USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, volume I > Part 15
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Doctor Hering's long experience and observation teach him that :
" First, to attain true success in life, a young man must have a good and well-grounded moral character -- a deep conviction of the necessity of maintaining the right, even under the most adverse eireum- stanees. This is the basal structure upon which all true success in life is built.
" Second, he must have the best possible mental equipment-as broad and liberal an education as his circumstances will permit. This does not mean, necessarily, a collegiate education, although that is highly desirable if it can be accomplished, but he must be filled with a determination, by self-culture, to improve the mind and enlarge the understanding. By diligent application, this can be done to such a
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degree as to qualify a young man for almost any position in life. There are many notable examples of this in American life.
" Third, he must study to know in what avocation he is most likely to be useful, for, after all, usefulness is the truest test of success in life. Having entered upon a chosen course, it is essential that it be pursued diligently, industriously, perseveringly. The 'sticking ' qualities of a man have a great deal to do with his success. There are multitudes of men in life who fail because they do not hold on. They are con- stantly changing. The good they seek doesn't come to them quickly enough. The haste for gain, for promotion, for preferment, makes them impatient of delay, and hence they flit from one thing to another, and finally, after struggle and disappointment, fall into the grave, leaving behind them a life all marked over with failure. The largest possi- bilities lie before the American youth. In no other country in the world are there offered such incentives to nobility of character and life. But every young man should understand that, as a rule almost without exception, the men who have made their impress upon the history of the country, the men who have won places of honor and preferment, are those who have come through privation and struggle, and out of these has been developed the tough fiber of their American manhood."
Of his own career he adds, " My success in life has been as much as I could have reasonably expected, but I have always felt myself em- barrassed in my efforts by the want of a broad, liberal education in my youth. This would have enabled me to accomplish easily that which has been done laboriously-and many things that I think might have been possible to me I have not been able to accomplish at all."
JAMES ERSKINE MOFFATT
J AMES E. MOFFATT, clergyman, of Cumberland, was born at Bloomington, Monroe county, Indiana, on December 3, 1844, the son of John and Letitia (Strong) Moffatt. His father, a man characterized by honesty and strong religious convictions, was a farmer and stock-raiser. Ancestors on both sides served in the Revolutionary army. The Strongs were Huguenots, who removed to Scotland after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and later to America. The Moffatts came from the town of that name in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, to America. William Moffatt, the immi- grant, settled in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1772. Mrs. John Mof- fatt was a woman of a strong mind and of devoutly religious life, who made a deep impression upon her children.
James E. Moffatt spent his youth in the country, slight in build, but enjoying good health. He worked on the farm and thus laid the foundation for his subsequent work in college and his life as a preacher. He loved reading, especially the historical literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and was greatly interested in the speeches and life of Edmund Burke. His early education was obtained at the county schools and the preparatory department of the University of Indiana, which is located in his native town. He entered the collegiate department of the university and later studied at Monmouth College, Illinois, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1866. During his college course he expected to be a lawyer, but an overruling Providence led him into the Presbyterian ministry. On graduating from college he entered McCormick Theological Seminary at Chicago, and graduated in 1869, after a three years' course. In 1891 he re- ceived the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Lenox College, Iowa.
On May 11, 1869, he was married to May J. Jameson. They have had three children, all of whom are living. He took up the work of the pastorate, inspired by love to God and his fellows, and became pastor of the First Presbyterian church in Decatur, Illinois, where he remained until 1873. From that time to October, 1877, he held the pastorate of the First Presbyterian church at Ottawa, Illinois, and in
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1878 he became pastor of the Presbyterian church at Cumberland, Maryland, of which he is still the honored minister. Doctor Moffatt has always been a Democrat in politics. He is fond of outdoor life and enjoys driving and horseback riding, owning a fine Kentucky saddle mare.
His advice to all who are striving for success in life is "To be honest, sober, pure, fear God and keep his commandments." Next to the influence of his mother and his home, school and the needs of his fellow men have been the dominant factors in his life, which has been a most useful one.
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THOMAS HILL
T HOMAS HILL, of Baltimore county, Maryland, who was most prominently connected with the organization and promo- tion of companies for the protection of real estate purchases through guaranteed titles, was born in Baltimore on the 31st of Octo- ber, 1834, and died on September 21, 1909. He was one of the found- ers of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company of New York, of the Massachusetts Title Insurance Company of Boston, and of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company of Baltimore, in 1879. Since that time he was a director, and since 1898 the vice-president, of that com- pany; from 1886 to 1890 president of the Real Estate Exchange of Baltimore, and vice-president of the Savings Bank of the Title Guaran- tee and Trust Company of Baltimore.
His father, Thomas Gardner Hill, was a business man, manufac- turers' agent for the Providence Paper Mills, remembered for his in- telligence, industry, courage and strict integrity, a soldier at North Point in 1812, as first sergeant of Captain McKane's company, 27th regiment of Maryland Militia, and prominent in the Sunday school and church work of the Methodist Episcopal church. His mother was Mrs. Martha Ann (Bryant) Hill. His father's father, George Hill, was a native of Scotland who came to America about 1792, and in 1796 settled in Baltimore as a merchant. His mother's grandfather, Cornelius Bryant, came from the British Islands to New Jersey about 1736.
His boyhood, which was healthy and happy, was passed in Balti- more, but with plenty of out-of-door life and social pleasures, together with an early-developed fondness for study, and interest in business organization. The moral and spiritual influence of his mother, he said, was of inestimable value to him in his later life. He studied in the primary and the grammar schools of Baltimore, and afterward in private schools ; but he did not prepare himself for college or university. At the age of fifteen, he began to earn his own living as a clerk; and this business training, with the cordial interest taken in him by his employer, Mr. Hill recognized as of great value in their effect upon his
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later life. In 1854 he entered the law office of Messrs. Brown and Brune, and studied with them, especially to fit himself for the work of conveyancer and examiner of titles. He did not apply for admission to the bar.
From 1854 he pursued the profession of conveyancer and exam- iner of titles, until 1884; and he also took up the management of estates and general real estate business, acting as trustee, executor, etc., in the management of estates of the living, as well as of those who were deceased. His knowledge of real estate law and his experience in tracing titles to real estate had awakened in him an interest in the new subject of guaranteed titles to real estate. No one in the country was more prominently connected with the organization and establishment of such title and guarantee companies than was Mr. Hill.
In 1859 he became senior member of the brick-manufacturing firm of Hill, Thompson and Company, of Towson, but he retired from that business after two years. In 1879, he organized, with others (out of what had been the Baltimore Title Company), the present Title Guar- antee and Trust Company of Baltimore, of which he was a director, and, for the last ten years, vice-president. In 1882 he, with others, organized the Massachusetts Title Insurance Company of Boston, remaining for several years a member of its board of trustees. He helped to organize, in 1883, the Title Guarantee and Trust Com- pany of New York, and was a member of its board for four years. In 1886 he organized the Real Estate Exchange of Baltimore, acting as president of the exchange from 1886 to 1890. The Bond and Mort- gage Company of New York was organized in 1892, with Mr. Hill as one of its first stockholders. About 1894 he became one of the first stockholders of the Baltimore Trust and Guarantee Company. From 1900 to 1903 he served as a member of the board of directors of the McCay Engineering Company of Baltimore. He was one of the direc- tors of the Hammond Ice Company of Baltimore, and from 1902 to 1904 was its treasurer. He was an incorporator and member of the board of directors of the Malcolm W. Hill Company, of New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. Of the Savings Bank of the Title Guar- antee and Trust Company of Baltimore, organized in 1901, he was a director and its vice-president from the beginning. Of the Druid Ridge Cemetery, of Baltimore county, organized in 1898, Mr. Hill was president for several years, and was a member of its board of trustees.
This active interest in the organization and management of cor-
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porate business interests did not prevent Mr. Hill from most active participation in religious and charitable work in Baltimore. By re- ligious convictions he was identified with the Protestant Episcopal church. He was a vestryman of Saint Peter's church, Baltimore, from 1868. He served as a delegate to the Diocesan Convention. From 1868 he was a director of the Boys' Home Society of Balti- more, reelected annually. He was a director of Saint Peter's School, having served since 1877. From the organization of the board of visi- tors of the Maryland Asylum and Training-school for Feeble-minded (a state institution) Mr. Hill was a continuous member, and in recent years he served as treasurer of the asylum. From 1890 to 1895 he was president of the Saint Peter's Financial Aid Society, which went out of existence when it had completed the work of raising ten thou- sand dollars. He was a life member of the board of trustees of Saint Peter's Asylum for Female Children, elected in 1899. and was also the treasurer of that institution. Identified with the work of the Maryland Bible Society, he was a life director since 1880. The Young Men's Christian Association, the Friendly Inn, the Home for Mothers and Infants, the Association for the Improvement of the Poor, the Pris- oners' Aid Association, and other charities of Baltimore profited by his interest, his experience and good judgment, and his generous gifts.
On the 6th of November, 1862, Mr. Hill married Miss Harriet L. Westcott, daughter of George B. Westcott, of Kent county, Maryland. They had eleven children, three of whom are living.
During the Civil war Mr. Hill served in the Baltimore County Horse Guards, under Captain John Ridgley, of Hampton, from 1861 until they were mustered out of service. By political convictions, Mr. Hill was identified with the Democratic party; and he never swerved from his allegiance to the principles and the nominees of the party.
After he retired from active business in the city some years since, Mr. Hili devoted himself to extensive farming and fruit-growing in Kent county, Maryland, while the collection of material for a family history commanded much of his time.
He was a member of the Saint Andrew's Society of Baltimore, of which his grandfather was one of the founders in 1806. He was a member of the Society of the War of 1812, was vice-president and served on the executive committee and as a delegate to the conventions of the national society. He was an active member of the Academy of Sciences in Baltimore, of the Municipal Arts Society, of the Maryland Historical Society, and of the Actors' Church Alliance.
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FRANK WINDER MISH
F RANK WINDER MISH was born at Clear Spring, Washing- ton county, Maryland, on April 4, 1865. He is the son of George and Sarah A. Mish. His father was a farmer and a landlord, a man of good sense, judgment and firmness. Mr. Mish date: his ancestry in the United States back to 1750, when Frederick Mish came from Baden and settled in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. Hi- son was Mr. Mish's grandfather and came to Maryland in 1810. As a boy, Mr. Mish spent much of his time, when not at school, on the farm, where he was kept at regular duties, such as caring for the stock, ete. He was strong in health, and found in his mother a very helpful moral and intellectual influence. Mr. Mish received his education at public schools; at Franklin and Marshall College, where he graduated in 1885; and at the foreign universities at Göttingen, Heidelberg, Paris, Madrid and Rome; and so he has learned to speak in five languages. From 1887 to 1888 he attended the Columbia Law School in New York City. He then read law with General H. Kyd Douglas and was ad- mitted to the practice of law in the circuit court for Washington county, in December, 1889. Mr. Mish began active work in life as a lawyer at Hagerstown, Maryland, on January 1, 1890. He chose law as a profession through his own personal preference. Mr. Mish has been the attorney for the First National Bank of Hagerstown, and drew up the charter and is counsel for the Hancock Bank. He has transacted a civil rather than a criminal business, though he has been counsel in many important criminal lawsuits. In 1889, he was a can- didate for the legislature, but was defeated. Mr. Mish, from 1892 to 1893, was county superintendent of public education, street commis- sioner for Hagerstown in 1899, president of the board of street com- missioners in 1900, in which year he was appointed school commis- sioner and was elected president of the board at their first meeting. Mr. Mish says: "During my term as president of the board of street commissioners I drew up most of the contracts and assisted in the in- stallation of the municipal electric light plant."
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He has spent a great deal of time in the development of livestock on his farms in western Maryland and has won more prizes than any other man exhibiting at the Hagerstown fair. In politics Mr. Mish is a Democrat. He is a member of the German Reformed church. His favorite exercise is that of walking. Mr. Mish offers this thought to the youth starting out in life: "I would advise all young men to pray and strive for, as the greatest blessings of life, good health, good sense and good morals. There is no smart rascal. All rascals are stupid and deficient. The good things of life belong to the industrious, honest, moral people."
On December 18, 1895, Mr. Mish was married to Eleanor Eliza- beth Dubbs. They have four children.
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DANIEL HARVEY HAYNE
ANIEL HARVEY HAYNE, of Baltimore, attorney-at-law, was born in that city on December 10, 1863, son of George Washington and Sarah Ann (Bowen) Hayne. He comes of that noted South Carolina family which has furnished to our country so many eminent men of literary and oratorical tastes, some of whom have rendered large public service. The family came from England and settled near Charleston, South Carolina, about 1700. They be- came owners of large estates and have been prominent in that state from the Revolution down. On the maternal side his people are of English stock and were among the early settlers in Baltimore county, Maryland, the descendants of these early settlers still owning the origi- nal estates. Prominent members of this family who deserve mention were Colonel Isaac Hayne, the Revolutionary patriot who died a mar- tyr to the cause of American liberty; Arthur P. Hayne, soldier and statesman, who represented his state in the United States Senate and declined a foreign ministry ; Robert Y. Hayne, a governor and United States Senator, who was one of the most eminent men of his genera- tion ; Paul Hamilton Hayne, who ranks as one of the great poets of our country ; George Hayne, of Baltimore, great-uncle of our subject, who was an extensive owner of vessel property which became involved in the well-known French spoliation claims. Mr. Hayne's father, who was engaged in the real estate business, was a man of much energy and personal force, with marked tastes for literature and scientific study.
Mr. Hayne's boyhood life was divided between town and country. His parents wisely kept him with daily work to do, in addition to at- tending school, and taught him the value of all the cardinal virtues. His father died when he was comparatively a small boy, and he had the misfortune to lose his mother a few years later. She was a woman of cheerful and sunny disposition of pronounced optimism, and imparted to her son much of that cheerfulness and optimism which has given him abiding faith in mankind and sustained his courage in trying periods.
His academic education was obtained in Knapps Institute and the
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faithfully Yours, Daniel H Hayne
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DANIEL HARVEY FAYNE
Baltimore City College, where emphasis was placed on elementary work. The loss of his parents threw him for counsel and advice upon an uncle, Mr. William Wallace Hayne, and he now gratefully aeknowl- edges his obligation to that kind unele who continually urged him to strict independence, and to strive for high ideals. As a youth he en- tered a coal office, keeping accounts at a very small salary. From that place he went into the service of the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany as an operator, and from that to the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad, where he was telegraph operator, changing over to the passen- ger and freight service in local and general offices, and thence into steamboat service. Altogether he spent ten years with the Pennsyl- vania Railroad and five years with the Merchants and Miners' Trans- portation Company before taking up the law. In the service of the railroad and the steamboat companies, being a constant student, he had acquired a very elear view of the questions of shipping and admiralty and the practical side of navigation. He became impressed with the faet that there was a career in the law for one who would make an in- telligent specialization of these questions, and in 1891 he entered the Law Department of the University of Maryland, from which he was graduated on May 25, 1894, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. His career from that time to the present has been one of constant growth in a professional way, and, though he has built up a successful general praetiee, his great work has been along the lines outlined in his mind before he entered upon the profession.
On August 23, 1884, he married Miss Annie Estelle Sheriff, daughter of D. T. and Matilda Sheriff, of Landover, Maryland, and of this marriage there is one son, George Harvey Hayne. Mrs. Hayne has been a most valuable assistant and a helpful stimulant to Mr. Hayne in his labors.
Such is a brief outline of the life of this hard-working lawyer.
Now let us look at the work that he has accomplished. The ques- tion of transportation is one of the most vital to our people. It enters into the life of every human being and affects the value of every com- modity, so that no one can escape. It becomes therefore a question of first importance.
The Interstate Commerce Commission, recognizing this faet, pro- jeeted the revised uniform bill of lading. Notwithstanding the experi- ence of the men who planned this bill of lading, its elauses did not fit with the conditions surrounding the southern rail lines, nor did it con-
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tain provisions protecting water transportation. While a large part of the railroad territory was united upon this bill of lading, there was no uniformity of view south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi rivers, which region included all the water lines serving that territory and where were practically all the water lines plying on the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico. The objection to the revised uniform bill of lading was that it did not meet southern conditions, chief among which was the movement of cotton and other products common to that territory; nor did it take care of the quarantine question with sufficient fullness, and the provisions protecting coastwise shipping had not re- ceived proper treatment. Mr. Hayne, who had risen to be general solicitor of the Merchants and Miners' Transportation Company, was delegated by the water lines serving the Atlantic coast and the rail- roads connecting with those water lines to frame a bill of lading upon which all could unite and which would be in the direction of uniform- ity, so that it might be possible at some future time to unite on a single form for the entire country. This was accomplished under what is now known as the Revised Standard Bill of Lading, which was prepared by Mr. Hayne and assented to by substantially every rail carrier south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi rivers and all the water lines on the Atlantic coast serving that territory.
One of the most interesting developments of this work was the ascertainment of the fact that this bill of lading today covers contracts of more than three billions of dollars of property values daily. It was found also that the entire bill-of-lading movement throughout the United States on any day mounts to contracts covering values of over fifteen billions of dollars. For practically two years the greater part of Mr. Hayne's time and thought and labor has been put into this ques- tion. On February 23, 1909, at the request of the transportation lines of that locality, he delivered an address before the Senate Judiciary Committee of North Carolina, in which he dealt quite fully with the questions presented.
In August, 1908, he wrote his second pamphlet referring to some new questions with reference to the regulation being applied to water lines. Since then effort has been made to incorporate language in an amendment to the commerce acts, which is now being considered by the present Congress, which would, if passed, have subjected the water lines to a control not intended under the policies which have always been pursued in this country with relation to its water traffic.
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A meeting of independent vater lines was called at Washington on February 1, 1910, of which Mr. Hayne was made chairman, result- ing in the issuance of a third pamphlet and supplements. After a long and hard struggle, with strong support from the water lines and many public-spirited citizens, together with trade organizations and press notices, Mr. Hayne was able to carry his contentions. In his own language it was a contest of the people for the recognition of the prin- ciple that the success of free and open waterways is dependent upon free and unobstructed vessels on sach waterways. He further says the tendency to include the water lines in hurtful regulation, which has been opposed by the people, may now be said to be arrested, and there is pending legislation relating to this branch of transportation service which will redound to the advantage of the public. In this great con- test for the establishment of a correct principle, Mr. Hayne, believing that he was giving direct service in the interest of the people, gave that service to the water lines without compensation.
In the Centennial Edition of the History of the University of Maryland, Volume II, page 124, the statement is made that Mr. Hayne is one of the original fourteen members who launched the Maritime Law Association of the United States, an organization of great influ- ence in shaping national and international maritime law. In a History of Baltimore City, published in 1902 by the Baltimore American, on page 247, a sketch of Mr. Hayne is given, and high praise accorded him for the able and faithful manner in which he has protected the interests of his clients and mastered some of the most difficult branches of the laws. In his present position as general solicitor of the Mer- chants and Miners' Transportation Company, his practice carries him from Boston, Massachusetts, to Jacksonville, Florida, covering prac- tically every Atlantic seaport and many interior points.
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