USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, volume I > Part 26
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CALVIN WHEELER HENDRICK
T HE great battles of the twentieth century are fought with na- ture. Men are learning rapidly how to subordinate the won- derful forces of nature to the use and benefit of man; and so it has come about that the man of the day is the civil engineer. The men who can build bridges over vast and raging rivers, who can build a railroad into the very sea, who can pierce with tunnels, apparently of interminable length, the vast ranges of the Andes or the Rocky moun- tains, who, by their scientific knowledge, their wonderful ability to adapt themselves to conditions, and their never-ending perseverance, can build a great city upon the swamp, and make it healthy by water and sewerage systems, undreamed of by even the wisest of our ances- tors; these men are the leaders of our generation, for it is their work that in the next generation will make it possible for men to dwell in health in vast bodies.
A leader in this army of men whose glory is not of the forum, nor yet of the battlefield, is Calvin Wheeler Hendrick, of Baltimore, to whose industry, ability and-it may fairly be said-genius, the city of Baltimore owes a sewerage system which bids fair to be a standard for all the world.
Born in Paducah, Kentucky, June 21, 1865, son of Reverend Calvin Styles Hendrick (a Presbyterian minister of strong intellect and judgment), and Elizabeth Winston (Campbell) Hendrick, by the loss of his father in infancy, Mr. Hendrick was left the only child of his mother, and was raised in her sturdy, Scotch Presbyterian faith and integrity, with which was combined the buoyancy of her French descent. His devotion to his widowed mother has never ceased.
The Hendrick family are Holland Dutch, William Hendrick settling in Hanover county, Virginia, about 1700. His grandparents, Reverend John Thilman and Jane Elizabeth (Bigelow) Hendrick, and great-grandparents, Joseph Wyatt and Mary (Doswell) Hendrick, were all of Virginia. In the first Presbyterian church of Paducah, Ken- tucky, are two memorial windows dedicated to Mr. Hendrick's two grandfathers, Reverend Jolin Thilman Hendrick and Reverend Alex-
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ander Wheeler Campbell, two of the most eloquent and beloved minis. ters of the Presbyterian church of Virginia and Kentucky. Through his grandmother Hendrick, he was descended from the Nesbits, Gard- iners, Blairs and Lees, of Scotland. His maternal ancestors were James Campbell, of Dunallan, Scotland, and his wife, Marie Jean Victoire (de la Porte) Campbell, daughter of Colonel Pierre de la Porte, of the French army, and granddaughter of Count François Le Boeuf, of France. His ancestral lines include Isaac Winston, the emi- grant to Virginia ; Lieutenant William Winston, of the colonial army. said to be one of the most eloquent men of his times from whom Pat- rick Henry is said to have inherited his eloquence, that great orator being his nephew, William Winston, and Judge Edmund Winston. a noted jurist. Also James first. second and third Taylor, and through the wife of James the second Taylor, he is descended from Roher: Bruce of Scotland.
Mr. Hendrick is, therefore, a typical American, combining in him- self four of the strongest stocks-Scotch, French, Holland Dutch and Welsh-that we know; and it is not surprising, therefore, to find him a man of force, adaptability and solid character.
The career of this man, not yet forty-five years old, is itself both an inspiration and an example to the young man starting out in life. It is worth telling in more detail than space will permit. Though of slight physique as a lad, he was strong and wiry, and a leader in his classes and in the sports of his companions up to the age of sixteen. At that time he joined an engineer corps on the Chesapeake & Ohio & Southwestern and was promptly promoted from transit man to as- sistant engineer of the party. He remained with this railroad, then under Collis P. Huntington-continuing his studies at night-and was one of the last engineers retained after the completion of the road.
By this time he was a youth of eighteen, and secured work in his chosen vocation, in the engineering department of Louisville, Ken- tucky. At twenty-one he was appointed assistant engineer of the Georgia Southern & Florida Railroad, with headquarters at Macon, Georgia. He was active in the construction of that line, now one of the most prosperous in the South; and in 1888, then a young man of twenty-three, he was elected city engineer of Macon. This position ho held five years. During his residence in Macon, he served as a director of the Macon Construction Company, builder of the Georgia Southern & Florida Railroad, and as engineer for the city street railway, as ::
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ALOYSIUS LEO KNOTT
came from Waterford. Ireland, in 1776. John and Philip Phelan joined the American Army at Boston in September of that year. John was first an ensign and was promoted, on January 1, 1777, to lieutenant in Colonel Smith's regiment in the Continental Army. Philip was lieutenant of the third company of Colonel Henry Jackson's sixteenth regiment of the Massachusetts line. He afterwards held the same rank in the Continental Army. Both the brothers served under Greene in his famous Southern campaign, and Philip fell at the battle of Eutaw Springs. John remained in the army until October 17, 1783, attaining to the rank of captain and major by brevet. After the war he was in mercantile life in New York but finally lost his possessions through shipwreck. He then came to Baltimore and opened a classical and mathematical school on North Exeter street. Many prominent men of that day were his pupils. He was a member of the Cincinnati Society and died in Baltimore, September 13, 1827, and was buried with mili- tary honors.
Mrs. Knott, a resident of Washington at the time of the formation of the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was one of its earliest members, being number 21 on its roster of now sixty thou- sand members, and is an honorary vice-president general for life, the number of which officers is limited to fifteen, and is conferred only on those who have rendered valuable services to the society. Mrs. Knott, on removing to Baltimore, founded the society in Maryland, on the 4th of March, 1892, being the first state regent, and afterwards regent for ten years of the Baltimore chapter, the first chapter established in the state. During her ineumbeney of this office, many interesting events took place, and several memorials to Maryland heroes of the Revolu- tion were erected by that chapter.
" The idea of true success in life," Mr. Knott writes, " depends on one's viewpoint. If, as Cicero says, it is to live honestly and honorably and give every one his own ; if, further, it is to serve God, your country, your neighbor and yourself fully, fairly and to the measure of your ability, then I recommend the early acquisition of sound principles of conduet, correet and exact methods, work and the faithful and diligent discharge of every duty and good moral habits. These will furnish forth one with all that is requisite to attain success according to this standard.
" But if one means mere success in life, financial or political, with- out regard to the means and methods of its attainment 'per fas aut
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nefas,' at all hazards, the things I have recommended will be obstacles, not helps. In that case, however, success will be without honor to oneself or usefulness to one's fellow men, and the Ciceronian rule of life and conduct will have to be discarded, though one may end his career a millionaire in Wall Street or in the United States Senate."
Mr. Knott, in the prime of his strength, was thrown actively into the mightiest struggle in our political history. He bore himself faith- fully and well and though possessed of laudable ambition never allowed any personal interest to deflect him for a moment from the side where he felt that his duty lay. He can look back therefore upon his record with satisfaction. It has been honorable, brilliant and useful. No man's can be more.
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rector of the St. Augustine & North Beach Railroad, director of the Young Men's Christian Association, deacon in the First Presbyterian church, and co-receiver of the Macon & Dublin Railroad. In 1893 he declined a renomination as city engineer of Macon, in order to form a partnership with his former chief, William Henry Wells, for the pur- pose of establishing an office on Wall street, New York city, as consult- ing engineers. Although then only twenty-eight years old, he made such a mark during his service in Macon, that he received a petition from the citizens of that city, asking him to remain, and stating that his services to the city and his personal standing were such that his leaving would be a distinct loss to the city. He felt, however, the call to the larger field, and declined the reappointment.
In 1896, when the preliminary surveys were undertaken for the New York underground railway, Mr. Parsons, the engineer-in-chief, selected Mr. Hendrick to assist in making the surveys and sewer studies. The building of the underground railway involved a great amount of rearrangement of the sewer system of the three boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. Tremendous difficulties were presented in this work. So well did he discharge his duties that, when the engineering staff was organized in 1900, he was appointed engineer in charge of all sewer construction. He was the youngest division engineer on the staff of the commission.
While living in Macon, on November 29, 1892, he married Miss Sarah Rebecca, daughter of William F. Herring. They have two sons : Calvin Wheeler, Jr., and Herring de la Porte Hendrick.
During his years of hard work in New York, the city of Baltimore had been agitating the question of a new sewerage system. Baltimore, located on the Patapsco river, an arm of the Chesapeake bay, with a stream called Jones Falls running through the city and emptying into the harbor, with a population of more than six hundred thousand people, had a sewerage system so inadequate that it was unworthy of being called a system. The people had at last awakened to the neces- . sity of taking care of their health by the establishment of the most modern sanitary sewerage system and disposal works. When the plans were outlined, it was found that the cost of this work would be approxi- mately nineteen million dollars. This was a gigantic undertaking for even a city as large and wealthy as Baltimore. The wise expenditure of such a vast sum of money called for engineering ability of the high- est character, coupled with the best personal character.
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On November 4, 1905, Mr. Hendrick was unanimously elected chief engineer for this gigantic undertaking, at an annual salary of ten thousand dollars. The men who endorsed him for this position are among the most prominent business and professional men of the coun- try, a number of them being leaders in his own profession. It would take a volume to describe in detail the work of the past four and a half years upon this great undertaking; and it is no part of the biographer to enter into technical details of this sort. It is sufficient to say that every difficulty has been triumphantly overcome; that Mr. Hendrick's friends did not overrate his ability is proven by the fact that under his masterly hand there is being rapidly constructed a sewerage system for that great city, which will be not only a monument to his genius and his perseverance. but for generations to come will be doing its benefi- cent work for a vastly increasing number of people.
Newspaper and magazine articles have been written in large num- bers about this work, because of its special difficulties, and because of the ingenious way in which they have been met and overcome. The work is sufficiently advanced now to show the benefit of the original plans, and though reactionists have been found who have obstructed the work in every possible way, there can be no doubt that the people of Baltimore will carry it to a successful conclusion.
Mr. Hendrick's reputation as an engineer has grown until he now stands in the very front rank of his profession. It is a great thing for any man to be a leader in his calling ; but there is something even bet- ter than that, and that better thing Mr. Hendrick has. From the start he identified himself thoroughly with Baltimore, becoming a citizen of the city, and taking active part in its civic life. The people of Balti- more promptly learned that their new engineer could not only do things, but could say things. He has the happy faculty of being able to convey truth (and sometimes truth is unpleasant), in a palatable way; and he speedily came into demand for addresses on all sorts of occasions. It is perhaps within the bounds of truth to say that, during the past four years, no man has contributed more by the spoken word to civic improvement than Calvin W. Hendrick. He has literally made hundreds of addresses to all sorts of men, and on all sorts of occasions. In not one of them has he ever struck a minor note, nor has he ever failed to point the way to higher and better things.
The dominant trait in his makeup is a profound belief in practical religion. At the age of twenty-nine he was an elder in the First Pres-
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byterian church, Fifth avenue, New York City. This illustrates the fact that religion has been with him a lifetime matter, and he believes in it in its truest sense ; that it is not a theory, but really living. When failures and disappointments have come to him after most strenuous efforts, they have merely served to strengthen his faith in the Lord, whom he has trusted from his youth up. One does not want to get from this the idea that Mr. Hendrick is in any sense gloomy or morose, or even solemn, for he is just the reverse; full of life and humor, and love for home and fellowmen. He has quickness of intellect, backed by quiet strength and sound judgment; with an integrity that is beyond question, and he enjoys to the full the pleasure of living.
He loves travel. nature, animals. He is partial to swimming and out-of-door sports.
Politically Mr. Hendrick would be classed as an Independent Democrat; but he is not, and never will be, a politician beyond the carrying out of the civic duty of a good citizen.
In speaking of Mr. Hendrick, William Barclay Parsons, of New York City, used a sentence that is worth quoting. It was this: "You may be assured of one thing ; there is not money enough in the United States Treasury to buy Hendrick." The man of whom that statement can be said truthfully in this age of gross commercialism and sordid greed, is distinctly a man worth while.
While studying the sewerage system of Baltimore, Mr. Hendrick saw the location for, and desirability of, a grand union station for all the railroads of Baltimore; and he planned one so entirely to the satis- faction of all persons, that Mayor E. Clay Timanus appointed him a member of a commission of prominent men to accomplish this purpose, which has resulted in the city securing a fine depot. His trained eye also saw the possibilities of utilizing Jones Falls, that runs through the city of Baltimore, by converting it into a covered storm-water drain, and then into a broad, beautiful and useful boulevard. After drawing the plans and explaining them to the public, they were received with universal and unanimous endorsement by all of the municipal bodies and improvement associations. Mr. Hendrick is chairman of "The National Association for the Prevention of the Pollution of Rivers and Waters," with the motto, "Pure water is the nation's greatest asset." This association is composed of the most eminent men in the country, in medicine, science, engineering, and the army. He is also a member of the Commission of One Hundred, of New York City, the American
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Society of Civil Engineers, the Southern Society of New York, the So- ciety of Colonial Wars; elder of the First Presbyterian church, Balti- more; a member of the Young Men's Christian Association, and other beneficial public institutions. He also holds membership in the Mary- land Club and all the prominent business and social clubs of the city. He was appointed by Governor Warfield a delegate to the National Drainage Association in 1908.
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JOHN ISRAEL YELLOTT
M AJOR JOHN I. YELLOTT, lawyer of Towson, who has exemplified in his life the highest type of citizenship, was born in Baltimore county, on May 11, 1840. His parents were John and Sarah J. (Maulsby) Yellott. His mother was a daugh- ter of General Israel D. Maulsby, of Harford county. On the maternal side his family goes back to John and Mary Maulsby, who came from England in 1699 and settled in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. They were Quakers in religion. On the paternal side they go back to John Yellott, who was brought from England as a child in 1780, set- tled in Baltimore county, married Rebecca (Ridgely) Coleman, daugh- ter of Reverend John Coleman and granddaughter of Colonel Charles Ridgely. The Reverend John Coleman was a native of Virginia and one of the eminent divines of his day. Captain Jeremiah Yellott was the designer and builder of the famous Baltimore ships known as clippers, the best sailing vessels ever planned, and which prior to the Civil war carried the American flag into every corner of the globe. Another of his forebears, General Israel Davidson Maulsby, was an eminent lawyer, a close friend of the famous William Pinckney. Gen- eral Maulsby was president of the Governor's Council, and had the . remarkable record of having been twenty-nine times a candidate and only once defeated.
Major Yellott's father, John Yellott, was an educated, practical farmer. His mother was a woman of strong religious feeling and exercised a most excellent influence on the moral life of the growing boy.
Young Yellott was a vigorous lad who followed the pursuits of the average country boy, but was also fond of books. He did work on the farm as most farm boys do, and can see that the effect was good. His first school training was in the public schools, and from these he went into the hands of competent private tutors at his own home. He took an academic course and desired a collegiate education, but this his father would not consent to, and the youth left home with the inten- tion of working his way through college. This design was never
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carried out. He entered the office of an uncle, the late William P. Maulsby, at Frederick, Maryland, and there read law, finishing his law studies under the Honorable John E. Smith, of Westminster, Maryland, where he was admitted to the bar before he was twenty years of age. He then went to Baltimore with the intention of prac- ticing his profession, but just at that time the outbreak of the Civil war occurred.
He differed with his family and relatives, all of whom were strong Southern sympathizers. He believed that no state had the right to secede, and that to secede was rebellion. He was disposed at once to enter the Union army, but in deference to the wishes of his family refrained until after the disaster at Bull Run. He could no longer restrain himself and then enlisted as a private. His military record was long, honorable and distinguished. He was a little past twenty- one when he entered the army. His qualifications and his faithful service brought early promotion : from private to lieutenant, from lieu- tenant to captain, and from captain to major. In the Gettysburg cam- paign he received a severe wound which unfitted him for active cam- paigning, though he remained in the army and was in command of the post at Frederick when Early invaded Maryland in 1864, and took part in the battle of Monocacy. In October, 1864, he finally retired from the service.
He then opened offices in Frederick and Washington for the practice of law. He was almost continuously employed before the military court at Martinsburg, West Virginia, until the civil courts were organized in 1865. His legal capacity, as shown in defending prisoners before the military court, led to his being retained by many persons having business in the civil courts of Berkeley and adjoining counties, and, in connection with Major Andrews, he opened offices in Jefferson and Berkeley counties. He rapidly gained a good practice, and by 1867 was recognized as a strong lawyer. He differed with the radical Republicans who wanted to treat the seceding states as con- quered provinces, and this forced him into affiliation with the Demo- cratic party, then known as Conservatives. He took an active part in the reorganization of the state government and the re-establishment of civil law. He was one of the six representatives of the state of West Virginia to the great Peace Convention held at Philadelphia in 1866, and represented his county in every county, district and state conven- tion held while he was resident in West Virginia.
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His public activities led him to a certain extent into journalism, and he became associate editor and publisher of the first Conservative or Democratic newspaper published after the war in the eastern sec- tion of the state. In 1867 he was compelled to return to Maryland. He took an active part in the fall campaign of that year and was sent as a delegate to the judiciary convention of the Third District. He finally decided to locate permanently in his native state, and in 1868 opened an office at Towson.
On the 2d of June in that year he married Miss Mary V. Frail, daughter of Edward Frail, of Frederick, Maryland. Seven children were born of this marriage, of whom six are now living.
In the famous murder case of Sam McDonald, who had killed Berry Amos, he was retained by the family of Amos to assist in the prosecution of MeDonald, and since that time has had a large and extensive practice, though he has lived up to the most rigid ethical standard, and has never sought business in his profession. In 1870 and 1871 he edited the Baltimore County Democrat, and in 1872 and 1873, in conjunction with William S. Keech, he edited and published the Baltimore County Herald, both of which were Democratic papers of high standard, and which taught sound principles of Democracy. Never an office seeker, while in the army he was nominated as a Re- publican for the office of State's Attorney in Baltimore county, which nomination he declined. For many years he served as counsel to the County Commissioners, and in 1870 was appointed Deputy State's Attorney. In 1877 the Democratic party met with defeat at the hands of the so-called " Potato Bugs." The Democrats recognized the fact that they had to strengthen their position, and Mr. Yellott was nomi- nated and elected to the legislature, and he was a prominent figure in that body, which then contained many of the leading men of the state. When Judge Burke was elected to the bench Major Yellott was appointed State's Attorney, but, disliking the duties of prosecutor, he resigned after a few months. However, while holding the office, he successfully prosecuted five murder cases pending at the time of his appointment.
Major Yellott has been an extensive reader of biography, history and standard literature generally outside of his professional reading. In retrospective view of the past he saw that it was his own preference that caused him to enter the legal profession. He felt the calling would be more congenial to him and that he could be more useful as a lawyer than as a farmer. And he now believes his early reading of biography
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to have been contributory to this conclusion. He sees that his own private study and contact with older men in active life were about of equal importance to him in the work of his profession. A modest man, he does not see where he has won any great success in a professional way, but the record shows the contrary. Among his elients he had for twenty-five years the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and other cor- porations. This of itself is a testimonial to his legal ability, for these great corporations do not employ poor lawyers.
He holds membership in the Masonic fraternity, the Grand Army and the Maryland Historical Society. His religious affiliations are with the Episcopal church. The old wound received in the army has prevented any active participation in athletic sports, and he finds his relaxations in cards, chess and on his farm.
Major Yellott has never aspired to authorship in a book-making way, but has contributed a number of articles to newspapers and maga- zines. He admits now that as a young man he was ambitious of hold- ing public office, and he tells that a little familiarity with politics and politicians nipped this ambition ; and that the ambition of his maturer years became a desire to be a useful lawyer and a good citizen.
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