USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland biographies of leading men in the state, Volume I > Part 13
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pledged the city's support, when viewed in retrospect, reveal to the latter-day citizen how wisely and well Mr. Latrobe planned.
Ferdinand Claiborne Latrobe, the son of John Hazelhurst Bone- val Latrobe, was born in the city of Baltimore, October 14, 1833. His father was a man of much versatility. By profession a lawyer, he displayed considerable aptitude for architecture; he showed no little merit as a painter in water colors and oils; and his invention of the Latrobe stove, which is extensively used in Baltimore and through- out the country today, attests a mechanical turn of mind. He was a member of the Public Park Commission of Baltimore, and president of the American Colonization Society and the Maryland Historical Society. Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the ex-mayor's grandfather was a man of French extraction whose ancestors had settled in Eng- land, whence he emigrated to America. He was an architect and civil engineer who stood high enough in his profession to be commis- sioned to supervise the construction of the United States capitol at Washington, after its destruction by the British in the war of 1812-14; and he also drew the plans for the Cathedral at the corner of Mulberry and Cathedral streets. J. H. B. Latrobe married a daughter of Ferdinand Leigh Claiborne, of Mississippi, a general in the United States Army and brother of William Claiborne, the first governor of the State of Louisiana. This Ferdinand Claiborne was a direct lineal descendant of William Claiborne the first settler of Kent Island, whose contests with Lord Baltimore form part of the early history of the Province of Maryland.
In early childhood, Ferdinand C. Latrobe cultivated a taste for good reading, and as he grew to manhood his love for books and his fondness for history especially, developed, He received his early training in Baltimore, attending the elementary schools of that city, and the Baltimore City College. Later he went to St. Timothy's Hall, near Catonsville, and from there to the College of St. James, near Hagerstown, Md. He did not, however, finish his undergrad- uate course at the latter institution, leaving college in the junior year that he might come to Baltimore to engage in mercantile business.
Mr. Latrobe entered mercantile life on the advice of his father, who thought that his son would thereby acquire valuable experience for his professional career, as he was destined to follow in his sire's footsteps and study law. After he had had what was regarded as sufficient experience in commercial matters, Mr. Latrobe, Jr., was
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taken into his father's law office, where he began reading for the bar examinations. He was admitted to the bar of Baltimore in 1858, since which time he has been a practicing attorney.
Mr. Latrobe was married in 1862 to Louisa, the oldest daughter. of Thomas Swann, who served in a number of public offices including those of Mayor of Baltimore and Governor of Maryland. Mrs. Latrobe died in 1864, and her son, Thomas Swann Latrobe, lived only to early manhood. In 1872, Mr. Latrobe was married to Mrs. Ellen Swann, the widow of Thomas Swann, and his first wife's sister-in-law. The second Mrs. Latrobe, who is the daughter of John R. Penrose, of Philadelphia, is the mother of three children, two daughters and a son.
After Mr. Latrobe had become a member of the Baltimore bar he was engaged as assistant counsel of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road Company, aiding his father, who, from the carly existence of the railroad to the end of his life was the company's general counsel. Mr. Latrobe made his political debut as the Democratic candidate for the Maryland Legislature, and in 1867 was elected a member of the House of Delegates. During the session of 1868-owing to the absence of the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means-Mr. Latrobe was appointed acting chairman of this committee. He was also on the Committee on Militia, and framed the militia law of the State which was enacted in the session of 1868. Under this act the Maryland militia was reorganized after its practical disintegration in consequence of the Civil War.
Mr. Latrobe was again a candidate for the lower house of the Legislature in 1869, and was again elected. He was chosen speaker of the house at the session of 1870. Governor Swann, when he took up the administration of the State affairs, appointed Mr. Latrobe judge advocate general of his staff; and he was reappointed to the same office by Governors Groome, McLane, Whyte, and Carroll, successively. Except for his services in this connection, Mr. Latrobe has seen no military service, although he has always been a close student of military affairs in the state and the nation.
After his somewhat extensive experience in the House of Dele- gates at Annapolis, Mr. Latrobe was nominated by the Democratic party of Baltimore to be its standard bearer in the mayoralty election, and he led the Democrats to success in 1875. He was reelected in 1877, 1879, 1883, 1887, 1891, and 1893, thus rounding out seven terms of two years each and making a total occupancy of the mayor-
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alty chair of fourteen years. During the years that Mr. Latrobe was mayor, great strides were made in the city of Baltimore. Many of the improvements that his administrations witnessed were inspired by him and all of them, no matter what their origin, were encouraged by the progressive mayor.
A complete list of the improvements either made or begun during his term at the City Hall would be too voluminous, but among the more important accomplishments are: the beginning and the comple- tion (within the amount appropriated, though at a cost of more than four millions of dollars) of the Gunpowder Water Works, whereby the city is supplied with drinking water; the establishment of a Harbor Board, through whose agency the inner harbor of the city was completed with a depth of 24 feet at mean tide; the erection of the ornamental bridges over Jones' Falls at Biddle, Chase, North, Calvert, and St. Paul streets; the establishment of the sunken gardens about Union Station known as Mount Royal Terraces; the opening of Mount Royal avenue and the removal of the old Bolton Depot; the opening of East Lexington street and the establishment of the City Hall Plaza; the widening of Fayette street, and also of the narrows of East Baltimore street and of Gay street; the purchase of Clifton and Federal Hill Parks; the removal of all railings from around city squares; the erection of the Baltimore City College and the Western High School, as well as of numerous buildings for grammar and primary schools.
While Mr. Latrobe was mayor, the old City Yard was abolished and in its place the present Harbor Board was established; two power- ful ice boats, the Latrobe and the Annapolis, by the use of which the harbor of Baltimore can always be kept open in winter, were built. Eutaw Place was extended to Druid Hill Park; the Municipal Art Commission was created; Riverside Park was extended; almost the entire storm water sewer system of the city was constructed; the Belt was annexed, whereby the land area of the city was more than doubled; laws and ordinances providing for the construction of the new Court House were passed; the great stone bridge on North Avenue, one of the largest structures of its kind in the country, was built; and the substitution of a system of improved pavements for cobblestone thoroughfares was commenced, over forty miles of improved streets being constructed. This list, which at most is merely a suggestion of the things accomplished by Mr. Latrobe's
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administrations, tells of untiring and unceasing activity on his part for the good of the city, which seven times elected him as its executive.
Mr. Latrobe is a member of the State Building Commission, created by the Legislature of 1900 and 1902, for the erection of the Court of Appeals building at Annapolis and of the additions to the State House. He is president of the Board of State Aid and Charities to which he was appointed by Governor John Walter Smith upon the formation of that body. He was president of the Board of Com- missioners from Maryland for the Industrial Exhibition at Charleston, S. C., and also president of the Board of Commissioners from Mary- land for the Industrial Exhibition at Buffalo, N. Y. Since 1902, he has been a member of the Public Park Commissioners of Baltimore City. He gives much of his time to the Maryland Institute, of whose Board of Trustees he has been a member for many years, and to the Municipal Art Commission of Baltimore. He is a member of the Masonic Order and a past master of Fidelity Lodge, A. F. and A. M.
Since his retirement from the mayoralty office Mr. Latrobe has devoted most of his time to his duties as president of the Consolidated Gas Company and to his law practice. He has made several reappear- ances in the political arena, and upon each occasion has acquitted himself with credit. He was elected a member of the House of Delegates, 1899, and served as chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means in the Legislature of 1900-the same chairmanship which he filled at the time of his first appearance in the General Assembly thirty-three years before. At the extra session of the Legislature in 1901, he was elected, for a second time, speaker of the House of Dele- gates, and by his discharge of the duties of this position he showed that his long service as mayor of Baltimore had not lessened his ability as a parliamentarian.
EUGENE LEVERING
I' N an urban community of any considerable proportions there is almost certain to exist an element, the members of which, while not holders of public office, are nevertheless looked upon by the people generally as public men. In times of uncertainty, when the public mind is distressed with problems that seem doubtful of solution, as well as in periods of calamity or commercial adversity, when the masses are tending toward panic, a word from the leaders of this element brings assurance to all the people, and their admoni- tions are promptly heeded. When a celebration is to be held, these citizens need only lend their names and the public is immediately assured of its success.
Prominent in the group of Baltimoreans who have won recogni- tion as belonging to this rather restricted class there is one whose name shines with especial lustre-Mr. Eugene Levering. For so many years has he been a leader in movements and agitations for public good, that his name has almost come to be accepted as an official stamp of excellence; the endorsement of Mr. Levering to a public or private enterprise is conclusive evidence of its merit and honesty.
Eugene Levering and his twin brother Joshua were born in Baltimore on September 12, 1845; and almost the whole of Eugene's life has been spent in his native city. His father, also Eugene Lev- ering, helped to found that coffee business which for many years was a considerable factor in spreading the commercial reputation of Balti- more. The family traces its descent from Wigard Levering, who came to America from Germany in 1685 and settled at Germantown, Pennsylvania. Parental training in its various directions, industrial, intellectual and spirtual, showed its influence in the development of Eugene Levering as a boy and a youth. His ancestors were lovers of liberty; and very early in life this love of liberty expressed itself in a measure of self-reliance, in thought and action. He had the faculty of concentration in a marked degree even as a boy; and in out-door sports, of which he was fond; in skating, gunning, etc., he
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applied that enthusiastic energy which made him the leader of his coterie.
He attended the best private schools of the day-Rippard's, McNally's, and Dalrymple's -- until July, 1861, when, because of finan- cial conditions consequent upon the outbreak of the Civil War, he left school, a mere boy of sixteen years of age, and entered the office of Levering & Co. as a clerk. Here, by steady application and the use of every opportunity, he became prepared to assume the responsibilities of the business which were unexpectedly thrust upon him in the summer of 1866,when illness incapacitated both members of the firm. Although not yet twenty-one years of age, young Levering met the trying demands successfully, and, after the death of his uncle in July of that year (1866), he was admitted to the new firm of E. Levering & Co., which consisted of Eugene Levering, Sr., and three of his sons: William T., Eugene, and Joshua.
Although the senior partner died in 1870, his will provided for a continuance of the firm for five years, and the withdrawal of his inter- est and the closing of the estate at that time-his three sons to be executors of the estate. The management of the sons had been so successful, that at the close of the period of limitation, the estate had doubled in value. In 1875 the new firm of E. Levering & Co. was created, Eugene Levering continuing as directing partner unti! 1902, when he withdrew from mercantile business, to give his undivided attention to his financial interests. IndSS6 the firm opened a house in Rio, Brazil, and a year later Mr. Levering visited this important branch of the business, which received the benefit of his personal super- vision and control until his withdrawal from mercantile pursuits.
Mr. Levering "started life" early along all lines. He joined the church as a youth, began business as a young man, and on Janu- ary 23, 1868, in his twenty-third year, married Mary E., daughter of James D. Armstrong, of Baltimore, by whom he has had three children. Through his entire life Mr. Levering has been essentially a man of domestic tastes and habits, and has built up around him a home life characterized by cordial hospitality and Christian principle. From 1858, when he was converted, under the ministry of Richard Fuller, D.D., of the Seventh Baptist church, until the present, he has been continually active in religious work. He has been a Sunday School teacher since 1863. In "accepting the truths of the Bible as the basis of one's own living and of his relations to his neighbor," he illustrates
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his belief by his life and his Christian activity. In 1871, he with- drew from the Seventh Baptist church to enter the Eutaw Place Bap- tist church as a constituent member thereof, and was elected a dea- con, which office he continues to fill. His enthusiasm was largely the determining factor in the establishment of several Baptist churches by the Baltimore Baptist Church Extension Society, of which organiza- tion he has been president for fifteen years or more. The Fuller Memorial and North Avenue Baptist churches owe their establish .- ment largely to his personal influence and energy. His work for his church and his denomination is not performed by substitute; he faithfully and personally attends to it and regards his accumulated wealth as a providential means for service to God and good to his fellow-men. He has been identified, however, not only with relig- ious work, but with many philanthropic, educational and benevolent organizations, the object of which is to uplift the people and incite them to higher aims and holier purposes. Benevolent institutions, indeed, occupy a generous share of his thought and service. He holds such offices as president of the Society for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor; treasurer of the Society for the Suppression of Vice; vice-president of the Charity Organization Society; and vice- president of the Home for Incurables; besides others of a similar nature. In 1893, he purchased a large building on Fayette street, in the center of the city, and, after remodeling and furnishing it he opened it as a workingmen's lodging house, which is still carried on successfully.
Mr. Levering has been interested in educational matters for many years. Since 1873, he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Columbian University at Washington, District of Columbia-now known as the George Washington University-and a trustee since 1899, of the Johns Hopkins University. In the year 1889 he presented the sum of $20,000 to the last named institution for the erection of a building for the use of the Young Men's Christian Association of the university-this being the fourth building espec- ially erected for such use in any college or university-and it has proved admirably adapted for a religious and social center of student life. At the same time, he provided for an annual course of lectures on religious topics to be given in the building, which during its continuance of ten years included many stimulating discussions of religious truth.
With a judicial cast of mind and strong convictions as to the duties of a citizen, Mr. Levering has never hesitated to side with what
THOMAS McCOSKER
M cCOSKER, THOMAS, of Baltimore, marine architect and builder of wooden ships, long the head of the firm of Thomas McCosker and Company, shipbuilders, elected a member of the Maryland House of Delegates for the sessions beginning 1872, 1874, 1878, 1880 and 1882, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on the 17th of September, 1834. Daniel McCosker, his father, was the son of a farmer in County Tyrone, Ireland. While a young man he emi- grated to St. Johns, New Brunswick, and afterwards he removed to Baltimore, Maryland, where he settled. He married Miss Hannah Clarke, of Baltimore.
The boyhood of Thomas McCosker was spent in the City of Balti- more, where he attended school. At the age of sixteen he entered upon a formal apprenticeship in a shipyard of Baltimore. This was in 1851, at about the time when the "Baltimore Clipper" was famous among the old sailing vessels and had a reputation all around the world. A certain romance attached to the building and sailing of these famous, swift birds of sea-commerce. No boy who had in his make-up any imagination could fail to have awakened in him, as he worked in building these clippers, a craving for definite knowledge of the manners and customs of the people in those ports of the world which the vessel he was building would visit, and where the reputa- tion of her class and her flag would make her the object of general attention. A thirst for a knowledge of history, geography, and many matters of science connected with shipbuilding and the sailing of ships was thus awakened in the apprentice boy. He became an eager reader of books of history and mechanics, and of all the text books which appertained to his business of shipbuilding; and a taste for philosophy was awakened in him. In his attendance at St. Pat- rick's Parochial School and at other private schools, he had awakened in him the wish to investigate for himself the reasons of things. His choice of shipbuilding as a life work was determined by the desire which began to grow in him in early boyhood to be able to build and sail sea-going vessels.
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He thoroughly mastered his business; first as an apprentice, then as a journeyman, later as a foreman, and still later as sub-con- tractor. He rose steadily in influence and authority and from 1873 he was at the head of the shipbuilding firm of Thomas McCosker and Company.
Even before this time, his fellow citizens had discerned his ster- ling qualities, and had chosen him their representative in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1872. He was four times reelected, the last time in 1882. From 1901 to 1904 he served as a member of the board of school commissioners for Baltimore; and in 1904 he was reappointed for a term of six years until 1910. In the Legislature of Maryland he gave close attention to the matters which were brought before the House of Delegates for five terms, and especially during the stormy sessions of 1880 and 1SS2. He advocated what seemed to him wise and good legislation and opposed measures which he felt would have bad results on the life and interests of his State. He felt himself above mere partisan considerations. The agitation in Baltimore, somewhat later, which resulted in the passage of wise and good election laws, seems to have been the direct sequence of the reform work of the sessions of 1880 and 1882, in which Mr. McCosker had an honorable and a leading part.
He has always been allied with the Democratic party, but has refused to bind himself irrevocably to a blind partisanship, always reserving the right to vote for other candidates or other measures if the interests of the people seemed to him to demand it.
By religious conviction he is identified with the Roman Catholic Church.
On the 20th of October, 1859, he married Miss Anna McSweeny. They have had four children, but one of whom, Henry C. McCosker, is living in 1907.
As might have been inferred from his early tastes, Mr. McCosker has found his favorite amusement and relaxation in -yachting.
Asked for suggestions which would strengthen the sound ideals of American life and help the young people of his State to attain true success, he says: "A man should equip himself thoroughly for the business which he proposes to follow; and should build up a repu- tation for integrity, and maintain it in all his dealings."
THEODORE KLEIN MILLER
M ILLER, THEODORE KLEIN. A study of the lives of . successful business men leads to the impression that as a rule an early touch of financial adversity-or at least a pressure of moderate circumstances -- making necessary self-denial, proves of inestimable value in the formation of business character · and the development of business ability. A personality which is strong enough to endure privation without giving place to pessimism or bitterness will usually emerge from the experience better equipped for the tasks of life than if there had been no season of trial.
The late Daniel Miller, who founded the Baltimore house of Daniel Miller and Company, was a pure "self-made" man. His parents were poor and unable to give their son a liberal education. His father, also Daniel Miller, had emigrated from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania, where he pursued the profession of school teaching. When he became convinced that he must carve out his own fortune in the world without much aid from others, the son left his home and started in the business world to win for himself a posi- tion. He built up the firm of Daniel Miller and Company, which has since become a corporation under the name of the Daniel Miller Company, and has spread its fame from one end of the country to the other and he was chosen president of the National Exchange Bank of Baltimore.
His son, Theodore Miller, did not know in his early life the ease which is enjoyed by most sons of well-to-do parents. He received a good elementary education; but the years which might otherwise have been spent at college, had his father already at that time won great success, were instead spent in laboring in more or less humble positions for the same end toward which Mr. Daniel Miller aimed. From a junior clerkship he rose to be the head of the house which bears his father's name; and the son has not only won for himself a place among the successful self-made business men, but he has contributed very materially toward the success won by his father.
Theodore Klein Miller was born at Lovettsville, Virginia, on September 8, 1844, the son of Daniel and Mary Ann Miller. His
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entire school training was received at the public schools of Baltimore. After completing the grammar school course he entered the Baltimore City College, from which he was graduated in 1863, taking the first Peabody prize of one hundred dollars, and being chosen to deliver the honorary oration of his class. In September of the same year he began his business career, entering the store of his father. He had realized at the time of his entrance at the City College that he should probably have to pursue a mercantile career; and he had come to look forward eagerly to the time when he could enter busi- ness life. From the bottom round of the ladder, by perseverance, industry, and determination he worked his way up to a position of eminence in the business. As president of the Daniel Miller Company he is at the head of one of the largest wholesale dry goods houses of the South, his firm doing an annual business of between four and five millions of dollars. Both in the amount of business done, and in the extent of territory covered, the firm is steadily growing in importance.
Although the house of Daniel Miller and Company and its suc- cessor, the Daniel Miller Company, have made constant and close demands upon Mr. Theodore Miller, he has, nevertheless, found time to devote to other enterprises. He is a member of the board of directors of the Hopkins Place Savings Bank; a director in the Mer- chants and Manufacturers Association of Baltimore City, and presi- dent of the Merchants and Manufacturers Building and Loan Asso- ciation. He is a member of the board of visitors to the Baltimore City College, and has been an active worker in the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Miller was president of the Presbyterian Association for a number of years, and in his own church he is an elder, president of the board of trustees, and superintendent emeritus of the Sunday School.
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