Edwin Hanson Webster (Bel Air, MD)
Edwin Hanson Webster (Mar. 31, 1829 – Apr. 24, 1893)
Biography
- Name: Edwin Hanson Webster
- Birth: March 31, 1829 Churchville, Harford Co., Maryland
- Death: April 24, 1893 Bel Air, Maryland
Early life and family
Edwin Hanson Webster was born near Churchville, in Harford County, Maryland, on March 31, 1829. His father was Henry Webster, a prominent farmer. His mother was Martha Hanson, daughter of Benjamin Hanson, of Kent County. Mr. Webster received his early education at the Churchville Academy and the academy at New London, Chester County, Pennsylvania. At the age of fifteen be entered Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1847.
Colonel Webster was married in Elizabeth City, New Jersey, on June 6, 1855, to Mrs. Caroline H. Earl, a daughter of James McCormick, Jr., of Washington.
Career highlights
After teaching school near his father's home for about a year and a-half he began the study of the law in the office of Otho Scott, in Bel Air. His public life began before he was admitted to the bar, as he was nominated in 1851 by the Whig party for the office of State's attorney for Harford County. Just before the 1851 election he was admitted to the bar in Baltimore City. In the election he was defeated by Major William H. Dallam, who received a majority over Webster of ten votes. After this election Mr. Webster entered into a law partnership with Stevenson Archer, and with him practiced law in Bel Air. In 1855 he was elected to the State Senate by the know nothing party (later the American party) over Colonel Ramsey McHenry, whom he met in joint discussion during the campaign. His majority at this election was about 1,000. During his second term as Senator, in 1858, he was made president of the Senate. In 1856 he was a presidential elector on the Millard Fillmore ticket. Fillmore would win only the State of Maryland. In 1859 he was elected to the House of Representatives in the second congressional district of Maryland, composed of Kent, Cecil, Harford. Carroll and a portion of Baltimore counties. His old antagonist, Col. Ramsey McHenry, again was his opponent. Mr. Webster's majority this time was about seven hundred. The Congress to which he was elected was one of the most exciting in the history of the country- The contest for speakership extended over months. The American party, of which he was a representative, held the balance of power. He gave his vote to Gilmore of North Carolina. In the presidential contest of 1860, he supported the Bell and Everett ticket. In Congress, when the secession movement became imminent, be was for pacification and the passage of the Crittenden resolutions. But when the issue was squarely made between union and secession his support of the union was vigorous, devoted and uncompromising, and he sustained Governor Hicks in his anti-secession policy with all his might.
Re-elected to Congress in 1861. he sustained and favored the prosecution of the war. While voting for all requisitions of men and money for the coercion of the South, he believed that money should be raised by selling bonds and not by the issue of legal-tender notes, which he regarded as unconstitutional. He twice declined a commission as brigadier-general, but afterward, in 1862, he recruited the Seventh Regiment of Maryland Volunteer Infantry and as its colonel marched to the front in September of that year. While sitting in Congress during the session of 1863, he left his regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles E. Phelps. Upon the adjournment of Congress, March 3, 1863, he returned to the regiment, which was then on Maryland Heights, opposite Harper's Ferry. In the autumn of 1863, he was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress, the campaign and election taking place during his absence in the field. Upon taking his seat in Congress, he resigned his military commission, receiving upon his departure from his regiment a copy of a resolution signed by every officer in his command, expressive of high regard and of regret at his departure. For his military service Colonel Webster would receive no compensation. At the session of 1864, Congress submitted the fourteenth amendment to the constitution to the States for ratification. He voted for the bill and also favored the abolition of slavery by the government of the State of Maryland. He again offered his services to the State upon the invasion by the Confederates in 1864. That summer he, as a member of a commission appointed by the Governor, drafted a code for the government of the State militia. He was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress for a fourth term. When Mr. Lincoln was assassinated, he had in his pocket a list of Maryland appointments which he proposed to make. This list contained the name of Colonel Webster for collector of the Port of Baltimore, and President Johnson made the appointment in August 1865. This required the resignation of his seat in Congress. He was subsequently made collector for a second term and filled the office to the general satisfaction of the business community.
Later life and death
After retirement from public life, Colonel Webster devoted himself to tilling his beautiful and fertile farm in Harford County. He also continued the practice of his profession of the law and was president of the Harford National Bank of Bel Air.
On Monday, April 24, 1893, former Congressman Edwin H. Webster died at his home near Bel Air, Harford County, at 2 o'clock of Bright's disease of the kidneys, complicated with diseases of the liver. About ten years ago he had just such another attack as the last one. On November 1, 1891, he was again taken very ill and never fully recovered from the attack, although he improved sufficiently to go out and attend to business until the previous December. His family was summoned to his bedside early the previous evening. His daughter, Mrs. E.H.P. Harrison, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was too sick to come home. The funeral took place on Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock, from his late residence, "Ingleside." The interment was at Calvary Methodist Cemetery, Harford County, near Churchville. Colonel Webster left four children, viz., Mrs. J.A. Hunter of Virginia; Mrs. Edwin H.P. Harrison of Martinsburg, West Virginia, Mrs. William H. Harlan of Belair, and J. Edwin Webster, an attorney of Bel Air.
Bank Officer Summary
During his banking career, Edwin H. Webster was involved with the following bank:
- Harford National Bank, Bel Air, MD (Charter 2797): President 1882-1892
Sources
- Edwin Hanson Webster Congressional Biography
- Edwin Hanson Webster on wikipedia
- Edwin Hanson Webster on Findagrave.com:
- Banks & Bankers Historical Database (1782-1935), https://spmc.org/bank-note-history-project
- The Sun, Baltimore, MD, Mon., June 11, 1855.
- The Sun, Baltimore, MD, Mon., Nov. 19, 1855.
- The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, MD, Tue., 25 Apr 1893.