Jacob Tome

Jacob Tome (August 13, 1810 – March 16, 1898) was an American banker, philanthropist, and politician who died as one of the richest men in the United States. He was the first millionaire of Cecil County, Maryland and an accomplished philanthropist, giving money to colleges, churches, and schools, including establishing the Tome School.
Early life.
Jacob Tome was born on August 13, 1810 in Hanover or Manheim Township in York County, Pennsylvania to Christina (née Badger) and Christian Thom. At the age of 16, he worked for a farmer in York County and then worked as a superintendent of fisheries on Stony Island on the Susquehanna River. In 1830, he worked for a manufacturer of tinware in Marietta, Pennsylvania for two years, and then as a teacher in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.
Career.
Business career.
In 1833, he moved to Port Deposit, Maryland to work at Boggs' Hotel. He moved to Philadelphia for a short time to take up bookkeeping, but ultimately returned to Port Deposit in 1834. 
In 1834, he formed a partnership with David Rinehart, a banker and lumber dealer from Marietta, and they formed a lumber company called "Tome & Rinehart". The business prospered and lasted until 1853. In 1849, he formed a partnership with the owners of the steamboat "Portsmouth" and Captain Masen L. Weems to establish the Baltimore and Fredericksburg Steamboat Company. In 1855, he formed a partnership with John and Thomas C. Bond to form the lumber company "Bond Brothers & Co.". Through Bond Brothers & Co. and his own personal accounts, he invested in timber lands in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. With his nephew, J.W. Reynolds, he formed "J. Tome & Co.", a fertilizer and agriculture equipment company.
He served as the president of the Baltimore and Susquehanna Steamboat Company, director in the Conowingo Bridge Company, director in the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, and director in the Port Deposit and Columbia Railroad Company. He was also a large stockholder in the Delaware Railroad Company.
Political career.
He was a Union Republican and a supporter of Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. In 1863 and 1864, he was elected to represent Cecil County in the Maryland State Senate. In 1865, he was elected as the chairman of the Senate finance committee. In 1871, he was nominated as the Union Republican candidate for Governor of Maryland, losing to William Pinkney Whyte.
Banking career.
In 1850, Tome obtained a charter for the Cecil Bank at Port Deposit. The bank quickly grew and became a national bank. In 1868, he purchased the Elkton National Bank. In 1865, he opened a bank the National Bank in Fredericksburg, Virginia, which his nephew John Creswell became president of. He owned stock in a number of Baltimore banks and a majority stake in the Citizens' National Bank of Hagerstown, Maryland.
Personal life.
Tome married Caroline M. Webb, an aunt of John Creswell, on December 6, 1841. Together, they had three children, but they all died in infancy. She died on February 16, 1874. He married Evalyn S. Nesbitt on October 1, 1884. Evalyn Tome was the richest woman in the state of Maryland; after his death, she married Joseph Irwin France, a Senator and U.S. presidential candidate.
Philanthropy.
Tome Memorial Methodist Church.
He built the "Tome Memorial Methodist Church" in Port Deposit in 1887. The church was closed on October 1, 2018.
Dickinson College.
Tome was a trustee of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania from 1883 to 1898. He pledged $25,000 in 1883 for the construction of its first science building, the "Tome Scientific Building".
Jacob Tome Institute.
The Jacob Tome Institute was incorporated in 1879, and the school was first opened for students on September 17, 1894. His wife, Evalyn Tome, served as the president of the board of trustees. In the last week of his life, Jacob Tome worked with Senators Austin Crothers and Henry Dodson to give Maryland financial supervision over the school.
Death.
Tome died of pneumonia on March 16, 1898 at his home in Port Deposit at the age of 87. He was buried at Hopewell Cemetery in Port Deposit. At his death, he owned about $89 million (about $ today).
Legacy.
Maryland Route 276 in Cecil County was named the "Jacob Tome Memorial Highway" in his honor in 1961.