With Preface by William H. Taft --"William Howard Taft" -- His name is  also in the index.
That must be President Taft, 1909-1913, as he was Chief Justice after that.
He says of Samuel’s father JAMES, “He was a handsome, adventurous sailer.
He was moody, introspective, but generous and efficient.  He was the pride of a family of
Scottish descent, settled in Maryland...”
JAMES...."met his future wife, Deborah Keen, in Boston, and married her at Nashua, New Hampshire, in August, 1848.
She was then twenty-seven years old, and he forty-six.  The port from which he sailed most often was Providence,
Rhode Island.  They therefore settled in the town of Hope in that state, and Sam was born there in January, 1850.
In January, 1851, James sailed from Providence and touched at New York, and was never seen alive afterwards.
The vessel left New York without him, and his body was found in New York harbor..."

Page 3:
Re: Samuel’s father James Elder.
“James belonged to a family of Elders living in Baltimore, Maryland”
Samuel James Elder was named for his father’s older brother, who
was a quaint, middle-aged bachelor with a prosperous flour business in Baltimore”

Re: JAMES
As a sailor, he was killed in New York City in 1851 sometime before sailing.
 James’ brother Samuel writes from Baltimore in January 1851,
 “yesterday we had him Buried in Green Mount Cemetery along side of his Mothers remains.”                Cemetery photos
 [so that  should be Esther McKinley Elder--maybe we can find a record of her there]

See online link to Cemetery:
Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, MD
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~zimzip/balto/greenmount.htm

Green Mount Cemetery
 1501 Greenmount Ave
Baltimore, MD 21202-3925  
(410) 539-0641

Mapquest showing Green Mount Cemetery location near Jones Falls Expressway:

****
Page 4:
“Samuel Elder, the flour merchant, was the head of this Scotch-Presbyterian family of Baltimore.
He had made himself foster-father to James and to an appalling number of dependent kinsfolk--widows,
orphaned children and lonely invalids--whom he gathered in succession, in the time of their need,
under his comfortable roof.  But while there was comfort and protection afforded in the Baltimore home,
there was also the surfeiting of these satisfactions--ledgers and piety, stuffy parlors and too many Elders.
One is made restless by them even in the letters.

Page 6
...Although James did not make many replies to these numerous
letters, he had a talent for writing which was recognized by his friends and the Baltimore family.
An invalid niece, Margaret, whom Samuel looked after, was devoted to her “dearly loved uncle” James,
and wrote him many charming letters.  In one she makes a shy appeal that he “confer a great favour” on her,
“and that is to write me a report for a Society for the Relief of Indigent Sick, something that will be Scriptural”...”
  The letters refer to articles which he wrote for sailors’ magazines and in the packet of verse already mentioned
there are thirty or forty poems which James wrote when he was at sea....”
  By far the most interesting records of my grandfather’s life as a sailor are two old sea journals which he wrote
when he was first mate during a couple of long voyages.  ...”

Page 24
In 1860, Mrs. Elder married again.  Her second husband, Mr. Ezra Marble, was a widower t
hirteen years older than she, with three daughters....Mr. Marble was overseer of the printing-room
of the Pacific Mills, an inventor and a highly skilled mechanic. ..
In April of 1861 a son was born, named for his father (Ezra).

Page 29:
In May of 1864, at the invitation of her brother-in-law, Mrs. Marble went to Baltimore with her two sons,
the little boy Ezra and fourteen-year old Sam Elder, to make a visit.
During this visit Uncle Sam took his namesake to Washington.
...Uncle and nephew went together to the White House to see Lincoln and waited several hours...
they went away without seeing him....”

Page 31
“Uncle Samuel Elder died on March 8, 1866, at the age of seventy-one....
Page 32
“When he died he left to his namesake, Sam, a bequest of three thousand dollars.”
  [Might find a copy of that Will of 1866 -- should have more
names in it]

Page 64
Samuel:
After a summer in Maine the vacation came to an end in the visit of two dearly loved young girl cousins from Baltimore.
The journal records the last of vacation and the events of the fall term of junior year:
“Wednesday, Floy, Mamie and I spent in Boston visiting the Monument....”

Page 82:
“In Baltimore there was a relative by marriage who was engaged in the wholesale paint business.
This none too successful man offered to make Sam manager of a New England agency and his partner....”

Page 90:
Nearly two weeks were spent in Baltimore at Mr. K--’s house.
I looked over his books with Parker his clerk and found his affairs in a very much less
favorable condition than I had reason to expect...
Still I believed there was money in the business if properly conducted and decided to enter it,
though I did not commit myself to him.  My wish was still to study law if possible and I told him so...
   On Friday I reached home, having made a vain effort to get something to do in
Boston at the newspapers and in answer to an advertisement.

Page 129
Marriage of Samuel J. Elder:
“At Hastings-on-Hudson, May 10th 1876, at the home of the bride’s mother: Lilla S. Thomas to Samuel J. Elder”
*****
Searching Baltimore City Genweb:
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mdcbalti/PresbyterianBurials.htm
First Presbyterian Church
  Baltimore, Maryland
  1820-1866
Record of burials attended by John C. Backus
 Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Baltimore
Submitted by Pattie Causey
1823
 July 25 Mrs. Esther Elder.
***
11-15-05 letter:
Green Mount Cemetery verifies Samuel Elder (d. 1866) as lot holder, Plot D-62.

**********
From Enoch Pratt Library Reference (11/28/05) via e-mail:
> I have checked the History of the First Presbyterian Church by
> Reynolds for you and did not find anyone with the surname Elder.
> However, while searching for that book I found a few other
> histories of that church and checked those too.
> In an 1860 publication entitled, "Historical Discourse on taking
> leave of the old church edifice of the First Presbyterian
> congregation in Baltimore" by John Backus; I did find one list of
> members that had the following:
> 1802-05:  John Elder  --    "C"
>                Esther Elder  --   "C"
> Upon further examination, the C indicated that  membership was by
> certificate from some other church.  [The other alternative was P,
> which indicated that the person united with the Church on
> profession of faith]
> Other titles I checked without success:
> 1.  First Presbyterian Church, 1761-1895
> 2.  The First Presbyterian Church of Baltimore: A two century
> chronicle
******

List from
GREEN MOUNT CEMETERY, BALTIMORE MD
  (REQUESTED NAMES IN ELDER LOT  - DEC. 2005)
LOT NO. 62  AREA D

DEC. 16, 1850          ESTHER ELDER  (died 1823)
DEC.  27, 1850        MARY AND JOSEPH T. ELDER
JAN.  23, 1851         JAMES ELDER
MAR. 14, 1856        ALICE HARWOOD
APR. 11, 1857         MARY HARWOOD
JUL . 31, 1857         HENRY HARWOOD
JUN. 1, 1858           SAMUEL ELDER OF SAM’L
SEP.  5, 1859           ANNA HARWOOD, AGE 29
MAR.  16, 1860       MARY HARWOOD, AGE 37
MAR.  18, 1863       HENRY HARWOOD
MAR.  8, 1866          SAMUEL ELDER, AGE 70-3-27
JUL.  13, 1868          SARAH HARWOOD
JUN.  18, 1870          SAMUEL ELDER FOR REMOVALS
                                      OF ANN E, WILLIAM F, FLORENCE WHITE
***
Photo page for Green Mount Cemetery - HARWOOD:
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/md/baltimorecity/tsimages/greenmount/greenmount.html

Contributed to USGenWeb by Kitty Crowley ([email protected])
HARWOOD, Henry
28 Dec 1826
29 Jul 1857
With son Henry
HARWOOD, Henry
1851
1866
Son of Henry
HARWOOD, Sarah Emily

12 Jul 186_
Wife of Henry

***
Sources:
http://www.antiqbook.com/boox/witt/01-1331.shtml
   LEAGUE TO ENFORCE PEACE.
Collection of Documents of the League to Enforce Peace. American Branch.
New York, 1915-1916. Five Documents. Including An Appeal to Public Opinion from A. Lowell, President of Harvard; an essay by Samuel J. Elder; the Plan of organization; the Constitution; and a typed letter from William H. Short. The League was formed in 1915 at a conference at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It worked for a league of nations, a world court, and mandatory international conciliation. Its president was William Howard Taft, whose name appears on the documents. When the U.S. entered W.W.I, the League adopted a "win-the-war" program. Pacifist groups shunned the LTEP, believing that peace could not be obtained through coercion. However, the League was given credit for influencing President Wilson and others to support the formation of the League of Nations.

*******