Portrait and biographical record of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Part 48

Author: Chapman Publishing Company
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: New York, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 906

USA > Maryland > Portrait and biographical record of the Eastern Shore of Maryland > Part 48

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

the fall of 1875 he was elected county com- missioner, and officiated in that capacity four terms or eight years. After he had had but two years' rest he was once more brought to the front, this time to serve as register of wills for a period of six years. In 1891 he was honored by being elected to the state legislature, and when his term had expired was re-elected. He has been more fortunate than many public men in that he has never been defeated, either in nomi- nation or election, which speaks well for his pop- ularity.

The Strongs are an old family in these parts, and are of English extraction. Grandfather Will- iam Strong was born near Chestertown, and our subject's father, Thomas A., was a native of this district, and passed his whole life in this imme- diate vicinity. As a farmer he met with marked success, and at his death, which event occurred in March, 1895, he was in his eighty-fourth year, and had made a fair fortune. From his early years he was connected with the Methodist Church, and believed that whatever success at- tended him was because of his living a devout, sincere Christian life. In politics he was a Deni- ocrat. On reaching inanhood he married Cath- erine A. Eagle, who was also born within the boundaries of Kent County, and who died when she was only thirty-five.

T. R. Strong was born July 10, 1841, in this district, and remained under his father's roof un- til he was about fifteen years of age, when he be- gan clerking in a general store in Chestertown. He was thus occupied during the early years of the war, but in 1863 went to Baltimore and ob- tained employment in a dry-goods house as a clerk. Two years later he engaged in merchan- dising on his own account, at Edesville, Kent County, and made quite a success of this venture, selling out to good advantage some four years afterwards. Desiring a permanent home he moved to his present beautiful residence and farm, in- herited by his wife, to which he has added twenty- four acres, and has made it his dwelling place. He raises abundant crops and much excellent fruit, which finds ready sale.

Wickes, of this district, and they have seven chil- dren, viz .: Anna Page, James P., Mary Augusta, Elwood S., Martha Edna, Louisa and William R., all at home. The family are members of the Epis- copal Church.

ILLIAM H. BARTON, president of the National Bank of Cambridge, has attained distinctive preferment in financial, naval and social circles, and is one of the most promi- nent and influential citizens of Dorchester Coun- ty. He was born in the city which is still his home October 27, 1839, and attended the Cam- bridge Academy conducted by Dr. Barber, where he pursued a course in engineering. He after- ward secured a clerkship in the store of Mr. Creighton, was appointed in May, 1856, by J. C. Dobbin secretary of the navy, and on the 22d of September, 1856, entered as a cadet in the naval academy at Annapolis, obtaining the posi- tion through the influence of Judge Stewart, member of congress. Having pursued the reg- ular course in that institution he was graduated in June, 1860, and at once entered upon an active naval service that continued for seven years.

Mr. Barton was ordered to the Seminole, an American vessel which was engaged in the United States service on the coast of Brazil, until 1861, when he was recalled and landed at Dry Dock, Philadelphia, upon the day which wit- nessed the battle of Bull Run. He was next or- dered to aid in maintaining the Charleston block- ade, where he remained until the Hatteras ex- pedition, when he was sent to Fortress Monroe and the Potomac River. His next service was on the Wyoming and while thus engaged he was twice promoted, becoming past midshipman and master. He was afterward detached from the Potomac flotilla and ordered to join the Wyoming, which was then on the Pacific coast, and in order to do this he went by steamer to Aspinwall, crossed the isthmus and joined the vessel at

In 1867 Mr. Strong married Charlotte A. Panama. He was now second lieutenant and

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the Wyoming was engaged in the service to seize and capture all Confederate crafts on the South American coast, in conformity with the confisca- tion bill. In this way the Wyoming continued to do valiant service for the Union until relieved by the Pocahontas and ordered to San Fran- cisco, from which port she started on her next cruise in the Pacific to Cliina and Japan. It was during this memorable cruise that Mr. Barton and the other officers and men on the Wyoming achieved a brilliant victory over the combined opposition of three Japanese war ships and the forts situated along the harbor. An edict had been issued by the Mikado "to sweep the ugly barbarians who had invaded his empire into the sea," and the soldiers of his army immediately proceeded to attempt to execute this command. On the 25th of June, 1863, the very day on which the work of expelling the foreigners was to begin, the American steamer Pembroke, in the Japanese and Chinese trade, anchored in the Japanese har- bor to await a favorable tide, little suspecting that a hostile reception awaited it, but about midnight one of the three Japanese vessels sta- tioned in the harbor for this purpose opened fire on the Pembroke. Quickly slipping her cable, and with a full head of steam on, the Pembroke was backed away in the darkness. A German vessel and two French ships received even worse treatment at the hands of the Japanese, and such was the condition of affairs when the Wyoming went to the rescue. She gallantly made her way up the harbor until close alongside the Lance- field, the Japanese steamer, for McDougal, the commander of the Wyoming, wished to take the Japanese vessels by boarding. Soon, however, the men were called to their guns and a galling fire was opened on the Lancefield and batteries. So close were the vessels at this point that the smoke and flame of one came aboard the other. The battle soon began in earnest, and Lieutenant Barton and his division were in the very thickest of the fight and bore the brunt of the engage- ment, the lieutenant himself being slightly wounded, but the action was continued with re- lentless energy until the Wyoming had gained a complete victory, not only destroying the three

Japanese vessels, but also doing much damage to her forts along the shore. The Japanese lost fully two hundred killed and wounded and were compelled to pay to the owners of the Pembroke $12,000, wliile of the one hundred and sixty men on the Wyoming four were killed and seven wounded, two of whom died later.

In the fall of 1863 Lieutenant Barton was trans- ferred from the Wyoming to the Jamestown, 011 which he served until July, 1864, when he was relieved by Lieut. George F. Pierson and or- dered home, arriving at New York November 29, 1864. He was then stationed on the Lackawanna, in the west Gulf Squadron, relieving Lieut .- Com. C. S. Norton (now Admiral Norton) and served as first lieutenant on that ship until the close of the war. He was then ordered to the sloop of war Tuscarora, which in the company of the United States steamers Powhatan and Van- derbilt convoyed the monitor Monadnock front Fortress Monroe to San Francisco via the Straits of Magellan. They visited all of the leading ports on both sides of South America, exhibiting the celebrated monitor. In the early part of 1866 those on board of these ships witnessed the naval fight between the batteries of Callao and Val- paraiso and the Spanish fleet. In May, 1867, Lieutenant Barton resigned his office of lieu- tenant-commander, while the ship lay near Val- paraiso, and until the acceptance of his resigna- tion reached him he was on the staff of Admiral John A. Dahlgren.

The chief reason which influenced Mr. Barton in tendering his resignation to the officials of the United States Navy was that he might at length enjoy the comforts of home life. He married Miss Louisa Brown, whose father had lived in New York and had amassed a large fortune in contracting and building and in various invest- ments, and who erected several large custom- houses for the government of Chili. Returning with his bride to Cambridge, Mr. Barton soon be- came thoroughly identified with the public and social life of the place. His first wife died in 1874 and he subsequently re-married.

Mr. Barton was one of the prime movers in the establishment of the Cambridge National Bank,

WALTER O. SELBY, M. D.

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capitalized for $50,000, and from its organization in 1880 he has served as its president. He is a splendid mathematician, a superior accountant, a man of strong business and executive ability and has made the bank of which he is at the head one of the strongest and most popular financial in- stitutions in this section of the state. He was the promoter of the beautiful bank building, whichi was pronounced by the bank examiner of Maryland to be the handsomest and best bank building in the state. It was erected at a cost of $24,000 and supplied with all modern appoint- ments and equipments to facilitate business.

Mr. Barton is a prominent Mason and is a member of the Chesapeake Commandery at Easton. He is a gentleman of splendid social qualities, courteous, genial, affable and kindly, and is one of the most popular and highly re- spected citizens of Cambridge.

ALTER. O. SELBY, M. D., has resided in Rock Hall for several years, and in the meantime has built up a very good prac- tice here and in the surrounding country. He is a young man of most promising future and gen- eral and varied experience in the past in the line of his profession. By constant research and study of the leading thought of the day, as expressed in periodicals and books relating to the practice of medicine, he keeps posted in modern ideas and in touch with the march of progress. In few branches of human endeavor have more impor- tant changes been noted and greater differences appeared between the old and the new methods than in the treatment of the "ills that flesh is heir to." The doctor is somewhat conservative, pre- ferring to adhere to the old and tried rules where there exists a doubt, but at the same time he acknowledges the benefit that humanity has al- ready received at the hands of the later methods.

John Parker Selby, the father of our subject, was a native of Delaware, and in that state was educated. He read law in Philadelphia for a brief period, and after being admitted to the bar

started in legal practice in that city. He did very well for several years, when he met with severe misfortune in the loss of his voice. On that account, and because of an accompanying throat affection, he was obliged to give up his chosen vocation, and going to Virginia devoted himself to agricultural life until 1860. The very air of the south was rife with rumors of the ap- proaching conflict, and he decided to return home. He did not sell his property, however, and after farming in Maryland a few years he returned to his Virginia estates, near Fredericks- burg. Here he quietly spent the remainder of his busy, useful days, dying when about sixty - five. He was a Democrat in politics. His good wife, who was likewise a native of Delaware, and whose maiden name was Wilminia Beck, is still living on the old farm in Virginia and is well and active for one of her age, seventy-three years.

Dr. Selby was born during his parents' tem- porary residence in Maryland, on a farm in Car- oline County, March 12, 1862, and when the war clouds had rolled away went to the Virginia plantation belonging to his father. There being no good public schools in the neighborhood, he received his early training from a governess, and when he had arrived at a suitable age he was placed in Bowling Green College, of Caroline County, Va. He took a literary and scientific course in that institution, remaining there for some five years. We next find him enrolled

as a student in Richmond College, where he remained for a period of two years, and when that time had elapsed he entered the Baltimore Medical College. After taking the required lines of study he graduated with honors in the class of 1888. In order to obtain actual experience in the field of medicine, he next took two years of work in the Maryland General Hospital, becom- ing thoroughly acquainted with details that otherwise might have escaped his notice. Soon afterwards he settled in Rock Hall, and has a large and paying clientage. In a social way he has also become very popular. In politics he follows the teaching and example of his father, and uses his ballot on behalf of the Democratic nominees.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ILBERT M. SEARS, who passed away April 30, 1890, was one of the most re- spected citizens of Bay Hundred district, Talbot County. He spent his almost three- score and ten years in this neighborhood, around which his earliest recollections clustered. He was a man of sterling qualities of character, a man whose life was actuated by principles of justice and uprightness in all his dealings with his brother-men. He was industrious and perse- vering as a farmer, and succeeded well as a financier.

G. M. Sears was born on the bay shore Sep- tember 14, 1822, and always assisted in the man- agement of the homestead, from the time that he had arrived at a suitable age, with the exception of a few years when he was absent at Annapolis. His habits of unremitting attention to business, industry, and perseverance were acquired in his youth, and were among his prominent character- istics. His valuable homestead, comprising two hundred and fifty acres, has been known for a generation or more as Sears' Choice. It is picturesquely situated on the side of the penin- sula, bordering on the beautiful and famed Chesapeake Bay, which has been a fertile source of the prosperity and advantages claimed by this state, bringing, as it does, right into the heart of her territory, the wealth of the world, and affording employment to thousands of her citi- zens.

In 1879 Mr. Sears chose as his future com- panion and helpmate along the highway of life Miss Susie Lambdin, daughter of William and Catherine (Lowe) Lambdin, of Bay Hundred. The father died in 1869, when in his sixty-fifth year, and the mother died a few years later, in 1872, having reached the age of three-score years. But four of their children survive, four having passed to the better land. Georgia is the widow of Charles Smith. Robert L. and Harry C. are both practical farmers of this locality. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. G. M. Sears is Bessie M., who lives with her mother.

The parents of G. M. Sears were William and Elizabeth (Murdock) Sears, he being the third in order of birth in their family, numbering seven

children, viz .: William H., Margaret E., Gilbert M., Amanda M., John K., Charles E. and Mary E. The father and his sons were never very active in political affairs, but, realizing their duty as patriots, they did not fail to nse their right of franchise, their choice being the nominees selected by the Democratic party. They lent their earnest support to all the enterprises which tended to the progress and prosperity of the community in which they dwelt, and stood high in the estimation of all who knew them.

LEXANDER DICKSON IRWIN has been the founder or chief spirit in numerous im- portant manufacturing establishments, and built the whip factory at Snow Hill, which fur- nishes employment to many of our citizens and is numbered among the leading industries of the place. It is styled the Luray Manufacturing Company, and is a branch of the United States Whip Company, of Westfield, Mass., and has a capital stock of $2,200,000. The concern which was founded here by the subject of this article was called the A. D. Irwin & Brother Company up to 1894, when it was forced into the trust, and he is now the manager of the enterprise.

The Snow Hill Whip Factory was founded here in 1884, and is one of the largest of the kind in the country. The process of manufacturing raw-hide centers for whips, as is done here, is an interesting and expensive business. The material used is the hide from the female or cow buffalo of India, as no other kind of hide has sufficient elasticity. The hides are put through the tan- ning or soaking, cutting, twisting, drying and pol- ishing processes, in order to make them tough yet very pliable and strong. Mr. Irwin is a man of much inventive genius and has instituted many of the methods in use in his factory. He employs forty-five men and makes as many as five thou- sand whip-centers per day in the busy season. Among the other business houses in which Mr. Irwin is now financially concerned is that of A. D. Irwin & Brother, located at the corner of

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Mascher and Columbia avenues, Philadelphia. The firm is extensively engaged in the manufac- ture of cotton dress fabrics, and two hundred looms are kept running in order to meet the de- mands of the market. In the same building is the factory of the Columbia Thread Works, of which Mr. Irwin is one of the owners, it making a specialty of glazed whip thread and spool cot- ton. He is also a partner in the Columbia Mill, situated at the same place in the Quaker City, owned by R. S. Irwin & Co.

A. D. Irwin was born October 2, 1839, in Phil- adelphia, and in that city he was educated and reared. His father, an Englishman, was a mem- ber of the firm of Irwin & Stinson, successful cloth manufacturers of Philadelphia. He came to this country when nineteen and worked his way upward until he was a man of wealth and position. A. D. Irwin doubtless inherited some of his superior business talents from his father, and is to-day also a capitalist, with investments in numerous paying industries. In national poli- tics he is a strong Republican, but in local affairs does not let party lines prevent him from voting for the men whom he believes best fitted to meet the wishes of the people. He has served as a member of the city council, and has done a great deal for the place in the way of favoring improve- ments, sidewalks, street repairs, etc. Although a comparative stranger in Snow Hill, no one has more friends or more sincere ones than he, and, while the town is Democratic in tendency, such is his popularity among all classes that he could fill about any office in the place should he con- sent to do so, so the citizens say. Last election, though he was not a candidate upon either ticket for the position of member of the city council, he nevertheless received seventy votes, truly a remarkable compliment to him. At this writing he is one of the three councilmen of Ocean City, Md.

The first marriage of Mr. Irwin was solemnized in his native city, Miss Lizzie Todd being the lady of his choice. They became the parents of three children, viz .: Lillie, Blanche and Florrie. Lillie is the wife of Dr. Paul Jones, of Snow Hill. Blanche married John L. Nock, formerly post- master of Snow Hill. Florrie is Mrs. Walter

Doyle, of the Quaker City. After Mr. Irwin's second marriage, in 1880, with Miss Rose E. Truitt, of this place, he decided to settle in Snow Hill, as he was pleased with the climate, people and lovely scenery of the Eastern Shore, and he has never regretted his choice of a home location. To himself and wife three children have been born, Alexander Dickson, Jr., Mabel and Rose.

IRVING BOWDLE. The dry-goods firm of Cornwell, Bowdle & Co., of Cam- bridge, is among the best known in Dor- chester County, and its success is due no less to the energy of the junior member than to the ex- perience and counsel of the senior member of the firm. In 1891 they purchased an entirely new stock of goods, and again entered business on Race street, where they have a two-story building with a frontage of twenty-eight feet and a depth of one hundred and ten feet, and fitted out with all the modern improvements, including a system of carriers on wires for cash and merchandise.

The subject of this sketch is a son of William H. Bowdle, formerly a well-known business and newspaper man of Cambridge, to which place he came from his native county of Talbot at the age of twenty years. Purchasing the Cambridge Democrat, he carried it on for ten or more years, and then founded the Cambridge Herald, and still later established the Cambridge Telegraph, which was sold to Col. Clement Sullivane and was merged into the Chronicle. The father was a practical newspaper mian, an excellent writer and possessed force of will and determination of character. He died in 1880, when sixty-four years old. His widow makes her home with her only surviving child, and is now seventy-two years of age.

In Cambridge, where he was born June 15, 1860, our subject received a public-school educa- tion. He left school in 1876 and entered the employ of Webb & Co., in Vienna, but after a short time with that firm he accepted a position with Thomas W. Anderson & Co., with whom

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he remained until their failure in 1884. The following year he became a partner of Z. D. Jones. He then formed a partnership with T. E. Barnett and under the firm name of Bowdle & Barnett established what became the nucleus of the present business. June 1, 1889, T. T. Corn- well was taken into the firm, which became Cornwell, Bowdle & Co. The business was con- ducted on the corner of Race and Gay streets until the fire that consumed Henry Mayer's store, which stood on the site of the present busi- ness. At that time T. E. Barnett and J. R. Brat- ton bought out the stock of Cornwell, Bowdle & Co., and the latter firm bought an entirely new stock. Since then, 1891, they have built up an extensive business, amounting to $50,000 an- nually.

In 1894 Mr. Bowdle married Maggie, daugh- ter of T. E. Wright, and they have one child, Helen Louise. They are members of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church South, in which Mr. Bowdle is a trustee and steward. In 1893 he built the residence on Race street that he has since occupied. Politically he favors Democratic principles, but his attention is so closely given to business matters that he has little opportunity to interest himself in public and political matters.

AMES LAWRENSON BRYAN, M.D. Pro- bably to no man in the state do the schools of Maryland owe more than to this gentle- man, and their development and promotion to their present advanced position have resulted largely from the impetus he has given to the work since serving as school examiner, to which position he was appointed in 1866. He has in- spired and enthused teachers to greater efforts, has aided and encouraged and has secured the passage of many measures which have been of direct benefit to the school system of the state. Himself a man of scholarly attainments, he has done all in his power to promote that mental cul- ture which alone determines the worth of the individual, and thereby produces a better citizen-

ship and a more enlightened commonwealth. The honors that should ever crown a well-spent life are his, and the respect of the entire state is accorded him.

Dr. Bryan was born in Cambridge, Dorchester County, August 25, 1824, and is of English de- scent. The founder of the family in America was the grandfather of Richard Bryan, the great- grandfather of our subject. The latter was the father of Capt. Charles Kennerley Bryan, a native of Cambridge, who served as captain of an artil- lery company in the war of 1812. His son, James Bryan, the doctor's father, was a man of much prominence in the political affairs of the nation and served in the department of the in- terior. He was the first Republican in Dorchester County, was state elector in 1856, when John C. Fremont was a candidate for the presidency, and was a member of the Maryland delegation that in 1860, at the Republican national convention, gave Abraham Lincoln the nomination over Salmon P. Chase. This was largely due to his vote, the Maryland delegation holding the bal- ance of power. He married Emily Le Compte, of French descent, belonging to one of the lead- ing families of the Eastern Shore, the ancestors fleeing from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Bryan was again married. He removed with his family to Norfolk, Va., where he en- gaged in merchandising and afterward went to Petersburg, that state.

Dr. Bryan spent his early life in that state and attended the schools of Norfolk and Petersburg. He entered the Virginia Military Institute, in Lexington, in 1840, and after his graduation in 1843 became a teacher in the Petersburg Military Academy, teaching in both the military and scientific departments until entering the military service of his country. He organized a company to go to the Mexican war and served throughout that struggle as first lieutenant, being honorably discharged in 1848.

Dr. Bryan then continued the study of medicine in the University of Maryland and kept up his preparation for the profession in the Washington University, at Baltimore, where he was graduated

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Portrait and biographical record of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Part 48

Author: Chapman Publishing Company Publication date: 1898 Publisher: New York, Chapman pub. co. Number of Pages: 906

Author: Chapman Publishing Company
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: New York, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 906