Allegany County
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COLONEL THOMAS JOHNS was a native of Georgetown, D. C., and was born March 5th, 1812, and was the son of Leonard Holliday Johns and his wife, Margaret Ann Williams. He was descended from Richard Johns of the Cliffs, and also from Governor Robert Brooke (colonial governor of Maryland during the parliamentary commission from 1654 to 1657) ; also descended from Judge Samuel Beall of Frederick county, of stamp act fame. His maternal grandfather, Captain Elisha Williams, commanded one of the companies of the Seventh Battalion, Maryland Line, in the Revolutionary War, of which battalion his cousin, General Otho Holland Williams, was then colonel.
Colonel Johns entered the West Point military academy as a cadet from the District of Columbia on July 1st, 1829, and graduated July 1st, 1833, having attained the high honor of cadet captain during his senior year. Appointed brevet 2nd Lieut. U. S. army, and commissioned 2nd Lieutenant 2nd U. S. Infantry, July 31st, 1836; commissioned 1st Lieutenant 8th U. S. Infantry, July 76, 1838. During this time he was detailed for four years as an instructor of tactics at West Point.
On April 21st, 1836, he married Miss Margaret Jane Getty, a sister of General George C. Getty, U. S. Army. His said wife died at Madison Barracks, Sacketts Harbor, New York, on March 17th, 1839, and on August 31st, 1841, he resigned from the regular army on account of ill health, and secured a clerkship with the old Maryland Mining Company of this county; later he became secretary of the Swanton Coal and Iron Company. In 1855 he opened a hardware store in Cumberland, in a building on the northwest corner of Baltimore and Centre streets, (which building is still in the family), and conducted the same with great success until 1872 when he retired.
On October 11th, 1842, Colonel Johns married Miss Mary Martha Magruder the daughter of the late Johnathan W. Magruder of this city.
On October 9th, 1861, he was commissioned Colonel of the Second Maryland Infantry, P. H. B., but on account of ill health he was obliged to resign the command before the close of the Civil War, and was succeeded by Col. Robert Bruce.
Colonel Johns died June 17th, 1882, and left surviving him his widow and daughter Rebecca, who married George Espy Anderson of Bedford, Pa., and three grandchildren, Espy L. Anderson, Louise H. Anderson and Thomas J. Anderson, Attorney at Law and U. S. Commissioner of this city.
Colonel Johns was a faithful officer when in the military service, although ill-health prevented him from making a more extensive record. He was possessed of a very high sense of honor and was a typical "old school gentleman" and universally esteemed. Dressed in his field officer's cloak (which he wore to the day of his death) he was a familiar figure on the streets of Cumberland in his day.
JAMES T. JOHNSON, M. D., of Cumberland, has won reputation for himself and
brought honor .to his profession by his achievements both in the field of
general medicine and in surgery. In a score of years he has advanced beyond the
point which many would set as a worthy goal for a lifetime of endeavor, and is
working as hard as ever in the front line of a calling which has been notable
for breadth and progress. His success leaves no room for doubt that he has
chosen his vocation wisely. Nevertheless it is somewhat remarkable that any
review of Dr. Johnson's life and work resolves itself into an outline of his
personal make-up, and there is the inevitable conclusion that though he has
become eminent in medicine, it is because he has devoted himself to medicine.
Wherever he goes he creates the impression that had he elected any other realm
of human interest for his endeavors the result would have been the same. It is
his nature to throw himself into any undertaking with the energy of all his
resources, no less and placing no limits upon his application, it would seem
that it has found no need for setting a limit to his accomplishments. The
outcome has been a distinct gain for medicine and surgery. The measure of his
work may be safely taken by the place he is accorded among the leaders of his
profession in Western Maryland, and the respect for his opinion observed by
fellow practitioners here. Such deference may not be won except by honest
superiority.
Dr. Johnson has been established it Cumberland throughout the period of his independent career, having begun practice there in 1894. He belongs to an old Southern family of English origin, founded in America during the early Colonial era. He was born November 29, 1869, in Florence, Alabama. His father, Thomas Johnson, was a large planter. James T. Johnson spent his boyhood and youth at his birthplace. His early education was acquired under private tutors, and he had also a course in the State Normal School at Florence before he entered upon the study of medicine. For two years he attended lectures in the medical department of New York University at New York City, continuing his studies at the University of Maryland, from which he was graduated in 1892, spending another year in post-graduate work. Then he had a year of valuable experience as resident physician in Baltimore. He came to Cumberland in 1894, well prepared to enter private practice. Within a short time he was launched upon a busy career, and his patronage has grown to be one of the largest in Allegany county, a fact sufficient in itself to indicate the confidence which his skill has attracted. A large share of his time is given to surgery, the extent of his work in this branch having developed proficiency which accounts for the heavy demands upon his aid, from all sources.
Fortunately Dr. Johnson is endowed with the type of intellect which is not awed by any volume of responsibility, but stimulated to increase effort by every new problem. The possibilities open to the profession have been broadening constantly to his vision, and he believes thoroughly in its ability to respond to demands which are daily becoming more exacting. Pressure of activities, instead of curtailing his research work and personal investigation along the lines of advanced thought, has quickened his mentality and been made to serve as an incentive to better ways and means of helping humanity to the fullest use of all its faculties. Dr. Johnson has had to win his own way, but he can hardly find any foundation for regret in that circumstance. Influence might have set him in an easier path in his early years, but it could not have carried him farther than he has gone on his own account, nor added any prestige to the name he has made. He has maintained active association with all the local organizations of the profession, as well as with the American Medical Association, belonging to the Cumberland Academy of Medicine, the Allegany County Medical Society and the Medico-Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland. His participation in public affairs has been entirely in the line of his work, and he is a member of the Federal Examining Board of Cumberland District, appointed in 1917 by Provost-Marshal Crowder, United States America. Politically he is a Democrat. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In 1896 Dr. Johnson married Miss Ida Mathis, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, member of an old Quaker family of that city. They have three children: James T., Jr., Elizabeth and William R. Johnson. The family occupies a fine home on Washington street, Cumberland, which stands on the exact site where old Fort Cumberland stood during the French and Indian war. This was where General Braddock stopped before he met his famous defeat at the hands of the French and Indians, and George Washington was serving at the time.
Dr. Johnson's great-great-grandfather, Levy Casey, was a native of South
Carolina and a Brigadier General in the Revolutionary war, and a member of one
of the early families in the United States. Mrs. Johnson also came of one of the
early families of the Quaker religion that settled on Long Island long before
the Revolution.
James T. Johnson, Jr., is a student at the Johns Hopkins University. He
volunteered before the age limit was lowered and joined the United States Navy
at the age of eighteen years, and served until the close of the war. Miss
Elizabeth Johnson is a student at Goucher College in Baltimore.
Zach Johnson was 88 years old (in 1900), who came from Frederick county about 1836. He had a general store on the corner of Center and Bedford streets, where he began and ended his mecantile career, from which he made a handsome fortune.
ZACHARIAH JOHNSON. In his day there was probably no man in Cumberland who was more universally respected, or whose successful life has been attended with a uprer record than that of Zachariah Johnson. He was born in Middletown Valley, Frederick county, Maryland, in 1810; was raised on a farm, knew nothing but hard labor, which he followed until he was about 35 years old. Locating in Cumberland in the forties with a few hundred dollars, he started in life as a merchant. His stock of goods was very small, but his ability and energy were abundant. He rapidly grew in public favor, increased his stock and added to his capital until in a short time he became one of the representative merchants of Cumberland. He was untiring in his efforts, a splendid financier, a man of broad judgment, and his life's work will go down in history as a successful, useful, valuable career--a benefit to the community, an example of energy and a model life in every respect.
Mr. Johnson married Miss Susan R. Kephart, and together they spent a happy, prosperous life. She was to him a loving, affectionate helpmate, and he to her a true, devoted husband. They had two children: William R. Johnson and Mrs. A. M. E. Laney, wife of Zachariah Laney, of Cumberland. (See Mr. Laney's sketch). Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were members of the St. Paul's Lutheran Church. This aged couple passed their declining years among people who loved to think of them as friends and neighbors, and who looked on them as good and true people. They were noted for their hospitality and generous charity. Mr. Johnson died in. May, 1904.
An individual's usefulness in the world is generally judged by the good he has accomplished, and determined by this standard, George Edward Jordan, deputy register of wills of Allegany county, occupies a position among the most prominent citizens of Cumberland. His achievements are not of a spectacular nature, for he is a plain and unassuming man, yet his life is noble and upright, one over which falls no shadow of wrong, and his work in behalf of his beloved city and county has been earnest and continuous, both in a public and private capacity. He was born at Cumberland, June 30, 1876, a son of Winfield Scott and Harriet (Shuck) Jordan, and a grandson of Joseph R. and Catherine (Buchanan) Jordan. Both the Jordans and Buchanans were among the earliest settlers of Allegany county, and members of the former were connected, as contractors and builders, with the erection of some of the oldest buildings at Cumberland. In addition to George Edward, Winfield Scott Jordan and his wife had the following children: Nellie Ruth Everstine, who died October 17, 1918, of influenza, being survived by four children, (Mrs. Reita Slavin, Mrs. Lelia Goodrich, Mrs. Harriet C. Deal and Miss Leora Everstine); Temperance Scott Jordan, who married J. William Pettett of Piedmont, West Virginia, has a daughter Elizabeth and is now a resident of Cumberland, residing at 46 Boone Street.
George Edward Jordan attended the public schools of Cumberland, and the old Allegany County Academy, and while a pupil of the former began learning his trade of a printer on the Cumberland Independent, becoming a journeyman printer. He was associated with the Independent when that journal was a weekly, and afterwards when it became a daily, remaining with it until it suspended. Mr. Jordan was then connected with the Cumberland News as printer, reporter and finally as manager of circulation, maintaining his connection with it until he was appointed deputy city collector of taxes for Cumberland in 1910, which office he held for two years, or until he was appointed State and county tax collector by the county commissioners, and served in that capacity until the close of 1913. He was appointed deputy register of wills for Allegany county by Hervey H. Shuck, on the latter's election to succeed his father, Hervey Shuck, Sr., to the office of register of wills, which position he still holds. A very active Republican, since 1913 Mr. Jordan has been treasurer of the Republican State Central Committee of his party, and has always taken a very zealous part in city, county and State politics.
A lover of sport, Mr. Jordan has been particularly active with reference to baseball, and in 1913 helped to organize an amateur team that represented Cumberland in that field of sport until 1916, when the once amateur club became a member of the Potomac League, and in 1917 was taken into the Blue Ridge League, but this organization was disbanded on account of war conditions. Mr. Jordan is a member of Progressive Council, No. 83, Jr. O. U. A. M.; Cumberland Lodge, No. 60, K. of P., and Mountain City Lodge, No. 27, I. O. M. He is an ex-president of the Cardinal Club, a social and outdoor organization. For a number of years he has belonged to Saint Luke's Evangelical Church of Cumberland.
On August 22, 1899, Mr. Jordan was united in marriage with Nellie C. Rank, of Cumberland, a daughter of John M. and Elizabeth (Howell) Rank. Mr. and Mrs. Jordan became the parents of two children, namely: George Edwin C., who was drowned August 4, 1918, while attempting the rescue of a drowning woman in Evitts Creek, near Cumberland; and Charles Scott. Faithful in every relation of life, Mr. Jordan has risen high in the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens, and holds an honored place among his contemporaries. He is loyal in his friendships, and his heart responds generously to every need of his fellowmen.
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This page was last updated
12/02/2023