USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, volume I > Part 12
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JOHN HINKLEY
Volunteer army, he served with the rank of captain from May to Oc- tober, 1898.'
In this day of the making of many books, he has not contributed to literature beyond editing the proceedings of the American Bar Association. He is a member of many societies and clubs, among which may be mentioned the University Club, the Johns Hopkins Club, the Baltimore Country Club, the Baltimore Whist Club, of which he has been president, the Sudbrook Golf Club, the Baltimore Reform League, the Maryland Historical Society and the Civil Service Reform Associa- tion of Maryland.
His religious affiliation is with the New Jerusalem church. He has served as a director and counsel for the Female House of Refuge, as a member of the Executive Committee of the Baltimore Reform League and as a director of the " Friendly Inn." He holds member- ship in the state and city Bar Associations and the International Law Association.
Major Hinkley has led the life of a hard-working lawyer, but has not become so absorbed in his professional work as to forget other needful things. He has given careful attention to civic duty, both in peace and war, to the cause of religion and to the support of philan- thropic institutions.
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OAKLEY PHILPOTTS HAINES
O AKLEY PHILPOTTS HAINES was born in Petersburg, Virginia, on the 29th of December. 1837, and died in Balti- more, Md., on March 5, 1909. His parents were Hiram Haines and Mary Ann Currie ( Philpotts) Haines. Both were of Eng- lish descent, and their ancestors were among the early settlers of this country-both families coming to Virginia in 1660 and 1680.
Mr. Haines was educated at the Petersburg Classical Institute, the preparatory school of Charles Campbell, the Virginia historian, and the Presbyterian High School in Rockbridge county, Virginia. The studies that most interested him were the classics, history, ancient and modern, and English literature as represented by its best authors.
His father, Mr. Hiram Haines, was editor of the Petersburg Con- stellation, the principal Democratic paper in the Atlantic states south of Richmond, and though he died in 1841, when the subject of this sketch was but four years old, the son inherited the father's aptitude for journalism, and in 1855, when but eighteen years of age, began his career as a reporter upon the staff of the Petersburg Express. In 1860, when the Civil war became inevitable, Mr. Haines was appointed one of the staff of reporters of the Virginia State (Secession) Convention. In 1862 he was one of the reporters of the Confederate Senate and afterwards an official reporter of the Confederate House of Represen- tatives. When these bodies found it expedient to conduct their pro- ceedings in secrecy, after the manner of executive sessions, the services of reporters were no longer needed. Mr. Haines then went into the field as chief reporter around Richmond for the Enquirer. This ser- vice brought him repeatedly to the front, and he was in the midst of the fight of Seven Pines (or Fair Oaks), in the Dahlgren raid, and on the field of the battle of the Crater and other engagements within his sphere of duty between Richmond and Petersburg.
Having removed to Baltimore in 1869, Mr. Haines was, in 1870, engaged upon the editorial staff of The Sun, and in 1881 was promoted to the position of managing editor of the paper. Immediately after his appointment, he organized, from time to time, a staff of editorial
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yours. Very Nuly.
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writers, whose contributions made the editorial columns of The Sun unexcelled, if equalled, by those of any journal in the country. In the number of contributors were included the late Judge Wm. M. Mer- riek, who had been active in the redemption of the state of Maryland from the misrule engendered by the Civil war; the late Major Thomas W. Hall, a brilliant and ineisive writer, and a distinguished authority upon international law; Mr. John C. Rose, afterwards United States District Attorney for Maryland; Honorable Pere L. Wiekes, later one of the Judges of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore; Honorable William L. Wilson, afterwards a member of the Cabinet of President Clevelan 1; Honorable Z. B. Vanee, United States Senator from North Carolina: and Mr. James W. Clarke, one of the most distinguished editorial writers of Boston and New York. Probably a more brilliant galax. .! writers was never engaged upon the editorial work of an American newspaper.
Mr. Haines attributed the formation of his character largely to the wise influence of a loving mother and to early association with men of earnest purpose in life. He deemed the most important element contributing to success in life to be the diligent performance of duty, when and as presented.
In 1866 Mr. Haines married Miss Anna Elizabeth Hopkins, daughter of Wm. R. and Mary J. Hopkins, who were of English Colo- nial descent.
In addition to the journalistic work done in a professional ea- pacity, Mr. Haines was a frequent contributor of literary artieles to various periodicals. His career affords an example of useful work, ably, faithfully and conscientiously performed, but in so modest a way that his own personality was often obliterated, and the publie, while recognizing that the course was well steered, frequently lost sight of the pilot whose hand was on the wheel.
O. P. Haines was a man of noble character and great usefulness.
JOHN PRENTISS POE
T HE late John P. Poe was for fifty years one of the most con- spicuous figures in the legal, social and political life of Mary- land. He was born in Baltimore in 1836, son of Neilson and Josephine E. Poe.
The Poe family is Irish, and the American ancestor of this branch of it was John Poe, who came from Ireland early in the eighteenth century. That wonderful genius, Edgar Allan Poe, whose superlative talents were accentuated by the tragedy of his life, was a relative of the subject of this sketch. The family in Ireland is an ancient one. The first authentic record we have of it is, that Doctor Poe, an able surgeon of his day, was physician to Queen Elizabeth, James I and Charles I in succession, and was granted a coat of arms for distinguished service. Since that time we find the Poe family located in Harley Park, county Tipperary, Ireland.
Mr. Poe, during his life, speaking of his father, said that he was characterized by " public spirit, courage, intellectual vigor, devotion to literature; great elegance, force and skill as a writer; strength and fervor as a speaker; and was of a most gracious and attractive per- sonality, and of singular beauty and purity of life."
As a boy, John P. Poe was active and healthy, fond of sports and also of reading. He spent some years of his youth at Elmwood, on the Monocacy river, in Frederick county, and the remainder of his life, both as a youth and as a man, was spent in Baltimore, except for oc- casional absence.
Speaking of his mother, Mr. Poe described her as " a woman of rare gentleness, combined with unusual strength of character. She and my father were cousins, studied diligently together in their childhood and early youth, and were married when he was twenty-two and she was twenty-one years of age. My mother's nature was deeply religious and pious, and her influence in our household was always of the best and strongest. Her memory is cherished with the tenderest affection and deepest reverence."
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When in a reminiscent mood, Mr. Poe could not recall that, as a boy, he was particularly quick, though he thought he had learned his task with average ease, and that he was considered fairly studious and diligent. There was no occasion for him to do manual labor, and he was encouraged in reading by both his parents, who were themselves great readers, and much of the beautiful diction of his later life was the result of the encouragement which he received to read the classics and standard English authors. He recalled one bock especially valu- able, the title of which was " Elegant Extracts," published in four vol- umes something like sixty years ago. His father regularly went over his Latin and Greek lessons with him while he remained in school and college ; and the taste for reading, which was a natural one with him, was stimulated by the constant encouragement of a wise father.
Mr. Poe's early education was obtained in the public schools, at Monsieur Boursand's French and English Academy, at St. Mary's Col- lege, and at Topping's Academy. He later entered what we now know as Princeton University, then called the College of New Jersey, and graduated in the class of 1854 with the degree of A.B. Notwithstand- ing the eminent position to which he attained in life, it cannot now be doubted that the honorary degree of LL.D., conferred on him by his alma mater in 1904, on the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation, was to him a genuine pleasure.
On July 24, 1854, a month after graduation, Mr. Poe began his work in life as a clerk in the Commercial & Farmers' Bank, and at the same time entered upon the study of law. During his professional study he served as librarian of the Library of the Baltimore Bar for sixteen months. He was admitted to the bar on his twenty-first birth- day, August 22, 1857. A personal inclination toward the law had been aided and encouraged by his parents. His first strong impulse to strive for the prizes of life came, according to his own statement, from a desire to be independent and to earn a respectable position in the pro- fession of his choice. Later on, the ambition to give to his own house- hold all reasonable comforts and attractions of home spurred him forward.
On March 2, 1863, he married Miss Anne Johnson Hough, of which marriage there were nine children-three daughters and six sons. In connection with his sons there is a remarkable record. All six of them are graduates of Princeton, and all six of them were mem- bers of the Princeton football team during their college course.
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According to his own statement, the chief influences which had been important factors in shaping his life were the home precepts and example, next to which he placed the reading and study which had prepared him for his lifework.
During his entire life he was a man of one work-the law-and possessed enormous industry. Next to the law-if, indeed, it was sec- ond to the law-his strongest passion was a sense of civic duty ; and, a Democrat both by tradition and conviction, he was for forty years one of the strongest champions of that party, and in that capacity won a national reputation. During those forty years of active political ser- vice, he not only filled many honorable positions, but his handiwork was in evidence in many party platforms.
In 1869 he was chosen one of the regents of the University of Maryland, a position which he held for forty years, and for many years was secretary of the board. He was active in the reorganization of the Law School of the University in 1870, and was shortly afterwards made dean of the school, which position he held for the remainder of his life. From February, 1871, to February, 1888-seventeen years- he served as one of the commissioners of public schools for Baltimore; and, while thus giving such valuable service to the cause of education, he found time to take a profound interest in the training of candidates for admission to the bar, a subjeet which always lay very near to his heart. In 1885 he was chairman of the Baltimore Tax Commission, and in 1886 chairman of the State Tax Commission. In 1899 he was president of the State Bar Association, and in 1900 was president of the Bar Association of Baltimore City. In the Law School of the Uni- versity he was a constant lecturer on the subjects of pleading, prac- tice, evidence, damages and torts, and exercised a vast influence on the legal profession in Maryland by his eminent services in this ca- pacity. From 1882 to 1884 he served as city counsellor, and from 1890 to 1891 as a state senator. In 1891 he was elected attorney-general of the state of Maryland, and served a four years' term.
The record above given is some evidence of the immense industry of Mr. Poe. Many of the Maryland Democratic platforms showed his skillful hand, and in the national convention of 1904 he had an im- portant part in shaping the party's platform. For many long years he held himself in readiness to serve the party in which he believed, and delivered innumerable addresses on all sorts of occasions in mainte- nance of the principles and policies of Jeffersonian Democracy. Any
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man will concede that the late Senator Arthur Pue Gorman was a capable judge of men, and in this connection may be noted his opinion of Mr. Poe: " Mr. Poe is a Democrat from conviction. Believing that our government, both state and national, can only be wisely conducted through parties, he is an advocate of party organization, and is one of the most influential and forceful party leaders in Maryland. He has never sought public position, but has ever been ready, with pen and voice, to defend the principles of his party. His party friends, how- ever, have more than once insisted that he should render service to his party and the state in public station, and they induced him to serve a term in the senate of Maryland, and also elected him attorney-general. During his service in those positions, he drafted measures of the great- est importance affecting the general welfare of the city of Baltimore and the state. Since the termination of his official career, he has served his party with rare ability, and it would be entirely within bounds to say that by his wise counsel he has contributed more than any man in the state to shaping its policies, and has been its foremost defender on all occasions."
His industry in his profession seems equal to that of his public service. Among the numerous laws drafted by him may be mentioned that governing the relations of husband and wife. As a result of his law-school lectures, he prepared for publication in two large volumes a text-book on " Pleading and Practice at Law," which was highly re- garded by the courts, and is in constant use by both bench and bar, having gone through four editions. He did an important work in the codification of the laws. In 1885 he compiled a supplement to the Baltimore Code of City Ordinances, and in 1883 a new Baltimore City Code. His unwearied industry and unusual capacity for labor are commemorated in the so-called Poe Code of 1888, a compilation of the public general laws of the state in two volumes, and of the public local laws in two other volumes. He also compiled Supplements to the Pub- lic General Laws in 1898 and 1900, and a new Code of the Public General Laws in 1903. Upon the destruction of the latter work in the great Baltimore fire of 1904, he was authorized by the General As- sembly to prepare a new code, embodying the whole general law of the state, including the legislation of 1904. This work was compiled in the fall of 1904 in two large volumes of twenty-six hundred pages.
In the trial courts, Mr. Poe was a famous cross-examiner of wit- nesses, and in the conduct of cases his fidelity to the interest of his
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clients, and his skill in taking advantage of every circumstance that would tend in their favor, were most notable.
Combined with his wide knowledge of men and of law, a great personal charm contributed to give him a unique place in the community.
Some idea of the extent and variety of his personal labors may be gathered from the fact that the first two cases argued by him in the court of appeals of Maryland are reported in Eleventh Maryland Re- ports, 1857-1858, and that, with the exception of Twelfth Maryland, every succeeding volume of the state reports, up to and including the One Hundred and Eleventh Maryland, contains reports of cases in which he appeared as counsel. During his long career, he was frequently called upon for obituary addresses in honor of distinguished Maryland judges and lawyers. Many of these eulogies have been preserved in the Maryland Reports, and furnish ample proof of his oratorical ele- gance and force.
For more than fifty years he was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church. His favorite relaxation, in his own words, was " watching the manly athletics of others."
Looking back upon a long, eventful and successful life, Mr. Poe made the following statement : " The dreams of my early life have not been realized as I unreasonably fancied they might; but I feel that my success has been beyond my deserts. In the competitions of life, now so keen, I commend persistence, courage, cheerfulness, and, above all, a steadfast adherence to principle, with a respectful toleration and con- sideration of the rights and opinions of others."
Mr. Poe died on October 14, 1909, leaving behind him the reputa- tion of an eminent lawyer, a Christian gentleman of stainless honor, a pure patriot and a most useful citizen.
EDGAR ALLAN POE
E DGAR ALLAN POE, lawyer, of Baltimore, bears the name of his relative, the immortal genius who, though his life was one long tragedy, despite the shadows, left the imperishable marks of his wonderful genius upon American literature.
The subject of this sketch, Edgar A. Poe, was born in Baltimore, on September 15, 18:1, son of the late John Prentiss and Anne John- son (Hough) Poe. His father, John P. Poe, was for fifty years one of the most conspicuous figures in legal, social and political circles in Baltimore. A man of enormous industry and great ability, who filled with eminent ability many public places, including that of attorney- general of Maryland, he has but lately gone to his rest, leaving behind him the reputation of one of the most valuable men of his generation. His life is given elsewhere in this work in detail. The influence ex- erted by such a father and an excellent mother have been most power- ful factors in the life of the son, who has in a measure inherited the mantle of the father.
Young Poe was a healthy boy, fond of athletics, and with an in- herited taste for study and literary pursuits. In his youthful reading he was partial to history and biography, a taste which has abided with him until the present. His earlier academic training was obtained in George G. Carey's Private School in Baltimore, which was notable for the many prominent men it trained. From Carey's school he went to Princeton University and graduated in the class of 1891, with his Bachelor's degree. From Princeton he entered the Law School of the University of Maryland and graduated in 1893. His work since then has been that of a practicing lawyer.
Early in his professional career Mr. Poe was inspired by an am- bition to win a name for himself upon his own merits, and not upon the prominence of his family or of his father. In this laudable am- bition he has succeeded, and, while now looking back, he can see the powerful influence exerted by the precepts and the example of his parents, and while he can see that this was added to by college training and companionship, and while he can see how he was broadened by
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travel, he can also see that his position in his profession at least has been won by his own labor.
His early fondness for athletic sports abided with him while he was a student, and he was a member of the University football eleven, a distinction which was given to every one of his five brothers, all of whom are Princeton graduates. As a college man, he was also inter- ested in lacrosse, his favorite recreation now being tennis. In his stu- dent days he held membership in the Ivy Club of Princeton. He now belongs to the Baltimore Club, the Bachelors' Cotillon Club and the Junior Club.
Mr. Poe's father was one of the most eminent members of the Democratic party for forty years, and he is, therefore, a traditional Democrat; but he is something more than a traditional Democrat, inasmuch as he is a Democrat by conviction, because he believes in the rights and duties of the individual citizen, and because he believes in the reserved rights of the states which make up this republic. As a Democrat, he not only knows why he is a Democrat, but is ready to give the reason for the faith that is in him.
Admitted to the bar in 1893, four years later he became a professor in the School of Law of Baltimore University, and in 1900 and 1901 he held a professorship in the Baltimore Law School. In 1901 he be- came connected with the Faculty of Law of the University of Mary- land, of which his father had many long years been the dean. Mr. Poe enjoys the distinction of being the only man who has taught in all three of the law schools of Baltimore. From January, 1900, to May, 1903, he served as deputy state's attorney for Baltimore City, and from May, 1903, he served as state's attorney to fill the unexpired term of the Honorable Robert M. McLane, who had been elected mayor. In November, 1903, he became deputy city solicitor, and in September, 1908, city solicitor.
Religiously, Mr. Poe walks in the footsteps of his fathers, and is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church. On December 10, 1905, he married Miss Annie T. McCay, of Baltimore. They have one child.
Mr. Poe believes that true success in any calling is to be obtained only through straightforwardness, honesty and hard work, combined with the constant and rigid scrutiny of one's own actions and conduct to ascertain whether one is living up to the standard one fixes for others.
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The Poe family is of Irish origin, and their ancestry is referred to in a detailed way in the biography of John P. Poe. It is probable that the great literary distinction of this family is due largely to that racial strain, which has been distinguished for centuries by brilliancy in the literary and professional world. The great poet, Edgar Allan Poe, was himself an example of these brilliant Irish people, though in his own make-up there was a sombre streak suggestive of the Spanish Hidalgo. No higher compliment can be paid to the subject of this sketch than to state what is true: that he is living up, worthily and well, to the traditions of a great race and a great name.
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WILLIAM ROSENAU
R ABBI WILLIAM ROSENAU, B.A., Ph.D., pastor of Oheb Shalom Synagogue, commonly known as Eutaw Place Temple, has been an active factor in the religious life of Baltimore since 1892. He was born in Wollstein, Germany, May 30, 1865, son of Nathan and Johanna (Braun) Rosenau. Doctor Rose- nau's father was also a rabbi and a man of much determination, per- severance and precision of character. In 1876 the family came to America. Prior to that time the lad had attended public school in Germany, and, after coming to America, entered the public school in Philadelphia. The removal to Cincinnati brought about his entering the high school of that city, followed by attendance upon the Univer- sity of Cincinnati, from which institution he graduated in 1888, with the degree of B.A. He then took the theological course at the Hebrew College in Cincinnati, and was graduated as a rabbi in 1889. He entered upon his life's work in the year of his graduation as rabbi, in charge of Temple Israel, Omaha, Nebraska, and after three years of successful work there, was called to his present place as rabbi of Eutaw Place Temple, Baltimore. He has taken conspicuous rank among the moral leaders of the city, and is recognized as a man not only of much learning but much intellectual force. In 1900 Johns Hopkins Uni- versity conferred upon him the title of Ph.D. From 1899 to 1903 he was a fellow of Johns Hopkins. From 1903 up to the present he has been an associate in post-Biblical Hebrew in Johns Hopkins University.
Doctor Rosenau's effective work in his chosen vocation made him considerable reputation. It thus happened in 1896 and 1897 he was chosen to serve as second vice-president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. From 1903-1905 he served as corresponding secre- tary of the same body. Since 1900 he has been a member of the board of education of the city of Baltimore.
In retrospective view of his own life, Doctor Rosenau rates as the most important influences the early home training, followed by school training, study and contact with men in active life. The impulse that caused him to take up the work in which he has been so effective was
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due to the conviction that moral help offered people was the greatest blessing that could be conferred upon them. With such convictions it was but natural for him to take as his vocation the work of religion.
On August 2, 1893, he married Miss Mabel Hellman. They have two children. Doctor Rosecau is the author of several valuable literary works, among which may be mentioned "Hebraisms in Authorized Version of the Bible " (1903) ; " Some Ancient Oriental Academies " (1905) ; "Jewish Biblical Commentators " (1906) ; "Jewish Cere- monial Institutions and Customs " (1903) ; " A Historical Sketch of the Congregation of Oheb Shalom of Baltimore " (1905). Besides, he at various times contributes valuable articles on the discussion of ques- tions of current interest of importance. He is affiliated with various fraternal associations, such as the Masons, Elks and United Workmen. He also holds membership in the American Oriental Society. Politi- cally he classes himself as an Independent, voting on the merits of the case as it is presented. He is a strong advocate of the public school, and suggests as the proper training for our youth the public school education, a knowledge of American history and the habit of being democratic.
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