JOHN DAVID URIE is one of the ablest members of the Chestertown bar, and for several years past has been the efficient and capable state's attorney for Kent County. We are glad, indeed, to place the record of so worthy a citizen among those who have won honors and fame in this section of Maryland. His history is an interesting and instructive one, for it shows what can be accomplished by an intelligent, energetic young man who is not discouraged by obstacles in his pathway.

The founder of the Urie family in America was one Thomas. He was a Scotchman, from the city of Glasgow, Scotland, and settled in the lower part of Kent County near the Chesapeake Bay, about that time to the present, the Uries have been numbered among the substantial land holders of the county. He was a member of the Church of England, and highly esteemed by the community. His son John was also a member of the same church. He operated a coopering establishment for many years in Kent County and accumulated a moderate fortune.

James, his son, and grandfather of our subject, was one of the first to introduce the industry of manufacturing woolen goods in the south. His extensive mills employed a large force of men at Urieville, Md. He was a man of wealth and importance in the county, and frequently served as a member of the board of what is now known as the board of county commissioners. So high was his financial standing that during the panic of 1837 his personal notes or obligations circulated as money. He died in 1856, leaving two sons, James and William. The latter was a successful homoeopathic physician in Chester, Pa., until his death, in the summer of 1897. James, father of our subject, died in 1866, when in the prime of life, being but thirty-five years old, He was a successful farmer and extensively engaged in horticultural pursuits. He married Mary E. Kendall, and left five young children to mourn his loss. H. Frank, of Orlando, Fla., is a merchant; Dr. James W. is a practicing homoeopathic physician of Still Pond, Md. Mary became the wife of E. L. McGinniss and is now a widow; Helen is the wife of James F. Hammond, of Hawthorn, Fla.

John David Urie was born in Kent County, Md., December 18, 1860, and is the eldest son in the family. His higher education was obtained at Washington College, Md., where he took the degrees of Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts. His education was acquired only by the severest economy and exertion, as his father died when he was but five years of age, and the estate was soon dissipated through mis-management.

After completing his collegiate course he studied law under the late Richard Hynson, Esq. (the Nestor of the Kent County Bar), and was admitted to practice in 1884. From that time forward he has been actively engaged in a general practice of the law. Out of his slender income, when first beginning the practice of his profession, he provided means to enable his brother to complete his medical education. He was elected as an independent candidate in 1895 to the office of state's attorney for Kent County, after the most exciting campaign in the history of the county. Among the societies he is identified with one only, the Masonic order, and is past master of his lodge (Chester No. 115).

In 1893 he organized the Kent County Savings Bank, and is now a director and attorney for that institution and its largest stockholder. The bank has been remarkably successful and has never lost one dollar since it opened its doors.