USA > Maryland > Portrait and biographical record of the Eastern Shore of Maryland > Part 71
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active part in its proceedings and without de- tracting from the merits of his associates he was conceded to be more able in debate than any members of that body. There he made his great argument upon the tenure of the judicial office. The question before the convention was the election of judges by the popular vote for a term of years, they to be eligible for re-election. Al- though he considered the election of judges by the people an unwise provision, he considered the tenure by which they would hold the office, if elected, by far the most objectionable feature of the proposed system. He argued with great force the paramount importance of preserving the abso- lute independence of the judges; and that to elect a judge for a term of years with the right to be a candidate for re-election, would present a tempta- tion calculated to influence him in the discharge of his official duties and to weaken the confidence of the people in his integrity and impartiality. That speech was never successfully answered and was at that time and has been since, consid- ered as strong a presentation of the question as has ever been made in this country.
The ability of Judge Chambers as a judge of the court of appeals of Maryland is attested by the numerous opinions he delivered during the seventeen years he held the office. Those opin- ions are published in the reports of the cases argued before that court and are characterized by clearness of analysis and strength of argument rarely met with in judicial opinions. Under the system then existing he was also one of the judges of the circuit court in the judicial circuit in which he resided, with two associates, Judges Eccleston and Hopper. As a nisi prius judge, he was ready and prompt in the trial of cases and in the facility with which he dispatched the pub- lic business he was not excelled by any judge in the state.
In the year 1864, during the Civil war, the federal soldiers had control of Maryland. A con- stitutional convention was assembled for the avowed purpose of abolishing the constitution of 1851 and adopting another. The members who constituted the majority of that body had been elected by the influence of the military. Judge
Chambers was also a member of that convention, having been elected by the conservative voters of his native county. The most ultra propositions, which attacked not only the rights of private property, but also the right of the citizen to vote, were introduced in the convention. Judge Cham- bers, although opposed to the secession of the southern states, being of the opinion that the step was not justified by any act of the Federal gov- ernment, protested against those revolutionary measures and used every effort in his power to defeat them. His opposition was unavailing, as neither argument nor a sense of justice could in- fluence those who had control of that convention and who intended by such means to perpetuate their power.
Judge Chambers was a member of the Protest- ant Episcopal Church and had been one of the vestrymen of the church in Chestertown for more than thirty years. He took an active interest in every matter which concerned the welfare of the church and was for many years a delegate to its general conventions. His profound knowledge of the constitution and canons of the church gave him great prominence in those conventions, and the influence of his opinions was always felt and acknowledged. For many years previous to his death he was president of the board of visitors and governors of Washington College, his alma mater, and uniformly manifested a deep interest in its success and welfare. When lie retired from the bench in 1851 he resumed the practice of his profession to the extent of participating in the trial of cases, and the same vigor and ability for which he had been distinguished in early life were again displayed. He possessed a vigorous intellect, with quickness of perception which amounted almost to intuition, combining a re- markable power of analysis and irresistible logic. As a speaker he was calm and unimpassioned, addressing himself to the judgment and reason of his audience. He never indulged in declama- tion and lightly esteemed that style of oratory. He deservedly ranked among the most distin- guished men of Maryland and was so regarded by his contemporaries.
He died February 28, 1867, leaving the follow-
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ing children: James B .; Laura, who married George L. Davis; and Caroline, wife of George W. T. Perkins. Four of his children died while he was living, namely: Elizabeth Augusta, who married Rev. Dr. Jones; Sarah Maria Louise, who was the wife of Rev. Mr. Owen; Helen and Mary Clare. He was buried in the cemetery near Chestertown, where a suitable monument to his memory has been erected.
AMPDEN POLK DASHIELL, of Princess Anne, is one of the active and progressive business men of the Eastern Shore and rep- resents a family well known in Maryland history. When about twenty-one years of age he embarked in the mercantile business with his father, and when the latter retired after six years he turned his attention to the insurance and steamboat busi- ness. Through his efforts in 1888, a bill, which had been several times defeated, was passed, ap- propriating different sums, amounting finally to $25,000 for the dredging of the Manokin River. As manager of the Manokin Steamboat Com- pany he ran a steamboat that connected with the Baltimore steamers at Deal's Island in Tan- gier sound. The consolidation of other com- panies into the Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic Railway Company forced him out of the busi- ness, and he then became engaged in insurance, representing eight companies as their solicitor and their adjuster in cases of fire in his territory.
The grandfather of our subject, Seth Dashiell, M. D., was born on the Eastern Shore, where he spent the greater part of his life and engaged in the practice of medicine. He died when advanced in years. His father, Arthur Dashiell, was prom- inent in Maryland during the latter part of the eighteenth century. Our subject's father, Hamp- den Haynie Dashiell, was born in Accomac County, Va., but when an infant was brought to Somerset County, Md., where he continued to reside until his death. His education was re- ceived in country schools and the Washington Academy at Princess Anne, after which he read
medicine under his father's supervision, and also took two courses of lectures. The profession, however, was not suited to his tastes, and believ- ing he could succeed better in other lines, he turned his attention to business pursuits.
The family owned a large tract of timber land, and his first business enterprise was the construc- tion of a large sailing-vessel, which was one of the largest on the Chesapeake Bay. He took part in the organization of the Wilson-Small Steam- boat Company (of which he was an owner and director), which was afterwards merged into the Maryland Steamboat Company. On coming to Princess Anne, he formed a partnership with Col. William J. G. Polk and inaugurated a mercantile enterprise that became the most important of that time of any concern on the Eastern Shore. For about thirty-five years he was connected with this business, and its success was largely due to his energy and ability. The money gained in com- mercial transactions he invested in land and at one time was the second largest tax payer in Somerset County. However, the Civil war and depreciation in land values brought him reverses, as it did to most of the southern slave owners and planters, and his financial losses were very heavy. He believed that small fruit could be cultivated successfully on the Eastern Shore and, acting on this belief, he engaged in the business, of which he was a pioneer on the shore. In 1878 he sold out his mercantile establishment and in 1879 he was elected on the Democratic ticket register of wills of Somerset County and served one term of six years, at the expiration of which time he was re-elected with the largest majority ever received by any candidate in the county. During the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago he was a member of the board of managers for Maryland. In 1894 he was appointed collector of revenue for the first district of Maryland at the port of Crisfield, which is the third largest port of the United States in the number of ves- sels registered, though not in the tonnage. This position he held until the time of his death, which occurred suddenly on June 15, 1895, being caused by apoplexy. He was a man of unusual mental and physical activity, a tireless worker for any
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enterprise in which he believed, and always loyal to the interests of his county and state. He was recognized as the champion of the poor, and his distinguishing characteristic was charity. His name was mentioned as a candidate for congress in 1892, and he was frequently honored by posi- tions of honor and trust. Not infrequently he represented his party in state and congressional conventions as a delegate. Fraternally he was connected with the Knights of Pythias. For many years he was a vestryman of the Protestant Epis- copal Church, of which he was an active member.
A list of the enterprises with which H. H. Dashiell was connected would include the most important plans devised for local progress. He was a promoter and projector and always a direc- tor of the old Eastern Shore Railroad, now the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad. As a director, and afterwards president of the Atlantic Hotel Company, he was intimately con- nected with the founding of the popular summer resort of Ocean City, Md. He was also a pro- moter and director and for a number of years the president of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Somerset and Worcester Counties, and also a trus- tee of Old Washington Academy. Not only was he interested in the raising of fruit, but also in its canning and shipping, and he was the first to adopt the plan of evaporating small fruits. For some time he was connected with the old Mary- land Fruit Packing Company, of Princess Anne.
Three times married, the first wife of H. H. Dashiell was Eleanor Kennerly, daughter of Henry and Mary Kennerly, and a native of what is now Wicomico County. She died in young woman- hood, leaving a son, Cassius Marion, who is now an attorney at home and also interested in the fruit-packing business. His second marriage united him with Aurelia, daughter of Caleb and Julia Ann Kennerly, who died in 1857. She left an only son, Hampden P., who was born in Prin- cess Anne, September 18, 1856, and was only six months old at the time of her death. Afterward Mr. Dashiell married Elizabeth, daughter of Col. William T. G. Polk. They became the parents of four sons, namely: Edwin, who died in boy- liood; John Woodford, a railroad man now in
West Virginia; Louis, who is also interested in railroading and resides in Maryland; and William Henry, an agriculturist of Somerset County.
Our subject was educated in the public schools and Washington Academy. He left school to engage in business, and has since led an active and successful life. Politically he is a Democrat. For several years he was clerk to the board of county commissioners, and was the first county treasurer under the law creating that office in the county, being elected to the office while still serv- ing as clerk. When fourteen years of age he . united with the Protestant Episcopal Church, and is now senior warden of Somerset parish. Fraternally he is connected with the Heptasophs. Besides his other interests, he owns several farms and other valuable real estate. He is a director and was a promoter of the People's Bank of Somerset County, located at Princess Anne. He is mar- ried, his wife having been Bertha Bayly Smith, daughter of Dr. Charles Smith, of Northamp- ton County, Va.
OL. EDWARD LLOYD. "Wye House" is one of the best known estates on the Eastern Shore. It lies on the banks of the Wye River, in Easton district, Talbot County, and takes its name from the Wye River in Wales, near which the family resided in generations long gone by. While the value and size of the estate were greatly diminished by the vicissitudes of the Civil war, it is still one of the principal places in the county. As in the happy days before the war hospitality was one of the principal character- istics of the family, so it is now. Many people of renown have been entertained within the home, not the least important of whom was Jefferson Davis, who was frequently a guest here.
The first representative of the Lloyd family in America was Edward Lloyd, who came to the colony of Maryland in 1640 and afterward figured conspicuously in the history of the province, being surveyor-general and also governor of the province under Lord Baltimore. He emigrated
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from Wales, where another branch of the family now possesses estates on the river Wye. Receiv- ing a large grant of land on the Eastern Shore, he gave the name of Wye to the river that bordered it. Tlie estate has continued in the family and large additions have been made from time to time, so that the present value of the place, now owned by our subject, is considerable.
It may be said that perhaps no other family in the history of Maryland, from its earliest settle- ment to the present time, has furnished so many distinguished and able men to the country as has this family. The colonel's great-grandfather was a member of the continental congress and his portrait is included among the figures in the great painting, "Washington Resigning his Com- mission," that hangs in the senate chamber. The grandfather, also a man of great talent and illus- trious name, was president of the senate of Mary- land, member of the United States senate, and governor of Maryland from 1809-1811. The father was president of the senate in 1851-52. All of these bore the name of Edward, a name that has been given to the eldest son of each generation following the original settler. There are eight Edward Lloyds buried in the family cemetery at Wye House and three of the name are still liv- ing.
The father of our subject was born in Easton district, at the old homestead, and, as above inti- mated, was a man of much prominence. In youth he took a course of medical lectures in Philadelphia, but being the possessor of an ample fortune he never practiced his profession. His time was given to the management of his planta- tion and to the discharge of his duties as the in- cumbent of local and state offices. He was a senator from Maryland and in 1851 was a mem- ber of the constitutional convention. His death occurred in August, 1861. His marriage united him with Alicia, daughter of Michael McBlair, who was a prominent merchant in the early days of Baltimore. She died in 1838, having been the mother of five children, of whom three are living: Edward; Alice, widow of Gen. Charles S. Winder, of Easton district, who was killed at Cedar Mountain during the Civil war. (He was a
graduate of West Point and was in the command of "Stonewall" Jackson. ) and Sally S., widow of David C. Trimble, who was a son of Gen. I. R. Trimble.
During the past fifty years Colonel Lloyd has borne a distinguished part in the political and social history of Maryland. He was born Oc- tober 22, 1825, in Baltimore, Md. He attended the local schools, also studied at College Point, L. I., where he was fitted for Princeton College, from which he graduated in the class of 1847, in the classical course. Before he was twenty-one years of age he was elected to the house of dele- gates, but passed his majority before the opening of the legislature. He was the youngest member of the body and acquitted himself with great credit. During the war with Mexico he entered the state militia and was made captain on the staff of Gen. Tench Tilghman, later being on the staff of Major-General Handy as major. The Maryland complement being already filled the regiment to which he belonged was not called to go to the war. He was also a member of the staff, with the rank of colonel, of Gov. P. F. Thomas during his official term, 1848-1852. In 1849 he was again elected to the house of delegates and took a leading part in matters brought before that body, but the care of his large estate took so much of his time that he retired from public life in order to devote himself to personal interests. He was the largest slave owner in the state, and also owned many slaves and large tracts in Mississippi. The results of the war were very disastrous, caus- ing the loss to him of more than $1,000,000 in property.
In 1876 Colonel Lloyd was elected to the state senate. His previous experience in the legis- lature was of great value to him now, and he at once took a high position among the members of his party. He was unanimously elected presi- dent of the senate in the session of 1880, receiv- ing the full vote of all the members. In 1884 he was again chosen to represent his constituents in the house of delegates, and in 1888 was elected to the senate, of which, in the second session, he was again made president in the session of 1892. A life-long Democrat, he believes firmly in the
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principles of free trade. In 1896 he was a dele- gate to the "sound money" convention held in Indianapolis and was an elector on the Palmer- Buckner ticket. By travel in this country and the West Indies he has gained the culture which one can alone gain by coming in contact with the people of different localities and studying their customs and habits.
The marriage of Colonel Lloyd, June 5, 1851, united him with Mary H., daughter of Charles Howard, of Baltimore, and granddaughter of Jolin Eager Howard and Francis S. Key. Eight chil- dren were born of their union, namely: Edward, a lieutenant in the United States navy; C. Howard, at home; McBlair, who occupies an estate adjoining the old homestead; John Eager, and DeCoursey, both of whom reside in Chicago; Alice, Elizabeth and Mary, who are with their parents. All the children have been carefully educated. The family attend the Protestant Episcopal Church.
OBERT DINES BRADLEY, inventor and constructing engineer and one of the most prominent men of Caroline County, has at- tained more than local fame through his success as an inventor, and is accorded a high position in the scientific world. He is a member of one of the oldest families on the Eastern Shore and through his mother traces his lineage to a French ancestor, who was the sole representative of his family to make settlement in America. Born in Federalsburg, this county, in 1842, he is a son of John and Chloe A. (Dines) Bradley. His father, who was born in Dorchester County, engaged in carpentering throughout his active life, and was known as an expert cabinet maker. In his fam- ily there were the following-named children: Sarah, wife of J. F. Hurley, of Linchester; John W., P. M., also a resident of Linchester; Hon. William S., whose home is in Hurlock, Dorchester County; Robert Dines; Rowena V., who married S. B. Le Count, of Vienna; and Walter M.
The foundation of his education our subject laid in the schools of Caroline County. But his studies did not cease when he left the school room. On the contrary he has been a life-long student, and as a result of his investigations he has invented a number of useful things. In hydraulics, electricity and gas he has been espec- ially interested, and the perfection of the latter idea has been perhaps the crowning consumma- tion of his genius. By a "cold process" he has developed from an oil of great commercial cheap- ness a system which is extraordinarily safe and economic, and for which he has obtained patents. It is pronounced by illuminating experts capable of revolutionizing our modern system of lighting. The flame is bright, clear and pure, and through the medium of an incandescent burner is second only to sunlight. The inventor may be justly proud of this last creation of his productive brain.
A many-sided man from whatever point of vision viewed, Mr. Bradley is well balanced and liberal. In politics he is an ardent Republican in national issues and is an eloquent pleader, using his talents generously on behalf of pure, un- selfish patriotism. From principle he has always declined to allow his name to be used as a candi- date for official recognition in any elective position, though he has been frequently urged to accept positions of responsibility and trust. He deeply deplores the corruption and sham patriotism that prevail in our loved country to-day in the great political bodies, and feels that the fundamental principle that "all men are born free and equal" is of our government almost, if not quite, ignored. Soon after the breaking out of the late war, Governor Hicks commissioned Mr. Bradley first lieutenant in the state militia, and later he served with the rank of captain. In 1882, congress hav- ing passed a law establishing a foreign steam in- spection service, Mr. Bradley was appointed by Secretary Folger to inaugurate the same at the port of Baltimore and continued in the office until the change of administration.
In Caroline County Mr. Bradley married Mary C. Noble, and to them have been born five chil- dren, one son and four daughters, all refined and cultured, true exponents of their parent stock.
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Mr. Bradley is still in the prime of his strength, and gives promise of a long life, whichi, as liere- tofore, he intends to devote to tlie service of man- kind. His laboratory lias claimed the greater portion of his time for years, and lie hopes to 111ake yet further valuable and useful inventions, appliances and discoveries which will assist in the progress and uplifting of his fellow-men and be of universal benefit. His talents have drawn to him many friends, contradicting for once at least that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own house." As in the field of science he has sought to harness and direct God's great material forces, so in theology he ever looks for God's great and eternal truths and avoids following in the wake of some petty fossilized theologian's worn-out ideas. To him God's truth, God's creation and God's providence, like the Divine nature, the eternal spring from which they flow, are always large. To his man- ner of thinking, nature is not too large a yard- stick by which to measure God's love and pur- poses; while in the Gospel writings he plants his faith like a rock upon what the Son of Man was pleased to call "these sayings of mine."
A LONZO R. HORSEY. The success which has attended the efforts of the subject of this article is the result, not of luck or the labors of others, but of his own determination and en- ergy. When a young man he began in business, poor, entirely without capital, but with an abun- dance of enterprise and perseverance. Notwith- standing discouragements and adverse begin- nings, lie has worked his way forward to a position among the foremost men of Somerset County, and he and his brother are recognized as leading business men of Crisfield, where they have a large store, stocked with a full line of merchandise. They have a profitable trade among the people of the town and surrounding country, who place the greatest confidence in their judg- ment and honesty.
The record of the family appears upon another
page of this volume, in the sketch of William P. Horsey, our subject's brother and partner. Alonzo R. was born in Crisfield district, June 20, 1855, and spent his early years with his parents, mean- time gaining a common-school education. At the age of about nineteen he secured a position as clerk in a general store in Crisfield, where he re- mained about two years, thus getting a thorough knowledge of the business in which he has since engaged with success. In 1876 he and his brother opened a dry-goods store, and they operated two stores from that time until 1895, when they com- bined them, forming the large and important business they now conduct.
In 1882 Mr. Horsey married Addie C., daugh- ter of Capt. James C. Nelson, an oyster packer, re- siding in Crisfield district. They are the parents of three children: Nelsie E., Mildred L. and Alonzo R., Jr. In politics Mr. Horsey favors Democratic principles, and for two years he held the office of notary public, under the administration of Gov. Frank Brown. Fraternally he is connected with the Junior Order United American Mechanics, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Crisfield. With his wife he holds membership in the Methodist Protestant Church and for a num- ber of years has served the congregation as stew- ard. He is interested in worthy enterprises that are calculated to promote the welfare of the people and advance the prosperity of the town. How- ever, he has no time to hold public offices or par- ticipate personally in politics. He was one of the original stockholders and directors in the Bank of Crisfield. As a business man he is keen, aggres- sive and shrewd, and justly merits the prosperity he has won.
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