USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland biographies of leading men in the state, Volume I > Part 11
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At the time when Mr. Hood formed this connection with the Western Maryland, the company was sorely in need of an efficient executive. At the suggestion of the president of the road, Mr. Hood's name was considered for an official position, and he was elected vice- president and general superintendent. A few months later, on March 24, 1874, upon the resignation of the temporary president, he was elected president and general manager of the Western Maryland. To the duties of these two offices were added those of chief engineer of the road; and Mr. Hood continued to perform the services devolving upon the incumbent of these three positions for nearly thirty years, until 1902.
The Western Maryland had just completed its road to the canal at Williamsport. The system then had a trackage of ninety miles, most of which was in wretched condition and could not be operated with profit. The company possessed almost no equipment; its trains were unsafe for travel, and its freight was poorly handled. The Western Maryland in 1874 was absolutely bankrupt; the taxpayers of Baltimore were annually required to pay large sums of money in interest upon loans for the enterprise. Washington county was also heavily involved in the line.
Such were the conditions in 1874, when Mr. Hood became presi- dent of the Western Maryland; but before he resigned as president, the road had been placed in first class condition; it operated more than four hundred and fifty miles of track; its equipment was that of the best railroads; and the city's burden of carrying a large part of the expense of the Western Maryland had been converted into an inter- est in the road for which the purchaser of the company was willing
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to pay more than nine million dollars. In addition to these results, the country traversed by his road had been developed into one of the favorite summer resorts, as well as one of the most profitable farm- ing and dairying sections of the Atlantic seaboard.
It was the result of this advancing prosperity which deprived the Western Maryland of the services of President Hood in 1902. On account of the advantageous sale he was able to consummate for the city of Baltimore and Washington county, and as a conse- quence of this sale, his activities were directed to a new field. The street railways of Baltimore, some time before merged into one large company, needed an executive who would be able to perform the same work there which President Hood had done in connection with the Western Maryland. The United Railways and Electric Company invited Mr. Hood to become its president, and in view of the fact that the city had sold its interest in the railroad, he decided to tender his resignation, which was finally accepted with reluctance by the railroad company, and assumed the presidency of the street railway system. There was nothing in the business life of President Hood which gave him as great pain as did his separation from the employees who had stood by him during his twenty-eight years as president of the road for which all had labored together.
President Hood came to the United Railways at an opportune time. He had been with the street railways company but a short while when the great fire crippled the system. Through his unceasing labors and untiring energy the various lines were early restored to their normal condition. Through his instrumentality, too, the finan- cial condition of the company was greatly improved. He was the advocate of progress, whatever the field in which he labored. He overtaxed his physical powers in his endeavors to improve the street railways system of Baltimore, and as a direct result he suffered the physical breakdown which was followed by his death on December 17, 1906.
The two greatest accomplishments of President Hood's life-his rehabilitation of the Western Maryland Railroad and his rebuilding of the United Railways after the Baltimore fire of 1904, represented each a twofold attainment. The companies for which he labored, were both crippled for funds; as well as being somewhat involved in disputes with the people, from whom additional funds must come if they were to come at all. In both instances he won the things for
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which he had striven, and with it he also gained the confidence of the people, who, as a mark of respect and esteem, gave him the title of "General," by which he was always known. He was a man who accomplished remarkable things, and their accomplishment was all the more remarkable because of the quiet way in which he labored. The secret of his success lay in his unwavering fearlessness and deter- mination; and in his uniform courtesy. His most marked charac- teristic was perhaps that of being ever the gentleman. Regarded as the largest contributor to the prosperity of Baltimore and of Maryland during his generation he was still most unaffected and cordial in his manner and the most approachable of men. The source of his greatness really lay in his approachableness. His em- ployees, when they had occasion to confer with him, found in him one who made the task simple for them. It was neither difficult to see him nor to obtain his advice, and it was this democracy of his administration that won him the hearty support of those under him and made possible the apparently impossible things which he accomplished.
General Hood was married to Miss Florence Eloise Haden, and had six children. Mrs. Hood is a native of Goochland county, Vir- ginia, and a first cousin of the late P. W. Mckinney, who served as governor of Virginia. There were two sons, both of whom followed their father's profession as civil engineers, and four daughters.
JACOB WILLIAM HOOK
H OOK, JACOB WILLIAM, merchant, manufacturer, banker and president and director of many companies, of Balti- more, Maryland, was born in the city where he has lived for the last fifty-eight years, on the seventh of December, 1849. His father, Jacob Hock, was of German descent and birth (although one of his great grandparents was English) and before he left Germany had served as burgomaster of his native town. With his wife, Mrs. Catherine Hook, he left, Germany for America in 1847, and settled in Baltimore, where he became a large property holder in the northeast section of the city, and came to be identified with a number of the financial institutions of the city, although he always declined to be a candidate for political honors.
The boyhood of Jacob William Hook was passed in a suburban residence near Baltimore. He was fond of out-of-door life, and was a strong, hearty and happy boy. The influence of his mother upon his moral and spiritual life was deep and strong. He attended private schools through his early boyhood; but when he was fourteen years old, his eager desire to be actively engaged in business led his parents to con- sent to his withdrawing from school to enter the employ of a whole- sale grocery, commission and brokerage house. From that time, the boy became self-supporting; and in his boyhood and youth he estab- lished those principles of business life which have contributed to his success and have governed his relations with his business associates for forty years and more.
As shipping clerk and general clerk for Wilson, Son & Company, of Baltimore, he started in business in 1863. After some years with this firm, he entered the wholesale hide and tallow business, in which he has been steadily successful.
Mr. Hook is president of the Old Town National Bank; of the Provident Building and Loan Association; of the Western Maryland Building and Loan Association; and of the Imperial Bottle Cap and Machine Co. He is also a director of various financial and industrial companies and corporations. From 1SS3 to 1891 Mr. Hook served
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for eight years as " Director of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com- pany on the part of the City of Baltimore," and is now a director of the Valley Railroad Company on the part of said city. He has served as foreman and as assistant foreman of grand juries.
A course of reading in commercial law which he prescribed for himself early in life, he has found of great use not only for the conduct of his own business affairs, but also as a qualification for the discharge of those duties of trust for the interests of others which have been imposed upon him by his fellow-citizens and his business associates. Next after the influence of his early home, he regards as the strongest influence in shaping his life, "Contact with men who are engaged in the active business of life."
On the eighteenth of March, 1873, Mr. Hook married Miss M. Annie Miller. Of their four children, two are living in 1907.
His political convictions ally Mr. Hook to the Democratic party, whose measures and nominees he has uniformly supported. By religious belief and preference, he is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.
His favorite form of exercise and amusement is driving.
He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, and is Past Grand Officer of the Odd Fellows.
Without attempting to deal in detail with the work which Mr. Hook has been able to accomplish for the different companies and institutions with whose management he has been identified, it is proper to say that the press of Baltimore with great unanimity have given him the highest commendation for his business record as president of the Old Town National Bank, which has grown in reputation and increased in the volume of its business most steadily under his presidency.
To the young men of Maryland Mr. Hook offers these sugges- tions: "Select a vocation in the line of your natural ability; make honesty in thought and action the keynote of your life; and cherish a high ambition to do something for the honor of your family, your country, and God who offers eternal life to 'him that overcometh.'"
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WILLIAM LEE HOWARD
H OWARD, WILLIAM LEE, physician, was born at Hartford, Connecticut, November 1, 1860. He was the son of Mark Howard and Angeline Lee, his wife. His father, a native of Kent county, England, was a lawyer and president of the National Fire Insurance Company. His earliest known ancestors in America were Stephen Hart, who came from Colchester, England, in 1630, and the Lees, who were engaged in the French and Indian wars.
In his youth Doctor Howard traveled extensively with his father, and spent much time on long ocean trips, strengthening a constitu- tion which was naturally frail. He says: "My reading has been extensive, from Seamanship to Huxley, Darwin to Haeckel, Bible to Ibsen. Late years I have had to saturate myself with works on morbid psychology and mental diseases. Enjoy, and always did as a child, finding out the cause of things. Never took anything on faith, or accepted a statement from the pulpit, unless scientifically proved." Doctor Howard received his education with tutors in France; in the scientific department at Williston Seminary, East- hampton, Massachusetts; the Columbia School of Mines; College of Physicians; Columbia University, and was given the degree of M.D., by the University of Vermont, in 1890. He continued his studies at Bonn on the Rhine and Göttingen, Germany.
Not caring to follow his father in the business which he had planned his son should carry on, Doctor Howard found it difficult to get the money with which to pay for his education in medicine. As a physician he has specialized on Morbid Psychology and Dipso- mania. He states that he "prevented Mormon missionaries from taking a shipload of young Icelandic women to Utah. He explained Mormonism to the Icelandic Parliament in 1SS1, and was personally thanked by King Christian IX. Doctor Howard was war corre- spondent in the Sudan during Arabi Pasha's rebellion. In 1902, he published a novel bearing the name of "The Perverts." He has delivered lectures on his travels in Iceland, Egypt, and other remote
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regions. He belongs to the Chi Psi Fraternity, Columbia University Club, the Larchmont Yacht Club, and the Baltimore Athletic Club. He is vice-president of the Medico-Legal Society, a member of various committees of medical and scientific societies, and of the American Geographical Society, the Royal Berlin Geographic Society, and honorary member of many foreign societies. He is fond of yachting and boxing and all forms of athletics, and has written many papers on the physiology of strength and endurance made possible by out- door living.
Doctor Howard was managing editor, from 1885 to 1886, of the St. Paul "News," and is now special contributor to the New York "Sun," and other New York daily papers. He is a member of the editorial staff of the "Arena," and contributes special articles to the "Century Magazine" and "Contemporary Review." He is also engaged in psychologic investigations.
On July 7, 1885, he was married to Clara Oatman, of Hartford, Connecticut. They have one child.
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Very truly truly yours .
Wilbur W. Hubbard
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WILBUR WATSON HUBBARD
H UBBARD, WILBUR WATSON, manufacturer, banker and financier of Chestertown, Kent county, Maryland, was born September 19, 1860, at Greensboro, Caroline county, Maryland.
Educated by private tutors and at Washington College instead of a professional life he chose the more active career of a business man, becoming early a partner in the large fertilizer business established by his father in Chestertown. On the latter's retirement he became the sole proprietor of the business which has been rapidly developed under his vigorous and progressive management. He is also vice- president of the Hubbard Fertilizer Company of Baltimore, which does a business of about a million dollars annually. As an organizer and director of the Second National Bank of Chestertown, Mr. Hub- bard has been its representative in the Bankers' Conventions of Mary- land and at the World's Congress at Chicago in 1893. He built and owns the Imperial Hotel; he is a director of the Transcript Publishing Company, of the Diamond State Telephone Company, and of the Con- tinental Life Insurance Company of America.
To his personal efforts and influence was due the extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad to the water front, and the erection of its new depot in the heart of the town. He made possible the Public Square at Chestertown by advancing the funds and contributing liberally when the ladies of the town in conference with his wife conceived the idea of removing the old Market House and beautifying the site with a handsome fountain and flower beds. Mr. Hubbard had the grounds laid out and purchased the fountain, thus insuring this permanent improvement to the town and greatly enhancing property values in the business section.
Mr. Hubbard is an official member of Christ Methodist Protestant Church. He is a staunch Democrat, but he has never gone actively into politics.
To an ambitious spirit, vigorous habits of industry, the prompt adoption of modern methods in business, pleasant manners and integrity of character, Mr. Hubbard owes his prosperity.
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When asked to what he attributes his success, he answers: "To my mother, who Erst gave me courage and inspiration; and to my wife, whom I consult in business and whose judgment I regard as superior;" and further, "to these four maxims; Do it now, and do as you would like to be done by; people who never do any more than they get paid for, never get paid for any more than they do, and the most delicate and sensible of all pleasures consists in promoting the pleasure of others."
Mr. Hubbard is a descendant of the ancient family of Hubbards, of Essex county, England, whose lineage the official records trace back to the days of King Ethelwulf, 839.
The arms of this family, quartely, argent and sable, on a bend gule three lions passant (or), are the same which appear on the colo- nial tomb of Thomas Hubbard of Boston, and have descended in the families of his brothers who settled in Maryland and Virginia; five brothers having emigrated from England to the Colonies in the year 1660.
Of the same blood, are Governor Richard Hubbard of Texas; Congressman Daniel Hubbard of the Virginia branch; Nehemiah Hubbard, who was Washington's "paymaster of the north;" Gov- ernor Henry Hubbard of New Hampshire, Honorable Gardiner Hubbard, of Washington, District of Columbia, a long time presi- dent of the National Geographic Society; Judge Samuel H. Hub- bard of the supreme court of Massachusetts; and Honorable Lemuel Hubbard, lawyer, orator and statesman, whose statue in bronze stands near the Capitol in Boston; all these of the Northern branch.
Among the Hubbards of Essex county, England, forbears of the Maryland, Virginia and New England Hubbards, there are found members of parliament, knights, lord chief justice of common pleas, chancellor and keeper of the great seal, etc.
Adley Hubbard, the first of the name to arrive in Maryland, received from Lord Baltimore a patent for a large tract of land in Cecil county, known as "Hubbard's Delight," and later as "Ward's Hill." In the year 1705 this paternal estate passed into the possession of Richard Hubbard, oldest son and heir of the settler. Charles Hubbard of the next generation did not inherit the lands on the Sassafras river, being a younger son; but crossing into Dorchester county he received a patent from the Lord Proprietary for "Hubbard's Desire." This estate passed to his son, Soloman Hubbard, the father
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of the Jesse Hubbard (born 1741) who later served his country in the navy of the Revolutionary War.
After Caroline county was cut off from Dorchester county in the year 1773, Jesse Hubbard's lands were in Caroline county.
Lemuel Hubbard, son of Jesse, married Mary Rumbold, a daughter of Judge Rumbold, and niece of Peter Rumbold the great English banker. Their son, Thomas Rumbold Hubbard, married November 19, 1859, Josephine Mason Watson, of Delaware, daughter of George Watson, and a cousin of Governor Watson of that state, a lady distinguished for her personal charm and beautiful Christian character. Their children are Anna, the wife of Professor Rowland Watts, and Wilbur Watson Hubbard the subject of this sketch.
Ir 1890 Mr. W. W. Hubbard married Miss Etta Belle Ross, daughter of Judge James E. Ross, of Mexico, Missouri, and great- granddaughter of Colonel William Ross of the Revolutionary Army in Pennsylvania, a cousin of General George Ross of the same state, the distinguished signer of the Declaration of Independence. These American officers are direct descendants of the Earls of Ross whose Scottish lineage dating back to Malcolm I, Earl of Ross, 1153, is in the possession of Mrs. Hubbard, giving another most interesting line of ancestry to the children of Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard, Miriam Warren and Wilbur Ross Hubbard. The home of Mr. Hubbard is noted for its hospitality.
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OLIVER HUCKEL
H UCKEL, OLIVER, Congregational clergyman, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 11th, 1864. He is the son of William Samuel and Ruth A. Huckel. His father was engaged in manufacturing interests, served in the Civil War and was a man of physical health and strength, of religious and intellectual force, and of perennial optimism. Mr. Huckel's grand- father, William Huckel, came from England in 1775, and settled in Philadelphia. He served in Washington's Army where he was com- missioned as major. In boyhood, Mr. Huckel lived in the suburbs of Philadelphia, a healthy happy life, early showing decided tastes for reading, handicraft, drawing and sports. He learned mechanical and free-hand drawing, and some carpentering and lathe-turning which have been useful to him in many ways all through his life. His early education was acquired largely in the public schools of Philadelphia. Later he entered the University of Pennsylvania where he received the degree of A.B. in 1887 and that of A.M. in 1890. He took much interest while in college in special courses in literature, English, German and French, and had several years of training in newspaper work on college papers, and as special correspondent for other journals. Following a strong personal conviction in studying for the ministry, he went to the Boston University School of Theology and in 1890 was graduated with the degree of S.T.B. He pursued post-graduate courses at Harvard in 1891-92, at Berlin in 1894-95, and at Oxford in 1895-96.
In 1890, at Weymouth, Massachusetts, Mr. Huckel was ordained to the ministry and began active work as a Congregational clergyman. He remained there until 1893. In 1895, he became pastor of the First Congregational Church of the college town of Amherst, Massa- chusetts; and he left that church in 1897 to accept the pastorate of the old historic Associate Reformed Church of Baltimore, organized in 1797, and for a hundred years one of the leading churches of the city, numbering among its pastors the famous Dr. John Mason Duncan, Dr. John Leyburn, and Rev. Wayland D. Ball, and in its membership
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Very Faithfully yours Olive Huckel .
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many of the old families of Baltimore. In 1900, a later organization, the First Congregational Church, founded in 1866, added its member- ship and strength to the Associate Reformed Church, and the united church is the Associate Congregational Church, occupying, in a cen- tral location, one of the most beautiful and costly church edifices in Baltimore. The special characteristic of this church is its resolute stand for religious liberty, fellowship with all denominations, and . essential church unity.
The influences which have been strongest in his life, inducing him to strive for the best, have been contact with inspiring books, and with men such as Professor Austin Phelps of Andover, Bishop Phillips Brooks of Boston, and Principal Fairbairn of Oxford.
From 1890 to 1894 he was a member of the School Board in Braintree, Massachusetts. In 1904, Mr. Huckel was made a cor- porate member of the American Board of Foreign Missions. In 1900, and again in 1904, he was Moderator of the Washington (D. C.) Con- ference of Congregational Churches; and he has been President of the Congregational Ministers' Association of Baltimore since its organization in 1900. On January 7th, 1902, Mr. Huckel was mar- ried to Miss Elizabeth F. Johnson, of Montclair, New Jersey. They have two children, Oliver Wentworth and Haldane Johnson Huckel.
Mr. Huckel has traveled extensively, residing for months in Germany, Italy and Greece. He is director or manager in many of the charitable and church institutions of Baltimore. He has delivered frequent addresses of public interest, and has often spoken before the students of Johns Hopkins University, the Woman's College of Baltimore, Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, and other institutions of the higher learning. Among lectures which have been favorites with college audiences, have been "Student Life at Old Oxford;" "Sunny Days around Athens" and " A Spiritual Study of Dante."
Mr. Huckel's library is remarkable for its rare old volumes and illuminated manuscripts. He is the author of several books, among them: "The Larger Life," 1899; "The Melody of God's Love," 1900; "Parsifal: A Mystical Drama" (translated, with introduction), in 1903, "Lohengrin" (translated) 1905. He edited "A Poet and His Songs: A Memoir of Russell Powell Jacoby," in 1898. Among notable pam- phlets are those on "Higher Education and the Common People;" "The Faith of the Fathers and the Faith of the Future;" and three lectures on "The Therapeutics of Faith."
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Mr. Huckel has been a member of the following clubs and socie- ties: the Cold Cut Club, Boston, 1890; the Boston Browning Society from 1890 to 1894; and the Maryland Historical Society from 1899 to 1901. He now belongs to the Phi Beta Kappa Society; the Eclec- - tic Club of Baltimore, and the American Branch of the Society for Psychical Research.
German Kinh
GERMAN HORTON HUNT
H UNT, GERMAN HORTON, for more than half a century actively connected with many of the most important busi- ness interests of the city of Baltimore, was born on the 27th of December, 1828. He was the only child of Mr. Germyn Hunt and Eleanor Horton, daughter of Gen. Thomas Horton of the British Army. Mr. Hunt's father was a mechanical engineer who with his wife left Derby, England in 1820 to visit America, where after spend- ing a few years they decided to remain.
In his early boyhood, German Horton Hunt was not strong; but while still a very young boy he showed a remarkable fondness for studying machinery, and was especially interested in everything that pertained to locomotives and steamboats. Recalling the years of his boyhood, he feels that the influence of his mother was exception- ally strong on both his intellectual and his moral and spiritual life. The Bible was the book in which the whole family took the deepest interest; but in addition to his early-formed habit of reading and studying that book, he acquired in boyhood a love for all kinds of "solid reading," especially for history and biography, travel, and mechanics, as well as for poetry which he regards as no less useful in fitting men for the work of life.
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