GEORGE WASHINGTON FAYETTE VERNON

George Washington Fayette VERNON, real estate broker and attorney-at-law, born at Frederick City on June 14, 1843, was the son of Nathaniel and Charlotte A. Vernon. His father, a man methodic in his habits and temperate in all things, began life as a lawyer in Pennsylvania and later served for forty years as professor of mathematics in Frederick College. He was also a soldier in the War of 1812 and a school inspector in Frederick County. The emigrant ancestor was Thomas Vernon, who came to Philadelphia in 1682 and soon settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Thomas Vernon, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.

George W.F. Vernon spent his youth in Frederick attending Frederick College, an old country academy, reading works on history and geography and the lives of successful men, and working at gardening and fruit culture in spare hours. An ambitious boy, he ws fond of organizing his classmates into military and fire companies, theatrical and debating societies and football teams. He studied law in the office of one of the Frederick bar until the Civil War broke out.

When he was but eighteen years of age, he enlisted on August 10, 1861 as second lieutenant in Cole's Cavalry, Maryland Volunteers. He served throughout the whole war and was mustered out on June 28, 1865, having been successively promoted to the positions of first lieutenant, captain, major and lieutenant-colonel and having acted as brigadier-general in active field service. He was a brave and dashing cavalry officer and lost an eye from a wound on January 10, 1864 at Loudon Heights, Virginia, in a midnight battle in the snow.

In 1896, he was appointed on a commission to prepare the records of Maryland men in the Civil War and was largely responsible for the completeness of the two volumes, in which those records were published in 1898. He also wrote the section on the Military and Naval History of Maryland which appeared in Nelson's "History of Baltimore" in 1898.

He is a member of the Loyal Legion, of the Grand Army of the Republic, of the F.A.R. Club of Maryland, and of the Union Veteran Association of Maryland of which association he served as president in 1888-1889. From 1878-1883, he was post commander of Reynolds Post No. 2, G.A.R.; from 1884 to 1886, he was successively junior vice commander, senior vice commander and department commander G.A.R. Department of Maryland, and from 1900 to 1904, he was a member of the Board of Governors of Wilson Post No. 1 G.A.R. of the G.A.R. Club.

Colonel Vernon affiliates with the Protestant Episcopal Church. He is regular in exercise and habits, temperate in all things and finds health and recreation in walking, horseback riding, bicycling and exercise with Indian clubs. He is a frequent attender of theaters, lectures and card parties. Especially does he enjoy traveling both at home and abroad, and his letters describing his trips, have been enjoyed by many who have read them in the colums of the Baltimore newspapers.

Colonel Vernon was married to Sarah A. Todd, in San Francisco on August 18, 1873, and they have had five children, of whom three are now living.

After the war, he settled in Frederick and engaged in farming and in the brokerage business. He was postmaster of Frederick from 1867 to 1869 and special agent of the United States Treasury Department from 1869-1877 and, in that capacity, traveled over the United States, spending three years on the Pacific Slope and in his official capacity was dispateched to South and Central America. From 1878-1882, he was surveyor of customs of the Port of Baltimore, since which latter date, he has resided in Baltimore and has given his attention to legal cases, pending in the United States Court of Claims, and before special commisssions, especially those adjudicating the Alabama Claims.

His influence in the departments at Washington and before the congressional committees is known and respected. He has also been interested in loan companies and in real estate operations. From 1885 to 1903, he was a special attorney for the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company of Baltimore and he is much "interested in the upbuilding of an American Steam Mercantile Marine".

Colonel Vernon has always been an ardent Republican. He is a member of the Maryland Historical Society and of the American Forestry Association. Life has taught him perseverance and patience; that one should never despair; that where nothing is risked, often nothing is gained; that patriotism, the performance of one's duty to God and country, the pursuit of physical and mental culture, a determination to succeed in the battle of life by all honorable means, and faith in one's self will inspire confidence in others, and insure a following and help when needed.   (pages 390-393)