History of Western Maryland. J. Thomas Scharf
James M. Shellman, Arthur F. Shriver, and T. Parkin Scott were admitted to practice. Of these but one now remains.
Col. William P. Maulsby, in the fullness of years, but with unabated vigor, still represents the interests of his clients in the leading courts of the State, and many a more youthful attorney envies the elasticity of mind and knowledge of law which he displays. Col. Maulsby was born in Harford County, Md,, and after careful training selected law as a profession. He removed to Frederick, where he practiced until the creation of the county of Carroll, when he removed to Westminster, and was appointed by the court the first State's attorney of the new county. He filled this position with great credit until 1846. He was also the first State senator from Carroll, and was an active and influential member of the higher branch of the State Legislature for eight years. At the breaking out of the civil war Col. Maulsby's convictions were decidedly in favor of the Union, and he gave practical direction to his opinions by taking command of a Maryland regiment in the Army of the Potomac, where he saw much active service. Upon his retirement from the army he resumed the practice of his profession in Frederick City, and he was appointed by the Governor, Jan. 20, 1870, chief judge of the Sixth Judicial District of Maryland, composed of the counties of Frederick and Montgomery, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Madison Nelson. He filled this position acceptably until his successor was chosen at the November election. He is now the senior member of the bar in Carroll County, has an extensive practice, and stands deservedly high in the legal profession.
Thomas Parkin Scott, one of the pioneers of the Carroll County bar, was born in Baltimore in 1804, and educated at St. Mary's College. He studied law with an elder brother, and was admitted to the bar in Baltimore, where he soon acquired a large practice. He was the auditor of the Equity Court for many years. He was at one time a member of the City Council of Baltimore, and served several terms in the Maryland Legislature, of which body he was a member at the breaking out of the war in 1861. He was arrested by the military because of his sympathies with the South, and confined successively in Forts McHenry, Lafayette, and Warren during a period of fourteen months. It is related of him that while confined in Fort Warren a Northern preacher requested to be allowed to preach to the Southern prisoners, which was acceded to provided the latter were permitted to select the text. Judge Scott selected Acts XXV. 27: " It seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him." The prisoners did not receive the benefit of the clergyman's ministrations on that occasion. Judge Scott was elected judge of the Circuit Court of Baltimore City in 1867, and was made chief judge of the Supreme Bench in the following year, both of which positions he held until his death, Oct. 13, 1873. In politics he was a stern, uncompromising Democrat, and in religion a sincere convert to the Catholic faith. As a judge, he was upright, impartial, and wise, and as a man, he was beloved and lamented by the community in which he had lived.
Col. James M. Shellman was born in Louisville, Ga., Sept. 8, 1801. His wife was a daughter of Philip Jones, of the " Gallipot" farm, in Baltimore County, who was a soldier in the war of 1812. The grandfather of Mrs. Shellman was the first register of wills for Baltimore County, and her great-grandfather was Philip Jones, the surveyor who laid out the town of Baltimore in 1730. Col. Shellman was the auditor of the court of Carroll County from its organization in 1837 until his death, which occurred Jan. 14, 1851. His long service is sufficient evidence of the faithful performance of the duties appertaining to the position. He was an active and influential member of the House of Delegates of Maryland in 1845 and 1846.
James Raymond was State's attorney from 1846 to 1847, and a member of the House of Delegates of Maryland in 1844.
Samuel D. Lecompte was a member of the House of Delegates in 1842.
Charles W. Webster was a son of Rev. Isaac Webster, a pioneer preacher, and served several years as deputy attorney-general.
John E. Smith was judge of the Circuit Court from 1864 to 1867, and his law-partner. Col. William A. McKellip, was clerk of the court from 1862 to 1867.
Hon, John E. Smith was born at Westminster, on the 19th of January, 1830, and received his education at Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, where he graduated in 1849. Returning home he determined to study law, and entered the office of the distinguished lawyer, J. M. Palmer, at Frederick City. After a thorough course of study he was admitted to the bar at Westminster, on the 2nd of September, 1851, and at once secured the respect and esteem of the profession and the confidence of his fellow-citizens. His success at the bar was rapid and pronounced, and he soon acquired an extensive popularity and influence in politics. In 1856 he was elected to the State Legislature, and took a very active and prominent part, with Hon. Anthony Kennedy, William M. Travers, William T. Merrick, and others, in securing the repeal of the stamp tax and in effecting other reforms. In 1857 he was elected to the Senate of Maryland, and in 1859 re-elected to the same body. In 1864 he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention which abolished slavery in this State. Upon the adoption of the constitution of 1864, Judge Smith was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit, comprising the counties of Carroll and Howard. During the three years he occupied a position on the bench he discharged his duties in so careful and impartial a manner that when the State was redistricted under the constitution of 1867, he retired with the confidence and respect of the people of the two counties without reference to party. In 1870 he was the Republican candidate for Congress in the Fourth, now the Sixth, Congressional District, but was defeated. During the session of the Legislature of that year, upon the election of Governor Whyte to the United States Senate, Judge Smith was unanimously selected by the Republican members and voted for as Governor of the State, but was defeated by Governor Groome. Judge Smith has repeatedly served as elector at large upon the Republican Presidential ticket, and as delegate to various district, State, and National Conventions. On the death of Judge Giles he was prominently mentioned for United States District Judge of Maryland, and again in 1879 as Republican candidate for Governor of Maryland. On the latter occasion he publicly announced that he was not an aspirant for any office, and that he intended thenceforth to devote himself exclusively to the pursuit of his profession. This declaration was received with regret by the general public, as well as by his many friends of all shades of political opinion throughout the State, as Judge Smith had always borne, and still bears, the highest reputation as a lawyer and a man. He is now in the prime of life, and in the active practice of his profession, which is very large and lucrative. Judge Smith is regarded as being one of the soundest and ablest lawyers in the State, and enjoys a personal influence in his community which is the legitimate fruit of a life of the strictest rectitude in all his relations, and of scrupulous fidelity in discharging every trust that has been confided to him. He has never sought office, and all the nominations bestowed upon him were entirely without any solicitation on his part. In fact, it was only after repeated and urgent requests that he ever consented to serve the people. He has never been a bitter partisan, but at the same time has always been a zealous and consistent member of the Republican party; and to his uniformly conservative and temperate course is to be ascribed much of the well-earned popularity which he enjoys.
Hon. Charles Boyle Roberts, ex-congressman and one of Carroll County's leading lawyers, was born in Uniontown, Carroll Co., April 19, 1842. His father (John Roberts) and his mother (Catharine A. Boyle) were natives of Uniontown, and his ancestors were among the earliest settlers of the vicinity. Charles B. Roberts was educated at Calvert College, New Windsor, where he graduated in 1861. Directly thereafter he began the study of the law with Hon. William N. Hayden (now one of the associate judges of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Judicial Circuit), and in 1864, being admitted to the bar, made his residence in Westminster, where he has lived and practiced his profession ever since. In 1868 he was chosen on the Democratic ticket as one of the Presidential electors from Maryland, and six years later (in 1874) was elected to Congress from the Second District of Maryland, composed of the counties of Cecil, Harford, and Carroll, and all of Baltimore County save the First and Thirteenth Election Districts. His majority over John T. Ensor, the Republican candidate, was 2444 in a total vote of 18,920. During his term he served on the Committee of the Levees of the Mississippi River and on the Committee of Accounts, of which latter he became the chairman upon the transfer of the former chairman (James D. Williams) to the Governorship of Indiana. Mr. Roberts introduced a bill providing for the equalization of the tax on State and national banks, and supported his measure in a speech that attracted marked attention. His record