30 Facts About Edwin Warfield

Edwin Warfield was an American politician and a member of the United States Democratic Party, and the 45th Governor of Maryland in the United States from 1904 to 1908.

Edwin Warfield was born to Albert G Warfield and Margaret Gassaway Warfield at the "Oakdale" plantation in Howard County, Maryland.

Edwin Warfield received early education at the public schools of Howard County and at St Timothy's Hall in Catonsville, Maryland, a "streetcar suburb" southwest of Baltimore.

Gassaway Watkins Edwin Warfield died at Camp Chase, while Albert G Edwin Warfield Jr.

Edwin Warfield spent time as a teacher in the county schools, and studied for admission to the bar in his spare time.

In 1888, Edwin Warfield founded The Daily Record as a newspaper covering finance, commerce, business, and court matters or legal proceedings.

Edwin Warfield's lineage allowed him membership into the Sons of the American Revolution, where he served as 8th President General from 1902 until 1903.

In 1874, Edwin Warfield was appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of Register of Wills for Howard County.

Edwin Warfield was elected to a full six-year term the following year, and served until 1881.

Edwin Warfield was appointed to the Maryland Senate following the resignation of Arthur Pue Gorman to accept a higher office, was re-elected in 1883, and served as President of the Maryland State Senate during the 1886 session.

Edwin Warfield served in that position until May 1,1890, after the Republicans returned to power.

In 1890, Edwin Warfield married Emma Nicodemus, with whom he had three daughters and one son.

In 1890, after his removal from the position of Surveyor, Edwin Warfield founded the Fidelity and Deposit Company, where he served as president until his death.

Edwin Warfield was chosen as a delegate to the 1896 Democratic National Convention, but otherwise remained out of politics for nearly a decade.

In September 1903, Edwin Warfield served as the main speaker and orator for the ceremonies dedicating the Lt.

Edwin Warfield chose to run for Governor of Maryland in 1899, but lost the Democratic nomination after he was opposed by influential Maryland politicians, including Arthur Pue Gorman, a powerful US Senator who was allied to the interests of "old pols" in Baltimore City.

Edwin Warfield was successfully nominated by the party, and defeated his Republican opponent, Stevenson A Williams, by over 12,600 votes.

Edwin Warfield was inaugurated as the 45th Governor of Maryland on January 13,1904.

The most significant event of his tenure as Governor came when Arthur Pue Gorman, who had opposed Edwin Warfield's election, proposed the "Poe Amendment" to the Maryland State Constitution of 1867, which would have disenfranchised most black voters in the state.

The bill easily passed the Democrat-controlled General Assembly, but Edwin Warfield refused to support the proposed amendment and delayed placing it before the voters.

The proposed amendment was put before voters in a 1904 referendum and was defeated by 30,000 votes, a defeat to the crypto-segregationists in the party in which Edwin Warfield played a major role.

Edwin Warfield argued this before the General Assembly in 1906, and direct election of senators was eventually codified into national law with the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Edwin Warfield became president of the Fidelity Trust Company with Baltimore Sun Publisher Van Lear Black.

Edwin Warfield served on the board of the Montgomery Mutual Insurance Company until his death.

Edwin Warfield was proud of his family's Confederate legacy, representing Maryland in reunions and events like the 1911 Southern Commercial Congress in Atlanta.

Edwin Warfield's health began to deteriorate in late 1919, and he was confined to his home in Baltimore during the last few months of his life.

Edwin Warfield died there, and was interred in his family burial ground at "Cherry Grove" in Howard County.

Edwin Warfield was eulogized by The Baltimore Sun not as a man of definitive accomplishments, but one who stood up to the Democratic machine, supported the public interest, and transformed the office of the governor into a modern institution responsible to the public, rather than the political party.

In Columbia, Maryland, Governor Edwin Warfield is remembered with a street named for him, Governor Edwin Warfield Parkway.

Edwin Warfield helped to dig the Cape Cod Canal in Massachusetts.