USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, volume I > Part 20
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On January 5, 1882, he married Miss Helen M. Smith, of which marriage there are two sons, both of whom followed in their father's footsteps as students of Amherst College.
Judge Stockbridge's success at the bar was immediate and emi- nent. He has always taken an active interest in politics, and in 1888 was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first Congress, serving the full term. From 1891 to 1893 he served as commissioner of immigration for the port of Baltimore. In 1896 he was elected associate judge on the supreme bench of Baltimore, for a term of fifteen years. Since 1900 he has been a member of the faculty of the Law Department of the University of Maryland, as a lecturer on international law, conflict laws, admiralty, executors and administrators, and since 1906 one of the regents of the University. He is affiliated with many societies and clubs, among which may be mentioned the Chi Phi College fraternity, the Masons, the Sons of the American Revolution, the American Geo- graphical Society, the Maryland Club, the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Society of Colonial Wars and the Maryland Historical Society. This last-named society he has served as corresponding secretary. His favorite recreation is found in walking, and in the summer he gets much enjoyment in elimbing the White Mountains. He is an attend- ant upon Brown Memorial Presbyterian church. He frankly admits that he has not accomplished in life all he had hoped, and he yet hopes to add to the sum of his achievements, but he is yet in the prime of life, has made a reputation for usefulness and good citizenship and. though he may add to his work in quantity, he will not improve it in quality, which is of the best and worthy of that great stock from which he is deseended.
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Jours Very July William & Dickey
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WILLIAM ALEXANDER DICKEY
W ILLIAM ALEXANDER DICKEY, of Baltimore, president of Wm. J. Dickey & Sons, Inc., owners of the Oella Mills, is a native of Baltimore, having been born on December 27, 1854, the son of William J. and Agnes Dickey.
Dickey, or Dickie, appears first as an old English or Scotch name. It was akin in its origin to Dickon or Dixon. The weight of evidence appears to indicate Scotch origin in the first place. From Scotland it must have spread, to some extent at least, to England, as the name has been known in that country for several centuries. It is positively known that the Dickeys emigrated to the north of Ireland, because in 1730 William and John Dickey came from that country and settled at Londonderry, New Hampshire. These north-of-Ireland Dickeys were Scotch Presbyterians. There appears to have been a considerable influx of Dickeys into the new country, for as far back as 1790 we find seventy-nine families reported, of which thirty-five families were in Pennsylvania, fourteen in North Carolina, eleven in South Carolina, nine in New Hampshire, and the remainder in the adjacent colonies.
There is a coat of arms in the Dickey family which probably goes back to the thirteenth century.
William J. Dickey's immediate family in America was founded by Patrick Dickey, son of William, who came from Ireland about 1820 and settled in Maryland. Notwithstanding Patrick Dickey's Irish name he had in full measure the spirit of the old Scotch Covenanters, from whom he was descended.
His son, William J. Dickey, born in Ballymena, Ireland, was six years old when his father migrated to America. He engaged in the manufacturing of woolen goods, founding the firm of Wm. J. Dickey & Sons in 1838, and built up a large business, now being carried for- ward by his sons under the old firm name, but incorporated. William J. Dickey, during his lifetime, also was largely interested in banking, having established the Manufacturers' National Bank in 1882. He was a man of strong purpose, of great business capacity, and was recog-
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nized as a leader in his vocation. He contributed his share to the enormous manufacturing development of America in the last century.
The esteem in which Wm. J. Dickey was held by his business associates is shown by the following resolutions passed by his fellow directors of the Ashland Manufacturing Company: "Whereas the late Win. J. Dickey, the former president of this company, departed this life August 13, 1896, it becomes our painful privilege of spreading upon the records a minute expression of the loss which the Ashland Manufacturing Company and the community generally have sustained in his death. William J. Dickey was in every way a remarkable man. Under Providence he was the architect of his own fortune, and carve : out during a long life of industry, sagacity and enterprise a name sec- ond to none in the city of his adoption for usefulness, success and honor. In his chosen calling, that of a manufacturer, he had no su- periors and few equals. As an administrator he was intelligent and fearless. As a public citizen, he set an example to his brother mer- chants by taking a deep interest in the affairs of his state and country and made his influence felt in efforts for the better administration of public affairs. As a man he was just, regarding his obligations to his fellow man as a fundamental principle of the spiritual law of God which he acknowledged to be the rule of his daily life. His place will indeed be missed, but the power of his life will continue to be felt in a thousand rills of influence in the hearts of those with whom he came into friendly relations and who caught from him some of the fearless and undaunted spirit which was his. Death is not death to such a man."
The subject of this sketch, as a boy, enjoyed good health, was the possessor of a strong constitution and was in no particular different from the average boy in good health. He had the best school advan- tages up to the age of eighteen, finishing off at the Newton Academy. and then entered the business conducted by his father. The thirty- eight years which have passed since the youth of eighteen first entered upon business life have been years of steady labor, steady growth and large accomplishment. The man who could not keep pace with new methods, new ideas and the greatly accelerated motion in business has been left in the rear. The man whose energies were sufficiently active, whose mind was sufficiently alert and whose will was sufficiently strong to keep up in the front rank. has achieved a success which cou !!! not have been dreamed of by our forefathers. Among these successful
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men, William A. Dickey ranks high. He started at the bottom in his father's factory and learned the business from the ground up. He then served for several years as superintendent of the mills, and in due season found himself president of the Ashland Manufacturing Com- pany, always measuring up to the demands of the situation. In 1908 he sold his interest in the Ashland Manufacturing Company and is now president of William J. Dickey & Sons, and conducts the Oella Mills, his brother, George A. Dickey, being treasurer, and his son, William A. Dickey, Jr., being secretary.
The business as a corporation dates from 1903, and the mills are located at Ellicott City, Maryland. They are members of the Ameri- can Association of Woolen and Worsted Manufacturers, and their standing in the textile world is of the highest. Mr. Dickey's financial abilities have met with recognition by election to a directorship in the First National Bank, the Fidelity and Deposit Company and the Fidelity Trust Company, all of Baltimore.
Stories of human interest are always fascinating. If one could give in detail the exact history of the business life of a successful business man who has been in the thick of the fray for the last thirty- five years, it would possess as absorbing interest as the stories of great soldiers do. We see the large result, we remember the small begin- ning, but we know nothing of the immense labor, the ability, which during the long years have met every emergency and triumphed over every difficulty and often wrested victory from impending disaster. It may not be doubted that if the life of this successful business man could be written in that fashion, it would possess immense interest. It is, however, a peculiar fact in connection with our successful manu- facturers and merchants that they are interested merely in getting the thing done, and they do not trouble themselves to give to others the information of the processes by which it was done, and probably in many cases do not even burden their own memory with those processes. We see the thing done and must be content with that.
Mr. Dickey's political affiliation is with the Republican party. He finds his relaxation in the gymnasium of the Baltimore Athletic Club, of which he is a member.
On December 27, 1883, he married Miss Lillie H. Snyder, daugh- ter of John J. and Mary Elizabeth Snyder. Of this marriage seven children have been born, of whom six are now living.
DAVID MEREDITH REESE
D AVID M. REESE, one of the prominent lawyers and leading citizens of Baltimore, combines in his own person two very diverse but equally strong racial strains. On the paternal side he is of Welsh stock, and on the maternal, French. He was born on April 12, 1845. in Baltimore City, son of David and Justina (Re- noux) Reese. His father was a mechanic, a man of sterling character. unflagging industry and strict sobriety. His paternal grandfather and grandmother came from Wales about 1803 and first settled in New York. His maternal grandfather, Jean Baptiste Troupe Renoux, was a native of the south of France, settled in San Domingo, and when the blacks rose in insurrection in 1795 and massacred nearly all the white people on the island, he escaped from the massacre and settled in Balti- more about that time. Mr. Renoux's given name of Troupe suggests a connection with the famous George Michael Troupe, governor of Geor- gia, who also was of French descent on one side.
The most ancient families in Great Britain today are those de- scended from Welsh, Scotch and Irish ancestors. Among these ancient Welsh families we find the name of Rhys, and from Rhys came ap Rhys, the son of Rhys. From ap Rhys came Price, Rice, Reese and other family names, so that all these names now commonly supposed, or spoken of, as English, go back to that far-distant period when an old ap Rhys was lord of Tal Ebolion in Anglesey. This was at the very beginning of that period in the Middle Ages when coats of arms began to be granted and the old shield showing this ancient ap Rhys' armorial device consists of a shield with a broad transverse band with three lions' heads thereon.
Since that far-gone day the Reeses and Rices and Prices, who are all kinfolk in a way, have multiplied exceedingly. They came to our country in the early colonial period, and America has a very strong infusion of Welsh blood among its best citizenship.
In 1790 the Reeses, under six or eight different spellings of the name, comprised 148 families in the United States. It is said that the original meaning of Phys, the root word of these names, was " the warrior," which is not unlikely, in view of the fact that the Welsh were great fighting people. It is rather a curious fact that, though the bulk
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of the Reeses have always lived north of Mason and Dixon's line, the only two that have figured in the Federal Congress have been David A. Reese, of South Carolina, and Seaborn Reese, of Georgia.
In the present generation, besides our subject, may be noted Manoah B. Reese, a leading lawyer of Nebraska; Lizette Woodworth Reese, an educator and author of Baltimore; Charles G. Reese, a noted chemist of Chester, Pennsylvania ; George E. Rees, a very prominent Baptist clergyman, and George Krom Rees, professor of astronomy in Columbia University, New York.
The subject of this sketch grew up under the usual conditions surrounding city boys without any notable circumstances beyond the etsfortune of becoming lame. though otherwise of good health. He attended the public and private schools, though he was denied the ad- vantages of a collegiate course, if it be an advantage. Leaving school, Le embarked in business on his own account, as a school teacher part of the time and elerk. The bent of his mind, however, was to the law, and in spare moments, while teaching and clerking, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1868, when twenty-three years old. This shows much diligence on his part, because the young man who can make a living, and yet only be two years late in being admitted to practice, must have been unusually industrious.
Mr. Reese's life since 1868 has been spent in the practice of his profession in which he has been eminently successful, varied only by an interval of public service in the city council. He served two terms in the first branch of the city council and also became president of the second branch. During his incumbency as president of the second branch he served at times as mayor ex-officio.
His political allegiance has always been given to the Democratic party, whose principles appealed to him as a young man, and the pass- ing years have only strengthened his conviction that they are bottomed on sound governmental principles. Aside from his law studies, Mr. Reese's preferred reading has been along historic and economic lines, and it usually follows that a strong lawyer who takes for his outside reading history and economics is not only a man of extensive informa- tion, but is well grounded in the fundamentals of government. His religious affiliation is with the Roman Catholic church.
In June, 1872, he married Miss Florence Merryman Daugherty, daughter of John W. and Priscilla (Jesop) Daugherty. Of that mar- riage there is one son living, D. Meredith Reese, Jr.
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EDWIN LITCHFIELD TURNBULL
E DWIN LITCHFIELD TURNBULL, of Baltimore, is hard to classify as tocalling. His business has been that of a real estate agent ; but his avocation of musical composer and musician h ... so far overshadowed his business and made for him such a reputati . throughout the land, that men do not think of him as one of the toili! : men of business, but rather as a leader in the artistic world.
He was born in Baltimore on November 14, 1822, son of Lawren .. and Frances Hubbard ( Litchfield) Turnbull. He belongs to a notab .. . Scotch family, every member of whom can easily trace his line back to the common ancestor, and which has furnished many notable men both in Scotland and in America. His father, a lawyer by profession. and like the son with an avocation, which is publishing and literature. is a cultivated man of retiring character, pronounced ability, and a most useful citizen. A sketch of him appears elsewhere in this work. His mother, herself notable in literary circles, both in the field of romance and poetry, is descended from Lawrence Litchfield, who came · from England and settled in Barnstable, Massachusetts, about 1634. The city of Litchfield, England, and Litchfield, Connecticut, com- memorate this family. The line of his maternal ancestry also goes back to George Hubbard, who came to Guilford, Connecticut, from the island of Antigua, West Indies, about the middle of the seventeenth century. Yet another notable man in the line of his paternal ancestry was the Reverend Chas. Nisbet, a noted Presbyterian minister, who came from Scotland to take the presidency of Dickinson College, Car- lisle, Pennsylvania, when that institution was founded in 1783.
This branch of the Turnbull family goes back in our country to Wm. Turnbull, who came from Stirling, Scotland, about 1774, and settled in Philadelphia, where he became a merchant. He was a charter member of the City Troop, a Commissary in the Continental Army, was a pioneer in the development of Pittsburgh, and brought the first an- thracite coal to Philadelphia.
Edwin L. Turnbull was chiefly reared on his father's country place in Baltimore county, was a slight and delicate youth, partial to natural
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Tours smicersly
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EDWIN LITCHFIELD TURNBULL
history, especially ornithology, and made quite a complete collection of the eggs of our native birds. At that youthful period of life, as a boy of thirteen, he published for the benefit of a local charity an amateur monthly, " The Acorn," on which he did the typesetting and all of the mechanical work except the press work, and secured monthly contribu- tions from such well-known writers as " Mark Twain," Sidney Lanier and others. A letter from Mark Twain to the editor of " The Acorn," reads: "Dear Sir: Yours is the kind of paper for me, one that comes but six times a year and can be read in five minutes. Please send it to !!!! ten years. Check enclosed. Yours truly, S. L. Clemens." He was partial to tennis and horseback riding, and yet retains his partiality for :!: latter recreation. He has no athletic fads, but takes indoor ex- wise, and is a strong believer in the benefit of fresh air. His early · lucational training was obtained from private tutors, and he entered I. ans Hopkins University in 1890. In 1893 he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Music had always been a passion with him, and at the age of fifteen he had taken up the study of the violin. One year later he founded a little musical club, which afterwards de- veloped into the Beethoven Terrace Orchestra of twenty-five amateurs, which held weekly recitals for a number of years, and gave many con- certs both in Baltimore and elsewhere, the net proceeds of which went to various charities. He took a great interest in the work of this orchestra, which took its name from the block in which his father's residence was located, where the members met for recital. His studies in Johns Hopkins were mainly in the historical and political courses ; and while a student at the University he became a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, and served as secretary of the University Glee Club.
After graduating from college and spending a summer in western travel, Mr. Turnbull went to Europe for a year, visiting Great Britain, France, Germany and Belgium, and studying music-violin, conduct- ing, theory, orchestration-under capable masters in London, Flor- ence and Munich.
In the autumn of 1894 he returned to Baltimore and engaged in the real estate business ; for, as he puts it, " having music for an avoca- tion, it was necessary to choose some other calling out of which to realize a living." He served as a director of the Real Estate Exchange, as a grand juryman in 1898, and as chairman of the committee which provided free band concerts in the parks in 1900. He has always taken
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a keen interest in the free park concerts, conducting them on a number of occasions.
His religious affiliation is with the Protestant Episcopal church. He holds membership in the New York Manuscript Society of Musical Composers, in the University Club, Bachelors' Cotillon Club and Junior Cotillon Club of Baltimore.
As the years have gone by, Mr. Turnbull has been increasingly active in his business as a real estate agent. He has served as a member of various committees of the exchange and has been especially active as a member of the committee for promoting the plans for a civic center and the beautifying of the city. He has also taken a vigorous part !!. the effort to secure, at the hands of the legislature, progressive laws : covering real estate interests in Maryland. He has transacted busines- in New York and Washington and kept himself familiar with the gen- eral conditions prevailing in real estate circles in the leading cities of the country.
Notwithstanding his attention to business, he has given constant and unremitting attention to music. His hobby, if it may be called a hobby, has been to cultivate and elevate the musical taste of the people of his native city, and he has done an immense amount of work in that direction as well as along general musical lines, and in various church choirs. In 1899, 1900 and 1905, he gave public recitals of his own compositions with orchestra, soloists and chorus in Johns Hopkins Uni- versity ; conducted orchestral and military band concerts in Baltimore on numerous occasions ; has appeared as a violin soloist ; sung in church choirs and glee clubs ; has arranged the music for a series of open air Shakespearean performances; has composed numerous songs for solo voice, and song and hymn music for full orchestra, much of which has been published ; he has contributed much in the way of musical articles and criticism for the various journals, and written descriptive sketches of travels in Europe. Another one of Mr. Turnbull's musical interests was a string quartet, which for three years held weekly meetings, in which he played first violin and the Reverend Maltbie Babcock the viola.
Mr. Turnbull is now one of the well-known men not only in the musical circles in the country, but also among those who have musical taste. A believer in work, he puts his belief into practice. He has served as a director in the Auditorium Company, which manages the Lyric theater, where most of the concerts and grand opera performances
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EDWIN LITCHFIELD TURNBULL
are given. He is a member of the Municipal Art Society and has been in charge of the musical programs for the free municipal art lectures in Baltimore and taken an active part as a member of the committee for raising the guarantee fund of $100,000, which made possible the grand opera season of 1909-10 in Baltimore.
We live in a commercial age, and thoughtful men sometimes fear that we shall carry our zeal for material things too far. It is refreshing, therefore, to find that our people are not all given over to the love of gain, and that the artistic and literary temperaments still survive as strongly as ever before. Not only do these tastes survive, but we find the possessors of them are just as earnest, just as ardent, just as in- dustrious, and turning out just as great a volume of work, as did the men of the past generations to whom we now look as standards. We may, therefore, conclude that the men of our generation, who are too near for us to judge fairly, will be accepted by our children at the same valuation that we now place upon those who have passed away. It can- not be questioned, if this be true, that MIr. Turnbull will in the years to come occupy an honorable place among the men who have striven zealously and efficiently in the cause of good music.
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DAVID STREETT
F ROM the day of Hippocrates to the present the medical profes- sion has been both one of the most useful and most honorable. The complaint has been made, even within our own genera- tion, that the medical profession had not kept pace in the forward movement with the wonderful advancement in all other lines of life which have gone to make up our modern civilization. This reproach, however well founded it may have been forty years ago, is no longer deserved; for the marvelous discoveries in medical and surgical science during the past forty years have put that great profession up in the front line; and the present tendency of the profession to prevent dis- ease shows a remarkable appreciation of the duty of the real physician.
Baltimore has long been famous for its medical schools and the ability of its medical men. Among the present-day leaders of the profession in that city is Doctor David Streett, A.M., M.D., who was born near " The Rocks," Harford county, Maryland, on October 17, 1855, the son of Corbin Grafton and Anne (or Nancy) Streett. Corbin Streett was a farmer and builder, a man of local reputation, who served his county as its tax collector and as a public school trustee. He was of nervous temperament, kindly disposition, strenuous in action, firm in his principles, altogether a positive and self-reliant man. Nancy Streett, the wife of Corbin, lived until 1904, reaching her eighty-seventh year. She was remarkable for other things besides her age. Her son bears affectionate testimony to the fact that she was " endowed with tender affection and unusual intelligence," and she was the son's adviser in all things up to the day of her death. This may in some measure account for the remarkable degree of success won by the son.
The Streett family is an ancient one in England, as proven by some very old coats of arms. The first American ancestor of this branch of the family was Thomas Streett, who came from England about 1770, obtained a patent to seven hundred acres of land near " The Rocks," and opened up a plantation. Doctor Streett is in the fifth generation from Thomas, the immigrant. Both of Doctor
Succesely yours
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DAVID STREETT
Streett's grandfathers served at the battle of North Point in 1814, one of the battles during that war which reflected credit upon our arms.
Speaking of his mother, Doctor Streett adds, " My mother's ex- ample of meekness, humility and Christian resignation to all things of life, and a tender affection for her, were at all times an element of powerful influence over me. Hers was always the greatest influence over me, exerted without a word from her."
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