Isaac Nevett Steele, lawyer and diplomat, was born at Cambridge, Md., April 25. 1809, son of James and Mary (Nevett) Steele, and grandson of Henry and Anne (Billings) Steele. Henry Steele was a native of England, and emigrated from Whitehaven to Oxford. Md., in 1730; he was a representative of Dorchester county at the convention which met at Annapolis, Md., in June, 1774. Isaac Nevett Steele was educated in the Cambridge Public Academy under Rev. Nathaniel A Wheaton, and at St. John's College, Annapolis, Md. , and Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. He began his law studies at the age of eighteen in the offices of Alexander C. Magruder and David Hoffman. After admission to the bar he rose rapidly to prominence, becoming not only a leader of the Maryland bar, but also ranking as one of the foremost law years in America. In 1839 he was appointed deputy to Attorney-General Josiah Bayley for the Baltimore county court, an appointment that was continued by his successor. He was city attorney during 1872-74. In 1849 Mr. Steele was made Chargé d'Affaires to Venezuela by President John Tyler, and remained in Caracas for four years. Upon one occasion he narrowly escaped death at the bands of robbers who broke into the legation in the hope of finding the money of diplomatic representatives, which was sometimes entrusted to the Chargé d'Affaires for safe-keeping. While in Venezuela Mr. Steele gained great credit for having secured the settlement of heavy claims on the part of citizens of the United States, which had been so long postponed as to be regarded as hopeless. Resuming his legal practice upon his return to the United States in 1853, he added to his laurels as a brilliant practitioner. There were few cases before the Maryland courts during his long professional career, involving great principles or large interests, in which he was not prominent as counsel, and his name appears more frequently in the pages of Maryland reports than any other lawyer of his time. He was noted for the clearness of his statements, the strength and force of his logic and his power as a cross-examiner. Among the cases of note successfully handled by him was the prosecution of Adam Horn, in 1843, whose conviction for murder he secured after a seven days' trial. Mr. Steele was one of the charter members of the Maryland Club, and was one of its first governors. He was also a member of the Maryland Historical Society, and was the second president of the Bar Association of Baltimore. He was married at Washington, D. C, Jan. 22, 1849, to Rosa Laundonia, daughter of Hon. John Nelson, attorney-general of the United States, and had five sons : James Nevett, John Nelson, Charles, Samuel Tagart and Henry Maynadier Steele - and three daughters, Mary, Rosa Nelson and Kate Steele. He died in Baltimore, Md.. April 11, 1891.