USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, volume I > Part 23
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The family history and the reference to Richard T. Waters have been given at some length, because, to some extent at least, they shed light upon the temperament and character of the subject of this sketch.
In 1865 Francis E. Waters, a little boy nine years old, came to Baltimore upon his father's removal to Baltimore, entered the publie schools, and later completed his school training in the Pembroke School.
The wise father, having a prosperous and successful business, could easily have taken the boy into his own office, but he preferred for him to get his first training at the hands of others; so, at the age of fifteen, declining the college education tendered by his father, young Waters entered the wholesale hardware house of F. B. Loney & Company of Baltimore. He worked for them steadily for three years, and gained in the good graces of the firm. At the end of that time the old hard- ware house failed, and his father, recognizing the good qualities of the son and his business capacity, then invited him to come into his own office. This was in 1873, and the firm of R. T. Waters & Son, organ- ized on January 1, 1874, endured for more than a quarter of a century. It is worth while to stop for a moment and to consider the wisdom of the policy of R. T. Waters. He wanted the boy to learn how to stand alone. He wanted him to feel that he was making his own way, and was not dependent upon a rich father. The result of the experiment thoroughly justified it. The history of General Waters, from the time he entered the lumber business with his father in 1873, a period now of 37 years, has been one of steady growth and success. He has seen a business, which was then accounted large, grow to such proportions that what then appeared to be a large business now looks small indeed. The young man, though ambitious, took time to thoroughly master the situation before venturing into new fields and after ten years of suc- cessful business he saw the way clear to establish a manufacturing
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plant, which was founded in 1885 in Surry county, Virginia, under the title of the Surry Lumber Company. The old Virginia farm of 1885 now shows what is considered by experts as the model lumber manufacturing plant of the United States, and the town of Dendrom with a population of 3000 has grown up around the mills and is main- tained by the lumber plant. This plant now employs more than 2000 men and has an enormous output of the very best lumber. General Waters has given strict personal attention to every detail of this enter- prise. Its largest stockholder and for many years its president, he is ably assisted in the management of its affairs by the vice-president, the Honorable John Walter Smith, ex-governor of Maryland and now United States Senator. It is probable that if the question was directly put to General Waters as to what feature of his work he would like to be judged by he would say the " Surry Lumber Company," for he has put the best of himself into this, has made it a marvel of efficiency as an industrial plant, paying good dividends to its owners and giving remunerative employment to a vast number of people. In addition to this he is president of the Cumberland Lumber Company, located at Wallace, Duplin county, North Carolina, at which plant more than one thousand people are employed.
For the past twenty years, with one break of a few months, Gen- eral Waters has served as one of the Directors of the Maryland Peni- tentiary, and for a considerable part of the time has been president of the board. Often solicited to enter public life, though possessed of a large measure of public spirit, the sense of obligation to the business interests represented has compelled him to decline all public trusts or positions except those where he could render a useful public service without seriously interfering with nearer interests. Thus he served as one of the Commissioners of the State of Maryland at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. He was appointed by Governor Jackson a member of his staff with the rank of Colonel. After the great fire in Baltimore he was one of the twelve citizens selected by Mayor McLane to recommend certain changes in the streets, and this com- mittee so well discharged its duty that every recommendation made was accepted save one, and all men can now see that the committee was wise in that recommendation which was not accepted. General Waters is a Democrat both by inheritance and conviction. Upon the nomina- tion of Mr. Bryan, he felt that he could not consistently support his silver ideas, and for that occasion voted against his party.
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He is a member of the Maryland Club, Merchants' Club, Baltimore Country Club and the Elk Ridge Kennel Club. His religious prefer- ences lie with the Presbyterian church, with which his family has long been identified, and the First Presbyterian church has shown its esteem for him by electing him as one of its trustees. His diversions are travel and yachting, and his yatch " Priscilla " is one of the best-appointed upon the bay. He is a director of the Merchants' National Bank, the American Bonding Company, the United Street Railway of Baltimore, and the Maryland, Virginia & Delaware Railroad. He is a stockholder and investor in many of the leading financial institutions of Maryland and Virginia. When the cruiser " Maryland " was launched, his daughter, Miss Jennie Scott Waters, was selected as the sponsor. When the Honorable John Walter Smith was elected Governor of Maryland. he also appointed General Waters on his staff, with the rank of Brig- adier-General, Mr. Smith being the second Governor upon whose staff he has served. He enjoys the distinction of having been elected presi- dent of the Lumber Exchange before he was thirty years of age. He has also served as president of the Board of Trade of Baltimore.
On June 30, 18:7. he married Miss Fannie Scott, of Toledo, Ohio, daughter of Wm. H. Scott, a public-spirited and cultivated gentleman. Her grandfather, Jesup W. Scott, was a prominent lawyer, who first lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He moved West to practice his pro- fession, wisely invested his funds in lands, buying a large tract of land near Maumee, now Toledo, Ohio, and its rapid growth in value made him a very wealthy man. He was a man of fine character and pure life, and reared three sons who were exceedingly useful men in public affairs.
General Waters represents in his own person the Cavalier stock of Virginia, while his wife represents the Puritan stock of New England. The combination of these two strains of virile blood has always worked out in the later generations strong men and women, and the children of this marriage are fortunate in their racial inheritance, more than they possibly can be in any material possessions which may come to them. Mrs. Waters traces her descent in one line from that John Wakeman who came from Bewdly, England, to New Haven, Connecti- cut, in the year 1640; and the Wakeman genealogy published in 1900 shows that in the two hundred and seventy years which have elapsed since John Wakeman became one of the pioneer settlers of Connecticut, the family has been connected with a large number of the familie:
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which have made New England great and enriched so much the civic life of the middle and western states of our country.
In so far as Francis E. Waters has had an ideal in business, that ideal may be said to be quality. He has always striven for quality first and then for enlargement. The result of this ideal is a business which is a model of organization in every department and the product of which compares favorably with that of any other concern in the coun- try. His business associates and other men who personally know General Waters and have had dealings with him during many years bear willing testimony to his personal integrity and the absolute fair- ness of his business conduct. Certainly no man can live up to a higher standard than that of absolutely just dealings. The two Waters, father and son, have between them over one hundred years of successful labor in the lumber business. R. T. Waters passed away, leaving the reputation of an absolutely just man. Francis E. Waters, though of more venturous temperament than his father, has the same moral quali- ties, and is treading faithfully in the footsteps of his honored father.
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HENRY FENWICK THOMPSON
H ENRY FENWICK THOMPSON, an old and respected citi- zen of Baltimore, comes of the English Thompsons. He is of the third generation of his family in America. IIi: grandfather came from England to Baltimore in 1792, and engaged i !. commercial pursuits up to the time of his death in 1838. He was : successful and respected merchant. He married Miss Ann L. Bowi . daughter of a prominent citizen of Maryland, Daniel Bowly, of Fur !. Hall. Among his children was Henry Anthony Thompson, born A" gust 14, 1800. Henry Anthony Thompson had every educational a : vantage, and in June, 1815, entered the Military Academy at We .. Point, where he graduated with distinction in June, 1819, and wa: appointed second lieutenant of artillery. He gave twenty years of service as an officer of the regular army, the greater part of it in the engineer corps. During this time he was stationed in Pensacola. Florida; Fort Monroe, Virginia; Savannah, Georgia; and in June. 1836, was ordered to the Creek nation as aide of General Fenwick. In October, 1836, he resigned from the army, and was appointed civil engineer in charge of the engineering work at Fort MeHenry, which he completed in December, 1839, when he became connected with tl:" mercantile house of Henry Thompson & Son, which had been founde ! by his father. In 1845 he was appointed inspector-general of th. militia, with the rank of colonel, and in 1847 brigadier-general of ar- tillery in the state troops, which position he continued to hold unt !! 1861, when he resigned at the outbreak of the Civil war. In 1855 he became a director in the Bank of Baltimore, and in October, 1863. i :: president. When it became the National Bank of Baltimore, he wa-, in August, 1865, again elected its president, which position he hel i up to his death, some twenty years later. General Thompson was . man of remarkable versatility. He was a splendid soldier, an ah'. merchant and a strong financier. Diligent and conscientious in every duty, he was a Christian gentleman of the best type. In 1827 he ma :- ried Miss Julie Zelina de Macklot, of St. Louis, and of this marria.". Henry F. Thompson was born in the city of Baltimore, on January 1 .. 1830.
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HENRY FENWICK THOMPSON
Among Mr. Thompson's ancestors may be noted James Saunders, who came from England to Maryland in 1665, became a justice of the peace, a burgess in the Assembly, and a member of the Council. Other ancestors were Darby Lux and Daniel Bowly, who were members of the Maryland legislature.
Mr. Thompson was a healthy bey, who spent the first ten years of his life at Fort McHenry, and the remainder of his youth in Baltimore City. His education was obtained in private schools in the city, and, arriving at manhood, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. Though he practiced for some time, he retired from active work at his profession many long years ago, and has chiefly devoted himself to the care of his financial interests and to historical research.
On June 17, 1864, he married Miss Margaret Sprigg Oliver, a member of an old Baltimore family, who bore him two children-a son and a daughter-both of whom are living, the son being now an attor- ney in Baltimore.
He is president of the Loudon Park Cemetery Association, vice- president of the board of trustees of the Peabody Institute, and of the Maryland Historical Association. He is a lifelong adherent of the Democratic party, and has never seen any reason to change his party affiliations. For many years he served the Maryland Historical So- ciety as its librarian, and his interest in that work has long been not only his chief recreation and pleasure, but a matter of public service. He spent a considerable time in Europe in his historical investigations, among the early Maryland archives deposited in England, and these investigations have resulted in many valuable papers, which have been read before the society. What was first undertaken merely as a matter of pleasurable interest, has been pursued now to great lengths as a matter of duty in assisting to preserve accurately the history of our country.
Like his father before him, he is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church; and he bids fair to rival his father in length of years, because, though he has far outlived the average life of man, he is still active and strong.
Mr. Thompson has lived a long life of quiet usefulness and good citizenship. He has never sought prominence, personal preferment or notoriety, but has been content with discharging the duties which have come under his hand with fidelity. Ile inherited from an honorable ancestry a good name, and will pass it on untarnished to his children.
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RANDOLPH WINSLOW
D OCTOR RANDOLPH WINSLOW, of Baltimore, was born at Hertford, Perquimans county, North Carolina, October 23, 1852, son of Doctor Caleb and Jane ( Parry) Winslow. His father was a physician of ability and standing. The family had been long settled in North Carolina. We find in 1774 as one of the repre- sentatives in the first Provincial Congress called in North Carolina. independent of the Provincial Governor, the name of Moses Winslow. which shows that in the South, as in the North, the Winslows in our Revolutionary period adhered to the patriots' side. There is a curious misconception about this family, the general opinion being that in America, at least, it is altogether a New England family. This is not borne out by the records, for, while the vast majority of the Winslows have been found in New England and date back to the early settlement of Massachusetts, the family was also known in Virginia and North Carolina in the early settlement of those colonies. The figures give some idea; thus, in 1790, there were 171 families of Winslows in the United States; of these, 143 were in New England, and 76 in Massa- chusetts, but on that same date there were 4 families in Virginia and 18 in North Carolina. One thing, however, seems to be true of both branches; they belonged to that element in the population which we call Puritans. According to the family tradition, the North Carolina family derived its descent from the Massachusetts family, some mem- bers of the earlier generations having migrated south on account of the bitterness of religious feeling in Massachusetts. There is yet in pos- session of the family an old parchment bearing date of 1740 under which is conveyed to Jacob Winslow a large tract of land in Eastern North Carolina, and it is quite probable that this Jacob Winslow was one of the earlier immigrants from Massachusetts. The family is a very ancient one in England, under two forms, Winlow and Winslow. Its antiquity is proven by the fact that of four or five coats of arms granted, not one of them bears either crest or motto, a characteristic of very ancient coat armor.
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your very truly Randolph Winslow,
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RANDOLPH WINSLOW
As a boy, Doctor Winslow was a healthy youngster, his life being spent in a village where, after his seventh year, he was made to per- form his share of household duties, for the Civil war coming on caused all of the negroes to run away and forced the white people to do all of their own work. He attended the local school, Hertford Academy, and later the Rugby Academy, in Baltimore. He then entered Haverford College, from which he was graduated in 1871, with the degree of A.B., the degree of A.M. being conferred in 1874, after an examination on the Pauline Epistles, in Greek, his being the first degree conferred by Haverford College for an examination. Doctor Winslow, having com- pleted his academic course, entered the Medical Department of the University of Maryland in 1871, and was graduated in 18:3, with the degree of M.D. In that same year, he took a special course in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and ten years later. in order to better equip himself and freshen up on all later discoveries, he went, in 1883, for postgraduate study to the renowned medical schools of Vienna, Austria. He began practice in 1873 in Baltimore, and early and promptly won recognition. The University of Maryland, from which he had graduated, promptly utilized his services, first, as an Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy, in which capacity he served from 1874 to 1880. In 1880 he became Demonstrator of Anatomy and served until 1886. From 1886 to 1891 he was Lecturer on Clinical Surgery. In 1891 he became Professor of Anatomy and Clinical Surgery, which post he filled until 1902, when he became Professor of Surgery, which chair he has filled up to the present time. He also served as Professor of Surgery in the Woman's Medical College from 189? to 1893. He is now a recognized authority and a skillful operator. While not a maker of books, Doctor Winslow is the author of many excellent articles pertaining to medical subjects, which have appeared in medi- cal journals. In religious faith, he is a member of the Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers. He is a member of the Balti- more Country Club and finds his favorite relaxation in playing cricket.
On December 12, 1877, Doctor Winslow married Miss Rebecca Fayssoux Leiper, daughter of John Chew and Mary Fayssoux Leiper. Of this marriage thirteen children have been born, of whom twelve are living.
Like all other professional men of standing, he has done much reading, both along professional and other lines, but he places as the most valuable single work to him in all of his reading, "Gray's Anat-
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omy." In looking back over the past, he is impressed that his choice of a vocation was largely due to heredity and environment, but in view of his eminent success as a surgeon, there must have been a large measure of natural aptitude and personal predilection, though even these may have been due to heredity.
Doctor Winslow sums up his advice to young men desiring to win success in life in one word, " work." He might have added something to this, but it is certain that he could not have given a better founda- tion upon which to build.
Doctor Winslow holds membership in the American Medical Asso- ciation, Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association, Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, of which last named society he has been vice-president, and the various local medical and college associa- tions. He is also a member of the University Club of Baltimore. He is Chief Surgeon of the University of Maryland, and is one of the visiting surgeons of the Hebrew Hospital, Consulting Surgeon at the Hospital for Crippled Children of Baltimore, Consulting Sur- geon to General and Marine Hospital, Crisfield, Maryland, and Sur- geon to Union Hospital, Elkton, Maryland.
Doctor Winslow is a member of the North Carolina Society of Baltimore, of which he has been president.
In recognition of his attainments, St. John's College, at Annapo- lis, on the celebration of its 125th anniversary in 1909, conferred upon Doctor Winslow the honorary degree of LL.D.
HIRAM WOODS
D OCTOR HIRAM WOODS, of Baltimore, was born in that city on November 11, 1857. Doctor Woods' parents were Hiram and Helen ( Chase) Woods. His father was a merchant, and a man of fine Christian character, who survived until 1901. On his father's side, Doctor Woods' ancestry goes back to Jane Churchill, a descendant of Miles Standish, the famous Puritan captain, and on his mother's side he traces his ancestry back to Aquila Chase, who came from England in 1 54. and landed in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Even at that time. Aquila Chase was not the first of his name in this country, for William Chase had come to America in 1630 and died in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, in 1659.
Doctor Woods' boyhood days were divided between the city in winter and the country in summer. He was fond of horses, and de- voted to his mother, whose influence has contributed most largely to the shaping of his character. His early education was obtained in the private school of the late George G. Carey, a famous Baltimore school, which turned out many men who have since become eminent. From the Carey school he went to Princeton University, where he graduated with the class of 18?9, with the degree of A.B. During the winter of 1879 and 1880, he took a course in biology at the Johns Hopkins Uni- versity, and in the fall of 1880 entered the medical department of the University of Maryland, from which he was graduated in 1882, with the degree of M.I).
His first work as a practitioner was as house physician in Bay View Asylum, in 1882. In a retrospective glance at the past, referring to his choice of an occupation, he says that he hesitated between busi- ness and the study of medicine, and he thinks his mother's influence was the deciding factor. He recognizes the fact that the chief stimuli in his work have been the home influence and contact with men in active life. Early in his professional career he recognized the change then evident in the direction that medical practice was taking, and the fact that specializing was the order of the day. He turned his atten- tion to the diseases of the eye and ear, and was assistant for fifteen
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years to the late Doctor Julian T. Chisolm, the well-known eye and ear surgeon. From 1SS? to 1894 he was professor of the diseases of the eye and ear at the Woman's Medical College in Baltimore. For many years he has been one of the surgeons at the Presbyterian Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. Since 1894 he has held the professorship of the diseases of the eye and ear at the University of Maryland, succeeding his teacher and friend, Doctor Chisolm. He is a member of the staff of the Union Protestant Infirmary, and is a consulting surgeon of other hospitals. In 1897, in connection with other physicians, he was instrumental in establishing the systematie examination of the eyes of public school children in Baltimore, and in 1894, with others, secured the passage of a law for the protection of infants' eyesight. Though he has not essayed authorship in a large way, he has been the author of numerous valuable articles in current journals of medicine. He was president of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, 1906- 1907. He holds membership in the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity and the University Ciub and Country Club of Baltimore. In politics, Doctor Woods would be classed as a conservative Democrat in a national way, while in municipal affairs he holds to no party allegiance. He finds recreation and exercise in driving, riding, golf, etc.
On October 28, 1886, he married Miss Laura Hall, daughter of the late Robt. C. and Mary R. Hall. They have four children. His church affiliations are with the Presbyterians.
JOHN WHITRIDGE WILLIAMS
OHN WHITRIDGE WILLIAMS, obstetrician-in-chief at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and professor of obstetrics at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, was born in Baltimore, Mary- using's sted land, on January 26. 1866. His father, Doctor Philip C. Williams, who married Mary Cushing Whitridge, was of a deeply religious character with a very cheerful and optimistic nature. His earliest known ances- tor in the United States was Pierre Williams, a lawyer who came to Virginia from London, England, in the latter part of the seventeenth century. He also traces descent from the Fontaine, Maury and Hite families of Virginia, and Whitridge and Cushing families of Massa- chusetts and Rhode Island. Ancestors especially distinguished were: Philip Williams, his grandfather, lawyer in the Valley of Virginia; William Whitridge, his maternal great-grandfather, physician and chemist in Tiverton, Rhode Island, who received honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale for contributions to chemistry ; and Isaac Hite, pa- ternal great-grandfather, a major in the Revolutionary army from Vir- ginia and a brother-in-law of President Madison.
Doctor Williams' early life was spent in Baltimore, and from his youth he showed a marked interest in chemistry and mechanics. He received his education at the public schools of Baltimore, and after leaving the City College entered the Johns Hopkins University, where he received the degree of A.B. in 1886. In 1888, he was given the degree of M.D. from the University of Maryland, after two years' study. For three years, he did postgraduate work in Vienna, Berlin, Leipzig, Prague and Paris. Inspired by the thought that there were four generations of doctors behind him in the family, and with the strong desire from early boyhood to attain eminence in the same pro- fession, he persevered until he holds to-day the distinction he sought. In 1889 he was made assistant in gynecology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, which position he held till 1894. From 1894 to 1899 he was associate in obstetrics. In 1899 he was made obstetrician-in-chief, which position he now holds. He has been gynecologist at the Union Protestant Infirmary, Baltimore, since 1894. Doctor Williams has
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