Charles Frederick

Background

Mayer was a son of Christian Mayer, who emigrated from Germany to Baltimore in 1784.

Education

Born in Baltimore on October 15, 1795, Charles attended Dickinson College and later became a trustee.

Career

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

In 1830, he was elected a Maryland state senator from Baltimore City.

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." His efforts helped settle a dispute between the C&O and B&O and thereby helped ensure Baltimore"s access to western markets. The B&Privatdozent , 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.

Mayer died on January 3, 1864, and is buried in Baltimore"s Green Mount Cemetery.

Mayer married and had a son, Henry Christian Mayer (1821–1846). When Joseph Henry, the director of the new Smithsonian Institution paid Mayer a visit, he was shown Alfred"s various scientific apparatuses, and later helped the boy begin his career in science.

Membership

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

Connections

Partner:

Lewis Brantz