USA > Maryland > Portrait and biographical record of the Eastern Shore of Maryland > Part 76
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The birth of Colonel Smith occurred in Snow Hill, February 5, 1845, he being a son of John Walter and Charlotte (Whittington) Smith, who were also both natives of this town. The mother was a daughter of Judge William Whittington, a prominent member of the bench and bar and a man of means and influence in these parts. The father of our subject removed to Baltimore prior to the birth of the colonel and embarked in the wholesale grocery business, but reverses came
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during a financial panic that prevailed about that period and he returned to Snow Hill, where he died in 1850. His wife had died when her son, John Walter, was but a month old, and thus he was left an orphan by the time five brief years had passed over his head.
Colonel Smith was given a liberal education in private schools and the academy of Snow Hill, and was early marked out for his scholarship and studious habits. When about eighteen he en- tered the employ of George S. Richardson & Brother, of tliis place, as a clerk, and from 1867 to IS70 was in business on his own account. His talents becoming known, he was asked to become a member of the firm with which he had formerly been in a minor position and in 1870 the style of the firm was changed to Richardson, Moore & Smith. To their general merchandising business the lumber, grain and shipping business (owning their own vessels) was added. Upon the death of the senior partner, the firm style became, as at present, Smith, Moore & Co. They handle the lumber turned out by from fifteen to twenty saw- mills in Worcester County, besides many millions of feet from the soutli, and manufacture box- shooks extensively, doing a business in Snow Hill amounting to half a million dollars yearly. Colonel Smith is a charter member of the Surrey Lumber Company, of Surrey County, Va., which he helped to organize.
The company owns a railroad sixty miles long and large tracts of pine timber lands in the states of Virginia and North Carolina. Their saw- mills and machinery there are of the newest and most approved pattern and everything is in fine running order. The colonel is financially con- cerned in the canning business in Snow Hill and has large interests in the oyster industry in his county. He is president of the First National Bank of Snow Hill and is a director in the Dela- ware, Maryland & Virginia Railway Company. The Snow Hill Flouring Mill is owned by his firm, and in short, few county enterprises have not received his support in a material manner.
In June, 1869, Colonel Smith married Miss Mary Frances Richardson and they reside in a beautiful home in Snow Hill. Evidences of cult-
ure and refinement abound within its hospitable walls, and to their innumerable friends the colonel and his charming wife delight to extend a gracious welcome. They are generous and warm-hearted and are ever ready to lend a helping hand to the poor and unfortunate.
J AMES A. WARWICK is one of the thrifty and successful young farmers of the first dis- trict of Somerset County. He was born upon the old homestead which he now cultivates September 28, 1863, and has always dwelt here. He received a good, practical education in the common schools of the neighborhood and was early initiated into the mysteries of agriculture. Having been his father's assistant from boyhood he was qualified to step into his vacant place and carry on the management of the place when it became necessary. He and his two sisters now own upward of six hundred acres of fine land, situated in four different farms in this county.
The father of the above-named gentleman was James W. Warwick, who was a native of Somier- set County and was a life-long resident of Prin- cess Anne district. He was a prosperous farmer and owned large tracts of desirable land in this region. In his political relations he was a Dem- ocrat, and for twenty years was a justice of the peace. In his younger days he also served ac- ceptably as a constable. He was very active in the support of worthy local enterprises and was quite a worker in the party whose tenets he ad- vocated. At the close of a busy and useful ca- reer he was claimed by the angel of death, in 1895, when he was in his seventy-second year.
He was a son of Josiah Warwick, who, it is supposed, was a native of this locality, and who was of English descent. The mother of James A. bore the maiden name of Mary G. White. Her first marriage was with John P. Lankford and their two children are: John P. and Sarah, wife of George Bereton, both of this county. By her marriage witli James W. Warwick our
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subject's mother had six children, of whom but three now survive, Mary J., James A. and Nancy Estelle. Their mother was summoned to her re- ward in 1894, when she was in her sixty-second year. She was a devout member of the Method- ist Church and was beloved by all who knew her.
James A. Warwick is unmarried and he and his two sisters live happily together under the shelter of their ancestral home. They attend the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which they were brought up religiously, and fully merit the re- spect in which they are held by their associates and neighbors. Mr. Warwick is a Democrat, but takes little time for political matters, as his busi- ness affairs he holds to be paramount.
ILLIAM S. GRACE is one of the most honored old residents of Talbot County. He lives upon a finely improved farm near his birthplace, in Broad Creek Neck, St. Michael's district. He has always been quite active in Republican politics, and served two years as sheriff, was a member of the house of delegates in 1881, and is now acting in the capacity of justice of the peace, having been appointed to the post by Governor Lowndes, in May, 1896. In these various positions of public trust and honor he has made a most creditable showing, and has given entire satisfaction to his opponents, as well as to his own constituents.
Born March 31, 1823, William S. Grace is a son of Skinner and Lucretia (Edgar) Grace, both natives of this county. The former was reared in this neighborhood and spent the greater part of his life hereabouts. During the war of 1812 he was captured by the British, and was sent to their prison in Jamaica, West Indies. While on the prison ship he was taken ill with the dreaded yellow fever, but survived. When he was a youth he had sailed the Chesapeake Bay and was blessed with a vigorous constitution, which with- stood many severe strains upon it which others might not have been able to endure. So we find
that he was hale and hearty, actively engaged in merchandising and farming until but a short time before his death, at the advanced age of eighty- five years. He was a justice of the peace for many years and was a judge of the orphans' court two terms. His father, William S., was a native of this county also, and was a successful agriculturist here. He died at the ripe old age of eighty-seven. Our subject's mother, Lucretia, lived to reach her eighty-fourth birthday anni- versary. She was a very lovable Christian wo- man and was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Only three of her five chil- dren who grew to mature years are now living, Anne Cooper, William S. and Thomas (see sketch of latter elsewhere in this work ).
The first eighteen years in the life of W. S. Grace were spent upon his father's farm, where he learned to skilfully conduct every department of agricultural enterprise. In the meantime he also acquired thorough knowledge of the rudi- mentary branches taught in the district schools. About 1841 he went to Baltimore and worked at the carpenter's trade for a time, but not alto- gether liking the business he returned home. He had been an apt student, and had become very well informed by private reading. Thus he felt qualified to accept the position of teacher in the local school when the place was urged upon him, and for ten years he held the post to the full satisfaction of all concerned. At the same time he had carried on his farm in connection with teaching, but now we find him changing his plans. He has since resided upon the place and has given his whole attention to its manage- ment. The only exception to this was when he acted as sheriff in 1875 and 1876, when he was compelled to live in Easton. For a long period he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been a steward and class-leader. His farm comprises one hundred and forty acres, devoted to the raising of cereals and fruit chiefly.
It was in 1856 that Miss Sarah Fairbanks be- came the wife of Mr. Grace. She was born and brought up in this district, and by her marriage has become the mother of six children. William S., Jr., is a bookkeeper in the Easton National
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Bank; Sarah Olivia married Thomas H. H. Blades, of St. Michael's, and died in 1888, leav- ing one child; Anna L. is the wife of S. D. Gemeny, of this district; Charles H. is a teacher in Baltimore County, Md., Arthur F. is a clerk in a store in Easton; and Edith is Mrs. Charles Fairbank, of Baltimore.
ON. LEVIN LITTLETON WATERS is and has been a very prominent man in the history of Maryland, and has been a life- long resident of Somerset County. His home is upon a fine old plantation in the vicinity of the enterprising town of Princess Anne, and upon this homestead his birth occurred nearly three-score and ten years ago. Though he has led a very busy and useful life, his career having been more than usually diversified and varied, he seems as vigor- ous as in his prime and as capable of great under- takings as ever. He was admitted to the bar prior to the war, and has been more or less en- gaged in practice since and for a few years was the able editor of a newspaper. He is a man of wide and general information, an excellent and interesting conversationalist and is the happy possessor of those qualities of mind and character which make friends by the multitude.
The father of the above-named gentleman, Levin L. Waters, was born upon the farm which is now in the possession of our subject. He died when but twenty-eight years of age. He had studied medicine, but had not yet engaged in practice when the death summons came to him, as he had been brought up as a farmer and had always cultivated his fine place. He was a Dem- ocrat, though not a politician, and voted for An- drew Jackson. His father, William, was a native of this county, and was also a farmer. The fam- ily in this county dates back to one John Waters, who purchased land here in 1685, but his ances- tors were in America for some time before that event. Col. Edward Waters, the founder of the line on these shores, came from England to Vir- ginia, and figured prominently in the early Indian
wars there. He died in 1628, in Elizabeth City, Va., and his widow subsequently married Col. Obedience Robins. The mother of our subject was Eliza, daughter of James C. Hyland, a na- tive of this county. Her grandfather, Lambert Hyland, came to this locality from Cecil County, Md., and one of his sons, John, was killed in the war of 1812. Lambert Hyland was a son of Stephen Hyland, who represented Cecil County in the convention which assembled in Annapolis in 1774, and protested against the Boston port bill. Mrs. Eliza Waters died at the age of thirty- nine years, leaving two children, Levin and Annie. The latter is the widow of Levin Wool- ford, a well-known lawyer who served aş state comptroller eight years.
Levin L. Waters was born May 9, 1828, and was only five years old when his father died. When his mother, too, was called to her silent rest, he was eighteen, and at once assumed the management of the old farm, which is a fine place of three hundred and twenty acres, and this has always been home to him. His higher education was gained in Washington Academy of Princess Anne, Somerset County, this institution having been one of the best in its day. When he was about twenty-seven he began reading law with his brother-in-law, Mr. Woolford, and in 1859 he was admitted to the bar.
In that year Mr. Waters married Miss Lucretia, daughter of Col. Arnold E. Jones, who was a man of great public spirit, a leader in politics and a member of the state legislature. He was an of- ficer in a militia company, and died when about fifty years had passed over his head. His son, Arnold Elzey, was a gallant commander in the Confederate army, and led the troops at the bat- tle of Bull Run. He was promoted on account of his bravery and leadership at that noted en- gagement to the rank of general. As there were so many men by the name of Jones in the army he dropped his surname, and by act of legislature was allowed to assume the title of Arnold Elzey instead. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Waters are: Arnold E., a member of the banking firm of Townsend, Scott & Son, of Baltimore; Levin L., who is in the office of the Mount
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Vernon Manufacturing Company, of Baltimore; Henry Jackson, now practicing law in partner- ship with his father; and Emily R. and Eliza W., who are at home.
From 1858 until 1861 Mr. Waters conducted a newspaper here and at that time abandoned the enterprise on account of being a sympathizer with the southerners and secession. He has al- ways been an ardent Democrat, and in 1864 was elected by his party friends to the senate of Mary- land. That honorable body had a Democratic majority of but two members, and the party feel- ing ran very high. A few days after Mr. Waters was elected he was asked to resign his place, on account of his politics, by Gen. Lew Wallace, and to this he responded that he had been elected by the people and would not give up his rights. He said, moreover, that he was not in sympathy with Lincoln and the administration, and a charge was brought against him of raising a rebel flag at his newspaper office in Princess Anne. (This had been the act of other parties.) A few days later Mr. Waters was arrested by General Lockwood and staff, and though paroled for a short time he was rearrested when he re- ported according to his word, and was imprisoned for two months. After going through a military trial he was released and returned to his place in the senate, filling out his time, which covered the sessions of 1864, 1865, 1866, 1867. In 1870 he was appointed clerk of this county to fill an un- expired term, and was afterwards elected to that office, in which he served for eight years. He was honored by being made a member of the commission on the disputed question of the Mary- land and Virginia boundaries, and was interested in the same for years. Twice he was candidate for the house of delegates, but was defeated, and in 1892 was again elected to the state senate. In 1867 he succeeded in obtaining the charter for the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of this and Worcester Counties, and was made president of the same, a position he held until 1892, when he became the secretary and treasurer of the com- pany, which position he holds at the present time. This concern is a mutual and conservative one. It has never assessed a premium note, has accu-
mulated a large surplus and its premium notes amount to about $100,000. Mr. Waters was one of the trustees of the old Washington Acad- emy here for about twenty years. He is past master of Manokin Lodge No. 106, F. & A. M., and is a vestryman of the Episcopal Church here.
APT. JOSEPH S. HARRISON, a retired bay captain, resides in Bay Hundred dis- trict, Talbot County, where he owns and operates a small farm. Few seafaring men are more familiar with the details of the occupation than he is, and his knowledge of the freighting business is especially thorough, for he engaged in running freight boats to Baltimore for forty years. In 1882 he retired from the water and has since lived quietly upon his farm, giving his attention to its management. Altogether his possessions aggregate about five hundred acres, but much of this is cultivated by his sons.
The Harrison family came to Talbot County from England and was represented among the early settlers of the lower portion of the county. The captain's grandfather, Thomas, was born in Bay Hundred district and was a life-long farmer, dying here at the age of eighty-seven. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. Levi, father of the captain, was born in this district, where he re- sided throughout life, engaging in the carpenter's trade and the occupation of a farmer. Politically he affiliated with the Democrats. From youth he was identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he was long a steward, and was very prominent in church work. His death oc- curred in 1875, when he was seventy-one years of age. He married Anna Jones, who passed away at eighty-two years of age. Of their eleven children four are now living, namely: Capt. Joseph S .; Elizabeth, who lives in this district; William P., a resident of Cambridge; and Charles, of this district.
In the district where he now resides, Captain Harrison was born November 12, 1828. His education was received in the public schools. At
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the age of sixteen he began to follow the water, being first a helper in a sailing-vessel between Talbot County and Baltimore. After one year in that capacity he took charge of a boat in which his father owned an interest, and he continued as captain of it for four years. Then, in partnership with A. H. Seth, he built a boat, of which he was captain for eleven years. He continued in the freighting business for forty years, when he retired to a farmi. Though not active in politics, he is firm in his convictions and always supports Democratic principles. For twenty years or more he has been a steward in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, of which denomination he is an active and interested worker.
Captain Harrison married Sarah V., daughter of Lawrence Cummings; she was reared by her aunt, Mary Marshall, who resided with her until she passed away in 1896, at the age of ninety-six. The nine children of Captain and Mrs. Harrison are named as follows: Mary J., wife of John L. Warner; Levina, who married John T. Howarth; Henrietta, wife of John M. Singer; Josephine, Mrs. Clinton Porter; Amelia, widow of Mark Porter; Stella, who married Capt. L. E. Ford; Lewis C., who is engaged in the mercantile busi- ness at Wittman, Talbot County; Charles P., a farmer residing near the old homestead; and George K., who also cultivates farm property near his father's home.
3 AMES C. TAWES. Few men in Maryland are better acquainted with the fish and oys. ter business in its every detail than is the subject of this article, who is a member of the firmi of Tawes & Co., wholesale dealers in fish and crabs, at Crisfield. His familiarity with the business led to his selection by Governor Lowndes for the important, responsible position of fish commissioner of the Eastern Shore, to which of- fice he was appointed May 1, 1896. There are but two fish commissioners in the state, one for the Western and the other for the Eastern Shore, and the office is considered one of the best politi-
cal positions in Maryland. Under him there are three deputies in charge of about twenty-five boats and a force of men, who propagate and pro- tect the fishing interests of the state and seek to prevent the diminishing of the supply of perch, shad and trout in the bay.
In Crisfield district, Somerset County, James C. Tawes was born May 7, 1861, and is a son of Edward and Grace (Lawson) Tawes, also natives of this district. His father, who was a seafaring man during much of his active life, for a time kept a small store near Jenkin's Creek bridge, and when the railroad was built through Somer- set County, he opened an oyster packing house, being one of the first to engage in the business here. For several years he carried on a large trade in oyster shells, which he packed and shipped to distant points. He continued in busi- ness until his death, in 1890, at seventy.years of age. Politically he was a Republican. When the town of Crisfield was incorporated he was elected a commissioner, which position he held for two terms and then resigned. An earnest Christian, he held a Sunday-school in his own home before there were any churches in this vicinity. He as- sisted in the erection of the Methodist Episcopal Church and remained an active worker in its be- half as long as he lived. In1 1867 he established the business now owned by his sons, and of this firm he continued a member until his demise.
The family of which our subject is a member consisted of twelve children, of whom the next to the youngest died unnamed in infancy. The others are Margaret, the wife of William H. Chel- ton; Noah R., of Somerset County; Laura A., H. E., Arentha C., George W., John W., James C., Isaac H., Lillian and Charles L. When fifteen years of age our subject began clerking in the grocery owned by Thomas Dougherty, of Cris- field, but after a year he became an employe of Edward Mauck, owner of a clothing store here. Two years later, when the business was sold, he embarked in the grocery business for himself, re- maining in that enterprise until his store was burned in 1882. In the spring of the following year he went to Kansas City, Mo., where for a few months he clerked for J. C. Eaglehoff, pro-
CAPT. JOSEPH H. SPĘDDEN.
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prietor of one of the largest shoe houses in Mis- souri. On resigning from that position he re- turned to Maryland and for two months carried on a grocery in Crisfield, but then sold out and went to Hornellsville, near Buffalo, N. Y., where he carried on a branch of the oyster business for three years, meeting with fair success. On his return home he was interested with his father in the oyster business for a year and then went on the road, soliciting the trade in Chicago, St. Louis and other western cities.
The next business venture of Mr. Tawes was as a member of the firm of Tawes, Sterling & Co., wholesale dealers in oysters in Baltimore, but after two seasons the firm failed. Again he re- turned to Crisfield, and this place he has since made his home. Under the administration of President Harrison he was appointed postmaster, and held the office two years under President Cleveland. While serving as postmaster, he was also interested in the oyster business. He is a strong Republican and one of the leading politi- cians of the Eastern Shore. Like all men of firm convictions he has opponents in politics, but at the same time he has many warm friends. He is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church and is a member of the official board. He married Margaret Croswell, of Crisfield, and they have had three children: Margaret; Julius, who died in infancy; and Adeline.
D APT. JOSEPH HUGH SPEDDEN, an hon- ored old resident of Dorchester County, his home being in the seventh district, won his title in the days of his early manhood and prime, when he earned his livelihood upon the sea and laid the foundations of his future prosperity. In his two callings, among the sailors and agricult- urists, he has been in touch with the two distinct classes which make up a large proportion of the population of Maryland, and his friends are legion among them.
The Speddens have long been numbered among the best inhabitants of Dorchester County, and to
one of the captain's ancestors a certain tract of land in the eighth district was granted. This property is now in the possession of John L. Spedden, and is the original homestead on which was born the captain's paternal grandfather, Robert B., and his own father, Robert B., Jr. The latter married Margaret Cook, and of their children Thomas is deceased; Mary died when four-score years old; Robert is next in order of birth; Henry is deceased; Joseph H. is our subject; Prudence and John are deceased; and Levin is a farmer of St. Mary's County, Md.
Capt. J. H. Spedden was born upon a farm in the eighth district of Dorchester County, October 24, 1821. He stayed with his parents, giving them his dutiful assistance in the general work of the old home place up to the time he was seven- teen, and was a student for a portion of each year in the public schools. The love for the sea was strong within his youthful breast, and in 1838 he obtained a place as a sailor before the mast on a schooner which plied Chesapeake Bay. When he was only eighteen he was master of a vessel, and made three voyages to the West Indies a few years later. In time he had laid aside a sum of money which he at length invested in a sailing- vessel, becoming a part owner in the same. Altogether he lived on the waters of Chesapeake Bay most of the time for a period of eighteen years, and when he decided to leave the calling it was a matter of deep regret to many whom he had endeared to him by his manly, upright ways. It was in 1856 that he purchased his pleasant home here of William L. Hearn, and ever since that time he has given his whole time and attention to the improvement and cultivation of this farm. He owns one hundred and twenty acres herein contained, and raises a general line of the cereals and products which flourish in these parts. He is a Democrat and was elected to serve as assessor of this district in 1876, and was also the second person to occupy the office of register here.
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