Background
Thomas E. Hambleton was born on May 17, 1829, in New Windsor, Maryland, the son of Thomas Edward Hambleton, Sr. , a dry-goods merchant and entrepreneur, and Sarah Slingluff.
Thomas E. Hambleton was born on May 17, 1829, in New Windsor, Maryland, the son of Thomas Edward Hambleton, Sr. , a dry-goods merchant and entrepreneur, and Sarah Slingluff.
Hambleton was thoroughly schooled at Saint Mary's College, a Catholic institution in Baltimore which educated many Protestants. He graduated in 1849.
Then Hambleton entered into partnership with a Mr. Didier to manufacture agricultural implements. By 1855 he had entered his father's wholesale drygoods firm as junior partner, and the next year his father retired, leaving the business to his two sons, Thomas and John.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, since much of the business was with the South, the brothers transferred their interests to Richmond. Thomas served the Confederacy for a short time as private in the 16th Maryland Cavalry, but was released to aid the cause in the more important business of blockade running. He became allied with the Richmond Importing & Exporting Company, a concern engaged in running the blockade from Wilmington and Charleston.
In 1863 Hambleton purchased the steamer Coquette from the Confederate government and built the steamer Dare, which he commanded until the close of the war. The Coquette was finally captured near Georgetown, South Carolina, but the crew escaped. At the close of the war Hambleton returned to Baltimore and opened a real-estate broker's office but in 1868 entered the stockbrokers' firm which his brother John had established.
During the rapid expansion of business which followed the Civil War, they became associated with many new enterprises, among them the Consolidated Gas Company and the United Railways & Electric Company. For his share in the development of the latter Thomas Hambleton is especially notable. Long before the days of electric cars, he foresaw the possibilities of a complete traction system for Baltimore and purchased the People's Line.
Seeking more capital, he went to Philadelphia and interested Widener and others in his plans, bought the North Baltimore Railway Company, and organized the Baltimore Traction Company of which he was president. Hambleton then absorbed the Citizens', Pimlico & Pikesville, Curtis Bay & Baltimore, and Powhatan companies, thus concentrating about seventy-seven miles of trackage under one concern. Electricity was just being demonstrated as practicable, and when the City & Suburban Railway Company was purchased, the entire system was changed to an electric line. The final merger, not accomplished by Hambleton, but in which he played a part, was made when his line was consolidated with the City Passenger, Baltimore & Northern, and Central systems. Hambleton was also interested in a number of railroads, being a member of the reorganization committee of the Cincinnati, Washington & Baltimore Railroad, and president of the Albany & Northern Railroad at the time of his death. Thomas E. Hambleton died on September 21, 1906, in Lutherville, Maryland.
On September 15, 1852, Thomas E. Hambleton married Arabella, daughter of Major Dixon Stansbury. The couple had three children.
His first wife died on August 25, 1893, and on October 24, 1899 Hambleton married Theodosia L. Talcott, widow of Major Charles Talcott.
Theodosia Lawrence Bernard married Charles Gratiot Talcott on October 18, 1858 in the District of Columbia. They were the parents of eight children. After the death of her husband, she married Thomas Edward Hambleton on October 24, 1899, in the District of Columbia.
