USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, Volume IV > Part 16
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WILLIAM HENRY GORMAN
nies: The Cumberland Coal Company; Piedmont Mining Company, and the Gorman Coal and Coke Company. He is also interested in other mining properties. He is a director of the Citizens Bank of Baltimore, and a charter member and director of the Citizens Bank of Laurel, Maryland. Though his business office is maintained in Baltimore, he makes his home at Oak Forest Park, in the vicinity of the beautiful village of Catonsville, where he serves as a vestryman of St. Timothy's Episcopal Church. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity; the Merchants and Manufacturers Association of Balti- more; the Merchants Club, and is a lifetime Democrat in his poli- tical affiliations.
He has been twice married. First on October 18, 1877, to Miss Mary A. Clark, of Howard County, Maryland; and subsequent to her death, on June 20, 1903, to Mrs. Judge Boykin, née Miss Ada Rogers, daughter of Mr. Benjamin Franklin Rogers, of Concord, North Carolina. .
In his chosen vocation, William H. Gorman is a strong man, who has made a pronounced success of his business ventures and enjoys the respect of a wide constituency.
We know Gorman as an English name, the family being traceable in Great Britain for centuries and enjoying the right to use coat armor. But genealogists tell us that in its origin it was Scandinavian, appear- ing under the form of Gormundr. The Germans made that into Gormund; and the English, Gorman.
The Browns were Scotch and English, and the Gassaways (his grandmother's name-Senator Henry Gassaway Davis, of West Vir- ginia, and Mr. Gorman are first cousins) are English; while on the paternal side comes the valuable Scotch-Irish stock, which stands for so much in our America.
JOHN VOLLENWEIDER
T HE little country of Switzerland divides with Holland the honor of having the most romantic and most heroic history of all the nations of the world. For five hundred years this little mountain land, zet down in the midst of strong nations, has maintained its independence through the patriotism and the valor of its people; has developed one of the strongest industrial communi- ties in the world; and has also developed a democratic system of government which is the envy of all other nations. It might be said that all this is the result of an unusual degree of patriotism; and while that is true in the main, coupled with that patriotism is a sense of justice borne by the individual Switzer and carried into all the rela- tions of life, which makes the country an ideal one in its internal administration.
The subject of this sketch, John Vollenweider, a Baltimore manufacturer, proprietor of the North-Western Cornice Works, was born in Zürich, Switzerland, July 10, 1863. Mr. Vollenweider's parents were Henry and Barbara Vollenweider, typical Swiss people. His father was a miller-an energetic and industrious man. The lad was reared in the country, most of his youth being spent on the farm, due to the fact that his father died when he was a small boy, and his foster-parents were farmers. The man reared on a Swiss farm knows what hard work means-but he also learns how to be handy, adaptable, and get the largest results from the smallest possible capital. And so the rearing of the lad was of a character to qualify him for larger things in life. He went to the public schools, for in Switzerland everybody must go to school. But he was not satisfied with the mere training of the grammar schools, and went through the Polytechnic Institute at Zürich, where he learned draft- ing and pattern-cutting, receiving his diploma for excellence in design and workmanship at the first National Industrial Exposition at Zürich in April, 1882.
As early as 1SS0, he had become an apprentice in Zürich. In 1883, the lad, seeking a larger opportunity than the restricted confines of
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his native land would give, traveled across the seas and settled in Baltimore as a journeyman. In this connection it is interesting to note how he came to enter his present business. As a farmer's boy he was put to work one day to help the tinsmith in covering an annex, and he surprised the tinners by his handiness and his adaptability in this previously untried work. This little incident perhaps had more than anything else to do with his future course in life.
In 1883, he was a journeyman in Baltimore. Frugal, industrious, and careful, three years after coming to America the young man, on June 15, 1886, was married to Marie, daughter of Edward and Marie Dizerenz of French-Swiss descent living in Zürich. Of that marriage, ten children were born, of whom seven are now living, John Albert, the eldest son, was graduated in theology from Berea College, Ohio, in June, 1911, and entered the ministry of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church.
' It was fourteen years before his modest savings justified him in starting on his own account; but he had never for a moment during those fourteen years doubted that his opportunity would come and that he would win. In 1897, he established his present business, engaging in sheet-metal work, cornice-making, skylight manufac- turing, and construction. His career as a manufacturer has been one of unbroken success. He now has a large and prosperous busi- ness, and has won a competency.
Mr. Vollenweider attributes his success largely to his early training, and he recalls now with peculiar pleasure, the training received from a pious but stern school teacher who for six years looked after his men- tal and moral training. His foster-parents were of the same type, and these strong souls started him in the right way. He knew that his future was dependent upon his own efforts, and so he made the most of his opportunities, and was ready when the opportunity came.
He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he has held various official positions. He is an independent in his political affiliations.
It has been the rule of his life never to shirk an obstacle, but to face it resolutely and overcome it. Circumstances considered, John Vollenweider has made an unusual success in life, and his opinions, therefore, applied to practical life, are of value. For the young man striking out for himself, he makes certain recommendations. Thus he advises that such an one should neither drink, smoke nor chew
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tobacco; that he should neither use foul nor profane language, and keep his head clear for his work; that he should not expect to get rich without honestly earning it, but should ever be ready to give battle in legitimate ways for his rights or for the prosecution of an honest business. Right principles form character, and good character is the most valuable asset any man can have. Naturally such a man believes in rigid honesty and in that sort of economy which always spends less than it makes. He believes also in the careful consider- ation of a plan of action before taking action-and if to this opinion, one will add a determination to win against odds, a reasonable measure of success will be certain.
Mr. Vollenweider comes from a country which does not give us. many citizens; but to its credit be it said, the men who have come to us from Switzerland have been among our best-and the subject of this sketch has made in our new country a career creditable both to himself and his native country.
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REUBEN GLADFELTER
M R. REUBEN GLADFELTER, a prominent citizen and a leading contractor and builder of the Woodberry District of Baltimore, now in his seventy-ninth year, has been for fifty years one of the most active and useful men of his section. He was born in the Sixth District of Baltimore County; son of Joseph and Rebecca (Kroh) Gladfelter. His father was engaged in a paper manufacturing plant and was a good mechanic. Mr. Gladfelter is descended from Casper Gladfelter, born in 1709 at Galttfelden, Canton Zurich, Switzerland. He migrated to America and left five sons: John, Felix, Casper, Henry and Michael Gladfelter. In the earlier generations in America, the Gladfelters were chiefly farmers, but in later generations having multiplied in numbers they have drifted into numerous occupations, and are now represented in the legal, medical and clerical professions, as well as in many mechanical and business pursuits.
Mr. Gladfelter was educated in the local schools of his section, which as far back as his boyhood, some sixty years ago, were fairly good; and out of school he was kept busy at such tasks as were suited to his boyish strength. Looking back over his long life. he can see now that this steady labor was of the greatest use, and he be- lieves that nothing a parent can do for his boy is so effectual for good as reasonably constant occupation combined with a square deal. He recalls that his mother's influence on every side of his life was most potent, and remembers gratefully that, when he was in bed, she was often on her knees praying that her boy might become a good and useful man.
Early in life he developed mechanical ability, and having been grounded in primary education, he took up the study of geometry and architectural drawing in the Maryland Institute, supplemented by private lessons from one Mr. Erhart, a prominent architect and eminent teacher of that day, who contributed much towards increas- ing the youth's desire to acquire knowledge. His knowledge did not come to him easily-he had to work for it, and work hard.
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Almost at the beginning of his career, he married, on November 21, 1853. His wife was Miss E. J. Roles, a daughter of one of the old defenders of Baltimore in the notable campaign of 1814. Of this union eleven children were born, of whom six are now living.
Mr. Gladfelter was blessed with a good constitution, and even as a very young man was wise enough to choose as his friends those better informed than himself and from whom he could learn some- thing. A strong body and a laudable ambition carried him forward. He entered the service of the firmn of William E. Hooper and Son, as superintendent of construction, in the first year of his marriage, and held that place for twenty-eight years. In 1880 he became superin- tendent of the Warren Manufacturing Company. His entire life in a business way has been identified with manufacturing interests. In 1881, he was appointed postmaster at Warren, Baltimore County, and served a term in that capacity.
In 1889, Mr. Gladfelter decided to engage in the contracting and building business, and since that time he has erected about two hundred of the finest residences at Roland Park, and in other suburbs of Baltimore, including those of Messrs. J. D. Reynolds, Addison Clarke, A. A. Sanner, Benjamin F. and Lloyd Cochran, and William G. Nolting-all at Roland Park; William H. O'Connell and Prof. F. A. Sadler, on Edmondson Avenue, and others.
His occupation through life has thrown him in contact with working people of limited means. A man of much natural sympathy and strong religious feeling, his environment contributed to the development of a desire to better the conditions of his fellow man, and this has been his chief ambition in life-to leave his neighbors ir better condition than he found them. He has not made the mistake. of trying to scatter over too much surface, but has largely confined his efforts to the nearby field where he could be most effective. He is a strong Methodist. In 1867, he was elected jointly with Mr. J. E. Hooper, as one of the superintendents of the Clipper Sunday School. He was active in this capacity until 1878, the school having in the meantime been taken over by the Woodberry Church from the care of the Strawbridge and Mount Vernon Churches, which had origin- ally established it.
He is a firm believer in local option, although always a Republi- can in politics, and in 1875, he was nominated for the General As- sembly by that party. In 1SS2, he was nominated to be clerk of the
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court of Baltimore County by the Temperance Union of the county and endorsed by the Republican Convention. In 1884, he was nomi- nated for sheriff of Baltimore County by the Republican party-in each case being defeated because of his known temperance proclivities, and he says now that his remaining ambition in life is to see the temperance movement in Maryland successful and the wicked traffic in liquor prohibited. He is an ardent member of the Anti-Saloon League of the State, and gives to it freely of his efforts and means. In national affairs, he has through life voted with the Republican party.
His favorite recreation is found in horticulture and agriculture, which is helpful both from a physical and moral standpoint. He holds membership in a number of fraternal societies, such as the Masons, Odd Fellows, Red Men, Heptasophs, and Independent Order of American Mechanics.
Here is a man of nearly four score. His long life has been one of useful industry, of sobriety, and of helpfulness. What he has to say is therefore worth listening to, and he says it in two sentences: "My object in life has been to help young people. My only ambition is to further the interests of the public."
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CHARLES GERALDUS HILL
D OCTOR CHARLES GERALDUS HILL, for many years past at the head of the Mount Hope Retreat; one of the leading authorities of the country on nervous and mental diseases; and one of the eminent physicians of this generation, is a native of North Carolina, born near the town of Louisburg, in Frank- lin County, October 31, 1849; son of Daniel Shines and Susan Irwin (Toole) Hill. In both the paternal and maternal lines, his family has been distinguished in North Carolina. In the Revolutionary period there appears the figure of Major Green Hill, of Bute County (Bute County was divided into Franklin and Warren in 1779), who was a delegate to the Provincial Congress which met at Newberne, August 25, 1774. He was later commissioned a major in one of the military organizations of the State, and again was member of the Provincial Congress in 1776. A prominent figure in his day, in later years he moved to Tennessee, where his last years were spent. The Hills moved into North Carolina from Eastern Virginia, where originally coming from England and Ireland, they had been settled in Matthews and other far eastern counties since the very earliest period of the colonization of the State, Colonel Edward Hill having been speaker of the House of Burgesses in 1654, and numerous inen- bers of the family having been prominent in some connection from that time forward. Doctor Hill's father was the son of Charles Applewhite Hill, born April 22, 1784. Charles Applewhite Hill was a learned man, a graduate of the University of North Carolina; with the degree of M.A., and married March 20, 1806, Rebecca W. Long, daughter of Colonel Nicholas Long, a notable soldier both of the Revolu- tionary and War of 1812, and a short sketch of whom appears in the second volume of Men of Mark in Georgia. Charles Applewhite Hill became a schoolinaster and established an academy at Midway, North Carolina, which later he transferred to Louisburg and trained many men who afterwards became prominent in the State. In 1825. he published an English grammar, which was one of the first con- densed, or simplified, grammars ever used in this country. Upon
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the abolition of Bute County and its division into Franklin and Warren, the Hill family appear to have fallen upon the Franklin side of the line, and we find that they were conspicuous in the public life of that county for many years. Green Hill's public services have been mentioned. Between 1780 and 1798, Henry Hill was for twelve years member of the State Senate. In the meantime, Jordan Hill was in the Lower House and succeeded Henry Hill in the State Senate, where he served five years. James J. Hill appears several times in the Lower House between 1805 and 1810. Then he shows up in the Senate in 1817 and 1818. Charles Applewhite Hill was in the Senate from 1817 to 1827. So between 1775 and 1827, if we com- bine the services of all these Hills, it will show about forty years of service in the General Assembly of North Carolina. Daniel Shines Hill, son of Charles Applewhite and Rebecca Long Hill, was born December 14, 1812. He married Susan Irwin Toole. His wife was the granddaughter of Lawrence Toole, who married a sister of Colonel Henry Irwin, who was killed while leading a North Carolina regiment at the battle of Germantown. It is a notable fact that Bute County had no Tories, and it is not surprising, therefore, that the inhabitants refused to submit to the name, abolished the county name, and made two counties, one named for Benjamin Franklin, and the other for General Joseph Warren. It was also remarkable for the number of Revolutionary patriots of the first rank which it produced. Green Hill has been mentioned. Colonel Henry Irwin was one of the gal- lant soldiers of the army up to his death. General Jethro Sumner was the strongest soldier that North Carolina had in the Continental Army. Nathaniel Macon achieved an international reputation. So Doctor Hill belongs to a section that has always been noted for the patriotism of its people. His father, Daniel Shines Hill, a planter, educated in the academy conducted by his father, Professor Charles Applewhite Hill, married on November 15, 1835. His wife, who was born July 25, 1815, was a daughter of Geraldus Toole and his wife, Elizabeth King. Geraldus Toole was born in 1759, and survived until 1843. His wife, Elizabeth King, born about 1781, lived until 1857. Geraldus Toole was a son of Lawrence Toole, born in 1718, and died in 1760. He married Sabra Irwin, born 1718, died 1786. Sabra Irwin was sister of Colonel Henry Irwin, above mentioned. Lawrence Toole and the Irwins had moved to Edgecombe County, North Carolina, about 1750, from Hampton, Virginia. The Irwins
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were Scotch, and the Tooles belong to the famous Irish clan of Toole, or O'Toole, as it is most commonly called.
Daniel Shines and Susan Irwin Hill were the parents of a large family. Their daughter, Sarah Louise, married M. S. Davis; Mada- line Elizabeth married Hiram L. Best; Mary Pauline married Rev. John R. Brooks; Florence Monterey married Garland Jones; Doctor Charles G. Hill married, first Isabel Sloan Painter, and second, Mabel Painter; Isabel D. married Walter Stark; Carolina Toole married Harold C. Painter; Daniel Sehon married Florence Hartman; two children, Susan Rebecca and William Irwin, never married.
Doctor Charles G. Hill's early educational training was received at the Louisburg Academy founded by his grandfather; though his immediate teacher was M. S. Davis, A. M., one of the leading teachers of his day. He prepared young Hill for the sophomore class of the State University; but the reconstruction period falling on the heels of the Civil War prevented his receiving collegiate training. Turn- ing his attention to the study of medicine, Doctor Hill read for a time in the office of Doctor J. E. Malone, of Louisburg, North Carolina; and in the fall of 1868 entered the Washington University Medical College in Baltimore, from which he was graduated in 1870, with the highest honors, receiving the first prize at commencement.
Immediately after graduation, Doctor Hill was elected resident physician of the Washington University Hospital (now known as the Mercy Hospital), corner of Calvert and Saratoga streets. While serving in this capacity, he established a successful treatment of sun stroke through inhalation of oxygen gas; and also discovered the peculiar toxic properties in oil of sassafras, both of these being noted in the medical journals of that period. The close confinement of the hospital did not agree with Doctor Hill, who had been devoted to horseback riding his whole life. So he abandoned that to establish a private practice in the small village of Hookstown, on the Reisters- town Road. A born improver, the name of Hookstown did not appeal to him, and so he became active and succeeded in changing its name to Arlington. His move into the country resulted as he had hoped, and he not only secured vigorous health by the outdoor life which he led, but built up a large practice. He has never given up this horseback riding, and his erect carriage and his snow white hair is a familiar sight at many of the meets of the fox-hunting clubs of which he is an enthusiastic member.
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In 1879, he was called to be first assistant physician at the cele- brated Mount Hope Retreat (for the insane), of which Doctor W. H. Stokes had been physician in chief since it was founded in 1840. Upon the death of Doctor Stokes, he was called upon to take his place, and has since filled it with great distinction. This famous institution, therefore, in its seventy-one years of life has had but two physi- cians in chief.
In the meantime, as far back as 1881, he became associated with the Baltimore Medical College as lecturer on nervous and mental diseases. In 1882, he was elected professor of anatomy and diseases of the mind; and in 1883, was made president of the college, with the chair of nervous and mental diseases, which he has retained up to the present time.
Doctor Hill has two strong qualities in a remarkable degree- he is never inactive in anything with which he is connected, and he is a good stayer. Since 1892, he has been a member and vice-presi- dent of the board of visitors of the Maryland School for Feeble- minded. In 1895, after years of faithful service, he was elected president of the Medico-Chirurgical Faculty. In 1896, he was president of the Southern Medico Psychological Society. In 1897, he was elected to the presidency of the Baltimore Medical and Surgical Society; in the same year, he was president of the old Union Medical Association of Pennsylvania, now discontinued. In 1899, he was elected president of the Baltimore County Medical Society. In 1905. he was president of the Baltimore Medical and Surgical Society. In 1906, at its meeting in Boston, the American Medico-Psycho- logical Association elected him to the presidency. He has had the peculiar distinction of being the president of every local, State and national Society of which he has been a member.
When Troop A, of the Maryland National Guard was organized, at the time of the Spanish War, he was one of the charter members, entering as a private, but soon after appointed surgeon of the troop, with the rank of captain; and though often urged to take higher rank in the State Guard, he has consistently refused to take any title which would necessitate the severance of his connection with Troop A. In addition to the Medical Societies already mentioned, he was for twenty years a member of the old Athenaeum Club; and holds membership in the University Club, the Flint Club, the Church- man's Club, the Baltimore Country Club, the New Maryland Country
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Club, the Green Spring Valley Hunt Club, and the American Medical Association. In several of his clubs, he has served on the boards of governors.
In 1881, he patented an adjustable ice-creeper for horses; and has also patented a thill coupling for buggy shafts.
The record here given would indicate an extremely busy man, but Dr. Hill has found time to become an author, and many valuable medical and scientific articles have come from his pen. As some evidence of appreciation for the discovery of the comet of June 23, 1881, the A. S. Abell Company, proprietors of the Baltimore Sun, presented him with a handsome gold medal. Loyola College has honored him with the degree of A. M.
In the Masonic Fraternity, he is affiliated with all the various bodies from Blue Lodge to Temple.
Great and exacting as have been the demands upon him in a medical way, he has found time to be a developer. He conceived the idea of buying a tract of several hundred acres on the Western Maryland Railroad, and subdividing it into lots for building purposes. This was the beginning of suburban development around Baltimore, and what was then considered a "far away" farm is now the flourish- ing suburb of West Arlington. For the purpose of giving to some of these suburbanites city facilities, he organized and became president of what is now the Mount Washington Electric Light and Power Co .; and he has also served as president of the Canton Electric Light and Power Company-these were the first companies to supply electricity to Baltimore County. He became president, and the most active member, of the Edgecombe Park Land Company, which · developed several hundred acres of land lying east of Park Heights, and now known as Edgecombe Park; and has also served as presi- " dent of the Denmore Park Hotel and Water Company. He served as the first secretary, and as executive officer of the board of health of Baltimore County. It would be hard to find a man who, in sixty- two years of life, has done more work, or more useful work, than Charles G. Hill.
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