USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, Volume IV > Part 17
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Doctor Hill has been twice married. His first wife was Isabel Sloan Painter, to whom he was married on November 6, 1877. Of this marriage, there were three sons: Doctor Charles Irwin Hill, now associated with his father; Dudley Sloan Hill, a resident of New York City, who married Ora Manning, daughter of the late Governor
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Manning, of Iowa; and Geraldus Toole Hill, an attorney of the Baltimore Bar. His first wife died in 1882, leaving him with three small children; and on November 27, 1883, he married her sister, Mabel H. Painter-of this marriage, there are two living children: Doctor Milton Painter Hill, associated with his father; and Miss Gladys Hill, the only daughter.
Dr. Hill's political affiliation is with the Democratic party. Despite his busy life, he has found time for scientific reading, and has also read extensively along classical and biographical lines.
Dr. Hill's advice to the young man beginning life is that he should cultivate habits of attention-look from cause to effect-and practice strict integrity; try to be cheerful under all circumstances, and never to lose sight of the necessity for sympathy for one's ยท fellow-men. Such a course of conduct will not only bring personal contentment, but will result in a useful life.
The Hill Coat of Arms is thus described: Sable, on a fesse argent, between three leopards passant-guardant, proper three escallops sable. Crest: In a wreath a reindeer's head, couped and erect, gules, collared and attired, or. Supporters: on the Dexter side a leopard proper, ducally collared and chained, or; on the sinister side, a rein- deer, gules, ducally collared and chained and attired, or. Motto: "Ne tentes aut perfice."
JESSE DASHIELL PRICE
T HE Honorable Jesse D. Price of Salisbury, has for quite a lengthy period been prominent in business circles of his section. In addition to this, of late years he has by reason of substantial public service grown in the estimation of the people so rapidly that he is recognized as excellent material for the great office of governor of the State.
Mr. Price was born in White Haven (then in Somerset, now Wicomico County), on August 15, 1863; son of Charles Wesley and Martha (Dashiell) Price. On both sides of the family, he comes from the most ancient Eastern Shore stock-the old records of the county showing the Prices to have been settled in Maryland as early as 1651, or within twenty years of the arrival of the first emigrant. The Dashiells came but little later, if any. His father was a merchant and a teacher.
Mr. Price was a delicate boy, and fortunately for him, had the benefit of country life up to the age of eleven, with small tasks to be performed on the farm, this contributing to the strengthening of his health. He attended the local public schools; and after leaving the high schools, began his business career as a clerk in 1882. By close attention to business, he so mastered his trade that in 1887, he was able to establish a retail shoe business in Salisbury. He was success- ful in this enterprise, which he conducted for a number of years, and then looked out for larger fields. He became interested in the manufacture of artificial ice; and in 1900, when he inaugurated the Crystal Ice Company, it was the beginning of the great plant now conducted under the name of the Salisbury Ice Com- pany, of which he is treasurer and general manager. He was the founder of the Salisbury Lime and Coal Company; he retains his early interest in the shoe business, is president and a director in the E. H. White Shoe Company; is a director of the Wicomico Building and Loan Association and is vice-president of the People's National Bank. He is vice-president and treasurer of the Sussex Light and Power Company of Delaware. His business interests have prospered largely, and he is one of the strong men financially of his community-
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but his business interests have been really the least part of his work. An earnest Democrat in his political beliefs-always interested in politics and in public affairs generally, he was finally induced to enter the city council of Salisbury, in which he served with the highest efficiency for six years. In 1903, he was elected by a considerable majority to the office of county treasurer for a term of four years. In 1907, Ex-Governor Jackson had been nominated for the State Senate and Mr. Price had been renominated unanimously for county treas- urer. Governor Jackson's health failed before the election and he resigned from the ticket. Mr. Price was requested to allow his name to be substituted in place of Governor Jackson's which he consented to do. He had by this time become so strong that he was elected with- out difficulty to the term beginning 1908 and expiring 1912. He immediately took high position in the Senate. In the session of 1910, he was made chairman of the finance committee and floor leader-remarkable positions for a man's first term in the Senate. In that same session, he was made chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments. Perhaps no new member was ever more useful. He was the author of the reassessment law of the State, than which no more valuable act has been passed of late years. He was the author of an act providing for the State care of the insane; for the arranging of proper representation of the city of Baltimore; of an act known as the "Million Dollar Bridge Law," and other important measures. A measure of special interest to his own com- munity was a bridge over the-Nanticoke River at Sharptown, These comparatively short Eastern Shore streams are not like streams in the mountain sections, as they are nearly all tidal in character, and bridging one of them is, as a rule, something beyond the means of the local community. The section of country where Sharptown is located needed a bridge across this stream; the local people were not able to build it; they appealed to their Senator; he made a hard fight and won, and as an evidence of appreciation for his services in this direction, on Thursday, July 21, 1910, two thousand people congregated at Sharptown and gave him such an ovation as is seldom received by any public man during his lifetime-the rule in our country being to save the bouquets until one is dead.
Senator Gorman, president of the Senate; Congressman Cov- ington and Senator Brewington united in tendering to Senator Price the most handsome compliments for his services in the State Senate.
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He has now under contemplation a much more important work than anything he has yet undertaken -- and that is nothing less than the reclamation of the vast areas of waste land in Maryland. Any one at all familiar with the Chesapeake Bay country can appreciate the enormous taxable values that would be added to the State by the reclamation of these waste lands, and the great increase in its pro- ductivity; and if Senator Price can carry forward to success this scheme, he will be entitled to a place among that class which now consists of the late United States Senator Broward of Florida, who was father of the plan under which five million acres of swamp land in The Everglades are now being reclaimed.
In addition to all this, Senator Price is a sturdy champion of biennial elections in the State of Maryland. He is a steward in the Southern Methodist Church, in the welfare of which he takes a most active interest. He holds membership in the Order of Red Men, Knights of Pythias, Royal Arcanum, Heptasophs and the Maccabees.
On November 27, 1889, Mr. Price was married to Miss Sallie B. Amiss, daughter of a Methodist clergyman, and of this marriage there is living one daughter, Miss Ruth Price.
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RICHARD HYNSON
T HE Hynson family has been identified with the Eastern Shore of Maryland since 1650. The first names appearing are those of Richard, Thomas and George. Apparently Thomas was the first to come. He settled in Kent Isiand in 1650; was then twenty-nine years old, and was clerk of the county in 1652. From that time down to the present, no family on the Eastern Shore bas . been more prominent, and none has contributed a larger number of useful men. The Hynsons have both multiplied and prospered. From the beginning, they were large land owners, and the records of this family in Kent County alone, if carried out in detail, would fill a large volume.
The name in England appears to have been spelled Hinson, but the spelling used by the Maryland family appears in the old records with the first comer, and this spelling has been adhered to by the Maryland family. Neither Burke, Baring-Gould, nor Barber, English authorities, use the spelling of Hynson, and it was therefore probably adopted arbitrarily by some branch of the family prior to the movement across the water. The late Richard Hynson, the subject of this sketch, was born at Poplar Neck, near Chestertown, in January, 1820, and died October 23, 1889, in Chestertown. He was a son of Major Thomas Bowers Hynson and his wife Ann Dunn. Thomas B. Hynson served as an officer in the War of 1812. The Dunn family, to which Mr. Hynson's mother belonged, is also one of the old families of Kent County.
Richard Hynson was reared in the country, and, his parents being wealthy, he had no occasion to work; but they were wise enough to make the growing boy do enough work to keep him healthy. There were no difficulties in the way of his obtaining an education. He attended the local schools and an academy in Pennsylvania; read law in the office of Judge John B. Eccleston of Chestertown, who was a cousin of his father; was an extensive general reader, partial to history; and outside of his profession a man widely informed. He was admitted to the bar in his native town in 1843, and from that
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time to his death, forty-six years later, practiced his profession steadily. A man of natural ability, and with a strong liking for his profession, he steadily rose until he was recognized as one of the lead- ers of the bar on the Eastern Shore, and was concerned on one side or the other with much of the important litigation of his day. His ability was recognized at the capital by his appointment as a State director for the Baltimore and Onio Railroad, and for the House of Correction. He also served as a director of the Chestertown Rail- road. Mr. Hynson never sought and never desired public office. He was primarily a good citizen and a good business man, with enough wisdom to know that smalt reward attached to public service. He was one of the organizers and directors of the Kent National Bank; was a member of the board of visitors and governors of Washington College of Chestertown. Mr. Hynson was during the greater part of his life a most earnest church worker, and for many years served . as a vestryman of the Episcopal Church, with which the family has been identified for generations. In early life, his political affilia- tion was with the Whig party. After the dissolution of that party, he affiliated with the Democratic organization, and for the remainder of his life voted with that party.
In 1843, the year he was admitted to the bar, he was married to Caroline L. Marsh of Philadelphia, a daughter of Elias and Mary L. (Eccleston) Marsh. Elias Marsh was a merchant. His wife was a sister of Judge Eccleston and Samuel Eccleston who was an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church. Of Mr. Hynson's marriage there were seven children born, of whom four survived him: Mrs. William M. Sly; Miss Caroline L. Hynson; Mrs. Edward Rogers of Delaware; and Richard Dunn Hynson of Chestertown, . since deceased.
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JAY WILLIAMS
A MONG the prominent attorneys of the present day in Salis- bury, is Jay Williams, who was born within three miles of that town on June 28, 1859; son of Luther M. and Eleanor W. Williams. Luther M. Williams was a farmer, and an industrious, pious and upright man.
The family derives its descent from John Williams, who came from England in 1736, and settled about six miles east of Laurel, Delaware. On the maternal side of Mr. Williams' family, Judge Wooten, a former judge of the superior court of Delaware, was a relative, and Jacob Moore, who served as attorney-general of Dela- ware, was a first cousin.
In youth Mr. Williams was rather a frail boy, partial to read- ing and to mechanical toys. During school vacations, he did light work on the farm, suited to his strength, which was beneficial to him physically, and induced habits of industry. Up to the age of eleven, he had the benefit of his mother's counsels, which he now appreciates at their full value; but at that period of his life she died. He com- bined some rather unusual tastes in his studies. He was fond of both mathematics and languages, and had a pronounced partiality for history. It is rather a rare thing to find one who likes both mathematics and languages. Mr. Williams has never cared for either fiction or poetry. He was graduated from the Salisbury High School in 1876, and then entered St. John's College, at Annapolis, winning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1880. He took a post-graduate course at Wesleyan University in 1881, but did not complete the course, owing to an attack of scarlet fever.
He read law from 1881 to 1884 in the office of the late Thomas Humphreys, of Salisbury, State Senator from that district, and was admitted to the bar in 1884, after passing a written examination before a committee appointed by the court. His life since that time has been that of an active practitioner of the law, and in his profession he has won a substantial measure of success, representing Salisbury National Bank, Wicomico Building and Loan Association, and other
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corporations, besides his individual clients. But for the attack of illness in 1881, which disarranged his plans, Mr. Williams would probably have drifted into another course of life. As he has done fairly well in the legal profession, the attack which he then looked upon as a misfortune may not have been such in fact.
A Republican in his political beliefs, he has never taken active part in politics, and is not a straight-out partisan, having voted the Democratic ticket on occasions; and being, in fact, what might be classed an Independent Republican. He is partial to driving as a recreation, and takes regularly drives through the country around Salisbury. Mr. Williams is an active church worker, holding member- ship in the Methodist Episcopal Church, filling the offices of treas- urer and recording steward of the Asbury Church in Salisbury. In his profession, he is what is classed as a "business lawyer"-that is, one whose principal work is confined to office practice.
Speaking of his career, he says that he regrets that he has not had time to read more, and become a better speaker and trial lawyer. While this may be his personal feeling, it does not follow that he would have been any more successful as a lawyer if he had taken that line. Indeed, in the present day the business lawyers are the most success- ful men of the profession. He attributes what success he has at- tained to promptness, carefulness, and energetic attention to every matter intrusted to him. He says he has found it profitable to be absolutely sincere and thoroughly honest in his dealings with all men- the weak and ignorant, as well as the strong and learned. In draw- ing from his own experience, he judges that the same methods would win, and the same results be obtained by other young men who have their way to make in life.
On January 30, 1890, Mr. Williams was married to A. Blanche Catlin, daughter of Alexander W. Catlin of Wicomico County; and to them has been born a son, Arthur Everett Williams, now a student in St. John's College, at Annapolis, where he is taking the full Latin scientific course, for the degree of A.B. Upon his graduation there, he will take the full course in the Law Department of Yale University, for the degree of LL.B.
Mr. Williams is a member of the Maryland Bar Association.
Reference has been made in an earlier paragraph to the immi- grant, John Williams. This Williams family appears to have been of Welsh origin, but is recorded in the College of Arms as having
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-Attled in St. Stithians, Cornwall, as early as 1654. John Williams, son of Richard and Elizabeth, was born at St. Stithians, in Febru- ary, 1658, and settled at Burncase House, near Gwennep, in 1715. He had a son, Michael, born in 1730, who married at Curry, Cornwall, in 1752. John Williams, with his wife Rachel, emigrated from England during the reign of George II, probably about 1736, as the records at Georgetown, Delaware, show the grant of the lands on which he settled in that year. His children were: George Edmund, Joshua, Elizabeth, Mary, John, Samuel. Samuel, son of John, was born in Sussex County, Delaware, February 22, 1750. He was the youngest son of his father. The children of Samuel were: John, George, Mathias, Isaac, Elijah and Ebenezer. John, son of Samuel, was born in Sussex County, Delaware, December 12, 1779. His 'children were: James, Mary, Elizabeth, Luther, Catherine and Leah. Luther,son of John, was born in Sussex County, Delaware, March 1, 1810. His children were: William Luther, Stansbury Jacob, Isaac, John Brinkley, Elizabeth Caroline, James Merrell, Martha Jane, Lucretia Ellen, Eliza Catherine, Alonzo Luther, and Jay, subject of this sketch, and the youngest child. Mr. Jay Williams is therefore in the fifth generation from the immigrant.
The coat of arms of this branch of the Williams family is des- cribed as follows:
Crest: Semi-eagle, azure, with wings elevated sable. Arms: Vair, three crescents or, quartering sable, a spear in fesse between three crescents each wing charged with four bezants.
Motto-Nil desperandum.
Seats: Trequllow, Cornwall; Heator Court, Devon; Club Carlton, Windham.
ROBLEY DUNGLISON JONES
UDGE ROBLEY D. JONES of Snow Hill, like the large majority of prominent Eastern Shore men, is a native of that section, born in Newark, Worcester County, December 31, 1860. His parents were Doctor Charles P. and Catherine D. (Gray) Jones. His father was a practicing physician, notable for his industrious, studious habits and the piety of his life. Outside of his profession, he served the people of his county as one of their commissioners, and was for a time chief judge of the orphan's court. He also was at one time local health officer.
The family is descended on the paternal side from the Welsh Jones', who settled in Somerset County in the early years of the eigh- teenth century. On the maternal side, the descent is from the English Grays, who first settled in Somerset County; and his mother's branch of the family moved to Matthews County, Virginia, where she was living at the time of her marriage.
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Judge Jones recalls that he was an average boy; reared on the farm; partial to hunting and fishing, but yet fond of school and of reading. At one time or other, he performed most of the tasks which fall to boys on a farm. Having a strong love for animals, he found care of stock a most attractive pursuit. He was fortunate in his parents -- both of them looking after him and inculcating good principles. He recalls that his mother was ambitious for her children, exhorting them to set up high standards, intellectually and morally, and to strive for definite attainment. His education was not ob- tained without difficulty, as he had to labor with defective eye sight. In his earlier years he became partial to history, biography and the Bible, and these have constituted his most helpful sources of reading outside of his professional studies. He was educated at the Snow Hill High School, and in 1880 became himself a school master, as principal of Girdletree Public School, where he remained one year, and then conducted a school at Stockton for two years. In the mean- time, he was reading law under the instruction of the law firm of Covington and Wilson; in 1883 he entered the law school of the Uni-
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versity of Virginia, and in the spring of 1884 was admitted to the bar, both in Virginia and Maryland. He established himself in the prac- tice of his profession in the county seat of his native county and won early recognition as a sound and strong lawyer. In 1891, Judge Jones was elected State's attorney for Worcester County; re-elected in 1895, and again in 1899, making twelve years of service in that position. In 1907, he was elected a member of the House of Dele- gates in the General Assembly. He resigned on May 1, 1908, to accept an appointment tendered him by Governor Crothers as an associate judge of the first judicial circuit. Serving out that unex- pired term, in the fall of 1909 he was elected by the people for a full term of fifteen years, which he is now serving. Should Judge Jones live out his term, his service on the bench combined with his service as State's attorney will make a period of thirty years of connection with the courts of his State.
Judge Jones is an earnest church worker, prominent in the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in. 1904 was a lay delegate to the Wilmington Conference which met at Dover, Delaware. In 1908, his brethren honored him with an election as a lay delegate to the General Conference of the Church which met in Baltimore, this being the highest honor which can come to a layman of that church.
On December 22, 1897, Judge Jones was married to Miss Louisa Richardson Franklin. They have one daughter.
He is a strong fraternalist, holding membership in the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Red Men, the Junior Order of American Mechan- ics, and the Order of Elks. While at the University of Virginia, he became, affiliated with Eta Chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon college fraternity, and yet retains his connection with that society. His political affiliation through life has been with the Democratic party.
In looking back over his own life, the Judge rates as of first importance in his career the training which he had at home. The influences of his school life appear to have been appreciable factors; and these early influences combined with his own study, and with contact with other men in the active pursuits of life, have shaped his career. His present position on the bench will naturally release him from any obligation to render party service; but his career as a faithful prosecutor, and for the past two years as a most capable judge, has been most creditable to the party to which he belongs-and it is
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the record of public service rendered by good party men that com- mends political parties to the independent voters, who today hold the balance of power in our country.
Judge Jones' life has been spent in one county. He has stayed by the old hearthstone and fought his way upward in the midst of the people who have known him from boyhood. His present position justifies the statement that his life has been one of efficiency, of rectitude, and of good citizenship.
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JOHN WILLIAM LEITCH
D OCTOR JOHN WILLIAM LEITCH of Huntingtown, Calvert County, a leading citizen of his section, was born in the village where he now lives on August 2, 1870; son of William I. and Sarah E. (Lyons) Leitch. His father was a very prominent man. A farmer by occupation, he varied that with school- teaching; served as justice of the peace and as clerk of the county court. Notwithstanding his prominence, he was a retiring man by temperament; courteous to everyone, and of very studious habits.
The Leitch family is of Scottish origin, long known in that country; and their coat of arms is described by Burke, the great British authority, showing that the family was of honorable station in the old country. Members of the family immigrated to the new country of America in the first half of the seventeenth century .. During the Revolutionary War, one member of the family who was a direct ancestor of Doctor Leitch, was a major in the Continental army, and for a time was an aide on Washington's staff.
As a boy, Doctor Leitch was not strong; but reared in the country-fond of country life, he acquired strength as he grew up. He was given light chores to do on the farm, and was well trained by his parents, who allotted him specific tasks which had to be done daily in a certain time, in order that he might acquire the habit of work and promptness -- and he recognizes now that this has been one of the most beneficial influences of his life. Along with a boy's fondness for outdoor sports, he had a decided taste for books. He attended the country schools; and arriving at manhood, and decid- ing to enter the medical profession, he became a student in the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore in 1893. Prior to that, he had for a period taught school in his native village. He was graduated from the medical college in 1896, and in that same year established himself in the practice of his profession in his home com- munity. He won an immediate success, and in the intervening years has built up a large practice and is recognized not only as a most capable physician, but as one of the strong inen of the county.
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