Col. John Travers (1787-1882)
of Baltimore & Hooper's Island, Dorchester Co., Maryland
He was born in Baltimore, the son of an English wine merchant who came to America at the time of the Revolution. In 1806, he went into business in England with his "Uncle Riggan" (an American Merchant with premises in London). During the Napoleonic Wars he served as an agent for his uncle's London trading house in Lisbon, Portugal. He returned to Baltimore in 1812 before moving north in 1820 having purchased a controlling interest in the Phoenix Mill Manufacturing Co. in Paterson, New Jersey. He maintained a townhouse in New York City and a country home at Monmouth, New Jersey, that was known as the Travers' Place. By 1836, he was a Member of the Board of the West Point Military Academy with the rank of Colonel and in 1854 sold all of his shares in the mills and some of properties. He returned to Baltimore in 1867 and died at the home of his niece, Mrs. Wright. He was married twice: Susan Moale (1816) and Harriet Riggin (1835), niece of William Riggin (1770-1845) of Fayette Street, Baltimore, the American Consul to Trieste, 1802-1815. He was the father of the famously popular wit, William Riggin Travers.
