Frick family photograph collection

The Frick family were prominent Baltimore citizens: merchants, landowners, lawyers, and physicians. The family’s presence in America goes back to John Conrad Frick, among the founders of Germantown, Penn., who arrived in Philadelphia from Germany in 1688. His fourth son, Peter Frick, came to Baltimore, and married Anna Barbara Breidenhart in 1770. Peter Frick’s three sons were merchant John, lawyer William, and physician George. The Frick family bought, built on, and leased out property in Bolton Street, Park Avenue and McMechen Street, and other Bolton Hill locations.

Lawyer William Frick (1790-1855) published poetry, served as state senator, city court judge, and associate judge of the Court of Appeals, and was elected first judge of the Superior Court of Baltimore city in 1851. He married Mary Sloan Frick (1796-1866), the daughter of Baltimore merchant James Sloan, and their large family included sons Dr. Charles Frick (1823-1860) and George P. Frick (1825-1885).

George P. Frick was a dry goods merchant and railroad executive. He married Katherine (Kate) Turnbull (1830-1893), and they had 7 children: Elizabeth (Bessie) Powers (died 1929), Katherine (Rena) Graham, Anne (Nannie) Turnbull (1857-1933), William Turnbull (born 1855), George, Charles, and Oliver O’Donnell. Of these children, Charles Frick married Mary Carroll Denison and their children included Susan Carroll Poultney Frick (died 1938) and Robert Denison Frick (1890-1951); Katherine Graham Frick married Ellicott H. Worthington. Robert Denison Frick married Catherine Field Ussher of Buffalo, New York.

William Turnbull, Jr. (1800-1857) was a Baltimore native, son of merchant William Turnbull. His wife was Jane Graham Turnbull (1806-1883) of a prominent Virginia family, and the couple made their home in Washington, D.C. William Jr. was an army engineer whose projects included supervising the construction of an aqueduct across the Potomac River at Georgetown. William Jr. and Jane'’s children included Jane (Jeannie) Graham Turnbull (1841-1912), William Ramsay Turnbull III (fl. 1839-1913), and Charles Turnbull (1833-1885). Jeannie was active in Washington, D.C. society and was an officer for the Louise Home in New York City, serving as president at the time of her death.

The Poultney family were descendants of Ellen North, said to be the first Anglo-American child born in the area that is now Baltimore. Thomas Poultney, Sr. (1826-1887) was a writer under the name Rabbi Ben Tomi. He married Susan Carroll, daughter of Charles Carroll, and their children included Evan, Thomas Jr., and C. Carroll Poultney. Evan Poultney (died 1940, age 86) was a founder and the first president of the old Baltimore Club, with an avid interest in amateur theatrics. While attending Harvard University (from which he graduated in 1875), he was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, and in Baltimore he supported the Paint and Powder Club.

C. Oliver O’Donnell served as Vice-President of the Baltimore Gas Light Company, following the lead of his father General Columbus O’Donnell (born 1897) who was the company’s president. C. Oliver was also a director in the Union Bank of Maryland and in the Maryland Insurance Company, a director in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and Vice-Consul of Brazil for the port of Baltimore.