USA > Maryland > Anne Arundel County > The founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland. A genealogical and biographical review from wills, deeds and church records > Part 32
USA > Maryland > Howard County > The founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland. A genealogical and biographical review from wills, deeds and church records > Part 32
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Governor Thomas married, first, Sarah Maria Kerr; second, Mrs. Clintonia (Wright) May. His daughters are Mrs. Sophia Kerr Trippe, Mrs. Maria Thomas Markoe and Mrs. Nannie Bell Hems- ley. Governor Thomas died in 1890. Mrs. Clintonia Thomas has outlived all of her sisters and brothers.
GOVERNOR ENOCH LOUIS LOWE.
Governor Enoch Louis Lowe, thirty-second Governor (1850-8), was born 1820. He was the son of Lieutenant Bradley S. A. Lowe, a graduate of West Point who served through the War of 1812. His mother was Adelaide Bellumeau de la Vincendine. Their residence was the "Hermitage," a fine estate of 1,000 acres, about three miles from Frederick, on the Monocacy River. There Enoch Louis Lowe was born. Lieutenant Lowe was the the son of Lloyd M. and Rebecca (Maccubbin) Lowe and grandson of Michael and Ann (Magruder) Lowe, all of Western Maryland.
Enoch Louis Lowe was educated at Frederick and from there went to a college near Dublin and then to the Roman Catholic College of Stonyhurst, Lancashire, England, where he remained until 1839. He was admitted to the bar in 1842. In 1845 he was elected to the House of Delegates, becoming an able and eloquent champion of democracy in Western Maryland. In 1850, whilst quite young, he was elected Governor. A new Constitution was about to be adopted. Governor Lowe suggested the following amendment: First, a revision of the election laws; second, a revision of the criminal code in regard to the inequality of punishment, pardons and remissions of fines; Third, a modification of the tax on civil commissions; ascertainment of the number and salaries of deputy clerks, and an entirely new system of issuing licenses.
In his message Governor Lowe recorded: "It gives me profound pleasure to announce the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to the Ohio River. This opens up wealth for our own State. The Washington branch has paid a capitation tax of $59,826.29 and the road is highly satisfactory, but misfortune seems to attend the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. A year ago I announced its completion, but the Spring tide has crippled it, causing a loss of $100,000, but its revenue, $250,000, will enable it to pay interest in 1854. The Sus-
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quehanna Railroad is advancing and with the exception of the canal, the internal works are helping the State, and the finances are now on the advance. From direct and indirect revenue laws and internal improvements the State will realize $1,500,000. The new assessment will probably reach $50,000,000." Upon that basis he urged a reduction in taxation. "The sinking fund has been pronounced a fallacy, but taxpayers pay no more to the sinking fund upon bonds of the State purchased for and held by the State for its use, than they would if held by public creditors. The debt is still over $15,000,000, less the sinking fund. Said my predecessor, 'It has been my duty, owing to pressing debt, to seize upon every expedient by which money could be placed in the treasury. It will, I trust, be my successor's pleasure to recommend the repeal of those taxes which have proved most oppressive to the people of the State.' Following that wish, I recommended last year a reduction of twenty per cent. on direct tax. I recommend now a reduction of forty per cent."
His message of 1854 urged that the execution of criminals should be private. The canal was then in good condition. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was leading to success. The Washington branch had increased its revenues and the sinking fund had reached $3,000,000. He had underestimated the increase of the new assess- ment when placed at $50,000,000. The gross amount of taxable bases had reached $261,243,660, an increase of $68,421,081. The reduction in taxation has given tangible relief.
In 1857 the position of minister extraordinary and plenipoten- tiary to China was offered him, which he declined.
He was a Democratic elector in 1860 and voted for John Cabel Breckinridge for President. He was present when Governor T. Holliday Hicks gave his assent to the burning of the bridges leading to Baltimore, in order that Northern soldiers might not be able to pass through the city. In 1861 Governor Lowe went south and remained during the war. In 1866 he removed to Brooklyn, New York, and practiced law, bearing with him letters from distin- guished Southern leaders.
He married May 29, 1844, Esther Winder Polk, daughter of Colonel James and Anna Maria (Stuart) Polk, of Princess Anne, son of Judge William Polk, of the Court of Appeals, a cousin of President Polk. Mrs. Anna Maria Stuart Polk was the daughter of Dr. Alexander Stuart, of Delaware.
Governor Lowe had eleven children: Mrs. Austin Jenkins and her sister, Mrs. Jenkins, are daughters; his sons are in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
Governor Lowe died August 27, 1892.
GOVERNOR THOMAS WATKINS LIGON.
Governor Thomas Watkins Ligon, thirty-third Governor (1853-7), was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1812. He was the son of Thomas D. Ligon, whose wife was a daughter of Colonel Thomas Watkins, an officer under General Washington, in command of a
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troop of horse raised by his own exertions in Prince Edward County, and took an active part in the battle of Guilford, North Carolina. His ancestors on both sides were in the Revolution. His father died young, leaving Thomas Watkins and James in the care of their mother.
At an early age Thomas Watkins Ligon was sent to Hampden Sidney College, where he was graduated, and completed his education at the University of Virginia, after which he entered Yale Law School. Returning to Virginia, he was admitted to the bar and removed to Baltimore.
In 1840 he married and removed to Howard County, near Ellicott City.
In 1843 he was elected to the Legislature, after which he was sent to the Thirtieth Congress.
In 1853 he was elected Governor to succeed Governor Lowe under the Constitution of. 1851 for four years. He was a Democrat and was confronted by a Whig Legislature in the height of the Know- Nothing excitement. He sent a message to the Assembly in which he took a strong stand against secret political parties, declaring, " All history warns us that a war of races or sects is the deadliest curse that can afflict a nation." In that message he asked for a committee to investigate the prevailing reports then circulating concerning the secret movements of that party. The Legislature assented to his request and a committee was ordered. The majority of that com- mittee refused to enter into an investigation, but contented them- selves in attacking the Democratic party, on which the Governor stood. The minority report sustained the Governor's charge. The State was soon convinced of the correctness of the Governor's charges in the succeeding election for the Mayor of Baltimore.
Failing to get the co-operation of Mayor Swann in correcting the abuses then prevalent, Governor Ligon issued a special message to the Legislature in which he deplored the partisan discord in the election in Baltimore.
At the next election the Democratic candidates withdrew and the judges of the elections resigned. Voters appealed to Governor Ligon for protection. He went to Baltimore and commenced a correspondence with Mayor Swann, and failing to get the Mayor's consent to co-operate, issued orders to call out the militia to protect voters; at the instigation of the citizens of Baltimore, a compromise was effected; he revoked the call, but the result of the election was so unsatisfactory and abuses were so palpable, that Governor Ligon in his next message made a vigorous attack upon the returned members. The House refused to receive his message, but the Governor's forcible arguments and earnest efforts started a reform movement in Baltimore which ended in a conservative victory.
Retiring from office he resumed farming; took interest in advancing institutions of learning and religion. He was president of the Patapsco Female Institute and member of several charitable institutions.
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He died at his home, near Ellicott City, January 12, 1881, in the seventieth year of his age.
Governor Ligon married, first, Sallie Dorsey (of Charles Worth- ington Dorsey). Issue, Mrs. Dorsey Thompson. His second wife was Mary Tolley Dorsey, sister of his first wife. Two daughters and one son, Charles W. Dorsey Ligon, survive.
GOVERNOR THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS.
Thomas Holliday Hicks, thirty-fourth Governor and United States Senator of Maryland (1857-61), was born September 2, 1798, about four miles from East New Market, Dorchester County, Mary- land. He was the son of Henry and Mary (Sewell) Hicks, who was a relative of General Sewell, of the American army. They were members of the Methodist Church and had eleven children.
Thomas Holliday Hicks attended school near home. In 1824 he was elected Sheriff. Purchasing a farm on the Choptank, from there he was sent to the Legislature.
In 1833 he removed to Vienna and became a merchant, running a line of boats to Baltimore.
In 1836 he was elected a member of the State Electoral College which then had the election of the State Senate, Governor and his Council. The election was a deadlock, lasting two months, and resulted in considerable disorder. Whilst at Annapolis Mr. Hicks was elected a member of the Legislature which made the Senate and Council elective.
In 1837 he was a member of the Governor's Council, and in 1838 Governor Veazey appointed him Register of Wills in Dorchester County, which he held by reappointment until 1851, when that office was made elective.
In 1857 Mr. Hicks was nominated and elected Governor by the American Party, from January, 1858, for four years. His adminis- tration covered a momentous period. His efforts to stop the move- ment of government troops through Maryland were not effectual. Both President Lincoln and Secretary Seward endorsed General Butler in his plan of route.
Governor Hicks visited President Lincoln to sue for sick Con- federate soldiers and was in correspondence with Southern Governors with a hope of averting conflict, but when the war had begun he gave the Union cause his untiring support in encouraging enlistment and supporting the soldiers of the army. The city of Annapolis being full of soldiers, Governor Hicks called the Legislature to assemble at Frederick "to take such measures as in their wisdom they may deem fit to maintain peace." That Legislature tried to discharge the duties devolved upon it; by a vote of fifty-three to twelve the House declared against secession, yet, later, every member was arrested by military orders and thrown into prison.
At the close of his term, in 1863, he was appointed United States Senator by Governor Bradford, to fill the unexpired term of James Alfred Pierce, and his selection was ratified at the next annual elec-
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tion. £ He had now become a thorough Republican and a member of the Union League. Although a slave-holder, he voted for the Constitution of 1864.
Having, in 1863, sprained a leg, erysipelas set in, which neces- sitated amputation. In the height of his notoriety he died from apoplexy, February, 1865.
Governor Hicks was married three times. His first wife was Ann Thompson, of Dorchester; second, Leah Raleigh, of Dorchester; third, Mrs. Mary Wilcox, widow of his cousin, Henry Wilcox.
B. Chaplain Hicks, of Baltimore, is the only living son. A full length portrait of Governor Hicks hangs in the State House.
GOVERNOR AUGUSTUS WILLIAMSON BRADFORD.
Governor Augustus Williamson Bradford, thirty-fifth in line (1861-5), was born in Belair in 1806. His parents were Samuel and Jane (Bond) Bradford, both of English parentage. He was well educated and became a surveyor. He studied law with Otho Scott and was admitted to the bar in 1827. Removing to Baltimore, he became a prominent member of the Whig party. He was an elector for Clay in 1844, but took no part in politics until 1860.
In 1835 he married Elizabeth Kell, daughter of Judge Kell, of Baltimore.
Governor Pratt appointed Mr. Bradford Clerk of Baltimore County, and Governor Hicks made him a Peace Commissioner in 1861. That same year, upon the first ballot, Mr. Bradford was nominated as the Union candidate for Governor. He was elected by 31,000 majority and was inaugurated January, 1862.
A full history of his administration covers the history of the war. He was willing to aid the government, but he resented any military interference in State elections, yet he presided at a large meeting in which the President was authorized to require the oath of allegiance, and at that meeting a resolution was passed which General Wood declared "would send 20,000 men to swell the army of Jefferson Davis."
The invasion of General Lee's army in 1862 urged Governor Bradford to issue a call for the citizens to enroll themselves in military companies.
In 1863, on a second invasion, the Governor called for 10,000 volunteers, and armed all who volunteered; many aged men offered themselves for home defence. Three regiments were formed in 1863.
After the battle of Gettysburg, Governor Bradford appointed a day of thanksgiving.
On hearing a rumor that troops were to be sent to the polls in 1863, Governor Bradford wrote to the President, protesting against it. The President's reply was not satisfactory and the Governor issued a proclamation in opposition to the orders of General Schenck. The latter issued orders to the papers not to publish the Governor's proclamation. In his message to the Legislature upon Schenck's action the Governor declared, "A part of the army was, on election
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day, engaged in stifling the freedom of election in a faithful State, intimidating its sworn officers and obstructing the usual channels between them and their executive."
At the January session of the Legislature the Governor reviewed the question of negro emancipation and called a convention to meet in Annapolis in 1864. This convention abolished slavery and issued the Constitution of 1864, which disfranchised all who sympathized with the rebellion. That Constitution granted the right of soldiers in the field to vote, and agents were sent to the army to receive the vote. Knowing that this innovation would be fought out in the courts, the Governor was particularly explicit in his instructions. Sixty points of exceptions were taken to the courts and the arguments consumed two days. The Governor's opinion was an able presenta- tion of the case. The new Constitution went into effect in November, 1864, and slavery went down by the people's vote, some time before it had disappeared elsewhere by military orders.
In 1864, upon a Confederate raid, the Governor's house was burned, in retaliation, it was claimed, for the burning of Governor Letcher's mansion in Virginia. He never received any pay for its loss.
Governor Bradford's attachment to the Union was expressed in these words: "The loyal men of Maryland have no parties to sustain, no parties to create, no parties to revive; but the Union and its preservation is their only object." He attended the convention of loyal Governors in 1862.
On the inauguration of his successor, Thomas Swann, Governor Bradford spoke thus: "This Maryland, this loyal, Union-loving, freedom-loving Maryland, this upward-bound, expanding, regener- ated Maryland-this is, indeed, our Maryland." Applause and thanks were tendered him for his able administration.
In 1867 Governor Bradford was appointed by President Johnson Surveyor of the Port of Baltimore. He held it until 1869, when President Grant removed him, but offered in its stead the position of Appraiser in Baltimore. This was declined on the ground that it required mercantile training, which he did not possess.
Governor Bradford was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Two of his sons, Messrs. Augustus W. Bradford and Thomas Kell Bradford, are in business in Baltimore.
GOVERNOR THOMAS SWANN.
Thomas Swann, thirty-sixth Governor of Maryland (1865-67), was born about the close of the first decade of the nineteenth century in Alexandria. His father, Thomas Swann, was a prominent lawyer of Washington, and, under President Monroe, was United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. His mother was Jane Byrd, daughter of William Byrd, Receiver-General of the Colonies.
Thomas Swann was educated at the University of Virginia and became a law student under his father. He was afterward sent by President Jackson as secretary of the United States Commission to Naples.
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In 1834 Mr. Swann married Miss Sherlock, daughter of an English gentleman and granddaughter of Robert Gilmor. His daughter Louisa, married Ferdinand Latrobe, seven times Mayor of Baltimore.
Mr. Swann, upon removing to Baltimore, became a director in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1845, and two years afterward became president, succeeding Louis McLane. He remained in that office until the completion of the road to Ohio in 1853, and received the thanks of the directors for the ability of his administration. Mr. Swann next was president of the Northwestern Railroad from Baltimore to Cincinnati.
In 1856 he was elected Mayor of Baltimore and was re-elected in 1858. During his term he introduced the fire department, the police and fire-alarm telegraph, the water-works system, the street car system and Druid Hill Park.
In 1861 he took strong ground against the war. In 1863 he was elected president of the First National Bank. In 1864 was elected by the Union party Governor of Maryland, and in January, 1865, succeeded Governor Bradford. He supported President Lincoln and was with President Johnson in his measures of reconstruction. As war measures were no longer needed, Governor Swann began to remove the disfranchisements of 1864.
When the Police Commission of Baltimore refused to allow a single Democratic judge, Governor Swann removed the Board and appointed others. Judge Bond, under a bench warrant, caused the arrest of these; Judge Bartol, under the "habeas corpus," decided their appointment was legal. This decision brought on a riot in Baltimore. Governor Swann called on President for aid. General Grant was sent over to investigate; he reported against Federal interference. At the next election, without a single Democratic judge of election, the Democrats triumphed, and at the next session of the Legislature Governor Swann was elected United States Senator. Under the Constitution of 1864, Lieutenant-Governor C. C. Cox would have succeeded to the Governor's chair; he still held to the faith of the party which elected him. Governor Swann determined to decline the senatorship and hold his chair in order to aid the Democrats in securing a new Constitution. For this act he was applauded by the people, but denounced by his party. Governor Swann urged a convention for the revision of the Constitution.
Hon. Philip Francis Thomas introduced in the Legislature a bill to restore full citizenship in the State of Maryland. This secured the revised Constitution of 1867.
In his final message of 1868, Governor Swann reported "the finances of the State prosperous; the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was making large returns; schools were doing good work; he opposed negro equality or manhood suffrage; he was not in favor of political rights for the negroes; Congress has no right to make a Constitution for Maryland; he objected to the suspension of the 'habeas corpus'; all of these have led to anarchy." He called attention to the comple- tion of the new Government house for the residence of the executive.
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At the expiration of his term, Governor Oden Bowie, Chairman of the Democratic Committee, in the campaign which secured the enfranchised Constitution of 1867, was elected Governor.
In 1868 Governor Swann was honored by the Democratic Party as their representative in Congress. He was repeatedly re-elected until 1876. He became Chairman of the Committee upon Foreign Relations and exerted a marked influence in Congress.
Governor Swann married, as his second wife, Josephine Ward, the belle of New York, daughter of General Aaron Ward, of Sing Sing. Her first husband was Hon. John R. Thompson, United States Senator of New Jersey. She was a popular leader of society and entertained largely in her Newport cottage. Governor Swann died near Leesburg, Virginia, July 24, 1893.
GOVERNOR ODEN BOWIE.
Oden Bowie, thirty-seventh Governor of Maryland (1867-72), was born at "Fairview," Prince George County, Maryland, November 10, 1826. He was the son of Hon. William Ducket and Eliza (Oden) Bowie, the former of Scotch and the latter of English descent, both early settlers. Colonel Bowie represented Prince George County. in the House of Delegates and for six years was in the Senate of Mary- land. Governor Bowie lost his mother when nine years of age and was sent to St. John's College and St. Mary's College and graduated there in 1845.
The next year he enlisted in the Mexican War in Colonel William H. Watson's Battalion of Maryland and District of Columbia Volun- teers. Colonel Watson was killed at Monterey, dying in the arms of Lieutenant Bowie, who was the only officer left with Colonel Watson. He was afterward appointed Senior Captain of the Voltigeur regiment, one of the ten regular regiments of the army. This office he resigned because of illness, brought on by the climate. In 1847, at the age of twenty-one years, he was elected to the House of Delegates, returning several times. In 1860 he was elected President of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, in which he won national reputation for his ability. In 1864 he was a candidate for Lieutenant- Governor, but defeated by C. C. Cox. In 1867, he represented Prince George County in the Senate of Maryland and in November, 1867, was elected Governor, but in consequence of the provision of the new Constitution, which permitted Governor Swann to serve his four years' term, Governor Bowie did not take his seat until January, 1869.
Governor Bowie's message of 1870 reads: "Two years of health, peace, contentment and average prosperity have been granted us. Our debt is now $12,000,000; our bonds and stocks amount to $7,000,000; our balance due is $5,000,000, offset by bonds of internal improvement amounting to $19,000,000."
He urged that our school system be placed under a board of commissioners; he favored immigration and urged bureaus of agri- culture and mechanic arts be established; he urged that support be given to the Western Maryland Railroad; that a general road system
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be organized-and asked that our war claims against the Government be collected. The Legislature was entirely of one political party. His message of 1872 again urged immigration as a necessity under our present system of labor.
During his term the difficulty with Virginia upon the limit of oyster beds was settled. He collected the arrearages of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and secured the payment of the large loans Maryland had made to the Government. He also secured a large quantity of arms from the Federal Government. Governor Bowie reported a wonderful improvement in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
At a dinner given at Saratoga Governor Bowie established the celebrated "Dinner Stakes and Breakfast Stakes," which made the Maryland Jockey Club a noted organization. He bought the Pimlico race course. Introduced from his own estate the Southdown and Cotswold sheep into Druid Hill Park.
In October, 1873, Governor Bowie was elected President of the Baltimore City Passenger Railway, in which he paid off the park tax of $100,000 and advanced the value of the stock from fifteen per cent. to thirty-five per cent. As President of the Maryland Jockey Club, he brought it to its highest success.
Governor Bowie married Miss Alice Carter, daughter of Charles H. Carter, a descendant of "King Carter," of Virginia, sister of the distinguished attorney, Bernard Carter. Her mother was Rosalie Eugenie Calvert, of Riversdale. Governor Bowie died at "Fairview" and his remains were interred there. He left seven living children. Mrs. Bowie died recently and lies beside her distinguished husband.
GOVERNOR WILLIAM PINKNEY WHYTE.
Governor William Pinkney Whyte,'who has just celebrated his eighty-second birthday and who has been singularly honored by all who know him, is the son of Joseph Whyte and the grandson of Dr. John Campbell Whyte, an Irish patriot, member of the United Irishmen of 1798, who refused to be reconciled to the union of his country with England and resolved to make his future home in Baltimore.
Governor Whyte's mother was Isabella Pinkney, the handsome and intelligent daughter of Hon. William Pinkney, the nation's orator and statesman. Starting life in the banking house of George Peabody, later a law student of Harvard, as early as 1847 he was sent to the Legislature of Maryland and in 1851 was a candidate for Congress. This young Democrat could not overcome the Whig majority of his district, but he became Comptroller of the Treasury in 1853. In 1857 he was once more defeated for Congress. In 1868 he became a delegate to the National Democratic Convention.
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