the Church.
There is apparently but one flaw in Doctor Zimmerman's make- up (if it is a flaw)-he has never married. Of that he says himself: "I am married to the Church."
One of the Baltimore daily papers in writing of his work says of him that he is a man of striking appearance-tall, thin nervous, with keen brown eyes, wavy brown hair, full beard; quick, rather high voice, with many inflections; never at a loss for a word; dresses carefully, and a very dynamo for energy.
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A strong man and a thinker, he naturally says many good things. One of these is too true to be lost. He says: "It seems to me some- times that the world, with all its boasted progress today, is not really getting along. I think that we are getting strong in culture and weak in the heart, and I do not call this real progress."
He says of his own life: "Life has been very dear to me; God has been very good to me; and people in general have been very kind to me. I have been optimistic, and while not accomplishing in life what I might have wished, nevertheless I have few regrets, and much for which to be most grateful. I am happy with my lot, at peace with God and my fellowman, with love for all."
For the benefit of the young, to be incorporated as a part of this sketch, he preaches a sermon of about fifty words-and very simple words-which is here given verbatim. "Be unselfish; be kind; be honest; be just; be pure; be persevering; be hard at work and never be weary in well-doing. Have pure ideals. Do right because it is right, and not for the sake of reward. Forgive your enemies; be a friend; make others happier and the world better because you live in it."
Anyone familiar with the conditions of the section of the city in which Doctor Zimmerman's work lies, and with the changes which have taken place in its population, will not know which to marvel at most-his tremendous energy, or his wonderful adaptability; for by his energy he built up a great church from nothing, and by his adapta- bility he has held it together in spite of most adverse conditions. The value of such a man in a community cannot be estimated, but at least the facts can be recorded.
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JAMES MERRITT CORKRAN
T HE family name of Corkran, which comes to us from England, like the Scotch name of Cochran both belong originally to the Irish family of Corcoran. From Ireland some of these Corcorans went to southwestern Scotland and became Cochrans. Others went to England and became Corkrans; and from England probably about the middle of the eighteenth century, James Corkran came to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and settled in Dorchester County. The variation in the spelling of this name by members of the same family is very interesting. For example, in 1790, according to the returns made by the census takers of that year, we find that there were in Frederick County, Daniel and Robert Cockran. Then there were in Montgomery County, Thomas Corcoran and Joshua Corkeran-these being members of the same family. Dropping down to North Carolina in that same period we find the name appears under the form of Cockeran; and in 1750, William of that name was given a land grant of two hundred acres in Bladen County. About 1770, John B. Corkeran appears in Bertie County, North Carolina, as one of the petitioners for the erection of the town of Windsor into a county town. Now, dropping back to Dorchester County and to James Corkran's descendants, we find that they have not fared differently from other branches of the clan, for every one of them was returned in 1790 under the name of Cockerin. Under that name we find as heads of families in 1790 in Dorchester County, William, Rachel, Margaret, John and two Jameses. They were evi- dently a prolific family. One of the Jameses was head of a family of five; the other the head of a family of three and owned five slaves. John's family was nine strong. Rachael headed a little company eleven strong, and owned two slaves. Margaret had five to her family, and William's family counted six, besides one slave. The six families therefore counted thirty-nine souls, besides slaves-a very good average, and above that of the country at large.
The Corcoran family of Ireland, from which is descended all these various families, is an ancient Irish family, long honorable in
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that country and granted centuries ago the right to coat armor. The coat of arms is one of the most striking in the British Armory. It consists of a silver shield upon which appears an upright sword, point upward, with a blue blade and golden pommel and hilt. To the right and left of the sword are two lions rampant in red. The crest shows a red bar upon which is set a green stump, above the stump a dove in full flight. The motto being "Fide et in bello fortes" illustrates the shield as being "strong in faith and in war." We have in the dove the emblem of peace-we may indeed say the emblematic bird of religious faith; and we have in the lions and the sword the emblems of war.
One of the descendants of James Corkran, the immigrant to Dor- chester County, who was given a large grant of land in Dorchester County, who has now achieved a most honorable position in the town of Centreville and in Queen Anne's County, is Doctor James Merritt Corkran, who was born at Hurlock's, Dorchester County. His parents were Thomas and Hester A. (Wright) Corkran. His father was a farmer by occupation, a man of strong integrity, much es- teemed by his neighbors, who served his people in the capacity of county treasurer.
Doctor Corkran was reared chiefly in early childhood on the farm-not a very robust lad; very fond of study, particularly in the direction of chemistry and anatomy. Most of his boyhood life was spent either in the schoolroom or under private tutelage. He ac- knowledges a great debt to his mother, as she kept before him always the fact that the ideal intellectual life could only be attained by strong spiritual development-and to the principles inculcated by her, the value of which even as a young man he realized, he gives credit for much of his successful career .. Outside of the studies incidental to his profession as a physician,he has had a strong partiality through life for historical literature, both ancient and modern. Besides his private instruction, he went through the public schools, the Federal Academy, and the medical department of the University of Maryland, from which he was graduated in 1SS7. In June of that year he settled in Centreville as a practicing physician and surgeon, and has now been in active practice for nearly a quarter of a century.
Speaking of the influences which shaped his career and decided his vocation in life, he recalls that even as a small boy he had a strong affection for the family physician, and this created in him an earnest
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desire to be like him. This perhaps had much more to do with decid- ing his career than even he has ever realized.
Within three years after beginning the practice, he had become well established, and was on June 11, 1890, married to Laura Spencer Emory. Of this marriage there is one daughter, Margaret Spencer Corkran. Mrs. Spencer's maiden name is that of one of the old and honored families of Maryland, and not unknown in other States.
Doctor Corkran is something more than a successful physician. All of us who are familiar with the work of the medical profession during the last twenty-five years are ready to give credit for the brave and strenuous fight which they have maintained to reduce the ravages of that great scourge of humanity-tuberculosis. In his local field, Queen Anne's County, Doctor Corkran has been the leading factor in the struggle with "the Great White Plague." We have made some headway, and we shall undoubtedly make more in the years to come; for the energy, the ability, and the unselfish labor put into this struggle by the best men of the medical profession everywhere is already beginning to show hopeful results. But this is only a part of his public service. Keenly and intensely interested in the matter of education, he is now in his fourteenth year of service as a member of the board of education of Queen Anne's County, having served two full terms of six years each, and being now in his third term. During six years of this period, he has been president of the board. The active physician who will give eighteen years of his time to the edu- cational interests of his county, a position involving great labor, responsibility and trouble, without financial reward, has in him that degree of public spirit of which good citizens and sturdy patriots are made, and is entitled while he is yet living to recognition of his service.
In religious matters Doctor Corkran is affiliated with the Prot- estant Episcopal Church. His political affiliation is with the Republican party. He occupies a position in his county second to that of no other man. That position has been earned by valuable and faithful service, and is therefore a much greater credit to him than if it had come to him because of the services of his ancestors.
T. ROWLAND THOMAS
I IN THE case of Mr. T. Rowland Thomas. a young man of thirty- six, now at the head of the great National Bank of Baltimore, we have the exceptional man who, at an age when most men are just getting a foothold, is recognized as one of the strong leaders in a city of six hundred thousand people.
Mr. Thomas was born at Della Brooke in St. Mary's County, March 7, 1874; son of Doctor James and Nannie (Nelson) Thomas. His father, a physician, was descended from an old Maryland family identified with the State for generations; and his mother belonged to one of the famous Virginia families, the Nelsons. In his paternal line, James Thomas, governor of Maryland in 1836, was a great- uncle of our subject.
Mr. Thomas went to the famous old Charlotte Hall School in St. Mary's County. Before he was sixteen years of age, he came to Baltimore to seek his fortune. He soon secured a position with Stein Brothers, bankers, with whom he remained six months. This train- ing enabled him to get a position with the National Howard Bank as street runner. Within another year, the National Mechanics Bank took him into its service as junior runner, and six months later made him senior runner. In this institution he served in many capacities, and by faithful and efficient service rose to receiving teller, which position he filled at the time he was elected cashier of the Mercantile Bank in 1907:
At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, he left his work to go with the Fifth Maryland Regiment, of which he was a member. When this command was mustered out of the United States service, he returned to Baltimore and was at once reinstated in his old position in the National Mechanics Bank.
In 1902, Mr. Thomas was married to Miss Mary L. Thomas, daughter of Mr. James Richard Thomas and Jeannette (Briscoe) Thomas of Deep Falls, St. Mary's County.
While cashier of the Mercantile Bank there came on a conflict between two opposing interests, each trying to secure control of the
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Third National Bank. The successful interests invited Mr. Thomas to become assistant cashier, which position he accepted. After but nine months' service with the Mercantile Bank, his ability had been so clearly demonstrated and attracted such attention in banking circles as to lead up to this offer.
In 1908, Mr. Thomas was elected cashier of the Third National Bank; and in January, 1910, he was promoted to the presidency, having climbed to this position in nineteen years. Within a year, principally through the efforts of Mr. Thomas, the Third National Bank was merged with the National Bank of Baltimore. The con- solidated institution retains the name of The National Bank of Baltimore, which is the oldest bank in Maryland, and one of the three oldest in the United States, representing assets of over eight million dollars.
It is a tremendous responsibility for so young a man; but none can look into the smiling face of Mr. Thomas, with its square jaw and determined chin, and doubt for a moment his ability to take care in the fullest measure of the great interests which have been entrusted to him.
When the inquisitive try to draw from him the secret of his success, his reply is, -- "work." He probably believes this to be the whole truth, and he is probably mistaken-for, however hard one might work, he could not accomplish such results in so short a time if back of that labor there was not an unusual capacity for the busi- ness undertaken.
He is an enthusiast about the city of Baltimore and its future growth. He is optimistic, and believes that the people of Baltimore are fast awakening to the advantages of the strategic position occu- pied by the city, and that if they would extend proper encouragement to people seeking manufacturing sites, in a few years Baltimore would be as prominent in the manufacturing world as it is today in the jobbing and financial world.
Mr. Thomas is a member of the Bankers' Association and the Merchants' Club. In the Masonic fraternity he has reached the Thirty-Second Degree of the Scottish Rite, and he is a Knight Templar. In religious circles, he holds membership in the St. Michael and All Angels Protestant Episcopal Church. In polities, he is a Democrat of the old school-which is not so hard to understand when one knows that he came from Southern Maryland where, after the
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