USA > Maryland > Portrait and biographical record of the Sixth congressional district, Maryland V. 1 > Part 9
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In 1882 Judge Alvey was re-elected. He be- came elief judge of the court of appeals of the state of Maryland, upon the retirement of Chief
Judge Bartol. In April, 1893, he was appointed chief justice of the court of appeals of the Distriet of Columbia by President Cleveland. In 1895 his talents received deserved reeognition, when Presi- dent Cleveland, selecting a commission to settle the boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana, in South America, and wishing for this position men of brain, taet and wide knowledge, chose Judge Alvey as one of that commission.
We make the following extract from the Green Bag of June, 1894, coneerning Judge Alvey: "He served for twenty-five years upon that bench, during nine of which he was chief judge. His work, both as associate judge and chief judge of Maryland's highest court of law, has been pronounced invaluable by the attorney- general of Maryland, while one of his associates on the bench of the court of appeals did not hesi- tate to say that in point of ability and fitness for the judicial offiee, Judge Alvey has no superior on the beneh of this country or England. His opinions are quoted not only in the courts of the various states, but are accepted with respect in the supreme court of the United States. Of Judge Alvey it has been truly said that the chief justice of England, with his wig and gown, can- not maintain a greater diginity than the chief justice of Maryland did in his simple dress and manner; while in point of legal learning, no judge in England or America is his superior, and few his equal. His opinions, spread upon the reports of Maryland, from the twenty-eighth vol- . ume down to the seventy-fourth contains, says ex-Governor William Pinkney Whyte, "A record of learned opinions delivered by him as the mouth- piece of the court, which is the grandest testi- monial of accurate judgment, lofty principle and great legal knowledge of which any Ameriean judge may be proud." Judge Alvey has a mar- velous capacity for labor, and his fine natural abilities have been strengthened by years of patient study and laborious research. In dispateli of business he is unsurpassed, and it would be a bold lawyer who would venture to introduce any irrelevant matter when Judge Alvey was presid- ing over the eourt.
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On the 20th of April, 1893, Chief Justice Alvey retired from the court of appeals, and the occa- sion was the most memorable ever witnessed in that venerable court room. Never before had so many lawyers been present there. All the judges of the court of appeals were present except one; tlie Baltimore bar was represented by some of its most prominent members, and lawyers from the various counties of Maryland came to do honor to the retiring chief justice. Among the speakers was Attorney-General John Prentice Poe, as the representative of the bar of the state. Among other things, he said, "We are here to thank you with the serene patience with which he always listened, the laborious thoroughness with which he always investigated, the calm, analytical thoughtfulness with which he pondered and the commanding power with which he em- bodied the well-considered results of his deep study and reflection in the luminous judgment which, enriching forty-nine volumes of our re- ports, will connect his name forever with the proudest history of this tribunal.
"We are here to tell him before hie steps down from the high place, which it has so long been a strength and consolation for us to know that he filled, how we admired and gloried in his enthu- siastic devotion to his work, the absolute sur- render of his time and talents to the absorbing demands of his judicial functions, and the in- estimable benefits to the jurisprudence of our state, his ample learning and acquirements. We would have him to know also that a life so com- pletely given up as his lias been, to the best and loftiest discharge of the duties and responsibilities of his office, has made a deep and permanent im- pression upon bench and bar, and cannot fail by the simple force of its quiet and unobtrusive example to stimulate to generous emulation the gifted and aspiring of our profession. We part with you, Mr. Chief Justice, with the sincerest and profoundest regret.
"Those of us to whom for a quarter of a century you have been so familiar a figure in the chamber can never become reconciled to the loss whichi your retirement brings upon us nor cease to de- plore your withdrawal. Called from us, as you
have been by President Cleveland, in the exer- cise of that admirable discrimination and judg- ment that characterize his performance of public duty, under circumstances naturally so gratify- ing to yourself and to the people of our state, we cannot let you leave us and go among strangers without these earnest expressions of our affec- tionate regard and this public recognition of your well-earned right to the fullest measure of enlogy for the rare vigor and excellence and absolute uprightness of your judicial career. Ever with- out fear, always without reproach."
The first marriage of Judge Alvey took place in 1856, his wife being Miss Mary, daughter of Dr. John O. Wharton, of Hagerstown. She died in 1860, and the only child born of the union is also deceased. In the fall of 1862 he married Julia I. Hays, only daughter of the late Dr. Joseph C. Hays, of Washington County. Of this union nine children were born, namely: Will- iam; Frank, who is cashier of a bank in Texas; Julia, wife of Glenn H. Worthington, of Freder- ick; Richard, vice-president of Maryland Agri- cultural College and also an attorney; Mary, who married Graham Allen, and is deceased; Frederick, who lives in Washington; Charles, recently admitted to the bar; Margaret; Harry, a student in Maryland Agricultural College; and Annie, who is at home.
ON. WILLIAM T. HAMILTON, who was governor of Maryland from 1880 to 1884, and for many years was a very prominent figure in the history of the state, died at his home in Hagerstown, October 21, 1888. A man of re- markable strength of character, exalted ideas of duty and strict regard for the riglits of the people whom he served, his career, while the chief executive of the state, as well as when in the hum- bler walks of life, was characterized by the con- scientious discharge of all duties devolving upon him. At all times he earnestly endeavored to prevent and restrain corruption in official posi- tions, and to reduce the burden of taxation to the lowest possible point. As a lawyer, as a states-
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man and business man he was considered an authority by all who knew him, and none knew him save to respect and esteem him.
owing to his influence, in large measure, the project of supplying the Capitol City with pure water from the great falls of the Potomac was put into operation. At the close of his term he earnestly desired to retire to private life, but was over-ruled by his constituents, as before. Thus, for the fourth time, he was a candidate for con- gress, but the "Know-Nothing" party having suddenly gained the popular attention he was defeated in the election.
The birth of the governor occurred at Boons- boro, Washington County, MId., September 5, 1820, liis parents being Henry and Mary (Hess) Hamilton, who died when he was a incre child, the father abont 1828, and the mother two years before. Thus left an orphan at a tender age the boy was taken into the family of his mother's brother, and was trained in the principles of the As may be readily seen, Senator Hamilton was not sorry to resume his interrupted law practice, which had been looked after during his long absence by R. H. Alvey, now chief justice of the court of appeals for the District of Columbia. In 1861 he was urged to accept the nomination for the gubernatorial chair, but firmly declined the honor. However, in 1868, he consented to be- come a candidate for the United Stated senate, and was elected, his term of six years dating from March 4, 1869. He won the respect and high regard of that honorable body by his manly, forcible debates upon the leading questions of the period, and, as he was to leave liis office in 1875, in which year the Democrats met in convention to nominate candidates for governor, his name was brought forward in an eloquent address by Hon. John Ritchie, of Frederick. Hon. Jolin Carroll, however, was chosen to hold the high office and was duly elected. The great distinc- tion was not to pass Mr. Hamilton by, as the fates decreed, for he was unanimously nominated for the governorship August 7, 1879, and was thousand votes, his opponent having been Hon. James A. Gary, subsequently postmaster-gen- eral in President McKinley's cabinet and a most popular man with the Republicans. Great en- thusiasmn prevailed among the people and the inauguration ceremonies were in the nature of a public demonstration of joy and appreciation. As he had been all through his life, unostenta- tious and unassuming, so was he in the higliest state position, and in every particular he labored to carry out the wishes of the people, unless his sense of right and duty was too greatly taxed. old Jefferson school. After he had mastered the rudiments of education under a private tutor lie attended the academy in Hagerstown, Md., and later completed a course in Jefferson College, in Cannonsburg, Pa. His next step of importance was when he determined to enter the legal pro- fession and began his initial work in this line in the office of Hon. J. T. Mason. In 1843 he was admitted to the bar and three years afterwards was elected on the Democratic ticket to the house of delegates. At the time the two parties were pretty evenly divided in this state, and, in 1847, when Mr. Hamilton was re-nominated by his friends, he defeated, though he ran ahead of his ticket. In 1848 he was placed upon the Cass electoral ticket and the following year was nomi- nated for congress. After an exciting contest, in which the principle of tariff was involved, he was elected, and during the sessions he dis- tinguished himself by the eloquent manner in which he advocated the Clay compromise bill and other important measures. His personal popularity was constantly increasing, and in later elected by a majority of over twenty-two 1851 he was again elected to congress. Upon- the expiration of his second term he determined to retire from public life, but his friends so urgently pressed him to allow his name to be used again that he reluctantly acceded to their wishes. This time his opponent was Hon. Francis Thomas, an Independent candidate, and in the ensuing contest they were pitted against each other in joint discussions. The result was gratifying to the friends of Mr. Hamilton, for in the election lie received a larger majority than at any previous time. He was made the chairman of the committee on the District of Columbia, and
In 1859 Governor Hamilton married Miss Clara
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COL. CHARLES E. TRAIL.
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H. Jenness, of Portsmouth, N. H., daughter of to the serious practice of his profession, but, after Richard Jeuness. Eight children were born of a year or two, he was forced by ill-health to give their union, two of whom died in infancy. The others are: Richard Jenness, editor of the Hagers- town Mail; Julia Halliburton; Clare, wife of Harold Hayden Ames, of Hartford, Conn .; Josephine, William T. and Leonore. up his pursuit. He found plenty to occupy his spare time, however, in looking after his large landed estates and other financial interests. Be- ing a man of literary tastes, and a fine French and German scholar, he devoted considerable time In the multiplicity of his public duties, Gov- ernor Hamilton found time to tenderly watch over the interests of his family, to educate and care for his six children, and in the domestic circle his noblest qualities shone forth undimmed. to study, and often contributed thoughtful and interesting articles to the leading magazines and periodicals of the day. He was for some time a contributor to Graham's Magazine, then the lead- ing monthly, and to "The World," a literary paper of very high standing, edited by Parke Benjamin. Though peremptorily declining of- fice, he was a factor of no small importance in the councils of the Whig party, and upon the out- break of the war he came promptly forward as a OL. CHARLES E. TRAIL. Among the many talented sons of the beautiful little city of Frederick, no one is held in higher regard than is the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this sketch. Hiscareer has been a brilliant one, and his record redounds not only to his own credit, but also to the place in which the greater part of his life has been spent. On both sides of his family he comes from old and honored early settlers of this county, whose names have been closely associated within the an- nals of the same. leader of the Unionists in western Maryland. In many ways he did much toward molding and in- fluencing public sentiment hereabouts, and, after writing a masterly address to the people of this county on the subject then agitating every mind, he was elected president of the Union League of the county. Later he was appointed an aide on the staff of Governor Bradford, with the rank of colonel, and organized several companies for the field. Personally he suffered severely from the ravages of the war, as the hosts of Lee, McClel- lan and Hooker passed over several of his farms, laying then waste, and the battle of Monocacy was mainly fought upon his homestead. At that time a costly barn filled with grain, and much other property, was destroyed by fire, etc.
His father, Edward Trail, who died in 1876, at the age of seventy-eight, was of Scotch descent. His first ancestors in this country settled in Massachusetts, from whom descend the Lowells. Mary Trail was the grandmother of Robert Trail Spence and Jaines Russell Lowell. Colonel Trail's mother, whose maiden name was Lydia Chris- tine Ramsburg, died from the effects of a fall in 1884, when in her eighty-third year. The birth of Charles E. Trail occurred in this city January 28, 1826. After receiving a classical education in Frederick College he took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. In February, 1851, he married Ariana, youngest daughter of Col. John H. McElfresh, and to- gether they passed the following six months traveling in Europe.
Upon his return home Colonel Trail settled down
In 1863 Colonel Trail was elected to the house of delegates, taking his seat in 1864. "He served as chairman of the committee on federal relations and military affairs, and was voted the thanks of the house for the ability and fidelity with which he had discharged his important duties. In 1864 lie was elected to represent the people in the Maryland senate for four years. Perhaps liis most effective service there was as chairman of the committee of education, which gave to this state its present fine system of public schools. He was also on the judiciary and other. committees, his associates having been George Vickers, Governor Bowie, Jacob Tome and many other distinguished
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inen, with whom he has since been on terms of in- timate friendship. Colonel Trail always command- ed the respect and attention of the senate by the soundness of his ideas and the liberality of his opinions. When his term had expired he firmly declined renomination, and returned to private life.
A man of such ability and enterprise as Colonel Trail is not long permitted to remain in retire- ment, however, by his fellows. He became in- terested in the subject of reform in municipal af- fairs, and at length headed a movement to that end, which resulted in his being made president of the board of aldermen of Frederick in 1870. This position he filled most creditably three years, and, as chairman of the building commit- tee, the city hall was erected during this period, and under his superintendence. Through his instrumentality the state asylum for deaf mutes was located in Frederick, and he was the chair- man of the building committee of this institution. In 1877 he was severely injured in a collision be- tween two trains on the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- way, at Point of Rocks, Md., and was reported among the killed. With great care and nursing he recovered in a few months, without perma- nent disablement.
Colonel Trail was president of the Farmers and Mechanics National Bank from 1878 to 1892, but resigned in the year last named in order to de- vote himself exclusively to the presidency of the Mutual Insurance Company of Frederick County. Since 1879 he lias been president of the Frederick & Pennsylvania Railroad Company, of which he' was one of the original promoters. For twenty- one years he has been president of the board of trustees of Frederick Female Seminary. For many years he has served asa vestryman in All Saints' Episcopal Church of Frederick. He pos- sesses one of the largest and clioicest private li- braries in the state and liis happiest hours are those spent among his treasured volumes. He
has a fine collection of paintings, and is a lover of . of Daniel and Sarah (Moudy) Syester, natives of music, in which all of his children excel.
In January, 1892, Mrs. Trail died in Mar- seilles, France, whither she had gone to visit her eldest son, tlen consul for the United States
at that port. They were the parents of three sons and four daughters. Ariana Teresa is the wife of Dr. Alfred M. Belt, of Baltimore; Flor- ence, who is unmarried, has devoted herself to literature and is the author of several works; Charles Bayard was appointed secretary of the legation in Brazil by Secretary Frelinghuysen, and subsequently was appointed consul to Mar- seilles, where he remained for four years, but he now lives in Frederick, and since his father's re- tirement from the bank has been its vice-presi- dent; Anna M. is the wife of Rev. John B. Hard- ing, of Philadelphia; Henry, Bertha and Arthur are at home.
During his long and eventful life Colonel Trail has always been in the forefront of everything calculated to promote the material, religious and educational prosperity of his county. As a Re- publican, for many years lie has exercised a po- tential influence in his party throughout the state.
UDGE ANDREW KERSHNER SYESTER, deceased, is well known in the history of Maryland, as he was elected attorney-general of the state in 1871, on the Democratic ticket, served ably in that responsible capacity and in 1882 was honored by being elected associate judge of the fourth judicial circuit, comprising Alle- gany, Garrett and Washington Counties. This office he was still holding at the time of his death, which event occurred at his home in Hagerstown, March 25, 1891. No citizen of this community was more highly esteemed and universally re- spected than lie, as he was upright, unassuming and just toward all with whom he came in con- tact, and modeled his life after the highest ideals in character.
Born March 11, 1828, Mr. Syester was a son Berkeley County, Va. (now West Virginia), and Washington County, Md., respectively. Our subject was born and brought up in Berkeley County and received a superior education. After
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leaving the private schools he entered the pre- paratory department of Franklin and Marshall College and in 1849 graduated with the highest honors, being chosen the valedictorian of his class. While in college he was identified with the Diagnothian Society and even then gave abundant evidence of the genius that was in him. He was reared in the family of Andrew Kersh- ner, whose wife was his aunt. Mr. Kershner was a leading Whig in this county for many years, representing this region in the house of delegates from 1818 to 1832. Notwithstanding the fact that the home influences around our sub- ject were necessarily of a Whig tendency, he early cast his fortunes with the Democracy, and during the Civil war he was an earnest sympathizer with the south. The year following his gradua- tion he removed to Hagerstown and the next winter he was a committee clerk in the Maryland legislature.
In November, 1851, Mr. Syester was admitted to the bar and two years later he was elected to the legislature. In 1854 he was elected state's attorney of this county, which office he held for four years, dating from January 1, 1855, to 1859. The Whigs nominated him for the place of judge of the court of appeals, in opposition to James L. Bartol, a Democrat, and after a very exciting contest he was defeated by seven votes. In 1864 he was a candidate for congress (as the candidate of the Democratic party) against Hon. Francis Thomas, and in common with other leaders of his party, again met with defeat. In the spring of 1867 he was elected a member of the constitu- ' tional convention and the next winter was a member of the assembly. From the time that he entered the legal profession he had a large prac- tice, and was regarded as one of the ablest law- yers in the state. In the course of his profes- sional career he was engaged in no less than thirty- two cases of homicide, and his skill and tact in dealing with murder cases won for him a reputa- tion not limited to his native county or state.
November 17, 1852, Judge Syester married Catherine G., daugliter of George I. Harry, of Hagerstown. Their oldest daughter, Elizabeth, became the wife of Frank O. Baush, of Cumber-
land, Md .; she died March 6, 1879, leaving a son and daughter, who make their home with their grandmother, Mrs. Syester. The oldest son of Judge Syester is Andrew K., a resident of Harris- burg, Pa., and the other children are as fol- lows: Nesbit, deceased; Mary K., wife of Joseph WV. Coxe, of Roanoke, Va .; Katharine Edwards, deceased; Sallie, also deceased; Louis Duffield, an attorney of Hagerstown; and Miss Louise Darby Syester, who resides with her mother and is a well-known pianist of Hagerstown.
Hon. Louis Duffield Syester, a lawyer of Hagerstown, was born on the site of Hotel Hamil- ton, October 20, 1869. In 1888 he graduated from the academy of Hagerstown, being the president of his class. He was for three years editor of the Hagerstown College Journal while attending the academy. Then he was enrolled as a student in Dickenson College, and was the president of the class of '92, when he was obliged to leave on account of the invalidism of his father. During the last months of his college life he was the college librarian, and for some time before that was a member of the Belles Letters Society, and of the Sigma Psi fraternity. Upon leaving his student life he was city editor of the Evening Times, of Cumberland, Md., for nine months, after which he accepted a position as a reporter on the Philadelphia Times. Subsequently re- turning to his native place he was made editor of the Herald and Torch, and at different times was also employed on the Mail and Globe of this city. In IS91 he, while managing editor for the Harrisburg (Pa.) Call, took up the study of law during his leisure time, his preceptor being Judge Edward Stake, the present associate judge of the fourth judical district of Maryland, who had him- self read law with the distinguished father of the young man. He was admitted to the bar in February, 1893. In 1895 he received a hand- some vote for the state's attorneyship of this county, and in November, 1897, he was elected as the candidate of the Democratic party to the Maryland legislature, by a vote that was next to the highest received by the eight candidates, of both parties. As a lawyer he has been success- ful, and, as the Hagerstown Mail said during
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his candidacy: "He has never liestitated to cope Friend farm. Thereon his home was made for with the highest men in the profession." He is well read and is highly respected by his brethren of the bar. In making a specialty of criminal law, he has followed in his father's footsteps to some extent, but has also been unusually suc- cessful in divorce cases, having won eighteen in the past two years, and had three times as many placed in his hands as had any other attorney in Hagerstown. He is an aide-de-camp on staff of General Mumford, quartermaster-general of Maryland.
ON. THOMAS H. CUPPETT. Prominent among the self-made men of Garrett County is the gentleman of whom this sketch is penned. By no erratic act of the goddess of good fortune has he become wealthy and influential in his generation and community, but by the exer- cise of common sense, diligence in business and dne regard for the rights and welfare of others. He has never sought or desired public distinction or honor, refused the nomination for county com- missioner which was tendered him by his Repub- lican party friends, and the only place of any con- sequence he has ever occupied was that of judge of the orphans' court. The cause of education is one dear to his heart, for he fully realizes the importance of the subject, and that in the proper education of the masses of the American people lies the future destiny of the nation, in a great measure.
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