USA > Maryland > Portrait and biographical record of the Sixth congressional district, Maryland V. 1 > Part 43
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year. Both were active workers in the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which they were members for thirty-five years. The father, who had a strong, well-cultivated voice, led the singing in the church for many years. He possessed many worthy qualities of heart and head, was retiring and unaffected in disposition, benevolent to the needy, kind to the suffering and distressed, and genial in his intercourse with all.
The parental family consisted of fourteen chil- dren, of whom ten are still living. Elizabeth is the wife of John James, of Joplin, Mo .; Fannie married Benson Hartzell, editor and proprietor of the Loveland Register, at Loveland, Ohio; Anna married Madison Gunnet, of Frostburg; Thomas is a farmer of Osage County, Kan .; James carries on a mercantile business at Frost- burg; Samuel is next in order of birth; Charlotte is the wife of John Richardson and lives in Frost- burg; Clara, whose home is in Oakland, Md., is the wife of Frank Sheets, a florist and gardener; Jolın B. is in the employ of the Consolidation Coal Company; and George W. is a member of the firm of Bowen Brothers, at Frostburg.
The education of our subject was obtained mostly through his unaided efforts, by a system of careful reading and study at home. In 1878 he went to Shawnee, Ohio, where he worked in the iron ore mines for a year. Returning to Allegany County, he worked in the employ of the Consolidation Coal Company and while there, in 1881, his brother, Benjamin, who worked beside him, was killed by a heavy piece of coal falling upon and crushing him. It was some time before he recovered from the shock caused by his brother's sudden death. In 1882 he went to Jasper County, Mo., where he spent some months visiting a sister. Shortly after his return home occurred the strike of 1882, which brought all mining matters to a temporary stand- still. He went to St. Louis, Mo., where he se- cured a position in the Vulcan steel works, but on account of chills and fevers caused by the change of climate he was obliged to give up his position. Returning home he spent a short time there, then went to Corning, Ohio, where he was employed in the coal mines of the New Central
Company for six months, and then went back to Maryland and resumed mining there. In Octo- ber, 1883, lie took charge of a dairy farm in Jop- lin, Mo., which position he held for a year. On his return to Maryland he married and settled in Frostburg, his present home.
Fraternally Mr. Bowen is a Mason of the Royal Arch Chapter. In the Junior Order of United American Mechanics he is past councillor. He belongs to Frostburg City Lodge No. 88, K. of P., of which he is past chancellor, and which he rep- resented in the grand lodge in 1887. He is also an honorary member of the Frostburg fire de- partment No. 1. In October, 1884, he married Emma Bath, daughter of Henry and Christiana (Hancock) Bath. She was born in Cornwall, England, in 1863, and at the age of two years was brought to America by her parents, the family landing in the United States on the day of the assassination of President Lincoln. Mr. and Mrs. Bowen are the parents of five sons and one daughter, viz .: Thomas V., Charles E., Harry B., James, Clayton W. and Emily D.
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ARROLL MERCER was born in Washing- ton, D. C., December 5, 1857, at the home of his maternal grandfather, William Thomas Carroll, Esq., clerk of the United States supreme court. He was appointed in the United States marine corps June 16, 18So, a second lientenant by President Hayes, and served with that distin- guished military body for ten years, making one cruise around the world in the United States ship Richmond, and another cruise of three years on the European station in the Corvette Qnine- baugh, resigning in 1890. He made his winter home in Washington for several years, and in the summer of 1897 moved to Frederick County, Md., where he has established his home on the banks of the Monocacy River, an ideal country seat, which he calls Mekylhour, after an estate in Scotland which has been in the Mercer family since 1338.
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Mr. Mercer's reasons for settling in Maryland were partly sentimental. His great-grandfathers, John Francis Mercer and Samuel Sprigg, and his great-uncle, Thomas Swann, were governors of this state; his father and grandfather were born at Cedar Park, West River, one of the most noted colonial estates in the south, and where during our Rebellion the Federal troops shot about five hundred English fallow deer that roamed about the park and took them to Aunap- olis to feed the soldiers. At Cedar Park is the grave of tliat great and good woman, Margret Mercer.
Mr. Mercer was married in England in 1888 to the beautiful Miss Tunis. Two children bless their marriage, Violetta Carroll, born in Egypt, and Lucy Page, born in Washington, D. C.
On the 16th of June, 1898, Mr. Mercer was appointed a captain in the volunteer army by President Mckinley, who served during the Rebellion on the staff of Gen. S. S. Carroll, an uncle of Mr. Mercer.
RNEST LAGARDE, A. M., LL. D., of Mount St. Mary's College, accepted the chair of English literature and modern lan- guages in1 1869, and has been connected with the institution continuously since, being in point of years of service the oldest instructor in the col- lege. He was born in Louisiana September 4, .. 1836. His education was conducted almost en- tirely by his uncles, Michael Dracos and Alexan- der Dimitry, the latter of whom subsequently be- came United States minister to Costa Rica and Nicaragua under President Buchanan. After spending several years at College Hill, Miss., he began the study of law in his native city, New Orleans. However, finding legal pursuits not congenial to his tastes, lie turned his attention to medicine, which he also later abandoned to enter the ranks of journalism. Before the war lie was connected with several prominent newspapers of the southi, and also founded and carried on The
Sentinel; an evening paper, which he published in New Orleans during the exciting presidential campaign of 1860.
At the opening of the war he became a Con- federate soldier and enlisted as a private in Com- pany D of the Crescent Regiment. Afterward he was appointed clerk in the ordnance bureau at the Confederate capital, and while filling this po- sition edited and published a monthly called The Age. At the close of the war lie accepted a posi- tion as college professor, and liis subsequent work has been along educational lines. His work with The Old Mountain has been of tlie highest value and its influence is not only of a temporary nature, but it will be permanent in its results, bearing directly upon the future.
February 11, 1861, the professor married Miss Leonie, daughter of Leon and Eliza (Langlois) Laforgue, of New Orleans. They established their home at Inglewood, a place nestling at the foot of the mountain and in the vicinity of the college. Here they have tranquilly passed the middle span of their lives. Here, too, they reared their three sons and their two daughters, namely: Ernest, Jr., a merchant in the City of Mexico; Louis D. and John B., representing the firm of Ernest Legarde & Sons, of New Orleans, La .; Alice, wife of Chevalier G. Ferrata, director of the conservatory of music of the Baptist Female Seminary at Greenville, S. C., and a nephew of Cardinal D. Ferrata, late Repal Nuicio in Paris, France; and Ella, who resides with lier parents.
Meanwhile Professor Lagarde has continued his literary studies, to which many of his leisure hours have been given. He published his French verb book and a translation of Quinton's " No- bleman of '89," a romance of the Frenchi revo- lution. He has prepared a number of lectures, all of which show thoroughness of study and depth of thought. One of these, that on Shake- speare, lie brought out in Boston under the pat- ronage of Dr. William Byrne. During a session of the summer school in New London, Com., he delivered two lectures on Shakespeare; has since delivered a lecture on Milton, and has in prep- aration a series of lectures on the English lan- guage. Retaining, amid other duties, his boyish
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4. 20
GEORGE T. WHIP.
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fondness for journalismi, he assisted his sons to Mary Whip, went to New Orleans, where he publish the Mountain Echo, which they carried on for a year and a-half, discontinuing it in June, 1880.
EORGE TOBIAS WHIP. No citizen of Jefferson, Frederick County, is more thor- oughly honored and respected than is the gentleman to whom this is a slight tribute, and of whom we write. When he started out in life to fight the battles that were too surely in view in his way, as he was an orphan and had his own: way to make in the world, he possessed unde- veloped qualities of strength and courage which the rapidly-fleeing years have brought into use. A broad and liberal charity towards all, par- ticularly towards those who are striving to attain a position in a community, is the result of his own struggles with adverse circumstances, and inany a young man is indebted to him for timely aid in business or in the obtaining of an educa- tion. He delights to help others, and thus has learned one of the noblest lessons in life and the truest secret of happiness.
The parents of our subject were George and Mary (Cost) Whip, the former a son of George Whip, Sr., and the latter a daughter of George Cost, a well-to-do farmer of Burkittsville, Md. Both families were prominently identified with the upbuilding and development of this county. The fatlier of our subject was born and spent his whole life on the old homestead formerly owned by his father before him, in the locality of Carroll's Manor. This property is in Buckeystown Dis- trict, near the Reformed and Lutheran Churches. He died when his son George Tobias was but six years old.
It is supposed that the Whip family originated in Germany, and upon coming to this country first settled in Pennsylvania, later removing to this section of Maryland. They were active in the work of the Lutheran Church, while the Costs were equally prominent in the Refornied Church. Emanuel, eldest son of George and
was engaged in trading with Mexico, being an extensive shipper of merchandise until within a few years of his death, which occurred April 23, 1875, in: his sixty-fourth year. Jacob, another son, was a shoemaker by trade, and joined the Confeder- ate army during the late war, serving from the be- ginning to the close. He was with General I.ec in his Maryland campaign, and participated in the battle of South Mountain, the Wilderness and Harper's Ferry, and was finally taken prisoner in Virginia and held as such until the termination of the war. He was several times wounded in the skirmishes in the battle of the Wilderness. While he was hield a captive his brother, George Tobias, of whom we write, sent him clothes and money. He subsequently re- turned to Woodville, Miss., to his wife and family, and died there. Julia Ann, the only daughter, married Rev. Jonathan Tobey, a lead- ing minister of the United Brethren Church, who died in 1886. She resides in Newark, Ohio.
George Tobias Whip was born on the old farm near Carroll's Manor, March 8, 1818, and, as his parents both died when he was quite young, he has no remembrance of them. He was taken to the home of his aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. David Mullendore, well-to-do farmers of Burkitts- ville. They were somewhat stern in discipline, but they really loved the orphan boy, and when they came to will away their property they left it to him and his sister Julia Ann. The farm left to him he carried on for many years, or until 1864, when he purchased another homestead adjoining the town of Jefferson on the west. He improved and cultivated this place until 1869, when he retired and rented the farm to his son Lewis, and built himself a beautiful home on the public road at the west end of Jefferson village and here he has since dwelt.
Mr. Whip was one of the incorporators and builders of the Frederick & Jefferson Pike, one of the finest roads in the county. For the past twenty years he has been the honored president of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Middle- town, and was one of its incorporators. This company transacts a large business and has
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been a very beneficial enterprise to all concerned. A few years ago he helped to organize the Fred- erick Elevator Company, but that enterprise did not prove a success. He has acquired his fortune through the legitimate channels of busi- ness, mainly by liis agricultural ventures. He has taken a leading part in church work and not only aided materially in building the house of worship of the Lutherans in Burkittsville, but helped to put up the fine church of that denomi- nation in Jefferson, in both instances serving on the building committee.
The first marriage of Mr. Whip was solemnized (by Rev. M. Wachter) October 4, 1838, his bride being Lydia, daughter of George Routzahn, who owned a number of valuable farms in Middle- town Valley. Two sons and three daughters were born to our subject and wife. David Mullen- der, the oldest lives on the old farm where the boyhood days of his father were passed, and this farm now comprises over two hundred acres of well-improved land. He married Marietta Gaver and they have two children. Their son, Charles Edward, is a notable musician. He was a student of Peabody Conservatory of Baltimore and an art- ist on various kinds of stringed instruments. The daughter, Carrie E., a graduate of Luthierville Seminary (now Maryland College), is the wife of O. C. Warehime. The second son of our sub- ject is Lewis Oliver, a successful merchant of Jefferson and now serving his second term as post- master of the town; he married Sarah E. Culler. Mary Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Mr.
Whip, married D. B. D. Smeltzer, a resident of " Whip died January 16, 1893, in her seventy-sec-
Iola, Kan. They have five children: Lola, the eldest daughter, who married Angelo Scott, a leading lawyer and public official of Oklahoma; George D., Nellie G., Lucy M. and Charles F. Martha Ellen, second daughter of our subject, died in infancy; Sarah Ellen, the third daughter, became the wife of Rev. J. M. Friday, a muchi- beloved and popular minister of the Lutheran Church. He was murdered at Harper's Ferry, supposedly for money which he had in his possession, and the assassin was never brought to justice. Mrs. Friday lives in a nice house near lier father, he having built it for her some
years ago. The son of Mrs. Friday, Frederic W., is studying for the ministry in the Gettys- burg Theological Seminary, and her daughter, Lora B., is a graduate of the Maryland College of Lutherville.
The first wife of Mr. Whip died in 1849 and he subsequently married Mary A. B. Maught, October 8, 1850, the marriage ceremony being performed by the Rev. D. J. Hauer. Her father was John Maught, of Middletown Valley. The children of this union were six in number. Emma Magdaline is the wife of Douglas H. Hargett, clerk of the court in Frederick, and they have had four children, viz .: Burns, de- ceased; Walter, Bessie and Earlston. Ida C., Annie E. and John E. all died in childhood. George Tobias, Jr., died at the age of twenty- seven, leaving a wife (formerly Letitia Etliel Culler) and four children, who live in a pretty house built for them by our generous subject, near his own. The children of G. T. Whip, Jr., deceased, are as follows: Paul C., Ethel L., G. W. Preston and Mary M. The last-named died in infancy and G. W. Preston makes his home with his grandfather. Cora May, the youngest daughter of Mr. Whip, presides over her father's pleasant home, and makes the hap- piness of her parent's declining years the study of her life. Her early education was supplemented by two years' attendance at Burkittsville Semi- nary and later two years in the Seminary at Lutherville, Md. (now Maryland College), where she graduated. The second wife of Mr.
ond year.
In his early years Mr. Whip was a Whig, and for the past thirty-five years has been a stanchi Republican. Though lie owned slaves, as had his father and grandfather before liim, he stood by the Union aud set thent free, voting for Lincohi. At the same time his brother Jacob was serving in the Confederate army. Later tlie kind-hearted man of whom we write took the three children of the Jacob just mentioned and brought them up to be useful citizens. In 1859 he was elected county commissioner, entirely outside of any effort of his own, and he acted in
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this responsible capacity for two terms, or alto- ter of Adam G. Allen. She died in 1868, at the gether four years, being re-elected in 1873. For age of forty-six years. Of her six children only two are living. Louis died in 1869, and Kate, Mrs. John B. Bothwell, passed away in 1878. Harrison and Allen are also deceased. Harriet is the wife of B. B. Miller, of Frederick. two years he was a member of the board of chari- ties and correction in the Montavue Hospital near Frederick, and has been always a generous giver to those in need and a liberal contributor to worthy enterprises in his neighborhood and county.
AMUEL R. BROWN resides upon a well- improved farm in New Market District, Frederick County. The place upon which he has made his home since 1885 is composed of three hundred and twenty acres, in addition to which he is the owner of two farms of two hun- dred acres each, making the aggregate of his landed possessions seven hundred and twenty acres. His attention is given to the management of his estates, through the intelligent oversight of which he is in receipt of a good income.
In Annapolis, Md., the subject of this sketch was born on the first day of the year 1858. His father, who was born in New Market District in 1807, was four years of age at the time his par- ents moved to Carroll County, and from there later went to Annapolis. In his younger years he followed the occupation of a teacher, but after- ward devoted himself to the mercantile business and was also one of the contractors on the Balti- more & Ohio Railroad. From Maryland he went to Delaware, where he was also engaged in con- tracting. In 1858 he became the general man- ager of the Annapolis & Elk Ridge (now the Annapolis & Washington) Railroad and five years later he bought a controlling interest in the stock, remaining at the head of the company un- til he sold out his stock in 1879. In 1874 he came to New Market and the following year es- tablished his family here, making this place his home until his death, in 1877. He was a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in fraternal relations a Mason.
The marriage of Joshua Brown, father of our subject, united him with Harriet Allen, daugh-
When the subject of this article was a boy of ten years he became a permanent resident of New Market District. Previous to this he had been a pupil in private schools in Annapolis and after- ward he was a student in the Western Maryland Agricultural College. On the completion of his education he assumed the management of the home farm, where he remained until 1879, two years after the death of his father. Then, for one year, he operated the flouring mills at Morrison, and afterward was employed in the Baltimore office of the Baltimore and Ohio Express Com- pany for three years. In 1883 he was united in marriage with Miss Jessie W. Shipley, daughter of N. O. Shipley, of New Market. Two years after his marriage he and his wife established their home on the farm in New Market District, where they have since resided. They are the parents of two children, Eliza and Louis.
EDWARD ZELLER. A little over a score of years ago this gentleman, now numbered among the leading business men of Freder- -ick City, was just starting out in a very humble way and on a most limited scale in the line which he has adhered to until it is a grand success. During the intervening years he has met with re- verses and discouragements which might well have made his spirit quail, but he bravely buckled on the armor each time and, nothing daunted, anew won fresh victories over defeat. He has built up a reputation for fair dealing, sterling in- tegrity and uprightness of word and deed and is universally esteemed.
The eldest son of John Frederick Zeller, our subject, was born in Hesse-Cassel, Germany, in 1850. The father was of the same locality, but
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in 1853 he brought his family to America, com- ing direct to this city. For a few years he was em- ployed in a foundry, later engaging in taking con- tracts. He prepared the grounds for the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Montevideo Hospital and many other buildings, public and private. He followed this line up to the time that he retired from busi- ness in 1881. During the Civil war he was a. stanchi friend to the Union cause, and after the organization of the Republican party was one of its earnest adherents. He was an active member of the Reformed Church, and died strong in the faith in 1894, when in his seventy-third year. His father was a well-to-do farmer on the banks of Weiser River in Germany and never left his native land. The wife of John Frederick Zeller was a Miss Saddler in her girlhood; she was born in the same locality as was her husband and died in 1885. George H., their second son, is engaged in the steam-fitting business in Washington, D. C. He is very successful, does much govern- ment work on contracts and gives employment to upwards of forty men. John A. is in his service; and Charles C. was accidentally drowned when about eighteen years of age. Emma Virginia is the wife of A. H. Rogers, an employe of the Baltimore postoffice. Bertina, a half sister, mar- ried F. W. Hoot, of Locust Point.
C. E. Zeller was but twelve years old when the Civil war broke out and though he was entirely too young to enlist he went with the Union army, carried messages, took charge of horses and wagons at the battles of South Mountain, Antie- tam and Gettysburg, as well as in many other en- gagements, and in this way served throughout the war. He was with John Brown for a short time when he was on one of his raiding expedi- tions. Upon his return home young Zeller went into the contracting business with his father and was so occupied up to 1875. He became tired of the calling and concluded that he would venture into some other field of enterprise, and althoughi he had but small capital he rented a store op- posite his present house of business on the corner of Market and South streets. At the end of two years he purchased the ground for his store, it then having a small dwelling upon it. This he
remodeled and now his fine large store is 37x 157 feet in dimensions, with an ample store room and large cellar, filled to the utmost with goods.
In 1883 Mr. Zeller met with a severe loss, which would have completely disheartened many a man. A gasoline explosion in the back of his store shattered the whole building. destroying a large part of the stock and causing great destruction and loss. A number of men were severely burned and injured and one lad was killed. Mr. Zeller received a severe blow on the forehead, but was not seriously injured. He commenced to rebuild at once and soon had everything again in sys- tematic order. His home dwelling adjoins the store and is a comfortable and well-kept resi- dence. In addition to the store and his own home, both of which he owns, Mr. Zeller has considerable other property in the city: ten houses and lots on East South street, on the hill and further down, nearer Market street four more substantial dwellings which he rents, besides other real estate. He uses his franchise in favor of Democratic nominees. For years he has been an official member of the Reformed Church and stands high in that denomination.
In 1875 Mr. Zeller married Mary E. Bear, daughter of Peter Bear, who owned and carried on the brewery in Frederick for a long period. Eight children have been born to our subject and wife, those living are: Charles Edward, who is employed in his father's store; Mary E., Calvin Wesley, Naomi Rebecca and Emma Virginia. Dora died at the age of six years; Flora was three years old when she died; and Jolin P. B. was nearly one year old when he died.
AMES A. MITCHELL, PH. D. For his at- tainments in geology Dr. Mitchell has be- come well known among the scientists of the country. Geology has long been his favorite study, and to this science he devotes his best en- ergies. He holds the position of professor of geology at Mount St. Mary's College, Emmits-
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burg, and is also lecturer on natural science in St. Joseph's Academy, under the Sisters of Char- ity at the same place.
His diploma in science Dr. Mitchell received from the Royal School of Mines, England, Hux- ley, Tyndall and Ramsay being among his exam- iners. He then entered the observatory of Lord Rosse, Birr Castle, Ireland, where he pursued his astronomical and meteorological studies under Dr. Ralph Copeland, F. R. S., now astronomer royal for Scotland. During his four years' so- journ at Birr Castle he assisted Lord Rosse in the work of that talented scientist, "On the Nebula and Determination of the Moon's Heat."
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