Charles F. Mayer

Charles Frederick Mayer (1795-1864) was an American lawyer, Maryland state senator, and railroad director.

This article is about the state senator. For his nephew, the B&O president, see Charles F. Mayer (railroad president).
Charles Frederick Mayer (ca. 1815–20)

Early life

Mayer was born in Baltimore on Oct. 15, 1795, to Christian Mayer, who emigrated from Germany to Baltimore in 1784. Charles' younger brother, Brantz Mayer (1809-1879), would become a diplomat like their father; in 1844, he founded the Maryland Historical Society. Another brother, Lewis Mayer, was a pioneer in anthracite mining and the father of Charles F. Mayer (ca. 1834-1904), the 10th president of the B&O.[1]

Charles attended Dickinson College and later became a trustee.[2]

Career

Wealthy by inheritance, Christian Mayer came to Baltimore as the representative of a large Amsterdam merchant house.[3] In America, he increased his fortune as an East Indies ship owner and merchant, and also served his home country for five decades as Consul General of Wurttemberg.[2]

Returning to his home city, he became a leading light in its intellectual life: "His house was a center for all that was intellectual and cultured in the Baltimore of those days".[2]

Political career

In 1830, he was elected a Maryland state senator from Baltimore City.[4] In 1833, as the chairman of a joint committee of the legislative house, he helped produce the "Report relative to the plans of operation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company."[5] His efforts helped settle a dispute between the C&O and B&O and thereby helped ensure Baltimore's access to western markets.[3]

Later career

In 1838, he was a director of the Baltimore and Port Deposit Railroad, whose president was Lewis Brantz, his father's business partner. The B&PD, along with three other railroads, built the first rail link from Philadelphia to Baltimore. The firms merged in 1838 into the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad, and Mayer stayed on as director. His service as an early railroad executive is noted on the 1839 Newkirk Viaduct Monument.

Personal life

Mayer married and had a son:

  • Henry Christian Mayer (1821–1846)

He married again, to Eliza C. Mayer (Aug. 26, 1803-June 28, 1885),[6] and their children included:

Mayer died on Jan. 3, 1864, and is buried in Baltimore's Green Mount Cemetery.[6]

Interests and clubs

He was a member of the Maryland Club[9] and helped found the "Baltimore House of Refuge."

Notes
  1. Charles F. Mayer. The Successful American. 2. Press Biographical Company. 1899. pp. 36–37.
  2. "ALFRED MARSHALL MAYER" (PDF). Biographical Memoirs (Vol. 8). National Academy of Sciences. January 1916. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
  3. Forrest, Clarence H. (1898). Official History of the Fire Department of the City of Baltimore: Together with Biographies and Portraits of Eminent Citizens of Baltimore. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Company Press. p. 326. Christian Mayer baltimore.
  4. "History of Baltimore city and county, from the earliest period to the present day: including biographical sketches of their representative men (1881) By J. Thomas Scharf
  5. "William McNeir". Archives of Maryland (Biographical Series). Maryland State Archives. February 21, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
  6. "Charles F Mayer". Find A Grave. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
  7. Logan, Mrs John A. (1912). The Part Taken by Women in American History. Perry-Nalle publishing Company. van kleeck.
  8. Dutchess County Historical Society (1938). Year Book of the Dutchess County Historical Society. New York: The Society. p. 70.
  9. Shepherd, Henry Elliot (1893). History of Baltimore, Maryland. S.B. Nelson. p. 953. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
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